Hermione was next to him frantically scribbling notes about something she had found but as she read on her shoulders sagged and she ripped the page out of her note pad and added it to her growing pile. She sighed loudly, attracting Ron�s attention.
�Hey don�t give up yet, we�ve only searched half the library,� he half joked.
The corner of her mouth twitched up slightly as she tried to smile but failed, �Ron I know we haven�t been searching that long but I just can�t help think that we could be too late if we don�t find it soon, we can�t be sure how much longer he�s got.�
Ron shifted his chair closer to her earning him many �shh�s from the other people in the library, ��Mione the doctor said 1-3 years, and that was only in October, so that means Harry has 10-11 months at the least, he could still have 58 or more, you know how Harry is,� this earned another twitch of her lips, �my point is we still have time to find a cure. Why don�t you contact Lavender at St Mungo�s and ask her to have a look in their library, or even if you can get permission to have a look in there yourself, they must have millions of medical books that Hogwarts doesn�t.�
�Yes,� Hermione sprang from her seat and started out of the library muttering about calling her old school friend who now worked at the hospital.
Ron shook his head softly as she rushed out of the room as fast as she could without incurring Madame Princes� wrath, running in the library wasn�t tolerated, even by her favourite student-turned-professor. Secretly he mirrored his wife�s worries, they had been searching for over a month, and they hadn�t even found a reference to the disease or anything similar.
A yelp of pain then a thump of a book hitting the floor drew him out of his thoughts. He made his way towards the noise but before he had left his seat Madame Prince swooped down on the unfortunate student with her usually �Books are to be treated with respect� speech. He stuck his head around the corner of the shelves with the intention of saving the unfortunate until he saw who it was; instead he took a random book off the shelf and scanned it before putting it back and leaving Longbottom to Madame Prince�s wrath.
Ron returned to his table and started the process of replacing the books that had been useless in their search, back to their places. After a few minutes the loud whispering stopped and Madame Prince returned to her desk nursing a book that was most probably the one which had been dropped and now needed to be mended.
Ron placed a pile of books on the floor next to the shelf they belonged in and started the job of finding the places they needed to be in with a spell Hermione had taught him.
A growl of frustration and another thump from behind the shelf this time of a hand hitting the wood of the shelf, made him jump and he had to lunge to catch the book that fell from the air as his concentration broke along with the spell.
Ron carefully righted himself so as not to damage anything, he then moved around the shelf to find the source of the disruption.
Longbottom was leaning against the bookshelf holding a book in one hand while his other hand wiped his face. The small amount of light that penetrated that far back in the rooms shined off of Neville�s face showing tear tracks on his cheeks. He jerked up and away when he spotted Ron. He turned away and wiped his hand across his eyes.
�Ron,� he said turning back, smiling, �what are you doing here?�
�What I am doing, Longbottom, is none of your business.� Ron snapped.
Neville�s smile faded, �Ron��
�Don�t. Just stay away from me and my family.�
�Ron please, just give me a chance to��
�Oh yeah like you gave Harry a chance, you know for someone you claimed to love so much, it was easy for you to throw him away.�
�You don�t understand I had no choice.�
Ron snorted, �You had a choice, and that choice almost destroyed Harry.�
�Shh, take this outside,� Madame Prince snapped, striding up to them.
�No need, we�re finished,� Ron said starting away.
�Ron, give this to Hermione,� he held out the book he had been holding, �please, I know you don�t trust me but it think it will help,� he forced the book into Ron�s hand and turned away, allowing Madame Prince to escort him out as she scolded him about his two incidents in as many minutes.
Ron watched him leave then returned to reshelving his books, including the one Neville had just given him.