Due to their current situation, River gave Paul a curt nod and allowed him to take care of Carlton first as he took measured steps towards Rooney, and gently guided him towards the wooden bench and coaxed him to sit down. He did the same for Henry by gently grasping the boy by his arms, and had him sit next to the Ravenclaw Prefect. River was careful not to make sudden movements and kept his voice soft and low. "For the record, I will not be asking any questions about what happened in there, but if you feel pain or any physical discomfort after your initial treatment tell me right away." he started as he crouched in front of the boys, and made eye contact. "From this point forward, I will also have to ask you to trust me." Going through that kind of ordeal would really mess up a student's dependence on their adult counterparts and he wasn't going to blame them.

River procured two phials of calming draught and gave it to the older boys. "These calming draughts should help you find your centre. Now is the best time to find your focus..." The Healer stood up and gave both boys a firm squeeze on the shoulder and moved to where Paul and Carlton was. He'd seen that kind of behaviour before, and he feared that the Slytherin might take years to overcome it. But then again, he has to try his best for the child's sake. "Paul," River placed a hand on Paul's shoulder to get his attention, "We're ready to move. If you could please help me escort Carlton inside?" he asked the man as softly and gently as possible so as not to startle Carlton.

He quietly stepped back to return to the two boys, and once they were done downing their Calming Draughts, River helped them to their feet and lead them to the Quarantined Section of the Hospital Wing.



OOC: You can now post in the Quarantined Section!

Henry was still doing his best to hold it together and ignored the dull churning in his stomach that was slowly growing more apparent. And although he really needed that seat right now, he couldn't help but to watch Professor Paul tend to Carlton as Healer Reed helped him to the bench. He needed to know that the first year was alright, but his eyes flickered back to the healer as he spoke and he blinked a few times as the man was starting to get blurry.

Calming draught? Henry tried to focus on the vial for a moment before taking it from the healer. He hoped it would take these new feelings of remaining panic and anxiety away, and he quickly downed the potion. Whether it was a strong dose or the fact that he hadn't eaten in 24 hours or so (or five days?), the draught seemed to take effect fast. He felt vaguely nauseous, but... fuzzy. The other feelings were still there, but somehow under the surface. Less intense.

His head was swimming and so was his vision when he was pulled to his feet again. Wait... he had just sat down. Where were they going? He gave what appeared to be a fuzzy-at-the-edges Rooney a confused look as they were being taken further into the hospital wing, then looked up at the healer. "I don't want to be alone," he admitted quietly. He certainly didn't want the chaotic crowd back on the sixth floor, but he wasn't sure he could handle his thoughts alone, even if they seemed to be just beyond his reach for the moment. He didn't want them all to be split up right now. And where was Carlton? He was coming with them, right?

On the way to the Hospital Wing, Cosgrach had enough time to consider things:

• The kids had been gone for F I V E days, and it didn't even occur to ONE SINGLE SOUL to bring in Ministry.
• For F I V E bloody days, T H R E E boys were gone, eaten up by a portal, but just now the Ministry was informed.
• The Ministry was informed F I V E days later, while the kids were coming back, safe or not still unclear.

Oh, by the way? This portal thing had been around long enough to LET THE MINISTRY KNOW.

To say Cosgrach was fuming would be the biggest understatement in the world. The Ministry was a zoo, merely because Hogwarts was actually a jungle with brainless people pretending to be concerned for their students' lives.

Try me, Cosgrach told to the Healer in his head as his eyes shot imaginary fire, try to shoo me away.

"I am going to observe these kids, because I am a potioneer and you wouldn't believe it, but this substance might show its effects just now for me to note and hopefully identify what it is." He addressed Mr. Deputy, since the Healer was gone. His tone was cold and stern. He had never been this angry in his whole life, actually, and he was almost challenging the other man to shoo him, to conjure one of his cool shields now. Cosgrach held back from roasting Mr. Deputy just here though, because the kids could hear it. And Cosgrach still respected the man enough to wait for a split second for his approval - just. "Before you try to use your wand on me, I should also say I won't ask questions until they are able to talk, I'm not that ruthless." So?

Patience was a viiiiirtueeeeee that Culloden's Mama had CLEARLY not taught him. Paul whipped around on hearing his former colleague's voice. Arms crossed, white hair fluffed about a haphazard way. As long as the man wanted to observe them, he supposed he couldn't say much, but his body language had stiffened. His hand gripped his wand protectively.

"They might not be able to talk for a week. I hope you've packed a lunch, sir," Paul responded coolly. "You seem to care more for your potential potions conquests over their wellbeing." Paul wouldn't raise his voice here, in the infirmary. "As a former professor here, I thought you would put their wellbeing above everything else, even potions," Again, a cold tone from the former Ravenclaw. "If you think your expertise outweighs River's, by all means, stay." He had stood up in front of Carlton at this point, a hand on the back of the boy's head. "But you better believe, Cossy," yes, he used the nickname, "You better treat these boys how you would have when you were still their professor. Still their protector, still in charge of their safety and concern."

And yes, Paul was keeping his hand on his wand. "At the end of the day, you have respect until you overstep their boundaries. Which right now...could be everyone. That is all I am trying to say."

Rooney didn't have reason to question, or even the energy and so he drank the liquid from the vial given to him. His attention was still darting between the Healer, Professor Myers, Carlton and Henry..but he could at least linger it for longer than he had before. But before he could identify single thoughts in his brain, they were being guided inside the Hospital Wing properly...something which he was already glad for...until he saw one of the stupid interfering people had followed them. As he walked away, he watched Carlton carefully, to make sure that nothing.....absolutely NOTHING happened to that boy.

Because he still had his hand on his wand and if he needed to, he'd have sent a hex at that man. Ex-professor or not.

No one touched the kid.

Luckily, or unluckily actually, he was soon at a place where he could not see the happenings back there.

River was starting to lose his cool as he stormed out of the Quarantined Room to fetch the boy who took MOST of the impact of the ordeal. SERIOUSLY? Time and again, the Healer man reminded himself that he was in a critical position as they all deal with this craziness. All boys were very vulnerable to ANY form of human contact, and amongst all of them, HE was the only one authorised to directly attend to the survivors. He really couldn't care less about other things, considering that his top priority was the safety of EVERY ONE'S health and well-being.

River heard most of the conversation going on between Paul and the Ministry personnel, and the man had to grasp on whatever is left of his patience.

While the two were busy conversing, River made his presence known by clearing his throat and shot Paul a look. A look of urgency, that he really should take Carlton in now. Without waiting for another word, River faced the young boy and encouraged him to move along. "Carlton? Let's get you settled inside. Henry and Rooney are waiting for you." That should do the trick, yes?

River gently took the boy by the shoulders, spun him around and whisked him away from all the adult madness going on.

Alright, gentlemen. You now have the floor to argue.

Why couldn't he get enough air down his lungs? Carlton's hyperventilation increased in order to breathe which only made the pressure over his chest hurt more. His eyes flickered in panic for a few seconds, didn't anyone else notice the sudden lack of oxygen in the room? Professor Myers was suddenly in front of him. Point of focus. Carlton looked at his professor even though the shape of the man was out of focus and blurry. They were in the hospital wing, and they were safe. But Carlton had been taken by the portal when he was with a professor, he was worried that if the monster wanted to take them, no professor would be able to stop it. He didn't tell professor Myers this and quickly pushed the thought away. His racing heart had slowed down and his breathing was almost back to normal. Inhale and a long shaky exhale. What his professor said next made his eyes fill up and bottom lip pout out to stop him from crying. He didn't want the monster to take anyone, especially not Papa Plant. Carlton shook his head, lip wibbling.

And then a stranger walked into the hospital wing and Carlton gave him a suspicious look. Had he followed them from the sixth floor?

Shoo. Go away. Shoo.



Carlton stood wide-eyed watching the exchange between the two men before the healer appeared and Carlton let out a relieved sigh. The tension between the adults had made him uneasy and he didn't want anything else than join Henry and Rooney again. Quickly he left his safe spot behind professor Myers legs and ran over to healer Reed. He grabbed a handful of the healer's robes in his hand, to make sure he wasn't being left alone, cast a glance over his shoulder at his professor and followed the healer to the quarantined area.

"I actually did," Cosgrach said in a low voice, but harshly. And then the world stopped for a moment, every drop of blood rushed to his head, and Cosgrach bit down his lower lip so hard that he tasted blood.

"My potions conquest?" he asked in a deadly tone, "we are speaking about my potions conquests, when the school have waited for five bloody days to call for help?" He took a deep breath, because this was a waste of time. The little amount of respect he had for Poncho was gone. "You bet I do," he said as an answer to whether his knowledge outweighted some new Healer's, "and for your information, I'm precisely here because I care for these kids more than the current staff does. Five days, five days you left them inside and did what, watered your daisies?" He wasn't even going to answer to the rest, actually. But Poncho could rest assured this conversation was not over. Who was the new Headmistress, again? Why did Anastasia even leave this school?

Turning his back, he looked for the Healer to finish moving the boys to the quarantine... the man never reappeared. Cosgrach guessed he was busy dealing with the kids, and he had this terrible headache... a voice inside him told to leave. This wasn't even his school anymore, was it? And no one wanted him here. He thought, even if one of those kids died... it wouldn't be his responsibility at all. He'd come here, absolutely no one cooperated, so he left. Clean like that. Even his Department Head saw the stupidly aggressive tone here, they were almost called as if to be able to say, 'Well, we did call the Ministry, y'know?' if this thing was investigated, 'we did call them, but THEY were the uncooperative ones.' Sure, Cosgrach would have a heavy conscience, but also he wouldn't. Neither Poncho, nor Healer did anything at all for the kids to trust him (on the contrary), and now they were saying the kids didn't want him. Whatever it was, he didn't care at this point. They weren't his kids, this wasn't his school, they clearly didn't want his expertise, and if this went onto a trial, he was as clean as a white sheet.

Once his mind was made up, he left.

Next time? He'd remember this, and wouldn't move a finger if the whole school was burning down with everyone inside.

Kay had made it a point to drop Marshmallow with the other crups in the barnyard while she accompanied Rose to the Hospital Wing. Hopefully her baby would calm down among her companions. Kay was still feeling bad about the entire situation even though Rose had tried to reassure her at the Treehouse. "It's not hurting, is it?'' she asked as they reached their destination. Poor Rose.

Realising that there were some processes to be followed, she filled out the form quickly and dropped it in through the niche indicated. Hopefully River would be there soon.

Quote:

Patient’s Name: Rosalyn Newton
Patient’s Year & House: N/A
Accompanied By: Kaysha Stewart

Link(s) to post(s) where the injury or illness happened: Click!

Not having Marshmallow around helped Rose to feel calmer. Not that she was SCARED of the crup, she just didn't want the creature barking at her and trying to get another bite in. On top of the fact that it wasn't nice to be bitten, Kay didn't need to feel even worse when it came to her pet's behavior.

"Seriously it's okay, Kay. I'll just get treated quickly and then we will be out of here. I'll make sure not to come close to Marshmallow if she doesn't like me." Which clearly seemed to be the case. Ah well. All she Rosalyn could do was shrug this entire thing off and then take a seat. She already had a form done thanks to Kay, so all they needed now was for River to arrive and make sure that she didn't end up getting an infection or something.

River was busy re-stocking his medical supplies when the form landed next to him. With the supplies under his arm, he picked up the parchment and gave the form a quick read. Rose? Again? What was surprising though was the absence of Gaston. Setting the rest of the supplies on a clean workstation, the Healer man showed himself out and gave the two lady staffers a friendly grin. "Good day, Kay. And...isn't this visit a bit too soon, Rose?" he was joking of course.

River crouched and inspected Rose's boot with one hand, "I can say that crup has good chompers." he said as he carefully let go of Rosalyn's foot. "Alright, let's get you healed." the Healer stood up to his full height and offered his arm to Rose.



OOC: You can now post in Bed 2!

Abey had sort of lost track of how many times he had stayed in his dormitory instead of going to his classes, but he was definitely not as stupid as he sometimes sounded and he knew that - by now - all of his continued 'illnesses' were beginning to look suspicious, especially the fact that they mostly seemed to fall on the same days, and the same slots of his timetable. He had so far avoided going to the Hospital Wing (unless he actually needed to when he was actually sick) despite knowing that his professors might check he'd gone there being that he claimed to be unwell so often, Healer Man Reed was actually clearly very smart and Abey was certain he'd be caught out straight away. But NOW he needed to make his lie as believable as he could, which meant... ACTING.

Well, acting, and a Fever Fudge, which actually made the acting part almost unnecessary, as Abey had found out when he tested the Skiving Snackbox. But still, dramatics.

Having eaten the Fudge up in his empty dormitory where nobody could have seen - and immediately feeling terrible and like he didn't actually want to go anywhere actually - Abey had practically stumbled his way to the Hospital Wing. The second he got there, he noticed the forms, and DIED A LITTLE ON THE INSIDE. Schoolwork? For being unwell? Unfair.

Abey was tempted to ignore it, but... well, it's placement made it seem pretty important, so he moved forward to look at the forms. The fever made it even harder to read words than usual; Abey couldn't focus for the life of him and it frustrated him almost to tears. Was his plan foiled ALREADY??? Maybe he should have got Derf to come with him, but he lived ALL THE WAY down on the basement level and wasn't even always there, so it was difficult to find his villain at times. Sigh.

Well... Abey did his best. Having filled out the form clumsily - and not even ATTEMPTING to spell 'Gryffindor' or even his own name, and still getting some of the letters he did write all back to front - he turned the form into where it looked like it was supposed to go, then went to finally flop onto one of those benches. No sitting. Lying down was better, on his front, one arm flopping over the side to the floor. He also actually found himself shaking slightly, partly from the shivering, and partly from anxiety about whether this would even work. Pleeeeeease work.

Quote:

Patient’s Name: AB Botros
Patient’s Year & House: 1, G
Accompanied By: n/a

Link(s) to post(s) where the injury or illness happened: [[ooc: discussed :3]]

River was at the Great Hall enjoying the silence, while he ate his brunch. It had been days since the lost boys were discharged from his care, and he too slowly eased into his normal routine. Obviously, his body clock needed a bit more adjusting, considering that he woke up late, again, and missed breakfast with his colleagues. Not that he had a problem sleeping in, but it was important to be up before everyone did, given that emergencies can happen anytime.

Thank Merlin that the first patient of the day was considerate enough to let him finish his meal first before--

Huh?

River squinted his eyes for a second, and let out a long sigh as the gears of his brain started to make sense of certain things. It wasn't a set of Hieroglyphs, but letters flipped here and there. If the lost boys didn't happen, he would've occupied himself in contacting the relatives of this patient to ask if they were aware of this boy's special condition. Abey's meltdown from two months ago was still fresh in his memory, and of course, River did not miss out on making a note in Abey's medical record. If only the school's hospital wing wasn't constantly attacked by sick (or pretending to be) students, he would've made a beeline towards the Gryffindor tower and ask Abey about his dyslexia.

Apparently, the universe has its own weird way of conjuring events that opened opportunities. This one was no exception. Jamming the form in his pocket, River stood up from his chair and quickly made his way to the hospital wing. He picked up his pace as soon as he saw the boy waiting for him...face down.

"Master Botros?" River made his presence known as he gently placed his hand on Abey's back and noted his shaking. "Are you too weak to go inside?" the Healer asked as he removed his robe and wrapped it around Abey to keep him warm. It wasn't the season to get a fever, and yet there he was looking weak and helpless.

As cold as Abey felt, the surface off the bench against his face felt even colder, but he had no energy to do anything about it. Just laying down had been both the best idea in the world, and also the worlds biggest mistake actually, because perhaps now he would never move again. EVER. It certainly felt that way.

Healer Man Reed's voice seemed to come out of NOWHERE, and perhaps any other time, Abey might have been MEGA SPOOKED and been very dramatic in his expression of surprise (he was all about that life actually), but had no energy for that right now. He only actually had enough energy for just the tiniest amount of guilt over the fact that the Healer Man was being nice and wrapping his robe around him even though Abey was sort of actually pretending but not ACTUALLY pretending because actually he did feel bad after all.

"M'just tired. And cold." ........ "And sick." Very important to add that. Also, the pathetic and sickly whine Abey spoke with came quite naturally. That was probably the best part about those Snackboxes; they made acting completely unnecessary.

In all honesty, River wasn't sure if Abey's sickness was from natural causes or it was some form of sorcery. However, in the Healer's mind, either of the causes has lead to the same effect, and that he must put an immediate solution to it. The solution, however, was not in his person at the moment.

River sighed as he saw the young boy's face, and was quite surprised at the dead weight he felt the moment he helped him sit up. The man cannot help but feel that there's more to Abey's fever. But...what was it?

"I can see that, Master Botros." River managed another friendly and comforting grin as he wrapped his robe tighter on the smaller frame of Abey. "It's a good thing your school has employed a healer who has a strong back." Without another word, River scooped up the boy in his arms and headed for the main infirmary. "Let's get you healed then."



OOC: Post away here! ^^