A Toast to the Past

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber had gotten into the habit of feeding the ducks from her friend Flavio, which is why she had saved some bread from her breakfast this morning. It had grown stale by now but she didn't think the ducks would mind. It wasn't until she was nearly outside that she remembered how Flavio had told her that bird seed was a lot better for them, and that bread wasn't necessarily good for ducks. With a grimace, she looked down at the old piece of bread in her hand that she had been carrying around for no reason, how useless. She turned away from the door to the grounds, intending to throw the stale piece of bread away and find someone to talk to and hang out with, which in her opinion was one of the best things about Hogwarts. She was friendly with quite a few people, especially those in her year, and she didn't think she would have trouble finding someone who felt like spending some time with her. Maybe Wyatt was around? Or she could look for Evelyn since it had been a while since they talked.

As she headed to the staircase she spotted an older boy that looked familiar to her. With a start she remembered it was Silus, though she had forgotten his last name. He was the rude Ravenclaw she had tried to deliver a rose to in her first year, the one who had gotten angry with her and thrown a bread roll at her. She looked at him for a moment, struck by how fast time was passing at school. When that had happened, she had only been a first year and the older boy had been in his third, if she had remembered correctly. That meant he had been younger than she was now! She distinctly remembered being very intimidated by him, almost seeing him as an adult back then. The fact that she was older than he had been was so odd, since she didn't feel at all like an adult yet. Not even close.

The boy still had an intimidating air around him, but Amber no longer felt scared of him. She remembered the piece of bread she was still holding and had to hold in a giggle at the thought that occurred to her. It was such a funny coincidence, and she wondered if he would see the humor in it as well. Honestly, she wasn't sure if he would even remember her. After a moment of hesitation, she decided to find out. There was a short moment where she considered tossing the bread at him, duplicating what he had done nearly three years ago. But that wasn't her style, and it was way more likely to make him angry. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, giving him a smile as she offered him the bread. "I believe I owe you this." She joked, wondering how he would react. The odds of him reacting angrily were pretty high, but she was not too worried. She could always just walk away, no harm done.

 

[Silus Hollister]

Silus was making his way down the staircase, hands tucked in his pants pockets, letting his robes trail behind him. He had getting some fresh air in his intentions. The confines of the old castle tired on him quickly, and he was moving quite briskly when he had to abruptly stop in place for a moment to prevent bumping into someone.

Usually he would've simply pushed passed them, but from how he was moving he wouldn't have been able to without the possibility of tripping. Silus looked down and then promply narrowed his eyes as he stared down the person. It took a moment for him to recognize the girl as they'd only encountered each other once, but he knew very well who she was. It was that deathly annoying little firstie he'd thrown bread at, but no, she wasn't a first year anymore.

"Why didn't you move? You should watch where you're going." He snapped coldly, and was about to make his leave when he noticed the piece of bread in her hands. Silus' ice-blue eyes widened slightly, before he regained his cool composure, though there was a smirk on his lips. Amd not his normal cruel one either. Most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference as his expressions always looked condesending, but he was truly amused. He would have had to be one of the stairs if he didn't see the humor in it. How likely was it for him to run into her years later only to see her holding a price of bread?

Silus was about to make his leave when she spoke up, her words having a seemingly stunning effect on the boy. He hadn't expected that to come from her, and he found he couldn't get angry in that moment. He softened his harsh gaze at her and crossed his arms against his chest. "What makes you say that?" He replied, not really knowing what else to say.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber had expected the boy to yell at her, so his little outburst about watching where she was going didn't really surprise her. "I did watch where I was going, I just happened to be heading to where you were standing." She said cheerfully. She was happy to sense that she really was no longer intimidated by the older boy as she had suspected, and though she couldn't read his expression completely she got the feeling he recognized her and maybe even appreciated the joke. She smiled at him and shrugged. "I was just joking, honestly. I was trying to see remembered me and I think you do." She said, an amused expression on her face. "So when I saw you walking around and I had this... I just felt like it would be a missed opportunity not to say something." As silly as this was, she didn't regret it. "Did you ever find out who sent you that rose?" She added, feeling like she remembered it had been anonymous. She didn't know much about the older students so she had no idea if he had a girlfriend or not, or if he'd had one in the years between their last interaction. This entire thing had been a whim, but she might as well try to make some conversation. As much as she had disliked the boy for scaring her in her first year, it seemed silly to hold a grudge for it still. Maybe she had just caught him on a particularly bad day, after all: he wasn't throwing anything at her now, maybe he had matured as well.

 

[Silus Hollister]

Silus narrowed his eyes at the Hufflepuff and her cheerful remark. He imagined she was probably always this way, and he suppressed shaking his head at her. She had changed in that she obviously didn't find him much to fear anymore, but her gift in being able to effortlessly annoy the Ravenclaw had remained just a potent.

Strangely enough, he couldn't really summon much anger up towards her anymore. Silus had not only grown more reasonably minded in the passing years, he simply found the girl's statements rather funny -- even though he tried hiding the fact from plain view. "Of course I remember you. You were quite the annoyingly persistent brat in your first year." The Ravenclaw replied coolly, watching the girl's face carefully to gauge her reaction. He wondered how much tougher she'd really gotten to his words. He was about to say something else when she spoke up again, and Silus has to suppress the urge to smirk amusedly.

To that he didn't really know what he could say, and he was beginning to think it beneath him to try picking at her any more. "No. I didn't. You?" He inquired, his gaze sharpening. Silus expected someone as seemingly socially outgoing and chatty as her would've eventually discovered the sender. Oddly enough he still had it in his possessions, it was just pressed dry in one of his books.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

The expression Silus had on his face reminded Amber of her younger sister, and the thought that the two should start a grumpy Ravenclaw club nearly made her giggle in his face. She suppressed it, though, knowing it would only cause trouble if she actually made him angry. "I was only persistent because I was all excited at the thought of delivering a beautiful pink rose to someone who would like it, not expecting anyone not to want it at all." She said with a small smile and a shrug. "And I think I'd classify any third year that throws food as 'annoying' as well, so I guess we were in the same boat at the time." She met his gaze, her smile never fading.

His look of interest was curious, as she had figured he wouldn't really care about a rose from three years ago anymore. She tilted her head to the side before shaking her head. "No clue, sorry," she sighed as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I don't know a lot about most of people in the years above mine, so I can't even give you a guess. Does it still matter, though? It's been ages." It was funny to see that he actually cared about it, when back when she tried to give it he had refused it at first.