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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Florence's hands are stained red from the blood she'd been trying to scrub off in the sink for a good four or five minutes now. It seemed like a lot when they were carrying James through the corridors, but it wasn't until the boys laid him on his bed and got his shirt off that they saw how much blood there truly was.
James had passed out soon after she and Peter finished bandaging him up. She'll need to start a blood-replenishing draught soon, but for now, he is still breathing. Having scrubbed her hands nearly raw and burned them under hot water, Florence gives up washing and turns the water off.
Looking up at herself in the mirror above the sink basin, she can't help but grimace. Her makeup that she'd been too rushed to wipe off was now smeared, mascara streaked down her cheeks and lipstick completely worn off, only residing in the dry cracks of her lips.
The curls in her hair are all tangled now and she pulls a few leaves and twigs from the strands- trying and failing to brush through it with her fingers. She had thankfully changed clothes, but the dirt splotches and bright pink spores covering her 'Crazy on You' by Heart T-shirt were going to take more than a few scorgifies to get out.
Eventually, her eyes meet their reflection in the glass, the usually light brown color of her irises eclipsed by her blown-out pupils.
She looks wild, like some skittish and injured animal.
The discordant murmurs from behind the bathroom door break Florence's daze. She removes her grip from the sink and walks back to the door, but pauses at the handle. Standing closer now, she can just barely make out the sounds of Remus's voice, clearly strained.
"How could you all do this behind my back? What if James got killed? Worse, what if Florence wasn't under the cloak?"
"Remus we-"
Sirius's interjection is cut off by Remus's.
"-The forest isn't safe for anyone, not at night and especially not for someone who can't transfigure into animals like you lot can. Florence should never have been involved in this, and you and James should never have tried to start this in the first place," He seethes, his voice raising in intensity, "I appreciate everything you've all already done for me, why couldn't you both just leave it at that? Why must you both always make things into bigger issues instead of just leaving things how they are?"
"Moony, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Peter's voice sounds out from closer to the door Florence is standing behind.
"Harsh? I'll tell you what's harsh. Harsh is watching your only friends whom you trusted with your biggest secret, go behind your back and take fixing it into their own hands- getting themselves nearly killed in the process. Harsh is knowing that it doesn't really matter if the potion works, because even if it makes it 'easier' for me, it won't change the fact I'm a monster," He yells now with a slight tremble to his words, "Do you all forget that I've dealt with this since I was a kid? Do you think I haven't tried or considered everything there is out there to fix what I am?"
