ELIXIR: A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Thirteen. The Aftermath.

Suddenly the whole world came back to him again. A gong sounded somewhere and then a tumult rose up from the stands. The entire school had risen to their feet. Sean felt light-headed with relief. A grin spread across his face of its own accord. This was why he had wanted to enter the tournament. This was what he had always envisioned.

The sky was dark now, a deep blue, and there were a thousand stars in the sky, surrounding a crescent moon. He looked to his right where it only took a second to be sure the other two champions had not yet made it out of their rooms. He had won, then, hadn't he? He had been the first to escape, maybe the only one to escape. Time had to be nearly up now.

He heard an amplified voice saying something over the roar of the crowd, but he was not listening. He did not feel quite present. His whole body was tingling like it had fallen asleep and was just coming back, pins and needles. His teeth were chattering although he did not feel cold, and his breath came in shallow and out shaky.

He had done it. He had finished.

Before long, the school nurse, Raigan, had taken him by the arm and was leading him away. He followed her blindly, still stunned into a dumb silence. The student body seemed to be gaining volume with time instead of settling down again. "Don't worry," said Raigan, misinterpreting the way he continued to look back at the crowd as she walked him back to the champions tent. "They won't announce your scores until the hour's up or everyone's finished. But I think the hour will finish first..." She looked down at her watch. "Yes, just three minutes to."

She sat him down on a cot in the tent. "If you could remove your robes," she said. "Just need to take a look at that shoulder."

Sean shrugged his robes off and peered down at his own shoulder. The spider had cut right through his robes and shirt and into his skin. He could see a fairly deep gash through the ripped fabric of his t-shirt. There was some kind of silver gooey substance in it and his skin was looking a little green. Sean looked away quickly, feeling light-headed. He had only just realized that he was in excruciating pain.

The nurse put her thumb and forefinger on either side of the injury and peered down at it for a moment. "Nothing to worry about," she said, but he heard her mumble something under her breath about acromantulas and honestly.

Sean turned his head towards the opposite shoulder while she pointed her wand at the cut and murmured some spell to clean it out. He was surprised to see Professor Mason standing with his arms folded in the doorway of the tent, looking right at Sean. "Nice job out there," he said.

Sean blinked. "Thanks," he said. He winced. Raigan had just put something in the cut that stung and fizzed. It was an odd sensation, like the tissues and blood vessels in one region of his body had been turned to carbonated beverage.

"Sorry, meant to warn you that would sting a bit," she said.

Professor Mason ignored this exchange. "Good to see a Ravenclaw out there," he went on gruffly. Sean got the impression that he did not often give positive feedback and was feeling a bit uncomfortable. He kept looking at the nurse, as if for help.

Sean watched them make eye contact over his head. "Were you a Ravenclaw?" he asked. Professor Mason nodded. "We both were," he said with a pointed look at Raigan.

"I didn't know that," said Sean.

There was another uproar from the crowd outside. "Time must be up," said Professor Mason and he strode out of the tent without another thought for their abruptly ended conversation.

"Bring the others in here, will you?" called Raigan. Sean saw him throw back a hand in assent before he disappeared outside.

Raigan pointed her wand at his cut again and sealed it. "There you are," she said. "Good as new. You'll need to go easy on it for a few days and you may find you're a little dizzy from time to time for a day or so, but nothing serious."