Sitting at the table might have been a bad idea. She immediately saw the whole room swim before her eyes. Elbow on the table to brace herself, she let her head drop into her free hand. It was almost enough to make the spinning go away. Almost. With another tired sigh she reached into the pockets of her skirt and drew out her book. After reading a few sentences, it didn’t help and she shut it again.

This was madness. She was restless and tired at the same time. How in Merlin’s name was she supposed to deal with both of those at the same time? It wasn’t as if she had never felt this before; after a long day at a loud Quidditch field, she was certainly used to feeling this way, but now she had the added burden of being worried about her father. It made for an emotional whiplash that she was constantly recovering from.

She found that sipping her tea helped a great deal, and soon she had drained most of the cup. She swirled the dregs around in the bottom thinking of Divination classes at Hogwarts. Would any seer have been able to tell her what would happen to their family? Of her mother’s death, of their family’s fate? Would her father survive? Not wanting to be caught in public crying, Saffy gave a sniff and finished the rest of her tea cup before getting up. The sound of her chair scraping back echoed throughout the room’s silence. She cringed, looking around for the first time as the heat rose in her cheeks.

It wasn’t completely empty like she thought; there were two couples who were talking quietly to each other and a few hospital employees who were likely on their shift break. It didn’t look like she’d disturbed anyone, but nonetheless she let a “Beg pardon,” slip from her lips in case she had.