If I Fell...

[ludo]

"The cupcakes weren't that bad," Ludo said quickly coming to the defense of his baking skills. Cooking with magic wasn't exactly easy, and he probably would have done much better by hand, but this is why he was becoming a quidditch player not a baker. "Okay, so maybe the were," he confessed. "But I thought it was the thought that counted," he added grinning.

Considering he had never really attempted baking before, at least not from scratch he hadn't thought it would be that difficult, who knew so much went into cupcakes? His mother had always made it seem so easy he hadn't even given the idea second thought. But he had learned his lesson.

"Yea, I'm sorry about that," Ludo said apologetically but not offering up an explanation. More than likely he had been doing something quidditch related, practice or try-outs, but couldn't exactly remember. That was the problem Ludo could remember dates, like birthdays easily, but when it came to memories everything just seemed to jumble together and it was hard to distinguish which day certain things happened.

[britkneeboo]

Mafalda couldn't help but start giggling while he tried to explain the cupcakes. Nothing he said could bring them justice, and he hardly sounded convinced himself. Mafalda knew that he knew they weren't that good, but he was right about the thought being what had counted. In all honesty the cupcakes had been her favorite gift because of all the effort he put into them. Just the thought that Ludo had been working so hard to make something for her was really sweet. She hadn't even cared that their lips were purple, as long as they were hanging out. Besides, purple lips wasn't the worst thing that had happened to students in that school.

"I'm sure it just slipped your mind," she said, poking him in the side. "It was a nice day - you were probably playing Quidditch. I accept the fact that I am only your second true love." No more than a second after she spoke Mafalda took a step sideways, tangling her feet together [leave something like that to her], and nearly went to the ground. "Oh!" she gasped, an image of herself falling to the floor in the Library a week before and Riley finding her a few moments later, having knocked five or six books off the shelf as she fell, flashed in her mind. She grabbed hold of Ludo's arm as she was falling, not completely sure it would save her or simply take him with her.

[ludo]

Ludo gave a short laugh at the joke about Mafalda only being his second love. "Well, I still should have made time for you and I'm sorry," he said apologizing again. He really should have found the time to go see Mafalda, but he had a sneaking suspicion there may have been a reason beside quidditch that he hadn't so much as seen Mafalda on her 18th Birthday, he just couldn't quite remember what...or maybe he just didn't want to remember.

Ludo was caught off guard as Mafalda grabbed at his arm. Once again his quidditch reflexes sprung into action as he regained his balance and wrapped his other arm around her to help pull her back up. That made twice now Ludo's reflexes had saved Mafalda and himself from an unfortunate accident.

It sort made it more fitting, that he had such good reflexes and she was so clumsy. "haha, you alright," Ludo asked smiling once he had returned Mafalda to an upright position. She was so cute when she tripped over her own two feet.

[britkneeboo]

Mafalda closed her eyes tight, as she was sure she was going to hit the ground and probably have a grown boy land on top of her. It wouldn't be the first time she had taken somebody down with her. It wouldn't even be the first time she had taken Ludo with her. Instead of hard stone though, Mafalda felt herself freeze in mid-fall. It seemed that she wouldn't end up on the ground after all. She slowly opened her eyes back up as Ludo pulled her upright, an apologetic look on her face. It had to be more than coincidence that Mafalda could hardly stay standing and Ludo was one of the most coordinated people she knew. She wasn't quite sure how she had managed to make it to her fifth year alive, before she met Ludo. She must have had a guardian angel because it definitely wasn't luck.

"I think so," she muttered very softly. "Thank you for not squishing me." Mafalda looked down at her waist, her eyes focusing on his hands. She looked back up and smiled, positive that she had her balance back for the time being. She flicked his wrist with her fingers and then ran them up his arm. "You can let go. I'm not falling anymore."

The number of times that Mafalda had fallen was so high there probably wasn't even a number for it yet. The number of times she had fallen in front of Ludo was enough that she wasn't embarrassed anymore. And, the number of times she had fallen on top of or underneath Ludo was only a handful - very awkward to say the least. She had tripped on the last step leading to the Divination room and taken him with her. She had tripped going up the steps to the Astronomy Tower and taken him with her. And lastly, she had tripped on the edge of the Lake and taken Ludo with her, right into the water. This instance would have been number four if he hadn't been paying attention.

[ludo]

"Thank you for not squishing me."
"Haha, anytime" Ludo smiled rather glad himself that he didn't squish his friend. Of course he wouldn't have minded the closeness, it was the crushing her beneath the weight of his body that seemed rather unappealing.

"You can let go. I'm not falling anymore."
"Right," Ludo said quickly realizing his mistake. "Sorry," He added dropping his arms back to his sides and looked away until the pink color that had taken over his pale cheeks had faded. You would think it wouldn't bother him so much, but he wasn't really used to holding on for too long...he may have lingered over her a bit too long the first time she had dragged him down with her, but the next time had been a little less awkward and the third time had been falling into the Lake where they never really ended up on top of her.

Ludo hoped she was less clumsy when he wasn't around, but from what he had seen of her before they officially met he somehow doubted it. Still it was rather cute, Ludo just worried about Mafalda one day falling in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting severely injured.

[britkneeboo]

It might have been weirder if Mafalda had noticed he had been lingering too long, but she wasn't paying enough attention to care. She was just letting him know that he could let go if he wanted because she was okay. "Forget flying," she said, after remembering their trip into the lake. "I want to go for a swim." Too bad it was so cold outside. Mafalda had been freezing, and on the border of stuttering she was so cold, when she was outside earlier. The castle was so overly warm though that she sort of wished she could jump into the icy water of the lake.

"I still need to take a shower or something tonight though, so I guess that is close enough to swimming," she said, shrugging her shoulders. Not that you could swim in the girls showers, but they both involved water and Mafalda loved water. She loved the feel of it on her skin, the slipperiness of it, and just the massaging sensation it created as it moved over your skin. "I wish you could go in the girls showers with me. Last time I tried for fifteen minutes to undo the buttons on the back of my shirt, before I had to go find Bella to do it for me." Mafalda smirked, remembering how much Ludo got teased for being a ladies man. "I bet you'd be good at something like that."

[ludo]

Ludo couldn't help but chuckle lightly as Mafalda said she wanted to go swimming. "You go ahead, I'm not in the mood to catch pneumonia...especially not with quidditch now," Ludo said smiling. Of course there were magical precautions that could be taken, but really he was far to lazy to recall let alone use them. There was probably one to cure pneumonia too, but again the Ravenclaw had no desire to find out.

"Right except the water gets sprayed at you instead of you being surrounded by it...other than that though, they're virtually the same thing," Ludo smiled clearly attempting to mock Mafalda. Taking a bath and swimming he could see, but a shower? That was far more like getting spray with a hose than jumping into the lake. He supposed since she said close enough that made it broad enough to count, but it was just too much fun to tease her. What sort of friend would he be if he allowed Mafalda to get away with something that was just so mockable?

"Ha, well let's just say your not the first girl who's wished I went to the showers with them," Ludo smiled. It was a little awkward but true. "You also wouldn't be the first one I actually went to the showers with," he added; the smile on his face turning into an impish smirk. It may seem perverted, but what proper gentleman would deny a beautiful girl's request for help?

[britkneeboo]

You go ahead, I'm not in the mood to catch pneumonia...especially not with Quidditch now.

"Oh, Merlin forbid you should be kept away from Quidditch. I dare say the earth might actually spin right off its axis if such a thing were to happen." Mafalda understood how important Quidditch was to him, and she would really hate for anything to happen to him that might cause him to not be able to play, but it was one of her favorite things to tease him about mainly because she really could care less about the sport.

Right except the water gets sprayed at you instead of you being surrounded by it...other than that though, they're virtually the same thing.

"I suppose bath would have been a better substitute, but I hate baths. Showers are so much more personal," she said, quite certain that it probably made absolutely no sense to Ludo what she was saying. "Being in the actual shower, the water covering you from head to toe, dripping down your body, and blocking out all of the sounds around you is just so ...nice."

You also wouldn't be the first one I actually went to the showers with.

"I believe it." With that said, Mafalda slid her sweater off her shoulders and let it just drop to the floor. "I'm serious though," she said. She spun around, facing her back to Ludo. She looked down at the ground, and moved her pony-tail over so that it would flow down the side of her neck instead of her back, revealing the buttons that ran down her back. "You see the first three at the top?" she asked, pausing for a moment. "Those are the one's I can't reach. I usually use magic to button them up, but I can't ever get the charm just right to get them undone."

Mafalda turned her head to smile at him, not necessarily a complete blush but a light shade of red covering her cheeks. "You're saying that you would go with me, though. What a gentleman."

[ludo]

"You know it just might, and I for one do not want to be held responsible for sending the world spinning off it's axis," Ludo smiled. Of course he knew no such consequence would come if he stopped playing quidditch, but it was fun to play along with Mafalda when she took jabs like this at his favoured past time. Plus it actually was crucial to his future that Ludo be playing at this particular time.

Ludo wasn't sure if Mafalda had done it intentionally, but describing the feeling of a shower, was creating some images in his head. Quickly shaking thoughts of Mafalda showering Ludo focused back in on what she was saying now.

It actually didn't help much as she was showing him the three buttons she would have wanted him to undo. Mafalda was making it quite hard for Ludo to stay on the just friends side of the line between friend and girlfriend. Luckily he was quite used to this sort of unintentional temptation by now...at least he assumed it was unintentional.

"What can I say, I'm a giver," Ludo smirked giving an innocent shrug. That was Ludo, always willing to help, when there was a pretty girl involved.

[britkneeboo]

Mafalda stood back up and spun back around to face Ludo. Of course she hadn't been describing anything or showing him anything to temp him on purpose. She was being honest and she was talking like so many friends did, but often times when she had a crush on somebody it seemed like everything they did or said was a form of temptation. Being as comfortable with Ludo as Mafalda was did present some problems considering the situation.

"I really do need to shower and go to bed though, its starting to get late," she said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet again. Ludo had done exactly what Mafalda had counted on him to do. He had been there for her and made her almost completely forget about her problems with Regulus. She was actually having a fun night, and no longer dreading the talk she faced at the lake like she had been earlier that evening in her dorm room. She couldn't have asked for a better time to run into her friend.

"I think we go exact opposite ways from here to get back to our rooms don't we?" she asked, smiling. Mafalda then reached out and grabbed Ludo's arms, pulling him up against her. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight, slightly amused at how easily he came to her. "Thank you so much," she said, closing her eyes. "I wish I could take you to bed with me, but I don't know what the other girls in my dorm would think about that." Mafalda giggled a little and opened her eyes back, looking up at him but not releasing the hug.

"I'd like to see you tomorrow. We can just hang out instead of talking about problems."

[ludo]

"Yea," Ludo agreed, "I should probably be getting back too." Ludo had never really understood the concept of night time showers, and he had to force himself not to imagine Mafalda taking one. It was awkward being friend with someone you had a crush on, especially once you got as close as Ludo and Mafalda were. It was never really his plan, to just be friends that is.

Ludo had approached in a friendly way trying to gain her trust, make sure he would already know the answer before ever asking Mafalda out, but before he had that chance he had already begun dating someone else which allowed him to sink into the friend zone with Mafalda. As long as he had a girlfriend, Ludo was fine with the arrangement, but it was when he was single that he began to desire something more. That was why he needed to find a girlfriend as soon as possible.

"Yep I go up and you go down," he smiled. Ravenclaw Tower and the Hufflepuff commonroom were indeed opposite directions from where they stood, he would go back the way they came and she would continue on. "Well I can tell you for sure they would all be quite jealous," Ludo smirked. It really wasn't fair for her to be joking about taking him to bed, not if she didn't feel the way he did, but Ludo kept this opinion hidden behind his smile.

"Sure...I'd like that," Ludo said glad for the offer, but not overexcited. If anything his voice lacked proper excitement, but it gave his words a more laid back feel. "I guess this is goodnight then," he said finally releasing her from the embrace that had been holding their bodies together. He just wanted to get back to the commonroom now, he needed to sort this mess out and find a girlfriend before tomorrow.