A/N: I love this...

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. -Elbert Hubbard

"You said he was out of danger and the next thing we see is smoke and hear screams!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, glaring at me.

I glared right back, annoyed that she was yelling at me.

"I also said that we didn't know what had happened to him, meaning we didn't know what was wrong with him!" I retorted angrily.

"You said he was out of danger! He had a fever of 198! How does someone survive that temperature and how could you just say that he's fine?!"

"We don't know how he survived, but he did."

"You said he was fine!"

"He's alive!"

"But you said he was out of danger!"

I don't know what came over me, but Ron's mother had suddenly gotten under my skin and I had been so emotional for the past few days over what had happened with Ron that I lost it.

"Listen to me," I growled. "I don't care about what I said before so stop bringing it the hell up! Ron is awake and fine at the moment! Now would you prefer me to tell you that he's going to burst into flames in ten minutes or that he's fine, because at the moment I think you'd rather hear that your son is going to die rather than hear that he's going to be fine!?" I screamed. For a moment, Mrs. Weasley stared at me, flabbergasted. Then her face went extremely red and her eyes narrowed at me.

"You! How dare you accuse me of such a thing! You're the reason he was at the Ministry in the first place! If he hadn't been there, he would have been fine!" she shrieked.

This new personal attack hurt, but I wasn't about to let her get the best of me.

"Ginny would have still gone! So now you'd rather Ginny have been stabbed than Ron get hurt?!"

Mrs. Weasley looked ready to curse me into oblivion when Mr. Weasley suddenly stepped between us, touching his wife's shoulder carefully.

"I think we should all just calm down. It's been a trying few hours and I'm sure Hermione has done everything she could to make sure that Ron and Ginny are ok, so let's not fight over it. Molly, come on. Let's get some tea," he suggested to his fuming wife. She continued to glare at me reproachfully, but followed her husband away to the elevator. Fred and George came over to me, apologetic smiles on their faces.

"Sorry, Hermione," George said.

"Mum's just a bit scared, that's all," Fred explained.

"And maybe a bit miffed," George added.

I took a deep breath, angrily wiping at the tears that were now threatening to spill out of my eyes. I didn't want to hear excuses for their mother. She shouldn't have yelled at me for something I couldn't have controlled.

That sounds oddly familiar…

"Well, I really could care less at this point," I muttered. Fred and George glanced at each other, without saying a thing. There was a short break where we didn't say anything before Fred looked over to where Harry was sitting, looking very much alone and helpless. It had been more than an hour later and Moody had finally appeared, giving orders to release Harry. I had been told not to let Harry into the room with Ginny.

"Maybe you should go talk to him. No one's told him what happened and… well, you know," Fred said, moving his thumb between himself and George. I nodded and walked over to where Harry sat, lowering myself into the seat next to him. He looked up at me.

"Are you going to tell me why Aurors entered my flat, brought me here, where I was beat up by Fred, George and Bill and then forced to stay silent while people started talking about Ginny and Ron being in the hospital?" he asked casually.

I sighed.

"Something happened at the Ministry last night, Harry… and we all saw you there…"

He frowned.

"What are you talking about, 'I was there'? I was at my flat and Ginny had just left to go get some things she had left there. I had an early day today, so I couldn't come with her," he told me.

I looked down at my hands.

"Well… I don't know who it was, but someone who looked exactly like you came… and… you almost killed Ginny."

Once again, Harry went completely pale as he struggled to say something against this statement.

"I… I what?"

I looked up at him quickly.

"Well, not you, obviously, but the person who looked like you. Ron and I were in his office and you and Ginny were in yours and we heard a scream… the next thing I know is that Ron's chasing after you and Ginny's on the ground, bleeding from the stab to her back…"

Harry looked away from me, his hands clasped together as he took it all in. I could see his hands shaking a little and I reached out to take them.

"She's ok, Harry," I whispered.

"I need to see her," he responded, not having heard me at all.

I shook my head.

"I can't let you and you know that. You can't see her until she's released, Harry."

He shook his head.

"No… no…"

"Harry-"

"I didn't do anything!" he yelled, standing up and attracting the attention of a couple sitting near by, giving us strange looks. I stood up as well and grabbed his hand, trying to get his attention.

"Calm down, Harry," I hissed. "We know you wouldn't try to hurt Ginny, but we can't take any chances. Especially since you're not on watch and if you decide to go to the bathroom or something-"

"Then take me to see her now," he growled, but I shook my head.

"I can't, Harry… I just can't…"

Looking into his eyes, I could see that something had just dawned on him and I knew what it was, making me very uncomfortable.

"She doesn't want to see me, does she?" he asked, his voice cold and emotionless.

I shook my head, taking both his hands.

"It's not that, Harry… she's just a little scared right now. I mean, we're still trying to convince her that it wasn't you who stabbed her in the back," I tried to explain.

Yes, tell him that his girlfriend's afraid of him. That'll cheer him up, Hermione, I thought.

He looked down at his hands.

"But she's ok?" he asked, his shoulders sagging in defeat.

I took a step forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me. When I felt his arms circle around my waist, I sighed.

"It'll be ok, Harry."

"You stupid bastard! Why don't you just leave me alone?!" I screamed, glaring at him hatefully.

"I'm the stupid bastard? You're the one dating an arse who's not who you think he is!"

"SHUT UP! In all of your glorious lack of intelligence, have you not realized that the only thing he's ever done to threaten my life is kiss me! How could you be so thick?!

"You selfish bitch!"

I woke up with a jolt, those words resonating off the walls and seeped painfully into the deep crevices of my heart like salt in an open wound. I could feel the sweat move down my face as I looked around my quiet flat. By now, the afternoon sun was filtering through the blinds as Crookshanks stared at me from his spot on the floor. Taking a deep breath, I lay back down on the couch, closing my eyes as I tried to remember everything that had been said that day. I tried to recall every feeling I had felt towards him during that horrible moment and every feeling I felt for him now…

When had things changed? I asked myself as I lay there.

Things had been unbearable between Ron and I after he had woken up from his coma. We both remembered the words that had been exchanged the night before and I knew I had chewed myself up over it and was an absolute wreck when we finally did approach each other about it. Up until about four days ago, we had been stuck on square one.

"But he didn't tell me that he loved me," I said out loud. I looked over to Crookshanks. "What do you think that means?" The cat just stared at me before coming over and jumping onto my legs, mewing loudly. Sighing, I sat up and scooped the huge thing into my arms before moving to the kitchen. As I fed my cat, I looked over to the clock resting on the counter and frowned, realizing what time it was. My boss had ordered me home for the rest of the morning and I suppose I had overslept. I had actually cried myself to sleep. Being out of the sight of Ron and his family, I had felt the need to express every feeling I had felt during Ron's near death experience.

"What's going on Crookshanks?" I asked him, watching as he ate the food I set before him.

This is exactly what I hated about myself. Here I was, supposedly taking a break from work, relationships and Ron, and I'm standing in my kitchen, pining over the one man I didn't want to think about at this particular moment. Once more, I was talking to my cat, which doesn't really care.

I was pathetic. I couldn't go three hours without thinking about that man…

Sighing, I looked at the clock again.

"I better get to work."

Crookshanks made a loud groaning sound and I gave him a mean look.

"I'm going to see Ginny as well," I told him unconvincingly before leaving the kitchen.

Walking down the halls of St. Mungos always brings back memories of the war. I remember the ones who had come here, only to die in the arms of a Healer who could not save them. The thought of that happening again was almost unthinkable, so therefore I decided not to think about it.

"Healer Granger," the nurse greeted me as I entered the room. I went over to Ginny, who was sitting up in bed, reading the Daily Prophet front page. When she saw me, she frowned and turned the paper around so that I could see it.

"Ronald Weasley goes down heroically!" she exclaimed. "Ronald Weasley goes down heroically?! What the hell?"

Ron, who was also sitting up, just stared at her, making wheezing noises that resembled laughs in some sort of way. I frowned as well, but not for the same reasons as Ginny.

"Ginny, no one knows what happened to you. All Moody told the Minister was that Ron was found unconscious and that a Ministry official was attacked. Your parents are already being begged for details. If they knew that Harry Potter's girlfriend got attacked in his own office, what do you thing the papers would say then?"

"Yeah, especially if they found out that Harry was the one who did it," Ginny muttered darkly.

I could feel the tension building up and glanced over at Ron, who had stopped wheezing, but was still watching her carefully.

"Ginny, you know very well that Harry wouldn't attack you. It was a look a like," I told her. "Harry would never hurt you."

She looked at me for a while then sighed, looking back down at the paper in her hands.

"I know… it's just… he acted so real… but I should have known," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" I asked, moving over to the side of the bed so that I could sit down beside her.

"He kissed me… and when he did, I didn't feel… that spark. You know… that shiver up your spine when the man you love kisses you just right," she told me. By this time, I could feel Ron's blue eyes on me. I knew what he was thinking, but I wasn't here to discuss our relationship. I was here to discuss what would happen between Ginny and Harry.

"Then why won't you let Harry see you? If you know it wasn't him, then why?" I asked.

Ginny rubbed her arm and looked up at me.

"It's not that I don't want to see him… it's just…" she paused and took a deep breath. "I can still hear him laughing after he stabbed me, Hermione. I can hear it and I don't want to associate Harry with that sound. I don't want to see Harry and immediately think of him laughing at me as he stabbed me in the back…. I just think that it'd be best if I'm allowed time to think through everything, without Harry here to confuse me."

I nodded, taking her hand.

"I understand, Ginny. Just… don't make him wait too long. He really wants to see you," I whispered before standing up and moving over to where the nurse stood, checking Ron's temperature.

"How's he doing?" I asked her.

Ron stared at me, opening his mouth to say something, but nothing but a loud rasp escaping his lips. The nurse looked up at me.

"He's doing pretty well right now. We finally did get his body warm, though his lungs have collapsed at least twice since you left."

I frowned.

"What? When?"

The nurse, however, didn't seem upset by this news. She was actually smiling.

"It was almost cute. When Ginny finally woke up, he tried to talk to her, but I guess he got a little excited. The second time was when he was eating, or rather inhaling the food. He wasn't really breathing at all," she told me.

Great Ron, die eating!

I took his hand.

"I always told you that you ate to fast," I said.

He opened his mouth to say something again, but again nothing came out. I reached up and placed three fingers to his throat.

"His throat's ice cold," I gasped, pulling my fingers away.

The nurse nodded.

"That's the only thing we couldn't warm up, which is probably one of the reasons why he can't speak," she explained.

I nodded, taking his hand.

"Thank you," I said. The nurse nodded and left the room. In the corner of my eye, I could see Ginny reading the paper, frowning. I looked up at Ron, who was watching me.

"What?" I asked without realizing what I'd just said. He opened his mouth, but I stopped him, shaking my head.

"No, don't. I don't need your lung collapsing because you decided to speak to me," I whispered, sitting down on the bed and taking his hand. I tried to think of something to say when I felt warms hands touch my face. Looking over to him, I smiled. "I think I like you better when you can't talk."

He smiled at me and leaned forward, brushing his lips against mine. I could feel my heart constrict and I raised my hand to his, leaning into the kiss.

"Ahem."

Both of us jolted, pulling away from each other to look over at Ginny, who was watching us with an eyebrow raised. Ron, whose breathing had suddenly become irregular, was clutching his chest as he tried to slow his breathing. I stood up, taking his hand in mine as I watched him struggle. Ginny just shook her head.

"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."

She smiled at me and went back to her paper. I sighed and silently cursed myself for letting that happened. I should have known better.

"Healer Granger?"

I looked over to the door to see Victoria, the nurse from last night, waving me over.

"There's a Mr. Harry Potter out here asking for you," she said before leaving. I could feel Ron's grip on my hand tighten as Ginny suddenly looked up, her eyes on me.

"What's he doing here?" she asked me.

I glanced down at Ron, before standing up and moving to the door. Ron, however, pulled back on my hand, shaking his head. I frowned and pried my hand from his.

"I'll be back in a minute."

"Did you get the information?"

Handing over the file, the man took a step back.

"I also was able to have the honor of marking the Two," he said.

The other man looked up and smiled.

"Good… good…"

A/N: Finally, an update. Soar will be updated soon.

Andrea: You're rather demanding! Here you are:-)

Adelaide MacGregor: Thank you.

gummyvites: Maybe. We'll just have to find out.

connieewing: Read on!

000kayko000: Thank you!

mikolina: I'm glad you like it!

greenbean16: Well, I don't know. It's hard to explain how someone survives getting a fever that high in the first place without his insides bursting into... oh wait! He did burst into flames! (A bit of sarcasm not aimed at you. I just thought it'd be funny.) :-) I personally Hermione handled the situation in a very professional manner. :-)

Wesker888: I hope you didn't wait to long.

Chapter Tease:

Why are you so afraid to face him? He didn't do it and I know you know it."

Ginny sighed, looking back at me.

"Look, Hermione. I know he didn't do it, but it's still weird, okay. I just… it's weird, knowing that a man who looked like the man you love stabbed you in the back… literally."