Luck of Nines

39

      Morning dawned quietly, with Harry getting up and stretching with the sun, there was nothing else to do so he quietly moved about the infirmary, without his shoes- he hadn't been wearing them at all since he'd taken them off before getting into bed with Chipped Fang back in the dorm- his footsteps were whisper quiet, not hearable to any normal human and even to his own finely tuned hearing just slightly above the sound of quiet, peaceful breathing. He remained undisturbed as he poked around the room, but there wasn't much to look at.

The walls were the same stone as any other part of the castle, but the ceiling had glass panes in it, or at least it looked as if it did, and the walls had large windows interspersed between the beds. They only opened a crack, he had discovered, just enough to fit out a few fingers. Or pour out a potion. The beds had a bedside table set between them every other bed, as well as a curtain that could wrap around the bed blocking it from view. The curtain attached to the wall and followed what had to be an invisible track- he knew he could stand upon it, it was flat and smooth, although it was only a few centimeters in width.

Plenty of space was between each small, simple bed. They were identical in make and in the white linen which covered it. A small office with a window sat opposite the entry, three doors without windows sat next to it.

All in all, it was a boring place, by the time the sun had fully rose he had grown tired of his exploration and had returned to sit on his bed.  It was going to be a long day if he simply remained trapped here, but thankfully just as he was beginning to reconsider his option of simply walking back and finding his way back to the Slytherin dorms regardless of any magic on the exit, Madam Pompfrey walked in.

    She looked a little worse for wear and startled when she saw him.  "You're awake!"

     She seemed to expect some form of response so after a moment he simply nodded and shrugged.

      "Well, I see... how are you feeling dear, that must have been quite the ordeal."

      He wasn't entirely sure what he was expected to say, was the people who manhandled him, who could capture and control him so easily shaken to this extent? He felt a little pathetic at the thought of it. Her worry seemed to increase as he simply stared at her trying to decipher how her words could be taken and what his response was supposed to be.

     "I..." he trailed off, "I am still processing it all..." he finally stated. It's not real, I'm going to wake up, it's only a dream, Malfoy had repeated some variation of those lines over and over again to himself as if it would make it true. "It doesn't feel real..." he stated, "Like it's only some sort of dream, I- I don't know what to think."  

      The answer seemed to be satisfactory as tears pricked at her eyes, and she moved in fairly quickly, for a human, arms wide. Despite knowing this was likely a 'hug' he instinctively flinched back. He didn't like it when humans wrapped their arms around them, forcing him under their control to be taken where they liked. He didn't like any form of unexpected or sudden contact with anybody that he didn't initiate, even then nothing that restrained him or placed them in a position of control over him.

     The woman pulled back quickly seeing that and instead gave him a pitying look, "It's going to be okay, you know that right?"

     "Yes." He dutifully answered.

     "Good... that's good. I still need to bring the Headmaster in so that... so he can take your statement on what happened that night. No one is blaming you, but we need to know the honest truth of what happened, okay?  Other than that you can rest and take the day off, don't worry about classes, just recover."

     "I'd rather return to class after."

      She frowned, "You've gone through a serious, traumatic incident, you need time to recover and come to terms with things. It will only get worse if you don't accept that what happened really did happen."

     He rather thought being trapped in this room would be the traumatic incident, but he pulled on what would work more on the Mediwitch then stating those particular words would, "I... I know that, but- I just keep thinking about it and wondering if anything could have changed and..." he carefully chose his next words now that he made it clear he needed to have something to do. He knew self doubt and that heart wrenching feeling of sadness from watching a pack member die at the brutal hands of a beast, it seemed like that heart tearing sadness was what was expected of him here, "I... feel as if I need the routine of class." He started off with a stammer and then turned further away as if embarrassed before quietly admitting, "I don't want to be trapped in a room even more." 

     He didn't run up trees and stay there anymore when being chased by loud barking animals. He fought, he lured, he tricked, he hid, but he didn't trap himself in a position like that again. There had been very little chance at all that he could get down without meeting the thing's fangs, even while it had been occupied with Rosey.  Out of sight didn't also have to mean trapped.  When he hid, he choose an option which allowed for escape or sneak attack whenever possible. Of course these days it rarely came to that. But... the lessons of your youth stuck with you.

       Madam Pompfrey still seemed torn, having been silent for awhile now, but eventually she gave in and went to fetch the headmaster.