*Warnings: Henri doing some deep thinking? xD Full of fluff and sweetness
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Only I Can See It
"The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend."
Only I Can See It
"The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend."
Falcon is tall, really tall. Like, taller-than-even-Gerard-or-Loren tall. He’s quiet, very much so that he sometimes gets uncomfortable when Henri talks for too long. Plus, he’s a Slytherin and everyone in Gryffindor tells Henri those people can’t be trusted at all.
Henri is tiny, compared to many students in her year, much less in the school. She’s full of energy, so much that even her friends have trouble pinning her down for too long. Not to mention, a friendship between Gryffindors and Slytherins is as rare as a friendship between say…a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff.
(But hey, if Gene and Tophe could make it work for 7 years, Henri was sure her and Falcon could be friends too.)
She adores the guy like she likes Gerard and Luke and all the other male friends she has that she thinks of as ‘brothers’. Sure he’s tall, but everyone is tall to Henri. He’s quiet, but he’s friendly and always willing to share sweets with her. She doesn’t see how other people can be so afraid of him, when he’s such a nice guy.
Then again, people don’t think the same way as Henri. And hey, Henri was totally fine with that, ‘cause she would never try to force someone to see things her way. What she may see as quiet and shy, others may see as fearsome and intimidating. One time, when Henri tripped over her feet and Falcon was kindly helping her up, a few passing students frowned and shook their heads in disapproval at them.
Henri didn’t hear their exact words (she doesn’t want to know what they said either), but the tone that they used implied something entirely wrong with Falcon.
Really, though, if Henri wasn’t hearing ‘He’s the kind of guys who’d mug little girls like you in an alley’, it was ‘He’s only taking advantage of your good nature’. Of course she tuned them all out.
She hates those people who judge a person before actually getting to know him or her. They’re narrow-minded and snippy and sometimes Henri just wants to scream at them:
“YOU WANKERS! HE’S A GOOD PERSON, WHY CAN’T YOU SEE THAT?!”
Ah, but that’s what candy and good company is for: Henri doesn’t snap at them, only glares and ignores their words entirely. She doesn’t want to upset Falcon, because she thinks he’s got a good smile, so she tries to spend time with just him, and his hippogriff Loki. Which is always fine with Falcon, since he’s always shown his gentle side more with magical creatures than human beings.
(Loki, by the way, adores Henri. Even when she falls off him. Henri knows the hippogriff probably thinks she’s a silly, clumsy girl for managing the impossible.)
Where others are scared or intimidated of Falcon, Henri is not. Where as others try to avoid making contact with him, Henri does not. Where others are attracted to him (…yet they’d want to avoid him?), Henri is certainly not. …At least not too much, because Henri has others matters that need her attention.
It’s a matter of being open to other possibilities, seeing what others cannot see. Sometimes, it is invisible to the naked eye or hidden well underneath layers of stoicism. Other times, it just takes a simple…gesture of kindness to unearth a person different from what others perceive.
Henri herself isn’t safe from other peoples’ judgments. They assume because she smiles, she is unassuming and always happy. Things go over her head as quietly as the wind. There is never a cloudy day in Henri’s eyes, as long as she can look towards the future with that smile of hers.
(But sometimes…a smile can be plastic.)
No, Henri didn’t judge Falcon when he first helped her and she certainly doesn’t have any reason to start now. She sees Falcon for what he is, from their conversations and his mannerisms towards her. Sometimes he is guarded against her onslaught of cheerfulness…
“Henri…?”
Most of the time, however, she makes sure he returns those smiles with some of his own.
Henri looks over at Falcon and gives him a smile as sweet as the candy she’s sharing with him. She's been quiet for the past few minutes and needless to say...it's peculiar to watch Henri think seriously, even if she won't voice her thoughts (most of the time). He takes the piece of chocolate from her small hands with an incline of his head, and gives her the faintest of smiles.
Perhaps one day, those people will see what they're missing out on.
- End -
