Truly Madly Deeply

Chapter Thirteen - You Know Who?!?

~ Gryffindor Common Room ~

Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors stared in shock as the two young lovers ran up the stairs to the seventh year boys' room. Ron stepped into the common room with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. The smile slowly faded as he surveyed the once again silent common room.

"What's going on?" he asked, feeling left out of something huge. Hermione turned to face him with wide eyes.

"I don't think you should go upstairs for a while. Come and sit down here with me," she said, holding out her hand. Ron placed his hand in hers and allowed her to direct him into the armchair recently vacated by Harry and Draco.

"What??" Ron asked exasperatedly. "Why can't I go up to my room?"

"Er...Harry's up there and he's...a little busy, right now," Hermione replied vaguely.

"That's okay, I need to talk to him anyway," Ron said, standing up. Hermione, still holding his hand, tugged him back down into his seat.

"No, he's busy," she said, a little more forcefully this time. "With you know who."

"You Know Who?" Ron paled but bravely jumped to his feet, "I thought he was dead! What are you sitting down here for? Let's go help Harry!"

~ Seventh Year Gryffindor Boys Room ~

Ron burst into the room with his wand out ready for action. His eyes darted around the room searching for his best friend and the baddest bad guy in the wizarding world. He sighed with relief and lowered his wand as he spied Harry's dark head in Harry's bed. Suddenly it became apparent that Harry was not alone.

Ron saw a body move in the shadows of the room and without thinking for his own safety, Ron dashed forward, frantically shouting "Stupefy!"

The person in the shadows fell to the floor with a satisfying thump. Ron grinned and looked over at Harry. He was startled to see Harry looked horrified. But he had just saved Harry from V...You Know Who. He was a hero.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Ron?" Harry asked furiously.

"I...I saved you. From Vo...You Know Who!" Ron protested. In the year since Voldemort had been vanquished, Ron had come closer to saying his name but still couldn't. It was a hard habit to break.

"What? That wasn't Voldemort! That was Draco. You just knocked out the man I love!" Harry said angrily as he got out of bed to see if Draco was all right.

Draco was lying on the floor with his head at a curious angle against the wall. A trickle of blood from where his head connected with the wall was making its way down the stones. Harry swore and grabbed his wand as Ron stood still in shock.

So it was the other you know who that Hermione meant Harry was 'busy' with. Oops, Ron thought miserably. Harry would probably never forgive him for this.

Hermione almost fell through the doorway to the boys' room. Ron had thoughtfully left the door wide open. Hermione's eagle eyes took in Ron's ashamed, distressed expression, Draco's prone form still lying on the floor and Harry kneeling over him, tears falling down his face as he desperately pleaded with the blond boy to wake up. Hermione strode past Ron, to where Draco lay.

Harry jumped when he felt Hermione's hand on his shoulder as she knelt beside him.

"He won't wake up," he said desolately. "I tried to enervate him, but he must have hit his head hard because he won't wake up, even with the stunning spell off him."

"We'll have to take him to the Hospital Wing," Hermione said gently, pulling her wand out of her pocket. She conjured a stretcher underneath Draco and levitated it in front of her.

Harry still clung to Draco's hand as he and Hermione followed the stretcher out of the room. Ron was still rooted to the spot, thoughts of self-loathing racing around in circles in his head.

~ The Hospital Wing ~

Harry was pacing up and down the waiting room as Hermione sat silently on the couch. Madam Pomfrey had shooed them out of Draco's room and was currently calmly bandaging Draco's head.

Harry couldn't see this, however, and he was working himself up into a state about the seriousness of Draco's injuries. Harry was making various promises to whoever was up there that if Draco was okay he would do all sorts of good things and he definitely wouldn't do all sorts of not-so-good things when Ron edged into the room.

Harry glared at him but did not stop pacing. Hermione stood up and held out her arms. Ron gratefully stepped into them taking comfort from the loving hug from his girlfriend.

Harry continued to glare at both of them, but he had stopped pacing.

"Hermione? What are you doing? He did that to Draco. It's his fault that Drac's in there fighting for his life." Harry's voice broke.

Hermione pulled back from Ron but did not move from his side.

"Draco is going to be fine, stop overreacting," she said firmly.

"I'm not overreacting!" Harry said slightly hysterically.

"Of course not," Hermione said soothingly. "But it is not Ron's fault. It was a misunderstanding. He thought it was Voldemort, not Draco."

"VOLDEMORT'S DEAD! How could he have been there?" Harry practically screamed, fast approaching total hysteria. This was his worst nightmare, Draco hurt, and he wasn't handling it very well.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Ron said softly, hanging his head. Hermione rubbed his arm supportively and turned to Harry.

"We'll talk about this when you're calmer. We'll go back to the common room. Come on, Ron," Hermione and Ron turned and left the waiting room.

Harry glared at the door for a few moments after they had left then resumed pacing. When was Madam Pomfrey going to come out and tell him Draco was fine? Of course he's going to be fine, he thought resolutely, Draco is going to be up and about and complaining about how the hospital gown makes his skin look pasty any minute now.

Five minutes later Harry was still pacing. Any minute now...

Chapter Thirteen - You Know Who?!?