My neck throbbed uncontrollably, aching from the blow that Heath had dealt. My breath came in rasping, it's chilling temperature stinging my windpipe even more than the growing bruise. Looking up, I stared at sheer fury in his eyes.
He smiled wickedly, before sending his fist in to the side of my head. My balance was gone by that stage, and my body, though curled on the ground, collapsed further. It was lucky that these beds didn't have frames, because my skull would have cracked by now if they had.
An awful crack rang out as his foot stomped in to my ribcage. It was loud enough for even Heath to stop and stare, hesitant for a moment. Looking down, I saw blood blossoming through my white blouse. Rage pulsed through my uncontrollably.
I drew my wand from my pocket and pointed it at him. Unfortunately for me, my movements were slow and obvious, and Heath saw my intentions. Too late I tried to hide it once more, before he drew his own and pointed it at me.
"Expelliarmus!" he hissed, and my wand went flying.
My only protection was gone. Breathing shallow breaths to avoid the broken rib embedded in my ribcage, I tried to hide form the tip of his wand. I regretted drawing my wand, for it had only given him ideas. I couldn't curl up in to a ball because of my rib, but if I stayed like this I would be hurt further.
But then I remembered, I didn't need my wand to perform magic. The upper hand was mine, and I was going to use it.
"Petrificus totalus..." I murmured, too low for him to hear.
His entire body seized, and his eyes widened. Digging my nails in to the bed beside me, I stood up with much difficulty and hobbled away from the scene. Now I wished that there were somebody staying in my dorm, to help me out a little.
My eyes were still unfocused, and my ears pounded horribly in my head, but I knew the tower well enough to make my way through it virtually blinded. I couldn't make it to Madame Pomfrey, I knew that for sure. The best that I could do was sit in the common room and wait for somebody to return.
Hours crawled past, and the blood down the side of my face and on my shirt was very nearly dried. Nothing much had changed, except for the dull pain in my torso and the fact that my shirt was no longer white, but crimson red from the blood.
I didn't know how much blood I had lost, but my face felt like it couldn't attain any, and it was cold without it. Not to mention the fact that it was winter, and my damp blouse wasn't protecting me much against the harsh, cold window seeping through one of the open windows.
The overall feeling was horrific, as well as the lingering feeling that my spell could wear off at any moment and Heath could come storming down the stairs. My eyes flickered nervously over to the staircase every so often, just to check.
Finally, the door finally opened and a small, mousy haired boy came through. His eyes were bloodshot and tired, and he yawned openly. I found nothing funny about his pink pyjama’s, I only cared that I would soon be sent to Madame Pomfrey.
"Hey!" he said brightly, before blushing at his pyjama’s.
"Help..." I muttered, my mouth unbelievably dry.
His eyes fixed on me, and they seemed to focus more, and as soon as they did they widened and he rushed over to my side. He apologised profusely and tried to explain that he was merely tired, but I didn't really mind. Breathing in shaking breaths, I instructed him to levitate me to Madame Pomfrey.
As I was hovering, I couldn't help but think that my holidays were becoming consumed with being injured. If I could, I would sigh, but unfortunately, that would hurt way too much to bother. The boy leading my body through the halls called himself Drew.
Drew was a year below me, and couldn't seem to stop talking. I didn't mind, his voice was sort of soothing after a while. Plus, I longed for proper human company. Company that excluded my Father and my companion, who was a red panda, not a human.
"Who did it?" asked Drew, his voice cutting through my own thoughts.
At least he had a valid question, finally.
"Heath." I muttered, loud enough for only him to hear.
I only said it this quiet because the portraits and paintings around us were whispering and pointing at me. More than once I heard utterings of 'Sirius Black attacking again'. In fact, a portrait of a young witch began screaming suddenly, which created general uproar from there on.
"Heath..." whispered the boy, his face now very worried.
"Yeah... Do you know him?" I wheezed, ignoring the growing pain in my chest as I spoke again.
"He's my... he's a... well... He's my brother." stammered the boy, his face completely shocked.
A sinking feeling crossed my body as I realised that I had shattered this boy’s view of his brother forever. Not that Heath didn't deserve it, but Drew certainly didn't. Stupid, stupid, stupid... Couldn't I see the resemblance in his grey eyes?
"I'm sorry..." I whispered, trying to pat his arm.
"What do you have to be sorry for?" he said bitterly, his face contorting.
"I ruined your brother for you." I said finally, after a silent pause.
"Elle, can I call you that?... Elle, don't tell Dumbledore, please. I know Heath deserves to go to Azkaban, but if he gets expelled, he won't have anything in the world." pleaded Drew, his eyes meeting mine.
"I- I don't know if I can do that... Drew." I whispered, trying to avoid his eyes.
They were so damned innocent and pleading, but could I let Heath get away scot-free? He was right though, if I got Heath expelled, then I would ruin his entire life. If I let him get away with it, I would keep Drew as a friend, and Heath as an enemy.
"No, I get it." he muttered, defeated.
"Drew, I won't tell... but can you make sure of one thing?" I said slowly, looking up at him.
"Sure, anything." he said, his voice pleased.
"I want your family to know what he did... I want him to be taught a lesson." I said, staring intently at him.
"Yeah, I will." he promised, twisting his pinkie around mine.
Pinkie promises? That wasn't something that I had ever done in a long while. Pinkie promises were so... immature and young. I smiled, for the first time in days, and shook his pinkie lightly, sealing the deal between the two of us.
Before I knew it, I was on a soft hospital bed with a mouthful of some strange concoction of Madame Pomfrey's (which made me feel as though all my blood had been sucked back up in to me) and the chanting of a couple of spells, I was soon as good as new.
Madame Pomfrey demanded that I stay the night, and so I did. I didn't really want to go back to my dorm, ever. But, I had to, and I would. My sleep was a still one, partly due to the sleeping potion that I was given, and it was a black sleep too, void of any dreams.
I awoke to an irritatingly bright ray of sunshine landing directly on my face. Just my luck. I could almost picture to single sunburnt cheek that I would receive if I had stayed asleep. Damned pale skin, it always works in the suns favour.
Stretching out, I felt very little pain in my side, nor my face, which was very pleasing indeed. Rolling over to my side, I saw Drew asleep on the bed beside me, his mousy brown hair falling over his closed grey eyes. He stayed here the night?
I watched him, not in a creepy way, for hours until he woke up. And when he did wake up, I promptly yawned as if I had only just woken up, rather than being awake since sunrise. He pushed his hair out of his face and shot me an adorable smile.
I now had the energy to laugh at his pink pyjamas, and the laughing shook my entire frame. The weird thing was, he didn't blush or look embarrassed, he just laugh along with me as if it wasn't humiliating at all to be wearing pink pyjamas.
After our ferocious laughter subsided, I couldn't help but stare at him in wonder.
"How do you do that?" I questioned, staring at him again.
""Do what?" he replied, his voice still shaking with a couple of laughs.
"Be so... you. I mean, I would have buried my head in shame if somebody had of laughed at my pj's like that." I said slowly, but honestly.
"I get that most guys don't like the colour pink, but I love pink." he said finally, smiling broadly at me.
"You do?" I inquired.
"It's my favourite colour, and I'm not ashamed of that." he said simply, stretching out his long limbs.
He was the same age as me, I realised. Smiling, I sat up and let my legs hang off of the bed. We managed to talk for hours, an achievement that I had only achieved with Neville. Neville! I wondered what he was doing now? But I couldn't let my mind wander for long, Drew's smile kept drawing me back.
The sun sank in the corner of my eye; it's brilliant orange rays once again obstructing my vision.
"We've spent the entire day talking, in our pyjama’s, in the Hospital ward." I said finally, turning from our topic.
"We have?" he said, surprised.
"We have." I repeated.
"What exactly did you do with Heath?" said Drew, bringing back the dreaded topic.
"I used petrificus totalus..." I murmured, ducking my head.
"So, he's been frozen for an entire day?" chuckled Drew, his face amused.
"Wait, your not angry?" I said, completely shocked.
"I may not have wanted him to be expelled, but that doesn't mean I don't think he deserves to rot for what he did to you." said Drew, his face highly serious.
"Oh, well, thank-you... for wanting your brother to rot." I replied, feeling stupid for my choice of words.
For a second, I thought that he was going to walk away from me, but instead he burst out in laughter. How could I resist? Soon I joined in, and we were both bellowing with laughter, not for the first time in that particular day.
"Right! I've been listening to you hyenas all day long! Leave!" shouted the curt voice of Madame Pomfrey.
In a few quick seconds, our feet were slapping against the stone floor as we ran through the halls of Hogwarts, with my in a white hospital gown and Drew in pink pyjama’s. I hadn't felt like a proper kid in ages, but here I was running through the halls in pyjamas like it was nothing.
Soon, we were standing in the common room, contemplating going up and seeing Heath on the floor. Hopefully, the spell had worn off and we wouldn't have to go near him, but we had to check anyway, especially because we weren't telling on Heath.
It reminded me of the fact that Madame Pomfrey hadn't asked any questions regarding how I had injured myself, but I supposed if she did I could make up an excuse about falling off of a broomstick and hurting myself.
Glancing over at Drew, we made our way up the stairs one step at a time, both of us dreading what we would find. Being a few steps ahead of Drew, I had to take the honours of leaning through the doorway and checking if he was still there.
The entire room repulsed me now, but I didn't have a choice about the matter. Stepping inside, I saw a very stiff Heath lying on the floor. His eyes were blinking, and his fingers twitching, so I assumed that the spell was waring off on it's own.
His eyes flickered over to me, frightening me completely. Taking a deep breath, I beckoned Drew inside and pointed at his older brother. Drew's face was grim, but he didn't hesitate to walk over to his brother’s side and prepare to make him hover.
His eyes raked over the blood stained sheet that I had been clinging to last night, and his mouth screwed up in to a weird shape because of the sight. Truthfully, the elves would clean away the sheets and I didn't have to bother with them, but I scrunched them up in to a ball and threw them in to the corner, just to get rid of the thing.
Drew dutifully took his brother out of the room, but I lingered. What had I even been in here for the other day? I must have had some reason for it? Perhaps it was just going to sleep, it was a plausible enough explanation, i supposed.
Drew soon emerged through the doorway again, and rushed over to me o enfold me in a tight hug. I didn't know why he was hugging me now, but I didn't mind wrapping my arms around him for comfort and warmth.
"I'm so sorry that he did that. He was never quite... right." said Drew, his eyes wide.
I didn't like seeing him sad, I didn't like seeing him without a happy expression or innocent expression on his face, it felt like a crime. I sent my fingers tips to his belly, and promptly began tickling him, just to squeeze out one of his amazing laughs.
So, I think you can gather, that I made one more best friend in the world: Drew. He was also the younger brother of the boy who had beaten me senseless last night.
Yet, despite all these factors that could make this complicated, it wasn't. It was the simplest thing that I had ever been involved in since I was simpler. Being around Drew made me feel simple again, and I liked that.
~
The holidays passed swiftly, and I spent my time with Drew. Leon, Sirius and Neville had all escaped my mind, and it was wonderful. Stretching out, I sat up in my bed and pulled my hair back in to a low ponytail, ready for the day.
I lingered at the doorway, waiting for Drew to arrive. To be truthful, I no longer left my dorm unaccompanied. It was paranoid, I know, but I couldn't risk walking out alone. Scratching at the cuticles of my nails, I waited nervously for Drew to arrive.
It seemed that out of the few people remaining in Ravenclaw, Heath was always lingering around me. Every corner I took, every seat that I sat at, I saw him across from me, watching me intently. It drove me mad, but what could I do?
If I told Dumbledore the truth, Heath would get expelled and I would lose Drew as my friend forever. So, I would continue relying on him to walk throughout the halls until I finish Hogwarts. Awesome... Four years of needing an escort to walk through the halls.
Yeah, I couldn't do that. Grabbing my wand from my pocket, I stormed down the stairs and allowed my eyes to scour the room. Sure enough, sitting in a couch in the corner of the room, Heath sat, staring at me with sinister eyes.
Pointing the tip of my wand at his outstretched hand, I muttered 'Expelliarmus' under my breath and watched as the wand went flying. His eyes remained calm, still staring intently at me. Yet, I didn't feel nervous at all.
I knew that I could do this; I could defeat him... and my fears with him. Breathing deep, I prepared myself to utter my spell of choice. His mouth twitched slightly, distracting me form the fact that his legs were tensing up.
Next thing I knew, he was flying at me. His fingers wrapped around my throat, squeezing harder and harder until my air started to leave my lungs. Gasping for breath, I uttered two words fearlessly.
"Avada Kedavra."
The green burst of light that danced from my wand sunk in to his chest, freezing his features. I didn't gasp or shake, I turned and walked away from him.
Drew stood across the room, his eyes betrayed and wide. Smiling, I repeated my last phrase and watched as the beautiful green light struck Drew dead. Smiling, I began to laugh wildly at the entire scene. the two brothers, dead...
"Elle! Wake up!" cried Drew, shaking my arm urgently.
My face was damp with sweat, and tears it seemed. Panting, I tried to ignore the fact that I willingly murdered Heath and Drew in my dream. If I did it so mercilessly in my dreams, what about real life? Sighing, I tried to forget it all and smile.
"You were screaming... and crying... Sorry for waking you..." murmured Drew, his cheeks flushing.
"Drew, I had the worst dream imaginable..." I breathed, wiping the sweat from my face.
"Well, let's make this the best day possible then." he gushed, heaving me up.
It was one of the moments where I thought he was going to break out in song, and we would dance through the school like a Julie Andrews musical. Unfortunately, life isn't a musical, but it didn't matter all that much anyway.
"It's the last day of holidays, remember?" reminded Drew, answering my silence.
Walking through the hallways, we neared the Great Hall when I saw a flock of students pass us.
"But, that means that everybody is coming..." I began, until I saw him.
Neville.
"...Home."
~
:D
Drew. :D I feel like I rushed that, did I? D:
But yeah, I’m glad to get Drew in on this, because he's based off of somebody that I know :) (The thing about him loving pink is true too!)
Thank you for comments, too, I love your feedback guys!
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All of that jazz :)
PS. Wear an eye patch.
Bye bye David Bowie.
Livvi c: