Being His Daughter CONTINUED

Burn

"Ow..."

The small sound was enough to make my head throb with such intensity that my hands automatically flew up to grasp it. Another groan escaped my lips when I registered how heavy and sore my arms felt, and when the pain zapped down the rest of my body, I tensed up, trying not to move anymore.

"Oh, Miss Riddle, you're awake!" a voice said, and I heard footsteps bustling toward me. "I know you must be in some pain. Here, drink this. Come on, open your eyes, dear."

"The light," I whined before I could stop myself, but then instantly regretted it because of frail my voice sounded. I forced my eyes open, my head beginning to pound more ferociously as I squinted. Madam Pomfrey's concerned facial expression slowly came into focus.

"That's right, there you go," she encouraged, holding out a transparent cup of clear liquid. "It should help with that dreadful headache I know you've got."

I raised my trembling hand to take it from her before raising it to my lips and downing it. The liquid felt cool going down my throat and tasted like mint, and I silently thanked Merlin that it wasn't disgusting. I didn't want to have to gag when my head already felt like it was split open. After a couple of seconds, my headache reduced down to a dull ache, and I let out a breath of relief.

"Now," Madam Pomfrey began, wheeling her cart closer to my bedside and shuffling through an assortment of bottles and jars. She pulled out a white container. "I put some of this cream on you after I cleaned you up earlier and it helped get rid of most of the scratches and lightened the bruising, but I'm afraid I can't do too much for the soreness..."

Just then everything came back to me in a blur of memories. Pansy and her friends teaming up against me, the Muggle fight, the warmth of the blood dripping down my face and under my nails...

I raised my hand to the side of my head where I remembered getting hit in the ear, and then pulled my fingers down to check for blood.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Ah, so you do remember. Don't worry, I cleaned you up well. The four of you were quite a mess after that brawl. Of all things, a Muggle fight! And three to one, for Merlin's sake!" She shook her head in disapproval and clicked her tongue as she opened the container of cream and dipped a finger in. "I'm going to put this on that cut on your nose, alright? It didn't heal fully the first time."

I nodded absentmindedly, my eyes wandering around the hospital wing. As Madam Pomfrey applied the cream to my face, my eyes suddenly spotted the three girls lying in beds across from me. All of them were in seated positions like me but were clearly asleep, their heads lolled to the side. The weirdest thing, though, was that I could see that Pansy and Tracey both had weird marks on their faces.

Madam Pomfrey noticed me staring. She glanced over her shoulder at the three girls and shook her head. "I have no idea how those burns got there. I do know that it was dark magic, though, and usually you'd be the culprit since you were fighting them, Miss Riddle, but Professor Snape said that your wand was about twenty feet away. Potter has similar marks on his hands, but--"

"Potter?" I blurted, straightening up so suddenly that Madam Pomfrey nearly poked my eye, and a shot of pain zapped down my body. I suddenly remembered Harry's voice: "Sierra? Hey, get off of her!" And then, "Get out of here, Potter!" from Millicent.

"Goodness! Yes, Potter," Madam Pomfrey repeated, eyeing me strangely. "He also received a pretty strong punch in the jaw from Miss Bulstrode over there, but other than that he's fine..."

I was frozen with shock. And then a giddy smirk crept its way onto my face. I bit my lip to try and hide it from Madam Pomfrey. Harry had tried to help me, which meant he didn't completely hate me, and he'd gotten punched in the face!