Checking In

[Evelyn Manning-Kingsley]

Evelyn was on her way to breakfast. She had been dreaming a lot last night. They were all nice dreams gladly. A few weeks ago they were different, the blonde had more stress than about her badge and Lucas and Noah. Evelyn still felt bad for Noah. She hoped to so him again, but he had chosen to study further at Durmstrang. Evelyn had seen Jacob walking around the school too. She had a feeling that he must have a hard time with his big brother away. Evelyn had seen him playing as a beater in the quidditch team, and she figured Noah would be proud of him if he could see it. The blonde walked into the great hall and found a spot at the large table from Gryffindor. She was early so there weren't that much students yet. The blonde made for herself a cup of tea and hold with both of her hands the cup, it was really lovely the warmth. She hoped Lucas would join her too, but he seemed to be more of a sleepy head than she was. Evelyn spend a lot of time at her looks so that ment that she had to come out of bed early. Sometimes Lucas waited up for her or the other way around in the common room. The blonde took a sip of her tea and looked at the students walking in. She hoped that she would soon have a chance to speak to Jacob, to check in if he was doing ok. Losing his aunt and his brother leaving to another school would be hard to take in she figured. Jacob seemed like a very nice person and from what she had seen her cousin Athena saw that too.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Dropping his Beater's bat and other gear onto the bench beside him, Jacob sleepily reached for some juice. This was the worst part about being on a quidditch team, weird practice times. The second year knew he would wake right up once he got going on the pitch but until then he would be pretty grumpy and half asleep. Jacob Kingsley enjoyed his sleep and didnt know why everyone else didnt. He didnt know why classes needed to be so early and why people didnt start the day at a reasonable time, say 11 am.

Jacob didnt know what he wanted to eat today so he reached his hand for the nearest plate. Waffles it was. "Can you pass the syrup?" he asked without looking up. He just sort of held out his hand, hoping the person would get the hint.

 

[Evelyn Manning-Kingsley]

Evelyn was a bit of used to being up early. She was in some kind of routine of the day. Though she had some nights where she slept terrible. It reminded her of the first nights at Hogwarts. She was so mad at not having her own room, it made her laugh while thinking about that. And the first night already making a fight with Zenia, from that day on they never liked eachother. Still Evelyn was glad that she and Merrill made things right. Merrill was kind of changed in a good way, and she thought bad for the girl about what happend to her parents and the trial. Evelyn had heard some things about it, but hadn't spoken to the girl in a while. When someone asked her to pass the syrup she looked up to who it was, after taking a sip of her tea again. She took the syrup that stood next to her and than saw a familliar face. It was Jacob! The blonde thought this was a moment to ask him how things were going. She ment it well, and if he wasn't interested in her making sure he was fine, she would want to know. '' Sure! Here you go Jacob.'' Evelyn said friendly to him and looked at him for a moment. You could tell he was family from Noah for sure, but she had met him at their home once and couldn't believe he grown up so fast already. There he was just an excited child and funny to talk with. Now he was playing as a beater and she figured his mother would be proud and keep him close now Noah was gone. '' How are you doing Jacob? Congrats on making the team, you already played some good games right?'' Evelyn asked Jacob and pointed the subject at Quidditch ofcourse. She would ask him later how things with Noah and him dealing with that went. First she wanted to see how he would react on her. Evelyn was very sorry for how things went. And the loss of his aunt was there too. In her letter to Noah she promised him to check on his little brother, because he wasn't there. Perhaps it wasn't even neccasary but she owed him she figured.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob grabbed the syrup before he registered the person had used his name. A thank you had even already escaped his lips. But now he was staring into the face of Evelyn Manning. He saw her pretty much every day since they shared a house, but it was easy enough to avoid interacting with her. They were in different years and slept in different dorms. And it wasn't like they had any mutual friends. Not anymore. Jacob gave her a small smile and then turned back to his waffle, concentrating on getting syrup into every single square.

When she continued speaking to him, Jacob paused and looked back up. He was a little surprised that she was talking to him. It wasn't like they'd been friends when she was dating his brother. "I'm fine" he said slowly, wondering where she was going with this. He hoped she wasn't going to start asking about his brother, not when she was the reason he was gone. "Thanks" he replied as he turned back to his waffle and finished adding the syrup. "Mmhmm" he added as he picked up his fork.

 

[Evelyn Manning-Kingsley]

Evelyn had no idea how Jacob would react on her. She had blamed herself for the fact that Noah left Hogwarts. Evelyn felt terrible about it and she never wanted things to go like this. But it wasn't that she cheated with another boy or that she was untrue to Noah. She only told the truth and sometimes that was hard, she knew that by now. But when Jacob answered shortly and not with much more, she had expected things to go different. Did he blamed her? Was he mad or anything? Evelyn looked at Jacob for a moment and when he said he was fine she hoped he wasn't lying. He seemed to have more attention for the food than for her, but that was something that boys often seemed to had. It was stupid, she thought. But she didn't blamed Jacob, perhaps he didn't want to talk to her. Perhaps he did to Athena or Emilia? The blonde had seen them together a few times. '' I'm glad to hear that.. '' Evelyn wasn't afraid to ask questions or stuff. She was an open person and she wanted to show how sorry she was for breaking up with his brother. But what did she had to do different than? She could still be with him, but love another. That wasn't honest at all. '' Jacob. I'm sorry about Noah. Sometimes things happen, and they don't always feel good at first. But later on you understands it's the best decision. '' She aimed on herself on breaking up with Noah. She had no idea if it was a good decision of leaving Hogwarts, perhaps for Noah it was? She wasn't here to lecture the little brother of her ex-boyfriend, but she hoped the boy wasn't mad at her. She always liked Jacob, he seemed like a good kid and was kind to her when she spend time with the Kingsleys. '' I wanted to check on you. Ofcourse your mother does that, I'm sure she does. But this is different. I promised Noah that I would be there for you if you'd like. '' Evelyn took another sip of her tea that was now almost cold. Perhaps Jacob didn't felt the need to answer all of this, but he could say it to her than. If he didn't want to talk than it was fine, at least she said what she wanted to say to him.'' Do you write him? I mean Noah..?'' The blonde asked to Jacob.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob was sure glad his mouth was full of waffle when she began talking again. He was tired of people trying to convince him that Noah being at Durmstrang was the best decision. For who? Certainly not for him. He went from having his brother, his older cousins and his same age cousin in the school to only having one of those, and he certainly wasn't going to complain to her. Jemma had just lost her mother, for Merlin's sake. No, Jacob just had to deal with it all alone. He wasn't going to complain to his mother either. Anytime it was mentioned, he could see her eyebrows pinch together as if she was about to yell or cry. He didn't want her to do either one.

Even though he'd been trying to chew slowly, Jacob eventually had to swallow. He stared at Evelyn for a second, trying to disguise the hurt in his eyes. It sounded like she was saying that Noah wrote to her, but he barely wrote to Jacob. "No" Jacob finally replied, his voice curt as he stuffed a large piece of waffle in his mouth so he wouldn't have to say more.

 

[Evelyn Manning-Kingsley]

It was clear that Jacob didn't felt like talking. She didn't remembered this kid that seemed so happy and excited when she first saw him. But she couldn't blame him, for what he had been trough. Evelyn believed that his aunt ment a lot to him, so he must be hurt. And he could use his brother with that, but he left him instead. Evelyn sighted for a moment and took another sip of her tea. She didn't liked this, but she couldn't make him talk to her ofcourse. '' Okay..'' Evelyn said at his answer and felt bad for him. She hoped that he would still have fun with his friends. Perhaps she wasn't the right person at the moment. '' Look Jacob. It's clear you don't feel like talking to me about this and that's fine. I am angry for him leaving too sometimes. I hope you are not mad at me though.'' Evelyn said direct but ended with a smile. She just said how things were and how she felt it. But she hated it when people would be mad at her so she wanted to make sure. Perhaps he would lie though, but she had asked it. '' Are you ready for the next game?'' Evelyn asked and decided to change to subject to something what he perhaps would like more. She had to eat and this was her table too, so it wasn't like she would go anywhere soon.