Just your average afternoon... (Albus)

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

The healer frowned and a brow quirked at Al's mention of bruises. That was it?.. he was being kept from the kid across the room who's tongue looked like a balloon so that he could eye a brown patch or two and tell this boy to quit poking at them and they'd quit hurting? Though a look at the kids watering eyes and forced bravery softened the skeptical expression on his face. Well he was certainly in pain, so maybe there was a bit more to it then. Reaching back he briskly tugged the curtain more securely shut. All right then.. lets have a look..

Rory stood on the other side of the curtain, worry still etched in her features though she felt loads better now that Al was with someone who might be able to make him feel better. Her gaze roamed over the general chaos of the room and she grimaced.. extremely glad, as she eyed a boy with a lip swelled up to look more like a purple plum, that she hadn't been in that 'particular' potions class. From the looks of it most of the unfortunate people were Ravenclaws and Slytherins..well she felt for the Raven claws at least.. 'maybe' a few of the Slytherins.. though the odds of the handful she cared anything for being a part of this particular group weren't likely..

Inside the curtain the healer had helped Al to remove his robes and shirt. Waving the boy off as he'd tried to insist on being able to manage on his own. Patients didn't injure themselves worse in his Hospital wing on his watch. Once the the garments were laid to the side he eyed the large purple and black bruise on Al's shoulder, gently pressing a finger on the edge to see how the skin surrounding it reacted. Frowning at what he found he shifted to take in the whole of the bruise that wrapped around the boys shoulder and over onto his shoulder blade. Sighing he finally stepped back. A finger crooked in front of his lips in a thoughtful way as he appraised Al.. ... You know, I only recently came to work here at Hogwarts...worked at the Ministry looking after the training center for Aurors before that.. only place I can recall seeing quite that type of bruising.. He was quite for a moment more before nodding briefly and dropping his hand to turn and rummage in a drawer. I won't ask what your on about.. Not hard for any wizard worth his schooling to take a guess at who your father is, look like you stepped out of a bloody text book you do. But I will say this.. bruises like those ought not be left to their own devices. The spell works in reverse see? .. the bruises get worse rather than better over time without a bit of treatment. Surprised he didn't tell you that..or maybe he did and you weren't paying mind at the moment?.. at any rate.. I don't want to know..non of my business, anything he's involved with is a bit to deep for my liking thanks. Turning back around he set a tube of paste on the bed and handed Al a small bottle. One sip of this any time you wined up with those.. He pointed to the bruises on Al's shoulder. This set though is a bit beyond the potion I'm afraid.. this paste.. rub it where its needed.. when your done redress from the waist down and call in your little friend out there..no.. don't give me that look..you can't reach that one on your shoulder blade and it wont heal without it. So unless you'd like a back that's more like an over ripe fruit by breakfast you ask her to rub some of that on for you.. don't try and do it yourself, you'll likely hurt your self..your muscles are soar right? part of the spell.. [/i] He shook his head odd thing to create.. now, I've others to see to.. He gave Al a stern look.. fallow what I said right? Then you can go.. the pain and headache will fade along with the bruises With that he whisked out of the curtain, drawing snug behind him as he left.

[mgirl03]

It was obvious by the healer's expression that he was a bit confused, maybe even a bit annoyed, that he was being asked to treat a patient who had bruises, instead of being able to help a bloke over there who's lip looked like it could be pulled over his head to use as a hat. However, he could tell that the healer also saw that Al was in pain, so the man seemed to decide to just see what this was all about and get it over with. He was told to take off his robe and shirt, and while he protested with saying he could do it himself, the healer helped him with it. Secretly, he was glad of that, since that meant less pain on his behalf.

Sitting on the bed shirtless made Al feel oddly self concious--he had never been one to show off, walking around shirtless or anything, but rarely did he feel this embarrassed. He imagined it was the fact that the healer was staring intently at him and frowning--glancing at the screen around the bed, Al let out a slight sigh of relief that it had been pulled tighter, so that Rory wasn't able to see any of this. He didn't know whether his mental state, with the way he thought of her now, could deal with her looking at him shirtless.

Looking down, Al grimaced at the look of his shoulder, and now that he was shirtless, he could see that it traveled further back than he thought it had. He looked up at the healer and took on a guilty expression, as if he was caught doing something wrong, which he basically was. As the older man began to talk, Al's guilty expression only increased, as well as a half sheepish smile. So these were the type of things that were seen in the medical part of auror training? Well, his dad had kept true to his word--he was learning the best moves to protect himself. By the time he was an Auror, he'd probably be expert, at least on this spell.

When the healer brought up who his dad was, Al's smile fell to be replaced with a frown and another grimace. Hell, would there be questions about this? Would there be a demand to know how this had happened, and why Al's dad was doing this to him? However, in the next second the healer merely began to describe the spell, and Al's frown deepened. Now that he mentioned it, Al didn't slightly recall his dad saying something about the bruiseing spell working in a different effect than regular spells, but perhaps he hadn't been fully paying attention, or maybe he just forgot. Before he could say anything, the healer was moving on, saying that he didn't want to know; that his father's stuff was 'too deep'.

Giving the man a praising look, Al mustered up another smile, glad that there weren't going to be any awkward questions that he would be unable to answer. Taking the bottle from the healer, Al looked up at him before glancing at the paste and the drink. So, no more leaving these bruises to themselves, and all he had to do was come up here to get the potion if he had some, right? However, it seemed these bruises had been left to sit too long, which brought forth a slight sigh past Al's lips. He was just beginning to nod to show that he understood that he needed to rub this on, when a few words caught his attention. 'Call in your little friend'.

Immediately, he felt his face redden immensely, and his eyes grew wide. The tears were gone from his bright green eyes, but his face clearly showed that he was not okay with this little set up. However, the healer overroad him, informing him that there was no way he could put the paste on his shoulder himself, and that Rory would have to. Al could have sworn his heart failed right about then. Trying to think of something to say, he cursed mentally when there was no excuse that could fight the logic the healer had just put upon him.

As the man gave him a stern look and then headed off, Al sat silent and still for a moment, his brain hardly processing what was about to happen. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, quickly throwing back his head and downing the potion in one gulp. Opening his eyes once more, he made a disgusted face, before slowly standing up and working his way out of his pants. Picking up the paste he rubbed it into his hip and leg, watching as it dissolved into his skin, taking his time. Once the bruises were healing--which he could already feel happening--he quickly dressed into his pants again.

Very slowly, he began to rub the past with his left hand into his right arm, letting out a sigh again as the pain slowly disappeared from his leg, hip, and arm. His shoulder was still screaming in pain, and after he had rubbed the paste all the way into his arm, he had no more excuses. Brushing back some hair from his eyes, Al cringed before moving over to the break in the screen. Taking a deep breath, he opened up the curtains and poked his head and part of his torso (his shirtless torso) out, his eyes landing on Rory immediately.

"Erm..Rore?" he said as quietly as he could while still having her hear him. When her attention was on him, he felt his face catch fire, and he quickly lifted up the paste to show her. "Could you come in here? The healer says I need to er, rub this stuff into the bruise and...I can't reach the one on my shoulder all the way." Swallowing rather hard, Al tried to smile at her as if it were no big deal, but his cheeks were a pink that stood out against his cheeks, and the muscles in his face didn't want to work.

Al quickly withdrew into the protected area around his bed once more, leaving a small gap in the curtains for Rory to come through as he sat down on the bed, trying to collect himself.

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Rory had stood outside the screen watching the goings on of those beds whose screens had not been pulled to shield them. Nearly everyone she laid eyes on had a some form of swelling going on..a fat lip here.. a protruding tongue there.. one kids tongue had even expanded to the the point that it was pressing up into his nostrils...yeah.... gross, right? Hoping to calm her stomach from the churning mess it had been thrown into she dropped her gaze to her nails, altering their color and patterns for self amusement. She glanced up as the healer left, but as Al hadn't appeared with him she figured they weren't finished yet and went back to goofing off with her nail colors. Purple and blue swirl.. silver with black dots...

She sighed a bit while cycling through colors. Hospital wings were always so bloody boring.. but it was ok.. it was worth all the waiting if Al would be feeling better soon. Speaking of... Rory's gaze lifted as the really quite and..nervous? ..sound of Al's voice reached her ears. The sight that met her eyes had them widening a good bit and her nail color faded out at once to her normal nail tone. Was Al?... was he not wearing?... His rather embarrassed words caused then to widen even more. Oh surely not! Al's failure at smile combined with his flushed cheeks were mirrored in the blush that spread across Rory's own cheeks and the vividly sun bright yellow that instantly flooded her eyes. She dropped her gaze so quickly that she barely had time to register that Al was a good deal less than confident himself.

Trying to think, come up with some kind of an answer for him, she was spare a moment to pull herself together as Al ducked back in behind the screen, leaving behind a gab for her to go in through. What in the name of Merlin did that healer think he was playing at?!? Couldn't HE had rubbed it on?!? But a wild glance around the room proved that no.. in fact he couldn't.. the man was completely wrapped up in first year who was balling her eyes out as her bottom lip grew larger and larger and sagged lower and lower into her lap. Right..Rory sighed and shut her eyes for a minute.. She could do this yeah? Just look straight for the bruies and don't take your eyes off it till your finished and can leave.. that simple yeah? Very much not totally convinced by her self administered pep talk she walked slowly to the screen and peeked hesitantly around the flap. Al was sitting on the bed, and her whole plan to stay focused on the bruise? Yeah.. who could be bothered to look at that with the eyeful in front of her? Quidditch was very kind to Al, that about summed it up..and the notions the sight of him had running through her head were not only horribly embarrassing but a total traitorous act on the part of her damn heart that was making it perfectly clear it had not only kept the feelings she'd been trying to push from it, but had in fact intensified them to the point that she found herself ducking her head a bit and snagging the tube from Al, she mumbled out a reply " erm.... sure.. no problem yeah? " before sitting down on the bed beside him and turning to face his shoulder. Her own face had winded up only a foot or two from Al's as she eyed his bruises and she fought hard not to lift her yellow gaze to meet his own.

She could actually feel the heat in her cheeks as she squeezed a bit of the pasted onto her fingers, nearly losing her grip on the tube, fumbling with it for a moment before lifting a hesitant and slightly shaky hand to Al's shoulder.. after long pause in which she'd found herself needing to drag in an extra deep breath, she gently pressed the paste against his shoulder blade and began to smooth the mixture out in small circles along the blade and up onto the line of his shoulder. Her nerves were getting the better of her and every time she tried to find her voice to speak..crack a joke..lighten the mood..'something she found herself choking on dry tightness.. "ermm..." she cleared her throat and tried again.. " that is... " no more luck that time either.. finally she gave up, huffing out such a frustrated sigh at herself that it caused her breath to cloud out warmly against Al's shoulder. Biting her lip she stared down at his bruise, willing the paste to dissolve all that much faster.

[mgirl03]

Things just couldn't swing his way once today, could they? His lessons had been brutal, he had dealt with plenyt of annoying people as prefect, his lesson had left him completely beat up and now here he was, awaiting Rory to come in and rub medicine on him while he was shirtless. Al took a deep breath, holding it in until his chest began to hurt before he let it out slowly, his eyes closing briefly as he tried to calm down. This was no big deal, right? Rory was his best friend, and she was just going to help him out with an injury. She probably wouldn't care an ounce, and all he had to do was pretend like he wasn't self conscious about his shirtless torso.

It was a crazy, shameful thing...but a miniscule part of Al...well it wasn't exactly sad that Rory was coming in here to help him rub some stuff into his shoulder. Opening his eyes quickly, Al buried his face into his hands for a moment, running both hands through his hair forcefully, grimacing and practically hating himself. What was wrong with him? Sure, he was a sixteen year old boy, but Rory was his best friend! He was being stupid, and if he didn't want her catching on to any weird behavior, he had to get over himself and act like none of this was affecting him.

At the sound of the curtain opening, Al's head snapped up, eyes focusing on Rory at once. Before he had ducked down, he caught a glimpse of her rather bright face, and felt both a stab of horror and of confusion. What was there for her to be nervous about, she wasn't the one fighting with crazy, uncalled for feelings. She wasn't the one who had to sit there and have his shoulder practically massaged (his face brightened in color at this point) by the girl he happened to have feelings for. She wasn't the one who's heart was beating a mile a minute...Right?

As she took the paste from him and mumbled an agreement to him, Al found himself glancing over his shoulder at her, cashing just the tiniest glimpse of her bright yellow eyes before she ducked her head even more and began messing with the tube of medicine. Her face was dangerously close to his, so he turned his head back around to face the screen, swallowing hard, although his throat was so dry it didn't do anything. His body tensed up as he heard the sound of the tube being opened and the stuff inside of it being squirted out onto Rory's hand. However, after this there was a moment of silence, where neither of them moved or made a sound.

Then very suddenly, Al heard a deep breath from behind him and the paste, and Rory's hand, was suddenly on the bruise on his shoulder. Al's hands, which had dropped from his hair, gripped at his pant legs as he winced and his body jerked away just a little. The sudden contact had startled him, and the medicine was sort of cold, but after a moment he relaxed a bit, closing his eyes again to help himself calm down. He took his own deep breath, willing his heart to calm down and stop beating so damn hard, although it was useless. His shoulders stayed tense as Rory continued to rub in the medicine, her hand making small circles on his shoulder.

As her hand switched from rubbing in the medicine on his shoulderblade to his actual shoulder, Al heard Rory's voice, although all that came out of her mouth was more of a stalling word than anything else. He tensed slightly, waiting to hear what she had to say, but when she tried to talk again, she had no more luck in making sense or starting conversation. One of Al's eyebrows lifted just a little bit without him meaning to, but he couldn't help it--this made no sense. Rory had no reason to feel nervous or embarrassed, that was all on him.

Albus half wished that they could go back to the times when nothing like this would matter. Back during the very beginning of school, where he could go shirtless at practice or while swimming with Rory, and it didn't bother him in the slightest. Now, though, with these new feelings that he had toward her, he had an overwhelming need to make sure he didn't make a fool of himself around Rory. Showing off his body wasn't something that he really liked to do, and with it beging a girl he had fallen for looking at him, it just made it all the worse. Life had been so much easier when Al didn't even like girls.

Suddenly, he felt a rush of warm breath on his shoulder, and he felt his eyes widen, his hands gripping onto his pants even tighter. His eyes snapped open, and it took all of Al's will not to jerk away from the hand that was touching him and the girl who's hand it was. Fidgeting a little, Al felt his chest restricting from the nervousness that he felt, and on reflex he immediately tried to clear his mind. He took a deep breath, trying to rid himself of all emotions, and felt the tiniest bit calmer. At least he wasn't on the verge of jumping up and running away, at least.

"Erm...thanks. For doing this," he said softly, forcing his gaze upward, staring at one black lock of hair that was falling into his vision. He tried to focus on that, instead of on Rory's hand, which was circling on his shoulderblade again. Al swallowed hard once more.

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Al must be hurting pretty bad. He'd jumped like he'd just been hexed when her hand had touched his bruise at first. Enough that she would have pulled back her hand if this paste wasn't something that just had to be put on. Of course if it didn't 'have' to be put on she'd not be sitting here in the first place... She'd not be rubbing the shoulder of her best friend.. the rather warm and tense shoulder of her best friend.. why 'was' he so tense anyway? Like he cared one way or another that she was having to stare at his bare back in a whole new way.. breathing in that smell of wood and spice that was just so 'Al'.. Rory closed her eyes and sighed.

This wasn't going well. She needed to get this done and get out of here before she screwed up and gave some sign of the stupid feelings swimming frighteningly on the surface of her thoughts and heart at the moment. Then he'd laugh himself sick at her and things would take on a totally different weirdness than the type she already feared whenever she was dumb enough to even consider that Al might like her. It wasn't like she was ever really this close to him without his shirt on.. sure they'd swam before and he'd gone without one. Or on a really hot day he might discard it for Quidditch practice, but never at any of those times had she been 'this' close to him, literally a breath from his skin. Unless you counted the times he'd dunked her while swimming.. and really even if she had been dealing with her current feelings back then, which she hadn't, who could think about well, anything when you had water rushing up your nose and alternating thoughts of getting to the surface and getting revenge running in you head? Al just wasn't the show off type.. never had been. It was something she suddenly found herself rather grateful for if she could expect herself to fumble like a total daft idiot whenever he did.

Maybe being tense was just normal for him? ..He'd been through an awful lot lately after all. Reflecting on that made her mind wander a bit.. as well as she knew Al.. that his favorite color was light blue, that he hated acid pops, loved his mums blueberry pancakes even though his all time favorite food were apples, took awesome joy in the feel of a fast ride on a good broom, and that his best class was charms and his goals and dreams after school involved becoming an Auror and joining the Order ..there were still things she didn't know about him.. things of a more physical nature. Like the being all tense thing.. or just how the lips behind the smile that had always brought her such peace might taste..

Merlin!.. she groaned in the privacy of her own head and tried to shake off that train of thought. She needed to think on getting this done.. that was all! Not be day dreaming after something that Al would be repulsed at the idea of, she was his best friend sure, but he probably thought of her the same as he did his cousins.. sure they hung out, had a lot in common, but she just wasn't his type.. girls like Cissa were more his thing, she couldn't help the twang of jealousy geared towards the girls in general she thought would be the type to catch Al's eye. She shouldn't feel jealous though, because she never planned to allow her feelings to come to light even if by some bizarre favor of Godric it wouldn't weird out her best mate or have him rolling in the floor in hysterics.

Forcing the thoughts and feelings as far back in her mind as she could, she stared intently at his bruise, a small smile picking up the corner of her mouth as she watched the bottom of his shoulder blade begin to fade slowly back to its original color. Al's softened voice broke the silence and she couldn't help but smirk a bit at his apparent nerves. He must be half expecting her to take the Mickey out of him, pick on him for having to depend on her and the healing paste to care for something he thought he'd be able to take care of himself.. yeah that must be it.. he was waiting for the 'I told you so.'

" Your welcome.. and you don't have to worry you know.. I won't rub it in.. " shes chuckled at her wording as she looked down at her hand that was doing just that. " I mean I won't take the Mickey out of you for being right.. won't mention it again I swear.. no need, you know I'm always right anyway, yeah? " She smirked at her attempt to lighten things up a bit. Al was fidgeting.. but the bruise was fading.. it had to be feeling better than it was, so why did he seem to barely be able to sit still? Did the bruise dip lower in the front and she just hadn't noticed? Was she rubbing to hard or what? Wrinkling her brow she pulled her knees to the bed for leverage and leaned forward a bit to look over his shoulder. Her cheek hovered a hairs breath from his own, one of her red locks twisting with her motion to brush lightly over Al's ear as she looked down at his collar bone. " I'm not hurting you am I? sorry if I am.. I'm trying not to rub so hard but it's a bit hard to get it to dissolve you know? " She didn't see much in the way of bruising beyond where she'd already rubbed but figured it might be best to do a really good job of it. She didn't know if the paste was his to take or not and she'd rather get it done now than have to talk him into going back to the hospital wing later for a missed patch. Reaching her hand around his upper arm she rubbed a bit of the paste into the crease of his collar bone, trying to be as gentle as she could and still have it spread and dissolve in right. That done she grinned and leaned back and away from him, closing the lid on the container back in place and hopping down off the bed, she paused before heading over to the drawers, her gaze dropping to the medicine in her hand. " Are you suppose to use this again? ..or was this just a one time thing? "

[mgirl03]

The 'your welcome' Rory returned to Al after he had thanked her left him feeling slightly confused--so confused, that he forgot to focus on his hair and instead let his gaze drop down to stair straight ahead again. What was she on about, her rubbing it in about her being right? Her joke brought a small smile to his face, but it was a bewildered one. Had he somehow made her think that he was worried about her gloating that she had been right about his injuries needing to be healed? Why should he care about that, seeing as she was totally right and therefore had every right to rub it in his face?

After a moment of thinking on it, Albus realized that his nerves must have been interpretted to mean that he was nervous of Rory telling others about her being right, and a slightly bigger smile took over his face. Oh, if only that was the only thing he was worried about. Life would be a lot easier right now if the only thing bugging him was the chance that his best mate was going to take the mickey out of him. Still, Al wasn't about to tell Rory that he was actually nervous because her hand was making slow...soothing...circles on his back and shoulder. Blinking hard, Al's mouth set back into a frown and he fidgeted again, trying not to think about Rory and what was going on right now.

He was just about to try and stare up at his hair again, when he felt the bed shift around. Al sensed, rather than saw or felt, Rory lean closer to him, and he turned his head slightly to look behind his bad shoulder and ask her what she was doing. However, in the next moment he was freezing where he was, bright green eyes wide with shock, his face going slack and both reddening in some places and paling in others. She was...so close. Her face was right next to his, where all he was have to do is nudge it a bit and their lips would be connected. Blinking hard, Al swallowed a few times, although his throat was now drier than parchment. It didn't help that he could feel her hair tickling his ear.

Rory's apology for hurting him was lost on Al, who couldn't do anything but stare at the girl who was leaning into him, setting so many emotions into a chaotic state in his mind and heart that he was afraid he would explode. Something in his chest was causing a lot of trouble--the same something that had once been jealous of Rory and Soren was now excited at the close proximity between Al and his best friend. She was right there. And her eyes were glinting in the lights, her hair shinning a million different hues of red that captivated him...

Shaking himself out of it mentally, Al made a soft noise, hoping that this would fit as a response to whatever Rory had been saying. Something about pressing too hard--which she wasn't, that was hardly the reason why he was fidgetty and about to die from hormonal overload. His eyes skimmed her face once more, taking their time tracing her lips, which he found himself scrutinizing more and more these days. Merlin, what was wrong with him? His whole body was in a frenzy just from her being this close, not to mention his heart, and all she was doing was helping him with an injury!

Suddenly, he felt Rory's arm snake around him, her warm hand working the medicine up near his collar bone, and for a moment Al thought he was going to lose it. A million thoughts flashed through his mind, the largest of which was that he needed to grab Rory right this second and snog the living daylights out of her. His heart, his mind, his entire being seemed to want him to twist around, and press his lips firmly to his best friends. He had to, or he would surely die. God, was it at all natural for a girl to affect him like this?!

With extreme effor, Al took a deep breath and tried to apply Occlumency once more, exceeding just enough to where he didn't have wild desires to snog his best friend until somebody had to pull him off of her. This just wasn't right--he shouldn't be thinking that way about his very best friend, whom he was almost positive didn't care for him that way. Besides, he had plans to try and win her over, and by snogging her right now, in the hospital wing when he was shirtless...well, it would probably ruin everything. So he forced himself to turn his head away and glare at the ceiling, willing his face back to its regular pale color as Rory pulled away from him, closed the medicine container, and hopped off the bed.

With a whoosh, Al felt his shoulders drop, losing a lot of the tension that had built up in them. His face twitched once as he forced it into a relaxed expression, pasting on a small smile as Rory turned to ask him whether or not he was supposed to be keeping the medicine or not. Clearing his throat, Al ran his left hand up through the back of his hair, ruffling it up and taking deep and even breaths again.

"I'm supposed to keep it," he said, and he was relieved to hear that his voice didn't crack under the strain that he felt. Slowly he stood up, stretching out his muscles, a true smile taking over his face as he realized that he could move pain free. Reaching over to his shirt, he grabbed it and hurriedly pulled it on, his hair an even bigger mess than usual. Moving over to Rory, he gently took the medicine from her, grabbed his robes, and stuffed them into the pocket, all the while taking great care in not coming too close to her or accidentally touching her.

"Ready?" Al asked, hoping that his face was a normal color once more. "I wanna get out of here."

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Once Al had answered her, telling her that he was suppose to keep the paste, she had shifted her feet a bit, ready to walk over and hand it to him. She stopped short though as Al slowly slid off the bed and began stretching out his muscles, testing them to see how they felt. Her eyes, seemingly of their own accord were drawn to travel over his arms and chest as the muscles in them responded to his experimental stretching. Something like the thrill she felt on seeing a teammate score a winning goal, or when the snitch had been caught by their seeker in the past rushed through her, though the adrenaline was tinged wit a nervous edge...

Her eyes widening a bit, feeling her cheeks warm up.. just knowing she was damn well blushing again... she jerked her gaze back down to the medicine in her hands, turning the container over in them and nervously fiddling her fingers about its surface. Try hard as she might to rid herself of the feelings she'd had for him since the end of last year the damn things were growing rather than going away. Worse, something she found herself really angry at her traitorous heart for, was that she knew she 'liked' the fact.. try as she might to ignore it, push it away, squash it out,.. she still very much fancied the boy she could hear was now re-dressing in front of her.

Drawing in a silent and steadying breath she decided that the best way to deal.. to remind herself 'why' she was so against caring for him that way and against letting herself dare to hope Al might like her in that way to.. was to focus on the things that she enjoyed most about their friendship the way it was now. Glancing up as Al took the medicine from her hands, she took in his appearance and couldn't help but smirk. One of those thing was being able to take the mickey out of him and crack a joke whenever the opportunity presented its self. Al's shirt was wrinkled a bit, and she new that was from being pulled off, but his hair was also a complete wreck, even more than usual, sure he had a habit of running his hand through it, but it never got quite 'that' messy.. not unless something was troubling him, or making him nervous.. Quirking an eyebrow as he asked if she was ready to leave, her smirk lifted into a bit of a grin " Sure thing..err...what's up with the hair?.. You look like you just stepped out of a classroom after a good snogging. " She couldn't help but snicker at his disheveled look, even though she found herself having to fight hard against the sudden notion that she'd not have really minded if that were the case.. seeing as she was the one that had been with him. Right..suppose to be moving 'away' from thoughts like that Rory..remember?.. Hoping to cover the flush that had begun creeping back into her cheeks, she reached up and ruffled his hair affectionately, as she'd always done, so long now that she couldn't recall the first time she had.

Turning to pull the curtain open so they could leave she hesitated a moment, her hand clutching the fabric. The fact that Al was nervous had her thinking again of all the things that just didn't 'fit' when it came to his story on how he'd ended up looking like the victim of a rouge bludger. He was hiding something.. and while she cared about that fact, as she mulled the situation over she came to a conclusion. She cared about Al staying safe a great deal more. Sighing she turned back to him, blocking the way out pointedly and searching with her eyes.. trying to lock hers with his own. " Al.. " She paused for a long moment, gathering her thoughts on how to word what she wanted to say. "..You didn't really get those bruises in a D.A.D.A. class did you..." It was a statement rather than a question. She let the words hang in the air for a moment, dropping her gaze a moment before her worried eyes sought his again. " I don't know why your lieing to me about it,.. what it is you don't think you can tell me.. but, you came here when you didn't have to, got fixed up just because you knew it was bothering me.. so I know you must have your reasons, that your not just being a prat. So ..."

She paused again, if she made this offer and he accepted she'd still have to deal with knowing something, or someone was hurting him.. and that sucked.. really bad. But what was her alternative? At least this way she could know that he was getting anything that happened treated right away, not being a daft idiot and staying in pain to teach himself a lesson or some rubbish. Because if he agreed, if he promised, then he would keep the promise.. because... well, because he was Al right? " So I'll make you a deal yeah?... promise me. that your doing this because your choosing to, that no ones 'making' you do it, and that if you ever get hurt like that again you'll not pull some daft move like keeping them as a reminder or whatever you said about that...that you'll get fixed up right away... and I'll promise I won't pester you about what your up to..won't ask anything more than you feel you can tell me yourself about it, yeah?"

[mgirl03]

When Rory commented on how messy his hair was, Al felt a small bit of the tension from before leave his body--but just as he felt things were going to stop being so crazy in his head, she had to go and say the word 'snogging'. Merlin, he wished she knew what everything she did and said did to him, because surely she would stop doing things like this. Rory wasn't that cruel--if she knew that ever word she said, every action she did sent his brain into a frenzy, she would try and stop it. The sad thing was, he highly doubted she could stop making him feel insane. Everything about her did it.

"Ha, I guess I do," he said, a smile making its way to his face as she reached up to ruffle his head. Al forced away any thoughts of how he wished snogging was the case to his messy hair, and ducked out from Rory's hand in a typical fashion. He reached up to press down on his hair, taking a deep breath as his face stopped feeling quite so hot and his heart stopped beating quite so fast. He was slowly getting his mind back under control--it probably had something to do with the fact that Rory was no longer right up close to him and he was no longer shirtless. Al felt his smile grow more genuine as he moved after Rory, who had paused by the curtains that would get him the heck out of this place.

It was with a confused look from Al that Rory sighed and turned around to face him, looking determined and blocking his way out. Her eyes met his and he felt a flush creep up his neck again, although he tried to ignore this, instead raising one eyebrow slightly in curiousity. She said his name, and she sounded so serious that a slight frown creased his face, his eyebrows now furrowing. He watied while she gathered her thoughts, a touch of nerves now gnawing at his stomach--had he done something obvious to show his feelings? Was she now going to tell him that there was no hope and he better get over it?

The statement that came out of Rory's mouth took the breath right out of Al in an audible whoosh. His eyes widened a bit but he said nothing--she hadn't been asking, she knew for a fact that he had been lying about DADA. As she continued he felt a sense of guilt begin to invade his brain again. She couldn't know how horribly he hated lying to her, she really couldn't understand. He didn't want to. He wanted to tell her, because Al wanted to tell Rory everything. He just couldn't. Thankfully, though, she seemed to understand that he at least had reasons as to why she wasn't to know about where he got his injuries, and how, and why.

When the words 'deal' came into the conversation, Al allowed his eyebrows to go up ever so slightly, although he still stayed silent, letting Rory get out what she wanted to say, since she was so serious about this. As she began to state what the deal would hold, Al felt a shock go through him, as if he had just been electrocuted. She was willing to let him withhold information about what he was doing from her, in exchange for a promise that he wasn't getting beaten up and that he'd take care of his injuries straight away?

Now, there was plenty of things true about Gryffindors, especially Rory, and one of them was that they didn't like having information withheld from them. Yet Rory was perfectly willing to let him get injured, without her understanding why, as long as he came out of it okay. Albus felt his breath catch--she cared that much about him? Now, more than ever, he felt the need to...to hug her, to kiss her, to let Rory know just how much he cared about her too. This was worse than when he had been shirtless and she had been right next to him. This feeling in his heart wasn't caused by mere hormones, now. Al was beginning to realize just how much Rory actually cared, and that was something that made her infinitly more amazing in his mind.

Hesitantly, Al reached up to place his free hand on Rory's shoulder, and a reassuring smile vanished away all worry and surprise from his features. His bright green eyes seemed to grow in intensity as he looked Rory straight in the eye and gave a small nod.

"I promise you that I'm doing this because I want to, and that if I get hurt again I'll get myself taken care of straight away," Al said, and he meant it too. No more keeping injuries to teach himself a lesson. "And I promise you Rory that I don't want to keep anything from you. Honest...I just..I can't tell you. I'm sorry." Quickly, he reached down to give Rory a hug, although he broke away from her rather quickly, deciding not to test his resolve too much.

"C'mon...let's get out of here," he said hurriedly, smiling again as he moved past Rory and out the curtains.