[Lake] Whatever may come

[Felicity Locke]

Felicity propped herself up against her favorite tree, her head rested back against the trunk. On her lap was a piece of parchment, but nothing had been written on it yet. The quill she held in her hand tapped against the paper, a vain attempt to try to help her think.

It had been a while since Fay had sent her mother and update of her life. It just kind of..slipped her mind. But, it had only been a few weeks, so it wasn't likely her mother would kill her. Anyway, Christi Locke was too engrossed in her daughter's life for her own good. A few weeks of not knowing would do her good.

There was a small snap beside her as Felicity popped off a piece of chocolate from the bar. She let it rest on her tongue, savoring the taste. Chocolate always had a way of lifting her mood if she had a bad day. It was better than any magic she knew, and it tasted good to boot!

Felicity watched, with an amused expression, as some Gryffie boys tried to show off to some of the girls of their house. The girls only watched in awe as the boys did small spells and such. A small smile tugged at her lips. She could recall several boys trying to show off to her throughout the years.

Fay was a veela, so it was only natural for some men to take interest in her. She was breath-takingly beautiful, though she'd never admit to it. It was almost unnatural for her to look as she did. But, somehow she managed to keep a clear head through all of these admirers and compliments.

Felicity Locke was not a girl who swooned easily.

[toby]

Tobe and his mates had decided to take advantage of the good weather, and set out to claim the spot by the lake that usually filled their summer days at school. This particular spot had a large willow tree, with long weeping branches that dominated the area through their vast size. It had slowly over years become their "territory", and it wouldn't be unusual to see them hex away some younger student who hadn't realised it yet.

This day however they had come to find a small group of Gryffindors from their own year sitting under their tree, and upon noting they were all female, Tobe had immediately gained a smirk and exchanged looks with the few Gryffindor lads he was with.

'Come to hex us away too Tobe?' Piped up one of the girls as they came to a halt in front of the group. A girl, which Toby was convinced (as usual), fancied the hell out of him.

'Hex you away? You make me sound like some sort of hooligan, Jen.' He feigned a look of hurt, mustering up the deeper, smoother voice that he always used around girls. 'When we all know how charming I am.' The side of his mouth slid into smug, cheeky smile, as he gave a flick of his wand at a nearby patch of daises, charming them to rise into the air before elegantly looping them into a long chain and resting around the neck of the girl that had spoke. Her and her friends giggled, shuffling along to allow the guys to sit themselves amongst them.

Quarter an hour or so passed, where the Gryffindor lads had took it upon themselves to entertain and impress the girls (some would call it showing off of course). Tobe soon tired with the banter, and leant back on his elbows to leave the rest of them to it. It wasn't like him to miss out on a chance to impress girls, but it was increasingly happening this year. It was almost like he was getting fed up of it, but his ego refused to consider that possible.

Toby smirked as one of his mates gave the punch line to a joke that sent the girls cackling in laughter. He soon felt his eyes searching the area around them, finally falling on a figure leaning against a tree further along the lake side.

Felicity Locke, he immediately recognised. She had to be one of the prettiest in the year, if not the school. He vividly remembered flirting outrageously with her in third year, only to be shot down in an instant. He knew then that she would not be as easily charmed as most, and certainly wouldn't be impressed by anything as simple as a daisy necklace.

Scrambling up onto his feet, Toby wandered over the Ravenclaw, his mates being too engrossed to notice his leaving, and the girls that cared being too shy to question.

'A Ravenclaw struggling with homework? Surely not.' Tobe said with his usual smirk as he wandered into the shade of Felicity's tree, and noticing, quite observantly, her quill tapping onto a blank parchment.

[Felicity Locke]

Her mind was blank, and she heaved a sigh. This shouldn't be this hard, yet here she was, struggling over writing her mother a letter. And it wasn't like she could tell her everything, her mum might die of a heart attack then.

Something broke through her thoughts though. She turned her head to the side to find the source of all of the commotion. There was a group of girls, gigglingly and blushing and attempting to flirt. And who were the men at the butt end of these flirtatious comments? None other than the Gryffie populars. She was hardly surprised and found herself laughing softly to herself.

Focusing on the letter was proving difficult, what with the Gryffie group over there talking and what not. And for the fact that Fay couldn't think of what to say. But, another distraction decided to come her way. And that, was Toby Moran.

Felicity had met him once or twice before, and had been one of the girls her had targeted for 'swooning'. When was that, third year? She, as with every guy, remarked with some witty comment and just walked away. Cruel perhaps, but it was getting rather annoying how some men thought her to just be a pretty face.

Fay glanced up at Toby and shook her head. "Did you come over here just to taunt me Mr. Moran, or is there a method to your madness?" She set her quill down on her lap and shifted slightly so she could see him better. The eyes of the jealous girls bore into her back, but Felicity payed them no mind. If they had a problem with her talking to someone, then they should say something.

[toby]

When the Ravenclaw finally glanced up to him after his words, he didn't see the dreamy look in her eyes that he had come quite accustomed to with many of the girls that he talked to. In fact, her eyes seemed to show something quite the opposite - but that hadn't put him off in third year, so it wasn't going to put him off now.

'Now, now Miss. Locke-' Toby said, adopting the formality she chose to use and wagging a finger at her amusedly. '-Play nice.' He put on a mock pout and puppy dog eyes, before lounging himself across the grass in front of the Ravenclaw. 'Just when I was about to see if I could offer any assistance as well.' Tobe rolled off his side to lay on his back, with his hands resting casually behind his head and eyes shut from the glints of sunlight poking out in between the thick branches.

He could feel that they were being watched, no doubt by a few of the girls he just left. They would probably be spreading rumours later on about how Toby Moran abandoned them all for that Felicity Locke, but he really couldn't care less.

There it was again, that feeling of being something close to fed up with the image and role he had created for himself. He quickly shook it off and tilted his head in the Ravenclaw's direction.

'So what is it that brings you here all alone?' He opened one eye to glance at her questioningly before shutting it once again. It occurred to him how odd it was that he had never really spoken to Felicity properly before. They both had their own different crowds of people he supposed, and these crowds didn't happen to intermix particularly. His eyes opened again, staring straight up into the tree. He figured the people of Felicity's crowd just saw him as this huge prat, and for someone who normally didn't give a rat's arse to what others thought about him, recently found it to hit some sort of nerve.

[Felicity Locke]

Felicity grinned innocently and placed a hand over her heart. "And when do I not? You wound my ego sir." She moved so she was leaning on one hand, and her legs were shifted to the side of her. It would just be weird if she kept her feet right by his face.

The parchment still lay blank on her lap, with the quill resting on top. Fay sighed, picked up the quill, and began to write the letter. She filled it with some things about her classes, maybe a couple things about Bray and El, but really nothing to huge. If she put all the gossip that was happening around the school in there, her mother would run over herself just to see. Felicity tried not to dwell on the thought.

Toby brought her out of her little reverie when he spoke again. She finished signing her letter, rolled it up, and placed it and the quill back into her bag. "Why is everyone always surprised to find me alone anyway?" Whenever she talked to someone, that one question always popped up in the conversation. Was it a bad thing to be alone?

"Riddle me this Mr. Moran, because I'm curious." She leaned back against the tree again and glanced back over to him. "Why did you detach yourself from your group just to come over here to talk to me? I'm sure you'd rather take compliments over sarcasm and I can't promise that you'll get any compliments from me." Felicity grinned and brushed her hair from her eyes. "And please don't tell me the answer is that you thought I looked lonely. I think I might gag otherwise."

[toby]

Tobe had heard the scratching of her quill as he drifted off into his own thoughts. She had stuffed the parchment away her bag by the time he asked her what she was up to, and it seemed that she was as good as avoiding answering as himself.

'I dunnno Locke, could be a long shot, but maybe it's because most people tend to talk to their friends rather than sit on their own all the time.' He gave her a look, an amused smile etched across his face. The Gryffindor understood how sometimes you just needed to be by yourself, this seemingly being one of those moments for Felicity, but he was having far too much fun annoying her to leave just yet.

She questioned him leaving his own friends, and he tilted his head towards her again, an eyebrow raised and a smirk dominating his expression. 'I'd forgotten how fun you are, Locke.' Those who could keep up with Tobes banter - or better yet, get him back - were always worth the time in his opinion. 'Why make the effort to impress, when it's so easy to annoy?' He pointed out teasingly. 'Besides five more minutes of those cackles, and I think I would be the one gagging.' He gave a nod towards the group of girls, eyes twinkling with amusement and knowing full well that he hadn't really answered her question.

'And you know, you don't fool me Locke.' Toby looked up at her with the cheeky grin he always used when just about to say something, well.. cheeky. 'We both know you love my company really.'

[Felicity Locke]

"Last time I checked, I wasn't most people." Felicity smirked over at him. "But please, correct me if I'm wrong." Everyone needed alone time now and again. And each time Fay tried to achieve it, someone had suddenly struck up the courage to speak to her and broken through her moment. She needed to walk around in disguise or something.

"I try my best." Easy to annoy? Huh, that may be true. She couldn't help but chuckle softly at the 'impress' comment. Apparently Toby had learned his lesson third year. "Huh, and here I was thinking that you loved the attention." Fay gasped and pressed her hand to her heart. "Have you had a change of heart Mr. Moran?"

Felicity raised an eyebrow in his direction. Fool him? Oh dear, she knew that smile. It took all Fay had to not let her eyebrow twitch. "Obviously I do, because I seem to show it so well." She rolled her eyes. "I think you need to work on reading people's reactions, you're rusty."

[toby]

'Perhaps not.' said Toby, looking at her appraisingly. 'But if you spent less time pointing out how you're different from most people, you might realise how similar you actually are.' He mustered the most serious face he could, the usual amusement emanating only from his eyes. 'Not just a pretty face I'll have you know.' He smirked, giving a confident nod.

'And what on earth made you think that I love attention?' Tobe put on a look of mock hurt. 'Just because I put on the odd public display of mischief and magic, tend to make everyone focus on me and might get mardy if a girl choses someone else over me, does not mean I love attention.' Toby laughed as he moved himself up into a sitting position again. 'I'm an extrovert, what can I say?' He gave a shrug of his shoulders, ignoring the nagging in the back of his mind that was telling him he perhaps wasn't enjoying the spotlight as much as he use to.

Tobe put a hand to his heart, pulling a face as if he had been stung. 'Ouch Locke.' He grinned at her, enjoying her sarcasm. 'I thought we were playing nice.' The Gryffindor lowered his gaze as began pulling out the grass in front of him. 'My reading of reactions is telling me that perhaps you're not appreciating these interruptions you get in your time alone.' He said, a smile present as he raised his head to watch her expression. 'But seeing as I'm so rusty at this sort of thing, I must be wrong.' The smile shifted effortlessly into a smirk, as he leant back on his hands still watching the Ravenclaw.

[Felicity Locke]

Felicity pursed her lips and said nothing. She tilted her head back to rest it against the tree, just listening to Toby's little 'philosophy', if it could be called that. Fay had to admit, it was an interesting thought. "Why not start now then?" She grinned and tapped her chin, the little habit she picked up when she was thinking. "Hmm..We both have a quick tongue?" Fay chuckled. "I think I can say I actually enjoy our little battles."

Her lips twitched up into a smirk as Toby continued his rant. He was almost as sarcastic as Bray, and that was saying something. "Well then, I'm sorry for misjudging you. I hope you won't think of me as a horrible person now." She gave a dramatic sigh and sniffled a bit.

"By whose rules were we playing?" Felicity full out smirked now, and she batted her eyelashes at him, taking the role of the girls that flirted effortlessly with him. "You are so amazing at this type of thing. I don't know how I could've been so cruel." She grinned again and laughed. "Nice enough for you Moran?"

[toby]

Tobe was expecting Felicity to shoot down his little psychological observation, which he had mostly said to sound good, so was pleasantly surprised to have her play along with it. 'You think?' Tobe gave her a questioning look. 'You know you enjoy our little battles.' He grinned, expecting another roll of the eyes from the Ravenclaw. 'But, yeah, it's nice to have a girl keep up with me for a change.' Which though presented in his usual sort of cheeky, somewhat arrogant, way, it was actually his way of saying he enjoyed them too.

Tobe gave out a loud laugh, when Felicity starting batting her eyelashes at him, quite obviously mocking many of the girls that he usually ended up talking to. 'Too nice Locke.' He said, shaking his head slightly as he watched her with an amused smile. 'Doesn't suit you.' He added. 'Stick to being different from all those lot eh, Locke?' Tobe said, going back on what he previously pointed out with a laugh, but meaning it quite seriously.

'OY MORON!' Came a yell from the other tree behind them, followed by few giggles, causing Toby to look back round to his mates with a grin and a not so friendly gesture. 'We're off now. Coming with?'
'Yeah, alright mate, give us a min!' Tobe yelled back, returning his gaze to the Ravenclaw. 'I guess that's my call.' He smiled at her, giving a light shrug.

The Gryffindor pushed himself up unto his feet, smoothing down his robes a bit, and shaking the grass off his jumper. 'I'll see you around though, eh?' He didn't say it in a offhand way of someone just being polite, but almost like he was asking her. Giving her a last cheeky grin, he turned to join the other Gryffindors, who were already walking slowly back up to the castle. As he did a small jog to catch up with them, he couldn't help but think how it definately wouldn't be a bad thing bumping into the younger Ravenclaw more often.