Beyond The Gray Sky

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle chewed on her lip, trying to remember what she'd first visualized. Her eyelids closed lightly before she began to describe the scene. "It was dark, with a magical misty fog. The kind that lingers on the ground and in pockets in the air. I was the girl, wearing a light colored silk flowing dancing dress. I reached out my hand, and found that of the man. He was dressed in black dress robes. He pulled me close and we began to waltz around the grassy area." Anna's blush returned as she remembered what came next. "Then things got a bit more..." She suddenly stopped mid-sentence as she focused on the companion she'd conjured for herself, shocked by the identity. Her hand rose to over her mouth and her eyes widened at what her inner thoughts had pictured.

[Silver Blackwood]

The poem had been written, of course, with Silver intended as the male character. Anna hadn't been the female character, not until the moment she began her version. Then, Silver's mind merged the two, and he saw Anna, and himself. There were differences, yes, but similarities as well, up to the point when Anna had implied things beyond the scope of that particular poem, and then stopped. Silver waited for a moment for her to go on, thinking that perhaps her thoughts had gotten too heated, but he saw the expression on her face, and there was nothing of that blushing wow he'd seen earlier. "Are you okay?" Silver asked, hesitant, but concerned.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle's gaze focused on Silver at the sound of his voice. She had completely forgotten for a moment that she'd been describing his poem to him. "I'm sorry, I got distracted by my own imagination you could say. The mind can be a weird, cruel thing at times can't it?" Anna looked down at her fingers, trying to push the vision of her and the 'companion' to the back of her mind and failing. "It shouldn't have been him." She said, thinking out loud.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver's brows knitted, his concern deepening. Yes, the mind could be weird, and cruel. He'd been victim to his own thoughts more times than he'd care to admit. What was it--who was it--that hurt Anna from the mere thought? "Who?" Silver asked, without having thought whether he should ask. He glanced down at his hands, then took a bracing breath. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that," he said. Then he remembered Anna's disclaimers, and added to his own. "But...I'll listen, if you want..."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna shrugged, not knowing if she should spill her troubles on a practical stranger. She didn't have many people to talk to, and she was sure Chase wouldn't want to hear about it. So she decided she might as well since he said he'd listen. "It's my ex." Anna shifted in her chair, sitting up and folding her hands in her lap. "To make a long story short, we were dating but hadn't seen each other in a while. Then the ball happened. I got caught up with someone I shouldn't have, and then later, unknowingly ran across him kissing someone. I felt horrible and went later to try and make things right. He cruely told me that it was him I'd seen at the ball, and basically dumped me for the guy." She paused, loosening her grip that had unintentionally tightened. "It's crazy for me to have pictured him, isn't it?"

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver had listened with nothing but gentle concern written on his face up until the very last. He'd imagined her ex with a girl at the ball, and it was bad enough, but...he dumped me for the guy. Silver's mind jumped straight to Dare. Did Silver know of any other couples like that? And what were the chances? The timing, everything. It was disturbing to Silver on multiple levels. Dare had been, at some time, not to put too fine a point on it, the other woman.

It might have been laughable if it wasn't so serious. It was one thing knowing his brother had a boyfriend, he still wasn't used to that, but that his boyfriend had had a girlfriend at the time, that his boyfriend had not only cheated on his girlfriend, but was, in Anna's words, cruel about it... He'd seemed so nice. But Silver knew things weren't always what they seemed, and so he set that thought aside.

Had Dare known that Michael--if they were really talking about the same guy--had had a girlfriend then? Had it mattered? Silver knew how stubborn Dare could be, how headstrong, but he usually weighed things first, made sure he believed what he was doing was best before going on. How could that have been best?

Silver blinked, trying to clear his mind before he lost himself to thinking in circles. Anna was sitting there and...had she asked him something? It took Silver a moment to be able to think enough to remember what she'd said. He shook his head, giving the short answer as he tried to gather words. "It's not crazy," he assured her. "If you had pictured Albus Dumbledore, that would have been a little crazy," he added, hoping she woudn't notice his initial shock, or that she'd at least excuse it.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna tried to laugh, but only managed a weak smile at his jest. She'd been watching his reaction, but hadn't been able to pay close attention to it. She registered a bit of surprise on his face, but the situation was a strange one and she'd expected it. Anna sighed, stuck in melancholy at the remembrance of the breakup. "I just wish it hadn't ended like it did. One of the last things he said to me was 'I love you, but...' I don't think he knew what to do. I ended up being the one to walk away from it all. I just wish...." Anna paused, not sure what she was about to say.

She looked down, studying her hands as she tried to sort through all her emotions. I wish I hadn't let him go without a fight? I wish he'd come back to me already? I wish Dare had never met Michael? After spending a moment contemplating it all, Anna finished her thought, "I wish he'd never said that. Maybe then I'd have had some closure, but how can you get over someone that claims to love you?"

In the back of her mind, Anna recalled what had happened between her and Chase again, and that she'd temporarily forgotten about Michael in the process. But it hadn't been a permanent fix; she still thought of him several times a day and wondered why neither of them had done things differently to save their relationship. She still loved him, she knew it deep down, and she just didn't know how to get rid of her love for Michael once and for all.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver shook his head, unable to form any kind of answer to Anna's words. He decided he needed to talk to Dare, just to see what was going on, or what had been going on. If Anna's ex was Michael, and Silver had to assume it was, all things considered, had he loved her? If he had, how could he have left her for Dare, when they'd only been at Hogwarts for two months? If he hadn't, was he one of those people who threw the word around like it was nothing? Was Dare in danger of being hurt like Anna had been? Dare had seemed so happy with Michael, but then, he'd been happy with his girlfriends in the beginning, too. He'd just have to talk to Dare.

Silver turned his attention away from Dare now, since he wasn't here, but Anna was. "I wish I knew how to help," he said honestly. He didn't have any real experience with relationships, though. He'd never had a girlfriend, never been in love. All he knew he'd gotten from books.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna shook her head, meeting his eyes again. "I'm sorry, I really had no intention of laying all my baggage out for you." She forced a smile on her face, trying to get her brooding thoughts back in the shadows where they belonged and lighten the mood a little. "It'll all work itself out. Hopefully the whole school won't find out they're dating and think that it's my fault Mi - he turned gay. I'd have to perfect the disillusionment spell to hide from it all. Maybe Prince Charming will just sweep me away from this mess any day now." She didn't know why she was protecting Michael, he hadn't said it was a secret or anything, but she felt weird revealing his personal choice to anyone. She knew that it'd be easy for Silver to find out who her ex was, but leaving him nameless made her feel better.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver listened, trying to think of what he could say, but the more Anna said, the more he felt completely at sea. He wanted to be able to say something to make things right for her, or at least to make things better, but every thought that came to his mind he rejected, luckily before leaving his mouth. He got stuck on her Prince Charming comment, though, and couldn't move past it. "You'll find him," he assured her. At that moment, with his concentration on her, with her initial reaction to his poetry still lingering in his mind, some part of him wished he wasn't invisible, that someone might see him as Prince Charming, that she could. But he wasn't the Prince Charming type, and he knew it.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna shook her head. "Unfortunately, we don't live in a fairytale. Prince Charming is dead, and even if he existed, I don't think I'd want him right now." She remembered her and Chase's conversation the day she and Michael had split up, and even then she'd argued the worth of love. At her next words, she wondered just how much Chase had influenced her without her even realizing it. "All my life I've put love on a pedestal. I've read so many novels, and am a romantic to the depths of my soul. But after the realities of love this last month - I don't want to experience it again firsthand anytime soon."

Anna sighed, realizing how much of her soul she'd revealed to him. She looked past her hands to the book that lay momentarily forgotten on her lap. Sick of talking about her pathetic troubles, she made an effort to change the subject. She closed the book and held it out for Silver. "It must be excellent to have led to all of this. For your unbiased review, I give you full marks. However, next time I'll have to imagine you." She gave him a playful smile, offering that as a way of making up for the burden she'd been to their conversation.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver's gaze dropped from Anna's, but he couldn't help smiling. The review on its own was enough, but what she'd said after, even if she'd been teasing, spoke to his secret dreams, the very ones she'd read part of and reviewed. "Thank you," he managed. "Maybe I'll write one for you." Silver's head lowered just a bit at the confession, which he hoped sounded playful, as much as he had meant it. Of course he'd write one for Anna. After everything they'd talked about, everything she'd confessed and everything she'd read, he couldn't help but want to.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna perked up at his comment, her smile turning genuine. "I haven't ever had anything written for me, I can't wait to read it." Something about Silver made her believe that his comment, however nonchalant it seemed, hid many layers to his personality. Her mind briefly wandered, wondering what type of poem she would be the star in, before turning back to conversation. "I will get to read it, won't I? Assuming that you even write one of course."

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver looked back up at Anna, smiling wryly. "I'll write one," he assured her. He'd probably write several, and end up having to decide which one to show her. "I'll let you read one...er...it," he corrected himself, dropping his gaze again. He was a pretty prolific writer. Chances were that he'd fill a few pages in one sitting, but she didn't need to know that, did she? She'd end up thinking he was a stalker!

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle held in a giggle at his wording. She wouldn't have even caught on to his slip if it hadn't been for his correction. The knowledge that he already thought he might write more than one didn't surprise her. In fact, the opposite was true with how much she imagined he was into his writing. If Silver didn't write multiple things, or even revisions of the same one, before giving her something to read, it would just seem odd. "I promise not to follow you around while I wait for more of your works. However, our common room might be more appealing to me now." She hoped Silver didn't take her word wrong and think that she was crazy.