Emaline meanders around the Hospital Wing slowly, her body batttered and bruised from yesterday's brutal quidditch game. She takes her time changing the sheets on each unoccupied bed without the use of magic, having both a sore body and a sore loser's mindset.

Gryffindor took a beating when it came to their first game of the season. Since Slytherin hadn't updated their team roster since the year prior, all of James's strategies relied on the known weaknesses of who he thought they'd be playing against. So when the green and silver team walked out onto the pitch, he was completely blindsided by the sight of seven entirely new players.

To say they lost would be an understatement. In the words of her ever so eloquent best friend, they were 'fucking murdered' with the final score coming out at 170 to 20.

All of Gryffindor is taking the loss particularly hard, even the students who could care less about the sport. A melancholy mood swept through the tower, but no one is taking the loss harder than James.

The quidditch captain hasn't been seen by anyone outside of his closest friends - that is, if you count seeing the curled up shape of a body underneath the blanket on his bed who has only emerged when absolutely necessary for the past twenty-four hours.

The heavy doors slam behind someone entering the wing and Emaline picks up her pace ever so slightly in case more clean beds are going to be needed. She doesn't bother paying any attention to who just arrived, having learned in her first week of studying under Madam Pomfrey that it is exhausting trying to keep up with every little medical disturbance.

"Special delivery," the new arrival announces, successfully distracting her.

"Madam Pomfrey is in her office. You can-" Emaline cuts herself off as she looks up, a smile replacing her grumpy expression.

Todd snuck up on her, now standing on the opposite side of the hospital bed she's meant to be rearranging, with a bouquet of red chrysanthemums in one hand and a book written by Newt Scamander in the other.

She leans over and plucks the small card out of the bouquet, careful not to let her skin brush against the soft petals. The cover reads 'to my favorite chaser' in his barely legible handwriting and she flicks it open, an unexpected disappointment hitting her when she finds the inside empty.

Emaline mentally chides herself before her smile can fall, knowing she should be happy with the simple gift instead of critiquing it.

"I know losing sucks, so I got you these to cheer you up," he explains while waiting for her to react, clearly proud of himself.

"Thank you," Emaline says, making no move to take the flowers from him.

He tries to hand them over and she merely takes a step back, keeping the bed in between them.

"She's allergic, dumbass!" An unseen voice shouts.

Todd whips around, but with so many curtains blocking the majority of the patients from view, he's unable to decipher where the call out came from. Emaline knows exactly who spoke the rude words, though something stops her from telling him this.

He turns back to her, doubt written across his features. "Are you really allergic?"

"Yeah," she admits sheepishly. "But it's still a nice gesture!"

Todd immediately throws the bouquet into a nearby trash can and sits down on the bed Emaline just fixed, latching his free hand around her wrist to tug her onto the bed as well.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks, adjusting the lone pillow to allow himself to sit more comfortably while she sits stiffly at the other end, her mood rapidly turning into one of annoyance.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings." Her reasoning sounds stupid now that she's said it out loud. "And you didn't have to throw them away. I could have given them to a patient having a bad day."

Todd merely shrugs in response and opens his book, throwing his legs up onto the bed and getting dirt from his shoes all over the fresh linens. Emaline jumps up, suddenly eager to send the boy on his way.

"You should go," she says, her gritted teeth making it difficult to force a smile. "Madam Pomfrey isn't a huge fan of healthy and uninjured students being in her hospital wing."

"Okay." Todd stands up and Emaline dodges the kiss he tries to give her by ducking to readjust the sheets. He sets his book down on the bed despite the fact that she's trying to clean it off and Emaline nearly chucks it into the garbage before he speaks up. "I found that while I was procrastinating my Herbology essay. I thought you'd like it."

"Thanks, but Scamander is a magizoologist, isn't he?"

"Yes, but-"

"I don't take Care of Magical Creatures."

"Really?" Todd shakes his head, pushing this new information away to clear up her confusion. "This book isn't about his animals. It talks about the dangerous magical events from 1927 that you wanted to know more about!"

"Oh."

Emaline pauses, her annoyance lessening ever so slightly. Picking up the book and flipping to a random page, she realizes he's right as paragraphs speaking of multiple fights with Gellert Grindelwald jump out at her. More moved by this gesture than the flowers, she glances up to thank Todd more sincerely only to find that he's no longer standing in front of her.

A loud laugh meets her ears from only a few beds away and she's reminded of the familiar voice that interrupted them earlier. Looking to Madam Pomfrey's office to ensure she's still inside, Emaline marches over to the beige curtains hiding the guilty party from view.

Remus jumps as she steps into view, smiling as innocently as he can manage when she fixes him with a glare. There's no one else in the closed off area, but Emaline isn't dumb enough to believe he's truly alone.

"Where is he?" She demands.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb. We both know it was Sirius that yelled at Todd."

"Unless he's laying in one of these beds, I think you might be hearing things," Remus lies expertly. "Poppy never lets me have visitors before lunch."

"Mhm." Emaline sighs, sinking into the empty chair before he even invites her to do so. Since she very well can't harass a patient until he gives her the answers she deisres, she can at least be comfy while she thinks of a way to expose the friends he's protecting. "What are you in for this time? Fighting the giant squid?"

"You think too highly of me," Remus scoffs. "It's just a cold."

Emaline readily buys this excuse and Remus is prepared to leave it at that until the small table by his bedside is rattled violently by an unseen force. Emaline jumps, but Remus merely glares at the curtains and her suspicions solidify.

"I was just going to stay in bed and let it pass," he continues, not hiding his distaste with the carefully rehearsed words forced upon him in the slightest. "But Sirius - who is the most caring and handsome person I know - insisted I seek proper medical attention."

"Sounds more like a control freak, if you ask me."

"That's-"

A voice starts to shout directly behind Emaline and it stops as soon as it started, followed by the unmistakable sound of a hand being slapped over someone's mouth. Emaline grins and Remus groans, slapping his own hand over his face.

"It's time for my lunch break," she announces far too loudly as she stands up, pretending to check the time by looking down at her arm that clearly doesn't have a watch on it. "Since you're clearly all by yourself, I'll be back later."

The second she's back on the other side of the curtains, Peter and Sirius appear aa they rip James's invisibility cloak off of them.

"I was beginning to think she'd never leave," Peter says, dropping into the seat his sister had occupied.

"I don't think she stayed long enough," Sirius sighs dreamily.

"You're idiots. Both of you."

The curtains are thrown open and both of the previously hidden boys scream, tumbling to the floor as Emaline stands over them victoriously.

"I knew it!"