As Rin sat quietly, half listening to her friends talk about their summer adventures, she found herself slowly feeling more at ease in her spirit. Most of the summer, this had been what she was missing. Things at home with her brother weren't boring really. Of course she'd occasionally get herself into some kind of trouble that started off as an innocent adventure... but more than anything, she had missed it being her friends she dragged into things. When Corentin got pulled into weird skirmishes, he often acted bored and distant, as was his personality. She was craving something more. Maybe a scolding from Adelie, a shake of the head and silence from Calvin, Zef laughing and telling her what she had done was awesome, and Stella just worrying about if she was in once piece or not.
A summer that had lacked such things was a summer not worth her memory book. Despite being free for the most part, her friends had all had some things to do which resulted in the group not being together for most of it. Even though she knew all this, that she had been wanting the company of her friends so much, Rin couldn't even muster the will to answer them when they asked generally about everyone's summer. All that was on her mind was her family. Her horribly broken family.
A light sigh escaped her lips when Adelie lowered her head on to hers for a moment. Rin had reached up and trapped her friend's arm in a hug, desperately wanting to tell her about what she had discovered. Though honesty was her biggest policy, Rin had kept this secret from everyone. Maybe it was time to tell her best friend her whole story.
The words of Zef as he spoke had barely registered in her mind.
"Something's wrong... I don't know what it is..." he had said. Adelie had started to adress it when the woman with the trollie burst into the compartment, speaking rather loudly and asking them if they had wanted something from the cart. This had drawn a frown to Rin's face as she looked over the contents of it. Sitting up, Rin reached into her purse and pulled out some money. "I will take a water please." she said softly and then the woman shook her head.
"Water is free dear." she said before handing Rin the bottle. The woman looked at Rin and then frowned. "Well you look exausted. You should rest up before we reach the school." she had said in a pleasent tone that had irritated Rin for some reason. Though she said nothing in return, Rin had silently cursed at the woman in her head. While Adelie had talked about her summer trip to Switzerland, Rin silently drank her water as she listened. It was the only thing so far she had been interested in, and when her friend was done talking, she took this oppourtinity to try and steal her away for a bit. Turning her head towards her friend, Rin raised her eyes to meet Adelie's. "Adi, I need to speak with you a moment." she said.
Adelie had barely glanced out the window for a moment when she felt Rin move next to her. Glancing back at her friend, she could see in her eyes something was just eating at her. Adi, I need to speak with you a moment. Adelie frowned but nodded, plastering on a smile to their other friends before standing. "Just a second guys," she said in a nonchalant tone, opening the sliding door and waiting for Rin to come out before closing it behind her. Once they were a bit further from the compartment, Adi turned on her heel and the look of concern on her face could rival that of any mother as she looked over her best friend. "Whas goin on?" she asked softly, arms held at her sides, but lifted just slightly as if to embrace Rin if she needed it.
Rin had bit her lip as she followed Adelie out of the compartment. She was a bit nervous, as if she was about to make some kind of life changing confession. Well, it was kind of like that, but it shouldn't have caused her as much stress as it did. When they had walked a bit away from her other friends and she was asked what was wrong, Rin took her bestie's hand and led her to a different empty compartment and closed the door.
"I must tell you something that I should have mentioned a long time ago." she said sitting down. "Though, I wish to only say it once because it is hard for me to do so without crying." she added in her weird way of speaking. The girl had often gotten teased about how she talked. As if her words were alway 'too proper' or something. But it didn't help when you learned how to talk from someone who spoke as if reading from a dictionary.
She motioned for Adelie to sit across from her and she thought about where to begin.
When Rin pulled Adelie even further from their original compartment and to an empty one, shutting the door, her look became more bewildered. Whatever was bothering Rin was serious. She crossed her arms across her stomach, fingers pulling at the ends of her sleeves and hair falling across the side of her face. She sat across from Rin as her friend motioned her to, listening with an eyebrow raised, just awaiting for Rin to spill what was bothering her.
Rin glanced out the window for a moment as she thought about where to start, and after a bit of thinking she looked back at her friend.
"Well I suppose I should start with what you already know. My goal all this time has been to do well at Hogwarts so that I can become an Auror like Corentin and my dad. Though I bet you thought it was a weird goal for me since I am always goofing around and trying to take breaks as much as I can. While I do like being lazy, I still work hard towards that goal because I've been wanting to help my brother find our dad." she paused and rubbed her arms. Now she had to ease her way into the new stuff. "My dad was not the... nicest of people. He... pretty much hated me. He abused me for pretty much all my life growing up. Though I don't hate him really... I more am just afraid of him more than anything. But, when I found out from my brother that he was missing, I told myself that I had to get over my fears and find him. Not because I want him in my life again, but because I wanted to find out why he had hated me so much when I had done nothing wrong."
She reached up to furiously wipe away a few tears that had started to fall from her eyes. "I never wanted to tell you because I was afraid you were going to try to stop me. I know you care about me... so much more than he did in fact, and I assumed that maybe you would try to redirect me towards a different path. I kept it from you and everyone else, and I am truly sorry for it." Rin paused again and ran a hand through her hair and looked at her friend sadly. "But Adi... now I need a new goal. Corentin told me last night the reason behind why my father hated me so much. He told me that my mom had died giving birth to me. And.. I was so angry... at him for keeping it from me until my last year. Right when I was just starting... to feel like I had accomplished something great..." she trailed off and raised her hands to fer face as she started to cry harder and it became too hard for her to form words. All that came out after that were mumbles mixed with her sobs
Adi listened and nodded as Rin talked about being an Auror. She was right. Adelie had never really felt her friend was suited to the dark traits of the auror profession. Maybe a wizarding naturalist or something since Rin was so proficient in Care of Magical Creatures, but Rin had always seemed set on Auror.
Adelie refocused her attention to the words Rin was saying, frowning heavily when she said her dad abused her. She began pulling harder at her sleeves, as if she were itching to go find the man right now and knock his block off with her own two fists for ever hurting her bestie. Besides how could anyone hate Rin? At least now it was explained why her friend wanted to be an Auror, but at the sight of Rin's tears, Adi quickly got up and had to move next to her. She put a hand on her arm lightly but didnt dare interrupt Rin now.
"Yuv accomplished so many great things!" Adi said, hugging her friend to her tightly and rubbing her arm as the girl sobbed. On the outside, Adelie was caring and comforting, but a rage was burning within her towards Rin's father for bringing his daughter to tears. "I'm sa sorry," she whispered, squeezing her and mind running through all her friend had just told her. "An I promise I'm not angry bout ya not tellin me fore now," she reassured, although, she was saddened Rin was bearing this weight for so long without letting it out. "Ya don wanna tell tha others?" she asked, though it was more of a statement, considering Rin had pulled her away to tell her.
After a moment of Adelie holding and comforting her, Rin was able to calm down enough to form words. She wiped at her eyes again and looked at Adelie. "I wanted to see how you would react before I told the others. I didn't say anything before because... well, I'm supposed to be the carefree one that cheers everyone else up, not the other way around. And I did not want to be a burden and always have you guys worrying about me. You all do it enough as it is." she said with a light smile at the end. "And besides, it had not bothered me so much before so I did not feel the need to bring it up."
Adelie pulled back as Rin calmed down, giving a soft, sympathetic smile as she described her role in their group. It was true, Rin was the one who did the cheering up usually. "Ya dont ever hafta worry bout burdenin us. But I'm glad ya told meh. Tha others ull understand too, I promise," she said, brushing a bit of hair from Rins face.
Rin smiled at her friend and leaned over, hugging her tightly. "This is why you are my best friend ever. I do not know what I would do without you." she said as she closed her eyes, enjoying the comfort from her friend. She was content with just staying there and falling asleep on Adi, but after a moment she pulled away. "Though, I still do not know what I should do now. Maybe I should continue to try and find my dad..." she said biting her lip as she thought. "I have come this far already and I suppose I could find a bit more dedication. And who knows, Corentin tells me all kinds of stories about the Ministry. He says that they could use someone cheerful like me around."
Adi hugged her friend back gladly, smiling at her words. After all, she didnt know what she would do without Rin either. She loosened her hug when Rin pulled away, though her hands still rested on her friends arms, listening to her as she went back and forth with her choice of career. "I spose you could keep at it, an then if n you don like it, you can always do somethin else. Yer not stuck in it forever," she grinned, squeezing Rin's hand, and knowing she would be great at whatever she did, as long as she could bring herself to focus.
A nod was what Rin gave when Adelie told her she could stick to it. For the time being, it was probably the best choice for her now. "I will do that then. This year I will do my best to..." she paused as she was going to say she would try not to get into any silly trouble, but that was what had made school exciting. Instead she laughed and said "I will just be myself this year. Prepare to have so much fun!" she squealed, her mood already having been lifted back to where it usually would be.
"Well now since we've moved past the sad stuff, I say we go back to the others." she paused. "Do you think I should just tell them right away?"
Adi couldnt help but smile when Rin cheered up so easily. One of the many reasons she loved her. The girl couldnt be kept down. "O course I will try ta prepare me self, but yer still too unpredictable fer me," she laughed a little with her friend.
She thought for a second about the others before answering Rin. "Yeah theyre prolly worryin bout now. Um, I think if ya don say somethin fer too long theyre all gonna pproach ya an ask anyway. Might as well tell em as soon as ya feel ready," Adelie said, standing up to go back to their compartment.
Hopping up with her friend, Rin followed her out and back towards where her friends were sitting. All eyes turned to them when they entered again, but this time instead of sitting next to Adi, she rushed over and claimed the spot on Zef's other side before Adelie could. She linked her arm in his and smiled at everyone but shot daggers at Adelie, practically saying Mine. with just her eyes. "Before you all start to ask questions, I will just tell you what happened."
She proceeded to tell them what she had found out about her mother and everything else she told Adelie about why she haden't told them before her reasons for wanting to be an Auror. She apoligized for keeping it a secret and swore to keep no more from the friends she pretty much trusted with her life. When she had finished, she was okay, not having cried this time. "You are all not allowed to treat me any differently or give me any sad looks." she stated, looking around Zef and directly at Stella who was known to show sympathy about things like this. "Especially you, softie." she said in a teasing voice.
Now that she had finally gotten the weight off her chest about not being honest with everyone, she was pretty much back to her old self and she told her friends about the crazy adventures she had gone on during the break. The most exciting one being when she had placed a babbling curse on her brother's girlfriend.
She didn't feel guilty about it. The lady wasen't a keeper anyway. Corentin could do better.
When she was done waving her arms and overexaggerating, she looked at Zef and smiled at her crush. "So, you ready for another whole year of not being able to beat me in a duel?" she asked. "With all that lake side practice, you must be way better than me now. Maybe our score will finally turn in your favor." she joked before glancing out the window at the countryside that was passing them by.
