Chapter 21
The slight draught through the Hogwarts first floor corridor didn't disturb the mousy brown, limp hair that Tonks had been stuck with for the past few months. She slowly strolled through the corridor, officially looking for any sign of trouble, or anything that seemed out of the ordinary, but in truth, her thoughts were a long way away from the castle, they weren't even in Scotland, they were in London, where she had last spoken to him.
Her fingers unconsciously gripped the piece of parchment in her pocket; it was this piece of parchment that gave her hope of something playing out between them in the future. It was this piece of parchment that kept her thoughts with Remus when they should have been on her job, he had given it her as a means of protection and, from what she had gathered, she had been the only one he had presented such a thing to. She smiled at the thought of him wanting to protect her and keep her safe, but she begged herself not to look too much into it. That would be most unhealthy.
It was quarter to four in the morning and she was starting to feel the cold, her latest warming charm on her cloak wearing off. She carried on along the corridor on the first floor, and realising she hadn't checked it for any signs of trouble last time she had walked along it, decided to do so this time.
She pulled the piece of parchment out of her cloak pocket and unfolded it. She touched the tip of her wand to the centre fold and muttered 'protect the noble fighter.'
She couldn't help but smile at the saying needed to get the map to reveal itself; it was such a Gryffindor thing to say. It was Remus Lupin through and through. She watched as the lines of the castle drew themselves along the parchment and she saw the dot with the label 'Nymphadora Tonks' standing where she was indeed stood. She subconsciously wrinkled her nose at reading her whole name, she had asked Remus to change it so it just said 'Tonks' but he just smiled and simply replied, 'no'. Her dot self was pulsing in time with her heartbeat and it was also red, indicating she had a wand on her person.
Remus had explained briefly about the existence of a similar map that he, Sirius, James and the Traitor made together when they were at school. Remus had tried to come up with something similar to help with their evil-fighting duties and had come up with what was in her hand. He had only managed to make the one though, and he still wasn't happy with what it did. He wanted it to do more, but Tonks thought he had pinned down some vital information. What was more important than knowing whether your would-be attacker was armed or not? And she had then gone on to realise that the speed of someone's heartbeat could tell you a lot about their state of mind. That and whether they were alive or not.
Unlike the Marauder's Map, which, from what she had been told, showed all the Hogwarts grounds at once, and was therefore, quite large, this piece of parchment drew its new location as you moved. Another way in which Tonks thought Remus had shown his ingenuity, the smaller, and easier to find, the better.
She turned the corner in the corridor and walked a few paces before taking another glance at the parchment.
She did a double take and on the second look in as many seconds her eyes widened considerably.
She started sprinting down the corridor and skidded as her foot landed on something on the ground. Unable to balance herself she fell to the floor, cursing. She looked at what she had stood on and recognised it as a wand. She took another look at the parchment and swore loudly again.
She held her wand aloft and a large four-legged animal erupted out of it.
'Find McGonagall or Dumbledore!' she screeched at it.
The silver form started bounding down the corridor.
'Whoever's closest! Quickly!' Tonks screamed after it.
She scrambled to her feet and waved her wand at the door on her left. It unlocked with a click and she threw her shoulder against the wood. The door swung open and banged heavily against the wall. Another wave of her wand lit the torches on the walls and she saw what she hoped her precious piece of parchment had been wrong about: Hermione Granger flat out on the floor, white as a sheet, barely breathing, and with, according to Tonks' parchment, a heart that was barely beating.
…oooOOOooo…
Minerva McGonagall hurried through the castle as fast as she could, her tartan dressing gown being held around her by one arm and the other straight out in front of her pointing her wand light at the ground.
On receiving Tonks' patronus message she immediately set off, worried sick that a dark curse or wizard had hurt two of her students. She shouldn't have favourites, of course she shouldn't, but she knew she did to some extent, and two of them were unconscious. She shuddered at the memory of the message she had received.
"…their hearts are barely beating…"
Her pace quickened as she hurried towards the last corner before her final destination. Only a few of the portraits stirred as she passed them, her wand light having moved passed them before it burned into their eyelids and woke them up.
She turned the final corner and saw two open doors on opposite sides of the corridor.
She broke into a run and then sharply halted in the middle of the corridor, frantically searching through the darkness to find Tonks.
'Nymphadora!' she shrieked.
'In here!' Tonks shouted from the door on her right.
McGonagal entered the classroom and lit the rest of the torches on the wall, it having not entered Tonks' mind to do the ones on the other side of the classroom.
'What happened!' McGonagal whispered, through shock.
'I don't know! I just found them on the map and they were in these rooms,' she waved her hand in the general direction of the classroom on the other side of the corridor. 'There's no signs of hexes or curses and they're not injured in any physical way I can see! I just don't know!'
Her voice had become higher and more frantic as she had continued and her breathing was ragged as her panic started to come to the surface.
'There's no sign of injury, at all!' McGonagal asked, shocked, her mind still presuming dark wizards had physically attacked them. It was a hard state of mind to snap out of.
'No! None! It was all so…clean! Like they had walked in here voluntarily!'
'But they can't—'
All thoughts that this had been an outside attack vanished from McGonagall's brain and the enormity of the situation overwhelmed her. She didn't know why they were in separate rooms whether they did it voluntarily to test their connection, which she didn't think was at all feasible. Hermione Granger may have been naïve with her intelligence on occasion, but she was not foolish.
'We have to get them together, now!' McGonagal said sharply.
Tonks stared at her. 'What?'
'In the same room. Now!'
Tonks didn't think to argue against her old transfiguration teacher and started moving desks out of the way of the exit so McGonagal could levitate Ron out of the room safely. She didn't understand what was going on, or why McGonagall was so insistent they be moved to the same room, but then again, none of this situation seemed to fit.
Tonks did the same in the room Hermione was in as she had done previously, and moved the desks out of the way so Ron could be put on the floor next to Hermione.
When McGonagall had carefully put him on the floor she turned to Tonks.
'Have you tried any resuscitation spells on them yet?' she asked.
'Er…yes! I tried all the basic ones and even some of the ones I barely remembered from Auror training but their hearts would just not get any faster. Their heartbeats are dangerously low, Minerva! What's wrong with them?'
McGonagall had lost the colouring in her cheeks acquired from her exertion through the castle and she had to tear her eyes away from the two students and bring her focus back to Tonks.
'We need to get them to Poppy,' she stated simply.
'Should we take them to her or shall I get her here?' Tonks asked.
'Both. You go ahead and alert her that I'm bringing them. You can bring her back and meet me on the way if Poppy so wishes and you can inform her of everything you know.'
'I don't know anything!' Tonks said. 'Just how I found them.'
'You never know, Nymphadora, that might be all that she needs to know.'
Tonks smiled feebly and nodded. She turned and left the room running through the corridors to the hospital wing.
McGonagall turned back to the students lying on the floor, and not sure if she wanted to know the results of the test she was about to perform, waved her wand over the two of them.
A mass of red smoke hovered over the hearts of Ron and Hermione and writhed itself into the shape of the organ it was mirroring. The smoke darkened until it only had the smallest hint of red in it and after what seemed to McGonagall like a lifetime it pulsed. She waited, yet again, for it to pulse and after an alarming amount of time they did again.
McGonagall noticed that they were beating in unison, but this did little to soothe her worry. She waved her wand briskly and the smoke vanished instantly. She conjured stretchers for the two of them and levitated first Hermione and then Ron onto them. Carefully she levitated them out of the door and, as fast as she dared, took them down the corridor towards what she hoped would be their salvation.
…oooOOOooo…
'They were where?' Poppy Pomfrey exclaimed as she hurried out the hospital wing doors and locked the doors behind her with a wave of her wand.
'On the first floor corridor in separate rooms, apparently this is a bad thing?' Tonks have said, half asked.
'Very bad!' Madam Pomfrey said through her heavy breaths as she jogged through the castle.
'Er…I take it I've missed something major!' Tonks admitted.
The nurse nodded and took a deep breath.
'Miss Granger and Mister Weasley both swallowed a half made Amortentia potion, which has caused a major side effect in them both.'
She swallowed hard and took another couple of breaths before continuing. Really, this type of exercise was not something she was used to.
'They cannot leave each other's company. If they do they fall unconscious, or suffer excruciating head pain.'
'Oh,' Tonks said quietly.
'How long have they been separated?' Pomfrey demanded.
'Er…'
'Quickly Nymphadora! I need to know everything!'
'I don't know!' Tonks replied, flustered at being scolded like she were a student. 'But considering it's four in the morning I'm guessing it might have been a while!'
Pomfrey knew Tonks hadn't meant to be sharp with her, in the same way she hadn't meant to be short with the younger witch either. Apparently they both reacted to stress in the same way.
'Did you try any spells on them before you came here?' Pomfrey asked in a kinder tone.
Tonks noticed the change. 'I did, I tried everything I could think of, even some of the things I haven't used since Auror training!'
A smile played at her lips but it soon faded.
'And nothing at all worked?'
Tonks shook her head. 'No, nothing. I tried but—' she stopped talking, not really wanting to voice her failure.
'You did your best Nymphadora, that's all that matters.'
This time the smile stayed on Tonks' face for a few seconds. Now she really did feel like a student.
A minute later they met Professor McGonagall coming towards them, the two stretchers carrying Ron and Hermione in front of her. Madam Pomfrey took a position in between the two.
'May I borrow your wand, Nymphadora?' the nurse asked.
'What? Oh, yeah, of course.'
She held out her wand and Madam Pomfrey took it. She set to work, waving a wand over both her patients and moving them both in opposite but exact ways. Tonks' eyes widened as she watched the nurse work.
Once back in the hospital wing and after she had transferred Ron and Hermione onto the beds they had occupied far too often, Madam Pomfrey continued her ministrations.
After five minutes of excruciating silence the nurse stopped her work and stepped back from the bed.
'Poppy?' McGonagall said quietly, finally breaking the silence.
Madam Pomfrey turned and walked solemnly back towards McGonagall and Tonks. She held out Tonks' wand to her and the younger witch took it.
'How are they?' Tonks asked cautiously.
Poppy took a deep breath and looked between the two witches.
'I can't wake them up,' she said simply. 'I've tried everything I know and I can't wake them up. Their hearts are beating faster than they were, they still aren't a normal rate, by far, but still it's an improvement. They've got no physical injuries, but only them waking up will tell us if their slow heartbeats caused a lack of oxygen and…brain damage.'
McGonagall nodded solemnly.
'Do their parents need to be informed?' she asked.
'If there is no improvement by mid morning I would strongly suggest we tell them. But let's give them the night to show us what they're made of.'
She looked at Tonks and mirrored the small smile she had managed.
'Would you mind sending me hourly reports, Poppy?' McGonagall asked.
'Of course not, I shall be making them for my records so I shall send one of the house elves to you with a copy.'
'Thank you. Are you going back on duty, Nymph— Tonks?'
Tonks smiled. 'Yeah, I finish at six.'
'Well make sure you sleep well when you finish!' Madam Pomfrey said sternly, ever the nurse.
'Of course, Poppy,' Tonks said through a chuckle.
McGonagall and Tonks left the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey closed the double doors behind them. She slowly turned and walked back to her two patients.
She waved her wand over them each and the same smoke that McGonagall had conjured earlier in the classroom appeared over their chests and mirrored the actions of their hearts.
Se flicked her wand over her shoulder and a roll of parchment and quill flew their way over to her. She set the parchment down on the cabinet that was standing in between the two beds and brought the tip of her wand to the tip of the quill. She stood it on it's point and waved her wand in a circle around it. Instantly the quill started taking notes, writing numbers and fractions, and the occasional note to accompany them. Madam Pomfrey would consult these notes in an hour when her alarm clock woke her and she would summarise them and, as requested, send a copy to the deputy headmistress.
She sighed, knowing there was nothing more that she could do until morning. The headmaster was out of the castle and she didn't think he would be back until the morning so she could not consult him. She was not totally happy with Ron and Hermione's condition, but she knew there was nothing else anyone could do to help them. With that thought, she turned and walked through her office to her sleeping quarters, setting her alarm before getting into bed and trying to fall asleep.
It's a shortish one, I know, but there's a natural break. It shouldn't be too long before the next one's up.
Please be so kind and review, I'd be well happy if a certain number was reached! ;)
Step ;)