Damn, Kevin thought. The moist air of Scotland had gotten to him before, triggering his dormant asthma and generally weak lungs, but it had been almost a year since his last attack. He tried to compose himself, taking slow, deep breaths, hoping the very deliberate inflating and deflating of his lungs would slow his heart rate and bring him back under control.
It seemed to be working, after the third or fourth deep breath, it felt less like his chest was shrinking and more like he was just winded. Thank heaven - he was at least a 5-minute jog from the Ravenclaw tower where his inhaler was, and he certainly couldn't send Drew after it.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just...lost my breath, that's all." Kevin pleaded with his eyes for Drew to let it go. Not many people knew about Kevin's breathing trouble - Mike, Su, maybe one or two other guys in the Claw Boys' 7ths had seen him trying to surreptitiously use his inhaler, but you can only be so quiet when spraying aerosol into your mouth.
He stood up, wincing briefly at the stitch in his side, but forcing a grin onto his face.