Harry, Ron and Ginny sat huddled in three chairs surrounding a hospital bed in a room that would be beige and tasteless had it not been for the flowers that covered the surrounding surfaces. The three wore matching expressions of stress on their faces, with an urgency that hadn't quite been there before. They all stared in silence to the girl that lay in front of them. Hermione's brown hair was spread around her head on the pillow like a halo, her skin paler than anyone had ever seen before. It was as if she had taken on the skin of the boy she loved so much. Her chest was slowly rising and falling, and if circumstances were different she would look peaceful, as if she were sleeping. Ginny's chair creaked loudly into the silence as she stood up in exasperation.
"I can't stand this!" She exclaimed, turning around to face the wall. "What if she never wakes up?"
"She will wake up Gin." Ron gritted his teeth. "She has to. Besides, it's only been a few days."
"She might not." Harry sighed and continued, ignoring the look of betrayal on Ron's face. "Or she might wake up in a month, or a year. But the fact is I have a job to do. We all knew this could happen..." He trailed off and leaned forward to squeeze her hand. "Hermione would want us to keep fighting."
Ginny sank back into her chair. "Of course we will keep fighting, but we can't just abandon her. This is Hermione, she would never leave us."
"Do you think I want to leave her?" Harry snapped back. "The fact is Voldemort gets stronger with every day, and if we don't start hunting... what we need need to be hunting," He shot a quick look at the open door. "We lose more hope that we will win this war."
"There's no way we can do it without Hermione, mate." Ron shook his head. "Think about what you're saying, we need her more than anyone. Me, maybe, you could do without, but not her."
"I know we need her." He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation, the knuckles tightening as if he would pull out the hair himself. "Of course we need her. But we need to keep doing what we can till she's back. We have the Order behind us."
"It's not the complete Order without Hermione." Ginny stated firmly.
With that the room fell into silence once more, the only noise being the bustle of the ward outside of the room and the quiet breathing of the occupants inside the room. The three conscious occupant's expressions returned to looks of worry and stress that never really left. Ron commenced twisting his shirt around his fingers, Harry put his hands in his head and Ginny remained perfectly still, her eyes never leaving her best friend.
They all jumped as a stern looking Healer with Remus Lupin in her wake entered the room. She started placing down potion after potion on the bench as Lupin reached over to squeeze Harry's shoulder as a sign of greeting.
"Is there any news on Hermione?" Ginny addressed the healers back as she turned to pick up her patient report.
"Yes there is, finally." She gave a quick smile to Ginny. "I know it's been hard on you all but we should finally start to see some improvement."
"What do you mean by improvement?" Harry interjected quickly.
"The good news is she should be good as new in a week or two. I believe if we keep on with our treatment she should be awake in a day or two." Her voice remained brisk as she scribbled some more notes onto a patient report. With a final flurry of her quill, she looked up at the others. "I'll leave you to it." On that note she turned on her heal and headed straight out the room.
"Oh thank Merlin," Ginny threw her arms around Harry and pulled him into a hug. "I really thought that we had lost her."
"We need to move her." Lupin started packing the various potions the healer had left into a bag he seemed to pull out from thin air. "Now. She is not safe here and it's already been too long. Kingsley will be here any minute with a portkey to take her to a safe house. She will stay there until she can leave of her own accord." He held up his hand to stop the three in front of him from interjecting. "This is coming straight from Dumbledore, say your goodbyes now. You three are heading back to the headquarters." He smiled at the three of them. "This is good news, next time you see her she will be her old self again."
Harry nodded solemnly. "We had better get out of here then." He reached forward and squeezed Hermione's hand and walked straight out of the room. With a small wave Ron followed. Ginny lent forward and and gave Hermione the biggest hug she could with her receiver being in a hospital bed and also unconscious.
"I'll see you soon." She whispered in her ear and stood to face Lupin. "Look after her."
"Of course." Lupin nodded as Ginny crossed paths with the large figure of Kingsley Shacklebolt heading into the room.
"You need to leave now." Kingsley's booming voice filled the room as he handed Lupin a small old ring. "This will leave in less than a minute. Of course, you know where you need to go once the girl is safe."
"I know." Lupin swallowed. "It is time for us all to make sacrifices, and I am not exempt."
"Stay safe Lupin." Kingsley nodded towards him. With that Lupin swung the bag filled with Hermione's potions over his shoulder, and scooped the girl into his arms.
"See you soon, friend."
The ring burned hot in Lupin's hand and a loud pop filled the air, and a solemn Kingsley was left looking at the empty space where Lupin and Hermione once was.