(Untitled)

[averykellaway]

Week Name/Date/Time: 'Meeting of the Minds'/Monday, 25th September/Lunch
Location: Great Hall/Outside
Open To: Soren Sigurd
Currently Involving: Avery, Soren

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[sorensigurd]

“Avery.” Soren said as he leaned over her from his standing position. While the Gryffindor table might have been a little empty, the others weren’t and as always, students in the Great Hall meant above average noise levels everywhere. He didn’t want her to miss his words or anything.

“Are you busy? Besides with lunch, I mean.” Because they were in different years and had rather different schedules, it had been a bit of trouble trying to bump into her during one of her spares. Surprising, considering how often they bumped into each other when it was unintentional. He could tell there were a few people staring at them so he kept his expression light and cheerful - no need to make other people wonder if something was amiss, it was better if they thought it was a date instead.

Nodding to the door and back at her he asked, “Want to go eat your lunch outside with me?”

[averykellaway]

At the sound of his voice, Avery shifted a little to the side before turning around, careful to avoid bumping noses with him.

His expression seemed normal, but from his tone of voice she could tell something was different. He sounded too guarded. "Soren, hey. Lunch is..not working for me today." She turned around and gathered her things into her bag, careful not to leave anything behind.

She stood from the bench and nodded at him, one hand holding on to the strap of her book bag. "Sure, where are we going?"

[sorensigurd]

“I think outside would be nice today-“ No sooner was that spoken before a loud thunder roared in the distance. He hadn’t noticed it was that dark outside yet. “On second thought, should we find an empty classroom somewhere. Astronomy tower should also still be empty right now unless Professor McGill is setting up...” Crap, since it was the middle of the day there would definitely be people milling about. He was really hoping to get outside somewhere.

Wait; there was the old storage shed with Quidditch gear out back.

“Yeah, let’s go outside.” He nodded at her, as crazy as that idea probably sounded right now. “I know a nice quiet place where it’ll be just the two of us.” With no eavesdroppers, thankfully. Hopefully.

[averykellaway]

Avery stiffened a little as she heard the thunder in the distance, and turned to look at Soren. He seemed intent on getting them some place where there will not be any interruption. On any other day, she would be ecstatic and nervous and.. well, everything that she would feel if confronted by someone like Soren in such a way. But now she was just concerned. What could possibly be happening?

"Um, outside? Where are we going, Soren? What's going on?" she asked softly, not knowing why she was keeping her voice low, but doing it nonetheless. She trusted him and knew that whereever he was pulling her to, it would be perfectly safe.

[sorensigurd]

Soren chuckled lightly when he saw how Avery had stiffened from the thunder. “Yes, outside. For sure no one will be able to interrupt us then, no? Don’t worry about the thunder, if we can still hear thunder that means we still have a couple of minutes before the rain starts.”

He took her by the arm; it was a soft touch in case Avery felt coerced into coming when she didn’t feel like it.

“There’s a little shed that houses old Quidditch gear outside not too far away. No one ever goes there but it’s still clean and tidy since Tref and I use it as a base of sorts.” That was spoken in a low whisper, in case any curious gossipers wanted a new change in talk after the morning news. “And nothing is wrong, nothing in particular too much. Look normal until we go out.”

[averykellaway]

Avery wrinkled her nose at Soren as he laughed. "I hope you're right. It'll be terrible if either one or both of us fall sick."

She let herself be guided by Soren, eager to get to their destination so that he would tell her what was going on. "Look normal, I can do that," she said in a whisper, more to herself than to him. She straightened herself and pulled the strap of her bag on the other arm up confidently so that it was secure on her shoulders as they neared the entrance to the Great Hall

But just as she was focusing on that, she totally forgot about the raised bar on the floor that was the frame of the door and almost tripped on it. Instinctively her arms shot out from her side and grabbed onto Soren tightly, trying to stop herself from falling. "I.. I'm sorry."

((OOC: That's it for tonight :) I'll be back in 8 hours or so. Bye!))

[sorensigurd]

Soren easily caught her in his arms before she could fall completely and held her there until she got her footing back again. That was certainly a grand way to make an exit, if people weren’t watching them closely, they would have thought that they suddenly turned to hold onto each other instead. Of course, Soren didn’t pay much attention to what others thought. He had pretty much grown immune to stares after being watched closely so many times during Quidditch games and practises.

“All right there, Avery?” His voice came close enough to whisper into her ear. In fact, they were standing rather close to each other after the little trip.

[averykellaway]

"I'm okay." Avery took a deep breath and pushed herself off Soren. She very well aware of people looking at them, and so knew that she had to keep her cool and not turn into a blabbering fool right in front of everyone.

Not wanting to turn around to take another look at the rest of the students in the Great Hall, she turned back to Soren. "Let's just go." She took a few confident steps forward until they were well into the corridor.

[sorensigurd]

Soren followed in behind her, shrugging both hands into his pockets and head up nonchalantly. Until they were in the corridor of the Entrance Hall of course.

"C'mon, we'll have to run for it. The rain might start in a few minutes." He jogged up a pace but didn't break out into a run yet. "It's not too far away, just behind a clump of overgrown bushes near the new Quidditch shed. Dinky old wood, vine covered, you get the picture." When he reached the Front Doors, which were thankfully opened, that was when he started into run.

Not super fast of course, wouldn't want to leave the girl behind.

[averykellaway]

At the mention of the rain, Avery looked up at the sky and saw that he was right. At least if they were going to be in the safety of the shed they might be able to escape being caught in the rain. Securing her bag on her shoulder, she fell into a jog next to Soren.

"The shed sounds just peachy," she told him, a smile playing on her lips. "Sounds very secluded, though. Whatever do you and Treff do there?" She raised an eyebrow in his direction.

As he began picking up pace, she broke into a run herself, not wanting to be left behind.

[sorensigurd]

"Hah hah! Wouldn't you like to know what we do in there?" He laughed while he ran, "What do you think two boys in our age would do in there?" It was after he said it that he realised that line could've been taken in another direction entirely so he quickly added, "It's one of our Headquarters."

He looked back in front of him. With another minute or two of a run they were pretty much there. Just a trickier path to go over with the overgrown greenery - why didn't Filch cut here?

"Here we are~!" Soren announced when they reached it. He unlocked the door with a good old key (yes, they had switched the locks one day when they had borrowed a key from Hooch) and opened the door. It was still nice and surprisingly warm inside. The chests holding the old Quidditch balls would serve as chairs.

[averykellaway]

"Boy, aren't you a funny one," she teased, poking his side with her index finger as she ran alongside him. "Well, I wouldn't know what two teenage boys would do in there, would I, since I've never been, you know, invited and all that." She laughed lightly.

As he slowed down and dug into his pocket, she did the same to catch her breath and fished out a hair band to tie her hair up.

"It's quite cosy," she told him appreciatively as she walked in, taking in the way things were arranged in there. Not particularly neat, but comfortable. She could see why Treff and Soren liked coming here.

She turned around and look at him. "So..?"

[sorensigurd]

"So.. Have a seat." He waved towards one of the chests while he sat ontop of another one and crossed his legs and hands on each thigh.

He took a deep breath. How exactly should he start? "I'm sure you've been wondering what's up with my questions in my journal and whatnot, haven't you? It's not me being weird, I promise. Just.. something has come up. Annnnnnnnd," He dragged the word out and looked for something to rest his eyes on. "I'm not quite sure how to say it." Finding nothing else his eyes returned to her and stayed there. "Or how to tell you."

[averykellaway]

Avery took a seat on the chest next to Soren's, straightening her skirt as she did so. She crossed her legs and turned all her attention to him. Why does it have to be so gloomy every time we meet? she thought to herself.

As he spoke, she looked straight at him, trying to make sense of his words. His questions and the things he had said had worried her. She did not know if he was going through a rough patch, or if something big had happened, and what was worse was the fact that she had no idea how to ask him about it.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You can just tell me. I've been wondering for some time if something bad had happened to you and you're keeping it from me, from everyone. I promise to listen and not interrupt until you've finished, if it makes it easier." She wanted to reach out for his hand, if only to assure him that she would not freak out, but decided that the gesture would just distract him, and she did not want that to happen. Instead, she continued to look at him.

[sorensigurd]

He probably gave her the wrong impression. "No, no. It's not like that!" He had been about to wave his hand but then stopped, "Well, maybe partly like that."

By now, Soren really should have had this whole business down like a sales pitch. He had already spoken to Zoe and Erik. Of course, those two had been close friends and Soren was used to being his old blunt self with them. Avery on the other hand, sometimes seemed to look shy and unsure of herself with him so the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her.

He opted for the roundabout way. "Have you... ever heard of D.A.?"

[averykellaway]

Avery gave him a confused look at that. "Partly? I don't understand."

At the mention of the DA, she sat up straighter, thinking fast. DA.. DA.. she'd heard of it. Or read of it, as a matter of fact. But to her knowledge, not much information were made available to everyone. She often wondered if anyone else other than the original members knew much about it at all.

"I've read about it. But since not much had been documented, I only know it was a group led by Harry Potter some years ago. Why did you ask?" she asked him, curiousity clearly shown in her eyes.