Prologue

My eyes felt heavy and swollen; it was a struggle to force them open. As I did, I flinched against the harsh white light reflecting off of the clinically white walls. My head began to pound and I realised that I was struggling to breathe. I felt as though there was a metal bar constricting my chest, blocking the passage of air to my lungs. Each breath was rasping and drawn out, a fight. I couldn't recall a time I had felt this dazed, this confused.

Pushing myself, with difficulty, up onto my elbows, I looked around and took in my surroundings. I was in the hospital wing, lying in one of many metal framed beds. At the end of the room, one bed had the curtains drawn completely around it. Madam Pomfrey, the matron, and Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, stood outside the curtains, speaking in hushed tones to one another. The late June sunshine threw their concerned features into light.

I didn't understand, as I struggled to breathe, what was going on. Little did I know that this was bliss.

Madam Pomfrey, as if by instinct, turned her head sharply to look at me. I must have looked just about as good as I felt, because her face paled and she began to march briskly over to me. As she paced steadily towards me, I realised that there were tears streaming down my cheeks. Tears which I didn't understand. I lifted my fingers to my face and caught a couple. I watched them trickle down my fingers and was filled with a strange sense of longing that I couldn't place. I was so confused.

Madam Pomfrey was at my side now, reaching a comforting hand out to touch my shoulder. But I was cowering away from her touch, still silently crying, still making an effort to breathe. Strangely terrified, I looked into her wide and panicked eyes, and then into Professor Dumbledore's, for he too was now by my side. And as I stared, piece by piece my memories returned to me, and I stiffened, trying desperately to reject them, yet knowing they were true. I was shaking now, my arms readying to give in on me, and Madam Pomfrey was reaching for me again, but it was her turn to flinch away. Her eyes filled with tears and I heard the headmaster mumble something about a sedative, but I was struggling to hear.

And then I realised I was screaming, shrieking, loud and sharp and fierce. The power of it forced the metal bar from my chest. Madam Pomfrey lay her hand on top of mine, and still screeching, I looked down. Three hands lay on the small bump on my abdomen. I faltered, and let out one last little yelp, feeling suddenly faint. The room fogged in front of my eyes and I slumped.

Once again everything was black. Everything was peaceful.