Chapter 9

Previously:

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Everything... hurts."

Harry nudged the door open with his foot and carefully deposited his precious bundle onto one of the beds while calling for Madame Pomfrey.

Hermione felt herself slipping into sleep and shook her head.

"You need to sleep. Please rest, Hermione."

She would feel better when she woke.

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Hermione slept for several hours that afternoon and woke to find Harry sitting at a nearby desk flipping through her old arithmancy notes while evidently working on one of the problems from class. He turned when he heard her move.

"Hermione!" He dropped his quill and knelt by her bed. "How are you feeling?" She stretched out her arms and legs and sat up.

"A lot better. I'm sorry I scared you, Harry. Let's not ever do that again."

"Let's not," he agreed with a grin. "Are you ready to study, or is that a useless question?" She laughed and shook her head in amusement before gingerly getting to her feet. Harry supported her on unbound legs as they made their way over to the table he had been working on.

"What's this supposed to mean, the rate at which you combine numbers of movements in a spell to lead to a power-number is supposed to be the letter F? Why? How does that even work?"

"Well, you see, it works like this..."

And so the evening went on. Hermione was evidently feeling much better. The sparkle was back in her eyes and Harry could see that she was moving her arms without much pain at all. Soon she had given him a brief crash course in arithmancy up to that point. There was a lot he still didn't understand, but she knew they had time. He knew enough to be able to follow the class at least. She had him looking over some of her rune sketches that she'd made while she rested for a moment.

"I didn't see anything like these in class," Harry said, puzzled by the unfamiliar shapes.

"These were from a unit on runic locks. They won't open to alohamora or any spell other than a password or gesture I specify, but if you damage the carving it'll lose it's locking power. There's one hidden on my trunk just in case. I'll teach you how to make them and we'll put one on yours."

After a while, Harry was able to produce a satisfying sketch of the locking rune and they called it quits for the night. It was getting late, and although Hermione had napped that afternoon she was still tired. They hugged each other goodnight and Harry returned to his dorm. It was thankfully a peaceful, dreamless night's sleep for him.

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The next morning, Harry found that Ron had arrived in the night and was waking up just as he was.

"Hey mate, when did you get in?" He asked, surprised to see Ron back early.

"Late last night. They let me go early. Just a bunch of tests. I slept through most of it. Good food, that." Harry smiled a bit, glad to hear that his friend hadn't been too adversely affected.

"Let's go down to breakfast. I'm hungry already," Ron said, starting toward the door.

"I've got to get Hermione first," Harry said as they exited the common room.

"Where from?" Ron asked, confused.

"She's in the hospital wing," Harry said curtly. "Or didn't they inform you that you attacked and poisoned her under the imperious curse?"

"Yeah, but I figured she'd be okay," he said nonchalantly. Harry's blood boiled a little seeing how Ron didn't seem to care about his friend at all.

"She was very, very sick, Ron. I thought she was gonna die. I need to keep an eye on her and help her around. She can hardly walk on her own."

"That bad, huh?" Ron said distractedly, not paying attention to their conversation in favor of the odor of breakfast wafting up the staircase.

"Yes. So I'm going to the hospital wing first to help her down to breakfast and then to our classes."

"Whatever suits you, mate." Ron said as he began rushing down the stairs. Harry shook his head and turned to head down the hall to the hospital wing.

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"Now Hermione dear, please be more careful. I know your schedule is a bit easier today, but all the same I don't want to see you being carried through that door mostly unconscious and scaring poor Harry out of his wits again," the healer admonished Hermione as Harry walked into the ward.

"Yeah, no more scaring poor Harry out of his wits, Hermione," He said laughingly. Hermione smiled at him and stood to embrace him. Her legs had already been wrapped so that was no indication of her health but her embrace seemed stronger today.

"Feeling better?" He asked, looking her up and down.

"Yes, a bit," she replied. "Let's get to breakfast." Harry once again shouldered their bag and they walked hand in hand down the hallway.

"One thing you need to know," Harry began. "Ron's back."

"Really? He's early then."

"Yes..." Harry trailed off into silence. They walked silently hand in hand for some time.

"What's bothering you, Harry?" Hermione asked gently, seeing the tension on his face.

"How can we tell him we're... together?" Hermione looked confused.

"By... telling him?" She said as if it were obvious. It was, Harry realized, but he also realized that Ron probably wouldn't take it very well. It would sort of make him a third wheel of a sort and they both knew Ron loved attention.

"He didn't sound concerned about you at all when I told that you'd been really sick," Harry added. "I don't know what his problem is, but I have a bad feeling about this. Like that telling him won't end well. But I'm not letting you go," he amended quickly. "You're... more important to me." Hermione smiled and squeezed his hand in gratitude. All the same, she was concerned about their relationship with the volatile redhead now.

"I don't see what else we can do, Harry. The way he reacts is completely up to him. I won't even hold it against him that he almost killed me. I know his friendship means a lot to you, even if he hasn't been the nicest person lately. Don't just throw that away, if you can help it."

When they had finally made their way painstakingly down the stairs, they found Ron standing outside the great hall with a murderous look on his face. Evidently, he already knew about their relationship. It wasn't exactly a secret - the whole castle had seen them holding hands the day before.

"What the bloody hell?" He shouted as Harry and Hermione rounded the corner hand in hand.

"What's the matter, Ron?" Harry asked, although he'd seen this coming. Hermione squeezed his hand to reassure him.

"You, and... why'd you do it, mate?" He asked, turning red. "Why'd you two... get together while I was in St. Mungo's?" They looked at each other as they hadn't anticipated that sort of question.

"Well, I sort of discovered that I like her," Harry offered.

"And I like him," she added.

"So we wanted to, you know, be together," Harry finished.

"You were... doing whatever with each other... while I was in the bloody hospital? You didn't even check to see if I was alive!" He growled, even angrier. This sparked Harry's temper as well.

"Professor McGonagall told us you were okay and just having some tests done. Hermione here... she was DYING, Ron. Do you not understand that? I needed to take care of her. And it's turned out to be the best thing I've ever done." Ron seethed with rage at this and the loving look the two shared at the last sentence.

"I suppose it'll be a little different mate, but there's no reason why we can't be friends just like before," Harry said, holding out a hand to Ron.

"Like before? Like BEFORE?" Ron roared, his temper definitely getting the better of him. "How can it be like it was before? I know what you'll do now, Harry. You'll listen to whatever nonsense she tells you. Remember earlier this year? She took away a firebolt from you. A FIREBOLT!"

"She was trying to save my life!" Harry countered.

"Was not. She was jealous that you had something nice..."

"Ron, you were the jealous one. Harry wasn't nearly as upset about it as you were," Hermione finally spoke but before Ron could shout at her too, she continued.

"Look, Ron. I know Harry and I being together will change our whole dynamic, but please, for Harry, let it go. Don't do this to him." She was almost pleading, trying to save the friendship, but it was all in vain.

"Forget it," he snarled angrily. "I've had enough of this. I've had enough of you, Hermione you rotten know-it-all. And you too, Harry Bloody Potter getting all the fame and glory and even the girls, sod it all. I don't want to talk to either of you ever again." He looked as if he wanted to punch Harry in the face, but Hermione's chilling glare and the fact that she had stepped almost protectively in front of Harry set Ron back a bit. This was no timid girl to push around. In front of him stood an angry, dangerous, and smart witch, so Ron settled with stalking back into the Great Hall, fuming.

Harry looked at a loss, and as Hermione looked up at his face she saw anger briefly but it was quickly replaced by deep hurt and shock. In a moment, she had pulled him down to where they were sitting on the stairs and she was rubbing his back gently. He was hunched forward, looking dismally at his hands.

"He... how could he do that, Hermione? He was my first friend. My best mate!" Hermione couldn't even answer him. She'd really thought he would accept their relationship. Perhaps it had been wishful thinking.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say. What could be said to ease the pain of a lost friendship? "Maybe... maybe he'll come around." Harry was still for a moment.

"I don't know, Hermione. And I don't think I'd even want that."

"What do you mean?" She asked, genuinely confused. Didn't his friendship with Ron mean more to him than that?

"He... I don't know how to explain it. Sometimes I just feel like he only hangs around with me because... because of this," he grumbled, pointing at the scar on his forehead.

"Your blasted fame," Hermione said. "You really think that's all he wanted?" Hermione wasn't sure that was the only reason Ron stayed around, but she had guessed it was a part at least. He sighed.

"Hermione, you know it's part of it. Even though he was my friend, he never considered that I might care about you too. You were right, he's just very selfish and jealous. And I don't want anything to do with him right now." Hermione just nodded, knowing but not divulging her suspicion that Harry might eventually grow to miss his friend.

"Don't burn bridges, Harry," she warned gently, laying her head on his shoulder.

"I'll try not to, but he makes me so angry sometimes. Especially when he treats you badly, making fun of you and such. I know it hurts you."

"Oh Harry..." Hermione murmured, "You know it doesn't hurt me like it did in first year. I won't go crying into a bathroom just because he says mean things to me."

"You still deserve better, and I know it hurts despite what you say." Hermione sighed.

"You know me too well, Harry," Hermione said softly, closing her eyes as he brought her into a warm embrace. "It does hurt... sometimes."

"And I don't want you to hurt," Harry insisted ardently. "Physically or otherwise," he added gently taking her bandaged hand into his. She smiled lovingly at him and leaned forward to kiss him gently on the lips before guiding a widely smiling Harry into the Great Hall to eat breakfast before class.

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(A/N: I know this is kind of short, but it's the night before I have all four of my wisdom teeth taken out and I know I won't feel like writing after that. I thought something would be better than nothing for a while.)