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CHAPTER FOUR
ACCIDENT
Rikki and I didn't talk to each other when we woke up. The alarm went off and she didn't complain. Her eyes were red as if she had been crying. I think she feels bad about what she said to Mel. We walk down to the Great Hall in silence, our footsteps echoing through the halls. We walk in the Great Hall and instantly I see Melody sitting alone. Her eyes are puffy and red, hair usually neat plait is messy, as if she had it in over night. Looks like Rikki wasn't the only one crying. I start to walk towards her when Rikki grabs my arm.
"What are you doing?" She asks in a hushed tone.
"Sitting down?" I say. It sounds like a question.
"We can't sit with Melody. We are having a fight if you haven't noticed." I sigh, not wanting to fight with Rikki.
"You can't be serious Rikki. She's our best friend, just go apologise and she'll forgive you." Rikki looks at me in outrage.
"Me? Apologise? She's the one who should fucking apologise. She worried me half to death. And then she had the cheek to scream at me." She whisper yelled at me.
"Well you shouted at her first. And you called her stupid."
"I only shouted out of concern. She was lying to us, Lily, any fool could see that. Besides she called herself stupid I only-"
"But you didn't deny that you thought she was stupid, did you?" She looks at the floor ashamed and I know I've gotten my point across, "Go talk to her. I'll sit with Al or something - give you some privacy."
She goes over to Mel and sits down while I search the Slytherin table for my brother. Finally I spot him sitting with his friends in the corner. They are all laughing and joking, throwing bits of toast at each other. I sit down beside Al a little nervously. I haven't sat with Al since my first day at Hogwarts, plus I don't know any of these boys. I recognise them from visiting the house a few times but I don't know any names or anything.
"- And then I flew left, to get out of the way, and I saw it. So I swooped down and forward as fast as I could. I reached out and then-" Al was in the middle of some quidditch story. He was the seeker for Slytherin last year and probably will be again after tryouts. But since there hasn't been a game yet this year, I'm assuming he's re-living one of the family games over the summer. Usually over the summer, the whole family stay at the burrow for a few weeks and they play Quidditch nearly every day. I don't. Neither do Molly, Rose or Dominique. The others swap on and off so everyone gets a chance to play (including the adults) and Dad chooses the teams so it's all fair.
I sit there for almost two minutes and nobody notices me. Suddenly Al's hand shoots out, gesturing about something in his story, and hits me in the face. I fall backwards off the seat.
"Oh my - fuck - Lily, God I didn't know you were sitting there, I swear. Oh shit, your bleeding. Fuck, Mum's gonna kill me. Bloody hell, you're bleeding loads. I gotta take you to the hospital wing." Al panics. I sit up and sure enough blood is pouring from my nose and mouth. Al helps me up and the room starts to spin. I clutch my hand to my head and it's wet. I look at my hand, it's covered in blood.
"Al I'm diz-" Then everything goes black.
I woke up in a bed in the hospital wing. I blinked a few times, getting used to the blinding white light. Most of the other beds were empty apart from a first year boy who had gotten a shock when the staircase moved and had fallen downstairs. There were 2 seats at the side of the bed. One was empty, in the other sat my Mother.
"Oh Lily, darling, you're awake." She sighs, relief clear on her face. She covers my forehead and my cheeks in kisses. I look around confused.
"Mum? What happened? Why are you here?" I ask her.
"You don't remember, darling? Your, well - em, Al accidently hit you in the face. You fell off the seat and hit your head hard. You've been out of it for 2 days." She tells me, "Though how your idiot brother managed to accidently punch you in the face, I don't know."
I remembered, suddenly, sitting down beside Al and everything else. I smiled to myself and answered my Mum even though it wasn't a question.
"He was talking about quidditch." She smiled, "How is he? I hope he doesn't feel too bad." Her smile changed to an un-readable expression. Half worry - half sympathy.
"Actually he's taken it pretty hard. He feels awful. Keeps saying that he is a bad big brother. We tell him it's nonsense of course but you know Al - never listens. You know he's only just left your side. I made him go get some food from the Great Hall. He's been having Rose and Louis bring him his homework and notes so he could sit with you." I look at her and shock.
"Al and Rose and Louis have been here?" She laughs.
"Everyone has been here darling. We've all been very worried about you." This shocks me. I thought no one noticed me, "Now get some rest, I have to go home now but I'll be back to see you tommorow." She kisses me on the head then leaves. I fall asleep again quickly after that. My head was pounding.
When I wake up again later, my headaches gone. The curtains are drawn around my bed and the lights are off so I can tell it must be the middle of the night. Sitting in the seat my Mother had occupied earlier is Al, fast asleep. I feel bad about it but I wake him up, needing to talk to him. Mum said he felt bad, I needed to make him feel better.
"Al. Albus, wakey-wakey. Al wake up." I whisper, shaking his knee. He wakes up with a start. He looks around confused, blinks a few times, adjusting to the light (or lack of) and finally focuses on me.
"Lily, you're awake! Are you OK? Do you need me to get you something? I'll go ge-"
"Albus. Al, I'm fine." I tell him. He relaxes his posture but his eyes remain worried. And apologetic.
"Lily, I'm so sorry. I swear, I didn't see you sitting there. I didn't mean to-" This time he cuts himself off, his eyes filling with tears. Albus never cries.
"It's OK, Al. You didn't see me, it's fine. It was my fault anyway, I should have made sure you knew I was there." He nods but looks unconvinced.
"I'm sorry Lils." He whispers, and lays his head on the bed beside my hand. He holds my hand. With my free hand, I run my fingers through his hair, as if I were his older sibling.
"I know Al, I know."