Author's Notes: finchelromionelover, you asked for a hospital scene after the events in drabble #7 (Body-Bind Brain), and since I had a vague idea for that anyway, I just decided to write that. Not sure if this is what you had in mind, though.

Rating: K+, I guess. I suck at rating.

Disclaimer: Mine, mine, mine. Ah, if I say that often enough, maybe it will happen. No? Oh, darn.

Well, everything you recognize belongs to JKR. *sigh*

Marked

The next hours - or were it days? - felt like a blur to Ron. He vaguely remembered Harry running after someone, being picked up and feeling coolness all over his body. He also remembered light and the presence and voices of people around him. But most of all, he remembered darkness.

He groggily opened his eyes, blinking against the light that, albeit dim, still felt harsh to his unaccustomed eyes. He instantly knew that something was wrong. His body was strangely numb and felt as if it was covered in something cool and slick. He warily looked around and realized that he was lying in a bed in the Hospital Wing.

He carefully sat up, groaning as he felt his head throb and his whole body sting. Something brushed against the side of his neck as he moved and when his blanket slid off him, his attention was caught by something white that was sticking out of his sleeve.

A bandage.

And he realized that, in fact, his whole body was wrapped in bandages.

What the hell had happened to him?

Then, suddenly, he heard footsteps and he saw Madam Pomfrey walk over to him from behind the screen that was blocking his view at the bed next to his.

"Mr Weasley, what in the name of Merlin are you thinking, getting up?" she scolded.

"Madam Pomfrey, what happened?" Ron asked frantically, ignoring her. "Where are the others?"

The nurse emitted a weary sigh. "Your friends are perfectly fine," she finally deigned to say. "They ought to be sleeping in their dormitories if they know what's good for them. Only Miss Granger is still here," she added, tilting her head towards the shield between the beds.

"Hermione?" Ron cried out in shock and sat more upright. "Is she all right? What happened to her?"

"She was hit by a curse, but she'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey explained. "I just checked on her. She's sleeping. Which is why I strongly recommend you to lower your voice, for Heaven's sake!"

"Oh, sorry," Ron said sheepishly, his voice now significantly lower. "C-can I see her?"

"Yes, but it'll have to wait until she's woken up. She's in need of some rest."

Ron nodded. "Okay," he whispered, lowering his gaze for a moment and gulped before he looked back up at the nurse.

"But what happened to me?"

"You don't remember?"

Ron thought, hard, but then shook his head.

"No," he said. "Last thing I know is that we were in this weird room with all those planets and then I think I was hit by something..."

"It was a Befuddlement Jinx," Madam Pomfrey said. "It made you feel drunk and lose control over your actions. And it should also be the reason why you cannot remember."

"W-what did I do?" Ron asked, feeling alarmed.

"You were attacked by a brain-"

"A brain?"

"Yes, Mr Weasley, a brain. The Ministry uses them to study the impact of thoughts, memories and emotions. Well, be as it may, the brain attacked you and you were wounded by its Thought Tentacles."

Thought Tentacles. If Ron had not been so horrified, he would have thought that this was one of the twins' bad horror stories. But it had to be true. At any rate, it would explain all those bandages around him.

"Can I... Can I see?" he asked hesitantly.

Madam Pomfrey just looked at him for a moment, looking apprehensive. "Yes," she then said, sounding as though she was acting against her better judgment. "I was going to renew your bandages anyway. But I must warn you, it's not a pleasant sight."

Ron felt his heartbeat quicken in tense anticipation as Madam Pomfrey helped him out of his pajamas but when she started to unravel his bandages, he shut his eyes, uncertain if he really wanted to see.

"Mr Weasley," he heard her say when she had eventually taken all bandages off of him and he reluctantly opened his eyes and slowly lowered his gaze to look down at himself. And then he stopped breathing.

He was smeared in what must have been a salve of sorts. He had expected that. What he had not been prepared for, however, was the fact that his entire body was streaked by numerous long, deep, angry red welts that appeared to curl all around him like ivy on a tree, standing out harshly against his pale skin.

"Will I... Will I stay like this forever?" he finally managed to ask, unable to turn his gaze away from his disfigured legs.

"I started applying an Oblivious Unction yesterday and it has already shown good results," Madam Pomfrey said. "I'm positive that over time, there will be significant improvement, but at this point, I'm afraid that I cannot yet promise you that your marks will ever disappear completely."

Tears prickled behind Ron's eyes as he faintly remembered that he had summoned the brain because he had wanted to touch it. He had made himself vulnerable and left his friends to their own devices in the midst of a battle because of an idiotic whim. And now he would be paying for it. His whole body would forever bear the mark of his stupidity.

Writing this actually made me wonder if Ron might have a tendency for considering scars and other blemishes on him as a sort of (self-)punishment. It would, in my opinion, explain why he did not get his bird wounds treated in HBP and why he did not have his fingernails regrow in DH. What are your thoughts?