But You Can't Stay Away From Me

[Saveli Pendleton]

Saveli Matveev made her way through Brightstone quickly, needing to get her shopping done before she was sent to the damned orphanage. On her face was a look of determination, and she felt money - what was left of it - jingle in her purse at her side. The cross body strap was gripped tightly at her chest by her right hand, which threatened to lose circulation from how hard she grabbed the thin material. As the blonde made headway through the crowds she occasionally bumped into people, a silent apology holding in her mind but not revealing on her tongue. Instead she only looked back for a moment to acknowledge the people she bumped into.

Her downfall was in looking back as she ran into a bench positioned by the building she'd been heading towards. The blonde fell forward into it, just shy of a man sitting down and Sav swore under her breath about her bruised knees.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel sighed over the top of his newspaper. The Daily Prophet had taken a serious downhill dive lately. That, the curly haired boy supposed, or he'd simply grown to care less and less about the happenings of the Ministry and its people. This was probably the more likely explanation. He dropped the paper into a bin by the bench and crossed a leg over his knee, taking a moment to appreciate the small street of Brightstone Village. New Zealand certainly made a change from England, and Gabriel was growing more pleased with his decision to enrol in its Wizarding school with every passing day. He would, of course, need to be accepted first, which was a battle in itself, but the confident Fletcher relaxed in his brazen self assurance that he could feign his way into being allowed in. If not this year, then certainly the year following.

Half way through this thought, a petite blonde figure collided straight into the bench at his side. Gabriel offered out a courteous hand. "Careful, sunshine," he said, smirking.

 

[Saveli Pendleton]

Saveli's blonde locks had taken over her face in the fall and she used a careful hand to brush them back. Her grey-green orbs traveled to the face of the man whom had referred to her as sunshine. Something she'd not been called in quite some time and would prefer to stay away from - especially sunshine, which had been a pet name her father had used in her younger years, as she was a bleach blonde growing up. Finally bringing words to her mouth other than curses she spoke apologies to the man.

"Thanks, sorry about.. That." She then made eye contact with the ever familiar stranger and paused. Buttons fired in her frazzled brain as Saveli put pieces together of an all but forgotten past in muggle primary schools. Her thick Irish accent was unmistakable in a land of foreign tongues as she spoke. "Gabe?" She asked, no worry on if she were right or wrong. Her pride had long been forgotten upon being cast out of her own family. After all, why would she still be proud of being the child of an affair with a mother who cared not what happened to her.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel frowned. He knew that voice. That bright blonde hair. It was a shade or two darker than it had been all those years ago, but it was striking all the same. His frown gave way to a smile that lit his entire face. "Saveli," he said with an air of confidence he'd recalled her name correctly. How could he forget? "Saveli Flannigan. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here? It's been quite some time." Fletcher smiled as he recalled the memories of their childhood. He'd left Ireland long enough ago that his accent had completely disappeared, but he still remembered well the small village in which he and Saveli had grown up together.

 

[Saveli Pendleton]

Saveli's face was a steady smile at the man as she stood, adjusting the blue skirt that hung loosely by her knees, tight around the black shirt that was tucked in. She looked into ice blue eyes that had grown familiar over games of tag and hide and seek. Her lips however turned into a frown for a moment and she glanced away from him, adjusting her jingling bag back onto her shoulder as he spoke. "Matveev." She corrected him with no more thought than anything else she'd done.

She tried to brush off her correction and any further questioning by answering his question. "I'm here shopping for my last semester in New Zealand. And what about you? After all, last I knew of you you'd moved from Ireland - hadn't realized it was because you had magic in your blood."

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel frowned. "Maveev?" Since when had Saveli started going by her mother's name? Shrugging it off, Gabe smiled and leant back against the bench, his posture screaming confidence. Coming from a broken family had clearly done little to dent the boy's self perceived worth. He was sat in the way one might have expected a rock star to sit - all that was missing was the cigarette. "Ah," he said, nodding reminiscently. "Born and bred a Wizard, me. If I'd known you were a witch I'd have kept in touch." Gabriel smiled sadly, suddenly regretting the loss of contact between himself and Saveli. There hadn't been very much choice in the matter, but he'd certainly missed the blonde. Once best playground friends, now very distant acquaintances. "Why's it going to be your last semester?" he asked curiously.

 

[Saveli Pendleton]

Saveli was more than thankful that Gabriel did not pry into her last name change. She watched his seating before moving and taking her own seat. Her confidence, though faltered, was still present in her everything. She smoothed the material over her knees and smiled up at the slightly older man again. "I could say the same, you pox." She teased, shoving him. "I'm moving after this semester, going to be staying in France in an... another house." She spoke with a small sideways glance at the people who walked by. "What about you, starting schooling here?"

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

When Saveli gave him a playful shove, Gabriel moved a little further than necessary, giving the impression she'd pushed him hard. He grinned at his old friend, though his smile was quickly lost with the reminder that she would soon be moving away again. "You should write," he said firmly, practically deciding for her that she would. A trait he most probably picked up from his Dad. "It would be a shame to lose you again." Gabriel paused and smiled, his eyes resting on Saveli's face. It was hardly surprising that he'd liked her so much as kids. "Yeah. Hogwarts Scotland didn't agree with me," he said vaguely, though it could have been argued that Gabriel didn't agree with Hogwarts Scotland. He wasn't the easiest to get along with, despite his good intentions. "Is that a shopping list?" he asked suddenly, pointing to a slip of parchment protruding from her bag.

 

[Saveli Pendleton]

Saveli watched his dramatic movements, so typical of the man she'd come to know. She was not the most athletic person, and knew well her strength could be overpowered by his without second thought, and she knew that. However his magic skill might not match hers, something she was okay with. "I suppose you don't give me any option but to write, yeah?" She asked him jokingly, though she was sure if she was to not write he'd become some sort of angry with her.

"Really, Scotland didn't agree with a bloke like you? Couldn't imagine. What house is it that you were sorted to there?" It was easy to tell a lot by a person from their house often times. After all, Saveli's need for perfection had landed her in her current house. The girl had become sidetracked soon after by him pointing to her purse, and nodded. "Yeah, I've been out gathering things for my last semester. I've not got much to get. Robes and a few other things like books. But it's not a big deal, I'd rather sit and talk with you any day." She said with a grin.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel laughed shortly. "No," he said, looking out into the quaint street. "I'm not like that any more, Sav. This is a fresh start for me, this is. A chance to put things right." When he'd finished, Gabriel turned back to his old friend and gave her a fond smile. "Slytherin," he told he, supposing there wasn't much point in dodging the truth. It wouldn't have done him well to be caught out so early. "And hey, it's not my fault the Professors there can't tell their asses from their elbows," he protested at Saveli's humorous remark, grinning. "I hear New Zealand's a better crowd. So, what about you? No, let me guess..." Fletcher narrowed his eyes and rested his chin on his hand in mock thought. "Gryffindor. You're a Gryffindor, right?"

Gabriel dug his hand into his pocket to feel for his galleons, and then shrugged. He wasn't usually inclined to pay for other people's things (unless there was something in it for him), but he was willing to make exceptions for Saveli. "Let's at least get ice cream. My treat."

 

[Saveli Pendleton]

"A fresh start?" She asked him with an almost suspicious tone. Fresh starts were never as clean or fresh as people liked to say that they were. Saveli was learning that the hard way as she was starting over, soon to be in a new country, a new school, and maybe with a new family. She heard that older children often got lost in the system. It was a painful truth that she didn't want to face. Saveli chuckled emptily at his joke, fazing between his speech and her thoughts. Finally his comment of her house brought her to reality and she shook her head. "And here I thought you knew me well!" She teased him, before sighing. "I am also a Slytherin." And soon she would be forced to say she was a slytherin.

The boy then offered Ice cream and Saveli thought for a moment before taking in a deep breath. "I guess." She answered, sighing as if it was a burden to go eat with him. her smile on her face though showed that she was grateful for the invite. "But i can pay, really I can." She insisted, not wanting him to pay for her- it would be too much like a date in her mind if she did.