Dreamland- feel free to stay

Title: Chapter 5
Author: smirkingcat
Word Count: 537
Rating: G
Prompt: slythindor100 traditional prompt 5:
Warning: mental illness (or something close to it), alternating pov, this chapter: mean cliff-hanger
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes:story has made up magic rules - i don't think it's a warning per se, but i wanted to state it somewhere
start with part one here: @dw | @lj


Chapter 5

After a week of staying on his own in the small cottage he has to face the fact that he starts to get bored.
The thing about getting away from everybody and everything is, that it is a nice idea, very calming, relaxing and thought provoking. It's just that he had done a lot of that already, and he felt comfortable with himself.

Why everybody is bothering him with everything is because they feel that he needs to make something out of his life. He has talent, knowledge, time and he should use it and du something useful in their opinion.
They have a point, he knows that. But he also doesn't to rush into it.
And he needs to be certain that what he would do next, would be something he really wants to do.

So, he took the coward way out. He tries to not do that often, but when they gang up on him, he just needs to get away, get them to back off, and let him do what he wants.
He wishes he could be more upfront with them, tell them how he sees things, and why he does things his way now. But he never gets through to them, they don't listen to him, but talk over him as if he would cave if they all just keep talking. And he would, that's why he gets away and hides until they get caught up in their own lives again.

So today when he steps out of the cosy cottage, for the first time he doesn't turn towards the woods, but towards the small village downhill.
It takes him longer to walk to the village then into the woods, but at least his owl seems to be enjoying the different route.

The village is decorated with more Christmas cheer than he thought would be possible.: There are lights hanging in the street, Christmas trees everywhere - he stopped counting them after twenty-three because taking a look around, there simply was no point in counting them. And then there are the typical muggle things: rendeers, stacks of presents and angels - the sight of them always makes him think about veelas and how they apparently get away with being seen by muggles, and he isn't allowed to do a simple spell in front of them!
The air here isn't as crisp as it is up the hill around his cottage. Here it smells of cinnamon, sugar, apples and oranges. It smells of Christmas.
Walking through this small village, seeing the people chatting with each other and following their business, his own excitement starts to get the better of him.

In a small corner confectionary shop the front window displays two silver trays of sweets: one is labelled: 'Naughty' and the other one 'Nice'. To him they look the same, they might not be?
Without a second thought he steps in, an buys one of each to figure out if he likes it naughty or nice.
For a moment he wishes every decision could be made by simply trying out each possibility and sticking to the one that feels better.

He never notices the hidden figure across the street staring at him in disbelieve.