Searching for a Breath of Fresh Air (Albus)

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Dom was bored. It wasn't altogether too surprising. School just started a few days ago and she was already back into the swing of things, which meant that she was caught up on her homework. It also meant that she had to spend lots of her time indoors, which was not something Dominique Weasley enjoyed. At all. She loved the freedom that came with being out of doors and so now that she had a free moment, she was on her way outside. 

She was in the process of making her way through the Entrance Hall when she saw a familiar figure in front of her. Beaming, she moved closer and spoke to him when she almost got there. "Hey cous. It's been a while since I've seen you. Want to join me for a walk?" Of course, he could always say no and if he was in one of his moods, he probably would, but Dom hoped Albus would come with her. It was always more fun outside when you had company and she really hadn't spent any time with him recently. They could talk and catch up on things if they wanted. If he decided to come with her, that was.

@al

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@dominique

"Hey cous. It's been a while since I've seen you. Want to join me for a walk?" al was pulled from his thoughts as he sat on the steps that led to the entrance of the castle, though he was sitting to the side and leaning his shoulder against the stone. he raised a brow as his eyes shifted to a familiar red headed face and he smiled a little. he should have known of all his cousins to pull him from his thoughts it would be dom. he was giving dusti and rusti some time together, their parents death still fresh wounds for them he'd figured they'd needed some time without him hovering to make sure dusti was alright. he nodded his head as he made to stand up. "why not." he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets and started down the steps toward the grounds. "how've you been dom?" it had been a while since he'd been able to talk to her really, other than the odd hello in the hall and conversations that lasted less than a minute between classes and at meals.

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Dom grinned when Albus agreed to go with her. The two weren't particularly close, but she enjoyed talking with her cousins when the opportunity arose and so here she was. Besides, Al was always interesting. He rarely did or said what she expected, which was a fun surprise for her. "I've been good. Break was fun, it's nice to be back in school. Other than that, not much is going on with me as of yet. How are you doing?" That might not be a particularly good question to ask, since she knew his girlfriend's parents just died, but Dom asked it anyway. It was polite and ... to be honest, she was curious.

@al

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@dominique

"I've been good. Break was fun, it's nice to be back in school. Other than that, not much is going on with me as of yet. How are you doing?" how was he doing? well that was a loaded question. he'd much rather just talk about her life and how she was doing for the rest of their walk. he'd become too open in the last few months and he was still adjusting it, not sure how it would effect the relationships he had with people. he and dom weren't close but they were family and he had been the same for his whole life so he could understand how much of a shock it would be for him to be suddenly open. "i'm fine." he said with a small smile as he tucked his hands into his pockets. well it didn't seem like he was going to give her the chance to see it. "did you have fun at the ball?" he'd seen her there in the brief time he'd spent with dusti inside the hall.

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Dom wasn't too surprised when Albus didn't open up to her. They'd never really been close, even though he did seem to be close with Vic. Then again, Vic was a Slytherin like him and she was just good at getting people to talk to her. Dom ... did good with most people, but she'd never really made the effort toward her cousin. She nodded when he asked about the Ball. "I did. I mean, my date ran off in the middle of the first dance," which wasn't that big of a deal to her, especially since she and Ranger were just friends. "But I did have fun talking and dancing with other people. And there was fondue!" her excitement at that fact was impossible to hide. "What did you think of the ball?" He asked about it first, so Dom didn't mind returning the question.

@al

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@dominique

"I did. I mean, my date ran off in the middle of the first dance, But I did have fun talking and dancing with other people. And there was fondue!" he laughed and shook his head at her obvious happiness over the fondue. food had been the last thing on his mind during the ball. he'd had a few dances with dusti before she'd caught sight of her father and then they'd vacated the ball to spend time with each other outside under the stars. it had made it a great night actually. "What did you think of the ball?" he shrugged a little and shoved his hands into his pockets. "it was alright. i didn't spend all that much time there." he said with a slight grin. "dusti and i left pretty early." he scuffed his toes against the ground as they walked. "what else. fill me in on all things dominique." he said as he looked at his cousin. he felt it had been too long since they'd spoken and he didn't really know much about what she'd been getting up to in the last while. apart from how worried their family had been after ethan's death and how much it had broken her.

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He laughed at what she said and Dom smiled. She loved making people laugh, even if it was at her. Since she wasn't normally a reason for Albus smiling, she'd take this as a win. "But you and Dusti had a good time together right?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't mind. She assumed that if they left early, they would have done it to enjoy one another's company. Hopefully. Apparently he'd rather talk about her though. Dom tried to think about what she should tell him. She ... lately she wasn't doing well and she was sure that most of her family was worried about her because of that, but she wasn't going to tell Albus that. She didn't want to make another person worry about her. "Oh you know. I just get myself into trouble. Practicing Quidditch, having book searches throughout the castle, adventures with my little brother, tutoring sessions and my sister pulling me out of school," she paused, mentally berating herself. Why did she mention Vic? Hopefully he wouldn't ask about that. Just thinking about leaving school for those weeks brought her mood down. Ethan. She forced a smile back to her cousin and shrugged. "I do a lot, but most of it isn't really anything that anyone would be interested in hearing about," she admitted with a small laugh.

@al

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@dominique

"But you and Dusti had a good time together right?" he nodded his head. they had, they'd spent most of the night outside on a blanket watching the stars. it had been perfect for them. from the start he'd known he and dusti wouldn't spend much time in the ball, it wasn't something either of them enjoyed over a period of time so they'd done something they did enjoy. "Oh you know. I just get myself into trouble. Practicing Quidditch, having book searches throughout the castle, adventures with my little brother, tutoring sessions and my sister pulling me out of school," he'd heard she'd left for a few days. it didn't surprise him though. he knew she was still dealing with ethan's death and he didn't know what he'd do if he lost dusti. "it wasn't a great year to be captain was it. with all the focus on the tournament instead of the games." the same could be said for dusti too. he'd been the slytherin captain last year and then he'd left the team to focus on his studies, dusti had taken over this year. "I do a lot, but most of it isn't really anything that anyone would be interested in hearing about," he shrugged and stuck his hands into his pockets. "i'm interested."

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Ok, so he didn't want to talk about himself. At least, not about him and Dusty at the ball. That was fine. Obviously, trying to make him do so would defeat the whole purpose of trying to talk to him, so Dom let it go. Then he mentioned that it wasn't the best year to be Quidditch captain and Dom shook her head ruefully. "No, no it wasn't," she agreed. "I wish we still could have done a few games, but I guess I understand why we haven't." Then he said that he was interested. In what? Sure, Dom could talk about anything and everything, but she didn't want to chase away her cousin, or bore him. Especially because if she did, she'd get lost in her thoughts for sure- thoughts of Ethan. "Well what do you want to know?" Dom was ready to talk about anything, she just didn't know where to start or what he'd want to know.

@al

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@dominique

"No, no it wasn't, I wish we still could have done a few games, but I guess I understand why we haven't." he could understand it a little, it wasn't like the tournament was every weekend for the whole school year. it was three events over the course of the terms so he didn't see why games couldn't run as usual. though he didn't play them anymore so while he'd thought about it didn't bother him really. "Well what do you want to know?" he shrugged his shoulders and kicked the dirt with his toe as they walked, folding his arms over his chest and looking over at his cousin. "anything you want to share?" he didn't want to ask her outright how she was doing, especially when he knew vic had just pulled her out of school to talk to her about what had happened.

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Well, Albus definitely wasn't in a very talkative mood today. Not that she really expected any differently. The two of them had never been particularly close. That was okay, Dom was pretty good at talking enough for plenty of people. She continued to walk with Al as he shrugged, asking if she wanted to share anything. She glanced over at him. Did he know that she left with Vic for a while? Dom wasn't really sure how many people knew about that ... but she knew that most people knew she was acting differently now than she normally did. She pasted a smile on. "Well ... I got to take a short break from school for a few weeks," she told him brightly, pretending like it was more of a vacation than a semi-therapeutic break. It hadn't helped at all. "And ... Louis took me on a wicked obstacle course the other day ... I've also been on a treasure hunt in the castle recently." She gave a short laugh. "Other than that it's just been school as usual, you know." She didn't really know what else to say, so she just left it at that, hoping he'd have something to say.

@al

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@dominique

"Well ... I got to take a short break from school for a few weeks," he nodded slightly. he'd known about that through the family grapevine. a weasley or potter couldn't sneeze in the school without the rest of them finding out about it, it was something their family seemed to like to do was talk to each other about each other. "And ... Louis took me on a wicked obstacle course the other day ... I've also been on a treasure hunt in the castle recently." he nodded and grinned a little. leave it to louis to make an obstacle course. that was one of the things he loved about his little cousin, the creativity the kid had and that same reckless streak that a lot of them shared, though it seemed louis had it to a different level. "well leave it to louis. what was it?" he asked, curious. "and a treasure hunt? sounds fun. who did you do that with?" he asked. he was serious about wanting to know. he didn't mind talking about other people, he just hated talking about himself.

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Al was a good listener. Dom didn't know why she hadn't come to him earlier ... probably mostly because the two of them weren't particularly close. She knew that Vic and Albus got along quite well with one another when they were both in school, but Dom had never really joined that. While she loved her sister, when the two had been in school at the same time, they hadn't done much together. That probably had something to do with being in different houses and having such a large age gap. He smiled as she described the more exciting things she'd been up to lately. She shrugged when he asked what Louis planned. "It was a ropes course out by the Forbidden Forest," she told him, smiling as she remembered. "There was a zip line at the end and it was amazing!" Really, Louis had outdone himself, but she enjoyed it. Then she smiled again. "Jamie Greyback. She hid my books around the castle so we had to go on a treasure hunt to find them." Which some people might have been furious about, but Dom actually enjoyed.

@al

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@dominique

"It was a ropes course out by the Forbidden Forest, There was a zip line at the end and it was amazing!" knowing louis it would have been as amazing as she said it was. there was no end to the imagination in his cousins mind. he nodded a little and folded his arms across his chest lightly, scuffing his toe along the ground as they walked. "a zip line hey? i might have to talk to him about setting something like that up at christmas." he said with a grin. there was no shortage of fun at a family christmas but a zip line would be pretty cool. "Jamie Greyback. She hid my books around the castle so we had to go on a treasure hunt to find them." he nodded slightly. the most he knew about the greyback was that she was on the hufflepuff quidditch team so he didn't feel he could say much on that. "cool." though personally he wouldn't think it would be fun to have to find all his books. "so what else? anything new with your parents? i haven't spoken to them in a while. i've been slightly lazy at keeping up with owls."

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Albus wasn't big for eating what he was thinking and Dom knew this, so as they walked she paid close attention to her cousin. He seemed ... impressed by Louis' rope close. Well he should be. It was fabulous! Then he mentioned that a zip line might be something fun for Christmas and Dom squealed and clapped her hands. "Ooh yes. And if you need help convincing him, I'll definitely help you out with that one." That wouldn't be a surprise to Al ,she was sure. Everyone knew that Dom lives stuff like that. Al didn't seem as impressed by the treasure hunt add Dom was when she found out about it, but Dom didn't mind. It was a nice break from studying and she was really just glad that she could do it with Jamie. She shrugged, "I liked it. Have me above chance to take a break from studying," Dom explained. She shook her head when he asked if anything was new. "No, not really. They're feeling a little bit better about things now that Vic isn't the minister anymore. I think they were really worried about that. Other than that we're good. How is your family?" Honestly Dom wasn't expecting to get much out of Al about his family, but that wouldn't stop her from asking.

@al