Laying in bed, she had all the covers over her head. Her hair was fanned on her pillows. There were many pillows thrown on the sides of her bed. There was no real use to them other than decorations, as if someone would visit. It brought comfort. But the covers covered her from the waist up. Her legs in a number four formation, with the sole of her feet touching her calf. Her arms were under her cradling her head as she napped the afternoon away. Her shorts had ridded up, to her bottom, her one sock was missing, the other somehow had been removed in her sleep. Her sports bra hidden from the world because of the fluffy covers. It seemed her body had a mind of its own, not being able to find either mood of hot or cold.

The day before had been too much for her to handle. She'd had her heart nearly spasm with the beach incident and today she had decided to not do a damn thing. The outside world was too much for her to handle alone, so sleep seemed like the better option. It was the afternoon but she'd done nothing, not even bothered to feed herself, too tired. This was the best sunday during the summer so far. No expectations, just a moment to bring herself some rest.

The day was warm, the perfect setting for those that liked the outdoors. Ben couldn't give two sickles. The only benefit of a day like this was that it usually meant that, at some point in time, his roommate would leave the flat. Some of Ben's work could be done in his room, that was true. But other things, experiments or spells that required a bit more work space, required him to move down into the common living area, which he disliked doing when Conner was there. It wasn't that the other boy would get into his stuff - no, Conner could care less - he just didn't like the distraction.

Today, however, he was not actively working on potions. Instead, he was pacing back and forth in the living room, muttering to himself. He'd been like this for almost an hour, wondering idly if it would have been better that his roommate had remained at home. To Conner's annoyance at times - which Ben took no heed to - he had gotten in the habit of speaking out loud, rather swiftly, about whatever problem was on his mind. While the other boy rarely had something of use to contribute to the issue, the sounding board worked well at times, allowing Ben to hear himself think aloud.

Turning over thoughts, one corner of his mind recalled Conner mentioning something about Mrs. Hudson earlier in the week. Whatever it was didn't matter, but Ben's constant pacing moved fluidly in a new direction, moving him down the steps from their flat and onto the landing. His dress slacks and grey button up were comfortable to him as pajamas for most people, and he'd learned to work in them long ago.

Not breaking stride, he opened the door to the lower flat, assuming that Mrs. Hudson would be pittering around somewhere, doing Merlin who cared what. The door slammed rather loudly behind him of it's own accord, but he took no heed, instead he moved into her living room and resumed his pacing.

"If the Jobberknoll does, indeed, emit a shout that comprises all the words it has ever heard, then how could this be used to ones advantage?" he mused aloud. His words, fast to begin with, seemed to pick up speed as he continued. "While valuable in Truth Serums, no doubt for its connection to words inevitably spoken, how could it be greater utilized in the Memory Potions it is used for?"

His hands moved to interlock behind his back as he paced, his brow furrowed in concentration. "If one were to record, with some muggle device," he'd heard of them once, "the scream of one, could the sound then be slowed somehow to distinguish every word that creature heard? This could be invaluable for spying techniques, if Jobberknolls could be tamed - trained. Their feathers..." His words grew quiet as his mind spun off into other avenues, his steps continuing.

Tess sighed happily as she snuggled deeper into her pillow. This was what she was meant to do, she was meant to just be like a cat and spend all day sleeping. It was a good thing that she had forgone all those silly ideas of being adventurous. It wasn't her. Her arched her body into the mattress and hummed as her back cracked and she allowed her body to just turn to jelly. Sleep was just about to reach true REM that is until she swore she heard a door creak open. Her brow furrowed and she let out a grunt, hoping it was just in her imagination. But as the door slammed closed, that's when she knew it wasn't a dream. Her brain immediately became alert, and she opened her eyes, blinking a few times to stop the blurryiness that always happened. Sitting up slowly, she wondered if it was Rhian. But that wasn't plausible was it? She didn't have keys, no one did except Tess herself.


She hugged the sheet to her, the fluffy black comforter pulled close to her as she tried to hear something else. Soon enough, a murmur carried over into her room, a deep voice seemingly muffled by the walls. Slowly she grabbed her old Slytherin Uniform shirt, and threw it over her head. Slipping it on properly, she threw her covers off and picked up her wand. Her father had warned her about choosing to live alone. Hell she had bothered Mycroft multiple times, telling him she could be robbed since she lived alone. Nonetheless, crawling out of her bed, she walked slowly to the door. The one sock she was wearing did affect her balance somewhat, the wooden floors making her careful when walking. Opening the door slowly, to avoid the creaking, she popped her head out.

A voice. Deep, almost grumbling voice speaking as if someone was there. Was there more than one person in her flat?! Without even thinking she make one quick movement, threw a spell the direction of the voice.

"Stupify!"

"Specific areas of memory enhanced...Could they remember things that the bird saw, heard...Certain feathers..." Ben's rambling was progressing to the stage where he usually dissolved into muttering, paying less and less attention to his surroundings. He was extremely interested in the possibilities surrounding the little blue bird and it's strange nature. Not surprising, since his own prized asset was his mind. Something that could possibly be greatly improved with the ability to extend and enhance his own memory.

One of his hands absently moved into his curls as he tried to focus his mind. Ben felt as if he was on the cusp of a breakthrough in his thought process, but that he just couldn't...quite...

A flash of red light and his world turned dark.

When he came to, Ben was rather confused. He didn't like 'confused'. Confusion came when one didn't know all the facts, and that wasn't how Ben liked to live his life. His eyes slid open slowly, trying to figure out what had happened, as he groaned. His hand moved to the back of his head, where he was sure he'd have a hell of a bruise. Groaning softly, he moved to sit up.

As she heard a noise that sounded clearly like something falling on the ground, Tess pushed the door opened further and stepped out. Her wand was ready, her left hand tightly gripping it ready to strike if needed. DADA wasn't necessarily her strongest subject. She'd gotten an "O" in DADA but never was strong enough to really push through and be aggressive about it. But as she walked into the sitting room, it seemed like everything had gone quiet. Walking out, slowly, to prevent someone from jumping out was enough for her to know that everything was safe.

"What the hell?" she said aloud.

For on the floor was a young man passed out. He wasn't some robber, at least she'd never known someone to be a robber and having designer clothes on. Leaning over him, her eyes were wide, studying him. His pale was skin, did he even go out? Standing over him, she kicked him lightly, and stepped away wondering if he was going to get up. She would have cared, but then again who breaks into someone's flat?! It was a few minutes till he woke up, and she saw on the stool staring at him glaring. He let out a groan and began to shift around. As he began to get a hold of his surroundings, her wand was at the ready in case she needed it. She threw a bag of ice his direction and glared, waiting for him to tell her what he was doing here.

"Who are you?" she asked frowning. "And what the hell are you doing in my flat?"

Before Ben could fully sit up, something hit him in the gut. Picking it up, he found a small bag of ice. His mind was sluggish, pushing pieces of information together as a normal person would. Boring. A voice sounded from across the room, and Ben's eyes moved slowly to the source, gripping the bag hard as he realized another person was seeing him like this.

Sitting up straight, his long legs folded in on themselves, doing nothing to hide the odd thinness that was simply a part of his life. As he finally registered what the strange girl on the stool said, his brow furrowed. Mrs. Hudson... Whatever Conner had been going on about had to have been about this...girl. There were other possibilities, for sure. A poorly mixed de-aging potion - though he didn't think Mrs. Hudson had looked so...

He shook his head and instantly regretted it. Putting the ice pack to the back of his head, he hissed softly as the shock of cold hit his throbbing skin. Instead of stating the obvious, that she was not Mrs. Hudson, he decided to be a bit more forthcoming than his usual nature, seeing as she was the one with the wand right now. He'd left his upstairs, having no reason to bring it with him to see the elderly landlady.

"Benjamin." He purposefully avoided the last name. "I live upstairs."

Tess wrinkled her nose annoyed at the whole situation. How was it that he was so lax about this situation? She lifted her hand up and ran it through her hair, but as she tried to continue to run her fingers through it, it seemed she was just touching air. It was too fresh, the changes that she'd made on herself. Trying to gain control she studied the man who'd called himself Benjamin. He was tall, sort of lanky, and still on the floor nursing the bag of ice. She knew she could do more, but the spell hadn't done much damage to him.

She assessed him like she would a patient (the books told her how to) and nothing seemed off. As her eyes trailed from his legs to his abdomen, and she noticed for a second that for being so tall and thin, he wasn't scrawny. Forcing herself to keep looking up (for research she told herself) her eyes landed on his arms, firm, large hands, currently nursing the ice pack. Lastly what made her stop were his eyes; they weren't a specific color. Not blue, or green, but somehow it looked like a multitude of shades, all that were currently trying to be cool.

"Well...Benjamin, with no last name, what brings you to a flat that most definitely not belong to you?" she asked lightly before darkening her expression. "I don't appreciated uninvited guests to my flat, and without my consent, when I'm resting. Now how did you get in, before I hex you again?"

Her voice was like honey...That's stupid. Honey is an edible substance, which is rather enjoyable. But still not a sound. The words come out though put Ben on edge. The girl was acting as if he'd outright attacked her. He'd simply came in here and talked. Nothing had been moved, or touched. He hadn't even known she was here. Her reaction was extreme, to say the least.

Overly defensive. Suspicious. Distrusting of men. His eyes sized her up as he saw her doing the same. The way she'd moved her hand through he hair wasn't missed either. Usually styled longer. Recent change. Unsure. Honestly, he didn't like it. With the way he'd let his own hair grow out, his may even be longer than hers, if the curls were straightened. There was something that didn't sit right about that in him. Probably some latent traditional views poking out. He couldn't very well grow up in the household he had without being plagued with a few of them.

"Well..." he began, subtly mimicking her stuffy tone, although his general one wasn't much different. "I was not walking into your flat. I was walking into Mrs. Hudson's flat. Unless it has been sold. Which I highly doubt, as she still owns mine." Plus, he thought to himself, she wouldn't be so stupid as to lose the continued income. Sure, she could sell it off for a larger sum, but she had a soft spot for the students who rented it, what with her own children grown.

At the meager threat, his eyes narrowed slightly. She may be able to pack a punch, but it was nothing that wouldn't heal. And the wideness of her eyes belied her anxiousness more than anger. "I used the door," he replied with a tiny raise of the eyebrow. "It is not my fault if it was left unlocked."

Moving to stand, his head started to spin. There was a small table nearby and his hand shot out to steady himself. He frowned at the idea that she would be seeing this. Leave. Now.

Tess didn't like this man; too quiet, but the way his eyes studied her made her uncomfortable. She could tell from the way his eyes lingered on her hair. Maybe it was a good thing that she'd cut it off, even if it was to make other people uncomfortable. She would never admit to missing her hair, but she did. It was usually in the morning when she over washed it with the over pouring of her shampoo. Still, she didn't like the way he looked at her, only she could look at people like that. Straightening her posture, one hand gripped the stool tightly as the other was busy holding her wand. This was not an ideal situation.

"Well..." his tone already disgusted her. She didn't appreciate the snooty tone nor the feeling he thought of her stupid, "I was not walking into your flat. I was walking into Mrs. Hudson's flat. Unless it has been sold. Which I highly doubt, as she still owns mine."

"Well it is sold, Benjamin" she said slowly, so he would understand, "seems the old woman preferred to move away from this place and happily took the sum needed. And based on this I can see why" she drawled, crossing her legs on the stool as she primly stared down at him. Rhian owed her money for telling her that her neighbors had a possibility of being nice. But as he continued was when her annoyance grew to a new level.

"I used the door," he replied with a tiny raise of the eyebrow. "It is not my fault if it was left unlocked."

Glaring at him she got up and loomed over him, purposely showing who had the stronger position at the moment. She would never admit that she'd made a mistake by forgetting to lock the door. Little things like that seemed tedious. Still, she took pleasure from him him trying to stand. He might consider her stupid, but who's the real stupid one if he's the one on the ground.

"Struggling?" she asked already knowing the answer.

When he was upright again, he set the bag of ice down on what looked like a coffee table. Expensive polish be damned. Taking a few moments for his eyes to flit around the very different room, his agitation grew. How had he not noticed this? The colors were shockingly different, let alone the general design and taste of decor. Ben figured he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that everything else just...fell away. It did that sometimes.

"I'm fine," he murmured. Though even those two words left his head pounding. He'd be fine once he got back up to his flat and took a potion.

He moved towards the door when he stopped short, the girl's words finally filtering through. Wait...what?! He spun to look at her, his eyes narrowed and questioning. "How long do we have before we're evicted?" Maybe this is what Conner had been yammering on about. Ben didn't pay much attention to him when his mind was occupied on more important things than bills and other such trivial things. But maybe he should have listened this time.

She was obviously pureblood, he could practically smell the breeding on her. Yes, he was as well, but he didn't give two shits about it all. They could be just as imbecilic as any muggle, but viewed themselves as some sort of royalty. Ridiculous. He'd be damned if he dropped his family name simply to avoid being homeless, but then...he wasn't alone.

While both he and Conner could afford a better flat, he didn't like the idea of disrupting the life they'd built this past year. His fingers started twitching slightly, as if playing at some instrument, as he thought of the possible outcomes of having to move. He didn't like any of them.

Tess took pride in him struggling to get up. Probably sounded horrible since she was a healer but she enjoyed the fact that in her own fear she managed to protect herself. She ignored the fact that he had been unarmed, but those were just details. But as he dropped the ice on the table, she immediately picked it up, annoyed at the fact he would ruin something so pretty. Grabbing a cloth, she began to wipe the table clean and threw the ice bag in the sink, annoyed. As she did so, she noticed him taking in the room, an expression of surprise was not masked too quick for her.

She was proud of her flat, the walls were a soft cream, accents of blue and blacks around making it something that was more her. She had changed a lot from the previous flat, Mrs. Hudson's tastes were...old. Placing her hands on her hips, she waited for him to mumble something about how terrible it was, or something stupid that was above her.

He was leaving, all his body movements stated this and she was honestly relieved. This was entirely to emotionally exhausting for one day. As if the day before wasn't bad enough. Shaking her head she threw the cloth back to where it belonged and began to put things in their place, already expecting for the door to shut down.

"How long do we have before we're evicted?"

His voice once more surprised her, not only because he hadn't left, but his tone. She jumped slightly and stared at him curiously. Hadn't he known? She'd sworn the old woman had made it clear enough that she would communicate this to them. Sighing, she flicked her bang back and walking towards him, a small smirk on his face. Did he ever listen? Did the old lady forget about it? Walking around him she leaned against the door.

"Didn't she tell you?" she asked curiously. "I would think she'd tell you considering how big of a deal she made about the 'progressive' couple living upstairs. I'm assuming that's you and your boyfriend?" she sighed, "well we made a deal, you're contract still stands until you graduate then we can do as we please. So untwist those knickers, you're not being forced out...yet."

Brow furrowing, Ben was confused in a way that he rarely bothered to be. Most human interactions he tended to avoid. And for good reason, he thought. The girl before him moved from peeved to light and airy in a split second. How did that make any sense, in any rational way? She should either be one or the other. Not both. And certainly not so back and forth that Ben could barely follow it.

He didn't take offense to her condescending tone. He knew the sound of that in a voice, since he used it often. But it didn't matter. If the girl put any thought into her own words she would stop asking ridiculous questions. If he asked the question, he'd have to be an idiot to already know the answer. That didn't warrant a response.

Ben didn't even touch the comment about him and Conner. It neither shocked him, nor scandalized him.

"Good," he responded shortly. So long as they need not leave, he didn't need to give a second thought to the new owners of the building. A few steps took him towards the door before he stopped on last time, his head turned slightly towards the girl, but his eyes remained downcast. "And my 'knickers' are none of your business."

Leaving for good, he returned to the upstairs flat. Returning to his pacing, his thoughts were interrupted by flashes of deep brown eyes.