Victoire Weasley and the Four Statues

Recovering

For the week following the game, Victoire lived the most horrible days of her life at Hogwarts. Even though both James and Julia were okay, they were still in pretty bad shape. Julia woke up in the hours following her arrival at the Hospital, but James, however, was still unconscious. She spent half her free time as his side, and the other half, checking out on her cousins, or answering the mail of her aunts and uncles. She had always been in a frequent correspondence with Ginny, but now, they exchanged letters on a daily basis. Finally, to make it even better, she barely saw her friends out of class anymore, and Joy was still strangely upset around her.

They quickly learned what exactly had happened to both of them. The Bludger had injured Julia Wood's right arm, and James' spine had taken quite a hit as he had crashed onto he floor. According to Mrs Paddles, a Muggle wouldn't have been able to cure any of these injuries. Victoire had never been so happy to be a witch.

She basically spent her hours at the Hospital Wing with Ted and James, keeping him company even though he wasn't hearing them, and exchanging worried looks and conversations with Teddy.

And of course, when she wasn't at the Hospital, nothing was much better. Only on Sunday night, when she ate at the Great Hall for the first time of the week end, did she realize how unpopular James had really become. Of course, the whole school was babbling about the game, and what she heard, she really didn't like. The popular thought for the Slytherins was to praise James for the help, and mock him constantly. But this was common sense. This old Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry of theirs had lasted for generations now, and this didn't surprise Victoire at all.

But it was worse with Gryffindors, who practically all blamed James for their defeat. Never had Gryffindor lost the first game against Slytherin, since the days before her uncle Charlie. The humiliation was real. But she found all this quite hypocritical, since they were all the ones who had put so much pressure on him in the first place.

She quite dreaded the moment when James would come out of the Hospital and confront all this. But for now, he wasn't even awake yet.

On Thursday morning, as Victoire emerged from the common room, heading for breakfast, she saw Ted. He was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs leading to the Ravenclaw tower, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, and a shoulder bag at his sides.

« Is he okay ? » she immediately asked him.

« He woke up. » Ted replied with a small smile, « In the night, around two a.m. »

« And you didn't wake me up ?! »

« What would've been the point of that ? » he raised his eyebrows, before he grabbed her arm and said « Come quick, let's go. »

They arrived a few minutes later out of breath, and entered the Hospital Wing. With Fall pointing its nose, the days were shortening. It was about eight in the morning, and the sun wasn't even up yet, bathing the room with a dim nocturnal light. Only Julia and James were resting here at the moment, and both their beds had their curtains closed. Victoire headed towards James', and delicately, trying not to wake him up, drew the gray fabric. But James wasn't sleeping.

His eyes wide opened, he was lying on his bed. At the sight of Victoire and Ted, his face lightened and a small smile appeared.

« Hey guys. » he murmured.

« Heyyyy ! » said Victoire as softly as she could, feeling overwhelmed.

« Good to see you mate. » grinned Ted.

« Oh my god, you're actually awake. », Victoire whispered.

« Yeah... I guess. » he shrugged, but then cringed with pain, as if moving an inch of his body hurt him. Victoire frowned :