Bad News (Mimosa)

As had become her custom upon returning from the Shrieking Shack, Mercy had spent the rest of the day asleep in the hospital wing, blissfully oblivious to the world outside. She woke up once in the middle of the afternoon, tried to sit up, felt dizzy, and decided to go back to sleep.

Now it was 8 o'clock in the evening, and she finally opened her eyes, and felt awake enough to eat some of the supper the nurse had provided for her. She took about six bites and felt nauseous, so she set it back down on the bedside table.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she tried to ignore the throbbing headache blossoming behind her forehead. The first day was always the worst. She swung her legs off the bed, sat there on the edge for a moment gathering her strength, then gingerly lowered herself to the floor and stood, swaying slightly. Her vision swam for a second, but eventually cleared as she steadied herself against the bedside table. She took a small step, then another, and straightened up.

So far so good. As she took another couple steps, she started feeling much steadier on her feet. She could make it back to her dormitory, anyway.

The nurse emerged from the back room. "Feeling better?" she asked softly. Mercy nodded. "Alright, dearie, I'll sign you out. If you're not up for classes tomorrow though, you can always come back here and lie down, okay?" Mercy nodded again. She knew the drill.

The nurse collected the mostly neglected tray of food, and returned to the back room. Mercy continued toward the door, as quickly as her aching joints and pounding head would allow.

Ever since the news of what had happened to her Uncles had reached the little witch, Mimosa seemed to exist in a bubble of sadness. The bubble wasn't permanent by any means, and the arrival of her Jacques had certainly made it almost disappear for a few hours. But whenever she was alone or there was nothing to distract her, it formed once more, reminding her again and again that there were two people in the world who just... weren't anymore.

How could that happen? One day you were here and then the next... Where did people go when they died? Would her wearing black for two months really help her uncles somehow? If so she could go and get a bunch of black dresses in addition to her uniform. Mimosa didn't know all the answers, but she knew someone who could help her figure everything out.

Unfortunately, getting out of her common room alone was even more difficult than usual. Whereas before the child had been surrounded by friends wishing to be seen with her, now she was hounded by older girls and their concerned faces after Jacques had dropped in to see her. Mimosa didn't understand why but suddenly all the girls wanted to tell her Jacques at once how much they were looking after Mimosa and how much they saw the first year as their own little sister and how much they loved children in general and wanted to have twenty of their own some day.

So with all the girls watching her like a hawk, Mimosa had had very little opportunity to sneak out, and when she had, she had to mumble an excuse about going to see Professor Kessler and how he had once told her off for bringing an entourage. It was only when she was out of the common room and the wall panel had shut safely behind her that she took a relieved breath, only for the wall panel to open again and Squid Boy to emerge, lanky awkward legs first.

Mimosa was just about to tell him off for following her and repeating her excuse when he motioned for her to be quiet and walk, grabbing her shoulder and propelling her forwards. It hurt a little but not enough to deter the young American from her anger. It was only when they were both out of earshot of anyone that Squid Boy spoke up.

"You aren't going to see Professor Kessler."

"Yes I am."

"He isn't at Hogwarts this evening, stupid."

"How would you know?"

Squid Boy shook his head, looking at her almost incredulously before speaking up again. "Doesn't matter, point is, if you want to sneak off, come up with better excuses. And if you're going to the forest, that's even more stupid."

"I wasn't going to the forest," Mimosa replied petulantly. Squid Boy may be smart but no one liked a know it all. "I just wanted to go to the Hospital Wing."

Again the boy looked at her as if she was incredibly stupid, but did not comment. For a few minutes, both Slytherins stood in stubborn silence, both of them looking at the other as if they expected the other to concede. When nothing happened, Mimosa finally turned away.

"Well then, I'm off to see the nurse."

"Your broom is in shed six, with the Slytherin team's equipment."

It was a mark of how childish they both were that neither thanked the other for keeping their secret. In fact, Mimosa had forgotten all about Squid Boy by the time she reached the first floor landing, cutting a straight path to the corridor that led to the Hospital Wing. The idea was just to mill around and wait until Mercy was released or to break her friend out when the nurse wasn't looking. After all, Mercy couldn't be that sick. She was the strongest person Mimosa knew at the castle.

Mercy finally made it to the door, leaning against the doorframe for a second as a bout of slight dizziness overcame her. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window, and winced at how pale she looked. She hoped she'd feel better in the morning, she didn't want to miss classes.

When the dizziness passed, she straightened up again and continued walking, entering the hallway and turning toward the stairs. It was days like this, she really wished Hogwarts had a lift--and wondered despairingly why the Gryffindor tower had to be on the seventh floor, while the hospital wing was on the first. On a normal day, she was a ball of energy in peak physical condition, and the stairs were a breeze. On these days, she had to rest after every flight and catch her breath, which made returning to her dormitory slow going. She sighed softly in resignation as she approached the first staircase and looked up.

She didn't notice the person rounding the corner until they collided. Luckily, Mercy wasn't moving very quickly, so bumping into anything wouldn't do much damage, but she hadn't expected anyone to be walking down the first floor corridor at this time of night.

"Sorry," she mumbled, turning her attention to--Mimosa! She perked up as much as was possible in the state she was in. What was she doing here? Had the popular Slytherin girl escaped from her posse just to come and see her?

"Mimosa!" She grinned, albeit tiredly, and with only half her face. "Hey! What're you doing here? How'd you get away from all your...people?" Her brain couldn't find the right word, so she floundered for a second before settling on something close enough.

The plan was totally to spring Mercy from the clutches of the evil nurse who was holding the Gryffindor hostage against her will. Mimosa was even momentarily distracted by the how and when and which way of it all. But as Mercy emerged from the room, all but bumping into her, the temporary distracted faded from Mimosa's mind to give way to the very real realization that her best friend was here.

Just as Mercy bumped softly into her, Mimosa's hands went up, clamping on to the older witch from both sides as she fiercely hugged the Gryffindor, no words coming from ehr mouth. Mercy asked questions but the younger brunette couldn't answer any of therm so she just stood, holding on to Mercy wordlessly until the world became better.

She was sure she had cried enough since yesterday, but here she was, her face crumpling once again as she clung to Mercy, the tears starting once more no mater how impossible it seemed. But it was okay, Mercy would understand. She would make it all better.

"C-can we go.. out to the g-grounds?" she managed, face still hidden in Mercy's sweater as she weeped softly. "P-please."

Mercy barely blinked at Mimosa's arms wrapped around her, and she reflexively hugged back. When the hug lingered past a normal greeting, however, and when Mimosa seemed to ignore her questions, Mercy realized something was wrong. Oh no. She was in no way prepared to deal with things being wrong right now.

She felt the younger girl's shoulders start to shake, and then her shuddering voice vibrated against Mercy's shoulder and Mercy's eyes widened. What had happened? Was Mimosa okay? What had she missed?

"Of course!" she blurted in response to Mimosa's request, her own problems fleeing from her mind as her attention was captured by Mimosa's obvious distress. She forgot, momentarily, that she was in no condition to take a detour to the grounds, since it would take her even farther away from her dormitory, which she could barely get to in the first place. Even as the thought presented itself, she pushed it away. She'd struggle through it if she had to--anything to make Mimosa feel better.

Anything to stop her from crying.

She took Mimosa's hand and turned around, beginning to walk in the opposite direction of the way she'd been headed before. Her steps were a little shaky, but she ignored it, focusing solely on the new problem at hand.

"What happened? What's wrong?" she asked as they walked, concern plain on her face.

As they began heading out, Mimosa's arm still around Mercy and her nose still sniffling from her tears, the Slytherin couldn't have noticed how sick her friend actually was. in addition to being wholly self absorbed, Mimosa had come to view her best friend as the kind of powerhouse that never really got seriously ill. As they walked, no one stopped them even if the time was getting near curfew. A prefect tried but open examining further saw the two upset girls and decided to dodge that bullet immediately. They made it out into the grounds without incident before Mimosa was able to reply.

Finally out in the clear night air, she pulled out the now crumpled copy of the newspaper Elenore had given her. Mimosa hadn't parted from the article since she'd received it, blindly hoping for a different interpretation she was starting tor realize would never come.

"Uncle Seb and Uncle Aiden..." she began, drying her eyes furiously before handing the paper to Mercy. "Elenore gave me this yesterday. She... she says i have to wear black for two months. I don't know... No one I know has... gone before."

As Mimosa simply sniffled and remained silent as they walked, Mercy grew more and more worried. Something was seriously wrong--she'd never seen her friend like this before.

At last, they reached the door and stepped outside into the night, where Mimosa finally moved to respond. She presented a crumpled newspaper, and Mercy regarded it with confusion before taking it.

Before Mercy had a chance to read it, Mimosa began to explain. Seb and Aiden? What had happened to them? A sinking suspicion was soon confirmed at she skimmed the article she'd been handed. An attack, a shooting...she read the passage over and over again, not quite believing what it said. It couldn't be true. She'd met Seb and Aiden, she'd gone to their wedding, it was only a few months ago...

She looked back up at Mimosa's face, eyes wide and mind...blank. She didn't know what to say.

"I..." she started, hoping something helpful would come out of her mouth, but nothing came. She was too tired, her mind had shut down, none of it felt quite real. How was she supposed to deal with this? How was she supposed to help? She tried again.

"When my Tai Po died--my mam's grandmother--we went to China for the funeral. My mam wore white for a week, and so did her parents," she began. She wasn't entirely sure where she was going with this, but it was something. "I was nine. I'd only met her once, so I don't really remember her, but Mam was pretty upset. She grew up with Tai Po, they lived together until Mam was about ten, I think. The funeral took a whole week. Mam cried a lot, it was weird.

"But after it was over, and we were going back to Ireland, she said...let me get this right," Mercy closed her eyes and tried to remember, word for word, what her mam had told her. "She said, 'I'm not going to cry anymore, now that the funeral's over. I was sad, because I can't make any new memories with her, but I can be happy thinking about the ones I've already made. And if I have to choose between being happy or sad, I'd rather be happy when I think about Tai Po.'"

Mercy paused for a moment, then took a breath and looked at Mimosa. "So, I think...I think it's okay to be sad at first. But eventually, you have to stop being sad, and just think about the good things. Because...because you don't want Seb and Aiden to be sad thoughts. They wouldn't want you to be sad when you think about them. You have to remember all the happy things you did together, because that's...that's what you still have. Even if you can't see them again, you still have all the happy memories, and those won't go away."

She didn't know if that would help, but it was the best she could do. She felt light-headed and wanted to sit down, but she didn't. She stood by Mimosa's side, and was determined to stay there as long as Mimosa needed her to.

Mercy's story was long and Mimosa was really glad it was. Because as long as the Gryffindor kept speaking, Mimosa could just focus on her words and wouldn't have to say anything herself. It sounded like Mercy's mom was as smart as she was, and that Mimosa had to remember the good times with Uncles Seb and Aiden and not the bad times of finding out what had happened to them.

"Uncle Seb was the commentate at my birthday Quidditch match the first time I saw him," she finally managed, sniffling as she tried to tell Mercy of her meeting with the former Wagtown Wanderer Coach. "It wasn't his job but he sat with me and all my friends and made funny noises and his commentary was even more interesting than the match. And then he met Uncle Aiden and he was so happy. He took me to introduce him and I knew they were perfect for each other because they couldn't stop smiling when I called Aiden "Uncle" too."

As the talked, Mimosa took Mercy's hand, leading her unconsciously towards the equipment sheds. Jacques had indeed brought her broom with him and somehow Squid Boy knew where it was. Might as well test the boy's knowledge to see if he really was as smart as everyone feared.

"Uncle Seb always said I shouldn't be afraid to fly.. I liked flying but no one would let me fly alone..." she managed as they neared the shed. "Can you please open this Mercy, i want to show you something."

Mercy was glad when Mimosa seemed to accept her idea and run with it. It meant she didn't have to say anything else, she could let Mimosa do the talking now. That was good, she didn't know what else to say. She nodded along, letting Mimosa pour out her memories, knowing she wasn't supposed to input anything. The memories were for Mimosa's own benefit, Mercy was just there to listen.

She trailed along beside Mimosa, wondering vaguely where they were going, but mostly just listening to her friend think aloud. Finally, they approached the equipment shed. What were they doing here?

Mimosa wanted to show her something? Something in the shed? She'd been talking about flying...Mercy was starting to piece things together as she fumbled for her wand. Finally disentangling it from her robes, she held it in a slightly trembling hand and pointed it at the lock on the doors of the shed. The unlocking charm was easy, she'd learned it in her first year, but doing any sort of magic would draw from her already depleted energy reserves.

But she couldn't not do it. She took a steadying breath. "Alohamora." The lock clicked and the door of the shed swung open. Mercy's vision swam for a moment, and she blinked hard until it returned to normal. She peered into the darkened shed, curious to see what Mimosa had in store.

When Mercy compiled with the Slytherin's request, not asking any questions but simply casting the unlocking charm, Mimosa gave the older witch a grateful look. Mercy really know how to take care of everything. Taking the Gryffindor Chaser's hand, Mimosa led her into the shed where all the Slytherin team equipment was stored. The balls and bats were stored in their crates and the brooms hung on the walls. To one side, in its special glass case sat the newst addition to the team. A Firebolt Flash with the tiny initials M.A.C. carved out in pink on the handle.

"Jacques gave me that for my birthday last summer," she murmured as she moved to the case, reaching out with her tiny hands to pop the latch holding her racing broom from her. The case was customized to open at only Mimosa's touch, probably why Squid Boy had been so annoyed. He'd tracked it down, broken in and tried to ride it only to be thwarted by the casing.

"I wrote to uncle Seb after I got it and he was so excited. He said he'd teach me to ride it properly, none of that side saddle business. He wanted a go on it too and of course I would have loved for him to try it out. He said it was even faster than the ones people used in international matches."

Opening the case, Mimosa extracted the broom carefully, studying its luxurious built and sleek, shiny exterior. The boom seem to have a mind of its own, pulsing with magic the moment it felt her touch. "what do you prefer, front of back?" she asked as her fingers left the wooden handle and the broom righted itself, hovering at the perfect height to be mounted. "Uncle Seb wanted to teach me how to fly this... He can't do that anymore. But he can watch me teach myself. Do you think he'd like that?"