Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise, that belongs to J.K Rowling, except from the plot and my OCs, they belong to me.
P.S. There is a change of POV.
Enjoy!
Third person POV
There was a chair, next to her bed, but he didn't feel as though he should sit in it, all he had done was find her and take her to the Hospital Wing, he wasn't her friend.
Was he her friend?
Albus Potter's inner turmoil was interrupted by the sound of the of the large, oak door, which was the entry point into the infirmary, as it opened with a groan of protest from it's worn down hinges as Dominique Weasley came rushing in, face flushed and hair wild.
The strawberry-blonde spotted her favourite cousin, standing there looking somewhat like a lost puppy, and walked over to him, her eyes filled with a watery substance that she refused to let flow down her cheeks.
"Is she okay?" She asked, her voice small.
The look on Albus's face seemed to give her an answer, sadly, it was not the one she wanted to hear. Knowing that there wasn't much he could say to ease her worries, Albus nodded his head to the furthest bed by the window at the end of the long row of cots that held an all manner of injured students.
Dominique turned and started making her way to where Albus had directed, but stopped halfway.
The curtains were drawn.
Even she knew, that when the curtains around a bed in the Hospital Wing were closed, that it meant that there was a rather ill patient behind the dull, green fabric.
She didn't want to think of Melissa as 'rather ill', she wanted to think of her as the snarky Slytherin girl who had been her partner in crime since first year, the strong, independent woman who was not afraid to stand up for herself.
Steadying her erratic heart, she stepped closer to the barrier between her and her Best Friend, taking a deep breath and pulling back the curtains.
She gasped at what lay before her, gone was Melissa and in her place was a frail, fragile girl with dark circles beneath her eyes. She was tucked carefully under the woolen blanket that wrapped around her like a cocoon, protecting her from the evil which landed her here, delicate and broken.
Despite her overall appearance, her features were relaxed and calm, peaceful even, as though she had not a care in the world, her lips curved slightly into a tiny hint of a smile, you could not see the colour of her irises, only the long lashes that decorated the edges of her closed eyelids.
Dominique choked out a quiet sob and sat down in the wooden chair next to her bed, gently grabbing a hold of Melissa's hand, desperately clinging to it as though if she were to let go she may never hold it again.
"Dom? Oh my god, is she going to be okay?"
The person that the voice belonged to was that of Rose Weasley, who had arrived not long after her Cousin, after being informed by Professor McGonagall that her presence was required in the Hospital Wing halfway through Ancient Runes.
Dom turned and looked solemnly up at the redhead that stood, pale faced, at the foot of the bed, her eyes scared and worried, not only for the health of her friend, but also for the safety of Hogwarts and everyone that resides within its walls.
Because, in her opinion, if someone could harm Melissa in such a way that made her look like a china doll, that she might just shatter into a million pieces at the touch of a finger, then nobody was safe.
Rose pulled up a chair from the vacant bed to the left of Melissa's and sat silently next to Dom, holding her cousin's free hand whilst she kept her eyes firmly fixed upon the girl, that she hand come to think of as a sister, that lay motionless before her.
Unbeknownst to the two girls, Albus had slipped away, out through the doors and was now on his way to Slytherin Common Room, unable to stay there any longer.
He didn't understand why seeing her lay there, helpless, had made him so inexplicably angry, he wanted to rip the head, clean off the shoulders, of the person who did this to her.
Not even the thought of going to Azkaban, for doing such a thing, had put him off from actually doing it.
Because, even though he tried to deny it, he would do something to make the culprit pay for their actions.
By then, he had reached the secret entrance to Slytherin quarters, murmuring the password and watching as the bricks shifted, he made his way through the passage. The end came in the form of one serpent themed room which was adorned with comfortable, black leather sofas, silver ornaments that were littered across the long mantel piece that sat above a roaring fire and green glow which emanated from the clear waters of the black lake.
He looked around for a minute, eying the room for a certain bleach blonde Quidditch fanatic.
He found said blonde sat, cross legged, on the end of one of the sofas, staring intently at his Quidditch playbook, whilst chewing on a liquorice wand which he had most definitely nicked from Albus's secret stash.
"Hey, what's got you looking so glum?" Scorpius said, not looking up from his playbook as Albus sat down next to him.
That was when Albus relayed everything that had happened since Transfiguration, all the way up until when he came and sat down next to him. The look of pure horror on Scorpius's face was enough to make Albus feel bad for even bringing it up.
Melissa meant the world to him too.
In fact, she meant the world to a lot of people.
But especially to the Wotter's and Malfoy's.
Melissa had this uncanny ability to be loved by anyone and everyone, she almost always had a smile on her face and when she didn't, it was always for a good reason. She made people laugh and pissed them off too, she made awful jokes and sarcastic comments and was always quick to defend anyone, no matter who it was, if needed.
Except, that was what she was like around everyone else, when she was with Albus, she was different.
And that saddened him.
Why, he did not know, just as he did not know why he had never been more scared in his life then when he'd found and carried Melissa to the Hospital Wing.
The way he had found her had not been a pretty site either.
She had been slumped, her back bent awkwardly and her head hung loosely, against the brick wall just a few doors down from the Divination classroom, which was where he had been headed when he spotted her unconscious, writhing body. Her whimpers had been so full of anguish, the sound quiet but disturbing none the less. There were thin steaks of dried tears against her paling cheeks, blood had dripped down the wall and pooled across the floor from the wound on the back of her head.
Albus, not wanting to intrude and not having energy to go back, declined Scorpius's offer to go back up to the Hospital Wing and check on the girls.
So, instead, he went to his dormitory for a lie down, in the hopes that sleep may calm his swirling thoughts and that the land of dreams may be much more pleasant that reality. He closed his eyes, willing for slumber to swallow him whole, completely forgetting the fact
that he was currently supposed to be sitting through his second hour of Divination.
Over the next few days, Melissa remained unconscious, laying in her Hospital bed, almost lifeless as various people came and went, paying their respects.
Word had gotten around the school about the poor girl's condition, meaning her bedside soon became over crowded with cards, flowers and lots of sweets, that sometimes her friends helped themselves to, thinking she might wake up and tell them off for stealing her hard earned goods. In which, they would all laugh, the worry turning into relief as they tell her how much they missed her and catch her up with all the recent goings on at Hogwarts.
But that's not what happened.
She did not wake up, and she did not tell them off for eating her treats.
Instead, she slept, peacefully, still smiling and still looking like a damaged porcelain doll.
The days turned into weeks and soon enough, it had been a month and there had been no sign of her awakening anytime soon. They had been informed by Professor McGonagall, after hearing Albus's side of the story, that someone had used an unknown spell to trigger a vision of the future, whether it was real or not had yet to be determined.
The Professor had also sat them all down, Dom, Rose, Scorpius and Albus, explaining to them that Melissa had, unknowingly, been a seer practically her entire life and that in rare cases, like Melissa's, some seers don't find their power until later on in life, rather than at birth.
The same speech had been given to Melissa's parents, who presented themselves as shocked, but seemed as though they knew something that nobody else did. Melody, Melissa's sister, had come and sat with her, holding her hand and had been found, multiple times, leaving the Hospital Wing, blotchy eyed and sniffling quietly to herself.
Apparently, Melissa can't be roused from her, seemingly never ending, slumber by any sort of spell or potion, her mental state was too far within the depths of 'not really there', Madam Pomfrey's words, that there was really no telling when she was going to rise from whatever other world she was currently frequenting.
Basically, it was a waiting game.
There had been many times where she had shown some kind of sign that she was 'present', things like, fingers twitching, a tug at the corner of her lips or even the flicker of an eyelid. Each time it gave whoever witnessed it hope, that was only demolished with her unmoving, silent form over the few days after.
September had now turned into October and November was fast approaching.
At this rate, everyone was concerned that she may not be awake for Christmas time, her favourite holiday season of the year.
November 31st
There was a change in the air that morning, nobody had, so far, noticed, but when Madam Pomfrey went and checked on a certain inpatient, she was greeted with a confused yet strangely coherent Melissa Jones.
The silver-haired matron rushed to her side, encouraging her to lie down and get some rest, as Melissa had, despite only having been awake for a few minutes, thought it a good idea to get up and get moving.
It wasn't, she discovered, because as soon as she had shifted into a position that allowed her to get up and out of the bed, her head had protested in the form of a sharp stabbing pain in the back and front of her head.
"Rest, child." The nurse said, plumping up the pillows as she helped settle her.
"Am I ill?" Melissa asked, her voice cracking from lack of use, a hint of humor in her tone.
Madam Pomfrey gave her a sideways look from where she was next to her bed, preparing some sort of odd looking potion that Melissa doubted tasted nice.
"Drink this, it should get rid of your headache." She said, placing the bottle in Melissa's hand.
Melissa had never doubted that the woman was good at her job, but the fact that she knew that she was in pain without her having to say anything, said at all. She eyed the bottle suspiciously, then, reluctantly, she placed the cool glass to her lips, holding her nose and opening her mouth, swallowing the whole thing in one go.
She had been right, it had not tasted nice.
She resisted the urge to gag and Madam Pomfrey just rolled her eyes, tutted and walked off muttering something about how teenagers are always so dramatic.
Half an hour later, the large doors burst open and in came a flurry of footsteps, Melissa already knew who was on the other side of the curtains that were still barricading her from the rest of civilisation.
The fabric was yanked back in an urgent manner, revealing an all to excited Dom and Rose, Scorpius and Albus only a few steps behind
them. The two girls squealed and engulfed Melissa in an embrace that normally wouldn't have had a negative effect, but given her current situation, it was rather painful.
"Uh guys, as much as I love you and your hugs, I am rather injured at the minute." She spoke hoarsely, Dom and Rose releasing her with mumbled apologies.
"How are you feeling?" Rose asked tenderly.
"Like shit." Was the ever so 'Melissa' reply that she got.
"You look like shit, too." Albus spoke up from next to Scorpius at the foot of the bed as the girls had taken the chairs.
Usually, Melissa would've argued back or said something rude, but, truthfully, she was thankful that at least he was still the same jerk, even after the whole him finding her unconscious debacle.
"Thanks, charming as always I see." She said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
His reply came in the form of a small smile, although it was one laced with pity, which annoyed her greatly. She looked around at all four of them, their eyes were filled with that same pity and even some sympathy.
She didn't want pity or sympathy.
There wasn't anything wrong with her, she had been attacked, that was all. Sure she had had a vision, but they didn't need to know that did they? She was going to keep that piece of information to herself.
Little did she know that they all in fact, knew more about the situation and what happened than she did.
So that decision to keep quiet, was soon to be a short lived one.
They sat, the five of them, for hours, talking and catching Melissa up on the latest gossip. It wasn't till lunch time, when Madam Pomfrey shooed them out of the Hospital Wing saying that they needed sustenance and that they could come back later when Melissa had had her much needed rest.
Melissa's opinion on that matter were much different than the nurse's, as she felt she had rested enough, seeing as she had been asleep for nearly two months. Although, Dom had promised to bring her up some pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes from the Great Hall and she loved both of those things, so she decided not to protest, just in case Madam Pomfrey said she could't have them.
Just as she had promised, Dom came back half an hour later, her arms laden with goodies. She didn't stay long, as she had been told by Headmistress McGonagall that they all had to go back to class after lunch as they had already missed the morning lessons.
So, for the rest of the day, Melissa only had herself and the busy matron for company, which wasn't very entertaining. She'd been informed that she could leave the Hospital Wing later that evening, but she was specifically not to do anything that could injure her further. For example, she was not allowed to play Quidditch for an entire week, there was to be no physically exhausting activities and she was not, under circumstances, to do anything stupid. Although, that last one Madam Pomfrey had said with a small smile, as though she expected nothing less than for Melissa to completely ignore her instructions.
Which, was exactly what Melissa planned to do.
Her health and well being be damned, she was going to play Quidditch and she was going to get into as much trouble as she bloody well liked, thank you very much.
Melissa had, unfortunately, missed the first Quidditch math of the year, Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, the victors had been, unsurprisingly, the red and gold lions, beating the blue and silver birds by 260-70.
The next match was Slytherin against Hufflepuff and Melissa was going to be there, scoring goals and kicking some Hufflepuff arse.
Come dinner time, Melissa had been released and was told to come straight back if she developed any severe head pain or felt faint, so with numerous amount of potions and a schedule to tell her when to take those potions shoved in her hands, she was finally on her way back to the Dungeons.
After having deposited her medicine in her dorm and being smothered in hugs from Lyra and Charlotte, she even got a sorry sort of look from Natalia, she made her way down to the Great Hall, her stomach grumbling loudly the entire journey there.
When she got to the Great Hall it was as busy and abuzz as it had been the last time she was here. Students were giggling and chatting among her friends whilst munching happily on their favourite foods and even the teachers looked somewhat pleased and happy.
She slipped into the seat next to Albus at the Slytherin table, neither he nor Scorpius noticed her presence as they were deep in conversation about the up and coming Quidditch match.
"Ugh, I hate that we are going to have to play our sub chaser." Scorpius groaned, putting his head in his hands.
"We won't have to play our sub chaser." Albus said, shoving half sausage in his mouth, his lack of table manner made Melissa scrunch her nose up in disgust.
Not that she could talk, she scoffed her food too.
"Yes, we will, Lissa isn't gonna be able to play is she? She needs to recover." Scorpius said exasperated, visibly getting more frustrated by the second.
Melissa was slightly offended that he didn't think she'd be able to play, but she was grateful that he was looking out for her.
"Seriously, mate, it's Mel, she's gonna play whether you allow her to or not." Albus said, taking a breaking from his food. "Besides, she's the best damn chaser we've got."
For some reason, Melissa's heart swelled at that and she didn't fail to notice his use of her old nickname, wasn't that twice now that he'd called her that.
She ignored the fact that that made her pulse increase.
Deciding that they were both extremely oblivious, seeing as they had yet to acknowledge her presence, she spoke up.
"Well, it's nice t know at least one person has some faith in me." She said, feigning offense.
Both boys heads snapped in her direction, eyes wide and mouths agape.
"When did you get here?" Albus asked, breaking the silence that was beginning to get a little bit awkward.
"Just now." She said, smiling.
"How much did you hear?" Scorpius questioned, looking like he was worried she was going to bite his head off.
"Enough," She said bluntly, before grinning at him. "but it's nice to know you both care."
Scorpius smiled sheepishly, saying that she was more than welcome to play in the match and that he wasn't going to stop her.
At this point, her stomach was so loud that everybody else could hear it too, so she started piling her plate with chicken, chips and all of the other types of food that she had missed dearly over the last two months, even if she was unconscious for the duration.
The boys heard her stomach, saw how much she was putting on her plate and just laughed.
"Did Madam Pomfrey not feed you or something?" Albus asked, smirking.
Weirdly, she'd missed that facial expression and seeing it again made her heart flutter.
"Yeah, it's just I've been unresponsive for a while and the food she did give me was crap." Melissa said before she continued to shovel some peas in her mouth.
They laughed again and they went uninterrupted all the way through the rest of dinner, until Professor Slughorn came waddling over to them.
"Miss Jones, Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy, the Headmistress requires your presence in her office." He said, speaking through his thick straw-like mustache.
They nodded and he left, leaving three very confused teenagers in his wake.
As they had been instructed to do so, they left the Great Hall and made their way to the Headmistress's office, each one of them thinking different things as to why they'd been summoned.
So as they reached the golden Griffin, they had all got completely different notions in their heads and completely different ways to get out any trouble they may be in.
Melissa spoke the password, clearly and confidently, even though inside she was scared out of her wits as she had a feeling that McGonagall wanted to talk about the incident.
The stairs appeared and they stepped onto them, transporting them to the office at the top.
Albus knocked on the door and it swung open as Professor McGonagall's voice rang out.
"Miss Jones, Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy, please come in and take a seat."
AN:
Oof! Another cliffhanger. I actually like Writing these, so I'm not just going it to annoy you guys, I promise! This chapter was a filler and it was written from the narrator's POV as Melissa was unavailable. Sorry it took so long for me to update, but I have just gone back to school, so my life is just a little bit more hectic now. As always, constructive criticism is welcomed. I hope you are all staying safe and well. Remember to R&R!
Until next time, happy reading!
Sincerely,
Purpleslytherin xx