Returning to Home Shores

She was standing in front of the stone column underneath the city of Rome, a scroll of basic Egyptian Hyroglipics in her hand. Greek and Latin were known to her, but she still needed a little help dechipering Egyptian writing. The column was smoothed in places and in these smoothed areas there were a mixture of glyphs, Greek and Latin on the stone. The rest of her team were far behind her, some working on smoothing the tunnell they had carved to reach the place, and others trying to wrest open a box they had found.

Marina paused, her breath catching in her throat as she read the last glyph. Either she had this wrong, or they were all in great danger. She couldn't take the risk that maybe she had dechiphered it wrong.

She turned and yelled for them all to leave, that they had to stop and not to touch the box with their bare hands. Almost as though in slow motion, Marina watched on in horror as one of the team touched the box. For a few moments nothing happened. Just as Marina breathed a sigh of relief, believing they were all safe, the tunnell exploded and all she could see before her was bright lights and then darkness

Marina's eyes snapped open and she looked around the room she was in quickly. Stark white, curtains, she was in a bed, a chair beside her, and then a table and flowers. Marina knew where she was. She was in St Mungo's, she was back home in Britain.

She shut her eyes, grimacing as the vision danced before her eyes again. She twitched her hands a little until she was gripping onto the bedsheet, then pulled it over her face.

Silently, she began to sob.

It had been difficult, but Scorpius had gotten permission to spend his Sunday visiting his cousin. He assumed being on top of his studies and a Prefect probably helped, and the headmistress wasn't heartless. Getting out of Hogwarts was a refreshing change to being in with slight tension going on between him and his friend.

Following a mediwitch, it wasn't long before Scorpius spotted his cousin, though mainly by her hair, as her face was covered, and he sped up slightly, standing awkwardly at the foot of her bed. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but he was certain she was shaking slightly. As if she was crying or something.

The very thought of the strong women he'd looked up to as a child crying was just too bizarre to picture. He could never imagine her showing so much emotion.

"Marina?" Scorpius asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

Man, he had a way with words.

Marina coughed and gripping tightly onto the blanket with the one hand, she wiped her eyes with the other and then lowered it from her face when she heard that voice. It was a familiar voice, and one that belonged to a person she cared a fair amount about although she would never come outright and say it, no matter how much she now wanted to.

"Hello Scorpius." Marina said, smiling weakly at her cousin. She was very glad to see him. His was a face that she had thought she would never see again. It had been a close call.

"I'm so glad you could make it. I'm not pulling you away from anything important am I?" Marina asked. She wasn't sure what Scorpius would be doing during his holidays. She hoped that coming to visit her and interferred in his time with his friends.

Scorpius gave a slightly forced smile in response to the oddly weak one he was recieving, moving forward to sit in the chair next to Marina's bed, encouraging himself to be more natural around her. He couldn't imagine it would be pleasant for her if he was all weird about the fact she was in hospital, though he was still unclear about what had happened. He assumed now wasn't the time to ask.

"No, you're not," he said, thinking back to school. "It's a Sunday, so I don't have anything to do. And Albus has been..." he hesitated. For too long, no doubt. "Busy. He sends his regards," or at least, Scorpius assumed he would, if he and Albus were talking. He knew that Albus and his cousin were relatively friendly however. "So I didn't have anything else to do anyway."

He patted the side of the bed awkwardly, glancing away for a moment. The urge to hug his cousin was overwhelming him slightly, but he didn't want to hurt her. Since Scorpius was told that she was in hospital, he'd been eager to come and see her. It had been hard dealing with it and not having anyone to actually talk to about it. Apparantly having a Potter as a best friend had been a terrible influence on him.

"How're you feeling? I hope you didn't want anything. I mean, I can go get you something if you do, I'm sure there's somewhere to get you some snacks or something if you're hungry."

Marina knew her family fairly well and it was a great comfort to her, not only to see that Scorpius was here, but to know that he actually cared. He was trying to be as genuine as possible, without being over the top like some other's were. Their family was rather conservative, and it was something that Marina understood well. So, when Scorpius patted the bed, as awkward as it seemed, she understood what he was trying to convey.

"I don't really care about Albus right now Scorpius. I am just glad that I got to see you again, and that you are looking well." Marina said, not beating around the bush on that particular issue. It was true. With what had happened to the others in her team, she was very glad that she had managed to pull through to see her loved one's once again. She was going to have to start telling them that more often. In fact, she was just going to have to start telling them.

"I have felt a lot better. I'm still alive though. They say I have survivor's guilt, did you know that?" Marina said, as casually as she could. Survivors Guilt, it sounded just about right to her. She had been the only one who had lived. Others had made it out with her but they hadn't been as lucky as she had.

Scorpius couldn't help but smile slightly at Marina's words, pleased that she disregarded the other boy so quickly. The less he was in the conversation the better. "I'm glad to see you too, though I imagine I'm looking slightly better," he said with a slightly teasing tone. He really was awful in these situations.

The idea of 'Survivors Guilt' didn't sound particularly pleasant. Being alive probably wasn't something you should feel guilty about. And Scorpius imagined there was very little he could say to help his cousin on this particular issue. In fact, he was more certain he'd say something wrong. "Well, I'm certainly glad you're alive," he decided. "It's a shame, what happened, but..." he gave her the best smile he could muster. He wasn't quite sure how out of place it was. But he was being honest. "I'm still glad I have you."

"Do you want to talk about what happened or something?" Scorpius asked, rubbing the back of his neck. It was the easiest way he could think about asking without sounding like he was prying for information. Because he was curious. "I mean, I heard sort of what happened, but if you do want to, then I'm here."

Marina noticed the absence of any comment concerning what she had said about Albus, and it troubled her a little. Something must have happened between them. Whatever it was would end up being sorted out though, that she was sure of. Somewhere down the line, someone would realise they were wrong.

"Well, I would say you look better than me but that's not too difficult is it. I mean, look at me." Marina said, sighing and pulling at her lank and lifeless hair as though it were diseased. She paused in her pulling, hair still in her hands when she heard what Scorpius had said. He had just said he was glad he still had her, that she was still around. She was sure of it!

"You are more than a cousin to me Scorpius. You mean as much to me as Ivan does. More, actually." Marina said, letting go of her hair and folding her arms in her lap. She winced a little as pain shot up through her chest and her neck. That she had been expecting for a little while.

"What did you hear?" She sighed, her voice heavy and tired. She had been waiting for this to crop up. It was only natural he would want to know.

Scorpius watched as Marina pulled a hand through her hair, noticing the large scar that ran across her neck. He tried his best not to show anything on his face about it. He was fairly certain he did a good job, though Marina seemed slightly distracted to notice if he did. It was slightly heartbreaking to see such a frightening mark.

He couldn't help but smile at her words, though he straightened as she winced, ready to help her if she needed it. "I would compare you to my siblings if I had any, but I don't. But you mean a lot to me too, Marina. More than anyone really. Has this caused you to suddenly be more affectionate?" he asked with a slight smile.

The tone of Marina's voice made Scorpius feel a bit guilty for bringing up what happened, but he figured he couldn't really go back on the question now. "Just that something happened while you were in Rome, there was an accident in one of the tunnells?" he shrugged lightly. "It wasn't really clear what happened in the letter that father sent me. That's why I figured I'd ask."

Marina seen something flash across Scorpius' face for a few moments, but she wasn't quite sure what it was that she had seen, or in fact anything had actually even crossed his face. She dismissed it and focused on the matter at hand.

She smiled after Scorpius had spoken, because it really meant a lot to her that he thought of her close to the same way that she thought of him. She laughed when he asked if what had happened had cused her to become more affectionate.

"It's made me realise what's important now." Marina said on a more serious note, returning Scorpius' smile. She had always liked spending time with him. He wasn't too over the top and extravegant or too cold and stitled.

"There was a very nasty curse Scorpius. It's not anything you ever want to touch, or have touch you. My whole team died. Four of us got out, and I was the only way to survive. You see the scar." Marina said, pulling her hair fully behind her ear and out of the way. She lightly traced the still vivid purple scar from just under her chin round down her neck.

"It keeps going you know. Crosses my heart and down to my side. It's why I took so long to come back, there were problems with my heart." Marina said bluntly. She didn't want to sugar coat what had happened or anything. Raw and honest truth, it was the ebst way to go.

Scorpius had to admit, he felt touched that he was included in 'what was important', though he didn't really think that he needed to say that outloud. Adding extra words to the sentiment would ruin it slightly, in his mind. He was certain Marina would know that he understood without saying it, simply from the fact that he probably looked pleased about it too.

He listened patiently to her explain the curse that she'd been hit with, understanding whyshe would have Survivors Guilt. He couldn't imagine it was very pleasant to be told that you were the only one to survive after something like that. He sucked in a breath as the scar was revealed, seeing just how bad it was, trying to imagine its size. He wasn't sure he really wanted to.

"Have they fixed the problems with your heart?" he asked, hope seeping into his voice. Oh, he really, really wanted the answer to be yes. Not that he doubted St Mungo's competance, but just from looking at that scar made him worried. "Do you know how much longer you'll be here for? Though I don't want them to rush you out. You should stay for as long as you need it."

Marina was glad to see that Scorpius did not interupt her, and that he in fact sat there and listened to what she had to say. It was brief but true, there wasn't any need to go into anymore detail. She was sure that he had been told what was at stake. The words 'I nearly died' were not one's she ever wanted to have to say. It didn't have to be said.

Scorpius took in a large breath as she revealed the scar she now had and Marina smiled sadly. He didn't need to see the rest of it, it was a mess over her heart. He sounded so hopeful when he asked about the problems with her heart and if they had been fixed. It touched Marina in a place she didn't even know she had within her.

"I need to take it easy and slow for a while when they eventually let me out. So, my father's confiscated my broomsticks and I have no idea where my armoury has gone to." Marina said sadly. She wasn't looking forward to her recovery, and she was just wanting everything to hurry up and get back to normal, as normal as they could be.

"The damage isn't just skin deep, my heart was cut severely. Magic can do a lot of wonderful things, sometimes the body needs to repair itself though." Marina explained carefully.

"I don't know when they are going to let me out. I will need somewhere to stay when I get out though."

Scorpius gave a slightly fond smile as the girl told him her broomstick and armoury had gone, unable to imagine his cousin actually taking the advice of taking it slow. Marina without a broomstick was just a foriegn concept. "As much as you might not want to, I hope you do take it slow. If you don't, recovery might take longer. Though I imagine you don't need me to tell you that," he hoped she understood that he was concerned for her though.

"You have a good, strong body," Scorpius said, sure of his thoughts. If there was something he believed it, it was her. "I imagine with a body like yours, it'll heal itself in no time. Then you can stop taking it slow."

The idea of Marina on her own without someone Scorpius trusted to help her was nerve wrecking. His confidence in her ability to heal was quickly replaced with worry and concern, a quick decision made in his mind before he really had a chance to think that it probably wasn't his place to offer.

"If you need somewhere to stay you should stay at the Manor. You'll need to recover, and there's pleanty of space there, and I know my parents would be more than happy to have you. And it would be easy to recover there, and we have House Elves, and room to walk about and stuff if you need it."

Marina grmiaced a the thought and slumped her shoulders in a clear sign of defeat. For once, she was going to have to try and go along with it., as much as she hated the concept.

"I can't do anything but rest in here. I can try rest for a little more time when I get out." She said, deliberatly not promising anything, because she knew that as soon as she began to feel better she would be up and moving around and probably trying to pick locks to get at her swords.

"Of course I do, I was resilliant enough to make it through till now." Marina said matter of factly. That was an achievement in itself when everything was all taken into considertion.

She smiled softly at Scorpius' offer for her to stay and rest up at the Manor. It would be nice, simply because she would be close to everything she really needed. Bulgaria just didn't feel like home anymore.

"That's a very kind offer Scorpius, but it is not yours to make. One of us would need to speak to your parents." Marina said, taking a deep breath.

Scorpius raised a brow at the way Marina phrased her sentence, knowing full well that trying to get her to slow down was a lot more difficult than just that. "Perhaps it would be best if you stayed here then, if it's so much easier to rest in St Mungo's than at home," he said with a smirk, pleased that she was probably too ill to hit him. He couldn't imagine that suggestion going down well. But considering just how resilient she was, he couldn't imagine that she would need to rest for too long either.

"I can send them an owl this evening, or stop off at mother's shop on the way home," he said, unable to see either of them saying no. It wasn't like Marina didn't get on with his parents, and they weren't heartless. Scorpius had to admit, he was growing fond of the idea of his cousin staying at his house, whether he was there or not. He didn't see her much since she became a curse breaker. "They won't say no, I'm sure of it. They'd have no reason to. I'm sure they'll want you to get better just as quickly, and they might visit you if you're not out soon."

"And it wouldn't be too hard to get your things, would it?" he asked, figuring that if he planned it all out first, his parents would be more keen on the idea.

Marina glowered at Scorpius as soon as he had finished voicing his suggestion about staying at St Mungo's rather than going anywhere. All she could think of was that he had better be joking. Then there was that smirk. Of course he was joking. It was Scorpius, they took every oppertunity they could to tease and wind each other up for fun.

Marina stretched her arm out and whacked him on the side of his own arm. It wasn't anywhere near as strong as a hit from her usually was but she hoped that he would at least feel it.

She sighed and nodded her head. She hoped that her Aunt and Uncle would at least be okay with visiting her, even if they didn't offer their home to her. It was never an expectation, entry to Malfoy Manor, and Marina had never viewed it as such.

"It would be nice. They won't let me go home to my apartment, not unless I have someone there all the time to look after me. I can't see that one happening anytime soon." Marina confessed sadly. She didn't know anyone who was able to who would be willing to devote that much time. The only person she had ever considered even thinking of doing that was Ben Weasely. She had not seen him in such a very long time though, and he had probably forgotten all about her.

"Most of what I own is in here or has been confiscated from my apartment." Marina stated matter of factly. She did not have all that many posessions to her name.

Scorpius' smirk widened slightly as she smacked him on the arm, thoroughly enjoying the glower that she had given him when he suggested it. Though if it wasn't for the fact he was certain she wouldn't hurt him (too badly) then he probably would've been rather scared.

He shifted in his seat as he tried to think of someone who would stay at Marina's appartment with her. He had to admit, he didn't know many of her friends. He would've happily done it, but he had school, and his parents both had shops to keep. "Well, we could always send the House Elf round, but," he couldn't imagine his household functioning without its House Elves. "It might be better if there were people there too. I'm sure they'll say yes. I'll ask them today."

The blond was fairly adament on this subject now.

"That makes things a lot easier then," Scorpius confirmed. "If you have your things here already. You really don't put much value on having lots of things, do you?" he questioned. From what he could see, there wasn't much about, though he imagined most of her things were kept locked away somewhere for safety.

Merlin only knew how long it had been since Ben had set foot in London. Even longer still since he had seen the Hospital, and like most people he did not regret that fact. What he did regret was how long it took for him to get there. One of his family members, he was not sure which as they all seemed to run together these days, had sent him an owl informing him that his oldest... no. His only friend was in St. Mungo's. They had not said what was wrong with her, but they did not need to. It did not matter. If Marina was ill enough to warrant a stay in the hospital, then Ben was going to go visit her; come hell or high water.

As he walked through the Hospital in search of Marina's room, he considered bringing her a gift of sorts. Then it occurred to him that if he wasted time looking for something, he might miss her; if her health really was that bad. Shaking his head, Beniamin put the idea aside. He would see his friend first, and then see about finding something.

When he approached the door, Ben heard a voice talking inside. That had to be a good sign, and he knocked lightly on the door as he opened it. Peeking his head in, he asked "Not interrupting anything, am I?" He smiled when he saw that Marina was awake. Since she was up, Ben let himself into the room and approached the bed.

Beniamin spared a glance and a greeting to the young man at the foot of the bed, saying, "Scor? You really that big already?" He could hardly believe that Scorpius, and therefor Albus, were almost grown already. Time seemed to have flown since he left London. He turned his attention back to Marina. "Could have sworn I told you there's this rule against dying. You're not allowed to break the rules, Mari."

Marina nodded her head, humming a little in agreement. She was really taking it to heart that Scorpius wanted to try and aid her recovery. It made her feel as though she a warm fuzziness deep within her chest, close to her damaged and yet still beating heart. She really was turning into a bit of a sop, it was a little bit embaressing. At least she had the excuse of nearly dying to cover herself for her behaviour.

When Scorpius commented on how she didn't really hold much value in her posessions she had to nod her head. She had never really thought of her posessions very highly. Her family and friends were a whole other kettle of crawfish on the other hand.

"Posessions can be replaced. There ar emore important things, like family and friendship. Speaking of friendship, why exactly is Albus not here? Does he not like me anymore?" Marina asked, raising an eyebrow as she waited for a response.

Before she recieved it though, she heard a knock at the door and was ready to hurl an abusive and insulting comment at one of the Healers for disturbing her when she was with her family. Then the door opened and a head popped around it, one that Marina never thought she would ever have seen again. For a few seconds all she could do was stare, doing nothing other than blinking occasionally. Then, a large smile broke out on her face and she gestured with a hand for her old friend to come over.

"Ben! Oh, it's so wonderful to see you! How did you find out I was in here?" Marina asked, resisting the very strong urge to try and embrace her friend. It wasn't really something she did but she was all for it at that moment. She had missed him, although she would never come out and directly tell him that.

When he passed comment on Marina attempting to break the rules by dying, all she could do was chuckle after which she pressed a head against her side and sucked in a deep breath. The scar was giving her a bit of bother, which was to be expected she had been told.

"Well, I did uphold the rules. I didn't die, just nearly." She commented, attempting to be as blaise as possible. It wasn't something she really liked to think about. There was so much she had wanted to say and do that she never would have been able to do if she had died. It was a sad thought.

As soon as Marina mentioned Albus, Scorpius tensed up slightly, looking away from her as he tried to keep his face passive, though he knew it was poinntless to keep a poker face. His brain started spinning as he tried to think of something to say about it. It wasn't that Albus didn't like Marina anymore. It was more Scorpius hadn't told Albus about Marina being in hospital, or offer to bring him.

He was saved by the door opening however, turning to look, surprised as he saw the person who came through the door was not related to him, nor a hospital staff. Oh, he was definitely not saying anything about Albus now. Forcing himself to relax more, he smiled slightly and nodded in greeting at the man. "Nice to see you, Ben," he said.

Shifting forward in his seat, watching as Marina seemed to practically light up at the sight of Ben, Scorpius couldn't deny that he enjoyed seeing his cousin so happy, especially not after the fright he got when he was told exactly what had happened. Standing, the blond turned to Marina, cutting in their conversation quickly.

"I'm going to go find some snack or drink," he explained, figuring she'd want some time to catch up with her friend. Scorpius was under the impression they didn't get to see much of each other after leaving Hogwarts. "I'll be back later." Nodding again to Ben he headed out the room, figuring he'd take a walk and figure out what he was going to say if Marina asked him about his own friend again. Because he didn't think about that enough already.

Beniamin smiled when Marina looked happy to see him. Although they had not exactly been close in any conventional sense, sometimes he wondered if they were all each other had outside of their families. Either way, he was glad to see her looking so animated. It had sounded worse when he first heard about her incident. "Some relative or another. At least.. I think we were related. Kid had red hair." Ben grinned impishly, making jokes of his own families size as he usually did. When she waved him over, Ben approached the side of her bed and leaned down to gently embrace her. "Missed you, Mari..."

"Nearly is far too close, young lady," he said as he pulled away. The look in his eyes was terribly serious even though his face had a lightly teasing smile. Glancing at Scorpius, Ben returned the boys nod as he left before looking down at Marina again. "Sorry, I didn't mean for him to run off." He wondered for a moment if he should go after him and offer to come back later, but really... After all the trouble it took to get there, it was his turn to see Marina even if only for a few minutes.

Marina couldn't resist snorting, rather unatttractively if she said so herself, with laughter at Ben's comment about how he found out she was here. She had never even considered that he would even have heard about what had happened to her, let alone where she was. Even if he had she would never have thought that he would have travelled to see her. Sure, she had felt something between them, a strange friendship in a way, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had felt it to, or even that he would have come to see her.

"Yes, because naturally every child with red hair is a relation of yours." Marina remarked, almost teasingly. She was a little shocked again, but at the same time actually rather happy, when Ben bent down and gave her a small and gentle embrace. She put her arms around him and returned it, tapping him a little on the back and trying not to gasp at the pain. It didn't matter how much it hurt, she was just glad that someone wanted to touch her.

"A little too strong Ben. I'm a bit tender just now." Marina commented sadly. She hated having limitations but she was going to have to take it slowly, even she was going to admit that. It was funny in a way how much nearly dying changed things.

"Me too." Marina murmererd, bowing her head, and hoping that Ben hadn't caught that, let alone Scorpius. She had missed him, but still she couldn't bring herself to look into his or anyone else's eyes and say so directly.

She was a little surprised when Scorpius left and she couldn't resist calling after him "Come back later Scorpius!" hoping that her desperation hadn't shown in her voice. He had said he would come back, but she wanted to make sure that he would. When Ben left, she didn't want to be on her own again.

"Nearly is a lot better than the rest of my team Ben. Never mind me though, what have you been doing with yourself? You've been in Romania haven't you?" Marina questioned, pushing herself a little further up and rearranging the sheets around her legs. She was very eager to hear what he had been doing since they had last seen each other.

Beniamin waved a slightly dismissive hand, quipping, "Of course they are. Everyone knows that." He may joke about it a lot, but it was still freaky any time a stranger called him Weasley like he had met them before. Really, that happened far too often, especially during those infrequent times that he visited Diagon Alley. He could not help wondering if other redheads had that problem... but he had never met one that was not related to him.

"Sorry, Mari..." He had tried to be gentle with her, but when one wrangles dragons they tend to lose a bit of their concept of 'gentle'. Ben thought he might have heard her return his sentiment, but the sound was so slight and he would not have called her on it even if he knew for sure he heard it, so he let it go. Tugging a chair over to her bedside, Ben sat down next to her and began talking. While he wanted to find out what exactly happened to his friend, he could tell she did not want to talk about it.

Instead, he turned his focus to what had been happening on the Reserve. "I've got my own dragon," he blurted before pausing and rewording it. "Well... Not really mine, but mine to take care of. We started a breeding program of Qin-Lung's. I'm in charge of the female one; her name is Mu Qing. I tend to call her Kiki... It's easier than saying Qin-Lung Mu Qing, and I figure she can't really tell the difference." Unless those old folktales about Dragons having the Gift of Tongues were true, in which case hopefully she's smart enough to know it's a nickname. "Anyways, she clutched a nestfull a couple of weeks ago. Three beautiful black eggs. Hopefully they'll all survive, y'know?"