Story tags: Hogwarts Legacy, Angst, Hurt/Comfort (kinda), Poppy Sweetingxgn!MC
Characters: gn!MC, Poppy Sweeting, Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, Natsai Onai, Amit Thakkar, Garreth Weasley, Imelda Reyes
Synopsis: After MC is permanently scarred at the repository battle, they will have to adjust to a new normal â which is proving to be their most difficult challenge yet
Warnings for heavy angst, mental/physical scarring and disabilities, depression
Reread my previous angst post and got inspired, so I decided to try my hand at something heavier. It turned out longer than I expected, but I'm proud of the end product, considering I usually suck at bittersweet storytelling lol
Significantly heavier than most of my previous posts on here, so tread with caution.
While relief took hold among the students of Hogwarts and things soon returned to a sense of normal after Ranrokâs attack, for some the struggle was only beginning. Poppy had attempted to find MC in the wake of the repository battle, but all she was told was that Professor Fig had perished and MC had been critically injured, having been directly transported to the infirmary once their unconscious body had been retrieved from the rubble. She wasnât allowed to visit, so her only resort was to hassle the nurse for details whenever she was able to. Eventually, she managed to find out that MC was being sustained in a magical coma as the pain of being awake was likely to tear them apart. It wasnât so much a matter of when they would wake up â it was whether they would ever wake up at all.
The news took its toll on MCâs entire inner circle. Sebastian and Ominis bickered less, Natty was strangely absent-minded during classes, Amitâs marks in Astronomy tanked to the point where Professor Shah constantly asked whether heâd taken ill, Garrethâs concoctions noticeably suffered from the absence of his potion companion, and even Imelda seemed more prickly than usual.
Poppy herself wasnât faring much better. She woke up sick to her stomach every day without any news about MC, and she found that her usual pastimes werenât doing much to keep her mind off things either.
And then, after a few agonising months and a lot of sleepless nights, news came that MCâs condition was stabilising. The nurse cautioned that they were by no means out of the woods yet, but at least they were allowed to have visitors over.
Poppy made her first visit along with Natty, who had also jumped at the opportunity to see their friend. MC was barely responsive when they stood at their bedside, and the nurse told them to get out after five minutes because they needed rest.
âAll those scars⊠there were so many of them,â Natty said, shaking her head as they walked back through the corridors. âI cannot even begin to imagine how they will ever bear the pain if they regain consciousness.â
âThey are still the same person underneath,â Poppy insisted. âYouâll see.â
She knew she was mostly talking to herself, but the alternative was simply too painful to consider. And for a while, things genuinely seemed to be improving. After a few weeks, she received news that MC was finally awake and responding, and she rushed to the infirmary so fast that people in the corridors looked at her with shocked faces and asked whether there was an emergency.
Upon arriving at the infirmary, she noticed MCâs bed had been moved to a sectioned-off corner in the back of the hall. It was for the wellbeing of the other patients, the nurse explained â MC had developed a habit of waking up screaming every night, to the point where it had become an active obstacle to the recovery of their fellow patients. As horrified as Poppy was to hear this, it was even less of a shock than the sight she was confronted with once the curtain was drawn back. Fresh scars ran up the right side of MCâs body, all the way up to their face, which looked as if it had been cut up with a knife. Purple veins stood out under the almost transparent skin near their right eye, which appeared strangely discoloured. When Poppy looked down, she noticed an unmistakable tremble in their burnt hands.
âPoppy,â MC said in a raspy whisper, âis that you?â
âYes, my love,â she answered, having to suppress the quiver in her own voice as she gently took one of MCâs hands. âIâm here.â
MC seemed disoriented, so she had to remind them where they were and explain how they ended up here. Her heart broke when they asked where Professor Fig was â she debated internally whether she was the right person to tell them, but she didnât want to lie to them either. When she told them the truth, MC just sat there against the pillow, their brow furrowing as they tried their best to understand. Then the tears came, and the screaming, and all of a sudden it wasnât clear anymore whether MC was wailing out of sadness or out of pain, and Poppy ended up holding them until the nurse hastily arrived and instructed her to leave.
For all the lack of news in the last couple of weeks, there suddenly seemed to be an awful lot of it⊠MC was regaining strength in the parts of their body which werenât affected by Ranrokâs magic, but it wasnât like there were a lot of those left to begin with. Their eye wasnât healing and at this point this likely meant they would end up losing half of their vision; the tremble in their hands persisted and they barely had any mobility left in their right arm, but the worst news she was told by MC in person. Apparently, the magic had eaten away at the nerve system in their spine, which would likely leave them all but paralysed from the waist down for the rest of their life.
âThey say Iâll never be able to walk again,â MC sobbed at her through a mist of tears. âNever play Quidditch again, never again climb the hills or swim in the lake ââ
Poppy simply held them as they cried. She didnât say anything, lest her voice betrayed the tears burning in the corners of her eyes.
The inner circle and the school faculty tried their best to accommodate MC however they could. As soon as MC was allowed to leave the infirmary for short periods of time, professors accompanied them to help levitate their wheelchair up stairs so they were able to attend classes. Whenever MC was too tired to leave their bed, the professors would organise little private classes at their bedside. Sebastian and Ominis would indulge them with late-night chats about their personal experiences with living with a disability. Natty would entertain her with stories about her homeland, staying with them to ease their path into deep slumber, after which sheâd watch over them. Amit made sure to supply them with notes to help them keep up with schoolwork, Garreth frequently dragged his potion kit all the way up to the infirmary to brew new concoctions next to MCâs bed (much to the chagrin of the nurse), and Imelda personally escorted MC to every Quidditch match, jinxing everyone who gave them as much as a funny look. Sometimes it would even feel as if things had truly returned to something resembling normalcy â if it wasnât for MC freezing up at every strike of lightning or explosion in the corridors, or bursting into tears whenever someone as much as mentioned the name of Professor Fig.
In spite of everyoneâs monumental efforts, no one was as devoted to taking care of MC as Poppy. She visited the infirmary and offered to push them around the castle as often as she was allowed to, and if she wasnât she would spend her hours holed up in the library and interrogating Professors about any means to alleviate MCâs suffering. People started commenting on the bags under her eyes and she had to give up most of the free time sheâd usually spend caring for beasts, but those were sacrifices she was willing to make.
Which didnât mean that things were getting any easier. She had her own life, and juggling commitments had never been her strong suit. Moreover, the more time she spent with MC, the more often she would find herself at the receiving end of their outbursts of frustration and self-loathing. One particularly nasty fight came after she had taken Highwing out for a flight, only to suddenly remember that sheâd promised to take MC out to the courtyard for some fresh air.
âI am so sorry,â she gasped as she stormed into the infirmary, cheeks flushed from exertion. âI was caring for Highwing and I lost track of time ââ
MC looked up at them from their wheelchair, a cold expression on their scarred face. âOh, donât bother with excuses,â they said. âIâm sure your beasts need your help more than I do.â
The sneer struck her like a hot arrow to the chest, but she knew not to take it personally. âDonât be silly,â she answered as she walked up to them. âYou know thereâs nowhere else Iâd rather be ââ
âPlease,â MC scoffed. âYouâre only here because you pity me. Guess thatâs all I get for risking my neck for a bunch of stupid birds.â
She felt something different now, a fit of hot anger bursting its way up from her core. âHow can you say all of those things? You know, I havenât had a single proper night of sleep since they found you under that rubble, and Iâve been sacrificing everything to help you when all I get in return is anger and resentment ââ
âWell, Iâm so sorry to inconvenience you!â MC snapped back, their voice cracking. âNext time I run into Ranrok, Iâll just ask if he finishes the job, all right?â
âPlease,â Poppy said, tears running down her cheeks, âyou donât know what youâre saying ââ
âI donât want your help!â MC shouted at her, before hunching forward in their wheelchair, crying out in pain as they clutched their sides. Poppy took an instinctive step forward, reaching out to help them, but the nurse pushed her away, telling her to leave. She did as she was told, and ended up crying herself to sleep.
They made up, eventually, as they always did. But the argument revealed an underlying truth which was slowly becoming undeniable. Poppy was pouring all of herself into MCâs well-being, to the point where she didnât have much more left to give. She knew it, felt it, but still she toiled on, not knowing what else to do.
A few weeks after their fight, Poppy was called to the garden above the Hufflepuff common room. Upon her arrival, she saw MC sitting on a balcony, facing the lake. They had their eyes closed and the sunlight gave their face an ethereal glow, which made even the scars look less gruesome.
âHello,â Poppy greeted them with a smile, kneeling next to them. âYou look well.â
âBetter than Iâve felt in a long while, thatâs for certain,â MC chuckled. They extended their good hand to her and she took it, gently rubbing her thumb over their skin. MCâs expression grew sober. âPoppy, Iâve given this a great deal of thought. The lengths you all have gone to these past few months to accommodate me â I⊠I will be forever indebted to you all, and to you especially. Youâve given meaning to every minute of my life since I met you, even if it was at your own expense⊠I would never have dreamed of anyone ever doing that.â
âThe feeling is entirely mutual,â Poppy answered. âYou⊠you have touched so many lives around you, MC⊠if only you could see that the way I do ââ
MC smiled. âI know. But I canât allow you to keep throwing away all of that because of me. Thatâs why Iâve made the decision to leave.â
âLeave?â Poppy asked, feeling her heart stop. âBut⊠to where?â
âTo a place where Iâll be able to live in peace. I know telling you this would hurt, but I canât keep going like this, Poppy, not with everyone looking at me with pity in their eyes and feeling like a burden to every person I care about,â
âBut youâre not,â Poppy insisted, tears welling up in her eyes, âyou canât give up now, thereâs so many things we still havenât tried ââ
âPoppy, listen,â MC said, and they winced as they brought their hand up to cup her cheek. âYouâre so much stronger than you think. Youâve escaped from a terrible existence and built up an entirely new life for yourself. Thereâs so much youâre still going to achieve, you canât let all of that go to waste just for me,â
âBut that choice isnât yours alone to make. You donât deserve any of this ââ
âMaybe not. Bad things happen to good people, you of all people should know that. But this is the only thing Iâm able to do to repay you for all youâve done, and it might very well be the last choice Iâll ever be able to make â so please, let me make it.â
Poppy finally broke out sobbing, leaning against MCâs shoulder as the tears flowed freely. MC gently stroked her hair, feeling something moist running down their own cheek.
âI-Iâll never forget you,â she sniffled, her voice barely above a whisper.
MC planted a kiss on top of their head. âNever.â
And so, life went on. MC left Hogwarts, and after a while they even disappeared from daily conversations as people found new things to laugh and worry about. Poppy found it hard to pick her life back up at first, often still ending up at the infirmary with the intention to ask about MC or visiting Professor Weasley for counsel. She didnât get back into her shell as far as friends were concerned, however. MC wouldnât have wanted her to, and she was determined to do right by their memory.
Eventually, she was able to move on â though she would never forget the day that one new fifth-year came to Hogwarts and changed her life, for the better.