Heaven Spat Me Back Down pv Finished

Interacting with @Aurelia Notrésvace

Evelynn didn't often find herself in the hospital wing. She wasn't one to find herself in much trouble, keeping mostly to herself. Nor, despite having timidly jotted down a little application, had she managed yet to land herself on the quidditch team, and didn't yet have to worry about whistling bludgers or rough checks from opponents. She was careful with her potions, precise with her casting, and she had never seen a lick of any temperamental nature from her wand. As a result, she had yet to land herself in the wing as a patient.

Her classmates, on the other hand, weren't quite so fortunate. She had seen some take to playing with the sparking charms in a fashion similar to idiot muggle children playing with roman candles. They'd gone to the wing not long after that show. And rarely did she go a week without witnessing some sort of backfiring in class where a practicing student had royally blotched their cast. Today, a rather unfortunate peer had been splattered with an unfinished potion as his cauldron over-boiled, resulting in the immediate breakout of angry red pustules. As one of the few able to stomach their sight when they began to burst open, Evelynn had been voluntold to accompany him to the hospital wing.

By now, the boy was long gone, his issue apparently quickly remedied with a simple draft as the nurse had informed. That put a stopper on Evelynn's plans to check in on him tonight to see how he was doing. Not one to be deterred, she had stuck around to bombard the poor nurse with at least a dozen questions: about magical herbal remedies for mud rot, the best way to sooth inflamed and cramping muscles, supplements to invigorate energy and concentration, and one thing she had always hoped to find an answer for: if there was a cure for severe equine colic. No answer ever came however. In fact, Evelynn was quite certain the nurse hadn't even registered the question. For no sooner had it been asked, than shouts of alarm claiming an attack accompanied the heavy thumping on the wing's doors; and naturally, the nurse went to swiftly investigate.

Off to the side lines and forgotten, Evelynn watched as a scene unfolded before her almost in slow motion. The nurse and her assistant rushed to the aid of an unresponsive girl as she was carried through across the threshold. She was drenched in blood. Evelynn watched as the nurses performed their rapid head-to-toe to discern the source. Wasn't it obvious, though? Evelynn had seen it at once. It's her neck, she had wanted to shout out. She's bleeding to death..

But for once, she couldn't find the words. Couldn't find the strength to do anything, really, other than watch. To her credit, she did watch, where others may have turned away. She wasn't entirely unaccustomed to this. In a way, at least. Her mother had ensured she had gone through her first aid courses; she had treated basic ailments and injuries on her horses; and she had been regaled at the dinner table countless times with stories of bedside nursing during her mother's general medical years. But nothing quite prepares you for reality except the experience of the reality itself.

Must have been a dhampir… The nurses' uttered observation snapped Evelynn from her trace-like state. Dhampir. In theory, it was a word with which she probably should never have been made familiar, except that in her very first Astronomy class, Professor Equinox had announced to the students that he was a dhampir. What was more, he had told them that for any dhampir students, there was a bowl of bloodpops freely available in his office. Naturally, that had been catalyst enough to set Evelynn on a research rampage.

Evelynn was trying to recall every little detail that she had uncovered when the unresponsive girl finally burst to life. Evidently, the potions had done the trick, for she sprang upright to a sitting position. Grey eyes fixed on her with mixed curiosity, concern, and skepticism. Brows knit together in thought. She was confused, that was easy to tell. And now that the victim was looking around the hospital room, Evelynn recognized her as one of her own housemates, although she didn't know her name. Then the nurse took her leave, leaving them in relative privacy. Evelynn hesitated.


"You…alright?" There was a certain amount of reservation in her voice, and her eyes flickered back to the girl's neck. "You look like you've had a rough night." She pulled her gaze back up to meet those of her upperclassman. "What happened?"

The path her Grandmother pushed her forth towards, to become a Monster Hunter like her suddenly seemed impossible. It was only a juvenile dhampir, yet the attack seemed enough to have surfaced immense doubts wether she could face more to come in the future. Aurelia was a Gryffindor, the house of the brave and the courageous. She, unfortunately, was not fearless.

The recollection of the incident sent chills down her spine. The fangs plunging into her flesh, the blood, more blood and the desperation to survive. In the end, it was the very dhampir that attacked her whom brought her to help. It was an accident, but a traumatic one. Even then, Aurelia never wish to encounter another attack and following Astrehilde’s footsteps as a Monster Hunter seemed too daunting.

The soft words spoken by the housemate next to her reeled the older Gryffindor out of the abyss of thoughts. “I suppose,” Aurelia began which the girl then replied with a statement followed by question that seemed evoked more from curiosity rather than concern. What happened? A dhampir had attacked her. By accident. Aurelia had let the question hang for almost a minute as she contemplated divulging the truth, all the while maintaining the gaze with the younger Gryffindor.

Finally, she spoke, a simply partial truth, “The owlery. I was sending a letter when something grabbed me from behind and pierced my neck. The next thing I know, I’m here in the Hospital Wing,” The pureblood was not too bad of a liar but little did she know that the first year possessed quite the keen eye. Aurelia hadn’t even the other girl’s name and could not trust the first year with the information. Howie had attacked her but he had no intention of doing so. It would be unfair for him to face dire consequences if professors were to find out about it.

The way the elder classmate spoke, she seemed to Evelynn to be almost in a daze. Which was, in all fairness, entirely appropriate. Just a fall from her own spooked mare was enough to knock the wind from the redhead's lungs and leave her head reeling in an attempt to reorient itself and regain some semblance of the here and now. And this girl…by the dark stains and the wound to her nape, she had obviously suffered a great deal more than a simple fall. Evelynn listened intently as her fellow Gryffindor shared her understanding of the events.

The owlery…

Brows knit with concern and no small amount of growing trepidation for what this attack could mean for the safety of the student body. For her own safety. In particular, the knowledge of the assault's location pitted Evelynn's stomach. Long overdue to make contact with her mother, she had been planning to make a visit there herself in the days to come. She couldn't help but second-guess that decision now.

But there was something that didn't sit quite right with Evelynn. The way the girl spoke, she hadn't the faintest idea of what had happened. Only that something had grabbed her. Punctured her. That she had ended up here by the grace of some saviour or God or who knows what -- or who -- else. Yet..

You don't seem to be surprised… Evelynn observed, and almost stated outright before stopping herself. Instead, she gave a slight inclination of her head, brows still furrowed with concern and said, "That must have been really scary…"

Maybe she really was in complete shock and hadn't fully grasped the situation? But then… she had ran her thumb along the front of her teeth. Like she was feeling for something. Could a dhampir turn a human into one of them? Evelynn didn't know much about them. She knew a little bit about the muggle versions and tales of vampires and vampire spawns. She even knew some speculated information suggested in various high fantasy settings like the Forgotten Realms books and games, but she hadn't heard of a dhampir before. Or if she had, she'd forgotten about them.

More to the point, if this girl did know something more than she was letting on, it seemed odd to Evelynn that she was hiding it. But for once, something about this whole thing didn't sit right with the first year. And since she didn't quite understand it, and didn't have all the pieces, and didn't want to put a fellow Housemate on guard, she decided not to press the issue.

For now at least.

"I didn't see who brought you here," she began quietly, lowering her voice and glancing around and taking a small step forward. She wasn't sure if the nurses were aware she had overheard them and didn't really want that to be made public knowledge, "but someone shouted that there'd been an attack. The nurses brought you in. You were unconscious. They put you on the bed here. There…was a lot of blood, but it looks like its stopped now."

Evelynn paused, chewing on the inside of her cheek. It had seemed a pretty lame attempt to fill the girl in on what had happened. Part of her wanted to bombard her with questions. Another part of her wanted to scamper away to the library even though she knew it was long past closed to study up on this new…thing. Another part was worried to leave the girl alone, fearing that whatever attacked her before might come back again. And…maybe…she didn't want to admit to herself, that a little part was afraid to leave the safety of the hospital wing just in case she was the next victim.

"I could stay…" Evelynn suggested. Again, it felt a tad lame for a fresh first year student to be offering comfort to a teenager, but she didn't really know what else to do. Besides, she assured herself, if the roles were reversed, she didn't think she'd want to be alone. "If they'll let me…" Evelynn glanced briefly to the nurses. "And if you want, I mean…"

Scary. The word wasn’t near enough to describe her experience. The fear and panic has been overwhelming. It was an experience that brought her so near to death. “It was terrifying.” Aurelia managed a reply hands wandered their way up her arms to rub the goosebumps that dotted the surface of her skin.

The younger Gryffindor then claimed not to have seen Howie. The nurse should not have seen him either. “How did they sound like?” She asked although she most likely already knew the answer. She was only putting up an act of ignorance to avoid raising any suspicion.

The girl’s offer to stay, although kind, was quite odd given the fact that they only just met and were merely strangers. Aurelia herself didn’t wish to stay in the wing any longer. There would definitely be an impending investigation on the attack and Aurelia didn’t want to be bombarded with the questions. But she ended up replying, “That is very nice of you,”

Then she noticed that she was missing something. Both of her hands slipped into her pockets and emerged empty handed. The brunette’s already pale visage lightened even further and a gulp could be heard as she swallowed hard. Her wand, it was missing. “It’s still in the owlery. My wand.”

It was terrifying…

Biting lightly down on her lip, Evelynn couldn't help feel sorry for the bed-bound girl. She watched as hands their way up to rub guarded arms as though to chase away a settling chill. Although the unfamiliar Gryffindor had appeared to be somewhat unsurprised initially, it seemed to Evelynn that the situation was now catching up to her.

"They seemed…"

Evelynn could completely understand the girl's question. Obviously she would want to know how the nurses sounded. Whether they were confident, worried, scared, what have you. But what was she to reply? Other than to whisk immediately into action, they hadn't really seemed anything at all, truth be told. But Evelynn knew quite well that their appearance wasn't anything to go by. Her own mum was a nurse, after all. Evelynn had seen her time and again whisk into action to help someone else out, face kind and relaxed, her actions steady and purposeful, only to find out after the fact that outward appearances had hidden the racing heart and doubtful thoughts.

"…surprised," Evelynn answered as evenly as possible. That much was true. Their tone had suggested as much when they'd opened the hospital doors to find the bleeding and unconscious body. "And serious, I suppose. Nurse Dorris left right after helping you into bed," she continued almost sheepishly, noting as the girl's hands dipped into her pockets as though searching for something, "to inform one of the professors what happened."

Evelynn wavered a bit on the spot. She glanced from the girl to the door. Part of her wanted to speed back to her dorm to see if she could find anything among any of her textbooks about dhampirs. This would also take her well away, hopefully, from the attacker and into the safety of the Gryffindor Tower. But another part of her -- a larger, knowledge-thirsty part of her -- wanted to know more. To lay eyes on where the event had happened and perhaps see if she could glean any further information.

"I could help you find it," she offered, half expecting to be turned down. "Your wand. I'm pretty good at finding things."

The cherry wood wand was always in her possession, if not no further than an arm’s reach away. It felt odd without it’s weight in her pocket or hands. The wand was both a tool and a weapons and Aurelia was vulnerable without it. However, it was all too soon that the girl would venture into the owlery again especially with the knowledge of sight that awaited her; one of blood and gore.

The mention of professors caused her lips to twist subconsciously into a frown. If the professors were on their way, then Aurelia would best be on her way out. The younger girl seemed genuinely friendly with another other to assist in searching for her wand. She’d thank her later but at the moment, all she wanted to do was to leave the wing’s premises.

“Aurelia Notrésvace. My name, that is.” She introduced herself briefly before glancing back where the other nurse had disappeared into. “Perhaps tomorrow morning? It’s dark and I am not actually keen to go back up there so soon. ” She explained to the girl.

“She seems busy.” Aurelia states, referring to the nurse who had treated her. Lifting her legs to in hung at the side of the bed, she cautiously lowered her feet down onto the ground. Then she stood up from the cot. She expected to feel some sort of discomfort or lightheadedness but surprisingly, she had not. “I’m all good now.” The third year declared and without another word, started making her way towards the exit of the wing.

A pregnant silence had filled the air after Evelynn's offer of help. The longer it spanned, the more insecure she had felt. She began to wonder if she'd really overstayed her welcome this time; if she had insulted the elder Gryffindor by suggesting that she could somehow be of help. Maybe that had been presumptuous. Then the girl's countenance soured, lips twisting into a frown, and Evelynn's fears were confirmed. Stupid. How could she be so stupid. Of course she didn't need help. Not from a first year who probably knew nothing at all by comparison.

Furrowing her brows, she averted her gaze to the floor, fully expecting to be reprimanded; or at the very least dismissed. Only, it never came. Instead, there came an introduction, and it was clear that Evelynn had completely misunderstood the expression. It wasn't anger at all, but merely a sign that there was much that yet remained on her mind. Evelynn offered a faint smile. How could she not? This girl – her upperclassman of at least a year, but probably maybe a little bit more by her demeanor throughout this exchange – had not only allowed the little lion to stay, she had even gone so far as to initiate proper introduction.

"I'm Evelynn," the redhead slipped in quickly, trying not to sound too happy about this little breakthrough. "Evelynn Decipio."

Then she nodded to show her understanding of the explanation that followed. It made sense, after all. As curious as Evelynn was, she was sort of relieved for the delay in the search. This would give her at least a little bit of a chance to try to find something out about dhampirs, and what to expect should they happen to cross another.

"Tomorrow morning, then," she agreed, suppressing her internal glee. There was something very exciting about this whole affair. It was like she was diving into a real life adventure of sorts, and for a moment the vision of a full-blown investigation into the whereabouts of the wand and the perpetrator of the attack flashed through her thoughts.

"A bit, yea," Evelynn replied, gray eyes flickering away from Aurelia in search of what the nurse was up to.

They didn't remain there long. Movement from the recently recovered Gryffindor drew her attention back. She watched with veiled concern as Aurelia gingerly righted herself on the edge of the bed then rise. From Aurelia, to the nurse, and then back again, Evelynn stood, rooted to the spot. She didn't know if it was such a good idea to leave just yet. What if there were effects? What if the nurse had more assessments or treatments to do? She hadn't given the okay for Aurelia to leave, and Evelynn had heard time and again the stories by her exasperated mother of patients who had decided to remove themselves from hospital care against all recommendation.

But while this may have been a hospital wing, it wasn't the muggle world. And the rules were quite different here. Biting back the urge to question whether it was such a good idea to leave, Evelynn nodded, then padded silently after Aurelia.

Wether the Evelynn would follow under the older girl’s influence, Aurelia was not too sure. But if she were to call on the Nurse, Aurelia would probably have to make a run for it. Under the influence of the Wiggenweld potion, it would be likely that the third year would be awake for an hour or five more and had no need for rest but a need to get rid of all the dried blood she was in.

Fortunately, the soft padding of hasten footsteps could be heard not far behind her. Aurelia would continue wordlessly as she navigated her way down the corridors and advancing towards the Gryffindor dormitory. It was something about the presence of a another human that provided some reassurance in these dark corridors. Even though the chances of Aurelia being attacked again was quite unlikely.

At the end of the fifth floor, the painting of The Fat Lady finally came into view. Standing an arms length away from the portrait, Aurelia muttered the password and the frame swung outwards revealing the entrance. Aurelia would not step in but rather have a gesture with her right arm for her junior to proceed first. When Evelynn’s back was turned, Aurelia would glance down the hallway once more, ensuring that no one had followed before stepping in herself. After the painting was sealed, Aurelia would head up to her dormitory to wash of all the blood stained on her robes.

Aurelia leaves thread