Closed Not So Late Night Chat PV Pratteroni

@Alexandria Clark

─────Alex was just about to comment on Prat's formal greeting when he cut her off by casting a spell, summoning dozens of butterflies. She smiled and laughed softly as she watched them fly around the room. When she looked back at the boy before her, he held flowers out to her. "I- um, thank you. They're lovely," she said, blushing, as she accepted the flowers from him.

"It really has," she agreed quietly. The last time she and Prat talked alone was at summer camp. It's not like she had been avoiding him, she did want to talk to him. He just seemed so busy anytime she would see him around the castle. "Oh, is that so?" Alex asked jokingly after Prat spoke about having to "maintain a persona." "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," she said, playfully pushing his shoulder. A few moments of silence passed, "But yeah, I've kinda missed you too," she said, flashing a small smile.

She opened her mouth to speak but everything she wanted to say to him swirled together in her mind, overwhelming her thoughts. "I- so... um," the nervous girl stutters, trying to find something to break the silence. "Uh, so how have you been then?" Alex finally manages to say as she turns to a nearby desk and sets the flowers down. That sounded really awkward...

She turns back around to face him, leaning against the desk. "Have you done something with your hair? It looks different, not in a bad way though," she says in a rather rushed manner. Oh my god, why is this so weird? We've talked before this and it wasn't this awkward. Maybe I'm the one making it uncomfortable. I just don't know what to say to him.

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•Lovely Creature in Effect•

@Alexandria Clark

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Starting things perfectly right off the bat was his plan of execution, which as the fates seemed to align for him worked seamlessly in his favour. His short gesture had been effective enough to distract Alex and have him lead their conversation. Not that Alex would steer into an awkward tone, he merely wished to save his time. Coming off from a busy day spent among the books and spells captured within them. Prat was glad to find a moment of peace.

Peace that was only further trumped by Alex's Presence, being in her company certainly eased his burnout from the day. Her being easy on the eyes only succeeded in further demolishing the wear-tear he had brought on himself from his days of overworking his body and mind. Hearing her reaction to those flowers he whispered words before his brain processed them. "You're lovely" he uttered hoping it was out her earshot.

Meeting her gaze as much as he had to look down to accomplish that cathartic experience, looking into her dark eyes Prat as she dropped words at him, her mouth fumbling more than her hands. "I've been busy, i'd like to believe to some extent so have you." he replied as a window for him to provide the lion cub a response opened up. "Duelling and spells have taken my time these days....among other things."

While his academics were an open book to his friends, Prat was in no universe about to inform Alex of the shenanigans he had been into since their arrival back to castle. Words spread like wildfire among pure-bloods, he had no intention of letting words slip that would come back to bite him. Or worse, find their way to his parents of all people. While easygoing, even a blind man could see how they might not agree with some of his rather nefarious actions on the school grounds.

Even As Alex leaned back on that desk, Prat could feel the nervousness flowing from her, deciding to tease her even further, he got in closer as their finger tips came in contact others. "I had a little cut, thought it was time to clean things up and try something new. You like it !?" he asked genuinely caring for her opinion as opposed to most others. Smiling down at her, bringing his fingers upto her ear, attempting to tuck her hair upon asking "May I?"

─────"Hm..." Alex hummed thoughtfully to herself. "I suppose I have been quite busy lately, now that I think of it. I've had much to..." she pauses, the image of a crumbled piece of paper in the bottom of her bag popped into her mind. "To think about," she says finally in a bit of a lower tone. The young Gryffindor raised her eyebrows suspiciously at Prat's mentions of "other things" occupying his time. She considered him for a moment, analyzing his expression before deciding to shrug it off. It's likely nothing of significance if he didn't elaborate on it.

Leaning against the desk she felt her nerves calm, only to spike back up as Prat approached her while he answered her question about this hair. He'd gotten a haircut recently, it looked good, he looked good. The thoughts in the back of her head notified Alex of that as he got closer. It felt like she'd blinked and then he was barely a foot in front of her. She felt an electric-like shock as the dark-haired boy's hand grazed hers. "Well... um-" she cleared her throat, pulling her hand away from his, "It looks nice. You look..." Hot. Like really hot. The girl's cheeks flush a light shade of pink. "You look good. I like it," she said softly.

He smiled, her heartbeat quickened.

So close...

Prat lifted his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and Alex could feel her face turning red. "Um-" she started, pulling herself away from the extremely attractive boy in front of her. She turned her back to him and walked over to the dusty window overlooking the grounds. "So dueling? That's fun, right? Tell me about that," she said quickly, trying to compose herself so that he wouldn't see how much such a small gesture affected her. What is wrong with me? I should not be acting like this over Prat of all people.

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•Lovely Creature in Effect•

@Alexandria Clark

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Alex well into her words suddenly seemed to quiet down, perhaps she did not wish to further elaborate. He wasn't willing to push her for it when she didn't seem in the mood to share it. Perhaps it was something she deemed irrelevant to him. He certainly understood reasonings for keeping things private and closed. At last he chalked it up to be some issue from her days in hogwarts and left nothing else to be pondered as their conversation further drifted towards other topics.

With Alex now once again slipping away from his grasp, not too long after his fingers met hers, and she was distanced again. He wondered if the days of rough housing made his palm coarse and rough. Ew! that could not be the reason for it, he had the smoothest palms a twelve year old hard working man could possess. Palms as if they were sculpted by Michelangelo(not the turtle one) and Hephaestus themselves in tandem with each other.

Atleast the hair was Alex approved, Prat was unsure when his mother had him cut those overgrown nest as she called them. even if they were neatly styled in his opinion. Perhaps they weren't suited for a twelve year old. The new hair was less shorter and far easier to style. What was surprising however was Alex's sudden interest in Duelling, something she had shown very less intent in previously. Even refusing his duel challenges.

This sudden interest was surprising, he wondered if she had a different motive behind this query but ultimately decided to humor her."Duelling is Duelling, it's fun, you throw spells you dodge some. Words can hardly describe the adrenaline rush a live duel brings." Even with all his favor towards duelling, Prat wasn't too keen on telling Alex everything. Deciding to only give her enough words to satiate her curiosity and not ask anymore. He figured she'd lose interest soon, nor did he think about telling her all those times he burnt or bruised himself during these duels and had to go seek medical help.

With a call to slumber he could feel approaching, knowing he won't be able to stay up for any longer. Prat decided to wrap things up, leaning on the window supported with his forearms below him, he looked at her as the moonlight bounced off them, cascading their faces as he could feel all his focus zeroing on her. This was something he had practiced for in his dorms previously, but having to do it in real life was more Nerve wracking then he could imagine. Clearing his throat, he began his words with almost a casual tone, "So..Alex, do you have someone you're taking to the ball with?" Knowing he had to keep his calm and confident persona, he put on a confident tone as he followed it with "I'll take you with me if you don't, i'd actually prefer if you don't." without breaking eye contact as he waited for her reply.

─────Arms crossed and a soft expression on her face, Alex stared out the window watching the wind blow leaves around in the area. It was dark outside but she could still see the silhouette of the forest just beyond the grounds. The young brunette focuses on the dark forest as Prat talks about dueling. "Isn't that dangerous?" she said quietly. Dueling hadn't ever been much of an interest to Alex, it just seemed like unnecessary violence so she never understood why he enjoyed it so much. No doubt he's ended up injured from it, so why would he like it that much?

She listened as the sound of his footsteps approached her, still focused on the scene outside the window. Prat leaned against the window and asked her if she was going to the ball with anyone. Only then did she look at him. He was leaning against the window looking as attractive as ever, his features illuminated by the light of the moon. As much as she didn't want to, Alex met his gaze before smiling softly, "Well, no, I'm not going with anyone. I wasn't even entirely sure if was going to go, you know? I'm not one to purposefully attend formal gatherings like that. But I suppose it'd be nice to go with you."

His tone was casual but there was an underlying sense of something else. Perhaps I've made him nervous for once, rather than the other ways round. Alex smiled amusedly at the thought before another pops into her head. "Oh, right. I have something for you," she said, tearing her eyes away from the Slytherin boy and walked over to her bag. "Now, don't get all sentimental and stuff, but I made you this a few weeks ago," she took a small item out of her bag and walked back over to Prat. She took his hand and handed him a bracelet. The bracelet had a chevron pattern of dark green, black, and a sparkly gold. "Don't think you're super special or anything. Kenz and I made them for all our friends, yours just had a bit more care put into it..." she said gently. Her hand lingered on his for a moment before she noticed and pulled away. "Do you like it?"

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•Lovely Creature in Effect•

@Alexandria Clark

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─────She smiled when Prat said he liked the bracelet she made for him. "Um, yeah. I mean, sort of. It's the same pattern but just different colors. Kenz's is pink, yellow, and red. I made hers as well," Alex rambled, gesturing pointlessly as she spoke. God, I need to stop doing that, she thought as she clasped her hands together tightly. He yawned and Alex raised an accusatory eyebrow, "I'm just so terribly boring, aren't I?" She laughed faintly.

"Yeah, of course. Here," she said as she stepped forward and began to tie the bracelet around his wrist for him. Their eyes met briefly, which sent the butterflies in Alex's stomach into a panic. "There," she announced as she finished tying the bracelet. She smiled kindly and nodded as Prat told her that he was going to head off to his dorm. "Mhm, sure. I'll see you around then. Goodnight, Prat," she said, briefly resting her hand on his shoulder before turning around to grab her bag.

The Gryffindor girl picked up her bag and opened it to check that she still had everything. Her gaze fell upon the crumpled-up piece of paper at the bottom of her bag. "Hm..." she sighed to herself before taking it out of her bag and tossing it into the trashcan next to the door of the room.

She had just been about to exit the room when she was struck with the feeling that she had forgotten something. Oh shit. "The flowers," Alex muttered before she walked back to the desk where the flowers Prat had given her had been abandoned. She picked them up and inspected them, he can never know I nearly forgot this.

As Alex walked out of the classroom she chuckled to herself, he'd throw a fit over that.