WHO: Lucy Martin & Ben Fenwick
WHAT: A chance meeting in Hyde Park
WHEN: Summer '77
WHERE: Hyde Park
It was a nice day to be out in London. For such a big city, there was relatively little traffic about the streets that day, and so the sidewalks were quieter than usual. That of course meant that in the middle of such a large park as Hyde Park, there was relatively no noise but the sounds of the nature. Which was exactly how Lucy liked it. For the past few hours, the Hufflepuff girl had been sitting on the edge of a fountain in the middle of the park cross-legged, reading a very interesting book about a promiscuous Veela that she had found dropped on one of the floors of Hogwarts before leaving for the summer. It was absolutely fascinating, Lucy thought; there would be much lamentation when she had to give it back to its owner as school began again.
Just as she went to turn another page in the lengthy story, Lucy heard a strange warble from at her feet. Leaning over a bit to look down, there stood a pigeon, staring up at her with big, wide eyes as if questioning what she was doing. The girl smiled gleefully back at the bird--she loved birds! Almost as much as cats and horses and puppies and--
"Oooorh!"
Closing her book and setting it on the side of the fountain, Lucy rested her elbows on her knees to get a better look at the friendly bird. "Do you want to play, little pigeon?" she asked it, in the same tone that one would take when talking to a baby.
"Ooooorh!"
"Of course, that's it! Do you want to dance? I can dance with you!"
Lucy stood up from her sitting position and the pigeon backed up a bit. Then a bit more, as she began to spin in circles, laughing while the bird began to take a bit of a frenzied flight (which was, of course, just it dancing with her) . She continued to spin and spin and spin until she noticed that the pigeon she had been 'dancing' with was no longer there. Lucy halted her dance and looked around, confused, before she felt a wave of dizziness hit her from the prolonged circle-spinning. She stumbled back a step and put a hand to her head, confusion now accompanied by a slight headache.
Contrary to popular belief (or at least, the one his family seemed to adopt), Benjamin Fenwick did not enjoy shopping for clothes with his sisters. It usually involved his sulky side dominating and standing in one of the corners of the shop, impatiently nodding to whatever his sisters were saying and urging them to 'just buy that damn dress' so they could leave. Luckily for him, his sisters became just as impatient, and ended up rushing him out of the London store, telling him that they'll meet him at the park.
He grinned at his new found freedom as he started his way toward Hyde Park, where he'd had a wonderful time with Emmeline not long ago, and even waved at a little kid that had loudly pointed out how tall he was.
However, his good mood was threatening to evaporate once he realized that he didn't really know what to do alone, in Hyde Park. There was no way to contact any of his friends and ask them to come, he didn't have his basketball with him, and the park seemed unnaturally empty. With his brow furrowed, Ben started toward an icecream cart, but changed his mind halfway and decided to go sit by the fountain and torture some ants or something else that bored people tended to do.
Once again, though, he changed his mind halfway and stopped, staring incredulously at a girl who seemed to be... twirling around? Being around a loony was not one of his favorite things to do, and he was about to turn and go for ice cream again when the girl stumbled again, which made him hurry over to her.
"Are you alright?"
Lucy closed her eyes and stayed silent a long moment to break down the last vestiges of the dizziness. When she opened them again, they were bright and happy as ever. Well, that had certainly been fun! "Oooh yes, I'm perfect!" she exclaimed, turning around to face whoever had asked the question. It was a boy, around her age (maybe a bit older), although he was about, like, a gazillion times taller than her. But that wasn't hard--a girl of five foot was usually shorter than most people.
Once she had her thoughts all together, Lucy realized that she recognized the boy from somewhere. Where that somewhere was, however, she couldn't quite tell... Well, the best way to get an answer was to be up front, at least that was what she always said. ...Okay, so maybe she had never said that in her life.
Oh well! Extending a hand enthusiastically, she smiled at Ben. "Hi, I'm Lucy, do I know you?" she chirped.
Ben's eyebrows shot up at her enthusiasm, but not in a necessarily bad way. It was simply that you didn't find people this friendly to practical strangers, especially girls. Usually they'd hit you with their hand bag, or run away screeching if you attempt to introduce yourself. Even his first meeting with his current girlfriend was one of those times he'd given off the 'bad boy' vibe.
"I'm... Ben." He replied with a slight smile, holding his hand out to shake hers. This was definitely curious. "I don't know, maybe? I'm not from London though."
Ben, Ben... oh fiddlesticks, she knew that name from somewhere. The name and the face and then... oh ho! Could that really be; a wizard, here in Muggle London? Bumping into one anywhere in the Muggle world was strange enough, but so randomly, in the middle of such a big park? It must be some sort of destined thing, like in the books she read. Oh, how wonderful!
"Benjamin Fenwick of the house of Gryffindor!" she exclaimed rather suddenly. "My goodness, I just knew that I knew you from somewhere! Why, it's so very pleasant to see you outside of school, Benjamin Fenwick of Gryffindor!"
Ben couldn't help but let out a small laugh at her words, surprisingly impressed by her cheerful, well, silliness. And now that he had a place for that face (a rather pretty face, too), his memory came charging back, and he recognized her as that Martin girl from Hufflepuff. But he couldn't call her that, could he? His brain started clicking, trying to get out of this one smoothly.
"Aye, Miss Martin, it is I, Benjamin Fenwick of Gryffindor, but you may call me Ben." He said finally, grinning playfully at her.
"Aha, so you know I as well!" she said with a grin. She let go of his hand after a final shake and put her hands behind her back in an innocent sort of manner. "You may call me Lucy, Benja--Ben." Lucy was so used to calling people by their full names that it felt rather odd on her tongue to be using a nickname for someone, but she would be happy to attempt and oblige as long as it was a request of the person involved.
Ben. Ben, Ben, Ben. There.
"What are you doing out in the park today, Ben?" she asked, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes a tad in playful suspicion.
He laughed again, even more cheerfully this time, but quickly straightened up and attempted a grave frown, one that suggested how serious he was about answering a question like that.
"I've just managed to escape one of the meanest tortures ever known to mankind, Lucy," He smiled slightly when he said her name, determined not to forget it. "And I happened to stumble upon this lovely park, and well, you know the rest. How come you're here, though? In muggle London?"
"Why, to read in the park," Lucy answered, as if it were obvious. She picked up her book--or whoever's book, because no one really knew, did they?--and displayed it proudly to him. Rather much more proudly than most girls caught with Passion of the Promiscuous Veela would ever dare to display it.
"I found this book at school and I wanted to find a quiet place to read it and I just thought.. why, the park sounds like the perfect quiet place to read a book! And so here I am!" she exclaimed. "I love the park, the animals are so very friendly--did you see that pigeon earlier? He just walked up and asked me to dance with him!"
"Passion of the Promiscuous... the pigeon asked to... what?" Ben might not be one of the brightest minds, but it wasn't the reason he looked so confused. None of what she'd said made sense, or rather, the first part was slightly... unsettling, because a story about a Promiscuous Veela sounded quite dangerous, and the last part was just plain wrong.
But then the option that the blonde girl might've been joking introduced itself, and Ben let out a funny, uncomfortable laugh, just in case.
Not quite sure why Ben was laughing but certain that if he was there must be a good reason behind it, Lucy laughed with him... even if she didn't get whatever astoundingly hilarious joke she had missed.
Lucy tucked the book into her arms tightly and sighed a little, the giggles dying down slowly as she assumed she had given enough of a response to oblige him. "So what is this meanest torture known to mankind that Benjam--Ben has been forced to undergo?" she asked, changing the subject off of whatever had been so funny. "And who would wish torture upon him? Benja--Ben seems like a very nice person to be subjected to any tortures."
Oh good, she was joking. Ben refrained from sighing in relief though, because he knew that it could easily be mistaken as something rude, and he was never rude. Well, not since he'd found out he was a wizard, anyway.
"I won't mind too much if you called me Benjamin." He commented before replying to her question, giving off a kind smile before resuming his playful one. "I'm afraid I've been forced to go shopping with my older sisters, and was demanded to actually give an opinion of every single piece they tried on, which was every single piece in the shop, couple that with every single shop they went into, and there you go. It was truly horrible."
Lucy put on a pout for his sake--Benjamin! Aha, that was so much simpler--and for the terrible torments he'd had to go through. She loved to go shopping and comment on things (although not the couples; that sort of gossip she had never quite understood), but it was in her personal experience that men really didn't like that stuff. Especially when it was as extensive as girls like her liked to make it. Like when her father had taken her out for her birthday and had ended up going to a pub instead... not that she had noticed (the blouse had been pink polka-dotted and sparkly!) for another hour, but she had learned the lesson eventually.
"I'm sorry, that must have been terrible for you," she said sympathetically. Lucy cocked her head to the side a bit. "If Benjamin likes, I can buy him an ice cream to end his suffering. Ice cream always makes things happier, n'est-ce pas?" She gave him a smile and arched her eyebrows in inquiry.
"Mum did give us all, me and my sisters, French names, but none of us speaks the language, I'm afraid." Ben shook his head a little, grinning down at her. How could he not be impressed that she didn't try and convince him that shopping was good, like every other girl he knew would?
"And I think, Benjamin would prefer it if he bought you the ice cream. If you'd let him." What he didn't admit, though, was that his suffering has ended the minute he'd met her. Her carefree personality seemed to put him in an exceptionally good mood, for some reason.
Aha, polite and with a French name, Lucy thought happily as he offered to turn her offer around. Well then, how could she resist, when he was so nice? As airheaded as she may have seemed at times, Lucy wasn't stupid--she knew that most people she met were turned off or freaked out by her overly... special... personality quirks. To find someone that wasn't; well, needless to say, it was worth looking into further.
"Lucy would love if Benjamin would buy her an ice cream," she grinned. "She is impressed by how trés gentile he is!"
"I suppose that means gentle?" Ben grinned, trying not to look too proud about figuring out something that was only too obvious.
He did a flourish motion with his hands toward the ice cream cart, still just as playful. "Shall we?"
"Well, close enough," she told him, waving off the question. Lucy looked off in the way that Ben was motioning and smiled.
"We shall!" the Hufflepuff exclaimed, in the process taking his arm to pull him off in that direction. It wasn't really as affectionate a gesture as most passerbys would think (after all, just a week ago she had done the same to Phil Deverill, whom she had just met while walking the streets of London), more of something she did to all her friends. And if Mr. Benjamin Fenwick of Gryffindor was getting her ice cream, he was definitely a friend!
Apparently, Ben needed to make a mental note to himself, concluding the single fact that this Lucy person wasn't going to stop doing things that might... surprise him. Despite the shock, though, he didn't pull his arm out of her grasp in fear of offending her. So what if she held his arm? It didn't mean anything, because they barely even knew each other.
"What flavor would you like?" He asked as he walked beside her, his free hand fishing for the wallet in the back-pocket of his jeans.
"Mmmm..." Lucy tapped her forefinger on her chin in contemplation. There were just so many wonderful tasty flavors. Like, vanilla was sweet and original and always a good choice... chocolate was sweeter and it was great if you wanted something a bit different... but then there was..
"Ooh, strawberry!" Yes, strawberry was much more her style. And it was pink! How could you go wrong with something pink?
Whoa. Ben stared at her; she couldn't possibly know that strawberry was his favorite, right? This has got to be some weird, creepy coincidence, nothing more.
"Good choice." Ben nodded in approval, and just because he thought it might look suspicious, he forced himself to choose a different flavor. "I'll have chocolate, with sprinkles." That was said directly to the man behind the cart, who was already scooping up pink ice cream into a cone.
When he had thoroughly filled the cone, Lucy smiled brilliantly at the vendor and took the proffored ice cream cone with much enthusiasm. She stood back a bit as Ben paid and got his ice cream and turned her smile on him instead.
"Lucy thanks you greatly, Benjamin!" she exclaimed before taking a lick of the topmost scoop of strawberry. Mmm... it was so icy... and creamy! "She will have to repay you sometime if you will allow her to, yes?"
"I was- uh, Benjamin was happy to, no need to thank him." Ben gave a slight grin, eying the strawberry ice cream longingly. But only for a second, because he quickly replaced his wallet in his pocket and licked his own ice cream, looking away to distract himself.
"Oh, but Lucy wants to thank him!" she exclaimed. She shrugged a little and giggled and sat down at a bench near where they already were, tilting her head at an odd angle to catch a trail of ice cream dripping down the side of the cone. With some great talent, however, her eyes stayed on him the whole time.
"It's always proper to give thanks where thanks are due, right?" She licked her lips and her eyes turned questioning, even if it hadn't really been meant as a question.
In his turn, Ben tilted his head a little with a confused arch of his brow, but his smile looked rather amused.
"Just what kind of thanks are we talking about?" He asked after straightening his head and taking another lick of his ice cream, finding her continuous stare flattering rather than unnerving.
"Mmmm... what kind of thanks do you want?" she asked, dropping back into the first person tense. It was a habit of hers, to change tenses without much warning or reason. Lucy supposed she just spoke however she felt. "It'll have to be something that will repay in full a great deed like ice cream-buying. And that's pretty good, because I adore ice cream..."
Of course you do. Ben grinned once more, pushing his tongue out to lick an ice cream drop that lingered on his lips.
"I don't know what I could ask." He replied honestly, throwing in a shrug as well, and realizing that he couldn't ask her to buy him an ice cream back in Hogwarts, because he had a girlfriend that might not appreciate it. Although, friends did buy each other ice cream, didn't they?
"Well, we'll figure it out. Let's just say that for now, Lucy owes Benjamin a favor!" she concluded to him. The girl took a big lick of her ice cream and leaned back against the bench, watching a group of pigeons that had returned to the place beside the fountain. Momentarily she thought of getting up to dance with them again, but decided against it.
Her present company was very much more enjoyable, a rare thing when you figured that she didn't often converse with people.
"Will I need to have you sign that on paper, or should I simply trust you?" Ben said playfully, lowering himself to sit on the bench next to her at last.
Just a few minutes ago, he thought he'd have the dullest time waiting for his sisters, but miraculously this Hogwarts student shows up, and turns out more than entertaining. He was finding it difficult not to have his spirits high around her.
Lucy pouted playfully. "Well, you're my friend, so I hope you could trust me," she said, before her face burst back into a grin. "But if it'll make you feel better, I can... hold on..."
Looking around thoughtfully, her eyes finally settled upon a napkin dispenser on the side of the vendor's cart. Reaching over, she pulled one out, then from her purse, pulled out a pen (pink, glittery, with a biiiig fuzzy on the end; it was the most fantastic pen ever). Using the seat of the bench for a writing space, she neatly scrawled down her name, followed by 'I do hereby promise one favor to Benjamin Fenwick of the house of Gryffindor, good until repaid in full'.
"There!" she exclaimed, presenting the napkin to him and tucking the pen behind her ear. "Will that do?"
His jaw was honestly beginning to ache from grinning so much. Ben accepted the napkin from her, faking a serious ridiculously serious expression as he examined her signature, then nodded solemnly.
"Excellent." He folded the napkin neatly and pulled out his wallet again to store it inside, before looking up at Lucy and raising his eyebrows at the fuzzy pink against her golden hair. Her very, very, golden... hair.
"I'll use it to remind you if you forget next month." He said quickly, returning the wallet into his pocket and busying himself with his ice cream.
Lucy mocked his serious expression and gave him a half-salute (as she was trying to salute and catch some dripping ice cream on her tongue at the same time). "Don't worry, I have an astoundingly sharp memory."
After a few moments of silent licking, the Hufflepuff was finally able to bite into her cone (and relax, because Merlin did ice cream melt fast) and sighed contentedly. Ice cream was marvelous, especially strawberry. Lucy reminded herself that the favor she owed him was, like, totally huge.
