More Than Just a Sprained Ankle PV Closed

All things considered, today was turning out rather decent. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, and classes were the usual. She still had the daily stack of homework that she needed to complete, but it was something she could handle. Though she probably should have been grateful that nothing disastrous happened, like that one time she almost got her hand bitten off in Herbology class. That was something she would be embarrassed about for the next few days.

Recently, she had been trying a routine where she would finish her homework the minute she got out of class. Unsurprisingly, it was difficult. She already went through hours of class, so of course she would want a break before she would dive back into the world of academics. But she also had a rather nasty habit of forgetting her homework in favour of Quidditch or if she was that scatterbrained, she would forget until the last minute. If anything, this new schedule would have put her focus back on track. As of now, this would have been her fifth attempt. It was definitely more difficult in the first few tries, but she was confident she got the hang of it by the fourth attempt. Or at least she wasn't rushing to finish her homework as she did before.

Considering how today's homework was less heavy than in other days, it was easy for her to finish it all in a short span of time. By the time she was done, it was already evening, which meant she had the rest of her time to herself without having to worry about anything else she had to do for the day. She could have spent it on anything, really. Going outside, visiting the library, finding someone to bother. But she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do now.

That would have changed by the time she walked out in the corridors. A faint cry could have been heard from the other end of the hallway, as if someone had tripped and fell somewhere. If she wasn't mistaken, it seemed to have come from the stairway too. Not that she was too shocked- there had been enough incidents where people tripped on the steps, but that didn't mean she wasn't concerned about it. They could have been hurt badly, and if the situation was that bad, they might have needed to go to the Hospital Wing.

After hurriedly running down the stairway, she would see Katrina on the ground, clearly in deep pain. Oh no. This was definitely bad. She had to do something right about now. "I'm here. Don't worry," she said in an attempt to assure the girl. But as calm as she appeared at the moment, her mind was still attempting to figure out what would have been a good idea in this situation. "Can you try to lean on me while we get to the Hospital Wing? Or would you rather let me carry you instead?" she asked, holding out a hand for her to grab just in case. If she did accept the hand, Saskia would have been able to put her arm around her in order to support her on the way to the Hospital Wing. Maybe it might have been better to carry her, but as confident as she was in her strength, she didn't want to accidentally drop Katrina. The most important thing here was to make sure she wasn't hurt any more than she was.

Katrina held back a sob when she heard steps echo down the hallway. She involuntarily stiffened, expecting a snobby upper year student to make fun of her. It wasn’t a far stretch; it had happened before. The lion tried to stand up again and managed to grip the railing. The instant she put pressure on her foot, Katrina let out a gasp of pain. She reluctantly let go of the railing and turned to see who had approached her.
The person was not a snobby upper year student, in fact it was quite the opposite. Saskia Nicholson. She was nice and kind and caring and not too much older than her. Saskia and Katrina had been in Summer Camp together and had recently met again when Katrina gave her a Christmas present. Katrina held Saskia in high regards, but it was still embarrassing for someone to see her this weak.
The storm of pain thundered up her leg again and Katrina bent over from it. Each nerve felt on fire. She glanced at her leg to see it bruised, red, and swollen. The sprained ankle must be worse than I thought. Each heartbeat resonated in her foot and each breath was shaky. Even her thoughts stayed disoriented and almost painful.
Saskia came closer and consoled the fallen 12-year-old. She seemed to be in deep though and asked if Katrina would rather sue her for support or carry her. Katrina took a moment to asses the situation. She probably needed to be carried, but her dignity refused. Instead, Katrina spoke.
“I-I can lean on you,” Katrina’s crack in her voice betrayed her request. Despite that, she pushed as hard as she could on the other leg, and used her arm to support herself. Thinking she was steady, the lion attempted to put weight on the ankle, it buckled, and Katrina found herself leaning on Saskia.
“Thanks,” between shuddering breaths, Katrina managed to get out the apology.
Saskia kept her arm around the stumbling lioness as she made their way into the Hospital Wing. Katrina was infinitely grateful for the help. Though her shaky breaths insured that the gratitude couldn’t be passed along.
“Nurse?” Katrina whimpered as soon as they stepped into the hospital.
Everything shone with white perfection. The ground was clean and pristine. Each bed and nightstand were organized. The sheets tenderly drawn on the white mattresses. A few stray windows let in the light from outside and reflected the brilliance throughout the room.
Katrina had been here several times before. Last year, when she broke her arm, she had come in. Later, with Thora she had returned. Since then, she had come in with an unconscious girl. Katrina was sure that she had been here more times than that, but her pain-interrupted mind caused her to second-guess her own thoughts.
A nurse hurriedly came from the back and ushered the two to a nearby bed. Katrina tumbled into the white bed and clutched her ankle. The pain was to the brink of unbearable.
“What happened?” inquired the nurse while she began to set things up.
The lady came and looked at Katrina and told her to lie down. One glance at the ankle and she muttered, “Oh, dear”
Katrina steadied her breath and dared to ask, “What?” The pain had gotten so much worse from walking. Each heartbeat, each breath, each thought, everything seemed to ache and burn and have so many sensations that the 12-year-old had never witnessed or felt before.
The nurse didn’t answer the inquiry before hustling away. Katrina closed her eyes and focused on each breath.

Alright. So Katrina could at least give her a response, even if it was shaky at best. That was good. That meant she was conscious enough to understand what's going on and Saskia could know what to do. Except that she was probably in immense pain too and maybe being conscious wasn't all that great when the Gryffindor could still feel it. Ah, crap. She really needed to hurry. Katrina said that she could lean on her, and while she could argue that it'd be best to carry her when her ankle was in serious condition, she couldn't object. It might have been awkward to be carried around, and there was that chance Saskia could drop her by accident. So she complied with the Gryffindor's request and put an arm around her.

This wasn't the first time she would experience something like this. Back in the Masquerade Ball, she was actually in Katrina's same position, except in that case, she might have cracked her head on the floor. Or at least it felt like she did. The rest of the night was a blur, but she could remember Thora graciously giving her help in a time of need. That was something she would never forget. Especially now that she had to help Katrina this time around.

The Hospital Wing was not an unfamiliar place to Saskia. She would frequently go here for many reasons. A sprained wrist, a broken leg, a cracked rib. All the fun stuff that came along with Quidditch, among other incidents that may have happened in class. Once they got inside, the nurse checked up on Katrina. The look of distress on her face was enough to tell Saskia that something was very wrong. If something could alarm the nurse, who probably saw worse things in the past, it must have been serious. Or perhaps the nurse was a newcomer.

Once the nurse came back with a various array of supplies with her, she glanced over at Saskia and gestured outwards. "Miss, do you mind going to the back and getting the extra supplies in the back? They should be in a box on the right of the cupboards with the rest of the bins."

Saskia sucked in a breath. The nurse knew what she was doing, and she didn't want to waste any more time delaying. Once she left, the nurse turned back to Katrina and held out a flask of liquid in front of her. "Alright, you're going to need to drink this if you want to get better. This will make you fall asleep, but it shouldn't hurt you in any other way."

Katrina opened her eyes slowly, the world spinning from pain. She sucked in a short breath as Saskia walked off to get the supplies for the nurse. Katrina almost wanted to call her back, nurses had never frightened Katrina before, especially since she saw herself as one on occasion, but the look currently on the nurse's face tied a knot in the second-year's chest. She didn't want to be hurting, but she also didn't like the grave look on that face.

The nurse handed out a flask of something in Katrina's direction, the 12-year-old immediately recoiled in horror. She recognized that scent. That was the sedative that would knock her out. Despite the roaring pain that was traveling all the way up her ankle, Katrina shook her head.

"No, no," She found her voice high pitched and whimpering. "Please, no."

Katrina didn't exactly understand why, but she was terrified. Perhaps it was just the fact that she didn't want to loose consciousness. But nonetheless she couldn't bear it. She couldn't drink it. She was frightened and scared and felt far younger than she was. Katrina didn't trust the magical medicines, she never really had. It was just so different, and she had never really experienced or seen proof that they were any better.

By the look on the nurse's face, Katrina knew that she was going to have to take it one way or another, but she was so scared.

Another wave of pain rocked up her ankle and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. It hurt so bad, but she still couldn't bring herself to drink the sedative, she was just too frightened. Katrina looked wildly around the room for some way out, she was like a caged animal, frightened and noncompliant.

"Please, no I can't!" Katrina whimpered.