8 February, 1974 - Moon Cycles

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The Herbology exam did not go well. But at least it wasn't a disaster either. The shrub she'd been set to defang had bitten her. Twice. But she hadn't let Sprout figure that out until the end of the exam. She'd set her fully defanged shrub down in front of the professor and asked to go to the hospital wing, after, of course, making sure the professor knew she had been wearing proper protective gear.

By the time she'd made it to the hospital wing, desperately trying not to let anyone see her bleeding arm, she was light headed and wondered vaguely if there was some kind of poison in the fangs of that blasted plant. Sprout hadn't seemed terribly worried, but she had also told Lavinia not to dawdle.

Which she hadn't. But she had taken a few detours to avoid groups of students she recognized. There was no need for this to ever get to the Marauders. They'd never let her hear the end of it.

Only one bed was occupied in the hospital wing, and it had curtains drawn around it. Lavinia's curiosity was, admittedly, peaked, but she also nearly fell over when she stood up from the bed Madam Pomfrey had told her to wait on. Deciding she'd find out eventually, Lavinia plopped herself back down to do as she was told.

"I don't know why you didn't come faster," Madam Pomfrey said as she swept back out of her office, a roll of bandages and a strange red potion in her hands that looked suspiciously like blood.

Lavinia didn't answer, instead eyeing the potion with extreme distrust.

"Don't worry, dear," Madam Pomfrey said, noticing her stare. "It's just a blood replenishing draught. I can't say it'll taste good, but you've got to take it. You walked here far too slowly." The look she pinned Lavinia with said with complete clarity just how little she believed that Lavinia had really come as soon as she'd been bitten.

Lavinia looked away, uncomfortable. Apparently the fangs of the shrub did have a venom of sorts, or rather, a blood thinner. That explained why a handful of little puncture marks had nearly made her pass out after an hour. Not that she was about to tell Madam Pomfrey that she'd gotten the first bite almost at the beginning of the period.

"I'll be keeping you here for a few hours then, dear, just so I can be sure this potion's worked," said the matron, holding out a glass of the blood red liquid for Lavinia, who nodded.

She'd told Eloise she had to go discuss an assignment with Slughorn. A few hours wouldn't be unreasonable. She would be out in time for dinner and no one would need to know she'd nearly passed out because of a silly mistake in Herbology.

She downed the liquid in one go and suppressed a retch as the matron wrapped the wounds on her left arm in bandages and let her sleeve fall back to cover the evidence, which Lavinia was grateful for.

"Merlin," she muttered, holding the glass back out for Madam Pomfrey, who grimaced in sympathy. "That can't be good for my health."

"I promise you it is, dear," said the matron gently. "Now lie down. The nausea should pass in a few minutes, but you'll be dizzy a while longer."

Nodding - which was a mistake as it made her head swim terrible - Lavinia eased herself back on the pillows, not bothering with the blankets.

She closed her eyes, almost forgetting her curiosity about the other occupant of the hospital wing, when she heard Madam Pomfrey's voice from across the way. "Now, dear, take this," Opening her eyes and shifting as slowly as she could so as not to aggravate the spinning of her head, Lavinia looked to see Madam Pomfrey standing by the bed of the other occupant. Try as she might, Lavinia couldn't get a good look at their face and she settled back, hoping the matron would let their name slip.

But the only thing Madam Pomfrey said, with a smile in her voice, was, "If I know them at all, your friends will be here any minute."

Great. Just what she needed, people coming to see her. She could always say she'd felt sick and had come out of an abundance of caution. But if Madam Pomfrey was there... well she didn't want to have to explain to the matron why she was lying through her teeth about why she was in the hospital wing. Not that she thought Madam Pomfrey would say anything to contradict her, but rather because the motherly nature of the woman made her a very difficult person to lie to. Put simply: Lavinia simply didn't want to.

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