Look, I hate re-typing things. So, from here on in, for fd-hp-Ecluvr. It doesn't mean I love you and your reviews any less…it just means I am inherently lazy. BTW, there will be a VOTE at the end of the chapter!! I know, a VOTE. How wonderfully exciting, yes??? Don't skip down to it now, you'll go blind. So, Read, Review and VOTE!!!

Ahem…anyway…on with the chapter, I think. I've had far too much sugar…

HermionePOV

Two weeks pass. Chemotherapy has just been inserted into my routine, when the course finishes, and I face up to my review with the consultant. Ron comes with me. I told Mum and Dad and Danny that I wanted them to come, but that I wanted Ron to be the one who came in with me. I think that they understood why I wanted that - which was a good thing, because I didn't know why I wanted him there so badly.

He holds my hand tightly.

"Ah, Hermione. Take a seat."

"Good afternoon, Doctor. So, what's the diagnosis?" He looks at us both. He sighs. He takes out his file and he sits down.

"We need to start talking options, Hermione."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Good. You have a choice. The majority of my patients must do one or the other. There are all the signs that the chemotherapy is having the desired effect - i.e., it is killing the cancerous cells. But it isn't doing it in a way that indicates radiotherapy will finish the job."

"So my choice is…"

"Either you have the radiotherapy, and then another course of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy - with a chance of success at the end - or we call this now - and you have a mastectomy." Ron grips my hand as I clutch at his. I stare at the consultant.

"Numbers - my chance of being cured after the second course of drugs?"

"Sixty-forty."

"Is there then a chance of the cancer coming back?"

"It's always a risk with breast cancer."

"And if I have a mastectomy?"

"We all but eliminate the possibility. I don't know how radical this mastectomy would be - we will definitely take the breast, but it may be possible to leave you with the nipple and areola. We can perform reconstructive surgery with the same operation, although in someone so young, I don't recommend it. I would advise you to have the operation, and then, after, when the cancer has been treated fully, when you are cleared, then have reconstructive surgery."

"I would still have the radiotherapy, if I had the mastectomy?"

"Yes, but that course would almost certainly cure you completely."

"Can I have some time to think about this?"

"I can give you two more weeks - that would take us to the point where we would begin your radiotherapy. I would need to know by the Wednesday of that week."

"If she has this mastectomy, will you guarantee me that she'll be cured after radiotherapy? Can you give me your medical word?"

"No. I can't give you that. But she has a considerably better chance."

"So from sixty-forty, she would go to…"

"Ninety-ten."

"Thank you. Hermione?" I hear his voice, but I only just register the fact that he's there, holding my hand, getting me to my feet. "We've got to go now. I've got you, sweetheart. I've got you." Sure enough, strong, capable arms are around my waist, so much like that time he lifted me off the wall at the sea front. I take the steps I have to to get to the car. I don't hear Ron telling my family what was said. I don't hear my mother break down, although Ron said she did. I don't remember the drive home. I don't remember Ron staying till I slept, although Danny said he never let go of me, not once. I don't remember my father leaving the house, coming back. I am told it all after, like I am an innocent bystander who happened to ask what our day was like yesterday. I am told of my life like it is no longer my own.

It's not even something I can muster the energy to care about.

A/N: After the doom and gloom of this chapter, Hermione will be going back to school. Draco the Snake will be there and on a mission to Piss Her Off. Now, what should Hermione do? Should she
A) Give him a mean-ass right-hook to the jaw, followed by a swift kick in the nuts?
B) Cry on Ron's shoulder, who then goes and gives Draco a mean-ass right-hook to the jaw?
C) Ginny gives him a mean-ass, right-hook to the jaw, followed by Hermione giving him a swift kick in the nuts?
one way or another, Draco Malfoy is getting a swift, mean-ass right hook to the jaw. OK?

ANYWAY, please VOTE!!