Closed Facing Fears

[Rene Tofilau]

With the Quidditch season over for Hufflepuff, René knew he could technically ease up on practice right now, but considering Connor was graduating, he'd also never been more determined to sharpen his beater skills to finally snag a proper position on the team. Unfortunately, spending half the year practicing as a keeper had definitely blunted René's reflexes and all it took was a single bludger to the head to get him to call it a day and head to the Hospital Wing. He hadn't exactly seen stars or anything, but the impact had hurt and he was pretty sure he was sporting an embarrassing goose egg too.

Thankfully, the nurse had been quick to check him over, ease the ache with a quick spell, something René didn't think he'd even get over even after being in school this long. If he was in school with his friends back home he'd be dealing with a headache for the rest of the week. Now all he had to do was sit still and take it easy for a bit. René tried to let himself relax, drumming his fingers on the white sheets of the bed as he waited, trying to chase off the boredom by peering around the room only to wince when the movement still made him a bit dizzy.

 

[Celia Vuong]

With the game against Ilvermorny coming up, Celia had been spending all her free time on the pitch. Strictly speaking, the results of the game wouldn't really matter; Slytherin had already secured the Quidditch Cup. But Celia needed to do well. She needed to make everyone forget about the events of the last game, when she had accidentally hit one of her own teammates.

Today's practice session had gone fairly well though Celia had sustained a bludger hit. It wasn't serious, and the ache in her shoulder would probably fade by tomorrow but she decided to visit the Hospital Wing anyways, as she did with all her minor injuries. There was no point in suffering needlessly when she had access to magical medicine.

The nurse was kind, directing her to the far end of the room where the beds were. Celia thanked them and started to make her way over, stopping abruptly when she realized who was already there. "Wait, actually I feel—" Celia started, turning around to address the nurse, who was now nowhere to be found. "—fine," she muttered. It seemed there would be no avoiding this. Celia set her jaw and walked over to the beds, nodding slightly at René before sitting on one. "Hey." Hopefully the conversation could end there. She crossed her arms, wincing slightly at the pain that shot through her shoulder, and stared determinedly at the empty space in front of her.

 

[Rene Tofilau]

René had been doing a perfectly fine job of avoiding Celia as much as possible since the run in with the boggart last semester, so it only figured he'd run out of luck eventually. "Uh, hey," he returned awkwardly, giving her a brief nod hello before quickly looking away, wondering if maybe he should have just ignored her. It was making him dizzy, though maybe that was just the bludger to the head, and René forced himself to stare quietly at the ceiling, Celia's presence nearby lingering René's awareness until he was unable to stay quiet for more than a minute or two longer. "Are you uh- Okay? I mean about why you're here, not the other thing. I know you're alright about the other thing... Right?" René started, glancing around the room to check no one else was nearby to hear him mention the boggart, just in case Celia decided to make good on her promise of making him regret. So far René had kept quiet about it, but it was burning a hole in him to not ask her more about it, or tell someone about what had happened.

 

[Celia Vuong]

If anyone had accused Celia of avoiding René, she would have vehemently denied it. To admit that she had spent the past semester avoiding him was to admit that he had power over her. And she hated the idea of anyone having power over her. But the truth was Celia had worked hard to keep her distance ever since the boggart encounter. René was a visible reminder of her failure, and the knowledge that he could ruin her reputation by telling someone about that failure hung over her head like a sword. Her fear had eased somewhat in the weeks following the boggart encounter, when it became clear that he hadn't told anyone. But she knew that could change at any moment.

An awkward silence stretched between them, and Celia shifted uncomfortably, wishing she had her phone, a magazine, anything that could serve as a distraction. René must have also felt the tension because he finally broke the silence. Celia frowned when the first thing that came out of his mouth was a reference to the incident. Was that really all he thought about when he looked at her? "I'm fine," she said tersely, shooting René a warning look before returning her gaze to the wall across the room. "It's just a bludger hit. I'm sure I'll be out of here soon." Maybe he would get the hint if she just ignored his question about "the other thing."

 

[Rene Tofilau]

"Right, of course, why wouldn't you be," René said quickly, suddenly becoming very interested in the stitching of the blanket below him and not Celia. "Uh, me too," he added, motioning to his head. "I mean. The bludger hit thing," René explained awkwardly. Despite being decidedly intimidated by Celia, he'd always quietly hoped she'd pay a bit more attention to him, at least before last semester anyway. She was a terrifying beater, one of the few other third years actually on one of the house quidditch teams too, and René knew she practiced with Louis sometimes even though Louis wasn't. He wanted to remind her he played as well, though after his awful showing as Keeper this year maybe it wasn't the best idea.

The silence stretched again as René fell silent, his eyes darting around the room to try and find something interesting to look at that wasn't Celia, and mostly failing. If anyone asked later he could just blame it on the bludger to the head for even bringing the whole boggart thing up. "I um. Haven't told anyone. Just in case you were worried. Though don't you think you... Should?" It'd been long enough that René knew he should really let the whole thing go, but even months later he couldn't quite shake the feeling of terror of seeing the boggart's disfigured face, or the way Celia's voice had shook as she'd tried to jinx it away. So maybe he was being nosy by bringing it back, it was kind of cool after all, to know some big secret about a girl like Celia, but René also liked to think it was some part out of concern too. Hopefully Celia would agree...

 

[Celia Vuong]

Thankfully René seemed to have gotten the hint, and Celia relaxed a little. Maybe she could get out of this conversation without acknowledging the elephant in the room. She gave René a blank look as he continued to speak before finally understanding. "I thought you played keeper? I didn't think they trained much with bludgers." After all, they weren't important enough to be targets. They were so unimportant that Celia hadn't bothered to learn the names of most of the other teams' keepers, and the only reason she knew Hufflepuff's was because their team's drama had been featured in the Monthly. It occurred to her that this conversation could be a good chance to get some more Hufflepuff team gossip from René.

A nurse stopped by and quickly set Celia's shoulder with a healing spell. Unfortunately, she couldn't leave just yet as they wanted to wait and make sure the injury had healed completely before allowing her to go. The nurse walked away, allowing the awkward silence to return once more. And once again, René decided to break it by bringing up the boggart. Celia sighed before turning to face him. "Tell who?" She was trying to remain calm since she didn't want to inadvertently provoke him into telling someone. But the exasperation was clear in her voice. "And tell them what? That I found a boggart in an empty classroom months ago and banished it? Who cares?" After defeating the boggart in DADA, Celia had done her best to forget about the whole incident. Of course, that had been impossible considering the looming threat that was René. But at least she had tried to move on. Why couldn't he just do the same?

 

[Rene Tofilau]

René spluttered for a moment when Celia mentioned him playing keeper. As much as he wanted her to notice and respect him as a fellow Quidditch player, he would have preferred her not pay any attention to his disastrous go at being the Hufflepuff keeper. "That was just.. a one time thing this year. I'm usually a beater," he insisted. "I want to take over Connor's spot so... Practicing." René made a vague gesture with his hand.

He dropped his hand to the bed quickly though as they looped back to the boggart, grimacing. When Celia put it that way, it did sound pretty stupid. "No, you're right, you're right, I'm being stupid," he said with a wheeze that might have been a laugh or a cry for help if the nurse was closer. He wanted to mention how upset Celia had seemed. Or how unsettling the sight of her boggart had been, even before it had shifted into his own face. But René also didn't want to face any more of Celiás wrath at the moment, so for once he tried to keep his mouth shut. For a moment. "You think we'll have to deal with them in class again? You've got the extra practice at least, aye?"

 

[Celia Vuong]

René's reaction did not go unnoticed, and Celia opened her mouth to make a snarky comment before realizing that insulting him probably wasn't the smartest idea. "Does that mean Linden's going to be back next year?" she asked instead. Though the Monthly article had been annoyingly vague, it had implied that Connor had been the issue. With him gone, she supposed it made sense that Linden would rejoin the team. "What even happened anyways?" she asked, trying to act nonchalant in her attempt to fish for gossip.

René seemed to have finally gotten the message. If she had known that all it would take was almost losing her temper, she would have raised her voice sooner. René's next question earned a suspicious look as she tried to figure out if it was a subtle dig. But he seemed a little too earnest (or nervous) for that. Celia made a noncommittal noise and leaned back, choosing her next words carefully. As tempting as it was to get angry again, she didn't want to give off the impression that another encounter with a boggart would bother her — because it wouldn't. She had defeated her boggart twice now, and she knew she could do it again. "Probably not. There's no point. You're either able to beat the boggart or you're not. And if you do it once, then it's not hard to do it again," she said, a not-so-subtle reminder that she had beaten it. "Are you asking because you're worried about facing it again?" Celia knew that was not at all the reason for his question, but hopefully her comment would throw René off. She was tired of being on the defensive.

 

[Rene Tofilau]

René held his breath waiting for Celia's reaction to his correction about playing beater, relieved when she didn't immediately eviscerate him or his quidditch skills. "Uh, maybe. I don't know. It was this whole thing with Connor, Linden was like... Backseat captain-ing I guess and didn't stop when Connor asked so they got into a fight. It was really awkward, aye," René said, picking at a loose thread he'd found. "He might come back next year without Connor I guess, but I know I'm not playing keeper again," he added. Hopefully someone else who could actually play the position better would take the spot, whoever it was, and René would be free to try out for Connor's old spot.

He worried his lip as Celia continued to be unbothered about the whole boggart thing. It was so weird, to remember how scared they'd both been and see her talking about it now. Maybe it was all a big front. But then again, Celia was right, she had beaten it in class too so maybe she'd already gotten over it. René hadn't jumped in on the boggart in class until well after everyone else had already confused and weakened it himself, something he wasn't going to mention to Celia when hummed vaguely in response to her. "I mean.. I'd be worried to run into another one just randomly around the school. Hopefully the.. Janitor or someone got the one you beat though right?" René admittedly had no idea what happened once school was over for the year, but hopefully someone was cleaning up somewhere. "I guess I just wanted to be sure- You know if you wanted someone to talk to or- Like you can see I can keep a secret- Whatever, it doesn't matter," he said, quickly shaking his head and wincing as it made his vision swim a little.

 

[Celia Vuong]

"Oh, that's it?" Celia asked, not bothering to hide her disappointment. The Monthly story had mentioned something about a love triangle. "Backseat captaining" was a much less interesting reason for a fight. She nodded in understanding when René said he didn't want to play keeper. It was one of the most useless positions, after all. "Seems like a pretty boring position to play." Especially if you just sat there and let in all the goals.

Celia was a little surprised when René seemed to genuinely consider her question. She shrugged. After the encounter with the boggart, Celia had just wanted to be alone, so she hadn't bothered reporting it. The boggart could've gone on to terrorize a hundred more people for all she cared. It wasn't her problem. "I don't know. But it's not like they're that hard to banish," she said before immediately regretting it. She sounded so defensive, but she didn't know how else to impress upon René that she was over it. She didn't want to dissect her greatest fears and insecurities with him — or anyone. The only reason he had even witnessed her boggart was because she had been stupid enough not to lock the door. "Why?" she asked when he tried to get her to talk about it again. "We're not friends." It was blunt, sure, but Celia couldn't understand why he was so fixated on her boggart. Well, she had a couple theories, none of which she liked. "There are people who actually failed to beat their boggart. Are you offering to be 'someone to talk to' for them?" Why couldn't he go and bother Rhys instead? "Or am I the only one lucky enough to receive this treatment?" she added sarcastically.