Chapter 3:

The pain hit her first. She felt as if her whole body was ripped apart then put together. Her eyelids felt heavy and all her limbs felt weak. She took a minute to catch her breath, then... the memories hit her.

Her parents were dead, and for some reason she was still breathing. 'Why was she alive?' She wondered 'or did she die and reincarnate again?' This passing thought almost brought her to tears . She did not want to relive her life only to lose her loved ones again.

She shifted in her bed and felt a dull pain through her body. She was still Lucy Ferdinand, but the question still remained: How did she survive?.

Her last few memories ran through her head like fleeting nightmare. She was bound by magic , helpless. She felt anger and hatred, she struggled then... Her line of thought was cut by the creaking of a door and the sound of slow footsteps. Lucy tensed, for all she knew she was kidnapped by the sick bastard. It took a lot of effort to crank her eyes open. It was dark. She felt the intruder slowly get close to where she lay, as if to not wake her up. The approaching figure held a soft light in its hand. She saw, through her eye slits, the light getting closer and closer until it hung over her head. It was not a normal light. It was hanging from a WAND. She felt her breath hitch, her heart hammer intensely in her chest, then power came to her limbs as if the earlier weakness was but an illusion.

Lucy launched herself off the bed, to the opposite direction of the new arrival. Unfortunately, she misjudged both her new found strength and the length of the room she was in. She crashed with a loud thud on the wall, hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Through her unfocused eyes, she could barely make out the frame of the man in front of her holding the offending wand. "GET AWAY" she croaked, then she felt a rush of warmth through her veins and watched as the silhouette was sent through the air straight into the wall. Lucy could barely gather her bearings before she felt that something went wrong. The warmth that coursed through her was not stopping. It was getting stronger and hotter. She heard more than seen the destruction that was occurring around her. She could hear all manner of loud cracking and breaking around where she stood. And she was sure that the bed she was just laying on was just sent at high speed through the same route as the man who sneaked up on her.

Lucy was not unharmed by the mayhem. She knew that she had to put a stop to this if only to avoid attracting more trouble. Unfortunately her attempts at curbing the current- that was no doubt her magic-were not only unsuccessful but seemed to make it stronger and faster. To her mounting horror, the warm current went from prickling gently on her skin to tearing her inside out as if her veins were coursing with burning lava. The pain was so intense and sudden that Lucy could only curl up and scream. Through the pain she vaguely felt her veins bursting and her clothes getting tainted by blood, and couldn't help but remember the final moments of her poor mother. 'Maybe I can meet them on the other side. Hopefully...' She thought dully , then she knew no more.

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It was the second time that Lucy woke up feeling as if she was put through a meat grinder. Her whole body hurt, but she was alive and still had all her limbs judging by the pain . She opened her eyes and took on the room she was in . White walls, clean floor, and a simple desk by her bedside, all in all a boring place, as if a hospital room was stripped of all its medical equipment. Was she in a hospital of some kind? Maybe a wizarding one?

Her musing was cut by a gentle cough.

"No need to panic, you're at a hospital. You're safe" said a gentle aging voice.

Lucy did not respond. She knew she was in no condition to fight nor attempt to run. She cautiously turned her eyes towards the voice. There, she was hit by the bizarre sight of a transparent old woman dressed in antique garb floating over her bed.

"Am i dead?!" Blurted Lucy shocked.

"Of course not silly girl, didn't I say you were at a hospital" explained the ghost simply " more precisely, you're on second floor of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries." Lucy could only stare blankly at the ghost, she recognised the name from her past memories but not much else.

"So ... why are you here?" said Lucy after an awkward silence.

"A bit rude aren't you? For such tiny girl" scolded the old ghost "if you must know, its because of the mess you caused during the night."

"what mess?" asked Lucy

" WHAT MESS?" said the ghost affronted. " you destroyed a whole room and nearly turned the new intern into paste. The poor boy said you were conscious and even spoke before your magic went wild."

"I see.." said Lucy blankly. It was true that she meant to hurt the boy but she didn't know she was at a hospital did she? Surely she wasn't at fault for trying to defend herself was she?

"Is he alright?" asked Lucy

" Oh, he is quiet alright. They got to him fast enough thanks to all the commotion you caused. Though if you ask me, he will probably give up on being a mediwizard. Your outburst probably traumatized the poor boy." Responded the talkative ghost.

"was it that bad? I kind of lost control of my magic" said Lucy lamely, feeling a pang of guilt.

"I was the first on the scene you know." Said the ghost, her tone tinted with strange excitement . " There was so much blood, and you were screaming like someone was putting you under the crusiatus curse. The poor boy on the other hand was pinned on the wall alongside a bedframe that was crushing his arm and chest. I could still hear his bones creaking when I got there you know." The ghost seemed creepily gleeful about such an incident, and she only got more excited as she commented " they don't make them like they used to, you know. In my time wizards weren't so weak and afraid of a bit of blood."

Lucy tuned out the ghost as it began to rant and bemoan the new generation. All this grizzly talk about blood and gore made her remember the mutilated bodies of her parents. Part of her could not accept that they were now gone and in such a horrible way too, but the realistic part of her brain knew that they were killed by those wizard - death eaters- she recalled , and she would get her revenge sooner or later. She was no longer a powerless child, she had magic and she could massacre them as they massacred her parents. As these dark thoughts swirled in her mind, she failed to notice the raging current of magic that began to swirl around her. It took a sharp stabbing pain through her temple for her to regain her senses. Fortunately, this time, the current calmed down as soon as she did. Lucy knew that she really had to figure out how to control her powers better, else she's more likely to harm herself than those bastards.

" See...this is exactly why they put me in charge here." Drawled the ghost proudly. "Your manifestation of magic is quiet spectacular for someone your age. A shame its leading you by the nose. Speaking of noses, you ought to clean up your nosebleed while I call one of the matrons." The chatty ghost disappeared through the wall with a whoosh, while she took in the state of the room. It looked as if a hurricane blew through. 'Hopefully they won't make me pay for any of this' thought Lucy absently while patting her nose with her sleeve.

Lucy waited nervously on her bed. She was going to meet a real witch soon. It felt a bit weird to feel nervous to talk to a human while she could handle a talkative ghost just fine.

It only took a few minutes for the matron to walk through the door. She was a kind looking old woman dressed in white. The ghost was nowhere in sight.

"Hello dear" she said with a smile "I hope Meredith presence didn't bother you too much"

"Not really no, is she always so chatty?" asked Lucy trying to keep the conversation going to conceal her nerves .

" You have no idea" said the matron amiably . Lucy noticed that the kindly matron did not react to the state of the room . The old woman casually took out her wand and waved a casual action did not sit well with Lucy. Her body moved as soon as she saw the wand, by the time her thoughts caught up, she found her self taking cover behind the bed. The matron was taken aback, Lucy just watched her warily as she took in the now tidy room, before the matron spoke " I apologise, I didn't mean to startle you."

Lucy felt a lump in her throat. She hated how her heart skipped a beat at the sight of a wand, and how it made her feel weak and helpless. She distinctly felt as if she was becoming her past self again. So weak and afraid even after she reached adulthood. Now that her parents are gone she had to lug it alone. She couldn't show weakness, not in front of the unknown.

The matron just kept a casual smile on her face while she sat on a chair either unknowing or uncaring of her inner turmoil ."Excuse me dear, I forgot to introduce myself, you can call me matron Holly, and you'll be under my care for the foreseeable future." . Lucy just eyed the older woman warily before nodding her head.

"No need to be nervous dear, let us start with some routine questions shall we? Can I get your name?"

"My name is Lucy Ferdinand" responded Lucy stiffly.

" Lucy dear, I understand that you went through a lot and you might be confused about your situation but just try to bear with me for a few minutes" said the matron gently.

The overly considerate tone of the old women bothered her but she held her tongue. She knew this was going to be a long and tedious conversation, and it was.

She had to suffer through Matron Holly talk about the existence of the wizarding world and her current situation.

She knew more about magic than the average muggle-born, and she was well aware that her parents are dead even if the matron was trying to ease her into it. She felt that she couldn't be blamed if this awkward conversation rubbed her the wrong way, after all she was not a child, at least not mentally, so she chose to keep shut and listen. If her lack of response bothered the old witch, she did not show it , however she shot her a concerned look before she declared "You should rest for now. I will come back this evening to run some tests and make sure you're healthy."

Lucy gave her a nod of acknowledgement which she returned with a smile before she left. She didn't like the idea of having tests run on her by wizards but she guessed that she had little say on the matter, and she also has to ask if there were any tricks to controlling her magic better.