Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.
End of Summer
Ryua did spend the rest of summer in her room. She had her own bathroom, of course, and the elves didn't mind bringing her meals up in the slightest. Even though the elves had said her hand should heal well, she started training her left to do the things her right used to do. Well, except for wand work, of course. One needed a wand for that.
It was harder, with the off hand. Ryua kept wanting to make a mirror image of the spell, with her hand twisting in when her right used to, but of course, she had to go left, not in. So, she couldn't just copy the old symbols, she had to actually relearn how to trace them out. Like, an S didn't become a Z; it had to be a S, with the curves going in the same direction as on the paper. And of course, the harder she thought about mirror images and not making them, the harder it got.
And writing was worse. She'd gotten through most of her homework already, thank the Hogwarts Four, so she only had a handful of questions and a Potions essay to go. And it looks like I'm going to have to blow off the essay.
After three days practice, Ryua could draw a straight and a curved line, and pick up and put down her quill. When she tried to write, it resembled a two-year-old's efforts, oversized, clumsy, and nearly illegible. She'd tried to use her right hand, thinking that her first two fingers and thumb were sound so it should be no problem. She could actually hold the quill, but not rest her hand on the desk. And without a wand, she might perform a rough levitation charm, but there was no chance of one delicate enough to hold her hand up off the paper to write.
So, she spent five or ten seconds per letter, carefully etching out Transfiguration answers word by word in something resembling her own hand. By the last one, her hand was completely cramped, and she'd spent ten hours. The essay was supposed to be at least three times as long. Professor Snape would just have to wait for his essay.
In between, she practiced bouncing a ball off her wall and catching it. Not nearly as easy as it sounds, mind. Most people can do it with both hands, and quite a few can do it with their dominant. But, throwing accurately, and catching without using your second hand to brace the ball all the while distracted by shoots of pain... that was nearly impossible.
So, naturally Ryua stubbornly tossed the ball at the wall, watched it bounce once on the floor, and tried to catch it. At first, she got it once every ten times.
By the end of the day, she was down to seven.
Three days later, she caught it 1 in 5.
And by the end of the week, it was a 50-50 thing.
Which is not good enough, Ryua thought, throwing the ball again. She could easily throw it accurately now, and her power was increasing. Catching it was still hard, and she had to keep her right hand in her pocket, or bound to her side to keep it from reaching out on reflex. She'd done that once, and nearly blacked out from the pain. Toppy hadn't been amused either. "You is never going to heal if you is doing that, miss,"
So she'd started with her pocket. And was starting to get extremely bored. Good thing school's only a week away. Mother and Draco had left to go shopping earlier that day, and Ryua had locked her door before they left, just in case Lucius got in a nasty mood. Just after noon, she did hear someone tinkering with her lock spell, and she reinforced it, wishing it were a curse instead of a charm. She could trust her curses to work every time. Charms, they seemed to drop out at strange moments. Perhaps because she kept on top of it so much, Lucius decided it too much trouble and went away. Ryua breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she was in no shape to duel without a wand, and without even her good hand.
Hours later, Ryua woke up with a jolt, as she heard someone's voice yelp outside her door. "Draco? Is that you?"
"Yes it's me... What the hell did you do to this doorknob?"
"Magicked it, just a minute..." Ryua rolled off her couch, where she'd dozed off earlier on. "Sorry, I put on a few extra layers after he tried to come in."
"Man, he really has it in for you, doesn't he? Here's your stuff, figured you'd want it in here."
"Yeah, thanks..." Ryua picked up the bag, thankful she didn't have to juggle a loose stack, and stowed it in her already packed trunk.
Draco sat down on her couch, letting out a big, fake sigh of exhaustion. "So, we're just about back, eh?"
"Yeah." Ryua plopped down beside him. "I can't wait."
"Got any ideas about the quidditch team?"
"Yes, actually. I've done an inordinate amount of thinking this past week and a half. You and I are staying right where we are, unless we get someone really excellent. Think Crabbe and Goyle can fly?"
"Them? I've never thought about it. I expect once you tell them it's just a faster way to hit people harder, they'll take to it like a fish to water."
"That's just what I hope will happen. And, we'll need some chasers. I was thinking about Snape..."
"He's a teacher, Ryua," Draco said in the tone of an overly patient parent explaining things to a not-so-bright child.
"Not that Snape, dolt. Ashley Snape. She should be in her... third year now." Ryua giggled. "I said I'd put in a good word with the next quidditch captain. And Cassie Darkwind too. I saw her during their flight training, and with some real training, she could be good. That would leave us with one chaser to go..."
"Well, you'll have to see what goes on during tryouts."
"Yeah. Draco, would you send an owl to Snape, asking him to make sure the brooms are school property? I can just see our father withdrawing them from the team."
"Good idea. Why don't you do it?"
"Have you ever tried to write with your left hand?"
"Oh. Okay."
Author's Note: I was asked by Me why someone would have to relearn everything if they broke their hand. The answer is, Ryua's right-handed. Most people, (at least I do) do everything with their dominant hand. If that hand's out of commission, you'd be surprised how many things you have to relearn. So, breaking her right hand means her left has to take over a lot of stuff. And if her right never heals properly, then she even has to relearn to use that hand, because it's a different shape, or moves wrong... People really don't realize how much they use their hands, or even individual fingers.
