waking and making up (cora)

[littlebit]

Dean began to stir, the instant he came to consciousness a massive pain erupted through his head, his limbs felt heavy, he couldn't move more than an inch or two at a time. He tried to remember what had happened, but the harder he thought the more it made his head hurt. Dean blinked slowly, wanting to sit up but found that if he moved his head even slightly it made the pain worse. He moaned quietly, which must have brought him to the attention of the nurse, who had been attending to another student with a trivial injury from a spell gone awry.

"It's about time you woke up," she said, snatching his wrist to take his pulse. He took a minute to register her words, and then formulate his response. "How long was I out?" Dean asked, speech somewhat slurred. The nurse helped him to take a potion before she said anything. "A week, dear, you took a nasty hit to the head in the Quidditch game," she informed him, but before he could reply spoke up again, "how is your pain?" He paused, groping for the right words. "Like my head got run over by a train," Dean mumbled. The nurse went about, using spells and potions and things, eventually his pain was dulled to a faint twinge if he moved too quickly, but if he stayed still all was fine.

Dean found that his perception of time was considerably skewed, he could not tell seconds apart from hours, he had no idea how long he laid there, half-asleep. The nurse returned to him. "You have a visitor, normally I wouldn't let anyone see you, but this is family," she said, and from behind the nurse, Dean saw a familiar face entering the room.

[girlingreen]

Cora entered slowly, giving a short nod to the nurse, who went to tend to another patient. She approached Dean's bed and gave him a small smile. They hadn't spoken in so long that Cora didn't quite know where to begin, but hopefully her brother wouldn't reject her this time. "Hey Dean," Cora said quietly, trying not to make his head hurt more. The blow he had taken in the game looked really painful and Cora had yelled at her team's beater afterwards, as it was obviously intentional. "How are you feeling?" she asked, though it was probably a stupid question.

[littlebit]

"Really... weird," Dean said, struggling to find the right words. His mouth wasn't too keen on forming them, either. Although the blow to his head had been really hard, he had not forgotten about his anger with Cora. With a sudden realization, Dean came to the conclusion that this was the first thing he had said to Cora in almost a year. He wasn't sure if he was ready to forgive her.

[girlingreen]

Cora gave him a sympathetic smile and then sat on the empty bed next to Dean, glad that her brother had said something to her. She had spent all summer without hearing a word from him directed towards her, and this was a nice change of pace. Cora missed her brother. "It looked really painful," Cora commented.

[littlebit]

"I didn't," Dean began, finding it the most difficult thing to conjure words to his tongue. He just wanted to lie there in a vegetative state, not have to talk, move, or even think for that matter. Sleeping would be pretty nice too, his eyelids already felt heavy. "Didn't feel anything 'till I," Dean continued, pausing a moment, "woke up." Now that he was on a cocktail of potions and pain-relieving spells, he barely felt a thing. The bludger must have immediately knocked him out.