"Ah. You scared me."
Phyton lowered his face shyly and mumbled a "sorry" as he sat down besides Rizeth on her bed. There was a light creaking from the ancient wood and then a sigh.
"You know—" Rizeth began, a teasing smile coming to her lips as she eyed him, "—it's funny. I heard that when a girl enters the boy dormitories nothing happens, but when a boy tries to enter the girl dormitories the stairs turn into a slide and they slip back down."
Phyton forced a smile and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess the castle has a special liking to me, then?" he said.
Rizeth also smiled, but there was a silent pause.
Phyton, his hands resting on his lap as they always did, clenched into fists and as he pinned them tighter into his thighs. Rizeth eyed him with interest, her eyes resting on the side of his face covered by his hair.
"I'm sorry if I scared you."
Rizeth continued to watch him, mostly because she thought she knew what he was talking about, but couldn't be too certain. "You're so weird." she only said.
"—I mean, back in the dining hall." He tried to correct, lifting his face to look at her directly, but then suddenly averting his eyes shyly at her intense look, "—I was just so angry, I didn't want..." He drifted off, but Rizeth knew what he meant.
She wouldn't say it aloud, but she knew 'wimp' must have not been the worst insult Phyton had ever received. When he had been younger Phyton had kept his hair to his waist and was constantly confused to be a girl, but a week before enrolling in Hogwarts he had cut his hair short like a boy.
But his gray eyes were still too sparkly and feminine and his dark gray hair was too silky and shiny and even though it barely reached past his ears he still looked like a girl with short hair. That he had refined manners and a gentle personality only added to this.
Rizeth knew well, that once the other boys and girls confirmed Phyton was in fact not a girl they'd pick on him because he was different. She didn't really think Phyton cared about it, he was used to it. He cared that this time he had been insulted in front of Rizeth.
"I wasn't scared." Rizeth answered him testily, "I was a little amazed, but I wasn't surprised..."
Phyton lifted his face from his lap to look at her directly. He gave her a light and pleasant smile. It was a rare but beautiful sight, it always made Rizeth's insides stir happily.
"Yeah," she continued, the teasing smile becoming more pronounced on her lips, "you've always been a top."
Phyton caught his breath at her words, the serene smile abruptly replaced by a brush of red across his face. "D-don't say it like that!" He cried tensely, covering his face with his hands embarrassed.
Rizeth laughed at him, but before she was finished completely she had clenched her fists to her knees and was leaning forth slightly as if sulking.
"—And about the question I asked you before, I guess I already have my answer, right?" Rizeth continued too softly, making Phyton turn to look at her dark expression concerned.
"What ever do you mean?" he asked her growing uneasy.
"The way you abruptly went off talking about being the successor to the Trancy house—" She paused as if she was uncomfortable, her black eyes tracing their way up the marble flooring as Phyton continued to eye her frowning slightly as if worried, "It just came out of your mouth so naturally, I believe that is where your mind really is, isn't it?"
"What do you mean by that?" he asked her again, as he fidgeted slightly.
Rizeth licked her lips and fixed her eyes on the lamp besides her bed, frowning slightly. "I mean, that it's obvious your main goal in life is to be the head of the Trancy household. Your engagement with me is just a step to that. That means you're nice to me because you know it might benefit you later in life."
Rizeth's voice grew lower and lower and she finally turned to look back at Phyton, her eyes strangely sad.
"Am I wrong?" She ended flatly.
"Mm...!?" He answered caught in alarm by her stare. "I-I uhm—w-well, i-it is im-impo-important, b-but I, uhm..." Phyton drifted off as he turned his face away from Rizeth to grimace to himself as if in pain. He hated himself for not being able to simply say the answer he knew very plainly.
No, he wanted to say, no, Rizeth, you are absolutely and completely wrong. I'm nice to you because I want you to love me.
The only words he did say were not what Rizeth needed. She was breathing in huffs as she watched Phyton's turned head. Her eyes stung. She clenched her fists.
Rizeth... Phyton could only think, since we were kids, when your Mother was murdered by a strange man and you shut yourself in your room and never let anyone get close to you again. Not your Father or any of our cousins or aunts or uncles... You shut everybody out, except me.
What did you see in me? What was so special? Why did you only let me get close to you? Was it because I looked so much like a girl you thought I could never harm you?
It doesn't matter. I don't care.
What is important to me is that even as kids when you pushed me into the dirt, or stole my candy, I was the only one that made you happy. Me, and nobody else.
But somehow... when I watch you walk away my heart becomes sad and I think 'Why can't you belong completely to me?'.
Rizeth stood abruptly from the bed and in what seemed like a lonely expression she crossed her arms over her chest in a self-hug and turned to the wall.
"I'm going to sleep." she told him, her voice flat. "Please leave, Phyton. We'll meet tomorrow."
Phyton turned quickly to look at her, his lips just shaping a "no", but he lowered his eyes to her feet miserably and was silent.
"...O-okay." he said softly and stood from her bed heavily. "G-good night...Rizeth."
"Good night." she almost snapped.
As Phyton walked out, a pair of twins walked in with black bowl cuts and big bows at the sides of their heads, one pink and the other blue.
"Cute guy in the girl dorms!? He was on my bed, Ivanna!" Piped the pink bow happily.
"Shut up, Ikanna. It's only Phyton." Grumbled back the blue bow annoyed.
Rizeth walked to the side of her bed, where she picked up a black furry ball from her pillow with both hands and brought it to her shoulder. With a pleasant chirr chirr an almost round black rat dug in its small fingers into her robe as she turned and started walking out of the room.
"Hey!?" Cried out the pink bow after her as she settled down on her bed, shifting as if it was uncomfortable, "you're gonna get it if Snape finds you out at these hours—" she began, but was cut in by blue bow. "—shut up, Ikanna, you don't even know if she's going outside the common room."
Rizeth shut the door as she left.
"Hehe." As she watched her go, pink bow gave a small amused laugh as she turned to look at her sister on the adjacent bed, a mischievous smile coming to her lips. "Ivanna, lets lock the door when she comes back, give her a good scare or something."
"Shut up, Ikanna." Blue bow only answered flatly. "Go to sleep."