a dance with destiny

ii

Disclaimer: I only own the order these words are in – everything else belongs to JKR :)

September 1, 1977

3rd Person POV:

The Marauders stared at the injured girl as the Headmaster levitated her to the Hospital Wing with Professor McGonagall following him. After a minute of silence, the students went back to eating, but this time, they were talking about the mysterious young woman. James and Sirius made their way back to their seats, but after taking one look at Sirius' and Peter's faces, all four Marauder's decided to head back to the common room.

As soon as the boys got there, they all collapsed onto the couch. James was the first to speak, "What the bloody hell was that?"

"I don't know, mate." Sirius shrugged, "hopefully, she'll be alright."

Peter spoke up, "We should go see her tomorrow." The woman looked like she had been tortured – did the Dark Lord have anything to do with her?

"Genius, Pete!" James grinned, "We'll go during lunch!" The other boys nodded in agreement and they all made their way upstairs to get ready for bed, all four minds on the mysterious girl.

Hogwarts ~ The Hospital Wing

3rd Person POV:

In the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey was casting a diagnosis charm on her latest patient as the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall looked on worriedly. Poppy stared at the results for a moment before Minerva spoke up, "Will she live?"

The Matron looked up, "Most likely. The knife that she was stabbed with was serrated and dipped in poison, but I managed to extract all the poison from her body and heal the wound."

"What were her other injuries?" Questioned the concerned Headmaster.

"Multiple fractured and broken ribs, mild concussion, mildly punctured lung, poorly healed slicing hex, bruises and cuts everywhere, and..." Poppy trailed off for a moment, "the poor girl is suffering from intense aftereffects of a prolonged Cruciatus."

"Is there anything else?" Asked Minerva anxiously, hoping to God there wasn't.

Poppy took a deep breath before gently picking up the girl's lower left arm and vanishing the bandages that were there. The other two adults gasped in shock when they saw the word 'MUDBLOOD' carved into her skin, "I tried to heal it, but the cuts just got deeper," murmured Poppy, "I think it was dark magic. She'll have to wear the bandages until it heals by itself...If it does."

"Merlin," whispered Minerva in shock, "Who could do that to someone? Especially someone so young..." She trailed off in horror.

"I don't know, Minerva," answered Albus gravely, "Poppy, do you know how old she is?"

Without looking up, Madame Pomfrey replied, "I don't know for sure, but I'd say anywhere from 17 to 21."

Albus nodded, "How long will she have to stay here for?"

"Somewhere between a week or two, I'd say, as long as she rests and takes all the medicine she needs on time."

"Alright," Albus said, "if she is alright for now, we ought to go to bed. After all, classes start tomorrow. Oh, and Poppy?"

Poppy glanced up, "Yes?"

"Please inform me as soon as she wakes up."

"Of course, Albus."

The three adults bid one another good night and made their way to their beds, each worrying and wondering about the wounded young woman.

September 2, 1977