The Matchmakers

"Seamus told me that Harry's supposed to be down here," Ron informed Lavender as they made their way onto the Quidditch Pitch.

"Well, where are they?" asked Lavender, her hands on her hips.

Ron scanned the sky with his magical binoculars. "There they are," he said pointing to a spot almost eighty feet in the air. Lavender squinted up at them.

"Are they about to kiss?" she asked in amazement.

"You could be right..." muttered Ron.

The broom suddenly snapped in half and Harry and Hermione fell towards Earth to the dismay of their friends. Ron pointed his wand towards his falling friends and yelled a spell. The spell shot through the air and hit them. The pair descended slowly, as if they were falling through water.

They fell the last fifteen feet and landed on the hard Quidditch Pitch. "Go to the Hospital Wing," Ron commanded, and Lavender nodded before sprinting off towards the school. Ron raced over to his friends. Hermione's eyes were closed and she was deathly white. He checked her pulse. It was still there, though faint.

Harry was still semi-conscious. "Ron?" he croaked, trying to raise a hand to wipe the blood from his mouth.

"Yeah, it's me," said Ron tearfully. "Just hang in there, mate."

Harry nodded feebly. "Hermione," he whispered before the world was plunged into darkness. When the darkness was lifted, a bright light greeted Harry. "Am I dead?" he asked.

"Certainly not!" someone exclaimed. Harry felt his glasses thrust into his hand. He put them on and blinked, trying to adjust himself to the light. Madame Pomfrey bustled into view, and placed a thermometer into his mouth before he could protest.

"What happened?" he asked, pain filling his head.

"A little mishap out on the Quidditch Pitch. The broom broke during Miss Grangers tutoring and of course gravity took hold. You're lucky Mr. Weasley and Miss Brown were there, otherwise you might not be here!" She removed the thermometer from his mouth and checked it before scribbling something down on a chart. "You broke several ribs and fractured your skull."

"How long have I been in here?" Harry asked.

"About five days. I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Miss Granger will probably be in here for a few more days, though."

"What happened to her?" Harry asked urgently, sitting bolt upright. This sudden movement made his head spin. Madam Pomfrey pushed him back down onto the bed.

"You need your rest. Miss Granger will be fine when she wakes up." Madam Pomfrey handed him an apple from the bowl of fruit beside his bed. "Eat," she ordered. "You need food." She walked away, presumably to check on another patient.

Harry groaned and set the apple down. He didn't feel like eating. He rested his head on the pillow, and closed his eyes. All he felt like doing was sleeping. He opened his eyes suddenly, remembering the moments before the broom had broken. "Oh, no..." he muttered.

"Is she going to wake up soon?" Ron asked Madam Pomfrey. He looked down at Hermione who was lying unconscious on the Hospital Wing bed. She was as pale as she had been when he had rescued her from the Quidditch Pitch and was looking unnaturally thin. A thin silvery scar ran down her left cheek, though it was barely visible. Her breathing was shallow and she looked as if she were in great pain.

"She'll wake up when she wants to," Madam Pomfrey told him. "You have five more minutes." Ron nodded and Madam Pomfrey left to see to Harry.

"Please wake up, Hermione!" Ron begged quietly. "Please. If you wake up I'll try and stop trying to set you up with Harry, though I can't make any promises. Please. I need you! We got a test in potions next week and I'll fail without you!" He smiled at her. "Look, I have to go now Hermione," he told her sadly. "I'll be back later, thought. I'll see if I'm allowed to bring Crookshanks." He stood and stooped down to kiss her on the forehead. "Please wake up," he whispered.

Her eyelids flicked slightly and her eyes opened a sliver. "Harry?" she croaked, her throat parched. The her eyes closed and she fell back into slumber.

Ron bit his lip and raced out of the Hospital Wing.

Hermione awoke fully about three days later. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let her leave the Hospital Wing for another day and after spending over a week in the place, Hermione was glad to get out of there. Hermione figured that when the smell of disinfectant doesn't bother you any more, you really need to get out.

Hermione became a recluse. She practically locked herself in the girls dormitories, only emerging when necessary. She wouldn't speak at all to Lavender and only briefly to Parvati. She ignored Ron, Ginny and the other Gryffindors. Especially Harry. During meals she would sit at the other end of the table by herself and only sat with them in lessons when she had to. My life is a mess, Hermione wrote in her diary one evening while she was sat in her dormitory alone. I can't stand to talk to anyone, least of all Harry. After everything that's happened there is no way that we are right for each other. First at the Ball, we were interrupted. Then the broom broke just as he was about to kiss me.

Hermione stopped writing, a thought occurring to her. 'He tried to kiss me. That must mean that he...' Hermione gasped and dropped her quill. She buried her head in her hands and began to cry, tears of both joy and sadness running down her face.

"Look, Ron, we need to do something about Harry and Hermione," said Ginny, and Ron sighed, shaking his head.

"What can we do? Hermione isn't talking to anyone except maybe Parvati and Harry is like a walking zombie."

Ginny thought for a second, her gaze sweeping the Gryffindor Common Room which was full of Gryffindor's doing homework and playing various games. A smile spread slowly across her face. "I have an idea, but we can't do this alone." Ron looked at Lavender, but she shrugged, not understanding either. "We need reinforcements," she said looking pointedly at Seamus and Dean who were talking animatedly to Parvati. Getting her point, Ron and Lavender smiled.

"So what's your plan?" asked Lavender, intrigued.

"Well..." began Ginny, leaning forward. She launched into an explanation of her plan, which she had dubbed as Plan B because, "Ron's too lazy to come up with a Plan B by himself."

"Will it work?" asked Ron. Ginny nodded.

"Hopefully," she said, and she stood, straightened her lilac blouse and marched over to the other Gryffindor seventh years to persuade them to help her, Ron and Lavender.

When Ginny had explained the plan, Dean rubbed his hands together in childlike anticipation. "Let the games begin," he said grinning. Ginny smiled and gave Ron the thumbs up. Ron smiled in relief. This was going to be fun.

"Where are you taking me, Parvati?" demanded Hermione half an hour later as Parvati forced her out of Gryffindor Tower by holding onto her wrist and forcibly pulling her. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" she cried as she was led down a passage way by the determined brunette.

"If I told you, it would spoil the surprise!" exclaimed Parvati, dragging her down a hidden passage and then another. From the smell of things they were quite near the kitchens.

"What surprise?" asked Hermione, pulling herself free from Parvati's iron grasp. Parvati grabbed Hermione's robes and continued to pull her. "I don't ant any surprises. I want my life to be pleasantly boring!"

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" asked Parvati, wrinkling her nose. She stopped outside a door and finally let go of Hermione's arm. "We're here."

"And where is here, exactly?" asked Hermione looking around. She didn't recognise the hallway they were stood in.

"Just a nice quiet part of the school," said Parvati, waving her hand. "Nothing to worry about. We all thought you were looking a bit depressed so we thought we'd bring you down here."

"Why?" asked Hermione, thoroughly confused. First of all she had been torn away from her studies, then she'd been dragged to a strange and eerily quiet part of Hogwarts and now Parvati was going on about her being depressed. Parvati just tapped the side of her nose in response to Hermione's question.

"Just go in here," she told her, opening the door. Before Hermione could ask any more questions, she felt Parvati push her inside.