The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One

26. Returning to the Hospital Wing

"Eliana," Madam Pomfrey called the moment Eliana entered the Hospital Wing Saturday afternoon after having lunch with her daughter.

"What happened?" Eliana asked, rushing forward to find Harry laid out on one of the beds, looking very pale.

"Fell from his broom," she explained briskly. "Fifty feet."

"Oh, Merlin," Eliana muttered. "Anything I need to do?"

"No, I've already repaired most of the damage," she explained. "So long as he wakes up before nightfall, we have no reason to worry."

"I'll look after him," Eliana promised. "I've already finished the rest of my work for the day."

Once she had gone, Eliana looked up to see most of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as well as Ron and Hermione, all of them looking pale and shaky, not to mention muddy.

"You guys can come see him," she said softly. "He's still unconscious."

Without a word, they all moved forward, some sitting, others remaining on their feet as they all stared at Harry.

"He's definitely going to survive?" Hermione said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yes," Eliana said gently. "There's no indication he'll have any lasting damage. Right now, we just need to wait until he wakes up."

"Lucky the ground was so soft," Fred said quietly.

"I thought he was dead for sure," George admitted.

"But he didn't even break his glasses," Angelina pointed out.

In a shaky voice, Katie said, "That was the scariest thing I've seen in my life."

Then, with a sharp breath, Harry's eyes snapped open.

"Harry!" Fred said quickly, somehow growing still paler than he had been before. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" Harry demanded, quickly sitting up.

"Easy," Eliana said, gently pushing him back to lie down. "You fell off your broom. Madam Pomfrey said it was at least a fifty-foot drop."

"We thought you'd died," Alicia said, shaking.

"But the match," Harry said quickly as Eliana began checking his vitals. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

Turning to Ron and Hermione, Eliana said quietly, "You might want to go get Althea. She'd want to see him."

Hermione nodded, getting to her feet as Eliana went to Madam Pomfrey.

.

Althea was sitting in the library, leaning against the wall with a book in her lap. Although she usually attended the Quidditch matches with the others to support Harry, she and her mother always spent the first Saturday of the month together, which unfortunately fell on the match this time. Eliana always said she was willing to change it, but the simple ritual was too important to Althea to change it.

She had spent the afternoon reading, expecting at any moment for one of her friends to approach her, drag her out of the library, and demand she listen to a recount of the match, but hours had passed and she saw no sign of them. She was just turning the page to reach the next chapter when she heard footsteps. Looking up, Althea was surprised to see Professor Lupin looking much paler and more exhausted than usual.

"Professor," she said in surprise, closing her book and looking up at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he said with a smile. "I'm glad I found you here, Althea."