Bloody hell, Kevin was fishtailing. Trying to head off any questions he didn't want to answer, he scared the Hufflepuff, overcorrecting horribly. Tunnelvision overtook Kevin for a few moments as he resumed a normal breathing pattern. He was briefly oblivious to the tension, but even the not-so-well-seasoned Kevin noticed the silence after about a minute.
Reaching a landing in the staircase, Kevin abruptly stopped walking, deciding he couldn't let the awkward silence between the two of them persist. He tried to nonchalantly lean against the outer stone wall, but he misjudged the distance between his back and the wall's surface and nearly fell over trying to be "cool."
Recovering as gracefully as he could, Kevin looked at his feet, then up at Drew.
"Look, it's not a big deal. I just have some trouble catching my breath once in a while," he forced out before he changed his mind about the admission. Kevin still wasn't going to share the details: his childhood pneumonia and his recurring asthma. But maybe telling Drew that he had an issue, in very basic and detached terms, would relieve his concerns.