Unworthy

Third Year - 15

Erica slowly opens her eyes, and realizes she's laying in a bed. She turns to her right and sees Ronald Weasley with a cast on his leg, talking to Harry and Hermione, who both seem to be in high spirits.

"You're awake." Erica looks to her left and smiles at Lucille. She is seated beside a still unconscious Malorn, though she's clearly meant to be resting.

"Yeah..." Erica sits up a bit. "What's the damage?"

"Well... you and I will be fine. The Professors left some chocolate on our bedsides, it helps, so if I were you, I'd have some." Lucille says. "Malorn isn't doing too good, though. He went into Cardiac Arrest, is what they're saying. His soul was in the middle of being taken, and I suppose the shock of the process being interrupted was too much for his body."

Erica chews on her lip, while looking over her friend. He does look rather "unwell" to put it lightly. He has dark circles around his eyes, and his skin has become so pale that his blood vessels are visible even from where she's sitting.

"Where are they?" Erica asks.

"Where are who?"

"The Dementors."

"Oh." Lucille frowns. "I'm not entirely sure, but my understanding is that The Ministry must've sent them back to Azkaban. We're not the only students they attacked. Apparently they were swarming like that for Harry Potter."

That begs the question of why Harry was in the Forbidden Forest to begin with - in Erica's mind presumably alone, as Ron and Hermione don't seem to be showing symptoms of a Dementor attack. She glances at Harry then back at Malorn.

If he was surrounded by a swarm, then he should've been gone long before us. Erica thinks. So, why did he come out mostly unscathed, and Malorn is the one still bedridden?

Then again, Harry and Malorn did have a conversation regarding the Dementors. Erica wonders if perhaps Harry found a way to repel them and simply didn't - or couldn't - tell Malorn.

Harry must've noticed the suspicious looks he was infrequently getting from Erica, because after muttering something to Hermione, the girl walks over. "You alright?"

"Yes...?" Erica answers back in a questioning tone. "But I have a feeling that you guys had something to do with us winding up in the hospital with you."

"Er... not exactly... well, not purposely." Hermione looks around. "We're not really allowed to speak on what happened last night to be honest."

"I thought you were all spending time with Hagrid for Buckbeak's execution." Erica drones. "How did that turn into Ron in a cast, Dementors swarming around the Forbidden Forest, and us getting caught in the middle?"

"Well, Ron's rat sort of ran off..." Hermione says slowly, in a careful tone. "...so we chased him, and he ran underneath the Whomping Willow, so we tried to follow him -"

"- tried to follow a rat into the Whomping Willow, these Gryffindors -" Lucille murmurs in exasperation.

"- and we may or may not have ran into Sirius Black, then Professor Lupin and Professor Snape showed up." Hermione explains in a still rather vague way. "There was a whole thing, and we ended up getting split up, hence why Harry ended up in the Forbidden Forest alone."

"Cool, cool." Erica nods. "How is he still alive, though? We were alone with a handful for only a couple of minutes, and look at us. We almost lost Malorn."

"Er... well, there's this thing that Foesbane and I were talking about, this charm..." Harry says. "...the Patronus Charm-"

Lucille jumps. "LIAR! NO WAY YOU PERFORMED THAT CHARM, NOT EVEN MALORN-!"

"-I'm not a liar." Harry says sternly.

Erica waves her hands frantically. "Alright, alright! I don't think he's lying, let's just calm down here." She turns to Harry. "What's this Patriotic Charm thing you said Malorn told you about?"

"Patronus Charm. Patriotic Charm sounds like some Fourth of July celebration song." Lucille says, confusing everyone immediately. "The Patronus Charm is a very advanced defensive charm. It's a charm used to repel Dementors and Lethifolds; dark creatures that look similarly to Dementors but eat people in their sleep. Most of the time the charm comes in an incorporeal form which is just a silver light, but a full corporeal charm will take the form of an animal. The animal changes depending on which person casts the charm. It's too advanced - way too advanced for someone in our year."

"It's more believable than him being surrounded by a swarm of Dementors and just walking away." Hermione states blankly, earning a glare from Lucille.

"I mean... I did hear rumors about him killing a Basilisk..." Erica trails off. "...so I suppose it's not that unbelievable."

"And Professor Quirrell!" Ron adds in.

"Huh?" Lucille looks at them in confusion.

"Will anyone ever tell me the story of what exactly happened to that man?" Erica asks.

"I suppose once you're discharged, I can find time to tell you about it." Hermione says. "But you'd do well not to speak of it to anyone else."

Erica nods. "I won't."

"Alright, then, I'll speak to you tomorrow." Hermione gathers her things. "I have to go study - no, Harry, go lay back down, you're not discharged till tomorrow."

Harry almost pouts before laying back down on the hospital bed. Hermione waves at everyone as she leaves, and Harry crosses his arms. "Can't imagine why she'd want to study right after what we'd been through."

"Yeah, mate, but she left mostly unscathed. You were the one attacked by Dementors." Ron says. "Bloody hell, even if she wasn't discharged, she'd be sitting on her bed surrounded by books."

Harry nods in agreement. "You're right." He turns to face Erica. "I'm sorry you guys got caught in the middle of this."

Erica waves her hand dismissively. "It's alright. It wasn't intentional. We just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time."

Madam Pomfrey comes over, a tray of elixirs and medicines in her hands. She orders Lucille back into her own bed, before she begins her work on Malorn. His outward appearance doesn't change, but the hospital matron insists that the treatment plan is doing it's job.

It isn't long before she is trying to shove potions down Lucille's throat, who is not feeling particularly cooperative today. Erica and Harry give less of a fuss, and Ron is only subjected to a pain relief potion and a bone mending elixir.

"My goodness..." Lucille makes a face as Pomfrey walks off. "...you mean to tell me she can't make these potions taste any more edible?"

"I heard that, Ms. Bressett!"