Flowers and A Thank You PV Kelsey Brumby Finished

It was March 8th, a week after the incident with the Ravenclaw students. Suddenly, Kels had twice as many Golden Potion patients. It was nauseating. At first, it had seemed like some foreign thing, something that had nothing to do with the school. Now, the numbers of cursed students was actively climbing right in front of his eyes. Now hours of his work day was being devoted to looking into the curse and administering weekly potions. One after the other, sometimes even having to track the idiot down because they were too lazy or they didn't want to. Auuughhghjgafd!!!

Kelsey was a man who wore his heart on his sleeve, so he was looking pretty grumpy all day. His days were melting together, the words in his books were all melting together. His brain felt like mush. He had at least already set it up so that each student had a specific allotted time that they came by. This way, if someone didn't show up for their appointment he would know right away. He had a system, he had about fifty systems going at once. This wasn't the kind of job that hired people who made mistakes.

It was while waiting for one of these appointments, Golden Potion on stand-by amidst the clutter on his desk, that he saw the big bouquet travelling behind the back of his patient. Instantly, memories of all the weddings he had gone to with little kids as flower girls popped into his mind. A nice vacation from thinking about curses!

"Howdy doody, Samantha." He said, enthusiastic through his tiredness. "You like 'Samantha', or somethin' else?"

He could remember her, as sharp as his memory was. She had really pushed the limits of what a small child should be capable of doing, carrying that boy by herself all that way. He half-expected her to rip off her robe and show her superman logo underneath, but alas, she was here to abate the painful curse running through her veins. He would have to get used to this.

"What'cha got there?" He figured he must have interrupted some flower-picking she had been doing outside, the weather was just starting to turn a tiny bit nicer. If he had any free time, he'd be out there himself.

@Kelsey Brumby

Samantha smiled when she heared the nurse say her name, this time her smile was genuine. He had remembered her name. "Samantha is fine. Most people call me that, some of my closer friends call me Sam. It is shorter and I like that to. Everything is good really, except Sam-minnie," the dislike the brunette felt for the name was clearly visible on her face, "That's my sisters nickname for me, because as you can see, I am pretty small. And that's something my sisters likes to tease me with."

"What'cha got there?"

Samantha realized very fast that Kelsey was talking about the flowers she was still holding behind her back. She actually had no idea why she had been holding them behind her back, you could clearly see them. Sam got the flowers from behind her back and walked towards the schoolnurse.

"I got these flowers for you, as a thank you." The brunette now held the flowers so that nurse Brumby could take them. "This way I can show you my appreciation, because you saved me that day." Samantha's face clouded when she thought about 'that day'.

"And there is a little card with the flowers. I didn't really know what to write, but when my parents give flowers there is always a little card with it, so that's why I did it." Samantha hadn't told her parents anything about the spider attack. So she had done what she thougth her mother would tell her to do, if they did know about it. Sam was sure that her mom would have told her to give something to the school nurse as a thank you, so that was what she did.

Her dad would have told her that she should talk about it with somebody to proces everything. The thing was that talking about it wasn't something Sam wanted to do. If she would talk about it, it would make it real. She would have to tell everything that happened. The young girl didn't want to do that, so she had been avoiding any conversation about the attack. If somebody would start about it, she would change the subject or leave the room.

Samantha hoped that the nurse wouldn't ask about how she was doing, but she knew that it would probably happen. It made sense, he was a nurse and his job was to make sure that the students were in good health. But still, Samantha didn't want to talk about it. She would try to avoid the topic as much as possible.

As the girl answered, recounting idle memories of names her sister called her, Kels felt the first real smile he'd had all day stretch across his unshaven mug. He was nearly moved to call her Sam-minnie himself just to annoy her, because he unfortunately delighted in teasing as well. But... he just didn't have the energy. Maybe he would sneak it on her when she least expected it to really get the best laugh out of it, brick jokes were always the funniest. "Mmkay, Sam it is. Less syllables, more time fer other things, har har."

Laughing at his own joke aside, he was surprised when she revealed the flowers and pushed them in his direction. Not that he was never thanked before, or that flowers for him were so wildly beyond belief, just that his head had been so stuck in work and routine that he was left momentarily speechless. He stared at the flowers as she continued to explain, slowly taking them from her hands and looking at the little note she added. He couldn't help it, tears and a choked-up throat accompanied the gesture. If he was somewhere with friends, or if she had caught him on off-hours, he probably would have just bawled his eyes out like a baby, but he didn't want his wailing to disturb the children.

Wiping at his eyes with his sleeve, it would still be very obvious that he was becoming emotional. Even more so when his voice cracked during his reply, "Cool beans." Followed by a phlegmy cough to clear his throat. He placed the flowers gently into one of the taller beakers on the pigsty of a desk, then added some water from another beaker that had a pouring lip on the side. Beakers were everywhere, but it seemed he knew where each of them was regardless. "That's real sweet a'you, yer parents must'a raised you good."

Little things kids did really got to him. Thanking him for doing his job with flowers, writing a note because flowers needed notes. It was so genuine and unconceited. It really felt like something was lost as people got older, as they faced pain and disappointment time and time again. It brought wisdom, but at the cost of innocence. That was what made him want to cry. He was realizing he was going to have to witness that loss a lot in this job, and it sucked. His wisdom, however, had taught him not to dwell on the bad things. Nothing happened if one lost themselves to misery, but even just helping a little was something.

"Okay, so Golden Potion. You got some last time, but y'know y'gotta take it every week now." He clapped his hands together, distancing himself from the raincloud that had tried to form above him. He picked up the bottle and held it out to her. "It's real important, so don't try makin' no excuses not t'come get it, comprendo?"

Contrary to Samantha's expectations, Kels was not about to ask how she was doing. He was sadly familiar with the affliction now, so he knew what her progress (or more accurately, lack of progress) looked like. The Golden Potion had yet to fail any student from at least stabilizing. The curse continued, but it wouldn't kill them, or cause them the intense burning pain from within that they would have felt without it. "If y'feel anything odd, or outta t'ordinary, you'd come tell me, right?"

@Kelsey Brumby

While talking Samantha noticed that the nurse's eyes started to get watery. It was after he had taken the flowers, maybe it was some kind of allergic reaction. She started to worry, what if she had given something nurse Brumby was allergic for? That would be very bad, like really extremely bad.

Samantha narrowed her eyes, it wasn't an allergic reaction. The nurse was crying, he was crying! When Kelsey's voice cracked during his reply Sam let out a little giggle, which she quickly covered with a cough. She hadn't expected the school nurse to cry! It was a little mean, and she knew that, but Samantha found it a little bit funny. A grown man who was crying over some flowers. She was to young to understand what a little but sweet gesture could mean in somebody's busy life.

"That's real sweet a'you, yer parents must'a raised you good."

The brunette nodded, "yes, they did, they are amazing." Samantha's eyes followed Kelsey who was taking care of the flowers. She took a moment scanning the room. She had been pretty afraid to go in here, but it wasn't that bad at all. Yes, she had been here that night of the spider attack. Only she wasn't attacked here, the hospital wing had been a safe place for her.

The young girl was able to resist the urge to touch everything in the room. She wanted to figure out what everything was, but she kept her hands to herself. If she would move things it could be that she ruined everything.

Nurse Brumby reminded them on why she was here. "Yes, every week," the girl nodded as she repeated the nurses words. She made little notes inside her head so she wouldn't forget anything. She knew how important this was, she couldn't make any mistakes.

"Yes, of course I won't make any excuses!" The little girl was a bit offended that the nurse thought she would do that. "I would never try to get out of it, I don't want to die! And I am not an idiot, luckily." She let out a little giggle.

"Are there students who do tried to get out of it? Are there many students who have to take the potion? How does it taste? Have you tried it? I hope you haven't, that would mean that you are cursed and I don't want you to be cursed!" Samantha fired many questions to the school nurse, something she did a lot. She liked to think out loud, ask questions and talk a lot.

"I mean, if I would feel anything out of the ordinary I would. But really how do I know if it is odd? This is all new for me, I have never been cursed before, so I wouldn't know what is out of the ordinary. Should I also say it if I am not sure it is something? Like just to be sure, I could tell you. Like if it is a little thing, something small, should I tell you to?"

The girl didn't seem to be out of sorts in any way, she talked casually about her family and looked around the wing curiously as he returned from putting the flowers away. It seemed as though her childish glee had not yet been diminished, and it would help towards cheering him up out of his little foggy-eyed moment. She really did seem like the kind of kid that a parent would love, listening diligently to his instruction, helping her schoolmates even though it was difficult, thanking people who helped her even if it was their job. It almost made Kels want a kid of his own, but he wasn't in any position for that. He wouldn't have any time.

When she said she wasn't an idiot and giggled, Kels reflectively giggled too. Maybe Mondays weren't going to be too bad after all. "Bein' an idiot iddn't the only reason people do stupid stuff." He had a lasting broad smile as he handed her a small cup with the portion she needed to drink, while she blasted off with a bunch of questions.

"There's more than a dozen other students." He answered on of her questions in a short moment while she was taking a breath, then another, "I taste all my potions pretty much. It's not bad."

After that, she continued to ask fair questions about what he had asked for, she was a young scientist in the making! "Yep. You can tell me anythin' that's worryin' you. I'll be seein' ya all the time now after all."

@Samantha Salwis

@Kelsey Brumby

Samantha liked the school nurse. Except for the fact that he had cried, she didn't like that very much. He seemed like a hard working man and he was very nice. Kelsey even joined Samantha's giggles. He handed her a small cup, with in it the potion she had to drink.

She looked inside of the cup, moved it around a little and smelled it. "A dozen?" She looked up in surprise. "That's so many!" The idea of tasting random potions didn't sound like fun to the brunette, but she understood it was something that had to be done.

Samantha nodded, she would go to the nurse if anything felt of. Better safe then sorry. She was out of questions to ask, she needed to drink the potion. She didn't want to, even though nurse Brumby had told her it didn't tast bad, she was scared it would. Well, she wasn't scared for the taste. She loved the every flavored beans and those had some serious nasty tastes in it, so she was used to awful tasting things.

She was scared that if she drank the potion everything would become more real. She would admit that everything had really happend. She had been attacked by spiders, she had been bitten by them and she had been cursed. It all was to real for the young girl.

Samantha was a tough cookie, but this had been very traumatic for her. She just stared at the cub. A tear formed in her eyes and made its way down her cheek. She didn't look up, she avoided eye contact with the school nurse. Every second she didn't drink the potion it seemed to be getting harder to put herself to drinking it. She couldn't, but she had to and she knew that. She was just stalling the inevitable, but it was fine with her. She just stood there moveless, staring at the cub in her hand.

When she replied in surprise, Kels eyes would widen as he nodded along. "Yer tellin' me!" He would confirm that this was indeed a large number. This thing was already out of hand before he got there, but it was only getting worse. At least kids were tough-- tougher than they seemed. Most of them didn't give in to despair, they still held on to hope even when things looked bleak. Still saw possibilities in their future, still didn't want to give up. He wanted to be like that too, never give up hope.

She was clearly reticent to take the potion, which was normal for trying anything new, but Brumby was patient despite being busy. He didn't exactly have the best bedside manner, being more brusque and blunt than kind and calming, but he was at the very least understanding. While she built up the courage, he'd lean over to smell the flowers he had placed to the side. It was nice to have something floral instead of all the ethanol and ooze that usually overwhelmed the smell of his desk. That's why he always had a cup of tea even if he didn't drink it, that stuff could give him a headache.

When he looked back though, he saw she was just sitting there and had started to cry. Oh no... This was one of the things he was not great at. He was never really trained in how to handle kids, so he knew whatever came out of his mouth was going to be a shot in the dark on whether it would actually be helpful or hurtful. Well, he had to do something.

"Heeeeeeyyyyyyyyy..." He started, a hushed voice accompanied by dampening hand gestures, "You want some, uh... butterscotch? That might help with the taste."

Technically butterscotch was a potion ingredient, but he could fork it over as a candy in an emergency.

@Kelsey Brumby

A long hey got Samantha moving again. When the voice of the nurse reached her ears she looked up in shock. She shook her head. "No," she mumbled. She had to take the potion now, she couldn't stall it any longer. She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. If she would procrastinate again it would only get harder.

"One, two, three." Once she had counted to three in her head she drank the potion. She could feel and taste the liquid in her mouth. She suppressed the urge to open her mouth and let the potion fall back in the small cup. Reluctantly the young girl swallowed the potion.

The potion hadn't tasted good, but it wasn't that bad. The nurse had told Samantha it wouldn't be that bad, but she hadn't really believed him. It just sounded like something you would say to get somebody to eat it. The potion had tasted better then some of the every flavour beans. On the scale from old socks (the worst) to cotton candy (Samantha's favorite) the potion had been around the taste of hay.

"On second thought, I would really like to have some butterscotch." Food was always good for the young girl. She could either eat it in the hospital wing or on her way out. She didn't really care as long as the taste of the potion disappeared.

Kels would watch as the teary eyed girl refused the treat with a brave face, taking the potion and with little hesitation drinking it down. Each one of them was a little bit different, but this one certainly stood out. There was an odd, new feeling as he watched her overcome one of her fears, even if it was just the action of chugging a potion she absolutely had to take. He was proud of her. He wondered what kind of adult she would grow up to be. Then, after all the happy feelings started blossoming, they were stopped cold by another feeling. He hoped she lived to be an adult at all.

Once finished, he took the glass away from her, pulling out his wand to give it the ol' 'scourgify' before she peeped up again. Smiling and nodding, he'd reach over to a drawer in his desk, where he'd pull out a glass container filled with wax paper wrapped butterscotch squares, portioned for the Dawdle Draught it was meant to be brewed in. He placed it in front of her, smiling again before going back to his duties. There were still a few students meant to come in today, but he wasn't in nearly a bad a mood as he was before. The flowers really brightened up the room.

"Yer killin' it, Sammy." He'd snap and point a finger gun. "Seeya next Monday."