Ayla had been tossing and turning all night. She had been nervous about the dance the following night. She had forgotten to bring a new costume and so she was stuck having to alter an old halloween costume from when she used to go trick or treating with her muggle friends. Around two in the morning Ayla decided that trying to sleep wasn't worth it. She sat up in bed and made sure that none of the other girls in her room were awake before slipping on her big fluffy slippers. She quietly made her way out of her room and into the main chamber of the Hufflepuff common room. She bit her lip as she moved around and out into the empty corridor. Now that she was up there was a horrible grumbling in her stomach.

It was no secret how to get into the kitchens, Ayla had found out about it half way through her first year. As long as you were generally quiet and considerate to the house elves who worked there you could get away with grabbing almost anything. She slipped inside squinting at the bright lights of the kitchens. Luckily most of the house elves were sleeping and so Ayla was able to get into the pantry without much problems.

She opened the large pantry and stepped inside looking at the various jars, containers and baskets filled with delectable foods. She licked her lips looking at it all before grabbing a chunk of cheese and a small dinner loaf. For now it would do. She wasn't starving afterall and she didn't want to gorge herself. She had no idea if any of the staff kept a close watch on the food stores and she wasn't really interested in finding out.

Xavier had been sitting in his room writing. His roommates luckily hadn't bothered him. Xavier had a stack of homework he had to get through before the week was out. He was desperate to keep up his grades. Xavier was a model student and in the last two years hadn't gotten a mark under an E and even those were rare for him. Every one of his Professors knew he was intelligent and Xavier wasn't about to disappoint him. His roommates were used to him working late preferring the comfort of his own bed over the Slytherin common room and so they had learned to sleep comfortably with Xavier's small lantern still lit. He had kept with all four of his electives that he had chosen in his third year and found the work load to be invigorating instead of overwhelming. In fact the only class Xavier didn't attend was Muggle Studies. He felt that it was a waste of time to try and understand why muggles did what they did. Although he was always thirsty for knowledge it was a subject that was downright unneccessary. In the end when Wizards came forward and took control of the worthless creatures it wasn't going to make him a better leader if he knew what country had won what war.

With only his Arithmancy homework to go Xavier felt it was time to restock on his energy stores. He lowered his lantern to barely a flicker and put his school books and many rolls of parchment ontop of his truck at the end of his bed. He didn't bother putting on a robe or slippers. He was simply wearing a pair of pajama pants and that was good enough for him. With perfected movements Xavier barely made a sound as he moved out of his dorm room and into the common room. There was a very faint green glow in the common room coming from the slight moon light illuminating the lake to which the Slytherin house was nestled under.

He exited the dungeon and quietly made his way to the entrance of the kitchens. He tickled the right fruit and entered through the passway in the wall. The kitchen was spotless as usual, the house elves doing their job in such an expert manner it was almost admirable. Unlike his Grandmother or his Great Aunt Sophie Xavier actually didn't mind the little creatures. He was genial with them and in his own way even respected them, at least they knew their place.

At two in the morning Xavier had his guard down. He wasn't a stranger to sneaking out in the middle of the night to get things done and with the exception of Peeves or some of the other ghosts he rarely ran into anyone and so his face was expressionless and his movements were as sleak and soundless as a snake. In these wee hours of the night Xavier was able to give into the man that was boiling up inside him. However he had been shocked to see the form of another raiding the pantry. Xavier didn't do shocked, he didn't like being caught off guard. Luckily the other person hadn't noticed him come in and he was able to adopt his usual sweet and charming persona although on the inside he went up one more notch on his anger meter, one more notch closer to exploding.

Xavier stood back, his calculated mind analyzing the situation. At first he couldn't discern who it was. He could tell at first sight it was a girl and judging by the height she was likely in her first few years here at Hogwarts. His own teenaged hormones had gotten the better of him at first glance. Whoever the girl was wasn't the modest type. He could only see her back but he was seeing a lot more skin than one would expect. Her pajamas were barely there. Soft pink in colour she was wearing boy shorts and a tank top. When she turned around he took a few moments to admire her small stature and what curves her young body had to offer before recognizing who she was. There was a small hint of mischeif in his eyes. Ayla Collins. Most perceived her a snooty little third year that didn't know when to shut up but Xavier knew better. She was a sespool of information. If there was something going on in the school Ayla knew about it and wasn't afraid to share. For Xavier she offered so much more. True she was a halfblood but that was her father's sin not hers, in fact it was her father that had caught Xavier's interest. He was an Ambassador for the Ministry of Magic, a foreign diplomat that had ties to two different nations. If Xavier could get Joseph in his pocket it opened him up to so much more. High expectations for fifteen year old but as far as Xavier saw it, he wasn't going to be fifteen forever.

Xavier clucked his tongue, "Naughty naughty Huffypuffy." He spoke in a teasing tone and gave the younger girl a wink, "What ye doin outta bed?"

Ayla jumped, squeaked and dropped her bun all at once when she heard Xavier's voice. She had been ready to head back to her room but as she turned there was someone in the way. He had spoken the same time she had turned to face him, the combined shock of seeing and hearing him at the same time totally rocked her. She blushed a deep red as she bent over to pick her bun up off the floor. She couldn't eat it now and Xavier was blocking her access to the nearest rubbish bin, so she stood there holding it like an idiot not sure as to what she should do next.

She looked up at the source of the silky teasing Scottish voice and was sure her blush had deepened tenfold. Although he was only a fifth year Ayla easily regarded him as the hottest guy in school and she knew she wasn't the only one. Just the other day she had tried to hook one of her friends up with Xavier. She hadn't gotten full results just yet but at least he had admitted to thinking her friend was attractive. Ayla's mind was racing at the implications he may have been making by calling her naughty while she was only half dressed. She suddenly felt uncharacteristically shy and awkward. What the hell was wrong with her, she'd never had a hard time talking to guys before, not even Xavier. She supposed it had something to do with the amount of cleavage she was currently showing and the total lack of a shirt that Xavier was sporting.

"I was hungry." She smirked and felt as if she had finally gained control over her blush, "I can't sleep. I have no idea what I'm going to do about tomorrow night. I totally forgot to pack a costume and the only thing I could find is from like three years ago, you know back when I didn't have boobs."

She fought back a another rush of blush and smiled. She could have kicked herself. She was in a darkened pantry at two in the morning with the hottest guy in school talking about her boobs, oh yeah this was going super! "I mean, well you know what I mean. It doesn't fit anymore, I'm going to have to do some serious alteration charms and the only thing I'm really good at are love potions and hooking people up." A sudden thought popped into her head, "hey speaking of which you going to take Brittany to the dance?"

The younger girl was blushing like a strawberry and he hadn't even done anything yet. Getting into Ayla's head was going to be so much easier than he originally thought, he barely had to try. It seemed as if he had caught her at the perfect compromising moment. The usual confident and spunky third year was suddenly self conscious and all a flutter. Apparently the sight of Xavier wearing only a pair of pajama pants mixed with the rather skimpy pajamas he never thought he'd see on thirteen year old was causing her to completely melt into a mouldable pile of glee that Xavier could easily manipulate.

He listened to her story contorting his facial features to match sympathy and concern. How terrible it must be to not be ready for the biggest night of the new school year thus far. Although the sympathy was fake Xavier understood how the girl must felt. She was just the right kind of girl to base her entire image on acquiring the cutest new shoes, this sort of mishap must be killing her. However it made her all the more vulnerable and just that much easier to play with. This was just the kind of distraction he needed from his homework. He could do with a bit of sport before going back to his Arithmancy parchment.

He gave her a wink that was sure to have her shaking in her fluffy slippers, "I'm sure ye'll be beautiful in anythin ye show up in." Xavier knew he could have easily offered to alter the costume for her and even make her a new one from scratch but he had a different tactic on getting her under his spell one that she so graciously gave him an opening for. He held back his disgust at the mention of her friend Brittany. The girl wasn't terrible looking but she was a muggle born, someone Xavier could never see himself spending any significant time with especially not in any romantic sense. He had merely said she was attractive to appease Ayla.

"Nah, I won' be goin wit 'er." He closed the gap between them in one swift movement catching her off guard and causing her to back into the stone doorway of the pantry. He placed his hand against the stone wall behind her and closed the gap even more knowing full well what this kind of proximity would do to a girl like her. If he did this just right she'd be eating out of his hand in no time then it was just a matter of time before he could get in contact with her father, "Le's just say I'm savin' meself fer someone much better." He looked down at her his bare chest only about an inch from her own, he could feel his hitching breath hot and heavy on his cooled bare skin. She was already his.

It was two in the morning, the entire castle was asleep and she was suddenly all alone in a deserted kitchen with the hottest guy in school. She was sure she had once had a dream like this but had never imagined it would ever happen in real life. Ayla watched every tiny movement he made with great interest. Much like anyone she spoke to Ayla already viewed Xavier as a friend whether he thought of her the same way or not and she had sworn to Brittany that she would do everything in her powers to get the two of them hooked up.

So when Xavier suddenly had her pinned against the wall in a very Harlequin romance fashion she was overwhelmed, her mind racing, mixed thoughts of arousal, guilt and a very loud what the feck just happened?! She knew she was breathing heavily, but she couldn't help herself. Puberty was still being a bitch to her and her hormones were probably more crazed than Xavier's. She shushed the impure thoughts that had pushed to the forefront of her mind and did what she could to keep herself in the present.

"Xavier?" Her voice sounded strange to her own ears. She had no idea why it was so low and almost husky sounding. She didn't like it and although this was probably a dream come true situation for her she was feeling kind of awkward and just a little bit uncomfortable. Her body was heating up like she was fevered, her breath was laboured and she wasn't sure what to make of having the length of his body practically pressed against her own. Xavier towered over her mere five foot stature and a small part of her mind that was ignoring how daring and romantic the situation was, reminded her that he was two years older, was a model student and she had no real way of defending herself against him if things went very very wrong.

She put her hand on his chest to try and put a bit of distance between them but it had the opposite effect. His skin was smooth with only the faintest hint of chest hair. His muscles were hard and more defined than anything she had ever felt. All bad thoughts had melted away and one look into those dusty blue eyes and she was his. She no longer cared what she had promised to Brittany. She no longer listened to the voice in the back of her head that warned her about older guys especially older Slytherin guys. All that concerned her now was whether this dream like situation was going to get a dream like ending.

A wide smirk crossed Xavier's lips. He hadn't expected this to be so much fun. He had been contemplating for over a month now how best to get in with Ayla so that he could somehow meet her father and advance his connections from there. He never dreamed he would be so lucky as to have this opportunity presented to him. All alone in a deserted part of the ktichen in the middle of the night when there was little to no chance of any interruptions, it was so much better than he could have ever hoped for.

Xavier delighted in watching the tiny emotional changes in her expression. He was like a hunter stalking his prey, finding sport in the frantic movements it made as it tried to get away from him. He could see that sudden flash of fear and distrust in her eyes, the way her body trembled not sure how to evaluate what he had so suddenly sprung on her but nothing could have matched his glee when he watched her submit. She had given in, ignoring her fight or flight instincts and in the tiniest tilt of her head and swerve of her body she had given herself to him whether she realized it or not.

Although this all boiled down to the next step in his master plan Xavier was still a fifteen year old kid who was all alone with an attractive girl whom he presently had pinned up against a wall. He 'd like to think that his next step had been calculated and part of the plan but there was a part of Xavier that was giving in as well. He pressed his chest back against her small hand. He ran his fingers along the curve of her check and down the strap of her tank top, "Anyone ever tell ye how beautiful ye are?"

There was a whole other beast inside Xavier that responded to the husk in her voice and the haste of her breath. She may not have recognized it as a hormone driven aroused response but Xavier sure did. He slipped his free hand around the back of her neck and closed what little amount of space there was between them and pressed his lips against hers letting the beast within him have full reign for a few moments.

Snogging in the middle of the night in the pantry, not his ideal form of manipulation but it definitely was the perfect way to win over a girl like Ayla.

Ayla was in heaven.

Until this moment the farthest she had ever gone with a guy was an innocent little kiss that she hadn't even wanted. She was desperate to fall in love, she dreamed of having a boyfriend and being able to be one of those kids who got detention for snogging in the halls. As much as Ayla loved gossip and setting her friend up with their dream dates there was little to report upon within her own love life. She had never actually had a real boyfriend and the only guy that had ever shown true interest in her had been her old best friend Aleks who in the end she didn't have any feelings for. Now she was in her dream situation with the hottest guy in school and he was giving her the snogging of a lifetime.

Her knees had weakened to the point that she was sure if Xavier hadn't been pressing her against the wall she would have wobbled to the ground. Her head felt like it was going to float away. She had barely realized that she had wrapped her arms around his neck and when his tongue probbed it's way into her mouth she didn't even try to protest.

She had no idea how long this continued on for. It may have been an hour it may have only been a few minutes. She found herself pushing him away at last and gasping for breath. She couldn't even describe the sensation that had taken over her. In the strangest of sense she suddenly felt older and more mature like somehow kissing Xavier had taken her that much closer to being a woman, "Wow."

Xavier was actually glad that Ayla had pushed him away and made a point of putting a fair amount of distance between them. Although it had gained him the exact results he had been looking for Xavier hadn't been counting on how much of himself he had invested in that kiss. He knew now that he had been right to stay away from getting mixed up with girls for his own personal pleasure. Luckily Ayla was swooning like the little school girl she was and Xavier had time to compose himself. He had let his hormones get the best of him and it had been a mistake. Thankfully it was a mistake he could easily learn from.

Once again Xavier switched into predator mode washing away any stirring feelings he might have had and adopted a wicked grin touching his still tingling lips, "That tasted good." He looked her over and knew that she was his even if he never gave into her again. He wondered how differently this may have gone if they were both ten years old. He suddenly felt a thrill of excitement at the thought and couldn't wait until those days when he didn't have to conform to anyone's rules but his own.

"So ye gonna save me a dance later?" He knew that there was nothing more he needed to do, Ayla was now one of his pawns to use as he saw fit. If he played his cards right he could be visiting her family at Christmas and with just the right amount of brown nosing could be weaseling important information out of her father by Easter.

((Godmoding approved by Thea!))


As Fauna tiptoed through the corridors in her cupcake slippers and shiny lime green pajamas, wand lit with a minor Lumos spell, her stomach growled fiercely. She put her hand over her stomach to try to stifle the noise, but a lady in a portrait opened one eye and muttered something about ‘who let the dogs in’. Fauna tried not to be offended and kept walking.

She had skipped dinner by mistake, busy working on the decorations for the Halloween dance tomorrow night. Unfortunately, her forgetfulness had caught up to her as she tossed and turned in bed, finally making her get up and seek sustenance. Though it meant breaking curfew and she didn’t need another detention from Snark, it was a very short walk to the kitchens. Too bad she hadn’t saved any of Akiva’s delicious brownies.

Just as she turned the corner, she nearly bumped into another figure. Fauna clapped her hand over her mouth to cover her startled gasp. Whoever it was grumbled and moved quickly around her, walking as if he was in a hurry. She stared after him, wand lifted in the air to see- Callum Knight? Fauna frowned and felt glad for a moment that she hadn’t had a chance to apologize. He picked on Sasha and Fig constantly and there was really no need for it.

Shaking her head, she tickled the pear in the painting that hung over the kitchen wall. It giggled as she swung open the door. Fauna stepped in, heard voices, and froze, peeking around the wall.

The door shut behind her with a loud click, announcing her presence. Fauna recognized the two students: Ayla Collins and Xavier Tawse. They seemed quite… cozy.

“Ah, sorry,” Fauna mumbled automatically, reaching back to find the doorknob.

But then she thought about what she was seeing. Really thought about it. What was Ayla doing in here with Xavier? She was a sweet girl, while Xavier was the type that hung around Callum and bullied Sasha. Immediately, Fauna worried that the boys had been ganging up on her.

She felt like an intruder, but Fauna moved forward and started rummaging around in the cabinets, glancing up every so often at the pair.

“Sorry,” she repeated. “I’m just, uh, going to make myself a sandwich.” It would take a few minutes to make, so she could stall and find out what was going on.

“Ayla? Everything alright?” She asked casually, trying not to look too concerned.

The kiss had been so intense that Ayla had actually lost all feeling in her legs and slid down the stone doorway and onto the cold floor. She looked up at Xavier like a happy little puppy. She knew she had promised Brittany that she'd do what she could to hook her up with the handsome fifth year but maybe it was time to invest in a little romance of her own.

Even if he was doing a good job at hiding it Ayla had caught that small amount of wow in his eyes before his face changed again. He was trying to be smooth but he had been just as rocked by their kiss as she was. It was almost a shame that he had turned back into his usual suave and charming self suddenly talking about the Halloween Ball.

Still on cloud nine she found herself slightly disappointed that he was only asking for a dance and not to be her date for the night. She tried to think of whether she actually wanted to have Xavier as her date. She'd definitely save a dance for him but even though he was an amazing kisser she had more of her heart invested in Blake. They were close friends and Ayla had begun to realize that she wanted them be be more than that.

Ayla opened her mouth with a smile about to give Xavier her promise that she'd dance with him at the Ball when the kitchen doors opened and Callum Knight groggily walked in. Ayla's cloud seemed to have dissipated from underneath her causing her to rapidly crash back down to earth. She didn't really know Callum other than he was Blake's older brother but he didn't exactly have the best reputation. He was one of Xavier's best mates and seemed to have caused the suave charmer to yet again transform.

Xavier had a wicked smile on his face when he saw Ayla fall to the floor. She was all his, he might even be able to reach his goal with her before Christmas. This was going to be a piece of cake. He stepped forward about to offer her his hand to help her to her feet. He wondered if he could get another kiss in without completely compromising himself. As much as he needed to keep his distance now that he had claimed her his hormonally driven teenage mind couldn't think of much more than having another good long snog fest.

His actions were paused when the kitchens opened once more to let another student into it's bowels. Xavier was torn when he saw Callum enter. One part of him was glad to see one of his best mates while the other knew that there was nothing more he could do with Ayla with Callum around. He wasn't about to admit to Callum that he had just been snogging the third year Hufflepuff. With Ayla still on the ground it was easy for Callum to assume that she was Xavier's latest victim. Callum was one of the few people that had seen what truly lied beneath Xavier's perfect surface.

The two mates exchanged greetings and a friendly handshake and hug like embrace. Callum looked down at the snarky little third year, "What's with her?"

Xavier's emotions with brewing heavily under the surface. He hated Callum for his horrible timing and thought how to best handle the situation. How could he appease Callum's curiosity without telling him the truth and how could he lie to Callum without pissing off Ayla, "Collins' 'ere is thee resident match maker, been tryin to get me to go out wit that Jensen girl. Ye know the ditsy blonde ravenclaw?"

"The one with the-?" Callum made a gesture that indicated Brittany Jensen's most well known trait, her bust.

Xavier nodded giving Ayla the kind of look that showed he was sorry they were interrupted but she'd get in trouble if she told Callum otherwise. He had a feeling she'd understand how much crap he'd get into if Callum found out what they had really been doing.

Callum nodded back then yawned and rubbed at his face, "Whatever mate, see ya later, yeah?" He grab of few easy snacking materials before nodding another goodnight to both Xavier and then to Ayla, although the latter was a little hesitant. Xavier was thankful that Callums eemed to have believe him and even more thankful that he left. He turned back to Ayla with another predatorial smile.

Unfortunately before Xavier go help Ayla to her feet like he had initially planned the kitchen doors opened once more and Fauna Blake stepped in. Xavier sneered at her as she apologized and started to fix herself a snack. He was still annoyed with her that she had decided to go to the dance with Devlin instead of Figaro. Despite appearances or what others may think of Devlin and his gang of merry miscreants Xavier wasn't one of them. He was good friends with Callum and Figaro but didn't always see eye to eye with Matthews. They understood each other and there was a constant tension and power struggle between the two of them. Xavier sought to overthrow Devlin and take control of all his many cronies.

When Fauna inquired about Ayla's well being Xavier snipped at her, "She's fine." His dark and unconvincing tone was probably enough to make Blake believe the worst of the situation. Xavier was practically looming over the prone third year and there hadn't been enough time between his departure and Fauna's arrival for Fauna to have not seen Callum exited the kitchens. At least Xavier could be thankful for one thing, there was no way Blake would have suspected what had actually happened between Xavier and Ayla.

Fauna paused, bread in one hand and a jar of jelly in the other, as Xavier snarled at her and said Ayla was fine. She set down her sandwich supplies, turned, and walked closer to the pair. Why Ayla was on the floor, she didn’t know, but she doubted the girl had tripped.

And she really didn’t like the way Xavier was hovering over the third-year. It reaffirmed her suspicions that Xavier and Callum must have done something, but Ayla wasn’t talking.

She held out her hand to help her up, shooting an irritated glance at Xavier as she did so. “I wasn’t asking you,” Fauna muttered.

The truth was, Xavier and boys like him made her nervous. They basically left her alone, which she probably owed to her ‘fade into the walls and try not to offend anyone’ strategy that had worked for her for the past seven years. However, her wallflower tactic no longer did its job these days. Sometimes bad things just happened to people who didn’t deserve them, like the werewolf attack. Before that, even, Vienna and her gaggle of mean girls had never cared about how nice or inoffensive she tried to be.

For some odd reason, Devlin was friendly with Callum and Xavier, which she couldn’t understand. Since he hadn’t told her to stop being friends with Waker, she certainly wouldn’t tell him who he could and couldn’t hang around. They weren’t even dating (yet). Who he wanted to be friends with was his business.

But that didn’t ease her discomfort, and she didn’t have to like it.

“Ayla, are you alright?” she repeated, pointedly ignoring Xavier’s presence.

Ayla let Fauna bring her to her feet. She leaned on her friend a little more than was necessary. He knees were still weak and she was worried about falling again and worrying Fauna even further. She had kept her eyes on Xavier the whole time. The green gold orbs had narrowed and were filled with little more than curiosity and a pleading for an explanation.

Why had Xavier been so weird when Callum had shown up? Was he ashamed of what he had done? She had no idea what to think of him. At first she thought it was weird that he wasn't going to ask her to the dance after snogging her but now it was even weirder that he had pretty much denied it had happened. She also wasn't exactly a fan of how Xavier had talked about her friend Brittany. When she had talked to him about the blonde ravenclaw before he had seemed interested even upbeat about the prospect of dating her but it was clear now that guys only wanted Brittany for one thing. It made Ayla sick. She thought Xavier had been different.

She turned to Fauna and gave her a soft sigh and smile, "I really am okay." She let go of Fauna and did her best to sound convincing. Physically she was okay, Xavier and Callum hadn't done anything damaging to her but her mind and emotions were in a state of turmoil. She almost wished her friend wasn't there so she could chew into Xavier and figure out what the hell this whole thing had been about.

When Ayla leaned on Fauna to stand up, Fauna thought that maybe she’d been hit with a jelly-legs jinx. The sensation of sinking to the floor was never pleasant, and it often took a few minutes for the jinx to wear off completely. She knew the feeling well!

Fauna studied Ayla’s face. Though the girl smiled at her and finally assured her she was alright, the look in her eyes told a different story. Instead of her typical cheerful behavior, Ayla seemed quiet, maybe a little confused.

Fauna nodded at her as if she believed her, and then glanced at Xavier. Or she meant to. The glance turned into a stare, one that said she knew he’d done something and she wasn’t happy about it.

“What did you do?” she accused suddenly, continuing to look into his eyes. Her heart pounded like usual when she got nervous, reminding her that she didn’t confront people, she wasn’t good at it, and she always got overly emotional. But this was Ayla. Fauna couldn’t help but feel angry that Xavier and likely Callum had been picking on her earlier.

Xavier didn't like the feeling of Ayla's green gold eyes searching him. He knew she wanted answers and a small part of him wished he could give them to her. Unfortunately for him to keep up appearances he couldn't. He wasn't able to tell the truth in front of Callum, his mate would never have forgiven him for kissing a halfblood Hufflepuff third year and he wasn't about to say anything in front of Fauna either. It was obvious the older girl thought he was a threat, it wouldn't do him any good to try and convince her that he wasn't actually trying to hurt Ayla.

His face was expressionless as he watched Fauna help Ayla to her feet. His hand twitched slightly, he wished he could have helped her up, feel the weight of her vulnerable body. He wanted so badly to feel the effects he had on her rather than just seeing them. It had been quite a sight to see her actually fall to the ground, so weak in the knees from just one kiss. It was obvious she hadn't recovered and he wanted to know what that felt like.

Unfortunately, as it was obvious by the glare and accusation Fauna gave him, she thought the worst of Ayla's jellyness. He simply glared back at her not ready to accept or deny her accusation. For a moment he didn't even respond, he simply looked from one Hufflepuff to the other. He found it almost amusing that Fauna was suddenly coming to Ayla's rescue. Fauna was well known to be an odd almost self outcasted klutz, she wasn't well known for her bravery.

He felt a sneer cross his lips and briefly contemplated wiping it away. Then he remembered how angry he had been when he learned that Fauna had decided to go to the dance with Devlin instead of Figaro and the sneer actually deepened, "What makes ye think I did anythin ta her?" He looked to Ayla a strange softness in his eyes, he desperately wished he could be alone with her again but he didn't think he could get Fauna to leave, "Issit so 'ard ta believe she just fell and I was actually tryin ta help her to her feet?"