The Name in Red **COMPLETE**

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The Name in Red.

Chapter 2: Found.
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There was a bright, white light shining down upon her. Her eyes, barely open and clouded with pain, soaked it in. It stung them harshly. She could see bits of it through the wet hair covering her face, but could make out nothing more than this mysterious light. She was too weak and too injured to move or make any sound. This is it, she thought. I must be dead. Is this the so-called light that I'm supposed to move toward?

Her thoughts quieted when the light swept off of her and the darkness of the night closed around her once again. She heard nothing but her own faint heartbeat and the heavy rain. This darkness was only momentary. Barely seconds later, she could see the light once more. This time, the light was accompanied by the sound of footsteps on the wet stone. It was then that she knew she was still alive, though how alive she may or may not be, she did not care to think about. She also realized that she was not alone. Unable to move even if she had so desired, she remained completely still and continued to listen for more sound. Fear coursed through her veins. She was certain that the nightmares had caught up with her once again and would now drag her away while she was only inches from being saved. After a few more moments of frightened contemplation, she realized that the footsteps she had heard on the stone did not sound nearly heavy enough to have belonged to the huge monsters that had chased her here. Something else was there.

She ridiculously began to imagine what new kind of monster was about to attack her. She then felt an exceedingly gentle touch which drove all these thoughts from her mind. Something, presumably a person's arm, snaked its way under her torso. Another arm then came into contact with her opposite side, rolling her over toward this person. She was then carefully scooped into this person's arms. Her head lolled back against a flat, firm chest as she was lifted. Through her now-closed eyelids, she could see the strange white light once again, shining brightly just above her. She was too weak even to groan in pain as this person began a hurried walk, each step sending waves of agony radiating through her body. From what little she could sense, she could tell that she was now indoors. The merciless rain had stopped beating down on her. The wind of the storm had faded away. All was silent except for her savior's loudly echoing footsteps.

An intense feeling of relief washed over her. She had been found. Though where she was, and who exactly had found her, remained as much of a mystery to her as everything else that had inexplicably happened this night. Determined to discover the identity of her savior, she forced her eyelids open a small way and gazed up into their face; she could barely see the pale face of a man with a long nose and lank black hair. He seemed to be holding some sort of strange, thin flashlight between his teeth. This was the source of the white light she had seen. There was a large scar on the right side of his neck, as if he had been bitten by something sizeable. The light of the strange flashlight also illuminated the man's deep, black eyes. With a shock, she saw that they were gazing back down into her own.

Something within the recesses of these black eyes called to her. It soothed her in some strange way. She found that, somehow, she was no longer afraid. Suddenly very comfortable in this person's arms, she began to fade away from the conscious world once again.

"I've got you,"

The soft, deep, slightly-muffled voice was the last thing she was aware of.


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There were voices swimming in her head. All around her. They were growing steadily clearer. She could see warm, soft light through her eyelids. As she slowly became more aware, she realized that she was no longer lying on harsh stone, or being carried in the strong arms of her savior. She felt as if she were in a warm, soft bed in some very welcoming place. The man who had carried her from the steps must have brought her here. Keeping her eyes closed, she strained to hear more sound. The voices picked up again, and they were very clear now. She could now tell what they were saying. Deciding it was safest to remain silent and still, she continued to feign unconsciousness, intent on listening to the people that were talking around her.

"...cannot tell," a female voice said. "In the meantime I managed to patch her up, mostly. She suffered many cuts and bruises, as well as a few broken ribs. Nothing a few simple spells couldn't fix, and some additional potions should have her completely on the mend. She did lose a lot of blood. The worst damage was done by this."

There was a small gasp of astonishment.

"You cannot be serious," a different, higher female voice exclaimed. This voice carried a Scottish accent.

"I'm afraid so," the first female voice continued. "We pulled it from her right shoulder."

"What can this mean?" the Scottish-accented voice continued. She sounded astonished.

"It is obvious," stated a deep, silky male voice. "She must have been attacked by the Centaurs."

"But surely they would not have attacked an innocent young girl?" the Scottish-accented voice asked.

"Apparently they must not have thought she was so innocent," the male voice followed sardonically.

"What can this mean?" the first female voice asked.

"There is no way of knowing," said the male voice flatly. "The fact that she was able to escape Centaurs bent on attacking her is a miracle in itself. She is lucky I came upon her when I did. Had it been much longer, she could have bled to death on the school's doorstep. The Prophet would have had a field day," he drawled.

"You don't recognize her then, Minerva?" the other female voice asked, dismissing the man's sarcastic comment.

"I'm afraid not, Poppy," replied Minerva sadly. Hers was the voice that carried the Scottish accent. The other two, so far, sounded British. "There is no clue as to her identity, then? Nothing to identify her by? Was she not carrying a wand?"

"We searched her person while healing her, and I returned to personally search the castle steps where I first found her while I was finishing my rounds," the male voice supplied. "There was no sign of a wand there. It appears she was not carrying one, if she ever had one in the first place."

There was a short pause.

"She looks like a Muggle," the male voice explained, sounding impatient.

"Severus, you know as well as I that a Muggle would not have been able see the castle. It would have appeared as nothing more than a ruin to her," Minerva replied, she too sounding impatient. "She would not have been able to approach it, let alone come right up to the door and knock on it. She is not a Muggle."

"Perhaps the charms and wards have failed over the years," replied Severus.

"The charms and wards are as strong as ever," quickly replied Minerva. "She must have simply lost her wand while fleeing from the Centaurs. Perhaps it was even broken. I would like to meet the witch or wizard who keeps a cool head in a situation like that."

There was another, longer pause.

"It looks as if we will have to wait until she wakes to ask her who she is, and find out what happened to her," said Minerva.

"Allow me," stated Severus.

There was some stirring. The girl lying on the bed quickly grew nervous about what was going to happen next. Her heart began to race, pumping the adrenaline she had been so familiar with all evening back into her system. She did not know where she was, who these people were, or what they were planning on doing with her. She did know, however, that she was their current topic of conversation, and her mind was madly racing to process bits and pieces of what she had just overheard. Spells? Potions? Wands? Muggle? Centaurs? Had she really been attacked by Centaurs, then? No, she decided. This had to be a dream. She must have died, or she was still unconscious somewhere. This could not be real. She was surprised that the people around her could not hear her thoughts screaming through her head.

Out of nowhere, she felt a very warm, very real calloused hand underneath her chin. She had felt this gentle touch once before. Just as it had previously done as she lay helpless on the steps, mind racing, it momentarily chased all thought from her. The hand tilted her head back and she immediately felt something cool being pressed to her lips. Gasping sharply as thought jolted back into her, her eyes flew open.

Looming above her as her vision quickly materialized, was the same pale black-haired man who had gathered her up from the steps. His arms were extended toward her. His left hand was tilting her head back, and his right was holding what appeared to be a small flask, full of some unknown liquid, to her lips. She was suddenly terrified.

Letting out a strangled yell of fear, she quickly brought up her right arm to sweep the man's hands away from her face before any of the liquid could reach her mouth. In the process, she hit the flask. It flew from his hand and shattered in a tinkling explosion of glass, its contents spilling out on the floor. Before anyone present had much time to react to what had just happened, the girl was scrambling up the bed until she was crouched at its head and pressing her back into the wall, wishing that she could climb up its height.

Her eyes darted frantically around the room; it looked to be some kind of infirmary, but an extremely old-fashioned one. Several more beds lined the wall that she was backed up against, and the opposite side of the large room looked much the same. It had a high ceiling and high windows. One end of the room was adorned with huge double doors. Not far from these was another, smaller door which led into a different, separate room. It was still extremely dark outside, and the room was illuminated by dozens of large sconces. Their light glinted off the many strange-looking bottles and flasks resting on small cabinets between the beds. Rain was pelting the windowpanes.

She directed her gaze back to the people before her.

There stood three people wearing bewildered expressions, all staring at back at her. The man on her left, whom she had seen before arriving in this infirmary, was very tall, and clad completely in black. His lank black hair hung around his pale face, his black eyes fixed on her. He was still leaning over the bed which she was on, in almost the same position he had first been when she had knocked the flask out of his hands. At the foot of the bed stood a tall, rather severe-looking woman with green eyes, wearing a tartan dressing gown. Shifting her eyes to the right, she saw another woman, seated in a chair, and wearing a sort of white nurse uniform. She was holding a long, fiercely-tipped arrow in her right hand. The girl then glanced down at the stone floor a short distance away, looking at the flask she had just shattered and quickly wondering what exactly this man had been trying to get her to drink.

She looked back to the three people standing around her. She was extremely frightened and her chest was heaving. The tall dark man straightened up and gave her an appraising look. She met his deep black eyes as they swept over her body. Then it struck her.

She was no longer in unbearable pain.

There was only a dull ache in her shoulder where the worst of the pain had been before. She slowly glanced down at her own body, a look of confusion painted across her face as she examined herself. Her clothing was torn in places, but most of the cuts and scrapes she had sustained had been mended somehow. There was still some bruising, and she could definitely tell by the ache in her chest that some of her ribs had indeed been broken, but they did not hurt as much as they should have. They had somehow been mended as well, like the rest of her.

She slowly lifted her gaze back up toward the three mysterious people standing around her, wearing the same confused expression she had worn while examining her mostly-healed body. Her mind, and her heart, were racing.

"Who are you?" the girl asked shakily.

"We were just about to ask you the same question," said Snape.


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A/N: There you have chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed it. Please take the time to review if you would be so kind! Thank you for reading. :)