catch up if you can [nerys]

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon and all six foot, two inches of Lyall Trickett was currently sprawled on his very cushy sofa in the flat above the Crust & Crumbs bakery in Hogsmeade where he and his eight year old son Sorley lived with his cousin Geri.

The sunlight was shining through the living room window and as he blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the cobwebs and fuzziness, he realized he must have fallen asleep. When he sat up, a book fell off his chest and landed with a soft thud on the hardwood floor. Must not have been very interesting, he thought absently. Swinging his legs over the side of the sofa, he picked the book up off the floor before making his way into the kitchen, his feet in thick woolly socks, his dark brown trousers and navy blue sweater a bit wrinkled from his nap. He had stopped by Sorley's room but saw it was empty. The kitchen was empty too and peeking his head into the play room, he found that room was empty too.

Hmm. Must be out with Geri, Lyall assumed.

Lyall rubbed his eye as he pointed his wand at a glass and pitcher of water, watching as it poured a glass itself and levitated it over to him. He took a long sip. He hadn't taken an afternoon nap in what felt like ages. Maybe his classes had tired him out more than he thought and now were tiring him more than he thought. That was one of the benefits of living with his cousin Geri. Built in babysitters. Geri and Sorley had a really good relationship and it wasn't odd for Geri to take Sorley out about the town, especially to Honeydukes. As if his son needed more sugar.

But then. A thought suddenly occurred to him and he jolted as if he had been struck by an electrification charm.

He remembered that Geri had said he was going out this afternoon. Right around this time. So if Geri wasn't with his son then where was he?! Panic flooded through his body and got him moving, his long legs taking the stairs down into the bakery faster than a Nimbus, calling out his son's name as he got to the bakery's kitchen, knowing his son liked to help out behind the scenes sometimes. He nearly scared one of the shop girls icing cupcakes, but she was quick to say even in her surprise that she hadn't seen his son.

Lyall burst out the door of the bakery to a busy, bustling street of the village. He looked this way and that, and then snapped his neck back to the left when he recognized his son's bright green dinosaur sweater across the street. He jogged over, dodging families and young couples, and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Sorley, what have I told you about going out by yourself?" Lyall asked of his son as he turned him toward him, trying to keep his voice even despite the pain and worry that were still flooding through him. At least he was safe and unharmed.

It was then that he noticed a few things. There was a woman and another young boy standing with Sorley and Lyall glanced at them with a cordial smile and murmured a "hello". He noticed Sorley had been in the middle of giving the other younger boy a bag of cookies from the bakery that he had probably pilfered. And in his haste to find his on, Lyall noticed that he had completely forgotten his shoes and was standing in the street in just his woolly socks.

@Nerys Blevins

It was Nerys’ first weekend with Niall in quite some time, and though she would have liked nothing more than to spend her two days off taking her son to the park or playing with him at home, the fact was that she had errands to run. As it was, she had already been dragging her son along with her for an hour and a half through different shops in Hogsmeade, and though he had started the afternoon off with fairly good behavior, she could tell his patience was now running thin.

“Just one more stop left,” she reminded him as he dragged his feet behind her, hoping that she could get him in and out of the bakery quickly and avoid a meltdown. He was tired and bored and she knew the Saturday wasn’t living up to his expectations. She wasn’t the fun parent, and they both knew it.

She made it to the next corner on from the shop they had exited before pausing to wait for him to catch up, thinking he might need a nap when they got home. Nerys turned back to check on his progress and realized he had stopped moving altogether. She headed back up the street, ready to take him by the hand like he was a toddler again, but then noticed he had stopped to talk to another child.

The boy appeared to be alone, the other shoppers walking by without sparing him a glance. It was clear now what had caused Niall to stop: the other boy had a bag of treats, and was apparently ready to share in exchange for some company. She crouched down next to them, gathering the hem of her blue skirt so it wouldn’t brush the ground while carefully placing her other hand on Niall’s back.

“That’s very sweet,” she told the boy with a smile, taking care to keep any hint of worry out of her voice. It wouldn’t do to upset the boy and have him run off before she could find out what he was doing out all alone. He looked like he might be seven or eight: old enough, in other words, to spend a bit of time alone but not by any means mature enough to be navigating a busy shopping street without supervision.

“This is Niall,” she continued, guessing that her rather-shy son hadn’t taken it upon himself to make introductions. “What’s your name?”

Before the boy could answer, a man had emerged from the crowded pedestrian area and taken hold of the child’s shoulder. From the look of relief on his face, Nerys could guess he had been responsible for watching the boy and lost him. Nerys stood up at once, brushing out her loose skirt absently and tucking a wave back into place at the nape of her neck while the man scolded the boy. He seemed to have had quite the scare, apparently having run out of his home without shoes to go looking for the boy. Part of her was inclined to be a bit judgmental about the less-than-ideal parenting, but she was kidding herself if she pretended she had never lost track of her own son.

“Hello,” she replied, smiling in return. “Your son is sweet. We were just keeping him company. Did you say thank you, Niall?” She looked down at her own son then, who had extracted a cookie from the bag the other boy was offering and had wasted no time in stuffing most of it into his mouth.