DRARRY - Wonderful Wheezes

Chapter Fourteen

Harry paced in St. Mungo's waiting room. He and Luna had wasted no time in blasting spells at the room, using all of their worry and fear to power the magic, trying to aim directly at Verity's face to clear a spot for air. When that hadn't worked, they'd made a path to Verity in less than a minute and worked their hardest to vanish all evidence of the orange stuff.

They couldn't have just transported her to St. Mungo's as she was because the stuff might have surrounded the entire place. By the time they cleared the outside of her body, nearly two minutes had passed, and Harry was beside himself.

They'd pushed Verity into the floo and arrived at St. Mungo's seconds later, and then she'd been carted off, Harry only barely getting a chance to tell a mediwizard what the countercurse was before they were gone.

And hadn't been seen since.

Luna was sitting idly on the chairs nearby, her knees tucked under her chin, humming something to herself.

He hadn't known who to call. Draco would've been the obvious choice, seeing as he knew the most about the orange stuff besides Harry, but Harry didn't know where to floo him, and an owl wouldn't be fast enough. He'd tried Hermione, but she hadn't answered. It was 3 a.m. Australia time.

The doors at the end of the hall burst open, and Harry shot in that direction, keeping pace beside the healer as she walked. He recognised her as one that had taken Verity away before.

"How is she?"

"Mr Potter, you're not next of kin."

"Is her next of kin here?"

"We couldn't get in contact with anyone. It seems she's Muggle-born, and they're out of the country."

He blew out an exasperated breath. "Please, you've got to tell me what's going on."

The healer cut him a glance out of the corner of her eye as they passed through a set of doors. "This area is restricted access, Mr Potter."

"Please."

The healer stopped walking, staring him down. "All I can say is that the curse is very powerful, but unrefined. The countercurse is ineffective for internal organs. We have put Ms Garner under a stasis spell that should hold her for at least 24 hours. The healers will figure something else out by then."

"But what if they don't?"

The healer gave him what could only be described as a shrug, walking away and leaving him alone in the corridor.

He went back to the general access waiting room, finding Luna still waiting in a chair.

"You talked to someone?" she said.

"Things aren't looking good."

"Who told you?"

"Well, she didn't say it exactly, but it was pretty clear, I... Luna, what if Verity... I mean, I'm responsible for all this. I should have sent her a Patronus the second we knew the shop had been compromised, I should've never tried for this stupid idea anyway, I should've—"

"Harry," she stopped him. "The Patronus wouldn't have made a difference. I made the mistake of calling her in and I'm the one who broke the machines."

"You hardly knew anything about the orange stuff! It's not your fault."

"Then it couldn't possibly be yours."

She met his eyes, sustaining the contact for far too long, meaningfully.

"I need to do something. I have to help her."