บท 77: Stacey's Nose has Got it Goin' On
With a clean bill of health, Oleandra could have left the very next day, but her parents wanted her kept under observation for at least a week after she woke up. This wasn't an unreasonable demand by any means, and since the Greengrass family had made substantial donations to St Mungo's, the Healers were prepared to accommodate Oleandra for a while longer.
Oleandra dutifully used this time to complete her summer assignments, but soon found herself completely and utterly bored, as hospitals weren't generally known to be fun. She found that as long as she didn't get in the Healers' way, she could pretty much leave her room, and nobody would pester her about it. There were pretty strict regulations when it came to things that came into the hospital, such as visitors and gifts, but they were pretty lax about what convalescent patients could do, since they were already inside the building.
The day before she was to be released, Oleandra found herself wandering on the fourth floor, trying to find out where Stacey had been sent. The fourth floor housed patients who were being treated for spell-related injuries. Since Stacey had probably been hexed, this was the best place to search for her. Oleandra's own room was on this floor, which was why she had heard the Healers bring in the Muggle girl.
Originally, Daphne's room had been on the third floor, where she was to be treated for potion poisoning. However, since there was nothing "wrong" with her, she was allowed to share a room with her sister.
Oleandra wandered aimlessly, looking into each room as she went. After seeing a particularly gruesome case, she was ready to call it quits, when she overheard voices discussing something interesting, coming from around the next corner in the hall.
"Poor Muggle girl," said a female Healer sadly. "She'll never be able to reintegrate into her own society."
Oleandra flattened herself against a wall and slid to the ground, then held up a hand to her ear.
"Perthro," she whispered.
Instantly, her presence thinned. She wasn't invisible, merely unnoticeable. While holding this stance, not even someone looking directly at her would register her presence! Unless, of course, one happened to be watching her before she invoked her magic.
"Terrible business," said a male Healer darkly. "Such a powerful curse; that's a permanent disfigurement."
"Which reminds me, werewolf attacks are also on the rise," said the woman. "I heard from a friend on the first floor that there are two more cases of Muggles being turned."
"Really?" said the man, astonished. "Muggles usually die from the injuries, though. That's pretty rare."
"They're so fragile," said the woman. "So pitiful. Their lives have been changed forever, and there's nothing they can do about it."
And with those words, the pair separated and continued on their rounds. Oleandra silently stood back up and entered the room the Healers had been standing in front of. There, she found Stacey, who was trumpeting sadly to herself with her elephant's trunk. Oleandra undid the effects of her spell.
"Stacey, do you remember me?" she asked tentatively. "Who did this to you?"
"GWAAAAAAAK!" came a shriek right behind Oleandra.
"Eek!"
Oleandra's heart nearly jumped out of her ribcage from fright. She spun around and saw a young Witch in a corner of the room wearing a silvery badge that read: Auror Trainee. Curiously, her hair was bubblegum pink. Wait, now her hair had turned bright purple. Oh, and she was fumbling on the floor for her wand. Obviously, Oleandra had surprised her about as much as she had done so to Oleandra.
"Stupefy!"
A man burst through the door and shot a bolt of red light straight at Oleandra.
"Elhaz!"
The light scattered against her body and dispersed. Suddenly, Oleandra's legs nearly gave out under her and she felt very sleepy, but she managed to remain conscious. She hadn't had the time to form hand signs, much less take on any stances, so Elhaz's protective powers were at a minimum. All things considered; it was very impressive that she hadn't been knocked out in one blow by Britain's greatest Auror.
"Mr. Moody, stop!" screamed the Trainee Auror. "She's just a young girl! She wasn't trying to hurt the patient!"
"How did you get past me?" snarled the man named Moody, ignoring his trainee's pleas. "Let's see what you really look like under that disguise!"
He took out a flask from his coat and splashed Oleandra with its contents. To his astonishment, her appearance stayed exactly the same, except for the annoyed expression that appeared on her face due to being sprayed with an unknown fluid.
"Are you almost done?" asked Oleandra, wiping droplets of liquid off her cheeks. "I just wanted to visit my friend."
"Name!" barked the man.
"It is only polite to name oneself before asking for another's name," said Oleandra, who was growing exasperated. "You first."
From the man's peg leg and uncanny magical electric-blue eye strapped to the right side of his face, Oleandra had already guessed his identity, but she still asked him to identify himself to spite him.
"Alastor Moody, Auror!" said the man tersely. "Does the name Mad-Eye mean anything to you, girl?"
"Mr. Moody, you're retired, remember?" said the girl with the rainbow hair, laughing. She turned to Oleandra. "I'm sorry for my mentor's actions, it's just that you took us by surprise. I'm Tonks, by the way. I'm a trainee Auror, and my assignment was to get information from the victim. Now, you were saying this Muggle girl was your friend?"
The Muggle girl in question was currently quivering in fear under her covers. Only a large, grey trunk could be seen, protruding from the side.
"Stacey? Stacey Pullman?" Oleandra asked tentatively. "Do you remember me? It's me, Oleandra Greengrass."
Stacey had been profoundly traumatized by her experience and hadn't said anything to anyone since she had been brought here. Tonks had probably been patiently waiting for her to open up in a corner of the room.
"Oleandra?" sniffed Stacey, poking her head out from her covers, glad to hear a familiar voice. "Did they get to you too? We were supposed to go to the same secondary school, but you just disappeared after graduation."
Oleandra felt a little bad. While she had been ostracized for being weird, Stacey had been bullied for being too pretty. They hadn't exactly been friends, but they had hung out together to stave off the loneliness. After being accepted at Hogwarts, Oleandra had basically forgotten all about her past life as an ordinary person, and ghosted her only sort-of friend.
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