Author's note: This chapter was really difficult to write. I had a touch of the writer's block and am not sure if I'm satisfied with this at all. I hope you guys are. I know if you aren't, you'll let me know. I hope you'll also let me know if you like it! I appreciate it either way, though I am partial to the positive reviews!
Chapter Fourteen
I'll Be There
"I'll reach out my hand to you
I'll have faith in all you do
Just call my name
I'll be there to comfort you
I'll build my world of dreams around you
I'm so glad that I found you yeah
I'll be there with a love that's strong
I'll be your strength, you know I'll keep holding on"
(Written by H. Davies, B. Gordy, W. Hutch and B. West, versions sung by Mariah Carey & also by the Jackson Five)
They hadn't changed clothes. There hadn't been much time. Harry was still in his white dress shirt and trousers, with his necktie loosened. His jacket, however, was now draped over Hermione's shoulders. She was still wearing her beautiful dress, but her face which had been aglow with happiness only a few minutes earlier, was now pale and drawn with worry.
She hadn't said much since she and Harry had spoken briefly with Dumbledore. He'd expressed his sympathy and she'd simply said "Thank you". Harry had held her hand and kept trying to give her reassuring glances, but she had barely glanced his way. He didn't mind. He understood how she was feeling. He just hoped that she knew he was there, if and when she needed him.
They'd used a portkey to travel to the hospital where Hermione's dad had been rushed earlier that evening. Professor McGonagall had offered to go with them, but Dumbledore had said it wouldn't be necessary.
They arrived just outside the hospital and walked quickly into the reception area.
"May I help you?" the desk clerk asked them.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, ushering her to the desk.
"Um, yes," Hermione whispered. "My father. Robert Granger. He was brought here earlier."
The desk clerk gave a sympathetic smile and turned away from them to key the information into the computer.
"Yes, miss," the woman said, coming back to the desk. "You're father is on the third floor. Room 321. The lifts are down the hall and to your left."
"Thank you," Harry said and held Hermione's hand as they walked toward the lift.
A few moments later, he and Hermione were walking toward the waiting room on the third floor. Hermione instantly saw her mother, sitting on the sofas. She was holding her head in her hands.
"That's my mum," Hermione said softly, seemingly frozen in place.
"Come on, Hermione," Harry said.
She quickly closed the gap between her and her mother and put a hand on her mother's shoulder. Her mother turned and smiled a half-smile when she saw Hermione. She quickly got up from the sofas and walked around them to envelop her daughter in a warm, comforting embrace. Harry stood back, taking it all in.
He'd only dealt with Hermione's parents on a peripheral basis. He couldn't say he'd ever had a real conversation with them in all the years he'd been their daughter's best friend.
"Sweetheart," her mother was saying, kissing her daughter's forehead. "Look at you. You look so beautiful. This must have been the night of the big soiree, huh?"
Hermione nodded.
Dr. Granger looked past her daughter and caught sight of Harry for the first time.
"Hello, Harry," she said, and Harry could see that she'd had a tough couple of hours. Her eyes were red and puffy and her skin was as pale as Hermione's. "It was really good of you to accompany Hermione."
"Of course," Harry said, stepping closer. "I'm really sorry about Dr. Granger."
She could only nod.
"What happened, Mum?"
"Why don't we all sit down," Karen Granger said, ushering them back to the sofas. They followed her to the couch and took seats beside each other, with Dr. Granger sitting directly across from them.
"Um, well, your dad and I sat down in the sitting room to watch some telly right after dinner. He had been
acting strange all evening. I should have picked up on it straight away. He didn't eat much and he complained about
not feeling too well. I told him he ought to go on to bed, but he said he was going to make himself some warm milk
before turning in. He walked into the kitchen and the next thing I know; I hear the sound of a glass shattering. I ran
into the kitchen and found him, collapsed on the floor. I called the ambulance and they rushed him here."
Hermione felt fresh tears welling up in her eyes.
"Have they told you anything?" Hermione asked.
"They're prepping him for surgery," Karen said, her voice breaking. "He's going to need bypass surgery."
"Oh, Daddy," Hermione whispered.
"They've assigned one of the top specialists to his case," Karen said, trying hard to keep her emotions in check. She got up from her chair and went to sit down beside her daughter. "I'm so glad you're here, sweetie."
"Me, too," Hermione said, hugging her mother again. "Me, too."
*****
Do the seriousness of Robert Granger's condition, he was sent immediately to the operating room t undergo emergency bypass surgery. The doctor in charge of the case had come out beforehand to talk to the family to let them know what was going on and what the success ratio of such an operation was. Harry couldn't help but marvel at the strength and valor that both Granger women took this news. They took comfort in each other and listened quietly and carefully. They each asked questions and thanked the doctor for doing all he could.
Harry, feeling helpless, volunteered to go and get some coffee downstairs in the cafeteria. Hermione had offered to go with him, but he'd told her to stay with her mother. He was a little more than embarrassed when he realized he had no Muggle money on him, but to his relief Dr. Granger handed him a few pound notes from her purse.
When Hermione was alone with her mother, they were both silent for the longest time.
"So, how was the dance?" Karen asked her.
"It was nice, Mum," Hermione said. "Maybe we shouldn't be talking about stuff like this with Dad-"
"Nonsense," Karen said. "Your dad would want us talking about things like this. You know how he gets when we make a fuss over him about anything."
Hermione laughed despite herself.
"He can be pretty stubborn," Karen said. "I think you get that from him."
Hermione rested her head on her mother's shoulder.
"So," Karen said. "Harry sure cares about you a lot."
"Mum!" Hermione said.
"I'm just saying," Karen said. "A mother knows these things. And a mother has been listening for how many years about how worried her daughter was about Harry and how she wished she could make Harry see that there was a wonderful girl right under his nose all this time."
"Oh," Hermione said. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"
"Just a little," Karen said, running her fingers through Hermione's hair, which she'd taken down from
its chignon ages ago.
"Were you like this with dad?" Hermione asked.
"Well," Karen said, a glow coming to her eyes as she thought of her husband. "Well, at least you and Harry had the advantage of being friends. I had such a crush on your dad when I first saw him. I was working part-time in the library at university. Hermione, I've told you this story so much, you could probably tell it to me yourself."
"I know," Hermione said. "But I like to hear you tell it. Please, Mum?"
"Oh, alright," Karen said. "He used to come in with a group of his friends every Wednesday afternoon and they'd sit in the back. I thought he was the cutest, most adorable man I'd ever seen. I was so shy back then. I could barely string two words together whenever he was around. He kept coming around, though. Imagine, my surprise when he brought some books up to check out and asked me out."
Hermione smiled.
"Come to find out that he had checked with a friend of mine to find out when I was working so he'd make sure he was there, too," Karen said. "He was trying to work up the courage to ask me out while I was trying to work up the courage to talk to him."
"I love hearing that story," Hermione said.
"Well, what about you and Harry?" Karen said. "Quid Pro Quo, Hermione. How are things with you two?"
"Well, there's nothing much to tell," Hermione said.
"Okay, say that without blushing, my dear daughter," Karen said.
Hermione smiled. "Things are going pretty well, actually. He's really great, Mum. I hope that you and-"
"What sweetie?" Karen said, as her daughter's lower lip began to tremble.
"I was going to say that I hope that you and dad can get to know him," Hermione said, somewhat sheepishly. "I want you to like him. I want Daddy to like him."
"We don't have to know him very well to realize how happy he makes you, sweetheart," Karen said. "That's good enough for me and it's good enough for your father. We've heard what you've said about him and what you've written in your letters. He sounds like a wonderful young man. Anyone who can make you smile like that is alright in my book."
Hermione beamed at her mother.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Karen said. "Your father will be boring poor Harry to death someday talking about the new fluoride we're using or how he can better take care of his teeth."
"You think so?" Hermione asked, worried. "Mum? Seriously, this is you and me. Do you really think Dad's going to pull through?"
Karen looked seriously at her daughter and though she didn't know exactly why or how, she just had a feeling that everything would work out okay.
"Your father's never met a challenge he backed down from yet," Karen said. "He's never let us down before, Hermione. If I know him, he's not about to start now."
Hermione smiled, hoping that her mother was right. She needed her mother to be right.
*********
A little after one in the morning, Ron made his way back through the Portrait Hole into Gryffindor Tower. He'd just seen Luna safely back to her dormitory. To his surprise, he found Ginny curled up asleep on one of the chairs near the fireplace.
He walked over to her and gently shook her awake.
"Ron?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"
Ron looked at his watch. "Just past one, Gin. What are you doing down here? I thought you weren't feeling well?"
Ginny remembered her excuse to the others about not going to the ball as she was feeling under the weather.
"I was feeling a little better so I came down here to think," Ginny said. "I must have dozed off."
Ron sat on the arm of the chair and ruffled his sister's hair playfully.
"Did you have a nice time?" Ginny asked, suppressing a yawn.
"Yeah," Ron said. "Well, up until Draco Malfoy started hurling insults at Hermione. Harry showed him, though. Knocked his lights out."
"What?" Ginny asked. "When did all this happen?"
"I wasn't there to see it firsthand, but from what I gathered, Harry and Hermione were just dancing together and the old ferret comes up to them, spouting off some of his trademark Malfoy insults."
"Is Draco okay?" Ginny asked, without thinking.
"Draco?" Ron asked, confused. "Since when do you call that article by his first name? And more than that, why would you care how he is?"
"Since never," Ginny covered. "I just happen to have woken up Ron. I'm not exactly thinking clearly."
Ron didn't push the issue any further.
"Well, he's okay, I guess," Ron said. "Mad as hell, though. McGonagall let him and Harry stay at the dance, but they'll have to serve a detention. I just wish I'd been there to see it all unfold."
"Yeah, me, too," Ginny said, listlessly.
"There's also a bit of bad news, too," Ron said, his face serious.
"What?" Ginny asked, concerned.
"Hermione's dad suffered a heart attack this evening," Ron said. "She and Harry used a portkey to go
and see him at a muggle hospital."
"That's terrible," Ginny said. "Is he going to be okay?"
"Don't know," Ron said, shaking his head. "I haven't seen them since it happened. McGonagall came and told me and Luna. She sounded like it was pretty serious."
"She must be beside herself," Ginny said. "She mentioned to me that her dad was having some trouble, but I can't imagine-"
"Yeah," Ron said.
"I hope everything's going to be okay," Ginny said.
"I'm sure it will," Ron said. "At least Harry's with her. He'll look out for her."
"Yeah," Ginny said. "He's always doing things like that, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Ron said. "The born hero."
"Yeah," Ginny said. She thought again of how she wished she had someone like that in her life. She cursed herself for thinking such things when Hermione's father was somewhere fighting for his life. This was neither the time nor the place to be thinking of that awful idea. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't do that to Hermione. It would be wrong. There had to be some other solution to this problem. She would just have to think about it, long and hard.
"Come on and go upstairs, Gin," Ron said. "You look exhausted."
Ginny nodded and allowed her brother to help her to her feet.
There had to be some other way, Ginny said. She didn't know what, but there had to be some way out of this mess that wouldn't involve hurting people she cared about. There had to be.