Who: Harold Dingle and Sally-ann Perks What: Harold finally mans up to visit. Where: Hospital Wing When: backpost to Monday night Rating: Low
He'd tried tea, coffee, chocolate, wine and a quick midnight jog but nothing, absolutely nothing, was getting rid of the guilt that had wriggled up inside of his stomach and set up camp there to slowly devour his insides. He whimpered as he arrived outside the door, knowing that it was the only true cure, thuogh he didn't want to go through it. He couldn't! Did he just stroll in there?
Harold had been avoiding Sally for the best part of a week now, even though he should've been the first person at her bedside when he'd heard about her ending up in the hospital wing. But no. He couldn't. He couldn't because it was his fault! And now, thanks to the memory spell on Romilda, he was the only one who knew. He'd thought that STOP his worries, because if he was the only one holding the knowledge, there was no chance of it slipping out to the wrong person. But instead it just made him feel worse. Like, triple worse.
With a sigh, he finally pushed open the hospital wing door and slipped into the room, his eyes scanning along the row of curtains. He already knew which one Sally was behind. It wasn't hard to gather that sort of knowledge. Soundlessly he slipped across and behind it, to her beside. Another wave of guilt hit as he spotted her laying in bed. Fuck. She'd gotten hurt because of him. "Hey Perksy," He whispered, offering her a faux-smile, "Got a spare minute?"
Sally had been laying on her back, her wounds were just scabs now, with one hand behind her head. She couldn't help but reply her dream over and over again. Had she really chosen Harold over Wayne? She didn't think so, but she knew Wayne did. How exactly do you choose one person over another? Sally let out a sigh. Did it matter though? Harold hadn't even been to see her, though Sally just wrote that off cause he didn't know where she was. She had only told him a couple days ago, and he could be busy. Sally worried her bottom lip and continued staring at the ceiling. Or maybe he decided he didn't want to be with someone who has a recurring nightmare about her father beating her.
When the doors opened, her eyes flicked to it, as always, but she groaned as she remembered that Pomfrey closed the curtain. The Mediwitch had noticed that her eyes shot to the doors every time they opened, so she had closed them for Sally's peace of mind. Except it wasn't working. Now she wouldn't have forewarning if Wayne or anyone else was coming to see her. A slightly worried expression crossed her face. What if it was Wayne? Was she ready for that.
The worried expression hadn't faded by the time Harold appeared, and when he did, it was noticeable how much she relaxed. She flashed a smile at him. He was finally here. She scooted over to make room for her on the bed while replying, "Of course I do. I've got several minutes for you." She grinned at him before motioning for him to join her on the bed. She just really, really wanted to be close to him right now.
Harold hovered for a moment, the expression of relief on Sally's face just making him feel worse. That wasn't how it should be! This visit was supposed to relieve his guilt!
Still, after a few moments, his showmanship kicked in and he feigned a sincere smile, walking toward her to settle down on the patch of bed he was offered. "You know, this hospital scene is so dull," He remarked, trying his best to make light of the situation without being offending or addressing it directly, "when we get out this school and go adventuring, you're not allowed to get hurt. Hospitals are strictly out." He leaned forwards and kissed her cheek softly, "you'll have to be good."
Sally scooted forward and took Harold's hand. She needed contact. But she couldn't help but smile at him, "And where exactly are we going adventuring, hmm?" She smirked as he kissed her cheek and gave him a shrug, "I can't promise anything. I think the fact that we're adventuring implies I'll end up getting hurt eventually. I'll be able to heal myself though." She winked at him. She hadn't even thought of healing herself after her dream. She wouldn't've been able to heal her back, but everything else she could've done, it just hadn't occured to her. It was too much like with her dad, when she wasn't allowed to do magic.
Sally layed back on her pillow, and gave Harold's hand a tug so that he would lay down with her. "I really hate hospitals. It's too quiet and you can't do anything."
Harold snuggled against her and shrugged, "I dunno. I just assumed after we get out of this place, you'd wanna go exploring. Or maybe just go on a holiday. Frankly, I just fancy getting as far away from here as possible and forgetting I even came back!" He tapped his fingers gently on her stomach, and wondered why he hadn't come to see her sooner. Merlin knew he missed her. And then he remembered. The reason she was there in the first place. "I'm sorry this happened," He blurted without thinking. Well, ok, he hadn't admitted that he'd done it, just apologised. It was almost good enough.
Sally nodded against him, "What about Italy? I've always wanted to go." She smiled and leaned up to kiss his lips softly. Merlin, she missed him. "why are you apologizing? You didn't do it. Wayne needs to be the one apologizing." Yes, Sally was bitter. Her best friend had beat her in her dream, and hadn't even been to see her. She snuggled more into Harold, as though getting closer to him would erase what she had said.
Harold's expression was unreadable. He didn't know it'd been Wayne that had hurt Sally. Dream or not, it provided Harold with someone to blame for his girlfriend's wounds. Someone who wasn't him. "Oh, er, Italy," He repeated, trying to shift the conversation in a hasty direction away from her dream. Suppressing the ureg to go out and find Wayne and....and...AND.... Well he'd think of something suitably nasty later! "Yeah, I'll take you to Italy," He said off-handedly, as if he did that sort of thing every day. Wisking girls away to exotic locations was totally his forte.
It was probably a good thing Sally couldn't see his expression. Instead, she kept her head on his chest, waiting for him to say something. Part of her wanted to talk about her dream with him. But he brought Italy back up, and she felt her shoulders relax as she let out a sigh. Sally shifted so she was more comfortable, and made a face as one of her scabs pulled. She should've asked Madam Pomfrey why she refused to heal them, really, it was getting annoying. "I think It'd be fun. Venice and Rome, especially." She smirked a bit, trying to distract him from the fact that she was in pain.
He felt her fidget, but he was too distracted to assume she was in any sort of pain. He couldn't stop the train of thought steaming through his mind. He was thinking of something horrible to do to Wany as punishment, and a way to stop this stupid mistake of a spell. A way to fix what he'd done to Romilda without her knowing what it was he'd taken from her. There was way too much. It was all too much. "Sal-" He said suddenly, pulling free of her arms, "I'd better go, I've.. got some stuff to do. But I'll come back soon ok? Or send up some chocolate..." Harold could feel the guilt bubbling up again. Why wasn't there a potion to make it stop!?
A confused look flashed across Sally's face, before being replaced with something akin to hurt. She quickly looked out the mirror so Harold wouldn't see her face and bit her lip. She'd been in the hospital wing for a week now, and Harold had only just stopped by for ten minutes? Sally sighed and made sure her face was normal before turning back to him. "Sure. I should be back in the common room soon, I think." No matter if she was hurt or not, she flashed him a small smile. She would've kissed him, but he was too far, instead she just settled back in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. He was leaving and there was nothing she could do to stop him. She could hardly blame him for not wanting to spend time with her, not when she was like this. Not when she was being weak.