the second last ending

five - i take a little trip to the hospital wing

Marlene storms out of the dormitory, clutching her face, and walking in are not only Lily, Dorcas, and Em, but also, to my very horror, James and Sirius. They must've levitated themselves above the sliding stairs.

They all look like they're at a loss for words, and I try to avoid all eye contact. Especially Sirius. God, what if he heard all of that?

"Let's talk about what happened, I suppose," I whisper.

===

Everybody sits around me, either on the floor or on a bed, looking at me expectantly.

"Okay, how much did you hear?" I sigh.

James, speaking for both him and Sirius, says, "Starting from the 'DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT' and from then on. So, not that much." 

He tries to keep his tone light, but the atmosphere here is very tense.

That means James has to know who I'm talking about. Sirius, however, doesn't.

"Yeah, so, you said she and some bloke had never spoken until the second year, she said just accept it, she called you a jealous bitch, some crashing sound, you said 'Fuck you, McKinnon,' and yeah," says Sirius. Okay, so, he didn't question who we were talking about, although I think that it's obvious. I reckon Sirius is just denying the fact that I fancy him to make things less complicated.

"Well, what do you think of this? She's your girlfriend," I say, looking directly at Sirius. I really do feel terrible for putting him on the spot, but really, nobody else's opinion matters as much to me as Sirius' in this situation.

"Oh, uh... I dunno. I don't really know what it was about. She's my girlfriend. I've got to... Sorry."

Sirius, unusually flustered, quickly leaves without another word.

We all turn to James next, who looks just as confused as the rest of us.

"Don't look at me! Dunno why he's like that. But hey, what happened to your back?" James questions, gesturing at the blood on my back. Now that my focus is drawn to it, I begin to realize how much pain I'm in.

"Blasted me back into the bloody bed. My back hit the frame over there. Do you reckon I ought to go to the Hospital Wing?" I muse, lifting up my shirt slightly.

I hear Dorcas gasp lightly as Lily lets out a small scream.

"Merlin's Beard, go!" Em cries, helping me up. As I take my first step, I immediately wince in pain as I slowly sink to my knees. Eventually, we're left with James using Locomotor on me, in which he points his wand at me and levitates me wherever his wand points.

Since it's my back, I don't know what it looks like, but Madam Pomfrey, who does not bat an eyelash at broken bones or sticking-out-of-skin bones, even makes a small face.

"You may be here for a while. This isn't just a broken back. It's been affected by some sort of spell. Very unusual and out of control. Don't try to move around much," she says briskly, cleaning the blood off my back at the same time. Thankfully, she doesn't ask many questions, but I'm left with lying down on my stomach for a long time. 

I have Lily, Em, Dorcas, and James to keep me company.

They're ushered away to go to sleep before curfew. Madam Pomfrey retreats into her office and leaves me in the Hospital Wing with nobody else in it. I don't suppose many people get injured by the second day back.

I lose track of time after a while, but I can't sleep. Firstly, I had some cold sort of cream applied to my back, and it made it very hard to be relaxed. Secondly, I'm just left with worrying about Marlene. I specifically didn't tell her of all this because I was afraid that she'd blab to other people.