Merlin. This might have been the most red she's seen him turn. That was an answer in itself, right? She couldn't help the pleased, and yet still rather hopeful smile on his face and she grabbed another chocolate frog box, again just for something to do. Part of her suddenly wanted to flee, and the quickened heaviness of her pulse wasn't exactly helping. And part of her wanted to stay here forever.

And then he asked her in return.

Which she supposed was fair, yeah?

Quinn hesitated, taking a long moment to answer, sweeping the hair from her face with a slight shake of her head. "There might be this one boy...that makes me smile more than anyone else..." Could she make it any more obvious? If he wasn't getting it with that, she was either wrong about how he felt about her, right? Either that or he was dense. And Quinn didn't think Reese was dense.

The chocolate frog box was all but forgotten in her hand, and there was a long moment when her heart both seemed to race and stop completely. Then she found a small reserve of courage. "This girl you like. Perhaps you should tell her?" She gave him a shrug, hoping she wasn't reading his blush wrong. "She might like you back." And a small part of her, deep down, screamed in nervous terror at what she just suggested he do. Whether that was due to the possibility it was her, or the possibility that it was someone else, she couldn't quite tell.

Was it too late to change the subject? The subject she had brought up?

Reese could hear his heart pounding in his ears as the seconds between his question and her answer.. And the moment her voice hit the tiny bones in his ear and vibrated her message to his brain he smiled wide.. He knew that it was HIM that could make her smile no matter what.. and he felt his confidence swell as he read the way she sat and it didn't go unnoticed that she was trying to busy her mind with the opening of chocolate frogs either..


And then she suggested he should tell his crush how he felt.. Message received, Scmebby..

" Yur right.. ", he said with a nod.. " I should tell ya that I like ya.. ".. Point blank and blunt. No sense in beating around the bush, Right?

Time seemed to freeze around her again, stretching out the spaces between her racing heart for an eternity once more, and Quinn suddenly realized she was holding her breath. The silence -her silence!- lingered on, and still Quinn couldn't find her words or voice. Her eyes seemed to search the air around them for some sort of reply.

She opened her mouth to say something finally. And broke into a wide, perhaps the widest of her life, smile. She looked away, the blush on her face almost as red as Reese's hair. Finally, she seemed to get some control again, the ability to think returning. She had to say something, give him some reply, right?

Right. She glanced back up at Reese, fully intending this time to let him know she felt the same way, and ended up smiling widely and blushing again before looking away once more.

And then it happened. She watched it happen as if she'd stepped outside herself and no longer had any control at all. She saw herself glance back up at Reese, hesitate just for a moment; half a heartbeat, honestly. Then, very quickly, Quinn leaned forward and gave him a swift peck of a kiss on his cheek, before looking away again.

And then she was back inside herself, feeling the furious heat burn her cheeks again.

The first year badger boy sat in a bubble with Quinnie.. The room could have been crowded and loud and the truth was he'd see and hear no one.. Not one single person.. Just His Quinnlin The thought made him proud that she didn't bolt from the room when he told he liked her.. But, it wasn't like he had done such a great job at hiding it?.. His face kept betraying his commands to not blush and smile like a ninny every time Schmebulock came near him.

But he didn't expect what happened next!!!.. She leant in and kissed him on the cheek... His face was on fire with blush and he was beaming when he looked back over at her.. He knew her answer with her having to speak a word.. She liked him back and he couldn't be happier.. So, like the cute little mop top that he was he leant over and returned the display of affection and held his hand out for her to take if she wanted to. The whole time his heart was pounding..


So much could be said with not one word spoken..

Watching him turn so, so red as she sat back from the kiss on the cheek, and that utter look of bright, unwavering joy that lit him up like a patronus, stirred many emotions in her. There was conflict in those emotions. A hidden fear of secretly not being good enough for him, that one day he'll realize she's been tricking him and he'll see the real her and be disgusted and leave, fear that she'll hurt him clashed with the overwhelming, and rather foreign, bliss of that moment and that night, the pleasant nervousness and anxiety of a first crush becoming a first relationship, the adrenaline still coursing through her.

She forced herself to only focus on the positive, which was always harder than it sounded, but she had promised someone she respected and trusted she would do that. Thus, no matter how hard it might be, she was going to keep...

He kissed her cheek back.

He Kissed Her Back!

And it felt like the world had just turned upside down around her. Time resumed. All those fears and doubts seemed to collapse in on themselves for now. All that remained was the present. This moment. Him.

His hand was outstretched for her, and she took it before she even thought about it or realized she had. Looking at him, it was as if the light had changed, and she was seeing all new parts of him that had previously been hidden; like she was seeing in a new context that only belonged to her. But the thing that stood out to her most in that moment was: she didn't need to speak around him. She could be with him without needing to talk, and he was fine with that.

And his hand was nice and warm in hers.

Reese couldn't stop smiling.. And she took his hand and he closed his fingers around her hand.. This was the best night of his life.. So much had happened unexpectedly, but his heart felt light and the warmth he felt way deep down inside grew and filled him..

He wasn't completely sure she was his girlfriend or not... But they did exchange kisses on their cheeks.. So, basically they were boyfriend and girlfriend.. That was how it works, right?

So, he, Reese Prichard, had himself a girlfriend.. Well, what do ya think about that?!


He hated to break the silence and all, but he took up the remote and turned on the TV and started the movie that he had asked his eldest sister, Rian, to send him.. " The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn"!

Yes, Reese Prichard had a girlfriend, because at this moment, Quinn was thinking of herself as just that. She was his girlfriend, and he was her boyfriend. They were holding hands and everything, so of course they were.

She was still smiling and his fingers were intwined in hers and.... Wait, how did she have a boyfriend before Beth? Beth was always flirting. Always. And Quinn usually didn't get close to people. It was always supposed to be Beth first, Octopus second, and then her eventually... But here she was.

She watched curiously, and inquisitively as he picked up the remote, as if she didn't quite know what he was doing or what to expect and there was a little ripple of surprise when the TV flicked on. Because this would be the first time Quinn will have ever watched anything. Of course she knew what a TV was, and the principle of it. But she'd never watched one before this.

Tonight was definitely a night of firsts. And if she hadn't already been smiling, she would have smiled when she saw the title on the screen. It meant she'd been write when she picked Mark Twain for him to try, and moreso, picked those two Mark Twain books to start him off. After a minute or two, still holding his hand of course, Quinn settled in a bit more comfortably and laid her head on his shoulder as she watched.

Reese sat there with her hand in and even though she had been his first crush and all.. But it only seemed natural that she'd be sitting beside him just as she was now.. Ever since he and Rylee had stepped into that train compartment his interest had been sparked.. It'd been peaked by a witty little bird.. His Pretty Raven..

He looked down with a soft smile when she leant her head on his shoulder. Everything about tonight was new.. She'd joined him unexpectedly, he'd told her point blank that he liked her and then she'd kissed him.. She had kissed him square on the cheek and the he done the same.. AND NOW Quinnlin Kevelle was HIS girlfriend!!!!!!!


And then he saw it.. That sweet smile of hers when she saw the Movie title.. It was actually one of his favorites.. The main character reminded him of himself.. Always going off on adventures and stirring up trouble whether he meant to or not..

This was the truly the first time Quinn have watched anything on the Telly. And even with the distraction and euphoric developments of the night, Quinn still found her mind active and distracting for it at first. There was the initial wonder of it, followed by some mild annoyance at everything that was different than she imagined it, or had been changed from the books. If they were going to make a film off books, why would they change things? It made little sense to Quinn, and irked her. That was followed by realizing she hadn't read Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn in a while and really should reread them again.

And finally her mind quieted down and let the movie draw her in, and throughout it, she didn't move her hand or her head, save to shift it on occasion to look up at her boyfriend.

Honestly, it had been a while since she read the books, and so hadn't made the connect, and part of her thought she still might not have made the connect if not for watching this movie with him right now, but both Tom and Huck were reminding her quite a lot of Reese, honestly. More so Huck, than Tom. Perhaps, she had picked that up about him without realizing it that day on the train.

Quinn finally opened the chocolate frog box she'd been holding this whole time, untangling her hand from his for just a brief moment to do so. Once the frog was caught, and stopped moving, and the card quickly checked (Bertie Botts), her hand was back in his.

The night was starting to approach curfew time. And as much as Quinn didn't want it to end, it was going to in a little while. There was comfort, however, in the idea of tomorrow. And the next day. And so on. Speaking of tomorrow. "It's Beth's birthday tomorrow," Quinn said, speaking for the first time since she'd encouraged him to tell the girl he liked how he felt. "We're gonna be in the courtyard in the afternoon. You should come too." Even if just to be with Quinn. And then, just for fun, she added, "Huckleberry." Because she really did see a lot of Huck in him. Or a lot of him in Huck. In both character's actually.

After a bit, the shadow of a person emerged and Kye tilted her head. She recognized the girl as either a second or third year, having seen her Sorting not tooooo long ago. Because THAT didn’t make Kye feel old… When the girl started talking, Kye smiled. She almost laughed, to be honest, but she suppressed it as the youngling continued. At the request, Kye considered the girl. Well, she was about the same age as when Kye had learned it, and she seemed pretty adept in class soooo… “Sure!” Who was she to turn down who could be the next Hermione Granger?

Kye made a head movement as if to say come here! and squared up to show the spell. ‘It’s not a hard one,” Kye said with a shrug. “You just do a downward movement like this…” she demonstrated a determined slash with her wand, “And say, “Ducklifors!” With a wave of her wand, she sent a dummy to come towards them and face the young Gryffindor. This time she put the two together and demonstrated. She waved her wand again, casting Engorgio on the subject before getting to the fun part. Kye cleared her throat jokingly before casting. A flourish of her wand, and an enunciated “Ducklifors!” The dummy formed into a classic rubber duck, except that it was as tall as she was. She turned on the spot, putting her arm around the duck’s neck. “Wanna try?” she said, mischievous smile growing on her face.

Rylee knew she sometimes came on strong with her hyper personality and bold up front energy. At times it could be a bit much for some people. The older girl didn't seem bothered to much by her asking to learn the spell and when she agreed after only a moment, the second year smiled brightly rushing over to join her.

"I'm Rylee!," she told her right away when she got close enough so that she knew. The bigger girl would want to know who she was teaching, right? Of course she would.

Rylee watched closely as the downward slash movement was shown to her and then the incantation was given. She watched once more as the dummy turned into a large rubber duck. "Ready!" she giggled pulling out her wand. "It's Ducklifors, right?" Got to make sure she's saying it correctly first. "And it's like this?" She slashed her wand through the air in front of her like she had seen her do before.

They sat for a long time before either of them broke their silence. It was comfortable and comforting to have her leaning against him the way she was.. Sure, his hand was sweaty less than two minutes after she had taken hold of it, but he didn't mind it..

After a while that nervous energy that had saturated the air abated and he was rather enjoying the easiness of being with her.. It was simple and perfect..

Reese looked down at his Pretty Raven and smiled back with a nod.. " Yeah.. I'll met ya down there after I wrap her gift up.. Rian's sending it tonight. So, I'm hoping to receive it in the morning before breakfast.."

Kye gave a smiled, realizing that they hadn't done introductions yet. Hey, it happened. "It's nice to meet you Rylee, I'm Kye." Kye nodded at each of Rylee's questions, confirming that she had gotten the information down. She took a step back to give the young girl some room, and returned the duck to its former dummy glory. Kye rather liked the ambition and excitement that Rylee was showing, and was more than happy to teach the young Gryffie. Kye definitely didn't have this kind of outward enthusiasm at that age, and always had her nose stuck in a book. Thank Merlin she had gotten past that hermit stage because past Kye would probably drive current Kye NUTS.

She watched Rylee with an encouraging smile, ready to assist or answer any other questions. She could feel a slight bit of anticipation, wondering how good the young girl was at hexes and jinxes. She almost felt bad for 'moral reasons', but she realized that she would have loved for an older student to teach her this kind of stuff! "Ready to try for real??" Kye asked excitedly.

It filled her joy when Reese, her boyfriend; she had a boyfriend, said he was meeting them in the courtyard for Beth's birthday gathering. It made the fact that the night was getting close to ending. The credits had already started to roll. It was nearly curfew. As much as she wished to, staying here all night wasn't possible.

Still, she was in no hurry to move. His shoulder was comfortable, and he was warm, and part of her never wanted to let go of his hand, even if it was sweaty. Quinn closed hher black eyes and didn't move for so long, it seemed like she might have fallen asleep.
Then her eyes opened again and she looked up at Reese again smiling, before finally moving.

Once she had all her things packed again, she gave him another kiss on his cheek. "It's almost curfew. Walk me to the bronze eagle knocker?" As the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower wasn't really a door. At least, until you solved the riddle. If it happened to tell you a riddle. That was what it was supposed to do, but half the time they were.
They were just questions. Questions and riddles were not the same thing, and it irked her they were always riddles.

They should be.

She stood up finally and stretched, before offering Reese her hand again.

The evening had worn on into the dark hours of night when the movie had come to an end.. Reese glanced down and smiled contentedly.. Quinn had her eyes closed and looked so serene.. So innocent.. He smoothed her hair gently as she rested for a little while.. He just was enjoying the simple quiet that they shared and the comfort in the knowledge that she seemed to be just as comfortable with him..


Then she smiled up at him with those freaky black eyes and he couldn't do anything but nod in response to her question.. " Of course.. ", he said as he too packed his candy and things into his bag.

He took her proffered hand as he got to his feet. His bag slung over his shoulder, he leant to kiss her cheek again .. " Ya got everything, Quinnie?".. He didn't want them forgetting anything.. Especially a beloved book..

When she gave him the go ahead he started to lead the way out of the Room of Requirement and up to Ravenclaw Tower.

Rylee smiled wondering for a moment if Kye happened to be short for a name that might be similar to her own. It wouldn’t hurt to ask. “Hi, Kye! Is Kye a nickname or is it just Kye?” Curious little second year here. With confirmation from the older girl that she was saying and doing the wand movement correctly there wasn’t much else to do then but both together and give it a real try. Bouncing on her the balls of her feet, she gripped her wand firmly in her hand holding it out in front of her.

With the duck now returned to the practicing dummy form she was good to go. “Ready!” Slashing her wand through the air in the direction of the dummy she called out, “Ducklifors!” The fact that nothing happened didn’t really surprise Rylee. Shrugging it off she tried again putting more focus into it, “Ducklifors!” This time it worked. The dummy changed into a rubber duck though not very big and it didn’t quack at it, it’s feet larger than the rest of its body but the fact of the matter being she had managed to do it. Giggling she turned her blue onto Kye and gave her a smile.

Kye shrugged, mind flashing back to Derf's storytelling of her 'namesakes.' The embarrassment she had felt when she was younger, when it came to her name, had ebbed away. Now, she was just 'Kye' because that's what everyone knew her as. They could call her 'Val' or 'Kyrie' or 'Valkyrie' and she wouldn't care anymore, she just might not answer right away. "It's actually short for Valkyrie," she told the young Gryffie. "My granddad picked it, and he's one of the only ones that actually calls me that." Professor Noble seemed to insist on calling her that, but most had picked up her hint of, you know, writing Kye on everything for the past six years...

As Rylee squared up, Kye wiggled with excitement for her. Her eagerness was giving Kye life right now. When the first attempt was uneventful, Kye tried to stay quiet so Rylee could concentrate. Under her breath, one could hear her muttering, "You can do it, come on..." Second attempt... SECOND ATTEMPT WAS GO! When the duck appeared, Kye gasped excitedly and gave a quiet applause. Hehehe yes it had goofy feet, but Kye just smiled. "Yea! There you go! And... you know, if anything, there's some forced perspective with his feet there," she pointed haphazardly, "So he looks taller that way." Of course, if she needed to, she could always use Engorgio after. Either way, the result of Rylee's second attempt was impressive! A few more goes at it, and she would have a Macy's Day Parade on her hands. Kye waved her wand at it and the duck's feathers turned a pattern of red and gold. "There ya go," she smiled. The duck was a little goofy, but Kye thought it was cute!

Huh? Rylee was slightly puzzled by the older girls shrug. How could she not know if her name was a nickname or not? Did she not like her name and not want to tell her. Rylee didn't really mind if that was the case. When she did say her name, Ry smiled. It was nothing like her own even if the shortened versioned rhymed. "I like it. Do you know what it means?" It sounded strong. She liked that.

The quiet mutterings coming from Kye was actually welcomed, even to her already very distracted mind. Knowing the much older girl believed in her was helpful. Kye may have pointed out the large feet on the rubber duck but the way she said it wasn't at all mean or discouraging and had Rylee nodding in agreement. And if he didn't look silly before the duck certainly did right then as it's feathers turned red and gold with the help of whatever charm Kye cast at it. "That's okay! I like it!" she giggled happily beaming at her new friend.

"Will you teach me something else?! Please!" If she wasn't to busy that is.

Did she know what it means? Well... "I mean, I know what my grandparents have said..." she shrugged again. "My granddad used to always try to correlate the Valkyrie's skills and basically how I should incorporate them... If you didn't already know, the Valkyrie are a lore correlating with Odin, like... from Asgard. Valkyrie were his force of women who chose who lived or died in battle." She paused here to interrupt herself, "Now those weren't the skills my granddad was talking about, mind you. He would always talk about their strength, bravery, decisiveness, determination, leadership... That kind of thing."

After the newly fashioned duck had formed, Kye smiled at Rylee. She was so energetic and ambitious, it was awesome! Learn something else hmm? "Hmmm that's fine with me... Any spells or effects you had in mind?" There were so many things to be learned in the world of mischiefmagic!

She nodded. "Uh-huh. I like knowing the meaning of peoples names. See if it fits them personality wise or maybe it's a family name that was based down... or something like that." Rylee smiled as she listened. There was only a bit she knew before about the Valkyrie. "I would say they had to possess great strength and leadership to be able to make decisions such as those." It was definitely a strong powerful name!

"Yay!," Rylee exclaimed clapping her hands and giggling. Did she have anything in mind? Nope. Not really. "Nah-uh. Anything you can show me would be amazing!" In other words whatever Kye wanted to teach her was good with her. She was just happy the older girl wasn't telling her to go away or thought she was annoying. Learning new things was what she enjoyed doing no matter what it was.

With a smile, Kye considered Rylee. "Okay, well always remember... you should always be able to reverse anything you cast, so make sure you know spells like Anapneo and Reparifors, yea?" She had no idea if Rylee was like a young Kye or not, so she tried to give a good range of options to teach her. "I'm not sure which you may know or not, but Cantis is always fun for making people sing, Furnunculus... pimples, Anteoculatia for antlers made of your hair, or Titillando for tickling...?" She trailed off to let Rylee register what she had said so far. "Any of those you don't know?"

"Anapneo and Reparifors, got it." Those were two spells she would get to work on in order to prefect them both for whenever she might need them. "Finite works too, doesn't it?" Better to be safe than sorry. The more reversal spells she knew the easier it would be in the long run.

Rylee rocked back and forth on her heels listening to Kye. "Cantis sounds like fun! I love to sing!" And dance. Anything that involved any sort of activity was good for her. "Oooh! Titillando sounds like a good time too!" A step up from your average tickle fight for sure. Either of those would be fun to learn really well.

Kye observed Rylee, making sure there were no signs of hesitation or something. When the Gryffindor piped up with Finite, Kye nodded. "Yea of course! Finite Incantatem works for a group of people... There are loads of counter curses and stuff as you can probably imagine, so... just don't get ahead of yourself basically!" Kye smiled at her, hoping that Rylee was smart enough to exhibit self control when she inevitably went around hexing everyone next year. Kye nodded at Rylee's choices, "Yea, definitely! Have you ever seen someone tap dance to their next class? Because that can be hilarious... It's probably an amazing workout too." She actually hadn't considered that side of it before. Can you imagine someone being rude enough to cast that on you on your way up a tower?? Now THAT would suck.

"One warning with Cantis though... sometimes there is a REASON some people don't sing," Kye turned to face Rylee, wide eyed for effect and humor. "Titillando is definitely good too. You could always actually tickle them, but that's way more effort than necessary. At least most of the time..." There were some exceptions, but that was a whole other conversation. "Okay well let's start with the tickling hex. I think that one requires a bit more concentration, at least for me!" Kye shrugged. Clearing her throat, Kye adjusted her stance, resquaring her shoulders. "Alright, so it's just a simple flourish..." she demonstrated the movement a couple of times. Realizing they needed a target to practice on, Kye stopped and looked around for another option. Hands on her hips, her eyes scanned the room. Nope. None of it would work like she wanted. "Okay and like we said it's 'Titillando' right?"

Kye cleared her throat and turned to face Rylee. "And unless you have any questions," she raised her arms to present herself as the target. Bum bum BUM.

Rylee couldn't stop the giggle that slipped past her lips at Kye telling her not to get ahead of herself. She wasn't going to be a major brat casting hexes at everyone she saw but she most certainly would be practicing everything she learned whenever she got the chance. Including those counter spells! More giggles. "No.. but I've danced up and down some of the corridors before!" On her own of course. Dancing was one of the many things she enjoyed doing.

"Because they can't sing?" The Gryffindor grinned. While she wasn't the most amazing singer out there at least she was somewhat capable of holding a tune. "Tickle fights are fun though but with Titillando I can tickle them without having to get close." A mischievous smile formed on her face as she thought about that idea. This was going to be loads of fun.

A simple flourish. Got it. Gripping her wand firmly she tried the movement a few times until she felt comfortable. "Got it. Titillando." Just to make sure she practiced saying it a handful of times as well before turning to face Kye. "Ready?"

Aiming her wand at her new older friend she gave it a flourish while calling out, "Titillando!" While nothing happened the first couple of tries that didn't stop her from taking a tiny break, clearing her throat and focusing on nothing but casting this spell. "Titillando!" A simple flourish of her wand at Kye.

Kye was enjoying her time with the young Gryffindor, quite amused at it all. Kye had not idea what Rylee's intentions were, but Kye was more than happy to live through her for the rest of the year if she decided to use any of these. Kye had to appreciate Rylee's realization that these helped you stay out of the way of counter-curses and... you know, tickling. Kye was not a fan of being tickled, but she was willing to be the victim for this tutorial. She stayed quiet and patient while Rylee worked on the spell and closed her eyes so that the younger girl could concentrate.

The next time the spell was cast, Kye could feel it. The stupidly strong tickling hit her, and she began to giggle involuntarily. The giggle turned into an actual laugh before the spell seemed to ebb away and Kye was left awkwardly chortling. The smile lingered on her face, turning to delight at Rylee. "That was great! As you go along, the spell will obviously become more powerful and I'll go straight into hysteria..." Maybe Rylee would practice on others when she got too powerful for Kye... Although she had to remember that this was her last year! *cue the stress creeping back in* "How did that feel? I want to see you try again, but this time I'm going to open my eyes," Kye said with a laugh. Rylee=Protege.