Innocent

c h a p t e r f i f t e e n

"Is she okay?"

"Oh my go-"

"Help me with her legs."

"I got her back."

"3-2-1. Lift."

She could feel hands on her legs. Everything was being whispered through an air vent and rattled around uselessly in her brain. Everything slipping downhill through her mind like her senseless life.  She was suspended lazily in the air, her back dragging along the ground. Her mouth tasted like stomach acid and rust. After rolling her tongue around, she knew the rust was blood from a deep cut in her mouth. 

"Hermione! Are you okay?"

"Wake up."

Someone was shaking her. She needed it to stop. Her body longed to return to the dark coma state she'd been nocked into. Her entire body was jet-lagged from earlier. The transformation had depleted the last of her will power into breathing. 

And the funny thing was- she didn't care. 

She could care less if she looked like a hobo, or if the vomit was leaking out of her mouth. 

"Wake up, Hermione!"

"Did she pass out?"

She heard someone gasp, and then quietly whisper. 

"Maybe she had some sort of panic attack."

Ginny was the first voice. Who was the second? 

"Is that possible?"

Lavender. 

Anyone but her. 

She tried forcing her eyes open again. 

"We need to get Madam Pomfrey."

"No-" It was Ginny. "She probably just passed out. She probably wouldn't like the nurse seeing her like this."

So she did look bad. Whatever. She tried forcing her eyes open. A crack of light streamed through her left and was cut off again. 

"She's awake!"

"Hermione."

Her hands were senseless slabs of skin. They still hadn't moved even though she was clenching as hard as she could. Since her eyes were the only thing reacting, she tried forcing them to open again. 

More light. She could see hazy figures looking down on her. 

"Hermione, are you okay?"

Open. Again. She tried smiling, but it came out as more of a frown. 

"I'm fine." Someone said.

Ginny stroked her back, and Lavender was crouched next to her. 

"Want to reiterate?" Somehow in her exhausted state, Hermione remembered Ginny always used large words when she was panicking. 

"It's okay." Someone said. It took her a few seconds to realize her lips were moving, and a hollow noise was coming from her throat. 

"I-I'm fine. Just, like... I think I fell asleep."

Her lips were coated in dried vomit. 

"Do I look that bad?"

Ginny shot her a worried look, and Lavender laughed.

"We just walked in, and you were like asleep in the bathroom. Ginny had to unlock the door."

"Oh, yeah."