Double Trouble (Sinead)

Things with Sinead had been awkward and strained after what had happened in the library, but Humphrey was determined to work through it. She was his best friend, and in the end that was all that really mattered. However, the only thing they'd really talked about since that day was planning the double date after they'd asked Danny and Dakota and gotten them to agree to it. Now the day of the double date had finally rolled around and Humphrey grabbed the ice skates he'd asked his parents to send him. The lake had frozen over and they had decided to go out and enjoy it, and once they'd had their fun outside come back in and go to the kitchens to get some snacks. Seemed like the perfect plan, he only hoped that things would start feeling more normal between him and his best friend.

Cheered at the prospect of a date with Dakota, though, Humphrey found himself smiling as he made his way down from Ravenclaw tower and out onto the grounds. There was a couple inches of snow on the ground, which made the always beautiful school even more lovely in his opinion. Before he knew it he was at the lake and he took a seat under his favorite tree while he waited for everybody else to arrive. He'd left a little early so he could be the first one there, simply too excited to stay inside waiting when he could be enjoying the cold but lovely day. Humphrey had bundled up warmly enough that he hardly felt the cold bite of the wind, and he was quite at home while he waited.

Sinead wasn't going to lie; the main reason she had accidentally forgotten to ask her mom for her skates was because it was the perfect excuse. If Sinead didn't have skates, she could ditch Danny and Dakota and Humphrey. That was more than perfect, Sinead thought. She hadn't even wanted to come on this date in the first place. It was so ridiculous. What were they going to do? Just skate around and all? Boring. Of course she just agreed to come because Humphrey was her best friend and if Dakota thought she could pull a git move on him and be a jerk, she was so wrong. Well, Dakota was wrong from every angle but this was serious business. Nobody would hurt Humphrey's heart. Sinead knew the boy was a softie, he looked like a marshmallow and was actually a marshmallow. Dakota could snap her fingers in a second and his heart would be shattered immediately. She didn't even have to touch him.

Her brow furrowed with mild anger, already figuring out which spell she could use on the Slytherin, Sinead walked over to the frozen lake. She was covered from head to toe. Maybe exaggeratedly so. She was wearing tights, socks, jeans, a thermal shirt, a jumper, a and a coat. Not to mention the Ravenclaw scarf, wool hat and indigo gloves. In the distance she could see Humphrey already waiting, his skates hung over his shoulder. Rolling her eyes at how excited her looked from afar, Sinead slid her hands into the pockets of her black coat.
With the weather as cold as it was and the lack of sunshine, Sinead's skin tone had faded from light beige to pale white. Well, minus the blood red coloring of her cheeks.

In a few beats she had arrived, found her natural spot next to Humphrey and looked at teqhe lake. They hadn't spoken since the library thing, at least not like they used to. Letting out a long, dramatic sigh, Sinead turned to the blond boy. "Good day, Humphrey." She probably said it in a more pompous way than she should have, but Sinead's number one vice was pride. Humphrey had offended her and she was not going to forget it any time soon. Before he could comment on why she wasn't carrying her skates, Sinead answered the question he was most likely thinking. Because it was Humphrey. "I - uh - forgot to tell my mom about the skates and when I did she couldn't send them." She didn't have to be elaborate, she was sure he would understand. Whether or not he could tell it had been on purpose was out of Sinead's knowledge.

When Humphrey spotted a bundled-up Sinead making her way down to the lake he had to admit he was a little relieved. Things had been awkward between them since she'd slapped him, and it killed him but he just didn't know what to do to make things better. The main reason he had wanted to stay at Hogwarts was to make things less weird between them, but somehow he'd made it worse. He'd written to his sister and explained what was going on, in hopes she might be able to help him since she was a girl and talking to mom about it felt kind of weird. She'd written back, but had told him he was in dire need of a cooties shot to get back to normal. Also that once he was feeling better he'd realize what a git he'd been acting like, and find a way to make up with Sinead. Seeing that even Casey thought he was being a git had made him realize that he really did need to start doing better, in addition to hurting a little. He shook his head a little to clear out the bad thoughts, and tried to think about how fun it could be today. Pretty soon his excitement started to return, his smile back in place.

Before he knew it Sinead had found the spot next to him under the tree, and it was then he noticed that she wasn't carrying skates with her. Humphrey had thought she would, but maybe she just wanted to watch instead of skate. A few moments later, a realization hit him. Maybe she just doesn't want to be here. If that's the case though, why wouldn't she just tell me? The thought had him frowning a little, even before the long sigh before she spoke. It was like it was hard for her to talk to him now, which definitely stung. "Hey, Sinead. Thanks for coming." he told her, because he was grateful she was there. Even with things strained between them, knowing his best friend would be here for his first date was a comfort. The explanation for the no skates was that she'd forgotten to write home about it, but he didn't really believe she'd forgotten. Their conversation in the library had been replaying over and over again in his head since, and he thought she must have thought about it at least a little. It wouldn't be fair to be mean to her about it, though. "That's alright. If you don't want to skate you don't have to." he said. There was an awkward pause before he spoke again. "I...I am sorry that I hurt your feelings the other day. Really didn't mean to..." Humphrey said nervously, not sure if she would forgive him or not. He knew deep down that she still deserved one, though, which was why he'd apologized. Ever since the library he hadn't even been sleeping well because of the worrying about it, and there were darker circles under his eyes than usual.

Noticing Humphrey's frown, Sinead playfully mocked his, forgetting for a second that she was indignant. Letting a small chuckle escape from her lips, Sinead turned to look at the lake again. There wasn't much to see, Sinead admitted. "Yeah. No problem." she said, a little colder. Sinead was probably the best at giving someone the cold shoulder, distancing herself from people, but she couldn't do that to Humphrey. Not completely. Insert awkwardness. Sinead had come to realize that she hated awkward moments, and all those usually came from Humphrey. She closed her eyes for a brief moment - almost for a heartbeat - and sincerely hoped Humphrey wouldn't bring up the slap.

"No, I do. I just...It slipped my mind. There's things I had to study for. she shrugged, a wavy strand of dark hair falling on her face. Sinead blew it aside, making a funny sound as she did so. It was a mix between a burp and a whisper, sending a small giggle to her lips. With another moment of the awkward flying about, Sinead turned to look even farther away from Humphrey, looking over to the castle. His apology made her eyes drop to the snow-covered ground. She wanted to say it wasn't a big deal, but the truth was that it was. She had pushed that problem to the back of her mind - for the most part - but Humphrey made her relive it all over again. "It's okay." But she was sure he knew it wasn't okay.

Sinead wasn't sure why she had lied. Part of her did it so Humphrey would stop talking about it. Another because she knew hurting her had hurt him as well and maybe saying it was okay would make him feel better. Another part of her did it because she didn't want to feel uncomfortable every time Humphrey was around. Taking a more casual tone, one that wasn't as cold as the one she had been using, Sinead looked at Humphrey. "I mean, it wasn't okay. But I slapped you, so I guess we're even." She had tried to make a joke, but it had failed terribly. All Sinead had was either sarcasm or really punny jokes. Chewing the inside of the cheek in concentration, Sinead thought about what she could say in return and truly mean. She wasn't going to apologize for slapping him. He deserved that. But maybe she could apologize for disliking Dakota. Except she couldn't because the Slytherin was a jerk.

Sinead didn't say anything for a while, her mind wandering off to the most uninteresting subjects. There were some students out at the lake by now, which made Sinead wonder how long they had been out. Surely just a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity to her. Looking back at the castle, the sun was higher up in the sky than before. Dakota and Danny should have arrived by now, but they were nowhere to be seen. The other students had already put on their skates and were spinning around or holding hands with their significant others. Shifting her weight, Sinead glanced at Humphrey again, her cheeks a vibrant red thanks to the weather. "You look tired." she pointed out, suddenly making the effort to pat his shoulder. "And I hate to tell you this...but I think we've been stood up." She wasn't even being sarcastic. She was sure Dakota and Danny had stood them up.

Even though Humphrey had reminded himself that Sinead would probably still be angry before he walked out to the lake it didn't stop the sting that came from hearing the cold tone in her voice. Instead of replying he merely nodded, not knowing what to say in response to that. Her opinion mattered more to him than anybody's, and he knew that she didn't think very much of him at the moment. The boy was well aware things were awkward between them, but it was difficult for him to be normal around her after all the craziness that had happened recently. Sometimes he wished that he could simply forget about it all to have some normalcy and goof off with his best friend again. Forgetting or ignoring what had happened wouldn't solve anything though. He knew that the only way to make things right was to talk it out, and hope that he hadn't been so much of an idiot that Sinead wouldn't forgive him. Humphrey knew that he wouldn't feel right again as long as there was this weird awkwardness between them.

When she said that she had thins to study for Humphrey decided not to press the matter, and laughed a little at the funny noise she ended up making. "Fair enough. Are you under attack by your hair?" he asked, still chuckling some. That was definitely an odd noise she'd made trying to get it out of the way. Humphrey felt himself relax a little bit though, after the both of them laughed. To his surprise she looked away when he apologized, and he was well aware it wasn't okay when she told him it was. He knew that she wouldn't have slapped him unless he had really offended her, which she had. Instead of responding to that, he waited for her to continue, hoping that she would open up and let him know how he could make things right. The feeling of awkwardness between them was evidence enough that things weren't okay.

Eventually Sinead did admit that it hadn't been okay, and when she mentioned the slap but tried to make a joke out of it he gave her a smile, appreciating the effort. She was looking back now, and he was grateful for it. After she said that he was highly tempted to hug her tightly, but wasn't sure if that would be okay. "It is nice to know that you can knock some sense into me when needed." he joked back, knowing it was bad. "Would it be alright if I hugged you?" Humphrey asked her hopefully. Personally, he thought that hugs always helped and hoped to one day convince Sinead of that fact. That was probably an uphill battle, but it wasn't something he would ever give up on. A part of him wanted to talk about this more, but a small voice inside told him this was probably enough for today. Things may not be normal yet between them but they were going in the right direction at least.

After that, Humphrey relaxed and simply enjoyed watching the other students skating on the lake. The silence didn't feel as awkward as it had before, and that alone made him feel a lot better. He noticed Sinead look up at the sun and then back at the castle, which caused him to wonder just how long they'd been out there already. Dakota and Danny probably should have already been there, but the optimist in him hoped that they might just be running late. Looking over at her when she commented on him looking tired, he simply nodded. "Haven't been sleeping well since our argument. Felt guilty." he told her honestly, and smiled a little when she patted his shoulder. When she said that they were probably stood up he sighed, hurt that Dakota wouldn't even send an owl or something to let him know. Maybe he had been wrong about her. "Yeah, I...I think you're right. Do you want to head back inside?" he asked.