Clumsy

[Valeria Trevi]

Valeria was out in Obsidian enjoying her few days off of work and decided to spend the day catching up on shopping for the entire household in which she was currently living and buy herself a few things here and there. Her best friend Tori was at the house taking care of her eighteen month old daughter and her niece and nephew while their parents were at work, or in Daphne's case doing something else which she didn't know. Normally Valerie would stay and help Tori as much as she could, since she was taking care of her own daughter, but having three days off in a row was a rare thing for the woman so she wanted to enjoy it.

Valerie walked down the populated streets in a long, patterned brown dress and some brown strappy sandals. She was so used to October being fall, since she was from Italy, however here in the southern hemisphere October was in spring, soon to be summer, so she wore the dress since it was light and breezy. It didn't flatter her figure much at all, but she doubted anyone was looking. And if they did there was no hope, since the world 'child' was an immediate deal breaker. Not that Valerie revealed that information right off the bat, but if the suitor had gotten passed the first few dates, they always failed that test when she revealed she had a daughter.

As she continued walking, someone caught her eye and for a split second Valerie's heart actually fluttered erratically in her chest. Startled, she tripped over her own two feet and landed right into the person's arms!, causing her bags to fall and the contents, some groceries, clothes and accessories, to scatter everywhere. Thankfully the bag that contained a few baby items for the kids back at home had remained sealed and nothing had spilled.

 

[Charles Bedlam]

Charles was in Obsidian Harbour, taking in his surroundings. It had been years since he had been in New Zealand, and it had not changed a bit, he felt like he was a big fish in a small pond for once. When he had left the Bedlam Manor he expected never to come back, not even to visit, and here he was, staying at his childhood home while he looked for a decent place to live and a job. Charlie didn't need a job, he just wanted one to fill the void in his life, he didn't have much to occupy his time when he wasn't working.

Luckily, Charles' hands were not in his pockets as they usually were, when a young woman fell into his arms. Startled, he placed his hand on the small of her back and the other on her waist to steady the girl. He looked into her brown eyes and smiled. "Are you alright?" he asked, with no particular accent due to moving around often, and speaking all the languages he did. He looked down at the items that she had dropped, there was nothing out of the ordinary so she just looked back at the woman, and grinned. "Stumble on your own feet did you?" he asked teasingly, assuming that she wasn't hurt, because she didn't look it.

 

[Valeria Trevi]

Valerie's hands were placed against the chest of the man she'd fallen into and when she looked up at him, her cheeks immediately flushed a light pink. "I'm soo sorry!" she gasped, unsure of what he would react. Though when he finally responded, she noticed he didn't seem upset or annoyed with her. "Y-yes I'm fine," she replied with a smile, her voice shaky for some reason. She laughed nervously when he said she stumbled on her own two feet. Where had her shaky voice and clumsiness come from? It wasn't in her nature, she was usually a graceful figure.

Valerie realized she was still in his arms so she laughed and straightened herself up out of his arms. She smiled, a little more strongly this time now that she wasn't tangled up with him and shook her head lightly. "I'm sorry about that I'm really not that clumsy really," she began to explain. She bent down to pick up her items, keeping the bag with the baby items closely shut as she picked it up.

 

[Charles Bedlam]

Charles watched as the woman straightened herself, his hands went back to his sides absently. He bent down and helped her pick her things up. When there wasn't anything to pick up anymore he stood up straight and handed them over to her politely. "It's perfectly fine." He grinned and said, "I'm Charles Bedlam, and you are?" He looked down at the items that he was handing to her carefully, then back at her, he smiled, she looked quite familiar to him, but why he wasn't certain.

 

[Valeria Trevi]

Valerie accepted the items he had picked up for her, beaming at his gentlemanly manners. "Thank you," she said to him as she put the few items in their bags and held them in one hand. He looked very familiar but she wasn't sure from where and her mind wandered to the night that she and Deja arrived in New Zealand and she'd met that handsome boy Shane at the Leaky Cauldron where she now worked. But this wasn't Shane because surely she would remember him when they only met a few months ago. No, this guy seemed familiar in a distant way.

When he finally introduced himself, the sense that she knew him became stronger in Valerie's mind. "Charles Beldam..." she repeated his name curiously, wracking her brain for the missing link. "I'm Valeria Trevi," she introduced herself with a friendly smile. Was it just her imagining that she knew him from somewhere or did he feel the same thing too?

 

[Charles Bedlam]

Charles' eye brows rose curiously as the woman introduced herself as Valeria Trevi. The name, it sounded so familiar, but he couldn't place her. "Valeria," he repeated quietly, enjoying how the name sounded and how it rolled off his tongue. "Have we met before?" he asked, it was always a possibility that they attended Hogwarts together, but she looked younger then he, so he wasn't sure. The young man hadn't worked since he was a child at the Magical Menagerie, so he was sure that they wouldn't know each other from that job.

Charles rubbed his jaw, feeling the stubble with slight annoyance. He was usually shaved, but he had run out of his house before having a chance to. He shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans with a shrug of his shoulders.

 

[Valeria Trevi]

Valerie knew she definitely wasn't just imagining it when Charles asked if they had met before. Charles, his name sounded so familiar, despite the fact that it was her uncle's name she knew she had heard it before. She was just recently out of school so she figured that was where she had to know him from, but she knew she definitely hadn't seen him in her last year. "Did you go to Hogwarts Scotland?" she asked him curiously though a friendly smile was placed on her face.