To Stay By Your Side PV Jack Warren Finished

Aching. Everything was aching. The last thing Jack could remember was the darkness lashing out towards him, only for Jack to fight back with an incendio. Willow was there, but there was a flash of pain in his back before Jack could even act again. Then nothing but the cold darkness. It felt like only moments later that he would open his eyes only to find the bright light of day. The sheer starkness between the darkness of unconsciousness and the light of the sun was headache-inducing. Of course, it would be if his head wasn't already splitting.

The pain was less, thank god, but the ache was the worst part. It felt like rocks had been pelted against his head and body. The only thing that was particularly noticeable over the dull throbbing was a strange feeling on his hand. Was somebody...holding his hand? Tiredly, Jack raised his head to look at who was holding his hand so delicately. For a moment, Jack was guessing it would have been George or Jake. They would probably be the most likely to be gushing over their hurt friend, but no. That was most definitely not George or Jake.

"W-willow? Are you okay? Is everyone okay?" The panic suddenly surged in his chest as he tried to sit up quickly. A soft groan escaped his lips as the soreness in his limbs make itself known.

Interacting with @Jack Warren

Willow stirred with every possible small movement that was made, even just the footsteps of someone walking down the hospital wing corridor left her jolting awake to check if he had woken up. She was exhausted, it's not like she had really slept at all since he was admitted. She couldn't bear the idea of leaving him without someone to wake up to and immediately take care of him, and take care of him she would.

As soon as she started to stir awake, for real this time, she jumped to her feet. Her hands moved up to his face as if to double check that he was actually alive. She cringed as he sat up, "Jack, Jack, be careful." She gently pushed him to lay back on the bed. "They opened the floor back up, Papa Badger and Professor Jensen came in and helped the rest of us out. I-Um... what do you remember before passing out?" If he didn't remember her setting him on fire with a terribly cast incendio, she didn't see a point in bringing back up. Except, she would definitely profusely apologize anyway. But maybe at another time... not when he was actively trying to heal from the events. "We're all safe. That's what matters. We made it out by like the skin of our teeth." She gently grabbed his hand once more. "I'm just glad that you're ok."

He had little strength to resist Willow's request, and so like a good boy, he pressed his back against the uncomfortably warm bed. How long had he been lying in the infirmary? Willow's words were comforting, at least. "Good" Was all he had to say. Trying to play cool, he couldn't show too much worry for others. Even if he was injured and just woke up in the hospital wing, the boy did have a reputation to uphold. "Where did the ol' man and Jensen come from?" Inquisitiveness peaked in his words, as he readjusted his body on the still mattress. Every movement he made was arduous, but thankfully there was no intense pain. Make way modern medicine; magic is making its way into town, and nobody was willing to get steamrolled by that train. "No, I don't remember much after the fall, if I'm honest. I think I hit my head a little bit too hard, which isn't unusual for me." The weak smile on his face showed that he hadn't lost his sense of humor.

"Are you okay? It seemed like you caught right in the middle of things..." Concern laced his face as he made eye contact with the girl. Suddenly something dawned on the boy. "Willow, how long have you been here. You look really tired? The darkness didn' get you, ye? You don't 'ave to sit here with me, y'know..." Suddenly awkwardness filled the boy's mind, and he looked away towards the overly cleaned floors. He could feel the cherry red run across his face. Damn, he hated being weird and awkward.

Interacting with @Jack Warren

Willow's heart ached as she saw how much it took out of Jack just to move even the tiniest bit. There was no denying that even she was still stiff and sore from the whole situation, but she hadn't gotten it nearly as bad as he had. Her eyes were soft and full of worry. Sure he didn't remember, but their whole house would have to spend so much time recovering from what had happened to them. He had been conscious for the explosion, the fire, the absolute destruction of their bright home. "Um... honestly I don't know. I just.. I heard Papa Badger's voice and so I yelled out for him. Then suddenly they were just... there. Like they went through a wall. I don't know. We got out of there as quick as possible after that. You were... well passed out by then." This school was an enigma, Heads of Houses seemingly coming through walls to save their kids that were being attacked by the darkness that seemed to writhe like it was having a good time feeding off of the fear of children. Or... maybe that was just an exaggeration in Willow's mind. She didn't know.

The girl couldn't help but roll her eyes at his joke, even incredibly injured he was still the comic relief. He couldn't handle being, what? The injured one? Center of attention? Could he not acknowledge the creeping dread of the reality of what happened to them? She didn't know. With a lot of this, she had no answers. She seemed to stiffen slightly as he asked how long she had been there. "I-I came with them when they brought you here. As soon as the nurses let me be here... Well. I've been here ever since. Not to mention I had some fall damage too, no curse, so they took care of me. My bed is uh..." She looked around to see the nurses already passing off her bed to another student. "Not mine anymore I guess. That's fine. I didn't need it. I..." She looked down at their hands. Hands that had been covered in burns just earlier that night, but had already been healed over. "I tried to cast Incendio... to try and get whatever it was away. I don't... I don't know if it was stress or... Maybe I'm just not good at spells I um..."

She wanted to be smaller in this moment, so small. So she shrank back into her chair and refused to make eye contact. "My incendio backfired and set you on fire instead. I didn't mean to obviously! I would never, ever, do that to you. Well, ok I did. But you weren't my target. Everything was so chaotic, Serena was screaming, there were spells, things were attacking. I'm sorry Jack. I'm so sorry." Tears pricked up at the edges of her eyes. So much for not telling him until a better time. "I didn't want to leave you alone after what I did. After watching you fall into a floor trying to get to me. I couldn't. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]A[/font] deep chuckle resonated out from the base of the boy's chest. It's not like he could be upset about her trying to help him, and honestly, it was just kind of funny. "I knew you'd try ta kill me eventually..." He was lazy about his words, as they slowly rolled off his tongue and into existence. "Don't even bother trying to say that you're not good at magic either, because we both know tha' would be a lie." As Jack spoke, his normally subtle Irish accent grew thicker the more he spoke. It's funny, isn't it? The fact that when you don't think about speaking, people's accents tend to come out in full force.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]W[/font]ith less lethargy than he had while moving the first time, the prefect just took hold of Willow's hand, and lightly yanked her onto the small infirmary bed. There was no worry about her 'betraying' him or the fact that he might be scarred by her attack, but rather he could only think about was how cute Willow was when she was worried. The way that he won't stop playing with her hair. It was like she was trying to pull out a tangle that she just couldn't find. A soft smile bloomed on his face as he finally spoke to interrupt, "Oh, Shut it, We don't need ya' to start rambling, Willa'. I don't care that you hit me, I'm just glad that you're okay, and that you are here." Jack tug wasn't insistent, but rather a request. There was a comfort with his true Hufflepuff girl by his side. The aches and pains were far from terrible, but with a certain soothing presence near him, it was far more bearable.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]S[/font]nuggles can defeat any adversity. The boy gently wrapped his arms around the best badger girl, and lightly pressed his cheek against the back of her shoulder. Closing his eyes, he tiredly yawned, "I'm glad you're here..." the words was followed by the soft rumble of snoring. Dead asleep already.

Interaction With @Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Jack Warren

A small blush couldn't help but spread across her face as he joked about the incident. He had a way of lightening the situation with laughter, it was his specialty. "I know, I just thought the first time I tried to kill you it'd be intentional." Her eyes still couldn't quite meet his, instead gazing around the infirmary in search of a distraction from his compliments. "I-I'm not the worst. But still. If I was better this wouldn't have happened."

Her hands fiddled with her hair, twirling the blonde strands around her finger, releasing them, and twirling another piece. It was a way to get her anxiety out somewhere. Her hand was stolen by his, gently tugging her into his bed. It felt a bit weird to snuggle in an infirmary, but cuddles could heal anything. She was careful in getting into the bed, not wanting to exacerbate his injuries that she had been the cause of. It was the first time she had treated the usually formidable force of a boy as fragile. Even though she knew even now, he was not that fragile. As she settled in beside him, she felt safe within the injured boys arms.

Within a sigh she spoke up quietly, "We're ok, we both made it out alive. You're right. That's what matters." The tiredness hit her like a force, sleeping on the side of an infirmary bed was not considered a good rest. The warmth around her seemed to pull her quickly into the holds of sleep, the last words she heard giving her a great deal of happiness. It was also the first time she had smiled that entire night.