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Benedict Hunter · June 25, 2025 – 1:50 PM

June 28th, 1894 - Padmore Park

Benedict and Millie had come to their favourite reading spot at the park and sat at one bench while her sister and another of the Potts women chatted a little distance away. It was nice, sunny, warm but with a light breeze, perfect reading weather. And yet, something was amiss. Millie had spoken to him much less than usual and had even withdrawn her hand to her necklace when he tried to hold it.

"Have I done something wrong, Mils?" he asked after observing her a few moments and searching his memory for any crime. He didnt mean it in any manner of annoyance but there was probably just enough tone in his voice to be wrong.

Millie Potts

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Millie Potts · June 25, 2025 – 6:59 PM

The day should have been picturesque for the young witch. She had chosen one of her favorite trees, a stately yew that stood alone in a grouping of pines. It's bark might have been carved, and Millie enjoyed the touch of it until Ben tried to grasp her hand. Then it withdrew to her necklace, as she tried to withdraw more deeply into her novel.

Page after page, however, Millie had been stuck reading over herself. Finding lines that didn't make sense to her, passages that wouldn't stick, until she returned to an earlier paragraph that her eyes must have trailed over thrice already, all unread. Ben's presence should have been comforting, by now she could as serenely around him as a tree, but today it felt oppressive. Like the little sharp tones and rumbling murmurs her ear forced her to hear from her family chaperones nearby.

And then Ben, with all the audacity of a reread page, asked whether he had done something wrong.

"I don't know, have you?" Millie didn't often bite with her words around friends, and never with Ben. It was short, sharp, and so very unlike her, but so was her inability to comprehend the novel in her lap. Even the typically-calming presence of her necklace between her fingertips felt dull and useless, a result that made her want to tear it from her neck instead. "Perhaps we could just mind our own business today."

Every little thing seemed wrong on this day, and Ben was only one of a thousand others.

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Benedict Hunter · June 25, 2025 – 7:55 PM

Ben's brown furrowed as Millie snapped at him, he hadnt don't anything wrong, not that he knew of anyway. He had not seen her like this before and he turned towards her. He did actually feel a little cross at this turn in her mood towards him, not so much to react unpleasantly, but he had a sense that he was in trouble.

He slowly closed his own book and placed it down while Millie stared intently at hers. It wasnt like her to snap at him, or anyone really, she was such a kind and soft person it seemed alien in his eyes. "Mind our own business? Thats not fair.... What's going on Millie? If I've done something to upset you I think you should tell me." he thought for a second, trying to find a way out of this "If I know what's wrong maybe I can fix it."

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Millie Potts · June 25, 2025 – 8:34 PM

It wasn't fair, that much was true enough. It wasn't fair that every sound was trying to drill a hole through her skull, and every touch rattled her nerves. Those nerves were frayed enough by now, over a month past her OWLs and still no word on results. Her one night of ballroom dancing had been fantasy indeed, how could Millie simply carry on as if her impending fate wasn't borne upon some feathery messenger still yet to arrive?

She let out a long breath. He was trying, if only he could just try a little harder. "It's adorable that you believe you can fix everything in the world, Ben. You're not that clever, or powerful..."

Sometimes, Millie wished he was. Why she couldn't have fallen for a nice, wealthy pureblood boy instead was beyond what she could fathom at the moment. Her thoughts were frazzled enough trying to sort out her feelings, or why her beloved novels no longer seemed to make sense. Glancing down at the book in her lap, she laid a finger on the page. "...like we're on a page of a book and talking will simply sort out all our problems."

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Benedict Hunter · June 25, 2025 – 9:42 PM

Benedict frowned again "I am well aware that I'm not the most clever or powerful wizard in the world Millie." he said, a bit stung from her barbed comments. "Nor do I think I can fix every problem in the world." he let out an involuntary short but dismissive laugh noise at the ridiculousness of that kind of thinking. And he watched her running her fingers along the words in her book. Their relationship did feel like a story and he hoped that he would be able to navigate any twists their author threw at them. But.

"Just tell me Millie, thats what we do, we talk. Maybe I wont be able to do anything, but I cant even try if I don't know what is bothering you so much." he had no right to tell her what to do, maybe it would be better they just go home before he dug himself into a deeper hole.

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Millie Potts · June 25, 2025 – 10:20 PM

"Talk about what?!" Millie asked, hitting the end of the last word with the resonance of finality. She shut her book, and had she been anybody else it might have been accompanied with a loud, exasperated sound. That was not her person, though, not for a long time. That wild and rambunctious child had become this, this nice-dressed facade of pent-up frustration at the things outside of the young witch's control.

"Talk about how wonderfully balmy the summer has been, that I've barely enjoyed at all? Or shall we talk alarmingly at the tacit approval our families seem to have given to the casual warmth of our friendship?" Millie asked, and realized a bit too late how loud her voice had become. Her eyes glanced over at their chaperones, who might have been startled by the sudden closure of her book or the volume of her voice, both unnatural outbursts from the so often-composed and reserved girl Millie was. Until today.

Today, when it all unraveled somehow, fraying away beyond the grasp of her fingertips and any ounce of self-restraint left inside her. "Or how about the utter lunacy of waiting on the impossible OWL results that will finally please my father and let me stay at a school I would rather die than be torn away from?"

She hoped Ben would be satisfied at last. There it was, in its stark, naked truth, the ugliness of her summer nerves and how vividly they betrayed the horrible nature of the youngest Potts girl. Millie turned to look at him, her face raw and unguarded, wondering what she might see reflected back at her. "Can you fix that?!"

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Benedict Hunter · June 26, 2025 – 6:32 AM

"Millie!" he snapped back, part in anger but part in a little sadness that she was reacting like this. If their chaperones had heard, they were not reacting but he was certain they must have. Were their stolen moments of summer ruining her enjoyment of the break? He genuinely had thought she was as eager for whatever they called what they had as he was. Wasn't that the case? Perhaps the weight of hidden kisses and hands intertwined in folds of dress was too much for her. He looked down at his own now wringing hands and sighed. His thoughts went to Anne and her open disapproval. Wait.

"Has someone said something to you?" he said to her now less subtle about his irritation and feeling that his love was being sabotaged by some interference. But as he did she continued her tirade against the world and looked at him his eyes caught hers and they softened from annoyed to something more sympathetic. "No... I cant fix that Millie. I'm sorry." he wasn't sure if he was apologising for impacting her studying, he didnt think he had as they spent so much time reading and studying even when they did get moments together. He was mostly apologising just because he couldnt take away the pain that Millie was in.

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Millie Potts · June 28, 2025 – 4:49 AM

He wanted her to stop, she could tell in the harsh manner in which Ben said her name. Millie herself wanted to stop, too, but she couldn't fathom how. How could she? A kettle that reached its boiling point could only open its top to let out its built-up steam, and the young witch's shrill whistle had only begun.

"No, no one had to say anything, don't you see? That's who I am, Ben, the person who only has to be told once. Then I say it to myself, freeing everyone else from the obligation!" Millie could nearly see it curling out from her own nostrils, the steam that carried forth on her words. He couldn't fix her fate no matter how much he tried, or wanted to. Right now, she wasn't entirely sure how much that was, either. Perhaps Ben would be relieved if she went away after this, to enjoy his final year in peace and without the nervous, reticent girl who was only willing to share so much of his amorous enthusiasm. Lips and hands and fabric were plenty dangerous, but every time she looked in his eyes, Millie could see that he wanted more.

And, right now, the young witch's own reflected desires were buried as deep as boiling magma.

"I say, you really picked a winner here, Mr. Hunter. She cares more for her grades than speaking kindly to her handsome gentleman friend." Making a motion near her ear, the young witch added curtly, "Crazy."

Benedict Hunter · June 28, 2025 – 6:29 AM

Ben watched the metaphorical steam coming out of Millie, he had never seen her lose her composure like this. He'd seen her anxious, frustrated, upset, all manner of things, but this was new. It reminded him of the way his mother got when his father wasnt listening properly.

His lip curled in a barely contained snicker when she made the last comment and gestured to her head that she might be crazy. There was a realisation, at least what he thought was a realisation. "Oh yeah, totally, I'll have to inform Bedlam of your hysteria." it was probably a badly times joke but in his mind he was trying to distract her from her anger. "Is that what this is about? Your grades? I have tried to give you space to revise Millie, and truth be told being around you has made me study that much harder. If I wanted to be around a girl whose only interest was to flip their dresses at bachelors there are plenty of those about. You are going to smash your OWLs Millie, we all know it." he was still putting himself as the centre of her problems as men were prone to doing, but at least (he hoped) that he was going in the right direction.

A thought crossed his mind to apparate then away somewhere more private, but he thought better of that for fear of pursuit by angry chaperones.

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Millie Potts · June 28, 2025 – 6:29 PM

Space? Didn't Ben know anything about her? Millie let her mouth open, without a word to put in it. Not even a sound. She was good at that, incredibly well-practiced in fact. To inhabit a room without taking up any space, that was the exceptional talent of the youngest Potts witch. Such a thing would baffle the most cunning and experienced of wizardkind, but not her. If there was a person who needed more space, her name was not Millie Potts.

"Oh yes, you have been incredibly kind with your space, there's no doubt about that," Millie noted acerbically. The words left a bitter taste on her mouth. Though she felt bitter inside, feeling it there on her tongue was something she didn't relish. She wanted to spit it out, unlike the burning desire of gossip, these words cut into her own tongue, leaving sores on her mouth and heart where they left their mark. "If it was truly space I needed, one might wonder why I answer your calls at all."

The book pressed tight into her stomach, as the young witch realized she had her hands wrapped around it. It was a posture of her childhood, holding on to something precious while suffering the indignity of a scolding. The soothing touch of her necklace was insufficient for something so raw inside her, a need so primal that she reached for earlier comforts instead.

Millie touched a chin to her chest so Ben couldn't see the tears welling in her eyes, but it only made them threaten to fall faster.

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Benedict Hunter · June 28, 2025 – 6:54 PM

Ben let out a long sigh and he reached into Millie's bubble to try and hold her hand, her finger even, just something let her know he was here for her. "Mils, I'm sorry ok. I know you are worried, I think you are going to do really well when your grades come through. I just wish I could reassure you somehow." he turned towards her, trying to look as warm as he could. She had mentioned the pressure she had been under to perform. More than most it seemed, but he had not properly comprehended how much impact it had been having on her life. He wished he could just hold her and not have to worry about propriety right now.

"After everything you've done so far in school, your parents would be mad to not let you do your NEWTs. And anyway, you can't leave school before me, I cant have some chump marrying you before I get to." he squeezed her hand and tried to break her tears with a laugh. But if she wanted to cry that was OK too, and he hoped that she knew that of him. Even if he couldn't fix things he could be here.

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Millie Potts · June 29, 2025 – 3:31 AM

He took her hand again, and this time Millie let him. The gesture was far short of what she needed, his words inadequate. He was trying, though, and that was all the young witch could really ask for. It pained her not to be able to ask for more, to hold herself trapped in the bounds of proper behavior. She laced her fingers through Ben's, holding them tight as if that alone could send the black cloud from her summer spell.

"He'd be dreadfully old, too," Millie put in, the words unable to stop the thready breath that fed a growing sob at the back of her throat. She inhaled sharply, catching the musky, natural scent of earth and earthbound things on Ben's clothes. "And smell of cheap cologne, pinching all his sickles to impress Papa instead."

Lost in all their amusement was the message she left unheeded, his eternal optimism for her cause. As right as he may be, and Millie wished that with all her heart, it was impossible to banish the specter of fear that nagged at her heart. No spell would cast it out, no one else could save her. All she could do was wait in misery for her OWL results, or risk letting go of all hope in the process.

"I can't. I can't lose Hogwarts, or Anne and Greta, or the chance at NEWTs, or—oh!"

The young witch chose to let go, though not of hope. That she clung to, in the nearest form it presented to her. What else could she cling to otherwise? Propriety couldn't salve wounds nor dry tearful eyes, or the rivers that sprang forth from them to cascade down her cheeks. The sob finally escaped as Millie let herself fall. Down, down she went, a slow tumble into the arms, into the lap of her dearest Ben.

There she pressed her face against the fabric of his trousers, losing the rest of her self-control and rage in the process. All the young witch needed now was someone to hold her close, and she chose Ben.

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Benedict Hunter · June 29, 2025 – 7:30 AM

Feeling her hand entwine with his and squeeze it tightly was a good feeling after her words had masked her affection for him, he needed to be there for him. She tried not to laugh but couldnt help a smirk when she described the old penny pinching and cheap cologne wearing marital option she might be presenting with. No, he husband should be young, generous of heart, and smell vaguely like a pet shop most of the time.

He felt like he was going to be the next thing she listed before she flopped into his lap and her crying face rested against his trousers. He should have blushed as this was not a proper seating position but all he could do was feel pity for Millie's heart as it broke itself with the worry of being forced to leave school. As he tears ran down her cheeks and onto his legs he put his hand onto her next and ran his fingers up into her soft brown hair behind her head. His thumb made gentle circles behind her ear as he tried to comfort her and make her feel safe. He glanced over to the elder Miss Potts who had of course noted them and was right now packing her own things to leave with a face mixed of concern for her sister what he worried was disapproval at the entirely innocent goings on on the bench that he and Millie had taken.

"I can't take away your worries Millie, but I love you, and I'm here for you."

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Millie Potts · July 3, 2025 – 3:59 AM

Millie could have clung to him for hours, long after her eyes would dry and her heart settle. The warmth in his limbs and the hand he touched to her head offered a respite that a necklace never could. Ben was not the most comfortable pillow for her head, but here he was the safest for the torment in her heart. The bleak future she saw looked just a little hazier when the young witch looked from his line of sight.

Those eyes pressed deep into his trouser fabric, and all at once her lungs filled with a burst of air. Millie peeked out to the side, finding her sister not in a reproving mood but gathering instead. In the inner workings of her mind, she knew the reason. A young man and young woman in far too close of an embrace, that could hardly be suffered for long. Millie pressed her eyes closed again, silently begging Dora for just a few minutes more.

Soft murmurs from above her set Millie's heart into another round of emotion, coming up as sobs and tears again. They seemed entirely out of place now, but, like before, she couldn't bring herself to stop. Here, in Ben's awkward embrace, she was safe. Couldn't the rest of her see that, feel it? The young witch felt torn, between the cold-hearted future and the warm-blooded young man she could rest easy against.

Maybe it had been a few minutes when Dora finally bent down to pry her out of Ben's lap, but Millie still yearned for longer. When she was led away, it was impossible not to turn back to watch him still there, under the yew tree, looking lonely and bereft now.

'Wait for me! ' she wanted to tell him, but her jaw wouldn't work now. And her voice, if it would come, only promised her another heart-wracking sob. Millie kept quiet of all the things she wanted to say, to him, to her sister, to the world.

And maybe, in one of those things the young witch was burning to shout, was the answer that wouldn't leave Ben so lonely again.

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