Kelvin had started his evening patrol in the lower levels of the castle, he'd expected a quiet night of not being able to get work done.  Instead, he managed to nearly get run over at the very start of the evening.  Not exactly a good way to start.  Though it was only Mairead, so even his slight frame could take it.  Not that it hadn't hurt, but he was still on his feet.  Which was more than the young Gryffindor had managed.

He did see the glance back behind her in time to look up and see Jonah down the corridor.  Definitely an unusual pairing. "Mairead," he started, before raising his voice, "Jonah.  You both realize it's after curfew, right?"  He reached out a hand to help the Gryffindor back to her feet.  "What are you doing down here?"

Mairead grasped the Ravenclaw's hand and clamored back to her feet.  Without skipping a beat, she plastered a surprised look on her face.  "After curfew?  No.  I didn't know that," she looked over her shoulder in Jonah's direction.  "We musta completely lost track of time.  Without clocks, I often do that." 

She turned back to Watkins.  "I'm very sorry for doing that, again.  I was down here studyin' with one of me Hufflepuff classmates and he stopped by to answer a potions question we were strugglin' with.  Time must fly when yer doin' potions." 

The Gryffindor looked over her shoulder, again, at Jonah.  Given everything she'd seen so far, she would have been surprised if he was completely inept about getting out of trouble.  But, one never knew.  Everyone had their weakness and maybe strategic fibbing was one of his. 

She hoped not. 

With a shrug of defeat, Jonah walked back down the hall to Kelvin and Mairead. He nodded in agreement with Mairead, more than happy to go along with her excuse. Despite her apparent prejudices against Slytherins, she seemed like she had a lot of experience with snakey thinking.

"Without natural light it can get hard to tell how long it's been, you know?" he added, "It didn't seem nearly that late." He kept his voice casual, and made sure to make eye contact as he flashed an apologetic expression at the prefect. "Sorry."

He hoped dearly that Kelvin wouldn't ask too many follow-up questions - some they'd be able to answer, but if he asked where the Hufflepuff was, or Mairead's Potions book for that matter, they'd be in trouble. He wasn't sure, but hopefully this wouldn't be a big enough deal to warrant more than a scolding; he really didn't want to deal with detention or a point deduction.

Kelvin just looked at the pair skeptically.  He didn't like this part about being a prefect.  It was bad enough losing out on his own study time but then to be lied to with studying as the excuse.  Not that he could be sure about being lied to, but it was Mairead.  And he hadn't seen the supposed study partner.

"Perhaps you should owl off for a watch then?" He said to Jonah.  Ignoring the story for a moment, he took a long deep breath.  He really didn't have a choice.  Well he did, so long as they didn't get caught by someone else and toss him under the dragon.  He really didn't like this part.

"Where's your study partner? It wouldn't be fair for them to miss out on detention."  He said finally.

"We weren't studyin' in the corridor," Mairead said, slowly, as if the question about the mysterious disappearing study partner was a stupid one and the answer should have been obvious.  Of course, it wasn't.  It was a rather important detail but she wasn't about to admit that.  "We'd walked her back t 'her common room and then he was bein' nice and walkin' me back to the staircase."

She glanced back over her shoulder at Jonah.  There had to be something here they could use to their advantage.  But, what did they have?  Neither of them had anything with them.  Shame it would never have occurred to Mairead to bring the chess set along.  That, at least, would have given them solid proof of a legitimate time-stealing activity. 

But, they had nothing.  Except, perhaps, each other...

Mairead flashed the slyest of grins at Jonah before turning back towards Watkins.  "Oh, I get it," Mairead said, starting to sound heated.  "Yer thinkin' cause he's a Slytherin he should've just gone straight back to his common room.  Left me to fend for meself since we were close to curfew?  Since we didn't know how late it was, that'd be the safe thing to do?  You assume that's the Slytherin thing to do, eh, and since he didn't we must be up to somethin'?"

Jonah nodded again at Mairead's explanation. It was a good cover-up, he had to admit - better than anything he would've come up with on the fly. "Didn't want her to get lost on her way back," he added, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Especially not so close to curfew. Just thought we had more time than we did, I guess."

He wasn't entirely comfortable pushing Kelvin too hard - in his experience, these things were like a Devil's Snare. The more you struggled and fought against them, the more tangled up you'd get. Better to take the detention gracefully than risk a more severe punishment for mouthing off. Mairead seemed to disagree, though, if her grin was anything to go by.

Jonah carefully kept any doubt or confusion he might've been feeling off of his face when Mairead smiled at him. Where was she going with this? When he figured it out, he contorted his expression into one full of hurt feelings. "Is that it? Just because I decide to be polite, something must be wrong? You act like I'm incapable of being nice." He wasn't sure how well the ploy would work - but it was worth a shot.

Kelvin kept his eyes on Mairead, since for whatever reason the third-year had taken charge of the story-telling.  He didn't quite understand the logic of walking someone back to the staircase, at least with the two standing in front of him. Either way, beyond getting someone to the hospital wing, there wasn't much of an excuse to be out after curfew.

He started to say so, before the Gryffindor turned back to him and suddenly was angry.  Which made no sense.  His mouth dropped open as she attacked him for thoughts he didn't have.  Thoughts that usually were directed from Gryffindors to Slytherins, he'd found.

"I don't...that doesn't even make sense.  In the castle, what do you expect to happen?"  And yes, if Jonah was being nice, he probably did want something.  That wasn't cause he was a Slytherin, that was because he was Jonah.  "Are you really going to stand there and argue that it's not safe to go back to your common room by yourself?  Because, if that's what you think, we should go to your heads of house to explain why its not."

Lying had the potential to be beneficial, especially if the newly-anointed prefect was willing to buy her story.  If he didn’t buy it, it was just as likely to backfire and get them into even more trouble.  While Kelvin clearly wasn’t trusting their story, it didn’t seem like he’d dismissed it outright.  The hand on her shoulder took Mairead completely by surprise and she almost blew the whole gig by whirling around and demanding an explanation from the Slytherin.  In lieu of her usual firey response, a touch of color brushed across her cheeks.
 
By accusing the prefect of prejudice, she knew they were flirting more than a little bit with crossing the line into ‘backfire territory’ and weaving the tale any further would only make the proverbial hole a few inches deeper.  She was almost about to capitulate when the prefect’s reaction gave her a perfect opportunity.
 
"I don't...that doesn't even make sense.  In the castle, what do you expect to happen?  Are you really going to stand there and argue that it's not safe to go back to your common room by yourself?  Because, if that's what you think, we should go to your heads of house to explain why its not."
 
This time, she didn’t need to fabricate her reaction.  “Before you were a prefect, were ye never caught alone in the empty corridors by Peeves?”  But, of course, he was a prefect.  Maybe Watkins never went out into the corridors after hours.  “He once chased me in the boy’s loo on the fourth floor.  Kept tossin’ stuff at me when I tried to get out.   Trapped me there for two hours before one of the ghosts happened by.”
 
It seemed chances were getting slimmer that they would both get off scott free.  Either way they cut it, Mairead had missed curfew and was heading back after hours.  It was clear, right now, their story could really only help Jonah: he had a decent excuse.  He could argue he could have returned to his common room before curfew but had remained out to help the wee Gryffindor lass safely out of the dungeons.
 
“Look.  We lost track o’time and I couldn’t make it back before curfew.  He could’a but tried t’be nice.  Are ye really gonna punish him for helpin’ out a younger year?  Just give me the detention and be done with it.”

"In the castle, what do you expect to happen?  Are you really going to stand there and argue that it's not safe to go back to your common room by yourself?  Because, if that's what you think, we should go to your heads of house to explain why its not."

“Before you were a prefect, were ye never caught alone in the empty corridors by Peeves? He once chased me in the boy’s loo on the fourth floor.  Kept tossin’ stuff at me when I tried to get out.  Trapped me there for two hours before one of the ghosts happened by.”

"Besides," Jonah added, "It's easy to get lost down here. I don't know how well she knows the tunnels, so walking her back seemed like the right thing to do." He shrugged guilelessly. "Just watching out for a younger student." There were slivers of truth in his words, as with all the best lies - it was easy to get turned around in the endless tunnels under the school, and he had only gotten caught because he had stopped to make sure Mairead was okay.

Jonah's eyebrows shot up of their own accord when Mairead offered to take the detention. He was torn between accepting it and letting her bear the brunt of the punishment, or sticking by her. They were in cahoots, after all. But she was giving him a chance to get off the hook, and she probably wouldn't appreciate him not taking it.

"Look, Wat-- Kelvin. It was an honest mistake. We didn't realize it was past curfew, I thought there'd be time to walk her to the stairs and get back to the dorms. It won't happen again." His eyes were honest, for once, as he searched for a way to get her out of detention, but found nothing. Sorry, Mairead, he thought.

Of course Kelvin had been caught by Peeves, just never after hours.  But then again, he'd only rarely been out after curfew.  And it was usually in the company of friends who were much better at sneaking around the castle than he was.  Still none of that excused being out after curfew.  Then again, he hadn't even really started his patrol for the evening.

There just was the problem that it was Mairead. If it had just been Jonah, it might have been easier to let him go without detention.  Or maybe not.  Kelvin still wasn't sure what he thought of the Slytherin.  There was a part of him that liked the other boy, that was drawn to those moments when Jonah wasn't being Jonah.  But the other part knew that that never lasted long.  It was so much easier when he'd just been hung up on his best friend and didn't notice anyone else.

But it did come back to Mairead.  He knew what he thought about Mairead.  And he knew they weren't telling him the truth about something.  He just wasn't sure what.  If only he were a legilimens.  But it was early still, and they could be telling the truth about that much.

He let out a long sigh.  "One. You get one freebie and only one.  If I catch you out again," he paused, not for dramatic effect but to try and think what he would do.  "If I catch you again, ever again, it will be triple detentions and I'll make sure they are with Storm."

Jonah was making sure she didn't get lost in the tunnels?  Sure, the Slytherin was playing along with the ruse but did he have to make that implication?  Without so much as a nose twitch to change her expression, Mairead subtly bent an arm to nudge Jonah's side with her elbow.  It was the closest she could get to a proper response, under the circumstances. 

The Slytherin summed up their little story nicely and Mairead rolled her eyes in resignation of the inevitable detention. 

But, then, something miraculous happened.

"One. You get one freebie and only one.  If I catch you out again.  If I catch you again, ever again, it will be triple detentions and I'll make sure they are with Storm."

Mairead blinked, replaying Watkins words in her mind until she was certain she understood.  He actually.  Let them both off.  It took every ounce of Mairead's self restraint to avoid whooping victoriously right then and there.  Even with all of her will power, Mairead had to bite her lower lip to avoid grinning. 

Another notch on her belt in the battle against the prefects.  Hopefully, Watkins wasn't looking for some showering of thanks in exchange. 

Still not entirely able to conceal a slight smirk, Mairead figured it was time to get while the getting was good.  Another prefect might happen along at any minute and overrule the fifth year's decision.  Mairead nodded and stepped around Watkins to the corridor beyond.  As she passed Watkins, she reached out to pat the Ravenclaw patronizingly on the shoulder.  "Good on ye, Mack.  Glad ye came to the right decision."  She cast a quick smirk back at Jonah over her shoulder before hurrying down the corridor to the staircase. 

At the elbow in his side, Jonah shrugged minutely. It was a viable excuse, whatever Mairead seemed to think. He waited with baited breath for Kelvin's verdict, shoulders sagging with relief as he let them off. Both of them, even.

Jonah smiled at the prefect, clapping him on the shoulder. "Thanks, mate," he said, "I really am sorry." He paused to wave to Mairead's retreating back, before looking back at Kelvin. His eyes were softer than usual, kinder. Letting his hand rest where it had landed on Kelvin's shoulder, he smiled. "I owe you one. Actually, I probably owe you a lot more than one." A pause. "I should head back to the dorms. See you, Kelvin."

As he was about to leave, he was struck with a thought - maybe, maybe this wouldn't backfire. He'd been less and less sure of that with Kelvin these days. Oh, what the hell, he thought, and before he could convince himself not to he leaned in and gave the prefect a quick kiss on the cheek.

"G'night," he said, and spun on his heel to return to his dorm, hopefully before Watkins could react.

If Mairead hadn't hurried down the corridor, Kelvin likely would have called her back for the remark and given her two detentions right there.  But by the time the comment got through his own confusion as to why he was letting them off in the first place, it was too late.  And now he was alone with Jonah, and his hand...on his shoulder.

"Just don't get...don't let me catch you again," he said quietly, before the other boy leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"G'night."

"Good night,"  Kelvin replied automatically.  Even more unsure of everything now.  He reached a hand up and touched his cheek. Sure some friends did that in greetings and farewells, but he and Jonah weren't that kind of friend.  Hadn't been.  He turned and went the opposite direction from Jonah, now was not the time to follow him and ask him what the hell was going on.  He had a patrol to start and Jonah needed to get back to his dorm.  As he started down the corridor, a smile tentatively formed.