Harry kissed his way heatedly down Ginny's neck. He felt that if he loved her enough maybe, just maybe, all the terrible things he'd done over the past few days would just disappear. But as he pulled her closer, Ginny pushed back, a hand over her mouth.
"Ginny, are you ok?" Harry asked, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. She retched slightly, shot him a panicked expression and ran out of the room.
---
"Oh don't jump to conclusions, Arthur," Mrs Weasley said, trying to make herself comfortable. She fluffed up her pillows and drew the knitted blanket up around her chin.
"Don't jump to…Molly! The door was locked, the shower was on, Ginny and Harry were both in there, what do you expect me to think?" Mr Weasley threw the covers off of him and swung his legs down onto the floor. "I'm going to have a word with Harry," Mr Weasley fumed, tying his dressing gown tight around him.
"Oh Arthur don't be ridiculous, Ginny's old enough to decide what she wants."
"And we both know what Harry wants, what any teenage boy wants."
"You're forgetting who we're talking about, Arthur. This is Harry. Now just calm down and come back to bed."
However, Mr Weasley didn't calm down. Shooting his wife a stern look, he pulled open the door and left their bedroom in a huff.
---
Ginny was bent over the bathroom sink, coughing into her hand. Her body convulsed and she doubled over, retching and coughing hard. Pulling her hand away, she saw a pool of dark red blood in her hand. Harry was knocking on the door, but she didn't unlock it. She didn't want him to worry.
"Harry I'm fine, go away."
"Ginny love? It's Dad, let me in."
Ginny quickly washed her hand off, wiped the tears from her face and opened the door. Mr Weasley stood in the doorway looking extremely worried. "What's wrong love?" He could see she had been sick, and stepped forward to help her.
"Daddy," Ginny whispered, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into her father's arms.
Mr and Mrs Weasley sat in the corridor of St Mungos, outside Ginny's room. It was two o'clock in the morning, and Mrs Weasley had told the others to stay home when the Mediwizards arrived at the Burrow to pick Ginny up. After what seemed like an age, the head Healer, Mr Albert Fitzgerald stepped out of the room, a grim expression on his face.
"If you'd like to come in now, Mr and Mrs Weasley," he said, holding the door open for them. Exchanging scared glances, they rose from their seats and went into the dimly lit room. Ginny was asleep on the bed, magical instruments monitoring her heart rate and breathing.
"Will she be ok, Healer Fitzgerald?" Mrs Weasley asked, squeezing her husband's hand very hard.
Fitzgerald looked extremely sombre and told them to sit down. They did so, eyes wide, waiting to hear the worst news.
"We're going to have to do some more tests, but she was still coughing up rather a lot of blood before she fell asleep. I'm not going to lie: we're quite worried. We think she may have pneumonia or even tuberculosis." He handed Mrs Weasley a clean handkerchief to wipe her streaming eyes. "Those we can cure, if we've caught it in time. However, there is a muggle disease, rarely reported in wizards, but it is possible…"
"What is it?" choked out Mr Weasley.
Fitzgerald paused and looked from one to the other. Then he sighed and said, "It's a possibility that she has somehow contracted lung cancer."
---
When they arrived home, Mr and Mrs Weasley were met by the whole Weasley family, Hermione and Harry, all waiting in the living room, looking extremely worried. George and Fred jumped up to take there cloaks and hats.
"Well?" Bill asked, squeezing the very pregnant Fleur's hand. "What's wrong? Will she be ok?"
Mr Weasley looked around at all the anxious faces and slowly shrugged his shoulders. "They don't know yet what's wrong. They're going to do some more tests and find out."
"I want to go and see her," Ron said, getting up from the couch.
"It's three o'clock in the morning, Ron!" Mrs Weasley said, rubbing her tear-streaked face. "We can all go back down in the morning." Ron looked at his mother and knew there was something they weren't telling: he hadn't seen them so upset since Bill had been mauled last year.
An hour later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were still sitting around the fire in the living room. The sky had turned grey and dawn was coming.
"I'm sure she's fine, Harry," Hermione whispered, trying not to wake Ron who had just dozed off, his head resting on her shoulder. Harry just shrugged so she said, "If she was really sick, they would have said something."
"Oh come on Hermione! You saw their faces! Something's terribly wrong."
Hermione didn't say anything for a while, just gazed into the dying embers of the fireplace. "Harry, if she's really sick, I won't go to America. I'll stay here."
"Why are you going to America?" Ron asked. Clearly he hadn't been as asleep as they both thought. Harry got up and went outside, leaving them to talk. He needed some fresh air. Well, what he really needed was to see Ginny, to make sure she was ok. Making up his mind, he stuck his head through the open window.
"I'm off to St Mungos," he told Hermione and Ron, who seemed to be having a heated discussion. "I'll see you later." They didn't argue with him, so he walked off to a safe distance and disapparated with a pop.
---
Ginny was fast asleep when Harry arrived. The welcoming witch had been reluctant to let Harry see her, as she was in the 'critical condition' ward, but he managed to convince her with an autograph and a reluctant photo together. The sun had just risen when Ginny's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was Harry, sitting by her bed and reading a very old Witch Weekly.
"Hey you," she whispered. He looked up and smiled at her, tucking a lock of flaming red hair behind her ear.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes. "I feel perfectly fine, I wish they'd let me go." She took his hand in hers. "I didn't want to be away from you last night."
Harry laughed. "Ah, we can make up for that, my love. So this isn't going to be a recurring thing is it?" he asked, a joking expression covering up his worry. "I kiss you and you throw up? Because I might just have to find myself a new girl if that carries on."
Ginny laughed, but it turned into a cough. She tried to hide the blood in her left hand but Harry saw and the goofy grin slipped off his face. "I'm ok, Harry," she whispered, trying to stop the tears from coming. She hated seeing him so worried. "I just feel a bit nauseous and my chest hurts, that's all."
Harry nodded, and took her right hand in his. Massaging her fingers gently, he said, "We'll get through whatever this is together, ok? Even if you do throw up each time you look at me."
Ginny chuckled. "Stop making me laugh Harry, it hurts."
Just as Harry was apologising, the door opened and Healer Fitzgerald came in. "Bit early for visiting hours isn't it?" He froze when he saw the reopened gash oh Harry's forehead though. "Well call me a hippogriff and serve me up for lunch, you must be Harry Potter."
Harry let go of Ginny's hand and shook Fitzgerald's, trying to smile but unable to.
"I have some questions for Miss Weasley, if you wouldn't mind leaving, Mr Potter."
Harry began to rise from his chair but Ginny pulled him back down. "I'd rather he stayed, if that's ok."
Healer Fitzgerald just shrugged and conjured up another chair. "Alright then. Now your mother told me last night that you had the flu last week, is that correct?"
"I had a fever and a bit of a cough," said Ginny, shooting Harry a sideways glance. He patted her arm and smiled. To her surprise, Fitzgerald smiled as well. He quickly wrote something down on a piece of parchment then laid his quill down.
"You were coughing a lot?" he asked. Ginny shrugged and nodded. Standing up, Fitzgerald rummaged through his pockets and took out a funny looking metal instrument. He held it to Ginny's chest and told her to take deep breaths. "Ah ha," he said, putting the metal instrument back in his pocket. "I should have checked earlier, but with the fainting and nausea…anyway, no matter now."
"What's wrong Healer?" Harry asked.
"Miss Weasley, you've ruptured a blood vessel in your right lung which accounts for the accumulation of blood in the said lung. It may also have caused the fainting last night. It can be easily fixed, so don't worry about that."
Ginny let out a relieved sigh. "That's all? You said I might have cancer! What about the vomiting and nausea?"
Fitzgerald bit his lip and sat back down. "Well, I haven't run any tests for this yet, but…is there any possibility that you could be pregnant?"
Ok so maybe this is a bit cliche but it's the only thing i could think of to get the story to go where i want it to. any advice for an upcoming HG scene would be great as i'm a bit stuck there. thanks for reading and please please please review! Thanks to Jennifer Duesbee for her reviews and to everyone else as well!