The Beast Within

Healing

I woke up in the hospital wing, a searing pain in my legs. I looked down to see them in bandages. It took me a while to remember what had happened. It all came flooding back to me. Me and Brendon had been struck by lightning after catching the snitch. I had cast a spell just in time, slowing our fall and our brooms' fall. Turning to look around I saw a mountain of sweets and behind them, I could just see Brendon. He appeared to still be unconscious.

"Pssst. Brendon... You alive?" I whispered.

"Ahh, I see you're awake Miss Scamander." A warm voice said beside me. It was Madam Pomfrey, the kind nurse who had worked at the school for years. "That was a nasty fall you had. Smart girl thinking to use that spell. It was lucky you had that lesson before going to quidditch practice, you only had a few burns and broken legs."

"Only?" I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Yes dear, we can mend broken bone in a heart beat, just drink this and it should heal, then all you have to do is wait a day for the burns to fade." She said, handing me a drink. I drunk it. It took a moment to taste it. I spat it out. It was a sharp, sour flavour. "What did you expect? Pumpkin juice!" Madam Pomfrey muttered, shaking her head. She sat down next to me. "I saw the bite on your arm. I'm guessing they gave you the cure."

"Yes." I nodded. She could tell something wasn't right.

"And it worked?" She asked. There was a long pause before I eventually said.

"Kind of." There was no point in lying, I couldn't keep the secret forever. "It works most of the time but sometimes... sometimes I begin to feel sick. I sneak out of the school to transform." Madam Pomfrey tutted and shook her head.

"Why didn't you tell someone?" She cried.

"I was too scared. Everyone would hate me." She smiled at me in pity.

"If and when you feel sick, come straight here, okay Phoenix. We need to take you to the Shrieking Shack for your friends and your own safety."

"I already go there, Remus knows about it and so does Ava. She told Aurelia Malfoy about it. Aurelia isn't exactly a friend, so i think she told Alexa, starting the rumour." I explained.

"Well at least you have enough sense in you to go to the Shrieking Shack, from now on come to me, please. I just wish you had told us sooner so we could sort it out. I'll have to tell Professor Holmes. Now I'll go and check on your brother, just rest dear, your leg should heal along with your burns." Madam Pomfrey said, shuffling over to his bed. I leaned over and picked up a box of Betie Botts Every Flavour beans. It had a note inside it. I opened the note and read it.

When you left for quidditch practise, me and Ava decided to make a pretty big decision. After reading about the Marauders, we decided to become animagi so we could accompany you. It will take a long time and could go horribly wrong, but we know it will help you greatly so to be honest, we don't really care. We've already started the process and as I'm writing this note, I have a mandrake leaf, which we managed to convince Katie Macmillan to steal in her herbology class, in my mouth. Me and Ava will have to keep it in our mouths for a month and everyday we'll have to repeat the incantation (Amato Animo Animato Animagus) so don't expect us to say much. There's a lot more we have to do after that, however. I don't even know if it works for a metamorphmagus like me but I'll try. Your brooms fine by the way, Ava put it in your trunk. I hope you and Brendon get better soon.

I put the note back in the box to hide it. I was pretty sure becoming an unregistered animagus was illegal, but it was too late to even try to change their minds, if I tried, I could end up putting them in danger. I ate a few jelly beans, most were good until I got what I was sure was a bogey flavoured one. Grimacing I put the box back. A few other sweets had get well notes on them. There was a chocolate frog from Brendon, some liquorice wands from the triplets, a cauldron cake from Katie and Elsie and some jelly slugs and sugar quills from some of the other second year Hufflepuff boys. I lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling, listening to Madam Pomfrey fussing over Brendon and the other students in the hospital wing. Eventually, I fell asleep.

"Hey, Phoenix. Phoenix. Phoenix."

"What?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes. It was Brendon.

"We're allowed to go!" He exclaimed.

"What? It's been a day already!?"

"Yup. It's been three, we were out cold and they couldn't wake us up till now." He said grinning.

"Oh wow." I said, standing up. My legs were not longer in bandages and didn't hurt. Stepping forward, I tested my leg. It was fine. My sweet pile was even bigger now. "How exactly am I supposed to get this to my dorm?" I mused. Brendon who was listening to me grinned and said

"Magic..." in a sarcastic voice doing a 'mind blown' gesture.

"Ha ha... very funny Brendon. I have a slight problem with that though."

"What?"

"We can't use magic out of lessons remember?"

"Oh... Yeah..." He said. I did a 'mind blown' gesture back at him. He shook his head. We began to carry the sweets down, it was the evening so most people were in their common rooms. I stuffed them in my pockets, in my hood, in my jumper and I held them. We were still in our quidditch kit so we had less pockets. It took an hour to get both of our piles of sweets down to our dorm and by the time we had done, we were too tired to do anything else but get changed and sleep. The next few months were uneventful. Professor Holmes was trying to contact the Ministry to get rid of the dementors, training was going well. Brendon had found out that Remus and Ava were becoming animagi and the only way we could get him to agree not to tell anyone was by letting him join in too. They were almost finished becoming animagi. Everything seemed to be going well once again.