Healing the Broken

Chapter 15- Meeting The Parents

Harry feels his stomach drop. "G-goodbye? She's gone?" Despair fills his stomach, tears pricking his eyes. He couldn't exactly comprehend what he was filling when the nurse nodded, other than complete sadness. His hands shook, he face was probably pale- the only thing he was sure of was that he was broken and he was crying.

He put his face in his hands, and nearly fell to his knees. Gone?

He couldn't imagine life without Hermione, and right now, he really didn't feel like trying.

Gone.

He would have to be the one to tell Ron, Luna... everyone who cared about her. He had to go say goodbye, and he couldn't imagine ever letting go of her. No way could he live without her- though he would have to.

They ought this war so that they could all be safe- and now Hermione was dead? He thought she was safe. He thought that he had finally gotten he, Ron, and Hermione safe. Looks like he was wrong.

Gone.

And then the desk lady- Lisa, the name tag said- burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes, and she had to push her glasses up to wipe them. She sighs. "Ah. Gets 'em every time."

Harry stops for a second, looking at her with red eyes. "What?"

She waves her hand at him, still laughing. "Sometimes I pretend a patient has passed whenever a visitor comes- the look on their face always gets me!" She tosses him a visitors pass, mimicking a boo-hoo face.

Harry's hand clenches into a fist around the visitors pass, and he glares daggers at her. "You mean to tell me you lied to me?"

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, get over it- your girlfriend isn't actually dead."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"That's what they all say. Now go on, I have an issue of Rita Skeeter's newest section to read." She looks him up and down. "It's probably about you and your girlfriend again."

Harry resists the urge to tell her that she's wrong, Hermione wasn't his girlfriend yet, but instead he turns on his heel and storms down the hall to the right room.

When he gets to the door, he's nervous again, which makes no sense- it's not like Hermione was going to be awake. And even if she was- he wasn't usually nervous with her... sure she made his stomach fill with butterflies and his heart beat a mile a minute, but nervous...

He opens the door, slowly at first, to make sure there wasn't a doctor in there or anything that he was interrupting, and then opens it wider. He steps into the room, shutting the door softly behind him, and pulls up his usual chair. He looks down at her, trying desperately to pretend that she was just sleeping.

"You're beautiful when you sleep Hermione." He murmurs to her, even though she can't hear him. He always did this when he came- talked to her. Said he missed her. Told her about his day. "You're always beautiful though...

"They say that you're in a coma. It was sort of funny when they figured it out in one of your first days, which was... Merlin, it was weeks ago. You've been here for weeks." He says the last part helplessly, but then gets a grip. "Anyway, apparently they didn't have much experience with comas- like the whole stitches deal with Mr. Weasley... do you remember that? Mrs. Weasley said that she didn't trust them, and you said they worked right fine. But they said a person was 'sleeping' whenever they were in a coma, which I guess is sort of right. Turns out your parents are in one too- a coma. I heard they woke up from it though."

Right when he reaches forward and takes her hand, both of her parents burst in on que. Harry had also heard that their memories had been restored, which made sense, for they seemed to recognize their daughter fine enough.