A/N: I really need to do better at this.

"Solitude scares me. It makes me think about love, death, and war. I need distraction from anxious, black thoughts." -Brigitte Bardot

Hermione's POV

I stood in the private room, scribbling stuff onto my clipboard and keeping my eyes off of the two in front of me as I did my job. It had been four hours since I had left the Ministry with Ginny and it was only in the past hour that the Aurors had found Ron's body and brought him to St. Mungos to lay in the proverbial white bed next to his sister while I had been given the not to fun job of finding out what had happened to them both.

Unfortunately for Ginny, it was easier to figure it out just by seeing the long disgustingly deadly gash that ran across her back. I knew the gash all to well and it was the reason why I had thrown up at least twice in the past hour when we were changing her bandages.

For Ron, though the answer wasn't as easy, I found joy in knowing that I did not have to gaze upon the scar that would always remind me of what I had done. His lungs had collapsed for no reason and he had a tremendous fever of one hundred and twelve yet he was still alive. This was the reason it was so cold around his bed. The only other thing I found strange was that he had no signs of a fight on him. Neither were there any traces of magic left on him.

"Healer Granger."

I looked up to see Mathew Conagy, a colleague of mine standing at the door, motioning me to follow him. Glancing over at Ron, I set down my clipboard and left the dead room.

I followed him down the hall to the waiting room where not only the entire Weasley family was waiting anxiously, but at least twenty Aurors were standing, holding with them a banged up Harry Potter, who was struggling against two Aurors. The reason for his less than acceptable appearance could be found in the three fuming redheads standing in the corner, glaring hatred onto the obviously confused victim of their assault.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked again as I entered the room.

I coughed impatiently and suddenly everything became still as everyone waited for me to tell them how Ron and Ginny were. That's when I became uncomfortable and shifted my weight to one foot.

"Ginny's fine. We were able to stop the bleeding fast enough, seeing as we already knew how to. Ron is still under surveillance since we don't know what happened to him, but he is out of danger," I told them calmly, knowing that showing them my own fears would only make matters worse.

"What the hell is going on?" Harry asked suddenly, a look of fear on his face.

I frowned.

"Is that really Harry?" I asked.

Kingsley came over and took me to the side.

"We know that you want him to see Ginny, but we have to keep things safe. We're going to keep him out here for another hour, just to make sure," he growled.

I knew he was just following protocol, but I had to ask.

"Where did you find him?"

Kingsley looked over to the Weasley's and then back at me.

"He was at his flat when we got there, but then again, when we found Ron, there was no one with him, so he could have apparated," Kingsley told me.

There was something I had to know.

"If that's not the real Harry, then where do you think he is?" I asked.

Kingsley put on a small smile.

"Oh I have no doubt that he's the real Harry, I just have to keep him here until the hour's up or the Minister will have Moody's job. Moody's been dealing with him."

I knew my eyes were huge at this point upon hearing this piece of information.

"The Minister knows?"

Kingsley shook his head.

"Not about Harry, but he got there just when we did with a horde of reporters. The press is going to have a field day if they find out that we're detaining the famous Harry Potter for attempted murder," he told me.

That's when it dawned on me.

"That's why you're keeping him here," I finished.

The press wasn't allowed in St. Mungos. It was considered an invasion of privacy. I frowned.

"What does the press know?"

Kingsley shrugged.

"Just as much as the Minister knows and as much as Moody's telling him, which isn't much. All he knows is that Weasley was found unconscious and that someone tried to attack another Ministry employee, but he doesn't know who that employee is," he explained, his eyes moving back to Harry, who had now given up on struggling and was now trying to catch my attention. I bit my lip and looked up at Kingsley.

"Can I talk to him?" I asked.

Kingsley sighed and nodded.

"As long as you don't tell him anything," he warned.

I nodded my head and walked over to where Harry was being held.

"Hermione, what's going on?" he asked shakily.

I shook my head.

"I can't tell you right now, ok. In another hour, then I'll tell you everything, but not now," I said soothingly, hoping that, if this was the real Harry, my voice would calm him down. Either this guy knew Harry pretty well, or was really Harry, but what he said next sounded so much like him that I almost fell for it.

"Come on Hermione," he pleaded. "If Ginny's in trouble I need to know. If anything happened to her…"

I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Biting my lip, I shook my head.

"I'm sorry," I whispered before moving away towards where the Weasleys were standing. Mrs. Weasley grabbed me by the hand.

"Oh dear, are you sure he's all right?" she asked me.

I didn't want to lie and tell him he was alright, but I couldn't say that I didn't know either or it would just sound like I didn't care. Fred and George saved me from having to answer that question. However, the topic they brought up didn't really help my nerves.

"What exactly were you doing at the Ministry, Hermione? You don't work there and the only person who works there that late besides him," George growled, pointing to Harry. "Is Ron, so what were you doing with Ickle Ronniekens?"

I knew I had gone red, but the embarrassment didn't last long when a nurse ran up to me from the hall.

"Healer Granger, you're needed. Mr. Weasley's temperature is sky rocketing!"

In that moment all of the blood drained from my face as I moved away from the panicking family and ran down the hall and into the Weasley room which was now filled with nurses and Healers who were trying to cool Ron off with their wands. I ran over to his bed, pushing past a couple of nurses and placed the back of my hand to his forehead. I immediately retracted my hand, the intensity of the heat to great for me to stand for too long. He was sweating a lot as a nurse on the other side of his head counted off his temperature.

"120, 123, 125, 128," she continued to say.

I could feel panic seizing hold of my mind, dissuading me from thinking rationally as my heart started to kick into overdrive. But I couldn't let my feelings get the best of me. Ron could die at any moment and if I faltered in any way, it would cost him his life.

Taking a deep breath, I pointed to three nurses.

"Conjure some icepacks and place them under his arms and by his neck. There's too much blood rushing to his brain, which is heating it up at a super fast rate. We have to cool off the blood before it reaches his brain," I told them before turning to another nurse. "Run to the potions cabinet and get me four bottles of blood replenishers and then cool them," I told her. I turned back to the bed. "Raise his head! Raise his head!"

"143, 152, 167!"

That's when Ron started to shake. At first it was only a little from his hands, but then his whole body began to convulse violently.

"Look!"

Mathew Conagy was pointing to his shirt, which was starting to smolder in the places where the scar was. Ron continued to shake, his eyes squeezing shut as if he could suddenly feel the pain but could not say a thing. Healer Conagy was now ordering nurses to move out of his way as he moved to Ron's chest was starting to deflate again.

"His lungs have collapsed!"

"174, 179!"

That's when Ron's mouth flew open, screaming silently as the numbers got higher. I knew he could feel the pain, and that was when seven years of school, four years of training and two years of being one of the best Healers in Europe had gone out the window. All I could do was stand there helplessly, watching as Ron died before me…

"RON! RON!"

I ran to the railing and looked over the balcony to see his broken body lying there, blood coming from everywhere.

"RON!" I screamed, pleading with God that he would move. That he would do something, anything, but lie there dead.

I didn't realize that tears were pouring down my face until Conagy grabbed my arms and shook me out of my nightmarish revere.

"Hermione! Help him!" he screamed at me.

Help him? How was I going to help him when all I could do was cry over his deathbed?

The sheets should have been black.

"Hermione! Help him!" he screamed again, shaking me.

I pushed his hands away and moved over to Ron's head, my legs moving of their own accord. I didn't even know what I was doing anymore as I tried to help him.

"187, 193!"

"Hermione, if his temperature gets to two hundred, we're not going to be able to help him!"

Help him!

It was as if I wasn't even in my own body anymore. I could see myself moving around Ron's screaming, convulsing body, silent tears cascading down my face as I placed icepacks all over him. Nurses were trying to pour blood replenishers down his throat but he kept shaking so much that it wasn't working. By this time his hands were sheet white and his face was almost the same color as his hair. Suddenly the nurse across from me screamed when Ron's hand grabbed her arm. I was about to reach out and try to help when I screamed myself. Ron's other hand had latched onto my wrist, squeezing it so hard that my hand was starting to turn white. I winced painfully as he squeezed harder.

"197! 198!"

Woosh!

There was a big updraft of flames and everyone fell to the floor, covering our heads and screaming as smoke billowed around the room, clogging our lungs. Somehow I had managed to release my hand from Ron's during the sudden fire as I tried to look around. I started coughing as I felt around for anyone. Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me towards them as we heard the door open. We could also hear the fire alarms sound as the smoke moved out into the hall, allowing us to see a little better as we tried to breathe.

"Are you ok?" Conagy asked me, as he helped me up. Aurors were clearing the air with their wands as we looked over to where Ron was. He was no longer red, but perfectly pale which sent a shiver up my spine as I moved over to him. He wasn't shaking either, but his chest wasn't moving.

"Temperature?" I asked shakily, looking over to the nurse who had so enthusiastically been calling it out before. She looked over at me for a moment before picking up her dropped wand and waving it over Ron's head.

"98.6," she answered in awe.

Conagy looked up from Ron as well.

"What?"

What? I thought as well. That's impossible.

The nurse repeated the spell and she looked up at us.

"98.6 degrees, Healer Conagy," she replied.

Everyone who had been in that room before the fire just stared at Ron, while Kingsley, who had just entered the room, moved around the nurses to get to Conagy and I.

"What just happened? We have smoke all over the hall and a very scared family who heard screams coming from this room," he asked angrily.

I didn't answer. Conagy moved over to Kingsley as I reached out and touched Ron's forehead with my fingertips, surprised at how cold he felt.

"He's cold, Mathew," I whispered.

Conagy froze and looked over to me.

"What?"

I looked up at him.

"He's cold, and he's not breathing," I told him shakily, my voice cracking. He had just gotten over a temperature which should have killed him and now he was cold as ice with an average temperature. Conagy went around me and touched Ron's forehead as well, pulling away quickly.

"Victoria, bring me one of the bottles of blood replenishers Granger told you to get," he told one of the near by nurses.

"But they've been chilled," Victoria replied, holding up the cold bottle.

Conagy stared at the bottle for a moment then held out his hand. The nurse handed him the bottle and we all watched as he placed it on the bedside table. His gaze went down onto Ron's scar, which I had just noticed as well. It was no longer black and purple, but black and blue while the smaller scars were glowing red. Conagy took the bottle and opened it, pouring its contents over the scar, which started to hiss and boil nastily. I bit my lip and took a step back as white smoke gently rose from the scar as the potion sunk in.

There was a gasp and suddenly Ron's chest was moving up and down fast as he tried to breathe. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, his eyes wide open as he sucked in the air that had been denied him only moments before.

"Ron," I gasped, taking his head as he continued to take in ragged breaths. "Ron, you need to slow down your breathing. If you breathe in too fast and then exhale to quickly, your lungs could collapse," I told him gently, brushing the hair out of his face as he stared back at me through wide blue eyes. I felt him grab my wrist as he tried to slow down. I could hear him wheezing as his chest finally began to move up and down in slow uneven movements. I looked over at a nurse.

"Bring me something for him to drink, but not water," I said before turning back to Ron. "It's going to be ok…"

He just stared up at me, his mouth opening but nothing but a wheezing noise coming out. I shook my head.

"Don't try to talk. You need to rest. You're lungs collapsed and you've had a temperature of 198," I told him softly as the nurse returned with a glass of what looked like pumpkin juice. I thanked her and took the glass. "Could you help me with his head?" I asked the nurse. As I asked her that, I noticed that Kingsley and Conagy had left, along with the other Aurors. My eyes then wandered over to where Ginny lay. One nurse was attending her, dabbing her face, which had become dirty from the smoke.

"Healer Granger."

The nurse who had brought me the pumpkin juice got my attention and pointed to the glass in my hands. I nodded and turned back to Ron, who was still watching me. The nurse helped me raise his head up and I placed the glass to his lips. He continued to watch me as he drank the juice quickly, which concerned me. I pulled the glass away from his lips and shook my head.

"You can't drink to fast. If you do, you'll start breathing to fast and your lungs will collapse," I told him again. If the situation had been different, I would have laughed at Ron's reaction to my scolding, but at this particular instant, it just made me want to cry. He rolled his eyes at me. His first sign of actually understanding me and giving me the understanding that his mind had not been damaged. His lips parted again for more and I lifted the glass to his lips, watching as he mockingly sipped the liquid slowly, making sure that I saw him. With my other hand I reached up and touched his cheek.

"I can put you into a coma, you know," I whispered. He spit the rest of the juice back in his glass and made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh, only I could see that it was a little painful for him to make any noises. I then smiled at him and kissed his forehead.

"I'll take care of you."

A/N: Long, intense and beautiful. I LOVE IT!

sweetiepie1019: Um... ok... Just so you know, I wasn't upset. I was being impatient, as Wesker so eloquently puts it. Believe me, you'll know when I'm upset.

greenbean16: I'm glad you liked it.

Artemis Glacion: Thanks for reading! Love your name by the way!

Starburstgoddess27: I am very pleased to know that I do not disappoint. Thank you.

snowyowl7: Thank you.

Wesker888: Well, as you know, we're not so sure that it's Harry. You'll be seeing much more of those, "I thought/it looked like" moments. Trust me.

Chapter Tease:

"Aren't you supposed to be a Healer?" she asked me. "I'm sure there's some ethical thing about Healers and their patients."

I blushed, but continued to watch Ron as his breathing finally slowed down.

"Lie down," I told him. "You should rest."

"And not snog Hermione," Ginny offered.

"Thank you, Gin."