Flour Babies

A/N: This is the chapter where we visit the hospital wing, laugh a lot, and Hagrid has a cameo. Also, here lies FLUFF.

PS- Sorry I didn't upload this sooner! I got a new computer with Vista, and FA didn't accept it in the format I saved it... anyways, long story, but basically it boils down to: I have this fic finished, but it's taken me a couple of days to figure out how to convert the files. Enjoy! -Agape

Chapter Six: The Hospital Wing

"Stupid thing won't--go--up--the--oh, there it goes." Ron struggled to tug the pram up the stairs after him. Once finally up the flight, he wheeled the contraption through the infirmary's double doors and parked it beside one of the occupied beds.

"How's it going, Hermione?" he asked tentatively.

She smiled weakly from her position on the cot.

"She's just got up from her nap," Madam Pomfrey said snippily as she passed. Hermione rolled her eyes and yawned.

"I'm awake, I'm awake." She reached for the twins. "How are they doing?"

"Fine. What'd she give you?"

"Just a Calming Draught. She said I need to get more sleep." Hermione lifted Mehitabel from her carrier and bounced the baby in her lap. The flour baby giggled.

"How can you stand to look at those things? I'm so sick of them..." Ron took a seat on a chair next to Hermione's cot.

Hermione shrugged. "I kind of missed them. I'm getting used to them," she said. She smiled when Mehitabel let out another giggle. "I didn't know they could giggle. I like it. Don't roll your eyes at me, Ron."

"Aw, come on, Hermione. It's just a flour baby."

Hermione shrugged and bounced Mehitabel one more time before tucking her back into the pram beside the slumbering Ron, Jr. "What I don't understand is why you're still letting Malfoy get to you, Ron," she said quietly. She brought her eyes up to meet his, and pulled her feet from beneath the sheets Madam Pomfrey had draped over her.

Ron scowled. "What, and let him get off with--with--"

"I've been called worse, Ron."

"No, you haven't!" Ron stood up and began to pace furiously.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, maybe you have! But that's not the point. The point is... the point is..."

He trailed off, his cheeks red with anger and his paces reaching a fever pitch.

"Ron. Stop." He paused. "Look at me."

Ron collapsed into the chair and put his head in his hands. He felt hands on his knees, and looked up at Hermione.

"Ron, it's all right. Honestly. Malfoy is always going to call me names, and I can't change that."

"I can."

"No, Ron. You can't."

Ron's eyes blazed. His head whipped up, and he grabbed Hermione's face in his hands, moving her head until their noses nearly touched. "I would do anything, anything, to stop it." Emotion played across his face with the intensity of a hurricane. "You deserve better than that." They stayed that way for a long time, until Hermione moved forward and kissed him.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Mehitabel began to babble to herself, but neither of her surrogate parents noticed. Ron had decided to close the gap between himself and Hermione once again; this time neither spoke for a very long time.

"Students!" a voice shrieked. Ron and Hermione jumped apart as if electrified. Madam Pomfrey stood in the doorway leading from her office, staring at them in rage. "Out! Out!"

Ron stood up, grabbed the pram, and hurried toward the door to the hallway.

"Umm... I think I'm better now, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione stuttered. "I'll just head out--" She fumbled for her bag and almost tripped on her way out.

"Out!" Madam Pomfrey continued to shriek. "Of all places--"

Hermione caught up with Ron in the hallway, and burst out laughing. They laughed all the way to the common room, where they practically fell through the portrait hole.

"What's so funny?" a fifth-year asked scathingly as the pair held their sides and tried to stop giggling. Ron, Jr. began to wail.

Ginny emerged from the portrait hole and almost stepped in the pram. "Hey-- oh, dear." She picked up Ron, Jr. and rocked him until he quieted, then she pushed the pram out of the doorway. "What are you two doing?"

Harry's tousled head poked through the portrait hole behind Ginny, Calendula in his arms. "Wha--" He clambered through. "Hey, we've been looking all over for you two. What happened?" He looked between his friends. "And what's so funny?"

Hermione managed to regain her composure first. "Sorry. We were in the Hospital Wing."

"There's nothing funny about the Hospital Wing," Ginny said, sniffing. She endeavored to lead Harry to the sofa.

"There is if you get chucked out for snogging!" a new voice chimed. Ron and Hermione turned their heads toward the portrait hole's latest entrant, Dean Thomas. Ron stopped laughing and turned pale. Hermione blushed.

Dean smirked. "Padma was helping Madam Pomfrey in her office. She told me."

Ron and Hermione stared at one another.

"Well, I--"

"I think we'd better--"

Ron lunged for the pram, and Hermione followed him. The common room burst into
laughter as the two scrambled back out the portrait hole.

The Fat Lady swung shut, and Ron and Hermione looked at one another.
"What now?" Ron said.

"Well, I doubt that we're allowed back in the Hospital Wing," Hermione observed drily. "Do you suppose there's any food left in the hall?"

Ron shook his head. "Dinner's over. We could go to the kitchen," he suggested enthusiastically.

"Now, Ron..."

"Come on. It'd be fun."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not that hungry."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hermione..."

"Let's go outside."

"Oh, go on and change the subject, why don't you," he grumbled.

"We can visit Hagrid."

Casting a longing look toward the staircase that would have taken them to the kitchens,
Ron followed Hermione and the pram toward the early-evening-sunlit castle grounds.

"Mmm, it's lovely out," Hermione said, taking a deep breath of fresh air. "To Hagrid's,
then?"

Ron shrugged. "Why not?"

They began to make their way toward Hagrid's cabin, but the pram was proving difficult. Hermione finally threw up her hands. "I can't push this anymore," she said, scowling.

Ron allowed himself a grin at her frustration. When Hermione glared at him, he walked over to the pram and simply picked it up.

"Really, Ron."

He staggered a bit. "It's not that heavy. Just a little hard to carry." He took an overlarge step in the direction of Hagrid's cabin, and Hermione hurried after him.

"Don't drop them, it'll ruin our grade--"

By the time they made it to Hagrid's cabin, Ron's muscles were straining something fierce, and he let down the pram with a sigh of relief, shaking out his stiff arms.

"Er... Ron?" Hermione was busy peeking in Hagrid's windows.

"Merlin's bear, Hermione! You're supposed to knock first," Ron said, flexing his
cramped shoulders.

"I did."

"Well?"

"He's not home."

Ron paused. "Oh."

"He must be in the Forbidden Forest," Hermione said, climbing down from the rock
she'd used to get a glimpse inside the cabin. "So much for that plan."

Ron stared at the pram and sighed. "Well, then..."

Hermione shook her head. She reached into the pram and picked up a twin in each arm. "Now you can carry it. You won't have to keep it steady."

Ron picked up the light framework. Without having to worry about Mehitabel and Ron,
Jr. he could carry it over his shoulder with one arm. "Thanks."

Hermione gave a tiny smile. "Let's go."

They trudged back up the path toward the castle. The sun dipped toward the hills beyond the lake.

"Hey, Hermione." Ron put his free arm around her. "Let's not go back quite yet." He
cast a nervous glance toward the castle.

Hermione smiled wryly. Ron led her toward the lake and settled the pram beneath a tree.

"Here." He took Ron, Jr. from Hermione and tucked him into the pram. Hermione
followed suit with Mehitabel.

"It's a good thing they're not fussing," Hermione said, looking down at the twins.

"Yeah." Ron took her arm and led her a few feet away, where a grassy patch jutted a few feet over the lake. They sat side-by-side, feet dangling over the edge. Hermione glanced toward the wavelets beneath her feet.

"Are we safe sitting here?" she asked dubiously.

"Sure we are," Ron said expansively. With a furtive glance toward her, he wrapped what he hoped was a casual arm around her waist. She didn't shrug it off; on the contrary, she huddled a little closer to him.

"Chilly out here," she murmured.

Ron grunted noncommittally. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder. It was a good
evening, Ron thought. Somehow, Hermione's head on his shoulder chased away any
thought of Malfoy's comment or the Gryffindor common room's laughter. He settled his arm tighter around her waist, his mind on the Hospital Wing incident. He wondered if
she'd let him do that again. He started to lean in...

Then the twins began to howl.

"Oh, goodness," Hermione said, jerking out of her peaceful reverie. "Let me get them--"

As she moved to stand, Hermione's foot slipped on the slick grass. She screamed, and
Ron watched dumbly for a second as she lost her balance and tumbled into the lake.

"Oh, no," he groaned. The wails of Mehitabel and Ron, Jr. ringing in his ears, Ron
stripped his sweater and tossed it on the ground before jumping into the freezing water.
It was deep. Ron had forgotten that. Hermione was thrashing on the surface, trying to
take off her heavy sweater and tread water at the same time.

"Help!" she squeaked between gulps of air and water.

"I've got you." Ron reached an arm around her waist, cursing under his breath when he
realized he'd left his wand in the pram. He had no idea how he was going to get them out of there. And those damn flour babies were still screaming...

"Ron? Hermione?" A booming voice sounded from above them.

"Hagrid!" Ron shouted, struggling to keep a panicked Hermione from drowning the both of them. "In here!"

"Great gargoyles!" Hagrid shouted. "What are you doin' in there, Ron?"

"Just get us out, will you? My wand's up there!"

Ron heard a shuffling sound above him, then a length of net dropped into the water in
front of them.

"Hermione, grab on--no, on the net, not on my face--"

He pushed Hermione's fingers through the mesh and grabbed a handful for himself,
another arm around Hermione, who had finally wrestled off her sweater and was now
shivering. Hagrid grunted from above, and they slowly rose from the black water onto
the grass.

"What are you two doing out here at this time?" Hagrid demanded. Ron waved him
away and staggered to the pram, where both of the twins were still bawling. He found a
handy pair of pacifiers that Hermione had secreted in one of the diaper bag pockets and
shoved one into each of the twins' mouths. That would have to do for now.

"Ron, we need to get her inside," Hagrid boomed, motioning toward Hermione, who was almost blue and shivering with cold.

"Merlin's--" Ron covered the distance in two steps and wrapped an arm around Hermione. "Hermione! Hermione!"

"I'm awake," she said weakly. "I'm fine..."

"Come on, Ron. I'll carry Hermione, you carry those....er... things. It's the Hospital
Wing for you two." Hagrid picked up Hermione as if she were a doll and strode toward
the castle, leaving a shivering Ron to drag the pram as best he could back to the castle.
He hadn't realized how cold it was outside. The sun's last rays were dying over the hills, and a chill had settled over the castle grounds. He picked up speed and sighed with relief when he made it through the castle doors.

"Not again," he groaned when he reached the foot of the staircase to the infirmary. He
sighed and began wrestling the carriage up the steps.

*

Madam Pomfrey scowled as he entered the Hospital Wing and pointed toward Hermione's cot. "Make yourself at home," she said bitingly. Ron pushed through a set
of curtains, placed the pram at Hermione's side, and collapsed on the cot beside her.

"Hermione, are you all right?"

Hermione pulled herself into a sitting position and smiled. She wasn't blue anymore, and she had stopped shivering. "Yeah. Thanks to you. Ron, that ...that was really brave."

Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Nah. No problem."

Hermione's smile seemed to light up the entire room.

"Hey, does she have anything dry I can put on?"

Hermione pointed at the dry nightshirt next to Ron's cot. "She keeps them for overnight patients. I won't look."

Ron gratefully slipped the dry shirt over his freezing head and pulled off his wet things.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked him once he had piled his wet things on a chair.

"Yeah. Tired. Cold."

"We should probably go to sleep..."

Ron got up from his cot and grabbed the framework of his bed.

"What are you doing, Ron?--"

Ron didn't answer, but pulled his cot closer until the twins in their pram were sandwiched between the hospital beds. "That way, we can both reach them without falling out of
bed," he explained.

Hermion smiled and reached for his hand before closing her eyes and sliding under the extra quilts Madam Pomfrey had piled on her bed.

Without letting go, Ron slipped beneath his own blankets. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.