I Thought That You'd Be Here By Now (Susan)

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Edmund was done. He was done with school, with socializing and talking to people. At the moment, all that he wanted was to disappear. He hated that no matter where he turned, Addi was there, in his thoughts if not literally there. They had almost all the same classes and he knew her habit better than anyone else. Granted, it seemed like she was just as intent when it came to avoiding him as he was with her, but that didn't make things any easier. He missed her. Yet, at the same time, he didn't. She was the one who ruined everything. Who went off and kissed that guy in front of him! At the Yule Ball! He didn't care what anyone else said, he saw it and once again he was filled with the rage that he'd dealt with since his father died. He was trying to handle it differently and not lash out at people, but that just meant he spent most of his time alone, to protect them. 

Right now it was after dinner and Ed was wandering around outside, which became a habit of his, of late. He couldn't stand to spend all his time inside. He'd rather walk around alone and try not to think of anything. It didn't work, but at least when he was alone he could pretend like it did.

@susanvictoria

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Susan had just come from the Owlery, sending another letter to Casey.  While long-distance relationships were rather difficult sometimes, Susan had a gift for writing; the words flowed out of the tip of her quill almost naturally.  This letter she might have gotten a little bit overexcited about how she'd turned in her application for an internship with the Ministry; she hoped to join the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and this was her first step in making that dream a reality.  As she made her way carefully down the icy steps, she noticed a familiar face; her brother Edmund.  He had not attended the New Years Ball, as he had broken up with Addilyn at the Yule Ball.  She had been home in London since Christmas, so she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him yet, which made her feel rather guilty.  Perhaps now he'd want to talk; Ed was not the biggest talker, but they had had a heart to heart at the beginning of school when he was just coming to terms with how he felt aboud Addilyn in the first place.  "Ed!" she called, picking up the pace to meet him.  When she saw the look on his face though, words just failed her.  Instead, she opened up her arms and embrased her brother in a tight hug.  Sometimes not saying anything was exactly what a person with a broken heart needed.


@edmund

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Ed didn't know what he wanted right now. When he heard Susan's voice nearby, calling him, he almost ran away, but decided against it. Maybe she would be able to make him feel better somehow. He slowly turned to look at her, surprised when she opened up her arms. Without even thinking about it, Ed moved in for a hug. He didn't know how to express what he was feeling to his older sister, but he had a feeling that he didn't need to talk. At least, not yet. Susan seemed content hugging him and that was fine with Ed. "Thanks Susan," he said quietly as he continued to hug her. He didn't know if she knew what happened, but he appreciated the support.

@susanvictoria

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Susan didn’t say anything for a moment but squeezed her brother a little tighter. Sometimes when one couldn’t find the exact words they wanted to say, a hug could say it all. She let him go after a moment, but kept one hand on each of his shoulders. “Come on,” she said, turning so they were side by side as she gently pushed him forwards so they could walk. She didn’t say anything for a few moments, wanting him to say something first. However, she knew Edmund sometimes had to be prodded to talk, especially about his feelings. “So...do you want to talk about it?” she asked him. She knew the basics; Ed had stormed off at the Yule Ball after something had happened with Addilyn, but the details were as of now unknown to her, and had not attended the New Years Eve ball with them a week later. Admittedly, she’d been preoccupied during the ball; she felt a little guilty on not checking in on him sooner. “Or we can just walk and not talk, whichever you prefer,” she added lightly.

@edmund

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Edmund wasn't really surprised when Susan directed him to start walking with her. She did like to take charge of things, which was normally something that really annoyed him, but at the moment he was alright with it. He followed easily. Then she asked if he wanted to talk about it. "I ... I don't know. I don't want to tell you about it and then have you tell me I'm being an idiot," which wasn't all too uncommon. Ed was fully aware of the idea that things might not have been exactly what they seemed, but he didn't want to think about it any more or investigate it. He was just done. Maybe he just needed a break. "How about you tell me things. Like, how was your break?" That would be easier, to make his sister talk with him. 

@susanvictoria

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Susan chuckled softly when Edmund said that she'd call him an idiot.  "Oh give me some credit Ed, I wouldn't immediately call you an idiot, not to you face at least," she teased, gently squeezing his shoulder.  She knew her brother wasn't exactly Mr. Romance when it came to girls, but from what she had observed he treated Addilyn well enough.  Still, if she needed to talk more first before he felt ready to talk, she'd oblige.  "My break was good, I got to show Casey all around Windsor castle & the grounds at the New Years Ball.  He met Mother too, and we all know how terrifying that can be on a good day," Susan said, giggling again.  "Other than that it was just same as usual.  I got to practice some archery though, which was fun," she told him.  They walked on for a few more moments of silence.  "So...I'd ask you how your break went but obviously that's part of what you don't want to talk about.  So, how are your classes going?  Got a clue what sort of career field you want to go into?" she asked him.

@edmund

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Edmund smiled at his sister. He was glad their relationship was better, but sometimes he just needed a reminder. And now that Susan's opinion actually mattered to him, he didn't want to tell her about things she might not approve of. Mostly, he just wanted to have good interactions with her, but that wasn't always possible. "I saw Addi kissing another guy. At the Yule Ball. She had her hands on his chest and everything and so I'm done. But I miss her and it's hard." Edmund closed his eyes and waited, expecting to hear Susan get after him for not listening to Addi's side of the story. He didn't want to. He didn't want to think about what he saw ever again, much less talk about it. He smiled at Susan. "I'm glad things are going well with Casey. He seems like a good guy." They walked a bit longer and Ed chuckled half-heartedly at her questions. "Classes are fine. Semester just happened so it's not a big deal yet. No, I don't know what I want to do. I just can't seem to figure it out," Ed explained, his eyebrows furrowing as he did so.

@susanvictoria

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Susan smiled a little as Edmund said his classes were going well but he wasn't sure what he wanted to do yet.  "Well that's fair, you have the rest of the year to figure things out for the most part, and I don't just mean your career,"she told him reasonably.  Her smile disappeared from her face as Edmund told her what happened at the Yule Ball.  "Kissing someone else?" she repeated, her tone one of shock.  Edmund and Addilyn had been friends for ages before they started dating, and she knew that Ed would have seen it as the ultimate betrayal.  "Who?" Susan asked him.  There were a few boys at school that came to mind as somewhat of a womanizer; if it had been one of them perhaps they had done it for the thrill of the game.


@edmund

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Edmund knew Susan was trying to be supportive and he appreciated it. He wasn't entirely sure if she understood what he was going through in respect to Addi, but he wasn't really letting her in though, so that wasn't really her fault. "Yeah, I do have the rest of the year. I'll figure something out," he agreed easily. He might not be in the best mood, but she was right about that and Ed was really trying to not take his emotions out on her. Then she responded to what he told her about Addi and Edmund couldn't help but feel a little relieved. She wasn't chewing him out, wasn't telling him that he was handling it wrong, and that meant the world to him. She seemed to be in shock, however, so Ed waited for her to gain her composure. Then she asked another question: who. Edmund threw his hands in the air. "I don't know, Sus! I was behind him, for the most part. And I haven't really made a habit of getting to know all the boys in the school." Honestly, Ed didn't even really know all the guys in his house, so not knowing this one didn't really make a difference. "All I know is that they were kissing." What else was there to know? She went to the Ball with Ed and kissed someone else there, in front of everyone. Wasn't that supposed to be some kind of statement.

@susanvictoria

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Susan couldn’t help but sigh a little as her question made Edmund flare up. Of course she should have expected it, but she was curious. She’d seen Addilyn around the castle since the Yule Ball, and those times the girl had looked positively miserable. Somehow, she just couldn’t bring herself to believe the girl would intentionally hurt her brother in this way. “I only ask Ed because it could be more than meets the eye. There are a couple of boys in my year in particular who...shall we say are quite the prowlers,” she began, shaking her head delicately. “I just...I wonder sometimes if someone is targeting you or Addilyn. I know that her sister was named as the person responsible for the death of that...that fiend, Desirae Rousseau.” Susan shuddered involuntarily; sometimes at night she still dreamt that spiders were crawling up and down her body, listening to her inner thoughts, even though Desirae was cold and buried under the ground. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever fully get over knowing that she had been targeted by the eldest Rousseau, even with her gone. “Has anyone been bullying you? Or you and Addilyn? I want to know, even if you don’t think it has anything to do with what happened,” she asked him suddenly. She wondered if sometimes Ed’s defensive manner rubbed people the wrong way, or if it put a target on his back. If anything, Susan was a Prefect and could at least try and catch them in the act of wrongdoing, which would land them in detention. That was the least they deserved if they were bullying her own brother.

@edmund

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Edmund shook his head. He didn't want to talk about this, and he definitely didn't want to think about it. If someone else had been taking advantage of Addi ... no, he wasn't going to think about it. Her hands hadn't been pushing away. He saw it! She looked just like a willing participant would, until she saw him watching, of course. He shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out of it. "No, no one has been bullying me. Other than Theodosia, but she's been ... not around as much lately. Other than her, people just leave me alone." Except for the few friends he was starting to get, but Ed didn't want to talk about that now. In fact, he didn't really want to talk about this subject at all. "How are you liking this term?" he asked Susan, trying to change the subject not-so-subtly.

@susanvictoria

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Susan gave him a small smile as he said everyone pretty much left him alone. "Why do I have the feeling that you wouldn't tell me if there was someone other than Theodosia bullying you," she said, nudging him lightly.  Her brother was always one to handle things his own way, and didn't want help when he didn't need it.  Both he and Will were stubborn in that sort of way; Susan and Lucy were always having to try and fight their way in sometimes.

Noticing the change in subject, Susan let the former topic slide for now.  "Alright, Transfiguration is going quite well.  With all the changes at the Ministry lately though, I'm rethinking which department I should go into," she admittedto him.  Originally, she had wanted to be the Junior Assistant to the Minister, but with all of the changes happening in the top offices, she figured it may be easier to start in a specific department.  "Maybe International Magic Cooperation, or Magical Transportation, or...anything really," she told him.


@edmund

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Ed shrugged at his sister's question. "Because I'm used to taking care of my own problems," he told her honestly. "I can take care of myself," he promised.

He smiled as she started to explain things that she was interested. That was Susan. He wasn't surprised at all. "I think you'll do great at whatever you choose, Sus," he told her honestly. His sister was one of the smartest people he knew. She really could do anything.

@susanvictoria

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Susan gave her brother sort of a sad little smile. “I know you are,” she said simply. She knew it and knew that it was in part because he had felt a bit of a disconnect from his siblings for the better part of his life. She knew that it was also to do with the fact that she had babied him a lot, and treated him as her ‘little brother’ and not as a full fledged young adult. She was trying to change that, as she knew Will was too, but Susan was at least still in school with Ed. Next year Ed would be in his seventh year and the eldest Windsor sibling at Hogwarts, something she was sure he was excited about. “Thanks Ed. Just think, next year it’ll be you in the wise advisor role to Lu,” Susan said teasingly when he told her she’d be good at anything. She liked that Ed was confident in her political aspirations and abilities. “I’m nervous though, I mean, we’ve seen a bit of Muggle politics because of who we are, but Magical politics are a whole different ball game. Excited nervous but still, nervous,” she admitted.

@edmund

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Susan looked sad when she agreed that he was used to taking care of himself. "It's not a bad thing, Sus," he told her, trying to make her not feel as poorly as it seemed she did. "Even if we ... got along better when we were younger, I don't think I would have come to you, asking you to solve my problems. That's just not me." Hopefully she didn't take that the wrong way, because he wasn't mad at her at all. It was just the way he was, and no amount of closeness would have changed that. Then he laughed softly, "I doubt that. I've never been good for advising. Pretty sure you and Will are going to get lots of owls next year from Lucy." He nodded when she started to express why she was nervous about going into the ministry. "You'll still do well," he encouraged. "Politics is politics, right?"

@susanvictoria