Catch a Falling Star

“Help her up,” he told the boys, who were at my side in an instant. I shoved them away and, with the help of the sturdy wall, stood on my own.

“Got one hell of a protection spell,” I chuckled. I then quickly bent over and let out quite a few wicked coughs that shook my entire frame.

“Potter, Weasley, get her to the hospital wing before she gets worse.” He drawled, “I will meet you up there in a few minutes. I must let Dumbledore know of your arrival.”

“I’m not sick, Snape –“

“Now!” he barked, before turning on his heel and vanishing around a corner.

“Son of a – “

“Where have you been these past few months?”

I stared at Potter for a moment, really wondering if those words came from his mouth. It took me a moment to respond.

“You are not, and nor will you ever be, thank Merlin, my caretaker, Potter. I’m not answering you.” My anger, of course, sent me into another set of coughing.

“We worried about you – “

“No, he worried about you. ‘Monie and I told him to lay off.” I heard the ginger say. He stood quite a few feet away from me, crossed arms and a glare in his eyes.

I looked at him, smirking, and stood back up to my full height. “You should’ve listened to your friend there, Potter. Obviously got more brains than you.”

He huffed for a moment, thrown off his game. Potter wasn’t use to a girl not swooning over him. “Look, I think that I have a right you know –“

“And I fully to the nth degree disagree with you.” I shoved passed him, heading toward the staircases, when something struck me. I did a one eighty and faced the two boys again. “Would either of you know where Draco is?”

“Why should I care about where that git is-“ Potter started, but I was surprised when Weasley quickly cut him off.

“Probably on break with the rest of the school,”

I looked at him for a moment, puzzled. On break?

“You realize it is December 21st? School’s been out for about a week or so for the holidays,”

I made a small ‘O’ with my mouth and nodded. I wasn’t used to people going home for the holidays – then again, the people I knew never had a home to go to.

I turned again, and headed up toward the hospital wing when another fit took over. These were a lot worse than the other two sets. I tried catching my breath, but it only made things worse. I reached for the banister for support, but missed and fell hard on the stairs. I fell on the edge of one of the steps and there was a crack, followed by tremendous pain in my left side. Panic set in, only intensifying the pain.

“Brittana!” I heard from behind me, but I couldn’t answer.

There were arms on either side of me. I felt someone grab my left arm, drop it, then one holding my right arm. I was lifted but because of being weak and in pain, I blacked out.

~~ Ron’s Point of View ~~

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I replied, frowning at Harry. “What makes it right for you to question her about where she’s been and what not?”

“Because I know her.”

“You don’t know her! You see her once every other day in Creatures just like I do. That doesn’t mean that you know her!”

Harry glared at me, his hands curling into fists.

That’s when we both heard the coughing again. Letting Harry lead we walked around toward the staircases to see what fell. What we saw caught us both off guard.

“Brittana!” Harry called up, racing up to her, me on his tail.

She was about halfway up the first staircase laying at an awkward angle on her side. Harry went to her right and I her left. I grabbed her arm and dropped it almost instantly after what I saw. I don’t know how I missed the mark earlier, but I had a sickening feeling of why she had disappeared.

“Ron, help me!” Harry hissed, trying to pick her up.

I nodded, and with a bit of regret, helped Harry pick her up and run her to the hospital wing. A lot of things that had happened at the beginning of the semester started to make since. Half-way to the wing and I had a plan forming about getting both her and Malfoy out for good.