February 8th, 1890 — Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch

A cold Saturday morning was clearly the best time for quidditch practice—in the eyes of their captain, at least. The wind was raging and every breath was met with difficulty. He was already preparing a mental list of ingredients needed to make a basic cough syrup; there was no way he wouldn't be needing it later in the afternoon. Cameron supposed quidditch, despite the harsh climate, was a better way to spend his morning than an early class, but there was another problem: Sloane Bixby.

Because of her involvement in literally everything (bar Divination class) he did, there was no escaping the tension that had built up since the beginning of the school year. She was always around him—in class, at dinner, in the common room, and here. On the quidditch pitch. It usually wasn't a distraction due to the differences in their position, but today that was not the case.

Cameron had paused mid-air on his broom, trying to catch his breath, when his eyes wandered to Sloane chasing the snitch. She wasn't going very fast, but neither was the snitch; it seemed to be taunting her. Cameron was suddenly shaken from his thoughts but taunting, too, and without a second to spare the quaffle came flying in his direction.

Down he went, knocked right off his broom from a clumsy attempt to catch a quaffle out of reach. He landed with a hard thud, but one that was assuredly softened by a cushioning charm from somewhere. Cameron groaned in pain, his arm instinctively reaching towards his leg... which he couldn't feel.

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Sloane Bixby | For the February Challenge

The following 2 users Like Cameron Gillenwater's post:2 users Like Cameron Gillenwater's post
   Sloane Bixby, Stella Beauregard

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Everything was still out of whack, but Sloane refused to let it get to her. It seemed like there was no end insight and though it pained her still, what else could she do. Cam refused to be honest with her about whatever it was that was going on or whatever it was that she'd done to throw the whole friendship off kilter, and she couldn't figure out what else to do. Unfortunately they couldn't get away from one another, though she tried to give the situation and him as much space as she could, there wasn't much to be done about classes of quidditch practice.

For what it was worth, they didn't cross paths much at practice anyway. She had a very specific skill to hone that needed no assistance from chasers really and so they were on opposite ends of the field doing what they needed to do. Thank Merlin for that. It was fucking cold out this morning though and that she didn't appreciate. Maybe it was the cold or the frustration getting to her, but she felt like the damn snitch was toying with her and she was over it.

Gone was her attention to the task however, when she heard shouts from the other end of pitch, her teammates starting to gather on the ground. Abandoning the snitch, she sped down the field to see what was the matter. The panic was easy to see on everyone's faces as two of her teammates raced away to get the nurse from the infirmary while another looked like she might in fact faint. Fortunately, Sloane was made of stronger stuff, thanks to four older brothers and so when she saw Cam's leg in its current position, she sucked in a deep breath and knelt down next to him, issues between them be damned.

"Have a bit of a fall have you?" Her tone was light, but her brows knit together in concern despite her best efforts.

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It wasn't as if he could actually do it, but Cameron felt the overwhelming urge to flee at Sloane's proximity. He'd been fairly good at avoiding her in recent weeks, going as finding new corridors that led to his classes so he could avoid talking to her on the way to class. There was no avoiding her now, though.

"Just a bit," he groaned, unable to do much except squirm uncomfortably. His leg was trapped under his body at the most uncomfortable angle, and the only way to get up was pushing off of it. "I don't think I can get up."

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Knowing he probably probably couldn't, Sloane sat down a little more properly next to him. It looked like everybody was going to panic, Cam included and though Sloane was not known to keep her cool, she was capable, when necessary.

"Looks like we'll just have to wait for the nurse then." It was definitely the best course of action. "It's not the worst I've seen." Maybe a little distraction would help. For all their awkwardness lately, Sloane could push it all aside. Absentmindedly she reached out to pat his arm, unsure of who she was trying to comfort more. Her fingers lingering probably a little longer than strictly necessary, but she wasn't paying too close of attention. "Wallace jumped off the roof once, in an attempt to force his magic before he'd shown any signs. Bone sticking out of the skin and everything, it was gruesome." Sloane had been the first to hear him howling in the garden, followed quickly by their mother. Sloane would never forget the look one either of their faces at the moment.

Maybe that wasn't the best of ways to try and dissolve the tension surrounding the incident, but Sloane wasn't exactly sure what else to do, but keep him conscious and talking.

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"Not the worst, eh?" he asked through gritted teeth. Nothing was more painful than trying to think up a good, proper response—not even his leg. In fact, he could barely feel anything while lying completely still; the pain only came when he tried to move. He let out a hiss as he tried to readjust his position, finding that the pain went farther up than his leg, traveling into his hip and lower stomach.

"Of course, I can't imagine you can see much." His leg was completely underneath him from the knee down, and he felt a strain in his thigh that he'd never felt before. The only upside to this was that they didn't have a quidditch match this month.

"Please tell me she'll be here soon. I feel like I'm going to... going to hurl." And then he did.

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"Quit your whining," Was what she intended to say, but he sounded so pitiful right now, she didn't have the heart to tease him about it anymore. Even the wretching didn't phase her, Sloane simply vanished it with with a wave of her wand.

"Really soon, yeah." She assured him with a wry smile, sliding her hand down to his to give it a tight squeeze, though she looked away briefly to in fact ascertain if the nurse was actually coming.

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Something could be said for the amount of comfort even a small squeeze of his hand from Sloane could give, but he was unable to enjoy even that because of the immense pain that began crawling up his thigh. Whatever had caused the pain to numb was slowing fading away, similar to the sensation of a pain potion wearing off.

Thankfully, the nurse arrived soon after, and Cameron was being twisted and turned in the most uncomfortable manner. He hissed and gasped and even gave a little cry to his embarrassment, but tried his best to restrain his emotions, if only for the sake of leaving Sloane with little to tease him about later.

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Unfortunately (but not really), now that the nurse was here, her job was done and so with another quick squeeze of their joined hands, Sloane moved away enough to let the nurse get in and do her thing. She hovered nearby, now proven utterly useless; her fretting wouldn't do anyone any good right now.

Visibly, she looked appropriately concerned. However, the blue ends of her hair, were they visible currently, would have given away her true worries, but as it was, she could panic about it later, once he we settled and not broken. Now she had to wonder how long it would be before she could go harass him in the infirmary.

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Without a word, Cammie allowed himself to be picked up and placed on a magical gurney, but not without giving Sloane a reassuring smile. Even though they weren't on speaking terms right now, he still felt he knew her better than most people, and seeing the blue tips of her hair left no doubt in his mind that she was worried for him.

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Xenial feelings reminiscent of their previous friendship bubbled up to the surface and Sloane was surprised by the following sentiment; relief. Of course she was nowhere near happy that he'd just shattered his leg in several places, but it would suit them to need something that dramatic to reignite their friendship- or at least put it on the right path.

Young and emotional, that's what her mother always said. Sloane was sick of this shit.

Zealotry** be damned at this point, maybe she was just going to have to be an annoying pain in his ass after all; at least until their friendship was back to the way it used to be. With that decision made, she stomped her way across the pitch behind the nurse to start right away.

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*friendly, hospitable; a friendly relationship between two people
**excessive and uncompromising intolerance of opposing views

  

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