Unexpected Meeting (Humphrey and Charlotte)

by **Humphrey Williams** Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:06 am

Humphrey was in the abandoned tower, painting an abstract piece. He was frustrated, and he knew that painting always helped him to vent his emotions. Senium was getting worse and worse, but there wasn't a single thing he could do about it. It hurt him to see her in so much pain. Though he tried to comfort her, his heart broke for her, and he saw she was in so much pain. If he could take the pain instead of her he would have done it in an instant.

Since he wasn't in the best of moods, his abstract piece looked more dark and dismal than his usual paintings. Anyone who saw it would know that the artist was in pain, and they would be right. His art had improved a lot since he'd first started, it made him chuckle, thinking how bad he was when he first started. Over time though, he had steadily improved without even noticing. When he compared his early paintings and drawings to what he did now was when he could tell the difference.

To his surprise he heard footsteps on the stone stairs. Who else came up here? The only people he'd ever seen her had been Anne, who was gone, and Charlotte on occasion. Thinking of Charlotte made him realize how they'd kind of fallen out as friends. He'd acted like such an idiot, and he didn't really blame her for not making a big effort to stay friends. "Hello, who's there?" Humphrey called out.

by **Charlotte Smith** Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:19 am

Charlotte had been on her way up to the Abandoned Tower, she had first met Charity here and she wondered if she would be there now, she needed to find her and figure out when they were going to meet for their next art lesson, which Charlotte looked forwards to immensely, she enjoyed spending time with Charity after all.

As she neared the top steps, she heard a voice call out, a small frown on her lips she wondered who it was, and after a few moments she recognised the voice, it was Humphrey! Wondering what he was doing up here all on his own, Charlotte smiled gently, he was painting most likely.

Swinging open the door she smiled softly at Humphrey and knocked on the wood before entering, it had been so long since they had talked, so much had happened, with so many people lost dare she make more friends who she would inevitably lose?

"Hey there Humphrey." she greeted "It's just me, I came up here to see if Charity was here, you haven't seen her have you?" Charlotte asked, gently playing with her long white hair.

by **Humphrey Williams** Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:33 am

Whoever it was knocked politely on the door before entering. He was a bit embarrassed that he was painting a fairly depressing abstract, but it was no use hiding it. They would just ask what it was anyways. Adding a couple more shapes to the painting, he set his brush down.

There was Charlotte, standing there with her long white hair, beautiful as ever. Though now he only saw her as a friend, and he wasn't blinded by his feelings for her like he used to be. A small pang went through his heart, he hadn't realized how much he'd missed being friends with her. They were more just classmates than anything now. Would she even want to be friends with him after how he'd acted?

Attempting to clear the look of pain from his face, he forced a smile on his face. "Hello Charlotte, it's nice to see you." he said. "I haven't seen Charity, I rarely see her outside of class. Whenever I've tried to talk to her she didn't seem very comfortable." Humphrey admitted with a shrug.

"So, how have you been? It's been a long time since I've seen you outside of class. I've missed hanging out with you to be honest, especially since...well, nevermind." Humphrey had been going to say ever since Keiba died, but he didn't want to talk about that.

by **Charlotte Smith** Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:21 pm

Charlotte tilted her head to one side as she looked at the painting that Humphrey had been working on, it was a very dark brooding piece of work and she wondered if he had come up here to expell some of his negative feelings onto the canvas in front of him, for it would seem to be the case.

Seeing that Humphrey seemed upset, Charlotte knew that it would probably be something to do with all the deaths that are going on, and that it would be something that she could not convince him was not a big deal, because death always was.

"I know, she's so shy and doesn't really feel comfortable talking to boys just yet, I was hoping to catch her so that I could finish the art lessons I was giving her." she smiled gently.

Hearing that Humphrey had missed talking to her outside of class, Charlotte smiled wider, oddly she had missed the eccentric ways of her old Gryffindor friend but had never had the chance to speak to him out of class.

"I've been okay, hanging on in there." she joked with a bright smile "I know tell me about it, maybe we should hang out more often we are a few of the only originals left after all." Charlotte pointed out her smile dimming lightly.

by **Humphrey Williams** Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:16 pm

Noticing her looking at his painting, he tried not to let his cheeks flush too much. She of all people would understand how art was a good outlet for feelings though. "Not the most cheerful thing I've ever painted, I admit. Came up here to vent a bit, really." Humphrey explained.

One of the nice things about Charlotte is she didn't use generic words to try and cheer him up, even though she could obviously tell he was struggling right now. He knew Charlotte must have been going through the same struggles, everybody in school had lost somebody. At least most of them had.

"I knew the shy part already." he joked. "That's nice of you, I'm glad somebody's reaching out to her. Kind of worried about her, she's just so quiet all the time." Charity seemed to be very new at being around groups of people and making friends, and he wondered what her life had been like. "You are an excellent art teacher, I can vouch for you as one of your graduates."

Humphrey slowly returned Charlotte's smile, glad to be able to talk to his Slytherin buddy again. She'd been the second friend he'd made here, and wasn't afraid to stand out. Having seen him at his best and his worst, she knew him better than most people, despite the fact they hadn't talked recently.

"Haha yea, I'm doing the same. Sorry about you and Airen, truly." He'd heard through the rumor mill they had broken up, and it would explain that one week where Charlotte seemed to be more sad than usual. "I suppose we are at that. At least Haley seems to be coping better with things now than she was." The Hufflepuff had started to look a bit more like her old self.

Turning around, he pulled a leather tube out with one of his paintings inside. This was one of his favorites, and he wanted to show Charlotte how much progress he'd made. Also, it was cheerful, which would be nice. He'd drawn a wood filled with all sorts of animals, making them slightly cartoonish looking for fun; the piece was silly and happy, he loved it. Handing it to Charlotte, his curiosity rose at what she would think. "Take a look at one of my sillier pieces. I was in a very bubbly mood when I drew that, in case you couldn't tell." Humphrey said with a smile.

by **Charlotte Smith** Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:04 pm

Charlotte blinked a little when Humphrey told her that he was sorry she had broken up with Airen, she sighed a little and figured that it was the rumour mill at work once more and that she would have to make sure that she tried to keep things more to herself than she had been, things she didnt want people to know that was.

"Thanks Humphrey." she smiled gently "Yeah, it was hard but...I think it needed to be done, I just felt we were more like best friends than boyfriend and girlfriend, the...the spark was just gone you know?"

Nodding her head Charlotte smiled softly, Haley had seemed a lot better at the ball than she had been in recent months, she seemed to withdraw into herself after the deaths of her friends, she was affected more than others after all;

"I know, I'm glad of that, it would seem like she just needed some time to adjust herself after she lost all of those people." she smiled gently.

When Humphrey presented her with his painting Charlotte giggled and traced some of the animals; "It's a nice happy painting, very you, and you've gotten so good, I suppose I'll take a little credit for that." she grinned.

by **Humphrey Williams** Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:06 am

Humphrey saw that Charlotte wasn't thrilled that most everybody knew that she had broken up. He could understand that, it was kind of a personal thing. They had seemed like the perfect couple for so long, he was shocked when he'd heard it. People change though, and as kids they still had a lot of growing up to do.

"Yea, I know what you mean. A relationship is a hard thing to keep going, especially at this stage in life. People change a lot at our age as we're figuring out who we are." he said. Thankfully she seemed to be handling it pretty well.

Haley was a lot more sensitive than most of the friends. She was friends with most people, and was one of the nicest people in school. It was good to see her feeling more like herself again. The deaths had hit everybody, some harder than others.

"Don't we all, I'm still trying to get used to not having Keiba, Tess, Parker, and Pyxis around. But, life goes on, and we have to as well." Humphrey replied, trying to smile a little bit.

He was glad that Charlotte liked it, she had taught him after all. A sense of pride at what he'd worked so hard on welled up a bit. "You can definitely take some of the credit. Not sure I ever would have started if not for you. What do you think is me though? Silliness?" he asked, teasing her a bit.

by **Charlotte Smith** Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:59 am

Charlotte was glad that Humphrey seemed to understand where she was coming from when it came to the reason why she had no longer wanted to be with Airen any more, many people she thought may not have understood the reasoning behind it and would have been a little shocked to hear the news.

"Well I'm glad that somebody else seems to understand where I'm coming from, lots of people in my house thought it was a huge shock when they found out." she sighed a little.

Nodding her head Charlotte found that she could talk to Humphrey again without getting the urge to slap him across the face like she had when they had gotten into their fall out a few years ago, it was true what he said, people changed as they grew older.

"Exactly, I mean I wasn't really super close to anybody that died but I still miss them, even the ones I didn't really get along with at all I still miss fighting with." she grinned.

Letting that same grin stay on her lips she nodded her head;

"Oh most definately the silliness, but, generally you're not a serious guy you like to joke around and the cartoon like animals show your personality well."

by **Humphrey Williams** Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:36 am

Humphrey had been a bit shocked by the news at first too, for a while he'd thought they were the perfect couple. There was no point in dating somebody though if you didn't care about each other like that any more. He'd done some stupid things trying to get Charlotte to date him.

"I was a bit shocked too, I thought you guys were perfect together. Then again I haven't really spent much time with you recently, so I wouldn't have a good idea." he admitted. "So do you like anybody else now?" Humphrey asked, curious. "You don't have to tell me, just wondered."

He had been kind of close to Keiba and Tess, he still missed them sometimes. Keiba had been his first and closest friend after all. Now she was gone though, and he was getting used to not having her around.

"I was pretty close to Keiba, out of all the people in our year I was probably closest to her." he said quietly. "Still miss her sometimes, but I'm starting to get used to not having her around. I just want this war to be over now. Did you hear about the vampire attack in Diagon Alley?" he asked.

That answer made him laugh a little. "Well I suppose I am at that. Most of the time I definitely don't act my age." he said with a grin.

"Hey Charlotte, I wanted to apologize for how I acted a couple years ago. I was going through a lot, but that was no excuse for how I behaved. One of the reasons I haven't really spent much time with you since is because I was afraid of what you thought about me, and wouldn't want to be friends. Are we good?" Humphrey asked her quietly, staring at the ground and shifting his feet nervously.

by **Charlotte Smith** Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:27 am

Charlotte blushed when Humphrey asked her if she liked anyone, she didn't know if she should answer that or not, but she thought that Humphrey would be able to keep her secret through their rocky road she knew that he was very good at keeping secrets when he was asked to, and now was one of those time.

"W-well yes I like someone else, but if I tell you, you have to promise to keep it secret because I dont want Airen to find out and be upset." she whispered earnestly, as if Airen could be hiding around the corner somewhere.

Hearing him ask about if she had heard about the vampire attack in Diagon Alley Charlotte nodded her head sadly, she knew all about that all too well, after all her Uncle was caught up in the middle of it.

"Yeah I heard about that...I just want people to finally stop fighting, I'm tired of it...and I've not even been in any fights myself." she sighed softly "We haven't even been out as a squad yet with Silas."

Charlotte thought that it was sweet the way Humphrey was apologising to her, but it was really water under the bridge and she had forgotten about how angry she had been before quite a while ago, she was just glad that both of them seemed to have grown, changed and are able to get along now.

"Well there's no need to apologise Humphrey, we both said and did things we aren't proud of now, but we're all grown and changed people now so...I think that we're good." she smiled gently.

by **Humphrey Williams** Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:54 am

Humphrey saw the blush, and immediately knew that she did indeed like somebody. He was curious about who it would be, and whether he would know the person. Charlotte was a great girl, she deserved to find somebody to be with. To be honest he didn't think she would have any problems finding a guy.

"No problem, I know how to keep a secret Charlotte. So, who is it?" he asked excitedly. For some reason she had been speaking in a whisper, even though there was no need to. They were the only people up here after all.

Hearing her thoughts about ending the fighting, he nodded in agreement. He was getting sick of it too, and he would do anything he could to help make the world peaceful for a while. If he had to see more of his friends get killed, he wasn't sure how much more he could take.

"Same here, I'm sick of seeing people I know die. I haven't been in any fights since the first year one, that was enough for me." he told her. "Yea, I expected we would have by now, if they need us to I'm always ready."

Humphrey knew that his apology was late, but better late than never. She seemed to be over everything that had happened, which he was very grateful for.

"I still felt like you deserved one. You were great Charlotte, you saved my life." he said quietly, remembering when he tried to kill himself. "Alright, awesome, we need to hang out again sometime." he suggested, returning her smile.