i never lit a match with intent to start a f i r e

[Julien Cross]

As per Gracie's request/demand during class, Julien had agreed to take her to the quidditch pitch after dinner that night. He really should have been making an attempt at finishing his history of Magic essay, but sweet Merlin he just didn't have the patience for it tonight. Lately, Julien was always looking for a distraction, but Gracie always won out over homework. though, really, so would flobberworms but that was beside the point. When Julien made it to the dining hall for dinner, he grabbed a seat next to May since much of the table was already filled. He leaned back in his seat, running his eyes over the backs of the Gryffindor's heads until he spotted the brown curls that could only belong to Gracie. He grabbed a grape off the table and tossed it at her. Julien wasn't a very good chaser, but he had decent enough aim to hit the side of her head. He laughed and smirked at her, just announcing his presence, before turning his attention to his food.

After scarfing down a healthy dinner of meat and potatoes, Julien decided he didn't want to wait until 9 o'clock to meet her so he grabbed Gracie and practically dragged her out of her seat. The Gryffindor team had just had practice the other night, but already he was itching to get back out onto the pitch. Julien was never meant to be cooped up in doors -- even if it was a huge castle -- and his feet were not made to remain on the ground. "Pick up the pace, Grace!" he told her, hooking an arm around her neck and guiding her out the front oak doors. "Hope you weren't planning on eating more," he told her, glancing at her her out of the corner of his eye with a grin. "If anything else, we can break another few dozens rules and go to the kitchens after." Because, really, why the hell not? Slightly dropping the playful act and putting on a bit more serious of a tone, Julien gave her a nudge. "Any news on the Cal front?" he asked with an expectant raise of his eyebrows, but the edges of his lips tugged down just slightly in a frown. He sounded a bit too interested. He wasn't interested as much as he was... Okay, he was interested. But it was sort of weird, right?? Since when did Gracie start liking guys?? and why did it had to be Julien's best friend?? At least if it were a guy he hated, that Julien knew how to deal with properly. But Cal... Well, that just threw a wrench in his "dealing with guys Gracie likes" tactics. And maybe Gracie wasn't entirely wrong when she said he was jealous. But it wasn't like he was that sort of jealous. Julien was just naturally... territorial. And didn't like people moving in on his friends. So when they were both his friends... Things just got confusing and started to hurt his head.

At the pace he'd set, they made it to the pitch in record time. He went into the boy's locker room and changed out of his school clothes and into a tee-shirt and gym shorts (he never got cold when he was practicing out on the pitch) and secured into his beater pads. He tucked a beater's club under his arm, grabbed his Nimbus 1500 (technically it belonged to the school but McGonagall gave it to him since he, well, couldn't afford a broom of his own) and the trunk of practice balls that included the snitch and bludgers. "Alrigh', Marlow," Julien called to her and he dropped the trunk with a loud thump. "What'll it be tonight? Chasing down the snitch, racing around the pitch?" He threw her a lopsided smirk. "Or I could just chase you around and pummel you with bludgers," he added, tapping the end of his beater club against his chest pads. Julien raised and eyebrow at her expectantly. "Your move, Marlow."

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie was in a better mood today, considering she hadn’t run into Serena Lovelace at all, and had been able to vent to Julien about everything that had happened earlier that day. She felt kind of bad about laying her innermost burdens on Julien, but- wait. No she didn’t! She chuckled softly to herself as she made her way down to the Great Hall for dinner, sitting down next to Milie and greeting her warmly. She hadn’t seen much of her friend lately, and frankly, she was a little worried about her. When she was just about to say something to her about what she was thinking, she felt a small object hit the side of her head. Glaring, she turned to her left to see Julien grinning like he had just stolen the last piece of pie right out from everybody’s noses without them knowing it… Which Gracie had no doubt he could actually do. Rolling her eyes at him, she went back to her meal for a moment before picking up the grape and, without looking over, throwing it back at him. She had excellent aim- it hit him on the earlobe!

After half of her meal was satisfyingly eaten, Gracie was suddenly picked up and kidnapped! By… oh, Julien, of course. Why should I be surprised…? She wondered briefly as she felt him throw an arm around her neck. ”I would pick up the pace if you would’ve given me a little fair warning! Geez, Jules… Now everyone’s going to think we’re sneaking out to do something… well, something naughty, probably.” Gracie had no problems talking to Julien in this manner. She would never say that to Patrick or… for Merlin’s sake, Cal… but for some reason she had no problems like that with Jules. Maybe it was because they were best friends and he knew her better than… well, almost anyone? Yeah. That was definitely it. She settled into the nook of his arm as they walked and scoffed, ”You better sneak into the kitchens with me when this is done! I was definitely still hungry, sir. I hadn’t even finished my treacle pudding…” She didn’t care that she was muttering the last bit under her breath. Julien would understand her brattiness over food. He always did. She felt him nudge her in the ribs, his tone a bit less playful than before. She stayed silent for a moment, unsure of how to answer before she quietly replied, ”No. Nothing new… I don’t really know what to do, Jules.”

She wriggled out from under his arm as they neared the Pitch. That was all she was going to say about Cal. End. Of. Story. She didn’t care what Julien tried to say to get her to talk, she wasn’t having it. She was there with Julien to practice their favorite, most loved and shared game: Quidditch. Not to talk about a boy that Gracie may or may not have a crush on. She glanced back at Julien (since she had gone a little ways in front of him) and said, ”It’s go time.” After changing into shorts and a tank top in the girl’s locker room, Gracie grabbed her Nimbus 1700 and walked out onto the Pitch. She didn’t fully comprehend how cold it was outside until she had stepped out in her shorts and tank, but she wasn’t about to go back and change. She was ready. Nothing was getting in her way now. She noticed that Julien was already on the field and was setting down the trunk of practice balls. ”Well, Cross,” she called back, jokingly, ”I think I’d prefer chasing the snitch. Unless of course, you’d rather just chase me around…?” Man, how she loved shamelessly flirting with Jules just to mess with his head! She waited for him to blush, mounted her broom and kicked off into the air- the feeling was exhilarating every time! When she was up in the air, she called down to him, ”So! How’s everything on the Maylene front? Tell me: Do you like her?” She had almost hesitated asking that because, well, she didn’t want to think about Julien liking anybody. It was strange how jealous she could get over Julien, even though she didn’t like him like that… She shook her head to clear her thoughts and waited for his answer and his next move.

[/color]

Tagged: Jules!
Outfit: tank top and shorts

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Notes: I love these two… just saying.[/left]

[Julien Cross]

Julien rolled his eyes dramatically. "There's no fun in warning you," he told her, as if that answer was obvious. "Anyways, it's good training for quidditch practice. Constantly keeping you on your toes!" He jerked her around a bit with his arm. "Only when you are in a constant state of paranoia can you achieve perfect Seeker zen!" Julien shrugged nonchalantly. "Or some crap like that," he said, shooting her a smile. "And anyways, it's hilarious when I really get you and you let out one of those little mousey squeaks!" He threw his head back and laughed, wiping a fake tear from his eyes. "Really, it's quite impressive." When she mentioned the impression they could be giving off to the Great Hall filled with students, Julien raised his eyebrows at her. "You think so? Well now I'm deeply concerned that my spotless reputation will be tarnished," he replied dramatically, rolling his eyes again. "There's worse guys you could be stuck in a gossip scandal than me," Julien told her, giving her a pat on the head. "But you should be alright, everyone knows I go after the older, tall blondes anyways!" he added.

When the topic was moved to Cal, things weren't quite as entertaining. "This Lovelace girl sounds like a piece of work," he muttered. "Let me guess, pureblood, was she?" Julien shook his head in distaste. "If Cal starts associating with that type, I'll have to lecture him." Not wanting to insinuate that Cal would maybe go for this Lovelace girl over Gracie, he quickly added, "But, like I said, Cal is a good guy -- maybe a tad clueless every now and then -- but good. If you tell him what's going on, he won't get all weird about it or anything." Julien knew this from experience. There were plenty of times where Julien had gotten himself into trouble -- moreso than the usual getting caught out of the dorm after curfew -- and he had been able to tell Cal was going on and he'd helped him find a way out of it. Julien scowled when she squirmed her way out of his grasp. "And I can tell you like him when you keep trying to avoid the subject like that!" he called after her as she ditched into the girl's locker room. When she came back out, he looked at her skeptically. "You better work up a sweat because I am not giving you my hoodie if you start complaining about being cold," he teased.

Julien had been a bit preoccupied with setting down his club and fiddling with the latch in the trunk to get the snitch out when Gracie called back to him. His head jerked up to look at her with narrows eyes, doing his best to keep a straight look on his face even though the corners of his lips were twitching upwards. "You'd be too easy to catch, love," he called back and a second later she was taking off into the air. Grasping the snitch in his palm he grabbed his broom and hastily kicked off and went to catch up with Gracie. He let out a heavy sigh as soon as he was up. How the hell did he function in the muggle world without flying? He couldn't imagine going back to that after knowing what it's like to be up in the air like this. "Hm?" Julien said, distracted at looking across the sprawling lawns toward the lake at first when she started asking him question. "Oh, May?" He directed his attention back to Gracie and shrugged his shoulders. "Everything's fine, no news really." He rolled his eyes when she asked if he liked her. "What's it with girls and always being obsessed with who people like?" he grumbled. Julien shook his head. "We're just friends," he told her. "We amuse each other, I needed a date and she was the first one to pop into mind," Julien answered simply. Did he like May? Honestly. Why did people need to peg down labels like that? They were so constraining. Julien liked plenty of girls, didn't necessarily mean anything.

When they had drifted to just about the center of the pitch, Julien came to a stop in front of Gracie. "Alright, Seeker girl," he said. "I'm going to let her go now and then we'll see what you've got. And no peaking," Julien told her as he held out the snitch at eye level between his thumb and middle finger and wiggled his index back and forth at her. When he was as sure as he could be that she wasn't looking, Julien laid the snitch in his outstretched palm and the tiny golden wings unfolded themselves. It hovered there for a moment -- he could tell it was an older snitch by the quiet whir whir tik noise that it emitted -- before taking off over his shoulder. "Alright then, Gracie, let's see what you've got," he said with an eager smirk.

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie grumbled under her breath as he said that there was no fun in warning her. It wasn’t really even intelligent grumbling either… She was just doing it to make herself feel better about the fact that she didn’t have anything to say back to her friend. Listening to his speech about paranoia and ‘seeker zen’, she snorted a bit of laughter and replied, ”Oh yeah? And just what would you know about seeker zen…?” She sucked in her cheeks at his little joke. ”I do not have a mousey squeak! Ever” And this was one of those times when she hated how shrill her voice sounded because- he was right- it did kind of sound like a mouse squeaking…

She raised her eyebrows right back at him and just simply stared at him. Really? There could be worse guys I could be stuck in a gossip scandal with? Although she had to admit- as far as guys went, Julien was probably the best guy she could’ve ever met, other than her big brother and Cal, of course. Cal… she thought, as Julien said his name. ”Of course she’s a piece of work!” she snapped, instantly on guard whenever Lovelace was mentioned. She took a slight breath, letting it out through her nose and closed her eyes. ”I’m sorry. She just really grinds my gears, you know? And… yes, she’s a pureblood. And when you talk to her, she makes sure you know it.” By now, she had re-opened her eyes and was on her way to the locker room. Of course she heard Jules when he yelled that she liked him, she just chose to completely ignore it.

As she came out of the locker room, she watched Julien look at her outfit. ”Like what you see?” she teased. She smirked when he said something about working up a sweat because he wasn’t giving her his hoodie and replied, ”Yeah… like I would even want to wear a hoodie that smells like… well-“ Here, she raised a single eyebrow to imply the end of sentence, you. Laughing as she kicked into the air, she heard him mutter about how girls are always obsessed with liking people and she scoffed. ”Oh yeah, cause we’re the only ones who care about who likes who… Look at yourself, for example! You’re obsessing over whether I like Cal or not- don’t deny it, you are!” She shook her head and chuckled darkly as she flew a little higher. ”You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you were jealous of Cal!” Of course, she did know better- she was just saying that to get on his nerves a little.

She smiled secretively to herself when he said that he and May were just friends, nothing more. Good. As it should be. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle Jules in a relationship… ”I was just merely curious, is all. Don’t get your panties in a bunch love…” She drifted with him to the center of the pitch and closed her eyes as he instructed her to do. She grinned, gripping onto her broom to ensure that she didn’t fall off. ”Now, there isn’t going to be any funny business when my eyes are closed, right?” When she didn’t hear him reply for a minute, her grin faltered slightly, ”Right Jules…?” Opening her eyes, she noticed the old practice snitch was no longer in his hands. As it was nighttime, this practice was going to be a bit hard for Gracie. She could see the snitch fine in the daylight- the sun would catch the gold every now and then, giving her a slight clue as to where it was- but she had never played at night before. This was a whole new experience… ”Watch and learn, young pupil!” Scanning the empty space over the stands, she grinned. There it was- right next to the commentator’s stand! She sped over there and stretched out her hand as far as she could reach- but it was to no avail. The snitch went speeding off in another direction. She sighed, her breath could be seen in front of her with the air being so cold. However, Gracie didn’t feel it- she was too into their practice session to care about the weather… Besides, she could get a mug of hot cocoa when they retreated back into the Common Room. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a slight glint of gold over by the goal posts, but couldn’t be sure. She sped over there anyway and- yes! Now I’ve got you! she thought as she darted through one of the hoops, around another and finally caught the little bugger. ”How’s that for skill, huh?” She asked, speeding back over to Julien, breathing heavily, cold sweat sticking to her neck and forehead.

[/color]

Tagged: Jules!
Outfit: tank top and shorts

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Notes: Still love these two… [/left]

[Julien Cross]

"Like what I see?" Julien repeated. He had been walking away from her, but when she made that comment, he stopped and turned around. Facing her with raised eyebrows, he crossed his arms over his chest and took his time looking her over even if it made him feel a little bit like a creeper. He did this to other girls on a regular basis, sure, but not so much with Gracie. But they did live off teasing the hell out of the other. "Hmm..." Julien hummed, stroking his chin and appearing deep in thought. He then shrugged and dropped his hands to his sides. "You're alright," he said blandly before adding with a smirk, "For a fourteen year old, I suppose." He was constantly teasing her about how she was two years younger than him, insisting that always made her a child and him a well-rounded adult, naturally. But, seriously, it was a good thing that it was just to two of them there tonight because if some other guys were around to see Gracie in that tank top and those shorts? Yah, it just would not have gone very well. Julien would've had to hex them blind and McGonagall was certainly have something to say about that and the whole ordeal would be difficult to explain to his mother. He was just territorial, was all. "And I smell like a God! A Greek God!" he proclaimed loudly through amused chuckles.

The laughter quickly turned into a scowl though. "I am not obsessing!" Julien immediately cut in, as if on cue. "And I'm not jealous," he practically growled. Julien was way too susceptible to being teased about being jealous and things that that. It never failed to ruffle his feathers and he had to tendency to turn into a brooding child. "It'd just odd now isn't it? How would you like it if I started getting keen on -- I don't know -- getting keen on Jada or someone!" She had to see his point here! And the fact that it was Cal made it all the more frustrating because, typically speaking, it was very easy for Julien to "take care of" any guy that threatened to come between him and one of his friends who was a girl. But now the guy was Cal, and Cal was one of his best friends, so that just fucked EVERYTHING up for Julien. Luckily, there was a competition to be had at hand, otherwise Julien probably would've been stuck on the subject for a while.

He had to admit, Gracie was a decent seeker, but that was obvious. She had to be good to be the seeker for the Gryffindor team as only a 4th year. Julien took off after her, leaving plenty of room for her to work her magic. She was small, yes, but obviously that worked to her advantage. And she was agile, as well. When she took off after the snitch, Julien shot off after her. She'd spotted it before he had even figured out where it has gone and then, moments later, she was going through a goal hoop and snatching the little bugger right out of the air. Julien laughed, head tilted back and his breath coming out in faint puffs (it was cold, bit not cold enough for your breath to come out in a heavy fog). When she started heading back towards him,her met her half way with an amuse look on his face. "That was pretty decent," he admitted to her. "Though, I don't think that stunt with the hoop was entirely legal," he added with a grin. "But I like your style." Julien was one of the showiest players on the team -- to a fault, actually -- and was well versed in what Madame Hooch considered "illegal moves". Hooch was such a killjoy. "You're lucky you've got me and May around to protect you, though," Julien told her with a smirk. "So you don't have to worry your about your pretty little head getting hit mid-dive." When he said that, Julien reached forward and ruffled up her hair with a chuckle. "Alright, so you've proved that you actually know something about catching a snitch," Julien said, circling around her on his broom. "How's about stepping out of your warm little comfort zone? Want to try your hand at beating?" he asked with a bit too much enthusiasm to come off as entirely nonchalant.

He jerked his head for her to follow him and he shot back toward the discarded quidditch trunk in the middle of the quidditch pitch. Once he landed, he picked up his worn, school issued club and opened up the trunk. "My dad taught me how to play baseball when I was a kid," Julien said. He jabbed one of the chained up bludgers with the butt of his club and it thrashed against its confines. Julien didn't talk about his father much recently, and, whenever he did, he usually avoided making eye contact with whoever he was talking to. When I came to Hogwarts and found out what quidditch was, I had to become a beater, of course," he explained. At this point he looked up at her a flashed her a grin, though it was a bit tight and didn't show as many teeth as his smiles usually did. Julien cleared his throat and held out the bat for her to take. "You're going to need this as well," Julien said as he removed his beater pads -- a protective chest piece that also covered most of the shoulder -- and handed them out for Gracie to take. He smirked at her, the prospect of getting to slam around some bludgers almost immediately cheering him up. "Ready to try this out?"

[Julien Cross]

"Like what I see?" Julien repeated. He had been walking away from her, but when she made that comment, he stopped and turned around. Facing her with raised eyebrows, he crossed his arms over his chest and took his time looking her over even if it made him feel a little bit like a creeper. He did this to other girls on a regular basis, sure, but not so much with Gracie. But they did live off teasing the hell out of the other. "Hmm..." Julien hummed, stroking his chin and appearing deep in thought. He then shrugged and dropped his hands to his sides. "You're alright," he said blandly before adding with a smirk, "For a fourteen year old, I suppose." He was constantly teasing her about how she was two years younger than him, insisting that always made her a child and him a well-rounded adult, naturally. But, seriously, it was a good thing that it was just to two of them there tonight because if some other guys were around to see Gracie in that tank top and those shorts? Yah, it just would not have gone very well. Julien would've had to hex them blind and McGonagall was certainly have something to say about that and the whole ordeal would be difficult to explain to his mother. He was just territorial, was all. "And I smell like a God! A Greek God!" he proclaimed loudly through amused chuckles.

The laughter quickly turned into a scowl though. "I am not obsessing!" Julien immediately cut in, as if on cue. "And I'm not jealous," he practically growled. Julien was way too susceptible to being teased about being jealous and things that that. It never failed to ruffle his feathers and he had to tendency to turn into a brooding child. "It'd just odd now isn't it? How would you like it if I started getting keen on -- I don't know -- getting keen on Jada or someone!" She had to see his point here! And the fact that it was Cal made it all the more frustrating because, typically speaking, it was very easy for Julien to "take care of" any guy that threatened to come between him and one of his friends who was a girl. But now the guy was Cal, and Cal was one of his best friends, so that just fucked EVERYTHING up for Julien. Luckily, there was a competition to be had at hand, otherwise Julien probably would've been stuck on the subject for a while.

He had to admit, Gracie was a decent seeker, but that was obvious. She had to be good to be the seeker for the Gryffindor team as only a 4th year. Julien took off after her, leaving plenty of room for her to work her magic. She was small, yes, but obviously that worked to her advantage. And she was agile, as well. When she took off after the snitch, Julien shot off after her. She'd spotted it before he had even figured out where it has gone and then, moments later, she was going through a goal hoop and snatching the little bugger right out of the air. Julien laughed, head tilted back and his breath coming out in faint puffs (it was cold, bit not cold enough for your breath to come out in a heavy fog). When she started heading back towards him,her met her half way with an amuse look on his face. "That was pretty decent," he admitted to her. "Though, I don't think that stunt with the hoop was entirely legal," he added with a grin. "But I like your style." Julien was one of the showiest players on the team -- to a fault, actually -- and was well versed in what Madame Hooch considered "illegal moves". Hooch was such a killjoy. "You're lucky you've got me and May around to protect you, though," Julien told her with a smirk. "So you don't have to worry your about your pretty little head getting hit mid-dive." When he said that, Julien reached forward and ruffled up her hair with a chuckle. "Alright, so you've proved that you actually know something about catching a snitch," Julien said, circling around her on his broom. "How's about stepping out of your warm little comfort zone? Want to try your hand at beating?" he asked with a bit too much enthusiasm to come off as entirely nonchalant.

He jerked his head for her to follow him and he shot back toward the discarded quidditch trunk in the middle of the quidditch pitch. Once he landed, he picked up his worn, school issued club and opened up the trunk. "My dad taught me how to play baseball when I was a kid," Julien said. He jabbed one of the chained up bludgers with the butt of his club and it thrashed against its confines. Julien didn't talk about his father much recently, and, whenever he did, he usually avoided making eye contact with whoever he was talking to. When I came to Hogwarts and found out what quidditch was, I had to become a beater, of course," he explained. At this point he looked up at her a flashed her a grin, though it was a bit tight and didn't show as many teeth as his smiles usually did. Julien cleared his throat and held out the bat for her to take. "You're going to need this as well," Julien said as he removed his beater pads -- a protective chest piece that also covered most of the shoulder -- and handed them out for Gracie to take. He smirked at her, the prospect of getting to slam around some bludgers almost immediately cheering him up. "Ready to try this out?"

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie’s smirk evaporated off her face as she heard him say that she was alright for a fourteen year old. Her jaw dropped in outrage and for once, she was actually speechless. Enraged, even! She hated it when Julien made fun of her for being young and he knew it! Gosh, he was so… Gosh! ”Julien Cross! That is enough.” She mounted her broom and heard him yell that he smelled like a Greek God. Smiling to herself, she shook her head and thought, Although that may be true, I’m not going to let him know I think that… It will just inflate his already too-large ego… She didn’t regret saying what she said next, about him obsessing over Cal, although she knew it would ruffle his feathers and possibly get them into a heated argument- it was true! Ever since he found out that she might have even the tiniest attraction towards Cal, Jules was constantly asking how it was going between the two and whether she had told him or not… He was worse than Emme in her most gossipy mood!

When he asked her how she would feel about him ‘getting keen’ on Jada, her blood ran cold. She basically froze up in the air- and it wasn’t because of the winter weather, either. She couldn’t stand

[/b] the idea of Julien dating someone else- it would completely ruin everything they had together because then he would start hanging out with said girl more and more until, eventually, Gracie would be out of the picture for good. And she couldn’t have that- Jules was one of her best friends! Like, ever. She didn’t know how she could ever live without him to talk to and joke around with… She didn’t even want to think about a possibility like that. However, she knew she had hesitated long enough and made a huge show of rolling her eyes at him. ”Oh, whatever- I still say you’re jealous.” He could never know how much she actually needed him in her life. Ever.

When she came back with the teensy golden ball between her forefinger and thumb, she smirked at the look on Julien’s face. He looked- well, impressed to say the least. And- no, Gracie couldn’t be sure but- it looked like he was… proud of her, too? The look he was giving her made her smirk turn into an actual smile, and her stomach got all warm and fuzzy feeling. It made her feel positively giddy thinking that she had made Jules proud of her. ”And since when have we ever done anything entirely legal on the pitch…?” she snorted. ”At least I just won us the game, didn’t I?” She paused for a moment, taking the chance to take her hair out of the now-messy ponytail it was falling out of anyway to re-do it. However, that was the chance Jules took to mess it up again. ”Thanks a lot.” She tightened the ponytail to make sure that it, hopefully, didn’t fall out again and winked at him.

He was now circling around her, and she was honestly getting dizzy watching him. Grumbling, she rolled her eyes. ”What, were you a vulture in another life?” She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and raced him to the ground, back to where the old trunk lay off to the side. Raising one eyebrow at him, she hesitated. Beating? Well, it… it just wasn’t her thing. She couldn’t remember a time where she had ever actually played that part of the team with her brothers, but she had always figured there was a reason for that. However… She thought, looking at her best friends eager and hopeful face. He looked so innocent and puppy dog-ish that she just couldn’t say no. ”Alright,” she shrugged, ”how hard could it be? After all,” She shot him a look and smirked. ”You can do it…” Picking up the other bat after putting on the rest of the beater’s equipment, she re-mounted her broom and kicked off into the air, waiting for Jules to make the next move.
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Tagged: Jules!
Outfit: tank top and shorts

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Notes: These two crack my shit up. Seriously. [/left]

[Julien Cross]

Julien cocked an eyebrow at Gracie as she took her hair down. He let out a loud snort. "You only attributed to us winning the game because I saved your bum from being pelted upside the head with a bludger!" he told her stubbornly, tapping on the side of his temple with two fingers. "Really, you should start appreciating what us beaters do for you," he told her with a disapproving look and a shake of his head. Honestly, beaters deserved a lot more credit than they usually got! "Without us the pitch would be a blood bath of bludgers running around knocking people off their brooms and pummeling them to death left and right. Chaos! Sheer, chaos." Julien smirked at her when she asked if he had been a vulture in a past life. "Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "Obviously I was a shark. Much more appealing than a vulture."

Julien grinned at the look that came over her face when he suggested she actually try her hand at beating. "Try not to look so terrified." Back on the ground, he had handed over his favorite club to Gracie and gave a tug on the straps of the pads she put on to make sure they were snug. "How hard can it be?" he repeated flatly, staring at her as though she had

[/i]got[/i] to be joking. Julien looked at her for a moment with slightly narrowed eyes before tightening some of the straps on her side. "I don't know, Gracie. Probably about as hard as it would be to have a homicidal bowling ball with a thirst for blood and it's your job to keep not only your head from getting knocked off, but everyone else on your team," he told her in a nonchalant tone of voice. Julien paused before adding, "Oh, and you've actually got to have aim to send the little buggers after someone else." He stepped around behind her and gave one last tug on a strap before leaning in close to her ear. "And they can smell fear," he whispered in her ear, his eyes following down the profile of her face before he stepped away with a chuckle.

When she took off, Julien scooped up his broom and hovered just over the ground. He had learned a while back that when you are letting the bludgers out of the ball trunk, NEVER do it manually because that's how you'd get a broken nose in .13 seconds. With a flick of his wand, the binds holding in one of the bludgers became undone and the brown ball shot off into the air. Julien took off to catch up with Gracie. "Alright, shorty," he said once he had caught up and was hovering next to her. "We've got a few seconds before it spots us," Julien told her as he watched the bludger weave behind one of the Ravenclaw bleachers. He moved in closer to her, which was a bit awkward and hard to do since they were both on brooms, and repositioned her hands properly on the club. "Alright, keep your hands there and line up your knuckles," he instructed. "Keep your elbows up -- " he nudged them into place " -- hands together and right up by your ear." He was talking quickly (this wasn't really the opportune way to teach someone how to beat, but, hey, what was the worse that could happen?) and saw that the bludger had spotted them as was now tearing its way toward them from the opposite side of the pitch. "And most importantly, swing form your hips," Julien told her sternly, his hands going to her waist. "Seriously, people think a swing comes form your shoulders, but if you do that you're likely to dislocate something. And if that happened, McGonagall and May would wring my pretty little neck," he said with a laugh. "It's like boxing, the power comes from your hips," he instructed, giving her sides an encouraging squeeze before letting go and drifting back far enough that he wouldn't get hit upside the head when she made a swing for the bludger. "Show me what you've got, Seeker girl!" he called to her with a grin. He probably should've brought a second club, just in case something went wrong... But it was a bit too late for that now.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie ignored Julien’s rambling about how much the beaters were needed on the team- which she definitely agreed with, but didn’t say out loud. Julien knew that she appreciated him and May, he was just spouting things off… She smirked when he said he would’ve obviously been a shark in another life. ”Yeah, I don’t think either of them are very appealing, honestly. Sharks have huge teeth that try to nom on you every chance they get…” She shuddered, sharks were simply not her thing. For that matter, anything with sharp, pointy teeth were things she would rather stay away from… ”Well, I believe I was a princess in another life… It just somehow works for me, don’t you think?”

”I am not terrified! I’m simply… worried about doing something I’ve never done before. Especially since that something includes chancing my life with bludgers. I think it’s understandable why I might worry…” She huffed, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms across her chest as she waited for him to explain some things. She would never admit it to him, but Gracie was chilly. So chilly that her teeth were starting to chatter and the tip of her ears were beginning to turn slightly red. Jules wouldn’t notice… right? And she certainly couldn’t ask him for his hoodie because they already had that discussion and she refused to give in. She watched as his face became deadly serious and listened to him talk about how hard being a beater actually was- and she believed him. She would watch the other team mates out of the corner of her eye as she searched for the snitch and, for some reason, her eyes always landed on Julien. Oh and May, of course. She would sit there on her broom, wondering how they managed to not get thrown off by the nasty little pieces of equipment…

She was focusing on the fact that everything he said was making her even more nervous to be doing this, when he tugged on her strap, leaned in close and whispered in her ear. She wasn’t used to Jules being quite that close to her and she jumped back, her heart beating wildly in her chest. ”They do not!” she exclaimed, pausing only for a moment before adding, ”Do they?” When he just chuckled, she mounted her broom and took off into the air to get away from him until her heart could slow down. By this time, the wind had picked up and Gracie almost couldn’t feel her limbs anymore… But, she was stubborn enough to keep it held in. Nodding to Jules to let him know that she was ready for him to release the bludger, she heard him mutter the spell to open the chest and suddenly, a click was heard. She noticed the bludger immediately behind one of the Ravenclaw bleachers and held in her breath as Jules suddenly placed his hands on hers. He was moving her hands to the right spot on the club and was whispering in her ear again… Oh how she wished he would stop doing that! It was making her stomach feel all… funny. But she knew it didn’t mean anything, because this was Jules. Then, his hands were on her elbows and telling her to swing from her hips- which he then proceeded to place his hands there as well. Only after he had taken his hands off her hips was she ale to regain her breathing pattern… And then, the bludger was trying to knock her over. She swung from her hips, as Jules instructed her, but missed the bludger entirely as it sped past her and proceeded to come right back. She turned to face it and this time was able to smack it slightly, sending it off towards her right. She sighed, thankful the bludger was out a little ways but the cold was getting to her. She wasn’t able to focus and before she knew it, the bludger had hurled into her side, knocking her off her broom.

When she came to, she was on the ground and Jules was hovering above her, her head in his lap. ”What happened?” she asked, just now noticing the pounding headache and aching in her arms and legs. ”Did I do well…?” She was hopeful, but didn’t think the answer was going to be a yes…

[/color]

Tagged: Jules!
Outfit: tank top and shorts

[/color]
Notes: None![/left]

[Julien Cross]

Julien just smirked and flew off when she became concerned whether or not bludgers could really smell fear. He wasn’t trying to mess with her or anything, of course not! Hey, bludgers had to track down people somehow, right? Maybe his theory was correct! There was a very good reason that Ravenclaw was never an option for Julien Cross. He did not think shit through. He came up with an idea, said to himself “SOUNDS FUN!”, and followed through. There was no proper thought process put into the things he did 83% of the time. It didn’t even occur to him to second guess whether or not Gracie really would be able to play a beater. It didn’t occur to him that just maybe the fact that he had been practicing this position for 6 years and had the proper muscle build would make beating easier for him than, say, someone like Gracie. And it definitely didn’t occur to him that maybe it was a bit hard to keep track of a bludger flying around the pitch when there were only two possible targets and – ergo – the little bugger was going to be awful persistent. These little things didn’t occur to himself until Gracie missed the bludger entirely on its first fly by. The amused smile on Julien’s face faltered as the first little red flag went up.

Uh oh.

Yah, bringing a second club would’ve been the smarter choice.

But then she did hit it the second time, and that made him relax for a moment, just in time for the bludger to come hurling back at Gracie and this time, Gracie missed but the bludger certainly didn’t. A strangled, unintelligible shout got stuck in his throat just as the bludger slammed into Gracie’s side. Luckily, Julien wasn’t entirely brain dead and did still have beater reflexes. Before Gracie had completely fallen off her broom, he was already shooting toward her. Her Nimbus 1700 tumbled to the ground without a conscious person to control it and Gracie plummeted maybe 10 yards through the air before Julien was there, catching her and wrapping his arms tightly around her smaller form. Anyone who says it’s easy to fly a broom with two people is a bold faced liar. Make one of those people unconscious, and the other minus full use of their hands? Not a fun time. Julien did his best to use his knees to try to straighten the flight pattern of his broom, but the dead weight was pitching nose down and Julien could barely grip the handle with one hand without letting Gracie slip. With the ground getting closer, he tried to slow down and steady the worn out Nimbus 1500. When they hit the ground, it was very far from a smooth landing. Julien pulled Gracie in close, tucking her head under his chin and let the two of them fall off a couple of feet before the broom smashed into the ground in an array of splinters. Julien’s back broke their fall, causing all the air in his chest to be slammed out and his back skid across the – thankfully – muddy ground. Julien winced as he felt the whole length of his back getting scratched up.

He barely had time to let out a groaned before he was scrambling into a squatting position. ”Gracie, you alright??” he asked, gently placing his hands on either side of her face and looking at her. She didn’t look like she was bleeding or anything, but she also wasn’t responding. Julien’s heart jumped into his throat and he could hear his heart beat roaring in his ears. ”Gracie!” He dug a hand into his shorts and pulled out his wand. Shit. He had learned healing charms in class, but now, when he actually needed them, he couldn’t think of a single fucking one. Julien let out a loud string of french cussing. Shit! What did he do now?? He called her name again and brushed his thumb over her cheek. People in movies shook people, but weren’t you not supposed to move someone in case they broke their neck? Oh SHIT what if she broke her neck?? He also saw people in the movies slap unconscious people but there was no fucking way he was going to SLAP Gracie so that couldn’t POSSIBLY be right. God, she was freezing! What did that mean?? Didn’t that mean she was going into shock or something?? ”GRACIE.” This time it was stern and loud and definitely panicked. Julien practically passed out when she stirred and FINALLY spoke. Julien fell back onto his heels, still cradling her head in his hands. Holy shit, he thought he was going to have a heart attack! ”For fuck’s sake Gracie, I thought I killed you.” His voice was a bit tighter than he wanted it to be. When she asked him if she did well, a somewhat hysterical laugh escaped his mouth. ”Not really, love,” he told her. There was a huge, relieved smile on his face. ”But I’ve seen worse.”

”Are you okay??” he asked, the hysterical laughter being replaced by concern and caution. He looked along her body, keeping an eye out for any bones sticking out of her skin. ”Did you break anything? You’re freezing. Is your neck alright? You can moves your fingers and toes, right?” Julien rubbed his hand through his already messy hair. ”We need to take you to the infirmary, see if you’ve got a concussion or something,” he told her, a deep from etched into his face. With his wand that was already out and thus far entirely useless, he accio-ed his hoodie. ”Try not to move too much, alright?” he told her sternly. He carefully wrapped the jacket around her and zipped up the front. The brooms – one broken and one somewhere out on the pitch – would have to be dealt with later, along with the quidditch balls. Speaking of. Julien looked up to see the rogue bludger repeatedly throwing itself into one of the support beams of the Slytherin bleachers. He set the spell toward it that made the ball stop mid air and drop uselessly to the ground. ”Alright, Gracie,” he said, standing up before scooping her up easily into his arms. ”You’re lucky you’re tiny,” he told her with an airy laugh, trying to lighten the mood even though he was currently pale and thought he had just killed her moments earlier. Holding onto her securely, he started the long trek from the quidditch pitch and up to the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey was sure to be just a delight tonight. Halfway to the castle, a trickle of sweat was already starting to run down Julien’s neck. ”Merlin, May is going to destroy me,” Julien said, glancing down at Gracie. He was screwed. But at least she hadn't broken her neck. Julien's brow furrowed and he asked her for what must've been the tenth time, "Are you okay?"

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie couldn’t remember anything that had happened after the bludger had hit her in the side, but she could feel that her side wasn’t the only place that was in severe pain. From what she could tell, Julien had rescued her from falling to her death and had scraped himself up instead… Although he was choosing to focus on whether she was alright or not instead of himself at the moment. ”Hey! Language mister,” she joked weakly, chuckling slightly before coughing heavily. Her lungs felt tight, tighter than they had from the chill in the air as she had been flying- and she didn’t think that was a good sign. She smiled up at him when he told her that she, in fact, hadn’t done very well but trying to make it up by telling her that he had seen worse before. ”Liar.” she whispered, a smirk gracing her lips that were turning a light shade of blue.

She laughed again as he asked if she was alright, then let out a slight scream as her side felt as if it was splitting. She thought it was a good possibility that she had a broken rib or two, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud to Jules- he looked as if he was about to lose it at any given moment. She felt horrible for making him worry like this; the boy seemed to be on the verge of hysterics! ”Julies, Jules,” she said softly, trying to calm him down by petting his arm soothingly, ”I’ll be alright. You didn’t kill me, love- it would take a lot more than a bludger to kill me off, you should know that!” She chuckled a little, careful to not move her upper-body much. Her left shoulder was killing her and her left ankle felt as if it was twisted. She figured that must have been the side she and Julien had hit the ground on… because the bludger had hit her right side very clearly. When he asked if she had broken anything, Gracie sighed a little. ”I don’t want to upset you,” she began cautiously, ”but I think I may have one or two broken ribs… And my ankle is twisted for sure. My shoulder is killing me, but I can’t be sure whether it’s broken or not…” She bit her lip, wondering if it was such a good idea to have told him all of that- he already felt bad enough. But, she supposed he needed to know so that he didn’t touch her in the wrong places and do more damage… Plus, better to hear it from her than from Madam Pomfrey later, right?

”Jules, I’ll be alright.” she whispered, noticing he had gone silent for a moment. ”Just… get me to the Hospital Wing so Pomfrey can check me out. I’m sure she’ll be able to heal this in a jiffy!” In a jiffy? She thought, furrowing her eyebrows, what the hell…? ”More importantly- are you alright? You risked your neck to save me…” She could have cried right then and there thinking about Julien breaking his neck just to save her. Of course, she was thankful he had saved her but, what would life have been if he had gotten hurt, too…? He told her not to move too much, which she happily obliged to, and wrapped his hoodie around her. He was right- he did smell like Greek God… She turned her neck and buried her face in his chest as he carried her to the Hospital Wing, ”Thank you Jules,” she whispered, not even knowing if he had heard her. After a moment, she heard him say something about May. Although she liked May, Gracie was at a point in the evening where hearing Julien’s date’s name irritated her. He was carrying her up to the Hospital Wing and all he could think about was May? ”What did you say about May…?” She didn’t even try to hide the irritation in her voice; at this point, she was too tired to care. ”And yes, Jules. I told you- I’m fine.”

They had made it to the Hospital Wing and Julien had set her on one of the cots, leaving briefly to get Madam Pomfrey. The two of them came hurrying back, Madame Pomfrey looking as if she had just seen a ghost. The older, gentle woman began checking Gracie all over, kindly asking Julien to leave so that she could strip Gracie to make sure she had checked everywhere for signs of broken bones. After about half an hour, Madam Pomfrey brought Julien back in (having changed Gracie into a nightgown) and she told the older boy that the two of them had been reckless in their actions. She ended up having two broken ribs, a twisted ankle, a dislocated shoulder and a slight concussion… All of which Madam Pomfrey said would take her about a day to heal. Great, Gracie thought with a sigh, I’ll be so bored in here on my own! ”Don’t forget to check Julien, ma’am. He was hut pretty badly too, although he doesn’t want me to know it…” She looked down at the bed and saw that Jules’ hoodie was lying on her lap. Looking toward Julien, she nodded toward the hoodie and asked, ”Could you… Would you mind… putting it on me…?” She blushed slightly but awaited him to oblige, then get checked over by the Hospital Queen.

[/color]

Tagged: Jules!
Outfit: tank top and shorts

[/color]
Notes: Ahhh, this is so intense! haha[/left]

[Julien Cross]

Julien practically jumped out of his skin when her laughter was quickly cut off by a scream. "What?? What's wrong??" be demanded urgently, his eyes looking over her body and his hands hovering in the air, not sure what the hell to do. He had never felt so immensely useless in his entire life. Wel, actually there had been one other time... But the last thing Julien needed right now was for those images to flood his head right now. She was petting his arm now and trying to soothe him, but it was far from working. Julien frowned. He did a lot of reckless things and people just assumed that made him brave -- probably why he was in gryffindor, in fact -- but the only thing Julien had was a tendency for self destruction and an intense fear that led him to appearing brave. He didn't care about doing dangerous things or getting himself injured. And the only reason he got into fights so often was because he was terrified of pureblood extremists attacking him first when his back was turned, like they did to his father. Julien would rather beat them to the punch. Literally. And even more of that fear revolved around people he cared about getting hurt and now here he was, in the middle of the pitch with Gracie on her back and in pain because of a stupid suggestion he had made. His stomach gave a queasy churn.

"Broken??" Julien repeated, his voice jumping up a couple of octaves, completely dumbfounded. He looked at her sigh and groaned. "Of course the bludger had to hit you the one place the chest pads don't cover," he growled darkly, more to himself than Gracie. Julien rubbed his palm between his eyebrows frustratedly. He was pretty sure that they shouldn't take off the beater pads because it would probably just put her in more pain. Pomfrey would know how to deal with those. Julien raised and eyebrow at her and frowned. "In a jiffy?" he repeated as he looked down at her, becoming a little more concerned. Great. Now she was talking weird too. He pushed her hair out of her face with hand and trailed his fingertips along her temple. "You sound like you rattled a few screws loose, Grace," he said quietly, looking down at her with a heavy sigh. "I'm going to carry you," he told her sternly with a nod. "There's no way you can walk on that ankle. Just... Stay curled up. I've gotten my fair share of bruised ribs from playing quidditch, if you stay curled up around it, it'll feel better, just -- just don't make it hurt any worse, alright??"

Julien gathered her up in his arms, being extremely tender with all of his movements and doing his best not to touch and of her various body parts that had been injured. When she asked if he was alright, Julien rolled his eyes. "I'm perfectly fine," he told her dismissively as he tucked his chin over the curls on the top of her head. After that, it became hard for him to really be able to keep up a conversation. Gracie was small and Julien was exceptionally in shape, especially in his upper body, but even the strongest quidditch player would get worn out carrying someone from the quidditch pitch all the way to the hospital wing. Julien's calves were searing with pain, his arms were burning and shaking viciously under her body from fatigue. His jaw was clenched tightly, the muscle along his cheek flexed, as his shirt stuck to his chest and back from how much he was sweating. Finally, he made it to the infirmary and kicked open the door before carrying Gracie inside and laying her down on the bed. Just in time too, because his gym shorts had been slowly but surely inching down his hips. Telling Gracie to wait there -- not like she could move even if she wanted to -- he grabbed madame Pomfrey and she quickly went to work. He stepped out of the room while she got changed, pacing back and forth behind the door before walking back inside. Only then did he allow himself to sit down in one of the chairs by Gracie's bed. He practically collapsed into it and let out a groan of relief. His arms and legged ached and, now that the adrenaline of the situation was wearing off, the pain in his back was starting to kick it. Right on cue, Gracie told Pomfrey to be sure to check him out, cause Julien to glare at her over Madame Pomfrey's shoulder.

Sure enough, Pomfrey tittered at him and got him to turn around and take his shirt off -- like that wasn't awkward -- which revealed a colorful pattern of cuts and bruises on his back that were littered with dirt and blood. Luckily, it was easy enough for Pomfrey to clean them up, get salve on them and then cover them with clean bandages. As soon as she was done, Julien went right back over to Gracie. His brow was still scrunched up and wrinkled with concern and would probably stay like that for a while. When Gracie asked him to put his hoodie on her, he laughed slightly. "Sure," he replied, leaning over the bed and draping his sweatshirt over her. "Are you still cold?" he asked as he sat back down in the chair next to her bed, frowning again. "Are you feeling any better?" he asked, leaning forward in his seat. Pomfrey had given her some medicine and he hooped it was already kicking in. He folded his arms on the bed next to her and rested his chin on top of them. He was suddenly very tired from the ordeal they had both been through tonight. Julien sighed heavily. "This will be fun to explain to McGonagall and May," he muttered, running a hand over his face and laughing lightly, once again thinking about how both their Head of House and quidditch captain would be flipping out over knowing the two of them had gotten so banged up because of him.

[this turned out really long haha sorry!]

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie had never felt so utterly useless before in her entire life. Watching Jules look at her like she was a fragile china doll was flattering, yes, and she liked the feel of his strong arms around her as he carried her to the castle but… She wanted to shake her head at her own crazy thoughts, but it was just too much effort- she seriously felt like death, but didn’t want Julien to know it because she already felt bad enough that he was blaming himself for her mistakes. Sure, he had been the one to suggest it; but she should have been able to just hit the damned thing, shouldn’t she!? It was right there and she had barely even made it move when she had come in contact with it…

She sighed, again mentally shaking her head at herself. Shut up, Gracie. You’re only making matters worse… Look, both of you are so caught up in your thoughts while he’s carrying you that it’s starting to get awkward. Say something. She moved her head only slightly to try looking up at him, studying the strong line of his jaw and the serious, determined glint in his eye before saying, ”So… how about those Chudly Cannons…?” She was trying to lighten the mood, but somehow she felt it was delivered poorly. She was getting frustrated that she couldn’t lift his spirits… She didn’t like seeing Jules beat himself up. It was too sad.

When Jules set her down on the bed and told her wait there, she couldn’t help but giggle; where else was she going to go? She wasn’t even able to move by herself… ”I’ll sure try , Jules, but I have an extremely important date in a few minutes and I might be late… So don’t worry if you come back and find me gone.” She knew she was being a smart ass, but she didn’t care- he had said that and he deserved to be made fun of for it. Thankful that Madame Pomfrey had finally eased her pain, Gracie sat back and watched the older woman take charge. She made Julien take off his shirt- which Gracie honestly didn’t mind because Julien’s abs? Yeah, really, she was okay with it- and started clicking her tongue at the sight of all his scratches. Gracie almost couldn’t believe that he had carried her all the way up by himself with all of those injuries! Now she felt horrible… As soon as Julien came back over after getting cleaned up and wrapped his hoodie around her, she snuggled into it and nodded, tight-lipped, at his questions. Yes, she was still a little cold… Yes, she was feeling better. But she didn’t say anything; she was still too bothered by the fact that he had done so much for her when he was hurting himself. When he had finally settled back into the chair he sitting in beside her, Gracie looked him straight in the eyes and, with more volume then she had spoken with before, stated, ”You should have went and gotten someone, Jules. I had no idea you were so beaten up… You could’ve called for someone else to carry my heavy ass so that you didn’t have to hurt yourself more!” Her heart was aching, she had no idea why; it was just… the thought of Julien hurting himself to save her… she didn’t want that. She wanted him to be safe; she wanted him to do what would make him safe.

When she heard him mention May again, she let it slide- only because she was too tired to argue any more. However, she really didn’t like the way her stomach churned every time Julien brought up May’s name… even if she was their Quidditch captain. ”Yeah, they aren’t going to be very happy with us, are they? We’re going to be penalized for weeks over this…” She leaned back on her cot carefully and gently closed her eyelids, welcoming the darkness her eyes met. She was so tired… So incredibly tired; but she wanted to stay awake to talk to Jules if only for a moment longer. ”Jules? You’re my best friend in the whole world. Did you know that?”

[/color]

Tagged: Jules!
Outfit: tank top and shorts

[/color]
Notes: I’m so sorry I’ve left you hanging for so long! Real life gets in the way a little too much for my liking…[/left]

[Julien Cross]

Julien knew he was really the last person who should be in charge of another injured person. He was getting himself messed up so often that he really should've known how to work healing spells on his own by now. As he walked with her in his arms, he kept glancing at Gracie's shoulder -- he was at least smart enough to know better than to have that shoulder leaned up against him --, trying to remember if there was anything potential dangerous about dislocating a shoulder. It'd happened to him a few times, but the repercussions of such an injury didn't really seem to matter much to him until now that Gracie was the one with the injuries. He could tell by the unnatural slope to her shoulder that it was dislocated. He was pretty sure the only long term damage that could really come was if she had internal bleeding or... something. It was an unsettling thought that caused the muscle in his jaw to harden as he tried to pick up the pace a bit without jostling her around too much. When she suddenly used the Chudly Canons as a source of conversation, Julien glanced down at her out of the corner of his eye and let out a winded laugh. "You're not really--" breath "Assuring me that--" breath You don't have a concussion." He told her, trying to sound light and joking even though his brow was furrowed and he seriously was questioning her cognitive abilities at the moment. "You don't see--" breath "Little cartoon birds flying your--" breath "Head, do you?" Another winded laugh. Luckily he was able to keep himself distracted with not dropping Gracie while his arms shook under her, otherwise there was a good chance he'd be pretty panicked right about now.

It was only slightly relieving that she was still cracking jokes. Julien had been heading towards Madame Pomfrey's living quarters when Gracie called after him, making her little smart ass remark. It was pretty funny and okay maybe he was being ridiculous, but he was still trying to be the firm enforcer here. Gracie could be just as bad as him when it came to playing off injuries, he'd already played witness to that on the pitch a few times. Even though he forced back a chuckle and he had an amused grin on his lips, Julien still glared back at her over his shoulder. "If that's true then Pomfrey's going to have another bloke in here with some busted limbs," he drawled in a low tone. He was only half joking. Luckily, he could rely on Madame Pomfrey to be thorough, even if it meant her fussing over him as well. When that ridiculousness was over -- honestly, he was clearly not the student who needed her undivided attention -- Julien frowned when Gracie indicated that she was still cold. Well that wouldn't do. Julien glanced around the infirmary. They were the only ones there so he walked over to two of the other beds and stole the blankets, dragging them over to Gracie and laying them over her. "There," he said with a curt nod of his head. "If suddenly 9 more people show up needing medical attention, well, they'll just need to freeze to death," he told her, trying his best to give her a confident smile. Julien finally let himself settle down into the seat next to her bed, cleaning forward on his elbows since his back hurt too much to lean against the back of the chair.

He immediately waved off her words when she started on about how he should've just returned to the castle on his own. "Yah, because I would just leave you with busted ribs and a messed up shoulder in the middle of the pitch at night time," he said sarcastically with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "And this--" he jerked his chin over his shoulder, gesturing to his back "-- is nothing. Just some scratches and bruises. I come out of with Care for Magical Creatures with less injuries," he told her with a smirk as he slid a hand out to pinch at her thigh through the layers of blankets. "And your ass wasn't heavy," Julien told her stubbornly, feeling the need to defend his physical capabilities. "I could've carried you up at least another 8 flights of stairs if i felt so inclined," he added with a nod of his head. Julien settled himself a bit more comfortably onto the edge of her bed, arms laid over the blankets and chin propped in the crook of his right elbow. His eyelids were starting to droop and he was losing the energy to walk all the way back to the Gryffindor tower. Not that he particularly wanted to, anyways. He would just let his eyes slip shut for a moment. "I've already got 5 weeks of detention ahead of me," he mumbled, his voice deep with exhaustion as a lazy grin curled his lips. "A few more won't make much of a difference. And the company will be nice. One-on-one time with McGonagall can get a bit boring hours on end."

There was a quiet pause that filled the space between them, Julien vaguely wondered if she was falling asleep as he, himself, could feel his mind start to drift off. When she spoke, however, it jostle him back into being a bit more awake, if not entirely coherent. His eyebrows moved upwards, trying to pry open his eyelids along with him but the most he managed was to peak through one slitted eye at Gracie form where his head rest on the bed. Her eyes were closed -- apparently she was just as tired as he was -- and he considered her silently for a moment. Julien wasn't exactly sure how to respond, but he felt as though how he answered was very important. Of course Gracie was very important to him, he'd used the term "little sister" when describing her to most of his friends when they would elbow him in the corridor whenever he brought her up. But that was mainly to get them to shut up with the snickering and obnoxious, kissing noises. Wasn't really their business, anyways. Julien's eye trailed along the curve in the blanket that was Gracie's arm before he finally spoke.

"I know," he said simply, his voice void of its usual sarcasm because he did know and because she knew that she was just as important to him. Julien shifted his arm and curled his fingers along the curve of her wrist, his thumb pressed lightly to her palm. He rotated his shoulders a bit to make himself comfortable in this new position before his eyelids fell closed again.

[Gracie Marlow]

Gracie didn’t expect the reaction she received from Jules after her smart ass remark; was he actually… jealous? Gracie had joked about that with him more than a few times in their relationship, but she had never actually been seriously thinking he was jealous. However, something behind his smile suggested that he might be- Gracie slightly shook her head, ridding the crazy thoughts that were forming, trying to slow down her racing heart. She just let his comment slide as he went to get Madame Pomfrey. Once she was done fussing over the two friends, Jules threw more blankets over Gracie, mumbling something about the fact that if more people showed up, they would have to freeze to death. ”Now, you know that’s not even logical… If anyone else showed up, I would hand over at least one of my blankets! I’m not that selfish, Jules!”

Chuckling, she noticed how he was leaning on his elbows on her bed. She supposed it was because of his back, but of course she didn’t say anything; it would only lead to a small argument about how ‘not sore’ he was. And of course, Julien would end up being ‘right’ because Gracie wouldn’t want to fight in the condition she was in. She couldn’t even describe how badly she felt that he had risked his life to save her… She rolled her eyes at him at his statement of being able to carry her up another eight flight of stairs- she supposed it was because he wanted to ‘defend his honor’ or something like that. Whatever. She didn’t feel like arguing, so she let that go as well. ”I don’t think we’ve ever had detention together before… Should cause for an interesting time.”

Her eyelids were slipping shut- oh, if she could only stay awake a while longer! She heard Julien’s answer to her statement and felt the warmth of his hand in hers. She figured after a moment he would pull away, but to her surprise, he did nothing of the sort. She was tempted to open her eyes and look at him, but then it might be awkward if he was awake… Plus, she was way too tired to open her eyes anyway. So, she slipped off into dreamland feeling Julien’s thumb pressing lightly on the inside of her palm and feeling more entirely comfortable and safe than she had in a very long time.

end!

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