Let's NOT do the Time Warp Again. (Humphrey + Keiba)

Keiba lugged the bucket down to the water's edge, unable to keep her dress secure enough to stop her from tripping up occasionally. It was the second time she was a Tudor maid in her travels, and just like last time she couldn't wait for the time turner to do its thing again. Her black-and-white maid's dress was stifling and clunky, hard to manouever and definitely not in the slightest bit practical. Carefully stepping through the marshes towards the well beside the pond, she lowered her bucket down into the hole, all the while feeling a heat just behind her eyes.

Taking no notice of it, she kept pulling the rope to fill the pale. As she was half-way through pulling it back up, she lost her grip and her heart started working double-time. The rope slipped back down and the bucket fell with a splash into the deep water. Keiba clutched at the edge of the well, trying to keep her balance and top herself from staggering at the pain in her chest. Dammit, it's happening again! She cursed as the rest of her limbs coiled up in agony. Losing her grip on the brick well, Keiba fell to the ground and when she opened her eyes, she was still next to the lake, but there was no sign of the well or the path leading back up to the manor house. She couldn't tell if she'd gone forwards or backwards in time.

Staggering to her feet, the burning sensation ebbed out of her system. Keiba rubbed her eyes and blinked into the lake, looking around it and over to the opposite shore. It was a big lake, that was for sure, bigger than in Tudor times. She couldn't understand where she was - there were no land marks that she recognised. Sighing, Keiba grabbed her hair piece and tore it off. She sat down on the grassy part of the bank and put her head in her hands.

Humphrey was going for a walk, he wanted to clear his head and maybe do a painting as well. One of his all time favorite places to do so was at the Willow Lake, it was where he had met the love of his life Senium Nex. Even before that though he had always thought this place was beautiful, special in its own way. Not many people came here either so that made it a nice place to relax and think. There weren't many distractions here, and in the summer when the weather was perfect like it was today there wasn't a place he would rather be than here.

As he started to walk up a slight hill just before the lake, Humphrey began whistling a tune from Les Miserables. It was the song called Master of the House, and was one of his favorites from the musical. His aunt he lived with during the summer was a muggle, and they had just watched the 2012 musical with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, and Anne Hathaway starring. This particular song had a great tune and was one of the funniest scenes in the musical in his opinion. When he reached the top of the hill he noticed somebody right next to the lake, which was a bit odd because not many people came here.

Deciding that was a fairly good spot to paint, he decided to go and say hi to the person before he started on his artwork. Perhaps they could chat while he was working, that was always nice. Now he was getting closer, he noticed the woman, for woman it was, had on an old maid's dress. What was strange was it didn't look like anything from this decade, nor even this century. His brain said maybe she had dressed up for something, but it still didn't make any sense.

Walking closer to her, he was now able to see she had her head in her hands. The young woman had russet brown hair, it was a bit wavy, and had some bangs in the front. Her hair reminded him of what his old best friend Keiba's used to look like, but she had been dead for about three years now. Putting a hand on the woman's back, he coughed politely. "I'm sorry to intrude, but I was about to paint here. Is there something wrong miss? I hate to see somebody all alone crying, can I help in any way?" he asked kindly. Since the woman's face was covered, he had no idea at all who it was he had just met. No idea that it was his best friend, who had been through hell and back, sitting on the ground in front of him.

Keiba sighed and tried to relax further. She peeped through her fingers at the glassy water, watching as a soft breeze rippled the surface and cooled the moisture coming off the pool. The dress was stuffy, and it was a warm enough day, so she welcomed the coolness and felt tempted to go and sit with her feet in the water.

Before she could move, however, she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. A hand placed itself on her shoulder and she stiffened. Her heart raced and her eyes burned at the sound of the person's voice, making her scared that she was going to shift again so soon, especially now that she knew where she was. Keiba's eyes were wide as she flitted to her feet and spun to face him, just to confirm.

She hadn't been crying before, but her words choked in her mouth and she could tell that she had tears rolling down her cheeks. Keiba blinked her blurred eyes to focus them on her first Hogwartian friend, finally managing to strangle out one word. "Humphrey," she cried, wanting to fling herself at him and hug him until all the bones in his body were broken, but she was somehow frozen to the spot, wondering how long it had taken her to get back here; back home.

It had felt like four years, and the kid certainly had shot up since the last time she'd seen him. Humphrey looked like he was 17, or at least almost there. Once he got over the fact that she was back Keiba knew she was going to be in for it. He'd only disappeared for a year that time. But her disappearance... god, he must've thought she was dead! Four years? He'd probably end up killing her!

Keiba braced herself, her eyes not moving from his. She didn't bother to stop the flow of tears. He was the one person she'd missed above everyone else through all those painful evaporations. Time lapse... god, she hated it.

Humphrey felt the person tense at his touch, and he quickly took his hand away. He didn't want to make the person uncomfortable, she did seem to be upset about something. Just as he was about to turn around and leave her to herself, the woman turned around. To his shock, it was Keiba Namid. His mouth dropped open and he started stumbling back, then tripped and hit the ground. She was dead, he'd been to her funeral, cried for months because he missed her. How...how could she be here?

When she spoke his name, the word hard to get out past the lump in her throat and the tears falling down her face, Humphrey knew it was really her. This wasn't some cruel glamour or trick, it really was his best friend. The girl he had almost dated but ruined things with. He had hated himself for what he'd done to her, but he had moved on. Now he was seeing her, tears were falling down his face and is whole body was trembling.

It had been three years, and in another couple months it will have been four. If she was back for good, well they would have a lot of catching up to do. Keiba was going to have to have some good explanations for this. Looking at her, he struggled to stop his shaking and sobs. "K-k-k-keiba...is th-that y-y-y-you?" he choked out past all the pain of losing her that had just been brought to the surface.

Then, taking a couple deep breaths, Humphrey stood up and walked over to her. It was her face, the same bone structure, same beautiful eyes, same long brown hair, and he hugged her gently. He started to squeeze a bit tighter when it didn't turn out to be a ghost and was indeed a real person, but he made sure to restrain himself from hugging her too tight. With his werewolf strength he could seriously hurt her if he wasn't careful.

Keiba wasn't trying to sniffle back her tears, not anymore. The pure look of shock on her old best friend's face reflected the amount of joy on hers. Her hand flew to her mouth as he stumbled backwards and tripped over himself, and she almost laughed, but it kind of bubbled and got caught in her throat. Her eyes twinkled damply as she realised he hadn't changed all that much - Humphrey was still as clumsy as he ever was.

A wash of emotions consumed his face, and she could barely distinguish one from another. Strangely enough, Keiba felt he was harbouring enough emotions for the both of them; inside, she herself was strangely numb. Humphrey was trembling violently, like he was about to throw up, but a surge of adrenalin made Keiba's insides coil away from the gag reflex.

She couldn't tell, just by looking at him, how long it had been. Three years? Four? Humphrey certainly had shot up like a rocket, and he'd grown into his skin. Was he 17 yet? Keiba was. How strange would it be if there was an age gap? Oh Merlin, she hoped not. She didn't want to have been gone that long. He stammered out a sentence, asking her if she really was... her. Keiba opened her mouth to confirm, but they caught in her throat. Her other hand flew to her mouth to cover her nose and she nodded, more tears spilling over.

Keiba watched as he pulled himself up and approached her. She took a small step forward and found herself trapped in his arms. She clung back to him, hugging him tighter than she thought she possibly could. Burying her face into his shoulder, she felt his t-shirt grow damp as her tears soaked it through. "You have no idea how much I missed you," she choked against his shirt.

Humphrey smiled a little bit at how happy she was to see him. In their early years at Hogwarts she had always been one of his favorite people to see, his best friend, and it seemed she had missed him as much as he had her. He saw her struggling not to laugh at his clumsiness, usually he wasn't really that bad, but she had always teased him whenever he was. They had a lot of catching up to do, and he needed to hear her story. Because if he knew Keiba at all she wouldn't have disappeared on him without a word if she had a choice in the matter.

Keiba was looking at him, trying to figure something out. Then he realized what it was, she wasn't sure how old he was, and he wasn't sure how old she was either. She looked about seventeen, just like he did. "I can see you are trying to peg my age, I'm seventeen now. Now I'm not sure how old you are, but I would have to guess pretty close to seventeen as well. You look great, but you have to tell me why on earth you are wearing that dress." Humphrey told her with a laugh.

Holding on to her, he felt her start to shake a bit as she cried into him. All he could do was keep hugging her and wait for the tears to stop. Soon some of his own joined hers, they were tears of happiness and sadness that it had been so long. She was alive though, and he felt a smile start to grow on his face. Wiping off some of his tears, he pulled her off of his chest and wiped off hers as well. Now he could look at her in the eyes. "I think I do Kibbles. I've missed you just as much, I thought you were...d-d-dead. There was a funeral and everything. Seeing you is something I never thought I'd get to do again." he said softly, pulling her into a hug again.

Then he took a seat on the grass by the lake and patted a spot next to him. Looking at her seriously, he decided it was time she start to fill him in on what had happened. "Now you, Miss Namid, have quite a lot of explaining to do. What happened? Are you...I mean...are you okay? You look fine, but you must have been through a lot..."

Keiba smiled softly. He still knew her far too well. "Ah, I was right. I must've aged the same as you... scary, now that I think about it," Keiba rushed, whispering almost to herself. She spoke a little louder when she addressed Humphrey. "You're a pretty good guesser, I must say. I'm seventeen as well, and of course I look great, I always look great!" Her smile broadened into a cheeky grin. Boy, did she have stories to tell him.

She pulled off his chest and let him wipe her tears off her face. He only really smeared them around, so when they broke out of the hug she used her puffy sleeve to rub the rest of the wetness off. Keiba seemed to have out-cried herself. She stopped smiling for a moment, her face turning serious in less than a split second. "A... a funeral? Does everybody really think I'm dead and gone?" Maybe it's for the best... there's no telling when I'll shift again. She was squished back into a hug and her smile returned.

Humphrey sat on the grass and patted the spot next to him, eager to learn why she'd been so horribly cruel and left them all at random. Keiba shifted her skirts and not-so-lady-likely flopped down beside him. She fell back onto her back and stared up at the sky, wondering where to begin. Glancing at Humphrey, she decided. "Well... I've been gone roughly four years, yes?" she asked, fiddling with the tattered cuff on her wrist. "You're very perceptive, young man. I think yes, maybe I have been through a lot more than my fair share. But, believe me, I would've rather stayed than do what happened."

Sighing, she sat back up, staring at the lake. She didn't want to meet his eyes. "First of all, I didn't leave on purpose; it wasn't my fault. I want you to know that I would never have left you on your own if I had any say in it. Right now I'm not entirely sure what time I've got, it seems to chop and change a lot. Doesn't like to make up it's mind." Keiba glanced over and watched for his reaction, sure it would be one of confusion. "At least, I haven't found a pattern through the thirty- or forty-something times I've shifted," she explained.

Humphrey smiled back, and heard what she said to herself. Aged the same as him, well of course she would, they'd always been the same age. Why would it be scary? Scratching his head a bit, he decided to wait for her to start explaining things. "It would only make sense that you are seventeen, it would be odd if you weren't..." he said, then burst out laughing. "Well, clearly somebody has a big opinion of themselves." Humphrey teased. "If I didn't think you were right I'd have to knock you down a few pegs." Keiba still had the confidence she had years before, that hadn't changed at least.

Even though he'd tried to help clear away her tears he hadn't really helped, Keiba had to dry them herself. When she looked back at him it was with a grave face, there was a lot of things they needed to catch up on. "Yes, they...they do. There was a mass funeral a couple years ago, battle casualties and what not, including the students who had passed. Not all the bodies had been found, I suppose they assumed you were dead." he explained. His brain was still trying to wrap around the fact that his dead best friend, well supposedly dead friend, was here, it reopened the pain that he'd felt at her loss. "Still hard to believe it's really you." he admitted quietly, sniffing as he tried to hold back the tears.

Seeing her flop down on to the ground pulled a grin out of him, i was good to see her try and relax a bit. Though he could tell she was still feeling a bit awkward because she started fiddling with something on her sleeve. "Yeah, roughly four years..." he murmured. Then he nodded when she said she would rather have stayed. "I'm just glad you are here, safe and sound, that's what matters." Humphrey told her with a wry grin.

As she began to talk, he realized it must be hard for her. Merlin, it's hard for her to even look at me. Instead, Keiba was looking at the lake, trying to find the words to say. "I was kind of hoping that was the case, you were always a loyal friend. I never thought you would have left if you had a choice in the matter." he told her honestly. Then she started talking about time, and shifting, what was it about. "Hang on...time...shifting....don't tell me all this while you've been hopping around through space and time. That's...absolutely insane...can you start from the beginning?" he asked. His mouth was hanging open a bit as he tried to process the information. "Are you a time-traveling superhero now Keibs?" he joked. There was a television show he watched when not at Hogwarts called Doctor Who that had one of those, it was quite an interesting show in his opinion.