Damnit girl!

[Watson Faulkner]

Narrowing his eyes, his lips thinning. He wasn’t sure he liked anyone presuming anything about him. He certainly didn’t like playing into those presumptions. She must think he was some sort of joke with her laughing eyes and her barely concealed amusement. He’d swear that with every passing month his conviction that all women were insufferable and born to cause trouble only grew. Only his mother was a sole exception and he held minimal hope for his sisters. All that aside, he was raised to be a gentleman no matter what others said about him. He might not have a high opinion of any of the girls in the school but he certainly wouldn’t purposely mistreat them.

“No, I will take--” The girl closed her eyes suddenly and her face paled. She swayed and with a growl, Wat tossed aside his bat and stepped forward, strong, gloved hands moving to cup her elbows and steady her. “You aren’t going to faint, are you?” He sounded slightly accusatory and more than a little concerned.

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne was getting the distinct impression Mr Bludger-Hitter wasn’t impressed with her at all, but she was more concerned with the fact that the sky was spinning and the earth seemed to be moving and everything was just whirling. She was vaguely aware of Mr Faulkner grabbing her elbows, and she opened her eyes to try to fix her vision, but the spinning was frankly nauseating and she shut them after a heartbeat.

Anne tried to open her mouth to make another comment but she felt the earth go from under her feet. She tried to grab at the man’s arm as she began to fall backwards.

  

[Watson Faulkner]

Watson watched her, his lip very slowly curling as she seemed more and more likely to swoon. Was it socially acceptable for him to turn and run so that he could claim he hadn’t seen her fall? Maybe he could get one of the other players to help? But they were one of the only teams who was steadfastly all male and he doubted any of them would want to deal with it either. When she closed her eyes, Wat looked around frantically but for some reason, suddenly the pitch was empty but for the last few practice runs going on above him.

He heard a warning shout just as Ribgirl grabbed at his arm. She was going down! There was a familiar whizzing sound coming at them. Without much time to react, he grabbed the girl a bit more roughly than she was probably used to and using a bit of muscle, shoved while still maintaining a grip, switching places with her and grunting as the bludger hit he staggered forward a step and nearly into Ribgirl. He made a mental note to return the favor once he dealt with….oh right, Ribgirl.

Rolling his shoulders and trying to shake off the blow that had gotten him lower in the back and was threatening to trigger a spasm, he tentatively released his grip on the girl but hovered, ready to keep her from falling...at least too hard.

“Do not faint.” Why him?

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne was vaguely aware of a shout and Mr Faulkner grabbing her, rather ferociously, and that the world seemed to spin for a moment before she worked out the she HAD actually been spun around to switch places with her yearmate. It took her a few seconds to come to her senses, just in time to see the boy get hit by something and nearly stagger into her.

“What-” She blinked, a little dazed and confused by everything that had happened. “No, not going to faint.” She quickly added in response, trying to make sense of the situation. “Are you ok? What- what just happened?” Anne half asked, half mumbled, rubbing her head a little.

  

[Watson Faulkner]

A grunt escaped him as a spasm seized his lower back painfully. Holding up a hand to stall her questions as he tried to breathe through the pain, Wat closed his eyes, senses still alert to any more incoming bludgers. Stupid girl, and all of this for a damn cat! He suddenly hated cats quite a lot. "I'm fine!"

He hadn't meant to snap at her, not really at least, but it felt like someone was twisting a knife in his lower back. Taking a deep breath, he let it out on a hiss and the lurched forward, movements made stiff by pain and took Ribgirl by the elbow. They needed to get off the pitch before the girl took a bludger to the head. "Karma. Now let's go. You need to be checked out by the nurse."

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne flinched slightly as Mr Faulkner snapped. Quidditch players must really struggle to perfect their manners, she figured, and in fairness he had just taken a bludger for her. Sort off. Ish.

She was trying to regain some composure when the boy grabbed her by the elbow and began half leading, half dragging her off the pitch. Despite having an older brother and being rather a tomboy in her younger years in challenging several boys to fencing or archery matches and winning, she wasn’t quite used to being handled in such an abrupt manner and stumbled a little, catching herself quickly. Anne debated making a comment about what Karma he could be refering to seeing as he was so adamant he didn’t hit her intentionally, but thought the better of it. He was carrying a bat, after all.

“Uh- ok.” She hastily agreed, having to hurry a little to keep up with her yearmate’s significantly longer stride. “I think you could probably do with some medical attention too.”

Table by Heidi, image and general tinkering by me

[Watson Faulkner]

“I said I’m fine, girl!” Wat muttered as he escorted her off the pitch, careful to keep himself between her and the winding down practice. Of course it might not do any good given the unpredictability of the damn bludgers but it would be easier to keep the girl from getting her head crushed if he was closer to the pitch and she was practically pressed up against the wall.

When they reached the exit to the pitch, Wat had to pause again as his back spasmed and he froze in a vaguely awkward position with a grunt. His face was pinched and sweat cropped up on his brow as he breathed through his clenched teeth. He wasn’t going to admit it to the girl, no way. “Let’s get going. You need to get to the infirmary.” Forcing himself to move past the pain, he eyed a chaperone lingering on the pitch with the various groups of girls and gestured for her to come along. The woman pursed her lips but complied.

  

[Annette Fontaine]

Anne resisted the urge to point out that he obviously wasn’t ok, but thought the better of it- he still had a hold of her elbow and she was entirely certain that if he wanted to she could probably end up with a broken arm to boot.

Instead she just hurried a little bit to keep pace with Mr Faulkner’s longer stride as the chaperone followed after them into the hospital wing.