Soul of the Enemy

By Willow Spirit

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Everything else belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 2: A New Arrival – Part 2

The next day of classes seemed slow and torturous to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Nothing could move fast enough. The minutes felt like hours, and each class felt like a lifetime. The evening just seemed so far away. In their opinion, it would never come. That's why it was such a relief when they all sat down for supper.

"Honestly," Ron said. "Snape was even worse today than usual. That was one of the worst Potions classes we've had in months. I swear he was extra mad with us because of yesterday."

"It's not really fair," Hermione agreed. "After all, it's not our fault that we happened to find that girl. It was all pure coincidence. If we hadn't found her, someone else would have. It was only a matter of time."

"Time that she may not have had," Harry said, staring into space. "That girl could have died. No one else was around. She would have drowned in the lake for sure."

"Now that's a scary thought," Ron shuddered. The three friends quickly ate their supper. They wanted to go back to the hospital wing and see the mystery girl. Just as they were about to leave, Professor McGonagall swiftly approached.

"I suppose you three are wondering about the girl you rescued yesterday," she looked at them seriously. "And knowing your great sense of curiosity, you probably want to see her," their three heads nodded eagerly. "Well, Dumbledore has agreed to let you come along. I was just about to go to the hospital wing myself. You three may come with me, if you wish."

No one needed to be asked twice. In a heartbeat, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were following McGonagall as she made her way through the halls to the infirmary. When the four of them walked through the hospital wing doors, they saw that Dumbledore and Snape were already there.

"Ah, there you are Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore turned to greet them. "I see you have brought the rescuers. If it is alright with Madam Pomfrey, we shall attempt to get some much needed answers from our guest."

That's when Dumbledore moved aside, revealing the young woman lying on the hospital bed. Harry saw that most of her cuts and scrapes were gone, but she still looked very pale. He knew that she probably wasn't completely healed. The poor girl was much too beat up yesterday to be back to normal so soon. She looked so peaceful right now. Her head was rolled to one side, and she had one arm draped across her abdomen. Naturally, her eyes were still closed, making her light brown eyelashes appear extra long. Despite her condition, Harry could still tell that she was sort of pretty.

"I've kept her asleep since yesterday," Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of nowhere. "Poor girl really needed her rest."

"Is it safe to wake her, Poppy?" McGonagall said, gazing at the girl's face.

"I believe so. I didn't find anything too serious on the inside, nothing that couldn't be fixed. She'll be sore, that's no doubt. There's not much I can do about that. But she'll definitely be fit to talk…if she wants to, that is. I only hope she's still okay in her head, if you know what I mean."

"Can we wake her up, then, Poppy," Snape inhaled deeply through his nose.

"Of course, of course. I'll give her something to drink and then we'll be ready. And it might be best if the children take a few steps back. Who knows what will happen when she wakes up?" As the three students back-tracked towards the doorway, Madame Pomfrey lifted the girl's head and forced a bit of nasty looking liquid down her throat. After she stepped away from the bed, everyone just watched to see what would happen next.

At first, nothing happened. The girl remained totally still. Then suddenly, she let out a deep and hoarse cough, probably from the liquid. She was awake. The girl slowly rolled onto her side and coughed some more. She finally was able to catch her breath. In very slow movements, she started to lift her head…but suddenly stopped as if she knew that something was different. Then her eyes quickly snapped open. Her gazed promptly found Madame Pomfrey, who was the closest one to her. Her eyes were instantly filled with panic.

"Now my dear, there's nothing to worry about," Pomfrey said in a soothing voice. "You've been injured and you're in the hospital…"

But Pomfrey never did get a chance to finish her sentence. Before anyone could react, the girl flipped herself out of her bed. She landed on the other side, between the bed and the nearby window. Her head whipped once from side to side, as if she was assessing her environment. Snape's hand was starting to reach for his wand, but the girl was faster. Her eyes darkened in concentration. Her hand flew out behind her in a throwing motion. At that exact same moment, the window by her bed exploded into a million pieces.

"LOOK OUT!" Pomfrey shouted as the glass pieces flew towards everyone. They all had just enough time to duck and cover their faces.

Harry risked a glance through the cracks in his closed fingers. He saw the girl launch herself over the hospital bed. She managed to run by Pomfrey and the professors as they recovered from the shock of the explosion. Maybe most of the glass hadn't reached him, Ron, and Hermione, since they all were standing farther away. Or maybe Harry was just stupid. Either way he wasn't thinking clearly. In that split second, Harry decided to block the doorway, cutting off the girl's escape route.

"Going somewhere?" Harry asked furiously. He had no intention of letting her pass, not after pulling a stunt like that.

The girl came to a screeching halt. It was only then that Harry got his first good look at her face. It was the same as yesterday except now he saw two vivid green eyes staring back at him. All of a sudden, those two green eyes grew wide with fear and horror. It was as if she hadn't noticed him in the room until now. The girl stepped backwards, looking at Harry as if he was a ghost.

"Is everyone alright," McGonagall said in a shaky voice.

Slowly and carefully, the others in room started to straighten themselves up. The girl tore her eyes away from Harry, only to turn to her right and see Ron and Hermione. Her mouth fell open in a silent gasp. She took another step backwards, only to turn again to see Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Madame Pomfrey. It didn't seem possible, but at that moment the girl's face became deadly white. Her eyes came back to Harry. They were filled with such terror and alarm, causing Harry's harsh glare to falter slightly.

"What is the MEANING of this?" Snape bellowed, as he brushed shards of glass off his robe. Once again, his hand reached for his wand.

"Severus!" Dumbledore raised his hand to him. "Do not move. Everyone stay where they are."

The mystery girl opened her mouth, as if she was going to speak. But she took one more look around the room and her mouth quickly clamped shut. Harry, meanwhile, could not stop looking at her. When her eyes finally made their way back to Harry's, he saw something new in them. He saw shame and defeat, and that only confused him more.

Suddenly, she took a deep, shuddering breath. When she let it out, it was a cross between a sigh and soft whimper. At that moment, her legs seemed to give out on her. She stumbled backwards until she hit a wall. When her back made contact, she let her entire body slide down to the cold floor. She promptly buried her face in her knees and let out another whimper. Then she slowly started to rock herself back and forth. Nobody knew what to think. Here was a strange girl, curled up in a little ball, and she was acting like she had just escaped from a mental institution.

"Oh dear, I thought this might happen," Madam Pomfrey sighed. Everyone else turned to look at her. "I suspected that she might have psychological problems. Whatever happened to her obviously messed her up in the head. Who knows how long she'll be like this?"

"Well, something must be done to help her," McGonagall said. "We can not leave this poor girl in this kind of state. What can we do to help her?"

"Perhaps we should send her straight to St. Mungo's," Snape nearly sneered. "She's clearly mentally unstable. We should take all the necessary precautions. And has anyone checked to make sure she is unarmed? Not that that would do much good, as we have just seen, but someone in her state should not be carrying a wand."

"I assure you Severus, I checked her thoroughly," Madam Pomfrey huffed. "I put all her personal possessions in that box by her bed. I already found a wand and some other items and they're all there together."

As soon as Snape had said the word 'wand', the girl had stopped her rocking. After hearing Pomfrey's explanation, she immediately bolted across the room…again, much to the aggravation of everyone else. This time she dove for the brown box that she hadn't acknowledged before. Her knees skidded across the glass-covered floor, but she didn't seem to notice. Once she had reached her target, her hands were instantly rummaging frantically through her few belongings. She searched desperately until she finally found what she was looking for.

No one else could see exactly what it was, but it looked like she held it tight in one of her hands. She brought her closed fist up to her chest and took another deep breath. Though this time, it was a breath of relief, like she had been so afraid of losing whatever she held tight in her hands. It didn't take long for her to realize that everyone was still staring at her. She looked at them, then down at herself. That's when she noticed that her knees were covered with blood. She slowly started to stand, but winced as her feet dug into the tiny pieces of glass on the floor.

"My dear girl," Madam Pomfrey said carefully. "You need medical attention for those cuts. Will you allow me to help you?"

The girl looked at Pomfrey, but gave no response.

"Can you understand me?" Pomfrey tried again. Again, nothing. The girl only stared at her.

"Why bother, Poppy?" Snape rolled his eyes. "This girl is evidently too wild to understand anything. She hasn't even said a word yet, now has she? What makes you think she can even speak English? For all we know she may be mute."

"Words are not all that important," Dumbledore said calmly. "One does not need words to communicate. There are many other ways to convey thoughts or ideas."

"Of course, but she hasn't even tried," Snape muttered.

At that moment, the girl turned to look at Snape. It was hard to tell if she understood what he was saying about her. She didn't really have any clear expression on her face. She just glanced at him, almost out of curiosity. Snape didn't like it one bit. It made him feel uncomfortable. He nearly broke eye contact with her, but he wasn't going to back down to some wild girl.

As it was, the girl chose to break eye contact first. She gazed at her hand again, and then stooped back down to the box. She grabbed her robe and started wrapping it around whatever she was holding in her fist. Then she stuffed the robe back into the box and shoved it all underneath the bed. Her message was clear. She obviously did not want anyone to touch what was in that box.

She stood up straight and looked to Madam Pomfrey. She started to take one step forward but stopped since the glass pieces were now digging into her bare feet.

"Will you let me help you?" Madam Pomfrey asked again. This time the girl glanced down to her knees, then carefully up to Pomfrey. "I'll take that as a yes. But first we need to do something about all this glass…and my missing window."

"Consider it taken care of," McGonagall flicked her wand and all the glass magically disappeared. The window was also back in place. Once the girl noticed that everything was clear, she cautiously made her way to her bed. She sat down with her shoulders slumped. She peered at everyone else in the room, but quickly lowered in head in shame.

"Well, maybe we can get some work done around here!" Pomfrey huffed. She marched over to the girl and started examining her new cuts.

"I believe we should all leave for the moment," Dumbledore said. "There has been enough excitement in the hospital wing for one day. And I don't think our guest will be going anywhere."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gaped at Dumbledore. Wasn't he going to question the girl after what she had done! It was like he was totally letting her off the hook. Apparently, Snape was thinking the exact same thing.

"Professor Dumbledore," he said with forced clam. "Perhaps it would be better to question the girl now. I do not see any good in waiting to get answers from her. She could be a safety hazard for the school."

"A safety hazard!" McGonagall exclaimed. "The poor girl was scared out of her mind! What she did was dangerous, but she was only trying to protect herself. Imagine waking up in a roomful of strangers. What would you have done?"

"I agree with Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore said calmly. "We shall hold off any major questioning until later. Now I think it would be best if you three returned to your common room," Dumbledore glanced at the three resentful teenagers. "I know you would like to stay here and learn more about this girl, but now is not such a good time."

"But what's going to happen!" Harry blurted out.

"I'm not quite sure, Harry. I think the rest of us will try to sort things out. In the meantime, I will let you three know if we need any more help. You have already done so much, and for that I thank you."

"You're welcome," Harry, Hermione, and Ron muttered. So without having anything else to do, they reluctantly left the hospital wing together. No one said a word at first. Not until Ron suddenly shouted.

"Can you believe what happened! Did you see that window explode! That was bloody amazing! How'd it happen anyway!"

"Honestly, I think she did it," Harry said. "She broke the window."

"You really think so?" Hermione looked thoughtful. "I mean, I knew witches and wizards could do some wandless magic, but I never heard of anything so extreme."

"I don't know Harry," Ron shook his head. "I don't think she could've done it. That was one huge explosion for her to make. There was a lot of power behind it too. She'd have to be one hell of a witch to pull that off."

"I'm telling you guys, it was her," Harry insisted. "Take it from the guy who made a glass wall disappear, and turned his Aunt Marge into a big fat balloon. Oh, yeah, and I also ripped open the door to the cupboard under the stairs without actually touching it. Trust me, it wouldn't take much to break a window if you were really, really scared."

"I still don't know," Ron said. "No one in my family's ever done something like that."

"But why would anyone in your family want to do something like that?" Hermione looked at Ron like he was crazy.

"I guess you're right. Mom would have a fit. She got mad enough at Fred and George for their experiments. Don't know what she'd do if we purposely broke a window."

"So now what do we do?" Hermione asked, trying to change the subject.

"Nothing for the moment," Harry sighed. "We'll figure out something later. Maybe Dumbledore will have some news after he talks with McGonagall and Snape. I don't know about you, but I want to know who that girl is and what she's doing here. Something tells me that she's here for a reason."

"Well," Hermione's eyes narrowed in determination. "Looks like we have a new mystery on hands."

A/N: Thank you for the reviews. Again, please let me know what you think. Opinions? Comments?

Next Chapter: Harry, Hermione, and Ron try to visit the new girl in the hospital wing…Dumbledore makes a surprising request.