Closed A little reckless

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob didn't know if he was just getting better at handling his schedule or if he really did have more free time, but he found himself wandering around a lot more. He had quidditch practice a little later, but until then nothing else pressing. Homework certainly didn't count. Jacob had always been a bit of a walker, enjoying learning the ins and outs of the castle, always very excited when he learned something new. And he wondered if he just had. The handrails on the stairs looked extra shiny today, and with a sudden urge to slide down the railing, Jacob glanced around to make sure no one was watching. Then he took a bit of a running start before hopping onto a railing and sliding down. Jacob tumbled off, a little stumble before he made the quick turn and tried again.

By the time he reached the fourth floor landing, Jacob was a little giddy as he tried again, but this time, his robes stuck onto something. He felt his robes pull, sending him off balance. Jacob tried to catch himself but as one foot landed on one step and another attempted to do the same, he missed tumbling down a few steps before landing on the bottom. "Owwww" he groaned from flat on his back as he attempted to gather his bearings.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

The beginning of this year was a little strange. Hayley had been thrown by her fight with Lizzie, and had remained upset and angry over the holidays. She was happier to be back at school than she’d ever been, happy to see her friends and let them cheer her and ground her. As she headed along to the student lounge to meet them, Hayley caught sight of a boy sliding down the stair rails. She grinned to see it; Hayley had wanted to try that herself, but there always seemed to be too many people around.

But as she watched he slipped and tumbled down the stairs. Hayley rushed over. “Cool stunt! Are you okay?” Then she recognised him. She didn’t remember exactly what this boy had said, and she had the feeling he hadn’t been as bad as the rest of them, but he had definitely been with that loud-mouthed, violent family at the revolution. The ones who had shouted her down without listening to what she was saying. The ones who had nearly started a fight.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob didn't know if anything was broken. There was just a general ache of having tumbled down a few stairs. He had only just begun to move his extremities, glad when they all seemed to respond when he heard a girl's voice compliment his stunt, a grin appearing on his face even amid the various pains, and then ask if he was alright. "I...I dunno. I think s-" he cut himself off, his gaze finding the source of the voice. He hadn't recognized her voice at all, but he knew her face well. It was the girl he'd avoided for the better part of two years. The girl from the revolution. Jacob couldn't help but widen his eyes. He wasn't scared of her but he was scared of her. It barely made sense to him, but suddenly he was rushing to get himself up, stopping when he noticed the rip in his jeans and the red on his knees.

"Oh nooo" he murmured, the wave of dizziness hitting him fairly quickly. He'd never liked seeing his own blood. "I'm fine" he whispered, though even he wasn't sure if it was to himself or the girl. He needed to get away from her but his own stupid fear was keeping him in place, much like it had the day of the revolution meeting.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley watched awkwardly as the boy scrambled to his feet, torn between giving him a hand and turning on her heel. She did not want to have this conversation today - or any day, recently. After Lizzie, it was all too much. But then she caught the look on his face. Was he . . . scared of her? That was . . . kind of an ego boost, if Hayley was honest with herself. But she remembered what Amber had said about her intimidating persona putting off people she might help as a prefect, and resolved that her duty here was to help. Particularly considering that the kid also looked a little freaked out at the blood on his knees.

Hayley darted forward and caught his arm as he swayed. "Okay. You good to walk? We can get you to the hospital wing, it's just downstairs from here." A convenient place to have an accident, now Hayley thought about it. She turned towards the stairs and hesitated. Those might be tricky to navigate, if he was badly hurt. From what she'd seen, it didn't look like too bad a fall, though. "You can lean on me if you need to."

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob flinched a little when the girl rushed towards him, but she only grabbed his arm. He didn't know what he had expected her to do, and he would have probably been a little embarrassed by his actions if he wasn't so busy trying not to pass out. Still, he wasn't exactly keen on getting help from her. Link, Lyra, and Noah were gone from the school but even being this close to the girl felt like he was being disloyal to them and the help they'd given him on that day. Jacob shook his head after he heard her offer. He took a deep breath as he stared up at the sky and tried really hard to forget that the throbbing in his knee was because he was bleeding. "I just need..." he rummaged in his pockets, feeling around the knuts and other odds and ends, and finally coming back with a small scrap of well-worn parchment. He reached down, trying to rub at his knee without looking at it but he was a small ball of pain. It felt like his hip and knee had taken a bludger. Ok, perhaps he did need the hospital wing but he was not going to lean on her to get there. Jacob grabbed onto the railing, with his hands this time, and tried the first step gingerly. Very gingerly. "Do you remember me?" he asked quietly, his back to the girl as he took another step.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

The boy's alarm at her presence was quickly changing from weird yet vaguely flattering to simply uncomfortable. Hayley didn't like the implications it presented, didn't like what it suggested he thought she was. Sure, she played it tough, she wanted to change the world, but she didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't mean her harm. And this kid was definitely too injured and scared to do anything right now, assuming he wanted to. For the first time in years, Hayley reflected on how her prickly persona had evolved, as a defence mechanism against all the many a**holes of the world. She stood back as the boy flinched away from her, giving him space, though her hand still hovered near his arm to catch him should he lose his balance again. He seemed determined to navigate the stairs on his own, which Hayley could respect, but she trailed along beside him just in case. Looked to her like he could really do to avoid any more injuries at this point. "Yeah, I know who you are," she relied offhandedly - though she still couldn't remember his name. She had the feeling this was a precursor to a conversation she didn't really want to have, but she couldn't think of a way to stop it.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob had a nagging feeling that she was lying when she didn't add anything more. He took another step and then another, the ache that came with every step enough to keep him distracted if he chose to allow it. He could've continued the walk in silence, separating from the Slytherin girl at the hospital wing and that could have been the end of it. But lately, it seemed that Jacob had become a bit of a glutton for punishment, ending in slight arguments with everyone he knew. "So why are you helping me then?" he asked, his tone a little defensive, with more attitude than he'd planned on using. "I think you maybe don't know me" he added quietly. He took another step. "I'm Jacob" he stated before adding his surname. "Kingsley." The Gryffindor said his name very plainly, not with the sense of pride or apprehension he usually held depending on the audience. But still, he was glad he wasn't facing her. He didn't want to see the expression on her face he expected to see. It was bad enough to be a Kingsley most days but lately, it had become even more annoying than usual because he wasn't particularly happy with his dad.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley had realised already that this encounter was going to end up as a confrontation, and honestly she'd rather that than dancing around saying what they wanted to say. She'd never been one for avoiding a fight if it came to one. But it was going to be awkward to help the kid and argue with him at the same time. Nevertheless, she kept descending alongside him in case he fell again. "I'm a prefect," she said simply, then couldn't resist a note of sarcasm. "We're supposed to do helping people, it's kind of a whole thing." She was offended that he would accuse her of lying, though. That wasn't a thing she did. Honestly, she was a little glad he'd told her his name, since she hadn't been able to think of that, but it wasn't as though she didn't recognise him. "Yes," she replied impatiently, "I know. Jacob Kingsley, son of the head of house and the ex-minister, cousin or something of that guy who punched someone in the face. Your point?" Maybe she shouldn't have brought up that incident, especially since she still wasn't sure of the exact relations between that group, but if there was going to be a clash she wanted to just get it over with.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

The sarcasm wasn't lost on Jacob and it was only because he'd hit a step wrong, putting his toe down first instead of his heel as he'd been doing with every other step, that he didn't immediately reply. "My point" he gritted out, "is for you to stop pretending to care and go away. You didn't help me during your meeting. I don't need your help now just because you're a prefect and think you're supposed to" he stated, glad he'd finally reached the landing. He found himself feeling angry again. He hadn't thought about the meeting for a while, but seeing her in front of him made him do so. She hadn't stepped in when that other boy had said some pretty bad things about his parents, things that had made eleven year old him really sad to hear. It was never easy to hear anyone say anything bad about your family, and it had really been the first time he'd been exposed to anything like that. His parents had kept things like that from him before. And she'd been leading it all and hadn't stopped anything. For him, it had started off a year that had just gone progressively down hill.

Jacob sighed and then shuffled forward a bit, his hand on the wall for some support. "Just forget it" he added, shaking his head. The hospital wing was just up ahead. Thankfully.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley was tempted to just give up and go away. Jacob clearly didn't want her help, or anything to do with her, and she was feeling about the same about him. But right now he needed her help, and it wasn't far now to their destination. She'd put up with this a while longer, and argue a bit more. "I don't see how I needed to help you during the meeting. Things got out of hand, and I should've dealt better with that, but you were surrounded by family who wanted to protect your parents' honour more than they wanted to listen to anything I had to say." Even now, Hayley didn't like to think about those last chaotic moments. How she'd frozen, panicked and helpless because she was too far away to do anything. Jacob's family had been the agressors, and it should have been her in there, it should have been her that got punched for defending her cause. But then again, she would have punched back, and the whole disaster would have escalated still further . . . Hayley forced herself to turn her attention back to her surroundings, to the corridor down which the hospital wing lay, where she could leave this boy and stop dredging up things she'd rather not torture herself with.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob rolled his eyes at what she said. That she should have dealt better with what happened was an understatement. Any action on her part would have been better than what he remembered, which was that she hadn't done anything. Jacob tried to think back to the memories, which had faded slightly, but he couldn't remember her at all. He remembered the stupid boy who had been the one to start talking about his parents and had eventually given Link enough ammunition to punch him. Even Jacob would admit that Link never needed much. But the teenager before him who was supposed to have led things hadn't. "I wanted to listen" Jacob said quietly. "It's why I was there" he added as he took another halting step. He truly hadn't known what he was walking into but almost from the beginning, the event had felt like it morphed into more like an attack on the work his father had done than what she had been trying to discuss.

Having his father as Minister had meant he'd been subjected to listening to more speeches than he wanted to and had men and women over to dinner who ranged from good leaders to poor ones. He knew because he'd eavesdrop on his mom and dad as his dad prepped her for the events. Jacob didn't always understand or care about the conversations, most of them were dreadfully boring. "You...I don't know the word... you" he got frustrated as he couldn't find the words to say what he wanted to. "You made more than just my family mad because it felt like you were accusing all of us of being terrible instead of getting us on your side. What's the word for that?" He knew there was one. He'd heard it before. "We were there so we were interested but your people were mean... especially that guy. No one helps mean people or wants help from mean people" Jacob said pointedly. His dad always said something about flies and honey that he could remember being really corny but that was going for this. He had seen the boy around once or twice after and then thankfully lost track. Maybe he'd graduated. Hopefully he had. Jacob lurched forward, grabbing onto a doorknob for more support.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley almost stopped in her tracks when Jacob told her he had wanted to listen. It hadn't occurred to her that anyone in that little group had had any genuine interest in hearing her. Hayley's recollection of precisely what had happened was hazy by now; it had been two years, andthe way it had ended had been such a shock that it eclipsed much of the actual discussion. But she couldn't recall Jacob's family doing anything but trying to shout her down without even listening to what she was trying to say. Jacob himself though . . . he had been pretty quiet. "Oh."

The revelation made Hayley more prepared to listen to what Jacob had to say, and he did have a point. "I feel like a lot of people took offence without even listening to what I had to say. Your family in particular . . . I wasn't trying to insult your dad. I want to question the law, change the status quo, and people . . . I dunno." Hayley had been fourteen, reckless and foolish. She hadn't thought anything through, and it had turned out so badly that practically no one had wanted anything to do with her ideas since. "I f***ed up, yeah. I didn't know what I was doing. But I wasn't controlling anyone, I was just trying to say my ideas. And none of that excuses the way your family acted." Hayley was perhaps getting a little defensive now, but she felt like Jacob was trying to accuse her of something neither of them fully understood. She started forward when he stumbled, but he clearly didn't want her to touch him, and she'd respect that. This was awkward enough as it was.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

"Owwww" Jacob let out, his mouth betraying the strong front he was trying to have. He had no idea if he was convincing the older prefect that he didn't need help. At least her talking was a good distraction. Jacob shrugged slightly as she spoke about his family. He couldn't remember exactly what had been said or if anyone had even really mentioned his dad's name, but it was his dad's position that people had questioned. His work even more so, and he remembered it touching nerves. And he was one of the more mellow people in his family. The Kingsleys nor the Potters were known for being calm. Gryffindors were bountiful throughout both families and Gryffindors were never known for their calm demeanors or their ability to reason well. Even Noah, one of the few Slytherins in a sea of mostly red in the family, who was known for being calm had had trouble that day.

Jacob ducked his head as she cursed, hiding a juvenile smile at hearing the big one spoken. "I'm not saying it does" he added, the smile falling off of his face just as quickly. Jacob was pretty annoyed with most of his family so he wasn't going to defend any of them but he also wasn't going to apologize for any of them. They'd done what they believed was right and Jacob had been grateful for their intervention at that time. And seeing Link punch that guy had been pretty satisfying to watch. Jacob was glad when he finally reached the door to the hospital wing. "But your ideas were a little weird. I still don't understand how getting rid of the statute will help everyone" he admitted. It was something he thought about every now and then. "Maybe you because you're already comfortable with that world. But what about someone like Professor Ateara? Do you really think the muggles would accept her more than we do? I don't" he said quietly after a beat. Jacob shrugged. "Anyway, thanks for walking with me, I guess." He took a step into the wing.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Even if this was awkward and uncomfortable, Hayley was glad she'd accompanied Jacob this far. Whatever he said, he clearly did need her help, and this was beginning to shape up to be an interesting conversation. She hoped he didn't disappear into the hospital wing before at least a brief discussion. She glanced away to hide a smirk at his reaction to her swear. However tough he tried to play it, he was so young and naive. "Actually yeah, I kind of do think muggles would accept them more. We're all weird to muggles, so what does it matter if some people are a little bit more weird? That's part of why I think we should break the statute. We need dramatic social change if we're ever going to solve the prejudices in the wizarding world, and I think breaking the statute could be the way to accomplish that." It had been a long time since Hayley had tried to explain her ideas like this, to someone who might potentially be sympathetic towards them, and she paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. She wasn't sure how much of this he remembered from the meeting, but things had changed since then anyway. "There would be chaos for a bit, I can't see how to avoid that. But the wizarding world is living in the past; this could bring us into the future. I reckon it would destroy a lot of the stigmas, not just around muggleborns, but around squibs and all the magical groups that wizards hate for stupid reasons. People would have to see that muggles are people, and seeing our world through muggle eyes for a change would, I hope, help everyone see that all these different people are people." She hesitated, unsure what he'd think, unsure whether he'd choose to just turn and walk away into the hospital wing like he'd been intending to do.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob listened quietly as she spoke even though he disagreed. He could remember going to spend vacations with his grandpa in the United States and getting odd looks from the neighborhood kids simply because they knew he wasn't from the area. They thought his accent was odd and couldn't understand why he didn't know simple things that they did like how to plug in a lamp. And then he'd broken one of their laptops, by accident of course. And Jacob knew he looked relatively normal. He could dress muggle and blend in that way but in other ways he couldn't and he had come to just prefer spending time with his grandpa over being laughed at.

Jacob could see a nurse coming towards him so he thought some more. Chaos sounded scary. People could die, or worse. " And if they don't?" he asked quietly, full of worry. She was putting a lot into that they would eventually be accepted by muggles and that wizards would also eventually accept this new system, but Jacob knew, just from his own parents, that sometimes it was impossible to get people to a middle ground. More often than not, one side would give up and end up doing something just terrible. He saw the nurse wave him over and Jacob turned away from Hayley to slowly limp away.