Chapter five: Recuperatio ward

"You go up; I'll be up in a minute." Ginny loosed her hold on Harry's arm as they walked into the crowded entranceway to St. Mungo's. "Oh yeah. Mum said she was moved." With a last wave the cheery red head moved into the crowds of weekend visitors.

Harry moved to the end of the long line, and settled in for a wait; not that impatient as he gazed around at the oddities that surrounded him. The wizarding world still offered many new surprises.

One particular example could be the little girl in front of him, her hand in the firm grip of a harried looking mother; two little horns peaking out through her short brown curls and a long white beard dragging along behind the child.

Another women, her nose drastically shifted to the middle of her forehead, was holding up glasses to read a magazine, the Quibbler in fact; a cover blurb brightly proclaiming. "Arthur sightings. Has the king returned?" Luna had said something about King Arthur.

"What're you thinking about?" Ginny suddenly reappeared at Harry's elbow.

"Nothing." Harry reapplied, clearing his head with a shake, as they reached the front of the line. "Hermione Weasley."

"Recuperatio ward, fourth floor." The women at the service desk didn't look up, and everyone else was caught up in their own worries. Harry tried to flatten his bangs subconsciously, but no one bothered him.

"Ginny, how's Luna?" Harry tried to bring up the subject as lightly as possible, but he felt her stiffen beside him.

"Oh, Luna's doing ok. She writes for her dad." Ginny replied after a brief pause. "We had a falling out." She finished, adding by ways of explanation to his perplexed look.

"May I ask why?" Harry decided to probe a little under the surface. It seemed so out of place.

"It was nothing." Ginny waved it off. Harry was about to continue, but Ginny veered off to the right, and they were standing in a ward.

"Harry, Ginny!" Ron greeted the pair heartily; rising from his seat beside Hermione's bed, were he had been pilfering a chip or two from her dinner.

Harry watched Ron envelop his sister in a hug, his good humor, no doubt, pointed to Hermione's substantial recovery. Harry physically relaxed; the last vestiges of the panic that had hung over him in the week since that fateful night finally fell away. He let out a sigh of relief.

"You alright mate?" Ron asked, grinning down at Harry; slinging an arm around his friend and pulled him over to Hermione's bed. "Hermione's doing superbly."

"Hello Harry." Hermione's greeting still sounded rather meek and mild in comparison to its normal robustness; in comparison to the palled corpse that had lain inert under the starched white coverlet, though, this was a vast improvement.

"Hermione." Her name was a breath on his lips; the next few seconds were silent as relief rushed over him. A silly looking grin plastered across his visage. Only the light touch of Gunny's renewed grasp pulled him out of this trance. "How much longer do you think you'll be here?"

"Actually, if she doesn't collapse or something, we can go tomorrow evening." Ron exclaimed, those few moments transforming him into a foolishly effervescent first year once more; Harry was reminded how much he loved Hermione, and how much worse it would have been for him if something had happened to her. Hermione. His wife. How caught up he had been in his own worries, and Ginny, the thoughts sent a wave of revulsion over him at his own self-centeredness.

"We were wondering if we could stay at Grimmauld place?" Hermione directed her question to Harry, but her eyes strayed to focus on just beyond him, on Ginny.

"Of course!" Harry nodded his vigorous assent. "The more the merrier."

"The head nurse is looking at the us strangely. You're being too load I think." Ginny whispered to Harry. "Perhaps we should be going, mum will be expecting us back for dinner." Her voice rose, and was a normal volume by the tail end of her suggestion.

"Mum's cooking…" Ron murmured dreamily, his dreamy expression rivaling that of Luna at the best of times.

"You won't die from week of Hospital food." Hermione retorted, laughing. "Don't let us keep you from your delectable feast,"

"See you soon." Ginny directed Harry towards the exit.

"We think we found someone to get rid of Mrs. Black." Harry let himself be lead away.

As they stepped out of St. Mungo's they were stopped, dead in their tracks, as a few bright lights flashed and a shrill voice called out. "May I have a word?"

A/N I can hardly believe I updated so fast