::whistles::

So, it's been a while, but in all fairness two and a half months isn't too bad! If you could let me know what you think, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Step ;)

Chapter 9

Somehow he had managed to force down all the food his mum had put down in front of him. It had been made easier by the fact that she had made all his favourite comfort food, but still, it hadn't been easy.

He hadn't protested when she had told him to go up to bed, despite it only being seven o'clock in the evening, and had been in his room for the last half an hour. His eyes had been closed for all of five minutes while he tried to arrange his thoughts, but then he had got up off his bed and rummaged in his old school trunk for some parchment.

He had looked for a quill before he remembered that he had Hermione's pen in his robes. He sat down on the bed and straightened out the dog-eared parchment he had managed to find and then pulled the top off the pen.

He was intent on writing things down, laying things out like he had done so many times, but it just wasn't something Ron could do. He knew that staring at the parchment for minutes on end wasn't going to help him, but he didn't know what else to do.

Ron looked at his bedroom door when he heard a door on the floor below shutting. Knowing it was Ginny's door that had just closed – meaning she had just gone in the room – he decided he would see if talking to her would help him.

Slowly he opened his door, making sure no one was watching him or listening out for him not being asleep. He crept downstairs, keeping to the left hand side of the staircase, which he knew to be less creaky than the right, and knocked and entered Ginny's room without waiting for a response.

His eyes widened when he saw Harry and Ginny stood at opposite ends of the room.

'Shit! Sorry, Gin! I didn't even think! I'll go, I'm sorry!'

Ginny chuckled.

'Ron, calm down, it's fine,' she said through her giggles. 'What exactly do you think Harry and I were getting up to on opposite sides of the room?'

'Well…I…I dunno! I still should've waited for an answer, I just didn't want to get caught out of bed by mum, hence the quick entrance!'

'That's a point,' Harry said with a frown, 'why aren't you asleep? You should be resting.'

'Are you channelling my mother?'

'Wow, that's a scary thought,' Ginny mumbled, wincing.

'Not that I know of!' Harry replied.

'And after the day you've had shouldn't you be resting too?' Ron asked.

'How do you know what I've done? I haven't seen you to tell you!'

'Mum filled me in during the force feeding, I think she was trying to keep my mind off…things.'

The three fell silent for a few seconds. Ginny cleared her throat.

'So, have…things changed at all?'

'Yes and no.'

'What?' both Harry and Ginny exclaimed.

'Shh!' Ron hissed. 'I didn't do the stealth act down the stairs to have you two get me found out! Don't shout when I'm telling you, okay?'

'Sorry,' Harry mumbled. Ginny nodded her head.

'Right, well, you know what happened…was it yesterday? I can't even remember when it was…anyway, when I was connected to Hermione and I had that fit…thing.'

Harry and Ginny nodded slowly.

'Well, apparently Hermione…how did Healer Watson explain it? He said to imagine that she was under water, like way under water, a hundred feet or so, well after what happened between me and her, he says she's now like a bit nearer the surface, not a huge amount, but it's something. Apparently her brain's a bit more active than it was.'

'It's Hermione! You can't keep her brain inactive for long.' Harry said with a small smile.

Ron smiled.

'So, what made that happen?' Ginny asked. 'Is she just getting better?'

Ron took a deep breath.

'Well, see that's the other thing. They took a sample of my blood and Hermione's too and did some tests on it. They found something in both of our blood samples that Healer Watson hadn't seen before. They think it's a side effect of your dodgy potion and the remnants of the connection we can't remember a thing about.'

Ron rubbed his face.

'The thing is, Hermione's only got a tiny amount in comparison to me.'

'Why's that significant?' Harry asked, frowning.

'Because it should be equal!' Ginny shrieked.

Ron was glad Ginny was thinking like Hermione's Healer.

'What? Why?' Harry asked, his voice getting louder with each question.

'Shh!' Ron gestured before pausing to listen out for movement downstairs. 'From what you and Gin told me and what Madam Pomfrey wrote in her notes, everything about what we shared was equal. Everything! The Healer said something else too, he said that because it had been in our blood for this long, that our bodies must consider it normal, or it would have flushed it out our system.'

'So, because she doesn't have the amount she should have, she's unconscious!' Ginny finished for him.

'Exactly!'

'Right, so we just wait for her to…grow herself some more!' Ginny said. Ron knew she was hoping he was going to tell her that's exactly what would happen.

'No. Well, probably not. Her body doesn't know how to make that stuff because it's never had to. It's accepted it as something new and something that won't harm her, and has now become to depend on it, but it can't make any more.'

'So you'll have to share yours!' Ginny said simply.

Ron's heart leapt. This proved it wasn't him jumping to conclusions.

'But—' Harry said, before being interrupted by Ron.

'That's what I said! I think that when I had that fit thing, this stuff is what she took from me. It makes sense! In the dream or whatever it was, it definitely felt like she was taking something from me and I think it was whatever we share in our blood!'

'Hang on—' Harry said, but was yet again interrupted.

'So can you do it again?'

'Woah! Hang on a minute!' Harry shouted to stop the onslaught of words coming from the two siblings.'

He got a venomous 'Shh!' in response from both brother and sister.

Harry whipped out his wand and cast a silencing charm around the door.

'I will not shush! Firstly, Ron, did the Healers say that you would have to give Hermione this potion remnant stuff to make her better?'

Ron looked at anywhere but Harry.

'Um…not exactly.'

'Not exactly? Does that mean he's concerned because of what happened when you last apparently gave some of this stuff to Hermione?'

'I'mfine!' Ron said through a clenched jaw.

'But you weren't!' Harry shrieked in what had to be considered as a very un-manly way. He coughed, trying to give a reason for the squeak in his voice. 'You were fitting and then were unconscious for a couple of minutes. Actually, have they tested you to see if there was any damage from that yet?'

Ron shook his head.

'Of course they haven't. I'm guessing you haven't let them do anything to you because you've insisted they concentrate on Hermione. Correct?'

Ron nodded.

'Bloody idiot! Secondly, you don't know that Hermione took that stuff from you. You can't do, they didn't test her blood beforehand.'

'So that's why I have to persuade them to let me try the whole falling asleep, dreaming weirdly thing again. It's the only way to make sure!'

'But it makes you ill!' Harry shouted.

'I DON'T CARE!'

Harry took a step backwards at Ron words. Ron glared at him, breathing heavily. He swallowed.

'I can't sit on my arse downstairs doing sod all while Hermione lies in hospital. I won't do nothing! I've told her dad and her mum the same thing and I'll say it to anyone else who thinks I'm insane for wanting to wake my girlfriend up! I dare you to say you wouldn't do the same thing if it was Ginny in the same situation.'

Harry looked at Ron and then looked at the floor. He took a deep breath and looked at Ron again.

'What happens if it makes you seriously ill? If taking the tiny amount of whatever it is from you caused you to fall unconscious, what happens if she takes more? Percy said he couldn't get you to let go of her. What happens if you just end up swapping places? She takes all this stuff from you, she wakes up but it's you unconscious then?'

'That won't happen!' Ron shouted in response to Harry's continuous questions.

'You don't know that!' Harry retorted.

'All right! Shut up the pair of you!' Ginny snapped. 'Harry, you know Ron needs to see if this will work. It's not risk free, of course it's not, but I think if either you or me could help Hermione wake up, then we would.'

Harry looked at the floor and after a while nodded his head.

'I just…I just don't want anyone else hurt or injured because of this war. Especially…especially you. You've been through enough already.'

Ron took a step forward, hesitated, then walked towards Harry and hugged him.

They gripped each other tightly for a few seconds and then pulled back.

'I have to do this, Harry. You know that.'

Harry nodded.

They heard a sniff and turned around to look at Ginny who was hastily wiping her eyes.

'You okay, Gin?' Ron asked.

'Fine!' Ginny replied in a too cheery voice.

'That was a shocking attempt at lying, dear sister of mine,' Ron said with a smirk.

'Oh sod off!'

'Are you jealous? Do you want a hug too?' Ron said with a grin.

'Well, if I did I don't now! Git!'

'And I love you too, Gin!'

Harry laughed out loud and Ron joined in. After a second his face split into a yawn. For once, he brought his hand to cover his mouth.

He smiled sadly. Typical! he thought, I only remember to do it when she's not here to see it.

'I think you should go and try to get some sleep, Ron,' Ginny said, walking towards him. She rubbed his arm, comfortingly.

Ron nodded. 'Think I will. I'll leave you two to what you weren't doing when I walked in!'

Ginny hit Ron on the side of the head.

'Arse!'

…oooOOOooo…

For once he had slept. Not right through the night, he had gone to bed too early for that to have happened, but he had managed six hours and had only woken up twice. He had stayed in bed for an hour and a half until four in the morning before getting up. He was still tired, but not quite as much as he had been in the last couple of days.

For an hour he had been sitting at the kitchen table reading through Madam Pomfrey's notes. He had read them all before but thought having not looked at them for a while might bring something 'insignificant' to his attention.

He had read with wide eyes the words describing the argument and actions that had led to their kiss. Harry had told him about it, they had both gone very pink and had never mentioned it again. Harry had made some sarcastic comment when he and Hermione had finally decided to put all the misunderstandings behind them and finally admit their feelings for each other, but apart from that, it hadn't been mentioned.

He had had to laugh when he read that they had argued before hand. Typical. It wasn't as if they wanted to annoy the other one, but sometimes they just couldn't help it. At least now they had another way of dissipating their frustration.

Despite hating the taste, Ron made himself some coffee and made himself drink it without milk, but with plenty of sugar. He thought he might need the caffeine later in the day. An Invigorating Draft would be a lot easier and a lot more effective, but after he had taken one on their Horcrux hunt and had been bouncing off the walls of their tent for the next four hours, he had decided not to take one again, unless in a dire emergency.

It was quarter to six when he heard other people in the house stirring. He pulled his robes on and folded the note he had written in explanation of his absence. He had simply stated he was going to the hospital and would see anyone who went to visit Hermione later in the day.

Healer Watson had allowed Ron to visit Hermione at any time of the day, under strict instructions that he was not to sleep at the hospital anymore. The Healer had worded his statement very carefully and had made it sound like he was concerned for Ron and him getting a good night's sleep, something he couldn't do in the hospital. But Ron knew that Healer Watson didn't want Ron falling asleep near Hermione. Not after what happened last time.

He arrived at the hospital just after six and walked through the very quiet corridors. He kept his head down and avoided the questioning looks Mediwitches and Healers gave him – not all of the staff knew he was allowed to be in the hospital outside of regular visiting hours – and quickly made his way up to Hermione's private room.

He was about to mutter the password to get into Hermione's room when he noticed movement inside the room. He pushed open the door.

'Healer Watson?' he said as he entered the room.

'Ron! It's rather early for you to be here isn't it? I thought I told you to rest!'

'I did! I went to bed at about half eight and slept for longer than I have in days. Unfortunately, when you go to bed early, you wake up early too!'

Healer Watson smiled.

'Well, at least you managed to sleep for a little while, anyway!'

Ron nodded before kissing Hermione on the forehead.

'I take it there's been no change.'

'No, she still stable, but still in a deep coma.'

'Any news from the blood tests you were having done?'

Healer Watson didn't reply straight away. He looked purposefully at the parchment in his hands.

'I wanted to talk to Mr and Mrs Granger and you together, Ron, about the results of those tests.'

'Why? What is it? What've you found?'

'Calm down, Ron.'

Ron sat down on the chair at Hermione's bed head.

'Did you do the same tests on my blood?'

'Yes, we did.'

'Then can I request that you tell me the result of those tests, please? I believe I have a right to know about them.'

Healer Watson frowned ever so slightly. He took a deep breath and shuffled the pieces of parchment he was holding. He cleared his throat.

'We attempted to isolate the part of the blood that you and Hermione share – the remnant of the potion that connected you to each other. We found that it is actually woven into all the cells in your blood.'

'All of them?' Ron exclaimed.

'All of them,' the Healer repeated. 'My colleague decided that it would be best to try and perform tests on the plasma in your blood, as this is the part would be able to be transferred safely to Hermione without causing any other damage.

'Plasma's the stuff that all the other cells float about in, isn't it?' Ron asked, just making sure he was getting everything right in his mind.

Healer Watson nodded. 'It is. Blood is about fifty percent plasma so we get more per unit that anything else.'

'So what tests did your colleague perform? Was he able to isolate it? Or duplicate it?'

Healer Watson sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.

'There's a problem, Ron.'

'What? What problem?'

'We found that between the time the Plasma was separated from the rest of the blood, and the time they were about to test the mysterious substance, it had deteriorated so much that it wouldn't have been noticed had they not been looking for it.'

Ron frowned.

'So, they need to do the testing quicker!'

'Ron, it was about two minutes between finishing the separation and starting the testing. They couldn't have done it any faster. By all accounts as soon as you separate the blood it breaks down.' He sighed deeply. 'There's no way we can harvest any of the potion remnant in the laboratory.'

Ron looked at Hermione, he couldn't take her eyes off her.

'And they're…you're positive you can't duplicate it from my blood.'

'We're positive. They tried it more than once, Ron.'

'They don't need anymore of my blood to carry on testing?'

Ron saw the Healer shake his head in his peripheral vision. He had refused to take his eyes off Hermione.

'No, Ron. They've done all they can.'

'So what now?'

The Healer shuffled his parchment back into the correct order and propped his glasses onto the top of his head.

'I have the rest of my patients to see and then I need to discuss all of this with Mr and Mrs Granger. You are, of course, welcome to stay with Hermione for as long as you want. But please, remember what I said about sleeping at the hospital. Now that you're regaining something of a normal sleeping pattern, I don't want you to jeopardise that progress.'

Ron nodded his head an inch, still not looking at anywhere else but Hermione.

'I shall speak to you later, Ron.'

The Healer left the room.

Ron leaned forwards and propped his elbows on the mattress. He picked up Hermione's hand in his and entwined their fingers.

'Well, apparently science, both Muggle and Magical can't help you, Hermione. They tried, but apparently the stuff that we've kept in our blood doesn't like being played with.'

He kissed her fingers one by one.

'So, if the Healers can't help you, then that leaves it up to me, doesn't it? I won't leave you like this, Hermione. You won't hurt me, I know you won't. I trust you, Hermione and I love you. That's why I'm doing this. You'd do the same, I know you would. You'd try and save me, and I have to try to get you back here with me. I need you here with me, so don't get angry when you wake up, okay? Promise?'

He kissed her fingers once more and smiled.

'I'll hold you to that.'