Chapter 9
Gone
The wind whipped his ruby hair in his face
as he raced his broomstick back to Hogwarts. Ron held
Hermione tightly against him to prevent her from falling
to the ground like a lumpy rag doll. Ron glanced back
at the rest of the Red Squadron as they carried their
leader and his fiancée back to the school.
If the situation wasn't so serious, Ron would
have laughed as he stunned Hermione when she went
hysterical again when she found out they were still
going to be flying back to Hogwarts. "There is no way
I'm getting back on one of those things."
"Hermione, you're not being rational. How are
we suppose to get back? Harry needs immediate
medical attention. Not to mention, you could use some
as well." Ron took her chin to inspect the black eye and
several scrapes she took to her face when she dove after
Harry.
"That's fine. You'll fly him back and I'll walk."
Hermione offered stepping away from the broomsticks
and began to walk toward the edge of the clearing.
"Hermione, I'm sorry, but I have to do this." Ron
apologized as he pulled out his wand. "Perfectus Totalus!"
Hermione's body went stiff and fell to the ground
with a slight thud. As Ron went to collect her body,
Sarah asked Ron. "Ron, was that really necessary?"
"She was getting hysterical." Ron protested as he
gathered her body to fly her out.
With Spring in the air, the wind brought a twinge
of pink to Ron's cheeks as Red squadron landed on the
grounds at Hogwarts. "Get Harry upstairs to Madame
Pomfrey. I'll be up in a few minutes."
"What about Hermione?" Sarah asked and
gathered Anthony and Kamal's broomsticks to take
back up to their room while they rushed Harry to the
hospital wing.
"I'll take care of her." Ron mentioned as he
took out his wand to undo the spell. "Finite
Incantatum."
Once the spell was lifted, Ron received a
slap to the face. "Ron, don't ever do that to me
ever again."
"I'm sorry, Hermione, but you were getting
slightly hysterical." Ron paused. "I know you never
quite enjoyed flying before, but you never this bad.
What happened?"
Hermione didn't speak for a few minutes
as she looked up at the sky. "I'm not sure, Ron.
When I saw Harry fall I got sick to my stomach.
He's a really talented flyer, so when I saw him fall…"
"Hermione, accidents happen. Harry has
always known what kind of risks that are involved.
You can't let this one throw you."
"I can't do it, Ron." A tear fell on to Hermione's
cheek. "After seeing that happen to him I never want
to step near another broomstick ever again."
"As an auror you have to."
"That is why I'm turning in my resignation."
Hermione admitted. "I read in the manual that I can
get a honorary discharge due to this. That is what
I'm planning to do."
Ron hugged his best female friend. "Good
luck with that, but I highly doubt its going to happen
that way."
"Why do you say that?"
"I kind of told Sergeant Duckhorn that you
had taken the Onyx Spell Book."
"Ron, how could you?"
"She made me tell because of our officer's
oath. She had already figured one of us already took it.
She never guessed it was you, though."
Hermione said nothing for a moment and Ron
could only imagine the what kind of fight was going
on inside o her. "Thanks for letting me know before
she served me with the discharge papers. Let's go
see about Harry and Heather."
Ron nodded and the two of them were silent
as they made their way to the hospital wing. Madame
Pomfrey rushed over to greet them. "Mister Potter is
in his usual bed, Miss Granger. If you don't mind, I
would like to talk to Mister Weasley alone for a few
minutes."
Hermione squeezed Ron's hand reassuringly
before she headed toward Harry's bed. Once she
was behind the privacy screen, Madame Pomfrey
spoke. "She's stable for the time being, but I would
like to move her to Saint Mungo's in the morning.
They're better prepared to treat her there." She took
the moment to pause before she broke the other
bit of news. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you Mister
Weasley, but I wasn't able to save the baby."
Ron's distant stare went from where Heather
Lay to Madame Pomfrey. "Baby? What baby?"
"She was pregnant." The school nurse offered.
"One can assume with your child. I take it she never
got around to telling you."
"More like afraid to tell you." Hermione voiced
as her head peaked from the privacy screen. Madame
Pomfrey took this moment to leave the room to leave
them to discuss the situation.
"You knew? How come you didn't tell me?"
"It wasn't my place." Hermione volleyed back.
"She told me that if you knew you would have marched
her straight to Sergeant Duckhorn for her discharge."
"Bugger yeah!" Ron then offered. "Hermione,
you know how much family means to me."
"I know, Ron." Hermione offered as she stroked
Harry's hair. The duo went silent until Madame Pomfrey
came back into the room with a dreamless sleep drought.
"Hopefully by tomorrow Mister Potter will regain
conciseness so we can begin therapy on that right knee
of his." She commented as she began administering the
potion.
"He will be able to walk again, won't he?"
The school nurse looked at the girl and then
Went back to administering the potion to the girl's
fiancé. "I honestly won't be sure until he wakes if
he would be able to with out the minimum use of
a cane."
"When will they wake up?" Hermione asked
as she took Harry's hand and stroked it gently. It
was only then Madame Pomfrey noticed the bruises
and scratches on Hermione's face.
As she began to administer the necessary
potions required to heal them. "I gave her a dreamless
sleep drought when she was brought in. I'm going to
say she won't wake up until at the very least later
this evening or early tomorrow morning. I am hoping
it's the early tomorrow, so she'll be easier to
transport to the hospital. As for Mister Potter, I would
expect for him to wake by tomorrow morning
sometime." Madame Pomfrey put the topper to the
bottled potion back in the top of the bottle. "For now,
I must insist the two of you leave. I cannot give the
two of them the attention they need with you distracting
me."
Without another word, both Ron and Hermione
stood up and walked out of the hospital wing where the
duo met up with Sergeant Duckhorn and Professor
Dumbledore. "Sir." The two Red squadron members
snapped to attention.
"At ease." Sergeant Duckhorn saluted in
return. "I'm hear to give out discharges. Where
are Cadets Potter?"
"Madame Pomfrey has yet to revive them,
ma'am." Ron answered. "She's not sure how
serious Harry's condition is at this point. How
can you discharge someone when you're not
sure how bad his condition is?"
"Cadet Weasley, may I remind you of our
manual? A superior officer can and will remove a
cadet from duty if the superior feels that cadet
cannot finish training." Sergeant Duckhorn
turned to Hermione. "Here are your discharge
papers. Cadet Weasley informed me that you
took the Onyx Spell Book and went against my
direct orders. As much as you think this is going
to help save lives, you could have risked the
lives of everyone on your team. I respectfully
ask you turn in your electronic spell book
before the team and I head back to the
United States."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Miss Granger, if I may." Dumbledore offered.
"The school is in yet need of another healer. The
Governors have expressed some concern of how
Madame Pomfrey can handle the growing school
Population. I have expressed that I am confident that
she could handle it; however, the Governors disagree
and have asked me to find a suitable person to
train with her for the job. Since your term with your
auror training has ended, I wish to extend this position
to you. It will require a lot of careful study of course.
Rather vigorous, actually."
Hermione looked over at Ron and the two
Smiled at each other knowingly. "I'll think on it
Professor. For now, I just want to be around
for when Harry wakes."
"You will have then until the first day of
term to answer. I do hope you accept, because
it will be a great opportunity for both of you. For
now I suggest you go down to the kitchens and
ask Dobby to prepare something for you to eat.
I am sure the two of you are famished."
"Thank you, Professor." Hermione smiled
and after Ron saluted his superior officer, they left
to find something to eat.
*****
The air of the morning after in the school
was filled with excitement and despair as the
Hogwarts students left their favorite school for
the summer holiday. Hermione was ecstatic to
learn Harry had awoken from his dreamless sleep
drought and had been served with his discharge
papers and was able to have visitors.
Ron practically raced after Hermione
as she had learned he was awake and asking
for them. The duo met Madame Pomfrey, Professors
Dumbledore and McGonagall, and Sergeant
Duckhorn at the doors of the hospital wing as if
they were waiting for them. "Thank goodness you're
here Mister Weasley." Professor McGonagall sighed.
"Perhaps you might give us some idea where she
went to."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"Who is missing?"
"Miss Potter left the hospital wing some
time between midnight and one this morning."
Professor Dumbledore offered. "Madame Pomfrey
had left for the night some time around midnight
and when she remembered she did not lock up
her office around one she came back to the
hospital wing, Heather was missing."
"What?" Ron asked as he pushed
past the group to go to where Heather's bed
was. Not like he had expected, the bed had
been made to be ready to accept another
patient.
Ron slammed his fist down on the
hospital tray. It clattered to the floor with a
loud echoing bang. As the pain pounded
in his fist, nothing he could physically feel
compared to the hurt in his heart.
Harry looked up suddenly from his
sleep. "What's going on?" Harry looked
over at the empty bed beside him. "Where
is Heather?"
"She's gone, mate." Ron admitted
as he stormed out o the hospital wing,
ignoring the protests of those who stood
just beyond the doors.
*****
End of story.