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Chapter 5: Nighttime Cramps

Róisín woke slick with sweat. Her insides ached. She was curled into a foetal position, one hand clutching her abdomen while the fingers of the other pressed against her underwear to relieve the throbbing in her labia. She dragged herself to her feet, stumbled into the bathroom and stuck a bulky night-time pad onto her underwear. She huffed when she saw that blood had managed to escape her pad and stain the bedclothes. Then she collapsed back onto her bed.

Róisín had gone to Madam Pomfrey after her first two periods at Hogwarts this year, both of which had been intolerable. The matron had been understanding and had given her enough pain relieving potion for a couple of months, or so she had claimed, Róisín had somehow taken all the pain reliever just to get through a single period. Now she had none left for this month. Her face burned at the thought of having to ask the nurse for more. Would she think she was addicted to the potion now? Was she? She groaned at the idea of a drug problem on top of her strange bouts of wooziness and her libido running amok.

A fierce hatred for her own body bubbled through her and a sob shook her. It appeared that once a month her hormones took a break from making her unbearably horny just to encourage her womb to claw itself to shreds. The pain in her head pulsated like an enraged animal trying to escape the confines of her skull and her eyes were squeezed so tightly shut it felt as though they would pop in their sockets. Why did it hurt so much? How weak must she be for her period to cripple her, when other women barely noticed it?

A hesitant rap of the door was followed by Ida's uncertain voice,

"Róisín, is everything OK?"

Grimacing, Róisín managed to spit out,

"Just…not feeling well."

"Oh, is there anything I can-"

"No, no, I'll be OK – Sorry for waking you."

"Listen, you really don't sound OK, may I come in?"

Róisín strained to make her voice sound natural,

"Sure"

Ida's eyes widened while she took in Róisín's shivering form.

"OK, I'm bringing you to-"

"No, honestly, I'll be fine, it's just my period."

"Can you walk? Or will I get Madam Pomfrey?"

"Em..." Róisín let out an involuntary groan as she shifted her weight onto wobbly feet. The edges of her vision blackened as she straightened.

"Lie back down before you faint, I'm getting Pomfrey," Ida asserted.

Ida cast a quickening charm on her feet as she hurried through the castle. Anxiety nibbled at her chest as the torch flames flickered, licking the tall stone walls. Suddenly she noticed a black shape gliding towards her. Choking back a scream, Ida's wand hand shot up.

"Miss Evrard, enlighten me as to why you are wandering the corridor at such an ungodly hour… apparently looking for a duel."

Snape eyes looked pointedly at Ida's wand.

She lowered her wand as her words stumbled out.

"Apologies Professor, Miss Feral's not well, I have to find Madam Pomfrey."

"Tell me what illness has befallen Miss Feral that she is incapable of finding the matron herself."

Ida blushed and averted her eyes.

"It's her period."

Snape's eyes narrowed.

"I know it doesn't sound serious, but she's in a lot of pain, I didn't know what to do."

His gaze swept over Ida's quivering form. Abruptly he turned as a sliver shape poured from his wand and dashed around the corner towards the hospital wing.

"Take me to her," he ordered.

As they ascended the stairs towards Róisín's room, it struck Ida that her biggest legacy at Hogwarts would be as the Ravenclaw who lead the Slytherin Head of House into their sanctuary. Róisín is going to kill me.

Ida knocked on Róisín's door. She was acutely aware of Snape looming behind her.

"May we come in?"

"Did you get Pomfrey?" came Róisín's soft voice.

"Em… not exactly"

Snape moved past Ida and opened the door.

Róisín scrambled back on her bed as her face shot towards the potions master. Snape stood in her messy bedroom, scrutinizing her, a poster of Johnny Depp on the wall behind him and her dirty clothes and girly toiletries littering the floor beneath him. She felt intensely vulnerable under his glare. Why is he here? His eyes flickered momentarily towards her stained bedclothes. The almost imperceptible shift in his gaze pushed Róisín over the edge. She gasped for breath as embarrassment, confusion and pain ripped through her.

"Miss Feral, there is no need to panic," Snape said slowly, with a look that implied her histrionics irritated him. "I will not harm you. Madam Pomfrey is on her way."

He moved to the side of her bed. Róisín kept her eyes trained on his chin as he towered above her.

"Lie on your back and straighten your body."

Róisín obeyed, her face throbbing red.

Snape drew his wand and muttered "Ostendolor" as he placed his elegant black wand against Róisín's forehead and lightly dragged it down her body. Past her nose, her lips, her chin, her neck, between her breasts and past her stomach. The feeling of the tip being pressed against her skin with such precise pressure was strange. Her breath caught as she thought he would drag it over her privates. Just after the beginning of the slope of her pubis he changed course and drew a line down her left leg.

Snape and Ida watched as Róisín felt her body glow through her thin pyjamas. Her groin, lower abdomen, and head burned red. Her breasts were a deep orange. The rest of her was lit with varying shades of yellows, greens and blues.

"Professor, what did you do?" Ida tentatively asked.

"I performed a spell that reveals the subject's pain."

Madam Pomfrey scurried into the room, shooing Ida away from the bed. She peered over Róisín, her forehead creased and lips pinched. She didn't pause in her appraisal as she spoke,

"Miss Evrard, I appreciate you informing us of Miss Feral's condition, but now it is time for you to get some sleep."

Ida's eyes were still wide and unsure as she slipped out the door.

"I will return with ciclo consolatio and blood replenishing potion," Snape muttered and left the room.

Pomfrey began to sing an incantation in a language Róisín did not recognise. Róisín closed her eyes in relief as the soft, sweet tones soothed the pain in her centre, like ice-cream over a badly-burnt tongue.

Snape returned with two vials, one the colour of fresh blood and the other a swirl of baby pinks and sky blues.

Róisín sat up as he thrust the red vial into her hand.

"Drink it all," he ordered.

Róisín's stomach contracted in disgust as she gulped down the thick, coppery liquid as quickly as she could.

"Ciclo consolatio will ease the discomforts associated with menstruation." Snape held up the other vial. "However, because of its side effects, I advise you to take one spoonful only." With a click of his fingers a spoon materialized, hovering in front of her. He handed her the vial.

Róisín eyes flickered awkwardly around the potions master's impassive face as she waited for him to explain the side effects.

"Sometime today Miss Feral, it is not my intention to spend all night in your bedchambers." He indicated the vial Róisín held gingerly. Róisín stuttered,

"S-side effects sir?"

Snape glanced at Madam Pomfrey, who was sorting through a bag of supplies. Róisín saw his Adam's apple move as he swallowed.

"The way this brew interacts with your hormones may cause you to feel unusually licentious."

"Oh" Róisín scrunched her brow, trying to remember the meaning of the antiquated word. Snape rolled his eyes.

"Meaning that this brew is known to induce lascivious thoughts."

Róisín frowned as she tried to digest the information.

"Bloody hell," Snape grunted. "It means it'll make you rand-"

"-I know what it means," Róisín spat.

Pomfrey's head snapped up from the notebook she was writing in. She had never heard a student talk back to the Head of Slytherin.

Snape peered down his long, hooked nose at Róisín, who dropped her eyes to her lap and gritted her teeth, bracing herself for a scathing retort.

"Half a spoon might be more prudent, as there is reason to believe you will prove especially susceptible to the effect."

Róisín's room wobbled as tears filled her eyes. She didn't know if he was referring to her effunde brew, or what had transpired with Eóghan, or both. She shoved the rising sob back down her throat and held the potion back to her professor.

"Em… I would prefer not to take it… if that's OK." She looked anxiously at Madam Pomfrey for support.

"Of course dear, I'll leave you with some of our standard pain-relieving potion."

Snape looked at her as if she were a specimen he wanted to dissect as he took the vial from her hand. His lips curled over his uneven teeth as he spoke,

"Naturally a Ravenclaw would refuse anything that may tamper with their precious intellect."

Then he left with the abrupt movements of a spider, pausing only to acknowledge the matron with a brief incline of his head.

Róisín sagged against her headboard as she let out a long sigh of relief.

"Don't worry about your professor," Pomfrey said. "He is much too busy to think twice about anything that might embarrass you."

"Thank you, ma'am, for looking after me. I'm sorry I've been such a bother recently, taking you from your bed in the dead of night."

"Miss Feral, I did not accept this position as nurse of Hogwarts, home of one thousand students, expecting uninterrupted sleep," the matron assured her. "Now in regards to your symptoms, sometimes young women experience painful menstrual cramping for a year or so, but it normally ameliorates as they get older. I've left you some potions and instructions, and I would like you to visit me next month and let me know if you have the same issue."

Madam Pomfrey patted Róisín on the shoulder as she turned to leave.

"Good night, Miss Feral"

"Good night, ma'am"

Róisín felt light with relief now that the pain was gone. She snuggled deep into her covers and fell asleep.