DISCLAIMER
I do not own Harry Potter ... but Bel is gonna be one traumatised kid (whoops)
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Bel didn't speak another word.
Her final words being "Will they be okay?"
She didn't speak when McGonagall, Sprout, and Hermione took her to the hospital wing.
She didn't speak when Madam Pomfrey looked at her injuries.
She didn't speak when the staff asked her what had happened.
She didn't speak when she was returned to her Hufflepuff dorm.
Instead, she entered her room to change out of her dirtied and bloodied clothes in silence.
Cedric had told her friends to leave her in peace for now, and that when she's ready to talk to let her do so in her own time.
But she wasn't so sure she would ever be ready.
Her mind wouldn't rest.
She kept replaying the image of Harry and Ron lying unconscious over and over, their yells echoing so clearly that every time she shut her eyes, she believed she was back there.
Helpless, alone, afraid.
A knock came from the door to her dorm room.
Bel sat up in her bed, Cedric's quidditch jumper almost completely engulfing her whole as she bought her knees up to her chest.
A small squawk came from the owl opposite her.
Gus hadn't left her side since she stepped into the room.
He was perched on the edge of her bed, refusing to return to his stand by the windowsill.
Bel opened her mouth to speak, but found no words arrived.
It was as if there was an invisible hand covering her mouth, refusing her speech.
The door slowly opened, and Riley, Tia, and Ollie entered.
"We know Cedric told us to leave you be ... but we don't think you should be alone right now", Riley said gently.
Bel followed their movements with her eyes, trailing them as Riley took a seat on her own bed to the right of Bel, Ollie joining her, and Tia sitting on her bed to her left.
"We can do whatever you want. We can sit here in silence with you. We can listen to whatever you want to tell us", Ollie added in the same soft tone.
"We can go and get you something to eat if you are hungry. Or something to drink", Tia offered.
"Or we can just give you a hug", Riley concluded.
Bel glanced down at her sleeves, her hands tucked inside of them.
"I don't think I'm ... able to talk about it", Bel managed to get out in such a small voice that a pin dropping would've made it so you couldn't hear.
She felt her tears invade her eyes once more.
The only way she would be able to talk about it would be if she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione safe and sound.
Only then could she try and replace the memories she currently had with different ones.
Riley, Ollie, and Tia all nodded slowly as they shared sympathetic glances with each other.
"Have you heard anything about Harry and Ron?" Bel asked.
"We haven't", Ollie replied in a sorrowful tone.
It was as if he knew that his answer would leave her in pain.
"I'm sure they'll be fine, Bel", Tia added.
"I just ... I don't know if they will", Bel said as her tears started to fall.
Riley stood up from her bed and walked over to her, perching on her soft mattress.
"They will", she said with certainty as she held her hand over Bel's.
Bel knew exactly what she wanted to say.
That it was all her fault.
That she couldn't hold up her end of the deal.
That she had failed her friends.
That she missed being able to think freely without seeing the memory of them hurt.
"Are you sure there isn't anything we can get you? Professor Sprout said you were allowed anything from the kitchens. I'd be honoured to bring you whatever you like", Ollie quickly said.
Bel glanced over to her friend who was looking at her with hope.
"To be honest, it's a bit weird being in the girl's dorm", Ollie added.
In that moment, Bel found herself emitting a small laugh.
It seemed so foreign to her now that it felt strange to smile.
But she didn't want it to feel strange.
"I'd like some ice cream", Bel replied.
Ollie shot her a grateful smile and quickly rushed out of the room.
"What a weirdo", Riley whispered with a smile as she rolled her eyes.
Once again, Bel found herself laughing.
With each smile she slowly was able to feel like herself again.
To break out of the bubble of fear and panic she was trapped in.
Once Ollie had returned, Riley and Tia had been able to make Bel laugh more times than she could count.
It was as though they had caught on that it was what she needed.
Not to talk, not to sit in silence, but to be reminded of what it was like to be happy.
"Those two Weasley twins were in the kitchen when I arrived. They told me to give you this with a message : hope you're okay, from the ICCCC", Ollie said as he handed Bel a tub of chocolate ice cream.
Her favourite flavour.
Once again, she smiled.
And this time it felt normal.
Bel Whitlock had discovered the important of friendship in more ways than one that night.
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The second Bel woke up she immediately jumped out of bed.
She had wanted to get up as soon as the sun came up, but after the night she had, her body had betrayed her and demanded rest.
Her movement startled Gus who started squawking in alarm.
Bel took a brief second whilst pulling on her shoes to calm her owl before bolting out of the dorm.
She didn't need to change as she had wound up falling asleep in her outfit from last night.
As she ran through her common room, her friends all noticed that she was surprisingly awake and energised.
"Bel? Where are you going?" Riley called out from one of the sofas.
"Hospital wing", Bel just about managed to reply as she dashed through to the entrance.
Down the hallways, towards the hospital wing, Bel had never run somewhere so fast in her life.
She ignored the stares of other students who were walking past her, as all she kept wishing was to run into the wing and see Ron and Harry sitting up awake in their beds.
However, her journey was delayed as she ran into someone after turning a corner.
"How many times are you going to run into me, freak?"
Bel kept her annoyed groan internal as she realized the person she had collided with was Draco Malfoy.
"I heard about your little quest on the third-floor last night", Draco started as he stood between Bel and her path.
"Is that so?" Bel snapped back coldly.
She really didn't have time to deal with Malfoy right now.
She had already wasted almost the entire day in bed.
"I can't wait to see the punishment you have in store this time. You may have gotten away with it when I caught you at Hagrid's, but I doubt 'special arrangements' will cover for you now", Draco taunted.
"I'll happily accept punishment for my actions. I know what I did was wrong, Malfoy. But I did what I had to do to help my friends. Something you won't know much about", Bel replied.
Draco narrowed his eyes and stared daggers at her.
But as always, Bel witnessed an odd shift in his demeanour.
It was always as if his own mind suddenly reminded him of something.
She just didn't know what.
"If you do happen to get kicked out, I'm sure father would let you stay at our manor. I doubt you'd want to return to that filthy muggle world", he offered.
His words were said in a genuine tone, as if he believed what he was saying was kind.
But what they were to Bel was a nightmare.
"I'd return back to the muggle world a hundred times before I chose to stay with you, Malfoy", she spat.
Something that Bel had learnt that year was the divide between wizards and their opinion on muggles.
Some, including Bel, believed there wasn't a problem at all.
Some, including Draco Malfoy, believed they were beneath them and unworthy of being involved in their world.
Sure, most of the experiences Bel had with muggles in her old life weren't positive, but she wasn't about to hold that over every single human.
And most of the people who judged them were totally prejudiced.
"I think you'd reconsider once you've come to visit", Malfoy said after taking a second to collect himself.
"When and why would I ever visit?" Bel asked.
"Over summer. Dumbledore mentioned to my father that you were staying here at Hogwarts. It might get a bit ... boring. And so my father offered for you to visit us. Dumbledore accepted on your behalf", Malfoy replied with a smug smile.
Two things ran through Bel's mind.
Why on earth would Dumbledore accept on her behalf?
And why on earth would Malfoy be okay with that?
He hated her just as much as she hated him.
It didn't make any sense.
But right now, there was only one thing on her mind.
Get to the hospital wing to see Harry and Ron.
She can deal with this problem once she knew they were okay.
"Sounds spectacular. I can hardly contain my excitement", Bel replied in the flattest tone she could produce.
"Good. Considering you're part Slytherin now, you should see how the better kind of people live", Draco said.
That sentence made it impossible for Bel to keep her scoff of disbelief in.
But if she coaxed Malfoy on, she could be standing there forever.
"Good thing I'll be visiting over summer then", Bel chose to answer in the same deadpan tone before pushing past Draco and continuing on down the hallway.
"You're bleeding, did you know?" Draco called out to her.
Bel stopped and bought her hand up to her forehead, feeling the warm blood starting to collect there.
Her collision with Draco had reopened one of her cuts.
She was going to the hospital wing anyways, so she'll get it fixed there.
Temporarily wiping her blood away, she kept walking, trying to forget the ideal summer she believed she would have was now ruined with a planned trip to Malfoy Manor.
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In the hospital wing, Harry had awoken to a golden light covering the room.
When he sat up and pulled on his glasses, he saw all sorts of cards on the side table as well as a whole trolley of sweets and gifts standing at the end of his bed that people had bought him throughout the day.
"Good afternoon, Harry".
A familiar voice slightly startled him as he turned his attention off the tempting trolley to see Dumbledore walking up to his bed.
"Ah, tokens from your admirers?" he added, standing behind the pile of gifts.
"Admirers?" Harry asked.
"What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret. So, naturally, the whole school knows", Dumbledore explained.
Harry couldn't help but smile knowing that instead of the whole school hating him, he had actually received gifts.
"Ah, I see that your friend Ronald has saved you the trouble of opening your chocolate frogs", Dumbledore said as he held up an empty Chocolate Frog box.
"Ron was here? Is he alright? What about Bel and Hermione?" Harry quickly asked as he remembered the state he last saw his friends in.
"Fine. They're all just fine", Dumbledore reassured him.
"But what happened to the stone?" Harry then asked, calmed knowing his friends were safe.
"Relax, dear boy. The Stone has been destroyed. My friend Nicholas and I have had a little chat and agreed it was best all around", Dumbledore explained as he walked around to the side of Harry's bed.
"But then, Flamel, he'll die, won't he?" Harry asked.
"He has enough Elixir to set his affairs in order. But yes, he will die", Dumbledore replied, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
"But how is it I got the stone, sir? One minute I was staring in the mirror –", Harry tried to ask another question, but Dumbledore quickly cut him off.
"Ah, you see ... only a person who wanted to find the stone, find it not use it, would be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas. And between you and me, that is saying something", Dumbledore explained as he lowered his voice.
"And how did you get the stone, sir?" Harry then asked after a brief silence.
"Bel was the one who handed it over to me."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows slightly in confusion.
"But how did she get it? The last thing I remember was being in the room with the stone. I was trapped by a wall of ... fire."
"Miss Whitlock is a very resourceful girl. She hasn't given us any information about exactly what happened last night, but to our knowledge she cast a protection charm around Mr Weasley and came to find you. When she did, she managed to bring you out of that room and stayed with you and Mr Weasley until we arrived."
Harry was always shocked by just what Bel could achieve.
He had a feeling that he always would be.
Right now, he was just grateful that she had been there.
And thinking about her made him remember one of the reasons why he had kept hold of the stone in the first place.
"With the stone gone ... Voldemort can never come back, right?" Harry asked.
"Ah, I'm afraid ... there are ways in which he can return", Dumbledore admitted.
So, his efforts had gone to waste.
He was still in danger.
And so was Bel.
"Harry, do you know why Professor Quirrell couldn't bear to have you touch him?" Dumbledore then asked.
Harry responded by shaking his head.
"It was because of your mother. She sacrificed herself for you. And that kind of act leaves a mark", Dumbledore started.
Harry knew of the mark that had been left on him that night, and so he raised his bandaged hand up to his scar.
"No, no, this kind of mark cannot be seen. It lives in your very skin", Dumbledore quickly added.
"What is it?"
"Love, Harry. Love", Dumbledore whispered as he gently patted Harry on his head before standing up.
His mother's love is what saved him.
Even though she was gone, she still protected him.
That feeling, and that memory, entirely replaced the desperate need Harry had to sit in front of the Mirror of Erised, missing his parents.
They were still with him.
Even now.
"Ah, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans", Dumbledore said as he picked up the red and white stripped box from the pile of gifts.
"I was most unfortunate in my youth to come across a vomit-flavoured one. Since then, I'm afraid, I've lost my liking for them. But I think ... I could be safe with a nice toffee" he added as he placed one of the beans into his mouth.
"But alas. Earwax!" the headmaster exclaimed as he chewed.
Harry wore another smile and immediately thought of getting up to go and find his friends.
He desperately wanted to see them.
Not only to make sure they were okay, but to make sure they knew he was okay too.
And so, that's what he did.
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Harry had gotten changed out of his pyjamas and into his Gryffindor uniform as quickly as possible before heading out of the hospital and back to his common room.
He didn't expect to see the people he was searching for so soon.
As he rounded a corner, Harry looked up at the top of one of the sets of stone stairs to see Ron and Hermione talking to one another.
The pair took notice of someone approaching below them and turned to face him.
"All right there, Ron?" Harry asked.
"All right. You?" Ron replied.
"All right. Hermione?" Harry answered with a small shrug.
"Never better", Hermione responded with a large smile.
Harry was totally relieved to see his friends smiling and safe.
But there was one person missing.
"Have either of you seen Bel?" he asked.
"No. We went looking for her, even asked some of her friends in Hufflepuff where she was, but they said she had gone to the hospital wing", Ron replied as he walked down the stairs.
The hospital wing.
He was just there.
"We should go and find her", Harry said and the other two nodded before they set off through the hallways.
It was dark by the time they reached the Hufflepuff common room.
They had looked everywhere for their friend but couldn't seem to find her.
Harry did know of one place they hadn't checked.
That small circle in the forbidden forest.
But it was dark now, and he had promised her that he wouldn't tell Ron or Hermione about it, so it would have to remain unchecked.
"How do we get in?" Ron asked.
"I guess we wait until someone comes or goes", Hermione replied as they all stared at the barrelled entrance to the common room.
Harry was weirdly uneasy having not seen Bel yet.
She had played a large part in saving him.
It can't have been easy being stuck down there alone.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione!"
The familiar and comforting voice of Bel Whitlock called out behind them.
The three Gryffindors all turned around to see her standing in an oversized Hufflepuff quidditch jumper, her wild blond curls falling down over her shoulders, and her lips pulled into a massive smile.
Bel immediately ran down the hallway towards them.
Harry didn't know what it was, but he found himself moving towards her too.
When the two met in the middle, Bel almost tackled Harry to the floor in one of the tightest hugs he had ever received.
"You're okay!" Bel said as she held him tightly.
"Thanks to you", he replied.
Bel pulled away quickly with a smile and turned to Ron, dragging him into a tight hug too.
"You scared me to death", she breathed out.
"Well ... we did all nearly die", Ron said.
Bel rolled her eyes and then moved onto Hermione. The two girls also hugged each other like their lives depended on it.
"Where have you been? We've been searching all over for you", Hermione asked.
"Well, I woke up and the entire day had already passed so I ran as fast as I could to the hospital wing to make sure you both were awake and then I ran into Malfoy and once I had gotten away and reached the hospital, none of you were there! I've been searching all over for you", Bel spoke so quickly that Harry almost wasn't able to keep up.
"So ... we've all been running around for the past hour looking for each other?" Ron pointed out.
The other three all laughed as they realized how stupid they had been.
It was a moment that Harry honestly thought wouldn't arrive as soon as it did.
Him and his closest friends all laughing with each other.
In that moment, he felt truly happy.
Knowing Bel was okay too made it so much better.
The three Gryffindors and one Hufflepuff spent the rest of their evening in the Gryffindor common room doing what they all needed.
Laughing.
Being happy.
Being with their friends.
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Young Harry and Bel fluff <3
Next chapter might be the last one for this year ... idk