Hanging over George's back, you grunted, "Seriously, put me down, Weasley."
He shook his head and laughed gleefully while he carried you downstairs. When he set you down in the empty hallway, you crossed your arms and refused to look at him. He chuc...
Spending the next four days in the hospital wing wasn't as bad as it sounded. You were able to prolong returning to classes and facing your peers after what happened, which was a relief to you. Also, many of your professors completely excused you from the work for that week after hearing what had happened to you. Even Snape decreased your workload to a minuscule amount for the week, and that had felt like a miracle in itself.
However, even more important to you than all of those things was that your friends came to visit you frequently. After the isolation from many of your friends amidst everything happening with Draco, it felt nice to spend time with them again.
Susan had come to visit multiple times a day, and she gave you updates on what was going on. She told you when the Slytherin house parties were immediately banned for safety reasons. Susan also told you when Dumbledore suspended Crabbe and Goyle for the year, although Susan was shocked that they weren't expelled for their behavior. You knew why. You didn't want to make enemies or appear as weak as everyone thought you were, so you asked Dumbledore not to expel them after he made you share their names.
Thinking about seeing those two again made your stomach churn in all of the worst ways, but you made an oath that you would look out for yourself better after this, starting by not trusting all those who had tried to harm you at that party.
Including Draco.
The four days of downtime were necessary for you to come to terms with everything. Despite trying to convince yourself it was for the best, your heart ached every time you thought about Draco kissing Pansy. You felt foolish for liking a boy who had treated you so terribly before. You knew that you hadn't wanted to believe that he could and would harm you again. But, unfortunately, he did.
You spent the four days trying to convince yourself that the split in your almost relationship was for the best, but your vision began to get blurry if you thought about it too much.
For the past few weeks, you had felt like someone had tossed you into the ocean during a thunderstorm. Your head was spinning, and you really just wanted to catch your breath. The hospital wing gave you that time to slow down and think that you desperately needed.
Everything had happened so fast, and you weren't sure why you rushed into everything with Draco. Your actions had felt right in the moment since you felt like he cared for you, but as you spent the rest of your weekend in a hospital bed, you couldn't believe how wrong you had been. The jagged scar forming just below your hairline on your forehead was the reminder of your foolishness.
At least now you looked more like your brother with your similar scars on your foreheads.
Speaking of Harry, he had come with Hermione and Ron to see you on your first day in the hospital wing. They all apologized for ignoring you when you befriended Malfoy. They apologized for hurting you in the process but still wished you hadn't done it. Harry had explained how he realized he shouldn't have cut you out because it didn't protect you from Draco in the end. You forgave them all easily, completely understanding where they were coming from, but you still wished that they hadn't ignored you like they did.
The twins came in frequently as well, bringing all your favorites magic and muggle candies. You were shocked at how they knew what ones you liked, but when you asked how they knew, they replied together, "We have our ways."
The two of them spent almost as much time with you as Susan did. They would sit and eat the candy with you and make up silly games for the three of you to do to pass the time. Since you had essentially no homework to do and nothing to entertain yourself with, you deeply appreciated their efforts, even if you always felt suspicious that they were pranking you. After expressing your concerns in a laugh, they had assured you on the first day that "it would be awfully wrong of them to prank a girl who's lying in a hospital bed with a cracked open skull."
Their response sent you into a giggling fit that made your stomach hurt, and this amused both of them. Their witty remarks and goofy stories normally made you laugh, but in this exhausted and stressed state, everything was infinitely funnier.
The only thing that wasn't funny was when you had been talking with them about how disgusting you felt after being in a hospital bed for so long, and George reassured you, "Y/N, you look great. Stop being so hard on yourself."
George ended up getting up to ask Madame Pomfrey for a glass of water for you after his comment. With his back turned, Fred winked at you. You didn't laugh then, and George was incredibly confused when he came back to find a scowl on your face. He quickly made you laugh again by commenting on how grumpy Snape had been lately with Slytherin losing a considerable amount of house points for what occurred at the party. He began to mimic Snape's voice, and his terrible impression sent you into hysterics once more.
Overall, you had a pleasant experience in the hospital wing, and you knew that the real trouble wasn't your healing. It would come when you had to leave the safety of the hospital wing and face your classmates.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
