"I'm sorry."

Alvis winced at the sound of his own voice. Blurting out a non sequitur apology probably wasn’t the most eloquent way to open a conversation. And maybe the corridor outside their dispersing Charms class, after a three week return to their usual, mutual silence, wasn’t the best way to catch Moira McBoid so he could get this off his chest.

But, dammit, there was no taking it back now. Moira had already slowed to a stop, peering at him curiously through the curtains of her long, brown hair.

"For what?"

"For..."

A trio of girls pushed by them, giggling in a chorus that sounded like breaking glass. One of them -- a Slytherin -- looked Alvis dead in the eye and raised a suggestive, judgmental eyebrow. Her surface thoughts swam with a complex network of relationships and love triangles that she'd apparently been maintaining for years.

Alvis cringed. "For that. The rumor that's been going around, about...you know. Us."

McBoid stared at the other girls' backs, lips pursed in a a sour pout. Once they were well clear, she shrugged. "It's annoying, sure, but it's not like we can tell the truth of the matter. For the most part they don't bother me."

"I know." Alvis grinned sheepishly and tapped his temple. He didn't like using his 'talent,' but so long as he couldn't keep it under wraps he'd been occasionally checking in on McBoid during class, to make sure that this didn't cause her much distress. "I'm still sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so clingy."

He sighed, leaning back against the wall beside her and watching the corridor around them thin out. There wasn't anywhere to go after Charms on Wednesday but down to dinner, and while food did sound good Alvis wanted to clear his head first, which meant getting away from other people. He knew that McBoid often felt the same way. Maybe that's why he lingered.

"To be honest," he said after a few moments of silence. "I doubt it'd change anything even if we told them. Rumors are like that, y'know? Long as they think they've got something to talk about...hm..."

He trailed off, the first seeds of an idea tickling at the back of his mind. McBoid joined him against the wall. "That's a spark in your eye if I've ever seen one, Norling. What are you thinking?"

Alvis rolled the thought around a moment longer. Then he said it. "Do you want to go out sometime?"

McBoid stared at him. Alvis made a point of look at her only out of the corner of his eye and not making eye contact. She kept her expression in a careful mask, and he didn't really want to know what she was thinking. If this conversation was about to go downhill, he didn't want to know.

"You mean...like a date where people will assume it's an actual date?"

Clever girl. Alvis grinned, pleased that she'd picked up his meaning. This idea could work, but only if they stayed on the same page. "I mean, don't feel like you have to say yes or anything, but...if we let everyone assume that we're dating and not ashamed, then there wouldn't be any gossip anymore, because they're not embarrassing us. It'd just be a thing. And then, later, we could 'break up' and it'd be over."

Moira stared thoughtfully at nothing, her head nodding a bit unconsciously as she considered the possibility. "We'd have to go on a few at the very least, maybe even a Hogsmeade weekend since not much normally happens around here other than classes and studying."

"Hogsmeade could work. Walking around, looking at stuff. And, well." Alvis shrugged again, ducking his head shyly. "There's always reading, out on the grounds...seems like a good date to me."

Her lips twitched into the slightest hint of a grin. "That's easy enough. I read while sitting by the lake all the time."

Something warm and pleasant began burning in Alvis's stomach. Before he could think about it too hard, another idea popped up. "Ah, there's also this...." He dug into his book bag, producing one of the flyers he'd been designing to distribute around the castle next month. The current design showed a bonfire and stars overhead, shimmering slightly with metallic ink. "Astronomy club event at the end of the month. That'd probably do for a fake relationship, yeah?"

McBoid looked over the flyer, taking in the information at the top and bottom of the page. "Story event, hm? Yeah, could do."

"Cool. Then. I guess." Alvis took a deep breath through his nose. "We're doing this, huh?"

"I guess. It's a plan."

"A plan."

Alvis nodded, mostly to himself, and tucked the flyer back into his bag. The corridor was basically empty now, and he was about to leave when one final thought fluttered into his head. If they were supposed to be dating, it'd be weird if he kept calling her 'McBoid,' and she kept calling him 'Norling.' They'd have to get used to that, among other things.

Quickly, briefly, he took her hand. Their fingers curled together at the second knuckle, not quite entwined, but close enough to pass for a shy first attempt. Alvis smiled at the girl gently and practiced squeezing her hand, just once, before they parted ways.

"See you soon, Moira."

With that, before his nerves could get the better of him, he shouldered his things and took off down the corridor.