{dreams come s l o w, and they go so f a s t} win

"... and then the cauldron blew up right in her face." he finished with a grand gesture, demonstrating how his housemates cauldron had literally blown up in her face during the finals. He was trying not to think about how this would be their last prefect rounds together. Not having had any with Donna for the rest of the term hadn't even been something he'd focused on, either, he'd just enjoyed having spent more time with Wini. It seemed sort of insane to him, how quickly term had ended. He'd miss Andy and Win and some of the rest of the 7th years graduating.

He'd be graduating himself this time next year and it all seemed daunting, the amount of stress probably unquantifiable. He was going to be a right nightmare most likely, and he was dreading it already. He was, however, determined to suck up as much as much experience and fun as he could, which was why he'd made it a point to spend as much with Wini as possible.

"What, um, are your summer plans looking like?" he asked curiously, his blue gaze sweeping over another empty hallway. Honestly he tended to give a good deal of leniency this late in term. Hopefully people could be smart about their nighttime escapades.

@Winifred Gwartney

"Oh wow, was she okay though?" Wini asked, smiling at how Ben was waving his hands wildly through the air, half-glad that she hadn't done that during her final exam, and half-anxious about the results of her Potions NEWT. The moment the test was over, she had worried. She could count Charms and Transfig as passes because she felt like she had done reasonably well, but no matter how much she had studied and prepared for Potions, it was like she had had a block. She rushed to finish near the end and she couldn't be sure how well it turned out. She just hoped it would be good enough for a passing mark.

But as with anything else, she was really good at compartmentalizing that until she could break down in her dorm about it. Right now was for enjoying her last rounds with Ben. Prefect rounds were not something she thought she would miss, but ever since she had been pairing up with Ben more often, it was just another item added to the list of things that made graduating the worst thing ever.

"Other than waiting around anxiously for my NEWT results, you mean?" she tried to say lightly, but there was a thickness to her voice that betrayed her worries. She gave him a smile and a little shrug as they turned the corner and she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Spending it with William in London," she told him, naming her biological father who she spoke of often. In their rounds this term, they had seemed to talk a little bit about everything, including the complicated mess of Wini's family and how she had been staying with William for the last year or so after the father she had grown up with had pretty much disowned her. Just another thing she didn't want to think about.

"What about you? Are you going to be in London at all?" she asked as she glanced up at him. It was a weird thought. Getting to know him more and more, but then graduation making it seem like it was all going to slip through her fingers. She clung to the idea that he might want to hang out this summer. "Oh and I'm trying to convince Marin and Lip to go on a trip with me this summer," her pout showing how well she had been doing at convincing them so far. Wini was sure they would agree at some point, but why did they always have to be so difficult?

“She’d barely started her brew so she ended up with minimal reaction.” he added, shrugging sheepishly, at his lack of actual empathy. He supposed he felt partly bad in the sense that he acknowledged that the experience was rather unfortunate from a purely academic perspective but he was fairly desensitized to injury. Too much reckless quidditching he supposed. (Especially when you were the main reason someone got bludgeoned half the time)

“You’ll be fine.” He encouraged shooting the blond witch a lopsided sort of smile. Even if she hadn’t there was no use stressing about it too much now until she received her results. She could at least be proud she’d tried her best and studied as much as she had. He wanted to ask how she was dealing with the whole family situation but was unsure if she even wanted to talk about it. It seemed pretty unbelievable to him but, well, some people were just assholes.

He was trying to work up the courage to ask about her plans in depth before she did it for him. “I’m going to ISS this year. Not sure if I’ll do the two week or the three week or not but … I could be in London.” he said slowly, flickering his gaze towards her face. Did she want to spend time with him or was she just being all Gwartney nice about everything?

“Any chance that trip would take you to France or Italy?” He asked, again rather casually, before shooting her an innocent grin. The Danvers boys always did a tour of their vineyards every summer with their Dad, making sure everything was in order but he did have a few weeks that he’d be virtually free to do what he wanted… if his plans didn’t involve being in Italy or France. Anywhere was always just a port key away, he reasoned, even as he knew he’d make the effort if it had been difficult.

Bloody hell.

Wini simply shook her head, catching the look in Ben's eye. She didn't see it like he did, but at least the girl was ok, and with anyone else, she might have wondered how they could be so unsympathetic, but with Ben, she just gave an amused smile and noticed the way his dark hair was long enough now to flop over his forehead. She had taken a Witch Weekly quiz earlier this week and they had categorized him in the "Level 5 Hottie" category based on her answers so Wini felt lucky that he seemed to want to hang out with her so much.

She didn't feel like she would be fine, not really, but when he gave her this lopsided smile, Wini felt a little more optimistic. Maybe she could see it like he did and believe it would all turn out ok. Usually she was pretty optimistic (she had to be since @Phillip Donnelly had already claimed being the pessimistic one in their little trio and Marin had claimed being the sassy realistic one), but still she felt this unease growing inside her.

Wini tried to make herself think of her summer plans instead or at least plans that weren't based on her NEWT marks. "ISS?" she repeated, trying to hold back another frown. Just another thing that didn't seem to match up for them. The universe was not on her side lately. "I'm not going this year," she added, a note of sadness, a little regret, but she glanced up and tried to give him a smile. "You'll like it though I'm sure, I've gone a few times. It's on a ship this year, right?" That's what she thought she had heard, but since she didn't think she (or Marin or Lip) would be going, she hadn't fully investigated.

I could be in London... She turned to look up at him, a small smile on her lips. Finally something was breaking her way. "Yeah?" she asked. "Might be nice to hang out or something, I mean, if you have time," she offered tentatively, not wanting to throw herself out there if that wasn't what he had meant. She felt hopeful that maybe he meant what she thought he meant, but with the universe being so mean to her lately, she didn't feel sure of anything.

France? Italy? She gave him a little shrug. "We haven't really decided yet. I've thrown around some ideas but they're being difficult, as usual. I said New York. I've never been, but I think @Marin Clare said they're worse than Gryffindors, whatever that means so I'm not sure. Why?" she finally wrapped up with the question before noticing his cute smile and wondering what that meant. It made her think she was missing something...

Ben could be pretty cold about general injuries most of the time and so didn't really think about it overmuch, though maybe he should have considering this was a Hufflepuff he was talking to. Wini would be the tyoeto worry over some underclassman getting injured. Maybe he should refrain from mentioning the type of shenanigans Andy and him got up to in the name of Quidditch. (Sometimes not even for Quidditch and just simply because they were competitive assholes). Less would definitely be more in this particular case.

"Yes I'm pretty exited." he said as they rounded a corner. He genuinely liked boats and just basking in the sun. He was a bit disappointed that a few of his friends wouldn't be there but he was looking forward to a lot of the academia, too. "Yea I figured you probably wouldn't be." he murmured. "That doesn't mean we can't spend time together around it, though." he tacked on, not liking how sad she seemed. "I can rent a boat." he added, with a bit of a laugh. He would, too, if that was what she was disappointed about.

"Course'. I'm a wizard, aren't I?" he teased, shrugging a little carelessly. He could be where he wanted to be for a good deal of the summer, regardless of where his plans lay. Portkey and Floo were brilliant things, even if traveling internationally could be a bit more of a hassle. Nothing he would't suffer through, though, if it meant spending time with the people he really wanted to spend time with. "I'll have time." he assured, warming up to the idea he'd at least get to see Wini for a bit of the summer. He tried not to think about the lack of time they'd get to spend once school started back up for him again.

"If you lot wanted to visit the Vineyards, feel free to come visit. My dad usually does of tour in France and Italy every summer and has Baylen and I go with him to check on everything." his dad tended to be pretty hands on, wanting to make sure every facet of the operations was doing well and taking the time to walk the vineyards and see how everyone was doing. "Just throwing the option out there." he added, trying to be casual about it all.

"You're not worried about getting seasick?" she asked, the first thought that popped into her mind. Swiftly followed by the second one: wondering if Ben would be swimming while on board and thus shirtless.. She suddenly wondered if she could sign up. But he solved that little dilemma she was having with his offer of working around it. She glanced up at him, a smile on her lips, as she nodded. "That would be nice. I've never been on a boat," she added on and then her brows twitched downward, hoping it didn't make her seem unworldly or whatever. Ben and his rich family seemed so far beyond her realm. She was really just a girl from a sheep farm at heart, but it wasn't a lie that she wanted to spend time with him this summer.

The corridors seemed really quiet and Wini was glad for it because she could spend more time getting to know Ben instead of having to boss second years around. They turned another corner and the only sign of life was one of the ghosts drifting by, Wini squeezing in closer to Ben to avoid being walked through, and giving him an apologetic look as her heart skipped a beat. "Sorry," she added lightly before she laughed at his teasing. He'd have time or he'd make time? Either one made Wini feel warm inside, happy, like there was a literal ball of sunshine within her and it was all because of this Slytherin. "Okay," she said simply even though she was so close to breaking out into a happy dance. Had to keep her cool though.

His offer threw her for a loop. "What? Are you sure? We wouldn't want to get in your way or anything.." she made herself say instead of her first reaction of Wow! Italy! Or France! Sure! When? She was already starting to plan how she could convince the boys to go to France and/or Italy with her..