The Stupid Boyfriend

[Benson Thacker]

Benson was finding it hard to believe it was his sixth year at Hogwarts. It all just seemed to go by in a daze, even the scarring OWL examinations passed him by, eventually. That was another thing that surprised him, he had done rather well in his exams apart from Astronomy but that was never his best subject. Although, many of the credit went to Clarice and all her late night crash courses in the quiet common room with him, which inevitably just turned into Quidditch debates or whether or not this would be the year that Professor Styx retires. Sometimes Clara's late night tutoring often just turned into long talks about the future, what they wanted to do after Graduation, what they didn't want to do after Graduation and how that even if, Benson became that hotshot Magizoologist, and his studies dragged him halfway across the globe every other day of the week, they would still be friends. As cliche as it sounded, Benson couldn't imagine his life without Clara. She was just about the only friend he had at Hogwarts, she was the only friend he wanted at Hogwarts and to be honest, Ben could see no plausible way that the strong tether that held them together could be broken. That being said, Benson couldn't help but notice Clara slipping away just a little bit recently, sure, it was their sixth year and they were now embracing the workload that would help prepare them for just about the nastiest known exams ever, but that wasn't it. It was the stupid boyfriend. Benson couldn't even remember his name, he tended to check out of the conversation when it went onto that topic. He sometimes would come up with rude nicknames for the guy, but for now, Benson just referred to him as 'the stupid boyfriend' as it was the only one that ever really stuck. What Benson couldn't see was that in the reality of things, it was his own immaturity that had Clara 'slipping away'. Clara was right there in front of him most days and he just refused to believe she would want to talk to him with 'the stupid boyfriend' on her mind, so he often just continued to walk on down the corridor, or walk vacantly through the common room without saying 'hello', or perhaps when necessary, he would hold just a short, cold conversation with her before hurrying off to his made-up excuse. But in the sixteen year old's eyes, it was Clara who was the cause of the unsteadiness in their friendship.

Benson was meaning to reply to his brother for a while now and because of a rare insomnia moment the night before, he decided to write his older brother a long overdue letter in the early hours. The old envelope he had rooted out from a stationary set he bought in his first year was struggling to hold the eight page letter and was now starting to tear at the corners. He pulled out his wand from his robes and tapped each corner of the envelope with the tip, repairing them slightly as he walked up the long flight of stairs to the owlery. Ben was continuing to inspect the envelopes for any more tears as he pushed open the door into the wide room, the envelope had a long journey from New Zealand to Ireland and it was going to be a lot more rough than the journey from the Gryffindor tower to the owlery. It was only when he was fully satisfied with the envelopes secureness, that his gaze rose from the neatly addressed envelope to around the owl filled room. The room smelt distinctly of bird and bird feces, and the floor was laden with feathers of all shapes and sizes but this time, Benson didn't pay attention to any of those details that usually bothered him, there was a two other people in the owlery; a young boy no older than a second year maybe, and a girl, someone who had made his stomach twist with nerves. Clara. She had her back to him which gave him an opportune moment to leave? He could turn around and come back later? His fingers fumbled at the repaired corners of the heavy envelope. He knew by leaving he would be only adding to the unsteadiness in their friendship, and she was doing it enough for the both of us, he thought to himself ignorantly. Glancing up once more, staring at the back of her bushy hair, he called out, to her, "Clara?" Spoken as if he had only just arrived in the owlery and was only pure delighted to see his friend, "Hi." He didn't move from where he was standing, next to the door, and instead tapped the envelope a couple of times against his palm, before putting it away into a deep pocket in his black robes.

 

[Clarice Herrington]

Making sure all the ‘i’s were dotted and ‘t’s were crossed Clara closed her books, done with homework for another night. Although the young 17 year old was never truly done with homework as she believed that even when there was nothing assigned to do that one should always do some form of reading at least to maintain high grades, something that Clara was proud she had done throughout her years at Hogwarts New Zealand so far. Although with next year being the hardest yet to come she had gotten into the mind-frame early to do lots more extra work, even when not necessary so she could get used to the workload come next year. Even the OWLs, which she had heard were totally dreadful from students in higher years, were nothing compared to what she had expected them to be like, regardless, she didn’t want to lose the focus with NEWTs just around the corner. As she put her things away she took a sigh of relief as she knew she could somewhat relax now, she had no classes, no more homework and she had something that had been nagging in the back of her mind that had made her want to get through her homework quicker than usual tonight, although still making sure to not get lazy and mess up. Taking the short walk from the Gryffindor Common Room to her dorm room Clarice left her schoolbag beside her bed for the next day and reached into her bedside cupboard for a new piece of parchment and envelope from her stationary pack and made her way up to the Owlery so she could finish writing her letter to her boyfriend in peace as her room-mates were far too noisy last night so she couldn’t finish what she had started. There was only one other person in the Owlery when Clarice arrived but that didn’t bother her. She made her way over to one of the windows, giving her a lovely view of the grounds of Hogwarts and the surrounding areas. Leaning against the windowsill she started to read over what she had already wrote on the page last night so she could remember where she was to start off from today. At times she still found it hard to believe that she had a boyfriend! Sure it was somewhat normal for a 17 year old girl to have a boyfriend, in fact it was seen as weird for one to not have a boyfriend, but Clarice was not normal; at least she didn’t see herself as normal. She studied all the time, had one friend and that was a boy she’d known since before starting Hogwarts, she didn’t even have any ‘girlfriends’ to talk too about Josh and other girl things, heck she was even taught about how to dress somewhat girly and do hair and makeup by her younger cousin who loved all that stuff a bit too much whereas Clarice wasn’t fully interested...although she was liking the new wardrobe and getting used to it after a few years.

Flipping her hair out of her face so it wouldn’t get in her way while she was writing her letter she finished reading and putting quill to parchment continued to write. The letter was nothing special and contained nothing in particular; it was almost like it was a task to have to write a letter to Josh in reply to what he sent her in the back and forward routine which their relationship seemed to consist off. Despite having been dating for just over a year now Clarice felt that there was something missing or just not there in their relationship. She had always dreamed of finding a guy that she could sit up with to the early hours of the morning, just talking, about nothing in particular just whatever came to mind. With Josh she didn’t exactly have that, most of that was due to the fact that they were in different schools and didn’t see each other a lot and when they did they barely talked..just made out, not that she minded all the kissing, it was actually quite nice, but she liked the idea of a relationship having more stability. She often thought that if she had the sort of relationship that she had with Benson, but with Josh then it would be great. Having known Benson for 6 years she knew that he knew more about her than anyone, even Josh and he was her boyfriend, he was supposed to know everything about her. Shaking her head slightly she tried to get that idea out of her head. She felt guilty when she had Benson and her boyfriend in the same thought, comparing them. While she was with Josh she knew that the tiny, well not so tiny but she didn’t want to admit it was any bigger, crush she had on Benson wasn’t completely gone yet and she knew it wasn’t fair on Josh to have a crush on someone else while she was dating him, so she thought about it as little as possible and hope that it would go away in its own time. As she continued to write the letter, struggling to think of things to write she felt her stomach do a weird flip. It caught her off guard until she realised it was a reaction to the sound of her name from a familiar voice. Turning round she saw the red head of her best friend. “Oh hi Ben! What are you doing up here?” she asked, it was a silly question but the most obvious opening.

 

[Benson Thacker]

A hint of a smile graced Benson's boyish features as Clara recognised his presence in the Owlery, and greeted him. The faltering smile faded off his pale face completely as his hand went to pat the bulging letter in his pocket. "Sending a letter?" He drawled as an answer, an eyebrow raised. "Obviously?" A more prominent smile, smirk almost, spread across Benson's lips as he trudged through all the various bird feathers that lightly covered the wooden floor nearer to where Clara stood. He didn't mean for his eyes to glance down at the unfinished letter but he couldn't help it. His stomach turned and quick familiar wave of anger seem to bubble from his twisting stomach. Josh. Jealously swept through him and for a moment, completely overwhelmed him. It was this guy who so subtly yet so quickly, caused the deterioration of the strong bond that the two Gryffindors once shared. This prick, who although Benson knew absolutely nothing about, barely even his name, did not deserve someone like Clara. Looking back up at his friend he mumbled a bitter, "Sorry... didn't mean to interrupt." Although Benson didn't get past, 'Dear Josh', he still felt like he was in the way, being a complete nuisance to Clara by standing here beside her, preventing her from finishing her letter to her beau and without saying another word called out to his owl, Goober. The brown barn owl obediently flew down from the square shaped hole in the wall, that which resembled a cubby hole almost. It was a young owl so it was pretty odd for a bird of its age to be so obliging to his masters orders but this had always been the way with Goober.

The owl, now perched on Ben's outstretched arm cooed softly as Benson stroked it softly with two of his fingers. "Remember I told you my brother was getting great reception at his job back home?" He began in an entirely different tone, almost forgetting how rude he had just been to his friend. "Well, this happened to come out of his paycheck." It was one of the many things that Benson's brother had bought him, a spanking new Firebolt had managed to come out of it too. His brother, an auror, had moved back to Ireland no longer than eighteen months ago and since then, had been promoted to some high-up position in the aurors office. Benson could never actually remember the official job title, he was far too distracted by the gifts that he received. Benson reached deep into his pocket for the compacted envelope and once his hand had curled around the old envelope he pulled it out. "Be careful with this one," He warned the bird as he handed it the letter. Goober's claws grasped the letter and then, instantly took off out of the Owlery window. Benson watched the bird until it disappeared into the cloudy sky. He turned back to Clara his mouth open to speak, and it was silent for a couple of seconds, he held her gaze and her brown eyes looked a lot more enhancing than usual. His heart thumped against his chest, pounded in fact. A loud screech from an owl, pulled Benson out of that bizarre moment and brought him back to reality. Reality being that Clara was in the process of writing to her boyfriend and she was simply just his friend.

Benson had found himself thinking along these lines for quite some time now, reminding himself that Clara was only his friend, and that's all she would ever be. A lot of the time his stomach sunk when he realised this. But since when did he want anything more with Clara? Up until this year, Clara was just his study buddy, someone who he could talk to, someone who could cheer him up even after the worst of Potions lessons, but most importantly she was his only competition when it came to soccer. But now, these days, Benson was either pent up with jealousy when he was with her, or avoided her like the black plague. The transition between the two points of friendship had been so sudden and dramatic, it made it even more confusing for the Gryffindor. But that was how this sort of thing usually happened right? And like any other teenage boy, Benson had woke up one morning and began to look at a girl differently without wanting to or without expecting to. "I eh... should leave you to it." He spoke, in what seemed like an hour of silence, his tone was bitter and unfriendly and Benson had managed to look anywhere but Clara, however he did find his scuffling foot very interesting.

 

[Clarice Herrington]

Out of Character: =/

Sorry doesn't cut it. But sorry

A smile graced the young woman’s pretty features as soon as she had seen the tiniest hint of a smile on Benson’s face. She had become so worried as of late that he wasn’t happy with her or something as she felt that the two of them were growing apart; something that she didn’t want to happen. Then again, Clarice was a smart girl and she thought logically about a lot of things and knew that, unfortunately, sometimes people just grew apart. It was amazing that she and Ben had been best friends for so long already that maybe it was true, nothing does last forever so their relationship had, in the cheesiest way possible, sailed its course and had come to an end. She internally shook herself to stop thinking such thoughts. She loved Ben, platonically of course and she was sure Ben probably felt the same way, they wouldn’t have been best friends for so long if he didn’t. Right? It was times like this that she hated being a teenage girl, despite being as smart as she was there was times she didn’t have the answer to everything (and she hated not knowing everything) sometimes emotions just got in the way and made things 100 times harder than they are supposed to be. A light shade of pink rose on Clara’s cheeks when Ben answered her question with the most obvious answer, why else would someone be in the Owlery. She glared slightly as she saw the smirk on Benson’s face. “Obviously.” she said in a slightly sarcastic tone before laughing lightly. It was times like this that she enjoyed, when they were able to laugh and joke among each other, over nothing in general, just being silly like the teenagers they were. When she saw Ben walking over towards her she turned again to lean against the window frame and stare outside for a brief moment before she looked up to Ben as he stood closer to her this time. She frowned slightly when Ben seemed to quiet for a moment and seemed to go cold again, what was up with him this past while? “You weren’t interrupting.” she said hastily. Having caught his gaze she figured he saw that she was writing her own letter but she was always able to make time for Ben and that stood, even now. She rolled her eyes as she saw Ben move his attention towards the owls, sometimes that boy really infuriated her and what made it worse was she couldn’t figure out why he did. One moment he seemed to be fine and the next they were off in their own world and she was lost, once again.

Composing herself she took a deep breath and turned around again to face Ben only to see an owl perched on Ben’s outstretched arm, cooing softly. Clara hadn’t seen this owl before; she wondered if it was a new one perhaps. She listened to Ben talk about his brother and the job that he had said his brother had. Clara had never met the brother but she was always happy for people that did well for themselves because it shows that they worked hard for it and deserved it. Clara’s mouth opened slightly in surprise when Ben told her that the owl was actually his, a present from his brother. She took a small step over towards Ben and the owl and reached out her hand to stroke it softly as Ben was doing. "It's so cute! What's it's name?" she asked simply. She stopped stroking the bird when Ben took out the envelope and indicated for the bird to take it. As the two Gryffindors watched the bird fly off Clara turned to catch Ben’s gaze, it was silent gaze and didn’t last for long but as they looked at each other it seemed like an eternity. As she looked into the light green eyes that belong to Benson Thacker she remembered why started to form a slight crush on him in the first place. Sure they were best friends, knew pretty much everything about each other and had the same interests...but he had some handsome features too. They may not be the most obvious looks but she had grown to adore them. When the gaze was broken she felt slightly awkward and looked down at her hands where he almost finished letter to her boyfriend remained. Her heart sank slightly when Ben gave his signal that he was going to leave. “Please stay.” she said, her words heartfelt. “Please, I feel like we haven’t talked in ages.” she said, a slight frown noticeable on her lips. She hated that the two might be growing apart. They had been friends for too long for them to just become someone that you say hello to while passing in the corridors.