Kelvin sat on the floor in the corridor outside the charms classroom.  He was early and was using the time to work on the Runes essay that had been assigned that morning.  The completely unrelated the potions at all essay was helping him take his mind off potions.  Granted, he hadn't blown anything up, or melted another cauldron, or ended up covered in something corrosive, but it still had gone like most potions lessons and left him frustrated.

Ancient Runes, however, made sense.  So did Charms.  But he was prepared for Charms.  Even better they could be combined to amazing effect when put together in the right way.  In fact, the rune, that he'd been about to reference, plus the right charm could possibly be used to keep ink in the jar in place of a stopper.  Or if the stopper decided to pop out while in his bag.

He rolled up the essay and placed it in his bag, and pulled out his wand.  He muttered a spell and held up the jar of ink, he hadn't done anything like this on glass, but the process was similar to other materials, just instead of carving the rune it displaced the glass slightly leaving the rune embedded in the glass. 

With a few deft strokes of his wand he was finished with the rune.  He pointed his wand at the top of the jar and muttered the spell.  The opening and the rune both glowed orange before fading to nothing. He tipped the jar, and the ink stayed just inside the opening, unable to pour out.  "Yes! It worked."

Jonah leaned against the wall outside of his Charms classroom, bookbag slung across one shoulder. He was early, as he sometimes was when Potions let out on time (in other words, infrequently - there was more often than not some catastrophe or other that required extra clean-up at the end of the period), and it would seem he was not alone. In the hall sat a Ravenclaw who he recognized as Kelvin Watkins - a cute-in-a-hopelessly-awkward-way boy in his year.

He watched with interest as Watkins pointed his wand at his inkpot. From what he knew of his yearmate, Jonah guessed this would either go very well or very messily wrong.

The Ravenclaw cast some sort of spell on his ink jar, then turned it upside down - and Jonah couldn't help it, his eyebrows shot up as the ink failed to spill. He schooled his features into their usual vague smirk, waiting until Watkins was done congratulating himself to clap slowly.

"Bravo, ten points for Ravenclaw," he called, laughing internally. Unable to give or take points, his statement was more symbolic - a 'good job, Watkins' he wouldn't say directly. Sauntering over to his yearmate, he plopped himself down on the floor next to Kelvin, half-turning and resting his chin in his hand, elbow propped on his knee, giving Kelvin a sideways look. "Was that a charm we've covered, or did you puzzle it out yourself?" His tone, not quite mocking, almost sounded impressed - almost.

"Bravo, ten points for Ravenclaw."

Kelvin jumped, nearly dropping the ink jar.  He hadn't realized he had an audience.  He felt his face heat up from the embarrassment of jumping and from the compliment.  At least he wasn't covered in ink from a broken jar though.  He should have added a rune for that too. 

"A bit of both," he said quietly, not sure if Jonah was messing with him or not.  He'd never really been sure about the Slytherin.

"We've covered the charm and I was reading about the rune..." he picked up the book he'd been using and placed it in his bag.  "But, I thought they might work together, so gave it a try."  He picked up the jar, shrugged and added the stopper.  "Not sure how long it will last," Kelvin explained.  "I've enchanted a few other things too.  Though, so far only about half of them last longer than a charm would all by itself."

Jonah bit back a snicker as Kelvin jumped in surprise, smiling to himself as a blush colored the Ravenclaw's face. He had intended to catch his yearmate off-guard, and was delighted with the reaction he got when he succeeded. Kelvin was all too easy to mess with, though to be honest Jonah was only half messing. He really was impressed; not only did the ink jar not shatter into a million pieces, the charm actually worked.

"A bit of both... Not sure how long it will last. I've enchanted a few other things too. Though, so far only about half of them last longer than a charm would all by itself."

Jonah nodded, considering this. "May I?" he asked, not waiting for a response before plucking the inkpot from Kelvin's hand. He traced the rune thoughtfully with a long finger before returning it to its owner. "So you use the rune to extend the effect of the charm?" he guessed. Not taking Ancient Runes, Jonah was quite sure he had no idea what he was talking about, but based on Kelvin's statement he was pretty sure that was right. "That's pretty clever," he added with a smile.

"Uh, sure," Kelvin said, though the inkwell was already in the other boy's hands.  He watched Jonah trace the rune before taking it back.  "Supposed to make it last and it contains it to the opening," he explained, holding the jar up. 

"That's pretty clever."

Kelvin blushed again, and ducked his head.  He fidgeted with his bag for a moment before carefully stashing the inkwell back where it was mostly protected.  Or more accurately, where the rest of the bag was protected from it should it break.  "It won't stop it from breaking though.  And even if the rune stayed whole, it'd probably still make a mess," he added, still looking down into his bag.  It would be so much easier to deal with half of his classmates if they weren't so damn attractive.  There were some days where Kelvin really missed being hung up on Connor.

"They are probably almost done in there,"  He said, hoping that the third years would wrap it up soon because Jonah was way too close and it was always impossible to tell whether he was going to be the nice friendly Jonah or the very very...Slytherin-y Jonah. "Did you need the professor?  Hopefully he's in a good mood...or at least not as cranky.  Of course, if he thinks your question is stupid, all bets are off."

Jonah cracked a grin, watching Kelvin's reactions carefully. He knew it wasn't nice to mess with the poor boy's head, but his responses were always so entertaining, Jonah had a hard time stopping himself. Though his amicable-charming-Jonah mask was firmly in place externally, he couldn't help but wonder how far he could push the Ravenclaw before the third years came spilling out of the classroom.

"Even if the rune stayed whole, it'd probably still make a mess."

Jonah bumped his knee lightly against Kelvin's before making a pillow of his forearms and resting his head there, looking sideways at the other boy. "Still, it's bound to be helpful, isn't it?" He paused, watching Kelvin fumble around with his bag and listening to him ramble about their professor. Clearly Jonah was making him nervous... A good nervous, hopefully.

Oh, wait. That was a question. "No, I just got here early," Jonah answered. "Your face is kind of red, you know, are you feeling alright?" He extracted one of his arms from beneath his head and pressed the back of his hand to Kelvin's forehead. "You're rather warm, too," he added, shaping his expression into one of mild concern.

Kelvin looked up at his year-mate when his knee was bumped, "Yeah, if the stopper came off...or if it was put on a cup."  Which was probably why the enchantment wouldn't last, since he doubted he was the first to try and if it did last surely it'd be on every cup around.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.  He really didn't care to actually embarrass himself with another classmate.  Blowing stuff up was a cake walk by comparison.

Then he finally answered the question, and of course, they were both there for the same reason.  Just early.

"Your face is kind of red, you know, are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine—" Kelvin said, his voice cracking as he jerked his head back away from Jonah's hand and straight into the wall. He groaned, and reached up to rub the back of his head.  "Owww...now I'm not." He said with an awkward laugh.  "That hurt."

"Yeah, if the stopper came off... or if it was put on a cup."

Jonah thought for a moment. "I bet it'd come in handy in Potions, too," he mused, filing the idea away in his mind for further thought. A spell to stop things from spilling... Maybe it could contain leaks, too? Stop overflow? He thought of the many, many spilled cups of tea in Divination.

And then he was thrown from his train of thought, because Kelvin's head was making a disturbingly solid smacking noise against the stone wall behind them. Jonah's eyes went wide, and he drew his hand back in surprise. He hadn't meant for that to happen. But Kelvin was laughing, albeit uncomfortably, so it couldn't have been that bad. Right?

Resting his hand on the Ravenclaw's knee as if it were nothing, Jonah chewed on his lower lip. "Ack, sorry!" he said, "I didn't mean... Are you hurt?" Stupid, of course he was. "I mean, do you need... I don't know, ice, or something?" He honestly did feel bad - this wasn't part of the plan at all.

"I'm fine," Kelvin found himself saying again.  "Just...that hurt."  He wasn't about to run off to the healer for a bump.  Besides hadn't they all had worse at one point or another in class.  He continued to rub the back of his head, trying to make the sting go away.  Not even noticing Jonah's hand still on his knee.

So much for not making a fool of himself.  No instead he just added braining himself on the wall to the long list of stupid things he'd done in front of a cute classmate.  Too bad he didn't have a invisibility cloak to just disappear under.

"Can you conjure a bag of ice?" Kelvin asked with a laugh.  "Really, though it's okay. Just stung.  And you know, might have forgotten a spell or two."  His fingers found the beginnings of a bruise and he winced, "Just ow."  He turned his head toward Jonah, looking at the wall, "It's just, it's hard. That's hard.  The wall, I mean," stammered, his face turning an even brighter shade of red.  Wasn't a sore head enough?  No, he had to go further shove his foot in his mouth.  Maybe he just needed an ice bath.  Since a solid hit to the head hadn't seemed to help at all.

Once certain Kelvin had no serious injuries (except his pride, maybe), Jonah allowed himself a smile. As the Ravenclaw rubbed the back of his head, Jonah gave his knee a friendly squeeze. If no real harm was done, the game could continue.

"Really, though, it's okay. Just stung. And, you know, might have forgotten a spell or two."

Jonah made a face at that. "It's not like you don't have a few to spare bouncing around in there," he pointed out, "If anyone could afford to forget a few spells it'd be you." He was half-teasing, because honestly Kelvin's blush was adorable, but he meant it, too. And, as it turned out, Kelvin's blush was back all on its own, following his stumbling words.

"It's just, it's hard. That's hard. The wall, I mean."

Jonah grinned at the double-entendre. He could work with this. He drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the inside of Kelvin's knee, tilting his head to one side as if in thought. "As opposed to? I mean, is there something else hard you could have been referring to?" It was almost too easy.

Kelvin just glared at the Slytherin. Surely the class was going to let out soon.  And then Professor Donovan would put his usual damper on whatever it was that was happening.  Since Jonah was obviously enjoying taking the piss out of him.

"I don't—  The floor."  He said, looking directly at the other boy.  And doing his best to ignore the goosebumps that Jonah's drumming fingers were causing.  He could feel a headache coming on, and he didn't really appreciate being messed with.  He understood that he brought most of it on himself but still.

He reached out and put his hand on top of Jonah's, stilling the motion.  If it was going to be awkward, surely it would be better for it not to be completely at his expense.  Of course, knowing that, and trying not to care, didn't stop his blush.  His face didn't feel as hot as before, but it also didn't seem to be cooling either.

Jonah's smirk grew into a grin as Kelvin met his eyes with a glare, and his grin spread further when Kelvin responded, looking him dead in the eye. Oh, this was fun.  "That backbone looks good on you, Watkins," he commented, expression returning to one of neutral amusement, "But I'd bet you can do better than that." The challenge was more direct than Jonah's typical banter, but he was gripped by the sudden want to see if the Ravenclaw could play this game.

Jonah raised his eyebrows, mouth twitching back into a smirk as Kelvin's hand found his. He let his fingers go still, waiting to see if the sudden spurt of apparent confidence would last. He hoped it would; the game would be even more entertaining with two people playing.

"Oh, sorry - do you not like me touching you?" Though his words and tone were innocent, something in his gaze was predatory, like a cat playing with a mouse. Or maybe it was more like a fighter circling his opponent, trying to predict the next move with sharp eyes and instinct.

Kelvin just stared at Jonah dumbfounded, unsure what to do let alone say to the backbone comment.  Nor was he all that sure what he could do better at?  "I don't—what does that even mean?"  He asked louder than he'd intended.  His frustration starting to get the better of him.  Which was usually about the only time he ever pushed back in the first place.

He kept his hand on top of Jonah's even after it stopped moving.  He had a feeling if he pulled back his hand, Jonah would just start back up again.

"Oh, sorry - do you not like me touching you?"

"Augh, really?"  Kelvin let out a long sigh.  "What do—uhh—I mean..."  What was the point in denying it.  He was out, he had his friends, and at least he didn't sleep a few feet away from Jonah.  "Uhh. Yes," he nearly squeaked his throat was so tight.  He cleared his throat and continued, "yes. I do like it." 

And I don't appreciate you making me say it, Kelvin thought to himself.  Though there was a certain exhilaration to it as well. Was that why Connor flirted with anything that moved?  And why Jonah was flirting with him now?  Sure it was exhilarating but it was terrifying too. He kept his hand firm on the Slytherin's for another moment before sliding it back, off of the other boy's hand and onto his own thigh.

Jonah was doing an awful lot of smiling today. Well, he smiled a fair bit normally, but these smiles were the kind that spread across his face and into his eyes rather than the kind he put on when he wanted to be charming. It kind of surprised him, honestly - he found himself far more invested in the outcome of this game than he had intended.

"What does that even mean?"

Jonah paused for a moment before answering. What did he mean? He was hoping the challenge would provoke Kelvin into... something. He wasn't sure what. That was part of the game, after all. He looked down at Kelvin's hand on his for a moment, then back to the Ravenclaw's face. "It means you play well for someone who doesn't know the rules," he answered cryptically, not entirely satisfied with his response. He'd have to think about that more later.

"Uhh. Yes... yes. I do like it."

Jonah held back a snicker at the other boy's squeak. "Good," he said, "good answer." It wasn't the same half-teasing banter as a moment ago, he knew, but he hoped Kelvin wouldn't notice. Something had thrown him off, and the stream of quips and mocking words had rushed on, leaving Jonah behind. He tried to shake it off, drumming his fingers a few more times when Kelvin's hand left his. He gave the other boy a sly smile. "Then you don't mind if I keep doing it, I hope?"

Kelvin caught himself before he could say what rules.  No need to play exactly into what Jonah had said.  Instead, he said, "You know that doesn't make any sense.  If I don't know the rules, I don't know the game, and then I'm certainly not playing either."  He wasn't speaking just speak, but he was damn close to it.  But anything was better than more sputtering, squeaking, or blushing.

At least he was right that Jonah would start right back to the tapping his leg again.  Which just brought the goosebumps back.  He reached forward again and grabbed his classmates hand.  "No, but stop that.  It..." tickles.  No, not really.  Sends shivers up his leg.  No, can't admit to that either.  Kelvin wasn't sure there was a reason he could put to it that wouldn't only encourage the Slytherin.

"If you're screwing with me, I'll hex you,"  he paused, letting go of Jonah's hand again.  "Better yet, I'll get Esther to hex you. In your sleep."