CHAPTER TWELVE
LESSONS RESUMED
Seeing their friend in a state of coherent thought, Harry and Hermione rushed to the bed in joy, relieved to put aside their feelings for one another at the sight of their best friend. Hermione enveloped Ron in a tight embrace and Harry followed up with a handshake and a clap on the back. All three were laughing and enjoying their reunion.
Ron looked up at his girlfriend and kissed her. Hermione's eyes went wide, seemingly surprised by his bold move and when they broke apart she glanced quickly at Harry. He was talking with Mrs. Weasley, his back to the couple.
"I'm glad to see you two are alright!" Ron said after the round of greetings and relief. "I guess I wasn't meant to fight off an army of those disgusting things." He shuddered visibly at the thought and a far away look blew past his face.
"Ron?" Harry asked when he returned to his best friend's bedside. He didn't get an answer from his red-headed friend. "Hello, Earth to Ron?" He said more emphatically as he knocked on Ron's head as if he were a door.
Ron looked up, the wistful look receding from his eyes. He came to almost immediately. "Eh? Oh, sorry. Just remembering the last time I felt that way ..." He said, trailing off. "It was almost like when I was attacked by that brain thing." His frame shuddered again and he shook his head as if to clear away the thoughts.
"It's ok, Ron." Harry reassured him as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're ok now."
"We won't let anything like that happen to you again." Hermione finished, taking his hand in hers.
Their friend looked up into their faces curiously then smiled happily. "Thanks." He said simply.
They heard a small sniff at the bottom of the bed and they looked to see Molly wiping the tears from her eyes with a hanky and Arthur standing beside her with an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at the trio and smiled. "Everything will be fine, Ron." She repeated. "Everything will be fine now." She walked over and hugged her youngest son.
"Mum ... Can't ... Breathe ... Hug ..." He gasped for air as if his mother had been strangling the life from him. Everyone in the room laughed at the sight, both in relief and in humor.
They spent the day in Ron's room relating to him the events that happened after he had gone into shock. He'd stop them from time to time so he could catch his breath as he shivered at the mere imagination of the scene. Ron smiled happily when he found out that Hagrid was well on his way to full recovery and was being moved out of intensive care the next day.
Ron looked in awe at his best mate as Hermione described how Harry had finally defeated Mosag. "WHOA! You did THAT? I've never heard of that happening since Gryffindor's time!" His eyes were as big as saucers as he took in the thin form of his best friend. Harry could just look at the floor and nod slowly.
Ginny, who had been unconscious after the spiders had bitten her, smiled at her boyfriend when she heard what he'd done. "That was rather brave, Mr. Potter. And ... Thank you."
Harry blushed as she threw her arms around her hero and kissed him full on the lips. He glanced nervously at Hermione when he had the chance but she was talking with someone who had just entered the room. We are definitely going to have to sort this out! And quickly! The voice in the back of his head said.
All eyes turned to the girl who was standing next to Hermione at the door to the room. She was staring dreamily at Ron as she reached into her large purse for something.
Luna crossed over to the bedside. "You're ok, Ronald! I was hoping nothing bad had happened!" She smiled at him as she held out a rolled up magazine. "I brought you something to occupy your time while you were recovering."
Ron's eyes went wide as he read the cover of the magazine he was just given. "Wow! Quidditch Illustrated First Edition?!" He looked quickly up to Luna's smiling face. "Where did you get this? Why give it to me?"
"My father just came back from a business trip in New York City. They just started printing the magazine yesterday and when I found out, I asked him to send me a copy for a friend in the hospital. And, here I am." She smiled as another far-away look slid onto her face and she seemed to be lost on the boy in front of her.
"Th-thank you, Loo ... err ... Luna! This is a great gift!" He smiled nervously at her, hoping she wouldn't lunge at him and rip some part of him off. When she just sat down next to him and no attack came, he turned his attention to the new magazine and began to read every article he could find.
Harry stifled a yawn as he smiled at the obsessive reaction that Quidditch seemed to instill in his friend.
"Harry, dear, are you tired? You look a little peaked. Have you had anything to eat today?" Mrs. Weasley began to ask as she fidgeted around him before taking his hand.
"I'm fine, really." He said out of habit as he smiled at his friend's mother. "I am a little tired and hungry from the trip here and am winding down a little from all the excitement."
"Why don't we take you back to the Burrow then? You can get some tea and some sleep." She said in a very reassuring, motherly fashion. "We can come back tomorrow. It was so nice of Professor Dumbledore to give you the time to spend with your friends in the hospital. I'll have to thank him when we see him next." She wiped away a tear that had started to push its way from her eyes.
Harry smiled and nodded then looked at his bed-ridden friend. "See you tomorrow, Ron. Try and get some sleep and I expect that Fred and George would love to be here right now when I say: don't let the bed-bugs bite!"
Ron looked up with a bit of fear in his eyes and stammered a squeaky "Ha Ha, Harry!" Before the room burst into laughter.
Everyone said their goodnights except Luna who wanted to stay a bit longer. "My father will be picking me up and taking me back to school in an hour or so." She explained as she looked back at Ron with her dream-like state affixing itself into place.
They made their way to the lobby and the Floo Network departure area and were soon spinning their way to the Weasley's home.
Dinner was quiet and soon everyone said their goodnights and made their way to their respective rooms. Hermione bid Harry a good night outside of Ron's room before retreating to Ginny's. Ginny lingered a bit to give Harry a hug and kiss goodnight. Harry felt quite ashamed at what he was doing but he didn't know what to do about anything at the moment.
He lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling and the posters of the Chudley Cannons as the players drifted to sleep on their brooms. There was a creaking floorboard in the hall that caught his attention.
He put on his pajama top and stuffed his wand into his waistband as he snuck out of bed and made his way to the door. He opened it a crack and peeked into the dark hallway.
Hermione was standing in the hall, obviously debating something in her mind. She didn't hear Harry open the door and didn't notice that he had made his way to her side. As he placed his hand on her shoulder she jumped in surprise and almost screamed. Harry had quickly put his hand over her mouth so she wouldn't wake the rest of the house.
"Don't do that, Harry!" She whispered at him angrily as her hand shot to her chest in an attempt to control the rapid beating of her heart. She slapped him on the chest as his mischievous grin spread across his face. "You could have let me know that you were there without scaring me half to death, you know." She whispered angrily, or at least she tried to sound angry. It was difficult to do when a smile was spreading on her face as well.
Harry raised a finger to his lips to indicate she should be quiet and he slowly closed Ron's bedroom door. He took her hand and led her downstairs and out the back door. Without stopping, he led her past the garden to a copse of trees that housed one of his favorite thinking spots on the property.
Hermione knew the place well. She smiled as she sat down on the large hammock and patted the spot next to her gently. Harry didn't take a seat, though, he instead motioned that she would have to wait a moment and he started pacing.
"What is it?" She asked at length. His pacing was starting to make her nervous. "Is there something wrong?"
He stopped in his tracks and looked at the young lady. "I'm trying to figure out a way that I can word it." He said thoughtfully then resumed his pacing.
Her brow knit in concern and confusion she waited patiently for him to work things out in his mind.
"The prophecy from the Ministry of Magic has me worried." He started.
"The one that Voldemort was after? The one with your names on it?" She asked quietly.
Harry nodded. "It seems that he only knew a part of it and was after the full thing." He looked around anxiously, scanning the darkness all around them before continuing. "Professor Trelawney actually predicted two things: The resurrection of Voldemort and ..."
"Your connection with him." She reasoned.
He nodded to her. "For the most part." He admitted. "It seems that there was more to the prophecy than he thought." He relayed the prophecy in detail to Hermione, explaining the connection that he and Neville shared.
"But that means it could have been Neville instead ..." She concluded but slowly began to shake her head. She put her hand to Harry's forehead and brushed his hair back to reveal his scar. "But you were the one he chose and marked. Oh, Harry, this is just awful ..."
He smiled at her reassuringly. "I know. I don't want to have to fall prey to this thing. I don't want to murder anyone!" He bowed his head. "I just want to live a normal life, at least a normal life as a wizard."
Hermione cupped his chin in her hand and lifted his gaze to hers. "You won't be alone, Harry. I'm going to be here for you, I promise you that. Trust in that, trust in me, I won't let you down."
He nodded and gently smiled at her. "I had no doubts in my mind, none what-so-ever." He slowly bent down to her and as their lips met, her arms encircled his neck and he pulled her in close.
They had spent the better part of the night holding one another and sharing kisses in the hammock, gazing at the stars when they weren't lost in each other's embrace. Hermione shivered as his hand ran down her back.
"Are you cold?" He asked with concern.
She shook her head and smiled at him. "No." She said simply. "But, it's getting late, we should get back."
He nodded but at the same time not wanting to end the time he was spending with her. "I guess you're right."
They kissed for a few more minutes before reluctantly getting out of the hammock. "We're going to have to find a way to break the news to Ron and Ginny." Harry said as they very slowly walked hand-in-hand towards their surrogate home.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, we will. I don't want to hurt either of them."
He agreed. "But we have to wait until Ron is out of the hospital. It wouldn't look right if we did something like that to him while he was stuck there. I just don't know how I'm going to break it to Ginny ..."
That was the last they spoke as they snuck back into the house and up to their respective rooms. Harry kept the door open a crack so he could watch her for a moment longer then shut his door when she did hers.
He slipped back into bed and crossed his arms behind his head as he thought about what had happened that night. He fell into his occlumency trance before he nodded off and fell into a peaceful, dreamless slumber.
The rest of the week went by quickly, the daily trips to the hospital had Harry fully convinced that the Floo Network had been designed by lunatics. Hagrid had been moved to a private room after two days and was discharged on the fourth with a clean bill of health. Ron had been discharged on the fifth and had enjoyed Hagrid's company before the groundskeeper went back to his hut.
Harry and Hermione had snuck out as many nights as they could and had talked about his misgivings about his shared prophecy with the dark lord and had, at length, finally talked to her about his feelings about Sirius. She comforted him and became his rock and he hers.
"Let's try to find some time to be together at school." He said as they looked up at the stars one night. She nodded dreamily and they continued their search for a specific heavenly body that had been eluding them each night since Harry had confided in her. He spotted the bright star to the southeast. "It's in ascension ..." He said with a hint of melancholy to his voice as he pointed it out to Hermione.
She pulled him to her in a comforting hug and she whispered reassurances that everything would turn out ok in the end and that wherever his godfather was, he was happy. He hugged her back before they went up to the Burrow for the final night of their visit.
They made their way up the stairs and could hear Ron's influenza-bound, draconic snores through his bedroom door. They gave each other a quick hug and a quiet kiss goodnight before they slipped into their respective rooms and fell fast asleep.
The last day of their impromptu vacation was a blur as the family packed their things and readied themselves for their return trip to their school.
"Your headmaster gave me this new portkey for your trip back to his office this morning." Mrs. Weasley said as she bustled about the kitchen fretting over Ron and Ginny and hugging everyone goodbye. "Now, see yourselves off to Madam Pomfrey when you get back for a checkup."
The four students agreed to see the school nurse when they got back and said their goodbyes as they took hold of the unraveled coat hanger that was being offered them. With all four touching the wizarding device, Harry soon found himself in the familiar rush of wind and color. They soon found themselves stumbling in front of their headmaster's desk.
"Welcome back, welcome back. I trust you've all gotten rest and recovered from your ordeals?" He asked with a glint in his eyes.
"Yes, Professor." They chimed in together and Dumbledore chuckled.
"Good, good. As I understand it, you each have homework to catch up on and one of you in particular has detentions he has to attend."
Harry had forgotten all about the detentions with Snape and he looked rather irritated at the reminding.
"Harry, I'd like a word with you before you leave for your dormitory." Dumbledore said as the four turned to head for their house.
He looked back at the wizened man and nodded. "I'll meet up with you later." He said as Hermione and Ginny turned to see if they should stay. They nodded reluctantly and left Harry with their headmaster.
"Please sit down, Harry." Dumbledore motioned to a chair in front of his desk. Harry took the invitation and sat down. "I wanted to inform you that your punishments with Professor Snape have changed slightly." Harry looked up with a slight smile forming on his lips. "Before you get excited, I want you to know that it will most undoubtedly be tougher than you might have otherwise gone through."
Harry's face fell and he looked at the floor. Well, I had some hope that I could have gotten out of it ... He thought bleakly.
"You'll be continuing your occlumency lessons but on a more advanced scale. There are a multitude of spells within the realm of legilimency and you need to prepare your mind against them." He smiled thoughtfully. "You've already proven that you have mastered the basics of the practice. Now it's time to train your mind to lock your thoughts from those who would attempt other means to discover them. You'll begin tomorrow at 16:00 at Severus' office."
Harry nodded but didn't know what to make of it exactly. "Thank you for letting me know, Professor." He said after a moment of deliberation with himself.
Dumbledore smiled at the young man. "Now let's not keep the young lady waiting, I'm sure she wants to spend more time with you now that everyone is feeling better."
Harry looked at his headmaster in surprise. "What was that, Sir?" He asked. Who does he mean? He asked himself silently.
Albus just winked at him as a slight smile jogged across his wrinkled features. "I'm sure you'll reason that out in due time, Harry. Now why don't you head on back to your house, I'm sure there are friends there eager to welcome you back."
Harry nodded and bid his headmaster a good day as he left the office and made his way down the stairs. He walked quietly in thought as he subconsciously followed the well-worn path back to the portrait that guarded his house's common room.
The fat lady smiled as he approached. "Welcome back, dear. No need to speak the password, in you go." The portrait swung open and his many friends in Gryffindor welcomed him home with waves and pats on the back.
He looked around and caught a glimpse of Hermione smiling at him while Ron was showing off his new Quidditch Illustrated magazine to the rest of the Gryffindor team. He smiled back and noticed the glint in her eyes and the light blush to her cheeks before she turned to answer a question Lavender Brown had asked her.
He took a seat at the couch and Ginny shifted over to join him. He smiled as his friends shared their stories of the past week but he couldn't suppress the feeling of dread as he thought about his training sessions with the potions master that were to take place in less than twenty-four hours.