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Reference Room and Work Area Situated beside Professor Newton's office is a room that has been charmed to look like a cozy muggle attic. It is in here that students will find a wide variety of books that cover wizarding history. Volumes range from very old to brand new and their purpose is to help with assignments. Desks are scattered throughout so that students can work there. Anyone is welcome so long as they remain civil and take good care of the source material. In the back there is a little art station that contains any such materials that could be needed for projects that she assigns from time to time. This ranges from paint to felt as well as anything else that fits artistic needs. |
For Shan Sometimes new professors meant new spaces. Char had figured out long ago that it was totally fun and worth exploring when a new face appeared. Aaaand what was THIS room? Charlotte opened the door and looked around eagerly. Ooooh! She made a beeline for the art supplies and began to poke around, humming to herself cheerfully. |
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Ah, a room to explore! Popping right on in, Rooney browsed through a pile of books, unintentionally sending another one crashing to the floor. |
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"Rooney." She bit her lip and eyed him warily. "Hi." |
With the shock of the noise still confusing him, Rooney spent a few seconds looking completely dazed and confused. And then he was thrown into more confusion when he looked properly before him and saw...her. Not the her that had been his her mere weeks ago, but the her that was his her before that her. See why it was confusing? "Ch... Uh... Miss Charlotte..." Oh hell to the complete no. This wasn't what he needed in a place for quiet and snooping. And she also wasn't what his thoughts needed when they were in this space. He was all over the place since things with Minnie and the fact that he still hadn't stopped thinking about the gloss on Charlotte's lips. .......... The lips that he was definitely looking at now. "H...holy hey." |
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He'd called her Miss Charlotte again. It had been a long time since Char had heard that. ....... he wasn't.... saying mean things to her. At least not so far. It was too soon to drop her wariness, because honestly Charlotte was just expecting another stream of vitriol and making her feel terrible. Did he know that she had written his mother? More lip chewing and big eyed uncertainty. "I'm not following you." He'd accused her of that before. "Do you... want me to go? I'll go." Except he was over there by the door and she'd have to go past him and that was a thing. |
Now that he was aware of absolutely everything around him, Rooney could completely sense how awkward this was and he too was good to leave. "No, no.. You were here first. I just wanted a book..." And to snoop. Snooping had been the original goal, but he couldn't tell her that because no doubt she'd have a comment about his badge. Maybe. Minnie always had those sorts of comments. He's almost forgotten what Miss Charlotte was like. Almost. He knew that she was still the prettiest girl in the school and his stomach still did a squeezing thing when he saw her. But he was totally over her and was not thinking about pulling her close and giving her a squeeze and a kiss....... He was supposed to be focussing on being available for Liv, and not thinking about kissing Char again. "You look....well." Yes, great start! Small talk! "Not like death or like you've been maimed by a mountain lion." Ah.. Definitely back to the drawing board on the small talk. "Wh..what I mean is...you grew." Ahehehehehehe. Why yes, she had. |
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"I just wanted to look around." Char said cautiously, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and leaning back against the table behind her. Gripping it helped. Made her feel more stable. And also made her seem more casual about this than she actually felt. And he was still being kind of nice. Ish. A little weird but... not outright mean. Not like the other times. She blinked in obvious confusion. Whyyy would she look like she was maimed by a mountain lion? Had he sent one after her or something? Or did he just think that without him she would look like death? Because she was totally just living her life and being happy and everything! Even if she did miss him. Oh but she HAD grown. Char smiled in spite of herself and straightened up. "Yeah I did!" If things were different, she would have rushed over to measure herself against him. She would have checked to see how much tippy toeing was needed for kisses. If things were different. |
She reaaaaallly was pretty. And it was completely right for Minnie to have questioned if she was just a rebound for Miss Charlotte. She had been. And what he had mistaken as love was just a forced feeling to stay with her. Mere moments with the other Gryffindor had proven that to him. He didn't love any of the girls he'd kissed. (Besides Liv, but that was friend love and understanding love and it was just different okay) Charlotte Kettleburn was exquisite and Rooney Bronwyn had been an absolute fool to let her go for someone who just wanted him to change and be spontaneous and everything that he wasn't. "Char?" He started, drawing his teeth across his lip and sucking in a breath. Actually, no. This wasn't the place. This wasn't the time. Roo picked up the first book he could lay his hands on and held it above his head. "Nevermind. I found it." Yes, his intention all along had been to find a copy of 'Dating Data of Powerful Men in Wizarding History', sure. |
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.... um. Giggle. "What do you need that for?" |
........ Oh no. Oh good gracious no. "R...research..." Or something like that. Actually it was just an exit strategy but he couldn't exactly admit that to her, could he? He'd look like an absolute butthead. "I have to know the average number of relationships that I can have before I should settle down." Would she know that he was talking rubbish? He'd judge her if she didn't, honestly. |
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At that Char thought about the letter he'd written her, that she'd subsequently lost, that had ended up published in that dumb gossip paper. She bit her lip and just kind of nodded uncertainly. It wasn't that she didn't know it was rubbish it was just that she couldn't easily tell with him what was or wasn't real or what was stuff he was just saying and what he really meant and because they weren't even friends anymore, she wasn't going to question it. "Um.... well I guess I'll.... leave you to your book." She got brave enough all of a sudden to head to the door, which also meant squeezing past a Rooney. |
Hadn't he said that he would leave? Hadn't she understood his offer to leave? He held in a breath as she got closer and almost choked on it as she went past him, instinct in his hand grabbing onto hers and holding it as if he was about to shake it. Yes, hello there Miss Charlotte Kettleburn. What a fine day for hand holding. What a fine day for squeezing past. What a fine day for... Well, she was just fine. "Hey.." |
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"...... Roo?" |
Everything stopped right then for him. His hand was holding hers and she was looking at him and he just wanted to kiss her, but he couldn't. He knew that that was more confusing than when he had kissed Liv and nothing needed to be that confusing ever again. But it didn't stop him wanting to. "M'sorry, Char.." And then he let go of her hand and stuffed it back into his pocket, solemnly. See, he could apologise. And mean it. And let go of someone when they were uncomfortable. He wasn't holding her against her will. |
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"You are?" It was a whisper. |
The red was flooding to his cheeks and Rooney wished he had hair long enough to hide it away. Hair long like hers. Hair daffodil like hers. Hair perfect like hers. This was the real deal. Rooney was completely infatuated by her hair and always had been. Charlotte Kettleburn's hair was the light and he was a moth. Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzz. "As sorry as I'll ever be." |
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She didn't trust him, but she wanted to. And she worried about him a lot and that was why she had written to his mother and and and- "I miss you, you know." |
He didn't feel like explaining himself, so he just rocked back and forth on his heels and toes, looking anywhere but directly at her eyes. Her lips, sure. Her hair, sure. Her hand, sure. Anywhere but her eyes. Eye contact was his weakness. Especially when the eyes belonged to his her. His old her. Char wasn't his her anymore. He bet she was someone else's, like she had always been. Like Minnie now was. What was it with him and choosing people to be his her when they wanted to be hers to someone else? Ugh, girls were dreadfully confusing. With a lean back against another pile of books, Rooney smiled. "Yeah? I miss you too.." And without thought, he added. "I broke up with Minnie." |
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"I'm free to kiss anyone now." Like he had been free before. But only...now he was the one allowed to rebound. And her nose could be it, should she let him. "Can't I just kiss your nose so that we're even?" It made sense to him and he bet that it would make sense to her if she just thought about it. That was...if she gave it a thought and didn't punch his lights out. |
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................................ ........................................ "Is this a trick, Roo? Because its not very nice if it is." And it was unsettling okay? Every other time they had talked since things happened he had been the meanest of the mean and made her feel like the worst sort of person. A sub-person. Not even a whole person. |
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Rooney sighed, placed the textbook back because he didn't want it anyway and stuffed both his hands into his pockets. "I know you think I'm on par with Lord Voldemort, Charlotte. But I'm not... I said sorry." |
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"It isn't a lie, you made choices, that's all." And the choice had turned out to be not Char.".... And one of those choices is not listening to me, believing me, or trusting me." Which still hurt, but less than before. She wasn't even going to defend herself again or clarify anything because he had that story in his head about how things were. The story was wrong. "You said sorry but how do I know you mean it?" She pouted slightly but it was a serious question. He had hurt her over and over, betrayed her trust. That wasn't what friends were supposed to do. |
It was still a thing - the Gryffindor girls talking and talking to make their point when they only needed a few words. At least Char wasn't giving an essay in place of a word or two like Liv did when she got excited. And at least she wasn't shouting all of those words to somehow make her point more important like Brinlee everyday. But she still did more talking than required and shushing her was so very tempting for him. Shushing her would probably cheer him up in all honesty. Rooney frowned and shrugged. "I guess you'll just have to trust me enough to know that when I say sorry, I mean it." Unlike others who accused him of all sorts for questioning their barely-there apologies. "I mean.. I bet I could kiss away any disbelief you have, but I couldn't bear to have you be my rebound." Was he making a dig? Slightly. Was he still a bit bitter? Of course. Was he always going to regret not having Miss Charlotte Hannah Kettleburn as his first (and last, obviously) girlfriend? Completely. |
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