Maledictus

Ch.16 - Blood

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"HEAD IN THE
FIRE!"

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"Where's Alice?" asked Harry at lunch, worried because he hadn't seen her since breakfast.
Hermione sent a death glare towards the twins.

"Hey! We did nothing!" they shouted in unison, but Hermione wasn't so sure.

Soon enough, they headed up to the common room, hoping that Alice would be there, but she wasn't.

"If it was Fred and George, I swear" muttered Hermione.

                           ~*~

Alice sat up slowly, still holding her arm.

She tasted something weird in her mouth.
Blood.

She didn't remember what happened until she noticed her surroundings.
She was still in the broom cupboard.
With a gash from her shoulder to her elbow.
And it was all because of Draco.

She thought that he would be there for her.
She thought that he'd look out for her, but she was apparently wrong.

The cut was still oozing with blood and she felt faint.
She stood up slowly, only to fall back over.
She rubbed her head and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
From the outside.
And Alice didn't have a wand.

She bashed the door, with her good shoulder before it finally broke open, and she fell flat face onto the ground.
Luckily there was no one around.

She didn't want to go back to the common room.
They would have so many questions for her, and she didn't have an excuse.
Telling them the truth would only lead to more questions she couldn't answer.

So she headed to the library, and stared at a book until dinner.
It was peaceful, but when she looked at her arm again, the tissue she was using had become soaked with blood and it was still bleeding.

She grabbed a tissue Madam Pince offered her, assuming it was for her nose.

And she waited in the library until it closed, almost afraid to go back.
But she had to.
Or else Harry would potentially murder her and if he didn't, Ron or Hermione would.

"Oh give them here, you useless bunch of baboons!" said Hermione grabbing some parchment off the boys, when Alice walked in.
She'd hoped that she could walk right by them and into her hide-away, but Ron spotted her.

"Alice!" he and Harry exclaimed.

"Where have you been!" Hermione shouted, causing Alice to lose her balance and fall over.
This usually wouldn't happen, but since she had lost a lot of blood and still hadn't eaten, it was pretty easy to fall over.

Hermione lifted her up, making a face as she felt her bones through her top and how light she was.

"Sorry" Hermione, said a lot quieter this time.

But Alice had wandered off towards the fire.
She was certain she had seen something, and jumped back when her theory was correct.

"HEAD IN THE FIRE! There-" but her shouts were unheard since Ron had a cupped hand over her face.
She squeaked and began shaking.
That's exactly what Draco did to her, before he hurt her.
So, she kicked Ron in the stomach and ran.

"Bloody Hell! Your so strong, yet so tiny!" he wimpered, heading over to the fire place.

"It's Sirius!" whispered Harry, and the other to ran over.
Alice began tiptoeing away, until Harry grabbed her, and she was soon seated between Ron and Harry.

"I was starting to think- Why is she here?" asked Sirius Black, the wrongly accused mass murderer and also Harry's God father.

"Oh, this is Alice, Alice this is Sirius" said Harry, but Alice had already hidden behind Ron and was shaking. "Have you met?"

"Yeah, couple nights ago, I checked in to see if you were here and I might've scared the living daylights out of her" replied Sirius, a smug grin on his face.

Hermione gave him a look that suggested that he lose the grin.

Alice tuned out everything from there.
She wasn't feeling well at all.
But she couldn't tell anyone.
Not when it was already too late.

Once Harry and the others had gone to bed.
Alice finally took her hand away from the gash.
And it was covered in blood.

Now nattering how much pinching, poking or smacking she did.
Between the lack of blood loss and pure exhaustion, she fell into a restless sleep.