Chapter 9 - The Hospital Wing

"Ol-till-ear" A voice said, but Regina wasn't sure who was talking or what they were saying.

"What?" Regina asked groggily.

"I said hold still!" Regina's eyes cleared up and she could see Madam Benbow leaning over her. Behind the nurse were Tara, Andrea, Leola, all of Regina's sisters, Danielle and Daniel, and Professor Patil holding them back from Regina.

Regina quickly tried to sit up, about to ask Tara what had happened, but felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, being forced back down.

"Oh, please do try to stay lying down!" Madam Benbow said firmly, who Regina just realized was dabbing at deep cuts on Regina's middle.

"Wait… what happened?" Regina asked, trying to sit back up but being forced down by Madam Benbow.

"Tara, dear, would you like to explain?" Madam Benbow suggested, now trying to heal Regina's cuts with a spell.

"I-I don't really know exactly what happened. Somebody in the crowd of our Ravenclaw party hit you with the Sectumsempra curse… it's not very well-known, don't know who cast it… but they went so deep that you passed out, and Claire and Lorenza had to carry you to the Hospital wing quick before you lost too much blood." Tara explained quickly.

"Ah! Speaking of which…" Madam Benbow gave Professor Patil a look or urgency, and at that Professor Patil rushed off in the direction of the Headmasters office.

"Speaking of what?" Regina asked, a bit frustrated.

"Nothing, dear."

Now that Professor Patil was gone, Regina was swarmed by her sisters and Tara, while Andrea, Leola, Danielle and Daniel stood back with concerned looks on their faces. Ronnie wasn't with them. Big surprise.

"Gina, are you alright?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Will she be all right, Madam Benbow?"

"Girls, girls! Move out of the way!" Madam Benbow swatted at them in frustration. "I'm trying to heal her!" They all hesitated but stepped back.

After a minute of Madam Benbow trying to cast Vulnera Sanentur and muttering, "Whoever cast this spell must be very powerful… cuts so deep…". Suddenly Tara's face lit up as if she was remembering something.

"Gina! The Ravenclaw Quidditch captain made the announcement that there are two spots open, for Seeker and for Beater! Anyone can try out, even first years! Tryouts are tomorrow!"

Regina's face lit up and she swelled with excitement.

Madam Benbow frowned. "Oh no, no, no! You can't leave the Hospital Wing for a couple more days. You'll be in here until you are fully healed!" She said firmly.

"But- but- Madam Benbow! You can't possibly be serious! I need to go to tryouts today!"

Madam Benbow ignored her, and walked off to grab some bandages from a wooden cabinet.

"I suppose she does have a point, Gina." Tara said carefully. "You are seriously injured."

Regina glared at her. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Well, I obviously wish you could try out, but you aren't strong enough to fly right now."

Regina rolled her eyes and turned over in her hospital bed. She was still a bit tired.

"Alright, kids, visiting hour is over. Go. Run along." Madam Benbow was returning to her bedside, a roll of bandages clutched in one hand, and a large bottle of Essence of Dittany in the other.

Regina's large group of friends and family reluctantly walked out of the hospital wing, with the sound of squeaking trainers and the clacking of hard shoes against the tiled floor being the last thing she heard, and the subtle sting of the Essence of Dittany being the last thing she felt as she drifted back into sleep.

At first this deep sleep started off dreamless, with nothing but blackness for her subconscious self to see. Strangely she could still hear what was happening in the real world, but she couldn't react to it. She could hear more and more hospital beds being wheeled in and being moved around the room, which made her nervous. Was there some kind of attack going on around the school. She could hear the muffled chatter of many professors, all sounding very nervous. The one word that she could make out was, "Ravenclaw", which concerned her. Perhaps something happened to Tara, Claire or Henri!

The sounds of whispering died down, and people were being wheeled in less and less frequently, and so Regina figured that night had fallen and most everyone had gone to sleep. Right about at this time she rolled over in her sleep and fell into a real dream.

The dream started off uninteresting, and all she could see was the tidy interior of a house. After a long minute, a door opened and two people came out of it, and they looked like a couple screaming at each other. One of them was a woman with bright magenta hair and hazel-blue eyes. She looked very sleep-deprived and had dark circles under her eyes. She had on an emerald-green cloak and clutched tightly in her hands were a wand and a very familiar-looking book. The man had a pale, pointed face and silvery-blond hair, and cloudy gray eyes. He too, had a wand at the ready, and both of them seemed to grow closer to pointing their wands at each other as the argument escalated.

And finally there were screams and shouts of rage and just as Regina expected, colorful light from spells shot around the room. "Expelliarmus!" The man yelled, and the book the woman had clutched in her hand flew out of her hand and skidded across the floor, far out of her reach.

The book was more visible now, and Regina recognized the cover. The Dark Lady's Guide to Dark Curses, Spells, Hexes, and Jinxes! It read in silver lettering. There was a little golden sticker next to the title that read, Includes the Unforgivables!

It looked just like Henri's "extra reading" book, and now Regina could finally read what the cover said. Why in Dumbledore's name would Henri have such a Dark Magic book? It did explain his strange moments of aggression.

The woman screamed, horrified that her book had been thrust out of her hands. Her eyes flashed black and green as she yelled, "Crucio!", and the spell shot towards the man. Her eyes flashed black and green…

Regina's subconscious self didn't have much time to ponder this because her attention was brought to a young boy walking down the stairs of the house, clearly startled about all of the noise coming from downstairs. Perhaps he was their son, because he had the pale blond hair of the man and the hazel-blue eyes of the woman. "Mummy, what's going o-"

The boy's father ducked to dodge the Cruciatus curse, not noticing his son coming down the steps behind him. The spell flew right towards the small boy, and so he ducked. Unfortunately he was milliseconds too late, and the spell grazed the top of his head. He collapsed onto the floor, with a sharp, splitting headache. Regina could feel it too. The spell left a streak of white where it had touched his already light blond hair. If Regina could have gasped, she would have, because it was then that she realized that the small boy was Henri himself. The man (who Regina realized was Scorpius), rushed to his son's side. The woman, who was Henri's mother, jumped back to her senses, and seemed to realize what she had done, but then collapsed onto the floor. Was this how Henri's mother had died? No… that couldn't be right.

The dream flashed forward to a moment where Scorpius and young Henri were curled up in a corner of their sofa, watching Henri's mother struggle as Aurors pulled her out of the house, most likely to Azkaban. She had tears streaming down her face, gasping and blubbering that she couldn't leave her family. Scorpius had a tear running down his cheek, but his face showed that it was best for her to leave, for the safety of him and his son. 5-year-old Henri was sniffling, his face buried in his father's chest.

Henri's mother hadn't died… she had been taken away to Azkaban…

Regina awoke to the a flashlight being shined on her face. She flinched and opened her eyes and was blinded for a couple seconds because of the bright light of the flashlight. She heard a gasp and then trainers squeaking against the tiled floor, getting further and further away.

Once her vision cleared up again, she noticed that it was still night in the hospital wing. Who had woken her up?