08

HOSPITAL WING

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Juniper had ignored everything around her since Madam Pomfrey broke the news to her hours ago. The sun had set long ago, the medic bay no longer cast in its vibrant oranges as it descended into darkness; the only light around her came from candles that floated above her bed. June could only feel the heat that it radiated due to the bandage still tightly rapped around the top of her head. Her eyes were still covered.

She almost became thankful. The idea of seeing the damage to her face, the reality of never playing quidditch again, sent shock waves through her body. Her only sense of purpose was being ripped away from her.

"Are you sure that you do not want me to contact your parents?" Madam Pomfrey asked a third time, hoping the girl would change her mind. She shook her head again, thankful for the pain that it sent for distracting her against her dark thoughts. "What about the potion to handle the pain? You've missed two doses now." She shook her head again, harder this time. "Alright dear, I'll be back to check on you in an hour. Try to get some rest."

A soft, delicate palm briefly rubbed over her clenched fist beside her. She almost flinched at the motherly gesture. That was motherly, right? Juniper wouldn't know motherly if it hit her like a quaffle to the face. The light sound of heels receding away from her clicked around her skull. And then she was plunged into silence.

She hadn't heard any other patients in the medic bay, Madam Pomfrey hadn't tended to anyone but her since she woke. Juniper was prepared to not sleep until she was ready for that second dose of healing cordial, too eager to know the damage done.

"June?" a voice whispered out. She hadn't heard footsteps or any motion around her at all. "June?"

"Who is that?"

"Your favourite Gryffindork," she felt a dip in the bed beside her. If she could move her eyebrows, she would have furrowed them.

"Percy Weasley, is that you?"

A low laugh echoed. "In your dreams, Hawk." She could almost hear Oliver smile as he spoke. "I just wanted to check up on you. Louisa has been pacing up and down the halls for hours. She wanted to be here but she sent me instead. Apparently prefect duties are actually quite demanding."

June didn't say anything, she simply pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them; a sting in her face as she did so. She was thankful that half of her face was not visible. She felt like crying. She cried more often than people would expect her too. Many people thought she was an emotionless Hawk, armour as thick as iron feathers. But as soon as she was alone, that armour fell down.

"I brought you a friend," she heard the click of a cage, "And before you ask, Percy Weasley is not going to appear from the shadows."

Someone rested on her shoulder followed by a low and soft hoot. She smiled, her lip threatening to split further. June sighed deeply and leaned her head into the owl.

"Did you sneak past half of Slytherin to bring me my owl, Wood?"

Dawn hooted once more, leaning into the embrace. "Of course not, Louisa helped me in this owl-knapping. I was not risking a quaffle to the face. Too soon?"

She chuckled, "Well, the wounds have quite literally, not healed yet. So yes, too soon."

"That bad, huh?"

The bed dipped more as he got comfortable. For some reason, she felt it in her lower stomach.

"Bad enough that Pomfrey is dosing herself up with muggle caffeine to stay up with me through the night. She's disappeared to make herself a fresh pot of coffee. I don't see how the muggles drink it. It smells so bitter."

"When are you getting back on the broom?"

She stayed silent.

"June..."

"It's what you wanted, right? Me benched for the season. I'm sure Pucey is throwing a party as we speak, I'm surprised you weren't invited too," she felt Dawn lift from her shoulder, hearing her wings flap around the room. "They're worried that the bones won't heal properly if they use magic. I've had one dose, but too much speeds the process up too much."

Oliver stayed silent. His brown eyes never once leaving her half-bandaged face. She thought that having her eyes bandaged up would hide the fact that she had tears brimming in her eyes. But he saw how her lip quivered as she spoke, how she pinched at the back of her other hand under the blanket to distract herself.

"That's what I get for sticking my neck out and risking my life for a Hufflepuff, right?"

"If its any consolidation, Joshua Warren has spent the whole night waiting outside the medic bay. I'm pretty sure that the prefects, Pomfrey and Dumbledore have let him sleep there. He drooled on my shoulder a bit."

Oliver Wood, the captain of her rival team, was waiting outside the door for almost twelve hours to talk to her? Comforting the boy that she had risked her life for? Waiting to see if she was okay? Oliver Wood, who last year, spread the rumour that she had demon pox, was now sitting on stone floors for twelve hours for her.

"Are we sure that Joshua and Joseph are related? One brother is breaking the bones in my face and the other is waiting to see if I am okay?" a scoff left her lips, a scoff that soon turned into a laugh. A laugh that soon turned into a giggle. Her laugh fizzled out sadly as if she remembered where she was and why she was there.

"Are your parents on their way?" he asked her. The hospital wing suddenly dropped a full degree of temperature as the air stiffened. He might not be able to see the glare from her, but he could feel it.

"No, they aren't on their way."

"Too busy with work? Must be hard work this time of the year working for the Minister."

He watched as she bit the inside of her lips and cheeks. "They haven't been told."

"June, you're in the hospital with potentially life changing injuries and you haven't told you parents? What about your sisters? You have to have told someone."

Juniper chuckled sadly until her face deadpanned. "My parents aren't like yours, Oliver. My parents don't take me to Diagon Alley and give me money for Honeydukes. They don't believe in Christmas or eating dinner together or parenting. They are just people that put a roof over my head and tell me what I need to do and how I need to do it. If they knew that I played Quidditch- If they knew that it nearly ruined their plans for me..."

She cradled the side of her head that ached from the volume of her words. A wince left her lips and she pinched the back of her hand harder until a new bruise was formed under the one that was already there. 

Madam Pomfrey walked in, the smell of the coffee following her around in a cloud. "Oliver Wood, I suggest you stop badgering my patient and return to your dorms before you loose yourself some house points. Take the owl and the boy outside with you, he is drooling on the marble."

She felt the mattress lift as he stood up. He opened the cage for Dawn but the owl hooted in disapproval at him.

"The owl can stay, keep Ms Hawk company if it must."

Oliver must have nodded because he didn't reply.

"For what it's worth," his voice was distant as he made his way towards the door, "I hope the healing cordials work."

Juniper turned her body away from him and lay her head down on the pillow, her tears wetted the bandages around her eyes and made the cuts on her face sting. It was a welcomed pain; a distraction from the pain of her childhood. She had watched many students and their parents in Diagon Alley when Rosemary would take her. She watched in envy. June remembered the first time that she saw the Weasley family stalking the streets in their masses, jealous of the relationship that the siblings shared. It wasn't any different for Oliver Wood, his mother always insisting on adding extra books and sweets to his basket. 

Dedalus and Agatha Hawk weren't just shit people, they were cruel parents.

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Louisa held her hand tightly as the bandages were removed, she could feel the material sticking to her face with dried blood and her sweat from her fever. From all accounts, the cordials were working how they should be. But she wouldn't know the fate of her quidditch career until that night. A whole twelve hours until the rest of her life was determined. 

As she saw it, if the cordial didn't work, she would have to focus on her studies more; follow the path that her parents had set out for her on her tenth birthday. She was told what subjects to pick and what books to read. All of it was tailored around magical law. Her parents wanted a daughter in each of the major departments of the Ministry of Magic, to broaden their grasp in their society. They wanted control, and their daughters would be the way that they would achieve it. 

If the cordial did work, she could continue how she was. Still acing her assignments and being in the top of her classes, but able to fly. She figured that she didn't have long until her parents found out that she didn't stop quidditch in her second year, when they did, she could leave. She could move in with Rosemary, the only sister that cared for her. The only sister that hadn't fallen for their parents trap. She played along expertly, just enough for them to believe that she was perfect like the others. 

Louisa's grip tightened on her hand as the final bandage was removed, she could hear her sharp intake of breath. Was it truly that bad? 

"I was thinking, maybe once the bandages are changed, I could invite those kids you like? Ennis, Avan and Mathias? They all asked about you. I think they'd like to see you."

Juniper opened her eyes, taking a minute to adjust to the light as Madam Pomfrey cleaned up the wounds and assessed the progress of all the cordials. Her face was unreadable, years of perfecting how to lie to her patients for their own benefit. 

"Hand me the mirror," Juniper asked, a slight lisp from her split lip. 

Madam Pomfrey continued to clean her up before she met her eyes. "It might be best for you to wait until the next time I change the bandages. I have strong hope that the cordials are working so it might be best for you to wait a little longer before you take a look."

She fought the urge to kick and shout like a kid. She had never been allowed to have a tantrum as a child, but she imagined that it was freeing. To just scream and let it all out. 

"Louisa, hand me the mirror, please," her voice was quiet as she forced that scream down.

"June-"

"Louisa, hand me the mirror or leave."

She felt the cold metal of the handle in her palm as Louisa looked away from her. With one final breath she looked down at the reflection. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. 

Her blonde curls were matted with her own blood. Her right cheek was ridiculously swollen, more than twice what it usually was. It was covered in a deep purple bruise and a long split from the side of her nose to behind her ear. That was the worst of it. Sure, her nose now had a little crook in it and wasn't as symmetrical as it was, but that was a blessing in disguise; it was her mothers nose. Both of her eyes were blood shot and dilated from the multitude of potions that had been pumped into her and her lip was split and bruised. 

"June-"

"I'd like a moment alone, please," she forced that scream down as far as it would go. She forced it down into that little place she had reserved for her childhood. Memories of Christmas's that had been spent confined to her room to study and birthdays that she had gone to sleep crying. Memories of eating alone at the long dinning table or smiling for family portraits as she shivered from her father's hand on her shoulder. 

As soon as Madam Pomfrey and Louisa left, her friend sparing her a final glance with tears in her eyes, she pulled that pillow up to her bloodied face and tried to scream. But nothing came out. 

Her screams were silent sobs that ripped out of her body.

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I love dramatic hospital wing scenes