"I'm sorry," Ron said.  He looked up at Hermione, bleary-eyed, and she could see him trying to figure out a tactful way to ask how it had gone.   Right until the day before the event he'd been saying he'd keep Malfoy's pratty friends in line, and he'd learned a thing or two in Auror training at the Ministry.  Then he'd come down with a fever and rash, and despite Molly popping over to the townhouse with potions and soup, he couldn't drag himself out of bed.   Somewhere in the back of her brain she heard a voice whisper she hoped Malfoy was a better sick person because after a year of pain she didn't have a lot of patience for this. 