Finished Have a Penny? PV Shymane

A nurse guided her to a hospitalbed. Carefully she took off her robes and put them on the rails at the end of her bed. Slowely, she sat down, puffed up the pillow and rest her back against it, sitting up. 'Now you stay here dear. I'll come back later. Rest for now.' 'T-Thank you, madam.'

Nico pulled up her scarf over her mouth, as she slowely let herself sink in the comfort of the bed. She felt foolish, embarassed. What was she thinking? Swallowing pennies... For what? A stupid trick! A bet... ? She frowned and folded her arms. She couldn't really remember that clearly anymore. Was it because of the pennies slowely turning her insides into a toxic wasteland? She didn't want to think about it... Mother would've cursed at her, telling her what a horrible child she was, comparing it to all kinds of mistakes she once made...

Nico looked down, her eyes tearing up. She missed home. Dad would've comforted her, would've told her everything was going to be okey. She closed her eyes, trying to fight this dreadfully lonely feeling. Some tears escaped and ran down her cheeks, sticking onto her Slytherin green scarf. She longed for her bed... To hide away, to just draw until she would get hungry...

The young Gryffindor boy was laying in the hospital bed, the covers draped up so that they reached his chin. A pair of copper coloured sneaker was placed beneath the bed, one fell over as they were just kicked off in a rush when Alan had been sent to the Hospital Wing. He hadn't used his hands even to loosen the strings, he just brushed them off with his feet.

Fuzzy socks warmed his feet as his robe was carelessly thrown over one of the chairs for visitors. A small nightstand was covered in various kind of sweets that he was not allowed to eat since the nurse had forbid him to eat those until he was feeling better. What a torture to look at these delicious treats but was not allowed to touch them. Instead he had those apples and oranges. The oranges weren't as bad though… they reminded him of the time he met Reid Kovacs here in his first year. It had just been for a brief moment but Alan and him kind of got along. So he did not mind eating the oranges but he still would eat them slowly so that the Nurse could not give him these nasty potions yet.

Soon a girl was led into the Hospital Wing, Alan could not see any damage on her and she did not seem sick either, while Alan's eyes were puffy and his nose had a red glow. A box of tissues was placed next to him as he stared at the girl. Soon he noticed that something was wrong when she began to cry.

”Wh-what is wrong? Are you in pain?” he asked worried, his throat sore.

Nico was so nervous, she didn't even notice the boy in bed next to her. When he asked her what was wrong, it hit her like a train. She let out a yelp in surprise and pulled her knees up. As soon as she figured out she wasn't in danger, she carefully let her legs back down. From the corner of her eyes, she looked at the boy. He seemed to be in a real pickle. His face was red and his eyes were swollen, a drip of snot rest under his nose that dissapeared for abit everytime he breathed in.

Her eyes moved to the chair with a robe thrown on. A Gryffindor. Nervously, she brushed her hair with her fingers. Her tears drying up slowely, feeling like a fool for crying infront of a stranger.

'I-I'm fine... S-Sorry, I didn't see you...' Out of nowhere she started to cough and gag, her body curling up in a painful way. With every cough, you could hear a sound of metal coins clanging into each other. She grabbed a bucket next to her and spit out a greasy, rusty liquid.

Another wave had past, her body relaxed and she laid down after putting the bucket next to her. 'S-Sorry... T-That was.. V-very gross...' She sighed and pulled up a blanket over her. How embarassing.

'W-What about you?' Nico asked, hiding under the white sheet.

When the other girl let out a high pitched yelp, he assumed because she had been surprised by his presence, the Gryffindor flinched. He dropped the piece of orange he was currently nibbling on and clasped his hands over his ears with a pained whimper. His hearing sense more sensitive than it usually was due to his sickness, the sound coming from the girl right next to his bed sounded as if someone screamed right into his ear.

When she calmed down he hesitantly lowered his hands, gripping the blanket tightly with one hand while he picked up the piece of orange from the bed sheets right beside himself and carefully placed it on the small plate.

”It's okay-” The young boy mumbled nervously, his gaze taking in her frame and he noticed she was either a small second year like he was or she was a first year. He could not help but to scrunch up his face when she spit out a weird textured liquid that looked water after cleaning a rusty object. He quickly looked away feeling his stomach do uneasy flips.

When she apologized the young Gryffindor slumped back and shook his head slightly, signaling her that she should not worry about it. It was not her fault that she was sick or whatever made her the way she acted at the moment. Maybe she had been hit with some weird curse during a duel or something? The jingling sound had been weird and Alan could not explain it to himself but he just stared at her. She seemed to be doing okay now… would it be rude to ask her what had made her this way? Maybe it was something permanent?

”I just have a stupid cold and the nurse is forcing me to eat vitamins… to be honest the potions she makes me drink are even worse! They always taste so nasty why can't they make them honey or raspberry flavored? Or even better, chocolate?” he rambled, shaking his head slightly. Why were medi wizards so mean? If he would become a medi wizard he would make the potions more delicious.

”What happened to you? Is it something serious?” he asked worried and with a small frown on his lips.

As he talked she peeked at his bed, noticing the shoes next to his bed. The color caught her attention. Hers were plain black but she didn't mind. The plainer the better.

Nico tilted her head a little and wrapped her arms over her stomach. Ofcourse he'd ask what's wrong. This wasn't a cold or a flu. She sighed, still covered by the blanket she sat up. 'I...I ate pennies. Or..s-swallowed that is...' It sounded even more stupid saying it out loud. And it was her own fault aswell. In a wild sugarrush she just found it hilarious to try and ... mistakes were made. The sound of the jingling coins used to make her laugh but as soon as her sugarrush wore off, she felt sick. No wonder people found her weird. Why wouldn't they bully her...

'I ehm...' She hugged her knees and rest her cheek on one of them. 'I've just been stupid... It seemed like a fun idea at first.'In a flash she slammed her fists into the matress. 'I shouldn't eat sugary ... goods. Or... pennies for that matter'

She sniffled. And even though she was already covered under a blanket, she pulled her scarf over her face. Trying her best to hide. Wishing she could just dissapear right there. Maybe she'd be sent home if her stomach ends up getting intoxicated. This is the absolute worst. What a good first impression you made, Nico. She couldn't help but beat herself up about her almost fatal mistake.

'I-I'm sorry. I'm bad at meeting new people.' She carefully pulled down the bedsheet from over head. 'M-My name is N-Nico. W-What's yours?'

Alan followed her gaze towards his shoes and remembered how he had put them on in a hurry. He just had felt so dizzy that he found it difficult to put on the weird and boring shoes the school forced them to wear. Sometimes when it was not about classes the young boy would wear sneakers as they were more comfortable and his uniform shoes were a bother to get clean or when he was training outside.

”Pennies?” the young boy wondered, as he tilted his head in confusion. He wondered how one would get the idea to swallow pennies. He doesn't have that many so he was careful with them. It was difficult to get pennies when you lived as a wizard, because his parents would get galleons as payment and he got galleons as a pocket money. He would have to go to Gringotts to change his money and the Goblins did not really like children that much or so Alan had experienced it.

”No no… don't call yourself stupid. Everyone does stupid stuff sometimes; I get into so much trouble for making bad decisions. It just teaches us not to repeat stuff so next time you have the urge to eat… uhm… pennies then you will know better” he explained to the girl with a soft smile curling his lips in a calming manner, as his eyes rested on her.

”I'm Alan, nice to meet you”

Alan. His smile calmed her down. Nico felt more at ease and neatly folded the bedsheet over her feet. Now she was out in the open but she still had her scarf. Like a shield, covering her lips.

'Nice to meet you, Alan.' She smiled abit shy but relieved. Her gaze dropped to his shoes again. The flashy color caught her attention every few seconds. It was time to adress the elephant in the room. 'Alan... I don't want to be rude but..' She subtily pointed at the bright red footwear. 'Are those actually allowed? I do love the way they look though. A-And I won't rat you out, I swear. I just couldn't help but look at them. I mean they aren't easy to ignore, you know? And since I do like the color red, it makes it even more difficult, you know?'

Nico abruptly stopped talking and took a deep breath. 'S-Sorry.. I was blabbering again. It's... one of my many bad properties. E-Ehm... Why do you wear those...' She looks at her own black clean shoes. '...instead of the black ones that fit the uniforms? That's... quite brave of you. But that's probably why you ended up in Gryffindor, no?' Nico let out a shy giggle and scratched her elbow gently. Slowely but surely, she got more and more used to the boys presence.

♫

In an instant his cheeks tinted into a rosy shade of red, embarrasment of being caught mid-crime. "I mean usually? No, I don't think so. But they were faster to tie than the school shoes so I was feeling sick and hurried and also they are more comfy", he rambled nervously, his hands gripping into the blanket. "I like red too...", he nodded in the end and peeked down at his running sneakers. He loved them and the Nurse did not seem to mind, probably having the priority of making him feel better.

"I wouldn't call blabbering a bad property, it is nice... really. I do blabber a lot and think it is annoying, but I think it is nice too..", he mumbled with a smile. "I honestly don't know why I landed in Gryffindor... time will tell I guess. Maybe I was just too bad for the other houses?", he shrugged and leaned back into the pillow, forcing himself to relax a bit. To calm down as he did not think the girl meant any bad. She really seemed nice, making a smile form on his lips as he let out a shaky breath, counting to ten within his mind.

Nico watched him lay back, hearing speak of the houses. 'Why? You don't think you belong in Gryffindor?' Tilting her head slightly, she wrapped her pillow over her stomach. Gently pressing it against her.

She rememberd how she really wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor. She heard so many stories about how brave and bold they were. She wanted to be just like them. Strong, couragous, the full epic package.
'You know, I didn't intend to end up in Slytherin.' She averted her eyes. It still stung a bit. As if a tiny bee poked her in the head. 'I always felt attracted to the red house. But... the Sorting Hat thought different.' She pressed her knees together, putting a smile on her face. Looking up at Alan again: 'But... To be honest, I've gotten quite used to the House. I mean, I can't argue with the opinion of the Hat. Making friends is still.. kind of hard.'

The Nurse walked over to Nico carrying a new bucket. 'Alrightie, dear. Let's get that nasty, stuff outta your system.' Nico looked up and a frown appeared on her face. 'G-Guess I have no choice?' 'Not this time, dear' the Nurse smiled sad, patting Nico's shoulder.

With a sigh she turned her back to Alan, carefully holding the bucket on her lap.