#2. Post-hunting assessments

Lailee had gone to the Hospital Wing at Amara's suggestion rather agreeably, but just outside the door she stopped, eyeing the door with dread clearly visible in her expression and stance. She had spent years avoiding this place at all costs, especially at the start of a term, and it wasn't a habit easily forgotten since she still bore the scars of those years. She could still hear her biological father's voice shouting at her and threatening her about what he would do if she breathed a word of the discipline she had deserved due to her being a disappointment of a daughter, how embarrassing it would be to the family name and how she would be even more of a pathetic waste of space and the whole school would know it if she undid his hard work in making her a decent witch by letting anyone else interfere.

She shivered slightly, trying to block out those memories. They weren't relevant now, she didn't have to deal with the fallout of having to be here so early in the term. The Karmetts didn't think she was a disappointment, though the validity of that sentiment was still to be determined in her own mind. She bit her lip, wondering if they'd think she was pathetic for being attacked by a vine that she was stupid enough to just try and grab instead of looking for a safer method. Reaching for it with no protection, no plan? She may as well be a Gryffindor, ugh.

Lailee reached for the door, then glanced at Amara, dropping her hand to her side, "Is it really necessary, though?" She bit her lip nervously, anxiety blossoming at the idea of having to walk in, talk to an adult and ask for help from them. What if...Lailee closed her eyes tightly for a moment, forcing her brain not to play the 'what if' game, because it never failed to convince her not to do whatever it was she needed to do.

"I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Death? Would that really matter to anyone at all?" She glanced at Amara with a frown, knowing she was only postponing the inevitable. She took a deep breath, summoning those self-preservation instincts that her house was supposed to have, and opened the door. After all, the Karmetts had went through a lot of work to adopt her and she wouldn't want to let them down by possibly having her arms fall off because of a stupid plant.

What if her arms -did- fall off? Was that something that could happen? How would she hold her wand? Do anything? Even though she logically knew that was highly unlikely, it was motivation enough to summon up the courage to ignore everything she had been taught about asking people for help for much of her life and seek an opinion on the stinging marks left on her skin from the lariwort.