A Dark Surprise

Ron stood in the Gryffindor common room, waiting impatiently for his sister to come down. The sun was only beginning to rise through the windows across the room, but Ron was too anxious to care. He hadn’t seen his friends since two nights before, because Madam Pomfrey kept the curtains closed around Hermione and Harry’s beds while he and Ginny were in the hospital wing. He had, of course, tried to open them, but once he touched the fabric, he was sent flying back to his bed with a sudden shock.

         “Come on Ginny!” he whined quietly.

         Ginny slumped down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, while tying her robe around her waist. She looked up to see her brother, who was fully dressed and ready to go, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

          She rolled her eyes, and pulled her wand out from her pocket. With a swish of her wand, she too was fully dressed. 

          “Okay? Let’s go already!” said Ron.

          Before the two of them reached the door, there was a shuffling from the boy’s bathroom.

          “Who’s there?” asked Fred, drying his hair with a towel while standing at the top of the stairs. .

          “We’re going to see Harry and Hermione, Pomfrey said she’d let us see them today,” explained Ginny. “Want to come?”

          “Yeah! For sure!” answered Fred, and with a flick of his wand, he was dressed.

           Yet again, there was a rustling sound from upstairs, but this time it came from the boy’s dormitories. Ron sighed in disgust.

          George came bounding down the stairs, and said,

          “Hospital wing?”

          “Yeah, you coming?” asked Ginny, who was also starting to get a little impatient.

         “That’s the plan!” he answered.

         With that, the four of them set off through the portrait hole, and down the halls. They were careful not to create too much noise, as if Filch stopped them, he’d likely make them empty their pockets for dungbombs.

          On their way there, they passed the Great Hall. The big double doors that led to the hall opened the moment they got there, and Neville stepped out. He blushed vividly.

          “I couldn’t sleep... went to get some breakfast...” he said.

         Ron shook off his excuse, and said, “We’re going to see Harry and Hermione, want to come?”

         Neville brightened, and agreed.

         By the time the five of them reached the hospital wing, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, and the halls were getting busier with students off for breakfast.

         Ron opened the door to the wing, and held it open for Ginny to grab behind him. All of them piled in behind Ron, and he led them to the end of the wing, where there was a large curtain covering Hermione and Harry’s beds.

         Fred stuck out his finger to touch the curtain, and when he wasn’t zapped, he began to pull it back. Everyone was surprised to see Harry’s bed empty, and as Fred continued to drag the curtain along it’s rod, they saw something that made their jaws drop to the floor.

         Harry was sitting up in his bed, still sleeping, with his head leaning against the wall behind it. Hermione was sitting in his lap, with her head on his left shoulder, and her arms around his neck. Harry had his own arms wrapped around her back, and was supporting her on his legs. Hermione was half-covered in sheets, and upon consideration, they both looked blissfully happy, and considerably more mature.

         Ron stared, obviously confused at what he was seeing. Neville’s eyes were as wide as saucers, and he looked even more confused than Ron. Fred and George were extremely amused at the situation, and Ron could tell their brains were working at full-speed at coming up with ways to bug and tease Hermione and Harry about this later. Ginny stood at the end of their bed, looking immensely pleased.

        In an attempt to wake Hermione and Harry up, Fred cleared his throat loudly, but neither of them stirred. George tried, but once again, they remained asleep.

        Ginny pulled out her wand, and with a swish and flick of it, a loud rumbling sound shook the wing.

        Harry blinked and looked up, as Madam Pomfrey entered the room, exclaiming,

        “A troll?! Was that a troll?! Quick children, to the Great Hall!!”

        “No, Madam Pomfrey, Ginny was just trying to wake them up,” explained Ron, pointing towards the two sleeping bodies infront of them.

        “Oh, I see,” relaxed the Healer, taking in a few deep breaths, “Well, I suppose they’ve been sleeping for long enough now.”

        With that, she disappeared back into her office, and everyone turned their attention back to the newly awake Harry and the still-sleeping Hermione.

         Harry was blushing, and looked utterly confused himself. He took his arms off of Hermione’s back, and then turned his head to whisper her name into her ear.

         “Hermione...”

         “Mmm...” she moaned quietly, and then flipped her head so that she was facing the other way.

         “Hermione, wake up,” prodded Harry, but she still didn’t move, “...HERMIONE!”

         “Huh? What? Stupef - Oh.”

          In one quick move, she took her hands out from around Harry’s neck, jumped up from the bed, and landed at the end by the footrest.

          Ginny, still looking pleased, smiled and sat down on the other side of the bed from Hermione.

          “I always knew you too would get together,” she commented, obviously over her crush on Harry from the year before.

          “W-what?! No, it’s not what it looks like!” stammered Harry, trying to explain a situation even he didn’t understand.

          “Yeah, I haven’t even woken up since... well, you know, I guess two nights ago” added Hermione, looking up at the clock over the doors.

          “Ew, Harry, that’s gross,” joked Fred, and George laughed.

          Before Harry and Hermione’s faces could look even more like tomatoes, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, carrying a large tray with two goblets on them.

          She passed Harry and Hermione one each, and motioned for them to drink it. Hermione did first, and the moment the liquid touched her lips, she immediately felt much more awake and healthy. Harry did the same, and sat up higher in his bed.

          “Er, Madam Pomfrey,” he asked cautiously, “What happened while we were, er, sleeping?”

          She chuckled brightly, and explained about them being locked together, and the night-time sleep walking. 

          “Now that you’re awake dear,” she finished, talking to Hermione, “You’d best be in your own bed.” She helped her over to her bed, and then went back into her office with the now-empty goblets.

          “It’s almost time for Potions!” said Neville, looking at the clock, “Snape’ll kill me!”

           With that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out of the hospital wing. Fred and George said they had to go as well, but when Hermione asked them if they were going to class, they just laughed as if she’d told a hilarious joke, and left. 

            It was just Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry left in the hospital wing.

            Ron unzipped his robes to uncover a large pile of chocolates and candies, and then dumped them all on the large table between Harry and Hermione’s beds.

            “I was hiding them from Fred and George,” he explained, “lately they’ve been experimenting on every piece of candy they can find.”

            “Smart move, I got some Pepper Imps yesterday, and they were gone an hour later,” said Ginny, grabbing a chocolate frog and ripping it’s head off with her teeth, and then passing a box of Every Flavour Beans to Hermione.

           Hermione took one, and was glad to see the conversation had passed from them to Fred and George’s latest escapades.

           “So, er, do either of you know who attacked you, Hermione? Or is that still a mystery?” asked Ron.

           Hermione chewed on some chocolate for a second, before saying,

           “Before Malfoy hit me, while you were across the room Harry, he laughed horribly at me, and said something like, “you’re doing better than you were in the library...” but I couldn’t hear what he said. It must have been him... after all, Draco could have let him in, and he knows his way around Hogwarts. Oh, I wonder...” she added, lifting up her left sleeve.

           Her sleeve was too tight, and she couldn’t get it up to see if the Dark Mark was there. Without thinking, she pulled down the neck of her gown to reveal her shoulder.

           Harry gulped in spite of himself, and tried to look away. Ginny noticed the blush on his cheeks and raised her eyebrows at him. He saw her look and turned to face Ron, who was now sitting beside him, eating a Pumpkin Cake.  

            “No, it’s not there!” Hermione said excitedly, “It’s faded!”

            “So how come you managed to survive, I’d have thought you’d be... well, you know,” said Ginny, reaching for some more chocolate frogs.

            “I don’t know... I guess the spell must have been split between us, so we were just knocked unconscious,” said Hermione, and she then realised that if Harry hadn’t jumped infront of her... she’d be dead.