Elsie Prod (puredeadbrill) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-05-05 02:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-05] may, damocles belby, elsie prod (née belby) |
Who: Elsie Prod and Damocles Belby
When: Monday, 4 May, 1980. Evening.
Where: Hogwarts' Hospital Wing
What: Elsie is conscious for a while.
Rating: PG
Status: Complete.
Damocles was somewhere between falling asleep and trying to keep himself awake. He rubbed his eyes; the Hospital Wing was eerily quiet and dimly lit. He shifted in his chair, wondering if he had fallen asleep a couple of minutes ago -- and hoping that he didn't, just in case she needed anything. She looked better than she did when they had found her. Back then she was barely recognisable. But he was confused as to why she was still not getting better properly. The potions were supposed to make her be able to walk again, right? And yet even with healing spells and the medication she took, she still looked like she was in a bad form. Maybe it was his imagination -- or his pessimism -- that was influencing him for thinking that there was a possibility she wasn't going to recover. But who could blame him for thinking that way? They were stuck in the castle, and there was no way they could go outside to get proper medication for her. He pressed a hand on the side of his head, feeling a headache coming on. Too much thinking. Too much worrying. It felt like his thoughts were going around in circles. And Damocles couldn't help but think of 'ifs'. What if they hadn't come to Hogwarts and battled against the Death Eaters. What if they had just chosen to stay at home. It was pointless to think about those things, and yet he couldn't help it. There were always going to be those 'what ifs' moments in his life, no matter how happy he was. He had gone through too much to not think about them. He felt useless; as if he was a burden in the battles that he had participated in -- those who were better had to protect him, and he still hurt himself in the end. There was nothing more that he wanted right now except to get out of there and he wanted to keep her somewhere safe. He wanted to give up and say he was done. But did such a place really exist? It didn't feel like it. At least Elsie, despite being in pain, could not really know what was actually going on -- that they were on the verge of losing a war that they had sacrificed so much for. Elsie Prod had been in and out of consciousness for a few days and finally, tonight, she was able to hold onto that consciousness, understand what was was going on around her a bit and even talk. She realised soon enough, though, that she didn't like being awake. She'd spent the first hour or so of consciousness listening, unsure if she was actually awake or in a dream since why in the world would she be hearing Pepper's voice? She realised, eventually, that she was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts and that there was a Dictaquill sitting on top of her open journal, which was very nice, but talking to Pepper made her realise how bad her wounds truly were. She was still crying a bit when she woke up again a few hours later, not even realising that she had fallen asleep. Damocles was next to her now, sitting in the chair she vaguely remembered him sitting in for the past... she didn't even know how many days. "Hiya," she said to him, her voice hoarse and not entirely like normal. Normal. One glance downward made her remember that she would never be normal again, not even with wizarding medicine. Large patches of her skin was charred and white, white like the frost on the grass in November, and she could tell vaguely that she had very little hair left. She could feel nothing in those areas though, something which she was very thankful for. The other areas of her skin, areas around her face and in between her fingers and toes and her thighs all looked better but the pain from those areas was unbearable. The tears that ran down her face put her in excruciating pain, but the pain only caused more tears and the tears only caused more pain. She did her best to hold them in, but it was difficult. "Damocles," she said, louder this time in case he didn't hear. She was so glad to see him but at the same time hated that he had to see her this way. "Damocles." At the sound of her voice, his half-closed eyes immediately opened. "Yeah?" he responded automatically, scooting his chair forward, causing it to scrap against the floor. The sound echoed in the room, and he looked around apologetically for a few seconds before turning his concentration back to Elsie, looking half-alarmed and half-concerned. "Are you all right? Do you need anything?" His eyes darted around a small desk near him for the jug of water and a cup of some sort -- just in case she was thirsty. "No," she replied, wishing she was able to turn her head more to look a him, but that would just hurt a lot more. She must have had some pain medication not too long before, since things didn't hurt quite as badly as she remembered and she was immensely grateful. She looked down at her arms - she didn't even recognise them. She could barely look at them they were so grotesque, like a creature from a horror film or something. "I'm never going to be back to normal, am I?" she asked her younger brother. Even when she healed, even with skin replacements and all the magic they knew, Elsie knew she would never completely look like herself again. Some damage went too deep. "Imagine what Dorothy'll say," she joked, a forced smile crossing her face as she mentioned her sister-in-law, the one who always had something to say about Elsie's clothes or her shoes or anything else. "Probably have a cow about the family pictures." Damocles swallowed as he noticed her looking down at her arms and asked him that question. He wasn't sure how to answer that, but he knew that he had to be optimistic for her. Somehow. Even though it was difficult -- even though he was afraid that whatever he might say would sound insincere -- he still had to try for her sake. "We'll get out of here soon," he said as firmly as he could, preventing any strain from reaching his tone. "And you'll get proper medication." Despite the situation they were in, he had to smile a bit at her jab about Dorothy. "If she ever says anything about it, I'll... hex her quiet," he said, nodding determinedly -- but he meant it, and he wasn't only referring to Dorothy. If Elsie's arms and legs weren't going to be fixed, no one was allowed to say anything about them. Elsie let out what was most likely a laugh at Damocles' words, though the truth behind the jokes depressed her still. She hadn't seen Marcus, her nephew, in quite some time now and she felt like a rotten aunt and god-mother. She didn't know how she was going to be able to keep her job now, since questions would surely be asked and she couldn't answer them. Even if Andromeda took her house (and the payments) for a safehouse, she still needed a place to live and money to pay for it. "What'll I do?" she asked Damocles. "What'll we tell Ma?" Worry crossed her face, though it may have been masked by he burns. She missed her life, she missed her job and her friends, she missed her husband. "I just want to go home." The last thing he wanted her to do was to worry about things he should be worrying about. "You don't have to think about any of that," he said assuringly, lightly putting his hand on her forehead as a comforting gesture, though he was careful not to put a lot of pressure on the burnt areas. "I'll tell her we got into an accident, that's it. She won't have to know anything. They all won't have to know about it at all," he told her, sounding rather rushed -- but he meant to calm her down and not have her think about it. "We'll get to go home soon, Elsie." Did he sound convincing enough? As an extra measure, he looked at her in the eye to show that he wasn't lying. Damocles had never been the best liar, but it can be said right now that he was really, really trying. Had Elsie been feeling fine she would have spotted his lie fairly easily, but as it was she simply nodded and let the subject go. After all, she wanted to believe him, to know that it was all going to be all right, and he was her brother - the one who didn't let her down. Well, she didn't think Egnorwiddle would let her down either if it really came down to it, but not without a lot of explanation and a lecture on his part. "Thanks," she said, forcing a smile. She wished she could hug him, but that would require movement and touch, neither of which she could do. Damocles had brought along Dumbledore's gift to Elsie, having completely slipped his mind that there was a possibility she didn't know that he was gone. The only thing that he meant to do was make her feel better at least about something. "Professor Dumbledore left you something," he began, picking up the box on the desk next to him and opened in front of her, revealing the beautiful jewelry. Looking at the jewelry - it was very pretty, though she couldn't help but to imagine it on her burnt skin - it took a minute for her brother's words to register. "Left me?" she asked. Her fight with the Death Eater who burned her so badly had been so early on in the battle that she had been completely unaware of anything else that had gone on, save what little she heard people talking about in the Hospital Wing while she was awake, which was really very little. She'd seen some sort of commotion going on while she was lying next to the wall in agony, but she hadn't actually heard yet that Dumbledore had died. "Where did he go?" He put the box of jewelry on his lap, staring down at his hands, wondering whether or not he should tell her about what had happened. "He's gone," he finally said, his voice hoarse. "He duelled with You-Know-Who... and lost." He still found it hard to believe that the person who had been their guide, their leader -- was now gone. It was surreal. Elsie let out a gasp. Albus Dumbledore was dead? Tears welled up in her eyes again, threatening to spill over her cheeks. "Oh no," she said, then, a moment later, "Poor Abe." She realised she barely knew anything of what was going on. "We- we didn't lose anyone else, did we?" "No," he lied quietly, because he didn't think it was a good idea at that moment to tell her about Ted and Caradoc. It was better that she didn't know. "But there are a lot of people injured," he added for extra measure just to convince her that there was nothing to worry about -- except that there actually was a lot of things they should be concerned of, such as the fact that they could not get out of the school because there were Death Eaters outside. But Damocles was adamant to keep this from her. "Good," she said, trying to force a smile. Injuries they could handle, especially with Hestia and Beth and Pomfrey around, and judging by the people in the Hospital Wing, she already knew the worst of it. One death was already one too many and Elsie didn't even want to think about anyone else in the Order (or even the old Ministry though she didn't know them) dying. Good. "Damo," she said, calling him by the nickname she hadn't used in years, "I'm tired. You'll come in the morning, right?" He looked surprise at the mention of that old nickname, but he gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. "Of course," he told her. "I'm not going anywhere." And hoped she wasn't, too. |