The Other Potter Book Two

Chapter Twenty Six: Coporeal

It was probably the worst day of my entire life. Harry, Ron, Fred, George and I sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, unable to say anything to each other. Not that I really had a choice. Percy wasn't there. He had gone to send an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, then shut himself up in his dormitory. 

No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer. 

"She knew something, Harry," said Ron, speaking for the first time since he had entered the wardrobe in the staff room. "That's why she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all. She'd found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was -" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pure-blood. There can't be any other reason."

I could see the sun sinking, blood-red, below the skyline. This was the worst I had ever felt. No amounts of the cruciatus curse could compare to this. Not being stabbed. Not my father trying to kill me. Not looking at the basilisk in the eye. No single thing in my life could make me feel worse than I did now.

If only there was something I could do. 

Anything.

"Stuff it," I said aloud to myself. "I can do this. I am not a ghost.”

 Nothing happened.

"I am coporeal!" I screamed. Nothing happened. "I exist. I am real. I am Willow Tree. I belong to no one! I am a blizzard and a sandstorm! I am amazing and beautiful! I am love and I am rage and I am fire! I am broken but I’m trying and I won’t take anyone’s shit anymore! I’m smart and talented and wise and brave and screw anyone who tries to make me feel any differently! I am Willow. I am perfect – and I’m going to kick some ass.”

I felt my body go up and down, and then my whole life flashed before my eyes. With a weird and moderately painful sensation, I was slammed back down on earth.

I was lying in the hospital wing.

Apparently our lord and saviour (Dumbledore) wants me to kick butt.

Madam Pomfrey was facing the wall, crying over the other side of the room.

I knew I had to get to Myrtle's bathroom without being detected by the matron, so, as quietly as I could manage, I slipped out of the bed and fell to the floor with a loud – THUMP!

Smooth.

“Willow!” Madam Pomfrey said in surprise, wiping her eyes as she rushed over. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah, long story. I’ve got to go.” I said desperately.

“You’re going nowhere, missy!” She pulled me back up onto my bed.

“Why can’t my legs hold me up?”

“Because you’ve been lying here, motionless, in a coma for three weeks.”

“Oh ...” I said, trying to think fast. “Did Hermione just move?” I shouted, and the matron turned away, confused.

Grabbing my wand, I magicked up a wheelchair, threw myself into it, and rode out of the room at a million miles an hour.

Am I going to defeat a Basalisk in a wheelchair?

Probably.

“WILLOW!” The matron screamed after me, but I was much quicker than she.

As I rounded the corner, I realised I was wearing what I had on the day I went all ghost-like – my jeans and an old grey guys shirt that had ended up with my washing one day (I’d claimed it long ago). I wasn’t wearing my shoes, though.