Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cassirin 
She was crying before he even let her go, and when Vickers released her, Vivi slumped back against the cushion in a boneless, sad-faced mess. She almost never cried, not when she got that concussion in Charms, not when she was injured in Quidditch, not ever, and here she was being such a girl about everything. Using her jumper as a handkerchief, Vivi dried her face.
That... that hug and the words... they'd felt sort of final. Like maybe she could close a door on that part of her heart for a while now that they'd been said. She hoped she could, because nothing else has worked so far. She'd been kissing poor Milton in an attempt to close that door, although he was a willing participant.
She hated that Vickers had run off as if he was the one who'd screwed up, though. That hurt more than anything, and much as Vivi would love to sit and throw herself a little pity party, she couldn't let him be alone right now. She scrubbed at her face as she slid off the bench, hoping to remove any trace of tears, and then Vivi attempted to follow in Vickers' footsteps.
She sort of felt like the reverse of a ghost, as if she'd left her feelings and the hurt back at the window and she was just an empty body walking around the library. What was a reverse ghost called? An inferi, she supposed.
It was lucky Vickers didn't fit very well under a desk, because it made him easier to find. She waited a long moment, wondering what she could say to make things better. Nothing, really, so she'd just be Vivi and hope that worked. She crouched a foot or so away, because crawling under the desk with him seemed like a surefire way to make things worse. "I'm just going to stay here and stare at you in an extremely creepy way until you come back out, so you might as well give in to me already. I can be creepy longer than you can be a mole or whatever animal you're wishing you were right now."
As a child, Vickers developed a kind of a habit of crawling into solitary spaces and just watch the world go by, feeling safe in his little cocoon. Usually he can do this for hours before his Uncle or an army of house elves starts popping up looking for him. Now with his legs and elbows jutting out at odd angles under the table, trying to stay incognito wasnt quite as easy as it was back then, specially when there was someone standing right in front of his secret Hogwarts hiding place...
And as those legs folded down to reveal the pale blonde hair and teary eyes he can only stare back in silence, at least for several seconds....What did he just do and say to Vivi back there? It was almost like an out of body experience-- that part of him that lay dormant since that summer, caged all that time before the French girl reappeared and became the resident Ravenclaw blonde of their graduating class.... it was out in full force now, battling it out with an equally powerful force that was born of the affections he had for that beloved Ravenclaw red-head...
It was like hearing things from a tunnel when Vivi spoke, muffled and far away before it becomes clearer as the sound drew nearer... and now he notices-- she's been crying.
"Uhm.... I-I just need some time to think..." he whimpered back, feeling even worse now that he may have been responsible for those tears
"Dont cry for m-- just dont cry Viv. Friends aren't supposed to make each other cry...." he added as his own eyes betrayed his words, feeling it moisten up as it began to blur his vision. He presses his back firmly against the wall, decidedly staying under there, hoping that the shadow cast by the table covered his face well enough and that Vivi will buy his fibs and leave him well alone.