Ace of Hearts
Chapter 21
They were sitting in a private waiting room at St. Mungo's Hospital and had been for the past three hours. Hermione was staring blankly at the wall, her tears, having dried up about an hour ago, left her eyes puffy and her whole body feeling numb. A couple of seats over to her right, Mrs. Weasley sat, still crying softly with her head against her husband's shoulder as he attempted to comfort her, his own eyes red from tears. Fred and George Weasley sat across from their parents, strangely quiet; their expressions stoic and their minds seemingly lost in thought. Luna, who had fallen into a fitful sleep leaning against Neville, kept mumbling about Gindygoats and Ginny was laying with her head on Dean's lap, staring at an empty chair with silent tears streaming from her eyes. Hermione was startled out of her thoughts when someone put their arm around her. Shifting her gaze slightly, she saw Ron giving her a worried look.
"Don't worry, 'Mione," he said softly "Harry'll be okay. I mean, he didn't beat Voldemort to be done in by some mangy Vampire with a superiority complex," he gave her a half smile.
She tried to smile back; she really did because she appreciated what he was trying to do, but try as she might, her lips would no longer turn that way, not until she knew that Harry would be okay. Ron didn't seem to take offense to her lack of response, instead, he pulled her close and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder.
Hermione relaxed a bit under his touch, it would be okay, it had to be. Ron was here with her and soon Harry would be too - it would be the three of them, just like old times... always and forever. She shifted her eyes as Remus and Tonks walked into the room, not failing to notice that the latter had on a fresh change of clothes.
"Well, we've managed to get several Aurors and Magical Law Enforcement officers to secure the floor so that no media can make it up," Remus said with a sigh, taking a seat next to the tired looking Nymphadora and softly rubbing her neck. "They're practically camped outside, waiting for news and more than one has already tried to sneak up, but don't worry, we've secured the floors and delegated a discrete place for any of you to apparate from, if you have to leave."
He received no response to his comments, though Hermione doubted that he really had been expecting one. Everyone continued to sit in silence for the next several minutes, the only sound being that of people breathing and the occasional sniffle or two. The quiet was disrupted when three people walked into the room, Hermione recognized two by appearance, but knew all three by name. Devon, Aurora, and Marcello, Harry's Auror team entered the room their faces somber. They looked around for a moment, as if unsure how to proceed, before the one that Hermione assumed was Marcello finally spoke.
"Hello," he said in a strong Spanish accent. His voice was quiet, but powerful. "For those of you who do not know us, we are the members of the Elite Auror Task Force, I am Marcello," he motioned towards the other two, "and they are Devon and Aurora." he paused for a moment taking a breath. "As members of Harry's team we feel it is our duty to tell you what we know about what has happened tonight."
Hermione pulled away from Ron, sitting up straight in her seat. She was so fixated on what the tall Spaniard had to say, she didn't notice when everyone else in the room seemed to do the same. Marcello told them about the information that they had received about Bellatrix and how they had gone back to Transylvania to try to stop her and the Satanists from rebuilding forces and attacking otherwise peaceful vampires, some of whom were Aurora's family. He told them how Harry had detected trouble and given them the proper signal so that they were able to take the vampires by surprise and how he had probably saved both Devon and Aurora's lives.
"Unfortunately, I'm not sure of everything that happened. All I know is that one minute he was fighting beside me and the next he was gone," he finished with a frown.
"So, you don't know what happened?" Ron asked with an angry expression. "You're all suppose to be a team! When you needed him, he saved your arses, but when he needed you... you didn't know where he went?"
Marcello opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted.
"It was my fault," Aurora said softly, all eyes swung to her, including those of her fellow Aurors. "I was fighting and had just taken down three vampires when I saw her... Bellatrix," she ran an agitated hand though her hair. "I don't know what I was thinking; it's just, when she ran... I immediately ran after her. I was just beginning to gain on her when I heard Harry calling out and ordering me to stop…. But, I -I ignored him and kept running. Then, I saw her run into a cave, but, before I could reach it, I was grabbed from behind with my arms pent to my side. I didn't even have a chance to yell out before Harry shouted the security question at me," she looked at the floor.
"I answered him and he let me go. He then began to yell at me for being irresponsible and impulsive; I told him I had seen Bellatrix and he pointed out that I probably only saw her because she wanted me to and that I was more than likely running blindly into a trap. I knew he was right, but instead of feeling chastised, I felt angry," she took a shaky breath, "angry at myself for being so stupid, angry at him for yelling at me, and angry at myself again for making it so that he had to. Harry told me that he was going into the cave and if he wasn't back in five minutes to send up a flare," tears began to stream down her face. "He said that he would talk to Moody when we got back, since I couldn't seem to get passed my anger about...about what happened between us... but, until then, I was to follow his orders, stay were he told me, and to be sure to shoot the flare at the required time."
Aurora began to cry in earnest, as her legs gave out and she fell heavily to the ground. The blond Auror Devon reached out to help, but she pushed his hand away.
"It was my fault," she whispered, shaking her head and crying.
"What was your fault, Aurora, what happened?!" Hermione demanded, surprising everyone, since it was the first thing she had said since asking if Harry was dead.
Aurora looked at her for a moment, her expression bleak and her eyes empty.
"I was just so mad," she whispered, "I was mad and humiliated; I didn't think that it was fair that he felt he could control my life. He could date me then dump me when he got tired of me or got the girl he really wanted, then he could force me off of the team I loved just because I didn't bounce back as quickly as he would have liked." she dropped her head, staring at the floor as she continued. "When he left, I stood there for a minute, but then I thought I saw flames. I got worried about my family and I figured that Harry was more than capable of taking care of himself so...so...so, I left."
"What?!" Devon and Marcello exclaimed.
The blond pulled away from her, an appalled expression on his handsome features.
"Why would you leave?!" he demanded.
"Harry gave you an order," Marcello added angrily. "You never disobey an order, it can cost lives."
"Don't you think I know that?!" she yelled, looking up at the dark-haired man with a tear-stained face. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking, okay! I know that this is my fault - I'm well aware of it and I don't need you to tell me!"
"Okay, everyone calm down," Lupin said, standing and placing himself between the two; he then looked down at Aurora. "What happened next?"
She dropped her head again. "I apparated to the village... it was on fire. I looked for my brother and my nieces and nephews, but I couldn't find them." she ran her hand through her hair again "I was frantic... I lost track of time. After I don't know how long, I found my sister-in-law nursing one of the wounded and she told me that my brother was helping to put out the fires. When she assured me that everyone was safe, I remembered that I should have checked for Harry by now..." she took a shuddering breath. "I apparated back to the mouth of the cave and looked around. I wasn't sure how long he had been gone, so I didn't know if he was still in there or if he had left... until...until I heard..." she began to cry and Devon put his arm around her, this time she didn't push him away. "I heard him scream..." she closed her eyes, her body falling forward so far that she would have hit the ground had Devon not been holding her up.
"It's the worst sound I've ever heard... it was -he -it, it just sounded as though it had been ripped from his very soul." she shuddered " I sent out the flare and rushed into the passageway. Just as I noticed a faint candlelight ahead, I saw a flash of green. Rushing into the cavern, I saw Gideon... the head vampire of the Satanists, he was lying limply on the floor. As I neared, I noticed Bellatrix laughing hysterically. She was gloating about how they 'had succeeded where even the Dark Lord failed,' I hit her with a stunner. I wanted so badly to just kill her but Harry told us to only do that if we needed to."
She paused, taking a deep breath. "I looked around the room for Harry, but didn't see him... until I looked at Gideon. It was then I noticed the edge of black robes under him. I... I pushed his dead body over and there was Harry...he..." she began to cry quietly, struggling through the last of her story. "He was lying on the floor, his eyes closed his face pale and...there -there -he -he had been stabbed by a stake." she looked at the floor blindly reaching as though the scene were in front of her once more. "There was so much blood..." she began to cry again and at this point Marcello took over.
"We rushed to the cave following the 'X' that had been left in the air by Aurora's flare. When we got inside, we found her staring at Harry's body, I froze for a moment, but only a moment before rushing over to check his pulse. It was there, but it was weak... he had lost a lot of blood, at that time some of the other Aurors had arrived. Tonks rushed in, after noticing what had happened, she ran forward to hug Harry, almost impaling herself on the stake in the process," he cast a glance at Tonks who was staring at her hands. "Devon and another Auror pulled her away and I picked him up and Apparated us here to St. Mungos, and that's pretty much all that we know."
Hermione had just opened her mouth to ask a question when she was interrupted.
"Is everyone here for Harry Potter?" They looked to see a short round woman with rosy cheeks looking at them, her clipboard and white uniform identified her as a healer.
"Yes," Fred said, "we all are... we're -we're his family."
The woman gave a small nod, her expressionless face telling nothing. "Okay, well, let me update you on what is going on."
Hermione stood anxiously from her seat at those words, but she wasn't alone. Almost everyone stood from their locations with the exceptions of Fleur, who was holding a sleeping Abigail and Aurora who was sitting on the floor still looking upset and drained.
"Well," Mrs. Weasley asked anxiously, "what is it? What news do you have?"
"Well," the healer said, looking down at her clipboard. "As I'm sure you're already aware," she gave a pointed look to the several Aurors in the room. "Harry was stabbed in the abdomen with a stake. Now, we were able to repair most of the damage to his internal organs magically, however he lost a fair amount of blood..."
"So?" Hermione interrupted anxiously. "You guys should be able to do something about that, right?"
"Well, you see," the healer frowned a bit, "blood is something that we cannot magically create, so a loss of it cannot be easily fixed. Before Mr. Potter got here, there were a rash of injured Vampires and other Aurors brought here from the battle and unfortunately his blood type is not a very common one."
"What does that mean?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Well, we are running a low on his blood type, so unless someone here can give him blood, it's going to be touch and go while his body attempts to create what it needs to sustain his life."
"What type? What type is he?" Hermione asked.
"Mr. Potter is type O, so..."
"I'll do it." Hermione interrupted, before giving a type of nervous laughter, "I'm O, I can do it."
"Well... that's great, but," everyone looked at the healer who had spoken. "I think we're going to need a bit more than what we can safely remove from you."
"But-"
"Ron."
Everyone turned to Mrs. Weasley, who had called out her son's name. Turning her head, the older woman looked at her youngest son.
"Ron is... I had always thought it a bit odd since all of my other children are A positive but for some reason he..." she trailed off.
Everyone looked at Ron, but he just stood there in silence, staring at an unseen point on the wall.
"Well," Lupin said after a moment, "I am, but I don't think that my blood would really be much help."
"I am," Devon said stepping forward "I'd be happy to he-"
"No."
Everyone turned to look at the redhead who had made this declaration. Ron pulled his eyes from the wall and looked at the stout healer.
"I'm doing it. Where do I go?"
Giving one last quick glance at the blond Auror, the healer nodded and turned walking out of the room, followed closely behind by Ron and Hermione. She led them down a softly but brightly lit corridor to a set of mahogany double doors. Pushing on the doors, she led them into a room that Hermione realized was quite similar to one of those in a Muggle hospital.
"Just have a seat," the healer said, motioning to two reclining chairs that were side by side to one another.
Hermione took a seat in the one closest to the door, knowing what would happen, she rolled up her sleeve so that the woman could get to one of her veins. After giving a weary glance to the chair and the metallic pole next to it, Ron took his seat in the chair next to her. Mimicking Hermione's action, he hesitantly rolled up his sleeve as he sat, giving a worried look and wincing as the healer inserted the needle into Hermione's arm to take the blood.
"That looks like it's going to hurt," Ron said in a shaky voice, looking a bit queasy.
"I'm sure that if I can handle it, it should be no problem for a big strong Quidditch player like you," Hermione said with a soft teasing smile.
He winced before placing a wobbly smile on his face. "Of course it's not a problem, I was just… you know, saying… that it looked to be painful, not that I was scared or anything."
"Don't worry, Ron. I had no doubt in your manly countenance," she said, smiling a bit wider. "I knew that it wouldn't be a problem for you."
He watched the healer with wary eyes as she got the needle from the small basket next to his chair, giving a small jerk as she used her wand to clean the area of his arm that she would be taking the blood from.
"Ron," Hermione said softy, momentarily distracting him from his intense perusal of the needle that would be used on him.
"Yeah," he glanced over at her.
"Thank you," she replied, receiving his full attention in response.
"For what?" He gave her a curious look.
"You know for what…" she said; he flushed a bit, "look, I think…"
"All done," the healer said, causing Ron to give a started look to the needle he hadn't even know had been placed in his arm. "Now, squeeze this ball and I will be back in a few moments to check on you two."
She then gathered her things and made her way quietly out of the room. Hermione and Ron watched her go in silence.
"Ron," Hermione said, regaining his attention.
"Yeah."
"We need to talk."
A.N. Okay, that's it for this chapter, until next time. Please, please review! For those of you who are aware, I just wanted to let you know that I am also aware that there is a way to magically reproduce blood, however it didn't fit for what I wanted for the story, that's one of the perks of being the author you can do things like that *wink*
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