Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(18) To Hell and Back

"For the love of Merlin's sagging left buttcheek." Florence groaned in pain as she heaved herself off of her bed, stirring up her roommates as she did so. She felt extremely awful, her limbs feeling as if they'd fall apart at any given moment.

Florence's whole body was aching as she got up for breakfast that morning, feeling her muscles burn with every small movement that she did. She could barely walk properly, hobbling towards wherever she went. Roger overdid their first preparation practice against Slytherin, using the pitch until Madame Hooch went to tell them to get off the pitch personally.

Alexander and Nicolai had to endure her groaning about it once every few seconds, completely understanding how painful it must be for her, and helping her by not starting a row with each other and simply just accompanied her in silence. The last thing they wanted to do was make her explode in rage when she was already in severe pain.

Florence felt bothered throughout class, not being able to listen in properly or to attend to her Protean—which was burning since a few hours ago, but she was too preoccupied in the pain to even think about the mystery person.

She had noticed all her other teammates feeling the same way, Cho looking like she used up most of her energy by dragging her tired and sore body all the way down to the great hall, Grant wincing everytime he reached out to grab a bowl from a far distance. She would hear Duncan swear silently as he moved even a little bit, while Jason tried avoiding any type of movement. Jeremy just looked like hell, stumbling into the great hall with his hair a disheveled mess on top of his head.

Whereas Roger was the exact opposite, neat hair, cheerful expression, skipping through the hall and informing the rest about practices in the afternoon, before leaving the hall with ease in his steps. He had a bright smile on his face, unaware of the fact that his teammates were practically dying of muscle pain. Duncan looked like he was about to punch the guy, but was doing his best to restrain himself.

Florence hadn't gotten to check on her Protean until Arithmancy. And considering the fact that the teacher had given them the time time continue an assignment she had already done the previous night (before the body pain kicked in), she had talked to her mystery person for awhile, discussing their favorite Honeydukes sweets.

It took her mind off of the pain, but only for a little while.

They were given permission by Professor Flitwick to levitate their books right after he had finished scolding Davies for going too far with the first practice. The blonde haired boy argued, telling him that it was absolutely nothing since he didn't even feel a single hint of pain himself. Everybody scoffed at this.

She was thankful for the levitating charm though, because hanging her book bag with a ton of books on her shoulder could feel like extreme and excruciating torture to her.

Alexander, half-way through Charms, had noticed that Florence seemed to be bothered greatly by the body pain. With much persuasion, a couple of hexing threats and many 'seriously, I'm honestly fine' lines, Nicolai and himself had managed to send the stubborn girl to the Hospital Wing, who frowned in her seat as Madame Pomfrey brewed up a concoction to ease the body pain. She had tried to leave several times, only to have Alexander glare at her, crossing both hands over his chest.

She scowled, deciding to just stay put since there was quite nothing that she could do.

And pretty soon, after a few minutes, the rest of the Ravenclaw team was reunited at the Hospital wing—with an exception of Davies who did not find his own exercise routine a torture. All of them had been sent up by the respective Professors of the classes that they were in—Professor Sprout stating how Cho had been moaning of pain since they started with their trimming activity.