This is quite a short chapter guys, but I had to re-write it and I didn't have very long to do it, I gotta rush off now ya see… thanks for your reviews, mucho appreciated!
Elizabella
Aftermath
Hermione woke up feeling dazed and groggy. It took her a full five minutes to collect her thoughts and realise where she was. She groaned as she recognised the clean white walls and polished floor that belonged to the Hospital Wing. Great she thought, first day back and I'm already here! She sat up and looked around. The room was full of students, all of the beds were occupied. She gasped as she looked to her left to see Harry laying unconscious on the bed next to hers, a nasty gash on his right cheek, and sweat pouring down his face. Hermione rose and went to him, frantically looking around for Madame Pomfrey. Finally the healer came hurrying over and took Harry's temperature before sighing and muttering "Still no change" to herself, and poured a vast quantity of foul smelling green potion down his throat. "What happened?" Hermione asked, anxiously peering at the heeler for reassurance. Madame Pomfrey sighed as she looked around the room at all the students, all suffering from various magical problems. She looked back at Hermione. "Well, you got hit in the back by a stunning spell my dear, you were quite lucky really. Mr Potter, on the other hand, jumped in front of a particularly nasty Feverous Curse, aimed at young Mr Weasley." She bustled off to deal with other patients, muttering away to herself "…always getting into trouble, that boy…"
The next few days were spent trying to get Hogwarts back to normal. Lessons had been cancelled for now, in light of the hundreds of students unable to attend due to injuries. Those who were out of the Hospital Wing were grave and silent. Nearly thirty students had died in the attack on the train. No-one felt like talking much. Hermione and Ron spent much of their time with Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing, helping whenever they could. Ginny and Harry were among those who had not yet regained consciousness, and many hours were spent sitting by their sides, and in the library, looking up various spells and potions that might help them recover.
Bill had left the Hospital Wing a few days after the attack, but Tonks was yet to recover. She was awake, but had been hit with a mixture of hexes, and no-one quite knew what was wrong with her, or how to cure her.
The attack had, of course, appeared in the Daily Prophet, who claimed that Voldemort was not directly behind the event. The article said that Azalea Rookwood was the ring leader, and it was still not known whether she had links with Voldemort or not, as the masked men with her did not have the Dark Mark on their left arm, it was found out when questioning those who had been caught. Only four out of the twenty-something masked wizards had been caught during the attack, and two of them had already managed to escape Ministry captivity, adding to the panicked rumours that they and their leader, Azalea, possessed dark powers of frightening intensity, and causing the name of Azalea Rookwood to be spoken with almost as much fear as that of Voldemort himself.
Hermione herself was even more terrified than the rest of the wizarding world. She kept thinking back to what Azalea said to her on the Hogwarts Express. She said she would be in touch. What did she mean by that? Would she come to Hogwarts? Write a letter? Hermione couldn't help but replay the conversation over and over again in her head. hadn't Azalea said something about Hermione never hurting anyone? And being 'so good and kind'…what did that mean? and why did she care? And hadn't she said that Hermione was as powerful as Azalea herself was at that age? Could it be true? Was it possible that Hermione was that strong? The power Azalea commanded was enormous, it seemed that if she wanted to change the shape of the earth, the very mountains would move at her command. And then there was the question of the Staff. She didn't have it with her on the train, so did that mean she didn't know how to use it? Or just couldn't? And what would happen when she did? And, Hermione thought, what did Azalea Rookwood want with her?
Her musings were interrupted by Ron bursting through the portrait hole and, once he spotted her, rushed over and collapsed into the chair next to hers, saying in a rush "Its Harry! He's woken up Hermione!" Hermione ran out the room, leaving Ron behind to catch his breath. She rushed down to the Hospital Wing, wanting so much to see Harry awake again. She had already decided to tell him how she felt about him, as soon as the opportunity arose. When she entered the room she noticed that it was now nearly empty, it being two whole weeks since the journey to school. Only a few beds were occupied. Tonks had left the day before, and was now back to her normal self, but still randomly squeaking shrilly every other sentence. Ginny too, had woken up a few days a go, and was back in her own dormitory, fully recovered.
Hermione stepped round the curtain that separated Harry's bed from the rest of the room, and smiled as she saw that he was sitting up, reading a get well letter from one of his many well-wishers who had bombarded him with letters and cards since they heard about his prolonged stay in the Hospital Wing. He looked up as she sat down by his bed, and smiled. "How are you feeling?" she asked softly. "From one of your many fans?" she asked, gesturing to the letter. "Yeah" Harry grinned "I've got loads of these things, and cards and stuff. I'm fine thanks. What's been happening in school? Have I missed much?" She smiled and began to tell him all about the last two weeks, glad that they no longer felt so uncomfortable around each other, and things were back to normal. As for telling him how she felt…well, what was the point? it would only ruin things she thought, and decided it was best left unsaid.