[Hogsmeade] Roll Up, Roll Up

[Brooke Kennedy]

Mornings were never a good thing in Brooke’s eyes, especially when she had forgotten to close the curtain the night before and the sun crept in before giving a few bright, blazing rays to wake her up. As she awoke feeling groggy, Brooke realised that today was not going to be a good day for her. For one, the sun had woke her up, and two the Gryffindor girls were being extremely loud once again. Rubbing her eyes, her hair looking like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards, she sat up and glared at the girls as they giggled with high pitched squeals, much to the displeasure of the welsh girl.

“Cut it out will you, some of us do like our bloomin’ sleep!” she muttered at the girls as they turned to look at her. Brooke just raised her eyebrows and reached around for her pillow to cover her ears while slamming her head back down onto the mattress. Even using the pillow for earmuffs wasn’t drowning out the sound of them, and getting thoroughly annoyed, Brooke huffed, looked at the time and threw her pillow at the nearest girls head before picking up a pair of jeans and a vest before making her way to the bathroom for a bit of privacy.

It was getting on for 11am, and even though it was a Saturday, Brooke would never normally be seen at least until dinnertime. Bryn her twin brother always joked that she slipped into a ‘weekend coma’, and she probably did. Hell, the girl just loved her sleep, especially when it was a lie-in.

After calming down a lot, she made her way down to breakfast and grabbed a quick slice off toast from her unsuspecting brother’s plate.

“I fancy going to Hogsmeade, fancy coming? Nope alright then, see you later” she said all in one big breathe. Being a twin was great, but sometimes you just needed your own space, and recently the twins had a falling out over a slytherin, much to the annoyance of Brooke. When it came down to the snakes, Bryn was far more understanding than Brooke. Giving a small wave to her brother and Zayne, she heard him snicker and she knew he was probably pulling a face at her or something even more stupid. For once, she decided not to retaliate just yet, she’d get him back later.

Munching every so often on the toast, she trudged the familiar path into Hogsmeade, and she wasn’t the bit surprised to see it packed full of people. It was Saturday after all. Making her way through the crowds, she noticed someone advertising or something in the middle of the high street. Trying to see over the hundreds of heads was near enough impossible, so pushing her way through a few people, she frowned as she attempted to get to the front to see what all the attention was focused on.

[toby]

<sub>It was the weekend, and one of the few Saturdays in a term that Toby bothered to get up before midday for – the reason being, Hogsmeade. He had just been smiling to himself in his sleep, as his dream moved onto a particularly annoying Slytherin in his year being chased around the lake by a welsh green dragon, when he was woken up in not the most conventional of ways.

‘Aaargh!’ Tobe yelled as he flew up into the air upside down. ‘OY, you gits!’ His mates were up and dressed, and laughing uncontrollably in the corner of the dorm. ‘Put me down!’

‘You told us to wake you up!’ One of his friends said between laughter.

‘What part of “make sure I don’t sleep in” told you to hang me upside down?!’

He landed with a thump on the bed and his mate, well aware that he wasn’t going to get away without some form of retaliation, legged it to the door still laughing (but not before Tobe had grabbed his wand and turned the guy’s hair pink, which all of them neglected to tell him had happened until half way through breakfast.)

Tobe and a few of his dorm mates had grabbed the last carriage to Hogsmeade, chatting boisterously the whole way as usual. The wizarding village was unsurprisingly packed with other Hogwarts students already, and as they made their usual bee line to Zonko’s, Tobe noticed that something outside had drawn a particular crowd, and one thing that the Gryffindor hated was missing out on things.

He gave one of his friends a whack on the arm, ‘I’m going to see what all this fuss is about, I’ll see you in Zonko’s mate.’ And before waiting for an answer he began to weave his way through the crowd to see what could be attracting so much attention.

It only took him a few moments to spot a poster of an increasingly popular band who happened to be, in the words of one of Tobe’s mates “bloody wicked”. It seems they would be playing locally and “Hogwarts has got the chance to get tickets first!”. He felt an elbow push him aside, and was just to about give the person a glare when he saw who it was - Brooke Kennedy. The same year Gryffindor absolutely refused to find Tobe’s ways charming, and had told him where to go on various (usually embarrassing for him) occasions, but that wasn't going to stop his mouth any day.

‘No need to push now, is there Kennedy?’ He smiled cheekily in her direction.</sub>

[Brooke Kennedy]

Being stuck inbetween all sorts of witches and wizards, some who had all sorts of random smells coming from them (much to the dislike of Brooke's nose) wasn't the best thing to ever come from Hogsmeade. As she attempted to hold her breath, she tried to jump up and see if it was anything good before finding out it was something pointless and she had gone through all this trouble for nothing. As the further through the crowd she got the sweatier they smelt, she held her breath again for as long as she could while pushing forward, she took a big gasp as if she was in the lake and coming up for air.

Edging forward ever so slightly, she was almost at the front when she elbowed someone by accident and turned to see who it was. Oh merlin's beard, I hope it's not an old lady, boy i'll be in trouble! she thought as she managed to turn while being constricted to see who her 'victim' was. With a look of surprise on her face, she smirked at him and raised her eyebrow.

"There's no need to call by surnames now is there, Moron?" she said smugly with her Welsh accent creeping through every now and again in certain words. He had probably heard than play on words a million times, but it was still morning, and Brooke had an excuse to be delightfully dim witted at this time. Okay, so he was a Gryffindor, just like Brooke, but the guy had less knowledge on women than what a Mandrake would have reading up on it as a specialist subject. She even thought some Slytherins had more of a respect for women than Toby did, and that was an achievement in itself. Brooke always gave as good as she got, it was only fair now wasn't it?

Turning her head back, she blinked slowly and craned her neck to try and get a look. She overheard the student next to her talking about a wizard band, and Brooke's curiosity was increasing. Jumping up and down again with her neck stretched, she soon realised with Tobe next to her, he would probably compare her to a fish on land, flapping about like an idiot. This thought caused her to stop, and she turned back to Tobe.
"Give us a piggy back will ya?" She said cheekily, already ready to get on his back with a hand placed on his shoulder.
"Your a big lug, you might as well be of some use"

[toby]

'Really, Kennedy.' He smiled, purposely using her surname again as he shook his head at her. 'I'd expect something as unoriginal as Moron from a Slytherin-' He wrinkled his nose at the word Slytherin to emphasise his point. '-But you? I am disappointed.' His lips curved up into their usual smile, dimples appearing on his cheeks. 'Besides, we both know that you think I'm amazing really.' He laughed, ruffling up his hair with his hand.

Mutterings amongst the crowd had begun to increase, and Tobe turned his attention back to the seller, straining his neck slightly to see and narrowing his eyes to try to listen to what was being said-

Thud. Thud. '-so, if you get your tickets-' Thud. Thud. '-make sure that you don't miss-' Thud. Thud. He glanced in Brooke’s direction to work out what the hell the sound was, only to do a double take at the other Gryffindor, who turned out to be the origin of the distraction. Brooke was jumping up and down on the spot like a teacher’s pet itching to be allowed to answer the question. Tobe raised an eyebrow, a grin close to laughter etched across his face. He sniggered as her jumping got slowly less enthusiastic at the realisation that he was watching her. 'That's a good look.' He teased.

Tobe felt a hand on his shoulder as Brooke quickly moved onto Plan B of trying to see. 'Oof!' She hadn't waited for him to reply before she began clambering up Toby to get a better view. He wobbled around on the spot for a moment or two, nearly crashing into everyone around him as he tried to regain his balance after been caught unprepared for the piggy back. 'You know, talking of big lugs...' He turned his head to give Brooke a cheeky look before looking ahead again. 'Was it worth all the fuss then Brooke?'

[Sorry, would have had this posted up last night like I said, but my internet randomly dieddd. Also I've slightly godmodded by saying she didnt wait for his answer about the piggy back, if thats not ok.. just tell me off over PM & I'll change it straight away =)]

[Brooke Kennedy]

At the mention of greeting her by her last name again, Brooke looked over to Toby with an unimpressed glint in her eyes and one rather raised eyebrow. She hated it when people used her last name to greet her it reminded her of her mother when she was less than impressed with Brooke’s actions, when her mother would shout at her and call her ‘Brooke Rachel Briony Kennedy, get your butt down here this instant’ with a thick Welsh accent. It was always Brooke that got called on first never Bryn and she really resented her twin for that. Although he always did follow Brooke down to face their mother and both get told off, although it always felt like her mother was directing it to Brooke rather than Bryn, another reason why she didn’t like to hear her full name.

Scoffing at his retaliation, she looked back to the front of the crowd and crossed her arms. She could have thought of a better name to call him of course, but it was early and her brain wasn’t functioning properly just yet. She hated the way Toby always seemed to pop up at the worst times, when she was lagging with the superior comebacks, although those times were rare, she loved to get the upper hand on him.

“Well I think maybe you’ve been sleeping to much you lazy sod, because you’ve been dreaming again obviously. How could I love you? Look at you, you’re a complete nonce!” she said in a pitch higher than usual, her words sounding strange in her Welsh accent. She couldn’t help but give a small chuckle at her own words and how true they were. Clambering up onto him, she pushed down on his shoulders with her hands to attempt to get a better vision. As he wobbled slightly, she tutted at him before giving him a firm slap on the shoulder for calling her a big lug.
“Oi!” she retaliated, yet another good time to call him a name had gotten lost on her. Great Brooke, where’s your clever head gone today! Inwardly cursing herself for being so dim-witted the day she needed it most, she almost missed his next question as she slid down his back and bounced on her landing. Sliding back next to him again, she turned to face him with her hands firmly placed on her hips, causing her short denim jacket to flap over her hands slightly.

“It would off been worth it if you didn’t keep moving around. They have a hat with names in, maybe there’s a draw?” she questioned to herself more so than to Toby while she tapped her finger on her lips as she pondered.

[toby]

At being called a "complete nonce", Toby merely put on his most charming smile and mustered up the mock gentlemanly voice he often used. 'Ah, I love it when you woo me in that accent of yours.' This girl was far too fun to wind up, and due to past experience, he immediately ducked for a slap that may or may not have been coming. Truth be told, he geniunely did enjoy her retorts and retalliations. Not many had the guts to challenge him, and Brooke Kennedy was the sort of girl who could talk herself out of situations as well as Tobe, if not better on occasion, and he liked that.

It was only a moment or two after Tobe had been wobbling around, that Brooke gave up and slid from his back. 'Easy now Brooke, I don'tnormally go this far with someone I don't know that well-' He broke off, a grin filling his expression. '-Well, thats a lie, but-' He noticed her standing hand on hips, and for a moment he thought he may have gone too far (something he had the tendency to do often).

'A draw eh?' Tobe asked looking vaguely interested and thinking perhaps a change of subject may be the best way of him avoiding a hand shaped mark on his cheek. And indeed, when he looked ahead, he could see what Brooke was referring to. 'Looks like you right.' One of the several men at the centre of all the attention, all of whom were wearing the rather more colourful robes available to the wizarding world, was holding up the hat that had been upon his head some minutes before.

It was then that something occured to the Gryffindor, and he gave Brooke a curious glance. 'Where's your other half then today? Not fallen out have you?' He joked, referring to Bryn of course. It wasn't often that you would see the twins apart, and their separation today would explain why Tobe's and Brooke's conversation had managed to go for so long (compared to their usual standards). Normally Bryn, though a decent guy, wouldn't let Tobe stay much longer than a minute in Brooke's company, at least not alone anyway. Saying that, it was Brooke that normally ignored everything Tobe said anyway. She had never exactly been his biggest fan.

[Brooke Kennedy]

The faces this guy pulled sometimes made Brooke smirk in a bad attempt at trying not to laugh, but other times she just was not in the mood for his nonsense and she could feel the anger burning up her body gradually and she knew one day she would flip. She wasn’t sure how she would react to his next comment, but with the excitement of the band coming to town and the surrounding people’s chatter, she would probably shrug his childish remarks off. Brooke wasn’t very patient, heck if she was she would of been in Hufflepuff, but there was anyway something captivating about Toby Moran that Brooke could never put a finger on. On many times she had thought it was probably because he was just cheeky and was one of the only people who would give her back her banter just as good as she gave.

Looking at him from the corner of her eye for a few seconds as he mumbled on about how he didn’t get that far with people, she couldn’t help but let a little outburst of giggles explode from her lips.
“You? With girls? Now you really must be dreaming!” she managed to gather the words up in a huddle before blurting them at him as the laughter kept emerging from the pit of her stomach. Laying her hand flat on it, she felt the pressure of the laughs build up and release like big bubbles of air popping and the sound expanding out of her mouth. Flicking her hair back, she looked at him once again attempting to control the laughing fit, only to let more be released at the image of him trying to chat some girls up.

“I’m going to have to see your attempt at wooing you know Tobe, I bet it’s really comical” she bit down on her lip suppressing the rest of the giggles. Toby probably knew she told her twin brother Bryn everything, and she would take great delight spreading that new information around the Gryffindor common room but especially to Bryn.

“I’m always right, you should know that for future reference” she said smugly, tilting her head highly. As she did, he mentioned about the person she was thinking about just seconds before. Raising her eyebrow, she crossed her arms and drummed her fingers on her denim jacket, looking at him sideways before answering.

“We’re not joined at the hip you know, but he’s busy, and no we haven’t fallen out” she said all in desperation as if she was trying to get herself to believe the words let alone Toby. Shrugging, she let her arms fall by her side again as the crowd separated slightly in front of them and a few wizards and witches were leaving the crowd. With her attention fully on what was now going off, the man at the front thrust a quill and a small piece of parchment at her and Toby. Looking at Toby for a moment in confusion, she looked back to the grotty paper and took the dark purple quill from the man’s hand.
Scribbling her name, the pen flew out of her hand and hovered over to Toby, while the paper folded itself twice and jumped into the hat. Grinning, she looked over to the now clear path to the small wooden stall where the men were standing, displaying a white sign with deep red paint.

“Win two tickets to see Neville and the Mandrakes, Free Raffle!”

At the sight of this, Brooke squealed and jumped in excitement, clutching Toby’s arm before realising who she was grabbing hold of. Clearing her throat with a small cough, she looked around as other people signed their names.