Recuperation
Hermione and Neville were doing rounds with Healer Kalra on the spell damage ward and while Hermione was taking pages of notes Neville was simply asking question after question about procedures.
"So I love that you are both invested in this specialty, I really do," Healer Kalra said as he scratched his neat black beard with the tip of his wand, causing a bright yellow streak to appear in it, "but we are going to have to get some work done today as well as learning."
"Oh of course sir," Hermione said as she put her quill away and began to roll up the scroll of parchment she had been scribbling on.
"Sorry sir," Neville said as he lowered his head and shuffled his feet.
"No don't be sorry, enthusiasm is always a good thing but right now I have to set you some demoralising menial tasks," Healer Kalra grinned pleasantly, "Longbottom I need you to administer a full body dressing change to our mummified friend over there and swab all weeping areas with eucalyptus ointment before seeing to Mrs Richardson's feet with a buttercup preparation. The ingredients for that are all sitting at the foot of her bed and I expect you to be done with all that by noon alright?"
Neville looked as if he had just been asked to walk a tightrope backwards while juggling Hagrid and his brother Grawp. He gulped once and nodded.
"Well off you go then chop chop!" Healer Kalra clapped his hands and Neville rushed away to begin unwinding yards of bandages from the wizard laying in the nearest bed, while Hermione became the focus of her mentor's attention, "You Miss Granger will be on the same time limit but one ward over, the closed ward, where you will be giving the female patients bed baths. This has to be done the muggle way I'm afraid, one of our patents is being shipped off to Cumbria this afternoon so no magic is allowed in the closed ward for the time being. Once you've done that I want potions distributed to all patients and I'm afraid we have a lice problem so I'll need you to do some scalp examinations of all patients and staff working on that ward."
Healer Kalra gave Hermione a look of sympathy and patted her on the back.
"I know dear but we've all had to do it at one time or the other. You and Mr Longbottom are on the bottom rung of the ladder and that's where all the crap falls if you pardon my French."
Hermione forced a smile onto her face and gave a confident nod before setting off to the ward next door and bracing herself for a thoroughly nasty morning's work.
Ron was stuffing his face with the exceptionally delicious breakfast Mrs Weasley had just made for the two of them while Harry scoured the Daily Prophet for the latest fabricated story about him.
"Are you sure that's enough for you Harry dear?" Mrs Weasley fussed while Ron refilled his glass of orange juice until it was practically overflowing.
"I'm stuffed really Mrs Weasley, thank you," Harry smiled.
She smiled down at him before turning to watch Ron downing half the juice in one gulp.
"I suppose I'm comparing how much you eat to this one aren't I?" she chuckled while ruffling Ron's hair in that way that thoroughly annoyed him, "So are you going to meet Hermione and Neville to see how Healer training is going?"
Ron nodded and pointed at Harry before bringing his fingers together.
"Oh you're going with him Harry dear?" Mrs Weasley smiled.
"Yeah I haven't seen Neville in ages, not since I got out of St Mungo's myself actually," Harry nodded and saw Ron smirking at him and pointing at him before bringing the fingers of both hands together and then pulling them apart and bringing his hands together to form a triangular shape. Harry huffed and rolled his eyes, "I'm not getting homesick for the place!"
Ron swallowed his mouthful and raised both his eyebrows smugly. Harry and Mrs Weasley laughed and Ron polished off the rest of his fruit juice before carrying his empty plate over to the sink. The one thing that had changed for the better due to Ron having to use sign language was the fact he no longer talked with his mouth full. Well he did talk, he signed, but that wasn't nearly as gross as when he was opening and closing his mouth while it was stuffed full of pumpkin pasties.
"Now Harry I was thinking," Mrs Weasley began as Ron washed up his plate and tossed Errol the family owl some scraps from his breakfast, "we've got so many empty rooms now that most of the boys have moved out. Well it's silly that you and Ron are still sharing his little room isn't it? Do you want to move into Bill or Charlie's? You could take a look after lunch when I've finished clearing them both out."
Harry's eyes met Ron's while Mrs Weasley babbled on about living arrangements and Ron shook his head uncomfortably so Harry held his tongue for the time being. The truth of the matter was that Ron and Harry had been talking about the impracticality of them both living in Ron's childhood bedroom and the possibility of them getting a flat together. Harry knew that Mrs Weasley would tell him he wasn't ready to set up home by himself so soon after being released from St Mungo's and she would be positively adamant that Ron was going nowhere.
It was true that Ron probably shouldn't live on his own, not for a while at least, but if they got a place on Diagon Alley then they'd be near the twins and Gringotts so Bill and Fleur could stop by after work and Harry was kind of enjoying his position as Ron's unofficial translator when they went out and about. He also liked spending as much time as possible with Ron. He still felt as if he owed him so much and it just felt wrong when either of them went off somewhere on their own.
Harry turned his attention back to the Prophet and scanned the editorial for his or Ron's names. Today seemed to be a Potter Weasley tragedy free day. It was one thing to be pitied for what had happened to the both of them on that day but at least it was nothing near as bad as the accusatory stories about Harry Potter nearly killing his 'expendable' friend at Voldemort's orders. The story from the Prophet's point of view was one of the poor loyal friend who was butchered in the war of wills between Voldemort and Harry. He was the poor innocent who almost died and lost his ability to speak. He was the red head you could spot around London, Hogsmede and Ottery St Catchpole with the ugly great scar across his throat.
Harry was the boy who lived. Harry was the boy who defeated the dark lord. Harry was the boy who slashed his best friend's throat wide open under the Imperius curse and then went insane with guilt. Harry was being avoided like the plague for being a nutter.
"Well there is Percy's room but I still wouldn't trust myself to clean up that mess. I still think some of Fred and George's booby traps are active so I wouldn't feel safe just running a cleaning spell over the place let alone moving you in Harry dear," Mrs Weasley chattered on.
Ron cleared his throat and his mother stopped talking and looked up at him. Ron shrugged and pointed at his eye. He was telling his mother 'We'll see' and she smiled and nodded at him before Ron turned to Harry and made two fists with the index fingers pointing upwards and brought them together before sliding his right palm over his left, the sign for the letter 'H'. Harry nodded and got up from the table.
"You're right, we'd better go and meet Hermione. Thanks for breakfast Mrs Weasley."
Mrs Weasley smiled and hugged Harry before planting a kiss on his cheek.
"Give her my love won't you? Neville too, you should ask him over for Sunday lunch when you see him Ron," Mrs Weasley said as she hugged Ron and kissed him on both cheeks.
Ron wiped his face and rolled his eyes.
"Oh stop it you," she huffed as she slapped her son gently on the arm, "you know you'd miss it if I stopped doing it."
Ron grinned at Harry and put his hand to his armpit.
"It is not gross Ronald Weasley!"
Harry couldn't stop himself from laughing. This was the down side of Ron having to communicate with sign language. There was no such thing as whispering anymore, if you were looking at him you could see exactly what he was saying. Mrs Weasley's face suddenly fell a little and she spoke softly into Ron's ear, Harry could hear her and wished he hadn't been able to.
"Just ignore them all okay? If they stare at you just let them stare and don't let anybody talk to you as if you're stupid. They're the stupid ones you hear?" she smiled a watery smile and Ron nodded.
Mrs Weasley wiped her face quickly and shoved Ron towards Harry who was waiting at the back door so they could step outside and disapparate. Ron paused before leaving and gave his mother another hug and a kiss on the forehead before smiling at her reassuringly and shaking his head and letting his hands hover on either side of it.
"I won't worry, I promise, have a nice afternoon boys."
Harry gave Mrs Weasley a wave and he and Ron stepped out into the yard and closed the door behind them.
Hermione was applying cold cream to her chapped hands after the dozen or so bed baths she had just given and began to question her desire to work in the healing industry at all.
"Miss Granger I was wondering if you would be so kind as to wait in the closed ward with young Mr Kemp here," Healer Kalra asked her with a smile that suggested there was no other answer to this question other than 'yes', "his escort to the non-magical treatment facility in Cumbria will be here soon and I'm sure he'd appreciate the company."
While Hermione smiled Healer Kalra strode away purposefully, no doubt to give Neville something else to do that would do nothing to improve his day so far. She stepped back inside the closed ward and wandered over to the young wizard called Kemp and sat beside him.
"So Mr Kemp," she smiled warmly as the wizard flinched and cowered away from her, "I hear that Cumbria's beautiful, you're so lucky."
Kemp snorted nervously.
"Huh, lucky," he shuddered and hugged his arms to himself.
Hermione had been told Kemp's story from the medi witch in charge of the closed ward for the weekend. He had been recruited by the Death Eaters to join their ranks but had refused to partake in killing so his whole family was murdered before his eyes and his memory was modified so he had no recollection of the magical world or of his own ability to perform magic. When the war ended Kemp had been living happily for years in the muggle world as a member of muggle society and when his uncle had tracked him down to take him home he had had something of a breakdown. The modification of his memory and the torment of seeing his family slain on top of being ripped from the only world he felt comfortable and safe in and rendered him a gibbering wreck and his uncle had signed the forms to admit his nephew into the muggle style wizarding facility in an attempt to regain his old self.
Hermione wasn't sure he ever would after what she'd seen of him so far. Not even Neville held out much hope and he was always optimistic when it came to brain trauma.
After trying and failing to make conversation for fifteen minutes a nurse from Cumbria arrived, a woman called Stour, and coaxed Kemp out of his chair and into the supportive arms of the two strong helpers she had with her.
"We'll floo you to the nearest point we can get to the magic free zone and that's the last magical thing you'll ever have to do if you choose alright?" she smiled at him warmly.
Kemp shuddered at the thought of flooing but nodded and was led away quietly.
"Oh good," nurse Stour sighed as she turned to face Hermione with a relieved smile, "I hate it when they have to be taken by force, it's so upsetting."
"I can imagine," Hermione nodded before holding out her hand and introducing herself, "I'm Hermione Granger."
"Medi witch or healer?" nurse Stour asked as she took Hermione's hand.
"Neither, I'm a trainee healer right now. I'm hoping to specialise in re-growth of tissue and organs."
Just as nurse Stour was about to respond to this information Hermione's face lit up to see Neville walking with Harry and Ron and explaining to them about his awful day so far.
"Oh nurse Stour," Hermione said as she pointed over the woman's shoulder, "this is my fellow trainee Neville Longbottom, he wants to specialise in mind and brain trauma, memories and the like..."
"Oh," nurse Stour raised both eyebrows and eagerly shook Neville's hand, "very pleased to meet you. It's good to know that the new blood are looking into such neglected fields of healing."
Neville almost blushed and mumbled something while Harry grinned at him and gave him a shove of encouragement to take the compliment properly. Nurse Stour then turned to Harry and Ron and extended her hand to each of them while introducing herself.
"Hello I'm nurse Stour from the non-magical treatment facility in Cumbria, so very nice to meet you both. What is it you hope to specialise in?"
Harry paled suddenly and Ron cast a bemused grin between Hermione and Harry before nudging Harry to explain for the two of them.
"Oh well we're not...we don't..." Harry stammered until Hermione stepped in to rescue him.
"They don't work here at St Mungo's nurse Stour, they're here to see me. This is my best friend Harry and this is my...Ron," Hermione couldn't help but flush in the cheeks.
She wasn't embarrassed about Ron being her boyfriend but she still felt a little light-headed whenever anybody referred to the two of them as a couple for some reason. It was as if she couldn't quite believe her luck. This wasn't only because Ron was ultimately the hardest young wizard to snare due to his thick headedness as far as women were concerned but also the fact that he had very nearly bled to death in her arms not so long ago and she still woke up every morning and reminded herself out loud that he was still here.
"Your very own Ron eh?" nurse Stour seemed to be teasing the young trainee healer while Ron silently chuckled and Harry and Neville couldn't look anywhere without smirking, "I've always wanted one of those, where exactly did you get him?"
Ron made a gripping motion towards his chest before pointing at Hermione and waved one hand over his shoulder with a smirk.
"He says," Hermione began to translate but seemed to be blushing more furiously then ever before.
Harry shook his head and stepped in on her behalf.
"He says that he's belonged to her for ages now," Harry looked back at Ron who was snatching something away from his face before tapping his fingers into his open palm and grinning wickedly, "but she forgot to pay!"
Hermione couldn't help herself but laugh and slapped her boyfriend on the arm while he pretended to cower away from 'his mistress'.
"I pay for you every day Ron Weasley!" Hermione said as the fierce blush mellowed out into a soft pink glow on both cheeks, "With my sanity."
Ron rolled his eyes and tapped the side of his head with his thumb, the sign for 'I know', and the three old room mates told her they would meet her at the cafeteria as soon as she was done. Hermione and nurse Stour watched them leave, the two dark haired boys laughing at something the red head had just signed before answering him at the same time and disappearing around a corner out of sight.
"Sorry, I said I'd meet them for lunch," Hermione began to explain but saw the thoughtful look on the nurse's face, "What's the matter?"
"Ron Weasley?" the nurse frowned and Hermione knew immediately that the nurse was putting two and two together, "and your friend Harry? That's Harry Potter isn't it?"
"Does it matter?" Hermione straightened up and answered defensively.
The nurse broke into a soft smile and shook her head.
"Of course not. The thing is I was about to ask you why your...Ron couldn't speak but as soon as you said his name..."
"You knew the story," Hermione finished the woman's sentence.
"Well yes I did," she nodded sadly, "It's good to see those boys together and happy like that. There was a time when St Mungo's were talking to us about admitting Mr Potter. He really closed off with all the guilt didn't he?"
Hermione let out a deep sigh and nodded.
"Yes, it was very hard for quite a while, nobody could get through to him. Well Ron could, it was Ron who brought him back in the end."
Nurse Stour nodded thoughtfully and looked back down the corridor to where the three figures had left her sight.
"He has a powerful voice your Ron doesn't he?"
Hermione blinked and looked into the woman's understanding eyes.
"Yes," she said in awe at a stranger's ability to see this quality in Ron.
"What is it that he does for a living Miss Granger?" nurse Stour asked as she turned away from the empty corridor to look back into Hermione's wide eyes.
"Um, well he doesn't, the only thing he can really do is get straight into the Auror programme as an Auror or a teacher. He has an amazing proficiency in non-verbal magic now...obviously, and they know that he'd be great but..." Hermione tailed off and looked down at her feet sadly.
"He's seen too much spell damage to last him a lifetime?" nurse Stour offered.
Hermione nodded and felt her eyes burning slightly. She struggled not to blink and make it noticeable.
"Well maybe he could help me out at the clinic, just on a trial basis, I don't like the fellow we've got at the moment. All he wants is to publish his findings and hardly seems to listen to the patients at all."
Hermione's stomach did a back flip inside her. Was this woman talking about giving Ron a job? Was this woman talking about giving Ron a job helping people damaged by magic? She had to restrain herself from running all the way down to the cafeteria to give him the wonderful news right there and then.
"He might not be interested though," nurse Stour muttered to herself, "and it might not work out due to his lack of professional training but..."
Hermione swallowed and drew herself up to her full height to look the nurse in the eye.
"You said the wizard you have at the moment isn't satisfactory and I bet he's fully qualified isn't he?"
Nurse Stour laughed and patted Hermione on the shoulder.
"Don't worry Miss Granger, I'm not trying to talk myself out of a good idea. I just think I should talk to your Ron about it don't you?"
Hermione tried to quell the eruption of joy and excitement bubbling up from inside her and gave the smallest of nods.
"Would you ask him to meet me after you finish your lunch together, and you may have to ask one of his translators as well, I'm afraid I can't..."
"No it's no problem, Harry won't mind, I think he quite enjoys it to be honest, he likes to be of use to Ron after," Hermione didn't want to say 'after being the one who took his voice in the first place', "all he did to help him while he was in the hospital."
"Good," nurse Stour said with a grin as she rubbed her hands together, "now I'll just send word to the clinic that I'll be gone a little longer, you enjoy your lunch with your friends and 'your Ron' and I'll have a chat with him when he comes back."
Hermione almost skipped down to the cafeteria.
Ron stared at the nurse who sat across from him and Harry and gaped with shock. He began signing frantically and Harry could barely keep up with him.
"I think you misunderstood what I did for Harry. I only made a difference with him because he was my friend," Harry paused in his translation and scowled at Ron, "hey that's not true!" Ron wasn't pausing from his signing however and Harry had to continue despite wanting to correct his best and stupidest friend, "I won't be able to help strangers. I can't even talk to anybody who doesn't understand sign language."
"I don't understand sign language and you're talking to me Ron," nurse Stour said as she sat back in her chair and folded her arms smugly.
Ron looked almost annoyed at this but Harry smiled.
"She's got a point there mate."
Ron made a fist with his index finger extended and pounded it over his heart.
"Why?" Harry continued translating.
He watched as his friend shook his head while pointing at it and then tapped his temple with his thumb and then stroking the underside of his chin with the back of his hand.
"I don't think I know enough," Harry translated sadly and restrained himself from punching Ron in the arm.
"What is it you think you need to know to be able to help these people Ron?" nurse Stour said as she sat forward and leaned over the desk attentively.
Ron huffed and knocked on the top of his head.
"There's two meanings to that sign Ron and I don't like either of them!" Harry snapped at his best friend.
Nurse Stour looked concerned and cast her gaze from one young wizard to the other before Harry looked at her and translated for the friend who had clearly just angered him quite a lot.
"He just made the sign for dumb."
Ron looked down at his feet; seemingly unable to meet either pair of eyes that were focused so intensely on him and Harry jumped up from his chair and began to pace up and down angrily.
"Number one you great pillock," he began to rant, "you are not stupid and I'm bloody sick of hearing you say that you are and number two, you are articulate enough to piss me off just as well as you ever did so you being a mute shouldn't even factor into your decision to give this a go."
"He's right Ron, I'm hoping to ask Mr Potter here if he wouldn't mind being employed as your official translator if you were willing to join us, even if it was only on a temporary basis," nurse Stour added.
Ron swallowed and looked up at the nurse with a blink of comprehension at what she had just said. He pointed over his shoulder at the fuming Harry and made two fists with extended index fingers and brought them together with a frown on his face.
"Um," nurse Stour looked up to Harry for a translation.
"He's asking you for confirmation of what you just said. I'm coming with him if he goes?"
"Of course," nurse Stour nodded eagerly and Ron blew air out of his lungs and ran both his hands through his hair thoughtfully.
"I know what you're thinking," Harry snapped and sat down at his friend's side with a determined look on his face, "and don't make this decision on the basis of getting me a job. Make this decision because it's what you want to do and because you know your good enough to do it well. You're more than good enough Ron."
Ron looked into Harry's eyes and placed both hands in front of his stomach with his fingers pointing upwards.
"If you weren't a good leader or a good communicator or a great confident then why the hell did Dumbledore make you a prefect?" Harry demanded.
Ron twirled his finger around in circles at the side of his head and Harry laughed loudly.
"He was not crazy!"
Ron laughed too and nurse Stour smiled and let out a sigh before getting up from her desk and moving around to stand before Ron.
"Why don't you both come back there with me now and look around. You can meet a few of the patients and see what you think before you make a decision. What do you say Ron?"
Ron looked at Harry, who was still smiling at his best friend with all the faith in the world in him to be able to do whatever he wanted to do, and nodded.
Ron and Harry walked along the corridors of the Cumbrian treatment facility with a little discomfort. It wasn't because of nerves or fear of the patients, it was knowing that they were without their wands and magic for the first time since they were both eleven years old. Even the environment was non-magical. At least Harry had to spend his summers that way and was kind of used to the adjustment, in fact he seemed to be relaxing more and more with every stop they made on their tour, but Ron was uneasy about this and the feeling wasn't going away.
"We've been an active treatment facility ever since the end of the first war against You-Know-Who and, although things slowed down considerably between the wars, we've been going strong ever since," nurse Stour said as she led them into the day room where, they were told, most of the patients would be that afternoon.
Ron could understand now, in that room surrounded by that many witches and wizards, why Harry was warming to the place. Not one of them seemed to know or care who he was. He wasn't Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world. He wasn't Harry Potter, the boy who lived. He wasn't even Harry Potter the poor kid who slashed his best friend's throat under the Imperius curse and then went crazy with guilt and had to be locked away. He was just Harry, the scruffy looking guy who was translating for the equally scruffy looking mute guy.
Ron smiled as he saw his friends ease and relaxation, not only could he give him a job but also an environment he actually liked being in. The only thing getting in the way of him taking this job was his own insecurities.
"This is Kelly, she comes and goes a lot, she's just bounced back after deciding that she wanted to take a stroll down Diagon Alley after we agreed that she would be better off living in the muggle world for a few months first," Stour said with a disapproving shake of the head at the olive skinned girl with grey hairs streaking her black curly hair and lines deep in her young face, "over here we have the patients who are recovering from the Cruciatus torture. They didn't quite descend into madness but they have a fear of wands now, can't hold one, can't be in the room when somebody else is holding one, they'll all probably become muggles when they eventually recover."
Harry and Ron shared a glance before following Stour deeper into the room where she paused beside an unshaven man in his late twenties who looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and would gladly hit you with it if you annoyed him enough.
"This fellow doesn't have a name, not one that he'll tell us anyway, he has had to be removed from magical society for both his and the public's safety. He'll probably never be able to leave this clinic for the rest of his life I'm afraid, hence the permanent look of annoyance on his face."
Ron made a fist with an extended index finger and hit his chest over his heart with it pointing at the sullen wizard and put his wrists together and jerked them downwards before motioning to his surroundings. Stour looked at Harry.
"Why is he stuck here?" Harry translated.
"He's a magic sapper," nurse Stour sighed with a shake of the head, "poor lad just drains magic involuntarily from anything he comes into contact with. Sometimes he doesn't even have to touch it. It's an extremely rare but very destructive condition. There's been no other cases of it in the last two hundred years or so."
Nurse Stour gestured for them to continue on with her and Harry followed while Ron cast another glance down at the nameless 'sapper' who was staring at him as if considering Ron to see if he was a friend or foe. Just as Ron made to follow the others the sapper lifted his hand and gave Ron a small wave. Ron smiled and waved back; this guy obviously thought Ron was deaf too.
Why did everybody make that assumption?
As Ron passed the sapper and left the room he bumped into the doorframe and Harry turned around to see what the soft thudding noise was.
"You alright Ron? Watch where you're going mate," he smiled worriedly.
Ron smiled and shrugged before pointing at himself between the eyes and pushing his hands in a downward motion and pointing at nurse Stour. Harry took a step back towards him and took Ron's elbow.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked as he stared deep into Ron's eyes.
"What is it?" nurse Stour said as she too came back to see what the hold up was.
"He just asked if you wouldn't mind him sitting this next part of the tour out," Harry said before looking back at Ron anxiously as he made a rapid movement around his head and smiled and shrugged again, "I think he's just a little dizzy that's all."
The nurse smiled and gestured to an empty side room for Ron to go and wait for them.
"Of course, I forget that the altitude gets to newcomers sometimes, every other visitor to this place tends to get a little light headed when they first arrive. Is it like a head rush from getting up too fast?"
Ron nodded as he sat down and Stour looked relieved that that was all it was and gave a slight chuckle.
"Well don't let that put you off Ron, you do get acclimatised to it eventually. I'll just show Mr Potter the treatment rooms and we'll be back in two minutes tops alright?"
Ron nodded and waved them to continue. Harry grinned and seemed to stop worrying at this.
"If you need anything or you'd like one of the staff to bring you something to drink just push that red button on the wall there okay?" Stour said as she indicated something called a panic button and Ron nodded and shooed them both away with an impatient huff. This made Harry laugh out loud and the two of them departed without another word.
Ron closed his eyes and realised that the dizziness had long gone. It really was nothing more than a split second head rush after all. His eyes opened again on hearing a tapping outside the room and he watched as a comically misshapen girl felt her way along the corridor with a white stick. Ron would have offered to help her but Harry wasn't there to do it for him and he wasn't sure how this patient would take to a silent stranger suddenly grabbing her by the arm so he made the only sound he could and cleared his throat.
"Who's there?" the girl said as she turned her head towards the sound.
Ron found himself shrugging and looking to the ceiling. How the hell was he supposed to communicate with a blind person? This was exactly the kind of obstacle he was worried about as far as this job was concerned. He got up from the chair, deliberately scraping it loudly against the floor and walking heavily over to her so she knew that he was there.
"Who are you? Are you a patient?"
Ron thought fast and was left with the most basic form of communication he could think of, the same one he and Hermione had used when he first woke up in St Mungo's after the final battle. He gently tapped the girl's shoulder twice.
She jumped with fright and Ron tried to lean over her shoulder to wave for Harry or Stour to come and explain the situation to this poor girl but she seemed to have composed herself again.
"Are you still there?" she said tentatively.
Ron swallowed and took a chance again. He tapped her shoulder once.
"Are you a patient?"
He tapped twice and the girl smiled.
"Is it one tap for yes and two for no?"
Ron heaved a relieved sigh and tapped her once again.
"Okay good, now we're getting somewhere," she said with a smile as she tapped her way further into the room and reached up to feel for Ron's face, "Can't you talk?"
Ron tapped her shoulder twice and she gave a nod of understanding as her fingers found his long nose and her hands settled upon his cheeks.
"Ah there you are," she said as she traced a tactile picture of the person she was talking to into her mind, "you're young aren't you?"
Ron didn't know what she meant by that. He wouldn't say he was old but this girl had to be around about the same age as him, maybe a little older, and he wouldn't say he was young in comparison to her. He found himself shrugging and giving a single tap on her shoulder. Her hands were lifting away from his face now and about to drop back down when one of her fingers glided across the prominent scar across his neck and her breath caught in the back of her throat.
"Oh dear, this feels nasty, is this why you can't talk?"
Ron gave another single tap on the girl's shoulder.
"I'm very sorry," she said with a frown as her hands fell back down to her sides and one hand gripped the white stick again, "was it Death Eaters?"
Ron didn't want to get into the whole story right then and there, especially without a translator present, so he just gave a single tap of confirmation.
The girl pointed at her sightless eyes.
"This was them too."
Ron had nothing to say to that, even if he could speak, so he just looked at his feet awkwardly.
"So I'm Jess, what's your name?" Jess immediately slapped herself on the forehead, "Oh listen to me, what's your name? I'm an idiot just ignore me."
She was laughing and Ron smiled and took her hand and turned it palm upwards before tracing the letters R.O.N. onto it with his finger very slowly.
"Ron?" Jess confirmed and he tapped her shoulder to let her know she had understood him correctly, "Well at least it was a short name or we'd have been here all day!" she laughed.
Ron laughed at this too but stopped when he saw Jess frowning.
"Are you laughing or did you just not find that very funny?"
Ron took Jess' hand again and lifted it to his face and grinned so she could feel it.
"Oh good, I thought I'd upset you."
He let her hand drop and gave her two short taps on the shoulder again.
"So you can't even laugh then?" Jess asked him sadly, "You don't make any noise when you laugh?"
Ron gave another two taps and she looked very unhappy.
"Oh Merlin, that's got to be worse than not being able to talk I reckon."
Ron's eyes shot wide open and realised that this girl seemed to get him. She seemed to know what kind of person he was and he hadn't even needed a translator to achieve that with her. He gave a single tap on her shoulder.
This was amazing; he'd had a conversation and even managed to tell somebody his name without signs or anybody to translate for him. Sure it was incredibly difficult and frustrating but he could do it. He wasn't totally incapable of talking on his own after all. He was talking to a blind person without making a sound.
Jess had been about to say something more when two sets of footsteps sounded and she tapped her way back out of the room and looked towards the sound.
"Hello?"
"Hello Jess," nurse Stour said warmly before spotting Ron following her out with a smile and her face fell, "Oh dear, Jess do you know that there was somebody in there with you?"
Jess looked slightly offended at this.
"I'm blind not stupid!"
Ron laughed at this, she sounded just like him when he was huffing about people treating him as if he was deaf. Harry noticed Ron's expression and smiled curiously at his best friend.
"No I know, I'm sorry Jess, it's just that Ron communicates with sign language so he wouldn't have been able to talk to you. I'd hate to think you thought you were being ignored," nurse Stour said as she took Jess' arm in readiness to guide her to where she was going.
"I know nurse Stour, we had quite a nice little chat, he got hurt by the Death Eaters just like me and now he can't talk," Ron's face fell when he saw Harry's do the same at the perpetrator of his attack being called a Death Eater, Ron was about to sign an explanation but Jess was still talking, "he says he's not a patient though."
"No Jess he's going to be working here, well hopefully anyway," Stour corrected herself with a glance towards Ron before going on, "and I was just showing him around the place."
"Coming to work here as a healer?" Jess asked excitedly.
"Well no, more like a replacement for your therapist Jess. Would you like to talk to Ron rather than him from now on?"
"Definitely!" Jess said with wide, scarred eyes and nurse Stour laughed just as Jess turned around to face the spot she had been communicating with Ron earlier, "Are you coming back again Ron? Are you coming back to work here?"
Ron looked from the still uneasy Harry over to the delighted nurse Stour before sighing and giving Jess a single tap on the shoulder. She squealed with joy and did a little hop before the beaming nurse Stour persuaded her to go back to her room for a rest.
Ron looked at Harry and his smile faded just as Harry began to adopt a false one of his own. Ron began to sign to his best friend that they had only been talking via 'yes' and 'no' and there was no way to explain about his injury without Harry there to help.
"Don't worry mate, I understand okay?" Harry said, still with that infuriating fake smile on his face.
Ron shook his head vigorously as he pointed at Harry before pounding on his chest with his fists.
"I know Ron okay, you don't have to keep telling me, I know it's not my fault but it was still me who did it and nothing can change that can it?" Harry shrugged before turning to walk away.
Ron silently growled and slammed his fist into the door beside him, causing a loud bang that made Harry spin around to stare at his angry friend while a couple of staff members ran to assist what they obviously thought was a distressed patient.
"No it's okay, he's just getting my attention," Harry explained to them with a hand raised to keep them both back, "he's got a rotten temper on him voice or no voice."
Ron narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest while Harry took a step closer and lowered his head guiltily.
"Listen I'm getting better about forgiving myself but Godric Ron you've got to give me time y'know? I came out of my self imposed funk for you didn't I?" Harry pleaded as he lifted his head and met Ron's softening glare, "I just need to get past the fact that a Death Eater didn't give you that scar, Voldemort didn't give you that scar, I gave it to you. You almost died at my hands Ron and it'll take time for me to be as okay with that as you are."
Ron tapped the side of his head with his thumb and gestured behind Harry with a smile.
"Yeah, let's go home and tell your mum that we've got a job," Harry smiled.
Ron sighed and knew that Harry was thinking the exact same thing he was. Now that they had an income they could move out and get their own place just like they wanted. Ron's mum wasn't going to like this news one little bit.