Catching Up (Sue and Ben)

[Susan Matthews]

Susan let her wet hair lie stiffly on her shoulders. She was nice and clean from her recent shower, but her hair was falling into its natural waves that would indefinitely bother her in the near future. It was still too much of a hassle to deal with a hair dryer and a comb. It was a miracle she still had a somewhat straight part and that her bangs were drying in a nice direction. Susan found it was easy not to care about the appearance of her hair as long as she avoided mirrors and other shiny surfaces that might reveal the current shape of her hair.

It was late, but not too late. The common room wasn’t too crowded and held the perfect light for reading at the hour. And hour best described as eight-thirty-ish. Of course she couldn’t be too sure of the time, seeing as she had recently dropped the habit of wearing a watch as she used to do. Although her hands were getting stronger most every day, she still found it difficult to manage small tasks such as buckling her watch. No real loss there, Susan found, however the more painful loss was the fact that she still could not grip her wand for hardly any length of time.

Until that day would come, if it would come, Susan busied herself reading. She smirked to herself, considering herself more of a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor, sitting around reading all the time. As uncharacteristic as it was, it was a sure way to catch up and keep up in classes that she had missed and would most likely be missing at least in participation. It was hard to say when she would be going to classes fully caught up. Passing OWLs was her main priority at the moment.

Already in her pajamas, Susan descended the small stair case from the girls’ dormitory and into the common room. She walked with a single book held under her arm. One, because it was lighter, and under her arm because it was difficult for her fingers to grasp the edges of the book. At the base of the stairs, she found the closest arm chair and sat down immediately, letting the book fall into her lap as she folded her legs up underneath her. The book was for Defense Against the Dark Arts, one of her favorite classes, but not one of her best at the moment.

So Susan sat, Indian style, a book open mid way in her lap to a subject she was only half familiar with. Her hair continued to drip onto her shoulders, slowly saturating the fitted grey shirt she often chose to sleep in. Her hands remained limp in her lap, except for when they were needed to gently turn the page of her text to the next unread one.

[Benjamin Ellis]

Although Ben did try not to get in trouble, sometimes he simply couldn't resist the temptation of breaking on rule or other. And today had been one of those days. He had been outside, watching the lake... and it had been talking to him. It wanted him to go closer... and closer... and it didn't matter that it had been getting dark, nor that he was fully-clothed. Finally, he'd gone up on a hill beside the lake, with the foresight to at least take his shoes off first, and jumped in.

The water was extremely refreshing as opposed to the heat that had pervaded the school grounds that day, just as he had known it would be. He had not paid attention to the sun setting, except to watch the colours of the sky for a few moments, before continuing with his swimming around, diving to the bottom and doing all sorts of exciting acrobatics in the water. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but eventually he had heard an angry voice booming across the lake for him to get out this minute. And so, he had been subject to Professor Stockholm's lecture as he was accompanied back to his common room, leaving a dripping trail on the stairs and floor that the caretaker would hate him for. A tergeo charm didn't occur to him; the water was still refreshing, even if he was beginning to shiver a little and his shoes were now as soaked as the rest of him from the water dripping from his trousers.

Stepping through the common room, the stern words of Professor Stockholm could be heard through the portrait hole. "And I don't want to see you out after hours again, Mister Ellis," the cold voice echoed after him, causing him to turn and nod to him. [red]"Okay, professor,"[/red] he agreed, one hand behind his back crossing his fingers. It had been most enjoyable, really, so he didn't really want to promise that he wouldn't. He would just have to make sure he was more careful if he decided to follow that course of action again.

Glancing around the common room, and gaining several stares from other students as he did so, his eyes finally settled on Susan and lit up with a grin. He had not had the chance to talk to her since she had returned, and hopefully she wouldn't be too busy reading to talk. He walked over to her, a cheery smile on his face and sat down cross-legged in front of her, beaming up. [red]"Hey Susan!"[/red] he greeted her enthusiastically, brushing a strand of dripping hair away from his face.

[Susan Matthews]

Of course Susan had looked up at the sound of the portrait hole opening. The last of whatever lecture was being delivered had been audible to all in the common room even before the entrance had yielded. Although only populated by a small amount of the Gryffindor population, Susan was among the majority of the students who glanced up at the harsh sound of Professor Stockholm’s voice. Susan had looked up happily, subconsciously seeking a relief in her reading. While she may have looked like a Ravenclaw, sitting around reading in her spare time, it certainly wasn’t what she would have liked to spend her time doing.

Susan watched with interest as the student receiving the harsh words, stepped through the portrait hole at last. Even from behind, Susan could tell it was Ben Ellis. That quirky little fourth year she was acquainted with. Just at the sight of him, Susan felt the corners of her mouth tugging upward. She heard with clarity as Ben straight up lied to the disciplining professor with a simple cross of his fingers. Taking in his appearance there were only a few things Ben could have been doing. He was completely soaked. Susan had it narrowed down to a swim in the lake or perhaps some water fight with another student on the grounds. Either sounded equally probable.

As Ben turned around, Susan glanced down to her text again, in case Ben didn’t feel like talking, she didn’t want to make him feel like he had to stay. However, Susan failed to find the place where she had left off, and soon was distracted once more as she found Ben suddenly sitting on the floor in front of her. Susan’s eyes immediately left the book in her lap to fall upon Ben’s soaking figure. He hadn’t bothered to walk up to his dorm to change or to even grab a towel. Susan thought of conjuring a towel for him, and even felt her hand flex slightly as she thought about reaching for the wand she still carried around out of habit.

Ignoring the small ache that had traveled up her arm, Susan chose to return Ben’s greeting. “Hello Ben,” she replied, slowly shaking her head at his dripping appearance. Susan almost laughed, remembering how she had been upset at her own dripping hair only moments earlier. Now they both were saturated, Ben only to a larger extent. A much larger extent. Leaning forward to place her elbows on her knees, Susan brought herself closer to Ben. “Now,” Susan pressed, “tell me what you were doing to become so sopping wet.” She prepared herself for a good story, glad to be ultimately distracted from work, if only for a moment.

[Benjamin Ellis]

Ben's eyes stared up at Susan with that permanent smile on his face, oblivious of everything else in the room apart from his source of interest at the moment. He noticed her hand twitch but said nothing of it, not wanting to bring up a sensitive topic just yet. There was plenty of time for that now, and he remembered how people had acted weirdly after he regained his sight. Although that was a positive change, it had also taken a little time to show them all that he was still the same person he was before, just with the ability to see now. Acting like everything was normal would probably be the best way forward in this case. And if the subject did come up, then just act like it was normal, nothing to worry about. Throughout the mini-debate that was going on in his head – which really hardly counted as a debate considering how one-sided it had been – the smile remained on his face, not faltering in the slightest.

His grin widened a little when he saw her shaking her head at him, gaining an almost proud expression, apparently because of his appearance. In fact it was because she seemed amused by it, and that was the kind of thing he counted on when doing such things as random as jumping into the lake near dark. Obviously the professor had not been impressed, but Professor Stockholm had a tendency to be particularly strict. Then again, he was a Ministry employee... he must get bored shuffling papers constantly. And now he was stuck teaching a load of kids who had no interest in the history of the magical world. Poor guy.

[red]"I jumped in the lake,"[/red] he announced, another shiver running through him. He shuffled a little closer to the fire, still keeping his eyes on Susan's face. [red]"I fancied a swim,"[/red] he attempted to explain, [red]"and the lake wanted me to jump in. It really did!"[/red] he assured her earnestly. [red]"Then Thorny came along and decided I shouldn't be doing that,"[/red] he continued, using an alternative to the professor's childhood nickname that was now used by students once again, [red]"so he dragged me out, gave me detention and brought me up here. But really, what was the issue? I know it was dark, but I bet those dementors in the forest can't swim!"[/red]

[Susan Matthews]

Susan knew what Ben was going to say before he replied, but she listened all the same. She was familiar with the art of story-telling. It required not any special skill, only the ability to grab and hold on to another’s attention. Susan liked to consider herself an experienced story-teller. She usually began with something to interest her audience, and then slowly added with small but important details, only to end with a great punch line that just makes the entire story worth it.

Susan was giving Ben a one-up by intending to listen to him no matter how he chose to tell his story. Her whole philosophy on entertaining was blown away by Ben’s very first sentence which gave it all away. “I jumped in the lake.” Susan involuntarily let out a few giggles at the sheer simplicity of his story, and also at the image of Ben jumping into the lake, fully dressed, in her head. She then continued listening, with renewed interest.

She had composed herself subtlety, but couldn’t help but smile at his personification of the lake, and again at the nickname he’d so thoughtfully bestowed upon Professor Stockholm. Susan’s face did become a solemn one at the mention of the dementors in the closing of his anecdote. It was meant to be a joke. Susan couldn’t help but think of the dark beings lurking in the forest that really would have liked to feast on Ben’s smiles and effervescing joy.

Susan forced a smile again, knowing soon it would become natural and she wouldn’t have to try so hard. “Some how I’m not surprised,” Susan remarked in general. Taking in his appearance in addition to his spontaneous attitude, jumping into the lake was definitely something Benjamin Ellis would be caught doing. Susan almost choked, suddenly caught with the memory of herself performing an act not unlike Ben’s most recent.

She had meant to scold Ben in her next statement, to tell him to be more careful, to perhaps earn the nickname “Thorny Jr.” Instead Susan thought of that cloudy day when she had done the exact same thing as Ben with a good friend of hers. How much things had changed since then. So much and oh so little. Susan’s smile widened slightly. “Believe it or not,” Susan added, feigning disinterest, “you’re not the only one to jump in the lake this year.” She paused for emphasis, “And I didn’t get caught.”

[Benjamin Ellis]

Ben had never been one for following the norm, especially when it came to such things as story-telling. He just said it exactly as it had happened, not bothering with building up to an exciting climax as Susan assumed was the best method for story-telling. Instead he just went straight for a very simple description of what had happened, and was rewarded with a series of giggles that escaped from Susan. His grin broadened happily to see her finding his tale amusing, finding it good to see her laughing again. She hadn't been doing that enough by far as of late, at least in his opinion.

However, he did notice her expression fall slightly when he mentioned dementors and he made a mental note to bring them up again around her, whether in a joke or not. Perhaps she had had a bad experience with one, or was simply worried about them being in the forest like so many people seemed to be. As far as he could tell, if they weren't supposed to be there then the Ministry or teachers would have removed them by this point, so there couldn't be too much to worry about. One flaw of Ben's was that he tended to be far too trusting, of everybody. He had been deceived multiple times by people seeking to do so. Though he still didn't agree with the Ravenclaw prefect, D'rorah, that he should be suspicious of everyone he met. Even if he was deceived now and then, it was better than living his whole life in suspicion.

Soon enough though a smile reappeared on her face, looking forced for a few moments before becoming more natural, at which his smile widened again. He listened intently as she began speaking with a 'believe it or not', head tilted upwards eagerly to hear what she had to share on the matter. His eyes widened in surprise when she admitted having jumped in the lake herself, sitting up a little straighter as he did so in interest. This was certainly news to him... she didn't seem the type to go spontaneously jumping into masses of water. [red]"You did? When? Why? And why didn't you ever mention it before?"[/red] he added on, eager to know more about this incident. [red]"Maybe we can go jumping in the lake together some time,"[/red] he grinned at her cheekily.