Gryffindor's Should Sleep In ((Open))

[mgirl03]

It was an odd thing for Rory to be quiet and nervous and edgy. It happened so rarely that everytime it did Al felt a stab of worry go through his heart. As he looked her in the eye, she looked back and then flinched and looked down again. Oh Merlin, this must be really serious...she wasn't even looking him in the eye. He was glad that he had caught this now, hoping that he could solve the problem early on so that she didn't have to suffer. Of course, how could he know that he was just making it worse for her?

After a long, pregnant pause, Rory began to speak, her voice mumbled so much that Al actually leaned his head down a bit to better hear her. With each word she said his eyes widened a bit more, and a bit more, and by the time she practically whispered her final word his face was one of total surprise. Still watching her and not saying nothing, he took in her worried and almost saddened face as she chewed on her lip. This was not good...no, he had to fix this right now.

"Oh..." he said softly, his arms uncrossing and going limp at his side. He continued to stare at her, for another moment or two before he looked down at the ground too. He took a few deep breaths, wondering how he should go about trying to make her better. Well...he'd start out with a friendly hug. Yes, that would be best. So he leaned down immediately, arms wrapping around her middle in a tight hug. After a few seconds of him squeezing her tightly, he let go and then stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Look, Rory..you don't need to worry about me," he said honestly. "I just want what makes you happy, you know that. So if you really like this bloke, and he's not...following Bellatrix or anything insane like that, then you don't have to worry about me liking him. I'm sure I will...and I can't promise that I won't be a bit protective. You're my best friend, so I'm sure some parts of me will want to pummel the guy if he is bad to you or something, but if you're happy...then I'm happy."

He took his right hand out of his pocket and flicked her nose gently. "And if he has a problem with our friendship...well then no offense, he's a bloody prat who really doesn't deserve you. Because we're just friend, the best of friends, and I'm not going to let some guy tell me that I have to back off being friendly to my friend....But I know you, and if you really like this guy, then he can't be all that bad or there would be now way you'd give him the time of day."

He took another deep breath, running his hand through his hair, ready to tackle her last worry. "And it's not going to become weird between us, not if I can help it," he continued. "I mean, we're best friends, and just that, so everything will be okay. I promise." He smiled at her warmly, tapping her chin to try and make her look up at him. "Okay?"

[.RORY KAY BLAKE !]

Al's warm hug make her heart hurt, being that close to him wasn't a very good idea at the moment, but his act of doing it brought a silent sigh of relief to her mind. Letting him hug her she listened as he started speaking. Most of the words she simply absorbed, as they had relevance to how she could expect him to react if she started dateing. but it was the last of his speech that she really tuned into.

And it's not going to become weird between us, not if I can help it. I mean, we're best friends, and just that, so everything will be okay. I promise. While those words had been directed at her half truth, they still had a little bit of a comforting effect on Rory. Her secret was safe, she hadn't been forced into killing there friendship and anytime Al had ever promised her something he had always seemed to try really hard to keep it. She had time again to try hard to fall for someone else, someone that, if things went wrong and then got weird, she wouldn't get that bloody horrible lonely feeling by losing their friendship. Because she still have Al, her very best friend, to turn to.

When he placed his finger to her chin she was able to lift her gaze to his, faded back to it's typical stormy gray, and give him some semblance of a real smile.

"okay.."

[mgirl03]

It was a relief when Rory looked up at him and gave him a small smile, and he took particular care to check her eyes for their tell-tale color. They were back to her normal stormy gray, which brought a sigh from his lips--a happy, content, relieved sigh. However, her voice was still a bit hesitent, and so he made sure to flick her nose again, hoping that she realized that he was going to try and stay true to his word, and that everything would be okay.

"Alright, so," he continued, putting an arm around her shoulders and steering her once again towards the Gryffindor changing room, "you get the balls in the changing room, and I'll go get a broom from where ever they landed. Y'know, they could be in the Forbidden Forest now, considering somebody tackled me off of the broom I was riding, so who knows if the things landed or not."

Al half smirked down at her, shaking his head as he messed up her hair again before taking his arm from around her shoulders. He gave her a light push in the direction of the changing room, but after a moment of thought he turned to her once more and touched her arm lightly. Locking gazes with her again, he gave her a reassuring, gentle smile, hoping that she wouldn't worry any more about this.

"And hey..if you're still worried, we can talk after dinner, okay?" he added, half turning towards the direction of where their brooms had last been. "We've already got a date to talk about the crush thing, right? So we'll talk more then--you'll have my full attention, cross my heart." And with those hopefully comforting words, he turned and trotted off to where their brooms were.

He was relieved to see them only about five feet away from where Rory had tackled him. It seems that they had either decided to land on their own, or they had still be moving gradually downward and ended up stopping when they reached waist height. He reached out his hands and grabbed both brooms by their handles, deciding that Rory might like to fly back to the changing rooms.

"Here, take the old bird!" he called to her, turning back again and jogging close enough to her so that he could toss it through the air. He knew that she would catch it, of course, so he didn't bother to look as he mounted her broom and took the skies once more.