Alright, I'm back. Sorry about not updating for a while, it's just that my life pretty much sucks right now, and everything is going crazy. Oh well, the chapter is here now, is that good enough. I will try my best to make the updates faster, but I don't know if I can make that a promise.

Thanks for all the reviews. Reviewers, you people are awesome; you know how to make my long stressful day of school a lot better.

I think I'll shut up now, lol.

Chapter 17

Out

Ron came running down the stairs. It had been just about two weeks since Hermione's near death experience and everyone was back to their normal, day to day schedule. Of course, Ron's schedule had been altered, having to find time to spend with Lavender almost everyday of the week.

Ron was once again clean and spiffier than normal. He was also a lot happier than normal. By the look of him, Harry knew exactly what was going on.

"Another date Ron?" Harry asked him.

"Yes," he said grinning.

"How many has it been now, seven? You guys must be really serious."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Alright well have fun. Just telling you, depending on the time you come home, me and 'Mione might not be here, we might be gone."

Ron shook his head. "Okay, I'll just let myself in like I always do."

He sat down on the couch but kept looking down at his watch at what seemed to be like two second intervals. He didn't want to be early, but he didn't want to be late either. When it was about a minute or so before the planned time, Ron got up and apparated away to Lavender's house. He knew apparating would be the quickest and easiest way to get there. He also knew that this would be the cleanest way to get there, as all other traveling ways would ruin his clothes.

Harry and Hermione were both sitting together on the couch, both very quite. The house was also completely silent, as Ron was out on his date and they didn't actually have company over for once.

Hermione's leg suddenly started to shake back and forth, mostly because of nerves. Harry had a slight bit of a worried look on his face, but he tried to relax and not show it. He took a quick glance down at this watch and noticed it was about that time.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked Hermione. He put on a fake smile on his face, trying to make her believe he wasn't worried.

Hermione shook her head faintly. She then smiled, weakly.

Harry and Hermione had arrived at the place which they suddenly seemed to live. They entered St. Mungo's worriedly and nervously.

"I'll go and tell them you're here." Harry said to Hermione. "Sit down, relax." He could tell she was worried, much more worried than he was. She slowly sat down, trying to calm down like he told her to.

Once he made sure she was okay, he got up and walked over to the line in which everyone was waiting. He entered in the back of the line and waited for it to be his turn. Within ten minutes, he was at the front of it. The receptionist was looking down at him, waiting for him to open his mouth and speak.

"Can you please tell me where Healer Anderson is?" Harry spoke.

The man suddenly looked up and surveyed him, as if not clearly understanding what he had just said.

"Can you tell Mr. Anderson that the Potters are here?" Harry said, talking slower and trying to make the receptionist understand.

"I'm not deaf boy!" The man said quite strongly. He then suddenly changed his tone of voice. "Brian is waiting for you in room number 527. That's on the fifth floor. I'm sure you'll be able to find it after that, right boy?"

"Yes sir." Harry said politely. He felt like he was back in school and was a kid again, having a man talk to him like that.

Harry quickly exited the line and went over to Hermione. Here she was sitting in a chair, looking quite a bit more relaxed than she was before. Even though she was less tense, Harry could still tell she was very nervous.

"We've got to go up to the fifth floor." Harry told her. She shook her head in agreement and got up.

They walked over to the elevator and got in it. There was only one other person inside, who left as soon as they walked in. When the door opened, Harry got out, and the Hermione. He took her hand in his, trying to help her out and prove he was there for her.

"Everything is going to be okay." Harry said, reassuringly. Hermione was still very speechless, fear overcoming her once again. She then started walking slower, making Harry have to drop down a few paces. He knew she didn't want to be here, that she didn't have to want to be here.

"523…525…527, Here it is," Harry said.

Hermione put her hand on the door and opened it. The room was much bigger than the first one she stayed at. There was also a young man standing in the corner, looking out the window. He clearly did not notice them. Harry cleared his throat and the man turned around.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter." He said. "I'm Healer Anderson. It's good to see you." He shook both their hands and then turned to Hermione, knowing she'd have questions.

"So you do know what you're here for." He started. "You're here to figure out what happened to your body the night you went through the veil."

Hermione shook in recognition, she knew this all already.

"This operation, are you sure you want to go through with this?" Mr. Anderson asked her. He could also tell, like Harry, that she was afraid to be there.

Hermione looked over at Harry and then tried to find her voice.

"Healer, can you explain to me exactly how this operation is going to work, what you are going to be doing and how this will be able to help me."

"Well, this operation is a short term search throughout the body. You will be able to move all major parts of your body, including your hands, arms, etc. The smaller sized organs and tissues will be temporally be shut down. Also, a small part of your mind might be examined to see if you may have a memory charm being placed on you.

Hermione stood there like a sponge, taking this all in.

"What could happen if something goes wrong?"

The healer pondered for a moment. "There is no thought in my mind that something in this spell might go wrong. I did this spell plenty of other times and nothings every happened. But in the case that something might, there will be other healers here to help me save you. But, if this spell does for some reason backfire, it will not endanger your life or any of your body parts. Now, are you sure you want to do this."

"Yes, I'm sure," Hermione answered. Actually, the whole time she was standing there she knew she was going to go through with the operation. She just wanted to know all about the operation before she went through with it and something did happen.

"Okay, then let's get started." The Healer said happily. He looked up and then remembered something. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter, Harry; you're going to have to leave.

Harry quickly looked up, noticing he was talking to him. "What? Why?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"There can only be the patient and the healers in here."

"No," Hermione said strongly. "If Harry's not here, then I'm not doing this."

"I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do about this.

Harry looked over to Hermione and he knew this had to be done.

"Look, Hermione." He took his hand and placed it in his. "This has to be done. You need to go through with this." He looked up at her face, and forced her to look up at him. He faked a smile; he had seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "I'll be right outside the door the whole time."

Hermione, on the other hand, wasn't going to give up that easy. "No. No Harry. I'm not doing this if you're not with me. I need you here. I won't feel safe if you're not here with me."

"Hermione, this is you're life were talking about. We need to figure out what happened to you. You have to go through with this."

The healer was still standing there, watching and listening to the couple trying to figure out a way around this obstacle. To him this was very passionate and touching. He knew exactly what he had to do.

"Harry," Harry looked up to the healer. The healer was very unsure about what he wanted to do, but he knew this would make the operation go much smoother. "If you want to, you can stay in here, if you really want to. But, you cannot tell anyone else about this."

"Yes sir." Harry said gratefully. "Thank you sir"

He shook his hand more strongly, showing that he truly was appreciative.

"Thank you," Hermione said. She too showed her thankfulness, but she gave him a hug.

"Now that that's settled," the healer said. "Hermione, you need to get dressed in this."

He handed her a small night shirt, the ones almost all the patients had to wear when they were going into surgery. It reminded Hermione of the muggle hospital shirts, except this one seemed a tad bit thicker and longer.

"I'll be back in five minutes," With that he left the room, leaving her and Harry alone. The only reason why he left was so she could get dressed in the comfort of being alone with her husband. It was also a policy that they did this. He usually had somewhere else to go during this time, some other patient to visit or someone requesting to see him. But, the head healer cancelled all his other visits during this day to make sure he could have as much time to work on this operation as he needed. No one actually knew how long it was going to take, if it was going to take a while or a short amount of time.

After about five minutes or so Mr. Anderson checked his watch. He got up from where he was sitting and decided that Hermione must have been done getting dressed yet. If she wasn't, though, he would have to go sit back down where he was and wait. He walked over to the door and knocked on it, not wanting to walk in on something unexpected.

"Come in," Harry said.

Hermione was now in her knew clothing attire. She had he hands folded and was starting to rock back and forth. Her nerves were now once again getting the better of her. When the healer walked in, she quickly looked up and tried to contain herself from rocking.

"Okay… Um, Hermione, can you please go lat on top of the surgical table." Healer Anderson said.

Hermione looked up at him weirdly. She knew what he was talking about, as it was the only thing in the room that he would wish for her to lie on. She looked at the thing she thought was a bed oddly. Muggle surgical tables were a lot harder, and more like an actual table.

She got up and walked over to it. She had to jump up a little bit to get on it. The reason that the table had to be so tall was so that the healers could be in reach of her. The healers did not want to have to reach up or down to operate.

Hermione slowly lay down on the table and it quickly adjusted itself so it would be as comfortable as possible. Hermione still was as relaxed as she should have been.

"Hermione, try and get comfortable and relax. This could be a long process and we want to have you calm. The more calm and relaxed you are, the better the spell we are using will work. It will also be quicker for us to find out what's going on."

Hermione shook her head and listened to the healer's advice. She took a deep breath and it actually worked, she started to calm down. Her nerves also started to go away and she wasn't as tense as she was before.

"Are you ready?" He asked her.

Harry came over to the table where Hermione was lying and placed her hand in his.

"Is it okay if I stand here?" He asked the healer. He was so nice to let him stay in there that he decided to ask him for permission.

"I guess."

The healer then hinted for Harry to be quiet because he cleared his throat. Harry had a feeling that this was because the spell took a lot of concentration to work. Mr. Anderson then took out his wand and slowly pointed it at her body. Hermione pinched her eyes shut, having no idea what the spell was going to feel like.

"Neutiquam secerno" He said loudly and clearly.

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand tightly in the middle of the spell. After, her body made a quick jolt and then slowly relaxed. She laid still, but Harry could still feel the tight grip on his hand. The grip keep tightening and loosing. Hermione slowly opened her eyes and then her mouth, going to talk.

"Don't try to talk." The healer said. "You probably can't."

The healer then used his wand to turn off the lights. Everything was now completely dark except for one thing, the insides of Hermione's body. They seemed to glow brightly. She looked down and could see the inside of her body perfectly.

"Hmm…" he said. Harry knew that he must have obviously found something suspious.

"What is it, sir?" Harry asked, still using his manners.

"Sh…" the healer said.

He now had his wand held back up completely over Hermione. He then started moving his wand over to the left side of her body.

"Hmm…" he said again.

Each time he said that it made Harry worry even more. Hermione had now slowly calmed down and stopped worrying. The spell was not at all as bad as she expected it to be.

Healer Anderson then moved his wand all over Hermione's body, making sure his suspicisions were correct. He then took his wand off of her body and flicked the lights back on. He then used some spell to reverse the first one, making Hermione completely able to move again.

"Hermione, can you please try and sit up?"

With no extra strength needed Hermione sat up straight. Most others who had just gone through this operation would not be able to sit up so simply. He made his wand a flashlight and re-examined Hermione's body, making sure the spell didn't damage it.

"Well… I think I have found out what may have happened to you." The healer announced.

"What sir?" Harry asked, wanting to know the answer to a question that had been stumping him for some time now.

Hermione still had Harry's hand in her's and Harry could feel the grip tighten once more. Harry now joined Hermione on top of the operation table, right next to her.

"To make a long story short, you were poisoned." The healer said, putting things into very simple terms so they could understand him. "At least, that's my best theory."

Hermione and Harry just sat there, taking this all in. Harry looked over at Hermione, wanting to see her expression and reaction.

"How could I have been poisoned?"

"Well… someone may have made this as a potion. Then, by the looks of it, they snuck it into your food and drinks."

"Wouldn't that have shown up the first time you examined me?" Hermione asked.

"Not necessarily. You see, there are some materials that can go into potions that can not be detectable at all, only in thrall examinations."

"Can you… Do you know if they've stop doing it, poisoning me, that is?"

The healer thought for a moment, he was quite unsure of the answer.

"That is a really tricky question. I'm not quite sure of the answer. The fact that I did find a trace of the poison in your body makes me unsure if you still are being poisoned. See, when you had the attack it was many weeks ago, I don't know why there would still be any poison left at all. But then again, the trace of poison was so small, that it could be left from before the attack. It has to stay into your body until it deteriorates into nothing, and I think that is the process it might still be in."

"Is there anyway to stop this?" Harry asked.

"Not really. The only way to stop this would be to track down the culprit and get him in Azkaban. Maybe the minister could help you. Besides that, there is nothing you could do."

"The minister would put anyone in Azkaban for us now; we're not on exactly good terms with him."

"Well, he can't just ignore something like this. He will have to do something about it, or else it won't look good for him."

"Yeah, I guess." Hermione said softly. She really didn't want to talk to the minister, not since everything that had happened. But, knowing Harry so well, she knew he would definitely want her to go and talk to him, since he might be the only one who could help save her.

It was late at night and two people were still wide awake inside the house. The light was dimmed just right, making it a sweet romantic setting. Ron was sitting in a chair in Lavender's living room, completely enjoying himself. Lavender was sitting across his lap with her arm around her neck. Ron was grinning hysterically and every few minutes they would lean in and kiss each other. This would usually form a long make out session, which was followed by silence.

"Um... Ron, can I talk to you about something?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure, anything honey." He then placed a kiss on top of her forehead.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come and live with me." She said.

She then took a deep breath. There was a small short silence, which made her believe he was going to say no.

"Of course I want to." Ron said happily. He would love to wake up to her face every morning.

"Good" She said.

Ron the thought about something. "But I will have to run this by Harry and Hermione first, giving them somewhat of a notice since they let me run in with them."

"That's fine, as long as I am finally going to have you here with me."

An- Alright, finally, another chapter done. This one was pretty long, since I haven't updated in such a long time. The next chapter will be up soon, I promise.

Please Review

Kelly