Potion Magic

Chapter 3

The inviting crispness of clean sheets greeted Ron's disoriented body as Madam Pomphrey guided him into bed. It had been hard work stumbling about, eyes swollen shut, orange goop all over his face, and a hot bandage around his head! Madam Pomphrey slowly unwound the bandage from his head and examined his wounds.

Her words were carefully chosen. "Mr. Weasley, you have sustained a serious injury to your eyes. I will treat you to the best of magical abilities. You do need to be prepared for the possibility that you may lose your eye sight or that your face may remain permanently orange."

Ron was stunned. Hermione began to cry quietly. "I will leave you two alone while I go begin to brew the counter potion, " said Madam Pomphrey, as she swept away.

"Ron, I am so, so sorry about all of this. I wouldn't have hurt you for anything. I wish I could undo everything somehow. This just has to get better; I'M SO SORRY!" Hermione sobbed into her pillow.

Ron turned toward her and spoke with a gentle voice. "Hey, hey.....I'm going to be just fine. With Fred and George around the house, stuff like this happens all the time. Once they shrunk Dad to the size of a gnome, and it took Mom almost 2 hours to get him back to regular size. But he was OK in the end. And another time, they bewitched my room so that all the furniture started playing Quidditch. The problem with that was that my bed was playing keeper and my window was the goal and stuff ended up all over the lawn. It was a huge mess. It took a couple of days to get it all back, and occasionally my nightstand thinks that my alarm clock is the golden snitch and it starts chasing it around the room. That's a great way to wake up in the middle of the night!"

Hermione giggled, and Ron continued. "One time Fred decided to make cookies. He tried using a Muggle recipe and George hexed the dough. These cookies looked totally normal, so we ate them all up, but the next time you went to the bathroom.......you peed blue! Yeah, Mom and Dad were real happy about that!"

"But, Ron, " asked Hermione, "they haven't ever really hurt anyone have they?"

Ron thought a minute, and then said, "well, there was this one time, when Ginny was little, she wanted more than anything to have long, long hair. And you know her hair is curly and red and she thinks it takes forever to grow. So George got the great idea to play with her shampoo -- he thought it would make her happy to make her hair grow faster. Instead, she started growing hair out of her fingertips and on her fingernails and neck....everywhere the shampoo touched. Dad had to take her to a specialist that practices spell reversal in Manchester. She cried about that for weeks."

"Hey, Herm," Ron said gently, "You know what was weird back there? When you touched me with your hands it was like.... I don't know how to say this without sounding daft, but it felt like I could see inside of you."

Hermione nodded. "I felt the same thing. It was like we had this electrical connection.... and it was like a large firecracker. Pop! I suddenly understood you."

"What do you mean, you understood me? Understood what?" Ron was perplexed and afraid that his feelings were betraying him, if what Hermione said was true. But then he realized "Hey, wait a minute. If she can read my feelings, I could read hers. I'd know how she felt for me before she ever had to say a word out loud! Perfect!"

"So, do you want to try it again?" asked Ron.

"Try what?" replied Hermione, clueless to Ron's ulterior motives.

"Seeing if we can connect again," suggested Ron hopefully.

"But how would we do it, with my hands bandaged and your forehead wrapped up? We seemed to connect when the orange potion on my hands and your face touched. The potion attached our thoughts to each other, with the potion acting as a conductor. I'm not going to risk any more damage to your poor face, Ron. It's not worth it," Hermione concluded.

"But Madam Pomphrey is brewing up the counter potion right now as we speak. She could be back any moment, and we'd miss our chance, Hermione. Be brave, and take a risk!" prompted Ron.

"Ronald Weasley, are you saying that I'm not brave enough to do it?" fumed Hermione, "because if that's what you think I'm all about , you are wrong. Dead wrong about me." Hermione's cheeks were pink with fury, and her eyes flashed a warning, that Ron's incapacitated eyes could not see.

"Hermione, I caught a glimpse inside of you already. You don't have to prove anything to me," Ron said gently.

Stunned, Hermione continued cautiously. "What do you mean, caught a glimpse inside of me? What did you see, Ron?"

"I saw why you work so hard all the time and why you are always trying to prove yourself in class and stuff. It's OK, Hermione, I understand now, " Ron's voice was calm and reassuring.

This, of course, infuriated Hermione! "What do you mean, you know why I work so hard? You couldn't possibly understand why I try to do my best all of the time. I just want to make myself smarter," said Hermione.

"No, that's not it, Herm. Do you know why you are so driven to succeed? I can see it clear as day inside your head. Can't you?" teased Ron, not realizing the hornet's nest he had awaken.

"WELL GO AHEAD AND TELL ME, RON --- WHAT MAKES ME WORK SO HARD!!!!" Hermione jumped off her bed and screamed at Ron's prostrate form, so annoyingly calm and quiet on the next hospital cot.

So Ron, with a chuckle, replied, "OK, Hermione, if you really want to know, it's because you want to fit in."