Oh my life! How long did this take? Very sorry for those of you who were waiting very patiently for it, but it's here now.
Things move on a bit in this one, with a bit of angst thrown in for good measure!
Please let me know what you think. :D

Step ;)

Chapter 8

'Let me get this straight, she's improved?'

Ron tried to ignore the squirming in his stomach, he couldn't get his hopes up, he just couldn't.

'Ron, think of it like this,' Healer Watson covered his eyes with his hand and rubbed his temples. 'Imagine she's been…say…a hundred feet under water, well now, after whatever happened between you and her, she's about ninety feet under. That isn't a big difference Ron, the diagnosis spell barely distinguished a change, but there has been some sort of increase in her brain activity. Not a lot, but a small increase.'

'Small, but it's something, isn't it?'

'It's…it's a start.'

'So how do we keep it going? I'll do it again, I'll give her whatever she needed to take from me. Just tell me how and when!'

'Ron, stop this now. We don't know what happened when you fell unconscious and what you…gave Hermione, if that's what even happened. I'm going to have to do some tests to see if I can determine anything, and I'm going to have to talk to the Hogwarts Nurse. By all accounts she's probably in the best position to tell me about this connection you had.'

Ron nodded. 'She said she was happy to help in any way. I can give you the copy of the notes she gave me if you want to read them.'

Healer Watson nodded. 'I think I'm going to need every bit of information there is. Oh, do you mind if I take a sample of your blood, Ron? I want to compare it with Hermione's and see if there's anything different than normal.'

'Of course.'

He automatically shook the cuff of his cloak off his hand and held it out, palm down, to the Healer.

Healer Watson smiled.

'Sorry, Ron, I want to do this the muggle way. I don't want any type of magic interfering with yours or Hermione's blood. I have a friend who does a lot of muggle analytical chemistry on blood and I want him to see it untouched by magic.'

Ron frowned, not exactly sure if he understood the method behind the apparent madness of Hermione's Healer, but he trusted the man who was looking after his girlfriend and would do whatever he asked.

'Er…okay. How…?'

The smallest of smiles crossed the Healer's face. 'Don't worry, Ron, I'll explain as we do it. But I have to go and see another patient first. Will you be here for the next half hour or so?'

'I'm not going anywhere, as long as your staff don't kick me out for taking the piss out of the visiting hours!'

Healer Watson laughed out loud and Ron managed to raise a smile.

The Healer left the room and Ron sat down on the chair next to Hermione's bed. He looked up and saw Charles sat next to the door.

'Are you, okay, Charles?' Ron asked.

'What? Oh, yes, Ron. Thanks for asking.'

'I'd believe you, but…apparently you do the same thing Hermione does when she's lying.'

Charles looked up at Ron, a confused but slightly amused expression on his face.

'What's that then?'

'You chew on the back of your ring finger, on your left hand. Although, that's quite impressive seeing as though you wear a wedding ring!'

Ron was relieved when Charles smiled.

'Does Hermione really do the same thing?'

Ron nodded.

'Does she know you know what she does?'

'Er, not yet, no. I think it annoys her when I plainly know she's lying to me, not that she does it often; normally she just bends the truth a bit to save people's feelings. Whatever the reason, she always feels a bit guilty about it.'

Charles nodded.

'So…is it something other than…' he waved is arm at his surroundings, 'all this that's bothering you?' Ron asked Charles.

Charles smiled.

'No, just all this,' he made the same movement with his arm that Ron had.

They sat in silence, waiting for something, nothing, anything.

After a few minutes, Veronica walked into the room. Ron turned round to look at Hermione while Charles and Veronica talked. Again he felt like he was intruding, but he couldn't make himself move from next to Hermione.

He just kept sitting and looking at Hermione, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb, then holding her hand against his cheek.

He was starting to fall asleep when the door opened again and he heard Charles talk to Healer Watson.

'Ron, is it okay if I take a sample of your blood now?'

Ron replaced Hermione's hand on the bed and stood up.

'Yeah…er…how…?'

Healer Watson smiled.

'Take your outer robes off, Ron and roll your sleeve up on your…are you left or right handed?'

'Right.'

'On your left arm then.'

Ron did as he was asked.

'Sit down, Ron, and relax.'

He pulled a small box out of his white robes and set it down on Hermione's bed.

'Make a fist for me, Ron.'

Healer Watson turned around and Ron saw the needle in his hand.

'Something tells me this is going to hurt.'

…oooOOOooo…

Molly Weasley knew her youngest son could be incredibly stubborn at times. If she was truthful with herself, she would have to admit that every single one of her sons was stubborn, she just hadn't decided who they had got that particular trait from. Some people thought stubbornness was a good thing to be, standing your ground when you were doing what you thought was best. But others thought of it as an unwillingness to compromise and see another's opinion.

At this point in time she was one of the latter, annoyed about her son's lack of consideration for his own health and state of mind after what had happened to Hermione.

She understood why he was worried, everyone was worried for Hermione's well being, but that did not give Ronald the excuse to make himself ill and disregard her requests to have a decent meal and a good night's sleep.

And that was why she was striding through the corridors of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in search of her youngest son so she could take him home and make sure he got everything he needed.

She would not stop him returning, no. But she would make sure he was fit to do so when he did.

Her frustration at Ron built as with every step she envisioned him coming up with excuse after excuse as to why not to go home with her.

She rounded the corner and stopped dead when her eyes fell on the floor outside Hermione's room.

Her little boy was curled up, asleep on the cold hard floor. Tears instantly filled her eyes and she started walking forward towards him.

She reached the curled up form and kneeled down next to him.

'Ron,' she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. She cleared her throat. 'Ron,' she said again, this time louder.

Ron stirred but didn't wake up. Molly was about to gently shake him to wake him when she saw something that made her stop, her hand half way to his shoulder.

There were tear tracks across the bridge of Ron's nose. He had cried himself to sleep.

'Oh, my Ronnie,' Molly said, her mouth hardly forming the words.

She rearranged herself until she was sitting on the floor next to Ron. With strength she only had in these types of situations she pulled Ron off the floor and into her lap. He didn't wake, so she rocked him and held him, stroking his hair away from his eyes.

She tried to stay strong, and to remind herself why she was here; to get Ron home, eating and sleeping as he should be, but the weight of what had happened to her, to her family and to her youngest son washed over her in waves. She tried to control her sobs, so to not wake Ron but she couldn't stop her tears falling from her eyes and landing in Ron's hair.

So intent was she on not waking Ron, she didn't notice when his hands started gripping the back of her robes and fresh tears started to fall from his eyes.

…oooOOOooo…

He had not cared that he had fallen apart in his mother's arms, or that she had realised he was awake and crying, and, therefore, not let him go until he had stopped.

He had not cared that they had not moved from the floor where he had initially fallen asleep, regardless of the people who walked past them. He heard the footsteps but did not look up at the faces. The footsteps never stopped and no one exclaimed or laughed at the scene. He thought that everyone on the ward they were on, were on there for the same reason. They all had friends or family on there and understood the emotion that was so openly on display.

He had cared, though, when his mum had tried to make him leave the hospital and go home. When he had pulled himself out of the dark place his mind had gone to he realised why his mum was there. Yes, she was concerned for Hermione's well being, but he hadn't been at home properly since, well, months in all honesty, but now everything was finished and done with, he still hadn't been home like he, they should have been. He tried to remember how long he had been at the hospital, it had to be days by now, he just wasn't sure of how many. Three? Four? Five? His head hurt just thinking about it.

He had managed to compromise with his mum: when Healer Watson came back to him with his and Hermione's initial blood test results and told him any thoughts he'd had about their 'connection' and more importantly, Hermione's condition, then he would go home and eat and sleep and whatever else his mum wanted him to.

She hadn't liked it, but had eventually agreed. She was waiting for him in the hospital canteen and wasn't going to leave unless Ron was with her. Now all he had to do was wait for Healer Watson.

He had been wandering around the corridors of the hospital for the last fifteen minutes. After his conversation with his mum he had gone back to Hermione's room and had peered in the door. He had seen Hermione's mum and dad holding each other, Veronica obviously distraught and holding on to her husband, waiting for him to tell her it would all be alright and Hermione would be back with them soon.

He left as soon as he'd seen them. He wanted to talk to them both, tell them that he would do anything he could to help Hermione, and remind them that now there was some ray of light in the far distance that could be he answer to waking her up. But then he remembered what Charles had told him earlier; that he would not let Ron do anything that was remotely dangerous in order to wake Hermione up.

That was what he had been thinking of before he fell asleep on the corridor floor; that as much as he might be able to help Hermione, he wouldn't be allowed to help her for his own good. That idea tore him apart. Did her dad not realise how much of a torture to him that would be? Knowing that he could do something to help but being forced to stay on the safe side of caution 'just in case'.

He hated thinking about it, so he had walked in the hope that he would find some distraction. It had worked to an extent, but now he was back outside Hermione's room door and it looked like he could go in without interrupting anyone.

'Ah, Ron, there you are.'

'Healer Watson! Sorry, I didn't know you were going to be back so soon. I thought things would take longer.'

'Ah, well, normally they would, but when you're owed a favour, things can happen rather quickly! Would you like a seat?'

Healer Watson didn't wait for Ron to reply but conjured a chair for him next to Veronica. Charles was on her other side.

Ron sat down.

'Right, well, according to these results, there is something present in your blood, Ron, and in Hermione's that could be a residue from the potion that you both swallowed which forged a connection between the two of you.'

'Er, okay…um, should I be concerned?' Ron said.

Healer Watson smiled.

'I think if this was anything sinister then you would have had some side effects before now, Ron. Actually, I think it's become so much a part of your blood system that your body has adjusted to it and now thinks is normal.'

'And Hermione has it too?' Charles asked.

'She does, but we only found – in comparison to Ron – a tiny amount.'

No one said anything in answer to the Healer's statement, so he continued.

'From what I've read of your nurse's notes, Ron, everything about your connection with Hermione was equal. You shared your pain equally, when one fell unconscious, so did the other, and by the end of it you were sharing your dreams and emotions. It was always a two way exchange and one of you was never affected more or less than the other.'

Ron wasn't sure if he was supposed to agree or not so he just nodded.

'I find it a bit strange, therefore, that Hermione only has a small amount of it in her blood whereas you have a considerable amount more.'

There was only a second's silence.

'That's what she took from me.'

Ron had said it without thinking, but he hadn't needed to, it made perfect sense and was the most logical answer.

'Ron, let's not jump to conclusions,' Healer Watson said firmly. 'We have no way of telling whether that was what happened, as we didn't test Hermione's blood beforehand. On a basic medical level, I can't see how that was possible, either. There was no physical exchange of blood between you, which I have to say is a good thing as you are both different blood types and would have been disastrous. I just don't see how this residue could have been exchanged when the only physical contact you had was you holding Hermione's hand. For all we know, Hermione may have always had that amount of residue.'

'But she might not have.'

'Ron don't—'

'What if that's what the infection did? What if it destroyed this stuff that we both have and that's why she hasn't woken up yet?'

'Ron—'

Ron continued to ignore the Healer's protests.

'You said that this stuff had become part of our system so it would be like her losing all the white blood cells or something, and she can't replace it like she would normal cells because…because, it's not naturally in our system so her body doesn't know how to!'

He stood up and walked around the back of his chair. He could feel three pairs of eyes on him.

'Ron, there's at least three huge presumptions in that theory,' the Healer replied. 'This residue could have nothing to do with Hermione's condition!'

'But it could have everything to do with it. Everything fits!'

'No Ron,' Charles said loudly. 'What we have is a few facts that might lead us onto something, but what you're doing is mashing them all together and hoping that they come up with some half arsed thought.'

'It's the most logical thing!' Ron exclaimed, his frustration at their lack of acceptance of his theory coming through in his tone.

'Ron, calm down,' Veronica said, her eyes finding his. 'We have found something that may help us, but we do not need our hopes building for it to turn out to be nothing. We can not do that to ourselves. I won't let you do that to yourself, or to us. Understand?'

Ron looked at Veronica and then Charles, and gave the smallest of nods.

'I'm still waiting for some more results to come back, but they may take longer to return,' the Healer said, obviously finding the scene that had been a little uncomfortable. 'Can I suggest the three of you take the opportunity to go home and get some rest?'

Charles gave the Healer a reassuring nod.

'Good,' the Healer said as he stood from his seat. 'I shall contact you as soon as the results arrive.'

'Thank you, Healer Watson,' Veronica said quietly.

He left the room.

Ron started thinking about all that he had heard. He knew what had to be done, there was not other option. He would have to fall asleep the same way he had last time and see if the same thing happened again.

His racing thoughts were mirrored in the way he had started pacing across the room. His actions had not gone unnoticed.

'Don't you dare, Ron.'

Ron stopped dead and stared at Charles.

'Don't…what?' he asked.

'Don't you dare come up with some plan which involves you trying anything stupid. I told you before, I will not let you play the hero.'

'Play the hero?' Ron repeated, his anger and frustration building up inside him. 'That's why you think I've been doing all this? Just to play the hero?'

He hadn't meant to shout, but he had ended up doing so anyway.

Charles stood and walked around the chairs and nearer to Ron.

'That's not what I said, Ron. Don't twist my words. I've already told you Hermione wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger!'

'Yes well, we won't know what she wants because she's in a coma, isn't she! And she's unconscious because I left her. Everyone in the world can tell me it's what Hermione wanted me to do and what needed to be done for the best for the whole fucking Wizarding world, but at the minute I couldn't give a rats fart what's best for the rest of the world. My world will cease to exist without Hermione in it. I will not sit here and do nothing!'

It had taken every ounce of restraint in him to keep his voice from cracking from emotion but he could still feel tears start to burn his eyes.

'And you think it's easy for me, for us to sit here and do nothing to help our little girl, Ron? You don't think we feel the same guilt for not stopping her going with you and Harry? I can't do anything for her but—'

'But you would if you could, wouldn't you? You'd do anything to bring her back?'

Charles didn't say anything, but continued to meet Ron's eye, neither of them looking away.

'A bit hypocritical that, Charles. There's the difference, you see, I can do something to help her.'

It was Veronica's time to stand up and join in the 'discussion'.

'You don't know that Ron, you—'

'If you don't mind,' Ron said, interrupting her sentence. He had heard enough of the protests from Hermione's parents. He needed to leave, 'I'm going to go home. My mother's waiting for me upstairs. It would be rude to keep her waiting much longer. I'll be back tomorrow.'

He turned away from them, half expecting a protest. As he turned the handle on the door, Veronica spoke.

'Ron?' she said quietly. Ron paused and turned his head towards her. 'We'll see you tomorrow.'

He nodded his head an inch and left the room.

He made his way through the hospital quickly to collect his mum from the canteen. For the first time since Hermione had been admitted to hospital he wanted to go home.

He had some thinking to do.