A Healing Force

[Hazel Kaster]

It was the beginning of Seventh year and so far Hazel had managed to avoid Samual Kaster. She had seen him since that time at the end of Sixth year when she had run off after he kissed her. It was so unexpected, she had been unable to control the bubbling of emotions that had been threatening to surface for some time. In the end, she hadn't been able to handle the pressure and the only thing she had been able to do was to leave and leave quickly. That was why she had left. She ad been avoiding him since then and being back was difficult. She had been lurking in the places that Sammy never went in order to avoid him. This caused her to get some of the oddest looks from Slytherin's, not that she minded really. As long as she didn't have to face Sammy's cheerful face for the rest of the year, she would be as happy as Larry. He just didn't get it and she didn't think he ever would. She sighed and fell onto a bench. She was exhausted from ducking away every time she saw Sammy. It was extremely tiring considering. Ever since he had become Head boy, it was like he was just everywhere! She didn't know if she would last it through the rest of the year. She was happy about being in her last year, but she wasn't sure yet at she wanted to do. Maybe she would do something in the muggle world? She couldn't think of anything she would rather do then start a family and settle down, but that wouldn't happen for a few years yet.

Hazel ran her hand through her hair and sighed. Her mother had asked her before she came back, if anything had happened to her whilst she was at school. She hadn't told her mother that Sam had kissed her on the cheek because she was worried at what she might say. Her mother was a little eccentric in the regard. Hell up until Hazel was eleven and going to be attending Hogwarts, she couldn't even speak english. It had taken her some really intense training to get to a place where people would be able to understand her. Even now she still felt some much more comfortable speaking her native indian than with speaking English. Somehow she just couldn't imagine never being able to speak the language ever again. Her mother had been really against her going to Hogwarts because of this. She never wanted her to lose her heritage and so Hazel always made sure to have conversations at home in Cheyenne. Sometimes when she returned to Hogwarts, she would mix up her personal pronouns and such, but after a couple of days she was usually back to normal again. Was that weird? She thought that it was pretty normal and she sometimes wondered if anyone even knew that english was not her native language. She didn't think Sammy had ever heard her slip. He had never asked, so it was likely that he didn't know. The one thing Hazel knew for sure was that she was currently avoiding Sammy and she would be much happier in her life if they weren't taking the same classes this year. Of course, that would not happen this year. She sighed. This year is going to be very interesting...
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[Samual Kaster]

For someone that had been living at Hogwarts for several years, it would be surprising that Sammy still had not really gone down to the Dungeons before, except when attending SDA meetings down here and when he had to care for Kate and stuff. Other wise, he would rather be in the rosebush or the Great Hall and with people. The dungeons were so cold and dark and creepy. Sam had never liked cold, dark, creepy, enclosed spaces. Unfortunately, he had something far more important to do. He needed to talk to Hazel. This was very important. The Ravenclaw girl had been avoiding him like he had the plague lately. He had to know what was wrong with her. Was she ill? Did she not want to be his friend any more? Either way, her constant running and hiding was starting to upset him. He had no idea why she was behaving in this way. He didn't want their friendship to be affected or to be destroyed by this. Samual sighed. He had hoped that seventh year would be more exciting, and it was. He was Head Boy, leader of Club Academia, and his grades were still up. But he felt that he had to fix this problem that seemed to be growing between him and Hazel. It was keeping him up at night and that was most certainly not healthy for him.

Fortunately for Sammy, he had seen Hazel in the Great Hall, making a run for it as soon as he walked in with his friends. He had had enough of this and decided to skip food and follow her. Which meant that not only was he hungry, but he had to look very closely as he walked. Today was one of his good days, and he wanted it to stay that way. When he woke up this morning, he felt absolutely wonderful, even though his hair was everywhere. He still felt happy, even though it was quite cold for him. He hugged himself and zipped his jacket up a little bit more to try and hold warmth in better. Why did the dungeons have to be so chilly? Couldn't it be warm down here? Although, Sam had to admit, he'd rather be cold and tightening his jacket around him, then melting and having the urge to walk around in the bare essentials, especially if he ran into someone down here. Now that would be awkward. He chuckled slightly and shook the moment that would never happen from his mind, running his fingers through his curls. They were all over the place today, it was a minor inconvenience. He hid their messiness under his hooded jacket and continued.

Samual stopped when he saw someone sitting down. He tilted his head. It was Hazel. A relief-fuelled smiled grew on his face. Thank Merlin! "Hazel?" He quickly sat beside her and grabbed her arm. He wasn't forceful or anything, but if she tried to run, he was going to be right beside her. "Do you know how difficult it has been for me to locate you?" He shook his head and sighed. "What's wrong? Why do you keep hiding from me?"
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[Hazel Kaster]

Hazel looked up suddenly when she heard someone approaching. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. She looked down at his hand as it grabbed her arm and looked in his face. He was concerned, she could tell, but that didn't mean that he understood, he never would understand. If he did, she wouldn't be in this situation at all. She sighed and pulled her arm away, trying to throw him off, but it didn't work. She didn't want to look at him so she turned her head away. If she looked at him she was just going to cry again, she could tell, she knew that she would cry. Merlin! It wasn't even classes yet and she was already wishing that this Semster was over so that she could leave, but that wasn't going to happen yet. She didn't want to look at him so she kept her head down as he spoke. It was clear from his question that he didn't understand, how hard was it to understand? What more could she possibly do that would help him understand? Was he this naive about everything? Maybe he just didn't like her and didn't want to admit her feelings for him? Maybe it just so disgusted him that she liked him that he just ignored it. Tears started to sting the backs of her eyes and she blinked to keep them back, but it wasn't going to work. She could tell that the seal was broken, and soon the water works would start.

"Sammy, please may you just leave me alone. I really don't want to talk to you right now." She choked out, her attempt at keeping the tears away failing in the end. She turned her face further away, trying to hide her tears. She didn't want him to dislike her any more then he already did. It would be too much to think about. Too much to handle. Merlin, why did she ever run out of the damn library. Why did she have to be partnered with him in Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Why did she have to find him so damn charming that time he'd been being eaten by his stupid monster book. She sighed, the tears still flowing. Why did the fates hate her so. This was the cruelest thing to ever happen to anyone she was sure of it. What did I ever do wrong in a previous life to deserve this horrid ordeal?
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[Samual Kaster]

Samual frowned a little when Hazel still acted like she didn't want him there. What had he possibly done to deserve this treatment? Never had he ever hurt anyone, especially Hazel. So what was the problem? If she just told him like any other person would, Samual would feel a lot better. He would be able to fix what he had done and behave better than he was now. But if she didn't tell him, how was he supposed to change? She wasn't even looking at him. Did she hate him that much? So much that she couldn't even look at him? That hurt, it really hurt. It was his final year and he didn't want it to be like this. Right now, it looked like he was about to lose a friend. A good friend. A really nice friend that he wanted to keep for a very, very long time. Samual's frown only grew as he examined Hazel's eyes. Was she going to cry? If she cried, Samual was going to cry. He could already feel it The Gryffindor had to blink the feeling away before he burst into tears. That'd be really weird, especially since he was in such a good mood before this.

When Hazel spoke, she didn't say what Samual had hoped she would. She just made him feel worse. What had happened? Why didn't she want to talk? "A problem shared is a problem halved." It was true. If Hazel was having a bad time, Sammy wanted to know so that he could help. He was helped through bad times, and he had the honour of helping some people through bad times. This wouldn't be any different. She then began to cry, and Samual felt the urge to cry also. He pulled Hazel into a hug. obviously she was having a terrible time and usually a nice, warm hug made people feel better. "What happened?" He asked, giving her a little squeeze. "Did someone die? Did something happen to someone? Is everything okay?" The Gryffindor was worried about her, he wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help her through whatever this was.
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[Hazel Kaster]

Hazel could not stop herself from crying, it was her most natural reaction to a stressful situation. She sniffed and saw Sammy from the corner of her eye. He was even trying to look like he cared?! Why was he being so cruel to her? Why did he hate her so much, what did she even do to him? She sighed and continued to cry. It didn't matter what she did, she could not stop herself, she pulled at her arm again, this time with a little more force, maybe this time she would get herself loose. She looked at him when he spoke to her and she looked him in the eye, tears still running down her face. She held her head low as she spoke, she still couldn't look at him it seems. "I know you keep saying that... but," She just couldn't continue, what was she even supposed to say to him, she didn't understand it herself. When he continued talking she looked at him, this time her eyes were fiery, she wasn't sad anymore, she was angry and annoyed. She shrugged off of his hand, his hug and his words. The hell was wrong with him? She stood up angry and glared at him. "Samual! How can you think that someone died! Why would I be avoiding you if someone died?!" She stomped over to him and raised her hand to slap him. The resounding 'thump' stinging her hand and making her wince. Tears welled up again, but this time it was partially from pain and partially from the fact that she just slapped the happy-go-lucky Gryffindor boy. She was sure people would hate her just for this. "I'm sad... because you are an idiot!" She yelled, holding her hand to her chest and hugging herself. "Honestly, I don't even know why I like you!"
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[Samual Kaster]

Samual was completely confused when Hazel fought him off like the plague and stood up. She was really, really angry and he had no idea why. What had he done?! He was trying to help her and she was being crazy. As in, literally insane. She needed to calm down before she did something silly. Samual shook his head. "I don't know!" He was surprised at the loudness of his voice, it even began to echo through the hall. Samual shook his head a little. Had he ever yelled before? He wasn't sure he had. "Grieving people work different. How am I supposed to know what's wrong if you won't tell me?" When his family members died, Sammy avoided everyone, so naturally he thought that Hazel had lost someone. People didn't usually like to talk when they were grieving. However, all thoughts ran from his head when he was slapped. It took him a few seconds to fully comprehend what happened. Hazel slapped him?! Why did she do that? Sammy's hand brushed over his cheek, which was turning a bright red and was in a lot of pain. The Gryffindor just knew he was going to bruise.

Samual was still spinning from being slapped by Hazel. And then she called him an idiot? Sammy's jaw dropped. He had never felt so offended in his entire life. Not even Annalie offended him, she just made him feel horrible. But Hazel had actually offended him and he was just incredibly surprised. Almost speechless. Almost. "Idiot? You think I'm an idiot?" The Gryffinodr was trying to keep his voice and eyes under control, but he was failing horribly on both accounts. "Because I'm an idiot you decided to hit me?! I'm sorry that I care about you so much. I came down here because I care about you, not for any other reason." He sniffled and looked away from her. He didn't even want to look at her. Hazel was being horrible, and Samual had never expected this from her. "I'm sorry I'm too much of an idiot for you to handle. I'll be sure to stay away from you from now on. If you don't like me, fine then. It doesn't matter." It did matter, it mattered a lot to Sammy, but if Hazel was this opposed to him, there was nothing he could do but walk away and try not to have a breakdown. He didn't even bother asking what Hazel meant when she spoke in another language. She was probably just insulting him.
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[Hazel Kaster]

Hazel was shocked at herself. She hit Sammy!? She backed away slowly until she was up against the opposite wall. What was going on! She looked at her own hand as she looked at the shocked Face on Sammy. He looked more then hurt, surprised. What had she done. Poor Sammy hadnt't done anything but ignore her feelings, but was that fair for her to start randomly hitting him? She looked around to see if there was anyone in the suddenly quiet corridor. She sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes. She turned away from him. She hurt him, she could tell by the look on his face and the fact that he was rubbing his cheek with this hazy look in his eyes. When he started to speak, she turned to look at him, fear and sadness evident in her own eyes. Fear at the fact that she had hit him, and sadness at the fact that she had felt that she had no choice. He ws yelling. This wasn't good. Sammy just didn't yell. She winced slightly at the sound of his voice. He never yelled atanyone and now he was yelling at her. She wanted to go over and comfort him, but she knew that he was too angry to go near right now. When he said he cared about, Hazel couldn't stop herself from staring at him. Was it true? She ran over to him and grabbed his arm, tears in her eyes as she tried to apologise for what she had said and done. She felt like a horrible person. She was the worst person in this world! On this Earth! She looked at the ground for a considerable lenth of time, her hand just cluthcing his arm. She didn't really know what to say, but she knew she had to say something. But what?

"Sammy... I..." What was she supposed to say? I called you an idiot because I like you Would that even make sense? Like at all? It didn't make sense to her and she was the one who was supposed to say it. She sighed, shook her head and tried again. "Sammy... I only called you an idiot... because" She was getting frustrated at herself. He was distraught, he wasn't thinking straight, he would need to hear this clearly, in black and white. No grey areas. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She would have to say this now. "SammyIonlycalledyouanidiotbecauseilikeyou!" Hazel groaned, this was ridiculous. Just say it! "Samual, I only said those things because I... it's because I like you." There she said it. But she was sure that it sounded very strange. It had to her.
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[Samual Kaster]

For the third time today, since coming down to the dungeons, Samual was completely confused. If this kept up, he was going to have the worlds meanest headache. Hazel was now grabbing his arm. What did she want? Didn't she want him to leave her alone? She backed away first, she was the one that yelled at him and told him to go, and she hit him. The Gryffindor was pretty sure he was expected to leave now. However, Hazel was stopping him from doing that. He sighed and looked at his arm, which Hazel was gripping quite firmly. She needed to file her nails or something, because she was actually beginning to hurt his arm too. At this rate, Sammy was going to be covered in bruises. "What? Isn't this what you wanted?" Sammy was so confused. Girls were confusing. Really, really confusing. Especially Hazel. Even Star wasn't this confusing. She'd never really yelled at him or anything. She remained silent for a time, so Samual spoke instead. "Hazel, just say what you want to say." Might as well get it over with quickly. There was no point in beating around the bush any more. She couldn't further upset him if she tried.

Samual had no idea how he was finding the patience for this, but he was. He always thought that if he actually ever got so upset that he yelled at someone, he'd lose his temper or something. He actually felt calm in a way. He felt a little catatonic. Staying put was easier than walking away. Sammy tilted his head to the side and his eyebrows scrunched together a little. "What?" What had she said? Did she expect him to actually be capable of decoding that? Sam was about to just quit all this 'liking girls' cr@p. This was just ridiculous. The Gryffindor could feel a headache coming along. Perhaps dying alone wasn't too bad. He could adopt a dog or something. When Hazel seemed to repeat herself, she didn't wash away all of his confusion. She just managed to make him even more confused. His runes had told him in class that he needed to be patient and understanding and all of that stuff. But surely the runes didn't expect him to be this patience. His confusion was just reaching new heights with every word that flew out of Hazel's mouth. Apparently she liked him. That was really great, Sammy liked her too. He liked her a lot. But she was making no sense. He blinked a little, before discovering his voice again. "Okay..." His eyes then widened. He did not just say that! That had to be the worst thing to say to someone that just claimed to like someone! He shook his head quickly. "I mean, I like you too! I do, but why did you hit me?" People didn't hit those they liked, well, not in Samual's experience. "And why hide down here and not just say something? Why did you have to confuse me so much? And now we're both crying. This is really silly."
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[Hazel Kaster]

Hazel watched wide eyed as Samual admitted to her that he liked her. What? Seriously? She was happy, she was really happy about this, but what was she supposed to do now? He asked her why she had slapped him. She didn't really know what she was supposed to say. She sighed and shrugged. "I'm sorry about that Sammy. I just couldn't stop myself. I was so angry at you." She told him, smoothing out her hair and grabbing his hands in hers. "I'm sorry I made you cry Sammy. I didn't mean it. Really. Do you forgive me?" She pulled him into a hug. She really felt silly about all of this. It was mostly her fault. She knew that it was her fault. That this whole time they had been nastily dancing around each other, she was to blame. She bit her lip and sighed, she felt awful about all of this. But she looked at Sammy and tilted her head slightly. She wanted to try something. She looked at Sammy and smiled. "Hey, can I try something?" She asked, going slightly red. He had kissed her once. This time, she wouldn't run away. She quickly pressed her lips to his. She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing, but she figured that they would figure it out together.
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Out of Character:

So sorry about how crap this is.

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual held back the urge to giggle when Hazel's eyes threatened to fall out. It was pretty adorable. She looked pretty happy, and it made Sammy smile, even though his cheeks were probably all blotchy now. He'd have to wash his face because of this. The Gryffindor hated crying. He was such a tragic crier. Samual nodded slowly. She hit him because she was angry at him? He hadn't even really done anything but care about her! He sighed inwardly. There was no point in arguing about details. He'd just have to remember to duck next time, now that he knew that Hazel could be quite violent. "It's okay. I don't mind." He kinda did mind, but it didn't really matter. Details were details. It really didn't change much. He laughed a little bit and nodded. She was being ridiculous. Of course he'd forgive her. "Of course I forgive you, don't be silly!" He squeezed her a little bit and rested his chin on her shoulder, this was nice, except it was all happening in the dungeons. She couldn't have ran off to the rosebush or something. Samual was off in his own little world for a bit, but it was broken when Hazel suddenly kissed him. And this time, she was not running away. He pulled away after a moment and smiled. "Come on, let's get out of here. It's way too dark to be doing stuff like that. I suggest the rosebush!" And he began running through the dungeons, pulling Hazel along by the hand.​

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-FINISHED-​

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