AN- all right people, here's part two of the `Much More Important' series. I'm sorry it took so long, but I still haven't finished my summer homework for Honor's English and I've been busy. Hope you like.
As she tried to answer all of the questions being fired at her, Hermione wondered again what she was doing sitting in a hospital bed with journalists from several different wizarding radio stations and newspaper's all around the world.
It had been five months since Dumbledore's death, two months since school had begun with them in it, and a week since a massive and poisonous snake had bitten her. Nagini hadn't been easy to track, and she'd been even harder to kill, but to Hermione this was the hardest part; waiting in the hospital bed, unable to do much more than lay there and answer questions.
She'd awoken for the first time earlier that morning, and had only agreed to speak to the reporters because Harry had asked her to. It was important, he explained, that the people knew that she, Ron, and Harry were doing all they could to ed Voldemort's life, and she knew that.
That didn't mean she had to like this.
She had taken the bite that had been meant for Ron so that Ron could guard Harry long enough for Harry to say when needed to be said to destroy the snake, and the part of Voldemort's soul inside of it. Harry's ability to speak Parseltounge had once again been useful as he had managed to destroy Voldemort's snake and the soul inside of it, but she had only seen a bright golden flame encase the carcass of Nagini before she had passed out from the poison running through her bloodstream.
"And you say that you, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley are currently finishing a project that Dumbledore started to ensure the safety of the public, but you can't tell us what you're doing or why you're doing it?" A rude blonde reporter asked from her right.
"We can't tell you what we're doing because if we did, Voldemort would be aware that we were doing it." Hermione tried to explain, as the woman's loud and squeaky voice grated on her nerves almost as much as the question had.
"Is Harry Potter for or against the ministry?"
A loud and amused snort came from behind the small gathering of reporters as Ron entered the room, carrying a mug of coffee with him. "If Harry were against the ministry, you'd know about it. But at the moment I don't think he's very happy with several of the ministry's ideals." He replied, feeding them a line Hermione was sure Harry had asked him to say. Ron just didn't talk like that, even to reporters, and Harry would never come in front of a crowd like this himself unless he had to.
A small amount of the reporters circling Hermione's bedside moved to surround Ron instead, and as he made himself comfortable on one of the two chairs beside her bed several questions were fired his way at once.
Hermione watched as Ron pretended that the various reporters surrounding him weren't even there, a small smile on her face. A few years ago, Ron would've been giving their secrets away left and right just to remain in the spotlight for a little longer. Now, it appeared, he wanted nothing more than to be left alone.
She supposed that that's what being famous did to you.
As the reporters floated away for a small teatime break, Ron asked, "How're you holding up?"
" I'm still living, I suppose." She replied dryly. The phrase, `I'm still alive' had never been more true before, she supposed. She had, after being bitten, come very close to dying, and had it not been for Harry's limited muggle knowledge of how to remove poison from one's body, she would now be dead.
"Yeah, I know. Harry's hiding somewhere nearby, but I doubt he'll come out anytime soon. Those reporters know that you're confined to the hospital beds for a while, and they're planning on taking advantage of it. He says to just play it cool, relax, and try to make it look like we've really screwed him over this time." Hermione smiled at Ron, reassuring him that she was fine for now. Ron hadn't been able to say Voldemort's name yet, but he had stopped referring to him as `you-know-who' after Hermione and Harry had always replied with "No, actually, we don't."
"Does he seem like he's doing okay?" She asked, concerned. Whenever she or Ron got hurt and Harry didn't, he took it worse than they did. It seemed like he continually blamed himself for any injuries they obtained, and the reporters only made it worse.
"Yeah, I think so. He's really worried about you, of course, but he told me just after we got you in here that while he was hissing with Nagini, she gave him a clue about where the next one may be."
"You mean the next Horcrux? Which one?" Hermione asked, awed. If they already had an idea of where to find the next one, then maybe they could destroy it within a few months. Figuring out where to start was always the hardest part of it.
"The cup, I guess." Ron replied, shaking his head. "He's gone and holed himself up in books again. Sometimes I don't know which one of you is worse, I swear!" As they spoke, neither Ron nor Hermione noted the beetle that was carefully hidden in the sheets of the unoccupied bed next to Hermione's. They spoke of where it could be hidden, how they could destroy it, and what they would have to go through to get to it, and Rita Skeeter mentally wrote the entire conversation down.
"Which library has he gone to?" Hermione asked.
"Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place again." Ron replied, setting his empty coffee mug down and putting his elbows on the side table, then resting his head in his hands. "It's always so difficult for him to go back there, but most of the books in there are about Dark magic, so it was really the best place to start."
Hermione nodded, thinking to herself, while inwardly the beetle did a little victory dance. Harry Potter reading about dark magic? That information alone was enough to make front page!
"Has he checked the Hogwarts library?" Hermione asked.
"Not yet." Ron replied, slouching down in his seat. "He's bound to soon though. It's been a while since he's visited Ginny, and I know she's dying to talk to him again."
"Didn't they break up?" Hermione asked, sounding not only curious but also slightly annoyed. If Ginny and Harry weren't going to be a couple, then they shouldn't be so cuddly together in her opinion.
"Yeah, but I think it might just be temporary. You know how Harry can be…I think he's just too afraid of her getting hurt because of her relationship with him, and I'm pretty sure she understands."
They continued in this matter for quite a while, Ron taking the time to catch Hermione on up on all that she had missed. Eventually, the reporters flooded back in and once again the two members of the trio were very careful in what they divulged to the press.
Several hours later, a large and beautiful white owl caught they attention of a reporter by flying up to the windowsill and waiting to be let in. Hermione read the letter attached to Hedwig, then passed the note to Ron. From the angle the redhead was reading the note, the beetle could read the note as well. It simply said
I've found it. I haven't slept for four days, and I think I'm cross-eyed, but I think I know where it's hidden and how to get there. If you can, please come immediately. I could use Hermione's input. I wouldn't normally ask it of you, but it's important.
The letter wasn't signed, and it wouldn't have made much sense to anyone else, but to Ron, who burned the letter, Hermione, who quickly rose from the bed and gathered her things, and Rita, who concealed herself even better to avoid being seen, the message was easily understood.
"Ms. Granger, I'm sorry, but we ask that you remain at least for the night so that we can continue to take care of you. You aren't fully healed yet, and it's not a good idea to strain yourself. This point in your healing is critical." Hermione almost felt bad for the nurse, who could possibly lose her job over this, but she really didn't have the time to consider staying. Not when it was so important that she leave.
"I'm sorry, miss, that you could be fired for what I'm about to do. But I know to take my potions, and I heal quickly anyways. I have to leave, now. This is just so much more important." The emotion and kindness in Hermione's voice was enough to stop the mediwitch from pestering her further, and the reporters watched without moving as Ron and Hermione apperated quickly away.
"But…aren't there anti-apperation wards surrounding Mungos?" One reporter asked from the back of the crowd. Faintly, the nurse nodded at the question and shook her head in disbelief. If those two were powerful enough to easily go through the wards, then maybe there was more to them than anyone had originally thought. There had to be a reason, after all, that they were Harry Potter's best friends.
Later that night, Rita Skeeter was in her element. For once, she didn't need to elaborate very much on all that she had heard, because this story was already good. It told the public about Harry Potter's romantic interest, and what the trio was up to, and what Harry Potter's views were on several matters. It talked about the full reason that that nosy, bossy, annoying know-it-all was really in the hospital, and about what the famous trio were up to now.
The story was perfect, and would make her a big profit for sure, and yet as much as she wanted to print it, even just to get on miss-know-it-all's nerves, she couldn't. It put far too many people in danger.
Rita Skeeter sighed in resignation and poured herself another scotch as she watched the best story she had ever written be reduced to ashes and cinders. Miss-know-it-all may be annoying, but she tended to be right about nearly everything, including this. At the moment, some things were just much more important.
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