The Space Boy and The Red Head

8 - Revenge Punch

Saturday -  6th January 1996

Fred, George, and Lee had gone to the infirmary before breakfast, so early the sun hadn't even risen yet. They had been turned away by Madam Pomfrey who insisted Apollo was resting and was NOT to be disturbed. So naturally, Fred being the fastest was sent to acquire food, whilst Lee kept watch for Madam Pomfrey leaving and George looked for a second entrance.

Fred finally returned with the stolen pastries and learned that whilst Pomfrey was still in there, there was also no other way in. Without Apollo, the usual brains of the group, a rather reckless plan was constructed.

Poppy was preparing the hospital bed for Apollo, setting up all the vials, bandages and other items she may need to heal the boy. The infirmary was peaceful at this time. No one else was there besides herself. Then her peace was destroyed. Three fists knocked furiously at the great wooden doors.

"I have told you three already! He is not to be disturbed!" She yelled, swinging open the doors. Finding the exact boys she was expecting, but very much not in the way she had expected.

"What in Merlin's beard have you lot done?" She ushered them in. Sitting each down on their own bed. She didn't miss the smug look on their faces as they walked inside, immediately scanning for their friend. One by one their faces fell as they realised all the other beds were empty. Apollo was missing.

"Where is he?" George questioned.

"He's resting I told you! Now what happened?" Madam Pomfrey was growing tense. She used her wand to discreetly draw the curtains around a bed down the far end of the wing, making it look like he was in the furthest away bed.

Each of the boys in-front of her needed medical treatment. As it had turned out they had taken it in turns to push one another down the moving staircases in order to be admitted themselves. Lee had a broken wrist and badly bruised leg. Fred had broken his nose and sprained his ankle but George had managed to break a rib and dislocate his shoulder. They also all had matching black eyes. It turns out they had been allowed a single revenge punch if they deemed the other had pushed them too hard.

Glancing at the window she noticed the sun was rising. She needed to retrieve Apollo, but she couldn't exactly do that now without revealing her lie. She'd already accidentally told Hagrid last night. She wasn't going to repeat her mistakes. She shuffled to the door, briefly stepping out then casting a corporeal Patronus charm. A silvery nightingale sprouted from her wand. She needed to get a message to Hagrid.

"Hagrid, something has come up. I need you to collect Apollo from the Shrieking Shack. He will need healing but I cannot risk bringing him up here at the moment. Bring him to your home and I'll be down shortly. Oh and he will most likely need robes. We barely made it their last night. I doubt his survived." She instructed the Patronus to relay to the Groundskeeper. Then it flew off and she could return to the three idiots.

As she walked back in she saw them trying to tiptoe over to the closed curtain.
"Boys!" She shouted. They quickly ran back to their beds, waiting for Pomfrey to finish healing them.

This had been a particularly bad full moon for Apollo. With the nights being so long it meant he was spending much longer in the wolf form that he would in the summer months. Thankfully his bones had all reformed properly when the sun rise came. This was a small sliver of good news within the bad though.

His clothes from the night before had been completely torn apart, he had barely got inside the shack when the transformation began so hadn't had time to change out of them. The clothes weren't the only thing destroyed though, as Apollo weakly sat up he saw that the shack's interior had been almost completely wrecked. Claw marks and imprints of where his teeth had pierced through wood littered the walls. Debris from the carnage was all over the floor. Again he smelled the sickening scent of Iron. He didn't even need to look at himself to know he had lost a lot of blood, he could tell by the splatters of it across the walls.

Apollo stumbled around the shack until he found the bedroom, grabbing a blanket from the bed. He wrapped himself up in it and wobbled back to the exit. Waiting for Madam Pomfrey to come let him out. His blood loss was making him dizzy now and he was on the verge of passing out.

That's how Hagrid found him. Loopy and drenched in blood. Having never seen the aftermath of a full moon Hagrid felt a great anger towards the world at letting something so horrible happen to someone who was just a boy.

"Blimey, McLaggen, let's get you out of here then" he said. Picking the boy up as if he weighed no more than a feather. Apollo was in too much pain to realise that it was the groundskeeper looking after him and not the nurse. In fact he didn't notice at all until he woke up a while later and saw the interior of Hagrid's hut. His wounds were rudimentarily patched up and Fang was licking his hand of the dried blood.

"Where am I? What happened? How'd I get here?" He rattled off. This earned a chuckle from Hagrid.

"Calm down then lad. I brought you 'ere. Poppy got caught up trying to help your lot. Hurt themselves trying to persuade Madam Pomfrey to let them in the infirmary, they did"

Apollo slowly nodded. Trying to process everything that must have happened.

"So do you know about..?" He trailed off.

"Well yes, but don't be upset with Madam Pomfrey now. I ain't got nothing against werewolves you see. Yer all just a bit misunderstood if you ask me" Hagrid was pouring out a cup of tea for each of them now. He pointed his little pink umbrella at the fireplace, a spark shot out and lit it. Warmth filled the small room and Apollo had to fight the urge to snuggle back into the big blanket draped over him. It was bigger, fluffier, and ever so slightly marginally cleaner than the one from the shack so he assumed it belonged to Hagrid.

If Hagrid had been a better healer Apollo wouldn't mind recovering here every full moon.

Eventually after kicking Lee, Fred and George out. Madam Pomfrey made it down to Hagrid's hut. She redressed Apollo's wounds and assessed the damage, all whilst apologising profusely that she hadn't been able to come down first thing. She gave Apollo a blood replenishing potion and a generous helping of chocolate.

"Just what the doctor ordered" she said winking as Apollo savoured the chocolate. Letting it melt on his tongue.

If he were to ignore the injuries, Apollo couldn't remember a full moon that had felt so peaceful and happy afterwards.