A/N Thanks for all your reviews. A special thanks to da ruth who proof read this chapter for me.

Chapter 20

Explanation

"She… She was admitted to St. Mungo's today."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, I found her, somewhere, passed out." Harry began to explain. "Where's Emily?"

"Oops," Ron said. "Forgot about her." He then raised his voice so that it could be heard throughout the whole house. "Ready or not here I come."

"Hide and go seek?" Harry guessed.

Ron nodded his head in agreement. "I'm going to find her, but you better not leave. I want to hear what happened to Hermione."

Harry agreed. He walked over to the couch and began pacing the floor. He didn't want to stay at the house for too long; he wanted to be with Hermione, but he knew that he did owe Ron an explanation. Plus, he had to see Emily, before even she began to worry, or worse, think her mommy and daddy left her.

"Daddy!" Emily screamed, running back through the kitchen door, straight to her father. Scooping her up, he engulfed her in a hug, proving that he really had missed her.

"Where were you Daddy?"

"I was with your Mommy." He told her. He loosened his grip and placed her back down on the floor. Emily too could sense the pain within her Dad's eyes and knew something was wrong.

"Emily, your Mommy was hurt. I had to take her to the um…" Harry searched his brain trying to locate the muggle word. "Hospital."

Tears started to well up in Emily's eyes as she began to comprehend what he was saying. She was afraid that she would lose her mother. "Wha… What happened?" she asked, in between sobs.

"I don't know, honey," he answered truthfully. "I found her and she was hurt." He was trying his best to explain it simply, and not making the child worry anymore than she already was.

"Is… Is she gonna be okay?"

"Yes, she's going to be fine." He told her reassuringly. He hoped he wasn't lying, but he didn't know what was going on to be sure. "Tell you what, I'm going to go back to the hospital for an hour, and then I'll come back and take you to see her. How does that sound?"

"Good," Emily said. Raising her arm up to her eye, she wiped it in a circular motion, hoping to stop some of the tears from spilling out. She was also very tired, and her eyes were fighting to stay opened.

"Come here." Harry commanded. Once again, he picked up Emily off the floor and into a hug, trying to show her that he wasn't going to leave her alone. "It's going to be okay." Rubbing her back, he tried to comfort the child, but knew that she needed more than that. Setting her back on the floor, he noticed a huge yawn escape her mouth.

"Why don't you go upstairs and lie in bed. I'll be up in a minute to say good night."

Emily thought for a split second, and yawned again. She was way too tired to stay awake. "But… Are you going to wake me 'cause I wanna go see my Mommy?"

"Yes, I will, now go upstairs."

Slowly, she turned and walked away from her family members, verifying her amount of tiredness in her pace. Harry watched her as she made it to the top of the stairs and walked down the hallway to the room she and Hermione shared.

"Are you really going to wake her up in an hour to take her to St. Mungo's?" Ron asked.

"No," Harry answered reluctantly. "She really needs her sleep. I have a feeling its going to be a very long day. But I will come back and taker her, when it's a normal time for someone to be awake."

"What happened?"

"Give me a minute; I need to go and say goodnight to Emily."

Harry ran upstairs, two stairs at a time. He wanted to get back to Hermione, but there were still a few things he had to take care of there, and Emily was his top propriety.

Turning the door handle, Harry opened the door and stepped inside. There was his daughter, under the blankets, curled up into a ball, and fast asleep. He knew she must have been sleeping as soon as her head hit the pillow. Walking closer to her, he lowered his head and kissed the top of hers.

"Goodnight my daughter." He whispered. He stood there for a second longer, just admiring her beauty and innocence. Silently, he shut the door behind him as he exited.

Back downstairs, Ron waited nervously for Harry to come down and explain to him the situation. Catching sight of the black haired man coming down the stairs, he knew it was now or never.

"What happened?" He asked. He needed to know, but from the looks of it, maybe he didn't want to.

"Everything I told Emily was the truth; I just made it sound better than it actually was." Harry admitted. "When I found her, she was hardly breathing, and her heart rate was deteriorating. She was cold and wet because it had been raining." He took a deep breath, trying to hold back tears; he was supposed to be the strong one. "The healers at St. Mungo's say that there not sure she's going to make it."

Thousands of emotions came rushing into Ron. He wanted to cry, but the sobs coming from the man next to him mad him stop. He had to push his emotions out of the way.

Harry looked over to the couch; he had to sit down, a feeling of light headedness and nausea had just passed over him. Ron sat next to him, having no idea what to say or do.

"Hermione's going to be okay." He said, in a soft, comforting voice. "She's a fighter."

"This is all my fault." Harry said in a low, raspy voice, between sobs, making it very hard for Ron to understand him. "If it wasn't for me, Hermione wouldn't be laying in some bed lifeless."

"What?" Ron asked, disbelievingly.

"If it wasn't for me, Hermione would be here with us, right now, safe. But no, I had to be a stubborn asshole and kick her out of the house. And now, she's almost dead, all because of me."

"Harry, it's not your fault." Ron couldn't believe that he and Harry were in the same exact position they were in their fifth year, Harry blaming himself for Sirius death. "You didn't know this was going to happen, or else you never would have let her leave. As for your reaction, it could have been a little better, but your Harry Potter, being stubborn is just part of who you are." He tried to crack a joke, hoping to release a small amount of tension in the room. Yes, he was still scared for Hermione, but he didn't like to see his best mate sinking back into depression again.

Moments of silence passed as neither man knew of anything to say. Harry's mind wandered, the past few hours replaying over and over again in his head.

"I'm going to go back to St. Mungo's." He announced. Standing up, he walked towards the door.

Ron got up and followed. "I'm going too."

"Like hell you are," Harry said, sounding bitterer than he intended to.

"I want to be there for Hermione, just like you to."

"No Ron, you can't." Harry stated simply. He hoped that he had just erased all the anger and frustration from his voice. "You have to stay here with Emily."

"Oh yeah," Ron responded. How could he forget about the sweet young child that was sleeping right above their heads? "Can't you just have my mom watch her? I want to go see Hermione with you."

"It's too early in the morning to get her. I'm sure she's still sleeping. Besides, I may need you to keep Emily's mind off of what is happening."

Ron sighed. "Okay, but you better keep me posted. Come and get me if you hear anything."

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