The Morning After (Andrew)

The sun shone through the windows of the hospital wing onto her face warming her and causing her to slowly blink the sleep from her eyes. She was curled on her side holding something, moving her hand she realized she was still holding Andrew's hand and he was slumped in his wheel chair sleeping his head lolling to the side.

She smiled at him before gently sliding from bed, closing the blinds so he could sleep a bit longer she walked down to the bathroom now free of the IV and the medicine. Turning on the shower reserved for patients she washed her hair and body, feeling a bit more human after the rough night though she had worse then that.

Brushing her teeth she dried off and slipped into a pair of gray shorts and a blue ravenclaw t-shirt. Walking back to her bed she sat down and reached out and touched him gently "Goodmorning Andrew"

What a night... Andrew had been true to his word that he didn't want Lyra to be alone. Even when the Matron came and told him he could go, he opted to stay. He wanted to return the favor that she had done for him by being there when he was alone. Andrew did the best he could helping to keep her comfortable and simply taking care of her. Eventaully, sleep took them both, her hand in his for comfort.

When something gently touched his shoulder and a voice spoke to him, he stirred and woke. Andrew rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up tall, flexing and stretching his back that had stiffened due to sleeping the whole night in his wheelchair. "Morning, Lyra," he said after twisting, using the wheel on either side and the metal framing of the back of his chair to help pop his back. Had he really stayed the whole night? "How are you feeling?" he asked as he looked her over. She looked much better than she had yesterday afternoon.

"Much better" she said with a smile "thank you for staying you really didn't need to" she reached for her cane and got up not bothering to wear shoes. "Shall we go find some breakfast?"

Andrew shrugged. "Said I didn't want you to have to be alone. But, you're welcome," he said with a small smile. As he watched her get her cane, but put no shoes on, he noticed her shirt. His assumption had been right. "Ravenclaw House, huh?" he asked with a chuckle. "I thought so. It fits you. Don't you want shoes if we are leaving the Hospital Wing?" Andrew asked raising his brown eyes to her.

She smiled at his confusion "you are awfully kind, and not at all I prefer to wander the castle barefoot"

"As you wish then," Andrew said as he gave his arms a quick stretch in front of him, causing a click of a pop to sound from each shoulder. He grabbed his wheels and backed up, turing to go with her out of the wing. "I try to be kind. Sometimes it's easier than others. You know, you are very kind, too. Look, you were kind to this hardass jerk who didn't deserve your kindness," he said with a chuckle as he pushed off following her.

She shook her head as they headed towards the great hall "When we hit our lowest point we are open to the greatest change" she smiled at him "It seems you are changing"

"I don't know about that..." Andrew said lightly as they down the hall. Students were all either go or coming from breakfast, and it was a time that he didn't really care for. Andrew didn't like the looks he received no the whispers that his passing caused when they thought he couldn't hear them. "That's the one I told you about.... Used to play Quidditch for Slytherin..... Took a minor hit and just fell off his broom..... Look at him now....." Andrew tried to ignore their comments, but his temper was slowly starting to boil over.

Lyra laid a hand on his shoulder holding her cane as they walked allowing him to guide her. She remained emotionless as she took in the sounds people were making over andrew being out in the open. As they were passing a gryffindor boy said "so the corpse and the cripple are a thing" her temper flared immediately more for andrew then her self. suddenly the snap of her cane filled the hall and the shriek of metal on metal silenced the onlookers as a sharp blade appeared out of the cane, holding it to the gryffindors throat she raised her foggged eyes to the boy. "big man huh?"

Andrew was about to let his temper get the best of him when his attention was grabbed instead by the motion and sound of Lyra pulling a blade from her cane and leveling it with the Gryffindor's throat. He had no idea that she had that in her. Andrew drew his own Black Walnut wand from the pocket he had specially made on the shin of his jeans. When the boy noticed the blade at his throat, he laughed a roar of laughter. "What you going to do with that?" he mocked her before turning his gaze to Andrew, "Nice protector, Cripple! What, no one else would take the job?" Andrew brown eyes glared daggers that the boy and before he could stop himself, he yelled, "Fuck you! She has a name, and it sure as shit isn't corpse! And she's not my protector! I can take care of myself and fight my own fights!"

"Walk away" she hissed at the boy she felt tears prick at her eyes but she held it back. "Oh look its crying!" the gryffindor boy said laughing. A tear slid down her cheek and her hands began to shake, her cane hit the floor and she spun on her heel and ran "keep running little girl you'll run straight into your grave!"

Andrew clenched his jaw as he heard the insults continue to fly at Lyra. Seeing a tear slide down her cheek before she dropped her cane and ran was the final nail in the coffin for Andrew. He didn't even hear the boy's last insult as he pointed his wand at the boy and yelled, "INCARCEROUS!" The rope shot out his wand and around the Gryffindor's neck. Andrew used the rope to pull himself to the boy as he gasped for air. When he was only a foot or two away, he gave the rope a good hard yank, forcing the boy to his knees. "You worthless piece of shit..." he growled, "You call yourself a fucking lion..... You're a coward..... She is more of a human being than you will ever be." Andrew pulled on the rope again, tightening it further and bringing the boy's face right in front of his own. "I ever see or hear you speak to her that way again, you'll have more than a rope to worry about," he spat before letting the Gryffindor go and cutting the rope, ending the spell.

Quickly Andrew summoned Lyra's cane and put the two pieces back together. He placed it across his lap and turned his chair in the direction she ran. As he began wheeling himself after her as fast as he could, one thought ran through his mind over and over, Please be alright... Please be alright...

Lyra ran down the hall and skidded into a adjacent hallway. She slid to the floor shaking and crying her back to the wall. Her hands shook violently and she pressed her forhead to her knees and covered her head with her hands.

The hall that Andrew was flying down gradually began to have other hallways that branched off on either side. He stopped wheeling himself and just let the momentum he had created carry him as he looked down each offshoot from the main hall. When he reached the halfway point, he spotted her sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. "Thank, Merlin..." he said under his breath as he turned down the hall and went to her. He angled his chair and backed up so he was also against the wall and right next to her. Andrew reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, "Lyra? Are you alright?"

She felt his hand and didnt look up she hugged her legs closer to her trying to curl in on herself.

When Lyra didn't answer or look up and only tried to draw herself closer into herself, Andrew wished that he was still able to use his legs. All he wanted to do was comfort her, but he couldn't.... He couldn't.... You are only as much of an invalid as you let yourself be... Lyra's words came back to him as he thought about not being able to really care for her as he wanted to because he was bound to his chair. Andrew looked down at her, and then thought of something he could do.

He moved his chair forward and then backed it back up so it was a couple of feet from her. Locking his wheels, Andrew moved his feet from the footplate so his legs were straight, his shoes resting on the floor. After scooting himself forward on his seat, he took a deep breath and pushed up on his wheels, lifting and lowering himself. Andrew twisted about half-way to the ground so he was facing his chair and could lower himself the rest of the way by using the seat as his support under his arms. Once he reached the floor, Andrew slid himself over to Lyra.

Carefully, Andrew slipped his arm around her shoulders....

She looked up startled so absorbed in herself she didnt hear him move. She looked at him her eyes were reddened from crying and her face was a ugly mess "...I wish...I wish no one knew I was dying..so they wouldnt stray from me....so i could have lots of friends like a normal girl and pretend for a little while im okay" she said before turning into his shoulder "they look at me like tomorrow I will be dead"

Andrew gently wiped a stray tear from Lyra's cheek as she looked up at him. As he listened to her, he realized that while he wasn't dying, her wishes were his own. He wished he wasn't in his chair. That he still had his old friends. That others didn't see him as a cripple. When she turned into his shoulder, he pulled her close and put his other arm around her. "I don't see that. Lyra, I don't see that at all," he told her. "I see a strong, kind girl. You just got dealt a shit hand...." Andrew told her quietly, resting his cheek against her head. "We both did..."

She hugged him tightly sniffing a bit "your such a good person andrew" she whispered "wouldn't have guessed it"

Andrew smiled as he held her tightly. "Guess what you said is true. Everyone has a little good in them. Even me," he said softly. "Plus, you need someone to be strong for you. Everyone needs that sometimes because no one can be strong on their own for forever. Besides, what that ass said to you was cruel," Andrew added, putting a hand under her chin and lifting it so he could see her face. "And, you're crying. That's blackmail in my book...." he teased her with a light chuckle. "It requires any man, if they call themselves a man to try to fix it...." Truth was, Andrew had made girls cry before, but he had always felt badly about it after the fact.

Her heart fluttered gently and she smiled at him "thank you so much Andrew..." she could usually understand people and there motives but this boy was confusing and she didnt feel like figuring him out. "C..Can we be friends?"

"Of course we can... If you want to be friends with someone like me. I don't mean that," Andrew answered her with a gentle smile and motioning towards his chair. "I mean, the side of me that you have seen before yesterday..." What was it about this one that brought out this side of him: protective, kind, gentle... She was confusing to him, but he liked her. Andrew pulled her in for one more hug and said, "I brought your cane with me. After you left, I put it back together for you."

She returned his hug "if you start to be a jack ass i'll make good on what i threatened to do to the gryffindor" she said with a smirk.

"You'll slit my throat, huh?" Andrew said with a smile. "Then I best try not to be a jackass around you," he said letting her go. Andrew scooted over to his chair and retrieved her cane, bringing it back to her. "That's quiet the hidden weapon, Lyra," he said placing it in her hands.

She chuckled and unsheathed the blade and offered him the hilt "mother wanted me to be able to defend myself so when they said I needed a cane to get around with stability i asked for this. I've named the blade viper because like a snake it hides and can attack at will"