"Come on. 'Mione." Fred said pulling on my hand impatiently, reminding me of a five year old.
"I'm coming!" I said catching up to him as we ran towards the DA meeting we were supposed to be at. We had gotten a little caught up in a hidden passageway, and lost track of time. We finally stumbled into the Room of Requirement laughing, a few minutes later.
"Thanks for showing up, you two." Harry said. He was trying to look stern, but I noticed the smirk he was trying to fight off. "As I was saying today we are going to be practicing duelling. I know we've never really tried this kind of thing before, but better late than never. I'm going to split you guys up based on what I feel would be your best match in skill." There was some grumbling at this, but Harry was a pro at ignoring grumble and continued on like he hadn't even noticed.
Harry climbed on top of a chair so that we could hear him better.
"Alright, first up I want Fred and George over here." The two mentioned grinned at each other and moved over to a corner. It was no surprise they would be matched, they were identical in almost everything but their fingerprints. "Next I want Hermione and Ginny over there." I was actually surprised that I was paired with Ginny; we had completely different duelling tactics, but Harry knew best when it came to Defence Against the Dark Arts. "Dean and Alicia, Ron and Luna, Neville and Parvati, Marietta and Cho, Justin and Hannah." I tuned out then as Harry continued to list names.
"What made you and Fred late?" Ginny whispered to me with a knowing smirk.
"Got lost." I said acting as though I was trying to concentrate on Harry.
"Uh huh, you two got lost? Pardon me if it's hard to believe that Fred who knows this school better than the back of his hand, got lost."
The only reply she got from me was a shrug. Luckily at that point Harry decided it was time to start and I was saved from more of the third degree.
"I only want one duel going on at a time, we wouldn't want any spells going astray and hitting someone else. Any volunteers?" The twins leaped at Harry's words and situated themselves across from each other in the middle of the room.
Fred and George bowed to each other, then paced the length of the floor away from each other than turned backward.
"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!" Harry called and immediately the twins were casting spells at each other. I always seemed to forget that the two of them were seventh years, and very skilled fighters. I had never seen a duel like the one I was watching. The twins as stated were seventh years, and seventh years were expected to do all spell work nonverbally. Doing this made it harder for your opponent to counter whatever you were sending at them, that didn't seem to faze these two since neither had yet to land a spell. Finally, with a flash of blinding yellow light, George flew back across the room to land on a pile of pillows Harry had situated.
Fred ran over to George's unconscious body with a grin on his face. He knelt next to his twin and placed the tip of his wand on his chest. Within a few seconds George sat up.
"Good job, Freddie, that was a good duel. " Fred helped him to his feet and turned towards the group. The majority of us were all staring at them open mouthed.
"Explain to me why I'm teaching and you guys aren't?" Harry asked.
Their lips quirked up into identical grins.
"Harry you're a better teacher than the two of us put together, we may know some stuff when it comes to duelling and nonverbal spells, but you could still kick our asses." George said as he and Fred re-joined the group.
"Hermione and I will go next!" Ginny yelled pulling me to the front. We too bowed, and then paced away from each other. Ginny was a good fighter, and her spells were powerful, but she always went for the most obvious win. If I were to stand a chance I'd have to duel a less logical fight. Something I wasn't accustomed to. I turned back towards Ginny and waited for Harry to count down.
"One. Two. Three!" He called out again and immediately we were fighting. Ginny was a fierce fighter, but she also wasn't aware of all the spells I was. I easily dodged her Bat Bogey Hex and countered with a stupefy. She blocked it with a shield charm, but I had her on the defensive as the room began to heat up from the spells we were throwing. Ginny cast a bright purple jinx I had never seen before and I flew backward. The spell had hit my arm and I noticed a stabbing pain in my arm. We weren't supposed to be throwing serious jinxes, but it seemed Ginny was getting frustrated. Unluckily for me she had hit my wand arm. I was in a tough spot, but I moved my wand from my right hand to my left and continued fighting. Pulling out the stops, I threw a curse I had seen when teaching Harry last year for the tournament. It was meant to make the person incapable of using both arms for a brief period of time, thus unable to fight. The spell hit her square on and I quickly cast an Expelliarmus and caught her wand in my left hand.
"Hermione wins." Harry said as I bent over trying to catch my breath.
"What did you do Hermione, I can't move my arms!" Ginny screamed looking murderous.
"Relax, it'll wear off in a few seconds."
"What did you do, Ginny?" Fred asked sounding very angry next to me. He softly grabbed my right arm which was apparently bleeding pretty heavily. Something I hadn't noticed, but definitely explained why I felt so light headed.
"Shit." She said as I slumped into Fred's arms.
"I don't feel so good." I said as the room began to take on a hazy quality.
"She needs the Hospital Wing, now!" George said looking the most serious I've ever seen. "She's losing too much blood."
I felt myself lift into the air and vaguely realized that Fred was carrying me. My arm was hurting a lot and I felt warmth spreading down my arm as Fred ran towards the Hospital Wing.
"Madam Pomfrey!" George yelled as we entered the ward.
"What happened? Set her down!" Fred set me down onto a bed lightly, and Madam Pomfrey appeared above me. She was waving her wand in dizzying patterns, and I closed my eyes feeling extremely tired.
"Miss Granger keep your eyes open." She ordered as she continued the dizzying ministrations.
"Look at me 'Mione." Fred said and I looked over at him.
"My arm hurts." I said, but it came out kind of slurred.
"Hermione!" I heard three different voices yell, and I tried to find where they were coming from.
"I can't have you all here right now!" Pomfrey yelled still waving her wand above me.
"Get out of here! This is your fault!" Fred bellowed leaving my bedside.
"I'm sorry 'Mione, I'm so sorry!" I heard Ginny yelled, but then the ward was empty except for Madam Pomfrey and me.
"I do believe I asked you all to leave, Mr. Weasley."
"I have to stay here with her, I'll keep her awake." Fred said grabbing my left hand.
"You're going to be alright, 'Mione. Understand?" He asked me and I nodded. My eye site was starting to get tinged with black dots. I attempted to blink them away.
"Fred, I'm tired." I said closing my eyes again.
"No, 'Mione, you can't sleep yet. Look at me." He whispered gripping my hand more firmly.
"Okay, Fred, I'll try."
"No, you will." He corrected me.
I kept my eyes on Fred as Pomfrey worked steadily on my arm.
"Drink this, Miss Granger." She said holding a potion in her hand. I raised my left arm to grab it, but almost slopped it down myself. Fred quickly pulled it from my grasp and lifted it to my mouth. I chugged the potion as fast as I could because of how foul it tasted. I made a face as I finished it, but as soon as I swallowed I suddenly didn't feel sleepy anymore.
"That feels better." I said sitting up against the pillows behind me. Fred grinned looking immensely relieved.
"Now I need to know, Miss Granger, how did this happen?" Madam Pomfrey asked and I stared at the sheets.
"I fell, cut myself." I mumbled.
"Uh huh," She nodded. "Then why did Miss Weasley come in here yelling apologies?"
"We were out by the lake, messing around and she pushed me and I fell. Cut my arm on a rock down there. It was all an unlucky accident." I said looking up at her trying to seem like I wasn't lying through my teeth.
Madam Pomfrey didn't look like she believed me in the least, but she didn't question me anymore.
"Drink this in about a half hour." She said setting another potion onto a table beside my bed, before vanishing back into her office.
I turned to look at my arm. Pomfrey had firmly bandaged it and it was no longer bleeding profusely onto everything. My clothes were however still soaked. I turned to see that the front of Fred's shirt was too covered in my blood.
"How ya feeling?" He asked brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Brilliant." I said with an eye roll.
"You shouldn't have done that."
"Done what?"
"Defended Ginny like that, she deserved whatever punishment she got. We were duelling, but she got out of hand."
"It's easy to when you get into it. She's still my friend; I reckon the guilt she's going to be feeling is punishment enough."
"She better feel guilty! She almost killed you!" He burst looking furious.
"She what?"
"Almost killed you, you lost way too much blood. It's lucky Pomfrey is so good at what she does." He said sliding a hand down his face. I was shocked. I mean I'm pretty clever, or so I'm told, and I didn't think I had lost nearly enough blood to be that serious.
"By the way, your duelling put George and I's to shame." He said his smile returning although it looked forced.
"What? Not in the least!"
"Just because you can't perform nonverbal yet doesn't mean you couldn't kick anyone's ass. Ginny knocks one of your arms out of commission and you switch hands like it's no big deal."
I blushed at his compliment. "I'd never even seen that last spell you used."
"It's just kind of a tougher form of stupefy." He said grabbing my hand again.
"Once I'm out of here would you mind teaching me to do nonverbal spells?" I asked, ever since I had seen him use them I had wanted to learn straight away.
"Harry asked me the same thing. He wants to teach the DA how to."
"They're so much better than verbal."
"They aren't as strong though, not unless you're really good at them. Otherwise my curse would have put George out for more than a couple seconds, regardless if I Reenverated him."
We were suddenly no longer alone as Harry appeared next to us, sweeping his invisibility cloak off of him.
"Merlin, Harry, warn a guy." Fred gasped faking a heart attack.
"Sorry, I had to make sure 'Mione was alright."
"I'm fine, Harry, just a little dizzy."
"Ginny told me to say she's incredibly sorry and deserves any spells you decide to send her way for the rest of her life."
"Tell Ginny that I know it was an accident and that I forgive her."
"She'll be happy to know you're okay, she's been pacing the common room since we got up there. George said he'd happily send her to the Hospital Wing if it made her feel any better."
Fred cracked a smile at that.
"Shit." Harry said throwing the cloak back over his body as Pomfrey she re-entered the ward.
"Drink up, Miss Granger." She said and I grabbed the potion and brought it to my lips. She moved to my arm to check my bandages as I turned the bottle upside down to quickly drain the contents.
"The bleeding has stopped for the most part due to the spells I used to close the wound. I'm going to re-bandage your arm, but I want you to come down tomorrow at lunch for me to check on it. I also want you to use this until you come back here, then I'll see if you'll have to continue using it." Pomfrey said handing me a sling and helping me fix it around my neck, then cradling my right arm in it.
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." I said situating my arm inside the sling at the most comfortable angle.
"You're welcome, Miss Granger. Which is your wand arm?"
"My right, but I'm not too bad with my left."
"Well take it easy until you're positive of your abilities with your left. Wouldn't want anyone else being sent to the Hospital Wing would we?"
Fred and I shook our heads as he helped me out of bed.
"See you tomorrow at lunch." Madam Pomfrey said as we left the ward. Harry appeared beside us once we made it out into the hallway.
"How does it feel?" He asked looking worriedly at my arm.
"Not too bad." I said which was my second lie of the night. My arm felt like a hippogriff had stomped on it, but I'd be fine eventually.
"No need to lie to me, 'Mione."
"Oh like you always tell everyone exactly how your injuries feel." I snapped.
Harry let the subject go as we climbed through the portrait hole.
"Hermione!" I heard as I walked into the room. Every Gryffindor who was in the DA had waited up for me.
"Hey guys." I said waving with my left arm and settling down into a chair near the fire.
"How ya feeling?" Neville asked.
"I'm fine." I said forcing a smile. People needed to stop asking me that question.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione." Ginny said looking completely miserable.
"It's okay, Ginny, I know you didn't mean it."
"It doesn't matter, you're my friend, it doesn't matter how competitive I get I shouldn't have done that."
"I'm not going to deny that, but seriously I'm okay. Don't rip yourself up."
"You're in a fucking sling, Hermione! You are not fine! I bet you're in a shitload of pain and it's my entire fault!" Ginny yelled, sprinting from the room and out the portrait hole. Everyone was stunned silent as they watched the portrait slam after her.
"I'll go get her." Harry mumbled, following Ginny.
"You look exhausted, 'Mione." Fred said softly. "You should get to bed."
"That sounds like a good idea." I conceded standing up. "Thanks for waiting up for me guys; I'll see ya in the morning."
Everyone said goodnight as I made my way over to the steps to the girl's dormitories.
"Goodnight 'Mione." Fred said trying to hug me in a way that didn't hurt my arm.
"Goodnight Fred." I said standing on tiptoe to kiss him. I turned away from him and went up to my dorm. I felt completely knackered as I changed out of my blood covered clothes and into night clothes. I collapsed back onto my bed, careful to lie on my left side, and quickly fell to sleep.
A.N.
Hello again everyone! I'm dedicating this chapter to the year anniversary of the final Harry Potter movie. I can't believe it's been a year since it all ended. On another note I wanna thank everyone that's read my story so far. And a special thank you to anyone that reviewed, followed, or favourited this story or me. You guys are amazing. I hope you guys are still enjoying it. I also want to apologize in advance if I don't update right away like I have been. My car decided to finally die after going through four owners, one of who cough cough my brother beat it to shit. I lost count of how many accidents he put my poor Nala through. But after I was in a hit and run accident this past week she finally decided to take her final miles. And if anyone is wondering yes I'm fine. And yes I did name my car after a character in Lion King. But I'm currently in the search of a new car, and a lot of my time will be going into that. Sorry for an extremely long author's note. Ta ta for now.
Love, Alexis