Boring Family Reunions [Open]

Bennett liked his family, but he didn't like being singled out as the youngest one. The adults sat at the table in front of him, all wearing accomplished smiles and smug looks as they told everyone else of their childhood. It didn't seem like much, so Bennett sat at his own table, drawing them as they mingled between one another. His eldest cousin, Oliver, was too busy telling everyone about his new job as Healer. "The exams were quite easy, really." He confided, making his parents puff up like prideful birds. Bennett's mother was already talking to him about what he wanted to do after school, and Bennet just looked up to Oliver and Matthew (his other cousin, Ollie's brother) for their advice, but he didn't like Healing as Oliver did and he certainly wasn't an adventurer like Matthew was. The only two role models Bennett had in his life were as different as peanut butter and mustard, leaving Bennett wondering who to take in as sole role model. "They gave me the uniform already, I start on Monday!" Oliver continued, everyone cheered for him and congratulated him.

Everyone seemed to like his choices, and Bennett couldn't blame them. There had been a dark time in Oliver's life, when he was around sixteen or seventeen. Oliver was a pure soul, or so everyone said, he wasn't capable of hurting anyone or anything - he was truthful, brave, and selfless. Expect during his Dark Phase. Even then, Oliver had managed to stay quite noble, if not as happy as he used to be. At least he hadn't killed anybody. That was the first experience Bennett had with love - it was pain, it had enough power to break a person's spirit. As Bennett thought on that, Matthew spoke up - "Will we go to Ireland this summer?" Bennett could hear the slight hint of coldness in his cousin's voice even though they were pretty far away from each other. For some reason that Bennett wasn't sure of, something between Oliver and Matthew had changeda few years ago. They spoke to each other as they were brothers, but the undertones beneath their voices and actions were too loud for Bennett to ignore.

It seemed that the family was too much for Bennett to handle. He wasn't a Bennett, and he wasn't a Fox. The irony in that thought brought a smirk to his face; he was Bennett Fox, but he didn't quite fit in with the Bennett family, nor the Fox family. As he filled in the shadows of his Uncle's hair, Bennett realized he hated family reunions. They just sat there, at the Three Broomsticks, every month, to talk about themselves and their lives. He wasn't going to lie, he liked Oliver's stories very much because he was the one who often included Bennett in the reunions, but still. Most of the time Bennett sat alone, drawing or reading, pretending to be too busy with something else rather than to ask and answer questions he didn't care for. He really just wanted to go skiing, and the only person who would take him would be either Matthew or Oliver, so he would have to ask them after dinner if they could go. Of course, Matthew would bring his annoying redhead girlfriend. Nobody in the family like her except him. Glancing at his blue-eyed cousin, as if Matthew could somehow heard Bennett's thoughts, he sighed in relief when the older boy didn't snap at him. His family was weird, and the point of it all was that Bennett felt like an outcast. He was, after all, the surprise child of the youngest Bennett and a famous Quidditch player who - as some of the family said - was as responsible as a magic bean.

Without paying anymore attention to what they were all saying, Bennett got lost in his drawing, sitting at a completely different table from where the rest of his family was simply because he was a child. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw his mother glance at him, just very briefly, before turning back to her chatting. Great life he had.

The pencil moving across the page swiftly, Bennett tried to ignore the lingering shadow over him for a few seconds before deciding it was too rude of him to do so. Looking up, he saw a boy a bit younger than himself. He was going to motion to the spot across from him, but the kid began stuttering. Bennett had never heard someone actually stutter, so he was taken back by it. Realizing that must also be considered very rude, he nodded his head. "You are welcome to. They don't care." He said, nodding his head towards the rest of his family. "They probably won't know we're here anyway." He resumed his drawing for a while, not uncomfortable at all with the silence.

"Do you go to Hogwarts?" Bennett asked without looking up from his work, continuing to sketch lines and curves across the page. "I'm Bennett Fox." he introduced himself. Really, Bennett was glad to have someone there. Even if he was probably annoying the kid with petty introduction, Bennett felt better trying to communicate with him than he did a few minutes ago when he was only half listening to his own family. "That's my mom." He nodded to the lady with the dark, wavy hair. "She doesn't really act like one. That's why I said they wouldn't care if you're here. I mean, we could practically leave for Italy and they wouldn't even notice." Bennett wasn't sure if he was ranting to this stranger, and he hoped he didn't mind, but he felt a bit better.

Putting his pencil down, he looked at the boy. Really looked at the boy. He had soft feminine features, dakr hair and blue eyes paired with fair skin. He seemed friendly enough. "I don't know why untold you that. My boots aren't as heavy now, though." He concluded, resuming his drawing but with very little interest nowm

When the boy thanked him, moments after taking the seat, Bennett simply nodded. However, when he told Bennett of his year and House, he noticed the shrug. "Well, why the shrug? Do you not like your House?" Bennett was a clear example of people who didn't feel like they belonged in the house the dumb sorting hat had chosen for them. Bennett's uniform may say Hufflepuff, but his heart yelled Ravenclaw. Still, he told none of this to the boy sitting across from him.

Bennett was an observer. He paid attention to everyone, to their actions and choice of words. Therefore, he could tell Finley was going to be an okay person to be around. He didn't say much, and it bothered Bennett only slightly. Finley could be as quiet as he wanted to be, Bennett wouldn't publicly say anything. "Do you always stutter, Finley?" He asked, unable to keep the curiosity to himself.
"I've never stuttered, nor had anyone close to me do it. You're the first person I've met who does it." Bennett shrugged, hoping he hadn't offended Finley. He wanted to ask him if it was due to a traumatic experience from his childhood or if it was actually a medical condition. Bennett had no answer to his questions, but Finley did. Finley could enlighten him on the matter.

He was glad, however, that Finley had chosen to change the topic from Bennett's crappy family to the drawing. It wasn't much of a change, though, as Bennett was actually drawing them. Squirming a bit, Bennet glanced at his family before turning his attention back to Finley. "It's them." He admitted, somehow feeling lonelier than before. Turning his drawing around to make it easier for Finley to see it, Bennett pointed at the first figure, the one to the left edge of the margin. "That's my cousin, Ollie." He said, nodding to the 20-year-old with the bright, Jolly Rancher blue eyes. "Then there's his father, and my stepfather, and then my mom." He explained, pointing at the figures without faces that rested on his paper. "I can't quite draw facial features yet, so I try to catch their essence so they'll know who they are even if they can't see their own face."

Without meaning to, Bennett blurted out, "Do you draw, Finley?"

Bennett nodded at the boy's answer. "Ravenclaw is probably the best House, I think. Slytherin is a close one as well. I don't really like Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.It's not the people I dislike, but the values." He explained. "I understand how ambition and wisdom are great traits, but why bravery and kindness? Those two usually lead to trouble." When Finley asked him what house he was in, Bennett almost cringed. He dreaded that question in every conversation despite the fact he always brought it up. He could always tell a person's major traits by the house they were in.

"Hufflepuff." he muttered, standing by his opinion on why Hufflepuff was a pretty useless house.
He was glad the talk was now about Finley and his speech impediment. "I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just curious." Bennett said flatly. He really hadn't mean to make the boy feel uncomfortable, which he could tell he was by the way he looked down at his hands. Bennett was very observant, much more than he should be maybe. "Do you think there'd a spell for it? Or a potion? That would be cool." Though he wasn't very sure how stuttering even happened, he figured there must be a way to cure it, at least for a day.

"Thanks." Bennett returned Finley's smile. Of course, Bennett already knew they were good. Bennett was a good artist, and that was a profession he also held up on his list of options for after his future Quidditch career ended. Finley didn't draw..."So, what do you do for fun?" Bennett raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Don't get me wrong, I like people from all the houses. I'm not discriminating anyone." He said, trying not to sound too arrogant. Really, he wasn't being rude to either of the latter houses, he just didn't understand why the houses were even houses at all. He was close to explaining why he didn't think courage was a good trait, using his former Gryffindor friend as an example, but soon decided against it because it was still too personal. Sure, most kids knew Ivan as the prankster but none of them saw him as the reckless idiot Bennett knew he was. Just the memory made Bennett frown.

He looked at Finley like the boy had said the most offensive thing to him. Then, his look quickly softened, feeling bad about it. "I suppose so." he nodded, "But I'd rather be wise than kind." That sounded worse outloud than it did in his head, but Bennett stood by his opinions. "Anyway, enough of this House talk" he gave Finley a small smile, then when the talk moved on to the possible potion-cure Bennett lit up. "Well, if there isn't, maybe you can invent one!" He was sure that would be a terrible accomplishment, if it hadn't yet been done yet.

Reading and archery. "That sounds fun!" he said, referring to the archery part. Bennett loved reading, of course, but he liked the idea of archery as he had never tried it himself. "Who's your best friend?" he asked, "Maybe I know him or her." Bennett wasn't sure if this best friend of Finley's was a boy or girl, so he had to be sure he wouldn't offend anyone.