After the War.

Dreams.

I tossed and turned. My head pounding with every moment that passed. At this point the infirmary was forgotten as pain had filled every sense and it felt like a curse was covering my body. The ache was felt but I had ignored it for too long, making myself completely useless. I heard faint grunts and I assumed it was me as I tried to overcome the pain but the throbbing was controlling my ears as I couldn't process sound as the natural vibrations of the room were blocked out.

I took to rocking my body. I used to do that a lot, as a child if I was ill and something hurt I would sit on my bed until I was so exhausted the pain would just stop. This time though my eyes kept closed and my hands covered my ears just to stop any loud sounds from entering. The motion though made me feel like my brain was being sloshed about.

For hours I moved and tried to sleep. Wishing that I could just sleep and eventually I stopped moving as I couldn't bear it anymore. Sleep or pain was going to claim me but eventually I found that my mind was busy and my eyes not only ached but grew heavy and the darkness became deeper until I slipped into an exhausted sleep.

Nothing surrounded me and pain faded from my mind and I hoped to stay that way but then my legs grew cold and I could tell that I was going to sit in the water again. I couldn't feel the cold but I just knew I was cold. Slowly and surely, just as it had in the past the action of breathing was impossible as I sunk lower despite my desperate attempts at moving and swimming and then I was at the bottom. I refused to look down but once again my mind just knew that I was at the bottom. My feet trying to swim but I was getting lower until I laid there. My mouth opened as I let out a scream and my hands moved to pull me back up but the water was just pushing me deeper. The cries and loud screams I had been making had been for nothing but as I felt my senses go and my eyes close so that the darkness surrounded me. That was when I felt the pain in my head again.

I kept my eyes closed and began to rock in a way that wouldn't hurt my head. I knew for a split second that if anyone entered they would think I was out of my mind. Absolutely crazy and yet I didn't stop as my head was cradled by my hands and I moved back and forth. I kept my legs apart so that I was able to keep my head between my knees as the pain consumed every inch of me. Tears were obvious as they could be felt by my hands and I knew that I had actually been crying.

I was kept together in a ball and my body was in a constant movement before I felt the bed behind my back and strong hands keeping me still. My lips had pressure applied and something moved into my mouth and as a response I pushed it away with all of my strength. My hands moving back to my head and after a second my lips had something pressed to them again and so I stuck my lips together. Hands had me still and I had no clue what was going on as I couldn't open my eyes because of the pain. Then the pressure was lost and so I relaxed a little more until I couldn't move anymore. A panicked and felt the pressure once again. I found something entering my mouth and then it kept on coming.

My mind raced until I found moving to be possible again but I pushed the goo like substance from my mouth. I wasn't thinking and so I lost the ability to move again as the substance moved through my lips. This time though I had no option as the substance moved down my throat and I could taste how nasty it was. But, after a second of uncertainty I could move and the pain in my head was fading. It took a further minute for me to think of opening my eyes and it wasn't for a minute after that, that I felt no pain and finally opened my eyes to my surroundings. I was still in my room but the old candles were lit and people stood close by.

There weren't many people but there was enough to tell me that I was about to get an earful and there was no running from this one. My head could have hurt with just the thought but Madam Pomfrey had put a stop to any pain being felt at all.

"Now young lady, you told me that you would come and see me the second your head began to hurt. If it wasn't for Mr Lee walking past when he wasn't supposed to you would have been in this pain for a very long time. Breakfast is hours away and I would have checked in on you then." She was angry and annoyed but above all else she was disappointed in me and I let my head fall back down. Trying to block out the surroundings of my body.

"Sorry, Madam Pomfrey." My head hung low as I had to admit that she was making complete sense and for a brief second I could hear a slight laugh from someone stood in my room. Clearly the student was in there and when my eyes moved up I could see who it was and I sneered. He was the gobbiest student in the whole school and there he was in my room. I was so sure he would use it to his advantage but nothing of value was kept in here and only the specific touch of stones and word opened it. Unless professors did but they used a different pattern and word.

"Now, Mr Lee I believe that you best be off to the dungeons for bed. It is the middle of the night and you have already lost fifty points for your actions and a further ten for your laughing. I don't believe you would behave so harshly if it were a friend in pain. And you certainly wouldn't accept it if anyone else did it to you. Now, walk with Professor Slughorn. He is headed that way, are you not?" He nodded and spoke a few words. Telling her she was quite right in that thought and then he walked off. The boy behind him.

I didn't say anything else but looked down instead as my hands played with the duvet covering my bare body and the small amount of fabric that I did wear wasn't enough for me to be comfortable around them but as if on cue a thick Scottish voice spoke for the first time. Professor Flitwick had already audibly left with a tired sigh after he sent Tristen Lee on his way.

"As luck would have it I was awoken only an hour ago with a letter about you. I think it be best you rest now but we will talk later." I nodded and let the pair walk out. A potion being placed beside my bed and a look of disbelief crossing the healer's face as she was leaving. Only a comment of drinking it as soon as my mind ventured for more sleep. Both women having been in their pyjamas and so I let a smirk pass my lips.

The wall closed together and so I fell back into the bed. My eyes watching the glass and the contents of it but then I bit the bullet and uncorked it before the lumpy, sticky substance passed my lips and my tongue was working overtime to let it pass. It was a familiar taste but dog turd could be a familiar taste if eaten enough. Then the room grew dark again with the candles fading almost on their own and then the night took me into a comfortable trance. No dream was had and the potion had clearly done what it was supposed to do and patched over the portion of my mind that ran all of my dreams. Just like Madam Pomfrey had told me it would when I drank it for the first time.