Crossing Paths (Isobel)

[Trent Innes]

12 September, 2005

Trent was in between classes, with just enough time to avoid being stuck inside but not enough to make the walk down to the grounds worthwhile. He had ended up in the drawbridge corridor between the castle towers, where the open air and the view beyond the stone walls offered a little more breathing room than the corridors inside the castle.

He leaned against the stonework, looking out toward the lake and the distant hills beyond it rather than paying much attention to the students passing through behind him. Trent had always preferred being outside whenever he could, even if only for a few minutes between classes. Eventually, he shifted his gaze back toward the corridor.

That was when he saw her.

Isobel was approaching from the opposite end, moving with the steady flow of students making their way between classes. They had met just over a week ago and hadn’t spoken since. He had seen her a few times in the days that followed—once across the Great Hall, once passing through a crowded corridor—but always at a distance, always occupied with something else.

Trent wasn’t even sure she had noticed him during those moments. There had been no reason to seek her out or try to get her attention. She had been pleasant company, easy to talk to, and someone he had enjoyed meeting. That was all it needed to be.

Still, he didn’t turn back toward the view.

[Isobel Evans]

Class ended and Isobel made her way out of the classroom with a group of students. A couple of her friends by her side as she discussed the homework assignment. She let out a sigh and nodded at one of them before her eyes caught sight of him. Her heart leapt into her throat and she almost stopped mid walk. Trent, the boy who had helped her sneak out and back into the castle after she had been torn out of sleep from a cry outside. The thrill of it coursed through her veins once more and she felt her body almost vibrate with excitement.

They hadn't spoke since that day, she hadn't wanted to for fear of word vomiting something stupid. It was easier to avoid him and not deal with the feelings that had bubbled up from it. She had never had interest in a boy before, especially not one with such a 'reputation.' However, she took people's known reputations with a grain of salt. Rumors didn't constitute the genuine character of a person.

As they approached, her mind snapped back to the moments she had seen him looking at her. Across the great hall, a crowded corridor...she always made it a point to not notice him. She averted her eyes and instantly found interest in something else. Her heart always betrayed her mind. It would beat faster, skip a few and pull towards him even as she would turn to go a different way. She didn't know how to deal with the things she felt when she looked at him. Studies came first but somehow this particular boy had found a place in her heart. Friendship, perhaps, but then why did her heart do somersaults whenever she was near him?

A few steps away and their eyes locked. She could feel her heart almost stop as his eyes meet hers. He looked absolutely stoically handsome. She felt hands go clammy as she now stood mere inches from you. She muttered something in her head or at least she thought it had been. "So Handsome...." It almost echoed off the walls as she stopped. Her eyes went wide and she groaned. "I mean....Hi."

[Trent Innes]

Trent heard it, of course, but gave Isobel the courtesy of not acknowledging it. He wasn’t going to make her repeat herself or draw attention to her slip, though he couldn’t quite stop the small smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was flattered, particularly coming from a girl he’d already found himself drawn to, but more than that, he found her reaction cute. The way she blurted things out before apparently realizing what she’d said, only to become embarrassed moments later, was difficult not to find amusing.

His gaze lingered on her for a moment, taking her in now that they were standing face-to-face again. The last time he’d seen her this close, she’d been in her pyjamas, fresh from being startled awake by the cry outside. Now she was dressed in her Gryffindor uniform, looking much more like the girl he’d been catching glimpses of around the castle all week.

“Hi, Isobel.” Trent composed his expression again, though a trace of the smile lingered at the corner of his mouth and there was still a lightness in his eyes. He could have asked how she’d been since they last spoke, but that felt oddly personal considering they weren’t really friends. Instead, he went with something familiar, a cheeky callback to their first and only meeting. “Hear any more cries in the night?”