Ch. 21: Aftermath
With a pained groan, Gilbert opened his eyes and blinked a shocked face, looking at him, into focus. That hurt, he thought, not sure if he meant the green curse or the pieces of ceiling falling down. That damned Hatter thought that he could fling whatever he wanted at him and he would survive, because he was a Baskerville.
'Sir, can you hear me?' he heard and focused again on the stranger that was pulling out a wand. Get that thing away from me, he thought.
The cold pull of the Abyss was not present anymore and Gilbert turned his head to where he knew the door was. Or, he should say, the door should have been, because there was now a huge chunk of ceiling lying cracked on the floor. Whatever was left of the door was not enough to open onto the Abyss. Break must have destroyed it with Mad Hatter.
'Yeah, I hear you,' he mumbled and sat up gingerly, despite the protests of the man, who claimed that Gilbert shouldn't be able to move yet, that there might be internal injuries, that bleeding this or that. It was true that just about every part of his body was hurting, but he wouldn't let that stop him, would he?
Ignoring the wizard for a moment, Gilbert rubbed the back of his head delicately, where the pain was the sharpest. He winced at the wet feeling under his fingers. He didn't need to see the blood on his fingers to know what it was, but his skull seemed to be intact, so no worries, right? What a mess, he thought, wiping his hand on his coat and standing up.
'Please don't get up yet,' the wizard shouted, jumping up and holding Gilbert upright when he stumbled. A wave of dizziness passed slowly. 'Let me-'
'Shut up,' he growled. He looked around. Hermione Granger was looking at him with a frightened expression, but otherwise seemed to be alright. Harry Potter seemed to be alive, since there was somebody waving a wand over him, trapped under what surely was a dead body, if the piece of ceiling lying bloodied next to them was any indication. He couldn't see the other four, but he had to assume they were alright. This only left one worry.
The green curse, or the ceiling, left him rather unsteady on his feet and sort of on the verge of consciousness. However, he willed him to ignore it and he went towards the fallen figure of Break, which thankfully wasn't far. Already at this distance, he nearly lost his balance twice, due to sudden attacks of dizziness.
'You never know when to stop, do you?' he asked quietly, surprising the witch that was leaning over his friend. She looked up at him and said that she didn't think this man would survive. Gilbert told her, not so politely, what he thought about her diagnosis.
Dumbledore, who was up as though nothing had happened, casting spells on the Deatheaters who were showing signs of life, stopped and glared at him. Gilbert didn't have the strength to glare back, so he ignored the man and kneeled next to Hatter, as much to check up on the man as to not fall. He was relieved to find a weak pulse under the ice-cold skin.
'Please move, we have to Apparate him to the hospital,' the witch said.
'Like hell you are Apparating him anywhere,' he growled, not moving the slightest. 'This hellish thing is sure to kill him,' he added, turning to Dumbledore and demanding that the anti-apparition wards at Hogwarts are lifted. The headmaster glared at him.
'How do you even know that there are anti-apparition wards if you cannot Apparate?' the headmaster snapped at him. 'And how are you still alive?' he added. The witch asked him to reason with Gilbert, because the patient was in serious need of medical attention.
'Remove the damn wards,' Gilbert growled, completely ignoring the witch. He blinked away the sudden dizziness, hoping that the headmaster would cave in soon. Next to him, Break groaned painfully and coughed up more blood. 'Stupid Hatter,' he muttered, unable to keep worry from his voice.
Whether it was Break's pathetic state or something else, Gilbert didn't know, but Dumbledore whispered a spell and a ghostly version of his phoenix appeared in front of him.
'Tell Minerva to take down the anti-apparition wards,' Dumbledore said to the ghostly shape. 'We are coming home,' he added and, as the shape disappeared, he looked past Gilbert. 'Miss Granger, please tell Arthur that he should Apparate his children to Hogwarts,' he said. Afterwards, he turned to somebody else and asked about Harry Potter. Gilbert didn't bother to listen to the reply. He was busy fighting against the dizziness that was threatening to overcome him. That green spell sure was problematic, he thought.
He shuddered involuntarily as a ghostly cat appeared close to him and hissed. This place sure was hell, he thought, watching warily how the cat walked past him towards Dumbledore.
'The wards are down for ten minutes, Albus,' said McGonagall's voice. It figures that this hateful woman has such a horrible thing as her ghostly-whatever, he thought, ignoring the rest of the message.
Raven, take us to Reim, he thought. It didn't matter anymore if anybody saw him, because, quite frankly, a replacement of Apparition could hardly be more shocking than what he did before. He breathed a sigh of relief as the black whirlwind enveloped him and Break and gently removed them from the Ministry of Magic. When the whirlwind was gone, he had just enough time to see five very worried faces before he lost consciousness. This time, however, he welcomed the soothing black.
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Drifting through the dark, Harry slowly became aware of hushed voices somewhere to his right. They sounded soothing, so he focused on them, trying to figure out who was talking and what about.
The girl sounded a lot like Hermione, Harry thought, willing his eyes to open. Was he in the hospital wing? He frowned and turned his head to the right, to see Hermione, sitting on the bed with Elliot and Leo, saying something in a hushed voice. She had a bruise on her cheek and scratches on her hands and Harry wondered what had happened. Something must have happened for him to be in the hospital wing after all, he reasoned, frowning.
As he tried to remember, Hermione glanced at him briefly. He smiled when she snapped back to look at him, eyes widening as she jumped off the bed with a small wince. Was she hurt somewhere?
'How are you Harry?' she asked, sounding worried and relieved at the same time. 'Is anything hurting?' Harry blinked at her a couple of times.
'I don't particularly feel anything,' he admitted finally, his voice slightly hoarse. Was he out for long? 'What happened, Hermione? Where is Ron?' he asked, watching her frown momentarily.
'You don't remember our terrible trip to the Ministry?' she asked back and memories flooded Harry. The twins Apparating them to the Ministry from beyond the ward borders, getting the prophecy and then the Deatheaters-
'The prophecy, Hermione, where is the prophecy?' he asked, trying to get up, but she restrained him, putting a hand against his chest and gently but firmly pressing him back onto the bed. She went to sit back on the other bed, to not block out Elliot and Leo.
'Dumbledore took it, saying that it wasn't necessary, now that Voldemort was gone,' she said calmly.
'Voldemort is-' Harry cut himself off, remembering Voldemort disappearing, dragged into the floor by chains. He swallowed remembering Raven dying right afterwards and glanced at Elliot and Leo, ready to say comforting words. However, the two didn't seem to be particularly sad and Harry frowned. Didn't they care?
'We are lucky that Neville saw us cross the grounds and alerted McGonagall,' Hermione added, focusing Harry's attention on herself. 'If the Order hadn't appeared when they did, I'm not sure if we would be here, having this conversation.'
'Right, but like that everybody is alright,' Harry agreed, watching Hermione bite her lip and glance at Elliot. So maybe they care, Harry thought. 'I meant,' he started and trailed off because he didn't know what to say.
'There are some casualties after the ceiling collapsed,' Hermione said, saving Harry from his dilemma. He blinked at her and repeated the last two words. 'Yeah, they don't know what happened yet, but the ceiling collapsed, completely destroying that weird arch that was there and hurting loads of people.'
In a flash of memory, Harry heard a warning and remembered the weight of Sirius on top of him, protecting him from the results of the explosion. And then- He gasped.
'Hermione, what about Sirius?' he asked, trying to get up again. Hermione jumped off the bed and pushed him flat on the bed again, saying that Sirius was alive, although in a serious condition.
'He is in St. Mungo's,' she added, sitting on the bed to the right when Harry stopped trying to get up. 'A part of the ceiling fell on you and he suffered the most of it, but you still have two broken legs. Probably on the mend, thanks to Madam Pomfrey,' she amended with a small smile.
'What about Ron and the rest?' Harry asked, afraid to get the answer, but Hermione's smile widened and Harry felt a weight lift from his chest.
'Mr Weasley managed to get the twins, Ginny and Ron out of the hall before the ceiling collapsed. He was also the one, who called help,' she paused. 'Fred and Ron, however, still suffered from the curses they received before the Order showed up. They will be alright, but they're sleeping a lot,' she added, nodding forward. Harry turned and, on the left side of his bed, he could see Ron, sleeping and, if he raised his head a bit, Fred, also asleep.
'I'm glad you all managed to get out on time,' Harry said, turning back to Hermione, who surely hasn't been under a falling ceiling, or her injuries would have been more serious. She looked a bit uncomfortable though. 'You were out as well, right? Although I remember you being right next to me,' he added slowly.
'Yeah, I was under the falling ceiling,' she admitted. 'But I was protected as well, by Raven,' she added somewhat reluctantly. Harry blinked at her.
'But he-' he stopped and glanced at Elliot and Leo, who were silent until now. 'I saw Raven hit by a killing curse,' he said, slowly and clearly. 'Did I hit my head harder than I thought? Was that a dream?'
'You did hit your head pretty hard,' Hermione admitted. 'You have a mild concussion, so you should be very careful. But it wasn't a dream, I also saw Raven get killed by Bellatrix,' she added very quietly. She was obviously reluctant to say anything else and she glanced at the two exchange students. Since when was Hermione keeping their secrets?
'It takes more than a killing curse to get rid of a Baskerville,' Leo said with a smirk. 'But do keep that a secret from everybody else. We're going to try to persuade everybody that the crazed woman missed and Raven collapsed from exhaustion,' he added. Harry stared at him for a moment, wondering if his brain was damaged because it seemed difficult to process the new information.
'So Raven and Hatter are alright,' he amended.
'Define alright,' Leo said with a sigh. 'Hatter still hasn't woken up, but it hasn't been 24 hours since that fiasco in the Ministry, so I suppose that he'll be as good as he can be, under the circumstances. Raven is going to be fine, of course, although he is pretty exhausted and rather beaten up from what we could see.'
'What about the members of the Order? And the Deatheaters?' Harry asked.
With a sigh, Hermione told him the whole story, from her point of view. Raven had protected her from the ceiling, but had lost consciousness in the process. When she had managed to get him off her, after the ceiling stopped falling, and get up, Dumbledore already had been working on immobilising all the Deatheaters and Hatter was collapsed next to Bellatrix's beheaded body. Help had arrived quickly, directed by Mr Weasley.
'Then somehow Raven was up and arguing with Dumbledore that Hatter was to be taken to Hogwarts, even though he could barely stand,' Hermione said and paused. 'Eventually, Dumbledore conceded and sent a Patronus to McGonagall, telling her to take down the anti-apparition wards. As soon as the wards were down, Raven and Hatter disappeared in a black whirlwind, leaving behind a couple of black feathers. I haven't seen them since,' she added. Harry glanced at Elliot and Leo, wondering if they would explain that as well or if his luck for getting the truth was through.
'The way Raven can travel is much smoother than Apparition. Or so we have heard,' Elliot explained for Harry's benefit. 'It would have been too risky to Apparate in Hatter's fragile state,' he added, sounding worried about the man. Harry thought about Raven and black feathers for a moment, remembering the creature that appeared behind the man.
'This thing that appeared behind Raven, when he was, uh, sending Voldemort to hell,' Harry muttered, trailing off uncertainly. 'What was that?'
'Raven,' Leo replied simply, his tone somewhat cold. Harry felt too tired to try and understand what that meant. 'You should forget about it, Harry, you will never see it again if you're lucky,' he added seriously, in a warmer tone. So they were back to secrets, he thought with some disappointment, closing his eyes.
'Oz isn't here?' he asked, wondering why the two least friendly exchange students were here, rather than Oz and Alice, who, as obnoxious as she was, liked Hermione ever since the girl had showed her the animation charms. Then of course, he reminded himself, Elliot would want to spend time with Hermione, Harry's presence was just accidental.
Silence followed his statement and he opened his eyes to see Leo and Elliot exchange looks. Was something wrong with Oz? But Oz wasn't there in the Ministry, was he? No, Harry clearly remembered Oz playing chess with Elliot when they sneaked out.
'Oz very nearly lost everything once,' Leo said quietly. 'His friends, his family, his life, everything: because, for a moment, he lost the faith in himself. Being doubted by others hurts him more than he would like to acknowledge,' he added. He didn't need to say who doubted Oz and made him feel bad and Harry felt horrible. Of course, he couldn't have known about the boy's past, but he still regretted mistrusting him, now more than ever.
'Besides, he's upset that he gave you the information that led, albeit a bit indirectly, to you being hurt,' Elliot added dryly, as though trying to make Harry forget Leo's statement. 'He kept saying that if we didn't help you, you wouldn't have gone and wouldn't have gotten hurt. Not to mention that Raven and Hatter got seriously hurt,' he added and again Harry felt that there was something more to the problem. Were they lying when they said that Raven and Hatter would be alright?
'What? It's not his fault that the Deatheaters arrived,' Harry protested. Elliot shrugged and said that Oz liked to blame himself sometimes. Before Harry could say anything more, a groan on his left made him turn to see Ron waking up. Harry grinned.
'Harry?' Ron mumbled, rubbing his eyes. 'You're awake, that's so good,' he added, sitting up excitedly. Harry echoed his words, happy to see that his best friend was really alright. 'See, Hermione, I told you-' he added and trailed off abruptly with an irritated frown, looking past Harry and probably noticing who was sitting next to Hermione. Harry glanced at Elliot, in time to see him wince.
'That's my cue to leave,' the blond said tonelessly, standing up from the bed and straightening his uniform, before turning to Hermione who, much to Harry's surprise, also got up.
'I'll go with you, um, to let Harry and Ron catch up,' she said in a rush, blushing. Harry noticed the tiny smirk on Leo's face. He suddenly remembered that Hermione did seem to be keeping the secrets of the islanders, just moments ago when they were talking. The feeling of anxiety overcame Harry for a moment as he wondered if Hermione has maybe made her mind up and maybe she would really choose Elliot over Ron. Of course, Ron has never really said that there might be a choice like that, but Harry trusted Hermione to be smart enough to see through Ron's childish irritation at the islander. Besides, didn't Hermione only go out with Krum last year to annoy Ron?
'Would you like to have a walk by the lake?' Elliot asked Hermione in a tone that was almost formal, even though his smile belied it. Hermione said, smiling, that she would and Harry glanced back at Ron's unhappy expression as Hermione and Elliot turned to walk around the bed and leave. He saw Ron open his mouth and he wished there was anything he could say to stop his friend from talking, because he had a feeling Ron would say something wrong.
'Now that you got rid of Voldemort, you will be leaving, right?' Ron asked, not even trying to hide his enmity, and Harry turned to look at Leo, at whom Ron was also looking. The dark-haired exchange student smiled slightly. Looking past Leo, Harry could see that Elliot and Hermione stopped and turned, listening to the conversation.
'Yes,' Leo said. 'We will be leaving at the end of the year and you will never see us again,' he amended, sounding rather happy about the fact. Harry wondered if it had been so bad for them at Hogwarts. It hurt a bit to think that.
'Good,' Ron said coldly, sounding as though he wanted to say "leave now and never come back". Leo didn't seem affected by his dislike and neither did Elliot, but an expression of sadness flickered across Hermione's face.
'Rest well, Harry, Ron,' Leo said, jumping off the bed lightly with a small smile still on his lips. He turned around and left, following Elliot and Hermione out of the hospital wing.
'Why is she leaving with them?' Ron asked unhappily when the trio was too far away to hear him. Harry almost gasped, thinking that Ron meant Hermione leaving forever. However, if that was the case, Harry was sure that Ron would have more to say.
'Maybe she likes that guy,' he said quietly. Ron grumbled something about hoping that Elliot would end up like Victor Krum: forgotten. Harry hoped so as well.