The Little Lightning Girl

21-Ten months should not feel like five minutes

James's POV

It was December third. I'd woken up this morning and ran to dress before Flooing to St. Mungo's. McGonagall didn't ask why I was in such a hurry, but rather looked at me with a knowing smile, and shooed me into her fireplace and out of her office.

I could barely wait for the welcome witch to take the cinders from my clothes before getting in the elevator to Alana's room. She didn't look any different than she had the last time I'd visited. I sat in the chair next to her bed and locked my gaze on her face. Minutes passed, then hours, but I stayed at her bedside.

And then I saw her eyes move under their lids. Left, then right.

I leaned closer to her.

Alana's POV

I woke up in a strange place. It seemed almost like it had no dimensions, white all around but no walls in sight. I couldn't even see the floor beneath my feet. Somehow, I was wearing a beautiful green dress, and standing in front of me was my grandmother, looking just as she had the day she died, but clothed in a white gown that nearly matched the place we stood in. She looked like an angel in that dress, her clothing finally matching the memories that I held so dear to my heart. I knew how badly I had been hurt in the midst of escaping that facility. I had thrown myself in the middle of danger knowing that I might not make it to the next dawn. But here, seeing my deceased grandmother staring at me with her loving gaze, it made the situation more real. I could really die from what I did.

I would never see Maya or Adrian again.

Or Rose, Kaley, Noah, Albus and James...

It hadn't struck me how hard this would be. But at least they would all be safe. James was safe, I knew that I'd gotten him out in time.

Magically, without me moving my legs to go anywhere, my grandmother floated nearer to me. She gripped my hands in hers, scaring me a little bit with the fact that I could really feel her hands in mine. I had thought that I wouldn't be able to feel her, maybe I was closer to death than I thought.

I started crying when I could fully see her eyes, eyes that brought back my memories from my childhood. She smiled at me with the same kindness and understanding that had been there all those years she raised me instead of my mother.

"You are so close, my dear."

Her voice made me release a sob uncontrollably

"I know I am grandma, I just don't know if I'm ready to die."

"To die? What makes you say that?"

I was confused. Wasn't I dead? Or on the brink of dying?

I stuttered, "Well, you're here. So I can't be alive, because you died years ago, and I just did something really dangerous and I know I probably wouldn't make it out."

She nodded sternly, "yes, all of that is correct. Not only was it dangerous, it was probably the most idiotic thing I've ever watched you do. However, it is also the thing I am most proud of you for. As for your questions about death, I would say that you are not dead. I guess it depends on how you define being alive."

She pulled me into a hug and whispered into my ear, "You have so much more to do with your life, Alana, and you've been here for too long."

"I have only been here for a few moments, what do you mean it's been too long?"

She pulled away from me to hold me by my shoulders and shook her head, her white hair shifting as she did so, "Time works differently here, my love. But it is indeed your choice. Should you choose to go back, you will be changed from your time in capture. Should you choose to stay, you will never fulfill your destiny. But it is your choice."

I sighed and pulled her into a hug again, "I miss you grandmother."

I could feel her smile against my cheek, "I know, but think of all that you will miss out on! Life has so much more to offer you. I can see it."

I sighed and gave in, "I should go back, shouldn't I?"

She smiled, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes, "I am not allowed to profusely express my opinion on the matter. I've done my nudging, but it is your choice, beautiful girl."

I closed my eyes for a moment, slowly feeling something pulling me away from her, a presence pulling me back to the world of the living by sheer will.

I opened my eyes in time to say one last thing to my grandmother, "I love you."

"And I, you."

I shot up from a bed in yet another unfamiliar place. For a moment I thought I was still in whatever place I'd been when I saw my grandmother. I was staring directly at a blank white wall, but it was a wall, with corners that connected to the ceiling. In the other place I couldn't see any sort of discernible features of the room including corners and walls and floors.

Before I could even think about where I was or why, I was enveloped by a pair of strong arms and a warm body, and drops of wetness, tears, were falling onto my shirt. When I first pulled away and looked at the person, it didn't make sense to me who they were, but then I remembered. The dark red hair, warm chocolate brown eyes, the scar above his mouth... James.

He wasn't really the person I expected to be waiting at my bedside, but I was glad he was there. I would be glad if anyone were there. But slowly it came back to me, the horrible memories that made me realize why this boy was waiting for me to wake up.

Being captured by death eaters.

I breathed deeply, leaning on James's shoulder as memory after memory burst into my mind, images flashing by like they were playing on a movie screen. I remembered being tortured. I remembered hearing Pietro die. Distantly, I felt my body begin to quake in James's arms. I remembered hearing them hurt James, how he'd screamed. I clutched at his shirt when echoes, shreds of sound, the sound of his screams, filled my head. Then they faded and I was yanked back to the present. And lastly, finally, I remembered how I spent weeks conserving energy and then used it to destroy the facility, and didn't quite make it out in time.

"I'm so glad you're awake! They thought you might not wake up, but I never gave up."

My voice was raspy as I replied. It felt as if I hadn't spoken in years, "What do you mean? How long has it been? How long was I asleep?"

He looked down, his eyes filling with nervousness and shame.

"James, how long was I asleep?"

When he finally looked back up at me, it was with sorrow and apologies, "ten months."

I sat up and leaned against the headboard of the bed when my head spun and the room along with it.

"Ten months?"

"You've been in a coma, Alana. They took you to a muggle hospital, since it was closer and your damage was all physical, not magical. They did everything they could and everyone was so confused as to how you didn't die. You were... you were hurt really bad. The injuries from the death eaters, but also you had a bar of metal go through your shoulder and scrape your heart. Apparently, and I think it probably has to do with your other heritage, you have impenetrable mental shields, so no one could reach your mind to pull you out of your coma. You wouldn't wake up so they moved you here to St. Mungo's hospital."