When Victoria woke up, it was like every muscle in her body ached, and her head felt like it was going to explode.
"Victoria!" Hermione gasped, causing Victoria to wince. "Not so loud..."
"Sorry..."
"What happened, and why does my head feel like I've been drinking firewhiskey for twenty-four hours non-stop?"
"That would probably be because a troll threw you against a wall." Came the voice of Ron. "You're bloody lucky that you weren't killed."
"You're in the hospital wing right now," Hermione added. "Madame Pomfrey said that you're going to be in here at least a week, perhaps even longer. You've already been out for almost two days."
"Two days?" Victoria sat up quickly, immediately regretting it as the pounding in her head increased tenfold.
"Lay back down." Hermione scolded her, gently pushing on her shoulders to get her to lie back down in bed. "Madame Pomfrey said that you had a really bad concussion."
"I thought that your head would have been caved in for sure," Ron stated, yelping as Hermione smacked him on the arm.
"You're not exactly helping, Ronald."
Even though they were bickering a bit, Victoria noticed that Ron was seeming to tolerate Hermione a bit more. "Okay, something's changed between the two of you, you're not at each other's throats."
Hermione and Ron exchanged a look with each other.
"I guess that you could say we're friends now," Hermione said slowly. "Ron apologized for how he acted towards me, and after you got knocked out, he and Harry were able to beat the troll."
Victoria arched an eyebrow in surprise. "You mean that the two of you were able to take down that troll?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ron said before rolling his eyes. "And for your information, we were able to take that troll down fairly quickly."
"Without pissing your pants?"
Hermione had to bite hard on her lip to keep from laughing as Ron gave a shout of protest, which sent Madame Pomfrey rushing over. "Miss Weasley needs her rest, I'm going to have to ask you two to leave."
"We'll come back and visit you soon, Victoria," Hermione promised.
"Try not to kill my brother, at least, not until I get out of here."
"I can't make you any promises. If he doesn't press his luck, then we should be fine."
Ron gulped, glancing in between the two girls nervously before following Hermione out of the infirmary.
"Those two are going to be in a relationship one of these days, you mark my words." Madame Pomfrey predicted as she fluffed up Victoria's pillow.
"What?!" Victoria said, looking at Madame Pomfrey with wide eyes. "No, there's no way that those two are going to be getting together. They're as likely to get together as Harry and Draco are." (says the author, who is a Drarry shipper)
"You'll find that love is strange like that, Miss Weasley. Just like you and that Zabini boy."
It was a good thing that Victoria hadn't been eating or drinking anything, or else she would have choked on it for sure. "Excuse me?"
"He came to see you while you were still unconscious, that boy had been worried sick over you."
"He's a friend, we're friends, that's all that we are."
Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"
"Why are you so interested in the non-existent love life of an eleven year old?"
"I'm old, I have to get my kicks in somehow. Plus I promised Dumbledore that I would tell him if there was any juicy gossip in my ward."
"You're as bad as a hairdresser, you know that?"
"Oh, you think that those are bad, you obviously haven't been around Healers, they're ten times worse."
Victoria rolled her eyes, and Madame Pomfrey chuckled softly. "You need to get some rest dear, I'll get you some food in a little bit."
"That sounds perfect, I'm starving." Victoria suddenly realized how tired she was, and she snuggled down into her bed. It took her merely moments before she fell into a peaceful sleep.
It was another week before Victoria was able to leave the hospital wing. When she was discharged, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting outside for her. Hermione hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad that you're finally out!"
"Yeah, you and me both. So what have I missed out on?"
"Well, Harry seems to think that Snape is working for You-Know-Who." Ron stated, causing Victoria to give Harry a look of surprise. "Wait, what?"
"It's a long story," Harry said. "But he hates me."
"Well, I know that already."
"He jinxed Harry's broom at the Quidditch game," Ron said. "Harry would have fallen off of his broom if Hermione hadn't set Snape's robes on fire."
"You did what?" Victoria stared at Hermione, the other girl blushing brightly. "Well, I had to do something, I couldn't just let Harry fall off of his broom now, could I?"
"So this is all you have to go on?" Victoria asked the group. "That Harry's broom was jinxed by Snape, so surely our Potions professor must be working for You-Know-Who. Did it ever occur to you that maybe he just didn't want Gryffindor to win the match? I know that he was a follower of You-Know-Who during the war, but we aren't at war anymore. You-Know-Who disappeared, pretty much everyone thinks that he's dead."
"How can you defend him?" Ron demanded of his sister.
"I'm not defending him, Ron. I'm just saying that maybe you should have some more evidence before you go assuming things."
"You're trying to kiss up to him, aren't you? You're trying to kiss up to him because he's your head of house."
"Oh my God..." Victoria sighed in frustration and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm not defending anyone, Ron. I'm not denying that Snape hexed Harry's broom, I believe that, okay? What I don't believe is that just because he hexed Harry's broom, that means he's working for the Dark Lord."
"The Tori I knew wouldn't hesitate to help us."
"The Tori that you knew?" Victoria scoffed. "What are you saying? That just because I'm in Slytherin, I suddenly changed overnight? You know what? It's bad enough that I got that from Mum and Percy, I don't need to get it from you as well." Victoria turned on her heel and left, ignoring Hermione's calls for her to stop and come back.