Chapter Text
Had anyone else been in Harry's shoes, they might have been alarmed. The raven-haired boy, however, was accustomed to his vision being blurry when he first awoke. It was instinctual for him, as had been for years, to reach for his glasses when he woke.
Only difference this time, was that his arms were not wanting to work properly, and he couldn't move them very well.
"Here, I got them." Harry heard Ginny's voice from what looked like a faint red blur.
Only once his glasses were returned to their proper place on his face, did Harry get a proper look at Ginny. What he saw almost had him jumping out of the bed. While he couldn't have done so if he tried, Ron didn't seem to know that and was holding him down with both hands, Hermione doing the same with only one on his opposite side. Almost as if they had been expecting for him to awaken with a sharp cry and start flailing about the moment he stirred, none of which he actually did.
"What the hell happened?" Harry tried to keep his voice even and calm, but the sight was still horrible regardless.
Ginny sported a severe black eye, and her face was covered by a number of other bruises and many smaller cuts and scrapes. The same lacerations, Harry noticed also covered Ron's own countenance, but he lacked any of the bruising.
"I'm fine, Harry." Ginny's lips lifted in a warm smile. "Everyone is fine… sort of. Little beaten up, but we'll be fine."
"You should see the other bloke." Ron laughed, but Harry had known him for a number of years at this point. He knew both when Ron was faking humor and when he was trying to lighten tension. The male Weasley seemed to get that wasn't working here and quickly shifted gears into something more serious. "No, seriously, you should see the other one…"
"Ron's not joking." Ginny's own attempt at a reassuring smile was gone now, replaced with a face to match her brother's. "He didn't kill him, but… Merlin, it was close. If Daphne hadn't of stopped him by accident, he would have. Bastard probably has more broken bones than all of us put together."
The phrase "broken bones" didn't exactly do much to alleviate Harry's worry, but his mind had latched onto a different concern. Specifically, one that wasn't in the infirmary with them.
"Speaking of Daphne, where's…" Harry's voice trailed off when he saw his wandering eyes locked onto his girlfriend beside him.
Harry thought Ginny's state was cause for alarm, Hermione was on a while another level.
Hermione got gotten both eyes blackened, her entire face and jaw covered in thrice the number of bruises, plus the same cuts. The bandages wrapped around her head just made the entire scene even more sickening to Harry, and that was before he saw Hermione's arm in a sling.
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione must have seen the outburst coming, she was already laying down the law, none too gently, either. "You will stay on that bed, or so help me, I am going to…"
Whatever else Hermione was going to say went unspoken because it was at that moment she let out a sharp gasp and clutched at her chest. Harry was already moving to help her, an action of pure reflex on his part, before Hermione's hand raised to stop him, plus another glare.
"I'm fine." Hermione took in a deep breath, one Harry noticed was more than a little shallow. "Ribs are still pretty tender."
"She took the worst out of all of us." Ron said the words slowly, like he was still trying to decide if that nugget of information should have been withheld. Harry's leer told him that he should have kept his trap shut, but the proverbial cat was out of the bag, now.
"What. The. Hell. Happened?" Harry reiterated, his words coming slower and his jaw clenched in anger. Not at any of the people present, but rather at whoever had done this to his girlfriend, and why couldn't he remember anything?
"You went down first." Ginny swallowed hard, the words obviously difficult for the younger witch to say. "Took a curse head on. We still don't really know what it was, we didn't want to know but…"
"Be glad you can't remember the blood." When Ginny started choking up, Ron took over. "There was… a lot of it."
Harry didn't miss how the redhead duo stood with an arm around each other. While siblings, the two never acted all that close. Now, they were almost clinging onto each other. Perhaps after the Chamber of Secrets fiasco, Ginny's near kidnapping, and everything that happened in between, the brother and sister might not be taking family for granted so much.
"Daphne and Astoria are alright, too." Hermione finally answered the first question. "They said they had some other stuff to take care of but would visit when you woke up. I think both feel like they owe us big time."
As three took turns explain what happened, and the source of their injuries, a question popped into Harry's mind. One that made no sense. "Why didn't you use your wands? I mean, I understand Ginny and Astoria, but what about you two?"
"I…" Ron looked away ashamed. "I just… froze. When I saw you take that curse and the blood started, I just sat there. Even while Hermione and my little sister were beaten senseless, I just sat there!"
"Hey." Ginny, oddly enough was the one comforting her brother while her hand rubbed into his back. "By rights none of us should have been there. We're students, not aurors. But in the end, Ron, it was you who took him down and saved all our hides."
"But…"
"No buts, Ron." Ginny retorted.
Choosing to ignore the siblings exchange, Harry turned over to Hermione but never got to talk.
"Harry, what was it I said when you ran off after seeing Ginny and Astoria on the map?"
"Umm…" Harry tried to remember, but couldn't. Not helping matters was that his mind was still a little foggy and he had trouble focusing. He finally admitted defeat after a long moment. "I don't remember."
"I told you to wait up, so I could grab my wand." Hermione's working hand reached out to take Harry's. "You had the map, if I didn't follow, there was no telling where you were going or what was happening. It was a gamble, and I nearly lost."
"Hermione, I'm so…" Harry's attempted apology was silenced by the witch in question.
"You didn't do this, Harry, so don't you go blaming yourself." Hermione squeezed his hand. "While I didn't like the risk, I'm just glad we're all alive to have this conversation. Another death eater plot foiled and we all survived, this time. That's cause for celebration in my book."
"Yeah." Ron nodded, grinning like a loon. "I just wish Neville could have been there for it, though."
"Why's that?"
"Well, it's not every day you take down Rodolphus Lestrange."
"Rodolphus Les… what?" Harry was sure his ears were not working. Must be some lingering effects of the curse he'd been hit with. "Pardon me, but I could have sworn I heard you say Rodolphus Lestrange."
"Might be because I did." One could be forgiven for thinking Ron had just won the quidditch cup singlehandedly for Gryffindor. He was certainly smiling like he did. "Inner circle death eater, husband of one Bellatrix Lestrange, and one right good piece of sh..."
"Ron." Hermione deadpanned, giving Ron a blank look.
"Garbage." Ron quickly corrected himself, much to Ginny's amusement. He might be willing to beat an inner circle death eater with his bare hands, but was still scared of a certain bushy haired witch.
"Between this, his breakout of Azkaban, not to mention everything else he's done, no way he's getting anything but the veil or a dementor's kiss." Ginny said. "Only downside, they couldn't question him."
"Ron beat him almost to death." Hermione answered before Harry could ask. "Severe head trauma like what he got and even a wizard isn't going to be doing much talking. Only way they're getting anything out of him is if they wait and see if he recovers enough for them to do so."
"That's if he does." Ron grumbled, his sneer almost riving Snape's. "Should've hit the bastard harder…"
"Moving on..." Ginny lightly elbowed her brother in the ribs before producing a small box from seemingly nowhere.
Harry's first instinct was to kick the offending item as hard as he could and enjoy watching it sail across the room. The only reason he didn't do exactly that before his brain could even register the thought, was because his body was too stiff for the maneuver. Instead, all he could do is stare and wait to see where Ginny went with this.
"Harry, I wanted you to have this." A blushing Ginny stared at the box for a moment before looking up to face Harry. "Look, I know what happened, so if you want to say no then that's fine, but I wanted to offer it anyway."
To be honest, after this entire debacle, Harry wasn't sure if he ever wanted to even gaze upon treacle tart ever again. He would certainly be wary of any form of treats or dessert in the future, but more importantly, this reminded Harry of something important he needed to get done, and now was as good a time as any.
"Ginny… we need to talk." Feeling Hermione squeezing Harry's hand was proof enough his girlfriend knew where the boy was going with this.
Ron looked back and forth between his best friend and sister, unsure how to approach this. For once in his life, Ron chose wisely and remained quiet, but left his arm around Ginny.
"I'm with Hermione, now." Harry spoke plainly, not allowing any form of doubt a place to hide. "We care deeply for each other, and while I might have had been interested in you before, I'm way past that now."
"Okay."
"I know you might be… wait, what did you just say?"
"I said, okay." Ginny shrugged, completely unmoved.
"Aren't you going to… you know, fight for Harry?" Hermione was caught every bit as cold as Harry, the witch almost looking like she wanted to slap herself for saying that.
"Why would I do that?" Ginny asked in genuine confusion.
"Well, umm…" Harry once more found himself struggling for an answer.
"Oh, I know!" Ginny's face lit up, a sight that had Harry and Hermione both worried for a second. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to," Ginny cleared her throat, "oh, Harry, why would you ever go out with Hermione, when you should be with me? I know you so much better and am a much better girlfriend. She's just trying to steal you away because she's jealous of me and what you and I have."
Ginny's words might have confirmed the couple's worst fears, but the dramatic way in which she said them was so hammy that it belonged in some cheap amateur play.
"But don't worry, I have all kinds of plans to use." Ginny pressed on, her smile unnaturally wide and more than a little eerily reminiscent of a stalker Harry had seen in a film once. "Hermione will never get in our way, no matter… what I… have to…
It was in that moment Ginny finally cracked and exploded with laughter.
"Your faces!" Ginny managed to wheeze out before she'd be off on another round of guffaws.
Both Harry and Hermione were dumbstruck, and were so shocked, they just remained quiet while the redhead witch laughed herself silly. After an uncomfortable amount of time, she managed to get herself back under control, with the occasional giggle slipping free.
"That is what you expected me to say, right?" Ginny was still smiling as she wiped a single stray tear from her eye, at the same time she struggled for breath. "Ooh, I haven't laughed that hard in a while."
"Uh… yes?" Hermione managed to find her voice first, her response sounding more like a question than an answer.
"Harry, you're a great wizard, and an amazing person. Brilliant, even." Ginny shook her head. "But you're not the only boy in the world, you know. Besides, you and Hermione make such a cute couple, too! Don't they, Ron?"
"Definitely." Ron nodded his approval, his smile not quite as wide as his sisters, but certainly bigger than Harry or Hermione would have ever imagined.
"This." Ginny indicated the box of treacle tart she placed on the bedsheets. "Is not my attempt to seduce you away from Hermione, or to get you to notice me. This is merely an apology for some of my bad behavior and an attempt to mend fences a little."
"Me and Ron already had this chat while you were out." Hermione answered just as her boyfriend looked in her direction. "And we had Madam Pomfrey check over it. It's clean. I think Ron and Ginny are being genuine."
Harry had to admit, he was seeing a lot of surprising maturity between the youngest Weasleys, here. He would have fully expected Ginny to be indignant or huffy about Harry doubting her, instead she was perfectly calm and not the least bit surprised Harry was being skeptical.
"I think I need to apologize for something, too." Harry thought back to that day in the great hall, when the rift was kicked off into high gear. One thing in particular he'd said, though not to Ginny, but rather her imposter, still, it was not something he should have done.
"You don't need to." Ginny shook her head. "That wasn't me, and wasn't my plan, you had every right to be mad, though. Hell, had I been in your shoes, I'd have punched my lights out, girl or no."
"Sorry for interrupting." The mistress of the infirmary chose that moment to make her presence known. Then again, none of them had actually missed her hovering just out of sight by her office. They just chose to ignore Madam Pomfrey out of gratitude for her giving them this couple minutes. "But I really should be giving Mr. Potter his checkup. And any sweets are going to have to wait until his condition is further improved, I'm afraid."
"Not at all, Madam Pomfrey." Hermione gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek. One that the matron pretended not to see. "Thanks for giving us a moment."
"Miss Granger, it's about time for another round of your potions." The older witch, like she had to for many students, also ignored the way Hermione face scrunched up in disgust at that thought. "Mr. and Miss. Weasley, if you could be so kind as to inform the headmistress that our patient has regained consciousness, I'd be most appreciative."
Harry was sure he'd heard wrongly, but just had to ask. "Headmistress?"
It was the way everyone's face fell, and the look on Madam Pomfrey's face, that told Harry not only did he hear correctly, he wasn't supposed to know this yet.
"Nobody is really sure what happened, not yet at least." Ron fielded the question. "But… Dumbledore is dead."
"Dead?" Harry was glad he was still in bed. "When? How?"
"Like I said, none of us know, yet." Ron explained. "It happened just yesterday while you were out. It looks like he fell from the Astronomy tower…"
"This is Dumbledore, we're talking about here." Ginny interrupted. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that seems unlikely."
Harry couldn't say or ask anymore, he was still struggling to accept what he was being told. It seemed like just yesterday he and the old headmaster were making their foray into the cave…
Dear Merlin… did something happen to Dumbledore because of what happened in that cave with the potion? It certainly couldn't have been a coincidence that an inner circle death eater was trying to kill him and shortly after Dumbledore winds up dead, too. Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, two of the highest-ranking names of Voldemort's kill list. No, this was no coincidence.
Another thought came to Harry, just then. He had been so focused on finding and saving Ginny and Astoria, could he have missed something heading toward the headmaster? Maybe they should have gone to him first instead of just keeping secrets…
A squeeze of Harry's hand had his eyes drifting up to those chocolate brown orbs he adored so much. Hermione knew him, well, she was fully aware of how this information had him reeling. She didn't say the words, but their meaning was obvious enough. 'I'm here, everything is going to be alright.'
The light had lost its leader and one of its greatest champions. There was no telling what the future held, now, but if there was one thing Harry could be sure of right now, it was the witch holding onto his hand.