Chapter 19 Discussions and Awakenings
When Hermione awoke later that evening, she quickly hopped out of bed and hurried to the boys' dormitory. Ron was still sound asleep and burried in his covers so that only the tip of his head was visible. "Hey." She whispered, shaking him a bit. He mumbled something inaudible and swiped a hand at her, not even moving an inch. Hermione rolled her eyes and grasped the end of his comforter, yanking it off. Amazingly enough, that didn't seem to wake Ron either. She giggled at the sight of him lying in his pajama pants and Chudly Cannons t-shirt, and decided to use the tickle approach. Eventually she set him laughing so hard that he practically rolled right out of bed and onto the floor.
"Well you weren't waking up nicely," She told him, folding her arms.
"Hermione-why did you wake me up? It's only seven thirty at night! I don't even care if I miss dinner-I ju want to sleep."
Hermione sighed. "Don't you want to see how the medicine affected Harry? I'm sorry but I couldn't sleep, and I figured you'd want to know too."
Ron finally complied and slid out of bed, following Hermione to the common room. The fire was burning low in the fireplace, and both teenagers stopped at the sight before them. Sirius had fallen sound asleep on one of the overstuffed, blood-red velvet armchairs with a copy of the book Hermione had brought up from the library. Madame Pomfrey had obviously sent him off to get some sleep, and she dared not to wake him.
"Oh but you woke ME," Ron snarled as they tiptoed past Sirius and out of the tower.
Hermione rolled her deep brown eyes. "Sirius has been sitting up with Harry ever night. The poor guy really needed a nap."
They reached the hospital wing and tiptoed inside, not sure what to expect. Madame Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley sat on either side of Harry's bed, watching the boy sleep. "Hullo." Hermione greeted in a low voice as she walked over to them. Both women jumped at the sound, but smiled when they caught sight of her.
"Hullo, Hermione dear." Mrs. Weasley replied.
"How is he feeling? Did the potion work?" Hermione asked in a hopeful tone.
"He's sleeping peacefully now and the fever broke a few hours ago," Madame Pomfrey told Hermione with relief. "But look-you'd never believe it unless we showed you."
Hermione glanced at Ron with confusion and the two of them hurried to stand beside Harry. Madame Pomfrey brushed Harry's bangs back, revealing his bare forehead, and Hermione gasped. The lightening scar-the one that had made Harry Potter famous around Hogwarts-was gone! "It's-it's gone! His scar is gone!" Ron couldn't believe it.
"It does not surprise me that it disappeared. In the book it said that the lightening-shaped scar was the symbol that Harry had indeed been hit with the Hloke Curse, and now that we remedied it the scar has gone away."
Ron sighed. "He always told me though, that his scar was the one thing about him he found interesting-at least until he got here and everyone continuously gawked over it. I guess he can go back to being a normal teenage wizard when he wakes up."
Hermione couldn't help grinning as she touched her boyfriend's now- cool cheek. "Will he still have allergies?" She asked.
Madame Pomfrey looked at Mrs. Weasley. "Yes, he will. Unfortunately, they were part of him before the curse hit; and uncureable. They only progressed because of the affects of you-know-who's poison. Gave his body a chance to produce the effects. But I should be able to provide potions for Harry to take so he can feel better."
Ron folded his arms. "So when do you think he'll wake up?" He wanted to know. "He still looks a little sick to me."
Mrs. Weasley gave her son a sympathetic glance. "Madame Pomfrey doesn't think he'll wake up tonight, and we won't force him to. Let him sleep and I am sure we will get to see those brilliant emeralds in the morning."
Hermione giggled. "I see you got Sirius to go to bed for a while."
Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes. "That took a bit of a struggle, of course. At first he refused altogether to leave the hopsital wing until Harry woke up. Then he wanted to sleep in one of the cots in here, but FINALLY we convinced him to leave the hospital wing altogether as long as one or both of us promised to sit up with Harry in case he needed anything."
Harry suddenly made a small noise and caused everyone to turn their heads towards him. "Harry dear-are you waking up?" Mrs. Weasley asked, stroking Harry's stray bangs away from his eyes. Hermione held Ron's arm tightly as she saw Harry's eyes flutter under their lids. Madame Pomfrey took Harry's hand and gave it a small squeeze.
"If you're ready, Harry, you can do it. Open your eyes."
"He's waking up!" Ron cried in excitement. "Come on, Harry." He encouraged.
A few moments later Harry's eyes fluttered open about halfway, and Hermione knelt down right beside his head. "Thank God you're all right." She sobbed.
Harry was a bit frightened that no matter how hard he tried his lips didn't seem to want to work properly. "Get the goblet of water ready, Molly." Madame Pomfrey told Mrs. Weasley, pointing to the silver goblet on the nightstand.
Finally a small "Hullo." Protruded from Harry's very-dry lips.
"Hullo sweetheart." Mrs. Weasley told him, trying not to get too emotional. Over the past couple of days Harry had gone straight to her heart as though he were one of her own sons. She could have only imagined how Lily Potter would have reacted to seeing her son so ill. "How are you feeling, dear?"
"Take a bit of water down, love." Madame Pomfrey eased the boy into a semi-reclined position and held the goblet to his lips. The cool, clear liquid felt wonderful going down Harry's sore, dry throat. "Not too much- there we are. Oh my poor boy-you had us all so terribly worried about you!"
Silent tears were now pouring down Hermione's face as she reached her hand up to stroke Harry's forehead. "Should we wake Sirius?" Ron asked.
"Not right now, Ron. He needs to catch up on sleep." Mrs. Weasley told her son.
"What happened?" Harry asked, his voice still very hoarse.
"You were really sick," Ron told him. "You had a really high fever and we thought you were going to leave us for a bit there."
"We'll explain everything to you in full when you feel stronger, Harry." Mrs. Weasley promised. "You don't need to be overwhelmed by information at the moment. Just rest as much as you need to."
"Herm-missed you." Harry whispered, turning his head so that he could see his girlfriend more clearly. She wrapped her arms around him.
"I missed you too. I hope this NEVER happens again." She choked.
Harry nodded but then his nose wrinkled and he covered his mouth with his hand, sneezing violently.
"Bless you, Harry dear." Mrs. Weasley chuckled.
"Thanks." He practically whispered. Then he paused. "Where's Sirius?"
"Sirius is resting-he's been sitting up with you for the past four nights," Madame Pomfrey replied.
"Oh. Good. I guess the others are too?" He meant Professor Lupin, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.
"I'm not quite sure, honey, but they're about."
"Did I miss any school?" He added, and this statement caused them all to laugh.
"Harry-don't you even know what day it is?" Ron snorted.
"No-I guess I lost track of time when I was sick."
"It's only the beginning of August. You got sick about a few days after your birthday."
"It's August the ninth," Madame Pomfrey told Harry. "And don't you even think about school. I'll give you the line up for the next couple of weeks. You'll spend the rest of this week in the hospital wing and then we'll move you up to the Gryffindor tower and you'll be in your own bed. How does that sound? And we'll start you on a very bland diet for the time being till your stomach gets back on track."
Harry nodded-it all sounded fine to him. He was too tired to even think about walking around, even if it meant walking down the corridor. Sleeping was the only thing he wanted to do for a good while. "Harry-Ron and I are going to visit Hagrid-we'll have him come by and see you later today," Hermione told her boyfriend. In truth she and Ron hadn't had the time to visit the Hogwart's gamekeeper since they'd arrived at the school."
Harry blinked. "Oh-okay."
"So we'll see you later then." Ron added. "Is that all right, Mum?"
"As long as that's the only place you two are going," Mrs. Weasley warned.
"Don't worry. I have Ron's leash up in the tower." Hermione teased. "I'll make sure to keep him on it." She gave Ron a mischevious grin before waving to Harry and leaving the hospital wing. Ron stood staring after her, his mouth hanging open.
"That's hitting below the belt!" He snapped. "Hey Hermione-wait up!" He hurried to catch up with his friend who had doubled over in laughter at her joke's effect in the corridor.
"So he's feelin' better, eh?" Hagrid asked once the two were in the gamekeepers hut about twenty-minutes later, sitting on the enormous chairs and drinking huge mugs of tea.
"Sort of," said Hermione. "He's really really tired."
"Well-that's to be expected. Are yeh sure he's all righ' to have visitors today? P'raps I'd best go and see 'im tomorrow mornin'."
"He'd love to see you!" Hermione insisted.
"Well-I s'pose I will then. He gave me quite a fright."
"As he did all of us," Hermione shuddered. "It's NOT something I'd like to experience again anytime soon." She sipped the strong tea. "So are you growing anything special this year?" She asked, changing the topic completely.
"I'm jus' keepin' the school's vegetable patches nice and plumped up. Had an army o' slugs attack the cabages last nigh' so had to spray 'em, but that's about all that's been causin' me trouble. I may grow me pumpkins again when it gets colder."
Hermione nodded. "You grew some great pumpkins, Hagrid."
"Yeah-after yeh found out what my trick to keepin' 'em so big was!" He winked at Hermione. "So-are yeh three hangin' around here for the rest o' the summer or are yeh goin' back home and then returnin' for the term?"
Hermione looked at Ron. "Most likely we're staying here so that Harry can regain his strength."
"I hope Harry can still play Quidditch with his asthma," Ron pondered.
"Asthma?" Hagrid asked. "What's that?" "It's actually a muggle disease," Hermione explained. "He has problems with his lungs when he's under too much stress. But I'm sure he will be able to play, Ron. The nurse will think of something-Gryffindor won't have a team without Harry."
That was the truth. Harry was one of the best seekers for the Gryffindor Quidditch team since Charlie Weasley.
"Well-the two o' you had best get your arse's back up teh the school. I'll be up in a bit to see Harry, but I have some things I have to do in me hut."
"All right. Good seeing you, Hagrid." Said Ron, setting down his mug. He followed Hermione back to the castle, watching as the stars slowly began to appear in the darkening summer sky.