Hospital Wing

Sirius kicks open the door to the hospital wing, Viktor unconscious in his arms. "HELP! I NEED SOME HELP HERE!" he shouted, dumping Viktor onto the nearest empty bed before he collapsed under his weight, and gaping at the man's bleeding chest, a strange, unrecognizable symbol burned into it- "Viktor, please, speak to me- can you hear me?!"

Viktor's head leaned towards Sirius' voice and his eyes slowly opened. "Thank you, Sirius," he said quietly. "Reg. Is he okay?"

Sirius nearly falls over when Viktor speaks, and leans into hear his soft voice. "Thank you?! I don't need a thank you, I need a 'I'M OKAY I'M ALIVE OKAY LET'S GO GET DRUNK I'M PERFECTLY FINE', okay?! What happened? Wait, what- Reg? Was he involved in this- this fight? duel? I don't even know- he wasn't there- I didn't see him- what happened, Viktor?"

Viktor shut his eyes. "Don't. shout." He opened his eyes again and stared at Sirius, looking extremely worried. "I vos in the dungeons and I ran into Grindelwald. I vosn't planning on doing anything- but he started saying things...About Regulus. I vos stupid and I hit him. Ve got into a duel and he ended up hitting me back vith my own curse. He valked off after he finished vith me. I think he vos heading towards the dorms. Sirius, he shares a dorm vith Reg."

Eowyn is pretending that James showed up in here sometime between when Sirius left and came back so it all makes sense as a timeline. ANY OBJECTIONS? I really hope not. This is the only way I can think it would all make sense.

Sirius is only half focused on Viktor's words as he rummages through cabinets, grabbing bandages and potions and whatnot- why wasn't Joel coming? He didn't know that on the other end of the hospital wing was another friend of his, keeping Joel quite occupied. "Fuck it, I'll do this myself- wait, why does that matter?" he asked, not really paying attention as he tried to mop up the blood, stanching the flow with a thick cloth, and running a finger along the burn. "What- what is this? Did Grindelwald do this to you?"

"Vot is vo-?" he looked in shock at the burn mark on his chest before turning away in disgust. He closed his eyes, not wanting to believe what he just saw. "That's his mark."

[sounds good to me. Hermione never knew Fleur was in the private ward, and also came and went while Sirius was out... is that ok?]

[that's fine.]

Sirius has already forgotten Viktor's comment about Regulus and is busy tending to his wounds, bandaging him tightly, and getting something for the burns. "Whose mark? What mark?" he asked, rubbing dittany into his cuts so they don't scar, and whipping out his wand to mend the nastier wounds.

"Grindelwald's," he mumbled quietly as Sirius fixed his wounds, praying that the mark wasn't permanent. He tried not to cringe as Sirius cleaned the cuts and turned his head to the side, too embarrassed to look at Sirius.

"Mark? What the hell does he need a mark for? Shit, Viktor- what the hell'd you to piss this fucker off- who the fuck is this shit I'm gonna fuck him up, nobody's gonna hurt you like this and get away with it," he ranted, finishing with the last bandage and moving to the burns, popping open the bottle of ointment and pouring some onto his hands. He looks at Viktor with worry as he rubs it into his chest, sighing as he sees the mark disappearing. "It's going away, whatever it was."

Viktor let out a sigh of relief. "Good." He looks back at Sirius, his expression sad and worried. "I promised Reg I vould't do anything- but-- the things he said. I couldn't help it. I should have valked avay. I hit him though, vich vos exactly vot he vanted me to do."

Sirius glared at him, but not in a cruel way, more of in a "YOU BLOODY IDIOT, VIKTOR!" way, which he yells at Viktor. "Viktor- yes, you should have walked away- if you knew that, what the- what could he have possibly have said to make you act so stupid?!"

Viktor just shakes his head and looks away again. He didn't want to think about what Gellert said and still didn't know if he was telling the truth or not.

Sirius sighed and finished healing Viktor's visible wounds, sitting beside him on the bed. "Fine. Don't tell me. But at least tell me what else hurts, or what you need me to do- or more importantly, where I can find this guy."

"I'm fine now. Thanks," he mumbled. He lays there in silence for a few seconds before answering Sirius' question, still not looking at him. "He's probably in his dorm...vith Regulus."

Sirius doesn't see why this is a problem, but he doesn't miss the look on Viktor's face, or his tone of voice. "Is that bad?" he asked, still far more focused on how to murder this bastard for hurting his friend like this, and massaging the healing ointment into his chest.

"The things he said he vould do to Regulus. That's vot made me hit him," he said softly. "He said he'd tie him up and take vot he vanted from him-- just like he did before ven I left Regulus. If Reg vent to his dorm like I think he did, I don't see how there's anything I can do to stop Gellert now."

Sirius looked like he'd been hit in the face with a bludger, and dropped the bottle of ointment onto the ground as he gaped at Viktor in horror. "YOU- HE- REG- WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT OH FUCK NO OH FUCK, FUCK- WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP HIM I DON'T GIVE A SHIT I AM NOT GOING TO STAND HERE DOING NOTHING WHILE SOME SICK, TWISTED BASTARD- FUCK!" He proceeds to kick at the wall, hurling random objects across the ward and screaming nonsense in a rage, before whirling back around to face Viktor, a deadened expression in his eyes. "And this- this Grindelwald- he managed to do this to you? Fuck," he muttered, realizing that if this shithead could do so much damage to Viktor, he didn't stand a chance, even if he did manage to find a way to break into the Slytherin dormitories. "... When I found you- it had been a while, hadn't it, since Grindelwald had left. And it's been at least an hour or so since I'd found you," he said slowly, sinking back against the wall slowly. "Fuck."

Viktor just nodded sadly. "Reg vos scared something like this vould happen. I told him he shouldn't stay in his dorm anymore but he said he didn't think Grindelvald vould actually do anything." Viktor tried to sit up, not being the kind of person who liked laying down and doing nothing. He cringed and laid back down, looking worried and upset. "It's my fault. I should have valked avay from him."

Sirius looked away, staring at the wall with a hardened expression on his face. "This. Is. Bullshit. First- first Fleur, and now Regulus? CAN I DO NOTHING RIGHT?! CAN I KEEP NO ONE SAFE? ARGH!" he yelled as his fist came in contact with the stone wall again, his face livid with anger and torment. He turned his head slightly to look at Viktor over his shoulder, and slowly shook his head. "You think I would have walked away? No, I'd have done the same, dammit, and I'd probably have ended up the same as you- I've never seen you duel, but I can't imagine you being anything less than my equal- you went to Durmstrang, for fucks sake. This... I don't know what to do," he said quietly, his gaze returning to the wall in front of him. "I've failed somebody else. Again. And in much the same way. And I have no bloody clue how to fix any of this."

"I've let this happen to Regulus twice- even if he did vant it the first time," he added quietly. "I have no idea vot to do. I just vant him dead. I'm not letting him get avay vith vot he's done to Reg."

Sirius didn't look at Viktor, but nodded his head. "When? And how? Don't think for a minute you're doing shit without me, Viktor."

"I don't know yet. Sirius- he got kicked out of Durmstrang, a school for the dark arts, for experimenting vith dark magic... That's how bad he is. He's a heartless, twisted monster. Some of the magic I've seen him use-- it's like nothing I could ever possibly come up vith. It vouldn't be easy. But I vant him dead."

Sirius sighed and sat on the edge of Viktor's bed, looking down at his injured friend sadly. "Viktor, I... Kicked out of Durmstrang for dark magic? Merlin," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair much in the same way that Regulus does when he's anxious. "We'll find a way to take care of him, alright? He won't hurt Regulus again. Neither of us will let it happen," he said quietly. "Do you think Regulus knows what happened? To you?"

Viktor sighed. "I have no idea. I vouldn't be surprised if Grindelvald bragged about it the second he saw Regulus though. He probably made it sound vorse than it really vos. For all Grindelvald knows, I'm still laying on the floor in the dungeons."