THE LEAVES – CHAPTER THREE
Fred stayed next to her bed for two days hoping for another sign of life like last night when she squeezed his hand but his wait prevailed as no movement had happened since. He had, however, started eating the food that Fleur was bringing him as it was doing neither of them any good for him to starve himself.
It was 10am of the third day when he had another response. Fred had left to use the bathroom to freshen up after another sleepless night. He had only been ten minutes and yet when he came back in clean clothes and rubbing his hair with a towel, there she was, sat up in bed and smiling at him. Of course the first thing he did was to gently take her into his arms.
"Great Merlin, I've missed you," he whispered into her hair. She wrapped one arm around him and kept the left one at her side but he wasn't quite sure why. Ron had told him that Bellatrix had used the Cruciatus Curse on her but that was the only thing she had done as far as he had known.
He pulled back to frown at her, "What's wrong?"
She looked down guiltily and he watched her eyes fill with tears. She lifted her arm to him and he gasped deeply. His eyes filled with fury.
"She did this, didn't she?" he whispered.
"Yes."
"Oh, 'Mione," He choked out as he gathered her in his arms once again and allowed her to sob silently into his shirt. He couldn't bear it and it made his heart ache desperately as he felt his own tears fall at the sound of hers.
"Why didn't they tell me?"
"I asked them not too because I knew you couldn't accept it without seeing and once you saw it, you wouldn't be able to unsee it. I'm sorry, Fred,"
The door creaked again like it had the day before and Ron and Harry peered around guiltily.
"We heard your voice, 'Mione. We came it see if you were alright. Clearly, you're not though…" Harry confessed as they walked towards her and sat on the bed. Ron sat at her feet and Harry placed himself the other side of her to Fred wrapping an arm around her. Hermione was still sobbing quietly, hiccupping every few seconds.
"We're gonna be okay, we're all okay, the leaves are growing back, we're all gonna be okay," Fred whispered over and over as he held Hermione. Ron smiled sadly and Fred placed a hand on his shoulder, Ron leaning into it.
Hermione hiccupped again as she drifted off to four of them holding each other together, afraid that one word would break them all. Fred kissed her forehead again.
"The leaves are growing back…"