#cprongs

You're lying

''I'm afraid not, I'm telling you. I saw Minnie sneaking out of a broom closet last week.'' he said eyebrows raised ''Our head of house was obviously getting busy with another member of the faculty. I'm telling you the absolute truth.''

Don't do this to me.

''Don't be so melodramatic, it's date night.'' he said rolling his eyes. ''I'm taking Alice out for dinner, we don't get to do this often. I'll come to your next social gathering, can't you invite Lily, or I don't know anyone of your other mates? I'll see you tomorrow, or you know any other night that isn't date night.''

I feel like I'm dying

''Well I've heard that getting really banged up the way you did can do that to a person.'' he said as he crouched next to James. ''Really 3 on 1 was never going to end well, what the hell were you thinking? Right, we need to get you to Mungo's. They can patch you up before I batter you for being so bloody stupid!''

You're going to be okay, I promise.

"You’re doing this by yourself?"

"Yes. Who else would be helping me?" She wasn't sure who he expected to be in on this. "Just... take the potions." She knew he'd be able to get them back to the people who needed them. He'd always been in the thick of things, after all. He always stood up for what he believed in, so making the leap to him being in touch with whoever was fighting the Death Eaters wasn't that hard to do. "They're not that potent, but they'll help if anyone gets hurt and you can't get them to a healer right away."

"Calm it, daydream believer." 

Chrysandra stared at him for a moment, then burst into peals of laughter. "Daydream believer?" she asked. "Really?" She'd never gotten that before. It made sense, though. She often was in her head, hiding from the world, creating different places to run away to. She preferred the world in her head. She knew that it wasn't reality, but it was so much better. Her parents had always chided her for it, telling her to be more attentive to matters at hand and stop staring off into space, but she'd never really grown out of her tendency to slip off into a daydream. 

"You drink to get drunk. It’s sad."

She rolled her eyes. "Like you've never done that, Golden Boy?" The liquor was giving her courage, giving her a voice. That was why she liked it. She loved the way the world fell away, things went fuzzy, and consequences didn't seem as real. She could control it if she needed to; of course she could, she had to. If she was ever like this at a Ball or a dinner, she'd probably get herself killed. But here, she could let herself go, at least a bit. James Potter wasn't going to curse her for talking back to him-- at least, she was rather sure he wasn't. 

"He was really angry."

"What happened to my tea?"

Chrysandra flinched slightly at his tone. "I have it right here," she said softly, setting it down in front of him. She still remembered how he took it. Serving tea to Rodolphus Lestrange wasn't a new experience at all. He'd been a few years ahead of her in school, but she was often the one sent for refreshments in the Slytherin common room. She'd never really minded. It was something she was good at, something that made her feel useful. It wasn't until she was older that she realised her subservient nature meant they'd never respect her, and by that point she was already set in her ways, already expected to always have tea ready and serve dinner. At least it was better than being ignored, she told herself. "Do you need anything else, Rodolphus?"

"I feel like I’m dying."

"Well you wouldn't feel so bad if you'd just stay still and let me do my job," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him down. "Just... calm down and let me get this poultice on. That will relieve most of the pain." She sighed inwardly, pressing the cloth to the wound. If they expected her to patch them up after they got hurt, the least they could do was actually listen to her when she told them what they needed to do. "There," she charmed the poultice in place, before casting another spell that would make the healing more rapid. "Now don't move. If you dislodge it I'll just have to do this all over again."

"The condition is critical."

"Yes, Rodolphus, I realize that," Chrysandra said, trying to keep her voice calm. This was above her ability to heal. She wasn't actually a healer, she just... well, studied it on her own. She wasn't trained in it. She was acting on instinct here, casting spells and charms that she'd read about or remembered from journal articles. "If you want to be helpful, please, back up. I need space." She couldn't believe she was talking to him like that. Half of her expected him to retaliate in anger, but he couldn't, not if he wanted her to keep trying to save his friend. Maybe the anger would come later, but for now all she could do was try and keep her patient alive. "Is someone else on their way?" They needed an actual healer, quick.

"I just want the truth."