Back to Ivory's POV

"Do you think she's ever going to wake up?"

"She will eventually, Remus."

"But what if she doesn't? What if she doesn't wake up, Sirius? Then what?"

"She will."

I lay listening with my eyes shut, feeling very weak. My brain seemed to be working in slow motion, so it took me a while to register what I was hearing.

Sirius... Remus... wake up... wait, I'm alive?

I forced my mind to work quicker, trying to think of what had happened.

Deep cuts... pain... blurry vision... yelling... flashing lights... blackness...

The first three things had been from Father punishing me, and the last one was from going unconscious, I knew that much. As for the lights... maybe they'd been spells?

Yelling... Sirius... Remus... spells... wake up... rescued?

There was silence for a few minutes, then-

"Remus, when did you last eat?"

"Like I told you about ten minutes ago, I ate yesterday."

"Moony..."

Someone, who I presumed was Lupin, gave a resigned sigh. "Fine, I haven't eaten for four or five days."

"Remus, you need to eat."

"I can't, Sirius. It's because of me that Ivory's—"

"It's not your fault. And anyway, starving yourself isn't going to help at all."

Lupin is blaming himself for this. He's not eating.

These thoughts sent a wave of guilt through me. Lupin was starving himself because I wasn't waking up. He was starving himself because of something he couldn't have prevented, but I probably could.

Need to wake up properly. Now.

I tried to open my eyes, but they felt as heavy as lead. On top of this, I was now becoming faintly aware of a strange sensation in the rest of my body, which felt like some sort of fuzzy electric shock. Irritated with just how helpless I was right now, I clenched my hand into a fist — at least, I tried to. The only thing that happened was my fingers twitching. All I could do was listen, and hope that I'd soon regain control over my body.

"Moony, you need to eat something."

"I can't."

"Please, Remus. Even if it's just some chocolate..."

"I can't, Sirius."

I could feel the weird fuzzy feeling starting to dispel slightly now, and I tried to move my hand. My heart practically leapt out of my chest when it worked.

"What about chocolate ice cream?"

"I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat," I muttered, finally opening my eyes. There was an audible hitch of breath, and both Lupin and Sirius turned to look at me. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the sudden wave of sickness and pain that threatened to overwhelm me. The room we was in looked a little like the Hogwarts hospital wing, though mine was the only bed, and there were a few more chairs than at Hogwarts.

"Ivory," Lupin breathed, a look of relief washing over his face. However, this was soon replaced by guilt, and, in a quiet voice, he said, "I'm sorry, Ivory. I should've done something to stop—"

"There was nothing you could do," I said, a tiny tremble in my voice as I forced myself to fight through the pain I was feeling. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm immortal or something, with the amount of times I should've died but haven't." I looked around the room again, trying to figure out where I was.

"But I knew," he said quietly. "I'd read the letter Bellatrix sent you. I should've—"

"There was nothing you could do," I repeated. Then, in an attempt to stop him thinking about it, I said, "Where are we?"

"St Mungo's," Sirius said. "In a secure ward, so that no Death Eaters can get to you."

"Well, I can see their security is incredible, they've only let one wanted criminal in so far." I rolled my eyes, forcing myself not to wince as my head started pounding.

"Remus convinced them that I was a very well-trained dog."

I thought of how that might've happened, and despite everything, a small smile crept onto my face. The feeling was a somewhat foreign one, as I hadn't smiled properly for at least a couple of weeks, plus however long I was out for.

"Like I said, great security." There was a silence, then I added, "How did I get here, anyway?"

Lupin and Sirius glanced at each other, and I could tell they were having a silent conversation with their small head and eye movements. I could hear almost all of what Lupin was trying to communicate to Sirius; his thoughts were so easily readable that I didn't even have to try to hear them. They forced themselves into my mind, taking advantage of my unusually weak occlumency defences, and spilled all of their secrets in a way that almost made me cry out in pain.

Then, Sirius gave a firm nod, and Lupin said, "We went to Malfoy Manor with a few others to get you."

"'Others' meaning 'the other people in the same secret organisation as you whose sole purpose is to defeat my father'?" I asked innocently.

"What — how did you—"

"Magic."

"No, really," Sirius said, sounding more than a little puzzled. "How did you know?"

"Magic," I repeated. "Specifically, legilimency."

Lupin frowned. "You know, you really shouldn't—"

"Look into people's minds, because it's an invasion of their privacy, and none of my business," I finished, my head now feeling like it was going to split open as more and more thoughts crammed themselves into my mind. "I know. But I wasn't. Sometimes I just hear people's thoughts without trying, mostly when—" I stopped suddenly, a tiny frown appearing on my face.

"When...?" Sirius prompted me.

"When they're at their most vulnerable," I muttered, shifting uncomfortably.

There was silence for a couple of seconds, then I winced, and looked at Lupin. "I don't know how many more times I'm going to be able to have your thoughts about how hungry you are crammed into my head before I scream, sir. You need to eat." Then, not wanting to seem like I was being disrespectful, I added another, "Sir."

A small smile twitched at the corners of Lupin's mouth. "Call me Remus," he said softly, standing up. "I'll tell the Healers you're awake, and then I'll go and eat something." He glanced at Sirius, and mumbled, "Siri, can you come with me?"

I frowned as a new wave of his thoughts hit me.

"You're scared of hospitals?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

Lupin — no, Remus — gave a slight start. "Ivory, please don't read my mind."

"I'm sorry, sir," I said quietly, bowing my head and bracing myself for a punishment. "I'm trying my hardest not to hear."

There was a sigh, and I cautiously looked back up.

"It's not your fault," he said. "And you don't need to call me sir, Ivory. Just Remus is fine."

"Yes, sir — uh — Remus."

For just a moment, a flicker of a smile showed on his face, but then it was gone again, and he turned to Sirius.

"We'll be back as soon as possible," Sirius said. He smiled at me, then turned into his black dog form, and followed Remus out the room.

I leaned back into the pile of pillows behind me, still fighting against the pain, and now also trying to make sense of my confused thoughts.

Why did they go and rescue me? It's not like I'm important to them, especially not to Remus. But then, why was he so vulnerable that I could hear his thoughts so loudly? And why did he stay in St Mungo's when he's scared of hospitals? Could he — no.

I shook my head slightly, trying to rid it of the ridiculous thought.

After all, there was no reason for him to care about me in the slightest.