Unspoken Love

36: CLUES

TUESDAY

     When Dean awoke the next day he thought that his leg felt considerably better. The nurse had done some mending on it the day before but as he swung his feet over to the side of the bed, the weight of his body caused his leg to pang horribly. Fuck. It still throbbed as it did the day before and he wondered if the nurse could do anything else to ease the pain, to help him disguise it better. 

     He knew he couldn't afford to let Scorpius or Rose see him limp but it was nearly impossible to walk without pain shooting into his knee. He had quidditch practice tonight too, as long as he was in the air for the majority of it, he would be fine...it'll be fine..he repeated to himself. The clock showed him that he had thirty minutes to grab breakfast and check on Albus before his first class. He would be Dean for most of the day today, he decided. He figured if Rose and Scorpius saw Albus again, he might sustain another beating or verbal berate. 

     His first stop was the hospital wing where he graciously thanked the nurse for a new bandage change that he concealed under his trousers, and a few vials of pain relieving potion that he made a mental note to space out throughout the day. He hoped this would be enough to conceal his injury. He hobbled down to the Great Hall, wincing with almost every step. Scorpius and Rose weren't down at breakfast yet, thankfully, so Dean relaxed and allowed his body to naturally limp to the table. 

"Oi! You alright?" Jonathan called over to him. Shit, shit, shit! Dean straightened up and put on a neutral face. 

"Yeah! What do you mean?" Dean asked with an amused sort of smile. Jonathan gestured to his leg. 

"Oh, it's just a cramp!" Dean answered, flashing Jonathan a thumbs up to say, All good! Before turning away to gather some breakfast for Albus. Jonathan nodded and directed his attention back to Pearl, whom he was chatting to. 

     Dean knew he only cared because if anyone got injured, it would hurt their chances at the quidditch cup, but he couldn't have anyone noticing something they shouldn't. He hurried to the seventh floor, it was an excruciating walk up the several flights of stairs. By the time he made it to the cabinet, he was out of breath. He unlocked the cabinet doors to reveal Albus there, sitting on the floor with dark, sunken eyes staring straight at him. His face was completely blank as if he was just sleeping with his eyes open. 

"Um...Albus?" Dean asked, slightly frightened at the sight of him. For the first time through this entire ordeal, he felt a little wrong for what he was doing...but his slight remorse didn't last very long and he wouldn't allow it to stop him from getting to his end goal, "Albus, here. Eat." he handed Albus a sandwich, placing it in his limp hand. The only movement Albus made was to drop the sandwich on the floor, the rest of his body remained silent...frozen. 

"You're creeping me out. Just eat something, you look like you're a few days from death." Dean said, eyeing Albus uncertainly. 

"Close the door." Albus croaked. Dean blinked, he couldn't understand how Albus had so much willpower to resist him. To resist food. To resist the few moments he allowed him to see light. 

"But Albus-"

"If you're not going to let me out, then close the door." he said again in the same monosyllabic tone. The bucket Dean had put in the cabinet for him to micturate in was full of urine and Albus so wished it could be taken out, but he had to actively resist Dean, to make him so fed up that he might let him go, that was his strategy and he tried convincing himself that someday it might work. Dean almost didn't want to close the door, the fact that Albus was asking for it felt like a trick or something.

"How about...I leave this open...then it won't be dark." Dean decided. Albus shrugged as if it didn't matter to him anyway, but it did. He was overjoyed in fact, fresh air and light was something he craved so much. Dean stepped back, still feeling uncertain in his decision, he wasn't a professional kidnapper, if there ever was such a thing, and didn't know the proper protocol in keeping prisoners. Ultimately he walked away, he had to get to his first class anyways. Scorpius would be there, hopefully in need of some company.