Camdown #8: Welcome Home : Nord-Stone

The garden was her home. Her safe space, where she felt the most calm and at peace. For this reason, when Tilly felt stressed or uncertain about life she found solace in the plants and spell of dirt. In the garden, there was always something to do, keeping her hands busy helped. It was something she could do when everything else felt hopeless.

The footsteps on the stairs echoed up to the rooftop garden space. Tilly stood from her kneeled position and walked towards the door that stood open. Before she could register the face, there was a body pressed against her.

Alice

“Woah, Alice, what's wrong?” Tilly’s arms instinctively went around her cousin, hugging her tight, holding her in. After a beat, Tilly pulled away, putting her hands on Alice’s shoulders taking in her state. The once, always put together Alice, was disheveled, haunted and bleeding. BLEEDING?!

Fuck… “Alice, shit, what happened?!”

By the look on her face, Tilly knew it had something to do with Everleigh. There was only one thing that could turn her levelheaded loving cousin into the mess that stood before her. Pulling her gloves off, tossing them onto the garden workbench, she pulled Alice over to a small sitting area arranged on the roof.

Pushing her down into a cushioned patio chair, Tilly got up and went to the workbench retrieving a clean towel she used for her dirty hands. Walking back over to her cousin, Tilly sat on the ottoman right in front of Alice. Taking the towel, she blotted at the bloody and waited for her cousin to start talking.

Alice clung to Tilly as if her life depended on it. She would be without Everleigh now, she just knew it. And while she knew that was for the best, she was scared.

Tilly pulled her to the sitting area, gently pushing her down onto one of the comfortable chairs. She closed her eyes as her cousin rummaged on the workbench, and when she returned, she felt the soft towel touch her face. It burned, and when Tilly pulled it back, she saw the crimson of blood.

Brown eyes widened and she touched her cheek, where it’d been burning, and when she pulled her hand back, she saw blood on her fingers.

Which is when she began crying again. “She’s gone, Tills, they’re gonna take her away,” she said sadly through sniffles. “It was fine… nothing seemed wrong. I brought tea to them…”

The thought of teatime drew her eyes back to her burnt right hand. She frowned. “Just the mention of tea and she…” Alice shook her head sadly, feeling completely defeated.

“She flipped out… hit the cup from my hand, burnt me and then…” she touched the injury on her face, slouching in defeat.

“She’s gone, Tills, they’re gonna take her away, It was fine… nothing seemed wrong. I brought tea to them… Just the mention of tea and she…”

The cut on her cheek wasn’t deep. It wouldn’t scar once Poppy could heal it, but the event might scar her more deeply. She was beyond upset. Ever getting violent was a new and heartbreaking development. Everyone was struggling with the therapy and changes. While the vacant shell was horrible, this version was almost worse.

“She flipped out… hit the cup from my hand, burnt me and then…”

Looking down, Tilly saw the bright red skin from the hot tea. Burning her skin when Ever lashed out. “Shoot.” She said quickly. Standing and walking quickly into the greenhouse.

Coming back out, Tilly held in her hand a large Aloe Vera leaf. Puncturing the thick skin with her finger nail, she ran it along the leaf, opening it up. The gel-like substance oozed out, which is just what Tilly wanted. Peeling back the skin of the leaf, she exposed the clear jelly like interior. Holding Alice’s hand carefully in hers she whispered to her cousin. “This might sting a little, but it will soothe the burn.”

Running the leaf over Alice’s hand, she coated her hot skin in the gel, soothing the heat and burned skin. She needed ice, but this would do for now.

While she ran the leaf over Alice’s hand Tilly talked in as soothing a tone as she could muster. “Did they say they were taking her away? I mean, I know she isn’t coming to Hogwarts, but where would she go?”

When her skin was well coated, Tilly put the leaf down and looked up at her cousin. “I’m sorry. So freaking sorry, but we need to be realistic. There was no way she would be cured in such a short amount of time and it might get worse before it gets better. The healers need to undo a lot of trauma. This isn’t going to be easy, but we are all here to help in every way we can.”

Tilly didn’t want to believe that sending Ever away was the right answer, but she also knew deep down, that the way things were going wasn’t working. With her and Alice heading back to school and Bram working full time, the therapy and caring for Ever fell on the Healers Bram had hired and Poppy. It wasn’t enough.

“Why don’t we go downstairs and see what’s going on. We can check on Ever, get you some ice and see what the plan is.”

Alice’s eyes locked on her burnt hand as Matilda got up and began doing – well, she didn’t know what. Her thoughts were jumbled as she kept replaying what happened in the study over and over. How happy she was to be joining Everleigh for tea. The pure terror on her beautiful sister’s face – the sheer panic and the way their grandfather rushed into the room.

She frowned.

Matilda returned, saying something about her hand stinging. Burn. Plant. She knew there was one that could help, but she couldn’t figure out which one. Not in her current state of shock.

“Did they say they were taking her away? I mean, I know she isn’t coming to Hogwarts, but where would she go?”

A slight head shake was all that Alice could manage. No, they hadn’t said she was going away. But she knew they were on borrowed time already with how hesitant the healers were to let Everleigh remain at home.

And she knew that she had been stupid to think she could help her sister.

“I’m sorry. So freaking sorry, but we need to be realistic. There was no way she would be cured in such a short amount of time and it might get worse before it gets better. The healers need to undo a lot of trauma. This isn’t going to be easy, but we are all here to help in every way we can.”

Alice nodded slightly. Stupid. So stupid. Why was she so stupid?

“Why don’t we go downstairs and see what’s going on. We can check on Ever, get you some ice and see what the plan is.”

Brown eyes met Tilly’s blue as she sniffled a bit. She’d been stupid. Selfish. Who knew was kind of progress the girl would have made had she and their grandfather let them take her to St. Mungo’s when they first assessed her.

Raw from the emotion she’d been feeling, Alice rose with Tilly and they made their way downstairs. Voices could be heard, but she had no idea what was being said. She didn’t want to hear the words. Part of her wanted to just go to her room and to bed. But she knew her injuries needed care.

Walking down the stairs, Tilly kept Alice’s hand in hers. The one not red from a hot tea burn. Arriving in the kitchen, Tilly got Alice some ice in a tea towel, then walked her towards the study where the sessions had been happening.

The sight broke her heart. Ever was laying on the sofa, eyes open, back to the unfocused shell. Bram sat next to her head, running his hand through her unruly black hair. He looked wrecked. This entire situation had aged him ten years. Bags under his eyes, hair needed a trim, his beard needed a shave and his face needed some happiness.

“Alice told me what happened. What’s the plan? We’re not sending her away right?”

Her question was filled with anxiety. She didn’t want to see Ever in a sterile hospital room with no family or help, but she also knew, deep down, that something needed to change. For all parties involved, this wasn’t working.

“Alice told me what happened. What’s the plan? We’re not sending her away right?”

Bram didn’t ever hear the girls walking into the room, so lost in thought after this last episode. It was the worst one yet. “Ali, are you ok? Can I fix your hand?”

He was no healer, but he had learned a few spells in his years. Enough to take care of the mild burn on her hand, and the injury to her cheek as well.

Bram looked around the room at the Healer and Therapist. This wasn’t working and he knew it, but he also didn’t want to admit defeat. Everleigh and her health and wellbeing was his primary concern.

“I don’t have an answer Tills. I just, I don’t know what the right move is here.”

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. The healer, noticing his distress stepped forward to weigh in as the licensed professional.

“Mr. Nordstrom, Ever is in a precarious state. While things are starting to unlock, if you will, it’s opening up her mind to memories that she probably wished stayed hidden. Everleigh is no longer merely absent; she is actively fighting her own mind. The incident with the tea is a textbook Sensory Trigger. In her mind, the scent of bergamot or the clink of a spoon isn't a comfort, it’s a catalyst that brings her straight back to those traumatic events.”

She glanced toward the girls before returning her focus to Bram.

"At home, the environment is too loud for her fractured state. Every familiar face, smell, sound, every routine, like teatime, carries the risk of a violent flashback. In a clinical setting at St. Mungo’s, we use magic to neutralize the wards. These are rooms stripped of sensory triggers where the ambient magic is kept perfectly still. It allows us to perform the necessary memory retrieval spells without her going into a Fight-or-Flight mode."

She paused, lowering her voice slightly.

"Furthermore, the violence today was a reflex. As she wakes up, her magic may begin to lash out uncontrollably. If she has an accidental magical discharge in a home filled with family, someone will get seriously hurt. At St. Mungos, the walls are reinforced to absorb that feedback. It isn't about locking her away, Mr. Nordstrom, it's about providing Everleigh with the environment that will best allow her to heal."

Bram sighed. Everything she said made perfect sense. Logically, he knew this. In reality, it was an impossible decision to make. “I’m not saying yes, but to make an informed decision, would we be able to tour the ward she would be living in?” He asked, looking into Alice's eyes to gauge her reaction.

Alice moved with Tilly silently, trying to process too much all at once. The terrified look in her sister’s blue eyes would never escape her memory and would likely haunt her for the rest of her life – even when, eventually, Everleigh came back to herself.

She held the ice to her hand, silently listening to the conversation unfold before her. Her eyes were on her sister’s shell; she was picking up nothing, where normally there was a storm raging inside the girl. Her heart broke a bit, listening as their grandfather deferred to the healers in the room.

“...The incident with the tea is a textbook Sensory Trigger. In her mind, the scent of bergamot or the clink of a spoon isn't a comfort, it’s a catalyst that brings her straight back to those traumatic events…”

That made sense. Not just that, but it was possible that she was associating teatime with more forgetfulness due to the evilness that their parents had done. She frowned. Her hand was throbbing.

“...At St. Mungos, the walls are reinforced to absorb that feedback. It isn't about locking her away, Mr. Nordstrom, it's about providing Everleigh with the environment that will best allow her to heal.”

Alice knew this. In her brain, she knew that an actual care facility would be best. But her heart didn’t want that to be the case. So while the logical part of her was agreeing whole-heartedly, she felt panicky at the thought of her sister being gone.

“I’m not saying yes, but to make an informed decision, would we be able to tour the ward she would be living in?”

A tour. That’d be reasonable. The image in Alice’s mind was not one of care, but of isolation. If isolation was in Everleigh’s future then she’d be wholly against it.

Grandfather looked at Alice and she bit her lip, looking back at her sister after a moment of eye contact. He needed to know that she was okay with it, but she couldn’t give him that. Tears sprung to her eyes, the events of moments ago playing yet again in her mind. It’d been terrifying to see her sister so scared.

“I… I…” Alice felt herself beginning to crumble. Everything had been building up to this moment. She’d tried so hard to keep things together, to hold her sister up so that she could pretend everything was fine. “A tour… wouldn’t hurt,” she finally said, her voice tight.