Chapter 18: Polyjuice Potion
"Why are they looking at us like that?" Melody whispered, and I ducked my head down, furiously scribbling my Arithmancy homework on the parchment. Oh, why didn't the bookcase in front of us extend just a bit further? Then it would completely block off our view to Laine and Anna's table...
"I dunno," I mumbled, and then crossed out the line I had just written; it didn't make any sense at all.
"I'm going to go over there and talk to them," Melody announced, standing up. She was starting to look a bit peaky; the moon was growing fuller.
"I wouldn't," I warned, and Melody sank back into her seat.
"Why not?" She asked quietly. "For the past couple hours they've been...well, in free period I tried to sit next to them and suddenly they both felt sick!" A wounded expression crossed her face.
"Mel," I whispered. "I'm so sorry," I blurted, hands trembling. "Uncle Harry...he...he came to school, and-and we were in this classroom, and he was asking about you, you know, and...well, Laine and Anna must have been coming to find me because when we opened the door...oh Mel, they were listening! They heard that you were a werewolf and that I was an Animagus." My voice was trembling.
Melody didn't say anything, just looked at her hands, her blue eyes wide. I was prepared for her to snap at me, she had every right to. But she looked up at me coolly, her black hair twisted back into a messy bun.
"It's not your fault," she whispered, touching my fingers which were knotted together anxiously on the table. "Really, Roxanne. And if they're going to-to act like that...I don't need them. All I need is you and Stefan, alright?" A small smile flickered across her lips.
"Oh Mel, you're just so-so ridiculous!" I half-laughed, half cried. "I think you could bear the world on your shoulders and not complain..."
She beamed at me. "I've got to go to bed, Roxanne, waking up early tomorrow to study with Ivan, we've got a huge Care of Magical Creatures test tomorrow and it's at seven in the morning!" She stood, gathering her books.
"Good luck," I grinned, waving as she exited the library. "I'll see you tomorrow."
My eyes flickered to Laine and Anna. When they caught me looking they lowered their heads, pretending they hadn't just been staring, unashamed.
My fingers itched toward my wand. If I was perfectly honest, I had no qualmes about what I was about to do.
I muttered something under my breath, and quickly slipped the wand back in my pocket, hurriedly putting the book in front of my face. But not covering my eyes; I wanted to see their expressions.
Anna began first, itching her back viciously. She said something to Laine and she shook her head, going back to reading., Then, Laine began to itch as well; behind her ears, on her ankles. It wasn't long before they had both stood and were clawing at their skin, letting out shrieks of discomfort.
Madame Pince rushed over and began to give out at them, yelling and sweeping the books off their table.
"Out! Out! Out!" She screamed, chasing the yelling girls out of the library, past my table where I sat smirking behind my book.
"Whoa," came a calm voice, and I very nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Ah!" A small shriek tumbled out of my lips, and my book slipped out of my hands onto the table.
"Scorp-Scorpius, you scared me!" I exclaimed, putting a hand over my racing heart. "Don't do that!"
"Did I ruin your plan?" He raised an eyebrow, smiling slyly.
"What plan?" I asked innocently, making my eyes go wide.
He looked at me sceptically. "You're really a very bad liar, Roxanne. No offense."
"I get that a lot," I rolled my eyes. "How did you know?"
"Well, for starters, you were holding your book upside-down," Scorpius noted, taking the book and flipping it around for me. Oops. "Also, that smile on your face was kind of a dead giveaway. What did they do to you?"
I shook my head. "To a friend," I explained. Then I quickly changed the subject, leaning forward toward him. "You owe me a story, actually," I reminded him, folding my hands on the table. "Of how you and Rose..." I trailed off, and Scorpius's eyes grew sad.
"It began on Valentine's day," he started. "We had our first fight...it was a small thing, really. Kind of ridiculous now that I think of it...anyway, it was over...Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. I had one that tasted like copper, I said, and Rose didn't believe me. She said copper wasn't a flavor!" I raised my eyebrow. Copper wasn't a flavor.
"I know what you're thinking," Scorpius said quickly. "And yes it is, Al agrees with me. Haven't you ever gotten a really strong smell of anything made out of copper? And sometimes the smell's so strong, you can taste it? That's how it was. Rose argued, and I argued back, and pretty soon I accidentally spilled her drink on her. Then she snapped at me and then we were screaming at each other in the middle of the Three Broomsticks," Scorpius said sourly, sitting back and folding his arms. "That's the lovely story about how Rose Weasley dumped me."
"I-whoa. This was over...wait, wait. This whole thing is over a bean?" I raised my eyebrows incredulously. "A copper flavored bean? Bloody hell Scorpius, why didn't you just tell her she was right and move on?" I exclaimed. "Rose Weasley's stubborn as a badger, you should know that!"
"I know," Scorpius grumbled, hanging his platinum-blonde head. "But it's just...now I can't go back to her, you know? It's not because of pride, or anything stupid. It's because she won't even let me get near her or she'll-"
"Point a wand at you?" I interrupted, remembering the scene I'd walked into in the Potions Closet.
"Yeah," Scorpius said glumly. "Anyway, I've got these books for the report portion." Scorpius was still talking, but I was no longer listening. Instead, my eyes had slid to a different cozy little scene over his shoulder.
In the table Laine and Anna had just vacated, I watched Stefan hold out the chair for some brown-haired girl, smiling charmingly at her and winking. I bristled, my fists clenching.
Stefan pulled his chair close to hers and the leaned their heads together, whispering. Every once in a while the girl giggled.
Something snapped inside of me.
"I'll be right back," I blurted to Scorpius, and fled to the back of the library, under the rope closing off the Restricted Section.
I rubbed my eyes as I feel to my knees behind the very last bookcase, leaning up against it and drawing my knees to my chest. Why did this bother me so much? Stefan could flirt with whoever he pleased! I told myself furiously. And I don't care, I don't!
I glared at the tear that had just dripped onto the shoulder of my robe.
"Traitor," I whispered at Stefan, and my heart literally felt like it was being smashed into pieces and then fed to a Norwegian Ridgeback. Pathetic. Here I was, sitting here crying. What if someone came back and saw me? That would be extremely embarrassing. Of course, just as I had the thought, someone slid in next to me.
I lifted my tear-stained face. "What do you want?" I looked through my tears at Scorpius, who had his hand on my shoulder and was looking at me with empathy.
"You love him, don't you?" He whispered softly and I let out a sob, putting my head on his shoulder. I nodded. "I know because the way you look at him when he's with her," Scorpius said softly. "It's how I feel when I see Rose." I inhaled shakily, and a fresh wave of tears poured down my face.
"I-I'm sorry," I sobbed quietly, but Scorpius just wrapped his arm around my shoulder. He conjured up a tissue, and I took it gratefully.
"I've been seeing it all year," I started. "But now it just...it hurts more than ever." Now the tears were starting again, and I could feel my nose running. I sat up and Scorpius and I faced each other, and I saw nothing but kindness in his face. That seemed to be the trigger, because just then I poured out my whole messed up Stefan story to Al's best friend.
There was something about crying and exchanging messed up love stories in the restricted section of the library together that made you fast friends. Several weeks later and Scorpius was rising nicely to fall into the gap Laine and Anna had left in my heart. He was like the older brother I'd never had, and he told me he'd always wanted a sister. He didn't have any siblings.
I was in the library past curfew, scribbling away on the essay on Polyjuice Potion. Scorpius and I were exchanging it back and forth, editing it and adding paragraphs here and there. My hair was pulled carelessly back into a bun, bits of it sticking up all over my head. I had ink all over my hands, and I was pretty sure I had some on my cheek, too.
My thoughts kept coming back to Fred-my uncle, not my brother-I hadn't spoken to him in weeks. And I was pretty sure I knew what he was doing, too: he was trying to ignore me so that I wouldn't try and save him.
"Nope," I muttered under my breath. "Still trying harder than ever, even though Stefan and I aren't speaking. Again. But this time, I think it's real," I sighed, and I quickly dove back into the book. If I started thinking about Stefan too long I'd get all teenage angst-y. And I hated pitying myself.
"Roxanne?" Came a tentative, familiar voice. I stared rudely, jaw dropping open as Stefan walked out into the light in front of me, sitting himself awkwardly at the seat next to me like he didn't know what to do with himself.
"What are you doing?" I asked rudely.
"Just-ah-sitting by you." Stefan cleared his throat.
"Are you alright?" I looked at him strangely, then went back to scribbling notes in the margins of my paper. I didn't want him to think I cared, at all.
"Just fine," he coughed again.
"Well, we need to get back into training soon," I said softly. "Fred's still not talking to me, and it's because he doesn't want us to save him and risk bringing a Death Eater back in."
"Roxanne-"
"If you don't want to talk to me, that's fine," I snapped, slamming down my quill. "Because I don't want to talk to you either. But I thought we were mature enough to still work together on saving Fred."
Something in Stefan's expression changed; triumph. "Yeah, d'you want to fill me in on our plan again? To get into the Spirit Realm?" He asked in a casual voice, tracing his finger along the table.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Haven't you been paying attention these last few months?"
"Look Roxanne, just tell me, alright?" He said snappishly.
"Merlin, someone's cranky. We're going to go in on the 21st, as you know is the date. We've been training for weeks now, and you know we're getting stronger. We can make it if we just try," I was convincing myself more than him. "And somehow, we've got to know which one is Fred..." I trailed off.
"Yeah," Stefan was nodding quickly. "So, when was the last time we trained?"
"Er...about a week ago," I said suspiciously. "Why?"
"Just wondering," he said quickly.
"Anyway, where were you with the Melody situation last time?" I asked accusingly. "You always come, even if you're mad."
"What?" Stefan stared at me blankly.
"You know, when-" I stopped suddenly as I realized. This wasn't Stefan sitting in front of me. I had a couple seconds to backtrack and make up a lie about Mel because he-or she-caught on that I knew.
"-when Mel has those panic attacks," I said glumly. "You're always helping her!"
"Oh, right!" Stefan-no, not Stefan-nodded. "I was...sleeping. Sorry about that."
I nodded as if I understood. Something that Scorpius had said about the Polyjuice Potion ingredients a few weeks ago now made sense; they looked like they had been recently used.
"Petrificul Totalus!" I whispered, and the Imposter's eyes went wide as Stefan's body went stiff as a board, clattering to the floor. I made my way over to the person who looked like Stefan.
"Let's see how long your Polyjuice potions lasts now," I gloated. "According to my research, you don't have much time left. Even if you do, I can wait," I smiled demurely. "Oh yes, I know how you changed," I added smugly. "I'm an Occlumens," I lied. "So you'd better be scared. Now I'm going to continue on my work...you just sit tight and don't go anywhere, okay?" I smiled sweetly. Whoever this person was, he or she was going to get it. I'd been this close to letting out Melody's secret.
Whoever it was, they had known about the Shields.
I didn't have to wait long. Before several minutes had past, the person who'd taken the form of Stefan began to shake, despite the curse I'd thrown at them. The eyes began to roll in their sockets, and Stefan's hair shot into his skull and then grew out, longer and wavy, shiny black...
My eyes widened as Stefan's face shifted to that of his twin sister's.
"You," I hissed, jumping to my feet.
"Me," Nadia snarled, grabbing her wand and leaping to hers. I was taken aback; my spell must have worn off, and Nadia hadn't made any sign of letting me in on that fact.
"What was the point of that?" I hissed as we circled each other, wands at the ready. "And how do you know so much about the shields? Answer me!"
"I think it's time you be taught a lesson," Nadia snarled. "You're a presumptuous little bitch, and it's time you realized." Wordlessly she flung a spell at me. I ducked just in time and the blue light shot over my head, exploding into the bookshelf with a force that sent several heavy volumes flying to the floor.
"Stop!" I pleaded. "We're in a library! We'll be expelled!" Sneering, Nadia readied her wand again but this time, I was ready. Jumping to my feet I blocked the spell, and a look of surprise flashed across her face as the jinx ricocheted back towards her.
"Stupefy!" I yelled, red light sparking from my wand. Nadia flew out of the way, rolling to the floor and then fluidly coming to her feet, all in one motion. In a blink she was flying at me, her hand at my throat.
"Tell me about the shields," she hissed, eyes flashing.
"Never," I choked, and shoved her off of me.
I staggered backwards, gasping, and suddenly I was hit with a spell that caused a ripping pain to explode into my limbs. I heard a high-pitched noise in my ears...then I realized I was screaming. The pain left as suddenly as it had stopped and I whirled to Nadia, my wand up in my trembling hand.
"Stop this," I ordered. "I knew you were horrible, Nadia, but I didn't know you were evil! You just tortured me!" I shouted.
"That wasn't even the Cruciatus Curse, not yet," she snarled, and my eyes widened.
"That's illegal," I whispered. "What are they teaching you at Durmstrang?" Nadia didn't answer; her grin only grew. "Why do you want to know about the Shields? Are you working with Nikola? How many students does he have on his side?" I blurted, and she nodded appreciatively.
"So you've figured it out, then. Bits and pieces at least, or else you would know..." she trailed off.
"Know what?" I snapped, but she shook her head. "Know what? Levicorpus!" The Durmstrang girl didn't have time to dodge out of the way this time. She was hoisted into the air by her ankle and her wand slipped out of her hand as she shrieked.
"I'm sorry," I admitted. "But you need to stop! Why are you doing this?" I pleaded as Nadia folded her arms and pursed her lips together tightly; she was clearly not going to talk to me. I sighed and let her down, starting to walk away. I was tensed up, my shoulders tight, but I knew Nadia wasn't completely insane. She wouldn't actually try to-
"Crucio Maxima!" She called out and I screamed as a jet of bright light shot past my head. "That was a warning," she called out from behind me. "I'm letting you go because-"
Suddenly, Nadia was screaming horrible, bloodcurdling shrieks as the light shot back after bouncing against a flaming brazier in the wall. With an explosion it ricocheted off the bronze torch and into Nadia's stomach.
I was flying off my feet with the force, and I stumbled backwards on the floor, hitting my head hard against the wooden leg of a chair.
The last thing I saw was the face of Laine, her eyes wide as she stood behind the bookcase, wand out like she was getting ready to step forward.
Then everything faded into darkness.
I opened my eyes slowly, confused. Why was I in the hospital wing? I sat up slowly in my bed, my head throbbing painfully. I blinked several times until the edges of my vision sharpened.
"Uncle Harry?" I whispered, surprised. The raised voices of several men in the corner were called to my attention, but I was more focused on my Uncle leaning over me, looking very, very concerned.
"Roxanne, shhh," he warned, barely moving his lips as he was talking. "They don't know you're awake yet."
"Harry, what happened?" I whispered, clenching my hands. "I don't...I don't remember."
"I didn't think you would," he said softly. "Listen, something happened in the library yesterday night. You and some other girl, some Durmstrang. Nadia Leonov?" I went very pale. "Do you remember anything?" I closed my eyes and tried very hard, but nothing came to mind, nothing at all. I shook my head ruefully. "I was in the library? I don't even remember..." Harry jerked his head toward my bedside table, where my books and bits of parchment with my handwriting lay. Except...I didn't remember writing any of it.
"Was I Imperiused?" I asked in a panicky voice, my mind jumping to conclusions.
"No, nothing like that," Harry assured me quickly. "You've been concussed, and you don't remember. They said that's normal. Roxanne, you need to know that Nadia was in St. Mungo's. She's just been brought back, and the news is they think you did it. There was evidence of a duel when they found you. She's just woken up as well and she's in no state to be questioned, she can barely say her own name. I know you didn't do it and Kingsley and your Dad are talking to the Ministry Officials-"
"Ministry-!" I squeaked. "Harry, just what exactly do they think I did?"
"Well..." he looked down, fiddling with the sheet.
"Uncle Harry," I pleaded.
"Roxanne...they think you preformed a highly powerful Crutiatus curse on Nadia. She almost died."
With that piece of news, I nearly passed out all over again.
"I have known Roxanne Weasley since she was a child, and I know her family," Kinglsey's voice was low and angry. Both Harry and I turned to watch as he spoke with three unfamiliar men who were holding their hats in their hands several meters away, facing the other direction. They hadn't noticed I was awake yet. I turned and was surprised to see that my father was here as well, looking out the window with a pale and pinched expression on his face.
"But the facts remain, Kingsley," one of the Ministry workers was saying urgently. "No matter who her family is, there was no one else who could have preformed that spell, there was no one at the scene. And it's not like the girl shot the spell at herself...and the fact remains that what she preformed was extremely dark magic. I went to school here, Kingsley, and I knew that that sort of thing would never be tolerated at Hogwarts. Which is why we're so confused. Where did the girl learn it?"
"What do you think it is, then?" My father asked, his voice cracking. "My daughter would never, ever intentionally hurt someone that way. I can prove it. You can...you can give her Veritaserum, or-or anything, check her memories in the Pensieve, I don't care!" His voice trembled. "Just please...please don't..." his voice trailed off.
"We don't like this any more than you do, Weasley," the second official said quietly. "But the dilemma is if this story doesn't pan out, they're going to have to go to court." My father drew in his breath sharply, and I let out a small squeak.
All five men turned to me.
"Roxanne!" My father shouted and ran towards my bed, gathering me in his arms and shielding me with his body from the Ministry men protectively. "I'm so sorry baby, we're going to get you out of this, I promise," he said in a low voice. "Percy and Hermione are highly connected in the Ministry, they're already working, don't you worry about a thing-"
"Is Nadia okay?" I blurted. "Dad, I don't...I don't remember, and I'm scared," I whimpered, my eyes welling with tears as he pulled me into his arms again like I was a little girl.
"Nadia's...Nadia's fine," he said in an odd voice. "She's going to be alright, she was in her most critical state last night when you were unconscious. But she's well enough to be out of St. Mungo's now..." he trailed off as the Ministry men approached the foot of my bed, all three of them staring at me with a mixture of grimness and sympathy. I shrank lower onto my pillows, wanting to be anywhere but here. Anywhere. Dad and Uncle Harry kneeled on either side of me, my guards.
"What are you going to do with me?" I whispered, looking up at the Ministry men. I was terrified, and it was like I was watching the scene from above, observing rather than participating. I was floating, not really there. I was dreaming, and I'd be waking up soon. I pinched my arm, wishing to speed along the waking process.
"Stop, everyone!" We all swivelled around as I caught sight of my Uncle Percy banging through the doors of the Hospital wing, rushing forward, running toward us with his glasses bouncing up and down on his nose, his graying hair wild and sticking up in all directions. He held up a fistful of papers triumphantly, waving them around in the Officials' faces.
"Stipulation!" He spit. "Clause number 97.1, you cannot question or bring in accused for questioning while mental health is at risk-" he rattled off a long list of long words and law phrases, and although I didn't understand the majority of it, the Officials looked rather peeved as Percy's expression grew triumphantly.
"What are you saying, Weasley?" One of them was struggling to keep his voice under control.
"I'm saying," Percy said in a low voice, sticking his face in the Official's. "I'm saying for you to get out of my niece's face. She's healing, and you can get back to your job instead of prosecuting concussed teenagers," he said in a shaking voice. The officials gave curt nods, apologizing to Kingsley with promises that they'd be back as they filed out the door.
"Roxanne!" Uncle Percy-my godfather-ran forward, enveloping me in a hug, and then all the emotions that had been building up inside spilled over and I burst into tears, sobbing on my uncle's shoulder.
"Per-cy-what are they-they going to do?" I hiccuped, wiping my nose with a handkerchief he whipped out of his pocket for me.
"They can't bring you to Azkaban!" Percy said loudly. "Don't worry, they'll give you a trial at the very most. But that's only if we can't help it at all and I promise you Roxanne, this incident won't get past this hospital wing," he said firmly, taking my face in his hands and looking at me carefully. "Audrey's baking your favorite Pumpkin rolls now and she'll be over with them soon along with Victoire and Teddy-"
"What is this?" Madame Pomfrey rushed forward with two potions in each hand. "Too many visitors! I said her father, no one else!" She protested, and then caught sight of Kingsley. "Oh, and-and of course you, Headmaster," she said quickly, and Kingsley inclined his head grimly.
"Quite alright, Madame."
"We'll be back tonight, Roxanne," Harry promised, and Percy nodded so furiously that his glasses slid further down his noise.
They walked out, and Dad rushed to my side again, taking my hand.
"Thanks for defending me, Headmaster," my voice shook as I looked up at the professor, struggling to get control of myself. I took a deep breath and became very calm. Too much was happening at once and my brain just seemed to be stopping and shoving it all away in the back of my mind to deal with later when I could handle it. I dried my eyes, and cleared my throat. "But what exactly is going on?"
"Last night, Argus Filch found the both of you and retrieved me. Nadia was immediately brought to St. Mungo's and within minutes officials from the Ministry showed up as you were brought to the hospital wing as your injuries were not as severe.
"We were able to send off the Ministry workers for the night, but apparently they are not to be put off for long; I do not doubt they will return soon. However, Roxanne, you need not worry. If you have the truth on your side, then do not worry at all. We will do everything in our considerable amount of power to keep this as low-key as possible. If we're lucky, this may not even extend to the tabloids. But Roxanne, I'm sure you understand, and I apologize profusely," Kingsley knelt down next to me. "Forgive me for asking...do you remember firing any such curse?"
I shook my head violently. "No way! Kingsley-Professor Kingsley-I don't even know how to use an Unforgiveable," I whispered. "And even if I did, I would never..."
Kingsley nodded grimly. "I knew you wouldn't, but being your Headmaster, it would be foolish not to ask. Miss Weasley, I fear...I fear I know what happened here. Hopefully the potions Madame Pomfrey is administering to you to aid in the return of your memory will soon take effect. For now, I shall let you speak with your father, and rest. Good night." He nodded to me and then to Dad, his purple robes sweeping behind him as he left the hospital.
Dad squeezed my hand wordlessly, and gave me a pained smile. "Your Mum doesn't know yet," he whispered. "Or she'd be here, no doubt, and probably kicking those Officials' arses. She's with your Aunt Jackie, she's fallen sick...Merlin, if I didn't know it would get us into more trouble then we're already in-" I loved him for saying we- "-then I'd sure like to take those Ministry sons of-ah-er-guns-for a stroll down the lane of Weasley Wizard Wheeze's joke products." Dad then began a long and detailed description of what he'd do to them, given the chance, and he had me laughing by the time he'd finished. For a moment, I forgot why he was talking about it in the first place, until we turned to see the Hospital door open once more.
"Is she alright?" Stefan exclaimed, running forward and dropping to his knees at his sister's bed. Then he caught sight of me and jumped to his feet, striding forward angrily.
"You!" He seethed, looking absolutely murderous. I'd never seen him like this. "You little-"
"Stefan, I didn't!" I pleaded, shrinking back as he loomed over me menacingly. "I promise, I didn't-" his eyes widened as my father's face contorted with rage over his shoulder as he grabbed his arm, yanking him backwards with a strength I didn't know he possessed.
"Dad!" I screamed as Stefan went stumbling, catching himself on a bedpost before he tripped on the ground.
"Don't you ever accuse my daughter again, you Durmstrang Scumbag!" He yelled, and Stefan's eyes were very wide.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but I need to tell your daughter something," he said very softly and pushed past Dad, kneeling next to my ear.
"I'll never forgive you," he whispered, and I shook silently. "And you're on your own with the shields." He whirled away and sat at his sister's side, taking her hand and not giving me a second glance. I turned onto my side, tears sliding down my cheeks.
I woke up to sunlight streaming down from the windows onto my bed and the space around it; my bedside table and the floor all around where I lay was covered in all sorts of presents. I happily grabbed one of the promised pumpkin rolls of Aunty Audrey, and examined the rest. There were about fifteen cards, all marked URGENT and READ NOW and other variations thereof. There were flowers, and cakes, and all sorts of other things; I was pretty sure it was James who'd given me the bright pink snitch fluttering around my stuff.
"You're lucky you've got...got so much family," came a thick voice from several beds down to my right. The sentence was so slurred and unintelligable that it took my several moments to realize what Nadia had said. I just stared at her, not sure what to say at all. "They...love you. They were coming...all night," she struggled to say. "Me? I've only...got Stefan. And Dad, he..." I couldn't understand the next bit of what she said.
Wordlessly I got up and grabbed the thing nearest to my hand; a giant box of truffles marked from Aunt Ginny's. I walked them over to Nadia's empty bedside table and set them down, meeting her eyes for a brief moment before settling myself down on the chair next to her bed.
"You look like..." she worked to talk around her swollen tongue. "Crap. Like you haven't showered...in two days."
I let out an uncertain laugh. Even in the state she was in, Nadia was still making cracks about my appearance. She didn't look so hot herself, but I wasn't about to tell her that. Her hair was limp and dull, her face actually a sickly shade of gray. Not near gray, but strongly resembling the coloring of a ghost. Her eyes were sunken in and ringed with purple, and her face was bloated and covered with bruises. Considering what we'd both been through...
"Do you remember?" I asked softly. "I'm sorry if you don't want to..." Nadia drew in a sharp breath and I winced guiltily.
"I just don't want to go to Azkaban," I whispered so softly I was sure she wouldn't hear it, but she turned and gave me a small smile.
"Don't be..stupid," her breathing was ragged. "They won't send...someone like...you to Wizard's Prison," she laughed harshly. "It wasn't...your fault. I'll tell them if it gets...serious." She probably thought she was assuring me, but she only awakened an even stronger, insatiable hunger to fill in the gaps of my memory. I had to bite my tongue, hard, in order to keep myself from peppering her with questions. I dug my fingernails into my palms as she turned over in her bed, going back to sleep.
I bit back a scream; every cell in my body ached to shake her awake and demand to know what happened. But...I made my way back to my bed, folded my hands over my stomach...and waited.