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Date: 02/01/25 | Time: Late Evening | CC:#009900

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"Don't open your eyes little one, you're safe but your eyes must stay shut." cooed an unfamiliar voice. She turned her head... or did she? She wasn't sure she had no idea where she was, or what was happening. Where was Matthew? Their failed potion? The bathroom floor? Where was she?

She tried to panic and moved her arms slightly. But the feeling of jello was overwhelming everything and preventing her from finding her bearings andgetting up. Between this, she felt the familiar wrappings of a wool blanket and the softness of a plush mattress. She could smell a sharp sterile smell that was almost far too overpowering, but she knew it was necessary. Wait... was she in a hospital?

"Easy there little one, you've been through a lot and you musn't move too quickly. You're safe though, you're at St. Mungo's." The voice said again. It was a sweet voice, gentle and kind. Perfect for reassuring those who weren't feeling well and needed that extra comfort while they recovered. But she wasn't hurt. She didn't feel sick. So why was she in a hospital room?

"Wa...ter...'" She murmured realizing how dry her mouth was. It felt as though a great windstorm had run through her body and knocked the life out of her. She felt as though her thirst wouldn't be quenched even if she had the ability to drink the entirety of the oceans across all the planets in the solar system. Someone, she assumed it was the owner of the disembodied voice, helped her sit up with a touch that was comparable to the setting sun. So moving and tender as they positioned her pillows behind her back and assured her that it was okay if she couldn't drink everything she was given. The cool metal of the cup she was handed made her realize just how cold she felt. Her teeth began to chatter and she winced as they hit the cup. Ouch...

"You gave us such a fright darling. But I knew you would pull through... The voice spoke gently and the soft stroke of her hair with a hand that's smaller than the top of her scalp. She thinks the voice is trying to be comforting to her but she's not able to convey that it makes her want to cry for her mother. The voice stops speaking to her for a moment and removes the cup from her hand, and sentencing her to a blankness once again. Siobhan shifted back onto her back and rolled to her side.

"Matthew?" she whispered, thinking perhaps he was right by her side. He hadn't abandoned her because of this right? She couldn't remember anything after throwing up, but he had to have helped her. They were friends and thats what you're supposed to do with friends- is get help when their hurt.

The voice didn't speak again however. Matthews voice didn't echo in her ears either. Instead it was a silence she could only describe as unbearable. A ringing in her ears replaced everything instead and the silence grew louder. Minutes passed, or perhaps hours as time crept along it's road. The silence- if that's what it was, perhaps she was still going crazy, was gnashing it's teeth in an attempt to sway her into crying. A weeping feeling felt as though it would be emerging from her chest like the fabric of time escaping the emptiness of nothingness.

Nothing... Nothing was visible, and nothing was avaliable to her. Other than what she could feel around her. This blanket cocooned her and swaddled her like when she was a wain. She wanted her ma- her-

"Siobhan!"

Wh-

The tight embrace of her mother broke the damn and she sobbed loudly. Her mother in turn, cried with her as another set of arms wrapped around her from the otherside and the scent of hazelnuts and cigar smoke enveloped her, the bulky arms of her father holding her as though she was fading away from him. It was supposed to be a touching moment but the fear that she could feel between the two of them as they held her was unparalleled. She knew what was going through their minds. They had been assured that Hogwarts was safe for her, that she wouldn't be in any danger and that she would emerge as a very well rounded witch.

And here she was, holed up in a hospital bed, potentially blinded, and unable to move or speak very well. Her mother was holding onto her tightly, the way that most children held on to their stuffies at the end of a terrific nightmare.

"Mama-" She whimpered into her mother's shoulder like the frightened child she was. For this is truly what she was at the moment. She wasn't a witch, she wasn't a student, just a frightened child who craved the cradling of herself from her parents. The family sat together as her fathers low tone mumbled a soft Irish lullaby and her mother rocked her back and forth in her arms, just to calm her down.

She heard the door open and felt her father's arms slacken just slightly so that he could turn to whomever had just entered.

"Ah Miss. McCarty, you're awake. Poor dear, you must be quite confused."A new voice spoke. It was rough, like grain on a whetstone, but it was factually kind. Not infactually sensitive. Must be a doctor.

She couldn't bring herself to say anything but her head was far too dizzy to nod in acknowledgement. Her mother, bless her heart, used that mother's intuition to answer for her.

"Hello there. Are you a doctor?"Her mother both answered and asked for her. Did she love her mother...

"I am a medi-wizard. It is equivalent to your doctors that you visit in muggle hospitals. You're here at St. Mungos, a special wizarding hospital for accidents such as yours. "The voice spoke again. He seemed calm, as though maybe he had dealt with people of her parent's heritage before. A wizarding hospital wasn't that out of the blue. But she did wonder why she wasn't at school. Wasn't there a hospital wing?

Her father seemed to voice the opinion for her as he questioned the mediwizard about her transfer to St. Mungos.

"The severity of her accident unfortunately was far more severe than what could be treated by your in-school Healer. A fully boiling potion to the face is no simple matter. There is significant damage to your retinal nerves, the actual irises and sclerea themselves are being treated with powerful burn pastes and charms. You'll be living with bandages around your eyes for a few days as we perform some healing spells on the actual cells in your eyes." The mediwizard explained. In fact he was continuing but she had tuned everything out past eyes.

Oh her eyes. Her gorgeous, wonderfully curious, beautiful, and remarkably her own eyes. They were destroyed. She was leaving a world she knew behind and entering a world she didn't know. Except this time instead of entering a wonderous world like the way she had two Septembers ago, and entering a world of nothing.

A world of nothing sounded like a consequence for a situation she didn't deserve. She had always done what she believed to be right and here she was. Laid up in bed with a lack of the use of her eyes. For who knows how long-


-Mr. and Mrs. McCarty... There is a grave chance your daughter will be losing her sight permanently."

What.

She stiffened and her mother pulled her closer gently as she whispered to her daughter soft soothing words.

Nothing registered in her ears other than that final statement from her doctor as her world stopped spinning. The darkness grew emptier, and nothingness set in.

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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @ | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @Matthew Campbell |
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Date: 02/05/25 | Time: Late Evening | CC:#009900

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Siobhan hadn't slept very well the last couple days. Among the general populace of the therapy room, there was lots of noise going on. Many patients were undergoing some form of regenetive therapy like herself, while the other half weresimply observing or spending time in the recovery rooms. She was in the middle of her occupational therapy with a specialist Mediwitch named Cassidy, to see how the regeneration in her eye cells had been taking. There hadn't been any sad speaking tones to her other than the ones that were rife with pity this afternoon and Siobhan wasn't having it. She was having to put more and more effort into removing the outward faces she may or may not have been making whenever someone looked at her like a kicked puppy.

She was pretty sure a kicked puppy was probably getting less pity from her which was wrong. Puppies deserved the world and now she was going to cry thinking about her puppy, Porter. The big jolly St. Bernard had been denied entry to see her because of the no animals rule. She knew it was for sanitary reasons but she could really use the comfort of her puppy or her kitten, Toaster. Her ma had reported though that Toaster was loving the farm and had been very invested in the butterflies in her garden as he proudly protected it for her.

"Siobhan, darling, lets pay attention please. Can you tell me what letters you can see here?"Cassidy asked as her voice brought he back to a focus on the chart that was being held in front of her.

"Sorry Miss Cassidy." Siobhan muttered as she tried to focus on the letters and numbers in front of her. Her vision was less blurry than the day before but she was having a hard time focusing her eyes enough to see the letters exactly.

"W....R....L....G....Y" Siobhan recited, hopeful that she had at least gotten one or two of them right. She heard the shift of Cassidy's breath and the small scratching sounds of quill on parchment as it was clear that she didn't manage to get any right. With an undignified huff, Siobhan pushed her chair back and stood up.

"I need the facilities." Siobhan grumbled as she used her hands to guide herself from the table to a wall.

"Oh here let me-" Cassidy started with her sickly sweet honey tone.

"No I can do it." Siobhan grumbled as she stumbled against the wall, as uncertainty guided her feet down the hall. Every step she took was hesitant but she refused to be guided.

"Nonsense darling. It would be easier-"The mediwitch started up again as she grabbed Siobhan's arm, pulling her back from the progress she was making herself. Angrily, Siobhan threw her arm forward, yanking it out of the older witch's grip with a loud "I CAN DO IT MYSELF!"

The voices around the occupational therapy room quieted in an instant. Siobhan's lip wobbled as Cassidy started to repeat her 'breathing mantra' which only made Siobhan start to hyperventilate.

"I just want independence! I just want to do something alone!" Siobhan started to cry as she sunk to the floor. She just wanted to go home and be normal again but she was stuck for who knows how long in this stupid hospital with her stupid eyes and this stupid problem and her stupid luck.

Cassidy didn't say anything to her and let her have her moment on the floor before helping her up.

"Let's get you to bed darling... You've had quite a moment."Cassidy murmured as she guided Siobhan back to her room, lifting her hand to the wall to have her help guide herself and check the numbers written in the braille language. It took a while, but eventually they made it back to Siobhan's room and Cassidy helped her into bed.

Siobhan turned over and gripped her pillow as she sobbed quietly. This was the worst feeling in the world. She drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep as Cassidy rewrapped her eyes with the protective potions and charms that were supposed to keep her eyes moisturized and cool.

It had to have been several hours before she woke up but the unmistakable bark of her St. Bernard and the comforting meow of her kitten.

"Porter! Toaster-" Siobhan cried as Porter licked her face excitedly and Toaster pawed at her pajama sleeve. The laugh of her siblings made her smile and she felt the comforting embrace of five sets of arms.

"Hi there glúine féargrassy knees. I brought Agnes and Kaitlyn with me-"Eoghan, her oldest brother said as he ruffled her hair. A habit he did whenever he embraced his younger sister that she hated to no end but now that she could barely see his scruffy heavy face, she craved his attention even more. Agnes, her older sister gently brushed through Siobhan's hair, chastising their brother for messing up the long coffee locks that had been so nicely arranged under her lacey kercheif.

Declan and Cillian were squishing her face and teasing her slightly as her youngest sister Kaitlyn showed off a drawing that she had made for Siobhan to hang up in her hospital ward. Except something was different now...

Siobhan could hear her sheep and smell the scent of her mother's incense that she was hand drying from the rafters. She could hear the sound of her father's boots ruckusing through the house to head into the barn. This... This wasn't the hospital. This wasn't her home-

She jolted awake, burdened by the too tight blankets that stupid Cassidy had wrapped her in. As she kicked everything off her bed she shot up and threw her hands around searching desperately for her siblings. For Porter. For Toaster damnit!

Her fingers grazed a cup and gripping it with the anger of a kelpie, she chucked the cup across the room with a furious scream before convulsing into a ball of sobs.

Her eyes stung again.
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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @ | 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |