backdated rp thread: cal & hestia WHO: Cal Proudfoot & Hestia Jones WHEN: Backdated to 2 November, late WHERE: Hestia's room, Order safe house WHAT: Hestia needs Cal RATING: Low/Med for angst?
It had taken a lot for Hestia to ask Cal to come spend time with her. There were times, back when she was a rookie Auror, that she had no problem showing up at the Proudfoot residence in various states of injury and, more often than not, crying (or about to). Cal's wife, bless her, was a saint. She would lead her to the sofa and fetch Cal, and Hestia remembered she always smelled so pretty and looked so put-together. She remembered wishing she could be half the woman Mrs Proudfoot was and knowing that it would never happen. If Hestia had been Cal's wife, she would not have been as understanding.
Those days were gone, and Hestia grew up, grew stronger. Proved herself over and over again and showed the world that being a woman didn't mean being weak. She hardened herself against whatever it was that led her to her mentor's house at all hours of the night, and soon she stopped going altogether. But what happened to Megan at the Ministry had broken something inside of her. A tiny crack was forming in her foundation -- no, was growing. It formed the day her father and step-mother were killed by giants fighting for Voldemort, but she ignored it then. It widened when she realized that Eric was either trapped outside of the country or dead, and that it would be impossible for him to get to them. And now it widened still more, so much more that Hestia had to acknowledge it or else everything she built, including herself, would come crashing down.
She put away her journal in the drawer on her bedside table and pulled her legs up to her chest, listening to the night sounds of the house. It was so quiet out in the country; the crickets were quiet, it being too cold for them now. But the wind was blowing, and the house groaned. A wild dog barked in the distance. Mostly everyone was asleep by now, or at least they were locked away in their rooms. Footsteps outside her door alerted Hestia that Cal was approaching.