Chapter 6 Malaika
Malaika
Oh Malaika
Be brave, for me
Be strong
Malaika
Oh Malaika
Sing your sweet
Angelic song
It was warm and comfortable. All Hannah could hear were soft, far-away murmurs that did not disturb her peaceful rest. She allowed her eyes to open slowly and noticed that she was in a hospital bed that was not in St. Mungos or, thankfully, the Hogwarts Hospital wing. But this one was very different from any hospital she had ever been in.
First of all, it was packed. The beds were rather close together and there were some patients lying on mattresses on the floor. Their problems also seemed to be rather mundane. It was not unusual to see someone sporting horns or huge colorful freckles or extra legs and arms in the Wizarding Hospital. Here most of the patients seemed to be either broken up and waiting patiently for their casts to come off, or severely burned and bruised. Two or three seemed to be completely unconscious.
It was only when she spotted the strange tubes and devices that were around a couple of the beds that Hannah realized she was in a Muggle hospital. “Good,” she thought, ”I haven’t been found and I won’t likely be looked for here.”
She couldn’t see any nurses or Healers in the room and began to consider making a run for it again, but her heart was too heavy to move on. And as soon as the thought struck her mind she realized just how tired she was. Her limbs would not cooperate even if she had wanted them to. She became aware of several aching bruises on her arms and legs and whatever it was the Muggles had given her for the pain seemed to be slowly wearing off.
Soon, she realized that her right arm was hanging off the bed at an uncomfortable angle and that she couldn’t get it to move. The bruises on her legs were becoming rather painful and an aching feeling seemed to be invading her lungs in the place of the air. Her vision began to blur and she wished she could just be spared from it if even for a few seconds.
“You’re awake,” a sweet voice broke her half-conscious agony, “Here, you’ll need to drink this for the pain and get yourself some more rest.”
Hannah sighed in relief as her arm’s position was adjusted and she drank the liquid that was offered her without any questions. The nurse stayed by her side and kept up a constant stream of gentle chatter that distracted Hannah enough from the pain. The young witch would never recall any of the things the nurse said, but she did remember that calm, soothing voice that lulled her to sleep for many years after.
When she woke up for the second time, Hannah was immediately grasped by the need to leave again. She did not want to leave this safe, comfortable place, but she knew she could not stay here forever. And then her mind returned to that unanswerable question. What next? She had left on the spur of the moment, without giving it any real thought. She had no where to go and no means of making a living. No life training in anything besides being a Hogwarts student. She wondered what happened to Muggles who didn’t have anywhere to go or anything to do.
She wondered if she had condemned herself to a life of uselessness and starvation. Instead of helping out in the war and in defeating Voldemort she would now be reduced to looking for food and running. Always running, senselessly, without a goal. Because avoiding people was not a goal. But her stubborn determination overrode that rising wave of despair; she would not go back, of that she was certain.
“Hmmm,” the nurse said walking over to her, “I see you’re awake again. How do you feel?”
“Good,” she answered shortly, taking in the kind smile on the beautiful face. This woman had elegant and almost heavenly features. She reminded Hannah a lot of that handsome Slytherin boy that was always brooding in the background; he would look much better if he could smile so genuinely.
“That’s wonderful,” the nurse answered, “My name is Malaika by the way, and I’m going to have to take a little information about you.”
She must have noticed Hannah’s unease. “We can do this a little later if you’d like,” she decided while checking the bruises on Hannah’s arm, “I’ll finish the check-up and then I’ll let you know what’s been happening outside since you got here.”
The check-up, which wasn’t nearly as painful as Hannah expected, proceeded in silence. The nurse asked Hannah to try and move her arm and she found that it was under her full control again. The bruises still ached a little, but it was nothing to complain too much about. Not when she looked over at some of the other beds anyway.
“Alright, now I’m going to get you to stand up slowly and walk for a bit if you can and then I’ll take your blood pressure. If there’s nothing wrong with that, then you’ll be able to get out of this gloomy hospital by tomorrow morning!”
It was said with such a cheery voice that Hannah almost felt sick. This place would be gloomy if there was something less gloomy to compare it with waiting for her outside. This line of thought apparently didn’t help as she felt a sudden wave of nausea. The nurse asked her to sit down and take a rest before trying again.
As soon as she was seated, though, Hannah did not want to get up again. She needed more time to fight the dark wave of longing that passed over her. She needed the nurse to go away. But no, she couldn’t cry now. She had vowed not cry anymore for silly reasons. And all reasons were silly comparing to…that.
“It’s alright,” Malaika said, “You don’t have to try now, just take your time. What’s your name?”
Hannah swallowed her rising emotions and blurted out the first name that came to mind: “Mary,” she said in a voice that was louder and more rushed than necessary, “Mary McMillan!”
Of course that was a bad idea, because now her mind was flooded with memories of Ernie. He always had a stubborn, methodic manner of going about his work that spurred her to work just as hard. She remembered studying with him for their Potions Owl…he had finished the cookies with almost the same determination that was dedicated to the pages of the Potions book.
Before she had time to realize that a painful, watery smile had crossed her face Hannah was enveloped in a comforting embrace and then pushed gently back into a resting position. The nurse turned off the light above her bed and put the clipboard away.
“Sometimes,” she said in a whisper, “You have to let it out so that you can move past it and do your part. There is a week-long First Aid Course that will be starting the day after tomorrow followed by a quick emergency nursing course the week after. You can’t do your part if you keep it bottled in.”
Tears were already running down Hannah’s face as she considered the possibility of being useful and helping fix what the Death Eaters were doing. Suddenly, as the nurse turned to leave in a hurry (with a strange device beeping in her pocket), Hannah had to know who it was that had found and brought her here.
“Wait,” she called between sobs, “Who was it that brought me in?”
“He didn’t hang around much,” Malaika said giving Hannah her full attention again, “Tall, broad-shouldered blond bloke…”
“Did he have a deep voice?” Hannah asked remembering a deep, lulling song through the darkness of her half-conscious memory.
“I didn’t hear him say a letter actually,” the nurse said apologetically, “I’m sorry.”
Then she turned around gracefully and left the room with quick, purposeful strides. Hannah could now hear a lot of commotion and shouts somewhere in the distance. She wondered what it was that could be disturbing the peace of the house of healing. Whatever it was that was going on outside, though, this room was arrested in a calm, almost otherworldly silence.
They soon came in, one after the other, bearing in the small, fragile forms of broken children. Hannah felt a fury rising in her chest as she stared at the innocent little things. They hadn’t even had time to choose if they wanted to be Blood-Traitors or killers or good people. They never had a chance to choose be helpless Muggles.
She let her watery eyes settle on the tall form of the nurse Malaika, and she watched her give orders and tend to broken bones and bruises calmly while all the others seemed to be in a state of panic or despair. Malaika managed a smile for every single child and her face did not betray any fright or worry.
And it was with the image of the strong, but gently nurse, that Hannah wiped the fiery tears from her face and let herself fade back into sleep.
