Visiting the Sick

Hogwarts Hospital Wing. "Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are both inside. Make sure you leave early. Don't interfere with their recovery," Madam Pomfrey instructed them sternly, looking very displeased.

Allen led Emily into the ward. With the curtains drawn, the room seemed rather dim. The Gryffindor Quidditch Team members were packed inside, having brought plenty of cakes, sweets, and several bottles of pumpkin porridge. Near the window, two figures were squeezed very close together.

"Oh, you're here. I think you probably understand why Madam Pomfrey said that." Hermione squeezed out from the Gryffindor crowd and jerked her chin toward the people behind her. Noticing them, Harry, lying on the hospital bed, greeted Allen and the others warmly. Ginny hopped down from his bed and helped Hermione place the gifts Allen and the others had brought—Honeydukes sweet hampers and fresh flowers—by Harry's bedside.

Then a whining, coquettish sound drifted over. Everyone saw Lavender, who was sitting by the bed right beside Ron, brazenly and as if no one else were there, clutching Ron's arm tightly. When she noticed Allen and Hermione coming over, she suddenly and deliberately wrapped her arms around Ron's neck, kissed him on the lips, then sweetly sat up straight beside the dumbstruck Ron—back on the Hogwarts Express, Lavender had heard with her own ears that Ron liked Hermione, and she had been looking for an opportunity to more clearly assert her claim. Coupled with her Gryffindor identity, Lavender had ultimately decided to act first and think later.

Hermione helplessly swept her bushy hair aside with one hand, then pressed a hand to her forehead, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.

Madam Pomfrey walked in carrying two large bottles. "Drink these, and you'll be better very soon. Miss Brown, you seem to have made Mr. Ron