I Saw My Lady Weep

Chapter 27: In The Ashes And The Dust...

Her eyelids fluttered open.

The light stabbed in like knives, piercing her skull and making her whimper.

Everything was blurry, and nothing was making sense. She hurt! Why did she hurt? Where was...

"...is unconscious. Pupils were responsive. She's intubated..."

Her eye fluttered closed. The darkness hovered over her like a shroud.

"...pulse is thready and her blood pressure is dropping. I think she's bleeding internall..."

It hurt and she couldn't move there was pressure on her head and on her arms and on her legs and it hurt to breathe and she wanted to cough and she couldn't cough because there was something down her throat and it was making her want to cough but she couldn't cough because there was something down her throat and SHE HURT OH MERLIN SHE HURT SHE HURT SHE HURT...

"...compound fractures in the left tibia and fibula, closed fracture of the left medial humerus..."

And the darkness came out of nowhere and swallowed her.

XxxxxxX

Her eyelids fluttered open. The light wasn't as intense here. All she could see was ceiling. All around her she could hear many people talking all at once and ominous beeping noises and something making a strange WHEEZE-WHEEZE sound.

"...aspirating blood, looks like one of her lungs is punctured. Probably from a rib... have to wait until the X-Rays get back, but I know a crushed ribcage when I..."

She tried to scream but wasn't able to make any sounds. The tube in her throat... she hurt... but there was a strange fizzle in her blood that made things floaty...

A shape leaned over her. "Doctor... I think she's awake..." A small light flashed in her eyes and she blinked.

Another shape leaned over her. "Do we have a name for her yet? Any identification? Damn it!" She felt a hand in hers. "Young lady, I'm Doctor Ramayana..." a male voice on a dark indistinct shape "can you understand me? If you can understand me, can you give my hand a squeeze? Don't try to talk, just give my hand a squeeze."

His voice was a life-raft and she grasped his hand as tightly in hers as she could. The pain caused by the action brought tears to her eyes.

"Thank you, young lady... It's good to know you're still in there. You've been in an accident. You were struck by a lorry and are quite injured, but we're doing everything we can to help. If you understand me, please squeeze my hand again."

She did so, as best she could. She tried to say something, but again couldn't.

"...No, no... Don't try to talk... We have you on a ventilator. It's breathing for you right now." The form pulled away from her. "Tell Doctor Bligh to warm up Surgery Two... we need to get her up there yesterday."

She blinked, trying to clear her eyes of tears.

And the darkness once again swallowed her whole.

XxxxxxX

Voices. They dragged her out of the shadows. The light was dimmer... less hostile... but still not friendly... her vision had cleared. The ceiling had dots all over it. And there were wires and tubes hanging over her head, coming down to somewhere on the bed. The beeping and the wheezing were still there.

She didn't hurt so much... mostly she floated. She tried turning her head, but found it the most difficult thing in the world to do. Someone had put lead in her skull and now it weighed more than the Burrow...

The voices...

A man's voice. "...in for a rocky ride... I hope we plugged up all the internal injuries... I'd hate to have to crack her open again."

She wondered idly who they were talking about. Sounded bad, whoever it was. Just as idly she wondered where Harry was... they were supposed to meet for lunch, and if she didn't get up she wouldn't be able to meet him for lunch...

A different voice. A woman's voice. "The nurse who inventoried her effects said that she was wearing an engagement ring inscribed 'Harry and Ginevra, Always', so I suppose her first name is Ginevra. Still no idea about her last name but at least we know someone will be looking for her."

The realization they were talking about her came as a bit of a shock. She didn't know where she was or why she was here, and didn't want to be here anymore, but she couldn't move. It took all her strength just to move her head but a little.

"Did she just....? I think she's waking up. One second..." a handsome, older man leaned over her face, smiling down on her. "Hi there... I won't ask how you're feeling because I'm betting I have a better idea than you do. Is your name Ginevra?"

She tried to correct him, but the tube down her throat made it impossible for her to speak. She nodded, vaguely, accepting the fact that she'd have to be called by her real name.

"Ginevra, my name is Thomas Bligh. I'm a surgeon. Today, I'm your surgeon. Do you know where you are?"

Rather automatically, her brow furrowed, then immediately un-furrowed. It hurt too much to keep it that way. She tried shaking her head, but all she really accomplished was a slight wiggle.

"I'm guessing that means no... you're at Whittington Hospital, in the Critical Care ward. Has someone told you yet that you were in an accident?"

She thought back... there was a vague memory of something, but... it was gone. She wiggled again.

"Ginevra, you were struck by a lorry while crossing the street and were gravely injured. I'll tell you more about it later, because right now I need you to rest. It is very important that you just rest and let your body heal. We're going to try and find your family and let them know what happened to you. Do you understand?"

She nodded just enough for it to be detectable.

"Thank you, Ginevra. Now, I've got you on a pretty serious painkiller right now, so you're not going to be in the mood to do much more than rest. That's all I want you to do, okay? Just rest. Someone will come by later on and check on you."

The doctor withdrew, leaving her to stare at the ceiling again. Behind her, the wheeze-wheezes continued, as did the beeping. Resting sounded good. Hell of a thing, though, getting hit by a truck... Hermione said it would happen if she didn't start looking where she was going...

XxxxxxX

The pain came back, seeking bloody vengeance. Her eyes barely opened. Something was grinding against something else inside and she could barely breathe... the air was coming in, she could feel it... but it wasn't helping somehow.

Voices... growing more and more distant by the second...

"... crash... ing right fuc... surg... need... open... all... it..."

Involuntarily her chest convulsed, and something warm and wet dribbled down her chin and out of her nose.

This time it wasn't dark... it was white...

XxxxxxX

Ginny stood and stretched, enjoying the sunshine. It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining brightly in a perfectly blue afternoon sky. The grass felt good beneath her bare feet and for a moment she simply stood there, making little fists with her toes.

She smiled as she looked around. The Burrow always made her smile. Ginny knew that it wasn't perfect, but it was the inherent imperfection of the place that made it home. The family didn't care... there was always room and love for everyone.

She threw her arms out wide and spun in place for a moment, just from the sheer joy of the day. Then she turned toward the garden gate. All she needed to do now was walk up the path toward the village.

"Amazing... for me it was the Burrow as well." Fred was standing on the far side of the gate, leaning on it. "I wonder if the rest of the family will come here first. Hello, Ginny... when I found out someone was coming, I have to admit I never expected that it would be you. Mum, maybe, or Dad... maybe even George if he did something tragic and stupid... but that's all right."

"Fred! Oh, Fred! It's so good to see you again! Are you going to walk with me to the village?" Ginny gave her older brother a kiss on the cheek. "I've got so much to tell you! I got engaged!"

"I heard that somewhere. To Harry, no less! I never knew he had it in him." Fred returned the hug with a smile. "As for the walk... I've got good news and bad news... which would you want first?"

"Oh, the good news, definitely!" Ginny kept a hand around Fred's waist. This really was too good a day, and for some reason all she felt was love and affection for everyone, especially her older brother.

"All right, then, the good news first." Fred took a deep breath. "Ginny, the good news is that you're going to have a long and relatively happy life. There will be hard times, of course, but you're going to come through them all the stronger. Remember that no matter what happens Harry truly loves you. At one point in your life you're going to think that it is all over and that Harry hates you, but if you ask him to forgive you he's going to take you back and you'll rebuild. Your children and grand-children are going to make you so proud, Ginny... it's going to be wonderful."

"Thanks, Fred... it's good to know that I'll have a happy life," Ginny said. "And of course Harry will take me back... he's Harry! We love each other." She was confused for a moment. "Wait... take me back from what?"

Fred laughed. "It doesn't matter, Ginny, because you're not going to remember anything specific... just that you had a wonderful dream about your older brother."

"Oh. That's all right, then, I suppose." Ginny was quiet for a moment. "So what's the bad news?"

Fred hugged her, and for the first time his mood seemed to wilt like an old flower. "I can't walk to the village with you, because you're not walking to the village. You're going back, soon."

"What? No... I have to go to the village..." Ginny began crying.

"Muggle doctors are actually better than Healers in one area, Ginny... You see, they don't give up just because your heart stops. They try and get your heart going again, and for the most part, they're really, really good at it. Sometimes it doesn't work, but often it does."

"I don't understand, Fred. What are you talking about?" Ginny was mystified.

"I know you don't understand, Ginny. But that's okay. Just know that I love you and I'll see you later. Much later. Tell everyone I said I love them, okay?" Fred pulled back from her, and she could see that he was crying.

"Fred?" For the first time, there was fear. "Fred, what if I don't want..."

There was a white flash...

XxxxxxX

She opened her eyes very slowly, and after a few moments the ceiling swam into clear view. The dots were back, just floating up there on the ceiling. Little tiny dots. A man was standing next to her bed with a clipboard. He was doing something to a big machine that was occasionally beeping. The man would fiddle, then write on the clipboard, then fiddle, then write. His face was hidden by a white paper mask.

There was a bright flare of light just above her bed, and behind the man, and she felt something strike the very light sheet she was covered in. The man had caught the light's reflection and whirled around. He seemed to study her and her bed...

"Huh. What's that doing here?" She felt the man pick something from the blanket above her abdomen. He held it closer to his face to get a better look. "Harry and Ginevra, Always... I thought they had this in safe storage. Oh well..." The man tossed the ring into the air and caught it. "Must be worth a couple of hundred... finders keepers."

She tried to make some noise to attract some attention to stop the man who was walking away with her ring, it was hers... but she couldn't do much more than lay there and make a strange gurgle. The man walked away from her bed, whistling.

Less than a minute later, there was a flare of light, and her ring landed on the sheets above her abdomen. She couldn't help but smile at that.

Without knowing she did, she drifted off to sleep...

XxxxxxX

As she had for a while, she came awake slowly. The lights had been dimmed and she got the impression that it was the middle of the night. She could hear someone shuffling around, out of sight. If it hadn't been for the pain-killers sizzling through her blood, she would have been terrified, she knew. Her entire body felt... distant... for some reason, and it was all bearable.

It occurred to her that she had something to say to people, but she had forgotten the message already. And she remembered talking to someone, but who exactly... she couldn't remember that either. Fred maybe... it was a dream after all.

Her eyes went wide as a dark form loomed over her. It had messy hair, and glasses.

"Ginny... ? Ginny! I don't know if you can... can hear me... I don't know if you're even still in there... it's Harry... I've been looking for you all day, and... I'm sorry it took me so long to find you... It didn't occur to me to contact the Muggle police... I am so sorry... oh, Ginny, look what's been done to you... oh, baby... I love you, Ginny... please... I'm here... I'm here for you, baby..."

He took her hand, and she immediately gave it a squeeze. She knew, almost instinctively, that he needed the reassurance.

"Ginny? Did you just... Ginny?" She gave his hand another squeeze. "Oh, Thank God! Ginny... I love you... I'm going to get you out of here and to some real Healers, Ginny... You're going to be... You're doing just..." He kept interrupting himself. She hated when he did that.

She gave his hand one more squeeze and drifted back to sleep.