New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|89| Chapter Eighty-Nine

E I G H T Y  N I N E

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Saffron opened her eyes when she heard people yelling out that her sister Maya was dead.

At first, she thought that was a very odd thing for them to say. Why would she have died? How could she have died? These were questions that Saffron didn't have the answers to simply because she wasn't quite sure where she was or how she had gotten there. All she knew was that she felt shocked at what he was saying and utterly exhausted. She wasn't even sure she had the energy to blink back the tears in her eyes to make out who the three faces were above her. All of which were making vague moments with their mouths and one of whom had decided to lift Saffron up to a sitting position a few moments later.

Normally, Saffron would have done it herself. She hated people doing simple things for her. It was one of the many life lessons she had learned from Squires. That if someone did something for you there was usually a cost. Of course, this was the simple act of helping her up but it didn't feel any different to the dazed Saffron.

"Saffron, can you hear me? Saffron?"

That was a voice she wanted to listen to. It was Hermione. She wasn't the person who helped her up but she was on her knees right in front of Saffron. She placed her hands on her shoulders to steady the injured girl and tried to make out if Saffron was functioning at all.

"I can hear you," Saffron tried to say but her mouth couldn't get any words out. Instead, she was mouthing the words to Hermione but that appeared to be enough for her at the moment. "I can hear you," She paused and finally felt that the words she said would actually come out. "Hermione.... is.... is Maya dead?"

When she said that, she heard her friend let out a strangled cry and Saffron finally used what little energy she felt she had to allow her to see clearly. She saw Hermione's eyes looked tired from her crying and her cheeks looked to have been burned by the tears that had fallen onto them. Was that her answer right there? Surely not...

"Come on girls, we have to get her up to the hospital wing," That was her Godmother Sage speaking. But not to her. No, she was speaking to Hermione who was still knelt on the ground, Lavender who Saffron could hear sniffling next to her and someone else who had just arrived on the scene, Parvati who was wiping vomit off of her front. Saffron furrowed her brow. What was going on? All signs were pointing towards something terrible having happened but she knew in her gut that it wasn't that her sister had died. It just wasn't.

"I was going to kill you," The words escaped Saffron's mouth before she could stop them. For some reason, she felt a duty to not say anything about what she was going to do to her Godmother whilst she sat beside her. But she wasn't quite sure why. She wasn't quite sure why she was going to sever Sage's neck in the first place but she knew that the thought had crossed her mind.

That was when Saffron remembered what was going on. It was the Third Task. She had been watching it and that was why she was sat next to Sage. However, that didn't explain why people were saying Maya was dead. Or did it? Saffron wasn't sure and she was in no state to provide a logical explanation to that question other than she was having a nightmare.

"Quickly does it, girls, on three," Sage was instructing her friends as to what to do now. Saffron felt eight hands holding onto her. When Sage counted up to three, she felt the hands collectively lift her up and place her on a stretcher that Sage had conjured for her. Together, they started to guide it towards the hospital wing.

Saffron was still confused about what was happening. She felt that Lavender was closest to her so she decided that she was going to ask her. Whether or not this was a nightmare, she would just accept what Lavender said and take it at face value. However, she thought this and it still didn't feel real. She wasn't sure anyone would be able to convince her that Maya was gone. She felt like she was still here and she trusted that over anything.