I Wanna Know, Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

[Delilah Morine]

Delilah had decided, on no evening in particular, that she wanted to continue with one of her many passions. Tonight though, she decided a bit of flying would be in order. She hadn't done so in so long, only because it was one of her and her father's favorite things to do, but lately instead of grinning at the thought, she couldn't even muster up the courage to look at her own broom. Delilah's dad had suffered from a heart attack and was on the verge of a stroke. Now bed ridden, Delilah felt as though she was cheating him out of the thing they used to do all the time together.

He had written her recently though, and told her all that parental jibber jabber of how proud he was of her, and how he hopes that she's living her young life to the fullest. She had to put down the letter and shake her head after reading that, surely he didn't have people here at Hogwarts telling him that his daughter was loosing her friendliness, something she had been so proud of... But she was slowly becoming another Slytherin... cold, bitter, and uncaring to wards others and their well-being. She was angry rather than happy most of the time, she just couldn't bare thinking of a life without her dad, whom was practically her best friend.

After much contemplation, Delilah couldn't stand staring at her broom any longer, she just had to bring it out. If you didn't use it, you'd lose it. It wasn't exactly the best weather, raining it was outside. However, she thought it might suit her mood. Just in case she started crying, no one would think they were tears, but rather rain. As she walked through the halls, wearing her dark green hoodie and black cargo pants, she couldn't help but wonder where everyone she cared about was... And why they weren't asking her if anything was wrong. She hadn't even told a single soul about her dad... Not even Cole.

The small teen finally got to her destination, and couldn't help but smile. She obviously hadn't lost her passion for Quidditch and the feeling of flying at all. She then proceeded to do one of her signature mounting moves, which consisted of her throwing her broom up high in the air, and just as it came back into reach, she mounted it mid-air, and flew through the drops coming down hard on her back. She'd probably end up sick after this, but she wasn't thinking of this at the time. This was the only time she could be graceful. Flying. As hard as it was, walking seemed more of a challenge to her than this. She missed everyone so desperately, and the thought of losing someone whom she was so close to... made her grip her broom even tighter.

Open.

[Dante Vroom]

The day was rainy, the month had been cold. And the year...was not a complete loss. His family was one issue, and school was another. Some of it he could control, but the rest of it was completely out of his reach, and the thought that he had no choice in the matter is what worried Dante the most. The only option available was the abandon those he cared the most about, his family, his brothers. Most importantly though was getting away from his parents. Forever? Perhaps, but he could not live in that environment any more. The lies he had lived under for all those years, how could he trust them again?

The answer was that he could not, there was a limit to his ability to forgive apparently, and it took his family to find it. So he sat by a window in the Ravenclaw's tower looking out at the rain. He listened to the sounds of rain were welcome, but also the sound of restless students romping around the commons. The sound was rather irritating, the sheer joy that they could get by doing nothing. It did not make sense to Dante, they were not achieving anything, they were not even trying. They were doing nothing, no mental focus in it this was no chess game they were playing. It was not even a simple card game. He had to get out of there.

That was when the walk began, or at least it is when his body followed what his mind had been doing all that time before. That was two hours ago, and his appearance was proof of that. He was soaked head to foot, his puffy blue coat had become heavy with water, gaining several pounds as the walk had progressed. His jeans had turned two-toned in the water, as it had somehow seemingly climbed up the legs, almost halfway up his shin was drenched. His shoes were soaked from the puddles he had walked through rather than go around. They made loud squishing sounds as he walked. His hair was plastered to his head, some strands just hinting at going over the tops of his eyes. It was time for a hair cut, but not the best time to realize it.

He wanted to continue walking though, it seemed like stopping now made little sense. But as he did, he caught a glimpse of something just a bit away. Someone was riding a broom out in the rain. But who? Picking up the pace he made his way over to where the figure was flying, and looked up. Waving he tried to get the attention of the person flying the broom so well. In his time with Quidditch he had gotten a lot better with a broom. Though he was fairly sure this person was better than he. “Hey!” he shouted, “you're pretty good.”

[Delilah Morine]

Delilah was starting to forget her small painful thoughts that festered in the back of her mind. She even started laughing a little as the rain hit her face hard and make it so cold that she could barely feel her hands around the broom. She twisted and turned through the tall trees branches, not so much going fast as a bullet, but fast enough to feel a bit of danger: to feel alive. This was her love of flying, it could help her release her pain, and feel joy in life again, even though she was crying, there was no time to wipe her cold, probably red cheeked, face.

The tiny Head Girl spotted someone else. Who would be crazy enough to be out here in this weather? Besides her any how... She hovered only for a moment before deciding she didn't care who it was, because chances of them talking to her were slim to none. She dances amongst the almost bare branches, and even flew upside down for a while, facing the ground underneath her. She furrowed her eyebrows at the site of this other person now running towards her, waving like a mad man. She grinned her crooked grin and made herself to be right side up. "Dante? That better be you complimenting me, or I'm gonna have to smack you." She said, jokingness obviously in her voice.

She made her broom stick suddenly plummet to the earth below her, and just in front of Dante. She hoped he would think she would crash into him, she enjoyed scaring her friends every now and again, but she landed swiftly on her feet, just in front of him. Delilah laughed lightly and took a step back, looking herself up and down and then Dante up and down too. "You know, I probably should have worn a jacket myself..." She said, only now noticing her totally, and completely, soaked through green hoodie, which looked more black than green at this point. "Although it doesn't seem to be helping you." She said, poking his left arm, watching as the jacket gave way to the weight of her finger. "That thing must weigh a tonne by now." She said, grinning, and sniffing through her nose. Yep, she was definetly getting sick.

"So what possessed you to come out here my Ravenclaw friend?" Delilah asked, finding it ironic that she was wishing to find a friend to chat with, and now here Dante was. Life had a way of perking you up when you least expected it. Delilah thought Dante would have to be pretty desperate to get away from the castle, just as she was. Not many were willing to venture out in weather like this. She also found it funny that their conversations mostly revolved around Quidditch and all it's happenings, perhaps something else would come up in conversation today.

[Dante Vroom]

“That better be you complimenting me, or I'm gonna have to smack you.”
Delilah? The Head Girl was out on a broom in the middle of a rainstorm. Perhaps it made sense that the Head Girl could get away with such feats. He had enjoyed that he knew both the Head Girl and Boy, and many of the Prefects. It felt less like a job and more like a perk. “Why wouldn't a compliment be sincere?” he muttered to himself. At the risk of being smacked he decided to keep the comment to himself.

He had not seen the girl in quiet some time. Well, not seen her outside of random occurrences where they had not really had a chance to talk. Maybe a nod of his head as they walked past each other in the halls, or a smile in the Great Hall. But nothing more than that. There were the meetings with the rest of the Prefects and the Heads, but nothing was done there outside of business most of the time.

He watched as the broom dove toward him, just staring at it and trying to figure out where she would land. It was tough with the rain hitting his face as he looked up. She closed the distance rather quickly, and Dante was quick to take one step back in order to make sure he was not going to be in the way. He showed little more expression than that, he might have blinked as she got closer, but there was not much he could do about such a reaction. It almost made Dante wish he had brought his broom out. Then they could both fly.

She stood before him and poked at his soaked coat. Dante could only let out a laugh at the remark, “yeah it seemed like a good idea at the time.” He pressed the arms of the coat onto his chest and squeezed the water out of it. It leaked out of both sides, so now his t-shirt was soaked as well. “There, now it's a little lighter” he said with a smirk. He had completely pushed out most of the environment while he had been walking. The grey sky, the cold wind, the rain, even the weight of his coat had faded as he been walking. He could not even remember where he had been, it was like he had gone into some automatic forward motion, and just now he began to realize it all. One of the joys of being able to get lost in his own thoughts, he could accidentally shut out everything negative around him.

“So what possessed you to come out here my Ravenclaw friend?”
Dante could recall another Slytherin asking the same question of him once, and in a similar situation. A rainy day where he was out thinking of what needed to be done. And again it was all about the family. Maybe in a different way than before though. Sometimes he hated to share information with people. He was always willing to hear about other peoples problems, but when it came to his own, no one should be bothered.

“Oh you know, just seemed like a good time to think...” he trailed off. It was a similar answer to the one he gave Connor. Dante was disgusted with it, the answer was just something to hide behind. It said nothing of what he was actually thinking, it did not even hit the root of the thought, it just said that there was a thought and it was something he focused on while walking in the rain. Perhaps he should be more open, what did he have to lose? Delilah was his friend wasn't she? He thought so. But what if she didn't want to hear about it all? Perhaps he could adjust the story he was ashamed to tell.

“Think about my family” he paused, was he really going to say it? “Problems.” It felt better to even say that much, and he let out a smile. Probably odd to see when talking about family problems, but even the simple acceptance and sharing of that information was a relief for the Ravenclaw. “How about you?” raising the hood of his coat as he continued, “it's not the best weather for flying.”

[Delilah Morine]

Once Delilah spoke, Dante seemed a little disheartened, and she struggled to hear what he had said over the pitter patter of the sudden October rain fall. She shrugged it off and kept her smile on, she didn't mean anything harsh by her sarcasm, but sometimes compliments were unwanted by certain people, but in this case, it was all good. He was a good friend, not some creep, and she would prefer to keep things that way.

Come to think of it, her and Dante hadn't crossed paths like this in quite some time, most likely he was a bit preoccupied with that girlfiriend of his, but that was to be expected, and more than allowed. After all, if Delilah had a boyfriend, she would probably find herself a bit preoccupied as well. But this wasn't the case, and in this case, she didn't mind running into him right at this moment.

Delilah broke out into small laughter, filled with small snorts here and there. This was her signature laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't resist trying to scare you." She said in her usually teasing voice. Delilah watched as he stepped back, laughed, and then proceeded to ring his jacket out, only to have it fill right back up. Delilah grinned and shrugged, "Just face the facts, this weather is bound to make you wet." She said, looking at the hoodie that was literally draped over her skinny body. She still grinned though, she loved the rain, just not usually this cold.

Delilah nooded when he simply said he came out here to think. She nodded and became a tad more serious, but not so much so that it became awkward, but rather to show respect to her friend. She didn't want to pry, but she did long to know what he was thinking, and if it was bothering him, she wanted to help, even if he just wanted to rant or something of the sort.

She was about to change the subject so that he wouldn't feel obligated to go on, but he did just that. “Think about my family... problems.” She looked at him with understanding eyes. Her family was a little off kilter most days, maybe he was someone who understood that kind of home life. She looked away and nodded, "We're in the same boat you and I." She said thoughtfully, and grinned just for the hell of it. "And I'm out here... to forget." She said, because that is what she was trying to do, but it was a bit of an impossibility when the thing you were doing to forget something, only reminded you more of what you wanted to forget.

[Dante Vroom]

A sigh escaped Dante one last time as he recalled the things he had just said a moment before. To think. It was what he did, thought. Sometimes, perhaps he thought to much, perhaps again other times he did not think enough. Usually the later was before he said something, and yet he found he often over-thought inaction. It was a double edged sword, waiting to miss opportunity was what it always seemed to boil down to.

As she had said, Dante had accepted he would be totally soaked no matter what he did now. It didn't matter anyway, he looked up at the sky, the rain hitting all across his face causing him to squint as drops splashed near his eyes. A smirk graced the Ravenclaw's face. Some things did not require thought, the fresh feeling rain brought, the smell of it. Those things could be enjoyed with a blank mind. It was what walking in the rain meant to Dante. It offered an enjoyable means to a painful process.

”We're in the same boat you and I.
Dante brought his gaze back at his friend. The same boat? He had his doubts that they were in the same boat. Similar boats? That was a little more likely in his mind. It was a comforting thought to know he was less alone than he was a moment before. Not much more comforting, but at this point Dante supposed he would take something over nothing. “If only it were that simple.” A flash of discomfort crossing his cleared mind. The image of his mother flashing before him, her smile nothing more than a veil hiding the truth. How could she have lied for so long? How could she have thought it would have been alright to hide the truth from him for over half his life?

”And I'm out here... to forget.”
His head tilted a bit as she spoke again. Perhaps they were even more in the boat together than he had thought. “Forgetting isn't something a person does lightly.” He stated the obvious, forget what? He wondered. If it was anything like his own world she might be trying to forget her family. If they were in the same boat and she was trying to forget it made sense to Dante that she might be trying to forget her family. It all added up in his mind that way. It may have been a stretch and he had no way to validate it without prying, which perhaps would not be the worst thing to do at this point.

There was no simple way to ask though, to ask would be to force her to remember, or to encroach on private matters. But it was the only way he could get the information he seemed to need now. “Forget what? Family?” He said it quickly, almost rhetorically, not expecting anything more than a short answer from the girl. He could not see answering with anything more than a yes or a no, why would others be expected to act differently?

[Delilah Morine]

Delilah stuck her cold hands in her hoodie's front pocket, allowing her broom to fall clumsily to the ground. She was trying to keep her hands warm but seeing as her hoodie was just as soaked as the rest of her, she wasn't really suceeding. She grinned as Dante let his head tilt back, and just enjoy the feeling of the rain. He seemed a little more at ease when he attempted to watch the rain, something she felt too. But she didn't want to look up, because she didn't want the rain to sting her eyes.

Standing here reminded her of a time when she was quite small, and it was storming outside. Delilah's dad had been standing by the window just watching the rain pour, and little Delilah had strolled up to him, trying to see out the window too, but she was far too small to see what her father was seeing. Delilah's dad had suggested that they go outside, and lie down on the cold grass and just let the rain drench them.

Delilah's eyes lit up, and she was the first one outside, giggling as she felt the rain press against her skin. She spun until she was dizzy, and plopped onto the ground, watching the rain against the lightning struck sky. Her father was soon beside her, laughing a deep hearty laugh, and the two of them just lay there with big smiles on their faces, glad to have each other as company.

Delilah closed her eyes and pushed the memory aside, it seemed as though she couldn't get away from her dad, no matter where she went. Dante's voice snapped her out of her little flashback, and she laughed lightly, "Life is never simple." She said thoughtfully, searching Dante's eyes to see if he was hiding anything from her. Eyes never lied. "But maybe that's what makes life worth living." She said, before casting her gaze to the cold ground beneath them. Surely Hogwarts hadn't had this much drama in a long time, and she was starting to wonder how well she knew her friends... And how boring her life would be compared to theirs.

“Forgetting isn't something a person does lightly.” Delilah kept her eyes down and shrugged. "Sometimes it hurts less though." She said, finally looking back at him, obvious pain in her eyes. Her eyes searched his once again as he huridly asked his next question, and she nodded once before looking down again. She knew that not many people had a good relationship with their parents, and she could understand because her mother and herself were complete opposites.

But when it came to her dad and her, they were probably the best of friends, and shared almost everything, including personality, and attitude. Never belittle someone, never look down on someone, and always be a helping hand because the world has enough hands that take and never give. As she searched her mind, she wondered if maybe she hadn't got very close to her friends here at Hogwarts because she always had her dad to return to. Now that she was losing him, she needed friends now more than ever.

Finally realizing that you need to let people in before they let you in, Delilah decided that maybe Dante could be trusted, and she'd never know until she took the plunge, and told him exactly what it was she was trying to forget. "It's my dad..." She said, trying to control her breathing, "he's in a coma." She finished, her voice choking slightly at the end. She couldn't help it, he meant so much to her, and now it seemed like he was leaving her to fend for herself. Delilah felt alone and desserted, and perhaps telling Dante would bring her back to normal, and help her see the value in life.