Fragile

Chapter 10

I feel someone to my right wrap their arms around my right; it's Sage. Her head shifts upward looking at my face to see my reaction. I don't move at all and I leave my expression blank, but I do feel a slight twinge in the corners of my mouth when I try to hold a smile from forming. The next moment I realize that Sage has laid her head against my arm. Strands of her staticy brown hair stick to my jacket. I understand how hard it is for her to be away from her family on Christmas, and I feel a little homesick too. I know deep down though, that I had made the right decision when I left that night almost two months ago.

I can hear the repeated sniffles from the cold, and the collected breath clouding in front of us. I feel Sage's chest in its rising-and-falling pattern against my arm. The world seems to slow down, as we mourn the death of Harry's parents.

"Well...we should go see if we can find Bathilda Bagshot," Harry suggests quietly. I nod in agreement then look down to see Sage's eyes closed.

I gently rub her arm and say softly, "Sage! You have to wake up!" Her eyelids flutter open revealing the green eyes hidden underneath.

"She must be tired from having the night watch last night," Hermione says.

"Yeah, or she's just tired of you!" Ron butts in.

I glare at him and retort back, "Shut up, Weasley!" Sage laughs quietly at this and it makes me finally break into the smile I had been holding. I see Hermione in my peripheral vision smiling at me and watching us carefully; a slight bit of a told-you-so look in her eyes.

"Come on then let's go try to find her," Harry starts for the exit of the cemetery. We finally get back into the empty street, and the only light is coming from a streetlamp a few meters away. All the other houses' lights seem to leak through the frost windows, reflecting onto the sparkling snow. The warm glow makes me feel a bit safer, and the first signs of Christmas finally show through to me. Garland is strung on many of the old houses.

"Look guys!"

Hermione points into the distance through the falling snow. I can see a short dark figure and a small light hobbling towards us quickly. The only sign of sight since our arrival to Godric's Hollow. I can see Harry's pace quicken as he steps in front of Hermione and his hand slides into the pocket of his jeans. He pulls out his wand and holds it up in front of him while we keep walking towards the figure. I feel for my wand too when I can see the old peaky face of a short stubby woman. A shawl is pulled around over the top of her head over thin white strands of hair, and she holds a candle out in front of her. Her eyes are sunken into their sockets, and liver spots cover the surface of her thin skin.

She doesn't say a word, but gives a small smile and starts walking the other way again. We follow her to a house at the end of the snowy street. The door creaks open and I reluctantly step in. The house is as shabby and tattered as its owner; cobwebs and dust is strewn everywhere. The only light that is supplied is that of Bathilda's candle, so I mutter, Lumos! When the light on my wand ignites I get a better look at the house. The wallpaper is peeling off, armchairs are torn, the stairs are all splintered, and glass shards are littered on the dirty wood floors. Other light from everyone else's wands light up, and project against the grimy home.

"So... you're Bathilda?" I ask in a sort of disgusted way. She turns around and nods her head calmly. I just stare at her and continue looking around. I walk over to a small coffee table with wood chips, clothes, and magazines piled on top of it. A light emerges from the corner behind me, and I turn around pointing my wand at very nervous Hermione. The tip of my wand illuminates her face, and I lower it when she squints at me irritatedly. I hear something coming from upstairs; voices that carry down the stairs, but they are in a different language! It takes my brain a second to process the blood curdling scream that comes next, and the sound of Harry yelling urgently down the stairs.

I look at Hermione's face and see the same terrified expression on her face as mine. I sprint through the tall doorway, and turn right up the stairs.

"DRACO NO DON'T!"

I don't stop frantically looking, my eyes darting through each dark area, heart racing and beating hard against my rib cage, sweat dripping down my face.

"Draco over here!"

I follow Harry's voice to a bedroom with broken bed banisters and splintered wood across the floor. I can see Harry holding a chair in front of him, blocking a giant snake from attacking him. Behind him is a limp Sage with blood dripping down her shin.

Panicked, I scream, "Diffindo!" The snake merely gets disoriented, and turns to face me. It shakes its head and raises it off the ground, slithering towards me; ready to strike.

Behind me I hear Hermione's voice, "Impedimenta!" The snake gets knocked back into the wall, it lays there unmoving, so I run over to where Sage and Harry are. Harry is leaning over her examining her leg to see how bad it is. I drop my wand and crouch down next to Sage. Her eyelids make it look like she's in a restful sleep, but her leg looks mangled.

"Hold on, Sage. Please..." My voice trails off as I lean down further brushing the stray strands of hair from her face. The blood from the bite is soaked through her leggings.

"Here everyone grab on to me, quickly," Hermione holds her arm out, and I grab onto Sage's arm. We spin through the air, twisting and turning, and we finally land in the middle of the woods. I look to see if Sage is okay, her leg still bleeding, but now onto the white snow.

"Ron set up the tent," Hermione orders. Within a minute, the tent is up, the soft light glowing through the flaps of the doorway. "Draco, let's bring Sage to her bed to see what we can do for her leg," Hermione holds open one of the tent flaps, so I pick up Sage. Her head hangs back when I gently lift her from the stained-red snow. Looking down at her helpless face makes me feel hurt inside. It makes me feel like it was all my fault I hadn't been with her the whole time. I feel guilt.

Warm air hits my face when I walk through the tent door. Ron and Harry follow after me hastily. I place Sage down on her bed softly. I make sure her head is propped up on her pillow while Hermione digs through her bag. She pulls out white gauze, and what looks like a tin container. Hermione pulls up Sage's magled pant leg just above the knee, and starts applying a thick white cream from the tin container onto the mutilated shin. The bleeding immediately stops, and it lets me get a better look at the torn flesh around the bites.

"Here, Draco, wrap this around her shin. We'll have to change this four times a day, until it gets better," she holds out the gauze. I take it cautiously and unwravel it to hide the disfigured area that used to be her leg.

"What is that medicine anyways?" Ron asks from behind me.

"It's a healing cream. It will help heal her wound faster. We just have to apply a new layer every time we change her bandages. We were able to get out of there quickly when we did," Hermione says grimly. I continue wrapping the white cloth around her shin, making sure that it is thick enough to absorb any of the blood that might still bleed through.

"Draco, I think you should stay up to watch Sage tonight. Ron you keep up watch with Harry. We should still have the same enchantments around here as last time, but just in case could you go around the area to make sure?" We all nod with no hesitation to Hermione's orders. We all know she knows best. "And I will stay up too, but we can't move anywhere until Sage can, so for now we will stay put. We should be able to think through a thorough plan in the time we have here."

I finish wrapping Sage's shin, and tie it into a knot making sure to tuck in the extra in between the layer of fabric.

I stand up and look down at Hermione, "When will she eat?"

"Well, I guess we'll have to wait until she's rested enough and finally awake," she shrugs.

"C'mon Ron let's go outside," Harry and Ron leave the tent. I pull out a chair next to Sage's bed and sit down to watch her sleep peacefully. Her hair is laid out across her pillowcase messily. I reach up to hold her soft hand and squeeze it tightly. I have a feeling someone's watching me, and look up to see Hermione holding a book and looking over it across the room watching us. Her eyes dart back down to the pages in the book, her face flushes a scarlet color.