“Oh, Harry!" Hermione pulled back from her embrace.
"Are you all right? Did I hurt you? When I got Ron’s
letter I-I d-d-didn’t know what t-t-to d-d-do,”
Hermione began to cry and hugged him again.
“Hermione I’m all right,” said Harry. "Well ... what
I’m particularly worried about is the fact that, when
I fell off my broom, my scar, well, hurt,” Harry
stopped as a pain shot through his scar, and he passed
out.
“Harry, Haaaaarrrrrry! RON, go get someone to help
Harry. Oh Harry wake up, wake up,” Hermione sobbed.
Harry woke up hours later to find Dumbledore peering
over him.
“Harry,” said Dumbledore when Harry first stirred.
"Hermione told me about your scar's hurting."
Harry shot bolt up at the mention of his scar.
“Settle down, settle down," Dumbledore shook a hand at
him. "Yes, we need to talk about your scar, but that's
no reason for you to not lie comfortably."
He patted Harry's pillow, and Harry fell back, trying
to fix his ears to listen since his scar still ached.
“Now, Harry, do you have any idea why your scar hurt
when you feel off your broom?" Dumbledore asked,
looking at Harry over his half-moon spectacles.
“Not really," Harry gulped. "I just remember it
hurting then going blank. Well, I remember hearing my
mother screaming. Do you think it could be the
Dementors? I always heard that when they attacked ..."
“Well it’s possible. But I highly doubt it. We believe
it was a Death Eater using a disillusion charm who
attacked you on Voldemort's behalf -- which made
Voldemort happy enough to cause pain to surge through
your scar," Dumbledore explained. "But as you can see,
it is not safe for you to be out and about, even at
the Burrow. You will have to be under protection at
all times, Harry."
Just then a healer passing by poked her head in.
"'scuse me!" she said. "But I think the lad needs his
rest -- visiting hours are over!"
Dumbledore stood and waved her on. "We can discuss the
arrangements later. But members of the Order will be
assigned to guard you here in St. Mungo's and when you
are released; I promise they will be as unobtrusive as
possible."
He turned to leave.
“Dumbledore?” questioned Harry. "Could you send
Hermione in -- just for a few minutes?”
“Of course,” chuckled Dumbledore. "You should say
'yes,' by the way.” Dumbledore winked and left,
leaving Harry with his mouth agape. He always
knows, Harry thought. How does he always
know?
Hermione came running in a minute later.
“Harry, oh, Harry,” she whispered. "I suppose you
want to know why I wanted you to meet me. Well, Harry,
I … wanted to tell you, I, well ..."
“Hermione--" Harry started.
"No. I'm going to do this ..." Hermione cut him off.
"Will you be my boyfriend? I mean, oh, Harry, I really
like you -- I've wanted to tell you this for some
time, and I finally worked up the courage to write to
you to meet me so I could tell you, and I just want to
know if you feel the same way and ..."
“Hermione--” Harry started again.
"Oh, I shouldn't have just said it out straight. Do
you hate me now," she was nearly in a panic now.
"Hermione, if you would listen to me," Harry tried to
be gentle in his exasperation, "I'm trying to tell you
I like you, too. I might even ... well ... love you
..."
At this, Hermione leapt at him, threw her arms around
his neck and hugged him tightly.
"Oooof," Harry breathed. "Hermione? Could you loosen
your grip?"
"Oh!" Hermione jumped back. "Sorry -- I didn't mean to
..." She picked up his hand. "It's just that I think I
love you, too."
Harry felt a ball of warmth in his belly begin to
grow, spreading out to his limbs and stretching the
smile on his face. He squeezed her hand (even though
it made his shoulder ache like mad).
“Harry, I was going to ask you to come to my house for
the rest of the holiday," Hermione grinned back. "But
then you got hurt," she whimpered at this, "but I'd
still like you to come -- I promise to hug you much
more gently ..."
"Well, I'll have to talk to Ron about it," Harry said.
"But I know he’ll understand.”
"Oh, wonderful!" Hermione shrieked, and Harry put a
finger to his lips to remind her to quiet down.
He frowned.
"Is your scar hurting again?" Hermione was concerned.
“No, it's not that," Harry said. "It's just that the
Order will be guarding me, and aren’t you frightened
that I might draw danger to your parents' house?"
“I've already talked about it with them," she
whispered, remembering to be quiet this time. "With
the Order guarding you, they said it would be fine."
“Well, then ... brilliant!" he said, smiling again.
"I really should go," she whispered. "Visiting hours
have been over for quite a while -- I'll see you in
the morning ..."
"I love you," Harry whispered.
"I love you, too," Hermione said as she turned to
leave. "Good night.”
He watched her leave, and settled back into his
pillow, the warmth still filling him as he drifted off
to the most restful sleep he'd had since the holiday
had begun.
Harry awoke with a sting in his stomach, realizing he
hadn't eaten much of anything the previous day. He put
his hand to his belly and opened his eyes -- and there
he saw a half-dozen smiling Weasleys standing over
him.
"Good morning," Harry said, sitting up.
“Harry, good news!” said Ron before anyone else could
speak. "You need a final check-up, but you can leave
today, as long as you promise to rest!"
"The Healer will be here in a moment, Harry dear,"
Mrs. Weasley beamed. "So we'll be going, but I brought
you this."
She held out a homemade spice cake and put it on his
lap.
"Now eat up," Mr. Weasley said. "Molly makes the best
spice cake. We'll be out in the waiting room."
“Ron,” called Harry, ”Stay -- I have to ask you
something."
Ron turned back as the rest of the Weasleys left the
room. "What is it, mate?"
"Would you mind if I spent the rest of the holiday
with Hermione?” Harry asked nervously.
“Sure, mate. Mum'll be a bit disappointed, but she'll
understand," Ron said, hiding his disappointment quite
well. "So, I guess you uh … told Hermione, huh?" he
winked.
"Well, you could say we're a couple, but," Harry
chuckled, "she kind of told me."
Ron laughed and shook his head. "That's so like her.
It's just ... so ... Hermione."
"Yeah," Harry nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it is."
Harry passed his check-up with flying colors, and the
Healer gave him several pain-killing potions to take
over the next several weeks. The nurse who had helped
Harry get dressed wheeled him out to the waiting room,
where he found the Weasleys had brought his belongings
from the Burrow. Hermione was interrogating the Healer
on the details of Harry's care.
Hermione helped Harry out of the wheelchair and slung
his arm over her shoulder so she could help him walk
to the exit -- he was so bruised and achy, it was hard
to move.
"Can you help us with those?" Hermione said to the
Healer and nodded to Harry's trunk, Hedwig's cage and
Harry's Firebolt, which had miraculously survived the
fall, save for a few scratches.
"Wha--I--well, yes, I suppose so," he said, so taken
aback that he had no other choice.
With Hermione's help, Harry was able to limp out onto
the London street outside St. Mungo's, where Mr. and
Mrs. Granger's car was waiting. Mr. Granger jumped out
of the car and grabbed Harry's belongings from the
Healer, thanking him for his help. Mrs. Granger opened
a door for Harry and she and Hermione helped helped
him into the back seat.
Hermione settled in next to him and finished buckling
Harry up just as Mr. Granger got back in the drivers
seat. "Well, welcome, Harry!" he said cheerfully.
"It'll be lovely to have you with us over the rest of
the holiday; Hermione has told us so much about you."
"Oh, yes," Mrs. Granger said. "Once you're fully
healed, we have some plans!"
Harry grinned and sat back, his fingers just barely
touching Hermione's in the space on the back seat
between them.
This is the happiest I've ever been, he
thought. He and Hermione were a carefree couple, and
he was going to stay with the Grangers for the the
rest of the summer holidays. This was definatly going
to be the best summer ever, his aches and pains notwithstanding.