~ROAC~ (incomplete)

"I try to speak, but nobody can hear
So I wait around for an answer to appear."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waiting. Just waiting, and worrying, and silence. Biting, heavy, uneasy silence. Bellamy couldn't find it in herself to speak, and it seemed like Regulus was having a similar problem, and so they just sat there, wordless, three seats separating them. The chairs here, just outside the door to the Hospital Wing, had teal cushions and metal backings. They reminded Bell of the chairs at the hospital where her mother had died, and her already-frayed nerves toed the breaking point as she, hand shaking, used a simple color-altering charm to change the cushions from teal to a pitch black. Regulus didn't even seem to notice. He was staring at the wall across from them, where a painting void of its human inhabitant showed rolling hills and smoke rising from the distance. Bell fixed her gaze on it as well, glad for the distraction, and felt exhaustion finally catch up to her. Her eyelids drooped and she pinched herself, determined to stay awake.

"Miss Roac? Mister Black?"

The girl in question looked up through bleary eyes at Madam Pomfrey and rose clumsily from her seat, her legs half-asleep and knees scraped and sore. Beside her, Regulus got up as well, and both Gryffindor and Slytherin waited for further words with bated breath. The Hogwarts nurse offered a slight smile after a short moment and Bell crossed her fingers behind her back.

"He's going to be alright."

Bell would have sunk to her knees with the weight of her relief had they not stiffened with dried blood and the ache of her three falls earlier that evening. Regulus put a hand on her shoulder. Normally, she would have shrugged him off and asked what in Merlin's name he thought he was doing, but tonight, she was so shaken and weary she didn't feel the need to. His hand stabilized her enough for her to lead the way into the Hospital Wing when Madam Pomfrey gestured for them both to do so.

Regulus' hand fell the moment Bell moved, but she hardly noticed when she saw Sirius lying on the bed closest to the door she'd entered through, clearly asleep. Her heart gave a jolt, the first thing crossing her mind the memory of him on the floor, unconscious, just a few hours prior, but when she saw the hearty rise and fall of his chest and the way his lips were tugged up just the slightest in his sleep, she relaxed. Although she trusted Madam Pomfrey, she'd had to see him to believe it, and now that she was sure he'd recover, her weary mind turned to thoughts of anger and confusion. Professor Slughorn stood to the side of the room, fiddling with his hands, as he stared out the window at the raging thunderstorm outside.

Why? Why Sirius, of all people? By Merlin's beard, what had happened? Did the other Marauders know anything about his conditions? Where even were they? Was this the trickery of someone? Then again, what else could it be? Bell sat in the chair positioned by Sirius' bed and reached out to touch his hand. It was warm, not cold as it had been when she'd knelt beside him and checked his pulse in the dorm, and she felt herself releasing the breath she had barely noticed herself holding in. Near her, Regulus stood, a good five feet back from the bed as if he wasn't sure he was supposed to be there.

"You're his brother," she thought aloud, and Regulus gave a start that she noticed out of the corner of her eye, still not taking her gaze off of Sirius. "You have a right to be here." The Slytherin boy seemed to calm at her words, and Bell moved her hands to fully hold one of Sirius'. 

"I-"

"Bell!"

Regulus immediately took another step back, hunching his shoulders and dropping his chin as if he didn't want to be noticed. Lily and Marlene burst into the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey shushing them so they wouldn't wake the other two patients across the room, and hurried over to Sirius' bedside and Bell.