Don't Rain On My Parade PV Ross Finished

Ross had been looking for the girl with the golden hair all day; however, despite both of them being Hufflepuffs this was a difficult event to make happen. It was as if he was in a video game and he just had not reached the right amount of stats to trigger the event. It was unbearably frustrating, as he wanted to clear the snake child's name as soon as he possibly could. It was an accidental framing, which was probably a similar thought to his father's reaction when he saw his son's photos on the wall now.

Ross completely felt it was rational to inform the girl Flash was a stuck up jerk who only cared for himself because that was how he acted constantly, but he had never considered that other people might actually have been treated better.

Ross was on his knees, looking for earth worms at the time. He had no clue he would see the bright eyed girl there. He had not noticed her until he heard the splashing, which immediately directed his attention to the girl who was.. well he would not say gracefully, dancing in the rain. Ross gasped, realizing this was his chance. He pointed his wand in the air, muttering something under his breath. An umbrella spawned from the wand, successfully shielding him from the pit pit pattering of the rain. He scooped an earth worm into his free hand, and approached the distracted girl. He gave a little wave, but supposed he would wait for her ritual to end.

It was not until she finally finished, that Ross offered her the worm in his hand. It wiggled happily, just glad to be there.

"Hey, er.. take it!" he exclaimed suddenly over the rain.

As the girl accepted it and thanked him, the boy's face lit up.

"No no, thank you!" he responded, determined to remain cryptic over the worm.

As it got quiet once more, the rain continued to pour down. It seemed to bounce off the ground, but it seemed just an illusion to the eye. Ross took this moment to look down at his jeans and absolutely avoid eye contact for a moment. They had mud marks right below the kneecaps. His hands were also dirty, so he had to physically hold himself back from putting his hand into the rain. The id was impulsive, but thanks to another human being by his side his ego was able to hold him back.

Of course, that certainly would not stop him from doing it once more later.

His chocolate brown eyes locked with the Hufflepuff girl's. He let out a dramatic sigh, but it was really himself feeling uneasy about his plans.

"Can We talk... 'bout Flash and such?" he inquired, pausing for a moment in hopes she would respond and fill the empty silence that would ring through his ears, only the rain droplets to keep him company.

" He was crestfallen today in potions, and I think I was... real wrong. I didn't mean ta be! Honest! He did all the things, but he cares 'bout you for real! He even apologized to me! He gave me my... important notes back too."" He added, his voice full of blatant guilt and worry.

As it ran through his head, he realized he had no good way to go about this. He had not planned it out before, leaving him realizing this was certainly not the best idea. He had completely made this up on the spot, and would apparently be continuing to do that.

Interacting with @Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Ross Stephens

This boy was... so incredibly odd. More odd than her which was impressive in her eyes. She held the worm in an open palm, not exactly sure what to do with the gift because she definitely wasn't going to bring it to her dorm. She'd panic about that later, she hoped this interaction would be short and sweet to get back to her grieving dance. By the state of him he obviously like being in the rain too, but perhaps for different purposes relating to... something about worms. She'd have to ask about that later.

He fell silent which made her uncomfortable, he did this right before he told her the truth about Flash. "What bad news do you have this time?" Her voice was flat, preparing to be ultimately disappointed by whatever were to come tumbling out of his mouth. When he looked up something was different, warm chocolate seeming to melt under a gaze with an emotion she couldn't place. She had really fallen off the track with being able to predict what people were feeling in her mild isolation that she had put herself into.

When he mentioned Flash's name a sour taste immediately encroached upon her mouth, seemingly filling up the holes that had already been created inside her from the first realization. 'How much does this boy want to take away from me?' She wondered if he was working against her too, trying to make her into a fool for her previous reactions. She stayed silent, not wanting to give another combatant in her life ammo to fire with.

Once he finished speaking, a surprised and bitter laugh bubbled up from inside her, and a coldness fell over her eyes. It sounded wrong coming out of what was once a bubbly and bright Hufflepuff. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh. But, let me get this straight. You told me when you first met me, the first thing to come out of your mouth was a warning against Flash. Now you're telling me that I need to go crawling back to him based off your word alone again?" She put the worm down gently in the ground, fearing that it had poison enough to leech under her skin and feed the boy with her pain. "What did he do to you this time to make you do this? He gave you back your journal for what? To get his puppet to run back? I don't think so." This was another act she was supposed to fall for, another plot in Flash's ever confusing plot for her. 'But what if I'm wrong?' She shook the thought out of her head, it was better to avoid it and be wrong, than fall into it and have been right all along.

Ross' eyes widened, taken aback by her reaction. The Hufflepuff somewhat seemed to have shrunk into himself as he heard the girl laugh. He turned red, nearly flustered. Flash was a jerk, sure, but at least he was always certain he was right with Flash. He could be comfortable with his stance on the whole thing. On this, he felt guilty down to his very core. He knew it was on him, and partially blamed himself. Well, his mind did not seem to comprehend it. As normal, his emotions had pushed it down. The understanding girl he had seen before was outraged, and it shocked him though it should not have.

Tears pricked at his eyes, but this was more of due to the shock of anything than anything else. It was impossible to tell due to the downpour, but he was able to suck it up enough to consider himself not crying. it was just shock, after all. Still, he found himself slightly shaking. Even so, he pressed on. He owed Flash a favor. For what exactly? He had no clue. He really did not, but supposed he did in his mind at the same time.

"Look, he's not bribed or blackmailed me with nothin'! He exclaimed, attempting to back himself up.

He normally did not escalated this quickly, but his heart was practically screaming at him to run or fight. Why would he want to run? This girl posed no threat, yet his body yelled otherwise.

I'm just SAYIN' he was sad today! He told me how much he missed ya and he seems well..broken." He exclaimed at a sudden loss for words. Ask 'im yourself! He just 'ated my guts before this mess." He rambled, his voice sounding aggressive at first but showing extreme signs of weakness as it went through.

His voice cracked several times throughout the same time, and he could feel his brain rushing with thoughts. Did he already screw this up? Would Flash be okay? Did he hurt Willow? Oh he absolutely screwed this up. He messed this up big time, and it was just because he could not follow the rules of a lame little blackmail that would have ended in everything being fine.

But that was not why it was getting to him so much, was it?

"I"m sorry I didn't mean to lie to ya! I didn't know I was, honest! Flash coulda shown my entire book to the school after I told ya, but he didn't! I told ya even though I thought he would! I wouldn't.. I wouldn't do..Please just.." he trailed off, unsure of what to say.

It was almost as if he was out of breath, though that seemed rather pathetic. It was believable due to the fact he was practically a stick, but that clearly was not it. He was freaking out, and he seemed to be switching between slight signs of aggression and extreme regret. Much like how Ross always was, there was no in between.

Crying with @Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Ross Stephens

She didn't know how to feel. Everything she had built up, all of her defenses came crashing down as she saw Ross start to break. She shouldn't have been mean, it wasn't Ross' fault. Was Flash playing both of them? Or neither of them? She didn't know. She didn't know. She didn't know. She was panicking on the inside, she didn't know how to judge people anymore. She couldn't fit anyone into good or bad anymore. It was like trying to shove ever changing shapes into holes that never existed. She took a step back watching this broken boy go through so many different emotions.

He was as broken up about this as she was. She wanted to be mad, she tried to be mad. Balling up her fists to try and recover but she couldn't. She was sorted into Hufflepuff for a reason. At her core she was a kind and sweet person, and he couldn't be much different. They were in the same house, they had the same values. After he finished talking she just stared at him for a minute. Suddenly she realized how cold she was as her body began to shake, or maybe those were the tears bursting through her eyes. She wanted to believe Flash missed her, so badly. She wanted him back. This stupid boy that she had come to know so fast became such an integral part of her life that she didn't want to live without. She missed their morning walks, she missed having someone she could talk to, she missed her brother.

Her voice trembled as she spoke again, heart softening to wanting to believe the truth. "You promise it seems like he actually missed me? No games anymore, he just missed me?" Her eyes were fixated on the ground, not being able to look Ross in the eyes as she spoke. "I've missed him Ross. I've missed him so much. I feel as if I've been suffocating without him, and I want to be able to breathe again." She took in a deep breath, looking back at Ross' eyes so she could examine every word that he said next. "If I'm to go back to him, I need you to be right on this. I need you to promise me that you think he was telling the truth. If I'm wrong, I won't be afraid to hunt you down and tear you piece by piece like this has done to me." The anger had faded from her eyes, and a loneliness and need replaced it.

She needed Flash back in her life like she needed nature. He was the calm that came from laying in the grass with a spring breeze, a solidarity of the Earth always beneath her feat, a fire in her belly to just keep going even if it seemed like nothing could be fixed, a steadiness of a stream that would always continue to flow. She needed it back. She needed him back.

The girl was blatantly distraught, and Ross just wanted to reach out and pat her on the shoulder like he had done a surprising amount of times within the past week to many people. It made him want to shake with her, and tell her it would be okay.

But Ross was part of the reason it was not okay.

Still, he was hardly concentrating. He had been freaking out so much he had hardly realized that he had lost concentration on the umbrella, and it had disappeared. Now instead it was his wand once more, and it rested peacefully at his side as it should. It shook with him, and was the best proof of motion there was of him. He was now soaking like Willow too. His hair went down to nearly his eyes now, and his glasses had streaks of water on them which make it already difficult to see just how much the girl was upset. His clothes were damp too, causing them to stick to his pale skin.

As she spoke, Ross found himself frozen. He hung on every word that she spoke. He was desperate for anything. At first he had been willing to yell once more, but found she was peaceful. ver·klempt, but not meaning ill on him.

It was the words at the end that shook him to his very core.

He could not promise that. He was not Flash; however, he trusted Flash. He had no reason to trust him. The name was Snake Boy for a reason, and it was not only due to the fact he was a Slytherin. For some odd reason though, he put his faith in Flash. He would not have any time before, but something was different about him today. The devastated state he was in, well it had to be real. As much as Ross would have loved to lay down legos everywhere Flash walked days before, today he would have considered perhaps covering those legos up with blankets or pillows. Something about Flash Holmwood changed, but perhaps he was like that all along.

Saying yes was a leap of faith in a boy he had only truly known for twenty minutes
.
.
.

and Ross was falling

"I think it's the truth." he responded, his voice still fully with emotions.

He mirrored what she said. He was dedicated, and he could not figure out why. He refused to remark on the rest, but he felt unsure of himself. He gripped onto his wand arm with his other, digging his fingernails into himself and letting go. It was a way of relaxing in moments like this.

He trusted Flash,and he had no clue why.

Tears threatened to spill, though they already had prior. He looked back to Hogwarts, and found himself craving for warm pumpkin juice. Pumpkin juice that could save him if Flash was a traitor, and Willow was going to tear him limb from limb until he was nothing but a memory to the school.

Scared of @Willow Anderson

@Ross Stephens

She still had a lot to think about, there was no way she could go off of purely his word because last time she did that she lost everything. She couldn't deny that she could believe that she actually meant something to him. If he was truly a mastermind over her he would've fought back during the confrontation, he would've continued to destroy her. Instead he let go in a way, let her walk away and end it all. He gave her the power in that moment whether he realized it or not. She saw his not fighting for her as a way of confirmation of betrayal, but instead it was the loudest objection that she couldn't hear over the roar of her own pain.

He still wore not one, but both the bracelets. If he didn't care he would've tossed them away by now, but instead they stayed proudly on his wrist. Her wrist suddenly felt cold and empty with the lack of bracelet, and her hand moved to cover the empty spot where a sign of her family should be ever present. But still there was a seed of doubt nagging at the back of her head that wouldn't go away, that she couldn't ignore. He still had treated people awfully, like Ruka, and this hufflepuff boy in the first place. She couldn't figure out what any of this meant, but she knew at this point there was only one way of finding out and that that was to put the smallest amount of trust she could muster into trusting Flash to tell the truth.

She looked at the boy that she realized, she still didn't know the name of. They were both shaken up by this whole thing, shaking, cold, and wet. The right had lightened up a little bit but not enough for them not to get soaked. She walked up to him and pulled him into a hug. It was awkward but it felt right. Her head landed at his chest since she stood at a mighty 129cm and him more than a head taller than her. "This might be... a really weird time to ask. But what is your name..." She felt like they both needed a hug, but maybe that was her family's influence peaking out. If he wanted to escape the grip he could simply step back and her arms would fall back to her side. But if he were to reciprocate she would give him a small squeeze. "We should also probably head back to the castle before we catch a cold."

Finishing interacting with @Willow Anderson