Raining Cats and Dogs -Reese-

[Nathan Spencer]

(Blegh)

It has been a couple of weeks since he'd dropped the bombshell on Reese. She'd obviously not wanted to speak to him after it so he hadnt pestered her. He'd done as Gray had said, given her space and not mithered her. If she chose not to speak to him ever again he'd have to deal with that somehow. Of course he'd prefer it if she did, but he also wouldnt blame her. He'd turned her life upside down, what did he expect? Her to jump up and down with glee? Of course not. Actually, he'd expected her to hit him, surprisingly she hadnt.

As December rolled on, the holidays came and went and with it the snow. He hated this time of year, but he was looking forward to going back. More to see if Reese had calmed down. He'd gotten her a present, one he knew she wouldnt refuse even if she didnt want to speak to him again. A small wickerwork basket was underneath his arm, it was making a very strange noise too. "What have you got in there?" Someone asked Nate to which he simply smiled at.

He found a Gryffindor girl and handed her the basket. "Take that to Reese Mackenzie for me please. And give her this." Nate looked at her with a smile and withdrew from his robes a note. With that he walked away. The note simply said: I hope you had a good christmas. Its not much and I'm not trying to buy your affections or forgiveness... but Merry Christmas.. Love Nate.

With that, Nate left to go and relax on the courtyard in the snow. He placed his robe on the floor and traced an outline of a wolf in it before brushing it away. Amazing how something that wasnt his fault could cause so many problems. Nate felt strange though when Reese had walked away from him, almost like she was taking a fundamental part of him with her, something he was sure he couldnt get back even if he tried. Still, the kitten...

It was only about a month old, ginger, black and white and nobody had chosen it. Nate, having felt sorry for it bought her, making a mental note of giving it to Reese as a present. He knew her loving nature would come in handy for it, it looked like it needed a caring owner. Or maybe it was just because he'd never stopped thinking about her. Nate was in love with the girl, he tried not to admit it cause it only made it harder to let her go and not chase her. But he couldnt help how he felt and now, because of it, he'd gone back to being alone, short answers and pushing people away.

He should have known a Werewolf couldnt have a normal happy relationship.

[Reese Mackenzie]

Just like any other year Reese had spend the holidays with Graham and his mother. Only this year she hadn’t been as excited as she usually was. She decorated the house, cooked with Graham’s mother, bought each of them a present and helped with whatever else that needed to be done. But her Christmas spirit had not been there this year. Neither had been her warm smile. Both had vanished when she’d gotten her heart broken. And this time it seemed that the glue Graham had tried to use to fix her heart, wasn’t sticking that well.

Most of the time she’d spend on her own, reading, writing in her journal or just looking through the window. Admitting it was hard but she missed Nathan. He had been on her mind a lot even if she knew that he shouldn’t be. Reese had been in love with him, currently still was in love with him, but got her heart broken by him. It wasn’t about the fact that he was a werewolf. Sure, that was a bit scary but he hadn’t hurt her nor had she felt threatened by him. The former however had eventually happened in the form of him lying to her, hiding things from her and by him being the one who had hurt Graham.

To hear that had been too much at the time. And now that she had gotten used to the idea it just hurt. Reese wasn’t sure what to do. She wasn’t mad at Nathan anymore. Right now she was just mad at herself for letting him be able to hurt her. And she missed him. Reese missed his voice, the way he used to look at her, the soft touch of his hand on her lower back when they walked through the halls together, his smile, the way he made her laugh and the soft kissed he sometimes gave her. She wasn’t, however, going to admit that to him. Not while she wasn’t sure anymore how he felt about her.

She wasn’t going to make a fool out of herself. Not again.

Reese had been laying on her bed when a younger Gryffindor girl suddenly appeared besides her, holding a basket. “Hey Mary, what’s up?” As an answer she got a note pressed in her hands. The girl placed the basket on her bed and then giggled, before she ran away. After reading it Reese was both surprised and both disappointed. She had never expected to get this…basket from Nathan. Not that she knew what to do with it but apparently he wanted to make up for everything? But, she was a little disappointed that he hadn’t given it to her himself. That would have meant way more to her than a gift.

Then the basket made a sudden noise and started to move. Not more than ten seconds later Reese found herself to be holding a little kitten. And for the first time in a long time, a warm smile made it to her lips. After playing with the little cat she decided to name Vixen, Reese charmed her bed in such a way that the little animal wasn’t able to leave. It had fallen asleep on her pillow and since it was so little Reese was worried it might fall off and hurt itself.

After asking a round for a bit, Reese found out Nathan had gone outside about half an hour ago. A group of girls near the great doors had told her they hadn’t seen him come back in. Even if Nate and her weren’t on great terms she knew she couldn’t be rude and not thank him for the present. It went against her nature to pull something like that, so after bundling up, Reese made her way outside. Unlike him she wouldn’t send a note but just thank him in person. By now he should know she disliked notes, but apparently he didn’t.

It didn’t take her very long to find him hanging out at the courtyard. A faint teasing smirk appeared on her lips when she picked up two handfuls of snow. Packing the snow together Reese held a decent medium sized snowball in her hands. Without warning she aimed at him and then threw the snowball.

She wasn’t mad at him anymore. She was just a girl with a broken heart….

[Nathan Spencer]

He hadnt really been thinking about giving her the present himself, he'd thought she wouldnt want to see him. He couldnt blame her, the bombshell he'd dropped on her wasnt small. He couldnt handle it half the time and he'd had years to get used to it. Reese had had weeks. It wasnt going to just suddenly dissapear with a smile and a glance. or a kitten. He'd, in one night, destroyed everything, and he'd done one hell of a job doing it. Could he have destroyed his own happiness more completely? He doubted it.

Nathan spent most of the morning walking around idly, his thoughts jumping from one extreme to the other. But nothing in the world could make him feel worse than he did right now, than he had all break. His parents had noticed a sizable change in his attitude. He didnt tell them what he'd done, his father was just overcoming his only son being a werewolf, Nate didnt need to burden him with the fact he'd bitten another student. He'd have dragged him out of Hogwarts faster than anything. Seconding that thought; maybe he should have done. At least Reese wouldnt be forced to look at him anymore.

Laying down in the snow, allowing the cold sensation to trickle over him, he stared up into the grey skies. He hadnt seen Gray since he'd been back, he'd avoided Ryan like the plague. If anyone looked at him in the wrong way it took all of Nate's self control to not hit them or worse. He didnt want to make this situation any more worse than it already was. And he was sure hitting some idiotic first years would really lower his chances at ever finding any form of happiness.

SPLAT!

Nate jumped up and looked around, looking for the source of the moron who thought it funny to throw a snowball at him. He turned around and came face to face with...

A smiling Reese. Nate found himself just staring, open mouthed as though he couldnt believe what he was seeing. And part of him couldnt. Looking at her, he found his tongue, but pulled his robe further around him. "What are you doing?" He asked, though his eyes not meeting hers. He looked a little tired, his skin was paler than usual and sallow looking. Nathan couldnt say anything else, instead he just looked at the floor. For now, silence was probably the best option, at least he wouldnt end up running on and not really knowing what he was saying. "... Merry Christmas." He finished, with as much tone as he could muster.

[Reese Mackenzie]

When Reese had a soft spot for someone it often meant that no matter how mad or upset she would be at that certain someone, she’d still have a special place for them in her heart. The same applied for Nathan even if it made things difficult to deal with. Of course that piece of information was top secret and would not be shared with anyone. Especially not with Nathan. He didn’t deserve to know such things about her. At least not anymore. Besides, she’d already felt humiliated enough and didn’t feel the need to intensify that feeling even more.

There was nothing left to do then to forget about Nathan. To move on and push away the feelings she obviously still had for him. The only problem was that part of her did not want to do so. There was still this idle hope that maybe, after all, he did feel the same for her as she did for him. Even if it was fake hope, Reese just couldn’t let go of him. Not just yet.

The snowball had been aimed perfectly and Reese felt actually proud for a moment! She contemplated throwing another one but refrained from doing so. Nathan would probably not appreciate it all that much if she made him her living target. Even if it would be highly entertaining. Reese shrugged lightly at his question, “It’s called having fun Nathan. You should try it sometime.” Apparently he didn’t like a snow fight?

Reese made her way to a nearby bench and sat down on the backrest. She settled her feet on the sitting area of the bench and then took her gloves off. “I ehm, wanted to thank you for the present. It really wasn’t necessary but it was very sweet of you. So, thank you. I called her Vixen.” Her eyes wandered up towards Nathan, who seemed to be staring at the snow. He looked downright bad but she didn’t say anything about it. What was the point?

She sighed, softly, running a hand through her hair. It felt slightly uncomfortable to be sitting here, talking to him again. “I’m not mad at you Nathan. It’s okay to look at me…” It was obvious he was not looking at her on purpose and it bothered her. It was rude.