Ash & Blood

HSW&W Term 12, Assignment 1 | Gryffindor| Paleontology, Task 9 | Write about not knowing whether someone is alive or dead | Word Count: 1645

IPC #224 - Dialogue: "If my day gets any worse, I'm asking hell if they're having an exchange program."

365 #37 - Broken

Warnings: major physical injury, possible character death

o . o . o

Hannah scrambled down the stairs, climbing over piles of stone and debris. It seemed that half the walls in the castle had been blown to pieces in the course of the battle so far. With all the adrenaline flowing through her system, she hadn't really noticed it happening in the moment, but now she could barely see through the clouds of dust in the air. But they'd been given a reprieve, and now she imagined everyone was scrambling to find each other, to take stock of their losses and injuries. Actually, in truth, Hannah had no idea what anyone else was doing, but there was only one thing she was interested in. She had to find Anthony.

It sounded mad, but the entire time she had been fighting, it had been an alternating stream of two thoughts. Just stay alive. Please let Anthony be okay. Part of her thought that it didn't even matter if she survived as long as Anthony made it out alive, though she knew that he would kill her if she died. But now that staying alive was taken care of, Hannah felt fear choking her.

She had no idea where she was going, or whether it was in the direction of where Anthony was. They hadn't been together when the fighting had started, so he could be anywhere. But down seemed like a good direction to start. That would be where other people were, and someone else might know what happened to him.

"Anthony?" she croaked, crawling over a particularly large pile of stone. A few pieces shifted under her hands and she slipped a little, feeling the debris cutting across her palm. Terror gripped her. He could have been hurt by falling debris, or even crushed beneath it. He could be beneath this very pile for all she knew, suffocating. "Anthony!" she called out more desperately, tearing at the rocks between her, not caring even a little bit that she was shredding her fingertips in the process.

Hannah moved from pile to pile in a daze, coughing dust out of her lungs. Each time she hit the bottom of one mount - or had dug through as much as she was capable of moving - she felt the fear in her heart grow a little bit more. Why couldn't she find him? What had happened to him? Was he dead somewhere? She needed to know, the uncertainty was a nightmare.

Blindly, Hannah stumbled through the hallways and down flights of stairs, searching all the while, until she found herself outside the transfiguration classroom. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath and steady herself. With every step that she took, she lost more hope. There was so much destruction, and Hannah was beginning to think that there would be bodies that may never be found. Through a nearby window, she could see a massive pile of rubble where the Astronomy Tower used to be. Hannah laid her hands on the stone ledge of the window, looking out into the night. How long would they have before Voldemort renewed his attacks? She didn't fully believe that he would keep his word.

"Hannah?" a voice called, and she turned around sharply, casting off her reverie. Squinting, she could just see the outline of a body hidden in one of the alcoves that used to house a suit of armor.

"Anthony?" she asked, staggering toward him. Hannah began to hyperventilate as she tried not to cry, but she couldn't help the sobs. She knelt next to him and ran her hands over his face, leaving streaks of dirt and blood smeared over his skin. "You're okay."

"I dunno, Hannah, if my day gets any worse, I'm asking hell if they're having an exchange program," he joked in response, eliciting a laugh from her that quickly turned into more coughing as she choked on dust and debris.

"You don't think we've got enough demons up here?" Hannah teased back.

"Ah, don't worry, I'd take you with me," he assured her, grinning.

Hannah adjusted her position slightly, one hand falling to his chest, and he winced at the slight pressure. Though Anthony tried to hide it, she didn't miss the expression, and worry immediately coursed through her again. His leg was badly broken, with bone poking through a large gash, and when she lifted his shirt she could see dark bruises blossoming across his ribcage.

"Anthony!" she groaned, tears springing to her eyes once more.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," he hushed, his words wrapping around her like a soothing blanket. He always had been able to work magic with his words. "It's alright, I'm fine."

Hannah curled into his side, careful not to press on any of his injuries, and lay her head on his shoulder. She really needed to go find someone who could help him - if nothing else, the wound on his leg needed to be cleaned and covered before all the debris caused an infection. And yet she couldn't bring herself to move. She'd only just found him, and she needed a few minutes to feel his body next to hers and let him work his linguistic magic. Just long enough to be sure that it was real and he wasn't a hallucination that her mind had conjured out of a desperate need for him to be alright. She just needed to know, to be certain that Anthony really was okay.

"Hannah," he soothed, rubbing his thumb across her forearm. "Everything is going to be okay."

She sat up and took a deep, shuddering breath. It was time to stop her tears and get a move on. This war had stolen their childhood away and taught Hannah the importance of doing what needed to be done, and in that moment, it meant leaving Anthony in order to find someone who could help them.

"Okay, I'm going to go see if I can find Madam Pomfrey or someone else, I just don't know how to heal injuries like this," Hannah said, trying to brush some dirt from his cheek, though her hands were so covered in ash that she ended up merely smearing more across his face. "Stay here, and don't…"

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured her, understanding the words she couldn't bring herself to say.

Hannah squeezed his hand one last time, not entirely sure whether it was to reassure Anthony or herself. He smiled at her, warm and genuine, and it gave her the strength she needed to get up. She would have to be fast. The moment she rounded the corner, Hannah felt the fear creeping up once more that something might have happened to snap the tenuous thread that held him in the land of the living. He's fine. It's been two minutes, nothing happened, he's fine. She repeated the words over and over in her mind as she walked through the castle, searching.

"Now, if you'll help me move these students into the Great Hall, we can begin to assess their condition -"

"Madam Pomfrey!" Hannah exclaimed, relief flooding through her as she saw the healer instructing Dean and Seamus.

"Miss Abbott, I'm glad to see you, Mr. Thomas and -" she began to say, but Hannah interrupted her once more.

"Actually Madam Pomfrey, I need your help," she said. "I just found Anthony near the transfiguration classroom, but he's badly hurt and I…" Her voice cracked slightly and she took a breath to steady herself again. "I don't know how to heal him, and I can't move him."

"Lead the way, Miss Abbott," Madam Pomfrey answered without hesitation, briefly turning back toward the two young men at her side. "Mr. Thomas, Mr. Finnegan, please continue moving the students, I will return shortly."

Hannah set off once more, leading Madam Pomfrey at a rapid pace through the hallway. Though there was still some fear that he could have taken a turn for the worse while she was gone, Hannah finally felt some of it dissipate. She had found help, and Madam Pomfrey could heal just about anything. He had to be alright now.

When they rounded the final corner, Hannah's eyes immediately found the little alcove. Anthony was still there, his head leaning back against the stone wall. For a brief moment she panicked, but as she got closer she could see the rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive.

"Hey," he greeted, opening his eyes at the sound of their footsteps.

Hannah dropped to her knees by his head once more, taking his hand in hers again as Madam Pomfrey began to examine his injuries.

"I think I'll mend the leg first," she said, all business. "Then we can move you and I will be able to assess the extent of your other injuries better."

"Sounds good," he answered, a grin spreading across his face. "If it's not too much to ask, Madam Pomfrey, I'd like to avoid as much pain as possible as you do this. I think I've had about as much as I can take today, and I'm not sure Hannah'll make it if I pass out."

"I'll do my best, Mr. Goldstein," Madam Pomfrey assured him, extracting her wand. "Heavens knows we don't need to be causing more injuries to ourselves at this point."

Hannah watched, but her mind was elsewhere. They'd made it through the first battle of the night, but it was almost certainly not going to be the last. She almost felt as though worry was more likely to kill her than a curse at this point, and she had no idea where she was going to find the strength to keep going. But then again, maybe she knew exactly where it was going to come from. Because she would do absolutely anything to keep Anthony safe, and that was not something she would ever give up on.