Potion Magic

Chapter 4

"OK, that's a load of dragon dung! You are full of it, Ron! " Hermione was seriously annoyed and temporarily forgot that they were in the hospital wing.

"Miss Granger," called Madam Pomphrey, "you will kindly refrain from using unseemly language in a house of healing." Hermione, ashamed of her outburst, mumbled an apology to those on the ward.

"Hermione, relax. Can I tell you what I saw? I promise it wasn't bad. And I'll never tell anyone else, not even Harry? Please calm down, don't be sad, Hermione," Ron softly pleaded to her.

"Well, alright. Tell me what goes around in my twisted head, " she gave in.

Ron started, "I saw you back at home the day before your letter came to Hogwarts, back when you were living full time in the Muggle world. The day before you found out that you were a witch. I saw you walking home from school with your report card in your hand, and a puzzled look on your face. It was raining outside, and you were wearing your blue rain slicker. I can see you wandering in the rain. You look lost, Hermione. "

"I remember that day, Ron - and you've got it exactly right, except for one detail -- I wasn't lost, " Hermione countered.

"Oh, I know that," he continued. "You knew where you were and stuff. It's weird; it's like you were lost inside yourself."

Hermione drew a sharp breath, and her eyes grew big. "Ron, tell me what else you saw?"

"I caught a glimpse of your report card, and your marks were flawless. But you were upset anyway. Let me focus..." he said.

"NO!" said Hermione, "this is too personal. I don't want you or anyone else to see that report card ever!" Her voice quivered as she pleaded.

Ron went on, "you don't have to be ashamed, Herm. I saw it. I can see exactly what it says. What they said about you's not bad. Your teachers just wrote some comments down, that they think you sometimes have a hard time fitting in with the other students."

With that, Hermione burst into tears. Ron regretted saying it out loud as soon as it came out. He couldn't see her at all, for all that his eyes were swollen shut, but he could hear her sobs and Hermione sounded so pitiful. All he wanted to do was put his arms around her and hold her close, and hug all the pain away.

With a great deal of effort, Ron reached out his hand toward the crying sounds, hoping that Hermione was close by, and trying not to fall out of the bed! He felt a brush of wool flannel that in an instant he recognized was her skirt. Ron's hand moved over until he touched Hermione's hand. It was trembling and so soft. Her hand seemed little and delicate to his touch. Funny, he thought to himself, Hermione always seemed so invincible. Now all I want to do is protect her. But from what?

Hermione gave Ron's hand a squeeze, but did not let go. "I'm sorry that I'm acting this way. I was just so ashamed of that report card. And the funny thing was that my parents were JUST FINE with it. They always have been just fine with me, however I have been. I could have flunked school and they would have still been embarrassingly proud of me. School was so hard for me before I found out I was a witch, Ron. I never fit in anywhere in my life. I have always known that I was different, from the time I was a little girl. The other girls liked to play with dolls and dress up, but I liked to invent things and build things and draw. No one liked to do the things that I did," Hermione admitted. "They made terrible fun of me. The kids never played with me, and they called me names. The girls were especially mean."

"Those girls back at your old school sound pretty boring to me. I bet Pansy Parkinson would love your old school," said Ron encouragingly.

Hermione giggled. "Yep. She's the type. So I fought back by beating everyone in the classroom. If I was smarter than everyone else, maybe I could fit in that way. At least the teachers liked me. But there was always something missing." Hermione's voice trailed away.

"What was missing?" Ron stroked Hermione's index finger with his thumb, and jumped as a tear splashed down on her hand. "Friends," she said in a whisper. Ron held her hand tight as cried, with every breath he felt her pain, and wished he could kiss each tear away.

Hermione began speaking in a whisper. "The day my letter from Hogwarts came was the happiest day of my life. Suddenly, everything made sense. I was different than the other kids because I was a witch.

You know, I remember that the girls at school used to try to play pranks on me, but somehow they always backfired and got them instead. It was weird. One time, right as a bucket of water was about to hit my head, the rope swung wide and dumped the water all over the group of girls that were trying to get me wet. And once, my locker door hinges were removed. So, when I opened my locker, everything should have fallen to the ground. But it didn't. Ron, it was so cool, all my stuff just stayed inside, as it there were invisible hands holding it there, not letting it fall."

"So how did your parents take the big news when they read your Hogwarts letter?" Ron asked.

"Oh, they were thrilled for me, and very supportive as always, " Hermione perked up as she spoke of her parents. "I brought the letter to them, and they were all ready to go shopping and learn about the magical world. And they are just as Muggle as they can be, magic wise, but they are so open and accepting of everyone, that they would feel just as comfortable hanging out in Hogsmeade as they would walking down the street in London. They have always accepted me just as I am, which is cool, but whenever I tried to talk to them about my lack of friends or problems with peers at school, they just brushed it off."

Ron encouraged her to continue. "I love my mom and dad a lot, but it can be hard to get them to really listen to me sometimes."

Hermione countered Ron, "I think your Mom and Dad are great. You have all these brothers and a sister, and they are very accepting of you all, with all your differences. It must have been great to be born into a magical family. It can be lonely at our house sometimes, but your house has always seemed a whirl of happy activity."

"Are you kidding?" stammered Ron in amazement. "My house is one step above a Muggle looney-bin most of the time. My dad is forever playing with Muggle things, enchanting them and trying to figure out how they work. So, from time to time, his workshop either stinks or catches on fire or sometimes disappears. Mom isn't too happy when we can't find Dad or his workshop and it's time for dinner.

"Charlie and Hagrid are kindred spirits, when it comes to animals. He has this "freemasonry" with all kinds of creepy crawly things, so when we were growing up, it wasn't unusual to find snakes in the bathtub, or Blast-Ended Skrewts in the basement. One time, he read about these Giant Emerald Moths that only hatch every 22 years, but leaves behind a chrysalis of gemstones. Good ol' Charlie decided that he needed his own Emerald Moth. He tried to enchant some of our local moths, but he used a bad Engorgement charm, and they ate up everything that was made of wool in the house. Yep, giant flying bugs were eating up mom's berber carpet in the parlor and most of our winter clothes. Mom was paranoid about bugs for years after that."

Laughing, Hermione said, "You are so funny, Ron. No one can make me laugh the way you can."

Ron smiled hopefully. "I'm glad to see you feeling better. You shouldn't feel bad, Hermione. You should be proud of all that you've accomplished at Hogwarts."

"But don't you see, Ron," Hermione answered, "I'm such a maniac about my studies because I always feel like I have to prove myself here. Take Malfoy, for instance. He thinks I'm not worthy to be here because I'm Muggle born. I'll never be good enough in his eyes. I know he's a daft prick, but it still hurts just the same. Being a Muggle at Hogwarts is hard, Ron. I'll always have to prove that I'm good enough to be here. I guess being that you've only known the magical world all of your life, I wouldn't expect you to know what I mean."

"Proving that I'm good enough is what I've been trying to do my whole life," sighed Ron. "Bill was Head Boy, and Charlie is totally gifted in working with Dragons. Percy the perfect has always been a complete pain to live with - no one's room - not in the Muggle or magic world is THAT neat. He cleans his room FOR FUN. Mom and Dad just eat that up! And Ginny - the youngest, and she's a girl. Everyone dotes on her, which is OK because she's really not annoying, but they all just love to dress her up like she's some red headed doll. Then there's Fred and George. If I ever tried any of the goofball things they do, Dad would reduce me to a greasy spot. Sometimes, I think that they hardly know that I'm there at all."

"Oh, Ron, how can you say that? Your family loves you, and you are so, so brave. How many times have you defended me to Malfoy? Or stood by Harry's side when all that is evil has attacked him? Not once did you flinch, not once did you back down. I think you are very brave." Hermione squeezed Ron's hand, and then sat up. She stood up and walked over to his cot.

"Hey, you're not bailing on me, are ya?" joked Ron.

"No, Ron, I'm not leaving you." Hermione sat down on Ron's cot. "Scoot over, Blind Boy, " she ordered.

"Hey, you be nice to me or I'm going to think that you did this on purpose!" said Ron. Ron slid over on his cot, amidst a sea of pillows that were propping up his poor swollen head, to make room for Hermione.

Hermione gently placed her head on his shoulder. Emboldened by her forwardness, Ron placed his arm around her, snuggling her next to him. She smelled so good! Ron couldn't see Hermione, but he could feel her warmth and the silky brown tresses that cascaded around his head. "You know, Hermione, there are easier ways to get a guy into bed than to blind him with orange gook!"

"RONALD WEASLEY, for the last time, I did not do this on purpose!" Ron could feel the indignation rising within her body, so he said, "well, I for one, can't think of anyone I'd rather be here with. You are something else, Hermione." Ron stroked her cheek with his hand, and was shocked and thrilled when she turned her head and her lips brushed his finger. Had she kissed him?

Hermione reached up to touch Ron's hand, which was trembling. "Hey, Ron, what's wrong?" Forgetting about her own Orange Potion injury to her hands, she touched Ron's hands. There was a large burst of light, and an electrical shock. Hermione breathed deeply, and looked inside Ron's thoughts. They were linked again.