Cat Scratch

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon wanted to kill his sister for impulsively buying herself a kitten. Although he had first warmed up to the idea of her pet, he decided he officially hated Etcetera once his skin began to break out in hives. It was annoying enough to have to constantly clear his throat to stop the itchy feeling in his throat, but it was another thing entirely to have his entire body itch and scratch.

Zara had insisted that potions to cure him of these allergies existed in the Hospital Wing. So one night, after being unable to sleep in his bed because Etcetera had found its way into his room and taken a 'cat nap' on his sheets, he got up and put his slippers on. He was too lazy and irritated to change out of his pajamas and just wanted to get the potion for these symptoms so he could go back to sleep already.

Lennon crept down Ravenclaw tower quietly, illuminating his wand with one of the few spells he knew and walked quietly down to the third floor where he thought the Hospital Wing was. He probably shouldn't have had his wand out and lit, but he couldn't really see much in front of him and he didn't think he would run into anyone else at this time. Why else should a student be out at 2am anyway?

 

[Kayla Sheridan]

Kayla tossed and turned in her sleep. Her bed clothes were all over the place and she clearly look distressed. Suddenly she woke up with a gasp. She lay in her bed for a few moments, trying to regain her breaths. She felt she had just ran a race. Instead she had been extremely frightened, terrified even. Ever since her run in with the boggart she had been having increasingly frequent nightmares. She hated it. She hated how terrified that thing had made her feel, how helpless and useless she had been. It was even more embarrassing that it was causing her these nightmares. Kayla was not one to admit when she was scared. Even when she was being bullied it had taken her a long time to tell her mother. Once again she had been embarrassed by the fact she was unable to stand up for herself. She was proud of the fact however that she had never let her tormentors know she was scared or frightened. She had just been sick and tired of their constant jibs and pranks.

Sighing she got out of bed. She hoped a walk through the castle might calm her nerves and settle her so she would be able to sleep. She pulled a jumper over her head and threw on a pair of slippers. She cautiously walked out of the Gryffindor common room, making sure no one else was about. She wanted to at least have the walk before someone caught her. At least then she wouldn't get a detention for no reason. She was methodically making her ways down the various floors, keeping her wand close to her. She didn't want to use her wand for the light but she wasn't ready to walk in the dark yet. The boggart experience was too recent. Instead she had her wand held low, dampening the light slightly. When she arrived on the third floor she quickly whispered nox, the light from her wand vanishing. She saw before her , a light. It took her a few moments to realise it was neither a professor or prefect. Curiously , she began to follow the light of the person's wand, wondering where this student was going and what they were up to.​

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon tried telling himself he was doing nothing wrong by going to the Hospital Wing at 2am. He felt it was perfectly valid for him to want a potion to relieve him of his allergies so he could get back to sleep. But that didn't stop him from being as quiet as possible so as not to get caught - just in case.

As soon as he reached the doors to the Hospital Wing, the Ravenclaw sighed with relief. Now that he had reached his destination he could stop worrying about being caught out of bed. But before he went in the Ravenclaw began to pace back and forth beside the doors. He was sure his reasoning for being out of bed so late would be fine, but what if the Healers who worked in the Hospital Wing tried to shoo him away before he got a chance to tell them why he was there? He always worried about the smallest things even before they happened or before they proved to be a problem. He continued pacing outside the doors, trying to figure out what to do. He wondered if he should just go in or admit defeat and walk back up to Ravenclaw tower.

 

[Kayla Sheridan]

Due to the lack of light it took Kayla a few minutes to realise they were in fact outside the Hospital Wing. Her curiosity grew as she wondered what on earth this student was doing. She crept closer, she wanted to see if she knew the student. She could now she it was a male but she couldn't make out any distinctive features. It seemed they were trying to get into the Hospital Wing. Her interest was spiked once more. What on earth could he want in the hospital? It confirmed her initial belief that this student wasn't a prefect. Or maybe they were but in any case they couldn't rat her out because they were also out of bed after hours and she presumed they were going to try and steal something from the Hospital Wing. But she now faced a dilemma. A part of her wanted to report this person, she had no idea what they wanted to steal. It could be for some dark purpose. She couldn't have that on her conscience . She felt obligated to report what was happening. But she wanted to make sure. If she reported the student, she would in turn get in trouble so she wanted to be certain they had ulterior motives.

She watched as he just stood there, pacing back and forward. She was sure he could maybe just ask the Healer? Or maybe what he wanted wasn't allowed? Or were the door locked? So many questions that this boy seemed not on answering himself . At last her curiosity got the better of her and she quietly relit her wand and stepped out "What are you waiting for?"She asked curiously, her voice echoing through out the castle.

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon went through all the pros and cons of his situation in his head. Was living with a constant scratch in his throat and a rash on his body manageable or was sleep worth it to risk getting caught out of bounds for this potion? Just then he saw a wand light up and someone approached him, asking him what he was waiting for. At first, the Ravenclaw thought it was a Prefect coming to bust him for curfew, but the question was not exactly what a Prefect would ask. As he raised his own wand to see who it was, he could tell it was another first year, simply curious as to what he was doing.

Lennon cleared his (still scratchy) throat and said, "Um well, my sister's stupid cat likes to sleep in my bed sometimes and I can't take it anymore." As soon as he said this, he realized this gave no information whatsoever on why he was at the Hospital Wing in the dead of night. "I'm allergic to cats you see," he clarified, "and my sister says there's a potion they can give me to help them go away, because I can't sleep when I'm all itchy." He turned to look back at the double doors he had yet to enter and then turned back to the girl. "But I don't know if I should go in or not because I don't want to get caught," he said quiety. He hated that he worried so much about things before they even happened, but he couldn't help it. "So now I'm thinking maybe living with allergies won't be so bad," he chuckled weakly.

 

[Kayla Sheridan]

She presumed the hospital would be open as an emergency could happen at any time. But despite this fact she presumed the nurse would also be inside? Kayla had never been in the hospital wing before so she couldn't be sure but she guessed they wouldn't leave it unsupervised. She wondered what this boy wanted so desperately that he was willing to break into the hospital wing. In a way she admired them. After her run in with the boggart she was afraid to do anything. It had really knocked back her confidence and she hated that. She had spent so long building it, it hurt that she was going to have to start the process all again as well as battling the emotions of her father and her fear of the sea. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the light brighten in front of her eyes. The student had acknowledged her presence . Now that she could see him clearly she tried to get a read on him. He didn't seem sly or sneaking or like he was here for ulterior motives. He seemed in pain actually and her heart started to melt. He was obviously just here because he was in pain. This was the obvious reason but it just confused her, why he was so nervous. He was in pain after all.

His first sentence puzzled her. "So?"She thought but her questions were soon answered. His voice sounded raw. Kayla was glad she wasn't allergic to anything. It would be horrible and this poor boy couldn't sleep. She decided right there she would help him. She didn't mind if they got caught as long as he got some sort of relief before they got caught. She tsked him "No, it's not worth it, we'll sort this tonight"She said giving him a determined smile. He seemed nervous and she could see he would need a bit of a push to retrieve this potion. "If we are lucky the nurse will be there and we can ask them for it"She reasoned walked towards the doors. "You coming?"She asked, looking back. If needs be she would get it for him herself but she had no idea what she was looking for so it would be handy if he came along.

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon half chuckled when the girl clicked her teeth at him disapprovingly but when she offered to help he smiled at her. He was surprised when she headed for the doors, since it was not even her issue that she had to deal with, but she was going to help him anyway. He was glad that this girl had more nerve than he did to trespass somewhere even though they were supposed to be asleep. If she hadn't been here, the Ravenclaw probably would've resigned himself back to a bed full of suffocating cat hair.

Lennon followed after the girl and he was relieved to find that the Hospital Wing was indeed open, but he couldn't seem to find a nurse in sight. He thought it was curious but then again there didn't seem to be any patients in the Wing at the moment, so perhaps there didn't need to be anyone on staff tonight. Lennon looked over to the girl and shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to do. "What do we do now?" he whispered, even though there was no one around to hear them. He took a few steps forward and took a peek into the Nurse's office, but didn't see anyone there either. Either they were on a lunch break, or there really was no one on staff tonight.

"Do you think they have a medicine cabinet or something?" he wondered. His mum had a cabinet full of medicines, some for her own diagnoses, and a majority mostly because she was a Healer, keyword being was. Their grandma had once explained to him and Zara that the medicines were mostly there just in case he and his sister ever got sick with something. Because of this, Lennon had become somewhat of a cautious child, not wanting to have to take medication like his mum often had to. But tonight was different, he needed this allergy potion. He had heard once that allergies were like a glass of water; every time you had an allergic reaction, your "glass of water" would fill up a little more, until one day your glass gets full and overflows, which most likely meant something deadly. Lennon was pretty sure Zara's cat had probably made his glass "half full" by now, and in this metaphor, a half full glass was not a good thing.

[Uuuuuugh I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply, I'm the worst!!]

 

[Kayla Sheridan]

Kayla couldn't just leave this person suffer. He shouldn't let himself either. There was probably a nurse on duty that would help them when they entered. She would have to teach him one or two things about standing up for oneself, even if that was possibly breaking a rule so as to relieve yourself from pain. She wondered what house he was from. She didn't want to assume he wasn't from Gryffindor just because he wasn't the bravest in this instance but she couldn't remember seeing him around the common room so she presumed he was from another house. Be that as it may she was going to help him. It was the least she could do. His suffering made her appreciate the fact she wasn't allergic to anything.

She opened the doors and they were greeted with an almost silent Hospital Wing. It was quite eerie if Kayla was being honest. She wasn't a huge fan of hospitals. This was her first time being in Hogwarts hospital. It definitely wasn't your bog ordinary one, it looked quite old-fashioned but it had the same smell as any other hospital which made her dislike it. "Maybe we should call out for the nurse?"She suggested looking around. She was surprised there wasn't a nurse on duty but maybe they were on a break? It must be hard staying up all night. Or maybe they had to call them or something? Kayla literally had no idea. She was quite honestly stumped but she would find a solution.

"They must have one somewhere"She replied, following the boys lead and looking for a cabinet of some kind. Knowing their lock it could be locked but that didn't stop Kayla from looking. "Do you know the name of the potion?"She asked from the other end of the Hospital Wing. It was quite a big area and Kayla was glad there was no patients around. That would just make their job harder. "I'm Kayla by the way"She whispered suddenly realising neither had introduced themselves. It was as she said this she spotted the nurse's office. There didn't seem to be anyone inside so Kayla tentatively pushed the door open. She was surprised that this was unlocked but it also worried her because it meant the nurse could be close by. "I've found it"She half spoke, have whispered to the boy she was helping.

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon felt a little eerie in the large empty Hospital Wing and was very glad he wasn't alone here. With the other other girl searching with him, he felt more reassured that they could find what he needed sooner and get out of her more quickly. When she asked him if he knew the name of the potion he shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not." For a moment Lennon worried about the potion's existence; what if he had just believed Zara's nonsense once again and it didn't actually exist? Zara had a way of making people believe she was right. But Lennon would rather not tell the girl they might be looking for a made-up potion just yet because he didn't want her to get mad. So instead he reassured himself that such a potion must exist, because allergies existed so there had to be a cure.

As the girl introduced himself, Lennon realized they hadn't actually introduced themselves beforehand. "Nice to meet you Kayla, I'm Lennon. Thanks for helping me," he replied with a hopeless smile. If she hadn't taken it upon herself enter the Hospital Wing, Lennon wouldn't have done it, so he was glad for the push she had provided. "Just curious, why were you awake so late?" he wondered, since he had already explained to her why he was up.

Lennon saw her open the nurse's office and carefully followed after her when she said she had found the medicine cabinet. "Great!" he whispered back excitedly. Although the two had just started talking to each other, Lennon just wanted to get out of this place and get rid of his allergies already. Although the fact that the nurse's office was unlocked should've clued them in that the nurses had probably just stepped out momentarily, whether it was lunch or a break, or simply to somewhere else. If he had felt like he was trespassing earlier, there was no denying it now as he approached the medicine cabinet. He was surprised to find that it had no lock, although perhaps it didn't need a lock since the only officials allowed in the office were the nurses so they would never have to worry about students getting into the office without their supervision. Yet here they were opening the cabinet full of small vials of different potions. Some had labels while others didn't. "I hope we can find it quickly," he said, looking at Kayla momentarily before looking back at their challenge of identifying the medicine he needed.

 

[Kayla Sheridan]

Kayla frowned. It would have been helpful if he had known the name of the medicine. But maybe it was similar to the muggle remedies? Antihistamines or something like that. It was a starting point anyway. She would be recommending this boy to head to the Hospital Wing again tomorrow during the day where a nurse would definitely be on duty. She was surprised there was no one here now. She was glad neither herself or this boy were critically injured. But then again a night shift was probably a pain and maybe they were napping. What intrigued her was the fact he referred to the cure as a potion. She was used to tablets for allergies but maybe there were tablets? She wished the nurse was here it would make life much easier but alas they were going to have to try and do this themselves.

Kayla smiled "No problem" He seemed at a loss and she was glad she had showed up to urge him to come into the hospital wing. She doubted he would have come in otherwise, he could have just stood outside the doors for quite some time before going to bed. However his following words wiped the smile from her face and she quickly looked down at her hands. She then cursed herself for making it so obvious this question bothered her. She was an actress for God's sake. She looked up at him once more "Just couldn't sleep"She muttered offering a small smile.

It was as they walked into the nurse's office she realised they were probably breaking a few rules, especially when they opened the medicine cabinet. She bit her lip as she looked at all the vials, bottles etc that were inside. This could take a some time and that was something they didn't have. She no longer wanted the nurse to come in as they would probably get in trouble. But she was determined to find this potion. Then all this sneaking around would have been for nothing. "It must give some clue on the label"She answered beginning to pick out vials. There had to be some clue. She took another few vials out and handed them to Lennon. It would be preferable to put the vials back in the exact places they were found but they didn't have time to worry about that.

 

[Felix Garcia]

Felix had fallen asleep in his office, it wasn't too late but he'd just arrived after being back at his other job and that usually meant that he was tired. However the sound of voices drifted through to his office, and it slowly but surely awoke the man. He sat up a little confused trying to figure out the origin of the noise until he realised it was little voices, students. He was a little surprised to hear a student, but that was why he was still at the school, occasionally someone needed to cover the night in case anything happened during it and it was Felix's turn. So he stood up stretching a little as he did so. He wandered through, following the sounds and then noticed what it was, two students appeared to be searching for something in the hospital wing potion stores, which doubled as a sort of office room too, though not his or Lucius', Felix coughed loudly to alert them of his presence, "What are you both doing?" he asked them, looking between the girl and the boy and wondering what on earth they were doing breaking into the hospital wing stores at this time, "Why are you breaking into the hospital wing stores?" he further prompted, hoping that these students wouldn't lie to him, if one of them required his help he would help them but they still needed to be disciplined for what they were doing, whatever that was.
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