Almost Done

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy Thorne was enjoying one of those incredibly rare moments when he had absolutely nothing to do. The seventeen year old was so used to having something to do that when he was left with some free time he walked around the school idly. Sometimes, students would stare suspiciously, thinking that he was on patrol but really it was Jeremy's way of trying to find something to do. The wizard had thoroughly enjoyed his vacation, which had begun the day after the Yule ball. He'd left pretty early without having the chance to say goodbye to Alyss or any of his friends, but he needed to rush to his mother's home since she was receiving some sort of commendation from work and had asked him to be present when she accepted. It had been a nice ceremony and a nice visit with his mother. Jeremy missed her, even though he wouldn't admit it, and the time with her had been pleasant. His Christmas gift from her had been beyond cool as well. She'd given him a Healer's bag, monogrammed with his name on it. He'd left the bag at his home in Florida before he'd apparated back to New Zealand, but he couldn't wait to use it.

It wouldn't be long anyway. In just five short months, Jeremy would be on his way out of the school. The idea both terrified and excited the man who had grown to love the school as his true home. When he was outside of school, he was shuffled between his old house in Maine and his father's place in Florida. Neither truly felt like home anymore. Hogwarts, though, was certainly home. He'd come to know most of the professor's, many of the students and even some of the house elves and creatures that surrounded the school. Looking at his surroundings, Jeremy realized that he'd made his way outside and all the way to the rosebush, an area that had been dedicated to the memory of a student who had died at the castle. Jeremy didn't visit the area often but he found it to be pleasantly quiet. A peaceful sort of presence could be felt there. With a bit of a smile on his face, Jeremy sat down on the grass near the bush and stretched his legs out. Leaning back on his arms, Jeremy began to do something that he didn't often do: relax.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Halfway through her OWL level year Georgiana was beginning to see a change in the ways she acted around others. She barely spoke to any of her friends any more and when she was on Patrol with another person she always kept herself as the quieter one. It wasn't that she didn't have alot of things to say it just seemed like they were unimportant for anyone to be forced to listen to. Now she found herself a spot of time in her day where there wasn't anything to do. She realised of course this was the time she would have been down at the Pitch praticing, and she did miss being apart of the Team, but there wasn't anything she could do about it and only next year would detrimine if she could outshine the new Keeper in tryouts having missed this past years tryout.

Walking around the Great Lawn her feet took her down towards the Lake and then around to the Rosebush. It was a beauty garden filled with paths surrounded by roses. She hadn't come her much after Logan left, being it one of the places they had first fell in love and spent much of their time. She knew she had been young, really young, when she began dating the older boy but it had made her happy and she'd been mature for her age. However Logan had other plans and followed his relative away to a new school leaving her behind. She was the one who brok their relationship, though it was mutual, him being so far away she didn't want to hold him down. Instead she let him go, which was something muggle movies always tried to tell people to do. They, however, left out most of the pain that would follow.

Walking along in a daze she suddenly felt her foot hit what she thought was a root and her body began to fall forward. She was quick on her feet and managed to not completely wipe out though she did land on her bum hard. Looking back to the root she realized it had actually been a pair of legs and as she opened her mouth to begin to apologize her eyes landed on the face of the Head Boy, Jeremy Thorne. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said softly, slightly stunned to find the head boy here sitting amongest the bushes.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Staring at the white clouds in the sky, Jeremy did something he hadn't done in years: he began looking for cloud shapes. He'd found a pumpkin pasty, a Unicorn's horn and the wing of a thestral when Jeremy felt something connect with his foot. He jerked his foot back, sitting up quickly only to discover that it wasn't a something that had hit his foot but a someone. A female someone. "Oh crap, I'm sorry" he apologized quickly as he heard a female voice apologize to him. When he finally got a good look at who it was, he was glad he'd apologized. It was Georgiana Night, a girl whom he'd had a long and slightly tumultuous history with. Georgiana had dated Jeremy's best friend from his younger years, a guy he no longer kept in touch with. Logan had left the school several years ago and he'd seemed to forget about Jeremy just as quickly. Not that Jeremy had tried very hard to keep up with his friend. He could have tried harder, he knew. He just hadn't.

Pulling his legs closer to himself even though there was now no risk of him tripping the Gryffindor again now that she was just as firmly on the ground as he was, Jeremy touched her leg. She'd landed pretty hard on the ground. "Are you ok, Georgiana?" he asked, concern in his voice as his eyes looked to see if he spotted any blood anywhere.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Georgiana knew this Head Boy from a while back, and her experiences with him had never left her smiling. That was until they both got over their differences and ended up being slightly friends, in an odd way that is. She hadn't really spoken to him much since her ex-boyfriend left the school but those were the best memories of Jeremy she had suprisingly. Jeremy had been the best friend of Logan and seemed to be jealous when she took up more of Logan's time. She had felt sorry for him and tried to be his friend but he had only been rude and annoying to her. Though once Logan left Jeremy seemed to grow up and actually become a decent person.

Now of course he was appointed as Head Boy and he had changed alot. She saw him alot during Prefect meetings which he and the Head Girl would conduct, but she didn't think he actually took notice of her being a Prefect. This she was actually glad of because now a days she was not much of a talker. She spent her time perfecting her duties and studying for her OWLs. Georgiana wouldn't say she had any friends at the moment, besides her brother and sister who were on the other side of the world. Looking to the Head Boy she couldn't bring herself to look directly into his eyes as she spoke. "I'm tough, I don't think I'm hurt anywhere, is your leg alright?" She asked trying not to wince as she lifted her arm to brush her hair out of her face. It seemed her wrist took a beating when she landed. Looking down at her hand in her lap she could tell it was most likely jammed and would swell and bruise for a few days. Being able to move it she was sure there wasn't a break in any of the small bones.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy noticed that she wouldn't look him in the eye as she answered. He narrowed his eyes slowly, but bit back a retort and simply nodded his head. "My legs fine" he said, though it was still smarting. He was sure it'd be nice and bruised when he finally got around to looking at it. Not that a bruise was anything new for him. He had plenty of quidditch-related bruises all over.

The Head Boy had learned very long ago to pick his fights with Georgiana. She was definitely as tough as she claimed to be, though he didn't know why she was claiming to be tough right now if she was hurt. "I'm going to study to be a healer, so maybe I can help you" he stated slowly as he glanced at her hand, "or I can walk you to the nurse...unless you're sure you're not hurt" he stated, his tone clearly indicating that he didn't believe she wasn't hurt. He knew that he was opening himself up to an argument, something he'd done more often with this particular person than anyone else it seemed. Not that she was the one who'd started any of their arguments. Jeremy was pretty sure that he was the one who had begun each and every one.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Georgiana nodded but she figured he'd get a bruise since she had been kicking up her feet in front of her as she had been walking. It seemed like they both were doing the same thing at the moment, lying about pain. Though she didn't really think hers was that bad, she knew she still had some of the herbal medicine her Grandmother, a healer, had given to her before the start of the school year. That would work just fine for her.

The girl figured he had seen something in her face that showed pain but she also knew that he knew when he was starting an arguement. Standing up she brushed the dirt off herself careful to not bend her wrist in a way that would hurt. Georgiana figured her bottom would be a bit sore for awhile but it wasn't as bad as falling to the ground from a broomstick. "I'm sorry I interupted your relaxation Thorne, I'll be on my way then if you don't need me," she stated intending to walk away. Georgie knew that if she did anything bad in front of him he could not only deduct points but possibly get her removed from being a Prefect so today she decided not to let his mannerism get to her and start a fight between them. A fight wouldn't end up well for either of them.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy quickly realized that she was going to stick to her story of being fine. He wasn't going to let Georgiana goad him into a fight so he let it go. As she stood up and began brushing herself off to leave, Jeremy realized that he sort of didn't want to be alone. He wanted to be out of the castle and away from students, sure. "Thorne?" he asked, a tone of annoyance in his voice. "We're back on a last name basis now?" he added, sitting up and crossing his legs under him. He was still feeling too lazy to stand up, though he didn't particularly like having someone stand over him. Of all the girls Jeremy had ever come across, she was one of the most difficult to figure out. He knew it was mostly his fault because of how mean he had been to her on more than one occasion.

"You know we have a patrol together coming up next week, right Night?" he added. Jeremy had posted the patrols up right at the start of the term. It was as he was writing it that he realized that Georgiana was a prefect. He couldn't recall having seen her at the meeting, but he'd been extremely nervous so that could explain it. He had tried his best to switch the names up, but the charm he used to randomly assign patrol partners kept putting heir names together at one time or another and he figured that getting their first pairing out of the way might be better than waiting until the end of term when he was really stressed and more likely to be a jerk.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Georgiana raised her eyebrows at Jeremy as he retorted back to her sounding upset she used his last name and not first. She almost felt the need to slap him upside the head to see if any sense would be knocked in. "You aren't making it easy to be nice to you, you know," she replied back. Georgiana did know that he never did make it easy to be friends with him from the begining of their relationship, the difference now was that she didn't feel like trying anymore. The girl began to think that next time her feet were leading her somewhere she should go in the opposite direction.

About to turn and go back to the castle Georgie's ears picked up a sentence she'd rather not hear from anyone. So far she had been lucky with her partners getting ones that just wanted to get the patrol done and over with just as much as her. However she knew it'd be different with Jeremy, there wasn't a way they could peacefully ever have a conversation. Even though the last time they spoke it almost seemed like they could be friends, based on today it didn't seem like it. "And who's fault is that? Your's of course, Thorne," she replied in a calm tone. The girl had seen the posting at the beginning of the term but always pushed it to the back of her mind. "I hope you know that if you do try to pick a fight with me on patrol I have no problem going to the Headmistress and reporting you for not doing your duty. I hope the same applies to you."

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against his arms once more. "According to you, I never do" he stated and then continued even though he knew he should probably shut up to prevent a fight, "Why change now, right?" The Head Boy had once thought that he and Georgiana could be friendly at least, but it didn't seem that it was possible for that to occur. They argued like hippogriffs and unicorns. If only the person behind Rumor Has It could see this now, they'd know that not every girl was after him.

He watched the Gryffindor take in the information he'd just given to her and narrowed his eyes as she spoke. He didn't like what she was saying. Rather than respond right away, Jeremy first sat up and then pushed himself up until he was standing at his full height of 6' tall. He looked down at the Gryffindor, his blue eyes trained on her face. "The patrol will be what you make of it, Night." All week, Jeremy had been hoping that the patrol with her would go well. Now, he didn't know. Jeremy was rather insulted that she thought he wouldn't take his duty as Head Boy seriously and that he would pick a fight with her while he was walking around the school. "I'll be there to do my Head Boy duties...I could not care less who is beside me while I do it." he stated cooly. His arms had crossed his chest and he stood, waiting to see what she'd say to that.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Georgiana eyed the person standing in front of her, she had to look up to see his face being shorter. However that didn't make her feel any smaller or less important then him. Just like how small dogs have more bark then the bigger ones that just want to snuggle up by your feet an sleep. "Last year I had actually thought that when I next ran into it would be more civil like the last. But it seems impossible to get over differences at this point doesn't it?" She said without a question in her tone.

As his blue eyes looked down at her and her's glared back she could feel the air turn icy from their looks. Turning from his gaze Georgiana eyes looked off at the bushes which roses were turning brown from the summer heat. With her back towards him Georgie finally let emotions come to her face a mix a disappointment, anger, longing, and hurt were just a few which she felt in that moment. It was hard to be around a person who brought back memories of someone who had meant the world to her and not feel anything. She wouldn't let anyone in on this secret of her's of course. Grasping her wrist she could feel pain jolt up her arm but she ignored it because nothing compared to the hurt she felt when Logan told her days before leaving that he was transfering to Beauxbatons.

Sinking down to the ground defeated she held her arm out as she sat on the ground. "Fix me," she said quietly as she gave up trying to be tough and okay. In reality she spun herself into a black hole impossible to get herself out of alone.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy simply stared at the Gryffindor prefect as she replied. He was outraged! She was the one who had started with him. He had simply been sitting, minding his own business when she had tripped over him. And when he had expressed concern over her, she had dismissed his concern. Ignoring his part in escalating their disagreement, the Head Boy shrugged his shoulders once more. He'd never intended to become Georgiana's friend. Ever. Not that he planned on being mean to her either. She never gave him a chance though. It always seemed that before he got a sentence out, she was attacking him for it, even when he had no ill intent in his words. The Head Boy was glad that no other students seemed to be wandering about in this area because the air around them was positively stifling and he was certain anyone coming around would feel the tension. It was horrible, even for him.

As she turned her back to him, Jeremy let his arms drop. He kept his guard up, but a wariness fell over him too. The Ravenclaw would never claim to understand any women but he knew that he understood Georgiana even less than that. She was every bit as likely to turn and smack him in the face as she was to do anything else. He just didn't know. His shin was really starting to kill him now and he was certain it must have a dark bruise on it. As she began to sink towards the ground, Jeremy reached out in alarm, thinking that she had fainted. When he realized she wasn't, the guy knelt down, one knee on the ground and the other bracing his elbow. He took her arm gingerly in his hand and looked it over. It looked a bit swollen around her wrist. Jeremy was no Healer, not even close but he had learned a couple of things in his classes and from reading Healer books. He was particularly skilled at the Anapneo charm. His blue eyes searched for Georgiana's eyes. It was a funny thing that she didn't seem to like him very much but she trusted him to heal her. Holding his wand to her wrist, Jeremy spoke. "Episkey."

Kneeling on his heels, Jeremy put his wand on the ground. "Is that better?" he asked quietly before he tapped his leg and repeated the charm. His leg felt better instantly. "Do you think this would work on our relationship?" he asked, only half joking.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Georgiana changed her position on the ground to criss-cross legs as Jeremy took her wrist in his hands. He had grown up alot since she first met him, looks included. But being her ex's ex-best friend took most appeal he had. Her face squinted in discomfort as the spell worked it's way into fixing her. But once it had she did feel much better, not that she wanted to admit it to the Head Boy. "Yes," she replied pulling her arm away. Georgiana glanced over at the older boy at his joke, her eyes felt a glare forming considering since the begining he was the one wounding any hope of a relationship they'd have.

Looking away and towards the nearest Rose she wondered if there'd be any way to fix their broken relationship. For any normal pair most likely if they'd gotten to this point it's be near impossible. But Georgiana if she wanted could revert back to her very cheerful self could mend their's with help from Jeremy. She was not very sure if she wanted to be friends with Jeremy Thorne afterall. Meeting him here wasn't something she planned at all, in fact she rather wished she hadn't. Shifting in the awkward silence she wasn't sure what to say.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Getting a response seemed like it was pulling mandrakes when it came to Georgiana. She didn't seem to want to admit that what he had done had helped her. His blue eyes feigned innocence as he saw a glare begin to form on her face. He stared, his jaw setting as he clenched his teeth. He didn't much appreciate the look he was getting from her, especially since he had been joking.

As she looked away from him, Jeremy thought back to everything that had brought them to this point. The arguments, the shouting, and the heartbreak (on her end of course. Jeremy had never suffered true heartbreak.). All of those should have helped to strengthen their friendship, particularly the loss of their mutual friend. It hadn't though. In fact, it had much the opposite effect. An expression of regret mixed with something he could not explain crossed the young man's face as the ache of regret filled his chest. Jeremy knew that at many turns, he could have and probably should have tried harder. "Guess not" he mumbled, stuffing first his wand and then his hands into his pocket as he stood up. "I guess I'll see you for our patrol. Goodbye, Georgie" he said, unconsciously using her nickname even if he was not quite meeting her eyes with his own. Without another word, Jeremy turned and began to stiffly walk away. His pride had suffered quite the blow, yet he didn't want her to see that.

 

[Georgiana Night-Carter]

Georgiana Night felt quite bad that she wasn't up to giving the Head Boy another chance to be in her in life. Yet to her it did not seem wuite fair that he had always been quite awful to her, why now should he get yet another chance to be in his life if all he brought was anger? Some of the anger wasn't even his fault, as she thought to his best friend. What kind of person told his love just days before leabing that he was going to France and he knew for weeks about it. Jeremy seemed put off of to her as she didn't return a nice word in lue of healing her arm. Her wrist was stiff and still had a slight pain but it seemed as if nothing was broken, which was good. As the older male turned from her, her glare lessened. Hearing his mumble she felt like she needed to apologize for glaring or for not being her usual self. Though the teen realized she didn't have much to apologise about to the person walking away from her.

"Thorne!" Georgiana called to the back walking away from her. She gave him a few seconds to realise it was her before she started to speak again as she pulled herself up from the ground. "Thanks for, you know, healing my arm," the girl told her older companion. Giving a wave with her other arm she turned around and went the other way to leave the Rosebush.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Continuing to walk away, the scowl on Jeremy's face grew and he certainly hoped, for the student's sake, that he didn't run into anyone misbehaving. Things wouldn't go very well for them. His inner dialogue was interrupted when he heard his name shouted by Georgiana. Jeremy continued walking, but he slowed down significantly and after a second's thought, he turned, his blue eyes gazing over at her curiously as he wondered what else she had to say to him. A second ago, it seemed that she didn't have anything to say to him and now that he had moved away she wanted to talk? Girls, he said to himself.

He listened to what she said without comment. It wasn't until after she had held her hand up that he did the same. He gave her a stiff wave and then turned around and continued to leave the rosebush in the opposite direction. Deciding not to think too much about it, Jeremy was glad that she'd at least been able to say thank you. The small gesture, coming from her, meant a lot. Jeremy headed back to the castle, hoping to find Alyss. At least he knew where they stood.