Eyes were red, watered and battered from the constant barrage of emotion Rigel was feeling. Bleary eyed, made his way to the Hufflepuff dorms door and knocked. He didn’t quite think of how to summon the girl he so desperately wanted to be held by. Or even borrow her ear, well now it would be her eyes since he could no longer talk back. He put his right hand on the wall to help with his weight while he leaned, used his left to knock on the barrel with Hegla’s rhythm in mind.

He remembered a temporary ink spell. Oh. Useless he can’t even use his wand. Ah, he knew what to do, sign language. Granted he literally only knew the letter A. So he stood there. Upright and left hand clenched in BLA to signal the letter “A.”

The knock to the common room entrance had summoned a couple of younger years. It took them a while to figure out what the senior Slytherin had wanted. It really wasn't until Ayla's younger sister Dahlia had come across the commotion that things were sorted.

The lithe fifteen year old shooed the younger years away and regarded Rigel with an almost predatory grin, "well there's really only one reason you of all people would be standing outside our door." She gave him a wink, "I'll go get her."

She disappeared back inside and a few minutes later Ayla came out. Dressed in casual PJs, a tight fitting tank top and a pair of lounge pants, Ayla looked worried as she regarded the older boy.

"Hey." She spoke softly as she took in the sight of him, "Dahl said you were upset." She placed a hand on his upper arm, "Everything okay?"

He smiled at Dahlia’s wink, a charming sister who matched Ayla well. She had saved him from further embarrassment, which he nodded in appreciation.

Ayla appeared and with a soft voice she’d never dawned before. His eyes looked her over and he almost forgot the reason he came. With him trying to compliment her, the emotions and sting in the eyes came back.

All he could manage was a simple nod.

“No,” his lips signaled, he was unsure if his lips could be read or if Ayla could read his lips. Simple communication was already an adversity he’d need to figure out.

He took his right hand and grabbed his throat, pinched his Adam’s apple and just made a slight shrug. Rigel thought to himself how much of an idiot he must look like right now.

He mouthed a simple and obvious 'No' but there was no sound to accompany it. He then grabbed at his throat and shook his head in a gesture that oddly reminded Ayla of that scene in The Little Mermaid where Ariel tries to explain to Eric that she can't talk.

In any normal circumstance she would have assumed that he had laryngitis but they were wixes and things were rarely ever under 'normal circumstances'. She bit her lip as she looked him over again. She had never seen him this upset before. Granted she had only really started paying attention to him this year (being opposing Captains and all) but that was still enough time to know that he was rarely this shaken. She felt her cheeks heat up in a blush at the thought of her being the first person he came to while upset.

"Okay. So you can't talk." She stated simply, wracking her brain as to the best way to communicate with him, "was this an accident?" She left a pause for him to react, "or did someone do this to you?"

A Silencio charm may have done it, which should be easy enough for her to reverse. Although, if it was that simple, why wouldn't he have just removed it himself? He was older than her and presumably more advanced than her. If he couldn't reverse it, she might not have a chance either.

He nodded at her observation. So keen Ayla, he would’ve accompanied with a wink.

He shook his head no when questioned about it being an accident. Which brought his shame flooding back to him. Tears slowly fled down his cheek. Rigel felt his throat tighten. He leaned his back against the wall and slid to the floor. Propped his knees up and put his head in his hands.

He was nodding yes, someone did do this.

He took his hands and flattened his knees, put them up by his head and spread out his fingers. Almost trying to mime a reindeer, then he contorted his face into a growl and snarl scrunched up his fingers into a claw and swiped at the air.

Turned and faced her, moved his finger in the air and wrote “K” backwards.

Ayla went from easily understanding what he was trying to say to awkwardly having no clue. However she was overwhelmed by the sudden flood of emotions from the older student, "oh Holy Helga." She softly exclaimed as the tears flowed and all of a sudden he was on the floor with a flurry of motion trying to explain what happened.

She crouched down in front of him, "Sorry I-" she interrupted herself as a thought came to her, "hold on. I'll be right back." She wiped the tears from his cheeks and kissed his forehead before hurrying back inside the Hufflepuff common room.

A few minutes passed before she reemerged. Ayla sat down next to him and handed him a pink journal, explaining that it was enchanted so that only people she trusted would be able to see what was inside. She flipped past pages of personal thoughts and many, many recipes (all visible, inadvertently admitting she trusted him with her personal thoughts) before finding a blank page and handing him a quill.

"I kind of suck at charades. This will be better." She sat right up against him, both as a comfort and to be able to see what he had to write.

Rigel smiled at her when Ayla left. He put his head back on the wall till she returned with a pink book. His face was red from the kiss and her hand brushing the tears away. It was nice.

He took her quill, knowing the significance of the offering. Feeling happy he was at least trusted by someone. He was too saddened to observe her writing in previous pages, upon seeing the blank page as an invitation he wrote, “Thank you for trusting me.”

Dropped his hand a bit and looked at her and smiled. He finished his train of thought and returned writing, “Knox charmed me so I can’t talk. It’s okay. I was an ass and I need to change.”

Ayla leaned against his side and watched him write. He had nice enough looking writing. It wasn't sloppy at least, which was almost surprising given how fast he was writing in order to get his thoughts across to her.

She knitted her brow, "Knox?" She wracked her brain trying to think of why the name was familiar but it hadn't come to her right away, the only Knox she knew -"Wait, Greyfriar?" She looked into his tortured eyes, "The Headmaster jinxed you?!"

She glanced back again at his admission of being an ass. She remembered how he had acted during the first SAWS meeting but even that hadn't ended in him getting jinxed.

"What in the world did you say to him?!" She still couldn't get past the thought of the big jolly Professor losing his cool enough to completely silence a student, and not just silence him temporarily. It seemed like he had been sent on his way to think about what he had done. Ayla felt sick and helpless. She didn't like seeing him hurting like this and she wanted to make it better but she had no idea how.

He smiled and directly ignored her question. Maintenance was hard to control for him when someone knew his past. Rigel also hasn’t changed yet so, these actions could be used to judge him and accurately so. Instead he wrote, “I can’t speak for two weeks !!!!!” His hand was shaking.

Throat tightened and eyes watered. He took a deep breath to stifle as much of his emotions as he could. It was extremely challenging for him. He’s never been confronted with the knowledge of his actions, the negativity of them and the perception they provided others about him. Knox showed him that. He would be grateful later but he hadn’t the mental capacity to understand or see that now.

He leaned his head into her shoulder and took a moment.

"Whoa, harsh." She said softly as he mentioned the duration of his 'punishment'. A part of her noticed that he hadn't explained what he had done. She tried not to take it personally. Maybe he thought her question was rhetorical. Maybe he was ashamed of what he had done and didn't want to admit it to her. Maybe he just didn't trust her yet . . .

As he leaned into her shoulder she readjusted, sitting up straighter and moving her arm so that she could wrap it around his own shoulders, and letting him lean against her chest instead. She absently played with the hair at the base of his neck.

"It'll be okay." She tried to think of the most comforting things to say to him. She wasn't sure how to make this better. She wanted to make it better for him though. She hated seeing him like this. Two weeks was such a long time.

"Anything you need, I'm right here."

This is nice.

He slumped down and lay his head on her right thigh. He controlled his breathing and the emotional reaction he was feeling was subsiding.

Sat there for a couple minutes while he thought about what to say or do.

Smiled and wrote, "Thanks ." Rigel got up and gave her a hug. One of the tightest hugs he's given.

To draw away from the attention he was getting for his emotions, he thought a nice compliment to make her blush was needed. Something to even the "vulnerable playing field" in his eyes. He wasn't lying either. Rigel was really just trying to rationalize being okay with flirting with her right now. He went for it.

Wrote, "Hey sooo... This is a new medium of flirting and compliment giving for me so for the love of Helga dont laugh at me. You're really pretty. k thnx." He handed her the note with a red face. Which was weird, he was normally so confident? He couldn't project with his voice anymore. He had to learn how to be himself without a boisterous voice. He silently thanked Knox.

Ayla was thankful that they weren't facing each other. When he slumped even further down to rest his head on her thigh, her breath hitched. Her cheeks were burning and there was a warmth that had spread through her that uncomfortably reminded her of the night she had spent with Alistair over the summer.

Calming her breathing she moved her hand from the nape of his neck to his back, lazily drawing patterns over his shoulders. She mentally chided herself. She was supposed to be comforting him, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay and that he'd survive the next two weeks. Instead her lousy teenage brain was finding it hard to think about anything other than sex, with his head resting on her thigh.

When he pulled away she thought she'd have a chance to cool down before he pulled her into a tight hug. She held him tightly in return, nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck.

She rubbed at her cheeks while he was preoccupied with writing, hoping they weren't as bright red as they felt. When he revealed his note she knew she was doomed. There was no getting rid of the blush now. She let out a soft little 'oh'.

She felt herself panic. She was supposed to say something. He'd be expecting some sort of response. She just had no idea what to say. Reading it instead of hearing was definitely a new experience and it also made things very clear. Like the fact that he was definitely flirting with her and that was absolutely meant to be a compliment. All their previous interactions had left her guessing as to what he meant. Now he was coming right out and saying it and she was suddenly at a loss for words.

"Thanks." Oh that was bad. She really could have done a lot better. If only she could get her brain to focus properly, "you too."

He sat up at her reply, he smiled. Then it grew wider and wider, his emotions were transferring to laughter.
She’s cute when she’s awkward.
Rigel had a tear come down from his laughter before he sat up straight and controlled himself. Poor girl - she looked blushed and bright red. He smiled at her and bit his lip before opening his mouth to speak.

Oh. He grabbed the paper again.

“That was horribly cute.” His confidence is back, just needed a moment to see how the game was played. Ayla helped with how she reacted, they’re both human. It’s okay. He smiled.

Damn she’s... really beautiful.
Rigel was focused on her face, the beautiful contouring of the skin. She had a natural beauty that was prominent in its obscurity. It was there for sure, not as much to be able to articulate why. It’s sort of like that feeling a loved one has when they see their partner and say, “They’ve had a bad day,” or, “something’s off,” but when asked about it they can’t present evidence for their feelings. That’s how he felt. He knew she was stunning. For the life of him he couldn’t figure out why, or even where the beauty began.

He smiled. Catching himself he went back to the paper.

“Would you mind if I kissed you?”

Wait no that sounded weird. Shit. How can he say this. Scratched it out and tried again.

“Can I kiss you?” There.

He was smiling so she must not have messed up too badly but then he was laughing? At least it looked like he was laughing but there was no sound coming out. Without being able to hear it she couldn't tell if it was a gentle laugh or a cruel one. She doubted it would have been cruel, he had been smiling so much. At least he was happier than he had been only moments before.

She looked at his next note and her brow knitted together for a moment. She didn't know what the word meant. She had heard it before but wasn't able to put a definition to it. She wasn't sure it was one that was usually paired with the word cute. Then again he had called her cute and she decided that was the better word to focus on.

Ayla smiled back at him, curiosity piqued as he scribbled something out. When he turned the notebook to her again with his simple question she knew her blush was back. She suddenly found herself thinking of all the boys she had kissed before. None of them had actually asked her, they all sort of did it. Aleks, her muggle boyfriend from back home, then there had been Xavier - who was very big on just taking what he wanted even long after they had stopped dating - Percy whom she had accidently charmed and finally an entire summer of mad make out sessions with Alistair.

She felt warm and nervous and queasy and she suddenly realized she was taking too long to respond again, "oh um yeah." She chuckled softly and tucked a turquoise lock of hair behind her ear, "I mean yes. I'd like that."

Rigel scooted closer and with his left hand joined her right hand in tucking back her hair. He gave her a smile before going in and kissing her. He was always a good kisser, at least no one complained before. It was instinctual, just flow with her speed and what she does. Rigel just thought kissing was just copying the inverse of their movements. Fill the gaps that they presented. That’s what he did with Ayla, and she followed his lead. He'd increase the tempo and she would immdiately follow suit. It was cute.

He pulled back and smiled to see her reaction, he wondered if she noticed those little things. Or maybe she was really nervous? Rigel didn't resist the urge to go in for another kiss. He tilted his head to the right, so that she could lay her head on his left hand, resting in its palm. There was no charge behind this kiss, no rush. He took his time to figure out all the things that she did and how to properly compliment them. She was really good.

Finally he pulled back with a huge smile.