Masks

Part 3 Disturbing News

***

Ron and Hermione said good night to Dobby and returned to The Three Broomsticks. As it was late, there were very few people, so they were able to get a table off to themselves by the fire. Ron got them two mugs of butter beer and sat down at the secluded table with her.

"There are a few things I wanted to tell you tonight," Ron said, looking at his mug.

Hermione didn't like the sound of that statement at all, but she wasn't sure if it would be worse to hear it or not to hear it.

"You know we're coming up on graduation and we might not see much of each other after that," he continued, feeling that this must all sound so stupid.

"Um yeah," Hermione said, her heart beginning to pound.

"Well, I don't want that," Ron said after a pause.

"But I thought you were looking forward to graduation," she replied, not wanting to commit to anything until she knew for sure where this was going.

"No, not that," he said, smiling, still looking at his mug. "I don't want to not see much of you." He raised his gaze to meet her eyes. "I'm not sure how long I've known, but for a long time I've..." He hesitated, and took a breath before he went on. "Ever since our first train ride in fact, I've...."

"There you two are," came a voice from above them that made them both jump. Madam Rosmerta had come over to their table without either of them noticing. "I was wondering when you would show up."

"We did some after dinner dancing," Hermione laughed, looking slyly at Ron.

"Oh I see, well I have something for you." Madam Rosmerta pulled a sealed letter out of her pocket, and handed it to Hermione. "Your friend Neville came looking for you with this. It arrived tonight and it was marked urgent, so he wanted to get it to you right away."

"Thanks," Hermione said in as casual a voice as she could manage. Her insides, however, were not so calm. This could be bad.

Ron too, suddenly looked worried. "Is it about Harry?" he asked as soon as Madam Rosmerta had left the table.

Hermione's face went from worry to shock in an instant. "No,... It's from Viktor."

It took a few minutes for this to register with Ron. "Viktor,...Viktor Krum?" he said blankly. This had to be a dream, a nightmare. Krum couldn't pop back into the picture just like that.

As she read the rest of the letter the shock on her face changed back to worry, then to something else. Was that affection? The first white hot stabs of jealously began to jab at his stomach.

"He can't play Quidditch anymore. He wants to get back together with me," she said, her voice full of emotion.

"What, how?" Ron stammered.

"He wants me to move to Bulgaria to be with him after graduation," she said, looking over the letter.

***

After what seemed a very long awkward time alone with Aunt Petunia, Aunt Marge finally came back. "Dudders is asleep in the chair, and they say Vernon won't wake up again until tomorrow." She patted Petunia with her enormous hand. "I think I'll nip back home for a bit and see about my babies. I really couldn't get anyone to look after them this morning." She gave a disdainful look to Harry and Ginny. "Sorry to leave you with just them, but you have my number if you need me."

"Thank you Marge," Aunt Petunia said and pecked Marge on the cheek. "We'll let you know if anything changes."

Ginny smiled and waved at her as Marge strolled past them, looking like she had just eaten a lemon.

"We will probably be staying the night. I would appreciate it if you stayed nearby in case we need something." Petunia said when Marge had left. "Take this." She reached into her handbag and pulled out her phone and gave it to Harry. "We'll call if we need you." She gave them one last look and disappeared into the Coronary Care Unit.

Harry and Ginny sat together on the seats for awhile, listening to the sounds of the hospital. With no Dursleys to be tough for, Ginny's unease returned with renewed force. And despite the vow she took to be a help, not a hindrance, Harry was beginning to notice her discomfort.

"It looks like it's going to be a long night. Do you want to get something to eat?" Harry said, picking up his coat.

"That would be great. But can we get out of here?" Ginny wrapped her arms around herself and shivered slightly. "This place is so unnatural, it's like there's no magic here at all. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

She was looking quite vulnerable sitting there glancing around at the immaculate surroundings of the hospital. Before he realized what he was doing, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him. She gratefully enfolded herself around him and laid her head on his shoulder. Now it was Harry's turn to feel uncomfortable. Holding her like this seemed to cut through all his carefully erected defenses, forcing him to feel whether he wanted to or not. If he allowed himself to enjoy holding Ginny then there was nothing to protect him from the reality that he really was a scared and lonely boy whose family hated him and enemies hunted him. But holding her like this also made all of that all right somehow.

"I think I saw a friendly looking restaurant not too far away. I'll buy you dinner," he said, stroking her hair.

They were walking past the emergency room doorway on their way back to the car when an ambulance sped towards the entrance. They stepped back out of the way as the doctors and nurses hurried over. The paramedics quickly pulled a woman on a gurney out of the back and began rushing her into the ER.

"...labored breathing and a inflammation around the neck," the paramedic was saying.

"It's strange, it almost looks like a snake or something under the skin choking her," one of the nurses replied.

"Tracheotomy isn't helping," the doctor barked. "She's convulsing!" The group disappeared through the emergency room door.

"Harry, did you see her neck?" Ginny whispered frantically.

"The serpent's collar curse," he said gravely. "They won't be able to help her, and she doesn't have long." He looked down into her eyes, but the vulnerability that was there earlier had been replaced with cold steel. "Come on."

They rushed back to the car where Harry pulled his invisibility cloak and a couple of Filibuster's Fireworks out of his bag. "I've got to sneak into the ER and perform the counter curse, but it'll be crawling with doctors and nurses. I'll need a distraction." He handed her the fireworks. "I need you to set these off outside the trauma room, but you can't be seen doing it." he said, and ducked behind the car to put on the cloak. "And watch out for the little boxes on the walls with the big eye sticking out," she heard his voice say. "They can see you."

" Boxes that can see, really?" she said in confusion before she ran back to the emergency room.

Harry was having an even harder time than he thought getting into the trauma room. Finally an elderly doctor came rushing down the hall and Harry was able to fall in step behind him. This made things much easier because everyone in the hallway seemed to part at his approach. The doctor burst into the trauma room and Harry slipped in behind him. There were a number of people in this very small space, and if everyone hadn't been so focused on the task of saving the woman, he'd have been discovered for sure. He found an unused corner of the room, pulled out his wand, and waited for Ginny's distraction. He knew the counter curse but it wasn't simple. He would have to speak the spell out loud and take his wand out from under the cloak.

Ginny made her way carefully back into the emergency room which was still very crowded. She was thinking frantically, but couldn't come up with a stealthy way to set off the Filibuster's Fireworks. A nurse hurried toward the trauma room with a cart when an idea hit her. She knocked over a trash can as the nurse approached. She touched her wand to the tiny fireworks under her coat and bent down to pick up the trash can. Less than a second later the bottom of the cart was speeding past her and she tossed the activated fireworks into it. She stood up and calmly walked toward the exit.

A nurse rushed into the trauma room pushing a cart, when it seemed to explode. Sparks and smoke went everywhere. Screams, curses and shouted orders filled the air and in the middle of all this mayhem , Harry acted. He took his wand out from under his robe and placed the tip against the snake mark on the woman's neck.

"Uncoillatum!" he said in as quiet a voice as the spell would allow.

A soft hissing noise came from the woman's throat, and she took a long gasping breath. Harry stepped back to his corner as quickly as he could and waited to see if anyone noticed what had happened. The older doctor Harry followed in touched the woman's neck and looked warily around the room.

"Damn," Harry thought.

"Everyone out of the room!" the doctor ordered.

"Doctor?" said one of the nurses in surprise.

"Now!" he shouted, and everyone backed quickly out of the room giving Harry no chance to escape.

When the last of the nurses and orderlies left the room the doctor turned and said, "I know a spell when I hear one. Show yourself, wizard."

Harry hesitated, then came out from under the cloak. The doctor gave him a stern look that felt unnervingly familiar. "You.....you would have to be Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "My name is Dr. McGonagall. Please explain what you are doing in my hospital."

"She, uh,..." Harry began in a small voice. "She had a curse on her."

"Yes, I know," Dr. McGonagall said.

"Well um,... I know the counter curse, and I thought...," Harry's voice faltered. Now that he was saying it out loud, it sounded kind of arrogant.

"You thought you'd rush in and save the poor helpless muggles with your magic," Dr. McGonagall looked even more stern than before. "Because there isn't anything we could have done to help her."

Harry gave a sort of weak smile.

"As a matter of fact Mr. Potter, you were quite right." Then he almost smiled back at Harry. "She would have died in just a few minutes, and the wizard I sent for from the Ministry won't arrive for an hour. If he comes at all." His smile faded. "However, was it really necessary to blow up the emergency room in the process?"

"Oh...well, it had to be a secret and we needed a distraction," he said in his most deferential tone.

"I see, well I suppose that you did the best you could," Dr. McGonagall said. "But I must ask you not to use any more magic in this hospital. It could interfere with the technology that is keeping people alive."

"Um...all right," Harry said, feeling just as intimidated by this hospital chief of staff as he would be by the head of Gryffindor house.

"I'll have to write my sister and tell her that I believe her stories now," Dr. McGonagall smiled.

This made Harry wonder just what the teachers had been saying about him. "How did she get cursed?" Harry asked wanting to change the subject.

"That, Mr. Potter, is a very good question." Dr. McGonagall became professional again . "The paramedics pulled her out of her car. She crashed it into a lamp post nearby. But of course, she couldn't have driven far like that."

Harry was considering this when he finally saw something he had been looking at for a while, the logo on the work shirt the woman had been wearing. "Sweet Clover Dairy, that's where the Creevey's dad works!" Harry instantly pulled up his cloak and moved toward the door.

"Wait, I'll contact the Ministry," Dr. McGonagall called after him, but he was gone. "Be careful Harry," he said to the open air. "Minerva would be very upset if anything happened to you."

***

The door to the common room flew open and what seemed like a hurricane blew in. "Bulgaria? He wants you to move to Bulgaria?" Anger and stunned disbelief played across Ron's face. "No, this can't be happening. I'm not ready".

"That injury he got last week is bad. He won't be able to use his hand well enough to keep playing." Hermione looked at the letter she'd been holding and thought of Viktor. His words were simple as they always were, but she could read between the lines, sense his loss and panic. "Oh Viktor." she thought. "There is so much more to you than just quidditch."

They, or rather she, had decided last Christmas that a deeper relationship just wasn't practical. Their plans for the future were just too different. Well that's what she said out loud any way. What she didn't say was that something wouldn't let her love him, not completely. Something inside of her that had no regard for logic or intellect. Something that wouldn't let her settle for Viktor, even when her mind told her he was a fine choice.

But now things were different. Now he was a friend who just had his whole future wiped away. But would going to him make him stronger or weaker? She bit her lower lip trying to think of what would be the best thing to do.

Ron stood silently, his heart pounding, watching Hermione reread her letter. He knew her well enough to see the wheels turning in her mind. She was deciding it right now, she would go back to Krum. How could she not love him? He was a great guy, an international quidditch star, and now he was sympathetic to boot. Fear was building inside of him. He couldn't let this happen.

"Oh Viktor." she said out loud, and Ron felt a lead weight fall into his stomach.

"Great just great, so all a guy has to do is lose a hand and nurse Hermione comes running!" he yelled pounding his fist onto the table. "If you had let us know that sooner it would have saved us all a lot of time."

Hermione jumped at the tirade and was instantly furious. This was no the time for Ron to start spouting nonsense. She was trying to understand something. "This is important, his whole future has changed," she replied in a raised voice feeling the familiar heat and anger rise within her.

Over the years arguing with Ron had become a semi-enjoyable pastime that helped both of them work things out. Lately though things were getting scary. He could bring her to levels of anger she didn't know she had in her.

"Come on Hermione, we aren't talking about a visit. He wants you back! " Ron said, heatedly, but trying to sound reasonable.

"And what's wrong with that?" she shot back in a voice she hoped was loud enough to convince herself.

"Because...." Ron had to call on all his courage to finish this sentence, "you'd be wasted on him!" he roared "Hermione Granger, first in her year, head girl, the finest academic Hogwarts has seen in a hundred and fifty years, the wife of a quidditch player!"

Whatever Hermione had expected Ron to say, this wasn't it. The rules had changed and she didn't like how fast this was going. "Well, what do you suggest that's so much better?" she said quickly, hoping to get time to think.

"Yea, what" Ron thought. "What do I have? Krum might not be good enough for her but I'm nothing compared to him." He was losing her. With every word, every second she was slipping away from him. He had to do something, soon, or she would be gone. "Well what do you want, at least this isn't Bulgaria." He said waving at the familiar surroundings of the common room.

This was too much for Hermione and she finally lost her temper. "Oh yes, here I am in a drafty castle having another pointless argument with you." she bellowed only inches from his face. "Why should I stay here?"

The look on Ron's face at this was not at all what she anticipated. She'd thought he would come back with a crack about Viktor or go on about how great England was. Instead there was a look of tragic loss in his eyes.

"This is it then," Ron thought "The game is over, and Viktor Krum wins again." There was nothing left to say, nothing left to lose, and only one thing left to do. It was the only answer to her question he could think of.

He reached out his hands took hold of her shoulders and brought her to him in a long passionate kiss.

Nothing in Hermione's life had ever come as unexpected as this kiss, and the reaction it caused. From deep within her that nameless something that had always kept Viktor at arm's length exploded inside her. It ripped past her logical, rational mind and took control of her body, filling her with feelings and urges she had never known. It was too much, too fast. Terror seized her and before she knew what she was doing, she slapped Ron across the face as hard as she could.

Time seemed to stand still. Ron staggered backward, regret and loss playing across his features. She tried to look at him, but he averted his eyes and took another step back. The realization of what had just happened, and what this admission must have cost Ron finally dawned on her.

"Ron?" she gasped. It was all she could think of to say.

Hearing her voice was too much for him. He bolted for the portrait hole, leapt through it and sprinted down the hall as if the devil himself were after him.

Hermione stood in the common room for a moment replaying their conversion in her head with new understanding. She ran to the portrait hole and called, "Ron!"

"He's gone, my dear," came the voice of the fat lady from behind her. "Just went through the front door. And from the looks of it, I'm not sure he's coming back."

Ron ran. He ran like he had never run before, but it was still right there in front of him. The look of fear in her eyes as she hit him. The sound of her voice as she asked why she should stay. The note of genuine affection she had when she spoke of Viktor. He needed to be alone for a while to try to get control of himself. So he headed into the Forbidden Forest. Nothing in there could be as bad as the things inside himself he was trying to get away from.

***