A/N: Ahhh, I'm finally back! I'm sorry for the long absence, I had a lot of homework and midterms to do/catch-up on. I hope this chapter is okay. After this, everything changes for Paige. I admit, she is too much of a weepy girl, but this sort of tragedy causes all that. I know. Anyways, enjoy and I'll try to update ASAP.

I DO NOT own Harry Potter!

Chapter 12

Paige went to Madam Pomfrey for another quick check-up. She wanted to get out of Hogwarts to see her mum as soon as possible.

"Just let me remove your black eye and fat lip," Madam Pomfrey said.

"No way!" Paige exclaimed. "These are the best Quidditch wounds. I want them there to remind me of the most intense and best game I've played."

"Fine," Madam Pomfrey said, slamming down her wand. "But don't come crying to me when you can't snog your boyfriend!" She walked away in a huff. Paige hopped off of the bed and reluctantly went to the Gryffindor dorms so she could change. She got into the portrait hole and successfully got to her dorm and quickly changed. She quickly ran by everyone (including Wood) unnoticed. She went to Dumbledore's office and got ready to floo to St. Mungo's.

"Are you ready Paige?" Dumbledore asked.

She nodded. "Thank you, professor. I'll be back in one hour. ST. Mungo's!" Paige yelled and the green flames engulfed her. She coughed and shook off the soot on her robes when she got to St. Mungo's. She walked up to the information desk.

"Er-hi," Paige started.

"Can I help you," the young and very bored young witch said, looking at Paige.

"Yes. I came to visit my mother," Paige said. "I don't know where she is though."

"What is her name and malady?" the receptionist asked in the same bored voice.

"Her name is Patricia Matthews and she was-" Paige swallowed hard as she tried to get the words out. "-tortured."

The witch looked at her and her expression softened. "Oh. You need to go to the fourth floor…that's where residence is for spell damage."

"Thank you," Paige said quietly. She walked by the desk and made her way to the fourth floor where she would soon find out whether her mother would be okay or not.

Paige came to another reception desk. The room was crowded. People with various spell damages done to them. She saw a woman with boils on her face and a man with uncontrollable jelly hands and feet. She also saw a woman that had uncontrollable hair growth.

"Hi, my name is Paige Matthews. I'm here to see my mother," Paige said to the receptionist.

"What is her name?" the witch asked politely.

"Her name is Patty-er-Patricia Matthews," Paige said. The witch smiled.

"Okay, let me look her up for you…" she trailed off. She muttered an incantation on her clipboard and looked up at Paige with kind eyes.

"Okay dear, take this visitor's pass and you will go straight down the hallway. Healer Murphy will meet you outside," she told her. Paige's heart sank. She knew where her mom was. She was in the closed ward,

"Thank you," she whispered. Paige made her way down to the closed ward feeling so weak. She never felt like this. She has always been the strong one…in her family and within her friends. She felt so alone and miserable, that for once in her life, she recognized that it was only her and her mom. Patty has done so much for Paige over the years especially trying to keep her safe. Paige felt selfish and guilty because she got mad at her mom for not telling her something. She felt like a truly horrible daughter.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally reached the closed ward. She took a deep breath and walked through the doors. Healer Murphy was waiting by a reception area. He looked up when Paige walked in.

"Are you Paige Matthews?" the healer asked.

"Yes, I am," Paige said solemnly.

He gave her a small smile. He held out his hand and introduced himself. "I'm Healer Murphy. I am the healer for your mother's case."

Paige took his hand and shook it. She just wanted a straight answer from the healer. "Is she going to be okay?"

Healer Murphy looked at Paige with a somber face. He hated telling family's the worst things, but they want to know the truth of their loved ones.

"She isn't in the best shape, Paige," he told her. "Whoever did this to her, affected her brain. She suffered some potential brain damage. Most people who suffer the Cruciatus Curse for as long as she did, go insane."

Paige gasped. She felt she was about to cry again. If her mother was brain damaged or insane, she has no one to go to. It was always her and Patty. Because Patty spent her life trying to protect Paige, she may die because of her.

"Is she going to die?" Paige asked, trying to hold back her tears forming in her eyes.

"We don't know anything for sure. She will have to stay here for a while. We are monitoring her from day to day, but she isn't too responsive," he told her.

"Oh God," Paige whispered. She put her face in her hands and started to cry.

Healer Murphy felt heartbreak telling this young girl she may not have a mother anymore. She obviously has no one else to turn to. He needed to give her some sort of hope.

"Try speaking with her," he told Paige. "She does not recognize any of us, but she may respond to you if she knows her daughter is here."

"Really?" Paige asked, drying her tears.

"Really," the doctor replied. He guided her to Patty's private room. Paige gasped. This wasn't her mother. The Patty she knew was a blue-eyed, brown hair, fresh-faced, strong woman. The woman propped up on the bed looked old and frail and staring aimlessly at the wall.

"I'll leave you two alone," he said. The healer left the room and let Paige be with her mother.

Paige was nervous. She slowly made her way to her mother's bed. She gently took her hands into hers.

"Hi mum. It's me, Paige," she whispered. Patty remained unresponsive. She continued to stare at the wall and not look at Paige. Paige felt a surge of anger fill up inside her. She felt she could've cried again, but she didn't want to. She got angry. She gripped her mother's hand a little more tightly and started to speak.

"I am going to find who did this to you mum. He already took away the two people I never knew and got to love and got away with it. But as God as my witness, he is going to pay for what he did to you…even if I must die doing it."

Paige stood up and kissed her mom's cheek. "I love you." She walked out the door and went back to Hogwarts with one thing on her mind:

Revenge.