Disclaimer- -looks down and sighs- Yes, it's time for that faithful disclaimer. This will be the only one I will do in this story, as I find them annoying. I don't own Harry Potter, I begged J K Rowling to give it up but as usual she wouldn't have it. So therefore she owns Harry Potter and the characters, and I own only Megan Lewis and the plot.

It's all about money

Madam Ponfrey held a large bottle of potion in front of me. She studied it for a second and shook it, making bubbles rise up and turning it a sticky yellow colour. I stared at it in disbelief. What was she going to do with it? I prayed that is wasn't going down my throat. She took a small cloth and tipped a small amount onto it, and a sizzling sound came. I thought that it was like acid, but when she took the potion bottle away the cloth was still in tact.

"Now I want you to hold this on your lip for five minutes. Do NOT remove it," Madam Pomfrey said, handing me the cloth. I stared at it for a minute and pressed it against my lip, and a gasp escaped my throat. Madam Pomfrey shook her head.

"You expected it to not hurt?" She said scowling. "Silly. You can't get anything for free, something must hurt."
I stared at her. What on earth was she on about? I looked at Hermione, who was scowling at Madam Pomfrey. Obviously she didn't get her either.

"Now how did this happen?" Pomfrey asked.

"She-" Hermione started.

"I tripped over and landed on the edge of a stone step," I lied quickly. Hermione looked at me shocked.
Luckily, the nurse didn't see it.
"Well, do try to be more careful dear." She said and left.

Hermione edged closer to my bed.

"Why did you lie?" She asked softly. Her brown eyes full of worry. I felt another shock; it surprised me how much she cared. It puzzled me; no one had ever cared before.

"Because," I said, my voice muffled slightly by the cloth over my lower lip. "If I reported them they would do it even worse."

"How can you be sure?" she asked. "I mean, they obviously care about their education here. They don't want to be excluded."

"Most of them are Death Eaters, Hermione. They don't care. Even if they did, the teachers wouldn't do it." Hermione looked at me in deep confusion.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because it costs money to exclude people. They can't stand to lose that little bit extra." I explained coldly.

"Dumbledore's not like that, Megan, he'll just exclude them. What gave you that idea anyway?" Hermione asked.

"I used to go to a muggle school and they were like that. So, I figured that all schools are like it," I said, not looking at her. I felt suddenly very young and naïve. Deep down, I felt it was true. Hermione didn't answer me as Madam Pomfrey's head popped around the corner.

"You can take the cloth off now Miss Lewis. Then you can go," she called and her head disappeared around the corner again. I looked at Hermione, surprised. This was very unlike her to not keep me in there. Normally she'd keep me in there for another three days!

I removed the cloth and touched my lip. There was a tiny bump where the broken skin had been. I looked at Hermione looking for her opinion. She nodded her head and smiled. "Good as new."

I threw the cloth in the bin and got up. "Lets get out of here before she makes me stay longer."

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I'm really sorry this took so long to update. I hope you liked it though. :)

Once again, a big cheer for my fantastic Beta Reader:)

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