Suffocating In Darkness

Chapter 31

"Come here, Mel ..."

"No."

"Yeh can' stay here, Mel. ... Come on, now...."

"No."

I did not want to leave Dumbledores side, I did not want to move anywhere. Hagrid's hand on my shoulder was trembling. Then another voice said, "Mel, come on."

A much warmer hand had enclosed mine and was pulling me upward. I obeyed its pressure without really thinking about it. Only as I walked blindly back through the crowd did I realise, from a trace of smoky scent on the air, that it was Fred who was leading me back into the castle. Incomprehensible voices battered me, sobs and shouts and wails stabbed the night, but we walked on, back up the steps into the entrance hall. Faces swam on the edges of my vision, people were peering at me, whispering, wondering, and Gryffindor rubies glistened on the floor like drops of blood as we made our way toward the marble staircase.

"We're going to the hospital wing," said Fred.

"I'm not hurt," I said.

"It's McGonagalls orders," said Fred. "Everyone's up there, Lyra, Harry, Ginny, George, Ron, Oliver and Hermione and Lupin and everyone -"

Fear stirred in my chest again: I had forgotten the inert figures I had left behind.

"Fred, who else is dead?"

"Don't worry, none of us."

"But the Dark Mark - Draco said he stepped over a body -"

"He stepped over Bill, but its all right, he's alive."

There was something in his voice, however, that I knew very well.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure . . . he's a - a bit of a mess, that's all. Greyback attacked him. Madam Pomfrey says he won't look the same anymore. . . ."

Fred's voice trembled a little.

"We don't really know what the aftereffects will be - I mean, Greyback being a werewolf, but not transformed at the time."

"But the others . . . There were other bodies on the ground. . . ."

"Neville, Oliver and Professor Flitwick are both hurt, but Madam Pomfrey says they'll be all right. And a Death Eater's dead, he got hit by a Killing Curse that huge blond one was firing off everywhere - Mel, if they hadn't had your Felix potion, I think they'd all have been killed, Lyra gave me and George some when we arrived, everything seemed to just miss us -"

They had reached the hospital wing. Pushing open the doors, I saw Neville lying, apparently asleep, in a bed near the door. Lyra, George, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, and Lupin were gathered around three beds near the far end of the ward. At the sound of the doors opening, they all looked up. Lyra over and hugged me; Lupin moved forward too, looking anxious.

"Are you all right, Mel?"

"I'm fine.... How's Bill? Where's Oliver? Where's Harry and Ginny?"

"I'm here Minnie, just a battered up leg." Oliver said in a hushed tone. "Harry's just lying here with Ginny."

Nobody else answered. I looked over Hermione's shoulder and saw an unrecognizable face lying on Bill's pillow, so badly slashed and ripped that he looked grotesque. Madam Pomfrey was dabbing at his wounds with some harsh-smelling green ointment. I remembered how Snape had mended Draco's Sectumsempra wounds so easily with his wand.

"Can't you fix them with a charm or something?" I asked the matron.

"No charm will work on these," said Madam Pomfrey. "I've tried everything I know, but there is no cure for werewolf bites."