Accio Brain!

Hermione shifted in her bed in the hospital wing and let out a low moan.

“Are you still in pain?“ asked Ron in a concerned voice, from the bed next to hers. “Why don’t you call Madam Pomfrey? She’d give you a sleeping potion if you asked for it.”

“No, I’ve slept enough for awhile, thank you,” said Hermione in an impatient voice.

“I was only trying to help,“ grumbled Ron.

“I know you were,” she replied, trying not to sound impatient. “It’s just that so much time is missing. I remember Harry, Neville and I were separated from you, Ginny and Luna. We were looking for you when some Death Eaters attacked us. Then I don’t remember anything until I woke up here and everyone was asking Harry what had happened.”

“Well, it was a very confusing time . . . .” Ron began.

“I heard Harry tell about the battle in that room with that awful stone archway, and how he chased after Bellatrix Lestrange and everything that happened to him after that,” said Hermione quickly, hardly stopping to take a breath. “And I heard Neville explain how the Order of the Phoenix members guarded the Death Eaters until Ministry officials took them away, and how Dumbledore made several Portkeys to transport all of us here. But I’m still unclear about what happened right after I became unconscious. Where were you and Ginny and Luna, how did you all get hurt, and how did you find us again?”

It was finally quiet in the hospital wing. Neville, Ginny and Luna had been allowed to go back to their dormitories after having been fully healed by Madam Pomfrey. Tonks had been taken to St. Mungo’s, but she’d been awake for a few moments that afternoon, long enough to participate in the discussion of what had taken place in the Department of Mysteries, while Harry had been visiting. Madam Pomfrey assured them Tonks would make a full recovery after her stay in St. Mungo’s.

Ron was silent a long time, trying to find words to explain what had happened. “I remember running out of the room where all those glass balls were in the shelves,” Ron began. “Somehow we took the wrong door and suddenly we were floating in space. Thinking about it now, I guess it was a room with a large magical model of the Solar System in it, but at the time I wasn’t sure what it was or where we were.”

Ron paused, remembering. “Four of the Death Eaters chased us in there and they seemed as confused by it as we were. None of us could figure out how to move around, and we were so disoriented that we forgot to battle each other. One of the Death Eaters floated too near the sun and caught on fire. Another Death Eater managed to rescue him and put out the fire, but the one with the burns wasn’t up to fighting with us after that.”

“So then it was three against three?” asked Hermione, after waiting a moment.

“Yeah, I guess — but it was still very odd. You might have enjoyed it, I floated really close to a couple of the planets. Did you know Uranus spins sideways?”

Hermione sighed, and Ron knew she was biting her tongue to keep from making some remark, like how they learned that in Astronomy their first year. “So what happened then?” she asked.

“I was right up close to Saturn — the rings aren’t solid, they’re like bits of ice all floating close together. I was sticking my finger in and out of the rings when I heard Ginny scream. One of the Death Eaters had hold of her foot. She was trying to wriggle around so she could see to aim a curse at him, but Luna beat her to it. It was brilliant, Pluto blew up right in his face. It’s not a very big planet — its moon blew up too, the moon’s almost as large as Pluto is . . . .”

Hermione sighed again.

Ron ignored her, and went on. “So it must’ve been like having a frozen piece of rock blow up in your face. The Death Eater couldn’t see, and he had cuts all over his face, arms and chest. His robes were hanging in rags. The other two Death Eaters went to help him and Luna grabbed Ginny and started moving toward the door. I watched her, the movement was somewhat like flying on a broomstick, but a bit like swimming, too. I tried it and I could move forward that way, so I headed toward the door. Luna and Ginny had already gone out of the room when the curse hit me.”

“What curse was that?” asked Hermione in a puzzled voice. “I thought you were attacked by the brains?”

“That was later. I don’t know what the curse was or if it worked the way they meant it to or not. It was very strange. Like someone was tickling me, inside my stomach. It hurt, sort of, but it made me laugh as well. And I guess it affected my mind, too, because it wasn’t just the tickling that made me laugh. Everything seemed very funny.”

Ron paused again. Looking back, he knew he‘d acted like a complete fool following that curse, and it was hard to talk about it aloud.

“What happened then?” asked Hermione.

“Luna took my hand and I think she and I helped Ginny walk. We managed to find that round room with all the doors, and that’s where Harry and Neville were. And you. But you were unconscious.” Ron giggled. “You looked really funny, your mouth was sort of hanging open. . . .” He trailed off, remembering how she’d looked funny, but now that the curse had worn off, he knew she’d also looked defenceless and vulnerable and he wished he’d been able to help her.

Hermione didn’t say anything.

“Sorry. It’s still hard to remember that it’s not really funny.”

“Well, then what happened?” asked Hermione when Ron was quiet again.

“Some Death Eaters came in, so we went through a door and it turned out to be the brain room. I thought the brains were even funnier than the planets had been, and I wanted to see one up close . . . .” Ron shivered. This part was even worse. He really didn’t want to talk about it at all.

“Oh!” Hermione exclaimed. “When we first saw them I felt they were dangerous . . . .”

“You were right,” sighed Ron. Harry had tried to warn him, too, he remembered that now. “I guess my own brain was too muddled to realise that. I actually used a summoning charm to get one . . . .”

It was Hermione’s turn to shiver. He could see her look of concern across the dim room. “What did it do?” she asked in a small voice. At least she wasn’t poking fun at the stupid thing he’d done.

He wasn‘t sure how to describe this next part. “You remember when Colin Creevey dropped his picture-taking thing?”

“Camera — but what — ?”

“That stuff that came out of it, all rolled up with little odd-looking pictures — “

“Film. But what does that have to do with magical brains?” asked Hermione.

Ron was silent for a while. “These brains had tentacles that looked sort of like that filt stuff — “

“Film.”

Ron was quiet again. Finally, Hermione prompted him, “You said . . . tentacles?”

Ron grunted. “They wrapped all around me . . . But it was worse than being tied up . . . The tentacles were thoughts . . . .”

“Thoughts? What kind of thoughts?” asked Hermione when Ron was quiet yet again. She was going to make him tell it all. He might as well get it over with.

“When the tentacles wrapped around me, it was like I could see the thoughts in my head. It was like the brain was forcing me to think its thoughts, but it was also sort of stirring up my own thoughts . . . .” Ron was quiet for a long time. He wondered if maybe Hermione had fallen asleep. She hadn’t prodded him to go on. But, looking over, he could see her facing him with her eyes wide open.

Finally, he said, “I was fighting to get free, but I — I could see all the questions I didn’t know the answers to on the O.W.L. exams . . . every goal I let slip by for the other team this year in Quidditch . . . Malfoy making fun of how po — making fun of my family . . . That time when Harry and I weren’t speaking to each other last year . . . Ginny being kidnapped by the Basilisk . . . You in the hospital wing after being Petrified . . . That Howler my mum sent when we flew here in Dad’s car . . . You sitting in the Common Room writing a long letter to Krum —” Ron broke off, embarrassed.

“It was all bad thoughts, then?” asked Hermione. “No good thoughts?”

Run blushed. He was glad it was dark and Hermione wouldn’t notice. “Well, there were good thoughts too. Winning the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw . . . Rescuing Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets . . . Watching Harry battle the Horntail . . . Mom buying me my CleanSweep . . . Fred and George escaping on their broomsticks . . .” He also remembered the time he and Hermione had spent together before Harry had arrived at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place the previous summer, but he didn’t say that out loud.

“So it was more memories than thoughts?” asked Hermione.

“Memories . . . Thoughts, too, though . . . Wondering what career to choose . . . Worrying about Sirius being tortured by You-Know-Who . . . Being frightened by the Death Eaters, especially that woman with the horrible eyes . . . Krum —” Ron’s thought about Krum had been ambivalent; he was a great Quidditch player, but Ron hadn’t expected Hermione to develop a friendship with him, or whatever kind of relationship they had.

“What about Krum?”

“Never mind.” Again, Ron was very glad it was dark. “I kept fighting the brain for what seemed like a long time, and then Lupin was there and he did some spell and I was free. I still felt really strange, but the thoughts were gone at least.”

“Then what happened?”

“We went into a room with desks in it, and Lupin told me to sit down,” Ron remembered. “And I sat. Neville came in and sat next to me. They brought you and Ginny and Luna in, too. Ginny and Luna were conscious by this time, but Ginny couldn’t walk. After awhile, Professor Dumbledore came in and made a Portkey. He picked you up and we all grabbed hold of it and came here. Madam Pomfrey made us all get into bed. She did something to you first, but said you’d have to sleep awhile before she could do more. Then she examined me and did some healing spell, and gave me a sleeping potion. The next time I woke up, Harry was here and everyone was talking about what happened.”

“Does it still hurt?” Hermione asked.

“No, but I keep getting flashes of thoughts that I can’t control,” said Ron quietly. “Why don’t I call Madam Pomfrey and she can give us both a sleeping potion?”

“Okay,” Hermione relented. “I think I finally feel like I could sleep peacefully again.” After taking the potion, she was soon snoring lightly. Ron, however, lay awake in the dark for a long time.