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Chapter 29: Visit to QEH

It was an interesting visit to the QEH wheelchair clinic for Hermione, as she had to explain what had happened to her wheelchair seat.

"So you are not that retired. It seems that your unit now has you back in the lab" inquired one of the staff nurses.

"Unfortunately I have to finish my Chemistry A Level and I am doing the final exams soon. I was just in a lab with one of the worst science students you have ever come across it was his experiment that when up with a bang" Hermione explained.

"Are you sure it was not some boffins playing with some semtex?" the nurse turned to regard the young woman before laughing at the obvious embarrassment that the young service woman had about the reason why her seat needed replacement. So there was the official story and then there was the unofficial story. With the specials most military nurses had learnt long ago not to ask too many questions.

There was friendly catching up and catcalling with some other former inmates as they called themselves who were now out patients like Hermione that was attending the group therapy session. Talking to the physical therapy team they appeared to be quiet happy with the improvement Hermione had made and identified the next steps for her treatment plan. This is where Tonks raised a point. They were going to have to bring in additional unit team members in on next sessions, as she was pregnant. While they were in the meeting the physiotherapist advised that Tonks should talk to a specialist physiotherapist as her dyspraxic looseness could make it very uncomfortable during pregnancy and there were support braces that she could consider. Hermione upon thinking about the number of physical transitions that the metamorphous had and her clumsiness it was understandable for the physiotherapist to make the extrapolation that Tonks was a dyspraxic due to her poor fine and gross motor control. It was interesting where non-magical medical treatment could be used for magical conditions.

So by the end of the day Tonks and Hermione had returned to the castle with a new physio treatment plan and repaired wheelchair. While in the seating clinic Hermione also managed to flinch some spare parts so they had them on hand in the castle for quick repairs to her chair. The other outcome from her visit to the QEH was that she needed to recruit additional physical therapy support persons so that Tonks could train them and get familiar with the routine of visiting the hospital with her.

oOoOo

At the Friday evening meal Hermione found herself minding young Teddy as Remus had taken his wife out on a date. Hermione found that it was interesting to watch the by play of the student population in the hall leading up to the end of term. Sitting next to Minerva she had to go over the gossip of the last 24 hours and the ceremony last night. Apparently the Daily Prophet had photos of her and the Headmaster where he was guiding her into the reception area in their coverage of the graduation of Harry Potter as a full Auror.

It was not to be surprised that there was considerable coverage of the Boy who lived and defeated Voldemort more than once. Minerva assured Hermione that they had saved a copy of the article in the Order Scrapbook and it was there for her to look at later. Hermione had not bothered with the Daily Prophet this morning as she slept in after the late night before and wanted to get to her appointment with minimal bother.

Minerva and Poppy stole Teddy from her after dinner so she could get some work done and they could get some playtime with the little lad before his bedtime. Tinky would be good and enforce the regular schedule, as sometimes it was the adults who were the worse offenders for disrupting his routine.

In the brewing lab after dinner that night Hermione was joined by Pansy and Draco. They were chatting about the previous evening while preparing a couple of simple potions. Severus put his head in the lab and seemed to be working on copious amounts of Hang Over potion.

"Do you know something I don't?" asked Hermione after cleaning up her brewing station commenting on the amount of this potion he was brewing. Pansy and Draco had finished up and left for the night earlier. Hermione had been brewing some of simple household potions as practice for her preparation skills and she now had supplies for Harry, Kreacher and Winky at 12 Grimmauld Place and for Tinky here in the castle.

"I always brew a large batch of hangover potion for the Christmas and New Year. Between the Staff, the Order and everyone else whom I come into contact during the festivities it is necessary. It may surprise you to learn that many of the Staff turn into juvenile delinquents when the students leave the castle," he advised her with a rye grin.

"And you would be one of the said delinquents I assume?" responded Hermione thinking it was good to see the all too serious man being light hearted for a moment.

"I will neither confirm nor deny that statement," was the cool retort and the spy persona was back in full force.

The pair of them chatted on various things while they waited for the final simmering time of Severus' potion to be finished. Hermione was able to update the Headmaster about the students in her care and she was able to have some esoteric potions theory questions answered. Once all the potion vials had been filled and sealed Severus organized that the crates were stored with the house elves.

,

oOoOo

Saturday morning found Hermione and Harry at breakfast in the Great Hall. Harry had arrived late in the evening as he had the afternoon to night shift this week now he was a qualified Auror. The relative peace of the last couple of weeks was disrupted by Ginny screeching that Hermione was a fake. "She thinks she is so smart playing on the sympathy card but forgot that everyone saw her walk into the ministry event on Thursday evening and here she is back in a wheelchair claiming that she can't walk. Harry can you not see that she is just playing it up".

Harry was little gob smacked over the outburst but before he could get a reply in it was Gregory Goyle who had stepped up and said something to Ginny. What he said was not heard in the hall but Severus got the distinct feeling Greg had threatened the termagant witch. Minerva McGonagall was not that far behind him and it seemed Ginny had lost points and would be serving a number of detentions in the last week of school starting today. Hermione looked withdrawn even though she had assured Harry that she was fine. She sent him off to spend the morning with Luna while she went into the Ministry and sat her final exam. Harry's exam was scheduled for after lunch. Just before she left the Headmaster met Hermione in the entrance foyer of the main building. He had been waiting for her at the floo. "Good luck today and you will be fine".

She nodded her thanks just before calling out the floo address to get to her last NEWT level exam. Hermione met with other exam candidates at the education office and found that she quickly completed the theory paper. She was able to submit her paper before time and go into the next stage of the practical testing. The Gryffindor witch was setting up her work area for her brewing component when the first of the other candidates arrived in the practical examination room to start the identification tasks. Hermione had an amanuensis to support her in the practical, as there was some concern that the education office may have not got all the adaptations in place and they wanted to ensure a safe brewing environment.

Her brewing examiner seemed to be highly impressed with Hermione's techniques and wrote numerous notes on her exam comments sheet. When she finished he congratulated her before asking "Are you thinking of a higher degree qualification in potions?" as he escorted her out of the examination area.

"Yes and no. At the moment my next goal is a rest for a couple of weeks and then starting a flexible Muggle teaching degree. I want to be a specialist SpLD support tutor supporting student learning so I need the qualification." Before leaving London Hermione took herself to Diagon Alley where she was heading to Flourish and Blotts for a celebratory book before a scheduled meet up with the Twins. Hermione had gotten into the after exam routine where she visited them at their store after her exam to have a post mortem examination tea and cake session.

Unfortunately today was not as pleasant for the young witch as she left Flourish and Blotts Hermione had the bad luck to run into Ron for the first time since the Battle of Hogwarts on the 2nd of May.

He looked her up and down in her chair with a look of complete distain. "You are just a faker since you only want the attention" he spat at her. She could not understand where this vitriol was coming from since she had not seen him once since the Last Battle. If anyone who a reason to be pissed it was her not him. She was the one who was wounded from his abandonment of her.

"Wouldn't you know it! I believe that this is the first time I have had the unfortunate experience of being inflicted with your presence since the Battle of Hogwarts", Hermione replied as she grasped her wand. No she was not going to take any shit from Ron. For years he had put her down and she was not going to put up with it now.

Hermione tried to move on in the street as they had gathered an audience when she suddenly found herself roughly pitched out of her wheel chair onto the hard cobbles. As he had passed Hermione, Ron had grabbed the handles on the back of her chair and roughly dislodged her. Hermione was still grasping her wand as she had been concerned that there was more when there was a flash of a camera. Damn! It was Rita Skeeter. A nice middle aged Muggle born wizard had retrieved the chair bringing it closer to her while another couple of passers-by's helped to lift Hermione to a standing position before assisting her back into her chair. The Aurors on patrol had spoken to Hermione and she had advised them that she just wanted to be on her way without the necessity of laying formal assault charges. It was the Aurors who had walked with Hermione up the street to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes shop.

"Can't go for ten minutes before you are bringing the Peelers with you? What are we going to do with you Miss Granger", advised George.

"So what has Trouble here been up to?" Fred inquired. The Aurors gave what they knew of events and double checked again with Hermione that she did not want to lay charges for the second time.

"For the sake of his family I will give him this one time but in the future all bets are off. Whatever friendship I had with Ronald Bilius Weasley is broken. If he keeps his distance that is fine by me cause I certainly don't want to be seen with him," she advised the Aurors so they would leave her in peace. George and Fred escorted Hermione into the back area of the store where she proceeded to clean herself up. It had been good for them to see some of the old fire that she had in her when she talked about the broken friendship but they could see that this incident had deeply affected her confidence. Fred escorted her home to the castle and let Tonks know about the incident since Harry was at the ministry doing his exam and Luna was apparently somewhere in Hogsmeade.

Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon in her rooms as she was now in considerable pain. Her normal pain medication routine did not hold her routine pain in check and now she was bruised and sore from the cobbles on top everything else she had to deal with. Hermione had had a hot bath to see if she could stop the stiffening up. She found that it had only helped her a little with her pain levels. She then asked Tinky to apply deep heat to her lower back when she was out of the muscle-relaxing bath to see if she could encourage the spasming to stop. Hermione had moved onto her tens machine and the use of her intermediate break through medication. It wasn't long before the wings of Morpheus or in her case a paracetamol and opioid mix took her off to the land of nod.

oOoOo

Harry and Luna had a pleasant morning wondering round Hogsmeade looking at items for their Christmas shopping. They had a quiet lunch at the Three Broomsticks where Madam Rosemarta's cooking was as wonderful as ever. Luna had been an active member in the DA and was considered a close friend of the Boy wonder but it had just been friendship. However, since the September afternoon tea in Hermione's rooms the two had become closer but Harry was unsure really how to proceed thanks to his previously poor track record for relationships.

The boy who lived had left the witch and flooed down to the Ministry of Magic and sat his Transfiguration exam before returning to meet up with Luna back in Hogsmeade. On their return to the castle after checking in on Hermione the two of them sat in her sitting room enjoying a hot chocolate in front of the fire. They were quietly discussing the Christmas holidays and what shifts Harry had as a newly qualified Auror while doing their Christmas present wrapping when Luna gave Harry a chaste kiss. "Yes I will be your girlfriend," the quirky girl advised him. When she saw the radiant smile of her friend she matched it with her own. The two soon became entwined and Tinky had fun distracting them from each other when she came in to clear the hot chocolate mugs as well as checking on Miss Mia. They returned to their present wrapping much subdued but still sneaking kisses in, laughing at Tinky's admonishments when she caught them smooching. Tinky let Tonks in to see Miss Mia but she was still in the land of the nod. The female Senior Auror advised Harry and Luna of the drama of Ron and Diagon Alley which the Twins had passed on to her.

"Fame has certainly gone to his head. I don't even know him anymore" advised Harry feeling very upset that his former friend had radically changed into a glory hound. Luna just rubbed soothing circles in his hand that she had captured. Tonks smiled at the hand holding that the new couple was displaying. Leaving Teddy with the pair Tonks went quickly to the infirmary to ask Poppy Pomfrey if she could check on Hermione. On her way back to Hermione's apartment she dropped in by the Teachers lounge to advise Remus and Severus of what had happened to Mia after her exam today in Diagon Alley.

Pomfrey's assessment of Hermione was that she should rest up. Tinky was quiet happy to pamper Hermione and there was a couple of games on Laptops that had Harry and Luna teaming up against Hermione. When she got tired they watched a movie in the sitting room before Harry walked Luna back to the Ravenclaw dormitory just before the curfew. Harry had an early shift in the morning so he was quite happy to turn in at a reasonable time. After seeing Harry off early the next morning Hermione went into her office to catch up with some paperwork and preparation for the last week of teaching before Breakfast. Then she wheeled into Breakfast where she was greeted by Poppy and Minerva. Joining them she had a light breakfast of honey and crumpets before the arrival of the Sunday morning papers.

Hermione looked over Minerva's shoulder to observe the unfurled paper reading the front page headlines. Bugger was Hermione's immediate thought on its splashy headlines.

oOoOo

Lovers Tiff in Diagon Alley

Two of the golden trio Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger had an altercation in Diagon Alley yesterday afternoon. It appears that the Chudley Cannons Keeper had a public argument with his fiancé and it looks like the wedding is off. Miss Granger has not been seen much since the Battle of Hogwarts where she apparently played a vital part in the defeat of You Know Who.

Recently she has been seen about town in the company of several known former Death Eaters and dark minded pure blood individuals. Apparently Miss Granger was seriously injured in the Battle of Hogwarts and is now required to use a wheelchair. It was initially believed that she was affected as quadriplegic but it is apparently an injury from the 5th Lumber disc to the 5th Sciatic disc. Technically Miss Granger's injury is described as an incomplete spinal cord injury.

Part of the reason for the lovers tiff was the amount of time Miss Granger had been spending with the other member of the Golden Trio, Harry Potter, and been ignoring her intended Ronald Weasley. This is not the first time this young witch has dallied with the hearts of a number of young wizards we all remember her carrying on during the Triwizard Tournament four years ago it seems she has rebounded back to her former paramour Mr Potter much to the dismay of his girlfriend, Ginevra Weasley, the younger sister of Ronald Weasley. So it seems that this Muggle born witch's licentious ways has again brought heartache to those she has tricked and ensnared in her winning ways.

Is the witch now playing with the hearts and minds of the wider wizarding community with a play of sympathy and the use of fame that rightly belongs to all those who fought in the Last War for the army of the Light. It has been suggested by those who observed Miss Granger in her public appearance last Thursday night at the Ministry of Magic that she is able to stand and walk so is the wheelchair necessary? Should we really trust this sociopathic young woman who clearly needs medical attention for her mental health if she thinks she can get away with hoodwinking the UK magical community.

Apparently the Diagon Alley Aurors on patrol spoke to a number of individuals who observed the altercation and Ms Granger was escorted away for further questioning. Did she play the sympathy card yet again and wiggle her way out of a public affray charge? How long can she keep going and getting away with this manipulation of individuals in our community?

oOoOo

Fuck! The slimy beetle had attacked her again in print and now provided with additional photographic evidence to support her deluded claims. Hermione excused herself to Minerva and quietly attempted to leave the Great Hall. The rush of adrenaline had hit and she had to get out of the building and fast. So Hermione wheeled her self down to the lakeside and sat watching the Giant Squid playing with some of the old quaffles that had been painted in bright colours for the amusement of the large creature.