This thread takes place right after Charms class. Zoe's hair is currently pink from a worm.

Pink hair swayed with every step. Oh, what would Professor Storm think when three of his students walked in with pink hair? Of course, she was the only one who had darker hair beforehand, so it was possible the other two wouldn't be noticed. Zoe sighed, dismissing the thought, refocusing her attention on what she had been trying to.

A few paces ahead of the girl was the boy she had been following: Alvis. Although it might not quite be considered following as the two were going to the same place. Either way, Zoe was waiting for the perfect time to come up to him. She wasn't going to let the worm debacle ruin whatever was going on, if anything, between the two.

After going down a flight of stairs to the second floor, the girl figured it was now or never. Zoe quickened her pace. "Alvis! Wait up!" In a few strides the Ravenclaw was next to her housemate. The young witch slowed back to a walking speed. "That got really out of hand really quickly," Zoe commented with a smile.

Zoe paused, as if contemplating if she would actually go through with this. "But, um, it was nice sitting next to you. Really the only enjoyable part of that train-wreck of a class." She bit lightly on the inside of her bottom lip to keep herself from saying any more.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was one class that Alvis would never rush to reach. The speed in which he'd fled from Charms class died before he'd even reached the end of the third-floor corridor, and as he neared the stairs to the second floor he slowed, holding his notebook tight against his chest. Causing trouble in Professor Kesali's class, even if he hadn't meant to, made him feel awful. The prospect of facing down Professor Storm for the next hour made him feel even worse.

Someone called his name from behind and Alvis stopped, momentarily surprised. He rarely got stopped in the halls. Most people didn't notice him enough to pick him out of the crowd. Zoe Torret hurried up behind him, her hair a bright pink after the events of the last class. "Hi, Torret..." He sighed. "Yeah, it did, didn't it?" And it was all his fault. Well, mostly. Stupid Pepper...

There was a brief moment of silence between them, but it didn't last long. Her confession -- confession of what, he didn't know, but it felt like one -- took all of five seconds. In response, Alvis stared at her. She meant it. He felt his cheeks re-coloring, only this time the blush was pleased rather than embarrassed.

"Oh. Um. Yeah. Ah, I...I enjoyed it too. I really did. It was nice. Very nice." He couldn't look at her. Instead he stared at the toe of his shoe, scuffing it against the stone floor. "But, um...Are you sure it's okay? I mean, I didn't bother you? The...what Casey said in Transfiguration last week. It doesn't bother you?"

Zoe gave a shy smile as Alvis began to turn the same color as her hair. Maybe he did feel the same! Her heart quickened as she looked away. Gee, had the stones in that wall always looked like that?....

Alvis confirmed that he enjoyed it as well, and the Ravenclaw slowly let out her breath. Had she really been holding her breath for those few seconds? She must have. These were the things Zoe had never dealt with before, maybe this was what Ayla went on about! The girl got her confidence to look back at the boy, noticing that Norling was now staring at the floor. She turned her attention to the hallway in front of her.

"Why would you-" Zoe started, curious as to why she could possibly be bothered by him. Once Alvis explained himself, however, the Ravenclaw couldn't help but laugh. "Oh please, do you think I believe a word out of Casey's mouth?" She looked back at Alvis as she spoke. "Ever since I first met him on the first train to Hogwarts he's been after me. I know first-hand that boy loves to put down people he doesn't like."

Zoe readjusted her glance back to the hallway. "Anyway, you weren't doing anything wrong. He just can't conceive the possibility that someone other than his house elf might care about him, though frankly I believe the same."

Zoe let out a huff before pausing. "Oh dear, I've gone into another Casey rant haven't I? Point is, I'm on your side of the argument, no you don't bother me." The girl receded slightly back into her nervous shell as she went on. "We could sit next to each other next class too, um, just because, you know, Casey hates me and he'd never sit near me." Damn, she was such a horrible liar.

Alvis's face fell a little. He kicked at a spare pebble on the stone floor. "I like Casey just fine," he admitted, his voice softer than before. "I hope his allergy wasn't too severe."

This was rather awkward. It was well-known that Zoe and Casey didn't get along, but they usually just avoided each other. Alvis might not be very happy with Casey right now, but that didn't mean he hated him. Zoe was right about one thing, though. Casey couldn't conceive that someone could care for him. Alvis was fairly certain that he didn't understand that Dingy cared for him, either, or even that he cared for the elf. It was rather sad.

But Zoe hadn't stopped him to talk about Casey. Alvis caught her gaze in the corner of his eye and smiled, chuckling softly.

"You know...Lying doesn't really work on me. I can always tell." Honestly, it seemed strange to him that other people had so much trouble with it. It was so obvious. That was why he never bothered to lie. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I wouldn't mind. Sitting together in Defense, I mean. It would be nice. And, well...you know I'm rubbish at it. If we've got a practical I'll just stay out of your way."

Zoe couldn't tell if she had offended Alvis, mostly because she didn't pay too much attention to his reaction. All of her mind was focused on how she disliked the Slytherin. It did seem a bit odd to her when Norling commented on how he liked Casey, most everyone was either scared of him or thought he was a huge jerk or show-off. Did the boy know something she didn't?

When her housemate pointed out her lie it was Zoe's turn to flush, looking quickly to the floor. She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm usually better at it..." she mumbled, and this was mostly true. Other than the fact that her parents could usually tell if she was lying.

Still, Alvis accepted anyway. Zoe brought herself together, color disappearing from her cheeks, and she was able to look back at the boy. "Doesn't matter. I'm not the best either." This was much different than saying, 'I'm bad at it too,' but it was the best the Ravenclaw could think of.

Zoe quickly tried to think of some way to continue the conversation, but came up with nothing. She brought up a hand to brush away some hair that tickled the front of her neck, pausing when she saw the color. What the... It took her another moment to remember that it was supposed to be pink, grumbling once she remember this. "Still getting used to this bloody coloring...."

She pushed the hair back behind one ear, her fingers going against her scalp as she did this. As soon as her nails rubbed against the skin the scent of strawberry was released into the air. It took Zoe a few seconds to figure out where the smell was coming from, but she burst into laughing as soon as she figured it out. It wasn't normal laughter, a mix between how one might laugh at another's pain and a pitying laugh. How ridiculous this was.

"Alvis. Scratch my head. I swear, it's funny." It was an odd request, Zoe tilted her head towards him. Her straight hair tipped from behind her ears, covering part of her chin. One who was looking onto this might have thought it as a very different situation.

"Eh?" Alvis blinked down at the head of rose-colored hair he'd been offered, bewildered. Zoe didn't tilt away. Seems she was serious. "Um, okay..."

He scratched the center of her part. The smell of strawberries filled the air. Alvis could help it -- he was so surprised, he laughed. "That's...wow. Some worm, huh? What do you suppose the point of this is, in terms of evolution? Maybe they lived in an area where their predator's predators preferred strawberries..."

He shook himself before he could trail off into thought, gently brushing one half of the part down so he could get a look at her scalp. "Sorry. Rambling. Looks like the smell comes from the rash, but it's just a bit red, like a sunburn. So nothing too bad."  He glanced down, getting a better look at her pink-framed face, and smiled. "This might sound a bit weird, but you look good with pink hair. I mean, not that I think it should stay too long. But it's interesting. It turned a different for you than the others. It's darker, and...it's pretty."

You're pretty.

The thought came as a bit of a surprise. Alvis had never taken an opportunity to just look at Zoe, certainly not for this long. People normally didn't want him looking at them. Something about his eyes -- the fact that he didn't blink much, maybe -- tended to weird them out. But Zoe was relaxed, a bit nervous, frustrated by her coloration...and happy. Addictively happy. And she was quite pretty, even with the pink hair.

His hand was still lingering in her hair. When he realized this, Alvis quickly pulled his hand away. "Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to...sorry."

This must be how Snowy felt when she was scratched behind the ears. Her housemates touch didn't feel too harsh, instead it felt rather good. Zoe could help but laugh when Alvis did, but more from the thought that he actually did it. A warm feeling went through her. "I'm pretty sure Kesali charmed those worms." It was the most logically explanation.

A rash on her head? Lovely. At least her hair hid it. All of those thoughts were quickly lost in her head as Alvis began to compliment her. Zoe blushed, but didn't look away. She couldn't look away, enjoying this. The hand in her hair only made the feeling like she was floating further. "Thank you," she said, not being able to help a little girly giggle coming from her.

Just as quickly as it had come, it went. She straighten her head, wondering how long it had been tilted. "It's alright." Zoe caught Alvis's hand in hers, keeping it there. "You don't have to be sorry, okay? It- I can see why Snowy likes it." Maybe the hand holding was too far. No, she shouldn't think it through too much. Just relax.

"You sure know how to make someone feel special," Zoe half whispered after being silent for a moment. She loosened the grip on his hand, testing if he'd draw his hand back as soon as he could or not.

"Gosh, I-I don't know about that..." Alvis shrugged, glancing to their now-joined hands uncertainly. "I mean, I'm not trying to butter you up or anything. I'm just honest, is all."

When her grip slackened, Alvis didn't pull his hand away, but he stopped himself from tightening his own grip in response. It'd been ages since someone at school tried to hold his hand. Even Mum didn't do it much anymore, since he'd gotten old enough that she didn't have to worry about losing him in the market. It felt good.

Alvis missed physical contact, when there was none. He didn't want her to let go. It'd been too long. But he didn't want to scare her off, either. He'd pressed to fast with Casey, getting too close too fast, and look what happened there. If Zoe wanted to let go, he should let her. But if she didn't, well...

The conversation started to trail off, but he didn't want an awkward silence to fall, so he grasped for the first question he could think of to keep her talking while he tried to decide what to do. "Who's Snowy? A-A pet, right? An owl or a cat?"

Zoe gave Alvis a bit of a shy smile after he said that he was being honest. He was so nice without even trying. The Ravenclaw liked that. "Well thank you," she finally replied.

He didn't pull away. Zoe wasn't even sure if he had reacted at all to it. Either way, her housemate didn't show any signs of wanting to let go. She considered tightening her grip again but this felt nice, she was barely trying. Sometimes it felt good to not have to put forward effort.

Yes, not having to put forward effort was nice. Alvis wanted to keep the conversation going. Zoe's smile quickly grew to a grin. She finally began to grip his hand again. "She's a cat, I'm sure you've seen her around the common room. Snowy's white with gray around her muzzle and paws."

This was a much less awkward subject, and Zoe felt no instinct to change it. "Do you have any pets?"

As Zoe spoke about her cat, they started walking, their hands still together. Alvis thought he might have been the one who started it -- they were liable to be late to Defense if they just stood in the hall -- but he was so focused on their conversation that he couldn't be sure. Maybe they'd started at the same time.

He shook his head in response to her question. "Not me. Well, there's Adam, but he's not really mine -- he's the family owl. Brings in all the mail." Obviously. It wasn't like he was talking to some muggleborn first-year. "Honestly, I've never thought much about getting a pet. I'd probably lose it. Although..."

Although there was that one memory, the one he could never fully see. The bird he'd once known, all beautiful white feathers and delicate wings. A caladrius named Faigel. Had that been a pet? His? Someone else's?

The thought was cut off by a lance of pain that flickered from temple to temple like an electric spark. Alvis cringed, the suddenness drawing a pained grunt. He stopped again and let go of Zoe's hand, reaching for his bag. "Sorry. Headache." He dug out a new bottle of aspirin -- his third this semester, a new record -- and swallowed two of the pills dry. He replaced the bottle and hesitated a moment before reaching again for Zoe's hand. "What were you saying?"

Zoe moved her arm back and forth when they began to walk so their hands swung a little. She hadn't held hands like this with someone, well, ever. Using it was exclusive to mother-daughter or mistress-elf. The Ravenclaw was content to not let go.

A laugh rose from Zoe when Alvis said he'd lose a pet. "It'd be pretty hard to lose a big owl." Alvis suddenly released her hand with a groan, and the girl's first thought was she had done something wrong. "Alvis, are you alright?" She watched him get out medication, slightly surprised when he took pills instead of a potion. They were Muggle pills, had someone owled them over?

Alvis seemed fine, so Zoe took his hand back in hers. He seemed to have forgotten he had been last speaking, but so had Zoe. "We were just talking about pets. My family actually has three different owls, one each, though we use each others. Lightning is Mum's, used for fast delivery and light things. Nox is Dad's, he can carry a lot of weight. Rufus is mine, he's in the middle."

Zoe moved her head closer to Alvis and lowered her voice, as if telling him a very important secret. "Rufus actually lives in the Owlery here, even though I'm not supposed to bring two pets. If anyone asks, he belongs to Lily and decided
on his one he'd nest there. I use him for owling from Hogwarts."

It was only then a thought occured to her. "Oh no, Defense Against the Dark Arts will start soon! Maybe it's already started... I don't know, I don't have a watch...." Some naughtiness in her told her that class didn't matter this once, even if it was Professor Storm she was thinking of. Being late couldn't hurt, right?

"I mean, we don't have to rush," she said quickly. "I don't think we'll be given detention for being late.... at least not too late..." How did this work? Zoe didn't know. "But if someone finds us in the halls..."

They were just coming up on the girl's bathroom, which gave Zoe a more rebellious idea. Was it even rebellious? Oh, who cared! "There's always Myrtle's bathroom," the Ravenclaw said, the corners of her mouth looking as if they wanted to turn up.

Secretly, Alvis was glad when Zoe lowered her voice. While aspirin was much preferred over the alternative wizarding remedy -- chewing willow bark, bleh -- it still took a few minutes to start working. His headache lingered, twinging when the ambient noise level got too high. Besides, it was comfortable being so close, and he chuckled a little at her confidence that she'd smuggled two pets into the school. "All right. Though what use would a house elf have for an owl?"

He reached for his watch when she mentioned not having one. It dangled off the strap of his bag but, before he could process the time, Zoe'd moved on to talk of...not skipping class, exactly, but being purposefully late. A mischievous gleam flickered into her eyes and she suggested that they duck into...

"Eh? Moaning Myrtle?" His voice cracked. Stupid hormones. He cleared his throat, reordering his vocal cords as best he could. "I...I don't know, is that really the best place? I mean, she's supposed to be an awful gossip and...and it's a girl's bathroom."

Alvis felt his cheeks heating up again. He had only a vague understanding of what people thought a boy and a girl did when they went off together, but he understood that a boy going into a girl's bathroom, even if just to talk, could get distorted. If they got caught. "I mean, it's not that I wouldn't want to...I mean, this is really nice -- really, really nice -- but, but are you sure nobody would...mind?"

"Family elf, and I don't know. But it makes sense that she'd lend it to me for service," Zoe replied. "As long as Rufus stays at Hogwarts."

Zoe snickered when Alvis's voice cracked, unable to suppress it. "Well, unless we want to be out in the open where everyone can see us or try every door to see if there is an empty room, it's all I've got. There were better places on the third floor, but we passed all those. And Myrtle isn't too bad if you're nice to her, I've talked to her before." Maybe this wasn't her best thought out idea.

Alvis seemed so nervous about it, even if he did admit that it would be nice. Somehow, this fanned the flame of mischief in her even further. "Nobody would mind, we just have to make up a good cover story. Like.... oh!" "

"You went back to the Ravenclaw common room to get your book for the class, and you found me there trying to change the color of my hair. You insisted I come to class with you, and at first I refused, but then after a while and I caved and grudgingly followed. That way we can walk into class acting super annoyed at each other, and it would talk a while to get from the Ravenclaw Tower down to the first floor if you're not rushing."

Zoe smiled at her own brilliant cover story. "I don't know, maybe the worm gives you a false sense of bravery, but I don't think it would hurt anyone to be ten minutes late to class." Though this might not end badly, there was no guarantee it would end well either. "We can take a risk just this once and not ever do it again." Her smile was broad, eyes shining with the desire to do this, to try it out and see how it ended. With him.

"If you say so..." For obvious reasons (girl's bathroom!) Alvis had never spoken to Moaning Myrtle. As a rule he tended to avoid the ghosts, not because they scared him, but because headaches inevitably set in when they drifted too close. It wasn't their fault or his. They were just...incompatible.

The cover story seemed sound enough, but privately Alvis doubted that he could pull it off. He was a terrible actor. Faking emotion never came easy to him, his real feelings always bubbled through. He couldn't lie either. He couldn't even hide the shifting in his blush, which got worse when she snickered at him and dimmed as time went on, though it never went completely away.

Was he really considering this? Being purposefully late to his worst class, right after he'd just finished getting into so much trouble in Charms, all so he could slip into a bathroom with a girl and continue a rambling conversation that, for whatever stupid reason, he didn't want to end? Was he really thinking about going along with such a mad plan?

...Yes. Yes he was.

"All right then," he said with an uncertain sigh, giving her hand just one squeeze. "Let's get in there quick then, before I lose my nerve. Come on." Before anyone else could come along to spot them, he pulled her in the direction of the perpetually-closed girl's loo. "This is the one, right?"

Zoe squeezed his hand back, her smile softening to provide him a quick look of comfort. First time being late to class in a while. The Ravenclaw was up for it.

She couldn't help get give an excited squeal as Alvis dragged her over to the bathroom. For once he was leading. "Mmhmm." Zoe opened the door. "I'll go in first, to see if anyone's there. I'm sure they'll react better to seeing a girl." She ducked into the bathroom, allowing the door to shut behind her.

If Alvis wanted to get away now would be the time to. Zoe wasn't able to see him, or hear footsteps. She emerged less half a minute after, cracking the door. "It's clear. Come on," she said, before swinging the door open wide enough for him to enter with a smile on her face.