𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒, oliver wood

nine.

09

APPLAUSE

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Madam Pomfrey usually sat on the chair beside her bed, instead she planted herself on the bottom of the bed. Her hands were folded on her lap and her face was still unreadable. "Stupid question, I know."

"Stupid feels like an understatement," her voice was flat from days of not speaking. Louisa had stopped by once and respected her silence, staying in the chair and reading her muggle poetry book. Neither Ennis or Avan had even attempted to visit her and she didn't know why. No one on her team had been by to see how she was doing. Joshua had sent her a letter but she had yet to open it. And Oliver had officially been scared off by her previous outburst. 

Madam Pomfrey turned to face her fully. Perhaps she had folded her hands on her lap to avoid reaching out, she had a habit of doing that. "Good news is that the cordial is working. The swelling is now minimal and the bones are aligned how we want them too. You'll make a full recovery in no time. I doubt that you'll be quidditch ready this term, but I have high hopes for after Christmas!"

Was the feeling in her chest happiness or disappointment? It all blurred together these days. The  hospital wing walls had a way of blurring the days together. She knew from the calendar on the wall that it had been five days, but it felt more like a lifetime.

"And the bad news?"

Pomfrey had a small laugh. "The bad news is that you have a pile of potions work to catch up on. Your other professors had the curtesy of exempting you from this week and their assignments, it appears that Professor Snape has not."

"When am I going to get out of here?" she asked as she tapped her fingers on her knee.

Pomfrey stood up, straightening out her dress. "You could leave tonight if you wanted to. I'm sure that the beds in your dorm are much more comfortable than they are in here."

Her face no longer looked as banged up as it had the first time her bandages had been changed. The swelling had disappeared down into purple and green bruises around her cheeks, chin and eyes and the wounds had healed into red lines. She was aware that she still looked like a mess, but she could now stand to catch a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the mirror.

"One more night?" she asked, it came out more like a beg.

Pomfrey nodded her head slowly, understanding.

⋆

That was her last night of church peace, Madam Pomfrey had taken pity on her and caved with the sleeping potions. She had a weeks worth of phials stashed in her robe pockets and they clinked as she descended the stairs to the Slytherin common room. Juniper used the password to reveal the common room hidden behind the stone wall. As she entered, all eyes were on her. 

Juniper stopped in her tracks, she had assumed that everyone would already be in the Great Hall for breakfast. But they weren't. The whole house was still sitting around and chatting before they began to make their way down, all eyes turned to her and the chatter stopped. 

Juniper made eye contact with her teammates, all of them sat around a table in the centre of the  room as they went through pages of game plans. She met the eyes of Avan and Ennis, the latter's eyes widening before Avan nudged him. They both looked down. Flint seemed to approve of them. "We're gonna need our energy for practice later," he ushered them past the girl, a shoulder or two barging into her as they passed.