WELCOME

[Victoire Weasley]

may 2022, hospital wing

Victoire rubbed at the bridge of her nose, trying to ward off the weariness she felt. It was hard to say how well she was sleeping these days. She tended to sleep in fits, waking herself out of a dead sleep because her subconscious thought she had heard something, or simply being unable to fall asleep right away and having to be woken up by another faculty member looking for her assistance. Victoire wasn't the sort of person to share just how tired she was; she normally worked through it. But these days she was pretty sure most people could tell she was on the verge of exhaustion. Things had been hectic since the first month of the school year, and as far as Victoire could tell, they weren't going to be slowing down anytime soon. To be honest, she was looking forward to the end of term. She would get to go home and rest, as would all the students... it was just thinking about the following year that wore the blonde woman down.

Sighing, Victoire gave up with what she was doing, her hand dropping away from her nose, and herself slumping back in the seat. She had been going through old books on healing, but as far as she could tell, there wasn't anything new to be learned. Victoire couldn't call herself extremely gifted, but she had probably exhausted all magical healing resources at Hogwarts. She had only been going through various texts and manuscripts in an effort to prepare herself for whatever calamity would come next -- and she knew it would. Not normally known for being optimistic, Victoire wanted to be ready for the next batch of students she would most likely have to help heal. There really wasn't room to say if -- the strange events around the castle had only been escalating, and if the prophecy Professor Trelawney had spouted at her was to believed, then this was really only the beginning.

A frown appeared on her lips at the thought of the prophecy and Professor Trelawney. Victoire had grown up considering the woman mostly harmless, even though she knew that Trelawney had been the one to predict the whole thing with her Uncle Harry. But there hadn't been any other prophecies by Trelawney since then -- at least none that Victoire knew about. She had been tempted to toss off the one she had heard as nothing important... but even Victoire had a hard time discarding how eerie the prophecy had seemed, and how she felt it really did have something to do with whatever was going on around the castle. If only she could sort it all out in a coherent manner... as it was, Victoire wasn't really sure what to make of the prophecy. She only knew that she didn't want to scare the entire castle just yet, so she was keeping it to herself for the time being.

That probably wasn't very wise, but then again, Vicotoire generally preferred working out a dilemma on her own before presenting it to others. That way she'd be able to guide them along to the right answer, too, and they wouldn't all be mulling it over and stressing like mad. It was bad enough just one person was stressing -- everyone else could do with a little less worries, especially since Victoire was only mostly convinced the prophecy was really a prophecy. She'd really like to be one hundred percent convinced of it before worrying others.

"Oh, honestly. Now I'm just thinking too much -- I don't even make sense to myself," she muttered to herself. With a shake of her head Victoire decided it was high time she took a break. Maybe a bite to eat would clear her mind before she began working on the next task of the day. But such thoughts were interrupted as the sound of footsteps could be heard outside the doorway. Taking a deep breath to give her a boost of energy, Victoire turned toward the door just as it was being pushed open.

[Theodore Lupin]

Teddy slowly made his way through the castle levels headed for the hospital wing. It was a familiar route, for many a time he would come up here to see Victoire when she wasn't too busy. Busy days had been on the rise as of late, so he hadn't found himself bothering to head up this way in a while, just to see Victoire. In this case, he had other more immediate reasons for making his way to the hospital wing. He had been down in the grounds examining som potential magical creatures he could introduce to the Fifth years. He wanted to liven up the lessons he gave. He didn't want to be that boring DADA professor. He wanted to be fun and engaging, but his plan of attack involving practical lessons out on the grounds were not as popular as he would have liked. The sixth years didn't mind it, he felt, but the Seventh and Fifths years were just being difficult about it.

So in an attempt to get his mind of the Dark Arts entirely, Teddy had gone down to spend some time with Sofie, discuss some theories connecting the Dark Arts with certain magical creatures, and maybe even examine some creatures for his own research. Sofie had mentioned a venomous tantacular, Teddy hadn't really been up close to one since his time at Hogwarts, and he was iching to take the time to have a look at one now. Under the watchful eye of Sofie, he was in the process of examining the vicious plant and taking notes when, without realising how close he was, the plant stroke out and bit his hand, leaving a nasty gash across his wrist. It was quite painful, and Teddy could already feel the venom working it's evil, painful, defence fuelled magic and had gone to show Sofie, who had told him to go straight up to the hospital wing. She had said it wasn't serious, but insisted that he make haste.

The 'making haste' wasn't really happening. He held his hand against his body, so as not to draw too much attention from the other students. The last thing he needed was one silly student to shout 'Professor Lupin got injured!' for the taunts and jeers and rumours to fuel about his credability as a professor - not that that wasn't anything new for Teddy.

He finally reached the hospital wing, and hesitated before opening and entering. Standing there was Victoire and Teddy somehow froze. He hadn't really given much thought about the fact that Victoire would have to treat him, and even less thought about how she would react once she saw what had happened. It wasn't a big deal, but these days the smallest things with sending Victoire through the roof. Regaining some sort of control over himself, he cleared his throat and smiled at his fiancee. "Hey Vic. Mind giving me a hand?"

[Victoire Weasley]

The sight of Teddy brought a smile to Victoire's face. There were days when she felt as though she was neglecting him with trying to tend to injured students -- a third of which could easily avoid injury if they would follow the rules. But in all honesty it wasn't just her being busy that made it difficult to spend time with her fiancee. Teddy was busy as well, and this was work. They were supposed to be busy at their jobs rather than sitting around doing something unproductive... though planning a wedding couldn't really be called unproductive. It just wasn't a Hogwarts related event.

So, the fact that Teddy was here now was a rather pleasant surprise. At first she assumed he had a break and was using it to visit, but then common sense took over, and Victoire gave her fiancee a narrowed look. She couldn't see one of his hands from her position, and while she supposed he could be bringing something in for her, the fact that one hand was visible and the other was not meant he was likely here to be patched up. Victoire wasn't sure whether to sigh or scold him. Teddy was almost as bad as the students somethings. Not always, of course, but she did worry about him with his position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The things one taught in that class... Victoire was probably lucky she didn't see more of Teddy due to injuries. Someone was always getting hurt in that class, mostly due to sheer ignorance.

"What in Merlin's name have you done to yourself?" she demanded as she craned her neck to catch a glimpse of Teddy's hand. "Or perhaps it would be better if I didn't know. Come here, you." Victoire turned back to her table, flipping open her book in case she might need to look up a cure for whatever injury or spell Teddy had done to himself. It actually brought back a few memories -- some of which were only partially pleasant based on the fact that it revolved around Teddy being injured. Wasn't that how she had admitted her feelings to him in the first place? Because he had gone and worried her to death? He didn't seem as though whatever injury he currently had was bad, but then again, this was Teddy. For all she knew he could have a really bad curse and had only moments to do something about it -- but he never really seemed in a hurry to worry about such things. That tended to be Victoire's job, though she tried her best not to show her fears on the outside.

"I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with you sometimes," she scolded softly. "It wasn't the result of another accident, was it?" asked the blonde suddenly. If it was, Victoire would have to prepare the infirmary for more students... but since Teddy didn't seem in a hurry, Victoire had to ultimately decide this wasn't the case. He would have said something about it when he had first entered, wouldn't he?

[Theodore Lupin]

To see Victoire smile at him so openly upon his entrance only made his own smile grow more. It was a natural reaction for him to smile when she smiled. He can't remember a time when she has smiled at him and he hasn't returned it eventually. She was obviously happy to see him in the first instance. Maybe the fact that they hadn't spent any real time together for a while was taking it's toll. He only wished he was here solely to spend some time with her, but his hand throbbed in protest at the thought. His hand was hidden diligently behind his back as he smiled at her, watching and waiting for her to put the pieces together, and he knew it wouldn't take long.

Teddy watched the features on Victoire's face change to confirm that she had indeed realised what it was he was here for. She asked him what had happened, and he brought his hand out from behind his back and into clear view. Teddy slowly walked toward her as she turned to the table behind her and started sorting through books. He caught a whif of her scent as he reached her, and smiled. He missed falling asleep and waking up to her sweet scent. A lot of the time, when she did come back to their quarters to sleep, she was up at the crack of dawn, leaving Teddy to sleep, so waking alone. Though he understood their circumstances, he didn't necessarily like them. He loved that they were able to work at Hogwarts together and potentially see each other everyday, but that was not the case in their reality.
He came around and stood beside her, facing her as she flipped through books. She hadn't even had a good look at his hand and she already had some idea was she was after. That is what it seemed. Whether or not she was intentionally preoccupying herself with the prospective task at hand or actually knew what had happened, Teddy did not know.

Teddy gave her his innocent, goofy smile as she gently scolded him. "No, it wasn't the result of an accident, thank the stars." He was very aware, as he looked at her, of a stray strand of her golden hair hanging down the side of her face. "I was just doing some research, and, well... things didn't go according to plan, that's all." He extended his injured hand for her to inspect. It was still throbbing and if he wasn't mistaken, he could swear it had gotten bigger than it was when he initally received it. Or maybe the venom was messing with his head. Either way, it wasn't good. "Venomous Tentacular bite..." He smiled sheepishly at her. Surely she would be able to patch him right up in no time. Maybe give him something for the headache that was growing and the fever that was rising to fuel it.

[Victoire Weasley]

Victoire found herself breathing a sigh of relief when Teddy told her it hadn't been the result of another accident. Injuries were supposed to be something she would deal with regularly once she began working full time at St. Mungo's, but here at Hogwarts it was more than a little troubling to find herself with a full ward of injured and sick students and professors. So, the fact that there wouldn't be a sudden rush of new patients today was more than a little reassuring. Victoire didn't have to go into panic mode, which was merely her busying herself and multi-tasking. Instead, she only had to worry about Teddy -- which was probably just as bad as dealing with a large number of new patients. Teddy always seemed to be experimenting on something that led to an injury or two.

"Research, huh?" Victoire turned back to her fiancee, eyeing him critically. "Do I even want to know what this research was about? Hopefully not for a class -- if you're capable of being injured, then there's a very good chance at least five of your students will." She wasn't really scolding him -- not in the sense that she didn't approve of his work. It was simply her being, well, her, and worrying about him a bit. His position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had some dangerous moments, and Victoire wasn't sure how she'd be able to work at St. Mungo's knowing he was here getting himself injured in the name of teaching. But it wasn't her place to say anything on the subject. She knew Teddy liked his job, and he was good at it. She just wished he'd be a little more careful... but if he did, Victoire supposed he wouldn't really be the Teddy she knew and loved.

"Venomous Tentac -- oh, honestly, Teddy." With a roll of her eyes, Victoire shut the book she had been flipping through, turning her full attention to Teddy. "Go ahead and take a seat on that bed there while I get a few things." Hopefully the venom hadn't spread too much, otherwise they'd be in for a rough night. Not waiting to see if Teddy was doing as instructed, Victoire moved over to a cabinet, opening up and rifling through the contents. It took a bit longer than usual to unstopper a few things, and then plug them up again. Obviously she was going to have to rewrite some of the labels, because she was having the worst time reading what they said, which made her job of finding the exact liquid potion she needed rather difficult. Eventually, however, Victoire found the potion she wanted.

She came to the bed, placing a hand upon Teddy's forehead. He definitely had a fever already, causing her to frown. Pulling a spoon out of her apron, she poured some of the liquid onto it, motioning for Teddy to open his mouth. "A spoonful of this will help turn back the effects of the poison," she explained. "It has a nasty flavor, so until I'm sure you've swallowed it rather than spit it out like most do, I'm not going to find some of those herbs Professor Longbottom dropped off for fevers."

[Theodore Lupin]

He knew when he mentioned the word 'research' that Vic would be less than impressed. She didn't always approve of his apparent 'reserach', whether it was for his classes or personal curiosities. And he had to admit she had every right to be against it, he supposed. He ended up injured or poisoned more often than not. In Teddy's eyes, he had learned something. In Vic's, he was being silly. She did have a point, saying that if he was getting injured then surely his students would as well, but he figured it was better he cope the injuries rather than the students, right? That way, he would know what he was doing and would be able to teach better. He had always been more of a physical learner. "It's alright. Now I know what not to do next time!' Teddy gave his fiancee a wink and cheeky smile.

Frustrated, clearly, Vic instructed him to go sit down on a nearby bed. "Vic, honestly, I'm a man. I don't need to sit down. It's just a scratch and a bit of swelling and fever. Look, it's even stopped bleeding." Maybe it was a bit more than a scratch, but he was feeling better already. He couldn't even feel his hand anymore. His head was the problem now. He felt light-headed, like you do when you get up too fast and the blood rushed to your head. Maybe he should sit down, just for a bit. Teddy turned and sat lightly on the bed. It was more comfy than it looked. Teddy watched her pour some pretty suspicious looking liquid into a spoon and looked at her like she was daft as if she expected him to swallow it. He could smell it. It was putrid. "I am not swallowing that. Just give me some water or something. Really, I'll be fine..."

Suddenly Teddy's head seemed to sway a little too far and he felt himself swooning. He brought a hand to his head as if that would help him steady, but as he regained balance, he found himself chuckling. "Woah...ha. What's in that stuff, Vic? Are you trying to drug me and then take advantage of me...?" He chortled again, giving her another cheeky, flirty smile. As he looked at her, it seemed to him that she just became even more beautiful every second. Her golden hair playing in the sunlight, that one strand hanging down the side of her face. And a thought came to Teddy. A common thought in the back of his head that was surfacing. "Why aren't we married yet? Let's get married tomorrow...no. Right now, even. I can't stand it, Vic..." He couldn't finish what he was saying. He swooned again and this time it was deeper. His head was spinning, like he had drunk far too much firewhiskey. Suddenly, everything was spinning and he could no longer recognise where he was anymore.

[Victoire Weasley]

Sometimes it was hard being in a relationship with someone like Teddy. He and Victoire were quite different when it came to their learning styles. Teddy was hands on; Victoire was more theoretical. Oh, she did her share of testing, but only after she was absolutely sure it would work that first time. The blonde disliked making mistakes, so she always studied and went over the different scenarios in her head before she actually attempted any spell or potion. There were no mistakes to be made in her profession -- not unless she wanted to lose her job and be banned from practicing healing for life.

But Victoire wasn't the type of person to tell her significant other to change the way they went about things. It was part of Teddy's charm to jump into things, trying them firsthand so as to have actual experience to back him up. It was one of many things that Victoire loved about him, even as it exasperated her beyond all reason. She had learned long ago that she simply needed to trust in Teddy, and that things would somehow turn out all right. Thus far that had done her well, because as far as she could tell, she and Teddy were as strong as ever. But no amount of trust would make Victoire stop worrying about her fiancee. After all, a life without Teddy wouldn't be much of a life at all.

"I suppose that's good news," remarked Victoire wryly. "I don't know what I would do with you if you were the sort to repeat things over and over again, never learning from your mistakes. But honestly, Teddy, can't you be a bit more careful when you're doing your research? I'd like to avoid being made a widow before we walk down the aisle." The last bit was a jest on her part, a smile tugging at the end of her lips. She wasn't necessarily trying to guilt Teddy into giving up his research -- she was merely hoping to get him to remember that he needed to take care of himself for her sake, too. Education and research were fine and dandy for only so long -- it wasn't much of a life if one was doing it all alone.

With a raise eyebrow Victoire watched as Teddy protested against being treated like a baby before actually doing as he had been told. It had to be a male thing. She recognized that same quality in some of her cousins when they managed to injure themselves, and even in her father when he was being treated by her mother. Men always felt some silly need to seem more masculine in front of women, and Victoire for one didn't understand it. Man or woman, people bled the same way -- being treated for it didn't make one weak, nor did sitting down so the other person could tend to the wounds properly. Obviously Teddy hadn't considered that, but it wasn't something Victoire saw a need to point out. Sometimes she had to let Teddy protest something, and then swoop in when he saw things her way.

"If I were trying to drug you I'd probably use something stronger than what I've used," she snorted in response to his teasing question. "And you know me better than that to think I'd actually have my way with you here of all places. This is quite possibly the least romantic spot in the castle. Scarring my cousins isn't quite high on my list of things to do this year -- you know they're always more likely to wander in than any other student in this castle." Which was probably why Victoire had gone down the path of healing as a career. She'd been taking care of various family members over the years that it was almost second nature for her to handle someone that was ill or wounded.

She did pause at Teddy's next words, unsure if he was still teasing her, or if he was being serious. The tone of his voice indicated that he was serious, but that only made things worse. How in Merlin's name was Victoire supposed to respond to this now? She knew the potion was probably doing most of the talking, and the logical part of her knew that it wouldn't matter how she answered him, he wouldn't remember when he woke up later -- but even so, Victoire couldn't help but panic a little. It was something she always did when people pressed her about her wedding plans, wondering why she was taking so long about them. "For one thing," she started, "as good as I am about bossing the rest of my cousins and sisters around, I'm not brave enough to deprive my mother of an actual wedding ceremony. She'd never forgive me if I simply eloped! And you wouldn't forgive yourself either. Family is important, and we want them around when we get married -- don't we?"

She didn't expect an answer. Teddy looked as though he was about to pass out, so she could only hope the potion took effect, otherwise she might end up panicking anyway.