I'll Catch You (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Human

My father finally showed up, sunken-eyed and grey as he dragged himself through the door and explained why it had taken them so long to get a hold of him. It was work, you see, they had him out in the field all day training some of the newbie's.

At first he was disappointed, his wrinkled brow furrowing even deeper when I gave him the much-edited news. He ran a hand through his short, thinning hair and sat on the end of my bed with his head in his hands, which were shaking ever-so-slightly.

"You have a potions problem?" he asked in disbelief, looking up at me as though I was a complete stranger.

"Had, dad, had. I'll never be touching another potion again in my life, not even a hiccupping solution" I promised, scooting forwards on the bed so I could rest my head on his shoulder.

"And it was all because of what happened two summers ago?" The same look of guilt and betrayal played across him face, causing me to reach my hand out and grab his hand.

"It was, yes. But it's over now and there's nobody's fault to blame but mine. I should have gone for help instead of taking matters into my own hands." Dad cautiously looked up and wrapped his strong arm around my shoulders, crushing me into his chest at an uncomfortable angle.

"Nobody should have to face that alone" he whispered before relaxing his hold on me.

"But what's done is done, there's no way we can fix it unless you somehow also managed to steal a timeturner. I'm just glad that you're alive and okay."

With a sheepish grin, I looked up at him and tucked my hair behind my ear. "And here I was, thinking that you would be furious at me" I chuckled, causing my dad to get off of the bed and shoot me a dangerous smile.

"Oh, I am on the inside. I just figure that you probably aren't in the condition to be yelled at right now" he yawned and stretched his arms over his head. "Hun, I've been working all day so I think I'm just going to go and grab a quick cup of tea from the tea room, okay?"

I nodded, sinking back down into my pillows as he walked out the door. "Oh, and Ace?" he stepped back inside quickly, "You are grounded indefinitely."

___________________________________________________________________________

And just like how time had slowed town to a crawl, it sped up again at a breakneck pace. I was quickly ushered out of the hospital and dropped back into school. Of course, it wasn't at all what I had imagined.

I had pictured myself walking back through those front doors to the cheerful greetings of my peers, asking how I was feeling. I would catch up in all of my classes with ease and the world would be bright and shiny and new. I had overcome adversity and was a whole new person for the experience.

But no, that was the farthest thing from reality. I was brought back into the school in the dead of night and awoke to hushed whispers and sideways glances, because nobody could look me in the eye. When they did look at me, it was with hesitance and intrigue, as if I was some fragile creature that they hadn't imagined in their wildest dreams. Everywhere I went there was the constant whispers of curious first years and lofty seventh years, drawing conclusions and speculations from nothing they knew anything about.

"Got sent to the loony bin, she did. A complete nutter. Have I ever told you about the time she came this close to giving Lavender and me a right bollocking?" Seamus said to Ernie MacMillan and Justin Flinch-Fletchley, who were looking at him with such intensity that it left me feeling betrayed, knowing they were hanging off every single word.

"I hear she had an addiction to some sort of muggle drug. Heroine, I think" a third year girl whispered quietly to her friend as they cast a glance over their shoulders at me, not caring or not knowing that I was fully aware of their conversation.