Piggy Back Rides

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell had the weight of Archie on his back, leveraging it so that he could carry the far bigger and lankier boy up the many stairs to his dorm room, Orwell had some upper body strength and carrying Archie was hard but he didn't yet know a spell strong enough to be able to levitate him and Orwell knew he would feel bad if he'd woken him up to just get him back upstairs. So he was left, struggling up the many steps to the Gryffindor common room with not slight weight, where upon him finally reaching it he wasn't sure what he would do next. Orwell had no way of getting Archie inside his common room, and he couldn't take the boy to the Ravenclaw dorms with him, it was very likely that they would get caught and the king of flowers was trying his best this semester to stay out of trouble, given that it was OWL year, and it was that moment, that line of though that he cursed the fact they had to remain in different houses. Orwell knew the right thing to do was to carry his best friend up the many steps to Gryffindor and stay with him until he could find someone, probably a professor or a sneaking student who would be able to get Archie inside the common room so that he could sleep in peace, and free from the stresses that had plagued him earlier. He was walking slowly and as carefully as he could, trying his best to not jostle the weight on his back, it meant that Brock was moving as slowly as he could, trying his best to avoid being caught before he got to his destination knowing it would look better for them if they were at Gryffindor when they inevitable got caught.

Finally with a heavy layer of sweat on what felt like his entire body and what he was sure he could feel as slowly growing patch drool on a patch on his back, the king of flowers had finally reached the seventh floor and he let out a relieved sigh as he did so. He felt utterly worn out but just kept going until he was in front of the oh so familiar Gryffindor painting, however now he really was left with a real problem, he didn't want to wake Archie up just so that he'd be able to go inside, for all Orwell knew, waking his best friend would just result in him being unable to get back to sleep and would worry and stress all night without Orwell to calm him down. Orwell very carefully placed the sleeping form against the wall beside the Gryffindor entrance and then looked up and down the hallway, there were no classrooms on this floor so the likelihood of finding a professor to help him was unlikely, and he knew taking Archie to his own ravenclaw dorm if they got caught would land him and them in more trouble than just being caught out at night, so instead he decided he would just sit with Archie until someone came to them, until a professor or student would take Archie inside, or until morning, whichever it ended up being.

Orwell sat down next to where he'd placed the sleeping form, carefully moving Archie on to his side, so that he lay down with his head leaning on Orwell's thigh, and once he thought the boy was settled Brock took off his jumper and placed it on top of his friend's shoulders, resting a hand on his shoulder and slowly moving it in a soothing manner, keeping him close in as much of an embrace as he could given how they were sitting. Orwell was tired, he felt hungry, soon he'd probably feel cold and he was completely worn out from carrying his friend, but he would stay with him here on the cold ground keeping watch and doing what he knew Archie would do for him until he got help.
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[Ava King]

The baby's most comfortable spot seemed to be on her bladder. Not just gently resting. Nope. Pushed up against it, with all his might, like he wanted her to explode. It wasn't even pleasant, and Ava was sure she slept a lot easier with her first two pregnancies; though she was a lot younger during those pregnancies. This specific night, Ava had a restless sleep, only to be woken up half way through with a full bladder again. The Headmistress couldn't fall back asleep, and her mind was in no state to start on paperwork again, so she decided a walk was the only thing to fix this.
Sure, Cyndi would probably kill her for waking her up in the middle of the night. But only a little, and then Ava was sure she'd have some tea with her. So she began her slow waddle up to the Gryffindor House, only being stopped once by Vex, but she told him she would be out of her office for an hour or so and he promptly sped off. She decided she'd deal with that mess later. It felt like it had taken a million years, but the pregnant lady had finally made it to the Seventh Floor. Her eyes quickly landed on two students lounging outside of the House and she wondered briefly if it had actually taken her all night to get there, but she quickly reminded herself that she hadn't seen any other students, and only a quick glance out of the window told her it was still night. "Mr Brocken." She greeted as she approached, recognizing the students and that one was asleep. Her voice was firm, but she kept it quiet. "Care to explain what is happening?"

 

[Orwell Brocken]

The king of flowers just sat with a comfortable smile on his face, just settled on the ground, keeping watch of Archie until someone showed up, which actually didn't happen too much after he sat down on the ground with Archie at his lap, although he had no way of telling just how much time had passed since he'd first sat down. The boy looked up as the professor approached them, and he realised that this wasn't just any professor, but the headmistress who was pregnant and had been the one to give him and Archie into trouble after the protest and he glanced down at the boy in his lap, he stroked his hair lightly, before moving the boy slowly so that he could removing himself from him, so that if they were speaking he was far less likely to wake him up by accident, "Professor, I was outside in the gardens, and Archie I think, sleepwalked to the gardens, he seemed a little distressed so I did my best to calm him down before carrying him up here," Orwell told her whispering quietly so as not to wake him, hoping that his slight extension of the truth wouldn't be caught by the headmistress, "I just can't take him inside, can you help? Please?" he motioned slightly to behind him to explain what he was doing, hoping that the professor would pity him and at least not give Archie into trouble for it.
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[Ava King]

It was quite late at night, so Orwell's statement about being in the gardens didn't sit well with Ava, even if it had taken some time to calm down Archie, they both must have been out there quite late. And to sleep-walk seven floors, to the exact place your best friend was? Way too coincidental to be true, but Ava hadn't heard a peep from him all year, and he seemed to be doing what was right by his friend. That, mixed with the fact that she honestly could not be bothered having to deal with 'rule breakers' right now, especially since they didn't seem to be harming themselves or anyone else. Ava sighed, taking out her wand to levitate the sleeping boy. "I trust you can and will make it to your Common Room by yourself?" Ava asked.

 

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell looked back at the Archie with a nervous expression, sure that the headmistress would be true to her word and was pretty glad that they weren't about to get into trouble, this was pretty much a saving grace, he'd been doing so well in the year, he and Archie had. The boy nodded his head, and walked over to Archie, taking the jumper off the levitating sleeping boy and slipping it on, he glanced back at the professor, "Thanks," the boy thanked the professor, actually really thankful and grateful that she wasn't giving them into trouble. He gave Archie one last glance before walking away and heading up to his own dorm.
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