Chapter Thirty: Birthday Bruises.
As though some fate monster knew just how horrible Hogwarts was for its students this year it seemed to drag on the days so they felt more like weeks. Rebecca still hadn't got over Danielle's disappearance, which had been swept under the rug and dismissed by Snape any time anyone asks about it. She couldn't even look at Danielle's empty bed without bursting into tears. There was still no news of my Father from my Mum who sent me a couple of letters, as did George, to make sure I was getting on okay. I decided not to tell either of them about my near miss with Reedon at the start of the week and instead focus on how well I was doing with school. I'd been given my timetable by Professor Sprout the morning of school she actually seemed quite pleased when I informed her that I would not be taking Herbology. Instead my timetable was filled with Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts (which was now just the Dark Arts), Divination (unfortunately Firenze was no longer teaching, half-breed and all), History of Magic and of course Transfiguration. Any other time was free time, I was pleased to find that Tabitha had almost the exact same time table. Though she'd chosen to do Herbology instead of Transfiguration and Muggle studies instead of Divination.
The first Dark Arts lesson came on only our second day there, almost everyone I knew had chosen Dart Arts, thinking it would be just like every other DADA year. Ginny and I knew something was wrong as soon as we walked into the classroom together. Sitting on each desk was a copy of a book that I knew from my lessons in History of Magic, I recongised the black bound book with its white text on the front and purple admonishments around the cover. It was in a History of Magic textbook that was about Hogwarts, it was quite a new text book and under the 'banned books' section this one was one of the first to appear. 'The Secrets of the Darkest Art.' Just looking at the book made a chill run up my spine, in the History of Magic textbook it had said there were not many of the books in circulation, the date of its creation isn't even known, how they had managed to get this book mass printed for students was beyond my comprehension.
"Come in. Take your seats. Open your new textbooks." Amycus Carrow demanded from the head of the room, everyone seemed to throw around fearful glances at each other before moving.
"As you can see, we will not be teaching how to defend against the Dark Arts any more, but rather how to wield them." He smirked out as he continued once everyone took their seats. Ginny had opened the book and was flying through the pages of it with a look of disgust. Unlike Leo Everette who looked at the book like it was a pot of gold he had just been handed. Next to me Tabitha seemed to be just as in shock as I was, neither of us touched the book, leaving it closed staring up at us.
"If you turn to page 43 you will see extensive explanation on the uses and practises of Fiendfyre." Amycus continued, a shiver ran down my spine as I finally reached to the book, it was cold to the touch, as though it didn't want me to open it. A Ravenclaw had raised her hand at the mention of Fiendfyre, Amycus examined her slowly before nodding for her to speak.
"It's Fiendfyre uh, dangerous, sir? It's a curse that can easily get out of control and strives to kill living things…" She stumbled out, Amycus, instead of looking mad as I would have expected, smirked and walked toward the Ravenclaw's desk.
"I'm glad to see some of you have done some research on the subject already, I am here to sate the curiosity I'm sure you all feel about Dark Arts. Any spells you have been forbidden from using, I'm here to tell you, you can use them, you can wield their power!" He smirked, now looking around to the rest of the class, the Ravenclaw girl seemed disappointed by his response but did not speak again, instead Everette piped up.
"What about the unforgivable curses, sir?" He asked with far too much cheer in his voice, every eye in the room moved to Amycus, wide and nervous.
"Why of course, Everette, I will absolutely be teaching you how to use the unforgivable curses in this class." Amycus grinned, a rumble of gasps and whispers broke out among the class. Tabitha grabbed hold of my hand as if checking she wasn't imagining this.
"But – But they're unforgivable, illegal, we can't cast them! We will get in trouble!" A Gryffindor from somewhere near the front called out, Amycus' grin never fell as he sauntered towards the student.
"Not anymore." He said with such glee my stomach flipped, I tightened my grip on Tabitha's hand now as he moved back to the head of the classroom. "Now, page 43!" He commanded, swinging his wand through the air and every book on the desk threw itself open to the page. Ginny glanced back at me with a fire in her eyes that I wondered if I shared.
A few days had passed by, I'd come to relish the free time hours (though I found myself alone for most of them as almost everyone in the year had taken Herbology). Finally it was our first Transfiguration lesson and although I had no Tabitha to fall to as my go to friend I did have Rose. The pair of us were quietly chatting in the hall waiting for McGonagall to turn up, Rose was telling me about how many 'Outstanding's' she got in her O.W.L's. When I saw someone turn up just behind her that made me scowl. Taylor walked over to the queue waiting outside the classroom.
"Urgh, what's he doing here?! He's not even that good at Transfiguration!" I growled out to Rose as Taylor's eyes moved to look at mine, I broke away from looking at him and instead looked to little Rose in front of me. She glanced back at him before looking back at me, pushing her glasses up her face.
"I heard he did really well in his O.W.L's and that he's taking Professor Sprouts advice to heart and going after an Auror job..." Rose explained. "You need a N.E.W.T in Transfiguration for that." She finished I frowned at her.
"Just where did you hear all this from, missy?!" I questioned, her usual source for gossip, all of our usual sources for gossip, was dragged from this school just a few days ago.
"People have been coming to me with all the gossip now instead of..." Her eyes fell, I took a hard swallow as though I could take back the words I'd just said. Luckily the door opening behind me cut the silence short and Professor McGonagall strutted out. Although I doubted that she would admit it I was sure I saw a gleam of pride in her smile as she looked at me before motioning for everyone to enter the room. The lesson itself was the most difficult one I'd ever had, it was a struggle trying to understand some of the incantations and even the words in half the books. In the end however I had been the only student to manage turning the mouldy bread we had into what could 'suffice' as fresh bread. McGonagall smiled as she picked it up and took a whiff of the bread.
"Well done, Verity." I smiled at her before glancing towards Rose who looked sore, her bread had somehow become worse than it had better.
"I just don't understand how it can be so simple to turn a teapot into a rat and so hard to turn mouldy bread back to decent stuff!" Rose hissed at me as we started exiting the room, her hair was a mess and her glasses askew. I couldn't help the small giggle that escaped my lips as the pair of us moved towards the doorway.
"Miss. Stockhart?" I heard McGonagall call back for me, I turned on my heel at once to find her stood behind her desk summoning me with her finger. "Could I speak to you for a moment?" She asked I looked at Rose who smiled nodded then left the room, I closed the gap between McGonagall and I just in time for the last student to leave.
"I see that you have succeeded all the O.W.L's you need for the teaching job." She pointed towards a nearby desk I sat down as I nodded at her.
"Yeah, I did." I said the smile on my face was mirrored on her own.
"So I can assume you are interested in perhaps a career in teaching?" She asked I eagerly nodded.
"Very interested, Professor." I grinned.
"Good." She said turning away from me for a second. "In that case I would like if you would join me for private lessons every Thursday evening? It will be good to get a head start on your future career." She nodded briskly.
"Of course, Professor." I again spoke eagerly, "I would like nothing more than to learn more about Transfiguration."
"Delightful!" McGonagall exclaimed. "I will warn you however, Verity, this will not be an easy task." I stood now as she walked around her desk and lead me to the door. "If you think that your lessons are difficult you will find these private sessions even more so, I'm afraid." She explained I shook my head slightly.
"I don't mind, Professor, I'm ready for whatever you're prepared to throw at me!" At my words another large grin broke out over McGonagall's face.
"Your enthusiasm certainly pleases me, Miss. Stockhart. I will see you Thursday then." She nodded, as did I, as we came to the doorway. I said a quick final goodbye before rushing off to the Hufflepuff common room ready to tell Tabitha the good news.
A few weeks passed with my new lessons going down somewhat well, I was struggling more so than I ever had with Transfiguration yet it seemed to please McGonagall that I was not getting the hang of it quickly. Today, a Thursday, but also another wonderful day; my birthday. So, I would still be seeing McGonagall later on that evening however that morning I woke up to find the bottom of my bed completely filled with wrapped gifts.
"They came in the post yesterday, I've been absolutely dying to give them to you, but your Mother, and George, gave me strict instructions." Tabitha explained when the presents filled my view I'd gasped at the sight of them. "Happy 17th birthday, V." She grinned moving forwards and placing another present upon the pile.
"Oh, you're finally up, Happy Birthday." Rebecca had just entered the room she crossed the floor to her bed opened up her case and tore through it for a second before pulling out a, rather badly, wrapped present and adding it to the pile.
"Rebecca… you didn't have to…" I gasped, this was one of the first times in the six years I'd been at school with the stock girl that she had ever given me a gift.
"I just, I uh, felt like I should… You've done a lot for me lately." She nodded she had been relying on me more so as a friend since Danielle's departure. "Besides you're coming of age today, it's kind of special…" I just softly smiled to her in what I'd hoped was a reassuring way before grabbing the first present I could see. It just so happened to be from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, once I'd torn the bulky present open I was not surprised by the view.
"Should have guessed it really…" Tabitha pointed out when both our eyes landed on the wooly hand-knitted sweater I smiled despite Tabitha's less than impressed looks.
"It's so sweet, they really didn't have to…" I whispered out as I pulled the jumper out fully to find a large '17' knitted in bronze wool on to the front of the yellow jumper. I grinned as I placed it to my side and picked up the next present only to find it was also from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. I frowned in confusion as I read the card.
'Happy 17th Birthday, Verity! We hope to spend many more birthdays with you!' It was too small to be any normal Weasley type gift. I tore open the paper and my eyes found a velvet soft jewellery box, my brow creased in further confusion and as I finally opened the box and set my eyes upon the gift. I gasped in surprise and awe as my eyes landed upon the delicate and amazingly beautiful silver necklace that lay in front of my eyes.
"Oh my god…" Tabitha whispered beside me.
"This is too much!" I exclaimed instantly, the necklace had a deep rose-coloured pendant hanging from it and looked like it may have been centuries old. Tucked into the top of the box was another note in Mrs. Wealsey's hand writing.
'Verity,
I know that you will probably think this gift is too much for us to give to you but it is tradition in our family to give extravagant gifts when a witch or wizard comes of age. This necklace is goblin made and has been in my family for years and years handed down to centuries of witches when they came of age. My sister was the one who gave it to me and I am now giving it to you. I know you probably think I should give it to Ginny but I have something already lined up for her coming of age birthday. My sister was always an admirer of the twins and was one of George's favourite aunts what with all her exciting tales. It seemed fitting that I hand this necklace down to you, the young girl I have watched grow into a woman and am happy to see becoming like a daughter to me. We all love you Verity, thank you for bringing such joy to my sons life.
Happy 17th birthday.
Love, Molly.'
The words alone brought tears to my eyes but then to look down at the necklace now, it made those tears slide down my cheeks.
"I hope I bloody get a heartfelt letter and a goblin made necklace when I turn seventeen!" Tabitha grumbled from beside me Rebecca and I both rolled our eyes at her, yet I couldn't help the grin that came to my face at Tabitha's childish pout. A jewellery box and two bracelets from my Mother, a necklace from Tabitha and a ring from Rebecca later and I was starting to think I'd never need to buy another item of jewellery again. I'd just opened some of my favourite type of sweets from Fred silently thanking him for not buying me jewellery when I realised I had only two presents left, from Ginny. Ginny's presents were some sweets and a muggle book titled 'How to run a business for dummies' she left a note inside explaining that she wanted me to have the same amount of training as the twins had, had when it came to opening the shop, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Where's George's gift?" I questioned Tabitha once I'd opened Ginny's present the black-haired girl took on an innocent grin and handed me an envelope. I frowned at her but tore it open regardless only to find a single piece of parchment inside.
'Squid Girl,
My gift to you will come in two days,
in the meantime, here's some flowers.
I miss you.
Your Monkey man'
In the moments it had taken me to look down at the note and back up again Tabitha had moved to her case and pulled out a large bouquet of yellow tulips.
"Oh wow…" I whispered at the sight of them as she moved to place them on my side table.
"Yeah wow! I've had these bad boys hidden in my case all night! You realise how much space I had to make for them?!" Tabitha complained as she straightened out the flowers to fit better on the table that separated our two beds.
"Well at least now your trunk smells nice…" Rebecca pointed out.
"It smelt nice before!" Tabitha cried defensively to which Rebecca retorted with a loud sarcastic snort. The pair then burst into a semi-argument about the smell of Tabitha's trunk, I had not been listening to a word of it however as my mind reeled on what George's gift was going to be.
Thoughts of George's gift took up the majority of my day that day which did not go down well when I couldn't focus in Divination and managed to doodle George's name on my star chart instead of the stars. The only upside to that mistake was the laugh I got out of the class when I pointed out to Trelawney how truly romantic my gesture was. My day was luckily almost over however I did have to get through one last hour which unfortunately was in one of the worst subjects I could imagine.
"Dark Arts…" Tabitha hissed as we wandered the halls towards the classroom that Amycus Carrow had been assigned. "I still can't believe they've actually got away with renaming it that, that they've got away with teaching us these awful things!"
"Tabitha we of all people should be able to believe it, you saw what happened at Bill and Fleur's wedding. You saw how bad it's gotten at the Ministry, we saw the corruption with our own eyes…" Thoughts of my Father attacking my Mother filled my mind and suddenly the hype of my birthday, thoughts of George's surprise gift, all flew away. My mind seemed to scold me in that very moment for allowing myself to actually be happy, actually be excited for something, when all of this was going on around me.
"Well still, Hogwarts was always supposed to be safe you know?" Tabitha seemed to whisper her words as though as she was saying them, she realised just how childish they sounded. I turned my eyes upon her to find myself looking at a side of Tabitha I'd never seen, it felt wrong to see it but there it was in front of me. Tabitha, my strong minded and harshly worded friend, my saviour in many situations, looked weak, scared. The part of this that scared me the most was that I was taking on her role, I suddenly wanted to defend her against all the evils that had taken over the school. My mind was torn from these thoughts however when we turned the corner of the corridor and came across the hallway to our classroom. Everyone there was stood in utter silence staring fearfully across the small hallway at something I wasn't expecting to see. Stood across from the normal queue of sixth year students was another queue of students from various years and houses. I frowned at a terrified looking second year girl in the other line as I joined the queue beside Ginny and Rebecca.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Ginny whose brow was also pulled into a frown aimed towards the opposite queue.
"No idea…" She whispered back to me seconds later the door to the classroom swung open, some gasped as both the Carrows stepped out and eyed the two queues.
"But I have a feeling we're not going to like it…" Ginny continued in such a quiet voice I wasn't sure if I was even supposed to hear her. With a swift wave of her hand Alecto Carrow commanded the other row into the room first, then, Amycus did the same with our row. We'd had quite a few classes with Amycus now, if you could call them that. After our first lesson I didn't think it was too bad. He taught us about Fiendfyre though had not yet tried to get us to practise it. Then he taught us about the most notorious Dark wizards and witches of old. In the last lesson, however, he'd had us practising spell wording and the fact that there were other students here now could only mean trouble.
"Sixth years," Amycus demanded as the room filled with students, some of the random students were shivering and wincing at every movement, others looked mutinous at their teachers. Nobody, not a soul, took a seat, we just mingled among each other on the back side of the room as the two Death Eaters stood on the other end.
"Separate yourselves from the other students, they are not here to learn as you are! I want sixth years who are in this class on my right! Everyone else, up against the wall!" Alecto commanded, I glanced to the scared faces of the other students, most of which were taking their place. I slowly, with a little encouragement from Tabitha, made my way to the right.
"May I ask why, Professor?" Ginny's voice rang around the room like a bell people paused in their movements to look at her, I joined them. Glancing over my shoulder to look at my red headed friend I found her defiantly stood, arms crossed, still in her place at the back of the room.
"Did we say that you could ask questions, Weasley? To your place!" Amycus snarled Ginny threw him the strongest glare she could muster before moving to join me.
"I don't like this." She whispered quietly enough that the Carrows would not hear her over the sound of feet moving.
"The students you see before you," Amycus began once everyone had lined up shoulder to shoulder against either side of the room. He was addressing the sixth years and pointing toward the kids stood against the wall like they were facing a firing squad, my stomach lunged at the thought.
"Are guilty of defying their superiors, us, and have been ordered to do detention with me. They have broken the rules they must be punished." Amycus continued pacing between the pair of rows. A nervous feeling had started to build up in my stomach the second that I'd entered the room, it was only getting worse with his words. My hand found its way into the pockets of my robes and tightly held the hilt of my wand without much of my knowledge, something that was becoming common place this year.
"As you know, I have been teaching you how to wield the Dark Arts. In our last lesson I taught you about the Cruciatus Curse, today is your time to practise." He continued to explain there was silence in the room as he motioned towards the wall of students in front of us. Nobody said a word as what they were asking us to do dawned upon everyone somebody gasped, the little second year girl that I noticed earlier let out a wail, Alecto shot the student a glare.
"You can't possibly be suggesting...?" A Gryffindor boy asked, Amycus smirked at him.
"That you practise your skills on these students? There is no suggestion here, that is exactly what I am telling you to do, unless you would like to suffer the same fate?" He spoke calmly but the malice behind his statement did not go unnoticed as the Gryffindor boy backed into silence.
"This is illegal! You can't actually-" Another Gryffindor spoke up, a girl this time, Alecto moved her vicious grin on to her.
"Actually, we have been given authority, as the deputy head masters to give punishments out in any way, we see fit!" She spoke with determination that made my stomach flip.
"See this for what it truly is! A lesson! We have done you a favour by doing this, we are allowing you to learn." Amycus spoke now Ginny's eyes narrowed on him, I moved to grab her wrist but I was too late, she stepped forwards.
"And what about them?! What favour is this to them?!" She spat out pointing over to the other students.
"They are rule breakers!" Alecto snapped, "we do not cater to those who would so willingly disrespect those superior to them… Much like what you are doing-" She smugly spoke her brother glancing back her way just for a second before looking back at Ginny with a grin. I knew where this was going, I couldn't hold my tongue anymore.
"This is sick! You are sick if you believe that children deserve to be tortured for playing up at school! You're supposed to be teachers, not executioners!" I stepped beside Ginny now much to Tabitha's disapproval as I tore my arm from her vice-like grip and ignored her small noises of protest.
"I think we have two more for the wall, sister! What do you think?" Amycus grinned at me and Ginny, Ginny's scowl never faltered from his gaze.
"Ahh, yes, it looks like it," Alecto sighed out dismissively like they were discussing a lacking food selection, "Or perhaps the entire class would like to join the wall? We could always find another class who would be more willing-" At these words Leo Everette scoffed.
"No thanks! Crucio!" He spat venomously hitting the little second year girl whose screams were instantaneous. I was thrown back to Bill and Fleur's wedding night, the pain, the burning feeling under the skin, this poor girl was feeling it all right now. I hollered out but nothing was heard over the sound of her screaming, not even Everette's laughter which I only noticed when my teary eyes looked back over to his smug face.
"Expelliarmus!" I shouted at him, his wand flew off into the sky, the force behind the spell even sent Everette flying into the bookcase behind him but the little girl finally stopped screaming, falling to the floor passed out, two of the people beside her fell to her aid.
"V, no…" I heard Tabitha whisper from somewhere behind me as my furious tearful eyes looked up at Alecto who just seemed to be grinning at the chaos ensuing in front of her.
"A brave Hufflepuff? Unheard of." She grinned out; I just kept my sneer on her as my wand hand shook slightly still pointed towards were Everette was now being helped up by his friends. Before I could move it in her direction, she flicked her wand and threw me five feet to the back of the room. Crashing into some shelves and bringing everything on them crashing down to the floor with me with a loud clutter. There was more noise in the room but I couldn't see what had happened, I heard the rustling of clothes, a wand dropping to the ground and then what sounded like a slap. Before I even got to raise my head, her brother had crossed the gap between us and was stood over me. I reached for my wand which had fallen just out of reach to my left. He moved his foot so that he stood on top of my wrist holding it still and steady, then with his own wand he pointed at my little finger.
"Deprimo…" He whispered, my eyes widened before I felt it, the agony making me scream out. It felt like an elephant was stepping on my little finger I heard and felt the bones in the finger squishing under the pressure.
"STOP!" Tabitha screamed from where she stood, crying, in the line with the others, he took no notice of her as I continued trying to pull my hand out from under him.
"Crucio!" I heard her tearful voice scream out and just like that Amycus dropped his wand and his grip on my arm. I pulled my hand into my body, the little finger had no feeling and was completely limp. Tears streamed down my cheeks I hadn't even realised I was crying. As soon as I sat up, grabbing my wand with the other arm, and pulled away from Carrow, Tabitha stopped her spell.
"Two brave Hufflepuffs!" Alecto jeered out, actually sounding pleased, with difficulty I pushed myself up off the floor. I looked to the middle of the room to see Ginny sat on the ground holding her cheek staring intensely at her wand which was closer to me. Amycus sneered at me and then round at Tabitha, he ran at her and grabbed her by the throat lifting her off of the floor.
"LET GO OF HER!" I screamed but he ignored me as Tabitha gasped for air and tore at his hand at her neck.
"Look at these foolish girls, students, look at them and be ashamed of them… Pity them for they are going to feel far worse wrath in the coming months when they have detentions with me and my brother…" Alecto grinned out, I worriedly glanced from Tabitha to Ginny.
"And remember their struggles when you think about disrespecting us." She said finitely, "AMYCUS!" With that her brother dropped Tabitha who coughed and spluttered out for air, doubling over, Rebecca pulled an arm around her.
"Weasley, Walsh you are clearly of no use to me… Take your friend and this pathetic second year to the Infirmary… I will see you on Saturday for detention." She grinned sadistically, Ginny leapt up and moved over to her wand picking it up. She then moved over to the little second year who seemed to only just be coming to, she put her arm over her shoulders and helped her to her feet. Tabitha, having only just got her breath back, glared between the two Professors and then at me before storming out of the room. I pulled myself off of the wall and put my good arm around the little second year girl helping Ginny take her out of the room, still holding my wounded hand to my chest.
"Right! On with the lesson! Remember, with the unforgivable curses, you have to mean it… really mean it!" Amycus continued with his lesson as we walked out of the room. As the door closed behind us, we started hearing people screaming in agony, my stomach churned as I tried to drown the sound out.
"Th-Thank you, thank you so much!" The little blonde girl between Ginny and I stuttered out to me as soon as we were away from the screaming, my eyes gleamed with tears as I looked over to her.
"You don't need to thank me for that, I was just doing what any decent human being should do… Unfortunately, fear gets to a lot of decent human beings…" I said to her she shook her little head with a sigh.
"You saved my life!" She squeaked out, I smiled at her.
"Yeah, too bad George is gonna kill us both when he finds out." Ginny sighed from the other side of the girl, I let a laugh leave my mouth for that one.
"Not if I get there first!" Tabitha hissed back to us from where she was storming ahead, her voice was raw and raspy.
"You can't tell me you're mad at us, Walsh? What we did in there was brave and the right thing to do! Not to mention that we just saved you from having to torture other students for an hour?! How could you be mad about that?!" Ginny snapped back at her Tabitha rounded on the red head with a scowl.
"Bravery and the right thing are two things that will get us killed in the New Hogwarts! I was just nearly strangled in front of plenty of other students and none of them did anything! There is no right thing, no bravery, no rebellion to be made here, just a bunch of scared kids and survival!" Tabitha spat Ginny scoffed at her.
"You can't honestly believe that! My brother, your own boyfriend, is part of the rebellion you're claiming isn't there! Besides, you didn't have to get involved in there! You chose to Crucio Carrow!" Ginny pointed out, Tabitha's steely gaze remained on the other girl as she fell back to walk beside us now.
"He was going to crush, V's finger until it burst! I couldn't watch that!" She snapped with a sneer, Ginny laughed, but it wasn't a joyful laugh, instead it had spite behind it.
"Exactly, Walsh, like it or not there's a little bit of rebel in you after all…" The red haired girl smirked, Tabitha just glared into the ground. Ginny's cheek had started to turn slightly red and Tabitha's throat looked sore, I didn't dare look down at my finger.
"Tabitha's not wrong, Ginny." I said once we passed the little girl off to Madam Pomfrey, waiting until she was sorted to get to me. Ginny scowled at me and from my left I saw Tabitha smile smugly.
"I'm sorry I forced both of your hands; I shouldn't have involved myself… Now we're all going to pay for it, it's my fault." I apologised; Ginny scoffed.
"Oh, bog off Verity. You saved that girl… You saw how she looked at you, you're a hero to her… You don't need to apologise to me for that!" She said sternly and I suddenly felt like I was back at the Burrow being told off by Mrs. Weasley for trying to help with the dishes.
"Miss. Stockhart?" Madam Pomfrey reappeared, I smiled and stepped towards her holding out my hand. I finally looked at my finger, it was completely purple and misshapen, it was all I could do not to vomit looking at it.
"Oh my, oh Merlin…" Pomfrey whispered more to herself then anything else, she then looked back up at us all with a fire in her eyes. She looked behind me and examined Ginny and Tabitha too.
"Tell me, were you three in class with the Carrow's?" She asked in a hushed voice, I glanced back to Ginny who nodded slightly.
"Yes." I admitted looking back to her, the fire behind her eyes seemed to lash out at me.
"I thought so." She hissed. "This might be a tough fix, I'll give you some skele-gro, and I will bandage it up for you but…" Her head fell to looking at the ground, "unfortunately, I can't offer you a bed… I must reserve them all for people who are recovering from the Crucio curse… Every one of those patients needs at least a day to rest, including the little girl you brought in with you."
"There's that many of them?" Ginny asked in a gasp looking around to see most of the beds were hidden by curtains.
"Yes, since Snape has been in charge there is at least two a day…" Pomfrey said tears brimming in her eyes. I glanced from her to Ginny and then to Tabitha who looked guiltily around the room.
"That's absolutely fine Madam Pomfrey, I'd hate to take up a bed anyway!" I smiled out as she took me away to find the skele-gro.