Emerging from Shadow

[Autumn Gwin]

Autumn stirred in the shadowy confines of her dorm room. For the past school year she had pretty much isolated herself from everyone. This was the only way she could possibly think to avoid Thomas Smith and the girl he'd left her for, and to wallow in her own self-pity. The depression had lasted for longer than anyone would have expected it to, and for a little while she had been removed from the school and brought back home at her parents and the administration's concern. She had only been back a week or so and was still attempting to re-immerse herself into the old 'swing of things'. It was rough, trying to get used to everything that had happened in her absence. As the young girl slowly came out of the peaceful sleep she was in, dawn broke over the horizon and the first beams of the morning sun filtered through the thin curtains over the window between her bed and the one next to it, belonging to her best friend Luna Paramore.

She stretched her legs beneath the down comforter wanting to remain enveloped in its warmth but knowing she couldn’t. Today was the first day of Brightstone weekend. Her parents had timed her arrival perfectly so as not to be faced with immediate commitment to classes and to be able to relax and reconnect with friends before diving back into the rig amoral. The Sun’s fingers played across her face in a pale blue tint, tickling at her eyes and teasing them open. She growled softly at it, the sound muffled by the blanket tucked up over her nose, before wiggling further beneath the covers and crawling around on wobbly limbs like a pesky pup trying to wear a comfy placed on his pillow.

Her head re-emerged from the end of the bed, her hair in a mess as she grabbed the clothes from the top of her trunk there that she’d laid out the night before. It was sure to be a slightly chilly start but by noon it would be comfortably warm and sunny enough to be in the jean shorts, flip flops, t-shirt, and cardigan she now clutched in her hand as she crawled from bed and slunk into the bathroom to prepare for the day. A short while later she crept out and eventually made her way down to the front of the school. It seemed she had beaten the majority of the traffic headed out to the village and was happy that she wouldn’t have to deal with anyone right away because of her dedication to waking up early on this particular day. A brief ride to the gates was over in a blink and then there she was, (just a walking down the street singing doo-a-diddy…okay back to this…..o-0; ready to begin the day’s journey, not having a clue as to what the day would bring soon enough.

 

[Thomas Smith]

Thomas, despite having just broke up with Isabella, was in a relatively good mood today. One would think that after just breaking up with someone you were convinced was the love of your life the young Ravenclaw would be heartbroken and not wanting to make much of an attempt to socialise, but not Thomas. Like a small majority of relationships, his and Isabella's had ended on a mutal bases, for which he was glad. He would have been more upset if he and Isabella hadn't agreed to remain friends after the break up. They had both agreed that while they cared for each other that what was once there had disappeared over time and that they shouldn't be pretending that it was there any more.

So not wanting to let anything that had just happened bog him down he decided that a trip into Brightstone might clear his mind. Far too much lately he had let his mind run away on it's own accord, not having much control over it himself. Although since his breakup with Isabella it had slowed down considerably as he had been questioning their relationship for a while, and now that it was over he had nothing else to question. Something that had remained on his mind though was change. Change was always happening and it was something that he didn't like. Change had caused him far too much grieve in his years at Hogwarts, although it had allowed him some of his more happier moments.

And now the winds of change brought in Autumn, Thomas's favourite season. Everything around him was changing, the temperature, the leaves on the trees and while Thomas didn't like change this was something that he couldn't control so instead he embraced it. With a smile gracing his lips he stuffed his hands in his pockets and let his feet carry him where they pleased.

 

[Autumn Gwin]

Autumn’s wide chocolate eyes were downcast as she shuffled along down the cobblestone streets. She wasn’t really sure as to where she was going, nor was she aware of where she would end up. It just so happened to be in the direct path of Thomas Smith - her arch nemesis. Okay, they weren’t really enemies. In fact they weren’t much of anything anymore. Once upon a time they had been best friends, and then one another’s first crush. They had kidded themselves with thinking that twelve year olds could commit to a serious relationship, and had eventually drifted away when he cheated on her with Isabella Chaos. As far as she knew the happy couple was still very much happy, and if not then she didn’t even know if she would want to know. Because her foolish heart would leap into her throat at the news - at the prospect that she might be with him again.

It was a romantic child’s fantasy of course, but nevertheless it niggled at the back of her mind like a gnat that just couldn’t be swatted away. And now here she was, about to walk right into him - her head bowed, her eyes half-closed and her feet flying one in front of the other as she hurried past an alleyway where an elderly gentleman had his wand hand extended towards her. Upon avoiding him, she turned her head back briefly to check that the creeper wasn’t following her and that’s when it happened. If he hadn’t jumped out of the way at seeing a little short girl scurrying into him she would have plowed right through him and probably knocked them both down. However, the only one that ended up on the ground was her, pitifully sprawled face down on the dirty street. The sliver of silver mist that had crossed her path slithered back into the old man’s wand.

A muffled curse that started with something between an E and a G and wouldn’t have come out of a proper young lady’s mouth - but I don’t see any proper young ladies about, so we’re all good - was issued from the curtain of hair as Autumn tried to sit up as gracefully as possible, pulling at her cardigan to cover her shorts until she could tug and adjust them back to a suitable non-ridden up length. The smelly bum in the alleyway was cracking up as he disappeared back into shadow. Later she would wonder if he was a godfather of some sort that had made her trip just so future events could come into play.

 

[Thomas Smith]

Nothing particularily exciting was happening in Brightstone this weekend, something which Thomas discovered very quickly. He had thought about returning to the school, Merlin knows he had a load of assignments which required his attention, but he figured he would be bored there as well, so why not be bored somewhere that he could have some fun. All he needed was a distraction, be that in a shop that caught his interest or a friend that he could catch up with. Then again he didn't have that many friends that he could talk too. There was Wendy and Joce but they seemed to enjoy each others company more than anything. He didn't have many male friends and any that he did have (or any other friend for that matter) didn't like him too much for cheating on Autumn, more so with Isabella Chaos. He seriously couldn't understand why some people didn't like her, she may have done some silly things but that was in the past and everyone did silly things in their past; he could vouch for that.

Looking in through a few shop windows as he walked past he wondered where he should go. Nothing came to mind in the category of school supplies, clothes or anything really. A bored sigh left the young Ravenclaw's lips, he didn't realise how bored he was and how little friends he had when he was with Isabella, now he didn't know if he'd ever rebuild those relationships. As his brain continued to work in overload one relationship that he hadn't thought about in a while but as he thought about he wanted to rebuild more than any; Autumn's. He knew it wouldn't be possible though, his ex-best friend hated his guts and Thomas didn't blame her one bit for doing so. He had been wrong and foolish and what he did was unforgiveable and he could never expect Autumn to forgive him. Now he wouldn't even get the chance to tell her how sorry he was as word in the grapevine informed him that she had left Hogwarts to be home schooled. He knew she had left Hogwarts, he hadn't seen her all year and he didn't know when or if he'd ever see her again.

He shook those thoughts from his head, he had had more than ample amounts to make up with Autumn, to try and heal the wounds while they were still fresh. Oh yes he had plenty of times, but instead what did he do, he told her that he thought it would be best for them to just stay away from each other. He kicked himself more enough times for that stupid mistake, what was he thinking? But now it was time for karma to come back and bite him, and boy wasn't karma a b!tch. Trying to forget about his past mistakes he looked towards the future. If his dream of ever becoming an Auror wanted to remain alive he really should start on his pile of assignments. So turning on his heels he made his way back to the castle. As he turned around though he saw a brown haired girl trip and fall, only catching a glimpse of a man retreating back into an alleyway. Confused he made his way quickly to the girl who remained on the ground. "Here let me help you." he said in a soft, kind voice as he reached out his hand to the girl whoes face was still hiden from him.

 

[Autumn Gwin]

Autumn lay there for a moment, trying to compose herself for the nightmarish reunion about to unfold. To her she was mortified just by the fact that she’d face planted in front of a random stranger. She had no idea as to the hell awaiting her once her pixie head raised. And then, just as she winced in pain when she attempted to move the arm she had buckled onto, and again at the pulse of pain that swelled into her obviously twisted ankle, she paused. Her neck stiffened, as did the hairs on them at the sound of his voice when he offered his hand. Her fingers clutched at the grains of dirt embedded in between the stones that made up the cobbled street. No…f**king…way. she half-thought half-mumbled into the bend of her elbow, biting her lip until it was close to bleeding. She felt the scream well up in her throat and stifled it to a soft squeak of astonishment.

Thomas-bleeding-Smith was the one she’d almost taken down? She felt like hugging the ice-cold ground, glad it had broken her fall instead of his still all-too familiar warm solidity. That would have just been the rotten cherry on top of this sh*t sundae called her life. She knew he was waiting to help her up...damn him and his manners. Not wanting to look like a complete fool, and also wanting to save face when he did see her - after all she couldn’t very well just lie there for the rest of eternity - she lifted her hand to his, looking up slowly. A rather large portion of her sub-conscious told her to avert her eyes. The smaller bit - the b!tchy pride she’d developed - told her to look him dead in the face. And an even teensier part of her wanted to forgive him when she did.

The boyish chub to his face had disappeared within the last year and a half. Long gone was the young boy she’d fallen for in the common room - the childish crush she’d developed for her best friend simply because her other friends had boyfriends and she wanted one too…dammit. No, in the child’s place was a handsome gentleman, still head and shoulders above her and the rest of the people in the street. She tilted her face to his, and probably looked a smidgen like some angelic fairy. She’d kept her innocent features, still appeared to be a child facially even though she’d developed a woman’s body beneath the loose t-shirt and oversized cardigan she wore.

“Thank you.” she said softly, not noticing her hand still in his except for the fact that her fingers were no longer hurting from the bite of the cold, but warm and secure wrapped in his. That too hadn’t changed., the overwhelming size of his hands compared to her own. Her thoughts were colliding at once, and the memories of their childhood sweet heart type romance was winning over the ‘you cheating lying bastard’ memories from a little over a year before. She literally had to shake her head slightly to rid her mind of all thought of the past, and come back to the here and now.

Here they were, now what?

 

[Thomas Smith]

Thomas was beginning to get worried when the girl hadn’t reached out for his hand. He hadn’t seen her fall but he hoped she hadn’t fallen too bad, perhaps she had hit her head? Thomas lowered himself a bit to see if the girl was still conscious and was relieved when she moved her hand into his. He immediately noticed that the girls hand was marginally smaller than his own, as his fingers wrapped around her hand he noticed how his hand covered all of hers. With such tiny hands Thomas expected the girl to be a first or second year at the most, or so he thought. The girl was freezing, Thomas could tell by how cold her hands were, he was so filled with worry for the girl that it had taken him a few moments to register who it was in front of him when they turned their face towards him.

It wasn’t until the girl spoke that Thomas forgot about trying to help the girl, even though it still remained a priority, but thought about who the girl actually was. It had been a while since he had heard that voice but it was one he had not forgotten, and one he probably never would forget. Looking at her face Thomas put all the bad feelings aside that he may have been feeling only moments ago and even though seeing her again caused some bad memories he couldn’t help but be filled with joy. All year long he had been trying to mend relationships he had broken, and finally breaking the one relationship he had that he had thought he was so sure about. His one regret was not being able to mend the relationship between himself and the girl before him now; his first best friend; his first girlfriend. He had ended things terribly with her and he knew if he ever had the chance, mending this relationship would be the hardest of them all but he knew it would be the one more worth it.

Straightening himself up he pulled Autumn up to her feet with him, “You’re welcome!” he said beaming, almost breathlessly, still in shock that Autumn was right here, right now. He hadn’t seen her in almost a year and she had changed, not so much that Thomas didn’t recognise her but enough to remind Thomas that change was always happening. He had thought about change a lot this past year and seeing Autumn reminded him that they weren’t first years anymore. The days of sitting in the common room, talking about whatever they could think about were long gone; oh how he missed those days. “Autumn it’s so good to see you! You look good.” he said, almost immediately mentally slapping himself at how he sounded. “I mean...you’ve changed...in a good way.” he stuttered. Laughing he shook his head and said, “I was never good at words.” Enjoying the sound of his own laughter, it had been so long.