The Outcasts Of Hogwarts

Chapter 31 The Search

Steffan was very grateful when Pachua came to deliver him a message the next morning before he'd even made it into the Great Hall for breakfast. He had spent a large portion of the night thinking about Amaris and how she was, which was strange because he had complete faith in Kim and Matt's potion.

To whichever of you Pachua finds first,
I'm alive! And somehow nothing's broken. Whoever the idea was to put a sedative in that dose and not tell me, Steffan, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I successfully made it into bed before it kicked in. Though I have to say, it did make the whole thing easier. Though I'm still very tired so probably won't make it to breakfast. I drank the other vial when I woke up, it seems to be working. I'll come and meet you before lunch, hopefully. 
Thanks for everything.

Steffan smiled, a weight lifting off his chest, she was making jokes so she couldn't be in too serious a condition. He scratched Pachua under the beak and watched the occamy fly away. He thought for a moment at how useful it would be for all of them to have one for communicating around the castle. 

Steffan was in the library when the others joined him, their worried expressions turning to relief when he handed them the letter. Taking the moment when they were reading, Steffan made a final note in his notebook and tidied what he'd been doing away. He had more that he wanted to do and discuss but he knew that mentioning his theories about Sirius Black at a time like this would be considered 'heartless', as Kim always put it. Even though Amaris had told them that she was fine and there was nothing else they could do but wait anyway.

Matt snickered, "ooh, she knew the sedative was your idea."

"I still think we should have told her about that," Kim added.

"You had the perfect opportunity to do so," Steffan said. 

"I think you just like it when you're the only one who has a clue what's going on." Matt said, with a grin, "and you'll come up with any reason to justify it."

"You think she would have been fine with willingly knocking herself out?" Steffan retorted.

"I never said they weren't accurate reasons," Matt said.

"I don't know," Kim said, "She was pretty eager to have it. She drank it practically the moment I put it in her hand."

Steffan considered this, "Well, that is progress at least."

When Amaris arrived, she looked better than expected and worse than her letter had suggested. Her every movement was stiff and she was pale but at least she could walk and was wearing her clothes correctly. 

She smiled broadly as if it was the best day of her life. They helped her into a chair and she stretched out. "Although some warning would have been nice," she said, shooting a death glare at Steffan, who couldn't help smirking in response, "knocking me out was the best thing you could have done. My throat doesn't hurt, my eyes don't hurt. That might be because of the painkiller but-" she shrugged, "having it all pass by in an instant is so much better."

"Have you never tried to go unconscious for it before?" Kim asked.

"How?" Amaris replied, "without someone else to cast a spell, the only way to do that would be with a potion. And before you guys, that wasn't really an option."

"I honestly don't understand how you've survived being conscious through it," Matt said, with both concern and admiration.

"I usually pass out at some point," Amaris said as if it was of no concern. She smiled grimly at their horrified expressions. "At least it's not as bad as that first time when I split my head open almost immediately and woke up the next day with several broken bones and a collapsed lung."