Gone Awry

Ash was furious when she left the Gryffindor table. "I can't believe that they forgot!" she mumbled to herself, but soon enough - even before she reached her house table - she had calmed herself down again. She couldn't really be angry at them. They had had a game today and they won! They needed the celebration time. Especially after the last couple of month stuffed to the maximum with homework and detentions. Hell, she thought I nearly forgot myself.

Well to be 100 percent correct she had forgotten, but the letter from her Aunt Molly - that she had received and opened just before the Gryffindors had burst into the room - had reminded her.

Today was the 7th of December.

Today she had turned 17.

Today was her Birthday.

She knew that she wouldn't be getting any congratulations from her friends and the other Slytherins. Not because they didn't care, but because she had never mentioned it to them. But she had believed that at least her cousins would have stopped by to congratulate her, or congratulated her while she was over at their table.

However, it seemed that they had forgotten about that useless event as well.

With a sad smile she sat down next to Draco and the others and resumed eating her lunch.

"What's up?" Draco asked concerned, when he saw her poking the food instead of putting it into her mouth.

Ash looked up at him. "Oh, its nothing... really," she added when he looked at her unconvinced.

Still not fully convinced, he turned back to his food and the conversation he was just having with Blaise, while Ash started to actually eat the food on her plate. With one hand she was absent-mindedly playing with a small necklace that had found a new place around her neck a few minutes ago.

Aunt Molly always knew what she liked and this amulet was defiantly something she loved. In fact, she remembered how she had always adored it when they passed the antiques shop in the little muggle town that the Weasley family had lived in.

It was a very simple flat piece of metal with runes engraved into it and a ring that hung on the same chain, placed right in front of the amulet.

It didn't have any meaning, nor special powers. Ash knew that - it came from a muggle shop. And yet something about it had called out to her. She had adored it since she had seen it for the first time. Every year when she visited her cousins in England she would go to the shop and stare at it.

Molly had seen that, as had her parents. But it was a very expensive trinket and therefore Ash never really thought that she would be able to own it.

And still... now it was hanging around her neck, as light as a feather.

Ash was smiling to herself while fingering the necklace. Letting her mind wander.

"You look happy," Tracy commented.

Startled Ash came back to reality. "Oh, yeah," she smiled, still holding onto the necklace.

"That new?"

"Yep, my Aunt gave it to me."

"Ah..." Tracy started. "Why?" she asked.

Ash was about to answer, when her face was gracefully pushed into the pie she was about to eat by a force that knocked into her from behind.

Shocked, Ash pulled her face out of the creamy pie and angrily wiped away the filling from her eyes. When her vision was cleared again, Ash saw Tracy's face was filled with horror.

Her skull was buzzing and she couldn't hear what Tracy tried telling her while pointing at her face. "What are-?" she tried asking, but she only heard unrecognisable mumbling before she felt the problem herself.

The Great Hall was filled with a screeching scream as Ash jumped up on her feet and held tightly onto her head. Plants were starting to push out of her ears and into the fresh air around her. Ripping her ear drums apart. Fighting to reach freedom off her head first.

Looking around herself frantically, Ash noticed the friends still sitting at the table shocked and then Draco and Blaise jump up to try and help her, Tracy rushing towards the teachers table, where the teachers had already jumped up and ran up to her and a smirking Pansy before everything went black around her...

When she woke up again, the world was silent.

Nothing had changed. The infirmary was still the same annoying and colourless place that it always was and she still hated waking up in here.

And yet... everything was eerily quiet...

"Hello?" she called, or at least she thought she did. She couldn't hear herself. But it seemed Madam Pomfrey had heard her, because she came rushing out of her office at once.

She seemed to be saying something, fussing about her, Ash presumed. However she stopped moving her mouth when she noticed Ash looking at her confused, head tilted to one side.

Something seemed to dawn to her and quickly the nurse summoned a pen and a block of paper.

How are you feeling? she wrote down in nice smooth lines.

"Good," she answered.

Can you hear anything?

Ash shook her head no and saw a frown spread across Madam Pomfrey's face. "What?"

Madam Pomfrey looked up at her and shook her head. It's nothing serious, I believe. But the potion should have worked already.

"Nothing serious?" she screamed and jumped out of her bed, glaring at the nurse.

Madam Pomfrey waved her hands up and down, signing her to calm down.

"Calm down? How the hell do you suppose I calm down, when I can't hear a thing and the potion that was supposed to cure me is not working?!" she tried to say, but it must have come out a bit wrong because Madam Pomfrey looked at her confused and worried.

Tears came to her eyes and soon she found herself running out of the door from the infirmary and down the nearest corridor not looking where she went.

After a few minutes she came to an abrupt stop in front of the Slytherin common room. Quietly she mumbled the password, but the wall did not bulge. through the tears and confusion the word had been jumbled together in her mouth and the wall hadn't understood her.

Sent into another fit of hysterical tears Ash sank to her knees and screamed the password over and over again.

That's how one of the 4th years had found her when he came back from detention at shortly after 11 o'clock that night.

Scared he warily walked up to her and placed a soft hand on her shaking form.

Her head shot up and he finally recognized the crying girl. Inhaling sharply he said the common room password and picked her trembling form off the ground. Supporting her, he walked her into the common room and swiftly a few others had gathered around her.

"Get Malfoy, Zabini and Davis," he told some of them and gently placed the shocked girl on one off the couches. She gave him a tired smile.

"Dr- Drac- Draco?" she asked and looked at him pleadingly.

"He's coming," the brown haired boy tried to tell her, but saw that she just glared at his lips, as if she didn't hear what he had said and blamed his lips for that.

Tears started running down her face again when Ash saw the boy shift his eyes from her towards something behind her and she turned to see Draco, Blaise and Tracy run up them.

'Ash,' she could read Draco say as he rushed next to her and pulled her into an embrace. She clung to his form as if her life depended on it. She could feel Draco's mouth moving, she could feel the vibrations of his voice in his chest, but she couldn't hear what he was saying.

She felt Tracy stroking her back and saw that the boy that found he was talking to Blaise, probably telling him what happened. Concerned Blaise looked over at her every now and then.

Gently Ash pushed Draco away and wiped her eyes dry from tears. She took a deep breath and formed the word 'feather' with her mouth. Draco looked at her a bit confused but quickly stood up and got her what she had asked for, together with a piece of parchment and ink.

I can't hear anything, she wrote down and showed it to her friends. Then she placed the paper onto her lap again and wrote And I can't seem to form the words correctly without hearing them, again she showed it to her shocked friends.

Draco started saying something but was interrupted by Tracy who was pointing at the feather and parchment.

What do you mean? he wrote but scratched it out when he saw Ash's annoyed face. Sorry. I meant, can't Madam Pomfrey help you with that?

Anger flashed in Ash's face as she pulled the paper out of Draco's grasp and wrote That stupid, incompetent cow said that the potion seems to not be working!

This also angered Draco, as he read her words. But he knew that she didn't need anger right now, but someone to hold onto. Hence instead of following his first instinct to run to the nurse and hit her, he pulled his girlfriend into a loving hug and gently kissed her temple. Soothing and calming her.

"What an awful Birthday," Ash mumbled to herself.

"What did you say?" Draco inquired.

"I said -" Ash's head jerked up and she stared at Draco. "Say that again."

Draco frowned at her "I said: What did you say?" he repeated and both their eyes widened.

"I can hear!" she gasped and again tear ran down her face, but this time it were tears of joy. Her voice never had sounded so wonderful to her.

Draco tightened his hold of her kissed her passionately. "Don't ever shock me like that again!" he said when they rested their foreheads against each others. Ash agreed enthusiastically, nodding her head wildly.

"So, love. What did you just mumble? I think I've heard something quite interesting." he inquired.

"What an awful Birthday." Ash repeated looking at Draco.

"Who's birthday?"

"My Birthday"

"When?"

Ash turned to look at Blaise "What time is it?"

Blaise looked at his watch, "11:50."

Ash smiled at him and nodded, then turned back to look at Draco. "Today," she smiled.

"Today?"

"Today."

"Today is your birthday?"

"Today is my birthday."

Draco started at her speechless.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tracy screamed, hitting her friend across the head.

"You didn't ask," Ash shrugged.

Tracy gaped at her, before shaking her head and smiling at her strange blond friend. "Happy Birthday," she sighed and pulled Ash away from Draco to hug her.

"Thank you."

"Happy Birthday," Blaise whispered into her ear when he hugged her tightly as well. "You really should have told us."

"We could have prepared presents and a party!" Tracy agreed and shook her head in disappointment that they couldn't really celebrate the ending Birthday of her friend.

Finally Draco pulled her back into his own arms and embraced her tightly. "Happy Birthday," he mumbled into her ear and kissed her lips lovingly.