The familiar crack of apparation disturbed the silence of the first floor of St. Mungo's as a disheleved woman apparated in clutching two bloody eleven year olds. One was awake and the other, not so much. Lexi, being recently attacked by a rogue werewolf, had a torn (okay, ripped open) shoulder and was bleeding profusely.  Her friend Alice was gripping her good arm, supporting her weight in order to keep her up.

Alice stood there, in shock  and worry. Was Lexi going to die? She sincerely hoped not. She grabbed Lexi's hand that was hanging limp for comfort. Alice felt terrible. Why couldn't have been her? Why did Lexi jump in front to save her? Her eyes were welling up, but she was determined not to cry. Not in front of people.

Cynthia Hunter didn't feel any different. This was her niece that was now bleeding in her arms! Cynthia did feel a small bit better that it wasn't Alice, though she couldn't say that. "We have an 11 year old girl who was just bitten by a werewolf! We need help, and we need it NOW!" Cynthia yelled angrily. She had worked in health care at a little clinic for a few years, and so understood the severity of this injury. She never liked the way St. Mungo's ran, but that didn't matter. Maybe Lexi could walk out of her unharmed. But that was still unclear.

Lexi was vaguely aware of a strong grip on her arm, there was yelling too. Alot of yelling, red sparks and blurriness. Dizziness too, as if she was going to throw up. She couldn't open her eyes, everything hurt too much. Her shoulder, oh god her shoulder hurt like a thousand demons were breathing fire onto it. Her blood ran hot and fast down her arm, like a river that no one could control. Some one was yelling her name, her brain muddled it into a confusing string of unintelligble noises. What was wrong with her? What's happening to her?

Cynthia yelled once more. "Oi! Someone! THERE IS A DYING GIRL HERE!" Alice jumped hearing these words yelled by her mother. It hit her like a brick wall. Lexi was dying. As in may never wake up dying.
Alice even spoke up on the verge of tears, "Please. Anyone? We really need help."

Contrary to the frantic woman outside, the silence on Floor One was not due to lack of healers or activity, but an attempt to muffle the screams of the wounded so not to stress out the other patients. After all, it was a full moon, on the Creature injury floor. With direwolves roaming all over London, the healers were up to their eyes in wounds. Many were, thankfully, not infectious bites. He had already dealt with three bad scratches (And we aren't talking kitten scratches here) and one bite, despite having started his shift an hour ago.

He had just left his last patients room, his lime green robes splattered with blood in such a way that he appeared to be a rather formidable and macabre Christmas tree, when he heard a woman screaming from the entrance. He didn't hear what she said, but the urgency in her voice pushed him forward as he rushed to her aid. Tonight, there was no waiting room, especially when he heard a feeble child's cry. Kale Ferris was not about to let a child die on his watch.

"I'm here, I'm here..." He said as he rushed into the room. Immediately his eyes fell upon the two children. Children, dammit... They were simply too young to be the target of such an attack. He was in his late teens when he was attacked and he still had nightmares, so he could only imagine it from the point of view of an 11 year old. The scars along his back tingled painfully at the thought.

"Werewolf?" He asked, though the vicious bite wound in the limp girls shoulder answered the question for him "Come here, love..." He murmured softly, taking the wounded girl from her friend, gently but firmly. Cradling her in his arms, he glanced over the other, softly sobbing, child "Are you hurt as well?"

Alice stood there wide eyed, seeing how limply she hung in his arms. She's going to die. And leave me all alone. Alice continued to think. It was all that was on her mind. My cousin. No! My SISTER is going to die. Her eyes could take nothing more and began to unleash the tears to run down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around herself for slight comfort. "N-No sir. I'm fine. But," She sniffed. "Will Lexi be okay?" She covered her face to hide her silent cries. Alice's shoulders shook. She took her hands down and said, "P-Please. Make her okay."

Cynthia Hunter bent down and hugged her weeping daughter and whispered something in Alice's ear. Even she was starting to tear up. Cynthia kissed her daughters forehead and said, "Everything is going to be fine, Alice."

Lexi was aware of movement, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her. The transfer jolted her wound and caused immense pain. This time she could open her eyes, and try to figure out where she was. "Whe.. Al..." Lexi tried to say. The pain from the bite wasn't relenting, it was getting worse and each moment that past brought a surge of anguish. She tried to scream, but her lungs weren't cooperating. She was helpless, there was nothing she could do to help herself. She heard Alice's voice among all of the confused thoughts flooding her brain.  "N-No sir. I'm fine. But, Will Lexi be okay?P-Please. Make her okay."

Lexi wished she could reassure her cousin, if only she could get the words out. Even if she could talk, what would she say? Yes Alice, I'm fine. Great actually, just ducky. The gaping hole in my shoulder doesn't hurt at all! It's just a scratch. It was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open. The room was swimming with black dots and everything was blurry. The dull pounding in Lexi's head grew sharper and more acute. She closed her eyes again and couldn't get them open. She tried but she couldn't, there was no strength left in her body to move a muscle. What's going to happen to me? she thought before she blacked out again.

"N-No sir. I'm fine. But, Will Lexi be okay? P-Please. Make her okay."

She looked so tiny... so scared... He felt his heart twinge painfully in his chest, feeling for her. What she must have seen that night was something no child...no, no person, should ever have to witness. He wanted to give her a fatherly hug and tell her it would be alright, but there were more pressing matters at hand, namely the limp and blood sodden child in his arms. She was the one that needed the most attention. "I will." He said simply, letting the seriousness of his voice relay an unspoken promise that he would save her friend. "I need you to stay here and wait until the werewolf capture unit can come and interview you." He nodded to the woman with her, mistaking her for the mother.

Leaving them there, Kale rushed the girl off to the first clear room he could find. Though he was just a 'trainee', he knew that all of the other healers were busy and that the girls life was hanging by a thread. He didn't have time to go and find someone else to help her. "Stay with me kid..." He murmured to her, laying her on the bed and pulling out his wand. The first thing he did was cut across her shirt, trying to leave her enough to keep her modest but to not obscure the wound. Carefully removing the bloodied scraps of cloth from the wound, he finally got a good look at it and felt his stomach churn in horror. She looked so tiny on that bed, the pale skin of her shoulder a mass of shredded skin and curdled blood.

Grabbing a werewolf kit nearby, he dug out a few vials. The first one he carefully poured into her mouth, massaging her throat so she drank it. It was a simple but very effective pain potion. She was already knocked out, so this would keep her from waking due to the immense pain she could be expecting. He then carefully rearranged the torn skin so he could, hopefully, leave her with the least disfiguring scar possible. Selecting a jar of what appeared to be neon green goo, he begin to apply it to the wound. It smelled disgusting but the moment it touched her skin, it begin to fizzle and under the goo he could see the skin tightening and reattaching.

Nodding in satisfaction, he lightly patted the girls cheeks "Wake up... come on, wake up honey... I need you to drink this..." He was referring to a blood replenishment potion he had grabbed. She had lost a lot of blood.

The movement started again, this time it lasted longer and she felt a slight bump when she landed on something. A bed maybe? Then something was going down her throat. She felt someone shaking her slightly, patting her cheeks..."Wake up... come on, wake up honey... I need you to drink this..." She had been drifting between conscious and unconcious, but now she was defineitly starting to wake up again. The pain seemed duller, as if it had subsided, but the horrible headache and dizziness still engulfed her body. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a healer leaning over her almost, protectively?

He looked horrible, not in a bad way, but his emotions... She could see the pain in his eyes. The blood, her blood, on his robes made her cringe. His hand came towards her mouth, in it was a vial with some sort of potion. She weakly opened her mouth and swallowed as he tilted it so the whole thing got down. It did not taste good at all and Lexi gave a weak cough, as if trying to clear her throat and mouth of the awful taste.

"I know.. I know... it tastes horrible..." Kale murmured comfortingly, rubbing the girls forehead as she drank it. He remembered that taste. Disgusting... but it felt good at the same time when the fresh blood begin to pump through your veins. Retrieving a roll of bandages off of a nearby shelf, Kale started to wrap her shoulder carefully, talking to her as he did so. He found that talking calmly to a person while healing them helped take their mind off of the wounds "... You have a great little friend out there... she is very worried about you. Is she your sister?"

As he talked, he pulled out a marker and drew a little bird on the caste, lightly as so to not cause more pain. "There... there is a little bird to remind you not to go out exploring on a full moon... What were you doing out tonight anyways?" He was curious to why a mother, who obviously knew about magic and the existence of werewolves, would have let the girls be outdoors on a full moon. Of course, he shouldn't assume she allowed them to, considering his own wanderlust as a child would never have been deterred by his parents rules. He just hoped they hadn't gone 'werewolf hunting' like he had as a child.

Back when he was her age, there weren't too many werewolves out there... but nowadays? With the direwolves and all the political unrest provoking unwarranted attacks, it was dangerous to step foot out of your home at night even when there wasn't a full moon.   

"... You have a great little friend out there... she is very worried about you. Is she your sister?" Lexi heard the healer say, she shook her head no. "She's... m-my cousin." She finally got out. Her eyes followed him across the room as he grabbed some bandages and began to wrap her shoulder. The potion he had given her was working, she could feel some of her strength coming back and it wasn't as hard to stay awake. Then he pulled out a marker and drew something on her bandages.

"There... there is a little bird to remind you not to go out exploring on a full moon... What were you doing out tonight anyways?" He asked, honestly Lexi had forgotten about the full moon. It wasn't something she normally kept track of and the excitement of the trip had pushed that thought out of her mind. "I d-don't k-kn-ow. d-didn't k-kn-ow full moon..." She said, her voice cracking. They should have been more careful, why didn't they think through it? Now, because of their carelessness, Alexandra was going to be a werewolf. Isn't that what happened when you got attacked? It was going to ruin her life.

The tears that had subsided from before now came back fresh. Just the thought of being locked up every month and having people look at her funny scared her. She would never be like the others. And what about Alice? Where'd she go! Lexi thought, She's got to be scared too. It's just as bad to witness an attack, even worse since Alice was the one that was in the way of the werewolf. Lexi hoped her friend wouldn't push her away. The segregation against werewolves was a big deal and she knew Alice didn't hate them, but that doesn't mean she would want to be friends with one.

"I d-don't k-kn-ow. d-didn't k-kn-ow full moon..."

She was so young that he guessed she hadn't been taught to watch for that sort of thing. Hell, Kale had been 19 years old when he went out during a full moon, despite knowing full well about werewolves, but than he had been drinking heavily. Not that it was any excuse, but he couldn't blame her for making a mistake when he had made the same one despite knowing better. Especially when that mistake would change the rest of her life, mostly for the worst. She seemed to be thinking about this as well, since she suddenly started to sob once more. At least that is what he assumed she was crying about, since the pain should have subsided by now. Honestly, he didn't blame her. He would be crying as well if he were in her position.

"Shh... Shh... Don't cry love... It will be alright..." He murmured softly, pressing his hand against her head comfortingly, even though his words felt anything but. "... Look, there are so many changes coming to the world right now... if things go well, being a werewolf won't ruin your life..." The words felt hollow even though he did his best to mean them. Sure there were legislations being passed to help out those good people who were infected and others to stop the bad ones, but she still had a long, difficult road ahead of her. He would be a liar if he told her that things would be as easy and carefree as they were the day before.

"You will just need to learn how to care for yourself properlike... Take your wolfsbane and make sure to watch for the full moon..." Simple but effective habits, but they were the easy ones. He didn't add that she would have a hideous, disfiguring scar on her shoulder for the rest of her life... and that she would be reviled and discriminated against by many of her friends and loved ones... and that once a month she would lose her mind and possibly kill those she loved. No, he couldn't tell her all that. He would leave it for whomever the ministry sent over to register her. After all she had already been through, Kale couldn't stand being the one to make her cry again.

Alice sat in the waiting room, her mother sitting next to her. Her tear stained cheeks hidden in a mass of hair. Her head was down on her hands which were flat upon each other and she was murmuring something. Nothing anyone could hear, for she was doing it quiet enough. She was praying; something she hadn't done for a very long time. Her eyes were shut in thought. "God," She started. "I know you may think I don't believe, but I do. I know you watch over me, and thanks for that. But I really need some help. Help Lexi. Make her better. I'm not even sure what better is, but just make her better. And that guy? The Healer? Send him some good news or something. He looks like he has had a bad day." She muttered. "And I think I end it with amen? Yeah? Okay then. Amen." She pulled her head up and looked over to her mother.

Her mother was sitting there, stone cold expression. her arm was leaning on her knee and her hand held up her chin. Alice could see the gears turning in her head, thinking about something. What Cynthia was actually thinking was how she was going to break it to Lexi's family what happened. How this was going to impact their families' relationships, and how Alice would grow up now corrupted with these memories. She could only imagine what Alice was thinking about. My poor daughter. My poor poor daughter. She thought to herself.

"Mommy? When do you think Lexi will come out?" Alice asked her. She had her hand on the seat handle. Cynthia placed her hand over her daughter's and squeezed gently.

"Any minute now sweetie." She stated hoping it was true. "But when the people come to talk to you about the werewolf, tell them exactly what you know. Don't lie."

Alice laughed her innocent light laugh. "Mommy, I wouldn't ever lie. What I will say will make the world a better place; not a worse place." She smiled, trying to hide the hurt and the worry, though her eyes once again became flooded with tears.

In that moment, Lexi decided she really liked her healer. He was really good at what he did and she trusted him. "Shh... Shh... Don't cry love... It will be alright..." He told her, pressing his cool hand on her face. Lexi felt a wave of comfort wash over her. Kale was trying his best and she appreciated that. Her shoulder didn't hurt anymore and she didn't feel as weak as she had before. That didn't mean she would be able to hop up and go run a mile, but she didn't feel sick to her stomach.

"You will just need to learn how to care for yourself properlike... Take your wolfsbane and make sure to watch for the full moon..." More habits she needed to get used to, potions and calendar watching. She wondered what wolfsbane tasted like... probably horrid just like the others she had taken tonight. Lexi opened her mouth in an effort to talk, but she couldn't get her voice to work properly. She tried to clear her throat, coughing weakly, and said, "C-can I s-see Al-lice?" Her voice trembled, she wished it was strong and confident like it normally was.

She needed to see how her cousin was doing, if she was ok. Yes, she was stuck on this bed, but that didn't mean she was any worse than her friend. Alice would be scarred, for life she assumed; and most likely feeling very guilty. Lexi had jumped in front, she had created a human sheild between the werewolf and her friend. Although she had taken the physical blow, Alice had taken a mental blow. They were each sharing an experience that was bound to change life as they knew it, and it would either tear them apart or bring them closer than ever.

"C-can I s-see Al-lice?"

His gentle smile faltered for a moment when she asked this. Man, she asked some hard questions... Ones that he didn't have a happy answer to. "I'm sorry, kid... but, no... we can't. Not yet..." He said slowly, feeling rotton that he couldn't let her see her friend. It was just too dangerous considering all the things that had been happening lately. What if one of the werewolves being treated down the hall were to get loose and attack Alice? He didn't want to have to patch up two werewolf wounds on children tonight. "It's for your... and her safety. I can't let anyone back here until after the full moon is over..." Reaching out, he patted her head as reassuringly as he could.

"But don't you worry... I will let them know you are alive and then send them home to rest. And in the morning, they can come back and see you first thing, I promise. Pinkie swear...?" He wiggled his pinky at her, giving her a crooked smile. He didn't know if British kids did it but the pinkie swear was the ultimate promise when he was a kid back in America. Hopefully it hadn't lost its allure for her, otherwise he would look like just another silly, pandering adult.

---

Several minutes later, after he had gotten his robes cleaned of blood so he didn't scare the mother and cousin anymore than needed, Kale ventured into the waiting room. He gave the two ladies a kind smile "I'm sorry about the wait, ladies... but I have good news." He said, hoping to relieve any anxiety. Crouching down, he focused on Alice "Alice, right? Your cousin is going to be fine. She is very sore right now and needs to stay here for a couple of days, but she is going to be okay."

Turning to the mother, he handed her a rolled tube of parchment and a self inking quill, telling her in a more professional tone "I need you to fill this out before you go... basic patient history and all that. She is going to need to stay here overnight to make sure the sutures take and the blood replenishment potion works. You both can come by in the morning and see how she is faring....Oh..." He produced a small vial of potion. Leaning in, so only the mother could hear, he added "Give this to Alice tonight... it will assure that she gets a deep, dreamless sleep. If I know anything about this sort of trauma, and I do, she is going to need her rest."