Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sound of the beeping grew louder and louder, but all I saw was black. Pure, pitch, dark black, as black as the night sky my parents and I used to see when we went camping every summer at the Forest of Dean. But this was different. There were absolutely no stars, no bright glimmer of hope. I tried to force my eyelids open, but they remained closed, feeling heavy. I didn't have the energy to open them, I realized. I heard a muffled noise, sounding excited. It sounded like my name, but I couldn't be sure. The beeping in the background went on. Once again, I tried to move my eyelids, but no cigar.
"Her hand! It's moving, Rick!" I heard, a female voice that seemed very familiar to me.
"Nurse! Nurse!" I heard an excited male voice.
"Oh, my baby. Oh thank god, everyone at the club will be so relieved..." the woman was closer to me now, her anguish-filled voice rang through my ears, shrill and loud. The loudness made me cringe, and all of a sudden, I was staring up at my mother, looking older than I remembered, her strawberry blonde hair cut into a bob, a string of pearls around her neck, diamond drops on her ears, an orange cardigan spread around her shoulders.
"Oh, Hermione!" she exclaimed loudly, cradling my head next to her chest. I could feel her chest racking with sobs as she finally released me. She placed my head gently back on the pillow and stroked my hair, as my father, wearing one of his many golf shirts covering a newly grown paunch, came into view, along with a stern-looking nurse, glasses perched on the end of her hooked nose.
"Mum? Dad?" I asked, stupidly.
"Yes, honey, it's us!" My mother replied, taking out her hankie and wiping the corner of her eyes, while my father, rather awkwardly, patted the top of my head, smiling.
"What- what happened to me?" I asked, while for the first time taking in my surroundings. I found myself in a bright hospital room, with machines and things of all sorts around my bed, one which connected to my index finger. With light streaming in from a window, I saw an abandoned chair, on which my father would have sat, and a small television, along with a table full of newspapers, books, half-finished crosswords, something which looked like a card, a jug of water and a couple of glasses.
"You, my dear," said the nurse, rushing forward to me and playing with the machines, "were in an accident. Luckily, you have no broken bones, because you crashed headfirst into the windshield, so except for a couple of bruises here and there, you escaped unscathed. You should consider yourself very fortunate, Ms. Granger." Her eagle eyes bored into me, the glasses threatening to fall off.
I winced. "Unscathed? Excuse me, nurse, but I consider a coma a little more than unscathed, wouldn't you agree?" My mother exclaimed.
A coma? I thought, with a sharp intake of breath. I couldn't even process the information. I had been unconscious for a long period of time? This was not happening.
"Now, calm down, Edith." My father said, going to move next to my mother, resting his hands on her shoulders. My mother scoffed as the nurse continued to work.
"Someone please just tell me what happened!" I said loudly, fed up.
"Hermione, you were in an accident. A bad one." Leave it to my father to be descriptive. "You- you crashed into the windshield, and have been here for 3 months now."
"Oh my gosh." I said, after my breath came out in a little whoosh. "A coma?" the question hung in the air uncomfortably, everyone looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, before I spoke again.
"Who was driving? Are they okay?"
As soon as the question left my mouth, my mother jumped up from her seat, I couldn't tell if anyone had heard me or not. "Please, nurse, when can we leave? I would like to take my daughter out of this godforsaken place as soon as possible."
"She will have to remain here for one more day, and then you can take her home tomorrow after signing some papers." the nurse replied curtly.
"Thank God!" my mother cried. Yeah, she's a bit of a drama queen.
"Mum, I'll have missed so much work!" I told her, sitting up on the bed.
.
"Oh, hush now, you were in a coma." She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Ms. Granger, the doctor will be in shortly, to ask you a few questions." The nurse interrupted our conversation.
"Yes, thank you." I nodded at her.
A few minutes later, a tall man with a beard and glasses walked in, and perched himself on the table.
"Hello, Ms. Granger, how nice to see you again!" He grinned, revealing two rows of uneven teeth. My parents would hate that, and I detected my mother
s cringe from the corner of my eye.
I smiled, although I'm not sure how genuine I appeared.
"Can you please tell me what's the last thing you remember?" The doctor asked me.
"Umm..." I racked my brains as hard as I could. What was wrong with me? During exams at Hogwarts' I was able to mug an entire page... "Hogwarts!" I exclaimed out loud. My mother looked at me, a flashing warning written in her eyes. I couldn't believe that until this moment, I had forgotten I was magical.
"'Hogwarts?'" the doctor repeated incredulously. "What is this 'Hogwarts'? Surely, you don't mean, Pigzits?" He studied all three of our faces before guffawing and slapping his knee.
"Um, sorry." I said sheepishly. How stupid of me, to mention Hogwarts. "But, I'm trying to remember..." I tried with all my might to remember. A flash of orange, a bright orange, played in my mind, along with scenes of rubble and destruction. The smell of mint toothpaste overpowered my senses. "The final battle..." I whispered.
"You'll have to speak LOUDER, Ms. Granger." the doctor encouraged.
"Umm... I had just finished prep school and was beginning work." It was the best I could come up with at the moment.
"And how many years ago was this?"
"About... 3?" I looked directly into the doctor's eyes, scared but determined to see what I would find there.
The doctor looked at me pitifully. "I'm sorry to tell you, but you have experienced memory loss."
I averted my eyes, playing with the hospital bracelet that was draped around my wrist. "Yes, thank you doctor." My mother quickly said, luckily sensing the tension.
The doctor excused himself, saying I should rest and drink plenty of water, and I didn't mind if I had to come in for therapy, did I?
There was a moment of silence afterwards, everyone struggling to find the right words.
I broke the silence. "Mum, please. Just tell me who else was in the car."
She looked at me, worry in her eyes. "It was... Jonathan." She finally said.
"Jonathan? As in Jonathan Surrey, from the next street over?" I said, shocked.
"Yes," My mother replied, now gazing out the window.
"Is - is he okay?" I exclaimed.
"His arm is broken, I think." she frowned, and then turned to my father. "Richard, if you could excuse us, for a moment..."
My dad hurriedly left. "Jonathan and you," my mother began, "were seeing each other, Hermione."
"Are you serious, Mum?" My mouth had dropped open. "The last I remember, I had just come back from Australia with you and Dad and Jonathan had barely spoken to me at all!" I finished.
"As a matter of fact, you two had just been engaged before the accident."
"ENGAGED?" I'm pretty sure I had woken up the entire hospital wing. I frantically looked at my hands, searching for any trace of a ring.
"The ring's at home, dear." my mother said, watching me.
"Oh my gosh! I don't believe this! I bloody don't believe this!" I cried. "How can I be engaged to someone I barely know?"
"Don't worry, darling. He completely understands the situation, and is more than willing to give you a chance."
"He better be more than willing, he's supposed to be my fiance, after all." I muttered through gritted teeth.
"What was that, dear?" My mother asked me, her tone sugary sweet, but I sensed something different underneath. I was sure she had heard me.
"Oh, nothing." I smiled at her.
We looked at each other for what felt like a few moments, before my father and the doctor burst back into the room, the doctor holding a clipboard full of papers.
Leaning against the open door frame, he said, "Well, here are the papers you have to sign, and then you may leave tomorrow after a few physical tests are conducted. Is that okay?"
I nodded, still pondering over what my mother had said. Suddenly, in the hallway, I heard a loud voice yell, "Hermione! Hermione! You've woken up! Let go of me, nurse!" The voice was masculine, familiar, and surprisingly, inspired butterflies in my stomach. Before I could see anyone, though, the door was shut with a loud bang by my mother.
"Crazy people around here." she scoffed.
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate as much as I could on that voice. It stirred something inside me, deep in my heart, but what it was I couldn't figure out.
The world seemed to slow down as I rushed towards him. The moment I had been waiting for for an eternity ; the union of our lips, uniting mind, body, heart and soul. At this point I didn't even care that much if he felt the same way or not. All I knew is that I needed to feel his lips on mine before I died tonight. 7 years of sexual frustration better lead to one passionate kiss, I thought. And when I reached him and pressed my lips to his, I knew that this was a moment I would never forget.
A/N : Hi everyone! Thank you for the awesome response to the story. I am so very pleased that you enjoy it. I hope you like this chapter as well. I'm sorry if it's a little confusing right now, but don't worry, it'll all make sense soon ;)
I'm super excited about this story, and sharing it with you all, so thank you very much.