Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Thanks to JK Rowling for creating him and his world.
Chapter 9. Ron's Late Night Visitor
Mr. And Mrs. Weasley had just left St. Mungo's; the latter had been tearful the entire night and kept on looking at Harry, as if not believing he was really there. They were very upset by the entire incident, to say the least. Their son was in a coma and Hermione, who was like a daughter to them, was going to be sent to Azkaban.
Ginny had left with Dean earlier; they had to pick up the twins. It was also good to see Fred and George, who both looked the same though definitely less rambunctious than usual.
Visitors weren't usually allowed to stay past 9pm. Healer Frances had given Harry permission to stay late that night. He wanted to do this for two reasons. He wanted to spend some time with Ron, alone. He missed him and seeing him brought back a lot of memories. He was hoping that by some magical connection Ron could at least communicate with him. He felt so stupid having to leave now. How his feelings then paled in comparison to what he was facing now. He could very well lose his two best friends forever, without a chance to get together one last time just like the old times, and maybe ask their forgiveness.
The second reason he wanted to spend the night was because he wanted to talk with Hermione. If Hermione succeeded in escaping tonight, he was certain she would try to see Ron. Harry wanted to help her get out of the mess she was in. He wanted to, though he knew she did not want any help. Hermione was mad at him, but then from what he saw it seemed that she was mad at the entire world. Remus was right; she was not the Hermione he knew two years ago. It just didn't make sense to him that if she was in so much trouble with the Ministry, why couldn't she ask the Weasleys and the former members of the Order to help her sort things out.
Again, his ability to morph had served great purpose in getting Hermione's wand to where she wanted it to be. Tonks had given Flint the Ghoul Murders assignment and suggested that tonight was a good night as any to get started on it. Tonks and Moody coached him on how to get Defter to agree to give him her wand. And it was easy enough to switch the real wand with a Hermione Granger replica he got from the local wizard toy store, when Scott crashed into Flint.
The part of getting it into a secure area was not as easy. Hermione had a long and bitter history with Rita Skeeter and the latter was totally all for sending Hermione to Azkaban, guilty or not. Hermione probably would have much preferred going to Azkaban had she known Harry would ask Rita Skeeter's help. Finally, Harry talked Rita Skeeter into it by pointing out how she would be more famous doing another front-page story after Hermione's escape.
He looked at the time. Eleven seventeen. It shouldn't be too long now.
Harry walked over to the window at the northeast corner of Ron's room and sat on one of the guest chairs. The rain was coming down hard and the rhythmic sound of raindrops splattering on the glass window occupied the room. He wondered as he gazed outside why he did not bother discussing a back-up plan with Tonks. Hopefully they would not need one.
Harry willed his eyes to forcibly open and shut several times. He was exhausted from sleep deprivation and from the travel. He commanded himself to hang on to his consciousness for a little longer. He had to talk with her.
Then, he felt her presence in the room. She was sitting on the chair at Ron's bedside that Mrs. Weasley just vacated half an hour ago. In fact, oddly enough, she stroked Ron's red hair and planted a kiss on his forehead exactly as Mrs. Weasley did. The sight reminded Harry of the time Ron almost died from poisoning while they were still at Hogwarts when she was with Ron at the hospital wing, constantly. He found it hard to believe that they did not marry because they looked very much like a couple.
Hermione finally saw him and cried as she met him halfway and they embraced. Oh how he missed her! How he missed her embrace! He did not know how he was able to survive two years without this.
Hermione said as she pulled away, "It's wonderful to see you, Harry! Thanks for coming back."
"I shouldn't have left in the first place," he replied.
"I didn't do this, Harry," Hermione tried to explain, "It wasn't me."
"I know," he reassured her.
Hermione was concerned, "I don't know how to fix this."
He answered, "I'll help you. But first, I need to talk to you about something else."
He faced her, took both her hands in his and held them.
She had a puzzled look on her face, "Is this about why you really left?"
He nodded and after what seemed like an eternity, finally told her what he had wanted to let her know for years.
"I love you."
"I love you, too, Harry," she was still confused.
They were best friends and virtually family. Of course, they loved each other. Harry shook his head.
"No, Hermione. I love you," he reiterated, "I could not stay knowing you would marry Ron. I left because even if you married Ron I would have done this."
Then Harry leaned into her still uncertain face slowly, waiting for her to step back or turn away. She didn't. When their lips were just barely touching each other's, she spoke slowly, almost breathlessly, "Harry, what are you doing?"
And he moved in, his lips reaching for hers a bit and lightly brushing against it. Her soft mouth was driving Harry mad, but he had to go slow; he pulled back a bit to look at her reaction. She had her eyes half closed still and Harry could feel her breathe with a bit more effort now.
"I…I don't understa…"
He interrupted her with another kiss, longer and deeper than the earlier one, his mouth trying to convince hers to get involved, and he felt it did, only stopping when they both needed to air.
"Clear enough?" he asked.
She nodded and this time, she initiated the kiss. Harry pulled her body up against him as they kissed passionately. Her arms were around his neck as he pulled the small of her back against him. It felt wonderful having her body fit into his like that.
Then, they were rudely interrupted by a familiar voice, "Well it's about bloody time!"
Ron? Popping a bottle of oak-matured mead?
His arm suddenly slid off the armrest and that woke him up. It was a dream. After two years of just nightmares about Hermione, he finally had one that was pleasant. It was what he was hoping would happen the first time they saw each other. Well, except for Ron's interruption. Harry must have just dozed off for a moment and the 'pop' woke him up.
He got up from the chair and was surprised to find himself face to face with Hermione. The 'pop' he heard was actually her Apparating nearby. However, the sight was troubling. She had her wand aimed directly at him and she wasn't exactly smiling. Not good. He tried to reach for his wand but…
"Blag!"
He was too late; he was blasted with a familiar binding curse that snapped both his legs and arms together, making him fall like a log to the floor. He could not move, and worse, he had hit his head hard on the edge of the chair and was bleeding. Yes, Hermione petrified him and she was standing over him, her wand in her hand.
"It seems like you've lost quite a bit of your reflexes since I last saw you. Don't tell me. You spent the last two years just playing Quidditch. And, I'm so sorry about that," she said referring to his cut on his head and feigning concern, "but I'm sure they won't let you bleed to death. This is a hospital after all."
She started walking away when she stopped and turned with a parting shot, "By the way, thanks for the wand."
Great! Why did he think she would not be capable of this? Some thanks he got for helping her escape. He resolved to be more cautious and be on guard, particularly around her. But obviously, something was seriously wrong with her. He still could not believe she just hexed him!
She went over to the right side of Ron's bed. He could not see her face directly from where he was but he could see everything on the reflection on the window. As much as he wanted to break free of her binding curse, he just wasn't capable. He saw his wand lying a few inches away; if only he could touch it, or do what Hermione could do. He looked at her through the reflection. She was oblivious to his vantage point; hopefully she would not notice and that would allow him to see. He was not concerned at all that Ron was in any danger, especially after seeing Hermione doing what she was doing.
Hermione was holding Ron's hand to her cheek and tears were streaming down quietly on her face. She kissed his palm and bent over to whisper something in his ear. She moved back, still crying, and held her wand up. Harry then felt his wand glow beside him and saw several spells come from Hermione's wand hover over Ron. The first images were that of her escape and Harry was amazed at how she was able to do that easily with at least ten wizards guarding her. Then finally, he saw what he saw in his dream, Ron falling back after a flash of green light, but why did Hermione want to see it again?
Hermione closed her eyes and pointed her wand at Ron. A bright orange flame emanated from her wand, engulfed Ron and lifted him slightly off the bed for a few seconds. She did this several times, though each time the fire was a lighter shade of orange and was progressively making Hermione upset with herself. On the fifth attempt, she was sobbing openly and was unable to produce anything at all from her wand. Distracted by something just outside the room; she whispered in Ron's ear and planted a kiss on his cheek. With that she Disapparated just as several Aurors appeared at the door. Harry regained his ability to move and got up, his hand on the bleeding cut.
"Are you ok, Harry?" Tonks asked.
A few Healers had come in to look over Ron, and one was quickly at Harry's side too.
"It's nothing," he replied brushing away the Healer and walked over to Ron's side. "How is he?"
One of the Aurors, a big hulk of a wizard, Harry recognized as one of the several Aurors who received jinxes from Hermione's wand earlier that night, asked, "Did she try to finish him off?"
Harry did not answer. They all looked at Healer Frances.
"He is alive and indication is he has much more positive energy than before. Very interesting." Healer Frances muttered to herself.
"What's so interesting?" Tonks overheard and asked.
"Healing spells leave distinctive auras. What Miss Granger did or attempted to do was a healing spell indeed, but one so rare that most Healers will never be able to do. It is one of the most powerful healing spells ever known. It can cure anything, even the unknown."
Healer Frances was obviously impressed and almost as if talking to herself, continued, "It's very advanced magic but no amount of training can allow just anyone to be able to do it. It's in a branch of healing referred to as opportunistic. The Healer has to meet two conditions to be able to conjure it; they have to be a witness to the injury and they have to have a strong emotional and physical bond with the patient. We read it only in books and I don't believe it has been successfully used at all in the past 200 years."
"Miss Granger saw how the injury was sustained and she and Mr. Weasley obviously have a strong physical and emotional relationship. Curious as to why she did not succeed. Did you see anything else, Harry?"
Harry hesitated, not sure if he should, but he was as curious as the Healer, "She tried it a few times and seemed frustrated that the orange light was becoming less bright."
"There was a group of radical healers in the United States during the American Wizard Civil War who tried to use this spell. As most of them did not witness injuries, they took the memories from someone else and used their emotional bond as healers have with patients. There was very minimal success in their experience of the modified conditions, which is why the practice has been abandoned altogether. Of the healing failures, particularly of the more serious injuries, there was mention of a fading effect."
Healer Frances continued, "I am not an Auror, but the Ministry might want to reconsider thinking she saw this injury happen first hand. Seeing that Miss Granger risked coming here and tried to cure him tonight, I do not think she cursed Mr. Weasley into this state."
That explained why she had to look at the images of the event from her wand. She wasn't there when it happened and someone else did use her wand.
"The evidence still suggests otherwise," said the muscleman who reminded Harry of a bulldog. "Mr. Potter, we will need an official statement."
Harry decided he did not like him already. It did not take Harry long to answer. "That's all I saw, through the reflection on the window. I didn't hear anything either."
The Aurors dismissed themselves and that left him talking with Tonks.
"She wasn't even there, Tonks."
He told her about Hermione having to look at the wand's previous spells.
"I was hoping that after escaping she would come to you and ask for you help. She jinxes you instead. That was quite unexpected."
Harry replied, tracing where the cut on his head was and still quite irked that Hermione had done that, "Tell me about it."
Tonks had her thinking face on, "What now, Harry? She could be anywhere, probably trying to catch this dark wizard or witch all by herself. I tell you this, we all know she is very smart but in the past couple of years she has become a very powerful witch. We will not find her, not when she does not want to be found."
Harry replied, "We have to find out what she was doing, we have to find out about Project Lumos. Her apartment and her lab at the Department of Mysteries would be good places to start but they are crime scenes and I can only imagine how access will be like after Hermione's escape tonight. It'll be harder to break in."
Tonks smiled, "Why break in when you can walk in?"
Harry did not understand.
"I have to talk with Kingsley. Get some rest, Harry, you don't look too good. And come to the Ministry tomorrow when you get an invite." Harry gave her a most puzzled look, "It'll be better if you hear about it tomorrow; just remember to play along."
Tonks left.
Harry did not really think more about Tonks' plan to get him into Hermione's apartment and lab. He was too tired and the one thought that kept coming back to him was what Healer Frances said about why Hermione failed to cure Ron. He knew it was because she did not see Ron being cursed, but part of Harry hoped it was also because Hermione and Ron were not as close physically and emotionally to each other; at least not like before.
Several meters away, just outside of St. Mungo's, a figure in a black cloak and hood was standing in the rain and in the shadows, witnessing through omnioculars the events that just happened in Ron's 4th level room.
The Cardinal had to come and see if the rumours were true. And they were. It was not expected but a wonderful surprise nonetheless. Harry Potter was back.
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A/N. Next Chapter, Ginny sheds a bit of light on what happened after Harry left.