(What's The Story) Morning Glory?

It was a peculiar thing, being in a relationship, ever since the Midspring Ball and the mutual confession of feelings, Nicholas had found that his life had somewhat shifted in scope and in character. For one, he no longer felt anywhere near as dour, especially considering he wasn’t constantly pining over Aurora and beating himself up over the way he’d treated her back in February. No, instead, they’d become a couple. What that actually meant, Nicholas hadn’t the foggiest, but he’d thus far gathered that it meant spending time together and, if they were feeling particularly bold, tacitly holding hands.

Of course, that didn’t mean that he was entirely immune to the stranger habits that the Ravenclaw seeker had picked up. She was still a technicolour mess of emotions and shrieks, but he’d come to mostly enjoy those quirks. Granted, there were days where her otherwise endearing traits seemed better suited for drawing ire from the boy. That morning was shaping up into being one.

It wasn’t her fault, not in truth, Nicholas had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and a headache had plagued him for most of the morning. Coupled with a sore ankle from racing practice that he was too stubborn and proud to admit was injured, even knowing that Nurse Brumby could fix such pains in all of three seconds, he found himself in a rather sourer mood than normal.

Waffles did perk him up though, the sweet breakfast food coupling with orange juice to chase away the worse of his aches. And conversation with Aurora was, he had to admit, definitely more a highlight than an irritant, no matter how much of a tough guy facade he tried to exude.

“So,” He asked her, nerves still somewhat frayed by the reality of their new situation, “Did you, uh, want to go to the lake or something today?”

In spite of his nervousness around his new girlfriend, even the word provided him with some modicum of fear, his outward appearance remained as stoic as he could manage. After all, he had to do his best to keep those images up, and so he found himself looking over the newest addition to the Slytherin broom racing roster, casting glances back to Aurora as they conversed.

Gryffindor had bested the snakes, and with that loss it seemed that the emerald house had opted to change up their racers. One of which was Gray, the name and face somewhat familiar to Nicholas, but it was only after he’d become aware of the other boy’s interest in the sport that he’d bothered to cast him a second thought. After all, as captain, he was all but required to.

He was mulling over that thought when it became overly apparent that the other boy had noticed him looking, glaring really. Shite. There were a few options, look away hastily, or double down. The second choice was, of course, the stupider. Naturally, that meant he took it without a second thought.

“Oi,” He called, temporarily departing from his conversation with Aurora, “You’re the new Slytherin racer, yeah? Shame you weren’t there for our race. S’pose we can always beat you next year though.”

The most peculiar sense of deja vu ran over Nicholas, an argument held with Carrington almost a year prior. How odd that history would repeat itself with her replacement on the racing tema.

Tags: @Aurora Ranvier & @Percival Gray

Her hair is pastel pink, shoulder length

Banner made by Winnie Harper

Mentioning nono

Interacting with @Nicholas McCowan@Percival Gray

Golden rays, the invitation to start the day. And Aurora was no more a single lady. In fact, the new couple decided to make it official in the Midspring Ball after back and forth make ups and dramas. The best thing about this was she knew that Nicholas accepted her as she was. Eccentric fashion choice, hair colours, God knew what was the reason behind it. The boy was looking a little dull compared to the human version of a rainbow emoji. But hopefully the combination of both would even it out. She was radiant, looking as happy as ever with her shiny soft pink hair, fluffy white cardigan and a patterned brown short, munched a chocolate chip muffin as they talked about whatever topic they thought was interesting. It felt surreal to be on good terms with him, especially after that tea party made in hell. Deep down she was still terrified that it would happen again one day, thus she would cherish every moment she had with him, just in case something would happen. No one can promise tomorrow.

Now they were on that bench, waffles on his plate, muffins on hers. Lucifur was there too, wearing this blue dress, sitting elegantly on the table whilst eating some bacon. There was something that she noticed in Nicholas. Not his charm or his amazing smile this time, unfortunately. As it may be shown in his sour expression, maybe there were more wrinkles on his forehead, or maybe something from his body language that seemed a little off. Being grumpy was definitely not a stranger for him, in fact, it was his trait, glued onto his dna. Babies would normally cry the second they were out of the womb, but probably not Nicholas. He would be angry and swear at everyone because the world sucks. That was how Aurora imagined, of course. After knowing him for quite some time, she noted that he was not the type to confide. Though curiosity peaked through, she stopped herself from getting into his personal business.

He then asked her to go to the lake afterwards. What a great place to go on another date. It was their third encounter after the quidditch pitch and a random ground where she allegedly became the victim of attempted murder by that John guy (Jürgen). Excitement took over her body for a second. He wanted to spend time with her, and that made her be on cloud nine. “Oh, reminiscing about the old times?” She smiled as she finished the muffin. “Sure, if you want! But if you’re tired, we could just stay here, you know?” Maybe this way he would tell her what the thing that bothered him without having to pry. They said boys like it when you play with their hair, maybe she read it somewhere or watched it on tiktok during the holiday with her muggle friend, Naomi. Though, there were no scientific sources that backed that claim up, so she just popped the question out and do the research herself “Also, can I braid your hair?”

It seemed like something stole his attention away, who could that be? Another boy, dressed in black shirt, holding a newspaper was his centre of attention. A newspaper, really? He was not even reading the Hogwarts Headliner when he should be. She was one of the designers after all, she worked really hard on it and it was not even on his hand? What kind of newspaper is far more superior than the Headliner? None! But one could have a different taste, and his clearly was awful. Nicholas seemed to be a bit aggressive, or was it passive aggressive, she didn’t know what that meant. But it was clear he was looking for a fight this morning. Boys…

She leaned over to Nicholas and whispered, “Is he your friend or something? Be nice” At the end of the sentence, she would nudge him with her elbow. Sure he was a great racer, but cockiness was never a good thing. Who knew that the other boy was actually quite good at it too, that would bite Nicholas on the arse, and he would spend his time looking for his long lost pride.

Sta - 5 | Eva - 10 | Str - 5 Wis - 8 | Arc - 4 | Acc - 10 Terrible Presence Evasive Maneuvers

Outfit Reducio sunglasses was absent

Interacting with @Nicholas McCowan and @Aurora Ranvier

Sooner than expected flannel boy finally spoke his mind. Percival only seemed to sigh from his remarks and let his spoon drop into the bowl below. Without saying a word back he rolled up his newspaper and got up, placing it firmly under his armpit for safekeeping. With a quick motion to Cormac, they both began to walk over to the lovebirds, who were both looking at his approach from their table. If he wanted to trash talk, he wanted to be up close to hear it.

On his approach Cormac walked ahead and jumped onto the bench, casually sitting beside Aurora with no care in the world. Gray finally stopped behind Nic and stared between them both with a smirk curling into the corner of his lips, a shake of the head soon following "So, what's the deal with the trash talk, you're a bit too early for that don't you think?" he said with two hands on his shoulders and leaning close to his ear "Leave it for race day next time, yea?" Percival whispered before looking over to the crazy pepper spray wielding girl known as Aurora.

"And you must be miss Ranvier, the girl who loves to pepper spray students for fun?" The boy commented, leaning back up at full height to stand over the Ravenclaw. He was certain he had seen her name on the headliner more than a few times, she must have been one of the writers who created that mostly boring piece of work.

"Speaking of which, when is that mumbo jumbo called the headliner coming out?"

It was testament to his infatuation that he even entertained the idea of having his hair braided. Not that he was opposed to it in principle, he hardly cared about how he looked, and especially not his hair. Long brown locks had gone unbrushed and unstyled for going on two years, allowing the diminutive Ravenclaw first right to attempt to untangle and style them would hardly afford him upset. No, it was the risk of embarrassment that caught threatened to stay his tongue. It was a rather feminine thing after all, having one’s hair braided. Yet, he was willing to entertain the idea if it would allow the girl some semblance of enjoyment. Jesus Christ, what had become of him? He was rapidly devolving into some sort of emotional sap.

“Sure,” Was all he offered in response, sipping on his juice after speaking lest the faintest hint of rosiness upon his cheeks become visible.

The blush faded when he made his jibe at the newest Slytherin racer, and evaporated entirely when Aurora reminded him to be nice. He supposed that he should try his best to at least be somewhat polite. It wasn’t an entirely good look to be trying to start fights in front of his new girlfriend. That said, she’d known him for far longer than they’d been dating, pointless aggression and a combative attitude had been exactly what she’d signed up for when she’d accepted his confession and responded in turn with one of her own.

“Hmm?” Was his barely coherent response to her question, although he did soon thereafter follow it up with a more enthusiastic, “Oh, just banter.”

Banter that the older boy seemed to respond to in turn, not only returning a subtle jibe, but physically approaching the two second years and placing his hands upon Nicholas’s shoulders. The Gryffindor's reaction was reflexive, the muscles in his shoulders and neck tensing, his sinew turning rigid.

For the briefest moment, Nicholas’s vision turned red, the touch of the Slytherin had been unwelcomed, and animalistic anger threatened to boil over at the admittedly small provocation. His eyes kept straight, not bothering to give the other boy the time of day, not wanting to allow him the satisfaction of any other movement. Instead, he mechanically sipped at his juice once again, before finally speaking up.

“Late more so than early, figured you’d felt like you’d missed out given you weren’t there for the race,” Nicholas responded, his tone dripping forced ice, “Don’t worry though, your team didn’t hear much of it either, they were probably about as effective as you were from your dorm room.”

Nicholas knew he’d started the confrontation, probably for no good reason, but the other boy had touched him, and drawn Aurora into it. His comment as to her pepper spray and the school newspaper did not go unnoticed. Not that Nicholas had read the paper, but pretending to care about things that one’s girlfriend did was probably proper boyfriend behaviour, was it not?

“Also, leave her out of it, mate,” The last word was laced with venom, “She’s done nothing to you.”

Tags: @Aurora Ranvier & @Percival Gray

Her hair is pastel pink, shoulder length

Banner made by Winnie Harper

Mentioning Selim, Winnie, and Matt

Interacting with @Nicholas McCowan @Percival Gray

“OH A CAT!” A joyous moment. It looked like Lucifur’s future partner. Imagine that cute cat and Lucifur producing nine tiny kittens together, a heaven. She patted its head in so much adoration. Lucifur, on the other hand, started to make his way to the bench where the other fluffy cat stood.

What a baseless accusation made by a strange humanoid creature. Indeed, the ultimate holder of the pepper spray was right in front of his face, but never once the feeling of thrill washed over her. The first ever victim that got away was that bunny monster in last year’s blossom ball. Her accuracy simply caused the attack to not go according to plan. Then the ‘used to be lovebirds’, Winnie and the doormat. The redhead was there at the wrong place and time, it was not supposed to enter her kind eyes. Nicholas had the experience once, again, of a lack of accuracy. Did her heart fill with insurmountable joy? No. Quite the opposite, actually. And this person made her look like a sociopath with psychopathic tendencies. Hence the surprise tone in her voice, “W-what? I think you got the wrong person, I didn’t do it for fun.”

It was such an awkward talking position. There was no good reason in her head as in why he stood behind them and not in front of them. Constantly looking back at the tall stature boy gradually induced a neck pain. She didn’t notice the mock behind his question nor did she take it as an insult towards the school newspaper she was designing for. Instead, his inquiry was proof that people were waiting for the release of the headliner which was a good feeling. The boy had an undeniably huge attachment to newspapers, so it was not a surprise that he also was a fan of the headliner. “Huh, I don’t know about that, sorry. Please wait for a bit more, it’s coming.” Aurora said nonchalantly, secretly happy knowing that Nicholas was perhaps jealous that she got the attention of another boy.

She put one of her hands on top of his, slowly rubbed his knuckles with her thumb in order to calm him down even just a bit. But one thing that she was curious about was the fact that he knew and pronounced her name right with the yay at the end (as confirmed in dm), unlike some people who don’t have the ability to say such a sophisticated name. Talk of the town, perhaps he heard it through the grapevine. News circled around in Hogwarts faster than the speed of light after all, that would explain how she didn’t realise that people actually knew who she was. What a mixed feeling the girl had at that moment. Part of her felt ecstatic, but the mental image of all eyes on her caused a chill run down her spine.

She leaned over towards Nicholas and whispered a little too loudly, to the point where the towering boy could hear word by word. “He knows my name, am I secretly popular or is he a psychic?”

Sta - 5 | Eva - 10 | Str - 5 Wis - 8 | Arc - 4 | Acc - 10 Terrible Presence Evasive Maneuvers

Outfit Reducio sunglasses was absent

Interacting with @Nicholas McCowan and @Aurora Ranvier

"Banter? come on Nic you were just doing it to impress your girlfriend" he replied, feeling the muscles tense in between his fingers. He was doing well to be cool, not like Gray wanted him to be ticked off in the first place but most people would have got up to confront him. Choosing not to be so upfront, he finally took his hand off his shoulders and withdraw the newspaper from under the armpit.

"Good merlin, sooner or later that overconfidence is going to come back and hit you in the face, be it a tree or a boot during the race" he shot back to the Gryffindor, the Slytherins eyes shooting down to his currently innocent girlfriend. Even though she had yet to be involved, it was Nic's fault for bringing her into this "How can I not? you're the one after all who has brought her into this situation. You really should have thought things through before saying that..."

Finally, the girl herself answered in defense. Apparently, she never did it for fun, but of course, that was a lie. Who would bring in a dastardly muggle creation and not use it at a moment's notice?! when was anything truly made for defense. Percival didn't seem to comment on that other than raise a brow, but there was something he did reply to rather harshly. The mess known as the headliner needed a piece of his mind.

"What? wait for it so I can cast it aside? no thanks, Ranvier. The daily prophet is the only thing I read..." he stated, wanting to make his feelings toward the headliner well known. In all honesty, he found it a mess and a waste of time. It had lackluster stories compared to the Prophet, and that's all that was needed for it to be used as fuel for the fireplace.

Percival sighed and twirled the paper in his hands lightly as she leaned to Nic to whisper something. However, Gray was close enough to hear everything "Your name is on the headliner itself, numpty. I see it before it gives me warmth in the Slytherin common room"

With a slight grin, he looks back to Nic and thinks about the main reason he was here. If he really wanted to trash talk about racing, he was going to incline and give him a taste of his own medicine "Don't worry Nic, it's only a matter of time till she starts writing your losses on the front page. Would a girl with such a high reputation hang out with a loser anymore?"

@Aurora Ranvier & @Percival Gray

“Come off it mate,” Nicholas sighed, Aurora’s rubbing of his knuckles doing little to release the tension that had built in the tendons beneath her grasp.

It was a miracle that he’d managed to keep the fire burning within bottled. Granted, that was more due to the technicolour girl actively calming him down, and his overwhelming desire to not make an absolute fool in front of her. He wanted to get into Gray’s face, to shout down the older boy until one of them was laid out on the floor, bruised or bloody. But being in the presence of Aurora required a degree more decorum, even if the reason as to why he wanted to fight was almost entirely based around the perceived slights to her honour. Having a girlfriend was confusing. Rather, girls in general were confusing. Her mere presence was enough to pull his frame of mind in two distinct directions, and he knew not how to act.

What he did know was hostility, and even if he could not express it through the traditional means of physical altercation, he could in the very least fight back with words. He wasn’t the most deft in their use as weapons, but he could at least bludgeon with them.

“I’ve not brought her into anything,” Nicholas retorted, “You just didn’t want to start shite with me so ya went for her. Like you keep doing now, insultin’ her bloody newspaper, calling her a numpty. S’not on, mate. Besides, you can’t fault her for wondering how you know her name, not like you can put names to faces with just the list of writers on the Headliner, yeah?”

The gradual slurring of his words, the thickening of his Belfast drawl, were a telltale sign of his growing anger. It was not one he cared to hide, in much the same way he often did not bother to mask his rages. Frustration and anger were not akin to fear nor upset, they were not signs of weakness, but of fight.

As Gray continued to speak, Nicholas held himself back from standing up, instead clenching his hands further into fists, “At least a girl hangs out with me, hey? Can’t remember the last time I saw you speaking to a girl let alone eating breakfast with one?”

He struggled with the name, a girl who had been allegedly dating Gray for the better part of a year, but it escaped him. Oh well, he could throw a vague barb, “She finally run out on ya?”

Her hair is pastel pink, shoulder length

Mentioning Nah

Interacting with @Nicholas McCowan @Percival Gray

Two mouths, both were losing the plot. The more they bantered, the less she knew. But now at least she could be hundred percent sure that these two boys were not friends by any chance. The sun wasn’t up above their heads yet, but the argument was hotter than the peak summer. On one hand she knew Nicholas shouldn’t start the argument by talking about defeating the Slytherin racing team in front of one of the racers, if it were not because of his snarky remarks, the newspaper boy wouldn’t be this hostile towards them. Still, she knew what side she was on. First it was about the race, then the headliners, then back to the race. Her poor brain cannot follow the conversation properly. Head to the left, then back to the right, it was far from comfortable yet distracting to listen and process the information at the same time. The fact that the boy still thought it would be great to tower over her did not help to ease the neck pain she started to feel.

What was so good about the daily prophet anyway? The only thing she read about were those that had hexwizard tournament information. It sparked negative energy greater than the current hostility, countless prejudice against certain groups, which was never her cup of tea. Whoever wrote that must be a group of adults, a group of sad lonely divorced adults with crippling debts who had no friends and only can have euphoric feelings from other’s misery. The Headliners on the other hand, as far as she knew, was free of animosity. It was no profit, run by intelligent students who knew better to spread real important news, making the headliners the superior news source. And yet, the daily prophet’s number one fan still couldn’t see that crystal clear fact.

Him calling her a numpty did sting like a paper cut. It was true that he was not the first nor the only one who looked down on her intelligence, but the hurt kept coming back every time. She just frowned a little at his words but still sat there and listened to the back and forth bitter exchange. But Nicholas spoke out in her defence. It sounded almost surreal to hear the Gryffindor defended her knowing their not so glowing history and it felt good. As if he were the knight in shining armour, she felt protected. Then it escalated. Of course he wouldn’t buy the theory of the future told by the newspaper boy. Even if Gryffindor would someday have their loss, she wouldn’t leave his side, not that it is something she would do even with thousands of other reasons up on her face. But there was something about it that plucked her nerve.

"Mimblewimble"

Wisdom (DC 9)
10+8 = 18
Accuracy
11+10 = 21
Feel free to auto hit or auto dodge or roll i don't really mind honestly

Good thing she had her wand in her socks for emergencies like this. Though it was unnecessary to cast a spell, she was a witch. When things can be solved with magic, why not use it? Whether or not her spell would hit, it wouldn’t matter. Because the next thing she did was standing up on the bench so that she wouldn’t have to look up for much longer. “Sssshhhhh” She put her finger in front of her mouth as she did an exaggerated hush. And then the speech came.

“I am sorry for the sudden attack but listen here you tall person. I get it that you have this tremendous hatred for the headliners and him and probably me. I am not perfect, I have my flaws, so is the headliners, so is he, so are you and your bloody paper and that is okay. But you know what is not okay? The fact that you said that he is a loser because let me tell you one thing that needs to be in that damn thick skull of yours, he is not, he is far from it. You might think that he is just another Gryffindor person whose confidence is over the roof but no, he is much more than that. He is brave, kind, he cares for others, he is passionate for what he loves, and so many other good things that you don’t see because you don’t know him. There is a reason why he is a captain, and you and I both know, whether you like to admit it or not, he is doing a great job at it. I couldn’t care less about you talking down on me but if you say bad things about the people that I love including him once again, I am not going to hesitate next time.” It was the longest talk she did the whole morning, maybe the whole semester without a single pause. She did mean it, every single word.

Sta - 5 | Eva - 10 | Str - 5 Wis - 8 | Arc - 4 | Acc - 10 Terrible Presence Evasive Maneuvers

Outfit Reducio sunglasses was absent

Interacting with @Nicholas McCowan and @Aurora Ranvier

"I'm going to say this again Nic, you brought her into this when you thought it was wise to try and impress her when I was across the hall. Maybe you should think of your actions next time you try and be the funny boyfriend huh?" Gray replied coldly. This all could have been avoided if he didn't say anything, he was already sick and tired of the number of students talking crap about him joining the team.

Cormac, who was calmly watching from the bench beside Aurora moved his head back and force between the different talkers. He was curious as to what all the fuss was about with his human and the other humans. Either way, it seemed pretty tense to say the least.

As Nic talked on he seemed to say something that wasn't true by any means. Gray talked to a lot of girls, especially a girl he considered the most beautiful of them all @Santario Martin who had gone through hell and back with him. Their relationship had not been faultered by any means, just because they liked privacy didn't mean they weren't still seeing each other.

"You're a fool to think that Nic. The girl you talk of is Santario Martin, who is still happily my girlfriend. So, before you try and strike me down at least make sure you make sure the fact is true so you don't look like an idiot" This boy was more of a spanner than first thought. He seemed to have resorted to lies and deception rather than facts.

Looking at his girlfriend once more, all he could do was shake his head "Why are you dat-" but before he could finish she suddenly fired a spell at him. Percival snapped his body to the right and managed to avoid the spell by inches, his head snapping to her with an emotionless glare. Staying silent for her big speech, Gray couldn't help but release a smile from the display she created. At least one of them seemed to have the stomach to bite back.

"Impressive speech, I must say I prefer your bravery over your husband sitting next to you. Even so, I will keep your words to mind the next time we come face to face," he said with a grin to the girl, his head motioning to the waiting Cormac to be at his side. With a brush of his tail against Nic, he jumped down and sat next to his leg with a lick of his paw.

"When it comes to broom races, I can't make any promises for his safety though. Even the kindest of individuals change out there"