Open A Noticeable Absence

[Cameron Roswell]

Open after Sarah posts with Demetrius

As much as Cameron had spent most of last year pointedly ignoring her, it had been a little hard to notice a very specific absence at the Hufflepuff table this year. He was happy to just chalk it up to Veronique's nature, but a small, niggling part (one that sounded suspiciously like Margo) couldn't help but wonder if the way he'd dumped her last year might have something to do with it. And once the thought had surfaced, Cameron couldn't let it go, guilt and irritation circling like particularly annoying sharks in equal measure.

"Demetrius, hey. Uh, congrats on getting dragged into this mess," He said, joining Demetrius awkwardly at the Hufflepuff table, flicking his fingers vaguely to Demetrius' new prefect badge. At least it made one more person in the prefects' lounge he could stand. It didn't make broaching his current pressing questions any easier though, so Cameron quickly dropped the small talk. "So... I noticed Veronique isn't around. She transfer out again or something? You heard from her?" It was a weird connection the two of them had, having dated the same girl so close together and the less Cameron thought about the better, but at least it meant he had the perfect person to ask.

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius looked up as Cameron approached. Cameron was an interesting one to Demetrius - he wouldn't consider him close, but they'd tolerated each other well enough for so many years that it came round to feeling like they were at least friendly. He gave a split-second half-smile at the congratulations. "Yeah, it, uh, came as a surprise," Demetrius admitted with a shrug, not being bothered by Cameron's flicking motion. Then Cameron went on to mention Veronique, which had Demetrius tense slightly. He didn't know how Cameron felt about the fact Demetrius went out with her almost straight after Cameron. But he didn't seem mad at the moment, just curious. And it was strange - Demetrius had been dreading seeing Veronique but almost immediately had forgotten she was supposed to be in his house, he was supposed to have seen her. "You know what? I don't really know. I haven't seen her at all." Demetrius paused. "I thought maybe she was avoiding me but...maybe she's just not here anymore?" The idea struck Demetrius as sad somehow. Sure, Demetrius never really wanted to see her again and to forget the whole mess but he also secretly, deep down, hoped she'd change her mind.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

"I know the feeling, good luck with all that," Cameron said absently, running a finger through some of the condensation on the table from a nearby water jug. He hadn't exactly been thrilled to get his own prefect badge but he'd mostly gotten used to it. At least Hufflepuff seemed like an easier house to deal with than Slytherin in his opinion.

Cameron scrunched up his mouth when Demetrius admitted he hadn't seen Veronique around anywhere, catching his lower lip in his teeth. "Yeah I'd heard she transferred out..." He admitted. He'd heard as much from the really chatty Hufflepuff prefect though she wasn't exactly what Cameron would consider a reliable source. Demetrius had all but confirmed it and Cameron felt the wave of guilt resume crashing about in his gut. "She didn't say anything to you at the end of the year or anything right? It wasn't like something I-we? Did? You think?" He said, muttering the words like he was pulling teeth.

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius was struck by the idea that she'd transferred. "Oh, wow. I hadn't expected that." He paused in thought, trying to reconcile the thought with the rest of his own, swirling aimlessly in his head. "Maybe it's true, I really haven't seen her since..." he trailed off, deciding not to finish the sentence. He then considered what Cameron said about it being to do with them. He didn't want to accuse Cameron of anything - that seemed cruel - and Veronique had seemed fine until the very last. "I don't know. She was upset after, you know, you broke up with her but she was doing better. So if it's to do with me..." Demetrius frowned. Could it be? It didn't seem like a thing Veronique would do. He wished he had the answers. He wished he could contact her somehow, but he couldn't imagine that being welcome to her.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron tried not to grimace at the uncomfortable way Demetrius trailed off, staring intently down at where he'd been drawing shapes on the table with a finger. He didn't know how things had ended between him and Veronique but after Cameron had broken up with her he'd rather pointedly ignored her for his own sanity. A selfish part of him hoped it'd been messy, at least messy enough that it would be easy enough to point the finger at Demetrius for why she might be gone and then maybe he would feel the lurking sense of unease right now.

He did wince when Demetrius mentioned Veronique had been upset, covering the expression with a shrug. "She was always kind of a handful, maybe we're being egocentric to think it's anything to do with us, right?" He said, aiming for levity even if it felt strained. "Though I guess you could always owl her if you were worried or something," he added glancing at Demetrius and then back to the tabletop.

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius didn't like that Cameron called her a handful. It felt like a kick in the gut, but part of him felt it to be true at the same time. He was conflicted between a stubborn loyalty to Veronique, and a sense that that loyalty was pointless seeing as she'd left him. Demetrius struggled to reconcile the two. His jaw clenched and he frowned for a moment, but eased off. Cameron had a point, after all. "Maybe it is egocentric," Demetrius admitted, his voice barely above a murmur. But he still felt unsettled. Angry. Like he wanted to lash out but he knew it was the wrong thing to do. "Maybe she did this on purpose. To make us feel bad," Demetrius then went on to say, completely contradicting his previous statement and knowing in his heart of hearts that he was being irrational. "Girls do that sometimes, right? Play mind games? She could be pretending to be sick or something and she's really just fine. If I send an owl, then she's kinda won." That's what Demetrius told himself, at least.