The first child to be admitted in to the new 'dorm' was a girl named Jae, a long legged first year who had been beaten beyond recognition. Her friends could barely stammer out a name as Neville laid her across the hospital bed, their distant eyes pained.
"Talk to them, Nev... They're hurt." I whispered as Neville passed me my wand, his grey eyes blinking as he understood.
The girls were gathered so sit on a long, cushion laden couch, where they soon began to grasp each-other as they recounted the events. Neville's soothing words and strong arms seemed to calm the hysteria as I tended to Jae. Her uniform crest revealed that she was a Gryffindor; so she would be brave.
As her bones began to snap back in to place, I steadied my quivering hands. Jae was a first year, eleven years old and slightly taller than her cohort. She was beaten by a teacher aid, another death eater eager to prove themselves.
Whilst Neville ushered the girls silently back to their dorms, I realised that Jae wouldn't be able to return to classes for at least a week, enough time to count her as officially missing. She couldn't return to her dorm, lest she be captured and questioned; and that was how she built the newest dorm.
The second my head hit the pillow that night, the tears rolled freely. To gain freedom my students would have to be beaten like the sweet little first year, a blood payment for the haven Elysia James offered. Squeezing the edge of my pillow, I imagined that I was squeezing the life out of Voldemort; and the thought eased me to sleep.
Amidst the fighting she saw him, his long silver beard and blue eyes shimmering under the light of spells exploding in the night air. Her lungs had no need for air, not in this world, and as Dumbledore held out his hand, she turned back to Hogwarts and smiled faintly.
"You have done so well..." Dumbledore said slowly, a sad smile reaching his face.
"They're safe?"
As he nodded slowly, then and only then Elysia James grasped her fathers hand and followed him, her sadness palpable. Yet despite this unknown sorrow, she was happy.
"El?" Neville called out as he swung the door open with ease.
Jae was across the long dorm, whimpering in her sleep. Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, I sat up and stared at the room surrounding me. I had made my own quarters within the dorm, a replica of my childhood room with Snape.
Neville entered slowly, offering me a weak smile. Patting the foot of my bed softly, I signalled for him to sit. Last nights dream, or my future (whichever it was), haunted me faintly, promising to be forgotten.
"She looks better already." Neville said with a smile and a kiss.
"She can't go back to her Gryffindor dorm." I said in a tired voice, tired in so many ways.
"I know... I was just thinking about that... Do you- Do you think we should open this up to more kids?"
"I considered it. But they can't return to classes if they stay here." I said in a hopeless whisper.
"We could hide them in some classes, though, like McGonagall's. Some teachers only have death eaters as aids, and they'd hardly notice a new student."
I pondered the thought, and the effort it would take to conduct this black market dorm. And then I remembered my promise to my father, to take care of Hogwarts no matter what. Dumbledore's Army could protect the students... The effort would be worth it...
"We have to try it." Neville urged, a determination in his eyes that told me I couldn't sway him.
"You're right.. The DA will conduct it, and we'll get as many houses as possible involved." I agreed, the monumental decision made in a matter of minutes.
That night, thirty students abandoned their dorms and sought refuge in the nicknamed 'Elysia's Dorm'. Mainly first years that had witnessed Jae's beating, I had no choice but to expand the hospital into a dorm consisting of hammocks for beds, to separate the dorm form the hospital.
I watched as the ginger haired girl, whose temper was as hot as her hair, stepped forward from the Army to offer her help. Ginny had never appealed to me, she was just another Weasley, of no particular importance; until now.
"Elysia, you and Neville can't do this alone. I know the students, I'll find the trustworthy ones and bring them to the Dorm. By the end of the year we can have most of the school here." Ginny burst, glancing around at her peers.
I studied her for a few moments, dressed in simple jeans and a sweater, her hair swinging loosely around her shoulders. For once it didn't surprise me that she was the girl that Harry had chosen, a fact that had mystified me ever since Neville told me.
"At the end of this year, the Order of the Phoenix will evacuate the students, I'm sure of it, or the war might be over..." I began, receiving wary looks from my 'followers'.
"So..." I paused, "Ginny is in control of leading the students to the Dorm. I can't be wandering the halls, so the Army is the greatest hope for our students."
Ginny, rather than smile at her victory concerning leadership, nodded solemnly and left the meeting, followed by the majority of the group. I stared at my patients, four had joined Jae over the past three days, and October hadn't even drawn to a close.
Each face belonged to Sirius, or to Drew, or to any one else I had failed. Yet, it only made me more determined. My deft fingers entwined with the bandages encasing the fragile limbs of my sweet patients, pressing fresh bandages against the open wounds.
"Sometimes, I swear you look like a mother tending to her children." Neville whispered, grey eyes following the movements of her fingers.
"The Mother of Hogwarts..." I chuckled, attention never leaving my work.
A warm silence fell on the Dorm, disrupted only by the pained whimpers of healing students. October had reached it's final day, only one month had passed and I couldn't imagine the injuries that would befall my students; yet I was keeping my oath to Dumbledore, none would die without me trying to save them.
None would die.
~
"Ginny, there's nearly a hundred students. It's been barely over a month, we can't-" I began, my voice low so as not to be heard by the wary students.
"No, we can't let them stay and be hurt." Ginny said forcefully, ginger eyebrows furrowed.
Scraping the hair from my bedraggled face I sighed in frustration, "How can we feed them?"
"You're the Mother of Hogwarts," Ginny replied, "You befriended the elves so now ask them for their help."
Without waiting for a reply Ginny turned and rejoined her friends, plastering a smile so obviously fake I pitied her; at least I had perfected the art. Turning from the multitude of faces I returned to my bedroom, staring at the empty fireplace.
The Room had given it to me; strange as it sounded. That fireplace was the only hope of contacting the Order, the only light at the end of this tunnel. Ginny's determination reminded me of my own, and soon enough my numb hands pointed at the dry wood rested within the fireplace.
The fire that streamed out of my finger tips reminded me of the power within my hands, and soon a genuine smile reached my face. The wood caught and soon began crackling merrily, and I prepared myself to connect with Grimmauld Place, or perhaps the Burrow... anywhere.
"M-Miss James?" a voice whispered from the doorway.
Turning my head I saw Jae, with her awkwardly long legs and mousy brown hair, all healed, all better. Maybe it was the warmth of the fire, or maybe it was the smile on Jae's face, but my plan was soon forgotten as I invited Jae within, to sit infront of the hearth.
Soon a sole student became two, became four, became fourty, became everyone. The room expanded with every body, all but obliging to the will of its habitants. I smiled as the children began to talk, discuss little folk stories from their towns or memories long gone.
As night waned I found myself talking about Dumbledore, a subject that caused a deathly silence in the room. Every eye was peeled, every ear listening as I recounted the extravagant sweets in his office, the strange instruments and the fondness of Muggle books.
"Dumbledore didn't hate Muggle borns, did he." a boy whispered from afar.
"No, nor should any body."
"Does it matter? Being Muggle born?" another girl added.
I thought of Hermione, the brightest witch of our age, and off all the wonders of the muggle world, "No, no it doesn't."
A comforting silence overtook the huddled students, and another smile crepty on to my face. To see them safe and my oath kept made me feel as if I were basking in the sunlight of the Garden.
As heads and eyelids began to droop, I ushered the children back into their beds and took Neville's hand in to my own. Leading him from the Room I took him to Merlin's portrait adjacent.
The portal had been closed for a month, but now was as good as any time to reopen it. Tapping the frame lightly with my wand, I watched as a silver ripple made the paint strokes shiver again, indicating the portals opening.
"It's raining..." Neville said faintly, dazed by the Old Elysia's reappearance.
Giving him an evil grin I plunged forward into the portrait, taking him with me. Briefly we hung in midair, our bodies shifting from the castle to the Garden, but soon enough our bodies were tumbling on to the damp soil.
"It smells like rain." I said vaguely, not caring if my words were stupid or not.
I felt my clothes absorb the liquid around them, yet I dared not move from the ground. Neville's arms wrapped around me I lay my lips on his, a kiss that warmed my body like fire whisky. I tried to lie to myself and say that that hole inside of my chest was filling, but it felt as empty as ever; the pain numbed by my Neville.
"Are you okay?" Neville laughed, tiny droplets of the light rain hanging on to his eye lids.
"I think I almost forgot how to feel." I replied slowly, laying my head against the now muddy ground.
Nev let out a trembling sigh, his eyes torn between tears and happiness, "It's only October. We have so much more to do, but I'm already exhausted."
Water had began to creep up my scalp, sending a cold shiver down my body. When he put it that way, the year would be impossible. Every time I blinked my eyes wanted to stay closed, to rest rather than sleep, to relax rather than to stop. Burrowing further against Neville, I shut my eyes and remained silent.
I nearly began to laugh bitterly as I remembered being in this garden but a year before; happy. The sun used to shine and the flowers would reflect the golden light to make the garden seem to be paradise. Now, however, it seemed as though the dementors had even discouraged the protected flowers of this garden from blooming and the school was shrouded in grey clouds eternally.
"Harry will come before the end of the year." I said, my voice struggling to be firm.
"What if- You-Know-Who...if he... What if Harry never comes." Neville blurted out, his tongue barely able to articulate the thought.
"Don't think that way, never think that way. The Order must know that we're in trouble, they'll probably open a floo network for us... We'll be out in weeks." I said happily, the thought alone cheering me up.
Part of me disagreed, however, saying that adults had never helped me before, why would they choose to now? But with so many lives at stake, they would come surely. Strangling Nev's hand in my grip, I nodded slowly and shut my eyes tight.
He'll be so alone... Lonely Longbottom... She'll seek him out to forget him... The girl with the silver hair will erase him from her mind, and they will part ways at the grave.
The words had repeated themselves so much during my short sleep that I couldn't possibly forget them. It was words alone, somewhere between a vision and a prophecy. The very concept of me leaving Neville was surreal; I had never even considered parting with him.
"There's another prophecy, Nev..." I halted, barely able to look at him.
"It- It says... 'He'll be so alone... Lonely Longbottom... She'll seek him out to forget him... The girl with the silver hair will erase him from her mind, and they will part ways at the grave.'" I whispered, turning to Neville quickly.
His eyebrows furrowed as he considered those words, his eyes darting to my hair that, in my recent stress, had gone an even lighter blonde; yet gold still lingered in the colour. Clawing at the wretched hair, I combed my fingers through it and gave him a weak smile.
"It isn't silver."
"Yet." he replied, sorrow reaching his eyes.
Holding both of his hands firmly I continued, "It could be anyone. It mightn't even be me."
"It says you'll erase me from your mind, that you'll leave me." he murmured, his voice raw and hurt.
"Propechies don't always come true. Remember the one about me turning 16? We defeated that one, and this one will be easy." I promised, laying my lips against his again.
Our foreheads resting against each other, we breathed. Perhaps something about the concept of breathing each others air that calmed us down, because I soon felt my pulse begin to slow. Part at the grave...It could mean everything or nothing, it could be a lie.
Could be.
~
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