Naomi knew that the Master Healer was right to insist on a thorough search of the castle but still felt as if she and her companions were abandoning the wounded already gathered in the Great Hall. Wayne Hopkins, a seventh year student, was no great loss to the healing effort. Even now, hours after the battle, he held his wand at the ready as if expecting an attack. No, that wasn't fair. Unlike Naomi, he'd been at the battle. He'd seen friends cut down. He'd likely almost died himself.
"Lumos." As light flared behind her, Naomi glanced back at her companions. Wayne had stopped as if afraid to get too far from Senior Healer Oakenstone who was reading an owled message by the light of her wand. Naomi turned back to the door. The dying, those not yet found, couldn't afford to wait for her to gather her courage.
Her gasp, a sharp intake of breath, went unnoticed by the dark entity laying against the latticed windows. Such black hair and robes, darker than night against bone white skin, could belong only to Death. She blinked and the figure resolved into human form.
"Professor Snape." Headmaster Snape she reminded herself as she darted across the room to drop by his side. He didn't move. His wound was as terrible as any she'd ever encountered but her mirror fogged when she held it to his mouth. She grinned in relief. She'd seen too much death that day.
"Get away from him." Naomi startled at the sound. She'd never heard words carry so much rage. Wayne stood over them, pointing his wand directly at Headmaster Snape. Naomi drew her own wand and whipped it around in a circle, raising a shield between her patient and the furious young man. She hadn't meant to call up the Rod of Asclepius but the serpent-entwined staff glowed green and brown on her shield. As a symbol of healing, it seemed appropriate but Wayne, obviously mistaking it for a snake, shouted "Slytherin bastard" and rained spell after spell down on them.
She knew she couldn't last, not against the rage fueling Wayne's spells, but even so Naomi threw more power into her shield. He'd not kill the patient, not on her watch. Her Healer's Oath demand she do all she could to save him.
Wayne's spells battered against Naomi's shield. As it started to buckle under the pressure, another voice called out, not loud but clear: "Petrificus Totalus."
Wayne fell to the floor stiff as a board. The Senior Healer, standing in the doorway, seemed to take in Snape's condition in one glance. During the triage after the battle, the Healers had been communicating by owls to conserve their energy. Senior Healer Oakenstone now used a spell to send out a call."I need an immediate retrieval to St. Mungo's. Private room. Highest security."
"Private room? Security?" Dazed from the attack, Naomi kept her questions short.
The Senior Healer gestured towards Wayne. "He's not the only student with a grudge against the Headmaster."
Petrified, Wayne could only glare at Snape from the periphery of his eyes, but even so Naomi could feel his rage. She'd heard rumors of atrocities at Hogwarts but they'd seemed too fantastical to believe. She'd been mistaken. In the Great Hall she'd seen bruises and wounds that spoke to months of abuse. Perhaps she'd been wrong to shield the Headmaster.
The Senior Healer seemed to read her thoughts. "You did the right thing, Naomi. Our job is to save lives. Others will dispense justice."
Naomi understood what the Senior Healer was saying, but as she imagined what the students had been through, she didn't see how the wizarding world could recover. "How do we fix this? What do we do now?"
"We do what we do best. We heal."