unspoken

[Rhiannon Archer]

The Semester was almost over and Rhiannon was looking forward to going home. the holiday was going to be a good one for her, first she had a pile of muggle exams to do, which wasn't the best thing for a holiday, but then she would have her break and go to scotland. she enjoyed these holidays. She was planning to go across to Iona and Staffa for a couple of days too which should be interesting. although she had study to do she wasn't in the mood. she had just finished her exams, spent the day studying and now in the late afternoon she wanted some fresh air and to stretch her legs so all rugged up in a warm coat and scarf she headed into the grounds. hoping to find the boy she had wanted to talk to, all semester. but had not quite known what to say. she sensed he felt about the same so they had sort of ignored each other.
when she reached the lake she found herself a dryish spot of grass and sat down looking out over the water with the warm sun on her shoulders warming her through her clothing. as she sat she was thinking quietly to herself, this was a bad move. she didn't realise that there were clouds forming behind her until the sun vanished and suddenly the little warmth she was getting from it vanished leaving it really cold. She stood up and started wandering along the lake front rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. She didn't want to go inside yet, she liked the fresh air even if the cold felt like it was burning her lungs. and she knew perseas had a liking for the lake and she hoped he would be down there today. as she walked she looked up at the sky wondering if the mass of cloud that was coming in was going to bring with it snow or if it would just be cloud. she hoped the former, as sensible and logical she was like many people she turned into a little girl whenever there was snow around.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

It was a cold grey morning with a dull sky threatening for rain but Perseas was once again outside the castle, having his usual walk around the lake. He had so much time to kill now that the exams were over and he practically had nothing really to do to channel his never lasting energy. Instead of sitting at the common room, drinking hot chocolates in front of the fireplace, he much preferred to dress up warmly and walk outside. He had his arms folded against his chest to let less warmth escape his body and he had tucked his chin in the loose knots of his scarf. He liked reminiscing the most memorable moments of the passed year. There were certainly a lot of them but two of them were the strongest.

The first one was the Yule Ball. Normally, Perseas would never attend such an event but he considered going with a girl he used to hang around a lot. It turned out that his twin brother Theseas acted before him and asked the girl to be his date for the Ball. This left Perseas to scheme with another girl in order to make his brother's date jealous. He wasn't sure about the motives behind this crazy scheme. Did he liked that girl or it was just the endless, ridiculous rivalry he had with his twin brother? He still hadn't figure it out but he had decided for the first time in his life to take the loss and walk away. Ever since then, his friendship with that girl, Rhiannon McGowan, had frozen somehow. He had found himself avoiding her for the first half of the semester but later turned into antagonism during classes. Bottom line was, they hadn't spoke ever since the end of the previous semester and Perseas was feeling slightly sad about it.

The second one was between the first and the second semester at Hogwarts, during holidays. His older brother took them for camping at the Irish countryside. Perseas was a sucker when it came to travelling. He was planning to travel around the world when he was going to be an adult. In any other occasion, this trip would have been the time of his life if their trip hadn't went up in smoke. Perseas was attacked by a werewolf but despite escaping the attack unscathed, his older brother insisted and returned back home. The weird part was how he had managed to escape the werewolf's attack. It was something he didn't tell to his brother when he finally came to his rescue. He wanted to figure it out himself first because he was sure he had done something extraordinary in Ireland.

While reminiscing the werewolf attack, he didn't realize for how long he was walking until he saw a familiar landmark a few meters away from him. It was the lone cider tree close to the water line. It seemed like it had escaped the Forbidden Forest to admire its reflection on the lake's surface. Usually, Perseas liked climbing at its branches and read there. He generally didn't like reading where other people could see him. He didn't want to earn the reputation of a bookworm. But now, as he was keep eyeing the tree he thought that he could try and see if he could do again what he had performed in that Irish forest. He stopped and stared at the tree for what it seemed to be a minute. Then he took a deep breath and started running. He was running straight on the solid, thick trunk of the tree like it was nothing there. He closed his eyes as a last stride was separating him from the tree and...crashed on the solid surface with a dull sound and fell on the ground to moan in pain. He cursed several Greek swears at the wind and palpated his forehead to dye his hands with his own blood. He slowly tried to stand up but his dizziness forced him to sit down and lean against the tree's trunk while trying to recover.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannpnn hadn't noticed anyone else walking along the edge of the lake until she heard a crash, a moan and a chain or words that sounded like they were not english, and not the most friendly words. she looked around the sudden noise catching her attention. she saw a figure on the ground by a tree and hurried over to them. "are you okay? she asked drawing nearer, guessing that they had been sitting in the tree and fallen. as she got closer she realised it was the person she had been hoping to see. however seeing him there blood all over his face made her forget the planned conversation she had been wanting and rehearsing. "perseas are you okay" she asked afain looking at the nasty looking gash on his head. she reached into her pocket and drew out a few unused tissues that e could use to stop the bleeding from his forehead. "here, put them on your head to stop it bleeding" she said trying to look in his grey eyes., she wasn't sure what she was looking for but she had heard her parents mention that when someone was concussed they could see iti n their eyes, though nothing obvious sprung out at her as being different in perseas' eyes. "how did you do that anyway? did you fall out of the tree" she guessed. not being able to think of any other reason he could have landed up ion the spiky grass under a tree with bleeding forehead. as she waited to see if the tissues helped she shuffled her knees slightly and pulled a slightly spiky burr from under the left one which had been spiking her since she had knelt on it.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas was really stubborn and insisted. He tried to sit up but once again a sharp pain on his forehead warned him not to. He remained still for a moment trying to slow his and he saw someone coming towards him. He rolled slightly his eyes when he realized it was Rhiannon McGowan but he regretted doing so as a zapping surge through his head made him shut tightly his eyes. "I'm okay, I'm okay." he said twice through clenched teeth. The pain slowly started soothing but he had the impression that if he was going to make another abrupt move, it was going to return. He looked at her with his blurry vision and thought how unlucky he was. Out of all the people in that damn castle, she happened to be around to see him. Now she was going to tell him how reckless he was and how he could have broke a leg or an arm. Typical Rhiannon, pointing out what is right and what is wrong. Instead, she gave him something and it took him a few moments to realize that he was handed clean tissues. "Thanks." he breathed and pressured lightly a couple of tissues where the pain was coming from. A single drop of blood trickled down to his brow and then fell on his nose but he just wiped it out with his free hand. He thought that she might was thinking he was crazy for colliding at full speed with this tree but it seemed like she hadn't really seen how he bruised his forehead. "Yeah, I was climbing up but I slipped and fell down." he fed her scenario of falling of the tree. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you been studying for your muggle classes?" he said, a little bit cranky thanks to the stinging pain.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Me hate er perseas was he was not okay rhiannon concluded as he seemed to be grimacing in pain. He seemed to be bleeding a fair amount she hoped he hadn't cot concussion or anything. It was not nice to see someone who she was good friends to in so much pain and she knew perseas enough to know that he was too proud to show weakness or pain easily. Though even with a tear of blood almost running into his eye he was insisting he was okay. if you want I can have a go at healing your head she offered. "though you should still go to the hospital wing to get checked out, it should make the transition a little less painful she said. She had read the spells in a book on healing which she had reada. Few weeks ago in her free time. She hadn't had much opportunity to practice more than a couple of paper cuts and hang nails. But they had seemed to work for her, and what could be the worst that could happen. Actually she didn't want to think about the worst that could happen as a couple of stories came to mind told by her dad about surgeons who had made slight mistakes and cut a major artery, or nerve.
When she was asked why she was outside when she should be studying for muggle exams she looked a little slyly at the ground. i needed a little fresh air! and I was actually hoping to run into someone she said as truthful as ever. Though as things had turned out unbenoist to Rhiannon person she had hoped to run into had ran into a tree.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas insisted pressing the tissue against his forehead but scarlet drops was still trickling off his eyebrow. His grey eyes looked at Rhiannon inquisitively but with a hint of admiration as well.
"You really can?" he questioned forgetting the throb on his temple for a moment. He stopped applying pressure on the gash and more blood oozed out of it. He had no idea if it was deep or not but he slightly panicked when a few more droplets stained his jeans. Color drained from his face when his friend mentioned the hospital wing. Everyone feared something and Perseas was scared to death of healers, hospitals and the smell of sterilization. He could put no trust on Hogwarts' nurses but he could trust a friend. "No! Not to the hospital wing." he snapped but he managed to lower his tone. He didn't want Rhiannon to perceive his fear of hospitals. "Do it yourself." he nodded and wiped another drop of blood off his cheek. "I swear I'm never going to call you a geek again if you do it right." he smirked and put the already dampen tissue on his forehead. Even wounded, he had the right kind of mood to joke around. He also sounded like he was daring her, like they were playing a completely safe kind of game.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhiannon was surprised that perseas was so keen on her having a go at healing him. actually she was a little surprised when he seemed to be surprised she knew how. he knew she wanted to be a healer or doctor and studied a lot. "I should be able to, i mean, i haven't tried on a head before, but i managed to heal cuts on fingers easy enough" she said. however he seemed to really not want to go to the hospital so she reached out her wand. she pointed it at him before he made a joke about not calling her a geek if she did it. "I doubt that, i bet it wont last a week" she said smiling. she knew him well, and to be honest didn't mind him calling her a geek, she knew it was all in jest.
watching as he wiped the blood off his cheek, "Okay, i need you to take the tissue away" she said looking at it, it wasn't as bad as the amount of blood suggested, but i was still worse than anything she had worked on before. "ready" she said. a little nervous. "scourgify" she said trying to clean the wound first, then she cast the healing spell, it seemed like it was working. the skin on his head was knotting back together. she cast one more cleaning spell and looked at her handy work. it was fairly good, just a slight mark on the skin which she was fairly sure would be healed in a week or so. "does that feel any better?" she asked hoping she had got it right, and it wasn't painful or she would have to try a bone repair spell which she wouldn't like to try first time on a skull.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas was dealing with the whole situation in a lighthearted way but inside him he was hoping it was nothing serious. Nothing serious that would need him at least to get to the hospital wing.
He smiled weakly when Rhiannon told him that she had tried again the spell she was about to perform to heal fingers. "You really don't sound sure about it." he mocked but it was an attempt to calm himself and not make fun of her. "Go ahead. I can't see what could go wrong." he added with a sarcastic tone and removed the tissues from the wound. He was watching her closely as she flourished her wand and prepared to cast her spells. He smirk when she commented that his promise was only going to last for a week. "Damn. You know me too well." he confirmed her and tried to discern in her eyes if it was a superficial wound or not. Perseas nodded when she asked him if he was ready and closed his eyes as he felt the spell's warmth enveloping his head. His face winced as he felt a brief sting on his forehead but then the pain was taken away. He opened his eyes and reluctantly his fingers touched the spot were previously blood was oozing. He only felt a scar and hoped it was going to fade away with time. "Thanks...geek..." he smirked as he didn't keep his promise. Not even for the time period that Rhiannon had betted. "It feels better. I'm Harry Freakin' Potter now. Though I'm scarred by a tree and not from a psychopath." he said, mustering his sarcasm one more. He was thankful that he hadn't to stay at the hospital wing. "I owe you. Name it. What I could do for you. Prank to death people who are bothering you? Let you copy my History of Magic assignment? I doubt you need the last one." he continued jested now that he was feeling right as rain.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

when perseas called her a geek again she coudnt help but chuckle. "i wasn't timing but i am fairly sure that was less than a week" she said. still chuckling. it was the sort of thing she soer of expected coming from perseas. and well it was nice to know he was talking to her again and teasing her again, far better than avoiding her. he said he now looked like harry potter. "who said, i am not a psychopath" she said "and there is no need to complain. it will have faded in a week or so, quicker if oyu put one of the skin potions on it" she said.
when he said that he owed her she had to think on what to say. did h owe her anything. she wasn't sure. "I am happy with my own essays thank you. actually I think we are now square. i owed you for letting me borrow the looking glasses. and certainly owed you at least an apology for not telling you about the ball" she said. she paused mentally swallowing her pride, she wasn't sure about perseas but to her her friendship with him was worth more than her pride. "I really am sorry, and I miss having my best mate bugging me." she said "but don't let that go up to your head" she said, realising after she said it it would, and she would now never see the end of him bugging her.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas chuckled along with her. It felt so good to be talking again with her. They were friends and they stopped talking for a stupid reason. If Theseas hadn't involved, he and Rhiannon wouldn't have to avoid each other for a whole semester. "I can find numerous names for you but psychopath is not one of them." he said and once more groped for the scar on his forehead. "Except if someone set their heart on the same book you want to borrow from the library. I wouldn't like to get between you and a book. You could get ruthless." he mocked and completely turned down her suggestion about applying some healing potion on the scar. "No way. I'm not going to get into cosmetics." he shook his head as he didn't consider manly to apply pastes on wounds. He wanted to just let heal on its own. "Good for you." he smirked when she said to him that she was fine with her own essays and that she didn't need to copy from his. "You're a smart girl." he added. Only an idiot was going to rely on Perseas' essays. After all, Rhiannon had the best essays out of all the third years. No way she needed his.

Perseas had totally forgot the two way mirrors he had led her but he hadn't expected something in return. It was a selfless and genuine move of his part back then. He rolled his eyes when she apologized about the ball. "Jeez! You certainly apologize a lot." he commented. "You should also apologize for eating the last fried egg this morning." he joked and avoided referring to the notorious ball. As far as he was concerned, this event was completely removed from his memory. Or maybe not? Perseas shook his head and snorted with his half smile on his lips. "I don't know if you're a psychopath but you sure are masochist." he told her for saying that he had missed him bugging her. "I'm sorry. Too late for that." he put his hands up in the air and let her know that her little confession had already went up to his mind. There was a question swirling in his mind and for the straightforward person he was, he couldn't just keep it inside him. "So, were you looking for my brother?" he asked casually, remembering her mentioning that she was out there looking for someone.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

"Thanks" she said when perseas said that there were many other words he could use to describe her before psychopath. she wasn't sure f it was meant to be a compliment but she was taking it as one. the effect was of course spoiled when perseas said except when she was after a book in the library. "who knows what i would be up to then" she said sticking her tongue out at him easing right back. "probably find another book, or wait" she said. when he said he wasn't going to get into cosmetics. she shook her head, It isn't cosmetics, if it was i would say you could easily cover it with foundation" she said rolling her eyes. and sitting down, if they were going to talk she wasn't going to be crouching as it kept making her feel like she would fall over. she smiled when he said she was smart proud of the compliment but she didn't say anything. instead she rolled her eyes when he said she apologised a lot. "and you complain about my apologising a lot. i only apologise because i thought i did something wrong. i can not apologise if you would rather" she said her accent flaring a little stronger. showing she was getting a little irritated. "and i won't apologise for eating the last fried egg because i don't like fried eggs, and thus didn't eat the last one" she said. no for breakfast this morning she had had a good bowl of porridge with brown sugar and cinnamon. "oy, I'm not a masochist. i just don't like hurting others. besides, you are one of my only few friends. and lets face it your friendship is based around you bugging me" she said. it wasn't that she liked being teased, it was more she liked having someone a little more light hearted and with a sense of humour around to lighten her often overly serious moods.
It seemed like Perseas had only just realised that she had said she had come out looking for someone. not really surprisingly his assumption had been to think she was looking for his brother. she hadn't spoken to Theseas outside of class since december. "Actually I had been hoping to run into you." she said hoping that this too wouldn't go to his head.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

There were sometimes that Perseas was finding quite difficult to communicate with Rhiannon. She was taking things too literally that he usually couldn't reply back and he was used to having the final word when arguing with someone. In case of Rhiannon McGowan, things were quite different."Then you should start believing you do right more often." he answered back at the first thing he could really continue debating. A mischievous light sparkled in his pale eyes as he perceived a hint of frustration in her voice and her characteristic accent showed up. He just smirked and shook his head when she went on to explain that she wasn't in favor of eggs and thus she couldn't be the one who had ate the last one. Another example of her taking everything too literally. "True." he initially replied briefly when she pointed out that their friendship was mostly based on his tendency of messing around with her. "But I'm not bugging people who don't want to be bugged." he continued and a cocky grin shaped under his piercing eyes. Damage was done. She had stroke his ego too much. His shameless boldness was replaced soon by surprise when she mentioned that she was looking around for him. "Me? Are you sure?" he questioned and casted at her a suspicious look. "What for? How did you know I'll be around here? Are you spying on me?" he narrowed his eyes with his cheekiness back at its greatest.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

Rhinnon rolled her eyes and sighed as perseas said she should think she was right more often. it wasn't always that easy. what else should you think if your best friend was avoiding you. it was only after he spoke she realised Perseas was not talking literally. biting her tongue she didn't say anything. thankfully when he said he only bugged people who didn't mind being bugged she shook her head. "not true. you bug anyone you can. you just bug the people who don't mind more" she said remembering the day back n first year when they had both met Aisling when perseas had really annoyed her.
she was surprised when he was surprised that she had been looking for him. was it that odd, or did it sound overly stalkerish. she didn't think so but maybe she had been. "I didn't know you would be out here, but i do know you wouldn't want to be stuck in the castle all day, and i guess I was a little lucky." she said. "I just wanted to ap... say what i just said. and wish you a good holiday" she said stopping herself from saying she just wanted to apologise as that would get him teasing her again and the conversation would go in a circle.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Perseas smiled. Just a little smile at first, but as Rhiannon argued about the real reasons he was messing around with other people, it grew pressing his cheeks up and slowly reaching his pale eyes, lighting them, causing them to crinkle at their corners. She thought that she had figured him out completely. She was right but Perseas wasn't going to give her that joy. "Mostly, I bug those who deserve it." he said as most of his hardcore pranks were meant for bullies. The rest of them were well-intended pranks but they weren't received that way most of the time. Perseas thought that people were taking everything too seriously when they could be smiling and having fun all the time. Rhiannon was one of them. She was definitely taking seriously a lot of things and that was why she was apologizing that much. In this instance, she went looking for him around the grounds just to apologize again and wish him happy holidays. While Perseas was never going to understand why she went to such an extend to resolve something that had happened half a year ago, he could see however, that she was a true friend. People could live a whole life without ever having such good friends by their side, yet Perseas had one right there, all the time. Perhaps, he should start valuing her more. "Everything's fine. Relax." he smiled and took a deep breath like he was suggesting her to do. He was just letting her know that their friendship was mended. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't ever broker in the first place. "You too. I hope you have a great time whatever...erm...you're going to do." he said, remembering that Rhiannon was also having his muggle studies outside school. This must be included in the term 'great time' in her vocabulary. "I should be going." he said and stood up before permitting the awkward silence linger for longer. "I still have to pack my things." he said with a grimace. He knew this unpleasant moment was going to come sooner or later. "Take care." he said and on impulse he went for a goodbye kiss on her cheek.

 

[Rhiannon Archer]

"and what gives you authority to say who deserves it" she said she was stiring. she sort of nw that but that bluntness was who she was, after she said it soe soer of half wished she hadn't but it was too late.
it was funny perseas telling her to relax. they were both kind of unrelaxed even though they were un relaxed in totally different ways. but she leant back propping her weight up on her hands and breathed in deeply through her nose. the cool slightly damp air filling her lungs. and she did actually feel like a tension that had constricted her shoulders for months was letting go. The clouds that had been obscuring the sun earlier were getting thicker. and the wind picked up threatening a storm, and it even started to let out a fine mist like drizzle as is the clouds were struggling to keep all the water in. she didn't particularly mind. getting drenched was a small price to pay for getting her friend back she was planning on taking a shower anyway. "Thank you. I am sure i will, I am going back to Scotland for a couple of weeks with my aunt" she said. she always enjoyed going on holiday to see her aunt, she also had her muggle exams first which she was feeling fairly confident for.
As Perseas got up and said he still had a few things to do she nodded. "best get packing. you don't want to forget anything" she said "I had best get Sushi's carrier clean and ready to go. and i think i is about to poor down in a minute" she said with sushi being her cat.
what was to happen next was a little awkward. Perseas leaned towards her for what she sort of expected to be a hug. and this she went to hug him however it seemed that he had had a different intention as when she turned her head his lips met hers in an awkward unintentional kiss. her first kiss. not really sure what to do she looked at him and then moved away a blush blossoming on her face. "umm" she said not sure how to respond. as the mist started to get a little heavier.

 

[Perseas Stratis]

Where he was coming from, kissing a friend or a relative at both cheeks and especially someone of the opposite gender, was a way to greet or say goodbye. It was something trivial and he wasn't expected to end up the way it did. Instead of kissing her cold cheek, his lips met her own fleshy lips and his grey eyes distended as he flinched. "Oops. I-I'm sorry." he chuckled apologetically and scratched his head. It was one of the rare times you could see Perseas Stratis blushing from embarrassment. "I didn't mean to kiss you there. I mean, not that it was bad or anything-" he stopped talking as he realized that with every word he was adding, the situation was getting more and more awkward. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Nevermind. I-I should get going. Yes, I have to pack my baggage and, and yeah, I have to clean my owl's cage as well. You named your owl Sushi? Awful name for an owl." he said in his whirlwind of verbosity and ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. "Erm, anyway, umm...I should get going. Have fun at your aunt's with your muggle homework." he teased. "And, I'll see you in three months or so. Have a- oww!" he didn't manage to finish his sentence as he stepped back and stumbled on the tree's root, sneakily poking out of the ground. He fell on the ground but he stood up quickly. "I'm alright." he said and brushed the dirt off his clothes. "Have a nice time." he completed his sentence this time and without looking her again straight in the eyes, he marched for the castle. On his way, he couldn't believe how stupid he had looked back there. He kept shaking his head while a soft goofy smile was forming on his lips at the thought of him tripping like that. Soon it started raining heavily but he was already at the courtyard. He entered the castle soaked to the bone and ascended the staircase to reach the common room.