"I'm going to kill that little son of a--"

Reilly went on under her breath, lips moving fast as she walked carefully along the outdoor courtyard trying desperately to stick close to the wall where there was little ice. Her major dilemma? An outdoor court yard covered in ice, and four inch heels.

The girl gasped as she slipped a little bit, grasping the wall for support as she  tried to stop herself from moving. This was ridiculous - she looked ridiculous, and if there was one thing she hated most, it was looking ridiculous. If this ever got back to her brother, she'd never live it down. She looked like a deer in the headlights - or a deer trying to skate on ice rather, as she stepped carefully over another patch of ice and onto solid ground.

The day had started out fine - she had not even expected to be going outside as all her classes for the day were located safely inside the castle. And so she hadn't given it a second thought when she dressed in her regular school uniform - her skirt, shirt and Slytherin house tie matched with a rather fancy pair of heels. If she had suspected one bit that she would have to walk through a frozen courtyard then she would have been more practical and worn flats. Or boots even. But today had been the day when a couple of third years had been playing around in some of the corridors right before lunch.

Those said corridors had been the ones that Reilly needed to walk through in order to get to the Great Hall for lunch. Those said corridors were temporarily closed on account of dragon dung and magical spray paint being thrown around.

And so it had been a choice between walking through corridors filled with dragon dung, or walking through the court yard full of ice. At that moment in time, Reilly was almost regretting her decision.

She had almost made it, if she just reached out and leaned over she could almost touch the opposite wall. The fifth year raised a slender, perfectly manicured hand. She lifted her leg to take a careful step forward. Brown eyes widened in surprise as a first year brushed past her just enough to make her lose her balance. Her heel slipped, ankle twisted ever so slightly but just enough to her to not catch her balance. She reached out for anything, anyone to stabilize her and grabbed a fist-full of someone's cloak, but not with enough time to catch her footing - but only enough time to grab their attention and see her fall.

Down she went. Hard. Right on to her rear, flat on the ice in a tumble of robes.

Her eyes fluttered shortly to the person she had grabbed, hoping idly that she hadn't pulled them down with her but needing a second to gather herself before she could even comprehend what happened. "Oh Merlin..." she muttered, trying to catch her breath, "this day is just not going as planned. Sorry..."

The icy courtyard and bitter cold was the least of his worries.

Kelyn never minded the cold much. Sure, everything always seemed a bit more chilly to him than to others around him, but his mother had fashioned him a charmed winter robe, which kept him perfectly protected from the winter weather. She was always trying to protect him in any way possible, which Kelyn honest didn't mind. It was a lot harder to breathe when he was too cold. And if something just happened to spur on an asthma episode while he was in a less-than ideal temperature setting, that made it hurt even worse. So as Kelyn stood around the corner of one the walls surrounding the courtyard, he wasn't thinking about the cold weather, or the icy that he had easily gotten past with his sturdy footwear.

He was thinking about someone.

No, not in the way that others might think, or in the way that Delphi surely wished he would be thinking. Well, she wouldn't think that if she knew it was a boy. But it didn't matter, because Kelyn wasn't the least bit interested in this person, unless that interest involved avoiding them in every possible way.  The Slytherin bully had been onto to Kelyn since about their second year. It didn't matter that he was the same age as Kel; there were probably some younger students who would have a  hand up on the Adda boy in a physical altercation. He blamed his asthma for that. Maybe Kel would have been able to work out and gain some muscle mass to protect himself. But the fact remained that in dire times of stress, his emotions would stir up a panic attack, leading to an asthma attack, before Kelyn would even be able to attempt to defend himself at all.

This kid had decided, for whatever reason, that he was going to make Kelyn's life a living hell, and he did a pretty good job at it. Today Kelyn had spotted him down the hall, and knew that if he came anywhere within eyesight of the boy, something would happen. So Kel stayed back, and waited for him to move on, because the Slytherin was conveniently in the direct path to Kelyn's next destination. There was no doubt in the Hufflepuff's mind that the boy was waiting for him.

Eventually he must have gotten tired of waiting and moved on, allowing Kelyn to finally make his way down the hall and across the courtyard. At the moment, he was waiting for the boy to walk into the classroom he was standing beside, so that Kelyn could make his dashing escape.Then the lovely moment occurred, and Kelyn took a step back from the wall, ready to continue on his way.....

And was promptly pulled backwards and onto the hard ground.

"Mother of Merlin and all things unholy..." Kelyn muttered a few choice words under his breath, never one to say those types of things out loud. But some occasions just called for them. His initial thought was that one of his bully's lackies had been following him as well, and were now taking out their target. But then he noticed that he had partly fallen on top of someone, someone who didn't at all have the body structure of a mean Snake boy.

"This day is just not going as planned. Sorry..."

He managed to sit up a bit and face the cause of the fall, and recognized her right away. Reilly Williams. Not that they were friends or anything, but Kelyn remembered her face and name. He had helped his mother fit this girl for some rather elegant dress robes one time, although he doubted that Reilly would remember that.  She was quite pretty (as were most of his mother's rich clients) but there had been something more to this girl than the usual pompous, spoiled-brat attitude. Oh, she knew her privileged position in the world all right, but she had actually spoken to Kel and attempted to make conversation with him, unlike most of the girl who usually pushed their noses up at him. And their family wasn't poor by any means, but some people just had the opinion that anyone who was doing a service for them must inevitably be underneath them in status.

Knowing it wasn't any more comfortable for her on the ground as it was for him, Kelyn started to get up, and offered a hand to Reilly as well. "Oh..here, lemme help..hold on, take...not that wa...sorry! Ugh, ok...ok...I think we're good now."

A few more fumbles and slips later, they were both standing up again, Kelyn trying to hide the growing redness on his cheeks from the fool he just made of himself. Brushing off his robes, he reached over carefully and picked up a bag which was on the ground not too far from them. "Umm, here...I'm assuming this is yours?"

There weren't many times that Reilly looked really un-graceful... but this was definitely one of them. She had fallen, flailing her arms out and reaching to grasp anything she could to possibly hold herself up. Not only was she unsuccessful in holding herself up though, but she also managed to bring someone down on top of her.

Kelyn wasn't a heavy kid by any means, but he wasn't any teddy bear either. What was worse was that she had absolutely no right to be angry at him because she had pulled him down herself. She reached out to push herself up, bare and warm hands beginning to melt the ice just enough to make it slippery beneath her. Great, now not only was she the stupid girl who fell and pulled someone down with her, but now she had to face the embarrassment of trying to successfully stand back up and be that silly girl who was out in the dead of winter without a jacket, in a skirt, and in heels.

Reilly was never 'that girl', and it was hard to point out her defense that some of the other corridors were closed and she hadn't planned on going outside. Then she just looked like 'that girl' who was trying to defend her stupidity.

She looked up at the boy who she pulled down. Kelyn Adda. She recalled the name easily - Reilly was good at remembering names. She had to be. If her father introduced her to an 'important contact' back home and she forgot who they were at the next meeting when she would always get a strict word against her. Thank goodness it didn't happen often for Reilly truly was good at remembering people. Not only were Kelyn and her in the same year, but he had helped fit her for some dress robes once. They had chatted about Quidditch and classes. It was light chatter though - Kelyn was definitely cute and polite, but he seemed quieter. It wasn't that Reilly disliked people who were quiet or shy, it was more simply that the crowd she naturally was drawn to were more outgoing and loud. Reilly liked these kinds of features in people because it was all superficial - no one had to get personal or serious in conversation.

"Oh..here, lemme help..hold on, take...not that wa...sorry! Ugh, ok...ok...I think we're good now."

She gripped his arms carefully, using him for support as much as she could as she tried to stand. Her heels kept slipping and once or twice she threatened to take both of them down again, but eventually the two stabilized each other. Carefully, still holding onto him, she took the last precious step toward solid stone ground outside the court yard.

Thank Merlin.

"Umm, here...I'm assuming this is yours?"

"Yea thanks." she said reaching out to grab the bag and examining it shortly. It was damp and covered in snow. The girl scrunched her nose in disgust, holding the bag slightly out from her as though it was something she didn't really want to touch too much. "Sorry about that. In retrospect I feel that facing the corridors the third years filled with dragon dung may have been the better choice. I hadn't exactly planned on needing to step outside." she said, still looking down at her bag for a moment before glancing back at the boy.

"It's Kelyn, right? We're in the same year. What class are you heading to?"

Now, it's not an unknown fact that Kelyn is quiet, and keeps to himself. There will be random occasions where he will speak to someone for more than a few sentences, but not too incredibly often. Especially not after embarrassing situations. And especially not to girls.

But this situation left no choice for him. The fall, the recovery and the retrieval of the bag all came naturally to Kelyn, despite the fact that it wasn't something common for him. Once they were both safe and settled however, the gravity of the situation set in. Kelyn was standing there talking to a girl. Who wasn't from his house. A girl he barely knew at all really. An admittedly beautiful girl, which overshadowed the fact that she was from the Slytherin household.

His cheeks flushed even more.

Kelyn stood silent for a moment, observing the way that Reilly was now holding onto her bag, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say in this situation. It was snow-covered and obviously in a less-than acceptable manner. He probably should have wiped it off or something. Idiot! "Oh, umm....I'll fix it...." He reached out for the bag, missing his footing (because of nerves, not because of the ice at all) and ended up grabbing it a little too roughly as he tried to regain his balance. Fumbling a bit more with the bag, instead of holding on to it, Kelyn watched in dismay as it tumbled once more to the ground, spilling some of its contents out. Great, that's just perfect, Kel. He quickly crouched down, trying not to pry into her belongings as Kelyn put the items back into Reilly's bag. This time he did at least wipe off any extra snow before handing it back to her. "I.......I'm sorry. I hope everything's ok."

He couldn't match her gaze, too worried about how upset she might be that he had managed to drop her bag.  Kelyn scuffed his foot along the ground as Reilly spoke, trying to figure out if he was supposed to laugh about the dragon dung incident or not. And then she mentioned his name, and Kelyn was actually surprised. Usually only those he spoke to on a  semi-regular occasion knew his actual name. At least, that's what Kel thought.

The Hufflepuff looked up for a second, making eye contact before looking down again. "Yeah....it's Kelyn. And you're Reilly, yes? My mother fitted you for some robes a while ago.....if you remember." Kelyn's face seemed to be in a constant state of overheating, and he was glad it was so cold outside. At least he could blame the redness on his face for something other than his nerves or embarrassment.  "I was....uhh...just heading to Herbology. But I was....sidetracked." He glanced down the hallway, and noticed that the Slytherin boy was back. Great, at this rate, Kelyn would never get to class. "So uhhh....where are you going? And what.....what happened in the halls?" He wasn't really interested at all, but it looked like Kelyn needed to keep himself distracted for the moment. Even if it did make him extremely nervous, being there with Reilly was still better than what was waiting down the hall for him.