Fireside Chats PV Reid Kovacs Closed

What did he have in mind again? His bobbing and weaving through the crowd of students was nonetheless a trial of agility. The thoughts in his mind were constantly interrupted by him saying 'excuse me' or 'sorry' to the ones who got in his way. The boy wore his typical hoodie with his favorite football club from Derby, a pair of jeans, and some worn out grey tennis shoes. His hair was haphazard, messy as usual with not clear regard for what it looked like. He didn't have his badge on, there was no rhyme or reason to it really. 

Black rim glasses hung at the collar of his shirt, seemingly a little scratched more than usual. From under some of the dark brown locks peeked a cut with dried up blood. He had cleaned it up himself, maybe not as well as he would have if he went back to the medical wing. Yet he didn't want to be there, he didn't want to be reminded of what happened. 

Plus he didn't want to explain what happened right now, but surely someone would seek him out. It made him sick thinking about it. But his intentions at the moment were clear, his book and homework for History of Magic was tucked under his arm for Professor Cazarez. Homework had to be done and he couldn't waste anymore time dwelling on the events in the past few days. He wanted things to be 'normal', well as close to normal as a magical world will get him. 

In his free time, he's spent it wandering the grounds of Hogwarts to keep his mind occupied. Today was the day he'd feed his need to wander and get some homework done in the process, well that was the goal at least. But first, he wanted to grab something to eat before supper ended and he couldn't snatch some turkey. 

His stride stopped as the sound of his name and glanced around for the source. Reid's gloomy features lit up, a half-baked smile on his slightly split lip. It was embarrassing to come up to his friend looking like he had just gotten smacked with a door, but he didn't want to just walk away from her. He hadn't talked to Dymphna in a while and after all of this - he sorely missed her company. 

It was the return to normalcy that he needed, to just talk to a friend and not have to worry. "Dymph, am I glad to see you." he meekly sighed as he got close. The boy carefully lowered himself, slower than usual as he placed what he carried upon the floor. He didn't mind that it was stone, the fire was enough and so was the company. "We haven't talked in a while, how are you?" he asked, crossing his legs to face her.

The Ravenclaw hadn't noticed his features changing but if she had, she might have noticed how he also looked different, rumpled and worn out but she hadn't as she had looked away in embarrassment in case others had witnessed her calling to him. Instead, she observed that while he did look more tired than the last time she had seen him, he seemed cheerful and just as excited as she was about their encounter. "Are you?" She asked with a grin, crossing her legs and turning to sit facing him instead of the passageways. She hadn't known him long enough or well enough to know that he was moving slower than usual, or she might have asked if he had taken a tumble from a broom or landed himself into some trouble with a dragon after their conversation in the corridors.

"I'm doing alright." It wasn't exactly the same as usual after her fainting in class. She had decided to do extra work after completing the work that she had missed during classes that day. Unfortunately, it caused even more stress. The last letter from her parents asked her to take it easy so she had tried to tone it down which had only landed her an A in Charms. However, instead of taking on extra credit assignments, there was a club she had joined called the CROWN that seemed to look promising, boasting that it would help others gain friendships that would be supportive and helpful towards other's goals. Hopefully it would help her get her stress under control while maintaining her grades. Maybe Reid would benefit from the club as well. "It's been too long," the blonde replied, realizing that she had paused for too long to think. "How have you been?"

Reid fixed himself, draping his arm across his stomach with a steady gaze on the Ravenclaw. "It's definitely been so long." he chuckled in agreement. He took a second to think about an answer, a soft hum coming from the back of his throat. "I'm fine, it's been the same the last few days" he partially lied. It wasn't all wrong, his days have been odd and it's left him feeling odd. Yet he was never one to share his worries too much, he's came to Dymph before so it was a little embarrassing to him. 

He acknowledged the fact they were friends, yet he wasn't so used to having other people reassure him. However it was tempting to, he was just simply glad to enjoy her company. He noticed that she was in normal clothes, which surprised him since he didn't recall whether she did that at the library or not. Many of the students seemed to be well dressed, she was no exception. Perhaps he should care about how he looked more, his clothes only mirrored his nonchalant attitude. 

"How have your classes been? I haven't seen you around aside from classes so I thought you would've been in the library. But I didn't see you there either." Reid meekly smiled. It was a little embarrassing to underhandedly admit he was looking for his friend, but he hadn't talked to her for so long that he wanted to check in. It could have been a spur of worry, he hadn't seen Felicity in a while either. That and he liked staying in touch with his friends, maybe a little too attached. 

It wasn't something that Dymphna had kept from anyone but it was strange to talk about her problems with those who weren't part of her family. She wasn't used to it. Even at her muggle school, she had kept the conversations light and only spoke of the positives. Maybe it would be easier as she got older and began feeling closer to others but even with people like Reid who she considered a friend, it felt strange. It also probably didn't help that she was focused on others and wanting to help them rather than herself.

Seeing Reid outside of his uniform again was refreshing. She always preferred weekends and seeing her fellow students in their normal clothing. Though she didn't like that some students were big bullies who picked on those that didn't seem to have as much. That was one of the reasons she liked uniforms. It was harder to tell who was wealthy, who was poor or somewhere in between. She would describe her friends style as comfy casual which was nice, but she dressed up a little more since feeling too comfortable and cozy might make her even more sleepy. 

At his question, the blonde shrugged, "They're alright." Oh, had Reid been looking for her then? "Sorry, I haven't been doing as much studying as usual. I've spent more time in the common room too." She glanced towards the fire, "It's my first time studying here though. I quite like it." Since they couldn't go into each other's common room, perhaps they could start meeting by the fireplace. The castle could get chilly even during the hotter months. She suspected some type of cooling charms were in place. "We could try to meet here sometimes," she suggested, hoping it wasn't too bold of an idea but he had been looking out for her and she missed his company.

Sometimes Dymphna had trouble living in the present. She would wonder what she would be like when she's older, better educated and especially what she would do as an adult. Her mother encouraged her to go into whatever career she liked but the blonde knew that secretly she would be pleased to have her daughter follow in her footsteps. So far, she was interested in the same things but as time went on, perhaps she wouldn't be anymore. She frowned at that, hating to imagine a time when she might not enjoy learning about plants and astronomy or even worse, a time when she didn't want to hang out with her family. Family was so important to her but it seemed to happen in the muggle box named Telly, the stories about teenagers and parents fighting all the time. Who found that entertaining?

It took a moment to focus back on the boy in front of her, the warmth from the fire and the noises of those wandering through. She smiled at him, "I think so too." She wrapped the cardigan to be more snug around herself. "Fast," she answered him, at the same time. "Oh, I guess it's been a bit of both for me." A lot had happened but it seemed to happen more to others than herself. Others got into trouble. She hadn't yet. Not that she had any desire to. Others went on adventures. Well, she had done a bit of that. Sometimes she felt like she blinked and missed everything though.

She had caught a glimpse of something when he rested his chin on his knees but he had already asked her a question so it would have to wait. A big grin came over her face at the use of the nickname, "It's in July. I had a swimming party last year." The party was mainly family but still, "When's your birthday?" Maybe she could invite him over for the summer. His family could stay at the Inn. There were more than enough rooms. Before she could begin planning it all out in her head, she caught a glimpse of it again. Oh, right. Leaning in, she whispered, "You have some dirt just there," and motioned to her own hairline to show him. Unpolite as it was, it was something that she would want her friends to tell her instead of walking around with it all day. Then again, did boys really care about that sort of thing?