St. Mungo's, a sort of wizard's hospital located in London. If a witch or wizard couldn't cure themselves at home, or a student of Hogwarts needed more than the nurse had to offer, or if a poor muggle, a non-magical person, minding their own business in the UK was involved in a serious magical accident, this is where they all go.Nella squeezed Mr. Potter's hand nervously. She didn't like the place; it reminded her of her other unfortunate visits. If Harry tried to offer a reassuring smile, Nella didn't see it. She only stared straight ahead at Purge and Dowse, the abandoned department store front that was meant to deter muggles from unwittingly entering a place that would be highly disturbing for themselves.
Harry approached one of the more outrageously windswept mannequins through the window of the derelict department store.
"I am here with a patient, Nella Dursley," he said. The mannequin nodded and beckoned forward, allowing Harry to lead Nella through the window to the other side. On the other side, the room instantly transformed from drab to a very clean-smelling reception area.The floor was tiled but covered with softly colored rugs featuring little patterns. The chairs and benches were comfy-looking, but all these little details didn't keep the sound of fire-breathing hiccups, insatiable tap dancing, and other concerning noises at a comfortable level.Even with everyone in robes of varying colors, and a few in muggle clothes, like jeans and a jumper, the staff was easily identified by their lime green robes and embroidered emblems of a bone and a wand crossed in a 'T' shape. A small line of injured and sick people was formed in front of the mahogany reception desk, but Harry passed this line, through double doors into a narrow corridor."It's slow today," Mr. Potter commented, throwing an additional comforting smile. Nella nodded in agreement. The smaller number of patients was nice; she didn't feel as panicked as on her other visits, but that might have been because this visit wasn't as urgent as the others.Nella was to attend Hogwarts soon, and a pre-checkup was advised, or more accurately, required, before she attended. Unlike other patients her age brought to St. Mungo's, she didn't question why she was brought to a hospital even if she wasn't feeling particularly sick, or had giant elephant ears charmed over her own. She knew exactly why.Magic. Almost a curse word in her mind. It caused her much grief, or at least only when she used it. Mr. Potter used magic; Mrs. Potter used magic; Teddy and the Weasleys, and any of the other families who were either part or friendly enough to visit the Potters, used magic without much fuss.However, when Nella used magic, accidents always seemed to happen unintentionally. Sometimes they were small, like a loud noise that would scare her enough to cry. Suddenly, if anyone had their hand on her shoulder, perhaps to calm her down, they would receive an uncomfortable zap and pain at the place of contact.Then there were bigger accidents, like the one that sent her away from home. Nella wasn't a Potter; she was related, but distantly. She used to live with her own family, Dudley Dursley, who was Mr. Potter's cousin, in America before she started the fire. That was roughly three years ago, and although Nella knew she had lived quite happily with her previous family, something awful happened. A fire, which had "traumatized" her.That's what adults said, and she couldn't remember much before moving to the Potters' house. She mostly remembered the fear of being trapped in the blaze. She still feared fire and had huddled closer to Mr. Potter after some fiery hiccoughs blew angry flames out of a poor wizard's throat in the reception area. There weren't many doors on the first floor, but on this floor, a room labeled 'Specialist Consultation' had been added soon after Nella's frequent visits.One positive aspect of visiting this magical hospital was the very kind healers who helped Nella. Today, they were to see Miss Lavender. They opened the door, and there she sat on another comfy chair in front of a rather comfortable loveseat.Nella didn't gasp at Lavender Brown, but when she first met the woman on a full moon, she couldn't hold back after seeing her face. It was like someone took a porcelain doll's head and smashed its face in, then glued the pieces carefully back together. Even during the day, if there were to be a full moon that night, Miss Lavender's face would be covered in awful cracks and lines, but on any other day, her face was spotless. Pretty even.Even if Nella kept her face neutral out of respect for this kind healer, Mr. Potter sometimes slipped a very sad expression over his face. Nella asked him what had happened to her, but he didn't like to speak much about it other than to say that a werewolf attacked her.
Through the horrific scars, Miss Lavender gave Nella a welcoming smile.
"It's nice to see you, Nella. How are you doing today?"
"I'm okay... I haven't had an accident for three days." Nella was a little proud of herself.
"That's excellent! How about calming draughts and peace potions?" Nella deflated a little at this question. She took these as lozenges to keep from either panicking, in which case a peace potion, or to calm down from a panic, in which case a calming draught, to keep her emotions in check. Her unusual case with magic had her taking them regularly, but the healers were concerned that using these so frequently could have negative effects on her health and her unruly magic, so she was expected to take them less.The anxiety of her upcoming schooling had her on edge lately, and Lily, Mr. Potter's youngest daughter, had taken to sleeping in her bed at night whenever she felt scared or had a nightmare. Nella feared that in her sleep, she might hurt Lily and took a peace potion lozenge nearly every night. The Potters didn't know this, and she was tempted to lie, but she never lied to Miss Lavender."I've been taking peace lozenges at night. I'm sorry." Nella hung her head as Mr. Potter stiffened at the news. Even so, he came to her defense."As far as I know, she hasn't taken anything else since her last accident," he said, but Miss Lavender merely nodded."I could guess at the reasoning, Nella, but we really need to focus on getting you off these potions. During school, you may be tempted to take more, and Madam Pomfrey is going to work with you there, but here," she waved her wand, and a notebook popped into existence.
"This is both a journal and a potion diary. I want you to submit this to Madam Pomfrey every night while you're attending school so we can both keep track of how you're doing. Will that be alright?" Nella nodded, knowing even if Miss Lavendar offered a choice, it wasn't something she could argue. Although, it sounded like she was being forced to do extra homework.
"Thank you, Nella. James would have had a fit."~ ~They arrived a little way from the Potter house after stepping off a triple-decker, violently purple bus. Mr. Potter looked a little green, and although Nella's first ride on the so-called Knight Bus was exhilarating and fun, this time she stepped off feeling dizzy as the bus launched away at an alarming speed. Mr. Potter then pulled out his preferred means of travel from a suitcase that magically had enough room for an entire glossy, swift-looking broom.Nella wasn't a fan of brooms, having exploded one once while riding it, but she didn't want to complain or be an inconvenience.The broom hovered while Mr. Potter tied the briefcase to it. Then, he hoisted Nella onto the back end of the broom, before swinging a leg over himself. As Nella wrapped her little arms tightly around Mr. Potter, she shivered with anxiety."Don't worry, Nella, it's not far." And they were off, not too fast but the wind still whipped Nella's hair around as they rose gently higher than the clouds. Mr. Pottered muttered something about "divination" and "forecast" as they made their way from a street. They were still close enough to the muggle population, and Mr. Potter was carefully wary of using magic in their line of sight. They weren't supposed to know.Even her dad wasn't supposed to know, but he grew up with Mr. Potter, and not to mention, she herself was his daughter and a witch, so there were exceptions.After being airborne for several minutes, Mr. Potter adjusted to a slow dive past the clouds, and the house atop a hill came into view. The house wasn't necessarily large, but it had a very cozy appeal, with hints of magic showing from the color-changing smoke billowing out the chimney and the glittering exterior of the rough stones, which appeared like a galaxy, sparkling up the walls of the house.There appeared to be someone at the front door, and as they got closer, Nella recognized Teddy's pastel blue hair. It was her favorite color, and she smiled.They got close enough just as he was about to knock and Mr. Potter shouted, "Hey Teddy! Right on time." Teddy turned as they landed beside him."You don't have to have blue hair just because it's my favorite, you know," Nella teased, but smiled when he tapped her nose with his index finger."I know that," he said, smiling and gently ruffling Nella's blonde hair. They opened the door to the warm foyer before heading left into the kitchen. The house, while still cozy, was much larger on the inside. The kitchen led into a dining room with a high ceiling, higher than the house should be, with a view simulating the sky, the sun settling lower over the horizon, marking dinner time.
Mrs. Potter was supervising James and Albus, the two eldest sons, setting the table, while Lily sat and giggled as the two argued about a fork sitting on one side of the plate over the other.
Nella suspected James of starting the argument to get out of table setting, especially whenever a smirk escaped his imitation of outrage whenever Albus made a point. Ginny, Mr. Potter's wife, sighed in relief as he entered, leaving her two sons to squabble as she headed back into the kitchen.Sometimes Mrs. Potter tried to cook, and nearly always Mr. Potter took over. Today, with the lingering smell of burnt something in the air, was no exception."Alright, fine. Whatever you want. Let's just set the table, Albus," James gave up after presumably deciding that if his mother left and Teddy was going to supervise, there was no fighting it. Testing Mrs. Potter's patience wasn't wise, as she wasn't adverse to pranking her children, but testing Teddy's ability to prank for punishment was asking for uninterrupted chaos for days on end.Good-naturedly, Teddy assisted the two before heading to the kitchen to help tidy up Mrs. Potter's food experiment."Was Miss Patil your healer today?" Lily asked Nella conversationally. Nella barely offered a "No," before Lily jumped into a tale of her day, with minute detail. If others didn't care for Lily's overexplaining, Nella loved her all the more for it.
Nella didn't particularly like being the star of the conversation, but listening to Lily and her positivity about all things in her life gave Nella positivity about her own.
As Lily spoke, something soft, small, and warm wound itself around Nella's feet before hopping onto her lap and contentedly purred while curling its little body.Rupert, a black kitten, had probably been waiting for her return. He didn't like being away from Nella long after she rescued him a week ago at Diagon Alley.
"That cat wouldn't shut up while you were gone-"
"James! You liar, he only cried three times and then I took care of him!" Lily turned to argue with James while Albus leaned around to silently mouth to Nella "James is a lying git."
Not long after dinner was served, they all ate rather peacefully, other than Nella's mounting anxiety, which got worse each night as the day to leave for Hogwarts crept closer. Only three days left.