𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐀 | Unveiling, uncovering. The Greek notion of truth.
Esmerelda knew everything was going to change the second her super nice foster father suddenly turned into a snake monster and tried to eat her. She just never expected for all of...
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▬▬▬ CHAPTER SIXTEEN ▬▬▬
"OH MERLIN, YOU LOOK LIKE hell!" Susan shrieked when she saw Esmerelda the next morning.
"...Thanks." She said miserably, forcing herself to get off the bed despite every inch of her body screaming at her not to. The more severe injuries had healed up, but there were still nasty bruises all over her skin. The side of her face still hurt too from when she was thrown against a tree.
"What happened to you overnight?" Hannah fretted. "You have a bruise on your cheek!"
She flushed with embarrassment. "I had a nightmare last night... Thrashed around too much and fell off the bed."
"Oh," she frowned in sympathy. "You should go to Madam Pomfrey then. Have her give you a potion for a dreamless sleep."
"Have her heal up your injuries too!" Susan added. "Ooh, and maybe you can miss out on today's potion lesson."
"Susan!" Hannah admonished.
"What?" She asked. "Professor Snape sort of scares me..."
Esmerelda didn't argue with that. He sometimes scared her too. "Would Madam Pomfrey ask questions?"
"No, she rarely ever does." Hannah replied as she started making the bed.
A light bulb lit over Esmerelda's head. Madam Pomfrey rarely asked questions, which was good because she couldn't exactly tell her that she was getting beat up by monsters in the forbidden forest. Plus, her supply of ambrosia and nectar were dwindling and she needed to find another healing alternative. "What kind of things can she heal?"
"Anything," Susan said brightly. "Bruises, illnesses, potion-mishaps! I heard she could even regrow bones!"
"So she can heal stab wounds?" Esmerelda asked eagerly.
Both girls stared at her.
"...You're not planning on getting stabbed anytime soon, are you?" Hannah asked cautiously.
"'Course not," she scoffed. "I was just, uh, wondering what else she can do." Why didn't she decide to go to Madam Pomfrey sooner? Regrowing bones? Amazing! Not even the children of Apollo could do that!
"Alright," Hannah said slowly, clearly not believing her. "You be careful alright? To be quite honest, I wouldn't be surprised if you do get stabbed one day..." She shuddered at the thought.
"Yeah," Susan agreed. "No offense, Essie, but you seemed to be looking worse and worse."
"Oh, I'm just a little sleep deprived." She said dismissively.
"And all the bruises?" Susan inquired, brow raised.
"I fall off my bed loads of times." She lied.
Suddenly, Megan finally awoke. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and immediately saw Esmerelda. "You look like the walking dead!" She exclaimed.
"Morning to you too, Meg." Esmerelda said dryly. "Does anyone know any stain-removing spells by any chance?"
"Depends," Megan replied, crawling out of bed. "What kind of stains?"
"Blood. I think I started on my period." She lied.
"Oh!" Hannah perked up. "It's Tergeo. My mother taught me it in case I ever started my period in Hogwarts." Then she proceeded to teach her the spell, but Susan and Megan were interested too and soon enough, it became a mini-lesson.
After freshening up and getting dressed, she grabbed a quick breakfast (bananas and toast) and headed off to the hospital wing. She pushed through the double doors and was instantly amazed. The school's hospital wing was far more impressive than any other infirmary she had ever been in. The room was larger than the classroom's back in her old school, and contained a lot of evenly spaced beds, privacy screens, and bedpans.
In her old schools, there was only one bed (a pretty small one) and that was it. It even beat camp's infirmary!
She spotted Madam Pomfrey at a shelf, organizing what looked to be a bunch of potions. She looked more like a nun than a witch to be honest, and it kind of made her nervous since she once attended a super religious private school where most of the staffs were nuns. One of her teachers, Sister Marjorie, was convinced that she was the spawn of Satan and would often make her stay after classes to write bible verses. Thankfully, she was pulled out of that school when her foster parents gave her back up to the system.
It was too late for her to run now though. The nun had seen her.
"Good Godric, what on Earth happened to you?" She clicked her tongue and strode towards her.
"Uh," Esmerelda stared at her stupidly. What was her lie again? "I fell off, uh, something." Her face heated up. "I mean, I fell off my bed."
"You look like this because you fell off your bed?" Madam Pomfrey repeated blandly.
