Mudblood

The Feast

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The first thing Lyssa was conscious of was the thick grey sludge that passed down her throat. It was cold and bitter and tasted of strange herbs. Her smell came back next as she inhaled a large whiff of whatever it was that was travelling down her throat. Next, she felt the soft hands of Madame Pomfrey easing her limbs into a more natural position. Lyssa began to hear people shuffling around her and hastily shouting directions at one another. The last sense to return to Lyssa was her vision, and it came back very slowly.

At first, she could only see in her peripherals but slowly the blackness faded toward the center of her vision, but, after a few minutes the darkness had gone completely. Lyssa tried to speak, to ask what had happened but her voice faltered.

"Don't speak dear, you're body needs time to adjust to being conscious again," Madame Pomfrey soothed. Lyssa nodded slowly.

She looked at the other occupants of the hospital wing. The other petrified students seemed to already be awake. Many unfamiliar wizards flitted about the beds helping the students. Some were guiding their limbs to ease the stiffness, others were pushing them to start talking, and all of them were fielding many questions about what had happened.

Lyssa was handed a mug with hot water and honey. She sipped it slowly while her own set of healers began guiding her through the recovery routine.

Once she could speak again Lyssa asked the same questions as everyone else. She came to find out that she was the last person to be petrified and she had only been unconscious for about ten days. The mandrake draft had only just been finished and a whole team of healers had been summoned from St. Mungo's to help Madame Pomfrey.

It was late when the students were awoken at nearly half past seven at night. Long past Madame Pomfrey's usual working hours but obviously, it was an exceptional circumstance. All the students worked for hours to get used to walking, talking, and generally just being alive again. Additionally, Lyssa was also treated for the ailments she had come in for the day she was petrified. She spent the hours of occupational therapy sipping on a nourishment potion and while she was still a little frail by the time the team of healers retired she was in much better shape. Maybe a ten-day nap had been a good thing after all.

The healers slowly worked Lyssa from just repeatedly bending her joints to tentatively putting weight on her legs. They worked hard to have Lyssa relearn how to use her fine motor skills. Eventually, Lyssa could walk pretty okay on her own and had regained enough dexterity to hold a fork or spoon. This was deemed the best they could do for today but Lyssa and the other students would resume there physical therapy the following afternoon.

At around half past eleven that night, Madame Pomfrey roused the students from their beds after no more than an hour of sleep. There was to be a late-night feast to celebrate that Harry Potter had defeated Slytherin's monster and saved the school.

When Lyssa and the other recovered students ran into the hall to join their friends the hall came alive with even more delight if that was even possible. Lyssa stopped short of the Slytherin table however unsure of how warm her welcome would be.

Flint saw her first and practically climbed over the table to get to her. Lyssa was bracing herself for him to hug her or something but instead, he grabbed her by the shoulders.

"You had one job!" he shouted at her, "I gave you specific instructions not to get petrified!" he huffed in mock annoyance.

"Oh, I'm sorry Flint did my near-death experience interfere with your quidditch program?" Lyssa teased. The rest of the quidditch team had gathered around them now, trying to bury their amusement from the exchange. "Sorry, I didn't personally ask you to be excused from quidditch practices but I was a little occupied." All of them burst out laughing and Flint and the other players all personally told Lyssa that they were glad she was back. Everyone except Malfoy of course who opted for a curt nod.