friends {sulu}

[prudence]

Prudence sat on the couch facing the fireplace in the living room, for once since summer had started excited. She had invited Sulu to come and visit her via Floo powder, though she imagined they wouldn't be hanging around the house for too long. She was getting sick of the place already, ever since she had come home her father hadn't allowed her to go anywhere, insisting she needed the time to recuperate. Which for Prudence had been the truth, she felt stronger now, back to her usual still illness-prone self. But the stamina she had lost during her breakdown in April had returned for the most part. She absently played with the hem of her skirt, it was knee-length of a flowy blush-hued fabric, one of her favourites for summer. Prudence had paired it with a cream sleeveless blouse and simple brown flip flops.

She sighed, the house was far too quiet. Her father had already left for work, leaving her the only person in the house. Though at least she had her whited-haired, blue-eyed Persian Harmony, who had just padded into the room looking just as pompous as usual. "Come here, you," Prudence said softly, patting her knees as an invitation for her cat to come up. Harmony didn't need telling twice, lightly jumping into her owner's lap and allowing herself to be scratched behind the ears. "Who's a pretty kitty?" said Prudence as she stroked Harmony who settled into a quiet purr, her eyes turning to slits of pleasure.

Prudence, however, did not have the opportunity to answer her own question as emerald green flames had suddenly erupted into the grate. She smiled gently, knowing that it had to be Sulu. Perhaps they might actually be able to do something fun.

[merlin2]

Sulu stood in his living room staring at the fire place feeling unsure of what he should do. He should be climbing into the fire right about now to meet up with Prudence but now that it was time he wasn't so sure. Sulu should be working and cleaning the house instead. His mother had proved to be more useless then he had originally thought she would be and had slowly let the house fall apart. Sulu did his best in his spare time by cleaning up as best he could and working at a muggle cafe the rest of his time but Sulu just couldn't do it himself it seemed. School had let out only a month ago and already Sulu wished it would start back up again. He felt so tired and haggard living at home. Since coming home he had lost weight and dark bags had formed under his eyes. Sulu wasn't sure he should face anyone looking the way he did.

Taking a deep breath, Sulu shook his head. He had gotten dressed up for this day and wasn't going to back out now. With a basic charm Sulu had put some color back into his skin to make him look healthier and hid the bags under his eyes. He had found his cleanest clothes that weren't tattered or holey like most of his other clothes were. Sulu had managed to find a pair of blue jeans, a dark gray hoodie that went over a plain white t-shirt and some decent boots that weren't to old. Today would be a good day to relax and remember that he was still a teenager and needed to enjoy life.

Feeling a little cheered up by his little mental pep talk, Sulu adjusted his black dutch captains hat before stepping towards the fire. Taking a pinch of floo powder, Sulu throw the powder into the fire and called out the address before walking into the fire. The warm tingling feeling of the fire licking him as he stepped in was the only pleasant part of taking floo. Everything that followed the initial step was always unpleasant. Next thing that Sulu knew he was being jerked along at a horrible fast speed. He could feel his stomach twisting in on itself as he was rushed forward. Before he could even get used to the sensation of being pulled along he was at his destination and stumbling out of Prudence's fireplace.

Taking a deep breath, Sulu stood up and brushed the soot off of his shoulders. Smiling he looked to see Prudence sitting waiting for him with a white fluffy cat on her lap. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting," Sulu said uncertainly. He was a little late because of his earlier uncertainty and hoped Prudence hadn't really noticed.

[prudence]

Prudence smiled when Sulu practically tumbled out of her fireplace, spilling ash and soot onto the rug, looking very much like a chimney sweep. "Oh no, not at all," said Prudence, she didn't mind that he had taken a few extra minutes. They were just going to be hanging out together that day, there wasn't really a specific time frame for anything, at least not in Prudence's mind. Of course it would probably be best if he left before her father got home- he would immediately jump to conclusions and likely ban her from spending time with him again.

Scooping up Harmony around the middle, Prudence stood up and then deposited the cat on the couch cushion where she had been sitting. The Persian mewed quietly, as if offended, but laid there all the same- seemingly expecting to be doted on again. Prudence really did love her cat, she gave her company especially during the summer when she was alone in the house all day. "Oh, you're all covered in soot," said Prudence, half-smiling, she knew all too well that particular inconvenience of traveling by Floo- but it was pretty much her only way of getting around since her father very seldom took her anywhere.

She stood on tiptoe to reach a clothesbrush on the mantle beside the urn which held their glittering Floo powder and was barely able to grab it before needing to stand flat on her feet again. She offered the brush to Sulu, figuring it was a little too intimate for her to do it, they were just friends. "Here," said Prudence, "it's enchanted so it takes care of the stains, too." If it weren't against the law Prudence might have done a quick charm, but she still had the Trace on her, and did not fancy the idea of getting into that kind of trouble.

Not wanting to be overbearing Prudence took half a step back, though truth be told she was more than happy to see her friend again. It hadn't really been that long, though she wasn't used to being all alone throughout the day. The piano and her violin as well as her books and paints kept her entertained, but she had been craving the socialization of being around her friend. Now that she had gotten a good look at him, Sulu seemed different from when she had last seen him. Thinner. Perhaps he had been ill? Not wanting to pry, she decided not to inquire. "It's good to see you again," said Prudence.

[merlin2]

"Thanks," Sulu said as he accepted the brush and started to remove the soot from his clothes. That was the trouble with using the floo network, one always ended up dirty after the trip. Sulu looked forward to the day that he could just disaparate and reaparate without a second thought. Then he wouldn't need to go through the floo ever again!

Once he was dusted off he placed the brush where he had seen Prudence take it from. With that done Sulu looked around the room he stood in. He should have looked around to see where he was and what all was in the room but Sulus eyes naturally fell onto the cat that lay on the couch. With a soft smile, Sulu bent down and let the cat sniff his finger tips before starting to pet the fluffy animals head. "Now aren't you a pretty one," Sulu murmured to the purring cat. He'd hate to be the one that needed to groom her. With all the long silky hair Sulu doubted it was an easy job.

"So, you have any ideas of what we should do?" Sulu asked as he continued to pet the cat. He hadn't come here with any preplanned ideas figuring that they would just see where the day took them. Sulu had just needed to get out of his mess of a house and away from his problems for a day. He didn't want to be the one to plan everything out and make sure that everything went smoothly. Today was a day to be enjoyed with a friend. If Prudence had plans she wanted to go do then Sulu was up to it or they could stay inside all day, Sulu didn't honestly care.

[prudence]

Prudence nodded, taking another half step back to give Sulu ample space in which to dust himself off. Perhaps they should just stay there, rather than going all the way to Diagon Alley. It was a long way to travel there from her home, it tended to make her feel even more ill than usual. Her father usually kept a few vials of anti-motion sickness potions in the cabinet in the bathroom, though the taste of them was so awful that to Prudence it seemed hardly worth taking it. As long as Sulu was fine with hanging around the place she would like to stay.

It was a Victorian-era house, old, though it was kept in excellent repair by her father who certainly knew his way around home-improvement spells. But it still had the old-fashioned charm, spiral staircases, a conservatory, a library, and even a secret passage behind a bookshelf embedded in the wall. "She is," said Prudence with a smile, "sheds like none other though." She directed her gaze down to her own clothes to find them dusted with pure white cat hairs. She dusted herself off a bit, though the fur had an annoying habit of tightly clinging to fabric. At least it wasn't as noticeable as when she was wearing her black school robes.

"I don't have anything specific to accomplish," said Prudence with a small shrug. She could give Sulu a tour of the house, which in and of itself would take them a little while. There were a lot of nooks and crannies that could only be accessed by specific doors, staircases, and hallways. Or they could perhaps walk the grounds, which included stables. They were empty, however, as Prudence was frightened of being up close with horses. She didn't mind watching them, but never wanted one of her own. "But you're the guest, what would you like to do?" asked Prudence, figuring it would only be polite of her to ask what Sulu wanted.

[merlin2]

Sulu grinned and nodded in understanding. His own cat was a short hair yet she still managed to shed white hair every where she went. But he hadn't come here to talk about cats and hearing that Prudence didn't have any plans ether Sulu figured he might as well think of something they could do. He had just gone through the floo and didn't feel like going through it again just to go some where so he figured they might as well stay at the house. Thinking about this Sulu realized he'd never been here before and had no idea where anything was. Looking around the current room they were in Sulu felt safe in assuming the house was rather large.

"Feel up to showing me around?" Sulu asked a little shyly. He'd hate to get lost in this place, that would be beyond embarrassing! Sulu knew that the house was located out in the country and wondered just how much of the land outside of the house belonged to Prudence's family. Seemed like it would have been a great place to grow up in.

[prudence]

Although the day had only just begun, Prudence was already glad that Sulu had come over, thus sparing her an entire day of solitude, and likely boredom. Fair enough, she had her instruments, paints, and hundreds of books at her disposal, though she supposed that it was only natural of her to tire of them from time to time. Even more so to get lonely in the old manor without anyone to talk to all day. And the neighbours lived much too far away for comfortable conversation- Prudence couldn't even see her nearest neighbours, owing to the amount of land all the properties had to them.

"Of course," said Prudence, smiling, and glad that Sulu had been the one to suggest it. The tour would take them a little while, mainly because she was somewhat slow on the stairs. Prudence lead the way out of the living room and to the main hallway, which had several doors on both sides, though no open archways. "Erm, washroom and water closet," said Prudence, pointing in turn to two doors across from them. It was an old house, and thus the toilets were always separate from the sinks. "Coat closet," said Prudence, pointing at a door between the front door and the living room, "and then the kitchen and the dining room are at the end of the hall, that door down there leads to both of them."

[merlin2]

Sulu followed Prudence into the hallway and listened intently as she pointed to where each thing was. The location of the sink and toilet only confirmed that this was indeed an older house. Sulu briefly looked down the hall in the direction of the kitchen and dinning room to see the two doorways that would lead to each respective room. Sulu nodded his head as he did his best to catalog and remember each location in his mind. If he remembered everything then he wouldn't get lost and that was what mostly worried Sulu. Remembering hogwarts, Sulu smiled and figured that this house would be a piece of cake when compared to hogwarts. Everyone got lost in hogwarts at least half a dozen times during their stay at the giant castle.

"If you don't mind me asking, just how old is this house?" Sulu asked as way of starting up a casual conversation. Sulu knew that it was old but not how old. Sulu also wondered how long it had been in Prudences family. From Sulu's understand, most old houses were passed along in the family from one generation to the next. But that was normal some sort of tradition within mostly the old pureblood wizarding families...

[prudence]

Sulu seemed as attentive as ever as Prudence explained where the doors on the first floor lead, he probably didn't want to be lost. She herself had grown up in the house her entire life, so she knew the property like the back of her hand. House guests often got disoriented the first time they came by. Though if Prudence was going to be honest, she had never had a friend over to her house before. If there were any visitors they were usually friends of her father's from work. Prudence tilted her head to the side when Sulu asked how old the house was, she didn't know for sure.

"It was built in the early Victorian era," said Prudence, "but I couldn't give you an exact number of years. My parents bought it after they got married." She lead the way to the stairs, allowing Sulu to go first because she was terribly slow on stairs. "It was abandoned for a hundred or so years, but my father fixed it up, and the ministry got the ghosts to leave, so it's nice enough to live in now- but a little big since it's just my father and I." Prudence had not spoken so much in a while, it was nice to have someone to talk to during the day.

[merlin2]

Sulu was somewhat surprised to learn that the house hadn't been in Prudences family long, in fact her parents had been the ones to buy it so the house hadn't even gone through one generation of a family yet. It was sad to hear that instead it had been left alone for such a long period of time. The poor house must of been in horrible condition when Prudences family first moved in. But now the house looked beautiful and it no longer needed to worry about being abandoned again.

Sulu took the stairs quickly, only slowing his movements down so that he could wait for Prudence. Being in such a large house with only them in it almost made Sulu feel like an excited child once more. The wish to go and explore almost overwhelming as he looked up and down the stair case. "The house is beautiful now for sure though," Sulu said. "I've never been in such a large house before though. Reminds me of Hogwarts almost," Sulu said shyly, thinking that such a comparison could be thought of as a little weird. After all, Hogwarts was a castle so there was an obvious difference but Sulu thought the two were similar in how they felt. Both were friendly open places that made people feel comfortable in them despite the large size.

"Are you excited for this coming up school year? Just another two more years and we'll both be graduates," Sulu said, not sure if he was happy or sad by how little time he had left at Hogwarts. Remembering how nervous Prudence had been this past year Sulu bet she'd be happy that the end was near. Just two more years and no more needing to worry about surprise potion exams or NEWTS.

[prudence]

Prudence now found herself leaning on the rail, thankfully there were only a few more steps left to go until the upstairs hallway. The landing creaked slightly as they both stepped onto it, seemingly protesting at the weight of two people at the same time. Strangely enough, from the outside the house looked quite uniform, though once one got to the upper floor it was obvious that it was roughly twice the size of ground level. It had obviously been built by wizards, hence why ghosts had been able to live in the place before her parents had bought it. A quiet twinkling bell alerted her to the fact that Harmony had followed them upstairs.

The Persian mewed at Prudence's ankles, making her roll her eyes, though in more of a playful, affectionate way than one of annoyance. "Oh, all right, then," sighed she, bending at the waist to scoop up her cat. Harmony instantaneously began to purr. "My father is very good with home improvement spells," said Prudence, nodding a bit and smiling, she loved the house even if it got lonely at times. It really was too big for just two people, if she weren't so shy she might suggest they rent out a room or two, but she wasn't fond of sharing her home with strangers.

Prudence smiled softly when Sulu compared the house to Hogwarts, she wouldn't have thought of it that way, though it was a nice compliment all the same. Thankfully, however, everything in the house was quite stationary- the staircases stayed put, the hallways always lead to the same spot. "It's odd to think about," Prudence said thoughtfully, "that we haven't that much time left. But..." she paused a moment, now frowning slightly, "is it wrong to not want to go back?" She loved the castle, she loved her classes, but most of her peers... Prudence would rather avoid them entirely, the previous year had not been good for her socially.

[merlin2]

Is it wrong not to want to go back?

Sulu didn't think so. Or rather he wasn't sure, he knew it wasn't wrong but at the same time he wasn't sure it was right. Even if life at Hogwarts could get rough life outside of Hogwarts seemed worse to Sulu. What was there besides school? Sulu wasn't sure and he knew he wasn't ready yet to be facing the world just yet. Those extra two years at Hogwarts was what Sulu needed to prepare himself, or at least he hoped two years was all he needed. Already he was facing a part of the world but it was different. Having some basic job and helping his mother maintain the house wasn't the same as needing to find your life long career and live by yourself and show the world that you could survive alone.

"I don't think it is wrong," Sulu said uncertainly as he tried to think of a way of putting his thoughts into words that would make sense. "But I guess I'd say that returning to Hogwarts seems like the lesser of two evils. Going back means that I can still think of myself as a kid and not an adult yet. It means I still have time to worry about my future and stuff." Sulu shrugged his shoulders as he figured that was the best he'd get to explaining his point of view.

Sulu wasn't sure if Prudence already had her life plans sorted out for after Hogwarts but Sulu knew he hadn't. He still wanted to be that normal teenager he had always dreamed of being. He had to many care free moments at Hogwarts to want to miss them. If he didn't return to Hogwarts then he'd need to become an adult and Sulu wasn't ready for that type of responsibility.

[prudence]

Prudence realized only after she had spoken that what she said might have had the potential to make Sulu uncomfortable, though he thankfully did not seem too fazed by her words, if only a little uncertain of how to respond. Surely Sulu of all people knew what it was like to be on the wrong side of the social divide in Hogwarts. She knew that he was bullied just as she was, it was difficult, enough so for her to not exactly dread returning to school- but not to be enthusiastic about it, either. It was difficult to be picked on all the time.

"I suppose that I hadn't exactly thought about it that way," said Prudence thoughtfully, though her life was almost planned out for her thanks to her father. He had picked her classes, and had even arranged a trial internship for her in his department for the next summer. He worked for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, primarily in the realm of paperwork rather than actually dealing with things that had been illegally modified by witches and wizards. It seemed exceedingly dull work to Prudence, who fancied herself doing photography for the Daily Prophet, and perhaps some writing, too.

But she couldn't bring herself to tell her father that what he wanted for her wasn't what she saw herself doing. Prudence would likely be stuck there, in a career that she did not want, for the rest of her life- simply because she couldn't stand up for herself. "Shall we continue the tour, then?" said Prudence after a pause, smiling, "erm, another washroom and water closet, guest rooms one, two, and three, my father's bedroom..." She paused in front of the door to what she called her art room, it had the piano, her violin, and all her painting supplies. "I spend a lot of time here," said Prudence, opening the door so they could go inside.

[merlin2]

Sulu was grateful when Prudence wanted to continue the tour. Voicing his own opinion like he had made Sulu feel uncomfortable and fear that he would be judged for his thoughts. Prudence was one of the few friends Sulu could claim to have but not even in front of her did Sulu feel comfortable 'acting like himself'. He wanted her to see him as just a normal person as well. It was an image of perfect balance that Sulu strives for and never stopped trying to achieve.

Walking into the room Sulu stood for a moment as he looked around in surprise. Not only were their the musical instruments but also the most amount of art supplies Sulu had ever seen. Sulu did not have much of an interest in art in general and didn't know what well over half of the items were. He knew the basics like paint brush and paint but that was about it. He could see pictures, both painted and taken by camera, and were awed by the skill used to create them.

"Did you do all of these by yourself?" Sulu asked as he took a step towards one of the smaller paintings to get a better look at it.

[prudence]

Prudence looked to Sulu, to see his reaction to what was her favourite room in the house. It was a little disorganized, but in her mind creativity wasn't supposed to be entirely clean, wasn't supposed to have boundaries. Nevertheless her violin was tucked carefully in its case on a shelf, though she had sheet music for both that and the upright piano strewn about on several surfaces. She had several kinds of paints, ranging from watercolours to oil-based and acryllic. Her collection of paintbrushes of all shapes and sizes was laid out on a small table beside her easel, in no particular order.

"Yes, I did," Prudence said in a small tone, though it was accompanied by a faint note of pride that was almost never present in her voice. Of all the things that she did, Prudence generally felt the most pride in her artwork- whether that be playing her violin or piano, painting or photography. "Except that one," said Prudence after a pause, referring to the painting that Sulu was looking at. That painting of a small stone bridge over a frozen brooke in winter had been painted by her mother. It was the last painting she had made before she passed away.

"My mother painted that one shortly before she died," explained Prudence, and then she swallowed a bit. Her mother's death had been almost ten years ago, making the topic to her feel more like a scar than a wound. If rubbed the wrong way it could still hurt, though Prudence was able to remember the happier things now without pain. Her mother wouldn't have wanted her to be sad forever.