maybe sprout wings

[Pippin LeBeau]

[/color]

Ever since she was a kid, Pippin had loved to climb. It wasn’t an obsession or anything, but it was fun. She was the type of person who found it difficult to sit still for any length of time and always preferred to be doing something, and when you were a kid living out in the woods, there wasn’t much else to do sometimes than climb a tree. She’d climbed it all, from pine to willow, though the Whomping Willow was out of the question. She had learned two years ago that it was definitely an untameable tree and didn’t respond to flattery or bribes.

In winter, it was hard to climb trees, so Pippin had taught herself how to climb elsewhere. She’d almost fallen the first time she pulled herself out of her window and onto the roof, but she’d gotten better at it over time. Coming to Hogwarts had put a damper on her roof climbing, but every now and then she’d find a classroom that had a ledge for her to stand on underneath the window, and a roof low enough for her to grab and haul herself onto. Being a witch was convenient, since she just had to make sure she had her wand on her, and she could stop her fall with magic if anything happened.

Pippin wasn’t fearless. She wasn’t stupid either. She knew the risks involved with tree climbing and roof climbing. She knew how easy it was to fall and become paralysed or die. But she figured that she was careful and anyway, she was magic, she could just save herself if she had her wand. Besides, when you liked something enough, it was worth the risk. And she did love it. It wasn’t much the idea that she was above everyone else; no, Pippin liked it so much because she was closer to the stars, and they reminded her of her dad. They used to lay awake at night on the roof of their humble little home and stare at the stars, and he’d show her all the constellations. If he couldn’t remember the story behind one of them, he’d make it up himself. One of her favourites was her dad’s version of Cassiopeia, who was the first to invent the toilet, and the men were so ashamed that a woman came up with it first that they stuck her in the stars on the toilet upside down in punishment. He used to say it was a shitty punishment, and Pippin would giggle and agree.

Tonight, she had decided to sneak out of Ravenclaw Tower and get on the roof from one of her favourite spots. Funny enough, it was easiest to access it from the Owlery. Getting there hadn’t been much of a problem – Pippin had always been terribly lucky when it came to sneaking around – and the owls didn’t really bother her so long as she didn’t bother them. As usual, she climbed out the window and onto the ledge below and moved around to the right until she was a few feet above the lower roof. Carefully, Pippin moved down until she was on it, and then made her way around on the roof. In a window up ahead, she saw the faint flicker of wand light, so she ducked down and remained still. Professors on patrol didn’t really have a reason to look outside, because how many students climbed around on roofs at night? The professor passed by and Pippin waited a moment before getting up and continuing her sneaking around. There was a higher roof up ahead, and that was her favourite spot to stargaze since it wasn’t surrounded by towers. She took a breath and then a running start, hoping that she wouldn’t slip, and then leapt up and grabbed the roof by the edge. There was a raised piece of roof for her to grab and she used it to haul herself up, then crawled forward a few feet before collapsing on her back.

It wasn’t the clearest night, which she probably should have checked out before sneaking around. Stargazing wouldn’t be too great, but at least she was outside. And alone. Pippin was social enough and liked to talk to people, but solitude was something she was used to and it was nice to get back to it every now and again.

Except now the clouds were getting thicker and darker and – oh, crap. It was starting to rain, and freezing rain was bad news bears when you were on a roof hundreds of feet in the air. Groaning, Pippin tried to look for the easiest way down. Well… there was an empty classroom just below her, she knew, but getting to it would be tough. She would have to swing her legs to reach the window, and what if it was closed or locked? Then she’d really be shit-outta-luck. But already the roof was getting too slippery for her to navigate back to the Owlery. She could try going to that other window, but a professor had just been there—oh, fuck it. She could risk detention. Carefully sliding over to the edge where she’d jumped up, she lowered herself down and crawled to the window. “Alohomora,” she whispered, pulling out her wand, and the lock clicked so she could pull the window open. Glancing around for professors, she climbed inside and shut the window behind her again. Now she just had to get back to Ravenclaw without being caught—

The wand light was coming back. Without even thinking about it, Pippin bolted in the opposite direction, trying to stifle her giggles as she found the door to that empty classroom and forced her way inside. She leaned against it, breathing heavily, listening for the sound of the professor’s footsteps. She could see the wand light under the door and held her breath until it passed and the footsteps died away. Finally relaxing, Pippin released her breath and laughed. Well, that had definitely been fun, except now she was all wet and cold from the stupid rain. “Shit,” she exhaled with a laugh, then looked around at her surroundings.

Well, it was definitely an unused classroom, but it wasn’t exactly empty. “Fancy seeing you here,” she blurted immediately upon seeing Adam Quinn, though she had to admit she was very confused as to why he was here, of all places. “Sprechen of, uh, what the hell are you doing here, anyway?”

mr quinn

[Adam Quinn]

i got a feeling i can't lose
i got a sympathetic noose

He fidgeted, leaning against the desk, staring at his watch. She was late.

He let out a sigh. Adam Quinn wasn’t exactly used to this whole being stood up thing. Well. Now that he thought about it, he’d never really been in a situation like this. Most of his sexual encounters were not planned. They may have been implied, but never planned. Most of the time they just happened. For the past few weeks, he and Gisele Dreher had been communicating during their Transfiguration class, essentially stating one another’s… erm, fantasies, more or less about the other. With the other. They were so intense he’d actually started to think of McGonagall naked to get himself under control. …So. To say that he was excited when she told him to meet her in this classroom so she could show him some of the things she had been talking about might… have been a bit of an understatement. Well. It wasn't that he had a stiffy. That wasn't it. But he was greatly looking forward to this more personal encounter with Gisele, thank you very much. Was that something to be ashamed of?! No.

He really shouldn't have been surprised she was a no-show, though. She seemed like the type - not that it was a bad thing. He admitted, he was disappointed, but... well, this was a thing girls did, wasn't it? He'd seen it in some movies! And he'd heard his dad explaining this whole concept to Ethan a few times before. Apparently they wanted to keep up the chase or something, but he wasn't even sure what that meant. He could admit to having flipped through some of his mom's girly magazines back at home every once in a while and they always seemed to push the same thing: mystery. Cancelling plans last minute, not inviting guys upstairs, not fully answering questions, leaving early, acting uninterested, blah blah blah, all for the sake of mystery. He let out a quiet growl, wishing Gisele hadn't bought into that.

Then again, maybe she hadn’t! Acting uninterested was one of the most important things to do and she definitely seemed interested. She didn’t seem too concerned in the emotional aspect of a relationship (thank God), either, so maybe… maybe she got caught up doing something else! Maybe the Gryffindor cheerleading team called an extra practice, or she remembered she had an essay to write by tomorrow and needed to start it, or she got a detention, or something. Then again there was always the possibility she didn’t want to come… he wrinkled his nose. Had he done something that would sway her… did he… could she have… oh, whatever, he just needed to get over it. Gisele wasn’t going to show up whether he liked it or not.

He glanced down at his watch. She was ten minutes late.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to waste his night hanging out by himself in an empty classroom. He turned around and picked up his bag, which he’d packed in case he got caught after-hours and needed to explain he was at a study session, cramming for a big Defense Against the Dark Arts test tomorrow. …And there actually was a big Defense Against the Dark Arts test tomorrow, for the record. Which he would probably study for instead of familiarizing himself with Gisele’s anatomy, considering the change of circumstances. Maybe this was some sort of sign that he wasn’t prepared enough for it… huh. And just as he was heading to the door, he heard a noise. He slunk back to the desks, leaned against one, and put his bag down. Maybe it was Gisele, finally…

But it wasn’t.

Instead, a familiar blonde girl slid her way into the room, a rather odd expression on her face. Adam raised an eyebrow but didn’t make a noise. And why was she soaking wet? He glanced to his right and looked out the window – it was raining. But why was she in this part of the castle if she’d been outside during the - …weird. He saw the faint light from a wand on the other side of the door, and he didn’t want to be the one to get them in trouble so he kept quiet. He looked around a little, eyes wide, waiting for the footsteps to pass so he could interrogate her. Pippin let out a laugh and a cuss word when she knew it was safe, and a smirk formed across his face. Her face went from relieved to confused as soon as she saw him. ”You too, Blondie,” he bowed his head at her courteously, unable to wipe the pleased smile from his face. All of his encounters with Pippin so far had been quite enjoyable, and he didn’t see why this one would be any different.

”Well, I was supposed to be meeting a friend so we could study…” he trailed off, leaning back and giving his bag a few pats. ”But she got caught up doin' somethin' else, it seems.” He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at her. ”And what exactly is it that you are doin', Miss LeBeau,” he asked, slowly walking toward her. ”Runnin' through the halls soakin' wet? I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.”

[Pippin LeBeau]

[/color]

There was a strange exhilaration in breaking the rules. Pippin first learned it back in the Yukon, when she would blow spit balls at the teacher when her back was turned, or when she put glue on Timmy Jones’s seat so that he’d stop stealing her sandwiches at lunch time. Haha, they’d had to literally cut his pants with scissors, and everyone found out that day that Timmy Jones never wore underwear. Pippin never got caught for either of those, and she hadn’t been caught for her roof-climbing here (yet), and never really got into serious trouble. But she would be breaking curfew soon, if she wasn’t already, which was bad news bears here, apparently.

Well, at least she wouldn’t be doing that alone.

She glanced Adam up and down, deciding that he might actually be telling the truth, even though he didn’t seem like the studying type. “Studying here, in a dark, empty room, instead of in a well-lit library? How generous of you, leaving all that table space. Maybe your partner got the location mixed up; maybe she thought you meant the other shady class on the top floor.”

Pippin drew closer to Adam, running her finger along one of the dusty tables and sticking her tongue out in disgust at the clear line that followed her touch. Gross; when classes went unused, they really went unused. “Me? Oh, I’m, you know, just… Climbin’ roofs ’n’ shit.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Or I was until it started to rain and it got too icy. I couldn’t even get back down the way I got up, can you believe that? I had to scamper all the way around to a friggin’ window over there” she pointed in the general direction from which she came “and Alohomora that shit to get in here, and then I had to run from whatever professor is doing patrols tonight. I’ll bet it’s Sinistra, she’s always up at night and she’s creepy as fuck. But Astronomy is my favourite class, so I guess I can’t complain too much. She gives me O’s. Sometimes. When I earn ’em. Anyway, I never get sick.” It was mostly true; her immune system was pretty strong. She figured it was a combination of growing up in the middle of nowhere and being a witch; both had made her tough, both inside and out, despite her crazy aunts trying to soften her up. The last time she visited Madam Pomfrey was back in one of her early years, when she’d try to fly her new broomstick and ended up taking a nosedive into the Quidditch pitch. Well, that was the last one she vaguely recalled, anyway.

When she was closer to Adam, she hopped onto the desk across from him (her butt would be filthy from all the dust, but she’d just wipe it off later) and swung her legs, staring at him. “You look a little… frustrated,” she said, noting the slight crease in his brow. “If you’re having trouble with a subject, I can try to help you. I am in Ravenclaw, after all.” She sat up straight and puffed her chest out as if to seem superior, though if she was being honest, she thought the whole “Ravenclaws being smartest” thing was bullshit. Not to mention, it definitely set an unfair standard for the Ravenclaws who were generally “average” in intelligence but whose personalities didn’t really fit in any other house. Pippin thought her next closest house would be Hufflepuff, but hey, who was she to argue with a talking hat? She supposed that she was in Ravenclaw because she was ambitious – despite that being more a Slytherin trait, according to the Hat – and, not to be conceited, she was good at a lot of things. She just didn’t know which things she liked best. And Pippin liked to think she had more common sense than the average Kneazle, so maybe that threw her into Ravenclaw too. Eh, she didn’t really disagree with the Hat’s choice. She loved being a Ravenclaw, and she loved her house. She took a lot of pride in the blue and bronze eagle. She just didn’t agree with the stereotype, she supposed.

“I mean, it’s entirely up to you,” she continued with a shrug. “I’m good at Transfiguration and Charms, but I barely passed Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I’m completely rubbish at NEWT Potions (though I was good in OWL year and before), but I’m not too bad at Arithmancy and Herbology, and like I said, Astronomy is my best subject. I was actually out star-gazing before the rain came along. My dad used to do that with me. Take me on the roof to star-gaze, I mean.” She cocked her head to the side and peered at Adam curiously. “You aren’t really studying though, are you? I mean, it’s really close to curfew and you haven’t even started, and you’re all the way up here. Just doesn’t add up.” Screwing up her face a bit, Pippin leaned back. “This isn’t some secret lovenest of yours, is it? If it is, you really ought to clean it better, for the girl’s sake if not your own. I can’t imagine getting all this dust and crap in your cooter is too sanitary.”

[Adam Quinn]

i got a feeling i can't lose
i got a sympathetic noose

He squinted at her, gauging the chances of her running off and telling on him. Nope. He'd be set. He let out a chuckle and agreed with her. "Yes, that's probably it. I ought to go over there and check it out." He paused, a lopsided grin coming across his face as he glanced at her, eyes trailing up and down her body. She was very... wet. And. Well her body looked nice... "Buuut I think I'd actually rather stay in here with you, though. So." He grinned, leaning back against the nearest desk, right next to the young Ravenclaw girl. He scrunched his nose at the sight of the dust that had gathered on the desks. "Well that's gross," he remarked. He listened to her babble - she was sure good at talking - and he couldn't help but grin. He tried to keep a straight face, but it didn't really work; she was just too amusing. Cute, too. Very cute. The way her mouth moved when she spoke and her facial expressions and the way her hair fell into her face...

Well, it was all very nice, you see.

"Never? Not even once?" he drawled, raising an eyebrow. She said a lot and honestly he didn't even know where to begin so he'd figured he'd just start there and pretend to not be phased by the fact that she went for climbs on the roofs like any normal person would knit or read young adult fiction books. What. "Are you really tryin' to tell me you've never had a cold, Miss LeBeau? Seems pretty unbelievable to me," he continued, reminding himself he needed to remember Astronomy was her favorite class. It was an interesting choice. Not a lot of people liked that class the most... but if anyone would, it'd be Pippin, so a part of him wasn't even surprised. Seriously though, what kind of person climbed the roofs in their spare time?...

She moved across from him and plopped up on the desk and he snapped out of a bit of a trance, mentally imaging the roofs as he’d seen them from flying around grounds… did she have experience with rock climbing or something? How… shaking his head a bit, he replied ”Nah, I’m doin’ just fine for the most part…” he remarked before she launched into another explanation, this time about classes. ”Oh?” he asked softly. ”That must’ve been nice…” he trailed off. Adam always had a bit of a soft spot for star-gazing.

And pretty girls

He narrowed his eyes at her, a smirk curling across the corner of his lips. ”You have any theories?” he asked, but it was pretty obvious what he was really doing here. Waiting for a lady friend. His cover was mostly just for dealing with prefects and professors, and he was good at buttering people up. He didn’t really need to do that around Pippin though. ”Yeah,” he grimaced, ”You caught me. But we mostly just fool around, no…” he frowned and looked down at the dusty desks. Ick. ”…No dust gets anywhere… down… there…” he explained, feeling a bit like a buffoon.

”But anyway, Blondie, I was just wonderin’ why you take such joy out of climbin’ around on the roofs. Most people would be scared shitless to do that, ya know. Pretty dangerous, innit?” he asked, veering the conversation away from his sexual adventures. It wasn’t that he was particularly uncomfortable talking about that kind of stuff, but he was far more interested in learning more about Pippin. Because reasons.

UGH THIS IS DESPICABLE I'M SO SORRY I PROMISE I'LL BE BETTER AT POSTING LONG THINGS IN A TIMLEY FASHION FDAFDSLKJD SAFLKDSJAFLKDSAJLFKDSJA

[Pippin LeBeau]

[/color]

Okay.

So Pippin actually really liked the way Adam called her ‘Miss LeBeau’.

Professors did it too, sure, but it was completely different. They did it out of formality because… she didn’t know, because they were British or something. Adam did it because he was from the South and Southern gentlemen tended to do things like that. Though, she didn’t really think he was a gentleman. But hey, he could surprise her.

“Maybe when I was younger,” she replied with a shrug, trying to think of an incident where she actually had been sick. “I grew up waaaay up north, you know, in the Yukon. You didn’t get a lot of chances to be sick up there. It basically meant you’d never get well again, you know? Maybe it’s because I’m a witch. I heard our immune systems are stronger. Er, magical-folk, I mean. I dunno if witches are stronger than wizards. I could see it, though.” She grinned and gave him a small wink; she wasn’t meaning to touch on his pride or emasculate him or anything. It was just friendly teasing.

She brushed off his refusal of her offer to help; she probably wouldn’t do much good anyway. Pippin was clever enough, sure, but she could never actually sit down and tutor someone. She’d get way too antsy and wouldn’t be able to hold her attention long enough to help. Really, she’d be more of a distraction than a help. And anyway, that’s what paid tutors were for. There were, believe it or not, students at Hogwarts who were good enough at subjects to actually want to help others study them, and they got paid for it – sometimes. Others did it out of the goodness of their hearts, or they were just that nerdy. Whichever. Pippin didn’t judge them for it, but she definitely wasn’t one of them.

For a moment, Pippin wondered if she was making him uncomfortable. He seemed to be less talkative than she thought he’d be. Then again, she was rather babbly, so maybe she just wasn’t giving him enough room to speak, or even think. Pippin knew she had a motor mouth, but normally it didn’t bother her. Right now, though, it was. Strange. She wanted to hear Adam talk. She liked his voice, and his accent, and he interested her. Hm. Maybe she crossed a line by talking about dust getting in a girl’s cooter, since he looked a little grossed out. Whoops. But at least she knew the real reason he was here now: he was meeting a girl, and got stood up. “That’s good. So who’s the lucky girl? Any idea why she didn’t show up?” She cocked her ear toward the door, listening to see if maybe the girl was approaching, but heard nothing. She didn’t even hear the professor’s footsteps anymore, which was good. She turned her attention back to Adam. Poor guy; so long as he didn’t expect her to take the chick’s place, she’d be sympathetic toward him. Pippin wasn’t a prude (she thought anyway, though she never had the opportunity to prove it to herself or anyone else) but she didn’t take kindly to the idea of being someone’s second choice, either. The idea of it almost made her upset, but she managed to calm herself down. Adam hadn’t even flirted with her or anything, so it was ridiculous for her to get any emotions over something that hadn’t even happened, and probably wouldn’t.

Climbing on roofs was dangerous. Pippin had a couple near-death-experiences when she first started out that still got her heart racing, but she was a sure-footed girl and didn’t consider herself to be a daredevil. “Sure. Very. But I’m careful, and I always have my wand. If I fall, I can try to stop myself.” She shrugged. “It relaxes me, I guess. Reminds me of home. It’s got the best view of the stars, and it’s quiet, you know? I don’t do anything reckless. Mostly I just sit out there. Tonight was just weird… for me, anyway. But it’s not too bad, right? We ran into each other, so. Could have been worse. You should try it sometime. Maybe you’ll like it.”

Read: ‘you should try it with me.’

But she didn’t just say that.