Closed Winds of Change

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon continued to be puzzled by his action in the Forbidden Forest even as he walked down the grand staircase to the great hall. He couldn't for the life of him figure out where or how he had gotten the courage to asked his best friend to come with him to the Yule Ball. It was true that both of them could use the distraction from reality, but really there was another reason why he asked Lavinia to come with him, which was why he was so surprised that he went through with it. He could only hope that she wouldn't find out about it until he was ready to admit his true feelings for her - if it were up to him, he'd probably never be ready for it though unless another act of courage was waiting round the corner. Dressed in something much nicer than he would usually wear to such events, because he had used some of his savings on this, Eamon joined the mass of students all standing in the entrance hall. It was more crowded than usual which made it hard to check if his friend was amongst the many students. Because they hadn't actually said where to meet up with one another, the Gryffindor decided that he would wait for his friend in the hall, this so that he could see her coming if she wasn't already down here.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia wasn't even sure why she had agreed to go to the yule ball. She didn't think she would have much fun, since there were very few, or next to nothing, things that could distract her from her own thoughts and feelings. She was beyond grateful to her best friend however because he was trying hard to cheer her up from her problems, and she didn't want him to think she was just taking it for granted. She wanted to pay him back, somehow, and this was the only thing she could do, that could possibly involve her having a bit of fun, no matter how much she thought she wouldn't enjoy herself. She sighed, but decided she would go for Eamon. The fifth year smoothed her dress before she entered the hall and it didn't take her long to find her best friend, who was probably also looking for her. Lavinia went over to the Gryffindor with a small smile. "Hey, you look decent," she teased lightly.​

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon spotted his friend as she entered the hall and smiled broadly. It was nice to see her whenever he did usually but to see her like this... well he had to admit to himself that it was even better - no he could not think that like that tonight. He chuckled at the teasing and shook his head slightly in fake disapproval. ''Well enjoy it while you can because tomorrow it's back to wearing my second-hand robes'' the Gryffindor told Lavinia. He felt much more comfortable to talk or mention these kinds of things to the girl ever since his little outburst in the Forbidden Forest. While Eamon thought that she might have already known that his family did not have that much money, he was glad that she never said or asked about it but let him be to one to basically confirm it. ''You look decent too, I guess,'' he teased back, grinning.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia raised her eyebrow in response, and she hit him lightly on the arm. "Don’t talk like that about yourself," she scolded, trying to be as firm as she could. She knew about his situation now, and she was glad that Eamon had finally told her. They had confessed almost everything to each other that day in the forest and now that that had been settled the girl hoped they could both relax and enjoy the night. She wasn’t sure, yet again, if she would have fun at all, but she was here with her best friend and that had to mean something. The Gryffindor was the only person at Hogwarts she trusted right now, excluding her family, so she could at least try to appear a bit cheerful. "You guess? Oh dude, you know I look good," she said with a grin. "Want some snacks?" she asked, but didn’t wait for an answer as she grabbed Eamon’s hand and pulled him behind her to the food table. Nothing new there.​

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

''What? It's true! So take a good and proper look while you still can,'' Eamon said with a smirk and with arms spread wide turned around on the spot so she could have a good look at how decent he looked in a shirt and jacket. He was glad that Lavinia came out tonight. While confessing certain things to one another definitely strengthened their relationship, the Gryffindor also hoped that it would make her come out of the Hufflepuff common room more, which it sadly hadn't. As the best friend, he figured that it was his job to make sure that she would do all the things the other fifth years were doing too which was mainly having fun with people because soon enough they'd all be studying for the OWLs - Eamon did not know what Lavinia was going to do since she had been skipping all of her classes so far so wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before they would hardly see each other. ''You always look good though,'' he replied, feeling his cheeks turn red as soon as he realised what he just said. He was about to answer when she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her to one of the food tables. ''Sure, lead the way,'' the boy said jokingly. ''I hope they still have those little white chocolates, I love those,'' he added.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

The fifth year playfully rolled her eyes, knowing full well that what he was saying was true. "Still, that doesn't mean that I want to hear you talk lowly of yourself. All that matters, at least to me, is your personality." She nodded to herself in confirmation, she would say it again if he wasn't confident enough about it yet. He didn't need to tell everyone about his situation, of course, but he didn't need to be so ashamed of it either. "Alright, don't mind if I do," she said with a wink in return, teasing him and playing along. It was fun, and she hadn't felt this light since...well, since before her best friend had left. She was grateful he was back, especially now, when she needed him the most. Lavinia didn't even want to think about school, or the OWLs she was probably going to fail, or even her classmates and what they probably already knew by now. She hadn't expected his next comment and she didn't know how to reply to that, so she just smiled, a strange yet oddly pleasant feeling of warmth spreading throughout her body. "T-Thanks," she stuttered, surprised by her nervousness. "Oooh, yeah, those are pretty good. Except, I don't really have a sweet tooth. You think they got pretzels?" she asked excitedly, turning to Eamon with a grin as they reached the snack table.​

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

If personality was all that mattered to his best friend than he'd have nothing to fear, or at least he thought so, because she was still very much friends with him, even after he left her without telling her about it. Lavinia's words also brought confidence with them, as it again confirmed that he would not have to be afraid that she would think differently of him now that she knew his living arrangments and how he contributed to paying the electrical and water bills. It was such a relief that his demeanour around the girl changed drastically in that he was almost back to his humoristic and sarcastic ways. Eamon grinned when she went along with it and turned around last time for good measure. It was this kind of banter that he had missed the most while he was away. While the Gryffindor enjoyed spending time with his step-brother, it would never be as enjoyable as spending time with the girl standing in front of him. Still a little red in the face, the boy found himself surprised that she stuttered - surely that was a good sign yes? He was even more surprised at what she told him next. ''Hold on,'' Eamon began, turning toward Lavinia. ''If you don't have a sweet tooth then what happened to the candy I brought you from the Halloween feast? Don't you dare say you that threw them away!'' He would've been more than happy to keep the candy for himself if she hadn't wanted them.