Title - You Need to Know
Summary - I wanted nothing more that to be there for him like always. A short scene between Neville and Hermione while Hermione is in the hospital recovering from her injuries in the Department of Mysteries. Harry/Hermione.
Disclaimer - I may be intelligent but I'm not a genius.
I flipped uneasily through my book as I sat propped up on my pillows in the hospital ward. The past week had been extremely boring to say the least.
Being forced to read twenty-four seven, I once thought may have been paradise, but now when I knew there were far more important things I needed to be doing, being unable to leave my bed had its disadvantages.
Reading wasn't exactly that easy either. If I read for too long, pain from holding up my book would slowly creep up my arms and into my chest causing me to dwell on the things I could have been doing.
Number one on my long list was of course Harry. He had been to visit me but with each visit he seemed more and more defeated. The pain of his loss almost consuming him. I wanted nothing more that to be there for him like I always had, but if I even attempted to leave my bed for the bathroom Madame Pomfrey would swoop down on me immediately. The frustration was endless.
Flipping the page of my book rather viciously I was startled to hear a cough at the end of my bed. Even more startled to look up and find Neville standing there. He was shifting nervously between his feet staring absently out the window as if he didn't exactly know what he was doing here.
"Sorry I didn't mean to…" Neville started to apologise before I cut him off.
"Don't. I'm about to go insane with boredom so stay as long as you like." I smiled kindly up at him shifting my legs a little and gesturing to the now empty peace of bed meaning for him to sit.
Still looking out of place Neville shook his head and moved to stare straight out the window.
I let the silence drag out a little longer, curious as to what would bring Neville here yet not wanting to startle him into leaving.
"What's up?" I ask eventually when it's clear he doesn't want to make the first move.
"There's something I need to talk to you about," Neville answered in a serious tone, which caused me to straighten up. I winced slightly at the stabbing pain in my chest caused by the sudden movement.
Neville caught my look. "This probably isn't the best time. I'll wait until you're better." He made to leave.
"No." I told him firmly and he stopped mid-stride. "It's obviously important."
Neville nodded, his jaw tightening slightly as he turned back to look out the window. "Is Ron asleep?"
"Neville, what's going on?" I asked startled by his sudden question.
I was starting to worry. Neville and I had never been that close of friends and his sudden need to talk to me privately was disconcerting at the least.
"Is he asleep?"
I peered over at Ron who gave off a light snore. It was clear I was not going to get a straight answer out of him without confirmation of Ron's consciousness.
"Yeah, he is."
"Good," Neville answered swiftly before turning from the window and pulling up an empty chair.
"Now will you tell me what's going on?" I asked him starting to become impatient.
Neville's fingers started to drum nervously on the arm of his chair; he was avoiding eye contact with me I realised as he continued to stare at his knee.
"It's about Harry."
My heart suddenly leapt into my throat and I felt a strange stabbing in the pit of my stomach, which had nothing to do with my injuries.
"He's fine." Neville immediately stated. Obviously I hadn't been too good at hiding my thoughts. "Well, in the circumstances he's fine."
I nodded, I knew what Neville meant. No one could be expected to be fine after witnessing the death of someone as close as Sirius had been to Harry.
"It's about something that happened in the Department of Mysteries."
My back instinctively straightened further. I was sure that between Harry and Ginny I knew exactly what had happened at every stage of the attack. Now Neville was telling me there was something they had both left out.
Neville looked up at me with an odd expression on his face. One that made me realise how much we had all grown up since we first stepped foot behind the castle walls.
"I don't know how to say this," an apologetic smile graced his features, "but you need to know. For both your sakes."
Neville took a deep breath before plunging in. "It's about when what happened after you were hurt. When you fell unconscious Harry changed." Neville paused looking for the right words. I stared at him dumb founded. "He went to pieces. He went straight into instinct mode. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't even stand. I was the one who had to check for your pulse, he couldn't even remember first aid. It wasn't Harry and it scared me." Neville was looking at me curiously as he spoke as if trying to gauge a reaction. "The look on his face, Hermione, it was spooky. He was devastated. Then when I told him I found a pulse, the relief, it was tangible."
I looked at Neville, shocked as to why he was telling me all this. "Neville, Harry and I have been through a lot together. We're very close friends it's natural he would be worried about me."
"No, Hermione." Neville asserted forcefully. "I know all that. I've been sharing a dorm with Harry for the past five years remember. This was more than worry about a friend. He couldn't function." Neville slammed his fist on the arm of his chair as if to emphasise his point. "He witnessed Cedric's death and was still able to get out of that grave yard relatively unscathed. Yet the mere possibility of your death scared him witless. Can you honestly tell me one other instance that Harry has ever panicked to the point of complete loss?"
Neville's question shook me more than I would have liked it to and I stared at him, my eyes wide with shock.
Neville stood slowly and made his way out the door. He paused near the exit speaking with his back turned to me. "Think about it Hermione. Take your time. Just know that one day you may have to step back from a fight for Harry's sake as well as your own."
I didn't even hear the door close or Madame Pomfrey come breezing through the beds making her rounds. Suddenly feeling cold I pulled the blankets closer around me and stared blindly at the foot of my bed my mind running over all that Neville had just told me.