OUT WITH IT [TAG: RAWIRI]

[NATHANIEL ZIMMER]

"You're slow on your feet today Master Tibble." Nathaniel noted as the other man recoiled from a gently aimed confringo spell that had been aimed his way by the taller ex charms professor. "Very unlike you." And Nathaniel ought to know. The shack had become their training ground for the last month or so. It seemed that Rawiri had taken an interest in practicing spellings, particularly in the form of dueling, for the last thirty something days. Normally Nathaniel would be suspicious of the man wanting to focus his effort into anything but Quidditch and hooking up (was that what the youths called it?) but really he loved passing on knowledge and dueling so he wouldn't have declined. Besides, he liked having the company. As an auror it was nice to have someone more light hearted that wasn't in the muck of it... then again, Rawiri seemed a little more 'grounded' nowadays. Once again, this also seemed to coincide with their Hogwarts Quidditch pitch visit. Interesting...

"It would lead those who know you well to wonder what's going on in that noggin of yours." Once again, unfortunately, Nathaniel was one of these people having years on the other. "All of this interest in spells all of a sudden. Not that I mind, I do love feeding one's brain, however I didn't see this interest at school at least until a month ago..." He knew very well what he was opening the doors to. But did Rawiri? "Lateness to appointments... I also can't help but notice you and your usual nighttime gallivants have managed to stay out of the paper that is until recently." Walking past an old dusty table he held up a copy of the Daily Prophet with an image of Rawiri and Leah on one such late night outing.  

"Expulso." Nathaniel pointed his wand at a nearby crate that could have been a place for Rawiri to hide behind and avoid his line of questioning. The wooden box promptly exploded into a number of pieces. Calmly, Nathaniel pocketed his wand not at all nervous around his friend and old student even if he was magically gifted. "I thought I had explained time and time again why Miss Silvias must remain at Hogwarts. I believe I also explained that you ought to be a gentleman.. So now I must ask myself why would a gentleman insist on breaking out his adversary other than to intentionally put her at risk?" Studying him closely he sighed, moving on with his words. He lowered his voice, more gentle now. "Or... is there something else?"

TAG: RAWIRI TIBBLE /NOTES: Thread = Delivered! Don't have to ask me twice

[RAWIRI TIBBLE]

Rawiri huffed at Nathaniel and placed his hands on his hip, and walked around. "Let's try again." He then put his hands on his head, rubbing it in frustration. Rawiri wasn't frustrated with how he was training but with other thoughts on his mind, not just thoughts about her.

When Nathaniel mentioned what was going on in his brain, he became defensive. "Nothing, nothing." He walked back to his spot. "Just frustrated that I can't get this spell, that's all." Rawiri, you a lousy lair.

Oh crap. How did they get caught? He thought going to the muggle world was going to be safe for them to go to. Well, now he knew that nowhere was safe from the media.

Rawiri jumped at Nathaniel's spell, hitting the box near him. "Listen, Nathaniel." He said, putting his hand out. "She needed to get out of there!" Rawiri could see she was in pain and needed more than just sitting at good old Hogwarts, which was not healthy for her. "You guys have her locked up like a caged bird. How can anyone heal like that, tell me?" He placed one hand on his hip, trying to defend Leah, something he would have never done in the best.

Nathaniel knew him too well when he asked if there was something else. "Ah." He took a seat next to the closest create. "I don't, Nathaniel. I feel something I've never felt before...about..." He shook his body, trying to get it out. "Silvias." He did not want to admit it, but after that night, he started feeling more for her. Rawiri had seen her in a completely different light than before.

@nathaniel ,// Notes:

[NATHANIEL ZIMMER]

"You're a talented spellcaster, a good Quidditch player, Mister Tibble, and dare I say it, an excellent coach, what you are not is a decent liar." Nathaniel watched with a raised brow as his once student began to pace back and forth, ruffling his air, rubbing his neck. It was as if the man was going through some sort of withdrawal. But Nathaniel knew better. This wasn't the sort of withdrawal most Quidditch players went through when they were addicted to whatever their substance of choice was. This was something different, and golly, was Nathaniel going to get to the bottom of it.

"What she needs is to stay at Hogwarts where we have put her. Where others can't get to her. Do you have any idea how many muggleborn players we've had to move this last summer? How many have died? Surely even with that blasted attitude of yours, acting like everything's a giant party, you do." Growing increasingly frustrated Nathaniel pointed his finger at him, deadly serious. "The party is over Master Tibble. It's time to grow up. Step one on that journey is not to lie to someone who is trying to help you. The both of you." He was not to be messed with. Rarely did he look this intimidating. It was like Rawiri was back in sixth year having mouthed off little jokes one too many times in his Charms class. He would be wise not to press things further especially with lives potentially on the line. Safety of those he cared about was something Nathaniel took very seriously.

And then Rawiri spilled... somewhat. Word vomit. "Pardon?" Though Nathaniel had known something was up he hadn't expected... that. "Uh..." The auror was stunned. "You... feel something." He felt something? "For Leah Silvias?" Nathaniel didn't even know where to start. "Like... contempt, comradery, bitterness? What? What is it-" It was then the taller man looked down at Rawiri seated on the crate and it sunk in. "Oh." His eyes widened and he blinked, trying to find the words. "Oh dear." Oh dear indeed. With a heavy sigh he sat down on the crate next to him.

"And how do we feel about how we, uh, feel about... them?" This felt so weird to be talking about with him. It almost felt like a prank. "Perhaps it would help things if you refer to her by her first name." Nathaniel gave him a weak look, leaning forward from where he sat trying to get in the man's ashamed eyesight. "Just a thought."

[RAWIRI TIBBLE]

Rawiri gulped when Nate said he wasn't a good liar, and he knew Nate had caught him, and it wasn't a good thing. Now here came the scolding of his lifetime by his former professor.

"I understand, Nathaniel, but it's not what she needs. You can't keep her locked up like a bird forever!" Rawiri didn't want to hear it, and he knew deep down what Leah needed, and it wasn't to be locked up in a room.

"Oh, don't you dare go there with me, Nathaniel. I don't think this is a big party at all. " For once in his life, Rawiri was quite serious. He knew there were scary things in the world they lived in, but you could not keep a person hidden from them. "You can't let her live in fear, which is unhealthy for her!" He looked down, taking a deep breath from his anger. "I know... it scares me, but I think it's killing her by keeping her locked up. You are only teaching her to fear being out there and to fear the monsters more. It probably makes her feel like she has no power." He brushed his hand through his hair. How was he such a mess over Leah?

"I know you think I need to grow up, Nathaniel, but for once in my life, I am being very serious." He was standing his ground. He knew that people saw him as a giant kid, but at times Rawiri knew when to act serious.

"Ah," Rawiri looked to the side, embarrassed that he was admitting to someone that out of all the people in the world, Rawiri Tibble was falling in love with Leah Silvias. Rawiri covered his face as Nathaniel went on about what he felt and did not get it at first. He uncovered his face and placed his hands on his lap. "Well, you know that feeling of a pit in your stomach when you look at a woman out of your league?" He turned his head to face Nate. "That's the feeling." He placed his hand over his stomach and then looked off to the side.

Rawiri smiled when Nate told him he should start by calling her, Leah. "It's just an old habit, plus sometimes I think she likes when I call her Silvias." Of course, Rawirir had to make a little joke to get to what he was admitting to Nate.

@nathaniel ,// Notes:

[NATHANIEL ZIMMER]

"Pardon?" Did he really just snap and say 'don't he dare'? That was bold, even for Rawiri. Rawiri tended to mouth off to most people in his life, usually for a laugh, but words out of anger were reserved for bullies and Quidditch players who tried to shove him off his broom. Nathaniel being challenged? This was a first! Clearly he had touched a nerve and Rawiri's reaction to touching said nerve was very telling.

Now he was saying he was scared? He could count on his one hand the number of times Rawiri had confessed such a thing. One. This time. Nathaniel made a note to not push too hard, not that he ever could, and that he should tread lightly here or risk scaring the man off, or worse yet - lose his trust that he had gained over the years. "I know that Master Tibble." He offered gently, sincerely meaning it. "I have seen you grow up and grow older over the years and though I sometimes see you as the same bits in the front row of my class I have to remind myself that things are different now... Sort of." There his former student was, running his hand through his unruly curls messing them up further. A nervous habit the young man had since his youth. Nathaniel knew it well but this time it wasn't because he was grilling him for answers on the board or about his Charms homework.

Rawiri did well to try and hide his face from Nathaniel, who now sat across from him on the crate.  "Yes. I do." He probably knew that feeling better than most. He had his heartbroken while he pined away almost every day. Today in fact. Unrelated and not what they were discussing now however. He folded his hands in front of him with a heavy sigh, he too trying to work through what he had just learned. What apparently they both had learned.

"It feels odd but it's not all together unpleasant, is it? Nathaniel smiled at his old student weakly. "So what are we going to do about this little newfound development?" He gently offered unable to quite shake the teacher cap that he often wore especially when in the company of Rawiri, Sally, Ferrricus, and Leah. Little? More like huge. Massive, really. He didn't want to pull Rawiri's strings too much or he would flee. This was all new, exciting, scary - wrapped into one precocious personality filled man. Best to let him experience it on his own terms with some light guidance.

"Do we think, perhaps, that she may feel the same way?"

[RAWIRI TIBBLE]

The room's heat seemed to simmer when Rawiri expressed his feelings to Nate. To Rawiri, this was all new to him, the whole real feelings for someone, and Rawiri had never developed any true feelings for anyone he dated. People would come and go, and that's how things were, no strings attached, but his world had changed when it came to Leah. He thought of her almost daily; little things would remind him of her.

In all this time, if anyone told him, he would start to fall in love with Leah. He would tell them they were insane, but now it was a different story.

"Glad I am not alone in that feeling." A soft chuckle came to form his lip, trying to lighten the mood for both of them. "Oh, I don't know. It felt good, but it also feels like torture." He sighed as his chest tightened up, thinking of her.

"Well, the plan.. the plan is.." He kept pausing, unsure what the feel plan was. "Oh, I don't know." he stood up again, ruing his fingers down his curls nervously.

Rawiri let out a laugh about her feeling the same way as him. "Leah feels the same way? No way and she hates my guts." After all, those years of rivalry, was she going to be into him? "Why she even went out with me boggles my mind still." A sigh came from him.

@nathaniel ,// Notes:

[NATHANIEL ZIMMER]

"No. Not alone at all." The auror chuckled softly. "That is probably one of the better explanations that I have heard for it in recent years." Good and like torture. That particular descriptor resonated with Nathaniel who knew all too well how to love hard and lose all in an instant or to love but not have it known by the other party. Hopefully, Rawiri, young as he was, could lead his life differently than he had. Perhaps he could love and be lucky enough to be loved in return. Nathaniel would see to it. No one should end up like he was: all work and alone in the world.

No plan. With Rawiri he probably should have assumed as much. Even as a boy he was more of the fly by the seat of your pants (sometimes quite literally) and ask questions later sort. Though Nathaniel as an educator had often lectured him and even tried to steer him he certainly couldn't fault him for it. That energy and pizazz was an enviable thing as much as it could be a nuisance at times that called for a more reserved nature.

"Perhaps the first step ought to be to stop pacing..." He offered lightly with a knowing small smile pushing down the second chuckle that wanted to emit as Rawiri ran his fingers through his hair for the dozenth time in five minutes.

"Forgive me Mister Tibble but, and I hope that you'll allow me this as someone who has seen you grow up, but I can't help but wonder how you can possibly make the deduction if you have not told her." Merlin, he hoped this more serious conversation and topic pushback wouldn't result in Rawiri getting cold feed and running off. That maybe, for once, he would stand there and listen without mouthing off, making a joke, or letting it go in one ear and out the other. "Again, I may be overstepping, but I don't make a habit of stepping out with people I am not fond of on my own personal time and I don't think Miss Silvias does either." His expression turned a bit more serious as he knew what he was talking about. "You know as well as I that that woman doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do. Nor do you." And yet, here they found themselves. Oil and water mixing together - or at least wanting to.

His hazel eyes lingering on the man for a moment or two, Nathaniel made up his mind and turned, pulling his glasses from his shirt pocket and putting them on. "Come, come." He beckoned, facing one of the old walls of their little hideout. Pulling out his wand with a series of flicks and swishes he began to write on the wall with a chalk like consistency. He wouldn't leave it of course. A simple swish would erase it all before their departure. "Step one - Try her first name." He wrote the step on the wall. The auror was never not a teacher. Some things, like trauma, you couldn't shake. "Step two..." He looked to Rawiri awaiting what his response might be, wand hovering in the air aimed at the wall.

TAG: RAWIRI TIBBLE