Call me Squib

Scarred

Chapter Twenty-One: Scarred

***Embry's POV***

"Will she be okay?" I heard a hushed voice ask someone. The voice was familiar but I couldn't place it since everything was like a fog to me as pain pulsed through my body. I kept my eyes closed as everything ran through my mind. I'd been with Lupin, Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione and we were bringing back some man named Peter to the castle. I'd been hurt by Snape and then when Lupin changed I'd been hurt again since I didn't move away from him.

"She'll be okay," a woman assured the first voice. "I still don't understand why those scars won't heal."

"Do they know what happened yet?" The first voice asked.

"Sirius Black." That was all the woman said before I heard someone walking away and felt someone squeeze my hand.

"Please wake up Em," the voice pleaded with me and that's when it clicked. It was Cedric talking to me, he was the one so concerned about me. I forced my eyes open slowly, trying to ignore the pain the simple action caused. Sure enough I found myself looking up at Cedric's warm eyes that seemed to be filled with relief and joy at seeing mine open.

"You're awake," he smiled as he gave my hand another squeeze.

"What happened? Where am I?" I asked as I tried to look around but was only greeted with pain.

"You're in the hospital wing," he informed me. "They brought you here after you were attacked by something. They're all saying it was Black."

"No," I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath. "What about the others?"

"Harry and Hermione were fine after some chocolate," he informed me and I couldn't help but feel confused. What would chocolate do to help them? "Ron's leg is doing better too, he was released a little bit ago. They were all rather worried about you though. So was I."

"Miss Dobbs, I'm glad to see you awake." I heard Miss Pomfrey's voice before I saw her. She was in a white dress like always with her hair up in a tight bun. "How bad is your pain?"

"It only hurts when I talk and blink." I forced myself up into a sitting position. "When will I be able to go?"

"Just let me give you something for the pain and you'll be able to go," she hurried off towards her office as something popped into my head.

"What did she mean earlier by scars?" I looked back at Cedric to see him rubbing his thumb along the back of my hand. He looked up at my question though with a sad smile before grabbing a mirror off the side table. I looked at my reflection in it. The right side of my face was fine but the left wasn't as lucky. Running from my ear to my nose were long jagged scars from where Lupin had cut me with his claws. One of them went over my eyes which explained the pain in opening them before. I looked pretty ugly with them.

"Still just as beautiful," Cedric whispered as he leaned over and kissed me lightly on my scarred cheek. I just gave a small smile, unable to take my eyes off of my reflection.

"I'm afraid those'll be there forever." Pomfrey almost apologized as she returned with a milky blue potion in hand. "Drink this, it'll help with your pain."

"Thanks," I gave a small nod before downing the potion in one bitter gulp. It tasted horrible but I shook it away as Cedric helped me to my feet and wrapped an arm around me. We walked out of the hospital wing without hesitation and headed off in the direction of the Great Hall. "So how long was I out?"

"Three days," he informed me. "You haven't missed much though. Just some boring lessons."

"I should probably go see Professor Lupin about when we'll have our next lesson," I thought aloud as we reached the doors to the hall.

"After you eat," he pulled me into the Great Hall and almost immediately it went eerie quiet as everyone's eyes landed on me, or should I say my scars. Cedric didn't pay attention to it though as he led me over to the Gryffindor table and we sat down across from Ginny and her friend Dean.

"Lu!" A smile broke out across her face as she dropped her fork. "I'm so glad that you're awake! How are you feeling?"

"Good," I shrugged as I picked a roll off of a platter and started to pull it apart on the plate in front of me. "I heard that you all were pretty worried?"

"Of course we were!" She looked at me as if I were stupid. "You're like a sister to me! The same goes for Ron, Fred, and George!"

"I feel just the same." I couldn't help but give her a small smile.

****

"Lupin?" I stood in the doorway of his office and just watched him. He was sitting at his desk with his back to me but over his shoulder I could see that he was looking at a photo in his hands. It wasn't the same one that I'd stolen from him earlier in the year. This one was of three men, two women one of which was pregnant, and a little baby girl. I could easily pick out myself, Lupin, and Sirius in the photo but the rest were strangers to me, though one did look like an older Harry. At my voice his head snapped up and he turned to look at me, grief in his eyes when they landed on the left side of my face.

"Embry, I'm so sorry." He apologized as his gaze dropped to the floor.

"It isn't your fault," I tried to make him feel better and I walked over and sat in the chair across his desk from him. "I should have ran when Hermione and the others warned me to. I was stupid to walk towards you, I wasn't thinking. This is my fault not yours."

"Why did you walk towards me?" I could see his brows were furrowed in obvious confusion.

"I'm not sure..." I lied to him. I knew why I'd done what I'd done but I didn't want to admit it to anyone. "I guess I just thought that I could try to help you. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?"

"I assumed you would," he gave me a smile that didn't reach his tired eyes. "What do you wish to know?"

"Who am I?"