Re: Painting Up A Storm (OPEN)

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte smiled slightly and she took the rubber from the easel shelf and gently began to rub out some of the harsher lines that Humphrey had drawn for her hair, now fainter it looked much improved and Charlotte deftly flicked a pencil in her hand before sticking her tongue out in concentration as she drew.

"There, the hair is much better now, and it was the hardest think to do because there are so many strands, you can't just do it in a huge block like the face."

Presenting her edited picture to him Charlotte smiled softly, blushing at the idea that she was beautiful, the only person who had ever said that to her was Cobalt, and he had to say it, he was her father.

"You keep complimenting me so I'm going to look like a tomato." she grinned

Charlotte held the bag out to Humphrey, before taking one herself, and she popped it into her mouth:

"I got toasted marshmallow, what did you get?"

[Humphrey Williams]

"Popcorn flavor. Huh, interesting. I never tasted anything quite so, unique. It tastes like popcorn, but at the exact same time it doesn't. Weird..." he trailed off.

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte smiled happily and took out another bean, thinking that she would probably get another nice one, this seemed to be quite a good pack for that;

"Popcorn huh? I never really got into popcorn all that much, but I guess that it's not such a bad flavour compared to tripe or something gross like that."

Looking at her red bean Charlotte popped it into her mouth, expecting cherry but all she got was a huge explosion of spice and Charlotte began to cough uncontrollably with the sensation of the spice tickling her throat.

"Oh...my..." she gasped in between coughs.

[Humphrey Williams]

"Well, popcorn is rather bland and flavorless without salt and butter." Humphrey said. Then he watched as Charlotte popped a red bean into her mouth. Instantaneously, she began coughing and choking on the bean. "Charlotte...Charlotte, are you okay." the only sound was the coughing choke sound of a person with their airway partially blocked." Stand still, Charlotte. I know what to do. He rushed behind Charlotte. The Heimlich Maneuver was taught to him in his middle school health class. He placed his left hand just below her diaphragm and placed his right hand on top of it. Then balled his left hand into a fist. He pulled his left and right hand towards him in a slightly upward direction. He had to do seven pulls before finally, thankfully, he heard the sound of heavy breathing not obstructed. The red bean was in front of Charlotte on the cold stone.

Blessedly, he had remembered enough about the Heimlich to perform it. Thankfully he had paid attention in health class. "Charlotte, are you okay?" he asked her. Shocked that his studying as a Muggle had just saved a witch's life. And not just any witch, his favorite witch. The one he cared about the most.

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte tried to motion that she was okay and just needed to stop coughing but as she continued she felt the bean become stuck in her throat and Charlotte gasped slightly, she began to panic but tried to stand as still as possible.

As Humphrey performed some sort of manoeuvre on her to try and get it out from her throat, Charlotte could finally breathe again once it had skittered out over the cold floor and she blinked a little bit, just looking at the bean.

Shaking in Humphrey's arms with the shock Charlotte turned and hugged him tightly.

"Oh thank you Humphrey! Thank you so so much!"

Charlotte hugged him tightly before resting her head on his chest, still shaking a little bit and now freezing from the cold of the tower and of the feeling of shock running throughout her.

"That was so scary, I am never going to eat a Bertie Botts bean ever again."

[Humphrey Williams]

Humphrey simply stood there as Charlotte hugged him the tightest he had ever been hugged in his life. She was stronger than she looked. Charlotte thanked him and said she would never eat a Bertie Bott's bean ever again. "Understandable." he told her. Then she rested her head on his chest. Her whole body was trembling and shaking visibly." He wrapped his arms around her tightly. Holding her closely, he began to rub his right hand back and forth across her back. Trying to console her and stop her body from trembling.

"Charlotte, you do not need to thank me. Anybody would have done the same if they knew the Heimlich Maneuver. You don't owe me a debt or anything like that. Don't be frightened, Charlotte, I am right here to protect you." he whispered in her ear as he held her. Slowly, the trembling began to slow, she looked up at Humphrey and stared into his eyes. Seeking comfort, seeking safety in his eyes. He steeled himself and tried to look as optimistic as possible. "You know, when you coughed up that bean, it almost looked like you were a Pez dispenser. Pez is a Muggle candy that is just a small rectangle of hardened sugar. And they have different characters that they model the dispensers after." he said, falling back on a joke like he normally did in such a tense situation. It worked, the corners of Charlotte's mouth raised slightly in a small grin.

"Next time you ask me to share a candy with you, try not to kill yourself Charlotte. You are going to scare my hair white if you do that again." he stated. "I couldn't live with myself if you died and I was right with you and couldn't do anything to stop your death." he shuddered at the thought, showing the she was not the only one who had been a little bit frightened and unsettled.

"Did you know you are my closest friend Charlotte?" he confided in her.

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte could feel the hand moving on her back and eventually she calmed down enough to stop shaking and become a little bit more composed in order to participate in conversation again, she tried to think about other things apart from the burning in her throat.

Nuzzling her head into his chest, Charlotte reached a hand up and vegan to stroke behind the cat ears that always came up when she was scared or nervous, purring slightly she began to return to normal.

"I'm sorry for scaring you Humphrey, I bet that was not an attractive or pleasant sight to behold, but I like the idea of these Pez things, I hope there is no chance that I will choke on one of them too!"

Trying to laugh the situation off she merely hugged him once more before sitting down on the cold floor, hoping that the flush on her face would die down.

"Don't worry Humphrey, I'll try very hard not to die any time soon, oh and no, no I didn't know that I was your best friend, why is that? I think that we can be very good friends ourselves!"

[Humphrey Williams]

"A long story, dear. But the basic gist of it is that my best friend Arnold is a Muggle. And now I am learning magic, and am studying to become a wizard. Arnold will never understand me completely. The moment I discovered I was a wizard we started growing apart. He just will never understand. You, on the other hand, I can actually talk to about everything. I am not required to keep Muggle secrets from you as a witch or anything like that." he winked at her.

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte smiled happily, glad that he was able to talk to her about anything whereas others he wasn't so lucky, it made her feel special and trusted, but it also made her feel a little sad for Humphrey that his friends didn't understand him now he was a wizard.

"Well I'll always be here for you to talk to about anything you wish, you know, just in case you didn't feel that you could."

Now very relaxed Charlotte continued to scratch behind her ears and she quickly remembered that this would be seen as very odd and so she stopped, blushed, and looked sheepishly at the floor hoping that he wouldn't think she was weird.

"I'm glad that people want to be my friend, I didn't think I would have many but now I have lots of them, boys too! I thought I'd be all tongue tied around you."

[Humphrey Williams]

"Really?" he asked her. "I had the same problem before I met you. I would get nervous and sweat buckets as well as stammer around every girl I said hi to her had a conversation with. Ironic, isn't it? That we managed to find each other and yet neither of us gets nervous." Humphrey said.

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte sucked at her lip peircing and nodded her head, she didn't really thunk after her own experiance with boys that she would be going anywhere near them let alone have two of her best friends be boys...it was unsusal to her.

"Very very odd, but that's a good thing, we can help each other become more accustomed to the other sex."

With that Charlotte reached into the bag and took out a permanent maker, re-tracing the heart on her hand, so that it stood out more than usual, she didn't really have much chance to do her ritual these days, after all, she had been busy drawing other things.

"My throat hurts...do you have any water?" she asked politely.

[Humphrey Williams]

Humphrey waved his wand, and a goblet appeared out of thin air. "Aguamenti." he said, and a jet of water filled up the goblet to the brim. "There you go, Charlotte. I am not surprised that your throat is sore, you had been hacking before the bean dislodged. And I agree, we can definitely help each other get comfortable with the opposite sex. I think part of what helps make our relationship work is that you are a bit of a tomboy, and I have a pretty strong feminine side for a guy.It kind of helps balance out the discomfort we usually feel. It is still there on occasion, but almost nonexistent." he explained his theory on why they could talk to each other without the usual nervousness that they both felt with the opposite sex.

"Well, I think I am going to head down to the Gryffindor dormitory and then go about my day. Can we meet Wednesday at 7 p. m. here for next lesson in art?" he asked Charlotte.

[Charlotte Smith]

Charlotte smiled happily and took the glass from Humphrey, dipping gently at the water as it soothed her throat, it was a welcome feeling because every time she talked it felt like she was hacking up razors.

"Thank you very much."

Raising her eyebrow a little Charlotte sighed, although she would have liked to have disagreed with Humphrey it was true she wasn't very feminine, which was a little sad, but something she didn't have much experiance with.

"I guess that might be the reason, I'd just like to put it down to the fact we get along so well but I'll take your word to the feminine side of you, I've not seen that yet."

Charlotte nodded and moved to her easel, once more picking up her brush.

"Of course! I'll be here, have a nice day Humphrey."

[Humphrey Williams]

"Thanks for the lesson. It was very interesting and definitely time well spent. I will try to have a good day, and I normally do end up having one if I put some effort into it. And as for the feminine side of me, you will see it if you watch me read the ending of a dramatic book or watch a chick flick. Which I actually do on occasion. I cry just as much as girls do, but I am practiced at concealing my tears. but you will see me cry if you put in a sad movie or tell me to read a depressing book that had a tragic ending. See you around, Charlotte!" he yelled as he walked out of the abandon tower where he had just had one of the best experiences of his entire life.

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