Chapter 24
Losses and gains
When Elizabeth eventually regained consciousness, at first she had absolutely no idea of where she was (and even who she was, come to think of it); her initial guess being that she had, in fact, died and gone to heaven.
'So ... why am I lying in bed, then?' her mind reasoned. 'Why does my whole body hurt like somebody had run over it with a steam roller at least a dozen times? Surely people who go to heaven don't feel any pain?'
But pain was exactly what she did feel, mostly just the numb sort of one, but at times it became so intense that it felt as if a million knives were slowly being driven into her skin, making her want to scream and scream until she'd eventually lose herself in the wonderful world of unconsciousness where nothing would hurt her any longer.
'All right, so I'm probably not in heaven,' she decided, getting this far. 'I'm somewhere else. But where?'
She carefully looked around, doing her best not to move her aching body more than was necessary, but all she could see was whiteness. And beds ... lots of beds with people in them. And Jane, Hermione and Neville, sitting by her bedside and talking quietly.
Jane, Hermione and Neville? How come she knew their names when she couldn't even remember her own? How come-
And then, all of a sudden, everything came back to her.
The war.
Draco's quarrel with his father.
Snape fighting with Voldemort.
Snape. How could she ever, even for a moment, forget about him? Was he all right? Had he survived? Had Voldemort been defeated?
Whatever happened, Elizabeth had to know – now.
'First things first, though,' she told herself firmly, which, in this case, meant a very slow and careful shift to a more appropriate position for a conversation. She had barely raised her head from the pillow, however, when she caught sight of something black resting on her covers ... and screamed.
"Elizabeth!" exclaimed Hermione, immediately rushing to her friend's side, closely followed by Jane and Neville. "You're awake! Thank goodness; we were beginning to get worried!"
Elizabeth, however, completely ignored the Gryffindor's excited words. "My ... my hand's all black!" she stuttered, staring at the exposed limb in shock. "And ... and..."
"And a part of your chest, neck and cheek as well, I know," said Hermione calmly, evidently feeling the need to inform her friend about her exact state before she'd find out herself and freak out again. "It's going to be all right, though, so don't worry. And be glad that Madam Pomfrey had managed to stop the blackness from spreading before it reached your heart. When Snape-"
"Snape!" exclaimed Elizabeth, suddenly remembering all the questions she was going to ask before getting all worked up about her injuries. "Where is he? Is he all right? And what about Voldemort?"
"Ssh, Elizabeth, calm down," said Hermione quietly, pulling her chair right up to the bed and sitting down again. "You don't want Madam Pomfrey to swoop down upon us, do you?"
"No, I just-"
"Yes, I know, you just want to find out everything at once," smiled Hermione, who had obviously been chosen as the one to tell her. "Well, firstly, I can assure you that Snape is just fine; he wasn't seriously injured, and he was actually the one to carry you up here. He even came back to check on you once, I believe."
Elizabeth, although relieved to discover that her beloved was OK, thought she was hearing things. "C-carry me up?" she asked, bewildered. "He didn't use magic?"
"No, he was too drained out, just like the rest of us. Killing Voldemort takes quite a bit out of you, you know."
This was all too good to be true, and Elizabeth found herself wondering whether the bad news, which, as she knew only too well, were bound to come sooner or later, would be bad enough to compensate for all the wonderful things she'd heard so far. "So he's ... he's finally dead?" she asked, just to make sure. "For good?"
Hermione flashed her an enormous smile. "Yes, Elizabeth, he is. And I suppose that now that it's all over there'd be no harm in finally telling you exactly how we finished him off, as I remember just how upset you were when I didn't tell you last time." She paused to take a breath, put her hand on top of Neville's, as if to seek reassurance, and then continued: "Well, it was all quite simple, really. As I'm sure you know, the more people use the same spell at the same time, the stronger it becomes. So, all we had to do was to get a group of people to form a circle around Voldemort and send the 'Fulgur Albus' at him – a spell which, as Dumbledore had told the chosen few who were to perform it, was originally created with the intention to help the good wizards and witches get rid of some truly frightful ancient monsters of the Dark who had until then resisted every known spell, even if it were sent by many people at once. But the 'Fulgur Albus' was different. It was designed to be used only by those who were on the same side – the side of the Light, wishing to deprive the world of some sort of evil, and uniting to fight as one. If these conditions were met, and a number of people joined to produce the spell at the same time, it became powerful enough to destroy practically anything. Obviously, though, the Dark wizards didn't give up so easily, and soon came up with the 'Fulgur Ater', naively hoping that it would work in much the same way as its opposite. Well, I think I hardly need to say how horribly wrong they were in their calculations, for soon it was clear that it made absolutely no difference whether the dark lightning was used by one person or more; it's strength was always the same. Surely you can guess why?"
Elizabeth didn't even have to think about the answer; it was so obvious she almost laughed. "Because Dark wizards can't unite," she said simply. "They only think about themselves, and the profit they can make out of whatever they do. The word loyalty doesn't exist in their dictionary; they'd betray their own mother if they knew there'd be something good in it for them. Isn't that right?"
"I wouldn't have said it better myself," said the Gryffindor with a smile.
"What I don't understand, though," continued Elizabeth thoughtfully, "is how come Voldemort never managed to figure out how you were planning to kill him. I'm sure he must've found out about Dumbledore teaching us the 'Fulgur Albus', despite all the safety precautions, so why didn't he simply look up its effects in some book or other if he didn't know them? He'd realize his fate straight away, wouldn't he?"
"Good point, Elizabeth, but the problem with that suggestion is that a book like that simply doesn't exist. And since, until now, the white lightning hadn't been used for centuries, there aren't too many wizards who know about it these days. Dumbledore seemed to trust the few who do not to share their knowledge with anyone, which, fortunately for us, left Voldemort with absolutely no chance of finding anything out."
"I see," said Elizabeth. "So ... who exactly was in that secret group of yours, the one that eventually destroyed him?"
"Well, only those who had Dumbledore's complete trust, I'd say," replied Hermione cautiously, evidently afraid that her friend would start complaining again about the unfairness of having been left out. "All the teachers, including Professors Lupin and Moody; Harry, Ron, Neville and I; the whole of Ron's family with the exception of one of his brothers, who works for the Ministry; Harry's godfather, Sirius Black; and, of course, Dumbledore himself. But I think that the key person was probably Snape, who had the most demanding task of us all. You see, he was to keep Voldemort occupied and make sure he wouldn't disappear anywhere right until the end, when, hopefully, the rest of us would surround him and finally get rid of him once for all."
"But ... wouldn't it have been better if you had Dumbledore doing that, rather than Snape?" asked Elizabeth. "I mean, I know Snape's a great wizard, but to keep resisting Voldemort for god-knows-how-long could've proven too much even for him, couldn't it?"
"Well, yes, but we thought that Voldemort wouldn't really fancy a duel with Dumbledore right from the start, because he knew it'd cost him most of the strength he was hoping to save for later, to finish us off. Which means he'd probably make a hasty retreat at the mere sight of the Headmaster, and only come back if he knew his army was close to winning. Snape, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect for the task, since Voldemort was not only willing to do practically anything to make him pay for his betrayal, but also, like you pointed out, didn't think him strong enough to put up much resistance."
"So ... you used Snape as some sort of bait," said Elizabeth incredulously, feeling her temper rise. "You would've let him-"
"It was the only option, Elizabeth," said Hermione firmly. "And, as you can see, it was successful."
"Pity you haven't been there to see the giants, Elizabeth," stated Neville, obviously deciding that it was about time to change the subject. "I think Voldemort was just about to start congratulating himself on how well he was doing when Hagrid suddenly led them out of the Forbidden Forest, and you should've seen the way they dealt with the remains of the Dark army. Completely crushed them, that's what they did."
"Or take the house-elves," Jane chimed in. "I would never have imagined just how powerful they can be if they want to; it's a shame you didn't get to see them. The Death Eaters didn't know what had hit them when they suddenly appeared on the battle field."
Hermione muttered something about house-elf rights Elizabeth didn't quite understand, but she chose to ignore it and skipped instead to the one question that had been at the back of her mind right from the start, only she didn't have the heart to bring it up earlier: "Um ... I'm not sure if I really want to ask this, but since I'd probably find out sooner or later anyway, I think it'd be best if you just told me now..." She paused, took a deep breath, and then, looking straight at her three friends, asked: "Were our losses too bad? Could you tell me who ... who..." she trailed off, hoping to get an answer even without having to finish the sentence.
Her words, however, were followed by nothing but silence. Hermione gave her a long, sad look, and then dropped her gaze to the floor, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Neville immediately put his arms around her, whispering several undefinable words of comfort in her ear, but otherwise saying nothing. Jane opened her mouth, glanced at Hermione, and quickly closed it again. But even this was enough for Elizabeth to figure out what had probably happened ... Hermione had lost one of her closest friends. But which one? Harry? Ron? Or, even worse, both of them?
"I ... I'm sorry," she began. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'm not- "
"No," said Neville quietly, still holding his girlfriend in his arms and gently stroking her hair. "Like you said, it'd be best if we got it over and done with." He sighed. "It's ... it's Ron. He was killed by one of the Death Eaters. And his ... his sister Ginny ... she's dead too."
Hermione glanced up at Neville's words, her cheeks streaked with tears, and Elizabeth turned to her with a look of deepest sympathy. "Oh, Hermione," she said softly. "I'm so sorry. I-"
"It's ... it's OK," the bushy-haired witch choked out. "He ... he wouldn't have liked me to grieve for him like this. He would've told me to move on. He..." Burying her face in her hands, she suddenly broke into a fresh set of tears, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Elizabeth almost felt like crying herself at the sight of her, but eventually pulled herself together and, turning towards Neville, whispered: "What about Harry? Is *he* all right, at least?"
"Yes, he should be fine," replied Neville, shifting his chair even closer to Hermione's so that she could lean against him. "A few days here, in the infirmary, and he'll be as good as new."
Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. Losing one friend is definitely bad, but losing two...
"And the others?" she asked anxiously. "Who else didn't survive?"
"Well, we've lost quite a lot of the teachers," said Neville thoughtfully. "Professor Trelawney was killed right at the beginning by a vampire; Professor-"
"Funny, isn't it?" Jane cut in with a snigger. "She predicted everyone's death at least once a month, but in the end she couldn't even predict her own. It might've saved her life if she did."
"I'm not really sure if that would've helped, actually," said Elizabeth. "You can't change a prophecy once it's made; she told us herself several times. But enough about that; go on, Neville."
"-Professor Vector was torn apart by a bunch of hell hounds; Professors Sinistra and Sprout were both hit by the 'Fulgur Ater', and were dead long before we could get them up to the hospital wing; Professor Fletcher was no match for one of the skeletons; Madam Hooch was overpowered by an army of zombies; Professor Lupin-" Jane sighed deeply at the mention of her former crush's name; his death had evidently afflicted her more than she was willing to admit "-was killed by the 'Avada Kedavra'; Mrs Figg, despite her ability to turn invisible, was knocked unconscious by a stray curse which immediately caused the invisiblity to lift, making her an easy target for one of the Death Eaters; Hagrid-"
Hermione let out a heart-breaking sob and looked up. "Hagrid was ... was given the Dementor's kiss," she sniffed. "Nobody knows what to do with him now ... he just sits there, in his little hut, staring into space with unseeing eyes... It's not fair, Elizabeth! He was the last person in the world to deserve such a fate! He was always so ... so..." She trailed off, now sobbing uncontrollably.
"Sssh, Hermione," said Neville soothingly, allowing her to cry into his shoulder. "I know he didn't deserve it. None of them did, even if it wasn't a Dementor's kiss that had ended their life. But even though they're physically gone, at least we can still keep them alive in our memories, where they'll remain unchanged even as we grow old and ill." And then, as if to emphasize his words, he started naming all the victims of the battle he hadn't mentioned so far, ticking them off on his fingers as he did so: "Sirius, who had fought bravely until the very last minute; Joshua and Jamie, who had never managed to beat me at the amount of melted cauldrons; Lavender Brown, who was only ever worried about her looks; Hannah Abbott, who had never put a toe out of line; Draco Malfoy-"
Elizabeth looked up so sharply she thought she'd die from the incredible pain that suddenly shot from her neck into the rest of her body. "Draco ... Draco's dead?" she managed to choke out, closing her eyes in relief as the pain slowly faded away.
Neville gave her an inquiring look. "Yes, why?"
That's right, why? Why did his death upset her so much more than the others? True, even as Crabbe and Goyle were carrying him off to the hospital wing she found herself thinking about how sad it'd be were he to die, but now that it had actually happened, she felt positively shattered, almost as if she had lost a good friend. Could those few words she had shared with him after the incident with his father have created some kind of invisible bond between them? Or was it just the simple fact that she had suddenly found somebody who was going through the same thing as she was?
"I'm not sure," she answered truthfully. "It's just ... did you know he was on our side?"
"Yes, we did. One of the few Slytherins who had remained loyal to Dumbledore he was, too. Most of his friends had run off to Voldemort's side as soon as they left the castle, the bastards. But we couldn't really have expected anything else, could we?"
"No, I suppose not," said Elizabeth absently, her mind already on other things.
'I wish somebody would tell me what to do,' she thought desperately. 'Should I tell Hermione about Draco's feelings for her? Wouldn't I betray him somehow if I did? For I'm sure he would never have told her while he was alive, but then again, that's not really the case any more, is it? It's not as if it's going to make that much of a difference now, anyway, and at least it'll cause Hermione to start thinking about something else than her dead friends. Not to mention the fact that I'd really love to get it off my mind...'
"Um, Hermione?" she began uncertainly. "I ... I think you should know something. You see, unbelievable as it may seem, Draco ... he ... he loved you."
Hermione slowly raised her tear-stained face from Neville's shoulder, her expression somewhere between surprise and disbelief. "He did?" she asked softly. "Poor soul ... and to think I never really believed you when you suggested it that time we met him before our first Animagi lesson... But ... wait a minute ... do you mean to say that he actually *told* you?"
Elizabeth nodded, and proceeded to give her three friends a quick account of Draco's duel with his father, concentrating especially on what the boy had told her afterwards.
"Well, it seems like there was some good in him, after all," declared Jane when the blond witch had finished. "Who would've thought?"
"He must have had quite an unhappy life," said Hermione thoughtfully. "His parents didn't seem exactly the loving kind to me, and, not counting Crabbe and Goyle, I don't think he had any real friends, either. Maybe that was why he kept on treating everyone the way he did ... because he was jealous of them. Perhaps if I had looked past all the insults, and tried to get to know him better, I could've done something for him. I might've even-"
"Now, Hermione, don't you dare start blaming yourself for his death," interrupted Elizabeth, easily anticipating what her friend was about to say. "You know as well as I do that nobody could've really done anything to prevent what had happened between him and his father, so please keep that in mind whenever you feel like thinking otherwise, OK?"
Hermione gave a reluctant nod, and Elizabeth, obviously satisfied with her reaction, hastily turned her attention towards her other best friend, suddenly realizing the suspicious absence of her boyfriend. "Jane?" she began tentatively. "It just occurred to me ... why isn't Justin here? He's not ... you know..." she trailed off, watching the tall Ravenclaw with worry in her eyes and silently praying for her answer to be anything but positive.
"Dead?" finished Jane airily. "No, fortunately not. He's here, in the hospital wing, having suffered some light injuries thanks to one particularly nasty hell hound, but Madam Pomfrey said he should be all right in... Elizabeth!?" she exclaimed anxiously, noticing her friend suddenly dig her nails into her covers and double up in pain. "Are ... are you OK?"
Elizabeth, however, didn't answer. She felt as if her whole body was on fire, black and red spots were flashing before her eyes and her head was spinning. Only vaguely did she hear some shouts and the sound of running footsteps coming from somewhere close by, because all she could register was the incredible pain that was seemingly invading every single part of her body. But just when she thought she wouldn't be able to stand it any longer, the pain suddenly died away, leaving as unexpectedly as it had come.
Slowly, Elizabeth's surroundings came back into focus. She could see Hermione and Neville, huddling together at the foot of her bed, she could see Jane, standing by her chair and looking amusingly uncertain, and, to her relief, she could also see Madam Pomfrey, sitting on the edge of her bed and pushing a goblet with some insipid-looking liquid into her hand.
"Drink this," she ordered and, seeing Elizabeth's questioning look, added: "It's something to make the pain a little more bearable, and it'll also make you sleep. I daresay you've talked more than enough for today." And she shot a meaningful glance in the direction of her three friends, who, after whispering a quick goodbye, immediately took their leave and soon disappeared out of view.
Elizabeth cast a longing look after them, but quickly turned her attention back to the goblet in her hand as Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat a little more loudly than was necessary and got to her feet. Downing the medicine in several huge gulps (and almost spitting the yellowish liquid back out again after discovering that it tasted even worse than it looked), Elizabeth handed the goblet back to the impatient-looking mediwitch and, seeing the woman was about to leave her for the time being, quickly seized the opportunity and asked: "Madam Pomfrey, how long am I going to be here?"
Madam Pomfrey threw her a look of something between irritation (for holding her up, no doubt) and pity, letting several long seconds pass before she answered.
"About six weeks, I'm afraid."
Elizabeth felt as if she'd just been told that she was to go to Azkaban. "Six weeks?" she repeated weakly. "But ... why so long? Surely the injuries aren't *that* bad?"
The older witch sighed. "Miss Woodhouse, I assure you that you really couldn't have ended up much worse. You're lucky to be alive, to tell you the truth. And since the only cure for injuries caused by the 'Fulgur Ater', the Tear of Life, can only be applied once, after which there's nothing to be done except wait for it to slowly spread to all the parts of the body that have been affected, all you can do is be patient and simply let the Tear of Life heal you at its own pace."
Elizabeth's heart sank. It seemed there was indeed no getting out of it – she'd have to spend six enormously long and boring weeks in the hospital wing. What had she done to deserve something like that?
"Can't you at least put some bandages on all the black areas?" she asked desperately. "It's a terrible sight."
"No, Miss Woodhouse, I'm afraid I can't. The skin needs to breathe in order to heal properly. Now, if you'll excuse me – I'd like to get back to my other patients." And with a look that clearly said that any further questions would most likely be left unanswered, Madam Pomfrey gracefully departed, leaving Elizabeth on her own with nothing more than her gloomy thoughts to keep her company.
'Six weeks!' she thought dejectedly. 'I'll probably bore myself to death by the time they finally consider me healed enough to let me out of here. Not to mention the fact that unless Snape came to visit me, which is highly unlikely, since he had already fulfilled his duty by coming back to make sure whether I was all right while I was still unconscious, there's almost no chance of my seeing him...'
But Elizabeth never got any further with her musings, for at that moment, the potion she had drunk earlier finally took the desired effect, causing her to fall into a deep, relaxing slumber where nothing, not even Snape, mattered any longer.
A/N: After giving it some thought, I decided to split this chapter into two, because I've realized that finishing it would take me an enormously long time, and I didn't want to keep all of you waiting for so long. My timetable's absolutely disgusting, I have almost no free time for writing, so please try to bear with me, OK? Sorry there's no Snape in this half- chapter like I promised there would be; I'll try to compensate for that in the second part.
Anyway, like always, thank you sooo much for all the encouraging reviews; they really make my life worth living. I love you all!
FireValkyrie: Oh, well, if the hiatus is only in your head, then that's fine. Let the Pirates of the Carribean (at least I hope that was what the abbreviation stood for) take over for now :) It's a cool movie, I agree; I've seen it four times already. How about you? Anyway, you're right – lots of fun stuff coming up in the rest of the chapters; it's a pity I didn't get to it in this one yet. But yes, Rowling doesn't really show us much of the civil Snape, does she? I'll just have to hope that the way I see him in my mind is right, and that you, as well as the rest of my readers, see him the same way. I've been wondering a lot lately what Rowling is going to do with Snape in the last two books, and I must say I didn't like what I came up with at all. It's a well known fact that she doesn't like him, so I reckon his fate isn't going to be entirely happy. She'd better not kill him, though, or she'll have me and all the other Snape fans out there to answer to... Anyway, I didn't mean to talk about this at all, what I really wanted to say is thank you very much for another nice review, hopefully I'll get to hear from you again soon, and please let me know when you upload your fic, OK?
The Evil Cup of Tea: You're still with me! I'm so happy, I really am! And it's so cool you don't think this story is going downhill, even though I'm not so sure about this half-chapter, where nothing really happens. And there's no Snape in it, either. But anyway, what about your fic? Have you given up on it completely? That would be a shame, but, of course, I can't force you to write, can I? I'd really like to thank you for reviewing again, though; I hope to keep hearing from you, and I also hope your asthma's not giving you too much trouble. Cheers!
ALittleBitOfDarkness: You really think my English is that good? I'm flattered! I think it could still be a *lot* better, though. As for Rowling's characters being one-dimensional – well, you are probably right in a way ... Ron sure is, and also Hermione most of the time (even though in the fifth book we saw that she knows not only everything concerning school, but that she can cope with boy/girl problems as well), and Draco, of course, but I reckon that apart from Dumbledore and Harry, we also saw another side of McGonagall and Neville in the fifth, and as far as Snape is concerned, I really don't think Rowling could've done a better job with him. I'm convinced we'll get to know a lot more about him later on, but for the time being, JK can't really have Harry pondering over his nicer side, can she? It was enough that he actually felt sorry for him at one time. But anyway, I'm incredibly happy that you don't find my characters one- dimensional; I'm just writing them how I feel they should behave, and am glad that it comes out well. So, yeah ... thank you very much for another beautiful review (that wasn't really a cliffie at the end of the last chapter; I'm sure you knew I'd never let anything happen to Elizabeth), and I hope to hear from you again!
Claudia Rocks: I haven't been to Traralgon, unfortunately (all I can remember from my visits to Victoria are the Snowy Mountains, where we went skiing quite often, and Melbourne), but I know what you mean about a much bigger hole being on the map while your town isn't. I noticed it too, and maybe that's one of the reasons why we got lost so often when we decided to explore some outback part of Australia. Anyway, yes, 'Snapeykins' :) is indeed falling for Elizabeth (at last), and the part where they finally get together is definitely not too far off now :) Hope you'll stay with me for that, and it'd be great if I got to hear from you again. Did you enjoy Asia, by the way?
Queen of Zan: Snape is not your favourite character and you still like my fic so much? That sure makes me feel good... And did reading this at least make you like him a tiny little bit more? I'd be really happy if that were the case – go Snape-mania! Who *is* your fave character, by the way? Anyway, hope you got something to eat and that you cleaned your room properly after you finished reading, because I'd feel all guilty if you didn't. Well, and thank you very much for reviewing; I did spend every free moment writing so that I could give you a quick update, but, unfortunately, there were not many of such moments. Stupid school :(
An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin (*very* interesting nickname, by the way): Thank you so much for your kind words, but I'm sure there are quite a few fics out there that are way better than mine. As is Rowling's work; I'll never ever even get close to what she's done. But yeah, I do my best, so I'm really happy that you find the scenes believable, because that's what I'm aiming at. To answer your questions – yes, she'll get to talk to Snape when she wakes up in the next chapter, and I'll hopefully make it to the get-together part in there as well. And don't worry, Snape is definitely not gay; I was just kidding. As if I'd make him gay ... then I couldn't have any fun with him, could I? Anyway, thank you once more for the wonderful review, and I hope this update was fast enough. Wrath from hell *shudders* ... and a white rabbit *shudders even more*.
XxDarkGoddessxX: Oh, that's such a nice thing of you to say; you don't know how much it pleased me to hear that there's actually some visible improvement in my writing. But I suppose you're right, I might've gained some confidence along the way, and I really didn't have much trouble with putting the battle chapter into words. Also, when I read through the first couple of chapters the other day, I couldn't help but be horrifed at the enormous amount of mistakes I've made in them, which probably shows the improvement more than anything. I think I'll have to go and fix all the errors when I finish the fic. Anyway, thank you sooo much for another encouraging review, and I hope to hear from you again soon!
Losses and gains
When Elizabeth eventually regained consciousness, at first she had absolutely no idea of where she was (and even who she was, come to think of it); her initial guess being that she had, in fact, died and gone to heaven.
'So ... why am I lying in bed, then?' her mind reasoned. 'Why does my whole body hurt like somebody had run over it with a steam roller at least a dozen times? Surely people who go to heaven don't feel any pain?'
But pain was exactly what she did feel, mostly just the numb sort of one, but at times it became so intense that it felt as if a million knives were slowly being driven into her skin, making her want to scream and scream until she'd eventually lose herself in the wonderful world of unconsciousness where nothing would hurt her any longer.
'All right, so I'm probably not in heaven,' she decided, getting this far. 'I'm somewhere else. But where?'
She carefully looked around, doing her best not to move her aching body more than was necessary, but all she could see was whiteness. And beds ... lots of beds with people in them. And Jane, Hermione and Neville, sitting by her bedside and talking quietly.
Jane, Hermione and Neville? How come she knew their names when she couldn't even remember her own? How come-
And then, all of a sudden, everything came back to her.
The war.
Draco's quarrel with his father.
Snape fighting with Voldemort.
Snape. How could she ever, even for a moment, forget about him? Was he all right? Had he survived? Had Voldemort been defeated?
Whatever happened, Elizabeth had to know – now.
'First things first, though,' she told herself firmly, which, in this case, meant a very slow and careful shift to a more appropriate position for a conversation. She had barely raised her head from the pillow, however, when she caught sight of something black resting on her covers ... and screamed.
"Elizabeth!" exclaimed Hermione, immediately rushing to her friend's side, closely followed by Jane and Neville. "You're awake! Thank goodness; we were beginning to get worried!"
Elizabeth, however, completely ignored the Gryffindor's excited words. "My ... my hand's all black!" she stuttered, staring at the exposed limb in shock. "And ... and..."
"And a part of your chest, neck and cheek as well, I know," said Hermione calmly, evidently feeling the need to inform her friend about her exact state before she'd find out herself and freak out again. "It's going to be all right, though, so don't worry. And be glad that Madam Pomfrey had managed to stop the blackness from spreading before it reached your heart. When Snape-"
"Snape!" exclaimed Elizabeth, suddenly remembering all the questions she was going to ask before getting all worked up about her injuries. "Where is he? Is he all right? And what about Voldemort?"
"Ssh, Elizabeth, calm down," said Hermione quietly, pulling her chair right up to the bed and sitting down again. "You don't want Madam Pomfrey to swoop down upon us, do you?"
"No, I just-"
"Yes, I know, you just want to find out everything at once," smiled Hermione, who had obviously been chosen as the one to tell her. "Well, firstly, I can assure you that Snape is just fine; he wasn't seriously injured, and he was actually the one to carry you up here. He even came back to check on you once, I believe."
Elizabeth, although relieved to discover that her beloved was OK, thought she was hearing things. "C-carry me up?" she asked, bewildered. "He didn't use magic?"
"No, he was too drained out, just like the rest of us. Killing Voldemort takes quite a bit out of you, you know."
This was all too good to be true, and Elizabeth found herself wondering whether the bad news, which, as she knew only too well, were bound to come sooner or later, would be bad enough to compensate for all the wonderful things she'd heard so far. "So he's ... he's finally dead?" she asked, just to make sure. "For good?"
Hermione flashed her an enormous smile. "Yes, Elizabeth, he is. And I suppose that now that it's all over there'd be no harm in finally telling you exactly how we finished him off, as I remember just how upset you were when I didn't tell you last time." She paused to take a breath, put her hand on top of Neville's, as if to seek reassurance, and then continued: "Well, it was all quite simple, really. As I'm sure you know, the more people use the same spell at the same time, the stronger it becomes. So, all we had to do was to get a group of people to form a circle around Voldemort and send the 'Fulgur Albus' at him – a spell which, as Dumbledore had told the chosen few who were to perform it, was originally created with the intention to help the good wizards and witches get rid of some truly frightful ancient monsters of the Dark who had until then resisted every known spell, even if it were sent by many people at once. But the 'Fulgur Albus' was different. It was designed to be used only by those who were on the same side – the side of the Light, wishing to deprive the world of some sort of evil, and uniting to fight as one. If these conditions were met, and a number of people joined to produce the spell at the same time, it became powerful enough to destroy practically anything. Obviously, though, the Dark wizards didn't give up so easily, and soon came up with the 'Fulgur Ater', naively hoping that it would work in much the same way as its opposite. Well, I think I hardly need to say how horribly wrong they were in their calculations, for soon it was clear that it made absolutely no difference whether the dark lightning was used by one person or more; it's strength was always the same. Surely you can guess why?"
Elizabeth didn't even have to think about the answer; it was so obvious she almost laughed. "Because Dark wizards can't unite," she said simply. "They only think about themselves, and the profit they can make out of whatever they do. The word loyalty doesn't exist in their dictionary; they'd betray their own mother if they knew there'd be something good in it for them. Isn't that right?"
"I wouldn't have said it better myself," said the Gryffindor with a smile.
"What I don't understand, though," continued Elizabeth thoughtfully, "is how come Voldemort never managed to figure out how you were planning to kill him. I'm sure he must've found out about Dumbledore teaching us the 'Fulgur Albus', despite all the safety precautions, so why didn't he simply look up its effects in some book or other if he didn't know them? He'd realize his fate straight away, wouldn't he?"
"Good point, Elizabeth, but the problem with that suggestion is that a book like that simply doesn't exist. And since, until now, the white lightning hadn't been used for centuries, there aren't too many wizards who know about it these days. Dumbledore seemed to trust the few who do not to share their knowledge with anyone, which, fortunately for us, left Voldemort with absolutely no chance of finding anything out."
"I see," said Elizabeth. "So ... who exactly was in that secret group of yours, the one that eventually destroyed him?"
"Well, only those who had Dumbledore's complete trust, I'd say," replied Hermione cautiously, evidently afraid that her friend would start complaining again about the unfairness of having been left out. "All the teachers, including Professors Lupin and Moody; Harry, Ron, Neville and I; the whole of Ron's family with the exception of one of his brothers, who works for the Ministry; Harry's godfather, Sirius Black; and, of course, Dumbledore himself. But I think that the key person was probably Snape, who had the most demanding task of us all. You see, he was to keep Voldemort occupied and make sure he wouldn't disappear anywhere right until the end, when, hopefully, the rest of us would surround him and finally get rid of him once for all."
"But ... wouldn't it have been better if you had Dumbledore doing that, rather than Snape?" asked Elizabeth. "I mean, I know Snape's a great wizard, but to keep resisting Voldemort for god-knows-how-long could've proven too much even for him, couldn't it?"
"Well, yes, but we thought that Voldemort wouldn't really fancy a duel with Dumbledore right from the start, because he knew it'd cost him most of the strength he was hoping to save for later, to finish us off. Which means he'd probably make a hasty retreat at the mere sight of the Headmaster, and only come back if he knew his army was close to winning. Snape, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect for the task, since Voldemort was not only willing to do practically anything to make him pay for his betrayal, but also, like you pointed out, didn't think him strong enough to put up much resistance."
"So ... you used Snape as some sort of bait," said Elizabeth incredulously, feeling her temper rise. "You would've let him-"
"It was the only option, Elizabeth," said Hermione firmly. "And, as you can see, it was successful."
"Pity you haven't been there to see the giants, Elizabeth," stated Neville, obviously deciding that it was about time to change the subject. "I think Voldemort was just about to start congratulating himself on how well he was doing when Hagrid suddenly led them out of the Forbidden Forest, and you should've seen the way they dealt with the remains of the Dark army. Completely crushed them, that's what they did."
"Or take the house-elves," Jane chimed in. "I would never have imagined just how powerful they can be if they want to; it's a shame you didn't get to see them. The Death Eaters didn't know what had hit them when they suddenly appeared on the battle field."
Hermione muttered something about house-elf rights Elizabeth didn't quite understand, but she chose to ignore it and skipped instead to the one question that had been at the back of her mind right from the start, only she didn't have the heart to bring it up earlier: "Um ... I'm not sure if I really want to ask this, but since I'd probably find out sooner or later anyway, I think it'd be best if you just told me now..." She paused, took a deep breath, and then, looking straight at her three friends, asked: "Were our losses too bad? Could you tell me who ... who..." she trailed off, hoping to get an answer even without having to finish the sentence.
Her words, however, were followed by nothing but silence. Hermione gave her a long, sad look, and then dropped her gaze to the floor, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Neville immediately put his arms around her, whispering several undefinable words of comfort in her ear, but otherwise saying nothing. Jane opened her mouth, glanced at Hermione, and quickly closed it again. But even this was enough for Elizabeth to figure out what had probably happened ... Hermione had lost one of her closest friends. But which one? Harry? Ron? Or, even worse, both of them?
"I ... I'm sorry," she began. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'm not- "
"No," said Neville quietly, still holding his girlfriend in his arms and gently stroking her hair. "Like you said, it'd be best if we got it over and done with." He sighed. "It's ... it's Ron. He was killed by one of the Death Eaters. And his ... his sister Ginny ... she's dead too."
Hermione glanced up at Neville's words, her cheeks streaked with tears, and Elizabeth turned to her with a look of deepest sympathy. "Oh, Hermione," she said softly. "I'm so sorry. I-"
"It's ... it's OK," the bushy-haired witch choked out. "He ... he wouldn't have liked me to grieve for him like this. He would've told me to move on. He..." Burying her face in her hands, she suddenly broke into a fresh set of tears, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Elizabeth almost felt like crying herself at the sight of her, but eventually pulled herself together and, turning towards Neville, whispered: "What about Harry? Is *he* all right, at least?"
"Yes, he should be fine," replied Neville, shifting his chair even closer to Hermione's so that she could lean against him. "A few days here, in the infirmary, and he'll be as good as new."
Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. Losing one friend is definitely bad, but losing two...
"And the others?" she asked anxiously. "Who else didn't survive?"
"Well, we've lost quite a lot of the teachers," said Neville thoughtfully. "Professor Trelawney was killed right at the beginning by a vampire; Professor-"
"Funny, isn't it?" Jane cut in with a snigger. "She predicted everyone's death at least once a month, but in the end she couldn't even predict her own. It might've saved her life if she did."
"I'm not really sure if that would've helped, actually," said Elizabeth. "You can't change a prophecy once it's made; she told us herself several times. But enough about that; go on, Neville."
"-Professor Vector was torn apart by a bunch of hell hounds; Professors Sinistra and Sprout were both hit by the 'Fulgur Ater', and were dead long before we could get them up to the hospital wing; Professor Fletcher was no match for one of the skeletons; Madam Hooch was overpowered by an army of zombies; Professor Lupin-" Jane sighed deeply at the mention of her former crush's name; his death had evidently afflicted her more than she was willing to admit "-was killed by the 'Avada Kedavra'; Mrs Figg, despite her ability to turn invisible, was knocked unconscious by a stray curse which immediately caused the invisiblity to lift, making her an easy target for one of the Death Eaters; Hagrid-"
Hermione let out a heart-breaking sob and looked up. "Hagrid was ... was given the Dementor's kiss," she sniffed. "Nobody knows what to do with him now ... he just sits there, in his little hut, staring into space with unseeing eyes... It's not fair, Elizabeth! He was the last person in the world to deserve such a fate! He was always so ... so..." She trailed off, now sobbing uncontrollably.
"Sssh, Hermione," said Neville soothingly, allowing her to cry into his shoulder. "I know he didn't deserve it. None of them did, even if it wasn't a Dementor's kiss that had ended their life. But even though they're physically gone, at least we can still keep them alive in our memories, where they'll remain unchanged even as we grow old and ill." And then, as if to emphasize his words, he started naming all the victims of the battle he hadn't mentioned so far, ticking them off on his fingers as he did so: "Sirius, who had fought bravely until the very last minute; Joshua and Jamie, who had never managed to beat me at the amount of melted cauldrons; Lavender Brown, who was only ever worried about her looks; Hannah Abbott, who had never put a toe out of line; Draco Malfoy-"
Elizabeth looked up so sharply she thought she'd die from the incredible pain that suddenly shot from her neck into the rest of her body. "Draco ... Draco's dead?" she managed to choke out, closing her eyes in relief as the pain slowly faded away.
Neville gave her an inquiring look. "Yes, why?"
That's right, why? Why did his death upset her so much more than the others? True, even as Crabbe and Goyle were carrying him off to the hospital wing she found herself thinking about how sad it'd be were he to die, but now that it had actually happened, she felt positively shattered, almost as if she had lost a good friend. Could those few words she had shared with him after the incident with his father have created some kind of invisible bond between them? Or was it just the simple fact that she had suddenly found somebody who was going through the same thing as she was?
"I'm not sure," she answered truthfully. "It's just ... did you know he was on our side?"
"Yes, we did. One of the few Slytherins who had remained loyal to Dumbledore he was, too. Most of his friends had run off to Voldemort's side as soon as they left the castle, the bastards. But we couldn't really have expected anything else, could we?"
"No, I suppose not," said Elizabeth absently, her mind already on other things.
'I wish somebody would tell me what to do,' she thought desperately. 'Should I tell Hermione about Draco's feelings for her? Wouldn't I betray him somehow if I did? For I'm sure he would never have told her while he was alive, but then again, that's not really the case any more, is it? It's not as if it's going to make that much of a difference now, anyway, and at least it'll cause Hermione to start thinking about something else than her dead friends. Not to mention the fact that I'd really love to get it off my mind...'
"Um, Hermione?" she began uncertainly. "I ... I think you should know something. You see, unbelievable as it may seem, Draco ... he ... he loved you."
Hermione slowly raised her tear-stained face from Neville's shoulder, her expression somewhere between surprise and disbelief. "He did?" she asked softly. "Poor soul ... and to think I never really believed you when you suggested it that time we met him before our first Animagi lesson... But ... wait a minute ... do you mean to say that he actually *told* you?"
Elizabeth nodded, and proceeded to give her three friends a quick account of Draco's duel with his father, concentrating especially on what the boy had told her afterwards.
"Well, it seems like there was some good in him, after all," declared Jane when the blond witch had finished. "Who would've thought?"
"He must have had quite an unhappy life," said Hermione thoughtfully. "His parents didn't seem exactly the loving kind to me, and, not counting Crabbe and Goyle, I don't think he had any real friends, either. Maybe that was why he kept on treating everyone the way he did ... because he was jealous of them. Perhaps if I had looked past all the insults, and tried to get to know him better, I could've done something for him. I might've even-"
"Now, Hermione, don't you dare start blaming yourself for his death," interrupted Elizabeth, easily anticipating what her friend was about to say. "You know as well as I do that nobody could've really done anything to prevent what had happened between him and his father, so please keep that in mind whenever you feel like thinking otherwise, OK?"
Hermione gave a reluctant nod, and Elizabeth, obviously satisfied with her reaction, hastily turned her attention towards her other best friend, suddenly realizing the suspicious absence of her boyfriend. "Jane?" she began tentatively. "It just occurred to me ... why isn't Justin here? He's not ... you know..." she trailed off, watching the tall Ravenclaw with worry in her eyes and silently praying for her answer to be anything but positive.
"Dead?" finished Jane airily. "No, fortunately not. He's here, in the hospital wing, having suffered some light injuries thanks to one particularly nasty hell hound, but Madam Pomfrey said he should be all right in... Elizabeth!?" she exclaimed anxiously, noticing her friend suddenly dig her nails into her covers and double up in pain. "Are ... are you OK?"
Elizabeth, however, didn't answer. She felt as if her whole body was on fire, black and red spots were flashing before her eyes and her head was spinning. Only vaguely did she hear some shouts and the sound of running footsteps coming from somewhere close by, because all she could register was the incredible pain that was seemingly invading every single part of her body. But just when she thought she wouldn't be able to stand it any longer, the pain suddenly died away, leaving as unexpectedly as it had come.
Slowly, Elizabeth's surroundings came back into focus. She could see Hermione and Neville, huddling together at the foot of her bed, she could see Jane, standing by her chair and looking amusingly uncertain, and, to her relief, she could also see Madam Pomfrey, sitting on the edge of her bed and pushing a goblet with some insipid-looking liquid into her hand.
"Drink this," she ordered and, seeing Elizabeth's questioning look, added: "It's something to make the pain a little more bearable, and it'll also make you sleep. I daresay you've talked more than enough for today." And she shot a meaningful glance in the direction of her three friends, who, after whispering a quick goodbye, immediately took their leave and soon disappeared out of view.
Elizabeth cast a longing look after them, but quickly turned her attention back to the goblet in her hand as Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat a little more loudly than was necessary and got to her feet. Downing the medicine in several huge gulps (and almost spitting the yellowish liquid back out again after discovering that it tasted even worse than it looked), Elizabeth handed the goblet back to the impatient-looking mediwitch and, seeing the woman was about to leave her for the time being, quickly seized the opportunity and asked: "Madam Pomfrey, how long am I going to be here?"
Madam Pomfrey threw her a look of something between irritation (for holding her up, no doubt) and pity, letting several long seconds pass before she answered.
"About six weeks, I'm afraid."
Elizabeth felt as if she'd just been told that she was to go to Azkaban. "Six weeks?" she repeated weakly. "But ... why so long? Surely the injuries aren't *that* bad?"
The older witch sighed. "Miss Woodhouse, I assure you that you really couldn't have ended up much worse. You're lucky to be alive, to tell you the truth. And since the only cure for injuries caused by the 'Fulgur Ater', the Tear of Life, can only be applied once, after which there's nothing to be done except wait for it to slowly spread to all the parts of the body that have been affected, all you can do is be patient and simply let the Tear of Life heal you at its own pace."
Elizabeth's heart sank. It seemed there was indeed no getting out of it – she'd have to spend six enormously long and boring weeks in the hospital wing. What had she done to deserve something like that?
"Can't you at least put some bandages on all the black areas?" she asked desperately. "It's a terrible sight."
"No, Miss Woodhouse, I'm afraid I can't. The skin needs to breathe in order to heal properly. Now, if you'll excuse me – I'd like to get back to my other patients." And with a look that clearly said that any further questions would most likely be left unanswered, Madam Pomfrey gracefully departed, leaving Elizabeth on her own with nothing more than her gloomy thoughts to keep her company.
'Six weeks!' she thought dejectedly. 'I'll probably bore myself to death by the time they finally consider me healed enough to let me out of here. Not to mention the fact that unless Snape came to visit me, which is highly unlikely, since he had already fulfilled his duty by coming back to make sure whether I was all right while I was still unconscious, there's almost no chance of my seeing him...'
But Elizabeth never got any further with her musings, for at that moment, the potion she had drunk earlier finally took the desired effect, causing her to fall into a deep, relaxing slumber where nothing, not even Snape, mattered any longer.
A/N: After giving it some thought, I decided to split this chapter into two, because I've realized that finishing it would take me an enormously long time, and I didn't want to keep all of you waiting for so long. My timetable's absolutely disgusting, I have almost no free time for writing, so please try to bear with me, OK? Sorry there's no Snape in this half- chapter like I promised there would be; I'll try to compensate for that in the second part.
Anyway, like always, thank you sooo much for all the encouraging reviews; they really make my life worth living. I love you all!
FireValkyrie: Oh, well, if the hiatus is only in your head, then that's fine. Let the Pirates of the Carribean (at least I hope that was what the abbreviation stood for) take over for now :) It's a cool movie, I agree; I've seen it four times already. How about you? Anyway, you're right – lots of fun stuff coming up in the rest of the chapters; it's a pity I didn't get to it in this one yet. But yes, Rowling doesn't really show us much of the civil Snape, does she? I'll just have to hope that the way I see him in my mind is right, and that you, as well as the rest of my readers, see him the same way. I've been wondering a lot lately what Rowling is going to do with Snape in the last two books, and I must say I didn't like what I came up with at all. It's a well known fact that she doesn't like him, so I reckon his fate isn't going to be entirely happy. She'd better not kill him, though, or she'll have me and all the other Snape fans out there to answer to... Anyway, I didn't mean to talk about this at all, what I really wanted to say is thank you very much for another nice review, hopefully I'll get to hear from you again soon, and please let me know when you upload your fic, OK?
The Evil Cup of Tea: You're still with me! I'm so happy, I really am! And it's so cool you don't think this story is going downhill, even though I'm not so sure about this half-chapter, where nothing really happens. And there's no Snape in it, either. But anyway, what about your fic? Have you given up on it completely? That would be a shame, but, of course, I can't force you to write, can I? I'd really like to thank you for reviewing again, though; I hope to keep hearing from you, and I also hope your asthma's not giving you too much trouble. Cheers!
ALittleBitOfDarkness: You really think my English is that good? I'm flattered! I think it could still be a *lot* better, though. As for Rowling's characters being one-dimensional – well, you are probably right in a way ... Ron sure is, and also Hermione most of the time (even though in the fifth book we saw that she knows not only everything concerning school, but that she can cope with boy/girl problems as well), and Draco, of course, but I reckon that apart from Dumbledore and Harry, we also saw another side of McGonagall and Neville in the fifth, and as far as Snape is concerned, I really don't think Rowling could've done a better job with him. I'm convinced we'll get to know a lot more about him later on, but for the time being, JK can't really have Harry pondering over his nicer side, can she? It was enough that he actually felt sorry for him at one time. But anyway, I'm incredibly happy that you don't find my characters one- dimensional; I'm just writing them how I feel they should behave, and am glad that it comes out well. So, yeah ... thank you very much for another beautiful review (that wasn't really a cliffie at the end of the last chapter; I'm sure you knew I'd never let anything happen to Elizabeth), and I hope to hear from you again!
Claudia Rocks: I haven't been to Traralgon, unfortunately (all I can remember from my visits to Victoria are the Snowy Mountains, where we went skiing quite often, and Melbourne), but I know what you mean about a much bigger hole being on the map while your town isn't. I noticed it too, and maybe that's one of the reasons why we got lost so often when we decided to explore some outback part of Australia. Anyway, yes, 'Snapeykins' :) is indeed falling for Elizabeth (at last), and the part where they finally get together is definitely not too far off now :) Hope you'll stay with me for that, and it'd be great if I got to hear from you again. Did you enjoy Asia, by the way?
Queen of Zan: Snape is not your favourite character and you still like my fic so much? That sure makes me feel good... And did reading this at least make you like him a tiny little bit more? I'd be really happy if that were the case – go Snape-mania! Who *is* your fave character, by the way? Anyway, hope you got something to eat and that you cleaned your room properly after you finished reading, because I'd feel all guilty if you didn't. Well, and thank you very much for reviewing; I did spend every free moment writing so that I could give you a quick update, but, unfortunately, there were not many of such moments. Stupid school :(
An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin (*very* interesting nickname, by the way): Thank you so much for your kind words, but I'm sure there are quite a few fics out there that are way better than mine. As is Rowling's work; I'll never ever even get close to what she's done. But yeah, I do my best, so I'm really happy that you find the scenes believable, because that's what I'm aiming at. To answer your questions – yes, she'll get to talk to Snape when she wakes up in the next chapter, and I'll hopefully make it to the get-together part in there as well. And don't worry, Snape is definitely not gay; I was just kidding. As if I'd make him gay ... then I couldn't have any fun with him, could I? Anyway, thank you once more for the wonderful review, and I hope this update was fast enough. Wrath from hell *shudders* ... and a white rabbit *shudders even more*.
XxDarkGoddessxX: Oh, that's such a nice thing of you to say; you don't know how much it pleased me to hear that there's actually some visible improvement in my writing. But I suppose you're right, I might've gained some confidence along the way, and I really didn't have much trouble with putting the battle chapter into words. Also, when I read through the first couple of chapters the other day, I couldn't help but be horrifed at the enormous amount of mistakes I've made in them, which probably shows the improvement more than anything. I think I'll have to go and fix all the errors when I finish the fic. Anyway, thank you sooo much for another encouraging review, and I hope to hear from you again soon!
