A visit to Hogsmead... (Al)

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Rory watched more for something to do then for actual interest in the process as Al started to shed his gloves. Though after he managed to tug the first one off her gaze had lifted to wander about the pub. Warm candle light.. warm expressions beaming from faces rosy with the cold from outdoors. The happy hum of friends lost in conversations. Everything about The Three Broomsticks seemed to make you feel welcome and at home. So it was no wonder she felt her anger at the boys outside fading away, no surprise that she felt so relaxed sitting here warm and snug at a table with Al, as they'd done for years of Hogsmead visits now. It was just that normal a thing.. one that left you feeling comfortable and happy with the day in general..content.. and in Rory's case had her eyes clearing to a rather passive shade of sky blue as she viewed the room over her warm mug.

The confusing moments from earlier faded to the back of her mind.. Al had just been being extra nice yeah? She'd read to much into it.. he'd always had a thing for the Christmas Holidays...heck.. even she did.. kind of hard not to when you spent a large part of them around the Weasleys and Potters.. the affection and joy of the season tended to role off the large family in infectious waves. Mind at rest on the issue she turned her head to look back at Al with a light smile in place.. His gloves were off now and he was looking at her... and leaning across the table?... Rory froze as his finger lifted and brushed lightly across her upper lip.. her eye color bursting quickly from the blue they had been into a flood of yellow that had her wanting to duck her head away as his finger touched on the edge of her lip.. and yet she found she couldn't made herself do it. And her cheeks were warming up again.. and Al was just..starring at her.. and hating herself for it she realized that she didn't really mind. She had such a close view of his eyes like this after all.. each of the different hues of green that merely caused them to be bright at a distance but could actually be separated from one another this close up..if you took the time to really look at them...Why was she still starring at them as if caught in some damn spell??... Her eyes dropped down at the thought only to then land on his lips.. and the thought that struck her then sent a million butterflies beating about in her stomach and almost made her choke all at the same time. With an effort, and her cheeks in full blush, she pulled her gaze away dropping her eyes to the mug in her hands and letting her hair fall at will around her face.. allowing it to give her some form of cover as she sought to fight down the bright pink in her cheeks and focus on getting her eyes to phase back to at least their normal grey again.

Merlin.. she had 'NOT' just thought about leaning forward to kiss her best friend!?! Risking a sideways peak through a break in the curtain of her hair she caught sight of Al's face as he leaned back in his chair.. flushed a non to subtle pink as he cleared his throat and murmured something about her having had foam on her lip. Right... this was like something out of one of one of her Gran Blake's muggle shows she liked so much... The Dusk Zone...or some rubbish to do with the time frames around night.. a show where everything in it was twisted and distorted from what was normal.. so why the bloody hell did she have to 'like' the feeling of it so damn much??

Thrown as she was by what had just occurred she was rather distracted as Al pushed her money back towards her. One brow rose, but by the time she had opened her mouth to say anything in the way of protest he was telling her he wanted to buy it.. because of Christmas and all.. yeah... either Al had an extra dose of Holiday cheer going for him this year or something was definitely up.. she bought all her own drinks the year before at Christmas time. And she'd have taken the mickey out of him good if he had tried not to let her... so why was she now instead shrugging rather lamely, smiling like some daft mute and dropping her eyes to focus on her mug? ..at least thank him for it Rory you git. " erm... ok, thanks, yeah? " Could she just drown herself in her mug? That would be so much easier that dealing with the crazy clash of feelings inside her at the moment.

When he asked after her bag she glanced down at it and then looked up to tell him the story she'd come up with..that they were just some replacement text books for a couple of hers that were looking rather shabby. That she'd passed the shop and figured rather than wasting time they could be spending in an interesting store she'd just go ahead and grab them. But as she she looked up to Al the words failed on her lips. One of Rosmerta's younger helpers had come up to the table with a fresh round of butter beers.. and between the wink she gave Al and the way he reacted to it with a rather nervous chuckle and a telling blush across his nose.. Rory was left thinking he'd quite liked the attention from the girl.. well why wouldn't he.. Al was nearly seventeen right? Course he'd find the older girls working here.. interesting.. she could feel the flush of jealously as it colored her eyes a green to rival Al's and eyes widening she ducked her head away from the girls smile cast her way... Godric.. what was wrong with her? Like she had any reason to be jealous over... well over Al!.. he could flirt with whoever he liked,.. after all, even if she liked him she wasn't going to go there..wan't going to risk their friendship like that , ..right? ... and yet it wouldn't go away.. she shrugged in response to his wanting to buy the new drinks to. Not trusting her voice for the moment and not wanting to lift her eyes enough from behind her hair where Al might see there color, and then he asked her about her bag again in a way that struck one of her currently rather jealous nerves and brought out a response said in a rather clipped voice that had had her cringing and wondering where the hell it had come from seconds after it had died on her lips. " Yeah,.. is actually .. bit personal though so don't mind if I don't share, right? " She bit her lip as soon as the words had come out, starring down miserably into her mug... why the hell was she being such a bloody git? Al had been nothing but nice to her today.. get it together Rory..

[mgirl03]

For the most part, Al liked the fact that Rory was a metamorphmagus who didn't have total control over her powers yet. It was a lot easier to deal with a girl who is your best friend when her eyes, and sometimes even her hair (if it's really, really bad, which had only happened once or twice), changes colors that displays a mood. By memorizing what color went with which mood, Albus had saved himself numerous times from saying the wrong thing, joking when Rory wasn't in the mood, and knowing when to comfort her. Now sure, he could read her better than most books even without her eyes clueing him in on certain emotions, but it still was helpful when it came to her hidden feelings.

Sometimes, though, Al didn't particularly like that he knew what Rory was feeling deep down. There was that moment, so many months ago, when her eyes had turned that beautiful sky blue while she had been focused on Soren, and he had felt as if his heart would crack in half. It would have saved him a bit of heart ache if he hadn't been able to tell that she had been feeling perfectly contented at that moment--something that he had only ever seen happen around him before. At the moment when he leaned across the table, and had frozen with his face close to Rory's, Al wasn't sure if he liked being able to tell her emotions right then.

Her eyes had been the blue color that he loved so much before, as they talked casually, just two best friends. Then suddenly he had to lean across the table and get close to Rory, and touch her upper lip, causing her to go from content to full out nervous breakdown mode. He watched while silently cursing himself as Rory's eyes became one of the most vivid yellows he had ever seen, and even without the eye color change, the large blush across her face would have clued him in that she was nervous and embarrassed with the situation.

By the time he started pulling back, Rory was ducking her head, hiding behind her hair. They both fell into a ringing silence (which was odd, because the pub was loud), as Al pushed Rory's money back at her. He saw her questioning look, and wondered briefly if maybe his want to get the point across was too strong. Maybe he was acting too out of character for the normal Albus Potter, and Rory would begin to worry about him or something. Maybe she didn't like the new him--maybe she would be annoyed at his insistance on holding open doors, and buying drinks, and being the gentlemen that he had once been around everybody.

However, Al felt he could breath a little easier when Rory merely shrugged, with a smile residing in her expression. Her thank you was a bit awkward, perhaps even a bit nervous, but Al knew that was only to be expected. Rory was dealing with a lot of new things about him, and had been for months. First there was his sorrow filled stage, where all he had wanted to do was cry on her shoulder. She had delt with his angry stage, where all he did was yell at people and deck guys like Soren for being your typical jerk. Now she was dealing with him trying to be a flirt, so that he could try and win her over. Hopefully it wouldn't end up being an overload on her--but her constant goofy grins and blushes held his hopes up high that somehow, some way, this would work out.

What happened next was something that confirmed Al's beliefs that whoever had made humans--whether it be God, Godric, or a special magic being-- they had decided that men needed to suffer by dealing with the confusing brains and emotions of a female. As Rosmerta's helper had came over to give him new drinks and obviously flirt with him (he hoped he didn't come off that strong), he felt a bit of irritation, but mostly just embarrassment, at the fact that she was winking at him, making him blush and chuckle because he didn't know what else to do. However, it was when he looked over at Rory, after the woman had mercifully left them both in peace, that he felt a stab of confusion and shock shake his body.

Al had caught a glimpse of Rory's eyes, and their color was something that didn't make any sense to him. Green. A very, very vivid green. He knew the colors that Rory's eyes turned pretty well--they had been best friends for five years no--and he knew that green meant jealousy. Rory was jealous. If only had had seen those usually friendly eyes of hers before he had started talking, acting cheeky and trying to be fun and flirty. If he had just not spoke for a few more seconds, he would have been able to save himself from upsetting his best friend.

The small shrug that she sent his way in response to him buying drinks for them again made him feel a bit...foreboding. usually, Rory would be going on about how she was independent, and how he shouldn't be doing this often; that she was only letting it slide because she knew what a sap he was about Christmas. Al swallowed, his hand clenching tightly around the mug of butterbeer, but he definitely wasn't prepared for the response he got. Rory's tone was so...so curt, and biting. It was as cold as the wind blowing outside, and it had him feeling a bit upset.

What had he done? That girl had flirted with him--he had been flirting with Rory all night, hadn't she been able to see that? She had blushed, and laughed, and smiled, so he thought she had been getting the point across. So he chuckled and blushed a bit around the older woman? What did she expect him to do, roll his eyes or ignore her? True, that girl had been cute, and so he had felt a bit embarrassed by being flirted with. It wasn't his fault, though, so why was she mad? And why did she have to go and say what she did?

Albus cringed a bit at the tone of voice along with Rory, hastily lifting the mug to his lips and taking a long gulp from it, wondering how on earth he was supposed to fix this. He felt a bit hurt at Rory's reaction, he wasn't afraid to admit. He hadn't done anything, and yet she was being a bit rude, and toying with his emotions! (He had decided that she must know he was smitten, so why say something like that to him?) Honestly, suggesting that there was a handsome lad that she was buying presents for was just cruel...

Placing the mug down, Al felt his stomach clench hard. What if it was true? What if, maybe, she really did find another guy that she liked, and wanted to date? What if she did want to keep it private, and wasn't lying to him? Why, then, would she have gotten jealous before? Why would she be with him, then, instead of that secret guy? Rory wouldn't fall for anybody else, would she? Not after the Soren thing...the only guy she was really comfortable around was him...right? She had to be lying...she had to be.

"Oh," he said, his voice flat and expressionless. Al paused, his finger tracing the rim of his mug, feeling jealousy and reason fight within his chest, stomach and mind. He bit the inside of his lip as one hand made the path through his hair. After another bit of silent, he let out a soft sigh, green eyes falling down to the table. "Rory, I haven't...done anything, have I? Is it about the drinks? If it really bugs you that much, you can pay me back, I'll accept it I swear." He knew it wasn't about the drinks, but he couldn't just come out and say 'are you jealous of something that makes no sense because I only like you?' Best to play dumb.

One thing was made up in his mind, though, as he leaned back into the chair, frowning at Rory. The flirting would have to be put on a hold for a bit. It seemed as if it had taken him one step forward and suddenly two steps back. Damn. Al lifted his eyes to train on Rory, and didn't bother to hide the confusion and hurt in his expression. Rory was no upset because of that girl flirting with him--when he hadn't even done anything! This was why Al couldn't understand girls.

((it fails >.<))

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

"Stupid... stupid, stupid, stupid.. she was totally daft! A daft and jealous prat who had no right to be so. That about summed up the thoughts that first went through her mind as Al spoke, asking her if he'd done something to upset her.. because one side long glance at her best friends upset face, his features marred visibly with the hurt her words had caused him, was enough to make at least one thing clear. Whether he'd meant to be flirting with the girl or not he hadn't meant for, nor expected what he'd done to upset her. Her reaction had come as rather upsetting shock to him... and she was loathing herself for it now. One benefit of all that self hate... the green had been chased away from her eyes... they'd gone teal and she had to fight down the knot of sadness that threatened oncoming tears. That's all she'd bloody well need.. rain on her cheeks to go with the damn rainbow that seemed determined to work through every color it possessed within her eyes today.

Huffing out a rather dejected breath she frowned and forced herself to meet Al's eyes. " No Al... you didn't.. and it's not the drinks, though after that crack if you want me to pay for mine I'd understand.. can't see as you'd want to treat someone bent on being a rubbish friend yeah? snapping your head off and all...Look, I'm sorry bout what I said ok? ... just.. off color.. had to put up with some jerks outside, not that that's any excuse...just.." she gave a small shrug.." has me out of sorts... shouldn't take it out on you though, you didn't do it. " Trying hard for a friendly and hopeful smile, one that came across a bit lop-sided and unsure she reached over and took her second mug, pulling it back into her hands. "Forgive me?.. "

Lifting her mug she took a swallow, taking her time and then starring for a moment into the butter beer in it as she turned over some things in her head. She had the best friend anyone could hope for.. she'd just snapped his head off in the middle of a friendly conversation and what had he done? Get offended? Yell back and storm off? No.. not Al, he'd just assumed it must be something he'd done even though he hadn't, or at least not realizing it and not given the least consideration to the fact that Rory might just be a bloody, stupid, prat of a git. Here she was worried about their friendship getting wrecked by a relationship that didn't even exist and yet she'd gone and made things awkward..weird.. all on her own by being a jealous git.. if it were that bad.. if she really liked him that much...maybe she should stop trying so hard to stop it and.. well.. just see where it went? .. Some part of her spoke up against that idea and she ignored it for the first time since the beginning of the year..it was still there.. still unsure, and scared to hell and back.. but she was sick of being this awkward around her best friend.. and right now.. well... she just didn't want to 'think' at all anymore. And she pushed that frightened section away in both her heart and mind for the time being.

With those worries ignored it was easier to think.. easier to hear the warm and inviting feelings that had been trying to break through all year.. Al liked her..She wasn't daft, she could tell it.. and she liked him to.. and, well... she wasn't for pushing for anything... that painful fear and worry fighting in the background now wouldn't let her just tell him.. but maybe she could see how things went? If they got really weird she could... well she could try and back out, right? .. She didn't want to hurt Al but what had just happened snapping at him like that.. that wasn't exactly being a grand best mate either yeah?

Sighing she gulped down the better part of what still rested in her mug and turned a hopeful grin in his direction. Ignoring well, everything in the way of emotions other than the fact that what she wanted most was to have Al happy again.. be able to enjoy the rest of the day with him.. she managed to force her eyes back to their normal grey and keep them there, willfully.. for the first time without even realizing she was doing it. " So... still up for hanging round with me today? Or have I fouled that up with my bad mood?

[mgirl03]

It was insanely hard to stay mad or upset at Rory, for reasons Al still couldn't understand. Of course, sometimes she did do something that had him seriously considering sending a hex her way, and they had had verbal fights more times than he could count. Most of the time, though, something about Rory would just keep Al from staying ill towards her. What really got him to quit feeling so upset about her snapping at him was the change he saw in her eyes. The green that he had seen a glance of had lightened to a more blue/green color that he knew meant she was upset too. Which meant that maybe she hadn't meant to say something like that to him.

As Rory's gaze connected with his and she began to apologize he felt himself frown a bit more, although it wasn't exactly geared toward her or what she had said earlier. It was more of a thoughtful look as he thought over what she had said. She had dealt with some jerks outside...well yes, that could usually get her in a bad mood, it was why she had came to the table a bit grumpily, right? Yet, she had gotten happy and then suddenly been grumpy again, which wouldn't have been caused by something some kids did a little while ago. She had gotten snappy after Rosmerta's helper had came over. She had been jealous after all--her eyes had told him so.

After a pause, Al half smiled at Rory, placing his hands on the table and lacing folding them together. "I'll forgive you," he said quietly, the upset expression and thoughtful expression leaving his face. "I understand how much jerks can get under your skin, yeah? I've seen my fair share of 'em." There was no need to push the subject, he decided. He would think on this all later, when they weren't supposed to be having a great time together out on the town. For now he would play along, pretending that she had been upset because of a few guys outside, and let the atmosphere get less...awkward. He hated awkward with Rory. It wasn't right or natural to be so with your best friend.

"And of course I don't want you to pay for yours," he said indignantly, the smile growing a bit on his face. He unclasped his hands and leaned forward once more, wrapping his hands around the mug in front of him. "Even if you are a prat sometimes, you're a prat who's my best friend. And it's Christmas. So don't worry about it." He fell silent, watching as Rory took a drink from her second mug of butterbeer and then continued to stare down into it, glancing down at the swirling drink of his own.

In the silence that followed, Al found himself questioning again and again what exactly this meant. Rory had gotten jealous because there had been a girl flirting with him, then she had snapped at him, then she got upset that she had snapped at him. His head hurt just while thinking about it. Did this mean that he was right in thinking she liked him, and that she had been angry that another girl had flirted with him? Why, then, had she snapped at him? Was it because she couldn't get mad at the other girl, so she took it out on him because he was there? She definitely regretted doing so, by the way she made an excuse for it and apologized, with her eyes telling him that she was now upset, rather than irritated.

When Rory spoke again Al lifted his head so that he could look at her, noticing that her eyes were dulling back into their normal grey color as she grinned at him for real this time--not the strange one she had given before. He found himself grinning back before his mind even processed it, draining his mug in a few gulps before pushing it to the side of the table. He tilted his head a little, green eyes bright again as he looked at her. She was sorry for what she did, and sure she had lied about what had her snapping at him, but he wasn't going to worry about that right now. He was going to have a nice day with his best friend.

"Well, there is a whole line of people queued up to hang out with the great Albus Potter," he said, reaching out to grab his gloves and tug them back onto his hand slowly, all the while still grinning. "But I did promise you the privelage of being with me during this trip." He chuckled as he stood up, grabbing his scarf from off of the back of his chair and looking down at Rory with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Everybody has bad moods sometimes. Forget it. You wanna go to Zonko's fist, or Honeydukes?"

He wrapped the scarf around his neck tightly, pressing his hair down over his ears in preperation for the wind and snow they would be fighting outside. Pointing with his left gloved hand at the table, he added, "And don't even think of trying to pay me back. Put that money away." He smirked at her, crossing his arms. "Let's go, you."

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

At first she was afraid she'd really fouled things up this time. As she'd started to apologize Al's frown had pulled lower instead of going away and it wrenched something inside her. She hadn't meant to come off as mean spirited as she had with the comment, well.. ok maybe she had at the moment, but really she hadn't wanted to say it at all. It had simply slipped out before she could reign herself in and think better about saying it. Liking a bloke made you stupid? Why was that? She had her fair share of jealous moments when dating Soren as well.. captain of the Quidditch team, an older guy who was easy on the eyes, he'd gotten his fair share of glances from some of the other girls at school. Those looks had made her jealous then to, though it stopped at her eyes and Soren never really picked up on what the color actually meant, or didn't say if he had. But she'd been able to keep her mouth shut, not let it get to her like it just had over Al. Was it really that he seemed to have liked the attention though that had so gotten to her, made her snap at him, or just that her feelings when it came to Al were just so much different, confused...stronger than they'd ever had a chance to get with her ex? What ever the reasoning behind it, it was with serious relief as she finished her apology, that after a moments pause Al's frown lifted into a half grin of sorts and he accepted saying he forgave her for it.

Right, so Al wasn't going to hold it against her and his comment on their friendship only served to intensify the relief she felt about that. She really couldn't have ever hoped for better friend that the one sitting right next to her. Just for a moment she let the thought of what things might be like if she'd gone on past the black haired boy with the bright green eyes in her first year after being sorted. If she'd looked further down the table for a space open enough she wouldn't have to ask anyone to budge over to accommodate her. And she found it was a life she really couldn't bring to mind. Because it was a life she knew she was glad had never happened. That black haired boy had been budging over, making room for her on the 'bench' of his life in more ways than she could put into words since that day, it was something she was more than grateful for, yeah..grateful just didn't cover how she felt about Al.. wasn't strong enough.. she found herself at a loss as to what word might be.

His reaction to her asking if he was sure he still wanted to hang out with her was met with a raised brow and a smirk. Now 'that' was the Al she knew.. the one she knew how to responded to and act around. Not that his earlier gestures at the pet shop hadn't been pleasing.. that was just it.. they made her feel things in a way that left her bumbling and tripping over herself and unable to form intelligent comments.. So it was with relief that she took in his ego loaded comment and fired back with a comment of her own. " Right, .. think I saw them as we were leaving the common room.. bunch of midgets, pouting because their to young to go out to Hogsmead yet and fallow you around, yeah? " She snickered at the off hand reference to the typical group of unwanted first year fan fair Al's resemblance to his father tended to earn him each year. Finishing off her butter beer she pocketed the coins she'd tried to pay Al with earlier. Normally she'd fight him on it.. but seeing as she'd just managed to pull herself back from the edge of a row she'd have been responsible for starting she was smart enough not to give into the impulse. Once done she stood up and took in Al, his arms crossed and smirk in place. Grinning she rolled her eyes.. " Com'on Mr. Ego.. lets go to Honeydukes first, yeah? I need to resupply on licorice wands.. doubt you'd be able to tolerate me if I ran out." Pulling on her somewhat dried out mittens, she linked her hand into Al's crossed arm and set off for the stores with him.

Honeydukes was a mass of confusion as it always tended to be on a Hogsmead weekend. It was easy to believe that most of the castles population was crammed into the cheery little shop as Rory avoided elbows and made her way up to the counter. She lifted her gaze to try and spot Al in the mass of moving robes and house colors, it was easy to get separated from your mates in all the confusion. Not seeing him she frowned.. oh well... had to be somewhere about.. not like he'd take off for the next store without giving her a heads up. Paying for her candy wands she grabbed the brown bag the shop keeper had put them in and left the store. She sat down on a bench next to a set of Ravenclaw girls who were all blushes and giggles and ..yeah gag. Setting her bag down beside her, failing to notice it was sitting right by an identical brown bag one of the other girls had on the bench as well, she waited for Al to come out. Her eyes rolled occasionally and she caught vague tidbits of the girls conversation, them going on about some bloke from their house. She was rather thrilled when Al finally found his way out of the maze of a candy store and quickly snatched up the brown bag on the bench and headed off with him.

They spent the remainder of the day roaming from shop to shop, getting a slew of gag items from Zonkos, and few of which Al pointedly found interest in other things as she bought them, poor bloke... how it must suck to enjoy a good prank and yet always find yourself at odds with that inner dutiful prefect. Rory had even manged to come across in sales bin at one store for only a few knuts, a pile of ice skates that had since had their ever sharpening blade, and balance for the wearer charms wear off, reducing them to the simple muggle version. She'd bought two sets in her and Al's sizes and as they set off for Hogwarts again she'd pestered him into agreeing to take a stab at learning with her.

Passing by the winged boars that stood at the gates to the castle grounds, she smirked down at the yo' yo' she was currently letting down and pulling up.. the yellow toy letting out a shrieking scream of protest every time she did. You just had to love wizard toys yeah? Riot they were. She glanced up as they entered the grounds she grinned at the sight of the lake. Shoving the yo' yo' into her pocket she grabbed hold of Al's hand and all but dragged him after her down to the lake. " Com'on! lets try these out yeah? " Once they'd reached the shore she set down both her bag of candy and the bag with the skates, dragging out the skates and handing the larger set to Al. She chuckled at his rather nervous grin as he accepted them and set to work on lacing up her own.

Normally she'd have been in to big a hurry to bother with much time on laces.. but seeing as getting one caught in the blade would likely land her with her face against the ice... right.. she gave each lace an extra tug. Clambering to her feet she swayed a bit on the snow and then grinned as she found her balance. Well this shouldn't be to hard.. she'd seen other students skating in the lake over the years and really it looked like a lot of fun. And her balance wasn't as hard to get as those she'd talked to about it had made it out to be. Scooting forward through the sticking snow of the banks she set one foot out on the ice, her weight still resting on her bank grounded leg, and grinned. No.. this should be a breeze to get use to , yeah? .. pulling the other foot out to join her first she smirked and looked up, grinning proudly at Al... " I think I've got the ha.." before the sentence could make it from her mouth one of her locked knees wavered and she pitched forward..and then back... which lead into a repetitious series of the two motions as she tried to stay up right. Her skates slid forwards in reaction to her movements and before she knew it she found herself several feet out on the froze lakes surface. Her grin was gone, replaced by a determined frown as she looked down at and fought with her legs to get them to move in the direction she wanted.. they had other ideas..before she knew it her eyes were widening, her arms pinwheeling, and she was slamming down onto her backside on the hard ice. 'owww! bloody ... " she grimaced, well..least it wasn't her face, right? Still looking rather pained she glanced over at Al to see if he was fairing any better.

[mgirl03]

What did it matter that Rory had snapped at him earlier, and had lied about why she did it? What did it matter that she had been jealous of the other girl, and that it was probably a major piece of evidence that proved she had feelings for him? What good would pursuing the subject and causing a row do? Then he would feel like a jerk for bugging Rory about something that she obviously didn't want to talk about. So Al found that he couldn't think on those things as she grinned at him him and teased him about the first years that usually annoyed him with questions of his father and the want to be his friend because he was 'famous'. He let out a small snort, but didn't bother to try and seem annoyed, and instead just continued to smirk at her, waiting until she was ready to go.

As she looped her arm in his and insulted him, the smirk fell from his face to be replaced with a relaxed grin, as she began to drag him out into the cold. The snow and win had gotten worse, and getting into Honeydukes was a relief, although it was so crowded that he quickly lost sight of Rory. After buying a few slabs of non-melt chocolate, he found his way outside again to see Rory jumping up in relief. He caught one glance of the two Ravenclaw girls who were giggling and being generally girly (something Rory didn't really like) before she was dragging him off to Zonkos next. It was this store that he found both hard to be in and loved to be in. It was a competitor of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and it also hold many things that as a Prefect he was supposed to confiscate and not allow his best friend to have. That didn't mean he stopped her, it just meant Albus didn't watch so that he could pretend he never knew.

After the joke shop, the rest of their shopping together was uneventful, except for the fact that Rory bought some muggle skates for them both and seemed to have the idea that he would be making a fool of himself with them. Even though he had said firmly that he wasn't going to skate and make himself look a bloody wanker, somehow his redhead friend managed to bend his arm and get him to agree by the time they passed the winged boars and into the grounds again. It probably had something to do with the fact that all the way down they had been huddled together because it was freezing, which made it a bit hard to deny her what she wanted because she was so close he could smell the apple and daisy scent that went with Rory everywhere.

As soon as the lake was within sight, Al found himself being forcefully dragged forward by a very excited Rory, and when she gave him his skates he couldn't help but grin back at her, although he was sure he looked nervous. Plopping down to lace up his skates he took his time, smoothing down his hair once in a while, tugging on his gloves, and double checking the tightness, all to push back the moment where he would have to put his balance on his feet to the test. It wasn't that he was scared--he was no stranger to pain, even when it came to ice in your face. He wasn't afraid to get cold and wet, either, as Rory had already gotten him in the face with snow, and he had tackled them both into a bank on the way to another shop back in the town. It was the fact that he had never done skating before, and quite frankly, he didn't want to make himself look bad in front of Rory.

You're being a moron he thought to himself fiercely as he stood up slowly, finding his balance after a few heart hammering seconds of swaying. As if Rory hasn't seen you make a fool of yourself before. Just because you want her to like you doesn't mean you have to be perfect, yeah? Feeling a bit more determined, Al shuffled forward to the edge of the lake and slowly put both of his feet onto the ice, swallowing hard when his body pitched forward. He frowned in concentration, and after a few seconds he found himself balanced once more. It was at this point that he lifted his green eyes and met the eyes of Rory, who was grinning proudly at him, exclaiming that she had the hang of it. At that moment, she began to lose her balance, and Al's eyes widened as he watched her look away and try and control her legs as she set off, picking up speed before she was suddenly on her back, trying not to curse.

There was a moment of silence, except for the far off sound of laughing kids in the snow, as Al looked at Rory and Rory looked back at him, looking in pain. Then, suddenly, a laugh bubbled up from deep in his chest, and he began to snicker at first, before breaking out into full out laughter that had him leaning over a and clutching his ribs. However, this sudden movement sent him forward, and just as he realized what he had done he hit a crack in the ice, and suddenly found himself with a face full of very cold, very hard, very unforgiving ice.

"Ung," he grunted, the laughter gone from his pink face as he pushed himself up and shook his head experimentally, wincing at the headache that was blooming. Al clumsily sat up and rubbed at his head with a gloved hand, wiping off the ice from his face with the other. His eyes focused on Rory, and his pink face became pinker. "Not a word!" he exclaimed, trying to sound threatening, although a smile was breaking out on his face again.

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

OOC: for anyone but Al and I who might be reading this, pardon us if we get lazy for a few posts and go with short and fun *g*

BIC:

Her butt hurt.. it was stinging in a way only the frigged cold of frozen,dry, ice hit against bare skin was capable of doing. And the fact that Al, as she looked up to take in his progress, was laughing at her.. Yeah, her mouth pulled into a frown that quickly pulled lower as he snickered and by the time he was doubled over she was all but scowling at him. That was, until he seemed to lose his balance.. she watched as he went forward, snagging on the crack and smacking face first into the cold ice. She regarded him with wide eyes until he groaned, sat up..and rubbing his head glared at her, spouting off a threat that with the smile on his face merely had her smirking and trying to hold back her own boughts of laughter. She raised a mittend hand to stifle it and once she had it under control for the most part one of her brows lifted and she replied, trying to keep a straight face.

" Sure Al, not 'a' word"... a smirk split the serious expression on her face.." 'cause.. that .. well,... it deserves more than one, right?" "Maybe there really is something to all that karma rubbish we're fed in Divination, yeah? ... and by the way.. hows it taste?" she nodded good naturally at the ice and snickered. "See I wouldn't know because I at least landed on the padded end, right? " Grinning she scooted over across the ice on her knees and once she'd reached Al, made an effort to stand.. wobbling a bit violently before finally managing a bit of balance. Once up right she smiled down at him and reached out for his hand in an offer to help him up..

[mgirl03]

That was the thing when you took the mickey out of somebody, wasn't it? Something was bound to happen to you, and the next thing you know they're ribbing you worse than you had them just for pay back. So as Al found himself falling face first into the ice, which not only hurt but sent shivers up and down his spine immediately, he knew that this was the universe's way of getting him back. Sitting up, he felt a headache begin to bloom, but even he couldn't help but to smile a bit at his clumsiness. Grant it, his face was bright pink by now--so much for not making a fool of himself in front of Rory.

As Rory laughed at him, Al conintued to rub at his dark hair, brushing out any white fluff that had made its way onto his head, feeling his cheeks heat up. Even though he had 'threatened' her to not say anything, he hadn't expected it to work, so he took her laughter and teasing without much surprise. At her question, he let out a laugh and spit his tongue out at her childishly, feeling that he didn't need to answer to that, nor did he think she expected an answer. His eyes seemed to twinkle a bit as she slowly moved over to him, and he felt a small lurch in his stomach at the smile she was giving him.

As Rory began to stand her watched her curiously, still grinning but finally letting his hand drop from his head, whose headache was already going away--it had been his nose, really, that had taken the bulk of it. That would be why it was still stinging like mad. He reached up to rub at it a bit with his hand as she offered a hand to him to stand. Pausing, Al let his hand drop before cautiously taking Rory's and pulling himself up. It took a moment but he found his balance. Raising his eyesbrows at Rory, he kept a hold of her hand and took on a mischievous look.

"I could let you taste the ice for yourself," he said, before lifting one skate and pushing off in the direction of a snow bank. He wobbled horribly on the skates, and only managed a few pushes forward before he felt himself losing his balance. He quickly jerked his arm forward and let go of Rory, sending her towards the bank as he pinwheeled his arms, laughing so much that he couldn't find balance. Finally, after a few seconds of wobbling he landed with a 'fwump' onto his butt, still laughing as he watched Rory's path to the giant pile of snow.

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

She chuckled as Al rubbed at his stinging nose before taking her offer of help. When he first took her hand she simply grinned, expecting him to release his hold on it once he'd gotten his balance. However when he kept a firm hold on it and that all to familiar look of mischief appeared on his face, her eyes widened a bit. They widened even more when he spoke, saying he could get her to taste the ice for herself.. what was he on about now?? Her lips parted to voice that question out loud " What? ..Al...just what are playing at?!?" She didn't have long to think on the matter before he was pulling her along..wobbling dangerously on the ice and towing her along at his side. Her own legs strove to go each in a different direction and she had no choice but to focus on them, trying desperately to make them listen to her wishes and remain straight enough to keep her upright.

While daring and reckless was a large part of Rory's nature, she was use to being in control of said reckless stunts. With her body occupied with trying to say upright, the only part of her left free to protest was her mouth and boy did she. " Albus Potter are you stark raving daft?? ..let me g.. " Rory's eyes widened as she looked up from focusing on her feet and realized Al's apparent 'plan' at the last minute .. "Gah! ..Al !! Your such a bloody Gi..." the last of sentence she's been yelling as he'd turned her loose was muffled into silence as she careened into the drift and landed in a large fluff of snow. Everything was black, and freezing and snow was NOT as tasty coming from the ground as it was when it landed on your tongue from the sky! "practically growling, half in amusement and half in irritation she pushed herself up from the drifts and scooped up two full armloads of the white fluff.

Turning back around she staggered back out onto the ice towards her laughing prat of a best friend, finally her balance got the better of her and she went down on her hip, trying her best to keep hold of her arm loads and used her knees to budge out the rest of the distance to Al. Hyper, slightly peeved, and full of the tomboy within she didn't give a thought to it as she made it to him and shoving him back against the ice with her load of snow she straddled his chest. Grinning she rubbed as much of the snow in his hair and face as she could. " You ..are an awful.. AWFUL ..git! "

[mgirl03]

All thoughts of earlier, where Rory had been angry at him--or jealous, or both--were gone from Al's mind as he gripped Rory's hand tightly and managed to actually skate forward a few feet, picking up a decent amount of momentum. He managed to glance back at her, taking in her wide eyes and the way her hair was streaming behind her, before having to look forward again so that he didn't trip over something. Rory's words and questions were enough to make a large grin stay on his face, but he couldn't help but start laughing as she screamed out an insult, her voice sounding desperate for him not to do what he had planned.

By the time he let go Al was laughing so hard he couldn't stand, and as he tried to stay upright and finally fell down, roaring with said laughter, he watched through teary eyes as Rory fell right into the pile of snow as planned, making such a sound that he was overcome with even more snickers. He closed his eyes, which were threatening to spill over with tears of joy, and tried to calm himself down. After a few moments and deep breaths he opened his eyes and wiped at them with a gloved hand. It was then that he saw Rory, and the laughter died from his face, eyes widening.

"No--Rory, no!" he exclaimed, trying to scramble back as she came towards him with arm load of snow. However, he wasn't fast enough, because in the next moment he felt himself pushed back onto the ice. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, just as he felt a pressure on his chest and a big heap of snow fell on top of him. He felt Rory's hand smushing it into his hair and face, and even though it was bloody freezing and each breath he took now burned his lungs, Al started to laugh again, struggling. He managed to get his arms free and push away Rory's hands, wiping the snow off of his face and spitting out the bits of it that had made it into his mouth.

"I'm the git. You sure aren't innocent!" Albus exclaimed, opening his eyes and squinting against the bright reflections from the ice and snow. He reached up with one hand to wipe at his nose and eyes, and as he blinked hard, Rory came into focus. And the way Rory was positioned came into focus. She was...she was sitting on his chest. Al felt his cheeks flush a bright red, more noticable than the pink of cold. Clearing his throat, he tried to continue grinning at her, squirming a bit. "Erm...truce? For now?"