A/N: I really am sorry. I wasn't intending to be mean by making you wait -.-. I wasn't feeling very well and my inspiration left me. I hope you like this chapter. I also would like to explain somethin - I don't leave any parts of the plot unanswered so if you think something's not working, like Harry's abscence or anything - just remember it is for a reason that will be explained later. Be patient and bear with me. Also to answer a review I got - How could Harry protect Hermione from the media when he's in the US and everything happened on the same day (The article and the attack)? Anyway, I hope you won't be disappointed with this chapter even though it's shorter than the others. And please try to overlook any possible mistakes because I can't reach my beta and my head hurts too much to find them myself (I feel blind -.-) Eh, enough with the talk and onto the chapter. Cheers.

Chapter XII

"Are you family, sir?" A strict looking mediwitch asked, slightly pursing her lips at the state George was in. He had spent whole night in the hospital waiting for some news about Hermione. He was deathly pale and his hair was a mess due to the constant nervous ruffling.

"Damn straight I'm a family!!" When they finally allowed people to see Hermione they were asking silly questions like that instead of just letting. Him. In.

"How are you related to the patient, sir?" She didn't seem to mind his distress at all.

"I'm her... brother-in-law."

"I am so sorry sir." Her tone suggested she wasn't sorry at all. "The relationship is too distant."

"What the HECK do you mean 'too distant'?! I'm the closest to a family she's got!" The witch looked at him suspiciously.

"And why is that, sir?" He sighed... He knew that he wouldn't force her to do anything against the St. Mungo's rules with anger, sop he decided to play it nice.

"Her parents are obliviated in Australia, her husband is cheating on her and they hadn't talked civilly for 2 months, she knows my family since she was eleven and we spent almost every summer together. Please madam, please just let me in." He put on a pleading face and she seemed to soften under his gaze.

"Well... alright... I guess brother-in-law is not that distant... Come on in, just be quiet, the patient needs rest."

George smiled at the woman and proceeded to the room where Hermione was being treated by the Healers. She was even paler than he was. He noticed that the Healers were casting various charms on her; he wasn't acquainted with any of them. He cleared his throat, and one of the Healers, who was standing on the side and writing something in her notebook looked up and gave him a sad smile.

"You must be Mr. Weasley."

"I... Yes I am... How did you know?" She looked at him surprised.

"The patient's name is Hermione Weasley. It's quite easy to figure that her husband would be the first to visit her."

"Oh! Right. Yeah, but I'm not her husband. Not really, no." She looked even more surprised.

"So are you, or are you not Mr. Weasley?"

"I am Mr. Weasley, just not Ronald Weasley. My name is George and I'm his brother." She raised her eyebrow, but didn't say anything to that. She figured that if the mediwitch let him in, he must have a good reason for being here. She nodded and went back to writing in her notebook.

George felt like he was intruder, but he just had to know what was wrong.

"What happened to her?"

The same Healer answered him.

"We don't exactly know... Only that she was given a large dose of something she was allergic to spiced with sleeping draught. The combination is quite fatal, it results with a coma." George looked at her frightened. The question silent in his eyes. "Yes, the patient is in coma, we don't know when and if she'll ever wake up. It can be days, weeks, months... years, even, before she regains consciousness." George clenched his fists. Ron... What have you done... "Which brings me to another question. Since you are here you may as well be the right person to answer it. Do you by any chance know whether or not the patient is allergic to something? George thought for a moment, ans then he remembered: ...He's like that... Ron, you know... He insisted on buying me roses on every occasion... I don't know which part of "I'm allergic to roses" didn't he understand...

"Roses!" The witch looked at him questioningly.

"Roses?" Is the patient allergic to roses?"

"Yes! And when I got back home there was a huge bouquet of them in the living room and she was passed out on the couch!" That sneaky little bastard... He remembered... He remembered that she couldn't stand roses... He didn't care that he let it slip that they were living together, all that mattered now was Hermione's fast recovery.

"Thank you very much for the information. We might be able to do more now that we know the cause of the patient's state. We'll be in touch with you, Mr. Weasley." George understood that it was a good bye for now and left the room. He went straight to the waiting room and then to the fireplace, he threw a fistful of floo powder and waited till his head appeared in the burrow. It was very quiet as it was still very early in the morning, and he knew that no one would hear him unless he shouted.

So he did.

"MUM! DAD! QUICK IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

He heard some shuffling upstairs and it was soon followed by the figure of his mother running down the stairs. She looked frightened, as did his dad who ran after her.

"What happened George? Are you injured? What is it?" Molly's eyes were filled with fear.

"I'm not, but Hermione is. Mum... I think Ron did something to her..."

"George what happened? And how did you know she's been injured?"

"All I know is that someone gave her roses spiced up with sleeping draught. She's allergic to roses and it resulted in a coma. Healers can't say when or if she'll ever wake up" His voice broke... "As for... how I knew... how about I tell you some other time?"

"We'll dress and be right at St. Mungo's with you. Tell Ginny."

George nodded and his head disappeared again. He threw another fistful of floo powder into the fireplace and stepped through it to Ginny's flat. He knew she wasn't asleep because she was going to work in an hour. He found her making herself a cup of coffee. He cleared his throat and she jumped surprised.

"George! What are you doing here?! Why did you sneak up on me like that?"

"Sorry Gin, it's an emergency" He told her the whole story again. Ginny hugged him tightly.

"Oh Merlin... George, how are you taking this? I know it must be very hard for you." Her brother looked at her, puzzled. "Look, I know you can't admit it, but I know there's something going on between you." He opened his mouth to interrupt her, but she didn't let him. "Even if you didn't act on it" He looked at her sadly.

"Nothing can get past you, can it? How is it you know me so well?"

"It's a girl thing George. I just understand." George sighed and let tears fall down his face. Ginny hugged him closer. It is not often that you see a grown-up man crying.

After talking to Ginny he borrowed her owl and wrote a letter to Malfoy. After that, he went to a post office and used an intercontinental owl to send a letter to Harry. He sat in the waiting room and did exactly what the name of the said room suggested. After half an hour a series of loud popping noises filled the hall. His mother and Father, Fred and Angie (he figured Ginny must have told them to come) and Draco Malfoy. He hugged his family and then told Malfoy he wanted to talk to him in private.

"What are we all doing here Weasley? Why did you owl me so early in the morning? It better be good!"

"Say Malfoy... Do you do criminal law as well as marriage law?" Draco looked at him with eyes full of suspicion and nodded.

"As hard as it is to say it. I need your help. We need your help. Her... Hermione needs your help. She needs it the most."

"Is that why we are in St. Mungo's? Did something happen to her?" His eyes were unreadable and his voice didn't show any emotion.

"I'll be quite frank. I know he's my brother, but... I need you to prove Ron guilty and send him to Azkaban. I have a reason to believe that he deliberately tried to kill his wife by giving her a substance she's highly allergic to mixed with sleeping draught." George's head hurt from repeating it over and over again... He wished this nightmare would end soon...

"You said he... tried?"

"Yes. She's alive. However... She's in a coma and the Healers don't know if she'll ever wake up."

"So... What you say is that the Weasel attempted murder which resulted in the serious damage to victim's health?" Draco looked really evil when he said that, he was smiling in a way that George found quite unnerving. "Do you know by any chance... what was the substance, as you put it, she's allergic to?

"Yes. She's allergic to roses and she got a huge bouquet of them last night." Draco's smile grew even wider. George searched his eyes for a moment and then finally asked:

"What is it? Why are you smiling like a lunatic?" The younger man put his hand in the pocket of his coat and drew a brown envelope from it. He gave it to George. George looked at it and noticed "To: Draco Malfoy; From: JM Laroche" written on it. He opened the envelope and looked inside. There were few pictures and a handwritten note in it. George took the note first, after all if Malfoy's given him the whole envelope than it's obvious that he can look at all its contents.

Draco Malfoy,

I wasn't able to take any pictures of one RW with one LB today but I think that you may find this interesting as well.

JMLaroche

George didn't make much of the note. Instead he took the first picture and looked at it. It was of the back of a redheaded man walking into a florist's. George's eyes grew wide. He quickly took all of the pictures and scanned them quickly. The same man talking to the Florist. The man walking out of the store (His face hidden by his hand, By the light on the picture George figured he must've been protecting his face from the sun). The man walking back into the store – George noticed a handwritten note attached to the picture that said '30 minutes later' This Laroche person is really a professional... The next picture made George's heart squeeze tightly. The same man with the very bouquet from the last night walking out of the shop. It still isn't a prove, damn... He reached for the next picture. The man turned his face... It was clearly visible now. All that George could think was Ron... How COULD you... He had a suspicion that it was Ron before but now his fears became truth... He shoved the pictures into the envelope and gave it back to Malfoy who was still smiling as if Christmas have come earlier. George understood that smile now.

Ron was going to Azkaban. He was guilty and they had a proof.

End of Chapter XII

A/N: Finally some action, eh?