Disclaimer: Well, since J.K. Rowling put that silly 50 mile restraining order on me, I have no chance of trying to steal Harry Potter and Co.

Chapter 7

Death Arises

Hermione woke up with the worst headache she ever had. It felt as though a hammer had mistaken her head for a nail. The pain grew worse every second. She screamed as if it would help the pain go away. She made her way to the door crawling.

Immediately, Ron burst into the room. It Hermione wasn't in such pain, she would have blushed at the sight of Ron's bare chest.

"Hermione! Hermione! What's wrong! Tell me what's wrong with your head!" he attempted to pick her up off the floor, but her thrashing figure made it difficult to grab a hold of her.

Mr. And Mrs. Weasley burst in, wands in hand. Ron was still attempting to communicate with Hermione. Mr. Weasley rushed over to help his youngest son pick Hermione up off the floor.

"What's wrong with Ginny!" Mr. Weasley yelled over Hermione's screaming.

"I-I don't know! She's been clutching her head!"

"Molly! Go downstairs and try to find a spell to clam her! Ron and I will try to get her downstairs to the kitchen safely!"

Mrs. Weasley quickly disappeared out the door, while Ron and Mr. Weasley attempted to get a better hold of the squirming girl.

The pair forced Hermione into a chair in the kitchen. Ron struggled to keep her still while Mr. Weasley helped Mrs. Weasley find a spell.

Hermione's screaming became more intense before suddenly… she stopped.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Hermione curiously.

"Ginny?" Ron questioned tentatively.

Hermione slumped forward and fell onto the floor. The three Weasleys gathered around her. Ron flipped her over. Her eyes were still wide open staring at the ceiling.

"Ginny! Ginny!" Ron yelled as he looked into her cold, lifeless eyes.

After getting in a fist fight with Malfoy, Ginny had to beg and plead for Harry to stop punching Malfoy and g to the hospital wing to treat his many cuts and bruises.

Harry winced as Madam Pomfrey jabbed his cuts and bruises with her wand.

"The things you kids fight about today. How are we suppose to promote school unity with students attacking each other in the halls?"

She jabbed one of Harry's cuts angrily, reopening the wound before mending it.

Ginny watched her boyfriend wearily as Madam Pomfrey lectured him. She rubbed the temple on her forehead. She suddenly got a throbbing headache. She figured that all she needed to lay down.

Madam Pomfrey finished lecturing Harry and quickly mended the rest of his cuts.

"I'm going off to lunch. You coming?" Harry asked pushing the hospital door open.

"No, I think I'm gonna go l…"

Ginny stopped as the placed her hand on the door. She collapsed in the middle of the door.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled dragging her into the hall. "Hermione, what's wrong!"

Ginny's anguished screams filled the corridors. Most, maybe all of, the school showed up shortly after the screaming began.

Professor McGonagall pushed to the front of the crowd, and with a flick of her wand, Ginny lifted off the ground. She guided the screaming figure into the hospital wing and sealed the door behind her.

Harry tried desperately to open the door, but his attempts were futile. The screams continued for a couple minutes before stopping abruptly.

McGonagall unsealed the door and stepped out.

"Please return to the Great Hall for lunch. Afterwards, remaining prefects and/or head boy or girl are to lead their houses to their common room. If anyone is found near this wing, there will be serious consequences."

As the crowd cleared out, McGonagall held Harry back.

"Because Miss Granger is your friend I am saddened to be the one to tell you that she's not responding."

Harry backed up against the wall, slumped down, and cried.

"Gin…" Ron cried.

"We can't come to any conclusions just yet," Mr. Weasley finally said. "I'll apparate her to St. Mungo's."

Mr. Weasley picked up Hermione's limp body, and with a loud crack, they were gone.

Mrs. Weasley comforted her son as he broke down into her shoulder.

Harry refused to answer any questions as he entered the Gryffindor common room. He went up to the boys' dormitory, and after making sure no one was around he got his invisibility cloak and marauder's map. He put the map in his pocket and slipped on his cloak.

He sneaked out of the common room and checked the map. Fortunately, the teachers were nowhere near the room of requirement, which was his destination.

Harry stealthily made his way through corridors. He paced by the room of requirement three times before the door appeared.

The room was very similar to how it had been for DA meetings. He slowly walked across the room, tossing his cloak and map to the side. In the back corner was a small table draped in a black table cloth. On the table were candies surrounding the picture of Harry and Ginny kissing the first time the year before.

It was an hour before Ron went back upstairs slightly calmed. He sadly got out a quill and parchment, on the parchment he only wrote 5 words.

Harry-

Hermione is dead.

-Ron

A few teardrops fell onto the simple letter. He folded the letter before going off to find Errol. He sent the old owl on its way and went back downstairs.

Mr. Weasley was comforting his grief-stricken wife. Ron tried not to break-down again; he needed to be there for his mothers. Mr. Weasley looked up at his son.

Ron knew that crying wouldn't bring Hermione. He was no longer a child; he had to keep his head on straight.

"What did the doctors say?" he asked boldly, though his voice shook.

"Um… there was n-no pulse. Nothing they could do. Fill out d-d-death certificate."

Mrs. Weasley grew more hysterical. the mention of her own daughter's death certificate was too much for her to bear.

"Where is she?"

"Still in the emergency room."

"C-can I see the…"

"Ron, are you sure you want to see something like that? It may be to graphic for you."

"Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore. I want to see the b… Ginny."

"…V-very well, g-get dresses and we'll leave."

An object hit the door with a loud thud. Harry spun around and stared at the door. Suddenly, a peek hole appeared on the door. He slowly approached the door and looked through the hole. Errol was on the floor recovering from flying into the door. Harry opened the door wide enough the Errol to hop in.

Harry removed the letter from the old owl's leg. He quickly found a quill that magically appeared near the book shelf. He scribbled a reply on the back of the letter. He sent the letter off with Errol and buried his face into his hands.

An hour after Mr. Weasley promised to take Ron to the hospital, the pair appeared in the emergency room lobby. Mr. Weasley quickly spoke to the woman at the desk. He walked over to Ron looking very grim.

"Your sister's body is right through here. Let's go."

"If you don't mind, Dad, I'd like to see her by myself."

Mr. Weasley nodded and sat down in the lobby.

Ginny's body lied on a table with her arms straight out at her sides. He rested his fingertips on her face. It was cold as ice. He couldn't bear to touch her, but he had one last thing to do.

He opened her curled fingers and placed a folded piece of parchment in her cold palm. He balled her fist and backed away.

"Goodbye, Hermione."

Ron started to turn to exit the room, but something caught his eye. He turned his attention to Ginny's body. He watched in horror as her body began to decay right before his eyes.

Harry stared at the map, not really trying to find anyone. His eye suddenly caught a dot moving swiftly towards the Gryffindor common room. The dot was labeled "Minerva McGonagall". He looked back at the hospital wing and saw a dot fading in out of nowhere. It was weird because no one could apparate into the Hogwarts grounds, but what was even weirder was that the dot belonged to Ginny Weasley.

Harry raced down the hall toward the Gryffindor tower. He met Professor McGonagall who was very much out of breath.

"P-Potter. Hurry to… hospital wing. Strange… Miss Weasley."

Harry didn't wait for McGonagall to finish. He immediately ran in the direction of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was staring at a bed with pure horror. She pulled absent-mindedly at the material of her long-sleeved blouse. She stuttered as she spoke.

"W-what ha…ppened. No…"

Harry walked toward the bed expecting the worse.

Lying in the bed as if she was asleep was Ginny, body and all. He touched her face and quickly withdrew his hand. She was still cold. He checked her wrist for a pulse, knowing it was useless. He felt nothing at first, then her skin became warm. He felt nothing at first, then her skin became warm. He felt her heartbeat racing. White mist settled over the bed. Ginny sat up abruptly gasping for air. She watched the white mist as it disappeared.

The event must have greatly shocked Madam Pomfrey because she promptly passed out.

After seeing the girl he loved being raised from the dead, Harry's first instinct and reaction was to kiss Ginny until he had no more worries. After they pulled apart Ginny ran her fingers through her hair. She checked to see if it was red and squealed. She jumped out of bed and danced around the hospital. She even did the Mexican hat dance around Madam Pomfrey. She ran back to Harry and kissed him again.

"I'm alive, Harry. I'm here. And Hermione's okay."

"How'd you know about Hermione?"

"I saw her… w-when I died. I don't know where we were, but wherever we were wasn't pleasant. It was like her souls were in Azkaban b-but worse. But then there was a person… no, a figure who freed our souls and switched our bodies. It's hard to explain, and it took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on, but all that matters is that we're okay."

Harry picked her up and twirled her, and his lips met her lips once again.

"Dad!"

Mr. Weasley came running into the room. Ron hadn't taken his eyes off the rotting body in front of him.

They expected to see bone under the rotting flesh, but instead there was more skin. Fair skin. The skin finished rotting away and on the operating table lay Hermione's body. A white mist settled over the operating table. Hermione sat up quickly and tumbled off the table. The two Weasley men rushed over to her.

She smiled up at Ron, and without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

It was a while before she realized what she was doing.

"Oh! Um… sorry. I got too caught up in the moment." Hermione became red but not at red as Ron was.

She got off of the operating room floor. After Mr. Weasley explained the event to the front desk and apparated them home, Hermione began to explained everything that happened.

Sorry about the rushed ending. In fact, the whole chapter was really rushed. I was in a hurry to finish it because I haven't updated in a while, but I promise the next chapter won't sound so rushed.

In cause your confused here's the facts: Dumbledore is dead, McGonagall is headmaster, Ron and Hermione went to the Weasley household together because Hermione was still in Ginny's body, Ron makes sure to call Hermione Ginny in front of his parents. I think that's everything.

The next question to add to your list is: WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!

In the next chapter you will find out how Ron knows.

I've been debating on whether or not to tell you this, but I want this to stay in your head as you read the story and get you thinking. Four people in this story have a secret. Ron is one of them with a secret and that will be revealed in the next chapter. His secret is how he knows, but you will never guess what other three people have a secret. I have no idea how I planned out all of this.

You guys have been so great with reviewing, so I'm raising the minimum that will make me continue the story up to 10 reviews. That's not a problem for any of you, I know.

I wanna say hi to my new reviewers, thank you so much for reviewing. This week I'm trying to read at least one story of my reviewers if they have one.

I have a total celeb-crush on Daniel Radcliffe. I'm sorry to those who hate him. I used to be the president of his death club, but he has the most awesome personality, not to mention that he's handsome which is a plus. He is so totally un-phased by his fame, and I think that is just awesome. I don't know if I'm going to change my name, but watch out for that.

I just came back from Nashville, Tennessee for a chorus festival. I'm glad that I lost my voice after the festival. And I am very sick right now. I didn't get out of bed yesterday, and I've been in bed most of the time this afternoon.

Please read Flowers in Her Hair by my good friend paulalou. It is absolutely awesome, and the best Ron/Hermione story I'm reading right now (which isn't saying much because that's the only Ron/Hermione story I'm reading, actually)

I'm going to answer the reviews next chapter, so feel free to ask anything and talk to me. I may be a Slytherin (I got sorted), but I'm not that evil.

Review.

Arrivederci!

GerardWay'sFanClub (may soon become sLYthERinGIrl15) (my b-day is in January, so let's assume I'm already 15)