new beginnings {nix}

[nixnight]

Nix felt her common crash of heat and sickness at sterlings comment, he had a fair point in his words but they were still words that scared her. She knew she would had to face her child sooner or later but she had been avoiding all the tests and such needed and didn't even know it's gender yet, she knew it would all be fine is she saw her child but before she could see them, it only worried her.

She looked around the other tables where other students were ordering their meals and she shook her head at herself, she could be sensible and order the meat she knew she needed or do as her baby asked and order some cake. But she was rather sick of cake, "lamb chops" she said with a small sigh of defeat before she looked down to actually see the meal appear on her plate. "your right, and I don't to know it or think about it but you are right about it" she said in a slightly smaller voice before she leaned a little to reach past herself and reach something to actually allow her to eat her meal

[sterling]

Sterling bit his lip a little bit, it seemed that he had said the wrong thing for the situation. He hadn't thought that Nix would react that way. He would have to fix it somehow, though he had no idea what to do with himself now. Why did this have to be so difficult? Then again, Sterling felt that social things were never simple, which was probably why he had settled somewhere into the middle grounds of the Hogwarts social ranking. Sterling wasn't terribly popular, but he wasn't completely unknown either. It was a spot that he liked, it was comfortable there.

Sterling turned to his own plate and requested salmon before looking back at Nix,wishing he had something to say that would take that look out of her eyes. He wanted to see her smile again, she of all people needed a little happiness in her life. He found that his normally impressive vocabulary was failing him. "You know you can ask if you need anything, right?" said Sterling after what felt like a semi-awkward pause. For the life of him he couldn't come up with anything lighthearted to say, so he figured that might take conversation in a more positive direction than what he had said.

[nixnight]

Nix heard sterling speak and her felt her heart crash, her mind told her to ask for a hug and for him to send Tain a message telling him he had only 6 more weeks to make his mind up about if he wanted a life with his own child. But she knew she wouldn't get anywhere like that, "if I needed something then I'd make sure to ask" she lied before her plate gave a little shudder and her meal appeared before her. Her chest gave a sickening heave and she shook her head ,"there's carrots as well and cake after, picky...." she muttered down before flicking her fork in her fingers like she would normally do with her wand.

She had managed to reach down to spear a baby carrot when she felt her stomach move and she dropped the fork, her hand shot down and she felt the familiar bumps against it and her face went red. She was never ready for when the baby did this and it always made her jump and fall over or break something, but atleast she now knew what the feeling was once her hand was over the small kicks that bump against it. She lifted her other hand away from her plate and rested it on the table while she tried to calm herself down again ,"hold my hand, please" she said in bare a whisper as she felt her child kick again

[sterling]

Sterling only nodded, though he thought he saw something in Nix's eyes, something that told him that she did need something, though she seemed reluctant to share what that was. For not the first time he wished that he could read minds, Sterling wanted to fix whatever her problem was. But the fact that there was likely nothing he could do frustrated him, there wasn't anything he could beat up for her. And there were those feelings again, they were almost shockingly primal to Sterling, like something the early people might feel, rather than him, thousands of years later. He busied himself with his food to mull over the silence.

It was better than usual, not the Hogwarts food was ever bad, but one could tell that the house elves had put extra effort into this meal. Sterling looked at Nix skeptically when she so violently reacted to something that he had not been able to see, he frowned, a bit concerned- but nonetheless reached across the table and took Nix's hand at her request. "You okay?" asked Sterling, certain that his concern was obvious, if not in his tone than in his eyes.

[nixnight]

Nix felt sterlings hand take hers and she bit down on her lip and then took a deep breath in, "I'm just not good and hiding when it reminds me that it's still here" she said in a soft voice before she couldn't help flex out her other hand over her stomach. The bumps were always in the same places pretty much and she knew they only lasted minutes at the most but she still was never ready for them. "it's kicking me" she said in simple summary before she considered actually letting him feel it, but she didn't feel right with the dreams in her head and then letting him so close to her that she wouldn't be able to hold herself in place.

So she relaxed her hand forcibly and then pushed softly against his fingers to try and fake that she was ok again now, she lifted her other hand from her stomach and reached for her fork again before jabbing the same carrot and hoping it would stop kicking soon and allow her just one night off

[sterling]

Sterling listened, not quite sure what to say in response. It seemed to him that girls spoke in code quite frequently, one that could seemingly be understood only by other girls. He nodded, however, even if he wasn't completely sure what she had meant by that. He took another piece off his salmon, he swallowed when Nix explained that the baby was kicking her. Now her previous statement made more sense to him. Sterling supposed that it must be a very odd sensation indeed, perhaps comparable to eating an enlarged peppermint toad. If there was a sweet Sterling avoided, it would have to be those.

He hated the way they moved about in his stomach, like he really had eaten a live toad rather than candy. Sterling didn't care much for chocolate frogs either, though at least they didn't move after they had been consumed. He continued to hold Nix's hand atop the table, it felt right in his grasp. Sterling couldn't explain it, but it did.

[nixnight]

Nix managed to relax her hand in the grasp of her date and while a large part of her wanted to draw away and allow him a chance to not need to worry over her, a smaller but stronger part of her wanted to be held and this was all she could have. Her meal was now quickly disappearing as she had a habit these days of eating and then needing more food only hours later and now was one of those times. But she did note her portion seemed bigger than most but she knew the house elves knew about her "little issue" so she put it down to that.

She only felt ill when it came to the cauliflower which wasn't all that odd, she hadn't like it before and now it just seemed the smell made her feel sick so she look another bite of meat and then knocked the vegetable from her plate on to a napkin and left it there while she finished her meal

[sterling]

Sterling wished that he knew what to say, as he was currently clueless. He should have thought something out, he wanted this evening to be fun for her, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Nix was under a good amount of stress. She of all people needed something like this so she could forget about life for a little. He continued to hold her hand, unsure of whether or not he should let go, though kept quiet and continued to eat with his fork in his free hand. Sterling found that in the silence he was eating everything, even the vegetables he might normally leave untouched.

It wasn't that he didn't like them, Sterling would usually eat whatever was put in front of him, though vegetables were never something he looked forward to eating. He laid down his fork to take a sip of water, beginning to feel a little awkward- he hoped he might be able to fix that.

[nixnight]

Nix soon found an empty plate before her and she reached out to a goblet that say in front of her and she looked in it, water. She couldn't help but dip a hand in to her shoe and took out her wand, she had made a little slip in the side of it to hide her wand so she could have it with her still.

She tapped the side of her glass with a little murmur before the water turned murky and she grinned and then stuck her wand back in her shoe, "it's not wine, it's just butterbeer....and it's only a little" she said with a little smile as she picked the goblet up. She was not getting drunk, as butterbeer took a long time and larger amount to get drunk. She just needed something stronger than water at the moment

She soon noticed that other people were moving away from their plates and tables and were beginning to move towards the dance floor, no one was standing on it yet though. Everyone was just standing around and waiting for someone else to move forwards, nix wondered if someone would move soon. She sort of wanted to be the one to get up and move first but she didn't want sterling to feel out of place

[sterling]

Sterling looked over at Nix when she explained that she had simply changed her water from water to butterbeer. That it wasn't wine and she was only having a little. He didn't really think that it was his place to judge anyway, and he supposed a little bit of butterbeer never hurt anyone. Unless that someone in question was a house elf. Sterling figured someone would make themselves sick trying to get drunk off butterbeer, it was very weak- though at the same time very filling, it wasn't something you could go through a lot of without feeling full.

"I wasn't questioning you," said Sterling simply, as if he haadn't noticed. He probably wouldn't have if Nix hadn't said anything. He sipped his own wateer, looking down at his cleared plate. He half-wondered what sort of wonderous desserts the house elves might send up as the night wore on, but now it appeared that things were getting set up for dancing, so he would have to wait and see that later. Sterling looked over at Nix, her gaze was traveling over to the dance floor, did she want to dance? Was he supposed to ask? His lack of experience was showing...

"Did you want to...?" asked Sterling, tilting his head toward the empty floor as they started playing music although nobody was dancing yet. He was fine with whatever Nix wanted, he intended to make this evening all about her.

[nixnight]

Nix snapped her gaze back to sterling and then she smiled softly ,"I just find it annoying that no one has the guts to be the first, so I want to show them all up" she said with a small laugh which shocked even her a little. It seemed she was managing to enjoy herself a bit. She twisted round in her chair so she could stand up and then watched as eyes twisted to her as she stood up as straight as she could, the potion was beginning to wear off now and she could see the bump was slightly bigger than it had seemed before but she was actually happy so she was ignoring it for now. "you want to be the one to lead?" she asked as she turned away from the stares and back to her friend, he still hand on of her hands in his grip so she knew that either of them could lead the other but she also knew some guys were odd about having to be in control

[sterling]

"Right, I understand," said Sterling, standing up at the same time as Nix, her hand still in his. Hopefully, just hopefully, he might be able to turn the evening around into something fun for his date. "Just friends," remember? his conscience piped up. He didn't want to make things awkward. He looked back to Nix when she asked if he wanted to leave. "'Tis customary, Miss Night," Sterling said in a mock formal drawl, adding a bow. Sterling had learned to dance, his mother had insisted on it- much to the dismay of his father, of course, but to him it would seem awkward taking a more passive role while dancing. Sterling lead Nix to the floor, giving her hand a quick squeeze.

[nixnight]

Nix chuckled softly at sterlings comment and then waited for him to begin to walk before following slowly after him and then she walked through the crowds around the dance area. She found herself sniggering as the stepped out on the the pale tiles and then she felt her hand squeeze, she looked down at it and then at sterling and she smile softly as they paused for a moment. Nix did know how to dance but she wasn't amazing at it, she knew she was earning plenty of glares currently for her boldness and dress so she needed to try to expel some of them. She knew what to do so waited until their was a decent gap in the music and then she shifted her hand to his shoulder and chuckled a little, atleast it was turning out to be a fun day

[sterling]

Sterling couldn't help but smile, he could already see the improvement in Nix's mood, perhaps this had been the right thing to do after all. He placed his hand at her waist, being mindful of her bump as not to draw her attention back to it. With another smile back at Nix, Sterling began to lead them in a dance suited to the speed of the music. He could feel eyes turning in their direction, and while that normally might have made him uncomfortable, Sterling didn't really notice. He wasn't paying attention to them, he was paying attention to the lady he was dancing with. He already felt the awkwardness melting away, Sterling just hoped they wouldn't be the only ones on the dance floor after a little while.

[nixnight]

Nix smiled a little as she felt a small tug on her waist as sterling began to dance and she quickly shook her head from it's smug thoughts and started to follow his lead, she could hear sniggering coming from behind her but then she saw another ravenclaw break through the crowd with a hufflepuff at his hand. Nix almost sighed in relief as Martin gave her a small smile and then grace even waved to her before the two made her professional faces and began to dance which nix started to laugh at. This was the first time she had seen any of her adoptive siblings since she had told Tain of the baby and it seemed that atleast two of them were fine with it, she didn't know about Kevin or Maya though and that was a little worry.