Atonement

"Dragons! Of all the stupid, irresponsible things . . . !"

I opened my eyes with effort-my eyelashes had melted together in the blaze. My throat was dry as a bone; my joints were sore. The thin cloth felt like burlap against my tender skin.

"Awake, are you?" the same voice as before broke into my pain.

"Water," I requested weakly, my voice rasping. A glass was held to my lips, and I drank greedily until it was taken away.

"Any more and you'll make yourself sick!" Pomfrey sniffed disdainfully. "Just what were you thinking, walking up to a nesting dragon without so much as a shield?"

"I had a shield, madam, just not one you would see."

"I have the next salve, Poppy," a very familiar voice called as its owner moved into the hospital wing.

"She's awake now," Poppy replied. "Embarrassed, too, by the look of it." I was, indeed, beet red-I was wearing nothing under the thin sheet.

Professor Snape moved through the curtains. I tried to move my head to look at him, only to find that I couldn't.

"You're in a neck brace," Pomfrey told me with no sympathy. "You've been having fits."

"Fits?" I asked, dreading her reply.

"What did your father do to make you so afraid of him?" she asked mildly.

"Not now, Poppy," Snape said darkly, and I shot him a grateful look.

"You said you have the salve?"

"Right here," he replied, lifting the basket he was carrying with a sneer. "Typical Gryffindor, not caring about how much work she's causing anyone else."

"Typical Slytherin, too snarky to be of any help," I shot back.

"Does that mean you're just a drain on society then?" he returned.

"I suppose so," I said, my eyes closing against my will.

"Tease each other later," Pomfrey ordered. "Severus, you know what to do."

"I do indeed," he said. The sheet covering me was taken off, and I blushed even farther into embarrassment. Restrained as I was, I could do nothing to make Snape go away-I wasn't big on men seeing me naked, even if that man was only doing so for medical reasons. I was even less happy when he helped Pomfrey spread the salve over the skin. He might be the father I never had and always wanted, but I was never happy to be touched.

All things must come to an end, however, and the sheet was covering me soon enough. I was grateful for that small favor.

"Do you know my scores?" I asked.

"Dumbledore gave you an eight, as did Madame Maxime and Ludo Bagman. Bartemius Crouch gave you a six, and Professor Karkaroff gave you a five."

"So I have thirty-five points?"

"How soon can I get out of here?" I asked hopefully.

"A week," Pomfrey replied, puttering about, putting away the salve they had not used on me.

I groaned. A week never seemed longer than it did then.

***
When I got out of the hospital wing eight days later, I found waiting for me not stares, snickers, and surreptitious hexes (the teachers had gotten serious about punishing bullies the third time I ended up in the hospital wing), but small kindnesses where before there had been none. I would find my books on my desk just before the bell rang, saving me the necessity of bending down; if one person tried to hex me, a shield would spring behind me to deflect it; three jinxes would find the caster before I could turn to see who it was.

Though I enjoyed not being the target for pranks and curses by the majority of my schoolmates, it began to wear thin after a while. It put me on edge, wondering whose mask would slip next, how long it would be before they turned on me again. I did not think I could survive such a thing if I got used to the way I was being treated now.

By and large, though., I could ignore my growing paranoia. I made sure to thank each person who helped me, giving them no extra ammo to use against me.

Professor McGonagall called me into her office one day to talk to me about the ball that would be hosted during the Christmas break this year, and I left in a daze. I hatched a plan soon enough-I would beg off because of a headache, claiming I was in too much pain to deal with revelry.

However, I did not count on Viktor Krum joining me in Hogsmeade when I went dress shopping (I had to make it look like an unfortunate occurrence, after all).

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked in his heavy accent.

I shrugged. "Sure. I will warn you, though-my day will be spent in dressing rooms. You will be bored."

He nodded, and I took it to mean he would be joining me no matter what.

There was one little dress shop in Hogsmeade, just off High Street. It was there we went first.

I had it narrowed down to three dresses, red, white, and black-and-white, and two robes, one a floaty periwinkle, the other violet.

I tried on the dresses first, experimenting with what looked good, coming out after each article was on so Viktor could tell me what he thought, followed by the robes. I saved the periwinkle ones for last.

"That is the one," Viktor said when I came out. "You look like a goddess."

"Thank you," I said, blushing.

When I had picked out matching shoes, makeup, and a bracelet and paid for it all, I offered, "Would you like to stop for as drink?"

"I vould like that very much," he agreed, and I led him to the Three Broomsticks.

"So how did this Hogs-mead come to be?" he asked me. I filled him in on the history of the town, dates and important figures included. He looked at me raptly all the while.

"I'm boring you, aren't I?" I asked halfway through my recitation.

"Not at all. I am-how do you say it?- a history boof?"

"A history buff?"

"Yes, that. I vould like very much someday to become a history teacher vun day." His redundancy made me remember that his English was not as good as it could be.

We talked about inconsequentials for a bit before we headed to the castle. Just before we reached the Entrance Hall, Viktor stopped and pulled a box from his pocket, which surprised me-I hadn't seen him with anything.

He flipped open the box to show me a necklace I had been admiring before I had realized I had enough frippery for one night (the price tag had helped me in that decision). "Vill you go the ball vith me?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied.

Slowly, giving me time to pull away if I wanted to, he touched his lips to mine briefly.