Lily's heart turned to ice, her stomach felt like it was made of lead and despite her new glasses her vision blurred again.
Her mother had acted strangely when she'd asked about Draco.
He's dead isn't he? she thought.
"Lily," said Marco alarmed. "Are you okay?"
He hadn't even told her yet and she was reacting. Maybe he should've left it until she'd had more time to get her strength back. If he waited that long though she would figure it out for herself and that was no way to find out.
"Lily!" he said again.
Lily blinked, Marco was saying her name. She looked at him.
"What is it?" she asked him without really wanting to know.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "We don't have to go into it now."
"Tell me," she said. "Just tell me please."
"I'm afraid something happened during the attack," said Marco slowly. "You were very lucky to survive Lily, I'm sorry to tell you, the baby didn't..."
Lily stared at him dumbfounded.
"What?" she said.
"The baby," repeated Marco. "You miscarried due to the dragon attack."
"Baby?" said Lily. "I wasn't pregnant... was I?"
Marco was as taken aback as Lily now.
"You didn't know?" he asked.
"No," replied Lily still in shock. "I didn't know..."
"Oh dear, I'm sorry," said Marco. "I thought it was strange no one asked about it. That's why I wanted to tell you alone. I thought maybe your family didn't know yet but I assumed you did."
"I had no idea," replied Lily. "How could I have not realised?"
"At eight weeks not many people feel different at all," said Marco.
"Eight weeks..." mumbled Lily to herself.
Then suddenly she remembered Draco and her initial fears...
"Draco," she said. "Is he okay?!"
"He's not out of the woods yet," replied Marco. "He is still unconscious but I expect him to wake soon. His injuries were worse than yours but I am hopeful he will recover."
"Thank God," said Lily.
"I take it he was the father?" asked Marco cautiously.
"Yes," replied Lily. "He would have been."
The sudden revelation that she had been carrying Draco's child and not even known was quite overwhelming.
"I think you should try to get some rest," said Marco standing up. "I have a sleeping potion I can give you to help."
"No," she said. "It's okay, I can get to sleep on my own."
Marco gave her a look.
"I can," she said. "Honestly."
"Okay," he said. "But at least let me give you something for the pain. Dragon burns aren't exactly the easiest injury to treat but I can give you a potion that will at least dull the pain somewhat."
He left and returned a couple of minutes later with a thick purple potion in a small cup.
"I'm not going to lie," he said. "It will taste awful..."
He handed the cup to her and she drank it gingerly, heaving at the first gulp but continuing until it was all down.
Almost instantly she felt better though, as the pain indeed lessened.
"Get some rest," said Marco before leaving her alone.
She couldn't help but return to the thoughts of her unborn child that was now gone forever. It felt strange because she may never have known at all if Marco hadn't told her. Could she grieve for something, someone she had not known about?
Tears formed in her eyes and she knew then that yes she could...
xxx
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the hospital Scorpius Malfoy sat by the bed of his father.
Draco was lying there with terrible looking burns across the left side of his face, neck and arm. He hadn't regained consciousness since the attack.
Scorpius' usual smirk and amused air were both absent. He'd already lost his mother and he was terrified of losing his father, not that he'd ever let anyone know that.
A nurse came in to check on Draco.
"You don't look too good young man," she said. "How long have you been sitting there?"
"I don't know," mumbled Scorpius. "How long has he been here?"
"Almost a week," replied the nurse.
"I guess I've been here for almost a week then," he answered.
The nurse looked very concerned.
"I'm not going anywhere," Scorpius added defiantly.
"I'll get you something to eat then," replied the nurse with a smile.
Scorpius knew she was pitying him but sometimes pity was a good way to get what you wanted so he let her do so.
As he sat there he wondered to himself about Potter. Was she awake yet? Would she be okay? He knew it would be important to his father, after all he'd left all his family at Christmas time to chase after her.
When the nurse returned he asked her; "How is the girl that was brought in with my father?"
"Oh," replied the nurse levitating a hot bowl of soup down onto the bedside table. "Didn't anyone tell you? She woke up tonight, a little while ago."
"She's awake?" clarified Scorpius.
"Yes," returned the nurse. "Now eat that soup before it goes cold."
She walked away and left Scorpius alone again.
"Hear that father?" he said. "Potter's awake."
Then, abandoning the soup, Scorpius got up and quietly exited the room. Looking over his shoulder he hurried down the corridor to Lily's room. He slowed just before reaching the doorway not wanting to appear too eager to see her and strolled in. She was indeed awake and she was crying.
"Potter," said Scorpius quietly.
She looked up, she was propped up on a few pillows and wearing glasses.
"I didn't know you were a four eyes," he said trying to sound natural.
"Scorpius," she said sounding happy to see him.
"What's with the specs?" he asked.
"Oh these," said Lily. "My eyes were damaged by the fire."
"Will they get better?" he asked trying to keep the concern from his voice.
"I don't know yet," she answered.
"Why were you crying?" he questioned.
"Oh," she said awkwardly. "Just, well, I... I'm just worried about Draco, how is he?"
Scorpius shrugged; "He's still out of it..."
"I'm so sorry Scorpius," she gasped, crying a little more.
"Don't beat yourself up Potter," he replied. "The dragon did a good enough job of that."
She laughed a little and to be honest, felt relieved that Scorpius wasn't blaming her.
"How bad are his injuries?" asked Lily, the laugh leaving her almost as soon as it had arrived.
"They look bad," said Scorpius choosing his words carefully. "But the Healers say he'll get better."
It was a lie, the burns didn't just look bad, they were bad but he didn't think she needed to hear that right now.
"I'll leave you alone now," he said after a pause. "I just wanted to see for myself that you were awake."
"Okay," she replied but she didn't really feel like being alone with her thoughts again.
Scorpius picked up on her tone.
"Well if you like I guess I could hang around a little longer," he offered.
"Thank you," she replied as he took a seat next to her bed.
"So what did the Healer say about your burns?" asked Scorpius.
"They haven't really said much yet," replied Lily fighting back the thoughts of the miscarriage. "I haven't even looked at them properly yet."
She suddenly realised that she hadn't thought to investigate the source of the pain, nor had she looked in the mirror.
"Scorpius," she said. "Could you get me a mirror please?"
"Are you sure you really want to do that?" he asked.
"Why? Is it that terrible?" she asked.
"Well," he said. "I certainly wouldn't want it to be my face."
His mouth twitched as if he were going to adopt his old smirk.
"Oh shut up!" she said though she smiled.
His smirk appeared now.
"Here," he said conjuring a small mirror. "It's not too bad considering..."
Lily took the mirror and raised it up to her face, looking back at her was a very red face that was almost the colour of her hair. Her blue irises were surrounded by red instead of white and they were framed by silver wire rimmed glasses. As she lowered the mirror she noticed one side of her neck looked as though the skin was melted and then with a pang of realisation she knew that was because it had been melted, by dragon fire.
She put the mirror face down on the bed.
"You okay?" asked Scorpius.
"Yeah," she replied. "I was just thinking that if I hadn't been so naive about the dragons maybe none of this would've happened and your father would be okay."
"He'll be fine," said Scorpius although be didn't really believe it himself. "His Healer said so."
Lily tried to move in her bed but an excruciating pain shot down her right leg and she winced. The potion had managed to get her mind off the pain but apparently hadn't been strong enough for certain areas.
"What is it?" asked Scorpius and there was real concern in his tone.
"My leg," whispered Lily. "Let me see it..."
Scorpius stood up.
"Maybe you shouldn't look at it," he said warily.
"Please," she said.
Hesitantly Scorpius reached over and gently pulled the covers down to reveal Lily's body. Her bare legs were visible from below the hem of her short hospital gown. The left one look okay but the right one...
"Oh Lily," said Scorpius his eyes wide with shock.
Lily looked at her leg too and couldn't quite comprehend that it was hers. It was a strange purplish black colour and also looked melted, the injury went right from her thigh to just above her ankle. It looked shrunken, almost as if her very flesh had been burnt right to the bone.
"I've seen enough," said Lily closing her eyes.
Draco's injuries are worse than mine, she thought to herself. What have I done?
Scorpius pulled the covers back up over Lily.
"Don't worry," he said. "It will heal eventually."
"Thank you," she said quietly with her eyes still closed. She suddenly felt so tired.
Scorpius watched her fall asleep and closed his own eyes; he was weary too. He would get up and go back to his father soon... But he drifted off and was still there when Harry and Ginny arrived the next morning.