Visiting them (Lucia and Benedict)

Lucia walked into the graveyard, reminiscing what her life used to be. The problem wasn't that everything had changed since her parents died, but the fact that nothing had changed. It was surprising how normal her life was. It made her feel guilty. She loved her parents, she did, but they had never been truly present in her life. She never tried to get them over, and they never asked, or the other way around. So they had only been family because they were linked by blood. That was proved with the lack of interaction Lucia had with her sister.

Lucia sighed when she reached the white tombstone with both her parents' names on. She sat down on the grass beside them, thankful that it was dry. She crossed her legs and took some breaths to calm herself. She smiled as she could hear the birds fly above her, hear the sound of bees buzzing around her. She felt the energy of the earth. And in so doing, she could feel someone coming closer to her.

Lucia's eyes opened immediately. She turned her head and saw a man wearing a grey coat walk towards her. She frowned. He was looking at her. Why? Why would he be looking so intently at her? Lucia felt herself get scared, and she didn't like it. Her hand instinctively moved to her wand, ready to attack if necessary.

"Who are you?" she asked lowly, not quite able to keep the worried tone out of her voice.

Benedict was standing on holy ground. He was amused how easily muggles sought to believe the old traditions of Catholic church. He didn't mind people thinking him an abomination. He thought them one. It was only fair that the feeling was mutual.

Then a woman walked into the graveyard. Benedict watched her as she walked over to one of the tombstones. The woman sat down and Benedict frowned as the ground beneath him seemed to beseech the woman. Of course, that wasn't the case, but the peace around the woman astounded Benedict. He straightened up from his crouch and walked towards the white tombstone.

Suddenly the peace around the woman vanished, and she turned. Benedict was surprised when her eyes landed on him. Had she so easily realized he was near her? But he didn't stop walking. This only urged him to keep moving towards her. He could see her hand moving to her wand, but Benedict wasn't scared. His hand was almost always resting with his fingers around his wand.

"Who are you?"

The woman's voice betrayed fright, and Benedict could see it annoyed her. He was rather amused, though. She seemed to understand that he was indeed a werewolf.

"My name is Benedict. Benedict Holmes," he said calmly in his deep, dark voice.

He stopped when he was ten feet from her. "Who are you visiting?" he asked, looking at the tombstone and back at the woman.

"My name is Benedict. Benedict Holmes."

Lucia was baffled at the man's deep voice. It was calming, but at the same time, full of authority. She didn't want to say anything to this man. She could tell that he wasn't human. Werewolf. Her instincts shouted at her to leave, but her brain didn't agree. It wasn't full moon. But maybe he was like Fenrir Greyback? Maybe he could change without the full moon's light.

But when the man asked her who she was visiting, Lucia rose calmly. She wasn't going to tell some stranger her business. She wasn't going to tell him of her misfortune. She didn't trust him.

"Mr. Holmes, I'm sorry to tell you that I have no intentions of answering that question. That is a matter concerning me, and me alone," Lucia said calmly.

She wanted to walk away, but she was still intrigued by him. However, she didn't want to be instigating a fight either, so she sighed and looked into his eyes.

"My manners, however, concerns everyone who talks to me. And I will not lose prospect of that. My name is Lucia Henley," she said, though with little enthusiasm.

She then looked around. No one was there. Why was it that no one was ever there? She took a deep, steadying, yet unnoticed breath and let it go.

"And if you would excuse me, I need to leave," Lucia said, now avoiding the man's eyes.

She was afraid he'd stop her when she started walking, so she bowed her head so that he could no longer see her eyes. Then she closed them and prayed to God that he would let her pass.

Benedict could feel a small smirk trying to escape his calm facade, but he wouldn't let it. He liked how he made this girl nervous.

"I am sorry if I upset you, madam. I was merely being curious," he said calmly.

When the woman then told him that she actually did have manners, something he was sure surprised about, and then introduced herself, he tilted his head to the side.

"You've made it too easy for me, Lucia," he said in an almost annoyed, yet amused way.

"By saying your name is Henley, I can easily presume that they are relatives of you. As you say it is your business, and yours alone, it would also seem to be relatives. Now, thinking about the year they were born and died, and by guessing your age I can presume they were old enough to be parents, uncles and aunts. However, if they were the latter, you would not so easily and calmly sit down and look at their graves. You are more comfortable around this grave, outruling uncles and aunts. They are not old enough to be your grandparents, so it makes you their child, am I right? Their only child probably too, as it is your problem, and yours alone," Benedict said calmly.

He looked at her, studying her face to see if he got something wrong. He was pretty sure he would be wrong about at least one thing, and maybe this woman looked at her uncles and aunts just the way one would think of their parents. It could be so. But he doubted it.

Then Lucia said she would like to leave. Benedict was even more amused by this. He had no intentions of holding her back. But she pretty much asked for it by saying so. Lucia seemed to bow her head as she started to walk past him, and Benedict let a crooked smirk play on his lips.

"You believe I will stop you, do you not?" he asked her, humor in his voice, hopefully enough to infuriate her; humans were so simple to mess with.

"You may pass me. I will not stop you. Do not fret," he said calmly and turned his back to her, turning to walk away.

He knew he had put enough into those words to anger her. To make her stop. To make her demand that he apologize or anything of the like.

When Benedict called Lucia by her given name, she felt her blood boil. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad. But the sentence wasn't assuring. What was too easy for him? Was he going to pull out his wand and kill her? Would he really believe it to be so easy? Would he be so stupid?

When Benedict then showered her with details of how she acted around the grave, how their names and age were right to be her parents, how they couldn't be her uncle or aunt, she felt the blood drain from her face. She didn't like this. It was true, she had made it easy, but no one would really put so much into it. But then he said she was an only child. While keeping her pokerface, she felt as if victory was kicking her blood back in gear.

"You are wrong. I'm not an only child," Lucia said calmly.

Then she almost bitchslapped herself. She had just revealed another personal thing about herself, and considering how little contact, or none at all be more precise, with her sister, she felt her blood warm her face. She wasn't embarrassed. She was ashamed of herself for revealing something so stupid like that. But she ignored it.

When she walked past him, still praying that he wouldn't stop her, she was surprised when the next things he said penetrated her mind.

"You believe I will stop you, do you not?"

She heard the humor in his voice. She heard the mock. And he wasn't getting better.

"You may pass me. I will not stop you. Do not fret."

Lucia stopped. She knew he wanted her to. She knew he wanted her to blow up in his face, to draw her wand. But she didn't know why.

"I'm not gonna try to attack you," Lucia said with a calmness she didn't knew she possessed. She was actually quite exasperated.

She turned to him, seeing that he had turned his back on her. She didn't care. He wasn't walking away.

"I don't know why you would want me to, though. Maybe it's your instincts. I know what you are, Benedict, but don't think I think you lesser than me because of it. I've learned from many a werewolf that they are much smarter than many humans I know. Possibly even me," Lucia added lightly.

She was conversing with him. Actually conversing with him. Or trying to. Why? She had absolutely no idea. But she wanted him to turn and face her. Lucia wasn't prejudiced. She just didn't trust people in general. But usually, she would've trusted a werewolf sooner than a human. Why not this guy?

She already knew the answer to that, though; how he could so easily read her. She couldn't understand anything about him, yet he already knew half of her family's story. It wasn't fair.

Not an only child? A sister then. It was easier to fall out with a sister if you were a girl, than to fall out with a brother if you were a girl. And it was obvious that Lucia didn't have contact with her by the way she had forgotten about her sister when she claimed to be her business and hers alone. Benedict noticed how angry she seemed to be with herself when her face reddened. He didn't say anything to that, though.

When she then said she wasn't going to fight him, he raised his eyebrows, but didn't turn towards her. He smiled when she called him by his given name. He had won this game. She had surrendered. And she knew it.

He was surprised, though, when she told him that she didn't think him beneath her just because he was a werewolf. He was also surprised to hearing that she had met some before. He had only met two or three himself.

"Are you saying I could be smarter than you?" Benedict asked, wanting a confirmation, though he also wouldn't mind angering her some more.

But something was special about this Lucia. Not the person herself, but something about her. The way the birds were watching silently, because they had made no sound while they were chatting, the way the earth seemed to back her up, like it would give her energy if she needed it. And the birds... It was like if Benedict would try anything, they would drill their small beaks through his skull. He almost slapped himself.

"You're an animal whisperer, aren't you?" he asked her, understanding now why he was so drawn to her.

"Are you saying I could be smarter than you?"

Lucia almost snorted. "By the way you have got me all figured out, I do suppose you are smarter than me, since I know nothing of you," she said calmly.

But she was grateful that he hadn't summarized her entire life yet. She was annoyed that he was at such an advantage of information while she knew nothing, but she didn't think she'd ever see him again, so what was the point of being childishly stupid.

However, she was taken aback when he asked if she was an animal whisperer.

"How could you possibly have guessed that?" she whispered, not able to keep her wonder out of her voice.

Yes, she was an animal whisperer, but people didn't just out of the blue ask another person that. At all. So what had cued him on? Lucia felt paranoia swing over her. Had he studied her? Done research on her? But she had never told anyone of her connection to animals. No one. So even then he wouldn't have figured it out.

Benedict couldn't help but smirk slightly at what Lucia said. "Yes, well, we'll have to sort that out somehow," he said calmly.

He looked around. "My father and sister died some years ago, my mother is incapacitated, and all because of the war raging between Hogwarts and Durmstrang," he said, not looking at Lucia, trying to read more about her by looking at how the environment around them were treating her.

His smirk returned when she asked how he could guess such a thing. He wanted to be plain and say that it was just how he was, but he figured that would be too cruel and unspecified to her.

"The birds. They look at you like a goddess and keeps their eyes on me so I won't do anything rash. It is also why I walked over to you in the first place. I make a point out of staying away from humans, all you've ever done is disappoint me, but you drew me in due to your respect and ability to talk to animals," Benedict explained.

He then felt the draw of the earth again. "However, I do not understand how the earth keeps you so solid. Why does the earth seem to give you energy?" he asked her.

Lucia frowned when he told her he had lost his father and sister and that his mother was incapacitated.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said softly, meaning it, "This war is so pointless."

She then frowned and looked up at the birds. Her eyes widened. The trees around the graveyard were filled with black ravens, crows and all sorts of birds, watching the two of them. That was the weirdest thing she had ever seen in her life, and that said a lot. Then Lucia felt her face heat up as Benedict practically said that the animal within him had been drawn to Lucia. She took a sharp breath and calmed herself down.

Then he asked about the earth. Lucia blinked and then realized that in her uncomfortable stance, she had been unconsciously sucking energy from the earth. She stopped immediately, but she knew she should either say, or he would guess himself to it.

"I'm a Healer," she said calmly, "During my years of education I took some special paths that only some are capable of learning. One of the things is sucking energy from your surroundings, be they walls or earth or water."

Benedict was surprised when Lucia so solemnly told him that she was sorry about his loss. Sure, humans weren't emotionless or anything, but he just didn't expect them to care at all. Not anymore. He wasn't surprised when she said the war was pointless.

"And yet you still fight it," Benedict said lowly, not quite able to hide the contempt from his voice.

He was amused again when the woman blushed. He could understand why. It wasn't everyday you met a werewolf whose animal was drawn to that person. Benedict looked at her, studying her. Then suddenly the earth giving energy to her stopped. He looked surprised at her when he understood. He was about to say it when she said it herself.

"You're not just a healer, though. You have advanced healing skills due to your contact with animals and the peaceful nature you have around you," Benedict said, tilting his head a bit backwards in wonder.

"Do you have more surprises in store for me?" he asked her then.

The contempt in Benedict's voice threw Lucia off guard.

"And yet I still fight in it?" she asked silently, a tone of anger subdued in her voice.

"When someone attacks the school I work on and kills students right in front of me, do you honestly expect me to stand back and watch?!" Lucia snapped at him.

She then took a steadying breath. "I don't fight in the war because I choose to, but because it isn't as easy as just to not fight in it. Besides, I'm a medic, Benedict, in other words, I stand on the sidelines, keeping the students safe. Do your research," Lucia said coolly.

Lucia was surprised when he came to the conclusion of her being an advanced healer. "You're good at reading people," she remarked.

Then she shrugged. "But no, nothing should surprise you anymore. I'd say I'm the normal, random person you pass on the street," she said calmly.