Backfired promises part 6.

Ymous waited for the girl's footsteps to fade away before he opened his eyes. His mind was racing, but he couldn't think of what to do next, he turned towards the nightstand and saw all the presents left for him, and he felt like the biggest jerk in the world. Why did he just throw those away, why didn't he read the letter Merula had written him. Was it really easier to wallow in self-pity than to admit that he was a huge dick. Even now his actions have caused Merula's self-esteem to crash down completely. Ymous tried to get back to sitting postion, but he winced in pain, going out on a walk without shoes had taken a toll on his weakened body. But with great effort the boy managed to get on to his side he would just slip out of the bed and get back up, He tried to grasp the nightstand for support, but landed his hand on a piece of paper that slipped from under his hand. The boy could feel gravity pull him down as he rolled off the bed and hit his chin on the nightstand.
"Madame, are you there?" The boy yelled. "I need a little bit of assistance."
Pomfrey walked in and saw the boy slumped over the nightstand.
"My goodness, boy, what are you trying to do?"
The boy tried to think of something smart to say, but his head was a mess. "I was trying to get up, I don't know why getting out of the bed is so difficult now."
"It's because you decided to walk around on stone floors barefeet, I feel stupid for letting you go out on a walk, I overestimated your constitution." The witch said more angry at herself than at Anon.
"If you hadn't let me go out, I would've snuck out anyway, so it's not really your fault." The boy admitted.
"I should've gone with you, or I should've waited for your friends to come pick you up, I thought you went to meet them." Pomfrey helped Anon up. "I'm afraid what troubles you is not something I can easilly fix, I know you went to ask Snape for a potion to help you sleep, but potions like that only give temporary respite."
"How could you decide that on my behalf like that?" Anon was angry at the nurse now.
"Anon, there are more people worried about you than you think, I discussed your situation with Snape." Pomfrey said.
"Why was Snape here?" Anon asked. "Why does he care?"
"You've acted in a self-destructive way." Pomfrey said. "Even excluding your rule breaking with miss Snyde, you've been looking for different ways to harm yourself."
"I am not self-destructive, I just can't bloody well sleep. Why can't any of you understand that I haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks!" Pomfrey put the boy back on the bed.
"I will bring you something to help you sleep, but I warn you, before you drink the potion, I want you think hard on your feelings. Once you drink the potion it will make it difficult for you to process things that have happened to you."
"I don't care, just give me the potion and leave me alone."

Merula looked outside the window, she had just burnt the letter she wrote to Anon, she watched the ashes spread in the wind. She had been confused for days, ever since she lashed out on Anon for gaining unfair advantage over her, telling him to leave her alone, and him agreeing to it in an heartbeat. She hadn't stopped to contemplate on her feelings about the boy. She had tried to block him off her mind, but realized it was futile effort. This time she tried to concentrate on Anon, how she felt about him. She tried to muster all the hate she felt for him, to ease the pain of his abandonment of their rivalry. But it didn't work, did she not hate Anon anymore. The thought was ridiculous, she had always hated the boy. Her hatred of him drove her to try better on every turn. But now she felt like it was all in the past, and everything had been pointless. Anon was the only person who really cared to correct her when she declared herself the greatest witch of Hogwarts, everyone else just resolved to ostracise her, even people she had once considered friends. How likely was it that any of them ever considered her a friend, she treated them like minions, while  her only goal was to locate the vaults and steal the secrets hidden there for herself. If Anon really stopped getting in her way, she could easilly crack those secrets, but she felt like it was pointless. Why was she so obsessed, what could possibly be worth all this? What had she really learned from all of this? The girl resigned and started walking towards the Slytherin room.

The next morning Rowan was walking around the common room, looking for the vial of ink she had left on the table. She had been using a lot of ink copying all of her notes to Anon, she walked back in the girls dorm and noticed Merula hadn't gotten up from bed yet.
"Merula, get up, I don't want to miss breakfast, we don't want to be late from classes" Rowan said as she walked towards Merula's bed.
"Go away, I am not feeling well." Merula said angrily into her pillow.
"Do you need to go to the hospital wing?" Rowan asked with concern.
"NO! Just leave me alone! I'm not hungry!" Merula shouted.
Rowan decided to leave Merula alone and left for great hall alone. It felt odd to be going alone after having been with Merula for a few mornings, maybe whatever happened with Merula wore off and she's back to hating Her.

Rowan arrived at great hall and felt a bit sad that she couldn't help Anon or Merula, there aren't any books that tell what to do in a situation like this. Rowan looked at Hufflepuff table and saw Penny eating a huge sandwich for breakfast. The girl walked up to her.
"Penny, do you know how to help depressed people?" Rowan asked.
"Why are you asking me, if I know anything about depression?" Penny asked surprised, if a bit annoyed.
"I am not asking you specifically about depression, I just... You are a popular girl, and the only one I know that has any kind of social skills." Rowan admitted to the hufflepuff
"Oh, I'm afraid I don't know how to answer to that." Penny lowered her sandwich. "It's actually very difficult to tell if someone is depressed, would you know if someone was?"
"I think both Merula and Anon are badly depressed" Rowan said. "Is it not obvious?"
"Not at all, in Merula's case, you really can't rule out that she's just a huge bitch, who just ran into a new situation without an facade of superiority, and is now childishly lashing out at everything in an impotent rage." Penny said with a sweet tone.
"That is a bit harsh, Penny." Rowan didn't expect Penny to be so blunt.
"In Anon's case, I think he might just be tired of bickering with Merula, if what I heard from what happened during the duel is correct, shouldn't this issue fix itself?" Penny smiled at Rowan.
"Even if the two are suffering?" Rowan was surprised at Penny's attitude.
"Oh, Anon can take a little bit of suffering, it's good for his character." Penny smiled  "he had been tangled in Merula's webs for too long anyway."
Rowan felt a bit disgusted at what Penny had just said. "Thanks Penny, I need to go eat something before I am late from classes." as she walked towards Slytherin table.

Penny went back to eating her hugewich, she thought to herself about how Adorable Rowan was, all concerned about Merula. But no, these turns of events were actually a healthy thing. Anon needed to rethink about his priorities, all the times he had dragged her out in effort to beat Merula to those damned vaults, so wasteful. Maybe now they could go out on a real date. She would make him forget all about Merula, while Rowan tried to help that evil little skank. She put down the rest of her breakfast and got up. Her hufflepuff cohorts all stopped gossipping and got up aswell, ready to follow her to classes.

Ymous woke up that morning, not really feeling anything. He looked at the nightstand and the letters that had been put back on it.
"Madame, are you there" He asked.
The witch walked towards him, surprised "You didn't try to get up on your own this time, let's see if you can do it anyway."
Ymous felt stupid having called the nurse, just to have to try to get up on his own anyway, every time he had tried to get up, he had hurt himself in some way, but this time he was resolved to be careful. He got up to a sitting position and moved his feet over the bed, until he actually got up to a sitting position. He still felt uneasiness with his fixed spine, but not a terrible pain anymore.
"Will I ever actually fully recover from this?" The boy suddenly started being worried that he might never be able to get out of the bed easilly.
"Oh yes, few more days and you will be as good as new, the most damage you did was when you put on a brave face infront of Snape." Pomfrey looked at the boy with disappointed eyes. "Poor professor was mortified when he came to visit and I had told you that you broke your spine, he didn't realize how badly you actually hurt yourself, you were always a competent duelist anyway."
"I am really done with dueling" Ymous said while trying to find his slippers on the floor.
"That is good, That should make you have to spend nights here less often." Pomfrey said while making sure the boy could actually get up on his own.
"About that brave face, I am not putting one on right now, I really don't feel much pain." Anon said to the witch.
"Yes, I think you have made a good progress, I think one night and you go back to classes, but I will not let you go on another walk anymore."
Ymous sighed. "I thought you might say that, has anyone visited me lately?"
"No, all of your friends have been busy with classes, I'm sure they will come to visit you later." Pomfrey said. "Now, walk about a bit, I'll bring you some breakfast."
Ymous tried to gather his thoughts, but all the recent events felt so distant. He felt tired, despite having slept well for the first time in weeks.