Fate's Chosen (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 24: New Generation

The first thing Ashley felt when she woke up was pain. Her back side ached distantly, including her head. She heard hushed whispers between two familiar voices from somewhere near, voices she recognized were owned by her two soul-bonded mates. Her instincts quickly kicked in, she wanted to see them. Her eyes fluttered open and she cringed as she adjusted to the bright atmosphere of what she knew to be Hogwarts' hospital wing. Blinking groggily, she pushed herself in a sitting position and gingerly touched the gauze wrapped around her head. She searched for her glasses and put them on. She glanced around, taking note of the privacy screens, the closed curtains, and the numerous gifts placed either on the floor or the side table where she found her glasses. There were sweets and such, along with a few greeting cards, all from her schoolmates and close friends. She ignored them in favor of acknowledging the curled figure by her blanketed feet. She moved her feet, successfully waking the slumbering snake. Moko raised his head and quickly slithered over to her, immensely happy that she was finally conscious. Petting her hissing familiar, that was when she noticed the vague shadows of a couple behind the curtains in front of her.

"Remy, Siri?" She called out a bit hoarsely.

The two shadows froze upon hearing her and hurriedly broke through the thin barrier of cloth. Moving the gifts away, Sirius rushed to her right side, occupying the seat there with Remus doing the same on her left. As she expected, they mothered her and urged her to lie back down. Even though her heart warmth at their blatant care for her, she refused to give into their wishes. She hadn't been stabbed or anything, she was fine. And she told the men just that.

"Bambi, darling, you've been out for almost two days!" Sirius protested.

She...certainly hadn't planned that. She thought she would have woken up after a few hours at most. Her head injury must have been quite troubling. No wonder Sirius and Remus were worried sick. Ashley briefly wondered where her friends were but she figured that they had been discharged much earlier, having only been stunned. She was sure they were okay. They were most likely keeping their group and the other students at bay, stopping them from ambushing the hospital wing.

Wait, two days?! That means the last game is tomorrow! I hope they'll still let me play...

"I thought you said you'd be careful." Remus frowned, reaching over to grasp Ashley's hand.

"I'm sorry..." She apologized, staring down at their intertwined hands.

"Do you realize how worried we were when Minerva Floo'd in to tell us that you were hurt because of Voldemort?!" Sirius exclaimed, seemingly close to tears.

Ashley couldn't understand how bad it all seemed from his and Remus' perspectives. They thought she was safe, and she'd said she would be. Then all of a sudden, they were heading off to Hogwarts in a panicked rush. It was unbelievably terrifying for them to see her laying limp on a hospital bed, bandaged up and unable to move. She had gotten hurt by the same man that murdered her parents, and they had been far way, thus unable to protect her. It was incredibly frustrating and they were disappointed in themselves, but what could they have done? They knew, however, that that wasn't the case. They could have advised their Bambi against facing the Dark Lord without any kind of back-up, excluding her best friends who were children just like her. If only she had informed them of her plan... Why hadn't she?

"Why didn't you tell us about the Philosopher's Stone, or that Voldemort was after it? I thought we agreed to no more secrets between us." Sirius said with knitted eyebrows.

"We could have found a way to help you somehow, Bambi. We told you that..." Remus sighed.

"...Don't you trust us?" Sirius asked, vividly hurt at the implication.