11
Chapter Seven: Hazy Insight
Rose became aware of her surroundings twice before she fully awoke in the Hospital Wing. The first was when she was soaring through the air, opening her eyes for a few seconds to see a pale blur, with black hair above her. The second time things became clearer, fully seeing Loki's face as he maneuvered her through an old, rotting door, her feet going first. She couldn't see anything as she was pulled inside, but she guessed it was because she was dragged back into unconsciousness right after.
Finally, she was awakened by the school healer, Madame Temple, laid out in a white bed and light flooding through the windows.
"Wha… what happened?" Rose croaked out, her throat dry.
"You and a group friends went off to illegally capture some Death Eaters," Madame Temple said, using her wand to lift a cup of steaming liquid into Rose's hands. "You're lucky you were able to get here so quickly, having a cracked skull is no easy magic to heal, especially after a certain amount of time." Rose took deep gulps of the drink, liking the taste of sweetness on her tongue.
The Healer opened her curtains, allowing Rose to see around the Hospital Wing. Sif and Fandral occupied two other beds, both sleeping.
"It's late morning, in case you are wondering. No classes for you three today, and you especially will be spending the night tonight," Madame Temple said, her hands on her hips. "However, I'm sure the Headmaster will want to speak to all of you when he has a chance to come down." Rose put her cup on the table next to her and nodded, her cheeks heating up from disappointment. She had never broken any rules before, let alone something this important.
Madame Temple must have seen her how upset she was, as she put her hand on Rose's shoulder.
"Don't get me wrong, I think what you seven did was incredibly stupid," she said. "But, besides a massive amount of detention and losing practically all of Gryffindor's, and parts of Slytherin's, points, all of you will be okay. I'm not a seer, but I highly doubt expulsion is in the future." Rose smiled at her, happy to be given some comfort.
Madame Temple then busied herself with attending to the other two in the infirmary, as Rose laid back down in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Flashes of what had happened in the last few hours went through her mind, processing everything. She hoped that all three of the Death Eaters had been captured while she was passed out, and everyone else was okay.
With the thought of everyone, Loki crossed her mind. Her cheeks burned at the image of being in his arms as he helped her back to Hogwarts, and her throat became dry once again. She felt like a fool for getting caught in that curse, but at least she was able to help Loki.
She quickly shook her head, trying to get rid of him from her mind. She needed to remind herself that she was not allowed to think of him, he was off limits in more ways than one. Rubbing her head to distract herself, she heard the door from the hallway open, voices causing the peaceful Hospital Wing to flare up.
Thor, Volstagg, Hogun, and Jane entered, each with a different expression on their face. The group made their way over to Rose's bed first, possibly because she was closest, Sif was just then being woken up by Madame Temple, and Fandral was still sleeping. Jane hung behind Thor, refusing to look in her direction. She had been like this towards Rose since Thor asked her out, even though they were back together, she still seemed to resent Rose for everything that happened.
The group asked how she was faring, if she needed anything, and to tell her how all of the Death Eaters that they apprehended last night were being taken to Azkaban. After a quick discussion, they moved on to Sif and Fandral, whom had awoken from the noise. Rose got a few other visitors after them, one being the Headmaster himself.
By this time, Sif and Fandral had been discharged, and Rose was the only one left in the infirmary. Bored and having nothing else to do, Madame Temple gave her some of her healer books to read. Rose was half way through, "Magical Ailments and Injuries" when Headmaster Fury walked through the door. She lowered the book as he approached her bed.
"Good Afternoon, Miss Bennet. How are you feeling?" he asked, his face emotionless, yet stern. Rose gave him a weak smile.
"I've been better," she admitted.
"Well, hopefully, these injuries will keep you from doing anything that stupid again. I know you're probably worried about expulsion and your prefect status," said Headmaster Fury, getting straight to the point, standing over her bed. Rose nodded quickly.
"With a lot of thought, I've decided that all of you may continue to learn here. However, if any of you leave school grounds without permission again, you will not be welcomed back. Loki and you will also be able to continue being prefects, but your group will be serving detention every Saturday for the rest of the term." Rose nodded again, but as Headmaster Fury continued to stare down at her, she realized he wanted her to speak.
"I-I understand! I apologize profusely for all the trouble we have caused," Rose squeaked out. This was the first time she had ever spoken directly to the Headmaster and to him her. He seemed intimidating from a distance and lived up to that reputation up close.
The punishments were better than what she could have hoped for, though she was still mentally cursing Thor, Loki, and the rest of them for roping her into this situation. After a few more minutes of discussion, with Rose giving her story of the events the previous night held, the Headmaster made his leave. It was not long after that that Arabella burst through, making a ruckus on her way to Rose's bed. Madame Temple gave her a glare but did not say anything.
Arabella dragged Rose into a body crushing hug, pulling back to give her an angry stare.
"What were you two thinking? Doing something that foolish?" Arabella practically yelled. "You're lucky to be alive, let alone not expelled! What happened? Loki won't talk to me about it at all-!"
"-Arabella, I-"
"-You were lucky Loki was there! The nerve of you guys, I wasn't even invited-!"
"Arabella!" Rose yelled over her, gaining her full attention then. "I'm sorry this all happened, but you have to give me a second to explain everything!" Arabella pursed her lips in irritation, but agreed, allowing Rose to go into detail of the night. She excluded riding with Loki to the neighborhood, but Arabella already seemed to know that he had been the one to bring her back.
"It's all over the school of what you guys did! Everyone's praising Loki, saying he's a hero," Arabella said, sighing dreamily. "The only problem is he isn't really talking about it… I wish I had got invited though."
"I told you, I wasn't invited either, I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," Rose said, with the last thing she could want right now is to have been there last night.
"You're crazy! This will go down in Hogwarts history and you got to be a part of it!" Arabella said, shaking her head. Rose felt Arabella would feel differently if she knew of all of her punishments because of what happened. Once she had left, and Rose was alone once again, the sun had set, with flickering candles being the only source of light.
She continued reading until she could no longer keep her eyes open. As her eyelashes fluttered and her head hit the pillow, her thoughts went back to Loki as soon as she was no longer distracted by something. She wondered why he wasn't boasting about saving the day, something she felt he would most definitely do. She was also saddened to realize, while he was the one to have brought her to the Hospital Wing, he had never visited her while she was here.
'You mean nothing to him,' she reminded herself. Why would he visit her? She was his girlfriend's friend. Thor's ex. The snooping Gryffindor that always seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That was all she was.
'Nothing,' she thought again, falling into a restless slumber.
''''
She was discharged the next morning, asking Madame Temple if she could borrow a couple more of her books to read in her spare time. The Healer was happy to oblige, however, with the O.W.L.s crawling closer still, Rose was not able to even look them.
Though, despite the fifth-year exams being all Rose could think about, other people were busy with rumors about what had happened to her and the group that night. People would constantly come up to her, in class, in the Gryffindor common room, even when she was studying in the library, asking if it was true that Thor had taken out fifty Death Eaters, if Sif had avenged her father by killing the Death Eater responsible, if Loki had saved her life by illegally apparating inside Hogwarts grounds.
Arabella, whom she studied with, would always chase them away before they got kicked out for causing too much noise, mumbling about the nonsense of the rumors.
"You can't apparate inside Hogwarts," Arabella stated angrily. Rose also thought the rumors were a little extreme, though she heard Loki had arrived with her unconscious body a couple of hours before the rest of the group had showed up. She wondered how he got her body back so fast. There was also rather loud gossip that Thor was behind the whole operation, despite the opposite being true. Though, Rose wasn't one to comment on it, not wanting to get involved if she could.
After the incident had finally died down, something else filled its place in everyone's conversations. An announcement came about how the Minister of Magic would be visiting the school and giving a speech at the dinner after exams were finished. People guessed it had something to do with the never-ending news of more murders by the hands of Death Eaters, and that both of the Minister's sons were involved with the incident that happened not too long ago.
Rose saw very little of Loki during this time, mostly glimpses in the classes they shared, and not even when she was with Arabella. Once, she got the courage to ask her best friend about her boyfriend's disappearance.
"He's busy studying with his classmates," Arabella said, shrugging and went back to reading her charms textbook. Rose nodded sadly and joined her.
She finally saw him fully when she was in her Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L., sitting near him during the written exam, and then standing him in front of him during the practical. She glanced behind her, wondering if she should thank him for helping her, but also felt uncomfortable and slightly hurt that he had not asked if she was okay.
Finally, she was called back. She entered the area where she would perform, being told to accomplish different spells for different scenarios that involved casting defense spells and counter-jinxes. For her last practical exam, she was put in front of a wardrobe, knowing full well what she was about to face.
"Your task will be to defeat a boggart," the instructor explained simply. Rose nodded and braced herself, getting into a defense stance. The cabinet door opened, a black, round blur raced out, and transformed quickly before her eyes.
There stood Loki, looking as he had on the balcony the first night she stayed at his mansion. But, instead of looking angry and upset, he smiled seductively at her, his eyes half open in a misty stare.
Taken by surprise by this transformation, Rose just stared at it wide eyed as the boggart-Loki walked towards her. Back in her third year, she had faced a boggart once before, though, then, it had turned into Headmaster Fury, saying they had made a mistake and she was not a witch after all.
Rose glanced at the instructor, horror and humiliation coursing through her blood. However, the instructor showed no sign of acknowledgement and continued to watch her in a bored stance.
"He's not real, no one will know," she whispered to herself, then shouted, "riddikulus!" The boggart-Loki stopped in his tracks when a large, red rug materialized and then wrapped itself around him; once fully immersed, boggart-Loki struggled slightly before dropping to the ground. Rose let out a tiny giggle before the boggart vanished before her, zooming back into the wardrobe, which was closed by the instructor.
Her other exams seem to fly by, feeling less difficult than having to stare at her most shameful fear dead in the face. At last, all exams were over, and the school was a buzz for the end of term feast and a special appearance of the Minster of Magic. Rose was leaving the library with Arabella, talking of their O.W.L.s, as usual for them nowadays.
"Loki told me he just knows he'll get an Outstanding in DADA, he passed every obstacle with flying colors," Arabella beamed. "Speaking of him, I promised I would meet him in the Great Hall when the feast starts, I'll see you later!" Rose waved her off, wanting to grab her robes before the feast anyway, heading towards Gryffindor tower. However, lost in her thoughts, her feet found their way to the door where her had not been in a long time.
She was unsure why she had gone here, even looking inside to see if the strange casket had returned. It had not, with the only thing in the room being an old cabinet. Frustrated on not seeing the glowing object and not understanding why she came here in the first place, Rose slammed the door behind her and stomped off down the hall.
Cursing herself, deep down she knew why she had gone back. She couldn't get Loki off her mind, no matter how hard she tried. She hated this, she hated herself. She tried to reassure herself, maybe she was just pitying him, or was fascinated by him? However, she knew that wasn't right. She couldn't really describe how she felt about him. He enraged her, her stomach burning in fury. But, that burning went higher as well, into her chest and stopping at her cheeks, which would flash red every time he was near. She felt ridiculous.
Her mind would fantasize about how he had rescued her, taking her in his arms while flying through the air to Hogwarts; the memory of it still fresh in her mind, even if it was fuzzy. Then her mind would jump to when he pulled her through an old door, carefully making sure she was not hurt while getting in.
Rose stopped dead in her tracks, something dawning on her.
She raced back to the room where she had just come from. She stared at the cabinet in the room, something that had not been there before. It looked exactly like the thing Loki had dragged her in. And, Loki somehow had got her to Hogwarts in record time, despite it being almost impossible to be able to do trying to fly two people, one of them unconscious, through the air.
Walking slowly into the room, she came to a halt in front of it, examining it at every angle. Rose was not completely sure what a vanishing cabinet looked like, whether it was something special or it just looked like a normal human sized cabinet but the one in front of her was old, with the wood breaking and worn in areas. Some areas were a dark blue, probably what it looked like freshly painted, but most of it was black or a dark brown.
"Why is this here?" Rose asked herself, mumbling. "And, how would Loki know about it?" Rose walked closer to the cabinet, examining it, when she heard a sigh behind her. Rose swirled around to see Professor Yaxley and Loki. Professor Yaxley shook his head, making a tsk tsk sound with a smirk on his face. Loki stayed at the door, eyes wide.
"Miss Bennet, you should not be here," Professor Yaxley said. "But, I guess if we had to eliminate someone during this celebration, it's a mudblood at least." With the last word out of his mouth, Laufey raised his wand, but Rose was faster, yelling out an "Expelliamurs!" Professor Yaxley's wand went flying, with Rose stepping forward to advance. However, a different disarming spell was cast over her, with Rose realizing too late she forgot about Loki.
"Good job, son. Now, finish her off," Laufey said, smiling, quickly picking up his and Rose's wand. Rose raised her hands in a defeated way, giving Loki begging eyes. Rose opened her mouth to plead her case, but Loki cut her off.
"Incarcerous!" Suddenly, small ropes appeared out of thin air, wrapping around Rose, covering her mouth as well and forcing her to hit the ground with a thud. Laufey turned and gave his son a small growl.
"We need to be rid of her, not capture her!" Laufey practically yelled. Loki gave his father a sly, tired look.
"We don't have time for that, we need to get all of your 'Death Eaters' through this thing so they can be ready for my fa- for Odin," Loki said, averting his eyes. "We'll deal with her on our way out." Professor Yaxley did not look happy but he nodded. Professor Yaxley walked over to the cabinet and muttered the words 'Harmonia Nectere Passus'. The doors to the cabinet opened slowly. Once it was fully open, eight people stepped out, with Rose guessing they were the Death Eaters.
Most looked like normal dark wizards and witches, however one in particular caught Rose's eye. A pale, pointed eared man with a cruel, twisted sneer on his face. He looked somewhat familiar, and Rose's unsure why; he did not seem human.
Professor Yaxley smiled at them all, waving them forward, walking close and talking quietly, probably to make sure she did not hear anything. However, Rose saw all the Death Eaters, excluding Professor Yaxley and Loki, passing around different bottles of a fowl looking potion. One by one, they drank it and transformed before her eyes into younger girls and boys, a few she recognized. Professor Yaxley passed around Hogwarts uniforms, which they changed into quickly, with Rose averting her eyes.
Soon, the Death Eaters and Laufey were walking out of the room, with Loki on their tail. Once they all left the room, however, Loki turned and looked Rose in the eye, having a facial expression Rose could not read.
"I told you before to forget about this," was all he said before he left, closing the door, cutting the two off for good.
''''
Thank you all again for reading! Please comment and/or fav, it makes me so happy! The next chapter will reverse time for a little while, to get Loki's point of view during some of these events.