The Little Pureblood [1]

Chapter 28: Let's Disobey Mother

The next morning was Boxing day, a random holiday celebrated in the UK but not in the states, so rather than feel jolly about the day, I woke feeling the need to get things done and figure out what exactly Madam Pomphry was up to.

I met her in the hospital wing a little after 8 am after eating a few slices of toast and jam. Upon entering the wing, I found a large curtain had descended over the far side of the wing, hiding one patient from view.

Madam Pomphry had just stepped out from the curtain when I arrived and met her by a side table where a variety of jars stood, containing potions ingredients and half-finished potions of different varieties.

"You're here rather early this morning, Ms. Fountaine. Eager are we to start?" She asked looking down at me.

"Start what, Madam Pomphry?" I asked back innocently.

I watched as the nurse took a vial of some sort of berry mixture and dropped it and a few wisps of another vial into a small mortar.

"Helping me, of course. Your friend over there is going to need some much-needed attention from me which will lead me to have difficulty helping all of my other patients at once."

A sense of awe dawned on me as I turned to glance around the wing again. Most of the beds were empty, except for four. One, holding a girl older than me who seemed to be sick with some sort of flu, two others lay motionless on their beds, closed off by the world with a sheet blocking them from peering eyes. These were the two students that had been attacked, Colin and Justin. And the fourth student was a boy with a cloth over his head and was moaning softly.

"That boy over there is suffering from a severe migraine and will need to take this every other hour," Madam Pomphry stated, as if reading my mind, as she continued to pound away at the mixture.

"And you would like me to stay here all day helping your patients?" I asked, concerned. I was all for helping Madam Pomphry in the wing. After all, that was where all the drama came back to. The students being attacked were recognized here, and Hermione was recovering here. It was a perfect place to learn new information about what was happening around the castle. But, the idea of spending my whole day in the hospital wing during my break helping sick students seemed to be a little too much for me.

"Of course not!" The nurse snapped, turning to face me again.

"Dumbledore has allowed me to take on a few students who are willing and who have shown proper skills in Potions and Herbology to help me on certain days when the flu season has really gotten bad. I have been having trouble helping all my patients and will need some students like yourself to do some of the odd ends here. Professor Snape believes you would do well here. Now all I ask, is if you would like to volunteer?"

I left the hospital wing with new questions swirling around me as I tried to understand why Snape would think of me, of all the students here, to be a good volunteer for Madam Pomphry. I knew I wasn't a mediocre potion's student. I was the best student of my year when it came to potions. But, assigning a first year to help at a hospital wing?

My mother will have a fit when I tell her I signed up.

So naturally, I wrote to her, telling her the wonderful news. I heard back from my mother shortly after the new term started with over four lengths worth of parchment wrapped around poor Hootie's leg.

Sam and I were seated in the library next to Dominic, Jasper and Ginny, busy at work creating a journal of all the newest developments the mandrakes had made each week since first being plotted when Hootie arrived with my mother's words.

"So how's she taking it?" Sam asked, glancing curiously up at the massive letter in my hands.

"Not well," I mused. "Seems like she's worried about me getting sick from the patients there. And then she wrote something about judging Hogwarts for doing this to me when her old school, Beauxbatons, supposedly would never do such a thing.." I went on, highlighting my mother's dramatic French accent, causing Sam to snicker while both boys looked up curiously. Only Ginny kept her gaze down toward her journal with a stone face.