(126) Wiped

Fred's face paled, looking around at the others in sheer panic, "She can't remember us? What happened? What's going on?"

"I don't know," Nicolai was also in panic mode, "Must be all the medication getting to her head. Or slight amnesia—"

"Slight amnesia? She can't remember any of us! What's so slight about that?" His paranoia caused a mini outburst, Nicolai scoffing at him, "Hey, calm down. I'm just as worried as you are, yeah?

"Give her some space, maybe." George suggested, everyone backing away from Florence's bedside, her hazel eyes clouded with genuine panic and confusion. She looked around, seeing the white walls and the other beds, a thought dawning upon her, "Rowena's sake...Where am I?"

"Oh my god..." Cho muttered, "I've had the most head injuries in the team but I've never had it this bad."

"I knew her little conversation with Montague before the game would go bad." Roger sighed, "I just knew it."

Florence frowned, not understanding what the hysteria around her was all about. She stared at Cho, then at Roger, "Who are you?"

"Oh god." Nicolai said again, "What do we do? What do we do?"

"I swear I'll get that stupid Montague..."

"I'll go get Madame Pomfrey," Xander said, not being able to endure seeing Florence in the state she was in any longer, "Maybe she can tell us what's happening."

"Hurry!" Fred called out, taking Florence's hand in his, his thumb drawing circles against the back of her hand, "It's okay. Whatever this is, it probably won't last very long. We'll fix you right up."

She stared at his hand holding hers, transfixed on his actions as if she was seeing a three headed purple dragon, "I really don't know who you are, and I don't think it's right to hold a stranger's hand so intimately..." she said, Fred raising his brows, "Intimately...?"

"Yeah," Memory-less Florence said, gesturing to their intertwined fingers, "Hand holding is intimate. But..."

"But what?"

A blush creeped onto her cheeks, "You're pretty cute yourself, so, honestly I don't really mind."

He stared at her incredulously, the others bursting out into fits of laughter, startling Florence, "Did, did I say something weird?" she turned to Fred frantically, "Y-you, you have a girlfriend, don't you? Will she mind that you're holding my hand?"

A smile spread across Fred's face, before he queezed her hand lightly in reassurance, "I don't think she'll mind one bit. Truth is, you are so much like her."

"Really?" she muttered, feeling genuinely discouraged that the cute ginger boy who was being awfully nice to her was taken. She glanced up at George, a hopeful look on her face, "Is your twin brother taken, too?"

George blinked, rather horrified as Fred gave him a 'don't even think about it' look.

"Oh man!" Nicolai gasped for air in mid laughter, "This is hilarious. Florence, you're a gem."

"Um...thank you...?"

Fred shot the other brunette a look, "Tone it down, will you? We shouldn't stress her out too much. We still don't know what's wrong with her..."

"What? I'm just having a bit of fun. Flo wouldn't mind. Honestly, I could guarantee that she'd do the exact same thing to me if we were to switch positions."

Florence turned to Nicolai, a questioning look sent her way, "Are you his girlfriend?"

"Heavens no." Nicolai almost cringed away from her bedside, "Even if I was single, I'd never date either of them."

"I'm offended." said George.

"You did try to fake date Georgie two years ago." Fred reminded her.

"Yeah, keyword—fake—so get off my back about that."

"Madame Pomfrey's here." said Xander, just as the school nurse entered. She placed the trays of potions she was carrying onto a counter, before making her way over to Florence, "Ah, I thought you'd be up soon. Your friend told me you have a bit of a problem with remembering things..."

Florence nodded, "Is that supposed to happen?"

"Given the fact that she was hit at a very close proximity with brutal force exerted onto the bludger, I had to give her doses for not only possible skull damage but also for brain trauma. The memory loss is only temporary, I assure you, as the concoction will take atleast 24 hours or more to take effect."

"So she's going to be stuck in here for a day?"

Madame Pomfrey nodded, "Or more. Worst case scenario is if she won't get her memories back in five days. Then we'll have to send her to St. Mungo's. But for the meantime, we've alerted her mother of the incident, and she will be coming around to visit tonight."

Madame Pomfrey pointed to the others, "So you lot need not to crowd around here like she's on her deathbed. It will do nothing but stress her out. She will have all her meals delivered to her, and will have all her school work for the weekend be pardoned, incase she will have to remain here for more than a day."

"Wow," Nicolai said, remember the monstrous pile of homework waiting for her at her dorm room, "Now I kinda wish I got hit by a bludger."

"But knowing Florence, I don't think there is any more homework to pardon. As far as I know, she's finished everything the night before."

"Well good on her. It's nice to see someone value academics as much as they value sports," Madame Pomfrey said, reaching behind George to tug the hospital curtains forward. "Now out you all go. I'll be giving her another round of antidotes, so she needs to rest up. Preferably without too much distraction."

"Can't one of us stay with her?" Fred asked, refusing to let go of her hand. Nicolai turned to him, "If someone is, it probably won't be you."

"What? Why not?"

"It'll be either me or Xander. We're her best friends."

"I'm her boyfriend!"

"Yeah? So? We've been friends with her for five years before you started dating. So Xander and I have seniority."

"Wait," Memory-less Florence said immediately, eyes as round as Galleons as she pointed to Fred almost incredulously, "He's MY boyfriend?"

The three ignored her, still trying to argue about who could stay, "Technically I have seniority over you, Nic. I got on that boat during first year thirty seconds before you did."

"Okay, no. Definitely not." Madame Pomfrey cut off, before their bickering grew, "No one is allowed to stay. I will set visiting hours to lunch period only. Now please, show yourselves out, especially you two," she pointed to Cho and Roger, "You smell like sweat and dirt."

With a little bit more persuasion, the school nurse finally managed to beckon each one of them out the door, shutting the door behind her in relief.

Roger and Cho headed back to their rooms to change out of their playing robes and to shower, leaving Nicolai, Xander and the twins to talk amongst themselves outside of the hospital wing.              

"Since George and I are technically not on the Quidditch team anymore," Fred started, "And we don't really care if we get expelled, I think that gives us a pass at messing Montague up."

"Yeah. I think it's best if we pay him a little visit." said George.

"Hold you horses, gangsters." Nicolai said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the two of them, "Neither one of you are messing him up. Florence should have the pleasure of doing that herself."

"Believe us, when she gets her memories back, she'll want the first punch into his face." Xander added, "But you know, come to think of it, this is probably the first time Florence has injured herself this bad in all of her time playing Quidditch."

"I mean, she'd occasionally sprain her wrist or get bruised...But nothing as bad as brain trauma, or skull fractures."

"She did dislocate her shoulder during her first year." Nicolai recounted, making Xander wince, "Yep... That was a pretty bad one, too."

Fred held a worried look on his face, glancing back at the door. Nicolai put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry. Madame Pomfrey said it's temporary. So it's temporary. She knows her stuff. Just think of this as practice, for when she gets herself into far worse injuries when she stars her Auror training."

George and Xander shot her a look, "That really, really isn't comforting, Nic. Not even in the slightest."

She shrugged, "I'm just saying that it's bound to happen."

                                         —————

Florence quite liked the gift basket of treats that the old man with a long silver beard gave her during his visit, and found it rather relaxing to have been spoon fed dinner by a woman with dark blonde hair, who claimed to be her mother. But her mother had to leave early morning, placing her in the care of Madame Pomfrey, who's name was the only thing that stuck to her, as it had been repeated several times during her stay.

Lunch rolled around, and the same band of her alleged friends came down to visit. The red-haired boys were very eager to see her, considering the fact that one of them was said to be her boyfriend. She couldn't really tell them apart, up until one of them moved to sit on a stool beside her bed, clasping her hand like he did yesterday.

She didn't know what she did to get this lucky.

"Hey love, how are you feeling?" he asked in the most gentle tone, Florence feeling like she would melt at the sound of his voice. "I'm alright, all things considered. I still don't have my memories back, if that's what you're asking."

His smile wavered, guilt stabbing through Florence to see him upset, "I'm sorry. This must suck for you."

"No, it's okay," he reassured, "Believe me, this sucks more for you."

"Where'd the goody basket come from?" the brunette girl, Nicole, or whatever they said her name was, asked Florence, who felt slightly awkward since she didn't know the man's name, "Um...he had a massive beard... And he was really old, too."

"Ah, Dumbledore. D'you mind if I take a Chocolate frog?"

"Not at all... And...er...what's a Dumbledore?"

"The headmaster." she replied, ripping open the box as the blonde boy, who was farthest away from her bedside, watched Nicolai with narrowed, judgmental eyes, "It isn't right to take stuff from a hospitalized person's gift basket."

"It's Florence, Xander." she retorted.

"Florence who can't remember a thing, so a complete stranger, basically."

Florence tugged on her boyfriend's arm, pointing to Xander and the other girl, "Do they not like each other."

"Not really...It's just...a complicated relationship."

"Did you eat your lunch already?" he asked, Florence nodding, "Yes. Madame Pomfrey fed me awhile ago before you lot came in."

"We'd love to stay longer," said the other twin, "But Freddie and I have detention to sort out with McGonagall."

"...McGonagall...?"

"She's basically incharge of students like them." Nicolai made a nodding gesture to the twins' direction, "They—after telling them not to do so several times—punched the person responsible for screwing up your memories, and got his nose bleeding."

Florence paused, before nodding her head in approval, "Well, I'm sure that person deserved it."

"Something tells me he's going to get another round of it once your memories come back."

"I would think so too. It's hard to get mad at somebody when you can't remember exactly what they did or how they did it."

The twins left as soon as the lunch bell rang. Despite the fact that it was still Sunday, Madame Pomfrey was strict in applying her Lunch visit only rule, and booted Xander and Nicolai out when they tried overstaying. Having nothing else to do, Florence took a nap after taking her vial of antidote, slipping in to a satisfying slumber.

Only to wake up to the harsh sound of trays dropping onto the floor. She jerked awake, and judging from the dimness of her room, her nap had been longer than she expected. Madame Pomfrey was picking up the trays, flashing Florence an apologetic look, "I'm so sorry dear, it slipped. Why don't you go back to sleep, yeah? You have a few more hours before dinner."

Florence's eyes grew wide, scrambling to sit up as she looked around the room, bewildered. She looked at the white sheets she was wrapped in, and that she was wearing hospital clothes. Madame Pomfrey grew worried that she might have slipped into another case of amnesia.

"Are you quite alright, dear?"

"I am..." she trailed off, her eyes landing on the gift basket at her night stand, "But, what the hell am I doing at the hospital wing? W-What..." she looked over at the calendar by the door, "What day is it?"

The school nurse immediately rushed to her bedside, "Tell me, what do you remember?"

"I remember winning," she said, in the most Florence-like tone, "Merlin it felt great to have made Slytherin eat dirt. And..." she paused, "I'm pretty sure someone hit me with something. Clipped me at the back of my head."

"A bludger..." Madame Pomfrey told her, "Thank goodness, you're back, Miss Price! I was afraid I'd have to send you to St. Mungo's."

"St. Mungo's?! What happened, exactly?"

"Mr. Montague knocked you out in the head with a bludger. As to whether or not it was an accident is still to be determined."

"Ofcourse it wasn't an accident! He's nothing but a sore loser—"

"Settle down, now, Miss Price. As thrilled as I am that you're doing alright now, I still have to do a few tests to see if you're really good to go."

"But—"

"No buts!"

"Fine." Florence flopped back down onto her bed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top