Gilderoy was bored out of his mind. It had been four days since Lucius had arrived in Gilderoy's room, and he hadn't cut back on the animosity yet. Now it was Thursday, it was pouring outside, and the other patients had their visitors. Gilderoy noticed that only he, Lucius and two other patients had no one. Lucius didn't seem to mind in the least.

Gilderoy and Lucius were in their room alone. Marlene and the new nurse (Gilderoy had since learned that her name was Natalie, but she was still new in his mind) came in to check on them occasionally, but they were pretty much left to their own devices. Lucius was sitting at the desk, writing something and trying to ignore Gilderoy, who was sitting on the desk.

"I really think you should let me have a look at what you're writing," said Gilderoy for the fifth time. "Maybe I could give you some pointers on whatever it is you're working on, after all – "

"Yes, you would know about that," Lucius said coldly, "but I'm not writing anything like what you're used to, and even if I was, I would like to keep it factual, thank you very much."

"Sorry?" Gilderoy said, confused.

There was an odd look that flicked across Lucius' face, one that Gilderoy couldn't read. Then Lucius smirked. "They never told you?" he asked softly. "They never told the great Gilderoy Lockhart why everyone knows who he is?"

Gilderoy laughed. "In time, Lucius, in time! I'm sure I'll know soon enough, and it's not really important in the meantime."

Lucius smiled but said nothing. He immersed himself in his writing again, leaving Gilderoy to wonder just what it was he wasn't getting.

After a few moments of silence, Gilderoy leaned over and tried to look at whatever it was Lucius was writing. He was rewarded by Lucius' arm flying up and striking him in the face.

Gilderoy yelped. "You could have just said no," he said, getting up to make sure his nose wasn't bleeding. "You didn't have to get violent."

Natalie burst through the door, nearly hitting Gilderoy with it. "Did someone scream in here?"

"Only Lockhart. He tried to lead an attack on my arm with his face. Not a good move on his part."

Natalie gave Lucius a dark look. "You hit him."

"He wasn't respecting boundaries."

"I'm beginning to see that this isn't going to work."

"Just?"

Natalie stepped back into the hall, bracing the door open with her foot, and yelled for Marlene. Lucius didn't look happy with this arrangement; Marlene didn't put up with his talking back.

"Lucius," Marlene said as soon as she came in, "confinement. Now."

Lucius didn't argue. He stood up and crossed the room.

"Marlene, wait," Gilderoy said, grabbing her arm as she turned to leave. "It was my fault."

"Stop," Marlene said to Lucius. She turned back to Gilderoy. "Explain."

"I…well, I wasn't respecting boundaries…" He paused, looking at Lucius, who had arched an eyebrow and was nodding slowly. "And I provoked him until he hit."

Marlene gave him a hard look. "You're going to have to go into confinement for awhile. You know that we don't tolerate fighting."

"Oh, of course. I won't fight with you. Here, let's go." Gilderoy walked out of the room after Marlene, leaving Natalie and Lucius staring.

The confinement rooms were small, windowless places that had a mat in the corner for the ones that were staying overnight and several torches burning out of reach. Marlene told Gilderoy that he would be in there for a few hours, overnight if he carried on about it. He nodded, smiling at her, and she turned and locked him in.

The time passed slowly. Gilderoy sat and made up stories in his head – stories he could use to tell some of the other patients later, they'd never know the difference – but even that got boring after awhile. Before long he found his thoughts turning to his roommate. He wondered where Lucius had come from, what he'd done, and why he – Gilderoy – had gone to confinement for him.

There was no reason, really, he thought. He knew Lucius didn't consider him a friend, but he just had a feeling – like he should protect Lucius, somehow. Which was an odd thought in itself, because if anyone looked like he could take care of himself, it was Lucius.

But Lucius is still on suicide checks, he thought suddenly. Apparently he couldn't handle everything. But even so, he wasn't exactly fragile.

Gilderoy, you are getting extremely strange in the head.

Whatever the issue was, Gilderoy decided to ignore it. He curled up on the mat in the corner and went to sleep.

Gilderoy was led back to his room three hours later. He kept thinking that his hair must look like hell, and he didn't exactly enjoy the fact that Geoffrey was leading him through the ward in front of everyone. He kept trying to smooth his hair down as he walked, much to Geoffrey's amusement.

Lucius was sitting on his bed facing the window, watching the rain come down outside. Lightning flashed suddenly, illuminating his features and casting an odd shine off of his hair. Geoffrey left Gilderoy off and walked out. Gilderoy went and sat on his own bed, looking at Lucius.

"Why did you do that?" Lucius asked without taking his eyes off the window.

"It really wasn't your fault, you know. Granted, it wasn't exactly mine either – it was your arm – but I figure I had at least some hand in it."

"So you took the entire blame."

"Yes – "

Lucius finally turned to look at him. He looked as though he was going to say something. Then he apparently thought better of it and said instead, "Stupid thing to do. Don't bother doing it again."

Gilderoy looked at him. "Well, why not?"

"Because I don't like being in debt to someone as – to someone like you."

"Oh, but you're not…do you think you're in my debt now, Lucius?" Gilderoy said, laughing. "You don't have to worry about it. It's not like I'm expecting you to do anything for me."

"That's good, because I wasn't planning on it."

"But you said – "

"It's a moral thing." An oddly self-deprecating smirk appeared on his face.

"I see. So what do you want to do now? …oh, I know!" Gilderoy said triumphantly. "You could show me what you've been working on with your writing and whatnot."

"How about not," Lucius said. He turned and let himself fall back against his bed. His long hair fell across his shoulders as he did so. Gilderoy tried not to stare at him.

"The rain is nice, isn't it?" Gilderoy said.

"Very. I like to listen to it, it's rather calming."

Gilderoy smiled. For once, Lucius wasn't mocking him; maybe he would actually talk now. "So what are you going to do when you get out?" he asked.

"As soon as I get back to the Manor I plan on eating the richest thing that I can think of, then going to sleep on something that doesn't feel like a foam mat on a wooden frame." Lucius turned his head to look at Gilderoy. "Yourself?"

"I actually don't know yet," said Gilderoy. "I'm probably going to have to go to classes or something to relearn all the magic that was wiped out. Yes," he added, seeing Lucius' raised eyebrow, "I know about the magic and everything. As soon as I got here I managed to wreak some minor havoc because I had a wand and didn't know what I was doing with it."

Lucius smiled; for a moment it looked like he would have laughed if he didn't apparently consider laughing beneath him. Gilderoy smiled as well. "You're being extremely nice," he said without thinking.

The smile remained, but it looked extremely forced all of a sudden. "Would you prefer I wasn't, Gilderoy?"

"No, no, of course not. I'm just saying that you're not usually this nice to me. Is there a reason, or are you finally deciding to open up, or what?"

"It's because idiotic though you are, and stupid though it is, self-sacrifice is hard to not admire and even harder to ignore. Don't think we're going to be sitting here having these pajama-party chats every night. It's just not going to happen." Lucius stood up and started for the door. "I'm going to tell Marlene that I've decided to go to sleep. Shall I tell her that you plan on doing the same?"

"Yes, Lucius, of course. Thank you." Lucius left the room, and Gilderoy crossed the room and dressed for bed. Even though the candles in the room hadn't been extinguished yet, he lay down on his bed and fell into a deep, mostly dreamless sleep.