Sleeping Beauty

A/N: I'm back!!!!! My powers of writage has come back with full force. This is a pretty short chapter but there's a cliffy at the end, so hopefully that makes up for it.

Oh, this is the un-beta'd version of chapter 4. I did send it to the wonderful Oliver but when he sent it back the file wouldn't open so I couldn't see if he made any changes. I also changed `medi-wizard' to `healer'.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP.

September 6^th

Harry yawned widely, squinting as the suns rays hit him squarely in the face. He could hear Ron snoring loudly across the table from him as he unstuck the pages from his cheek and sat up straight. After returning back to Grimmauld Place once visiting hours were over, Harry and Ron headed straight to the Black's library to research some spells. In the end he decided to only tell Ron about his little scheme of searching for cures on his own. Ginny's constant advancements were beginning to annoy him and poor Luna would be pestered by the fiery redhead nonstop if they just asked her to help.

Harry closed the huge tomb and got up, rolling his stiff shoulders. He looked over at Ron for the first time and grinned. His friend was using the open book as a pillow, his mouth wide open and a puddle of drool beginning to form on the page.

Knowing his friend would want some coffee when he woke up, Harry exited the room and made his way down into the kitchen. His eyes were automatically drawn to where Hermione usually sat with her muffin and coffee. He stared at the empty chair for a moment then went over to the coffee pot.

Harry absent-mindedly looked around the kitchen as he waited for the coffee to brew. A brightly colored calendar with three white kittens hung on the wall opposite of him. He grinned. Hermione had insisted that they put it up on New Years Day last year.

***

January 1^st, One year ago

“What the bloody hell is that?”

Hermione turned around and raised an eyebrow, “It's called a calendar, Ronald.”

“I know what it is. I mean what is it doing here?” Ron asked walking up and staring at it. It had puppies on it, puppies.

“I saw it at a muggle shop today and thought it was cute, so I bought it.” Harry looked up from the letter Ginny had sent him in surprise. In the eight years he had known her, Harry had never heard Hermione describe something as `cute'. He didn't even think `cute' was in her vocabulary.

“Cute?” Ron laughed, “You thought this was cute?”

Hermione glared at him, placing her hands on her hips. She looked a lot like Mrs. Weasley then, “Is it so hard to believe that I can find something cute?”

“No.” Ron said quickly, “I just, well, umm Harry agrees with me, don't you Harry?”

”What?” Harry sputtered. He looked back and forth between the two. Hermione was giving him a look, almost daring him to agree with Ron. “Leave me out of this.” He finally said. She smiled brightly and turned back to Ron.

“Thanks a lot.” Ron muttered. He sighed and looked around the kitchen, “I just thought that…well…”

Hermione started to giggle, “It's all right, Ron.” She said smiling, “I know what you meant.” Ron smiled back at her. Harry began to feel slightly uncomfortable as the two of them stared at each other. They were staring at each other kind of like the way he and Ginny had when they were going out back at Hogwarts.

Harry cleared his throat and got up to grab a cup of coffee. That seemed to bring Ron and Hermione out of their trance. They jumped back and looked away. And awkward pause followed as Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at the calendar, muttering an incantation under her breath.

“What did you do?” Harry asked taking a sip from his coffee.

“I put a spell on it so that the dates will change on the first of January.” Hermione explained, “so we don't have to get a new calendar every year.”

“Good idea.” Ron commented. He finished off his own cup of coffee, “I think I'm going to have a quick shower. Mum's expecting us to visit later.” He glanced back at Hermione then left the kitchen.

Another awkward pause followed. Hermione bit her lip and sat down at the table, idly drumming her nails on the tabletop.

“Hermione.”

She glanced up at Harry, “Yes?”

“If there's something going on between you and Ron, go for it.” He said, feeling his stomach begin to twist and churn. He ignored it.

Hermione looked shocked that he had said that, “Harry…” She began, licking her lips, “We couldn't…not with you have to deal with-”

“Don't loose something on account of me.” He interrupted.

Hermione sighed and looked around the kitchen, biting her lip. She's thinking about it, Harry realized. Instead of feeling happy that his two friends might get together, he began to feel that horrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Could it be possible that he was developing feelings for Hermione?

No. Harry shook his head. `I'm just getting a little jealous that I can't be with Ginny, that's all.'

Hermione grabbed one of her muffins and began to munch on it. Harry smirked, “Don't you get sick of those?”

“Never.” She said, shaking her head and grinning. From upstairs Harry could hear the water being turned off. Hermione's smile faltered a little, “Are you sure you'll be okay if -”

“I'll be fine.” He said. The feeling had returned. He unconsciously clenched his first underneath the table.

“Thanks Harry.” Hermione wiped up the crumbs from her muffin and placed them in the trash. Then she walked over to him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. Harry moved his head to the side, her lips catching the corner of his mouth. Hermione pulled back, red faced and hurried out of the kitchen.

“What the hell did I just do…” Harry mumbled, feeling his face heat up.

“Hey, Ron?” He heard Hermione's muffled voice from the staircase, “Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you about something…”

***

September 6^th, present day

“Harry…Harry…Harry!”

“What.” Harry jumped, Ron's voice bringing him out of the memory. The tall red head was standing in front of him, his hair tousled and a mug of steaming coffee in his hand.

“You okay, mate?” He asked, “You zoned out for a minute.”

“I'm fine.” Harry grabbed a cup and poured himself some coffee. “Lost in thought.” He sat down at the table and drummed his fingers across the top.

“You've been doing that a lot lately.”

“Yeah….it's just the whole thing with Hermione…” He trailed off.

“I'm feeling pretty shitty about it too,” Ron stated, plopping a few sugar cubes into the cup, “But you don't see me being distant.”

Harry glared at him, “Let me deal with it the way I know how, okay?” He snapped.

Ron ran a hand through his hair, “Sorry mate.” He mumbled.

“Don't worry about it.” Harry set down the mug and got up, “I'm going to go change before we head to the hospital.”

***

Mr. and Mrs. Granger were already at Hermione's bedside when Harry and Ron had arrived. As soon as Mrs. Granger saw Harry, she threw herself at him sobbing hysterically, “Thank you, thank you for saving my baby!” She sobbed.

He could see through Mrs. Granger's graying bushy hair Ron smirking at his discomfort, “I didn't do anything.” He began. Mrs. Granger wasn't listening; she kept on saying `thank you' in between her sobs.

“Sam, come on now.” Mr. Granger said, gently grabbing his wife's arm, “Let go of the poor boy.” He managed to pull the sobbing woman off of Harry, “Sorry about that.” Mr. Granger grinned. To Harry, he looked like he was on the verge of tears as well.

“Sorry to interrupt.” A brown haired man knocked lightly on the door as he entered the room. He was wearing a big white coat doctors usually wear and had a clipboard with him. Harry and Ron shared a look with each other. They had never seen the man before, “I'm Healer Sean Knowle. I'm in charge of the research group looking for a cure to wake Miss. Granger up.”

“I'm Allen Granger and this is my wife, Samantha.” Mr. Granger said, shaking Healer Knowle's hand. Healer Knowle began to inform the Granger's on what was happening with Hermione and what they were trying to do to help her wake up.

“If he's in charge of researching the cure,” Ron whispered, pulling Harry away so that they wouldn't be overheard, “Why the hell are we just meeting him now?”

“I was thinking that too.” He said, frowning.

“You must be Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley.” Healer Knowle said, walking up to them and shaking their hands. Harry got the distinct feeling that he had over heard them. “You'll have to excuse me for not introducing myself when Miss. Granger was admitted. I've been locked up in our library researching from the beginning.”

“Have you found out what is wrong with my daughter?” Mrs. Granger asked tearfully.

“Unfortunately, not yet.” Healer Knowle shook his head, an apologetic look on his face. “At first, we thought it was jut a regular sleeping spell, but it's only supposed to last for about ten to twelve hours.”

“Do you have any other ideas on what it could be?” Mr. Granger asked.

“The symptoms Miss Granger is showing are pretty common, so there are a lot of possible spells she could be under. Unfortunately it is dangerous to try multiple spells and potions on a person, so we have to be sure that we know what Miss Granger is affected with before trying.”

“So it's hopeless then!” Mrs. Granger sobbed, clutching Mr. Granger's arm.

“It will be difficult, yes, but we will find out what Miss Granger has.” Healer Knowle said sternly, “Why don't you two come to my office? I have some paper work for you to fill out about Miss Granger's accommodations. I can also answer some of your questions in more detail since I have some records of what we've already looked through.”

Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked back at Hermione then followed Healer Knowle out of the room.

“I don't like that bastard.” Ron snarled once they were alone. “Don't like him one bit.”

“Same.” Harry said. He sighed and flopped down into one of the chairs.

“I hope Dad will behave himself when he gets here. He probably will but Merlin knows he loves everything muggle.” Ron said, “Hope he can - AHH!” He shouted out and began to point towards Hermione, “She moved!”

“What?!” Harry jumped up from his chair and stared at her. A moment later, Hermione's hand began to twitch.

A/N: I didn't really like writing this chapter. It was necessary though since I need it to get on with the story line, but it wasn't fun. Anyways, thanks for reading and hopefully there will be another chapter up next week!