hestia jones

❝And when you at last find someone to whom you feel you can p o u r out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter - they are so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble from being kept in the small, cramped dark inside you so long. ❞

[prewettingarchive]

He could feel her tension but he couldn’t really understand where it was coming from. Perhaps it was just being around someone like Fabian: loud, boisterous, taking up far more space than was necessary. Maybe it was the fact that someone like himself had forced himself into her area… or it could just be that she didn’t particularly like attention focused on her.

Despite all of this, Fabian didn’t back down. Watching someone, in his opinion, was one of the best and quickest ways to get to know them. Even from the mere minutes he and Hestia had been walking together, he’d already taken in that (quite contrary to Fabian) she never took up more space than her small frame covered. She wasn’t the most comfortable with conversation. She had a terrible habit of picking at the end of her sleeve, something that left tiny holes and runs riddled across the edge of the fabric. And, the thing that he least understood of all that he’d picked up, she did all she could to keep from having attention drawn to her.

After hearing her answer, he knew that the two of them would be friends. She and all that she was was so foreign to Fabian, one of the many things that kept Fabian astonished in her. He couldn’t understand why she did what she did. It kept him guessing, always on his feet and sharp-minded. He never knew what she would say or do, and he absolutely loved it. Sure, it kept him slightly irritated, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. Unpredictability was one of Fabian’s absolute favourite things in all the world. So when she answered him, fully and in detail, he found himself smiling at the strangeness of it all. Hestia Jones holding a full conversation with himself of all people. What could be more erratic than that?

"John? Seems like a pretty interesting guy. And you give him tea and gingerbread and quality time… Alright, I’m jealous. I’ll have to meet him sometime then, yea?" Fabian was always trying to flirt at the oddest times and this was one of them. He didn’t mean anything by it so much as it was a force of habit. Still, he flashed her a bright grin and thought that maybe his eyes might twinkle at her if he willed them to. After doing so he looked forward and the smile faded some but the spark in his blue green eyes stayed. He thought fondly of his own grandfather, a jolly man by the name of Alfie, and truly did feel a pang of jealousy for reasons different than what he’d insinuated.

He was a bit surprised to hear the sound of a small laugh beside him. He hadn’t thought she’d find something like that very funny. The sound of her laughter made him laugh even more, unsurprisingly. “Nice?!” he exclaimed, “There is absolutely nothing nice about stealing someone’s only change of clothes while they’re skinny dipping in a lake,” he said, laughing when he could fit it in. He got himself under control before speaking again, “Oh, you meant the entire holiday, didn’t you? Yes, it was very nice, thanks.” He smiled as he saw her face out of the corner of his eye.

[hxstia-blog]

She ran her fingertips over the holes she'd forced into the jumpers she wore. It was funny, no matter how many times she fixed them, they always seemed to appear in the same places. She knew she did it, of course, but the fact was that she never seemed to be able to stop herself from the obsessive habit and she always ended up ruining each of her jumpers. Her mother cursed her out for it but ever since she was a little girl, she'd worn her jumpers like a comfort blanket, blocking her from unwanted attention from the world.

Hestia wondered why he could possibly be smiling so much at what she was saying. Certainly, she hadn't thought her words would be too interesting; it wasn't as if she'd discovered a new way to understand why using Runes produced natural magic that was both more powerful and longer lasting. That would have been an interesting topic, she thought. Maybe next time she should lead with that, though whenever she spoke to others about Runes they tended to look at her like she was completely crazy. He'd probably be in that group, and the thought almost made her sigh because she thought that maybe she'd like to get to know Fabian but that left one of her topics off limit.  

"I'm sure he'd like to meet you." She wasn't sure. John was quiet and liked his company the way she liked hers. He told her stories because she stayed silent and it was like making his own book. He held her hand to remind her that there was another person there but didn't make her talk when she wasn't ready to. "But if you want gingerbread I can maybe make some at some point." Hestia wasn't even sure why she'd offered that but the words had fallen from her lips and it was out in the open and she couldn't take it back. Maybe he wouldn't say yes.

She blushed deeply, trying to work out whether she had already said something wrong. She hadn't meant to offend the boy by her comment though she could understand why it had been taken in the wrong way. "Oh - I'm sorry. Really sorry. I didn't mean to..." She cut off, her eyes quickly falling back to the floor. Silently she berated herself, wondering why she'd made an attempt to socialise out of her group if it was going to go that badly.

Still, she nodded politely at his next words, not sure what she was meant to say when she felt as if she'd screwed up her chances of conversation with the popular lion boy. She maybe thought she wanted to be his friend, even if she didn't understand why he was paying so much attention to her.

[prewettingarchive]

As Fabian stood before the girl, he found himself all in all to be a little shocked. He’d always been drawn to her, the energy she put out and the way that she acted. It had intrigued him, as had the idea of introversion in general. Fabian had never understood how someone could find the thought of being alone, of not saying much of anything, comforting or even appealing. Still, he’d always wanted to have an appreciation for that sort of thing. As it was, though, he’d never come across someone who could make him see the positives of the concept.

As he’d done before, he found himself thinking maybe Hestia could be the one to show him. She’d always seemed sweet. Polite nods and small smiles aside, she seemed the sort of person who always had a million thoughts racing behind her eyes. Hestia Jones always looked as though she had an idea sitting on the tip of her tongue, a fact ready to share or a question to inquire about. There was no way for him to be sure, though, as he’d never exactly heard her speak any of it… it was more of a gut feeling.

Regardless of it all, Fabian figured he could probably use a Hestia Jones in his life. He noticed as he fell into his regular strides that she was practically jogging to keep up with her. He looked down at her for a moment and then chuckled to himself, slowing his pace from ‘brisk walk’ to ‘pleasant stroll.’

"Good. I’ve already grown pretty fond of it, Hes." He smiled down at her again and for the first time really registered the difference in the pair’s height. Fabian knew himself to be 6"1’ and Hestia had to be at least a foot shorter than that. No wonder the girl was struggling to keep up.

"Quiet? You’ve done a great job painting this picture, I can practically envision it all.” He smiled, another laugh leaving his throat as he probed her for a bit more information than she was comfortable giving. That’s how you make friends, isn’t it?

Her question seemed more out of obligation than an actual interest in him, but he ignored that as he answered. “Mine were lovely. Gid and I had a very fulfilling and successful summer holiday filled with pranking Molly more than she really deserves, ridding our yard of garden gnomes, and playing an awful lot of quidditch. Not to mention Caradoc and I somehow managed to talk him into skinny dipping and then stole his clothes and ran while he was still in the lake… Dunno how he didn’t see that one coming. It’s practically the oldest trick in the book,” He found a giggle bubbling up but pushed it away. He couldn’t be giggling around someone he was hardly friends with yet… he needed to make a good impression. Still, one look at his face would easily give him away.

[hxstia-blog]

She couldn't understand why he was looking at her so intensely. She was a wallflower; always in the background and being looked over by the majority of the population because in so many ways she was just average. She was small, plain and too quiet to be of any importance. But his gaze was on her like she was the most important person in the world and she wasn't sure how she was meant to deal with that. She couldn't just look away, couldn't leave now that she had agreed to walk with him. Hestia just had to stand there and not understand and she h a t e d  that.  

She appreciated that he slowed down. Hestia couldn't help her height and most of the time she didn't even mind it. Being small made it easier for her to blend in with groups of people and slip through places unnoticed. But whilst she walked next to him, she wished she could move faster and not be too much of a hassle for him. She felt like she needed to constantly make up for being a burden simply because she was not what the people around her expected.

She took a deep breath, the way she always did when she felt she had to make up for the silence. "I read a lot and helped out at the care home near my house." Hestia searched from something that might be of interest for him and instead of focussing the attention on herself, pushed it to someone she found more interesting. "There's a gentleman there who is called John and he has installed himself as my honorary grandpa and he fought in the wars and tells excellent stories about his sweetheart back home. Though they're sad because she died after they'd been married two years, but the way he loves her still is incredible. We drink tea and I take him gingerbread and sometimes he falls asleep halfway through a game of chess but there was a party and he taught me to dance. That was nice."

If she noticed that the most words she'd strung together in a while were about another person then she didn't say anything. John was a fascinating gentleman and she was amazed by his constant positivity and the way he let her be completely herself. Some days he was even content to hold her hand whilst they each read on a picnic in the grounds because he didn't want to talk either. He was safe. He was perhaps the only person she felt like understood what it was like to need the silence.

Hestia couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the end of his story. Even though she worried that it might be a little cruel, there was plenty of evidence to suggest that the boy should have seen it coming and by the look on her companions face, he probably wouldn't mind her laughing. Still, her attention fell to her feet as she did so. She couldn't help it. The action felt like as much of a security blanket as picking at her jumper sleeves. "That sounds nice."

[fireside-seasons]

[hxstia-blog]

a general hestia jones moodboard

[rabxstan]

            — ” Lestrange is just as fine as anything else. Not exactly chummy enough for first names, are we? “

Rab glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, hands still tucked safely away in his pockets. He’d half expected her to run by now, or at least make some poor attempt at an excuse that would allow her to walk back into her safe little world isolated from big bad things like him. A short laugh escaped him at the realization that she had a bit more mettle to her than the timid rabbit act initially let on. It seemed there were surprises everywhere a wizard dared to look these days.

" So what are you out and about for today, Jones? "

His gaze dropped to her height for a moment as he searched her face.  Most of their fellow classmates were inside getting to know one another all over again and avoiding talking about those of their numbers that hadn’t returned because their parents wouldn’t allow them to or because they simply weren’t around to do so.

[hxstia-blog]

         "No, we're not. So I suppose that Jones and Lestrange will do just fine."

He wasn't going to hurt her in that moment and that realisation took a load off of her chest. She was safe for then. He could, and possibly would, target her later on and she knew she should have been more scared for that. But instead of wasting her time and worrying about matters beyond her own control, she knew it would be much easier to simply breathe through the moment and focus on all the much safer quiet spaces around them.

             "I wanted to read and the library had too many people talking in it so I decided to come and sit in the sun."

She looked around her. Hestia hadn't decided on the corner of space that she would inhabit for the next few hours, though it seemed to be in her best interest to follow him along and fine her own room once he had decided to leave her. She could always read in the stands if they were going to be quiet enough.

         "Are you going to practice quidditch on the pitch?"

[hxstia-blog]

“All I really want to do today is go to the book store, drink coffee and read.”                             -@daffodxl

Hestia looked up and smiled at the girl who had flopped into the seat opposite her. She wasn't sure why Narcissa was talking to her, but she wasn't going to voice that and complain about the matter. It would be wiser to keep her mouth shut as much as possible and to simply discuss what was presented to her. It was only because she was the only one around that the little dove realised the conversation was being aimed at her.

             "I don't suppose you can leave the castle to go to a bookshop, sorry."

Though she wasn't really sure what Narcissa Black could and couldn't get away with. Perhaps she would be allowed to leave the castle should she have a desire to. It seemed that it might be the way that things worked for the upper classes who had the power to influence the every day goings on at the school. Hestia thought that she might never know, which was almost the way she might like to keep it.

          "You could, maybe, take a coffee into the library and sit down with it there? If you stay near the back, it's a little quieter and you might not be as disturbed."

[prewettingarchive]

She looked at her feet and he sighed, a smile on his face. That was the moment that he mentally noted her as his new project. He could get anyone to open up, he was sure of it. Regardless of whether they knew it or not, everyone was able to be cracked, Hestia Jones included. Although she’d probably end up being a bit harder to open up than he anticipated, he took the challenge head on.

She didn’t laugh at his joke, which was alright. Fabian was pretty used to that. He was always telling stupid jokes, and he often ended up being the only one to laugh at them. Still, he’d thought that one was a little funnier than his usual mediocre collection. He was determined, though. He wouldn’t leave her alone today until he got one laugh out of her. Something more than the polite smiles she gave people who bumped into her, people who tried to talk to her. She gave them to everyone, really. He wanted something more out of her.

"You’re right. It is better.” He grinned at her.

He saw her look around, as if he might have been asking someone other than her. He didn’t see anyone else around, and even if there were other people they hadn’t been the ones he’d asked, but he waited to see if she’d say anything herself. He looked at her in a way that pretty much conveyed his message. You, Hestia. I’m talking to you. His smile stayed in place.

"I was following you anyway, wasn’t I? Might as well walk side by side, keep our levels of creepy to a minimum" He chuckled to himself. "C’mon, then." And with that he turned and walked at a pretty slow pace, giving Hestia time to catch up.

He looked around them, noticing the colors of the sky. Deep oranges and yellows, a dash of purple near the bottom of the skyline, though the higher you went the better you could still see the clear blue of daytime. “So, Hes,” he’d started, pausing for a moment, “S’alright if I call you that, yea? Anyway, how were your holidays?”

[hxstia-blog]

Hestia couldn't understand why he wanted to spend his time around her. She was the girl most people thought was too boring to pay much attention to. Of course, she had her friends. The people who appreciated her silence and understood that she liked to spend her time around people who didn't force her to be in large groups too often. But he was Fabian Prewett. She knew the way that girl's eyes followed him around, saw how he flitted between them and left them behind. Perhaps he was there to make her into another one of those girls, she thought. But even if he was, he'd end up sorely disappointed.

She wasn't one of those girls. She wasn't even the type of girl that people fell in love with. She was the kind of girl who watched whilst everyone else had exciting lives and dreamt about the day that she would step out of her own comfort zone and have her own adventure. He would be another person who grew tired of her after a while because she couldn't seem to become comfortable with them. That was the way that this always seemed to work.

            "I guess I can't argue with that logic."

She quickened her pace slightly, falling into step with the boy who she was now meant to be walking with. His strides where longer than her own, though she guessed that was probably because he was at least a whole foot taller than her and the young girl found that she was having to walk at least two steps to make one of his.

         "I suppose," She said, not sure if she was meant to answer the question at all. "Not many people do, but it's okay if you want to. I don't mind."

                             "Quiet." 

Her holidays had been just the way she liked them. She spent most of the days out in the fields around her house with second hand books. She walked the 30 minutes into town and drank tea in the coffee shop by the river when the old women called her 'honey.' She danced with an old man at the village party because her mother insisted she go and he had no other partner. She visited the care homes in the afternoon and played chess and read to them into the early evenings. She visited her friends. It was dictated by her own whims, tailor made to keep her calm and happy throughout the warm climate when she couldn't wear jumpers as a protection.

         She turned her gaze up to his, thinking that she ought to remain polite. "How were yours, Fabian?"

[rabxstan]

                    — ” I’m not Mulciber; I do have standards. “

Rabastan was an ass and a lech, admittedly. He cared little for the thoughts or opinions of other and even less about their objections to his comings and goings. The boy even had his fair share of notches on both belt and bedpost, but each and every one of them had w a n t e d him in the moment of submission. It was a game to him - a hunt, even. He enjoyed making them admit their desires and then submit to his will. Sure, he used persuasion and precision to herd them where he wanted, but they took the step over the threshold. Rab didn’t need the Imperius curse to get a bird in the sack.

Of course they all denied it after he’d chewed them up and spit them out.

            ” Well, Jones, I’m not polite. ” Truth be told he hadn’t remembered her first name, but that was neither here nor there. ” And you’ll refrain from calling me Mr. Lestrange if you value your tongue. In which case, we’ll get along just fine for the duration of this walk. “

[hxstia-blog]

She pressed her lips together. There were many things that Hestia could say, things that she dared to think in the privacy of her own mind, but this was not the time nor place. She was not only a girl who stayed silent, she was a girl who chose carefully when she would speak and when words would be necessary. Here they would only serve to condemn her. It was clear he would be quick to anger and clear she would be better fighting veiled threats with her own quiet, steadfast defiance.

She was more than the little girl in the back of the library. Hestia was the girl who survived every day with people telling her that she should be a million things that she wasn't. That was her strength.

And despite her fear of him, she knew that he was only a boy. 

                "No, I don't suppose you are." She murmured to herself more than him. Hestia squared her shoulders again, looking at him. "Then what am I to call you? Since you seen to have a preference."

[prewettingarchive]

He noticed how uncomfortable the girl in front of him was and couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. Of course, that would hardly stop him from speaking to her. Things like that had never stopped him before and today would not be one of firsts. That sort of thing intrigued him because it was so different from what he was. Fabian loved to be the center of everything and always had been. It was something that stemmed probably from his feeling of being the “lesser” twin, which of course was an irrational fear but a fear nonetheless that he had dealt with his entire life.

He didn’t know what she was thinking, and that bothered Fabian more than anything with people. He was very good at reading emotions but he never knew what people were musing in their own minds. He was sure it was something interesting. The Ravenclaw girl had always seemed the silent, adventurous type to him. The sort of girl who needed desperately to be pulled from her shell and thrown out into the world, but that was probably just Fabian imposing his own beliefs on everyone else again.

The girl continued to pick at the nearly destroyed sleeves of her jumper as she spoke, seeming to force the words out of her mouth. “Sanity? I think my definition of sanity is… well… I dunno, really. Just that I’m not in the club.” He chuckled after that.

When she spoke again, his face went very blank for a moment before he burst into loud, unavoidable laughter. “Right, then, entirely not creepy of you to say. Well, I know who you are too, Hestia Jones, so that makes two of us.” He chuckled and continued on with the walk that they’d begun separately and would likely finish together. He looked back at her for a moment. “You coming, then?”

[hxstia-blog]

His stare didn't waver as he looked at her and her own gaze dropped, flitting to the ground by her feet and inspecting the tips of her shoes. They were scuffed up from the amount of time she spent standing awkwardly around and she wondered how it was that a piece of clothing could reflect her so well. She was a mess from avoiding situations, scared of confrontation and stepping out of her own comfort zone. Hestia likes to act like she couldn't help it but he solitude had always been her own doing. She just felt safer that way.

 She wasn't sure whether she should laugh at his words. He certainly seemed to but she wasn't sure if the action was meant to be mutual or if it would cause offence if she joined in with the moment. She didn't want to offend. He was so much more interesting than she was and she couldn't think of a single reason that she would be of interest to the boy stood in front of her but she didn't want to discourage him outright. He was a bright spark in the halls where she decided to hide away in the shadows.

                   "Oh, well - maybe it's better to be out of the club?" She smiled. She wasn't sure that she'd found the right answer but it was better than simply standing there silently.

She looked around when Fabian asked if was coming with him, convinced that there would be another person around there that he would be talking to. She still didn't understand why he was talking to her, really, but there didn't seem to be anyone else in the vicinity that he wanted.  

               "You, um- you don't have to invite me along? I mean, I don't want to interrupt anything that you were doing."

[prewettingarchive]

Fabian looked over the girl in front of him briefly: small frame, angular face, button nose, and a nice fringe. With a bit of a sleeve-picking habit, he noted. Although it was a fact about him that was often overlooked, Fabian was quite the observer. Despite his remarkably short attention span, he loved to people-watch. Nervous ticks, body language… emotions. Now that was one of his favourite things to read. The look on someone’s face or the shake in their voice. Hestia Jones was no exception.

He waited to see if she’d say anything else. She seemed to think about it for a bit and he could’ve sworn she’d almost opened her mouth as if to do so, but after a few silent moments he figured she wasn’t going to go any further.

"Right… sane people. They’re the boring ones, though, aren’t they?" He chuckled, "Hestia, right?" He said, as if he didn’t know. That was obviously a lie. Fabian had a name for almost every face in his memory. He had a brilliant one… memory, that is. "Dunno if we’ve been formally introduced. I’m Fabian, the twin without the ugly bump in his nose." He tapped the side of his nose, a wide grin on his face, as if to make a point of its straightness. Gid had broken his when the two of them were boys.

[hxstia-blog]

His eyes on her felt a little to invasive. They probed her actions and Hestia once again fought the building desire to walk away and shrink back into the sidelines. She was the watcher, not the watched. Her eyes were those that picked up on habits and patterns and it unnerved her when that was turned back on herself. He was too loud to be watching. Too much the life of the party and she was a no one who many would say didn't deserve to be the object of his attention. His eyes that moved over her invaded and it was with great force that she managed to stop herself from wrapping her arms around her and hiding away in the safety of invisibility.

And then he was speaking to her and she was forcing herself to look back at him and pay attention to his words. People always assumed she would be a good listener and for the most part she was but there were moments when her mind raced too much and she had to stop the panic that always seemed to rise. Listening would be polite though and she didn't want to snub him directly when he probably had much better places to be than talking to her.

          "That depends on what your definition of sanity is." She murmured. Her own definition did not include her. She was too quiet, too afraid to speak out and do the things that scared her, too secluded most of the time to be considered sane.

          "I know." she said too quickly. "I mean, not in a creepy way, I just - I've seen you around and I sort of know who you are."

[nephalvm-deactivated20141225]

[hxstia-blog]

“It’s blood, yeah.”                        - rabxstan

Her courage faltered slightly, fingertips shaking as she tried to fight the overwhelming urge to back away and take the easy road out. She'd taken that road far too many times and if she ever wanted to be the person she could be, she needed to make the tough decisions. This could be the start of something if she would only let it.

He was on the other side; a future death eater. Were their positions reversed, he would probably let her suffer through the pain and enjoy it. He'd laugh as her blood spilled out onto her clothes and enjoy the tears that rolled down her cheeks as she fought the pain.

But she was a better person than that. She was goodness and caring and she'd always held pride in that fact. She'd always fought to be a person she could be proud of and that person would do the right thing even though it was a hard decision. She could be the bigger person. She was the one who had that change and held that power.

               "Come here. I'll heal it for you."

[hxstia-blog]

“I swear, you are the only person I know who makes decisions based on what will provide the best material for a diary.”                                 -@knightindarkarmor

Hestia laughed. Her eyes cast downwards at the floor and fingernails picking at the sleeves of the jumper she was wearing. She was sure the utterance was meant to offend her in some way but it had done almost the opposite. She liked that as a thing. She liked that she was known for words. Words were saviours; they could do almost anything and she could cope with the thought that they were all she had.

              "I don't think that's a bad thing." She said with a smile, "You see, if I look for material, I am always going to be taking the interesting path. If I'm okay with it being written down then I obviously see it as a good choice."

She was sure it wasn't meant to sooth her, certain that he would have expected her to step back and look at him offended. She couldn't though. She had the journal she'd created years before next to her and she knew that each page was filled with the person that she was trying to be. The stories in there were her successes and her failures and she would always have them to look back over.

           "Maybe you would benefit from writing some of the things in your life down. You might think them through that way."

[augustusxfinch]

“All I really want to do today is go to the book store, drink coffee and read.” (from hestia)

"Agreed, except for the bit about coffee," he said with a nod, leaning back somewhat in his chair. It was a relief to actually be around someone he could consider a friend, or considered a friend on his good days anyway. There was hardly no accounting for what he thought during moments of extreme self doubt.

“I’d much rather be doing that than school,” he admitted, running a hand through his hair before going back to straighten his bangs with the palm of his hand. He never really could decide what sort of style he wanted, and he wasn’t one of those boys who could run around with wild unruly hair, it never really sat well with him when he did.

"Hogsmeade visits are coming up," he said with a nod. "Perhaps we ought to do just that then," he blinked, realizing he’d gotten ahead of himself. Hestia hadn’t said anything about wanting to do anything with him, for all he knew she wanted to be alone. She often seemed to. He swallowed, feeling guilty about overstepping the statute of appropriate behavior he’d created for himself. It was rather strict.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to force any plans on you," he said quietly, looking down at the book in his lap  trying his best to pretend that he was reading intently.

[prewettingarchive]

Fabian had thought a nice walk would do well for tonight. The weather was enjoyable: not too hot or too cold with a nice breeze. He’d done a bit of catching up with his fellow lions. Most of their stories consisted of the same things. I did the most insane thing on holiday, or I practiced quidditch like crazy, or You would not believe the women in France. After he’d heard enough, he’d started his stroll with a nod at the Fat Lady. His feet had just been moving, no set destination in mind. Before long, he’d fallen into step with Hestia Jones, a quiet Ravenclaw in sixth year. Although he’d never really spoken to her, he knew of her. He hadn’t exactly meant to be following her, but when she turned to ask the question he figured that must be what he was doing. A laugh escaped his mouth, something that was not uncommon of Fabian Prewett.

"I…  eh, just going on a walk, actually. Unless you wanted me to be following you… though I reckon that’d be a bit odd.”

[hxstia-blog]

Hestia immediately regretted that she had sounded so harsh towards the boy who was standing in front of her. She immediately placed him as Fabian Prewett, the twin who always seemed to be surrounded by laugher and had more freckled on his cheeks than his nose and touched his hair a lot. To anyone else, it might have been weird that she'd noticed so much about an almost complete stranger, but she'd spent her life as a watcher and she was good at picking up habits. For example, whenever she felt uncomfortable she would pick at the sleeves of her jumpers - which she was doing in that moment, as it happened.

       "I don't suppose anyone particularly wants to be followed." she remarked, "In fact, most sane people would find it slightly unnerving."

She looked around, wondering what else she should be saying to him. He surrounded himself with the loud, the beautiful and the interesting and she was sure she couldn't be included in any of those groups. But here she was and she supposed she should say something instead of feeling like her tongue was weighted down with lead.

[augustusxfinch]

The feast the night previous had been excellent, not that Augie had any reason to suspect otherwise. It was a excellent reprieve from the usual takeout and tv dinners that his father and him called proper meals. It was really too bad that this year his nerves had gotten the better of him, somewhere deep down he no longer felt like he belonged at Hogwarts. He was a year older than most of the oldest students, he’d already taken his N.E.W.T.s (failing spectacularly), and he could swear he heard some second years whispering about how he’d been held back. It was enough to put anyone off their dinner.

He’d made a point of taken the bare minimum number of classes, it’d give him a lot less to fail at this time round and he really only needed to do the minimum. Though that was asking a lot as it was. Augie had the morning off luckily, time to straighten out the contents of his traveling chest as well as get a headstart on the summer homework he’d not quite completed.

The grounds were quiet, with most of the younger students out and about and it was only when he heard footsteps nearby that Augie looked up from his work, attempting to sit up straighter he knocked his parchment and ink everywhere.

“I am, so sorry,” he said quickly, too afraid to make eye contact as he scrambled to clean up the mess.

[hxstia-blog]

Her mother's parting words weighing heavily on her mind, Hestia made her way outside to read the book in her hand. "Do try and get out more this year, Hestia, darling. You might find that you make some amazing new friends if you step out of your comfort zone." She had whispered as she hugged her. It was easy for her mother to say, of course. She lived for constant chatter, surrounded herself in social activity after social activity. Lunch, cocktails, sports classes, shopping outings; they all made up life for a woman whose only daughter preferred the company of books and silence. Hestia wondered if her father had been like her. Though she quickly dismissed those thoughts because why should the young girl waste her time wondering about a man who had never wanted her? 

Still, she'd found a solution that would work for the time being. She would sit outside with her books and talk politely to those who disturbed her. She would resist the urge to walk away. She would, perhaps, sit near other readers and join them in the silence. That would almost be like socialising, would it not?

As she walked outside she saw a boy she considered safe and decided to reach out to him and perhaps have an enjoyable afternoon, however, he knocked over his ink and she walked closer. She smiled. Hestia felt for the boy who must feel out of place at Hogwarts now.

         "Nothing to worry about, Augie." She smiled and waved her wand, clearing up the mess so that it looked as if nothing had happened. "See, all cleared up."

        "Would you mind if I sat down?"

[rabxstan]

The boy grinned at that, the flesh of his lips stretching thinly over his teeth. Congenial actions and pleasantries were beyond him, and the attempt only served to create a predatory leer. Still, he made no furter attempt to invade her circle of personal space, choosing instead to linger on the edge. The threat was more frightening than the actuality.

              — ” Can’t say I haven’t heard that before. “

He began walking again - slowly - waiting for her to fall in line. His gaze focused ahead of them, towards the skyline.

          ” You’re in my year. ” A statement, not a question. ” Jones, isn’t it? “

What a perfectly common name.

[hxstia-blog]

             "Did you get the message?"

She looked down at his smile, her small feet holding more fascination for the young girl than the expression on his face. He could hurt her, she had no doubt of that, but there were people around and she could use that as a protective blanket should she feel a need. Her fingertips picked at the insides over the jumper she was wearing as she turned to walk towards the pitch slowly with him. She could be brave and strong if she wanted, Hestia just had to find that.

           "I am," she answered anyway. "Hestia. It's much more polite to use full names if you're going to forget the title.."

Not that he would care, she thought, but she didn't like to be snubbed and even though it was a little thing in the conversation, she had to point it out.