WeasleyGirl09 - Thanks a lot for the review! I had some struggle writing the Final Battle, so it's good someone liked it...or at least found it interesting.

ginny278 - Thanks for the review! I wrote it with the intention that Ron was having a nightmare about it.

Chapter 10

Ginny had rarely seen Ron get up so quickly.

"What!" Ron yelled.

"Shut up, Ron," Ginny hissed vehemently. "People are trying to sleep here."

Ron mumbled an apology.

"Look away, I only have boxers on," Ron directed Ginny. Ginny averted her eyes as Ron threw on some jeans and a tattered t-shirt, then barreled down the stairs without waiting for her. Ginny followed right behind.

Madame Pomfrey was tending to a flushed and sweating Hermione when the door slammed open to see, of course, Ron Weasley. Ron spared a glance for Pomfrey, but his eyes immediately went to Hermione.

"How is she? What's happening?" Ron asked Pomfrey while rushing over next to the bed.

"She's waking up," Pomfrey said. "But it doesn't appear to be immediate...perhaps if a loved one's voice...are her parents here?"

"They were Muggles," Ron said, his voice becoming much more sombre. "But they were killed over a year ago."

"You do it, Ron, you talk to her," Ginny suggested. Ron flushed but was glad that it was dark. He bent his head down closer to hers.

"Hermione," he said. "Hermione, it's Ron. Come on, Hermione, wake up. It's as if she's in a nightmare," Ron directed at Pomfrey.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she is."

Hermione was feverish, her lips were trembling, her eyes were fluttering open and shut, and she was rolling around slightly in her bed.

"Ron..." she murmured. Ron's breath was caught. She had heard him... "Don't - it hurts -" Hermione screamed suddenly, causing everybody to jump. Other patients in the wing stirred. Pomfrey looked flustered, but Ginny immediately drew her wand.

"Silencio!" she said immediately, and Hermione's screams didn't sound any more, though it was clear that she was still going through a horrible experience. In a way, it was far more traumatizing than hearing the screams themselves.

"Hermione!" Ron said with unusual intensity, gripping her shoulders. "Come on - you can make it - can't you do anything?"

Pomfrey shook her head. "There are no potions. Victims of Tarpist's Theorem - "

"- have to wait until they wake up naturally, yes," Ron snapped, obviously knowledgeable about the subject. Ginny's face was a mask of anguish and hope. Was there a possibility that Hermione, so close to waking, would now die? After all this time...

Hermione's screaming started to subdue itself, then suddenly, it stopped abruptly, and her eyes opened with a lucidity that they hadn't possessed previously.

Ginny lifted the Silencing Charm, hoping that this was a sign that she had now awoken.

"Hermione," Ron repeated again with anguish. "Talk to me."

There was a beat of silence, then finally -

"Ron," Hermione choked, then she burst into tears and pulled him right down to her, wrapping her arms around him and sobbing into his shoulder.

"Hermione - you're awake?"

"Ron, I can't remember - for such a long time," Hermione sobbed. "What - what's happened to me? I don't think I can see..."

Ginny stiffened with surprise, but Ron didn't seem to be surprised.

"It's a common effect for those who are victims of Tarpist's Sleep, your vision will regain soon," Ron explained. "At least...it does with most of the people who suffer from the side effect."

Hermione gasped. "Tarpist's...how long have I been out? And - oh Ron! - what happened to Harry? Did we win?"

Ron nearly cried to see the hopeful expression on Hermione's face.

"You've been out for a little over five months." Ron shuddered. "Harry - he's - Harry's dead." Ron felt tears sting his eyes and angrily brushed them away.

Hermione gasped, horrified. "No - he can't be -"

"Voldemort killed him," Ron said, choking. "Soon after you were hit."

"What - what's happened to me?"

"Don't worry about it," Ginny hushed, finally giving in to the incredibly strong temptation to speak.

"Ginny?"

"Yes. Hermione - are you alright?"

"Mostly," Hermione said, but a shudder betrayed her real thoughts. "I've had - nightmares - they're terrible -"

"It's okay, Hermione," said Ginny. "You're awake now."

"But you should get some sleep," said Ron. "And real sleep, now. We can talk later in the morning."

"Ron - what time is it?"

"It's 4:45 in the morning."

"Oh - well - I do feel very tired - but I need to know what's happening -"

"Drink this," Madame Pomfrey finally said, interrupting Hermione. "You're very tired and worn out. You need a nice, long, rest."

"What is this?" asked Hermione. "Dreamless sleep?"

"Yes."

Hermione shakily fumbled with the potion, as she hadn't regained any of her sight yet, and drank deeply from it. She fell asleep nearly instantly.

Ron gazed at her expression for a while, before Madame Pomfrey stopped his reverie.

"You should get your sleep, too, Mr. Weasley. And you, Miss Weasley. You're both very tired."

Ron looked as if he was about to disagree but left anyway, followed by Ginny.

"I couldn't sleep a bit," Ron confessed to Ginny, his voice unnaturally full of emotion. "I feel - too awake."

"Yes," Ginny agreed.

They paused for a moment.

"Some tea, perhaps?" Ron suggested.

Ginny giggled. "Alright."

The two were going into the kitchen when the front door crashed open, and two colossal steps were heard. It wasn't uncommon for operatives to enter in the night, so Ron and Ginny turned around, unsurprised, and were delighted at who they saw.

"Hagrid!" the two exclaimed in unison, and rushed over to meet him. Hagrid chuckled as they came and said hi to him, Ginny with a hug, Ron with a more masculine handshake.

"We didn't know you'd be coming back yet, Hagrid!" Ginny exclaimed.

Hagrid was most often out on diplomatic missions to giants that had not yet chosen a side, or trying to convince giants to turn over to their side. He was, unfortunately, mostly unsuccessful.

"Well, I don't make a point of telling people when I'm coming back, now," Hagrid grunted. "I'm bloody hungry, though, yeh know."

"Well, come on then," Ron remarked. "But Hagrid - you should know - Hermione's just woken up!"

"She has?" Hagrid said, startled. "Can I -?"

"No," said Ginny, glumly. "She's sleeping."

Hagrid looked perplexed. "But I thought yeh said -"

"I mean, she's sleeping regularly. She hasn't had a proper sleep in months."

"Oh," said Hagrid, though he looked unsure. "Well, alrigh'. I shoulda thought you guys woulda been asleep otherwise, eh?"

"We don't normally make a point of getting up this early, no," Ron confirmed. "Anyway, come on, we're about to have some tea."

"Ahh..." Hagrid sighed contentedly. "Been a good while since I had some good food."

"Well, we've got leftovers from yesterday's dinner," said Ginny. "Some steak sound good to you?"

"If your Mum's cooked it, anything's good to me," Hagrid said.

Ginny prepared some tea while Ron pillaged the kitchen to find enough food for Hagrid, who ate quite a lot, naturally.

"This enough, Hagrid?"

"Fer starters."

Ron chuckled. "Anyway, how was your mission?"

Hagrid shook his head, disappointed. "Grawp an' I got one more on our side, but most of them didn' want ter listen."

"That's a shame, Hagrid," Ginny consoled.

"But what about Hermione, now? Yeh said she's better?"

"She is," Ron confirmed. "For the most part. There are...side effects to her kind of injury. Right now, all we know is that she's suffering blindness. Which is usually temporary, in these spells," Ron hastened to add when Hagrid looked alarmed.

"Usually," Hagrid mumbled. "Be terrible if she were blind, now."

"Yes," said Ron sadly.

"She was only awake for moments," said Ginny. "She woke and talked to us for a minute, then Pomfrey gave her a Sleeping Potion."

"D'yeh know when she'll wake up?"

"Er..." Ron glanced at Ginny. "Tonight, I think."

"I'll still be here, then," Hagrid said. "But - we'll have ter tell her all that's happened since she -"

"Yes," said Ginny. "We already told her about - about Harry, but she doesn't know anything else."

"She's in for a righ' shock, then, I think."

Ron brooded and looked off into the distance while Ginny and Hagrid chatted, thinking that Hermione couldn't possibly get up fast enough.

"I'm surprised You-Know-Who didn't kill you," said George in an unfriendly manner. Though Draco Malfoy may not be on the side of the bad guys any more, he certainly wasn't one of the good guys.

Draco shrugged. "He could have. Most thought he would. My mother might have convinced the Dark Lord to keep me alive, but I'm useful for him anyway."

George looked perplexed.

"No, not missions, Weasley! Information! I spent years with Potter and his two sidekicks in school - you think I didn't learn anything?"

George shrugged. "So why not pump you for information, then kill you?"

Draco sighed. "Like I said, my mother might have had something to do with it. Perhaps he's thinking of sending me on some kind of suicide mission. I haven't seen him for a long time though."

This struck George as odd. Surely You-Know-Who had been in the prison, or had interrogated him?

"How long?"

"Months. The last time I was tortured by him personally was before he killed off Potter. I suppose he had finished his goal, by then, so..." Draco shrugged. "He'll win, I guess. Doesn't need me any more."

George started surveying his surroundings, trying to keep his distance from Draco, who seemed slightly unhinged. He was in a fairly small, and uncomfortable, cell, with an iron door at the front and then a filthy stone wall all around. The only light there filtered through the small windows that the Ministry had installed before the Death Eaters had taken over, but it was a sickly light, not from the outdoors but from an unpleasant indoor light. The air was foul and smelled it. George didn't even want to think about the food.

Unfortunately, he couldn't see any of the neighboring cells out of the window, and he imagined that each cell had sound-proof charms on it. There would be no way to tell what other prisoners were here - or if Perce and Penny were here as well. They could even be in the cell next door, George thought angrily, pummeling his fist on the wall.

"There's no escape from here," Draco said softly, clearly reading the path George's thoughts were taking. "No wands, no openings, and no getting out of this cell, except to be tortured. Even then, they immobilise you until you reach the Dark Lord. And rescue is even more laughable."

"It's possible," George said through gritted teeth as he continued to scan the walls for any kind of faults.

"It's not. I've been in here for years - I don't even have count of them any more. Your kind is losing this war, Weasley."

"Well, who'd want to rescue you anyway?" George shot at Malfoy.

Malfoy lunged, driven to sudden anger from his previously calm demeanor. Malfoy slammed him up against the wall, and his fingers found George's throat, and began to tighten.

"You have no idea what you're in for, Weasel," Malfoy hissed, venom in his voice. "You'll be begging for death before you get out."

"Get off him, Malfoy," a Death Eater said. It may have been the first time George had ever been glad to see a Death Eater, as he massaged an aching neck.

Malfoy let him go reluctantly.

"What do you want, Absey?" Draco snarled. "Finally decided to kill me."

The Death Eater, Absey, grinned venomously. "The Dark Lord wishes to see you."