Snakes and Ladders (Fem!HPxLM) (DISCONTINUED)

Redamancy

Lucius looked down at the unconscious girl he had laid on the bed covers. She seemed so small at that moment, and he fought back the tears as he waited for the healer to arrive, praying to any deity that was listening to allow her to live. His tie and suit jacket lay in a heap at his feet, the first two buttons of his bloodstained dress shirt unbuttoned and his hair a birds nest from the number of times he had ran his hands through the long tendrils. He knew he looked a mess. He simply didn't care enough to do anything to change that.

She was breathing but barely, breaths shallow. Her bloodstained dress dwarfed the bed, forever tainted and ruined by a stranger. He looked up at the sound of the Healer apparating into the room, promptly followed by two other medi-witches. She wasted no time for pleasantries and automatically got to work on stemming the bleeding and figuring out what she had been hit with. Lucius remained silently stressed in the seat he had dragged to the bedside; he only moved the seat back a few inches to make room for the bustling medi-witches around him. He never once looked away from Hyacinth's face.

Despite the blood that stained her dress and his shirt, she looked peaceful, her facial features soft in the forced sleep. She was much paler, though, so pale he would've feared she was dead had it not been for the shallow but steady breaths she was taking.

After what felt like an age, the Healer, Madame Sage Dempsey, stood back with a sigh. Her face was morose yet satisfied, an expression Lucius didn't quite understand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his late wife slip into the frame above the fireplace, painted face awash with grief and desperate concern.

The Healer began to speak, turning to face Lucius. "She's been hit with a modified diffindo. This version of the spell goes far deeper than the original and can cause much worse damage than its counterpart. Thankfully though, she will pull through this. I am unsure how long that will take as the spell has done some extensive damage." the healer explained, and Narcissa whimpered at the words 'extensive damage'.

"What type of damage?" Lucius rasped, finally tearing his eyes away from Hyacinth's face to meet Madame Sage Dempsey's eyes. The two medi-witches silently moved to stand at the foot of the bed.

The healer sighed, her eyes becoming downcast before she answered.

"The spell cut into the lining of her stomach and one of her kidneys. It narrowly missed her intestines." The healer hesitated before continuing, "The spell targeted other parts of her body, but I am afraid I cannot divulge what those parts are until Miss Riddle is awake and I can discuss the matter with her." she finished, and Lucius' eyebrows furrowed.

He shook his head silently before his eyes trailed back to Hyacinth's face again, his face becoming emotionless and his stare blank. Madame Sage Dempsey turned to the two medi-witches at the foot of the bed to give her instructions.

"Healer Hutton, please get Miss Riddle into some more comfortable clothing?" She asked, and one of the medi-witches nodded and slipped into Hyacinth's walk-in closet. The act felt violating for everyone involved, but it needed to be done.

"Healer Draper, once Miss Riddle has been changed, please hook her up to an I.V of glucose, a strong painkiller and insert a feeding tube. I fear it may take a while for her to come round," Madame Sage Dempsey sighed heavily. She had become quite close to Hyacinth during their sessions together, so seeing her in such a pitiful state brought pain to her chest.

The four occupants in the room looked up at the sound of the door opening and shutting. Tom looked at his daughter, distraught written all over his face at the sight of his daughter looking so close to death's door. The healer made her way to him, talking to him in a whisper as the medi-witches helped each other to get Hyacinth changed into warm fleece pyjamas.

They gently lay her back on the bed, this time pulling the blankets up and over her, leaving her arms out to be hooked up to the I.V that one of the medi-witches was setting up on the opposite side of the bed while the other medi-witch set to completing the rather disturbing act of inserting an Orogastric feeding tube. Lucius had to turn away. When he turned back, he nearly cried at the sight before him.

She looked far younger than her now 16 years; her face was deathly pale and sickly looking. She looked small and vulnerable, and Lucius wanted to snatch her up and run to a place where she'd never be able to be hurt again.

Tom came over, dragging a chair lifelessly behind him, sitting at Lucius' side. Lucius had never seen Tom like this. He was worse than when Hyacinth was taken as a baby, but Lucius supposed that Hyacinth wasn't sitting on death's doorstep back then. Now she was.

"Where is the bastard?" Lucius asked, voice void of emotion as the shock of the night's events settled in. Tom didn't look away from his daughter as he answered, staring at her as if should he look away, she'd be gone when he next looked.

"In one of the cells in the dungeon", came his reply, voice as emotionless as Lucius'. Narcissa sobbed quietly in her picture frame above the fireplace.

"Is he dead yet?" Was Lucius' next question, turning to look at the side of Tom's face. Part of him wanted the answer to be no, he hadn't had his turn yet, and Gods, did he want his turn. But another part of him wanted the answer to be yes, because to have his turn, he'd need to leave her side, and he didn't want to do that.

"Not yet," Tom whispered, slight bitterness lacing his words, "I wish he were. But Hyacinth deserves that pleasure. Doesn't mean he won't suffer in the meantime, though." His words took on a darker tone, eyes remaining on his daughter as she lay unconscious in bed. She would have her revenge. He'd make sure of it.

Lucius turned back to look at Hyacinth again, being struck with the realisation that he was in love with her. Deeply.