Shorts (Literally. Maybe Even Coming Off.)

Sam Gillespie + Ben Killinger (4)

¥end of dream¥

Sam entered his room around dinner time. He needed to do more exercises. He had skipped his lunch time session in favor of taking care of Ben, but he really needed to do it now. Not having it done was making him feel anxious and jumpy.

He glanced fondly at the lump that he knew was Ben. The poor kid was still sleeping. He wondered what had put such a strange notion inside the kid's head. Eating till he puked didn't sound like a great form of entertainment to him. Then again, eating at all wasn't a great form of entertainment.

He heard a whimpering from the bed and frowned, Ben's stomach shouldn't still be hurting him unless something was very wrong. He walked over the the side of the bed closest to the lump, trying to see his face. Tears flowed down the curly haired boy's cheeks. He was whispering, "I'm sorry," over and over.

Sam shook him gently. "Wake up. It's alright. You're ok." He tried to sooth the panicked boy, who seemed to think he was someone named Garrett. "It's Sam. Remember me? You're in my bed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You had a nasty stomach ache last night but you're feeling better now, I hope."

Ben calmed down enough to remember where he was but he was still crying and very upset. "You just had a dream. That's all it was. A dream."

"It wasn't just a dream." Ben kept shaking his head. "It wasn't."

Sam realized that this situation had become something too difficult for him to handle so he quickly apparated them to Madam Pomphrey at the hospital wing. She put Ben into a bed to look at later, as she had some more serious cases to attend to first. "Why aren't you down at dinner, Sam? You need to get some meat on your bones. Go there now."

"Yes ma'am," he replied, jogging out the infirmary and back to his dorm. As he began on his many set of crunches, push ups, jumping jacks, candle sticks, and the like he thought about adding a jog to every session. He needed to be stronger if he ever had to carry Ben somewhere again, which he feared would happen soon.

Since it was already so late, Ben stayed in the infirmary overnight. Sam got up extra early so he could go see him before class. Ben was still sleeping so he asked madam pomphrey how he was doing. "He'll be fine soon. He'd just had a bad dream about an old friend who died and was nearing hysterics. I gave him a sedative which should keep him out for a while. He was very dehydrated as well, so I'm using an iv to give him more fluids."

"I'm so sorry. I forgot to mention that yesterday. Wednesday night he over did it a little in the eating department and had a rough next day, which is why he wasn't in any of his classes. I'm sure you understand and this should explain the dehydration."

"That makes a lot of sense, dear. So you were nursing him through that? I hope you didn't neglect any of your studies."

"No ma'am, I've been very attentive in all my lessons."

"You should be more attentive at meal time. I have a mind to make you get on a scale-"

He interrupted her. "Could I have a stomach soother? I've been feeling a tad under the weather myself and if I don't use it, I'm sure Ben will."

"Oh, are you two rooming together now? I'll have all of Ben's things moved to your dorm then."

Before sam could protest, he had to dash off to class, or he would be late. This would be an interesting experience that he was not looking forward to.