"No, not the nurse, I don't let any other but my family's mediwizard touch me" she said through her teeth, biting back on the pain. "It's a bum ankle, an old injury from a hex in training that never healed properly" she explained as she took her boot off and threw it next to her. Training duels with the Báthorys were nasty business more often than not. A broken ankle was the least of her worries. She had endured much more at the wands of her relatives. "So, whenever there's too much pressure on it, it just cracks again. It just so happens that half of the time I dismount, this happens. It's no big deal, really, it's just inconvenient" she basically shrieking the last words as she started to roll her stocking off her leg. "Do you think you can hold it in place? Just ignore the screaming" she added as if it were the most natural thing that could ever leave her lips.

She waited till the boy had her leg secured between his hands, cursing silently before extracting her wand and pointing it at the ankle. "Ferula" she grunted. Immediately, bandages spun around her ankle, strapping it tightly to a splinter. Just as the bandage tightly wrapped itself one last time around her ankle, she gave a short screech, and exhaled deeply. "Lovely..." she said through short shallow breaths. "I'll just have to get to my dorms to take a potion and it will be like new... more like new damaged goods, but as well as it can be" she said as she started dressing her leg again.

She eventually managed to get back to her feet, and took a few unstable steps towards the mare she had just ridden. She whispered something to her ear and gave her a loving pat on the neck, before she turned to look back at Sasha. "This is rather embarrassing, but do you think you could help me back to the castle? I'm afraid it would do me more harm than good, if I were to bite back on my pride and limp all the way to the castle, only to stumble through the snow" she said realistically.

Wait, wait. 

Sasha blinked and stared at the girl.  "You broke your ankle in training at school and ... they had your family's doctor- medi- whatever ... they didn't have it healed here?"  It never occurred to the Ravenclaw that the girl was referring to training at home, given underaged wizards weren't supposed to use magic outside of school.  Even though, he knew from personal experience, there were exceptions to that rule.  Or, rather, ways of circumventing that rule. 

But, that seemed less than important.  "Look..." Sasha said, a little touch of alarm in his tone, even as he held the girl's ankle as instructed.  "I know the Healer here's a bit ... off her rocker.  She's weird.  But, she knows what she's doing.  I've ... I've had to stay there on several occasions.  Even if your family's mediwizard is ideal, the Healer here...has to be better than you doing it yourself?"  A point which seemed like it needed to be made.  Sasha was more willing to buy the girl's story of it only being the family's healer that treated her if she wasn't insistent on wandering off to try and treat herself.  Without this mediwizard being present. 

"I've seen her deal with injuries much more ... unusual ... than broken bones.  Healing broken ankles seems straightforward - I don't understand why it keeps getting broken.  I mean...I've broken my collarbone and my wrist in riding injuries.  Even with just muggle medicine, both healed more solidly than this.  And, they didn't do anything but keep it immobile until they healed on their own." 

Sasha shook his head when she asked for help back to the castle.  Surely, that wasn't really what her family wanted her to do ... just limp back to her room and take a potion until the next time it happened.  "Look.  Just ... let the Healer look at it.  I'll help you get over there.  I can only get you to Slytherin house, anyway.  This isn't right."

"No, this happened outside of school. It's rather complicated, Eastern European heiress training isn't what you'd expect" she told him while still fussing over her ankle.

She almost felt the need to roll her eyes hearing him talk. "It won't ever heal properly. The best you can do, is keep healing it whenever it happens. The curse did massive damage to the fibula and the talus, the bone got eroded so they never set properly. They no longer fit as they should. It's permanent. Dark magic, normally is" she said in a stern definitive tone, already exhausted of explaining. "It's a family curse" was the only explanation she offered him.

"That woman can't do anything for me, except put it back in place, as best as it fits, which is something I can do myself. We, Báthorys, lick our wounds in private and when that is not possible, a school nurse is definitely not the sort of person my family would entrust my health to" she told him, obviously unnerved, as she shook some leaves off of her coat. If Victor heard she went to the nurse for a broken ankle, he'd be awfully disappointed, and if Victor was disappointed everyone involved with him would be miserable. More than Victor, however, she feared her grandmother would hear of it... That was something Amara would like to avoid at all costs. Alina, literally turned into a harpy when angered.

"You can either help me back or not. I've already made a fool of myself asking once, I will not do so again" she said in a final tone, as she started to walk slowly, with small, sure steps back to the castle. The conversation was entirely too civilized and normal for Amara, of course she had to go back to her usual self...

Sasha continued to stare at the girl, slowly shaking his head.  None of this made sense and all of it went against basic logic.  Though, Sasha reminded himself, he was no longer a prefect.  If the girl really didn't want additional help, it wasn't exactly his obligation to insist on it. 

But, aside from the magic part, he understood.  Perhaps a bit too much.  Families were funny - even without generations of family curses in the mix.  Sometimes, it took an outsider to see past the stubbornness of tradition and point out the flaws in persistent logic.

"Actually, I have a better idea of what to expect than you might think.  Even if my family's muggle.  It's not as different as people assume." 

Trying to convince the girl otherwise was probably a lost cause.  Sasha recognized the prideful stubbornness readily enough; he'd been guilty of the same on more than a few occasions.  But, usually not when it involved limping.  "Sometimes family traditions need to be broken.  Especially when they don't make sense.  If you're right and nothing else can be done than the worst that will happen is she'll confirm that.  But, ... maybe that's not the case.  Families like ours tend to be a bit...archaic.  And they tend to only trust the archaic.  Maybe...maybe there's something new that will work better that your family's physi- mediwtch isn't aware of." 

"Or, I could tell her and have her come find you," Sasha voiced a third alternative to the two the girl had already offered.  Why he was being so stubbornly insistent, Sasha had no idea.  The school's healer was, indeed, creepy.  In that forward, very unfeminine, intimidating and formidable sort of way.  Even with that limp.

"I definitely did not peg you for the pushy type, Mister Schlagenweit" she said dangerously, the air around her seemingly cracking with tension. "You don't seem to understand the sort of family I come from. Running to the nurse's for a broken ankle, at an age were such basic healing charms should be second nature would not be seen kindly by my family. And they know my every move. And they do not take to weakness very well. They also have... particular ways of showing their disapproval. I have Veelas in my family. Veelas have very volatile natures. Do you understand what I am saying, Sasha?" she said in a low voice, watching him through half-closed eyes, her brows furrowed and lips set in a straight line.

"I would have to explain the origin of the first injury. How do you think a school nurse would take to my training? A twelve year old dueling with adult wizards, family nonetheless, in the sort of duel were everything is permitted, dark or illegal magic included. And the laws in Romania are much more lax when it comes to magic use, believe me" she spat at him, her hand slowly moving towards her wand. "And what if my anxiety at being touched by a stranger would trigger a fit? You cannot begin to imagine what happened the last time I had an attack!" she raised her voice, the strain on her throat causing the last sentence to come out croaked. "And it all started over nothing." She shook her head with her eyes closed willing herself to calm down. She inhaled deeply and released her tight hold on her wand.

"Please remove yourself from my path, Mr. Schlagenweit. Your assistance is no longer required and I'm afraid if you linger in my presence any longer there might be repercussions" she said calmly, without inflection, counting in her mind, and willing the anger swelling inside of her to subside.

Oddly, Sasha didn't exactly peg himself as the pushy type, either.  If asked why he was suddenly feeling the need to be so adamant, Sasha probably couldn't have offered a cohesive and logical answer.  This wasn't his issue - this wasn't his problem and goodness knew he had enough to deal with without getting involved where his involvement wasn't wanted.  But, despite the girl's insistence that Sasha didn't understand, more of what Amara said rang familiar than she probably would have believed.  He understood the weight of expectations and the fear of repercussions.  He also was well aware how much they could define and control someone's life path.  How much of a cage they could create. 

"I do understand what you're saying!" Sasha insisted.  "I really do.  Behind all the reasons and excuses, it's really rather simple.  You're...you're saying you're afraid to see our Healer when you're injured.  That's ..."  That was reality as it was right now, he understood it.  But, that didn't make it right. 

The Ravenclaw raised his hands.  "Maybe explaining it isn't such a bad idea.  I mean...look.  If you're having to hide what you're family is doing then something's not right.  And, I know what I'm talking about here.  It doesn't ... it doesn't have to be that way.  She's a school nurse but they say she used to be an Auror.  I've ... she ... dealt with me after they found me in the woods with a dead student."  It felt, admittedly, a little strange to be defending the Healer but it seemed to make sense in this case.  "I think she can handle this better than you're assuming.  I have no doubts she could handle what ever fit is triggered, as well.  I just ... if you're afraid to talk to someone, then something's wrong."

Sasha took a step back from the Slytherin but he shook his head.  "I won't stop you but she should still know."  Perhaps foolishly, he wasn't concerned about repercussions. 

"I am not afraid!" she billowed anger raising once again, and it came out harsh and thundering, surprising even herself. "You don't know anything" she said now softly. "You can't even begin to understand" she chuckled now, her arm creeping under her skirt to hold the rose-knob of the wand once again. "Let it be, Mister Schlagenweit. Let. It. Be" she punctuated each word with a hiss.

"You don't -you can't seem to understand. My family is me, I am part of my family, I represent my family, I am not trying to hide what my family is doing. I am protecting my family. Sure, our ways are hard and harsh, but they are the Báthory ways, and I am heiress to that name and have to abide by our laws, even if I disagree with them. Until I come within my full rights, I have to shut up and obey. There's much more at stake here, than a damned broken ankle!" she had her wand in her hand now, fingers wrapped tightly around it, and Rózsa started to respond to her anger, the air around it crackling with magic.

She straightened her back, her nostrils flared for a second and she raised her wand slowly pointing it at him. "I will not go the nurse's office" she said in a low voice, completely calm and devoid of any emotion. She took a step towards him, her wand straightly pointed upwards at his chest. "She has no business in Báthory affairs and I doubt that she'd be able to do what Mungo's expert healers haven't been yet able to" she took a few more steps slowly, until the tip of her wand made contact with his chest. "There is no one and nothing that can handle my curse. No one is safe if the curse acts out. No one. My younger sister stands as proof for that. She's missing half a face: an eye and quite some layers of skin. And I was 11 back then" she said her eyes a piercing blue-violet filled with danger.

"I don't want to resort to violence or magic, but I will if you are not reasonable" she said ominously. "I'm willing to compromise, however. I will owl our family's mediwizard, and he can confirm you everything I've said about the injury and also reassure you that I am perfectly capable of handling this situation. You can help me to my dorm to get the potion and then we will both go up to the owlery. Our mediwizard is available constantly, so we will have a relatively fast response. Are you agreeable to this proposition?"

During the course of the Slytherin's rant, Sasha would open his mouth to say something but quickly shut it as the Slytherin plowed on through her assumptions and assertions.  There was some truth to what the girl was saying but Sasha suspected not as much as she assumed.  From personal experience, though, the louder someone claimed they were not afraid and no one could understand, they less they really, truly believed it themselves. 

But, when Slytherin shoved her wand at his chest, he gave up attempting to speak and just lifted his hands in a defensive posture.  He wasn't concerned about her hexing him - he didn't know exactly what she learned with her family but he was certainly much more familiar with what Dark Magic entailed than he was a year ago.  He could probably even hold his own if he wanted to, but he wasn't even going to pull his own wand.  If she felt that adamantly that she did not want help, he wasn't going to force it. 

Slowly, the Ravenclaw shook his head.  "No," he declined, taking a step back from her.  "I don't need to follow you to the owlery.  It's your choice."  If she didn't want him involved, he'd rather not be involved at all.  A letter from her family's mediwizard really wouldn't do much to stem his concerns - it would just reinforce his suspicions that the family would go to any length to shape the girl's life. 

"I'll get you back to Slytherin House and leave you to your own," he assured the girl.  What he'd do after that, he didn't know.  He could just tell the Healer or Professor Trishna or, even, Mr. Morgan of his concerns.  Once he'd done that, it could be out of his hands and no longer his concern.  He gestured for the girl to lower her wand and reached an arm out towards her. 

She quickly slipped her wand up her sleeve, not bothering to put it back in the holster and grabbed his arm, leaning on him. She looked at him deeply unsettled, she couldn't make heads or tails of the entire situation, but she had felt... unburdened, almost content for a second, did she not? She stared at him for a moment longer, before she steadily took one step forward. She stopped and turned to look at him again, her face confused, conflicted by too many expressions at once.

"Thank you, I-thank you" she lowered her head quickly, staring at the ground, before she took another small step. "Maybe sometime in the future I'll tell you how much keeping this to yourself is helping me. I just need to... work on my social skills more" she said in a soft voice, still staring at the ground.

She kept silent until they reached the castle, still her head lowered and her mind in complete chaos. When they reached the door to the castle, she cast a Disillusionment Charm on the both of them, not willing to let anybody else see her in such a state, much less in the company of another and to topi it all, being helped by him. When they reached the Dungeons she took her hand off his arm as if burned, muttered a quick "thank you", dropped the charm and quickly entered the common room.

1.	I hope you don't mind Mai, it just looked like as good a place as any to end it