Gypsy

Chapter Twenty

I always believed that when people were in a coma, they could hear what was going on around them. I wasn't only wrong, I was dead fucking wrong. I couldn't hear anything. Not Mediwitches, whom I assumed were working tirelessly to get me better, or those two creatures who did this to me. All I could do was feel, and I felt everything. The annoyance from the medical staff that they had to even attempt to keep me breathing, I had felt such rage from Malfoy after one of them must have voiced their beliefs over my recovery. After that, all I felt was resignation and a familiar fear. At first I was in hell, unable to move or hear anything, my only way of knowing what was going on was through emotions. Thanks to that, I got rather good at identifying them. I knew the exact second Riddle would come into my room, those were my favourite times. Not because I was desperate to see him, or declare that he was right and I was wrong, but because he felt literally nothing. Which meant that every now and then, I didn't have to feel anything at all. But one day that changed, drastically. I had assumed that I would die, especially because I couldn't 'feed' from my supposed 'mates'. All I felt from Riddle was a surge of relief, unusual for him, and a giant fucking ball of energy from somewhere within me. Not enough to wake me up, but I felt strong, or at least as strong as I could considering I was trapped in my own head. And then, after that day or night, I no longer felt anything from Riddle, it was like he had vanished or died. I would occasionally feel something like longing or regret from Malfoy, and then I'd feel that energy again and known he was only there to give me my blood. I assumed they were giving it to me through a needle, extremely unhygienic.

So I waited. Comas are dull, like being stuck in a pitch black room, and every time you think something it echoes off the walls and back at you. Time is literally just an idea, impossible to know for sure. My Mediwitches changed often, so I couldn't measure time by their emotions, and as far as I could tell, Malfoy came at random times. So I was stuck. Until one day, I just wasn't.

The pitch black wall I had come to hate, was slowly changing from black to grey to white. And then There was colour, a horrible cream colour, but colour all the same. My body felt amazing, it felt amazing to be able to actually feel my body. And then came the yelling.

"Get Mr Malfoy!" a shrill voice screamed. It look a lot of effort to actually turn my head and look over at who had yelled. A young woman in Mediwitch robes, she looked almost familiar. Her face was long and skinny, with thin lips that had what appeared to be a perpetual scowl. She was, overall, a very unfortunate thing to first see when you wake up. She made no attempt to check me over, merely glared at me from her spot near the door. "Hope you're happy Mudblood, you caused Mr Malfoy and My Lord a lot of fuss." That was when I recognized her, Walburga Black. But that couldn't be right, she was only in forth year last time I had seen her. The woman in front of me looked at least twenty, possibly nineteen on a good day and if she wasn't scowling.

"Wh..." my throat croaked, or wheezed, either way getting a word out was impossible.

Sniffing, Walburga looked down at me. "I wouldn't bother trying to speak, your voice has been unused for at least six years." SIX YEARS! "You're now well past the marriage age, we never understood why Mr Malfoy insisted on keeping you breathing for all this time. Especially if he couldn't marry you, although, goodness knows why he'd want to do that." Jesus Christ, I'm twenty three. A self satisfied grin crept over her face. "from what I hear, he's set on marrying that French cousin of mine, horrible girl. But at least she's Pur—"

"Walburga!" a deep voice interrupted her mid-rant. Something I was very glad to have happen, until I turned and saw who had spoken. It would have been impossible to mistake Abraxas Malfoy, even six years older. He was still annoyingly tall, but if anything he seemed even more broad. Apparently the years had done him some good, as his face now looked aristocratic rather than thin. I wasn't at all surprised to hear he was looking into marriage, after all, he was a wizard in his prime. I was shaken from my observations when he flicked his hand and Walburga practically flew out of the room. Not from magic, but fear and respect. Once the she-devil was gone he finally deigned to look me in the eyes. "Hello Antoinette."

Knowing I couldn't speak I simply nodded. Overall I thought I was handling everything quite well, but then I had a very long time to think about what I would do if I were to ever wake up. Abraxas seemed unsettled by how calm I was, lovely.

"You've been asleep for a long time." He paused, waiting for a reaction he wouldn't get. "I have spared no expense at your comfort, the best Healers from around the world came to try and help." Obviously they were unsuccessful. "But they failed." Fists clenching in anger, Abraxas moved closer to me. "Even after we revealed your bloodline they couldn't give us answers."

I was a little shocked at that. I had thought that they would go to their graves before revealing what I was.

"All they did then was inform us that you were a 'dangerous' creature, and if you were ever to awaken then you would be the property of the Ministry." I bet Riddle didn't like that. "Tom went ballistic, had to be magically restrained so he wouldn't kill the fool who dared say that to him."

Glancing down at my legs, as Abraxas spoke of things I had already felt the emotions for, I willed them to shift on the bed. I had wondered if they had bothered to ensure I didn't lose muscle mass, apparently they had, my leg jolted under the cover. Abraxas immediately noticed.

"You should be able to walk like normal in a few days." His mouth gaped for a moment, as if trying to find the right words and falling short. "I am sorry for what happened. I saw you come at Tom, with glowing hands, and just reacted." He took a step closer, instinctively I flinched. But he noticed and stopped. His eyes widened and he practically jumped back, a sad look passing over his face before it disappeared. Before my eyes he changed from unsure to certain, "I will come back tonight. I need to inform Tom you have awoken." Without saying anything else, he disappeared with a CRACK.

Once he was gone, I waited for a moment to make sure he hadn't instructed anybody else to come in. Certain that, in his haste, he had forgotten to. I threw the coverlet off of me. Jesus my legs are hairy. Guess they didn't shave you when they were working your muscles over, then again, it was probably all done with magic. Mentally shrugging, I yanked my legs until they were swinging off the side of the bed. They felt weird, like they were in water. One cautious toe touched the ground, and then another. Taking a deep breath I pushed up from the bed slowly, testing how much weight they could hold. Abraxas had seriously underestimated how well the healers had taken care of my legs, probably scared to death by Riddle and trying to get in his good books. Because while it felt strange to have weight on my legs, it wasn't at all impossible. Just felt heavy. Careful not to push myself, I moved over to the window. They were smart enough to put me on the third floor of whatever this place was. My only other option was the door, first I needed clothes. The closet to my left was packed with every kind of clothing, in my size, creepy. I tossed a comfy jumper over my hospital gown, and slid a pair of slacks on. No point in trying to fix my hair, six years of bed hair would be impossible to fix without a pair of scissors. Using the wall as a crutch, I hobbled out of the room. Unsure of where I was going, but anywhere was better than where Riddle and Malfoy were. All I needed was a wand, and I maybe had a chance of getting away before they returned, maybe...