Deep In The Woods

7 ~ Curiouser and Curiouser

Weeks came and went. Pomfrey brought you meat for breakfast, along with some bread and juice, the morning after. You had not asked, but the sight of a sausage(or otherwise if you are vegan, etc, just a meat substitute) made your stomach growl and your mouth water. The time you spent in the infirmary you ate meat every meal(or a meat substitute)and couldn't get enough. Pomfrey promised the symptoms would subside eventually, but you would still have cravings every once in a while.

Another odd thing that day was that there was a curtained off bed the next morning, alongside a boy who had messed with Peeves and a girl who made a mistake on her Transfig homework. The curtained patient was gone within the day, along with the Peeves incident, but the Transfig girl was there until dusk. According to Pomfrey, she earned a lot more patients than you would expect.

The story that you had been given, agreed upon by Pomfrey and Dumbledore, was that you had wandered into the forest and fallen onto some sharp rocks during the storm. Believable enough, because when your friends came to visit they ate it right up.

"Thank you so much, (Y/n)," Mary had said profusely, eternally grateful for her returned pet.

"Don't you know lumos?" Lily asked after realizing you were alright. "Honestly, Selena could have done better. Do you want that?"

"That'll be one nice scar," Dorcas said, only to be nudged by Alice. "It will be!"

Severus and Maddie had come at one point, too.

"Why would you go out at night?" Sev asked. "The rumor is you fell on a load of rocks."

"Sev," Maddie said gently. "She was helping Mary, be nice." She had then looked at you seriously. "It is kind of funny, though."

"Really?" You played with your bedsheets. "Sneaking out? I thought you didn't want Ruby taken away!"

"Come on, Selena!" You groaned, gesturing to your arm. "I can wear long sleeves! Jasmine will never know."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," she said. "I brought your owl, so you can say goodbye in case."

Ruby nuzzled your face. Chirping as Selena sauntered out to her friends, Bellatrix and Narcissa, you pet Ruby gently.

"It'll be alright, Ruby," you said, tears threatening to fall. "I won't let her take you, I promise. You're a good bird."

Ruby had to leave the moment Pomfrey saw her. She shooed her away and yelled at you about infections as she changed your bed sheets and brought your lunch. She told you that, since it had been two days, you could go back to class the next day and start with your detention after slacking off.

Peter and Remus had come that day as well. Peter scurried over to you, looking at your arm and going a bit green as he turned away to stomach his lunch. Remus approached slowly, staring at your arm as if it was contagious.

"Does it hurt?" Lupin asked, his voice quaking. "Are you..."

"I'm good," you said. "Doesn't hurt anymore, now I just want meat all the time."

"What?" Peter asked, confused. "Why? I thought you fell."

"I did," you corrected quickly, seeing Pomfrey's head spin in the background. "Just hungry."

"Makes sense," Peter said. "I think that some cheese would go well with your meals, or some grapes! Oh, I'm hungry. Remus, do you want to grab a snack?"

Remus was still staring at your arm. His soft eyes were filling with big tear droplets. You tilted your head.

"Rem, what is it?" You asked. "I'm fine, I really am."

"Time to leave, boys," Pomfrey said, hurrying over. "You've got to give her time to rest."

"But-"

"Out!" Pomfrey interjected. "Out of the wing, go on with the both of you!"

When you returned to class, the questions did not end. Idiot One and Two were both teasing you, saying how stupid it was that you had fallen and needed to go to Pomfrey. However, once Lily threatened to hex them they did ease off a bit. The Ravenclaws, specifically Gilderoy Lockhart, had a new thing to pester you about.

After classes, when your friends went to walk on the grounds or down to the lake, you found yourself surrounded by the muggy dungeons as Slughorn rambled to you about roots and animal parts and oh how wonderful it was to have such clean cauldrons. Scrubbing them clean every night, you eventually were promoted to shelf organizing duty. You fed his ego, as Slughorn loved to talk, and asked questions about everything in the room.

"Do you want this cleaned, sir?" You asked, looking at a potion that was boiling in a cauldron in the corner of the room. It smelled rancid and was turning from a gray to light blue, and the faintest hint of a smoke was beginning to form. You figured, with how potions were, that either meant it was going excellently or that it was about to explode(which may have also been a good thing).

"Oh, no dear," he said, waving his hand. "That's just a new potion I'm trying out. Important stuff, there, toxic if you don't make it right!"

You avoided that cauldron and went back to sorting between something labeled Amortentia, which smelled like your dorm, and something else labeled Felix Felicis that was shimmering gold in the dark room.

By the end of the week you had scrubbed the cauldrons, arranged the potions, and dusted the bookshelves in the dungeon classroom. You were rather proud of your work by the time that Slughorn dismissed you to dinner where you averted your eyes from the red hourglass that showed the Gryffindor house points, which was agonizingly low after your escapade.

Tea with Hagrid became a frequent thing. Sometimes you brought all of your girls, other times none, and other days it was just a select few. However, the first time after the night, it was only you who went, and Hagrid had been acting unexpectedly strange.

Claw sat on your lap as you sipped your tea and spoke about the forest. Hagrid avoided the topic of the werewolf, but he was more than happy(as were you) to talk about the many different creatures that lived there. Apparently there was a thriving society of centaurs in there, along with colonies of bowtruckles(little stickbug creatures that were emotionally attached), and unicorns who were such pure magical creatures that hurting one was considered a serious crime. However, you still managed to return to the topic of the werewolf.

"Ah, shouldn'a brought yeh out there," he said, looking at your arm. "Look what happened teh yeh."

"Hagrid, you got hurt too," you looked at his hand, which was wrapped just like your arm after Pomfrey had given you both fresh changes of bandages. "We're both fine now, that's what matters. And Lily promised to hex those boys if they were mean, so, you know, I'm having a good time."

Hagrid laughed, but he was staring absently out of his window. You looked the same way to see him staring at the middle courtyard beside the greenhouses.

"What is it?" You asked, though he didn't seem to hear.

"They shoulda' finished that tunnel sooner," he mumbled.

"Tunnel?" You thought he was referring to the secret area you had discovered. You had not thought of it since that night. "Hagrid? Hagrid? HAGRID!"