Quote:
Originally Posted by
fire_faerie 
"I can certainly imagine," Rachel replied, her voice conflicted. One the one hand, she felt sad about Reid's reference to his brother - while she hasn't known Reid for that long, and knew about his brother for even a shorter time than that, she felt that she knew and understood that it was a terrible subject for him and it hurt a lot.
But then on the other hand, she was jealous. Jealous that he had people who could fill up the silence like siblings. Ever since she was small she had wanted brothers and sisters, but her parents had thought otherwise. Now, the maximum she could get to a new life at home was a cousin. It wasn't much, but now that Jake had invited Lucy to live with him, maybe they'll get married soon and have kids.
"Oh my - that doesn't sound pleasant. I'm glad that you're enjoying Hogwarts though," the fifth year said with a nod and a smile, although her eyes were wide. He said it so calmly but the story he had just told her was awful... Two boys, dying? Twins from Hufflepuff - it was really horrible.
Trying to get rid of the slightly saddened mood that Reid had put her in with his story, Rachel looked down at her ankle and pondered on what he had said, smiling slightly because that had been almost identical to her own thoughts. "I think I'll leave it - it looks pretty cool, right?" she finally decided, grinning as she looked up back at him.
"Then again sometimes not knowing them would be better. Their family is so complicated and unfeeling. Almost like zombies really. They have money but they have no emotions and treat their children like chess pieces." Reid confided while remembering his times with Sakura's family. It was so strange being there, feeling like an outsider years after he'd known them. He knew Sakura, Mei Lin and Sasuke felt the same as he did but could do nothing about it.
"Cool or ghastly, either way you can play it up." Reid said, giving her a warm smile. He knew what she was trying to do by changing the topic and was glad that she had. The story really was depressing and the only reason he could talk about it in such a dispassionate way was because he'd never known the twins, not really, and because he'd had enough time to become emotionless when it came to people he didn't know.
Shaking his head Reid had a small debate with himself before slowly and inconspicuously raising his arm. Should he or shouldn't he? He barely thought about the answer to his own question before slowly wrapping his arm around Rachel's waist. It was a light touch barely there and he hoped she wouldn't shrug him off.