Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

If I Know You (Terence Higgs)

Although no one liked to admit it, I knew that if the Healers had continued to ignore my concerns then Maggie would have lost her life. I owed it to his diligent care that Maggie was currently breathing. And to think that caring man was now fighting for his own life –

Maggie gave a gentle call of my name, reaching out to put a hand on top of my own as I continued to stare into space. I started at the contact, looking at her and giving her a reassuring smile when she continued to watch with blatant worry. She could never know about any of the worry I held inside of me.

"What is it, Mags?"

She hesitated before asking, "Do you think he'll wake up soon?"

"Of course, he will," I assured her; he had to.

**********

The next time I found the opportunity to go around reading to the patients, I made a point of arriving earlier than usual. If I arrived earlier, then I finished earlier and I could pop in to visit Higgs on my way to see my sister. Sitting by his bedside for a short while was the least I could do for him. Especially when he had already done so much for me and my sister. Maybe this repaid even a fraction of the debt I owed him.

Arriving at the ward where the coma patients were looked after, I approached the receptionist that manned the entrance to the ward. She greeted me with more than a little surprise and I wondered just how often guests arrived to visit the coma patients. Enquiring about Higgs's room and signing my name down on the visitor's list, I walked down the corridor and read off each of the door numbers as I went. The ward seemed no different from the rest of the hospital; part of me had expected it to look very different. I'd expected the coma patients to be kept under heavy watch with almost constant surveillance because of their vulnerable state but they really weren't.

Finally finding the right room, I almost knocked on the door before remembering that there was no way that he would be able to respond to me. But then I decided against not knocking as well. Before my visit today I had researched a bit into comas and apparently, they were capable of hearing everything that happened around them and perhaps he would probably appreciate the gesture.

Knocking gently against the door, I opened the door and approached his bed with small steps. Helga, I couldn't quite look at him yet. Instead, I studied the room, it wasn't all that different from my sister's. Rather, it was almost identical save for the flower vase on the cabinet and the fact that there was an only bed in the room rather than being occupied by mutliple. I studied the flower vase, reading the note beside it the said it was from the patient he'd helped save. Finally reaching the chair by his bed, I hesitated to sit but did eventually.

"Healer Higgs," I started slowly, eyes fixated so heavily onto my hands that they were heavy to lift. No other words would slip past my lips but I forced myself to go introduce myself, just so he would know who was by his side. Would it really matter who was by his side, so long as he had someone beside him?

After a long moment of silence, I brought my eyes towards his body and swallowed down the lump that threatened to stop me from speaking. It wasn't right for him to be lying here so prone and ... lifeless. He had only been tending to his patients, had been ensuring their safety. Merlin, he had only been doing his job but yet here he was, dealing with a curse that shouldn't have been cast on him in the first place.

The longer I remained seated at his bedside, the harder it was to see getting to him like this. To think of that boy from school, of the man that had saved my sisters life and to accept that this was his current state. I couldn't see him like this.

Struggling for words, I managed to eventually say the words that he'd never accepted from me, "Thank you, for everything you've done for Maggie." Merlin knew that if he were awake, he wouldn't have even let me finish my words of gratitude. I continued to watch him as if expecting some response but of course he didn't give me one. He couldn't. "I need to go and see her so I'm going to have to go now. I'll try and come back to see you again."