Once again, Simon awoke to the harsh lights of the infirmary and worried faces, this time Baz and Agatha's.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You overexerted yourself," Agatha replied from her bed on the other side of the room, "you stressed yourself out, and passed out because of it."
"You need to stop pushing yourself so hard Simon," Baz chimed in quietly, "Or else you'll never heal, and never be able to leave the infirmary."
"And we wouldn't want that, would we Simon?" Agatha added.
"No," Simon replied quietly, abashed, "I don't want to be in the infirmary for any longer than necessary."
"Well," the nurse said, walking into the room, "You're lucky then that you should be alright to leave in a minute, as long as you don't overexert yourself in the next couple of days, otherwise you'll end up back here with me, and I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy that." She smiled grimly.
"No ma'am," Simon said, "I won't do anything too strenuous, I promise."
"Good, then you're free to go back to your dormitory, to rest." The nurse looked sternly at Simon, who cowered under her glare.
"I'll make sure he stays in bed." Baz said cheerfully, ignoring Simon's enraged glare as he did so.
The nurse nodded her approval as she moved to Agatha's bed to check on her.
Simon collected the accumulation of homework, not finished of course.
"What happened with Agatha?" Baz hissed, his lips brushing Simon's ear.
Simon glanced over to Agatha, who met his gaze with her clouded disposition. The attack upon him had left bruises and aches upon the surface, but hers went much deeper.
"Not here," Simon breathed.
The doubt had begun like a seed in his mind; he didn't want Baz to have one too, so he needed to prolong the moment. He stood.
"Let me have those."
Baz teased the books out of Simon's arms, easily moved them to one arm, and offered the crook of the other to Simon. With an easy crooked smile, Simon took the arm and relied on it heavily.
They moved out the door, Agatha's gaze heavy on their backs.
"Simon, now what is going on?" Baz was serious.
Simon sighed, noiselessly.
He avoided the question by asking, "What lesson should I be in now?"
"Magickal Creatures, and then…" Baz mentally reviewed Simon's timetable in his head, "Histori? Maybe?"
Simon started striding away with purpose, his aching leg and ribs making it basically impossible.
"Whoa, why the sudden hurry, Snow?" Baz caught up easily.
"What Agatha's told me needs to be told to everyone." Simon met Baz's eyes.
"And most of us are in Magickal Creatures." Baz griped, "We better hurry then."
They began walking down the hallway, before Baz stopped.
"But Simon, you're supposed to stay in bed for the rest of today, the nurse made me promise." Baz called, trailing Simon, still supporting him as they walked along the corridor.
Simon stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"Please Baz," he said seriously, "this could be really important, and everyone needs to know, it can't wait." Simon waited for Baz's answer; he knew he wouldn't be able to get to Magickal Creatures by himself.
Luckily, Baz seemed to understand Simon's urgency, "fine," he conceded, rolling his eyes, "but after this lesson, you are going straight back to the dorm, where you are going to stay in bed, catching up on homework for the rest of the day."
"But-" Simon started to protest, until he registered Baz's glare.
"That was not optional, Simon," Baz hissed, then he softened, "I just don't want you overexerting yourself, I worry about you and you do nothing to alleviate that, in fact, you just make it worse."
"I'm sorry." Simon said, biting his lip, "I just… don't think things through sometimes?"
Baz snorted, as they began moving again, towards the exit. "Sometimes?" he shook his head in amusement, "Simon, your default seems to be running off without thinking and getting yourself into trouble."
"Maybe…" Simon ducked his head sheepishly, as Baz grinned at him almost fondly.
Professor O'Malley was notorious for his ignorance and mid-lesson coffee breaks, all of the students knew this. Baz and Simon unfortunately arrived at one of those times that he was paying attention and actually in class.
Regardless, they tried to sneak to a seat.
"Snow, Pitch!" O'Malley's voice boomed out.
Baz cursed under his breath.
"I wonder what you were doing instead of being in my class." He mused, "What could be more important than Magickal Creatures?"
"Coming out of hospital, sir." Simon said politely.
"That's not all he came out of…." Someone murmured loudly.
Simon froze. Baz flashed a dangerous smile around the crowd; O'Malley carefully gave them the once-over, taking in Simon's bruises, Baz's careless locks and the careful distance between them.
"Find a seat." He boomed, "And you there, stop giggling otherwise I'll make you more blue than even Snow."
Howie, Penny and Ryan were clustered together. Grinning and waving they beckoned Baz and Simon over. Penny folded Simon in her arms.
"You didn't tell us you were out today! We could have skipped class or something to see you-"
"Wow, you know Penny loves you when she'll skip a class for you." Ryan jabbed.
She shot him a dark look.
"How was your chat with Agatha? Who beat her up so badly?" Penny's voice drifted into a furious whisper.
"Um… well…" Simon didn't know how to tell his friends what Agatha had told him.
"Spit it out Simon." Ryan said, not unkindly.
"I was me," Simon blurted out.
There was a shocked silence from the others.
Simon winced as his brain caught up with what he had said, "I mean, it wasn't me, obviously," he laughed nervously, "I was in the infirmary, so it couldn't have been me, but that's who she said it was…." He trailed off, willing his friends to believe him.
"Well… this is interesting." Howie said slowly, still somewhat shocked, "How is that even possible?"
Penny looked at Simon shrewdly. "You think it was the Humdrum, don't you Simon?"
"I can't think of anything else it could be," Simon said desperately, "It wasn't actually me, it can't have been."
"None of us think it was you Simon." Baz said soothingly.
The others all nodded in agreement.
Simon sighed in relief, "But that's the thing guys, if it was the Humdrum, then that means he must be here. At Watford."
"That's true," Penny mused, "we need to access those memories, as soon as possible, Simon, maybe you should try to talk to the Mage about this, and we should work on being able to locate the Humdrum." She looked determined, and none of the others doubted that she would be able to do what she put her mind to.
Simon laughed, "I don't think the Mage will be that useful."
"It's worth a try," Howie said "And Penny has an idea on how to decipher the thoughts-"
His yelp of pain obliterated the rest of the sentence. Penny, the giver of pain, gave him a quick look, but Simon had seen it.
"If we deciphered the thoughts it might contain how the Humdrum, as a Fragment, could be entering Watford. And they'd probably be more useful than the Mage."
Penny rolled her eyes, "Simon even if what I've found out actually works, the danger involved is pretty high and we still don't know how the thoughts might behave, or I they'd even give us the information."
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
Simon was hurt.
Baz sighed, a long heavy thing that spoke of tireless nights, "Simon," he said the name like a tool, "You were in the hospital drugged up and so bruised most of your skin was black rather than cream."
"I don't think we need more of a reason." Ryan interjected with a crooked smile.
"Oi, you lot!"
Their heads shot up at the same time, to find the heavily accented Professor standing over them.
"Are you coming or not?"
"Where is it? Exactly?" Baz asked smoothly.
Simon and the others took a collective sigh of relief. It seemed that the teacher hadn't noticed the obnoxious whispers coming from their mouths.
"The Mage's office, there's a creature that's dying to meet you."
Professor O'Malley strode back towards the building, ignoring the hordes of students as they tried to keep up.
Baz helped Simon up and continued supporting him as their group hurried in Professor O'Malley's wake.
"If I'd known that agreeing to let you come to class would have meant several treks around the entire school," Baz complained, "I would have made you go back to the dormitory."
"Well I would have just gone to class anyway, with or without your help." Simon said obstinately.
Baz stepped away, releasing Simon's arm. As Baz's support was removed, he sagged in exhaustion, and his steps grew shorter.
"See." Baz said smugly, point made, as he took Simon's arm again.
"Fine," Simon said, "But it was important that everyone found out about this as soon as possible."
"Yes, but we could have done it after class." Baz said calmly.
"Whatever," Simon said, concentrating on walking up the stairs into the school.
As the class moved through the school, Professor O'Malley's booming voice drifted back every once in a while, explaining about why they were going to the Mage's office.
Simon and the others caught up with the rest of the class outside the door to the office.
"Now these creatures," Professor O'Malley was saying happily, "are quite shy, which is why they will hide in small, darker places, and also where things are quiet."
"So we should be quiet then sir." Ryan called out loudly.
Professor O'Malley winced.
"Do you have a death wish Ryan?" He hissed, "Shut it."
They proceeded into the office silently.
"What are we meant to be looking for?" Simon whispered, feeling foolish.
"I'm not sure," Baz replied, "maybe we should be more on the lookout for the Mage so you can have a 'chat' with him."
Simon sighed, shook off Baz's helping hand and hobbled over to Penny.
"What are we looking for?" Simon repeated the question to her.
"Professor O'Malley wants us to find out," she murmured. "Are you going to find the Mage?"
"Penny!"
Simon got shushed. He lowered his voice.
"We need to look at the Mage's books, okay?"
"Why?" Penny asked, but Simon was already hobbling away.