Closed Flowers! Unexpectedly... PV Dee Prince

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By SK

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It was a cool night, summer well and truly over, and Dee shivered a little, pulling her robes more tightly around herself. She should have brought her cloak, or at least a scarf, had underestimated the cold seeping through the fabric. Still, it was a beautiful night, calm and sharp, the waning moon providing enough light that she didn't need her wand to illuminate her path out towards the greenhouses. The eventful part of her curfew patrols was over, most stragglers had been shooed back to their common rooms with a warning, and she'd run out of people to order around. Now, half an hour past curfew, the castle was largely deserted, and encountering anyone actually breaking curfew at this time was rare. All that was left was checking a few of the less frequented areas she was responsible for today, and then she'd be done for the night. In short, Dee was bored.

Thus, although they were supposed to always patrol in pairs, Dee had the tendency to suggest to her partner that they split up for part of the time, to cover ground more quickly, and was now walking towards Greenhouse One by herself. It wasn't really dangerous after all, near the castle, her partner within calling distance. She was simply increasing efficiency.

Suppressing a yawn, Dee let her attention wander a bit, not really expecting anything interesting to find around the first greenhouse. After all, who would want to break into Greenhouse One? All the interesting plants were restricted to higher years, and thus confined to the other greenhouses. She'd almost walked past the door when she paused, frowning, and turned back to take another glance.

It wasn't closed. Just slightly, but it was standing the tiniest bit ajar, like someone hadn't pushed on it hard enough to make the lock snap shut. Had the new Herbology professor just forgotten to lock it? He did seem like the careless type. Still, she should at least check. Reaching out, Dee pulled the door open quietly, only mildly surprised at this point to actually find a shape standing in murky darkness, just partially illuminated by the moon. The figure was dressed in black - hat, jumper, shorts, shoes - and apparently in the process of... stealing flowers?

Tilting her head to one side slightly, Dee raised her hands, forming a finger gun, her arms outstretched. There was a small grin tugging on the corners of her mouth as she closed one eye, pretending to aim at the flower thief's back. "You're under arrest," she declared, her voice easily breaking the silence when she stepped into the greenhouse. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to an attorney..." Trailing off, she frowned slightly. "Well, actually, you probably don't. I don't think you do. I could just give you detention or something, no lawyers necessary."

@Jack Warren

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]Y[/font]ou're under arrest. Those are never good words to hear when you are trying to steal shit. The boy craned his neck to glance behind his back. As he did so, he could only hear the words that the cops in those American TV shows. The shock alone of having somebody say they're going to arrest you was enough, but now the Miranda rights were coming out too? Now was Jack was a lucky boy, but having the luck of a cute girl to find him. He recognized the face of the Ravenclaw prefect, and he grinned a tiny bit. Well, he smiled until Dea brought up detention. That didn't sound like much fun, and it would not be an excellent start to be kicked out from his prefect position and then immediately get detention a month or so later.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]S[/font]uddenly a surprisingly clever plan sprung into his dreadfully simple mind. With Primrose in hand, the boy stood up from his sneaky beaky crouched position and spun on his heel. Now facing towards Dealla, Jack extended his hand. "These are for you!" Any hint of subtlety flew out the window faster than a jet soaring across the sky, "I was getting these for you- I mean - I was planning on asking you to the ball- this month." The former prefect couldn't help but glance at the ball poster that was pasted to the side of the windowed greenhouse. After a moment of a straight face, he would pull out his most charming smile. He raised the flowers even higher as if that would help his point.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]O[/font]bviously, he wouldn't have asked if he wasn't serious about going through with it. His question was spontaneous, but he alone knew Dea well. She was cute and fun to be around. He could imagine having a good time at the ball with her, assuming he wasn't scrubbing the bathroom with his toothbrush instead.

Giving flowers to @Dealla Prince in hopes of getting a date and a free pass out of detention.

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By SK

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A little preoccupied by the question if Hogwarts students had a right to legal representation before they were given detention, Dee had been paying less attention to the shadowy flower thief. She jumped slightly when the figure spun around, startled out of her musings, then blinked when she recognised the boy. A brilliant smile began to light up her face, bright in the moonlight. "Jack!" she exclaimed, genuinely pleased to see him, and any thought of detention already fleeing her mind. There were worse things she could have run across in the darkness than Jack Warren stealing flowers.

Flowers that were now brandished at her rather forcefully, accompanied by... a very unexpected invitation, to the upcoming Samhain ball. Truthfully, Dee hadn't given a thought to why Jack was here, abducting primroses under the cover of darkness, but if she'd had to guess, this wasn't what she would have come up with. The coincidence was oddly well-timed.

She would never have expected to get asked to the ball on her patrol after curfew, but then, she just never seemed to expect ball invitations at all. As done and proven, someone could ask her out on a picnic that matched the ball theme, after hinting at a somewhat special reason, and the invitation would still take her by surprise. Quite likely, the spontaneity of this situation was what suited her best.

Her reaction came a little delayed, a second spent staring at the flowers in surprise, the grin startled off her face, before she raised her eyes to meet Jack's. Then, to her horror, she could feel warmth climbing up her face, likely turning her nose and cheeks a soft pink. Why was she blushing? Dee usually wasn't the blushing type, and she couldn't say that she liked it very much. Still, she should probably say something, she realised, and preferably something more coherent than in the past. Among her glorious responses to ball invitations counted an extremely disbelieving 'Why?!' and a rather awkward, regretful 'Oh'. This time, however, she was still free, and Jack was someone she liked. He was funny, they got along well. Plus, she decided, this funny feeling she had in her stomach was actually kind of nice.

So, after a moment's hesitation, Dee reached out to take the flowers from him, then grinned back at him brightly, a spark of amusement dancing in her eyes even while the tip of her nose was still pink. "That is suspiciously convenient timing for you, Jack, but I'll accept it." Her smile turned a little teasing as she glanced down at the flowers and back up at him. "That is, if you actually ask. So far you only said you were planning to."

Accepting bribes from @Jack Warren.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]J[/font]ack didn't know his face could feel so hot. His cherry-red cheeks matched Dee's perfectly. He had to drop his head for a moment to regain control of his madly flustered face. It was a better reaction than he thought he would have received, but he welcomed it readily. Honestly, this was the first time he asked someone to the ball, and thank god it was going smoothly. (As smoothly as being caught stealing could go).

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]S[/font]uspiciously convenient was one way to put a panicked invitation, but hey, he'd take what he could get. "Oh right- I, uh, timing is kind of my forte- Oh Yes? That's GREAT!" His stuttering words went from nervous to delight in zero to sixty flat. However, embarrassment was far from over at the moment. Again, Dee felt the need to inform Jack of his distinct lack of actually asking, and again he felt the fire rush up to his cheeks. "Oh, God- I didn't ask-" Awkwardly, Jack took to his full height before dusting his hands off, now that Dealla accepted 'his' flowers. "I'm, uh, just gonna get on a knee- That's how you do it, right?" As he spoke, the child couldn't help grin and drop to a knee in front of the Ravenclaw prefect. Like he was in a Sunday soap opera, the child reached out and took Dea's hand in his own. "Dealla Prince. Will you." Dramatic pause. "Go to the fall ball with me?"

@Dealla Prince

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By SK

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With enough light, anyone watching might have mistaken them for a pair of cherries. Thankfully, it was too dark to really see them from more than a few steps away. As it was, Dee wasn't sure if the fact that Jack had turned just as red as she was made her feel better or just drew even more attention to how warm her cheeks felt. A bit of both, maybe.

She grinned at Jack's response to her teasing. It had only been half-serious, she would have gone with him even without another, more explicit invitation, but when the former prefect actually went down on one knee, she couldn't help the surprised laughter bubbling up in her throat, spilling over and out, a light and cheerful sound. "Is... is that how you do it?" she asked in return, eyes bright with amusement, while she tried her best to remain semi-serious. Trying being the defining word here, success was questionable. The pink in her cheeks that had begun to fade returned at the half-sweet, half-awkward situation. Flowers and an invitation delivered while kneeling, wasn't she a lucky girl.

However, when Jack for whatever incomprehensible reason chose to use her full name, Dee's eyes widened slightly. Only half conscious of her reaction, she reached out to slightly whack him on the head with the flowers she'd just received. (Very slightly, as it would likely hurt the poor flowers more than Jack's head.) Then she paused, lifting the flowers as if to inspect them for damage. "I'd love to go with you," she said into the flowers, then looked down at Jack, one eyebrow raised, "on one condition. Never call me Dealla again." Not unlikely, next time she would whack him with something harder than a couple flowers.

@Jack Warren