She was finally getting to see them! Sure she'd been out to it a while, so it hadn't felt like she'd waited long between the moment they returned and this moment, but every second of the five days they were missing, she'd felt.

So as soon as the healer said she could go in, Char was through that door, eyes wide, expectant. She was supppppposed to be calm but... it was hard to be, and she just wanted to hug her friends and... well, also her boyfriend, but Carlton and Rooney too!

Carlton sat on top of his bed, looking between Henry and healer Reed. Why was there suddenly tension in the room? Why couldn't they all just live happily ever after? And why did they have to leave? Please adopt us, healer Reed.

The young boy slid off his bed and walked over to the bathroom but was met by a closed door. He put his hand on the door and stared at the handle with a sad look. He wanted to be let in but the door didn't open and Rooney stayed inside.

Suddenly the entrance door to the quaratined area swung open and Carlton braced himself. He was VERY protective of this room now. His territory. Excuse you visitor, we're quarantined in here, don't catch our portal cooties!

But then he recognized Charlotte. Carlton liked Charlotte, so it was all good. But right now, he needed Henry. The young snake ran as fast as he could to Henry's bed and threw himself on it before Charlotte could get there. Mine. He straigthened his pajamas and held a grip on Henry's foot.

Just in case he was getting any ideas to actually stand up and leave him behind. Nope. Carlton would officially cling to Henry's legs for AT LEAST a few days.

Fight me, Charlotte. (But also love me, Charlotte.)

Henry climbed back on his bed and laid the pieces if Rooney's wand in front of him. He didn't really know if it could be fixed properly so it would work again, but it made him sad for the other boy that he felt so compelled to snap it in half. Yes, they had all been through a terrible ordeal, but he wasn't completely sure what about it made the prefect feel the need to destroy his wand. A wand was an extension of a wizard's arm. It was essential, important... Henry struggled to understand, but he knew he must be feeling completely hopeless to do something so drastic.

The sixteen year old looked up at the Healer as he explained how the kitten had gotten there. "Charlotte...? She's here?" Well, yeah, he did want to see her. He had been worried about her since he had been sucked into that portal in front of her and... he had wanted to know that she was alright, even if he hadn't been. Plus, he just... really wanted to see her. He was about to answer Healer Reed in the affirmative when the door opened before the words could leave his mouth.

Whoa.

Henry turned with widened eyes as Carlton attacked his feet. What was he....? Oh. He gave the first year a small smile. "It's okay, buddy. I'm not going anywhere just yet." Soon, probably. Even if he didn't feel exactly safe right now, he knew he couldn't be cooped up for long. It was too bad that they were all in different houses though because separation might be hard, especially for Carlton.

But, Charlotte. He turned back to her and gave her a slightly bigger smile, hardly believing it was really her. "Hi." And he opened his arm for a hug because he really wanted one. She could come to him, right? Because his legs were otherwise occupied right now.

Of course Char's eyes went to Henry first (where was Roo though?) but Carlton caught her attention pretty quick as he darted across in front of her. Char blinked a bit and then, returning Henry's smile, headed over, not too fast, didn't want to spook anyone.

"Hi Carlton." she said, focusing her attention on the first year. "I was worried about you." For real though. And she couldn't not get in that hug Henry was offering melting right there into his arms with a desperate thankfulness that he was okay. "and you."

Pause.

"And Roo."

Where was Roo?

River managed to give Henry a nod before the door to the Quarantined Area opened to reveal a lady Gryffindor struggling to contain her excitement. Was it foolish of him to completely trust Miss Kettleburn? The thought was met with a low chuckle as he continued to work on his report, his hands and brain working double time while his ears were trained on the conversation being held. See, a friendly presence was one of the things that they needed to jump back into the fray, and it seemed that it was working just fine.

Not forgetting that he was dealing with young teenagers, he too trained his peripheral vision on Charlotte and Henry, just to make sure that the excitement was kept at bay. Quarantined or not, school rules were still in place and River was there to make sure that the two won't do anything that was out of bounds.

The mention of Rooney's name made the Healer look up to where the group was conversing, and then to the door just a few steps away from them. River was half-way through his report, and still, the prefect hasn't emerged from the bathroom. The Healer's brows furrowed in worry, and he immediately made his way towards the room where Rooney hid.

Knock knock.

"Rooney?" River pressed his left ear against the door, and he held his tongue from asking if the boy was alright. With limited hearing, his ear was met with silence and it was enough for River to panic just a bit. The Ravenclaw prefect just snapped his wand into two, and the Healer allowed the boy to calm himself down on his own.

From his curled up position in the corner Rooney heard the knock on the bathroom door and froze. Try as he might, every noise for the forseeable future was probably going to put him on edge thinking it was the thing from inside the portal. At first he considered staying still. Second, he considered grabbing his wand and blowing the door the bits. And then he remembered the truth about his wand and almost brown down crying once more. He didn't regret the point he was making about magic, but he regretted not having anything to defend himself with right now.

That was when the voice came through the door and he instantly sighed with relief. It was Healer Reed, thankfully. "Bathroom is occupied, Sir.." Roo spoke as clearly as he could, closing his eyes tightly and taking a deep breath to avoid it being apparent that he was crying.

Carlton didn't loosen his grip on Henry's foot. He eyed their hug very carefully. No funny business. Then he gave Charlotte a small smile. "Hi yourself, Charlotte."

Miss me? Tell me, you've missed me. I need love.

"Welcome to our home." Yes, home. "We dont have portal cooties but we do have sleeping draughts and... I don't know." There was a lot in this room he didn't know the name of. She could just open her eyes and see for herself. The hospital wing was growing on him. It felt... Safe.



He looked at healer Reed when he walked past him to the bathroom. Wanna ruffle my hair again, healer Reed? I need love. But the young boy frowned as the man walked right on past him to knock on the door. Why wasn't Rooney coming out? He missed him. Carlton gently put Henry's leg in his lap on the bed there, there.

"What is he doing in there, healer Reed?" Carlton asked, concern evident in his voice.

Like. Obviously he knew what to do in a bathroom. But why would the healer have a look of worry across his face if Rooney was doing what one was supposed to do in a bathroom? Unless healer Reed didn't like students doing the number two on his toilets. Which seemed a little weird.

"Why isn't he coming out?"

Well, River knew the room was occupied. He knocked, otherwise, he would've barged right in if it were empty. However, the Healer respected Rooney's privacy, aware that he was not okay, and that he didn't want to alarm the boy any further by invading his new found space. River pursed his lips and hung his head in defeat. "Is everything alright? You've been there for at least 20 minutes now..." Not even a person who'd do the number two won't take that long.

River shifted his attention to the youngest member of the group and offered him a kind grin. "I'm not so sure, Carlton. All I know is that he's conscious and he's taking a long while in there." the Healer man sighed, and scratched his brow weighing his options. Rooney obviously needed someone to talk to, considering the ordeal he had to go through. The sound of his wand snapping into two rang in his ears clearly as well. River walked towards where Carlton sat and gave the boy a good ruffling. "I need your help bud," he started giving the boy a friendly grin, "Would you like to try and coax Rooney out? I think...he needs a lot of hugs right now." And River was sure Carlton will do a superb job. Pseudo-son and all.

Carlton watched the healer thinking all the thoughts. Someday Carlton would grow up and have all those smart thoughts as well. He would furrow his brow in deep concentration and people would ask his advice. He might add a beard to that look to perfect it. He wondered when he would get a beard. They were neat. Hair on the face? How cool?

The boy smiled smugly when he got another hair ruffle. Success. "You need my help?" .... Really, though? Like... Really? He patted Henry's leg. "I'll be back." He told it. Or Henry. Or both.

Carlton hopped off the bed and strutted past the healer giving him a 'I got this'-look. Except he didn't have it at all. He had no clue what to do. When he reached the bathroom door he placed his mouth at the small gap between the door and the frame. He stood there, just breathing into the gap for a few seconds, debating on what to say.

"Hi."

Good opening. Great start.

"Whatchu doin'?" Because you know, if he WAS doing the number two, then they were all being very inappropriate.

He sat down on the floor in front of the door and crossed his legs. "Are you OK?" He asked silently, feeling a wave of sadness overwhelm him. None of them were really OK. Healer Reed had fixed them physically but as soon as he actually stopped and let himself think of what they went through, he knew that none of them were OK at all. And if Rooney wasn't... No. Carlton needed Rooney to be OK. There really wasn't another option.

Henry wrapped his arms around Charlotte as she came over to hug him and he just held her there a moment before pulling back. He didn't really notice Healer Reed or Carlton eyeing him, he just.. really needed a hug after his ordeal. And it felt like it had been forever since he'd seen her, even though it had only been... no, it was over a week apparently. He needed to remind himself that it hadn't just been a day or two, which was surreal in itself.

"We're okay," he told her with a small smile as she expressed her worry about all of them. "I think.." he trailed off as he looked in the direction of the bathroom as the healer headed over to check on Rooney. They were physically intact at least, though he wasn't sure how any of them were feeling emotionally. It was something he still needed to process, though he wasn't sure he wanted to. "We're here at least.... Are you okay?" He looked back at her, knowing that she had been with him when he was pulled into that place. He couldn't imagine what she must have thought, and... five days.. he was still really confused about that.

He looked over at Carlton again as he told him he'd be back and Henry nodded. He figured that he had a connection with Rooney before all this happened and he'd probably be the best to talk to him through the bathroom door, or whatever needed to happen to make sure he was alright in there. But honestly, he probably just needed a little time to himself before he wanted to come out at all. Henry glanced at the pieces of the prefect's broken wand on his bed again, picking up the kitten away from batting at the end of it.

Still as quiet as could be, Rooney adjusted his grip on his knees and wipes his eyes against his pyjamas trousers. "I'm FINE." The questions weren't going to stop now, were they? This was going to be his life for weeks. No one was going to leave him alone, right? It was all starting now. And it was making him start to worry about that more than everything he had just gone through. And he definitely did not want to cope with Brinlee's barrage of questions. So he sighed and settled back against the wall, waiting for Healer Reed to go the heck away.

Roo would come out when he was ready. When he wasn't having trouble breathing and thinking and keeping himself on the right track. When he wasn't crying.

And then there was a Carlton.. Rooney couldn't bear to ignore the younger boy and shuffled to lean against the door that he assumed Carlton was on the other side of. "I'm having a cow, Carlton. I'm.. going crazy." And he wanted his mother now more than ever.

Okay was a hard word. But Char nodded. "Better, at least." She told Henry. Just, so glad they WERE all there. She gave Carlton another little smile as he went to help Rooney, along with the Healer, though Char kind of thought it was okay to let Roo have a second on his own, right? Maybe he needed it. To catch a breath.

Char wasn't getting her fill of Henry hugs yet either by the way, but it was a start. It was just hard to focus on Henry hugs when there was apparently a minor crisis in the form of Rooney Bronwyn having a cow in the bathroom.

"Leave him, he'll come out if he wants to." Char suggested, but wasn't exactly sure that anyone would take her input on it, not after what they'd all been through. She knew a Roo though. Or had, once.

"Rooney?" She raised her voice, wanting to make sure he knew she was there. "Roo, its Char... I.... wanted to see if you were all okay. But.. um... just so you know I'm out here. I'll leave if you want." Just so he knew. Or she'd stay. Not that she expected he would want hugs from her, even if she'd been just as worried about his being gone as she had Henry and Carlton.

The fact that Rooney made a response was good enough for the man to move away and let his friends do the talking. As much as he wanted to care for Rooney, the intention was rather pointless considering that he wants him to go the heck away. With a sigh and a nod, he gave Carlton a thank you pat on the shoulder and a grin towards Charlotte.

Surely, he'd fixed them all physically, but he wasn't a miracle worker. River was still a limited Healer, and couldn't make things perfect for them, that's why he pulled in Carlton to help Rooney open up. There was no way he'd meddle with their personal issues unless they'd personally come for his counsel. That has been his rule ever since anyway, even with his adult friends.

Seeing that Rooney was in good hands, for now at least, River went back to his corner to continue his work.