Hey everyone welcome to the next update! I did make some pretty major changes to chapter 1 so make sure you go back and reread. Thank you so much to everyone that gave Kudos and reviewed it inspired me to write so much more!- Dayin
The sudden burst of fresh air hit her like a bus. The absence of the foul smoke and smell made the new air seem almost too crisp with each breath cutting her as she drew it in.
Harry's arms loosened around her as he gently placed her down onto the infirmary bed. The plastic covering of the bed crinkled beneath her weight. She found this strange, to her knowledge Madam Pomfrey had never used plastic in the infirmary as that was a distinctly muggle thing to do. It wasn't like wizard healing could cause infections and a scorgifiy cleaned the bed back to brand new regardlessi
Perhaps there was a new mediwitch or wizard who must be muggle-born or at least a half-blood to have taken on such a muggle practice. But even that seemed odd and the plastic itself seemed quite aged.
Her thoughts were halted by sudden movement as the curtains separating the infirmary and the mediwitches office rustled and the elderly Madam Pomfrey slowly made her way over to them.
"Harry? Hermione?" she gasped with a start." What are you doing here with that battle outside, are you hurt?" she questioned "Lay down on the beds now dears so I can see what needs to be done. Mind yourself to stay on the plastic please, some darker magic spells can leave a residue I don't want seeping into the beds." She warned while waving Harry towards a bed and pulling a tray of medical supplies over on a nearby cart.
She lay back on the bed appreciating how comfortable just laying down for once was. She could feel her body struggling to stay conscious, the gash on her side pulsing painfully with each of her heartbeats. Trying to put her mind elsewhere she thought over what Madam Pomfrey had said. Feeling quite satisfied at having an answer for her brain's earlier musings over the plastic, she felt her admiration grow at the ingenuity of the Mediwitch to prepare for the residue of dark spells. Something she herself wouldn't have thought of at that moment. Such a simple solution to a complicated problem. While plastic was not magic proof it was able to absorb quite a bit of it. In this case, it would be absorbing the worst of the residue still held by the dust in their clothing. However, they would still have to change as soon as they were able to change into more suitable non-blood-covered clothing.
"Hermione is badly hurt, I'm nowhere near as bad. You are probably going to be overrun in a few minutes though Ma'am because the battle outside is over" she heard Harry explain while he walked to sit himself on the bed across from her. Taking his glasses out or his pocket where they had been placed while he was pretending to be dead. Giving them a quick polish with his shirt and casting a quick reparation charm to fix a few small cracks in the lenses. She couldn't help but think it seemed lifetimes ago that she had taught him that charm.
Madam Pomfrey looked extremely shocked at this revelation. She noticed her opening her mouth several times as if to say something and then stopping as if she could not bring herself to speak at that moment. Hermione had always admired the mediwitch for her ability to stay calm in a disastrous situation and seeing her now at the forefront of a war battleground her admiration only grew.
She was extremely grateful when Madam Pomfrey had stopped her attempts to speak and seemed to return her focus back onto their treatment. She thought that she recognised the spell movements that Madam Pomfrey seemed to be practicing, it was a scanning spell. A spell created to help diagnose and assess the level of damage she had sustained. It was one of the first spells medical witches and wizards had ever had to learn when being trained, it was a generally simple but extremely valuable piece of magic that when cast produced a written list of every ailment or injury a person had sustained.
As Madam Pomfrey cast the spell she watched the gentle blue smoke tendrils reach out to wrap around her. Glowing brighter around each wound they found until she could barely be seen beneath the blue mass. Begining to feel warm and comfortable surrounded by all the magic, she decided to close her eyes for just a moment to enjoy the comforting feeling of the witch's gifts.
However, Madam Pomfrey had never seen anything like this before. Normally the list would have two or three items, once she had even had a student wrack up a list of ten when he had been in a head-on quidditch collision but Hermione's list was still writing.
It had just surpassed its twelfth item. And Hermione was now unconscious. Madam Pomfrey had only heard of results like this being seen in terrible abuse cases. Something truly horrific had happened to this poor girl. Scanning the list for what needed her attention the most vitally and seeing the extreme blood loss, malnutrition, broken leg and the after-effects from the cruciatus curse at the very top she knew she had to act immediately.
Snapping into action the Mediwitch let her training take over grabbing handfuls of potions off of her medicine cart. The first sickly green potion she poured down Hermione's throat was a blood replenishment potion, the viscous liquid slowly sliding down her throat and immediately taking effect as her deathly pale cheeks began to pinken up. She didn't stop to admire her work as there was still far too much to be done. A purple potion aimed at easing the nerve damage caused by the cruciatus was next quickly followed by a glittering red potion for treating concussions.
Now that she had delivered the needed potions Madam Pomfrey got to work with her wand using her strongest sealing charm to stitch together Hermione's open wounds, doing her best to stitch as closely together and avoid as much scarring as possible. When she got to Hermione's left forearm Madam Pomfrey let out a startled gasp. Some monster had carved the word 'mudblood' into her arm and what's worse her scans were showing it was done with a cursed dagger. Scars were, unfortunately, going to be unavoidable due to them being caused by dark magic and in the case of the gashes across her back seemed to have been created by a werewolf close to the full moon.
Hermione would have these scars forever and would probably suffer after-effects from the werewolf scratches. Madam Pomfrey made a mental note to talk Hermione through the behavioural changes she could expect as a result. Unfortunately, Hermione was so badly hurt that even with magical healing she was going to be in for a long road of recovery, her malnutrition, wounds from cursed objects, and some of the more severe bone breaks like her leg would take a vigorous healing routine over a course of months to properly treat.
Once all of Hermione's injuries had been tended to as best as Madam Pomfrey could manage for now, she was asleep and so the mediwitch left her to rest and began her scanning and treating anew on Harry. His scan only had eight items much better than Hermione's twelve and luckily most of them were not life-threatening. However, one item at the bottom of the list caught her attention. The item stated a headache caused by the Avada Kedavra curse. She stopped and looked again, to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. There it still was, the death curse, named as the reason for the least threatening ailment Harry Potter was currently facing. The rest of the list was compiled of some gashes and in comparison, to Hermione's, minor cruciatus curse damage.
She got to work treating him despite her complete shock. Making quick work of the gashes and giving Harry a Potion for the nerve damage and headache she breathed a sigh of relief at having both her young patients stable and in much better health than when they first entered. They would both be requiring nutrition potions for their severe malnourishment and a stringent course of nerve regeneration potions to continue treating the after-effects of the cruciatus. Harry would need regular check-ups to try and treat any after-effects of the killing curse if there were any. Madam Pomfrey could not even begin to guess what they would need to watch for or treat as she had never been put into the position of treating the after-effects of that curse nor had any other healer in the world.
Just as she was finished with Harry, the hospital wing began to fill. Huge groups of people were apparating in. The twins are among the first with Fred looking to have his broken arm mended and George wanting his cheek to be stitched back together.
"Hiya Harry, George is being a bit cheeky today, isn't he?" Fred joked while grinning at Harry.
"I think your sense of humour may be more broken than your arm there Freddie boy" George taunted back playfully.
Harry laughed along with the twins relieved that they were both safe and alive. He knew there was bound to be great losses on both sides as there was in every war but he had come to see the twins as his big brothers, and he was so grateful they were okay.
"So, what the fuck happened out there Harry and more importantly what happened to our little sister?" Fred asked, glancing at Hermione's small sleeping form in the bed nearby.
They were all noticing the same thing. She was far too small. She had always been on the short side, but she was now worryingly thin, with her cheekbones prominently sticking out, and even after healing she had cuts and scrapes everywhere.
" I will give you the full details another time, but we were hunting down something to stop Voldemort. We were camping out in the forest under Hermione's strongest wards. They were set up so no one could enter or exit without all of us okaying it. He decided he wanted to run away in the middle of the night after he was sick of camping out and going hungry, so he forced the wards to open from the insides which collapsed them. The snatchers were nearby, and they gave chase immediately, he managed to take off, but we were caught. Hermione and Dobby saved my life and got me out of there, but she got left behind. She's been their captive for over a month, and I can't begin to imagine what they've done to her." he explained mournfully with a worried glance around the room ensuring no one had heard him besides the twins. The last thing he wanted was some skeezy reporter using Hermione's pain as their next big headline.
The twins' faces were filled with pure unbridled rage. They meant it when they called Hermione their little sister and they vowed that they would destroy anyone who thought they could hurt her any further. While the twins were always good fun to be around for their friends, they were powerful and creative wizards who would not hesitate to use their creativity to harm their enemies if the situation called for it.
"Fucking hell, Harry how is she even alive?" George muttered darkly with a voice trembling from anger and worry.
"Honestly, I don't know George. Only she will be able to tell us that, and only when she is ready." Harry said firmly, making it clear no one was to press her for answers.
The infirmary was now almost completely full, and Madam Pomfrey was triaging patients to ensure the most critical were given beds and seen first. Harry and the twins moved to stand in the corner next to Hermione's bed to free up space for the critical patients. Those that had already been healed and knew some healing spells were doing their part in helping and going around to heal the more minor cases so the mediwitch could focus on those that needed it. One volunteer Harry recognised was Katie Bell. After being cursed she had taken an interest in medical magic and so had begun learning some simple healing spells in hope of one day becoming a mediwitch.
Katie walked over to the twins with a gentle smile and wave. "Hey, you two, is there anything I can help with, or are you waiting for something more serious?"
"Well Katie Kat, I have a broken arm and my poor brother Georgie has a disgusting face, I mean a disgusting cut on his face" Fred jested while elbowing George with his good arm.
"I think I can handle a bone repair and sealing spell" laughed Katie as she lifted her wand and sealed the wound on George's face. Then turning to face Fred's arm.
Very gently she began to chant a bone reparation spell and with each chant, Fred could feel his bones knitting back together and getting stronger. It only took a few moments before he was good as new.
She quickly scanned them to ensure she had not missed anything. "I need to go and help the others now, if you need anything else just let me know, okay?" With that, she walked off and began to help more people in the long line of minor injuries.
Through all the noise and movement, Hermione was fast asleep, she looked so peaceful that no one dared try and disturb her. And if they had even attempted to do so they would have quickly been met with the full fury of Harry and the twins who were keeping a protective eye on her at all times.
The whispers of everyone in the infirmary were surrounding her. Many discussed the final moments of the battle trying to comprehend what they had seen her do with their own eyes. The raw power she had used to defeat Voldemort with no specific spell. This power contrasted entirely by just how weak the sleeping witch looked in this moment.
And then Ron walked in the door quickly followed by Ginny and all hell broke loose.
As always thank you for reading and please let me know what you think! I will update with the next chapter as soon as possible. - Dayout