"Why?" Draco asks. I smile again and run over to the edge of the lake.
"Because it'll be fun! Please? For me?" He sighs and walks over to where I stand at the edge of the beautiful Black Lake.
"Fine," he says. He gives me a devilish grin and pushes me forwards, I fall face first into the lake. I feel him kneel next to me. I get on my knees coughing and sputtering, my hand on my chest.
I know I had sucked water into my lungs when I fell. I push him and stand up, almost falling over again. He stood up and had caught me before I truly fell.
"Sorry," he mutters quietly. I push him and wriggle out of his grasp, every movement hurting.
"Shut up . . . hospital . . . wing," I say between coughs, barely able to at that because of the water and no doubt mud in my lungs. He nods and picks me up bridal-style. I close my eyes, feeling a little dizzy being off me feet.
I must have passed out because an hour later I wake up in the hospital wing of the castle. I start to sit up but change my mind, every movement still hurting. So I stay laying down, my head on a plushy pillow. I turn my head to the right to see my father in a chair looking worried. I give a small smile. "I'm alright," I say in a hoarse voice. He puts his hand on my head.
"I'll believe that when you're up and about again," he says. I put my hand on top of his. He takes hold of mine and rubs it lightly with his thumb. He gives me a crooked smile. I smile back. Madam Pomfrey walks over and looks at me with a smile.
"How are you doing deary?" she asks.
"Every movement besides breathing and talking hurts," I answer. She nods with a small sigh.
"I can get you something for that, then I want you up and walking once it settles in," she says. I nod and she turns and walks off. I look at Dad and he's rested his hand back on my head. I smile at him. He leans forwards to kiss my cheek.
"I love you, darling," he whispers.
"I love you, too, Dad," I reply, whispering as well. He stands up as Pomfrey walks back over with a vial in hand.
"I have some work to do, if you get out before I'm back come find me," he says. I nod. Madam Pomfrey gives me the vial and I drink it.
"Blegh! Disgusting," I mutter. She shakes her head.
"What were you expecting, pumpkin juice?" she asks. I shake my head.
"Not that gross," I reply, my voice hoarse. She nods and leaves with the now empty vial in hand. I look up at the ceiling and hear clicking heels come back. I look at Pomfrey. She hands me a cup and helps me sit up.
"Drink, your throat will feel better," she orders. I nod and take a sip of cold water as she walks away. Suddenly Rosa comes running in.
"Rosie! I heard what happened! Are you alright?" she asks, loud and hurridly, stopping by my bed. I smile at her and nod.
"I'm fine! Once this potion Madam Pomfrey gave me settles in I can leave," I say. Rosa smiles at me, eyes full of reliefe.
"Good! Professor Snape told me what happened and I was worried!" she replies. I smile and take another drink of my water. The cold water was soothing on my dry throat. I sighed happily.
"Don't worry," I say. I swing my legs off the bed. I hop off and onto my feet. I wobble but keep my balance. "I'm good!" I exclaim. Rosa laughs a little.
"Don't fall!" she said. I giggled and she grabbed one of my arms. She helped me to keep my balance as we left the hospital wing.
"I have to go see Professor Snape, he wanted me to go find him if I got out before he came back to visit me," I see. Rosa nodded and we headed down to the dungeons. Once in the dungeons I lead the way to Dad's office.
Inside Dad's office, Dad was sitting behind his desk clearly grading papers. By then I was fine to walk on my own so I walked straight to Dad. He looked up at me. "Hello, Rosie. I'm glad to see you're up and walking," he says. I smile and nod.
"Nothing gets me down!" I exclaim. He smiles. I giggle and turn to Rosa who had rolled her eyes.
"You're a doofus," she says. I laugh.
"But that's why you love me!" I say. She walks over and slings her arm over my shoulder.
"Actually, I think we love you because well . . . . it's impossible to hate you," she replies. I smile.
"I can agree to that," Dad adds. I turn and smile at him. He had his chair turned to me. He pulls me onto his lap, his arms tight around me. I lean my head against his chest happily. I hadn't realized I fell asleep until I woke up, still sitting on Dad's lap, though he's now working on something. I felt his hand lightly on my side. I watch him as he did some writing. He had a battered and old but still beautiful, black spotted, emerald-green feather quill in his hand. I smiled. I remembered getting that with him.
We had been walking down Diagon Alley, we were getting supplies for the potions he works on. I needed some quills since I kept losing them around the house so we walked into Amanuensis Quills. It is next to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. I got just cheap, plain black, grey, and white quills that really didn't matter. But I had spotter the emerald green quill and pointed it out to Dad. He looked at it curiously. He liked it of course, and I of course knew I wouldn't get it but I thought it was pretty; I voiced my thoughts to him. He smiled and bought my quills.
He gave me money and sent me to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. I accepted readily, bag of quills in hand, and ran off to get ice cream. I ordered my favorite: chocolate and raspberry! As I sat outside eating, Dad comes out of the quill shop, a small bag in hand. I looked at him curiously as he came of and sat in front of me. "What did you get?" I asked. He just smile at me.
"I got myself a quill," he said, nothing else. I shrugged and ate my ice cream, after giving him the change back of course.
When we got home Dad headed to his study where he usually holed himself up until meals. I was bored so I had gone in after an hour or so of reading in the sitting room, though it was more like a small library because the walls were lined with nothing but books until they stopped at the fireplace. Dad sat at his desk scribbling something down with the black and green quill. I ran over and smiled. "You got the quill!" He laughed and pulled me to his lap.
"Of course. And while we wait the year until you can come with me, I'll think of you when I use it," he replied.
