The silver trio

Professor Dumbledore

I wake up, my eyes fuzzy and my hair a mess and I'm lying in bed in the hospital wing with flowers and about a dozen boxes of Bertie Botts every flavour beans and chocolate frogs placed on the beside table. I smile to myself. I glance at the pile of goodies and spot a blue box of peppermint toads, my personal favourite at the moment. There's a small silver label attached on the side that reads, "D.M and B.Z". I grin widely as I realise who it's from.

Madam Pomfrey sees that I am now awake and attacks me with medicine and questions about how I'm feeling.
"Do you know what happened to me", I interrupt her.
She looks at me, sighs and says "I think Dumbledore should be the one to explain that to you".
"Dumbledore?", I say shocked. I've never talked to Professor Dumbledore before and frankly, I'm a bit scared of him.

As if on queue a tall, white bearded man wearing red dress robes and half moon glasses that balance on the tip of his nose, pushes through the doors and sits down on the bed beside me.
"How are we feeling?", he says as he pulls out a sherbet lemon from his pocket and pops it into his mouth.
"Care for one?", he offers me a pocket sherbet lemon but I politely decline.
"You're probably wondering why you're here", he begins.
"Uh, yes. Do you know what happened?", I murmur trying to sound as confident as possible.
"You and Mr. Potter seem to be taking recent issues into your own hands", he gives me an amused look.
"I'm sorry Sir. I never should've done what I did. We should've stayed out of it but you don't understand. Hogwarts was in real danger!", I spit out, suddenly losing any ounce of shyness I was feeling. He raises a hand and interrupts me abruptly.
"Now, now child. I am not blaming you. I am here to thank you".
"Thank me?".
"Although you and you're friends actions were naive and extremely dangerous I must thank you because without you we would still be in a lot of danger", he casually pops another sherbet lemon into his mouth.
"Did Harry give you the stone", I question eagerly.
"Yes he did and it has been destroyed. It probably should've been a long time ago", he looks almost ashamed of himself.
"But sir, I don't understand what happened. We saw you know who and", I begin but he interrupts.
"It's okay you can say his name".
For some reason I feel more uneasy about saying his name now that I've been in his presence.
"V...V...Voldemort", I stammer.
"He's been regaining strength for a while. He needed the stone but there is no chance of him getting it now thanks to you and Harry. You are a very brave young girl (Y/N)".
I feel my cheeks heat up and I look down at my hands.
"Thank you Professor."
"No, thank you".
He glances at a box of Bertie Beans. "May I?".
"Yes go ahead", I laugh.

We sit there for a while taking turns to try each flavour but then the question I've been aching to ask itches at the side of my brain.
"Sir. I have a question".
"Go ahead", he continues to sort through the box of beans but I know he is listening.
"Well, we couldn't escape from Voldemort so I did the only thing I could think of which was to punch him".
Dumbledore let's out a deep chuckle.
"When I touched him, his face kind of burned. It turned into ashes and then Harry put his hands on him and he completely disintegrated. I don't remember anything after that", I shrug.
"Ah", he puts down the box.
"(Y/N). You see there is one piece of magic that Voldemort has never been able to understand.".
"Really?".
"Love.", he says softly.
"When you punched him you were trying to protect Harry, out of love. He cannot process it, it was the death of him 11 years ago when Lily Potter stood in front of Harry and shielded him from the killing curse. He cannot break it because he can't understand it.".
I sit there for a few minutes processing what I've just been told.
"But then what happened after?".
"He wasn't completely destroyed so what was left of him and his soul flew through you, causing you to pass out. Then Harry took you back here with Ron and Hermione I believe. There was also a young blonde boy looking for you earlier and asking many questions about when he could see you but I had to explain to him you were sleeping.", Dumbledore smiles and I swear there's a twinkle in his eyes. It's as if he knows something I don't.
I assume the blonde boy is Draco and I can't help but smile to myself.
"Sir. If he wasn't completely destroyed does that mean he will come back", I almost whisper, afraid of the response.
Dumbledore looks at me in the eye and I can almost see his mind spinning around like clockwork.
"There is a chance.", he admits.
"But we will be ready. And I do not wish you to worry about such things. Your first year at Hogwarts should not have been as hectic as this", he laughs gently.
"Thank you Professor.", I say and without overthinking it I reach out and hug him. He smells like lemon sugar and pumpkin juice.
He chuckles at me but hugs me back nevertheless.
"Remember (Y/N), help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it", his eyes sparkle and I nod wondering why I was ever scared of him in the first place.
"I'll let you enjoy your goodies while I go and get your friends. Believe me, they will be very happy to know they are free to visit", he gets up, smiles at me warmly for the final time before walking out of the hospital wing.

I open my box of peppermint toads as I wait excitedly for my friends to come and visit me.