A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed! It's very much appreciated!
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Chapter 3 - There and Back Again
"This is exactly the sort of thing we usually need Hermione to help us out with," Ron said.
The irony was not lost on Harry. "Yeah, I know."
Ron smacked himself in the forehead. "I can't believe we didn't think of this before."
"What?"
"Why not try shouting at Hermione? I mean, it worked on you."
Harry laughed half-heartedly. "Why that worked, we'll probably never know. But it's worth a shot."
"On the count of three?"
Harry nodded.
"One, two, three - HERMIONE!!!"
"What the…!" Jonas rushed into the room. He looked at Ron and Harry, then at an unresponsive Hermione. "Next time gentlemen, either a heads up, or a silencing charm would be appreciated."
Harry and Ron looked sheepish, and disappointed.
"You two get an 'E' for effort, at least. I'm kind of embarrassed I didn't think of trying that myself. Have there been any changes?" Jonas began checking over Hermione.
Harry answered. "Not that we can tell. As soon as we figure out a way to revive me, I'm going to go back. Ron thought we might as well give yelling a shot first."
Ron shrugged.
Jonas finished examining Hermione and looked at Ron and Harry. "It didn't hurt anything. Besides, you never know. I'm guessing it didn't work because of the spell she is under. When my shift is over, I'm going to do some research and see if I can find anything useful. In the meantime, she seems to be about the same. Get me right away if you make any headway. Just tap that symbol on the wall above the bed with your wand," he pointed to the St. Mungo's symbol of the crossed wand and bone, with a glowing "J" over the center. "The 'J' means I'm on call. I'll be back in a while to check on things."
Harry looked at the symbol, something occurring to him. He called to Jonas as he was almost out the door. "Jonas, wait a minute. I've got a question."
Jonas stopped and turned around. "Shoot."
Harry pointed to the glowing "J" on the wall. "How does that work? What happens when a wand touches it?"
A slow grin widened over Jonas' face. "Good one!"
Ron looked back and forth between Harry and Jonas. "Good what?"
"When the 'J' is touched with a wand, it sends a signal to a small medal I wear on a leather thong around my neck." Jonas pulled the medal out from under his robes, showing it to Harry and Ron. On one side was a mini-version of the same seal that was on the wall; on the other was a cross with equal, but staggered arms.
"It's St. Brigid's Cross. St. Brigid is the patron saint of healers. A Muggle saint," Jonas added. "We get to pick pretty much whatever we want for the back of the medal, to personalize it." He gestured to the symbol on the wall. "Go ahead, one of you touch it."
Ron pulled out his wand and tapped the symbol. Jonas' medal began to glow a soft blue, and emitted a very faint hum.
Jonas held out his medal. "Here, feel it."
Harry reached for the medal. Not only was it very warm, but it also was vibrating. "Wow," he said, impressed.
Jonas spoke as Ron took his turn feeling the medal. "Light, heat, sound, vibration, pretty much all the senses are covered, except for scent." Ron gave Jonas an odd look as Jonas explained. "Some of the female healers tried to charm them into smelling like perfume or flowers, which was ok for a little while. Unfortunately, a male patient had an allergic reaction to one of the scents, and was covered in a rather amusing floral pattern for days." Jonas laughed. "After that, no scents allowed!"
Ron and Harry grinned.
"So you think we can use something like this as a system to get Harry back?" Ron asked.
"Exactly. It's a fairly simple charm," Jonas said.
"Reminds me of the DA coins," Ron said after Jonas explained the charm.
"That's what I thought when Jonas showed us that symbol," Harry said.
A short while later, Jonas had given Ron and Harry a "blank" set of on-call medals. Not long after that, they had charmed them to not only alert Harry after he'd been out two hours, but also to act as a mini-portkey to bring him back.
"I see one small hitch with these," Ron said, looking at his medal.
"What's that?" asked Harry.
"Well, your body is here. It's just your mind that goes wherever Hermione is. How do we know the medal will go with you?"
Jonas said, "That's a good question."
"I hadn't thought of that," Harry said. "But when I'm there, I'm not starkers. My robes are there, so I just figured this would be, too."
"We'll find out soon enough," Ron said. "Are you ready?"
Harry nodded, then slipped the medal over his head, and tucked it under his robes.
"I'll be back in two hours to check on all three of you," Jonas said.
Harry pulled up a chair next to Hermione ("No sense in being uncomfortable," Ron had pointed out.), then took her hand.
"I'll be here, mate."
Ron was the last thing Harry saw before letting himself be pulled to Hermione.
~~~~~~~
Hermione thought she saw Harry disappear. A long moment later, he was at her side on the shore. His sudden appearance made her jump. She laughed with relief. "Harry! Apparating next to me like that scared the life out of me!"
"Hermione! Can you hear me?"
"What do you mean? I'm right in front of you!"
Harry tried again, "Hermione!" She was still, except for the wind whipping her unruly hair around her face. She stood as if transfixed, her eyes seemingly focused on some point far out to sea. "It's me, Harry!"
"I know it is, you prat!" She said it playfully, but concern was edging her voice. "Why are you acting so weirdly?" Harry seemed to just stare at her, through her. "What's going on? Can't you hear me?"
Harry waved his hands in front of her face, hoping to at least make her blink. Nothing. Harry sighed, trying to think what to do next.
She watched as he waved his arms around. "Harry, you've got to hear me! I don't know where this is, or how to get out."
Harry reached out to touch her shoulder, but his hand went right through her.
Hermione gasped. She saw Harry's hand go through thin air, but felt as though something incredibly hot had passed through her shoulder. What the…? She thought, grabbing her shoulder. "Harry, what's going on?"
Harry was disappointed, but somehow not surprised. "Hermione, if there's any way you can hear me, I need you to let me know. Blink, move, say something, anything!"
Hermione yelled as loudly as she could, "Harry!" but he just stood there, waiting. "You can't hear me, can you?"
Harry watched her closely, but didn't see or hear any indication she'd heard him. "Hermione, I hope you can hear me somehow. You need to know, your body is back at St. Mungo's. You're unconscious."
Hermione looked down, and patted herself all over. She felt just as real and solid as ever. Odd, she thought. The sand under her feet felt real, as did the icy water when she had stepped into it earlier. "Harry, I feel solid," she said, still hoping he'd hear her.
"I'm here to try to bring you back," Harry continued. Just then, Harry felt his medal start to warm and vibrate. "No! Not yet!"
Hermione watched, puzzled, as Harry pulled a small, glowing and humming medal from under his robes. Moments later, he disappeared. Her frustration coursed through her, an almost physical force. "No! Harry!"
Harry felt himself being pulled back to his body, but not before Hermione's voice rang through his head, calling his name.
~~~~~~~
Harry lifted his head. He felt as though he were suddenly made out of lead.
"You don't look so good," Ron said. "What happened?"
Harry wanted to throw or break something in frustration, but every bit of him felt completely drained. "I need more time! It seems like only a few minutes there."
Jonas began examining Harry. "This seems to be taking a toll on you, Harry. I don't think you should try that again until you've had some food and some rest. Otherwise, you seem ok."
"On the bright side, the medals seem to work," said Ron.
Harry shook his head. "She can't hear me." Saying it out loud somehow made it worse. "I can hear her, but it's just flashes." The weight of the day came crashing down on him. It didn't seem possible that only a few hours ago he was facing down Voldemort in an epic battle. Now he was facing a different sort of battle. "I can hear her call my name." With that, he felt the last of his strength leave him. He laid his head down on Hermione's bed, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~
Harry had vague recollections of barely waking enough to sip some tea and take a couple of bites of toast. He was now completely awake, and saw he was in one of the bedrooms at the Burrow. Ginny appeared a few moments later, carrying a tray laden with a pot of tea, and a full English breakfast. The savory smell of bacon, eggs, beans, and tomatoes filled the room. Harry's stomach growled loudly as he sat up in bed.
Ginny smiled. "Welcome back to the land of the living." She set down the tray in front of Harry.
Harry smiled back. Then he remembered Hermione.
Ginny saw the shift on his face. "She's the same. I'm sorry Harry."
"How long have I been asleep?" Harry asked.
"A couple of days." Ginny sat down on the edge of his bed. "My parents and I showed up not long after you passed out. Ron and the rest of us got you back here."
"Thank you." As hard as the last several months had been, Harry realized it felt good to be taken care of. "Do her parents know?"
Ginny nodded. "Mum and dad got word to them. They're with her now."
"That's good." Harry took a sip of tea, the strong liquid warming him.
Ginny picked up a piece of toast, buttered it, and handed it to Harry. "The Wizarding world's gone mad. With Voldemort gone, the Ministry has been swamped. The celebrating has gotten pretty out of hand, with Obliviators working around the clock on damage control. Then there are Death Eaters trying to take advantage of the chaos, and of course some of them are bucking for Voldemort's position as head evil person."
Harry shook his head as he attacked his breakfast. He was ravenous. "Has the Order made any headway on who or what got Hermione?" he managed around mouthfuls.
Ginny shook her head. "Not that they would tell me much, anyway. But from what Ron's said, they haven't had much luck."
Disappointment began to dull Harry's appetite. He put down his fork. "Where is Ron?"
"You really ought to keep eating. You need the strength. You look like you've been locked up at the Dursley's for months."
Harry glared at her, but took a bite of his eggs.
"Ron's with Hermione. He figured one of you ought to be there," said Ginny.
"I need to get back to her."
"We all figured you'd say that." Ginny got up. "Mum washed your robes. They're hanging up in the wardrobe."
Harry suddenly realized he was in pajamas. "How… who…?"
Ginny flashed him a wicked grin.
At Harry's shocked look she said, "It was either me, or Fred and George. Now would you really want the two of them changing your clothes?"
As Harry gaped, Ginny laughed. "Relax. It was mum, and she did it with magic. Your dignity is quite intact."
Harry heaved a sigh of relief.
~~~~~~~
Harry arrived at Hermione's room and found it empty. His heart leapt into his throat. A short, plump witch popped out of the next room. She patted Harry on the arm and said, "They've moved her, love. She's in the Janus Thickey ward."
Harry's heart slid from his throat to his stomach. "Thank you."
Only Ron was with Hermione when Harry reached her bed. He had dark circles under his eyes, and looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in quite a while. Ron held one of Hermione's hands in his, gently stroking it.
Harry didn't know what to say.
"They moved her here last night," Ron said. "They don't think-" his voice caught in his throat.
"They're wrong! I know she's in there, and there's got to be a way to bring her back. We'll find it!"
Ron nodded.
"Where are Hermione's parents? Ginny said they've been here."
"They had to go back to their home to get some things. They'll be back."
"Did Jonas find anything?" asked Harry.
"He hasn't had a lot of time in between his shifts," Ron said. "He's been looking through books for things that separate people from their bodies, to try and figure out ways to put her back. Unfortunately, there's a lot on ways to take someone out, but not much on how to put them back."
"We'll do it, Ron. We will."
Ron went on as if Harry hadn't spoken. "She's still icy." He looked down at his hands on hers. "Bet she's still warm to you."
"What?"
"Take her hand, Harry. Tell me. What do you feel?"
Harry looked at Ron, thinking he was losing it a bit, and who could blame him? He took Hermione's free hand, and it was still quite warm. He saw Ron watching him.
"It's warm, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but I don't know what that's about. It probably doesn't mean anything," Harry said.
Ron looked down at Hermione, still stroking her hand. "Why is it you hear her, and I don't?"
"I don't know. It's probably got something to do with the spell-"
Ron interrupted him. "I was going to tell her, Harry. If we made it through, I was going to tell her."
"Tell her what?" Harry was beginning to feel a bit exasperated.
"I love her."
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A/N: Yep, the chapter title is a JRR Tolkien reference! (Just for fun.)