Hide PV Aaron Jones Finished

Aaron was late that morning because he had gone to the training pitch as soon as curfew lifted. He had been inspired to try out a new trick idea, and in his attempts to pull it off, he had completely lost track of time. By the time he had remembered that he was at school and actually needed to get to class, breakfast was almost over and he definitely needed to shower after that workout. He had rushed back to the Hufflepuff dorms to shower just as breakfast was ending. After, he threw on his school uniform, grabbed his school bag and some food from his dorm's snack bar, then bolted back out.

First up that morning was Herbology with Professor Irons. Aaron was sure that the man would be understanding if he was just a few minutes late. But the boy's brown eyes widened when he suddenly saw Aly Salinger come barreling around the corner. Why wasn't she already in class? More importantly - why was she running? And even more importantly than that - why did she look panicked?

It didn't take longer than a moment to deduce the situation though - he could hear the footsteps around the corner from her. All students were technically supposed to be in class right now, so those footsteps must be a staff member patrolling the halls for stragglers and skippers. The priority in his mind suddenly shifted from getting to class to hiding from the law. Running wouldn't get them far here, and Aaron instantly saw a place they could hide.

Rather than verbalize his intentions, Aaron made eye contact with Aly and mouthed "Let's hide." In the same moment, the Hufflepuff reached for the running girl's hand and hastily pulled her with him into one of the window alcoves that dotted the castle halls. This one was one of the tall and skinny window alcoves, with a floor-length curtain drawn on one side. Aaron used his free hand to yank the cord and the curtain cut them off of view from the corridor. They were bathed in the sunlight from the window on their other side. It wasn't the best hiding spot in the world, but hopefully whoever was chasing Aly would be so focused on the chase that they didn't stop to check one of the windows.

And now, holding his breath as he listened for the footsteps to pass, the Hufflepuff realized how close he and Aly were. This was not a big space - it was not one of the alcoves meant for sitting together, it was clearly only in existence to let natural light in. And he was still holding her hand. He instantly released it, and could feel his face heating up. Of all the people to be in this situation with, Aaron wasn't sure if he was glad or mortified that it was Aly. A bit of both, if he was being honest with himself. The fact that he had a crush on her wasn't helping his heartbeat, but at least he had a few extra minutes with her, right? And thank god he had showered just before this, so he wouldn't smell in this close proximity.

@Aly Salinger

Aaron has a Calming Presence.

Your presence simply puts others at ease, if it is your carefree personality or the trust others have in you, the result is still the same. With you there, perhaps through your encouragement, your allies are able to better focus.

|| Interacting with @Aaron Jones ||

Unlike their encounter a few weeks earlier, which had also been in a corridor and also had occurred with one of them running away from trouble, this time it was Aly who nearly crashed into Aaron. She stumbled, hesitating and missing a step in her stride, and she would have fallen right over onto the cold tiled floor if it weren't for Aaron reaching out, grasping onto her hand, and yanking her into a nearby alcove in an impossibly smooth single movement. He'd mouthed something at her, too, but her frantic eyes had been darting about looking for an escape, so she was glad that he provided it for her instead of waiting for her to do something about it.

Aaron pulled the curtain shut, plunging them not into darkness, but into privacy; there was a window in this alcove that had previously been helping to light the hallway, but there were enough windowed alcoves in the corridor that Aly could only pray that her pursuer wouldn't notice one fewer light source. Her heart was drumming a mad beat in her chest, so loudly that the Ravenclaw girl was surprised her companion couldn't hear it, though if he couldn't hear, likely neither could her chaser...

Oh, Merlin, I hope we don't get caught, Aly agonised, her mind running a million kilometers an hour, so fast that she didn't even notice that Aaron released her hand in the confined space of the alcove. It's so kind of Aaron to help me out - that's just like him, of course - but now if I get in trouble, he'll get in trouble, too, for helping me...

But luckily, the footsteps pounded past, so heavy that they must have been an older student or professor of some sort - though Aly was glad she'd never gotten close enough to see exactly who the source could have been. She breathed out a sigh of relief, then immediately inhaled a deep breath, not even having realised she'd been starving her lungs of oxygen whilst waiting in agony to see if they'd be captured and put to detention. After a moment of catching her breath, Aly broke out into a relieved smile and took a half-step forward - they were indeed pretty close to each other, trapped into this narrow space, so that extra petite pace was all she needed to be close enough to throw her arms around his neck.

And she did just that, wrapping Aaron into a hug, though his height made it slightly awkward so that she was burying her face somewhere in the soft black fabric of the robes covering his left shoulder, his Hufflepuff crest slightly tickling her nose. "Thank you so much, Aaron," she breathed into his shoulder, relief crashing over her like a cresting wave, still trying to be quiet in case whoever had already passed them decided to double back. "I owe you! What a stroke of good luck it was to find you here..."

Aaron distracted himself from thinking about Aly by focusing on the footsteps. It was clearly a relief to both students when the sound of the steps pounded straight past them then got further away, indicating her pursuant was none-the-wiser about their hiding spot. As he breathed his own sigh of relief, the fourteen-year-old tried to calm his heart. His brown eyes, which had been staring at the still curtains, finally returned to the Ravenclaw he had aided. That was a mistake. Wh- Why was she stepping closer to him? Panic rose into his throat as all sorts of thoughts sped through his mind. Wha- Was she- Was she about to-

Before his mind could go too wild in its thoughts (well actually, too late - he'd already stupidly thought the word kiss and would be banging his head on a wall about it later), Aly carried out her action of throwing her arms around his neck. For a second, he didn't know what to do with his hands. But then he remembered how to function like a normal human being and hugged her too, his arms encircling her back and holding her close.

Aaron could hardly hear her words over the sound of his own heartbeat. His face felt hot and was probably so red - he was incredibly glad that they weren't able to see each other while hugging. Her crazy curly hair tickled his face but he welcomed the feeling, since he realized this was the first time they had hugged. He had so many female friends in Hufflepuff that loved to hug, so he'd actually grown used to this particular affection over the years. But this year had been a bit different since a lot of his friends had noticed a change in him after quitting Quidditch and going through some changes this past summer - he wasn't giving off that "I'm open to hugging" vibe. While he still very much loved his friends, affection like hugging felt awkward with them.

With Aly though, it was different. Not awkward at all, just nice. He wouldn't mind hugging her all the time. She was small and cute and she smelled nice. Like flowers maybe? That would make sense, considering her penchant for them. And she was incredibly kind, always smiling and taking care of people and making new friends. Another tickle from her hair pulled him out of his incredibly mushy thoughts about her (bleh), and he heard her talk about owing him and luck.

"Don't mention it," Aaron said, quietly clearing his throat when he realized how soft his voice sounded. He pulled away from the hug once he felt like his face wasn't as hot as it had been, then offered her a sheepish grin. "But what are you doing here? Aren't you meant to be in Herbology? Don't tell me you're skipping, Ms Salinger," he teased. The Hufflepuff was also speaking quietly in case they weren't completely out of the woods.

@Aly Salinger

|| Interacting with @Aaron Jones ||

It took a minute, but Aaron eventually hugged her back; too late, Aly realised that perhaps she should have asked before embracing him. Some people didn't like to be touched, and there was the distinct possibility that Aaron was one of them... but then she remembered his hand snatching hers, and though that had almost certainly been of necessity instead of friendly affection, this calmed her somewhat and she relaxed into his arms.

After what seemed like an eternity, but also not nearly long enough, of an embrace, they pulled away at the same time, with Aaron clearing his throat and Aly breathing steadily to calm her still-racing heartbeat. Goodness, even Aaron saving her hadn't exactly managed to soothe the rapid pace at which her blood was beating through her veins or thoughts through her head - in fact, she almost seemed to be breathing faster, her heart fluttering at an anxious quickness. Clearly, when it came to being nervous about being caught, she wasn't done quite yet.

Trying not to focus on her heartbeat, Aly tuned back into what Aaron was whispering in a hushed voice. "-doing here? Aren't you meant to be in Herbology?" His eyes twinkled mischieviously, the only thing cluing her into the fact that he was joking - well, that and the fact that he was also supposed to be in Aly's favourite class at about that moment. "Don't tell me you're skipping, Ms Salinger."

Aly's mouth dropped open in an affront that was only partially mock (for if anyone had truly accused her of purposely bunking off, she would have been offended beyond belief). "Aaron!" she exclaimed in a passable imitation of indignance, perhaps a bit too loud than what it should have been, and realising as such, Aly clapped a hand over her own mouth for a moment before removing it with a sheepish smile and speaking in a much quieter, playful tone. "Aaron. How dare you, I hope you know I would never!"

Shaking her head and getting into a more serious tone, she heaved an aggrieved sigh. "No, I... I overslept again. Third time this month... and second time for Herbology, so I have no doubt Professor Irons will have my head when I finally get there." Impatiently, Aly cocked her head towards the curtain that hid them from the outside, listening for padding footsteps that weren't there. "If it's safe to get there at some point."

Breaking from her want to get to class immediately in favor of chatting with a friend for just a moment longer - it's only because I want to make sure it's safe to go, she assured herself, no other reason - the curly-haired girl eyed the dark-haired Hufflepuff up and down, still grinning. "Wait, hold on with your accusations just a moment," she said, drawling out her words slowly, teasingly, knowingly. "Aren't you supposed to be in Herbology? You don't seem like the type to oversleep... what's your story?"

Aaron's brown eyes widened in amusement at the way Aly practically shouted his name in protest. Clearly she hadn't meant to be so loud, given the way she clapped her hand over her mouth a second later. He had to try hard not to laugh. "Yes, I definitely know you would never," Aaron repeated in an amused voice, thinking about how anti-rule breaking she was. "All the more reason I'm shocked to see you."

When she explained she had overslept, some details Aaron had glazed over before made more sense now. Like the way her hair was slightly more disheveled than usual, and how looking down at the ground in avoiding her eye earlier had revealed her socks were not level. They were tiny details that he would've forgotten in mere seconds and wouldn't have put together without her revelation about the oversleeping thing. His facial expression became a bit concerned - wondering why she wasn't sleeping well - but he could tell she was really anxious to get to class, so he focused on that instead.

Aaron was about to peek out from the curtains to ascertain it was safe, but she called him out first. He offered a cheeky grin in reply, "I was practicing some tricks down at the pitch and completely lost track of time. Missed breakfast in favor of showering, and was on my way to class when I ran into you." As he spoke of missing breakfast, he realized Aly must've done the same. He immediately fished in his bag and pulled out an apple and a banana. "My dorm's got snacks so I grabbed some to eat on the way. You must be hungry, have one," he said, offering her the choice. He was pretty proud that he had thought to grab these snacks.

After she accepted one of them, Aaron finally peeked through the curtain to the hallway beyond. It was empty, and the footsteps seemed like they were long gone. "I believe we're safe... for now. We should really get to Herbology," the Hufflepuff said, turning slightly to look at Aly. "After you," he invited, holding the curtain aside for her to walk through. Aaron worked on tying the curtain back in its original place while allowing her room to exit.

@Aly Salinger

|| Interacting with @Aaron Jones ||

Was that a tinge of laughter Aly was hearing in her companion's voice? She narrowed her eyes playfully, planning on teasing him right back if he were to continue down this path of joking - but, too soon, he switched topics into explaining why he was not in the class they were both missing. Practicing tricks down at the pitch? This early in the morning? The morning period of lessons always began at nine a.m. sharp, and the clock had ticked far past that, but that meant that in order for Aaron to practice for however long, then get back to the Hufflepuff common room, then shower and get ready for the day, then begin to make his way to class...

Aly tried to do the calculations backwards in her head, counting back the minutes, and after a moment - she had never been much for numbers - raised her brow in surprise. "You must have woken up rather early to do all of that before even leaving for class now," she enthused with an impressed nod. "What would that have been... seven? I could never drag myself from the comfort of my covers before eight a.m. at the very earliest."

At Aaron's offer of a snack, Aly perked up; her stomach had indeed been growling, but she'd elected to ignore it until lunch, since the only non-school thing she carried in her satchel would be flowers instead of snacks. Really, she had to start taking a roll from dinner for the next morning; it was starting to get tiring, this whole failure to eat breakfast every single day. With a grateful smile, Aly chose the apple, hoping that Aaron hadn't picked that for himself and that he would be fine with the banana. Apples tended to be sweeter, and Aly had a sweet tooth - plus, bananas were always hit or miss, whereas Aly could always enjoy a good apple. Polishing a bit of it on her sleeve, she raised the ripe red fruit up to her mouth and happily crunched into it.

When she had chewed and swallowed, Aaron was already looking back at her, holding open the curtain for her in a very gentlemanly gesture that reminded her of the way her father Benjamin always rushed ahead to open doors in front of her mother Hesper, even though Hesper was perfectly capable of opening doors herself. "I believe we're safe... for now," her favourite Hufflepuff assured her. "We should really get to Herbology. After you..."

"Much obliged," the Ravenclaw murmured sweetly under her breath, moving forward to slip past him; however, he had turned at an awkward angle to leave her just not quite enough room to pass through whilst he was tying the curtain back up, and as she attempted to clumsily shimmy by, she tripped over nothing but air and mildly lost her balance once again; Aly grabbed on to his arm to steady herself, for grabbing the curtain would lead to nothing but a hard collision with the floor, but it was too late. The small, hard heel- it couldn't have been more than a centimetre of height, but a heel nevertheless- of her shining scuffed black uniform shoes came down directly on the toe of one of Aaron's.

Feeling it underneath her heel, Aly immediately released Aaron's arm and jumped away from him with a horrified wince. "I'm sorry - I'm so sorry!" she babbled in embarrassment, her face flushing red as she stared wide-eyed into the pain on Aaron's face. "Oh, Aaron, I'm so sorry, that was an accident - I ought to have watched where I was stepping - I - I -"

"I'm a bit of a light sleeper - when other people start moving around in the dorms, I wake up," Aaron explained. "I usually leave the dorms at half past seven to go to the pitch for half-an-hour and get back in time to shower and eat breakfast, but today I just lost track of time." On weekdays he had a routine of getting his workouts in before class so that after class he could attempt to get his school work done. But some days he went flying after class too, when he was feeling particularly restless or inspired.

When Aly accepted the apple as a snack, Aaron put the banana back in his bag. He would snack on it during the walk to Herbology, but right now he turned his focus on looking out at the corridor. He invited Aly to lead the way getting out of the alcove, and retied the curtain. Just as he was confident it would stay that way, with the window spilling light into the hallway like it had been before, Aaron felt a tug on his arm. He turned just in time to realize what was happening - Aly was about to fall and used him to steady herself - then there was an intense pain in his foot that blinded him to all the other details.

"AH-" Aaron silenced himself after his initial exclamation, and he grimaced very evidently. He tried to hold in his pain, but all he could think to himself was Ow, ow, owwwww. Aly launched into an apology while he looked down at his foot. He didn't know what he was expecting to see - it was just his black uniform shoes down there - but he sent his toe a heated glare nonetheless for betraying him.

The third-year was holding his breath, something he only realized when he finally looked back up at Aly. He exhaled and tried to not look quite as in-pain. Her face was red, clearly embarrassed and apologetic, and he tried to offer a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, I know it was an accident," Aaron said, hoping he didn't sound as pained as he thought. "The pain's already fading. We should head to class before we run into someone else," he said, hoping to take the focus away from the foot-stepping incident and back onto their mission - getting to Herbology. He immediately started leading the way down the corridor, grimacing again only when Aly couldn't see his face. That had hurt, and it still hurt a bit as he made an effort to walk normally. But he was going to put on a brave face and not draw too much attention.

"You said you've been oversleeping, is something wrong?" Aaron asked, saying the first thing that came to mind in a continued attempt to draw attention away from his pain. Perhaps it wasn't the best conversation topic, though, considering how serious Aly had looked moments ago. Too late now. He looked over at the brunette girl, his brown eyes seeking hers in an attempt to see if she was upset by the subject. "Is it your mum? Is she still sending stressful letters, so you're overworking yourself?" he asked, recalling the letter she told him about.

@Aly Salinger

|| Interacting with @Aaron Jones ||

Aaron might have been trying to write off his pain as okay, telling her that it was an accident and the hurt was already beginning to fade away, but Aly had stepped on her own toes one too many times and knew that this must have just been a bit of bravado he was putting on for her sake. Why the thought of him putting on a brave face just for her made her smile... well, she didn't know. But it certainly was a nice thought to think.

Her Hufflepuff friend made his way off down the corridor, limping only slightly, and Aly hurried after him, her once-bitten apple forgotten in her hand as reminders of her hunger were overtaken by worry for her companion. "Don't you lie to me, Aaron Jones," she lectured, feeling almost like her mother, except nicer. Well, hopefully nicer, anyway. "That must have hurt... I've got those plaster things in my bag if you need to stop and put one on, they do wonders for pain whenever I scrape a knee or stub a toe!" Aly grinned, proudly, wondering if he would notice that she'd used the word he had taught her for those band-aid things with which she was so very obsessed. After their first meeting three or so weeks before, the Ravenclaw had done a bit of polling and research, and eventually discovered that while the words were interchangeable, "plaster" seemed to be the British way of spelling it, while "band-aid" was typically from the United States of America. Much like how they removed the "u" from words, like "color" instead of "colour". Upon finding this out, Aly'd shuddered slightly at the thought and resolved to try to use "plaster" instead of "band-aid" more from now on. Though the occasional Americanism still slipped out every once or twice in a while. "Just... let me know if you need one, I've got plenty."

Aly's shorter legs pumping to keep up with the taller boy's stride, she thought back to what he had said earlier, before she'd absolutely destroyed his toe. "A light sleeper? Must be nice," the brunette mumbled under her breath when she had left the silence between them to linger long enough. "I've always slept like an absolute rock. It's those Salinger genes... Dad slept through Mum using the Sonorus charm on herself once trying to wake him up once Becca had finished breakfast... I'm sure I'd do the same."

Her stomach growled again at the mention of breakfast, and remembering the shining scarlet snack in her hand, Aly raised it once more to her mouth to take a hearty few bites, then chewed and swallowed, the sweet and tangy juices lingering on her tongue. It was no Cauldron Cake in terms of sweetness, but she certainly did love a good apple. So engrossed in this deliciousness was she that Aly was taken aback when Aaron suddenly turned to lock eyes with her, asking about her mum... and the letters.

The ever-present smile dropped from Aly's face for just a moment as she remembered the... rather anti-romance letter her mother, Hesper Livingston-Salinger, had sent her just prior to Valentine's Day. Hesper's words still rang through Aly's head: You have far more important tasks on your plate than to go gallivanting about like some sort of dreamy fool this Valentine's Day... you would do well to remember as such, Alyssa.

As if Aly had anyone with whom she would be "gallivanting" about being romantic and... all that!

Almost as quickly as the grin had left her lips, so too did it reappear again; Aly shrugged off the question, trying to act as though it had not hurt her. (Two could play at that game, right? Though toes were a bit more physical of a weapon than words... unless those words were Latin and uttered with a wand in hand.) "Oh, nothing much since Valentine's Day. Just that one checking in on my grades. I wrote back about my four straight Outstanding grades in Potions class, and she seemed pleased enough by that that she didn't write back demanding to know if I did anything on Valentine's Day. Oh, thank you for that sweet letter back after I sent you that cupcake, by the way." Though this was definitely an attempt at an excuse to move on in conversation from Aly's not-so-secretly-strained relationship with her mother, Aly's smile genuinely brightened, softened even, as she gazed up at Aaron. "You really didn't have to write anything back, but that made my day - I've kept it tacked up with some of my favourite notes from my friends, right on the wall beside my bedpost in the Ravenclaw dormitory! And I should quite love to go flying with you sometime, though perhaps after this, we can leave trouble out of it for a while...?"

She winked. Aly had only known Aaron for less than a month, and they'd already gotten into enough trouble for a lifetime together - though... she couldn't exactly say she hadn't enjoyed it. Aly Salinger was many things, one of those being a terrible liar.

Aly admonishing him for lying had Aaron avoiding her eye, but her offering plasters made a tiny smile tug at the corner of his lips. The Ravenclaw girl's fascination with them had not wavered since that day when they had their first proper conversation. He had realized over the last couple weeks that she truly believed them to be little miracle patches that did a lot more than they actually did. The Hufflepuff found it charming (like so many other things about her), so he had no plans of correcting her. "It did hurt, but I think I'll manage without the plaster. It's getting better, really - I'll let you know if it gets worse, though," Aaron promised, finally turning his head to look at her and offer a sheepish grin. The pain was fading the further they got, but it still did hurt.

After a few minutes of companionable silence as they walked, Aly spoke of being a deep sleeper. Aaron cracked an amused smile, reminded of his brother. "There's pros and cons, I suppose. At least you can keep getting rest if your roommate is a snorer - my brother and I share a room back home, and sometimes he snores really loud. And he doesn't believe me! I had to record a video of him just this past Christmas break as proof."

Aly crunching on her apple in the next moment reminded Aaron of his own hunger, and he pulled out the banana from his bag. After he asked about her letter and almost instantly realized it had been a bad idea, he avoided her eye by focusing on the fruit in his hand and eating that. Even though he wasn't looking at her, trying not to bring extra awkwardness to the conversation topic, she still had his full attention. And that meant he noticed the way she brushed aside the topic of her mother, but his attention was especially captured when she mentioned his letter from Valentine's.

Aaron lifted his eyes as Aly went on to say that she had tacked up his letter by her bed, a fact that made Aaron have a stupid grin on his face. He quickly corrected himself though, trying not to seem too pleased by that information as he went back to finishing off the banana. He had put her letter right at the top of his trunk and may or may not have read it a couple extra times since Valentine's. Not that he would openly admit such a thing.

"Y-Yes!" Aaron said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, when she mentioned the flying invitation. Mildly embarrassed by that, he continued in a more calm manner. "I mean, definitely. We should definitely do some non-rule-breaking flying," he said, a smile on his lips. "How about tomorrow? Or Sunday? We could- Oh, wait. I have that project for Potions to finish actually. Um-" Aaron's disappointment was very evident in his voice as his brow furrowed and he tried to think of a good time. He was really excited at the idea of being able to fly with Aly, especially to show her some of his broom tricks. Earlier that week a first-year girl had applauded one of his training sessions, and he was feeling a bit more confident in his new trick riding hobby since then. None of his friends had seen him practicing or performing yet, and he imagined Aly would be a great audience. Maybe she'd even be impressed.

As Aaron cursed his Potions project and seriously considered pushing it off, the two third-years exited the castle and stepped onto the Hogwarts grounds. It was still chilly out, being late February in Scotland. A slight chill traveled down Aaron's neck, but thankfully his school robes kept the wind from his skin. "Maybe next weekend?" he asked hopefully. He had realized that Aly probably wouldn't want him to push off his Potions project to go flying, being the academic that she was.

@Aly Salinger