An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Seventy-Eight

"...lexa!"

I groaned, immediately scowling at whoever or whatever was pulling me back to consciousness. I could tell that the room was uncomfortably light even though I hadn't even opened my eyes yet, and I could feel someone shaking me by the shoulder. If I'd had even an ounce more energy, I would've smacked them.

"Alexa! Are you awake? Come on, please!"

I scowled more deeply, but I was officially awake enough to recognize Angelina's voice as well as the note of panic in it. It took an almost Herculean effort, but I managed to force my eyelids open. Angelina and Alica were both hovering over me, backlit by the sun streaming through the dorm windows and looking incredibly blurry through my squint.

"Thank god! Alexa, where the hell have you been?" she cried. Alicia moved closer too, chiming in before I could string enough words together to form a sentence.

"Cedric said you were going to fight Umbridge and try to save someone from You-Know-Who, and then you didn't come back last night! We just woke up and found you in bed, looking like hell, by the way-"

I groaned and mustered enough energy to flap my hand at them, and they both instantly fell silent, watching me intently.

"What time is it?" I managed, my words sticking and slurring together and my voice way more gravely than it ever usually was.

"It's nine! But Alexa-"

"In the morning?"

"Yes, in the morning!" cried Angelina. "Alexa, please, we've been worried sick!"

I let out a long sigh. I'd barely been asleep three hours, although nine was later than I usually slept on a normal weekday. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and drift back off to sleep, but I couldn't leave my friends hanging like that, and I honestly doubted they'd let me.

"Harry and Hermione beat Umbridge. I don't know how, I didn't get details on that. We went to the Ministry of Magic and fought Death Eaters. It was... it was fucking stupid..."

I closed my eyes again as sharp knives of regret and guilt shot through me. I brought my hands up to rub at my eyes, then sighed and forced myself to look at Angelina and Alicia again.

"We all made it out, though. I punched Draco's dad in the face. Dumbledore showed up... it was a whole thing."

"And... and You-Know-Who?" asked Angelina. I let out a long sigh.

"Not there, as far as I know. Fudge showed his stupid face, but I just... I didn't quite have it in me to go punch him, too. I broke my arm, but Madam Pomfrey fixed it. And Ana..."

I trailed off, the memories all catching up to me again. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, but my entire body physically felt like shit, which made it a little harder to do anything close to meditating.

"Alright, you clearly need more rest than you got," came Alicia's voice. I managed to drag one eye back open to look at her and Angelina. They both still looked concerned, but a little less frantic and panicked than before. "Get back to sleep. When you wake up, you can tell us the whole story."

I didn't have it in me to do anything more than nod. I was already half asleep again by the time Alicia finished saying the word 'sleep'. The longest day of my life so far wasn't done catching up with me yet.

The next time I woke up, it was still light, but no one else was in the room as far as I could tell. My muscles felt less exhausted and my body less sore, but I still felt like shit. My mouth and throat were bone dry, and I was absolutely starving. I felt like I'd been asleep for years, rather than however many hours it had really been.