maidstone | stolen from another life { p h i l l i p }

“Er… Yes,” Billie said, nodding quickly. She felt flustered, then embarrassed at the fact that he made her feel like that with just a little look. It was mortifying, really, even if it was pretty clear by now that he liked her too. “I’ll – just come in – “ Billie almost shook her head at herself, but refrained because there really wasn’t a good reason to behave more embarrassingly. She reached for the door handle, and led the way into the house once more. All of the kissing talk had muddled her mind again.

Billie was glad they’d left the greenhouse. There was a sense of guilt that lingered deep in her chest even thinking about it, but she didn’t have that same feeling inside these four walls. That being said, though, she did feel a little trepidation about giving some kind of house tour; she wasn’t entirely sure what she’d find in here. In one corner of the room they’d first stepped into, under a white sheet (she could only assume it had been enchanted to repel dust), was what appeared to be an old record player. She hadn’t noticed that the first time they’d come in – had it even been here when she’d lived here? They’d only ever played music from the radio as far as she could remember. Perhaps it had come down from one of the other rooms at some point.

Her eyes lingered there for a moment before she stepped inside. She turned back to Phillip with a gentle smile, feeling glad, again, that he was here with her. “So this is a sort of reception room,” she told him, moving her hand in a small gesture. Nothing exciting about it. There was a fireplace in one corner, some more furniture pieces under cloth. Everything was a little old-fashioned, but Billie spent most of her time at Hogwarts, so the witch didn’t really have a sense of what was “old” or “new” when it came to wizarding decor. After a moment, she led him through a doorway to a roomy dining room, one window overlooking some tall flowers swaying a little in the wind. “Dining room,” she said unnecessarily, gesturing at the (covered) dining table.

“This is the kitchen,” she said as they stepped through another door to a fairly plain kitchen. There was an empty flowerpot on the windowsill that had obviously once held something. Out of curiosity, Billie opened a couple of the cupboards and looked inside. They were mostly empty. "There's a bathroom on this floor, just through there," she told him as she led him back through the dining room. "And a bedroom down here that my aunt swapped to using." She'd swapped to it when she'd gotten sick, Billie recalled, though she didn't want to focus on that.

Over the many months they had been friends, and the last couple weeks when they had grown exponentially closer, Phillip had started to learn her little facial expressions. Billie didn't always say a lot, like so many teenage witches in her year, but her face gave him clues to how she felt. He'd learned more about this flustered one since they'd gone to Ireland, and it was quickly becoming one of his favorites. The wizard watched her as she turned to open the door and head inside, his mind turning over what she might have been thinking about. Following her inside, he stayed close as Billie led them through the first floor. His eyes passed over the things she was pointing out but always returned to look at her. For different reasons than a moment ago, Phillip searched her face for how she might feel. When they'd come for the first time, they had sort of breezed right past all of this, straight up to her old room. And now that they were taking their time on this floor, he wondered if she felt more at ease. Or if she was facing whatever she might have been feeling head-on.

He knew personally how overwhelming it might have felt, he'd experienced so many emotions he hadn't been expecting when they'd gone back to Ireland. Anger, loneliness, abandonment, sadness, and then more anger. It had all melted together to form a knot in his stomach, but having Billie there with him made it that much better. Not easier, things like that would never really be easy, but better. He followed her into the kitchens and saw the empty cabinets as she pulled on them. Despite the solemn mood and the quiet of the house, Phillip couldn't help but smile when he saw her stand on her tippy toes to reach the top cabinet pull. Phillip leaned against the counter, on hand beside him holding on to the edge as he looked at her.

"It's a nice house," the teenager said softly, not wanting to disrupt the quiet around them. And it was true. The house was more than nice; it was large and grand and not maximalist in its decor, which was how Phillip had assumed every old witch's house would be. He'd pictured giant velvet drapery, floral wallpaper, ridiculously patterned hand-stitched rugs, and way too many sitting chairs that no one ever sat in. And maybe some of those things under the dust covers, he supposed, but the parts he'd seen hadn't been extravagant or lavish. In a way, the house fit Billie, refined instead of excessive. He could see her sitting at the counter in the kitchen, having a snack, or studying in the summer like a  Ravenclaw. Silently he wondered if she missed living here, but he was pretty sure he knew the answer, so he didn't ask. Asking that would also be asking if she lost her aunt and was written all over her face as she'd pointed down the hall where the first-floor bedroom was. "Thank you for the tour," Phillip said instead of asking questions he knew the answers to or telling her he was sorry she'd lost her aunt.

She tried not to think too much about the bedroom down the hall. Really, there were a lot of bedrooms in this house; to Billie, it seemed like a bit of a waste to have them all sitting here, empty. She blinked as he spoke, drawing herself out of some kind of reverie as he thanked her for the tour. “Oh, it’s not finished,” she said, a little tease in her smile as she started moving again. She drifted back to the sitting room, absentmindedly touching a couple of things as she passed them – an old frame in the hall, one of the linen dust covers cast over an old grandfather clock. She made sure he was following as she took her first step back up the first flight of stairs.

There were three doors off of the first landing, and she chose one in particular. The other bedrooms weren't so exciting, but this one felt a little more compelling. “I suppose this is a reading room?” The blonde stepped into a wide room with a big window. There were (empty) bookshelves, a small table with a couple of chairs and a (covered) chaise lounge by the window. It was warm in here, a thick rug on the floor insulating the space. “My second favourite room,” she told him, glancing his way, her oceany eyes seeking some kind of approval, before she moved over to the big window.

He'd leaned up against the counter for less than ten seconds before they were moving again, and he was quickly moving to follow. It was easy for him to see what Billie was pointing out as they passed, even from behind her, because he was so much taller, but Phillip made sure to really look at each thing. If it was worth pointing out, he figured it was worth a second of looking. By the time they got back to the stairs, he had wondered just how many rooms there were in this house. From outside, it seemed big, but not gigantic, but Phillip knew magical things were hardly ever what they appeared from the outside. It could have been twice the size it 'should' have been with a few properly placed charms.

The reading room, Phillip smiled when Billie mentioned that it was her second favorite room in the house, and naturally, it quickly became his as well. He could see her in here just as soon as he had in her bedroom. It was a comfortable room, despite the shelves being emptied out and the seating covered to protect from dust. "It's a nice room," he told her and followed again. When they moved to the largest window, Phillip stopped just short of the sill and stood behind her. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he smiled a little when her head fit just underneath his chin, like two puzzle pieces. Phillip wanted to kiss her again, but for now, this closeness would do.

Billie held her breath when he appeared behind her, the hairs on her neck standing up for no reason other than his general proximity and her overawareness of it. “I hope it’s not boring,” she breathed, trying to sound casual. He’d described it as “nice”, but she didn’t want to drag him around the whole house if he wasn’t interested. Empty bedrooms here and there didn’t really mean anything to him – they barely meant anything to her. When she was younger, she’d wondered what the place would have been like if it was full of people – an entire family. Much less serene, she imagined.

The reading room faced south, so it got a lot of afternoon sun. The room was already so hot, and with him close like he was, she could feel a thin sheen of sweat developing on her brow. She wondered if he noticed, or if he minded. Billie didn’t like weather this hot; she burned like a crisp in the sun, and her cheeks were red just from the heat. He rested his chin on the top of her head and it made her smile. “You’re too tall, you know,” she said, craning her neck to try and look up at him. He was a whole head taller than her (swoon)! Far too tall for kissing.

"No, not boring, I like seeing it," He told her honestly, Phillip was intelligent but not always entirely forthcoming with information. While he could have elaborated on how much he was enjoying the tour and spending time with her in general, he didn't. Instead, he left it at that, not realizing she might have wanted more.

Phillip chuckled at her words, his chest against her back until she turned her head to look up at him. He'd never thought about his height, or hers really. Not until things between them had started to change. The idea that he'd barely even noticed how tall (or not tall) she was despite standing next to her all the time. He supposed the only times he'd noticed before were when they were walking because sometimes he'd slow his strides down. "Maybe you're too short," He teased her back with a lightness in his voice.

While he would have loved to stand with her like this for longer, Phillip started to feel the summer sun beating against the windowpane. It was much warmer in this room than it had been in the kitchen. The cooling magic must have lapsed, but he supposed there was no reason to keep the temperature charms working if no one was living here. Stepping back from her slightly, he dropped his arms from her side and held a hand toward the door.

"Is there more?"

"Oh, good," Billie breathed, genuinely pleased with his answer. If he’d been doing something similar she would have been fascinated, but it was difficult to imagine herself through a similar lens. Billie wondered quietly if everyone felt like that, or if her perspective – where her life, herself was just less interesting – was objectively true.

“How tall are you?” she asked curiously. It was a rather bold question for the usually far more reserved girl. Her guess was six foot flat, but however tall he was, he was clearly in the range of too tall. If he stood up straight, she thought she could probably just touch the top of his head and not reach much higher than that. He pulled away and she tried not to look too relieved. She could breathe again.

“Just more bedrooms,” she told him, “and a bathroom.” Two, actually, but they weren’t very exciting. The more important parts of the house – reading room, her bedroom in “the tower”, the dining room, the sitting room – were all done. “Did you want to go back upstairs?” she asked him. “We should probably get started if we’re going to do any work.” She smiled, half at the prospect of working on their project together, and half at the prospect of not working. She’d never reveal the latter, though, and she shooed the thought away, straightening her top absentmindedly.

"Hmm, almost six foot, I think," Phillip felt weird, not knowing the precise answer to her question, but measuring his own height wasn't exactly high on his to-do list, so he wasn't sure. And he hadn't been to St. Mungo's for a proper check-up since just before the first year, so he really wasn't sure. He vaguely remembered being around five-foot-eleven when they'd measured themselves for a class assignment term before last, so he went with that. "What about you?" He followed-up, assuming she'd have a better grasp on it than he had. Phillip's hand fell back to his side when she announced there wasn't much more to see, and he slipped it into his pockets.

"Sure," Phillip's mouth pulled into a smirk that matched hers, and he wondered if she was thinking about what he was thinking about. Kissing her up there had undoubtedly been his favorite part of the day so far, and even though he knew they should get some work done, it was suddenly all he could think about again. Replaying the moments in his mind, his smile grew as he started heading back toward the stairs. "I suppose we should do some work," he said, even though that was the last thing he really wanted to do.

“Oh, almost six foot,” she repeated, her hands behind her back as he moved towards the door. “That’s not too bad then.” She was teasing again, even though he was answering her seriously, not really playing along. She felt more relaxed than she had outside. “I’m five-one,” she told him. “The ‘one’ matters when you’re only this tall.” Billie held a hand up to the top of her head like she was measuring, and gave him a small smile.

“I agree,” Billie said, even though he was agreeing with her. She followed him back out of the room and towards the stairs, and motioned for him to go up so she could follow. Some of their things were upstairs – like the snacks – but the other things they’d brought for their project were still in the bags downstairs. Billie was a little out of breath by the time she’d climbed the ladder (this was probably the most exercise she’d done all summer, embarrassingly), but she wasn’t about to ask him to apparate down a few flights of stairs.

"Er, so I brought those wooden boxes like I said." She tried to catch her breath as subtly as she could. "They're just jewellery boxes; I think they're made of pine..."

"Oh, I'm sure it does," His voice changed from merely answering her question to playful as he realized she was teasing him. She was cute when she was joking around, he thought. He'd seen it before but never so often or openly as he started to see it now. Phillip liked seeing this side of her. Following her out of the room and up the stairs, Phillip climbed the ladder to the attic tower first, remembering that she had a skirt. Moving back into the room, he was surprised that the tallest place in the house was colder than the one they had just been in, but its windows were facing in a different direction, and there was more breathing room in here.

Phillip walked back toward where the little desk was and realized what they needed was not in this room. It only took him a second to remember that they had dropped some of their things at the door earlier. He turned back to look at Billie, noticing the red tint in her cheeks as quickly as he'd seen it any of the other (numerous) times this afternoon. "Those should work, I think it's more about the spell and the intention than the actual boxes if that makes sense." Phillip had done quite a lot of research leading up to today, but even as they started down a more academic rode, his brain felt fuzzy. It was hard to think about anything other than kissing her, especially being back in this room.

“Yes, exactly, that’s what I was thinking,” Billie said with a small nod. She took a couple of small steps towards the desk, where he was standing, her eyes flicking to the side momentarily as she caught a glimpse of the greenhouse through one of the windows.

 â€œAlthough,” she said, looking back at him, “we could always upgrade our materials if or when we actually start seeing results.” She gave him a small, reassuring smile. Billie didn’t really think that they – he – wouldn’t be able to do it. It might take time, maybe longer than the summer months allowed, but she was firm in her belief in both his intelligence and his skill with a wand. He was young, but also the cleverest person she’d ever met. Eventually, she thought, he’d crack it.

"It's another thing to research, I suppose," she offered, tucking some strands of hair behind one ear. Billie brushed some dust off of the front of her skirt. “Should we take those things downstairs?” she asked, motioning towards the plastic containers that were still sitting on the edge of her desk.

Nodding in agreement, Phillip tucked her idea away to save for later, it was a good idea. They had always planned to start small, the jewelry boxes were only step-one in understanding the magic behind vanishing cabinets. If they could get it to work for small, simple bins, they would graduate up to bigger and more complex structures. It felt good to have a plan, after so many years of reading everything he could get his hands on but not actually getting any closer to figuring things out, Phillip was happy to finally make progress. And he was especially thankful to have Billie there with him. The wizard had never been the sort who liked group projects or teamwork in general, but it was (as everything was) different from Billie. He looked forward to hearing her input, trusted her judgment, and felt stronger working beside her.

"Yeah," he agreed again, adding it to the list of things they needed to keep reading up on before moving forward with more complex magics. Enchanting jewelry boxes was one thing, but anything more significant than that was bound to be more challenging. When Billie brought up the containers they had been snacking from earlier, Phillip's eyes darted back to her bed, and his brain got fuzzy again. For the first time in forever, there was actually something he wanted to do more than stick his nose in a book, and it was refreshing. "Or," Phillip began. A playful tone on his voice again, he turned to look back at her. He was smirking by the time his gray eyes met her, and he took a step forward. Reaching for her hand, his eyes darted down to her lips and back again.

"We could just stay up here a while longer?"

By now, her mind was spinning up all of the stuff they’d researched together – everything she’d been collecting in those folders for him. Sources. Spells. Names of famous witches and wizards that seemed relevant – authors, inventors, researchers. He nodded, and said yeah, so she assumed they’d be getting to work soon. “I got a small packet of marbles, too,” she added, picking up one of the tupperware containers and clipping its lid on absentmindedly before placing it back down on top of the other one. “I thought once we get to the stage where we want to try to vanish things in between the boxes, we’d need something small to… try to disappear...?” She trailed off, catching the look in his eye.

Or.

Or? She blinked as he moved closer, reaching for her hand. She laced her fingers through his, nervously tucking more hair behind one ear with her free hand – even though there weren’t really loose strands to tuck. Why exactly did that look make her want to melt into the floor? That was something she'd have to dissect later, she thought (– along with the four hundred other things about today she'd be reliving and analysing). She felt a little panic but not in a bad way. After a beat, she nodded. “Yes, we could do that,” she said softly, a hesitant smile appearing on her lips. Billie closed her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her again.

She supposed their project could wait a little while longer.


/end

He was glad that she had thought ahead enough to bring along something for them to vanish. Marbles were the right choice too, weighty, but not big enough to worry about where they ended up if they didn't show up in the other box. Phillip wasn't really trying to enchant something pointy out into the universe. "Good idea, thank you," he told her softly before turning to look at what she was pointing at. He didn't care in the least bit about the containers they had left on the bed, and soon enough, his attention was back on her.

The project was important; it meant a lot to Phillip, but now kissing her meant so much more. He couldn't stop thinking about it, not that he was trying very hard not to. Intertwining their fingers together, Phillip smiled down at her, pausing for a moment as he took note of her height once more. Things were funny that way. Once noticed that first time, they seemed to pop up everywhere. A part of him felt guilty for choosing to kiss her instead of work on something he'd been searching for for years, but that part of him grew quieter as he leaned forward.

Closing his eyes, Phillip closed the distance between them until their lips met.

/ftb