Headmistress McGonagall had just informed the school that morning that it would be closed for Easter break. That meant even the staff had to leave. Right now she was checking her storage cabinet to make sure she had enough potions to get through the next Quidditch match. Sighing she checked her watch and found it was way past late. She was getting too old for this, she decided as she stood up and glanced at the doors. One of them was open and she was pretty sure it had been closed moments before.
As she moved to go towards the open door a shadow swept past the entrance way. She pulled out her wand but before she could even think about muttering any defensive spells she knew three figures appeared out of thin air. They were obviously in an intense discussion about something important and didn't seem to care that they had an active audience.
"She hates me…Always says I can't stay out of dangerous situations. I think you should be the one to tell her. I mean you barely spent anytime in here for reasons like we have. Plus you're a girl you guys have the secret code we never can seem to get." Madam Pomfrey knew that voice at once for it belonged to one of her most active patients. She could hardly go a term without seeing Harry James Potter for some sort of crazy injury the boy had gotten himself into.
"She does not hate you, Harry," a slightly exasperated voice spoke up. Harry had been accompanied by Ms. Granger. She barely ever saw Harry in the hospital wing without a bunch of visits from that girl as she pestered about his health. So that meant that the third person in the huddle had to be Ron Weasley. "I don't know why you keep saying that…Oh dear lord." It seemed that she had finally noticed that they had been noticed. "One minute," She pointed to Madam Pomfrey and pulled the two boys outside the door.
Madam Pomfrey didn't know what to do. She thought about calling the Headmistress but then she didn't know if they would fled from the castle. But what she did know was that for the first time this year she felt safe. For now she knew that the three of them were alive and well if not only a tad bit more secretive then normal.
"Okay we are ready for you," Ron's voice came floating over to her and she sighed realizing that this was going to be a late night. "But we can't talk here. The walls have ears and eyes we are going some place safe. Please follow."
Madam Pomfrey reluctantly followed the three teenagers out of the hospital wing and all the way to the portrait that concealed the kitchens. She watched as they tickled the pear and then opened the door. She watched as the conversed with the house elves and how they listened to their every word. And she watched as they looked expectantly at her as if they felt she should start this conversation.
"In two weeks Easter vacation will descend upon the school and everyone will be forced to evacuate. During this time Harry, Ron, and I will come here and we will fight the dark lord, Voldemort." Hermione spoke as she lifted a steaming cup of hot coca to her mouth. "We need your help." All three teenagers shared a looked before they all took drinks from their cups. They seemed to be giving her time to processes it all and she nodded that she was game for whatever they needed.
"Good," Ron set down his cup and pulled out three wax seals from his inner cloak pocket. It was then that she noticed he was the only one wearing a cloak; the other two were dressed in muggle clothing. "Here is how the game plan should work out. We will fight Voldemort while the school is completely empty except for two house elves that will leave once the first spell from Voldemort's wand is fired. They will instantly appear in your house or wherever you will be. They shall inform you the battle has started. Now these three seals will be put on something that will inadvertently be broken by someone unknowingly. We haven't quite worked out the kinks to that yet but I assume it will be done by letters to our loved ones."
She snuck a glance at Harry and Hermione and saw that they weren't listening to a word Ron was saying. Instead they were talking to two of Hogwarts oldest and most trusted house elves. Hermione was mentioning about some sort of payment, but the elves seemed to be shaking their heads and she let out a sigh as the girl didn't seem want to give up on giving them their rights. Not that it was a valid idea it was just difficult.
Turning her attention back to Ron she noticed that he had stopped to take in his two best friends to, but he seem a little pained by something. "Anyway," he said with a shake of his head. "Once each of these seals has been broken it will trigger a portkey. That portkey will be placed on us by the said house elves with their powerful magic once they know your location. We are asking you to mend us after the battle. In other words to make sure that we get some rest."
"Why me?" She knew of several qualified medi-witches that would certainly help out these three.
Harry was the one who spoke up this time, "because we trust you. We know you won't give us away to the press or even to our loved ones. We know that you'll take care of us. But Madam Pomfrey there are terms to this agreement." He waited for her to nod at this statement. "Once we have decided that we are well enough to leave we will be leaving, no buts from you. I have something I need to do after the battle."
"You can find us at the Burrow two hours after we have left your care, and then we will consent to any treatment you want to force on us." Hermione added to Harry's last statement with a grin. She knew the matronly witch was going to have trouble with the terms given but they all knew that she would accept because she would have no other looking after her kids.
Easter break came and with it the constant fear of what was going to happen. She packed up half of her healer supplies, hoping that would be enough, and then left to go to a safe location. Her week started out slow unpacking her healer supplies, making sure her house was clean and welcoming, and spending some time with her books.
Thursday, of that week, came and around mid afternoon she was pushed out of her book by finding two house elves standing in her kitchen. Sighing she knew this could only mean one thing. The battle had begun and as she traced back to her living room she vaguely wondered if she should tell someone. She should alert the order, she thought, but then she remembered that the order had become scattered since Dumbledore's death. They were lost without a leader and even though some still remained loyal most had given into despair.
Two days passed and Madam Pomfrey got to know the house elves very well. Their names, they told her, were Nicky and Cammy. They told her that they had been instructed to help her out in anyway possible. It was decided that when the trio did finally come popping into the house that the living room would be the hospital area. Three beds were quickly placed in it upon that decision. On Friday night she was overcome with complete exhaustion and went to bed early knowing that tomorrow was going to be the day it all came tumbling down.
9:00am Saturday
The dishes in the sink were washing themselves when she heard a pop from the living room. A crash was followed by the pop and Madam Pomfrey went running into the living room.
"Oh dear Merlin," she exclaimed when she saw Ron Weasley lying on the first bed. "MR. WEASLEY!" She shouted to see if he was wake and able to talk. Her wand came to her hand as soon as she didn't hear his answer and she began saying all the diagnostic spells she knew. First thing she checked was his heart and found it was still beating and then she checked his head to make sure there were no major concussions. Poppy Pomfrey almost felt ill as she noticed the white sheets had already been soaked through in blood. She quickly poured a blood replenishing potion down his throat and that is when she noticed his left leg had almost come clean off.
To be able to save the leg would require a lot of magical healing and that would mean that she wouldn't be able to heal the other major injury of a shattered wrist and several minor injuries. Sighing she thought about it for a second then went to work on repairing the leg. Everything else could wait, she decided.
10am Saturday
She watched patiently over Ron waiting for some sign that he was okay. His pulse was still dangerously low, as it had been when he arrived, but at least his cheeks had some color back in them. Just as she was finishing bandaging his wrist and getting ready to bandage his ribs she heard him moan. A moan was such a good thing she thought about bursting out with laughter.
But then she thought about it. What would the next two be like and why hadn't they come yet? If Ron was this bad then that could only mean it was going to get worse. Quickly she went to check her supplies of blood replenishing potions and saw she only had a minimal amount left. Damn it, she thought, I should have brought more.
Bringing out her muggle medical supplies she finished bandaging Ron's ribs. He had three that had been bruised pretty badly. If his pulse stayed this weak then she knew that he had a fifty-fifty chance of brain damage. But for right now she had to stay and monitor his wellness with little usage of magic. Too much and his body could go into cardiac arrest. And she didn't have the supplies that St. Mungos had. Why, she thought, did they choose her?
10:30am Saturday
Up, down, up, down, up, down. She figured she was going to wear a hole in her carpet if she kept up her pacing but it was the only thing that seemed to calm her nerves. The house elves had set up in the kitchen and kept bringing her strong tea. She had her suspicions that it was laced with a calming drought but she drank it anyway. Frantically she wondered what was going to happen next. What would she tell the others if one of them died? But most importantly could the other two live without one of them?
11:30am Saturday
For the fourth time this hour she was checking Ron's vital signs. His pulse, over the past hour, had gotten stronger. Occasionally he moaned but most of the time he just laid on the bed sleeping soundly. Madam Pomfrey knew that mostly it was out of pure exhaustion that he slept so long. After all he had just been through a battle, and lost a lot of blood, in which she could only imagine how difficult it had been.
A moan escaped from him when she was checking his ribs and because she had gotten so use to them she barely looked up. "Harry," she heard him whisper and she gently smoothed back his hair.
"They aren't here yet, Ron. But they are coming, don't you worry. Rest and get well because you'll need your strength to face your mum once this is all over."
1:30pm Saturday
Madam Pomfrey was just about ready to send one of the house elves to the Burrow and the other to Remus's place to find the stupid seals and break them. She was worried and it was getting late. Thankfully, Ron looked like he was going to make it through all of this. He would probably have a permanent limp when he walked but that was about it. Time slowly ticked by as she watched the second turn into minutes. What was taking them so long? She decided to give them until two but if no one popped into the living room by then; then she was going to go insane.
1:55pm Saturday
"Umph," was the noise she heard coming from the living room. Madam Pomfrey rushed into the room and saw Hermione lying on the cot next to Ron. Unconsciously the sigh that she was holding came out as she approached the unconscious girl. The pillow under Hermione's head was becoming a lovely shade of red.
Madam Pomfrey frowned as she repaired the huge gash in the young girls head. She went on to fix a fractured knee and some internal bleeding. The girl's pulse was normal she checked as she set up an IV to get fight off any infections she might have gotten from the gash. Ron had a similar one dripping into his forearm.
Taking out her muggle medical supplies she bandaged up the girls right arm in a sling as her shoulder had been out of socket and she put it back in. Hermione didn't make a sound during any of this. Madam Pomfrey hoped she was sleeping and not in a coma. Only time would tell.
2:30pm Saturday
Hermione had not stirred at all since she arrived. In fact she highly doubted either of her two patients would awake until the third got here. For now she kept a close eye on both of them. She sat between their beds and told them stories.
"Once there was a baby boy. He was born to two of the most deserving people in the world, Lily and James Potter. Now, Lily and James, many people think that they didn't get their happy ending but they did. They got that ending when their precious baby boy was born. And what little time they got with him they took it all and lived it so well. Their little boy was truly loved. So loved was that little boy that not even the darkest wizard could touch him."
She got up and went to the mantel piece where there on the wall sat a picture that she cherished beyond belief. Remus Lupin gave her that picture when he graduated from Hogwarts. In it was Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, and they were all holding up a sign that read "for a little furry problem." She knew all to well that all five of them were thanking her for taking care of Remus each night after the full moon. So much had changed since then, she thought, as she glanced at the empty bed waiting to be filled by the son of Lily and James Potter.
"Yes so much has changed and yet nothing has changed."
3:00pm Saturday
Madam Pomfrey stepped into the kitchen for just a minute and when she came back into the living room she found everything completely different. "What did you do?" She questioned the house elves.
"We are sorry, miss. But miss over there told us that the beds had to set up like this."
"Did she speak?" When they didn't answer she took that as a no. The beds of Ron and Hermione were now on either ends of the room with Harry's vacant bed in the middle and the beds were each pushed really close together.
3:30pm Saturday
She was pretty sure time was playing tricks on her. It was purposely being slow just to send her into a furry. What if they broke the seal before Harry had the chance to kill Voldemort? What if he was dead and Voldemort had survived? What if he was dead and so was Voldemort? All the what ifs were weighing down on her as she glanced at the clock on the wall. Time was working against her and she was sure it was smiling the whole time.
Checking Hermione vitals she noticed the girl's necklace. It was a silver chain with a pearl drop pendant hanging from the chain. She gently touched it and the girl gasped in response. "Harry," she heard her whisper and it looked as if the girl was fighting some inner battle. What was going on?
4:00pm Saturday
She had just finished changing the bandages on Ron's minor cuts when a thumped can from the bed in the middle. Harry had arrived.
4:01pm Saturday
It took a minute for her body to actually obey her command to move but when she did she found herself tripping over everything. Finally, after taking several deep breaths, she went and preformed the diagnostic spell over him.
Three broken ribs
Two shattered bones (in his right arm)
One minor concussion
Major fatigue.
The spell read out as she looked down at his sleeping form. He like the other two had a concussion but it would have to wait as she went to work on fixing the shattered bones.
4:45pm Saturday
They were all resting peacefully as she sat down in her chair for a break. Three patients in one day each with their own magical injuries and each at different times was enough to exhaust her. Right now Madam Pomfrey just wanted to sleep, but she knew she had to keep any eye on her three kids. She was fairly certain they would all pull through but still she worried. Glancing at each of them she took in the IVs and the bandages and their sleeping forms. This, she thought, was what brought down the evilest wizard of this age. This was hope.
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