All The Things Left Unsaid (Darina)

[Irina Rose Krum]

Dan had asked her to go swimming. Swimming, of all things. Of course it was an exceptionally beautiful day and very, very warm out, but swimming? In bathing suits? The last time she had worn a swimsuit around Dan had been when they were hiking in the caves; they had planned on going swimming in the grottos once they had gotten to them.  They never had though; the bat had been enough for Rina to leave the caves, and swimming had never come up again when it was the two of them.

She dropped her bag off in Gryffindor tower and pondered which suit she should wear; one or two piece.  Feeling that a two piece would be far too suggestive, Rina went with the black swimsuit.  It had a low cut back and a halter top and gave a nice silhouette.  She threw on her long blue sundress and headed out of the common room.   She made her way down out of the castle quicker than she realized, and upon arriving at the lake she saw that he had not arrived off the Durmstrang ship yet.  Wondering what was taking him so long, she stripped off her dress and went to dip her feet in the water.  It was pleasantly cool; warmed by the summer sunshine and weather.  She remembered there was a drop off about five feet forward - she shuddered involuntarily at the thought of being dragged down that deep and reminded herself to stay clear of it.

@daniel  

[Deleted]

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Dan hadn't mentioned that today was his birthday.

September 5th, he had just turned eighteen. He had always been one of the oldest in his class thanks to the cut off date. He wanted to do something fun for his birthday and swimming sounded like a good enough idea, right? Plus, it was just going to get colder so the beginning of the year was the best time to do it. He wasn't that into swimming, but since he was here and it was warmer than Bulgaria he figured, why not?

Plus, he had accidentally invited Irina to join him. He had needed to distract her from figuring out his ability and so he suggested swimming, so there was that. They decided when and where to meet and now here he was in swimming trunks and a white button up shirt, unbuttoned and loosely tossed on, walking toward the lake.

He saw her quite a ways off and continued on, giving a wave when he was close enough to converse. "How's the water?" he asked.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina had seen Dan coming from a mile away, and because she was expecting him she did not feel surprised or nervous, but relieved to see him.  It would have been a bit embarrassing if she had just been out here for hours by herself waiting for someone who never showed up.  Merlin but did he look good just wearing a simple button down and swim shorts...no, stop it Irina.  She wrapped her arms around her own stomach as if almost by instinct.  "It's nice and cool, quite lovely," she called, kicking her feet up and sending little splashes of water everywhere.

Deciding to take the initiative, Rina took a few more steps into the water, letting her arms drop to her sides as the water came up past her knees and by her hips.  "Be careful, there's a drop off about five feet in; it goes from five to about twenty feet deep immediately," she warned, remembering he was not a huge fan of deep water either.  But why had he suggested a swim then?  Rather odd, she thought to herself curiously.  She looked back over at him, and another realization hit her.  "Hey...isn't your birthday soon?" she asked.  She knew he always celebrated the last week of vacation with his family since he'd have just gotten back to school, but wasn't positive on the date.  Today, maybe?  She wasn't sure.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Her relief was a confusing emotion, but he was glad that it was something so gentle that came through when he arrived. She announced that the water was nice and cool, quite lovely and whatnot and he nodded, stepping toward her as she moved deeper into the water. "Drop off, five feet, got it," he announced as he sped up a little in order to stand beside her and be equal with her as they moved in. "It's a tad cold, but not bad," he said with a short nod. He turned a bit to smile at her, "that's a big drop," he said. Then she went on to ask if his birthday was soon and he cleared his throat giving a shrug. "Today," he said, but quickly added, "these rocks are a bit slippery, don't you think? Do you need to hold my arm?" he was legitimately offering his arm as a nice gesture, which caused him to raise an eyebrow in surprise at himself.

"I mean, if you need to," he added a shrug again.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Rina was proud of herself for remembering correctly; she knew her siblings and her parents birthdays by heart of course, and tried to remember all of her friends.  So many different dates though caused a bit of confusion and she sometimes switched peoples birthdays around in her head.  "Well, happy birthday!  Maybe I'll show you the kitchens later; the house elves are quite hospitable and I'm sure we could get them to give you a birthday treat," she suggested with a smile.  It was getting easier, being around Dan, even though she was unsure of what her feelings towards him meant.  He didn't seem to be so apathetic around her now, which was a nice change.  

Irina tested the patch of sand in front of her and looked back at him.  "I think I'll be alright but thank you for the offer," she said as she took another step forward.  This time, she had not tested where her foot would stop and felt her weight shift underneath her as the slippery rock underneath did not provide her with enough traction.  Shrieking as she went down, Rina flailed and grabbed onto Dan's arm tightly with both hands, steadying herself, wobbling like a baby giraffe.  When did he get these muscles?  she could't help but wonder to herself.  "Sorry!  Looks like you were right," she said, a bit breathless.  She realized she was still holding on to his arm, and let go quickly.  "Er, thanks though," she said quickly.

@daniel

[Deleted]

He smiled as she said happy birthday and mentioned the kitchens, "awwwww, why can't you just bake me a cake yourself?" he suggested with a wicked little smirk. He chuckled, picturing Irina in a kitchen baking a cake was both a laughable thought and an adorable one.

Adorable one? he literally shook his head to shake that off.

As she said she'd be all right he still lifted his hand toward her, hovering just next to her in case she would need it. Almost right after she spoke, however, her foot slipped and she clasped onto his arm. He let out a yell the same time she did, but steadied his feet so they both wouldn't go down. After she spoke and then let go he reached out and caught her elbow with his hand, "hey, are you okay? That really freaked you out. Your heart is poudning like a million miles a minute," he said before realizing what he'd done.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

As Irina began to get her balance back, Dan gripped her other elbow. She was facing him straight on now, looking straight at him.  She knew her heart was pounding; she felt it striving to come out of her chest.   "Yes, I'm alright, I'm...I'm," she paused, taking a breath.  Could he really hear her heat beating that fast?  It probably had been obvious that it had startled her, but she rarely talked about her fear of deep water, so how would he know?  "How...how did you know how much it scared me?" she asked, trying to sound more curious than suspicious.  The more she thought about it, the more curious she got.  He always seemed to know what she was feeling and reacted so; when she was happy and laughing, he always laughed along with her.  And that time in the caves, when she was so frightened...something was missing from this equation.  It was time Irina needed to find out what was really going on.  "Tell me, how do you always know what I'm feeling?" she asked, then narrowed her eyes.  "And do not even try to change the subject Daniel, or say I'm an open book because I'm not," she demanded.  She lowered her hands down to his and grasped them tightly.  "Please...tell me the truth," she asked, dropping her voice to a low whisper.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Now it was Dan's hearts turn to pound a million miles a minute. He felt all the blood rush to his ears as she asked how he knew how much it scared her. He didn't even get a chance to get his mouth open before she went on to as how he always knew what she was feeling and told him not to change the subject and all of that.

He swallowed, making contact with those narrowed eyes of hers as she slid her hand into his and grasped them tightly. He held her hands tightly back, his body suddenly rigid as he realized where this was leading. It was an oddly vulnerable position, standing there in their swimwear, squeezing the life out of each other hands.

"I... have a secret," he started, swallowing hard again before going on. "Ever since I was little I could... tell what others were feeling. Then I feel it too... I mean... I'm an Empath. It's incredibly rare," he explained, but it was getting harder to talk due to his heart in his throat and all of her emotions started to build up in her hands, "please don't me mad."

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina felt her jaw drop in shock. For once, she wasn't feeling anything; just numbness as Dan's words sunk in.  Please don't be mad at me - she was too shocked to be mad.  "I need to sit down," she said, keeping hold of one of Dan's hands as she backtracked a few steps and plopped into the water.  It surged up towards her shoulders, making Rina shudder involuntarily.  The spasm of fear brought her back to the current reality, and she looked back up at Dan.  "So...everything I feel...you feel too?" she finally asked.  

Oh Merlin, he knew how she felt about him, didn't he?  Before Rina could stop herself, she felt her cheeks burn pink with embarrassment.  Perhaps this was why he was so nice to her, he pitied her for having a crush on him.  "Is the only reason you are nice to me because you know how I feel?" she asked quietly, letting go of his hand and wrapping her arms around her submerged legs.  She wasn't feeling angry at him at least; it explained a lot about him and everything that had happened between them since that time in the cave.  She felt ashamed of herself; it was foolish of her to even consider developing feelings of more than friendship towards Dan, and to top it all off he was an empath and knew everything she was feeling.  She took a deep breath and let it out shakily, looking away from him.  Now she understood why he had kept is such a secret.

@daniel


ooc; THE FEELS

[Deleted]

He felt empty all of the sudden, and that was almost worse than feeling the extreme emotions. His heart sunk, his frown getting larger in those few short moments of emptiness. She spoke, and he nodded, keeping hold of her one hand as she backtracked to sitting. He bent down as she spoke to him again, asking for clarification that he felt everything she felt. He nodded, staying silent as her next emotions started to flow into him, and appear on her face in that blush.

The embarrassment was enough to make him start shaking his head, then he felt her hand slipping away and that's when the words she was saying starting to actually sink in. How I feel... his jaw dropped, and for a moment he was to in shock to do anything. "Wait," he said as she wrapped her arms around her legs. He knelt down fully now, ignoring the hardness of the rocks on his knees. He reached forward and placed his hands gentle on her shoulders, "I'm nice to you because I care about you," he said firmly, "I had no idea how you felt about me. Feel about me..." he cleared his throat, her emotions were so heavily flowing into him right now that it was hard to stay positive, to focus. "I thought those feelings were my own, not yours," he admitted. "Look at me, Rin," he had never called her that before, but it just came out. His brows were still furrowed as he gently tugged on her shoulders, "please."

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Oh for goodness sake, Rina had gone and done it now. He hadn't realized what her feelings were for him; he had thought they were his own.  She felt the tears pinprick at her eyes; she was furious at herself for opening her big mouth.  He was pleading him to look at her, but she did not want to, not yet.  Wiping her eyes furiously, she finally brought herself to turn to look at him, eyes sparkling.  "Well, at least now you know that they're not yours.  You don't have to feel bad anymore," she said, then laughed.  She didn't know why she was laughing, the situation was certainly not funny.  It was not a mirthful laugh though, almost void of feeling.

"Don't worry, Dan.  I'll get over it, and the world will go on," she said, giving him a wide smile that did not reach her eyes.  She stood up and took a few steps towards the deeper waters.  A rush of recklessness had come over her; she took a deep break and dove into the water.  She forced her eyes open under water; the greenish murk and seaweed helped drown out any sound, outside or in.  It was a nice change, to escape her thoughts.  She closed her eyes again for a moment, letting everything else slip away.  Before she knew what was happening, images flashed before her eyes.  Blurry and quick, she could not focus on any of them, and realized she was out of breath.  She kicked up and resurfaced, heart pounding again, though this time for very different reasons.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Her eyes started to feel with tears and her feelings were becoming even stronger as she realized what he had said. That he didn't know until she had said something first. He sighed, wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut now. He held still as she wiped her eyes and waited for her to look at him. His brow was furrowed and his lips formed a very soft smile as she started to talk. Her laugh caused him to smile even more, even though it wasn't the most positive laugh.

Then she said she'd get over it and gave that horribly fake smile and his smile disappeared again. "Iri-" he had started only for her to dive into the water. He gasped, moving to jump in after her but pausing to catch his breath. His heart was beating loudly in his ears still and his head was swimming. He could feel his hands starting to shake as she burst out of the water, clearly out of breath. A sudden wave of her panic and whatever else was happening to her swept through him so fast that he didn't even hesitate to quickly swim over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back to where they had some reachable rocks again. "Irina, hey, hey, what's wrong? Breathe," he said. And then he realized, he was holding her almost the exact same way he had that time in the bat cave. His arms wrapped around her and his hand gently on the back of her head. She was feeling similar feelings now that she did then...

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina was quaking as she tried to regain her breath; she barely registered Dan as he made his way over and put his arms around her.  Almost automatically she laced her arms around his neck as he guided her towards shallower water.  "The images...so many images, flashing before my eyes.  They don't  make sense, I can't make any sense of them," she said shakily.  She took several quick breaths and tried calming herself down.  She could barely feel her fingers; they were interlaced so tightly with each other they turned bone white.  She forced herself to look at him, still trembling.  "I have a secret too," she whispered. 

Slowly, she pried her fingers away from each other and rested her hands on his shoulders; she was not steady enough yet to let go fully.  "Just after the kidnappings, I started having dreams.  Nightmares; Platform 9 3/4 was in shambles.  Men in masks attacking; perhaps women too, they all looked the same to be honest.  Night after night, I woke shaking and crying out.  I'm sure I annoyed my roommates," she said with a shaky laugh.  "When we were on the train ride home, it came to a stop before we got to London.  Soon, the whispers came down the train; Platform 9 3/4 had been attacked.  As more and more details came out, I realized that it happened exactly as I dreamt; it all came true.  Now when I dream, I don't know if it's just a dream or a glimpse of what has yet to pass."  Rina fell silent; she was not a chatterbox usually, and describing her dream had taken a toll on her.  "I'm sorry, I don't mean to overload you," she whispered.  It would have been a lot for a normal person to handle; someone so in tune with emotions it was probably near torture.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Dans brow furrowed as Irina started to explain what had caused her to come out of the water so abruptly and out of breath. She had a secret too? His jaw slowly dropped lower and lower as she went into more detail... About seeing the train station in shambles before it even happened. Her emotions were fairly strong and he had his arms around her so it was hard not to feel the same way. He breathed in through his nose, trying to make sure that he didn't freak out. His head a starting to hurt, and he squinted in reaction to the pain for a moment, right before she said she was sorry if she overloaded him.

He immediately felt terrible. That she felt the need to apologize for that. He shook his head, "you didn't," he said, and oddly enough it was true. He didn't completely break down yet, his blood was just pounding in his ears and his head was forming the worlds most impressive migraine. "It sounds like you're seeing the future in your sleep... Am I getting that right?" he said, slowly pulling back so his arms were no longer around her, but his hands were clasping near her elbows. He bent down just slightly to look into her face.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded silently as Dan told her she wasn't overloading him; a feeling of relief washed over her. She wondered what relief felt like to him - hopefully it was good. She let he arms fall down his arms to rest on his elbows so they were even with each other, and looked up as he looked down at her. "Yes, I think so," she said quietly.  "Two of my best friends at school at what you call clairyovants, people who can see the future.  Not full Seers though because they're not making prophecies for the Ministry to record, but they can see glimpses of what could come," she told him.  She had other dreams too, involving one seeing her putting her name in the Goblet of Fire before the Tournament had been announced, and of course dreams involving Dan, but she wasn't about to tell him that, of course.

Standing there in the water, Rina realized just how close her face was to his; she could see every detail from freckles to the eyelashes circling his eyes.  His eyes were a brilliant blue; almost unnaturally so. It was really a beautiful shade. Shaking her head to clear out her thoughts, she cleared her throat.  "I expect that I've always had this...ability, but I've never been able to remember my dreams before this spring," she murmured softly, wondering if she should look away and finding herself to not be able to.

@daniel