The Little Lightning Girl

22- Do I Get Points for Proving Them Wrong?

I paused to think for a moment. I couldn't process this fast enough. Or maybe it was too fast. My mind was whizzing at a hundred miles per hour, James's words taking too long to sink in. I remembered being thrown from the building and not having enough strength to fly. I remembered seeing the ground approaching as I fell, but then everything went dark. I'd guess the metal through the shoulder happened after I hit the ground.

Coma.

"At first the coma was medically induced," James continued, "but like I said, when they tried to bring you out of it..."

I shook my head and noticed then how long my hair was. 

"The fuck..."

James smiled at my confusion as I fingered the ends of it and he sat up a bit straighter, "You kept growing though. That's why they didn't give up completely. Somehow, through some sort of magic or miracle, you were normal in that regard."

I looked down at my body, covered in some ugly pink hospital gown. I had kept growing during the coma. My body looked and felt... foreign to me. I wasn't going to mention that, for fear of upsetting James. I reached up and felt my face, surprised when the baby fat that used to be there was gone. Of course, that might have been in part from the starving I'd done during our capture. My legs seemed a few centimeters longer at least, and when I bent my knees, I felt my hips shift strangely. 

But there were more pressing, relevant matters, "How did I survive? If a bit of metal hit my heart I should be dead. I've known that to happen to other people and even I couldn't heal them, even my mother couldn't."

James shook his head and I noticed that he looked older too, taller but mostly he seemed... weathered. Our time in the dungeons had changed us both. I supposed that "weathered" was probably the best way to describe the wear and tear on both of us.

"It didn't hit your heart, it scraped it. Just a graze at the muscle, didn't even go all the way through it. They gave you surgery. Once you healed, they said that if you woke up you'd be fine, you'd live a normal life."

I sighed in relief at that, "Well thank goodness, can we get out of here now? I hate hospitals."

James laughed out loud, startling me and himself, "You can't leave! Did nothing I just said make sense to you? They'll need to check you out and-"

"Why? I feel fine. I'm awake, I'm alive. From what you've said, this is the best I've been doing for ages."

He shook his head, "you're still unbearably impatient, I see."

"I should think I've been uncharacteristically patient, waiting in that cell all those days, and now waiting for ten months. I'm done waiting, let's go."

Just then, a tall man in a long white set of doctor's robes walked into the room, which I hadn't had much time to look around. His uniform was strange, but then I remembered that he wasn't really a doctor, he was a Healer. A wizarding doctor. He was looking at a clipboard and scribbling something so he didn't see me at first. Instead, he spoke with his head still facing down.

"How's she doing? Any change, you think?"

I responded for myself, a bit amused, "I think so."

His head whipped up to look at me and he nearly ran to get closer to the bed. 'Shocked' didn't cover the disbelief on his face. He looked astonished.

"How-"

He trailed off before another word even came out.

"Dunno," I shrugged, "I just kind of woke up. I guess I've been in a coma."

Before he would answer, I looked over at James again, "Wait, am I fifteen now? You said that I aged normally so..."

The doctor responded for him, "I would say so, yes. How do you feel?"

I shrugged again, "Fine, I guess, just overwhelmed. I need some time to process and I'll be good."

"James told you everything?"

I nodded mutely. I didn't really know what to make of it, even though I had most of the details.

The doctor, still stammering with shock, moved closer to the bed, "I just need to check you out and then I suppose we can call your mother and send you home. Theoretically, as long as you are awake, there is nothing wrong with you and I can discharge you. I'd like to do some tests first."

I nodded, "Okay. But could we call my mum now, so she can be here? She's a muggle so I'll need a telephone."

The doctor, Doctor Schwartzman is what I saw on his name tag, smiled with sympathy that I really didn't want, "Yes, I will bring you a phone. Wait here."

As he exited I gave a thumbs up, "Cool, I won't go anywhere."

As soon as the door closed behind him, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and was almost on my own feet when James caught me and pushed me back onto the bed.

"Come on, James!"

He laughed and I punched him in the shoulder half-heartedly. James had put on some muscle. I felt it when my fist connected. What had he been doing these past months?

He noticed my eyes focused on his shoulder and smiled somewhat sadly, "I remembered what you told me, about how training was an escape for you, and how it helped you when you were stressed."

I nodded, "Clears my head."

"Well, when I woke up in the muggle hospital, I was surrounded by my mum and brother and they wanted me to spit out every detail of what happened to us. The doctors told my mum how much... scar tissue was on my body, and she overheard about your injuries. But I couldn't tell them about it. I couldn't relive it. So when I was healed, I contacted your mother, and she contacted some friends of yours. I've been training in hand to hand combat with your friend Adrian every chance I get, and with Kaley's brother, Noah. You were right, it does help. Someday I'll be able to talk about what happened, but..."

I put my hand on his, "Not today, James. You don't have to explain that to me. I just ask you to help protect me from our friends and family from badgering me."

He snorted and elbowed me playfully, "you got it."

Two Hours Later

"What month is it?"

Doctor Schwartzmann peered up at me above his clipboard, "December. It's a few weeks before Christmas holidays for Hogwarts. You'll be going back to school as soon as you are out of here and after some time with your mother."

I nodded, still waiting for his diagnosis, as I had been for about an hour now. They'd done numerous tests on me to see whether or not I was normal and able to function normally. Well, normally for me. They'd asked me to run on a treadmill and throw and catch a ball. They'd asked me to count to thirty in all the languages I knew. Other than adjusting to my altered body shape, I performed all of their tasks well enough.

Finally, he put the clipboard down and looked me in the eye, stating with a serious expression, "young lady, you're a bit of a miracle."

I tilted my head in question, but before I could ask, he answered.

"You are functioning normally. Very few people believed that you would pull through this."

I smiled, still reeling from all that had happened and everything I'd been told, "Well, I do love proving people wrong."

"You did just that, congratulations."

He stood up and began to walk towards the door, "As soon as I get your mother from the other room, you are free to go home. But I do insist you spend a few weeks at home. You have some things to get used to, and not just physically."

I nodded my agreement, but he left the room before seeing it. I leaned back on the pillows and sighed. The coma hadn't seemed all that long to me, but I was glad to be going home.