modron. (cocooned) wrote in dearhogwarts, @ 2014-07-13 13:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, emilia wood, noah hopkins |
WHO: Emilia Wood & Noah Hopkins
WHAT: A chat in the hall that actually doesn't descend into them fighting. We'll call it progress.
WHEN: Saturday, September 12th
WHERE: A hallway somewhere between the Library and the Gryffindor Tower.
WARNINGS: None.
STATUS: Complete.
Noah had tried to study this weekend, he really did. But he’d gotten so bored and tired. He’d been on his way back to the Gryffindor tower when he just gave up on walking back to his bed to sleep. He found one of the windows that had a bench to lay on and fell asleep almost immediately. Noah had no way to track how long he’d been out, unlike some people claimed to be able to do. However he did know that Em had worked her way into his dream when he woke. That wasn’t so surprising when he got his bearings. In front of him was Em and her brother Logan. Noah rubbed at his eyes, watching her tease her little brother, who would soon tower over her and really couldn't be referred to as 'little' any longer. He couldn’t help be smile, it was cute. "Ooh, Logan's got a cruuuuuush," Emilia had been teasing her brother, even though Logan simultaneously protested and turned red at the topic. "Ooooh, Logan and Fiona are sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a --." "Shut UP, Emmy!" Logan whined, pushing her away, to which she responded with more laughter. It was nice to pick on him, even though she knew she shouldn't have been giving him a hard time. He was just a child, who had realized that he could possibly have feelings for another human being. "Hmm, I won't tell mum and dad you're getting married, I suppose. But I'm going to help plan your wedding, okay?" She continued on, laughing some more, as the pair of siblings walked towards the Hufflepuff common room. She took a few steps forward and glanced away from him, only for her eyes to end up on Noah, who had been smiling at her. Her smile immediately disappeared and it was replaced with something more akin to a nonchalant expression. "Fine, fine, I'll stop. Think you can make it back to your common room now?" she asked, to which he nodded yes and happily ran away to. Emilia didn't move but she did glance at Noah again. "What?" she asked, moving her hands to match her expression. "May I help you?" Emilia’s change in expression made his insides squeeze uncomfortably. He instinctively knew that they were going to have another conversation. Although he didn’t feel quite as bad as he had during their fight by the lake, Noah still didn’t feel as comfortable around Emilia as he had during the summer. He just hoped that this conversation wouldn’t end in cursing or yelling or anger. Basically, Noah just wanted to have a moment with Emilia that went smoothly. Whether this one would go like that or not...well, Noah had no idea. “Hi. I was wondering why my dream had nursery rhymes in it.” He tried to smile at her, although he knew this one was a little more hesitant than before, when she hadn’t realized his presence. She’d told him that she didn’t want to ever talk to him again and Noah was pretty sure that it had been an exaggeration but it hadn’t been a whole week yet. So Noah figured that there was still a large possibility that she was going to stomp off right now. “Who is Fiona?” Noah asked. Emilia didn't even bother responding to his first comment, though she did quirk a brow and wondered how that statement made little sense. She just blinked, almost waiting for Noah to explain himself, but when no further explanation came, she just shrugged her shoulders. She supposed that was the end of this ravishing conversation, even though there were barely words exchanged, but Noah went on to ask another question. "The girl he has a crush on," she stated, crossing an arm across her chest, while the other pressed her skirt down smoothly. "But he denies it because at that age, the opposite sex is disgusting. If only they realize the opposite sex is disgusting at all ages!" She chuckled, slightly bitterly, clearly still not over the incident from this previous week. And she knew she wasn't ever going to forget it. She still couldn't look at that stupid bitch that was Talia Smith without wanting to dump itching powder in her panties drawer and she couldn't look at Wes Boot without wanting to knock his teeth out. And she generally avoided looking at Noah. Until now, apparently. "Why are you sleeping here like a homeless person? Go back to your dorm," she huffed, as though it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard of. Noah bit his lip when Emilia answered. She was obviously still angry, which was understandable. He had only just started talking to Talia again the previous day. And technically Talia hadn’t done anything to him. Still, he wanted Talia to apologize to Em. But that didn’t seem to be an option. Chelsea seemed to think it was a bad idea anyway, so he’d mostly dropped the subject. She did ask him a question though, so that was a slight success. Maybe. “Oh, uh, I tried to study and I got tired. And I didn’t really see the point in waiting to nap until I got all the way back up to the tower. So I just choose this bench.” He patted the bench he was on. “Not too bad, I think it has a cushioning charm on it?” Noah shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. Noah knew that things would be a little weird for a while, but he felt like he should try to continue the conversation. He scratched the back of his head while the silence hung between them. Finally, he asked, “How are you?” "Gryffindor isn't that far from here," Emilia frowned, though she had a look of ridiculousness than anger etched upon her face this time. She knew Noah was lazy but she didn't realize how lazy he really was. She just shook her head, in disapproval, finally crossing both her arms across her stomach. The silence seemed to suggest that this was a good indication for them to go about their lives, but Emilia stood grounded where she was, and now she was tracing patterns on the floor with her foot. "Fine," she replied, a bit too sternly. She was quiet for a few more moments, before finally looking up at him. "And how are you?" “Uh, well, I know. But I was tired. And I mean, I just sleep when I feel like I need to sleep.” Noah shrugged his shoulders. He could feel her judgment, but that was nothing new. Whenever people found him in weird napping spots they would have a similar reactions. Out of all the things people judged him for, he was the least offended by this one. He watched her foot move. Noah wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen that nervous habit before. Or maybe it was a habit Emilia did when she was annoyed. Noah couldn’t be sure. And he definitely didn’t want to ask. He frowned a little at her response, he was hoping for a little more. But he supposed that he shouldn’t expect any more from her. “Alright, I guess.” He shrugged his shoulders again. Emilia tried her best to keep a stern face and not smile, because it really was that ridiculous. Thankfully, she succeeded because the last thing she wanted to be doing was smiling at Noah Hopkins, especially after everything that had happened between the two of them. "You sleep a lot," she merely commented, with a half a shrug, tucking some stray hair behind her ears. And then there was silence again. She took a moment to figure out whether she should be chatting with him at all in the first place and decided that this was probably it -- this was how conversations between the two of them would be from here on out, so she didn't say anything that would initiate another awkward chat. She, instead, inhaled sharply, and turned around. "Right, well, as riveting as this conversation has been, I better go back and have more murderous thoughts about my roommate," Emilia stated, making an obvious statement about Talia. Noah nodded in agreement. He did sleep a lot. The silence was awkward, but he also didn’t want this to be their first conversation since the incident thing. Because this wasn’t smoothing out things at all. But he also thought she probably wanted more space and it would be respectful of him to give her that. He watched her walk away for a few moments, telling himself to stay seated. But he was an idiot. So he grabbed his bag and followed her. He realized that this could completely backfire, but he doubted that things could get worse between them. He really really doubted it. “What’s your plan?” He asked her once he caught up with her. “I mean you’d have to avoid getting attention, or you know...going to Azkaban.” He wasn’t sure how funny Emilia would find it, but he hoped it would...smooth things out. Emilia didn't expect Noah to follow her like that, nor did she expect him to actually continue on with that conversation. But … well, she actually was rather pleased about it. She flashed him a curious look when he caught up and asked his question, wondering if he was genuinely asking this or just being a smartass about it. Her thoughts were confirmed once he made a follow-up statement, and she couldn't help but look away and smile. It was actually endearing. "I don't think I'm going to go to Azkaban for accidentally spilling itching powder in her underwear drawer," Emilia muttered, though it was loud enough for him to actually hear. She smiled again, finding herself to be happy that this wasn't going as sour as she had imagined first. "Don't tattle on me, though." She gently bumped her arm against his, smirking. Noah wasn’t positive of her reaction at first, assuming that she might have turned her face away because she didn’t want to talk to him but then she threw him a line. And that, in itself, felt like a huge victory. He grinned widely. “I hope not. Or else the Aurors are being awful tough these days. I mean there are loads of reasons your underwear starts itching.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Although accidentally spilling it on someone’s bed might be easier. The Aurors might be way more prone to believe in accidents outside of drawers.” He put his hand over his heart. “Gryffindor honor,” he promised. “Do you also have plans for accidentally doing anything to Wes?” Noah smiled. “You could ask which girls are willing to snog him,” he offered with a shrug. Although he wasn’t sure if she’d really like that. More and more he thought that maybe Emilia was so upset about the whole thing because it was Wes, who’d she had obviously been in love with the past year. “Or maybe ask for ones willing to say he’s a terrible snogger.” Emilia scrunched up her nose, meaning to indicate disgust. "I don't want to know other reasons why pugface's underwear actually itches, thank you very much." She didn't need to know what sorts of extracurricular activities her roommate was involved in, and she certainly didn't want to go through the trouble of finding out. Just the mere thought was vomit-inducing… who would honestly find that slimy rodent to be attractive? She was about to genuinely reply, but Noah kept continuing and she exhaled rather loudly. "I don't want anything to do with that robotic douche machine. Doing what he did to me, back to him? No. That requires too much effort and he isn't worth it," she huffed and crossed her arms across her stomach, almost pouting. It wasn't fair that he got to make semi-jokes about it when she was clearly still not over it. "Hey, so," she started, looking at Noah a little cautiously. "You didn't ask her to do it, right?" Emilia self-consciously tuck a few curls behind her ear, her fingers now wrapping around the back of her neck. "I mean, you didn't ask her to tell Wes to do it." She paused, waiting for confirmation before continuing. "I'm sorry I thought it was you." Noah frowned when Emilia called Talia pugface the same way that he did when Talia called Emilia names. But he let it go, in a way he usually didn’t with Talia. He supposed Emilia earned the right to call her name right now. He felt guilty about the face she pulled after he brought up Wes. Maybe he’d taken it too far. Noah bit his lip, but was saved from trying to figure out where to take the conversation from there when her voice got serious. “No,” he answered. Then he stopped to face her. Noah thought that maybe if she watched him say the words she’d finally believe him. “I would never want anyone to do that and I would never do that myself. Especially not to you.” He was surprised, but please when Emilia apologized for accusing him of being part of it. “It’s okay.” Noah stepped forward, with his hands out in the motion of a hug before he paused. He wasn’t actually sure if that was allowed. “Uh, can I hug you?” Emilia knew that logically, he couldn't have been responsible for that mess, but having a few someones to blame for helped her deal with the situation. It made no sense, really, why Noah would be involved, but somehow it made her feel better. She was already angry with him, so it made sense that her anger would only increase with something like that. She listened to his words and gave him a quick nod, acknowledging everything he said. Her eyes narrowed and she squinted at him when he made the hugging motion, though she was almost ready for impact, when had paused. "Uhm, okay," she responded, stopping in her tracks and opening her arms, as well. She stepped forward, and hugged him, patting his back momentarily, pulling back a little. "Cool." He stepped forward when she gave the okay and wrapped his arms around her. Noah was beyond relieved that she actually believed him now. He stepped back when she pulled away and put an appropriate amount of distance between them again. “Yea.” He nodded his head up and down. She’d smelled really good, like she always did, but he tried not to think about that. He still needed to get over her, but the past week he’d been a little more concerned about figuring out a way to get her to believe that he didn’t have a part in the drama first. But now that that seemed somewhat repaired, he could work on the other thing. Hopefully without feeling the need to completely avoid Emilia this time. “So, yea. I’m glad you believe me now.” He scratched the back of his neck. “And I hope the rest of our school year goes smoother than these first couple of weeks have.” Noah couldn’t see how they could possibly get much worse. Even though it was only for a few moments, it felt really good to be in his arms again. It felt safe and comforting and she couldn't help but wish it was longer. Emilia was only beginning to relax in his grip before his arms were off of her and they were at a distance again. She forced a smile, looking away from him and taking a few steps towards the direction she had been heading. She gulped some, suddenly a little too self-conscious of herself. Wanting to busy her hands once more, she smoothened out her blouse and skirt again, before letting her arms dangle on her side. "I think it will," Emilia replied, forcing another smile. It may have been dramatic, these past two weeks, but hopefully things would look up. Not that she had any plans of amending any sort of relationship with Talia and Wes, thankfully. Pugface and Douche did not deserve any sort of amendments, as far as Emilia was concerned. "At least for us." He returned Emilia’s smile with one of his own. “Yea, I hope so.” They were at the section of the hall where he knew he should part from Emilia. Ravenclaw was one way, Gryffindor was the other. At least, that’s where he assumed she was headed. “Uh, so I guess I’ll just be going. But it was a nice chat.” He scratched the back of his neck again. He felt a little nervous - or maybe he just felt like he didn’t know what to do with himself. He wasn’t sure. “I’ll talk to you later?” She nodded, turning her head towards the side that she was meant to go, before looking back at him. "Yeah, sure. I'll talk to you later." Emilia then stepped towards him, stood on her tiptoes and used his arm to steady herself, before pressing her lips against his cheek, lingering for a few seconds. She pulled back, a sly smile on her face, before dropping down to her normal height. "Bye, Noah." The kiss was nice - but frustrating. Actually, very frustrating. But Noah didn’t actually want to say anything about it. Because things between them were fragile at best. And he really wanted everything to just be okay again. And telling Em that - no, telling Emilia that she couldn’t kiss him on the cheek was just going to stir up another argument. “Yea, bye.” He said, then turned in the direction of Gryffindor. But Merlin that kiss was frustrating. Noah tried his best to remind himself that Emilia just didn’t get what it was like to be in his shoes. Where he just couldn’t separate intimate physical affection from romance. She probably viewed that kiss as unromantic as he viewed the hug. And that was the key difference between them that Noah just had to accept, then try to figure out how to deal with. He tried his best to convince himself that he would figure it out and get over her to the point where a kiss on the cheek wouldn’t cause a million butterflies in his stomach. Because he had to. He had no choice but to get there...eventually. |