We meet yet again...

[Lake Silver]

Lake had found the abandoned class room a long time ago, he liked it, people thought it was haunted so they didn't come near and there was a nice dark area where he could set up his brewing stands and make some wolfsbane in peace without people knowing his secret. Lake kicked back and watched the potion slowly bubble away his chair tilted, he was alone as always and finishing his final year at Durmstrang made him confused about what he was going to do in his future, he had made no friends throughout his entire schooling years and the only person he semi interacted with he dragged across a wall for spray painting it. Lake shrugged his shoulders and put the chair back on all four legs, he hardly hung around school so who could blame him for being a loner, as soon as he had the chance he was out of there and spending his free time alone as far away from other people as possible, he wasn't sure if it was his werewolf nature or his attitude in general but he didn't care.

Lake stirred the potion slightly and got up from the desk, he wanted to let it rest for a bit to get the best out of the ingredients he liked to know he had a strong batch of Wolfsbane so there was no chance of slipping up, he didn't want to hurt anyone or himself for that matter. Lake walked around between the desks drawing random symbols in the dust to scare of people who might come lurking, they often thought it was a ghost trying to communicate with them, he often scoffed. Lake came to a stack of chairs and he squeezed past them but his shirt got caught on one of the legs and sent the stack tumbling down, he jumped out of the way and yanked his shirt free ripping it slightly and looked out to see if anyone heard the noise, it was semi late so he hoped everyone was eating. Lake quickly pulled out his wand and flicked it watching as the chairs slowly re stacked themselves he crossed his arms, if anyone came in her would simply say that a ghost pushed them onto him to scare them into not showing up in the room again.

Drawing some more random symbols into the window sill he waited patiently.

 

[Clover Sheppard]

Clover had decided to skip having dinner that evening, choosing instead to roam the empty stone corridors and think quietly to herself, she had a lot on her mind lately and found herself too distracted to think of anything else. Skipping a meal had been a stupid decision since her stomach was already growling, but she had something else on her mind. Now that she was in her last year of school she needed to make some important decisions about her career, but sadly she still hadn't figured out which professional team she would try out for, and what she would do if she didn't make the team. Up until recently Clover knew she wanted to join the Falmouth Falcons, they were her favourite team and they had been for as long as she could remember, but after training with one of the team members, Clover had begun to question something she had been sure of for so long. This had been plaguing the seventeen year old's mind for weeks now, and hadn't faltered since she left the pitch after training that day. After a few more minutes of deliberation, Clover gave up on thinking herself into a rut and decided to go and eat with the other students, it would be better to eat something tonight rather than fall asleep hungry.

However before Clover had the chance to direct her feet back to the dining hall, the sound of something falling over rung in her ears. What could that be? Clover started walking to where the noise had come from, and quickly found herself in front of the abandoned classroom, she hadn't been in there before but she had heard a lot about it. Not that she believed what she had heard. Without hesitating, Clover pushed the door to the classroom wide open, surprised with what she saw. The rumours she had heard were that this classroom was haunted, but Clover didn't expect to see Lake standing near one of the windows. Holding back a chuckle, the pink haired girl straightened her posture, holding her hands to her hips in a confident fashion. "so it was you that caused the ruckus before." Clover stated, still holding back chuckling at Lake. She didn't pin him as the kind of person to be clumsy, but standing in the hall earlier it sure sounded like he was. ​

 

[Lake Silver]

Hearing a voice the boy turned around to see bright pink hair, he noticed the face and wiped his hands on his jeans 'I like you better as a blonde Damsel' he said not being surprised that she was here, she always seemed to be where he was, he suddenly realised that his wolfsbane was brewing away and that he needed to get her out of the room. Lake walked over to Clover and grabbed her by the elbow turning her around 'Well fancy that, i knocked some stuff over, get going' he said as he gave her a gentle shove towards the door and turned around fading into the shadows.
Lake didn't mind Clovers company but right now he was nervous which wasn't a look which suited him, no one knew his secret and he had worked so hard t o keep it a secret, Lake threw a cloth over the potion to hide it before walking back towards Clover, he knew that she wouldn't leave but he hoped he distracted her in time to go to the darkest part of the room which was hard to see at the best of times and hide the evidence, he hoped Clover didn't know what wolfsbane smelt like.

Lake stood in front of Clover again and pulled his wand out 'Unless you're here for me to change that hair of yours to something more suiting' he said trying to cover up his behaviour, he walked closer to her and pulled at a strand of her hair 'What on earth made you go pink Damsel' he said looking at the girl, Lake looked at her and realised how close he was, quickly he dropped his hand and took a step away from her.
Looking at the girl Lake was confused, he was almost finished school, he was top of his class and a loner with no friends and here he was getting close and friendly with Clvoer a girl who stumbled into the allyway he was hanging out last year, he didn't like his change. Lake waited for Clover to reply.

 

[Clover Sheppard]

Clover ignored the comment Lake made about her new hair, she liked it and that was all that mattered. Getting a few weird looks in the hallways now that she stood out from the crowd was better than being forgotten, she wanted to be remembered and if it meant she had to keep her hair pink, she would be happy to do so. At least now people didn't stereotype her as being a dumb blonde. Although Clover would have agreed she was dumb when she didn't protest Lake approaching her, grabbing her by the elbow and turning her round, to gently shove her towards the door. He should know by now she wasn't going to give up that easily. The pink haired girl turned around to witness Lake walking into a shadowed area of the classroom, not knowing what he was doing, her instincts immediately urged her to question Lake and find out what was going on, even if it was none of her business. Conversely she kept her lips sealed, waiting for the right moment to prod him about it.

Clover watched as Lake approached her once more, still keeping her big mouth shut. He obviously didn't like her new hair colour if he was willing to change it himself, but he was stupid in thinking she wanted to change it. Somebody's hair colour didn't make their personality, and it confused Clover to think that Lake wasn't mature enough to see past that, all this change in her appearance did was make her stand out more, she was still the same person. Clover chose not to answer Lake, instead flinching slightly as she realised how close to her he was, even after knowing each other a while their first meeting still plagued her whenever Lake got near. She was glad when Lake moved further away from her. Attempting to distract from the awkward closeness moments ago Clover finally decided to open her big mouth. "What are you trying to hide over there?" she asked Lake, ready to persist her questioning if he didn't answer.
​

 

[Lake Silver]

Lake rolled his eyes, Clover could never keep anything to herself, he shook his head 'Nothing that you need to know' he said taking another step away but towards the dark corner to make sure that she wouldn't go for it, he knew that his answer wasn't the one she was looking for and she would keep on pestering so he decided to change the subject 'So now you know what the Ghost haunting the forbidden class room looks like what are you going to do with me' he asked taking another sliding set back behind him, he was trying to at least get close enough to grab his wand off the table and cast a spell to make it look hidden from view to stop Clover from prying, he hadn't told anyone outside his family about his secret and he felt as if he shouldn't.

Lake took three more sliding steps behind him small steps, it was kind of obvious what he was doing but he was never one for sneakiness, he was good at it if he wasn't trying, once he started trying to be sneaky it was impossible he was like an Elephant on ice. Lake took a step back too far and bumped into the Table, her turned around but he had all ready messed up, The Pot and vials on the table fell off and hit the ground shattering and spraying wolfsbane on the floor. Lake put his hands through his hair and cursed to himself, he needed that Batch soon and he had just destroyed his ingredients by getting them soaked in Wolfsbane. Lake turned around to Clover and pointed a finger at her 'You caused this' he said getting angry with her, he walked through the mess crunching some vials which hadn't smashed completely 'If you weren't so goddamned Nosey this wouldn't have happened now i have a few days to find fresh strong ingredients and i doubt they'll let me out of the school again.' Lake put his hands back into his hair and gripped onto it before turning away from Clover, it wasn't his fault he knocked the chairs over causing her to come in but he couldn't help but blame her. Lake walked away towards the opposite side of the class room and moved into a corner of desk and chairs and squatted down burying his face in his hands, this was how he liked to think.

 

[Clover Sheppard]

Clover's suspicions grew as Lake answered her, he should know by now that trying to avoid her questions would get him nowhere, considering how often she had prodded him previously. Didn't he learn a thing? Maybe he was as just as stubborn as she was. Regardless of this fact, Clover stood her ground, keeping her eye on Lake as he continued to step back. As soon as Clover heard the rumours about this classroom, she grew curious, not frightened unlike many of her peers. But it took the prodding of a crashing sound to finally draw her to the place. Some people would call Clover lazy for not checking out the abandoned classroom earlier, but the only reason she could conjure was that she had better things to do with her time than confirm or deny meaningless rumours. "I'm not going to applaud you for keeping the rumours alive if that's what you mean." She replied, taking a step closer to Lake. She could have bolted for the dark corner and gotten the answer to her question instead, but something was keeping her from doing this, she thought it better if she heard the answer from Lake himself. An unusual thought pattern for the pink haired girl, usually she never noticed if she were invading someone's personal space or not, but for some reason she held herself back.

Clover decided that asking her question again would be her best option. Repeating herself would get annoying for both her and Lake, but this was the only conclusion she could think of to get the answer she desired. Clover opened her mouth to speak, but before she made a sound Lake bumped into something, and knocked what looked like potion vials and ingredients on the floor. It was hard to tell due to the corner being drowned in shadow but judging by Lake's reaction this definitely wasn't good. The girl continued to stay silent as Lake grew angry with her, choosing not to deny what he was saying, although it was obvious this wasn't her fault. Lake was the one who had chosen to step backwards without looking, not her. Even so, it was obvious Lake was upset, and Clover's instincts drove her to comforting him. She remained silent, not moving from the place she stood until Lake moved further away from her into a corner. Then Clover strode closer to him, sitting across from him before awkwardly clearing her throat to speak. "We could always sneak out of the castle, and if there's two of us finding new ingredients wouldn't take as long." She reassured Lake, to the best of her ability that is. Comforting people wasn't her forte, it had never been. "It's the least I could do after ruining those ingredients." She continued, letting her words fade into silence. If Lake didn't answer her, she could either continue to speak or leave, but she knew already that she would stay put and make sure he was okay. ​

 

[Lake Silver]

Lake had tried to avoid her view but it was seeming very difficult, he rolled his eyes 'I never asked for applaud, I was gesturing towards more are you going to tell everyone that its not haunted and that its safe to hang out' he asked he liked his little class room, it was a little place where he could scare people and hide, there was always a good place to hide in this room old chairs stacked up into a barricade the room echoed making it easy to make terrifying noises, he enjoyed messing with peoples minds sometimes.

Once the potion was destroyed Clover didn't defend herself which he found surprising she kind of just stayed silent. She came over to comfort him in a way he looked up out of his hands, she seemed genuinely sincere in helping him but half of him didn't want to hear it. Lake bounced in his crouch position before standing up and looking out the window he liked her thinking but he didn't trust himself, the timing was too close he could act differently 'You'll get in trouble' trying to find a recent cover story was going to be hard, he wondered if she knew what he was brewing or not. Lake walked past her over to the mess and picked up some ingredients and shook them off, Walking towards Clover he put on hand on her arm softly and held the wolfsbane in front of her face 'Do you even know what this is' he questions before throwing them back on the ground wiping his hands on his jeans.

With his emotions running wild he knew it would be a bad idea to take Clover to help him get new ingredients he half hated her and half just wanted to crawl into an emotional mess. Lake let go of Clover and pulled a piece of Parchment from a stack on the wall and an old quill and ink pot and started to scribble, he stopped every now and then as he wrote his letter to Scratch his back, his scars were annoying him like they always did this close to a full moon, he was writing a letter to his sister he would give it to he fastest owl and get a few vials of some fresh wolfsbane sent over to him urgently, she was the best potion maker he knew, unfortunately she didn't use magic much but he knew she would help him out. Lake folded it up and stood up from the desk knocking the chair over behind him he held it up to Clover 'My Sister will brew me a stong batch of wol... what i was making and send it over to me, Thanks but no thanks for your help' he said as he slammed his hand on the desk with the letter he ran his hands through his hair and tried to focus again, he was feeling jumpy, He reached one hand over and scratched his back picking up the letter and walking towards the window, an owl appeared and he handed the owl the letter and it soared away quickly.
Lake walked over to Clover and put his hands on her arms holding her tightly, he didn't know why he did it he just felt angry 'I trust you, I don't know why i just do' he said standing rather close to her he looked down at her his lips practically touching her forehead he was so close but far enough away he could still look in her eyes 'I want to share something with you but i need to know that you will tell no one, you will never breath a word to anyone' he said as she studied her eyes, they eyes told the truth about everything 'I would make you take the unbreakable vow if i had to on this, This is very serious' he said hoping Clover understood the depth of what he was saying.

 

[Clover Sheppard]

Clover wasn't the kind of person to provide comfort; it felt unnatural to her to be so gentle. Not that she didn't have the ability to be gentle, because she sure had that, it was just difficult for the seventeen year old to translate her feelings for people into words. She was more of a physical person than a vocal one, although it probably didn't seem like it with her big mouth. Unfortunately she couldn't think of anything more to say to Lake, so if he wished her to she would leave. Potions had never been Clover's best subject; in fact it had been her worst, so when Lake asked her if she knew what an ingredient was, she merely shook her head while ignoring the fact Lake was invading her personal space again. She knew she should put her foot down so he didn't get so close to her again but being rude probably wasn't the best thing considering Lake's situation. She only showed any form of expression with a raised eyebrow as Lake spoke again, but continued to say nothing as Lake moved to scribble something on a piece of parchment before sending it off with an owl. The seventh year stared idly at her shoes, not wanting to move her gaze onto Lake, it might have made him uncomfortable, or more so if he had somebody staring at him. She knew she would feel uncomfortable if Lake kept staring at her.

Clover only looked up again once she felt Lake's hands on her arms, she didn't want to be this close to somebody she didn't know well, but by the sounds of it this was her only choice. Lake's touch sent shivers down her spine, it reminded her of when they had first met and he had carelessly ruined her favourite sweater. He had caught her red handed; or rather purple handed in an act of rebellion fuelled by nothing but boredom and since then the two hadn't been able to get rid of one another. But alas these shivers weren't because she was attracted to him, which had never been the case. The shivers were brought on by her fear of Lake hurting her and acting violent like he had when they first crossed paths. This was the only reason Clover hadn't fought back against Lake so far. No words left Clover's lips as Lake said he trusted her, or when he mentioned the unbreakable vow. The only thing she could focus her thoughts on was how unpleasantly close they were, but she did somehow manage to notice that both statements sounded contradicting, if he really did trust her, then the unbreakable vow shouldn't be an option, it never should. It sounded too drastic to Clover, but maybe what he intended to say was drastic too. But regardless of this, she swallowed hard before managing to utter three words. "What is it?" Clover let her words fade into silence, waiting for Lake to give his reaction. ​

 

[Lake Silver]

He could feel that she was uncomfortable, but it was more than discomfort he could sense she was scared of him, Lake had always been taunted but never scared of. He shut his eyes and tried to find normal Lake somewhere inside of him, Clover was his only friend he didn't want to scare her away just yet. Lake ran his hands through his hair trying to calm his anger but it was fueled and full of pressure, reasons like this was why Lake liked to be alone.

Watching Clover she didn't exactly promise not to say a word but he owed her something, Lake let go of her arms and took a step back and looked at her, her raised his arms over his head and pulled off his shirt, the cool breeze hitting his warm chest. Lake held his shirt in one hand in front of him 'The Reason i act the way i act' he said taking a deep breath before taking a step closer towards her, he had managed to find some calm 'Please don't be scared of me Clover, you're the closest thing to a friend i have' he said as he took a half step away from her and put his shirt on the table next to them. 'When i was 9 years old my parents went shopping but i got bored so i snuck off, the shopping town was on the edge of a forest' he said realizing it was a bit awkward to just stand there with no shirt on even though his body wasn't bad it was still uncomfortable, his chest and arms looked normal so he knew Clover might think he was strange. 'I got lost and being 9 i panicked slightly, i didn't know what to do. I found this man but he looked awfully disfigured' with his eyes glazing over lake half remembered what was happening 'I went to him asking for help he was growling and growing taller, I thought it might be my sister Phoebe trying to Scare me so i ran into the thing but by then he wasn't the person i saw in the distance' Lake took a deep breath and half smiled at clover and turned around to show his back which had approximately 8 scars running in various directions 'He was a werewolf' he said looking down at his hands waiting for Clover to react, if she ran away he would just have to hope that she kept his secret, but if not he hoped she wasn't scared of him even more. Lake moved one arm and touched one of the scars on his back 'You can touch them if you like they don't hurt, not until closer to the full moon which is in about 4 days time, so don't worry about me changing, Phoebe should get me the wolfsbane by then so i will be fine.'

Waiting patiently Lake didn't' know what else he could say.

 

[Clover Sheppard]

Relief washed over Clover's features as Lake let go of her arms, anticipating his answer. What was he going to tell her? Was he a serial killer? That would explain why he was antisocial. Why he reacted so harshly when they first met, not to mention why she found herself constantly on edge around him. No, she was reading too far into things. Stifling a breath as Lake removed his shirt; the pink haired girl couldn't help but worry what would happen if somebody walked in at this moment, Clover in an abandoned classroom with no one to accompany her but a shirtless Lake Silver. That would be difficult to explain. The seventh year lingered on this thought further, turning her attention back to Lake one his voice rung in her ears. She needed to defy her short attention span now, this was important, he trusted her. When Lake said she was close to a friend, she couldn't refrain from chewing on her lower lip. Was he really that alone here? She remained silent as Lake continued, glad she had begun biting her bottom lip to silence herself. It was the closest thing she would probably ever get to a mute button. What she did not understand was the reason Lake had chosen to remove his shirt when he was telling her a story from when he was nine. Luckily she held back the urge to question Lake by biting her lip harder. If she continued at this rate she would probably draw blood, but at least she was quiet.

She never needed to question Lake at all, as before she knew it he had flashed a small smile toward her before turning around to reveal scars running along his back. She hesitantly stepped forward, biting down on her lip more violently. Who could have done this to a nine year old? Who could have created such distinct scars, what pain could have created this? The very thought of it caused tears to prick in her eyes. Reacting quickly, clover blinked them back, hoping Lake didn't see. He wasn't facing her but she was in the wrong state to check if he was observing her from the corner of his eye or not. She had so many questions. Thankfully another of them was answered while Clover still said nothing. A defenceless nine year old lake was attacked by a werewolf. The seventeen year old couldn't help but feel selfish, the only thing that was stressful about her life was figuring out which professional Quidditch team to try out for. She couldn't imagine how Lake dealt with changing uncontrollably every full moon. She was comforted a little when lake said the scars didn't hurt, while also giving consent for her to touch them. Clover took another hesitant step forward, swallowing hard before gracing her hand ever so gently along each of his scars, counting them in her head. This was so much to take in at once. Almost too much. Though somehow she was glad Lake had told her, it explained a lot, answered so many of her questions while she never needed to speak a word.

Clover was bewildered by this, completely unsure of what to do, how to react, everything. She knew nothing about werewolves apart from the basics, this causing a set of new questions to spring into her head. Thank merlin she was still biting her lip. She reminded herself she could just venture to the library later instead of grating Lake with all her new questions; he probably didn't need it now. She assumed he didn't at least. Sighing, Clover finally released bottom lip. It was her turn to speak now. "I'm - I'm sorry." She stuttered, her voice barely above a whisper. What else could she say? She didn't expect things to get so intense so quickly, it had only been a few minutes since she walked into the abandoned classroom, prodding Lake with questions like she usually did. But those few minutes truly felt like hours now that he told her what he was hiding. She really was at a loss for words. ​