Comfort
By:
Griselda
Disclaimer: This whole world belongs to
J.K. Rowling
With her permission, I used Jestana's story
'Moody, Alastor
Moody I: Hogwarts Years' as
background.
Thank you for letting me use it.
~*~
She had to fight down her own tears as
she looked in the worried-filled eyes of her friends.
"Are they dead…?" Albus asked, a metallic note in his usual so warm voice.
Poppy shook her head. How could she find
the words to tell them that the situation was even worse?
"They are not dead…", she
began softly. "But they both took that curse so many times that they… have
lost their minds", she drew a shaking breath before she could bring
herself to continue. "They don't know who they are any more… both of them.
They don't remember anything".
"And there is nothing that can be
done about it?" Minerva asked, her eyes wide with horror.
She shook her head sadly. " Not at this moment, no".
"She was laughing…
, she had created so much pain and yet she was laughing when we found
her… that Bellatrix Lestrange…",
young Kingsley Shacklebolt, an Auror
in training whispered, tears rolling down over his cheeks.
But Poppy had eyes for her friend only. His face, so full of scars, his magical eye, moving irregularly,
which showed that he still wasn't used to it.
For a moment their eyes locked and in
his normal, brown eye, she could see a sea of pain, agony, anger and sadness.
Then he turned around and walked away,
his wooden leg creating a hollow sound in the otherwise silent corridor.
"I have to go back", she said
quietly. Leaving her friends, who clung at each other, seeking comfort, behind
her she entered the treatment room.
A single tear slide down her cheek as she looked into the empty, lifeless eyes
of those wonderful people.
After an hour, she was finally done. Frank
and Alice were brought to a special ward in St. Mungo's.
Only Frank had woken and his incoherent mumbles and cries tore at her heart.
She wasn't surprised to find Albus and Minerva in the waiting room, talking softly with
each other.
"Did Alastor
come back?" she asked them.
Albus shook his head. "No…,
well he did shortly after you went back in. But it was only to say that he was
returning to the Ministry… I think he needs to be alone now.
"You both should go home as
well", she told them, "It's already past
midnight".
They hugged her goodbye and while she
watched the leaving she couldn't help but feeling that Albus
was wrong. The last thing Alastor needed right now
was to be on his own. Making her decision, she went back in her office and
grabbed her cloak. Pulling it on over her healer's uniform she took a handful
of Floo Power and throw it in the flames. "The Ministry of Magic".
When she stepped out of the fireplace,
the halls were deserted. A blue-robed wizard hurried towards her. "Please
miss, the Ministry is closed…".
"I know Archillus", she answered. "I'm
only here to see Alastor Moody".
"But… but it's passed midnight…", the wizard sputtered.
She fixed him an angry glare. "Have
you any idea what has happened this night?"
Archillus paled. "Oh… right, of course…",
he stammered. "He's upstairs, in his office".
"Thank you", she answered,
heading for the stairs. Once she reached Auror's
Headquarters she heard a loud noise coming from Alastor's
office.
She gasped in shock as she pushed the
door open. He was standing in the middle of his office, facing the wall. There
was a blue ink strain on the wall and shattered glass on the floor. His face
was consorted with pain and anger.
Taking a step in his office she spoke
his name softly. He turned around quickly, dropping what he was holding.
"Poppy…",
his voice was raw.
Crossing the distance between them, she
wrapped her arms around him and felt his arms slid around her waist. He was
shaking and she hugged him even closer.
"I should have prevented
this", he muttered in her hair.
It was as she expected, he was blaming himself. She
had seen the guilt in his eyes earlier in St. Mungo's.
It was part of who he was. Or rather, who he had become. A lesson he had learned
at an early age. Every action had it's consequence. And
most of the time it was a negative one. He was always responsible. Every single
one of his actions had been criticised, and few could pass the test.
What ever happened, it was always a
result of his doing.
She pulled back a little so that she
could look in his face. His face, so filled with
barely healed scars. Caused by the many burns, cuts and wounds. She knew the
burns had been the worst for him. Her eyes darkened as she remembered the pain
he had suffered because of it. "You are not to blame for
this, Alastor", her
voice was determined
He could have known she would come. She
was always there to comfort him, to ease his pain, whether physical or
emotional. During those horrible weeks in the hospital, six months ago, when so
much pain had consumed him, her voice and soft, gentle touches had been the
only thing that made it bearable.
She had held him when he'd writhed in
agony because of the pain in a limb he no longer had.
"Phantom pain", she had explained
to him, tears in her own eyes. "It will pass". She had been his
lifesaver. In so many ways.
Reluctantly letting go of her, he ran
his hand through his hair. "They had a kid. He's only one year old".
"I know", she nodded sadly.
"But he will be taken care of".
"It's just such a terrible waste…
they were good people… and now they're gone…"
"We don't know that", she
answered. "There's nothing we can do for them now, but who knows…, in a few years… We have to keep hoping. And you must
not blame yourself. You can't control everything. Bellatrix
Lestrange put them under that curse, she is to blame,
not you..."
He sighed. "I know it…, rationally, I do. I just…"
"You don't believe it yet", she finished for him.
"Exactly", he nodded.
"Well", she said, smiling a
little, "you will eventually, for I will tell you over and over again,
until you believe".
He returned her smile, marvelling at the
fact that she had managed to make him feel a bit better once again.
She studied his face closely, a frown
appearing on her face. "You need to get some rest. You must be
exhausted".
"I will", he promised her,
"but only if you go home and rest too. You must be pretty tired too".
"I am", she confessed,
"and I can't wait to be in bed. Take care of yourself, Alastor".
"You too", he answered.
He watched her leaving, her hand already
at the door handle. "Poppy…"
He wanted to tell her. He longed to take
her in his arms and hold her. He wanted to say 'I love you', and hear her say
it back to him.
But the risk was too high. He couldn't lose
her, his friend, his confidant, his soul mate.
"Thank you".
She smiled that wonderful smile, the one he wished that was just for him.
"You're welcome".
Fin