Bicorns and Balms

The library was in an ideal state for Hermione Granger. As she sat at a table - vacant except for her and her many books scattered all over the top - she soon was in full studying mode. Until -
“Hermione!”
She looked up and saw Ginny, stopping in her tracks, with a surprised look on her face at the sight of Hermione. She closed the book on Arithmacy she had only just opened up to and smiled at her friend. “Hi, Ginny. Anything the matter?”
She rushed up to Hermione. “I was looking all over for you; I didn’t think you’d be here in the library!”
“Why?” Hermione’s smile faded away as she noticed the worry in Ginny’s eyes and stood up. “What’s wrong?”
“Harry said you would be at McGonagall’s office, so I went there, but she said she hadn’t seen you since dinner, so - ” She spoke quickly.
“Ginny, Ginny! Calm down!” Hermione firmly placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders. Other people in the library started to notice. “What’s happened?”
“It’s Ron, he’s had an accident and is in the Infirmary.”
“Oh, is that all?” Hermione laughed with a sort of relieved sigh and sat back down. “I thought someone died; you really shouldn’t scare me like that Ginny!”
“Hermione!” Ginny said, aghast as she opened the book on Arithmacy. For a second there Hermione thought she’d have to miss out on her studying.
“Ginny, don’t worry. Both Ron and Harry have been to the Infirmary before and Madam Pomfrey cured them! I’m sure that whatever it is, they’ll be fine.” Ginny really ought to know that by now.
But Ginny pulled out a chair loudly and plopped down on it. “Well, first of all, it’s not Ron and Harry that are in there,” Hermione slowly looked up from the book. “It’s just Ron. And it’s not like before where he can be easily cured, because he’s been poisoned by a bicorn’s horn.”
“A bicorn!?” Hermione exclaimed, winning more glances over in their direction.
“Yes!” Ginny stood up with a I-Told-You-So expression.

When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, Harry was sitting on the bed beside Ron’s own and they were laughing at something. Ginny followed Hermione as she rushed over, her Arithmacy book still in her grasp.
“Ron! What happened?”
His face was pale, and his hair had lost its shine. Ron’s eyes were bloodshot and looking worn. “That ruddy bicorn - ”
Hermione gasped. “Your voice…don’t talk. Harry will tell me.”
Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Well…Hagrid left us instructions for the bicorns. They were just babies, but he warned us that they could still hurt. Fortunately, at this age their poison isn’t fatal. We had to muzzle them and put them in this cage thing.”
Ron made the sound of clearing his throat. “I - ”
“Ron, don’t!” Hermione ordered. “Go on, Harry.”
“We had to play this flute to tranquilize them, like Fluffy, hold them still, and put the muzzle on them at the same time. It wasn’t easy. After about two or three, I think it was, something went wrong and the next thing we knew, Ron got impaled by one of the bicorns’ horns and ended up here.” “So, you’ll be okay?”
Madam Pomfrey had bustled over. “Yes, he’ll be fine. But the antidote for the poison takes a few days to brew properly, so Mr. Weasley will have to stay here for a while,” She went to Ron’s side and removed a pillow from behind him, making him fall back. “You have to rest now. The rest of you will have to leave.”
“Okay, bye mate.” Harry stood up and started to go. “Maybe next time we should grow an extra pair of hands before doing favors for Hagrid, eh?”
Ron laughed hoarsely. “Yeah.”
Hermione’s face blanched and she dropped her Arithmacy book. She grabbed Ginny’s wrist and hastily said good night to Ron. When they were far down the hall from the Infirmary, she let go.
“Merlin’s Beard, Hermione! What’s gotten into you?”
“It’s all my fault, Ginny!” she replied, eyeing the Hospital Wing doors. “It’s because of me Ron’s in there!”
“What?”
She spoke in a whisper. “Remember when Harry told you I’d be at McGonagall’s?”
“Yes…”
“Well, that’s because that was where I told him I’d be…you see, when Hagrid first came to Ron, Harry and me a week ago and asked if we could look after some creatures while he was away on a trip, we had all agreed. But there was a huge Arithmacy exam the day after we were supposed to do it, today, and I desperately needed all the time I could to study for it, and that meant tonight as well. “But I knew how Harry and Ron would react if I told them that, so I said that McGonagall needed my help badly on some errand, and that’s why Harry thought I was at her office.”
Ginny’s expression was that of disgust. “Oh, Hermione…”
“I know, I know! If I had just helped them, if I had played that stupid flute, they would have been easier to subdue and Ron wouldn’t have been…”
Hermione choked up with tears.
“So, what are going to do?” Ginny asked softly.
“I’ll make it up to him.”
“Will you tell him what you did?”
She nodded.

“Madam Pomfrey?”
The short mediwitch popped her head from her office door. “Yes, Miss Granger.”
“Would it be okay if I paid Ron a visit?”
“All right, but not too long.”
“Thank you.” Hermione walked slowly over to where Ron sat on his bed, his homework sprawled all around him. He looked deep in thought as he read a Potions book. She almost didn’t want to disturb him, but shook it off and dropped all the candy she was carrying on his lap.
He picked up a box of chocolate frogs and looked up at her. “All these for me?”
“Glad to hear your voice is better,” She nodded and took a seat near his bed.
“From Harry and Ginny and everyone?”
“No,” Hermione felt her cheeks glow pink. “Me.”
“Oh,” Ron smiled. “Wicked, thanks Hermione.”
She sat up and fiddled with the hem of her skirt, looking intently at it. “Actually, um, Ron, I wanted to, um, confess something to you.”
He had already started on a frog. “Oh?”
“Yeah…” She turned her head and rubbed her neck. “You see, i-it was sort of my fault that you got hurt.”
He swallowed. “What d’you mean?”
“I mean, if I had been there - ”
“Oh, I know. McGonagall wanted you to help with something.”
She sighed. “Yes, but, what you don’t know is that…I lied. To study for my Arithmacy exam.”
When he heard her, Ron started to choke on his bit of chocolate frog. Hermione, shocked, ran up and patted him sharply on his back. He coughed, and seemed to be fine again. Pomfrey had ran out of her office when he heard him.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Ron replied, pushing the stack of candy away from him. When Pomfrey returned to her office, Hermione looked guiltily at the floor. Ron glared at her.
“I can’t believe you.”
Her eyes twinged.
“We needed you, Hermione! We trusted you!”
“I know!” She sank back down on her seat and buried her hands in her head. “I know.”
“You dumped Hagrid, Harry, and me for studying! Studying!”
She sighed and looked up at him. He was staring at his candy.
“Why did you get me all this?”
“Wh - ? To make you feel better.”
“To make me feel better, or you?”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
“You didn’t care about me last night, why do you now, all of a sudden? Just wanted to relieve some of the guilt off you, I bet.”
“Wh-Wh-What are you talking about?”
Angrily, he took the hospital bed drapes and closed them around him. “Go away.”
She sighed and touched them with her palm. “Ron, I’m sorry.”
“Go!”
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Don’t bother.”

Hermione stormed into the Gryffindors Commons Room. Making sure Harry was no where in sight, she hurried over to Ginny.
“Well?” She asked. “How’d it go?”
“Horrible. He didn’t take it very lightly.”
“Did you think he would?”
Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I just don’t know what to do. I told him I was sorry, but he’s too angry. He thinks I apologized for myself - that I didn’t mean it.”
Ginny thought about it for a moment. “Have you told him you care for him? Maybe then he’ll believe it.”
“Oh,” Hermione replied, almost disgusted. “He knows I’d do anything for him.”
“Does he?”
“Yes!”
“Well, maybe you should reaffirm what he thinks.”
Hermione moaned. “Do I have to?”
Ginny gave her a disbelieving look.
“All right, all right.”

“Hello, Ron.”
Ron didn’t looked at her at all. “What do you want?”
“I want to tell you something.”
“No,” He said firmly. “The last time you wanted to tell me something, I choked on the head of a frog.”
Hermione sat on his bed so that he couldn’t look anywhere else. “But see, no frogs anywhere. What’s going to happen?”
Ron looked defeated, but crossed his arms.
“Okay, well…” Hermione then averted her own eyes to her feet on the floor. “I’ve been thinking a lot about…what happened…and decided that I have to tell you…tell you…that, well…I care for you, Ron.
Really, I do.”
She looked at him, and he was studying her dubiously. After what seemed to be an hour, he said, “Did Ginny tell you to say that?”
“No!” Hermione stood up, appalled. “Really, I meant it! Now you can believe me or not, but I did my part and told you.”
Ron stared at her. Then, “Madam Pomfrey? Madam Pomfrey!”
Soon the mediwitch appeared. “I’m sorry, Mr. Weasley, but whatever it is, it’ll have to wait. I need to go into Hogsmeade for a moment to get some ingredients for the potion.”
“Couldn’t you at least tell Hermione to leave me alone first?”
“What? Oh, all right. Miss Granger…” She looked thoughtfully at Hermione for a moment. “Actually, no. Miss Granger, you can stay here with Mr. Weasley. If he needs anything, please do it for him until I get back.”
Ron looked furious at the two of them. Pomfrey left before he could start cursing. “Yes, Ron, please…let me do something for you. What can I get you, uh, butterbeer maybe? Or would you like to play Wizards’ Chess?”
Grumbling, he started to sit up and shift slowly in his bed. “I want you to leave me alone - ah!” He stopped cold, wincing. He had obviously hit something sore.
“Oh, oh what is it?” Hermione asked, anxiously.
“It’s nothing,” Ron started to move in the opposite way, but stopped again. “Ah! Merlin’s Beard!”
Hermione rushed over to his other side. “Ron, please, let me help.”
“I need Pomfrey,” He seethed.
“She’s gone. Why do you - ”
“It’s the wound…” He shifted more. “The balm to stop the stinging wore off.”
Hermione bit her lip. “Well…well, I can do it, Ron. Will you just let me?”
“You don’t have to.”
“Please Ron, let me! I want to!”
“Agh, fine. The balm’s right there, to your left.”
Hermione turned and saw the small brown bottle of a liquid next to a rag on his nightstand. Ron had rolled on to his side so that his back faced her.
“All right,” Hermione pulled up her seat right next to the bed. “Where is…?” “Lift my shirt. It won’t be hard to find.”
Turning up her sleeve, Hermione gently brought the back of Ron’s night shirt up and gasped silently. She couldn’t find her voice. The wound was bigger than she thought it would be, almost as big as her fist and exposing his sensitive flesh beneath the skin. It was a milky, yellowish color and surrounding it dark blue. The skin was turning grey, with almost every vein visible by the purplish color of them. Hermione let the shirt fall over it again.
“What’s wrong?”
Hermione cleared her throat. She couldn’t bare to try and imagine how much it hurt. “N-Nothing.” Her hands shaking with shock, Hermione took the rag and dampened it lightly with the bottle of balm. She lifted the shirt again. Hoping it wouldn’t hurt more by the touch of the rag, she gently dotted the entire area with it, being the most cautious around the open wound. She heard him take a sharp in take of breath and stopped abruptly.
“What’s wrong? I thought it was suppose to stop the stinging.”
“It does. It is,” His voice was calmer. “Your hands are just cold.”
Hermione looked and saw she had her free hand on his back. She removed it, and laughed lightly when goosebumps covered him. Ron shuddered and she placed the back of his shirt down again.
“There,” Hermione said as he turned over again. “I hope I did it right.”
“Yeah,” Ron replied. “You did.”
Hermione suddenly smiled. “Your color is coming back.”
He nodded and drummed his fingers. She looked to the floor, realizing it was an awkward moment. She searched her mind for something to say.
But she didn’t have to search long. The image of Ron’s open wound flashed in her mind and she became choked up again.
Ron frowned and sat up when he saw her. “Hermione?”
“I…” Hermione swallowed. “Your wound, Ron. It’s awful.”
“Yeah, well,” Ron halfheartedly smiled. “It was a bicorn after all.” Hermione sighed. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“Sure I can,” he replied, smiling.
Laughing back her tears, she asked, “Can I have a hug?”
Before he could answer, Hermione jetted to him anyway. He grimaced and she realized her arms were clamped around him too hard. She pulled back immediately. “Oops, sorry.”
Ron adjusted his shoulders. He seemed to be blushing. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, then, I suppose I should be getting back to the Commons Room, you know, to - uh -”
“Study?”
Hermione just looked at him nervously.
He laughed. “That’s okay, I have to too.”
“All right,” She smiled. “I’ll see you later then, Ron.”
She made her way over to the exit of the Infirmary and was about to enter the hallway.
“Her-Hermione?” Ron called feebly, as if unsure of his voice.
She turned around. “Yes?”
“Did you mean it?”
Hermione searched her mind for the answer to whatever he meant. Then she realized it. “Yes, Ron.”
“Because if you do, you have to know, that, uh…I do too.”
“I meant it, Ron.”
“Good, then,” He was sounding like how she did before. “You know that I do.”
Hermione smiled. “Hey Ron?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you like it if I stayed here a little longer?”
“Yeah, I’d like that, Hermione.”