The Hollow Beneath Hogwarts

34. Hear You Me

When Sloane finally came to, the first thing she noticed was the smell. Clean sheets. Potion ingredients. Sterilised bandages.

Hospital Wing.

Relief hit her first. Then pain.

Every inch of her body ached like she'd been dragged across broken glass. Her skin burned beneath layers of bandages, and even breathing too deeply sent sharp pain through her ribs.

She groaned softly and forced her eyes open.

Morning sunlight streamed weakly through the tall windows beside her bed, pale and grey beneath heavy storm clouds outside. Rain still tapped softly against the glass.

For a moment she just lay there staring upward, trying to piece together what had happened. The room. The darkness. The creature. The claws.

Her chest tightened violently. Sloane immediately pushed herself upright too quickly. Pain exploded through her body. "Ah—shit—"

"You're awake." The familiar voice pulled her attention sideways.

Sloane turned carefully and found Draco sitting in the bed beside hers.

Or rather...

Sulking in the bed beside hers. His left arm was stretched outward while Madam Pomfrey aggressively wrapped fresh bandages around deep claw marks running from elbow to wrist.

Draco looked pale and exhausted. His hair stuck messily in every direction like he'd been repeatedly running his hands through it.

Yet the second he saw her awake, relief flashed openly across his face before he quickly hid it again.

"Oh, Miss Sage!" Madam Pomfrey immediately hurried toward her bedside. The matron looked simultaneously relieved, furious and exhausted. "I am very glad to see you conscious," she sighed. "How are you feeling?"

Sloane considered the question carefully. "Like I've been attacked," she shrugged weakly.

Madam Pomfrey gave her a very unimpressed look. 

"Well," another voice muttered nearby, "that would be because you were." Sloane looked toward the foot of her bed. And blinked. Apparently the entire gang had taken up residence in the Hospital Wing. Blaise leaned against one bedpost with his arms folded. Harry and Hermione stood nearby looking exhausted. Ginny sat cross-legged on a chair with Luna curled calmly beside her reading an upside-down magazine.

And Ron—

Ron stood awkwardly near the end of the bed like he wasn't entirely sure whether he was welcome there or not.

Sloane stared at all of them quietly for a moment. Alive. Safe. Together.

Something in her chest loosened slightly. "Oh," she said faintly. "That explains it."

Blaise snorted loudly. Draco actually smirked.

Then suddenly another thought hit her.

Sloane sat upright slightly. "Where's Goose?"

Hermione immediately smiled softly. "Safe." Sloane visibly relaxed. "I left him in our dorm," Hermione explained gently. "I shrunk some books down to his size and left food and water for him."

Draco rolled his eyes. "He's currently living a better life than the rest of us."

"Thank you," Sloane said sincerely.

Hermione nodded.

For a few seconds silence settled over the group. Safe silence.

But the moment Sloane blinked—