Not a Gryffindor - a Harry Potter fan fiction

Chapter 18

I spent the next stretch of time drifting in and out of a dizzying, dreamless sleep. Half of the time, I didn't know whether I was conscious or not.

After a few hours, or possibly days, Carrie shook me awake. I began to grumble about the flaming pain my body was in, until she clamped her hand over my mouth.

"Shh, someone's coming!"

I froze. I couldn't handle any more torture; I could barely sit up and the pain was beginning to consume me.

The door creaked open and Ray peeked round. I just mustered the energy to glare at him before I closed my heavy eyelids once again. I heard yelling and saw a flash before I lost consciousness.

***

There was a strong warmth spreading through my body, filling every cell. It was so powerful
and delighting, I forgot all the pain that had taken over my body for longer than my weak mind could remember. I began to notice that someone was muttering gently.

My eyes opened and I instantly sat up. Ray had his wand pointed in my direction, Carrie sitting next to him, looking at him admiringly. My fists clenched. He must've imperised her!

I turned back to Ray and punched him in the nose, but my arm was weak and he looked surprised, but was otherwise fine. This annoyed me even more, so I looked around desperately and felt my heart leap as I noticed a lamp on the floor. I picked it up and swung-

"Zara no!-"

The lamp came in contact with his temple and with a bang and a shocked expression, Ray slumped over, unconscious.

"Zara what?-"

I shuffled over to Carrie and shook her.

"Are you ok? Oh Carrie, he must have had you imperised!"

Carrie stared at me, then slapped me sharply across the face. I clutched at my cheek.

"What the heck was that for?! I just saved us!"

"Oh God. Zara, he was on our side! He rescued us!"

"...Oh."

"Okay, sorry for slapping you, but he needed defending! You should have seen him! He doesn't seem like much, but he's not a bad fighter - I still managed to nearly strangle him to death before he told me that he was rescuing us though.

"And Zara! Oh Zara, you should have seen some of the curses he shot to get us out of here! He gave me a wand to use too, and I took out a good few guards, but holy shit, he did spells I'd never even seen before - and that's saying something!

"Oh, and he had an emergency portkey, that's how we got here. No idea where we are, but we're safe."

I raised an eyebrow. Carrie seemed pretty into Ray and I told her so. She looked at me sulkily.

"No, he just understands! He was raised in a similar environment and it's cool to talk to someone who knows what that's like! Mind you, I could still beat him in a fight if I wanted to!"

Before I could think up a good retort, Ray sat up slowly, looking annoyed.

"What happened...?"

I explained about my confusion and he raised his eyebrows.

"Oh sorry, I should've explained.  By the way Zara, how's the pain?"

I froze. I'd forgotten all about it. My arms were healing, and despite the fact that they were still red and angry, I felt fine...

"Um... I think it's gone."

"Oh, so the spell did work," he said. "Great."

There was a long pause.