Everybody Get Dangerous

Will had noticed a trend lately, and it was concerning him.

He and Renee usually made a little bit of time for just the two of them. It wasn't like Cal, who regularly scheduled time for the two of them. It wasn't like Izzy, who bounded in and out of his life, demending his time and attention of she was feeling neglected.

With Renee, Will always felt like he was the one going out of his way to make time. Renee got caught up in her work the way that Will never did, and Will considered it his own personal responsibility to yank her out of the library every once in a while.

Lately, though, things had been even worse than normal. OWLs were coming up, and Renee was practically living in the library. She was starting to find corners of the room that he didn't even know existed (not that he really spent enough time in the library on his own to know much about the layout). She was starting to get good at hiding out and dodging his attempts to bring her ice cream or make her sit in the sun.

So, he decided, it was time for drastic measures.

It took him a while to locate her, but when he did, he snuck up from behind the stacks and tapped her on the shoulder. "Oi, you."

Renee wasn't even reading the book that was open in front of her. She'd been trying to for the past little while, but it wasn't making any sense. She had no idea what was going on, or when on earth it had been taught. So instead she was staring blankly down at the book, twisting her fingers together and digging her nails into the palm of her hand. It's fine. You're fine. It doesn't matter. ...yes it matters, it really really matters. Why doesn't this make any sense?

She jumped at getting tapped, not even having heard him approach. "Go away William," she said irritably, without even glancing back at him and going back to trying to read her book. That boy was a pest, and should have figured by now that she wanted to be left alone. Thus the hiding herself into the hidden depths of the library. Though, she knew he already knew it, and was just purposely ignoring it. Which made her more irritated, and she didn't want to be irritated, because studying was hard when she was annoyed.

"Hiya, Renee!" Will said eagerly, sitting down on the edge of the table in front of Renee. "How are you this fine day? It's gorgeous outside, not that you'd know, with you being all cooped up in this stuffy library all day. Do you want to meet the sun?"

Renee looked haggard, with bags under her eyes and crescent-shaped marks in her palms. She seemed rumpled, like she hadn't properly slept in days, and it was a very strange look on Renee.

She gave him a peeved look. Dealing with Will was interesting enough on a good day, and this wasn't really a good day. "If I wanted to meet the sun, I would have done so," she muttered, and tacked on something uncomplimentary at the end in french. "Get off the table Gryffindor," she said, shifting sideways and pulling her book away from the boy, and flicking back to the start of the chapter. "Yes, I'm fine, shoo."

Naturally, Will had no intention to actually leave Renee alone. "Look," he said, grabbing the book from her hands without saving the page, "either you come outside with me on your own, or I'll kidnap your book and take it out of the library, so you'll have to follow me no matter what. You need to get out, Renee. This isn't healthy."

Renee's eyes trailed his movement of stealing her book. "Fine," she said, and just pulled another book off from her stack at the top of the table and thumbed to the index. "You do that," she ran her finger down the index found what she was looking for and started flicking through the book. "I am fine Will," she said glancing sideways at him for a moment. "Stop your worrying and nagging."

Will sighed. Clearly, this was going to be difficult. Then again, he was dealing with one of his girls. Renee and Izzy probably would not have kept him entertained and interested long enough to be friends if they weren't so endlessly stubborn.

"Renee, am I going to have to kidnap you AND the book?" Will asked, a grin on his face. "Because I will totally do that. It will be fun. Besides, who said I'm nagging? Besides, Miss Booky One, I did actual research, and it found that you do worse that that studying stuff when you're tired and stressed. So, your beloved books support me in saying you need to get out of this graveyard."

"You did research?" she asked, turning to him and raising an eyebrow. "Ah, the world must be ending. Probably a bit dangerous to go outside then, wouldn't want to hit by a meteor or something, eh?" she turned back to her book, and stared at it for a few long moments, ignoring whatever Will started chattering about next. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, pulling on her hair for a moment, before unceremoniously chucking her parchment of paper with a barely started essay behind her, and banging her head down on her book.

Will watched Renee's miniature breakdown, getting even more concerned. He decided that he needed to resort to drastic measures, so he set Renee's book back down on the table and pulled up a chair next to her. He began to gently rub her back, trying to be as soothing as possible. He knew that he usually tended to go for a more heavy-handed approach, but it seemed like Renee was more in need of comfort than nagging.

"Hey, are you okay, Renee?" he asked quietly. "Like, really okay. Not just the bullshit you tell your parents so they get off your back. Because we can talk. You know I'm always here to talk."

She stiffened when he first began to rub her back, but relaxed after a little while. "I'm fine William," she said, head still leaning on the book, the words blurring as her eyes were too close to the page. After a little bit, she raised her head and glanced sideways at him with a grin. "Really, I'm okay," she glanced at her essay with a 'now I need to stand up and pick it up' sort of sigh.

Will was glad to see Renee relaxing at least a little, though she still looked determined to get her essay done. Will was having none of that--she looked practically dead, and there was no reason for her to be working on an essay.

Zombies didn't have to do schoolwork, right?

"Renee," Will said tentatively, "how many hours of sleep have you gotten in the last few nights?"

"Uh," she said pulling her eyebrows together thoughtfully, stepping away from him to go and pick up the essay that hadn't gone far at all. Throwing paper was really unsatisfying. "I'm not sure?" she answered, though she did have a rough idea, but thought that keeping it to herself was probably better. "Could probably do with some more," she said, knowing that Will would like that she was thinking that, as opposed to just denying it.

Will frowned. "You do realize that if you don't even know how much sleep you've gotten within the last few days, you haven't gotten enough sleep within the last few days, right? Because that's definitely a thing." Although Will had planned on taking Renee out and getting her to wreak havoc and have fun with him, he was starting to think that maybe a change of plans was in order. What Renee needed was not primarily fun; what she needed, really, was sleep.

He had to work out a way to give that to her, though, that preferably did not involve drugging her with potions or using spells on her. That tended to make her angry.

"How about we compromise, then?" Will asked. "You come outside and take a nap in the sun for a bit. You don't have to go to bed, but I want to make sure you get some rest. You look a right mess."

She plopped herself back down on her chair, flattened the essay back down and making a face at what had been written. "I don't keep track of exactly when I sleep and when I wake up," she commented fiddling with her quill. "Considering I lost my watch... the other week," she said thinking back to how long ago it was. "Still blaming you for that one," she said, running her free hand through her hair.

"I don't want to take a nap," she said. "That'll just screw up my sleep William, sleeping and napping in the day always does that."

"I am not at all sorry for that," Will counteracted quickly. How was he supposed to know that the watch wouldn't survive being kicked around by the thestrals? Watches should be made better than that, Will had always believed. "How have you been surviving without a watch, though? You're still always on time."

Will thought for a second or two. "If you don't want to sleep, at least just come outside with me for an hour or two and enjoy the day? Not for an entire afternoon. Just for an hour or two. Sunlight is good for you."

"You really owe me a new one you know," she commented. "But considering your taste, perhaps not." She'd been meaning to write to her parents and ask them to send her a new one, but she kept forgetting about it. She scrawled a reminder to herself on her page of notes. "It's a talent I have William," she said. "Added to the fact that you simply don't notice when I turn up late, because the teacher's mostly ignore it too."

She sighed at him. "Fine," she announced. "But you give me my book back and I'm taking it out there too."

Will grinned. "When we get outside, I can transform a rock into a watch for you, if you'd like. I really don't mind, and it'd serve you over until you got a replacement." He doubted that Renee would actually take him up on his offer, but it was an offer he felt like he should make, nonetheless. "I don't know how you can get away with coming late, anyway. I definitely can't, and I can get away with most things." Then again, by that point, most teachers noticed with him, but had given up trying to get him to arrive anywhere on time. Will was notoriously late to everything,

Will dutifully handed over the book. "You have yourself a deal, Renee. Let's go."

She snorted at him. "With your transfiguration skill Gryffindor, I'd be better off getting a second year to make me a watch," she said, rolling up her essay and placing it in her bag before starting to pile up her collection of books. "That's because the teachers actually like me," she said. "It's the best way to get out of trouble, because as long as you're a good student and get good grades they'll ignore things like that."

She took the book from him and placed it on top of the pile. "Okay, okay."

"Hey!" Will objected, "I'm brilliant at Transfiguration, and you know it. I get my best marks in that class." He knew that Renee was just teasing, and he knew that he wasn't always the most attentive student, but there was zero doubt, even among the strictest professors, that Will was flat out good at magic. "Besides, some of them love me. Just because I'm not a goody-two-shoes does not mean they don't like me."

Will beamed. "Let's go. I saved us a spot by the lake. It's an absolutely gorgeous day out."

"If you say so," she drawled. Though he was right. Will was quite good at transfiguration, which was irritating at times before the boy didn't listen about as much as he did listen. And she could get away with that in some classes, Charms being one, Transfiguration she had to actually focus on.

"It better be. If I get out there and it's an average day I'm going to be rather unimpressed with you," she said, wandering over to place a few of the books back, and then checking out the rest.

"So," Will exclaimed, pulling Renee into a hug. He knew from her tone of voice that that was her way of agreeing with him, though she'd never admit it, of course.

He let go of her long enough for her to gather her stuff together. "It's stunning outside. The sun is actually out and everything. I don't think it's been this warm all year, and it would be a crime for you to sit here in this dark, dreary library when it's actually nice out."

"Ah, but I like the winter," she said, placing some of the borrowed books into the bag slung over one shoulder, and holding one in her hand. "Why would I want to go and sit in the sun then? I want the cold weather to come back. It's much nicer," though it wasn't as if it was hot yet, she was just dreading when it started to become hot. She coped badly with heat.

"Slytherin," Will muttered, poking Renee in the side. "Summer is the best. No school, lots of free time, running around and driving my parents crazy, visiting you and driving your parents crazy.... Ideal situation, you know? It's my favorite time of year and my favorite weather. Besides, we're in England. It's not like it ever gets properly hot."

She swotted at his hand. "It's bad enough I have to deal with you in the school year, why do I have to in my break? It's rather tiresome. I hardly get a holiday at all," though she did like the no school aspect of summer. Because that meant France. And she enjoyed France. "When it's snowing is the best time of the year," she said with a nod.

Will wrapped an arm around Renee's shoulders. "Psh, you know you love me. I don't know know if you guys would survive without me. Your lives would be terribly dull, you know." That was one thing Will was certain of; in fact, if it weren't for him, none of them would probably be friends at all. "You'd lock yourself up in the library, and someone would find your bones there years later. You would have wasted away from boredom and schoolwork and dust mites."