(Untitled)

[juhi_saraf]

Week Name/Date/Time:'Promises and Plans'/Thursday, 13 October, 2005/6:45 PM
Location: Courtyard
Open To: Skippy
Currently Involving: Juhi Saraf and Erik Cohen

Comments

[erikcohen]

Erik walked slowly to the courtyard, thinking about his week so far. It was dull in a sense, but almost in a positive way. Although he was still worried about the threats made against him, he had sort of had time to think and form conclusions with a clear state of mind. It was calming, but now he was bursting with energy.

He could see her sitting on a bench not too far away from him and grinned wider than he thought was possible. Instead of sneaking up on her as he usually did, he ran straight for her and scooped her up as best he could into a hug.

"Where have you been all my life?" he asked her jokingly, his face sort of pressing into her neck.

He didn't care. He'd missed her.

[juhi_saraf]

There! Juhi grinned back at Erik as he ran toward her, suddenly aware of exactly how much she HAD missed him. Definitely been too quiet, yup. HE'D been quiet too, and she hoped that everything was okay. She knew he had a lot to think about, and several completely horrfying things had happened all in a row so...she'd been giving him time to think.

But then last night she'd wondered if that hadn't maybe been the wrong idea, and been slightly panicked when it occured to her she had no idea WHAT he had been thinking, exactly, and what if he needed someone to talk to and was waiting for her to ask? Or maybe he didn't even KNOW he needed someone to talk to, that could happen too! Maybe being a girlfriend meant you couldn't trust your instincts?!

The grin was reassuring though. And she was only mildly surprised when he scooped her up. "Hmmmn, where HAVE I been? I don't remember!"

Happy.

[erikcohen]

He didn't let her go, but instead played with the ends of her hair. He hadn't really shown this much affection just in greeting her before, but something seemed terribly wrong about the fact it had been more than a day since he'd seen her last. How long had it been? Somehow it felt even longer than when he'd gone home for Nik's funeral.

"How can you not remember? Did someone hit you over the head? Dear god! How much have I missed? I am a terrible boyfriend," he said, laughing a bit.

Though, he was slightly worried. Juhi would have told him if something was wrong, right? She wouldn't try and keep him out of things because he had 'enough to worry about' or some nonsense? Of course not. She must have been fine.

He'd called himself her boyfriend now without any hesistation. He couldn't remember if they'd talked about that or not.

And he still was holding on. He hoped she was breathing!

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi laughed. "No, I did not get hit on the head. And you haven't missed ANYTHING, that's the problem! NOTHING has been happening!" Well, nothing too important, anyway.

She pulled back just enough to try to get a look at him. "You're not a terrible anything, Erik Cohen. Well, except you'd make a miserable 'quiet, introverted person'. And how are you? Has everything been...okay?"

She tried to squeeze him tighter, but his grip on her was such that she had no clue if it was working. This seemed like it was maybe slightly ridiculous, but she didn't care very much. Juhi felt more comfortable with Erik right now than she had in a while, so she wasn't about to question it too much.

"Sorry I didn't owl you sooner! That was apparently a mistake!" Juhi gasped.

[erikcohen]

He didn't make a terrible anything? Well, that was good to know. He didn't actually want her thinking he was a terrible boyfriend. Then he'd be in trouble, wouldn't he?

"I've been... merlin, I don't even know how I've been. Mostly in a daze, though there've been a few good moments here or there. Conversation keeps coming back to Nik, which... you know," Erik said, taking one last deep breath before he pulled away from her.

He sat down on the bench behind them and patted the seat beside him. How could he have spent this much time away from her? Absence made the heart grow fonder, that wasn't a lie.

"It's not...I could have owl'd you myself! I'm really sorry Ninju. My mind must have wandered off on me."

[juhi_saraf]

Conversation kept coming back to Nik. Except that SHE hadn't even been trying to talk to him. Juhi would have kicked herself, only, well, she couldn't at the moment as she was still being hugged. She settled for making an indistinct sound in her throat, and laughed a little as she took a deep breath at the same time as Erik.

She sat next to him on the bench, and looked at her hands. "No, it's okay you didn't owl me, I didn't expect you to. I just, uhm," she glanced at him quickly. "I just thought that...I know you like to give things lots of thought, and so I was giving you time. I was thinking it might help? I dunno. I didn't want you to think you had to be constantly worrying about it, or feeling like you had to NOT worry about it if I was around. A lot happened at once..." she trailed off lamely.

"Anyway. Don't be sorry," she said firmly, after a deep breath. "Did you say you'd been talking with a ghost, though?"

[erikcohen]

Erik felt ridiculously guilty. How could he have been so bloody stupid! Here was this wonderful girl that he cared about more than anything else at Hogwarts and he'd neglected to communicate with her for days. She should have expected him to owl her, because he should have owled her.

She didn't think he needed time to think about the two of them, did she? That was the last thing he needed to think about! Ugh, he wished he could punch himself in the face without looking batty.

"Ninju, when it comes to you and me... there's nothing to think about. Honestly. I want you to know that," he told her, taking hold of her hand.

He WAS terrible, but he'd make it up to her somehow. Ghost? Oh right. Yes, a ghost. One that had an attitude.

"Her name's Ozma, she's a dead Gryffindor girl. All she wanted to talk about was death, and it really messed me up, but no one was around to snap me out of it. I shouldn't have let her get to me that easily."

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi smiled when Erik took her hand, and gave his a light squeeze. "I know, Skippy. Well, at least, that's not what I was thinking." She turned the smile to him. "Actually, that never even OCCURED to me! To think you were thinking about us." She blinked. "That sentence sounded odd. Well, anyway. We weren't the only thing that happened, and so, I figured you were thinking about...more important things. But I should have owled you, and at least let you know I hadn't forgotten you or anything." That had been fairly stupid of her, wasn't it? She scooted slightly closer to him, so that their arms were touching. "Apparently I need some practice at this, hmm

[erikcohen]

Erik said nothing, but released his hand from Juhi's grip and placed his arm around her shoulder instead. Maybe they both needed practice at this sort of thing. All he knew was that sometimes, most of the time, he would rather just sit in silence with her than anything else.

"She probably just was around at the wrong time, I wasn't in a good mind set. But she doesn't have much tact, no. I suppose years of not really being dead or alive gets to you," Erik stated and wondered.

He was glad Nikolaus was not a ghost. It wasn't the right fate for someone as full of life as he had been. Nik had surely moved on, and although he was missed, Erik hoped he wouldn't be joining his brother anytime soon.

"Any recent happenings I haven't been informed of yet? Ravenclaw didn't throw any parties without inviting me?" Erik asked her, staring at the grass beneath his feet.

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi tucked her legs up onto the bench, shifting a little momentarily to get them underneath her some. Then she leaned her head onto Erik's shoulder. Even though they hadn't talked or seen each other for a few days, she was definitely comfortable. And happy to be with him. Surely he'd be patient while she figured out how to be as amazing a girlfriend as he deserved?

She shivered slightly at his assessment of Ozma. "Oh, she sounds right pleasant, she does. Anyway, what would the right mind set for that sort of conversation be?" Juhi wondered what he had said, and what she had made him talk or think about, but it didn't seem to be the time to ask. She thought of Nik, briefly, and pushed it aside. Nothing to do with HIM, except that of course that's who Erik would have been thinking of

[erikcohen]

"Girly ink colours! And you didn't include me in that? I'm heartbroken Ninju, honestly. You know how much I love glitter," Erik said jokingly and pulled her in a little closer.

He wondered what the trouble with Mason was. He'd mentioned something about love lives, but Erik could admit to himself that he hadn't been the best mate he could be lately. He could remember his troubles of third year. Seemed pretty pointless now with all that he'd been through. And come to think of it, when was the last time he'd seen Clover? She was Juhi's best mate, well... best girl mate. Why had she not been around

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi giggled. "I do know how much you love glitter, Skippy, but there weren't any with GLITTER. I knew you'd only be disappointed, see. Felt it best not to break your heart." She patted his knee consolingly

[erikcohen]

"Already gotten yourself a reputation for violence? What would Zonko say?" Erik teased her.

It was actually really funny that she'd been recognized by Bran in that way. The Gryffindors had been particularly well behaved so far this week. Either that, or they'd been particularly bad behaved, and had done a good job of hiding what it was they were up to. Maybe they were doing something crazy like snogging in the restricted section. Who would do that, eh?

"Wait a minute, didn't I tell you to bring him along? Where is he, then? Not hiding, I presume," Erik realised and poked her in the side.

Obviously he hadn't been serious, but he didn't know if she knew that or not. Sometimes it was hard to tell!

[juhi_saraf]

"An UNFAIR reputation for violence! Thanks to YOU! It's not as though I went around telling people I hurt you accidentally. Accidentally being the key word," she reminded him unnecessarily. "Only, I think Bran knew it was an accident, but thought it's because I'm PARTICULARLY bad at Defense, or terribly clumsy or something." Fabulous way to start out a relationship with the best friend of the DA's leader. As if on cue, Juhi missed a finger in her quill-twirling, and it fell to the ground

[erikcohen]

"What in the world are you talking about? I haven't been saying anything to anyone about my wrist. Not to make it seem as if I don't fancy the hell out of you, but I'm pretty sure my wrist has been the least of my troubles lately," Erik pointed out.

Where was she going? Wha....Oh. She'd dropped her quill. He listened to her rant about Zonko and shook his head. She was really freaked out by him, wasn't she? It was funny. Or at least he thought so!

"I didn't really want you to bring Zonko. I was just thinking about the fact that he did sort of give me the courage to you know... kiss you. I thought I was just being clever," he told her and shrugged.

No snogging? Fine. If that's the way it had to be. But, you know, really?

"No Filch, that's not... well, somehow that seems worse. No Zonko either, really. Can you imagine what it would be like to snog with someone watching you?"

[juhi_saraf]

Juhi sniffed. "Well I don't know how Bran found out, then, and I'm not entirely sure I believe you." Though that, of course, was just teasing. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You fancy the hell out of me? Is that....GOOD?! It sounds a little agressive. Well. Maybe that's not quite right. It's odd though, that much I'm sure of." But it sounded as though he liked her a lot. Feeling pleased, she raised one eyebrow at him and tried not to smile.

Juhi began to feel as though maybe she had missed something. "I know you didn't really want me to bring Zonko. And I agree with you that it would be weird to snog with someone watching you," she refrained from pointing out that the first time he'd kissed her they'd been IN A STORE, "but I think that Filch is easily the less creepy option. HE would probably be delighted to see us in order to chase us off somewhere. Zonko would probably WATCH." She shuddered.

Wait, what? Was the mention of Zonko in the owl some sort of code for snogging? Juhi blinked at him.