Deceit (Harry Potter fanfic)

If Looks Could Kill

Xander Reese. The words circled around my head like a breath of fresh air. This was impossible... Xander was dead. I saw him, pale as ghost, eyes wide open and no pulse. Yet there was a spark of hope, somehow the impossible suddenly seemed possible. McGonagall seemed to think he was alive, my initial instincts screamed at me that she was lying but the excited beat of my heart drove out all rational thought. My love for Xander clung desperately to any string of hope that it could find, no matter how weak.

"Thank you for informing me, Professor" I sighed "may I leave now?"

"You may, I hope that you do not make losing points for your house a routine" she replied.

I gave no answer, my mind was on other matters as I hurriedly left the classroom. Instead of heading for the common room as I had promised Alice, I sprinted to the secret passageway to Honeydukes. This passageway was by far my favourite way of getting out of Hogwarts. Entering the passageway, I swept away a few hanging cobwebs. The passage was dark and damp as it was scarcely used and the only source of light was from my wand, the beams of light danced creating ghostly shadows on the walls but I ignored them; my mind only focused on counting steps. Forty six, forty seven, forty eight... I figured that by fifty I would be outside of the Hogwarts grounds and able to apparate, and that's exactly what I did.

I apparated directly into the main lobby of St. Mungos; it was a place of extreme cleanliness, the floors were white, the walls were white and all of the staff wore white. I considered asking the receptionist for directions then dismissed the thought immediately. What if he wasn't here and I asked her? She'd probably think that I was mad. Instead I decided to examine the signs and hope for the best, I found a sign that read 'Ground floor: Artefact accidents' and guessed that this was the floor on which Xander would be situated if he had indeed fallen off his broom, which I very much doubted. For a while I wandered down corridors passing various departments until I came to coma patients.

The door seemed huge and imposing, I could not see in as the windows had been made out of a kind of mirrored glass; looking at myself I realised what a mess I looked, my hair was wild and my Hogwarts robes were covered in cobwebs. Sighing, I brushed myself off and made an attempt to fix my hair... truthfully I was just delaying entering that room. I was scared, scared that I would find Xander in a terrible state but even more fearful that I would not find him at all. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Inside the room was like any other hospital ward, six beds were set up in the room with only simple curtains to divide them, the room smelled of disinfectant and seemed completely deserted except for the patients. From where I stood, I could only see the nearest two beds, one contained an elderly man and the other a girl of around seven. I sighed, but couldn't help wondering why they were here. What had happened to them? Although there was only me and the unconscious patients in the room I felt obliged to tiptoe and make as little noise as possible, perhaps I viewed them like sleeping souls whom I did not want to wake, perhaps I simply did not want to be discovered.

I was silent until I found him.

In that one moment I felt as though gravity had no hold on me, my spirit bounced off the ceiling in jubilation then plummeted to the ground. His hair lay messily on his pillow and bruises covered his neck and what was visible of his body, the angry purple blotches contrasted with his deathly pale skin. His eyes were closed and his mouth was set into a frown. Despite this he appeared like an angel, as though a soft glow radiated from his very being, the weak fluttering of his breath seemed louder than anything else, strong like a roaring lion. A lion. How fitting for my noble prince. I grasped his hand and felt its solidness, it's life. Though it was cold, it was most certainly alive. Inside my soul wept for him, praising the magic that allowed him to be alive now. His beating heart, his ragged breath, the slow rise and fall of his chest; I treasured each movement as though it had been his last. Then with a certain resolution I seated myself and decided to tell him the truth. As I knew he would not have been able to hear me, I wrote it for him and gently placed the letter under his pillow, the letter which I had written contained no names nor specific events so that it could not be traced, I only hoped that Xander would be able to recognise my hand and therefore realise that it was from me. I kissed him on the forehead then apparated away, I would stay another night but not tonight; there were things that I had to see to.

My destination was Hogsmeade, there was one more thing that I needed to do tonight. I was mad, really mad. Someone had to pay for this and I knew exactly who...

~

I strode through the doors with a confidence that I hadn't felt in a long while, with my wand raised I caught him completely off guard.

"Amelia, I have no time for your childish moods" he tutted. I raised an eyebrow, then moved towards him, pressing my wand into his neck "What did you do to him?" I hissed.

"Him?" He queried, sounding confused.

"You know exactly whom I speak of, the boy who is lying in a coma in St.Mungos"

"So you finally figured it out? Took you long enough, huh" he cackled. Then with one fluid movement he knocked my wand from my hand and it spiralled through the air landing in a far corner.

"You didn't answer my question" I stated, stubbornly.

"You don't want to know the answer" he shrugged "all you need to know is that he won't wake up unless you do as you're told"

"What do you mean he won't wake up!" I screamed, not caring who could hear me.

"Exactly that, he won't wake up until you join us properly, Amelia. I'm sure you can wait that long" he spat.

"Why? What is this? You tell me you killed him, by Merlin's name I saw him dead! Now I find that he is still alive! Do you find this funny?"

"Whether I find it amusing or not is irrelevant. He never was dead, curtesy of a simple potion which you'll find in the restricted section. The Mudblood is of no importance, he is merely an insurance policy, you are a loose cannon and such measures were necessary" he replied in a matter-of-fact way.

"You think I'm unpredictable. I'll show you how unpredictable I can be, in fact I'll go to Dumbledore right now and..." I shouted, but Mad-Eye cut me off, grabbing my wrist sharply and spinning me so I faced him. His face hovered only inches from my own, his magical eye spinning.

His voice was low and menacing and as he spoke an ugly smirk spread across his face "You will do no such thing. If you do, not only will your stupid Mudblood boyfriend never wake up but I will make sure that his heart never beats again. I'll kill him properly this time. Oh, and if that's not enough of a threat, perhaps I'll tell mummy that you have taken a liking to Mudbloods, I can't imagine that would go down too well"

In that moment my face had paled considerably; I could not bear to lose Xander again. Yanking my wrist from his grasp I scowled at him with such hatred that if looks could kill he would be long dead.