just run with me through rows of speeding cars [loic/edmund]

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Two months since she had been diagnosed, and Xan was still not making any progress towards getting better. She had been oscillating between being ambivalent about her situation and being downright angry at the unfairness of it all. Something inside her had been taken, and she didn't know when she'd get it back, if she'd get it back at all. Today was an angry day; everyone was talking about how the Triwizard Tournament would start next week, and Xan just didn't care. She knew that Hugo's cousin was the Champion for Hogwarts, but she couldn't bring herself to muster up any support. She was just too tired. She probably wouldn't even be allowed out of the hospital wing to watch the Task; she could barely keep her eyes open for the short walks they allowed her to keep her muscles from atrophying, and the Task would almost certainly be longer than that. She'd just have to ask someone what had happened after the fact. As Xan promenaded downt he second floor corridor, she found herself growing a little dizzy. Maybe the stairs had been too much? No, she had gone up two flights of stairs to go to the GSA meeting, and even though she hadn't felt the best for a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting, she had bounced back. Maybe she just needed to take a break, Xan decided. She stumbled over to the nearest wall, and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor, still slightly dizzy and dazed.

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Big whoop. Another Tri-wizard tournament. Loïc couldn't think of anything more of a bore. Well, at least this year things would be more exciting. If they were lucky, there would be more than just one body to dragged out in the end. Elaine was mum on the plans thus far, but Loïc had no doubt all would be shared in good time. Besides, he had some tricks of his own begging to be brought to light. The Purifier's meeting left Loïc with a giddiness that could not be quenched. It left him reckless. 

Meandering the corridors, Loïc popped his head into empty classrooms. He snooped through professor's desks, managed to convince Moaning Myrtle that Binns had undying affection for the girl, and now he was once again left bored. Earlier he had tried breaking into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom but there was an alarm set in place that he couldn't contend with. Later he'd sneak down to the forbidden section and find the answers he needed there. Someone needed to knock Jakebson off his high horse. Defense against the Dark Arts. Useless waste of time. As if there was a way to stop the night. 

Turning the corner, Loïc heard a distinct thud against the corridor's floor. Peering down he saw a lovely treat, wrapped pretty just for him. It was the Meagle girl. All alone. "Well, well, well", he said with a glimmer of amusement. "What do we have here? Little bird broke her wing? Pity. How ever will she fly home."

Tag:@xanthippe

2

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Edmund was wandering the corridors. He had some free time and he wasn't really quite sure what to do with it, so he was slowly making his way down to the dungeons. He felt like things were finally starting to look up for him. Addi and grey were getting along well and his relationship with Addi was great. Things were going just as planned, except for the fact that he'd have to tell his family about her sometime soon. He just wasn't ready to have that conversation with them yet.

He heard something going on around the corner and hurried his step. He turned the corner to see Loïc standing about Xan. That couldn't be a good thing. Edmund didn't hear what was said, but he stepped forward hurriedly. "What's going on here?" he said casually, announcing his presence so no one got jumpy when he suddenly appeared. He wasn't very close to Xan (honestly he wasn't super close with most students at Hogwarts) but she didn't look well and it didn't seem like Loïc was going to help her. He stepped around Loïc and extended a hand to Xan. "Let's get you up," he said quietly, hoping she would take his hand. He really wasn't trying to start a confrontation, but if one did occur, he wanted her to be out of the way. Which wouldn't happen if she was still sitting on the floor.

@xanthippe

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Everything seemed to be happening so quickly. One moment, she was alone on the floor, and the next, there were two Slytherin boys looming over her. Xan blinked, trying to clear her head and figure out how exactly both of the boys had gotten there. Her fever must have been higher than she realized, Xan thought, or perhaps she had just zoned out for a moment or three. Of the two boys, Xan was definitely more inclined to trust Edmund; he was in her year, and his sister was the Prefect for Ravenclaw house. Loïc, on the other hand, was just scary. The defiant part of Xan – the Gryffindor part, if one could call it that – wanted to deny the taunt (yes, that was right, Loïc had been taunting her!) of the one boy and the help of the other, but she knew she wasn’t going to make it to the hospital wing on her own, and maybe now that Edmund was here, Loïc would leave her alone. “I’m fine.” She tried to say, thought her words came out a bit garbled. Xan pressed her palms into the stone floor of the corridor, inching herself up the wall painfully. When she was about halfway up, Xan finally caved and took Edmund’s hand. “Why don’t you go pick on someone your own size, Rosier?” Xan muttered, more to herself than anyone else. She doubted that the Slytherin would take her up on the offer, but it was worth a try.

@ruse
@edmund

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Hearing Edmund's voice, Loïc scowled. Someone was interrupting his fun. The Windsor boy was a sniveling swat. A snake with no fangs who clearly had a death wish. The boy needed a lesson in respecting his superiors. Loïc continually glowered at Xanthippe while he called over his shoulder. "Meagle and I were just having a little chit-chat, weren't we dear?" He felt Edmund side step him to reach for the girl's hand. Loïc sucked in the air between his two front teeth in disgust. All his marvelous plans dashed in an instant. Anger bubbled through his veins but all the while, Loïc kept his coy smile. He was in for the long game. Windsor would be punished for his interference, but on his terms. 

Loïc chuckled, leaning against the cold stones, "Aw, what a shame. I thought you were my size pipsqueak. No matter. I have bigger fish to fry this evening. You two go on and have a safe night. You never know what lurks in the dark." With that, Loïc gave a quick wave and walked down to the Slytherin Common Rooms. 

Tag:@xanthippe  & @edmund

{Exit Loïc}

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Edmund didn't believe Loïc for a second. The guy was bad news, one of the reasons that most people looked down on Slytherin house was for people like him, which annoyed Edmund to no end. The fact that he would pick on someone who was obviously not well was even more disgusting to Edmund. 

He waited for Xan to accept his help and it actually took her a bit. Edmund was impressed by her determination to take care of herself, but he left his hand extended just in case she changed her mind and decided to take it. Eventually she did and Edmund helped her to her feet, not sure exactly what to do now. She and Loïc both made comments at one another, but Edmund stayed out of it. He didn't need to be a part of their verbal sparring. None of it was directed at him, after all. 

Once Loïc was gone, Edmund turned his full attention to Xan. "What's going on? Did he do that to you?" He asked quietly. Even if Loïc had, Edmund wasn't sure if there was anything he could do about it, but he wanted to know. He wanted to help Xan, if she'd let him. 

@xanthippe

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Xan glared at Loïc when he said they were having a chit-chat. There was no need to use such a juvenile word, especially since it implied a familiarity that Xan certainly didn’t have with Loïc, and never wanted to have, for that matter. Loïc said something about having bigger fish to fry, and Xan didn’t bother to puzzle out what he meant. As long as he was gone, she was okay. Edmund asked what was going on, and Xan swallowed, trying to get her thoughts back into line despite the fact that her head was still feeling strange. “He didn’t do anything.” But he was going to – they both knew that. “I just was taking a walk, and I started not feeling well, so I sat down…” Xan sighed. “It’s not contagious, by the way.” She assured Edmund. It felt like the whole school knew about her affliction, but Xan learned that a few of them hadn’t bothered to learn anything about it other than old wive’s tales, none of which were accurate. “Thanks for helping me.” She added. He hadn’t had to stand up to Loïc the way he did, and Xan appreciated that.

@edmund

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Obviously Loïc was making things up about the nature of his interaction with Xan. All it took was one look at her face for Edmund to know that for sure. But thankfully Loïc walked away, so Edmund didn't have to try and come up with something to do to get him to leave her alone. Once he was gone, Ed turned his full attention to Xan. He nodded, relieved when she told him that Loïc didn't do anything. At least he'd been able to come before something did happen. He hated how some Slytherins were determined to make everyone else in the school see them as bad guys. It was ridiculous and juvenile. He rolled his eyes when she said it wasn't contagious. "I really wouldn't care either way," Edmund told Xan honestly. "Is there something else I can do? Help you to wherever you're going maybe?" He offered. He wasn't sure if she'd accept his help- they didn't know one another too well, after all, but he wasn't in any rush and if she would let him help, he was definitely up for it.

@xanthippe

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“I would care.” Xan replied when Edmund said he didn’t care whether or not she was contagious. Xan was miserable most of the time, and she would never wish that on anyone else, ever. Heck, if she was contagious, she probably would have never left the hospital wing, or even St. Mungo’s. No one deserved this, not even stupid Loïc Rosier. When Edmund asked how he could help, Xan chewed her lip before responding. “Could you walk with me back to the hospital wing?” She asked sheepishly. “I’m a little better, I think, but I don’t want to start walking and feel bad again and be trapped in another situation like that one.” Maybe Loïc wouldn’t come back, but there were plenty of other people in the school who had his same state of mind. Besides, Xan liked to get to know new people, and Edmund seemed like the kind of person who would be nice to know. “I don’t need you to support me or anything.” She added hastily, just in case he got that idea in his head. Xan would only do that if she seriously couldn’t walk, and right now, that wasn’t the case.

@edmund

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Honestly, Ed had no desire to get sick, but that also wasn't an issue here. He assumed when he saw Xan in the corridor that she wasn't contagious. If she had been, they never would have let her out of the hospital wing. Still, he was sure that she needed some reassurance that some people still wanted to be with her, even though she was sick. So he just smiled at her and shrugged a little, waiting for her to decide what she wanted to do. 

After a minute she asked if he would mind walking her to the hospital wing, saying that she thought she was better and that she didn't need him to support her. Edmund nodded, "Of course I can walk back with you," he told her with an easy smile. It was interesting how much he'd changed over the last year or so. One year ago, he would have walked past Xan with Loïc, not to be mean, but because he probably wouldn't have noticed and if he did he would have thought that it really wasn't any of his business. Now Edmund did notice the people around him and he wanted to help them when he could. It was different. As they started to walk down the corridor, Ed was careful to make sure she had her space. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable at all. "So ..." he started, wanting to say something so there wasn't this awkward silence between them. "we've never really talked before, have we?" The question was more to be polite than anything else. "Tell me about yourself," he encouraged with yet another smile.

@xanthippe

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Xan was relieved when Edmund agreed to walk her back to the hospital wing. She didn’t need it, of course, but it was nice to have that extra safety net in case things went south, health-wise or Slytherin-wise. Of course, Edmund was a Slytherin, so it wasn’t fair to say Slytherin-wise, Xan supposed. She shrugged to herself, and turned to begin to walk back towards the hospital wing. Edmund was a good walking buddy, Xan decided a couple of steps into their journey. She had been worried that he was going to hover obnoxiously like some people did when they learned that she was having a particularly bad day, but he gave her the space she needed to feel like she could breathe.

Edmund stated that the two of them had never really talked before, and Xan nodded. She didn’t talk to many Slytherins or Hufflepuffs – her main connections were people in her own house, or Gryffindors. Edmund asked her to talk about herself, and Xan was at a loss for words. It felt like so much of who she was had changed since September, yet everything that was important was still the same. “Well, I’m a triplet.” Xan began. That was easy. A lot of people had heard about the Meagle triplets. “I’m in Ravenclaw.” Also probably obvious. “And I’m co-captain of the Art Club.” She added. There. That was a talking point that didn’t involve something that was immediately obvious or common knowledge. Hopefully Edmund would have something to say about it.

@edmund

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Edmund was interested the instant she said she was a triplet. Sure, he knew that there were some triplets in the school, but he’d never ran into them, much less met them or talked with them. He smiled, thinking that was a cool thing. He thought about asking her about her siblings, but figured she got those sorts of questions all the time. Would she be annoyed if he asked them? He nodded when she said she was in Ravenclaw and then he thought of a question. “Are your siblings in the same house as you?” he asked curiously. “The Art Club,” Edmund repeated. “So is there a specific type of art you prefer? Like painting versus drawing or sculptures or anything?” He wasn’t exactly sure what else to say, but he figured this would start up some kind of a conversation that he could work with.

@xanthippe

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Xan offered Edmund a small smile when he didn’t put her through the whole ‘being a triplet must be so cool!’ speech. Of course, she was always happy to gush about her siblings, but it did get a little tiring to say the same thing every single time. Edmund at least asked something bordering on original. “Nope. Zac and Winnie are both in Gryffindor.” Xan wasn’t going to go off on the tangent it had been to be separated from her siblings, but she was sure Edmund could figure out that it wasn’t the best situation in the world. “You have a sister in my house, right?” She was pretty sure Edmund’s older sister was one of Ravenclaw’s prefects, though she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure – Xan’s isolation in the hospital wing included being isolated from normal house politics and the sort.

“I paint mostly.” Xan replied. “But I draw sometimes, too. Charcoal can be finicky, but I think it makes such beautiful illustrations.” That actually gave Xan an idea. If she could get a picture of Edmund, she could draw him a portrait or something to thank him for his kindness. It wasn’t like she had much else to do.

@edmund

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They were both in Gryffindor? Well that was different. "Do you guys get along well with each other?" he asked without thinking. Then he realized that she probably didn't know about his family history and would think of that as much more of a personal question than he did. "It's just, all of my siblings were put into different houses and we haven't always gotten along very well, so I was wondering if maybe that was similar ..." he trailed off, not sure if he was making things better or not. Probably not. He wouldn't be surprised if he was unintentionally offending her. He smiled at her question, "Yeah Susan is in your house. She's a prefect too. My brother Will went to Gryffindor, but he's graduated now and Lucy is in Hufflepuff." Not that she really wanted to know all that, but he was asking questions about her family so he might as well give her some information about his own. 

Edmund smiled when she started talking about art. It was clear in her tone that she loved it, which was cool. "That's great. My family has never been good at making art, but we have lots of famous paintings at our castle at home. I don't know if I've ever seen something done by charcoal though." He really wasn't trying to brag about his home. Being in Susan's house, she probably already knew they were royal so it shouldn't be a big deal, but Edmund still blushed a little.

@xanthippe

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Xan nodded when Edmund asked if she and her siblings got along fairly well. “I think it’s one of those ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ scenarios.” She answered. “And we’re still pretty similar, I think, even if we got put in different houses.” They were similar people who valued different things, and that was okay, healthy, even. “And lately, well…” Xan didn’t know how to put what she was about to say gently, so she was as blunt as possible about it. “They don’t argue with me because I’m sick, and might die, and you know, I think they always kind of wonder if every word they say to me is going to be the last.” Especially on Xan’s bad days, people seemed to walk on eggshells around her, which was why it was refreshing to have a conversation with someone who didn’t care about babying her. Xan made a soft noise when Edmund said that each of his siblings went to a different house. What were the chances of that?

“I could draw you something, if you’d like.” Xan said, choosing to skip over everything Edmund said about the famous paintings at his castle so she didn’t start beginning him to come see all of them. She had intended to keep the drawing bit a surprise, but it was such a natural segue that Xan couldn’t help but make the offer out loud. “I mean, it won’t be as good as the paintings you have, but…” She shrugged her shoulders. It would be something.

@edmund