Chapter 5:
Conclusions
Ginny.
Harry's eyes flew open as he sat bolt upright in bed, recounting the details of yesterday's events. Yesterday felt like a terrible dream, one that he couldn't erase from his mind, yet something about it was nagging at his insides. His eyes widened in realization, how could he have been so thoughtless…so selfish…so stupid? How could he not even mention Ginny's condition to Mrs. Weasley, despite whether or not he believed Lucius' claims? Harry felt beyond ashamed of himself to have not even registered a thought about Ginny's whereabouts, or even attempt to see her. He had just been so exhausted, and extremely terrified that he wouldn't have enough strength to fend off Voldemort if he tried to infiltrate his mind again.
Harry shoved the blankets off of himself and clambered noisily out of bed, bolting for the door. He rushed down the stairs towards Ginny's bedroom, hoping beyond measure that she would be standing there, healthy and smiling back at him when he opened the door.
She wasn't.
Harry's heart dropped as he looked around Ginny's room; it seemed absent of all human presence until a heap of sweaters leaning on the bed looked up at him through tear-streaked eyes.
"Harry…" Mrs. Weasley choked through her sobs, fresh tears streaming down her face. Completely surprised, she stumbled to a standing position with a forced smile.
After a few uncomfortable moments of silence Mrs. Weasley broke it, "Before Ron fell asleep he explained what happened on the train, oh and he should be fine; he just needs rest. That was a terrible situation, I'm so glad you're both alright…" She said her voice trailing off as her forced smile wavered. Harry found it odd that she still hadn't mentioned Ginny, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Mrs. Weasley, I'm so sorry…last night…Ginny…She's in—" Harry began, not knowing where to begin his long explanation until he stopped short due to Mrs. Weasley's hand shooting up to silence him.
"Harry…I already know, she's at St. Mungo's. She's far worse than they thought," She whispered, avoiding eye contact with Harry to attempt and hold herself together. "We are going to visit her later, if you would like to join us." Mrs. Weasley continued as her eyes filled up once again, as she became lost in her thoughts.
"Mrs. Weasley, the Death Eaters, they have the antidote, and they want me to turn myself over for it and I will if—" Harry began once again, as Mrs. Weasley's overfilled eyes spilled over, lining her cheeks with fresh trails of tears.
"Harry…you have helped this family in so many ways; ways you can't even begin to understand. I could never allow you to do that." Mrs. Weasley said, taking a step closer to Harry.
"But I want to save—" Harry tried once again.
"I know you do Harry but I won't allow it. The world needs you; I can't just let you throw your life away like that, no matter the circumstances. Besides…there may possibly be another way…" Mrs. Weasley continued, a flicker of hope springing up inside of Harry.
"What is it?" Harry asked anxiously, dropping his voice as soon as he saw Mrs. Weasley's expression waver. Harry hadn't realized how close she was to her breaking point until he stopped to look into her eyes; they expressed what she was feeling clearly; completely tortured and hopeless.
There were a few steps still between them but Harry closed the distance and hugged her tightly. Caught off by the gesture, Mrs. Weasley gave him a genuine smile, and hugged him back.
"I'll do whatever it takes Mrs. Weasley." Harry whispered as his eyes filled up, hers continuing to stream down her cheeks.
"I know you will Harry, thank you." Mrs. Weasley said through sobs. After a few moments, Mrs. Weasley broke the embrace, and grabbing Harry's shoulders softly said, "Now let's get you something to eat, you look like you haven't eaten in weeks!" She continued, changing the subject quickly.
"But what about—" Harry said as he wiped his eyes.
"We'll talk about that later, when Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George get back from the Ministry." She said, grabbing a basket of clothes and gliding out the door, leaving Harry alone in Ginny's room. He longed to see her smiling face to comfort him due to the lonely and depressed state he was in.
He would do whatever it took to save her; for Mrs. Weasley's sake, well for the Weasley's in general, but also because he was nothing without her. She was his reason to keep fighting the man that took his parents from him and to keep the ever-changing darkness and grief that threatened to swallow his heart at bay. Harry smiled to himself and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
He loved her.
%%
In the course of a few hours, Harry, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley had managed to make the crowd of people still at the burrow breakfast, tend to all those that still needed it, and send off the remaining students and parents that were now able to go back home. Only Luna and Neville had stayed behind begging Mrs. Weasley to let them see Ginny, happily helping clean up when she said yes.
Harry and Hermione sat down on the couch, exhausted, as Mrs. Weasley walked upstairs.
Harry looked at the clock on the wall; it said five forty-five, fifteen minutes until Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie came home, and then they could finally go and see Ginny at St. Mungo's.
It was fifteen minutes too long.
Harry's train of thought was abruptly interrupted as he heard the thumping of footsteps on the stairs, and looked up to see Ron descending.
"Mum, I'm fine! I'm going to go see her, and you can't stop me!" Ron argued with Mrs. Weasley who was yelling at him from the top of the stairs.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley, you are going nowhere near that hospital in your condition!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, her voice echoing throughout the house.
"Mum, I want to see her! I'm completely fine!" Ron argued, as he tripped dizzily down the final step, ramming into a wall, casing Harry and Hermione to grin.
"Well…almost…"Ron corrected himself under his breath, slightly grinning.
"Ronald! Get back to bed!" Mrs. Weasley scolded angrily.
Suddenly, the front door of the burrow opened abruptly, and in came Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George.
"Dad!" Ron said surprised, as Mrs. Weasley thundered down the steps to embrace her battle-weary husband and two sons.
"The Ministry is a wreck; Scrimgeor is having trouble covering this one up." Mr. Weasley announced, Mrs. Weasley hugging him tightly.
"Serves him right. He should have believed Harry in the first place, covering it up only made it worse." Bill mumbled angrily.
"Now, now, Bill. It's not his fault he's a crazy tosspot." Charlie said grinning, brushing his long red hair out of eyes, and causing the entire mood to lighten and numerous people to laugh.
After an exchange of hugs and warm welcomes to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Neville; Arthur, Bill, Charlie and Fred and George went upstairs to clean themselves up.
Ron looked around the room suspiciously and saw that Mrs. Weasley, Luna and Neville had resumed cleaning, so he began to speak quietly, "Mum said she's in pretty bad shape, but she also said that there's possibly another way to save her. She won't tell me what it is, but she says that the man we are supposed to look for might not even actually exist…So we're going to talk about it later…" Ron explained sleepily, as a perplexed look overcame Hermione's face.
"I think I might know what she's talking about, I've read a great deal of things about the wizarding world that apparently most wizards are still skeptic about, however; more of the elders still believe that they still exist.
"But they can't possibly exist then…most of the older wizards have lost they're minds, and have no idea what they're going on about half the time!" Ron argued feebly for he wanted to believe but the evidence wasn't accurate enough.
"What about the Chamber of Secrets, Ron? You know just as well as I do that it exists, I mean you and I have been in it! And no one believed that existed!" Harry piped up, liking that some has his skepticism had vanished.
"True…Well, than that means Ginny still has a chance!" Ron said excitedly, as Harry and Hermione nodded; hope springing up like daisies inside of them.
After a few moments of silence, Harry couldn't bare to keep the question inside of him any longer, "Do we know what is wrong with Ginny? Like what disease they were talking about?" Harry asked somberly, everyone's grins disappearing on the spot.
"Well, I'm not sure what the doctors think it is, but I think I know what it is…," Hermione said quietly, Ron and Harry gazing at her as she continued, "Well I think it's a disease called Sparkinsons. She has these weird little green dots all over her, and there's a strange clouding over her eyes that is causing her to become partially blind, which are two of the main symptoms that point to that specific disease… and it is very rare, so it fits the description." Hermione continued, Ron and Harry continuing to fix their gazes on her.
"But how did you know that? The book that you read must have been ancient or something, because I've never heard of anyone getting this disease." Harry said becoming lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah, not that I don't believe you or anything Hermione, because we all know your bloody brilliant, but how do you know all of this?" Ron asked, completely puzzled.
Hermione sighed and avoiding Ron and Harry's gaze said,
"Because…Dumbledore had it before."
Lol, okay, yes, the name for the disease is stupid, but that was the best that I could think of, considering the other names I thought of were completely ridiculous =D Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 5! I'm loading on the Ginny/ Harry moments this next chapter or so, for obvious reasons, so all you Harry/Ginny shippers, enjoy! Don't worry though, the Ron and Hermione stuff is not too far ahead (: