He was finally settled. It had taken an excruciating hour in the Hospital Wing simply to get him bandaged up, and another for the first round of potions to subdue the pain coursing through his body. He hardly felt like a person; his whole body felt like a foreign object, sort of like how a leg felt when it cramped up. He'd already asked thrice if they'd had to remove his fingers during the bandaging process, because he couldn't feel those at all.

But by the third hour, Cameron had settled into his sorrow. His team-mates had flocked to his bedside, given their well-wishes, and now he was left alone—or almost alone.

Only Sloane had remained after the others had left, though her initial silence made it easy to forget she was there. Her blue hair had faded, but it was burned into his mind as a reminder that she'd worried for him.

(And to be honest, it made him feel like he'd accomplished something that morning.)

"You missed Herbology," he said all of a sudden, his gaze slipping between her and the grandfather clock across the room from his bed. "Professor Skeeter might send out a search party."

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