It seemed that losing your virginity gave you some sort of glow, because the morning after my night with Remus, Tonks took one look at me and yelled "YOU DID IT!"
"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows.
"You had a great night with Remus didn't you." she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"How the hell did you know?"
"It's the way you carried yourself today." Ollie grinned.
"Alright, yeah, fine." I grinned to myself.
They were sitting at the table with Bill, Fleur and Sirius, and they all stared at me with smiles on their faces.
I turned to make myself some tea, just as Remus strolled into the room. He was all dressed, but his hair was still disheveled and he was yawning widely. "Good morning."
"Good morning indeed." Ollie sniggered, and I shot him a glare.
"Another thing is um, you kind of forgot to put a silencing spell on your bedroom." Sirius laughed at our faces. "I could hear you the entire time."
"Well fuck." Remus flushed a bright red while everyone laughed.
I turned away, my face burning, as I poured two cups of tea. I handed one to Remus and drank the other. "Let's just forget about that."
When Remus left to go to his Order duty for the day, Ollie turned to me. "I'm proud of you Sara."
"Huh?"
"I'm proud of you. Like, genuinely. You've been waiting for the right person for all these years and you found him."
I smiled. "Thanks Ollie."
It was true. While Percy lost his to Penelope, and Ollie lost his to some girl in Ravenclaw (they didn't last very long I couldn't even remember her name), I had waited patiently, despite the boys who tried to get in my pants.
Tonks and I headed off to our training for the day, and after, I was to watch over the Department of Mysteries with Mr. Weasley.
"Long night, huh Mr. Weasley?" I asked brightly, as we put an Invisibly Cloak on us. We sat down, crouched slightly.
He raised his eyebrows at me. "You seem to be in a happy mood."
"Yes. I suppose I am." I blushed.
Mr. Weasley gave me a knowing smile, but didn't ask. Thank Merlin, because that conversation would have been awkward.
"I've always hated this part of the job." I whispered.
"Me too."
I rubbed my eyes tiredly.
"Why don't you rest your eyes for a moment, Sara." Mr. Weasley said. "I'll watch on guard."
"What if you fall asleep too? Like a chain reaction."
"I'll try not to." he smiled.
I tried to fight my sleep, but I felt my eyes drooping. After what only felt like a few minutes, I stirred. I felt Mr. Weasley grab my arm and, still half sleepy, I jumped up with him.
"What is-" I gasped when I saw a snake slithering towards us. I drew my wand out, before the snake struck at Mr. Weasley.
"Shit!" I fired off spells at it, but it was so quick, I missed, before it struck at me. I gasped in pain as I fell back against the floor. "Mr. Weasley." I said weakly. Before fading in darkness.
~~~~
I woke up with a groan. My side was searing with pain. Someone was holding my hands. I blinked at the bright light. I glanced down to see Remus, holding my hands, and his head drooped on my bed.
I tapped him. "Remus."
He woke with a jolt, his eyes wide. He stared at me for a few seconds, before throwing his arms around me. "Oh Sara. I was so worried. Oh Merlin..."
"I can barely even remember what happened, but I'm here."
"Sara! you're awake!"
I turned to my side to see Mr. Weasley in another bed, with Bill at his side.
"Where are we?" I muttered.
"St. Mungo's." Bill replied. "Glad to see you up Sara."
Remus was stroking my knuckles with his thumb.
"We were attacked by-" Mr. Weasley started.
"A snake!" I remembered. "Ugh."
I felt like shit.
Bill checked his watch. "Oh I better get back to work." he hugged his dad tightly, and gave me a light kiss on the top of my head. "Fleur said she'll drop by when she's done work. Also dad, tell mum I'll go over later today or something." he left with a wave.
Remus checked his watch too. "I'm so sorry Sara, but Dumbledore is insisting to have a meeting about what happened with me and Sirius. I must go."
I nodded. "Of course Remus."
Deep down, I was annoyed that Dumbledore would request a meeting with the two of them, but I didn't say anything.
Remus kissed me softly before leaving.
"Are you okay?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Yeah. Yeah. I know what I signed up for when..... yeah." I glanced around the room. There were other people in other beds.
"Everyone bitten." Mr. Weasley informed me.
"Oh."
And soon, Mrs. Weasley, the Weasley children, and Harry walked into the ward.
"Hello!" Mr. Weasley called out. "Bill just left, Molly, had to get back to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later. . . . Remus too."
"How are you, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley, bending down to kiss his cheek and looking anxiously into his face. "You're still looking a bit peaky. . . ." she turned to me and kissed my forehead. "And you?"
"I feel absolutely fine," said Mr. Weasley brightly, holding out his good arm to give Ginny a hug. "If they could only take the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home."
"I still feel a bit groggy. I only woke up a few minutes ago." I said.
"Er, Sara uh, had it worse." Mr. Weasley said sheepishly.
"Of course I did." I gave a small smile.
"Why can't they take the bandages off yet?" asked Fred.
"Well, we start bleeding like mad every time they try," said Mr. Weasley cheerfully, reaching across for his wand, which lay on his bedside cabinet, and waving it so that six extra chairs appeared at our bedsides to seat them all. "It seems there was some rather unusual kind of poison in that snake's fangs that keeps wounds open. . . . They're sure they'll find an antidote, though, they say they've had much worse cases than ours, and in the meantime we just have to keep taking a Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour."
"They tried to take the bandages off?" I asked.
Mr. Weasley nodded. "Yeah, you were still out cold, but same thing... you kept bleeding like mad. Now look, that fellow over there," he said, dropping his voice and nodding toward the bed opposite in which a man lay looking green and sickly and staring at the ceiling. "Bitten by a werewolf, poor chap. No cure at all."
My stomach turned when I heard that. He was properly bitten. Not scratched like me.
"Shouldn't he be in a private room?" asked Mrs. Weasley nervously.
"It's two weeks till full moon," Mr. Weasley reminded her quietly. "They've been talking to him this morning, the Healers, you know, trying to persuade him he'll be able to lead an almost normal life. I said to him — didn't mention names, of course — but I said I knew a werewolf personally, very nice man, who finds the condition quite easy to manage. . . .told him you were dating the werewolf Sara...."
I smiled at that. "What did he say?"
"Said he'd give me another bite if I didn't shut up," said Mr. Weasley sadly. "And that woman over there," he indicated the only other occupied bed, which was right beside the door, "won't tell the Healers what bit her, which makes us all think it must have been something she was handling illegally. Whatever it was took a real chunk out of her leg, very nasty smell when they take off the dressings."
"Are you two going to tell us what happened?" asked Fred, bringing a chair closer.
Mr. Weasley and I looked at each other.
"Well, Sara and I both had very long days. We dozed off and got attacked." Mr. Weasley said.
"Is it in the Prophet, you being attacked?" asked Fred, indicating the newspaper Mr. Weasley had cast aside.
"No, of course not," said Mr. Weasley, with a slightly bitter smile, "the Ministry wouldn't want everyone to know a dirty great serpent got —"
"Arthur!" said Mrs. Weasley warningly.
"— got — er — us," Mr. Weasley said hastily
"Where were you guys when it happened?" asked George.
"That's our business." Mr. Weasley said with a smile.
"Sara? Come on you're cool. Tell us!"
"No can do Georgie." I shook my head, trying to sit up properly. Ginny helped me.
I noticed that Harry was very quiet, and was looking at the floor, almost looking guilty.
"When you say you were 'on duty," Fred asked in a low voice, "what were you doing?"
"You heard them!" Mrs. Weasley hissed. "We are not talking about this!"
Mr. Weasley started droning on about something else in the Daily Prophet.
"You two were guarding it, weren't you?" said George quietly. "The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?"
"George be quiet!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.
"Keep on going Mr. Weasley ." I said loudly.
"Anyways-" he kept talking again. I wasn't even listening. I was so tired.
"Didn't you say You-Know-Who's got a snake, Harry?" asked Fred, looking at his father for a reaction. "A massive one? You saw it the night he returned, didn't you?"
"That's enough-" Mrs. Weasley started.
"Sara! Please tell us something."
"Mad-Eye and Tonks are outside, they want to come and see you. And you lot can wait outside," Mrs. Weasley added to her children and Harry. "You can come and say good-bye afterward. Go on. . . ."
They all trooped out of the ward and out the door. I breathed out a sigh of relief. "It's so hard keeping a secret from them. They're so insistent!"
Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "I'm sorry about that."
"It's alright."
Then Mad-Eye and Tonks barged in.
"Apparently, they searched the whole area but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, you two.. . . but You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?"
I noticed a flesh coloured piece of string slide under the door and I blinked. I looked away. I figured it was the twins inventions. I decided not to say anything. If I pretend I never saw it, it's not my problem.
"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," growled Moody, " 'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had much more time to look around. So Potter says he saw it all happen?"
"What?" I asked. "What did I miss?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded rather uneasy. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this. . . ."
"Yeah, well," said Moody, "there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."
"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning," whispered Mrs. Weasley.
" 'Course he's worried," growled Moody. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. . . . Obviously, Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him —"
We all went quiet. So that's why Harry looked guilty. I rubbed my eyes. "I can't talk about this anymore."
"You're right. You should rest." Tonks gave me a hug. "We'll get out of your hair. Get some sleep you two!"
Tonks left with Mad-Eye, and after another hour, Mrs. Weasley decided to take the kids home.
"What a life." I muttered.
"Yeah...." Mr. Weasley mumbled.