Chapter Two
Harry and Ron had not slept. They had barely eaten or drank and spent their entire days and nights sitting at Hermione's bedside, willing her to wake up. But she didn't. Various students and teachers turned up to see whether anything had changed, but it never did. Ginny, Neville and Luna came regularly, as did Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid. Molly, Arthur, Remus and 'Dora had come a few times. Even Draco Malfoy got caught by Harry staring through the window of the hospital wing towards Hermione. It was beginning to bring everyone down. However, Harry and Ron could no longer bear it and fell into a deep sleep. When they awoke from it, they found themselves in their dormatory, but when they sprinted to the door to open it, it would not open. Instead, they just sat and cried.
Professor McGonagall sat by Hermione's bedside, staring at her face. It felt so strange that someone so young and full of life could be lying on a hospital bed, unmoving. Minerva was well aware that she may never move again. She was aware of what this illness could do when combined with a fatal injury, for she had witnessed it happen to a student before, while she was still a student herself. And now she was terrified, for the student had died within six days of recieving the injury. Hermione had fallen five days ago and if the worst repeated itself, she would die the next day. But the student who had died all those years ago, the boy had been weak even before he got the illness and Hermione...Well, Hermione was the bravest girl that Minerva had ever known. If she couldn't get through this then there weren't many who could. She just had to hope that Hermione would fight until the end.