devils snare [phan]

Chapter 10

I woke to the light feathery touches of lips against my hand. My eyes fluttered open and I looked at Dan who was holding my hand in his, his lips grazing against my fingers ever so slightly, his eyes closed in a peaceful expression.

"Hi, Dan." I croaked, my voice a lot more gravelly than I expected. Dan jumped and his cheeks flushed pink. He went to let go of my hand when I squeezed it. His cheeks went even pinker and he giggled.

"Hi, Philly."

I let out a quiet chuckle and rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for that."

I sat up and winced, something rubbing against my midriff. I lifted up with shirt and looked at the plaster which now cover pretty much my entire upper and lower torso. I could feel eyes piercing my skin and I lowered my shirt in embarrassment.

Dan cleared his throat. "How are you feeling?"

"Achy." I mumbled, looking up with warm cheeks. "Thank you for coming by."

"I'd be a pretty bad friend if I didn't." Dan said.

I chuckled but winced as a sharping stinging sensation spread through my body.

"Just a small question," I chuckled, ruffling my fringe. "what happened?"

Dan paused, licking his lips.

"Well, you got beat up by the dragon pretty bad. You had mild second degree burns on your waist and shoulder on your right and a mild third degree burn on your calf and thigh. " Dan said.

"Okay," I nodded. "what does that mean?"

Dan chuckled and shook his head. "It just means you burned through the nerve on your leg and not on your shoulders and stuff. My mom refers to all injuries in sorta medical terms since she's a doctor."

"What's it like? In the muggle world I mean?" I asked. "My dad always talks about the muggle world but I never got taken."

I didn't mention that I knew the reason why.

"Well, it's nice. We use the tv for news instead of the paper. We use phones and computers a lot." Dan stuttered, unsure on how to answer my question.

"Computers?" I asked.

"They're basically giant phones with keyboards and more things to do." Dan shrugged, stroking my hand absentmindedly.

"That sounds... unnecessary."

Dan laughed. "It is pretty unnecessary, but they are pretty useful."

"Which do you prefer?" I asked. "Muggle world or wizarding world?"

"No, I can't choose." Dan shook his head. "It's like choosing which child you love more." Dan looked at me intently. "Why didn't your dad show you the muggle world, was he ashamed or something?"

"God no! He loved his home." I shook my head frantically.

"Loved?"

I paused, fiddling with the sheets with my free hand.

"Well his brother—"

"Alright Philip, how are you feeling?" Madame Pomfrey bustled in holding a tray of food and a glass of some murky blue liquid.

"I feel okay, my leg is feeling a lot better than my stomach." I managed a smile.

"Which isn't a good sign." Madame Pomfrey mumbled, placing the tray down and handing me the cup. "You will need to drink this, it'll repair the tissue quicker than just spells. It's going to hurt a little."