Harry opened his eyes slowly, a dull ache throbbing in his temples.
A vision of the hospital ward swam in his poorly focused eyes, and a quiet whispering
was heard from the other side of the room.
He slowly turned his head, and saw the still body of Ron, lying in the bed next
to him.
"Ron! Ron, are you awake!" Harry strained, through a raspy voice.
His friend lay motionless in the white crisp sheets.
"Harry, try to rest." Madam Pomfrey whispered, appearing beside Harry's
bed.
"He's had a rough night, but he'll be fine with a wee bit of sleep."
She added, placing a glass of water on the bedside table.
A figure strode across the room toward him. Harry's eyes were so badly focused,
that the only registering feature was the brilliant Weasely red hair. "Harry.
I'm so glad you're ok. I think mum would'a throttled me if you'd have been killed."
he said, softly ruffling Harry's messy black hair.
"What happened, Charlie?" Harry murmured, his voice hurting. "Where's
Ellie?"
Charlie's eyes went cold, and before Harry could ask any more, there was a soft
murmur from Ron's side of the room, prompting Charlie to rush to Ron's side.
"Howsit goin' kiddo?" he said softly.
Ron blinked, as if trying to understand what had happened, and where he was.
"It's all gunna be ok, just rest." Charlie said, sitting on his brothers
bed. "I'm here, nothing can hurt you now." Ron nodded slowly, shutting
his eyes.
Harry looked at the two brothers sitting together, in silence
for quite a while, before he heard Snape's familiar drawl coming from the other
room. "Good woman, leave me alone!" He insisted. "I'm perfectly
able to take good care of mys. Awwwwch.. That hurt! Now, hand me my wand,
and good day to you!"
Harry heard Madam Pomfrey tutting, as Snape limped out of an adjoining room,
with a foul expression on his face. "I'm not about to let some minor foot
injury stop me from teaching." Snape scowled at the old woman, fussing
around with some leg bandages. "But, professor, you really must"
said Madam Pomfrey as Snape hurried out of the ward.
"Oh! The nerve!" Pomfrey said rather loudly, huffing as Snape disappeared
around the corner.
"I didn't work for 60 years as an emergency witch to be treated like a
mindless handwitch!" She said, in a high pitched, irritated voice, as she
strode toward Harry's bed. "My word. I've dealt with Dragons, Dementors,
Hippogriffs, Banshees, Acromantulas and Students, to be treated like this!"
She walked up, and begun roughly tucking in Harry's bed sheets. "I mean
to say, if he thinks he can come in here and"
"There, there, Poppy!" a gentle voice murmured from the doorway. "He's
had a lot of worrying to do, of late. Ellie was, I believe, as close as any
daughter could have been." Dumbledore said, as he walked across the room,
to lay an arm over Madam Pomfrey's shoulders. Her face changed instantly, from
one of suppressed rage, to one of slight concern. "I know, I should mind
my temper. But he never takes my advice Albus. It's just not right." She
shook her soft head as she spoke. "He'll do himself some permanent injury."
Dumbledore nodded, "Agreed. I'll have a word to him later. How is young
master Potter, and master Weasely doing? Recovering well, ah yes!" He said,
as he spied Harry looking over from his bed.
He came over, and beckoned to a nearby chair, that hurried to accommodate him.
Seated next to the bed, Dumbledore stroked his snowy beard, looking at Harry
intently. "What a fine muddle this all is. Fugitives, banshees, assassins.
What a tangled mess, while you, Harry, are firmly in the middle of it!"
Peering through blurry eyes, Harry looked at Dumbledore. It seemed to Harry
that he was still surrounded by a fog that swirled around him. "I'm sorry,
but, what?" Harry croaked, his voice still raspy. Dumbledore laughed. "Lets
just say, Harry, you have some very impressive friends! I should think you would
want to ask your godfather about that. He might be able to give you some more
answers."
He would say no more, and it was only after Harry had settled himself down,
and closed his eyes, that Dumbledore walked over, and spoke to Charlie, who
had been sitting silently with his brother.
"You're a good fellow, Charles. Brave. You risked a lot coming here tonight.
The council now suspects that you were the one that helped Ellie escape."
Harry opened an eye, and looked out toward Ron's bed.
Charlie shrugged. "What could I do, Professor? She was, I mean, we werewe
loved each other." He sighed and then continued, "when I found out
what they were doin', I just couldn't let them turn her into something like
that that evil hag." His head dropped to his chest.
"I knew she was tight with Snape, and I knew he could help hide her. I
truly thought I'd never see her again."
Dumbledore sighed. "After Snape sent her to Sirius, I too, hoped that she
could keep herself well hidden. But, the others at the Ministry, sent word.
I gave her the job here, Charlie. There were others who needed her to help them
escape." He remained silent for a moment, Charlie raised his head, through
the haze in Harry's eyes, he thought he saw tears welling within Charlies reddened
eyes. "She tried her hardest to free other women, trapped within the Ministry
fortress. She also came back, to help Sirius."
Harry strained his neck around, so that he may hear Dumbledore more clearly,
"He'd found out that there was going to be an attempt on Harry's life.
Seems our old friend had hired a few Ministry-trained assassins. When he told
her, she came back."
Charlie let out a small cry, "She stood no chance against them. They killed
their own sister. They murdered her in cold blood. I was too late."
Dumbledore remained silent.
"Charlie, try and understand, she not only saved Professor Snape and Lavender
Brown, but Harry, and your brother too. The risk to her own safety didn't occur
to her." Dumbledore said softly, putting his arm on Charlies shoulder.
"And not all is lost. Perhaps she lives."
Harry could vaguely see Charlie looking at Dumbledore, shoulders square, jaw
clenched. Silence again descended upon the room, Dumbledore and Harry looking
at Charlie, and Charlie looking at the open tower window.
From behind Charlie came a small croak, startling both Charlie and Dumbledore.
"May I have a drink of water?" Ron's croaky voice was barely heard.
Ron had a hard time explaining the story to Hermione who had been taken to the great hall after Lavender had been attacked. Professor McGongall had guessed what was going on, and had left, taking with her all students. Hermione had done some investigation, and found that the note had been a challenge to Professor Gordie from the banshee intruder. Hermione had gone quite pale when she had recited it, but pursed her lips as if to signify the defiance she felt toward the banshee that had attacked Hogwarts. Harry had been ordered not to speak, to help his voice heal after the battle with the banshee. Indeed, he had quite a time getting past the Fat Lady, until they had sorted out a signal password that Harry could demonstrate.
Snape had returned to his previous form, sneering and scowling at the world. He'd given both Harry and Ron detentions for smiling, and had even threatened to kick Mrs Norris across the hallway when she had tripped him over, making him drop an arm full of books. Harry was almost relieved, but soon discovered that he liked the concerned, worried Snape, over the grumpy sneering Snape who bullied the class. Dumbledore never explained Snape's involvement in Ellie's escape, but a letter from Sirius revealed that Ellie had indeed met him in Bulgaria, where he had helped her escape the evil banshee assassin team that had been sent to track, and kill her.
"So, you mean, your brother is in love with a escaped banshee
assassin?" Hermione questioned. "Um, well, I don't know about that"
Ron stammered, oddly avoiding Hermione's looks of confusion. "I think she's
only half-banshee. She is a witch. I mean, banshee's don't have wands, do they?
Kinda like Hagrid, but, different." Ron said, concentrating on the history
book open in front of him. Hermione sighed. "It's a real pity we cant have
her as our defence teacher any more. She was really quite good. I think she
might have taught Malfoy a thing or two!"
Ron paled. "Oh geez, Harry!"
'What?' harry mouthed.
"We forgot. Who's captain of the team? We have to beat Malfoy next week!"
Reality came back to Harry with a sickening thud to the stomach. In his recovery,
he'd completely forgotten about the Quidditch Cup