Neville's Sacrifice

Chapter Fifteen

The room began to spin, strobes of lights popping and flashing before his eyes. As his knees crumpled from beneath him his hands shot out instinctively before him, gaining a tenuous hold upon the cold uncaring steel bars that encircled Ginny's bed. The bed shook beneath his weight as he fell against it, causing the headboard to chatter nosily against the pale wall.

He hung upon the railing, the encircling metal feeling icy upon his hot, sweaty hands. His mind was engulfed by the dark grey looming storm clouds of shock, every thought suffocated in the dense fur-like darkness of it.

The warm smell of oranges and ginger filled his nostrils as soft strong arms enfolded him from behind.

One arm wrapped around his waist, the other holding his arm, Molly pulled him gently upwards, trying to lift him from his half-kneeling position. As she did so, she whispered words of comfort to him, words that he had whispered himself to Ginny just a short time ago.

"Don't worry." She said softly to him. "Everything will be okay. I know it will be. Ginny'll be better soon, and you'll be able to go home and..." here her voice caught in her throat, a captured sob that she dared not let escape. "...and... the baby...the baby'll be okay too...I know it...I'm sure of it."

She tried again to pull Neville's limp body upward, her shoulder and arm muscles burning as she strained to lift him, but it was no use, he was too heavy for her to raise by herself.

A thread of helplessness wound through the grief, almost overwhelming her. Her breathing, half exertion, half sob sounded loud in the stillness of the sterile white room.

Her arms soon grew tired, her back beginning to ache dully from the stooped position that she was in. As she struggled to keep him from the icy tile of the floor, she suddenly felt something poking hard against her leg.

The pain of the sudden jab lightening bolted through her consciousness as she realized what, in the midst of the pain and turmoil, she had forgotten.

Leaning slightly to the side, she shifted Neville's weight over until the lower part of her arm was free. Cautiously, so as to jar Neville as little as possible, she began creeping her hand downwards across the slightly rough fabric of her cloak until her hands clasped around the smooth, comforting solidity of her wand.

Drawing it carefully out of her pocket, she leaned back slightly, the extra strain on her back causing her to wince in pain. The ruby colored wood of the wand gleamed dully in the bright, over-lit room as Molly raised her hand upwards. Slowly but surely she managed to tilt the tip of her wand in Neville's direction.

"Levicorpus." She said. A yellow stream of light shot out of her wand, and surrounded Neville's body like a gothic halo of light.

Instantly the heaviness of Neville's frame lifted from her. Neville dangled in the air like a life-size marionette, his eyes staring blankly, focused inwardly, ignoring the outside world.

Molly levitated him carefully into a nearby purple and burgundy pouffle. He landed with a small pouffling sound. The sudden jolt of landing on the chair seemed to snap him out of his trance-like reverie.

He stared up into Molly's wide eyes and pale face and knew the answer to his question even before he'd asked it.

"Did you...did you know that she was..." he dug his fingers into the sleek softness of the pouffle and forced himself to say the word, the word he didn't want to say because it would make the whole mess just too real "...pregnant? Did you? Did you know?"

Molly's warm russet-colored eyes swelled with tears. She turned away from Neville to where her daughter lay, seemingly lifeless, beneath the stiff white sheets of her hospital bed. Reaching a trembling hand down, she began stroking Ginny's wild mane of chestnut-colored hair.

"No...I had no idea. She hadn't said a word to me about it."

Neville slumped forward dejectedly. "If I'd only known...maybe I could have done something...stopped her from coming to the greenhouse, taken better care of her. I mean, I knew she'd been feeling sick a lot...in the mornings, mostly...but I never thought...after what the doctors said about her not being able to have any children...the thought never crossed my mind that she might be pregnant."

He began crying, hot tears of grief and guilt flowing down his face, chest heaving, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. "I should have done something more. I should have known, somehow. She needed me and I wasn't there for her!"

At the sound of Neville's anguished cries, Molly turned and knelt down beside Neville's pouffle. She leaned forward, her back groaning in protest at the sudden movement, and gathered Neville into her arms.

She held him like a mother would hold a small child, stroking his hair as his body shook against hers.

"Neville...you can't think like that. You can't blame yourself. I know you would have done your best to keep her safe." She crooned gently to him, trying her best to console him.

They stayed there, each taking comfort from the other until the soft clop, clop, clopping of hooves were heard approaching Ginny's door.

The door swung open and a bay colored centaur wearing a white lab coat over his muscular chest entered the room.

Immediately Molly stood up and rushed towards the Healer. Grabbing onto his arm, she asked in a pleading tone. "Is she going to be okay?"

The Healer looked down into Molly's tired, careworn face and replied, "Nothing can be known until I can lay hands upon her. Then we will know the strength of her life star."

The centaur walked nearer Ginny's bed, Molly and Neville racing ahead to move the chairs away to make room for him to examine her.

The Healer stopped at the iron railing of the bed. He clicked his fingers and a large pink and white conch shell appeared. He placed one end against his ear, the other against Ginny's thin chest.

As he listened, a worried frown creased his brow.

Laying the conch shell upon the nightstand so that his hands were free he used them to make small, circular movements almost, but not quite, touching her. As he continued making small circles down her body it began to give off a rich golden glow. His hands circled back up her chest across her throat and the golden light continued until he brought his hands up to her face. The golden light immediately changed to a pale lemon yellow shade, weak and watery compared to the previous golden radiance. When he reached the top of her head, the color turned to a dark angry red shade.

The only sound in the room came from the quill scribbling furiously on the clipboard suspended in mid-air over the bed.

Finally after having circled over her body several times, he stood up, satisfied with what he'd learned.

As soon as they saw he was done a flood of questions erupted.

"She'll be okay, won't she?"

"And the baby...how's the baby doing?"

The Healer turned to face them, his face sorrowful. He replied, "She has good energy here (he took his hands, waving them over Ginny's chest and legs) but here (he laid his hands upon her head) her energy is very weak. Her brain may have been deprived of oxygen for quite awhile before she was found. She may live but be a hollow shell, or she might yet recover. Only time will tell."