THE TALE OF THE TWO BROTHERS
Tom awoke in the Hospital Wing. He opened his eyes and realized it was day. Sunlight was streaming into the ward from the open window yet it had not been able to penetrate the curtains around his bed.
He lay underneath a plain white sheet. He tried to remove it but realized he was too weak to do so. He could hardly move a muscle and he felt cold and shivery. What had happened to him? Why was he here?
"Thank goodness, you are awake." Madam Brown parted the curtains around his bed and walked in carrying a flask full of a muddy Brown potion. "I was getting worried. You ought to have awoken in a couple of hours at the most."
"You alright?" Duds who had just entered, had made straight for his bed and seen him awake.
He wanted to answer but realized he didn't even have enough strength to do so. He nodded but retreated as Madam Brown propped him up by the pillows and shoved the potion under his nose to drink.
"There it goes again." Madam Brown fumed. "Are you volunteering?" She turned to Duds who smiled and took the flask from her. "Thank you."
"You have to take it." Duds turned to him seriously.
Tom looked at the little flask anxiously. He hated drinking awful potions but Duds seemed right. He couldn't talk, he was too weak and he couldn't even remember what had happened to land him here. He knew he would have to drink the awful thing. He nodded. Duds who knew Tom wouldn't even be able to hold the flask fed him the potion. Although, it was horrible Tom gulped it down in one go.
Within minutes he felt strength returning to his limbs. He reached out for his wand at his bedside table, conjured out a glass filled it up with water and drank. The moment his throat cleared he felt more awake than before.
"How are you feeling, now?" Duds asked him.
"I feel better." He replied sitting up properly. "I need to freshen up."
Duds nodded standing up allowing him to leave for the rest room.
10 minutes later Tom stood in front of the mirror above his wash basin. He washed his face and wiped it off feeling all weariness leaving him but as he looked at his reflection, as if from long ago, a distant memory found him. He knew that face and he wasn't the only one to whom it belonged. Everything that had happened on the eve of Halloween came rushing back at him. He pulled open his shirt and to his relieve there was no sign of a curse. He had been healed but what had Harry told Madam Brown and Duds?
He remembered what he had blurted out in the heat of the moment to Harry. Harry would want to know everything and now he felt Harry deserved to know. He had been attacked inside Hogwarts, he wouldn't let it go anyways.
He knew he would have to get better to be able to face whatever lay ahead of him. He took a shower and felt coming back to life the moment he had. He summoned a laundered pair of Jeans and a light blue shirt from his room, adorned it, and combed his hair. By the time he was back in the Hospital Wing he looked more like a visitor than a patient. Duds had left.
"Can I leave?" He asked knocking on Madam Brown's little office inside the ward.
"You have already changed, dear." She looked like didn't approve of him getting up and about so early but she looked relieved that he was fine. "Yes, you can and if you see Harry tell him Seth and Malcolm had wanted to see him. They haven't left the Wing yet so Harry would need to visit them."
"Why are Seth and Malcolm here?"
"Don't you know? Harry told me whoever attacked you last night, caught them too. Do you remember who it was?" She asked.
Tom stared at her. Harry had covered up for him. But he was shocked to learn of Seth and Malcolm. "No, I think they obliviated my memory. I don't remember anything about the attack."
She nodded sorrowfully. "Yes, Harry suggested that might be the case. If you ask me I believe dark times have come back to haunt us. First, the Longbottoms were killed, then Mayweather now you and our librarians were attacked in these very Halls. God only knows what is going on but we had all be best on out highest guard."
Tom who hadn't missed that fact that Madam Brown knew about Andrea's demise couldn't help asking her. "Madam brown, how do you know Andrea's dead? She went missing."
"Oh dear, I am sorry. I didn't realize. You have been in here since last night, you wouldn't know. The news came out in the Prophet today. The Ministry officials found her body. Her family is holding the funeral in a couple of hours. All our staff shall be leaving for it. Students have been given an off for the second half of the day."
He nodded. "Can I see Seth and Malcolm?" He asked her.
She looked at him a moment. She knew they were not very kind to him, she didn't want them to jump him again but she had no reason to stop him either. "Yes." She pointed towards their curtained beds. "There they are."
Tom was utterly shocked to find out that they had been attacked but who had attacked them?
"Tom." Duds had returned. He called out to Tom before he could see either of them. "Harry wants to see you before everyone leaves for Andrea's funeral." He stopped. "Can you believe it? Only a couple of months after Neville and Hannah, we've lost another one of our own." He sniffed stifling a sob as Tom's eyes watered too.
When he had first discovered her death anger had got hold of him. Now, it was turning to grief again. Duds was right. They had only just lost Neville and Hannah and now Andrea had left them too. Hers and Neville's and Hannah's deaths were on his conscience. He should have left this place the moment he had discovered who he was.
He nodded to Duds and left for Harry's office.
Tum Se Tum Tak
Ganesh Kartikeya
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