Was she breathing?
Was that a pulse he could feel?
Seconds after Harry caught her, the pretty brown eyes, which were usually so full of warmth and twinkling spiritedly, were empty of any semblance of life and her eyelids had drifted closed.
“Ellie? Talk to me “ please “ don’t die “ you can’t die “ not now…” he begged. He felt the pendant she had given him burning white hot against the skin of his chest. What did that mean? He shook her delicately, afraid that he might do even more damage to her, but she flopped lifelessly in his arms. “Ellie, wake up “ please don’t be dead “ please, please don’t be dead…”
“She isn’t dead, Harry.” He looked up to see Professor Dumbledore standing above him. Harry looked around and realised that in the time he had been solely concerned with Ellie, the Order had turned out in huge numbers and were battling with the Death Eaters that had not disappeared. He could see Ron and Hermione lying on the ground several feet from him; it looked as though both had been hit with vicious spells. Ron had a small pool of blood forming under his head and Hermione was only a few feet from him, lying in a dishevelled and unconscious heap. He looked to his other side and saw that Charlie was standing over Ginny as he fought with someone who looked suspiciously like Crabbe’s father. There was no sign of Voldemort and only half a dozen of his followers remained.
“It is imperative that we get her back to the castle at once. Take this.” The headmaster handed him a large rock. He felt a tugging behind his navel and the last thing he saw before he was deposited on the infirmary floor, with his cousin grasped close to his chest, was the look in his headmaster’s eyes. In all the time that Harry had known him, Dumbledore had never looked so anxious.
“Madam Pomfrey! Help!” he shouted. He lifted Ellie’s still body on to the nearest bed; she was so much lighter than he had imagined her to be. Or was it just that he was stronger?
“What has happened now?” The matron came bustling towards him. “The headmaster told me to expect casualties. What has been going on?”
“Voldemort set a trap for us in Hogsmeade; he sent Dementors and then Death Eaters,” Harry hardly paused for breath.
“Good Lord! What exactly happened to Professor Potter?” she inquired as she laid a gentle hand across Ellie’s forehead.
“Voldemort started to say the Killing Curse but someone hit him with a Silencing Charm. He finished mouthing it though, and then a green light shot out of his wand. Is she going to die?” his voice trembled as he said the last word.
“She is very close.” Pomfrey began to examine Ellie very carefully; she then slipped some potion between the girl’s pale lips. “I’ll be back in a moment. I’m going to require some help.”
While she was gone several loud noises announced the arrival of more patients, each with Portkey’s grasped in their hands. Charlie had accompanied Ginny, Remus had brought Ron, and Tonks arrived with Hermione on a stretcher in front of her. Harry rushed to Ginny’s bed; she was conscious but in a lot of pain. “Ginny, are you all right?”
“I’ll be okay, Harry. Is Ellie okay?” Ginny was holding her arm gingerly.
“Madam Pomfrey isn’t sure; she’s gone to get help,” Harry tried to hide the fear in his voice but Ginny knew him too well to miss it. She laid her good hand on his and gave it a small squeeze. Charlie raced around Ginny’s bed to Ellie; he brushed a stray bit of hair out of her face and cupped her chin with his hand.
“Don’t you die on me, Ellie. I’ll never forgive you for it,” he whispered.
“She’ll be all right, Charlie. She’s a fighter, like her mother.” Remus was now standing on the other side the bed holding Ellie’s hand.
“How are Ron and Hermione?” Harry asked as he returned to his cousin’s bedside.
“They’ll live. The spells they were hit with were strong but very basic. Madam Pomfrey should be able to put them right without too much trouble,” Remus answered. He opened his mouth to say something else when the matron came shooting out of her office accompanied by another woman in lime green robes that Harry recognised as a St. Mungo’s uniform.
“This is Healer Adelaide; she is much more equipped to deal with Ms. Potter’s condition than I am. You three come away from there while she examines Elizabeth.” Madam Pomfrey ushered them away from the bed and put up screens to allow the healer some privacy. She then set about helping Ron, Hermione and Ginny.
It emerged that Ginny had broken her arm after she punched her captor in the face. Madame Pomfrey did what she had once told Harry she could do and mended it in a heartbeat. Ron had been hit with a Reductor curse that had forced him into a collision with a tree and needed several days rest but was conscious and complaining about being uncomfortable within half an hour. Nobody would tell him what curse had hit Hermione, but he did understand it had hurt her more than normal because of the injury she suffered in the Ministry; it was likely to be morning before she woke. It wasn’t until over an hour had passed that the healer was finished with Ellie.
“I’ve done with her, Poppy. She’s in a very bad state.” The healer shook her head gently. “Her heart is beating very slowly; she’ll need to get this every four hours.” She handed Madam Pomfrey a large vial of lurid yellow potion.
“Will she make it?” Harry, Remus and Charlie asked concurrently.
“I don’t honestly know. Her heart rate is down and her breathing is very inconsistent. The curse was somewhat lessened by the counter placed on it, but it still caused an awful lot of damage. I think she’s suffered some internal bleeding, but I’ve given her a potion to take care of that. The fact that she was hit by a stunner and banged her head in the fall, it’s a surprise she could even stand up, let alone duel anyone. If she makes an improvement in the next day or so then that’s a good sign, but if she doesn’t then I’m afraid you might have to prepare yourselves for the worst.”
“Thank you for your help.” Remus shook the woman’s hand and gave her a grateful smile.
“I’ll come back tomorrow to check up on her. If there’s any change, you know where I am.” The healer gave Madam Pomfrey a quick nod and headed back towards the office.
“Why don’t you three go and get some dinner? You can bring some back for Mr. and Ms. Weasley to save me a job.” She tried to shepherd the three men out of the ward.
“I want to stay,” Harry said immediately.
“We’ll be back as soon as possible, Harry. Would you like us to bring you something to eat?” Remus squeezed his shoulder.
“Please,” Harry nodded, settling in to a chair at Ellie’s bedside. Remus then had to practically heave Charlie out of the ward doors.
Remus and Charlie had hurried back from the dining hall within five minutes, each of them juggling several plates.
“Professor McGonagall is trying to calm the students down in the Great Hall. There is a lot of confusion and panic. The Slytherins aren’t helping things. There are whispers spreading from their table that Ellie is dead. Some second years are in tears because of it,” Remus told him.
“Probably Malfoy. His dad will have known about the plan and told him what they intended to do,” Charlie said bitterly.
“Well, I’m sure Ellie will be able to tell us exactly what happened when she wakes up,” Remus replied hopefully.
“If she wakes up,” Harry said in a downtrodden voice. He shivered involuntarily at the thought; he couldn’t bear to think of losing her.
“She will, Harry. You have to believe that.” Remus laid his hand on Harry’s shoulder a little harder than he intended and then looked down at him apologetically.
“It’s my fault that everybody’s here. Again,” Harry admitted shamefully. He closed his eyes against the bright lights in the hospital wing and prayed that when he opened them he would have imagined the afternoon’s events. Unfortunately when his eyelids slipped back, he was still in the ward and Ellie was still lying in the bed looking deathly pale, even against the spotless white of the sheets.
“How many times do we have to tell you that we do these things willingly?” Ginny raised her voice at him from the bed next to Ellie’s. “You said that you were going back to the village and then we decided that we were coming with you. When you told us to spread out nobody objected; it is not your fault that we’re here!”
“She’s right, mate. If we didn’t want to do all of that, then we wouldn’t have come with you. Besides, Ellie’s our family, too, you know,” Ron chorused from the bed opposite her.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Remus slid into the chair beside him and waited patiently. Harry began to recount the events of the day; from deciding to go back down to the village to seeing the curse hit Ellie. They all sat silently and listened carefully to his story, and Ginny and Ron added bits and pieces every now and then. When he was finished, he looked at Remus expectantly.
“The way I see things is that you saved her life, Harry,” he answered after a long period of consideration.
“It didn’t do her much good though did it?” He looked at her still form once more.
“It kept her alive and that’s all that matters,” Charlie patted his fiancé’s hand more to comfort himself than her.
It was around breakfast time the next morning before Dumbledore finally arrived in the hospital wing. “How is she, Poppy?” he asked the matron as he glanced at his granddaughter.
“Alive, but barely,” she replied with quiet sadness.
“I see.” He moved quickly to her bedside, nodded at the people around her and kissed her forehead. “I’m here now Elizabeth; everything is going to be fine.” Harry was amazed to see that his headmaster’s eyes were glistening with tears. “I understand that you saved Elizabeth’s life, Harry. Thank you.” Dumbledore placed a soft hand on the top of Harry’s head.
“But she dived in front of me; she nearly died because of me,” he once again muttered shamefully.
“Yes, but you saved her from dying pointlessly in that clearing. She made a choice, Harry. It was her choice to die for you and that is not pointless at all.”
“What happened afterwards?” Harry inquired. The hours after the attack were still very blurry to him.
“We have a total of seven Death Eaters in the custody of the Aurors at the Ministry; including several who were caught during the Ministry incident and managed to worm their way out of prison. It was a somewhat chaotic night. We had to arrange for a special holding room to keep them in and a rotation of guards because it is safe to assume that Voldemort will try and free them. We have spent the whole night questioning them all. None of them have yet revealed Voldemort’s whereabouts, but that was to be expected. They have told us exactly how the plan was executed and we are in the process of dealing with those responsible.” There was a hard edge in his normally gentle voice.
“What does that mean?” Harry asked suspiciously.
“I must ask you all to remain calm, but one of the Death Eaters, Walden McNair to be precise, informed us that Draco Malfoy was employed in Elizabeth’s capture,” Dumbledore answered gravely.
“WHAT?” Harry yelled.
“Calm yourself, Harry; we knew that they would be getting inside help on this task. After the Dementor attack, Draco had to lie at the top of the high street and pretend to have fainted. They knew that Elizabeth would come to his aid, and that is when they surrounded her. They hit her with a stunner before dragging her away from the town; the plan was that Voldemort would kill her, thus clearing his path to you.”
“SO MALFOY WAS IN ON ALL THIS?” Charlie bellowed so loud that the panes of glass in the windows threatened to shake themselves free of their wooden restraints.
“Yes, he was. I will be dealing with him shortly.” Dumbledore once again turned to his granddaughter and began to stroke her hair tenderly.
“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” Charlie sprinted for the doors of the infirmary and Harry was only half a pace behind him the whole way to the Great Hall, where the students were just settling down to breakfast.
“YOU LITTLE RAT-FACED BAST-” Harry roared. Several girls at the nearby tables gasped at his colourful language.
“YOU FILTHY, VENEMOUS, DISGUSTING LITTLE MONSTER.” Charlie grabbed Malfoy by the throat and in one swift; smooth motion had lifted him clean off the ground and slammed him against the nearest wall.
“Croaked has she?” Draco wheezed.
“NOT YET, SHE HASN’T. CAN’T SAY THE SAME ABOUT YOU, THOUGH.” Harry pointed his wand straight at Malfoy’s heart. Charlie had used his free hand to draw his wand as well.
“Accio Wands!” Dumbledore’s voice echoed from the doorway. “I cannot allow you to do that. Charles, please release Mr. Malfoy.” Dumbledore looked at Charlie sternly.
“HE’S THE REASON YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER IS AT DEATH’S DOOR!” Charlie hollered at him.
“And no one is more furious about that than I, but this is not the proper recourse,” Dumbledore answered. Begrudgingly, Charlie let go of Malfoy’s throat; he took a strong defensive pose and began clenching and unclenching his fists.
“One Potter down, one to go,” Malfoy whispered manically. Harry could no longer take the goading; he gathered his fist, gritted his teeth and swung for Draco with all that he could. The blow knocked the white-blond boy out cold and he suffered a second impact as his head hit the cold, marble floor like a ton of bricks.
“One Malfoy down, one to go,” Charlie spat at the unconscious boy maliciously. All members of the other three houses cheered wildly; they had all been dying to hit Malfoy for a long time. Professor Snape swept down from the teacher’s table to stand over Malfoy. Harry waited for him to take a thousand points from Gryffindor and put him in detention for life.
“Next time you wish to punch Mr. Malfoy, I suggest you swing your arm further back; it makes the blow more damaging,” Snape said dryly. He then enlisted the help of Crabbe and Goyle to take Malfoy back to the headmaster’s office. Harry and Charlie stalked towards Dumbledore, glared at him as they snatched their wands from his grasp, and sped back to the hospital wing to be with Ellie.
A/N: I’m afraid that if you were hoping for a quick resolution to Ellie’s predicament you’ll be very disappointed because she’s going to hang in the balance for at least another 2 chapters. Sorry!
Coming soon… Sacrifice.