[Corridors] say goodbye to reality

[Felicity Locke]

What was a good remedy for a bad day? Chocolate, of course.

Felicity dug into her secret stash of candy and pulled out the largest chocolate bar she could find. A good pick-me up, to be certain. Kicking the box back under her bed, she hummed happily and she bit off a piece of the chocolate. Pure heaven. Too bad there wasn’t anywhere she could really put the tasty treat. She’d have to hope that the Ravenclaw girls wouldn’t flock to her from the smell of chocolate. Last time she came through with one of these she was nearly tackled by several third years. A very scary sight indeed.

Fay sneaked down the stairs, more cautious than she probably had to be. Peeking around the corner, she was relieved to see that there wasn’t anyone else in the room. No wonder really, it was a nice day outside. One that was actually absent of rain. But, even if she didn’t see anyone, she still had to be careful. Hopping down from the last step, Felicity raced across the common room and out the door. Nobody in the corridors either, thank god. With a small snort of laughter, she shook her head at her own peculiarity.

She didn’t have to do her prefect rounds for several more hours, so why not try to kill some time? As usual, all of her homework was done—she was even a little ahead with her work. Such a nerd, right? Fay bit off another piece of chocolate—humming with pleasure—and tapped her chin in her usual way. What to do, what to do. Why not take a trip past the Gryffindor Common room to see if a certain someone was there? Grinning giddily at the thought, she spun around on her heels—causing her checkered dress to twirl around her legs—and started off in that direction.

Wasn’t it strange how completely her mood could turn around? Compared to how she had been for the last few weeks, Felicity looked like she was bursting with happiness. Why wouldn’t she be? Excuse the fact that she was currently despised by her best friend, her life was pretty good. She felt rather childish actually, as she walked down the corridor swinging her arms. To onlookers though, she was anything but. The dress hugged her hips, accenting that perfectly toned body that only a veela could posses. Felicity’s dark hair was curled to perfection, and framed her delicate, pale face. It was easy to see her veela heritage, even if she didn’t realize her own beauty.

Felicity stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, who rolled her eyes at Felicity’s appearance.

“You again? Aren’t you in Ravenclaw?”

Blushing, Fay nodded her head. “Just popping by for a visit is all. Sorry if I’m annoying you.” The Fat Lady snorted, but didn’t say anything else. Actually, after giving Fay one more glance, she turned her back on the girl. Hmph, what was eating her? “…Alright then.” She muttered, glancing around the corridors to see if anyone else had seen the Lady’s blatant display of dislike. What had Fay ever done to her?

“I guess I’ll just wait out here, seeing as you are giving me the cold shoulder and wouldn’t let me in anyway. No, no, it’s fine, it’s not like I dislike standing out here like a creeper or anything. I just simply love standing out here like an idiot.” Felicity grumbled under her breath, receiving several strange looks from students passing by.

[Kieran Davies]

It was to be a very lazy start to the day. Ten O’clock rolled around and Kieran was still in bed, though it wasn’t like he got much sleep last night, someone’s snores had kept him awake annoying him immensely. At one point Kieran considered putting a pillow over the guys head, but figured murdering someone for the sake of a decent nights sleep probably wasn’t the best way to go about things. Around half an hour later, Kieran turned over and hit his head on the bedside cabinet, the picture from last summer shook and toppled over, he figured this was his cue to rise.

Once up, he yawned, stretched and pushed himself off the bed. His pyjamas weren’t anything fancy. He just wore red track pants. Shifting through his drawers, he pulled out clean underwear and shoved them on, then his faded rather baggy dark jeans, a white vest top and his black jacket. Not much could be done with his hair, not that he was a big poser anyway, he wasn’t one who spent much time in front of a mirror, he left that job for Ollie. Smiling, he sat back down on his bed, gave another huge yawn before lazily and rather sleepily making his way down to the common room.

Bryn was playing chess with Brooke and losing amazingly. Kieran sat down next to him laughing as Brooke took his final knight. He tried to help Bryn, but he was being stubborn and swearing he could win the game alone, Kieran didn’t believe him but he sat back and watched. Ten minutes passed and Brooke had won, Bryn walked off claiming he had let Brooke win but Kieran knew he hadn’t. ”Lets see how you fair against me.” He laughed. Brooke re-set up the chess pieces and the game began. Kieran was a decent player but it seemed after five minutes of playing that Brooke was not one to be messed with. Obviously, no matter how hard he tried, Brooke had been playing her turns to make Kieran bend to her. Wherever he went, Brooke already had him cornered. ”I give up!” He announced and stood up, ”You’re way to good at this, do not tell Fay I lost to you!” Brooke laughed and took the chess set back to her dorm room, while Kieran went and sat on the couch with Rie.

For a while, the two sat there in silence watching the fire crackle, not that Kieran didn’t enjoy silence… well in fact he hated it, but he could get used to it. Besides from being bored out of his mind. Rie was obviously waiting for Ollie to get back from wherever he was. The two of them had settled into their relationship well and they just glued together. They took the insults they received on their shoulders, afterall, the way they got together wasn’t exactly fair, Kieran knew that. But Ollie was his best mate and because of that he would stand by him. Which is what began the Gryffindor four way dislike square.

The portrait opened and Ollie walked through, shoving Kieran aside so he could sit next to Rie. He looked at Kieran with a huge grin on his face, his blonde hair spiked as usual and smelling strongly of something he couldn’t place. ”You should shower, I don’t think Rie likes you stinking.” Kieran said, holding his nose. ”And I don’t think Fay will be happy if she has to stand outside the portrait all day for you.”

Comical.

Kieran’s ears pricked up, he jumped up at her name rounded on Ollie and almost toppled backwards into the fire. Rie laughed at him as she struggled to move out of Ollie’s grasp. Grabbing his shoes, he stumbled over to the portrait hole, hopping as he put his shoes on, and said loudly, ”Let! Me! Out!” The portrait swung open and Kieran toppled out of it, landing on his back, one shoe on the other in his hand as he looked up and saw Fay, putting on his cheesiest grin he laughed, ”I meant to do that.”

[Felicity Locke]

And now, she was pacing. That was never good really. It only added to how crazy she looked at the moment. Felicity could hear the Fat Lady snickering, but she didn’t pay the portrait any mind. Though, the whispers of the other portraits were starting to get rather annoying. “I don’t appreciate you talking about me when I’m standing right here.” The whispers continued, as if they hadn’t even heard Fay speak. Or they were pretending not to. Either way, it was dreadfully annoying.

In the middle of her pacing, she saw a familiar face nearing. Felicity slowed her steps, then finally stopped as she finally recognized who it was. Ollie was walking down the corridor, probably heading to the common room. Great, now she looked crazy in front of Kieran’s best friend too. “H-hey Ollie.” She managed to squeak out. He gave a nod in acknowledgement before disappearing into the common room. Her cheeks were colored pink from embarrassment as she turned around to face the Fat Lady again.

The picture was laughing at her. Full out, gut-busting, laugh. Frustrated now, Felicity’s hands curled into fists and she placed them on her hips. “Look here, just because you’ve been here forever doesn’t mean that you can be rude to me. I haven’t said one cross word to you and you just go around being…being…pugnacious!” She threw up her hands as she spoke, to emphasize her point. The Fat Lady looked rather taken aback from the outburst—and a bit confused by the vocabulary.

Lucky for the portrait, Kieran fell out just a moment after Fay’s outburst. He looked quite hilarious—and adorable—sitting on the ground staring up at her with a large smile. She couldn’t help but laugh. Felicity rolled her eyes at him, but it was hard to keep the grin from her face. “Sure you did. You’re Mr. Smooth, most obviously.” Somebody was a little Eager Beaver, weren’t they? The thought brought a smile—and a blush—to her face. She probably owed a thanks to Ollie for telling Kieran instead of her just sitting out here for another hour.

“Need some help up?” Felicity stuck out her hand to him, smirking. “It also helps when you start walking after both of your shoes are on.”

[Kieran Davies]

He probably could have been smoother in his approach but this was Kieran, he wasn’t known for thinking things through like a normal person would. It probably wouldn’t have mattered much if he had waited just a couple more seconds to put his shoes on. Still, he made her laugh and that’s all that mattered. It didn’t matter if he was uncomfy, well he wasn’t actually it was surprisingly comfortable down here. He smiled up to her again when she rolled her eyes, pulling his leg up so he could reach his foot and put his shoe on. ”I am Mr Smooth!” He laughed, folding his arms over his chest as he lay on the floor. Though, inside hoping nobody would walk out of the common room and trample on him.

”You just want to hold my hand, don’t you?” He teased as he took her hand and she pulled him up, despite the urge he had to pull her down, he figured he best not. Pissing off a Veela would not be the best idea he ever had. Once upright he brushed himself down getting rid of a lot of the dust on himself. ”I am usually more organised than this, how long were you waiting?” He felt bad about making her wait, but he couldn’t help it could he, he hadn’t known she was out here.

Once he was sure he was dust free, he pulled Fay to him, planting a kiss on her head and giving her a gentle squeeze. ”Im doing things backwards today,” he laughed, ”Hugging you should have come first, falling over later on.” It would appear Kieran was in his dangerous clutzy mood, though it didn’t help recently whenever he was around Fay he got more than a little nervous. Though he hid it well, so he didn’t look like a complete moron. Keeping an arm around her shoulder, he began to walk. He didn’t really know where he was going but it would have been better to move out of the way of the fat lady. There was no telling if she may swing outwards and whack them both just for the sake of it.

”So, how’s my best Ravenclaw been?” The silence was comfortable with them two but Kieran liked noise. He rounded the corner into the Great Hall though stopped. There was a problem with house tables, when you were dating someone in another house, you never knew where to sit. ”I’ll let you choose.” He smiled.

[Felicity Locke]

How could she not smile when he looked up at her with that adorable smile of his? “You’re so silly.” She muttered as he reached up to put his shoe on. It was pure Kieran to just sit on the floor and grin up at her. He was crazy, but at least he could make her laugh. That was always good on a bad day, wasn’t it? Though, it was rather dangerous for him to just be lying on the floor, when the Fat Lady could swing open and some kid could trample him. Of course, the child in question would have an angry veela to deal with.

“You’ve caught me red handed Mr. Smooth.” She smiled at her own, stupid pun and laughed. With a small tug, he was up on his feet—towering over her as usual—and brushing himself off. Somebody should really dust this school, you know? “Not too long. I’m just lucky Ollie came by when he did. Most kids probably thought I was some crazy stalker.” Fay shrugged lightly, brushing off the worry as if it was nothing. Which it was, nothing.

Felicity must’ve spaced out for a moment or something, because suddenly Kieran was tugging her into a hug. She squeaked, but managed not to fall over—that was only because Kieran was holding onto her. He kissed the top of her head, and she couldn’t keep a grin from spreading across her face—along with some color tinting her cheeks. “I forgive you. Anyway, I’m usually the one that falls over.” She muttered, wrapping her arms around his back in a hug.

It was hard to imagine Kieran being nervous around her. Honestly, he probably had thousands of girls come up and talk to him, swooning over him and what not. And he could always make her laugh. Hell, he could make anyone laugh. Felicity was the clutzy, spastic one. By some miracle, Kieran put up with her constant worries. Speaking of worries, Fay was continuing to sneak glances over at the Fat Lady, who would no doubt gossip to her other portrait friends about the Ravenclaw girl and Kieran. Sorry, the dreadfully clingy Ravenclaw girl.

Kieran wrapped his arm around her shoulders. If she was cold before—she did has a sleeveless dress on—she certainly wasn’t now. Grinning in delight, Fay leaned closer to him as they began to walk. The act could be seen as possessive, she admitted, but Felicity didn’t mind. Kieran wasn’t like that.

“Fantastic, thanks to you. How about you?” She looked up at him as she spoke, not exactly worried where they were walking because Kieran was leading her. Fay only guessed where they were headed when she began to hear the hustle and bustle of students eating, which no doubt meant the Great Hall. Oh right, she hadn’t eaten at all today had she? Huh, that wasn’t usually something someone would forget, but recently she seemed to have other things on her mind.

Felicity paused in the doorway along with Kieran. Well, this was certainly going to be a problem. Biting down on her lip, Fay looked over at the Ravenclaw table, and instantly saw that head of curly hair that she had been trying so hard to avoid. “Let’s sit at the Gryffindor table, I haven’t seen some of my friends there lately. I owe Max a hello.” She tore her eyes away from the Claw table and grinned up at Kieran. Curving her arm around his waist, she began walking with him over to the table—trying desperately to ignore the stares boring into her back. Though, once they neared, she hesitated. Where were they supposed to sit anyway?

[Kieran Davies]

He laughed when she called him silly, it was probably the one thing Kieran was best at. The thought about someone trampling him on the floor didn’t even occur to him. Besides, who would be dumb enough to walk on him, Fay would kill them! Sometimes, it was useful to have a Veela as your girlfriend. Of course, Kieran would never say that, even as a joke. He did, afterall, enjoy life far too much. He didn’t need a re-enactment of their first meeting when she practically beat him up. It took months for him to live that down, there was no way he was going to do anything that might spark up those torturous rumours again.

”Oo, quirky Miss Locke.” He grinned as she pulled him to his feet. He loved the fact he towered over her, there were a lot of small jokes which came off their height difference. ”Yeah, Ollie seemed to find it quite amusing that you were actually waiting outside and I had no idea,” He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, ”Not that I’m complaining, I don’t mind you stalking me.” Letting out a sheepish laugh he added, ”In fact, I encourage it.”
”Then can you please tell her to stalk you somewhere else?” It was the fat lady who spoke, Kieran turned to her. ”Hey, just because your doomed to have no physical contact with anybody else doesn’t mean you can tell my girlfriend not to come here. Don’t you have anything better to do than to stick your nose in other peoples business, your 2D nose at that!”
”Mr Davies show some respect for your elders.”

Sometimes having speaking portraits really became a pain in the backside. It was no wonder rumours travelled faster than the speed of light in this school really. The harder you tried to keep something secret, the quicker it leaked out. Well whatever, let people talk. As he hugged her, and kissed her on her forehead, he saw a rush of colour go into her cheeks. This never failed to make him smile. ”Looks like today you have to keep me on my feet.”

With his arm around her shoulders, the two set off walking. Kieran never thought of this action as being possessive, he wouldn’t dare try to be possessive over her. Okay, sure he was protective but that was understandable, right? She was his girlfriend afterall, but more than that she was also one of his best friends. He wouldn’t ever let anyone hurt her or belittle her. If they did, they’d have one angry Gryffindor Beater sending bludgers their way. A lot of cracked skulls? Perfect.

”I just got better now I’ve seen you.” He shook his head and laughed, ”When did I become so cheesy?” Making a retching noise, a rather nasty thought came into his head. He hoped he wasn’t turning into Harrison, that would be the worst thing ever. He knew Fay and Harrison were friends, he didn’t say anything about it, he wouldn’t stop her, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. He didn’t like Harrison and that wasn’t exactly a secret, if his name was mention around Kieran, he would suddenly become quiet and rather stiff. The name itself made him a little annoyed, but he put up with it for Fay’s sake.

He let his arm drop as they stood in the doorway, looking from the Ravenclaw table to the Gryffindor one. Kieran had only briefly met Bray, he had never really spoken to him but to be honest he didn’t have the highest opinion of the boy. Afterall, he didn’t know Kieran but he was extremely sarcastic towards him the time he had met him. Plus, he never really forgave him for beating Gryffindor in the Quidditch. Sure, Fay had been on the team too, but he let that one slide. ”Gryffindor it is then!” He smiled and made his way over to Max, sitting opposite him. ”Maxwell Hennerdale, where is that girlfriend of yours?” Max just shrugged with a smile, there had been rumours the two of them broke up but Max never confirmed it or denied it.

[Felicity Locke]

So, perhaps Felicity was a little…violent for a veela. But, what can I say, veela’s are very temperamental creatures. But if anyone dared step on Kieran, all hell would break lose. Let’s just say the dude—assuming it was a guy who did it—wouldn’t be able to do much of anything except lay groaning on the floor for at least a week. Harsh? Hum, maybe. Then again, this is Felicity we’re talking about, that would be her being generous. A scary person to mess with indeed.

“I thought it was quite a clever pun myself.” She muttered with a grin on her face. What Ravenclaw would be complete without stupid, useless puns! Couldn’t be serious all the time now could we? “I think we need a system so I’m not left outside to look like some creepy stalker while you sit clueless in the common room.” She grimaced slightly at the thought. Though, it seemed that their conversation was doomed to be interrupted by the rather rude painting. Flushing—this time with anger—Felicity was about to give her a good stern talking to, before Kieran beat her to the punch. Fay grinned and giggled in triumph, standing on her tiptoes to place a kiss on the boy’s cheek.

Talking portraits were usually a pain, but who could really blame them for being such huge gossips? It’s not like they had much else to do but gossip about the students. Felicity wondered vaguely if Hubbles actually ordered them to transmit all the gossip straight to him, so he could keep up with the kids. Humph, creeper. “I think we should make a habit of not falling because it makes us look dreadfully silly.”

So, Kieran could afford to be a little protective, that’s how it usually is in a relationship. But did the same go for the other? As she rested her head against his shoulder—damn boy was so tall that she couldn’t put her head on his shoulder—she was anxiously aware of the looks they were given. Jealousy, by the Gryffindor girls whose affections had been denied by the man’s who arm was around the veela, coy smiles from the girls who thought they could make any man dishonest. Try that with a veela’s man, and you’ll get your arse kicked.

“I think every guy has some cheesy lines in him, it’s in the genes.” She grinned up at him, reaching up to tweak his nose as he retched. Silly boy. Speaking of genes, Felicity could never really understand the strange hatred that Kieran and Harrison felt toward each other. In the genes? Perhaps. She knew Kieran put up with him for her sake, so she didn’t try to push it. Such a sweet boy, that Kieran.

Luckily it was easy to spot Max—another one of her ridiculously tall friends—and Kieran made a beeline toward him. Felicity plopped down next to Kieran and grimaced at the plates in front of her. Sausage, bacon, honestly did Hubbles want them to die of a heart attack? “Don’t tell me you’re going to have this junk Max, it’s not good for you.” She grimaced and reached over to grab and orange. Fruit, it was safe, delicious and perfectly healthy. “The only exception to unhealthy food is chocolate, because that’s good for the soul.” She ‘hmphed’, guessing that one of the two boys would point out her chocolate diet.