Ginny's arrival at Hogwarts could not have been any noisy. The floo that she took connected her to Professor Snape's private ingredients closet. Once she went through the fire she immediately smashed the first three shelves of ingredients due to her exit. Ginny groaned as she stood up among the wreckage and looked around for the door. Once she found it and opened it she froze. Oh, this is not good… I am in the dungeons and to top it off I just destroyed half a closet worth of ingredients. So much for a stealthy entrance. Ginny thought to herself as she climbed out and into the dungeons. She quickly took off in the direction of the hospital wing several floors above her. Luckily she didn't run into anyone on the way due to it being a break. Ginny could feel her heart beating in her chest and she was shaking slightly from nerves as she made her way to the hospital wing. After a long time of navigating the corridors and the staircases she finally found her way to the hospital wing, the only problem was that the doors were closed. She slowly pushed the doors open and peeked inside, only one bed was occupied but several nurses and Madam Pomfrey were running around like a quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin had just taken place. She was about to enter when she heard a voice behind her.
"Mum?" "What are you doing here?" Ginny turned around to see Ron and Hermione staring at her. Ginny panicked, she hadn't thought of what to say when she saw them. She quickly came up with the first thing she could think of.
"I am here to see Harry of course." Ginny had an idea and quickly implemented it. "Come here, you two I've missed you both," Ginny said opening her arms and giving them both the best Mrs. Weasley hugs she could. Ginny looked at Ron and Hermione and noticed Hermione's eyes were red and puffy like she had been crying. "Hermione dear are you ok?" "Did Ron do something to you?" Ginny said as she turned to glare at Ron who shifty uncomfortable under her stare. I hope they are buying this, this seems to be what mom would do in this situation. Ginny thought as she waited for a response. Before she could say anything else though Hermione ran at her and hugged her so fast and hard she had to take a step back. Ginny looked down at Hermione in shock, she was not expecting this, as Ginny hugged the now crying Hermione back in her arms she asked: "Dear what's wrong?" "You can tell me" Ginny was truly concerned for Hermione even though she didn't know her too well as well as Hermione not being one of her favorite people right now due to leaving her out of their plans.
"Mrs. Weasley…I...I...I'm sorry but I just don't know what's wrong with Harry!" Hermione cried out through sobs.
"It's ok Dear, I know you are doing everything that you can for Harry." Ginny cooed, stroking Hermione's hair. If Hermione is this Upset… oh no, something really must be wrong with Harry. I need to find out what they know. Ginny thought to herself as she continued to calm down Hermione. After a few minutes, Hermione seemed to calm down enough to control her sobs into infrequent sniffles. Ginny held Hermione by the shoulders arm's length apart from her and crouched down to be level with Hermione. "Alright dear tell me everything, what's happening?" Ginny said soothingly to Hermione, Hermione looked up at Ginny and let all of her pent-up frustrations out as she told her everything she and Ron have been doing and what's been happening to Harry.
"Well you see, at first Harry just simply wouldn't wake up, which was very concerning because we don't know what the poison is doing to him." Hermione began. "But then one day when Ron and I were in the hospital wing with Harry we heard a snap, I ran over to see what had happened." "I looked down at Harry who was grimacing in pain, his hands were clutching the blankets of the bed so hard his knuckles were turning white." "Just then Madam Pomfrey came in and did some diagnostics spells on Harry and told us he broke his rib." "How?!" "How is it possible for someone to just break a rib while unconscious!?" Hermione wailed and once again buried her face in Ginny and began to sob once again." Ginny had to once again comfort Hermione and calm her down enough to continue telling the story. "So after that Ron and I went into the library to try and find out what had happened and why." Hermione bowed her face and looked at the floor in shame. "I haven't been able to find a single book to help me!" Hermione said halfway between a yell and sob, but somehow managed to maintain her composure enough to keep speaking." "Then I thought that maybe there was a book in the restricted section that could help so I went and searched but once again turned up nothing," Hermione said in a much quieter voice than what she had been using. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke. "I feel so useless. I am supposed to be the smart one, I am supposed to be the one with the answers and yet… when one of my best friends needs me the most, I can't do anything." Hermione said tears now free-falling down her cheeks. "So Ron and I decided to stay by Harry's side at all times to see if he would wake up but…" Hermione was struggling to get through all of this. "We stayed by Harry's side but every once in a while he would tense up like before and then we would hear a crack and he would break another bone, or bruises showed up on him…. I don't know what's going on!" cried Hermione who finally lost her ability to keep going and simply cried letting all of her emotions out after holding them in for so long." after a few more minutes of comforting Hermione, and trying to calm herself down as well. Even though she knew why this was happening to Harry it still took a lot of effort to try and show a relaxed exterior. Hermione looked up after a while and wanted to change the subject asked "So Mrs. Weasley how is Ginny doing you know...after the chamber." Hermione asked. Ginny thought for a moment of how to best answer that question.
"Ginny is doing fine dear, she is still a bit shaken up but she will get through this," Ginny said trying to convince herself of that as well. Ginny still suffered nightmares, but they were getting further and further apart. Ginny suddenly stood up and looked at Ron and Hermione "I want to go see Harry, would you two like to come along?" Ginny asked in her best Mrs. Weasley impression. They both nodded slowly before following Ginny in as she went to go see Harry, once Ginny saw Harry, it took everything she had to stay in character. Harry had bandages across his stomach and chest, as well as bruises on his arms and legs. Ginny tried her best to hold it in but she just couldn't, she let out a startled cry and knelt beside Harry's end. She wanted more than anything to hug him tightly in her arms but two things stopped her from doing this. One, she was still trying her best to remain in character as Mrs. Weasly, and two she realized if she did hug Harry she would probably only end up injuring him more. Ginny took a long time to compose herself, Luna had told her why Harry was getting hurt and had warned her of the severity of the nightmares he might have, but she never thought it would be like this. Whatever nightmares he was having must have been terrible, possibly even worse than her own. Then suddenly she remembered why she had to wear this disguise in the first place, without ever looking away from Harry she asked "Why didn't you let Ginny know or let her stay with you both?" She asked. Both Ron and Hermione gave her a quizzical expression that she did not see, her eyes never left Harry.
"Mum, we talked about this remember?" Ron began. "Ginny is too young for this and even if she stayed there is no way she would be able to help." "for starters, you said she is still recovering from the chamber, also like I said before Ginny isn't Harry's friend." hearing this Ginny's eyes narrows in anger. "She only has a crush on him because he is "THe Boy Who Lived." "She knows nothing about the real Harry, also even if she was here I do not think she would be much help, I mean really, if Hermione and I are struggling to find anything that's the chance she would be able to find anything?" Ron said. It took a lot of self-restraint for Ginny to keep her composure after hearing all of that, she was seething with anger.
How dare Ron talk about me like that! Saying that I would be no help to Harry and that I don't know the real him. Ron can be such an insensitive git! Ginny thought to herself. She kept on thinking about what Ron had said. It was taking everything she had to not turn around and yell at him!
"Mum?" Ron asked, curious as to why his mum had stayed quiet for so long. Ginny quickly snapped out of her stupor and replied.
"Sorry, deary just lost in thought." That was the best answer Ginny could think of. She didn't trust herself to speak right now, meaning the fewer words she spoke the less likely she was to lose control of her tone. Ginny once again got lost in her thoughts.
They think I wouldn't be able to help him huh? Well, little do they know I've come further than the both of them have! And it will be me who saves Harry, not them me! I will prove to them this is no silly crush! Ginny thought to herself, but thinking of Harry for this long had made her start to blush. Then suddenly Ginny began to feel something in her body start changing. This made her panic, especially once she figured out why. Oh no! The Polyjuice potion is running out! I need to get out of here quickly! Ginny thought as she quickly stood up. "Sorry dears but I must be going now, I need to get back to the Burrow," Ginny said while walking quickly out of the room. Once Ginny had left the room Ron turned and looked at Hermione. "Mione, don't you think mum was acting...strange?" Ron said. Hermione looked back at Ron and began to think about what he had just said.
"You know what you are right, she did seem strange today...maybe she was just out of it because of Harry?" Hermione offered a possible reason.
"Maybe...that could be it...but still something seems off here," Ron said, dismissing the subject. Just then the two heard another loud crack followed by a moan from Harry. The two quickly forgot all about what they were talking about and called for Madam Pomfrey while staring at Harry in horror as they noticed his arm had just broken. Madam Pomfrey came in as fast as possible and took one look at Harry before and a single tear rolled down her cheek as she worked on healing yet another broken bone.
Ginny was hurrying as fast as she could down the passages and stairs making her way back to the storage closet in the dungeons. She did not know if anyone was down there but she needed to get to her destination quickly before someone saw her. As she was running she felt her stomach slowly start to contract and become smaller, her body started to thin out and shrink. Her dampened red hair was once again beginning to flare to its bright fiery red. Then she started to shrink down losing height, which meant she had to hold her clothing up as well as keep her clothes up off the ground so she wouldn't trip. She was quite literally a child wearing adult clothing. She sped off towards the dungeons towards the closet. Once she saw the closet she reached into her pocket to grab the floo powder she had stored for her return trip. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming from around the corner. Her heart skipped a beat in fear of being caught and she quickly opened the door to the closet and closed it behind her. Quickly walking through the mess of ingredients on the floor she made her way to the fireplace and quietly said "Lovegood House" before throwing the powder down and she was gone in a puff of green fire. Not ten seconds later someone opened the door to the closet to see the destroyed contents inside, seething with rage believing that he had caught someone in the castle he quickly slammed the door shut and walked off to patrol corridors, trying to find anyone else who he might be able to get in trouble.
To be honest I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter… I might end up redoing this one unless it does well. I was in a bit of a time crunch to finish the chapter up and upload it. I hope everyone likes this chapter!
Scrappy8: Thank you as always for reading and reviewing my story. I appreciate the constant support, it helps me stay motivated!
