Voices. Murmuring voices. Voices that sounded familiar, like people she knew. She wanted to ask them what they were doing in her apartment so early in the morning. She tried to speak but only a moan sounded from her lips. The voices stopped. Her eyes felt heavy. So heavy. They felt as if she had hundred-pound weights on her eyelids. She tried to move her hands, but they too felt like dead weights, and her head hurt. A lot. She let out another low moan, and struggled to open her eyes, blinking trying to focus on the faces above her. She tried to lift her head but it hurt to much. She felt a gentle hand on her forehead and heard a voice that sounded a lot like Healer Quinus', but she heard it as if she was underwater.

"Easy Perry, take it slowly," the healer spoke soothingly, brushing her face with a cool, wet towel. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask where she was, but all that came out was a croak. Another gentle hand came by her mouth and in it was a spoon full of ice chips. She accepted it gratefully, wondering why she was being treated this way, and why the master healer was at her apartment. After a few more blinks her eyes focused on Madame Gos, Quinus, and another female healer by her bedside.

"What happened? Where am I?" She whispered, looking at them. The other healer patted her forehead with the cool cloth again and smiled, looking at Quinus.

"In the Hospital Wing. Perry, you have been in a coma and under a sleeping charm for a week. Do you remember anything?" he asked her. She swallowed hard, and tried to nod, but it hurt too much.

"Yes. The last thing I remember is a medium-sized Longhorn diving toward me. I don't remember anything else until now. What happened?" her voice came out in a hoarse whisper and the lady healer gave her some more ice chips to soothe her throat.

"Charlie stunned it. It turned to attack him, but it flicked its tail in your direction, throwing you a few hundred yards. You had a few ribs broken and nearly fractured your skull." Madam Gos replied to her. A look of dismay crossed Perry's face, and she tried to raise her head to look around.

"Charlie? Oh sweet heaven! What happened to him? Where is he? If something happened to him I'll never forgive myself…." She broke off and stopped moving her head as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Madam Gos put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Easy child, he is alright. He was released two days ago. The dragon gashed him up pretty hard, and I reckon he will have scars, but he is alive and well. He has been to see you every night after he was released. It took Quinus and two other healers to pry him from your bedside for the night." She let out a chuckle. "In fact, I should go alert him that you are awake. He will want to see you." With that she headed away, pausing only to turn back a moment to say, "You may want to freshen up dear girl." Then with a swish of her robes she was out the door. Perry just sat there a moment, before looking up at Quinus and whispering, "I need to use the bathroom." He nodded and looked to the lady healer, who helped her out of bed and took her to the bathroom, helping her wash her face and brush her hair and teeth. After she finished, the lady healer helped her back into bed, and fluffed her pillows so she was able to sit up, and gave her some water to soothe her throat. At Charlie's tentative knock, the lady healer opened the door, letting him in, then excused herself quietly to give them some time alone.

"Perry!" Charlie rushed toward her bedside and gently cradled her in his arms, giving her a tight, yet gentle hug. Perry's eyes welled up with tears as she saw Charlie and hugged him back fiercely, wrapping her arms tightly around him, burrowing her face in his neck. He rubbed her back gently, murmuring soothing words to her as she wept hugging him tightly.

"Charlie, I am so sorry, so very sorry," she whispered to him. He pulled back and looked at her, his hands cradling her face, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

"Sorry for what, Per?" he asked her, searching her face, his heart breaking at seeing her tears. She looked at him, speaking softly.

"For running out that way, I should have told you everything. I'm sorry for the dragon and for getting you hurt. For hurting you and..." He smiled gently and placed a gentle finger on her lips, shushing her "Let's not worry about that right now. I'm just glad you are alright. I was afraid I was going to lose you." She just looked at him, and hugged him again tightly, not wanting to let go, afraid to have him leave her. He smiled at her, "No worries. I am not angry with you. Now you need to rest. You still owe me a game of wizard's chess" She let out a low laugh and nodded, lying back, suddenly very tired again. He grinned, "I'm going to get back to work, but I'll come back later, okay?" He leaned down and kissed her forehead, sending pleasant shivers down her back, and she nodded smiling back at him, dropping back into another light sleep.

A few hours later……..

Perry sat up on her pillows, reading some notes and such that her well-wishers brought her. She heard a soft knock on the door, looking toward it and smiled when she saw Charlie's head poke in.
"Hey you. I was just reading some stuff. How are you feeling?" She smiled at him, placing the notes on the table beside her bed. He smiled at her, walking to the bed and dropping a kiss on her forehead.
"I am glad to see you up and feeling better." She nodded, "I am feeling much better than this morning, definitely." She watched him sit down on a chair by her bed, easing his 5 foot 8 inch body into it. He just looked at her a moment, his expression thoughtful, though his eyes showed that he was fighting with himself over something, then he sighed and took one of her hands in his.
"Perry, I overheard Quinus and Madame Gos talking about you having circumstances in your life which wouldn't allow us to… be together, in a matter of speaking." He spoke hesitantly, as if he were embarrassed to be asking such a question to her. She paled, the color draining from her face as he asked her the inevitable question that she knew she needed to answer, but was dreading the day she would. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it, her eyes sad as she looked down at their hands. For a moment, neither one of them said a word as Perry tried to compose her thoughts, then she began to slowly tell him the story she had kept hidden from him for so long:
"I was born into an upper-middle class family, who still believe in the idea of class as the deciding factor of marriage. At the age of seven I was introduced to the boy I would once marry, as was prearranged by my father and grandfather, and his father and grandfather. His name was Ariel Montero-Verrena author's note: in Hispanic culture Ariel is considered a boy's name. We were encouraged to become friends and spend time together, getting to know each other. At the time we didn't know why, but we became good friends, nonetheless. Then, when I was eleven, I was accepted into the NAIMI, and the strange things that happened when I got upset finally made sense. My parents and grandparents were furious and were about to forbid me to go, when another girl in my neighborhood received an owl, too. We saw it outside her house. It had turned out that theirs was a half-and half family. Their father was a wizard and the mother was a Muggle. We spoke to them about the school and my parents agreed to let me go. The problem remained on how we were going to explain it to Ariel and his family. Finally, my mother told his family that I was being sent off to a special boarding school for intelligent students under a full scholarship and it was too good for me to say no. They were afraid that his family would deny me because I was a witch. Every year I went back home, keeping my secret from Ariel and only speaking about the NAIMI with Maricia, the halfblood witch in my neighborhood.
"Well, as the years went on I grew and I found out that it is not status and class that define how much a person is worth as a friend, or as a life partner, but who they are inside. The whole idea went against my very upbringing, and when I brought it up to my family (the Christmas before my last term) we had a huge falling out. They reminded me that it was my duty as a daughter to follow the tradition, and that it was a binding agreement that the two families made. I would have to marry Ariel whether I wanted to or not. I burst into angry tears, and told them that after my years in the Institute that I was going to be a transcriptionist in Romania, working with dragons. Needless to say, they were not happy. They wanted me to work for the government, even the wizarding government, because it was important and would bring a good name to myself, to the family, and to Ariel's family. I was so upset that night. All I did was cry and cry in my pillow, sobbing until my throat was sore. By that point I had learned enough control to not make anything explode while I was screaming on the inside. The rest of that Christmas break was sullen, quiet, and tense. My family generally avoided me, afraid of what I could do to them with magic.
"The term came and went and I graduated, receiving my commendation for Romania, and three weeks after I had finished I left home for good. Before I left, however, I had told Ariel of what I was and what I had been studying. He was upset that I had kept this from him, now that we were very close, almost lovers, but with me being away so much, nothing could have happened. I told him I was sorry, but that was how it had to be. He didn't deny me like everyone thought he would. I told him I would see him again soon, and then left. My goodbyes to my family were short and tense. They blamed my witch training for my rebellion, but they knew that regardless of how I might feel, my sense of duty was greater than my desires. I told them that I would stay in Romania for ten years, following what I wanted to do, then I would return home and marry Ariel.
"Then," she sighed and squeezed his hand, "I met you, Charlie. You were my first friend here and you and I became inseparable, more so than Ariel and I could ever have been. I trust you more than I trust anyone else, and my love for you runs deeper then even you could understand. But…as much as I love you, Charlie, my sense of duty goes further than my desires, as my family well knows. I am bound to another, which is why I cannot be with you Charlie, no matter how much I may want to." As she finished she let go of his hand, and her voice became soft. She took a few breaths and tears flowed from her cheeks. "It is done. I have finally told him," she thought to herself as she folded her hands on her lap, not looking at him. There was silence between them for a long time; so long that Perry thought he was so angry he would not speak to her again. Her heart sank at this thought, and she closed her eyes, unable to speak for the lump in her throat. She then felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her, hugging her gently, and a soft voice whisper,
"It's okay, Perry. Don't cry. I will always be here." With a sigh of relief she clung to his shirt. They stayed that way for a long time, him hugging her and she holding on to his shirt, weeping into his chest.