"Oh Ron," I groaned, "You are an idiot!"
"It wasn't my fault," Ron said, wincing at the pain in his leg.
"You ran into the Womping Willow and it wasn't your fault?" Harry laughed. Harry, Ron and I were heading towards the hospital wing with Ron leaning on Harry and me. Ron's leg was bandaged with my scarf but beneath that his leg was bleeding quite badly.
"Madam Pomphrey?" I called into the empty hospital wing. She came out of her office almost immediately.
"Mr Weasley," She said, "What have you done?"
"The-" He began
"He tripped," Harry interrupted him. Ron looked puzzled for a moment before realising; we weren't supposed to be near the Womping Willow. Madam Pomphrey sighed.
"Honestly" She muttered, "Come on, let's have a look at your leg" She helped him onto one of the uncomfortable hospital beds. She unwrapped my scarf and looked at the wound. She conjured a bandage and put it onto the wound. Ron winced.
"Sorry," She said, "Does that hurt?" Ron just nodded but from the look on his face I could see that it was really painful. She walked over to a cupboard and took out two bottles of potions and poured some of each into two cups, which had appeared on her desk.
"Drink this," She told Ron, "It will help the ease the pain." I almost laughed as he gulped it down in one gulp and then made a face at the taste.
"That tastes horrible," He said.
"Yes," She replied, "but it will help ease the pain. Now let's check that there's nothing in wound" She unwrapped the bandage again, waved her wand over the wound and muttered a spell that I'd never heard. Green sparks appeared at the end of her wand.
"Good," She said, "You haven't got anything caught in the wound" She was just beginning to rewrap the bandage when Professor McGonagall walked in.
"Um, Madam Pomphrey," She said, "Could I have a word?" Madam Pomphrey walked over to her. As they were whispering I caught a few words of their conversation.
"…Deatheater's meeting…bad state…take a look…"
"…What happened?…"
"…Cuts…crucio…wounds…know…"
"I'll…moment…Ron Weasley…leg…says…tripped" Professor McGonagall walked back out and I pretended that I hadn't heard anything of that. Madam Pomphrey put the cup of the second potion on the table near Ron's bed.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you for a moment but can you take this in about three minutes. Ok?" Ron nodded. "Ok, and when you've drunk it you may feel a slight pain but it shouldn't last long and whatever you do, don't take the bandage off. Ok?" Ron nodded again. As Madam Pomphrey walked out of the room Harry looked at me and mouthed 'what was that about?'
I shrugged.
As soon as I had left the hospital wing I quickened my pace. I had picked up a bag of emergency medical supplies and hoped that I wouldn't need anything else. I was just walking around a corner when I walked into a boy, Mr Longbottom. I knew that it was him because he's in and out of the hospital wing like there's no tomorrow.
"Sorry," I apologised and helped him pick up his things before carrying along the corridor. Soon I arrived outside the door of Albus's office. Minerva had told me that Severus had been hurt while at a death eater's meeting and I'd seen him after a meeting before but nothing prepared me for what I saw as I opened the door…