Chasing Pavements | Remus Lupin

chapter five | first day expectations

For the first day of classes, Celeste wasn't sure what to expect regarding students coming in the Hospital Wing. Of course, every day with her job was always unpredictable, which was something she knew going into the profession after graduating from Hogwarts. In her experience, she had days that would either go smoothly or terribly wrong, always on her feet to get the job done. While it was exhausting either way, Celeste still found enjoyment in helping people, and that was all that mattered to her.

As the morning went by, both Celeste and Madam Pomfrey spent time on handling illnesses and injuries from students, most of which involved dealing with nerves on the first day and attempting to perform spells without any supervision from professors, specifically, spells they hadn't been taught yet. Celeste figured she would see this from first year students, but she was quite surprised that the ones coming in with magical-related wounds were mostly older students. It reminded her of the Marauders and the Runaways, to which they all came to her first to see if she could deal with it first before going to the Hospital Wing as a last resort, trying to avoid getting into trouble for whatever they were up to. Celeste was usually able to get it resolved with her healing abilities, but there were a few exceptions that were beyond her control, with James and Sirius being involved in those the majority of the time. However, members of the Runaways weren't so innocent, either, but at least they were smarter than the Marauders when it came to getting away with things.

Things began to slow down as the afternoon was rolling around, which Celeste was happy about. So far, everything was going well with getting students in and out of the Hospital Wing in a timely manner. It was when Hagrid came rushing in as he carried a Slytherin boy in his arms, to which Celeste quickly got a cot ready for him as she saw the blond's head hanging off the edge of Hagrid's big arms, quietly whimpering.

"What happened, Hagrid?" Celeste asked, trying to remain calm.

"That bloody chicken of his attacked me!" the boy cried out, clutching his arm as he was placed on the cot.

"Oh, crikey, it's jus' a scratch, like I already told yeh," Hagrid stated. "Mr. Malfoy got a little too close to Buckbeak. I tried to warn him to stay away. Hippogriffs can get offended very easily, yeh know."

"Yes, they're not to be messed with," Celeste commented, letting out a sigh as she was examining his arm a bit closer. "Well, let me just take a look at your arm and see about getting it fixed up."

"Oh, please don't tell me you'll have to chop it off," he whined.

Celeste had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at his comment, knowing almost immediately that he was without a doubt Lucius Malfoy's son.

"Calm down, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey intervened with a couple of potions in her hand. "From the looks of it, you probably just have a scratch like Hagrid said. Healer Rhodes will have you out of here in no time."

The boy impatiently rolled his eyes. "Wait until my father hears about this," he mumbled.

Celeste went ahead and carefully placed his injured arm in a sling, though even with her delicate hands, the boy still winced and grunted in pain every time she moved his arm for adjustment. While finishing up, she warned him about using his arm too much, wanting him to be cautious of it due to a risk of hurting it even more. She wasn't sure if he was actually listening to her the entire time, but she hoped he didn't come crying back to her because of it. If that were the case, then maybe she would leave him for Madam Pomfrey to deal with.

After the Malfoy boy left the Hospital Wing, that gave Celeste the perfect opportunity to sit and relax for a bit while having some lunch before anyone else came in. She was content with being able to enjoy her sandwich without any interruptions, with the exception of Madam Pomfrey coming back after being out of the wing for a moment to gather more herbs and potions for their cabinet.