Chris took a deep breath and slid onto the stool right beside Daisy's bed. His hand was still in hers: he slowly pulled off her fingers and freed himself. His little finger was swelling rapidly and he guessed that the middle phalanx had been fractured due to her tight grip.
“She's going into a coma,” Healer Robert explained, after injecting Daisy with a fair few potions. “We can put her on support, but I doubt she'll wake up unless we can find out the antidote for the poison.”
“Then let's put her on support for a while,” Chris said. “I think that's the best option. If it takes us too long to find the antidote then we'll see what's to be done.”
Robert shrugged. “Okay, then. I guess we can do that. Go fetch Healer Pye and Healer Tudor. Healer Pye will be available, but Healer Tudor is on call. She will mostly be in one of her lectures.”
Chris nodded and went to the offices of the Healers. He then called Healer Pye to Daisy's ward and sent Healer Tudor a memo, explaining to her Daisy's condition. Healer Pye was a specialist in Muggle medicine combined with wizard remedies.
In a few minutes, both the Healers were standing beside Daisy, contemplating the best way for her. “I think we'll do a PICC line with TPN and change the cannula for a face mask,” Healer Pye suggested. Then his eyes followed the vines that wound around Daisy's wrists and left ankle. They reached a glass orb floating a little below the ceiling. Red and green coloured smoke twisted in two thin lines inside the orb. “What led to the coma?” He asked.
“Well, she isn't totally comatose yet. It seems to be the beginning of a spindle coma, but I'll find out the type for sure after I fit her to an EEG,” Robert explained. “For some reason which I assume could be a property pertaining to the poison, the concentration of poison has increased in her body by twenty five percent. It has begun to corrode her abdominal and pelvic organs. Her stomach and uterus were on the verge of complete rupture. I've injected potions for their regeneration and also for protection of the remaining organs. The stomach will be more or less normal, and so will her uterus. But then again...” he looked at Chris, “she may be unable to have children due to the partially damaged womb. That is, if she survives this. And it's going to take at least two months for her organs to recover.”
“She will survive if we start our basic treatment quickly,” Healer Tudor responded. “We have to make sure that the poison doesn't spread more than it has. Also, let's do weekly hormone and enzyme tests to see if anything is abnormally low or high. That could be the key to the antidote for the poison.”
In the next fifteen minutes, Chris with his fully healed phalanx was holding Daisy's arm as Healer Pye tied a tourniquet and found the cephalic vein. He marked a suitable spot for inserting the IV and measured the distance from that point to Daisy's shoulder and from her shoulder to her sternal notch. He then cut off a piece of IV line, adding seven centimetres to the distance he had already measured. He flushed the catheter with heparin and cleaned the insertion area with alcohol and iodine swabs, putting a few drapes below Daisy's arm after that. Then he pierced Daisy's skin and inserted the catheter through the vein until blood came and pressed a finger above the needle before removing it. He lifted his wand and waved it. The catheter then found its way right to the superior vena cava. Healer Pye flushed it again with sodium chloride solution before attaching it to the fluid bottle and placing it on a pole.
Meanwhile, Healer Tudor had Daisy fixed to a face mask with a partial rebreather while Healer Robert had drawn out blood samples for the hormone and enzyme tests and also catheterised Daisy.
After that the three Healers stood around Daisy, admiring their handiwork. Then Healer Tudor turned to Chris. “May I ask you why you haven't been in college today?”
Chris hung his head. The truth was that he had been about to go to college but when Healer Harrison had told him about Daisy's worsening condition that morning, his mood to go had been lost.
“Look Stevens,” said Healer Tudor, “I generally don't allow students to bunk college or watch procedures like this. I'm letting you be here only because you're a model student. You're to attend regular college from now on, okay? No more bunking.”
“Yes ma'am,” said Chris.
“Well, I guess we should get back to our work, now,” said Robert. “She won't get any better with us waiting here or anything.”
Everybody agreed, and started to walk out of the ward. Chris saw Pari waiting outside anxiously. “How's she?”
“She's in a coma,” said Chris. “The Healers have done the best they could. We can't do anything by waiting here, now. So, I guess we must just go home. I'll come back after midnight to stay by her side, though.”
Pari nodded and swiped away a few last tears before standing up. Chris caught her arm gently and suddenly realised that he didn't have tears to shed at all. He had shed them all that morning, when Healer Robert had informed him that Daisy wouldn't probably live through the week. Now when Daisy's condition was worse, Chris had no clue of how to react. True, she'd survive for more than a week, but then she could go on like that for years together. Chris led Pari through the hospital corridors and finally took her outside to his car. In a few minutes, Chris had dropped Pari at her place and was driving home. It was six in the evening and his parents were leaving by flight the next morning. Chris had been at St. Mungo's since morning, when Daisy had woken up and hadn't been able to give his parents time at all. Now as he drove along the driveway and finally parked in the garage, he wished he'd been able to give them more time.
Chris locked his car door and pocketed the keys. Then he walked to the main door of his house and waved his wand. The door creaked open as he put his wand away. Then it was all a blur of colours as suddenly the lights came on and a lot of voices screamed at once. “SURPRISE!”
***
“And... You know the plan...”
“Yeah... But without you... Chris will not like it...”
“I need you to carry it on. Please. It's my wish. Tell Chris that I've requested for it.”
“All right, then...”
Harry and Ginny listened to the recorded conversation carefully. They had caught it with a rather simple spell on Daisy's ward which caught any conversation that took place there.
Harry ran a hand through his hair, drowned in his thoughts. He looked at Ginny. “Well... I see nothing suspicious...”
Ginny raised an eyebrow. “Really? I think the conversation is pretty much fishy. The ‘plan...’”
“They're very obviously talking about Chris's surprise birthday party,” Harry said. “Daisy, Pari and Chris's parents have been planning it for ages.”
“Huh? How do you know?”
Harry shrugged. “Pari had gone to Azkaban to meet Daisy and they devised this plan then. Hardy told me about this.”
Ginny sighed. “But are you sure?”
“A hundred percent,” said Harry. “Besides, I doubt Pari is involved in this.”
Ginny was about to remind him of the report from the Department of International Magical Cooperation, when with a pang she realised that she had forgotten to tell him about it. “Merlin!” she exclaimed, standing up. “I forgot... Wait a minute...” Ginny ran out of the room and was back in a few minutes with the report.
Harry read it with furrowed eyebrows and did not say anything for a few minutes. Then he took a deep breath. “We have to discuss this with the others. Something's really fishy here.”
Ginny gave him a questioning glance. “You think Pari is involved...?”
“Not directly,” said Harry. “I mean, she isn't involved in the master plan. But I cannot deny that I suspect she's being used as a pawn in this case.”
“You mean to say...?”
“The killer has an ulterior motive for committing these murders. But I think the person or people directly involved in this are making sure that they can't be associated with the murders in any kind of investigation. So there has to be someone to do the dirty work, shouldn't there?”
Ginny nodded, still bewildered, while Harry continued. “I think the instrument here is Pari. She's either being blackmailed to control someone or being controlled herself and made to commit the actual murders.”
“And how did you come to this conclusion?” Ginny asked.
Harry grinned. “That's the best part. Look; have you noticed the dates when Pari came to and left London?”
”Yeah,” said Ginny. “She seems to have made one day trips on the days on which the murders took place.”
“Exactly,” replied Harry. “She came, did her work and went back. There was no time for planning anything with anybody. She was just given the name of her target and she had to do it.”
“But there's not much to all the planning,” shrugged Ginny. “She could have done it overseas...”
“I don't think so,” said Harry. “Such elaborate plan for so many murders takes time and not one- day trips.”
“Her acquaintance could have been in India itself...”
Harry was grinning again, as a brainwave hit him out of the blue. “Nope. I am a hundred percent sure that we know the actual culprit pretty well. It's someone amongst the people we know.”
“Who?”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Think. The best key is Parvati's murder.”
Ginny looked at him, confused and got the answer immediately. Her eyes widened. “Are... Are you absolutely sure?”
Harry nodded. “Very. Think of it. It all fits. Recollect everything you know and have seen.”
Ginny buried her face into her hands. Then she gasped. “Oh God... Oh God... You're right... Bloody hell!”
Harry smiled at her. “Now I'll get justice for Parvati. The game is over.”
“But when are we going to arrest...?”
“We'll have to wait,” said Harry. “We cannot do anything yet. There's no proof for it, really. We first have to find out the real reason for all these murders. So...” he looked at his watch. “I think we should go for the party now. We can also keep an eye on Pari and our very dear Romilda Vane there.”
***
Daisy was walking through a dark corridor, unaware of where she was going. She could see a patch of coloured light far, far away. She began to walk faster hoping to reach it soon. But before that, there was a click and a door to her right opened. Daisy walked in to see that it was a girls' bathroom, very similar to the ones at Hogwarts. At the far end was Pari, with a goblet in her hands. Daisy walked towards her but the other girl dissolved in a swirl, pulling Daisy back to all those memories that she had silently put away for life.
She turned around hoping to avoid these painful memories, but then she realised that she was not in the bathroom anymore. She was on her way to the lake. She took a deep breath and walked on. It was twilight; the last of the sunrays cast a dull orange glow on the sky. The lake shimmered at a distance and even from where she stood Daisy could make out the silhouette of a person standing below one of the trees, waiting for her. This was it. All those horrible times were about to come back one by one. And there was only one way for them to go away.
Daisy grit her teeth and took a step forward to invite those old times, as the dream began.
***
Chris descended the staircases to the party hall, fully dressed in a black dinner jacket. He had really not expected a surprise party of any sort and obviously wasn't in the mood for one. But Pari had taken him aside and told him grimly that Daisy had planned it all. That was when he had agreed to it at all.
He reached the hall to see his mother, Melanie Stevens, standing outside and looking stunning in an orange evening gown. She was in her late forties and yet, Chris thought she could pass for a thirty year old. She had the hazel eyes that he had received and long, silky blonde hair that she had set in curls. She smiled at him. “You never let me forget that I have a very handsome son, do you?”
Chris grinned back and winked. “I'm your son, Mum; it would have been an insult to your genes if I hadn't gotten them.”
She laughed as she put her palms on his cheeks. He bent down and allowed her to place two kisses on his forehead. Then she put an arm around his waist. “I know that you're in no mood for party, Chris, but Daisy has requested for the party to carry on.”
Chris nodded. “Where's Dad?”
“He's inside,” replied Melanie. “Come. There are others I want you to meet, too.” She pushed open the door to the lavishly decorated party hall. Everybody inside turned to look at him. Chris first spotted the Aurors, all standing with glasses of wine and looking at him. Pari was with them too and she beamed at him. Next, Chris saw Shaun and Rebecca, both standing to one side with Pari-like beams on their faces. Shaun looked different now; he was well built and his dark hair was closely cropped. Finally, Chris noticed his father and some of his parents' friends, all dressed glamorously and smiling at him.
Kevin Stevens came forward and gave Chris a hug. “Happy birthday, son.”
Chris hugged him back. “Thanks, Dad.”
As they broke away, Chris noticed that his father looked a little older with more prominent streaks of grey hair than before. He had blue eyes and brown hair. He was as tall as Chris and exuded a charisma that Chris had inherited too.
In the next five minutes, Chris was cutting a gigantic two-tiered cake and there was a lot of cheer as he fed pieces to his parents. The paparazzi were all excited and were clicking away. When Chris expressed his irritation, Melanie got a little worried. She took him aside. “You... You'll show up in the pictures, won't you?”
Chris chuckled. “I'll obviously be there, Mum. I may be a wizard, but that still makes me a human being. I actually don't want my face scowling out of a newspaper tomorrow.
His mother was then nonchalant. “Don't worry. A picture or two really won't matter. Don't pay attention to them.”
Chris nodded and started to walk towards the crowd, when he saw his father talking to someone. He gasped, unable to believe his eyes. He looked at his mother. “Mum, is that Cheryl Willis?” Cheryl was a leading teenage actress and Chris had been crazy about her on the days of her debut, around three years ago. She was Chris's age and he found her very, very sexy.
Melanie smiled. “Yes. You were very fond of her, weren't you?”
“Yeah,” Chris replied. “Not anymore, though. I've sorta gotten over my crush.”
It was Melanie's turn to chuckle. “I didn't think you ever liked her more than Daisy, anyway. Celeb crushes are generally superficial.” She took his arm. “Actually, her parents are very good friends of ours. Come on, I'll introduce you to her”
“Erm...” said Chris, starting to get embarrassed. “There's no need...”
“Come on!” said Melanie.
“I think I'll go chat with Becks, Pari and Shaun...”
“You can talk to them later. Anyway, I had something in mind...”
“Mum...” before Chris could talk further; he was already standing in front of Cheryl. He smiled at her, as she smiled back. Chris had to admit that if she was gorgeous on screen, then there were no words for her off it. She had a beautiful face with grey eyes, full lips and flawless, clear skin. Her shoulder length, wavy black hair was clipped up stylishly and her baby blue boat-neck dress showed off her clavicular prominences along with accentuating her perfect figure.
When Cheryl saw Chris, she held out her hand for him to shake. “Happy birthday! I'm Cheryl Willis. Our parents are good friends, but I don't think we've met.” Her lips parted into a grin, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.
Chris took her hand and grinned back at her, suddenly feeling very imperfect. “Thank you. I'm Chris Stevens. Pleased to meet you, Cheryl.”
***
Healer Robert pushed the needle of the syringe through the IV port on Daisy's catheter, wondering about the poison that had no antidote. How could it be? Every poison had to have an antidote on principle. It was a simple law that a famous Muggle had created. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Robert sighed and turned to the blood pressure meter that was connected to a vine wound around Daisy's right ankle. The reading was quite normal for her condition. After this, Robert diverted his attention to the orb floating above Daisy. He had added a few more vines to a helmet like structure that covered her head to record the brain waves. Presently he saw the ECG, depicted by the green line. It was normal, even a little suppressed. The red waves below it depicted Daisy's breathing which was deep and regular. Next came the EEG, which made Robert gasp. The blue waves showed a pattern of REM sleep.
Having completed his medical course long ago, Robert was aware that there were two types of sleep-- slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement: REM sleep. Both these stages alternated while a person slept. REM sleep was so called because the eyeballs moved rapidly during this phase. Most people also had dreams during REM sleep, which explained the movement of the eyes.
Robert directed his attention to Daisy's eyes and saw that her eyeballs were not moving beneath their lids. But what about the waves? How was that possible? Daisy couldn't be just sleeping.
Robert stood there wondering, when something else happened. Daisy took a deep breath and Robert could swear that he heard something. He placed his ear close to her face mask, wondering if she would say something again. “Issssss...” she slurred, confusing Robert even more.
So now she was dreaming also? Impossible! Comatose people didn't dream. Was Daisy really only asleep? Bewildered, Robert patted her arm. “Daisy?”
There was no response. Daisy lay still, unaffected by the stimuli which Robert was providing her with. He tried different methods to arouse her, but she didn't wake up. Then suddenly Robert looked at the EEG amazed, as the waves went back to being theta and delta discharges with synchronous and symmetrical spindles-- the normal EEG recording for Daisy's type of coma.
Robert stared for a moment, perplexed. Just then Healer Tudor came in. She was the Healer in charge of Daisy for the night. “What is it, Robert?” she asked, as she entered the ward.
Robert pointed to the orb. “Daisy's EEG showed REM sleep pattern just now. Her eyeballs were not moving though. She made some kind of a hissing noise, but she did not respond to the stimuli I provided. Does this normally happen in coma? I've never seen such a case before...”
Healer Tudor frowned and tried to stimulate Daisy herself but nothing worked. The girl was unquestionably in coma and wasn't sleeping at all. She looked at Robert. “REM waves are pretty rare in coma, but they do occur in some cases for reasons that aren't known,” she pointed at the orb. “You will notice that whenever the REM waves come, there is no irregularity in heart beat or breathing as is characteristc of REM sleep.” As she said this, the REM waves on the EEG started again, but Daisy remained silent this time.
Robert looked at her. “And what about the noises she's making? Do coma dreams really exist?”
“I won't say it is common,” said Healer Tudor, “But I think she really might be dreaming. This is incredibly rare but I had a patient once, who was in a coma for seven weeks or so. When he woke up, he told me that he had had dreams about his past during the time that he was comatose and that they had been quite vivid. If it was a nightmare about something traumatic, he'd try his best to wake up but wouldn't be able to. Apart from that, he could also catch snippets of any conversation that took place in the room. Sometimes, he would dream about what he had heard too. We never heard him say anything, though.”
“But isn't waking up from a coma all about will power too?”
“Partially,” said Healer Tudor. “But that's only after the underlying problem has been solved. A nightmare can't really wake anyone up.”
“So you say that Daisy could be dreaming about anything we talk of in this ward?”
“Maybe,” said the other Healer. “But mostly not. And she might not be able to recollect all these dreams and probably even that episode of intense pain before she slipped into the coma. She is, at this moment in a place that we can probably never find out about...”
***
Daisy could hear her name being called out somewhere. It was vague, almost like a slur, but she could hear it. Then she heard another voice. And the two voices began to talk. But who were these people? She was aware that she knew them but she wasn't able to place them. She looked towards the lake and noticed that Chris was standing below the tree, his back to her direction. Couldn't he hear those noises? Why?
Then Daisy felt another pang of emotion. It was fear mixed with anticipation, as she remembered why she was here. Chris had called her to say something important and she thought she knew what it was. But she had something to say to Chris too and she wasn't sure of how he'd react. Would he be okay with it, or would this be the end of their relationship?
Suddenly, everything was a blur of colours again and she was standing outside her home in the darkness. It didn't take Daisy long to recognise the particular situation in her life that was being replayed and she immediately wanted to wake up. She had to stop dreaming. She had to wake up! She didn't want to see this again. She didn't want to experience all those horrible incidents in her life again.
Daisy tried desperately to force herself to open her eyes, but she couldn't. She turned around to see the hooded figure approach her. He was about to attack her!
The person came forward and lowered the hood. Daisy stared at the face in blatant shock. “Y--You?”
But she wasn't too shocked either. The shock was because she didn't think he'd be the one this time. He raised his knife and Daisy could do nothing at all. She was trapped.
***
Robert held Daisy's flailing arms and legs with a spell, while Healer Tudor injected a Calming Drought through her IV port. The teenager let out an almost inaudible moan and fell quite. Healer Tudor sat on the bed and kept a hand on the girl's forehead. “You're going to be fine, dear... It's all right...”
***
A soothing female voice cooed in Daisy's ear, but she was far from pacified. She was facing Chris as he held the knife high, ready to attack.
“No! Chris! Please don't kill me... Please don't kill me...”
Killer Instincts by Ginny Weasley Potter
Chapter Notes: Hey all!
Okay, this one was fast wasn't it? I'll update the next chapter soon too. So we're almost there! You'll get to know a secret right here. :) The chapter after this deals with Daisy and Chris's break up and the one after that answers another question.
This chapter is for my parents whom I miss dearly when I go back to college.
I'll love it if you guys could review this one. The last chapter got no reviews at all :(. Please don't do that! I do work hard for this story. :)
All the medical information in this chapter has been taken from Wikipedia, YouTube and A Textbook of Medical Physiology by Guyton and Hall. In fact, I was studying REM and NREM sleep the day I wrote this.
Oh, and talking/moving/dreaming during coma are all very rare but they happen. It happened to my Grandma and I've read reports about it happening to others. My Grandma's arms and legs were actually tied up because she kept struggling. She used to keep saying weird things in Tamil too. But all of this was when she was in the initial stage of coma. Being a med student, I don't believe in creating fake dramatic stuff to add on to diseases which was why I've done hell a lot of research on all these topics since the last one year. :)
Chapter Endnotes:
So it's Chris! What do you guys think? :D