Quarrel PV Aaron Jones Closed

It was almost a full month into fourth year, and Aaron Jones was still adjusting to being back at school. Balancing his time between classes/schoolwork, time with his friends/girlfriend, and doing the trick riding that he loved proved to be more difficult than expected. This was particularly so because Jack had been acting weird and aggressive for weeks now, Aaron was trying his best to support Jack and Aly regarding Dee, and schoolwork was getting increasingly more demanding.

They weren't even in OWL year yet, but professors were already talking about the need to get used to increased workloads. Didn't they know that the students needed this year to rest before OWL year started? Aaron had wanted to spend this year flying and hanging out with friends, before having to really buckle down on school stuff next year. But that obviously wasn't how Hogwarts worked. Sometimes it felt like it was just a him problem though - like schoolwork took him twice as long as others.

This particular evening, Aaron was asked at dinner by a friend about their Herbology assignment. When was it due? Aaron felt a lump in his throat as he realized he had completely forgotten about said assignment, since he'd been too busy during Herbology imagining a trick he could perform with Chae. He really needed to get better at focusing.

"I could check with Aly," Aaron answered, looking over towards the Ravenclaw table. He spotted his curly-haired girlfriend quite easily. They'd experienced a weird hiccup in their relationship over summer when they couldn't write to each other because Aly's family found out, but things had been going pretty smoothly aside from that. Summer camp with her had been really nice. She was actually one of the main reasons that he was staying on top of his schoolwork and had yet to get any bad marks this year - she was really motivating in that regard. She was always happy to help him keep track of assignments and being with her made him want to do well in school - after all, there's no way Aly would want to date someone who was failing his classes. She was definitely going to be successful in life, and he wanted to prove to himself that he could be good enough for her.

In that moment, her charming green eyes looked up and met his. Aaron felt an instant warmth that only she could inspire in him, and a silly smile took over his face. But she averted her eyes quickly, and her freckled face was suddenly hidden from him. A curious reaction, but one he took in stride and did not overthink. He got up from the Hufflepuff table and strode over to the Ravenclaws.

"Hey, Aly, do you have a moment?" Aaron said, a smile on his face as he reached out his hand to her, essentially asking her to stand and come with him. "I have an important question for you," he explained, unsure why two girls nearby seemed to giggle at the statement. He only said it in this way to get her to come away with him, meaning it more as a joke than anything. He started leading them a few steps away from the Ravenclaw table towards the wall so they had a tiny bit of privacy. "Are you doing alright, by the way?" he asked as they took those few steps away from possibly prying ears. "I saw you pushing around your pie when I walked up."

@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.

Hex Colour: #38b6ff
|| @Aaron Jones, mentioning @Dealla Prince ||

No sooner had Aly glanced away from her boyfriend-but-not-ball date than she heard footsteps coming towards her.

She did a mental check of who it could be approaching her. The footsteps were too heavy for a first-year, but too light for a professor, so it was probably someone about her age. They were coming from behind her, so either a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, or perhaps a Ravenclaw from further down the table. But she couldn't think of a Ravenclaw who would be coming up to her now, rather than waiting until the common area after dinner, except for maybe Dee, who was... well... very much not capable of walking right now. And there weren't really any Gryffindors Aly knew very well. Only a few Hufflepuffs, too, for that matter.

Her suspicions were confirmed with her name a minute later, dropping from his lips as smoothly as a tear from an eye: "Hey, Aly, do you have a moment?"

Aly turned to face him, grass meeting night, only to have his next words grace her ears and swell her heart to three sizes too big: "I have an important question for you."

A grin split the Ravenclaw's face. Finally, the important question she'd been waiting for. It really wasn't that hard to ask eight words of her, starting with will-you-go and ending in ball-with-me, and really, she couldn't understand why it had taken him so long in the first place. During such a dark time in her life, she needed him, and here he was. The lion to her lily - or, really, the lily to her lion, at least right now, because it was the lily who saved the lion in the end, not the other way around. (Another reason she liked that tale so much. The damsel didn't always have to be the one in distress.)

Practically leaping up from the table and trying to ignore the two firstie girls nearby giggling at the two of them - they'd learn the meaning of romance, soon enough - Aly followed Aaron towards the wall, where she leaned coolly on the cold stone and propped a foot up against it. Nonchalantly, she tilted her head back as he asked her if she was all right. Well, she hadn't been before, that much was for sure, but she had a feeling that she was about to be feeling a lot better.

So what if her entire day, her happiness at the moment, really, hinged on a boy asking her to a ball? Some would say it was vain, but what was the problem with vanity, in the end?

"Oh, I - well - I'm just worried about Dee," she said lamely, brushing hair out of her face. "That's all. But I'm all right. I'm sure she'll be better soon." Looking at him out of the corner of her eye, she gave Aaron her sweetest possible smile. Why hadn't she touched up her lipstick before this? She was sure the corners were crusty from a day of class and a few different meals - but she pushed the thought from her head. "Anyway, what's this important question you have to ask me? I'm sure I can give you an equally important answer..."

She winked.

Aly was certainly getting a whole lot better at this whole flirting thing.

If there had been any sort of concern from her breaking eye contact earlier, it went out the window when she grinned at him. Aaron felt that warmth again and his own smile grew. He had offered his hand and kept hold of hers as they walked to the wall, their fingers intertwined. He'd never say it out loud to anyone (except her maybe, if she asked), but holding her hand made him feel incredibly proud. He was proud to be her boyfriend, and proud that she was his girlfriend. This little gesture of PDA made him feel like they were on the same page about that, and it was a great feeling.

When Aly explained what was on her mind - the concern for Dee - Aaron nodded sympathetically. He was also concerned for the Ravenclaw girl, and for Jack. "She will be," Aaron agreed, feeling that vocalizing it would help somehow. "Nurse Frogge or Professor Lecuyer will definitely find a solution, or they'll find someone who can."

It was clear though that Aly didn't want to linger on the topic, which was understandable. He squeezed her hand gently, a gesture aimed to comfort her.

Aly turned the topic back to the question he had, but her phrasing left Aaron slightly confused. And if that wasn't enough, she winked at him. He felt like he had missed something, but her charm had him automatically grinning in response. But it also made him blank on the question he'd come over with for a few seconds, so he stumbled over his first few words. "Um, well... I, uh... I was just wondering if you remembered when that Herbology assignment from yesterday will be due?" It was only after the question had left his lips that he started processing that Aly's phrasing and wink might mean that she was expecting a very specific question. Probably not the one he had just asked... but no other questions were coming to mind. He didn't have time to wrack his brain and figure it out though, since he had already spoken.

@Aly Salinger

Hex Colour: #38b6ff
|| @Aaron Jones ||

Aly was really trying to not think of the more negative things going on in her life right now. After all, just five minutes ago she had been sulking in her lonesome anger (and perhaps jealousy, of those girls who had been asked to the Fall Ball) over at the Ravenclaw table, and now, here she was by the wall, happier than she'd been in... well, a long while. She was about to get her ball date, after all.

Oh, I can't wait to share all my ideas with him! Goodness, he's going to look so handsome in gold... or maybe a dark blue...

Shaking her head to clear it, Aly looked expectantly up at Aaron, ignoring pretty much everything he had said about things that weren't Fall Ball-related. Again, she had no time for negativity in her life right now. In turn, after her wink, Aaron seemed flustered, stumbling over his words like Aly herself often did; she'd never seen him so nervous, not even when he had asked her to the last one back in March. What was going on? They were already officially dating - as an anxious person herself, Aly wanted to tell him that he didn't need to be so anxious.

She was just reaching her free hand out to place on his arm, comforting, playful, when he finally got his question out.

"I was just wondering if you remembered when that Herbology assignment from yesterday will be due?"

For a brief moment, Aly's heart swelled seven sizes as she relished finally hearing the words she had waited so long to be asked. Her face split into a wide, purely delighted grin, and she clasped his free hand with her free one, instead of his arm, with a tight squeeze, so that they were now holding both hands. "Merlin, Aaron, yes! I've-"

Then what he really asked hit her mind like a thunderbolt.

She was stunned at first. No other way to describe it - just wholly blindsided, a completely unexpected and unwanted question. When she had asked the universe for Aaron to surprise her with a ball invite, she hadn't meant SURPRISE HER! At least, not like this!

Aly ripped her hands out of Aaron's grasp, a wounded expression crossing her face as her mouth dropped open in a combination of betrayal and horror. Was she overreacting to just being asked about the Herbology homework? Oh, absolutely. But Aly had wanted this ball invite more than almost anything - no, she'd needed it, what with how her fourth year had been thus far. This would have been a critical win for her, and here she was, being treated like a bloody day planner instead of a girlfriend.

"You - you must be joking," she stammered, hotly and furiously, back at Aaron, her gaze turning aflame. "That's what was so important to ask? You couldn't think of a single other thing that may hold more weight right now?"

Of course she remembered. It wasn't due til the following Wednesday, in their next Herbology class. But that didn't matter right about now! There were more pressing topics at hand.

Aly suddenly burst into a big grin, and the anxiety that Aaron had felt from her expectant look melted away. He had been worried for nothing, clearly misinterpreting the expectant look in her eyes. His own grin grew to match hers, though he was a tiny bit perplexed by the enthusiasm she suddenly showed about their Herbology assignment.

And then it all came crashing down.

Aly suddenly tore her hands out of his grasp, and Aaron's grin faltered and fell apart as her facial expression turned to one of horror. Oh Merlin's beard, what had he done to cause that look?! His eyebrows shot up as she talked about him joking, and fury filled her voice. The confusion on his face had to be palpable as she angrily questioned if he could think of something more important to ask her.

They were only a month into fourth year, what could he be forgetting that was so clearly crucial to her happiness? Her birthday wasn't until May, it couldn't have anything to do with that. And the next holiday break wouldn't be until December. There weren't any special occasions coming up other than the first Hexwizard task, and neither them nor their friends had been chosen for that. Was there a Quidditch game coming up? In a couple weeks, right? Was her supposed to be helping her train? He couldn't recall such an agreement. Aaron wracked his brain, but he couldn't come up with anything obvious.

"I- I don't know what I'm forgetting exactly," Aaron finally admitted, feeling his face was a bit warm from the attention that had been drawn towards them. He'd seen out the corner of his eye the fact that some students were whispering and watching them. Clearly he had made some sort of mistake, but he was lost and a bit embarrassed by the scene she was making. "Should we talk in private?" he suggested, not sure what else he could say in that moment. He just didn't want to feel like the eyes of the entire Great Hall were on them (even if at the moment, it was only a few students nearby).

@Aly Salinger

Hex Colour: #38b6ff
|| @Aaron Jones ||

The crushed look on Aaron's face when Aly tore her hands from his grasp was almost enough to make her feel bad for him. Not quite to forgive him, necessarily, but almost to regret her decision to react so furiously and publicly to his failure as a boyfriend. That hurt look in his eyes... Merlin, she didn't mean to do that, really. She just wanted for one thing in her life at the moment to go right.

Aly was only fourteen, after all. She was already dealing with so much - was it so wrong of her to want something silly like a ball date? Really, was it that silly at all?

But then - another burst of words from Aaron's mouth, and another tidal wave of annoyance sweeping over the Ravenclaw fourth-year as she listened to her boyfriend ask the question. Well, not the question - the question that would have solved everything if it had just been asked of its own accord. (Honestly, who asked to get asked to a ball? Was not getting asked not embarrassing enough on its own?) Instead, a worse question - a death knell, really.

"Should we talk in private?"

Talk in private? Oh, Merlin, he's really done it now. What does he think I am, some nipper just throwing a tantrum? Blimey - does he not want to be seen with me?

The anxious and angry thoughts sprinting a marathon through her head, Aly let her hothead flag fly as she folded her arms tightly over her chest. Her jaw tightened, teeth clenching, for a moment, before she snapped out at him, sarcasm oozing from her every word. "I'm sorry, Aaron, am I embarrassing you?"

The teenager cocked her head to the side, green eyes glaring daggers at her boyfriend - who she really did care for, honest, despite what her current behaviour may have been saying. If she didn't - well - if she didn't... feel this way for him, she wouldn't have been so furious about it all in the first place.

But still, she persisted, voice hysterically rising to a fever pitch: "Shall we just go somewhere else so people don't see that you haven't asked your bloody girlfriend to the ball yet? You know, I think I have a right to mouth off about it if I feel like it! How d'you think it makes me feel to be the only girl without a date yet?"

Oh. Shit.

Now I've gone and done it. Who needs Aaron to embarrass me when I'm doing a right good job of making a fool of myself, instead?

Aly snapped her mouth shut, feeling her face flush scarlet as hot tears pricked at her eyes. Sure enough, she had proven once again that her only real talent was embarrassing herself - in front of people, in front of friends, and, worst of all, always, somehow, in front of Aaron.

Now he'd never want to go to the ball with her. And it was all her bloody fault.

Aaron's eyes grew wide in surprise as - instead of agreeing to go elsewhere like he'd expected, or perhaps hoped - Aly decided to get even louder. She spoke of her embarrassing him, and he felt a distantly familiar heat rising in his cheeks. It wasn't embarrassment, no (although it had started out that way). It was anger. Why was she doing this? What could he have possibly done that was so wrong she decided to shout at him in the middle of the Great Hall about it?

And then, finally, she said what was really on her mind. The ball? Seriously? Perhaps if he wasn't already angry with the way she was handling this, Aaron might have sympathized more and thought about how she was feeling. But no. She decided to pick a fight, and that's what she was going to get. He couldn't even remember the last time he had felt so embarrassed and angry, and he was pretty sure he'd never felt that with her before. Sure they'd gotten into tiffs before, but nothing at this level.

"You're the one who's joking, right?" Aaron suddenly said, the words exploding from his lips as soon as she finished about being the only girl without a date. He wasn't shouting, but he was surely loud enough for those nosy eavesdroppers to clearly hear. "This is about the ball, Aly? Are you serious?" There was a very clear tone of disbelief in his voice. Two could play at this game.

"You are not the only girl without a date, Aly. You literally have a date - me! Remember, your boyfriend? Unless I missed a memo that we broke up or something?" Aaron said, standing up straighter and gaining more confidence in his words. He was not the one in the wrong here. "Of course we're going together! We're dating, why should I have to ask you to the ball? It's implied," he continued. Maybe he should've asked her, but he didn't even think that there was any question whether they were going or not. Aly loved the dances and the balls so it felt obvious they'd be going together. Either way, her reaction was way out of proportion. He was so angry, he wasn't even noticing the tears pricking her eyes. All he could really see was the fact that his girlfriend had completely flipped a switch and was raging at him.

@Aly Salinger

Hex Colour: #38b6ff
|| @Aaron Jones ||

Merlin, he looked surprised. More so shocked than hurt, at least at first. But then Aaron's gaze hardened, and for the first time, Aly saw a look on his face that she had only ever seen on one person. A stony stare, frustration or anger or whatever they wanted to call it bubbling beneath.

She'd only ever seen that look on Hesper Livingston-Salinger. Her mother. And to see it on her boyfriend scared the living shit out of her.

Maybe she'd said too much. No - she'd definitely said too much, so that wasn't what Aly was worried about. Maybe she'd felt too much. Her over-emotional side had always been a problem, and what with the overload of everything that had been happening recently, she knew that she probably should have just learned to shut herself down before getting hysterical long ago. But that had always been tough for her, and it always just got her into trouble instead. Like right now. Because she'd heated the volcano, and now it was about to erupt.

Aaron went off on her, not quite yelling, but very close - definitely with a raised voice. (Aly had gotten quite good at the whole "yelling" vs. "raised voice" clarification when it came to fights with her mother: namely, if Hesper did it, she had "only raised her voice", but if Aly did it, it was "yelling" and therefore wrong.) The young Ravenclaw hazarded a glance over her shoulder to avoid Aaron's angry dark eyes, and therefore watched a few of the nearby students, mostly on the edges of the tables nearest them, try to act like they hadn't taken a sudden interest in their conversation under her judgmental green gaze. He sounded like he couldn't believe her, both in tone and word. Like what she was saying was ridiculous.

Like she was just - Silly. Young, and foolish! Don't know any better... you're only a child...

Shaking her head to clear the echoes of Hesper, Aly tuned back in to Aaron's rant just in time to hear him explain, quite angrily, that she did have a date and that it was him, of course, because they were dating, so obviously that meant they were ball dates.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and her jaw began to ache; Aly unclenched it, not having realised that she had been grinding her teeth together. A nervous habit, or perhaps an angry one. "It- it's not implied at all!" she stammered, trying very hard not to cry. She'd already made such a scene, and Aaron was making it worse, and the last thing she needed was for people to see her break down in the Great Hall - again. She'd wept into her mushy peas more than once over the past few weeks, but normally, no one noticed.

People would notice this.

So she persisted, trying to keep her voice even, though it wobbled and wavered a bit towards the end: "We haven't talked or discussed it at all, and I've done all this - all this research about costumes, and I don't even know if you're going, and-" Well, there it went - a singular tear, rolling fat down her freckled cheek. Maybe he wouldn't notice, and maybe no one else would, either, since she was facing away from the tables. "If you wanted to go with me, I thought you'd have at least talked to me about it, but no, everyone else already has their outfits picked out and everything, and there was that bloke who asked his girlfriend during dinner last week, and..."

Yes, the waterworks were coming, and Aly wanted desperately, more than anything, to stay strong. It had been all she had been trying to do for weeks, as comas and classes and balls had thrown her life into a tizzy. But strong could only hold on for so long.

"I just didn't know if we were even going," she said, quietly, casting her eyes down towards the floor. "If you'd even want to go with me."

Aaron got more worked up when she denied that them going together was implied. Yes, it is! he wanted to shout. Aaron was starting to see red, something that hadn't happened to him in a really long time. He was about to turn on his heel and walk out of the Great Hall right then and there - but then Aly started crying. Seeing the tear stream down her face was like a needle that popped the balloon inflating inside of him. His shoulders relaxed - he hadn't realized how tense they had been before - and he released a breath he had been holding. And then he listened to her words, making an active choice to put his own feelings aside to prioritize her.

"Aly, c'mere," Aaron said, not giving her much choice in the matter as he took a step closer and pulled her closer as well. Whether she objected to the action or not, he would pull her into a hug and use himself to cover her face from any bystanders. She wouldn't want anyone to see her crying. One arm was tightly wound around her waist, the other around the back of her shoulders and holding her against him. The height difference meant she usually fit perfectly into the crook of his neck or with her head against his chest.

"I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings by not asking," Aaron finally said after a few moments, still holding her in that hug. He was speaking quietly now - loud enough that she could hear of course, but in a much calmer manner and definitely not loud enough for the nosy Nancys around. "But I really thought it was implied. I mean, of course we'd go together, you know? I love you, Aly, and-"

The words just came out as he spoke, and he stopped speaking immediately. That only drew more attention to what he had said though. They'd been dating five-and-a-half months, and hadn't used those words yet, but they felt right. The fourteen-year-old boy finally relaxed his hold on his girlfriend so he could lean back a bit and actually look down into her eyes. "I do, I love you," he said, sticking to his guns. They were obviously meant for each other, so yeah, he did. It felt right to say it in this moment. "And you should know that of course I'd want to go to the ball with you, that should never be in question. So, Aly Salinger," and here's where his impulsiveness came in. He kept the hand on her waist and removed the other to grab the wand he had in his cloak, then cast one of the few spells he was confident in (given his girlfriend was a flower lover).

"Orchideous," he muttered, producing a bouquet of deep red roses which he had pictured in his mind.

"Will you go to the ball with me?" he asked.

@Aly Salinger