This was it. Sophie was absolutely tired of everything going absolutely wrong and she had decided the reason everything went wrong lately was because she was on defense all the time. It was time to be proactive and face a problem head on instead of waiting for it to come to her doorstep. She was going to confront Chance. She was going to demand to know why he hadn’t been talking to her and tell him he could just go sod himself if he was still angry that she needed to have her space that night after the mixer… no, wait, that was not how she wanted to handle this. That was angry and hurt Sophie lashing out because everyone had been stepping all over her lately. Chance wasn’t like that. Chance was the genuine good guy. Chance looked after her, he doted on her. She must have done something really wrong for him to have spent so much time away from her lately. She just didn’t know what it was.

So she waited, in the common room, hours after supper pretending to read her History of Magic notes, snuggling with her stuffed elephant. She watched people come and go, she had distracted  conversations, she chewed her nails and watched as one by one her housemates trudged off to bed. Where was he? Why wasn’t he there? Was he so upset with her that he tried to avoid the common room until he thought she would be gone. Well she’d ambush him then. She would sit by those damn steps all night and then latch onto his knees so the bugger couldn’t get away. That was exactly what she was going to do. That’d show him. Wait, there was angry!Sophie again. Angry!Sophie got regular!Sophie into a lot of messes lately. It would be better if she did not give in and let angry!Sophie take over brain function just yet.

The time grew later and later, and soon the common room was completely empty save for Sophie and her elephant. She parked herself right on the stairs to the boys dorm rooms, knees huddled to her chest as she hugged the stuffed animal. She had completely abounded her notes by the fire, and her eyes were getting heavier and heavier. At some point she actually fell sleep, her head resting on her knees. She dreamed about the Mixer, about how funny and charming Chance had been before everything had run afoul. In her dream she didn’t bother with Devlin at all. She let Chance spin her around the dance floor. They laughed and laughed. Then he’d walked her home and just as he was about to kiss her good night she felt someone shaking her shoulder, trying to wake her - without a second thought, somewhere between sleeping and dreaming she flung her arms around the person and planted a kiss squarely on their person.

Chance had been scarce lately.  The normally very outgoing Gryffindor prefect had been keeping to himself, even when in group settings.  He'd smacktalked a certain Professor of Defense Against The Dark Arts...he'd been disowned by his mother...not to mention he was still reeling from the double smack of finding his crush Professor Levartian cavorting with Professor Bombay...and the whole Fauna/Devlin situation.  Chance was definitely stinging at this point.  He was waiting for the kitchen sink to hit him at any given moment.  Sinking into his beloved muggle music, Chance seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper into despair.

On the other hand, Sophie had been rather volatile lately.  There was an Angry Sophie and a Regular Sophie, but the Regular hadn't been available very often when the opposite sex was around.  Chance missed his talks and fun with Sophie, but it seemed she didn't want him around...and in fact, he didn't really want himself around.  It was rather difficult to get away from one's self, but Chance was attempting it nonetheless.

And so...Chance's daily routines had shifted immensely.  Staying holed up in his own room or hidden away around various corners, alleys, or other such hiding spots...Chance only seemed to come out when the "coast was clear."  This was typically one such time.  It was quiet in the common room and had been for some time.  Chance started out his door, making a glance to and fro, before proceeding down the staircase.  The young Irishman was shocked to see Sophie...sleeping there on the floor!  He reached down, not wanting to startle her...but giving her shoulder a gentle shake.  And then, his unnaturally green eyes snapped wide open as he had one planted on him by the sleep zombie Sophie!

It took a moment - too long a moment in real world time, for Sophie to realize there was a real person under her arms and she was not just dreaming. In fact even after she realized her reaction time was slow. Her eyes were squinched tight as she tried to convince herself she was still dreaming. Of course she wasn’t and as she opened one eye slowly she realized that a]she had caught her intended target in an unintended way and b] he…was not pulling away - but she was not sure he was kissing her back. She was not exactly sure what one was supposed to do in this situation. She was not what one would call experienced. Slowly she pulled away, her heart hammering in her chest. She didn’t trust herself to breathe.

“I…” she cleared her throat and tittered nervously her cheeks flushing pink. She still didn’t remove her arms from around his neck - it was as though her tiny body was frozen. As she looked at him though she noticed things that, in passing, had not been so evident. His features were drawn and he seemed more pale than usual. His normally mirthful eyes were tired, bags sagging a little under them. Something must have been really wrong. He looked as foreign to himself as she felt - and that was saying something. She hardly knew herself coming or going anymore. There was so much drama than her brain was often on overload.

“Oh, I’ve missed you,” But in that moment she did what came perfectly natural and just hugged his neck tightly. She wanted everyone to just be happy again, to go back to laughing and pranking. She wasn’t exactly sure what to say - how did one just go back to teasing and joking when both halves of the pair seemed so miserable. Finally she pulled back to look at him, a faint smile on her lips, “Chancie, yous got some ‘splaining to do,” she bumped his forehead with her own, vaguely worried that he would completely flip out on her - even if maybe she deserved it for being a crappy friend. It was a string of rotten luck, that - but she was trying her best to fix it with everyone.

Had Chance been asked some of the least likely things to happen when he walked down those stairs earlier tonight...perhaps Sophie planting a smackeroo on his lips would've been on that list.  It was completely unexpected and given her understandable moodiness as of late, he would've far more expected her to tackle him or deck him one.  Needless to say, he was very taken off guard when she smooched him.  As she pulled back, his eyes were still wide and shocked.  He blinked a bit, as if attempting to decipher this mystery.  Chance had "caught" Sophie in her waking lunge, and his hands remained holding her sides.

Now the newly woken zombie Sophie was trying to explain, but it seemed she was studying him in the process.  She seemed like she was examining an alien in some observatory.  Why was she looking at him like that?  This night was just getting more and more puzzling to Chance.

But when Sophie finally released her feelings and squeezed onto his neck, it seemed Chance's own tension released...and he finally tightened his arms around her in a fairly firm embrace of his own.

"Yeah...?  Didn' think y'were really too keen on seein' me anymore, Sophers?"

He was surprised...but he was glad to have Sophie back.  He'd missed her too.  Maybe now they could both begin healing.

Sophie didn’t want to cry, she didn’t want to be emotional - she did so much of that lately. The idea though…that she didn’t want to spend time with him, that he felt that way, it hurt her heart and she felt her brown eyes well with tears as she hugged his neck again and buried her face in his shoulder. It was a familiar feeling and smell, something that made her heart rate slow to normal and her stomach settle. Chance hugs were good like that. They made her feel safe - she didn’t realize how much until she hadn’t had them anymore.

This was the week for reunions and making things better apparently. First she and Fauna had made up and now she was going to fix things with Chance no matter how much of her pride she had to swallow and admit that she had been an over emotional wreck for over a month now, “I just felt so bad…about everything, about myself,” her voice was soft as she talked into his shoulder.

She pulled back to look at him, her arms still around his neck, “I wasn’t…mad at you. I just didn’t…I forgot how to talk to you. I felt so beat up after the Mixer, and Quinn, and New Years, and then finding out Matteo and Addie have been together since November-” she gave him a helpless look, “It felt like everything I was doing was wrong, that I kept making mistakes and things just got worse and worse”.

Swallowing and biting her lip, she looked at him carefully before continuing, her voice a little more hopeful, “But then I guess I thought maybe they would get better if I just told you I missed you”. It was so much easier to say now that she had said it once. It was like Sophie had forgotten how to tell the people in her life she loved them, to show them that brand of exuberant Sophie affection. Bumping her head with his she half grinned, “Did it work?”

Watching those big brown eyes water was something akin to a Humane Society ad.  Whose heart couldn't be moved by a teary eyed Sophie Flickwick?  Chance hated seeing her upset and he reassuringly stroked down the back of her head and back in the process.

"Doncha worry 'bout it, lass.  S'alright.  Ah know y'ad a lot on yer plate..."

And then Sophie proceeded to list off a slew of her most recent heartaches...and this made Chance's features slump even moreso.

"Ah darlin'...ah...ah'm sorry.  I didn' 'ave a clue 'bout any o' this since th' Mixer.  Been a wee dab outta th' loop an' such...."

Sophie needed that shoulder to cry on and needed the support that Chance had always been willing and able to give up until recently.  He peered down at her, seeming so much a helpless, lost, little girl that it moved his heart.

"Well ah've missed y'too luv...Ah jus' 'aven't been worth much fer awhile m'self now.  M'not th' best company lately."

Chance didn't want to spill his guts and emotions all over the tower.  He didn't want to relive things.  He wanted to escape them and distract himself from facing any of his problems that he couldn't seem to find any resolution for.  So...he simply smiled and bumped his head back down at Sophie's and nodded quietly.

"Y'got nothin' t'worry 'bout....S'good t'see ya again, Sophers."

Sophie eyed him carefully, lips pursed to one side, “How come you do that?” her voice was soft, her fingers rubbing small circles at the base of his neck, “How come I’m supposed to tell you all the junk that’s inside my head but you don’t tell me anything? That seems kind of lopsided to me”. She bumped his nose with hers and lightly scratched the base of his skull, trying to judge his reaction to her prying. She was glad he wasn’t mad at her, but she felt like she wasn’t being a good friend, like he never had anyone to rely on. Just because Sophie was small didn’t mean she didn’t know how shoulder her fair share of someone else’s burdens.

“I thought you were mad at me - and that’s why we weren’t talking… but that’s not it is it?” she was trying to read him - but unfortunately she did not have the innate gift that her mother and nan shared. They just seemed to know what was wrong, like they were mind readers. Well Nan was close, she was a seer, but this gift pertained more to knowing secrets when they were being kept from her or when someone was bluffing at playing cards.  Obviously Chance’s poker face was failing - something was wrong, she just wasn’t sure she could get him to tell her what.

Maybe she didn’t even deserve to know at this point, she’d been a pretty self-involved friend. She didn’t know how carefully to tread because Chance could be as stubborn as she was. When he didn’t want to share he didn’t, but there was obviously something troubling him, “Is it…is it things with Fauna? Are you sure I didn’t do something to make you feel like you can’t talk to me?” she chewed on her bottom lip, “You just always take care of me…and I love that, I really do, I didn’t realize how much until you weren’t there but… it doesn’t feel right if you’re just taking care of me all the time and I never give you anything back”.

Chance was given pause once Sophie asked "How come you do that?"  He canted his head faintly and quirked his brow quizzically toward her.  However, her massaging fingertips did add a little ease and comfort to the situation.  Luckily Sophie explained her question...Ahh, he was dodging questions again.

Chance smiled faintly and shook his head from side to side.

"Ya've always been good t'me, Soph.  No worries there, lass."

He gave her a reassuring squeeze, letting her know there were no hard feelings.  In fact, he'd never really been upset with her.  He'd grown tired of feeling like an annoyance or a problem that was simply in Sophie's way.  This was his fault for not interpreting her reactions correctly.  She was a tad difficult to discern in "angry/upset mode." 

Uh oh...now Sophie was prying further.  She sure was a determined little thing wasn't she?  Chance shook his head in a negative response.

"Ya 'aven't done a thing wrong, doll.  Doncha worry yer pretty, wee, lit'l 'ead 'bout it, k?"

Hmm.  He had always tried to take care of her...and though he went through his own normal issues and setbacks like everyone else, it just seemed like he'd been hit with a lot in a rapid succession of events as of late. 

"Ah've never gone empty 'anded with ya, Sophers.  M'lucky t'ave ya in m'life...Ah'm jes' glad yer back, lass!"

And another firm squeeze as he tugged the little one to his chest.  Sure...he'd dodged some of her inquiries again, but it wasn't because he didn't trust her.  He just wasn't accustomed to sharing his own personal emotions, or more accurately "describing" them.  He felt uncomfortable with such things.

Sophie’s brow furrowed, her mouth drawn into a thin line as she chewed the inside of her right cheek. She hated when people treated her like everything was fine when it was obviously not. She was a big girl - even if she, admittedly, hadn’t been acting like it lately. There was something really wrong, bad wrong, more than just Fauna wrong. She was not foolish enough to think she mattered so much he’d avoid contact with people everywhere. She realized how long it had been since she’d even seen him loitering around the common room - it all just meant bad things. She wanted to help and he wouldn’t let her. She didn’t understand why. Normally she was good at waiting out Chance and anyone else when they wanted to keep secrets… but this felt too big to just act like everything was fine. It wasn’t that she cared if she was privy to all his secrets it was that she felt like if he wasn’t telling her he probably wasn’t telling anyone.

Touching the side of face, she bit her bottom lip trying to decide how to press further, “Chance you can’t…” her voice trailed off as she frowned. What could she say? She understood the desire to bottle some things up, to ignore it rather than confront it - but her recent behavior showed just how damaging that tactic could be. She’d spent how many weeks not talking to people she knew loved her because she was so angry about things that they couldn’t even control. All the bad feelings bubbled up inside of her and made her sick, made her jumpy, made her impossible to live with for the people she was still talking to. She had felt so alone, like there was no one in the world that understood or if they did they’d tell her to just get over it.

She had had to accept that everyone needed to talk sometimes and she couldn’t just be Miss Happy Sunshine all the time. Letting out a long breath she slipped her hand around her back and grasped his fingers slowly standing and leading him closer to the fire and her books, sitting him in the chair and herself on the arm. She was quiet for a long time as she looked into the fire before raking her fingers though his shaggy hair and speaking, “You’re not being you Chance. Something is really wrong. I can feel it”. She peered down at him from behind sooty lashes, the firelight casting a soft yellow-orange glow against her skin, “I just…you can’t keep saying everything is fine and expect it to stick. If I did that we wouldn’t even be talking right now. I’d be up in my room crying into my yeti and feeling completely alone”.

Chance could simply see the wheels turning in Sophie's head.  She was trying to make everything all better...but some things couldn't be resolved with a quick fix or a brilliant solution that would suddenly appear out of thin air.

Sophie was determined though.  It wasn't that she was nosy.  Chance knew she genuinely meant nothing but the best for him.  He knew that little Ms.Flickwick truly cared for his well being.  But turmoil wasn't completely gone from little Sophie...but at least she wasn't shutting Chance out now and maybe he could help somehow.  However...for the moment, Sophie was pretty focused on the Irishman himself.

Sophie guided him to sit in the chair and it was clear that she was going to see this thing to its resolution.  Chance inhaled slowly as he leaned his head back against the chair and peered up at the ceiling for a few moments.  Chance's eyes looked to Sophie as she spoke, but began to wander off after she had finished.  He was wishing that he wore his emotions with a bit more concealment.

"It'll pass.  S'jes' been a rough patch lately..."

Chance realized this dismissal wouldn't cut it any more than his previous ones.  Chance finally looked back to Sophie.

"S'mainly Mom...last break, we kinda had th' big fight...."

Chance's eyes moved toward the fireplace to watch the flickering flames dancing about.

"An' she's disowned me.  Doesn' even wanna call me 'er son anymore.  Guess ah knew it wuz jes' a matter o' time..."

And now that Chance was talking...things were rolling out.

"An' yeah...th' whole Fauna thing's been tough.  Don' really know how t'act 'round 'er...even though we've been s'close fer awhile now.  Jes' feel awkward an' exposed...knowin' she can't think o' me like...yeah.  An' ah'm  worried 'bout 'er cuzza that...Devlin joker.  An' y'know 'ow ah've been all 'bout Professor Levertian fer ferever an' a day now?  Kinda caught 'er gettin' a wee bit cozy with Professor Bombay...Not th' prettiest sight in th' world."

Chance just shrugged and shook his head.  He couldn't even keep track anymore.  It seemed like there was more, but it didn't really feel like it mattered anymore.  It was just a pile of rubbish.  His rebellious streak flaring up and his antisocial behavior were more like responses to his own personal conflicts and woes.

"But it'll be a'right...No need t'worry."

Sophie was good to Chance, but he didn't want her worrying too much about him.  She had enough on her plate.

"But what 'bout yerself...?  Are ya feelin' more Sophi-licious again?"

Sophie was horrified. There was absolutely no other word for it. She actually made the sign of the cross when Chance said his mother had disowned him. It was something both of her grandmothers did when truly upset by something. There was the instant horror and then biting on it’s heels the rage. It was anger like she felt toward Fauna’s father - wanting to just walk back into her life after seventeen years of not giving a damn. What the bloody hell was wrong with people?! You didn’t turn your back on your children, on your blood. There was one truth in Sophie‘s life that never left her, that she never let go of, no matter how lost she felt: FAMILY IS SACRED. Granted her definition of family was different than a lot of people.  She considered many of her friends like family, she couldn’t picture her life without them. She would never understand how anyone in the world could ever turn their back on their own, ever. You fought for and died for the ones you loved. End. Of. Story.

And the heartbreaking thing was… Sophie knew Chance believed in that too. He believed in honor and taking care of the people in your life. He believed in self sacrifice. An asshat like Callum didn’t deserve this kind of treatment - let alone someone as giving as Chance Ryker was. Sophie wanted to cry. She wanted to send his mother a nasty howler . No! She wanted to sick HER mother on that vile woman who didn‘t even deserve to be called someone‘s mother. Ramona Flickwick would teach her a thing or two about child care and what you lose when you throw your baby out with the bathwater - like your FACE. In the back of her mind Sophie realized that perhaps she had a slight anger management problem. She thought violence was the answer a lot more lately than before she’d smacked Figaro upside the head. It was just so awful!

She actually sputtered when she tried to talk, having to get up and pace in front of the fire. The room was not big enough for her enraged bafflement. She didn’t care so much about the Professor hubub because really… well… that was just gross. She couldn’t say anything about Fauna because her brain just…couldn’t process beyond this big ugly thing that had happened to him. She stopped up short in front of him, her hands on her hips, ponytail swinging from the leftover momentum, “Well, then… you’ll just come live with us! We have the extra bedroom, and you and Da like talking about music and and and,” she was sputtering again, agitation evident in her features. She was just so mad that someone could be so horrible to him! Looking at him though they softened and she took a deep breath.

He didn’t need her to be mad right now. He didn’t need her going off half cocked and saying horrible things about his mum - he couldn’t stop her from thinking them though. Rolling her shoulders she tried to get them to unkink. He looked so sad and dejected sitting there having spilled his guts and was still asking about her, trying to make sure she was ok. Without much thought she sat in his lap and wrapped him in a tight hug. She felt like she needed to repeat what she’d said to Fauna before, about the whole who choose not to love you are the losers but she thought if she said it again to someone else it might lose some of it special magic. So she hugged him, one hand cradling the back of his head, her voice soft, “I’m so sorry I didn’t know, that I wasn’t there when you needed someone”.

When Sophie displayed that compassionate, nurturing side of hers...she seemed to have grown up so much.  Her kind, loving heart was definitely one of the things that Chance most appreciated about her.  On the other hand, Sophie's sense of play and childlike wonder seemed on the other end of the spectrum, yet still remained one of her most endearing qualities.  Poor Sophie and her sense of shock...as she tried to wrap her mind around Chance's revelation, he couldn't help but smile ever so faintly as he looked to her earnestly.

"Dun'choo ever change, Sophie Hannelore Flickwick.  Not ruddy ever.  Fer anybody!"

Truth be told...Chance was proud of Sophie.  He adored the little sprite.  And now she was trying to care for him, as she always would when given the opportunity.  Chance actually found it difficult not to smile at her enthusiasm and sincere care for him.

"Yer th' best.  Y'do know that, doncha?  M'sorry if I don' tell ya that enough, lass."

Chance leaned to her and popped a kiss on her cheek, hugging her in return as she eased onto his lap.  Chance was rather affectionate, but kisses were something few and far between in a friendly context.  It typically just felt awkward and forced to him, but not with Sophie.  He shook his head as Sophie tried to shift the blame onto herself for not being there to support him.

"Bah!  Rubbish!  Don'choo worry one wee bit.  Yer here now an' that's what matters.  Thank ya, Sophers.  It means a lot.  Really it does."

Everything was so horrible lately - for everyone. She tried to think of one person in her life that didn’t have some form of drama going on but was coming up short. It made her so sad to realize the times they needed one another most seemed to be the times they ended up furthest from one another. She laughed - vaguely as he told her not to change. If he only new how much changing she needed to do lately. She had almost completely lost touch with the person she really was in favor of this angry little sass mouth who couldn’t stand to be around people for more than ten minutes. Sitting there though, with someone who knew her as well as she knew herself - and cared about her despite the not so lovely parts of herself… well she felt more like the Sophie he knew. Resting her forehead against his temple she gave a small shrug, “I dunno, I might have damaged so part of my brain when I knocked Sellahpix upside the head. Hitting people seems like a helpful solution a lot more often than it used to”.

She grinned against his temple then, squeezing him tightly. They were both in pretty bad shape - but Sophie was working on fixing things for herself and when she was with Chance… none of it seemed so bad. It was amazing what making up with people - even other unhappy people did to make the world seem like not such a scary thing to deal with. Essentially nothing had changed - except that she had one more person to love and to love her. That little fact, insignificant as it could sound to anyone else, made all the difference to her. She’d had to grow up a lot in the last month and it was painful more often than not, but she knew she was better for it in the long run. Somewhere she was still Goofy Sophie who had the attention span of a two year old, but more and more there was this other part of her emerging and she was having to learn to incorporate it into her life as well - the good and the bad.

For a time, after he reassured her again that it only mattered that she was there now she was silent. Her fingers lightly scratching the back of his head - an unconscious movement that she had picked up from her mother whom often treated Sophie like a puppy without the fifteen year old realizing it. Finally she sighed deeply and bumped the side of Chance’s head with her own, “I mean it…you know, about the coming to live with us,” she bit her bottom lip not sure how much to push but feeling like if ever anyone needed a safe place to fall it was Chance Ryker and it was now. “I mean the house’ll be crowded like it always is - but you know, no matter what Mum and Da would take you in in a heartbeat,” she gave him a small teasing smile, “You’re the only boy besides Johnny they’d ever trust all of us around”.

If there was something that Chance truly loathed...it was seeing those he loved in pain.  It was true that Chance didn't really know Sellaphix, but...if Sophie had been provoked enough to physical violence, it must have been a pretty severe provocation.

"M'sure anybody t'rouse th' wrath o' th' Sopher must've done somethin' pretty extreme an' pro'lly deserves that an' more.  An' yer still th' same down inside yer 'eart, where it counts.  Sometimes we jes' ferget that part an' we gotta get back t'oo we'are."

Physical comforting between this pair seemed so natural and fluid that sometimes there was little if any conscious effort made.  They simply flowed together in an attempt to lessen one another's pain.  He cradled Sophie and stroked through her luxurious head of raven hair.  And as she reaffirmed her previous offer, Chance cupped her cheek and thumbed over it as he stared into her big brown eyes with a gentle smile.

"Yer precious...an' yer family's been better t'me than..."

What Chance was going to say felt too painfully obvious and his voice trailed off...but then he reaffirmed himself and continued with determination showing in his eyes.

"Ah don't ferget th' people who love me, Soph...an' it'd be great t'get t'go back with ya next break."

With all the turmoil conspiring in Chance's heart and soul, it seemed that his rebellious angst was being pushed back.  His anger and inner hunger to lash out was subsiding...at least for now.

Sophie just ginned at him, he gave her far too much credit for being a better person than she actually was. Of course in turn it made her mostly want to be that person, so it wasn’t all bad. Still, she knew that she’d reacted badly in that situation. It had been satisfying but wrong - it mildly annoyed her that she knew that but also knew if put in the same situation again she’d probably deck him twice a hard. That whole day had just been awful. Of course she wasn’t one to dwell…much.

He still looked so sad - and the fact his family was so awful still made her so mad. Sophie was not a fan of injustice - but then who is, right? There were some things in her life though that were just black and white, right or wrong. As much as she could fight with her sisters or feel invisible in the face of her siblings talent… she just couldn’t even wrap her mind around the fact that someone, anyone, let alone his own mother could be so awful to Chance. Her parents, for their part, adored the boy.

The thing that was more shocking, to her anyway, was the fact that in the face of all that horrible awfulness Chance still had this amazing capacity to love. She knew because she had experienced it first hand, right then in fact as he cupped her cheek. There was a strange sort of chemistry between the older and younger Gryffindor. It wasn’t the same kind of giddy giggly feeling she got around boys like Erin or even, lately, Figaro. It was just this…feeling, in her stomach, like she was safe and warm and nothing really bad could touch her.

“It’ll be fun! Mum will stuff you full of food,” she poked his belly then, determined to lift him out of this funk. “And then you and Da can teach me all the muggle songs I want to learn like um… Dust in the Wind and stuff by Bob Dylan,” she was swinging her feet back and forth down, head kind of bouncing from side to side as she tried to think of other things to list off, “And Nan will try to teach you Gaelic ‘like ever good Irish boy ought to know’, which probably means swear words and how to ask where the bathroom is,” she grinned at him, wrinkling her nose a little. “It will be awesome and you will never want to leave and then we will be family forever”.