"Love Almost Lost"
Chapter 2 Hermione's Condition
A/N: First, I own none of these characters. What, not me, they belong to J K Rowling. Oh well. Next, I would like to greatly thank all those who have read my story and all those who have reviewed my story. I hope it has interested you enough to continue to read it. I know it has started a bit on the rough side, well trust me it gets worse. But don't lose hope, things can happen. Here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it as best as you can.
"Professor, how are we going to get to the hospital," asked Harry.
The headmaster looked around the common room and spied an empty butter bear bottle. He picked it up and put it on a nearby table. He pulled out his wand, pointed it at the bottle, and said,
"Portus."
For a moment the bottled vibrated and glowed blue, then appeared normal again.
"We will use this Port Key," said the headmaster.
Everyone gathered around the table.
Dumbledore said, "I trust everyone knows how this works. Now, on the count of three. One, two, three."
At the count of three everyone touched the bottle. Harry experienced the familiar tugging sensation behind his navel, and then suddenly they were hurtling through space. He kept bumping against Ron and Tonks. In a short period of time they came to an abrupt halt standing on a sidewalk by an old, dilapidated clothing store. Well, that's what muggles thought it was. Harry knew better, for he had been here a number of times. What was thought to be a condemned clothing store was in fact a fully functional Wizards hospital.
Harry was grateful the area was deserted. The group made their way right up to the large display window of the store, where behind the glass was a very outdated mannequin. Professor Dumbledore quickly explained why they were there and who they needed to see. The mannequin gave an almost imperceptible motion of her hand. Seeing this, they walked right through the glass into St. Mungo's Hospital.
It was less busy than Harry remembered seeing it the last time he was here. The headmaster went over to the receptionist to find out about Hermione. After a moment he returned to the group and reported,
"Miss Granger is in very serious condition. They are still trying to stabilize her, but she has very serious internal injuries. However, the Healers are optimistic they will get the upper hand on her condition. Before we see Miss Granger, I would like to brief you on what happened. There is a conference room up this corridor on the left, it will do fine."
They quickly made their way to the room, and sat at the large table that was there. The headmaster took the floor and explained what had happened in Diagon Alley.
"From what we can piece together, from actual witnesses and our two Aurors who rescued Miss Granger, she and her parents were attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy. They had just left Flourish & Blotts heading to The Leaky Cauldron when the two Death Eaters apparated in front of them. They hit Miss Granger with a stunning spell and killed her mother and father."
Hearing this caused an intense rage to rise up in Harry. He sat there, fists clenched, a low growling sound coming from the back of his throat.
Dumbledore continued, "After killing Miss Granger's parents, Malfoy picked her up and ran to Knockturn Alley along with Bellatrix. However, unbeknownst to the Death Eaters, two of our finest Aurors had come out of a shop just a short distance from them. They gave chase and eventually found them, but, unfortunately, not before they had the opportunity to apply the Cruciatus Curse to Miss Granger."
Harry lost all sense of reason at this point. He had never experienced a rage so intense. Everyone in the room could feel it radiating from him. The lights began flickering on an off and the air was stirring around as if a breeze was blowing in the room. He jumped up, knocking his chair over backwards. They all jumped at his outburst.
"NO! THEY DIDN"T! I'LL KILL THEM! I'LL KILL THEM WITH MY BARE HANDS! WHERE ARE THEY? I WANT THEM NOW!" screamed Harry.
He stood there, panting, fists clenched, in a murderous rage. This time it was Moody, in his gravelly voice, who spoke.
"Calm yourself, laddie. You will never have to worry about those two ever again. I took care of them."
"But, I wanted them to suffer. Killing them was too easy. They needed to pay for what they did to Hermione," said Harry a bit calmer than he had been.
"Well, Potter, I said I took care of them, I didn't say anything about killing them," said Moody.
Everyone looked confused at what Moody had just said.
Tonks spoke up, "Yeah, what was that spell you used? I had never heard it before."
Moody explained, "It was a very ancient spell. It was used hundreds of years ago, but only to punish the most heinous acts committed by witches and wizards."
Harry was curious. He calmed down, picked up his chair, and sat back down.
Looking at Moody he asked, "This spell, it's worse than the Killing Curse?"
Moody replied with a sinister grin, "Oh, you can bet your life, Potter. With this spell, the person never dies. They are destined to spend the rest of their existence trapped in an alternate dimension, doing nothing but suffering pure agony. For what those two have done to so many people, and especially for what they did to Miss Granger, I felt it was appropriate."
Harry sat quietly. He silently thanked "Mad Eye" for giving Malfoy and Bellatrix what they so greatly deserved.
After everything calmed down, the headmaster continued with his briefing.
"Once the Death Eaters had been taken care of, Alastor transported Miss Granger here to St Mungo's. If there are no questions, we can go see Miss Granger. I must remind you that she is in very serious condition, and is not conscious at the present time. She has many injuries, but she is in the hands of the best Healers in our world."
When Dumbledore finished they left the conference room to go find Hermione. On their way, they passed a waiting area and heard familiar voices calling out to them. It was the Weasley family along with Remus Lupin.
Mrs. Weasley sought out Harry and locked him in a huge hug that threatened to suffocate him. She was crying so hard she couldn't talk. Harry tried to comfort her, but couldn't think of anything to say.
Harry looked over at Ron and saw something that made him feel much better for his friend. Ginny had Ron in a hug, telling him everything was going to be okay. But what really made him feel better, Fred and George were there also, doing their best to try and comfort their brother during this difficult time.
Remus Lupin walked over and gently extracted Harry from Mrs. Weasley's grip. She worked herself over to Ron and did the same thing to him that she had done to Harry.
"I just heard about the attack, Harry. I'm so sorry. If there's anything I can do, you know you can count on me. Everyone at the Order feels the same way. They wanted me to relay that to you. If you need anything just let us know," said Lupin
"I know Remus, thank you," said Harry.
He was greatly moved by such a large show of support.
"I just don't understand why they did it. They must have been desperate, to do something like that in broad daylight in front of all those people," said Lupin
"It's all my fault. They are still trying to hurt the people I love. I destroyed Voldemort, but I still can't be free of him," said Harry.
"It's not your fault, Harry," said the headmaster.
Harry jumped. He didn't know Professor Dumbledore was standing right beside him.
"This was not your fault. We, that is, the Order and myself think they were going after anyone who had anything to do with Voldemort's demise. Miss Granger distinguished herself magnificently during the final battle. Because of this we feel she was a target. It had nothing to do with you," said the headmaster.
Harry thought there may be something to Dumbledore's words. Everyone had done so well during that final battle. Any remaining supporters would probably want revenge on any one of his friends. But, why in Merlin's name did it have to be Hermione?
After they finished talking to the Weasleys and Lupin, they continued on to see Hermione. The closer they got, the more apprehensive he became. He knew she was suppose to be in bad shape, but just how bad? What did she look like? He forced himself to stop thinking like that, she would be fine. She had to be. They had a future to plan. They were going to be together the rest of their lives. It couldn't end here, now. Not like this.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice they had arrived at Hermione's room. The Chief Healer had just stepped out of the room, so Professor Dumbledore introduced everyone to her.
"Is Miss Granger allowed visitors?" asked the headmaster.
The Healer smiled slightly and said, "Yes, it would probably be the best thing for her. She's still unconscious, though, but having her friends close would be helpful."
As Harry and Ron opened the door, they heard the Healer ask Dumbledore if she could have a word with him. They were very concerned now.
"Harry, Ron, you two go ahead. I need to speak to Healer Osbourne. I'll be along later," said the headmaster.
They continued into the room and shut the door.
"What can I do for you, Healer Osbourne?" inquired Professor Dumbledore.
With a worried look she answered, "Professor, I didn't want to say anything in front of Miss Granger's friends to worry them, but we are having a hard time treating her."
"How so?" asked Dumbledore.
"Well, her minor injuries haven't been a problem, of course. All her broken bones were taken care of shortly after she arrived. The problem lies with her more serious internal injuries. Our potions do not seem to be strong enough to counteract the curse damage. She's holding her own right now, but, unless we can find something stronger, I'm afraid we may lose Miss Granger. I don't understand why our potions won't work as well as they should. It was suppose to be the Cruciatus Curse they used," explained Healer Osbourne.
Professor Dumbledore spoke up, "I think the problem lies in that both Death Eaters worked together in applying the Cruciatus Curse, therefore making the curse much more powerful and the damage more severe. You would need a much more powerful potion to counteract the damage. Hmmm, I know someone who may be able to help us with this. Let me go straight away and find out what he can do for us."
Dumbledore literally disappeared into thin air.
Harry and Ron had entered Hermione's room and found it was dimly lit. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust. They saw her figure in the hospital bed. She sounded like she was having trouble breathing. As they approached her bed they took in the whole scene. She was very pale, with numerous cuts and bruises. Harry saw the Healer's chart on the table by the bed. He picked it up and started reading everything that was wrong with Hermione.
Cuts, bruises, broken arm, both legs with multiple fractures, partially collapsed lung, broken ribs, severe internal injuries with bleeding. Harry couldn't read any more. Tears eased down his cheeks as he put the chart down. Ron saw his reaction to the chart and decided he didn't want to know.
They just stood there staring at their friend, feeling helpless. Harry pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and sat there holding her cold hand in his. Eventually, Ron did the same thing on the opposite side of the bed, but, after trying several times to convince himself to hold Hermione's hand, he just placed his hand by hers on the bed.
Harry saw his friend struggling with his feelings.
Harry said softly, "Ron, you are still our friend. I hope you still consider us your friends. You certainly can hold Hermione's hand."
Ron looked at Harry and nodded. He picked up Hermione's cold hand and held it in his. Harry saw a lone tear slide down Ron's face. Harry's heart went out to his best mate. In their seven years together he'd seen very little emotion displayed by Ron. He knew these terrible events were affecting Ron very badly. Harry was use to horrible things happening to him, but Ron was not. It wasn't setting well with him. Harry knew he'd help his friend any way he could to get through this. But, right now they both had to help Hermione.