Lion,Tiger and... dragon - 6

Hermione lay on the floor, moaning and only half-conscious. The hair on the entire left side of her head was singed, and her scalp was covered with angry red burns that oozed painfully. Ron sat on the floor beside her, dazed and blinking slowly. The skin on his upper arm and shoulder was blackened and raw. He had inched toward Hermione before collapsing and sat gently stroking the uninjured side of her head.

"Hermione," he whispered, his voice cracking.

Harry felt nausea rise within his chest as he stared back and forth between his two friends. He ran a hand through his mussed hair. He'd known this would happen. He hadn't wanted them to come because he'd known they would end up getting hurt, but he was weak and allowed them to come because he'd wanted company.

He'd seen the terrible damage to Professor Dumbledore's hand, and he'd let them walk in here anyway. He felt frozen on the spot, his hands shaking and his breath coming in painful gasps.

"Ron? Hermione?" he said, sinking to his knees beside them.

Pull it together. What's wrong with me? I've never fallen apart under pressure like this.

"Episky," he said, holding his wand to the burns on Ron's arm. He knew it wasn't the best choice of spells. There must be a healing spell specifically for burns, but this was the only one he knew. The wounds on Ron's arm did heal slightly, enough to hold him until they could get help, anyway.

He was more concerned about trying it on Hermione, whose burns looked much worse.

"Harry, Ron," Ginny's voice sounded from the hallway. "Where are you?"

"Ginny!" Harry called desperately.

"Merlin's Beard! What happened?" Ginny asked, rushing over to her brother and staring at his arm in horror.

"I'm okay," Ron mumbled, brushing away her hands. "Hermione's hurt."

Harry held his wand next to one of the smaller burns on Hermione's neck.

"Episky," he whispered, grimacing when Hermione moaned. He felt a stinging behind his eyes and blinked rapidly. The wound healed, so he tentatively moved to her head. He continued to patch her up as best he could, desperately wishing Madam Pomfrey was here.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered when Hermione cried out as he tried to heal the largest of her burns. "It's the only healing spell I know."

"It's all right, Harry," Ginny whispered, gently rubbing his shoulders. She'd stood behind him the whole time, gently urging him on, and he was grateful for her calming presence.

"That's something we'll have to do later – learn more healing spells. For now, we've just got to do what we can to make them comfortable," she said, her voice trembling slightly.

"There're traces of Dark magic all over the wardrobe. We found the separate knob, but they got hurt when Hermione tried to open it," Harry said gruffly.

Ginny nodded and moved towards the wardrobe before anyone could stop her. She pointed her wand at the strange knob, opening it with ease.

Harry's jaw hung open. "How did you…? Ginny, what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing? That's exactly how Ron and Hermione got hurt. I don't know how you opened it, but we can't keep taking stupid chances."

"It wasn't stupid if it worked," she snapped back. "Professor Dumbledore told you that you were able to go along with him last time because you were underage, right? He said Voldemort was foolish enough to believe that someone underage and not fully qualified could never be a threat. Well, I'm still underage – as you're all so fond of pointing out – so my magic shouldn't register anymore than yours did."