The sun was coming in bright through the window and that meant.... Moira was late. Attempting to step out of bed hadn't ended well, she tripped on the clothes she had left on the floor and that showed her she was wearing not a thing. Even not wearing anything she felt a little warm.... she was late! Getting back to her feet she stumbled her way to her dresser, pulled out some clothes and pulled them on, along with her spare robe. The resulting ensemble was crooked but she couldn't be bothered with any of that.

Running a brush through her hair she vaguely noted how dark her eyes were. Funny how she hadn't really noticed before, she'd always been far too busy. The cold mirror touching her forehead jerked her back to reality and reminded her, again, she was late. Grabbing her books - they were much heavier than usual - she stumbled her way out of the girls dormitory.The door was harder to open than usual, it wouldn't stop shaking!  Mumbling to herself she tripped into the common room and sluggishly began making her way through the common room. Why was everything moving so slowly?

Zel was sitting in the common room, studying laboriously over his Astronomy textbook. He enjoyed the subject, but it was one that he had difficulty with, and it took all of his effort to do well in the class instead of merely getting by. Especially because he was a prefect, Zel felt like he couldn’t do poorly in any class, or else people would feel like he didn’t deserve the title. He looked up at the entrance to the girls dorms and his eyebrow furrowed together when he saw a familiar face leave her dorm, moving sluggishly toward the exit, school stuff and all.

“There’s no classes today.” He said, sounding mildly confused. It was Saturday. Maybe she was going to go to the library to study, but at this early in the morning he doubted it. Zel stood up and approached Moira, and upon closer inspection her skin looked pale and clammy, and there were dark circles under her eyes that weren’t usually there. He didn’t even have to feel her skin to tell that she was very obviously ill and probably had a fever. “Are you feeling alright?” Zel asked carefully, looking around to see if anyone else was up to see this.

"There's no classes today."

Those words stopped Moira in her tracks. Who would have the audacity to say there were no classes on a weekday! Slackers... they would do anything to get out of going to class. Well she wouldn't let them stop her, no she wouldn't. Turning her head to glare at the offending student she found herself looking... up. Good heavens he was at least as tall as her dad, though not as big. Momentarily forgetting what she had been about to say she continued to stare up at him with a bit of a vague expression.

His next question snapped her out of it though and she took up her glare again. "I am perfectly fine, you slacker. No matter what you say I /know/ it's a weekday and everyone knows the first class has already started, and I'm late. Slack if you want to but I'm going to class." Having properly put him in his place she started to walk again, only to realize... he was standing in her way. Glaring up again she started to tell him to move but... he was shaking too. Frowning she glanced around. "Why is everything shaking?"

Slacker?

Zel was anything but a slacker! Yes, he didn’t do very well in Astronomy, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t try. Zel studied for it all the time, he was just horrendous and none of the information seemed to stick.  He stared at Moira-- she must have been really ill, or maybe someone messed with her memory somehow. Either way, the fact that she was positive that there were classes on a weekend was definitely of concern.

“What day do you think it is?” He asked kindly, a worried crease forming between his eyebrows. When she asked why everything was shaking, he looked around-- nope. Everything was staying in place, exactly as it should be. She thought everything was shaking? Zel instinctively put one of his rather large hands on her shoulder, as if he was afraid she was going to fall over at any moment. “Nothing’s shaking. You are sick.” He said surely, “Do you want me to take you to Tulojow?” He sounded more sure about this than anything else. There was no trace of a stutter in Zel’s voice. This was something that needed to be taken care of, and an ill student was more important than his social ineptitude.

What day did she /think/ it was? She didn't think, she knew! "It's Friday." Moira scowled as he put a hand on her shoulder, her entire body trembling but of course she thought it was him. Shaking her head she attempted to go around him as the older student insisted she was sick and needed to go see Tulojow. "I'm not sick. Really, I'm fine. I just need to get to class."

Moira attempted to dislodge his hand and go around him again around the time he started to say something. What he said she missed because all of a sudden everything seemed to slow down. Maybe he was casting a spell, but why would he cast a time slow spell on her, that made no sense. That would definitely give her more of an advantage.... oh wait, she was moving very slow, practically not at all. Unable to stop it, she could only watch as her books tumbled from her numb hands.

Nope. This girl was definitely sick.

Zel steadied her quickly, but there wasn’t much he could do without actually picking her up—so he looped one arm around her waist  and scooped her over his shoulder, resting his arm on her back to keep her steady. “I am taking you to Tulojow.” He said with determination. “You are sick.” When he spoke, his voice was gentle—though he didn’t sound too worried. He was confident in the healer’s ability to take care of students who were feeling off in any way. In fact, he was certain that Tulojow could practically cure any injury, as long as there weren’t any particularly nasty curses involved.

He opened the exit to the Hufflepuff commons before realizing that the way back to the hallways was not fun. Zel wondered if any of the other houses actually had to crawl in and out of their common rooms.

“Moira.” He gulped, “Can you crawl, or do I h-have to drag you?”

When everything started returning to normal speed she blinked and looked around, finding herself over the other Hufflepuff's shoulder. "I'm not sick. I don't need to see.... Tulojow." Moira sagged against him, physical fighting to get away no longer in her now. What, had she been hit with some fatigue spell or other? A lazy bones type of spell? This was getting ridiculous, she was /fine/.

Hearing him say he might have to drag her she narrowed her eyes and scowled. "No one drags a McBoid!" Managing to get down she proved so by crawling through the exit, albeit a little slowly she still did it. Which made her wonder about when she got hit with all these spells, unless it was one big doozy of a spell. It was the only explanation as to why she was suddenly having trouble.

After getting to the other side she belatedly realized she had forgotten her books. Now she had to go back through and get them. Moira hoped the professor wouldn't be mad at her tardiness.... he was scary when mad.

Well. At least she could crawl by herself. Zel was glad that he didn’t have to drag her anywhere. He followed Moira out of the common room and watched as the entrance closed behind them. The Hufflepuff commons were surprisingly difficult to get into for anyone who wasn’t a Hufflepuff. He thought he read somewhere that the Hufflepuff commons had never been infiltrated because it was so difficult for those who didn’t understand how to get in.  He remembered being drenched in vinegar after tapping them in the wrong order more than once. If that wouldn’t deter intruders, he didn’t know what would. Vinegar smelled nasty.

“Okay, let’s go to Tulojow.” He said,  watching Moira carefully in case she decided to fall over again. “You need to let her see you.” Zel urged, hoping that her fever-deranged mind would actually listen to him.

Being drenched in vinegar had never been a problem for her, but that wasn't really on her mind right now. Instead she watched the entrance close up after the boy came through behind her and realize she had forgotten the code. How could she forget the code. Was it three taps, then five, then one, followed by six or was it five, then six, followed by one and three? Were those even the right numbers?

Shaking her head she frowned at him when he mentioned Tulojow again. "I forgot my books for class. I need to go back in and get them." Honestly, she couldn't figure out what this slacker's problem was. There was no reason for him to go to so much trouble to make her miss class too.