nothing ventured, nothing gained

BOOM!

                     C L A N G !

She set her cup down slowly, eyes closed as she exhaled deeply.

                                              ❝ Typical. ❞

Her fingers brushed against the edge of the table as she stood up, feet carrying her towards the disturbance. Had Narcissa been of a religious sort, she might have prayed that she wasn’t the only prefect out and about so early in the morning. In which case, she could leave them to the trouble and return to her tea.

He looked around at all of the knick knacks and eventually found his way back to Narcissa's understandably expectant, bored expression. He shook his head, as if remembering he owed her something, "An explanation... yea... y'see, I've been thinking up the perfect prank for Frank Longbottom for about a week and I thought that if I just came to the seventh floor corridor that I wouldn't be bothering anyone, yea? But I didn't expect anyone to be patrolling this early because it's... well, it's pretty fucking early."

He awaited his probable detention, especially from an irritated Black at this time in the morning. A soft sigh escaped his mouth. He looked up at her with knowing eyes that sort of said, Alright then, can we get this thing over with?

She appreciated that he slowed down. Hestia couldn’t help her height and most of the time she didn’t even mind it. Being small made it easier for her to blend in with groups of people and slip through places unnoticed. But whilst she walked next to him, she wished she could move faster and not be too much of a hassle for him. She felt like she needed to constantly make up for being a burden simply because she was not what the people around her expected.

She took a deep breath, the way she always did when she felt she had to make up for the silence. “I read a lot and helped out at the care home near my house.” Hestia searched from something that might be of interest for him and instead of focussing the attention on herself, pushed it to someone she found more interesting. “There’s a gentleman there who is called John and he has installed himself as my honorary grandpa and he fought in the wars and tells excellent stories about his sweetheart back home. Though they’re sad because she died after they’d been married two years, but the way he loves her still is incredible. We drink tea and I take him gingerbread and sometimes he falls asleep halfway through a game of chess but there was a party and he taught me to dance. That was nice.”

If she noticed that the most words she’d strung together in a while were about another person then she didn’t say anything. John was a fascinating gentleman and she was amazed by his constant positivity and the way he let her be completely herself. Some days he was even content to hold her hand whilst they each read on a picnic in the grounds because he didn’t want to talk either. He was safe. He was perhaps the only person she felt like understood what it was like to need the silence.

Hestia couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the end of his story. Even though she worried that it might be a little cruel, there was plenty of evidence to suggest that the boy should have seen it coming and by the look on her companions face, he probably wouldn’t mind her laughing. Still, her attention fell to her feet as she did so. She couldn’t help it. The action felt like as much of a security blanket as picking at her jumper sleeves. “That sounds nice.”

Despite all of this, Fabian didn't back down. Watching someone, in his opinion, was one of the best and quickest ways to get to know them. Even from the mere minutes he and Hestia had been walking together, he'd already taken in that (quite contrary to Fabian) she never took up more space than her small frame covered. She wasn't the most comfortable with conversation. She had a terrible habit of picking at the end of her sleeve, something that left tiny holes and runs riddled across the edge of the fabric. And, the thing that he least understood of all that he'd picked up, she did all she could to keep from having attention drawn to her.

After hearing her answer, he knew that the two of them would be friends. She and all that she was was so foreign to Fabian, one of the many things that kept Fabian astonished in her. He couldn't understand why she did what she did. It kept him guessing, always on his feet and sharp-minded. He never knew what she would say or do, and he absolutely loved it. Sure, it kept him slightly irritated, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling. Unpredictability was one of Fabian's absolute favourite things in all the world. So when she answered him, fully and in detail, he found himself smiling at the strangeness of it all. Hestia Jones holding a full conversation with himself of all people. What could be more erratic than that?

"John? Seems like a pretty interesting guy. And you give him tea and gingerbread and quality time... Alright, I'm jealous. I'll have to meet him sometime then, yea?" Fabian was always trying to flirt at the oddest times and this was one of them. He didn't mean anything by it so much as it was a force of habit. Still, he flashed her a bright grin and thought that maybe his eyes might twinkle at her if he willed them to. After doing so he looked forward and the smile faded some but the spark in his blue green eyes stayed. He thought fondly of his own grandfather, a jolly man by the name of Alfie, and truly did feel a pang of jealousy for reasons different than what he'd insinuated.

She wasn’t one of those girls. She wasn’t even the type of girl that people fell in love with. She was the kind of girl who watched whilst everyone else had exciting lives and dreamt about the day that she would step out of her own comfort zone and have her own adventure. He would be another person who grew tired of her after a while because she couldn’t seem to become comfortable with them. That was the way that this always seemed to work.

            “I guess I can’t argue with that logic.”

She quickened her pace slightly, falling into step with the boy who she was now meant to be walking with. His strides where longer than her own, though she guessed that was probably because he was at least a whole foot taller than her and the young girl found that she was having to walk at least two steps to make one of his.

         ”I suppose,” She said, not sure if she was meant to answer the question at all. “Not many people do, but it’s okay if you want to. I don’t mind.”

                             ”Quiet.” 

Her holidays had been just the way she liked them. She spent most of the days out in the fields around her house with second hand books. She walked the 30 minutes into town and drank tea in the coffee shop by the river when the old women called her ‘honey.’ She danced with an old man at the village party because her mother insisted she go and he had no other partner. She visited the care homes in the afternoon and played chess and read to them into the early evenings. She visited her friends. It was dictated by her own whims, tailor made to keep her calm and happy throughout the warm climate when she couldn’t wear jumpers as a protection.

         She turned her gaze up to his, thinking that she ought to remain polite. “How were yours, Fabian?”

As he'd done before, he found himself thinking maybe Hestia could be the one to show him. She'd always seemed sweet. Polite nods and small smiles aside, she seemed the sort of person who always had a million thoughts racing behind her eyes. Hestia Jones always looked as though she had an idea sitting on the tip of her tongue, a fact ready to share or a question to inquire about. There was no way for him to be sure, though, as he'd never exactly heard her speak any of it... it was more of a gut feeling.

Regardless of it all, Fabian figured he could probably use a Hestia Jones in his life. He noticed as he fell into his regular strides that she was practically jogging to keep up with her. He looked down at her for a moment and then chuckled to himself, slowing his pace from 'brisk walk' to 'pleasant stroll.'

"Good. I've already grown pretty fond of it, Hes." He smiled down at her again and for the first time really registered the difference in the pair's height. Fabian knew himself to be 6"1' and Hestia had to be at least a foot shorter than that. No wonder the girl was struggling to keep up.

"Quiet? You've done a great job painting this picture, I can practically envision it all." He smiled, another laugh leaving his throat as he probed her for a bit more information than she was comfortable giving. That's how you make friends, isn't it?

Her question seemed more out of obligation than an actual interest in him, but he ignored that as he answered. "Mine were lovely. Gid and I had a very fulfilling and successful summer holiday filled with pranking Molly more than she really deserves, ridding our yard of garden gnomes, and playing an awful lot of quidditch. Not to mention Caradoc and I somehow managed to talk him into skinny dipping and then stole his clothes and ran while he was still in the lake... Dunno how he didn't see that one coming. It's practically the oldest trick in the book," He found a giggle bubbling up but pushed it away. He couldn't be giggling around someone he was hardly friends with yet... he needed to make a good impression. Still, one look at his face would easily give him away.

The boy had mumbled, but Fabian picked up on his words. "A classic? Well, I guess I should reconsider before I toss it aside..." He wouldn't reconsider, probably. It wasn't anything personal toward Alice and her adventures. He hated reading any books, let alone the children's ones. Now if someone had offered to read it to him, then he might reconsider. It was just hard for Fabian to read something with the attention span of a squirrel. "Is your dad a muggle, then?" He looked back up at the other boy expectantly.

"My darling, that sounds absolutely fabulous.” She laughed, her voice caressing over the pun she’d planted in the sentence. “However, I have been punished it seems and now I will be forced to lose out on beauty sleep. I must write home, I’m sure my mother will be absolutely disgusted.”

She wasn’t sure whether she should laugh at his words. He certainly seemed to but she wasn’t sure if the action was meant to be mutual or if it would cause offence if she joined in with the moment. She didn’t want to offend. He was so much more interesting than she was and she couldn’t think of a single reason that she would be of interest to the boy stood in front of her but she didn’t want to discourage him outright. He was a bright spark in the halls where she decided to hide away in the shadows.

                   ”Oh, well - maybe it’s better to be out of the club?” She smiled. She wasn’t sure that she’d found the right answer but it was better than simply standing there silently.

She looked around when Fabian asked if she was coming with him, convinced that there would be another person around there that he would be talking to. She still didn’t understand why he was talking to her, really, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the vicinity that he wanted.  

               ”You, um- you don’t have to invite me along? I mean, I don’t want to interrupt anything that you were doing.”

She didn't laugh at his joke, which was alright. Fabian was pretty used to that. He was always telling stupid jokes, and he often ended up being the only one to laugh at them. Still, he'd thought that one was a little funnier than his usual mediocre collection. He was determined, though. He wouldn't leave her alone today until he got one laugh out of her. Something more than the polite smiles she gave people who bumped into her, people who tried to talk to her. She gave them to everyone, really. He wanted something more out of her.

"You're right. It is better." He grinned at her.

He saw her look around, as if he might have been asking someone other than her. He didn't see anyone else around, and even if there were other people they hadn't been the ones he'd asked, but he waited to see if she'd say anything herself. He looked at her in a way that pretty much conveyed his message. You, Hestia. I'm talking to you. His smile stayed in place.

"I was following you anyway, wasn't I? Might as well walk side by side, keep our levels of creepy to a minimum" He chuckled to himself. "C'mon, then." And with that he turned and walked at a pretty slow pace, giving Hestia time to catch up.

He looked around them, noticing the colors of the sky. Deep oranges and yellows, a dash of purple near the bottom of the skyline, though the higher you went the better you could still see the clear blue of daytime. "So, Hes," he'd started, pausing for a moment, "S'alright if I call you that, yea? Anyway, how were your holidays?"

       She sat there silently: concentration seeping from her soft, albeit serious features. Colorful hues were scattered across a white sheet of paper —— one could guess that it was simply a drawing with little to no purpose. Simple misshapen dots tossed about on a plain surface. However, with a closer look, eyes would reveal a mixed assortment of jelly beans —— each with a taste that the sixth year Gryffindor attempted to predict. 

                                                                  A gentle hand reached for                                                                   a red bean: hesitation was                                                                   clear. 

                                                                                            ❛ —— O h.❜

"Lily, are you messing with Bertie Botts' Beans again?" He waited for her surprised reaction as laughter bubbled from inside him.

 ”I had hoped, I would have less in the morning, 

                     people need their sleep, you know? But, I suppose - 

                                            I can work with this.”

And then he was speaking to her and she was forcing herself to look back at him and pay attention to his words. People always assumed she would be a good listener and for the most part she was but there were moments when her mind raced too much and she had to stop the panic that always seemed to rise. Listening would be polite though and she didn’t want to snub him directly when he probably had much better places to be than talking to her.

          “That depends on what your definition of sanity is.” She murmured. Her own definition did not include her. She was too quiet, too afraid to speak out and do the things that scared her, too secluded most of the time to be considered sane.

          “I know.” she said too quickly. “I mean, not in a creepy way, I just - I’ve seen you around and I sort of know who you are.”

He didn't know what she was thinking, and that bothered Fabian more than anything with people. He was very good at reading emotions but he never knew what people were musing in their own minds. He was sure it was something interesting. The Ravenclaw girl had always seemed the silent, adventurous type to him. The sort of girl who needed desperately to be pulled from her shell and thrown out into the world, but that was probably just Fabian imposing his own beliefs on everyone else again.

The girl continued to pick at the nearly destroyed sleeves of her jumper as she spoke, seeming to force the words out of her mouth. "Sanity? I think my definition of sanity is... well... I dunno, really. Just that I'm not in the club." He chuckled after that.

When she spoke again, his face went very blank for a moment before he burst into loud, unavoidable laughter. "Right, then, entirely not creepy of you to say. Well, I know who you are too, Hestia Jones, so that makes two of us." He chuckled and continued on with the walk that they'd begun separately and would likely finish together. He looked back at her for a moment. "You coming, then?"

"Fabian Prewett, right. Er mine’s Augustus Finch- er, my name that is," he stammered, looking down at his shoes. "I mean everyone sort of calls me Augie but you don’t have to, erm, I mean it’s stupid I’m sorry," he flinched nobody seemed to like it when he apologized so much. It always made for awkward conversations.

He was more than relieved when Fabian bent down to grab his book, giving Augie a moment to collect his thoughts and mess with his bangs.He always felt a bit more secure once he’d straightened them out again, but couldn’t help notice the title of the book Fabian had picked up. Alice in Wonderland, a children’s book and Fabian was hardly the right age but then again it was hardly the most ridiculous thing Augie had ever seen a wizard do. He tried his best to stifle his laugh, masking it as some sort of awful coughing fit that left him redfaced and wheezing.

He’d settled on a cat, an owl would attract far too much attention in their crowded complex. A toad just seemed much too unusual and Augustus had chopped up too many bits of one in potions to have much taste for keeping one as a pet, he felt as if he’d be raising the animal for slaughter. Cats on the other hand could fend for themselves mostly and they didn’t seem to hate Augie too much they basically ignored him whenever they didn’t want food and when they did they tended to try and eat him rather than their kibble bits.

However, the cat did make staying in his dormitory a rather unattractive option and instead Augie was forced to bumble about the school grounds hoping that he’d run into the right people. Not that he was too sure who the right people were.

"N-no, s’alright," he mumbled after having crashed into someone, he looked up nervously hoping that it wasn’t a Carrow or Black, and counted himself lucky enough. "Should’ve watched where I was going,".

"S'fine, really. Totally my fault. Head in the clouds or summat. I'm Fabian, nice to meet you, mate." He held out his hand and gave the boy's hand a firm shake.

       ”I don’t suppose anyone particularly wants to be followed.” she remarked, “In fact, most sane people would find it slightly unnerving.”

She looked around, wondering what else she should be saying to him. He surrounded himself with the loud, the beautiful and the interesting and she was sure she couldn’t be included in any of those groups. But here she was and she supposed she should say something instead of feeling like her tongue was weighted down with lead.

He waited to see if she'd say anything else. She seemed to think about it for a bit and he could've sworn she'd almost opened her mouth as if to do so, but after a few silent moments he figured she wasn't going to go any further.

"Right... sane people. They're the boring ones, though, aren't they?" He chuckled, "Hestia, right?" He said, as if he didn't know. That was obviously a lie. Fabian had a name for almost every face in his memory. He had a brilliant one... memory, that is. "Dunno if we've been formally introduced. I'm Fabian, the twin without the ugly bump in his nose." He tapped the side of his nose, a wide grin on his face, as if to make a point of its straightness. Gid had broken his when the two of them were boys.

              “I’m sorry,

Did you want me or are you just following me?”

"I...  eh, just going on a walk, actually. Unless you wanted me to be following you... though I reckon that'd be a bit odd."