If you can't get something, make sure no one else can.
I regretted it, but at the same time, I felt like it was the right thing to do.
Asia had been unresponsive for 2 days. Madam Pomfrey tried to revive her, and she had managed to, but she told us all that it may be impossible to get her out of the coma her body had induced. She said it was a catatonia, where Asia never moved or reacted to anything. She said she would attempt to heal her during this time and would keep us posted.
When I saw Lucas's strained expression, I thought, "Sweet revenge."
A week passed, and people went to and from the hospital wing. Mostly Lovegood, Granger, and the two Malfoy kids. Lucas seemed more upset than any of them put together, and they would all come out silently. After a while she, being Asia, had to be transferred to St. Mungo's, and I didn't see the others for a while. Pomfrey went with Asia to take care of her, and another nurse took her place for a while.
The atmosphere around the school was quiet. Who could injury Asia Abernathy-Lovegood, the best witch in the school? It made people worry, and they knew it was me who did it. My friends stuck with me, but everyone else dispersed. How could a Hufflepuff hurt someone like that? they wondered. Well, they haven't met this Hufflepuff.
After class one day, McGonagal called me in to her office.
"Toby Caim," she said crisply, "Why did you hurt Asia? I want to ask you before you get sent to Azkaban."
I thought back to what Lucas said about me being in there, with the nutcases.
"I did it because I was angry."
"Anger is no reason to hurt!"
"It is for me. If you want to arrest me, fine. But let me see Asia."
"I cannot grant your request, Caim. You get shipped off in the morning."
I sat there, with a sort of weight in my stomach.
A/N: Now Asia's...
My mind flashed back to the incident. Coma sufferers usually have dreams surrounding the events immediately before the coma, and that's what happened to me.
Red, dark blood on a tan stone floor. Toby's expression, the screams.
Then, light.
I looked up. A soft light was being shone into my eyes by an elderly hand. I saw a large smile stretch across Madam Pomfrey's face. I blinked hard, and she smiled even wider. "Good girl," she said, and placed the light down. "Feeling better?"
I groaned, and looked at the blood-stained wraps stretched across my thin frame.
"Shhhh," said Pomfrey. She walked out, pulling the sheets around my bed out of her way. "Mrs. Lovegood, your daughter is in stable condition for now. We don't know how long, so you might want to say goodbye while she's conscious. With this type of curse, it's possible the blood will start again and she'll go back into a coma."
I sat up gingerly on my pillows. My vision was blurry. Pain was everywhere.
"Oh, honey," said Mum. I tried to speak but couldn't.
Mum was crying. She motioned to Pomfrey. "Can you let her friends say goodbye too?" Those words hit me. Goodbye? Pomfrey nodded and went off, returning quickly with Lucas, Tom, and Ms. Granger.
"What do you mean, goodbye?" said Tom, voicing my question with outrage. "Is she actually going to die? I thought once you're out of a coma you stay out of it!"
Pomfrey sighed. "For Muggles, usually, yes, but the curse Caim used isn't normal. I have healed most of the cuts but those remaining are still bleeding. There's nothing I can do to keep her from blacking out."
I tried to open my mouth, and this time I managed to speak, despite the pain. "What? I feel fine....." I collapsed on the bed and my head started to throb. Then I sat back up, not about to let the pain get a victory.
"Say your goodbyes," said Pomfrey.
Lucas came over, and sat beside me, and I looked at him.
He was crying. "Why did you do it?" he said.
"Cuz I would have it be me instead of you," I said, hazily. "If it was you I woulda blamed myself forever. After all, I have this curse. If I die now I won't have to die as painfully as I would've otherwise."
Tom stared at me. Part of his face was patched.
"What in the world happened to you?" I asked.
"I got cut in the Netherlands."
"What'd I tell ya?...If.... I... had... been there... You woulda... been fine..." I said, starting to feel weaker with each word. Pomfrey came over and said a spell, and some of my wounds closed for a minute. I tried to push myself up.
Lucas sat down in the seat next to my headboard and after some fumbling managed to hold my head up so I could talk better. I held his hand and said thanks, and he said something I couldn't hear.
So, yes, she does survive the incident, Knight, without another coma episode, if you want to write that. ;) Looking forward!
