A visit to Hogsmead... (Al)

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Having thoroughly smothered her best mate in all the snow her arms had been able to lug over to him across the slippery ice. Rory smirked down at him.. " I'm just getting paybacks!... which means I'm off the hook,.. and yes..innocent.." She poked her tongue out at him and beamed a toothy grin, knowing full well that of all the things she could honestly call herself, innocent wasn't amongst them. She chuckled as Al brushed the snow from his face and blinked experimentally up at her. His suddenly bright cheeks and the nervous clearing of his throat cause a baffled expression to cross her features for only a moment before she glanced down at herself and realization dawned.

Eyes widening a bit as Al squirmed a little beneath her, her own cheeks heightened in color and and she silently cursed her self as she quickly clambered off of him.. Merlin.. why couldn't he have been born a girl or she a guy... things would just be so much simpler that way.. Ducking her head she staggered to her feet and mumbled a few words. "mmm.. yeah..sure.. only 'cause you know I won right?.. " lame come back.. but at the moment her main concern was putting some distance between herself and the daft move she'd just made concerning her best friend. Focused on what had just happened with Al she forgot to be nervous and thus tense and without realizing it had managed to skate without to much trouble a good way out onto the lake.

And then she did notice... and her legs locked up at once.. and she starred down at the much darker ice and thought just how deep and bloody cold the water bellow must be. A glance back towards the bank and Al a good bit off did little to settle her nerves as she thought on how many times she'd probably end up hitting that ice before making it back.. and at the end of those thoughts her knees froze up and her legs from the hips down refused to cooperate any more. She was stuck.. just bloody freaking brilliant... stellar move on your part Rory you git..

Frowning down at her legs she tried to force one of them into motion, anything rather than having to admit to Al she was to much a coward to brave a little ice to get out of this fix. Her left foot slide forward..and around.. her legs splaying into a split before she lost her balance with a moment of pinwheeling and landed on her backside again. Flinching she sighed and tugged her legs to her, pressing her knees in to her chest and resting her head on her arms.. face purposely turned from Al's direction.. maybe she could claim to just be resting a bit and some how manage to miraculously stir up the courage in the next short while to take another shot at it.. though the hollow feeling in her gut at the idea of it didn't give her much hope.. stupid skates...she and her daft ideas.

[mgirl03]

It seemed as if was impossible for the two of them to be as they used to. There would be no more innocent games, because in the end something would happen, something like this--with Rory on his chest, and him liking it--and then the innocence would be gone. Al knew that in a way, he would miss being able to do that, but at the same time he had a feeling that if they...if they dared to date, maybe they could do this kind of stuff again. Sure, it wouldn't be the same, but it wouldn't be horrible--maybe it would end in a kiss to his cheek, an innocent peck on the lips. That couldn't be all bad, right? It would be just like being kids again, with the extra bonus of a kiss.

And it would be better than this, surely, he thought to himself, as Rory hurriedly got off of him and skated away, looking horrified. He sighed and sat up, rubbing at his warm cheeks and pressing down his hair, thinking that had he not gotten embarrassed Rory wouldn't be feeling...whatever it was she was feeling right now. Al watched with a frown as Rory seemed to freeze up, her legs going everywhich way and then her falling suddenly to the ground. He winced, and his frown deepened when she merely curled up, facing away from him, and sat there. Great, now she was avoiding him, was that it?

"Way to mess this up, Albus," he muttered to himself, getting onto his knees and slowly pushing himself up. He managed to get himself balanced, and then, with a deep breath, he began to move his feet in the direction of Rory. He was focused so much on fixing this that skating didn't seem so hard. He had gotten embarrassed, had taken her sitting on his chest on more than an..innocent thing, and then made her feel embarrassed and horrorfied to the point where she skated off and now wasn't coming back. He had to do something.

Surprisingly, Al found himself nearing Rory, and he stopped moving his legs, slowing down a bit as he got close to her. However, not knowing how to stop, he looked wide-eyed at his feet, mentally cursing. He was level with her now, and out of desperation he kicked out one leg, causing him to go off balance and fall on his side, right next to Rory.

"Un," he grunted, pushing himself up and shaking his head, looking up at her. He smiled gently, glad that his cheeks felt normal again. He turned himself so that he was facing her, crossing his legs and arms, shivering slightly. "Not stuck, are you Rory? I figured, with our new found truce and all, I should come help you out." His smile widened a bit, but his bright eyes weren't dancing with happiness and laughter as they were before. He was a big more somber, still feeling like a complete git for causing all this trouble in the first place.

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

She could hear his skates grating on the ice as he made his way out in her direction. Had to be Al.. they were the only two skating at the moment, or at least they were the last time she'd looked around. She didn't lift her head from her knees though as he drew closer. She felt lame.. lamer than lame.. stuck out in the middle of an iced over lake because she'd suddenly developed a fear for the bloody things tied to her feet. Or rather the stinging numb sensation you ended up with every time you slipped up on them... When she was the one that had begged so hard for Al to give them a try in the first place! He was going to end up thinking she was loosing her nerve or something.. and probably.. what 'really' had her angry at herself and stubbornly not looking at Al, was that when it came to this..skating.. she knew in her gut that she actually had found something that un-nerved her a bit.. For the first time she could remember Rory Kay Blake wasn't charging head first into something and counting bruises and scraps later. Or at least wasn't charging forward any more.. not after getting a good taste of what it was like to slam into the ice a few times.

A solid thud next to her combined with a familiar groan was enough to have her curiosity and concern wetted. Lifting her head she turned it to look at Al for a moment, yellow staring back into his green as he righted himself and gave her that smile that always seemed to send a thrill right down her spine these days. It was a good feeling, brilliant actually.. if it just didn't have so much weighing on weather or not she allowed her self to enjoy it. Sighing she shrugged a bit and managed something between a grimace and a smile. "Felt like taking a breather that's all.. tough getting out here, yeah?"

Her face fell into an unpleased mask and her eyes faded out from yellow to there typical grey, though it was flecked with the trademark purple that expressed her fear tinged concern as she took in her friend and the fact that he was shivering every few moments or so.. probably all the snow she shoved on him.. now she felt bad. Or maybe it was the fact that he was only wearing one of his Gran Weasley's Christmas sweaters, really they were warm and all, more so than the average sweater. Heck she'd used hers until the yarn had started to fray from it being washed so much.. but in cold like this you had to toss on a jacket of some sort to if you didn't want to freeze. Yet there sat Al... responsible... hound her to keep warm.. Al shivering in the occasional wind gust.

Shaking her head she scooted around until her shoulder was pressed up to his and her own jacket was blocking the worst of the wind. Frowning, obviously out of concern rather than annoyance she lifted a brow and looked up at him. " Since when do you head out with no jacket? Going to catch your death, know that? Your mum would go mental if she knew." Catching another of his shivers her brow rose and she look thoughtful for a moment. After a few seconds of warring with herself over it she reached over hesitatingly with her arm nearest him and hugged him round his waist with it. Pressing her own side snugly up to his in an effort to share some of her body heat for a few minutes and give him a chance to thaw out from the snow trashing she given him moments before. A light blush touched her cheeks though she did her best to ignore it.. this shouldn't be embarrassing.. she was just trying to keep her uncharacteristically daft best mate from freezing before his body had a chance to fight off the chill all that snow would have caused him.. she wasn't just going to let him sit there and shiver.. he might end up sick or something. " Extra heat...warm up a bit before we start again, yeah? Your bloody soaked round you neck and shoulders thanks to me.." she mumbled in way of an explanation for her actions.

[mgirl03]

She was never a good liar Al thought to himself, as Rory tried to smile and only grimaced, giving him some excuse of wanting to sit down and just take a breather, because it was hard to get out there. He might have believed it, had she not been giving him such a fake 'smile', with her grey eyes tinged that purple color that he had seen too many times not to recognize. Albus glanced down at his lap, and when he looked up again Rory's face was even less thrilled before, causing the smile that was on his face to fall away completely, replaced at once with a concerned frown.

After a moment in which he just looked at her, Al turned his head to look out across the lake, taking in completely white school grounds. A gust of wind lifted his dark hair and he shivered again, crossing his arms tighter across his chest. His bum was getting really cold, his sweater was soaked, as was his scarf, and the wind kept blowing at them every few seconds. Glancing up at the sky, Al was thankful that the snow had at least died down, so that there was barely a snowflake falling from the cloudy sky, although for how long that would last he wasn't sure. He continued to stare out at the grounds, completely silent, and didn't move again until he heard the sound of clothing against the ice, and turned his head just in time to see Rory moving before she was pressed up against his shoulder.

Immediately, the wind seemed to fall away, and Al felt a small sense of heat flood through him. At Rory's words, he gave a small laugh, glancing at her frown and giving a shrug. He was just about to say something, when she suddenly put her arm around his waist and got closer. Immediately, Al felt warmth flood his body, from his toes to his cheeks, causing a small blush as his eyes widened a fraction. However, he tried to keep calm, because the way Rory mumbled out an explanation, and the way her cheeks seemed to brightened, told him she was just as embarrassed as him. Which sent a small thrill through him, to be honest--it meant she was reading more into this than just an innocent hug too, right?

"T-thanks," he stuttered, wondering if his stammer was more from the cold or from his nerves. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, watching it curl up and away into the sky. After a pause he snuggled closer to Rory, uncrossing his arms so that he could wrap one around Rory's waist, bringing them even closer. He chewed on his lip a moment, glancing down at his lap, before looking back up at Rory--who, for the record, had her face quite close to his. He didn't mind. "I guess I just didn't think about a jacket. Other things on my mind," he said truthfully. Here he was, Mr. Rory-Put-On-A-Coat-It's-Bloody-Freezing, shivering his bum off because hadn't thought long enough when getting dressed to put on anything warmer than a Weasley sweater.

Al sat for a while in silence, feeling himself warm up, his head bent down so that he wouldn't have to keep feeling a jolt in his stomach because his best friend was so close to him. Finally, he felt the shivers die down, and he looked up at Rory one more, smiling at her in thanks. "Look...no offense, Rory, but skating isn't exactly my things, and it's bloody freezing," he said. If she wanted to pretend that she loved skating, she could, but he wasn't going to say anything but 'get me inside now'. "We're both wet. Fancy going back up to the common room, changing into new clothes, and sitting by the fire? Maybe a game of exploding snap? Anything but falling on this ice with nothing but flimsy strips of metal tied to a pair of shoes underneath me."

Grinning hopefully, Al pulled back from Rory, moving so that he was kneeling in front of her. He stood up slowly, got his balance, and then reached out with one gloved hand to her. "Please?"

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Rory didn't reply but rather just cast a grin at Al's stuttered thanks. Her gaze traveled off across he lake and grounds, taking in their random distant school mates as the goofed off about the school lawns. Her eye caught and held on the sparkle reflected of of the white carpet stretched out over once green lawns and she turned over the thought of how like snow her own eyes could be, constantly shifting..never content to pick just one color.. the only difference was that the snows constantly shifting rainbows made it beautiful... while her eyes just served to make her life hell a lot of the time.

She was pulled from her thoughts as she suddenly felt the warm and gentle pressure of Al's arm as he reached round her waist and hugged her to him. Right, she closed her eyes and tried hard to think of anything but their obvious closeness... that was warm,.. and comfortable, and had him so close she could easily smell the scent of wood and spice about him... .. .. git!! shut it! or are you trying to make yourself blush even worse?! This was just so Al could get warm.. he thought as much to. So why when he mentioned having other things on his mind that had kept him from remembering his jacket, did she not want to ask what those other things might be and yet at the same time she was nearly dieing of curiosity and what.. hope? That he might have been thinking about... she mentally frowned and pushed the thought from her mind for the moment.

She spent several other moments hugged up to Al.. trying not to look up to often as it put her face merely inches from his own and honestly? She was having enough trouble with how bloody good he smelt without having to deal with having his lips a hairs breath away as well. When Al finally spoke again she had to stop herself from letting out a huge breath of relief. He wanted to give up on skating? Well she was all for it! .... There was just that one little problem of still having to do it for a bit to get back to the bank of the lake.

As Al climbed back to his feet and reached out a hand for her to take she grimaced and her brow wrinkled a bit. She'd been just about to refuse.. say something along the lines of how he should go on, she'd catch up.. though she had no clue as to how she might pull that off, when Al's please fell on her ears. Her grimace twisted into an extremely unsure version of an attempt at a grin and she tried for a brave nod before reaching out for his hand. Once she had hold of it she pushed herself up off from the ground. With a lot of wobbling and swaying she finally managed to gain her balance again..it was a short lived victory however as each gust of wind and small scoot she made across the ice threatened to land her on her backside again, or even worse, her nose this time. On one particularly violent wobble she'd ended up making a grab for Al's arm on reflex.. snagging hold of it with both arms and pulling her self to him as she clung to it for security.. blanching she lifted a rather sheepish gaze to his and quickly murmured an apology, hoping against hope that she hadn't thrown his balance off again and wouldn't be finding both their back sides stinging and bruised on the ice in the next few moments.

[mgirl03]

For a moment it had seemed like Rory wasn't going to come with him inside. He saw the way her face twisted into a grimace, and thought a flare of purple might have even happened in her eyes, and worried that she would be daft and refuse to come with him because she didn't want to have to face skating. Did she think waiting would make things better? She of all people knew that facing things head on was a lot of times better than trying to wait it out--waiting out could just lead to things getting worse. She was the one who was always courageous, ready to jump into things, and now she might not go inside because she didn't want to try and skate anymore?

However, Al let out a slight breath of relief when she tried to grin at him and took his hand. He smiled at her encouragingly, and was just about to point out that she was doing just fine, when she began to wobble and lost her balance so much that she grabbed onto his arm. He made a noise of surprise as he was rocked forward, but just barely managed to stay on his feet as Rory looked up at him and apologized. A grin spread out on his face and he shook his head a little bit.

"Don't worry about it," he said. He wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her into a standing position, holding her against him until he was sure she had her footing, before letting go and grabbing her hand. He raised both eyebrows at her as the wind kicked up, and gave a small tug on her hand. "We can do this, yeah?" Al turned and looked towards their goal, the bank that seemed very far away, and swallowed hard, wondering how many times they would fall before they finally made it back. It was official--skating was not one of his most favorite things to do. Mad, is what it was, relying on flimsy skates to hold you up while you're on slippery ice.

"Just...one foot at a time," he said, and leaned his body forward a bit, moving his leg so that he slid forward a fraction. Al glanced back at Rory and gave her a nervous smile, before turning back to the bank and taking another step with his foot. He managed to get up a rythm, gliding on the ice so that he wouldn't have to move his legs so much and risk falling. At one point he felt himself wobbling, and Rory wobbling behind him, and instinctively released her hand and grabbed her around the waist again.

His sudden movement, coupled with the fact that he could no longer move his feet as freely because he and Rory were so close together, led to him being tugged along by a slight slope in the lake. Al and Rory picked up speed and Albus let out a shout, cringing just as they hit the bank, sending them both airbourne. Al's arm slipped out from around Rory, and he suddenly found himself landing ontop of a large snow pile, in a perfect bellyflop style. He didn't move for a moment, and then let out a loud groan that was muffled by the snow. Panting, he pushed himself up and shook his head, looking disoriented as he looked around.

"Rory? Merlin, I'm sorry. You alright?" he asked, scrambling over to the spot where she had landed, only a foot or two away from him.

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Fear clutched at her gut for a moment as Al pitched forward a bit under her unbalancing added weight on his arm. Though after a moment of fretting she'd be kissing the ice, he managed to gain his balance again and grinned down at her. She returned it with one of her own as he brushed off her clinging to him, almost causing them both to fall, as no big deal. That was one of the many cool things about Al that had always kept her looking forward to the next time they'd be able to do something together throughout the last few years. Al wasn't one to get easily offended or angry when one of her actions ended not only badly for her but for him as well. His tolerance level and lack of frustration.. or at least his ability to hide most of his frustration rather well, was a trait that made it so easy to be as emotionally close as she was to the boy standing next to her. The boy who was now risking offsetting his balance again to help her get her own back on track. She was so focused on trying to get her footing, and so grateful for his steadying arm, that she didn't even blush for once as he tugged her to his side, waited till she was straight and then grabbed her hand again.

When Al started forward on his skates, moving them slowly over the surface of the ice, she tried to take the confidence he seemed to have based on his comments to her and mirror it.. and found it was bloody hard to do. The nervous smile he flashed her over his shoulder though was enough to make up her mind. If Al could put on a brave face and give it a go when he wasn't exactly keen on the idea.. well, then she would be determined to do the same. Swallowing down the painful knot of fear in her chest, eyes peppered with violet, she push her feet forward. Fallowing Al's lead and picking up speed, and it seemed they'd be at the bank before they knew it, with out a single spill.. which would be brilliant.. but then she felt Al wobble a bit through her hand and fretting he was about to fall lost her own nerve and wobbled as well. The next few moments rushed by in such a blur that she didn't even have the chance to enjoy the warmth of his arm around her again or do much in the way of anything but shout, before she found herself spitting out snow and digging her way back up from being half buried in the snow bank she'd plowed into. Right... if she hadn't needed a full change of clothes before she could sure use on now.

She heard Al's familiar groan as he righted himself somewhere near by in the snow, and had to smile as the next noise from him was her name, he called out wanting to know if she was ok. The concern etched on his face had her smirking and in short order after that chuckling.. " Yeah, I'm fine... " She lifted a hand full of the fluff and rubbed it between her fingers.. " Better that hitting the ice, yeah? Even if the trip to the softer landing was a bit of a heart stopper.. " Grinning she struggled to her feet and walked awkwardly on the skates over to where she'd left her shoes and belongings. Flopping down in the snow beside them she unlaced and dragged off the skates, replacing them with her own shoes. That done she gathered her other things and stood back up casting a satisfied glance down to her now steady feet. " That's better.. sorry I talked you into that.. not as fun as it looks is it?" Wrinkling her nose at the ice, her sour expression quickly softened as she turned it on her best friend. "Ready when you are.."

She waited for Al to finish getting his regular foot wear back on and then the two of them headed back into the castle. The trip up the stair cases was rather quite, quick, and uneventful. Rory was set on getting to a set of dry clothes and the war fire, and she would guess that was the most pressing thing on Al's mind as well. Once they'd crawled through the portrait hole and into the common room she grinned at Al before charging up to the girls dorms.. "See you in just a bit, yeah? "

Once in her dorms she dug through her supply of clothes and found to her frustration that the sweater she'd worn that morning was the last she had that was currently clean. so instead she settled for a light blue pull over fitted tee and a pair of black jeans. Good enough..she really didn't plan on going back out in the weather today after all.. exploding snap with Al for the remainder of the after noon had sounded great to her. Rummaging in her drawer she drug out two bizarrely mismatching fuzzy house socks, one in a shocking lime green while the other was a more subdued striped pattern of yellow and white.. so they didn't match... they were warm right? and that was the purpose for them. while tugging them on her hair fell into her face, her wet.. rather musty smelling hair thanks to the number of collisions she'd had with trod on snow through out the day...wrinkling her nose at the subtle odor she plucked the one bottle of perfume she owned from the dresser top and spritzed her hair with it. The light sent of daisies quickly douses the previous smell and she grinned her approval of the fact as she put the bottle back. Snagging a brush she grabbed up the brown bag of candy from the pile of shopping treasures she'd thrown on her bed and headed back down to the common room. Once at the foot of the steps she eyed the room and opted for sitting on the over stuffed couch for the moment. True it would be warmer by the fire.. but the couch would give her a bit more elbow room to dry and brush out some of the wet mess of tangles that the snow and wind of the day had reduced her mass of red hair to.

Walking over to the couch she flopped down into the deep and comfortable cushions and with a rather contented sigh drew out her wand. Murmuring an incantation she aimed the small jet of warm air that shot from it at her hair, it took only a few minutes to get it mostly dry at which point she set to work on the tangles.. quite content with the way the warm air had both amplified the scent of daises so that it sort of hovered all around and yet made the scent more subtle at the same time... she'd never been one for strong scented perfumes and such.. Once her hair was straight and smooth again she plucked up the bag of sweets from the couch. A licorice wand sounded pretty good about now. Peaking into the bag she frowned and then reached in to pull out ... a chocolate cauldron? She didn't remember getting any of those. Well sure she liked them and all, but she was certain all she'd decided to buy this go round were the licorice wands. Poking around in the bag some more only to discover yet more of the chocolate candies she sighed, her bag must've somehow gotten switched with another at Honeydukes. Oh well, nothing for it now..wasn't like she'd be going all the way back into Hogsmead over it. She still had a good bit of wands left stashed upstairs anyway.. she just preferred to keep her supplies high that's all. Sugar junkie insecurities and all.. shrugging she popped an entire cauldron him her mouth and chewed.. Pulling her feet up beneath her on the couch she snagged up one of the pillows and hugged it to her front, eying the empty common room around her as she waited for Al to come back down. Of course none of the others were back yet.. most were either still at Hogsmead or if two young to go yet had chosen to drown their sorrows until dark playing in the snow on the grounds. Reaching in the bag she pulled out another cauldron to follow the first and eyed it before shrugging and popping it to into her mouth.. these tasted a bit different than she'd remembered them.. not bad..just..different..

[mgirl03]

It was a relief that Al saw Rory pushing herself up from the snow bank with a smile on her face. He felt his shoulders relax a bit and the guilt slide away from him as she chuckled--at least his brilliant skill at skating hadn't caused them both to get injured. At her mention of the trip being a heart stopper he let out a laugh, running a hand through his hair and looking a little sheepish. "Bit of one, yeah...Sorry about that," he said, watching as Rory got up and wobbled over to her stuff, grinning widely at the way she had to walk.

Slowly, he pushed himself up and moved to his own shoes, falling with a puff of snow onto his bumb and ripping off the skates, wiggling his toes when he was free with a sigh. As he tugged on his shoes and began tying them he heard Rory's apology at the skating idea and paused, thinking over the whole ordeal. Had it really been too terribly bad, if he was honest with himself? Sure they had fallen down a few times, and Rory had gotten a scare in the middle of the ice...but they had hugged (hell, practically cuddled), and now she was grinning. And now they had the prospect of going up to the common room to warm up by the fire together.

"It wasn't so bad," he heard himself say, quite honestly, as he finished tying up his shoes. He glanced up at her and offered a sincere smile as he stood and grabbed the skates, moving over to her, shaking out his legs as he went, glad to be back on his own two feet and not relying on flimsy metal strips to hold his weight. He followed Rory back up to the castle, and even the slight rise in temperature from the Entrance Hall was enough to make him sigh in contentment. He stayed silent as they moved up through the many staircases and corridors of the castle, wishing that he could get out of his clothes right that moment.

Finally, they made it to the common room entrance, and once Al crawled in after Rory he felt his shoulders relax completely from the rush of heat that took over him. He shook his head to dislodge any snow there, and smiled at Rory as she rushed off to the girls' dorm. His eyes looked at the entrance to the dorms long after Rory had escaped from view, before he finally snapped out of it, a goofy smile on his face as he moved up to his own dorm room. Albus moved to his bed and let the skates thunk down by it, moving to his trunk and sorting through his clothes.

After a minute of searching, he pulled out a pair of jeans and a green long sleeved shirt. He stepped out of his shoes and peeled off his socks, changing clothes and grabbing a simple pair of white socks to tug onto his feet. That done he grabbed the sweater her had taken off and found a small dry spot, which he quickly ran over his hair, trying to dry it as much as he could and thinking absentmindedly that he should probably get a haircut. He tossed his sweater aside and moved to the side table, grabbing his comb and dragging it through his hair, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. With a sigh he pressed down on it in vain, before giving up and chucking the comb away and grabbing up his wand, stowing it away in his back pocket as he moved out of the dorm and back down the steps to the common room.

As Al entered the circular room his green eyes looked at the fire first, but when he didn't see Rory there he let his eyes travel over the rest of the room, finding her nestled into a couch a bit further away, hugging a pillow to herself and eating something. He raised one eyebrow a bit and moved over to, pushing his hands into his pockets casually. As soon as he got close to her he stopped in his tracks, taking a deep breath. Did he smell...daisies? Blinking, Al forced himself to focus on Rory, and not the fact that she smelled...quite wonderful.

"Hey...I thought you bought licorice wands, not chocolate cauldrons," he said, removing his hands from his pockets and flopping down onto the couch next to her. He lounged back into the arm and drew one leg onto the couch, getting comfortable next to her, smiling. "And what're you doing further away from the fire? Would be warmer in those chairs up there, yeah?"

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Her best friends voice broke the quiet of the room, asking after the candy in her bag right after a word of greeting. She didn't look up right away as she answered, her brow wrinkling as an oddly over excited thrill had raced threw her at the sound of his voice. What was with that?.. Shrugging she frowned at the bag.. " got my bag mixed up with someone else's I guess... s'alright though. These aren't to bad.. have sort of a funny taste to them though.. almost like their 'to' sweet.. " She knew that must sound completely daft.. they were chocolate candies after all.. how 'could' they be 'to' sweet? She lifted her gaze to comment on just that thought, and how it must sound as if she were speaking a bunch of rubbish.. and then suddenly it didn't matter.

Al was stretched out next to her, sprawled on the over stuffed couch and smiling that smile of his.. and suddenly all she could think of..focus on was just how cute he really was.. just how much the broad reach of his shoulders got to her.. how she could think of a much better place for his arms than stretched out on the couch like they were, namely wrapped around her.. and just how much she wanted to make her thoughts on that known to him. Why hadn't she before now?.. She couldn't recall, and surely if she couldn't remember than the reason couldn't have been 'that' good of one... right? Unknown to herself as this shift in thought had occurred her calm gray gaze had flooded with a very bright, very intense, nearly glowing, shade of dark pink. Whatever had been in the cauldrons had magically blocked off all her inhibitions.. all her frets and concerns.. and all forms of rational judgment, leaving behind the raw fact that to Rory Al was a very handsome bloke.. and that she very much wanted to snog him.

Perhaps on someone with a milder personality it would have had them swooning..tripping over themselves in an effort to please and entice.. Rory however, was use to going after the things she wanted when a good reason couldn't be found to slow down or not do so at all. She was your typical loud and brazen Gryffindor..actually.. she was a bit louder and more bold than was really average. And seeing as for the moment she had no thought worth having beyond just how much she'd like to know whether Al's lips held onto the taste of the Apples he ate so often, the only place she was inclined to trip was in Al's direction. A smirk pulled onto her features as Al commented on how it would be warmer closer to the fire and sliding her feet to the ground she set set the pillow aside and scooted the short distance between them, sitting on the edge of the couch. When she stopped the leg Al had propped on the couch was at her back and his chest within easy reach of her. Grinning she bit her lip and walk her fingers up the front of his green shirt and across where it covered his chest. Her eyebrows lifting suggestively above bright pink irises as she spoke. " Oh.. I du'know.. " her shoulders gave a small shrug and a playful grin lit her features.."... I'm thinking we could warm up just fine right here,... yeah?"


( OOC: Sorry its so short!! *frets*)

[mgirl03]

The answer that Al got from Rory had him lifting that one eyebrow again, although he let it settle back down, still smiling at her, although he looked a bit more quizzical now. "Got somebody else's bag? Too bad...Cauldrons are good, though," he said, shifting a bit on the couch. He glanced down at the bag she had when she glanced up, tilting his head to the side just a tad, thinking over what she had said about them being 'too sweet'. He had never thought he'd hear those words come out of Rory's mouth--she loved sweet so much that he was surprised she didn't eat sugar straight out of a bag. He lifted his eyes and was going to ask her what she meant by 'too sweet', but he never even got his mouth open.

She was giving him a look that...well, he couldn't place it really. Had it just been her expression, he probably wouldn't have been clued off by anything, because at the moment her expression itself wasn't too far from ordinary. It was her eyes, though, that had Albus' eyes widening a fraction, his eyebrows raising and almost disappearing into his fringe. Rory's eyes were...were pink. A dark pink that seemed to glow in a way that, for some reason, made Al undescribably nervous and yet...excited. What in the name of Merlin...

He felt confused and shocked all at once, not to mention very lost. He had never seen Rory with pink eyes--he had never seen Rory with pink anything, practically. It was hands down her least favorite color, and so she avoided it at all costs. Not only that, but Al had prided himself into knowing every eye color that Rory had ever shown, memorizing what each meant, and how the brightness conveyed the intensity of the emotion. Never, though, had Rory ever had pink eyes, and so he didn't know what to think--what on earth could she be feeling when her eyes were pink? Surely it wasn't...no, it couldn't be anything daft like that.

Taking a deep breath, Al realized that the smile hadn't left his face, and his heart was pumping just a bit faster, almost as if he was wishing that pink in her eyes meant...certain feelings. It couldn't, though, that was insane, completely insane and out of the blue. Rory wouldn't just now, all of a sudden, have feelings for him that were so intense that she would have pink eyes. Al drew in another deep breath, his chest expanding, before he posed the question about her not being by the fire to warm up, trying to keep the conversation light and his brain focused on nothing more than innocent things. Maybe her eyes weren't pink...Maybe it was the light. Or maybe he would figure it out later, and it had nothing to do with what his hopeful brain was trying to assume.

Or maybe you're right on the mark, because that smirk looks anything but innocent, he thought in almost a state of panic. Al's bright eyes widened again as Rory dropped the pillow and scooted over to him, his muscles freezing up as she got as close as possible, leaning back against his leg, a grin taking over as she bit her lip. His jaw dropped a bit, and his heart began to pound unnaturally fast, as she leaned even closer, a look he had never seen taking over her face. He watched her eyebrows raise, and...Merlin, if he didn't feel as if he was about to explode.

Swallowing hard, Al closed his eyes briefly and tightly, before opening them again, realizing that he wasn't dreaming. Rory was actually this close and--and her fingers were really trailing up his chest in a way that made his breath catch. Her sentence, while very playful, had him sweating as soon as it left her mouth. Oh dear God what was going on? What was wrong with her? What was she doing? No, there was no way this was real. It was...It was...too good to be true.

Al felt his face heat up the worst it had in a long while at his thoughts, but he couldn't help it. It was ridiculous how much he wished he could take Rory into his arms and kiss her and tell her that he was going to warm up just fine with her snuggled into his side. His mind was taken back to Grimmauld place so long ago, with them both falling asleep in the same bed, nestled against each other. How safe it had felt, how warm...how great. If he grabbed her now, when she was willing, he could let the smell of daisies envelope him both, and could taste her lips after so much aching after them.

"R-Rory?" he stuttered, and Al found himself scrambling back a bit, working his way up the arm of the couch and away from his best friend. As much as he wanted all of that, so very bad, how could he? This wasn't right, wasn't logical. Rory wouldn't just randomly feel this strongly for him, and be that...forward about it! Something had to be up--it was, very obviously, too good to be true. So, as much as his body screamed for him not to, as much as his heart wanted him to lean forward and snog her, Al found himself scrambling away from Rory--and promptly falling off of the couch onto the floor.

"Un," he grunted, squinting his eyes in pain as he moved to sit up, looking at Rory while still wide eyed. "What..." How did he put his confusion into words? Should he ask if this was a joke? "Are you...Is this...What are you talking about?"