WHO: Seth and Henry Wadcock
WHAT: Henry's last day in the hospital
WHERE: St. Mungo's
WHEN: ERRR A few weeks ago ♥



Seth was not avoiding his brother. He was there when he woke up in the hospital, saw that he was alive with his own eyes, but then the healer insisted that Seth need to go get his arm looked at one last time before they let him leave. So he slipped out the door quietly leaving Henry with Heidi. Sticking around would be intruding anyways. Then he got a message from the Nanny informing him that Leanne was freaking out because he hadn’t been home in days. So of course he had to leave and go check on her.

The rest of the week went along those lines too. One thing coming up after the other. Getting things in order with the reserve beater, postponing W.Q.W. events, telling the papers ‘No I do not have a comment, go away’. Generally trying to keep everything from falling apart. Keeping busy helped him not think about everything that just happened.

And of course he visited Henry. He wasn’t heartless. It just so happened that every time he was there Henry either already had visitors (Seth pointedly avoided the room while Delilah was there) or he was sleeping, like he was now. Seth was leaning against the door frame debating on going inside and sitting down. It was one of the few times he actually found the room empty. The healers had said that Henry could leave in the morning so Heidi was most likely at the house or running some other errand to get ready. That and Seth was pretty sure that visiting hours were over and the nurses just didn’t feel like arguing with him at the point, so they just let him stand there hovering like he always did.

Henry had lived a relatively normal life, for a wizard. He grew up with two parents and a brother, he’d gone off to Hogwarts and graduated without a hitch. He’d found a job right out of school and had become rather successful in his field. Some might say he was the guy you wanted if you cared about your career. Which was great, which was good for him. He’d always lived in his brother’s shadow and now he was finally able to call something his own; Henry felt like he was actually the top of his game and no one could take that away from him.

Except this madman with a gun. Henry had fallen in and out of consciousness when he and his brother had made it to St. Mungo’s, and the frantic images of the healers, the bright lights and the searing pain only reminded him of how very close he’d come to death. These past few days in the hospital helped remind him that he had plenty to live for, what with his son and the woman he was planning to marry, but still. It made him wonder how exactly his relatively normal life had done something of a complete one-eighty within the past two years or so. Life had never had this much going on in it, before.

He let out a breath from his nose, a sound from outside his hospital room stirring him awake. Henry had been used to visitors coming in and out (loudly, in some cases), so he wasn’t surprised that he spotted Seth in the room when he cracked open his eyes. Henry didn’t particularly like being the center of attention, and he put a hand to his face, wishing his brother would look away.

“What time is it?” he muttered.

Seth startled from his zoned out state at the sound of Henry’s voice. He had always managed to slip out before he woke up. Perhaps coming inside and sitting down was a bad idea, but then again it probably wasn’t hard for him to miss the fact that Henry was waking up when he wasn’t actually looking at his brother. The spot on the wall just behind his head. Or the pillow left of his ear. Or the blanket cover his gown that was covering the bandage that was covering the wound where he got shot.

He blinked away quickly, looking down at his watch. “A little after eight,” he answered quietly.

He shifted in the chair uneasily, scratching at his shoulder that was constantly itching these past few days. This was the first time he was in the room with his brother while he was awake and coherent since before and Seth had no idea what to say. Everything, ‘how are you feeling?,’ ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘I’m glad you’re not dead,’ it all sounded trite and meaningless. What were you suppose to say to someone whose last words to you were ‘Shut up’?

“I probably shouldn’t be here. The nurses will yell at me again if they hear I woke you up.”

“How’s your arm?” Henry managed, letting out a breath. He wasn’t in very much pain, by now. Since it was a muggle injury, the potions were slower to work, but he was just feeling sore. Getting splinched, however, was no walk in the park, and while the healers had said that the splinching only caused his wound to open up more, Seth’s nearly cut off arm was more alarming to him. “Have you been back to practice?”

It was of course what Henry was concerned about. Seth had to get back on the pitch, they had to reschedule their W.Q.W. event and make things look fine. There was no need to add any dramatics. There had been an accident and now things were fine. To Henry, this was just a little hiccup. He had been of course terrified in the moment, but the healers of St. Mungo’s were the best in the world, or at least he thought so. No need to dwell---he had to get back home. To Brandon, and Heidi, to work.

Henry pushed his elbows into the mattress, grimacing as he sat up. He was going to be sore for weeks, he figured. He looked over at Seth, confused, “Why shouldn’t you be here?”

Seth stopped scratching his shoulder when Henry asked after it. “Still there, it itches. Healers say that there shouldn’t be any permanent damage if I can manage to leave it alone and not use it while it heals.” He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “Not yet. It’s going to suck when I do though. My shoulder is going to be beyond stiff with all the brand new muscle and skin they had to grow back.”

He frowned that the ceiling, wondering how Henry could be asking after him so calming, like nothing even happened. He had always had the cooler head out of the two of them, but even still. He sat up straighter catching the grimace out of the corner of his eye. “Hey, are you-- should you-- don’t hurt yourself, maybe you should lie back down,” he said quickly nearly missing Henry’s question all together.

He finally looked Henry in the eyes somewhat surprised he was even asking. He felt like Henry should know the answer. But then again, maybe he was doing a good job of keeping the gut-wrenching guilt he felt from showing on his face. “Dunno. Visiting hours are over and you should probably be resting.” He offered up as a thin excuse. "I'm sure you've dealt with enough people for one day. I saw Spinnet in here earlier."

“Don’t tell Delilah, but I was feigning sleep when I heard her coming,” Henry said with an impish grin. He enjoyed the woman’s company, but with how sore he was, Henry had not wanted to risk getting injured any more by one of Spinnet’s notorious tackle-hugs He chose to ignore Seth’s obvious looks of concern and heaved a sigh, having grown bored of being in the hospital. He was tired of sleeping, tired of doing nothing, and tired of the worried glances and pitying looks. He was fine, he’d survived. Let’s move on.

As a matter of fact---Henry sucked in a breath as he pushed away the covers, slinging his feet over the side of the bed. He let out an ‘oof’ at being so upright. It felt like he hadn’t gotten up in days, and that was pretty much the truth. “Will you get me my robe? I need some fresh air.”

He put his hand out impatiently, making a grabbing gesture. “Hurry up, before the evil nurse comes back.” And oh, was she evil!

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Seth said watching Henry as he pushed back his covers. He made no move to get his robe. As much as didn’t listen to the nurses, he only splinched his arm, he didn’t almost die. “Here, I’ll open the window or something.” He offered instead getting up to make his way across the room.

When he turned back he found that Henry wasn’t good at listening him either and was going to get his robe with or without Seth’s help. “Henry! You shouldn’t--Can you please just-- just wait a minute, okay.” Seth finally gave up resigned, because when he stopped and thought about it he would be acting the same in Henry’s place. He did act the exact same way, but the circumstances were different. He grabbed the robe that Henry was nowhere near getting on his own, and settled it on his brother shoulders.

“If you insist on going outside, I’m not going to stop you, but can you just slow down a bit and give me a moment to catch up, please,” he asked quietly. Seth was terrible with emotions. Having them, expressing them, dealing with them, all of it was difficult on a normal day under normal circumstances. “You were shot Henry, right in front of me and I thought you were going to die right there knowing exactly how much pain you were in,” he said looking away from his brother. “So just give me a minute to appreciate the fact that I didn’t get you killed before going off and doing something reckless because you’re tired of sitting in bed all day.”

Henry was not expecting such opposition from his brother. He would’ve thought Seth would be right behind him, dragging him to Fortescue’s or onto the pitch for a pick up game. Henry stopped button the clasps of his robe as Seth went off and he stared on in surprise. What on earth was Seth going on about? Henry smirked and shook his head.

“You didn’t almost get me killed,” Henry said, looking incredulous. He understood how his brother could feel that way, but it didn’t mean he had to. He shouldn’t. Accidents happened, Seth wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, so...he shouldn’t feel that way. Henry let out a breath and finished his clasps. They weren’t going to talk about this. “You’re going to get me caught by Evil Nurse, so I suggest you stop brooding and hurry it up.”

He wasn’t used to breaking the rules and the slight adrenaline rush it brought a person, so Henry really couldn’t help the slight giddiness that was overwhelming him. He hurried into his shoes, feeling wobbly because he had not walked much in the past week. His mind was racing at a record speed; it was like this stay in the hospital had turned on some portion of his brain that hadn’t been active before. No, not the stay--the near fatal experience he’d endured, “Come on!”

Seth wanted to insist that, yes he did in fact almost get him killed, and ignoring the issue wasn’t going to make it go away, but he was too caught up in the fact that Henry was so insistent on leaving. Leaving when he wasn’t supposed to while Seth stood there and tried to stop him. The realization of the practical role reversal killed any argument he was going to make. While Seth was more than capable of being responsible, he had no desire to ever be the more responsible one out of the two of them. Their conversation could be put on hold for the moment.

In sixth year, a prank Seth had played may or may not have caused Henry to have to go to the hospital wing, so to make up for it then, Seth had gone to go and sneak his brother out early so Henry wouldn’t be stuck there all night. Which would have sucked because those cots were horrible to sleep on. Except then Henry promptly tattled on him and he got an earful from Madam Pomfrey about how patients needed time to heal, and she was the only one who would determine when someone was ready to leave her wing.

“Alright,” Seth said moving towards the door. He poked his head out and looked around the corner. “She just went into the room next door, and from what I’ve gathered from my hovering is that guy is extremely needy.” If there was anything Seth retained from Hogwarts it was how to sneak out of his dorm and into places he wasn’t supposed to be. He looked back to Henry who was successfully in his shoes standing behind him. “That gives us about five minutes to get down the hall to the elevator. Ready?”