The jarring beep of her alarm clock was a familiar noise to Lyra Stebbins. She rolled over and slammed her hand down on it, stopping the beeping for at least a few minutes. Rolling back onto her stomach, she buried her face in her pillow as she tried to gather the energy to get out of bed. A sliver of light peeked through a crack in her curtains and she blinked against it as she picked her head up. Reluctantly, she climbed out of bed, turning off the alarm she knew would go off in just a couple minutes. She ran her hands through her dark hair and quickly threw it up into some sort of bun before pushing open the door to her room and making her way down the hall to the kitchen.
As she passed the other two rooms in the hallway, she paused and listened at each door to see if she could hear anything, but no one else seemed to be awake. Lyra continued on to the kitchen and glanced over to the small sitting room as she headed over to the coffee machine. Three boys were sprawled out in various places, one of which was snoring quite loudly. Lyra just shook her head as the coffee started brewing and started riffling through the cabinets until she found the potion bottle she was looking for, right behind a set of small glasses. She pulled both out, attempting to tune out the snoring, and poured the potion into five glasses. She glanced over at the coffee pot and, seeing that it was almost done brewing, went back to the cabinets and pulled out two pans.
"Here we go," she said, moving over to the sitting room and glancing around at the three boys before banging the pots together as hard as she could. The blonde haired boy on the couch instantly rolled off as he tried to jump up, hitting his head on the table as he did so. The others attempted to jump to their feet, but in their groggy and hungover state, they only really managed to go from sleeping on the floor to crumbled in a heap on top of each other. Lyra smiled as the three of them came to senses and figured out what had just happened.
"Rise and shine!" Lyra said, turning around to put the pans on the counter.
"Bloody hell, Lyra," Scorpius, the blonde from the couch, said as he sat up from where he had fallen.
"A little warning next time," Al said, still trying to untangle himself from Louis.
Lyra nodded towards the glasses of potion before starting to walk back down the hall, saying, "Potion's on the counter and coffee's in the pot."
She made her way to the first door in the hall and started banging on the door. "Rose?" she called, pausing just long enough in her knocking to listen for a response. "Are you awake yet?" When she still didn't hear an answer, she opened the door, not sure what exactly she was expecting to find. Even in the dark of the room, Lyra could tell that Rose was exactly where she had left her the night before. She was passed out on her bed, her covers thrown everywhere and her dark red hair tangled up around her face. Lyra started picking her way across the room to the bed, trying not to step on any of the clutter.
"Rosie," she said as she got close enough. "Rose." When her roommate still remained sound asleep, she sighed and grabbed the edge of the blanket twisted around Rose, yanking as hard as she could. Just as she had hoped, the force was enough to send Rose tumbling to the ground as she fell off the other side of the bed with a crash. After a second, Lyra saw Rose's head pop up from beside the bed, her hair obscuring half her face.
"I'm up, I'm awake," she said, clearly disoriented and unsure of where she was.
Lyra threw the blanket back onto the bed and started to walk out, stopping to pick up a shoe that she was pretty sure belonged to her. "Hangover Potion's in the kitchen," she said as she left Rose's room and moved onto the last room in the apartment.
She knocked on the door and said, "Roxy? Get your arse out of bed." She heard a muffled noise that sounded like Roxy's voice, but when she heard nothing else, she opened the door and stepped into the room. Clutter wise, it was the complete opposite of Rose's, but instead of taking advantage of the space to walk over to the bed, Lyra stood by the door and threw the shoe at the mound of covers that contained Roxanne.
"Ow!" she yelled, her head appearing from underneath the cover. "What the fuck was that for?"
"You weren't getting up," Lyra said, already stepping out of the room. "Everything's in the kitchen when you get there." She quickly shut the door behind her as she finished speaking and the dull thud from her shoe as it hit the door told her that she had made the right decision. Even hungover and half asleep, Roxanne still managed to have impressive aim.
By the time Lyra made it back to the kitchen after changing into her work robes, the coffee was almost gone and all of the glasses were empty. Everyone but Louis was sitting around the table with cups of coffee in front of them. Louis was digging around in the cabinets and he turned when he heard Lyra walk in.
"You guys don't happen to have any bagels, do you?" he asked as Lyra went over to the coffee pot and poured some into a travel mug. Louis gestured to Rose and Roxy before continuing, "These two say they can't remember."
"That's because Lyra woke us up at some ungodly hour of the morning the day after a party," Roxy whined, her head in her hands as she stared down at her mug.
Lyra rolled her eyes as she walked over to the table, screwing on the lid of her mug. "No, Louis, we don't have bagels. You're the only one that eats them," she said. "And you don't live here." He frowned and closed the cabinet, sitting down in one of the chairs. Lyra glanced down at the watch on her wrist and took a sip of her coffee, heading for the door. "And I woke you up because I have to be at work in twenty minutes, Roxy you have practice in an hour-" She stopped talking as she looked at Scorpius who had fallen asleep again and kicked his chair as she walked by. "Scorp's shift starts in an hour, and there are still three people sitting at this table that don't live here." Albus looked up from his coffee and adjusted his glasses, looking like Lyra had just given him the worst insult in the world. Roxy shifted in her seat, lifting her mug up to her lips.
"I hate when you get like this," she muttered, setting her mug down and trying to push back the mess that was her hair.
"Oh, please," Lyra said as she made it to the door and opened it up. "You wouldn't last a day without me."
There was nothing like the rush of St. Mungo's on a Monday morning. As soon as Lyra walked into the lobby, she was almost knocked over by people rushing their friends in after a weekend of 'fun' and everyone who wanted an excuse to not go into work that day. She stepped out of the way of a mother chasing after her child who seemed to be glowing blue and made her way past the reception desk, waving to the Welcome Witch at the reception desk who seemed more annoyed than overwhelmed. When Lyra finally got to the lift, she had to shove past more than a few patients, most of whom were arguing with various Healers and nurses as they tried to convince the medical staff they should stay. She hit the button for level three and took another sip of her coffee that she had somehow managed not to spill in the chaos.
When the doors slid open on the Potions and Plant Poisonings, Lyra had to bite her lip to keep from groaning as she saw the utter insanity that was nurses and Healers rushing around. Their floor was always the busiest at the beginning of the week with all of the idiots testing whatever potions they felt like while they were drunk on the weekend. Lyra maneuvered her way out of the lift and fought through the crowd of people to the nurses' station about halfway down.
"Oh, finally," Nia, one of the other nurses said as Lyra walked up. "I don't think I could take another minute of this." The other nurse at the station, Rebekah, shook her head as Nia started packing up her things.
"You worked one eight hour shift," Rebekah said to Nia as Lyra stowed her bag behind the station. "I think you'll make it." Nia stuck out her tongue at the older nurse and tossed her bag over her shoulder.
"Yeah, well, you're lucky," Nia said, turning to Lyra as she spoke. "His Royal Highness Warrington just ended his shift and I think Felicity is his replacement."
"Thank Merlin," Rebekah said as Nia waved goodbye. "I don't think I could spend another minute with that pompous, arrogant, sh-"
"Hi, Healer Warrington," Lyra said, cutting Rebekah off mid-sentence. Rebekah spun in her chair as the Head Healer walked by with charts in his hands, shrugging his coat on. He glanced over and Lyra saw a brief look of confusion pass his face. She had to hold in a laugh at that. She had been working on his floor for close to two years and Rebekah had been there even longer, yet he still couldn't tell them apart from the Welcome Witch on the bottom floor.
"Ladies," he said, giving them a polite nod. He immediately looked away again and Lyra shot a look at Rebekah. The other woman rolled her eyes and went back to filling out the chart in front of her. Lyra looked back over at Healer Warrington who had managed to corner Felicity Jordan, the other attending Healer on the floor, and appeared to be lecturing her as he handed off the charts. Lyra watched as Felicity nodded and Warrington pushed past her, the other nurses and Healers clearing out of his way.
"I still don't know how you can deal with him all the time," Rebekah said as Felicity walked over.
Felicity just brushed off the comment, flipping through the charts. "I grew up with Fred Weasley," she said, finally looking up. "You get used to it." Rebekah nodded in understanding and went back to her work.
Felicity looked back down at the charts, stopping at one of them. "Rebekah, when you're done with that, can you give Mr. Avery his potion again? Warrington said the rash from whatever potion he thought he was brewing was still there."
"Yeah, of course," Rebekah said, scribbling something down and setting it in the bin before heading over to Mr. Avery's room. Felicity handed her the chart as she walked by and looked up at Lyra.
"Didn't expect you to be here today," she said, leaning back against the counter. Lyra frowned and grabbed one of her patients charts from where it had been filed. Felicity seemed to notice the look on her face and said, "Roxy told me you all went to a party, so I just assumed you'd take today off."
Lyra chuckled and shook her head. "No, I just go to the parties," she said. "I don't actually do anything besides make sure everyone stays out of trouble." Felicity glanced over and shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something, but one of the Healers-in-training cut her off before she could.
"You're still doing that?" Felicity asked after she was done and Lyra looked up in confusion.
"Doing what?" Lyra asked, putting down her quill. "My job?"
Felicity gave her a look and continued, "You can't keep taking care of them forever. It was one thing at school, but Merlin knows they can handle themselves now."
Lyra bit her lip for a second before answering, "I dunno, have you met Rose?"
"Lyra-"
"I know what you mean," Lyra said, cutting Felicity off. "But I can't help it. I take care of people, it's what I do." She waved her hands around at all of the people and patients wandering around the floor. "It's literally my job."
"That doesn't mean you have to bring it home with you," Felicity shot back, a smile on her face. Lyra was about to respond when a commotion down the hall drew Felicity's attention. Lyra looked back down at the paperwork in front of her as Felicity started down the hall towards them. She heard her footsteps pause and then move back towards the nurses' station. Lyra glanced up yet again to see Felicity leaning over the edge of the station.
"Look, I get it," she said quickly and quietly, "but you can't be their mum forever. It doesn't help them and it certainly doesn't help you. Trust me." She walked away before Lyra could say anything.
For a minute, Lyra just sat there, trying to figure out what Felicity had said. She bit her lip again as she looked around the floor. It's harmless, she thought as she went back to her work. There's nothing wrong with wanting to help.
