Round the Outside PV Reid Kovacs Finished

It was his first night, dressed in his uniform with the badge of Head Boy pinned near his breast pocket. His reading glasses hung at the edge of his cardigan just below his loose Hufflepuff tie. Part of his dress shirt stuck out, yet the rest of his attire was well kept - aside from his shoes. They had been caked in some dirt on his way across the grounds. This part was partially exciting to him, to be able to finally be out and about to patrol. 

He was happy with how he'd finally be able to explore the areas of his patrol, but some company would have been nice. For an 11 year old child, he had some guts being alone on a night like this. The details of his patrol was quite ambiguous, so he sometimes lingered a little more in certain areas. One of that was the Herbology building, green and eerie in some ways. It was an imposing figure in the night, especially as he approached it. 

Yet he took the time to check every nook and cranny, his wand not too far from his side. He stopped near one of the window panes and used his hand to wipe the dew that formed against the glass. It squeaked as he did so, dampening his hand just a little once he pulled away. The boy stared out the window towards the open hills, glancing slightly towards the moon and the stars. Derby didn't have hills like this, they had buildings that towered over him like Hogwarts Castle. All his memories were of Derby, nowhere else. 

It was never a question of why, but more of how. He never questioned it, just like now. He had been so caught up in the view his thoughts that the sound of someone's voice didn't reach him. It was only when the voice yelled that he was ripped from his thoughts. It sounded familiar so the young man softly spoke, "Lumos." The tip of his wand illuminated brighter than anything in the greenhouse. The figure was finally revealed. It was bright enough for him to see Bloom all the way across the Greenhouse, why was she here? 

That's right. She was a Prefect of course, she must have been doing her patrol as well. Hopefully he didn't just mess hers up. "It's just me Bloom." he spoke, his voice hopefully loud enough for her to reach. Reid pushed himself off from the corner and walked to her halfway, waving his wand slightly to let the light disappear. They always seemed to meet in odd times, odd places, and odd hours. 

Bloom was the last person he thought of running into, let alone not finding her with Ben. The moonlight was enough for him, if she needed light - he assumed she knew how to make it. Why was she alone and where was Ben? "I thought Prefects were doing the inner corridors?" he inquired, slipping his wand in his pocket. He didn't know how this was truly done and by the end of tonight, he probably will just end up patrolling till he was dead tired. 

Bloom moved further and further into the greenhouse only to be blinded by a bright light. She closed her eyes and put her hair on top of her face to block out the light. Great, if it wasn't a student, I would have been dead by now, she thought to herself. The light went out and the voice told her that it was him. Who? The voice sounded familiar to her but she could not put a finger on it. Reid? Her eyes had to readjust to the darkness.

Blinking a few times over and over again, Bloom's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. It was Reid standing before her. Bloom moved to the side and a couple steps towards Reid, making sure there were no plants in their way. The last thing she needed was to accidentally topple over Professor Trollope's hard work as tending to plants was no easy feat.

Raising her eyebrows, Bloom looked at Reid with a questionable look. "Reid, you shouldn't be out here," she said, trying to take her job a little more seriously. But of course, that was hard for her to do as Reid was one of her good friends. She could not give him detention for this. I could give him a warning? she thought.

"Ben is working on some of the corridors and I wanted to get some fresh air and work on the grounds," she said, smiling. "But really, it's not safe to be in the Herbology area. Do you know how many creatures try and come into the green house?" she asked, giving him a bit of a lesson for his actions. Bloom was about to talk more about why he should not be out when she looked at his robe. There was a badge that he had never worn before-- it was similar to hers and Ben's.

"Are you also a Prefect?" she asked, both excited and a bit disappointed. One thing she felt she had over him was that she was Prefect. If he was also a Prefect, they were again on the same level. Bloom, since the Owlery, had wanted to show him that she was more than an eleven-year-old girl who had crushes. If Bloom was honest with herself, she still did have some residue feelings for Reid, but she was happy with Ben.

Head Boy?

Bloom was completely confused. She knew that Head Boy and Head Girl were a thing, but weren't they one step above Prefects? Bloom couldn't help but to feel slightly defeated on the inside. Did she now have to report to him in the near future? She tried to minimize the thought in her mind and move on to the other dreaded thought... Her date with Ben. Or at least he thought it was a date with Ben. It was just their usual rounds and it went towards a direction that she hoped.

"Well...," she bought as much time as she could to figure out how to start telling Reid. Should I even tell Reid? Is that weird? she thought, but she shrugged the thought and told him anyways. "We kissed!" she said with a glowing smile on her face. She felt like melting just thinking about the moment.

"Who knew it would be Ben Eckenrode to be my first kiss, right?" Bloom's heart froze for just a second. Perhaps Reid was not the right person to make such a joke to for he could have been her first kiss if he was interested in her. Bloom began to wonder what it would have been like if Reid and her were together than her and Ben? Again, she shrugged off the thought.

Bloom looked around at some of the plants around her. Some were a bit more extravagant than others. She could tell which ones were muggle-based plants and which ones were magical by the way the plans moved. It seemed that the magical plants breathed like a human. Bloom had an urge to touch them, but her adventurous state of mine was stopped by the view of her badge that was on her robe. She couldn't mess up, not with such a title behind her name.

"I'm really happy," she said, making sure he knew how she felt. Bloom wasn't sure how much she could say to him about her feelings to Ben. Was it odd because I had similar feelings about him? Bloom thought about their time in the library with Felicity and thought it could be okay since they were friends. Bloom wanted to keep Reid as a good friends, and good friends tell them everything, right?

"I really like him, Reid," she said, walking around the pots and plants that were creating obstacles for them. But I still like you too, she thought, knowing that there was nothing she could do about that, so she shrugged off the thought once more. She began to head over to the exit of the greenhouse, motioning Reid to follow. "There's something about him when we met. Did I tell you how we met?" she asked, wondering how much he wanted to know before she let lose with so much information.

There was a sense of freedom when he asked her to tell her about everything. Bloom, turning around before exiting the green house smiled at Reid. She was happy to not only have a boyfriend, but now a friend who was a boy who understands her. Even so, Bloom felt that if anything were to happen between her and Ben, she could go straight to Reid.

She turned back around and exited the green house. Waiting for Reid to exit, she closed the rickety door and locked it behind them. She hoped that Professor Trollope would not notice that there were two students peering through her green house- although on duty. Bloom held her wand in her right hand. Now that they were out in the open, they were able to be susceptible to any wild creature that was around at night. The last thing she needed was them to be mulled by an animal during their first week as Prefect and Head Boy.

"It was the night I learned I was Prefect. An enchanted note in the shape of a butterfly came to me in the commons while I was sitting by the fireplace alone and told me that I'd be working with Ben," she started, walking slowly around the Herbology site. Bloom saw that there were some wooden chairs that were made accessible. While talking, she walked over to the chairs and sat down in one of them.

"It just so happens that Ben got the same enchanted letter of his own somewhere else in the castle and it mentioned my name. He randomly came to the commons late and sat next to me. We talked and only a bit later did we introduce ourselves and realize that we were each other's partner. Isn't that romantic?" she asked, her voice getting more and more excited as she went on. "Perhaps it was the Hogwarts Staff who knew it was meant to be!" she giggled, more than excited about the thought. She truly was happy and for the first time in front of Reid, she was not afraid to show her true self and show him that she was happy to be with someone else. Although, she did hide in the back of her mind that she still had feelings for him, but there was nothing she could do about those feelings.

Bloom, finally finished with her story, took a glance around the Herbology area. It was not as relaxing as the Great Lake, but it was filled with so much nature that it had its own form of relaxation. It was as if the scents of some of the plants force the body to relax naturally. She enjoyed it very much so.

"So how did you become Head Boy? Last time I saw you, you were normal!" She joked.

The ability to open up and be herself in front of Reid was new for Bloom. When she first met him, she began to develop feelings and the more they ran into each other and even spent time with each other, the more Bloom was hiding her true personality. But now, she was with Ben and the feelings that she had for Reid were back-burned. She felt unbelievably free to be around him and not worry about validation of any kind from him.

She listened to his story of how he made Head Boy. Bloom listened, her smile small. Her brown almond-shapes eyes stared at his badge as he was talking. His badge was a tad bit bigger than her's. Did that even matter? Bloom shook herself out of her mind with a few blinks and looked back at Reid, staring at his forest-green eyes. Her smile bigger. "I'm so happy for you!" she said.

Bloom shrugged her shoulders. Even she did not even know what being Prefect entailed. She just knew that she was supposed to do rounds with her partner. Technically, she could be breaking the rules of Prefect because she was left alone-- typically, Prefects are in pairs for a reason. This is just in case of danger or support. "We're doing training, too. All we know is that we're supposed to do rounds around the castle and grounds," she mentioned. "I wish I could know more about being a Prefect though...," Bloom added while fixing her brunette hair. It seemed that the wind was starting to blow softly, causing her hair to blow in her face. Bloom took out a hair tie from her skirt-pocket and tied her hair up in a bun.

Fluttering from the distance, there seemed to be something coming towards them. Bloom squinted, trying to make out the object coming for them. The closer it got, the more she realized what it was. Another enchanted parchment. What now? she thought, wondering if she was in trouble for separating from Ben. The parchment fluttered to Bloom, it's butterfly shape landing on her hand, unaffected by the wind.

Bloom unfolded the parchment paper, making sure not to tear certain areas. She then read the the note aloud:

Dear Miss Silverton,

Please read the following to know more about your role as Prefect:
1) You must conduct rounds ever night with your partner.*
2) You must create a friendly environment at all times in your commons: this includes mini events and more.
3) If there is a problem, you are to report to Chief Prefects. These are the Head Girl and Head Boy of the school.

* Let's make sure you stay with your partner during future nights.

Sincerely,
Hogwarts Staff

Bloom overlooked some of the note. ... You are to report to Chief Prefects... Head Boy..., she looked up at Reid. Was he in charge of her and the other Prefects? Just when she thought she could be someone, or perhaps on the same level as him, she now learns that she is insignificant. Bloom, immediately, felt small.

"You're my boss it seems," she laughed, trying to get rid of the small feeling she was holding inside. Bloom wanted to change the subject. She remembered him questioning the safety of the Herbology.

"Anyways, anywhere on the grounds can be considered dangerous, so...," Bloom said.

There was a nonchalance in Bloom's demeanor that had him doing the same, it was refreshing. There was a constant creeping fear that a conversation might turn awkward. Due to his nature, hearing the fluttering of the letters had him thinking it was a beast. Yet he relaxed soon after Bloom had and his wand no longer felt his white knuckled grip. 

He stopped beside the girl as she got the letter from the messenger, who he glanced around to see if it came from someone nearby. Maybe it was a letter from Ben? Perhaps she had to go and he was looking for her. His dark brown brows arched in slight surprise to hear what was said on the paper, now it was starting to feel a little awkward. 

He didn't think she'd get such a letter at such a convenient time, an inconvenient time for him. Aside from sticking with her partner, the part about reporting to him caused him to look away for a second. His fingers tangled themselves through his hair out of discomfort, having it stand up by the ends just a little. Reid softly scoffed at her comment about him being the boss of her, hardly. 

He stayed silent as he continued walking, turning his head to her as she spoke about 'danger'. "Just don't treat me any different." he interjected amusingly. Part of it wasn't a joke, he didn't want her or anyone else to think he was better in any way. "I don't want to be called 'boss' or something, just Reid." He looked back to the path, his hands now in his pockets from the lingering feeling the letter gave him. 

Reid figured he should disclose more details about being Head Boy now that it was in the air anyway. But what would he say? It was decided for a later date, a different day where he could talk to the rest of them. It made him nervous, what if he messed up. What if something happened to a student and he wasn't aware of it until it happened? 

His foot crunched into the gravel below, a twisting that had him stop walking. "I'm a little nervous to be Head Boy, well, really nervous. It's an honor, but if you can't tell, I'm not the most put together person here." the brunette jested with a look of doubt. He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, perhaps it was the case of responsibility that made him feel immature and ill-fit for the job.