A talk in the snow PV Simon Kincaid Fin

Haley realized at that moment that it had not been very smart of her to take shelter behind the tree without keeping Simon in sight. But at that very moment, when she realized her mistake, it was already too late. Startled, she screamed out briefly as Simon put his strong arms around her and the two landed in the snow. Her scream immediately turned into laughter and she looked at Simon seriously, "That my dear is not how you fight a SNOWBALL battle." But she continued laughing and did not resent him for this sabotage. On the contrary, she enjoyed the closeness they now had again.

Haley briefly held her hands to her sides to symbolize that she would not fight back but the lioness would not give up that easily. "So...," she began to speak, pulling Simon a little closer to her by his collar. She slid her face further forward to his and looked into his eyes. For a millisecond, her gaze wandered to his lips and back to his eyes. "So these are your means to win this war." She raised an eyebrow, and when she was sure Simon's attention was waning, she set off with her free hand in search of one of the snowballs.

Haley couldn't take too much time and while the two were still somewhat entwined in the snow she quickly realized that her snowballs were too far away. Her concentration was still on Simon and at with the sight of his eyes, his warm breath she felt on her face and the sweet smell of him in her nose she forgot what she was doing. But she would not let herself be beaten by her own weapon.

She decided to just take some snow in her hand, then she leaned back a bit to put more distance between them and whispered devilishly and softly to Simon, "But not with me." And she moved her hand with the snow towards his face and neck to rub it in.

The snow hit his face but he wasn’t angry about it in the least. He laughed at the cold wetness. “Okay, okay. You win, you win,” he admitted defeat.

Simon tried to brush off some of the wetness from his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. But after that action, he left his arm fall and then turned his face to the side, letting it rest in the show. Then he exaggerated a death scene, closing his eyes and trying to appear lifeless.

Maybe it would be more believable if he had some training in this subject but the only theater production he had done was back at his muggle school in London. He was one of the Von Trapp boys in The Sound of Music. He sang a few songs about singing and bedtime, no death scenes. The Von Trapps were all able to escape safely at the end.

Still, he was drawing on television and movies and their horrible theatrical and maybe even amusing attempts at a death scene. Would it be believable? Never. Would it show that be conceited to her and admit defeat? Certainly.

So he laid there. Still. The snow still gently falling down upon them.

Haley smiled proudly as Simon admitted defeat, "I told you - don't mess with me." She laughed again and winked at him. She brought her hand to his neck and helped him get rid of some of the snow and felt a little sorry for him. She was sure the snow must have been incredibly cold on his bare skin.

Haley was startled for a moment when Simon suddenly dropped down and put his head in the snow. "Um, sorry sir but this is not a good place to sleep." She joked and laughed a bit unsure about the whole situation. But when Simon didn't react and still lay motionless in the snow Haley started to look at him more confused.

She was sure he was just teasing her, but the way he was lying there and not moving, she couldn't even detect a breath, she started to worry. And suddenly she had a picture in her mind's eye of not Simon lying in the snow but her cousin lying in a green field in summer. But in this memory Haley was only 6 years old at the time, but her cousin was lying there just as motionless as Simon was.

Haley noticed the panic creeping up inside her but she knew she had to stay calm. She leaned over Simon and looked into his face, tears had gathered in her eyes at the memory of her cousin and the thought that there really could be something wrong with Simon.

"Come on," Haley spoke and she put her hand to Simon's cheek to pull his head towards her. But she shivered at the coldness she felt. And looked at him with wide eyes, startled. "Shit Simon, that's not funny. We need to bring you inside." Now you could see Haley's panic, as she was now sure that something was wrong with Simon as cold as he was. When she felt the coldness from his skin she quickly straightened up and knelt next to him and took both hands to put his head in her lap.

He opened up his eyes to see her there looking down on him with what almost seemed to be tears in her eyes but that wasn't the case, was it? He knew his action ability wasn't THAT good so figured there was perhaps maybe some underlying reason for it?

"Hey, hey now," he said to her, sitting up and then getting up from the ground, holding his hand out to help her up. He didn't realize that his body temperature would be that cold to the touch, because as usual, it was rather normal for him. All these little things he never really realized weren't normal to other people.

Simon hoped that he didn't ruin the moment between them because it had been an enjoyable evening so far. He was fine with her wanting to go into the castle but really hoping that she wouldn't rush off on him.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Haley," he whispered to her, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his voice. He didn't know that his actions would have affected her in this manner and if he had he would have been more sensitive.

The snow began to fall even more so, as if telling them to be heading inside, at least more under the archway if nothing more.

After Simon opened his eyes, Haley dropped the tension in her body and let a relieved gasp come from her nose. She knew Simon was pretending, but after feeling the cold of his skin, she wasn't sure anymore. She knew he had cold hands, since she had held his hand several times now, but he almost felt like he was dead.

Haley looked at him a little confused but took his hand and let him help her up. "Sorry Simon, I didn't want to act strange." Haley didn't blame him, normally she could have laughed with him but the memory of her cousin and Simon's cold skin just made her panic.

"Oh, no, no. Please don't worry!" She didn't want Simon to feel bad in any way. She knew she had overreacted. As the snow was getting heavier she now took his hand, wincing again briefly at the touch as it felt like Simon was radiating sub-zero temperatures, and pulled him behind her. She directed him back to the wall under the arch where they had been sitting before and hopped back up onto the wall to sit there.

She leaned forward and pulled Simon closer to her by his sleeve. The elevation meant that for once she didn't have to look up into his eyes but this time slightly down and she smiled at him. She took his hands in hers again and again she was shocked at how cold he was. She started rubbing her hands lightly against his hoping that would warm him up a bit. "Seriously, are you okay? You almost feel like dead." Haley looked at him with a worried look and she would have preferred to send him straight to the castle.

Suddenly she began to blame herself. After all, she wanted to meet out here in this cold, and then she also really wanted to have a snowball fight and then rub the snow on his skin. Haley was mad at herself, she didn't want Simon to get sick now or feel bad. "I'm so stupid, I'm sorry." She couldn't even look him in the eye and looked embarrassed at her legs.

She seemed to care so much and he loved that but he didn't want her worried. "I'm fine," he protested, trying to tell her again and again. "I've always had a low body temperature, slower breathing, slower heart rate. Just one of the things that makes me special," he smiled. It had perplexed his pediatrician back home for years but the boy seemed healthy so they let it go. His aunt Maggie knew that his mother would have never wanted all the testing done when nothing was really wrong.

"Back there," he spoke slowly, not really wanting to bring it up because he could tell something was bothering her and again he didn't want to ruin the evening, but something told him that he should ask about it. There was a reason she had grown as concerned as she had and it certainly wasn't his acting skills (or lack of). "I guess I'm just wondering...what happened? What got you so troubled?"

And he didn't want her to pass it off or state that it was nothing because this was definitely something. Haley could go through the initial realization that she was a parseltongue and thinking her family might potentially hate her, so surely she was strong and could get through a lot. This caused him to think that there was a bigger picture here.

Haley couldn't really believe Simon, but she trusted him when he told her he was fine. But at the same time she only felt bad again. She didn't know all that about Simon. What a bad friend she must be if she didn't know all this. She would have loved to ask him about everything right away, but she didn't want to bug him. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know this." And again she looked at her legs in embarrassment.

She knew she could talk to Simon about anything, but she didn't want to bring the mood down. Up until a few minutes ago, the two of them had been having a lot of fun and that was exactly what Haley continued to want and need right now. "The way you were lying there just reminded me of a sad moment." She paused for a moment and saw in her mind's eye her cousin lying motionless on the floor but quickly shook off the memory. She now looked back at Simon and smiled at him to assure him that everything was okay. "Don't think it was because of your acting skills." She raised an eyebrow and started laughing "In fact, they were so bad that I briefly considered just rubbing a bunch of snow in your face again." She continued to laugh and lightly and playfully boxed Simon against his shoulder.

She knew that Simon always had an open ear for her and he was one of the few people Haley trusted wholeheartedly, but today was not the day for this story from her life. She wanted to lighten the mood again to get back to the point of a few minutes ago. She had also resolved to learn a little more about Simon at their next meetings. She felt like a bad friend because he knew so much about her but she hardly knew anything about him.

He was concerned, quite concerned. What sad moment was she thinking of? An accident that happened to her and she recovered? Maybe a friend? A parent? Maybe it was more serious than that and there wasn't a recovery and she saw someone go through a great pain.

Simon watched her with a small bit of sadness in his eyes but still smiled at her comment and decided he would let it go - for now. Haley trusted him with everything and if this wasn't something she wished to share at this present time, who was he to force her?

That's not how this sort of thing should work.

She'd tell him when she was ready.

"Maybe I should fill out a questionnaire on myself," he teased, indicating that it would help her get to know him better. "I can list out my favorite color, my favorite songs, favorite foods. Family history," ...the little that was known, "genetic conditions, potential allergies, thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, aspirations." But in all honesty it was those sorts of things that he hoped to eventually learn about her. Anything and everything.

"Did you know this is the first time I've been out to the Courtyard?" A bit crazy considering the fact that it was January and the school year had started many months ago. Still, with Hogwarts having such an early curfew and then moving even earlier, he didn't get much of a change to explore the outdoor aspects of Hogwarts. "It's nice." A lot of students gathered here after classes and in between classes and he could see why.

she likes the idea @Simon Kincaid

Haley was very grateful at that moment that Simon didn't ask any more questions. She also knew that he did not hold it against her and someday she would also tell this story, just not today. But she knew that they had plenty of time for many other stories.

Haley started laughing when he mentioned the questionnaire, "You're crazy." She shook her head and continued to laugh. But the longer she thought about that joke, the better she thought it was. Haley knew Simon was just making a joke, but she didn't think it was a bad idea. "You are a genius Kincaid." She grinned broadly at him. "Are you ready for a new deal? We'll fill out a questionnaire for each other, basically with the things you mentioned." She grinned at him expectantly before continuing, "Not with our complete life story of course, after all there are so many stories I want to tell you in person of course but the basics, you know what I mean?"

Haley really hoped that Simon didn't think she was completely crazy but she liked the idea and would have liked to start her list here and now. She really wanted to learn more about Simon and she loved talking to him about anything but for the little things she thought this idea was just cute.

"No, you're not." Haley was sure Simon was setting her up again but when she looked at his face something told her he was just telling the truth."Aren't you?" she asked uncertainly now. Haley spent so much time out here that it was inconceivable to her that Simon had been here at Hogwarts for months but not once in the Courtyard.

"Only been on the grounds like twice," he added. Simon looked out to the tree where Haley had hid behind and smiled. "Beautiful out here," but he looked back to her. It was the company that really made this place great though.

"I like to stay indoors mostly. My aunt tells me that when I was a baby I was incredibly wonderful except for two things...I had awful sleep patterns and I didn't like going outside. I'd be absolutely perfect and didn't cry but the moment they took me outside I'd scream my little head off," he laughed, thinking about it.

"So my mum and my aunt figured I just needed time to adjust and once I got to walking they rented a room at this beach resort along the coastline. Thought I'd love the seagulls and the waves and the sand. They took me out and within minutes I was burning. My face was very red and it ended up being second degree burns verging on first degree. My mother felt awful. A doctor said it was XP, Xeroderma Pigmentosum. It's a genetic disorder for aversion to sunlight."

He had never known another person with the condition. "Usually people with XP have issues with their nervous system as well," he shrugged. "They also tend to get frekling. Not cute freckles like yours," he said as he came and sat down again next to her, leaning his head against her shoulder. "More like a discoloration. It also increases risk for skin cancer and a lot of other types of cancers, brain tumors, impaired vision, trouble walking...but I've never had anything like that. I've been lucky, I guess."

And he was grateful for that. He had learned how to ice skate, played indoor futball, played squash for his school team back in London. He seemed more than perfectly healthy.