Just Breathe || Ron Weasley

f o r t y

Chapter: Forty

Ordinary

Her body was aching like crazy. It was almost like every inch of her body was being stabbed by thousands of knives.

Hailey opened her eyes slowly to meet with the blinding lights. Her head was pounding so much that it was hard for her to keep her eyes open. She groaned slowly opening her eyes fully to look around.

Where was she?

There was a small beeping noise. It was a white room. Much cleaner than the place she was in. She felt a hand on top of hers. Slowly she looked to her right side to see a slightly blurry figure. But even though he looked blurry, she knew exactly who it was. "Hey munchkin."

With the last bit of energy Hailey had, she lunged onto him as fast as she could pulling him in the tightest hug. "Oh my god... You're here. You're here. You're actually here." Her lips trembled as she held onto him as tight as she could. "You're here."

Hailey closed her eyes as the tears started flowing like a fountain. All these months were like hell, she had never felt so alone, so weak, so scared, so vulnerable in her entire life. "You're here."

"I'm here," Remus said rubbing her back in circles. "You're safe."

"I-I don't know where I was- But- But Bellatrix. She was there. And-And a death eater called Aurora. And-And Voldemort- And it was so-so dark... And- Sirius... I was so scared." She mumbled as she sobbed into his shirt. "They- They were talking- talking about hurting Harry and-"

"Hey hey." He interrupted her. "It's alright. You're safe. We all are." He assured her.

"They killed so many people... In front of me." She said shaking her head. "I-Innocent people... They did nothing... I couldn't do anything to save them..." Her voice was shaky as she held on to him tightly. "I watched them die."

"I'll be okay. Everything will be alright." He mumbled as she sobbed. He felt bad that's she had to go through everything at such a young age. He was about to get up to call Alastor Moody who was outside, but she grabbed his hand.

"P-Please don't leave me."

"Hey, I'm never leaving you okay?" He smiled. "Alastor!" The door opened as the man walked in. He looked at Hailey who was sitting on the bed before turning towards Remus. "Call the healers."

"Where's H-Harry? Ron? Hermione? Ginny? Neville? Luna?"

"They're all okay honey." He assured but she shook her head. She was about to open her mouth but he held his hand up to stop her. "You need to calm down Hailey. Lie back down."

"No..."

"Yes..." He said slowly pushing her head back on the pillow. She was still clutching onto his hand, her eyes were red as she tried her best not to close them. She didn't want to fall back asleep. What if she woke up again and found herself with the death eaters? But her body was too weak to listen to her and within a few seconds she was out again.

A healer had come to check up on her while she was passed out along with Molly Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks.

"She needs lots of food and sleep." The healer said. "Her condition is a bit better than before. It'll take time to heal completely, muggle technology takes time. But we still can't properly use any magical treatment on her. Her body is too fragile to take it."

"How long does she need to be here?" Molly asked stroking Hailey's hair.

"About one and a half week. Then she can go home. But Ms Potter needs to be on bed rest for a month or so."

"In no way am I letting her stay with the Dursleys," Molly said as soon as the healer left. "She may not be my daughter, and I may not be her legal guardian. But I'm not letting her go. Especially since she's in this condition. I'll talk to Dumbledore myself if I have to." She knew how the Dursleys treated the Potters. Ron had told her everything about them. And anyone at first glance could tell how bad they were treated. Every summer when the twins came to the burrow, it was almost like they kept getting thinner and thinner.

"No worries, Dumbledore already said we could keep her," Remus said. "The Dursleys don't know much about what happened. It's better to keep it that way..."

"Does Harry and the lots know she woke up?" Tonks asked who was sitting on the sofa.

"I owled them." He replied looking at Hailey. Even though she looked peaceful, he knew, inside her head , she was living a nightmare.

_____________________

"You knew where she was! You could've saved her!"

"I did what I had to do," Dumbledore said as the man in front of him scoffed.

"She's just a girl. She didn't have to go through this." He said as he paced back and forth. Trying to prove his point. "You made a sixteen year old girl go through hell just so your plan can work."

"I didn't want to hurt her. But through her pain, the wizarding world might be saved." Dumbledore argued back.

"Might be. They could've killed her Dumbledore. The Dark Lord doesn't show mercy on anyone. What if they killed her-"

"But they didn't."

"I swore to protect her. I swore to protect them." The man said standing tall on the ground. He was losing his temper. "And you're not doing a good job at helping me."

"You can't always protect them. At first glance, they both may just look like ordinary children... But you and I both know... They are far from ordinary."

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