Guess I'm Doing Fine

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt was well aware that it was about the time for him to start to be realistic with his squashed dreams and goals. They were practically obliterated thanks to him having magical abilities but at least for now he would enjoy the comfort of the book with gruesome magical photos of surgeries. He smiled at them longingly but it was all for nought. He would never be a surgeon like his dad. He would be weird here forever. Stuck between two worlds, barely belonging to either. That was his reality so he couldn't imagine the importance of deciding electives. For all he cared, a blind girl could point and choose his courses. He could actually ask her to do so too. The young Gryffindor found himself in spurts of happiness when things were looking good but that was in no way today. Most of his days he felt trapped by this and very alone but like most unpleasant things these were to be kept to one's self.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Professor Kingsley finished her breakfast with one hand as she used the finger of her other hand to hold down a piece of parchment with a list of names. It wasn't a long list, but it was an important one. It contained the name of students who, for one reason or another, had chosen to not attend the elective fair. Deciding on electives was mandatory, so the professor knew that she'd spend the better part of her day looking for each student. Standing from the professor's table, the woman walked by the Gryffindor table, pausing as she spotted the face that linked to one of the names. At least she thought it did. She didn't know the younger students well unless they caused an extreme amount of trouble. Pausing in front of a young boy seemingly entranced by a book, Cyndi spoke. "Finch, Wyatt Finch?" she paused for confirmation, allowing the parchment in her hand to roll itself back up.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Hearing his name, Wyatt looked up from his book only to see his Head of House. As he expected he wasn't in trouble the boy nodded his head, confirming that was his name. He hardly expected that she would track him down for a stupid thing like the electives fair so the boy smiled and said, "Hello Professor." He hated to look up from his book but she seemed to be on a mission so he would at least do her this kindness. Besides he didn't want to seem like a trouble maker, even if he sometimes was. Life was easier when you didn't have a constant eye on you.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Glad that she'd found one of the students so early in the day, the woman was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be at this all day. "Good morning, Mr. Finch" she smiled at him as she took a step closer to the table, glad that he had been respectful enough to look up from his book. "I noticed that you didn't attend the elective fair, but I do need to know which electives you're interested in so that I can register you before they fill up" she explained. Perhaps Wyatt was so sure of what he wanted that he'd considered the fair a waste of time. There were always a couple of Gryffindors who felt that way. If that was the case, this would be a quick talk. "Do you have questions about any of the classes?" she asked.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt's throat felt tight when Professor Kingsley told him why she was reaching out to him. This was a waste of her time and he felt bad to have to tell her this. Looking a bit bewildered and less than happy to continue this conversation he decided to tell her the truth because if she knew that he was going to amount to nothing because he wanted nothing here she would just leave him be to his medical readings that he worked very hard to understand. "I don't want to seem rude," the American said, "But you might as well pick them. It doesn't really matter." He frowned and put his head in his hand casually, wondering why he had made all that effort for all those years only to miss out on his dreams now. It was the biggest waste of time he'd ever heard of.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Cyndi's eyebrow rose swiftly, experience having told her that those words usually preceded rude words. Thankfully, the boy's next words were only rude in the vaguest of senses, and the professor wasn't sensitive enough to be bothered. She'd heard this before, though it always surprised her that students would leave their classes to chance rather than choose a class that sounded mildly interesting and not suffer from boredom for the next three years. "And may I ask why you don't think it matters, Mr. Finch?" the woman asked, genuinely curious.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt expected Professor Kingsley to nod her head and leave but he should have thought otherwise because that was perhaps a bit of childish naiveté. He frowned inwardly then tried to compose his face while he looked at her as he said, "I want to be a surgeon like my dad but wizards can't be." Though he was steadily approaching his third year at Hogwarts he still felt upset to know he couldn't follow in his father's footsteps as he wanted. All the learned skills like sewing and practicing his precision were all for nothing as was his understanding of medicine though it was still basic enough.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

The young student's reply made the woman realize that he likely hadn't grown up in the wizarding community. She smiled, glad that she might be able to enlighten the boy and make him realize that the magical world was more similar to the world that he'd grown up in then he thought. "What an interesting job" the woman replied, though it wasn't one she'd ever have chosen herself. She didn't particularly like dealing with blood and her healing skills had peaked at learning to apply burn-healing paste and convincing her sons and husband to drink pepper-up potions. "Have you learned about St. Mungo's yet, Mr. Finch?" the woman asked, continuing on without waiting for a reply. "It's a magical hospital, full of Healers. They're the magical version of doctors. You should look into it all. I think you might be pleasantly surprised by what you learn."

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt looked over at Professor Kingsley, admittedly surprised she was still here as he had expected his Head of House to think him as hopeless as he really was. Still she asked him about a place he'd only heard of but knew nothing of. He opened his mouth to answer but instead she explained. The young Gryffindor's stomach flipped when she told him that wizards had doctors. "I thought every graduated wizard could fix themselves?" he asked, although admittedly he wasn't sure where they would have learned life saving spells from the classes he knew of. The boy had never wanted to be something as simple as a doctor, his ambitions were higher than that with surgeon as he didn't mind the gore of cutting someone open and removing infected parts of their bodies then putting them back together again but if the closest he could get to this was a Healer he might have to settle. "How do I become a Healer?" he asked, not sure what he would have to do in the wizarding world to become a doctor because he had been so focused on a life he could never have.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Cyndi let out a little chuckle at the boy's assumption that wizards could heal themselves. "A lot of wizards do know how to fix cuts and apply paste to heal bruises and simple things like that, but for more serious injuries and illnesses too, we go to professionals" she smiled. It was why they hired nurses rather than just have the professors take on that duty. Glad that he seemed interested, the professor thought about his question for a moment. She had a chart that she used, but didn't want to take the time to summon it. The woman wanted to jump on the Gryffindor's interest and not risk losing it. "Hmm...if I'm not mistaken, you have to excel on your NEWTs in the core subjects aside from History of Magic. I don't think there are any elective requirements, per se, but Care of Magical Creatures would be useful if you planned on becoming a Creature Healer and Arithmancy always looks good when you apply anywhere" she finished.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt smiled at Professor Kingsley because while this was by no means perfect it was getting close to good and he would settle for that any day. Hearing what he had to do to succeed seemed so little but he appreciated the new knowledge he was given and felt the happiest he had in some time. "Okay, I'll take those classes," he said, barely thinking about her recommendation because he trusted her in this and was just happy to have half of a shot to make his dad proud. He looked up at the Head of House and stood. He was short for his age, he knew this but he had never felt so tall until this moment and Wyatt had Professor Kingsley to thank for this so he gave her a hug before he said, "Thanks Professor," picked up his things and left to tell his friends the good news.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

The woman could see that Wyatt was pleased by the news. As he hugged her and ran off, the woman called out to him, “There’s also years of training. I’ll have a pamphlet sent to your room.” Cyndi was happy that had gone just about as well as it could have. Looking down at her list, she hoped that the next student would be just as cooperative.