the moon [h.s.] - EDITING

sixty-seven.

The night felt long. She wasn't getting better as Harry hoped she would. She coughed, tossed and turned, coughed some more, and talked in her sleep from feverish dreams.

In the morning, she tried to convince Harry she was fine again. She wanted to take a trip to London so bad. He knew it wasn't going to happen the moment she looked weak and faint. Then, when she had a sudden abdominal pain, he knew he had to do something.

She tried to fight him on it. She begged him not to take her to the hospital, but he wasn't going to let her stubbornness persuade him again. Luna had been worried about her health coverage. According to his mother, she could still see a general practitioner with some treatment free of charge. He was relieved his mother had been the one to convince Luna to get in the car.

The hospital had admitted Luna right away. She had met with the general practitioner and he was quick to order tests for Luna after learning her medical history.

She has her arms crossed and she's leaning back against a reclined bed in the emergency room wearing a backless hospital gown. "It's just a flare-up, Harry," Luna tells him.

Harry sits beside her bed. He looks around, but there isn't much to look at. A blue curtain is wrapped all around them to provide privacy. He then looks at Luna. "Your fever wasn't going away..."

She heaves a sigh, but it triggers a cough attack. She covers her mouth again then groans when she's done. "They're just going to suggest rest... Do you know how much these tests are going to cost me?"

"Luna, you might be covered. If not, I don't mind covering it myself. I just-"

"No! I don't need your help. I might not have an awesome high-paying career like you but-" she stops before she says something she doesn't mean. She brings her hands up to her face from tiredness and embarrassment. "I'm sorry... I'm just under a large amount of stress."

Harry bites his lip. He doesn't like it when she mentions his career as a way to put herself down. He sighs softly from it. "I know you're stressed," he tells her. "It's okay, Luna."

She brings her hands back down when a nurse pulls the curtain and steps in. Luna puts on a light smile as she greets her back.

Harry greets the nurse as well. He then watches as she tells Luna she'll be taking her bloodwork. He reaches for her hand. He holds it like he's held her hand whenever she has had to inject herself. The nurse had wrapped a band around her arm, sterilized her skin before then finding her vein and collecting several tubes of her blood.

She had squeezed his hand through the pinch and looked away from the sight. Once the nurse was all done, she let his hand go. "Now we wait," she whispers when the nurse leaves.

Harry brings his hands onto his lap and he looks at Luna. He watches as she rests her head back. "Maybe it'll go by fast... It's okay we have all day."

She scoffs. She's bothered and tired and maybe she didn't need to be reminded that they might be stuck in the hospital all day.

»»

He has a bursting headache from having an empty stomach, but he shouldn't complain. Not when Luna has been sitting in the hospital bed with constant pain and IV fluids coursing through her to help. It's been a few long hours until the general practitioner walks in again. Harry sits up from the sound of the moving curtain. Luna opens her eyes as well.

"Luna! How are we holding up?"

"Well, Dr. Wilson, I'm trying to hold up."

Dr. Wilson holds onto his tablet, he's looking down at it and then sighs. He finally closes the curtain close behind him. "So we just got your test results back and I have to say they're very abnormal."