Happier

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa stood outside Chaser's shut bedroom door smoothing down her curls which were defiant. The almost fifth year may have known she was a few years behind Chaser, she did not think that would keep him from being with her. After all they could just hold hands until she became eighty and she'd be happy. Finally working up some sort of courage she knocked on Chaser's door and piped up. "Uhm Chaser, it's Pippa." She said, though somewhere in her heart she hoped the boy recognized her voice.

Pippa had been enamored with MAggie's older brother for years now. And now that he'd had time to heal from splitting with his girlfriend she felt now was the time to tell him how she felt. Dressed in her prettiest dress she had decided to come over a little before Maggie was supposed to be back from where she was with her mother in order to tell the strange boy how he made her feel.

 

[Chaser Reeves Rosendale]

Now that Chaser lived and breathed New Zealand air, it made it easier than ever for him to see Maggie over the holidays. He was glad he could help her out and it would save the stress of travelling when she wasn’t at Hogwarts. His parents had come down too to help with the shop and to see their children, and it gave Maggie a chance to spend time with their mum and friends. Chaser had been lying in bed, still yet to arise properly despite it being the early hours of the afternoon. He was making the most of his free time in the house before the business got hectic once more, and he was flicking through the pages of a magazine while his radio played the latest songs.

It was the knock at his door that had him confused though, believing that everyone was out. He slipped out of bed, dressed in only his pjamama bottoms, and moving across his room opened the door, expecting to see his sister. Instead, it was her friend Pippa, a girl she would always hang out with and who he actually thought was with her now. “Hey Pip Squeak. You alright?” He asked, glancing past the blonde to see where everyone else had gotten to. “Mags isn’t in here,” he added, assuming that’s why she’d turned up as his door.

 

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa was completely prepared to start her speech the minute Chaser opened his bedroom door and she was faced with those big, beautiful, brown eyes. However - instead she was face to face with his collarbones and her eyes widened in shock. "Chaser!" She said shocked covering her reddening face. Why was he shirtless? Why was he talking to her while shirtless. "I uhm no! I wanted to talk to you but you're nearly half naked can you put a shirt on so I can look at you!" She implored quickly, her eyes nearly watering from the heat in her face.

 

[Chaser Reeves Rosendale]

Chaser had been too warm in bed for a shirt, but as soon as Pippa pointed it out he was instantly aware of his company. “Oh sorry, sure.” He moved away from the door, grabbing the nearest shirt he could find, tugging it over his flonfy hair, “Did you wanna come in or something?” It wasn’t the best environment for a chat, and he didn’t know how long she was going to be in there for, but at least it was away from the others if she wanted to ask him something privately. He turned back to her, hoping she wasn’t too embarrassed.

 

[Pippa Majors]

Once Chaser had a shirt over himself the girl smiled at him, willing her blush to leave her for good so she could make it through the conversation. Pippa bit her lower lip for a moment before nodding and entering slowly, looking around the room in a curious manner. "I just, you know how when you want to say or ask something important you rehearse it a million times and you still like flunk on it?" She asked, thick British accent so different from the many accents around her. "I uhm, I'm really sorry about everything with Aminia and honestly, I'm so glad to see you happy and I was hoping maybe I could try and make you happier." She said. She danced around the idea, not sure if it would come across as a friendly meaning or if he would take a hint form the shorter girl whom was now looking up at him.

 

[Chaser Reeves Rosendale]

Pips seemed to relax a bit once he was fully clothed. He had forgotten that girls weren’t always as open as guys and that he had shared a dorm with a very open boy for seven years it wasn’t hard to adjust. He listened to his sisters friend, leaning against his desk and crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her, contemplating how to help. “I think everyone can get like that sometimes,” he admitted. He’d had his own difficulties in the past trying to get the words out, making sure they came across properly. “What is it you’re trying to say?” As Pippa began to apologise about Aminia, he smiled in response. She was always very sweet and friendly, although he hadn’t expected her to try and cheer him up herself, especially not without the others. “Mini and I, we’ve had our ups and downs,” he hoped that they were going up now though, but he didn’t want to get too excited so much as take things one day at a time. “You mean like, going out more as a group?” He was always up for days out, and it could be fun to get a little hang together some time to take his mind of everything that had been going on.

 

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa chewed on her lower lip, hoping she wouldn’t have to further explain herself. However Chaser was a boy and most boys were clueless. He may have been perfect to her, but that didn’t make him perfect all together. The brunette shook her head. “Not exactly.” She spoke slowly, as if questioning the next words out of her mouth. In her chest her heart was a wilderbeast stampeding a canyon. Her throat burned like hot chocolate was her saliva and finally she mustered up all the Gyffindor courage she had to speak. “I was thinking maybe just you and me. Going out.” She said before awkwardly reaching to touch his arm, obviously unsure of what she was meant to do.

 

[Chaser Reeves Rosendale]

Chaser frowned as she seemed confused as to what she wanted. He still didn’t know what she was getting at. That quickly changed however when she stepped closer, hinting that they should go out as just the two of them. Oh. Oh. The man jerked his arm away, suddenly realising what she was getting at, but embarrassed he too may have been jumping the gun in his assumptions. Surely she wasn’t actually hitting on him? Little Pip Squeak who always seemed to follow his sister round, who always seemed happy enough to tag along during their family events. “Pippa, you know you’re like a little sister to me right?” He asked nervously, leaning back as far as he dare, doing his best not to come across with too much accusation in case he had the wrong end of the stick. Pippa was great but she was like twelve, and while Chaser didn’t want to hurt her feelings, he wasn’t going to lead her on if she liked him like that.

 

[Pippa Majors]

It wasn’t the reaction Pippa had envisioned. There was no hug with fireworks, he didn’t tell her she’d always been so adorable. He jerked away instead and Pippa felt her heartbeat slow to what seemed like a beat a minute. “I... sister?” She asked and her voice cracked. “I mean I thought maybe we were friends. I mean you got me thoughtful gifts for Christmas and my birthday last year, and you helped me study...” the brown eyed girl looked down, maybe he misunderstood. “I just thought like... ever since I saw you and I know I’m young, but I’ll be older soon enough! And I just thought maybe... I was good enough?” The realization his Pippa. She wasn’t some blonde, pretty Veela that could manipulate everyone. She was plain, and posh, and silly. Tears welled in her orbs but Pippa waited for the final verdict before she even let them spill.

 

[Chaser Reeves Rosendale]

“You are my friend too!” He gave a nervous smile. As weird as this whole situation had gotten, Chaser was glad he knew where he stood with her, as at least now he could do what he had to to fix the situation. As far as he was aware he’d just helped her out like he would Maggie, although Pips seemed to think that now she was older he would view her differently. It still made Chaser empathetic for her when she asked if she’d be good enough, and he slowly passed her a tissue from his desk before her tears became too much for her. “Pip, you’re great as you are, you don’t need to change or be anything else, trust me,” he chuckled. He was well aware he was far from ordinary, but it was his unusual traits that he carried the highest with pride. “One day you’ll find someone and you guys will just click, and then you’ll be glad things turned out this way,” he understood it was never easy to be rejected, and hopefully after this Pippa wasn’t going to hate him for it. “Please don’t be sad or embarrassed about this. I still want to spend time with you and Mags okay, just as friends though alright?” If it affected Maggies friendship he knew he wasn’t about to hear the last of it.

 

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa felt her stomach sink, and the taste of bile rose up in her throat as she realized that all this time she’d been fooled by herself into thinking he might have liked her. The teen girl stared at the tissue, and nearly trembled in place feeling so overwhelmed. She’d never had any sort of heart break in her life, hardly ever even told no very often. She rubbed at her eyes with a voracity that might have left them raw, but she was convinced it would stop her from crying. It didn’t. “No I get it. I’m not some dumb Veela who just uses my gift to make you like me.” She said before storming out of the room and toward the door of the house, tears now streaming down her cheeks now that she’d exited the room.

 

[Chaser Reeves Rosendale]

There wasn’t much more the former Gryffindor could have done to help her. He wanted to give her a playful hug to break the ice too but at this point he didn’t want to make the situation any worse. He let her walk away from her, feeing more than a little awkward. It wasn’t fair of her to talk about Mini that way, he knew she didn’t use her powers to manipulate him but he could understand she was also upset and probably wanted to hurt him. It would be difficult to make it up to her, but moving back across his room to slump back into bed and he began to consider what had even just happened over the last few minutes. Had he done anything wrong?

 

[Maggie Majors]

Maggie had had an eventful day with her mum, showing her around the shops with Pippa, although the latter seemed to have disappeared the moment they’d been within reach of the house, claiming she was desperate to grab a drink. A few minutes later she’d stumbled through the door, bags dumped on the kitchen table but no sight of her best friend. “Pippa?” She called out, heading around the house to look for her. She found the girl eventually, although the scene was not one she was expecting at all. Pippa was running across the hallway from Chasers room, and she called out angrily to her older brother, “What did you say to her?!” Without waiting for an answer she caught up with the girl, one arm nervously on her shoulder in comfort. “What happened?” What caused her to be in flood of tears so fast?

 

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa was a sobbing mess by the time her friend reached her side. She felt like her world was spinning. She’d put in so much effort, and had maybe gone overboard for this boy whom obviously didn’t care about her. “You were wrong!” She said, her voice cracking, nasally and congested. “You said I should go for it and you were wrong!” She insisted. Sure she hadn’t told Maggie that Chaser was the boy she’d been enamored with, but she’d given all the signs and it wasn’t the truth. Was this a sick joke between Chaser and Maggie?

 

[Maggie Majors]

Maggie was staring at Pippa, confused as to where all this was coming from, when she started throwing accusations at her too. What had she done? She’d tried to be encouraging when her friend had said she’d had a crush on someone since her first year, but how was she meant to ever know Pippa meant her brother? “I..” The Pufflehuff didn’t know what to say. “What.. what did he say?” Perhaps there was a little hope that she and Chaser could get together, and even though it would be a bit weird, it was better than him getting back with Aminia.

 

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa wanted to force out words but instead she just kept crying. Her tears could have drowned her she was sure. Through heart break she spoke timidly. “He said I was like a sister. It’s because I’m not perfect like her” Pippa accused, defending the man’s ex girlfriend. “I hate him.” She shouted immaturely, obviously unaware of how to handle emotions this intense in any way, shape, or form. “Why did I ever fool myself.” She muttered, burying her reddened face into her hands.

 

[Maggie Majors]

Maggie hadn’t got a lot of experience in this department but even she knew being called a sister wasn’t hopeful. “She is not at all perfect!” She exclaimed. She didn’t think it was really Chasers fault to turn her down if he didn’t like her back but Maggie was still angry with the situation. “I hate her,” she mumbled, between them they were a horrible couple anyway. “Ignore him, he is a stinky stupid boy anyway,” she added, trying to direct her teary friend to her own room.

 

[Pippa Majors]

Pippa was surprised at how emphatically her friend urged that the other girl wasn’t perfect. Was that true? Was Chaser just some dumb stinky boy. Pippa wanted things to be fun, she didn’t want to be a bad friend. With her broken heart neatly tucked behind frail ribs the brunette made her way to her room. “Yeah. Stupid. Stinky. Boy.” She emphasized semi-loudly. “Let’s do something fun? Year?” She asked. Now trying so hard to keep it together, for the sake of Maggie, and for the sake of herself.