Closed Breaking the news

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper had been excited about the Valentine’s dance all day, and he was even more excited waiting for Tori in the Gryffindor common room. Tucking out of the front pocket of his jacket were the three roses he had received today from various classmates. Two pink and one yellow rose. He resisted fiddling with them too much because every time he touched them they would drop a petal or two, and he did not want to lose their petals before the night had even started.

When Tori did finally emerge from the dormitories, he grinned and walked with her all the way to the dance. He liked her company because she was easy to be around and to talk to, and because they had similar interests. He found himself chatting away the entire walk, mostly about the Valentine’s deliveries he'd made and all the people he'd spoken to about gobstones. Then he started floating ideas about what they should do with the Unofficial Gobstones Club next year and hoping she'd like some of his ideas. It wasn’t until they reached the dance that Jasper realised he’d been doing most of the talking and Tori had barely said a word. He slowed his pace and turned to her, studying her face. "Hey are you okay? You seem quiet."

@Victoria de Lacey (godmod approved)

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori was excited about going to the Valentine’s dance with Jasper, really excited actually. When he’d asked her to go to the Yule ball last semester she’d been really excited then too. But then after the discussion she’d had with her mum and with Professor Cade and Uncle Lani… well things just weren’t so exciting anymore. They were still a bit exciting honestly and she was looking forward to it, and it was only going to be half a year, one semester that’s all - but that didn’t mean she was happy about having to tell her friends. When she met up with Jasper, he talked most of the way down to the Great Hall, and she listened, mostly, nodding along appropriately, until he started mentioning everything he wanted to do with the club next year. Well, she definitely needed to let him know, because she couldn’t be co-president if she wasn’t around to be co-president.

She breathed out a long sigh, smoothing down her red dress to try and give herself a moment to say what she needed to. “Yeah, I’m… I’m okay, fine, but,” how did she tell him he would need to do it on his own for a bit? “Sorry, I just have to tell you something. It’s kind of a big deal, well… I don’t know if it’s a big deal,” she said, frowning. Maybe she was making a bigger deal out of this than she needed to. Maybe her friends won’t care if she’s not around for a semester. They might like to have a break from her. She wished she could have a break from herself sometimes, everything was so terribly difficult these days.​

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper tilted his head, hearing the hesitation in Tori's voice. His eyebrows knitted together as he gave his full attention to listen. “Yeah?” he prompted gently, though he still wasn’t that worried yet. Maybe she’d forgotten her wand or something. “Well now you have to tell me,” he said, trying to keep his tone light, even though he felt uneasy about what 'kind of a big deal' was supposed to mean. He wondered if she quitting the club because she didn't want to be VP anymore. Maybe he had done something to annoy her. Was she moving to another country? No, that would definitely be a big deal. It was probably the first thing that she'd forgotten her wand or something.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

She laughed slighly hesitantly as he prompted her, she wasn’t sure why she was so nervous about this because it was only going to be a semester, she wasn’t going to miss out on too much and she could help Jasper to plan for anything over the break, or through letters. He could manage on his own for a couple of months right? She was sure he could because everything was mostly in place now, all he had to do was manage games and he was really good at that. She didn’t forsee any problems with that in the near future, so she thought it would be fine. She took a deep breath, her hands wringing in front of her. “I’m… leaving. The school I mean, for a semester. I’m transferring to another school,” she said finally, biting her lip. “Just for a semester! I've never been out of Aotearoa and this just seems like a good opportunity to... you know, see a bit more of the magical world?”​

 

[Jasper Beese]

A few possibilities had run through Jasper's mind and typically it was the worst of them that was happening. His breath caught in his throat as he made sense of what she was telling him. “You're leaving? Why would you want to leave Aotearoa? We have everything here, and stuff the rest of the world doesn't like, er, kiwi birds! Tori you can't leave because of the kiwis!” his voice was cracking halfway through the words as the idea of Hogwarts without Tori began to panic him. His chest tightened and hs head spun. He thought he might faint, so he grabbed onto the nearest thing for support, which happened to be Tori herself. “And for a semester! Tori, that’s, like half a year, it's a really long time!" He let go of her and stumbled backward, losing that grounding propelled him into the cusp of a panic attack and he couldn't catch his breath. “I can't breathe!" He gasped, clutching his chest. He thought he was going to die.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori wasn’t sure what to say as she wanted Jasper, his reaction unexpected. “Well, that’s not-” she wasn’t leaving because of the Kiwis, or she wasn’t not leaving because of the Kiwis, she supposed, there was just a lot of stuff going on in her life right now that she needed to sort of get away from it a little bit. She looked at him, eyes wide, unsure how to react to the way he was clutching her as he seemed to have some kind of shocked reaction to what she’d said. It was only a semester, she wasn’t expecting him to react in this way. She reached out to him as he stumbled backwards, following him as he moved because she was worried he might not be okay. “Jasper!” She called throwing her arms around him to pull him into a hug. She’d never had a panic attack herself, so she didn’t really know what was happening, and she wasn’t sure how to make this better. “Jasper, it’s okay!” She said, trying to calm him down though she wasn’t entirely sure she knew what he was panicking. “Uhm, please calm down, please!”​