Out of the Shadows [Book Three]

Chapter Nine:

[[A/N: DUDE OKAY THIS CHAPTER IS INTENSE SERIOUSLY AND SLIGHTLY HEARTBREAKING FOR ME BUT I ONLY CRIED A BIT I SWEAR  ITS JUST; WE FINALLY GET TO SEE AMY GETTING SOME CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (PROPER DEVELOPMENT, NOT FAKED-BECAUSE-SHE-DOESN'T-WANT-PEOPLE-TO-KNOW SHE WAS A DEATH EATER DEVELOPMENT AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH AND YOU WILL ALSO HOPEFULLY LIKE IT AND GIVE ME COMMENTS SO THAT I KNOW WHAT YOU THINK PLS also im going to dedicate this chapter to Emmax_Mohler for being just as heartbroken about Draco in the last chapter as i was </3!  FIRST comment on this chapter will get the dedication for the next chapter <3) ]]

Chapter Nine: 

That night, long after that class ended, I finally found my way up to the Gryffindor Common room.  I could hardly move and I constantly had to have a hold of something in order to walk, whether it be a wall or a banister or a chair.  As I stood in front of the Fat Lady portrait, I tried desperately to wipe away the blood that caked my throat and face though I knew it was of no use. The lady tried to speak to me, her voice sounded panicked but all I could think about was getting into the common room and finding Ginny and Neville.  

"Dumbled-do-dore," I felt myself rocking back and forth and knew that I wouldn't be able to stand for much longer but I had no other choice, I had to make it into the room at the very least.  As the portrait swung open, I stumbled through the hole on shaking legs.  Only three people were here, all seemingly waiting for me as they rushed over to me.  Collin, Ginny and Neville.  Ginny wrapped me in a hug and the small amount of added wait caused me to collapse, my knees slamming into the floor even though Ginny struggled desperately to keep me upright.  

I clutched onto her cloak with trembling hands that couldn't quite grasp the right way.  She knelt with me, letting me lean into her as she smoothed my hair and whispered repeatedly that it would be okay.  It wasn't until then that I realized I'd begun crying again.  I sobbed into the robes of a girl who I'd used to hate but now realized she was possibly my best friend; I could see in that moment just how much she cared for me, how worried she had been and I knew I had made a terrible decision in turning my back on my brother to join the Dark Lord.  If I hadn't, I probably would have had this girl to care for me all my years at Hogwarts but instead I had missed out on the first five of them.

"I'll go get Madam Pomfrey!" I heard Collin say before he rushed out of the still-open portrait door.  His pounding feet could be heard for several moments before he got too far away for us to hear.  

"Can you move, Amy?" Ginny questioned, her voice quivering as she gripped me even tighter.  It hurt to so much as be touched, even by my clothing, but I wouldn't tell her that because I needed the comfort of knowing someone was there.  I had never been hurt so badly, so filled with pain as I was in that moment; never been so terrified in my life.  I just needed to know someone was there, no matter how painful it was.  

Shaking my head ever so slightly, I watched as Neville stood over me uncertainly with his eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears.  

"Help me move her to the couch before Pomfrey gets here," Ginny ordered him, taking control of the situation quickly.  They both grabbed one end of my body with Ginny at my feet and Neville at my shoulders and moved me closer to the fire before setting me up on the couch just as Ginny had instructed.  Neville and she both leant down, Neville taking over the job of smoothing my hair out soothingly while Ginny took her wand out and muttered the cleaning spell.  

In an effort to keep Neville from being too upset, and Ginny as well, I muttered out an 'I'm okay' or at least attempted to but it sounded odd as my tongue was swollen.  

"No, you're not.  People have been tortured into insanity with this curse, my own parents were, Amy, so.. so don't lie to me, I'm not some stupid kid anymore."  The tears spilled over his fire-whiskey brown eyes as his hand attached itself to mine tightly, crushing it but I couldn't have cared less.  I needed the comfort and it seemed like he did as well.  

Within moments, we could now hear two sets of footsteps running towards the common room, one slightly slower than the other but not by much.  Madam Pomfrey, who I could barely make out over my blurring vision, took one look at me before beginning to command the three students to help her.  

"Neville, fetch Minerva and bring her here immediately; Ginny go to Madam Sprouts office and ask her for some Aconite, then go to Slughorn and tell him we need a pain relief potion and an Awakening potion, the strongest he has of both; be as quick as you can. Collin, I need you to go to the boys dormitory, find the tallest boy there and take his largest shirt; then bring it back here so we can get her into something less confining."  

My eyesight was darkening more and more by the second and by the time I knew all three of my friends were gone, I could feel myself on the verge of sleep yet Pomfrey demanded that I stay awake until Ginny returned.  All of me shook as if I was in the midst of an earthquake, I couldn't stop and every movement I made kept me in pain.  I just wanted it to stop.  I had never wished for death, not really, but in that moment I wish I had died at the end of my fifth year and that I wasn't able to be saved.  

Then I thought of Remus Lupin, the man who had been with me that night after realizing it was me under that Death Eater's mask; how his face had filled with desperation as I choked on my own blood and I realized what I really wanted.  I wanted my godfather here, I wanted Harry here, I wanted Draco here; I didn't want to be alone and yet Pomfrey had sent all three of my friends away from me.  

"P-pl-eease, I want G-Gin.."  I trailed off, forgetting what I was trying so desperately to say before letting my eyes wander around to take my mind off of the pain.  My stomach felt odd, sort of tight and getting ever tighter before nausea swept over me and I was vomiting straight blood over the side of the couch just as Neville and McGonagall stepped into the Common Room.  

Neither wasted any time in rushing over to me, Neville going to the back of the couch and grasping ahold of my hand while McGongall cleaned up my mess before kneeling down on the now-clean floor.  She lifted her wand and soon enough a light was on the tip and she was using it to shine the light into my eyes, causing me to cry out as the darkness was obliterated only to be replaced with what seemed to be as bright as the sun itself.  

 "It's okay, Amy, you're okay, just let them do what they have to do," Neville whispered, his grip on my hand tightening but for once the touch didn't seem all that painful.  Collin, who I had never noticed had come in, was standing at the foot of the couch with his eyes staring up towards the ceiling as if he couldn't stand the thought of looking at me.  It wasn't until after I noticed him that I realized the pain of my blue jeans and tight shirt were gone and at the feel of it my clothes had already been replaced by the shirt he had been sent to get.  

More students were pouring out of the dorms, probably curious as to the noise but soon whispers were filling the area.  

"What have we done?" I heard someone whisper before finally realizing that Ginny herself had made it back with all that Pomfrey had requested.  

"Sorry it took so long, Slughorn couldn't find the Awakening potion for several minutes."  Ginny's voice, however annoying it used to be for me, had never sounded so soothing before, so calming.  I felt myself nearly immediately relax once I'd heard it again; finally knowing that all three of my friends were back and in one piece and safe.  They were safe.  

"Well, it's good thing he found it, we needed this desperately, for both Minerva, Amaryllis and myself.  We'll be here for quite some time."    

"Is Dra-ac-o okay?"  I questioned, wondering briefly why he wasn't here; why he wasn't with me.  I needed him desperately, just as I needed Collin, Ginny and Neville.  

"He's fine, don't worry about him," McGonagall said, brushing a cold clothe over my head, "Worry about yourself."