Old Faces, Friendly Faces

[Norton Gillespie]

The third year had missed his best friend a lot in the last year, he hadn’t yet seen her, so perhaps it was time to be proactive. He had been to her house, so he knew where that was and perhaps it was just time to send the family a letter, demanding they tell him what happened. It had been what he’d decided to do that day, the boy had written the letter, it was in his pocket but within his letter he had gotten a little off topic, deciding to tell her and her family about the gardens, the first flowers that had appeared despite the time of year, how great quidditch was, how much he had enjoyed it. He had gone into how he’d picked the classes for this semester and he had attempted to also explain how cool his brand new pet, the mini dragon was. There had been many capitalised words. However, as part of all that he had written the boy had decided to actually seek out the flowers he had been telling her about. He wanted to be sure she knew exactly what they were and what she was missing. He hoped that in doing this he would be able to get her back to school soon.

It was a short trek to the gardens, it was a place he was enjoying going to, he liked being a part of wild patch club, it was a little different from most things, it had a little softness to it, and he couldn’t help but agree with all that they did. Norton grinned happily as he arrived at the area, it was a slightly warmer day so many more people had decided to go outside but he was still the only one in the gardens, well he thought he was. He spotted someone else in the gardens, and they definitely looked familiar. Curious, the hufflepuff boy stepped closer until it became very evident who this was, ”MIN!” he yelled out waving excitedly at her as he bounded over to her, ”Min! It’s so good to see you!” he approached her quickly and wrapped his arms around her with a hug. ”I’ve missed you,”
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[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva had just come from another of her makeup lessons and felt decidedly that she needed fresh air. Her head felt as if it were swimming. She hadn't really seen any of her friends because she was no sooner in class and always at the back so she could nip out swiftly in order to get to her makeup lessons afterwards and meal times was simply racing in grabbing something from the Great hall table and burying herself in the library to study. There was so much to catch up on and she refused to fail or fall behind.

It was as she inhaled deeply that she heard her name or a variation of her name being yelled out and she turned swiftly to see ... Norton! She couldn't believe it, he had grown taller and leaner and that smile of his seemed to have gotten bigger. She had no time to cover up the trace lines of scars about her face, though the foundation did a good enough job as did the potions her mom had used after her quarantine had been over but there would always be silver thread lines about her face now and she was conscious of them.

Norton however never gave her time to remember they were there for he had moved so quickly towards her and then gathered her up in a massive hug as he told her that he missed her and that it was so good to see her. At first her own hands were loose by his shoulders where she had held them up when he broke through her personal space to hug her but after a moment she couldn't help it and her arms flung about his neck and shoulders to hug him back. A sob tore from her as she squeezed with all her might.

"I missed you so much too Norton ... you have no idea how much!"

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton was so happy to see Min! He had missed her soo much over the last year! The boy wondered where she had gotten to, and he squeezed her back as tightly as she was squeezing him. He was surprised by the fact she appeared to sob before speaking. He was so happy to see her too, but crying was for when you were sad, or laughing so hard breathing became difficult. The boy nodded, ”I missed you too Min! Wasn’t the same without my best friend” he replied as he finally pulled out of the hug, meeting her gaze, ”I’m so glad your back, I was about to send a letter to your parents demanding to know where you were,” he produced said letter from his pocket and laughed lightly, ”But here you now are!” the boy couldn’t stop the wide smile on his lips as he looked at her. He was trying to find some reasoning from why she had been gone so long, but she had grown older, much like he had, and she was now wearing make-up which the boy didn’t mind, he was just happy to see her again. He had so much to tell her, he had so many stories to share and he wanted to hear all about what had happened to her.

”Min, you should’ve come to find me to say you were back!” Norton told her excited, ”I have so much to tell you! SO much has happened, you missed loads, but don’t worry I’ll catch you up on everything,” the hufflepuff told her excitedly. ”Shall we walk and you can tell me about what happened to you over the last year, and I can tell you about what happened here?” Norton wasn’t sure that she wanted to hear all about it, or wanted to tell him about what had happened to her over the year, but he would ask anyway, and if she didn’t then he could think of a hundred other things to do, ”Alternatively, if you don’t want to talk about that we could just play hide and seek or something!” the boy offered as an alternative to it. Just happy to spend the time with his best friend!
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[Minerva Khulik]

She was glad to hear that Hogwarts hadn't been the same without her, for the longest time she had been certain that he would have forgotten her or found himself another bestie which she genuinely wouldn't have blamed him for at all, she had been gone for ages without any word. Releasing one another from the hug, Minerva stuck her hands into her robe pockets and glanced down at a weeds in the ground. Her foot began to poke absently at them as she listened to Norton telling her that he had been about to send a letter to her parents.

Minerva glanced up shyly at this, she couldn't believe he had been about to do that for her! She smiled at him and nodded her head, yes she was here now but it still felt surreal. At times she still had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"I looked for you in the common room the first night but it was so busy and I've had so much to do with the professors since I got back that I've barely had any time free at all ..." she paused, hesitated, not sure if she should reveal her worst fears that he wouldn't have wanted her to find him. Those fears seemed utterly ridiculous now. Nodding her head again, she began to walk along side of Norton.

"We can talk ... I want to hear all about your year and everything that has happened to you. I got so used to having you around the year before that not even getting to see you last year felt terrible" Minerva had no idea what 'hide and seek' was so talking was probably for the best, she let her head hang low a little, her hair tumbling over her shoulder slightly before she cast him a sideways glance, "I didn't want to be away. I didn't want to not be in touch with you ... I just ... couldn't!"
She knew Norton being a muggle born wouldn't understand about spattergroit but she'd have to try to explain it nonetheless she was certain!