Love and Friendship PV L. Oaksworth Finished

Leonard didn't say much to his family, when he thought about it. It wasn't like he'd had a problem with them, at least with the ones he lived with. He'd just never felt the need to. Even for some of the most important things for him, he'd never really thought to share. They didn't know that he kept three different calendars, just because he couldn't fit all his notes for one day into the tiny space. They didn't know his admiration for eighties films that decidedly fell into the PG-13 rating, and that he had a stash of them under his bed he'd bought with the change he'd said the cashier at Sainsbury's hadn't given him. They even didn't know much about his days at Hogwarts. Leonard had fabricated them to be normal, with friends and enemies, tests he'd just passed, a completely average experience. Needless to say, it was anything but.
And so he decided it was time to tell them about his actual experiences, albeit a watered down version. His mother didn't need to know just how many enemies he'd made. There were also questions, mixed in with the stories in his letter. Leonard was a curious boy by nature, and he was extremely curious as to how and why they cared so much about his relationships with other students. They were always incessantly asking in every owl sent about who his friends were, and whether he'd met a girl, or a boy. For Merlin's sake, he'd be happier to end up with a toad. In his eyes, he was much too young for any of that.

...So you can relax, Mum. I'm not lonely, I'm having fun, and I'm doing alright. The food is fine, by the way. You don't need to send your own. And, please, stop asking about crushes. I'm eleven. Wait a few years, and I promise I'll tell you then.

He went up the stairs. It was a satisfying ending to the rather lengthy letter. Anybody who'd seen him would've thought it was a novel, most likely. Luckily, there weren't many people. At least, that what he thought. As he walked towards a barn owl, he saw a girl sitting on the floor.
"Hello," he said. He was still getting used to conversation with people other than his parents, customers, and stuffed animals. He cleared his throat. "What brings you here?"

Lindsey was sitting on the floor, with a head full of love and friendship.
“Love, Friendship; Love, Friendship; Love…” she murmured, and would place a bet for 1000 galleons that she looked extremely stupid and mad.
Suddenly a voice sounded beside her.
“Hello, what brings you here?” A boy asked.
Hmm…? Is that said to me?
Lindsey raised up her head, and quickly glanced the whole owlery. No one, except the owls, her, and the boy that asked the question were here.
“Ah…hello…I was sending a letter here and it’s…well, already away?” She said with a bit stupidness, but soon the Hufflepuff got her usual friendly smile back.“You’re for a letter too, right?”
I must have seen him before…she thought. All of a sudden, she remembered slipped down to the floor at the station in front of this boy. But, to her relief, he did not say anything about her falling down at that time. Maybe, it’s time to make a friend with him.
Lindsey had prepared to tell the boy her name——but no. A mischievous smile, probably inherited from her elder brother and cousin, secretly floated on her face.
“My name’s Florence and you may call me Flora.” She said, giving her hand out while standing up.
Instead of saying “Lindsey”, she chose her middle name “Florence”. She had been liking her middle name for a long time, and she felt that it’s time to use it——let’s see how long would the boy discover it! (P.S. This is the first time Lindsey playing a prank)
Lindsey, nope, Flora now, was smiling friendly and sweetly, to the boy in front of her.

@Leonard Oaksworth

The owl hooted, breaking a very pregnant pause for Leonard. This is why he found letters and writing to be much easier forms of communication. With the written word, you could take all the time needed to curate something amusing, at the very least an acceptable level of awkwardness. When you needed to face a person and actually talk to them, it was bordering on stressful. There were millions of things possible to go wrong, like enunciation and grammar. And hands. What was he supposed to do with his hands?
No matter. He had a name to call her by, and that was one step towards an acceptable level of awkwardness.
“Well, Flora,” he said, tying the paper to the owl’s leg, “If you don’t mind me asking, why were you sitting on the floor? I’ve been around the castle a few times, pretty sure there are more comfortable places to sit. I’m Leonard, by the way, abut you may call me Leo.”
Okay, okay, not bad, he thought. He could’ve, and had, done worse. Was he supposed to do something now? Shake her hand? Did people do that anymore, or was that old? Leonard wasn’t even sure whether he’d washed his hands. That was a very important factor in a handshake. Had she washed her hands?
And the most important question: why couldn’t he be better with people?

Lindsey Flora shook hands with Leonard. She really didn’t care about whether his hands were clean, cause hers were clean——then his must be.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why were you sitting on the floor? I’ve been around the castle a few times, pretty sure there are more comfortable places to sit. I’m Leonard, by the way, abut you may call me Leo.” he asked.
“Nice to meet you!” she smiled back.
Leonard seemed pretty interesting and friendly. Flora thought. She decided to speak the truth. Maybe this boy could help her out with her cousin’s question?
“Um, actually I’m thinking about my cousin’s last letter——he somehow talked about how amazing love and friendship are. I haven’t got a clue on how to reply him though…I really haven’t thought about this before.” Flora said.
“He’s, well, a bit too smart I think…maybe thinking these sort of things just not fit me. You see, I’ve been staying here——I guess for a while?” She said with a bitter smile. “Guess I’ve got to spend a week for this topic.” she added.
So far the conversation seemed well. Flora’s pretty good at making friends, at least she thought so. She had a time thinking naively that simply everyone she met and had a good time with would be her friends. However she soon found she was wrong. Yeah, she had met plenty of people, but they seemed only regarded her as their “acquaintance”. The only friends she had might only be Lizzie Callaghan and Theseus Reneun——if Theseus did count.
Maybe, she’s not that good at making friends, after all.

@Leonard Oaksworth

Leonard was confused, ever so slightly, as he shook her hand. What was the obsession with these topics of love and friendship? There were years to come, it wasn’t like Armageddon would come knocking on the door in a few days. The wedding bells and best men could wait. Making friends was difficult for most, of course, but it wasn’t a requirement for happiness. He’d lasted long without them, his best friend being a stuffed Dalmatian and his first love being a rock pet that had broken up with him and started their own family in Northern Ireland. And he’d been fine. If anything, he was in a better mental state. After being dumped by a rock, he accepted the reality that he would die alone long before the age when he would actually be dumped.

“Well, seems your cousin’s an old soul, Flora. Don’t get why everybody’s got a thing about love and all that. Those types of things don’t really fit me either.”

He sat on the floor, surprisingly not too uncomfortable. “Whenever my mum asks about that type of stuff, I just tell her not yet, yeah? I just keep putting it off until it actually happens. Might work for you.”

“Well, seems your cousin’s an old soul, Flora.” Leonard said.
Maybe…? Flora seemed with no reaction, but laughed secretly in her heart. That must be the point.
Haha! I’m gonna tell Enjy next time when I meet him! Let’s see what cap would said! She thought.
“Those types of things don’t really fit me either.” Leonard then explained.
“Well for me friendship seemed quite fit——but I don’t think love is for everyone——maybe I shall ask Alina how she deals these sort of things with…well never mind.” She said.
This boy wouldn’t know anything about the badgers, would he? Flora said to herself.
Leonard then said his mom asked about those things to him.
Wow. Flora thought. It must be very interested to have a mother like this. Her mom cared little about her children’s love and friendship issues——she seemed pretty confident on theses sort of things.
“I just keep putting it off until it actually happens. Might work for you.”
“Yeah, maybe…” Flora murmured.
However, this girl’s super proud and stubborn. Putting off this, and replying that she didn’t know, would be a huge failure for Flora. She could even imagine what would Combeferre say in the next letter:

“Still no clue, uh? Admit that I’m pretty smart then, Lynn, and please tell Enjolras to have a look on his younger brother in stead of his cousin. (Just kidding!)”

Although she knew everything Combeferre said would be kidding. She’s…a little bit too proud.
“I guess, I’ll go it over tomorrow.” Flora finally said softly. “You know…I just don’t want to fail.”

@Leonard Oaksworth

“Fail? What do you mean by fail?”
Leonard was even more confused now, quite the feat. Friendship was confusing enough, being something that had no scientific explanation. Companionship shouldn’t have been something needed in the process of evolution, said his brain. If anything, it was a liability. A larger group of beings would require more resources to keep, with food, water, shelter. If one was lacking, sadness was distributed equally, unless one was not as invested in the relationship as others, therefore making everybody else more sad. Sadness came with anger, and on the rare occasion hate, which was scientifically proven to make people sick. Ergo, friendship meant disease. Love was even more confusing, being an even more exaggerated process of the above.
Where was the shame in not understanding something that was so baffling?
“Like, fail in a subject? Because last time I checked, there wasn’t a class in romance,” he said, smiling uneasily. Humour was the art of the interesting, after all. Too bad he was neither interesting nor funny. “Can you imagine that? It would be more awkward than Biology class when you have to learn about the parts. Well, still, you can't really fail at this. I don't think. Hopefully not, my grades are already barely passing."
Humour was hard.

“Um, I guess that would be…some sort of competition between the children.” Flora said, trying to explain as clear as possible. “The Springhalls are…at least I am…competitive.” She admitted it finally.
Proud, and competitive. Flora really didn’t want to tell her negative traits to others. These two were probably the worst, even worse then lack of creativity.
She sometimes wondered why she wasn’t made a Slytherin or Gryffindor. Being a Hufflepuff, she had been trying very hard not to be that competitive. So far, it seemed work among her peers.
But, when it’s time to face her cousin, whom Flora did not need to conceal her feelings, she could finally turn back to herself.
What made her confused was, she had showed her competitive side to a boy that…she had just known for a short while.
He made her feel comfortable, and his…humour on a class called romance?
Lindsey smiled on that point.
“Hey never mind. I’ll just reply to the friendship part, which is far more easier and suitable. Well, let’s pretend that there’s no class in Romance, but one in Friendship. A quick questionnaire, Mr. Leonard?” She said to the boy, taking out a piece of paper and a pen.
“So, the first question. Who’s your friend? You don’t have to tell me the full name if you don’t want——only the first name would do.” She said.
“And, secondly, your thoughts on them? Why are they attractive to you?”
“Thirdly, would you defend them when they get hurt even though you might lose…some of your precious things?” This question was rather difficult to ask, cause it seemed awkward and a bit rude.
But she had made it. Flora smiled, and waited for Leonard’s reply.

@Leonard Oaksworth

Leonard decided he liked the girl. She was competitive, which would make for interesting conversations, since he was known to raise his voice quite a bit during Monopoly nights. She was also genuinely funny, as opposed to his monotonous attempts. All in all, an interesting person. And, no matter how truly unnecessary friends were in his eyes, interesting people were worth sticking around for.
He adjusted his nonexistent glasses, and cleared his throat. "Well, Ms. Florence, I would say my friends are Alec and Clifton, one of whom would be your fellow Hufflepuff. My thoughts on them? We do fun things together, therefore making them, by association, fun. Why they are attractive to me? First, I would like to commend your choice of words, which could be interpreted as a double entendre. For physical features, I would say Alec's jawline and Clifton's hair, if that was the meaning. If not, I would say that it would be because of their hilarity and willingness to break rules in order to have fun. Also, don't dare report that, unless you want to wake up with a bunch of pygmy puffs in your bed," he added in a low voice. He wasn't exactly lying.
"Would I defend them? As you can see, I'd not be of much use in a physical fight," he knew that from experience. "But I would defend them verbally, without doubt. If I didn't, it could end our friendship, and whatever things I lost could be regained. I have a good memory, so if it was writing it would be fine. Unless it was something like the Mona Lisa that I could lose, it'd be fine. Why do you ask?"
This he was very curious about. Was Flora in a spot of trouble?