What Happened? PV Lydia Cooper Finished

-Interacting with: @Aaron Jones -

Another almost sleepless night.

This had become the norm for Lydia lately, sleeping maybe a couple of hours per night, the rest of the time spent staring at the ceiling, the images of the Ball stuck in her mind. Last night's thoughts though were not centered, for once, on the Ball, but on Ruka and the fact that Lydia had punched him right on the nose. The red headed girl had no idea why she had done that, or well, she did know why but she couldn't understand it; yes, Ruka had been rude, mean and extremely unfriendly, laughing about other people's distress, but this didn't give her the right to break his nose, no matter how satisfying.

After waking up, the young badger girl had gotten ready for the day, her actions following the same routine as always, then she headed down for breakfast. Thanks to the older Gryffindor boy, her hair were now their usual strawberry colour, and Lydia felt incredibly relieved as she managed to blend into the crowd of students walking around the castle's corridors. The moment she entered the Great Hall, she started looking for a free seat, and when she spotted her best friend Aaron, she made her way towards him.

Lately things had been weird even with him; Lydia had closed herself in some kind of social-isolation, leaving everyone outside -Willow, Ariana, Rafael were just some of the people she had almost been avoiding - and instead drowning by herself in an ocean of anxiety and guilt. She had done something similar with Aaron as well, even though it was way more difficult to behave that way with him; he understood what she was going through since he had helped organizing the ball, and she could see in his eyes that he also hadn't been his usual self. But who could blame him? So many people had gotten hurt, and a Slytherin boy had almost died.

With a small sigh, Lydia sat down in the seat in front of Aaron, her right hand, the bandaged one, not even that well hidden away. The truth was, she had completely forgot about it for a second, and she figured that if she would have hurried to hide it then she would have only brought more attention to it; so she casually left it laying on the table as she used her left hand to pour some cereals in a bowl, followed by some chocolate milk. She made the portion slightly small, knowing that she wouldn't have been able to eat it all anyway, so why bother with wasting food?

Lydia's head snapped up - when did she start staring at her cereals anyway?- when Aaron talked with her, and it took her a moment to register his words; his eyes were glued to her bandaged hand, and Lydia considered lying to him, dismissing the whole thing as if it was nothing. But this was Aaron, he didn't deserve that kind of treatment from her. Putting down her spoon -seriously, she needed to space out less often, she didn't even realize she had started eating her breakfast- Lydia's eyes met Aaron's, before she looked down at the table once again.

"I..." Lydia sighed, her bottom lip captured between her teeth. "I punched someone yesterday... but I think I ended up hurting myself more than him,"

Her voice was small, kind of ashamed, a little bit the same way that she felt in that moment. She didn't know how Aaron would have reacted at that, she only hoped he wouldn’t have thought any less of her.

Lydia punched someone? Lydia Cooper? Really? When she said "him," Aaron couldn't help thinking of Rafael - after all, he had abandoned Lydia at the ball and made her almost cry - but he didn't hold out hope. Regardless of who it was, that guy must've gotten Lydia super mad for her to actually punch them.

Lydia met his eyes, and it was then that Aaron noticed her hair. She'd gone the last couple weeks with the blue hair she'd acquired at the ball - he had no idea why, not particularly motivated to ask - but the shock of strawberry blonde was jarring. It was her natural color, of course, but she had just been blue-haired for so long... who had ended the charm?

That was a question for another time, though. For now, he wanted to know more about the punch. He taught her how to throw one, so why did she end up hurt?

Without saying much, Aaron reached forward and gently took Lydia's injured hand in his own. He unwrapped it and looked at the damage himself. He mimicked what his own muggle doctors had done, asking if certain movements hurt and what exactly was sore. It seemed to him that she must've completely ignored proper technique, because her thumb was seriously messed up.

"I think it's sprained," he finally said, looking up at her and offering a sympathetic look. "Your thumb, I mean," he clarified, gently beginning to wrap her hand again. He wrapped it tighter than before, trying to keep the thumb from moving too much. It would hurt, for sure, but there wasn't much that could be done. "Ice would help," he suggested, looking around for some ice. He filled a bowl with some and gave it to her, instructing her to just put her hand in it. "It took mine weeks to heal before, but a friend of mine's healed in just a couple days," he shared with her, sighing a bit. "I couldn't guess how long it'll take that to heal since I'm not a doctor and all.. but you've gotta keep it from moving. A splint would help more than bandages, but I guess you don't want to go to the Hospital Wing..." Not that he blamed her. The last time she'd been there was for a giant mosp sting. But if she did go there, they could probably fix this in an instant.

"So... wanna tell me about it?" Aaron asked, trying to be a bit more lighthearted as he leaned back. He offered his friend a small smile, wondering if this punch was a call for help. Maybe he should've been paying her more attention. Punching someone wasn't exactly her normal way of dealing with things.

@Lydia Cooper

-Interacting with: @Aaron Jones -
-Mentioning: Ruka Tan, Rafael D'Spacito-

Surprise written all over Aaron's face, Lydia couldn't help but notice the way he quirked up an eyebrow, probably wondering why she had done something like that. The truth was, she had no idea. Ruka had been a real jerk, that was true, but she was usually quite good at being patient, but ever since the Ball- well, actually ever since she found out the truth about her mom- Lydia had felt as if she was changing, even though she had no idea if in better or worse.

She slightly jumped up in surprise when Aaron took her hand in his, the sudden contact making her cheeks heat up; she wasn't used to being that close with people lately, and she started to realise that what happened at the end of May had seriously messed her up. As her best friend started moving her hand, checking it and asking her which movements hurt and which not, she could help but let out a little whine when he moved her thumb in a particular way.

"Yeah? It's not too bad though, at least it's not broken..." Lydia said and slightly frowned in pain as Aaron wrapped up her hand once again, tighter than before. Then, following his instructions, she put her hand in the ice bowl, the cold felt kind of relieving on the thumb, even if the soon to be soak bandage would have become quite annoying. Her eyes locked with Aaron's and she offered him a small smile as she listened to him, hoping that her sprain would not take too long to heal either. "Unfortunately, mom didn't put a splint in the first aid kit, and... I don't really want to go to the Hospital Wing. I have the feeling they would ask me what happened, and then I might get another detention."

With a sigh, Lydia nodded as her left hand reached for the spoon. She ate some of her cereals, knowing well that she would have needed some energy to face the morning classes, and then took a sip of water. "It happened yesterday. I had come looking for Alan to ask him to change my hair back to their natural colour, but I couldn't find him," Lydia started explaining, as she took her hand out of the ice bowl and gently tapped it with a napkin, to try and dry it a little bit. "I met another boy, a second year Gryffindor, and we started chatting. He ended up changing my hair back and, I don't know. One moment I was trying to make small talk, the next one Ruka just- Oh right, his name is Ruka," she shook her head, realising she hadn't told Aaron his name yet.

"Anyway, next thing I know, we end up talking about Rafael. He clearly didn't like him, and he was being such a jerk, laughing at what happened between me and Rafa at the ball and then- then it got personal. Like, we were basically arguing face to face and I said mean things and- he answered back, as he kept laughing as if everything was just an hilarious joke for him and I... I got so upset." Lydia took a deep breath as she felt herself getting upset all over again. "Next thing I know, I'm punching him right on the nose. I think I might have actually broken it. I still wanted to apologise, cause- that's not me... I don't go around punching mean people. But anyway, he walked away before I could do that, with that stupid smirk on his face, after he said me and Rafa deserve each other. As if that makes sense..." she finished and shook her head, before looking up at her best friend.

"Only keep it in there until the pain goes away for a bit.. alternate," Aaron explained, gesturing to her hand. He knew that the bandages would get soaked if she kept her hand in the ice the whole time, but he also knew it'd take a minute for that to happen.

As she went about eating her cereal, Aaron was reminded of his scrambled eggs and picked at them again. He began to eat as he listened to her explanation of events. He recognized Alan's name, thinking of the third year that shared a birthday party with Willow. He had also come to the unofficial Quidditch match against Gryffindor to support Aaron in his first match, which had been really nice of him.

When she mentioned a second-year Gryffindor, Aaron averted his eyes to hide the disappointment. He had really been hoping it was Rafael she punched. He knew that they weren't on good terms considering what happened at the ball, but he and Lydia hadn't really discussed the Gryffindor Captain since then. Aaron's memory of fighting in the bathrooms was still very fresh whenever the topic of Rafael came to mind, even though that had happened almost a month ago. It was something he hadn't told Lydia about, and never intended to.

His brown eyes raised to his friend again as he learned the boy's name. Ruka. Aaron didn't know a boy named Ruka, which made sense if he was a second year and a Gryffindor. He listened intently to the story of what happened, nodding along as he got more information. The whole situation seemed almost.. comical.

"So... you punched him for talking bad about the guy who abandoned you at the ball?" Aaron teased, a grin on his face. To know there were others out there who disliked Rafael too was nice, but Aaron quickly backtracked. He realized that Lydia was genuinely upset by the events, and he rearranged his face to seem more serious. "I mean- I get why you must've gotten upset. It's been a rough time since the ball, and he shouldn't have been making fun of you," Aaron was a bit hurried to jump to her defense, not wanting her to think he was making fun of her or anything. "It's just... I mean, Rafael didn't treat you very well, and maybe this Ruka guy was just trying to help by pointing that out?" The second the words left his mouth, Aaron regretted them. He knew he was supposed to unequivocally be on Lydia's side, but the topic of Rafael always made him mess up somehow.

"But I mean- obviously he must've said something way outta line for you to punch him, so I'm on your side," Aaron quickly added, hoping Lydia would believe him. He felt like he was backtracking a lot during this conversation. Maybe he was out of practice when it came to being a best friend, considering how wild the last couple of weeks had been.

@Lydia Cooper

-Interacting with: @Aaron Jones -
-Mentioning: Ruka Tan, Rafael D'Spacito-

Once she had finished explaining what happened with Ruka to her best friend, Lydia proceeded to eat the rest of the small breakfast in front of her, munching down her cereals, not too interested in them. She could feel her jaw tense, as the memory of the Gryffindor's smirk surfaced in her memory. Shaking her head, Lydia concentrated on Aaron's words, noticing that apparently he found the whole situation slightly funny.

She frowned a little, her mind filling up with doubts; did she completely overreact with Ruka, was everything actually funny? The doubt left her mind when she remembered how she had felt back at the ball, and how Ruka's words had hurt; it didn't matter if Ruka, or Aaron found it funny, because for her it wasn't.

Aaron continued talking and his expression became more serious, making something shift inside of Lydia; For a second she had thought that he had been making fun of her as well, but seeing how he actually took the matter seriously, that fear left her. "Yeah, the Ball has been... quite rough," she admitted, and she didn't add anything else; after all, Aaron understand what she meant. The both had organised the whole thing, together with the others, and if there was someone that was able to understand the guilt and weight of everything that happened, that was her best friend. Of course, to all of that Lydia had to add the whole drama that happened with Rafael, but that was only part of the reasons why her mental state had suffered that much.

Lydia's eyes were locked onto the table in front of her, as Aaron words kept resonating in the air; her head snapped up at her best friend's next words, confusion and slight hurt written on her face.

"It's just... I mean, Rafael didn't treat you very well, and maybe this Ruka guy was just trying to help by pointing that out?"

In Lydia's mind, his words sounded as if he was almost defending Ruka, trying to find a reason why he would have acted the way he did; it didn't make sense for him to do that, after all the Gryffindor boy had hurt her, and Aaron was there, ready to defend him? Why would he do that?

"He was attacking Rafael, not trying to make me see that he treated me bad at the ball!" Lydia slightly snapped, as her eyes stared at Aaron. She sighed then, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I- I didn't mean to snap at you," The hand that was still holding onto the spoon let go of it, making it thump against the wooden table. If only she would have waited a little bit before talking, she would have realised that Aaron was still on her side.

"I know... I just- It was the way he was talking, you know? As if he knew everything about me, or about Rafael. Just because Rafa had apparently punched one of his friends, Ruka assumes he knows everything about him, without even giving him the benefit of the doubt. But- It's not even that. What really upset me was his stupid laugh! He kept laughing and grinning as if all of this was amusing and funny for him. That's just- what kind of person does that?" Lydia said. Her left head massaged her temple, a headache treating to explode soon; she really needed to sleep more at night, especially now that the school year was coming to an end, and the stress level would have been higher.

If the first semester of the year had gone quite smoothly for the girl, it looked as if everything had decided to fall down on her during the second part of the year. But during those last months, no matter how crazy she had acted, Aaron had always been by her side. With a little, faint smile on her lips, she looked at her best friend. "But anyway, it's not like I had planned on punching him. It just kind of happened. Otherwise I'm sure I would have remembered how to put my hand and all of that, just like you showed me," she said in an attempt to make the atmosphere a little lighter.

Aaron had been right to worry. He had said the wrong thing after all, and Lydia was upset by his words. He backtracked immediately, but she had still been offended. Stupid. Why had he said anything at all about Rafael? Just the mention of his name seemed to bring trouble for Aaron.

"It's okay, my bad," Aaron said weakly, when Lydia apologized for snapping at him. He turned back to his eggs, finishing the rest of it in quiet. The eggs were bland and the pumpkin juice used to wash it down was even worse. He really needed to work at this whole best friend thing. It was getting rough. Better for him to not say anything at all at this point. Just turn on his listening ears and close his blabbering mouth. Perhaps it was a good thing, though, because as he listened, he learned.

So Rafael had punched one of Ruka's friends? Which meant that Ruka had good reason to dislike Rafael. Yes, Lydia continued to defend the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and added that Ruka's laugh was intolerable, but Aaron's thoughts lingered on this Ruka fellow. Maybe he had more information about Rafael and his violent tendencies? And in that moment, Aaron thought of a girl he and Lydia had met at the ball. Evelynn Decipio. She had said something about Rafael hurting Lydia.. Why had she sounded so concerned?

Aaron raised his eyes from his plate in time to see Lydia rubbing her head. He instantly felt bad again for not sympathizing with her. She was stressed out about the situation, and Aaron was over here in his own world again. He pushed his empty plate aside as she tried to lighten the mood. He offered a sympathetic smile.

"Once it's healed, I'll show you how again," he promised her, trying to lighten the mood with a grin of his own. He tried to think of a different topic that they could talk about, but in that moment the owls arrived. Aaron's head instinctively tilted back as he watched them. Even though this happened every day, it was still quite a sight to behold.

As the flurry of birds entered the Great Hall, chatter among the students increased as it always did. The flapping of the wings and the cooing sounds made it harder to hear each other. Aaron sat back slightly as packages were dropped haphazardly around them. "Careful of your hand," the twelve-year-old reminded her, gesturing to the hand on the table near the ice. He didn't want a stray package to accidentally injure her even more.

His warning had come just in time, though, because at that moment a small package dropped between them. Aaron was surprised to see it was for him. He'd written to his parents last night so he'd been expecting a letter, but not a package. He grabbed the square, brown-paper parcel and began to open it. After a second, though, he thought better and grabbed the attached letter instead. He read it relatively quickly, and it was only at the bottom of the letter that he showed a bit of surprise. His parents had sent him something he'd asked about months ago! He had totally forgotten about it. Well, he certainly couldn't open it in front of Lydia-

"My parents sent me more snacks from home," he said, avoiding looking at Lydia. They often sent him food and snacks from home, because his mom was always worried about what they were feeding him (even though he constantly assured her it was very filling food). But this time, the packaging was a bit different so it's possible Lydia might doubt this. Not to mention he usually ripped open the food and snacks with gusto, sharing immediately. So Lydia would have reason to doubt him, since he was lying after all, but he got to his feet with the package nonetheless. He was hoping the somberness of the last few weeks might not make her question it.

"I should put them in my dorm before class. I'll see you there?" Aaron asked, finally meeting her eyes again. The smile he offered didn't quite reach his eyes.

@Lydia Cooper

- Interacting with @Aaron Jones -

Seeing the reaction that Aaron had when she snapped at him, Lydia felt incredibly bad for the way she had treated her best friend. That wasn't her, snapping at Aaron just because he said something that she didn't like or things like that. She sighed, her eyes fixed on her food.

Her mood got a little bit better, when her best friend offered to teach her how to throw a punch again, once her hand would have healed properly. "That would be great. Maybe this way I'll remember it while punching someone," a small chuckle left her lips, as her eyes looked for Aaron's. More than ever things were weird between them; she felt guilty for everything that happened at the Ball, and so did he, but he also felt responsible for Lydia getting hurt. More than once she wanted to tell him that it was okay, that it wasn't his fault; they couldn't have predicted that the Mosps would have arrived, after all how could they?

A little absently, Lydia followed his gaze towards the owls.

Even after all that time at the magic school, some things -like the owls, or the changing stairs- never ceased to amaze the Hufflepuff girl. Just as Aaron told her to be careful with her hand, a package, that was definitely not for her, dropped between them. Lydia looked confused and curious at the same time at her best friend, her head tilted to the side. "Did your parents send you something?"

The curiosity was clear in her voice, and even her eyes seemed to slightly sparkle with excitement. She wondered what the box contained -perhaps more snacks, or maybe stationery from home?- and she observed as Aaron first went for the box, but then decided to read the attached letter instead. His face formed a surprised expression as he read, and when he "confirmed" that it was indeed snacks, Lydia thought that something was off.

Her doubts only grew stronger, as her best friend not only did not look at her, but instead of sharing excitedly his snacks with her like he usually did, he took the package in his arms and stood up. Was he hiding something? Did he not trust her? Was it because of the Ball?

Her confused eyes met Aaron's, and Lydia could see it written all over his face how desperately he wanted to go away. Slightly frowning, the red headed girl nodded, before looking down at her hand; she didn't want to ask him if he was lying and why, not like that, in front of everyone. "Yeah, that- that's alright. I'll save you a seat next to me?"

The last part of the sentence was basically a question, since she wasn't completely sure whether Aaron wanted to sit next to her in the first row. She hoped he would say yes, cause that way maybe she might have had a chance to ask him again about the package, or to figure out what was going on.

So it seemed like Aaron wasn't the best liar - especially when it came to @Lydia Cooper. The expression on her face said it all: right before she looked down at her hands, he could tell that she saw right through the lie about the package being snacks. But she didn't say anything, which Aaron was a little relieved about. He didn't know what he would've said if she called him out. Well... he probably would've just told the truth and ruined the surprise, but it'd be better than digging himself further into a hole of lies. One lie was enough.

"Yeah, definitely!" Aaron said, confirming that he would see her in class. He hoped his enthusiasm would set her mind at ease. After all, it wasn't a bad lie - it was a lie that would lead to something nice. Hopefully. And since Lydia liked to sit up at the front of class, he probably wouldn't need to worry about being questioned. It was the times in between classes that he would have to look out for. With the Blossom Ball still fresh in his mind, being quiet wouldn't be too out-of-character. Maybe she would just let him go on with this little lie - which would be for the best.

"See you soon," Aaron promised, offering one last parting smile before turning on his heel and leaving the Great Hall, package in hand.

[Thread Finished]