Closed Clankety-Clank, Don't Step Back Fin PV w Colin McCoire

Taylor stepped out of the Gryffindor common room, climbing through the portrait hole. She was wearing her Hogwarts school robes, with her curly hair pulled back into a ponytail. Discreetly tucked somewhere in her robes was her copy of Hogwarts, a history.
Ever since an encounter with a fellow Gryffindor during the first week of school, she had changed her opinion that history was boring, and had since started enjoying it. Of course, she still wasn’t particularly fond of the History of Magic class, but she’d read Hogwarts, a history several times.
Why was she trying to hide the book? It wasn’t like it was against the rules to read a book during dinner. Taylor wasn’t entirely sure herself, actually, but you didn’t see many students carrying books to a meal, and she didn’t want to stand out.
She headed down the many staircases to the Great Hall, as the Gryffindor common room was quite high. As she walked down, she wondered what she was going to have for dinner. Chocolate cake? No, that wasn’t particularly healthy, was it? Shame.
Suddenly, a noise interrupted Taylor’s thoughts as she approached the fourth floor corridor. It wasn’t very loud as first, but Taylor, too curios or her own good, stepped closer toward the sound.
She cranked her neck to hear. A frown started making its way onto her face. It sounded like… singing? Well, that was generous. Truth be told, it wasn’t so much singing as making noise-really, really bad noise. Taylor grimaced. Whoever was there… they-actually, she, since it sounded like a girl- she could not sing at all.
She edged a little closer. A suit of armor was blocking her view, so she pushed it aside. There, she was met with the strangest sight ever- a girl singing while picking up pieces of trash on the ground, all the while doing a little dance. Her satchel laid forgotten against a suit of armor.
The girl was maybe her age, though a bit shorter, with long golden-brown hair, and a tan. Her eyes were large and sea foam-blue in color. The yellow on her robes indicted that she was a Hufflepuff.
Taylor really wasn’t sure what to make of this scene. She knew one thing for sure, though: the girl would absolutely die of embarrassment if she knew that Taylor was watching her. Taylor really didn’t want to make someone that uncomfortable, and besides, what would she say? Hey, terrible singing!
Nope, it was best if she didn’t knew Taylor was ever here. She turned, meaning to sneak quietly away from this scene and to dinner. However, the suit of armor apparently didn’t like getting pushed away carelessly earlier, because when Taylor passed it, here shoulder knocked against it, and the suit of armor clattered to the floor.
Taylor froze. Oh, no.

@AngelFyre McCubbin

[quote][quote]
Upon hearing the unmistakable sound of a suit of armor falling behind her, AngelFyre immediately hushed her "singing" and lifted herself up slowly, several wrappers and parchment shreds still in her hand. Silently chastising herself for stupidly thinking she would not be seen or heard, she did not turn around immediately. She instead cleared her throat and stated with an air of confidence she in no way felt, "Please, please! I know it is hard to keep oneself together in the face of such raw talent, but do try and contain yourself. I was just getting started," and AngelFyre then spun around with a beauty and grace her singing would never have and she began to laugh at herself. What else could she do? It was a classic lemons turning into lemonade kind of moment. Or so she hoped.

The suit of armor was splayed out on the flagstone floor, and just to its side was standing a tall, blonde lioness, looking altogether horrified. It was a feeling they shared in common certainly, but this poor girl's horror was doubled that of AngelFyre's, no doubt. Noting her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, AngelFyre took a couple of steps towards her, leaning a little to her left side. "Well, I can report the good news that your eardrums seem to have survived as I see no blood trickling from your ears."

Then looking down at the fallen suit of armor, she shook her head and "Tsk, tsk, tsk'd," loudly and dramatically. Gingerly toeing the helmet only made it quiver slightly before it completely dislodged and rolled in a half circle, slowing to a soft back and forth roll behind the Gryffindor before coming to a complete stop. Stating the obvious, AngelFyre put a hand through her hair while playfully imitating Simon's nervous habit and uttered most seriously, "Well, that cannot be good."

Then looking the girl briefly in the eyes while shrugging her shoulders, she turned behind her to collect her satchel. "Hey, best of luck with that. I doubt you will lose too many house points over the damage. I mean, it looks really, reallllly old. How much could it be worth anyway? If they make you pay for it, channel some long lost goblin you may have known and bargain them down. Offer them no more than 25 galleons. Anything above that would be robbery! Buh bye!"

Then AngelFyre walked past the girl and towards the stairs. Looking back over her shoulder, she noted the girl had not moved. Unable to contain herself any longer, she walked back to the girl's side and started to laugh. A little slowly and softly at first, but the volume and momentum grew. Still looking at the metal-man-down, she introduced herself. "I am AngelFyre McCubbin, but you may call me AF. I think some quick wand work can have this all fixed in nothing flat. What do you say?"

@Taylor Lawrence

Attire: Usual schoolday attire: robes, shirt (buttons mismatched), tie (undone), kilt, neck ring, shoes. Nothing fancy!

Reducio

Colin had been wandering around the fourth floor that afternoon after classes, chatting with a few portraits and exploring some of the grand rooms up there. He took a look around the Ballroom. He'd been hearing a lot about the ball, but didn't really understand what it was all about.

Or rather, as thoughts of one heart thumping friend in particular sprang to mind, he was beginning to think there might be something to that ball after all! He knew Sophia and Kim had gone and several others as well. He wondered what it might be like to actually ask a girl --- to ask the girl --- to such an occasion. He was still trying to sort out his own feelings, while wondering what she was thinking as well. --- Eyes of Sky.

He remembered how they'd met in DADA class. Another girl, Taylor, had been talking to him after he'd settled into his desk. Colin was pretty sure he'd ticked her off. But the Ravenclaw girl --- Jarael --- now she'd gotten his attention. The way she looked into you and the things she said and the way she said them. Colin thought she was brilliant right from the start! And when she made it look like the skeleton at the front of the classroom was asking if he wanted to be friends, Colin couldn't help but go up to the front of the room too and whisper to the old dry bones that he would rather be Jarael's friend than a skeleton's friend!

Then suddenly his reverie was interrupted by some disastrous sounding commotion from out in the corridor somewhere. His heart still warm with thoughts of Jarael, Colin left the Ballroom and closed the door behind him. He cocked his head and listened. He couldn't help but screw his face up in discomfort. Someone was --- "is that singing?" he said incredulously. "Bloody hell. It must be something American." He followed the sound along the empty corridors. As the sound got louder, it became apparent to Colin that it wasn't the song that was causing him such discomfort. It was kind of jaunty and gay and most likely muggle. He began to bop along with the rhythm, even whilst wincing from the execution. "Oh, laddie, the singing is horrible! But --- at least she sounds happy!"

And then he heard a terrific crash! And the singing stopped suddenly. "Well, that's the silver lining to that cloud, Collie lad! One downed suit of armour, but thankfully no more singing!"

As Colin rounded the corner to the disaster scene, a vista of near total destruction greeted his eyes! It was as if some great battle had taken place right here in the fourth floor corridor of Hogwarts! Rubbish was strewn everywhere! Armoured warriors lay dead and decapitated on the field of strife! And the two surviving champions stood facing one another across the carnage!

One he recognised from DADA --- Taylor. The other could only be AngelFyre he'd heard a lot about her, but hadn't met formally. Taylor turned and fled the scene, knocking Colin into the wall. Colin got up and laughed at the antics. "Wicked! I wish I'd seen the battle that must have just been fought here!" His eyed widened. "It looks like it was epic!" He toed the poor suit of armour's helmet gently with the toe of his shoe.

He turned back to the victor and bowed. "I'm Colin! I --- don't think we've met before?"

NB: Gentle godmodding discussed & agreed by surviving RP partners.
Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin
Mentioning: @Jarael Morningstar || @Sophia Nelson | @Kim Sato || Taylor Lawrence

[quote][quote]
Much to AngelFyre's sad surprise, the tall Gryffindor did not so much as utter a single word before spinning to fast track it away from the mess she had created. AngelFyre had been teasing, but maybe the girl took her seriously and thought she really was in some kind of gosh awful trouble. Either way, she was clearly not representing her house in the best light. Where was the fabled Gryffindor bravery? Where was the common decency to stay and clean up one's own mess? Sigh

Watching in surprise as the girl retreated at speed, she saw her run into a smiling Slytherin boy whom she knocked into the wall in her haste to get away. His Scottish accent always caught AngelFyre's attention, but she did not know his name. She did not have to wait long to learn it.

Smiling broadly as he introduced himself as Colin, AngelFyre happily obliged by returning the courtesy and introduced herself to him. "It is a great pleasure to meet you, Colin. I am AngelFyre. AngelFyre McCubbin, actually, but feel free to cal me AF. Almost everyone does."

Turning to survey the Corridor, AngelFyre had to laugh. "Well, the only thing epic about it, I fear, was the embarrassment at having been discovered singing and dancing while picking up the trash. I dance beautifully. I wish the same could be said of my 'singing' ", and she raised her hands to make air quotes as she uttered the word singing. "I am not certain, but I think the Gryffindor girl may have been watching my shenanigans and accidentally toppled the suit of armor. I teased her about getting in trouble, losing house points, and having to pay for the damages, and well, you arrived just in time to see her speedy departure. I did not mean for her to take me seriously." AngelFyre shrugged. "I hope she does not fret about it all night."

Watching the boy's eyes sparkle as he came forward, taking inventory of the damage, AngelFyre could not but help be a little delighted at the enthusiasm he seemed to have for seeing adventure amidst the ruins. The boy positively vibrated with an energy that screamed Adventure! and AngelFyre was intrigued. Perhaps she might have found a like-minded comrade in arms.

It had been one of her recurring wishes for most of the year to use the Tarantallegra charm on the suits of armor in the Corridor. It would have been the very type of thing she would have loved to have done with Simon, but he was a Prefect now and she did not want to be a cause for any black marks on his record. He had worked hard for the position and she would not have him risk it. But still, her desire to play with her magic a little in this one instance would not leave her. Probably grinning like the Cheshire cat, she looked at Colin and told him of her desire.

"What say you, Colin? Want to join me in making these silent sentinels dance?" Then turning her attention to the metal man down at her feet, she pulled her wand from her sleeve and decided it would be to test Reparo on the suit of armor. On the off chance that Reparo did not work in this situation, she reasoned she...maybe they?... should know that before filling a corridor any further with downed pieces of armor as high as knee deep.

"Wait! Hold your answer for a moment. I need to know any damage that may be done can actually be repaired." And with the necessary concentration and practiced wand movement, she intoned "Reparo!" and watched delightedly as the the helmet rolled back along the path it had first traversed and made its way to the headless suit of armor. It somewhat noisily attached it self and the suit magically began to rise from the floor and and settled itself back into its previous position.

"Excellent!" AngelFyre was jumping up and down in her excitement and clapping her hands, mindful that her wand was still clutched in one. Casting a glance back at Colin, she smiled with a good degree of anticipation in her eyes. "Now what say you? Are you with me? I envision a chorus line of metal dancers. You can take the left side and I will take the right side. Or, if you prefer, I will take the right side and you can take the left side," and she winked mischievously at him. "It is going to be great!"

@Colin McCoire

Colin listened avidly as AngelFyre described the battle and its subsequent carnage and destruction. He blushed as she got to the bit about 'singing' and he blurted out: "Oh! So that's what that was! Er --- brilliant?" He winced when she described teasing Taylor about the damages. "Oo, she'll be expelled for sure! Then it's a good thing we're here to right the wrongs and fix the damage!"

He was about to plough into the strewn detritus when she called to him: "What say you, Colin?"

Oh, a challenge? No! --- A quest! He turned back towards AngelFyre in rapt attention as she explained what she wanted to do! "We're going to make the enemy knights dance? Brilliant! That'll teach em to attack Hogwarts when the Fyre Angel is around!"

He tilted his head to one side as she asked which line of knights he wanted to take on: he laughed merrily as he thought about what she'd just said. "You what? That's --- hey! That's not a choice!" He returned her mischievous wink with a sly grin. "How did you know that I'm a lefty anyway? We just met!!" Colin looked at AngelFyre in wonder. Was that a guess, or did she really know? Colin decided. She knew. A smile spread over his face as he looked AngelFyre in the eyes and drew his wand from his pocket with his left hand and positioned himself to AngelFyre's left side. "I'm with you! It just wouldn't do if all we did was bang our wands together! What would these rascally tinpots say about us?"

"Oh wait!" Colin had watched as AngelFyre practiced reparo on the armoured man. "I'd better practice that too! Only there's no more discombobulated tinmen to fix up! Ah!" he cried excitedly as he dove into the drift of rubbish along the wall. "Gotcha!" He shoved his hand in and stood up again holding a large sheet of paper in his hand. He tore it up into wee bits and held them in his right hand. With his wand at the ready, he cast them into the air like confetti. They looked to Colin like geese floating down from on high, seeking a place to settle for the night. He jabbed his wand into the flock of paper birds and made a reasonably neat triangular motion while saying "Reparo!"

Colin watched with delight as the flock of geese fluttered together and a whole piece of paper gently slipped to the floor, bumping up against the plinth on which one of the armoured knights stood. He smiled thoughtfully. "It's such a shame that with all this magic here, we just end up throwing this stuff away."

Yet as suddenly as the pensive mood had seized him, it left again and Colin turned towards AngelFyre. "I'm with thee, my lady! Let's make these knights dance!" He bowed graciously and said: "And I do believe I shall accept your gracious offer of taking the left side!"

Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin

[quote][quote]AngelFyre stopped dead in her tracks when Colin mocked her "singing". She knew that even though she may have the word "Angel' in her name that she had no voice of an angel, but even so. Words could hurt. She looked at him, bottom lip quivering slowly at first, then becoming more pronounced as she felt hot moisture begin to slick the surface of her sea foam colored, ocular orbs! "I -- I -- uhhh... I know I am not the world's greatest singer, but your words, they -- they -- uhhhm...," and then her words trailed off as a simply crestfallen look spread across her face. Immobilized for the moment, AngelFyre looked down at the flagstones, her honey-colored curtain of hair thankfully hiding her face from his view. She silently counted three Mississippis in her head, trying to hold back her emotions from giving her away when she quickly looked up and finished her sentence with, "... your words speak nothing but the truth!" Then AngelFyre burst into a little fit of giggles, quite satisfied with the look on Colin's face. "To call what I do singing is an absolute insult to the sound of fingernails clawing down a blackboard by comparison! Believe me, I am well aware," and she rolled her eyes. "But what can I say? Sometimes I like to sing." Still looking at him, her eyes glistening from merriment at her little ruse and not tears, she continued, "My mother has long said the only tune I can carry is in a bucket, but even she gives me too much credit there, methinks. She fails to acknowledge that my bucket has holes in it!" And she giggled a little harder.

AngelFyre knew she had no reason to be proud of her singing, but she had long ago decided that it was what it was, and she was not necessarily going to shy away from it either. In the past couple of years, she had become a little more brave singing in public, thanks to Sunday church services. After all, God created her so surely He, at least, would take pleasure in her "offering" of praise, no matter how tone deaf she may be. Her fellow parishioners, however, she knew thought differently. Then after the Valentine's Day Tea Party a few months ago, AngelFyre figured there could be no more humiliating circumstance than that episode, so she had decided she might as well sing when the fancy hit her. She had tried to do so by taking care no one else was around; not as much from a matter of embarrassment, thought it was still a factor, should she be discovered, but more as a matter of courtesy towards not offending other, tender ears. In fact, she was maybe even beginning to embrace her singularly unique non-talent in this area and was taking a bit of pride in her self-appointed title as 'Hogwart's Best Worst Singer'.

Delighting in her little prank, she was settling down and listening to Colin as he quickly navigated her no-choice choice of sides to attack. "Are you a lefty as well? That is fantastic! We south paws must absolutely stick together" And she thought for a quick couple of seconds as Colin studied her, explaining, "My boyfriend is right-handed and I am left-handed, so I naturally find myself always on his right side most of the time while we are holding hands. I guess I have just gotten used to thinking about the right side being my surveillance responsibility, as it were. The sacrifices one makes for love."

Her smile ever widening while her eyes drew Colin into her little quest to make these hollow knight errants dance to the beat of her drum, AngelFyre slipped into her Shandra the Wise persona. It was happily being reprised from adventures of old with her friends Ainsley and Kendric back home. "All will be well, my fine kilted, Comrade in Arms. There shall be no banging of wands together on this battlefield. Not this day! There shall be only the thrill of battle and victory as we, two sorely outnumbered warriors, stand not side by side but back to back, defending one another to the death!"

And just as Shandra the Wise was about to set the battle in motion, Colin prudently, if somewhat untimely, decided he also needed to make certain his Reparo worked as well. Shandra the Wise raised her wand and wielded it above the fray as if it were the magnificently famed Excalibur itself. Loudly and confidently she addressed her imaginary masses of troops "Stand down. Stand down. Hold your lines!"

When her keen-eyed, kilted general had successfully retrieved and repaired a damaged, but still sealed courier scroll containing the battle plans of the enemy before them, Shandra the Wise knew victory was all but guaranteed. Returning his gracious bow with a regal nod of her own, they both turned, now back to back, battle position ready. "Wait for it. Wait for it. On my say, General. Ready. Aim. Tarantallegra! And as she spoke her incantation and made the precision perfect wand gestures, Shandra the Wise could feel the warmth in her hand as glorious purple and red flashes of light shot from her wand, landing on one suit of armor after another down the whole of the right side. In a matter of a minute, the Corridor was filled with the deafening noise of suits of armor dancing.



Shandra the Wise now all but forgotten, AngelFyre stood back in gobsmacked awe and wonder at the sight she had so long wished to see for at least 8 months. "Oh, my gosh, Colin! We did it! We did it!" She was literally vibrating with happiness and excitement as she linked arms with her kilted partner in crime. "Come on, lad. We should join in on the dancing, too. I see a Scottish Highland fling in our immediate future. "

Interacting with her partner in crime, @Colin McCoire

Colin gave AngelFyre a confused look as she described her singing, and when it looked like she might actually cry, Colin felt horrified. Not so much that he mischaracterised her --- particular talent --- but rather that he seemed to have hurt his friend! But the way she turned it around and made light of it helped Colin feel a little better about the situation. He couldn't help but smile at her when she said that sometimes she just likes to sing. While he didn't necessarily want to encourage any more singing, he certainly wanted her to be happy, and if that meant having to endure an occasional eruption of minstrelsy, then he'd be willing to make that sacrifice for her friendship!

Colin's eyes grew wide with delight when AngelFyre took on a different persona! "Stand down!" she cried. "Hold your lines!" Colin whooped and dove again for the paper he'd just repaired! "Got it --- snatched from the enemy courrier! Look, my lady --- their foul battle plans for taking over the castle!" Colin waved the paper about triumphantly.

He skipped back over to Lady Chandra the Wise and said: "Back to back, my lady! Unto victory!"

Colin fidgeted, barely able to contain his excitement! AngelFyre got them ready: "Ready. Aim." And as soon as he felt her raise her wand and begin the incantation, Colin followed suit. "Tarantallegra!" he cried in unison with his friend's magic. Colin watched in wonder as the magical energy flowed through his wand and into the empty suits of armour all along the left side. He laughed gaily as one after the other they all began to dance.

AngelFyre was surely just as happy with the result, for she took Colin's arm in her own and invited him to dance. Colin nodded. "A dance it shall be!" And so Colin and AngelFyre danced with the armoured men on the field of victory.

Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin

Dancing the Highland reel in victory before the glorious spectacle of the dancing suits of armor, with Colin beside her, AngelFyre's heart was nothing short of overflowing with joy. Her kilted general had performed his part flawlessly, but even better than that, he had been with her in one of her very happiest moments. She had not had to experience one of her Hogwarts dreams alone, and whether Colin knew it or not....okay, he did not know it. How could he? They had just met. Nonetheless, even though he did not know it, she felt an immediate kinship with the Slytherin boy and his fantastical imagination.

She turned to him and was about to thank him for joining in with her and her nonsense when she caught sight out of the corner of her eye, one of the hollowed armored shells collapsing onto the floor. She fully turned back to their heavy metal chorus line and was shocked to see that three... no, four... more were toppling as well. It had not appeared that they had bumped into each other at all. It appeared that maybe the stress of the incessant dancing was taking a toll on them.

Ten... thirteen.... she had to stop counting. Now it was a matter of them bumping into the carnage all over the floor and tumbling down for no other apparent reason but that. Her stomach dropped. Now she had a little inkling of what the Gryffindor girl just a few minutes prior must have felt when AngelFyre teased her about the damages. They were all destined to go down now. It would all be over in few seconds, and she could only hope and pray that her 'Reparo' would be as effective on 30 suits of armor as it had been on one.

When the last metal man dancing finally collapsed, the thing AngelFyre most noticed was how quiet it had gotten. Honestly, in all of her delight over what she had wrought, she had failed to consider the enormous amount of noise that would be associated with it. Looking around, she was actually astonished that no one else but she and Colin were present.

"Well my keen-eyed, kilted general, I have scanned the battlefield before us, and unless my eyes deceive me, I see nary a living soul. Dost thou see it differently, I beg thee answer?" She laughed a small laugh and continued, "You did well today. Your service will not go unrewarded. I have doubled your share of the loot our scouts found amongst the slain. It will await you back at our encampment, but for now," and her eyes sparkled a mixture of cerulean and turquoise as she looked over at him with a small, resigned smile, "the dead must be released to carry on their journeys to their next great adventures."

Walking amidst the fallen and raising her wand, Shandra the Wise expertly gestured her wand time and time again while intoning "Reparo!" The Corridor once again was filled with the clanging and banging sounds echoing throughout the fourth floor as one suit of armor after another magically pieced itself together and found its place back on a plinth. Did they find themselves on the same plinth from which they started? Who knew? Certainly not Shandra the Wise and certainly not AngeFyre, but order had, once again, been restored.

Finishing the job she had initially started, AngelFyre hurriedly picked up the last remnants of parchments and tossed them in the proper bins.

"Come, Colin. Let us away to our victory feast in the Great Hall, shall we, where we can tell tall tales to any willing to listen of the wickedly fierce battle won this day!"

AngelFyre has left the thread.