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Chapter 3
She checked the hallway carefully in each direction. She could hear voices from someplace further down the hallway, as she stepped carefully to the doorway of what she believed to be Harry's room. Opening it gently, she stepped inside and pointed the wand at the door. "Colloportus!" she said clearly, and a squelching sound sounded from the door. She almost turned away, but thought better of it. She pointed the wand again and said, "Duro!" She panted slightly; casting was more difficult with this wand, but still possible.
Jarvis looked over the strange readings coming from the sensors, she had emitted some form of energy from what seemed, from any of his cameras or readings, to be a normal piece of carved wood. What that energy was doing was unknown, but the same readings were now coming from the door as well. When she turned toward the other person in the room and moved toward him Jarvis thought it best to alert the doctor.
She hobbled painfully to the side of her best friend. "Oh… Harry…" Tears formed at the sides of her eyes. She rolled back the sheet covering his chest and began to work. Carefully pulling the bandages loose then using the wand to vanish the stitches, she poured a few drops of the Dittany into the now open wound, and watched as it closed.
The doctor watched the monitor in amazement as the girl wiped the now wound-free area with the bandages and threw them in the trash. "That was just moments ago Doctor. She is now working on some of his burns. Do you wish me to switch to a live feed?"
"Yes… Please…" she said in a shaking voice. "How… How are his vitals?"
"Improving, his breathing is less labored. Should I have her stopped?"
"No…" the woman said softly. "No… just keep a record of it all. If she can help him let her… I'll try and talk to her when she's done… and I'd like to get a sample of what is in that vial…"
Hermione wiped her brow; it had taken a lot out of her using magic to roll Harry up on his side to get to the wounds on his back. This was going to have to be the last one; she only had a little bit left. Carefully she placed a few drops in the puncture. He almost seemed to relax somehow, as it closed.
Rolling him back down, she sat on the edge of his bed looking at the readings on his monitor. His heart rate was lower, steady, as was his breathing. She looked at his face and decided it wasn't as pinched. Hopefully she had helped him.
She leaned over him. "Harry?" She ran her hand through his hair. "Harry? Can you hear me?"
The doctor's voice filled the room. "Please let him rest, and do not remove the oxygen mask. While I applaud your actions, as well as your results, you must understand he is under heavy sedation at the moment due to his injuries. Even if you had stopped his IV when you started it would be some time before he woke."
Hermione spun toward the door, wand pointed; outside she saw a pair of men dressed in security uniforms. Jarvis's voice continued. "Please place all of the objects you are holding on the ground in front of you. You will then be escorted back to your room; you will not be harmed in any way."
Hermione's mind raced. They had been watching? She had been so stupid! Now what was she going to do? She couldn't leave Harry! Her mind whirled trying to think of a way out. Finally, her shoulders sagged, slowly she sat on the floor and placed the wand and bag on the floor pushing them out of reach with her good leg.
She almost chuckled as the two guards jiggled the door handle, trying to get in.
Jarvis's voice returned. "If you would be so kind as to undo what you did to the door?" it requested.
"I want to stay with Harry…" she said her voice shaking. "If I let them in can I stay, in this room with him?"
The doctor's voice answered a few moments later. "I will permit it… after I have checked him over, I'll have your bed moved into his room. Till then I'll have Jarvis leave the wall between the rooms clear. After I'm finished and you've been moved, I will give you a mild sedative to help you sleep."
Hermione glanced up at her best friend, then nodded slowly. Sliding toward the wand, she picked it up and pointed it toward the door. "Finite!"
The door opened with a click and the two men stepped inside. They watched her closely as she placed the wand back on the floor carefully, before helping her to stand and move back toward the door way.
They met the doctor in the hallway. "What was in the vial?" she asked.
"…medicine..." Hermione said softly.
"Is that something that we found in his blood?" she asked.
The girl shook her head. "No… a-at least I don't think so… The last time we had to use it was… Christmas Eve…" she said slowly. "That was several months ago so I doubt any was still in his system… He was bitten… by a snake…" Tears were rolling down her eyes.
"Poisonous?" the doctor asked.
She nodded. "Very… I don't know what species exactly… it was someone's… pet."
"So, that stuff can neutralize poisons as well?" the woman questioned.
"Some… if it is used quickly enough," Hermione answered.
"Does it have a name?" she asked.
Hermione sighed; she might as well tell her, the Statute of Secrecy about magic was already blown all to hell. "Essence of Dittany."
"And where did you get it?" she asked.
"Where?" She shrugged, in for a knut… "I nicked it from our hospital wing at school last year."
"Would they have more?' Her eyes bored into the young girl. "Why haven't we heard about something like this!"
The girl shook her head again, tears streaming down her face. "Please check on Harry… I'll answer what questions I can… but can you please check on him first?"
The aggravated woman stormed past her into the room, talking as she went. "Jarvis, I want whatever is left in that vial analyzed! Who knows what else it could be used for!"
"I'll have someone collect it, along with everything else as soon as Mr. Stark returns and authorizes it Doctor."
True to her word, the doctor had moved Hermione's bed into the room with Harry. What she hadn't told the young witch was that she was going to confiscate everything of theirs, right down to Harry's glasses (not that he needed them, he had yet to wake up).
She had also placed a pair of guards just outside the main room. Sighing Hermione waved at the guard on the left whose turn it was to look in and verify both of them were still snug in their own beds. It was like clockwork every ten minutes.
She didn't even have a book to read.
Her head snapped up when the building's lights dimmed, only to see the same look of confusion on both of the guards' faces, though moments later they returned to normal.
She shrugged internally and lay back down, deciding it was nothing. The steady click of the guards' shoes running down the hallway suddenly had her thinking she may be wrong. "Mr. Jarvis?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"
"I am unsure at the present time miss, but it seems there is an intruder within Mr. Stark's private receiving area, and something is disrupting my communications outside the building." said the voice. "I am working on the disruption and attempting to reestablish contact with Mr. Stark as we speak."
That didn't sound good, could the Deatheaters have found them? Or was it the American version of the Ministry of Magic here because she had broken the Statute? "Jarvis, where is the wand I had earlier, without it Harry and I are defenseless!"
When she didn't receive an answer she started sliding toward the edge of the bed, glad that the doctor had given her a sweatshirt and pants when she asked if she could change out of that horrible hospital gown.
She felt the chill of the tile floor with every step she took, wishing she had a pair of shoes as she made her way toward the hallway. If it was either the Deatheaters or the Ministry the best she could do was lead them away from Harry, at least then he would have a chance.
Staying close to the wall she made her way in the direction the doctor had gone after she had left the room. She was within a few steps of what appeared to be another hallway when she felt the building tremble and a wave of… something pass over her. She looked down at the tips of her fingers, and flexed the fingers of her right hand, they tingled a little.
She peeked around the corner into what seemed to be some form of sitting room. On the far side standing in front of what looked to be a telly, was the doctor and another woman dressed in a pencil skirt and cream colored blouse, both almost transfixed by what they were seeing.
Hermione wanted to jump for joy when she spotted some of their things lying on the counter. Moving forward quietly, she picked up the wand trying to not make a sound. Two quick stunning spells later, the women were unconscious on the floor.
Only then did she take time to look over what of their things were here, She tucked the bag into the sling for her cast, deciding against using Harry's invisibility cloak herself, best no one know about that just in case, and slipping Harry's glasses next to the bag freeing up her hand in case she needed to use the wand. Padding back the way she had come she went back into Harry's room.
Once inside she went to his bedside and pushed the beaded bag and mokeskin bag deep into the crook of his arm, where he would be sure to find it if he woke before she could make it back. Then she placed his glasses on the small table next to the bed on top of a hastily scribbled note saying she would be back as soon as she could.
Making her way back down the hallway she knew that she needed to do something about the two women. "Incarcerous" she pronounced twice in quick succession, wrapping each woman in ropes in turn. Spotting the vial of dittany still in the doctor's hand she grabbed it and slid it in with her cast, as she used a spell to pull the pair of women next to the wall out of view.
Panting slightly and wishing for her own wand, she set off down the hall.
Peeking around the next corner she could see a pair of large glass doors and clear blue sky beyond; picking up her pace she closed on the door quickly. Looking around inside she saw what looked to be a well-appointed modern styled apartment. Glass covered one wall, the rest of the room was done in dark woods and grey stone with highlights in gold and crimson.
Pushing the door open, she stepped cautiously inside.
She had only managed to move a few feet when one of the windows exploded inward and two figures tumbled across the floor. She watched in horror as the smaller man, wearing green leather armor along with gold greaves and plates, stumbled to his feet, as the gargantuan mountain of green that had its back to her did likewise while letting loose a mighty roar and pounding its huge fists on the floor, shaking the room and forcing her to her knees.
"Enough!" the smaller man yelled, rearing his arm back. "You are, all of you beneath me! I am a god you dull Creature! And I will not be bullied by the likes of you!" He flung his arm forward releasing a bolt of green energy.
Harry had tried to explain to her once how he was able to spot, and keep track of the snitch during the games of Quidditch at Hogwarts. He had said that it felt as if time slowed down, and it all became clear… somehow.
Not that that was much of an explanation.
However now Hermione believed she understood what he had meant. She watched in almost morbid fascination as the green bolt left the man's hand. It was a color she recognized well, the sickly green of the Avada Kedavra! The Killing Curse! And this man had cast it without a wand!
She watched as it bubbled and churned, ripping a path through the air toward the emerald giant. She felt the beginnings of a scream, someplace low in her throat, as the monster dipped its shoulder allowing the bolt to connect with its upper back as it did.
A ripple of energy passed over the creature, cascading over its form almost too quick to be observed, only to rebound back the way it had come and erupt out of the same point.
Her scream rose in pitch as she saw the beam coming toward her, but instead of the sickly green it had been it was a vibrant pulsing emerald. Lifting her broken arm, as a last ditch defense heard smashing glass then she felt the energy, like the stings of a thousand bees covering her body.
Then the darkness came.