The Lion and the Eagle |Neville Longbottom|

37. Some Insight into Ember

            Ember had been my roommate in the hospital, it was revealed later the first night I woke up in St. Mungo's. We made little conversation, as the events prior still lingered in both of our brains.

Since Ember had no underlying injuries, she would be released sooner than me. My time was running short in getting a real conversation out of her. I doubted I would see her once she was released from the hospital.

I was on day three in my stay. My head felt a little better every day, but the nurses continued to insist that until my concussion was totally gone I was to remain here. What a bummer.

Ember's leave was later this afternoon. She had a few hours left until she and I were to potentially never talk to each other again.

"Is this how we're going to leave things?" I asked. After the night I figured out it was her, we kept the curtain pulled back so we could see one another. Malfoy would pull it across when he made his visits. He saw Ember quite often and stayed long.

"I don't want to, but, I think it's best if we do," she said, picking at her hands. "Our history is tainted. We were pitted against one another."

"But you didn't want to kill me. I didn't want to kill you."

"Draco told me I had tried." She refused to look at me. "That hag Lyla had my mind all twisted around. I'd only met her a select few times, when the Malfoys held their yearly holiday party."

"Were you one of them?"

Ember exposed her forearms. "Does that answer it for you?" They were as clean as mine, minus the fading tattoo of our numbers we were given.

"Sort of, but not definitively."

Ember sighed. "It was tricky with Draco. We shared the same House, but our ideals were different. I was not of pure blood, to which made me believe he'd never be interested in me. When it came to meeting his parents...his mother was wary of my blood status, his father never liked me. In truth, I liked his mum better." She cleared her throat. "Draco gets a bad reputation, but what many people fail to understand is that...he didn't want the Mark. He took it out of fear of death. The toll it took on him...the other Death Eaters didn't care. That whole family suffered, Draco most of all. He was still a child, he is now even if he is of age. I shouldn't be telling you his life story, it's not mine to tell."

"But if you're not pureblood..."

"His parents never outed me. Draco would cover for me when they had the holiday parties. He knew that I would be in danger if it was ever found out." Her hands clenched. "It wasn't until after Voldemort died that my lie got exposed. The Malfoys were considered traitors after the War. They wanted Draco to hurt. We went into hiding until they found us. Draco got away, and you know how the rest of my story goes."

"What's next for you both, then?"

"I want to finish school. Draco can't bear to go back."

"Understandable."

"Did you ever find out about Bree?"

I shook my head.

"Ember." Draco strolled in right past my bed to hers. "They're finishing up your paperwork. You're almost out of here." He made a nod my way. "Jenelle."

"Draco. Hey...I never did thank you, for lending Nev and me a hand from before."

"'Nev'? Oh bloody hell, Jenelle, you're head over heels for him." Draco groaned. "I mean, it was fairly obvious how he feels about you, but—"

"Draco!" Ember chastised her partner. "Leave Jen alone. You're not here to torment her, you're here to see me."

"Yes, darling." As always, Draco pulled the curtain between Ember and I, allowing the lovebirds some privacy. I gave myself permission to blush once I was sure neither of them could see. Draco knows I have feelings for Neville. Did he just confirm Neville feels the same way? I could try to get the answer out of him, but I doubted he would allow it. The same could be said for Ember.

If nothing else, despite our tainted history, she was in my corner, at least.

The two had the curtain pulled for what seemed like forever, until a nurse came to retrieve them both. Draco was more than happy to leave with the nurse, but Ember lingered, gingerly taking her time to cross the room. She stopped at the foot of my bed.

"Well, I guess this is me," she said awkwardly.

"Hey, no hard feelings," I told her. "Seriously. We were both...we had someone else behind our actions. We wouldn't have...we wouldn't have tried to kill each other. R-right?"

Ember swallowed, avoiding my eyes. "Right. Yeah. We—we wouldn't have." She exhaled. "Well, I hope you get free soon, Jenelle. And I hope that...that things get better for you."

"Same to you." I inclined my head towards her.

There was an emptiness in my chest once she departed. Aside from visitors and nurses for rounds to check on me, I was back to being alone.