Leading the way from the classroom with one hand placed gingerly on the Ravenclaw's back, he used his free hand - which was not his wand hand, by the way - and clumsily gave it a wave to unlock the door to the astrophysics laboratory.

"This way, Miss Wright," he instructed as he guided her towards a stool near a sink on the opposite side of the room. He would suggest that they just head over towards the chemical shower in the back of the room, but that may cause more injury than good. And sweet solstice he was no Healer, so hopefully Cecelia wouldn't have his head for tending to the first year.

"I swear I don't mean for all unfortunate things to happen to you," he muttered as he began soaking a rag in warm distilled water from the tap. "Were you bit by an army Mackled Malaclaw in Care of Magical Creatures or something?" Which was really the only bit of information he recalled from his school days.

Penelope let the professor guide her to the astrophysics laboratory. One hand was still covering her nose, and the fingers on her other hand were being used to feel the icy cuts on her cheeks.

She sat on a stool near the sink, and took her hand away from her nose. Her fingers were covered in blood, and there was blood dripping down her face. It hurt, and it looked terrible. Penelope's eyes teared up, but she was not crying yet.

"I don't think I've ever been bitten by a Mackled Malaclaw, but a lot of unfortunate things have happened to me this year," she said, sounding kind of weird because she still had her nose pinched to stop the blood. "I was buried in snow in a transfiguration lesson, after being attacked by birds and pelted with rocks. At the SNAC meeting I was knocked down by the Whomping Willow, buried in snow, and I got frost bite. That's 2 times being buried in snow, and I was hit by the willow." Had she been bitten by a mackled malaclaw?

Gloves gloves...where were his gloves... Nah, he would just conjure himself a pair instead of fumbling around the counter. After doing so, the astronomer slipped them on, and twisted the rag to remove the excess water before handing it to the Ravenclaw. "Gently dab your face with that," he instructed as his attention turned to filling a small bucket up with cool water. "You can soak it in here when it runs dry. Plenty of towels to use if you think you need a clean one." Although it shouldn't take more than two of the rags to clean her up properly.

"Sweet solstice, you went through all that this term? Quite the resilient little Ravenclaw now, aren't you!" he gawked. Merlin it would be a wonder if the girl's parents allowed her to stay at Hogwarts after all that. Not to mention this blizzard of doom brewing outside. Perhaps now was the time to not think on the bad, since they were cleaning her up and washing away the ouchies...so he ought to share some sort of anecdote from his school days to lighten the mood, yeah?

"I got beat up by the Whomping Willow myself as a first year," he commented as he began soaking another rag in preparation. "Quite the nasty tree, and one that is not very fond of being experimented on."

Penelope dabbed her face with the rag that the professor had given her. Most of the blood was easy to clean up, but there was still some blood around her nose. "Thanks, professor," she said, wiping the blood from around her nose.

Yes, she had been through all of that, among other things. "All of that, and more," she said. "I had an owl, but I don't know where she is. I saw them all flying away."Resilient. Perhaps she was resilient physically, but emotionally, she was not resilient. She might have survived snow and the whomping willow, but the professor hadn't seen her crying in the bathroom, on the wet floor, and Myrtle wailing at her. Not to mention that Myrtle had passed right through her. This was not a professor who would want to hear that story, and she didn't really want to tell him, so she stayed silent. It had been difficult for her to go back to the next history of magic lesson after what had happened at the first lesson. He didn't need to know that this 'resilient little Ravenclaw' was a girl who cried in the bathroom.

Almost crying now, Penelope tried not to think about the pain in her nose and all of her bad experiences. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Although the blood was being wiped away, her nose and the icy cuts on her face still hurt. She listened to the professor as he told her about betting beat up by the Whomping Willow. "You experimented on it?" What had the professor done to the tree?