This prison

Penelope's seemingly-innocent cold had suddenly threatened to turn to pneumonia before she finally gave in to her friends' and parents' insistence that she go check into the Hospital Wing. The poor pureblood brunette miserably did as she was told, changed into the patient's usual drab gowns, and waited as patiently as she could for some sort of healing.

The nurse had promised that Penelope could return to school sometime that day, and now she sat at the end of her bed, nervously itching her arm as she waited for the nurse to return with her clothes and free her from this sterile prison.

"Madame Lestrade, may I please leave now? I'm feeling much better, thank you!" She looked hopefully at the Matron of the Wing.

The woman rolled her eyes and bustled away. Penny let out a frustrated groan and flopped back onto the bed, kicking her legs in irritation.

The small sneeze Padril had gotten after his poorly timed misadventure in the rain had developed startlingly fast into something sinister. Coughing followed, stirring the coals that set his lungs afire. Sleeplessness, aches, and pain followed, until Padril dragged himself up from the Hufflepuff Commons to the Hospital Wing. Madame Lestrade has tsked, giving the expected lecture on how a quick visit to have a Pepperup Potion would have solved the problem before it happened. As it was, he had been cured and ordered to rest until he recovered from that temporary bout with insomnia.

He patiently laid in his bed, bringing a copy of Harriet Mill's Utilitarianism in the Wizarding to read. His father had been quite amused when he discovered that John Stuart Mill's wife had been a witch, and a prolific one at that. It wasn't exactly light reading, and it was as dry as all political thesis', but he was determined to claw through it. Padril preferred to avoid politics generally, but he also liked to be well-read; he determined that if he only read one political science book a year, he could remain a well-rounded individual without becoming completely boring. He glanced up at his neighbor, a young girl who he assumed had also been caught in the rain, as she asked to leave and was refused. The poor thing had been fidgeting the entire time she had been forced into the room. He really had to enact what he was reading and help out his fellow student. Thumbing the book close, he looked at her. Padril thought he recognised her from one of his classes; a 6th year Slytherin, whose name was Penny, or Penelope, or Pip, or something.

"Didn't you hear?" Padril asked her, trying his best to make his face look grave. "We've been diagnosed with the deadly Common Cold. We need to be contained, quarantined to prevent the epidemic from spreading. We can never leave." Oh please get black humour, he thought hopefully, otherwise the next few hours will be REALLY awkward.

((I'm taking an online course on Justice and I love that you mentioned Mill and Utilitarianism! This knowledge IS useful!))

Penny was absolutely miserable. She was separated from all of her books and her best friend absolutely refused to bring them to her because, as she said, Studying will not make you feel better. This is the universe stopping you so you can calm the hell down and just get some rest without cramming every useless fact that every professor threw at you!' Yeah, whatever, Audrey didn't get perfect O's, so what did she know?

Penny sighed. Who was she kidding? Audrey was much more put together than she would ever be.

A voice roused her and she turned her head, looking at the boy in the bed next to her. Her already pale face paled considerably more at his words and she sat up, her eyes wide as saucers as she stared at him. "W-what?" she whispered. She swallowed. "N-no. I have exams coming up! I c-can't be quarantined!"

((WOO, yes, I love me some political philosophy))

Padril was taken aback. He had expecting pessimism, confusion, not outright terror. The poor thing's eyes had gone so large, and her whisper dripped with dread. His heart melted into a puddle. "Oh, no, no, no," he reassured the girl. "I was joking. Just a bad joke. The cold is cured with Pepperup. We're fine. Oh dear, please don't cry." She must be having the most miserable day. And now that he thought about it, her priorities were a bit eschewed. Instead of being worried for her life, she was concerned about missing her exams. That, combined with her naivety, made him reconsider if she might actually be a Ravenclaw and he had misremembered the rumours.

He gulped, not really knowing how to make the girl feel better, or make the situation any less horrible. "So, uh, how did you get sick?" he asked, then thought better of his question. "UH, you know, unless it's personal, in which case, uh, forget I said anything. I got a cold when I went out in the storm on Tuesday because someone had thrown my homework in the courtyard. So, uh, yep." He blushed and concentrated at looking at the end of his bed. He should just keep his mouth shut, honestly.

The boy's expression immediately changed and, over her panic, her frazzled, tired brain was able to register the words he was saying to her. Her heartbeat calmed as her chest began to rise and fall at a more normal rate. She stared at him in mild confusion, still processing what it meant to joke. The poor thing was so gullible and so serious that jokes were so often lost on her. She swallowed and faintly, weakly, smiled. "Oh... It was a joke." At first, her mind was unable to see the humor but the more she thought about it, the more logic trumped her initial reaction. No one died of the common cold anymore. She chuckled weakly, saying, "I get it. My, that was embarrassing. I'm sorry, I can be..." She laughed again to hide her self criticism.

She finished the sentence. Stupid. Gullible. Foolish. Idiotic. Clueless. Hopeless. Useless.

She let out a shaky breath as she tried to fight through her usual self depreciation, turning her big, brown eyes on the boy. He explained why he had ended up where he was and she frowned. "People can be very rude," she said, by means of apology for her fellow classmate. "My best friend forced me to watch a Quidditch match in the rain because she likes the Seeker," she whispered back. "And she needed me there for support. She somehow didn't catch the cold though."

Padril glanced up when the girl continued to talk to him. She had calmed herself down, breathing in a more steady rhythm. She laughed at herself, and then said the most English thing he had ever heard ("people can be so rude") in her little voice. She was adorable! She seemed like one of those people that everyone should actively be trying to protect and keep safe. Naiveness could be grating on some people, Padril knew, but he thought it was endearing. He would just have to watch his jokes.

"That doesn't seem very good of her," Padril told Penelope, keeping voice at the same soft level. "Watching Quidditch. In the rain. While your best friend is watching a boy. When you don't want to be there. Sounds absolutely dreadful. You're a good friend though." He shifted his weight on the bed so he could turn and speak more easily, sliding his book gently to the ground, forgotten for now. Harriet Mill could wait, he decided.

"Who's your best friend?" he asked, curious.

Penny's cheeks flushed pink as he spoke. Now she felt bad. If Audrey heard that she had been complaining, what would she think? Audrey was a good friend - she had been the one to admit her to the hospital wing, and she had been sending her chocolates daily. Besides, she had some problem with being told she was in the right, because it was so often not the truth. Still, there was some part of her that was flushed with gratitude that someone seemed to be on her side.

"It wasn't terrible," she said in a quiet voice. "I mean... cold. But she really likes him, and he was a really nice guy, I think. If it means they are happy, I mean... I'll be fine." She swallowed and smiled, looking down at her feet nervously, before raising her head again. "Um, Audrey Montague. We're... we're sort of different, but she's a really good friend." She pointed to the chocolates on her bedside table. "She sent those."

Padril smiled when Penelope showed him the chocolates she had been receiving. Maybe this Audrey Montague had made a bad-friend move, but she clearly felt bad about the whole affair. Still, he was slightly uncomfortable. While he tried to encourage himself not to leap to any judgements, it seemed like it could be a very one-sided friendship, in favour of Montague. She would only need to do the occasional kindness to Penelope's fierce loyalty, by the look of it. Still, no judgements. He had no idea about the situation. Why the heck was he being so protective of this girl he had just met anyway?

"How did you guys become friends then, if you're so different?" Padril asked. Realizing they hadn't even met yet, he gave her a small wave "Also, hi, I'm Padril, 'Puff. Nice to meet you."

His question was a very valid one. Many people had posed the question - why had she and Audrey even become friends in the first place? Audrey was beautiful, flirty, confident and Penny was... Penny. Still. She shrugged and said, "Our parents were friends and always hosted these terrible little dinner parties that we really hated. It was full of mean little children who were spoiled and stuck up and Audrey and I would always hide together. She always stood up for me."

Penny smiled at the memory. Little had changed. She still stuck up for her at the ridiculous dinner parties, galas, and balls. She was shaken from these thoughts, however, when he introduced himself. She smiled and waved back. "I'm Penelope Macnair, Slytherin. You can call me Penny though." Her cheeks tinged pink. "You have an accent. You're not from around here?"

Padril aww'd when Penelope said Audrey stood up for her. It was a cute image, and it helped paint of a picture of their friendship in his head. Between the chocolates and the childhood friendship and the protection offered , this Audrey character seemed like a pretty alright person. He would like to see Penny and Audrey at the same time. It would be an interesting dynamic.

"Oh, good ear!" Padril said, surprised. "I'm from Australia, but my parents moved to England when I was ten. I thought I had dropped the accent, I suppose I still have something left over." He sat up on the bed, crossing his legs now that they were having a proper conversation. "I'll be honest, I'm surprised you're a Slytherin. You seem like a Hufflepuff to me. You're very nice." He gave her a smile, unaware of the unintentional insult he had just uttered.