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By the time they flooed into St. Mungo’s, Hermione couldn’t pretend as if nothing was wrong. There was a fine line between trying not to suffocate him with her concerns and appearing as if she doesn’t give a damn and she definitely didn’t want Ron to think that she didn’t care.

“Ron, forgive me for saying this, but we’re already here, perhaps you’d let Neville take a look at your wound?”

Ron was about to say something in return when Hermione cut him. “It’s not that I think you don’t have it under control, but that was a long walk and the flooing is just dizzying and you look pale-”

“Hermione,” Ron cut in, surprising her when she noticed the smirk on his face. “I am meeting Neville before I get my dad.”

“You…what?”

“He owled me a few days ago and asked if he could see me today. He didn’t say anything about a possible cure but he made it clear it was about my wound.”

“So…you knew I was going to meet him today?”

Ron shook his head. “No, I didn’t. He said nothing about you being there. I’m not really sure if he wants to meet us about the same thing.”

Hermione nodded, taking this new information in. “Ok, let’s go.”

Neville was in his makeshift office – a place where wizards and witches training to be a doctor would go to finish their reports or have a break. His face was set to a frown as he studied a report on his desk when they peered in. His frown quickly turned into a smile as he beckoned them in.

“I wasn’t expecting both of you to arrive together but this is a pleasant surprise.”

“Ron came by to fix my broken tap earlier,” Hermione explained. “I just found out you were looking for him as well. Is it about the same matter you wanted to see me?”

Neville nodded while showing them both to their seats. “Yes, actually it is. You see, Luna and I have been working on some spells and potions to stop internal bleeding and more advance spell on healing open wounds…and it was just by chance really…we think we found a balance of both spell and potion to stop the bleeding altogether.”

Hermione’s eyes were wide open. “Neville…that’s…”

“Brilliant.” Ron smiled.

Neville blushed, and for a second, Hermione was reminded of the shy, soft-spoken young man she knew from Hogwarts.

“It won’t break the curse, mind, but it…improves…the er, condition.”

“Has it been tested yet Neville?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, but on small wounds,” Neville replied. “it hasn’t been tested on fatal ones.”

“So…you we were wondering if you could use it on Ron?”

“If he agrees to it.”

“And you asked me here for…”

“Well, you are the brightest witch of our year in Hogwarts Hermione. Luna and I thought it couldn’t hurt to hear your opinion about it first.”

“What do you think Hermione?” Ron asked, looking at her with a pained expression on his face.

She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Well, first of all, I think it’s wise that you take a look at the wound and see if it needs changing. I think Ron might have exerted himself too much from the walk.”

“Oh, of course, no problem! I might need your assistance though, it’ll make the process faster and less painful for Ron.”

Hermione nodded. “Of course, I’ll help.”

“Right,” Neville said as he looked at Ron. “You need to take off your clothes so it won’t get messy later. There’re some spare hospital jumpers in the changing room for you.”

“K, thanks.” Ron got up from his seat and made his way to the changing room. Hermione noticed the difficulty he was facing just to walk the small distant and wondered if he would be all right in there alone.

“He’ll be fine Hermione, he’d been in a lot worst condition than this.” Neville said, as if he had read her mind.

“Oh?”

Neville nodded. “About two weeks ago, he came back to fetch Mr. Weasley and almost collapse in front of Luna. From what Mr. Weasley told her, Ron overworked himself at the Burrow.”

Hermione felt her throat constricted. What wouldn’t she give to just run to Ron and give him a hug and let him know he didn’t have to go through it alone. “About this new…cure…how does it work exactly?”

“Well you see, Ron will have to take two potions for the course of two weeks, which by then, should successfully stop the bleeding altogether. What we couldn’t fix is the wound itself, it will remain as fresh as the day the curse was inflicted on him.”

Hermione nodded, taking everything in. “What about the spell?”

“Right…after two weeks, he can stop taking one of the potions and continue with the remaining potion, which is to help prevent and cure infection that usually comes with open wounds. And then with a more advanced spell than the one he is currently using to slow down the irreversible curse, Ron can bind the open wound without the use of the hot salve, which means, lesser pain for Ron.”

Hermione was liking this new alternative even more now. Sure they couldn’t find the right spell to undo the curse (yet), but this new approach would make his life much easier.

“So…all he needs is to take that potion and cast the spell and he’s done? And no more bleeding after the first two weeks?”

Neville grinned. “Yes! He still have to use the muggle bandage though, so as not to expose the open wound and prevent further accidents. And the best part is, after the first two weeks, Ron only has to take the remaining potion once a week and renew the spell once every three days.”

Hermione was beaming. She could tell both Neville and Luna are going to be St. Mungo’s greatest assets if they haven’t already.

“We’ve had the permission from the Head of St. Mungo’s herself to try it out, we just need to find a willing participant.”

“Oh Neville, I’m quite sure Ron would do it! He’s also at the perfect age to try it out. He’s still young and strong.”

“Well, not right now he isn’t, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Hermione turned to find Ron barefoot and topless, with only a hospital jumper to cover the lower half of his body. The bandage was the only thing now covering the wound. He also looked like he was about to collapse.

“Here Ron, just hold on to this and we’ll work quickly to fix that.” Neville said as he showed Ron the railing bar that was mounted against the wall. It reminded Hermione of those side bars Ballerinas use to hold on to as they do their warm ups.

Neville disappeared behind yet another door and came back pushing a cart containing some first aid materials along with the infamous pot of salve.

She looked on as Neville proceeded to cut the bandage and discard the material and then muttered a spell that would undo the binding spell. The wound burst open and Ron began to bleed heavily.

Hermione gulped. Is this what Ron had to go through twice a day? And suppose he had overworked himself, like today, and could barely stand up, how had he managed to do all these on his own?

The blood was now soaking the hospital jumper and Hermione couldn’t help noticing how red it was against his pale skin. The strong smell of iron invaded her nostrils, making her dizzy. All these felt familiar…

“Hermione.”

She shook her head and looked up to meet his gaze. Despite the obvious pain he was in, Ron was smiling at her.

“Mione, look at me.”

“Calm down and breathe.”

“Ron you’re bleeding and none of the spells they taught us are working!”

Ron nodded his head lightly and struggled to find his voice and the panic button in Hermione’s head was pushed again.

“Ron-”

“I’m not going to die, so relax.” Ron gasped. “Don’t panic…and you’ll figure it…out.”

“But-”

“ I’m not done yet. You have to …fix me …so we can… stand by Harry… when Voldemort shows up.”

Hermione inhaled sharply. She can do this; she knew it! “Okay, I can do the binding spell, it won’t heal or stop the bleeding but it should slower down the process while I figure things out.”

“Such a…brilliant…witch.”

“I’ve been through this for the last two years, twice a day, everyday. Trust me, I’m not going to drop and die any second now.”

Hermione forced a smile and nodded her head, willing for the bad memories to go away. She shouldn’t panic, Ron needed her help and that was saying a lot. When was the last time Ron had said yes to anything she had to offer?

With new resolutions, she turned to Neville. “Okay, what do I do?”

“Start kneading the salve until-”

“It warms, yes, right away.” Hermione blurted as she reached out for the thick salve and grabbed a handful. She began kneading it and after a few seconds, she started feeling the cold salve becoming a little warm in her palms.

Neville began dabbing at the wound, soaking the blood and preventing it from soaking the jumper instead. Hermione couldn’t help stealing a glance when she heard Ron’s breath started coming in gasps and wheezes.

The salve couldn’t warm up fast enough and she was growing impatient. How in the world could Ron knead this thing to warm when surely he barely had any strength left just from bleeding?

“Here, put your weight on me.” Neville had shifted to allow Ron to lean against his body a little. Ron was quiet, he looked to be in too much pain.

“Maybe I’m doing this wrong, it’s not warming up fast enough.”

“You’re doing great Hermione, just a little while now.” Neville assured her.

“Tis…funny…Hermione doing something…wrong…” Ron teased in his grimace.

Neville laughed. “You’re right there Ron, that’d be funny. Hermione wouldn’t allow herself to do something as simple as kneading wrongly!”

“Oh shut it you two! I think it’s okay now, it’s really warm!”

“Okay good, just put it against the wound, it’ll meld itself against it and evaporate.” Neville instructed.

This was the part Hermione wasn’t sure she could handle. She could still hear Ron crying out in pain that day when she peeked on Harry doing it to Ron. The moment the warm salve hit the open wound, it sizzled and dissolved and Ron had cried on Harry’s shoulder as they waited for the pain to subside.

But the only thing that escaped Ron’s mouth when she slapped the salve against his wound was a low growl. Ron had tears in his eyes but he was smiling at her.

“Well, thanks for fixing me up.”

She was just in time to break his unsuspected fall and as Ron’s body lay unconscious on her lap, she was momentarily brought back to the day when she thought she had lost him forever.

“Ron, I really think you should apparate to St. Mungo’s right now, you’re not fit to fight!”

“I’m fine! Your spell helped, a lot, Hermione. I’m not going anywhere until we face Voldemort together with Harry.”

“But Ron-”

“I’m not going to break my promise now; you’d do the same if you were in my shoes and nothing I say will ever convince you otherwise.”

“GET DOWN! STUPEFY!”

“I owe you one!”

“No, we’re even!”

“Who’s counting? Expelliarmus!”

“Ron, the Dementors are coming this way!”

“Ignore them! They’re distractions, Charlie’s sending the dragons to fight them! DIFFINDO!”

Hermione tried to ignore the sudden chill that was creeping from her back. She kept muttering hexes and spells to incoming Death Eaters that seemed to just multiply every time she brought one of them down.

And then she saw it, the dragons looming above them and shooting fire at the Dementors. Never mind happy thoughts, she had a feeling the dragons were out to just maul them into pieces.

“Lavender, what are you doing!”

Her head snapped back to the direction Ron seemed to be yelling at and found Lavender Brown, without her wand, attacking an armed Death Eater.

“Oh Godric! Ron, go get her!” Ron was already half way there by then and Hermione shouted a jinx at a Death Eater who was aiming his wand at the direction of Ron and Lavender.

Her worry over Ron’s condition seemed eager to distract her from her concentration and she knew if she didn’t try hard enough, she’d commit a mistake that could just endanger all their lives. They promised to have each others’ backs and she wasn’t ready to break that promise.

She heard Harry yelling out yet another spell towards a Death Eater and it wasn’t until she had got rid of the two that was going for her that she ran to assist him. He was battling Bellatrix Lestrange.

“Harry, you have Voldemort to take care of, let me have this one.”

They say wars change a person. They bring out that bravery and courage in you, it led you to do things that you probably would never do under normal circumstances. They also said a war brings out the humanitarian and the killer instincts in you, all at once. And Hermione saw all these in the form of her friend, Neville Longbottom.

Both Harry and her had his back, stopping other Death Eaters from coming any farther towards them as Neville battled the woman who had ruined his family. Ironically enough, it was a deflected cruciatus curse from a fellow Death Eater that was meant for Neville that in the end, caused the downfall of Bellatrix Lestrange.

But there was no time for celebration.

Ginny, Bill, Fred and George were rounded by two trolls not far away while Luna Lovegood, Ernie McMillan and a fellow Auror were outnumbered by a group of Death Eaters. Everywhere around them, good were still fighting evil.

“Harry go ahead and get Ginny out of there, Neville, I’ll help you get Luna!”

And so they separated; at the back of her mind, the same old question lingered. How is Ron holding up?

She got her answer in the form of his anguished cry.