CHAPTER TEN
SHE LOVES ME, SHE LOVES ME NOT
He was out of breath and was starting to tire. He pushed another bookcase over as he ran down the dark hallway. Maybe that will slow it down enough ... he thought desperately. Harry turned down a corridor on the right and pushed a suit of armor to the floor. On and on he ran, turning left then right then left again, there was no end in sight to the tunnel of wood and plaster he was frantically trying to scramble through.
He opened a door on his right and scrambled through before closing it and locking it with a charm that had flitted from the back of his mind to his wand. The door swelled in size and jammed in the too small doorway. He bent over to nurse the stitch in his side and catch his breath.
"Harry? Where are we?" Came a thankfully familiar voice.
"Hermione? I've found you!" He quickly crossed the room to his friend and enveloped her in a tight hug. She smiled back at him reassuringly and returned the embrace.
"Are you ok? What were you running from?" She asked after a moment.
"I don't know but whatever it is I was only just able to shake it." He replied.
The door bowed under the weight of something heavy slamming into it causing the two young friends to duck instinctively. "Hurry! Out the other door!" Hermione shouted.
They turned around and ran flat-out for the door at the back of the room and flung it open. Harry ushered his friend through and he followed just as the one he had entered shattered into a million toothpicks. He didn't dare look back as he slammed the door and caused it to jam like the last one.
He took Hermione's hand and pulled her along at a rapid pace as she started to laugh joyfully. He turned around to see her in a two-piece bathing suit. She looked slightly more mature and her skin was tanned by the gentle rays of the Caribbean sun. He stopped in confusion as she barreled into him.
"Hurry, Harry!" She said playfully. "The sand is hot!" She put her soft hands on his bare chest and pushed him to the sanctuary of a palm tree. "Why'd you stop?" She asked as she broke into a fit of giggles.
"I ... uh ..." He stammered, his face a mask of confusion. "How'd we get here?"
Hermione laughed at him and playfully slapped at his chest. "We got here by plane, remember? I told you that some sleep would have done you some good last night!" She smiled at him warmly as she slid her arms around his waist and brought him into a very sensual embrace. "Of course, I hadn't minded at all ..." She whispered into his ear before kissing him fully on the mouth, dragging him into a passion that he never knew existed.
They fell into the palm tree making it quiver and Harry looked up to see a coconut break loose and fall from the branches. "Look out!" He shouted as he pushed her out of the path of the falling object. His foot slipped on a palm leaf and he fell to his back just before the coconut hit him in the chest and knocked the wind from his lungs. He could feel the weight of the thing still there and he looked down to find the rogue bludger pushing into his chest with a suffocating force.
Hermione tried to pull the bludger from his chest to no avail and she started to cry. "Harry! Harry! Help me, Harry! I can't do this without your help ... I need you ... with me ..." Her voice was a faint whisper.
He suddenly woke up and realized he was lying on his back in one of the school's beds. He still felt the suffocating weight on his chest and he looked down tentatively. Hermione was sound asleep with her head on his chest. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she whispered in her sleep. "Harry ... I need you ... Don't leave me, Harry ..."
He slowly stroked her hair with his left hand and whispered to her. "Hermione, I'm right here. You're dreaming, wake up." He shook her gently with his bandaged right hand and she slowly blinked her eyes as she began to wake up.
"Hmm?" She said sleepily as she blinked away the sleep.
"Hi."
"Hi, Harry." Hermione said absently. She snapped her head around and looked him in the eyes before she started crying again and broke into a big smile. "You're awake!" She whispered then she pulled him into gentle hug. "You had me scared there, Mr. Potter!" She said after a moment, her voice full of mock anger.
"I'm sorry." He said shyly as he suddenly remembered the kiss and the feel of her warm skin against his from the dream he had just woken up from. He started to blush but remembered what had happened the other night. "Are you ok? How are the others? Where are they? Did they make it back?"
She looked at him incredulously. "I still can't believe that you always ask how everyone else is doing before you tell them how you're feeling." She teased.
Harry blushed and smiled warmly at his friend.
"They're ok ... mostly." She said with a slight twinge of sadness to her voice.
"What is it? What happened?" He sat up with a wince and looked around, staring at the bed next to him. Ginny was white as a sheet and lay there as if she were on her death bed.
"Ginny? Is ... Is she ok." He said with a trembling voice. The dream ... the dream came true ... what's happening? He tried to get out of bed to check on his girlfriend when Hermione held him back and pushed him into his pillows.
"She's fine, Harry." She reassured him. "She lost some blood and she's just sleeping. The anti-toxin also acts as a sleeping draught so that she can rest while it cleans her system of the venom." She looked at the floor as more tears began to trickle down her cheeks.
Harry looked at her and felt a twinge of warmth flood his chest. He couldn't handle seeing her cry, he never had. He wanted to comfort her, to reassure her that everything would be fine. Without realizing it, he had pulled her down into a gentle hug before wiping the tears from her cheek. "Shh, shh, what's the matter, Hermione? What is it?"
She wrapped her arms around him tightly as she started to shake with sobs. "It's ... Its Hagrid. They don't know if they can help him, Harry. He's allergic to the anti-toxin and he seems to be allergic to the venom too." She looked into his green eyes. "They've moved him to St. Mungo's for further treatment."
The news hit him hard. He looked into her deep brown eyes before he too succumbed to the grief that began to wash over him. She saw this and held him tighter, trying to lessen his grief.
"It'll be ok, Hermione ..." He stuttered between sobs. "It'll be ok. Hagrid's a strong guy, he'll make it through. I know he will." He whispered to her while he gently wiped away her tears.
She looked up into his eyes again and he noticed that something was different. Something in her expression had softened.
He wasn't expecting her to kiss him but there she was, her soft lips pressed against his and the warmth spread to his head making it hard to think straight. He closed his eyes and lost himself as he deepened the kiss and felt their embrace tighten. After a few moments, they pulled away from each other breathlessly, their eyes wide with surprise.
Hermione put a shaking hand to her lips and backed away, looking at Harry with a confused look on her face as her cheeks burned a bright crimson. She looked down to her finger tips then back at Harry.
Harry looked at her as if this was the first time he had ever seen her. He took in every curve as if he were trying to etch a photo in his mind. His heart was racing and he could hear it beat in his ears.
She stood up and looked nervously around before looking back at him then averted her gaze to the floor.
"Hermione ..." He stammered.
She looked at him once more. "Harry ... I have to go." She said then turned and quickly fled from the hospital wing.
Harry sat in his bed in confused silence. What the bloody hell just happened?! What did I just DO?! IDIOT! HOW COULD YOU BE SO BLOODY STUPID!?
He didn't have the time to answer the questions that started to assault his mind or the strength to keep from cursing at himself. At that moment Madam Pomfrey came into the room and smiled at him.
"I see you've woken up." She said still smiling at him.
He looked up blankly. He was so deep in thought that he hadn't even heard the nurse walk in. "What was that?" He asked absent mindedly.
"Mr. Potter, you've been unconscious for the past two days. I see that you're finally awake." She smiled reassuringly at him as she walked over to where Ginny lie sleeping in her bed. She slowly closed the curtain to give the resting girl some privacy.
"What happened? How did I get to the hospital wing? I just remember falling to my knees after the battle with Mosag ..."
"Well, Harry," Professor Durkell said as he walked into view at the bottom of the bed, "It seems that you were able to access the full potential of your wand."
"What?" He asked with a look of confusion on his face. "My wand was warm ... My hand," he motioned with his bandaged right hand, "it was bleeding, wasn't it?"
The defense against the dark arts professor nodded. "Yes, it should have been warm; you called forth the power of the phoenix feather that lies at its core. Do you remember the gold electricity that shot out with your ARANEA EXIME curse?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, I remember something similar to that happening when I fought Voldemort in the graveyard the night Cedric ... the night Cedric died."
"It seems that it happened then too, but that was a different phenomenon." The teacher smiled briefly. "This time there was far more force being released from your wand, the result of so much power caused your hand to clench tighter around your wand and your fingernails broke the skin causing you to bleed." He continued. "The result was that the curse was amplified even more by the application of its caster's blood. That was one enormous spell you let out that night."
Harry nodded his understanding as he looked at his damaged hand. "How are the others? Did they make it out ok?" He looked up at his newest teacher.
"Yes, everyone is ok. I'm assuming Miss Granger informed you of Hagrid's condition as well as that of Miss Weasley's?" He asked.
Harry nodded.
"Your other friend, Ron was it? He's been sent to St. Mungo's psychiatric ward. He had a complete breakdown when he saw the spiders crawling on Grawp. He hasn't been able to speak a coherent sentence since that night. Everyone is worried that he may have gained some permanent mental scars from that sight."
Harry's eyes widened at the news and he tried to get out of bed but fell back clutching his ribs in pain.
"Easy does it, Harry." Madam Pomfrey said as she guided him back into his bed. "You've got at least four broken ribs and a hairline fracture in your collar bone. The fact that you were able to move after that monster hit you is surprising! You need to rest and let your bones heal before you try to move like that again."
Harry remembered the last attack and looked up to see Professor Durkell nodding at him reassuringly. "Yes, Minerva is ok. She didn't take as rough a hit as you did but does have a broken arm. She's in her apartment resting as we speak. Everyone else made it out with very few injuries thanks to you." He smiled warmly at the young man and patted his foot. "Get some rest now, you'll be able to go to the hospital in the morning and see your friends."
Harry nodded as he took the sleeping draught from the nurse and drank it quickly before returning the goblet. The room became fuzzy and he fell fast asleep. He dreamed of Hermione again, this time without the bludger or the invisible force that had chased them. Just the two of them running along a sandy beach laughing and kicking water at each other before falling to a blanket in each others arms ... He didn't remember what happened next but he visibly smiled all through the night.
He awoke the next morning to a bright, sunny room. He found that a set of muggle clothes had been laid out on his bed and his curtains were drawn.
"Harry, it's time to get ready." Ginny's slurred voice called from the other side of the curtain. "We're going to get some breakfast and then go to the hospital."
"Ok, ok, I'm up." He said sleepily as he gingerly slid out of bed. He was happy to find that his muscles ached but it didn't hurt to move. He put on his jeans, t-shirt, and trainers. He then pulled on a sweatshirt that was hanging off the back of a bedside chair. "Who's going to be going with us?" He asked tentatively as he made sure that everything was accounted for.
"It'll just be you, me, and Hermione. Mum, Dad and the others are already there." Ginny said as he slid the curtain back. He looked at his girlfriend and winced at her black eyes and pale skin.
"Are you sure you're up for the trip?" He asked with concern.
She smiled at him warmly and he felt a lump of guilt lodge in his throat. "I'm fine. I just need to get some liquids and food in me, Nurse's orders." She said with a slight laugh as she hugged him tenderly. He saw Hermione standing by the door watching them. When she noticed he was looking she blushed and looked quickly to the floor.
"Hi, Hermione." He said softly.
"Hi, Harry." She returned, still finding the floor more interesting than the couple in front of her. "Are ... are you ready to go then?" She looked at him for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor again.
He nodded. "Yeah, why don't we go get something to eat then get to the hospital?"
Ginny took her boyfriend's hand and led him to the door where Hermione was waiting.
"I'm sorry," He whispered as they walked by and he tentatively put a hand on her shoulder.
She looked into his eyes and he saw tears begin to swell in hers. He saw something there, he knew what it was, and he had felt it too. Something happened between the two of them last night and he didn't know where it was going to take them or how it was going to affect the others.