No Body No Crime □■ Hermione Granger

Chapter 19

The next time Arlene regained consciousness, she wished she was still passed out.

Her head ached terribly and her body felt as if her bones were reforming, she was cold yet her body was burning, and from what she could see, she wasn't the only one.

The hospital wing was fuller than Arlene had ever seen, even during the Slytherin Alcohol poisoning. The students laid in beds, either asleep or surrounded by friends, she could see Neville eating a chocolate happily as Lavender rambled on beside him, probably catching him on to the latest gossip and rumors of what happened.

Oh Merlin, what happened?

The last thing she could remember was Blaise's comment and large cloud of darkness, then nothing.

"Morning sleepyhead." Sage, who was reading the Daily Prophet and sipping tea, said with a soft smile.

Arlene groaned, trying to sit up "What in the name of Merlin's beard happened?"

Sage smile faltered "Dementors," she said in a small voice "hundreds of them, some people started collapsing or throwing up, a horrible feeling came over me, like-"

"You would never be happy again." Arlene finished "Yeah."

Sage was silent for a moment as she took a sip of her tea, then her eyes widened as if she had just remembered something "But you will not believe what happened!"

Arlene smiled at Sage's excitement "What?"

"Lee asked me out!" She gushed.

"Oh."

Sage frowned "I thought you'd be a little bit more surprised."

Arlene silently cursed herself for the stupid mistake "I meant OH!"

Sage's grin returned "I know! Next Hogsmead visit, it's going to be brilliant!"

Sage kept rambling on, Arlene couldn't understand a word she was saying but kept nodding with a smile.

Madam Pomfrey let most of the students go, but others with an injury or other symptoms like Arlene who suffered a concussion when she collapsed, had to stay.

A few were still passed out, like a Ravenclaw fifth year, a Gryffindor prefect and Harry Potter.

Harry's bed was next to hers, occasionally his friends would come visit for a while before getting kicked out by Pomfrey.

Except the third day, when Harry woke up. From what Arlene managed to hear, Hufflepuff won and Wood was trying to drown himself.

Harry looked pretty bummed out, but it was nothing compared to when they showed him his broom, only pieces of wood ripped apart by the vicious tree.

They started to leave, probably to give Harry some time to think.

What Arlene didn't expect, was Hermione heading towards her, instead of the exit.

For a moment, as Hermione sat on the bed beside her, Arlene forgot to breathe, or talk, or think.

The bushy haired girl held out something in her hand, a get well card, for Arlene, who stuttered out a thank you and took the little paper.

A blanket of awkward silence fell over them, neither of them knew what to say.

"Well then." Hermione cleared her throat and went to stand up.

Realizing another chance was skipping through her fingers, Arlene stopped her.

"Wait!" she called out.

Hermione stopped and turned around "Yes?"

Arlene realized what was wrong with that plan, but thought quickly and grabbed the chess board from the stand beside her.