The Art of An Ending

Chapter Nineteen: A Very Merry Christmas

"So he knew all along? He is definitely aware of what we're searching for?" Draco demanded as soon as they'd climbed back on to their feet in Avery's flat.

"I don't think he knows specifically what we're after, but he knows we're looking for something, and he isn't pleased," Erica replied. "I can't believe what just happened."

"Remind me to never again follow you on anymore adventures," Pansy groaned, dabbing at her forehead with her sleeve. "I don't particularly fancy having wooden prosthetics myself, even if they do look kind of pretty."

Avery was stood at the kitchen doorway, having been attracted by the noise, and there was a half peeled potato in his hands as he watched them, one eyebrow raised. Snow drifted past the window outside.

"Should I get the first aid kit?" he directed this towards Erica, flicking his wand and sending the potato back into the kitchen as he wiped his hands on his jeans.

"I'll get it," Erica shook her head. "You finish kitchen prep cook boy."

"I can still kick you out," he warned, but retreated back into the kitchen before she could reply, leaving her to reach up to one of the top shelves that lined the walls to pull down the little kit they always kept handy.

"Sit," she directed Draco and Pansy, before opening the case and examining the contents. It was about typical with what she had seen last time, with a few rolls of plasters and bandages, a few different carefully-labelled potions and some antiseptic wipes.

"Did she bite you?" she directed her next question at Draco, who seemed to be in the worst state as she knelt in front of him and helped him peel away his coat and shirt, examining the wounds on his arm carefully.

"No," Draco shook his head slowly, wincing as she dabbed at a particularly nasty gash with one of the wipes, clearing away the blood so she could see the actual wound better. "Rebounded curse and a pretty hard fall."

"We have some essence of dittany, and that should clear it up enough to heal naturally," Erica murmured, more to herself than to him, handing him the wipe so she could pick up the small jar and dabbing some onto her fingers before rubbing it over his wounds, watching as the skin nit back together over the top. "It should still be tender, and I wouldn't go doing any strenuous activity with that arm for a while, but you'll be fine."

When she turned to Pansy, she found that the other girl had already shimmied out of her trousers and had dealt with the cut on her forehead with a quick spell, but was now wiping at the gash of her leg with a wipe, wincing every time it passed over the cut.

"A bite?" Erica worried her lip, wondering if she could whip up some Anti-Venom quick enough to stop her from getting ill and bleeding out- they had no Blood-Replenishing Potion in stock.

"Managed to get the venom out," Pansy shook her head. "My blood's clean, it just hurts like a-"

"Okay," Erica nodded, before taking the dittany again and dabbing some over her cut, pleased when the skin knitted over the bite marks, though she could tell it still hurt from the way Pansy winced slightly, her breathing a little laboured.

With her friends dealt with, she finally took assessment of her own injuries. The bite on her arm was oozing blood steadily in a small trickle that ran down to her wrist, but the venom was out so she wasn't too worried. Her ribs were a little bruised, perhaps, she noted as a twinge of pain ran through her body when she stood back up, and she was definitely sore, but all in all she had escaped relatively unscathed.

"I'm sorry," Erica finally said after dealing with the bite mark and collapsing in between Pansy and Draco on the sofa, resting her head back as she struggled to get comfortable. "We shouldn't have gone tonight. I should have known that there would be nothing important there."