With the capture of Verandi Farley and several high-ranking Trossach members, the British wizarding world has finally caught a break. The rate of rogue werewolf attacks have started dropping at a steady rate and, hopefully, things will stay that way. The Ministry is starting to loosen some restrictions, like not arresting werewolves standing on the street for loitering, however there’s still an obvious power imbalance between wizardfolk and werewolves.
The Cotswolds pack are continuing to advocate for the rights of werewolves and petitioning to change the legislation that has been set in motion by the current Minister for Magic, whilst the remaining Trossachs members are trying to stay out of the spotlight and keep a low profile… for now.
Whilst the British wizarding world seems to have calmed down, the same cannot be said for over in Northern Europe where a rebellion of magical creatures has risen. The state of things has gotten so bad that the European Ministry has enacted protocols to protect those under eighteen whilst their adult witches and wizards fight to keep control of their countries.
Students from Durmstrang have been sent to Hogwarts to keep them safe and those not old enough to attend school have been sent to live with relatives or designated British Ministry officials outside of Europe for the time being.
Will the low rates of werewolf attacks in Britain continue? How long will Durmstrang students stay at Hogwarts? Will the creatures usurp the wizardfolk in Northern Europe? Only time will tell.
SEPTEMBER 2019 It's been a very long, eventful summer in the wizarding world. A baby was stolen, several high ranking Trossach members were imprisoned, and werewolf attacks have drastically dropped as a result. What will happen now school has returned?
MAY 2019 An attempt to capture the beta of the Trossachs has been launched. Were the Aurors successful in their mission? Go read more here!
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Apr 12, 2019 11:35:23 GMT
As Grace sat by the Great Lake, her eyes scanned the pages of the romance novel that sat in her hand, taking in every word carefully. She was only halfway through the second chapter and she was hooked. Was there anything more exciting than a beautiful wench being saved by a handsome pirate amidst a heavy fighting scene? She certainly didn't think so! It was all just so... dreamy.
Fingers poised at the top corner of her page, Grace had just been about to turn it over when suddenly she heard footsteps approaching. It was so early in the morning, she was taken off guard for a moment. Most of the students were still in bed, she was just an early riser. "Oh... um..." After a moment's pause, Grace hastily came to her senses and shoved her book into her bag, hoping that the other student hadn't caught her doing something so daring like reading a romance book in public.
Glancing up, Grace found herself quickly stammering out, "Oh. Hi. Beautiful morning, isn't it? Truly wonderful. Just... um... lovely, don't you think? How's your second day back at school? Or, well, would you consider it your first day since we came back late last night and didn't spend the whole day in classes and stuff?" Merlin, she was babbling and she needed to stop talking now.
The weather out held the faintest of warmth from the summer passed and annoyingly some idiot bird had decided to chirp its merry song on Aiden’s dormitory window sill at sparrow’s-fart early-o’clock. When his dorm mates didn’t rouse from their slumber, Aiden knew that there was only one course of action to take - so he gripped his elm wood wand delicately between his manicured fingers and strode in his silken pyjamas over to the window. The bird continued its song, not for a moment perturbed by the jarred movement of an ancient window opening up a crack. ”Oh pretty bird, kindly desist your warbling as some of us are still trying to sleep,” Aiden asked sweetly, even as he poked the business end of his wand out the window.
The bird of course did not heed Aiden’s words - how could it? It did not know what a word even was. Calmly pointing the wand at the bird who had tittered over to investigate, Aiden’s wand lit with fiery orange as he said, ”confringo,” with frightening nonchalance. The curse hit the little bird and with a poof! of feathers the tune was over.
Silence! Aiden grinned as he pulled the tip of his wand back through the slit in the window and promptly shut it. Somewhere a dorm mate stirred from the sound, but Aiden paid no mind - instead his gaze was firmly fixed on the blasted bird matter that seemed stuck to his wand. Carefully he used the curtain of a dormmate’s bed to wipe off the gooey feathers and made himself ready for his morning constitutional.
Not long after this, the young man found his way down to the Great Lake. Aiden’s mood was quite neutral for he had woken grumpy from the bird but now was pleased with the resolution and knowledge that tomorrow there would be no repeat and therefore he neither had a smile or frown as he walked briskly, ever closer to the water’s edge. All of a sudden, his reverie was harshly broken by the chirped mutterings of an altogether larger bird and Aiden’s dark blue eyes fell upon the blonde locks of fellow prefect, Grace.
It sounded like she wanted him to exchange pleasantries with her but as he went to part his lips to speak, she began to vomit words at him so he closed them once more. Instead, Aiden found his fingers venturing to wrap around his wand to deal with the girl in a similarly simple way as the last bird that annoyed him nor half an hour ago.
”The weather is good so far, though I’ve yet to experience a day in the U.K. that doesnt somehow turn to rain regardless of forecast,” Aiden said with a nod. ”Technically I guess it is the first day, but I was so busy with assisting the first and second years that yesterday has to count for something,” the young man said with the faintest of humour hinting at a smile on his lips. ”You must have been lucky and not drawn the short straw last night if you’re up this early?”
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Apr 13, 2019 10:23:51 GMT
As Grace's blabbering came to a halt, she stared at Aiden as she waited for him to speak, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. She was tempted to open her mouth and start rambling at him nervously again, but she was worried that perhaps he'd tell her to 'shut up' or tell her that he didn't want to talk to her. She was relieved when he parted his lips to talk and started answering her onslaught of questions calmly instead.
"It's... yeah, it's, um... unpredictable, the rain. Wet, too." Yes, of course the rain was wet. Merlin's beard, why did she say that? Stupid. It was so stupid. But she found that when she was around people she wasn't close with, she got tongue-tied easily... especially when they were cute boys and Aiden definitely fell into that category with his dark hair and piercing deep blue eyes.
When Aiden mentioned that last night he'd been busy with prefect duties, Grace instantly nodded because of course. "Oh, yes. I was - no, I was still helping the others out last night. I, um, had a few of the younger ones in tears, poor things. They must have been so worried, having to spend the night in a foreign castle in a room with people they don't know... but I'm sure they'll get used to it soon enough." When she was in first year, she'd been that kid who cried on their first day... several times, in fact. She'd cried boarding Hogwarts Express, before the sorting ceremony, after the sorting ceremony, and before finally going to bed in a room full of girls who were strangers. It'd taken a good week for her to settle her.
As Aiden all but asked why she was up so early, Grace sent him a little smile and tucked some of her blonde strands behind her ear. "It's... well, I just like being up really early. Usually I go for a run, but I gave it a miss this morning. I'll probably start back tomorrow though..." Curiously, Grace looked at Aiden. "Why are you up? I mean, you don't... if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. For all I know, you could wake up early every day! Not that I would know, I guess. It's not like I share a dorm with you or anything." And with that, Grace let out a very nervous laugh because Merlin, that was a strange idea. Sharing a room with a boy. She'd never done that a day in her life, not even with her older brother. They were lucky enough to both have separate rooms at home.
Those piercing blue eyes that Bree described watched the crane of Grace's neck as she eagerly nodded to his reply. He was pleasantly surprised by the only minor use of filler words like um. Maybe she'd attended a speech pathologist over the summer break? "They're lucky to have had you then to rock the babies to sleep," he said with a half smile; it belied the mocking under sincerely delivered tones. Hufflepuffs were such wimps but where would bullies be if the weak didn't exist? "I don't think Scotland truly counts as foreign, you're being a bit indulgent there, Grace."
The badger runs, Aiden mused, cocking his head to one side as he regarded her rather lithe frame. Yes, yes she does, and it probably started with her running from all the meanies in the castle. He was about to make some smart comment; possibly test her self-image with a snide remark about not being able to afford to miss a day of running when she turned the question back to him. "A little birdy woke me up," Aiden replied easily, "I thought I might as well get a head start on the day. Rounds will be starting soon, no doubt," he said as he tore his eyes away from the young lady and glanced back toward the castle.
"What are you reading? I imagine it's not a text book for school," he said with a raised brow as he turned back to her, stepping that bit closer so that he could peek at the title she held. "It must be quite something to keep a runner idle by the banks of the lake?"
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Apr 22, 2019 5:54:38 GMT
"Oh, I don't... I mean, I didn't rock them to sleep. They're a bit too old for that. I don't think they'd even fit in my arms," Grace said, a small smile pulling at her lips at the thought of her, a sixteen year old, lulling an eleven year old to sleep. "I just gave them some tea and we had a chat. I... um, well I guess it's lucky that we live so close to the kitchens because the house elves are really lovely and were more than happy to make us up a pot."
When Aiden pointed out that Scotland wasn't exactly foreign, Grace's cheeks tinged red immediately because he had a point... that was a really dumb thing to say. "Oh... I, um... yes. I suppose it's not... really foreign. Since it's in the UK. Where... where all of them are from, so they said. Sorry." Why she was apologising, she didn't know, but it felt appropriate to apologise for being so silly. "Did any of the Ravenclaws get upset?"
Aiden looked like he was sizing her up for some reason and immediately, Grace's arms wrapped around herself rather self-consciously because she really wasn't comfortable in her own frame. Yes, she ran and she swam but she didn't tend to do either of those things in front of other people. "I... oh, was it a great tit or something? I love great tits, they're such sweet little creatures," Grace said, glancing up at the trees as though she could see a great tit fluttering about... but she had no such luck. What a shame. It would have been quite a sight to see!
"Oh, right. Rounds... um, do... I think we're paired together... for some of them..." In fact, she knew they were. She'd seen it on the roster. She was paired with the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw prefect too. But doing rounds with the latter two people didn't make her tummy nervous, not like it did with Aiden. She was always so overly critical of herself around him, not wanting to appear silly. She enjoyed his company and she just wanted him to like her. But then again, she wanted everyone to like her.
When Aiden asked about what book she was reading, Grace's blush came back in full force. This time turning her chest and neck all pink and blotchy because it felt embarrassing to be caught reading a romance book where there was kissing and stuff... stuff she hadn't experienced yet, and sometimes it felt like she never would. "It's... no, it's, um... uh... it's just a story o-of... about people. Um. A pirate and... and people." Merlin's beard, could she sound anymore awkward? Probably not.
Aiden let out the smallest of a chuckle at the vision of Grace nursing full grown children. He reached a hand up to cover his mouth because it'd come out as a part-snort which was... unbecoming of a young pureblood of his stature. "You sat and had a chat over tea. Merlin, there's no confusing you for anything other than a very British Hufflepuff," Aiden mused. "Meanwhile I gave the first years a tour of the Ravenclaw tower and amenities. We also went over the rules and the consequences of not following the rules. I think that newbie fifth year prefect... the one that can talk for England... Alexander ... he might have been a molly-coddler. I wasn't paying that much attention," he replied. There was more than a little satisfaction in his voice when he noticed Grace's flush at the foreign thing. "They're all old enough to leave home for boarding school. Just as you said, they're not babies so there's nothing to be gained from letting them indulge in pointless tears for their mummies or daddies."
Aiden was ... at a loss for words as his fellow prefect responded to his story of a bird waking up to talking about... boobs? Merlin, Morgana and Arthur, was she another bloody lesbian? The human race may not make it past 2030 at this rate... "Alana likes 'great tits' too. I guess you have that in common?" Aiden himself was a great legs man; particularly a well defined calf muscle. Good buttocks helped, but that wasn't easy to see with the school uniform as it was. Besides, his nose was usually firmly planted in a book or making sure some dickhead didn't bring Ravenclaw into disrepute.
Aiden tilted his head curiously when the Hufflepuff mentioned they were on rounds together. Had that been done on purpose? "Isn't that interesting. No doubt the Head Prefects believed in a good auror, bad auror approach this year. Clearly I'm the good auror," Aiden smirked ironically. When he was that little bit closer, he squatted down because he wasn't very interested in getting dirt or grass on his clothing. "Why are you so nervous about sharing what you're reading, Longbottom?" his interest was piqued, but he was not the type to snatch a book out of someone's hands.
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Apr 29, 2019 9:24:33 GMT
The sound that came out of Aiden next actually made her jump a tiny bit because... well, she didn't hear him laugh all that often, let alone let out a snort. It was enough to make Grace start laughing quietly herself because she definitely had not expected him to do an impression of an adorable piglet. Before she could quite help herself, Grace blurted out, "You have a nice snort - I mean, laugh. A nice laugh. It's very... I..." As soon as she realised just what she was saying, the wind died in her sails and she ended her sentence with, "Um... nevermin - sorry."
As Aiden explained what he'd done with the first years, Grace nodded before realising... did he think she hadn't done that? Oh gosh. "Oh, no. We did that too! The... the tea drinking was after that. When... before they went to bed, that is..." When Aiden went on talk about the Ravenclaw fifth year prefect, Grace didn't say much because she didn't actually know the boy too well. She was certain he was lovely though. Going back to the whole tea debacle, Grace dared to try and ask Aiden, "Do... do you like to drink - um, tea. That is. Not alcohol. That's... that's illegal. We can't drink that."
As Aiden said that she was indulging the first years pointless tears, Grace's lips tugged into a slight frown. "I... I don't think there's any harm in comforting people when they're upset," she told him quietly. She wasn't about to leave them alone, after all. She thought their feelings were quite valid actually, and she very much understood how the crying first years felt, having gone through that herself.
"Oh, that's lovely! That we both like great tits. Do you... does she like dickcissels too? They're my second favourite type. It's a shame you can't find them in the UK though. America is such a long way to go to find one," Grace said rather obliviously, still not quite catching onto what Aiden was insinuating. She was rather stoked to hear that she wasn't the only nature enthusiastic in her year however, and to hear that she and Alana had things in common too. Maybe she could try and strike up a conversation over this topic with Alana?
"Good auror, bad auror?" Grace repeated before blinking in confusion. "Oh! Oh... oh, yes... I... does that make me the bad auror?" That didn't make sense, but maybe Aiden didn't think she was all that good. Maybe he'd seen her put that extra teaspoon of honey in her tea the other day... "I can be good. Really good. A good... um... girl." Merlin, that sounded silly. She wasn't a dog. Kicking herself, Grace tried to push past the awkwardness of what she'd just said. "We could, um, switch it up? Maybe... maybe you could be the 'bad auror' some of the time... not that you're bad."
All of a sudden, when Aiden squatted down, Grace found herself going impossibly more red because he was so close to her and so... handsome. Goodness, why was he so handsome? Trying her best not to stare, Grace's eyes averted quickly down to her hands and she bit her lip as he asked her why she was so nervous. "I just feel... um... I just don't think you'd like my book. About pirates... um... because they can be really... vicious?" Merlin, this excuse was sounding more and more flimsy by the second.
Aiden had hoped he'd gotten away with the snort-laugh without too much embarrassment but there was the unmistakable reaction on the Hufflepuff. Normally, laughing at him would involve some swift and cruel retaliation from the teenager... but he could appreciate that she at least attempted to contain herself; it was quite becoming on her. Aiden scrunched his nose as she mumbled about his snort being nice, and his left brow raised as she corrected herself. "Snorting isn't attractive, even on a pig," he replied quickly, trying to nip this... nice business in the bud as soon as possible. Also he didn't particularly care if the Puff found him attractive. Nope. Just people in general. Certamente. "Why do you apologise for everything?" he asked with the smallest tilt of his head, "you realise when you apologise for complimenting someone, it makes the statement null-and-void, right?"
As Grace asserted that the Hufflepuff prefects had done the same, he didn't attempt to hide the dubious look that came from what he imagined the Puff version to be. All flowers and hugs and the rules something along the lines of 'you must smile every day and give at least three cuddles every day - extra points if they're with someone from another house. Go forth and spread cheer.' Aiden couldn't wait to have been free of the pesky firsts, nor the little-know-it-all second year students. "I'm sure they appreciated your kindness," he finally ventured. "I do not like tea, no. I drink coffee; like any good Italian," he said with a self-indulgent chuff. "When I was younger, my mammina would brew chamomile tea sometimes before bed. It was ok, but not something I'd go out of my way to drink. I believe Alana uses chamomile to keep her preferred shade of blonde now," he commented before he realised that was definitely an overshare. Internally, he groaned. Why did he do that? "Was the tea last night chamomile? It's meant to be soothing," Aiden decided seeing as he couldn't convince Grace to treat the babies like the young adults they were, he may as well move on.
On the discussion of great tits, Aiden almost snorted again; he quickly covered it this time with his hand over his mouth. The morning sun caught the silver of his rings; the largest one encased a large, flat sapphire worked into the Valentino family insignia. "Oh? I see many dick...s almost on the daily," Sam Caverly and Greyson Avery came to mind at the top of his head. "I guess the American ones must be extra special if you want to jump the pond for that sort of thing," Aiden sounded doubtful; he'd have thought she would like the kind, sweet boys. Not that he could think of any of them really. Maybe that's why she felt she had to go to America? "Though there's more than enough great tits to keep you occupied here, surely?"
Aiden rubbed his jawline slowly as he waited for Grace's intelligence to kick in. Honestly, if he was the good auror there was only one other choice, wasn't there? When she came to the correct conclusion, Aiden nodded slowly, the corner of his lips tilting upward in a smirk. "The baddest," he replied easily, the smirk now quite pronounced as he watched the girl squirm. "Oh can you? A good girl," he tapped his finger on his chin, looking up at the tree's branches as if he were considering this possibility. "I'm not sure I believe you, Grace," he said finally, dropping his dark blue eyes to those of Grace and searching them for a moment. Hopefully before she could have a complete mental break down, though, he relented and gave her a rarer-than-a-lethifold-in-England cheeky smile. "See I was hoping to give you a chance to 'switch it up' a little, but if you want me to be bad, I guess I will. Just for you." It would be hard, but it was a sacrifice Aiden was willing to make.
"Vicious pirates, you say? Maybe I should read it, get some pointers for my bad auror routine," Aiden was beyond amused by the idea that Grace could read anything that wasn't completely fluffy in nature. Poised as he was beside the girl, had she had the book still on her lap and not in the bag, Aiden would know the truth of the matter. Instead, he'd have to content himself with observing the gentle slope of her nose and the way her golden locks folded about her shoulders. "Or maybe you can teach me instead."
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on May 12, 2019 8:44:59 GMT
Aiden's response immediately had Grace turning red once more and she wanted to object, tell him that a snort coming from him (and just him) was adorable, but he seemed rather firm and she didn't want to seem like a pest. But his next question had her stammering once more because she'd never ever thought that apologising made the compliment 'null and void.' "I... I-I guess, um... well, I don't want you or... or anyone to be mad at me for complimenting them, but I just... I didn't want you to feel like I was making fun of you and... and that I wasn't being sincere because I was. I... I did mean what I said... but I'm not used to - with... with boys." She definitely wasn't used to complimenting boys, too afraid they'd laugh in her face or reject her and leave her embarrassed for months after that.
When Aiden said he was sure they appreciated her kindness, a great big smile broke out on the Hufflepuff girl's face because she was glad he thought that. His opinion did matter to her... quite a bit, in fact. "I've never really had coffee... do, um, all Italians drink it? I mean, not all. You... wouldn't know every Italian there ever was," she said, nervously laughing, "but when you lived in Italy, did all of your family drink it?" She could only assume he'd lived in Italy, sometimes he had a bit of an accent... not always though. But she quite liked that he had an accent especially when he rolled his letters. It made her tummy all warm and pleasant. "Oh, so she's not a... a natural blonde then? Did she used to have brown hair like you?" When Aiden asked if they'd had chamomile tea last night, Grace shook her head softly. "No... no, we had English breakfast tea last night. We, um... I know it's a bit wild, seeing as it wasn't breakfast time but we put it to a vote and we had that."
Aiden clapping his head over his mouth drew attention to his ring and curiously, before she could quite stop herself, Grace blurted out, "You don't see many teenage boys wearing rings but you suit them. They look good on... on your fingers." Though where else people would wear rings, she wouldn't know. Biting her lip for a moment, she was relieved as the conversation moved on back to dickcissels. "O-oh really? Maybe one... one day we can look at some together? I'd like to touch one one day... maybe you can show me the best way to do so," she said, sending him a genuine yet nervous smile. She'd never seen dickcissels in England before, but she believed him when he said he had. It would be an absolute treat to get up close and personal to one! "There are a lot of great tits... I just would like to experience more than those. Expand my, um... my horizons, I guess."
For some reason, this little conversation about 'good auror' and 'bad auror' had Grace squirming, fingers moving to play with the ends of her long braid. Her pink cheeks had kicked up a notch, and felt like they were about to set on fire. "You... do... do you really think I'm bad?" she asked, voice hushed and a little worried. "I really... I..." Her worrying only grew as suddenly Aiden's eyes met her. Merlin, they were so lovely. Trying her very best not to stare, she was overwhelmingly grateful when suddenly he broke into a smile... how was that even more handsome? She just wanted to... to... kiss it. But she wouldn't. It would just make her seem silly and foolish and he wouldn't even want to kiss someone like her, that was something she was certain of. "I think... think that, um... well, I can try and be the 'bad auror' next time we go on patrols? Maybe... if we see someone, um... like, um, you know with... with the mouths..."Kissing. "I can tell them to break it up?" Usually she just stood there, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights, whilst the other prefect dealt with it.
'Maybe I should read it,' had Grace coughing - well, spluttering, all of a sudden and she rushed to reassure him that, "I... I can't... I'll be the bad auror, it's okay, you can be the good one." But then he suggested she could 'teach him' and she shook her head, eyes wide. "Oh, no. It's... I'm not good at... well, I wouldn't think I'd be any good at - I mean, I wouldn't know if I'm good... at, uh... at being... being vicious."
I don't want anyone to be mad at me for complimenting them, the words that flowed from the Puff were extremely confusing and it made Aiden's brows crease in the middle. His lips parted as he was about to ask che? but she stumbled along further and he daren't interrupt if he wanted to get to lunch today. "You're not used to... what? With boys?" he asked, deciding to push the Puff a little further out of her comfort zone and make her explain whatever it was she was referring to. Aiden had an inkling, but watching the blonde beneath a tree turn all shades of red was a decent follow up to exploding birdies. "Do you mean... talking? I could have sworn you have a brother. I realise you mightn't be as close to him as I am with my twin sister, but surely you've talked with him in your lifetime?"
"We are brought up on coffee; I cannot remember when I first had a taste. Perhaps our mothers mix it in with our milk as infants," Aiden mused. It wasn't too much of a lie - he couldn't remember his first time with coffee but he doubted very much that it was in any kind of sippy cup. "I know every single Italian that matters," he offered after Grace spiralled a little bit when she thought she sounded cray-cray suggesting he knew all the inhabitants of the peninsula. "My family holidays in Italia; we do not live there. Otherwise I'd not have attended Hogwarts for the past six years of my lifetime, hmm?"
Then Alana's blondeness became the hot topic and Aiden's lips twitched at Grace's question. He ran a hand through his hair from the front to back and scratched at his neck; his sister wouldn't like that he was discussing her at all and it was about her looks. "Alana and I were both born blonde. My hair continued to darken as I grew older and particularly with the onset of puberty to what it is now. Alana's stayed blonde, though again with puberty it became a darker shade than when we were young and so she keeps the honey-blonde with chamomile in her shampoo," Aiden adjusted his shirt as he let his hand fall back down by his side and fixed Grace with a hard stare. "I'd warn you not to make small talk on the topic. I doubt it will end well for either of us."
English breakfast tea was... wild? Aiden only just stifled a laugh. Wild was seeing your sister staring at you in the middle of the night with a look of starvation instead of sisterly love. Wild was letting her sink her fangs into your neck and trusting that she will stop in time to keep your heart from giving out. "Next time you should get really wild... try green tea. It'll be a party in the basement and the professors wouldn't know what to do with themselves," the smirk that played on his lips at the idea of Hufflepuffs bouncing off the walls on green tea like they were drunken Gryffindors amused him beyond words. In fact, after a second more of thought, Aiden did actually laugh. Out loud.
It stopped at the mention of his rings though and he considered Grace's compliment for a moment. It was much like when a wine taster rolls the liquid over their tongue to get the full grasp of a wine's flavour and finally Aiden smiled. "Thank you. See, it's much better when you don't apologise straight after," he gave his fellow prefect an approving nod; she was learning. "My nonno - Grandfather - gave me his ring on our last visit to Italia. This other one, you'll see that Alana wears an identical ring on her finger also," it may be a little cliché but it had meant a lot to the pre-teens when they had them made. "Your necklace is pretty; it accentuates your décolletage well."
Aiden's keen eyes caught Grace chewing her lip and for the first time, he looked away - ostensibly to look in the direction of a silent bird call - though when Grace suggested they look at penises together he turned back with a raised brow. It really was the quiet ones, wasn't it?"I don't have much experience handling them,"other than my own but then, what teenager openly admits to a bit of DIY action in front of a pretty girl? "When you find one you like, maybe your brother can give you some pointers?" God knows Aiden wasn't keen on teaching Grace how to touch another man. His gaze dropped down to her chest as Grace spoke of needing to expand her horizons; no... no her tits looked perfectly proportioned. Perfectly rounded. Alana would appreciate them. Again he found himself scratching the back of his neck and had no intelligible reply so he simply nodded.
Now that he was knelt down near her, Grace was going redder by the second. Was it from anger, perhaps? She really didn't seem to like the idea of being a bad auror and maybe Hufflepuffs just bottled up their emotions and this... was the end result. "Oh, look at you. Being all bad and stopping kids doing things with their mouths," he said encouragingly, though the hint of mocking wasn't exactly subtle. "Don't get too strict though Grace, or wear pink. We don't need another Umbridge roaming the halls at Hogwarts," Aiden said with a wink and a half-chuckle; but this again stopped when Grace vehemently agreed to being the bad auror.
"Miss Longbottom - I'm getting the distinct impression that you do not want me to read your book," Aiden said with a stern voice and raised brow. "Plus I thought you were interested in... how did you put it? Broadening your horizons? Or is that only in relation to touching boys' privates, instead of girl's breasts?"
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on May 25, 2019 6:28:07 GMT
"To... to, um... complimenting boys," Grace stammered, looking embarrassed as she tried to justify her whole word vomit before, especially as Aiden brought up that her brother was a boy and she talked to him just fine. "Arthur... we're related. It's different. I don't - I mean, I do talk to him, but he's my brother. He doesn't make me feel - I'm, um... I'm not worried about looking silly in front of him. Because I know that he... he loves me no matter what. He's not gonna go around and make... make fun of me with his friends." Even as the words escaped the Hufflepuff girl's mouth, she frowned because it all sounded pretty stupid, right? It screamed that her confidence was low, and that's because it was. She sometimes envied people like Alana and Mavican and Faith who didn't appear to be self-conscious of themselves and their actions at all times like she was. She only wished she could be like them.
As they continued about coffee, Grace's eyes grew comically wide at Aiden's next words and she sounded horrified as she blurted out, "You can't give coffee to babies, that's... that's not safe. At all. They'll get all jittery and stuff." Truthfully, the consequences of coffee consumption for babies was probably a lot worse, but Grace chose not to think about it, instead focusing on what Aiden said next. It made her feel... yet again, stupid, as Aiden explained that his family didn't live in Italy. Still, she told him in a small voice, "I... I meant when you were... were younger. I know that you, um... would live in Britain now. Cause otherwise you'd be in Italy. Speaking Italian and... doing, uh... Italian-type stuff like... like..." Merlin's beard, she didn't have a clue what Italian people did, other than the stereotypes.
Green tea sounded wild, even crazier than drinking English breakfast at night, and Grace in all honesty had never tried it before. Did people drink it at parties? Was it like alcohol? Merlin, cause it was illegal to drink alcohol before you were of age and the Ministry would come and grab you if they found out. Did they do the same for green tea? Surely not, you could have the drink at breakfast. Maybe... it was a way to get drunk minus the alcohol? Like a loophole? "I've never really been to a party at school before," she settled on saying, blinking at Aiden owlishly. "Have you? Do they drink green tea instead of... of... uh, firewhiskey? 'Cause... y'know, you can't drink firewhiskey before you're seventeen. I don't even think you can get it into Hogwarts, right? That's just... you'd get in so much trouble and you'd get kicked out and have... have to go to, um... Australia or something."
'See, it's much better when you don't apologise straight after,' made Grace's body immediately flush and thrum with warmth, and she felt almost proud of herself because she did the right thing, it appeared. She hadn't messed things up. He wasn't mad at her, and a smile broke out on her face. Perhaps spurred a little by the praise and on a tiny bit of an adrenaline rush, Grace asked, "Could... could I see them a bit closer? The rings, that is. They... they both sound like they're really special and dear to you." She found the idea that the twins had matching rings intriguing as well. It was obvious that they were close, closer than most siblings. At Aiden's compliment of her necklace, Grace reached up immediately, her smile turning a little bit sad. "It's my Granny Alice's. She... she passed away, a couple of years ago, but my Grandad Frank gave it to before... before they both ended up in St. Mungos. When she passed away, my Great Gran Augusta thought I should have it."
When Aiden glanced away, Grace couldn't help but wonder... what had she done wrong? Was... had she said something silly? But then he looked back and explained he didn't have much experience handling dickcissels. It was a shame, because he seemed like he'd be a good teacher when it came to learning how to touch and stroke them. "Maybe I'll... I'll ask Alana instead. She'd know how to, right? Since she knows all about great tits... I just don't want to touch them the wrong way, in case I'm too rough and hurt them," Grace said, still painfully innocent as she spoke and yet again, gnawed at her bottom lip.
She couldn't imagine anything worse... until she noticed Aiden's eyes were not on her, instead hovering around her chest instead. Following his gaze, Grace frowned because was there a stain somewhere on her t-shirt? She was so clumsy, there very well might have been. Pulling at the fabric, she tried to see if she could find the stain Aiden had been looking at. "I always manage to miss getting things in my mouth, goodness me," she murmured before seemingly giving up. The stain would just have to remain a mystery, it seemed.
Aiden's next words were definitely teasing and normally that would make Grace feel uncomfortable but coming from his mouth, with his hint of an accent wrapped around them, they made her breath catch in her chest. Then he let out a chuckle and actually winked at her and for a moment, Grace forgot what words were, instead staring at him with her pretty pink lips parted and blue eyes wide open, pupils blown. Finally, realising she was being rude, Grace came out with, “I… I don't suit the colour pink very much... and people with their, um... mouths. Well, usually I'm not - I've tried before, to get them to... to stop, but I don't think they find me intimidating."
Even though she paused for a moment, Grace still didn't exactly think through what she decided to say next. "I don't think - with the... the mouths and, um... the kissing. They... I don't really get why they want to... to keep kissing in a classroom anyway when I'm sure there's better more romantic places to do so like... like... the astronomy tower, or somewhere... or maybe they'd want to excuse themselves for a moment because usually there's heaps of saliva and stuff on their faces and they should go wash them for a minute because there shouldn't be that much, right? I think they're doing it wrong. Maybe. I don't... I wouldn't know because they... they they never mention that much spit in the book... in..." Glancing down almost automatically at the book in her bag, Grace cringed inwardly because, well, she'd just spent about a minute rambling about kissing - something she had zero experience with, although Aiden probably did because he was charming and handsome and just... kissable, and copped to reading about kissing stories in front of him. Merlin, she sounded like a floozy, didn't she?
Aiden's tone was chiding and stern as he spoke next, and Grace's automatic response to that was feeling bad... until all of a sudden, he started talking about touching boys'... and girl's... and automatically, she did a particularly apt impression of a goldfish, frozen on the spot for a good minute and just staring because... "Excuse... I'm... I don't... no," she spluttered out, immediately her breath getting quick because what on earth... where did he get that impression? "I've never... I've never even seen a-a-a p... that, or another girl's - I mean, in the bathroom, I don't... I go into my own stall because I don't feel comfortable... but that's..." Merlin's beard, she felt like she was set alight all of a sudden and her hands raced to her cheeks, trying to cool them down. "I've never even held hands with a boy, or kissed anyone, so why would I - I haven't... I... have you?" Then realising quite what she just asked, Grace rushed to try and correct herself, "No, np. I... sorry, I didn't... please don't tell me. If you don't want - I mean, don't tell me. It's not my business. I didn't mean... Merlin, it's... it's hot out here, isn't it?"
Was Aiden the Devil for enjoying the way that Grace stammered over his logical argument. It was like when he was a child, playing with a puppet and pulling the strings to watch them dance. There were far too many parts in her little reply for him to unpick; make her feel..? Don't want to look silly in front of little old me? Well, Aiden's brow raised as he kept the brewing laughter at bay because... Grace, that ship sailed long ago. "So you think in our spare time... us boys giggle about how silly you are?" Aiden asked, amusement and clear disbelief evident in the arch of his brow. "I'm glad to hear you think so highly of me... of us. Of boys." Aiden most certainly didn't care about what some pretty Hufflepuff thought of him.
"I don't know... maybe it explains our hyperactivity in classes," Aiden countered Grace's assertion that you simply couldn't give infants coffee. He was, of course, having a joke but he doubted that the girl would pick up on it. "Italian type things? Dimmi, che cose facciano gli italiani?" Aiden cocked his head, the inclination of his voice indicating that he was asking a question even if she didn't understand a word he spoke. "Yes, at home here in Britain we drink coffee as a family. We had to bring our own house elves though because the British ones would not stop serving tea," Aiden almost groaned at the memory.
"No... no they don't really serve green tea at a party, I was teasing," the Ravenclaw conceded, shaking his head gently. "And I'm pretty sure that the British stopped sending people to Australia for being naughty a couple of centuries ago," Aiden chuckled. "Though I'm surprised to hear that you've never been to a party - you seem quite the popular Hufflepuff. I haven't attended terribly many myself as I am usually working on some assignment or another. Sometimes I wonder why I was not more selective with my courses when I began my N.E.W.T.s."
It was interesting how bright Grace's smile could be when she was praised. Before the teenager realised and corrected himself, his smile grew to match the Hufflepuff's. "Maybe another time - after all, I can't give away all my secrets on the first morning back at Hogwarts," he said with a wink. Aiden had already overshared significantly and he didn't want anyone to think he was … friendly. His face softened though when Grace saddened, and he dropped his gaze for a moment. "I am sorry for your loss, Grace. It is nice that you have something to remember your grandmother by. Do you... do you miss her?" Aiden always enjoyed his time with his nonni and though his sister had no love for their parents, he could tell that even Alana would miss them when they finally passed from old age.
Merlin! The idea of Grace asking his sister for advice on how to pet a penis amused Aiden beyond words and he had to cough back a laugh. For a moment his mind raced with how he should reply to this - on the one hand, watching Alana when she was angry was truly a beautiful sight. Upsetting her girlfriend by raising suspicion that Alana liked the male sex organ was definitely also a plus. On the other hand it was almost too cruel to send this lamb to the slaughter with her innocent, hopeful smile that reached her sparkly azure eyes. Plus he didn't want to tempt fate and get Alana expelled for actually rage killing a student. "Mmm, no, on second thoughts I'm probably the better twin to teach you how to gently caress those things," he finally conceded. Isn't he so kind?
The Valentino boy was internally mortified when Grace noticed he'd been looking at her chest a little too long. He gulped and ran his fingers through his hair as his mind raced to rectify the situation. Quickly he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Grace's shirt - he was thankful that she'd given him an out, as he quickly mumbled, "scourgify," and the non-existent stain ceased to non-exist. "All sorted," Aiden said with a quick smile and he busied himself with putting away his wand once again.
After he had teased Grace, she fell silent and it... it was a long moment, really. Aiden almost preferred her incessant stammering to the stunned look she was giving him. "Ah. That will be a challenge then if the bad auror cannot prevent low-level, underage fraternization," Aiden said with a sage, slow nodding in reply. Though quickly Grace followed up with a surprising soliloquy regarding saliva and romanticism and Aiden had to work very hard to keep his eyebrows from raising all the way to his high hairline. "... I'm pretty sure if there's that amount of saliva on their face then you're watching someone impersonating their dog," Aiden said with a wrinkled nose. Though Grace continued and mentioned the book, glancing in the direction of hers that she literally refused to show him. What were pirates kissing on the high seas? Each other? Was Grace unnaturally interested in homosexual literotica like his very own writer, Roo? What was the fascination?
Aiden couldn't have predicted the amazing fluster that began when Grace realised they'd been talking about breasts and penises. He almost fell back on his buttocks from sheer amazement. His shoulders moved in supressed laughter and he tried very hard not to picture Grace in the female bathroom hiding her fit body away from the world like a good little girl. "You don't feel comfortable letting other girls see your body? I understand.. I imagine quite a few of them would be quite jealous of you," he decided to add amidst her fluster, just for shits and giggles. "Just so that I get my answer correct... are you asking if I've kissed a boy? Or held a boy's hand? Or something else entirely? … and no, actually the weather is quite pleasant. I think you could see your blush from the moon though."
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Jun 4, 2019 3:16:58 GMT
The way Aiden was phrasing his question about thinking that boys giggled about her made it crystal clear that no, they did not - or at least, he didn't. Immediately, a wave of embarrassment rushed over Grace once more and instead of answering, she glanced down at her lap because maybe that... maybe she was just stupid having thought that. She'd assumed that because girls definitely gossiped among each other about boys, it was the same in reverse. Apparently not.
"Like... like... um... listen to opera music?" Grace tried to answer feebly. Whilst she didn't understand a single word of what he was saying in Italian - and by Merlin, it was... that made her stomach all fluttery - it was clear by the tilt of his head that he was questioning her on what Italians did. His complaint that the house elves only served tea, however, made Grace let out a giggle before she could quite stop it because oh goodness, not tea. "I think I would have quite liked the old house elves - not that... not that I'd ever be invited to your house, or would have before when you had British... I bet the Italian house elves make a lovely cup of coffee though."
He was surprised she hadn't be to a party? That was a new one. "I... I wouldn't say I'm popular, I'd say that people don't really... really want to have fun with me? I think they think I'm boring or I'd get them in trouble or... or something," Grace admitted softly, though his admission that he'd only ever attended a few parties surprised her. She would have thought that as a pureblood, he would have been invited to quite a few. "I'm really busy too, with NEWTs. I, um... probably took too many classes and wanted to take more actually but... I only really need a few of those to starter healer training - well, if I get in. I... I don't know if I will get in. It depends on a lot of things."
"Another time then," Grace agreed, her teeth immediately sinking into her bottom lip as Aidan asked if she missed her grandmother. Of course she did, it was only human to miss a loved one, right? Nodding softly, Grace said, "She... well, she was kinda out of it in St. Mungo's because... because of what happened to her, but when I was little she always gave me and Arthur gum wrappers. Dad said she used to do that when he was little too, and I know it was her way of letting us know she loved us even if... if she didn't really know who we were exactly."
"Maybe... maybe I just need to practice then," Grace murmured, more to herself than anything else. Maybe the more she played at being bad auror, the better she would become? Perhaps he could give her some tips on how to improve. Aiden's next words made her face scrunch up however because... "Do dogs kiss? Is... is that a thing?" She wouldn't know, she'd never owned a dog. They were cute, though, but she didn't ever want to see them kiss like the students at Hogwarts kissed each other. That would be pretty... pretty disturbing, actually.
'A few of them would be quite jealous of you' immediately had Grace's face falling because he was making fun of her, it seemed like. Nobody was jealous of her, not in a miillion years, there was nothing envy-worthy about her. She was just... plain. Not a thing about her was special. In an uncharacteristic show of backbone, Grace told him softly, "That's not funny," before scrambling to her feet. It was just getting worse, she felt like there was molten lava running through her body, and she was about to explode especially as he pointed out her 'blush' being seen from the room. Grabbing her bag, Grace rushed out, "I've got... got to go. Do... I promised Faith I'd meet her. I'll... bye." With that, the Hufflepuff girl was heading off towards the castle, as quick as her legs would carry her without running.
