Disclaimer: If JKR and I were in kindergarten together, she's the nice little girl who's sharing her dolls with me. I promise to give them back.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 13--Hostile Suits of Armor: The Ultimate Antidepressant
Sirius just stared at James blankly.
"What?" It was Lily who spoke, her voice soft and fearful.
"I don't exactly know what happened. I passed Professor Dumbledore in the hallway, and I saw Agie being rushed to the hospital. Dumbledore told me to get you guys and then he'd explain everything to us in his office." All of them hurried out of Gryffindor Tower.
Sirius had never gotten to the Headmaster's office faster before. He didn't know the password, so he had to wait for the girls, James, Peter, and Remus to catch up.
"Lemon Drop!" James said as the rest of them were catching their breath. The gargoyle sprang out of the way, revealing the spiraling staircase that led to the Headmaster's office.
Once inside, they saw a sad-looking Albus Dumbledore pacing around the office.
"Sir!" Amber called. He looked up and saw them, and motioned with his hand for them to sit down on the couch. They did.
"I assume you're all curious as to the condition of Adriyana?" he said.
"Please, sir, is she all right?" Lily asked.
"I was just about to go and see for myself, but, as her friends, I believe you deserve to know what is going on."
"What exactly happened to her, sir?"
"Adriyana was walking down a hallway near the dungeons, where the walls aren't very sturdy. We don't use those classrooms anymore, you see, so I'm a bit curious at to why she would even be down there at all. Well, as I explained, the walls were crumbling, and a chunk of the wall broke off and hit Adriyana in the head," Albus explained.
Lily, Amber, and Alice had tears falling down their faces, and Sirius looked terrified. "And why is she in St. Mungo's?" Sirius asked nervously.
"Well, the blow to the head Adriyana received was enough to knock her unconscious, and I think the magic in the walls did something as well…she needs to be given a couple of specific potions which we don't have at Hogwarts, but after they are administered, we just have to wait for her to wake up, and she will be back at the school for that."
"When, sir?" Alice asked.
"Hmmm…about a week, I expect."
Sirius felt a lead weight drop in his stomach. He wouldn't even see Adriyana for a week, and who knows when he would see her in her conscious state? Why did this have to happen every time something really great was going on in his life?
"Do you have any more questions?"
"Are you going to visit her now, and if so…can we come with you?" Lily asked. Sirius looked up at Dumbledore.
"I suppose I could take…two of you," Dumbledore said. Sirius immediately stood up. Dumbledore had to let him go.
"Okay then, Mr. Black and…Miss Evans? You two?" Dumbledore said, because Lily had stood up as well. Amber and Alice nodded in agreement.
"I hope I don't have to remind you to be quiet and courteous in the hospital, particularly at this hour," Dumbledore said. Sirius and Lily nodded. "Now, when we get there, you two go find Adriyana's room; I have some questions to ask the Healers."
They nodded again, and Dumbledore went over to his desk and picked up some paper and a quill. He scribbled something on the scrap of paper and handed it to his phoenix, which immediately disappeared in a ball of flames. He looked at Peter, James, Remus, Alice, and Amber. "You five will wait for Professor McGonagall to come up here and escort you back to Gryffindor Tower," Dumbledore said. Sirius assumed that was where the phoenix was headed. He watched as his five friends nodded slowly.
Dumbledore picked up a container filled with Floo powder and held it out to Lily, who took a pinch, walked up to the fire, and threw it in. the flames turned emerald green and Lily climbed in called, "St. Mungo's!" and whirled out of sight.
"Mr. Black…you next," Dumbledore said, holding out the pot. Sirius hastily scooped out a handful of the powder and copied Lily's actions, and before he knew it, he was thrown out of another fireplace, landing in what he recognized as the lobby of St. Mungo's.
Lily helped him up and smiled at him. "Sirius, she'll be all right… let's go and find her."
They walked up to the front desk, where a grumpy-looking witch was sitting, reading a magazine. "Excuse me? We're looking for Adriyana Dumbledore?"
"Dumbledore? Let's see…" she said, going through a drawer. "Okay…head trauma…she's on the ground floor, room twelve," said the witch, pointing down a hallway near them before turning back to her magazine.
Sirius, who had frozen when he heard the witch say the words "head trauma," began running down the hallway, and Lily chased after him. Once they reached room twelve, they saw that the door to the room was slightly ajar, and they could hear a whispered conversation being held inside:
"—some strange magic in the walls, it's affected her," one voice said. Sirius went white.
"Luckily some of the magic prevented the brick from killing her on impact, but she'll need to be given a lot of potions to reverse some of these spells."
"She'll need these fifteen potions tonight and tomorrow… and these, the school's matron will have to give her until she wakes up."
Lily knocked quietly on the door, and the conversation stopped. Someone opened the door.
"Hello, I'm Healer Leroy. Can I help you two?"
"Yes, we're friends of Adriyana's from school. The Headmaster said we could come and see her?"
"Fat lot of good it'll do you, the poor girl's out cold. Well, come in."
Sirius and Lily walked into the room, first passing an empty bed, and next to that, there was a cart holding many bottles of potions. The Healer who was talking to Healer Leroy was mixing something on the cart. The only other bed in the room had the curtains drawn around it. "She's in there," Healer Leroy said, as he also busied himself with the potions on the cart.
Sirius let Lily go ahead of him, not sure if he was ready to see what Adriyana looked like. When Lily went in, he heard her let out a horrified gasp and then shortly after that, he heard sobbing. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and went through the curtain.
There was Adriyana, lying on the bed, with her eyelids closed, her skin a pasty white, and her hair tangled. She looked terrible. Then Sirius saw what Lily was sobbing over. On Adriyana's head was a gigantic purple, somewhat bloody bruise. He didn't know how he missed it the first time he looked. Attached to Adriyana were some Muggle-style I.V. tubes, connected to several different types of potions.
"Sirius, she looks like a ghost…" Lily said. Sirius was, for the first time in his life, on the verge of tears. He picked up Adriyana's hand, which was unsurprisingly cold, and felt nothing like the hands he had held before, and put his thumb to her wrist. The soft, yet steady thumping of her pulse soothed him, and he felt relieved for the first time that night.
He gently placed her hand back on the bed and looked at her face sadly. When would he see her glittering violet eyes again? Or hear her infectious laugh? Or feel her soft lips on his? Would he EVER get to tell her that he loved her?
"I'll be right back, Sirius," Lily whispered, and she walked out of the curtain. As soon as he and Adriyana were alone, he felt hot tears spring up in his eyes. He reached up and began brushing through her hair with his fingers, smoothing it out. He placed his other hand on her cold cheek, suddenly feeling a painful ache to speak to her again, to let her know how he felt.
After a few minutes, Lily re-entered the curtains. She held a jar of thick yellow paste and a big wad of cotton. She walked over to the other side of Adriyana, where the bruise was, and her tears began falling faster. With a shaky hand, she dipped the cotton into the jar and began to dab it on the bruise.
"Lily, what are you doing?"
"This will help the bruise go away. Healer Leroy said I could put it on, he showed me how and all, see?" she said, gently rubbing the saturated cotton in circles on Adriyana's bruise.
Sirius and Lily spent another hour by Adriyana's side, before Healer Leroy and the Healer he was talking to when they entered came in holding a long length of gauze and said he had to bandage up Adriyana's head. When they walked out of the room, red-eyed, Albus Dumbledore was waiting for them.
"You two have to get back to school. It's nearly midnight. Minerva will be waiting for you in my office to take you back to Gryffindor Tower…and Adriyana will be back in the Hospital Wing shortly."
"Can't I stay here tonight, sir?" Sirius asked. Then he realized Adriyana's grandfather was probably the wrong person to say that to.
He just smiled weakly. "As much as I'm sure Adriyana would like you by her side, Mr. Black, her condition will not improve, and you have classes tomorrow."
"But—" He sighed; arguing wouldn't do him any good at this point. "Okay, sir. See you at school," Sirius sighed, and he and Lily traveled back to the lobby to Floo back to Hogwarts.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A/N-Okay, mostly depression in this part. Now, as a WW-P South Spirit Week (What? I need a holiday, and that's my High School) Treat, I'm DOUBLE POSTING! Two chapters in one! If yo review both, I'll love you FOREVER! Or, I may update faster, and trust me, after you read the next one, you'll need it.
