[H.Wing] Hazy Mornings (Archibald)

[Shayla McNamara]

With such little to bring with her, it seemed that it took a long time for Shayla to unpack her belongings. Sorting them too of course, she swears up and down that she has some form of OCD to her. Having always and for most of her life been picky about where things went and how they were put, it was an annoying habit that she had grown accustom to. Six hours passed and she ended up falling asleep, she never ate or joined the other staff members for dinner. Out cold she was. When morning came, the sun had woken her with it's bright rays of light streaming right down upon her face. Shayla being a person that didn't like having a light shown in her face, unless it was for medical reasons had turn over on her side to fall back to sleep. Not long after that, the alarm on her desk began to sound off. Shayla grumbled pulling the pillow out from under her head and stuck it over her to drown out the sound. Since she knew that the sound wouldn't end until she hit the button, she decided that she would go ahead and get up.

So what, a few hours of sleep was fine for her. Stifling a yawn, she rose from her warm bed and stretched out the kinks that her body formed over night. Shayla covered her mouth as she yawned and slowly opened her eyes to the bright room before her. "Now or never..." she muttered to herself as she quickly opened her eyes having only to shut them again to readjust them. It was sort of a routine she had especially when sunlight was involved. Kicking the covers back, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed and sat there. Today was her first day as the secondary healer, at least to the one whom had worked here by far longer than she has. Still, it was exciting to her and with that thought in mind, she stood up and walked over to her closet to find her uniform. "Now I know I put it in here last night, where is it?" she began to talk to herself. "Shayla you would lose your head if it weren't attached." the young woman sighed. After a few moments of searching, she found her uniform and slipped it on. "There." she said with a pleased smile creasing her lips.

Walking towards her stand up mirror, she glanced at herself once and then walked over to her desk to shut the stupid alarm off and grab her wand. Making her way out of her room and down the corridor to the office, she smiled along the way not realizing her hair was a mess until she got to the office. Opening the door, she glanced over to see if her co-worker was there. Not seeing the person, she stepped in and headed to her desk. Turning her head slightly and looked up at the clock near the hung mirror on the wall, she saw her hair misshaped and everything. "Merlin.." she groaned, "Could this day get any worse than it has?" she said softly to herself. Yes, Shayla often questioned and spoke to herself. Running her hands through her hair to fluff out the curls and wavy mess, she decided to just let it go on it's own and eventually it'll straight itself out. Plopping down in the chair, she leaned back and closed her eyes taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Lord knows she didn't want her anxiety to act up.

[Archibald Nish]

Archi had had an emergency call at about four o'clock when a fourth year Gryffindor had a really bad reaction to his dinner (delayed and untimely of course). Archi was glad that he lived off the connecting office to the Infirmary otherwise who knows how much longer that poor child would have had to suffer with those beastly hiccoughs. Yes, it was a dreadful bout of the hiccoughs. And Archibald had seen no point to going back to bed afterwards so dressed in his usual jeans and a shirt and sauntered around the large hospital wing.

Archibald was a compulsive organiser and so, went about arranging vials full of read-made antidotes to a variety of ailments that he kept in a cabinet next to the desk that sat in the corner by the door across from the door to his own office. It was a quiet morning but all the time Archi had the niggling sensation he was forgetting something. Since Carrieanne's departure from the school, things had become rather mundane for the four foot tall man in as much as he had less company. He wouldn't let himself admit that he missed her sorely.

He moved onto filling in reports of his recent dealings with the Gryffindor and filling it, checking again that his previously filed reports were both according to surname and alphabetically. This is what Nish reverted to when he had the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something. As he was standing by the filing cabinet it dawned on him that perhaps it was something he had forgotten on his desk in his office off the main Infirmary through the door on his right. Going through there, Archi shuffled the papers on his desk, not finding anything, when he heard the sound of the doors to the Infirmary open – he hadn’t done that yet this morning. Archi lifted his head, peering through the open doorway to the young woman that had just walked in but then she disappeared from view.

Finding the file he had been looking for – or though he had been – Archibald left his office, closing the door quietly behind him as he silently watch the witch standing in front of the mirror behind the desk. For a brief moment, as the morning suns rays fell through the high windows of Infirmary just so, he thought it was Carrie ... but a cloud drifted over the school, blocking out the sun, revealing the tall woman to be the newest addition to the Hogwarts Staff: Shayla McNamara. He shook his head, as though that would chase away his demons, and turned his attention back to the filing cabinet.

After rifling though the various files already in the draw Archi had opened, the dwarf put the files he was holding inside and closed the draw, turning to the new healer and walking by the open doors to the desk she was behind. “Morning,” he said hoarsely, “Shayla McNamara I take it, Archibald Nish.” Archi held out a small hand to her. Dan, the headmaster, had told Archi to expect her this morning and it dawned on the healer then that this was in fact what he had been putting off remembering. Admitting that there was another healer meant that there really wasn’t any chance that Carrie would come back – a blow and a half for this man. Never the less he was glad to have someone else to talk to other then the portraits and the occasionally sick student.

[Shayla McNamara]

Shayla stifled another yawn as she made her way to the infirmary, it was a new day and she would be meeting the Head Healer of Hogwarts. So her nerves were slightly shot being that the day had already started out such a mess. Though how much worse could it get, would she make a complete fool out of herself? Forcing the thoughts out of her mind so that she would be less likely to do something stupid. It was hard enough that she was new, last thing she wanted was to trigger her anxiety. Entering through the door of the office in the infirmary, she passed by one desk and then to her desk that was completely cleared of everything.

Everything except one picture. Sitting down in the chair to relax for a moment, she opened her eyes and sat forward starring at the picture for a moment wondering who the woman was. Wondering if the woman in the picture was the Healer she was replacing, lifting the picture in her in hand and flipped it over to see the engraving of her name upon the back of it as it read Carrie. Shayla placed the picture back on the desk and just steadily stared at it. She remember hearing something about her, about the possible reasons as to why she left among other things form the paintings. Though it left her wondering if any of it was true.

Not really realizing that her boss was heading her way, she continued to study the picture for a moment longer until she heard a coarse voice which made her sling shot straight up in her chair. "Morning sir..Yes sir, pleasure to meet you Mr. Nish." she smiled taking his hand giving it a gentle shake. "Lovely morning isn't it?" she asked with a calm look to her face as she glanced down at the short man. She had nothing against it at all, in fact she found him interesting. Interesting to the point where she found herself looking at him more that she should have, "So is there anything that you would like for me to do?" she asked offering a hand to whatever he was doing to make his job less strenuous.

[Archibald Nish]

It had been one of the hardest things Archi had ever had to do, clear out Carrieanne’s desk but after everything that had past between them Archi knew that he wouldn’t let anyone else do it. It was some what therapeutic, putting everything that she had left behind in a box and seal it. She had a knack for collecting trinkets that had no real purpose but as each had gone into the box Archi had smiled, some of them had been from him to her but now they closed away in a box standing behind the door of his small circular office where his thoughts sometimes went but the healer kept himself busy.

As Archibald shook hands with the new healer his brown eyes caught sight of what the young woman had been looking at: the last trace of Carrie, the photo he had taken of her just before the summer. How odd it seemed that it wasn’t all that long ago and yet it seems many many ages had past. Nish’s brown eyes moved back to Shayla where he gave her a quick smile. How formal her manner, how different from … what he was used to. “Archibald will be fine,” he said solemnly. “If we’re going to be working together I’d prefer to be on first name basis if that’s alright with you?”

It had never been a question as to how much space to give the people he had worked with, Archi had always simply let them do as they liked, within reason of course, but formality seemed to his mind to be a trivial thing that he would have it cut and cauterised as soon as possible. The more relaxed the environment the more willing he felt, a personal preference at best but it worked for him. And then the conversation moved on quickly. Nodding, Archibald made a rasping sound in the back of his throat in agreement that sounded like a stifled cough. “Indeed,” he said softly, reaching out a hand slowly and taking the photo frame.

Looking around the Infirmary, the first thing you would notice was how tidy everything was. Archibald has always been a stickler for keeping things in their place and it showed in his workplace. Frowning slightly, a hand moved absently over his stubbled chin as he contemplated the new healer’s question. “I’m afraid I had rather an early start so I think I’ve gotten most things done already,” he admitted, his eyes still scanning the room. Fidgeting with the frame in the hand at his side, Archi looked back up at Shayla.

“I’m … I’ve got a few things I need to do in my office,” the healer said hoarsely. “Why don’t you get acquainted with where everything goes. The large cabinet just here –“ he pointed a stubby finger at a large dark-wood cabinet that stood next to the desk they were standing around “ – is where all the antidotes and tonics are. The cabinet next to it, with the glass doors, is where I keep the ingredients for a quick potion … for whatever purpose mixed in any of the various cauldrons on the shelves adjacent to that.” Taking a deep breath, Archi looked at the room, trying to think of anything else he needed to point out in particular. “There’s a particular way I like to have the beds made but it’s standard practice at St Mungo’s … at least it was when I was there.

“Oh yes,” Archi clicked his fingers and looked back to the tall woman, “if you can’t find a salve or tonic that you need I have a small store in my office, on the right just through the door. You’re welcome to use any of it but I’d appreciate it if you informed me you had used it and replacing everything you used is essential. I know a woman in Hogsmeade that I get my supplies from so if you need anything there’s a board next to my desk in my office with a list on it. Just add whatever you need to the list. I visit her every other week, but with things having picked up recently I’ve been going more frequently.”

Coughing, Archi blocked his mouth with a clenched fist before stepping out to get a better view of the Hospital wing. “Erm … yes, have a look around,” he said as he turned and walked towards his office once more, the photo in front of him as he walked, “and if you have any questions, you know where I am.” Archi closed the door behind him gently and quickly more behind his desk. Wandless magic had always been something Archi had worked on so muttering a small incantation a lock in the bottom draw of the desk clicked open. Archibald put the frame in the draw and then closed it, locking the draw again.

Archi took a seat in chair and took a deep breath. The box standing behind the door seemed to be staring at him, even as he propped his elbows on the arms of the chair, rubbing his brow absently with his eyes closed. He had to get Carrie out of his head so he unlocked the draw he had just relocked, removed the picture from it and as he walked to the door, Archi put the photo on top of the box and left his office.