Ginny blinked and tried to stop her erratic breathing as she played follow the leader with Hermione. The first reaction for her was to follow a running Hermione who hadn't waited for her to arrive and get out of the floo. Her second reaction was an attempt to ask Hermione to stop, but she stopped herself because she knew that there was no stopping her. By the time she caught up with Hermione, she was already at the front desk of the hospital, screaming at the poor nurses surrounding the table to get her to her husband.
"Do I honestly look like I am lying?" Hermione screamed, red faced. "I am his wife! How dare you attempt to prevent me from seeing him! Tell me where he is!"
"We will have to verify what you have allegedly declared first," the frightened nurse closest to her replied. "Please give me your name, date of birth and-"
Ginny saw Hermione reach for her wand and her eyes widened as she waved it threateningly in front of her.
"I'm Hermione Jean Krum!" Hermione interrupted the nurse. "Merlin! Do you all seriously don't know me by now? Everybody knows I married Viktor Krum! I saved the world with Harry Potter! Tell me where he is or I'll hex you into oblivion!"
Although frightened, Ginny could tell that the nurses were not going to listen to her as they had to obey hospital rules. She looked around, trying to control her emotions as she wondered how to help her pregnant best friend out. She heard something about 'Krum' all of a sudden and turned around to listen to a very quiet conversation going on between a mediwitch and some man. She managed to hear 'sixth floor' and 'private room at the end' and decided that that was where Krum was.
She walked over to Hermione and grabbed her hand and dragged her with her towards the elevators. Hermione protested but 'eventually' calmed down for the sake of the baby inside of her as they waited for the elevator to come down. Ginny hoped Krum was there. She didn't want to bring Hermione's hopes up for nothing.
"Why are you dragging me away!" Hermione asked, trying to let Ginny let go of her. "I need to see Viktor!"
"Calm down Hermione and shut up." Ginny said calmly. "I know where he is."
Hermione had calmed down to a certain extent during the short trip and seemed to finally do so when Ginny opened the doors to get into Viktor's room. Ginny saw him lying on a bed and he appeared to be sleeping. Hermione didn't move or react for a moment and just stared at him with a shocked expression all over her face.
"What did he do to himself." Ginny heard her whisper to herself.
Ginny stood where she was as she felt that going over to Krum wasn't a thing she should do yet and waited for Hermione to go over to him. For a while, nothing really happened. The two just stood where they were. Some time must have gone before Hermione began to walk over to her husband, cautiously, worriedly, hopefully. Ginny could hear her soft whimpers and instantly knew that she was crying again.
"Viktor, I didn't mean what I said." Hermione whimpered, as she stopped at his bedside. "I'm so sorry..."
A minute or so must have gone by before Ginny heard footsteps behind her. She had forgotten to close the door for privacy.
"Excuse me? Did you two have permission to come here?" A rather irritating voice asked.
"I'm his wife," Hermione said as Ginny turned around to see who it was. A rather slutty looking lady who appeared to be Viktor's mediwitch stood before her. "And this is my friend. Tell me what happened to him."
"Where is your visitor card?" the lady who was apparently Krum's mediwitch asked, not responding to Hermione's question. She wasn't dressed like mediwitch with the short skirt and tight top.
"Do I need a visitor card to see my husband?" Hermione asked angrily as she scrutinised the lady's choice of clothing. "I asked you to tell me what happened to him!"
"I have to obey St. Mungos rules. Can't tell you anything, deary."
"Why you-"
"-Now if you two do not mind, I will like you two to leave the room so that I can do a check up on Mr. Krum. You two don't have a visitor card so may be impostors pretending to be the famous Hermione Granger and... You are?" The mediwitch interrupted with a strange glitter in her eyes. She hardly gave Ginny a look before turning her attention back to Hermione-... Viktor Krum. "If you do not know where the door to leave is, it's right here where I'm standing."
The mediwitch was getting on Ginny's nerves too and she could feel her blood start to boil. She took her wand out, hoping she could hex her as soon as the irritating lady said another word.
"Miss. Scarlet?" a deep voice suddenly said. "What are you doing in there?"
Ginny saw 'Miss Scarlet' blush a bright red as a man way beyond their years with fading red-grey hair walked into the room. He looked thoroughly confused as he looked at the mediwitch before turning around to look at Hermione and herself.
"I give my sincere apologies for any problems caused." the man began, apologetically. "I am currently the owner of St. Mungos and I am sorry for any inconvenience the staff has caused too..." he turned to look at 'Miss Scarlet'. "Go to my office, I want to have a word with you." he hissed.
As soon as an annoyed Miss Scarlet left the room, the man turned back to face them with a sigh. "I apologise again for Miss Scarlet's behaviour. She is a new mediwitch here having just recently passed her exams. She wasn't supposed to be on this floor. First year mediwitches are supposed to work on the first and second floor. If she has caused any problems, please do not hesitate to inform me."
"Enough with the apologising," Hermione said, looking thoroughly frustrated. "All I want to know right now is what happened to my husband!"
"He was pulled out of the sea just a while ago." the man began slowly. "The mediwitches are currently onto investigating what exactly happened after doing some examinations on Mr. Krum..."
"I have a feeling you don't know anything about healing..." Hermione muttered worriedly.
"I just own the place." the man admitted with a furiously red blush. "The names Fletcher McArthur by the way. All we've got and know so far is that we found your husband unconscious with a broken arm and leg. His broom was snapped in two and is beyond repair."
Ginny gasped. Was the dark figure she had seen flying about whilst at the pebble beach with Gary, Krum?
"Will he be all right?" Hermione asked as tears began to fall again. "The injury is not too grave..."
"His arm and leg can be fixed up in no time but we need to make sure he hasn't injured his head or brain..." Fletcher McArthur muttered. "I'll get the mediwitches brewing something and see if it's a long term injury or not..."
The man then left without another word and left Ginny and Hermione alone in the room with Viktor.
Ginny was surprised that St. Mungos had become so unorganised and useless. Did the mediwitches here know anything at all? The ones before and during the war had been fabulous but since there were no such serious injuries anymore, the mediwitches didn't need to be 'skilled' and 'knowledgable' enough. Ginny had heard that the examination to pass the mediwitch test had gotten way too easy. Time really did change things- the owner of St. Mungos hardly knew a thing about medicine!
"Today's your results day right?" Hermione suddenly said with a sniffle.
Ginny nodded and felt her stomach tighten. She couldn't breathe again.
"I'm sorry but can we delay it for a bit?" Hermione asked, hesitantly. "I mean... the results are done and complete but I just... I need to stay here with Viktor..." She looked away from Ginny to look at her husband. "And even if you look at the results, I don't think you'll understand what it's showing you so..."
Ginny had been waiting for ages for the results, but the look on her best friends face was too hard for her to say no to. The feelings she was feeling made her feel as if she were about to explode but she honestly couldn't say no to Hermione... And besides, a day of waiting wouldn't hurt too much right? Viktor Krum's health was more paramount right now. Plus, Hermione's marriage was on the line.
"Okay..." Ginny mumbled.
About two hours later, Ginny ended up sitting in the far corner staring at the floor as Hermione held her husband's hand by the bedside. He was still asleep and hadn't shown any signs of waking up yet. The mediwitches hadn't bothered showing up either which left Hermione to do a check up on him on her own, having learnt specialised spells during the war. Having a lot of time to herself, Ginny realised that the Quidditch game should have ended by now and wondered what her family was doing. And what was Gary up to?
"You can leave if you want." Hermione suddenly said, as she put her wand down as the last spell she casted wore off. "Go home I mean. You're probably missing Gary..."
"He's with Blaise, should be all right." Ginny muttered. "I can stay."
Hermione sighed.
"What's with the sighing?"
"I don't know..." she paused. "That man from earlier... Fletcher McArthur, right? ... I recognise him from somewhere but I just can't remember where I've seen him before. I haven't forgotten things before so it's quite frustrating. Do you recognise him?"
Ginny smirked. "Are you poking fun at his red hair? He's not a Weasley, that's for sure. Our ears never get that big!"
Ginny felt happier as she saw a small smile form on Hermione's face.
"No I'm not. Just forget it. It doesn't matter..."
Ginny stood up. "I need to go take a piss... I'll be right back."
"Sure."
Ginny walked towards the door and shut them behind her before making her way over to the toilets. After taking a piss, she walked out and made her way back but was stopped halfway as she spotted Blaise right in the middle of the hallway. Her heart pounded. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Blaise?"
"Hello, beautiful. Missed me?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"Came to look for you. See how Krum's going. You know. Stuff. Nothing to do with you really."
"Oh really?" she asked, crossing her arms. "That's very believable. I didn't miss you too."
He chuckled. "Yeah you got me."
There was a pause as Ginny twirled at her hair with her index finger.
"Hermione's doing a check up on him herself." Ginny muttered.
Blaise cocked his head. "What? What about the mediwitches?"
"Pretty much useless... Coming to St. Mungos was rather pointless. The only thing they've managed to do so far is keep the press from coming in. But that's mostly to do with Hermione's protection spells... I doubt the spells they cast these days here are as strong as they were before..." Ginny looked at Blaise's arms and wondered where Gary was. "Where's Gary?"
Blaise smiled. "I left him."
"You what?"
"Left him with your mother. She said she wanted to spend time with him. The twins are with your brother... Ron."
Ginny sighed. She would have preferred Blaise bringing Gary over, but for some reason, she wasn't too mad at him. And leaving the twins with Ronald? Was that even a good idea? Hermione hadn't looked too comfortable around him. Would she get mad at the both of them for it?
She suddenly got a feeling that she shouldn't go into the room yet- or rather, didn't want to go in. Hermione had hardly been with her husband since forever and probably wanted time alone with him. He might have woken up anyway.
"Wait-" Ginny grabbed Blaise's arm just as he was about to walk. "Don't go inside yet. Hermione needs some time with him."
"Okay..."
Ginny walked over to the bench by the side and sat down and was followed suit by Blaise who sat next to her. They didn't say much for a while and Ginny watched as he fumbled with his fingers as if counting the time.
She suddenly thought that Hermione could have just explained to her what the results meant. Honestly, looking at the results shouldn't be so hard? It would be like potions class, except more complicated. The results were probably going to be something like green means yes and red means no... Ginny smiled to herself. She shouldn't over complicate things. And besides, listening to someone tell you the results seemed better...
"So..." Blaise started.
"So..." Ginny repeated.
"Do you want to know who won the game?"
"The Bulgarians?"
Blaise chuckled. "Nope. Another replay... The Irish won... really badly this time." He sighed. "I feel sorry for the new seeker. He didn't make the best of debuts."
"I guess that's the pressure people get... especially having to come on after Krum..."
The conversation died down after that. Ginny began to feel sleepy and found that her eyes shut against her will, and soon she was asleep. It wasn't until she woke up on her own accord that she realised she had been sleeping on Blaise's shoulder. She bolted up.
"Shit. Sorry about that." She mumbled, rubbing her mouth with the back of her hand incase she had dribbled...
Blaise chuckled. "Nah it's nothing. I get girls sleeping all over me all the time."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ha ha very funny."
"I know, right?"
Ginny suddenly realised just how close their faces had gotten and bent away from Blaise, wondering what had just happened.
He smiled at her. "Do you want to go in to check on Krum now?"
She was surprised that he didn't comment on their earlier closeness. "Have I been sleeping for long?"
"Half an hour."
"Sorry."
"Should be."
There was a pause.
Ginny turned her head around to look at Blaise and saw him frowning. He appeared to be in deep thought.
"What's the matter?"
"Just wondering if they'll last, you know."
"Oh... them? I think they will. They need each other too much." She frowned, hoping that she was right.
"You look tired." He suddenly said. "You should get some body treatments or something, like go to the spa? Do you want me to take you somewhere?"
She shook her head. "Nah, I'm all right."
He turned around to face her and held a strange glaze-y look in his eyes. His head was slightly cocked and he appeared to be staring at her lips. She was surprised to find herself staring into his eyes, his nose, then his lips...
Her eyes widened as she took in the feeling of his lips on hers. It was surprisingly gentle. He didn't press any further or ask her lips for entrance. It was just gingerly pressed against her.
She sighed deeply when they parted, and looked away from him with a blush. She gasped slightly to herself when she felt his hand on hers.
"Ginny... I love you."
She nodded, and suddenly smiled to herself as realised that maybe she liked Blaise too. Just maybe.
"Do you want to go in now?" Blaise asked, standing up. He hadn't let go of her hand.
"Sure."
"Hello." Krum greeted them when they walked into his room.
"Hi..." Ginny and Blaise greeted back.
Looking over to Hermione, she looked happier and was actually smiling. Ginny decided that they must have resolved everything and was pleased to see them holding hands.
"Is there anything wrong with, Krum?" Blaise asked.
"None that I know of." Hermione said. "I've done the check up over him. There's nothing wrong apart from fatigue and stress." She paused for half a second. "I don't know why he'd sleep for so long though..."
"That's great then!" Ginny smiled.
"But I don't know what kept him asleep..."
"I vas dreaming of you." Viktor mumbled with eyes half open. He smiled at Hermione.
Ginny smiled again as she noticed Hermione blushing.
She wondered if Krum knew about Hermione's pregnancy yet. Her feelings told her that he didn't. She looked over to Hermione's tummy before turning to face Blaise who she realised had been looking at her the whole time. She blushed and looked away, hoping that Blaise would do the same.
"Will you be out of here soon?" Blaise asked Viktor.
"Maybe. Vait and see vhat medivitch and vizard says first."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "They're useless though!"
"I also need to speak to my adffisors and agent and many others."
Hermione sighed and looked seriously annoyed.
Ginny noted Krum looking like he was in deep thought. She wondered what he was thinking about.
"Efferyone, I'ff decided that maybe I vill retire." he suddenly said.
"What!" Ginny, Hermione and Blaise all yelled.
"I vant to retire."
"Why?" Blaise asked. "You're still good!"
"My vife is not happy. I feel sad to see her like this. It is alvays because of Quidditch. Not just the game, you know?" he paused for a moment. "I had strange dream vhile sleeping just now. It gave me a feeling that I should retire. I haff enough of the game. Spend more time vith my family."
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, though looking bewildered yet hopeful.
He nodded.
Ginny decided this was the cue for Blaise and herself to leave. Hermione and Viktor needed time alone again. She grabbed Blaise's hand.
"Blaise and I are going to leave now." she said. "We've got something to look for..."
Blaise looked shocked but smiled. "Yeah."
"If you have to..." Hermione said, looking pleased at the announcement.
Ginny then dragged Blaise out of the room with her and shut the door behind her. She turned to face Blaise and looked at him with an expectant look on her face.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"You know... they need time together."
He smirked. "And we need time together too?"
She sighed. He was so fucking annoying sometimes.
"Hey, Ginny?" he said as they made their way towards the floo.
"What?" she puffed.
"Sorry about that earlier. You know..." he paused. "I just can't think or control myself around you. You're driving me insane."
She laughed. "Good for you."
He grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Good for you? Well that's very nice. I was expecting to receive some sympathy from you and all I'm getting it apathy."
"Serves you right for leaving Gary with my mother."
He sighed as they turned a corner. "Are you all right with your mother then? You know... relationship-wise."
She shook her head. "Just because I'm being nice to her doesn't mean I've forgiven her. I need some time to think things through." she turned around to face Blaise, prompting him to stop walking. "I haven't totally forgiven her yet, if that's what you wanted to know. I mean like... she ripped my heart out and expects me to sew it back on without feeling the pain at all! Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even exist. All I've caused is trouble and shit..."
Blaise was about to say something but she stopped him with her finger.
"Don't interrupt me." she muttered. "I mean... Look at what I've done so far. I've been somewhat of a burden to Hermione and Krum, I've caused Brani..." her heart tightened as she said her name. "Branimir problems... Honestly, I shouldn't even be allowed to live."
"What happened to my brother is his own fault." he hissed through clenched teeth. His voice soften as he continued. "And you haven't been a burden to the Krums, they offered to help you when you need help the most. I don't like seeing you all negative like this... I hate pessimists."
"The irony..." she muttered, hoping he'd get her 'joke'.
He sighed. "Smile. You look prettier when you do."
She rolled her eyes. "Blaise.. what were you apologising for again?"
He looked at her. "For kissing you. I don't know if you took it well or not. You know... I can be quite impulsive at times."
She smiled. "Oh.. you don't need to apologise for that."
She then turned around and made her way over to the floo. Blaise muttered something about Gary.
"What did you say?" she asked when they met at their flooed destination.
"What?" he asked.
"What did you say?" she repeated.
"Oh... Gary's told me that he wants to be a Quidditch player when he grows up. Was wondering what you thought about it."
She sighed. "I don't know... To be honest, I don't really want him to be one."
"And I thought you wanted to be one back when we were in Hogwarts?"
"That was then, and this is now."
He ignored her and began humming a familiar tune as he made his way down the pathway in front of them. He paused before offering his arm to her, which she surprisingly accepted. Her heart began to race, which she tried to ignore, but she knew she couldn't as the thumping began to reach all over her. She could feel blood rushing to her face and she wondered what was happening to herself. Was she actually falling for Blaise?
"Do you want something to eat?" Blaise asked her as they walked down the lane.
"Huh?"
"We haven't eaten since morning."
"Oh. Um. Where are we again?"
"Nearby Gringotts."
"Oh.. Right. Sure... food..."
He smiled at her before looking ahead.
She sighed, wondering why she wasn't speaking properly.
"I can still be there during results day yeah?" Blaise asked.
"Yeah! Of Course!" she paused as she realised how she had reacted. "I mean, of course you may."
He smirked at her, softly. "Thanks... It means the world to me."
A/N Next chapter is the final chapter. I kind of rushed this chapter and I know it isn't so good... the kiss scene between Blaise and Ginny wasn't too good. flames and reviews both accepted!