Hermione could hear voices around her but she couldn't respond. Her whole body was unresponsive to any of the movements she tried to make or the words that she tried to say. Instead she took to listening the conversations that her visitors were having around her. She very quickly learned that she'd been taken to St. Mungo's and that her condition was more serious than they had first thought. She thought that they were overreacting; she'd been hit with a few curses and she'd presumed she'd be awake and leaving the following day. Instead she was still there three days after she'd arrived, listening to the Weasleys fuss over her.

"I just don't see why they can't tell us anything!" Mrs Weasley was complaining for the fourth time.

"We're not immediate family, the nice Healer told us that this morning and Mr and Mrs Granger can't make it until a little later on. We'll find out soon dear." Mr Weasley told his wife.

Her own parents arrived a few hours later by her guess and they were distraught from what she could figure out. She heard her mother sobbing uncontrollably and her father trying to console her but nothing he said was putting her mother at ease.

"But what if she never wakes up? Our darling girl could be like this for goodness knows how long!"

"I assure you Mrs Granger; we've placed Hermione into an unconscious state so that her body can heal itself. It's a standard procedure for us to place our patients into magically engineered comas, the body responds better to treatment and in some cases the patient is able to leave as soon as they wake up!" the Healer was telling her parents.

Hermione wanted nothing more than to reach out to them and tell them that she was there and that she was doing alright but as much as she tried she couldn't tell them.

"There!" Fred's voice came from the opposite side of her parents, she had no idea that he had even been there and she couldn't help but wonder if Harry and Ron and the other Weasley's were also present.

"What is it?" Her mother asked.

"Her hand, it twitched, I swear it did!" Hermione could hear the excitement in his voice.

She tried as hard as she could to move her hand; it wasn't an easy feat as she was in a magical coma but she managed to move her finger again, much to everyone's delight.

"I'll prepare to take her out of the coma, it seems as if someone's ready to wake up!" the Healer said excitedly as she left the room.

She was awake and propped up in bed within two hours and all of her visitors were relieved, most of all her parents.

"We have to go home just now sweetheart," her father was telling her a few hours later, "but we'll be back in the morning but some of your friends are staying so you won't be alone."

"That's ok Dad, you need to go and rest." She smiled at him as he leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Sleep tight sweetheart, we love you." Her mother told her as they left the room to head back home. Mr and Mrs Weasley accompanied them to take them home and then return to the Burrow themselves.

Once they'd all left she was left with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George.

"You really scared us Mione, we didn't know if you were going to be alright." Ron told her.

"When you were found in the campsite things looked bad Granger." George continued.

They spent the next hour filling her in on what had happened. They told her that when she had been found she was completely unconscious and cold but still had a pulse although when they'd finally gotten her to St Mungo's it was so weak that she was made the number one priority in the Spell Damage ward, where she was currently residing. Harry and Ron were giving her all the details, with George and Ginny pitching in every so often with the odd detail that had been missed. What really bothered her was Fred's silence. Usually he would have been pitching in with George and making light of the situation but he was deathly silent and was looking at his feet the entire time.

Everyone was getting ready to leave when she asked for a quick word with him. Once they were finally alone she noticed Fred get even edgier than he had been when everyone else was still with them.

"What's wrong Fred?" she asked.

"Nothing, you just gave us a scare." He tried to give her a smile.

"Then why wouldn't you look up from your feet and why were you so quiet?"

"Can we just leave it, we've all just had a long few days and I'm probably just sleep deprived."

"Sleep deprived? Why?"

He shrugged. "Look the important thing is that you're ok. I need to go, they're all waiting for me." He said apologetically.

"Fine. I need to get some rest anyway." She huffed and signalled for him to leave.

She couldn't understand what Fred was keeping from her; there was no reason for it whatsoever and it worried her far more than it angered her. She decided that she would get to the bottom of whatever secret he was keeping once she was back on her feet.

"We're going to move you into Madame Pomfrey's care at Hogwarts so you can return to school." Her healer told her the following morning as she was administering her medication.

"When am I going?"

"Professor Dumbledore hasn't confirmed the details but he's coming to see you this afternoon to talk with you, he asked me to let you know." She smiled.

"Thank you, I'll ask him when he gets here."

Hermione spent the morning considering what Dumbledore might have to talk to her about other than her move and finally settled on the rational idea that it was purely about getting her to Hogwarts without further injury. Sure enough, once two thirty hit there was a knock on the door to her room and Dumbledore entered, accompanied by her healer.

"Hermione, Professor Dumbledore's here to see you, are you well enough to talk to him?"

"I feel a lot better today, I should be fine." She told her and they waited for her to leave before they began.

Dumbledore made his way to the side of her bed, "May I?" he gestured to the seat and she nodded as he sat down. "Miss Granger I am sorry that I wasn't here sooner, there was other business I had to attend to."

"It's alright Professor, I didn't realise that you were coming until this morning."

"The Weasleys are coming in an hour or two to escort you back to the Burrow, it has some of the best protection available at the moment and it's where you'll be safest until you return to Hogwarts in a few days. Once you arrive Madame Pomfrey will oversee your care until you are fully healed. IS all of this alright with yourself?"

"Of course, I'd love to be going to the Burrow for the last few days before we go back to Hogwarts, and I know that Madame Pomfrey will be able to sort me out," she smiled at the headmaster.

"Excellent. On another, more serious note, I must ask you about your attack Miss Granger. Do you know who any of the men who attacked you were?"

"Lucius Malfoy. He was the only one I saw. He-he had his mask off and told the other to step back whilst he taught me a lesson and s-sent a message to Harry." She felt her eyes watering as she remembered all of the details.

"Take your time," Dumbledore told her.

"Th-they used the Cruciatus curse, it was so painful, I thought that they were never going to stop! There were some other curses too, ones that I didn't recognise. If only I had fought back, I might, I could have-"

"Miss Granger, there is absolutely nothing that you could have done differently to take on three Death Eaters alone successfully. When Mr Weasley saw you and raised the alarm he caught them off guard. He bought enough time for them to cease their attack and for him to shoot sparks from his wand and make quite the commotion and alerting the authorities to your location."

"R-Ron did all of that?" She had no idea that Ron had been so bold and so brave to save her, she would have to remember to thank him for that.

"It was not the youngest Mr Weasley that you owe your thanks to; perhaps you should look towards his elder brother. But alas Miss Granger, it is not my place to interfere. The Weasleys are on their way to collect you; I believe Arthur and Bill are coming to escort you to the Burrow. For the meantime I will look into the attack myself and our next meeting will be with Madame Pomfrey the day after you return to Hogwarts."

"Thank you Professor," she replied, "I'll see you once we're back at Hogwarts."

"I look forward to it Miss Granger," he smiled and excused himself.

She had half an hour with her healer to prepare to leave St Mungo's and it was proving a little more difficult than she had imagined. As well as her injuries she was also puzzled as to why Fred hadn't just told her that it was him that saved her. He should be happy, gloating even that he had saved her life and yet he was almost acting guilty. Did he really regret what he'd done that much?

Mr Weasley and Bill arrived shortly after she was finally up and dressed.

"You're looking well Hermione," Mr Weasley told her. "Molly's preparing an enormous dinner for your safe return and Harry's there too, the whole family really." He beamed as they helped her out of the room and down to the fireplace where they were able to Floo from.

The sensation of the Floo Network was a little more difficult for her to handle in her fragile state but after a few moments she and Bill arrived in the Weasley living room to huge applause and cheers and Harry and Ron took over the duties of supporting her as they all made their way through to the kitchen where Mrs Weasley was already serving enormous portions of dinner for everyone.

"Before we eat," Mr Weasley began, "I'd like to propose a toast to Hermione, who we are all very, very happy to see back around our table and well again, to Hermione!"

"Hermione!" Everyone cheered and clinked their glass together.

What she couldn't understand was Fred's unwillingness to join in on the festivities. He was hardly saying a word to anyone, still putting it down to lack of sleep from whatever he and George had been developing, but Hermione saw straight through it. He was keeping something a secret and she was determined to find out what it was and why he was so adamant to keep it to himself.

Until then she was fully embracing the few days of bliss at the Burrow before they returned to Hogwarts for another year and she would have to face more treatment for her injuries.

Thanks for all the great feedback so far, it's been so nice to hear after such a long break from writing :)

Lx