Susan returns to Hogwarts (Open RP with closed bits in)

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

Well, the school had clearly not caught fire or blown up in her absence. Susan permitted herself just the tiniest tinge of unseemly regret at this fact and then, choosing to be entirely inconspicuous, she made her way to the room she shared with Emma.

Her roommate wasn't in when she arrived, for which Susan was sorry; she found, to her surprise, that she'd rather missed Emma, who'd been inexplicably absent in the weeks before Susan's own holiday in any case. She unpacked her new clothes, put her books back on the shelf, and sighed.

Well. Nothing for it. I'm back. Might as well get my mail and find out from Stephen what's been going on.

She took a deep breath and, fighting the urge to stay invisible, made her way to the Potions office.

((Anyone who wants to should feel free to interact with Susan as she heads down to Maturin's office. She will not read her mail until after she gets it from him.))

Comments

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." She sighed and ruffled the edges of the parchments in her hand. "I should probably try to at least address said troubles soon; putting it off won't make them go away any faster. Once again, thank you for holding my mail and letting me occupy your time." She smiled. "Do take care of yourself, won't you?"

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen managed a smile in answer, but not a particularly convincing one. "Rest assured I will. I do hope the same is possible for you."

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"I'll try." She rose. "I'll keep on the lookout for Miss Williams. Do let me know if there's anything else I can do for you."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen nodded. He was already regretting having said anything. It was very unlike him, which was all the more reason to flip out suspect something amiss. "Should your recent correspondence occasion something untoward, you know I am at your service."

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." She wavered, hand on the doorknob, not at all happy with the expression on his face. Impulsively, she half-knelt beside his chair and gave him a hug, much as if he were one of her young charges. "Please look after yourself." She stood, mildly embarrassed at what, for her, nearly amounted to an outburst. "I, er. "

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen, taken a bit by surprise, returned the hug distractedly. When she stood, he said, in a low voice, "You know I worry for you as well, though I do not say much about it. Have a care with Teatime, my dear."

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

Susan nodded, and blinked back a faint prickling at the corners of her eyes. "I promise I shall. I --" Know what I'm doing? Feel better about what I'm doing? Am being more honest with myself about what I'm doing? None of those really seemed to suffice. "I shall," she said again. She went to the door. "I'll see you soon. Give my love to River."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"I will," promised Stephen. "She will be glad to hear you have had a safe return. And certainly we will make a point of seeing you soon." He had not yet been reduced to the wild goose chase (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/575906.html?#cutid2) he would soon be undertaking, though all signs pointed to some such endeavor's inevitability. "Would you lock the door behind you, now? I should not like to have any visitors at present."

[sensiblesusan.livejournal.com]

"Of course. Have a good afternoon, Stephen."

She exited and locked the office door. She paused in the hallway, hesitating, and cast an anxious glance towards the door. No. Stephen was somewhere she could not quite follow; and she had worries enough of her own. She hoped, again, that he would be all right, and with a deep breath, returned to her room, to write some letters.