I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good: Private message to George Weasley and Amycus Carrow

sent donaghan out to find him when they were asleep

'ask if i can see him
just to make sure he's all right'
i thought about that and added
'let him know i'll never tell the git'

the ghost came back after an hour
'he said he'll meet you by the door leading out to the rubbish bins'

so i went down
felt sicker and sicker the farther i was from my pallet
finally was shuffling, then fell and crawled on my hands and knees

he didn't look so good either
he was curled up in the corner of the doorway with a dirty rag stuck to the cuts on his neck
he had a club in his hand and he stared at me fiercely over it
'don't come no nearer'
moving his neck even just a little made him wince

we stared at each other for a while
the ghost hung in the air over us

'can i see the cuts?'

'why?' he sneered. 'don't you think you did a good enough job?'

'no. i want to see if i--' i almost slipped and said heal them-- 'if i can treat them'

'why would you do that?'

'because it's the last thing he wants me to do
he wants us to hate each other
and if we do, then he wins
but if i treat you decent, then we win
but we can't let him know'

I looked up at the ghost. 'tell him'

'Terry will treat your wounds. he won't hurt you. he wants to help.'

he lowered the club. i crawled a little closer. 'unwind the bandage. and, uh, close your eyes'

'why?' he said suspiciously

because I couldn't let him see the wand. or the bracelet
'you just gotta trust me
because i need you to do that before I can help you
he doesn't want us to do that, either
to trust each other
wouldn't it be a good idea to spite him?'

he lowered the club a little more. 'you told me you were sorry. and to keep still.'

'i did
that was all i could do to help you then
now I can do more
please?'

slowly his eyelids closed and then with a sigh, he lowered the dirty rag.

the ghost spoke quietly in his ear, just to keep him calm, I guess. the pulse in his neck was jumping like crazy. i worked fast. i took out my wand, whispered the spell to clean the skin and spread the dittany on it to knit it back together. Then I put a glamour over it. there was one little bit that looked infected, but the dittany made it fade away. he flinched when I touched him once, but he kept the eyes closed.

when I was finished, I helped him put the rag back in place. 'i've put something over it so it will still look bad, but if you touch it, you can tell it's better.'

he opened his eyes again slowly. 'it feels better'

i was glad to hear it. 'keep it covered for awhile. until it would have healed on its own'

my hands were shaking really badly by now, but I felt a little better as I crawled back toward the staircase. back toward the git.

'hey, thanks' his voice called softly after me.

the ghost smiled at me as he disappeared.