Won't Let Nerves Get The Better of Me ((Kael))

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner of the Hufflepuff Common Room and stood up. “I’ve got to go to the BBBS meeting now. I’ll see you guys later.” Smiling apologetically, Harmony waved her goodbye and exited to head for the Room of Requirements, where the first all BBBS members meeting was taking place in about five minutes. Somewhat apprehensive about what was to come, yet excited too by the prospects, Harmony walked at a brisk pace, also aware that precise punctuality was a good thing. She’d hate to keep her big brother waiting, or Aurora and the committee, for that matter. Harmony had to admit that she had initially, and still harboured some worry about joining up for this new scheme, run by four other members other than Aurora: Jamison Parson, the Ravenclaw head boy; Celia Richmond, a Ravenclaw sixth year; Carson McGreggor, a Hufflepuff in the year above whom Harmony had seen round school often; and Kia Brightstar, a Gryffindor in fifth year, and whom Harmony thought was perfect to run such a program at Hogwarts. Her bright personality was very alike to Aurora’s, and had they been in the same year, Harmony guessed that the two would’ve become extremely good friends. However, no one could ever replace Aurora’s best friend: Ari.

Thinking of Ari, Harmony smiled wryly. Of course, Ari had opted not to become a big sister. She had stated quite firmly that she did not do well with younger children in high school; that half of them was stuck up and bratty, and the last thing they wanted was to have a big sister like herself, who hated socialising and getting to know people better. Which, Ari ended, was the whole point of the scheme. If she didn’t even like the ethos of BBBS, then the chances of her being a good asset to the team was near to none. Harmony had to accept that Ari had a point there; even she agreed that her older sister would make a poor big sister. Of course, Aurora had attempted to talk her best friend into it – very much like she had done with Harmony herself – but Ari was stubborn, through and through, and Aurora had eventually given up because she had known from the beginning that it was a bad idea. She had only continued saying what she did to annoy Ari. Harmony smiled to herself; the two of them bickered like twin sisters. This could sometimes make Harmony feel somewhat left out by their closeness, but she had gotten over that ages ago. Harmony was maturing herself into a different person, and she realised she had started to rely less and less on Ari.

Which was why BBBS was a good reason to join; to confide in someone else if possible rather than Ari or Aurora. Talking to either of them would most likely get back to the other, so Harmony was always careful nowadays. She trusted both equally, but sometimes she felt like she needed someone of her own – not necessarily a boyfriend, as if Ari would allow that! (Harmony wasn’t looking anyway) – but someone Harmony could count on and yet was not attached too. Initially Harmony had hoped Aurora had paired her with someone suitable. She had been told this big brother or sister would be at least in sixth year, in seventh year if they could help it. At the time, Aurora had known who was to be her partner for a while now, but Aurora had remained professionally secretive and had given nothing away, except a secret and happy smile which arose Harmony’s curiosity. Having been excited by the prospect of her partner, Harmony had been extremely surprised when an owl had come to her telling her her partner would be Kael Collins. She was worried about being shy with him, but she was beginning to take steps forward to rectify that in general.

Harmony finally reached the Room of Requirements, and pushed the door open. Inside she caught sight of Aurora and Celia Richmond, sitting by a table and tending to pile of parchment before them. Aurora seemed to be dictating whilst Celia wrote. The rest of the room was filled with what seemed to be waiting BBBS members, milling around in curiosity of how the room had taken shape to fill their needs. Harmony approached her cousin and the older Ravenclaw with a small, nervous smile, not really sure what to expect. “Hi. I’m here now. I’m not too early, am I?” Harmony spoke quietly, causing Aurora to glance up.
“Harmony! You made it! You’re just on time.” The Hufflepuff beamed in delight, then turned to Celia, “Harmony Chan, Hufflepuff, fourth year.” Aurora looked to her cousin in glee, “Harmony, you know you have Kael, right.” Harmony could almost roll her eyes at Aurora's enthusiasm; they had already had this conversation a few days ago.
"Yeah... Is he here yet?” Harmony’s eyes flickered nervously round the room in suspicion.
“Yep.” Aurora nodded, pointing to the corner of the room where a familiar figure stood alone. “He’s over there. Good luck, Harmony!”

Thanking Aurora and Celia, Harmony moved deliberately, but timidly, towards Kael’s position. Along the way she noted the other committee members with different people, younger brothers and sisters they had obviously been paired with. Carson was with a Hufflepuff girl Harmony recognised as Elizabeth Peasegood, who had been at the Halloween party Aurora had organised some time ago; Jamison, the head boy, was chatting with Sadie Rivers, a girl in Harmony’s year and house; finally, Kia was with a first year Ravenclaw. Eyes flitting back to Kael, who had his back turned to her, Harmony steadied herself inwardly for her introduction. He should know he was paired with her by now. What did he think? There wasn’t much to base Harmony on in his mind technically, since they had never spoken before, despite often passing one another through the Common Room. Harmony knew Kael was acquainted with Aurora (the Halloween party had testified to that), but she wondered if he had any idea how different she was in personality to Aurora. They shared similar views, but Aurora was extroverted, and Harmony introverted. She was scared he’d think her too quiet. On the other hand, Harmony also knew little of Kael; he had struck her as rather intimidating sometimes, but like her, he was quiet. Right?

Harmony knew if she kept thinking about it, kept pondering the unanswered questions, she would never find the courage needed to approach Kael. At last she was one step away from his figure, and taking a deep breath, Harmony dispelled all worry from her mind and reached up to tap him on his shoulder. She was scared, but she was also curious, and that was what carried her through to do BBBS in the first place. She wanted to learn more about people, and learn more about herself. “Um, hi.” Harmony spoke quietly with a slight smile, “I’m Harmony Chan… nice to meet you.”

[kael]

Why had he signed up for BBBS? Kael wondered silently, before a wry smile flickered into place. It had taken a lot of persuading from Lynne, and some bribes and quite a few threats too before he had consented to even think about such a thing. He was still sure that he had never actually said yes, but Lynnette was too crafty - too crafty and far too good at making her handwriting look like his. So he’d never really had a choice, if he was feeling honest. He could have tried to appeal to Aurora, since she was the committee member in charge of 6th year Hufflepuffs, but he wasn’t sure it would have done any good. Besides, she was, well, not a friend exactly, but more of an acquaintance since they had never really talked to each other for long periods of time other than the Halloween party in the common room. Even if he had attempted to reason with Aurora, his twin – his foolish, thoughtless, unbelievably annoying twin – had Kia Brightstar to fall back on. Ever since they had struck up a vague sort of friendship a few months back, Lynne had become even more annoying. It was probably her fault that he was trapped in this scheme – no, he didn’t hate it but he’d never say so out loud – and she had probably talked Lynne into getting him involved. ‘He was grumpy and anti-social,’ Lynne had said accusingly, ‘and he needed a nice little sister to help him be less...Kael-ish.’

He already had a little sister, Kael scowled. And he wasn’t too fond of Lynnette at the best of times, so why would he take to his new little sister any better? However, well, he was good at playing the older brother and he was a good listener if he wanted to be. If his new little sister had been anything like his twin...Kael would probably have just sighed and hung his head with resignation. At the very least, he already knew how to handle girls like Lynne and he had plenty of experience with them. He wouldn’t have been happy with it, might have been reduced to begging and pleading with the Committee to swap him with someone, anyone! But, if his observations were right, Harmony Chan wasn’t the type of sister he’d been dreading. She was quiet – well, quieter than Aurora at least – and might even be someone he could get along with. If nothing else, he thought with forced cheer, this experience might spark inspiration or ideas for one of his books. He’d just gotten another one hard-covered and it had just arrived this morning, he hadn’t even had a chance to look at it yet. One day he would even send them to a publisher. If he got the confidence.

Arriving ten minutes earlier than needed gave him the chance to have a look at the new binding on the novel. The illustration he’d issued Vic to produce was brighter and more colourful than the ones she usually designed for him, but it fit the plot within the pages. His neighbour – she was more like an older sister though, why did he seem to collect sisters? – had agreed to produce illustrations exclusively for him. It wasn’t like he was stopping her from doing her job properly since she was a lawyer, not an artist. She had threatened to make him find a new artist if he didn’t start sending something to a publisher or two. In a fit of light heartedness, he had sent a postcard to one firm. A tap on his shoulder attracted his attention, making him look around. “Kael Collins,” he introduced himself, closing the book and flipping it over in the hopes that she wouldn’t notice his name on the front cover. “Take a seat, my new little sister. Unless you’d prefer to stand,” Kael added hastily, feeling almost awkward. He hadn’t been worried about meeting his new ‘sister’, not until she’d actually stood in front of him, or behind him rather. What did he know about being a brother to someone younger than him by more than a few minutes?

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony nodded and smiled shyly. “No, no, sitting is good… since they’ve got our names on them.” She took the seat with her nameplate on it as Kael mirrored her, her eyes looking at her name dubiously. It was always weird to see those two words – Harmony Chan – printed on things. Quickly averting her gaze back to look at Kael in embarrassment, she flipped her fingers together on her lap and settled in silence, wondering what to say. Harmony was admittedly best with people either younger than her or in her age group. Older ones scared the heck out of her; she felt awkward and worried about how she came across to them, and she doubted that they wanted to talk to her either. Nervously, Harmony let her eyes wander round the edge of the table and across at Aurora, who had just looked over to survey the awkward scene. Aurora smiled gently, and Harmony returned the gesture if a little. Looking back to Kael, Harmony opened her mouth to speak, disliking the silence that strayed over their first official meeting. “WE kind of know each other already, right?” Harmony gave a small embarrassed laugh, “Since you know Aurora… You were at the Halloween party too, right? And Ivy told me you’ve just joined the Hufflepuff team.” Harmony was referring to Quidditch; a few days ago Ivy had announced new players in their team, since people had come and gone, and Harmony had been surprised to discover Kael was to be the new Keeper.

“You’re playing Keeper, right?” Harmony asked quietly, before clamming her mouth shut. She’d said ‘right?’ way too many times. Perhaps she should stop asking the questions and let him talk about himself. Harmony wasn’t a conversation starter, nor was she much of a talker like Aurora, but unlike Ari she did enjoy conversing with people… if a good topic was struck up. “I’m Chaser on the team.” Harmony quickly continued now that she had a subject to go on. “With Ivy and Weetzie. Sydney is our reserve. Um…” Harmony trailed off. She thought Kael probably knew all this already. “Well, welcome to the team.” She forced a smile. “The team… is really good. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. There’s also Ashley and Bryce as our Beaters and Charles is our Seeker.” Harmony’s smile had a hint of pride in it. She did love her fellow teammates a lot. They were some of the only older students Harmony got on with extremely well. She did have to spend a lot of time practising with them, after all, and although she was the youngest of them all, she was accepted as one of them without question.

“Um…” Harmony trailed off again nervously. “I’m probably supposed to tell you stuff about myself, right?” Her fingers fidgeted with her robes. “Well… I have an older sister in sixth year., Gryffindor… Ari… Oh, I mean, Ariane. Aurora’s my cousin. Leo is my cousin too. He’s in Gryffindor second year, and he’s Aurora’s brother. We live together with their parents, my aunt and uncle.” Harmony smiled a little regretfully. “Um… my mum died over the summer…” This was a tricky topic for Harmony; but she wished to speak about it. Unlike Ari, who never, ever brought it up anymore. “My dad’s still in hospital from an injury and we haven’t lived with him in years anyway. We used to live in America.” Harmony struggled to continue, and decided to divert topics. “Um, anyway, I’m in fourth year… Hufflepuff, obviously.” She managed a weak smile at this. “My favourite colour is yellow… I love being in Hufflepuff. I love Quidditch and flying, and playing on the house team. I have a few friends, um… I like music and dancing is my passion.” She concluded with a look of relief on her face. “That’s really it about me. Um, the main facts anyway. I’m not too hard to, er, unravel.” It was a term Aurora often used. “I enjoy unravelling people” was a comment often heard from the older girl. Harmony didn’t really know what her cousin meant, but she did enjoy getting to know people better. She sincerely hoped Kael reciprocated this feeling. “Um, I’m sorry if I’m nervous and don’t talk and act shy.” She suddenly blurted out with a worried expression. “I’m… kind of always like this.” She said sadly. “But I do hope we get to know each other better.” She finally said with a small friendly smile.

[kael]

What had he been thinking when he had actually agreed to go through with this? He was bad with all people, not just younger ones. Kael just wasn’t one of those people who felt comfortable around people he didn’t know. Alright, so there had been an exception to that when he had let Adrina and her daughter join him at the café, as Lynne was so fond of teasing him. But he hadn’t thought that anything would come out of that meeting and he hadn’t been under any pressure to be anything he wasn’t because, quite frankly, neither Adrina nor Gia had meant anything to him at that time. She hadn’t been his friend, or even an acquaintance. She hadn’t been anything to him and it had been unlikely that they would ever speak again after that meeting. This meeting with Harmony, on the other hand, was a very different matter. She was going to be a ‘little sister’ to him for the next year and family was something that Kael cared about, one of the few things he showed an interest in. And to be assigned a sister as well...well, the committee had sure stitched him up there, hadn’t they? Maybe, if he had been assigned a brother, he wouldn’t have been so bothered. But having another sister was like having another Lynne, although Harmony was more like him than his loud, uninhibited sister, in Kael’s opinion at least. She was like the type of sister that Kael had always teased Lynne about, the type of sister he would have preferred as his twin. It was a lie though, because he knew quite well that Lynne completed him and that they complemented each other perfectly. Where he was quiet, she was loud; he was dark-haired, she was blonde and bright; he was sarcastic and sharp-tongued, she was honest but gentle with it. A yin and yang deal, of a sort.

“Yeah, we already know each other in a way,” Kael replied with a soft grin. “At least we’re not complete strangers because I think that we’re both quiet enough without adding something like that into the mix.” Hmm, maybe the committee had known what they were doing when they paired them together, Kael admitted to himself grudgingly. “And yeah, your cousin forced me into a costume at the Halloween party. Keeper, yep that’s me. Defending our Hufflepuff goals against the evils of the opposing team,” Kael nodded firmly before grimacing. He always sounded enthusiastic and very much like his twin whenever he was feeling awkward. It didn’t suit him at all.

Kael tilted his head as he listened to Harmony, smiling reassuringly when she came to her confession at the end of her ramblings. “You’re not the only one who doesn’t talk much, though I think I appear more grouchy or intimidating rather than shy.” Before he started his own speech about himself and his family, Kael hesitated. Lynne’s synaesthesia had been a big part of his childhood and it had made him into the person he was today, but it wasn’t his secret to tell. Skirting around the subject would be the most tactful thing to do, but he’d still appear secretive. It couldn’t be helped, Kael decided with a mental shrug. “I have a twin in Ravenclaw. Her real name’s Lynnette but most people just call her Lynne. I think she prefers it that way. Um...I’m a lot different to her though. I prefer quietness and a small group of friends but she always seems to be in a large crowd of people and I don’t think she even knows what the phrase ‘peace and quiet’ means. One of the few things we have in common is our love for cats and kittens, which probably comes from the fact that our mother breeds cats and sells them to suitable owners. During the summer, I’m usually the one sent out to check out the prospective buyers homes and make sure that they can handle one of our kittens. My dad runs a bookstore in Diagon Alley so I help out there during the summer as well. I guess you could say that at least we’re never left with nothing to do. My passion would be my writing and Quidditch as well, I suppose.” Kael tapped the book lying on the arm of his chair with a wry smile. “I don’t think that my books are good enough to be published though, so I have to be contented with improving myself.”