I Dont Think They Heard You in FRANCE - 6

[Shava]

He had never heard anyone but his mother use all three of his names before like that. Maybe it was a type of warning that she could be someone to watch out for, or he could just imagine her really mad at him and how he wouldn't like it. Well... truthfully he had felt that the other day. That had been a really bad week, thinking he had lost his best friend for unknown reasons. And the Fat Lady had given him quite an earfull about not having gotten back to her right after things were all better when he went back to apologize. Saying you were sorry to a painting was rather, well, embarrassing.

Taranis took the hit, knowing he deserved it and smiled back when he teased her. He knew that was not what she had meant, but hey best friends could play with each other's minds and get away with it. "Don't worry, I would never say that in front of someone else, but I know you can take as good as you get so..." He left that open, knowing she would figure it out well enough. Even before all this mess they played verbally with each other. When she took his hand and began rubbing the same spot, he found a moment to turn hers and hold it still a second, trace the words with his finger.

He never thought his first taste of being hit with dark magic would come from a teacher, someone who was supposed to protect them. What was Hogwarts coming to? If this kept up their might not be any students left by the time his graduation came around. "Burns huh." He'd have to think of what to put on them and have something in the dorm then. Hufflepuff had more herbology experts then anywhere else in the school, surely they had that edge already covered. "Anyone tried bandaging it with some quick heal type stuff or is that a no-go?"

Figures. Dada had been his worst subject and now he had to deal with it at school. Things were just looking better and better. He frowned, looking at her hand and not happy to see the marks were there.

He hugged her close again and said "Don't worry your mind about it, Ree-love, I'm used to doing all those kind of things. You don't need to compete with me and I can show you the easy stuff to take the load off. Just having you there will brighten my work load already. Besides, you don't want my muscles to go away do you?" He grinned at her, wondering how she would respond to that one, from the girl who had never made a move on him before. And he did enjoy her clear verbal confusion about what to say about the tickling; he shouldn't tease her so much, but it was so fun and later she would get used to his proddings.

He held up his hands in surrender. He hadn't met the woman but he was getting to appreciate she thought her grandmother was fierce-some. "Okay okay, I give. I know I'm being naughty, but Rosalie, you'd better get used to it being around me long term. I enjoy watching your face when I toss one of those at you." He hugged her one armed and said partly into her hair (when she sat on his lap she was taller, but he was a big guy) "Man, unfair that you even smell good in your hair. You trying to tempt me or something?"

[Shava]

Rose got the innuendo almost immediately, mostly because she'd been waiting for it. It was glaringly clear he was in rare form today. She laughed, "ah, but the question is, can you give as good as I can?" she winked at him, not one to let the first jab she'd understood in this entire conversation pass. This time, when he touched the scarred words on the back of her hand, it felt different, almost intimate in a way. Here they were, alone in a building full of people, standing on the edge of a very large cliff, ready to jump together. She smiled, and lifted the marred hand up to brush a piece of his blonde hair out of his face. It was the first time she'd actually acted on the urge, and she did herself one better, leaning up to kiss the spot on his temple where her fingertips had just been.

She settled back into his lap, "yes, it burns, and I don't know anything about how to heal it, I think everyone's been afraid to go to Pomfrey and ask" she answered truthfully. "Plus, if we bandaged it, it would be like hiding it, you know?" She shrugged, "most of us are rather proud of them, at least we're brave enough to earn them, to do something in the face of all the darkness she's created around the school." She looked at her hand where it lay over his. Yes, silly as it might have been, she wore those words with the sort of pride one feels for an old war injury. Yes, it hurt, yes, it was an ugly mark on her skin, but it meant she had, in a moment of perhaps somewhat foolish bravery, stood up for her right to speak out, and perhaps she had given someone else the courage to do so as well.

She smiled up at him, but shrugged. "Your muscles have nothing to do with why I like you Taranis, there are plenty of guys out there with big muscles. My favorite part of you is your big heart." Yes, his muscles gave him a certain physical appeal that was hard to deny, but it was the way he'd gotten them, caring for his home and his family that appealed to her the most. "Besides", she added, "I happen to think your eyes are your best feature, but that might be because they remind me of the ocean." She grinned, "or maybe its just because I can see myself in them, your choice" she joked.

She laughed, and shook her head, hoping she was tickling his nose. "I'm a girl Taranis, I like smelling good, if you're tempted by it, well, so much the better." She winked at him before laying back on his shoulder. Her stomach chose that moment to grumble rather loudly, reminding her that she was missing breakfast. "We'd better get going", she told him, "I'll never hear the end of it if I don't show up to breakfast at all when all my dorm mates know I was out looking for you." She shook her head woefully just thinking of the consequences, "and besides, I haven't had my daily muffin, and you don't want to see me by the time charms comes around when I haven't had my daily muffin", she teased.[

[Shava]

"I damn well will try, minx." She straightened his hair, much the way his mother had done a few times and as his younger sister had once. Why did women do that? After all if his hair got in his way for real he moved it himself as well, but there was something more in her gesture that he couldn't define, something different about the way she did it. He didn't mind it so much form her somehow. She spoke as if the scar was something to be proud of, but he noted she also spoke as if she was part of a group. Had that many people already been scared this way? Nasty thought.

He blushed at her mention of his heart. "I didn't mean..." he started to say, but then she mentioned his eyes as well and he forgot what he was going to say to her. His eyes? The ocean? Wow. "Really?" he blurted out surprised and thrown off track. Huh, she had been looking at him. His eyes at the very least. He was surprised at how that made him feel like boasting, but he ignored that for the moment. He wanted to say something about her but she interrupted him before that thought got far.

Damn.

"Oh heavens no! Not a muffin-less morning!" He grabbed his heart for a second and then scooped her up in his arms as he stood saying "Well then let's get going indeed, I can start by carrying you over that threshold at least and setting you down amongst your friends. I doubt they will stop me from putting a few muffins on your plate, do you?" Taranis, grinning, carried her across the room and kicked the door open...




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