In truth, I am too fond. (fairmontague) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-07-03 10:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: lindley montague, character: remus lupin |
WHO: Lindley Montague & Remus Lupin
WHEN: Monday 13 June 2002 (backdated), around 8 AM
WHERE: Slytherin Common Room
WHAT: Lindley is having a bad hair day
RATING: tbd
STATUS: Completed in Docs
The morning, for a Monday, had started so well. Lindley had left her dorm around a quarter after four, quickly did a Van Gogh style painting on one of the bricks near the kitchen, and popped into the bathroom for a shower. Everything was fine. She smelled of vanilla and strawberries thanks to her new shampoo, and she was ready to show that day's NEWTs who was boss.
When she went to get dressed, though, her hair was, oddly, in the way. Not just in the way, but everywhere. She didn't panic, though, not until all of her roommates were gone. Lindley never allowed anyone to see her emotions unless they consisted of calm, cool, and collected. Once she was on her own, she gathered the hair that just would not stop growing and hid on her bed. She opened her journal, about to message Graham with a HELP!, when she saw someone else's comment about hair and healers not knowing what was going on.
Her cry for help became a scribble of desperation and anger that was poorly warded so her brother could see it. Even with the knowledge that he had owled one of her professors, Lindley knew she had to get to her exams. Her hair was heavy. It hurt her neck to try to stand and walk, and she was terrified of tripping on it. She tried to plait it with magic, but there was just too much hair to do that with, so she emptied her book bag and stuffed the hair inside.
Thrown across her body, some of the pressure was off of her neck, but not all of it. She was winded and dizzy by the time she reached the couches in the common room. She had to sit down quickly and let her neck rest. Her eyes were closed against the greenish light, but the room still spun. Lindley scrunched her face and balled her hands into tight fists. She wanted to cry, but she didn't want anyone to see her cry. "If I find out who did this, I will have their bollocks bronzed and hung over my mantle."
--
Remus had chosen a rather perfect time to step into the Slytherin Common room...snorting softly, he folded his arms.
“I wouldn’t recommend it, Ms Montague,” he murmured, frowning as he stepped closer. That...really was a lot of hair. Wow. He was impressed, but for the fact that it was clearly causing her discomfort.
“You’re an intelligent young woman, I assume you’ve tried cutting and binding charms?” He didn’t reach out to touch her, instead choosing to sit on the other end of the couch, his hands set palm-down on his knees.
--
"You're right, it would be really ugly." she replied, not opening her eyes and knowing exactly who was speaking. She would know Professor Lupin's voice anywhere, and she was already feeling calmer for him being there. She hoped, though she wouldn't ever tell him so, that he had a kid one day because she thought he would make the best kind of dad ever.
When Lindley felt him sit, she turned her head on the back of the couch and opened her eyes to look at him. "I tried." Her voice cracked, and she frowned, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I can't get it to cut, and I can't get it to stop growing, and it's so heavy." She had to work to keep the whine out of her voice, but it was hard because the hair was exhausting, and she could feel it growing still.
"There's another girl with the same problem, and she said the healers at Mungo's don't know why it's happening. So. Yay…" Lindley shrugged, disheartened. "I don't know what to do. I can barely sit up, and I need to sit my exams."
--
“Nonsense,” Remus murmured. “You can sit them when you’re back to normal. May I?” He gestured to her hair, his mind already starting to work. If St Mungo’s couldn’t help...he wasn’t sure there was anything he could do, but he wasn’t going to just give up. If nothing else, he could find some way of stopping it from weighing so heavily on her now. Perhaps literally. A levitating charm on the strands, perhaps, so they floated above her head? It wouldn’t look particularly artful but at least it would relieve the strain on her neck and shoulders.
--
"If I'm ever back to normal," she grumbled. Right now, there didn't seem to be an end in sight for what was happening. Her hair just kept growing and getting heavier. "They don't usually make exceptions. I remember having to take my DADA OWL with a high fever because I was still able to hold a quill."
Lindley looked at Professor Lupin uncertainly for a moment then shrugged. "Okay." She lifted her head long enough to take the bag from across her body. She let it fall to the floor, and even then not all of it came out. If he had a solution, she would be forever grateful.
--
If it had been just a class test, Remus would have waived it entirely. But since the OWLs were more formalised...it was far more difficult.
“Do you have any practical exams today, or is it just written?” He asked. If the levitating hair didn’t work, then at least he might have a back up plan. Just as long as Lindley could write while lying on her back. Lifting his wand, he began casting various weightlessness and levitating charms on her hair, his brow furrowed with concentration.
--
"It's all written. My practical exams are supposed to be the end of the week. But if this doesn't stop before then, I don't know how they're going to happen. It's my NEWTs. I don't have any plan to use them, but I want them. Just in case. Just as something to fall back on later if I get bored with what I want to do immediately." Lindley didn't expand on what her plans were, though she would tell him if he asked. She was pretty sure he couldn't give her detention this late in the game, and everything she'd ever done wasn't expulsion worthy.
She watched, silent, as he worked his magic. Several locks of her hair lifted into the air, floating away from her head, but not all of them. One floated too high, pulling at her roots, and she squeaked. She didn't mean to make any sound against the pain, but she couldn't help it. Everything was very tender. "I'm not sure if that will work, professor."
--
Remus winced sympathetically. “Sorry,” he murmured, gently coaxing her hair to fall down, strand by strand so it wouldn’t be a sudden weight on her neck. “Is it better if you lie down?” He asked, ready to move so that she could stretch out, if she needed to. “We can arrange a dictaquill for you, and I’m happy to invigilate.” If the dictaquill was provided by the school there was no risk of tampering, and as he wasn’t the head of Slytherin, there could be no question of favouritism. It was not ideal, but it would allow Lindley to sit her exams without her hair interfering too much. And it was the best option Remus could come up with.
--
"It's okay, Professor. Thank you for trying." There were tears in her eyes, but she ignored them. She would not allow her frustration and pain to cause her to cry in front of anyone. "Lying down is better, but I don't want to stay here. When everyone gets back, they'll have a million questions that I can't answer, and they'll want to touch it." Lindley made a face, her nose scrunched up in distaste. "If the proctors will accept an invigilated dictaquill, I am game."
She, with a flick of her wrist, sent the hair back into her bag and bravely stood up. "I just want to go to the hospital wing to hide from the school," she said, wobbling only a little on her feet. "They should probably rethink where the dorms are located. What if we had a real medical emergency down here? It would take forever for anyone to get to us, what with the 'no apparating inside Hogwarts' rule."
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