Daff knew it wasn't a good choice, but she just didn't have anyone else to turn to in a situation like this. The letter she had managed to scrawl untidily through the blurry vision she had sported at the time had been quick and to the point; she just hoped he came.

It had been a poor choice, a horrible mistake to buy a potion from anyone other than Noble, but she hadn't felt like she could do that anymore. Clearly, even in their current predicament, she should have just sucked up her pride and paid him for a dreamless sleep potion; she was paying dearly for deciding otherwise.

It had worked, the potion she bought the other day, she'd slept through the night last night, felt fully rested this morning, more alert and awake than she had been in a while, but it hadn't lasted. By lunchtime her eyes were heavy and itchy. By the time they had closed up shop for the day, her vision was blurry. Daff had no idea if Thistle had bought her excuse about paperwork when she left, but Daffy had retreated to her office and hastily written her letter to Noble, sinking into her chair as the world around her darkened unexpectedly. What else could it be other than the potion?

The note had been simple; I'm sorry, but I need your professional help, please floo into my office as soon as you can.

She hoped he would come, but as she listened to the clock tick by and helplessly saw her vision fade with each passing hour, she had started to wonder if she should be figuring out a way to get home. Fortunately that's when she heard the fireplace ignite. Daff didn't know whether to burst into tears or song when she heard him shuffle from the hearth. Hastily and clumsily she stood up, knocking into her desk with her hip as she tried to make her way around it, hands feeling the edge, but she didn't dare venture further than that. "I-I'm sorry, I just d-didn't know who else to turn t-to," She managed, fighting off the threatening sobs amidst the relief that he'd still come. "Something's wrong with my eyes."

Daffy leaned against the front of her small writing desk, hands gripping the edges until her knuckles were white. "I can't see," She stuttered out, panic soaking into her words as she looked blankly in his direction. Well, sort of in his direction, she only had the sound of his voice to go off of, along with the assumption that he hadn't wandered far from the fire place.

"I- I had to purchase a sleeping potion, i-it was getting really bad, back like when OWLs and NEWTs came around. I had just only a few hours in the last couple of days." He certainly had to remember her insomnia attack in her fifth year; she's been close to having to go to the hospital wing; stress always made it worse.

Daff tried to think of everything related to the story as she hurried through her explanation. "I don't think it was made right, something was off. I slept fine, but this morning my eyes started getting itchy and watery, then fuzzy and now I can't see anything." She should have called upon Ama to help, but for some reason Noble had been her first thought and she just hoped he had the solution.

Daff's panic faded a little at his hand on hers. Tentatively she reached out forward, free hand finally finding his arm as her fingers curled into his sleeve. She needed the grounding, something to hold her to the spot so she couldn't spiral down any further than she already had. She felt bubbles of guilt and loss make their way up, but she shoved it all back down. "I don't know, it was supposed to be a dreamless sleep potion. I got it from a shop in London. I took it at bedtime last night and it worked fine." Maybe a little too good. She had certainly woken up well-rested and finally feeling more human, but still a little groggy.

"It wasn't until I came into work this morning that things started to happen. It got progressively worse until I panicked and I should have gone to Ama and I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." He had come nevertheless and for that she was grateful. "I still have the vial at home, but..." It was pretty obvious she couldn't just go and get it. This whole thing was just such a mess; she was just such a mess and it was starting to show. Everything was unraveling around her and she clearly didn't know how to handle it.

Daff nodded and tried to stifle the sobs that threatened to spill out. This was so overwhelming and she should have just owled Ama instead, but here they were and there was this added layer and all she had to do was stay calm and she wasn't entirely sure could do that.

"Alright," She hiccupped, trying to breath through the flooding panic. "I'm sorry I roped you into this." She sniffled in barely more than a whisper. Daff felt guilty about that, wasn't sure what else to say about it, but on top of the potion-situation, she could feel the awkwardness settling around them like a cloud and so she carefully withdrew her hand to clasp her own together in her lap. The urge to fidget had her fingers anxiously spinning the simple silver ring on her hand if only for something to do.

She hadn't been thinking, she just knew she needed help and he was always her first thought, even now, after everything that had happened she still had that instinct, but she shouldn't, she really shouldn't.

Nodding slowly, Daff held her breath as she heard Noble rummage through his bag. She had a cold cup of tea sitting on her desk behind her somewhere to help swallow the bezoar. After Noble pressed the antidote into her hand, she gently felt around behind her trying to find the teacup without spilling it or knocking anything else off her desk. Slowly she prodded across the top, trying to remember where she had set the cup last, but in her panic and failing sight over the last couple of hours, she couldn't quite recall.

Finally her fingertips came across the saucer and she managed to get a hand around the handle without knocking anything over. Daff had excelled in potions, did almost as well as herbology, but this was honestly the first time she had ever had to consciously worry about taking a bezoar for an antidote. She popped it into her mouth quickly and followed up with a swig of tea, swallowing it without much difficulty.

Against her better judgement, she had been hoping for an immediate improvement, but none came. It wasn't like she had been poisoned after all. "I do no— not see any difference." She sighed after a moment, trying not to let the disappointment show and the panic return.

Merlin, this was a mess.

All she could do was nod, he would know, he had to know or she was off to the hospital to see her sister and that would end poorly, she just knew it.

The vial being pushed into her hand actually startled her, the contact like a island in the sea, but it was as gone as soon as she closed her fingers closed around the glass. She uncorked it with shaking hands and threw back the contents easily, sputtering a little at the taste.

"How long do you think it will take?"

Daff blew out a shaky breath and flexed her hands, reaching behind her, feeling with her palm, so find a safe place to put the vial. With empty hands still shaking, she wiped them on her skirt and fidgeted with the silver bracelet on her wrist. She'd worn in for so long, every day since he'd given to her, that she hadn't— couldn't think of taking it off.

"If, um, you want to just get me to Ama's I'm s-sure she can take it from here. I d-don't want to be a p-pest." The hospital itself was a bad plan, but perhaps just showing up at her sister's house would be different. She hadn't been thinking, her gut instinct was Noble even though in retrospect she knew she shouldn't have. This was all too complicated and she didn't want to make anything worse. There was too much sitting, unspoken in the air

Daff had been expecting the Floo, she probably could have handled it, if he got her to the hearth and in alright, but that he would apparate her straight there would be better, less margin for error. Maybe she could handle it herself, but she was already disoriented and if she ended up elsewhere, she wouldn't know what to do next.

"It's not too far from your house, the street over toward the park."  Daff couldn't think of the street name itself for the life of her at the moment. "Number 12 I think, they have a blue door. and a cute little white picket fence."  Daff bit her lip, on the verge of tears.