Dinner with Nurse Coraline

Annie was uneasy about leaving Kerry all alone sleeping. Mostly, she was nervous he would wake up and she wouldn't be there with him. However, her tummy was growling so she accepted Nurse Coraline's invitation to the dining hall.

Once they were inside, she felt ravenous. She followed Coraline to one of the long tables and plopped down next to her. “A hamburger with pickles and ketchup, chips, and a large pumpkin juice please,” she said and instantly her food appeared in front of her.

“I love that,” she said, grinning over at the nurse, and dug in.

Not wanting to make a mess of herself, Coraline ordered the same thing, only with a soda instead of pumpkin juice. "Oh, I remember when I was a 1st Year, is was so... Magical!" She laughed at her little joke, which was only funny the first time. The other 999....

Watching Annie for a few moments, Coraline was intrigued by how the girl handled herself. "You don't mine my saying so, you handled yourself quiet well," she said. "That would have happened to my boyfriend, I would have been hysterical."

She paused, gauging the reaction on Annie's face. "Annie, if I get too personal, please tell me--" She turned her head to the side just a little and, in a hushed voice, asked, "What happened in the last week? When I saw you after Sorting Kerry was so, well..." She didn't know an indelicate way of putting it, "lost. But now, if I didn't know better, you both look as if you've been together for months--if not years."

Coraline took a bit of her burger and chewed slowly. "You're both so in love, it make me..." She looked up to the high ceiling and said, "Makes me believe that we do have soul mates."

Annie chewed while thinking about Nurse Coraline’s questions. She put down her burger and wiped her mouth before replying.

“I don’t consider Kerry my boyfriend, Nurse Coraline. Boyfriend is just too general a word to use to describe what he means to me.” She looked down at her still full plate of food. “I was very near hysterics in the Dark Arts classroom,” she frowned. “Although, not the kind of hysterics I think you’re imagining. If I had my wand, I would have done something very stupid…but completely beyond my control.

"And then Kerry gave me a draught. I can only wonder at where he picked that up.” Annie looked up into Nurse Coraline’s face and giggled.

“As for what happened between now and the first time you saw me in the hospital wing,” she smiled broadly. “Kerry and I had a very interesting meeting with Professor Arrakis. She is a wonderful person. I am very much smitten with Kerry…No, that’s not right. It’s much more than that, Nurse Coraline. I can’t quite describe it correctly. Perhaps the words just don’t exist for what I feel?”

Annie sat quiet for a moment, unsure if she should continue and then decided, the draught would only last for a little while longer so why not. “I want with all of my being for Kerry to see what I have—for even one brief second. I suppose it would make me feel like I actually did experience something real and don’t just have an overactive imagination willing Kerry into my future.”

She picked up her hamburger and bit off another piece.

Coraline picked up on the "Boyfriend is just too general" feeling the moment the phrase left Annie's mouth. Listening to Annie was like listening to someone with a deep understanding of her own being--even if they are seeing it through the lens of a calming draught, she thought. Then again, sometimes that's the best time to think.

Letting Annie's words sink in Coraline realized that some of the things she'd heard from Deanna were more than another of her "visions". There was something truly there; Coraline could even now feel it.

As Annie chewed Coraline composed her thoughts, then waited for Annie to come up for air before she spoke. "Annie, from my prospective, I don't think you need to worry about Kerry." She munched a couple of chips. "It's in his eyes now: when he looks at you, I can see it. He's not the same person from a week ago." She smiled as she wiped her fingers clean. "You're right; he is more than just a boyfriend."

“It has been difficult for me to talk about any of this with anyone, Nurse Coraline,” she said though sips of juice. “My vision at Memory’s End was incredible, but I experienced things I don’t understand. Those feelings only get more complicated when I look at him.

“I can’t exactly spill everything to Kerry; He knows enough, and I don’t want to let him in on anything—unnecessary. Sometimes I look at him and he’s a man…” Annie felt her cheeks turn a light shade of red. I guess the draught is subsiding…

Annie picked at the food in front of her. This is so complicated that I sound like a lunatic. She sighed and nibbled her burger.

Coraline didn't know much of their vision--Deanna mentioned a few things at dinner last week, that was all, but it sounded incredibly detailed. The old saying is "If I only knew then what I know now", Coraline thought. But when I was 11, would I want to know what I know now? Oh, god.

Reaching out she touched Annie's hand. "Annie, if you ever need to talk, please: feel free to come see me." She patted her hand then returned to her own food. "I know the pain of romance all to well, I'm afraid. And I can't imagine what you're seeing can be easy right now."

“I know the view of divination by the majority of witches and wizards isn’t favorable,” she said, her appetite completely gone by now. “And I’m beginning to wonder if what I saw was real or just my imagination.”

Annie pushed her plate away from her and swiveled in her seat to face Coraline. “Kerry says he’s happy, and that he wants to be with me, but I can’t help but feel guilty. I want to just leave it alone and enjoy every second of my time with him,” she closed her eyes for a moment as the weakening effects of the draught managed to slow her increasing heartbeat. “But I feel enormously guilty. It is as if I claimed him for my own before he was supposed to be.”

"Oh, I know divination." Coraline pushed her own plate aside. "My sister has a touch of the Sight, and it can drive her nuts. Others, too." She giggled, thinking of some of the things that passed between them when they were together.

"Annie, when I said you could talk any time... I mean as a friend, not just as the school nurse. I know I'm here for everyone, but sometimes you need to go beyond a simple professional position." She sighed, then continued on. "There are a lot of times you need a good friend. And I want you to think of me as a friend, Annie--someone you can turn to when you can't speak to others.

"Look, I've been here. I matured early--surprise, right?" She brushed a strand of hair from her face. "But only physically. I didn't have emotional maturity, and it was very hard for me when I was here. Kids your age, they don't understand that some of us leap... ahead in many ways, and and have have completely different experiences. And they don't get it. They end up looking at us like we're freaks because we're different.

"You're not only seeing things that you shouldn't see, but you're also very mature for you age, and that sets off a lot of girls--and boys as well." Coraline touched Annie's hand again, sighing softly. "It's a curse to be this way. It's not fair, but when it does happen, we learn to go on.

"But how you feel with Kerry--" She squeezed Annie's hand now. "When you both came in last week, I mentioned to him that you... well, it was all over you face. And since then you're seeing visions of you--being together, right? Like this is your future together?

"And Kerry is still with you after all this?" Coraline giggled a little louder, sharing the joke. "It's all over his face now, too, Annie. He's fallen for you."

Pulling her plate back Coraline said, "Enjoy your time, Annie, 'cause Kerry's going to be there." She nibbled on a fry as she said, "You can't make a claim on someone if they don't want you to claim them--and if Kerry hasn't run off screaming by now, it's because he wants to be by your side. He's your prince, dear. He's not going anywhere." Coraline smiled. "He wants to be yours. And he is."

Her heart quivered as Nurse Coraline spoke, and Annie finally decided she was right. It didn’t matter how they got here—but they were here now, and they were together. Whatever else there was could wait for the time to be right.

She took a last sip of pumpkin juice and said, “Finished.” Instantly her food vanished and she giggled. Annie waited for Nurse Coraline to finish her own meal, making small conversation as she did. The longer she sat, the more she started to fidget and the less she was able to focus on the topic.

Coraline noticed the vibe she was giving off and stood up, linking arms with Annie. Silently they left the dining hall and made their way back to Kerry.