Just Walking

Andy peered at her though a very long fringe. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and sighed rather loudly.

"Armour Tag. I didn't invent it, but I got kinda... dragged into it by Natalie. Anyway.. Long story short, we were playing outside Hamilton's office, and he got kinda pissy about it. We had to clean some suits of armour, which sucked, but at least it wasn't something nasty, like touching something on his shelves in his office; That stuff looks about 100 years old!"

He leaned his elbows on the ledge and sat his head on one of his hands, looking out. "It was kinda fun though. Well, as fun as playing tag with a piece of armour could be."

Bri kept smiling at him and shook her head slightly as he explained what exactly they had been doing. He really just couldn't keep his hands out of his hair, which left him with quite the mess on top of his head. Before she realized what she was doing, she reached out and fixed it so that it looked how it had when they'd started their walk (which was incidentally exactly how she liked it).

"Sorry," she said, blushing and retracting her hand once she realized what she was doing. "Um, it does sound fun though, minus the detention bit. I imagine that outside Hamilton's office probably wasn't the best possible location though," she said in an attempt to skip over the fact that she had just been trying to groom him, most likely against his will.

Andy blinked as he felt Bri's hand through his hair. Before he knew what he was doing, he closed his eyes slowly. There was something relaxing about her gentle touch; something he realised he liked very much, but it was a feeling that ended abruptly as Bri removed her hand.

Andy was shocked to discovered that, as she stopped, Andy didn't want her to. He mused about these feelings as he blinked his eyes open and stared at her, his head titled to the side slightly.

His brain caught up with what she had said and he nodded slowly, still rather dazed. "Yeah, it probably wasn't such a good idea." Andy could still feel the ghost of Bri's hand though his hair and he felt a shiver down his spine.

Bri was half convinced that Andy thought that she was a complete and utter nutcase. He was probably wondering 'why the hell is this weirdo touching my hair?'

"Right, well it's still early and almost everyone will still be at dinner. Fancy heading into the Forest now? Or do you want to sit on the sidelines and watch fun pass us by?" she asked, using his words from the previous year against him.

She started to walk backwards as she talked, taunting him slightly, and didn't notice that she that she was dangerously close to the stairs again. Misjudging the distance meant that her foot was practically flirting with the top step; a few more steps and she would tumble down, but she didn't even notice. "Come on then, don't tell me you're scared," she teased.

Andy smiled. "The Forest, hey?" he asked, smiling jovially as she teased him with words he distinctly remembered using against her. He was about to retort when he saw the direction she was heading. He watched on as she moved backwards, heading treacherously close to the stairs.

Andy's heart raced and he could think of nothing but getting her far away from those stairs as quickly as possible. He ran towards her and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him, and in so doing, pulled her into his arms. Although he meant to only pull her away from the stairs, he was rather content to hold her for a moment, to allow his heart to go back to a normal pace.

"The only thing I'm scared of is you falling down those stairs," he said into her hair as he held her tightly.

Bri was about to turn around and take off down the stairs when Andy raced over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into his arms. "What? What's wrong?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder at the staircase, which was far closer than she had expected it to be. She half expected to see someone with their wand out, ready to murder her or something, judging from his reaction, but he quickly cleared it up.

She was oddly aware of his choice to run over and grab her rather than just interrupt her babble and tell her to watch where she was going. Since she was trapped in his embrace anyway (which she didn't mind at all), she wrapped her arms around him as well. "I'm fine," she insisted, though her heart was racing a bit. "I promise next time I'll watch where I'm going."

Andy nodded, although he didn't want there to even possibly be a next time.

"Perhaps we should leave the Forest exploration to another day. You've already had one near death experience. I may not be able to save you should something arise again." Andy smiled and pulled back, trying to joke a little.

"Merlin, you scared me," he said, letting her go finally. He didn't want to completely freak her out by hugging her. He didn't even know what came over him but Bri was safe because of it, so he didn't mind too much. He hoped she didn't either.

"No way! Near death experiences are my new favorite thing!" Bri joked, reaching out to fix his hair once again. That stuff just couldn't stay in place! She was a little sad that he'd let her go, but it wasn't anything to worry about too much, since she doubted he was even thinking about it at all.

"Come on, it'll be fun! We'll stay close enough to the treeline that anything that enjoys eating second year Ravenclaws won't come anywhere close to us. Please?" she was begging him a bit, but it wouldn't be fun (and she would be too scared) to go on her own. She gave him the best puppy dog look she could do and hoped that he would give in and go.

Andy rolled his eyes at her attempt to persuade him to go into the forest again. He was about to offer to another alternative when he felt her fix his hair again. She seemed to know the best way to shut up him, even if she probably wasn't intending to.

"Brianna," he said, using her full name, which he rarely did. He tried to fight against the look she was giving him. "I really don't think we should..." Andy rarely said no to fun, but he was worried that they used up all the luck they had today, and that something bad would happen.

"Anthony," Bri replied in the same tone of voice that he used on her. "I suppose if you don't want to go with me, then I can find someone else who will, or maybe I'll just go by myself. I'm sure that I'll be able to fend off anything that wants to attack me."

She shrugged at him. It was up to him to go or not, but she really did want to go, now that he had planted the idea in her head, and it would take an awful lot to dissuade her from going today. She wasn't usually so impulsive but it sounded like fun, so she really wanted to do it. "So what do you say? Go with me?" she asked hopefully, giving him the puppy dog look again.

Andy looked at her sternly. Would nothing distract her? Andy thought. He couldn't obviously let her go alone, that was out of the question, and he wouldn't trust anyone else to protect Bri from something in the forest (not that he could protect her very well, but he'd try his darnedest).

"Fine," he said, though he wasn't happy about it; not one bit. He scowled to try and convey his unhappiness about the matter.

Bri grinned as Andy gave in and agreed to go with her. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "It just wouldn't be the same going without you," she said.

She tried to think if there was anything in Ravenclaw Tower that she should grab, then decided that a wardrobe change was probably in order, since school uniforms weren't exactly the best outfits for wandering around in a forest. "We should probably change," she said. "Or, at least, I should. I suppose you don't really have to if you don't want to. What do you say we go back to Ravenclaw Tower and I'll meet you in the common room in five minutes?"

Andy's face flushed as she kissed him. He smiled though, noting that his scowl didn't last very long at all.

He looked down at this robes when she mentioned a change of clothes. He nodded. That would be the smart option if they were to be going Forest exploring again. Perhaps he could persuade her not to go on the way to Ravenclaw Tower.

"Sounds good," he said, placing his hand on her back as they walked to the stairs. "Careful, now," he mocked and received a tongue poked out at him. He laughed as they left the Clock Tower.

(Finished)