TRIGGER WARNING - PANIC ATTACK
Several days had passed since Ophelia had transferred to St Mungos; going from her usual world to a magical world was definitely a huge change. To start with she struggled not to be startled anytime anyone reached into their pockets and pulled out a wand. They initially looked like twigs but the more Ophelia saw them, intricate designs and details were easily seen. Soon she discovered every wizard's wand was different and unique to them. Another new find was the lack of 'pills', instead everything was a drink or known to wizards as potions.
Finally the speed in which healing took here was shocking to say the least, by the end of her first day her broken wrist was healed and they had began working on healing other injuries but they didn't want to heal all instantly to ensure Ophelia felt safe and settled in to the wizarding world.
Thankfully, there was constant Ophelia had found since moving to St Mungo's; these were the daily visits from Professor McGonagall. It was discussed if the lady was forced to come by the headmaster or if it was out of pity, but either way the visits really helped Ophelia.
Each day the Professor would arrive promptly at 4:30pm. Just like with the daily visits, the two had never agreed on a time but it was always exactly at that time and she never came late. Under her arm each visit was a tin filled with biscuits and they were the most delicious biscuits Ophelia had ever tasted.
Supposedly they were baked by house elves at Hogwarts, another new thing Ophelia had learnt - elves were not fictional, they were very much real and not in the way of Christmas. Usually they were employed, or arguably owned, by wizarding families. However, Hogwarts had its own legion of elves brought in by one of the Hogwarts founders, Helga Hufflepuff, to ensure they could work fairly and without abuse. Apparently, house-elves were a very heavily debated creatures. Ophelia felt extremely lucky to have Professor McGonagall to teach her about 'magic', but was even happier that she was taught about life in general from someone extremely unbiased and remained to the facts.
Once the biscuits were opened, Ophelia would then watch in awe as Professor McGonagall would summon two mugs from thin air. Everything else was magical too - water would shoot out from the tip of her wand, mutter another spell and the water would boil instantly and then she would finish making their tea. Magic was amazing and Ophelia was certain she would never be bored of it or take it for granted.
Today Ophelia was well enough to leave the hospital room so Professor McGonagall took her and their mugs of teas into a small garden area that was a part of the hospital. Brightly coloured flowers and well-maintained herbs painted the floor of the garden. From six feet up the sign was an opaque green, it was filled with luscious leaves that all looked freshly grown. Flying around the garden were blue birds speckled with white spots, yet none of them tweeted or sang like the usual British birds. Making a mental note to ask Professor McGonagall, Ophelia looked back down from the nature to see the lady with a newspaper.
"It moves?" Ophelia could see on the front a photograph of a man yet the photo, more like a video, was moving to show the man pushing through a crowd to hide from the cameras.
"Oh yes, all our photos move. Really captures the moment in full." Minerva lifted her head to see the excitement on Ophelia's face as she continued to discover more about the world. Minerva was really enjoying watching Ophelia discover magic, she had obviously taught muggle borns but seeing someone discover magic from scratch was definitely different.
"That's incredible!"
"I guess it is. Here, have a look through it." Quickly closing the paper, she stretched her arm in front to hand over to Ophelia. The sudden movement caused Ophelia to flinch and swing her arms out in front of her face like she was attempting to defend herself from the newspaper. Or maybe, from Minerva. It broke Minerva's heart seeing such a simple action cause the girl in front to instantly become fearful and feel the need to protect herself. By the nonchalant attitude Ophelia usually had, Minerva often found herself forgetting this girl had experienced such trauma. She didn't know everything but didn't want to either, these conversations would only happen when Ophelia initiated them.
"I am sorry dear, I didn't mean to startle you." Minerva tried to speak softly, with hope that this would calm Ophelia down. But by this point Ophelia had already entered a state of panic.
Ophelia wanted to answer the lady, she didn't want to ignore her or seem rude, but it felt like an invisible hand was pressed against her lips. By not being able to answer, the panic spread more and drums were pounding in her ears.
Soon all she could hear was the hammering of her heart against her chest and the thoughts in her head. This wasn't a new feeling to Ophelia, in fact they happened frequently but never normally in the company of someone. This seemed to be making it worse as one of her main thoughts were embarrassment.
Ophelia knew she needed to breathe, but telling herself to breathe wasn't easy either. Instead all she could do was gasp. With each breath, or lack of, Ophelia could feel her vision fading. It was there, but it was all a blur. So she forced her eyes shut. Yanking her knees up to her head she knew she had to let it pass.
Minerva watched the scene unfold in front of her, she had seen a few panic attacks in students before but never this extreme. The girl was attempting to talk; but like a fish out of water it looked more like she was suffocating. Nothing was coming out of her mouth and she definitely wasn't hearing any words in either.
Calling for a Healer to administer a calming potion may have been the most logical approach. But instead, Minerva stood and approached Ophelia slowly, scared any sudden movements could make the situation worse than it already was.
Bringing Ophelia back to her senses were a pair of gentle hands touching her own. Feeling something so physically reassuring and caring allowed Ophelia's thoughts to settle slightly and soon her hearing returned. A few short yet comforting sentences were repeated by the owner of these warming hands.
"You're ok."
"You're safe."
"I'm here with you."
These words were starting to sink in and so Ophelia forced her eyes open again. That's when she realised she had allowed herself to relax in the arms of Professor McGonagall and for once she did feel safe. A minute more passed and Ophelia's breathing was becoming more regular again. Slowly Minerva unwrapped her arms from Ophelia when she felt able too and reached over to the tin resting near the mugs of teas.
"Have a biscuit."
Ophelia stared at the biscuit unsure on exactly what to do.
"Take the biscuit dear, just have a nibble on it. It will give you something to focus on plus will regulate your blood sugar." Minerva spoke with some more authority this time.
So Ophelia took the biscuit and was amazed that she did start to feel better. After a couple more biscuits Ophelia felt much calmer and able to speak in full sentences once again.
"I am so sorry for ruining today." Ophelia broke the silence, embarrassment over what occurred filling her.
"Nonsense, you did not. I will hear nothing of the sort." Minerva spoke with strength, a strength that tried to prove her point.
"I did though and I really am sorry."
"We will have to agree to disagree." The older lady raised an eyebrow, almost like she was challenging Ophelia to apologise one more time. This statement put a small smile back on Ophelia's face.
"Thank you for helping me though, no one has done that before."
"It's the least I can do."
A yawn passed through Ophelia's lips and it wasn't hard to tell how exhausted she was following the incident. Battling your mind is one of the hardest tasks anyone could face.
"Let's get you back to your room, you should rest. We can continue looking at the newspaper tomorrows visit. In fact I will bring some yearbooks too, you can see some of my previous students."
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Before Minerva had left the hospital that night, she found herself discussing the panic attack with a nurse. The nurse then explained how Ophelia was physically fit to be discharged from next week but as Minerva had just witnessed, her psychological state was much more fragile. If she was to go 'home', she would need a lot of support; but where home would be was yet to be discovered. This is exactly why she was stood in the Headmasters office, having a conversation she never expected to have with her boss and friend.
"Albus, I would like to become the legal guardian of Miss Montgomery." Her friend looked up to her, that knowing smile that was always resting on his face grew in size.
"I presumed that this would be the case."
"I am not even going to question how you knew, you're too intelligent for your own good." This causing Albus to chuckle.
"You are certainly not the first to say that."
"I can't explain the feelings I have grown for this girl, it has been just over a week since I first met her with you but I can't shake the feeling of wanting to be there for her." Minerva explained wholeheartedly, focusing just on emotions before remembering to speak facts. "A;so, the girl has nowhere to go home to and we would have to ensure she could begin learning some materials for Hogwarts. How on Merlin's beard could she do that from a muggle home or from a wizarding family we do not know very well."
"The decision is yours to make Minerva," Albus tried to hide the amusement he found from seeing Minerva over explain the reasons, knowing the beginning reason was the only reason. "but you have my blessing."
"Then its settled, I will owl the hospital this evening."
Minerva stood to leave, brushing down her robes before straightening the hat that was sat upon her head.
"Minerva you are an amazing lady, I think this decision could not just change Ophelia's life for the better but yours too."
"Thank you Albus. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Minerva."
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QOTC - What is your go to comfort food??
My Answer - I genuinely do tend to go for biscuits and a cuppa! Ha!
Thank you for reading x