InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Happiness is a warm Tweak"

erniemacattack (erniemacattack) wrote in attheclose,
@ 2011-05-02 21:18:00

Entry tags:

character: ernie macmillan

Ernie and Hazel have a chat a few days after snogging in the closet. Rating is likely low.

Ernie sat in the common room, his mind both everywhere and nowhere at once. He was pretending to study, but it was a facade he was almost not bothering with anymore. He was resting his head in his arm which was propped on the arm of the chair, and he was just staring at his text blankly. Mostly he was preoccupied with figuring out how the hell he was going to go about getting information out of Alecto Carrow, because the more he thought about it, the more ludicrous it seemed.

But he was also a bit distracted by the fact that he'd snogged Hazel a few days ago, and hadn't really seen her very much since.

He hadn't been trying to avoid her. He had just been trying to work out D.A. plans, and before he knew it, days had passed and they hadn't talked about it. Or reenacted the event, which Ernie also wouldn't mind in the least (and would, perhaps, prefer). Because he'd quite decided that he liked Hazel, and while he wasn't sure what he wanted to do about it, exactly, it occurred to him that days of silence wasn't really the best way to go about it.

He really needed to not be quite so daft.

Looking up from his text, he blinked, focusing his eyes and looking around the common room to see if Hazel was present.

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wichehazel
2011-05-03 03:01 am UTC (link)

While Hazel had every intention of pursuing Ernie to the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall the morning after they'd kissed, a letter had reached her before she could, from her sister. The contents had driven her back to the girls' dormitory, and there she'd stayed.

Nothing was confirmed, Brenna had insisted, but she'd heard reports in The Daily Prophet offices of a mass migration of Muggleborns from the United Kingdom to France, assisted by those sympathetic to their plight. What was equally unconfirmed, and the bit Hazel wished Brenna had left out of her letter, was the rumor of a raid on the party of twenty or so Muggleborns escaping the United Kingdom, among them students who would have been at Hogwarts. Who should have been.

Had Michelle been among them? Hazel didn't know, and Brenna didn't say. There was no one she could ask, and nothing she could do, and only by force was she lead by one of her housemates to Madame Pomfrey that evening. It was beyond the nurse's power to keep her from her classes the next day, not without a serious injury, and Hazel had proceeded shakily through her lessons. She hadn't thought about Ernie. She hadn't thought about anyone, not even Michelle, not properly. That would hurt too much, to wonder if she even was anymore.

Entering the common room after acquiring a sleeping draught from Madame Pomfrey, Hazel had every intention of going right upstairs and to bed. She hadn't intended on seeing Ernie, and she caught his eye without meaning to, as well. Her pale cheeks flushed, grip tightening on the vial in her hand. Could she go and talk with him? Could she tell him?

She couldn't tell anyone else.

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erniemacattack
2011-05-03 03:32 am UTC (link)

Hazel looked positively awful and any thought Ernie had about their previous encounter disappeared immediately, replaced by concern. She looked like she was going up to bed, and perhaps that was for the best, but she had stopped when their eyes met.

Ernie couldn't stop himself from standing up and walking over to her, pulling her into a hug. He didn't know what was wrong, and it didn't seem like he should ask. He figured if she wanted to, she'd tell him in her own time.

But a hug just seemed necessary.

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wichehazel
2011-05-03 03:41 am UTC (link)

What Ernie offered Madame Pomfrey could not, and Hazel found herself relax at his touch, the tenderness and silence like a blanket she just wanted to wrap herself up in.

"Hi, Ernie," she manged after a moment, her words muffled in part where she'd rested her head against his chest. Withdrawing a little, a blush came unbidden and thoughtless to her cheeks, probably making her look even more feverish than before. If Michelle...

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erniemacattack
2011-05-03 04:08 am UTC (link)

"Hullo, Hazel," he replied softly, looking down at her and holding her close. "...do you need to sit down?" he asked, concerned that she might collapse or fall down or faint or something.

She looked like she was under so much stress, and that everything was about to break, which he more than understood. He wanted to ask what was wrong because something so clearly was, but he didn't want to pry and make her even more upset than she already was.

So he just held her, rubbing her back lightly and hoping that he was helping.

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wichehazel
2011-05-03 04:16 am UTC (link)

It was nearly curfew, but there were enough students in the common room yet that Hazel's anxiety was complicated by Ernie's very public attentiveness; namely, how much she was enjoying it and being unsure how she should feel if someone were to notice.

"Sure, let's," she answered, tugging on Ernie's forearm and leading the pair in the direction of the couch where he'd been seated when she'd come into the common room. Secondarily, Hazel noted the draught she was still carrying, and wondered if she would need it now. Looking at Ernie, she felt a little tightness unravel in her chest, a little knot of worry wondering if perhaps something good had happened for Michelle, too. Maybe she'd gotten away. Maybe...

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erniemacattack
2011-05-04 12:41 am UTC (link)

Ernie frowned slightly, letting her tug him over to the couch where he sat down, studying her face for a moment. If anyone else in the common room had noticed them, or was wondering about it at all, he didn't notice. Nor did he care. He was just focused on the adorable girl in front of him who was entirely too upset. He didn't like it at all.

He noticed the bottle in her hand, and he took it from her hand gently, looking at it. "A sleeping draught?" he asked quietly, looking back up at her. "Hazel...are you-are you okay? You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to, and if you just want to take this and go to bed, I understand..."

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wichehazel
2011-05-04 12:58 am UTC (link)

"No, no," Hazel shook her head, allowing Ernie to keep a hold of the vial, laying the hand he'd freed in her lap. She scooted near to him, because she could, because she wanted to. "I just... it's silly. I got news from my sister about some Muggleborns," her voice was so low, the word itself seemed a dangerous thing, "escaping into France and maybe being attacked and I thought one of them might have been Michelle. She was, I mean, she's my best mate."

Hazel wouldn't cry, not here, not in front of Ernie, but her eyes were shining all the same.

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erniemacattack
2011-05-04 01:10 am UTC (link)

Ernie smiled gently, taking his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. He didn't take the time to over-think whether or not it was attention that she might not want because he was more concerned with the fact that she looked like she was about to cry.

"Think...think of it as potential good news though, Hazel. Maybe Michelle did escape into France. Maybe she's safe," he replied, his voice soft and gentle. "If they had been attacked, don't you think that's the sort of thing they'd brag about? If they were anything but fine, we'd know about it."

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wichehazel
2011-05-04 01:23 am UTC (link)

Nodding, Hazel relaxed a little against Ernie. What he'd said she'd certainly heard from Madame Pomfrey, who knew enough of Hazel's temperament to guess, at least, at what ailed her. Still, what girl wouldn't respond better to advice coming from a terribly handsome boy she'd recently kissed, as opposed to a woman who was old enough to be her mother and motherly besides?

"I just wish there was some way to know, some way to get a letter to her. Though that would probably make her less safe," she finished reasonably, tone rather more even than it had been when she'd admitted her worries to Ernie.

"How do you... how do you keep from worrying about Justin?" She asked timidly, catching Ernie's eyes. It didn't occur to her that just because Ernie was a boy would mean he didn't fret or imagine terrible things happening... Ernie wasn't that kind of boy.

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erniemacattack
2011-05-04 01:40 am UTC (link)

"I..." Ernie trailed off, glancing away at the wall for a moment before looking back at Hazel. He wasn't sure that he even had an answer to that question because the only way he'd managed to keep himself from worrying every second of every day was to focus on what was in front of him. To focus on the D.A. or his anger at the Carrows, or even on Hazel. And it made him feel absolutely awful whenever he managed to forget about the sorts of problems that his best mate might be facing.

There was a reason why the stress of everything had made him sleep away nearly the entire Easter holiday.

"It's...hard," he said quietly, with a sigh. "And I don't succeed nearly as often as I'd like. It's easier during the day, of course, when I'm doing something and can keep my mind distracted. Harder at night when I see the empty bed..."

He wasn't sure he was being helpful.

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wichehazel
2011-05-04 01:47 am UTC (link)

"I'm sorry!" Hazel lamented, seeing that she'd made Ernie feel as worried and sad as she did. "Sometimes I wish we could just be normal, go to lessons and study for our N.E.W.T.s and," though the word date sprang to mind, Hazel didn't dare to utter it, "be with friends. But they can't do those things, either, and I'd miss out on everything if it meant they could be safe, in the end."

Because there had to be an end. Hazel couldn't imagine a world where there wasn't, for good or ill.

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erniemacattack
2011-05-04 01:59 am UTC (link)

"No, it's okay, really," he replied, with a gentle smile. "I wish the same thing. I just want to be normal again, without all the stress of everything. Where the only things I'd have to worry about are how well I'll do on my N.E.W.T.s and whether or not the pretty 6th year sitting next to me fancies me at all. Not whether or not my best mate's dead, let alone anyone else. Not whether or not I'm going to end up-" Ernie broke off, not wanting to complete the thought.

He was going to say whether or not he was going to end up tortured or worse by the Carrows in his attempt to suss out information, but that wasn't something he should share with Hazel.

"I don't want to think about how this is all going to end."

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wichehazel
2011-05-04 02:11 am UTC (link)

Hazel's cheeks burned, and she couldn't settle on what she felt most: surprise at what Ernie had said about her, the desire to answer him right away, guilt for being so easily distracted from her worry for Michelle, immediate worry for Ernie.

"Well, I hope. It's all we can do, right?"

She reached out, plucked the vial from his hands and set it aside so she could hold them instead, smiling shyly.

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	erniemacattack 2011-05-04 02:27 am UTC (link)
	Ernie looked at her, feeling a blush creep across his cheek. He glanced down at their hands before looking back up at Hazel, giving her hands a light squeeze. "It's definitely all we can do. And probably the best thing we can do. It'll all turn out okay." Momentarily, at least, he felt just the tiniest bit better about it all. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	wichehazel 2011-05-04 02:43 am UTC (link)
	Beaming, Hazel's blush deepened when she admitted her next. "I think I should've just come and talked to you, instead of going to Madame Pomfrey." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	erniemacattack 2011-05-04 02:50 am UTC (link)
	"Well, I wouldn't've been able to give you the potion, so it's probably best that you did go to Madame Pomfrey," he said with a smile. "But I'm glad that I could help. You can always talk to me, Hazel." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

wichehazel
2011-05-04 02:59 am UTC (link)

When Ernie smiled like that Hazel found she didn't really want to do much talking, but no closets sprang into being, and certainly no IS members ready to drive them into one.

With a little sigh and a smile, Hazel relaxed against Ernie, resting her head on his shoulder. Even the notably comfy couches in the Hufflepuff common room couldn't compete with Ernie Macmillan's shoulder.

"I think I'll take it back to her in the morning."

She paused, thinking.

"Is this... okay? Were you working on something?"

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erniemacattack
2011-05-04 03:18 am UTC (link)

"You should take it anyway. It'll ensure that you sleep well, and good sleep is hard to come by." Or at least, he found that it was for him.

Ernie smiled when she rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying the contact and the closeness. "It's more than okay. And no, I wasn't working on anything. Nothing of importance anyway. This is much nicer, Hazel."

He leaned his head on hers, content to just sit there.

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