A Hufflepuff Never Forgets Finished

It'd been busy recently. Too busy for his liking he'd say though another part of him couldn't actually bring himself to be annoyed very much by it. After all, he wasn't much used to having friends but since he came here that'd changed in a rather...violent manner almost. Recently though, he'd noticed a someone missing. Or rather a certain Hufflepuff.

He'd ended up actually going out of his way to try and fin the other when he'd found she'd been gone from classes before eventually giving up trying to catch sight of the other. It annoyed him endlessly because it felt like he was the only one to really notice it too which was utterly infuriating when he thought back to their last interaction. They weren't close but Elsian was a people watcher, he spied and found out things on a daily basis but this girl had seemingly just up and vanished!

Other people around him and trying to stay a step ahead of Mozark at all times had done pretty well to keep him occupied but sometimes his mind would wander back to the other. Leaving a sour taste in his mouth because the idea of the other girl just being gone with no explanation left his stomach churning at the familiarity of it and he just hated it. Today had been one of those days where his mind wandered when for the most part he'd been left alone and at first it'd been a blessing but now? His mood just soured on his way through the hall.

He'd deny it but the moment someone had called his name he'd had to force back an ugly snarl, forcing his face into a blank look because the voice sounded like Sage and he refused to hurt the girls feelings. But turning around to try and peer through the other students he couldn't see Sage and he almost turned to walk off after not seeing anyone he recognized but stopped when he saw a girl who at first glance hadn't looked familiar at all with the mood hanging about her but he looked closer, eyes narrowing and taking a step or two closer when the crowd he'd been walking past had cleared up leaving him a clear view of the other.

"Willow?" he asked, blinking in surprise for a moment before seemingly overcoming whatever stupor he'd been in and quickly crossing the distance to stand next to the Hufflepuff. "I didn't-" recognize you, though it went unsaid and he frowned, "are you alright?" he asked, voice oddly concerned.

"You just disappeared and I thought..." he stopped, shaking his head with a tiny frown, "never mind, you're back. So it doesn't matter I guess."

Her voice seemed to echo through the hall, hands tightening around a couple books that she had in her arms, that would look familiar if Elsian remembered their library interaction. She let out a small sigh, not having caught a reaction from anyone besides a couple of weird stares from her yelling. She slightly turned to leave before being startled by Elsian approaching her, quickly at that.

Her eyes widened at the concern of his voice asking if she was ok. She had been back for a few days, and those who vaguely knew her asked but it was more for gossip than genuine concern. But this, this seemed genuine. A small smile graced her face, he cared, and she was pleasantly surprised by it. Their previous couple interactions left her feeling more like an annoying elective class he was taking rather than a friend. But perhaps she misread the situations and they were friends. Which is always very exciting for her.

She turned her body back to face him, patiently waiting for him to finish. "I did in fact disappear, I'm sorry about that. Especially since you seem worried." She paused, reflecting on their library interaction, "I know how much you hate fake happiness, so I'll say I'm solidly alright. I had to..." There was a pregnant pause as she thought about what to say, even though she had given a million excuses to several people. She looked down at her books, finding solace in them to tell a half-truth this time, "Had to return home for a moment. I'm happy I was able to catch you though." Her gaze returned up back to him, a genuine smile on her face, though it failed to fully reach her eyes.

She looked down at the books she had held again briefly, wondering if he would even want to continue what they had started. "I have the ingredients this time, if you still even want to try." She patted a small satchel tied to a belt loop with a twist of black and pale pink ribbon, "I may have already went ahead and tried it once."

He relaxed, crossing his arms as the heaviness in the pit of his stomach started to leave alongside the sour mood that'd been plaguing him all day. His frown twisted into a small scowl as he looked away, cheeks lightly pink with embarrassment at being caught in his worrying, he wasn't typically one to feel so moody so it was odd and he found himself not really liking how easy it was to read him apparently.

Yet, the scowl softened and his shoulders slightly slumped at the others words, taking in what she said he shook his head, "you don't have to be sorry. And you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

As someone who hated people who were pushy with worry he knew how annoying it could be to have to talk when you didn't really want to. Looking at the other he forced himself to stop the frown begging to slip onto his face at the others smile. It looked fake. Tired. And while he hadn't known the other very long he knew it was wrong on the other.

People were so weird sometimes...

He gave her an odd look, one torn between annoyance and a soft acceptance of some kind, "and you don't have smile if you don't want too," he added, both confused and annoyed how people always seemed to pretend when they shouldn't, "I already told you this," he huffed taking a step closer to gently flick the girl in the head, "it's unhealthy! Now come on, lets go do the spell," he said, taking a step back but not before grabbing the others hand and starting to pull her towards the direction of the grounds, giving her an expectant look, as if wondering why she wasn't moving already,"maybe it'll work between the both of us."

"….Unless... you don't want to?" he asked begrudgingly, not really wanting to give the other the choice to leave but doing so all the same.

Her head was spinning, but in a weird happy way. Elsian seemed so much different than before. Kinder and more compassionate. But they also still barely knew each other, so how much longer could she expect this to go? She chalked it up to the novelty of her being gone. A mysterious witch gone rogue. She was trying to take his kindness in stride, and let out a small breath of relief she didn't realize she was holding when there was no expectation to tell her story. "You're the first person that hasn't asked further questions." It was a nice change of pace, though she was back she didn't feel ready to be back. Her hesitation from when she first came to this school still hasn't left. Impostor syndrome was ever prevalent in the forefront of her mind, especially with how behind she was now. She tried to convince her family to let her restart next year, but due to the circumstances she had to return.

She was, at the same time, confused with this interaction, he implied that her smile wasn't real. Or that she wasn't as happy as she presented. But for what she was feeling this was the level of happy she was able to experience. Maybe she was more off kilter than she realized. She jumped at the small flick in the forehead, pulling her back out of her thoughts to the present conversation. Then there was a small hesitation, he was holding her hand? Last time she saw Elsian, he was sneaking out of the library and avoiding her. She wondered if this is who he always was and she never got the chance to know that before, or if Hogwarts had changed something in him. She wanted to believe the former.

She realized she still hadn't moved. "Oh! No, I want to. I have all the stuff with me so we can just jump in." Her feet finally kicked into gear and started to move towards him. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to remember me, or to even want to do this still. I was planning on going to the library if I couldn't find you, you wouldn't believe the amount of parchments I've gone through in a few days." She let a small laugh escape. "But this is a welcome change of pace."

She took a deep breath, attempting to recenter herself into the now. She could think about how weird this was later. "Have you ever meditated? Like, more than just like focusing on your breathing for five seconds, but actually meditating?" Getting in the right head space was incredibly important for these kinds of spells, especially with imbuing intention into what they were about to do. So she needed to start preparing in her head how they were going to begin.

"Good," he nodded, not so much dragging her now that she' also started moving. His destination was the grounds, figuring that would be the best place for this sort of thing. His eyes flickered to her, lips pulling into an amused smirk at the very idea of him forgetting her after their first meeting.

"Unlikely," he snorted, "not after that clash of a first meeting. I really thought you were going to have my head when you caught me in the library." he admitted letting go of her hand once they were walking side by side, "you were frankly terrifying in that moment you know..." he drawled, there was a small pause but then he added, "still, sorry for trying to avoid you that time."

He knew he could come off as mean or cruel with how he spoke or acted so he hardly blamed the other in her obvious reactions. Granted, he still didn't understand people sometimes but even he knew how horrible it could be when you thought someone was avoiding you. Still, he didn't regret what he'd said to her. He couldn't stand that fake smile back then, he couldn't stand it now. Even if the spell didn't work for him maybe it'd work for her.

If not, well, maybe Sage could help. She was nicer than him after all...

For a moment he was quiet, thinking as they walked before shaking his head. "No, but it's just concentration and breathing right? Why, do I need to do that for this?" he asked, feeling slightly unnerved at the realization he may really be out of his depth here. He shoved the thoughts down though, figuring it'd be fine as long as he just did his best. "I'll do it if I have to," he assured.

"Plus..." he added distantly, thinking over her words from before, "that book was really cool. So of course I'd still be interested."

She rolled her eyes at the memory of him trying to sneak out, but to her knowledge Hufflepuffs were good finders so what else would he expect? She couldn't help but let laughter bubble out of her, "Me? Terrifying? You're joking. I wasn't mad at all, and I'm still not. I'm nearly incapable of anger." Something flashed across her eyes, reliving something that had made her angry recently. Her now free hand rested on the satchel on her side. "I had exploded before. It would make sense if you avoided me like the plague. That's no way to start a friendship." She had never been called intimidating in her life. Especially by someone like Elsian, who she was intimidated by but she wouldn't admit that.

In her town her family were the weird outcasts, she was always the easy target. It's where she gets her explosive personality from. People will stop fighting if you just ask crazy, and keep yelling. She was slowly learning to reel it in. That wasn't necessary anymore. But it would sneak up on her every now and again.

"Meditating isn't that hard! For this it's like the same thing as having a clear mind when you cast a spell to make sure you have your right target, or thinking of the right thing for whatever you're doing. It is concentrating and breathing, and for what I do what we call, Green Witchery, it's also about connecting to nature." She took a deep breath, something she now does frequently. Her head got lost so often in the clouds and she realized she needed to start grounding herself back. "It's body awareness, clearing your head and any stray energy that we don't need for this. It sounds like a lot but it's really not. I'll guide you through it." She looked back over at him, giving him an encouraging smile.

She missed these conversations with Elsian, they felt natural and easy. She felt like she could let herself talk more than she had been doing, and I mean she had to so she could explain what they would be doing. "I don't know if it's because we never got to know each other in the first place, but you seem a lot different now. I was ready to convince you to try this out, but you actually took the lead. It's not pity for a sad witch is it?" She did a fake pout, before letting the smile return to her face.

He wasn't too surprised, "You say that but your entire house seem to have a talent for tracking me down...It was kinda hard not to be wary after the 6th time, and you'd be surprised." he mumbled to himself, thinking about the other four or so people he'd gotten into varying arguments with the first time they met.

He just seemed to meet people at the worst possible times or something...

Listening he had a thoughtful expression as the other spoke, hand clutching the strap of his bag he played with the picture she was painting him in his head. It sounded pretty simple in theory and Willow seemed like she was serious in how it wasn't really anything too complicated, at least not compared to transfigurations! He could probably do it. If anything it was starting to sound an awful lot like the feeling you got on the edge of sleep. And well, if there was one thing he knew it was how to relax. "Well I already lack much stray energy so at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about." he replied wryly.

A small sharp smile covered his expression, eyes crinkling as if he'd just heard something funny and shining with grim humor that typically only he enjoyed. "You know you're not the first person to say something like that," he admitted with a snicker, "but if you must know, no, I don't do pity. I just apparently have a talent for bad first meetings."

"Besides, I don't back down from things I've been set on doing." he sniffed. "So don't get me wrong, I'm still not too sure if this stuff works...I'm just willing to keep an open mind..." he trailed off, feeling slightly embarrassed at being called out on his enthusiasm. He didn't know if he really believed in this type of stuff but it didn't change the fact that he was always willing to try something if it piqued his interest.