| Details for Mending the Rift |
| Summary: | Leander and Ripley finally have a conversation about the past few weeks. |
| Date: | October 12, 1937 |
| Location: | Grassy Knolls |
| Related: | Promises |
| Characters |
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Grassy Knolls Hogwarts
It is a fall night. The weather is cool and raining.
The Hogwarts Campus grounds are expansive and just how much so becomes very clear in this area where grassy knolls spread out for over a square mile. Just vibrant green groomed grass densely covers the small hillocks and spans of flat areas. When the weather is right many a picnic blanket - often sporting House Colors - can be found spread out here and there for picnics, studying, socializing or simply rest and relaxation watching the sky above.
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Ripley is sitting out at the knolls and is looking towards the Quidditch pitch. The rain is falling lightly and he's pretty soaked at the moment.
Leander is walking in this direction at a slow pace from the direction of the green houses. He's got on a thick cloak outside of his robes that's been charmed to be rain-repellant, so at the moment he's not suffering unduly. The Sixth Year notes his brother as soon as he clears one of the hills, and after stopping warily for a moment, eventually continues heading in the same direction.
Ripley reaches up and brushes the hair out of his face and some of the water as well. He looks to the sky for a bit and shakes his head as he then looks to the Quidditch pitch. He gives a mighty shake of his head for fun, throwing water and his hair all over his head.
Leander has his hood up, and his face is covered in shadows as he approaches his twin. He glances down, sees a stick, and purposefully steps on it to make a loud -snap-. After enough time has passed for Ripley to locate him, he raises a hand to his brother and offers a meek smile. "Rip. Thanks for showing up to the duel."
Ripley turns his head to look at the where the snap came from. He sees his brother and watches as he comes up closer. A bit of a nod to him, "Welcome." He says, "So… You make a vow with someone to get Lucian to talk like that about you? Or do you have something on him?" He asks bluntly.
"Proudmore's just trying to help me out," Leander says, slightly uneasily. He shifts on his feet and frowns. "I made a mistake with the vow, Ripley. You're right, I shouldn't have had so little faith in you. I just… wanted to protect you, like you're always doing for me." He glances up at the stormy sky and pulls his hood down. "I'll try to fix it, somehow."
Ripley looks to Leander, "Can't fix it. Ria is with Lucian. Pretty done deal. Lucian got all he wanted. You got all you wanted. Ria got all she wanted. I'm left out in the rain." He looks up and chuckles, "I try my best to make Slytherin a place where people don't think we are all a bunch of backstabbers."
Ever the pragmatist, Leander shakes his head slowly. "We're only in Sixth Year, Rip. Anything can be undone. You always think in such an… in-the-moment sort of way." He frowns, and reaches up to undo the silver clasp on his cloak. Then he steps forward and quickly lays it over his twin's shoulders. "You're going to put yourself in the infirmary."
Ripley looks to the cloak and then up to his brother, "Thanks." He says and looks back to the Quidditch pitch. "I just want to be remembered. Remembered for being great. I don't want the easy path, Lea… I just want the path that I make and not what others make. Taken me a lot of thought to come to this… But it is what I want."
"You will be. You're a Fox," Leander says simply, his lips curling into a slight grin. He looks down at the wet ground skeptically for a few seconds, then sits down next to his twin. "Sorry, Rip. You're a better brother than I deserve, really." In an child-like manner, the Slytherin boy pulls up a handful of grass and then lets the wet blades fall from his fingers. "So what's your plan?"
Ripley lifts a brow to this and looks towards Lea, "Never heard you say something like that before." He looks a little puzzled, "I might ask what you want." Still, he shakes his head and thinks, "My plan? I don't have one yet…"
Leander arches a brow in return, mirroring Ripley's expression without realizing it. His voice is as matter-of-fact as always when he speaks, though. "Never had a reason to, before. My recent string of rash actions and misjudgments has to be factored into any such considerations." In other words, he's not being sentimental, just stating what he perceives as fact. "I don't want anything." He doesn't seem at all offended by the suggestion, anyway, though he looks mildly scornful at his twin's admission. "You should have a plan."
Ripley looks to Leander, "What all have you done? I want the whole list, honestly." He looks to Leander, "You want to be brothers, you be honest with me. Now."
"You know about just about all of it now, Rip," Leander says. "And some of it I can't tell you because of the vow." He reaches up, running a set of fingers through his hair to brush the quickly-collecting droplets of water off. He looks slightly hesitant, but the expression is suppressed by a shiver.
Ripley looks at Leander, "Break the vow." Ripley says and looks at his brother. "Don't want anything out there with me in it that I didn't do. Break it."
Leander stares at his brother, his dark eyes narrowing a bit. "Ripley - did Sykes - I assume that's where you learned of this - tell you it was an /Unbreakable Vow/?" He glances ahead towards the pitch, wrapping his shoulders around his knees. "If I break it, I'll die. I need to figure out how to make Sykes… renege on her part of the bargain, since I made the vow, not her. That's the only way."
"She told me, yes." Ripley looks to Leander, "What do you have in it? Nothing. All it is was to keep Ria away from me." He then thinks a moment, "Wait. Who made the vow?"
"I did," Leander states simply. He's thinking to himself now, so his voice is lower and his gaze has grown more distant as he stares off into the distance. After a while he turns his eyes from the pitch to the stormy sky.
"Doesn't someone have to hold the vow? Do the spell? Someone not in the vow…" Ripley says to Leander.
Leander continues staring ahead for a short while, then sighs. "Lucian." He looks over to Ripley and holds up a hand in a halting gesture. "But it wasn't his idea. I elected him."
Ripley takes in a deep breath and his cheeks get really red, "So you go to the man that wants Ria… To get Ria to not see me…" He takes in a really deep breath now, "And now… He's telling all the school that you are the guy for spells…" He places his head in his hands.
"It shouldn't surprise you that he'd be grateful, Rip. And at the time…" Leander frowns, looking away again. "At the time, I thought that if he wanted Ria, let him have her. He's not my brother, so I didn't care if he wanted to pursue someone who'd end up hurting him." His shoulders rise in a shrug and he tears out another handful of grass. "You going to hit me again, then?"
"You do realize that things were fine until you did this so that it wouldn't hurt me, right? That you caused the hurt that I wasn't supposed to have…" Ripley looks at him and stares.
"Yes," Leander says, his grave expression falling. "That was one of my misjudgments. First, by the time I realized how much you liked Sykes, it was too late. I've seen you charm plenty of girls, Rip… maybe even /like/ them for a bit, like Romeo and Rosaline in the beginning of that Muggle play, but never fall for one. Second, I didn't expect Sykes to keep leading you on after…" He scowls, then shakes his head.
Ripley sighs a deep sigh, "Leander, talk to me before you do anything so monumentally stupid again. Anything about me, you talk to me first. Merlin's hat."
Slowly, Leander nods. "Okay." There's just a flash of resentment in the boy's dark eyes for being called 'stupid', but he quashes it quickly. "If it makes you feel any better, things between Lois and I are probably over now, as well. I'll try talking to her, but she has no reason to listen."
Ripley allows another deep breath, "I'd say that I was sorry but I am having a hard time with that…" He then sighs and shakes his head, "I am sorry, Lea. I am…"
"Don't apologize. It's primarily a consequence of my actions, not yours." Leander shivers again, then stands. He shakes rain out of his hair and then wraps his arms around his torso. "Anyway, it seems like a fitting judgment. I messed up your first real romance, and as a result, the girl I've been in love with for five years thinks I'm a villain." In a very un-Leander like way, he suddenly smiles… then /laughs/. It's one of those slightly crazy laughs that's caused by too much stress and emotional torment. Suddenly, he snaps back to his normal facade. "I'm heading back. Don't stay out here too long, Rip."
Ripley knows that laugh and he looks to his brother, "Okay." As he watches the other boy and then stands, "Take your cloak, Lea." As he pulls it out from around him and holds it out, "Here…"
"Nah. Keep it, Rip. I'm serious about you catching ill out here." Leander produces a much-less-crazy smile, then nods to his brother. "Thanks for talking." Before his twin can give him the cloak back, he starts off towards the castle, walking quickly to warm himself up.
Ripley looks to the cloak and wraps it back around him. He looks after Leander a bit and then turns to look back towards the Quidditch pitch.