My friend was browsing to read my story and she found the User: Rose-is-Red-23-Snow-is-White posting 'A Secret Thought' On her account. Please note that is NOT me and to prove that I've written this story before I will post the next 4 chapters up. I have been extremely busy and just do not have the time to write fanfiction anymore. Hopefully when school concludes I can continue posting this or start writing my own novella.
Billy and Benjamin Harris sat in the waiting room as Nathan was taken away from them for treatment. They were assured that they did indeed have a cure for leukemia, but there wasnt a one hundred percent guarantee that he would react to it. They sat there in silence. Benjamin was constantly rubbing his temples, the throbbing pain making his eyes water.
He really didn't like hangovers, and the blinding white light of the wizard hospital wasn't exactly helping either.
"You okay?" Billy asked and touched his dad's forearm. Benjamin nodded and waved it off as if it were nothing. Billy clenched his hands into fists nervously. They had been informed that it would take all afternoon to administer the treatment, and he and his father weren't leaving without Nathan at their side.
So they were doomed to boredom and anxiety for the rest of the day.
Or, that's what Billy thought until doors burst open eagerly.
Healers were surrounding a body that lay stiff and floated in mid air. They were shouting nonsensical things at one another. Things about curses and enchantments, potions and rituals and strange medical terms... it was all foreign and complex to Billy.
"Poor girl," his father muttered. Billy shot a glance to his father. Benjamin shrugged. "I'm a neurologist, Billy. Everything they said to you may sound like a foreign language to you, but to me it's my native tongue," he said with a small smirk.
"What was wrong with her?" Billy asked and leaned back in his chair. Benjamin sighed and scratched as his freshly shaven chin.
"Well, in lamest terms she has a massive and complex tumor weaving throughout her brain. Apparently it was expanding because of something and she blacked out and toppled down a set of stairs," he said and rubbed at his eyes and then his temples.
Billy frowned. He stood and decided to follow the group of Healers that were still noisily rushing down the hall.
"I'm going to go check it out," he said. Benjamin frowned.
"I wouldn't recommend it."
"If you woke up alone and frightened in a strange place, wouldn't you want someone there to assure you that everything was alright?" Billy asked. Benjamin frowned.
"I would, but not a complete stranger, son! Her parents..."
"If her parents were coming then they would have already been here, don't you think?" Billy asked stubbornly. "Anyways, doctors are complete strangers..."
"Don't be sneaking in anywhere, Billy. If you're allowed to see her then you may, but otherwise just keep your distance," Benjamin muttered and squeezed his eyes shut and rested his head against the back wall. "I'm going to see if they serve coffee here... just hope I don't get lost..." he muttered and stood, leaving.
Billy sighed and chased after the Healers who had taken a sharp right. He turned that corner and saw them nowhere. He peeked into the windows of several doors, and then found the particular one with a familiar Healer who had skin the color of an orange... it was one of the Healers who had been bringing her in.
He waited outside the door patiently. It seemed to go on forever.
Then, a group of Healers were leaving.
"Excuse me?" Billy asked. They looked him up and down slowly. The one with the Orange skin and the green eyebrows cocked his head and placed his hands firmly on his hips.
"What do you need, young man?"
"That girl in there... she's my girlfriend. Am I allowed to go in and see her?" Billy asked, feigning the sadness and lying through clenched teeth. Orange-guy looked skeptical.
"That depends... do you know what's wrong with her?" he asked.
Billy nodded.
"Yes, sir. She has a massive and complex tumor in her brain. She was over-stressed at school and she fell down the stairs. Please could I see her?" Billy asked once more. One of the other Healers nodded to the Orange-guy.
They held the door open for Billy to walk inside.
He stepped in and saw the poor girl, lying unconscious on the cot. She had thick curly light brown hair and very pale skin. She looked exhausted though she was out cold. She had that look of someone who had lost a lot of weight throughout a short period of time. He knew this look because his brother had the exact same thing.
He walked to the edge of the bed and looked at her chart. It was filled with a bunch of mumbo jumbo that he didn't understand.
What he did understand was the personal information at the top.
Granger, Hermione. Age: 17
It went on to say height, weight, and blood pressure and what not, but those didn't matter. That name, Hermione Granger, seemed incredibly familiar. He couldn't remember where he had heard it before.
He reached out and took her hand in his. It was small and clammy, but she returned the pressure.
"Malfoy?" she mumbled. He said nothing, just squeezed her hand even tighter. Her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes were deep chocolate brown color that had a depth that Billy had never even heard of before. She squinted and groaned at the light. After a moment or two she opened her mouth to speak.
"Who are you?" she croaked.
"My name is Billy Harris," he answered and stroked the soft skin of her hand to comfort her.
She squinted at him again and a small smile came across her face, though strained.
"Ginny was right, you're really cute," she replied and coughed.
Billy paled.
"You know Ginny?" the girl nodded.
"She's one of my best friends... could you get me some water?" she asked. He stood and walked to the cup of water resting on a stand.
He picked it up and brought it to her, tilting it so the water barely touched her lips. She craned her head towards it and the water slowly filled her mouth. "Thank you," she whispered and then twitched in an obvious pain.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I just tumbled down a flight of stairs," she murmured in return. He sighed and leaned back, watching her rest. The back of her head was bandaged heavily, obviously from where she had hit her head on the steps.
"Must not be too well, then," he replied. She looked at him curiously, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Why are you here?" she asked. He shrugged.
"My brother is in treatment right now, and I saw that you had no one to keep you company. My dad's in the middle of a huge hangover and I didn't exactly want to spend time with his crabby self," he replied with a shrug. A small smirk came over Hermione. "What?" he asked.
"I told Ginny that you dumped her for some other reason than what you said. I just highly enjoy being right in my assumptions," she said with a sigh. Billy shook his head.
"Don't tell her that you saw me here... I don't want to be a burden to her," he said guiltily.
Hermione sighed.
"You know, Billy, sometimes people want to be burdened. I figured that out the hard way," she laughed hoarsely and pointed to her bandaged head. "if I had been honest with my friends since the beginning, we would have never fought and I would have never fainted and fallen down the stairs. Now someone else is going to tell them what's wrong with me and I'm just going to regret everything. I'm going to regret not being the one to tell them," she sighed. Billy was silent for a moment.
"Are you dying?" he finally asked. "Please don't answer if it offends you in any way..." he tried to say, but she raised her hand.
"Muggle doctors told me I'd be dead before term started, but thanks to magical treatment I've last a bit longer. It was supposed to be prolonged for another two months... but only if I didn't have an attack like this one. I suspect that the fall did some serious damage..." she started and trembled. He sighed.
"It's alright," he reassured her. "My brother, Nathan... he has leukemia. He wasn't responding very well to chemo, you know. This is our last chance," he said and ignored the burning feeling of tears in his eyes. She sighed and squeezed his hand tightly.
"He'll pull through. Magic can do incredible things," she said sadly. He nodded, and then looked at her.
"Why can't they help you?" she looked at him sadly and then stared at her left hand, lying remote on her lap.
"Because of the way that the tumor is wound in my brain. It has become sort of like a muscle keeping my brain intact. If the tumor were removed, then the major functions of my brain would be disconnected permanently before there were any chance of reconnecting them," she informed him sadly. He felt tears of pity fill his eyes when he heard this story. Nathan had cancer, and that was bad. Then again he also had a very good chance of pulling through. Here in front of him lay a condemned girl with no escape from her fate. She would die within the next two months. She was a beautiful, sweet, and intelligent seventeen-year-old girl and she would die before she ever had a chance to truly live her life.
She held his hand even tighter and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Please don't be sad," she whispered and he nodded, quickly rubbing the backs of his hands across his eyes.
There was a knock on the door.
The orange-guy stood there looking incredibly said, his thick green eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"Miss Granger, we have some information we'd like to disclose with you. So if the young man here would be so kind..." Billy stood up, ready to leave but Hermione refused to let his hand go.
"Whatever you wish to disclose can be disclosed in front of Billy," she told orange-guy sternly. The Healer looked unsure for a moment and then took a deep breath and began.
"The high levels of adrenaline secreted during your argument with Mr. Weasley acted like a growth serum or steroid for the tumor. It has expanded rapidly to an incredible size within a very short period of time. At the rate it is going, your estimated time of death would be October 16."
Hermione went pale.
"That's only two weeks," she said with a squeak of a voice, squeezing Billy's hand so tightly he felt as if every bone were snapping. The man nodded and looked at the floor, saddened at Hermione's condition.
He opened his mouth to say more, but Hermione raised her hand and cut him off.
"Pardon my rudeness, but don't tell me. I don't want to know," she said stubbornly. The man nodded and turned, leaving she and Billy alone in the room. She gave him a watery smile.
"Hermione..." he started, but she shook her head.
"I think it would be best for you to go. Thank you for coming to see me. I won't tell Ginny I saw you... but would it be alright if I sent you letters?" she asked sadly. Billy nodded. She smiled at him thankfully. "That would mean a lot... you know... speaking with someone who knows first hand what I'm going through... or close enough... with your brother and all..." she said quietly and then turned, staring sadly out the window.
He stood, turning and leaving quietly. He looked at her one last moment as she stared at the window. The sun filtered through the shades and lit up her face, causing the tears that spilled from her eyes to glisten. He took a sad sigh and left.
It wasn't fair. First Nathan and now Hermione... when would the pain end?