The Serpent and the Lioness

Chapter 41

Harry and Ron shot to their feet when the red door burst open. Harry felt all the blood rush from his face as the Officer shouldered his way through keeping his wand pointed behind him. When he finally stood aside from the threshold Harry's heart dropped into his feet. Hermione was floating behind him, immobile. Her head was turned away from him but he could see the labored breathing coming from her chest.

The officer that had been blocked by the stretcher came out at a sprint running sharply to the right. Harry's eyes turned back as the officer turned the stretcher to the closest cell. His eyes went wide at the large blackness that had appeared to still be growing over the bottom half of her dress. He banged with all the force in his body against the cell wall. The officer threw a glance in his direction but didn't pause on his course. He backed himself up into the cell and raised Hermione from the stretcher onto the small cot. Her hand fell down to the floor opening and closing weakly.

A door slamming open caught everyone's attention. Shacklebolt led the precession followed by a healer who Harry recognized from the Auror department. Shacklebolt barked at the officer inside the cell and the man hastily retreated. Harry couldn't see much from his vantage but it didn't stop him from pacing to try and see.

Ron had gone still, his face dropped in pure fear as the healer leaned over his one-time beloved. His heart was racing as fast as his mind. When her dress was banished away he felt sick to his stomach. The scars that he remembered so vividly were still there, marring his perfect image of her.

He felt a thousand things at once in that moment and all left a burning pain inside his heart. His pain turned to unfocused rage and he snarled at the healer who dared to touch her. His fists slammed hard against the walls of his cell and he could barely contain himself from screaming her name.

Harry's eyes turned away from trying to see more when Minerva came through the door Shacklbolt had almost thrown from its hinges. Her eyes shot to both of them and Harry cowed away from the wall of his cell at the sheer power her body emanated in that moment. He banged weakly one time to get her attention on the cell but could tell he was of no concern to her at the moment. His eyes turned back to Hermione who had raised her hand from the floor and was shaking her head slowly. He could see tears running down her face before Shacklebolt obscured his view again making room for Minerva.

A series of very sharp hand gestures told Harry that neither one of them were happy with the circumstances. Harry's eyes darted back to the door as Frollo came through, red-faced and flanked by two of his officers. Harry could hear the muffle of his shouts but they didn't seem to phase either of the two who had come to stand between the raging man and Hermione.

Harry shifted, standing on the cot in his room to try and see his best friends face over the shoulder of the healer who was working without pause despite the shouting match going on to her left. Harry could see she was conscious and talking but her eyes looked heavy and her mouth moved slowly. The blood had been cleared away and her breathing somewhat calmed down. The light shimmer of the magical wall that separated him made it hard to discern her skin color but she had looked pale when they had brought her.

Harry started when he felt his arms and legs being bound, he turned his head sharply to Frollo who had pointed his officers to his cell and gave him a look he had reserved for only his greatest of enemies. When the door to his cell dissolved away, his entire body went tense, his ears now able to pick up Hermione's low groan of pain. He pulled against his binds when he came down from the cot but didn't advance.