The Difference in Reality [A Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Year 3: Chapter 16

The seconds bled into minutes, and minutes into hours. Willow simply laid on the floor of her cell, motionless, unable to fall asleep, but unable to penetrate the thick layer of fog that veiled reality from her. Thoughts of her mum flooded her mind every time she became aware of the cold locket on her chest. Happy and sad memories alike only brought her further depression. Everything appeared with a somber tint to it. Willow eventually remembered that Buckbeak's trial was occurring today, but not even that gave her the energy to sit up and fight back. She'd never felt more alone in her life.

Every once in a while, the guards would pace the perimeter of the dungeon. Willow watched them without comprehending as they strutted about the empty space, hitting her cell bars to try and get a reaction out of her, then grumbled when she didn't even twitch. She hardly heard the searing ring in her ears. Willow was buried too deep in the past, had forgotten about the present, and had abandoned the future. She was stuck on memories long buried that she no longer had the strength to keep at bay. There was no reason to fight anymore, she reasoned, because her life was ending soon anyway.

Willow had become aware of a burning, odd sort of pain in her wound after some time. She immediately knew it was infection; there was no way the caster of the suturing spell would have cared enough to clean the wound. Willow came to the conclusion that she had about three days before the infection would consume her. She let out a sigh, but didn't know whether it was relief or stress. She began to wonder why she didn't just use the wand she'd confiscated to end her misery already...it wasn't like her death three days from now would be any less pitiful...

"Willow? Are you there?"

"Please, we've called you four times already, pick up the damn name tag!"

"WILLOW!"

She groggily pushed the name tag further into her robes, effectively silencing it. Fred and George didn't need to see her so low. They would see her at her funeral, and their tears would be a little less painful to bear. Tears for someone who is alive are wasted tears, Willow thought. Then again, they wouldn't be any more useful after the fact.

"CONTESTA EL TELÉFONO, PENDEJO!"

Willow's mouth opened slightly. She was so shocked to hear Spanish that she managed to roll into a sitting position and fish the name tag out of her pocket. Paige, Lee, Fred, and George had all crowded in front of the screen, but Paige was definitely the one that had yelled at her. The older girl covered her mouth when she saw Willow's face.

"Oh my God- you're alive! You're literally alive! Oh my God- I thought you were dead- " Paige bit her lip, a tear running down her face. "What did they do to you? I knew I should have stayed behind- my grandfather was fine- but now you're not- "

"I'm okay, Paige," Willow said, creasing her features in a fake smile.

"Bullcrap! Have you seen yourself? You look like you tried to die, but Death left you behind."

"I think Death has some sort of vendetta against me dying," Willow joked. Her expression faded. "Has Buckbeak had his trial yet? I've been stuck underground for God knows how long."

"He hasn't. It's a little after two in the afternoon. Please tell me they fed you something?"

Willow shook her head. "They made some budget cuts on prisoner meals. Any word on Sirius?"

"No, he's still gone. I'm sorry, Willow." Paige angrily wiped her face. "We're coming after you, you know. The Ministry can't stop all four of us, especially when all four of us happened to be extremely pissed off."

"What? No, don't get yourselves in trouble, you'll only make it worse- "

"Willow, the last time I saw you, you were bleeding out. If I let you spend one more minute without Madam Pomfrey's potions, I'm going to lose my mind."