August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter Ninety-Seven

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When she woke up, light was seeping through the curtains and two people were sitting by her bedside. One, she expected. The other, not so much.

"Dylan!" she gasped, sitting up quickly.

"Lloyd!" Lloyd said sarcastically.

"I see you every day," she snapped, sending him a quick glare. And then she leaned over the side of the bed and hugged her sister for all she was worth. "You're here..."

"It's so you to be in the hospital wing the day I happen to visit, you know that?" Dylan commented while brushing Robyn's hair back. "You're in here more than you're not in here."

Robyn ignored the joke. "Olivia. Is she okay? Is she—"

"She's okay," Dylan reassured quickly, to which Robyn whimpered into her shoulder, "they've put her in a magically induced coma to let her body recover, so she's just sleeping now. Someone told me Madam Pomfrey'll keep her here for two weeks, maybe more. She needs essence of rue – a lot of it. Hey, why are you crying? She's okay."

Robyn could only let out a shaky breath in response. Dylan had no idea.

"How do you know all that?" Lloyd said curiously after the silence prolonged. "You're not becoming a Healer, are you?"

"No. Erm, I just heard it. Through the grapevine."

"Right then."

"Right. Actually, can I have a word with Robyn? Alone?"

"Why?" he pouted childishly.

Dylan widened her eyes comically as she said, "Girl stuff."

"Ugh."

"Wait," Robyn demanded, grabbing his hand before he could leave. "Thanks. You know, for getting Olivia here."

He shrugged. "She's your friend."

She's your friend. You almost killed her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded at him. He patted her hand and left.

"I'm not the only one who came to visit you for the New Year," Dylan said slyly, leaning back in her chair as if to be mysterious. Robyn immediately thought of Hermione – maybe she'd returned to school early? – but then Dylan continued, "He really surprised me."

"He?"

It wasn't her father, was it...?

No, he'd be arrested before he could make it five steps into the castle.

As Robyn frowned thoughtfully, Dylan went on, "Yep. To be honest, I didn't really recognise him – haven't exactly seen him since I was a toddler, have I? But- oh, there he is."

And who walked out of Madam Pomfrey's office but Nadir.

Wow, two of her favourite people had come to see her. It was really the last thing she deserved right now but she would take advantage of it while she could. If only Hermione were here too.

"Nadir," she smiled weakly, "I've missed you."

"Missed you, too, mate," he said lightly while hugging her. "How are you?"

She blinked. "Not great."

"No," he sighed, "of course not. "I'm sorry for...everything." Everything, of course, meaning Sirius, Lana, the Department of Mysteries, being taken by Voldemort, and so on, but he couldn't really say all that while Dylan was listening.