Late afternoon, directly after The Only Other Sound.


Greer had flopped onto one of the infirmary beds, her knees curled up and the crook of her arm hiding her face. Though the moon would be waning tonight and many nights after, these late afternoon hours brought the same sense of dread and resignation. The sun would give up on her soon, lazily stretching out and sinking down into the earth. 

She might have made patterns of light or arithmancy puzzles on the walls if she had her wand, but all she had was her smelly-smoky jacket, which she'd hung on the bed post with her striped scarlet and yellow winter hat, and a few candies in her pocket, which she didn't feel like eating.

Every so often she coughed into her sweater sleeve. The Healer could check her out, she guessed. She hadn't done anything wrong this time. She kept repeating this in her head, but whenever there was a sound at the door, Greer strained to listen, hoping to hear the thud of the Headmaster's footsteps and his voice, apologetic as he explained that he'd been wrong and Feliks really was at fault, and she'd accept it with stoicism until he got too soppy, and maybe then he'd give a hug to Lucinda, and explain just enough about the medallions and the werewolf... gloves to reassure her, and he'd even surprise her with her rescued wand, plucking it out of his pocket with an understanding smile.

If she'd told him about it.

When the door finally opened, she only heard the squeaky voice of a house elf, and the softer footfalls of the Healer. Prince? Princess? Greer knew her name was the most pureblood-y of pureblood-y names.

Greer let her arm fall away as she sat up a little, her curly hair mussed, her eyes a little too bright.

"Lucinda's legs are hurt," she mumbled, jerking her head in Lucinda's direction. Greer could wait.

Lucinda was still mad from before, of course she would be, she just wanted to lay down and sleep, to forget about all of this, plan her way to leave Hogwarts, what is there for her here? Oh she won't have an education, what about it? She has a decent enough education, in a year and a bit she can get an apprenticeship anyway. And even then, the fact she is a werewolf would be what determines her not getting a job, she was aware of this.

She had collapsed herself onto a bed as she planned to leave, the Headmaster and Professor Storm had both turned on the girls, siding with Feliks who had attacked them, before talking about how he had werewolf gloves that were sent to him by his mother, so it was a family conspiracy on top of that. She needed an escape route, she didn't think she'd survive until the Easter holidays, if her parents even let her come home for it, she needed to get an owl out to tell them.

After awhile Healer Prince entered, with Greer immediately passing off medical attention onto herself, she wasn't having that, she was the one who had gotten them into the mess, Greer was caught in it, she needed the attention the most.

"Go to Greer, she's younger and more bored." She said in return as she finally kicked off her shoes to allow herself to curl up onto the bed, instead of having her feet constantly dangling over the edge for Peeves to attack them, if he was around, she could see after the destruction of the room that there may be extra precautions to stop Peeves from even getting close now.

Emma had been relaxing in her cottage in Hogsmeade when a loud crack announced the arrival of a house elf with instructions to return with her to Hogwarts. Not being a particular fan of side-along aparition, the healer sent the house elf back and grabbed her kit before throwing a handful of green powder on her fire. She had a connection directly to the fireplace in her office, it being the most practical means of getting back quickly in an emergency.

The healer emerged into the infirmary to find two students on beds - one Lucinda Temple, whom she'd recently treated, and the other Emma didn't recognize. Though when Lucinda mentioned the other girl's name, Emma recognized it as the other resident werewolf student.

'I'll worry about who to treat first, if you please,' Emma said firmly as her gaze took in the bloody, disheveled forms, looking for the worst injuries. 'What happened?'

Such a simple question with such a long, complicated answer. Greer looked at the Healer blearily, but decided to answer before Lucinda could make it sound like an ickle first year had almost murdered them.

Which was the truth, but still!

"Lucinda's legs are hurt," Greer repeated more clearly. "We were in the woods near Hogsmeade, and Feliks hexed her knees backwards, and she fell into a grave pit, and Professor Storm found us later and fixed it up with Finite."

Greer thought he had. Or had he also thrown a hex at Lucinda? She was still struggling to reconcile Storm's concerned face in the woods with his cold anger in the Headmaster's office.

"Also, the kid threw a silver net on top of us," Greer held up her hands and wiggled her fingers, then quickly crossed her arms, because she was fine, and her fingers were only a little pink from the silver and seemed to be healing on their own. No worse than the other scratches and bruises she'd gotten.

"And Feliks lit the trees on fire, and it was smoky, alright?" Greer sounded hoarse, but she was trying not to mumble as much as she usually did.

Greer flopped back onto the bed and stifled a cough into the crook of her arm, knowing she was missing a few details and mixing up the order of events. Lucinda would tell her the rest.

"I'm fine, my legs are fine." She shot at Greer, glancing towards the younger girl, she was fine with being in pain, she was more worried with Greer being injured, she was meant to protect Greer, and it was her fault they were ever in the situation in the first place, therefore she deserves to be in the pain while the younger student was merely dragged along for it all in the end.

She rubbed at her nose and winced in pain, she certainly thinks she might of done something to it when she landed face first, would explain the smell of iron she's had since then anyway. With a sigh she completely draped herself on the bed again as if to prove she was fine.

"I've come into contact with silver, almost shoved into a child sized coffin, had my knees reversed, then reversed back later, fallen face first into a grave, had her land on me. Inhaled smoke. But I'm fine." She lied to herself.

"Besides, she's weaker to silver then me."

She closed her eyes, putting her dirty hands over the top of them to block out the light, today was a mess, she just wanted to curl into her bed and cry.

As much as Emma would have liked to have found out exactly how Greer and Lucinda had gotten into the situation that had caused their injuries, it wasn't relevant to treating them.

Instead, the healer went to Lucinda first as, based on their description, she seemed to have the worse injuries. 'Rest for a few minutes,' she said over her shoulder to Greer. 'And let me know if you start to feel worse.'

Emma held her wand horizontally over Lucinda. Starting at her head, Emma drew her wand down along the girl's body, silently casting a spell that would allow her to determine whether there were any internal or unseen injuries. At the end, she nodded and said, 'You're fortunate. The worst of your injuries are a broken nose and a little bit of lung damage from the smoke. I can take care of those easily. I'm going to cast a spell to relieve your pain, then repair those. After I check out your friend, I'll take care of the rest of your cuts and scrapes.'

She murmured, 'Lenio dolor doleo subvenio' (because patients did sometimes like to hear the spells, even though they were just as effective when cast silently), and Lucinda's pain eased. Emma then proceeded to heal the girl's nose with episkey and her lungs with a slightly trickier bit of magic that healed the damaged tissue and soothed the irritation.

She went slightly red with a blush as she had decided that she was in the worst shape and needed medical attention first, thanks for that Greer, she could of easily held out long enough for the other girl to be tended to first, although it did have some relief over her as she felt pains easing up, she couldn't help but to release a slow and gently sigh at it as her eyes closed.

"Thanks." She mumbled somewhat awkwardly as she took a breath through her freshly healed nose, it was easier to now even if it felt odd to have it done. "Good to know my only damage was a broken bone and potentially permanent lung damage, who needs lungs anyway."

She let herself roll out onto the bed, rested on her back so she could look at Miss Prince as she did her job, it was good to know that atleast one staff member wasn't currently out trying to kill her or Greer, although if this was merely a ruse to get them to drop their guard and make them easier to attack later as they became trusting...That was also a good opportunity to take with the two, but so far she hadn't been outright malicious like Knox or Storm.

Once Emma had taken care of the worst of Lucinda's injuries, she turned to the other girl, with a 'Stay put' over her shoulder to Lucinda. At Greer's side, the healer went through the same procedure of checking the student for injuries and determined that it was much as she'd reported - the same lung damage from the smoke, faint silver burns and a variety of cuts and scrapes.

Emma healed Greer's worst injuries, then stood between the two beds, arms folded, looking down at the two girls. 'I want you both to stay here for the rest of the night, at least.

'I don't suppose either of you know if I should expect a visit from the headmaster tonight? Or whether I'll be seeing this Feliks for injuries?' She didn't like not knowing what was going on. The name Feliks seemed familiar, but Emma wasn't certain if he was a student or not.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Greer looked up at the Healer and crossed her arms in turn. The Healer hadn't asked questions about what had happened in the woods, thankfully. She'd just done her job. She was the type of Healer that Greer didn't mind.

What a minute. Maybe not. A scowl tugged on her mouth at the thought of staying here overnight. They weren't that injured! Everyone in the Gryffindor common room would know that something bad had happened in Hogsmeade if Greer didn't at least sleep in her own bed.

Just as Greer opened her mouth to protest, the Healer asked after Feliks. Ugh!

Greer ducked her head and glanced up with furrowed brows.

"Feliks is fine. He doesn't even have a scratch on him."

Embarrassing, but true. How was that possible? Greer had seen Storm get at least a few shots in when he'd been dueling Feliks in the woods, and the kid had just bounded into Greyfriar's office like it was nothing. How had the awful little sneak healed so fast? Had he been hiding it and she couldn't tell?

For a moment, she hesitated, and then shook her head. No, no, he'd done it. It didn't make sense and she didn't understand it, but he had done it. The idea that some stranger had attacked them was too disturbing to even think about.

Her head sank a little lower.

"And I don't know where the Headmaster is. Probably still in his office getting Feliks a cuppa," she mumbled irritably.

"I wouldn't trust him to visit." She mumbled softly, she didn't really want Knox to visit them, he had obviously sided with the person who was trying to kill them, she didn't know why he would side with the one trying to kill werewolves, perhaps he wanted to be the only one in the school? It was a possibility he might be, or they were really that troublesome for him to manage, so many possibilities as to why...

She watched as the healer managed Greer and gave an audible groan at the idea of staying here overnight, atleast in her dorm room she had stuff to defend herself with, Feliks or Knox could obviously get easy access to either place, but atleast the girls rooms had some warding against boys that might alert her if she was under attack, here there...wasn't much at all.

"Both are probably laughing at us right now." She just said with a low growl as she moved to pull the bed covers up over herself, into a little Lucinda Burrito of safety.

She needed to find a way to escape the school, Easter was soon and she might be home for that, but if two professors and Feliks were trying to kill her and Greer, she didn't think she could survive that long at all.

Emma was mightily confused. Lucinda and Greer seemed to be implying that the headmaster had had something to do with what had happened to them, that he'd had some part in it or didn't care that two of his students had been harmed.

She couldn't claim to know Knox well at all, but the healer couldn't conceive that the man was out to harm Hogwart's students. Absently she waved her wand, summoning a tray with a pitcher and mugs and directing them to the table between the girls' beds. 'Water for you,' she told them. 'Try to get some rest. I'll be in my office. Sing out if you need anything. I'll be back to check on you shortly.'

The healer headed into her office, thinking hard. A house elf had been sent for her, likely from the headmaster. The elf hadn't specified. Briefly, she considered sending one to find Knox, but decided that might be a bit officious. Instead she sat at her desk and grabbed a small scroll of parchment.

She dipped her quill in ink and wrote:

Headmaster,

I've treated the two students that were sent to me, but I'm concerned about some things they've said. Are there others that need my attention? Do I need to take precautions to protect Lucinda and Greer?

Please reply at your earliest convenience. I'm keeping the girls in the infirmary for the night, at least, though their injuries were not severe.

Healer Emma Prince

She signed her name with a flourish, then rolled and tied the scroll. Emma stood and carried the small parchment roll to where her spectacled owl Severus was napping on his perch. 'Sev,' she said quietly, reaching out to gently stroke the owls head. He woke with a soft 'chrr' and blinked large eyes at Emma. 'Take this to the headmaster, please, quickly.'

Sev hooted and rubbed his beak affectionately against Emma's hand before taking the scroll and taking flight.

The owl found Knox alone in his tower. Once he read it, he realized his mistake. Sending Greer and Lucinda down to the healer with no context other than their own traumatized and shunned account - well, it was likely to be maddeningly inscrutable.

He decided to answer the letter in person. He proceeded down quietly with three apologies ready. When he entered the Infirmary, he saw Lucinda and Greer in nearby beds, looking well tended for but not in any improved spirits. He did not see the Healer.

"Girls," he started, hands classed behind his back. "Nasty business. So sorry about all that. What is the word from Healer Prince?"

Greer sat up quickly and curled in her legs just as quick, peering at the Headmaster over her knees. She'd been hoping to see him, but her stomach flopped uneasily when he spoke. What was he sorry for? He didn't say.

"She's making us stay overnight," Greer jerked her head towards the office door. They were fine, really, and the Healer had done her job, so there was no reason to make them stay. She didn't expect the Headmaster to care much, though. Staying overnight wasn't what she was actually upset about either. Lucinda understood.

"What's the word on the little monster?"

Greer blurted sulkily, before she lost her nerve, knowing full well that the Headmaster wouldn't appreciate her word choice.

He'd likely heard it before, about her.

She heard...and smelt him enter. She wasn't happy at it, why would he come here if not to finish the job? What did he really care about the business? He wasn't there, he had no right to say about it, he wasn't even there for a start. She also just didn't want to see him right now, she wanted to just sleep and plot escape routes to go running through the wilderness and escape, what could be safer.

She kept her eyes closed and remained curled up under the blankets, pretending to sleep, she didn't care if they noticed she was awake or not right now, she wasn't in the mood to discuss what...'nasty business' had happened today.

She shifted a little to hear the conversation better but otherwise kept herself quiet, she would find an apology to Greer later for abandoning her like this, but for now she would just listen...perhaps if he believed she was asleep he might give more information to just Greer or she'd get some information on why he wants her killed...or catch him in the act of the crime...

Alright. The girls were not keen to see him. Greer was surly and Lucinda was likely pretending to be asleep for how much noise the old man carried with him nearly all the time. The older werewolf couldn't blame them, of course. In their eyes, they'd been banished from the tower and their apparent assailant had stayed. Just another punishment and betrayal from the Headmaster who did nothing, it seemed, but hassle them and remind them of their ostracization. Knox slid his hands into his pockets and accepted their hostility.

 Greer parried and Knox sighed.

"Felix is well, but no monster," he replied. "He's a child just like the two of you are, and innocent of what should not be taken at ... face value."

The pun was overmuch. Feliks was a metamorphmagus and the victim of similar dopplegangery. He was secretive, furtive, and bumbling, but violent he was not.

"But you'll see no more of him tonight. You both rest. I'll speak with the healer."