Chapter 1: The Verdict

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the things that seem familiar. They are all J.K.'s. But, I do own Isabella and the situation that she's in. Hope you enjoy the story.

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This was not going to turn out for the best. I could feel it right now. I had been getting stabbing pains in my chest for the past two weeks, and my parents decide to take me to a hospital; a muggle hospital, none the less. A scowl crossed the features of my face as I looked out the window of the muggle care my parents has rented. Why on earth did we have to go to this particular hospital? This would be too embarrassing to tell my friends, so I decided not to tell them. Here, in France, muggles were the epitome of low; especially at my school, Beauxbatons. My friends thought that muggles were horrible, and their opinions counted more than anyone else at my school. So I decided that keeping this tiny secret from them was for the best. They didn't need to know my life story anyways. I was above them in all standards.

I drummed my pocket with my fingers. It held my cigarettes in them and I was just dying for one. Maybe I would get to sneak away from my parents to have one. But if not, I had another two hours to go. A scowl crossed my face again at this. Why couldn't they be like all of the other cool parents who let their children have a puff? It wouldn't harm me. They should have just let me. I wouldn't have to rebel the way that I do.

Finally, after about an hour of driving, we pulled up to a tall, white building with many windows. It looked like a normal muggle building. There was no magic to it, no charm. It was just plain, ugly and I could already tell I would be bored out of my mind. We parked the car, and I looked out the window again, dreading this. I breathed in and got another stabbing pain that made me cut my breath short and clutch at my chest. My parents looked around, worried, but I just motioned for them to go ahead. I didn't need their help, plus I would catch up anyways. I let myself calm down again and headed for the hospital.

When I stepped inside the doors, parents in front of me, I cringed back at what my senses had picked up. First of all, it smelled like sick people. It also has a mixed scent of old people. I shivered and then looked at my surroundings. The second thing that I noticed was how terrible everyone looked. Did I look like that? Was that why my parents decided to send me here? No, I thought I couldn't have looked like that. I never looked worse than my total best. I raised my chin high, straightened my shoulders, and walked to an empty seat. I would not subdue myself to look like these people. I watched as my parents talked to a receptionist, nodding once or twice, and taking many forms to fill out. They turned away from her and came around to where I was sitting. They looked at me and frowned. I hadn't noticed that I made the scowl on my face permanent.

"I don't see why you're so upset," my father accused me, while filling out a form. He was so thick-headed sometimes, "We picked a good hospital to see what was wrong with you. You want to get better, don't you? You do not appreciate us at all."

I turned my face away, not even bothering to answer. We were in a muggle's hospital. No wonder I had lost most of my respect for them. I patted the pocket with the cigarettes again, unconsciously, getting even more stressed out. I tried to look for an escape, but just saw the sick people everywhere. I felt my 

stomach go queasy and thought it best to just sit here, and try to make this go by as fast as possible. I felt another sharp pain in my chest, and gasped at the sharp knives being pushed into my chest, ripping apart my lungs. Why did this have to happen to me? I looked up to see where that stupid muggle healer was. I felt like he was taking forever. The stabbing feeling was getting worse now, and I counted back from sixty, trying not to think about it. It worked and I sighed in relief. I'd have to remember that for future references.

"Isabella Shilling," I heard someone call from a hallway next to the reception desk. I looked up to see a girl, maybe a few years older than me, looking around for what I might look like. I sighed, gave my parents a half-attempt at a smile, and made my way over to the girl. She smiled at me and motioned to follow her.

We walked down an extremely lit hallway (filled with these bright round things that produced the light. I couldn't quite remember what they were called.) The hallway was wide and there were many rooms on either side of it. I decided it wouldn't be horrible to sneak a peak into a room, to see what I was up against. What was in there, frightened me. There was an old woman, ghostly pale, and looked as fragile as a stick. She had he eyes half open as she stared at the ceiling. Honestly, she looked quite close to dead. I shivered, not because of the temperature, even though it was quite cold, and started tapping my pocket nervously. If I could just get one cigarette…

"Right in here, Ms. Shilling," the girl said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked at her, and then back to the small, white room. I sighed and walked in, sitting on the little bed-type seat they had for me. The muggle healer wasn't in yet. They took my out of a big waiting room, and put me in a small one. These muggles took forever with their work. How fantastic, I thought to myself, sarcastically. This would definitely take longer than I expected. I lay back on the bed and decided to inspect the room. There was a sink, with a few drawers and cupboards on the right wall. Other than that, the room was fairly empty besides an unmoving portrait, or two. I looked at one of the portraits and saw how happy one girl looked. She was in a crowded park, away from everyone else. She was holding a balloon and had the biggest smile on her face. I looked around the portrait, seeing if the girl's parents might be around looking for her. This painting was a bunch of crap. If I were the girl's mum, I would be looking feverishly for her.

Suddenly, I heard the door open and there was a smiling man standing in the doorway. He was wearing a white trench coat and had my file in his hand. He walked in, and took a seat on a chair with wheels. He turned to me and smiled again, "Hello Isabella. My name is Dr. Rittmore. I'm going to ask you a few questions, as with normal procedure. First off, how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen," I said with a slight nervousness in my voice. They never had to do this procedure with a regular healer. I sighed and just decided to play along with it, make the muggle happy.

"Do you smoke, Isabella?" My face turned to stone when he asked that question. The permanent scowl appeared again, and I turned my head slightly away from him. It was really none of his business what I did with my personal life.

"I'm sorry, but is this really relevant?" I asked with as much ice in my tone as possible. "I don't see how this is important enough to be in that little file."

The doctor, surprised at my sudden hostility, nodded carefully in response to my question. He probably thought I was going to blow at any minute. "It is most certainly important for this visit. You said you've 

been getting chest pain, am I correct? Well, your smoking may or may not have something to do with it. Now, I am just being as cautious as possible. This is what a doctor does. So, I am going to take your reaction as a yes, and continue on to the next question."

My face went blank with surprise, and then I glowered at him. No one had the right to treat me, Isabella Shilling like that. Especially not him, this low-life muggle. We continued with questions like that for another ten minutes and he decided to run some tests. I cringed as they put a sharp needle in my arm to take blood, and then sent me on my way to a different room. This room, had a big tube-like thing that looked very claustrophobic. From what I heard, it was called a "Cat Scan." I had no idea what my pain had to do with cats, but apparently, they knew best. On the other side of the room there was a glass wall where the doctor went in to look at me from afar.

The nurse helped me lay down on the board to go in the tube, and they told me to stay as still as possible. I heard very loud noises, and I was getting uncomfortable in here already. They would probably make me stay still this entire time, and I would get bored fairly quickly. For another ten minutes, the noise went on. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped and I was allowed to go into the other room. They told me it might take up to an hour to get the results and to wait patiently. Yeah, thanks for nothing, I thought as I just lay back down on the bed. I would have nothing to do for an hour. I closed my eyes and let myself rest. This would feel like forever.

When I opened my eyes again, I noticed that the muggle healer was trying to get my attention. Had I fallen to sleep? I rubbed my eyes and squinted into the bright light. I noticed the solemn look ob the doctor's face, and saw something was wrong. I sat up quickly and my eyes widened at what was about to come next. I knew there was bad news. I clutched at my chest again at the pain and grimaced. This was so not my day.

"Ms. Shilling, I'm afraid I have some bad news," the muggle healer said as he put my files up on a board, "During the Cat Scan, we found three very large tumors on your lungs. All three are around the size of a golf ball." He looked at me sadly, but I was more than confused.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you mean," my voice started rising with fear. What was a tumor? Is it fatal? I shook my head, trying to clear it from these fearful thoughts. No, I wasn't going to die. I was way too strong for that.

"Isabella, I'm sorry. But you have cancer. And if you don't get operated on soon, you're going to die."

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A/N: Hey guys!

This is my first chapter and first story posting on HPFF! I'm so excited. I have so many ideas for this story. Okay, so right now, the story is set at 30 chapters, but it may be a few more or a few less. I'm not quite sure yet. I will start writing the next chapter once this one is posted. Please leave reviews so I know what I am doing right and wrong. Thank you so much! I love you guys.

KimIsAmazingXX