WHO: Hippocrates Smethwyck & Ophelia Llewellyn
WHAT: She explains why she broke up with him
WHEN: Midnightish
WHERE: Ravenclaw common room

In her opinion, Ophelia had done a brilliant job so far of avoiding one Hippocrates Smethwyck. Apart from classes and in passing, she hadn't seen him at all, and had done even less talking to him, and all of this pleased her greatly--and yet, she knew that she could not keep it up forever. There were no if's, and's, or but's about it; she would have to talk to him sometime. She owed him an explanation, she owed him a big explanation, and she owed it to him before Emmeline sent her head rolling because she had spent too long waiting to tell him.

From the looks she had been getting, Ophelia had a feeling that she had definitely just about met that deadline... only thing was, she still didn't know how she was going to do it. This was why she was literally shaking with nerves as she descended the girl's staircase down into the nearly empty common room around midnight on Sunday. She had seen him down there already tonight, and sure enough, he was still right there, sitting at one of the tables, working on something or another.

Lia took a huge breath and forced herself not to turn around and run away as she came to a stop just behind him. No, because she had to do it and she was going to do it and--oi, she knew exactly why she wasn't in Gryffindor, didn't she?

"H--Hey, I--I mean, can I sit here?" Oh, smooth.

Ever since he had gotten that owl from Ophelia, Smeth had just been brooding and moping about, avoiding the general public, what he usually did whenever he became greatly depressed. However, he was determined not to let it get to him, and therefore, threw himself at his schoolwork, Prefect work, and working on The Wizard of Oz. It was a rather brilliant tactic, if he did say so himself. Working made him forget about how much life sucked and how he always seemed to have the worst luck with girls. It also made him so tired that he simply passed out whenever he went to bed; there was no more tossing and turning. Why hadn't he tried this earlier?

Avoiding Ophelia had been going fantastically so far, especially since she had been avoiding him. Still, whenever he caught so much as a fleeting glimpse of her, his heart began to race and he had to turn around and remind himself, sternly, We are not going out anymore. If anything, he should be irate, because after all, what kind of person dumped someone via owl, without a single explanation? It was a right awful thing to do, and a cowardly one at that.

Smeth pushed his reading glasses off the bridge of his nose as he finished the last bit of his Arithmancy homework and shut his book. It was near midnight, and the common room was gradually emptying out. He was about to join them when a very timid and very familiar voice spoke. He turned his head and nearly knocked over his jar of ink. Nice.

"Sure," he said shortly. All right, so he didn't mean to sound so… abrupt. But he wasn't expecting this. "I was about to go to bed anyway, so the common room would be all your's."

"No!" she exclaimed without meaning to. Lia forced herself to make her voice softer, quieter--there was no one around, but she didn't want to wake anyone up either. She slid tentatively into the seat next to him, her right hand nervously twisting and fiddling with the ring on her left. "I mean--no, I--I was actually hoping--do you think... we could talk?"

Oh, he seemed very angry, so it was probably far too much to hope for, but... Guh, she needed to explain this to him, even if she had to keep him there by force. Ophelia forced herself to look into his eyes to let him know she was serious. "There's something I need to tell you."

Smeth blinked in surprise at her vehemence. "All right," he said, taking off his glasses. He noticed her great discomfort, and, despite of himself, his heart went out to her. Was she finally ready to explain why she had brusquely broken up with him? If so, he was ready to listen, and ready to stay put.

Ah sweet Merlin, and now here was the part she really hadn't figured out. How did you explain, where did you start? How did you put it lightly? Was it even possible to put it lightly? "I--" she made the syllable, then closed her mouth again immediately. Ugggggh, what in the hell was she supposed to--

"I'm engaged!"

Oh, and cue mental facepalm right there. God, what the hell was her problem, that wasn't even what she had meant to say, she hadn't meant to say anything and--and--oh God, she didn't even want to look, but now she'd said it and she--Ophelia closed her eyes tightly, looked away and shoved her left hand in front of Smeth on the table, where the large, glittering diamond sat in its white-gold setting.

Without intending to, Smeth's mouth dropped in total shock as Lia thrust her rather large ring at him. His mind became a total blank, after she blurted out those two words.

"You – engaged? But… how? When?" It was a miracle he managed to sound rational at all.

Ophelia figured the best method would probably be to answer one question at a time, in the order he asked them. She took a deep breath, now finding the irregular wood grain on the table of the utmost interest, and tried to calm herself down. Unfortunately, it just came out shaky, just like her voice. Oh, this was so much worse than telling Junjie or telling Emmeline or anyone else--this was so hard.

"I am. Through my parents' choosing, and I have known since the day before my brother's wedding... although I am told that the arrangement has been official since early November."

"Hang on... you mean, you were told on the day of your brother's wedding?" Ah, so everything was starting to make more sense. Smeth still didn't know whether to be more angry or hurt that Lia didn't tell him from the very beginning, but he settled for being sympathetic, because really? Having your parents know about your engagement week ahead of you must really blow.

"That''s..." Horrible? Well, him, of course. And because he couldn't think of anything to say: "Whoa."

Ophelia shook her head and gave a humorless laugh. "Yeah. Whoa," she repeated. Truthfully, she was stuck between surprised and annoyed that Smeth wasn't giving much more of a reaction than that... she had just been--or at least she had been hoping for... well, something. Because when there wasn't a something, it meant that he was over her and as much as she wanted this situation to be uncomplicated, it was a bit of a stab to the heart for Smeth to be over her because...

... well, it would be a lie to say that she had ever stopped liking him. She closed her eyes and forced herself not to cry for the thousandeth time over this whole thing, but it was so hard because this was really, really disappointing, a lot more disappointing than she had thought it would be. Merlin, this was all so wrong, she had to get out of here, she had to-- ".. so now you know. I'm sorry and--I'll leave you alone now--" she cut off abruptly, getting up and heading back towards the stairs before she just embarrassed herself.

The unpleasant shock that had rendered Smeth looking rather stoic and emotionless left him as Ophelia headed up the stairs. "No," he said quickly. "Wait – " His long legs quickly crossed the distance between them as he caught her wrist. "Wait," he repeated quietly, green eyes gazing down into those familiar brandy brown eyes. "I…"

He looked down. God, of course he knew of arranged marriages, they happened all the time, but never in a million years had he thought Ophelia would be stuck in one. "I spent the majority of winter holidays sitting around, down in the dumps because I thought you didn't like me anymore, and I tried my best to move on, because I really, really hate the whole sulking thing that I seem to do so very well. And I know that you're engaged now and all, but…" He paused briefly, but went on as he looked intently at her. "Truthfully? I miss you like crazy."

Ophelia opened her mouth to stop him halfway through at 'didn't like me', but he kept on talking and--oh, she was so glad he had kept on talking because God, that was exactly what she needed to hear. Well, not really, in the sense that now her mind was whirling even faster and her life had just gotten a lot more complicated, but she really had needed to know he hadn't gotten over her that fast, that he had actually felt something coming out of this too, because otherwise she was just a fool and...

Oh, he had stopped a while ago, she finally noticed and--okay, okay. "I could have--I couldn't have stopped liking you in a million years, Merlin," she answered back quietly. And now her eyes really were welling up because oh, this was-- "I--I miss you too, I couldn't stop--I never meant to do this to you and I--oh Merlin, I especially didn't mean to break up with you in that owl, but I wasn't thinking, I didn't know how to deal with it yet, I--I'm sorry."

Smeth bit his lip, and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. "It's - it's fine," he reassured her. "I mean, it was a shock and you didn't know what to do." And he was sincere too - every single negative emotion that he had felt ever since receiving her owl dissolved. Such was the miracle of girlfriends... er, ex-girlfriend, now. The ex-girlfriend that he still liked and cared for very much. The ex-girlfriend that had him distracted during day and night, more so than any girl that he had ever liked in his entire life.

Lia... And without thinking, he leaned in to kiss her.

Hell right he wasn't thinking--he couldn't have been thinking, because hadn't he heard her? She was engaged, engaged and--oh. Oh. He was kissing her, why was her mind just now registering this fully? ... Why--why couldn't she justify in her mind pulling away, why did she suddenly not care about this ring on her finger and--sweet Merlin, why was she wrapping her arms around him, kissing him back, forcefully even--

Why had she split it off with him again? In this moment, she couldn't rightly remember.

After a rather long bout of some of the most delicious kissing he could remember, Smeth slowly pulled away, his heart racing and his breath short. "I..." He paused, swallowing hard. Stupid, stupid, stupid. God, where was his brain? She was married, they had broken up... He looked down.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

Riight, Grayson. Grayson.

Oh, shit, Grayson.

Ohhh ho ho, what a perfect fucking situation. Ophelia could have smacked herself (and almost did) as Smeth apologized because oh Merlin, she had been doing so good and now--she hadn't even pushed him away, fuck, she had kissed him right back like it didn't even matter! This couldn't--oh no, this could--She put a hand to her head, looking incredulous. "Grayson can't... shit, he can't ever find out that I just--Merlin, oh, please say you'll promise to never say I.."

"You have my word," Smeth promised. Of course he would never tell anyone, because really, it would be too depressing to say, 'Hey friend! You'd never believe it, I just had the best snog ever with my ex-girlfriend, who's currently engaged!' Right, it would a really great story for later.

He was still aware of how close they were, how he was holding her, but even after that little realisation, he still didn't let go.

She was suddenly aware of it, too, and it possibly took all of her willpower to slip out of his arms. Her speech still hadn't calmed and she sounded hurried as she turned away from him. "I--I should leave, I should--upstairs, I shouldn't be--I've got to go, I can't stay here and--I would be better if I went," she rambled, running a hand through her hair nervously before turning back to Smeth.

"I--goodnight, yes, I--goodnight--"

Ophelia had never left a room faster than she did then.

Smeth remained rooted at the same spot for about two minutes before he turned and made his way to where he was sitting before, before life had suddenly threw him yet another curve ball. A curve ball that whacked him straight in the heart. What had he been thinking? No, he hadn't been thinking. Kissing Lia had felt so good, so right, but still - she was bloody engaged and there wasn't anything he could do about it, even though he still cared for her.

He put his face in his hands. Fuck.