(Untitled)

[vintychloe]

Week Name: A Quiet Lull
Date/Time: 4 November 2006 / 9:52 AM
Location: Hogsmeade - Chloe's Cottage
Characters: Chloe and Ben (with some NPC appearances of Noelle, Tyler and Claire.)
Status: Private (Chloe's home is not exactly a popular stop for students visiting the village, after all.)
Summary: Chloe and Ben visit her kids; Ben takes Tyler out

Comments

[prof_peregrine]

Ben had walked with the next group of students to Hogsmeade, reminding them of the new curfews and what places they were not allowed to visit, before pausing for a few words with the Aurors stationed in those places. Grace didn't appear too pleased on having to chaperon the students, but he couldn't appease her and relieve her of her duty, so he gave a shrug and started his walk to the edge of town. Tomorrow, he would have to be more active in the chaperoning responsibilities, but today he had big brother, surrogate father ones to tend to - ones that he enjoyed much more.

"Morning, Chloe!" he called back as he entered the house. Of course, he couldn't sneak up on an ex-auror such as Ms. Vinter, and the trip had been planned, so it wasn't something he thought needed a surprise. He dropped to his knees and opened his arms to an excited Tyler, before picking up the lad. "Oomph! You're a big boy, Merlin." He set him back down and ruffled his hair. "So how have you been doing?" he grinned.

"Hey, Noelle!" he gave Chloe's sister a kiss on her cheek. "Liana stop by recently?" He winked and gestured towards the throws on the couches. It looked like Liana's taste.

"And my, Claire, soon you'll be big enough to carry your mum yourself," he kissed the little girl on the top of her head.

[vintychloe]

Chloe couldn't help but grin as Tyler rushed over to his surrogate uncle, all bright eyes and youthful exuberance. He started talking and didn't really stop, telling Ben likely everything that had possibly happened since he'd last seen the older man. She shook her head; she didn't know how she'd be able to repay Ben for this, but she was very grateful.

Exchanging a look with Noelle, she knew the boy had not been quite this happy and excited for a few months now. Noelle smiled and kissed Ben's cheek back before nodding in reply to his question, "Yes, she did," then she laughed when he motioned to the throws and nodded again, "All her work, yet again. It was good to have her around; too bad you two didn't make it down to see her," she winked at them.

Chloe laughed with her little sister, "Yes, a real shame. Hopefully she won't escape us next time!" Noelle moved over to give her elder sister a hug, around the four-year-old in the older woman's arms, then she moved off and offered to make some tea for everyone. Chloe accepted the offer gratefully then moved toward the sofa as she watched the former Hufflepuff bustle about the tiny kitchen.

Claire beamed up at Ben and reached out to grab hold of him with one arm when he kissed the top of her head. She laughed at his comment, then buried her face in her mother's hair and shoulder, obviously very happy to see them both. Chloe rather dreaded the day when Claire got too big for her to pick up, truth be told. She settled onto the couch and set Claire on her lap, idly playing with the little girl's hair as she offered Ben a seat with a wave of her hand as well.

Tyler was still taking every chance he could to ramble on endlessly, and Chloe wanted him to have as much of the day focused on him as possible, after all, so she didn't bother to interrupt as he launched into details about how his schooling was going with his aunt and with the few other children who lived in and around Hogsmeade. Primary school was not exactly a regular occurrence, but the Vinter children were certainly popular already among the children who were to be found in the area.

[prof_peregrine]

If Ben knew that Chloe was thinking about repaying him for spending time with Tyler, he would have scoffed at her and laughed... a lot. He truly enjoyed spending time with the boy as well as the Vinter family; if he didn't, he wouldn't have been Justin's best friend for almost two decades; and just seeing Tyler's smile was payment enough.

Ben kept an excited attentive smile on his face, listening to Tyler ramble about his classes and his friends, before laughing at Noelle's remark. "At least they're not paisleys," he winked at the younger girl. "I keep telling her she needs a cottage of her own, but she prefers her simple flat near the Ministry." He grinned. "Then again, she says she comes here often enough that this is like her second home and why would she need a third?"

Ben returned Claire's hug, rubbing her back affectionately, before taking a seat near Chloe and Tyler. He nudged the boy in the side and laughed at the mini adventures of Tyler Vinter. "I don't suppose you were doing that to impress a girl?" he winked.

[vintychloe]

Chloe knew Ben well enough to know he'd laugh at her for wanting to repay him, but she couldn't help it. Tyler was not his responsibility; he didn't have to be this good to the Vinter children, not even Justin would ever have expected so much of his best mate. And the Vinters were all a rather proud bunch who didn't take well to simply accepting charity, even if it was freely given.

Chloe also perhaps had the added benefit of knowing just how much it really meant to Tyler. From the moment he'd been told, it had been all he could talk about to Noelle, his friends, and even in owls to Chloe herself. And Chloe simply could not express how much it meant to see Tyler so excited about something, because ever since Justin's death, Tyler had changed, as though something inside him had broken. It was a small crack, not really noticeable to most people, but it was very much there. The only thing that ever seemed to patch it was visits from Ben, and this visit? Well, it had all but made the boy explode.

She laughed at Ben's comments about his sister, "She's always welcome here, you know. I don't think I blame her for not needing another house. Think she might fall over from the weight of all the keys," she winked at him while Noelle laughed, too, and began pouring out the tea and passing it around.

But Chloe and Noelle remained quiet as they watched Tyler bounce and talk endlessly, giving him the floor and all the attention. Claire seemed content simply to sit in her mother's lap and stare with wide eyes as her cousin regaled them all with his stories. All of the Vinters laughed as Tyler made a face at Ben's comment, "Ew! A girl!? What'd I want to do that for?!"

[prof_peregrine]

It was because of Justin that Ben did half the things he did. But even without his best mate's input -whether it be literal or figurative- Ben came to think of the Vinter family as an extension of his own, a second family as it were. Both he and his sister thought if they could choose their own relatives, the Vinters would be the ones they would pick.

Ben did not know about the crack inside of Tyler. He could guess, yes, but if he really knew it existed he would make sure to visit more often and probably wouldn't have even taken the silent job of teaching a private animagus class. He merely felt his own pain at the lost of his dear friend, and only imagined it was worse for Tyler. So, he did his best to lessen the pain, even if he wasn't the boy's actual father.

He chuckled, taking a cup of tea and drinking it. "Well, then, you can't blame her for not getting married and having tykes of her own," he winked at the two ladies. "Who has time when she's apparating back and forth and buying too much furniture for this cottage?"

Ben let out a bigger laugh at Tyler's face. "Ah... famous last words, famous last words." He ruffled the boy's hair again and stood from the couch. "Much as I'd like to sit and chat all day," he winked, "We should hit the markets and shoppes. For clothes that don't have bunnies on them and brooms that fly faster than falcons."

[vintychloe]

The only reason Chloe allowed Ben to be so involved and give the children in her life so much was because of Justin, too. Because of Justin, Ben had long ago practically become just another brother to her. If he were simply a friend, she would be far more insistent in her refusals of his help, but he wasn't. That didn't mean she didn't feel guilty for it, anyway. No one ever said the Vinters made sense, after all.

Chloe would never let Ben know about Tyler, though. Not after all he'd gone through with Justin's death and the guilt she knew he felt. Justin wouldn't want Ben to carry the weight of his son, too. She might let him do things like this without too much argument, but the secret about how badly Justin's death had effected Tyler was knowledge that only Chloe and Noelle had. And Chloe was determined to keep it that way. Tyler would heal naturally and in his own time; Ben didn't need to be weighted down with children that weren't his. Chloe was still determined to break him of his bachelor ways and get him to have children of his own, anyhow.

Chloe smiled, "Who said I blamed her?" she winked, "Smartest one of us all, I'd say. You, however, are another story," she gave him a pointed look to remind him that she hadn't given up on the matchmaking idea yet.

She laughed as Ben replied to Tyler, who was busy staring at Ben with a befuddled and disgusted look. Of course, his expression quickly changed to one of utter excitement as Ben stood up. Tyler hopped up himself and grinned.

Chloe pursed her lips, "Now, Ben. Nothing too fast. He's not on his house team yet," she smirked and raised an eyebrow. "And when he is, you'll be the one chasing him down, s you might want to rethink that 'faster than falcons' bit." Smirk, smirk, smirk.

She then reached out and patted Tyler's shoulder, "Be a good boy, hmm? And keep your Uncle Ben out of trouble, all right?" she winked at her nephew, "Most importantly, have fun." Claire jumped up and impulsively hugged Tyler, who hugged her back and promised to bring something back for her. Chloe smiled, always so happy to see how close the two of them had become. It must have been some sort of miracle, how well they got along.

[prof_peregrine]

If Ben knew that Chloe was determined to marry him off and make him have children, he was going to put up a fight, and argue that she needed a husband more than he needed a wife. He knew single parenthood wasn't a piece of cake, even if Chloe seemed to be able to deal with it and make it look effortless, and as much as she could argue with him, he could argue that Claire needed a father and Tyler needed one as well. And unless Noelle was going to get married and provide her niece and nephew with a father-figure, Chloe was the one he would push. If he could.

"Me?" Ben pretended to look shocked. "You want me to buy you too much furniture?" He looked around the room. "Well, it looks like you need another chair and a table over there, maybe a newer coat rack? How about some shelves?" he joked and pointed to different spots, cracking up at the face that Tyler gave him.

He continued to laugh and shook his head at the thought of chasing Tyler around Hogwarts. "Ah, but you're wrong there. It would be Killy chasing him around." He was careful not to say Jesse would be the ideal candidate for that, but tried to change the subject. "Has Noelle been letting you read the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet?" he asked Tyler. "How's your team shaping up?" he grinned.

"Yes, he's going to keep me out of trouble, aren't you?" Ben winked at the younger boy. "He has to remind me not to buy too many Fizzing Whizbees and Ice Mice. And that no man in their right mind would want to buy a Swiftstick for over a hundred galleons. Isn't that right?" The grin stayed on his face, adjusting his stride to match Tyler's as they walked towards the door.

[vintychloe]

Chloe didn't mean to force him into anything, she just thought Ben would be happiest if he had a family of his own. She could tell that he enjoyed having children around and she thought it was foolish for him to not have any of his own, a waste of so much love. Of course, if she knew that he'd start harping on her about her own status as a single parent, she'd only groan. Her heart wasn't healed; after all these years, she couldn't even think about any man who wasn't Jesse. But since he was out of her reach, she'd buried herself in caring for Noelle and Tyler and Claire. She'd lost Justin, then she'd lost Jesse; those three were all she felt she had left, and she didn't want anyone else.

Besides, wasn't telling Jesse a step toward gaining back Claire's father? Somehow? That's what Chloe kept telling herself, anyway.

Chloe and Noelle groaned together, then Chloe said, "You know very well that's not what I meant, Benjamin! You are a hopeless decorator, so you'll have to settle for getting married and having a whole brood of your own!"

Tyler's indignant shout of "Hey! No one's going to chase me!" made Chloe laugh quite hard, but she didn't say anything further. At Ben's next question, Tyler beamed and nodded, "Yeah! They're doing pretty good. Got a new Chaser a couple weeks ago!"

Tyler puffed out his chest and nodded, "Yep!" He faltered at the mention of the brooms however, "Er... well, I guess," he deflated slightly and looked hesitant. But he didn't miss a step and stood waiting in the doorway.

Noelle called out, "Tyler! Don't you dare forget your coat! You're not supposed to bring home a cold, you know!" While Noelle was keeping Tyler busy arguing about his coat, Chloe stood and whispered to Ben, "Really, Ben, don't you dare spend too much money on him. Justin would have your hide if you spoiled his son." Then she stepped away in time to bend down and hug her nephew, "Love you, Tyler. Have fun and we'll see you in time for dinner, okay?"

[prof_peregrine]

Honestly, Ben wouldn't know how to answer what would make him happiest. He was happy spending time with Tyler, and with the Vinter family, and he was content in his job. He thought his life was pretty full and he wasn't thinking about starting a family of his own. He would keep arguing though that Chloe needn't worry about him of all people. Not when she had so many other people to worry about, including herself and the well being of the children.

"I'm not going to get married so I can have a decorator!" Ben cocked an eyebrow at the whole conversation. He knew what they were referring to, but it was just so much fun to get Chloe riled up, especially about his bachelorhood. "And I don't need a brood," he continued. "You all are enough for me. Another brood would molt all my feathers!"

He grinned back at Tyler as he grabbed his coat, and ushered him out the door. "Bye, Chloe! Noelle! Claire!" he made sure to say everyone's name. "We'll be back in time for supper, 'course," and then he side-whispered to Tyler with a mischievous grin, "Don't know if we'll have the appetite for it after all the candy and ice cream, but we'll be back in time for it!"