MEI-----LIN

She sits on her chair outside hospital room 29A. Her long black hair is tied back in a braid and tears fall from her eyes. She hates sitting here, even being here. She knows why she's here, but she serves no purpose. She is not complaining -- there is no where else in the world she'd rather be, or could stand to be. But her father does not let her in to see her mother . . .

She can't stand to sit there any longer. She stands up and walks around the corner.

I couldn't believe this was happening to me, it's surreal. I turned the corner and found a bathroom, with the little cartoon whose body shot out at two odd angles that were supposed to look like a skirt. Sickening cliche. I pushed open the door and walked into the soap-smelling lavatory. It was completely empty, and large mirrors lined the walls. I chose one by the door and looked at my face, puffy and red. I brushed some stray strands of hair out of my eyes. In the second my hand covered my eyes, a woman dressed in dark robes had appeared behind me. She was staring directly at me. I let out a yelp and turned around, my mouth covered by my hand.

"Hello, Mei-Lin. I'm Kaylee. I believe you met my colleague, Frank last week?"

I had a hunch, but her annoyingly-voiced words cofirmed my fears.

"I've said it a million times, and I'll say it a million more if I have to!" I said furiously. "That Frank idiot didn't know what was coming to him, so I had to jinx him. I'll jinx you too if I have to!" I added, my hand over the long wand that poked from my jean pocket. "I don't care what you have to say, and I want to stay here. I amstaying here."

"Mei-Lin, please," said Kaylee. "I know this is a difficult time for you and your family, but that's what we've wanted to talk to you about."

"Leave. Me. Alone!" I hissed. "I'm perfectly fine with my school here."

"Mei-Lin, your school of magic in China is suffering greatly. The teachers are corrupt, the grounds are falling to pieces, and the classes are barely classes anymore. Your father wants to get you out of there as soon as possible -- even heknows the school will be closing soon."

"Oh, I see!" I scoffed, posion dripping from my words. "So, it's been speculated by you, and that means it's correct?"

"Mei-Lin,everybodyknows it."

"Everybody, eh?" I said harshly. "Well, what about me? I don't thinkanything'scorrupt. And you'd know that if you were actually there. If you actually took a leaf out of your own book! Everything is perfectly fine! I'm fifteen, and I can make my own desicions! I'll be of age, come two years."

"Hogwarts is a stable environment. Our teachers have been there for decades, and our headmaster--"

"Albus Dumbledore?" I cried out. I couldn't believe she was using thattechnique on me. "Hundred-and-fifty-year-old crack-pot fool? I've heard of him. He's getting old, and--" I smiled cruelly. "--everybody knows it. He's aging, he is, and has more secrets than all of London put together, I expect! Looks like he's on heroine half the time and never says anything useful. He's nowhere near the man Headmaster Cheng is!"

"Mei--"

It was to my great relief when there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" said the voice.

"Yes?" I replied, somewhat hesitantly.

"Is Mei-Lin Wu here?"

I gave Kaylee one last fierce glare before pushing open the door of the bathroom and shutting it behind me.

"I am Mei-Lin," I replied softly to the person who had called for me -- it was a doctor. "Is everything all right?"

The doctor gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm Doctor Wang, Mei-Lin, and I'm afraid your mother has just passed away."

My breath caught in my throat.

My mother had suddenly collapsed that morning while having our afternoon tea. I thought it was from the summer heat, or the exhaustion of raising my new baby brother -- now she was dead?

"How is that possible?" I whispered, my hand to my chest.

"It looks like your mother suffered from an absent seizure; basically a seizure with no physical attributes or movement, either pre-empting or including a short period of unconciousness. Unfortunately, your mother also suffered from a serious heart attack shortly afterwards, and we weren't able to revive her. I'm so sorry."

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. Words poured out of the doctor's mouth like rain . . . seizures -- heart attack -- unconcious . . . dead. Why did she even ask? Why did she even want to find out how her mother had died? It was far more simple to imagine her mother's death -- peaceful, and in her sleep, just like she's always imagined her mother's death. Her mother fell asleep -- she fell asleep during tea, and just . . . never woke up.

"Your father will be wanting to know where you've gone off to," said Dr. Wang softly, a hand on my shoulder. I broke out of my trance, and looked down at her fingers on my shoulder. Suddenly, I was revolted. Those fingers -- those were the fingers that had probed through my mother. Those hands -- those were the hands that had held all sorts of tools ... ways of saving my mother. This was the woman who had failed to save my mother. They'd killed her.

"Get off of me!" I shrilled, wincing away furiously. "Don't touch me! You! You-- with those-- you killed my mother!" I screamed, my finger pointing at her. I felt powerful and strong, powered by unyielding waves of anger, but my finger shook like I'd lost control. I hadn't lost control, but I felt like something inside of me had snapped. A rubber band that had been stretched taut for hours and finally broken.

"YOU MURDERED MY MOTHER!!"

I felt my mouth screaming the words. My hands battering the woman's chest and shoulders and face. My face was red and hot -- so much so that I could not feel the tears streaming down my face. Suddenly, I felt my arms being shoved to my sides, my face pressed against cloth . . . someone had stopped me, held me down. I don't know who it was, but I held on to them.

"Shh, Mei-Lin, hush now . . . don't be a fool."

I felt my knees bend into a sitting position, my backside land against a seat. I leaned against the person holding me and tried to catch my breath. I barely could.

"Mei-Lin."

My eyes shot open. It was the oddest sensation I'd ever had. Like I'd been forced to sleep for hours, when I never was really tired, and now I had been released of those bonds. I looked up. It was Kaylee, the Ministry worker and Hogwarts representative.

"Mei-Lin, wake up."

Fool.

Kaylee sat down next to me, clasping her hands in her lap, unmoving.

"Mei-Lin, I am so sorry about your mother. The pain you must feel is unbearable."

"Don't pretend like you know what I'm going through," I hissed through clenched teeth. I knew it was a cliche thing to say, but it was true. I had never felt a loss this great in my entire life, everything had gone completely blank. One minute, my life was a swirling pit of agony and despair -- and another minute my life could be a complete blank slate; numb of every feeling God could throw at me.

"Mei-Lin, I know the timing is awful, but rules are rules."

I looked up at her, my eyes still slightly puffy from crying.

"Mei-Lin, if you are to apply to Hogwarts, we'll need to know in the next day."

I felt revolted, like I was sitting next to vermin. Sitting next to a theiving rat.

"You truly are disgusting!" I said incredulously. "Look around you! What do you see? Do you see me prancing around a little garden with ponies and rainbows and leprechauns? We're in a fricking hospital! My mother just died and you think I'm just gonna pop up and just sign the little roster for your school admissions essay or whatever?"

"Mei-Lin, I'm sorry, but--"

"You're not sorry!" I yelled. "Stop--stop acting like--!" But my fury was coming in waves again. Apparently, Kaylee could see this too. She pulled out a shot-glass sized bottle of silver potion and uncorked it.

"Mei-Lin, hush now, sit down. Drink this and listen to me."

"What is this? 'Be-Reasonable-Potion'or something?"

"Drink it, Mei-Lin."

I took the bottle and downed it. The effect was immediate. I felt my nerves tingling with power, and then relaxing, almost like a drug, but my head had never been clearer.

"I know this a completely rude thing for me to say," said Kaylee. "And not part of my job, but listen to me when I say this -- speaking from experience."

I swallowed.

"Your mother's death is right now. Your grief is right now. But an education is forever. You will regret not going to Hogwarts if you don't make the desicion that must be made. Being brave is not going boldly and arrogantly into any battle -- true bravery is admitting you're scared and facing hardship anyway."

I blinked. Suddenly, it all made sense, what she was saying. The damn potion was a "Be-Reasonable-Potion." Maybe I should drink that more often.

I hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"You'll come to Hogwarts then?" said Kaylee.

I nodded.

"And leave your school in China?"

Nod.

"Good," said Kaylee. I could tell she was trying to hide her ecstasy. "I'll make the preparations. You won't regret your stay at Hogwarts."

Kaylee smiled. "I do wish I could apparate. Makes things a lot easier."

I did not smile, but I watched her dark blue robes trail out of sight before looking up at the ceiling and clutching the little golden cross that hung around my neck. Mother had always said I could turn to it in times of darkness.

What good did that little thing do me now?