Chapter Twenty

Lina woke up suddenly, breathing heavily. She'd had a terrible dream; Ron and Harry were in the hospital wing, and she and Hermione had to wait worriedly hoping, praying. Then it had turned into a nightmare about her brother Alex dying. What is it about the hospital wing? She wondered. She tried to go back to sleep, but looking at her clock; she realized it was six o'clock anyway. She slipped out of her pajamas and into black pants and a tee.

She was almost finished with her weapons practice when she felt her Com vibrating against her hip. She laid down her glaive and pulled the Com out of her pocket.

"Hey Kitten."

"Robin!!!" Lina was thrilled to see her father, if only on the Com screen.

"What's up, love?"

"Nothing, Robin. How're things with you? I hear you got kicked out of the house."

"Yes, I did. Your mother had one of her fits. I've had enough. I'm going to the Glade."

"But Robin, you're king. You and mother have duties..."

"Your mother and I have been trying to make things work for a long, long time. We can't pretend anymore. For now we're separating. If we can't work everything out I'll have to abdicate."

Lina couldn't pretend that she was shocked. She'd known that her parents had been arguing, but she had never expected them to separate.

"Are you gonna be ok?"

"Am I going to be ok? Kitten, this is about you! I wanted to tell you before your mother did, just in case."

Lina noticed that her father's leg was bandaged. "Robin, what happened to your leg?"

"I fell down the dang stairs. I'll be ok, though."

Just then, Lina heard people coming down the stairs. "Robin, I have to go now. I'll call you later, k?" She hung up and zapped her glaive up to her room. She pushed her Com into her pocket as she ran up stairs. She flung her school robes over her head and caught up with Ron, Harry, and Hermione in the common room.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked, glancing at her flushed face. "I'm good." She zapped her book bag into her arms. "Just tired. How's your finger Ron?" she asked. "Worse," he said. He held it out to her. It had turned a nasty shade of green. Lina examined it. "I guess dragon teeth are poisonous," she said grimly, "and this is definitely infected. You have to see Madame Pomfrey. Go," she added, seeing him about to disagree.

Ron reluctantly disappeared into the crowds, heading toward the infirmary. "I hope he's ok," said Hermione worriedly. "He will be," answered Lina, sounding much more confident then she felt.

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When Lina, Harry, and Hermione went to visit Ron in the hospital wing during lunch, they got a nasty surprise. Ron's face was flushed and feverish, his breathing irregualr, and his finger had swolled to the size of a pickle."I feel like dung," he moaned, as they had seated themselves around the bed. "I'm really sorry Ron," said Harry. But this only seemed to get him even more upset. "No! Malfoy knows! He's gonna stop us, he's gonna get us expelled--" "Ron, stop. It's ok. No one knows!" "Yes, you don't understand. He cam in here between classes, told Pomfrey he needed to borrow a book, when he'd really come to gloat. The book he took had Charlie's letter in it!" Hermione gasped. "It's ok, Ron. We'll get it back." And teach him a lesson he'll never forget, she thought.

"Give it back, Malfoy." Lina had him pinned against a wall. "I don't know what you're talking about." He was practically sobbing. "Yes, you do and--" her words were cut off by the sound of footsteps. She dropped him and said, "I know what you're up to. And believe you me, I am a formidable enemy." She left, her black robes billowing behind her.

That Saturday Lina had her last detention with Snape. He kept her until eleven o'clock, at which time she began to feign sleepiness. He dismissed her go with a grunt, and she ran to the Gryffindor common room. At eleven thirty Harry, Hermione, and Lina pulled the invisibility cloak over them (Ron was still in the infirmary) and headed down to Hagrid's hut. He rather tearfully handed Norbert to them in a cage, with food and a teddy bear who's head had been ripped off. "Bye, Norbert! Remember Mummy!" he sobbed. Even with all three of them helping, it still took a while for them to make it up to the tower with Norbert, who was now about the size of a german shepherd. At about ten after midnight, Charlie's friends flew up on broomsticks. They were really nice and showed them a harness they had made to hold Norbert's cage.

As they flew off with Norbert suspended under their brooms, Hermione gave a little squeal of joy and Lina silently jumped up and down with glee. "Yes!" sighed Harry. "The little bugger's gone!!!" They started back down the stairs feeling pretty good when all of a sudden, "Hello, hello, what's this?" Filch stood behind them, holding Mrs. Norris in his arms. "Oh, we're in trouble now, aren't we?"