WHO: Therese Bonaccord and Matilda Mulciber aka Cristina fun times
WHAT: Matilda's been admitted with the feeeevver
WHERE: St. Mungo's
WHEN: Today?



Therese tried her best to be silent as she entered the patient’s room. The lights remained off, the tray of potions hovered without sound over the counter, and she had even charmed her shoes not to squeak on the smooth floor. She often took care with not disrupting her patients’ sorely needed sleep, but this was someone she most definitely did not wish to wake from their slumber, and not simply because they were ill.

“No more!” a voice squeaked from under the covers. Therese’s wand barely wavered, causing a few of the vials to clink together gently. She frowned at the bed and now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness she was able to see the pair of wide blue eyes peering out from under the cover.

“It’s only a few this time, Matilda,” Therese said with a sigh, allowing the tray to rest on the free counter. She sat down in the chair at her former roommate’s bedside and bent her neck to catch her eye. “You want to get better, don’t you?”

“They taste like poison,” the other woman responded weakly. Therese was very familiar with Matilda being a brat simply to irritate and annoy her, but there was a nervousness in her voice that the healer could not ignore. “And nothing’s worked.”

Therese pressed her lips together, her breaths slow. “I know. I’m sorry for that.”

Matilda pulled the covers down a bit, her hair having been pinned back to keep it from getting matted to her forehead. That was most definitely the handiwork of Mackenzie, whom Therese had spotted hovering by the room a little while ago before being called away.

With the illness, it had been tentatively determined that if the fever had not progressed past a certain point that patients could be sent home to literally sweat it out. But there were some, unfortunately, that had been reacting violently to any and all treatments, who had experienced vivid hallucinations that would come and go with the blink of an eye. Those patients were the ones that kept the healers on constant alert, and Therese had taken special interest in Matilda Mulciber.

“Are you really?” Matilda asked, shifting and putting her hand to her chest as she coughed. “I thought you despised me.”

“I did, you were wretched,” Therese responded honestly. That earned her a glare, but she dropped her elbow onto the counter and she propped her chin in her hand. Her gaze took on an air of thoughtfulness, “But I don’t anymore.”

“Because I’m dying?”

“You’re not dying,” Therese corrected, though she couldn’t be sure. No one had died of the illness yet, but echoes of the last epidemic were loudly pounding between the ears of all the healers at St. Mungo’s. As of this moment it was all on the patients’ own endurance if they were able to continue fighting off the disease. “You’re going to be fine.”

Matilda’s pale face managed to lose the little color it had. She looked away and let out a long breath. Therese sat still for a moment before slowly pushing herself up and out of the chair. It seemed like the conversation was done, which she was grateful for.

“I was jealous,” Matilda let out, causing Therese’s eyes to widen. She crossed her arms, but her legs pressed against the side of the hospital bed. The blonde woman huffed, barely lifting her weak arm to send what was supposed to be a dismissive wave toward her healer. “Of you. A little.”

“Only a little?” Therese echoed, attempting to joke, but she was struck by this revelation. She shook her head, “Don’t be silly. All the boys wanted you.”

Matilda rolled her eyes, “I wanted all the boys, and I let them have me.” She laughed, shaking her head. “It is good I did not have daughters, I would not know how to raise them right.”

“You can still have---”

“Therese.” Matilda stared at her, her blunt tone suffocating Therese. “I might be a bitch, but I’m not dumb.” Matilda continued, sighing, “Mackenzie was everything I should have been, and you...you didn’t have to worry.”

“I worried plenty,” Therese said, the words slipping out easily. She sat down on the edge of the bed, “I worried about everything, I was envious of how easily you made friends and talked to people---”

“I thought I was wretched?”

Therese smiled softly, keeping Matilda’s gaze. Her hand smoothed out the blanket, and they sat in silence, another strange sight for the pair. Hogwarts seemed like so very long ago, but there were days that she still felt like she was putting on that grand, bold face so that no one could bother her, so that no one could hurt her like she had during most of her time at school. Matilda had been loud and obnoxious, but she went after what she wanted and dealt with the repercussions as they came. Therese could now give her the credit where credit was due.

“You’re going to be fine,” Therese repeated. She smiled at Matilda, the first real smile she’d been able to produce in the other woman’s presence. Matilda tutted, sinking into her pillows again.

“If I do, you’ll be named godmother of my ridiculous daughters,” she said, eyebrows raising. Therese laughed, and mused out loud how she would most definitely treat them to holidays in Paris, if that were to be the case.