The Spark of Something Sinister solo Closed

IC Date: Oct 23
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Astra speaking: #136323
Roderick speaking: #b32727
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

She saw him as he left the Charms classroom. She split off from her fellow snakes as they continued on to Charms and approached him. Roderick averted his eyes, continuing to talk with his friends. "Rod," she said, tugging on his sleeve. "Rod, we need to talk."

He looked down, acting surprised. It made her blood boil. "Later, Asa," he dismissed, brushing her hand off his sleeve.

"No!" She stomped her foot. "We need to talk now. You ghosted me!" Her eyes started watering. Her brother, the most faithful friend she'd had all her life, suddenly abandoning her. It was something she couldn't understand. She made no effort to mask the hurt in her eyes and voice as she looked up at him.

Roderick squinted at her. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean!" She crossed her arms and tried her hardest not to cry right then "You say you want to spend more time together, to be close again, so what do I do? I go sit at your stupid Gryffindork table in the middle of a bunch of people I don't know and what do you do, Roderick James? You leave me high and dry every single time. I tried to talk to you yesterday, the day before, every day for a week now and all you do is ignore me." She jabbed a finger into his chest. "Stop acting like you care if you don't." Her dark blue eyes held a fire untainted by the green tinge from her attire, shining like a welding flame.

Roderick gave his friends an apologetic look before turning to face his sister full on. He grabbed her hand and gently removed it, placing it at her side and holding it there. "Not in the hall, Asa... Don't you have a class to get to?" He sounded tired and mildly exasperated.

And she couldn't care less. "Why?" The singular word was quiet, angry, but tears fell.

Roderick looked very uncomfortable. "No, don't cry-" He fished around in his bag for a moment. "Shit- I mean, crap- ah, what the hell?"

"Language," she sniffed.

He closed the satchel with haste and placed both his hands on her shoulders. "Asa, I thought about it and... well, I live with you. And I don't live with my friends. So I want to spend as much time with them as possible while I'm here."

What a load of bull. The girl wiped her eyes furiously. "You only live with me for two months and a couple weeks now, Rod. You've got your friends 24/7." Roderick's lips pressed into a thin line and he looked away, as if thinking of another excuse. "I- look, if you hadn't have suggested the whole spend time thing it wouldn't be a problem, ok? Just don't- don't abandon me like that. If you don't want to hang out with me just say so and I'll leave you alone."

He sighed. "No, no, I do want to- ugh, how do I word this?" He tapped his foot, staring down at the ground. "I do want to spend time with you, yes. But I don't know... I don't know how to fit it in with everything else. I mean, my workload just got two classes worth added to it with electives, and I'm trying to keep my grades up for Mum, and I've got an image to keep, y'know?"

"Then make time. Talk to me when you see me in the hall. Study with me in the study room. Come to games and races and duels with me. Do something if you say you're going to do it!" she said, an exasperated tone evident in both expression and voice. Roderick sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. Ok." He took a deep breath, then wiped the final tear off his sister's face with the end of his sleeve. "Ok then. Let's do dinner tonight, and we can talk more, yeah?"

She gave him a stern look. "Promise you'll show up."

He removed his hand from her shoulder and held it out. She clapped her opposite hand to his and they did their handshake. "Promise. Now get to class, you." He ruffled her hair before walking off with his friends.

Astra sighed and dragged a hand over her face. Am I really the youngest? Or did some sort of time magic interfere and put my life on pause for two or three years? At least she was one step closer to figuring out what the heck was wrong with her brother.