Shadows

Chapter Fourteen: Enter'acte

There was a crack in the ceiling. It wasn't a very big one, but it was irritating her. Otherwise, the ceiling was perfectly flawless and white; it was that one jagged crack above her bed that marred it. The purity of the ceiling was ruined by such a small thing. And it bothered her.

She didn't say anything about it to Strout, the motherly witch in charge of the Janus Thickey ward, the long-term ward for patients that had gone a bit nutty. Strout would probably fix it in a second, but Ginny wasn't speaking to her. She wasn't speaking to anyone, and hadn't for the three days she'd been kept in there.

All Ginny had done since she'd been there was stare. Stare at mediwitches, stare at healers, stare at ministry wizards who wanted to know who she'd been shouting about, stare at other patients (including the Longbottoms), stare at the small window at the top of the back wall, stare at the ceiling. She hadn't spoken a word. What was the point? They'd only call her crazy. At this point, she wasn't sure they were wrong.

Tom had barely spoken to her since she'd gotten there, and now of all times she most wanted to hear his voice. She wanted him to tell her what to do, to give her some plan of escape. But all he did was assure her he was real and say something about Persephone and a pomegranate.

She'd been reassured by Strout over and over again that her family wanted to see her, it was just that they couldn't until she started talking. This made Ginny all the more silent – she wasn't sure if she wanted her family to see her or not. They'd probably try to put up brave faces, act like nothing was wrong as they had all this time. Her mother might cry. And all the while they'd all just think she was completely mad.

Again, she wasn't sure she wasn't mad.

I am real. You know this.

She let out a breath of air she hadn't realized she was holding. There he was again. His voice reassuring, exactly (he was, after all, the reason she was here), but at least he was there. And he didn't pity her, like Strout and some of the other patients did.

Speaking of Strout, she was standing over her now, the woman's warm brown eyes staring down at Ginny's absent ones.

"Hello there, dear," she said kindly, though a little condescendingly. She treated everyone in the ward like her own child, which wasn't nice when you already had a mother. "How are you feeling?"

Ginny thought this a silly questions to ask. For one, she obviously wasn't going to answer. For another, she obviously wasn't feeling very well. But she waited, knowing Strout would go on in a moment – the woman was very chatty.

"I know you decided not to join the other patients outside for some fresh air – which I think was a very poor idea, you know, fresh air would do you some good, you haven't left this ward for days – but I don't like you just sitting here doing nothing," the woman said, her words spilling out of her mouth almost incomprehensibly fast. "I know you're very sad you haven't seen your family, but I've decided to clear you for visitors! So you'll be able to see some familiar faces!"

Strout said this brightly, and Ginny scowled. She didn't want to see anyone – and more importantly, she didn't want anyone to see her!

"Your boyfriend – that lovely Harry Potter, what a lucky girl you are, he's so handsome and not to mention brave, if I were his age I'd, well, nevermind – is here to see you, and he brought something for you that should help quite a bit!"

Harry.

Ginny felt a surge of panic, the first emotion she'd felt in that last tree days that wasn't dull. She sat up quickly, and then grasped the edges of the bed when her head began to spin. She hadn't moved much the last few days, and quick movements made her dizzy. Her vision blurred.