Closed We Crossed the Line

[Harper Alston]

((Set after this thread))

Harper felt sick. As the sight of the Hospital Wing came into view, her veins seemed to ice over, and her insides twisted themselves into an anxious knot. But there was no potion or spell that could make her feel better. If anything, she was going to feel even worse by the end of this visit.

She had just returned from the edge of the lake, where she'd spent the past hour searching for Lillith's broom, which the Hufflepuff had been forced to ditch after crashing into a tree. Harper had thought she'd memorized the spot in the trees where they'd left the broom, but when she'd looked, it was nowhere to be found. After some fruitless searching, she had accio'd the broom. The spell had worked, and the broom returned to her — in two pieces.

Whether the broom had snapped during the crash or after Harper had forcefully summoned it through a web of branches, she did not know. But no amount of wondering would change the fact that the broom was broken. She'd tried reparo to no success. Maybe someone better at magic would be able to fix it, but Harper knew that in the meantime, she had to tell Lillith what had happened.

Taking a deep breath, Harper entered the ward and almost immediately spotted her friend. She forced a smile and walked over awkwardly, her right hand clutching the two halves of the broom behind her back. "Hey," she started, trying to inject some enthusiasm into her voice but failing miserably. "How are you feeling?" She didn't want to start with the news, but she also didn't know how to lead up to it. For now, she would just focus on making sure Lillith was physically okay.

 

[Lillith Montgomery]

Lillith was sitting up on the hospital bed, the cover over her legs and a pillow to support her back. The nurse had given her something for her arm and she took an hour-long nap. Magic could do wonders for someone's injuries. They told her it wasn't broken and so it only had taken them an hour of rest and some cool magic-ey healer thing for it to heal. Her head was feeling much better too, her thoughts were more coherent and she was less doozy. She sat there nibbling on some chocolate and hugging her basket of sweets that she had asked one of her roommates to bring from her dorm.

Lillith looked up and smiled, seeing Harper. "Hey, Harper!" She greeted. "Oh! I'm feeling great! I got my sweets with me and my arm doesn't hurt anymore." She raised her once hurt arm around and did a wave. Lillith noticed Harper seemed to be down, though not sure why. Maybe she was hungry. "Do you want anything?" She asked gesturing at her basket of sweets. Lillith was normally not a sharer, so this was a big gesture for her. "You should take one." She bit her chocolate, freeing her arms and using them to raise her basket. Lillith didn't notice the broken broom that Harper was holding behind her back.

 

[Harper Alston]

...aaaand she was already starting to feel worse. Harper stared at the basket of sweets for a second too long before looking back up. She needed to take this one thing at a time. "That's great," Harper said, the edges of her smile softening. Lillith was cheerful, but not maniacally so, and Harper assumed the nurses had managed to fix whatever had been wrong with her. "How long do you have to stay here?" Okay, so she might be delaying things a little. But it was a legitimate question.

If Lillith had offered her a lolly just once, Harper could have probably ignored it. But as the Hufflepuff lifted the basket, Harper knew she couldn't wait any longer. "Um, no thank you. But I appreciate the offer." She immediately winced at how awkwardly formal she sounded. I appreciate the offer?? It was like she was talking to cranky old man who lived on her street and hated children, and not one of her best friends.

"Listen, um, I went to look for your broom and at first I couldn't find it but then I tried to summon it and—" great, she was rambling, "—I found it. But it was broken." Harper moved her right arm forward, revealing the two broken pieces, and held what was left of the broom out for Lillith to take if she wanted. "I'm really sorry," she said softly. "For that and for suggesting we even race in the first place."

 

[Lillith Montgomery]

"They said a few hours. They want to make sure nothing else was wrong." Lillith said, recalling what the nurse had told her. Lillith thought she was fine, she certainly felt great and so was her arm, but she wasn't going to ditch the hospital wing just because she wanted to. She had enough sense in her for that.
Lillith slightly frowned at Harper turning down her sweets. She looked at the basket and back up again when her friend's tone of voice changed. Her eyes widened when she saw the broken broom, a little burst of grief welled inside of her. Lillith let out a small sound. She looked at the snapped wood, it was once together and seamless. With two hands, she gently took the broom from Harper and lightly touched the splintered ends.

Lillith looked at Harper when she said. "Harper.. Don't apologise. It's not your fault." Unlike Lillith's usual cheerful tone, her voice was solemn. Lillith felt sadness for her broom but she didn't want her best friend to feel bad about it. Though she hated to admit it, it was entirely Lillith's fault that she hadn't been looking ahead of her. She placed the snapped pieces of the broom beside her and took one of Harper's hands. "Look. We might have gotten a bit carried away and one of us got hurt. But we're still second years and we tried to do some cool things that was a little too advanced for us. And that's probably a mistake on our parts—" She paused and moved aside a little. Lillith tapped on the spot beside her, gesturing Harper to sit. "—but I don't regret it! I had a lot of fun and people make mistakes. The broom is replaceable and my arm is perfectly good. So.. So, don't feel too bad about it!"

 

[Harper Alston]

The sound Lillith made tore into her heart, and all Harper wanted to do was disappear. She had avoided looking at the broom too closely after finding it, but now that she was holding it out, all she could see were the jagged, splintered ends of the wood. She didn't play Quidditch, but she had a feeling that losing your broom would feel a bit like losing your wand. As she stared at the pieces, a sudden rush of fear shot up her spine. Oh god, would she have to buy Lillith a new broom? There was no way her family could afford one. They couldn't even afford to get Harper a broom.

Lillith's voice cut through her thoughts, and Harper looked up as her friend first took the broom pieces, and then her hand. There was a solemnness in her voice that stopped Harper from trying to object and take responsibility. She listened quietly, taking a seat next to her friend. Lillith's words were like a balm, but she still couldn't completely shake her feelings of guilt. She considered her next words carefully, not wanting to inadvertently twist this into a situation where Lillith had to comfort her. She could deal with her guilt on her own time. But there was still one thing she had to know.

"I... I'm just so glad you're okay," Harper began. "When I heard you crash..." At the time of the accident, adrenaline had kicked in, putting her in autopilot as she dealt with the situation. But now, hours later, she couldn't help but think about how bad things could have been. She decided not to finish that thought. "Is your Quidditch season going to be okay? Are you going to be able to attend the next practice? Your broom — can you get another one in time? I could try to help..." She did have some birthday money saved up. It wouldn't cover a whole broom, but it was something.

 

[Lillith Montgomery]

Lillith gave Harper a tight hug when she started talking about the incident again. She didn't like to dwell on the past or of what couldn't happen. Most of Lillith's principles went along the line of, "if it didn't happen, no need to worry about it."

She released Harper from her hug when she mentioned quidditch. Lillith thought for a brief moment. Quidditch hadn't really come across to her head. "I can use one of the school brooms for now." Many new quidditch players played on the school brooms anyways, it wouldn't be a big deal during practice, and if she got to play this year, the games wouldn't hopefully be too affected. Lillith's eyes widened when she talked about helping her get a new broom. "No, no, no- no. Harper!" She wasn't sure how to explain to someone that her family was rich. "Don't worry about it! I've got it all covered!"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper winced slightly at the mention of a school broom. She knew from experience those weren't great. Hopefully it wouldn't interfere with Hufflepuff's performance in the next match since she knew their record was... less than stellar. She supposed there was one upside to Lillith being an alternate, though she hoped using a school broom wouldn't impede on Lillith's training.

"Okay, if you're sure..." Harper couldn't help the small rush of relief when Lillith said it would be fine. She decided to trust her friend. There was no point in dwelling on this longer than necessary. Besides, it did seem like Lillith would be okay. She was acting normally once again, and according to the nurses, her arm would be fine. "If you're going to use the school brooms, I guess I'll have to help you figure out a way to remove those annoying anti-flip charms," she said with a small smile.

 

[Lillith Montgomery]

Lillith grinned when Harper said she would help with the broom. "Yay!!"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper laughed, finally allowing herself to fully relax. Lillith seemed to be in good spirits — and not in an unnerving, slightly deranged way. "Okay, I'm going to let you rest and finish the rest of those lollies," she said, nodding towards the basket. It was a small miracle Lillith didn't have diabetes, and she wondered if wizards had a magical cure for that. "I'll see you later." She gave Lillith a quick hug, being careful to avoid the arm that had been injured, before waving and walking out of the room, feeling much better than before.