I do not own Harry Potter, this is an in progress story and the main character, (Sirius) may change! A very and extreme thank you to my wonderful new BetaGeorgeWeasley'sEar!
It takes another week for everything to quiet down into an echo of normalcy. Hogwarts has been cleaned and patched, families have been united and the grounds have been cleared of Death Eaters and the ashes of Hagrid's hut. The Body is finally gone, someone took it away, someone else took me with it and I watched them lower it into the ground. People stood up and talked about Amy. How wonderful she was. If she was really so wonderful, then where was she? Where did she go and leave me behind? People keep touching me, patting my back, shaking my hand, crushing me into a hug. I wish they'd stop. My clothes are still filthy and rough and I'm starting to feel hunger in the tips of my fingers. I know what I should do about that...but I can't seem to remember.
Madame Pomfrey comes after the Body is gone and fusses around me. She makes lots of 'tsking' noises, and soothing coos. Calls me 'dear'. It's been a while since someone said my name. Not since the Golden Trio. I wish she would. Just so I could hear it, remember what it was. But she doesn't, it's just 'dear'. She wants to take my clothes off, raises her wand to do so, but I'm not sure I want her to. It makes me uncomfortable to think of parting with them, this is Amy's shirt, I can't loose it. But she insists and I can't fight her. There's already been too much of that. So she Vanishes my clothes and I hear her gasp.
"Oh, dear, why didn't you come sooner?" she frowns at me and shakes her head. "I know you've suffered a terrible loss," her face gets sad and cloudy, "we all have. But it's know excuse to let yourself go. This must hurt, Alice."
Alice. Yes. That's my name. I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost it like I did Amy. Madame Pomfrey is making a lot of 'tsk'ing noises now, and frowning hard.
Her hands flutter around me but she hasn't touched anything since removing my clothes. Her face is pinched with concern.
"Oh dear." she wrings her hands. "I'm not sure what I can do about this Alice." she reaches out a hand and I follow her eyes. I've got...a stain, down my side. At least I think it's a stain. It can't be anything else. It's red and purple and black, and even though it doesn't move, it seems to ooze down my leg. Seeing it pricks something in my brain...which pricks something in my side and before I know it I'm burning. I suck in a shocked breath as I feel my eyes blow wide, and my ears are ringing as someone around me screams, a long drawn, torturous wail I haven't heard since the war ended. It's only when my lungs ache and I see dark spots in my eyes that I realize it's me. The sound breaks away as I fight to breathe. Madame Pomfrey is talking, more senseless words of comfort. She pushes me to lie on my uninjured side, her wand waving, face darkening more and more with whatever it's telling her. There are tears in my eyes and I don't fight them as they fall. All the pain of the last few days coming together to crush me. The sleepless nights and lonely days, the ache of the battle and the raging agony in my side, everything seems multiplied till the days before the battle seem like nothing but the lingering edge of a dream.
Madame Pomfrey puts a potion to my lips and I swallow it with my sobs. The ache of loss in my chest that has been festering for days simmers away till I feel hollow, lethargy rising up in its wake and my eyes drift closed. And though I sleep and I don't dream, the pain persists, and for a reason I can't explain, I'm glad it does