Summary:
"Isn't it considered ungentlemanly to keep a lady in suspense? Especially after she's nearly been killed?"
"How many times do you plan on using that?"
"As many as I can before the novelty wears off."
Felix is lucky he's already garnered a reputation for himself at the Romanian Reserve. He's sure he would never pass this interview otherwise. He can't remember half the things he's learned about international dragon research regulations, and completely fumbles the telling of his team's recent successful capture. But the Reserve Liaison cannot stop shaking Felix's hand, awed to meet the young man who "caught a Common Welsh Green at seventeen, quite remarkable!" He assures Felix the paperwork will be finalised and forwarded to Romania that very day, and by tomorrow, Felix will officially be the Reserve's Junior Resident Dragonologist for the Peruvian Vipertooth.
"You'll be such an exciting addition! So many brilliant young people there just at present. Makes me wish I weren't retired to an office, but, the missus does like her quiet life."
Felix manages a polite smile, and the Liaison pumps his hand a final time.
The job he's dreamed of since childhood is his. And it's a beautiful early summer morning that greets Felix as he steps onto the sidewalk outside the Ministry for Magic guest entrance. By rights, it should be the best day of his life. If the sound of Juniper's eldritch scream wasn't replaying in the back of his head every few minutes.
Felix sets off down the deserted street in a random direction. Freshly washed and laundered, and no work required of him for the rest of the day, he knows he should be apparating back to St Mungo's to check on Juniper's condition. But a strange reluctance tugs his feet around a corner and onto a walk bustling with muggles. He doesn't know what to expect upon his return; Juniper once again laid out like a corpse on white sheets, or wide-eyed and wailing, unable to escape whatever horrors that curse had inflicted upon her.
Shuddering at the memory, Felix's eyes squeeze shut briefly and he bumps into a couple turning a corner in his direction. The woman holds up a hand in quick apology, her other hand caught fast by the man beside her. Eyeing Felix, the man pulls his companion closer so they take up less room on the walk. The woman giggles, melting against him, and Felix is forgotten as they traipse away, wrapped entirely in each other.
It's exactly the sort of casual romantic display Felix dreams of, and his heart aches with a desperate longing. His evenings of the last year have been filled with similar fantasies: meeting Juniper somewhere in passing, chatting her up charmingly, letting her see how much older he is now, how much more confident, and impressive. One particularly alluring daydream he indulges in often involves rescuing Juniper from some dangerous enemy, comforting her from the subsequent fear, until his embrace wipes away all memory of the horror she's experienced.
Felix stops abruptly, and the man behind him almost runs him down. He swears at Felix loudly, then rights himself and speeds away.
Felix takes almost no notice. What on earth is he doing here, strolling past muggle shops, while Juniper is in pain, alone with only abrasive healers, and murderous aurors, and, well, Snape, to provide any sort of comfort? Fiery indignation at his own cowardice burns a hole through his chest. This is hardly his fantasy; he's never imagined her tortured or half-dead in hospital. But it's still an opportunity. Perhaps the opportunity. To show her the precise depth of his feelings in a way she cannot misunderstand.
Felix pats his inner pocket. He still has the letter he spent an entire night composing. And a whole day before he has to be in Romania.
The hospital is a good deal less crowded when Felix returns that afternoon. He bypasses the help-witch, nose firmly in the air, exits the stairs at the fourth floor and wanders down the main corridor, trying to remember the sequence of hallways leading to Juniper's hidden room. As he walks, he becomes aware of voices in the distance. Vaguely familiar voices, though he can't place how he knows them. The sounds grow clearer the farther Felix walks, and just before he turns onto the final dead-end hallway, he recognises one.
"Barnaby?"
The young man's head whips around, eyes comically wide as he stares at Felix. Felix stares right back, taking in the tableau in front of the dirty window in disbelief. Barnaby Lee has his arm around a tear-stained Rowan Khanna. Propped on the windowsill behind them, Felix can make out Penny Haywood and, his heart thuds unpleasantly, Charlie Weasley, hands shoved deep into his pockets. In front of the sixth-year students, a tall healer with long, black hair lounges against a door. Her face is sharp and forbidding, until she blows a large pink bubble from her chewing gum and pops it loudly.
"Maybe he can help?" says the healer, jerking her chin at Felix.
"Felix!" Barnaby rushes up the hall. "Are you here about Juniper, too? Have you seen her yet?"
"Do you know if she's okay?" Rowan asks, trailing behind Barnaby and wiping her eyes on her scarf.
"What-what on earth are you all doing here?" Felix stutters.
"Why? Did we get the wrong hall?" The strangely impish healer cocks her head curiously. "I swear this is the one Snape turned down this morning. I just didn't see what door he went through."
"It doesn't matter, they're all locked anyway." adds the Weasley boy, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.
Felix's shock gives way to irritation."I mean - how did you get here? You're all supposed to be in school!"
The healer chuckles around her wad of chewing gum.
"We're here to see Juniper!" explains Rowan in a rush. "They said she was attacked but no one will say anything about what happened or how she is, just that she was here. And then Chiara told us the fireplace in Madam Pomfrey's office is connected to one here so she can communicate with the healers, and so Tulip distracted her by letting off a bunch of dung-"
"Rowan!" cries Penny from the window, "You're going to get us all in trouble!"
Rowan gives a choked sob and Barnaby drapes his arm around her again.
"It's okay, Felix will help. He wants to see Juniper, too." Barnaby looks expectantly at his former prefect. "Do you know where she is?"
Felix is entirely lost for what to do. He's never even heard of students sneaking from the school as far away as London; the amount of house points that's likely to cost them makes the old prefect within him feel faint. He knows he ought to enforce their immediate return to school, but a five-to-one duel in a cramped hallway seems unwise.
"Look," he sighs. "I don't think Juniper is up to visitors just yet. She isn't - isn't well."
"You've seen her?" gasps Rowan.
"How is she?" asks Penny, jumping up from the windowsill and hurrying toward him, Charlie and the odd healer following closely.
Felix takes a step back from the throng of eager students. They look like a nest of newly hatched Vipertooths all edging toward him with hungry expressions, and he has to make a conscious effort not to draw his wand for protection.
"Like, I said, she's not well."
"But she's alive?" Charlie insists.
Felix's eyes narrow at the red head. "Yes."
There's a chorus of relieved murmurs.
"But she needs rest," Felix continues. "She's still...still - hurt." he finishes, unable to think of a better way to describe her condition.
"If she's hurt, she needs some cheering up!" the healer says brightly. "Who better to do that than her friends?"
Felix looks the woman up and down. "Which friend are you?"
The healer's entire body suddenly shifts, and he recognises the pink-haired Hufflepuff from the Quidditch after-party.
"Tonks," she says with a wink and another pop of her gum.
"Please, Felix," begs Rowan. "We just want to see her. We won't stay long."
Felix flounders. His desire to send them all away and speak to Juniper alone battles his itch to return to her side as quickly as possible.
"Look, when I left she was asleep. And there isn't much room in there-" He breaks off as he remembers Juniper's ever-present guard. If it's Snape, he'll have each student in detention every evening for the next year. And if it's Moody, well, he might just jinx the lot of them. "Alright then, hurry up before someone sees."
Felix edges around the teenagers to the end of the hall, and taps the window with his wand. The lock clicks, the door swings open, and he steps aside to let Juniper's friends push into the tiny room. He leans against the doorway where he can duck out of the line of fire if necessary, but neither Snape nor Moody are inside. Instead, it's the nervous trainee healer from last night who jumps up from the bedside chair.
"Who are you? What's going on?" He points his shaking wand from person to person, finally settling it on Tonks, again disguised as the severe looking healer, who draws herself up to full height.
"It's alright! I have given us - that is - these students permission to visit Juniper, er, Miss Windsong. Which I can do, being a fully qualified healer and all."
Felix snorts quietly and turns his attention to the bed. He does a double-take, pushing himself quickly off the door frame. Juniper is sitting up, staring at the horde of people packed into her room.
"What's the password, then?" demands the trainee, his challenge belied by the obvious fear in his voice.
"Ah, the password, yes..." Tonks waffles. She flicks her eyes to the students around her, all as clueless as she. "Well, I definitely know it. And...it is..."
"Dragon Heart-String."
The words from the door cause the trainee to promptly drops his wand, then almost drop it a second time when he recognises Felix.
"It's alright," Felix assures the young man. "They're not dangerous. But they're not supposed to be here. Would you mind sending an owl to Hogwarts letting them know some students have escaped? Post it care of Professor Snape, if you please. I'll keep watch."
Juniper's gang of devotees all look at Felix askance. Someone at the back, and Felix has a sneaking suspicion who, mutters mutinously.
The trainee healer hesitates for only a second before nodding and scurrying from the room, doubling back just before Felix shuts the door. The young man points the chewed up nail of his index finger at the bedside table.
"She's supposed to take a draught for dreamless sleep in a minute. It's the blue one. Will you -"
"I'll make sure she drinks it." Felix confirms, and leans back against the closed door.
"Juniper?" ventures Penny cautiously, taking the seat by the bed. "Are you...are you alright?"
Juniper, uncharacteristically silent through all the excitement, blinks at her friend.
"I'm sorry," she says in a low, hoarse voice. "Do I know any of you?"
The room is deathly quiet. For several seconds, no one seems to breathe, and Felix is sure his heart has stopped beating. Then, the ghost of Juniper's lop-sided smile appears.
"You should see your faces," she chuckles feebly.
Felix's intake of breath sounds like a gasp, but no one hears it over Rowan's fresh burst of tears and the appreciative laughs from Charlie and Tonks.
"Nice one, Juniper!" The once-again pink-haired Hufflepuff collapses onto the foot of the bed. "Nearly had me on!"
"Juniper, that was awful!" chides Penny in a hurt voice. Barnaby continues to look confused, and bends down to whisper a question to the glassy-eyed Rowan.
"C'mon, I can't have my little joke? I did nearly die." While her humour has apparently made a full recovery, Juniper's voice sounds frail to Felix, and worry gnaws little holes in his stomach.
"Blimey, did you really?" Tonks asks, almost awed. Charlie nudges her in the side with his elbow and she tumbles from the bed.
"But you're okay now, right?" Charlie asks in concern. "What happened?"
Something in Juniper's eyes goes abruptly dark, like curtains drawn across windows. "I don't know. I can't remember anything."
"Is this another trick?" asks Penny nervously, but Juniper shakes her head. The movement is slight, a quick angle of her chin to either side, but it makes her flinch. The sight of Juniper in obvious pain shakes the rest of the shock from Felix.
"Alright, you lot, that's enough. You've seen her and she's alive, so off you go."
Every person in the room begins to protest with varying levels of intensity all at the same time, and Felix has to raise his voice to be heard over the clamour.
"Snape is on the way," he reminds them. That silences the lot. "Now, he knows there are students here, but he doesn't know who. If you clear out before he arrives, he may not know whom to punish."
"Won't you just tell him?" argues Charlie from the corner.
Felix considers him coolly. "I can tell Snape I didn't recognise anyone." Barnaby grins, and Felix fixes him with his patented prefect's glare. "If you all leave now."
The sixth years exchange calculating looks with one another, then Penny gets to her feet.
"We'll come back and see you when term's over," she promises Juniper, to murmurs of agreement.
Tonks pops her gum again as she scrambles off the bed. "And we'll send you loads of sweets!"
"Yeah, Mum says the food here is rubbish." agrees Charlie.
They congregate at the edge of the bed as if unsure of the proper goodbye to give someone covered in countless angry cuts. Juniper relieves them of the decision by lifting her trembling hand in a little wave, which her friends return before filing out the door. Only Rowan breaks away and rushes for the bed. She throws her arms carelessly around Juniper, who winces but pats her friend's back lightly.
"I'm so glad you're alive," Rowan sniffs.
"I'm always alive," Juniper reassures her. "Everything's alright. Now, go! Get revising, please. You'll have to help me catch up later."
Rowan straightens with a shaky smile and returns to the waiting Barnaby. The door closes behind them with a quiet click.
Juniper leans back, eyes closed. Felix can now see she's not so much sitting as propped up by several large, fluffy pillows. Her body sags against them, seemingly unable to support its own weight.
He clears his throat, and Juniper's eyes snap open.
"Merlin's beard, I didn't know you were still here!" she groans, pushing herself up weakly, and fixing a smile back onto her face. Felix's heart breaks at the sad display.
"Stop," he orders gently, crossing the room to take the bedside chair. "Don't sit up, you need to rest."
"I'm fine." she argues, her anemic voice entirely unconvincing. Felix presses on her shoulder lightly, but she collapses against the pillows as if he had shoved her.
"Don't even try that bit on me, Juniper. You can fool your friends, but I saw you unconscious. And I saw you wake up." The blush flooding her face looks like overdone rouge, emphasising how unnaturally pale she still is. Felix grimaces at it as he continues, "You're about as far from fine as it's possible to be."
"No, yesterday I was as far from fine as it's possible to be. Today, I'm a good deal closer."
Felix scans Juniper critically. She's still sickly-looking and pale, the cuts standing out against her skin like violent freckles. . And her fingers continue to twitch where they rest at her sides. But she's so much more alive than the last time he saw her, and he can't detect any obvious signs of madness. Relief envelopes him like a warm blanket.
"Felix?" Juniper interrupts his inspection. "Is it true my brother was here?"
Felix wonders which thoughtless person mentioned this and what story they told. He briefly considers lying, but thinks better of it.
"Yes," he admits. "He was the one who woke you up."
"Did you speak to him? What did he say?" Excitement is obvious even in her unsteady voice and a fresh surge of jealousy at Jacob Windsong courses through Felix.
"He just said...he was sorry he dragged you into all this. And...that he... loves you."
A small, almost embarrassed smile graces Juniper's features for a moment, then fades as she remembers, "But he didn't stay."
Felix can only shake his head, determined to hex Jacob first thing the next time they met for the look of pitiful hurt on his sister's face.
"That was it? He didn't say where he was going to be? What he was going to do next?"
This line of questioning makes Felix nervous, and he chooses his words carefully.
"He said he wanted you to be safe. Whatever he's doing, I don't think he wants you to follow him."
"Don't worry, I'm not about to go anywhere right now."
Juniper wriggles back against her pillows, and reaches across to the bedside table for the draught of dreamless sleep. She lifts the bottle toward her, but drops it onto her lap accidentally. She picks it up and fumbles it again, her trembling fingers unable to keep hold of the glass for more than a second.
"Here, let me," offers Felix but she pushes his hand away with a grumbled, "I've got it."
Juniper clenches the bottle between her knees to keep it still and tries to tug on the cork, but her twitching fingers refuse to grip. After a minute of struggling, she throws her arms down with a noise of frustration.
Delicately, Felix plucks the bottle from her lap and uncorks it with ease. He holds it out, unsure exactly what to do next. He catches Juniper's eye and she attempts to smile, as if in a shared joke. But he can tell the need for assistance causes her as much pain as her injuries. She leans forward and allows him to tilt the liquid into her mouth, then falls back again, eyes closed and face a garish shade of pink.
"Thank you."
"Of course," says Felix. He means to sound cheerful and unconcerned, but it comes out too high pitched. "It's just a side effect of the c- I mean, just... everything you've been through. I'm sure it will right itself. Or they'll find some way of fixing it. The healers here are supposed to be the best." He shuts his lips tightly over his nervous prattle, and worries a finger over the scar on his neck.
Juniper says nothing. Felix wonders if she's heard him at all, or if the potion has already worked it's magic. Until she murmurs his name sleepily, sending a shiver down his spine.
"Felix?"
"Yes?"
"If my brother comes again, will you wake me? Please?"
The pleasurable sensation dies.
"I will," he promises.
Once Juniper is safely asleep, Felix settles back into the armchair, grateful for the extra time to think. Something about this fresh reminder of Juniper's condition has set his confidence off-kilter. If she's preoccupied with her injuries, she may not be in the right frame of mind to receive his admission with the enthusiasm he would prefer. He broods on this for a while, considering the correct approach.
Felix pulls the letter from his pocket and turns it over in his fingers. He remembers the gist of its contents, but the desire to re-read it in light of Juniper's new circumstances is too strong to be ignored. Glancing around, he unseals the envelope carefully and straightens out the parchment.
A few seconds quick reading, and Felix's face is a shiny, brick-red, the colour growing with each successive line. He makes it half-way through the letter before he's forced to thrust the parchment back into his pocket out of self-defense, mortification squeezing his head so fiercely he's afraid his eyes might pop. Had he really written this just days ago and felt proud of it? Even intended to send it? Felix shudders at the thought of any one ever reading what he clearly wrote in a fit of sleep-deprived pique. It's a sappy, sopping mess of pretentious lines and flowery adjectives.
Embarrassment prickles against his skin like tiny needles, and Felix leaps to his feet, unable to sit still. He paces the small space between the door and the wall. Barely half a dozen steps, back and forth, over and over again, until the noxious tide of shame begins to ebb. He takes several deep breaths, running his hands over his hair and smoothing it flat to his head.
Perhaps he's a bit hard on himself. Love is something words are hardly ever able to do justice, and it's not as though he has much practice. Felix pulls a corner of the parchment from his pocket and peeks at it again. A second glance suggests his confession might not be complete drivel. It contains a dramatic flair that could, perhaps, appeal to an average seventeen year old. But it's not remotely the sort of thing to interest a girl who's just been tortured nearly to death.
That's the trouble with Juniper Windsong. She isn't easy to impress. Which of his accomplishments from the last three years can stand up to hers? Any danger he's faced, she's faced worse. She's the cursebreaker, after all. The hero who's saved Hogwarts more times than he can count.
Felix rubs at the scar on his neck in distraction. Now he thinks about it from that perspective, he isn't sure what he has to offer the young woman asleep on the bed. She eschews protection, hardly needs assistance, clearly has no lack of dedicated friends. Why has she even bothered keeping up with him all these years? It's clear she doesn't need him for anything.
Misery dulling his senses, Felix nearly crashes into Snape as the professor opens the door abruptly. Behind him is the curly-haired healer from yesterday and her nervous trainee. And, Felix takes a step back in surprise, Professor Dumbledore. Felix dips his hand into his pocket, but Snape gives the password before Felix can produce his wand.
The healer stomps roughly past him to the bed-side table. The sounds of violently clinking bottles echo around the still room.
"I still do not see why this has to be done right this minute," she seethes.
"Healer Early, you know I would not bother your patient if it weren't of the utmost importance." Dumbledore approaches the other side of the bed, looking down at Juniper's sleeping form. "The more we know about this attack, the greater our chance of catching the perpetrators."
"I understand your priorities, Headmaster, but this girl has hardly been conscious one day. You're far more likely to get helpful information if you allow her to rest and recover than if you press her mind at this delicate stage."
Dumbledore makes another apologetic reply, but Felix's attention is captured by Snape who jerks his head pointedly at the still-open door. With a quick glance at Juniper, now sandwiched between the arguing healer and headmaster, Felix follows. The lock hasn't even clicked behind him before Snape is in his face and whispering urgently.
"Has Miss Windsong said anything to you about her attack?"
"She said she couldn't remember anything."
Snape's eyes bore into Felix's from an uncomfortably close proximity. Felix tries to angle his head away from the Potion Master's unpleasant breath without being too obvious.
"And I don't suppose you could be relied upon for any useful information?"
"Like I said before, I didn't notice anything unusual."
For a moment, Felix fears Snape's eyes will actually burn a hole right through him. Then the Potions Master relents, drawing back with unconcealed contempt. In spite of the fact that he's been graduated for years, Felix can't help feel a quick stab of shame at disappointing his former head of house. He steels himself against it, focusing instead on his most recent concern.
"Professor," Felix begins tentatively. "The healer said yesterday that - that Juniper...that she didn't expect Juniper to be alright, even if she did wake up. And earlier, she couldn't - " A sudden lump rises in his throat, and he has to swallow hard to dislodge it. "Juniper couldn't hold her own potion bottle. Let alone open it. She's still - I mean, her hands aren't..." He trails away, kicking himself for sounding so scattered in front of Snape, whose opinion of Felix has clearly taken a significant dip.
"It will get better soon, won't it?" he finishes childishly.
There's the merest flicker of something in the Potion Master's eyes, too quick for Felix to identify before his inscrutable mask is back in place.
"It's difficult to say." Snape replies quietly, his own fingers rubbing against the palms of his hands unconsciously. "With therapy and the regular administration of certain restorative draughts, Miss Windsong may achieve some limited mobility within a year."
The sensation of his jaw actually dropping is distantly strange to Felix. His mouth feels both dry and heavy, and completely unfamiliar with the formation of words. For a few seconds, he can only emit cracked syllables. He has to physically shake his head from side to side to reset his brain.
"A year? Professor, what.. what is she going to do? How will she go to school if she can't hold her own wand? She has NEWTs this-"
"Mr. Rosier," Snape cuts off Felix's frantic questions tartly. "As tragic as her condition undoubtedly is, Miss Windsong has brought this upon herself with her absolute refusal to pay even the slightest attention to the rules put in place for her own safety." He raises his voice a fraction over Felix's choking noise. "However, the Headmaster has made a habit the last six years of allowing Miss Windsong an excessive amount of exemptions from rules and consequences. I doubt very much he will stop now. And you may rest assured she will have the best care St Mungo's can provide. There is no reason to overburden yourself with worry about her physical condition.
"What you can do," Snape pauses, ensuring he has Felix's undivided attention. "Is inform me immediately if Miss Windsong mentions anything about her attack. And if you notice anything out of the ordinary about her in the coming months."
"What do you mean?"
Snape pauses, and Felix has the distinct impression he's searching for a way to explain without revealing something important.
"If Miss Windsong appears in any way out of character, it may be worth noting. We do not yet know what curse she was under nor whether it has lasting effects. It would be prudent for the people closest to her to keep an eye."
"Professor, I'm... I'm supposed to report to Romania. Tomorrow." Felix realises with a start and suddenly wonders at the hour. Time seems to stand still in the hospital room. "I suppose I could ask to postpone-"
Snape's black brows travel the length of his forehead in an expression almost like surprise. He casts an appraising look at Felix.
"I do not think that will be necessary. I believe you and Miss Windsong...correspond?" he sneers. Felix's blush is so habitual by now he hardly notices as he gives a short nod. "If her writing gives any indication that she may not be herself, you may simply send an owl."
There's the sound of breaking glass from behind him, and Felix turns instinctively to find Dumbledore ducking swiftly from the room. He nods at Felix sombrely.
"Mr Rosier, Miss Windsong has asked if you would speak to her before you leave. Although," he smiles, the expression not reaching his eyes, "You may be required to duel Healer Early for that particular privilege."
Felix creeps around the edge of the door cautiously and runs straight into the irate healer.
"Young man, Miss Windsong needs rest just now." she pronounces in clipped tones.
From behind her, Juniper's wobbly voice says, "Miss Windsong is right here and she's fine."
"You are most assuredly not fine," the healer snaps. "It's a marvel you're awake at all. I wouldn't have put any money on it."
"I've been through worse." Juniper insists.
Fury snorts from the healer's nostrils like a Chinese Fireball. "I sincerely doubt that."
Recognising a brick wall, Juniper changes tact in a heartbeat.
"Please, Healer Early. I've been through a lot the last day and I just want to speak to a friend for a few minutes. You know, to help calm myself down before I go back to sleep."
Felix hides his smirk behind a closed fist, feigning a cough, while Healer Early narrows her eyes at Juniper suspiciously. She glances at the trainee healer clearing up broken glass by the bedside table, and spins on her heel to face Felix again.
"Five minutes. Not a second more." She pushes past him forcefully and marches from the room. Felix can hear her footsteps rage down the hall even as he takes the seat beside the bed.
"Is everything alright?" he asks without thinking, "With Dumbledore I mean. Was he angry?"
"No, not particularly, he's used to me by now I suppose. Didn't even take any house points. But never mind that," Juniper waves the topic aside with a shaking hand. "I forgot to ask how your interview went?"
Her face is more alive than Felix has seen it since her attack, and nerves squirm pleasantly in the region of his abdomen.
"As expected." he says casually.
"Ugh," Juniper groans in mock frustration, "Isn't it considered ungentlemanly to keep a lady in suspense? Especially after she's nearly been killed?"
Felix matches Juniper's ironic expression, with the addition of one arched eyebrow.
"How many times do you plan on using that?"
"As many as I can before the novelty wears off." She grins, and it cracks his cool mask.
"I was accepted, of course."
Juniper laughs, a sound of joy that wavers only slightly, and something about her enthusiasm is catching. The sight of her so much better than yesterday unravels the knot of worry inside him and for the first time he's able to feel the full excitement of his achievement.
"Felix, that's incredible! When do you start?"
"Tomorrow, actually," he says, and has to fight to keep giddy elation from his voice.
"Tomorrow?" Juniper's eyes widen in alarm. "What on earth are you doing here, then? You should be getting ready!"
And it suddenly occurs to Felix how very unprepared he is to start a brand new position in less than twenty-four hours. He hasn't had a moment to look through any of the documents the liaison had given him, hasn't replenished any of his supplies or had any of his clothes repaired. He feels dizzy under this sudden avalanche of new worries, and he wonders vaguely when the last time he ate was.
"I've...got time." he says evasively, and Juniper rolls her eyes.
"Oh please, Felix. You know you'll want to make a packing list and go over it at least three times. And you like to arrive early to get a lay of the land before you start. I'm surprised you didn't leave as soon as the interview was over." Felix glows a little at how well she knows him.
"I needed to check on you first."
Juniper makes a scoffing sound reminiscent of Healer Early's. "Felix, I'm fine. Yes, yes, I know I'm hurt," she admits quickly over his light protests, "I mean, I'll be fine. I'm sure that healer's exaggerating a bit. Bet I'm good as new by the end of the summer."
The trainee healer makes a small, strangled noise and Juniper glances at him defiantly.
"I mean, she didn't think I'd ever wake up, did she?" she fires at the nervous young man. "I managed that, didn't I? I always do. So go!" she commands the last to Felix gesturing toward the door.
Felix stands reluctantly. The letter is still stuffed into his inner pocket. He can feel the slight shape of the crumpled parchment against his side. But he can't give that bit of rubbish to her now. He shoots a dark look at the trainee, now wringing his hands uncomfortably. Why is there always someone around when he needs to say a proper goodbye to Juniper?
"Wait," she struggles herself into a sitting position, and holds out her arms toward him with a smile. "Come here." His obedience is automatic.
It's a weaker embrace than what they shared just days ago. Juniper's arms can't clutch him to her quite as tightly, and Felix's touch is delicate for fear of hurting her. But it feels so good to be pressed against her again, and he soaks up every ounce of closeness he can. She pulls away almost reluctantly, and the way her eyes linger on his lips as she looks at him...Felix wishes he knew a spell to capture that precise expression. In that moment, he is positive Juniper wants to kiss him. He knows it with the same certainty he knows his own feelings. And that knowledge is enough. For now.
"You'll write and tell me how you're doing?" he asks.
"Of course," she agrees.
The trainee healer clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably. And it isn't until Felix is back in his room at the Leaky Cauldron, rushing to put together everything he'll need to begin the job he's dreamed of his entire life, that he wonders how Juniper will be able to hold a quill.