I'm fine.
Rigel was tired of saying those words to everyone. Couldn't they see she was okay? What was with all the unwarranted concern? She was perfectly fine. It was just one essay. Everybody slipped up from time to time.
It wouldn't happen again.
"Who would like to volunteer for compiling the list of charms we've learnt so far and their history?" Professor Flitwick said, "The work will be used as a study base for other house batches, so mind that it has to be done well."
Rigel raised her hand with a small smile. That sounded like intriguing work.
"Well then, Mr. Black." Flitwick's eyebrows furrowed in concern, but he didn’t say anything except, "You have two weeks, make sure to take your time and do it."
"Yes, Professor."
As they left class, Pansy joined her.
"Are you sure taking on more work is a wise choice?" She said softly, without censure, "Only, you're busy enough as it is, Rigel."
"I'm fine, Pansy," Rigel said, offering the girl a faint smile, "Don't worry so much."
She didn't seem to worry less, but she said nothing, for now.
"The Approved potions for this month," Snape told her as he handed over the parchment.
Rigel's exhaustion vanished into thin air, "Thank you, Professor!"
She hummed as she made her way to her lab, first brewing her potions for Krait. There were quite a few, and she hadn't been able to give them as much time as she'd liked, what with Flint's essays and keeping up with Archie's healing lessons. Which, she thought, she still had to send via owl later that night.
She brewed for contended hours, finishing her order for Krait and then brewing some from the list for her own satisfaction.
She'd had to stop when it became hard to focus, her vision swimming slightly.
It had never happened to her before. She wondered what had caused it.
It doesn't matter, She thought calmly, I'll just get some sleep and it'll be fine by morning.
Snape would be coming soon anyway, if only to tell her to not brew overnight.
Only, there were Flint's essays to mail as well, so she couldn't go to bed immediately either.
She got up somewhat sluggishly and set to cleaning her cauldron a little faster. She wasn't supposed to leave the ingredients in the lab, so she winded them up to, putting them in her potion bag with care.
By the time she was done, something was definitely wrong.
Her vision was blurry, and she felt quite dizzy. She sat down on the floor, and that lessened it infinitesimally.
Encouraged, she murmured, "I'll just mail the essays, and then go to bed."
Her body rebelled at the thought, and the moment she stood up everything seemed twisted beyond recognition in a haze.
She didn't feel herself fall, but she knew when her vision went dark.
Severus was going to head in for the day when he decided to check Rigel's wards. He hoped the boy wouldn't be foolish enough to brew overnight, now that his time was clocked, but one never knew with Rigel Black.
At a moment's focus, the wards told him the boy was still within.
What is he doing so late at night?
Severus strode with sure feet towards Rigel's lab. It was unusual for the boy to disobey him so openly. He knew the lab meant a lot to him, and would not risk losing the privilege over something so trivial as an urge to brew longer for a day.
What, then, had caused him to stay?
Rigel had already been attacked in his lab once. The attacker had tried to cast an unforgivable on him. Severus wasn't going to take that chance again.
He opened the door and looked around.
At first glance, it seemed to be empty. As his gaze dropped to the ground, however, he saw someone collapsed.
"Mr. Black?" Severus said carefully as he made his way closer to the figure on the floor.
It was definitely his student. Panic raced his heart, before he calmed it somewhat with cool-headedness.
"Rigel?" He turned the boy's face to his, to no response. What had happened?
He lifted the boy up in both arms and made off to the hospital wing. First things first. The boy had to be fine, for any perpetrators to come to light.
"Rigel? Rigel? "
"He's fine, Mr. Malfoy. I suppose he has been working too much."
"Idiot." The voice sounded like Snape's.
"That he is." Pansy.
Rigel's eyes slowly opened. Everything was still a little fuzzy, but she felt much better now.
"Where am I?" She said groggily.
"Rigel!" It was Draco, and he bounded towards her with a speed that proved him a good seeker.
"You are in the hospital wing, Mr. Black," Snape said blandly, though there was something sharp in the way he assessed her, "Presumably because you have been taking too much work on yourself."
His voice was dry and sharp, "Care to explain?"
Rigel was somewhat dazed again, "What?"
His brow furrowed, and she thought she saw something akin to concern there, "Mr. Black, are you currently feeling well?"
"...Yes?" Rigel winced at her headache, "No, actually, not at all."
"Foolish boy," Snape said, "Perhaps Professor McGonagall was right, and I have been putting too much of a workload on you."
No, you don't understand! If I even have been overworked, it's because I'm trying to keep up with Archie and Flint's syllabi at the same time as mine!
Potions have nothing to do with it! They're my only break.
But she couldn't say that, so she said hoarsely, "No. You haven't, Professor. I'm just… juggling a lot of things you may not be aware of and that I can't inform you of. I'm sorry. Please don't lessen anything. I enjoy the tasks you assign. This was just a miscalculation. I'll-I'll manage—"
"A miscalculation, boy?" Snape almost growled, "And what will you do when such a miscalculation occurs during a particularly tricky brew?"
"It won't!" Rigel said desperately, "Because it matters to me, more than anything, so much that even my magic knows it. I won't let something like that happen again."
Nor will my magic, if I'm brewing.
She may not trust her magic overly much, but she knew it would protect her, should a potions accident loom. She knew it that much.
Rigel's head was still swimming, and her desperation was only making her headache worse.
"Are you troubling my patient, Severus?" Madam Pomfrey's voice was sharp and fierce, "Let Rigel rest. Now is not the time to discuss such things."
"Indeed." Snape conceded. He turned to leave, "Do not neglect your health, Rigel. Get well soon."
Rigel felt something warm in her stomach, "Yes, Professor Snape. Thank you."
She turned to look at Draco.
"What?"
Draco looked very worried, "We told you to not overwork yourself, remember? Why can't you take care of yourself as much as you do others?" He blew out a frustrated breath.
Pansy put an arm on Rigel's hand, and it was warm, "Get some rest. We'll be here as long as Madam Pomfrey allows."
"Thanks, you guys." Rigel closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
"Puppy!" Fred and George cornered her as she made her way through the hall.
"We heard a rumor—"
"—most worrisome, it was—"
"—that you were taken ill—"
"—and had collapsed—"
"—so we just wanted—"
"—to cheer you up!"
The two eager faces blinked at her, and Rigel let out a laugh.
"I'm fine, you two. Thank you."
"Tsk tsk." George said with a wry grin, "You are most certainly not fine, Rigel."
"Which is why we're going to bully you into therapy!"
"Uh what?" Rigel was completely confused.
"I don't need any sort of therapy." She said slowly.
The twins broke into guffaws, "Rigel. Rigel."
"What?" She said,
"Nothing. So, here's your first task: do something kind for yourself today—" Fred said.
"—that you wouldn't otherwise do." George finished, a knowing twinkle in his eyes.
She groaned, "You had to add that caveat, didn’t you?"
They grinned at her, unrepentant.
"You're both evil, you know that?" She grumbled.
"Serves you right for being friends with us, then." George said cheerfully.
Rigel's lips tugged upwards.
There were some flaws in the way she was doing things. There always had been. Only, not many had cared enough in her family to point them out. It was potions that was bad, not the way she saw nothing but. It was Snape that was bad, not her unhealthy habit of overloading herself.
She'd stopped listening, after a while.
Maybe, it was time to open her ears again.