In the dark, when you sound the alarm, we'll find each other's arms

Christian stared over his shoulder, relying on Lily to guide him safely out of the room and into the hallway. He really didn't want to leave, obviously, but he didn't know how he could stand to see that wound. Not to mention trying to tell Ace that he'd seen it? No thanks. She would probably hurt him. And then Apollo. And then Christian again. No, it was better this way.

Inside, Apollo threw up a silencing charm at the door, just in case, and then turned back to the task at hand. He didn't know who'd done this, but for once he wasn't sure about graduating early and leaving Christian at school without him. Granted, he wasn't sure what good he really was apart from times like this. At least, for whatever Ace and Christian thought they were doing. Apollo couldn't tell how much they had actually accomplished, to be fair. But regardless, he took to the task at hand: Dittany into the dropper, then onto Ace's wounds. As ever, he tightened his features in anticipation of the sound of pain. He knew that pain perfectly well. As often as he found conflict with Ace Longbottom, he didn't want her in pain.

"Hang in there, Ace..."

Christian, back in the hallway, was pacing, unable to work out what was going on within the hospital wing's walls. "She'll- she'll be fine," he muttered, not fully intending it to be uttered aloud. But when he looked over at Lily, realizing what he'd done, he groaned, falling back against a wall to hold him up as he stared down the hallway and just gave into the requirement that he wait.

Lily briefly wondered if Christian didn't fight her off because she was dating his brother, or if it was because he was genuinely comforted by her presence. Or perhaps he was just resigned. She was, after all, the 'authority' figure here, and despite his ties, he knew he had little place in Ace's physical healing. His eyes were trained on the bedridden blonde, but she looked forward, focused on guiding her lost friend to a point of safety.

Outside of the hospital wing, the silence of the castle was obtrusive. It somehow highlighted the unnerving fact that someone had grievously harmed their friend in the castle... and gotten away with it. Lily would later look back and realize that she had been horribly negligent in not immediately reporting the attack to Headmaster Hayes. Somehow, with that small group of people involved, it seemed somehow like it... belonged to them.

Lily tried to lead by example, leaning against the wall in the hopes that Christian would as well. Palms against the cool stone as though trying to extract the stoicism of the castle. Christian spoke and the words seemed to underline his fear that he was speaking a hope rather than a fact,  and he fell against the opposite wall. Lily gave him a moment and then she crossed to stand next to him, staring forward.

More firmly, she repeated. "She'll be fine."

Inside, Molly did as she was told, mind somehow bypassing the foreign image of blood and ripped skin, helping reveal the wound to Apollo.

The dittany fell onto the wound and Ace suddenly jerked upwards, letting out a bark of pain, eyelids briefly flying open before she fell limp again, trembling. Molly looked up at Apollo for guidance.

Apollo stepped back as Ace reacted, the memory of his own experience sharp and somehow bitter in the back of his mind. Molly was waiting on him, though, so he gestured towards the pain potion. "We can't give her that yet, I don't think. Too many different things mixing together... not a great idea. Give it a few minutes and we'll see."

But he frowned, leaning one hand on the table beside Ace's cot as he looked down at her. She'd opened her eyes properly, which was interesting if not important. "Ace? Alice can you hear me? Do you want me to contact anyone for you?"

Christian, on the other hand, wasn't sure if he wanted to talk or not. He half felt like admitting everything he'd done wrong, not just with Alice but also with Charlotte and how it had affected his best mate. How he wasn't convinced that he wasn't a bad person. How this was, in his mind, his own fault without question. But he didn't do any of that. Instead, Christian just pulled at his hair a little before sinking to the ground to wait. And if he went over that list of failures and wrongs in his head, well. That just couldn't be helped.

Lily didn't want to sit next to him. She knew this was especially hard for him and didn't want to butt in on his private moment. She let out a long breath and slowly reached a hand down, bending over so it could fall on his shoulder.

Molly nodded at Apollo, finding it eerily easy to lose herself and focus on the situation at hand. Perhaps that was what drew Apollo to the profession - it have permission to take on a perspective bigger than oneself. That was important.

Ace was blinking between the two of them, confused. She stared at Apollo for a long time and then shook her head. "Christian's gonna be so mad - it was stupid. Don't tell him how bad it is. Don't tell him. It's barely anything anyway. Just - and my parents. Don't. Just, don't tell anyone. It's fine. I'm fine. Help me up, I can walk it off." She reached her arms up and grabbed Molly's forearm, trying to lift herself up.

"Are you mental?" Apollo asked immediately, frowning at her even as he set a hand on her shoulder to keep her in the cot. "You do realize he was here, right? He saw." He crossed his arms over his chest, baffled but only minimally. Ace was never going to be someone who wanted pity or even sympathy from certain people, maybe not from anyone.

It just seemed so wrong to write off something like this. He knew that it just had to be a show, because living through that experience himself had felt like hell. Even now, the full moon brought with it a painful, confusing reaction that he still wasn't sure Lily understood.

"I won't write to your family. But I can't make any promises for Christian. He's outside with Lily."

Despite the pain and confusion, Ace's face contorted into a challenging look at the irritation of being called mental. "Not mental," she growled, "Just fighting for my life here, you dunce."

A small snort to her left alerted her to someone else's presence. She rolled her head to see Molly there, rolling her lips inward and shaking her head. She blinked and any trace of what might have been amusement had disappeared.  "Who did this?"

Ace stared at Molly, feeling her own breath loud in her ears, shallow. Molly was staring intently but Ace just shook her head, heaving a shrug. She turned her gaze back to Apollo.

"Well, then, hurry up before he worries his head off," she grumbled.

"You bloody well are mental if you think Christian doesn't need to know the truth. Or that he won't ask. So let's not pretend that's the case, here."

Apollo went still, as well, when Molly questioned the why. He'd been so focused on the solution to the injuries that the cause hadn't taken priority. But now that it was under control, he waited for an explanation as well. But he supposed it wasn't surprising that they weren't given one. And he didn't expect Christian to offer an explanation, even if Ace gave him one later on.

"Molly," he said at Ace's demand, gesturing towards the pain potion as he went over to the door, pulling it open.

Christian sat forward and then stood when he realized Apollo didn't look particularly distraught. So then he stood and pushed past his twin, leaving Apollo to shoot Lily a look that wasn't entirely confident but instead suggested they had something to be concerned about.

Molly nodded curtly at Apollo, reaching over to remove the stopper of the pain potion and lean towards the blonde. “This’ll help. Here-“

“I’ve got it,” Ace growled, but her grimace deepened and Molly looked at her knowingly. She couldn’t lift herself up. Molly stepped forward and very swiftly did the business, lifting her chin and tipping a portion of it into her mouth.

Ace gulped it quickly and then pulled away, not looking at Molly for a moment. It was a strange, tender moment of vulnerability between two young women who never let people see them at anything but their strongest. They shared a look, an unspoken promise to pretend the moment had never happened.

As Molly turned to put the potion away, she saw Christian step inside. Behind him, Lily had reached out to place a grateful hand against his upper arm. Molly distracted herself by approach another cabinet, pretending to look for something.

Ace wanted to sit up, but all she managed was to tilt her head and lift a single finger. “Alright, so let’s get one thing straight. I’m fine so no lectures.”

While Apollo slid a weary look towards Lily, holding her back by the door, Christian strode forward with more purpose than he actually had on most days. Even when he was next to Ace, supposed to be storming into some argument or battle or whatever else she had in mind. He frowned at her, having none of it. In fact, he even crossed his arms to get his point across while she spoke.

"Fine," he started seriously, expression hard, "no lectures. But you're going to tell me what happened, Alice. Maybe not here, but soon."

As for the elder twin, he braced a hand against the door next to Lily's shoulder. "If we find out who did this - or what - you need to tell the professors. They won't want us to, but I don't think I care. Not if I'm out of here in a few weeks and Ace is determined to hide it."

Lily nodded at Apollo, worry now filling her eyes, now that the worst of it was over. "It looked so bad. Was it - it looked like sectumsempra? Would a student actually use that against someone else? Ace would tell us if there was someone that was a danger to other people though... right?" That was Ace's whole thing. She took a deep breath. "Give them a moment, and then we'll head over." She reached up and squeezed his shoulder. "You did well."

Ace grimaced when he more or less agreed. "I must look pretty bad if you're not going to argue." She tried to sit up, as though to prove that she could take a little argument, but suddenly turned pale and let out a hiss of pain, face flinching badly. "Flippin' pancakes!" she cursed, using one of the worst curses she heard from her father.

Molly was suddenly at Christian's side, holding out the rest of the pain potion for Ace. Ace glanced up, a shadow of worry flickering across her face, but Molly didn't move anymore. Didn't try to spoon feed her as she had before. Ace laid back and reached out a slow arm for the open vial, before bringing it to her lips and taking a drink. Molly took the empty potion, and Ace dropped her arm heavily to the bed again, as Molly retreated, her duty done.

Ace sighed. "I have to get to the dorm. If I'm here, people will ask questions."