Now I'm a Believer.:April 18, 1977{Arnie}

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“Arnie! Arnie!” Sylvia pushed pass someone, stumbling. The crowd heading to lunch was thick and the Ravenclaw had to fight her way through it to make it to her friend. “Excuse me, so sorry.” she apologized over her shoulder, already darting off after her friend. “Arnie!” she called again, skidding around a corner. She was slightly out of breath, and her voice perhaps was not at optimal yelling level. 

Whether he had heard her and slowed down or she was just really quick, he was before her now as she rounded yet another corner. She came to a stop before him, taking a relieved breath and adjusting her uniform. “I need to talk to you, right now. Please.” The last bit was just a polite habit, Sylvia hadn't really made it a question, though she wouldn't drag Arnie if he refused. She glanced around. Luck would have it, they had stopped before the music room, which was empty as this time. Sylvia slipped inside.  

When Arnie had followed her and the door was shut behind them she threw her arms around her friend, giving him a tight hug. Sylvia pulled back, positively beaming. “I thought about writing you right away.” she said, releasing him. “But I didn't know how to put it in a letter. I didn't want to put it in a letter. I wanted to talk to you in person, and alone, and since I've gotten back things have been so hectic. Anyway.” Sylvia paused to take a in a great drought of air. 

Sometimes, when she was particularly interested or excited about something, she tended to ramble and gush. She was already doing the first part; the second part was soon to follow. “I wanted to tell you thank you. For setting me up with Tommy. Even if it doesn't really go anywhere.” Which I sincerely hope it does! “I had a really nice time over the break. It was great to go out with Thomas, I admit to being skeptical at first but it turned out to be grand. And it's because of you, I have you to thank . So thank you!”

[Arnie Peasegood]

It was a yawning and lagging Arnie Peasegood stumbling along with the crowd down towards lunch. Last night, their first night back together, he and his roommates had stayed up most of the hours discussing a movie a few of them had agreed to see over the holiday. The Cassandra Crossing - full of terrorists, biological warfare, and moral dilemmas, it all made for excellent and at times excruciating conversation about the human condition. Next time - a comedy, he thought, blearily rubbing his eyes as he made an apologetic face towards the girl he'd just accidentally bumped into. The boy really wasn't sure how he was going to make it through the afternoon, but as luck would have it, he was about to get a good reason to wake up.

Sylvie was suddenly right ahead of him, and he followed her directive without complaint, his sleepy spirits rising. He'd hoped to find her today, just as he hoped to get a more thorough chat out of Tommy about what'd happened over the holiday...and here she was, finding him! Could be about something else...

Once swept into an unfamiliar room, the gawky lad found himself wrapped up in a hug by one of his favorite people. Grinning at the surprise of it, he hugged her back until she pulled away, and listened with nodding amusement as Sylvie launched into what she simply had to tell him. The girl near exploded with glee once getting to telling him about her date with Tommy. Thomas?! The man himself had owled him after the day they'd spent together, and Arnie hoped his advice had been taken - yes, write the girl, don't let the spark die! - but it was much more entertaining to hear this come gushing out of Sylvie. The girl deserved this happiness, and Arnie was glad to have given her the push into Tommy's arms. He'd only ever heard her speak so candidly about select subjects, boys never being one of them...and to have her be this thrilled about Tommy Wood? Two of his good friends hitting it off? Things were right in the world.

"Right, so - first off, you are extremely welcome, and now know to always heed my advice," he teased with a laugh, unable to keep himself from smiling wide with the happiness just beaming out of her. "New things aren't always scary in a bad way, eh? Secondly, if you've gotten away with calling him 'Thomas,' don't you worry, it's definitely still going somewhere." The Ravenclaw was still chuckling, brushing off a bit of envy at the honeymoon phase the lovebirds were in, as he leaned against the shining baby grand. "Have you seen him yet since getting back? He's just as chuffed as you are about all this, but you didn't hear it from me." He gave a conspiratorial waggle of his brows, hoping she wouldn't tell Tommy he'd said anything. But for as nervous as she'd been going into the date, it'd be good for her to have no reason but to feel confident moving forward, right?

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She smiled, nodding along with Arnie’s words. He was right, she would be paying more attention when he spoke from now on as his advice had risen in esteem these last weeks. Now, whether she would always heed his advice? That seemed unlikely, but Sylvia didn’t mention that, she doubted Arnie believed that himself. Still, in future, she would listen to him, and not take months to realize his advice was sound. She couldn’t help thinking that if she had just told Arnie ‘Yes, set me up with one of your extremely attractive, sweet friends.’ the first time he had asked, she and Tommy would have been properly introduced ages ago. 

At Arnie’s next words, she clapped her hands together, her smile turning wistful. “ No, not always bad.” She agreed, nibbling on her bottom lip around her grin. “But do you really think so?” she asked earnestly, coming over to seat herself on the bench of the piano Arnie had taken up residence against. “I mean he didn’t seem bothered by Thomas, which he shouldn’t because that is his name, and it's a nice name. You really think it might become something? Well of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have said, I know that.” 

Arnie knew Tommy far better than she did, that was for sure. So, if Arnie said that it was going somewhere then it was, right? Sylvia was contemplating this thought, tapping on random keys, when her friend gave her a real treat. “You’ve spoken to him?” she exclaimed, her voice jumping up an octave. She popped up from her seat, giving Arnie another hug, just because. "I haven’t seen him at all since we got back. I was a little nervous about seeking him out but...” With that she tugged her friend over to the bench she had just vacated. She sat primly, crossing her legs and regarding Arnie with a serious eye. Her curiosity was nearly smothering her. “I promise I will not breathe a word of what you say to anyone, especially not Thomas. Now, tell me everything he said, and don’t leave anything out.”

[Arnie Peasegood]

He'd have to find some time with Thomas later on today, this was simply the best. Happiness spread happiness, and the lovestruck girl sharing space at the piano with him was nothing if not that. Arnie let out a laugh at her defense of using "Thomas," and the ensuing rambling that he'd come to love from her. He waited a few beats after she seemed to be done, just to make sure he wouldn't cut her off, before speaking. "It's just I've never heard him called that before - like I doubt you've ever heard me called 'Arnold.' It's sweet, don't worry. And yeah," he teased, giving her shoulder a light shake, "I think it might become something! It's good to see you so happy, he's not going to want that to stop either." No, no, his Gryffindor pal wouldn't be caught dead taking the smile off of this girl's face. The specifics of what Sylvie had done to begin capturing his heart were unknown to Arnie - only so much could be spoken of through letters - but she was well on her way to securing it completely, if he'd understood his friend properly. She was absently playing the piano as he measured his words, and abruptly stopped once they were out.

The boy gave a mock wince at the nearly shrill words coming out of his friend, bemusedly returning a second hug before he was dragged down to join her back on the bench. His brows rose as he watched her speak so fervently, openly, about not having seen her new beau yet. But as she fixed him with a sincere, if sharp, gaze, some nerves of his own crept up unexpectedly. Perhaps being the friend of both in the should-just-be-a-couple-already pair wasn't going to be so easy after all...

"Sylvie, I hope you can see the pickle I'm rather trapped in." He gave an awkward chuckle; his dear friend was nearly jittering with anticipation at what he could tell her, her blue eyes shining with curiosity paramount to any he'd seen in her before. But surely Sylvie, for all her brilliance, understood that he couldn't simply tell her everything! Tommy was a friend too and had confided in him - he'd lose any trust the other bloke had in him if he just spilled what Tommy had told him! "Isn't it enough to know that he thought it went well enough to tell a friend about it? You should find him at lunch and talk to him yourself - you don't want to hear me tell you sweet things, you want to hear them from the guy you're into himself, eh?"

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“No I don't think I have. I will have to start calling you that; it sounds a great name when I'm cross.” Sylvia teased, giving her friend a wink. His next bit made her blush a little and she ducked her head to hide it. “I want it to be something.” She admitted quietly, almost to herself, with a smile that felt secret. Sylvie had never had a ton of experience with boys, at least not romantically. It seemed, all the boys she met, were much better to her as friends. Arnie was the very best of her male friends and she loved him dearly, just not in that way. She didn't feel that deeply about Tommy yet either, but she felt...she could, maybe. Right now, all she knew, was that he gave her the most wonderful butterflies when he looked at her with his serious gaze. 

Arnie pulled her attention back to the conversation and this time, Sly was not so please with what he was saying. She turned to him with a hard stare. He looked so innocent and honest sitting next to her, when all the while he was telling her no. The Ravenclaw was not accustomed to having her questions go unanswered; she was an infinitely curious girl, and when animated about something, wanted to know everything. Her good friend had slammed the curiosity door right in her face. She opened her mouth, intending to say 'Arnold Peasegood! How dare you keep this from me!', but she slammed her jaw shut before the words could come out.  

Arnie...was right. This was all his wonderful doing and it was incredibly unfair of her to ask him to betray a friends trust-she wouldn't want him betraying her trust. And he was right again, that she would prefer hearing what Thomas was feeling from his own lips. Then she started thinking about the Gryffindor's lips and she had to quickly push that thought away, least she start daydreaming. “Alright.” she conceded simply. Sylvia was still dying to know, and wouldn't object if Arnie let something slip, but, she wouldn't push him. Besides, there were more subtle ways of gleaning information, and she wouldn't let this ruin her good mood. She stood and held her hand out to her friend with a welcoming smile. “Come on, let's get some lunch and you can tell me about your holiday. Was it a good one?”

[Arnie Peasegood]

"Oi, don’t start getting cross with me now," Arnie joked back. He was glad for the lightness in his friend’s speech, her manner - Sylvie could get in serious spells sometimes, hidden from the rest of the world in her brilliant mind, and maybe the ticket to opening her up to more consistent happiness was one Thomas Wood. When he’d set this up, Arnie had hoped for this sort of reaction, but hadn’t truly known what to expect. Neither had much been on the dating scene before, and what if his instincts were wrong? What if he’d been greeted by cold shoulders from the pair of them upon returning from break, as the date had gone horribly? He hadn’t let himself worry too much about it; after putting things into motion, there was no stopping it, naturally. But it was a relief to get this confirmation from Sylvie, especially after the letter from Tommy. It will be something, he wanted to promise, but, not being his place to, Arnie simply gave her a smile and nudged her shoulder with his. "Never known you to give up on something you wanted," he stated simply. ”If you want it to be something, just - keep trying. Nothing’ll happen if you don’t, eh?"

He had rarely, if ever, been on this end of a stare-down by this particular friend. Arnie did his best to keep his features neutral as Sylvie worked out his logic internally. Hopefully she’d come to the same conclusion that he had, for if not…let’s not ruin the first day back by arguing! He watched her eyes flicker, he could almost see the gears inside her mind going, and while she looked about to snap at him at one point…he was able to let out the breath he’d been holding once she finally spoke. Chuckling, Arnie took her offered hand after she stood, letting his petite housemate help pull him to his feet. "Wasn’t as eventful as yours, but it was nice," he said, getting the door for them and following her out into the hall. Lunch sounded amazing, for while their unexpected chat had brought a bit of life back into him, he was still feeling the effects of the long night awake in his dorm.

"Got to see Gracie, so that was good - she’s at Mungo’s, proper Healer nowadays," he said with a bit of pride. His oldest sibling had been training for an age, or so it felt, but she’d recently traded her training robes for the utterly recognizable lime-green ones of Healers. With his brother graduating this year, and her already out of the house, it did make the youngest Peasegood wonder what changes future breaks would bring. Wes would move out as soon as he could, but he wouldn't let Arnie deal with their parents alone, would he? "She came by the house a few times so we could have game night, and...my dad's still regrowing his eyebrows from a game of Snap gone wrong. Too much pride to let Mum or Gracie fix him up." Shrugging the antics of his muggle father off, he asked, "Did you get to see Max at all?"

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As she and Arnie walked hand in hand from their impromptu meeting room, Sylvia was nearly beaming with joy. Her holiday had been very nice, and she had wanted the part that involved Tommy to go on longer, but she was happy to be back at Hogwarts among all her friends as well. She had missed Arnie a lot, especially since he was the reason her break had been so memorable. She had wanted to share her enthusiasm with him but now was a very good time to that as well. "Oh don't worry, I will be putting in the effort."She assured him with a grin. When Sylvie put her mind to something, there was little to stand in her way. And her mind was firmly on Thomas Wood. 

"Gracie!" the dark-haired girl said affectionately. "Oh, I wish I would have had time to visit." She lamented as they made their way into the Great Hall. Arnie's siblings were much like Arnie in the sense that they were all dears, just really good people, and close to her heart. His sister Gracie, in particular, was a lovely girl and she was sure an excellent Healer now, how could she not be? "I'll definitely be coming by over the summer. We'll have to plan something fun to do and hopefully, I can catch her then. Would love to congratulate her in person. And see the rest of the family too, maybe I can convince your dear old dad to be patched up. Hair doesn't grow overnight you know. At least not naturally."  A plan was already forming in her mind. Her brain flipping through it's stored calendar of important dates, and what she already had planned for summer. 

At his last a different sort of smile graced her face, it was both mischievous and exasperating. She kept her voice light when she answered his question about her brother, even though she was actually incredibly frustrated with him. "Max came for Easter but he left the next day. He is well, of course, although, he is trying to hide something from me. I'm almost positive it's a girl. But I don't know her name yet." Okay, maybe a little of her annoyance seeped out and Sylvia made sure to check her tone. "He's completely smitten that's for sure, it's written all over his face, all the time. He's completely obvious." She gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes, her lips forming a sly little smirk she shot to her friend. It was laughable that Maxwell thought he could keep something this monumental to himself. As if!

[Arnie Peasegood]

They left the music room hand-in-hand, and it was all Arnie could to do keep quiet about what the gossips of the school may say and not ruin the moment. Hopefully both Hestia and Tommy would know that the two Ravenclaws were simply - and always would be - close friends, and no drama would come from the moment he was finding surprisingly sweet. Sylvie was quick to affirm that she would indeed pursue Tommy, and he was relieved that she'd let go of the idea of him telling her everything his friend had shared. For now, at least. Who knew what the next few weeks and months would hold for the soon-to-be-official couple, but Arnie felt that there was a high statistical probability of being pulled into something. Comes with the territory of setting them up, hmm? And, really - he didn't mind. It'd be fun, wouldn't it, to try and help them navigate? Hestia could get in on it too, they could double in Hogsmeade...

Talk turned to their families, and he had to grin back as Sylvie launched into apologies and plan-making. For summer? Merlin's beard, I can barely think ahead a day. "Yeah - yeah, of course, we'll do something this summer," Arnie assured. If it was written down by the time they were on the Hogwarts Express, they'd make it happen. "Sorry we didn't make a plan for over this break, wasn't thinking I guess. Dad probably would've listened to you about helping his hair," he admitted with a chuckle, although it had been fun to brainstorm convincing stories for him to take to the station about the mishap. "Instead, he's telling his mates that we threw something into the fireplace that was more flammable than anticipated."

And as she spoke of Max? Her brother, their graduated housemate? He grinned. "Trying to hide something from you? How dare he!" Arnie exclaimed playfully. "Have you heard about girlfriends of his before?" They were nearing the Great Hall, the corridor crowding with other students on their way to lunch, and he gave her hand a squeeze before letting go. "So, what d'you think?" he asked with a knowing smirk. Go see him, Sylvie. You've got this. "Ravenclaw or Gryffindor Table for you today?"

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“Nonsense nonsense.” she assured her friend, patting his shoulder as they walked. “I was so busy over the break. I competed in a dance competition, and my mum roped me into helping her cater a wedding, I helped with the little ones' classes at the studio, and of course, there was Thomas.” By the end, she was smiling and biting at her lip, her eyes distracted. She couldn’t help it though, just the thought of the tall blonde hunk made her insides butterfly! Luckily Arnie made her laugh with the tale his father would spin for the people he worked with, or her mind would have just gone on and on…”That will give them a good chuckle, I think.”  

They joined in the mass of people moving into the Hall, and Arnie began teasing her about her brother. She shot him a narrow eye and was about to say how unwise it was to try keeping things from her, a fair warning about his refusal to share information earlier, but then he was moving away from her, and for some reason, it took the wind out of her sails. She reminded herself that she shouldn't be badgering him about Thomas and moved on. “That’s the thing.” she said, barely missing a beat. “He’s never kept girlfriends secret, which makes me think this one is...special.” Maybe special enough to replace me. She was used to being the most important girl in her brother’s life and the thought that he had found true love was exciting; she was happy for him, but it was also scary, he was already coming around less. 

At Arnie’s question she instinctively looked around the Hall, her eyes trying to find Tommy. She couldn’t spot him, but that was to be expected in such a crowd. She looked back to Arnie with a small smile, thinking she was not comfortable enough to go searching Gryffindor table just yet. “Ravenclaw.” she told him, leading the way over to their table and choosing a seat closer to the doors, as opposed to the Head table. You know, in case Tommy maybe found her. “You’re turn. How are things with Jones?”