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Author's Note: Thank you all so much for reviewing and reading and keeping me going. I hope you like this chapter. There will be one more chapter after this and depending on feedback, there will be a sequel to this one, if you want me to do that, please let me know. This chapter is told from Hermione's point-of-view.
Chapter 16
Ordinary Day
"Just a day,
Just an ordinary day.
Just tryin' to get by.
Just a boy,
Just an ordinary boy.
But he was looking to the sky.
And as he asked if I would come along
I started to realize-
That everyday you find
Just what he's looking for,
Like a shooting star he shines."
"Ordinary Day" by Vanessa Carlton
It had been a week since the accident…I was still in the hospital. Yes, I know I still had some cuts and bruises and I was still sore, but for the love of God would someone please let me out of this place! I've had enough Jell-O and something called hamburger surprise to last me a lifetime. I have been tested, x-rayed and observed. I think it's safe to let me out among the well and healthy. Every day that Dr. Reynolds comes to see me, I ask him if today will finally be the day that I'll be able to go home. Each day he grins and says "We'll see."
Don't get me wrong. I've absolutely enjoyed not having to go to Ramsey Preparatory School. That has been a picnic, let me tell you, even if I had to get hit by a car to do it. No, that's not very funny. I shouldn't joke about things like that. Though, with the way things have been going for me in the past couple of months, it was either laugh or cry.
My relationship with my parents was improving, especially with my mother. I now felt as if she was on my side. I think she'd been impressed with the lengths Harry had gone to in order to see me. She'd even told me how he'd been worried sick about me. She'd said she could see how much he cared for me in his eyes. It had almost seemed like it used to be before all of this happened.
I hadn't pressed my luck, though. I knew that I was on the verge of getting what I wanted and I couldn't risk the progress I'd made by harping on about going back to school and how unhappy I was here. They knew all of that. I would only hurt my case now, by pressing the issue. I was so close I could feel it.
I'd spent my days reading some books and magazines my mother had brought from home for me. She'd even snuck in Hogwarts: a History, without my dad's knowledge. It had been therapeutic to look through that book and see and read about my school.
I hoped Harry was okay. Before he'd left me, I'd made him promise not to take any more risky chances. He'd been lucky so far that he hadn't been punished, but luck had a way of running out. I didn't want him to be expelled, especially now that I might be coming home.
Harry. When I closed my eyes, I could see his brilliant, infectious smile and his shining, green eyes. I could still hear the emotion in his voice when he told me that he loved me. He loved me! I never in a million years would have believed that this would have happened.
Sometimes, I wondered if he would have done any of this, if I'd not been taken out of school. What if we'd just returned to school, as usual---or as usual as possible for a school that trains witches and wizards, and things had been the same as they always were? Would he have noticed me? Would he have finally seen what was right in front of him all along?
When I had thoughts like these, I would remind myself that it didn't matter how it came about, the important thing was that he felt this way. He felt the same way about me that I felt about him. It was amazing. It was truly the most precious gift. I could still remember that line from one of my favorite movies, Moulin Rouge. I know I'm paraphrasing here, but I truly believe that the most important thing is to love and be loved in return. It was a wonderful feeling.
It had been wonderful to see that Ron and Professor Lupin again. I couldn't help sensing that there was something wrong with Ron. He'd seemed a little bit off when we'd had our little chat before he'd left. He'd come in before Harry to say goodbye.
"Ronald Weasley," I had said to him when he'd walked into the room. "I do believe those are tears in your eyes."
"No, they're not," he'd replied sheepishly. "I just have something in my eye. These American hospitals are full of dust aren't they?"
He'd come to sit beside my bedside. He took my hand and looked at me for a few moments. Neither of us said a word. The silence was a little awkward.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"Nothing," he'd replied.
"I've known you long enough to know when something is bothering you, Ron," I said. "I know you and Harry about as well as I know the back of my hand. That's what happens when you're friends with someone."
"Friends," he'd said. His voice seemed a little cold as he'd said that word.
"Best friends," I said, gripping his hand a little tighter.
"We, um, have to be leaving soon," he said. "Lupin said we'd need to leave soon to make our connection back to Hogwarts."
I nodded. "I know. So, how have you liked your first visit to America?"
"Well, it's been quite a trip, actually," he said, his smile returning to his face.
"You are behaving yourself at school aren't you?" I asked him. "You are a prefect, after all. You've been helping the first-years? You haven't been calling them 'little people' or 'rugrats" or my personal favorite 'annoying little snotrags'?"
"They deserve it, Hermione," he'd said. "We couldn't possibly have been that annoying when we were 11!"
"I think we were," I said. "In fact, I know for certain that you were."
"Well, you make fun of one smarty pants girl in your first year and you're branded for life?" he asked me. "Is that about right?"
"Yeah," I said, laughing, but then wincing as I felt the pain.
"You should probably get some rest," he said. "You have to get better and get back to where you belong, you know?"
"I will," I said softly. "Will you do me a favor?"
"Anything for you," he said with a smile.
I was worried about Harry and him having to deal with that prophecy. I knew, though, that it wasn't really my call to tell Ron about this. I still hoped that Ron would be a good friend to Harry at a time when he really needed it.
"Look out for Harry, Ron," I said. "He's really going through a lot. You know I can't really get into all of it, because it's not really my place to tell you. I'm sure Harry will tell you when the time is right, but it's really huge, Ron."
I felt Ron's hand tense up. A few moments later, he let go of my hand all together.
"What's going on between you two, anyway?" he asked me finally.
"It's complicated," I said softly.
I could still remember how he'd tensed up after that and had seemed uncomfortable. He'd quickly bid me a goodbye and a get well soon and beat a quick retreat out of my room.
Looking back on that conversation, I wasn't sure why I hadn't told Ron about my feelings for Harry and vice versa. Maybe it was because I knew there hadn't been enough time to go into something like that. If I was being honest, it would be because I always felt deep down that Ron had feelings for me that went a little beyond friendship. That whole Yule Ball thing had pretty much confirmed it for me. He hadn't ever done anything about it. If I was on this honesty kick, I would have to say that I didn't ever see Ron as anything but my friend. He was like a brother to me---albeit an annoying and at-times aggravating brother.
Knowing Ron like I did, I knew that if he did have feelings for me, he certainly wouldn't want to hear that I, in turn, had feelings for Harry. I could still remember how he'd reacted during fourth year when he'd thought Harry had submitted his name for the Triwizard Tournament. He hadn't believed that Harry wouldn't have entered his name in that contest. He'd believed that Harry was going to go for the glory and he, Ron, would just be the second banana/sidekick again. In all the years that we'd been friends, I'd spent a lot of conversations with Ron where he'd tell me how he'd always wanted to have something of his own. He wanted to make a place in the world for himself. He didn't want to just be the little brother or The Boy-Who-Lived's best mate.
I can still remember how proud of himself he'd been when he'd won the Quidditch Cup last year. He'd finally had something to call his own. I'd been happy for him, then. I knew Harry had been proud of him, too. He finally accomplished something on his own. Yes, it had been on the team, but he'd done it without being in the shadow of Harry or Fred or George. I knew that he sometimes resented Harry's "fame".
That time during fourth year when he and Harry had their big row, I'd tried to make Ron see that Harry never asked for any of it. That he would have gladly given it up to have a family, to lead a normal life. Sometimes, though, I don't think Ron saw it this way. I couldn't help feeling, though, that if Ron had feelings for me; he wouldn't be too keen to find out that I loved Harry.
I didn't have too much time to think about this, though. Dr. Reynolds came into my hospital room with my parents in tow.
"Good morning," Dr. Reynolds said with a smile. "And how is Hermione today?"
"Hermione," I said, sitting up on my bed, "is ready to go home."
"You know," he said, taking a seat beside my bed, while my parents hovered in the doorway, "I'm not psychic or anything, but I had a feeling that you would say that."
"Well, I'm not psychic, either, but I have a feeling that the next words out of your mouth will be 'Well, Hermione, we'll see'."
Dr. Reynolds tried to look affronted by my statement. "Well, I hate to be predictable, so I think just to deny you the satisfaction, I'll say that we're all pretty tired of looking at your pretty face, so if you really want to leave, we won't stop you."
"Oh, please tell me you aren't kidding?" I asked, a smile playing at my lips.
"You do know that doctors very rarely kid," he said. "You being the daughter of dentists, I would think you would have known that right away."
"Oh, thank you!" I said, pulling back my covers and getting out of bed. I enveloped Dr. Reynolds in a hug. "Thanks so much!"
He hugged me back and shared a laugh with my parents as I sat back down on the bed. "I must tell you, Hermione that you are going to miss out on tonight's dessert---lime flavored Jell-O."
"Don't take this the wrong way," I said, "but I hope that I never see Jell-O in any shape or form for the rest of my life."
Getting discharged from the hospital isn't something that can be done quickly. On the contrary, it can take quite a long time. It took nearly two hours for my parents to complete the necessary paperwork and for Dr. Reynolds to give me one last checkup. Finally, I was able to go. Although the weather was cold, it felt so great to breathe in fresh air and feel the sun shining down on me.
The ride back to the house had been surprisingly quiet. Other than my parents exchanging comments about patients they would be seeing in the next couple of days, we'd pretty much kept things quiet. When we finally did make it back to the house, my dad told us to go on inside and he'd get the suitcase and flowers from the car.
As I was hungry, as soon as we entered the house, I made my way toward the kitchen. After a week of bland, hospital food, I was ready to devour some real food. Somewhere in this kitchen, there was a turkey and cheese sandwich with my name on it.
"I think you should go upstairs, first, sweetheart," my mom said, following me into the kitchen.
"I will," I said, heading toward the refrigerator. "I just want to get something to eat, first. I'm famished.
"Oh, Hermione, there'll be time enough for that," she said. "I just think you should go upstairs to your room first."
I turned around to face her and saw that she had a gleam in her eyes as she watched me. She had that look on her face that clearly told me she was up to something, and I was about to find out what it was.
"What's going on?" I asked warily.
"Nothing," she said. "Just go upstairs. I'll fix you a sandwich."
"Yes, but you don't know what I want," I said stubbornly.
"Hermione," she said. "I'm your mother. I think I know by now that your favorite sandwich is turkey and Swiss cheese on whole-wheat toast with extra mustard."
"Okay," I said. "If I go upstairs, will it make you happy?"
"Extremely," she said. "Now go. I have a sandwich to make after all."
With one last look at her, I turned and walked out of the kitchen and toward the
staircase. As I ascended the staircase, I heard the front door close and my father say to my mother, "I dropped one of the vases, Karen. There's broken glass all over the garage floor."
I stifled a laugh as I made my down the hallway to my bedroom. The door was closed, but as I got closer I could make out distinctly the sound of a cat mewing.
That couldn't be, though, could it?
I slowly opened the door and let out a gasp as I saw my ginger-haired cat, Crookshanks, sitting smack dab in the middle of my bed. When she saw me, she quickly jumped off the bed and into my arms.
"Crookshanks!" I exclaimed, rubbing her head. "What on earth are you doing here?"
When we'd left on "vacation" to come here, my mother had made me leave the cat with our next-door neighbors. I honestly believed I'd never see her again.
Crookshanks, however, wasn't the only surprise awaiting me. For the first time, I got a good look at my bedroom. I let Crookshanks down and looked at the two trunks that were sitting in the middle of my room. My school uniform from Hogwarts along with my cloak and wand were laid out on my bed. A box of books sat beside it. I went closer to inspect and found a new collection of books. Among them, a book entitled Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six.
This couldn't be right, could it? I picked up Crookshanks and slowly made my way back downstairs to the kitchen. My
parents couldn't be playinga cruel joke on me, could they? Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. To make sure
I'd seen what I thought I'd seen, I quickly made my back upstairs and looked into my bedroom where I saw that
the trunks, wand, uniform and books were all still there. I let out a nervous laugh as I looked at these things in
disbelief.
Warily, I made my back down the stairs and into the kitchen. I saw my mother putting the finishing touches on my sandwich and my dad was just starting to eat his own sandwich.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" my mother said.
"Um," I said, letting Crookshanks down. "My bedroom. Books. Uniform. Wand. How?"
"I'd like to buy a verb," my mother said, with a laugh.
"I think I can answer that for you," my dad said. "Your friend, Professor Lupin, visited us and pleaded
your case. We agreed with what he had to say and he offered to fetch your books and things from Diagon Alley and the
neighbors were more than happy to send the cat with him."
I sat down at the kitchen table and my mom put the sandwich plate in front of me. I was no longer hungry.
"Does this, um," I began, "mean that I'm-"
"Going back to Hogwarts?" my dad finished for me.
"Yes, it does," he said, with a smile. "That is, if you still want to go."
"Well, of course, I do," I said, "but I'll be so far behind."
"Well, Professor Lupin said that your professors would be willing to help you with your lessons to get you caught up. You'll probably need to put in some weekend work and extra hours, but they think you'll be alright."
Tears came streaming down my face, but this time, they were out of joy, not sadness.
"But how did you change your mind?" I asked.
"The truth is, sweetheart," my mom said, "is that your accident helped us see the light. It's a shame that it took something like that to get it to sink in, but the truth is that anything can happen, whether you are here or there. The most important thing, though, is that you are happy. We forgot that somewhere along the way. I don't know if you could ever forgive us for that, but I hope that in time, you will."
I nodded, not really knowing what to say.
"Are you, um, going to go back, too?" I was finally able to ask.
"We're going to stay here," my mother said. "We've actually made a good life here. You'll come back here of course for holidays and summers."
"Thank you for this," I whispered. "Thank you so much."
"Well, you better eat and finish packing," my dad said with a wink at me.
"You'll be leaving in a couple of hours. Professor Lupin will be here via that Flow Network thing."
"Floo Network, dad," I said, wiping a tear away.
I couldn't believe that by the end of the day, I'd finally be home!