Being a Prefect is hard work

[Caleb Graham]

Caleb looked absolutely awful. He was nursing a sprained ankle, getting over a cold and attempting to tutor simpleton second years. They were so cute and small he didn’t have the heart to yell at them, that plus didn’t really yell at anybody. As his group of second years scampered away gleeful that they had learned how to pronounce their transfiguration lesson correctly Caleb hit his head on the table.

He was sat with his head literally in his book at one corner of the library, beside a window where he could, should he lift his head from his book, look out the window at the Quidditch pitch. God how he wished to be on the pitch right now, it wasn’t until then that he realised someone had sat down in the seat across from him, “Felix, if it’s about your pet rat again I will repeat that I don’t want to see it, and it’s not that I am afraid of rats it is simply that I don’t like them, and I don’t car how cute and beady his eyes supposedly are, I am not touching it,” he muttered into his book finally looking up and shaking his finger at the person who was not in fact Felix, one of his students, at all, “Oh, hi, you’re not Felix,” he said slowly clearing his throat awkwardly. He suddenly felt bad from grumbling at the other person, he had been a bit irritable after the whole best-mate-cheating-on-the-love-of-my-life- (which just so happened to be Kevin’s girlfriend) -with-my-sister fiasco. The fact that his best mate, the unspeakable Kevin, had also ditched school to become a Hit-Wizard was also a bit of a sore spot.

((ooc: Anyone, I have been neglecting my Hogwarts students, figured I should write with someone and Caleb’s boyish charm and mild awkwardness is always fun to write.))

[Amy Weatherson]

((ooc: I simply had to, hope you don't mind Amy haha!))

Smiling (though that wasn't much of a surprise) as she walked into the library, Amy waved hello to some second years she passed on their way out who she recognised as the group Caleb tutored Transfiguration to. Knowing said person would therefore be around somewhere Amy headed down each of the aisles, trying to find her friend. As she noticed him from across the room, sitting in the corner beside a window with his head burried in a book, Amy's pace quickened and she quietly sat down in the chair opposite him while he seemed to be wistfully staring out at the view over the Quidditch pitch. "Don't worry, you'll be flying again soon," she assured him softly, knowing what was on his mind given his sprained ankle, with a comforting smile as he realised she was there.

"No, I'm not Felix, sadly, sorry," she managed to joke easily with him. Truthfully, inside, she wasn't feeling that wonderful but, as usual, Amy just burried all that negativity behind a sweet, innocent smile. It was only if you knew her well that you'd see that her smile didn't quite reach her eyes as it used to. Amy looked at him concernedly, brushing off her own worries and problems in favour of addressing his,"Are you alright, Caleb? I just passed your little pupils, they were all very excited at having mastered their transfiguration, you should be proud, I bet you make an awesome teacher," she enthused.

[Caleb Graham]

Caleb lifted his from the middle of his book to see Amy Weatherson seated across from him. Rubbing his nose, it really didn’t feel very good squashing it in a book for as long as he had, he said, “No you’re not Felix are you,” he smiled over at him the second year Transfiguration book he had borrowed from the library and folded his hands over it.

“Me?” he asked surprised and then thought about it for a moment, “Yeah I’m alright, I think I made some kind of a breakthrough with my delinquents the other day.” Caleb was not only tutoring a group of very well mannered and bright young second years but also a very unruly group of fifth years who no one knew what to do with so Caleb, being naïvely optimistic, thought he could take them off of Percy’s- a nerdy, uppity seventh year Gryffindor- hands. “We went to the dungeons to study potions,” he explained.

Then he continued to chatter on about ‘a day in the life of Caleb,’ “I overslept again and was late to Charms again because of this stupid ankle,” he glared at his ankle under the table as if it could hear him. "I think Professor Paigi is beginning to dislike me," he mentioned. “Madame Pomfrey wanted to put a cast on it, I told her it wasn’t broken only strained but she didn’t seem too convinced,” he said of one of the kind Healers in the Hospital wing, honestly she knew more than he did but Caleb was determined to get on his broom as fast as possible. “I mean I’m Captain for heaven’s sake, it really doesn’t look good for us if I’m off the field because one of our own beaters hit me in the shin with a bludger by accident,” he said, “I mean I would have commended him if he’d meant it on purpose, pretty good aim if you as me, but the fact that he was trying to shoot it through one of the hoops and I was nowhere near it says something quite different, frankly we’re doomed is what it says,” he rambled on for a moment before noticing her smile. “Hang on,” he stopped talking for a moment and observed Amy carefully, “Are you alright?” Then realising what it must be he added, “You know it’s not your fault,” reaching across the table he touched her hand gently and then let it go.

Caleb immediately changed the subject not really having the desire to ‘talk about their feelings’ he asked, “So how about that last herbology lesson, I for one thought it was pretty wicked.”

((ooc: Of course I don't mind, I love Amy!))

[Amy Weatherson]

Amy's forced smile grew a little and she nodded, "Yeah I know, I'm really not Felix, it must be such a disappointment... I could try to be Felix, if you like?" she offered in her usual sweetly teasing manner but her words didn't quite sound 'right' to her own ears at that moment. "Yes, you, silly," Amy said softly, her voice becoming a tad quieter and fonder as she looked over at him and he spoke of his crowd of 'delinquents'. "Well that's great, Caleb, I'm so glad to hear that," she enthused genuinely. Then rolling her eyes slightly she shook her head, "That can't be true... I mean Professor Paigi couldn't dislike anyone, it's not in her nature, I'm sure she understands."

Rummaging momentarily in her bag which she'd dumped on the chair beside her she nodded along, her view of Caleb mostly obscured by her hair which had fell over her face as she dug around to find her textbook. However, upon hearing his next words Amy sat up suddenly, abandoning her mission to find her textbook and looked over at him seriously, "Caleb, no, don't think like that. Who cares how it looks for us, the important thing is that our Captain rests so that he might actually be back in action sometime soon. If you try to fly again before it's fully healed you'll do yourself more damage than good and then where would we be without our Captain?" she suggested simply with a shrug of her shoulders. She had to admit, team morale hadn't been great what with Caleb injured by one of their own Beaters, but she wasn't about to tell him just how bad their last little practice session had been; he'd been in the Hospital wing when they'd had it so thankfully hadn't seen first hand just how terrible things were going. "We're not doomed, don't worry!" she assured him, trying to put as much sincerity as was possible into her voice so that he wouldn't suspect anything was wrong. The problem was, Amy was quite a bad liar.

"What? Me? I'm fine," she said, trying to brush away his concern by smiling brightly, or what she thought was her usual bright smile, and resuming her rummaging in her bag so she wouldn't have to look properly at him. Finally finding what she was looking for she extracted her book and plonked it down on the table with perhaps a little too much force as Caleb said it wasn't her fault. Looking down at his hand as it touched hers gently, "But maybe it is..." she said quietly, biting her lip to stop herself from saying any more as she finally looked back up to meet his concerned gaze, "I wish I... I wish he... I just feel like-... oh nevermind, you don't want to hear this kind of thing," Amy said glumly, shaking her head rapidly as if to wipe away all traces of the conversation as she withdrew her hand and instead opened her textbook carefully.

"Oh I... yes Herbology umm... well yes it was..." she tried to form longer, more eloquent responses but somehow couldn't. Swallowing to try and rid herself of the lump which had caught in her throat she glanced apologetically at Caleb before staring fixedly down at the Potions textbook instead. "Sorry," she whispered, "I know I'm not being my usual peppy, annoyingly cheerful self, I'll try harder."

((ooc: Sorry this is SO late, do you still want to continue this? I was thinking, if you do, we could have it as 'now' so that it could be Kevin's birthday and Amy has been thinking about how Kevin's doing now he's left Hogwarts and such? Hence why she's a bit incapable of being her usual 'annoyingly cheerful self'?))

[Caleb Graham]

“Nooo!” he said waving his hands in front of his face. He couldn’t take one, let alone two Felix’s. Caleb rolled his eyes. “My ankle is fine, it’s just peachy, really I’ll be back on the broom in no time, tomorrow even,” he insisted. He had been limping around all day and trying very hard to pretend like it was nothing.

Looking down at his book seriously, his mind on Quidditch, he gave a small sigh. Glancing back up at Amy from under his lashes, his head still slightly tilted downward, “You know Weatherson, you’re a terrible liar, but a well-meaning one at least,” he said with a grateful smile as he began rummaging around in his bag. He pulled out a book covered in Quidditch paraphernalia. “I think I know what to do,” he said slamming the book down in between them, bits of dust unfurling from its pages as he opened it. “This was Oliver’s,” he said of the previous Quidditch Captain who had graduated last year. “I rewrote a few of his plays to adjust for a few of our players, and I think I know how we’re going to win against Ravenclaw. Honestly our team is really good, each player individually is spectacular, outside of actual practices…” he broke off.

“I think for the most part not everyone believes in themselves, our new Beater is far too jumpy but he’s got great and surprising strength. Hils, well I know she can beat up stuffy, like me when we go on holiday, but she over compensates. Lindsey can catch anything, his arms are made of rubber, but I think our problem is we’re not working as a team, its just sort of… chaos. Oh, and of course you are the best and fastest Chaser we’ve got,” he smiled over at her leaning over the table and whispering the last bit as if in a conspiratorial way. “We’re having practice tomorrow, I already told the rest of the team, you can still make it right?” he asked hopefully. They were going to win if it was the last thing he did, and yes he was going to fly no matter what. They had a game to prepare for and that was that. He put his Quidditch book away then and focused all his attention on Amy rather than some stupid book.

“Okay, no need to go all Bride of Chucky on me,” he said of her overly bright smile, it looked quite strained and forced which made in appear pained, at least that’s what he thought, then again he did spend an awful lot of time admiring her smiles. His eyebrows pulled together into a concerned expression, “No it isn’t,” he shook his head, “It couldn’t possibly be,” he gave her a small smile, “You’re Miss Perfect remember,” he said trying to make her feel better. “You know you can tell me anything, we’re best mates,” he told her earnestly trying to be a bit more chipper to brighten the mood.

“You don’t need to apologise,” he smiled over at her, “Besides I think your uber happy-vibe is getting so strong it’s starting to steal other peoples happy, pretty soon your happy will take over the world. I think it’s best if you give it a rest every so often, don’t want your annoying cheerfulness getting all big headed and world-dominating now do we?”

((ooc: It's totally fine, sorry this is a wee bit long.))

[Amy Weatherson]

Amy fixed him with a disbelieving look, "Your ankle is clearly not 'peachy', Caleb please try to rest... for me?" she asked hopefully with a caring look. She'd seen him limp into the Charms lesson late, pretending like he was fine and it was really nothing to worry about but didn't buy the act. Looking over at him innocently as he looked up at her and proclaimed she was a terrible liar, she couldn't quite argue back against that since it was true. "I know," she said quietly and then, "Sorry, I do mean to comfort you that we'll be alright but truthfully? I'm not holding out much hope on winning the cup this year..." she admitted, feeling awful and like she was betraying the team for even thinking like that, let alone voicing it out loud. She looked down ashamed for a moment but found her interest piqued once more as Caleb pulled out an odd looking book and placed it between them, "Really?" she asked in a hushed whisper, a look of excitement sparking in her eyes then. It was perhaps the first truly genuine bit of happiness and excitement she'd shown in the past few months.

"Ummm... maybe we need some kind of... team bonding and confidence boosting activity?" she suggested tentatively, it sounded a bit odd but she thought that was half the problem, they didn't quite work as a group because they didn't know and trust each other enough. As Caleb conspiratorially told her she was the best/fastest Chaser she found herself blushing in delight and shaking her head, "Don't... you're being too nice to me... imagine if Tom found out you preferred me over him," she tacked the last bit jokingly on the end to try to diffuse some of the blush that was burning on her cheeks. It didn't work. "Of course I can make it, I wouldn't miss it for the world Caleb," Amy assured him.

Looking embarrassed as he caught her out then Amy confusedly replied "What?" but her voice was squeaky and higher than usual, like someone who knew they'd been 'called' on something. Her fake, strained smile faded entirely upon realising she was overcompensating and so Amy instead looked shyly down at the textbook's cover. "It could be," she argued back weakly, meeting his concerned expression with a sad look, "But I'm not, it's only you that thinks that. Even Kevin didn't think that, clearly..." she trailed off for a moment, not trusting herself to continue speaking lest her voice crack with emotion. "I know," she said softly, gratefully, as he said she could tell him anything. There was a mix of little things that had always slightly confused or upset her and she'd never voiced them to anyone in case she sounded selfish but now she wanted to tell Caleb something of them, she knew he would understand. "Well I thought he might have been a bit... considerate but he just always assumed things, he assumed it was a given we'd go to parties together, I mean of course I wanted to go with him, I was his girlfriend, but... it would have been nice to be asked, to feel... I don't know... appreciated somehow. I know Kevin is... well... Kevin about everything and I never expected anything different or more from him but I just... I feel so stupid about it all now, I feel stupid for expecting that. Maybe we shouldn't have gone out together. Sometimes I just wish I hadn't gone to the Quidditch World Cup either," she finished glumly, not referring to finding Hilary and Kevin 'together' directly but alluding to it through her mention of the World Cup. She knew Caleb hadn't quite got back on speaking terms with Kevin yet, it was his sister after all, and so she didn't want to pile all her feelings on top of everything Caleb was feeling.

"I don't need to, but I want to," Amy commented with a weak, but nonetheless more genuine, smile over at Caleb. This smile brightened, turning into a giggle as he claimed her happy would take over the world. "We couldn't have that, no, best to keep it under lock and key before someone accuses me of taking one too many Cheering Charms huh?" she joked back easily.

((ooc: It was lovely, aww! And can I just say I love Caleb's new av and change of appearance... mmm!))

[Caleb Graham]

“But I-” It was hopeless, as soon as Amy had pleaded with her sweetly caring expression which he found oh-so-endearing it was all over. Caleb relinquished completely as his heart melted a wee bit, “Alright I will rest, but only for tonight?” he warned shaking his finger at her as if this clarified the seriousness of his statement, which in fact would also diminish with a single smile from her.

“I know,” he took a great big heaving sigh, “And it is all my fault. I’m a terrible Captain. I don’t have that same leadership quality Ollie had. How in the world did I get chosen to be Captain anyhow?” he asked a rhetorical question not really expecting her to answer it.

Seeing the first genuine show of happiness he’d seen in months Caleb continued with his ‘save the Quidditch team and win the cup’ speech, “I have also been doing some thinking on the Ravenclaw team. They’re really accurate and they execute positions and plays that they have practiced perfectly but they don’t have something we’ve got, they really can’t improvise very well. On the other hand, all we do is improvise. So, my solutions is that we play to our strengths and practice on our weaknesses,” he stated. He listened intrigued by Amy’s suggestion, “That’s brilliant! We’ll do it first thing tomorrow,” he enthused. Then smiling kindly as blush rose into her cheeks he couldn’t help but swell with pride inside a wee bit. “Well, honestly you smell better than he does so… he doesn’t really stand a chance,” he joked light heartedly.

“It’s not only me. Kevin does too, but he… he has a habit of being sadomasochistic, sometimes he likes to inflict pain on others and sometimes he likes to receive pain, usually pain in which he’s started himself,” he explained trying to sound all intellectual, “Look, Kevin was a jerk and you don’t deserve that kind of treatment, and neither does my sister but there’s nothing I can do about it. It think there’s some law against locking your sister in her room, sibling abuse?” he added jokingly. As Amy spoke he listened quietly, resting his chin on one hand. “Don’t think like that,” he shook his head, “You and Kevin were,” it was difficult for him to say it, what he had felt while they were together, the jealousy had almost been unbearable, “You were good together,” he admitted looking down at his book.

That’s what he couldn’t figure out. They were good together. Like Romeo and Juliet, opposites attract, the good girl and the bad boy, that’s what had bothered him so, and he couldn’t understand why Kevin had done that to her, and with his sister no less. Under different circumstances Caleb might have been fine with Kevin dating his sister, but not this way. Sure Kevin could be a right arse but Caleb knew he was just misunderstood… at least that’s how he used to feel. A small smile played at the edges of his mouth as he reminisced. He was quickly brought back to the present with her words, “Yeah but then you never would have had the chance to see the Graham family tent of awesomely epic proportions,” he said good naturedly, “And mum would have been sad not to have you there, you know how she gets bored at those things,” he said of the Quidditch game, trying to lighten the mood again and not really knowing what to say to her. He understood, and was a good listener, but not very good about talking about his feelings.

“Well then keep your wants to yourself,” he teased smiling at her again. His smile grew as she giggled, god how he missed that sound. “Yep,” he nodded as if this were a serious topic.

((ooc: Thanks Emma! I needed to make someone Chace Crawford and so I decided that maybe if I made him Caleb I would stop changing Caleb's actor/appearance, hehe. Again this is incredibly long sorry, Caleb likes to waffle.))

[Amy Weatherson]

"No 'buts' mister!" Amy protested quickly with what she intended to be a stern 'mothering' look but merely came across as cutely pleading. Well, she didn't do 'firm' or 'stern' very well, those feelings weren't in her repertoire. "Good, yes, just for tonight-" she agreed with a pleased smile, "-and maybe then rest tomorrow too?" she then added in a quiet, hopeful request after a moment of silence. "It's not your fault, Caleb," she said, taken aback by him truly thinking like that. Shaking her head she pointed out, "Ollie was Captain for three years, he had time to get to know everyone and to mould the team into how he wanted us to be. You only became Captain this year, you have to remember that. Plus... you got chosen to be Captain because... well Oliver wanted you to be Captain and he discreetly asked us all if we thought you were up to it. I'll give you an insight here, Caleb, we all said 'yes, of course he's up to it, as if you even need to ask!'. So stop with the self-doubt because it's simply not true," she said with a fond smile over at him. She didn't care that had been an entirely rhetorical question, he needed to be told such things in certain terms so they he didn't continue to doubt himself and his abilities as a Captain.

"I think you're right, of course you are.." she trailed off thoughtfully, her eyes momentarily far away as she considered previous matches where they'd faced Ravenclaw. Nodding slowly she came back to the present and looked to Caleb seriously, "Yes, whenever we've broken through a line of their strong defence they buckled, they're so used to perfectly executing a play that when they don't they are almost taken aback by it and can't correct it as fast as they need to," she agreed in an excited hushed whisper as she leaned further across the table while talking to Caleb, almost as if she expected a member of the Ravenclaw team to be listening behind a bookshelf. "Really? Great!" she enthused with a bright smile, the blush only deepening even more as Caleb complimented her and then said she smelled better than Tom did. "That's not much contest though, he smells of... boy..." she trailed off jokingly, scrunching her nose up cutely in distaste before grinning knowingly at Caleb, her blush retreating a tad but still colouring her cheeks.

Amy shook her head quickly in disagreement, "I know he's a bit... like that... I always knew that, maybe I was just one of those idiotic girls people roll their eyes at, you know the type? Those girls that think 'oh he'll change for me, I'll soften him, make him a better and nicer person'?..." she trailed off despairingly and bit her lip. "I don't think he's a jerk, that's the worst thing, he hurt me but... I shouldn't have expected anything more or less or different from him, Kevin's Kevin. And yeah, there is law against that, basic human decency," she managed to joke weakly before smiling sadly as Caleb claimed her and Kevin were 'good together'. "No we weren't, we sure as heck weren't the ultimate golden couple. Sure, we were proof of 'opposites attract' apparently but... between you and me I'm now not quite sure how true that idea really is," she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Alright, admittedly I would hate to have missed that," Amy said, genuinely this time, and smiled as he talked of his mum, "I really enjoyed talking to your mum, she's lovely, Caleb, really she was so sweet and lovely to me." Truly she had enjoyed her time with Caleb's mum, the lack of a mothering figure in her life meant that she was sadly lacking the kind of person who she could turn to for advice, who she could be 'girly' with and who could just be there being mothering and caring of her. She thought she'd dearly missed out on something even though she'd never admit it aloud. Brightening then she giggled at his teasing, "No, I shan't!" she said in a jokingly childish manner, sticking her tongue out playfully at him.

((ooc: Nah, I love Caleb and his apparent 'waffling'!))