In The Shadow Of His Love (Reader vs Sebastian Sallow)

Chapter 20 - The hospital wing

Sometimes there are a lot of voices around, sometimes it is deadly quiet. Sometimes there are steps, sometimes whispers. Sometimes there is no one around, and sometimes Riley can feel a light touch on her hand. 

When she is finally able to open her eyes, the room is dimly lit. Everything is blurry and her head is hurting. Her body feels numb, and when she tries to move her limbs, they are beyond heavy.

"Hello?" She makes a small sound and her voice sounds hoarse. She cannot recognise the room she's in, but her guess is in the hospital wing. Or is she in such bad shape that she's at St. Mungos?

"Ah, you're awake" Riley can hear someone walking toward her and recognises the face. It is the matron. She is in the hospital wing indeed. "How are you feeling?" Matron asks and Riley tries to sit up, but she pushes her back to bed.

"Rough. How long I've been here for?" Riley obeys and stays in bed, looking around. There are a lot of sweets and cards on the bedside table next to her.

"Only two days so far. I've started to be worried about you. Considered moving you to St. Mungos, but the headmaster wants you here. Now if you excuse me for a second, I need to let Professor Hecat know you are awake. She asked me to notify her straight away" Matron says and Riley closes her eyes. Two days? That cannot be good. What hit her? Everything seems like a blur. Sebastian and Leander were arguing and then everything went blank. Did someone jinx her? Did she stupidly jump in between them and got the full experience of two probably very powerful jinxes?

"So glad to see you awake" Professor Hecat is walking towards them and the matron leaves, giving them privacy. She sits down and looks at Riley, smiling. "What happened?" She asks and Riley groans, not sure what to say.

"We were on the Ravenclaw balcony doing homework" Riley starts and Professor smiles encouragingly.

"I need names and details. Everything you remember" She interrupts her quickly and Riley nods.

"Me, Everett, Amit, and Erin. Then Everett and I went to Quidditch Pitch as we wanted to get a bit of flying done. We got brooms and after a while, we decided to go back to the ground," Riley starts explaining and is very grateful Everett thought about everything. Her story sounds believable, there are witnesses to it. Technically, it is exactly what happened. With a small difference of flying off the Ravenclaw balcony instead of walking to the Quidditch Pitch.

"What happened after?" Professor Hecat enquires as Riley closes her eyes again. The headache is getting worse.

"There was something happening at the Summoners Court and Leander stopped us and started to ask questions. Then Sebastian appeared and they were arguing about something" Riley is trying not to go into details, although she has a feeling Professor may know more than she's admitting to. 

"Have any of them ever attacked you before?" She asks and Riley gives her a confused look. Why would she ask that? It was an accident. She did jump in between them. Or didn't she? Surely they wouldn't attack her. Definitely not Sebastian.

"No. And I don't think they did attack me there. I think I stupidly interfered and got in the middle and accidentally..." but Professor Hecat does not let her finish.

"There is no accident when a student ends up unconscious for two days," Professor Hecat says calmly and pierces Riley with her look. "What did actually happen?" She asks with a comforting smile and Riley gives up, letting out a sigh.

"Leander asked me to go to the Ball with him, I said no, but he still pushed and Sebastian interfered. Then they argued and everything else is just a blur. I remember trying to get in between them, to push them apart, and I think they tried to jinx one another and I ended up here. I don't believe there were any ill intentions towards me, Professor" Riley says and has a bad feeling. Why is she questioning her like this? And what did happen to Leander and Sebastian?