The Hogwarts Games (First Draft)

Chapter 29 - Science Experiment

Chapter 29 - Science Experiment

"... happened ... remember ... is ... awake?" a man whispered to no one I could recognise by ear.  

It was too early for this. My eyes cracked open and moonlight was still illuminating the room, the whitish glow reminding me of worse times. A couple was speaking in hushed tones, both fairly mature. They were familiar voices and familiar voices whispering to each other didn't seem to come out with good results.  

The woman of the couple replied. "She's asleep and doesn't need checking up on." her tone of voice was curt yet loud enough to be audible to my ears. "She's convinced with what you've given her so leave her be."  

"She believes that the boy wants to kill her?" the man asked.  

Silence.  

"Good."

I awoke at a more reasonable hour afterwards and slowly sat upright as beams of sunlight peeked through the gaps in the curtains and reached over my shoulder.  

"You can go, Ms. Crawford." Madam Pomfrey said as a way of greeting me. "You should be okay."  

"Thank you, ma'am." I replied politely. My eyes roamed around the room and found my school uniform, cleaned and ironed on a chair next to me. I stood on the stone floor, my toes curling from the sudden jolt of the cold surface. I gingerly tiptoed to a bathroom with the clothes in hand, pushed the door shut and changed.  

"I figured it out!" a voice yelled enthusiastically from the other side of the mahogany door. "I fig- Missy?"  

"Bathroom. Please refrain for shouting like that again, Mr. Ambrose." Madam Pomfrey said coolly. Of course it was him ...  

I took my time getting dressed, intentionally making him wait for as long as I could. With no brush at my disposal, I spent a while running my fingers through my hair, making it look presentable. I fiddled over little things such as the angle my tie was hanging at, which way round my skirt was, or if there were flecks of mud on my shoe. He must have left by now. I swung the door open only to have my ears met by rhythmical tapping. Ambrose was sitting on my bed, finger-drumming at the metal bar that created a fence of sorts at the foot of my bed. A small stack of books and a flat, gleaming device was on a pile that rested alongside him on the mattress. Persistent one, him. I straightened my posture and lifted my head so that my chin was parallel to the floor and strolled out of the Hospital Wing, pretending I didn't notice him. I only stopped to pick up my wand from Madam Pomfrey's desk and jam it into my boot. Ambrose noticed me then and I fled the scene.  

"Mi-Missy, wait!"  

"No." I said curtly and kept walking.  

"I know what they did to you!"  

"Shut up." I said as he jogged behind me.  

"They seem brighter don't they?" he asked. I stopped but refused to turn around.  

"Got your attention now." I could hear the smile in his voice. I clenched my teeth slightly. He took my silence as a sign to continue. "And I bet that not even an hour after the Games ended you remember being in a white walled infirmary, and the people there were being nice and tending to you."  

I turned around with arms crossed. He carried the books in one arm that curled up against his side and he shifted his arm to take out the iPad I used to possess. "What are you on about?" I asked, not even bothering to mask my annoyance at him.  

"How much do you know about tracker jackers?" he asked as his free hand moved swiftly across the iPad's screen.  

"Genetically engineered wasps with extremely poisonous stings." I rhymed off easily from past classes.