Shiver

Shiver


“Harry, go floo the Headmaster, now.” Poppy pushed Harry out of the room, Layla’s screams couldn’t be heard having screamed her throat raw by the time she got there.

“But I-“

“Now!” she slammed the door, making Harry turn around and run back to the fireplace to floo the Headmaster.

“Albus Dumbledore.” His head appeared, floating above the flames.

“Yes, Harry?”

“Sir, I need you to come through. Something’s happening to Layla. Madame Pomfrey is already here and she told me to floo you.”

“Stand back, Harry.” His head disappeared only to be replaced with his body moments later.

“Where are they?”

“My room.” Albus swept over to Harry’s door, flinging it open. He stopped at what he saw.

Layla wasn’t thrashing about anymore, but she was floating above the bed. The sheets underneath her were soaking with her blood. But the thing that caught him off guard was the long, black feathered wings that stuck out from her back. The very tips of them slowly dripping with blood.

“Albus, thank Merlin, you’re here. I’ve started to heal what I can, but from what I can tell she came into some type of inheritance. I just can’t quite figure out what she is yet.” He finally stepped into the room, standing on the other side of the bed from Poppy.

“What can I do to help, Poppy?”

“Hold her wing steady, near her body. Harry, I need you to stand where I am and do the same thing. I need to turn her over so I can try and heal her back.” Harry got into position, holding Layla’s silky smooth wing near her body, switching wings with Albus when she was turned. Poppy banished the blood and lowered her down on her stomach. Harry gasped.

The two beautiful wings had ripped open the skin on her back. They were protruding from between her shoulder blades, the skin around the bases of them were red, bloody and swollen. There were a few tears along her back, from the open wound to her lower back and up to just below her neck. The tears toward her lower back were the ones bleeding. The ones near her neck just looked red and very painful.

“Here, Harry. Rub this on the tears near her neck. Albus I want you to help me with the ones lower.” Harry numbly took the salve from Poppy, unscrewing the top and pouring a small amount on his hands.

“Try and be careful, Harry. Her skin is very delicate right now. Too much pressure could cause more damage.” He nodded and slowly and lightly began to rub the salve into her abused skin, relaxing a small amount when the redness started to go away, the skin healing a bit.

“I doubt she’ll wake up soon for us to ask her about this.”

“She wouldn’t know what she is, anyway, Madame Pomfrey.”

“What do you mean, Harry? Surely she would’ve known something.” She waved her wand a few times over a bit of skin that didn’t look like it wanted to be healed.

“Because Layla and I know everything about each other. I'm pretty positive she would have told me this would happen if she knew.”

“Damn right, I would’ve.” The three of them jumped as they heard Layla’s voice. “What the hell happened to me?” her voice was laced with pain, and was very hoarse. Poppy conjured up a glass of water with a straw, handing it to Harry who helped Layla drink it.

“Well, dear, you seem to have come into some type of inheritance and you changed. I don’t even know how you can be awake right now, from all the blood you lost!” Poppy moved to take Albus’ place, brushing Layla’s hair back, away from her face so she could talk to her.

“Can you tell me what hurts, Layla?” she tried to sit up slightly and gasped in pain.

“My back, god, my damn back…” she gripped the sheets near her head with her hands, Albus grabbed one of them when he heard fabric ripping. He looked at her hand with a calculating look. Her fingernails had grown into claws and were very sharp.

“I think I might have some idea what, Layla is, but I’ll have to look into some books to be sure. Do you need anything else from me, Poppy?”

“No, I believe I can handle things from here. And if I do need some help, I'm sure that Harry can help me.” Albus nodded good-bye and flooed back to his office, set on looking through some magical creature books to confirm his thought of what Layla was.

“Now, Layla, I'm going to move one of your wings, so tell me if-“

“What? I have wings?” she turned her head to try and see them, but winced in pain in stead.

“Yes, you do. They were the reason you bleed so much. Now, I'm going to move one of them and I want you to tell me if it hurts.” Layla nodded and whimpered in pain when she laid just one hand on them.

“You mean, it hurts when I touch them?” she nodded, tears leaking out of her eyes as she buried her face into the pillow under her head. “Oh, dear. How am I going to do this? Harry, I want you move over here and slowly move her wing so I can try to look under it and see the damage.” Harry quickly made his way to the other side of the bed and started to gently lift her wing.

Layla started purring.

“Feels good…” she nuzzled the pillow and closed her eyes, Harry’s touch soothing her.

“Albus you had better find out what she is and soon.” Poppy moved to the bag of potions she brought with her, pulling out a vial with a bluish, pinkish liquid. “Harry, I need you to hold her wing up and give me your other hand so I can put this on it. I’ll need to use your hand and apply this to the underside of her wing to heal any damage there is.”

Harry held out his hand, shivering a bit as Poppy spread the cool liquid over his hand, the sound of Layla’s purring got louder as she used Harry’s hand to apply the healing gel.