There was no dreaming about winged horses this time, it was merely black. Marcus, lay so, so still on the hospital bed only his chest moving up and down giving an indication that he was actually still alive. He knew not that the woman that he loved so dearly was by his side.


.........


Kind of floating into the hospital ward with a pot plant under one arm, Joshua Lawson approached the end of the bed. He studied his brother for a moment before nodding his head in satisfaction. He placed the pot onto the side table and then let his gaze fall on the woman sitting by the bed. Without a moments hesitation, he crossed to her and enveloped her into his arms. "Now none of this crying nonsense Iliana, my brother will be just fine."

Under normal circumstances, Iliana might have been startled or even a little frightened by Joshua's abrupt hugging. This, however, was not normal circumstances and Iliana needed his comfort. "Promise?" she sobbed, breaking down suddenly. Iliana clung to him and hid her face against his shoulder.

When her crying subsided, she tilted her tear streaked face up to him and asked, "Did they get my owl?"

He made a small 'tsking' noise and held her close to him. "Of course Iliana, I have no reason to lie to you." Joshua, as always told it how it was. "Besides his aura is a lot brighter than it was when they first brought him in." He looked down at his brother once again and was confident that he was right because Joshua, could see things others could not.

He let go of Iliana and walked over to grab a chair and dragged it back to place it beside his brother's girlfriend. It never occurred to him to use his wand, Joshua was a more hands on type of person. "They did" he answered her, "But I wouldn't let them come." He left it at that, he knew Iliana would know why he had done that. His mother god bless her was already a mess and Marcus did not need her mollycoddling especially when there was already another female here to do that. And as for his father and brother...well they would disrupt the karma.

"So any news on the culprit?" he asked as he took out what looked like a long strand of beads. Joshua, was not concerned about who had done it and why? It was something that had happened and now they had to move on. Yeah he was all for love and peace.

Iliana smiled at his confidence and hugged him tight. "Thanks Josh. I don't know what I do without you here," she said, sitting down and picking up Marcus' hand. "Probably lose my mind." Sadly enough, that was pretty close to the truth. She turned her sad eyes towards him as he explained the absence of the rest of the family. "I understand." She nodded. "Please tell her that I won't leave his side until he wakes up."

Squeezing Marcus' hand, Iliana shook her head slowly. "I haven't heard from anyone yet." Hopefully, Alessia would show up soon. If ever she needed her before, she certainly did now.

"Ah Iliana, you are stronger than you know." He looked up at her aura and nodded approvingly. She was a good match for his brother and Marcus had better know that. Joshua, ran the beads through his hands as he watched her hold onto Marcus' hand and he thanked Merlin that his brother had never married that Bunbury woman. He had known of his brother's intentions to marry the red head and of course Joshua would never interfere in someone's life but he was glad that it had never happened.

"Isn't it funny. Marcus was an Auror for almost nine years and not once did he ever find himself in this situation." Joshua, waved his hand towards his brother's sleeping form as though to make his point. "Who would have thought that being a Professor could be so dangerous?" He gazed at Iliana, his lips twitching ever so slightly. "He really made an awful Auror."

She looked at him and gave him a weary smile. It was true that strange, even terrifying things were fast becoming a way of life for the professors at Hogwarts but she never would've expected this. Even after Forrester... "A monster did this," she said softly.

Looking over at Marcus, laying there so defenseless, Iliana let out a heavy sigh. "I find it highly unlikely that your brother could be awful at anything."

Running the beads through his fingers, Joshua raised an eyebrow at her statement. "You think so?" He was pretty sure that it had been an accident but don't bother asking why because Josh, like to believe in the unbelievable. "Marcus, has never had an enemy in his life. He's just too..."he waved his hands in the air as though he was trying to come up with the right word..."friendly. He tends to get on with everyone. Which is why he was an awful Auror. Did you ever think that it may have been an accident." His brother did work at Hogwarts after all where there were hundreds of under age witches and wizards running around.

Joshua, stood up and moved the pot plant from the side table it wasn't going to get any light sitting there. He moved over to the window and placed the pot onto the ledge and he looked out through the glass. "You will find out in good time just how awful he can be at things." he turned away from the window and gazed at Iliana and smiled, "I'm very glad he met you. Marcus, seems more grounded since you came into his life." Joshua, tore his gaze away from Iliana and looked at his brother again and he smiled knowingly. Not long now.

"Well that may be true but up until last term, I didn't believe Alessia had any enemies either." She looked at his face and realized that he probably had no clue what she was talking about. "Sorry... you see, my best friend was ... well sort of attacked at Hogwarts as well." Attacked really wasn't the best word for it but it would serve its purpose well enough. "Did he tell you about that?" she asked quietly.

"From what the Healers tell me of his condition, this was unlikely an accident." Though the question remained... who would want to hurt him? "We're lucky he's not d- " she paused, unable to bring herself to even think that word. Once again, the tears began to stray down her cheeks. She turned away from him, unwilling for him to see her cry, and wiped them away. "I'm... thank you."

"Yes he told me about that." And what had happened afterwards, if there was one thing his brother was good at and that was getting into trouble. Joshua, also knew about Alessia Lupa from Marcus, seriously was there any women at Hogwarts that he hadn't flirted or gone out with? He fussed over the pot plant for a little while and let the silence settle in the room, allowing Iliana some time with Marcus.

After about twenty minutes, he felt a slight shift in the room and he moved away from the window and stood beside the bed. "Marcus, is too charmed to die." He lent down and kissed the top of the young woman's head. "I am going to leave you now. Your man is about to make his usual grand entrance. I will come back later after you two have had some time alone." And with that Joshua Lawson, swept out of the hospital room leaving Iliana and Marcus alone once more.


......


As if to sense if his brother's departure and finally having Iliana to himself, Marcus groaned softly and his hand twitched ever so slightly. He could feel the warmth of someone holding onto that hand and he tried to squeeze but just didn't seem to have the energy for it. His eyes felt leaden and it took him several minutes to open them and keep them open. The light in the room was bright and he had to blink a few times to adjust to the brightness.

Marcus, turned his head slightly on the pillow and looked into the eyes of his gorgeous girlfriend and he had to swallow a few times and licked against the dryness of lips. "Hey" he said softly, glad that it was Iliana he had opened his eyes to.

Iliana nodded. At least Joshua knew... not ALL things were accidents. Sadly, her own positive view had slowly started to slip away ever since that terrible night of the Assembly. Marcus' attack hadn't helped matters. And she didn't believe it was dumb luck.

Resting her head on their intertwined hands, Iliana wiped back a stray tear. She breathed deeply, determined to quiet her mind and banish such thoughts from her head. Hearing Joshua's voice, she looked up and she gave him a weak smile. At first, what he said didn't register. But as he exited the room, she looked down at Marcus, willing his eyes to open....

And then they did.

"Oh Marcus," she said. And with those words, the fright left her eyes and was replaced by happy tears. She brought her face to his, allowing them to roll down her cheeks, and kissed him softly.

"I hope they're tears of happiness" he croaked, giving her a weak smile. His throat was dry and it hurt to swallow. Marcus, looked away from Iliana for a moment so that he could take in his body and he was pleased to note that everything seemed to be working even though everything ached.

He knew why he was here of course but the details of that night were still a little hazy in his mind. He remembered the stunners...all five of them hitting him. He could also remember the voice that had uttered the incantation and it was not a voice he recognised. Unfortunately Marcus, could not remember the face of the person who had hit him and he knew that he had been facing his attacker. It was like a blanket of fog over the person's face, it was there but he just couldn't seemed to get that fog to clear.

Looking back at Iliana, he pushed his frustrated thoughts to the back of his mind and gingerly moved his body to the side of the bed, making some room for her. He patted the spot beside him, "Come and lie with me Iliana."

After they arrived safely to an apparition spot, they both apparated to St. Mungo's. Alessia took Constantine's hand and dragged him to the nurse at the counter. "Professor Marcus Lawson's room please?" She asked and then dragged Constantine with her to the room they told to go to.

"Marcus!" Alessia screeched and ran to his bedside, jumping on the side of his bed where he'd just padded. (ooc: talk about third wheel!) "How are you doing? Are you alright?" She turned to Iliana... "Sorry... I was detained... Constantine here helped."

As soon as they apparated to the Hospital, it was allllll Alessia from then on in. Pretty soon, he was being dragged in a hospital room that contained Marcus and Iliana. He blinked a few times and watched her as Alessia finally let go of him and stole the empty spot on the bed.

"Err..yeah, I helped," Constantine nodded; why was there a part of him wishing that he had flown just a touch slower?

The quietness of the room was shattered by an ear piercing screech and Marcus almost fell out of the bed. He didn't even have enough time to remove his hand from where it laid on the bed when Alessia, promptly sat on it. "I'm doing just fine Less" he said grinning at her, "But do you think I can have my hand back now?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Marcus looked over at Neo and nodded at the man. "Good to see you dude." Oh man and ain't that the truth, he was glad to be alive to actually see people. "It's really nice of you both to visit."

"Oh... Sorry!" She said smirking. She lifted her bum cheek so he could remove his hand... I guess there is a first time for everything... "You are just fine are you? Well If you were you wouldn't be in a hospital bed. What happened? Upstead told me someone tried to kill you... and now that I think about it, I never asked him who it was..." Odd... that should have been her first question... Oh Well... she turned to Iliana, and as honest as she'd always been with her best friend she said, "Merlin, you look terrible..."


ooc: this timeline started prior to her being engaged, so... yeah.

Iliana smiled, not bothering to wipe the tears away. "I assure you they are," she answered. "How are you feeling?" she asked, touching his face gingerly.

She eyed the bed eagerly, wanting nothing more than to lay down beside him. UNFORTUNATELY… Alessia came bounding into the room before she was able to.

Ili turned towards Constantine, walked over and hugged him tight. "Thanks for coming," she said. "Even if it meant bringing her," she teased, rolling her eyes playfully. It was amazing how much her spirits were lifted seeing them there.

Letting go of Neo, she walked over to Less and smiled "Aww, how sweet of you notice," she said sarcastically. "You always do know just what to say to make me feel better. Thanks." She let out a tiny laugh and yanked (yes, yanked) Alessia off the bed and into her arms. After giving her a good, loooooooong hug, she plopped her down into her chair and took her place next to Marcus on the bed.

"Yeah, it was Jake who told me too. Came down to my office in a panic." She trembled slightly from the memory then turned towards Marcus and said, "Marcus, tell us what happened."

She stuck her tongue out at her playfully. Iliana wasn't being jealous she hoped... Alessia stood and nudged Iliana further up towards Marcus and she sat on the bed too. "What? Constantine needed a seat... Didn't you luv?" She said to the groundskeeper and then hugged her friend and then looked at Marcus. "So... what did happened?"

Women could be so damn persistent!!

Laying back against the pillows, Marcus placed his hands behind his head and gazed around at Iliana, Less and Neo. "I can't remember" he said quietly. Yep that was really going to curb their curiosity wasn't it.

He sighed deeply knowing they weren't going to be happy with that answer. "I was in my office and I'm sure there were at least two students in there. I remember that we were talking and then I got into an argument with one of them and..."he trailed off and his brow furrowed as he tried his hardest to remember who had been in his office..."I remember being punched in the face and my nose breaking. And this voice spoke and I am sure I have heard it before but I just can't seem to place where. The next instant I saw five stunners headed my way and then...nothing."

He kept having this feeling that there had been students in his office but couldn't believe that a student would have done this to him. Okay not every kid liked him but to attack him like this was just mind boggling.

"Five?!?" She said covering her mouth... "Merlin's Tights in the Laundry! Five? and you are still here to speak about it..." She held Iliana's hand.

Iliana scooted over enough to allow Less to squeeze in and hugged her back. She wanting her close while they listened. Marcus' story sent shivers down her spine and once again, she felt unable to rid the image of him lying on the floor, motionless and bleeding. It gave her such a chill. It was horrible how the thought persisted in haunting her. Weighing on her like a nightmare she couldn't shake it off.

Squeezing Less' hand, Iliana swung her legs around to rest them across her lap. Then she laid down, pressing her face into the warm hollow of Marcus' neck and closed her eyes.

"Apparently I am lot stronger than I look" he replied dryly and he gave Less a wink. So it looked as though they were all going to share the bed, if he had a wand he could of enlarged it.

As Iliana laid down beside him, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead. "I think Ili needs to sleep, I have the feeling she hasn't been doing a lot of that lately."

Marcus looked at Less and gave her a warm smile, "So what's been happening since I have been gone? Anything exciting?"

Alessia looked over at Masterson as if to say, Help-me-out-here... "Uhmmm well, another student died. Abby Wright. I don't know how, or why, I just over heard it..." She said. "I... was... the victim of a cruel prank. Constantine and Rome saved my eardrums, as well as my sanity..." She said and reached out to him, patting his hand. "As for Iliana, do not worry, I will take her to her bed myself and will make sure she sleeps..." after a few minutes of chatting and catching up...

Wrapped in his arms, Iliana could feel herself drift off to sleep. It wasn't that she didn't care about the goings-on at Hogwarts but all that really mattered to her right now was Marcus. She felt a sudden pang of sadness when she heard Abby's name but pushed it aside. There had been too much sorrow; she had to shut it out.

Ili's mind drifted, only vaguely aware that Less was still speaking. "Your brother was here," she whispered before finally allowing sleep to take over.

"I don't have a brother..." Alessia said to her friend... "Well at least not that I know of... what did he look like?" She asked her with complete seriousness to her voice.