Open Drown it Out

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb didn't want to be alone. He had been told Delilah had gotten hurt and raced to the hospital wing to check on her. Maybe if he had waited to hear more he would have known it happened during her Apparition lesson and that she was fine. But he hadn't waited and the adrenaline that flooded his body was still humming in the back of his mind. He wasn't the type of person to dwell on unpleasant thoughts and he had never stopped to consider how he would react if his sister got hurt. But deep down he knew he wouldn't have run like that before their father had died. The panic he felt was real but seeing Lila bandaged and looking perfectly whole had calmed him down immensely but he couldn't shake the feeling completely. He wasn't sure where his friends so he settled for the next best thing and found himself in the student lounge. At least the background noise of other people's conversations kept his mind from wandering too far. Peach was thankfully with him and the rat crawled out of his pocket just to crawl up his front and settle again on his shoulder.

 

[Professor Louis Alcott]

Louis knew he should be studying for the exams, his sister kept bugging him about it, but he didn't want to. He was sure he would pass, probably, and anyway it wasn't like his dad cared that much. Louis would be fine, he decided. But even without studying, it was kind of boring at Hogwarts at this moment. Maybe because everyone else was studying? Louis had just spent some time on the pitch, but throwing quaffles at the hoops by himself had gotten boring quickly. He had gone back inside, barely noticing how he tracked mud everywhere he went. With his broom over his shoulder, Louis wandered around for anyone to talk to or hang out with. He poked his head into the Student Lounge and grinned at the sight of Caleb. He headed over to him, dropping his broom as he dropped into a seat. "Hey, what's up?"

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb was absentmindedly rubbing Peach between the ears when Louis sat down beside him, dropping his broom in front of them. "Watch were you throw that thing." he laughed and nudged it a bit farther away with his foot. Louis would not have been his first choice to have a serious conversation with but he was the first person he would pick for a distraction. Despite that being exactly what he wanted, just knowing that Lila was still in the hospital wing made him hesitate. "My sister got hurt during her apparation lesson." he blurted out the truth without thinking. Maybe Louis would surprise him. Maybe he just didn't want to be alone with his thoughts.

 

[Professor Louis Alcott]

Louis hadn't really noticed anything off about Caleb until he had sat down and looked at his friend. There was something different about his expression like he was far away in his mind even when he was scolding Louis for dropping his broom near him. Louis frowned, debating whether or not to protest as he pushed his broom away with his foot. But before he could say anything, he saw that Caleb was going to speak so he bit his tongue and listened. His eyes widened at the boy's confession and he leaned closer, broom forgotten. "Oh crap." He whispered. "That's awful, is it bad?" He asked, searching his face for a hint about how concerned he should be. He didn't know Caleb's sister very well, but he knew Caleb's family already had a tough time with his dad dying not too long ago.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb shrugged when Louis seemed genuinely concerned. He wasn’t sure what to do with that and he shrugged again as he tried to find his words. “She’ll be fine.” he said, shaking his head. “Just a cut on her leg. It’s not like she lost a finger or anything.” he said trying to make light of the anxiety that was lingering in his head. Except the thought of Lila losing a finger made things worse when he realized, depending on which one she wouldn’t be able to play violin anymore. He would never admit it to her but listening to her practice was one of the only things he liked about being at home. He shook his head again. But that didn’t happen, everything was fine. He glanced at Louis and wanted to change the subject. “What were you up to?” he asked and frowned when his voice sounded tense. He cleared his throat and tried to grin playfully. “You kind of smell.” he teased.

 

[Professor Louis Alcott]

Louis relaxed a bit as Caleb said his sister would be fine, though he still grimaced as he described a cut on her leg. He scoffed when he tried to dismiss it. "Still, it must suck." He said. "I never really considered apparition could be dangerous." He mused, thinking to himself for a moment. He then shook his head, surely nothing like that would ever happen to him. He was different. He blinked as Caleb changed the subject suddenly, but then shoved him lightly as he accused him of smelling. "I do not. I was practicing." He said, gesturing to the broom on the ground. "Duh."

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb shrugged as Louis continued. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He was starting to regret bringing it up at all and was starting to think he should have lied. All talking about it was doing was making him think of worse and worse things that could have happened. It was so stupid. He hated this feeling. "Well they always warn you about it. Guess it's fairly common after all." he said with a sigh. Caleb was grateful Louis seemed to be willing to drop the subject and he laughed when his friend shoved him lightly. He grabbed Peach to make sure she didn't fall and held the rat in his hands protectively. "Practicing what?" he asked with a laugh. "Throwing quaffles through unprotected hoops? Sound easy." he scoffed.

 

[Professor Louis Alcott]

It was clear Caleb was moving away from the topic of his sister. Louis was morbidly curious about what exactly she had splinched, but decided to keep that question to himself. He scoffed at Caleb's dismissive tone. "It helps!" He insisted. "And what else should I do? Unless.." He made his eyes big and batted his eyelashes. "You'll play keeper?"

 

[Caleb Thorne]

"Yeah and you need it." Caleb said with a grin, never passing up a chance to rag on his friend if he could help it. He knew Louis could take it since it was how they usually talked most of the time anyways. But he did worry his words might land a little too close to home. He didn't follow quidditch too closely but he did know Gryffindor didn't have the best year. He let out a barking laugh when Louis suggested he practice with him. "In your dreams." he teased and he hated to admit that the way Louis batted his eyelashes did soften him to the idea slightly. "You just want to try and knock me off a broom." he said and nudged him with his shoulder.

 

[Professor Louis Alcott]

Louis scoffs. "I'm an excellent chaser, which you'd know if you knew anything about Quidditch." He said with a huff, crossing his arms. He didn't really mind Caleb's ribbing, though it would be nice to hear him say something in admiration for once. He dropped his arms and pouted as Caleb laughed away the idea of pracicing together. "Or maybe I just want to spend more time with one of my best friends in the entire world?" He asked, leaning in a bit. "And maybe I'm wondering if you won't look dashing on a broomstick, Caleb?" He added with a flirtatious grin.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb laughed. "I know plenty." he insisted but leaned towards Louis. "But which one is the bludger again?" he asked playing dumb. He hesitated when his friend looked at him with pleasing eyes and leaned in even closer to him. He swallowed hard but he didn't move away. Eventually he scoffed when Louis said he wanted to spend time with him. He wasn't sure if he believed that. But he wouldn't put it past Louis to try and butter him up just to get something out of him. "I would look amazing on a broom.' he insisted. "But what's in it for me then?" he asked as if he were actually entertaining the idea. Maybe he was.