Closed Off The Clock

[Connor Holland]

Connor's family had never had money, and so getting a job had been a pretty big milestone for him. He had worked at Vibez for several years now, enjoying the freedom of having his own funds, and having something to do with himself in the holidays. It wasn't exactly challenging work, but he enjoyed it, and he was good at it. That was something. Working mostly in the back carrying boxes, Connor didn't spend a ton of time with the front of shop staff, but he knew them decently well enough. So when he spotted Kiara in the corridor he raised a hand instinctively in a wave, smiling at the Ravenclaw. "Hi Kiara!" He said warmly, enjoying having an interaction with one of his classmates that wasn't hostile. "Did you make many sales over the winter break?"

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara had spent a lot of time of her winter in Vibez when she wasn't in France or with friends, this year it was even easier to put together since she was able to apparate. However, most of the time she spent exactly in Vibez, so when Connor waved at her, she waved back, and when he approached her, she didn't seem even surprised. "Here comes the best Head Boy Hogwarts has ever seen. Hey Connor!" Kiara excitedly smiled and opened her arms for him to hug her, she was still a huge hug lover. "Of course I did. Do you think I couldn't rock all; that communication and selling things to people?" she joked and threw her hair over her shoulder before laughing lightly. "How was your break? Tell me about your reaction when you got the badge, damn, I'm proud of you!" she raised a hand for a high five, really proud of Connor and Chloe, they both really deserved this position and Kiara couldn't imagine anyone else in their places.

 

[Connor Holland]

Although he was well acquainted with her exuberant personality, Connor was still a little taken aback by Kiara's enthusiasm. He hugged her back, grinning slightly at the acceptance. It felt good, after such a difficult few years, to have someone just want to be nice to him, though he didn't agree with what she said about him being a good Head Boy. He laughed slightly when she talked about work, nodding. "Oh, totally. I bet your knocked their socks off. And then sold them new socks." He added with a small giggle. His smile slipped a little when Kiara asked about the badge, laughing awkwardly. "I was... looking for how I send it back, honestly." He said, hoping it came across funny rather than sad. "Didn't really think it was real until I got here and people were expecting me to.... run meetings and things."

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara was glad that he easily hugged her back, she loved getting attention and touches with people. It wasn't a secret. "Ha, yes! And even got an extra percentage off each sock not a pair of them," Kiara continued the joke and laughed again, it was easy to talk with Connor. "No way! Good that you didn't find the way to return it," she pointed at him with a light smile. "And how are you feeling about it now? Is it hard to keep together with being a captain and NEWTs?" she genuinely asked, interested in what he was going to say.

 

[Connor Holland]

With the amount of tension in his usual social life, Connor felt such immense relief and gratitude for Kiara's easy conversation. Nothing was complicated with the Ravenclaw, and he had never been so grateful to work with her. "That's the way to do it!" He said cheerfully when she talked about work. His smile slipped a bit more when she asked how he was doing though, trying to shrug it off casually. "It's... I'm doing my best." He laughed weakly. "I'll... sleep after graduation, I guess?" He said, aiming for a joke but hearing the discomfort in his own voice.

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara laughed at the fact that Connor supported her joke about work. She honestly loved working in Vibez and it felt bad that after she will finish her studies, she will have to leave the job. Kiara heard that she had touched something he didn't wanna talk about and fastly let his joke change the theme. "Connor," she looked at him with jokingly serious? look and laughed. "I mean, it's a way to go anyway," she cheerfully and then switched the theme. "So, what are your predictions for this year's Quidditch cup? I really hope that Hufflepuff will keep the Cup actually, it would be cool if now it would be your turn to keep the line of winnings," she easily chatted, she had no idea about how it was going for Hufflepuff team but she had considered them a really bonded and a strong team.

 

[Connor Holland]

Connor could hear the worry in Kiara's voice, and he only felt worse. He didn't like bringing attention to how overwhelmed he was this year, but clearly his joke had served the opposite purpose. "I know. I'll be fine, really." He said, hoping his smile was reassuring. It was a relief when Kiara changed the subject, giving a small shrug. "We'll see. I'm pretty hopeful.... we've got our first game against Ravenclaw coming up, and the team's been working really hard. We've lost a few strong players though, so we'll need to put up a good front to make up." He smiled slightly. "It'd be nice to win the cup again in my last year though."

 

[Kiara Wood]

Kiara was glad when it seemed that Connor felt more at ease talking about Quidditch than his responsibilities and how he handled them, so she decided to go with it. She eagerly listened to Connor's plans for the year. "Well, you can absolutely do it! Lucas is an amazing seeker, you and Tilly are amazing beaters, like you two are honestly the strongest beaters in the school, I am praying that you will win this year. By the way, how did your first practice go? It always seems that the first practice is a bit difficult," Kiara was really supportive of both, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams since she was friends with captains, it just made sense to support them. With Ravenclaw team, well, she was a Ravenclaw but she wasn't close with anyone on that team except for her cousin.