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ATHENA STOOD OUTSIDE ST MUNGO'S WITH AN OVERWHELMING SENSE OF FEAR. The official entrance was in an old muggle clothes shop. It couldn't be noticed by those who didn't know it was there. As Athena walked up to it and stared at the mannequin inside she wondered whether she was actually ready or whether her mind was simply fooling her.
Taking a deep breath she spoke out to no one but knew that people were listening,
"I'm here to visit a patient"
"State your name please" one of the mannequins spoke,
"Athena Sinistra"
After a pause the mannequin nodded and Athena stepped through the glass and into the hospital. It was busy inside. People were running around, waiting to visit their loved ones. Athena wondered whether any of them had hope. Whether any of the ones that they loved were ok or whether (just like Athena) they were completely lost.
Healers were striding around in white robes, clipboards in hand as they talked to one another in a serious manner. Athena hated hospitals. She had never liked being here, nothing was ever good when Athena stood in these halls.
People had lost their lives here, people that Athena knew. It wasn't as though death really shocked her anymore, she had become so accustomed to it. Now more than ever she realised that it was just another stage that everyone went through.
She walked further past the waiting room and over to the front desk. The woman sat behind it looked incredibly bored as she twirled a strand of purple hair around her finger. There was a queue waiting for her and she talked in a drawling voice as though she didn't really understand what people were going through.
After two or three other visitors, Athena made it to the front of the queue.
"I'm here to see Alice and Frank Longbottom" she spoke clearly. The woman seemed to recognise the name, Athena wasn't surprised. After all their names had been on the front of every paper all week.
There was a flash of sympathy in the woman's eyes as she turned to the papers in front of her and cast her eyes over them.
"Second floor, third ward" the woman told Athena. She nodded in satisfaction with this response before she turned and walked away.
Taking deep breaths to steady herself, Athena ignored everyone around her as she walked to where she needed to be. Keeping her head down, she continued to hear the sound of her heels against the floor and wished she had gone home first to change. She looked too put together and this didn't correlate with how she was feeling.
She took long strides to get to where she needed to be, taking the stairs two at a time. It wasn't as though she wanted this over with. Athena didn't want to spent too much time in the hospital, the white walls and the sickly smell that brought back too many bad memories.
However she needed to see Alice and Frank, that was why she was here. Athena reached the top of the stairs and rounded the corner to find herself in another corridor. There were many doors sitting around but she knew which one she needed. Ward 3.
The door looked the same as all the others but it carried a heavier price to Athena who couldn't quite believe that she was staring at it. She couldn't quite believe that Alice and Frank were behind this door and not at home with Neville like they should be. Like they would have been if those death eaters hadn't found them.
Moving forwards, she placed a hand on the hospital door and pushed it open. Inside was a ward that looked like any other. There were six beds, three on the left and three on the right. Some of these were empty, some had people sitting in them and two were covered over with hospital curtains of pale blue.
Athena wasn't sure how she had known instantly that those beds belonged to Alice and Frank but she did. It became apparent a few moments later as she took in the inhabitants of the other beds. The majority of them just stared at nothing, they didn't register that anyone had just walked in.
As Athena stood stupidly by the door, a healer came walking over. She had strawberry blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail as she wore robes of white. The woman had a bright smile and green eyes that reminded Athena of Lily.
"Hello, can I help you?"
"I'm here to see Alice and Frank... I'm a um... I'm a good friend"
"I'm afraid that only immediate family members are allowed to visit them" the healer smiled sympathetically. Athena felt her heart drop as she looked up to the two covered beds.
"Please" Athena added, "please I'm their sons godmother... I need to see them... they're all I have left"
The woman opened her mouth to say something else, to tell her the same thing again because it was her job and she couldn't allow Athena to see them. However a voice came from behind the two of them.
"It's alright Lindsey, she's with me"
Athena turned to see a woman she recognised, Augusta Longbottom. She was short with slightly greying hair and a firm line where her mouth was. Wearing a large hat with a vulture on, a green dress and a red handbag the woman definitely stood out among the other guests in the hospital.
"Oh I'm sorry miss, I didn't realise" Lindsey smiled, "let me know if you need anything, I'll be on the ward"
"Thank you Lindsey" Augusta nodded. The healer strode off and Augusta turned to Athena,
"I was wondering when you were going to show up"
"Thank you for that" Athena sighed "I didn't realise it was family visits, I'm so sorry about what's happened... about your son"
"Yes it is terrible" Augusta nodded, "I suppose that you've heard, Neville is staying with me"
"Yes I have" Athena nodded,
"I know you were close to him, I'm aware that you're his godmother and I won't make any attempt to stop you from seeing him. You can see him anytime Athena... I think Neville would like that"
"Thank you" Athena beamed, "thank you, I really appreciate that"
"It is no problem dear" Augusta replied before she continued to walk past Athena and over to the beds covered at the back corner of the ward.
Athena felt dubious about following. She had no idea what she was going to see and she already knew that she didn't like it. Augusta disappeared by the curtain of the bed furthest to the back. Athena presumed that this must be Frank's bed. Frank had been her son after all.
On shaking legs, Athena began to approach the bed nearest to her. She steadied her breathing as she moved around the curtain and stepped through it. There were two seats beside the bed and the light pouring in was blocked slightly by the cover.
Just like any hospital bed, the sheets were white and crisp. Athena knew from experience that these beds weren't comfy however the woman sitting on the bed didn't seem bothered by this. The woman didn't seem bothered by anything at all.
Alice Longbottom still looked like herself. Her hair was still short but it's brunette colour was slowly turning white around the edges as though she was ageing faster than she should be. Her eyes were the same wide, round, doe shape with fluttering lashes. However they bore little resemblance to the warm gaze Alice had once had.
Now her eyes seemed pale and empty, the brown more of a mottled grey. It was still Alice but only the shell of her. She sat with her hands running up and down her arms as though she were cold however she was wrapped in a grey jumper that Athena knew belonged to Frank.
She looked up in surprise as Athena stepped through the curtain. Alice smiled with a childlike innocence. However it wasn't the same smile that Athena had come to know well. It was slightly lopsided and not fully there as though the woman didn't know she was smiling at all. The gesture had certainly not reached her eyes which were still blank and empty.
"Hi Alice" Athena smiled as she sat down in one of the empty chairs. Alice didn't say anything in return, she just stared at Athena and she felt suddenly uncomfortable even though she knew that Alice wasn't thinking of anything at all.
Her mind had been all jumbled up, it was all there but it didn't really work. She'd lost the ability to correlate thoughts, to retain memories. She was completely vacant, completely gone to the point where she wasn't even Alice anymore.
"I'm Athena" she smiled, feeling tears prick in her eyes, "we were... are friends"
Athena spoke to her as though she were a child. To be fair, her brain capacity wasn't much more than that of a child's. If more at all. Alice didn't nod at these words, she just tried to smile again.
Athena wondered whether there was any small part of her which knew what was going on. Whether Alice was in there at all, trapped in this curse. She had been told that this wasn't the case, she had been told that anything she knew was gone.
"I met you in um... 1976" Athena continued, grasping at anything to say as she knew that this conversation was completely one sided and that wasn't going to change, "you were working with your grandad at his ice cream parlour, you served me and my friend Remus"
She paused to see whether Alice was following this at all. Athena knew that she wasn't but she seemed to smile more when Athena was talking.
"After that we were in the order together, we went to the meetings together and you'd make sure I wasn't late to them... because I was the first time"
Athena laughed lightly at the memory and hoped that Alice would laugh too. It was always very easy to make Alice laugh, once she started laughing it would be nearly impossible to get her to stop however Alice didn't laugh. She just continued to stare at Athena.
"Um... you made me your bridesmaid, you had an absolutely beautiful wedding Alice. You looked amazing, like a real life princess and you married Frank in a forest. It was magical, maybe the best wedding I've ever been to... but don't tell—"
Athena had been about to say don't tell Lily and James that but she stopped herself as she grasped her hands on her lap.
"It was really beautiful" Athena smiled, "you made me godmother of your son, Neville is going to be just like you Alice I can already tell and I'll make sure he knows just how amazing his parents were... just how... just how loved he wa- is... how much you love him"
Athena looked up from her hands to see if Alice had understood any of his. Her expression was just the same. It was like she was there but not. As though she was so far away and Athena couldn't reach her no matter how hard she tried.
"Are you there Alice?" Athena asked as a tear fell down her cheek, "do you not recognise me?"
Alice's smile dropped with Athena's as she tried to figure out what had changed. Athena was surprised that she understood emotions at all.
"Do you not remember anything Alice?" Athena cried, "do you not remember me? Do you not remember Neville?"
"Oh dear she won't know what you're on about" Athena looked up to see that Lindsey was back. The woman smiled sadly.
"Is she still in there at all?" Athena asked, "does she not understand anything that I'm saying?"
"I'm afraid not dear" Lindsey sighed, "that part of Alice is gone... it's a terrible thing to happen to a person, one of the worst fates I must say"
The curtain opened and Augusta was standing there, Athena saw her vulture hat before her.
"Hello Alice love" Augusta smiled, "you can go see Frank if you want Athena?"
Athena nodded as she stood up from her seat and looked back to Alice who was back smiling again.
She forced her eyes to drag away as she left that curtain and turned to the bed at the back of the room. Stepping forwards she pushed her way through the curtain and stared at Frank who was looking up at her.
He seemed even more reserved than Alice which wasn't a surprised. Even when they had been themselves, Alice had been the sociable one. Athena sat down as Frank looked over at her, he was twirling the sheets of the bed in his hands for something to do.
"Hi Frank" Athena spoke and her voice broke as she did so. Frank's hair was turning white too at the back. His eyes were settled on the bed as he ran his fingers against it. Athena was gutted to see that they'd had to take their wedding rings off. She supposed small objects would be choking hazards to them now, just as though they were kids.
"I came with your mother" Athena continued. She felt as though she had known Alice a lot better than Frank. Her earlier memories of the boy had been him playing quidditch. He'd been chaser for Gryffindor and had been great at it.
Frank playing quidditch had been one of the times that his confidence really came out. Often he was shy and preferred to keep to himself however when he had been on a broom he would celebrate in having peoples eyes on him because he knew he was good.
"I don't know what to do Frank" Athena added quietly, "I don't know what to do anymore, everyone's gone Frank. First Marlene, then Dorcas, Lily and James, Kennedy ran away and Sirius isn't getting out of jail, you and Alice were supposed to stay and Remus... Frank I don't even know where he's gone... I don't even know if he'll be back"
Frank didn't look up at her. She doubted he had even heard the words she'd said at all. He continued playing with the bed sheet and Athena sat staring at it too wondering whether it was worth trying to piece her broken life back together.
The curtain opened and Lindsey stuck her head in,
"Augusta is ready to go when you are" Lindsey smiled. Athena stood up quickly as she didn't need to stay longer.
"I'll see you soon Frank" Athena smiled before she left the bed and saw Augusta standing waiting for her,
"You can come see Neville now if you like, he's with my brother at the moment, Algie"
"Thank you but it's been a long day, I should be getting home" Athena replied and Augusta nodded in understanding.
The two of them were about to leave the ward when Athena heard footsteps behind. She turned to see Alice, away from her bed now. She stood with Frank's jumper pulled over her hospital gown. Her feet bare as she walked over the cold floor.
"Alice dear, you should be getting back to bed" Lindsey sighed. However Alice walked straight up to Athena and held out her hand. Athena looked to her in surprise and lifted her hand up too.
Alice placed her hand on top of Athena's and dropped something into it before she turned and hurried back to her bed. Athena stood for a moment staring at where she had been before she opened her hand and saw a small sweet wrapped lying in the centre of it.
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A/n
Words - 2636
Published - 9th April 2021
it's looking like I might
finish writing this today
and I don't think I can
let this book go
I mean there is a sequel to
write so it's not really the end