Hidden Secrets ☆ HARRY POTTER UNIVERSE | 1 [BEING EDITED]

27 | promises

❝ Raise your daughters to shout, to scream, to hold their heads up high for being themselves before society tries to teach them how to silence themselves, how to wear shame like it is a second skin. Let them taste rebellion from the moment they are born and watch them become flames to start a revolution. ❞ — Nikita Gill

   I squinted my eyes open, seeing at first nothing but a blurred environment. The familiar softness of bedsheets and warmth of blankets enveloped my body. But this wasn't my fluffy bed back in the Gryffindor Tower.

I rubbed my eyes sluggishly, the view starting to clear a little. I contemplated sitting up, but an immediate throb of pain on my head made me fall back down on the bed with a loud groan.

   With my left hand, I tentatively reached for my head. It was all wrapped up in bandages. The view had now cleared completely, allowing me to register that I was in the Hospital Wing.

   Although it was probably late afternoon — the large wall clock struck five pm — the room was oddly dark, the sky outside a dull shade of grey. I was also the only person in the entire infirmary.

   "Madame Pomfrey," I called, but my voice was weak. "Madame Pomfrey!" I tried again, this time much louder, although it made my head throb.

   "Ah, dear, you're finally awake," I heard the nurse's relieved voice as she hastened over to my bed.

   She grabbed a bottle of yellowish juice from the night table nearby, and I asked her how long I'd been there.

   "Two days," she said, handing me a glass full of the disgusting-looking juice that resembled goo. "You got hit by a Bludger really hard in the head. At first I was concerned that you wouldn't make it, but look at you now, fine and awake, thank Merlin! Such a fortunate thing that that blasted ball didn't mess with your brain neurons."

   "Well, I don't feel fine," I commented, taking a sip of the juice.

   My head was really, really aching. What if my skull was cracked? And what about the match? As soon as I'd get out of the hospital, I'd have to face Stanley's lecture about how careless I was out there in the pitch, and how I was probably the reason the game got cancelled and that later we'd have to do a rematch.