2A/N: Written for Hogwarts assignment 6: task 3 - Write about an angry woman.
Word count: 931
"Come on," Poppy said, herding the three boys towards the door to the hospital wing. "It's nearly curfew, and Mr Lupin needs his rest. Out, out!"
Her words became more forceful as they put up resistance.
"Just a few more minutes?" James asked, craning his neck to get a glimpse of Remus, who was leaning back on some pillows and watching his friends go with a hint of sadness in his eyes.
Poppy got them to the door and out into the corridor beyond. "There isn't enough time for that," she insisted. "You have to be back in your common room before curfew."
"Five extra minutes," Sirius pleaded. "We could still make it."
She gave him her sternest look and closed the door, telling them as it shut, "I expect you to head straight to Gryffindor Tower."
The door clicked shut, and she shook her head with a sigh. She knew as well as any other staff member in the school that they were unlikely to listen to her, but at least she had tried. She went back to Remus' bed. The poor boy grimaced when she handed him his potion, and Poppy held in another sigh.
"Come on now," she said, her voice tenser than usual after a particularly long day. "You need your strength back if you don't want to spend more time here than necessary. You want to spend the whole night with your friends tomorrow? Then you need to drink your potion."
He did so without voicing any complaint other than the light gagging that they were both used to. There was really no changing that. The potion did taste repulsive. Poppy didn't know much about the brewing of potions, only administering them, but she did sometimes wonder why potion-makers couldn't find ways to improve the tastes without sacrificing their magical properties.
Remus handed her back the empty vial, which she slipped into her pocket. Just like that, she felt lighter than before. After a long, hard day, she would finally be able to rest. It was enough to make her smile widen.
"Make sure you get a good night's sleep," she told Remus, as much for her own sake as his. "Then you'll be back in your dormitory in no time."
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," he said as he snuggled down into the blankets.
Poppy gave him one last smile before leaving his bed and heading towards her rooms that were attached to the hospital wing. There was a bounce in her step as she went. In less than a minute, she could slip off her shoes, sit down on the sofa, and just relax. Just the thought of it was marvelous.
Just as she was passing the hospital wing doors, she heard a scuffle from the other side. She came to a stop, her body stiffening as anger rushed through her. She was so close to being able to rest, and those boys had come back. Of course they often caused mischief, but today of all days, she didn't have any tolerance for it.
She threw the door open, prepared to snap at the Gryffindor boys, but instead, she found Severus Snape doing a poor job of trying to scramble away and hide. The unexpected student didn't lessen her anger. If anything, it increased it. She'd heard that the boy had been asking questions about Remus, trying to uncover the truth, and she wasn't going to have any of it.
"Mr Snape," she said, causing him to give up on hiding in the shadows and come forward when he heard how high pitched her voice had gone. "It's ten minutes until curfew. What are you doing out here?"
If a student had a legitimate problem, of course she would help them at any time of the day, keeping her annoyance in check in the meantime, but she could tell from one glance that Severus was perfectly fine, and she found herself unable to keep her anger from slipping.
"Nothing," he said, averting his gaze.
It was at least an easier excuse to deal with than the elaborate lies that Sirius and James concocted for her whenever they snuck around, but it didn't stop her voice from getting even louder.
"I will not have students wandering around my hospital wing causing trouble in the middle of the night, Mr Snape. Do you understand?"
He nodded.
"Good," she said. "Now, you have ten minutes to get to your common room before you're in trouble. I recommend that you hurry."
He did as she'd said without any further argument. Poppy watched him go, tapping her foot against the stone floor. She couldn't, in good conscience, stop watching him until she was sure that he was heading in the right direction, but having to wait even longer before getting a break didn't do anything for her anger.
As soon as Severus was out of sight, she snapped the hospital wing doors shut with a bit too much force and turned around. At her first glance at Remus' bed, she felt a wave of embarrassment over facing him after he'd seen her lose her temper, but his eyes were squeezed shut as he laid down on his pillows. Poppy's shoulders deflated. From his tense shoulders, she knew he wasn't actually asleep. She had plenty of experience with fake sleepers.
It wasn't often that she let her anger get the better of her, but this hadn't been the first time either. She hurried off to her rooms, knowing that a good night's rest would do them all a world of good.