Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 51 | Taming A Bad Boy

"Will he be okay? We have a game in a fortnight, you know," Brutus worried out loud to Minnie as she pulled away from him slightly, going to sit down again and staring at Charlus with almost a tender, sisterly love and care.

"Is that all you care about?" Pomona snapped, suddenly jumping into the conversation, "Whether he will be able to play Quidditch? Shouldn't you be worried whether he'll be alright in general?" the feisty Hufflepuff pointed out to Brutus with a rather sharp look on her face.

Brutus appeared to become rather ashamed of himself and was evidently about to apologise when Alastor also jumped into the conversation.

"To be fair, Charlus is a very valuable Chaser and it's understandable that Brutus would wonder whether he will be fit enough for the next game," Alastor said with a shrug and Brutus sent him a grateful look as Pomona seemed to deflate back into her Miss-Nice-Girl persona, leaving the subject alone.

"May I sit?" Brutus asked and the group seemed to nod as one, leading him to take a seat.

Everyone was silent again for a moment before Eugenia spoke up for the first time in quite a while, a record for the usually talkative and vivacious blonde.

"Won't you be missed at practice?" she asked, gesturing to the window where they could see a few figures flying around on the pitch, their dark shadows against the evening sky hardly visible.

Brutus shrugged, not seeming too bothered by it. "I daresay they will but, as Pomona over here clearly pointed out," he gestured to Pomona, who flushed and bowed her head slightly, suddenly becoming interested in her skirt, "My friend's welfare is more important than a sport," he concluded and Lyall smiled a little in approval before they were all startled by Charlus' coughing as he awoke.

"Charlus? Charlus!" Eugenia exclaimed and she rushed to his bedside, grabbing his hand whilst everyone else also clamoured around, Minerva proceeding to discreetly pull Eugenia away from Charlus as she was practically sat on top of him she was that close.

Charlus' eyes blinked open rather slowly, like they were too heavy and the bright lights of the extremely white infirmary obviously dazzled his eyesight because he appeared to wince and proceeded to close his eyes again. "Hiya," he mumbled, his voice thick from sleep.

"You scared us for a moment there, buddy," Florean chuckled a little nervously as Charlus hoisted himself up with a groan of pain, Filius aiding him with plumping up the pillows behind him so he could rest his back.

"Well, I'm not dead," Charlus laughed and everyone mock cheered, whooping and pumping their fists up in the air.

However, amongst all the chaos around his bedside, Charlus' eyes were scanning all over, obviously looking for someone.

"Where's Mia?" he suddenly asked, bringing about an extremely awkward silence within the room and uncertain looks to arise.

"You want her here?" Eugenia asked, her voice sounding rather strangled as if she was struggling to comprehend what Charlus had just said.

The others seemed to be sharing the same reactions and emotions as Eugenia - everyone looked confused but also concerned, as if they weren't sure that Charlus was in his right mind.

Why would he want to see Euphemia now after he had hated on her ever since the attack?

"D'you want her here?" Lyall asked as Brutus looked on in complete and utter confusion, trying to catch Minnie's eye to fill him in but she avoided his gaze, biting her lip and looking down.

Charlus' tone and voice went from inquisitive and curious to dark and scoffing in about the matter of a mere thirty seconds.

"Yes, I would quite like to shake her hand as she is the reason I ended up here," Charlus laughed scornfully, all joviality gone from his mood and subsequently from the room as a whole, a solemn shadow settling over them.