Coming off of their flying lessons., Ted Lupin skipped in time with his musical accompaniment, his messy ginger braid swinging like a metronome as he lead the pack of first years into the courtyard. A dodgy record player rolled along behind him on its wooden stand, belting its tune enthusiastically, and even the odd stares it drew from the older students couldn't take away from his good mood.

They'd had, in his opinion, an excellent time. There'd been flying, there'd been Quidditch, there'd been a minimal number of injuries and, to top it all off, they had whole afternoon free now to do whatever they liked. Sure, some of his more studious classmates were likely off to the library or their common rooms to hit the books, but Ted was in no mood to be locked up. He wanted fun and sunlight. He wanted to move.

The music, as though listening to his thoughts, kicked the volume up another notch and filled the courtyard with its cheery song. Ted's already bright smile crept ever wider. So long as it was there, he decided, he might as well enjoy it.

"Whoo!"

As the music swelled Ted skipped a step, turned on his heel, and dropped his bag. He seized the hand and the waist of the first girl he saw, who turned out to be Alice Hunter. With a cheery laugh, he swept her into the courtyard's heart and gave her a spin. "Come on Hunter. Let's have a dance!"

Alice was wandering back to the castle after the exhausting flying class for a hot shower and a long book. She glanced over at Ted who seemed to be in a great mood, a large smile spread over her face. Alice smiled, knowing he was happy. Well. That wasn't the only thing that made her smile about him! His hair! That's what really made her smile! She kept pace with him, one book under her right arm, Ted on her left.

It was then that he grabbed her hand and her waist, Alice's book flying out of her arm.

". "Come on Hunter. Let's have a dance!"" He cheefully stated, spinning her around. Alice shrieked a little, not expecting to be wrapped up into a dance, but it didn't take three seconds for a huge smile to spread across her face. She held his hand tightly, allowing him to lead in the dancing.

It was as though this was a dream. No. It was a dream that she dreamed quite often these days, getting to dance with Ted. But, here she was! She let out a laugh, as he spun her. 

Ted had no illusion of being much of a dancer. He could count the number of times he'd danced, ballroom-style, on two hands, and half of those had been at family weddings when he was under the age of six, which didn't count. But, as with everything he did, he threw himself into it with full enthusiasm. Every step bounced and he never missed a chance to give his partner a spin.

To her credit, Hunter kept up quite well. She was lighter on her feet than he on his and, from the way she laughed, she enjoyed it as much as he did. As the music swelled for a final time, Ted hooked her around the waist and sent them both into a wild spin, faster and faster and completely oblivious to the presence of a nearby puddle until it sent Ted's foot skidding right out from under him.

He slipped, dragging Hunter down with him. The music cut off, accented by the puddle's splash as Ted landed in it, flat on his back. Wind knocked from his lungs, the shock of it turned a stripe of Ted's hair back to its natural mousy brown. He gave a gasp and a cough, forcing the air back into his lungs; after a few moments it turned into a laugh.

"Ha, not bad, not bad. Didn't stick the landing though." He laughed at himself, the red in his hair falling out of its loose braid, and gave a Hunter a smile. "You all right? I mean from the fall, of course, you're a perfectly good dancer. Not too banged up are you?"

The song swelled, as Ted and Alice began to twirl, faster, faster, faster still, until he slipped in a puddle. One second Alice is laughing, and the next she's being pulled to the ground. "Woah!" She said as they came down, Alice lying next to Ted. She didn't it the grown hard, may have skinned her elbow, but still, she was just fine. She jumped up as soon as she was down, kneeling next to Ted. Her hair fell around her face, almost creating a curtain, but she quickly pushed it behind her ear.

The wind was knocked clear out of him, and as Alice leaned over him, he gasped, then coughed, before laughing. A look of shock sat on her face, as he began to laugh. He made a joke about landings as Alice stood up, extending a hand to pull him up.

"You all right? I mean from the fall, of course, you're a perfectly good dancer. Not too banged up are you?"

Alice's face drew up into a huge grin. "You were smart." The smile faded, and her cheeks grew red. "I mean, you were brilliant. At dancing. Well, not that you're not smart, I mean I'm not insulting your intelligence, because from what I observe from the classroom, you are brilliant." She was flustered, as she took a breath. "I'm fine. A scraped elbow and a wet uniform, but I am just ducky." Her face turned serious. "But, are you okay? I mean, you hit the ground pretty hard."

Ted accepted the hand up as girl rambled on, quirking his head in amusement. Alice Hunter was a bit of an odd duck, but she had an earnestness that made her hard to dislike. Behind them, the record player settled from its face-paced dance into a soft song that seemed almost intimate, among the sunlight and the grass. It was very pretty, but a bit lovey-dovey for his taste. The player had an odd sense of humor.

When line of questioning turned back to his fall, his face split into a wide grin to put Alice's fears at ease. "Aw, you don't have to worry about me. Holidays with the family got me really good at falling. When you stuff a dozen kids into half the space they need, somebody's going to take a spill eventually; might as well be me rather than one of the tykes. They'd take it so much worse. You know what I mean?"

It did knock him out of synch a bit, though. The lock of brown hair fell in front of his eyes. Ted went cross-eyed to get a look -- it was much shorter than the long red of his braid. He could have changed the stripe back to match, but that would take several minutes of concentration and he didn't want to blow Hunter off after he'd dragged her into the ground. So instead, he ran a head through the braid and undid its ties, letting the long hair fall loose for a few seconds before it shrank back to his "normal" mousy brown.

Ted took the hand-mirror from his pocket and scrutinized his own appearance. A brief frown flitted across his features, and the grin that returned a moment later was a bit less bright than the one before. "Say, Hunter -- Pick a color. Any color. I feel like a change."

Aw, you don't have to worry about me. Holidays with the family got me really good at falling. When you stuff a dozen kids into half the space they need, somebody's going to take a spill eventually; might as well be me rather than one of the tykes. They'd take it so much worse. You know what I mean?"

Alice laughed. "I totally get it. I'm the same with my little brother. Whenever he and I are playing and he falls, well. It's my job to make him feel better." She laughed. "It's why I'm so protective and I care a lot." She looked at him, a kind smile on her face. His hair was amazing. And as he began taking it down, he asked her for a color.

I get to pick the color of his hair? Me? She thought. She smiled widely. "Well, what about purple? Have you done purple recently?"

"Purple..." Ted regarded the suggestion thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "It has been a while. Good idea."

He concentrated, screwing up his face. His straight hair curled in a bit as waves worked their way from the roots down, followed closely by the transformation into dusk purple, his favorite shade. As final touch, he shifted his eyes from brown -- Ginny's color -- to pale blue-gray, which better matched the new style.

"There we go. Much better." Its purpose served, the mirror returned to his pocket. "I've never liked that brown. Not on me, at least."

He returned his full smile to Hunter, only to catch a glimpse of blue in the grass behind her. "Oh -- I'm sorry, I made you drop your book, didn't I? Here, I'll get it." He brushed past her, collected the tome, and brushed a bit of dirt from its cover before hold it out. "Here we go, no harm done. If you don't mind me asking...what is it? Something from the library?"

Alice watched intriguingly as he changed his hair to purple. She loved to watch it, as she found it quite interesting the way someone could change their appearance when they wanted to. "There we go. Much better." Its purpose served, the mirror returned to his pocket. "I've never liked that brown. Not on me, at least." He said.

"I like all the colors. They all look cute to me!" Alice flushed red. "I mean, nice. They all look nice." She said, cutting the eye contact. He went and got her book off the ground, dusting it, then giving it back to her asking if it was from the library. She shook her head. "It's my journal. Kind of like my diary, only more creative." She smiled a little. "It's embarrassing, but instead of writing down all of my feelings, I incorporate them into my stories. That way if someone finds it, they won't be able to know my feelings, unless, of course, they knew that I wrote them into stories!" She said with a little laugh. It wasn't too funny at all.

"Right now I'm writing a love story between two people, one's a librarian and the other's a really cool superhero. He has blue hair." Her eyes shot open. "I mean, um, that his hair, it uh, wasn't like he could uh, change it, but, uh, yeah." She quickly changed the subject. "Have you read any good books these days?"

Well. Whatever Ted had been expecting, that wasn't it. His eyes lit up with interest. "You're a writer, then? That's brilliant. You ever write non-private stuff, you know, things you wouldn't mind letting other people read?"

The description of her current story made him quirk his head. "Super...hero?" He had to think about it a moment before it clicked. "Oh! Like that American bloke in the red cape, from the Muggle books. My gran's got some of those. Well, actually, they belonged to Gramps but..." But that was something he'd learned not to talk about at an early age. For the first few years of his life, any mention of his deceased namesake would send Gran into a fit of tears, then she'd be depressed for days and he'd feel awful. She'd gotten better as time went on, but it'd been trained out of him by that point.

"...never mind." Ted scratched his nose, looking for a change of subject. There was something about the way that she sputtered on about the hero with the blue hair that seemed...suspicious? But she didn't want to talk about it, and he didn't really want to talk about Gramps, so... "Well...honestly, I don't read that much. Just the History of Magic textbook right now. There is this one adventure series I really like, but the next one won't be out for another year."

He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Lame, huh? I bet you've read half the library by now. You're like Aunt Mione -- always got your nose in a book." It wasn't a bad thing, and he chuckled to reassure her of that fact as they started walking up the courtyard towards the castle's front doors. "So, what're you gonna do with your afternoon?"

"You're a writer, then? That's brilliant. You ever write non-private stuff, you know, things you wouldn't mind letting other people read?"

"Sometimes. I mean, it's a past time, but I do write a lot of other things, especially school things. I write a lot of those." She said, laughing again. They chatted a little about superheroes, before an awkward silence fell, and they changed the subject. Ted told her about how he wasn't really into reading, in which Alice was a little surprised. She kind of expected him to be a reader, but he said that he read an adventure series, and that was good. She liked it when people had an interest in a book.

"Lame, huh? I bet you've read half the library by now. You're like Aunt Mione -- always got your nose in a book."

Alice laughed. She was proud of her nickname of a bookworm, and she knew just who he was referring to. Hermione Granger. She loved Hermione and was always striving to be like her. Alice was so happy he compared her to her, for it was something like an honor.

He asked her what she planned on doing for the rest of the afternoon, and she replied, "Probably reading. I love to read. But maybe some writing. I don't know." She yawned. "I was up late last night reading, so, I may take a nap, as soft as that may sound." She said with a smile. "What about you?"

"Soft nothing. Naps are great. They're one of those concepts that prove God wanted us to be happy." To prove his point, Ted stretched his arms over his head with a yawn of his own. He often napped in the aftermath of full moons, when his sudden burst of restless energy finally popped.

As they passed through the double doors and into the entry hall, he let his arms sag and rolled the tension from his shoulders. "Me? I wish I could take a nap, but I've still got homework to do. Need to write that Potions essay. And Transfiguration. And History of Magic..."

Essays. Bleh. He stuck out his tongue. "So I guess I'd better head on back up to the dorms. Yours are that way, right?" He nodded to the corridor that lead to dungeons, basements, and associated underground things. He beamed. "Thanks again for the dance. We should do it again sometime. I hear they've got a big party planned for Halloween. See you there?"

"Soft nothing. Naps are great. They're one of those concepts that prove God wanted us to be happy."

Alice laughed. It was true. She loved naps, and it was good to hear she wasn't the only one who liked naps. "They really do prove that God likes us happy." She said with a  smile. Ted spoke about the homework and essays he still needed to write. She smiled. "Well, I hope that you get that done. I didn't think they were so bad."

"So I guess I'd better head on back up to the dorms. Yours are that way, right?"

"That's it." She looked at her feet. He thanked her for the dance and mentioned that they should do it again sometime. "Thank you, Ted. That was so much fun." She laughed. "We definitely should do it again. I mean, I haven't had fun like that in so long." He mentioned the party in 10 days. "I'll be there. I'm getting excited for it." She said. "Will you be there?"

"Naturally. I love Halloween. Can't wait to see everyone's costumes." For his money, Ted already had an idea brewing in that direction. It would be subtle, but unique and fun. And it had the potential to harmlessly freak out a teacher, which was always good for a laugh.

"I'll see you there, then." He caught her hand and gave her a final slow spin. As she came out of it, he bowed like the gents he'd seen in an old movie and gave her wink. "Save a dance for me, okay? Catch you later."

With that and a wave, he released her hand and trotted off for the stairs. The record player, rolling along on its stand behind him, turned back and played the last cheerful notes of its song in her direction as though bidding a cheerful farewell. It turned back as he rounded the corner and, with a cheerful switching of tracks, he was gone.