[Editing] Expecto Patronum: Harry Potter One-shots

3 - The Good Student [Remus Lupin]

[Part three of three]

A daisy floating in the ocean. That's what she felt like. Fragile, delicate and curled around herself. Something minor bobbing on the surface of something great and terrifying which threatened to drown her at every second of existence. There were waves of consciousness that lapped at her mind – sometimes so vivid that she could hear noises around her, whispers without words or sense, then there were moments when she was bound and trapped in her own skin and she couldn't move a finger or flutter an eyelash.

It happened like a shudder. Slow in her bones, swift through her nerves, until there was a prickle of pins-and-needles running through her arms and legs and she could almost move. Her fingers twitched.

A low voice was whispering in her ear. It was feminine.

"Miss Carrow."

Her eyelids fluttered. (Y/n) was so weak that she didn't know if she could open her eyes fully. A pain in her skull was starting to throb, as if bruises were blooming like blossoms in her head. She groaned.

"Solid bump to the head." The light voice cleared its throat, "Miss Carrow."

The light that entered her eyes was sharp and faintly golden-pink – the glimmer of a setting sun, the last light of a new day before night would paint the world in its darkness. Her vision was hazed, but with a few dazed blinks the focus clicked into place. The source of the light, feminine voice was nowhere to be seen – leaving only the auburn-haired man that had filled her head with restless dreams.

(Y/n) slurred, "Remus?"

The witch thought she could see the beginning of a tender, gentle smile about to shape his lips but someone stepped in front of him. A shorter, thinner woman with a gaunt face framed by bronze curls. (Y/n) had to blink again. It was the matron of the Hospital Wing – Madame Pomfrey, she remembered. The woman's thin face was gently scowling.

"You're lucky that you're not concussed." Madame Pomfrey remarked drily, "How long have you been feeling dizzy?"

(Y/n)'s said, "A few hours."

Madame Pomfrey glared.

The witch sighed deeply, "A few days."

"Why didn't you come to me sooner?" Madame Pomfrey demanded.

(Y/n) winced at the tenderness in her muscles, shrugging, "You have more important things to worry about, Madame Pomfrey. I can handle myself."

Madame Pomfrey looked as livid as if the young witch had just announced that she could cure dragon-pox. With a furious inhalation, the woman pursed her lips to give the girl a serious scolding on the importance of proper medical care when the door opened and the woman looked up. Something like worry, or perhaps even fear, entered her expression and she was left gaping silently at the door with her mouth wide open. Professor Snape – and, with that same twinkle in his black eyes, he beckoned the woman to speak to him. Pomfrey closed her mouth and swallowed, walking briskly away and leaving (Y/n) alone. Almost alone.

"What is it with you and waltzing only too willingly into your own danger?" Remus' voice was firm, but the set of his eyes was soft and concerned. That look alone pervaded her chest with some light, fluffy feeling that made her feel as if she was floating.

(Y/n) smiled weakly, "It's a quirk of mine. It's what makes me so loveable."

Remus spoke, "There are other things that make you loveable, (Y/n)."

Warmth flowed through her arms as his fingers knotted gently with hers, his baby blue eyes sparkling as he held her hand. Her lips parted in disbelief.