The Storm | The Sister book #3 | A Harry Potter Fanfiction

chapter forty-three

Vote if you enjoy!

I can hear noises.

I don't know if it's my own breathing or the breathing of someone else. It is hushed and gentle, filling the silence around me. I don't know where I am.

Perhaps I'm dead. Perhaps this is what death feels like.

I hear a muffled voice, croaky and calm, and I attempt to make out words but I feel myself being pulled further away until I slip back into darkness. 

I attempt to open my eyes, feeling my eyelashes flicker against my cheeks as I blink, white daylight flooding my vision and momentarily blinding me. Slowly the world fades into view. The room is white, with the walls a white-washed stone and the floor a greying wood. The bed I lie in is cloaked in white sheets and the two seats to the right of the bed are plain. The only colour in the room is the bunch of wilting flowers that sit on the table between the two seats, accompanied by two glasses of water. The light floods in a large window behind the bed, and as I blink, my taking in my surroundings, my eyes focus on someone slumped in one of the chairs. 

Harry leans sideways and his head lulls forward, his breathing steady. His clothes look dishevelled and his hair is a curly mess. I go to sit up and pain sprays down my spine to my fingers, and I whimper, lowering my head back onto the pillow. 

The door ahead of me swings open, and Molly walks in, her focus on Harry, seemingly checking to see he's still here. 

"Molly?" I croak, and she freezes. Her eyes widen and she steps back out the door, yelling something unintelligible and then hurrying over to me. 

She doesn't say anything, seeming unable to form words as she brushes the hair off my face and nurses and doctors flood through the door. She is asked to leave as they begin to check me, and as she escorts Harry out, we briefly make eye contact. 

The nurses ask me questions about how I feel. Can I move? Am I in pain? Can you hear me?

I whisper answers, feeling my body slowly fade back into being. They give me a foul tasting pain tonic and talk about my luck. I don't care about my luck. I want to talk to Harry. Let me talk to Harry. 

Eventually, they leave, saying that if I need anything all I need to do is ask. I nod in response. Suddenly, as quiet floods my senses, I take a breath. What happened? I remember falling, I remember the way I slipped through the air and hit the ground. I remember Draco's face. 

Draco.

Please let him be okay. Please. 

My eyes flicker over to the glasses of water on the side table between the chairs. I wince, slowly moving my legs under the blankets and off the edge of the bed. I heave myself up, my bones aching, as I push myself onto my feet. I cling to the blankets momentarily, unsure as to whether I would be able to support my own weight. When I don't collapse, I step towards the table, glancing out the open window and see another brick building across a street. I'm at St Mungo's in London. I must be. 

The door swings open and I turn to see Harry. He gulps, walking towards me slowly, stopping and looking down towards his feet, then back at me, 

"Are you, er, well, are you-"

"I don't know." I croak, 

I point towards the glasses of water and he nods. I pick one up slowly, taking and sip and breathing deeply. I put the cup back down. I watch Harry, seeing how he avoids my gaze. How his eyes scan the walls and the floor as if he's searching for something. 

"What happened?"

He pauses, unsure as to whether or not he should answer, "Bellatrix was going to kill you, but then Draco threw you off the astronomy tower instead."

I blink, seeing anger flicker behind his eyes, though I know he tries to hide it, "Draco saved my life."

Harry frowns, "He very nearly killed you."

"If he hadn't stunned me I would definitely be dead," I say quickly, nodding to myself. "Where is he, anyway? I mean, I know he wouldn't be here since you wouldn't let him-"

"Clara-" Harry cuts me off, shaking his head, "He went back with them."

"No, he wouldn't, he isn't-"

"He left with them, Bellatrix and the others." Harry says slowly, and then he falters, remembering something, "He left this with you- That girl, Daisy Green-something? She found it in your hand, asked me to give it to you. He probably thought you were dead, it's a miracle you survived the fall." 

Harry fishes around in his coat pocket and then pulls out what seems to be a necklace. He holds it out, and I take it, seeing that it is, in fact, a ring. It hangs on a silver chain and is made of two intertwined snakes with emerald eyes. It pools in the palm of my hand, and I stare at it, unable to form a response.

Draco thinks he killed me. He followed the Death Eaters, he left with them. And I know that he won't be coming back. Tears start to fall down my cheeks and I shake my head, biting my lip. 

"What about Dumbledore?"

The silence that follows my question is as good as any answer. He's dead. Harry begins to slowly shake his head.

"He- After you fell, Draco sort of staggered backwards, and then, well... Snape climbed the tower. He saw me, too, and he saw what had happened to you. Draco said something to Bellatrix and then start to descend the stairs, passing Snape. I almost cursed him, I really did, but I-" Harry sighs, "I knew you would never forgive me. And when I looked back up I..." Harry takes a breath looking up at me, "Snape killed Dumbledore, Clara."

The chain slips between my fingers and I stumble back against the bed. No. Not Severus. He raised me, he taught me. He was determined that I would grow up to be a witch like my mother, kind and intelligent. He wanted the best for me. He would never...

But when I see the fear in Harry's eyes, I realise he isn't lying. 

"I was so scared I'd lost you, Clara. I was so scared you wouldn't wake up, that your heart would stop and it would just be me again. I was terrified that you'd never know how sorry I am." He sniffs, "I will never be able to apologise enough. I will never be able to make it up to you. But I am so sorry."

I shake my head, biting back tears, unsure of how to respond. This terrified boy standing in front of me is my family. My only family. He gulps looking down at his feet as his eyes well with tears. I take a breath, for the first time truly meaning what I'm about to say;

"I forgive you." 

I stumble into a hug, pressing my face into his shoulder and sobbing loudly. The grief in my threatening to tear me open. Harry clings to me, his body shaking as he weeps. I've missed him. 

xxx

YAAAA

So if y'all wanna kill me I think that's fair but also I have been plotting that whole incident for like six months

I was originally gonna post an authors note only saying 'Just kidding' after I 'killed' Clara but then I didn't 

Also, guess who's edited the trailer for the next book and hasn't been able to tell you guys because she didn't want you to have spoilers about whether or not Clara would survive

ME

YEET

anyway have a wonderful week/couple days depending on whether or not I get my shit together

I value each and every one of you,

Taylor xoxoxo