She was a misfit, he was a git.
Matilda Diggory enters her fifth year of school, ready to remain as under the radar as possible, only there's a catch. She's somehow managed to catch the eye of a particularly annoying redhead, who seems hell-bent on...
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From the moment Matilda arrived in the off-white room in St. Mungoes she felt as though her body was moving on autopilot. There were three other people in the room. One was introduced as Healer Mundy, a short, peaky-looking man with a beard that rivalled Dumbledores. There was another psychologist there called Daya who had the same unsettlingly happy smile that Calista first introduced herself with. Another man stood in the corner, briefly mentioned as Joe, as though that explained everything.
They launched into their plan, talking one after another in rapid sets. Matilda stopped listening after they mentioned her meal plans. Instead, she drew her attention to the room she was in. A wired bed frame was placed in the corner next to a desk, a flat and thin mattress stacked on top of it. The white walls were bare and the overhead lighting was so intense she could feel a migraine coming. There was a dresser along the wall with the door, and another door opened onto a small bathroom with a sink, toilet and a tiny shower. There was no mirror.
"Matilda? Are you listening?"
She glanced back up at Calista who was standing next to her and had placed a gentle hand on her arm. Matilda noticed the other people were waiting for her to reply to a question she did not hear.
Calista picked up on her confusion, "Matilda will take the evening sessions. That way she will have time to get all her schoolwork done."
There was a murmur amongst them as they all sorted out their schedules before each nodded. "Lovely," said Mundy with an awkward nod. "I'll be off, then."
The man in the corner followed behind him and Daya offered Matilda that creepy smile again before exiting as well. Calista stayed.
"Is there anything you need from me, Matilda? I can grab you a snack, or a book, or anything you wish."
"No, thanks. I think I'll just...settle in, I suppose."
"Alright. I'll see you later when it's time for lunch."
"See you."
The heavy door clicked shut, silencing the chatter from the hallway outside. Matilda still didn't know where exactly she was in the hospital. She'd only been there once when she was younger. Back when she was bitten.
She ran a hand over her face, trying to get a sense of the new reality she was facing. How could this be so? Just the other day she was cleaning up after a drunk Fred Weasley and now she was confined in a psych ward!
What would Cedric be thinking?, she wondered. Would her parents even tell him, or would he have to find out through Fred? Merlin knows that would end horribly. She owed it to Cedric to tell him the truth, even if they hadn't been speaking to one another recently. Was he missing her at all, was Sammy?
"Probably not after what she called me," Matilda scoffed to herself, clicking open her suitcase. It was full of clothes, her school books, stationary, and – to her surprise – an envelope. Curiously, she picked it up and slid her finger underneath the seal. It was written on fine parchment with rather neat penmanship that was somewhat familiar.
