A/N:

Hogwarts Assignment 4
Public Services task 4: Write about someone healing, or trying to heal another person

Hogwarts Auction
Day 21, Auction 2: Susan/Daphne

Warning: minor violence, injury

Word count: 1,096

Susan dodged the purple bullet and stumbled. She had no idea how long she'd been fighting, but it was starting to feel like she'd never done anything else. Bracing herself, she found her footing again and raised her wand to fire off another stunning spell in the Death Eater's direction.

It was too late. The Death Eater was a second faster, and in the midst of casting her offensive spell, Susan couldn't put up a shield fast enough. She cringed seconds before the spell made impact.

The cold from the ground below had sunk through Susan's robes and into her bones. She shivered and felt a shot of pain in her abdomen where she'd been hit. She groaned, and someone touched her.

Her eyes flew open. Seeing Daphne Greengrass kneeling above her, she gasped and tried to scramble away, her nails digging into the dirt to find purchase.

"Stay away from me!"

Daphne raised an eyebrow, looking more annoyed than intimidated. A red bruise was forming on her left cheek. "I'm healing you," she replied simply. "That stunning spell hit you hard, and you scraped your leg on a rock when you fell."

Susan looked down at her legs. Her robes were torn, but in the places where she could see through them, there was nothing but unbroken skin.

"I already healed that," Daphne said. "But I think he hurt your stomach, and you can't put up much of a fight if you're wincing every time you breathe."

She was right, and Susan had always been rubbish at healing spells. Reluctantly, she lowered the arm held protectively over her stomach and let Daphne get back to work. A bluish glow oozed out of her wand and hovered over the area. Susan's skin tingled in a strange but not unpleasant way.

"Why didn't he kill me once I was down?"

It was a musing born out of confusion, but Daphne surprised her when she had an answer. "I hit him with the Leg-Locker Curse and took his wand. He's laying somewhere over there."

She motioned off to the side without looking in the man's direction. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't getting back up on his own. But the incapacitated Death Eater wasn't their only problem. Daphne and Susan both glanced around. It was dark, but bolts of light littered the darkness as people fought. So far, no one had noticed them because they were on a quieter part of the grounds, but that wouldn't last.

The blue glow faded, and Daphne pushed herself off the ground. Susan frowned. Her abdomen ached less than before, but she was far from completely healed.

"We need to get you inside the castle," Daphne said. She lifted Susan's arm around her neck without waiting for an answer and tugged her up. It was a little unnecessary since the soreness in Susan's abdomen had faded some thanks to Daphne's spell and she was otherwise okay, but Susan didn't protest. "They've set up a makeshift place for healing in the Great Hall," Daphne continued, steering them in that direction. "Someone better than me might be able to look you over, but I'm not sure how clear the way there is."

"I still have my wand," Susan reminded her, brandishing it in front of them. "I can still fight. I'll be okay."

Daphne frowned but nodded.

Susan laughed as she pulled away from Hannah. She felt lighter than she had in ages. Hogwarts itself seemed lighter despite the damage that was still all around them. Voldemort was gone for good, and most of the remaining Death Eaters had fled, leaving them to celebrate.

The battle hadn't been without its losses. Even now, if Susan looked, she would see the bodies of the dead being tended to. Her heart twisted at the thought. It was such a strange mixture of elation and pain.

She looked around the hall at the others, taking stock of who was there and who wasn't. She smiled each time she saw someone else she knew and was sure they were safe. Hannah had disappeared to speak to someone else when Susan spotted Daphne standing by a wall. The Slytherin was expressionless as she watched everyone around her. Susan headed towards her before she thought much about it.

"Where are your friends?" she asked, mirroring Daphne by leaning against the wall.

Daphne stiffened. It took her a second to recover, but when she did, she rolled her eyes. "Not many of them are around," she said with a shrug.

Susan bit her lip. Of course they weren't. She should have thought of that before she'd said anything, but everyone was so joyous that it was hard to remember that the majority of the Slytherins had left.

She watched Daphne, who's gaze travelled all over the hall to avoid looking back at Susan. The Slytherin was baffling. Susan had never spoken with her much, but they'd been in enough classes together over the years that Susan had thought she had a sense of her personality. She'd never been as loudly obnoxious as Draco Malfoy or Pansy Parkinson, but she'd still seemed like a typical pureblood supremacist. Except she'd not only stayed, but she'd healed Susan when she hadn't needed to.

"Thank you for saving me," she said.

Daphne whipped her head around, eyes wide. "No problem," she said, glancing away again.

Susan tilted her head to the side. "Why did you do it? Why did you stay to fight?"

Daphne looked away again and shrugged. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

"And why did you stop to help me of all people?" Susan asked, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

Daphne turned to look at her again, and her gaze made Susan shift nervously on her feet. There was something intense in it that took her breath away.

"I just wanted to," Daphne said.

Susan nodded even though she was just as confused as before. There was something in the way Daphne was looking at her that made her nervous in a thrilling way. She glanced around the hall. No one was paying them any attention.

"I'd like to get to know you better," she said, watching as Daphne visibly swallowed. "Maybe we could get dinner together sometime? We'll have less to worry about now after all."

Daphne nodded, looking a little out of it even as she continued to stare at Susan. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Susan gave her one last smile before pushing off the wall and going to look for her other friends.