Chapter Fourteen: The Hospital Wing


Chapter Summary: Henri spends some time in the hospital wing


Henri woke up in an unfamiliar place. His head throbbed, like a troll marching band was stomping inside his skull. He squinted at the light, groaning softly. When his eyes adjusted, he saw one of the Weasley twins looking down at him, concern etched on his freckled face. Henri couldn't tell which one it was.

"Hey, mate, glad to have you back," the twin said softly, awkwardly patting Henri's arm.

Henri tried to smile, though his thoughts were still sluggish. "Yeah, it's good to be back… where exactly is here?"

The twin smiled faintly. "You're in the hospital wing, mate. Don't you remember what happened?" Then, more seriously, "You saved my brother's life. Thank you."

Henri struggled to recall the events. His mind was foggy, but he vaguely remembered the potions class. "Oh yeah… no problem, sure thing…" he mumbled before drifting back to sleep.

He was later awoken by two voices nearby and the unmistakable sound of candy wrappers.

"Ron, I don't think that candy was meant for you," one voice said.

"Yeah, well, he's not gonna eat it all by himself, is he?" the second voice replied. "He doesn't look any different."

"What?" the first voice asked.

"With all the things people are saying about him, you'd think he'd sprout wings or something," the second voice said.

The first voice chuckled. "Ron, you know what the Hogwarts rumor mill is like. Some people still think I was raised by unicorns."

"Fair point, mate," the second voice conceded.

Henri groaned softly as he opened his eyes again, relieved the light wasn't as harsh this time. He struggled to sit up, but a tall red-headed boy approached, steadying him.

"Whoa, easy there. Harry, go get Madam Pomfrey," the boy said. Henri recognized him—Harry Potter's best friend, one of the Weasleys. Ron? Yes, that was it.

"Hi, Ron, right?" Henri asked, his voice groggy.

"Yeah, that's me. Harry's gone to fetch the healer. We were just visiting… oh, and sorry, mate, had a nibble at some of your candy," Ron added sheepishly.

Henri waved it off, still dazed. He wasn't concerned about candy. He was cutting down on his sugar intake for his poor Papa, the dentist's heart. His Papa always told him with a serious face, Henri, in dentistry, sugar is the enemy. Ron could have all of it if he wanted. What puzzled Henri more was where the pile of candy, gifts and cards surrounding his bed had come from. He didn't have any friends—who had sent all of this?

Before he could ask, Ron spoke again. "Listen, mate, George told me what happened. You saved Fred's life after the careless tosser messed up. Thank you."

It took Henri a moment to piece things together. George and Fred—the Weasley twins. It was odd, he thought. He had always seen them as a set, twin number one and two, not as individuals.

"Oh, you know, I just did what anyone would've done," Henri said.

Ron shook his head. "Not anyone. Bet those Slytherin gits wouldn't have done anything," he muttered, his disdain clear. Henri remembered the bitter rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and though he agreed with Ron to an extent, he chose to stay silent.

"Where did all these gifts come from?" Henri asked instead, glancing at the flowers, chocolates, and cards surrounding him.

Ron grinned. "Are you kidding? You're a hero! Everyone at school knows what you did. But Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let just anyone visit, so they sent gifts. Me and Harry only got in because Fred's my brother."

Soon, Harry returned with Madam Pomfrey, who briskly checked on Henri. Her hands were cold as she prodded him, and the potion she forced down his throat tasted awful, but at least he was starting to feel more alert. The process was oddly reminiscent of a Muggle hospital. The only thing missing was the strong smell of antiseptic, which Henri was glad for. After reminding Ron and Harry they could only stay for five more minutes, she left.

Harry spoke next, a little more shyly. "Thanks for what you did, Henri. You really saved Fred and Katie."

Henri frowned, still a little foggy. "What exactly happened to them? Is Fred okay? And the girl… the one with dark hair?"

"Fred's over there," Harry said, pointing to another bed across the wing. Henri turned his head and saw a body under the sheets, red hair unmistakably Weasley. "Katie… well, the girl with the dark hair, she… she was hurt pretty bad. They rushed her to St. Mungo's. Dumbledore said if you hadn't done what you did, she might not have made it."

"Oh no," Henri murmured, feeling a pit in his stomach. "That's awful. I hope she gets better. It would be terrible if…" He couldn't finish the sentence, but Harry and Ron understood.

"Yeah," they both sighed in unison.

Ron nodded toward his brother's bed. "Fred's an idiot sometimes, but if anything happened to Katie because of him, it would destroy him. He fancies her, you know. He'd never forgive himself."

Henri remembered the incident. Fred had been distracted, flirting with Katie instead of focusing on the potion. If he had just paid attention, none of this would've happened. But despite his frustration, Henri couldn't help but empathize with Fred's situation.

Once their chat got lighthearted again, Henri asked the question that had been nagging him. "I don't mean to be rude, but why are you here, I mean, talking to me? We don't really know each other."

Ron looked down and blushed. "Well, you saved my brother's life, and Harry and I reckoned you wouldn't mind some company, didn't we, Harry?" He seemed eager to shift the conversation to someone else, clearly embarrassed by his act of kindness, but Henri appreciated it.

"Cheers, mates. I do appreciate some company." He smiled at them, and the conversation returned to discussing what had happened.

Before long, Harry and Ron said their goodbyes, leaving Henri to rest. He drifted in and out of sleep. When he woke up later, George Weasley was back, softly chatting with his brother.

When Fred fell asleep, George came over to Henri's bed and slowly filled him in on what had happened after he passed out. Henri trusted Harry and Ron's account, but George had been there and knew everything firsthand.

George filled in the details. Much of what Ron and Harry had told Henri was true. Katie had been seriously injured, and Snape had deducted a thousand points from Gryffindor and nearly hexed Fred in his fury. But seeing the blood pouring from Katie's head had snapped Snape out of his rage, and he called for help instead. Madam Pomfrey had stabilized Katie before rushing her to St. Mungo's. Fred had a mild concussion, a broken arm, and was covered in bruises.

Katie's parents were furious and were considering legal action. Snape was under review by the education board, so angered by the situation was he that he'd gone to Dumbledore and sworn he'd never teach a Weasley ever again.

Henri furrowed his brow. "George, if Katie's parents went to court, who would they sue?" He wondered, fearing that if they sued Fred for messing up the potion, the Weasleys would be in trouble. They were famously poor.

George sighed. "I asked Professor Dumbledore the same thing. I was worried, you know?" Henri nodded. He understood. "But Professor Dumbledore assured me they couldn't sue Fred since he's underage. Most likely, they'd sue the school, and the school would deal with Fred and Professor Snape internally."

Henri hummed. At least the Weasleys wouldn't be going to court and potentially face debt, but it seemed Fred's troubles weren't over.

George went back to his brother's bedside when Henri's roommates came to see him. Henri was pleased to see them. They told him that after everyone heard what had happened, they wanted to visit, even those who didn't know him. Gossip was a strong thing at Hogwarts. Henri was also pleased when his roommates, whom he had given permission to go through the enormous stash of candy he had received, noticed that some of the candy wasn't signed. Henri smiled. His roommates didn't understand, but he did—the unsigned candy had come from his non-human friends, the elves. He'd make sure to thank them later.

They chatted and laughed for a bit. The conversation mostly centered around Michael's misadventures with girls. From their very first day, Michael had shown that his main priority at Hogwarts was finding a girlfriend. If he learned some magic along the way, that was fine too.

Henri wrinkled his nose a bit. He didn't get it—why spend all that effort chasing after a girl? He had seen it with the older students too; after all, the reason he was in the hospital wing was because some boy had been paying attention to a girl instead of his potion. Were all boy-girl relationships that comical and dramatic?

Henri hadn't interacted much with girls in his short life. His best and only friend, Philippe, was a boy, and Henri didn't have any cousins—his parents were both only children. His longest exposure to a girl was Philippe's cousin, Amelia, and she was horrible. Whenever she and her parents came over to visit Philippe's house, she'd take over everything and monopolize their time. She always yelled at him and Philippe for no reason and called them dumb, even though Henri knew he and Philippe were doing better than her in school. And his brief friendship-turned-eternal-enmity with Draka had shown Henri that girls were like fire—best observed from afar. Too close, and you got burned. But he kept these opinions to himself.

Soon, Madam Pomfrey ushered his roommates out as visiting hours came to an end.

Henri's spirits lifted when Xerxes, his owl, flew in carrying a bunch of letters. He ignored the rest and went straight for the ones from home. There were three from his Maman and one from his Papa. They were long letters, full of concern over his accident, pride in his bravery and quick thinking that had saved another student's life, and a lot of worry for his well-being.