Secrets
Chapter 6 Some Hard News To Hear
Hermione woke the next morning, not feeling very rested. All throughout the night healers and nurses had come into her room to check on her, making for a very restless night. She hated being in the hospital; how in the world was she going to get well if they didn't let her sleep?
When her breakfast came, she just picked at it since she wasn't very hungry. They had given her medicine to help her with her pain and nausea, so that was a little bit better, but she knew that the only thing that would really make her feel better was to get out.
Healer Brown sat in his office, going over the chart of the patient he had just been assigned, Hermione Granger. A cold smile crossed his face, an evil smile which contained no joy or mirth. A smile that chilled you to the bone.
"So, it looks like Hermione Granger's life is at stake. I know that my lord will be happy to hear this. I must see if there is any other information that I can find out about her that might be useful to him.
Hermione looked up from her uneaten breakfast when she heard a knock at her door. Figuring that it was just another healer or nurse coming to check on her, she sighed, "Can't you leave me alone?"
The door opened and Harry poked his head in, "Aww, you don't want me to leave now do you? I came to cheer you up," He said with a grin.
Grinning back at him, Hermione shook her head, "Come on in, Harry. I thought you were another one of those nurses or healers. They've been checking on me all night. Rather annoying, really. I don't know how they expect me to sleep when they do that."
Going over to Hermione, Harry gave her a kiss and brought out his hand from behind his back, showing her the beautiful roses he had brought for her, "I thought these might cheer you up," He said, giving them to her.
"Harry, how sweet!" She said, inhaling their beautiful aroma and smiling at him, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Hermione. Now, have they said when they're going to spring you out of here yet? I mean, you'll be able to get out before we have to go back to Hogwarts, right?"
"Oh, trust me Harry. If they don't let me out of here before then, I'm walking out the door myself and no one better try to stop me," She put such a stern look on her face that it was comical.
Laughing, Harry bent down and gave her a hug, "I should have known that you wouldn't let them keep you from Hogwarts, sweetheart."
Healer Brown stood outside Hermione's hospital room door and watched the show of affection between the two teenagers. So, Harry and Hermione were dating. This was very interesting information indeed. Putting on his healer face, he knocked at the door. Opening it, he smiled at the two as he entered.
"Good morning, Miss Granger. My name is Healer Brown and I have been put in charge of your case. Mr. Potter, would you mind if you waited outside for a few minutes while I examine your friend? I will call you back in directly."
"Of course not," Harry said, bending down and giving Hermione a kiss, "I'll come right back in as soon as I'm allowed, love." Squeezing her hand gently, he reluctantly left her side and went out into the hallway, where he was greeted by the Weasleys, "How long have you been here?"
"We just arrived," Molly said, smiling softly at him, "How's she doing?"
"Well, she had a rough night. She says it's very hard to sleep in here. There's a new healer that was put on her case today that is in there examining her," Sitting down on one of the chairs, Harry turned to Molly, "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there? This is something more than the shock of her parents' death."
Just then the healer came back out, "You can go ahead back in, Mr. Potter," He said, quietly, a grim look upon his face.
Happy that he could go back in with Hermione, Harry didn't press the matter and let it drop for the time being. As soon as he entered her room, Healer Brown took Molly and Arthur aside.
"I know that Miss Granger is nearly of age, but she won't be seventeen until September 19th, according to her chart. Do you know if her parents have made any provisions for her care should something happen to them?"
"Actually no one knows this, but since she had no living relatives, they had requested that if something should happen to them that we take her in. Coming from a muggle family such as she did, they thought that it would be easier on her to live with a wizarding family that she already knew. So we are her legal guardians now," Arthur said, looking at the healer, "Were you able to tell anything from the examination?"
"Please, sit down," Healer Brown said, gesturing to some chairs in a quiet, private area. When they were all seated, he looked at them with concern, "There has been extensive damage to her chest. Where the damage is, and what it has affected, we're not sure yet. But there were traces of the spell left in her system and since the fight, they have been working against her body."
"Why didn't they detect them when she was here before?" Molly said, tears pricking her eyes, "Isn't there anything that can be done?"
"Well, for right now we're attempting to arrest the progression of the spell and hopefully destroy it. You see, it's working similar to way cancer works. The longer that the spell remains in her body, the more damage it does."
"What about Hogwarts? Can she return to Hogwarts?" Arthur say, knowing how important her schooling was to her.
"I am going to start a course of treatment for her today and keep her here til at least tomorrow. As long as we get her stable enough, I will send her home in your care and with specific instructions. But she will need to come back and be examined before she goes to Hogwarts, and I will be contacting Madame Pomfrey to let her know what her treatment will be."
Harry had entered Hermione's room again to see her looking sad, "'Mione, what's wrong?" He said, going over to her side and taking her hand."
Hermione looked up at Harry with tears in her eyes, "Harry, I have something to tell you and it's going to be very hard for you to hear."
