Chapter Thirty Four: Shot
Regan awoke tucked tightly in her bed, her entire body numb. Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on things around her, but it was proving to be too difficult. So she shut her eyes and wished for sleep, but she was disrupted by voices in the other room.
"So...the baby is gone?" Draco calmly asked.
"We couldn't find a heartbeat," the doctor answered. "I am so sorry for your loss, Minister Malfoy." There was a long pause, one that Regan felt was overly dramatic.
"How is Regan?" Lucius finally asked.
"She will heal, but it's going to take some time. I insist that she remain in bed for two weeks and avoid any sexual activities for a month."
Regan nearly leapt out of the bed to hug the man. He had no idea what this meant for Regan. Now she could spend her final month here without Lucius's hands all over her.
"After she recovers, will she be able to conceive again?" Lucius asked, though the question mattered little to Regan.
"Minister Malfoy…I am unsure if she will ever be able to have children. She broke her pelvis in several places and I believe she will need extensive repair before her womb will be suitable and even then there's no guarantee that she will be able to carry a baby to full term."
"But she is otherwise healthy?" Lucius asked, his voice ragged.
"Yes, everything has been repaired, she just needs lots of rest and plenty of food. The girl is skinnier than a stick."
"Thank you Doctor Lowell, allow me to escort you to the door." Draco said, two pairs of footsteps passing down the hallway. After a moment, Lucius slowly opened the door and stepped inside. He quietly crossed the room to stand on his side of the bed. He slipped his shoes off before climbing into bed with Regan, his body only lightly pressing against her back.
"Regan…are you awake?" He asked softly, brushing back her hair with his fingertips. She remained silent and kept her eyes shut, just wanting him to go away. "I'm not angry with you," he muttered. "I've never been more scared than when Draco found you unconscious…covered in blood." He quietly petted her hair, some attempt to probably comfort her while she slept. It didn't do anything to make Regan feel better about their position, but she remained silent. "Don't worry, Doctor Lowell will fix you and then we can try again once you're fully healed." He lightly kissed the back of her neck before slipping away to allow her to sleep.
When she heard the door shut, Regan lazily rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. Tears that she had been holding back rolled from her eyes down her skin and disappeared into her hairline. She knew that the fall would hurt her and knew that it would make her lose the baby, but she had never expected to have such damage done to her body. The idea of children had never really appealed to Regan, but now that it was possibly not an option…it made her feel broken; like something was missing.
How could anybody see her as useful?
What would Charlie say when he found out?
Her lower lip quivered and tears began to fall in tragic streams. She curled up, holding a pillow tightly against her chest with her face buried in the starch linen. This was how she fell asleep; her face wet with tears and her heart and body broken.
…
A letter from Draco arrived two days later to the Canadian Compound, but Ron felt far from comfort when he read it. The ink had been stained, as if Draco had cried while writing it. Ron made a mental note to burn this later tonight, after he had spread the news. He had told Hermione first, which had proved to be a mistake. She had locked herself in their bathroom and hadn't stopped crying all morning. She felt immensely guilty and Ron couldn't blame her. They had never put somebody in this position before and nothing felt right about it.
The next person that Ron went to was Charlie. When he arrived early that gray afternoon, he got the impression that Charlie had been waiting for him. But he said nothing as he let his brother into the cool room. His brother sat on his bed while Ron took the only chair in the room, sinking into the crinkled leather.
"Have you been sleeping all right?" Ron asked, noticing the dark circles under Charlie's eyes.
"I can't," Charlie admitted. "I can't sleep knowing what's going to happen to her."
"Well maybe now you can sleep a little easier." Charlie tensed, his eyes growing dark.
"How is she?" He asked despite his stiff jaw. Ron slowly pulled out the letter from his pocket, handing it over to Charlie for him to read. He read it quickly before handing the creased parchment back to his brother.
"So, he's got a doctor that'll fix her up?" Charlie asked, his voice very rough.
"That's the plan, and knowing Lucius he'll go through with it as soon as possible." Ron said, leaning back in the chair. Charlie didn't answer, but Ron could see that it brought some relief to him when he relaxed his muscles slightly. "Maybe you should take a few days to rest. I can have mum bring you your food."
"I'm not weak." Charlie quickly said. "I can feel you fucking judging me…"
"I'm not judging you and I never said that you were weak." Ron said with an edge in his voice. "It's almost time to make our move and everybody needs to be in the best condition possible. You need to rest…we can't afford to have one of our best out of commission when we need him the most." Charlie sighed, running a hand through his slowly growing hair.
"I'm not Hermione, flattery won't work." Ron scoffed.
"Please, flattery won't work on Hermione…she'd think I'd lost my mind if I said her hair looked nice…or that I was after something." Charlie smirked, though he still felt the tension in the room.
"I just…I don't want this to fail." He said. "So much is riding on this one night; we don't even know if they'll get a party together. What if we're found out and…they get us before we even get through the door?" Ron shrugged his shoulders, slowly shaking his head.
"It's possible…we could all die tomorrow and hope could die with us, but I'll be damned if I don't give this my absolute best shot. I would rather die a failure than live a coward." He pursed his lips together, wringing his hands together. "That's what Harry would have done…he fought until the very end."
They both kept silent for a moment, flashes of that final night passing through their mind. Nobody could ever forget how pale his skin had been or the dreadful thudding sound he had made when his lifeless body hit the ground. Ron's stomach clenched, fighting back the horrible image that had plagued his mind so many times in his dreams.
"So many people died…and we're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that they didn't die in vain." Ron said, his voice firm and his eyes determined. "And we'll make sure that Regan is taken care of; we'll send you after her if that makes you feel any better."
"Thank you," Charlie said, quickly accepting his offer. "We have to get her out of there as soon as possible…and can we get her a therapist so that she doesn't get all fucked up in the head? Fucking Malfoy for a year has got to have her dreaming about suicide."
"We've already got somebody here for her, but we can't force Regan to talk to her if she doesn't want to…Charlie, she's going to be fucked up for a while, it's expected after everything that she's been through. She's going to want to die…"
Charlie said nothing for a while, staring at the dirt wall that had been packed and sported awkwardly hung family pictures and band posters. It looked like a single man lived here, something that bothered Charlie for some reason. His brother began to talk again, but Charlie wasn't listening to a word he was saying. He just began to think about things that he could do to his small room that would make Regan feel more comfortable. He could try and put up some wallpaper or enchant the dirt to turn some other color than brown. He would find out what kind of art she liked and hang some pictures that were bright and colorful. Then when they were able to move back to England, he would buy her a nice cottage far away from anybody else in the world. They would live far out in the country and maybe they would have kids…and then they would just live…
"Charlie? Are you listening?" Ron asked, gently tapping his brother on the shoulder. Charlie looked up, blinking a few times before slowly nodding.
"Not really…what did you say?" Ron smirked slightly at his brother's slightly bewildered expression.
"Nevermind, just get some rest." Ron said, standing up and patting his brother's shoulder. Charlie nodded, leaning back on his bed and letting out a heavy sigh as Ron quickly disappeared into the main corridor. He kept thinking about how upset Regan must be right now, broken and alone. Charlie was enraged every time he thought about Lucius touching her and was disgusted at the thought of the pair together, but he knew that he could never say anything about it to Regan. He would never judge her for the sacrifice she had made; he just hoped that she would figure that out.
...
A/N: Heavy subject matter, I know...but hey, I'm in LA! And I can report that it is not as hot as I thought it would be. Seriously, it was only like 81 yesterday. Today it's supposed to be 82, so I'm coping well :) Anyway, I'm doing well and enjoying my internship so far! Also, I have taken to not wearing pants around my apartment...because I live on the fourth floor, and it tends to get hot up here...
freudianprincess: Ah, shame on you for not logging in lol jk. I didn't feel like there needed to be much...it's a touchy subject that doesn't need much. Thank you friendship!
Dragoon Dave: See, this is why we needed to stop talking about the story; I wanted to surprise you! And you were surprise, so mission accomplished :) Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
