Written for Jasmine (Being A Wallflower) for December (my final one for 2013) Gift Giving Extravaganza. I used the prompt 'future'

Written for Danie's Song Inspiration Challenge using the song 'Eternal Flame - Bangles'

Written for Gamma Orionis' OTP Boot Camp using the prompt 'calm'

Do You Feel My Heart Beating?

A lone Healer hurried through the otherwise empty corridor of St. Mungo's hospital, and for a moment, Hermione lifted from her seat, hoping that maybe she had come to see her. But as she kept on walking, she returned to sitting, waiting.

It was a simple procedure, they had told her. A case they had experienced many times before, and with two hours under a sleeping draught, and a little prodding, everything would be okay. That was what they had told her.

It had now been three hours.

Not a word. She had heard nothing. Nobody came to tell her anything. At least twenty Healers had walked past in that space of time, but not a single one had stopped to even look at her. There she was, waiting to know what had happened, and they didn't even have the decency to explain to her why it was taking one hour longer than they had said.

Footsteps once again were brought to her attention, and she looked up hopefully, hearing them coming her way, but it was only Harry, bearing that horrible instant coffee the hospital kept.

"Hey," he said. "Any news?"

Hermione shook her head. "No! I just wish they'd tell me! It's not that hard, is it?"

"Well, maybe no news is good news." Harry sat in the chair opposite her, passing her one of the coffees he'd gotten.

"If you look at it that way," Hermione answered, falling back into her seat for the hundredth time that day. "I just don't like not knowing, you know? Even if something is terribly wrong, I'd prefer to know than have them keep me in the dark."

Harry placed an arm across her shoulders, soothing her. "Yeah, I understand," he said. "Though, I think everything's fine. I mean, they've done this plenty of times before, haven't they?"

"That's what worries me. It should have been over by now." Hermione took a sip of her coffee, cringing at its taste. It was revolting – she'd never been much of a fan.

"Just keep calm," Harry said. "It'll all work out."

Hermione breathed in deeply, then breathed out again to calm herself. Harry was probably right. She was probably worrying over nothing.

"He'll be quite impressed that you're worrying, by the way," Harry said after a moment, a smirk forming on his lips. "Especially when you told him not to worry about it."

"That was when it was supposed to take two hours, and I should be in the room with him right now!" Hermione said irritably. She looked up just as another Healer hurried past, and this time, she wasn't going to let them get away without telling her what was happening with her husband. She needed to at least know something.

"Excuse me!" she called, going over to them. It was a young male, about twenty-five, with cropped brown hair and a pair of glasses sitting on his nose. He turned to look at her, eyes widening slightly when realisation seemed to dawn on him as to whom she – and her companion – were.

"Oh, hello," he said, and she noticed a hint of an accent in his voice. "May I help you?"

"I'm inquiring about my husband, Ron Weasley?" Hermione continued. "He is here, having his tonsils removed, and he was supposed to be out over an hour ago, and I haven't heard anything. I'd just like to know if he is okay. I would have thought I'd be able to see him by now."

The Healer nodded, summoning a file with a wave of his wand. Glancing across at him, Hermione saw Ron's name on top of the file. He scanned it, nodding to himself every once in a while, then looked up. "It says here that there was a slight complication," he said, and Hermione felt her heart stop for a moment. No, it was a simple procedure; it had only been is tonsils for Merlin's sake!

Noticing her reaction, the Healer shook his head, continuing. "But he is well now. The sleeping draught that was given to him is still under effect, but he should be awake very soon. I am sorry that nobody has informed you of this, but I can take you to him now if you would like."

Hermione nodded. "Thank you," she said, though she didn't fully understand how multiple Healers had failed to inform her of Ron's location when the hospital was the emptiest she had ever seen it.

Ron was in a room on the next floor, and when she opened the door, Hermione was relieved to find that he looked well enough considering what he had been through. He was still asleep, but she had never been more grateful to see his chest moving up and down steadily. She turned to the Healer. "What was the complication?" she wanted to know.

"His tonsils were a bit more difficult to remove than had been anticipated," the Healer informed her. "They were literally very stubborn."

Hermione nodded. Knowing Ron, he had probably cast some kind of spell to make it just that bit more difficult to lose a part of himself. He hadn't been looking forward to them taking them out – it had taken an incredibly sore throat for two weeks to convince him that he probably should have them removed. And that had only been at Hermione insistence.

"If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to call us." The Healer left after that, and Hermione sat down in the chair beside Ron's bed, unable to contain a sigh.

"He did this on purpose," she said to Harry, slightly annoyed, slightly relieved that Ron was okay. "To try and stop them from taking them."

Harry nodded, smiling slightly. "I'll leave you to it," he said. "Last time I heard, Ginny was having some trouble with your son. I might go and help her."

"Bring them here if you need to," Hermione said. "I know what Hugo's been like lately. He's difficult for anyone who isn't me."

Harry shrugged. "We'll see how he goes. Let us know when Ron wakes up, and we'll bring them in."

"Thanks, Harry."

Harry left, leaving Hermione alone with Ron. She sighed again, unable to contain her irritation at her husband; but it didn't stop her from taking his hand in hers. She sat there for some time, beginning to wonder just how much of the sleeping draught they had actually given him, when she felt his hand twitch in hers.

"Hey, welcome back," she said.

Groggily, the first thing Ron did was feel for his throat.

"It probably hurts a bit more than it would have, had they not had so much difficulty taking them out in the first place."

Ron blinked, turning his head slightly to look at her. "Hm?" he said.

"They said the reason it took a little longer than it should have was because your tonsils were too stubborn to come out," Hermione said, her tone dry with humour.

"Oh." Ron pulled his hand away from hers, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He yawned, feeling his throat again. "Ouch."

"Serves you right," Hermione continued. "For worrying me like that. I thought something was seriously wrong."

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but it was apparently too difficult to say more than one word at a time, so he simply returned his hand to hers.

A Healer came in shortly after to check on Ron, and gave him some kind of potion to take. She said it would help with his throat, which it did, because the moment he'd swallowed the phial's contents, his voice had returned to him.

"So, you were worried?" he asked, smirking. "You were worried because you thought something was wrong with me?"

"No one would tell me anything," Hermione huffed. "Of course I was. They didn't even bother to tell me you were out. I actually had to ask."

"But you were still worried." Ron grinned at her.

"What did you expect me to do? Throw a party?"

"No, but I thought you'd be mad when you found out about the spell," Ron admitted.

"I am, but you're in hospital right now, and I don't think they'd take too kindly to me yelling at you."

"Oh… I love you." He looked up at her with such an innocent expression, that Hermione fought against her natural instinct to roll her eyes at him.

"That's not going to work, Ron. You know once you're better –"

"– yeah, yeah, I'm back to being the lousy husband. I know. But that's sometime in the future, right? I don't feel all that great, to be honest. Throat's hurting, and I'm feeling a little weak… and tired."

"As I said, once you're better," Hermione repeated, pressing her lips to his cheek. "I'm just glad you're okay. I was waiting for over three hours." She kissed him again, this time on the lips. "This is the last time either of us are going to be in here… unless we're visiting."

Ron nodded, his expression solemn. "But I like it when you fuss over me," he said.

I'm back with fluff. Jasmine I hope you liked it. I hope you all liked it, and I would love to hear your thoughts.