Chapter Twenty-Eight
There was a flash of green and then everything disappeared.
Then reappeared, after a flash of images. "Petrificus totalus!"
I sat disoriented and confused, staring at nothing in a field of green. It was broad daylight, something I hadn't seen in three long months. I had no idea what was happening. Did I die?
"Hazel, come on, we have to move!"
I looked up. I was on a mountainside with Elias Harley and a stunned Bellatrix Lestrange. "Harley?"
"Hazel, let's go!"
Harley had tortured me alongside the rest. I had felt the cruciatus curse from his wand, had three long scars along my bicep from a blade held by his hand, had been placed under the imperius curse by him to give information. I met his pale blue eyes.
"What's…" I couldn't speak. I hadn't spoken except to give false information in three months. I didn't know how to speak. He grabbed my arm again and apparated; this time, I appeared by a railroad, on grassy countryside at the edge of the forest. He apparated again and vanished, leaving me there.
For a heartbeat, all I could do was sit. I was free, and it didn't feel real. The last three months felt like a horrible nightmare, like I had just woken up.
I looked up at the sky, felt sun on my face, felt the grass underneath my buckled knees. I had no idea where I was, and for a heartbeat it didn't matter. Nothing mattered at all except that I could feel the sun on my face.
I could breathe.
X~X
It took some time to gather strength to walk the train-tracks.
I was bruised and malnourished; I had been fed only the bare minimum to keep a human alive for three months, given only the minimum amount of water. My whole body was purple and black and blue; I knew my face had several scars, scrapes, and bruises, and one eye was swollen almost entirely shut. I knew I must be quite a sight to see, walking along nearly-dead, but I had no other choice.
I soon reached a road, just by a bridge over a river, and suddenly realized where I was.
He had left me at the edge of Godrick's Hollow.
I'm home.
A gasp emitted from my throat and I started down the road at an increased pace, hobbling along as fast as I could. I had no wand, and I had been left in only an oversized black shirt, but I didn't care. The Potters' house was closest to the edge of town, closest to the woods- I knew the way once I reached the market.
A few people stared in the early morning as I ran along the edge of the woods, but I had no other choice. A couple asked if they could help; I ignored them and hurried on.
A familiar backyard came into view and my heartbeat quickened. My strength was fading; I'd had to stop multiple times already. I leaned on the back fence. "James! Lily! Euphemia!"
My shouts went out into the morning to no reply and I tried again, too weak to go any further. "James! Lily!"
A door opened on the house to reveal a confused Remus. He looked exhausted; I had no idea what moon phase it was, but I wouldn't be surprised if he'd just shifted back an hour ago. "Hazel!"
His shout was loud enough I was sure the others would soon appear. He dashed across the backyard; he was almost to me when Sirius appeared in the doorway and began to race over. Remus jumped the fence and caught me in his arms.
"Hazel, you're safe! What happened? Where were you?"
Sirius jumped the fence and caught the other side of me. Part of me wanted to scream at being confined, but the realization I was finally safe placed relief in my body that fear couldn't over-rule.
Within heartbeats, I had passed out.
