Vianna giggled as Ned pointed out he wasn’t allowed to leave the Shrieking Shack. My oh my, the boy was very serious about really winning this dare! The girl had almost forgotten about the conditions and would’ve easily let him return to the Slytherin Common Room. She had realized her defeat hours ago.

And then the wonderfully handsome Peter was volunteering to walk her, and Vianna could hardly contain the large, bright grin that lit up her expression. Under normal circumstances she would’ve preferred to walk back alone, but… this was the love of her life. She wasn’t going to waste an opportunity to spend an extra half minute with him!

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Hall.” She smiled and waved at the Slytherin boy before quickening her step and giddily following Peter’s flying form toward the exit.



“I said keep quiet, Mondai,” Victor spoke sternly again as a flustered Airlia began to murmur about being able to walk. He was such a romantic.

What— and now she was laughing?! Her laughter echoed loudly throughout the entire castle, and Victor would’ve face!palmed had his arms and hands not been busy carrying the drunken little girl. It was a good thing she was so light and small, it made it easier for him to move swiftly, like the slithery little cunning snake he was.

“Mondai.” He shot the girl a look just as they reached the moving stairs. “If you don’t keep quiet, you’re going to cost Ravenclaw at least fifty points,” he said, assuming that the fear of losing House points and being anything less than the perfect student would be enough to strike terror in her studious little heart.



Vince listened as Fion explained he only helped with the guest list and couldn’t ‘claim responsibility’ for the awful music. In his ears, this translated to - ‘of COURSE you’re not to blame for the huge flop this party is! You’re too good for this, Vince!’ “God, I’m so glad you understand me, Pirate Lady,” he said with genuine relief, shaking his head slightly. He took the glass from her hand and finished off the firewhiskey inside.

Hmm. The boy thought over her suggestion of his clothes perhaps being hidden somewhere in the Shack, but shrugged. Yeah no, he wasn’t really THAT concerned about it. He quite liked being exposed because, duh. He was nice to look at. Perfect, he’d dare say.

Oh?
Vince, who was watching the people slowly beginning to leave the party, looked over at Fion again as she reminded him that she had a name. “Yeah? And what’s that?” ‘Cause he kinda liked ‘Pirate Lady’, even if it was a little formal.

Ned Hall's mouth was a gaping hole in his face as he watched Vianna practically skip out of the Shack after saying the most casual of goodbyes. He bet that Peter prat would get some romantic goodbye filled with longing and, blah blah, blah. Stupid ghost! Swooping in and ruining everything with his dumb fake gallantry.

Well, nothing much else for him to do.... Maybe he ought to look for Victor, see how his little deal with McNerdyPants had gone, or maybe he could creep on those very drunk, and oh so willing Slythie girls giving him the eye.

Loosening his tie, Ned sauntered to the girls, trademark grin on his face. "Hello ladies, wanna play a little game... ?" He smirked.


"That Ned Hall doesn't seem very fond of me," Peter said, doing the butterfly stroke through the air as he and Vianna made their way through the dark tunnel, now that the sounds of the party had been subdued, you could hear the drip, drop of water against the floor.

Peter had met plenty of people who hated him outright, but they usually had a reason (I/E, he had set their clothing on fire, or was spying on them in the bath), this guy, this guy juster seemed to loathe him on principle, it was a little unnerving.


She couldn't stop laughing, it was all too much, all too weird and she kept picturing what Ned, Vince and Vianna's faces would look like if they could see the cold blooded #SlytherinPrince cradling her through the corridors of Hogwarts, they wouldn't be able to believe it, she hardly believed it.

At the mention of losing her beloved House points Airi almost immediately shut up. She could not be caught in such a precarious situation, it would absolutely ruin her excellent reputation and her good standing with many of her professors, she was certain of it! "You're right, oh goodness," Airi whispered, clapping a hand to her mouth in horror. "No, no, I definitely don't want that," Airi said, enthusiastically shaking her head.

Vianna walked down the tunnel, admiring the way Peter so gracefully floated ahead of her. Her mind was fuzzy, completely oblivious to the sound of the water dripping or the echoing of her footsteps, too immersed in the beauty of the translucent young man leading the way. She only snapped back to reality as he spoke, commenting on Ned’s obvious dislike of him.

At this, the girl made a face.
“Ned’s not very fond of people in general. Well, boys. He likes girls plenty enough.” She rolled her eyes. “I think the only boys I’ve ever seen him get along with are my brothers,” she added a little thoughtfully, brows furrowing as she tried to think of any other male friends Ned might’ve had. Hmm. Nope. Only her equally ridiculous brothers came to mind.



Victor rolled his eyes as Airlia continued laughing. What was she laughing about, anyway? Never mind, he didn’t care. He just wanted to deposit her off at Ravenclaw tower, collapse on his own bed, and pretend this night never happened. Perhaps, if he was lucky, his dreams would consist of strangling McGitFace until the stupid nerd’s face was blue. Merlin, how did the boy find so much pleasure in another’s suffering?

The Slytherin was distracted from his morbid thoughts as Airlia suddenly reacted to his earlier threats. Ha, he knew that would work. It was amusing how predictable and concerned for her academic reputation she was. Victor ALMOST smiled at this. But no, he was supposed to be chill and #toocoolforschool, so he remained cold and expressionless.

Victor remained silent for the rest of the way up to the fifth floor. He wondered vaguely why in Merlin’s beard he was going through all this trouble over a stu— silly drunk girl. He should be in his bed by now, either dreaming about others’ misery or enjoying the company of a couple brunette Slytherin beauties (he never did much like the blondes). Feeling a little irritated with himself for his current show of kindness and thanking Merlin that Airlia would be too hangover to remember anything the next day, the boy walked up the spiral staircase of the Ravenclaw Tower. Once by the door leading into the girl’s common room, Victor slowly and carefully set her back on the floor.

“We’re here.”

Not being fond is one thing, but this gentleman acted like he hated me? Did you see his eyes?? They were crazy eyes!" Peter exclaimed, his own eyes popping out of their sockets to emphasize his point. He didn't like other men? Well, that was a bit unusual, but then Peter himself had only had three or four very close guy friends back in his day.

"You must see a lot of him if they're all so close," Peter said. Now changing his form into that of a giant eclair, you know, for funsies. "And you two seemed... Well you seemed rather friendly back there," Peter, the talking eclair said, his voice taking on a flirty, teasing tone.



Airi spent the rest of the journey through the school re-winding the events of the past 24 hours, to think all these things had happened because of a simple story told by Vianna, fate certainly liked to be subtle. she had been snuggled comfortably against Victor's chest (something she would have been mortified to do if she were sober) and the rhythmic beating of his heart had lulled her into a semi sleep.

Her eyes fluttered open as Victor announced their arrival before gently setting her on the ground. She wobbled a bit but managed to stay upright (a feat itself considering how tired and inebriated the girl was). "You, thank you," Airi said, her voice soft with sleep. She was about to wish him goodnight and run off to bed when a thought popped into her head that she could not banish.

"Victor, why did you do all this... why.. Why carry me all the way here?" Airi slowly asked, leaning her back against the cool stone wall because she was feeling rather dizzy after abruptly standing. God she was going to be in so much pain tomorrow.

Vianna laughed aloud at Peter’s act and dramatic accusations. “Crazy eyes?!” she repeated, doubling over in laughter. Oh, Merlin! What did that even mean?! And now, all a sudden, Peter was a boy-sized, delicious translucent eclair. This only made Vianna giggle even more. “Pete, I can’t talk to you when you’re making me hungry!” she complained between giggles.

The boy’s following words caused the giggles to fade away with their echo, though. Vianna raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you trying to hint at?” she asked, knowing the answer already. “Ned’s been around since before I even came to Hogwarts. He’s like my third annoying brother,” she explained, dismissing the matter.



Victor merely nodded his head as Airlia thanked him. He was just about to turn and leave, a little eager to get away from Mondai before he ended up doing something nice again, when the girl suddenly spoke. Why carry me all the way here? It was a question that made the boy’s lightly tanned face pale slightly. THIS. Was something he’d hoped not to be questioned about.

“Because you’re clumsy,” Victor responded simply after a moment’s silence. “Remember?” She’d confessed it herself earlier that night. Made his answer totally legit.

"Yes, crazy," Peter said, nodding sagely (the effect was very much loss due to his current status as a pastry) as if that was the last word on the matter.
"Me being a giant eclair is making you hungry? You have serious problems Vianna, actually, I'm a little worried for you," Peter said, his shape shifting from an eclair to a martini complete with a large olive for his head. He had no idea why he was doing this, well he did and it mostly had to do with entertaining Vianna.

Peter rolled his eyes, the way that boy had been looking at her, there was no way he felt brotherly affection for Vianna. "If you say so, darling," Peter said, shrugging. He'd already lost interest in the topic anyway. Peter could be like that sometime.
"Where are your siblings anyway?" He asked. He hadn't seen ether Vincenzi brother all night, which was rather odd.



The silence that followed Airi's question was the most uncomfortable of the night and though Airi was glad she asked it (she didn't think she would have the guts to ask in the morning), the part of her that wanted to please Victor was scared stiff that he would take her question the wrong way.

"That's true, but... Since when... " since when do you care? It was what she wanted to ask, but the words weren't coming out, even with her drunken bravery, Airi couldn't find it in herself to speak her mind completely, because she was, well she was kind of a coward.

"Um, you know what, just forget it... " Airi said waving her hand as if to wave away the question and all that might come with it. Because she couldn't face the moment when he would shut her down, which could be the only outcome of that conversation. "That tapestry over there has a special slide that leads straight to the dungeons," Airi added, pointing to the tapestry of an odd looking Wizard and a goat further along the corridor.

Vianna laughed once again as Peter transformed, this time taking on the shape of a delicious martini. Why was he doing this?! The girl couldn’t figure it out, neither did she care to, but it made her laugh until there were tears threatening to spill from her blue eyes. She wasn’t sure if this really was funny, or she was just easily amused…

“Hey! It would be problematic if I didn’t find you ready to eat!” she said in her defense, still giggling lightly. When Peter asked about her brothers, the girl shrugged her shoulders, through her expression turned a little more thoughtful. “I’m not sure. They probably went off with a group of random girls.” Either that, or they went for a late/early night/morning snack. Those boys ate more food than the entire population of a small country.



Victor watched the girl intently as she struggled with her own words. He knew exactly what she wanted to ask; of course, it was an obvious curiosity for someone in her position. Despite her drunkenness, he could feel a hint of the usual, sober Airlia coming through. It was that sane, logical, sober side of her that seemed to always know better.

And it was better. It was better that she didn’t ask, that she just dismissed the entire night completely. At least from Victor’s part, that’s all he wanted the girl to do. Because he didn’t want to find himself in the amazingly awkward and uncomfortable position of having to answer a question for which he didn’t have an answer. Victor Vincenzi always had an answer. The unknown was his greatest fear.

As Airlia instructed him to find a special slide near a tapestry nearby, the boy merely stared at her. Her lips moved but it was like there was no sound. In all honesty, if she asked him to repeat what she’d just said, he would have probably been unable to say even the first word. His mind was elsewhere.

Without a word, Victor leaned in to the girl, and placed his lips on hers.

No, he didn't think he liked martini life, it wasn't very satisfying and as they neared the end of the tunnel Peter transformed himself into a symbol of his childhood - a cuddly, pearl grey pikachu with green eyes.

"Annnndddd, again I am overcome with worry for you psyche," Peter said, laughing at the girl's silliness. Vianna was so funny and so charming, Peter loved talking with her for exactly that reason, also , she was remarkably easy on the eyes. "Kind of rude of them to leave you all on your own, but I guess they figure you're capable and all that," Peter said, his brows furrowed at the thought of Vianna's brothers irresponsibility.


Why was he staring at her like that? She hadn't been very articulate she was well aware of that, but he really didn't have to stare at her like she was an idiot or something, honestly it was rather rude. But then, suddenly he was leaning close to her, closer than was considered *friendly*, her heart was firmly in her throat, what was this all about? But before Airlia could open her mouth to verbally question this strangeness, he had pressed his lips to hers.

She tensed, she couldn't help it, it was the last thing she had expected to happen that night, but after a few seconds the surprise melted away and Airi sighed into the kiss, her hands lightly gripping the lapels of his suit as their mouths moved together. This can't be a thing, there's no way this is happening, absolutely no way. Airi thought before her mind went quiet completely blank. Sweet Merlin's underpants he was a good kisser.

Vianna squealed as Peter took on a new, less appetizing but much more adorable shape. She wasn’t familiar with the cartoon character he was referencing at the moment, but found it to be quite cuddly. It was a shame the translucent ghost was nothing but an apparition, or else she would’ve squeezed the life out of him at that moment.

She chuckled softly at his comment on her sanity and began to climb the steps up toward the corridor. The girl’s smile turned quite smug with Peter’s following comment. “Of course they find me capable. I’m perfectly able to take care of myself without anyone’s help,” she said both proudly and stubbornly. Though she had to admit, it WAS unusual for her brothers to leave her unattended so long, especially at a party they helped host. Hmm. Maybe they were final realizing she was a grown woman who didn’t need them playing bodyguards for her.



Victor was pleasantly surprised to find that Airlia hadn’t shoved him away but had rather started to kiss him back. She felt refreshingly unexperienced and even a little clumsy - probably due to the alcohol - but for some odd reason, he enjoyed it. It was different from the kisses he was used to, and he wondered vaguely why he hadn’t tried this before.

The boy placed his hands around her waist and pulled her closer, kissing her lips with an unexpected sort of eagerness.
And then, just when you thought he had decided to sneak off into the Ravenclaw Common Room with her, Victor had pulled away. Face expressionless as usual, the boy simply stared at the short girl blankly. This lasted for a brief few seconds before he suddenly, and without warning, released her waist.

“Goodnight, Mondai.”
Without another word, Victor had turned and walked away, ignoring Airlia’s earlier suggestion of the secret passageway and taking the long way to the dungeons instead.

Peter slipped eagerly through the statue, glad to be back out of the damp, dingy corridor. It was commonly said that all ghosts liked creepy, gross places, a horrible stereotype that Peter had done his best to erase, but alas, it seemed no one else cared about "ghostism".

The ghost snorted at Vianna's over confident reply. She was as cocky as he had been in his life, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but he sometimes worried that others would take the girl's plucky overconfidence for a deeper vanity.
"I sincerely doubt that Vianna," Peter teased, unable to keep himself from ribbing the young girl, she was just so easy to tease and joke with. He folded his arms over his chest and grinned. "You're kind of a helpless little thing, actually," He added, and he would like to have bopped her on the nose or poked her in the side, but sadly, that was not possible.


Airlia could have said, with perfect honesty that no other kiss had ever so effectively turned off her ability to properly think before, her head was swimming, and she was working entirely on instinct as Victor's hands found her waist and pulled her closer to him. His mouth tasted warm and of fire whiskey and Airi found she couldn't get enough as she eagerly kissed him back. The kiss soon turned needier, and slightly hungrier, and before Airlia could worry herself about where this was leading, or why-

The kiss broke, and she found herself somehow even more breathless, regardless of the oxygen now flooding through her lungs. Airi didn't know what to say, or what to do, her mind was shouting at her to say something, anything, but her instincts were telling her to pull him back for another kiss before ether of them came to their senses.

Airi was too dazed by the kiss to do anything but gaze questioningly up at Victor, who wore an inscrutable expression as always. And then he quite suddenly, quite abruptly wished her goodnight and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Wait? What? WHAT?? You didn't kiss a girl and then jauntily walk off as if it hadn't occurred at all!?

Airi was going to need three things if she was going to have any peace tonight:
Copious amounts of very strong tea, several music albums, and some parchment and quill (writing her thoughts helped get them out of her head).
It was going to be a long, long night. she thought as she less than gracefully climbed through the portrait hole.

The whole situation was just getting more laughable as it went on. Fion rarely bothered to stay around when any of the guys were being particularly egotistical, but she also wasn’t about to leave an almost positively Confunded Vince on his own. She wasn’t completely uncaring, after all, no matter how irritating the boy was being at the moment. He hadn’t really said anything since the last little comment she’d had to explain that was particularly annoying, and she could tell that he was at least listening. If she hadn’t already determined that whatever strength of curse had hit him, he wasn’t completely confused and looking for instruction, she would have been tempted to see what amusing little ideas she could have planted in his head.

As it was, that idea had been quickly shelved away, even before he’d spoken again. “Someone has to,” she said idly, shrugging the tiniest bit and feeling the neckline of her blouse slip a fraction more. By now she’d almost become resigned to the fact of him calling her Pirate Lady anyhow. She’d blinked as she had suddenly found herself without her drink, however, staring at him as he’d finished it off. “Well I guess I didn’t need that,” she added wryly, once the surprise had worn off. Of course, she could have easily replaced it if she bothered to stand up and go over to the bar again.

She had thought about it, as she didn’t care if people were leaving. As far as she was concerned, there hadn’t been quite enough action for the night to really be over, and talking to Jungle boy didn’t count. That was amusing, but entirely too little in actual entertainment to really matter. Even the whole incident that had gotten them there hadn’t really counted as true action. She would have retaliated had she known where the spell had come from, had it been closer to hitting her. Still kneeling by Vince, she had zoned out a little thinking of ideas on how to keep people on their toes, forgetting that she’d reprimanded him on the name thing until he’d suddenly spoken again and her blue eyes went back to him. “I could call you Jungle Boy, you know. The name’s Fion,” she replied, raising an eyebrow at the sense he was challenging her. Challenges never weren’t accepted in her head, and he would have known that if he was completely sane at the moment.

Vince watched as most guests slowly began to leave the dance floor and, soon enough, the Shrieking Shack itself. MAN. The party was over already and he’d only been conscious for like what, thirty minutes? And on top of that, he spent his last party moments obliviated. What a night to remember.

“Jungle Boy?” he repeated with a raised eyebrow, looking back at Fion. “I like that.” The boy nodded his approval and listened as the girl re-introduced herself to him. “Interesting name, Pirate Lady.” Yeah and he was probably still going to keep calling her Pirate Lady because why not? It was unique and more fun.

“Well, now that this party’s dead…” Vince threw his empty glass away, successfully hitting Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich III on the head just as the nerdy boy was waking up from his own brief moment of unconsciousness, successfully knocking him out. “I’m heading out. You coming, Pirate Lady?”



***


It was Vianna’s favourite day of the week: Saturday.
And this beautiful autumn day had successfully been ruined by the realization that she had an upcoming date with one of Slytherin’s most annoying snakes. Ned Hall. Vianna groaned in annoyance as it hit her that she’d have to cancel her upcoming match against the boys that afternoon. The girl had a routine of playing Quidditch with her other Quidditch-obsessed friends every Saturday and Sunday.

“What did the pancakes ever do to you?” Vince asked as he plopped down opposite his sister at the Gryffindor table, raising an eyebrow as he watched the girl stab her food mercilessly.

If there was one thing Airlia had learned this week it was that avoiding someone at Hogwarts was much more difficult that she ever would have guessed. No matter where the girl had gone in the past few days she had had the displeasure of seeing ether Victor or Robert there (thankfully in all cases she had managed to stealthily sneak away before ether boy noticed her presence).
In the hallways.
Near the lake.
Outside of the Great Hall.
The owlery.
And worst of all, her personal sanctuary; the library.

So it was with some trepidation that the girl entered the Great Hall for breakfast on this particularly beautiful saturday morning. Cautiously looking about she was relieved to see no sign of ether boy, she was about to take her place at the Ravenclaw table when she spotted Vianna and Vince, with whom she had not had much of a chance to speak with, and decided to sit with them instead (It also helped that it was unlikely that Robert would come to speak with her at the Gryffindor table.
Airi walked up to the siblings, pausing behind Vianna to playfully tap her on the shoulder. "I could be wrong, but I think it's already dead," Airi said, laughing lightly, after watching with amusement as Vianna speared her pancakes with unnecessary force.


Ned Hall usually slept in on Saturdays (In his opinion the it was practically criminal to be up before 1:00pm on a weekend), but today was no ordinary Saturday. Today was the day he took Vianna Vincenzi on the greatest date of her life and made her fall hopelessly, desperately in love with him, forever and ever.
Which was way he had been up and bright eyed and bushy tailed for hours now, he just hadn't been down for breakfast yet and that was because he still had a few, last minute details to run through. Because this date, this date would be perfect and nothing would get in his way.

Vianna looked up from her murdered meal as someone tapped her shoulder. At the sight of Airi, the girl beamed, her blue eyes lighting up with that welcoming sort of warmth that was so usual of her, even when she wasn't exactly in the best of moods. "Morning, Airi," she greeted the girl, scooting over a bit to give the newcomer room at the table.

"Hey Airi," Vince muttered absentmindedly. "Haven't seen you since the party." Due to Airi's efforts to avoid his older brother, Vince himself hadn't seen much of the girl either, since he was often in Victor's and Ned's company.

Vianna furrowed her brows slightly at this. "It's true, I feel like I don't see you anymore."




Victor stepped into the common room and climbed the steps up to the boys' dormitories. He was just returning from the owlery, where he'd dropped off a letter for his parents. Instead of going straight to the Great Hall for breakfast, the boy had decided to return to the dormitories to drop off his coat. It was covered in feathers and, much to his annoyance, there was owl dung on one sleeve. Stupid bloody birds. He'd have to remember to get his own so he didn't have to step into that filthy place again.

Victor seemed unusually surprised by the sight that greeted him.

"Well, well." The boy smirked as he approached his friend, who was looking unusually chipper and cleaned-up. "What's the special occasion?" He'd completely forgotten all about Ned's and Vianna's date.

"Good morning Vi, Vince," Airi said, smiling brightly at the siblings as she gratefully took the seat next to the youngest Vincenzi. She immediately began pouring herself a very full cup of tea (which she absolutely couldn't live without) and grabbed a slice of toast.

"That's right, goodness I hadn't realized," Airi said, taking a small bite of her toast as she marveled at this fact. She had been so busy avoiding Victor and Robert that she'd inadvertently avoided Ned, Vianna and Vince, no wonder she'd felt so oddly alone this week. "I've just been really busy with Prefect duties, and studying, and tutoring, I'm sorry," Airi said, with an apologetic smile.
And avoiding your brother at all costs, no big deal.


Ned was looking himself over in the mirror, smoothing out his sandy blond hair and checking his clean, even teeth for any odd food particles, when Victor walked in looking rather surprised. Ned chuckled, it wasn't often that he managed to amaze his oldest friend, but it seemed all he had to do was be awake and clean before noon. Funny.

"I've got big plans tonight, don't you remember?" Ned nonchalantly asked, rolling up his shirt sleeve again, because it would not lie flat. "I'm going out with Vianna," He added simply, not even remotely thinking that this sentence might cause any problem.

“I don’t understand how you can do all that stuff without dying from boredom,” said Vince as he re-filled his plate for the second time since he arrived five minutes ago.

“Not everyone is as lazy as you, Vince,” said Vianna simply.

“I’m not lazy, I just have… different interests. That don’t include all that boring stuff Airi just listed,” Vince replied matter-of-factly.

Vianna rolled her eyes and said nothing. Normally, she would’ve been all for proving Vince wrong and pointing out his flawed logic, but this wasn’t one of those days. The girl’s mind was still on the Quidditch game she’d be missing out on, and her brows furrowed. “How long does a date usually last?” she asked the other two. Maybe if it ended early enough they could make it back to the castle in time for another match… And as she asked this, Vianna realized: she’d never been on a date before. Not because of a lack of interest from boys, but because of her stupid brothers always scaring everyone off.

OHGAWSH, her first-ever date was going to be with Ned Hall?!




Victor, who had abandoned his old coat, was now searching his trunk for a new one when — ”I’m going out with Vianna.”
The Italian boy seemed to turn to stone, completely still as this realization dawned on him. How could he have forgotten?! Well in all honesty, he’d only heard about it one time before, when he first heard about Ned’s and Vianna’s stupid dare. With everything that had happened at the party, he’d forgotten his best mate had actually won the dare and therefore a day ALONE with Vianna.

ALONE.
Ooohoho. Oh no. No, Victor did not like that one bit.
It was true Victor obviously liked Ned much better than any other boy at the school, and found him worthy enough of the “best mate” title. BUT. Dating his sister? That was something else completely. Victor didn’t even have to bribe any stupid little second years to find out more about his sister’s loverboy, he already KNEW the boy himself. And he knew Ned Hall had never been one to take dates, relationships, or girls in general very seriously.

“What have you got planned?” Victor asked casually, already beginning to scheme in his quiet mind. There was no way he was going to let this date happen without supervision.

"It isn't boring, it's actually very mentally stimulating, and besides, I hate sitting idle," Airlia said, slathering her toast with copious amounts of jam. She was quite used to Vince's offhand comments about her hobbies, didn't bother her in the slightest, actually it was kind of amusing.

Airi blinked, she'd never really thought about something like that. How long was a usual date?She supposed a few hours at the least. "I think it's based entirely on what you're doing on the date itself, there aren't guidelines or anything like that," Airi thoughtfully said, taking another bite of her toast and accidentally getting a bit of raspberry jam on her chin.

"Why do ask?" Airi asked, tilting her head in that curious way of hers, before the memory of the date came flooding back to her. "Oh! You and Neddy! That's tonight? I'm sorry Vi, I forgot all about it," Airi exclaimed, feeling rather ashamed at having forgotten. She knew Vianna couldn't be feeling very comfortable about the whole idea, and here she was being so worried about her own self that she hadn't even considered asking her friend about it.



Ned was too busy scowling at his shirt cuff to notice Victor's reaction to his offhand comment. If he had paid attention, even the slightest attention, he might have been able to guess that his oldest friend wasn't as okay with all this as he appeared.

Unsuspecting as he was, Ned had no qualms about telling Victor his plans, in fact he was rather keen to, as he was rather proud of the curriculum he had cooked up.
"Well, I hate Hogsmeade for dates, so I got a port key to Muggle London, we'll mess about there for a while, grab a bite and then.... " Ned said, puffing up his chest proudly as he pulled out two Quidditch tickets from his jacket pocket. "We'll be heading to the United Vs. Harpies match tonight," Ned said, beaming down at the little tickets. They had cost him quite a few galleons (not to mention pulling some favors from his father's friends), but it would be worth it to see the look on Vianna's face.

"What'd you think? She'll like that right?" Ned sincerely asked.

“Mentally stimulating? More like mentally exhausting. Just going to classes on a daily basis is enough work for me,” said Vince, incredulous of Airi’s love for studying AND teaching. Wasn’t one thing enough?! Why’d she have to give herself all these responsibilities? Was she a masochist? Vince would never understand Ravenclaws…

Vianna rolled her eyes at her brother but made no comment, sipping some pumpkin juice from her goblet instead. She listened attentively as Airi very logically explained that the time consumed in the date depended on the activities involved. Hmm. Yeah, that made sense. Vianna didn’t even know what Ned had planned for them, but whatever it was she was sure it wouldn’t be at all relevant to her interests. It’s not like she had much in common with the boy.

“Don’t worry about it, Airi,” said Vianna with a smile as her friend apologized. “To be honest, I only just remembered this morning.” The girl paused for a moment and grabbed a muffin from a basket nearby. “So, what do you guys have planned for today?” she asked, turning to the other two as she bit into the fluffy snack.



Victor was almost disappointed with how painfully easy it had been to extract details from Ned, but then again, why would his best mate feel the need to hide anything from him? Poor Ned, he didn’t even suspect a thing.

As #charmingsnake spilled every detail of the upcoming date, then showing off two Quidditch tickets, #cunningsnake raised his eyebrows in surprise. It really wasn’t often that one got to see any sort of expression on the boy’s features, but this morning was one he couldn’t keep a straight face at - first Ned was waking up early and putting unusual amounts of effort into his appearance, now he was confessing he actually had a PLAN for this date. And it was a very thoughtful one, too. How could Victor fake disinterest?!

“She will love that, actually,” he replied honestly to his best mate’s question. Clearly, Hall had already figured out the way to Vianna’s heart.

In all honesty, Victor was secretly rooting for his best mate. If there was anyone he semi-approved of for his beloved little sister, it was Ned Hall. The boy was confident, clever, and came from a good family. And, despite his ways, Vic had been around him long enough to see that his feelings for Vianna were genuine. However, he was also very much aware of Ned's impatience and eagerness for physical affection, and that was one side of the boy he wanted as far away from his sister as possible. At least until they were both 35.

Victor pulled on a new coat and gestured for his friend to accompany him. “Let’s go, then."

"Well, in that case it is a good thing, you're not me," Airi said, shaking her head with amusement at Vince's dismissal of her love of learning and helping others to learn. Naturally Vince, (who's greatest aspiration seemed to be snogging a different girl every day) wouldn't understand her ambition or her natural love of all things academic.

Ease filled the young girl at Vianna's words, though she still felt a tiny bit of guilt and vowed to herself that she would make up for being so unthinking. Taking a deep sip from her tea and she sighed at its perfection. Bless those little House-elves and their magical food skills, she wouldn't have been able to function without them.

"Oh I don't know, I might go into Hogsmeade for a bit, or catch up on some reading, something relaxing," Airi thoughtfully said, she had been hoping to spend some time with Vianna, but that plan was obviously no longer viable. Maybe she'd see if her brothers were home and pop off to visit with them.

"What about you, Vince? Airi said, turning to address the second eldest Vincenzi.


"You sound so shocked, what? You didn't think I would actually pull it together?" Ned cheekily said, tucking the tickets safely back into his pocket along with his wand. He had the tickets, his wand, the portkey coordinates, and of course, breath mints (couldn't song the woman of his dreams with bad breath).

Ned couldn't believe it, but as he looked himself over in the mirror for the 200th time that day he felt, well he felt nervous. Ned Hall hadn't been nervous about a girl since he was thirteen. It was actually kind of nice to feel excited and anxious about something again, because it meant he was feeling something, and lately he'd been feeling emotionally numb towards every woman, except for Vianna Vincenzi.

The #charmingsnake followed the #cunningsnake out of their dorm with a large, completely genuine and nearly innocent smile. Of course, many questioning looks and stares came their way as the boys passed through the common room, it wasn't just the phenomenon of Ned being awake and dressed so early in the day that grabbed the attention of their housemates, it was also the fact that they were both dressed up as if they were heading out on dates. A fact that to the other suspicious snakes, seemed to reinforce the idea that the boys were secretly in love and were heading off for a romantic day together.

Vianna nodded her head quietly as Airi explained her plans for the day. She, too, wished she could’ve spent some time with the girl. She had noticed a few things during the party that she had meant to ask her about, but had been unable to due to Airi’s sudden disappearance. Hmm.

And now it was Vince’s turn to share his day plans. “Me? I’m going… wherever the wind takes me,” he replied poetically, wiggling his arms in front of him as if to demonstrate the wind. Vianna laughed at his stupidity and threw her half-eaten muffin at him. Vince caught it in one hand and finished it off her her.

“Y’know…” Vianna started suddenly, turning to Airi, “I think we should go to Hogsmeade together one day. Just us girls. What do you think?” Her crystal blue eyes had begun to sparkle with that excitement that was so usual of the youngest Vincenzi.


“No,” Victor replied bluntly and honestly.
It was true, Ned had completely caught him off-guard with his thought-out plans. Since when was Hall so thoughtful when taking a girl out? Actually, since when did Hall even BOTHER taking a girl outside the castle walls? The whole thing made Victor feel out of place, like someone had Polyjuiced themselves to pass off as his best mate.

Victor hardly noticed the stares and whispers coming from his classmates as he walked alongside Ned through the common room and out into the corridor. As he looked over at his friend, he couldn’t help the smirk that curved a corner of his lips. “You look nervous, Hall.”

Airi giggled as at Vince and Vianna's little exchange, the siblings were always entertaining to be around and especially when Airi was feeling so stressed. She clapped with politeness as Vince perfectly caught Vianna's muffin before very quickly finishing the thing off.

"I'd love that, I don't know about you but I need a little time away from the boys, no offense Vince," Airi said with a slight apologetic smile to the young man. The more she thought about Vianna's little idea, the more she liked it, even if it hadn't been for her confusion with Victor or her blatant avoidance of Robert, she would have been eager to spend time with her dearest friend.

"Could we go tomorrow? Or actually, if we go next week then I can ask Porfessor Marygold for permission to stay overnight out of the castle, we could have a slumber party!" Airi said, grinning brightly , filled with delight at the idea.


"No? Oh ye of little faith," Ned said, his shoulders slumped with mock disappointment at Victor's very curt reply. Though, he did feel just the faintest twinge of real annoyance. What was with no one taking him seriously? He wasn't always clowning around... Okay maybe he was, but they could give the guy a break.

"You seem nervous!" Ned replied reflexively, once again messing with his damned shirt cuff. It was clearly a sign, the universe was obviously plotting against him and nothing good would come of this day, and he ought to just go back to bed. "Okay, fine damn it, I'm nervous, can i be honest? I haven't liked, liked a girl this much since.... Well, since Third year," Ned said, his usual overly confident facade crumbling.

Vianna gasped with excitement as Airi not only accepted her offer, but even suggested a slumber party. “Oh Airi, that would be fantastic!” the girl nearly squealed with excitement, almost basically bouncing in her seat. “Yes— yes! Next week is perfect. Gives me time to owl Mum and Dad… Where would we stay?” she asked curiously. She knew Airi’s family lived in Hogsmeade, and wondered if the girl meant for their sleepover to take place in her home or if they should rent a room elsewhere. Whichever way they went about it, the little Italian girl could hardly wait. She was sure after having to spend the rest of her day with Ned Hall she could definitely use some time with the only sane member of their little group.

Vince merely rolled his eyes at the party-planning the girls had going on, busying himself with food and checking out the fine honeys at the Hufflepuff table.



Victor could sense Ned’s irritation in the way the boy messed around with his shirt cuff, and raised a questioning eyebrow at the Englishman. As Ned then went on to confess that he was nervous, Victor almost felt bad for him. This was his best mate and, cold and cruel as Vic could often be, Ned WAS one of the people in his very short list of exceptions. Ned was his brother from another mother.

“It’s understandable you may feel nervous,” the boy stated simply, walking up the steps that led out of the dungeons and onto the entrance hall at a leisurely pace. The Great Hall was only a few more steps away, but Victor had stopped walking. “Hall, I… I do wish you the best of luck today,” he said sincerely, blue eyes locked on his best mate’s. “But… if I find out you so much as looked at Vianna inappropriately, I swear to Merlin you will never see another happy day for the rest of your life.”

The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped abruptly by the time Victor finished speaking, the sounds of the other passing students’ chatter nothing more than muffled noise in the background. But everything returned to normal as the young man suddenly smiled, patting his friend encouragingly on the back.

“But I’m sure that won’t be necessary and Vianna will return with nothing but good things to say about my best mate, eh?” He chuckled softly and began to lead the way into the Great Hall.

"I can't wait! We haven't done something like in ages, it feels like we're always so busy," Airi said, bringing out her quill and day planner (Of course she had a day planner, why wouldn't she, they were incredibly helpful) and happily marked the date. This would be exactly what the two young girls needed, an escape from school, the boys and a chance to be girly and not be judged for it.

"Hmm... well, Luc and my mother will both be gone next weekend, so we could stay at my place... Or we could stay at the Three Broomsticks? That'd probably be a lot of fun, what do you think?" Airi asked, a pleased grin lighting up her features. All thoughts of Victor and Robert completely wiped from her head.


It seemed it was Ned's turn to be surprised that morning as Victor not only refrained from taking the Mickey out of him, but actually offered him up a sincere wish of good luck, and for a moment, a brief, glimmering moment, Ned felt himself filling up with brotherly affection for the taller boy. He was about to wholehearted thank his oldest friend when, not even a minute later, Victor very coldly threatened his eternal happiness.
So much for the warm fuzzies.

"Huh, yeah totally...." Ned said, swallowing nervously, ignoring the shiver that ran down his spine at the Italian boy's chilled words. Even with his encouraging smile, Ned didn't feel much better, in fact, he might have felt worst, he really would have to be on his best be behavior tonight. "I wouldn't jeopardize our friendship like that, come on Vic, I'm not a total pig," Ned said with a short laugh, feeling a little better now that there were so many witnesses around.

Searching about the Hall, Ned was met with the pleasant sight of a very pleased looking Vianna talking excitedly with Airi, obviously he couldn't guess what the girls were speaking about, but he (optimistically) supposed it was about the date.
"Should we pop over and say hello?" Ned cheekily asked, all prior anxiety forgotten, one thing you could say for the boy, he bounced back quick.

Vianna was squealing with excitement as Airi scribbled on her day planner. “I can’t wait either! Oh Airi, it’ll be so great!” She clapped her hands together excitedly, nodding her head in agreement when the Ravenclaw shared how long it had been since either of the girls had had a chance to do something like this. Vianna couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had a sleepover, or even hung out with just girls. Now that she thought about it, it was a rather strange thing. And it needed to be fixed soon.

As Airi gave Vianna the option to choose between staying at the Mondais or The Three Broomsticks, the girl looked off into space thoughtfully. “Hmm… We could rent a room, I suppose, just because it would be more like an adventure, y’know?” And Vianna was ALL about adventures. She wiggled her eyebrows playfully at Airi. “Maybe we’ll even meet some cute boys, too!” Sure, she wanted to get away from the boys, but meeting some nice new ones wouldn’t hurt either.


Victor nodded at Ned’s reply but obviously had already made up his mind: there was no way in hell Ned and Vianna were going to be left unsupervised during that date. He was already thinking up ways he could find last-minute tickets to the game, and debating whether it would be a good idea to bring binoculars or not. Hmm.

The boy didn’t have a chance to answer Ned’s following question as—

“EY! WHERE’VE YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS BEEN, EH?!” Vince’s voice echoed loudly throughout the Hall, fueling the rumours Victor had honestly been too self-centered and oblivious to notice.

“Good morning, Vince,” was the older boy’s simple reply as he walked over to the Gryfifndor table alongside Ned. “Vi. Mondai.”

Vianna’s earlier excitement vanished in a cloud of invisible smoke as the two older boys joined them. It was the cruel reminder of her upcoming day. “Morning,” she greeted them both with a small smile.

"Oh and we'll do all these fun cliché things, we'll paint our nails and read awful, trashy magazines and, Oh I wish we could just fast forward to next weekend!" Airi said, clapping her hands together with excitement, before scribbling all her ideas into her day planner with delight. What else could they do? She would have all week to think on it, but the girl was so excited, she wanted to plan everything now!

Airi nodded at Vianna's reasoning, yeah, she'd been leaning more toward the Three Broomsticks herself. "Agreed, staying at my place won't be half as cool anyway," Airi laughed. The girl blushed slightly at Vianna's words about meeting boys. It wouldn't be so awful to meet some cute, sweet boys, but the girl really didn't know where she stood with Victor and until she did, well, until she did, she couldn't get involved with someone else.
"Um, yeah.. That'd be, that'd be nice," Airi said, choosing to go along with Vianna's words rather then deny them and cause herself suspicion.

At Vince's shout, Airi jumped nearly a foot into the air ( quite a feat considering she was sitting down). Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. Victor was coming this way, he was coming this way and he'd already seen her sitting there and- She had never so very much wanted to disappear as she did right then. Quickly, urgently, she closed up her precious day planner and tried, very hard to act casual.

"Seriously dude? With the screaming and the lovebirds?" Ned said, rolling his eyes at Vince's ridiculous antics, who had taught him manners? No one obviously.

Ned grinned brightly at Vianna, who didn't seem half as chipper as she had just been. "Morning Airi, Vianna, you seem unbearably happy today," Ned sarcastically said, slipping into the seat next to Vince without waiting for an invitation.

Airi quickly swallowed the last of her tea, and was about to jump off and make a run for it when she noticed to her great displeasure that her purse had somehow tangled itself around the table leg. "Hello, good morning," Airi said, avoiding eye contact with everyone as she tried to discreetly pull her bag free.