Chapter 8: too much...
Harry and Hermione rushed through the halls and sped up and down stairs till they reached the infirmary.
Somehow, they knew they've taken this route so many times in the past five months since at least, every week, Ron found himself there but never have they been summoned to the infirmary, no matter what, because of Ron and that in itself was very disturbing indeed.
They stopped at the door, taking deep calming breaths, steeling themselves for the worse and silently cursing Madam Pomphrey for not being as specific as she could be.
Finally, after what felt like an hour, they pushed the door open and hurried into the room. Their eyes immediately fell on Ron on the bed by the window and he looked terribly pale, for lack of a more intense word.
Hermione grabbed hold of Harry's hand involuntarily. A feeling of deja vu washing over her except that then, she had clenched Ron's hand and it was Harry in that bed.
Their attention was drawn to a noise coming from the side of the room and they turned to see Madam Pomphrey, an uncharacteristic frown marring her features, which they immediately interpreted as bad news and that didn't help to calm them down.
"Ahem... Madam Pomphrey… you called for us?" Harry asked, trying to remain as calm as possible.
She looked up, obviously not having noticed their presence as her eyes widened for only a second and they were controlled once more. She nodded, closing the file she held in her hand and moving closer to them. "Yes, I believe I did...and by now, I'm sure you know why I had to call you"
"What is wrong with him? And why does he look like that?" Hermione asked, close to hysterics now.
Harry squeezed her hand gently, trying to calm her down as Mrs. Pomphrey looked between them and Ron's immobile form on the bed. "That is what I would also like to know"
"But aren't you the nurse?" Harry asked, the same time Hermione asked "are you trying to say you have no idea what is wrong with him?"
She just shrugged as a way of affirmation.
"Well, there is obviously something wrong with him, because normal people are not supposed to look like that. Like death." Hermione said, moving slowly towards Ron's bed and touching his damp forehead, her fingers gently pushing away his wet locks from his forehead.
"Well, we have to tell Dumbledore then" Harry suggested, a feeling of helplessness crawling into his gut.
"We shall not bother Professor Dumbledore" she said, stressing on the 'professor' as a way of correction, it would seem. Better than Snape does it or even McGonagall but still, the warning was quite clear in the tone. And he got it quite clearly.
"Well, why not?"
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, the professor hasn't been himself lately. He has too many issues to deal with, burdens of family and dealing with the MOM. Not to mention that his age has finally caught up with him so we will do him a great deal of good if we would not add more to his woes"
Harry sighed, feeling suddenly awful. Of course he had noticed something different about the man but he hadn't known what... And it's been a while since he visited the man. The thought of losing him, the one person he knew for a fact he could always count on for protection and good counsel, was almost as scary as the thought of losing Ron, the first real friend he has, who gave him a(600) family without even realizing it and he wasn't ready to sacrifice one for the other.
"Alright, so what do you want us to do?"
Pomphrey nodded slowly, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips.
Draco had followed them, trying to remain unnoticed though after a while, he figured he didn't have to try so hard since those two were so preoccupied with reaching their destination, they wouldn't notice if a dragon walked straight into their path.
However, the closer they seemed to get, the more worried he became. The infirmary?!
What the hell was Ron doing there? When he'd spoken to him that morning, the boy had been fine.
He stopped in front of the door and leaned his ear in, eavesdropping to know what was wrong with Ron but then Pomphrey had said she didn't know what.
He'd almost smiled when both Harry and Hermione voiced out his thoughts exactly but he was just too worried to even crack a genuine smile.
He pulled back after a while, craning his neck this way and that to remove the crink in it. Wow, the things you learn when you eavesdrop on a Harry Potter conversation! Dumbledore wasn't well? And why is madam Pomphrey talking as if Harry and Dumbledore were the best of friends?
He shook his head to clear it, leaning in to listen again. It seemed as if for some reason, Pomphrey thought whatever was bothering Ron could be a residue from their time spent on the run so she required every single detail from the couple and wow. That was a lot. He looked at his watch and realized he was an hour and a few minutes late for his last class of the day… potions. He was definitely getting in trouble for that so he just shrugged and decided to stay right through to the end.
"I don't see how anything that happened to him then could affect him in this manner." Madam Pomphrey said after a while, muttering it more to herself than to them and causing Harry and Hermione to look at each other with deep frowns.
"So what exactly are you saying?"
"I'm saying that those occasional jabs he gets in his rib cage, that could actually have been caused by residual side effects from being splinched and..."
"But I used dittany potion..." Hermione cut in. "I mean, I personally applied it and he said he was fine."
"I don't doubt it...however, no matter how potent a potion is, like the ones Severus makes, a sick or wounded person should be allowed time to recover."
"But we didn't have time" Harry chipped in glumly.
"No you didn't and in that circumstance, I do understand. However the human anatomy has its own set of rules and it doesn't smile when they are not followed. You did your best and Ron was fine. But the jabs will continue."
"Can something be done about it then?"
"I don't think so. Since both of you are conversant with the muggle world, I'll use this as an example. When someone dislocates or twists a joint in their body and it's not set properly in place before bandaging, the joint will heal, yes, but it's never the same, and there will be pain, sometimes unbearable pain when the person uses it. Unless it is operated on again"
"You're saying Ron could need operation? But that's something he'll have to go to St. Mungos for!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I'm saying, I don't know if even St. Mungos can make skin disappear and regrow them so we have to wait. Until then, we have more pressing matters at hand."
Pressing matters? Draco mused, scoffing from outside the door. More pressing matters? What the hell could be more pressing than that?
"Yes, you're right." he head Harry say, almost in a whisper and followed by an exasperated sigh.
"This is the first time he's come in here with a problem pertaining to his heart." he heard madam Pomphrey saying, and then there was movement inside the room before what she had said sank in. His heart? What the...enough of this! He thought as he barged into the room. "What the hell is wrong with Ron's heart?" he asked all the heads in the room turning to look at him.
"Mr. Malfoy, I don't recall..."madam Pomphrey started to say.
"Please, I need to know."
She looked over at Harry and Hermione and they both shrugged in permission. Something that would have aroused curiosity in him but he was focused on more important things.
"Well, he always..."
"I know about that. I've been out there a long time."
"You've been eavesdropping?" all three of them asked with different levels of incredulousness in their voices.
"Is that really important right now?"
"Well, to cut matters short, his heart is behaving in a strange way… abnormal beats, palpitations and nothing works on him." Madam Pomphrey provided.
"But when I saw him this..." he started to say before his eyes finally fell on Ron.
"Oh crap, he certainly didn't look like that this morning!"
"You saw him this morning?" Harry asked.
"yes, I did… we uhm… we talked for a while." he replied absentmindedly, his fingers moving to replace Hermione's in Ron's hair, not caring what anyone thought.
Harry cleared his throat noisily. "Uh… you just talked?"
Draco pulled back a moment from worrying about Ron and blushed scarlet. "Yes. Yes, we just talked. Is that so hard to believe?" he asked, looking down at Ron's pale white face, what Hermione had said earlier on creeping back into his head. "Like death."
A/N: another update. I hope you like this one too...as always, R&R please. And thanks a lot for your support. Luv you all... muah!