Chapter 14

The next day was Saturday. That morning Hermione was woken by the rays of sunlight that were shining through the glass panes of the bedroom windows. She rolled over and squinted at the sight of a small piece of paper resting on her bedside table. The brunette lazily reached out and grabbed the slip of parchment, moving it within reading distance.

Gone down to breakfast with boys, didn't want to wake you as you had an eventful night. Don't panic! Nobody but you can read this. I'm meeting Astoria by the Lake at 12:00, please join us!

Ginny.

The curly haired witch let out a small sigh as she carefully put the note back where she'd found it, before pulling back the covers and climbing out of bed.

As soon as she stood up, Hermione felt her head start becoming dizzy. However, determined to meet up with Ginny and Astoria, she ignored it and passed it off as a result of standing up too fast.

Once she took a small step away from the bed, Hermione lost her balance and went hurtling towards the floor. The brunette attempted to grab hold of the bed frame to prevent her fall, but failed to do so and ended up pulling the knitted blanket Mrs. Weasley had made her off the bed.

As the young witch landed on the floor, she hit her head off the wooden planks, leaving her laying there in the girls dormatry, unconscious, with a blanket laying on top of her lifeless body.

***

Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table reading the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, as she patiently waited for Hermione to show up. Seamus, Harry and Ron were having a rather amusing conversation about Seamus' latest failed attempt at preforming basic spell, but Ginny didn't take much interest in the subject as she knew how it ended.

"Gin, are you feeling alright?" Harry asked, distracting the redhead's attentions from the paper.

She didn't look up, instead she spoke to him through the paper. "Yeah I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"

"Well, your reading the Prophet upsidedown."

Ginny stopped reading and placed the bundle of printed papers abruptly on the table in front of her, before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"No, Harry, I'm not alright." Ginny huffed as the dark-haired boy in front of her frowned. "In fact, I'm far from alright! I'm worried about Hermione."

"Why on earth are you worried about 'Mione?" Harry questioned, trying not to let the other two boys hear.

"She hasn't come down yet."

"And? She probably just sleeping in, nothing to fret about."

"It's quarter to eleven!" Ginny exclaimed in annoyance as she tried to get her point across.

Harry paused for a moment, thinking things over before nodding. "Actually, now that you mention it, it does seem pretty unusual for 'Mione to stay in bed for this long. Perhaps we should go check on her?"

"Perhaps!? Harry, I think we should go check on her!" Ginny corrected as they stood up and left the table.

As the two of them neared the doors to the Great Hall, Astoria caught up with them, closely followed by Draco.

"Ginny, have you seen 'Mione?" Astoria asked with panic evident in her voice.

"No, Astoria, we haven't." Ginny responded with a small shake of her head. "We were just going to check on her."

"You mean, she hasn't come down yet?" Draco questioned with a frown.

"Not that we know of." Harry grumbled, clearly not wanting to be involved in the conversation. "Why'd you ask?"

"You definitely should go check on her then. She's never in bed for this long." Astoria said with a matter of urgency.

"We're about to." Ginny nodded as she turned to leave, dragging Harry with her.

"If she's not in the dorm, there's a chance she could be in the library." Astoria called out from behind them.

"If they care so much, why don't they just help us look?" Harry questioned sarcastically, causing Ginny to stop and turn to the two Slytherins.

"You guys, want to help?" Ginny asked, taking Harry's sarcastic comment literally.

"Ginny, I didn't mean..."

"Sure! Why not?" Astoria shrugged as her and Draco caught up with them. "Besides, it'll put Draco's mind at rest."

With that, the four of them set off in direction of the Gryffindor Tower, hoping to find a hint of the whereabouts of their missing friend.

***

They ran into the Gryffindor Common Room, after arguing with the woman in the painting about letting the Slytherins pass through, and gathered around the bottom of the stairs.

Ginny stood on one of the steps and began giving out instructions. "Okay, Astoria, you'll come upstairs and help me search the dorm."

Astoria nodded in agreement as Ginny turned to the boys, who looked ready to protest before the red-haired girl had said anything.

"Don't even consider protesting!" Ginny warned loudly, startling the boys. "The pair of you will check down here. Work together and help each other! Do you understand?"

"Yes Ginny." The boys chorused in unison, which caused both the girls to grin.

Without another word, everyone took to their jobs. The girls ran upstairs to the dormatry and shoved the door open. They glanced over at Hermione's bed to find that the covers had been pulled back and were left in a messy heap at the end of the bed. The note on the cabinet was in the same place Ginny had left it, but she figured that her curly haired friend must've seen it when she got up.

"Well, at least we know for definite that she got up." Astoria sighed in relief.

"I suppose." Ginny responded quietly.

"Still not satisfied?"

"No. Not yet."

Astoria chuckled at Ginny's refusal to stop looking and pointed to the bathroom. "I'll check in here."

Astoria disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Ginny alone in the bedroom. She wandered over to Hermione's bed with an intention of fixing the state of the covers. However, as she approached the bed, Ginny tripped over something that had been left laying on the floor.

As she picked herself up off the floor, Ginny looked down to see what had caused her to fall and froze. All the red-haired girl could see was a limp arm poking out from under a blanket, that had been clumsily place over whoever was beneath it.

Reluctantly, Ginny removed the blanket from on top of the body and shrieked in horror. There, under the blanket, was Hermione laying cold and limp on the floor, with a bruise forming on her right cheekbone.

"Oh my God." Ginny gasped in horror as she fell to her knees beside her unconscious friend.

Astoria came rushing out of the bathroom and almost collapsed at the sight that greeted her. She rushed over to Ginny and sat beside her in attempt to calm her down.

Harry and Draco, who heard Ginny shrieking, appeared at the door moments afterwards. As soon as Harry saw Hermione laying there on the floor, he lost all colour in his cheeks and had to lean against the door frame for support. However, Draco seemed to be the only one whose brain hadn't stopped working. He turned to Harry, who had gained some colour in his cheeks and began dishing out orders.

"Go down to the Hospital Wing and get Madame Pompfry." Draco told the dark-haired boy, who nodded in response. "Be as fast as possible and tell no one what has happened!"

Without responding, the Boy Who Lived rushed off down the stairs and off to find Madame Pompfry.

The blonde boy turned to the girls, who were still sitting on the floor beside Hermione, and sighed in contemplation. After a moment of silence, he came up with an idea.

"Astoria. I need you and Ginny to move Hermione up onto her bed." Draco requested, causing a teary eyed Astoria to nod slightly in agreement.

"Aren't you going to help us?" Astoria questioned as she helped a sobbing Ginevera to her feet.

"I can't. I'm off to find Blaise and cancel our arrangements for this afternoon." Draco said, earning a stunned look from both the girls.

"You're going to cancel your plans with Blaise?" Ginny sniffled with a small amount of amusement evident.

"For a girl you claim you don't love?" Astoria grinned as she watched Draco's face flush pink. "Are you sure you're not in love, Draco?"

"Seriously!?" Draco scoffed as he walked towards the door. "Your going to do this now, while Hermione is in need of help?"

"Your the one leaving her." Ginny argued with a small chuckle. "Not us."

"Whatever." The blonde boy mumbled as he left the room and made his way out of the Gryffindor Tower, in search of Blaise.

***

Draco returned to the Gryffindor Tower, followed by Blaise, who after letting Draco cancel on him, forced his friend to tell him what had happened, to find Hermione tucked up in her bed with Astoria and Ginny sitting on, what he presumed was Ginny's bed, chatting quietly.

The two boys took a seat on the same bed as the two girls and questioned  them on anything that had happened to Hermione while Draco was gone.

"Where in Merlin's name, has he got to?" Ginny asked, growing more impatient by the second.

"I'm not too sure." Astoria sighed as she stood up and made her way over to the bathroom. "But if there one thing I am sure of; it's my sudden need to pee."

Once Astoria disappeared into the bathroom, Draco stood up and began pacing around the room, causing Blaise to shake his head in amusement.

"Uh-oh." Blaise sighed, causing Ginny to frown.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked the dark skinned boy, as she sat up on the mattress.

"This is really pissing him off." Blaise chuckled, without taking his eyes away from his tall friend. "Either that or he really needs to pee."

"How'd you know?" The redhead asked, suddenly taking an interest in Blaise's newly spoken facts.

"The last time I saw him in this state, was when his mother got..."

"Yes, thank you, Blaise." Draco cut him off rather abruptly. "I don't need to hear you repeat that event."

Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open and in ran a rather exhausted looking Harry. Blaise shouted for Astoria to hurry up as Ginny and Draco questioned the dark-haired boy on the whereabouts of the school nurse.

"Well?" Astoria asked as she emerged from the bathroom. "Where is she?"

"She, Miss. Greengrass, has a name." Madame Pompfry stated as she hurried into the room, carrying a rather large bag of medical supplies.

"Sorry, Professor." Astoria mumbled as she and the others followed the older witch over to Hermione's bedside.

The five of them watched as Madame Pompfry took one look at the unconscious girl smiled. They all stared in confusion at the woman as she pulled a plastic tube, containing some form of medication, out of her bag and placed it on the beside table.

"There is nothing to worry about. Miss. Granger has simply caught the flu." The witch announced as she took Hermione's temperature. "I'm sure she'd be flattered that you are all so worried about her. However, Miss. Granger is going to need to rest, but she will also need to be taken care of, just until she gets some of her strength back."

"How's that going to work, Professor?" Harry questioned as the nurse made her way over to the door.

"Whatever do you mean, Mr. Potter?"

"We're all at school again starting from Monday."

"And?"

"So how are we going to look after Hermione if we're at school?" Astoria asked, trying to make the situation clearer.

"I shall give each of you a pass for your lessons this upcoming week." The nurse said with a small smile, as she produced five slips of parchment from the front of her bag. "I'll inform Professor McGonagall that all five of you will be missing a week's worth of lessons."

And with that, the nurse turned and left the room, leaving the five of them alone in the silence of the girls dorm room.

Ginny and Astoria were the first to move, they walked up to their friend's bedside, one on each side, and took hold of her cold hands. Blaise joined them too, after several minutes of debating whether or not to do so. He sat beside Astoria and placed an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a comforting hug.

Draco stood at the side of the room, thinking about the point the girls made earlier. However, his train of thoughts was interrupted when someone gently patted his back, causing the blonde boy to face them.

"You know, as much as I hate to say it, you was a really big help today, Malfoy." Harry sighed as he turned to face his childhood enemy. "Perhaps Hermione had a point when she mentioned forgiving you for all you'd done."

Draco couldn't help but smirk at the sudden change of tone. "Don't go crying on me, Potter."

"I'm being serious." Harry laughed in response. "As crazy as it sounds."

"At least you realise just how crazy you actually sound, Potter."

There was a moment of silence before either one of them spoke up again. And when they did, neither of them were prepared for what followed.

Harry turned to face the boy he had called his enemy and grinned slightly. "But no matter how crazy I sound, Hermione was right!"

"She usually is." Ginny chuckled, causing Harry to realise that the other three had been watching intently.

"Because, if it will make her happy, Malfoy, then I suppose I can forgive you." Harry held out his hand. "I say, we start over."

Draco raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Harry's hand. "A truce?"

"I think that's what he was implying, mate." Blaise answered with an obvious tone to his voice.

Either way, the dark-haired boy nodded in confirmation. "A truce."

Draco hesitated for a moment. He thought back to what Hermione had told him about how important her friends are to her, and that she would do anything to make them happy. The blonde boy glanced at the sleeping brunette and smiled slightly, before taking hold of Harry's hand and shaking it.

"A truce it is!" Draco announced, causing Astoria, Blaise and Ginny to grin wildly as everyone turned their attention to the sleeping Gryffindor Princess, waiting for the moment when she would wake up and prove that she was, in fact, alright.