Summertime Sadness PV Dale Binding Mark Thread Cl

Evening walks weren't anything new to Dale, he used to take them a lot in his second year when he felt more confident in his ability to not get lost around the vast grounds of Hogwarts. Walks let him clear his head, let him organize his thoughts for the day and let him plan out what to do in the future and just relax for a bit. But this was his first time back at Hogwarts in about a year, it felt a little surreal, everything about it really, even though he hasn’t even been in the castle yet. The strangest part of it all was even though he was surrounded by people he still felt… alone, but it was only the first day of summer camp, he was hoping that the feeling would go away once he started to do more things and meet more people… just like his mother wanted to.

His mom’s memory still sat heavy in his heart, whenever he thought about her he could feel his eyes get foggy and well up, he held them back as much as he could, and tried to keep any thought of his mom out of his head. They still found their way into his head once everything settled down, the walk was a good distraction, the wind running through his hair felt nice in this weather. He didn’t really have a destination in mind, but felt oddly compelled to head to the great lake, he remembered those leisurely naps he took in the sun, good times. Just napping out in the sun like nothing mattered in the world.

As he drew close to the lake he heard a voice, he stopped and turned in the direction of it. He started to make his way over to the sound of the voice, the closer he got the more he could hear it, it sounded like singing, and the voice sounds so… so familiar. As he got even closer to the lake he was eventually able to do it. It looked just like he remembered it looked a year ago, not that really expected it to change really, but who knows, he expected anything to happen at this point. His attention was grabbed away once again by the singing, and this time he knew who it was, not only was he able to finally place the voice, but he could also see her, lying in the grass, Annie. He wanted to go over and say “Hi” or “been a long time” or anything really, but for some reason his leg wouldn't move, stuck in one place refusing to move. He just continued to listen to her finish her song. It wasn’t until he heard her yell about being pathetic that his legs finally decided to move.

He slowly approached her, trying his best now to spook her, she was spread out in the grass, the resemblance to a starfish was striking. He sat down next to her, not too far, but far enough away to not crush her arms or legs. He was surprised she still hadn't noticed him, or if she had she hadn't really said anything. He could see some tear streaks down her face, he remembered back to the contents of their last few letters, she had told him something bad had happened, but he never really found out what, he wondered if this was because of that. He was struggling for words, not really sure what to say. He just sat there for a bit until he heard her say " Come back soon Dale. I need you now more than ever, don't try to go through the grief alone." He smiled for the first time in what it felt like forever, even though what she had just said was incredibly depressing. “I’m right here Annie.” He said softly, “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t notice me till now...” He looked over to her, she definitely looked a bit different… older, but that’s usually what happens when you haven't seen a person in a year. But something that really struck Dale was her eyes, they were cloudy instead of her usual color. “Sorry I didn’t owl for a long time.” He stopped looking at her and redirected his stare at the stars, he wasn’t used to the sheer amount of stars you could see away from the city lights. “Lots of things happened… you wanna tell me what has the Great Annie Morgan down?” he tried to make some light of the situation, he hoped it wasn't in poor taste.

@Dale Kurt

Dale was a little confused at first, when she sat up and grabbed his hand, she didn’t really look at him, instead sort of past him, like she wasn’t quite sure where he was. But before he could reply with something like “that's me” or “did you forget about me” She jumped at him with a hug. He was little taken aback at first, not by the hug, he accepted it back immediately by wrapping his arms around her, but instead by the sheer strength of her grip, he wasn’t sure he would be able to stay sitting up for long.

Dale could feel her tears roll on his back and soak into his shirt, he could feel his own tears start to roll down his cheek, he didn’t know why, this was supposed to be a happy moment, a reunion after a full year apart so why was he crying. He was ok just staying like this for a few more minutes, but she pulled away. It felt like a full weight was taken off his shoulders, both metaphorically and physically. Annie confirmed what he had already assumed, she was blind, hat explained why she didn’t look directly at him, and why her eyes looked different. Dale didn’t say anything immediately, letting it sink it, he matched her gaze to the clouds. “I assumed something happened to your eyes, but I had no idea it was this bad.”

Dale had no idea how to feel, he felt bad for her sure, yes, but he didn’t want it to affect his views on her. ”So remind me to never try to meet your grandfather then.” He matched her laughter but also wondered if there was more to the story, but he would ask another day. “The only one holding secrets here is you.” Dale said, his sarcasm returning to him. “And yea, no more being alone, we’ve got each other now.” He saw her redirect her gaze to the sky, “I’m..holding on, It’s been a couple of months now, im adapting. Been reading a lot, well a lot more than usual even.”

Dale suddenly thought back to his studies, right before the last school year ended. He dropped one of her hands and fished into his jeans pockets, and pulled out a lamented piece of paper. The contents of which explained a procedure to bind people together and let them communicate, he had learned how to do it, but had never actually done it before, it was permanent after all, and it let someone talk to you and know where you were at all times. But Dale didn’t mind if it was his best friend knowing those things.

“Remember those books I had you send me from the library, those and a few others let me find this.” Dale placed the lamented piece of paper in her hand. “Do you know what a binding mark is?”

@Dale Kurt

Dale smiled, "It's normal for you to talk about the feel of a neckless instead you know... how it looks, I knew something was up." He was pretty impressed with himself at the time, thinking he had it all figured out, he looked quite stupid now that he looked back at it. "Guess ill have to earn that title back then, no matter, I don't think walls put up that much of a fight." They had a year to make up for, but Dale found it hard to try to look forward to it all knowing what he had lost in that year. He could feel the sadness coming on, he quickly shook out any thought of his mother and resources his attention on Annie's words.

His heart wrenched when she told him about the dream and her fears. How long had she felt this alone, half a year? maybe even longer. Dale scooched closer to her, hand pt his hand around her shoulder. "You're not alone anymore, you have me now, and I promise I'll always be there when you need me. And I'm going to keep saying that until you get tired of hearing it." He wanted that to be more than just an empty promise, he wanted that to mean something.

Dale saw that after she was done talking, she had been wearing the neckless he got her for Christmas. He smiled, it wasn't the best quality, but as long as she liked it, that's all that really mattered. "It's like that but a little more" Dale recalled everything you'd be able to do with a mark, "After speaking some kind of keyword, you'd be able to telepathically speak to me anywhere, and I'd be able to answer, and you'll always know where I'm at so if you need help you could always find me, or if I need help." Dale took a deep breath, "There is one major downside though, it's permeant. " Dale took the piece of paperback from her. "It's up to you though, if you want to do it or not. It will be easier to catch me when I sneak out after curfew."

@Dale Kurt

Dale smiled, “Now thats the Annie I know, you’re back to normal, you were starting to worry me” Dale smiled, it genuinely worried him that the witty and stubborn Annie was going to be buried under depression for a while. “Oh I really would've preferred you being mute, my ears would be spared a lecture every time I broke a minor rule.” lifted his arms from her shoulders and used them to prop himself up, it was easier to look at the starts this way.

Dale smiled “from my knowledge only you’d be getting it, not me. You’re going to be the only one getting the mark here, although matching Tattoos doesn't sound that bad. Maybe when I’m older Ill get a matching muggle tattoo.” Dale laughed “Oh please do you honestly think I need to cheat off you? I am a genius, if anything I’d be the one helping you.” Dale nodded his head “I guess the pros do outweigh the one con.”

“Hmm, I'm pretty sure I’ll get to pick both. Oh and don’t worry it won’t hurt, might tickle a bit though.” Dale flipped over the piece of paper, on the other side were multiple designs he had sketchout over multiple times, along with a little trail of black footprints of rats feet. Dale had spilled over his inkwell while drawing and Winter had taken that moment to run through and through the paper, giving Winter his first bath was worse than Dale had ever imagined. There were many of all kinds, but there was one that stuck out. The hurricane one, the most intricate one he had made. “I already designed a mark a while ago, around the time you send the last owl. It’s a hurricane made up o a bunch of small lines. As for the keyword… why not go with something matching and simple, Hurricane”

Dale reached out and gently grabbed her arm, he flipped it so he could see her wrist and traced out the area on her skin where it would be located. “It’ll be in that area, and about that big, tell me when you’re ready alright?”

@Dale Kurt

Dale had no idea that Slytherin was doing something dueling-related this summer, but then again he didn't really expect to come to summer camp, he kind of signed up the last minute on the behest of his father. “I had No idea there was something dueling related, I’m not doing it though, pretty sure I missed the sign up.” Dale clicked his tongue, “Maybe next time?”

Once Annie gave him the go ahead he “prepared” there wasn’t much to do, the actualing procedure sounded pretty easy, it was just finding out how to do it in the first place that was the hard part. Dale again traced out the place where the mark would go to give his brain a reference. He then ran through the steps, putting the image he wanted it to be in his head, and muttering the words necessary to activate the spell, Dle was focused, too focused on his magic too see lines starting to appear on Annie’s skin, not too fast, each line took half a minute to some even taking a minute. None of this would have hurt Annie, it felt like water being dragged across the skin. As the mark came to finishing up, Dale prepared himself for the final part, he muttered the last few words, and at the very end, as soon as the mark was done inscribing itself he said the word “Hurricane”. As soon as he said the word the mark glowed for a few seconds before stopping and completing. It was over, Dale could feel the mental bond now, but he was too tired to try it out. He dropped Annie's arm and fell over on his back, he felt like he had just ran a full marathon. “Jesus Ch- I mean Merlan, that was… exhausting. I’m way too tired to even mutter another word without my lips falling right off, you try if it actually worked or not.”

Binding Mark has been applied to Annie Morgan