Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Written for the Percy Jackson Character Challenge

Prompt: Write about someone who cares.

Written for the Hunger Games Challenge #4

Written for the Emotion Challenge

Prompt: Hopeless

Written for the Drabble Club

Prompt: Three, two, one; time was up.

Written for Quidditch Pitch

Prompt: Repetition


Madame Pomfrey sighed. She loved caring for others, but sometimes the repetition was so boring.

She closed her eyes and spun on the spot. Okay. Now she had to think of the place. What was it again? Oh yes, 88 Pinewood Avenue.

She found herself in a silent forest. Well, if it weren't for the bloodcurdling shriek.

It ripped through silence like a cheetah would a fallen prey.

Madame Pomfrey followed the cry while watching for danger. The trees above her shaded the forest floor, casting an ominous shadow.

She silently turned a corner and glanced at the earthen ground.

She was welcomed with a bloody, disheveled body. She nearly screamed at the gory sight. It was a thing of nightmares! She had never understood why she feared blood; she had to work with it so often.

This was a very untimely arrival.

The next events unfolded in three rapid seconds.

Three.

Poppy checked the bleeding. It had stopped.

Not a good sign.

She needed to clean it up before the bloodseekers in this horrible forest sensed it.

With a wave of her wand and the word Tergeo, the spell was cast. The dried blood disappeared like mist on a swelteringly hot day.

Two.

Pomfrey checked the pulse. It was sluggish, the life draining. She had to work faster. There was still hope. She could save this patient. And she would.

She checked the huge gash on the chest of the victim. A fatal one if not treated quickly enough.

She hurriedly shouted, "Vulnera Sanentur!" Nothing happened.

She wasn't concentrating enough. She tried again, dispelling the distractions in her mind, and the wound sealed.

One.

Time was up.

She checked the pulse. Nothing moved.

NO!

It was hopeless. She had failed.

Tears welled into her eyes, rolled down her cheek, then were freed. One by one, they dropped from her chin to the waiting stones below.

She had horribly failed.

She ran through the forest, as if trying to escape the nightmare. The shadows around her darkened, as if lauding her of her petty efforts.

Every healer must bear knowing you can't save everyone. Sometimes it's just too late.

It was too late.

She sobbed. It was all her fault.

She turned to leave only to feel a cold, icy hand gripping her shoulder.

She screamed in pure horror as a deathly looking man bored into her eyes.

Her scream stuck in her throat as she noticed it's features.

Cold, hard eyes. Thin, bony fingers. Pale, white lips. Withered, broken skin. And a sinuous smile enveloping his face.

It was a thing of nightmares.

"You murdered him, didn't you! You monster!" Poppy screamed.

She instantly regretted her tirade the moment it spewed out of her lips.

"Let's not be too hasty here," he said as he flashed her a malicious smirk.

His icy fingers sunk into her back, drawing a scream from her.

It burned through her flesh.

The cold dirt of the ground, littered with stones, welcomed her blood as she crashed down.

It pooled around her.

Above, light streamed from the forest canopy onto the ground below.

Fitting that she would die bathed in its radiance.

All around, light faded like closing eyes.

A wave of darkness pulled her deeper into the ocean of unconsciousness.

Struggling to keep her head above the water proved futile. She sunk deeper into its abysmal depths.

Deeper.

Deeper.

Silence ensued.