“For the love of Merlin.” Darla exclaimed under her breath as she got out of one of her patient’s rooms, the door closing behind her. The certain six year old child had accidentally drank a potion his father had brewed, and turned eighty-four overnight; while not the most unusual case she’d encountered, Darla was a bit upset that it had been three days now, and the eighty-four years old child was still refusing to drink the healing potion, under the pretence that it did not taste right. Well, healing potions weren’t supposed to taste nicely; and if the little girl drank her father’s potion, then why would a potion brewed at a specialised facility such as St. Mungo’s be any different?
But the fact that the girl refused to drink the potion did not necessarily bother Darla as much as the fact that, at least five times per day since the girl had been admitted, she’d thrown the contents of the goblet on the healer herself. So, there she was, in the middle of the hallway, once again with deep purple stains all over her lime-green robes… in addition to her face, her hair, literally everything. She supposed the lime-green uniform looked much better with the certain touch of colour, but Darla was genuinely getting tired of performing a cleaning spell numerous times per day due to this specific patient. She supposed she knew what she’d gotten herself into when she chose this specialisation, but Darla found that, oftentimes, she was really less patient than expected; particularly if her child took the image of a spoiled eighty-four years old annoying hag.
It took time to perform the cleaning spell, for the purple concoction was starting to actually affect the colour of her own hair. Deciding to reverse the effects so she would look presentable for her next consultation had taken some time unfortunately, making Darla slightly late for the appointment. Gathering her now perfectly clean hair in a ponytail, the Scottish made her way to the consultation room, picking up the patient’s documents from one of the nurses before stepping in the chamber. “Hello.” She said with a wide, warm smile on her face. “I apologise for being late, there was an emergency.”
Her patient was young Jack, the son of Nathan’s friend and neighbour, a nineteen year old girl named Katie. Darla’d found out all about Katie and her troubles from Nathan, and assured him that she would make sure the girl would leave the consultation without any worries; in the end, as a young and working mother, Katie needed reassurance that she was doing well, and that her baby was perfectly fine. The appointment had gone very well, and Darla simply prescribed some potions for little Jack to take for his immunity, but overall assured Katie that all was fine and she had nothing to be worried about. She’d sent the young mother with little Jack to go look for Wendy, one of the nurses, so Katie would get the potions – they were free of charge of course, for Darla had personally made sure that all of Jack’s expenses were covered; but nobody had to know that, of course.
As Katie and Jack left the consultation room, Darla placed the parchment on her desk, as she leaned against the back of her chair. Nathan was sitting across from her, and she glanced at him while letting out a heavy sigh. “She is such a sweet girl, and Jack is absolutely adorable; I really wish she wouldn’t worry so much. She’s doing a great job handling everything considering the circumstances.” Darla was aware that Katie’s parents essentially kicked her out of their house upon finding out that she was pregnant, and that now the girl had to live on her own, with her young son, after the father also abandoned them.
The entire situation frustrated her. “Did you ever suggest to her to resume to her training?” Darla inquired, her genuine concern noticeable. “All that wasted talent… and being an Auror-in-Training would definitely pay more too; she could even afford help.”
