Double Take PV Clifton Troublefield Fin.

"We do spa nights a lot in the dormitories, and makeovers, rank boys, watch quidditch practice for the boys..." not that the boy before her or any boy would care about such a thing. "I've joined the school's ballet club, having one of my Slytherin classmates teach me how to play the violin a little, a little bit of reading here and there, and of course, still trying to keep up with the world of fashion despite being stuck at school for 9 months of the year."

She was a bit of a talker like her sister, and also liked to read. The two girls had once held almost all the same interests but even just a year at Hogwarts was shaping them - Alina to be confident in herself despite what others thought, to explore, to help others; whereas Bella was still focused on herself, her pursuits of happiness, her hobbies (as long as they were deemed girly enough and preppy enough).

But Bella wasn't evil by any means. It was more that she hadn't come across the influences that Alina had over the course of that year. People like Rose Moon that gave Alina a reality check, people like Phoenix Lyre that actually listened to her problems, people like Clifton Troublefield to change her world.

"What are your plans after Hogwarts?" she asked him, still watching him so closely. He was fascinating, the way he smiled so much and seemed to find the good even in her awful statements just a moment ago, putting down the other houses (although not done intentionally).

From out on the grounds Alina was on her way back. She didn't want to seem like a few scratches from a fall would bring her down so she didn't want to stay absent long. Truth was, she was in front of a mirror long enough to splash some water on, try to wash off her face, and fix her hair and then she was good to go. She didn't fuss so much about her appearance, not like Bella did, but she didn't need to either as the girls were really a natural beauty.

Still, with all the scrapes on her face that were no longer bleeding she felt she looked rather ugly and wasn't looking so forward to having Clifton of all people see her like this, especially when he could look over to her more fashionable, more proper, more beautiful twin. "Hey! I'm back," she said and forced up a smile to see the two already sitting on the blanket as she came to join them again.

It was interesting to see how alike and yet how different the twins were. He could see how they would've been so close growing up. He could already tell Bella was probably just as much of a talker as Alina and he smiled when she started in on her own kind of ramble. She mentioned some of the same hobbies, along with some other things that seemed to fit her perfectly, like ballet and violin.

Bella was interesting to listen to, especially since the whole time she sat perfectly and left the food untouched. In Clifton's mind, Bella seemed almost like a porcelain doll. Not in the fragile sense--after all, she'd been the one helping him out of the tree. Just in the very pretty, very put-together sense. The kind of person that acted as if she were always on display. And was good at it. Clifton knew that he could never pull that sort of mindset off. He'd be exhausted within the first half hour, so it was impressive to see and he decided that he liked spending time with her.

But it was weird to watch the same face--even some of the same mannerisms and expressions--and to not really recognize it. Because of course, Alina could be just as prim and proper when she'd wanted to be. That was how she'd been when he'd first met her and it was part of what turned his head.

But she had...he didn't know the word for it. Flare? Manners kind of took a back seat when her friends were in danger, when someone challenged her beliefs, or any other time her emotions bubbled to the surface. Like when she looked up at the stars or--his favorite--when he could feel her start to go up on her toes to kiss him.

In a silly way, he loved that she had a temper. And that she would climb trees too high and tackle dangerous armor and wrangle pixies. And he knew that same energy went into every hand-stitched gift, folded badger, or perfect picnic.

"My plans after Hogwarts?" Clifton reminded himself to come back to planet Earth. "Well, I have football camp. And then, well, actually Alina and I were planning on visiting each other sometime before school starts again." He wasn't sure if he was supposed to say that last bit yet, but decided she'd have to find out eventually.

"Hey! I'm back."

Clifton turned his head and smiled up at Alina. "Hey! That was fast."

For the briefest second, Clifton thought he saw her shy away from his gaze and he felt his heart sink a little. It reminded him of how she'd acted back in the Common Room when the other girl in the fancier dress had gone all snooty. It probably had something to do with the scratches on her face and he wanted to ask her about it, but decided now probably wasn't the time.

She sat down next to him and he slid his arm around her to draw her closer, feeling a lot more comfortable with her at his side again. He decided he was beginning to really like this boyfriend thing. It meant he didn't always have to try and gauge her reaction for every little thing like that, there was just an understanding that they were together and they both knew it. And everyone else might as well know it too.

That's, of course, when Clifton's stomach decided to grumble. He laughed a little. "Uh-huh. Sorry. It's just that the sandwiches look amazing. But ladies first, as my dad always says."

Discussing those Summer plans that are near - with @Clifton Troublefield

Bella just watched him, not going to be the first to eat because a lady had manners. While Alina knew this too and knew it was in poor taste, she reached forward and grabbed a lemon square and smiled. Hell, the girl almost died that night - some dessert first was deserved!

She took a bite as her sister began to speak. "Are you planning on coming to visit us? Is father going to meet your boyfriend? Grandmother?" she seemed amused by this, although Alina couldn't quite guess why. Maybe it was the fact that they'd had gone weeks before without seeing both of them.

"Actually, I wrote to Father about it and he seems eager to meet Clive," she looked over to him and smiled more calmly now, feeling better now that his arm was round her. He strengthened her. "And you know Grandmother, she probably won't even bother to make an appearance." But that would really be for the best as the woman was...well, rather impossible to deal with.

Plus, she'd take dealing with her father over her grandmother any day. She never really had found anything she liked about the woman, and not that her father seemed much better but they did share some good memories from time to time. Seldomly. Sometimes he'd be around just long enough to make the girls love him, to want to spend time with him, and then he'd up and disappear again.

Now that Alina began eating, Bella took one of the sandwiches. "I think it would be nice if you visited over the summer," she added to Clifton.

The sandwiches really were amazing. And Bella didn't seem to hate him, as he'd feared might happen before coming. Outside of the tree incident, things were going pretty great.

They chatted and ate until the air began to grow more chill and the light began to dim. Bella suggested they head to the castle before curfew and Clifton set to work helping the two sisters pack up the blanket and food.

There was a brief moment when he found himself closer to Bella, just because he was handing her something to put in the basket and Alina had stepped away to shake the blanket out, and he decided to snag his chance.

"Hey, thanks," he smiled. "For...sharing your sister, I guess." It was an awful way to put it, but he wasn't sure how else to describe it. "You guys are twins, so I bet its weird having, you know, someone else come along. That happened between me and one of my friends at school last year and I wasn't very nice about it. So thanks. Here's the rest of the lemon squares."

He should never end a speech by handing someone leftovers. In fact, he almost felt like he shouldn't have even started it to begin with, but he'd wanted to at least say something. Because maybe it was all just her being polite, but Bella's friendliness had surprised him.

So far, it seemed the Rosiers were always surprising him which meant it was going to be an interesting summer. He finished gathering the rest of the items and then made his way over to Alina to see if she wanted help folding the blanket.

“Hey,” he said, picking up the end lying on the ground and bringing it to her. “You seemed...I don’t know, a little worried earlier. After you came back. Everything okay?”

"Yeah, I'm fine," she gave him a small smile. She felt she had an idea what he was referencing and didn't exactly know how to explain it. Emotions were a difficult thing at eleven but luckily she had Clifton who actually listened to her.

"Bella's always been the better of us two...got the better grades in studies, wrote the longer essays, read more books, been deemed more socially acceptable by Grandmother, wasn't the one to be traumatized by finding our mother dead..." that last one was a little off track and morbid, although true, so Alina stopped. She was also being jealous and being jealous was never a good thing. Still, for a couple that apparently never wanting nor loving their children, shes felt that she was replaced within two minutes of birth and from then on it was more Bella-focused than her.

Not even to mention how Bella used the right mannerisms, had the better style with his mother being in fashion, was prettier, and didn't have all the marks on her face. Wouldn't that even capture his attention? Jealousy was ugly though and she didn't think she should be showing it.

Her focus was set forth on folding up the blanket and she was grateful for his help. "I'm glad you got to meet her." She was. He would have to meet her eventually and better to have one introduction out of the way when she might have at least two more potential ones ahead (if her father and grandmother even made an appearance during his visit). "And that you're still here," she added. "We have a tendency to scare people off - even the hired help that we like and don't intend to. One day they've just up and quit and are gone."

Once the blanket was now folded, she went to place it with some of the other picnic items and one of the school owls soared above and dropped a letter down to where Bella stood. She took the letter and opened it, reading it for a moment before looking up to the two, "Xavier wants me to meet up with him! I do apologize, but I must go," she said in a rush, speaking about a fellow Slytherin who she had her eye on. She presented both with a smile and took her box of lemon squares, although they weren't her favorite as she found them to be a little sour. "It was nice meeting you," she said once more to Clifton and then she headed out of sight, still all gracefully. When Alina got excited and needed or wanted to get somewhere in a rush, and despite being short, she looked more like a bounding llama. Just one more difference where Bella won out.

Clifton watched Bella start to run off, then turned his attention back to Alina. Who was watching her twin leave with a sort of defeated, angry look.

He didn't like how she'd said Bella was "better". And it seemed she still harbored a little of that fear that he would start to think twice about sticking around.

But Clifton knew she had good reasons to feel that way. And he felt a little helpless when it came to the realities of her family. He couldn't even imagine some of the stuff she'd been through and he wanted badly to make it better. But he was an eleven-year-old boy. There was no way he was going to be able to fix all of that.

He decided he could at least try to set things straight a little in the present. To let her know that, as far as he was concerned, she wasn't the "lesser" twin. Not even close.

Clifton picked up the picnic basket. Then found her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "I'm glad I met her too. But I wouldn't say better. Just different."

"You're better at other things," he shrugged as they began walking back toward the school. "I mean, your both...well, you're two of the prettiest girls I think I've ever seen. But ballet and violin?" He laughed a little. "I'd almost rather just do my homework."

Then he nudged her a little as they walked. "I'll take the not-a-psycho covered in dirt and who kissed my gross, injured hand any day."

"Also, just because my mom has been ingraining the complementary colors in my brain since I was five, I hope you know that it doesn't mean I really care about that kind of stuff. I get it. And it can be nice, I guess. But...well, I just hope you know. Because I'm sure with what you're taught at home about being ladylike and all..."

Clifton stopped himself. What did he know about what she was taught at home? He probably shouldn't assume. He went to public schools, not private French tutors. Still, she seemed to have the idea that she needed to keep earning his approval. His approval. Him. Clifton Troublefield who was always tripping over himself and constantly knocking over his inkwell. He was a little insecure himself, which was probably because they were really just kids. But he couldn't help wondering if...

"I like the scratches," he finally blurted out, setting down the picnic basket and only now realizing how frustrated her worries were making him. "I like them because they happen to belong to my girlfriend. My girlfriend who likes to climb trees and who, thank the stars, didn't die tonight when I couldn't help her."

His tone got a little louder than he intended and, caught off guard, he instantly softened again and stepped toward her.

"Alina...I know it's hard to trust people. Especially after everything you've had to put up with. But," he sighed. "Whenever your ready, I promise you can trust me. I'm your friend. Your friend who happens to really like you. Scrapes or not. I'm not going anywhere."

"And temper or not?" would he not go anywhere? "Impossible-to-deal-with-family?" she added. She didn't really know the term of emotional baggage but if she had, she'd have used it because that was what she was getting at here. Clifton watched her with those warm eyes and she could sense that as far as that moment, he had no intention of letting anything change things and she smiled. Not a soft smile, not a fake smile, but one of those smiles where it felt good to smile after being worried about something for far too long.

She really wasn't the ballet type. She knew dances and did them well and she loved glitter and the color pink but she could never put on one of those ballerina outfits...it just didn't seem right to her. Even her friend Rose Moon and her had put together study sessions where they worked on Charms together to help their wand 'become an extension of the wizard' or in this case witch. The Professor had described it almost like a graceful dance but neither girl was joining the On Pointe Ballet Club or whatever it was. It was nice to know that Clifton liked her because she never pretended to be something she wasn't with him, and she didn't need to. Hopefully he felt just as open with her, even after meeting Bella. That made her think about a letter she had recently received.

"You know, in his letters, it seems my father is actually excited to meet you," she explained. It sort of came out of the blue but not really, not when she was thinking about her impossible-to-deal-with-family or how he had already met one family member now...only two more to go (maybe...again, if they showed up). "And I don't think it was so that he could torture you," she laughed a little.

"I couldn't really tell you why he would seem that way," she shrugged. It wasn't as if her father was ever really interested in much of anything with her before. Well, correction, there was a few times where he would seem to grow close to both girls but then would quickly draw away again. Then be gone. For a long time.

Maybe that was why Alina Rosier had so much trouble trusting, even when it came to such wonderful hearted Hufflepuffs like Clifton Troublefield...because those that should have been close were not and the rare occasions she did seem to have a caring person, they distanced themselves. But that also made her realize just how special Clifton was, not only to her, but in general.

"Especially the temper," he grinned. "And of course your family, if they don't kick me out first. But I'm glad that your dad seems okay with it. Maybe having you and Bella gone all school year has changed some things."

It was a long shot. From what he said it sounded like he almost preferred being away from them for long periods of time. But Clifton much preferred staying on the optimistic side of it for now. He figured they would both find out the real reason soon enough. The idea that her dad was "excited" to meet him still made him crazy nervous. He'd heard from boys much older than him how scary dad's could be even when you were about the same height. Still, there wasn't much he could do about it right now, so he might as well wait to cross that bridge when he got to it.

For now, at least, he enjoyed walking back to the dorms with Alina. The conversation turned to lighter, more casual things and, as usual, it wasn't long before the corridors echoed with their jokes and laughter. They eventually reached the stairs where they always had to part ways. Clifton set down the basket and then, just because he could, he put his arms around his scraped up, perfectly imperfect girlfriend to him and kissed her.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said. For what was probably the fifth time that evening. And he still meant it just as much as the first. He would've stayed there, appreciating the fact that she wasn't in some bed in the Hospital Wing, except that it was curfew and they had agreed to let each other get some actual study time in for the final tests. So he pulled away to hand her the picnic basket. "See you in class."