A/N: Sorry for the delay to update. I have no excuses for that. I just… didn't have enough time for myself.
Wren Craven: Thank you for your reviews :) It brightened up my day.
Laughing Fountain: Thanks again for reviewing :)
Chapter 9 - Get Well Soon!
Sirius sat in front of the fireplace at the Gryffindor common room. He stared blankly at the flames and didn't seem to notice the other students who were coming in and out of the room.
James came in and sat next to Sirius. He looked at his friend's exhausted face and sighed.
"Padfoot?" James started.
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering… about Christine. If Moony had caused that injury, do you think she would also become a… a werewolf?"
Sirius' face went pale. He knew how hard it was for Remus to accept his life as it is, and he didn't want to see Christine going through all that.
"I don't know Prongs." He replied without looking at James.
"I know that lycanthropy can be caused by a bite, but I've never heard about a scratch."
"A deep one that made the injured person lose consciousness because of blood loss." Sirius said dryly. "The wound is so deep and it's… uh…" Sirius sighed. "I don't even want to think about it. It's hard for Remus, and you know how people react upon meeting a werewolf. I don't want that to happen to her."
"Yes, I know what you mean." James put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Listen, why don't you go and pay her a visit? She must be awake now, it's been more than two hours."
"I don't know. I have a feeling that Malfoy would be there now and I don't want to see him."
"Well, at least his bodyguard isn't here." James said with a smile and Sirius nodded. "But why would he be with her? He doesn't fancy her, does he?"
"I don't think that Christine would allow him to even think about it. They are childhood friends."
"Really? I can't imagine a friend out of Malfoy."
"Who can?" Sirius shrugged.
"Snivelly"
No one knew how Severus Snape was doing. They hadn't heard any news of him since Dumbledore announced about his situation a few days ago. Sirius was beginning to think that Snape was dead and he was going to be expelled and sent to Azkaban.
Snape was lying in a bed at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He was put in the Department of Artifact Accidents, as there wasn't a department that dealt with Muggle style injuries.
The nurse kept checking on him from time to time. He has lost some fair amount of blood, due to the internal bleeding, and he was pale for the first two days, but now his skin was back to normal color, although he had the bruises that Sirius caused.
Severus opened his eyes to see a young woman adjusting his bed sheet. As soon as she saw him open his eyes she put a hand on her mouth and gasped in surprise.
"That's incredible!" she said.
"What's incredible?" Snape asked.
"No one believed that you'll survive." The nurse said in a sad tone.
"Oh well, it seems they were wrong."
"I do hope that they will remain wrong." She smiled at him. "How are you feeling anyway?"
"I don't know. Dizzy, tired, sleepy… and dirty. I want to take a bath if it's possible." He asked.
"I will give you a potion that the healer had suggested and after drinking it you will fall asleep."
"But I don't want to sleep!" Snape protested, but the nurse pushed the spoon into his mouth and he couldn't do anything but swallow the small amount of potion that the nurse gave him.
"Now lay down and relax." She said as she put the spoon in a tray and took it in her hands. She walked to the door and before getting out, she turned and saw Snape yawning and resisting his sudden urge to sleep. In a few seconds, he was asleep. The nurse smiled and walked out of the room.
She headed to the office of the Healer who was responsible for Snape's healing process. She knocked the door and came in.
"Mr. Snape was awake a couple of minutes ago." She said with a smile.
"That's good news." The old healer replied. "Did you give him the potion?"
"Yes and he's back to sleep."
"That will keep him sleeping until next morning and he'll be ready to go back to school. I will send an owl to Dumbledore informing him about this aright now. You can go back to your work."
The nurse nodded and left the room. The healer wrote a letter to Dumbledore and after finishing it he left his office and headed to the roof of the hospital, where they kept their owls. He attached the letter to the leg of one of the owls and sent it out. The owl flew high in the sky and disappeared.
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Professor Dumbledore was sitting in his office signing some parchments for the Ministry of Magic when he heard a tap on his window. He turned around and saw a brown owl standing on the edge of the window. He got up and opened the window and took the letter from the owl. The bird flew away instantly and Dumbledore opened the letter and read it.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I'm pleased to inform you that Mr. Severus Snape, one f your students who was severely injured and has been put at our hospital, has awaken from his coma a few minutes ago. We have given him a strong healing potion and he will be ready to come back to school by tomorrow morning. Please be prepared to collect him at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
Sincerely,
T. Firewing
General Healer
Department of Artifact Injuries
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
Professor Dumbledore smiled with relief. He wouldn't have to expell a student, now that Severus Snape was healed. He folded the letter, put it in the envelope and then he placed it in one of the drawers of his desk. He walked around the room for a couple of minutes and then he patted Fawks' head before leaving his office and heading to the hospital Wing to attend another injured student.
As he walked through the corridors he saw students running on their way to their classes. Some of them greeted him as they passed and some of them (mostly first years) froze in their tracks as they saw him. He smiled to each one of them, knowing that they were not used to see the headmaster among them all the time, which made him think about making regular visits to classes.
When he reached the Hospital Wing he headed to the infirmary and opened the door slowly, trying his best not to make a sound that would disturb any of the ill students who were inside. As he entered he closed the door behind him and looked around. There were four students there. One of them was asleep, and the other was reading a book, which seemed to be taking his full attention that he didn't notice that someone has just entered the infirmary. The third student was sitting near the bed of the fourth, which was lying in the bed, motionless. He headed to that couple slowly.
"Good afternoon Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore said in a low voice.
Lucius jumped from his seat, as he didn't expect to see the headmaster there. "Good afternoon professor."
"I'm sorry I startled you. I didn't mean to."
"Oh, no. I just didn't expect anyone to come. That's all." Lucius said as his face turned pink.
"How is Miss Williams doing?" the headmaster asked, as he stepped closer to the bed.
"She has awaken yet." Lucius sighed. "Do you think that…"
"I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey has taken good care of her. And from what I see, her injury is deep and she must have lost a big amount of blood."
"She did. Madam Pomfrey said that she has been injured last night and has been found only in the morning."
"I see." Dumbledore paused for a moment. "Why don't you go to the Great Hall and have something to eat? I'm sure you have missed lunch."
"I'm not hungry professor, but thank you."
"And I believe you were not excused from classes either."
Lucius looked at the ground. None of the teachers have excused him from classes for the day and that meant that he was being absent on purpose, no matter what were the circumstances.
"Am I going to get a detention?"
"I am not going to give you a detention Mr. Malfoy. You haven't done something wrong by accompanying your friend at her time of need."
"I would never leave her alone from now on."
Dumbledore smiled at the last remark. It was a rare event to hear Lucius Malfoy caring about someone who wasn't even in the same house as his. Even Dumbledore had never expected to hear it from Lucius, let alone seeing him sitting next to the bed of his best friend hoping to see her healed.
"Professor, how long do you think it would take until she wakes up?" Lucius asked.
Dumbledore sighed. "Unfortunately I cannot tell. It all depends on her and her will to survive. But I do hope that she'll get better soon."
Lucius nodded and looked at Christine who was lying in the bed. Her skin was pale and her right arm was wrapped in bandage.
"Couldn't Madam Pomfrey just heal the wound?" Lucius asked.
"I'm sure she has her reasons for not doing so." Dumbledore replied. "I think that it is time for you to go to class Mr. Malfoy. I'll ask Madam Pomfrey to call you when Miss Williams wakes up."
Lucius got up from his seat. "Alright professor." He walked to the door and stopped at the entrance. "Professor, do you have any idea who did this?"
"Unfortunately, I don't." the headmaster replied.
Lucius walked out of the infirmary and headed to the Slytherin common room instead of going to class. He wasn't in the mood of attending another annoying lecture of Professor Binns' let alone meeting the Gryffindors there. He headed to his room and closed the door after him. He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had so much to think about. He desperately wanted to know who was the person, or animal that hurt Christine.
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Sirius stormed out of class as soon as he heard the teacher say the words "Class dismissed." he went straight to the Hospital Wing to check on Christine. He was hoping that he won't meet Lucius there, or his visit to the infirmary would end up turning into a battlefield.
As he approached the door, he opened it slowly and entered. He looked around and found Christine's bed and walked to its direction. He sat next to her and looked at her with sad eyes. He wiped a single tear that scrolled down his cheek and put his hand on her cheek.
"Please don't die." He whispered. "I know that I saw you last night and I feel that it's my fault that this happened to you. I don't know if you'll ever forgive me, but I'm sorry that I didn't pay attention to you at that moment. I didn't know that the eagle was actually you."
Sirius sighed and wiped his eyes again. He couldn't control the tears of guilt that started to scroll down his cheeks. He wanted to do something about this situation. If only he could turn back time… but he couldn't. That was impossible.
He took Christine's left hand and held it for a while. He noticed that she was warm. He smiled at her face as it started to gain color. She wasn't pale anymore and that made him happy. He leaned close to her face and kissed her lips gently, and then he got up and was about to leave when he heard a moan. He turned around to see Christine trying to shift in bed, and that caused pain to her.
"Chris?" he whispered as he went back to her side. He knelt near the bed and held her hand. "Chris can you hear me?"
"It hurts." Christine said with closed eyes. "It hurts." She put her left hand on her right arm.
"I'll call Madam Pomfrey. I'm sure she has some kind of pain relieving potion." Sirius got up and rushed out to find the medi-witch.
As soon as he found her, he brought her to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey took out a vial from a small wardrobe and poured some potion into a spoon. She walked to Christine's bed and put her free hand under Christine's head and lifted it up a little bit.
"Christine, honey? Open your mouth, I'm going to give you a potion that will ease the pain."
Christine obeyed silently and opened her mouth as the medi-witch put the spoon in. Christine swallowed the potion and made voices that resembled her disgust toward that medicine.
"She'll fall asleep now." Madam Pomfrey turned to Sirius. "You should go to your common room now."
"I can't. I don't want to." Sirius replied. "Can I stay with her, please?"
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Alright as I can see, you truly care for her."
Sirius blushed a little bit. "Thank you so much." He said and sat near her on the bed.
Christine opened her eyes and looked at the blurry place. She rubbed her sleepy eyes with one hand and then saw that Sirius was sitting next to her.
"Hi Sirius." She smiled.
"Hello dear, how do you feel?" Sirius said and removed a lock of hair from her face.
"I feel numb. That medicine felt like a sleeping potion."
"Maybe it should make you sleep so you won't feel pain."
"Maybe." Christine replied and closed her eyes.
"Sleep my love." Sirius whispered and leaned to kiss her again. "I'll see you in the morning."