RP: It’s Possible I’m Completely Barmy

[shh_greg]

Date: 28 June 2005
Character(s): Greg Goyle, Anyone
Location: The river near the Shelter
Status: Public
Summary: After his conversation with Mandy, Greg checks out the state of the river.
Completion: InComplete

Comments

[shh_ginny]

Crossing the bridge on her way to the shelter, Ginny was reading and dictating notes to the quill and parchment hovering beside her. It was a brilliant loaner from Healer Asklepion who'd complained about the legibility of her handwriting, chiding her when she explained her habit of reading, writing and walking. Her voice trailed off when she heard voices as she came around the bend, "... the use of dragon's blood precludes..."

Seeing a very wet, nearly naked Greg and Romilda holding out a towel to hi, she blushed lightly. "Err, sorry. I was just, umm, heading to the shelter. Is everything alright?"

[shh_greg]

Greg swallowed hard and looked between Romilda and Ginny, his blush deepening. He was rather devoutly wishing for the ground to open up underneath him. It hadn't been this bad when Terry and Ben had come across him at the pond but that's because Terry was a bloke. Not that he didn't like blokes... there were those nights back in Finland when he... but he preferred women... mostly... except when... he quickly stopped thinking about that... and stopped thinking about the liking women bit as well. It definitely wasn't going to help with the current situation.

"Ginny! Uh... hi," he said with surprise then he quickly took the towel from Romilda, wrapping it around his waist which made him feel a little bit better. Not much but a little

[shh_ginny]

Just when she didn't think he could possibly blush deeper, he did and Ginny caught her bottom lip between her teeth in an effort to stifle the chuckle that threatened to escape her. She'd no idea why he was embarrassed or what he'd have to be embarrassed about - it wasn't as if she were completely immune to a nearly naked, fit bloke but she did grow up with six brothers.

Tilting her head to the side, she realized she'd interrupted their conversation. "Grindylows? Oh, I hadn't even thought to watch out for them in the river."

Gentle scratching made her realize the silly quoting quill was still working and, with a blush of her own, she flicked her wand at it to stop it. "Oops, sorry about that. Forgot the bloody thing was there."

"I didn't mean to interrupt so I'll leave you two in peace. I was just going to stop by the shelter to see if there might be... well, something that might like me." She stammered weakly, gesturing down the road toward the shelter and taking a step away.

[shh_romilda]

Romilda was holding out the towel to the man when she heard another voice. Looking over her shoulder, she turned and saw Ginny Weasley

[shh_ginny]

"If they were there first, I don't know that I'd consider it our river but I would agree that it's good to know that there aren't any." Ginny answered softly, looking away as Greg wrapped the towel around himself, edging further away from the pair. She didn't have anything against the witch but Ginny always felt uncomfortable around her, as if she were being watched overtly.

Looking down the road and back again, Ginny shook her head. "I keep telling myself that it'd be a bad idea but I wanted to see about borrowing an older dog or cat to bring to the hospital for some of our shut-in patients while I'm there. If something clicks, than I guess I'll have to really make a decision then. Don't want to be unfair given my hours at the hospital."

"Were you heading back to the shelter, Greg?" She asked, seeing his furtive looks towards his clothing.

[shh_romilda]

Romilda wanted to roll her eyes. "But would the grindylows have been here when it was a Muggle town? Or would they have started coming back once the wizards settled here? Didn't they say that would be the case?" Romilda couldn't remember, as she was starting to forget a few things

[shh_slughorn]

Horace was walking along the river-bank, taking a quick constitutional after lunch, when he saw two women talking to a half-naked dripping man on the path ahead, and realised that they were talking about grindylows. At once his eyes lit up, and he said "Grindylows? Are there some here? Any chance of catching a couple?"

[shh_romilda]

As Romilda was turning away, she saw Professor Slughorn.

"Oh, hello, Professor," she gave him a warm smile. "Greg was looking for some, but he didn't seem to find any. I just stopped by as I guess I'm not used to seeing people voluntarily dive into the river." There was a hint of mirth in her voice as she saw that Greg was still standing there looking a little stunned.

She hefted her basket onto her other arm, as it was growing weary. She had to shuffle the weight on her hips so that she wasn't uncomfortable from standing still for too long.

"So how are you, Professor? I haven't seen you since the opening of your laboratory." She always had time to stop and chat to her favourite professor. "I haven't seen you in the apothecary lately, but then again, I'm usually out the back, so I don't get to know who comes in and out all the time."

[shh_greg]

Greg decided he'd had enough of this. He used the distraction of Slughorn's arrival and made a break for his clothes. In a few quick moves, he'd grabbed his wand, spelled himself dry and pulled on his jeans and shirt. He felt a hell of a lot better with the 'armour' of his clothes on. He figured he could deal with his shoes later

[shh_ginny]

Wincing at the interaction between the three, Ginny had easily edged another five feet along the path and the only thing that had kept her from fleeing entirely was the look of desperation on Greg's face. She felt some sympathy there as well as feeling a bit guilty if she'd inadvertently added to his discomfort.

Looking back, she realized he was speaking to her and looking at her rather a bit more desperately. "You were? Oh, would you mind terribly if I walked with you? I've only been out this way once and I'm a bit turned around when I can't apparate somewhere."

Shifting her notes under her arm, Ginny waved to Romilda and Professor Slughorn and answered Greg. "Well, I'm fond of cats but I don't want to get my heart set on something, you know?"

[shh_slughorn]

Horace guessed that Ginny didn't want to stop and talk, and raised his hat to her politely. They'd talk another time, perhaps.

[shh_greg]

Greg nodded a goodbye to Professor Slughorn and Romilda, grabbed his boots and hurriedly joined Ginny.

"No, not a problem," he said with a relieved smile. "Really not a problem. It's just up here." He pointed up towards the buildings that could just be seen from where they were.

He started to relax as they walked away from the river. "Bloody hell," he muttered, more to himself than Ginny. "I'm putting up wards to keep people away next time I go into the water."

He gave a puffing sigh then turned his head to look at Ginny. "Well, we do have a few older cats that are pretty docile, which I guess you'd need if you were taking one into the hospital. Though you might want to consider a kneazle or a crup. They're not bothered by magic and they're usually smart enough to know when to behave themselves."

[shh_ginny]

She stifled a chuckle as the large vet jogged up beside her holding his boots but didn't slow her step. Glancing sideways, she found she had to tilt her head to see the smile on his face. "Thanks for walking back with me. I wasn't kidding, I think I'd get lost in a paper sack."

"You can't do that, silly. Aren't you the one who told me you were trying to get out more? Be more sociable?" Ginny did laugh then, shaking her head in bemusement. "Merlin, you've turned out to be a puzzle. You're like a big bear who doesn't know where he lives."

"A crup? Is that the one that looks sortof like a dog? Are they like dogs?" She asked quickly, trying to remember what Hagrid had said about them and coming up with nothing. She'd been a horrible Care of Magical Creatures student, spending most of her time reading Quidditch pamphlets tucked inside her Monsters book.

[shh_greg]

Greg chuckled. "Well, not too difficult here. We've only got the two buildings so far. Hopefully we'll end up with more if everything goes well."

He ducked his head and smiled ruefully. "Well, yeah, but I was thinking more of doing that after work at the pub, not when I'm half-naked, climbing out of the river or the pond. That's twice now, you know." He gave her a bemused look. "I don't think I'm that much of a puzzle. And... a bear? I know I'm big but I'm really not that hairy."

He nodded. "A crup looks a bit like a Jack Russell terrier except it has a forked tail. It's a legal requirement to have the tail cropped when the pup is about six to eight weeks so that Muggles don't get startled. They're intensely loyal to wizards though and will eat just about anything. They're not too keen on Muggles though."

[shh_ginny]

"Twice? Really? Well, the river cuts through town so there's bound to be people about most of the time. Maybe you just have some hidden desire to be oogled." Ginny chuckled in amusement. "Not bear as in big, silly. I mean, you try to be gruff sometimes and underneath it, you're really a softie and Merlin, but aren't you a shy one with the ladies. Really, Greg, you were practically turning fire engine red back there... though... I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in any way. I didn't, err, look."

She wrinkled her nose up at his explanation. "Oh no, no. I wouldn't want anything like that. I'm not gone from home as much as I was when I was studying abroad but I still don't want to come home to find my slippers shredded because I wasn't there all day." Ginny paused. "Do you have other pets? Besides Shadow, that is. How is Shadow doing anyway?"

[shh_greg]

"Well, both times I've been on shelter land," Greg protested then he shrugged. "But I guess people have been used to using it as a public thoroughfare and I don't really want to change that." He grimaced. "I may have to at some point if we end up using the pond and put an enclosure in the river for the aquatic animals. Or at least ward them properly so that people can't spook the animals