[James] and I will try, to fix you...

[Penny Matthews]

Sad, sad sight,
For sore, sore eyes,
And a headache for the weakest of minds.

[/size]

---
[/center]

Helped by James, Penny walked into the Hospital wing. Penny sighed loudly when she noticed that it was the same mediwitch which had tended to her on the past couple of occassions regarding her wrist. And she had to actively refreign from rolling her eyes, when the mediwitch caught sight of the now pale looking brunette and hurried over with a mixture of fussing and scolding, all seemingly at the same time...

"What has she been doing!?" Demanded the woman in the direction of James, whilst she practically manhandled Penny into a bed, "Hello, I am right here.." Penny said irritabley, though the medic really didn't seem to be listening and instead was hounding James with more questions about Pennys state as well as his own injuries.

Penny lay down on the bed and sighed. She desperately wanted to get up and catch the mediwitch's attention, but once she was laid down, there was no way she was going to be getting up on her feet again for the time being. So she hitched herself up a little, resting her back against the pillows so that she could actually see what was going on. "Listen, just bruised the wrist again..." She tried to explain as her eyes followed the woman around the room. Calling it 'the' wrist as if it was really nothing to do with her, like it bruised itself of its own accord.

But no sooner had she managed to get out her sentence, the witch was beside her again and shoveing a cup of some vile smelling potion in her face. Penny pulled a repulsed expression, which the the mediwitch returned with a stoic yet stern expression. So reluctantly, Penny took the cup and hesitated for a moment, glancing at James, before she took a deep breath and held her own nose as she down the contents.

After a few coughs and splutters, the medic left the pair of them alone, to tend to the other patients currently in the wing. Penny could still taste the bitterness of the potion that did gods know what, cringing and shuddering a little... And when she opened her eyes to look at James, thats when it all hit her. Everything that had happened, to her, to James, to Luc, what she had done to them all, everything. And thats when the tears welled up in her eyes and she cupped a hand around her mouth.

"I'm Sorry," She croaked through her sobs, the only thing she wanted was a big and long hug from her boyfriend and for him to say it was alright...

---

tag: Jamesie
words: 527
lyrics: you me at six - Jealous minds think alike
comments: weepy weepy!

[James Potter]

Oh baby baby baby please
My heart sinks to my feet
What am I supposed to do
I think about you nightly

It was quiet for most of the journey up to the Hospital Wing. James really didn't have anything to say, and if he did, he would have been too afraid to say it. It was such a stupid mistake to get in that fight with Luc. But the cocky Ravenclaw just annoyed him to all hell, and James didn't even know why. Maybe it was the fact that he used to date Penny... along with an unresolved issue with his insecurities. James was too proud to admit it though. In his mind was a raging war of pride versus guilt. And if guilt won, James didn't know what he would do with himself.

Upon entering the Hospital Wing, James noticed Penny heave a deep sigh. His curiosity was answered by the look of recognition on the mediwitch's face. And then the older woman hurried over to an unsuspecting James, shouting questions at him.

"What has she been doing!?" she hounded as she drug Penny off to a bed. James' saucepan eyes followed nervously as the mediwitch continued her accusations.

"Er..." he muttered, wanting to curl into a ball and hide from the crazy old woman. James stayed out of the way as she bustled around, eyes darting from over to Penny who was now laying on a bed. James also noticed a couple other sickly students now paying attention to the scene. He tried his best to look discrete. Didn't work. Being a Potter already made him stick out like a troll in a crowd of house elves. His reddened cheeks didn't do him any more justice.

"Listen, just bruised the wrist again..." he heard Penny mumble from across the room.

The mediwitch finally seemed to calm down a bit, so James slowly made over to Penny's bedside just in time to see her face get sour at the nasty potion she was forced to drink. After she downed the rest, they stared at each other for a moment. His mind was still blank of any answers. That was when Penny started to cry. She never broke down in front of him like this before. It made his chest feel so heavy. It hurt even more to know that it was his fault.

"I'm Sorry,"she sobbed.

James was taken aback. He blinked a few times. Why should Penny be sorry? She didn't do anything wrong. Quickly he sat on the bed next to her. His arms pulled her into him for a tight hug, while being careful of her injury.

"Penny, there is no reason for you to be sorry," he said while backing away just enough to look down at her tear stained face. "I'm the one who should be sorry." James looked away, ashamed of his actions. There were times that James couldn't control his temper. And there were always consequences, just not as bad as this. Maybe if James just decided to meet her later this would have never happened. He would have never seen Penny and Luc together. But then if he had never interrupted them... then what? It would be Luc sitting here in the Hospital Wing with Penny. James would have only found out after the fact. Sure James was sorry for hurting Penny, but he definitely wasn't sorry for giving Luc a black eye. Git.

James focused his attention back to Penny. It was stupid to dwell on his dislike of Luc. Right now it was about Penny and how hurt she was. He rubbed her upper arms comfortingly as he kissed her forehead. "You'll be alright," he reassured.


WORDS: 710
TAGS: Penny
COMMENTS: hmmmm
LYRICS: "Can You Tell" - Ra Ra Riot

[Penny Matthews]

Sad, sad sight,
For sore, sore eyes,
And a headache for the weakest of minds.

[/size]

---
[/center]

Penny felt a little better, as Jammes pulled her into a hug, though the tears didn't stop for a while. Her hand moved from her mouth and instead clutched at James' jacket, holding him close to her as she burried her face into his chest. I'm sure he'll appreciate a tear stained jacket... she rolled her minds eye at the thought of the mess she was making of her face and of James' clothes.

She sniffed a little as James pulled away slightly, she looked down, feeling on some level embarrassed for crying about it. Finally the tears were beginning to slow and she wiped her blotchy cheeks with her good hand as James said he should have been the one apologising.

"You'll be alright,"

He said comfortingly, sliding his hands over her arms, Penny nodded feebly before she looked up. "I just- when it happens... I can't control it..." She said quietly, the further along the sentence she got, the more upset the words seemed to make her. Soon the tears were back, though this time she was still composed enough to at least talk without her voice cracking. "I could have really hurt you, even maybe-, and that's so scarey..." She ended on a whisper. ..

It wasn't often that Penny really took the time to think about the gravity of her situation. The full blown attacks like what had just happened were so occassional in occurance that she never really needed to contemplate their meaning or worry about hurting anyone. But this time. This time she had hurt people. And the two people she probably cared for the most as well... That made things different and made her whole situation much more pertinant.

Penny had experienced exactly seven, full blown panic attacks with magical intereference that had resulted in something or someone getting damaged in her life, and this made number eight. She blew up a door and a light when she and Luc had ended up in a broom cuboard the previous year. And the year before that she had frozen the entire basement at her grandparents home, when they had shut her in there to teach her a lesson on blood alliances... When she was 12 she set her own cloths on fire when she found herself in the midst of a very crowded street. All the times prior to that were fairly minor instances, exploding teapots, floating furnature, igniting paperwork, and other such trivialities.

Of course, the older the girl got, the more intense the panic and hense the magic. Penny began to wonder whether it was time to address her fears and try to put a stop to it once and for all... But how to do that without risking everyone involved, including herself was the million dollar question...


Wiping her face again, she tried to smile, "Sorry, I'm such a wuss." She laughed a little nervously as she sniffled, blinking her eyes wide trying to get some air to them and rid the lingering tears...

---

tag: Jamesie
words: 607
lyrics: you me at six - Jealous minds think alike
comments: weepy weepy!

[James Potter]

Oh baby baby baby please
My heart sinks to my feet
What am I supposed to do
I think about you nightly

James wasn't really sure how much he was helping, but he wasn't going to back away now. He cared way too much about Penny to just leave her to the crazy nurse. Besides, Penny needed comfort right now, and James was glad to give it to her.

"I just- when it happens... I can't control it... I could have really hurt you, even maybe-, and that's so scary..." she was upsetting herself again, after seemingly gaining some sort of composure before. Somehow it all seemed to fade again. James could see more tears welling in her eyes. He wished he could just stop it all and rewrite the entire morning.

"Penny," he sighed. "I'm fine." Just when he said that he felt his broken nose twinge in pain. Up until now the shock kept the pain at bay, but it was slowly surfacing the more he focused on it. The rest of him started to pulse with a dull ache, especially his head. He ignored it. "I know its scary. I was terrified... worried you weren't going to be okay when the dust settled. We'll figure-" he paused to take a deep breath from exhaustion. "-everything out."

James didn't really realize how tired he was from everything. He got into a brawl, got tossed around by an explosion, then helped carry Penny up the long walk to the castle. His eyes fluttered for a moment and had to put a hand on his forehead. He felt like a truck hit him.

"Sorry, I'm such a wuss."

"You're not a wuss," James quickly objected, staring at her intently. "This isn't something you can control." He pulled her in for another hug , which ended up being a bit more painful than expected.

Their hug was broken up by the mediwitch tugging on James' shirt. He let Penny go and looked up at the woman, awaiting some sort of reprimand or order to tell him to leave.

"And what happened to you?" She sounded suspicious. James averted his eyes, but could feel hers all over him, scanning his injuries.

"Got in a fight." James mumbled still not making eye contact.

"With Miss Matthews?!" she asked loudly, which caused James too look up quickly.

"No! No... not Penny. No definitely not. Someone else..." he stuttered quickly as he tried to explain himself.

"Well, nevermind explaining right now. Let me fix up that nose of yours."

"Erm, right." James made to stand up, and unfortunately too quickly. The blood seemed to drain from his face as a dizziness overcame him. Somehow he managed to steady himself instead of toppling to the floor.

"Mr. Potter, you should lie down," the mediwitch said carefully. Her voice still held an air of uncertainty.

"No, I-"

"Now please." she said pulling him away from Penny's bed. James gave Penny an apologetic glance. He didn't want to leave her side. She needed the attention, not him.

The nurse guided him to a bed next to Penny's and ushered him into it. She made him lay back a bit as she performed Episky on his nose, which caused James to suck in a breath from the quick sudden pain. But it was soon over. Now the nurse had him propped up as she nearly had to force feed him a potion, a typical draft that heals from the inside out. Finally the mediwitch was done fussing over him, and went on to do some other things. The potion was starting to warm him up and make him feel drowsy. James sighed as he looked back over to Penny, forcing himself to stay awake. He needed to be there for her.

WORDS: 760
TAGS: Penny
COMMENTS: I don't know how it go so long =P
LYRICS: "Can You Tell" - Ra Ra Riot

[Penny Matthews]

Sad, sad sight,
For sore, sore eyes,
And a headache for the weakest of minds.

[/size]

---
[/center]

Penny continued to wipe her eyes some as James said his words of comfort. She managed to smile a little, though now the initial upset had passed, she now just wanted to bury her head under the pillows of the bed and never resurface though embarrassment. It was all just so... weak and needy and vulnerable. She prefered it when she was the happy fo lucky girl that most people knew...

Soon James was pulling her into a second hug, and Penny gladly accepted it, gripping into him tightly, sighing into his chest. Oh how promising the day had begun, and it wasnt even lunch time yet and it was a bloody disaster... Penny breifly wondered whether her quidditch team had actually competed practise and whether Luc had stuck around to see them through. Luc was completely capable of leading the team through a practise. Penny sometimes thought he would do a better job as overall Captain. But she wasn't about to admit that to anyone...

Suddenly Penny jerked back from the warming embrace, as the freaking Mediwitch was back and now her next victim seemed to be James. She hurridly questioned him before ushering him to the neighboring bed. Why everything had to be done in quite such a rush was lost on the young Ravenclaw, surely it was just going to breed panic and insecurity among the patients. Surely that wasn't any good for anyone!

While she was contemplating the probable fact that she could go a better job of running the Hospital wing than that bloody woman, Penny lay back and rolled onto her side, resting her head on the pillow and just watched James as he got his nose fixed, which she flinched at when she heard the audiable gasp of pain. Then she watched him drink that vile potion before the witch finally auntered off once more... Penny stayed there, quietly watching for a while before she eventually spoke up in a soft and quietened voice.

She didn't want the other patients on the ward hearing her conversation, they probably already thought she and James had been fighting from the witches exclamations towards James, she had inwardly cringed at that moment, feeling the eyes in the room all trained upon her boyfriend. It couldn't be pleasant for him, being in the spotlight all the freaking time. Since Penny had been dating James, she had had a small taste of what it must have been like for him. Slytherins whispering about her, making comments, where as before, she was never really a Slytherin target... Last Hogsmeade trip she'd even caught some photographer trying to get a few snaps of her and James and then just of her when she was buying some quidditch supplies... The was bizaare.. Of course she had just smiled politely and then went on with her business... But she could definately see it becoming tiresome if it were to continue over a prolonged period of time...

"So, do you want to tell me why you laid into Lucas?" She asked in a non-accussing manner. Truth be told, she had a fairly decent idea as to why James had stomped out onto the pitch and picked a fight with her friend. But she wanted to ask him, get his side, find out what his specific insecurities were and then address them, together...

---

tag: Jamesie
words: 645
lyrics: you me at six - Jealous minds think alike
comments: confession tiiimee!

[James Potter]

Oh baby baby baby please
My heart sinks to my feet
What am I supposed to do
I think about you nightly

The potion was already starting to fog his mind, but James steadied himself while propping up on his elbows. He looked to Penny with heavy eyes, tired from not just the potion but also all the events of that morning. Thankfully his nose was feeling a bit better besides some residual pain, and his sore limbs were soon warming and feeling much better. James sighed weakly as he continued to look at Penny. It hurt him so much to see her laying there in the hospital and it was mostly his fault.

"So, do you want to tell me why you laid into Lucas?"

James' mouth hung open stupidly as his eyes darted to the floor. Admitting it to himself was hard enough, but saying it out loud would make it real. There was no way James could tell Penny that he was jealous and insecure. Though it was probably blatantly obvious. James didn't want Penny to know. He was too ashamed. Throughout his life he let down enough people with who he really was, he didn't want to let Penny down. It would hurt too much.

The pause had gone on for a few long minutes. James was sure Penny must be feeling at least a little bit impatient. But he couldn't tell, because he couldn't find it in himself to look at her. Seeing disappointment on her face would bring him down even more. He thought for a moment, and realized it couldn't get much worse than it already was.

"I, uh..." he stuttered. The awkward James was showing his face again. How was it that Penny, of all people, the one who makes him the most comfortable... can make him so nervous? "He..." James was one for book smarts, but when it came to forming a thought into words he was total crap. What could he say now? He, what? Looked at him the wrong way? Was hanging all over his girlfriend? Was a super popular jock with tons of friends? The list went on. "I dunno," he muttered finally, still staring anywhere else but at Penny. James shrugged and started pulling at the threads of his blanket.

Squaring his face suddenly, he looked up at Penny. "He's a prat," James said bitterly.

WORDS: 485
TAGS: Penny
COMMENTS: Poor James can't admit
LYRICS: "Can You Tell" - Ra Ra Riot

[Penny Matthews]

Sad, sad sight,
For sore, sore eyes,
And a headache for the weakest of minds.

[/size]

---
[/center]

He's a pratt... Penny just lay on her side, quietly contemplating his choice of words for a moment, as her eyes started to feel heavier all the time... But she fought off the sleep. Shifting a little against the pillow, Penny glanced sideways, which lead to the floor before she looked back up at James, who was now picking at threads on his covers.

Taking a breath, Penny tried again, "Yeah well, we can all be pratts sometimes. Can't we?" She placed plenty of emphasis on the 'we'. They had all acted prattish at some point that morning, including herself. She wanted to please everyone, which she full well knew usually resulted in pleasing no one. But she couldn't bare to make the kind of decision which could result in her losing either Luc or James. She loved James, but she also loved Luc, just sort of in a different way. But whatever her feelings, they were both strong and she just refused to give either of them up. Perhaps that was selfish, but right there, on that Hospital wing bed, Penny didn't care...

"So, why don't you talk to me about it? because as far as I was aware, we weren't in the kind of relationship where we keep secrets from one another. Unless I made a mistake?" She added softly, there was no accusing in her voice. She knew that James wasn't keeping anything major from her, it wasn't like he would go out and cheat on her and then start accussing her of cheating to make himself feel better. It was logical, but it wasn't James.

---

tag: Jamesie
words: 369
lyrics: you me at six - Jealous minds think alike
comments: sorry its a shorty! -sad face-