that zacharias bloke's a wart. (belligerentgit) wrote in caged, @ 2013-08-10 00:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 97-08, [ backstory ], [ log ], susan bones, zacharias smith |
WHO: Susan Bones and Zacharias Smith.
WHEN: Sometime shortly after the Muggleborn Registration Commission was announced.
WHERE: Meribah, Wendover, Buckinghamshire.
SUMMARY: Sadz.
RATING: PG-13? There's a swear.
STATUS:Complete.
Zacharias had been sleeping peacefully in his bed, a cool summer night breeze drifting through the window, blissfully unaware of the world, when the sound of someone arriving in the downstairs Floo grate woke him. Sitting up, he saw a sliver of moonlight and his sister's stupid cat glaring at him, clearly angry that she'd been disturbed from her sleep. As he rose from his bed and pulled on a jumper, Rikki Tikki Tavi meowed at him. "Oh, shut up." The cat followed him downstairs, as he listened for someone else stirring. His sister still seemed to be sleeping and since the door to his father's bedroom was open, it seemed he wasn't home yet. Typical. When he found Susan in the drawing room, he frowned. "What are you doing here? It's two in the morning." Susan meant to apologize for coming by so late and offer to leave if it was an inconvenience, but all she could manage in response was an “I know what time it is.” As soon as the Bones family meeting had ended, she’d left her house, escaping through the floo to the first place that came to mind, Meribah. That’s how she came to find herself sitting across from a stuffed diricawl and listening to snoring portraits at two in the morning. She wondered what it said about her that this is where she wanted to be, that the only person she wanted to see was the least likely person to immediately embrace her. “I just—“ Her voice cracked and she looked down, focusing her eyes on a rip in the cushion of the antique sofa. She hadn’t cried yet tonight, and she wasn’t going to start now. “I just wanted to talk.” Zacharias frowned, cocking his head to one side. At first he felt confusion. Why was Susan here, in the middle of the night, looking well, upset? Usually, their positions were reversed, though he rarely acted upset, it wasn't unheard of for him to arrive at her home in the middle of the night. His first instinct was to say "well, then talk," but he wasn't sure that was the right thing to say. Normally, he wouldn't have cared if it was the right thing to say, but this seemed a time for hedging his words. To buy himself some time, he moved to flick on another of the lights. He didn't like the way that diricawl looked in the dark. Then, he settled on saying, "Talk about what?" and sitting down at the other end of the sofa. She glanced over her shoulder at the dozing portraits. There would be no need to warn Zacharias that what she was about to say was in confidence, but she was worried about other eavesdroppers. It might have been wise to start from the beginning, to describe the long family meeting that ended with her mum slipping out into the darkness, but it was easier just to blurt it out. "My mum ran away. I don't know when she'll be back, if she'll ever be back. My parents, they think she's unsafe because of things they've heard in the Ministry. She's a muggleborn, so she's running away." The silence started out as a natural pause for him to absorb the information, and then stretched out longer and longer as, once again, he tried to figure out what to say. It was rare for Zacharias to be at a loss for words, but Susan was his best friend, and so he wanted to try to figure out, in this moment, the right thing to say. He drummed his fingers on his knee, chewing his lip. "I'm sorry," he said, which was the obvious response. Another person might have hugged her, but he wasn't about to initiate that. "She left just now?" "YES," she said with a force that surprised even herself. Bitterness could be heard in her voice. "She just up and left. We don't do that. She's supposed to stay and fight. She’s a Bones. That's what we do." She shrugged, suddenly feeling exhausted. “That’s what we did. We’re not supposed to tell anyone. They concocted this story. I don’t know what the point is, or why anyone would believe it. That my mum left my dad.” "Um." He was surprised by this outburst, even though he probably shouldn't have been. He didn't understand why Susan was angry that her mother had wanted to protect herself. What was the point of staying and fighting if you wouldn't accomplish anything? He knew that wasn't a sentiment that would go over well with her, considering her family's history. For once, he actually censored himself, somewhat. "Likely it was strategic. It's like chess, or Quidditch. Sometimes you have to pull back." Her response was “I suppose.” but her tone conveyed that she didn’t suppose anything at all. He had a point, but it wasn’t one she was ready to accept yet. She pulled her legs up onto the sofa and rested her chin on her knees. “It’s just not fair, Z. What am I supposed to do? She has this stack of postcards from places she’ll never go, and she says she’s going to write. I don’t know what the point is because it’ll all be lies, and I can’t write back. It fucking sucks.” Another "um" came out of Zacharias's mouth, though she hadn't seemed to notice that he was rather at a loss for words, so he wasn't that worried about it. He thought if his mother were leaving he'd prefer not to have postcards full of lies sent to him, and was tempted to say so, but he knew that wasn't relevant, and that she knew he didn't get on particularly well with his mother, anyway. "The world isn't fair. You know that. Especially now." Her eyes flashed with anger when he spoke, but then her expression softened. If it had been anyone else, she might’ve stood up and left, or slapped him. Except it was Zacharias and all she could really expect him to say was the truth. If she had wanted to be comforted, she’d have gone to Ernie or Hannah. “Says the pureblood.” "I'm aware that I benefit from that unfairness," he said, bristling a little. "And you know that I don't like it." He hated the way that pure blood was treated as something tangible, something that was worth something. Everyone had a different idea of what "pure" meant, anyway. Purity was like beauty, subjective and ultimately useless. "There's not a lot of point in being a pureblooded wizards if neither of those things can fix the important things." “I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out at you.” Closing her eyes, she paused, listening to the rhythmic sound of the sleeping portraits. It had been wrong to use his blood status against him, and she didn’t really know why it had slipped out. It never mattered to her before. “I just needed to see you. I didn’t really plan what to say.” "Well, there's no point in dwelling on that," he said. He didn't say that it was fine, because what she'd said felt like an accusation and that stung, a little bit, but it didn't seem worth the trouble to antagonise her about it. Not now, at least. Another pause. "Do you want me to, I don't know, hug you?" She smiled at that, a little. “No, but maybe I can rest my head on your shoulder?” Zacharias made a face of mixed confusion and skepticism. "I suppose." With a sigh, he moved so that they were sitting nearer to each other. Normally, Susan was respectful of his bubble of personal space, something he appreciated about her, but tonight seemed to be a night of exceptions. "It's probably uncomfortable, though." “Probably,” she agreed. She didn’t have to watch his face to know that he was uncomfortable. This wasn’t normal for them, and it meant a lot that he’d agreed. She hesitated for a second before setting her head against the corner of his shoulder, her body stiff and rigid next to his. This seemed much more comfortable in her head and when she’d seen the other Hufflepuffs cuddled in the common room. “Don’t tell Ernie or Hannah what I said, okay? I don’t want them to know.” Deciding she’d had enough of that, she lifted her head from his shoulder and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Love you.” Why did people cuddle? He didn't really understand. As far as he could tell, her head was on his shoulder and... so? He just didn't really see the appeal, but because she'd asked he didn't really feel like it was an invasion, such as when some other Hufflepuff sprang a random hug on him. He wasn't sad when it ended, though, and turned so that he was facing her and sitting cross-legged. "I won't tell anyone," he said. He didn't like keeping secrets, but it wasn't as though he could say anything different, considering what was at stake. "Are we being affectionate tonight? Love you too." He didn't have any qualms about saying it, even if he didn't go spouting it off all the time, but it still felt a little awkward. "So. Are you going to stay here tonight or go home?" “I was hoping to stay here. I’ll sleep on your floor. I don’t want to go home.” She gave him a small smile. It was an imposition, and she figured he would want to get away from her now. “Thank you.” "Oh for fuck's sake, you don't have to sleep on the floor." He wondered when the last time anyone had given the rug in his room a good cleaning, and decided that he probably wouldn't want to sleep on it. "And the guest room smells like mothballs." She raised an eyebrow. “Well, if you’re offering, I promise I won’t touch you. On purpose. My sister claims I kick.” "If you kick me, I'll just kick back. So we're even." He stood up, running a hand through already unkempt hair. "I really hope you don't snore." |