Ioan was sitting with his back to the door of his dormitory. Most of his roommates had once again found other places to stay for the night. He was hunched over, his hands clasped together between his knees, his head down. There didn't seem to be any way to stop himself thinking about what had happened or what might have happened if the group hadn't gone out when they did, or if Sally hadn't been with them. Had he been alone, he likely would've wandered the forest for days and never even found Romilda. Tears tracked silently down his cheeks and he finally had to dig the heels of his hands against his eyes to stop them running so freely. Ioan really needed to pay more attention to his studies if he was going to survive this year.
When Romilda came in, he jumped at the sound of her voice. He'd been expecting Pomfrey to keep the girls overnight and the older witch had flat out refused to let him stay with his girlfriend. But now, he had no right to be crying. He wasn't the one who'd been buried alive in the Forbidden Forest.
"Of course," he said quietly. His hands were shaking as he stood up and turned to face Romilda. Confusion and just a little bit of real fear-tinged-anger (or was it the other way around?) glinted in his eyes. "Romilda, what the hell were you thinking, going out there?" Oh, God, it was all going to come out, and she didn't need this, but he just couldn't stop! "I know you're a Gryffindor, but damn, girl! That doesn't mean you need to run off after every psychotic bastard that makes an appearance on the grounds! You could've...you could've got yourself killed!"
He was sorry. He was so sorry for saying that, but she'd scared him to death. Apologies would come later.
"I know you don't want to hear this now, but..." he held out his trembling hands to her, at a loss.