Chapter 13
"I'm here to pick up our daughter." James greeted the cautious couple opening their doors.
"Well, that's not a proper greeting, is it?" Mrs. Palmer remarked. "Your daughter can do this much better. Shall we start again?"
She was met with two gaping parents of the sweet young child she had gotten to know over the last few months. She had certainly learned quite a lot in this one day.
"Usually a meeting starts with a greeting, then we exchange pleasantries and talk about the weather and then you can tell us why you are here even though we know exactly why you've come." She explained and the red-headed woman which she clearly identified as the girl's mother defended herself.
"We know how to interact with people, thank you very much. Can you please fetch out our daughter now?" She asked sighing heavily. "We're on the clock."
"No." Mr. Palmer answered. "They are currently revising their Old Greek conjugations for their debate club. They want to attemt holding an entire debate only in Old Greek, like Tolkin did in his school years. Why don't you come in for a cuppa? It'll take a while."
He wanted to take the Potters through the question ringer to get a better understanding of their relationship, but it wouldn't be easy as he could understand Harriet's frustration with the two.
"Do we have any choice in the matter?" the dark haired asked Mr. Palmer,who just shrugged his shoulders grinning mischievously. "Not really."
…
„How did you know that she's missing?" Vanto asked and Longbottom answered automatically.
"Midshipman Potter asked us to keep an eye on Ms. Panaká in case she would be unable to so. So, we did, but she disappeared shortly before the end of her shift and wasn't found since."
"Then how do you know that the necklace was Crewman Panaká's?" Vanto frowned. "Jewellery is against regulations."
Creevey nodded and pulled something out from behind him and held it towards Harry and Vanto. It was a little winged, female humanoid figurine brandishing a crescent moon-shaped symbol dangling from a simple silver chain.
"That's hers alright." She said wondering how Longbottom and Creevy knew that it belonged to Baila. Her mind racing and mentally recalling all the information that had been displayed in the office minutes earlier. Her heartbeat accelerating making it difficult for her to breath. No, she needed to stay calm. "She usually wears it under her overall. It's Shiraya, an ancient moon goddess that is worshipped by the people of her home planet." She explained.
"Ok." Harry took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Panicking would not help Baila.
"He is meticulous, very compulsive. He has strayed from his usual path. Which means that he is under tremendous pressure right now. Deviating further from his usual course is very unlikely."
She took another deep steading breath. "He'll take her to the army officer barracks." Her hands wandered to an inexistent gun but realized that she had none because her rank didn't permit one.
"I suggest that the engaging teams should set their blasters to stun, because he is likely trying to goat them into killing him."
"Understood." Vanto quickly spun around exercising a perfect military turn and swiftly keyed his holo-projector informing Thrawn of the new developments and her recommendations.
Then, everything was happening quickly as Vanto handed her an additional blaster which he had kept in one of his drawers. Apparently, he had seen her movement earlier. A moment later the sirens flared indicating that they were under attack, but Harry suspected that Thrawn had ordered this drill to confuse the assailant.
With Eli Vanto, Longbottom and Creevy in tow they were racing past other personnel and troops towards the turbo lift. Inside, Harriet mentally prepared herself and contemplated on what she might find when they engaged him and on what she could possibly say to manipulate him into letting Baila go. He would most certainly defend his actions. That the young woman fit into his physical prey scheme wasn't very reassuring. She checked if she had her blaster on stun and opened her mind and lowered her mental defences to searched for Baila although she hated this. It made her vulnerable and too much information was rushing through her mind. Luckily, most of the personnel only was white noise to her senses after a few seconds. She could sense a tense Vanto next to her and two very familiar presences behind her, which almost caused her to throw her mental defences back into place. But she couldn't, or she wouldn't be able to find them in time and although the troopers may have been ordered to search. It would take too long, and every second counted. After all she had no idea what he was killing the victims with. But she assumed that it was some sort of toxic compound or maybe a spice overdose to cover his tracks, perhaps?
The lift stopped, and they quickly stepped out of it ignoring protocol only to be greeted by Longbottom's and Creevv's squad. The squad leader shortly nodded a greeting at her.
"Have you found the discovered any indication where the missing individual might be held?" Vanto asked and Harry only registered this barely as the Squad leader answered, while the other two troopers stood in line. Her focus was drawn to a very terrified and shaking presence somewhere in the labyrinth of barracks and officer's rooms. She was heavily projecting her fear. It was Baila!
She put her head to side, focused on her patient's presence. Her anguish as something pierced her arm. Shit! Her eyes flew open again. She had not time to lose!
"This way!" she shouted and without informing her commander further she simply took off towards Baila's location. The confused Commander and the Squad behind her. The troopers in their barracks hastily jumped out of her way. As she quickly turned and twisted through narrow corridors and edges until she came to a closed door of an officer's quarter and to an abrupt halt breathing heavily.
Baila was inside. She could sense it, and something was already beginning to cloud her mind. She could sense another person with her and she hastily checked the door if there was a way how to enter, but the panel looked destroyed. She cursed angrily.
Boots on the Durasteel floor told her that Vanto and the squad had caught up with her, slightly out of breath.
"They're inside." She informed him examining the door and the panel closely. Vanto looked slightly confused. "But the door is jammed."
"We'll have to cut it open." The squad leader said matter of factly, but Harry paced in front of the door.
"That'll take too long." She mentioned still pacing. Vanto was already ordering a tech team to come down to their location to open it, but Harry could feel that they didn't have time for that.
She could sense Baila slowly slipping away. She knew that she could not perform any magic, but in these circumstance, there was absolutely no other chance. She put her blaster into her left hand and went for the panel again.
With another deep breath she gathered the magic swirling within her core and drew a backward S onto the panel murmuring angrily: "al-LOH-ha-MOHR-ah" while letting magic flow through her. She could feel Longbottom's shock as he certainly recognized what she just had done. The door jumped open and she had to duck out of the way as a plaster several blaster shots came towards her direction and Vanto and the squad quickly dispersed and took cover out of range from the killer within. She unintendedly blocked one with a protections spell and hoped that nobody had seen it.
"Blasters to stun." She sternly reminded the trooper squad and quickly entered holding the invisible protection barrier in place.
"Midshipman!" Vanto called after her not quite believing that she could be so bold or from his perspective stupid to enter.
"Get out!" a familiar voice ordered, and she recognized the other thorn in her existence: She should have guessed:
Agent Colburn. So, her radar hadn't been off. There had been a reason why she hadn't like him. Her subconscious had seemingly figured it out before her mind. But this man resembled nothing like the tidy and proper military man she had known. He was sweating vigorously, his gaze wild and erratic. Glistening sweat was rushing down his face.
She put her hands in the air and pointed her blaster upwards towards the ceiling to indicate that she would not use it, but he still trained his towards her with trembling hands.
But Harry's gaze was drawn to Baila who was breathing heavily as she was prepped up against the ISB agent. She clearly struggled to stand, cold sweat was glistening on her unhealthily pale face. Harry knew that she had to act quickly.
"Let her go, Agent Colburn." She acidly cold ordered him, but he only scoffed.
"You're giving me orders now, Midshipman? You forget your place. Somebody must maintain the order in the empire. People like you are threatening it."
"And you are doing a marvellous job at that." She outwardly calm answered while the storm in her mind raged on. "But Crewman Panaká is innocent. So, please. I'm begging you. Let. Her. Go."
"Beg harder!" The agent's gaze was drawn to all the other blasters turned against him who had emerged cautiously after he had stopped his firing and a lopsided grin spread in his face.
"Initially, Crewman Panaká may have been innocent, but her mind is already infected by your treasonous ideas. You've turned her into a threat to the integrity of our empire. You turn everybody into enemies of the empire. I'm loyal to our Empire! You can't arrest me for that." He laughed humourlessly his blaster still trained on her. "They'll see that I was right in doing this."
"Yes." Harry appeased him coldly. "They will, but I'm the trouble maker. Not Crewman Panaká. She is one of the most loyal people I know. Her parents work for the empire. Her uncle was a Moff, who was brutally murdered by Saw Guerrera himself because he couldn't be turned against the empire. Do you really believe that Baila Panaká would ever betray the empire? She wouldn't." Baila's pulse was getting weaker and her mind was slowly turning even more nebulous. But Harry could sense her mind spike at the mentioning of her family. Hold on Baila!
The troopers and Vanto were very tensely listening to them their blasters trained on the murderous ISB agent.
Harry took a deep breath and continued evenly lowering her voice slightly. Let's see if my guess is right. "Let. Her. Go. She's not your sister."
"What did you just say?" Colburn jumped, letting go of Baila who tumbled to the floor with a groan, and almost lost his blaster in surprise. So, she had been right. His surprise was palpable and his increasing fear. He was suddenly afraid of her?
Harry didn't hesitate. Quickly, she readjusted her blaster again, while letting go of her magical barrier and stunned agent Colburn, who dropped dead to the ground. She quickly took two big strides and kneed next to Baila, who fought to stay awake. Her eyelids fluttering, and Harry slapped her sharply on the cheek which resounded loudly in the small room and her eyes flew open again.
"Stay awake, Baila. Don't you dare dying on me." She growled and Baila nodded weakly smiling faintly.
"Creevy, give me that blanket and that pillow!" she ordered sternly the other familiar stormtrooper who quickly complied grumbling something against regulation, while she pulled Baila's left arm to a ninety-degree angle from her body and straightened her left leg, took her right leg and locked it with her right hand by his left knee and slowly turned her towards her asking Baila simple questions which she answered mumbling incoherently. She put the pillow under her head and covered her body with the grey blanket.
Meanwhile Vanto kicked Colburn's plaster away, put him in cuffs behind his back. After that he searched for any indication what he had given her.
Harry examined Baila's hands, neck and throat for any entry wounds and found one between Baila's index and middle finger.
Vanto pulled out a sharp tipped needle from one of the unconscious ISB agent's pockets, which seemed to have hosted the toxin that was now slowly spreading through Baila's body. In his other hand he held the familiar little golden hair clip.
Colburn slowly gained his consciousness, but it was too slowly for Harry and she jumped up and slapped his face twice, left and right and gripped his chin tightly forcing him to look at her.
"What did you inject her with?" she enquired calmly.
He emotionlessly smiled at her. "Something that has no antidote. It's a weaponized form of Venenit shadaaga. There is no antidote." Harry cursed and quickly went back to Baila's side, who was breathing heavily and squat down. Checking her pulse at her throat. She would have to do magic to safe her. In front of a room full of troopers, Vanto and …
"Med Bay, this is Admiral Thrawn. Do you have an antidote against Venenit shadaaga that we could use?" a deep calm voice spoke behind them letting everyone in the room freeze.
… And before Thrawn! Her eyes became wide. She couldn't do that! How long had he been here without her realizing!?
"We do not, Sir. Came the swift answer through his com." and Harry cursed, but remembered something. She quickly changed her position that she was standing between Thrawn's line of sight and Baila's hand and touched Baila's wound while gathering magic again murmuring: "ah-REST-oh mo-MEN-tum."
"Longbottom." She calmly addressed the stormtrooper ignoring her superiors in the room. She knew he hadn't been that bad in Hogwarts after finally getting a new wand. He came to stand next to her and squat down.
"Can you do wandless magic?" she hissed to him using their maternal language and he confirmed it by nodding hesitantly.
"We can't use magic in front of Thrawn." He hissed back angrily, but she ignored him.
"Ok. Take of your helmet off and keep her talking. Keep her in Arresto Momentum and make sure that she stays awake." She ordered him switching back to Basic. "I have a Bezoar in my locker, which is probably the only thing that can safe her now."
"Bloody hell!" Creevy exclaimed having overheard them. "Where did you get a Bezoar?"
"You have something in your locker that could safe Crewman Panaká?" Thrawn asked curiously stepping closer towards them. Still squad down next to Baila she turned her upper body partially around to look up to her blue skinned commander.
"Yes. Possibly. I just need to retrieve it." she answered him meeting those scary red eyes.
"Very well." Thrawn inclined his head and gestured her towards the entrance of the door. She quickly stood up, while Longbottom took off his helmet and took her place to follow her orders and had to squeeze through quite a few squads waiting outside the room.
She hastily sprinted towards the turbolift, tackling several personnel which wasn't particularly happy being mowed down by her hasty run. When she finally reached the turbo lift it wasn't there yet. It seemed to take ages to come. She didn't have time for that. Checking if anybody was watching she gathered magic and focused on her locker. She mentally imagined it in her mind clearly and felt the familiar pulling starting from her naval and her entry into the whirlwind of the apparition tunnel until she reappeared and ran straight into her locker and bounced back. Her head hurt as she gained her momentum. Surveillance be damned, she would erase the footage at the first chance she got. She hurriedly pried her locker open and summoned the Beozar from the bottom of her miniaturized suitcase and closed her locker door noisily.
Looked around if anybody was looking at her and repeated the action from before and appeared back on the same level she had come from and quickly run back with the dark stone in her hand. Swaying lightly. This time the personnel immediately jumped out of the way when they saw her.
A few seconds later she squeezed herself back through the waiting squads, into the room again past her blue skinned commander and slid the last centimetres towards Baila on her knees, not realizing that Thrawn checked his chronometer. Longbottom held Baila's upper body upwards and Harry shoved the small bezoar into her throat panting heavily as mild anxiety started to washed over her.
Please let it work! They held Baila like that for a few minutes and she checked her pulse on her throat and her wrist in regular intervals. Her own pulse was racing in her throat and chest. After about two minute she exhaled strongly and elated and patted Longbottom's shoulder to thank him as her tense shoulders slumped. "Well done, Neville."
Now it was over, and she was able to acknowledge all the feelings that she had prohibited herself to experience earlier was rushing into her. It felt almost overwhelming.
Baila's pulse was getting stronger, her breath deeper and some colour found its way back onto her pale cheeks. It had worked.
Thrawn's office
"Baila Panaká will make a full recovery." Thrawn informed the two people standing in front of his desk. Vanto grinned widely and elated. Not every situation turned out as well as that and he could see that the Midshipman was almost glowing with happiness, but there was also some wariness.
"Her blood work however is very interesting for the physicians in the med bay as they could find traces of the toxin in her blood, yet it had been rendered inactive thanks to your swift action, Midshipman."
"But they are particularly interested in the antidote. You called it a 'Bezoar' if I'm not mistaken." His unsettling eyes were not letting her out of his sight and she dared not to break the gaze, but she really wanted to.
"Yes, Sir." She nodded and gulped. "It's an extremely rare antidote that can be found on my planet. This object is usually made of hair, plant fibre, or similar indigestible matter that stays in the gut of an animal and forms a hard ball or 'stone'. How or why it works so well as an antidote is unknown, because it couldn't be studied due to its extreme rarity."
"Do you have a second one?" Thrawn asked her and she contemplated how she could evade the question. By saving Baila Panaká she had revealed something that could become of immense interest to the empire. So far, her planet had only been used for human resources or shore leaves, but if they discovered that there was more to her planet then it would probably suffer, or they would sent inquisitors to find more Bezoars and probably lead to an extinction of goats and more suffering among her people.
"No, Sir." She answered wanting to break the gaze while hoping that he would for once not recognizing her lie. "As I said. These are extremely rare. That was the only one I could get my hands on before being conscripted."
"Pity." He remarked unconvinced and Harriet tried to read him with her mental defences still down but was unable to do so, yet he did not pry any further. Normally she would have them back up again, but the Grand Admiral's office was big enough that she didn't have that much white noise around her. Vanto did not believe her statement, but he seemed to understand her point up to some extent. Why could she not sense Thrawn? Or rather it was very faint. Too faint for her to recognize. Was it because he wasn't human? But he is humanoid.
"Why did tell Agent Colburn, that Crewman Panaká wasn't his sister? Do you assume that she was his first victim?" Thrawn enquired still locking his gaze with her and it was very unsettling. Vanto was curious too.
"I didn't know for sure that his sister was his first victim, but it was an educated guess. The clip in the victim's hair always was the same and it was also found in his pocket earlier. I assumed that it could either belong to a former lover or to a younger female family member. He certainly showed attachment to it. As 'jewellery' is officially not allowed I assumed that it may have belonged to a sister, because it didn't appear to be something an adult female would wear." She explained calmly.
"How could you know that?" Vanto asked. "There are many distinct cultural differences among the systems. Something that is only worn by children in one system might be worn by adults in another one."
"Yes, I understand that." Harry nodded. "But, I can't explain it. Sometimes my subconscious is faster than my mind in deducing things, I just knew that this belonged to a younger female. And in retrospect, it seems that I was correct."
"Indeed." Thrawn commented inclining his head. But Harry suspected that he was merely toying with her.
"Lieutenant Commander Vanto noted that you broke protocol several times and reminded me that the High Command might take issue with this behaviour." Thrawn informed her and Harry shivered slightly. Breaking protocol was probably the least of her problems if the Fleet Commander had realized what she had done right before his eyes. "What would you tell them in your defence?"
Harry frowned. That was an odd question. He didn't seem to berate her about the breech of protocol, but he seemed curious about her response.
"I would tell them that the protocol is not infallible and does not cover every possible situation that might occur. In this case the protocol was a severe hindrance that could have cost Crewman Panaká's life, if I had followed through with it. I acted the way I did, because I needed to bypass unnecessary conversation to optimize the outcome."
Eli Vanto had to hide his smile behind a cough. Now that was a similarity she shared with Thrawn as he too tended to do much the same. He even had told him something quite similar before their Battle at Batonn.
"For the high command the best outcome would probably be the arrest of Agent Colburn. My best outcome was the survival of Crewman Panaká. I know that the only orders I'm allowed to give are to other Crewmen, but had I begged every single superior in that room to order his personnel to do the things I needed that would only have cost valuable seconds and would have been extremely redundant."
Harry stopped herself before she could talk herself into more frenzy anger. Some lights in Thrawn's office were flickering telling her that she needed to get her anger back under control. Thrawn's gaze had shortly been drawn away from her when the lights had flickered. She took a deep steadying breath.
Thrawn had a barely noticeable knowing smile on his blue face. That couldn't be a good sign.
"I thank you for this input." He stated calmly, slightly amused. "That is all for the moment. I expect your final report within the next hour." That was a clear dismissal and Harry nodded. If her calculations were correct than her shift would start within the next hour. Was she still suspended from it?
"I'm sorry for asking, Sir. My next shift would start within the next hour. Am I still suspended from it?" she enquired.
"For the time being, yes." Thrawn drawled without giving further information.
Minutes later…
"You want to recommend her for an officer's position?" Vanto asked Thrawn who inclined his head. Eli knew that Thrawn had already played with the idea or he wouldn't have assigned her further duties.
"You told me that she seemed to be calm and in control of the situation earlier, did you not?" the Chiss asked him and Vanto nodded.
"She was. The investigation was entirely lead by her. That Terran protocol she followed was certainly effective. During the confrontation with Agent Colburn she seemed totally in control and answered him in ways I would not have done in her stead. She seemed to appease him with her answers first. But then there are some subtle instances that I can't explain. When we arrived on the deck of the Army Officer's barracks, it almost looked as if she was listening for something and then she somehow took off through the maze of the deck and found the exact door Agent Colburn had barricaded himself in?"
"Interesting." Thrawn mused stroking his chin. "Did you realize that she was very swift retrieving the antidote from her locker?" he asked him and Vanto nodded. "Too fast. Did she have it with her on her person and just stepped out for a bit?"
"No, that was my first assumption, too . . . except that it's not." Thrawn answered him. "but this surveillance feed answers our question. He tipped a code on his console.
"Unfortunately, the surveillance on the Army Crew Quarters was turned off by Agent Colburn, but not in the Navy Crew Quarters." He activated the feed and Vanto's eyes grew. He could see the corridor with some lockers and from one second to the other Midshipman Potter appeared out of nowhere and ran into her own locker and bounced back rubbing her head shortly. The locker sprung open without her entering the code on her console. A heartbeat later something flew out of it directly into her hand. She turned around and disappeared again.
"How?" he asked. "Did she do that?" It seemed that Thrawn hadn't exaggerated when he had filled him in by him showing the paintings and murals of her home planet. But it would explain why she had dared to enter when Agent Colburn had fired at them to keep them at bay. She had blocked it somehow.
"Is she a Jedi? Why hasn't she used her powers more often? Why hasn't she been found out until now?" he couldn't stop his endless questions streaming out of his mouth. He locked his gaze with Thrawn's amused one. She was probably intriguing him. He could see that. The Force was something he didn't understand with all his logic and reason, and yet the young woman in question seemed to be using both. Maybe he wanted to study her further to get a better understanding of her powers.
"Very good questions, Vanto." Thrawn nodded. "I do not believe her to be a Jedi as I could not find any indication in any of her notebooks. But…" Thrawn tipped something else on the console and the holo-picture of a carving appeared. "she might be something what some ancient seafaring tribes of her planet called Völur. the protocol droid studying the languages of Terra translated it as Wand-Wed, which stands for wise women, witches or priestesses."
"So, she has powers like the witches of Dathomir?" Vanto mused. "Weren't they dark Force users?"
"According to my research they were, but her art is vastly different than that of the Dathomiri witches." Thrawn answered.
"As to why she hasn't used her powers more often, I believe she did to some extent, but you've not been aware of this. The blackout shortly after her promotion to Midshipman, similar to the flickering a few minutes ago, the changing of her hair length and her high endurance may be contributed to her power. She certainly isn't showing her full potential." Thrawn explained "As to why she has not been found out, she is very talented in hiding it. None of the other personnel realized anything suspicious about her other than her being insubordinate and humans, like yourself seem to be unable to see through her short hair illusion."
Vanto nodded. "So, is her hyper-intelligence connected to her powers?" he enquired. What if she had just tricked him into believing that she was that intelligent.
Thrawn shook his head. "No, her intelligence seems to be a talent of her own not connected to her powers."
"But how do you know that?" Vanto enquired but trailed off. "Wait. The two troopers she was interacting with. She was communicating in the same language with one of them. They are from the same planet."
"Correct." Thrawn nodded. "They are from the same planet. There is a familiarity between the three that suggests that they know each other longer than their service to the empire. Even though they are not on the best of terms, but they both followed her orders breaking protocol themselves."
"They acted as if they knew that she was right. That means that they are used to her actions." Vanto deduced.
"Indeed. Thrawn nodded in appreciation. "and LS-2086, whom she called Longbottom seems to have the same gift, although not her intelligence. She ordered him to take her place in her stead so that she could get the Bezoar from her locker. I may not have understood what they were talking about, but I do recognize my name being spoken. Additionally, he seemed agitated at her order spoken in their native tongue."
"So, there are more Force users on board. That can prove dangerous." Vanto remarked.
"Not necessarily." Thrawn answered. "According to our records we have five individuals from Terra on the Chimera, two, maybe even three of those may have Force Powers. But they are still heavily outnumbered by other personnel. And as they are conscripts they wouldn't dare doing anything against the Empire as their families are on imperial held planets. Furthermore, internal records indicate that most of the Terran conscripts responded well to their readjustment in the training facilities."
"Except, Midshipman Potter, I assume." Vanto pondered noting that Thrawn was in full lecturing mode again.
"Correct." Thrawn nodded finally sitting down inviting Vanto to do the same. "More importantly, she is the only conscript from her planet that was sent to a real imperial naval academy and competed against other cadets. She graduated with them. All other conscripts were pressed into the Storm Trooper Program."
"Then why is she still a Midshipman?" Vanto frowned. Every naval cadet received the rank of ensign after graduation. Why hadn't she? Why had she been the only one that had been transferred to a naval academy? Had someone already realized her potential? Or had she gotten herself into crosshairs with someone in the Academy, who had demoted her before her service?
"That is one of the questions, the High Command will have to answer." Thrawn calmly answered him leaning back in his chair.
Harry leaned back from her seat in her workstation. She had just sent her detailed report to Thrawn and now it was her that was fighting with growing tiredness. Somehow, she was glad that she didn't have to go to her shift as she could barely keep her head upright. She hadn't been able to catch up on her sleep for three rotations and now her body was about to shut down without another dose of pepper-up potion. Had Thrawn already foreseen that. Perhaps, but she hoped that she would make it back to her cot in time.
She blinked and groaned in annoyance and leaned her upper body forward and her head propped up on her arms. Yes, sleep deprivation was certainly taking its toll on her. Her hallucination was back. The little boy was sitting opposite to her work station. Yet his normally pale face was puffy, and it seemed that he had cried.
"Why do I keep seeing you?" she murmured out aloud peeking over her workstation. The little boy seemed forlorn as he rubbed his eyes sniffing loudly.
"I like seeing you." He sniffed wiping his eyes with his sleeves. "You're an angel."
Alright, she would humour herself. "I'm not an angel. I have dark hair, no goldilocks for me. On second thought, Draco has blond hair and isn't an angel either. More like a two-faced fire breathing dragon." She murmured.
The little boy chuckled at that and hiccupped. "My father is called Draco, you know."
"Really." She drawled "What a coincidence." Her mind was playing tricks and she was stupid enough to follow them through. She should just go to sleep.
"Yep." The little boy nodded. "But he is very sad. I don't like seeing him so sad."
Her ears perked up. Alright, I bite. Brain what the hell are you doing?
"Why is he sad?" she asked curiously.
"Because my Maman Astoria is dying and nobody can help her." The little boy said. "Can you help my maman?" he almost pleaded and Harry frowned.
What was her mind thinking? Why did it want to get rid of Astoria? Had she been angry when she had heard about the impending marriage between Draco and the other woman. Yes, she had been furious, but mostly, she had felt sad and utterly used. When she had woken from her coma after her accident and found that she had lost Draco's child she had been devastated. It had hurt more than she had thought possible.
She had not been ready to become a mother and she initially had played with the idea to abort her child, but unlike many others in her position she had had the luxury of means to support a child, had two very supportive friends Anthony and Raymond, who would have made great uncles with fantastic families behind them, the Dursley's, the Lupins, the Lovegoods. She had always been pro-choice, which had lead to fierce discussions with her pious aunt over the years and she still was until this day, but she had decided to keep it. Especially, when her two best friends had enthusiastically started to make plans for the baby, had plotted sweet revenge against Draco for putting her in this position and had pestered her about whom she would make the godfather. Even as going so far to help her raise the child without Draco. It certainly had been a bit tempting. But she had mentally prepared herself to give birth to the child growing within her and to the idea that she would have to include Draco more in her live. But all that had been taken from her because of an accident she could not remember. And she could remember everything else. Until this day it unnerved her, and Harry believed this to be another attempt of her brain to sort this out.
But what had been worse was the fact that Draco had returned all her letters to her unanswered with notices that he didn't want to have anything to do with her anymore. He had blamed her for losing it for some reason. Even a ministry official had turned up at her doorstep ordering her to not ever contact Draco again. So, why did her mind conjure up imaginations of a young boy lamenting over a dying Astoria?
"No, I can't help Astoria." She murmured drifting off still being prepped against the workstation.
Looking forward to your reviews. Some of your suggestions are pretty spot on, but I won't tell you which. *evil grin*
Thank you for your support!