Oh foo! Sophie was so angry she could spit! Of course that wasn’t saying much because unlike when Nana Flickwick had been a girl spitting wasn’t the same social crime today. She did, however, kick several rocks along the path to the lake. Today was just…wretched! And it made her feel wretched too, she wouldn’t pretend to be having the same kind of bad day as Sasha - whatever was going on in his life was pretty horrible… it was just everything seemed to go wrong lately. No matter what she did someone was telling her she was wrong. It had all started with that stupid Devlin kiss at the SAWS mixer. Then there had been the New Years Eve bonfire in which she had discovered someone she thought she knew was nothing at all like she thought - and then she came back to Hogwarts to deal with Quinn’s dirty looks and whispering about her. Then there had been the ordeal of being trapped in the loo with a nearly naked Figaro. Now today? Today Professor Storm had tried to kill them, Fergie probably had a concussion, and Sasha was accused of murder - and then when she’d done her best to help everyone treated her like she was the problem. It wasn’t her fault Figaro was a big dummy and kept yelling even after she’d lowered her voice.

And that Demitria! Who did she think she was? Sophie had never said five words to the girl before today. They weren’t friends at all, they didn’t know one another and she would just… talk to Sophie like she was a naughty child who needed scolding. The Devil could have them all as far as she was concerned - even Fergie because instead of standing up for her he just went off with Sasha. She didn’t mind sharing her best friend…but a little back up would be nice. Then again Sophie was kind of used to it. That’s what home was like. Having four children with the biggest age gap between any of them being four years with two right in the middle of that… well Sophie was used to not being heard unless she was making noise, or getting into something she wasn’t supposed it. She never complained about it because she knew it could be worse - she could be like Fergie, his parents just wanted him to get married. Or like Gabby, who didn’t even have a mum to yell at her. Lots of her friends had worse home lives… but it didn’t make it easier for Sophie to deal with hers.

Sophie sighed, kicking another rock before perching on a nearby bolder. The cold winter air cooled her heated cheeks and her heart rate slowed, it was then she noticed her cheeks were damp and she’s been crying, perhaps the whole time since she left the Great Hall. She sniffled and pulled her coat more closely around her tiny body. She already felt guilty for the things she’d said to Figaro. She shouldn’t have told him he was a bad friend… they just had vastly different ideas of what friendship meant. Sophie was starting to believe she was the only one who looked at friendship that way, the only kind of person who would stand by a sinking ship bailing out water trying to make it float. She felt like she might drown if she didn’t find someone more like minded soon. Maybe that didn’t exist though, maybe everyone just looked at cold hard facts and not history to make their judgments. Maybe no one else would ever put her first or love her best no matter how much she tried to be the best kind of friend and person she knew how. Maybe she would ust never be enough.

And with that thought a fresh batch of tears came as she hugged her knees. She was not normally weepy and sullen. She did not like this side of her that was coming out lately. It was almost intolerable. Stupid bad days and stupid boys that caused them and stupid best friends that stood up for boys rather than the person who never did anything but adore them and stupid girls who butted their noses where they didn’t bloody belong. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID… and Stupid Sophie for caring so much that she’d cry.

Of course teenagers being the sweet, tactful things they were Fir had her NOTHING about about the fifth year Defense Class and how Callum got his ass handed to him by the meekest of them all. Not only was Fir an incurable gossip, he was in Callum and Fergie's house.

Funnily enough the whole Sasha growing a pair and axing a death eater had completely escaped his notice until some third year waved the article in his face and summed it up for him- thus eliminating Fir's need to read it in the first place. So. He didn't.

He did notice quite the little gathering around Sasha at lunch. Fir went back to eating/gossiping/flirting. He had more important things to do than worry about stuff like that. Like show off that as a magical seventh year with a drastically reduced course load he didn't have to be in his uniform yet. And yes, his jacket was new. Thank you so much for noticing. Wasn't it magnificent? Wanna make out?

Important stuff. It was...uh...important.

And speaking of important, Fir's very own pretty kitty (aka, Sophie Flickwick) just marched out the the hall with a march that could only be described as furious. Didn't look like anyone was following after her, either. Well what the hell?

Fir got up from the table and followed Sophie out of the Great Hall, down to the Entrance Hall and outside. Ugg. Outside in January? She must be pissed and a very very pretty kitty. Fir didn't do nature on beautiful spring days when the birds were singing and everyone went tra-la-la-ing through fields of daisies. Especially then. He didn't want any birds mistaking his hair for a nest.

He finally caught up to her by the Great Lake as she was kicking stones with some cute boots (that kind of matched his actually. D'awwww).

"Hey, Sophie," he said. He grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to face him. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Were those tears? "Woah, sweetie, what the hell happened back there?"

Sophie was sniffling and only sort of watching her watch because she had to be in CoMC eventually. She wasn’t sure she cared if she missed today’s lesson. She did not want to see Fig, or Sasha, or Fergie, or just… anyone at all. She wanted to curl up in her little pity party ball and cry and cry and cry…because she was tired of wearing her big girl panties and just dealing with this crap. It wasn’t fair! None of it was fair! Her nails were digging into the pal of one hand when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened sucking in a hard breath as the hand physically turned her to face the person it belonged to.

And then she lost it all the composure she had left just went out the window when she saw the boy with wild hair looking at her with such genuine concern. Her slender arms threw themselves around his neck as she buried her face in his chest with heaving sobs. Somewhere in the moments she could get her breath there were words - they sounded kind of like “stupid ….boys and ….they’re all so mean… and no one…’spects me…all talk…like I’m a fetus” her body shook with the crying and the speaking.., and then she got the hiccups.

Still even as she was acting as though she completely lost her mind, she was aware that Fir hugged her tightly, hand moving against her back in a calming motion. He just let her cry, the problem was once she started she didn’t really no how to stop. She sniffled and tried to get her breathing back to normal, still talking, “I just -hic- don’t unnnerstand! I-I-I-hic-was trying to be a good frien-hicsob-and everyone treated me like I-I-sob-was just a stupid dramaaaa-sob-queen”. Sophie was not…a pretty girl when she cried. Her face got splotchy and her eyes turned red and her nose ran. She was well aware of this.

And thus she kept her face hidden against Fir’s chest, still shaking even as her breathing slowed, “And now I can’t look at you ‘cause I’m all a mess, sniffle, I just don’t understand why everything -hic- is going wrong lately. -hic hic hic- First the Mixer sniffle then the fight with Q-Q-Quin, -hic-, th-the-then Matteo trying to feel up every girl at my Bonfire sniffle sniffle, now today that awful Demitria decides she ought to talk to me like I’m five and haven’t the sense Merlin gave a Hippogryff. She doesn’t even know me - and everyone at the table who did already made me feel sniffle like I was a dreadful person”.

Oomph

Fir just about fell over when Sophie threw herself at him. She was a tiny thing, but Fir had about as much muscle mass as twig. He actually did have to take a step back to steady himself, but he stayed upright. Point for him. He hugged Sophie tightly as she sobbed, hiccuped and made sounds that might have been words, even English words but strung together into gibberish. 'stupid boys' and 'I'm a fetus" was about all he could make out at first.

Fir rubbed Sophie's back and held her tightly to him, trying to make soothing sounds like "Shhhh" "Hey" or even "there, there, pretty kitty."

If she wasn't so dang upset and talking about stupid boys, he might have made some comment about yay for girl snuggling Fir time. Dangit. This was one more reason why upsetting Sophie was so not cool. It was cramping Fir's innuendo style.

"Hey, hey," Fir soothed, rubbing her back as she sobbed. "Now you listen up. You can be a pretty kitty or you can be a fetus, but you can't be both. My votes on pretty kitty. And you sooo cannot be a drama queen, because baby that's my job and I don't share it, don't you know?"

She started to calm down a little- thank goodness. Although Fir was pretty sure his shirt was now rumpled with tear stains on it. Which was said, because that was clearly not what a captain awesome shirt was for. If it had to be crumpled, it should be crumpled by the bed of a hot chick. However, Sophie and her pretty kitty ways were much more important to Fir than proper shirt procedures, despite popular myth.

Fir kissed the top of her head . "Aww, sweetie,  live with Callum- ain't no way your mug could be worse than what I've seen. Plus you're innate cute factor is too high to make you look like a total mess. Now, how about we sit down- because Imma fall over soon- and you tell me what happened at lunch and who I need to beat up."

Slowly, as he talked to her and rubbed her back Sophie calmed down. She still had the hiccups and the sniffles but she wasn’t sobbing anymore. She even managed to laugh when he pointed out he would not share his title of drama queen. People said a lot of things about Fir, and some of them weren’t very nice - but for Sophie…he was just there. And maybe he was all those bad things, but when she needed him he was all the good things in the world. He was sweet, and funny, and just there - and she believed he loved her in his own way. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of love that fairytales were build on but at this point Sophie needed the kind of love that would just be there for a little while to remind her that Quinn was wrong.

Because really, at the heart of it, it all came back to that day. That day that her former friend and fellow Gryffindor had laid sulfurous eggs of self doubt in her brain. Now any time anything went wrong one of those eggs cracked and out poured self doubt, a nagging voice reminding her that she as wretched and selfish and not a good friend - on top of the feeling of being used by Devlin and discarded by Matteo. All of it welled up to this feeling of complete lack of control in her life. She didn’t know what she was going to do. She just needed one day to go right, one day out of one week to give her some hope that from now on not everything would be an unmitigated disaster.

Pulling back she looked up at Fir with dark swollen bloodshot eyes, her cheeks were splotchy and her nose was runny - but she had a tissue in her pocket so she took care of that right away. Then she made room for him on the rock beside her, drawing her knees up and wrapping herself in her oversized coat as she looked back toward the castle, “Just one of those days you know? Defense was heinous, because of the whole Fergie-Sasha-Callum thing, and Storm lost it,” she took a deep shuddering breath and rested her head against Fir’s shoulder, her tiny body still shaking. She hated being so upset. It took forever for her body to return to baseline normalcy - and even when it did she’d be exhausted. Sophie did everything too hard from loving to falling apart.

“I was fussing over Fergie - because he hit his head really hard, and I was worried because he’s my best friend, right? Anyway we were all sitting together, Fergie, Sasha, Figaro Sellaphix, Kit, and this girl Demitria who has never spoken to me before ever,” she paused to give Fir a meaningful look, like he should remember this girl didn’t know her because it was important. “Anyway, someone passes Fig a copy of the stupid Prophet,” she took a deep breath and dabbed at her nose, chewing the inside of her cheek, “and of course the first thing Fig does is shove it in Sasha’s face and demand to know if it’s true, like he should have to answer to someone who is supposed to be his friend. Who does that Fir?”

“So… I sort of hit him upside and head and told him he was an awful person, which he isn’t really he’s just so… stupid,” she sniffled and gave another shudder her eyes focused on her boots, “And then of course he got mad so he started yelling - and I quit yelling but everyone kept telling me to stop yelling which was annoying in and of itself. And I’m standing there defending Sasha even though he has never, ever, ever liked me. Because I think sometimes you have to defend people. You have to stand up for something because it’s wrong. And I was trying to make enough noise for Fergie to get Sasha out of the Great Hall - because if everyone is looking at me they weren’t looking at him”.

She began wringing her hands then, her bottom lip mottled as she tried not to start crying again “And then Sash basically said Figaro was right to ask him, and Fergie told me to stop making a scene and Kit gave me this look like…like I don’t even know what but it probably involved me being tied to a chair for etiquette lessons. And Figaro had already been saying I was overreacting and he had a right to know.. And then that awful Demitria chimed in. She talked to me like I was five and didn’t have any sense at all. She told Sasha and the others  to leave and she’d deal with me. It was bad enough not one of my friends defended me but…” her voice trailed off as she gave a small sniffling hiccup, a tear rolled down her cheek.

Oh hot dang. Sophie was adorable, even when she was all blotchy and crying, but now Fir was really itching for the concealer and eyeliner and turn that frown upside down. Fir followed her to the rock and sat down next to her, hands behind him as he leaned back, long legs spread out and his head alternating glancing to the caste with Sophie or directly at her.

When she leaned her head against his shoulder, Fir took it as a cue to put his arm around her shoulder and hug her a little tighter to him. He had heard about DADA of course. It was the gritty details of the lunch that escaped him, but not for long.

Yes, who would do what Fig had done? Fir took the moment for a (rare) tactful silence. Because, honestly, he probably would have done something similar if it was one of his best mates. Only much more adorable and dramatic. Probably with flailing. And then leading snogging and running off to find a broom closet....Ahem. No, not with Sasha. One of FIR'S best mates.

He did laugh when Sophie said she hit Fig. "Oh Merlin, how the hell did I miss that? I bet that was freaking priceless."

Gee, how did he miss it. Maybe it had something to do with being so self-involved and centered. NAW. Damn, he had missed Sophie clocking Fig in the head. He would just have the mentally imagine and reply said image constantly. Maybe do a dramatic soundtrack. And in slow motion.

Oh hey. There was a Sophie next to him. Back on track.

"Well you can't expect Fergie to act rational-like whenever Sasha's around," Fir said, rolling his eyes, not at Sophie but at his swooning housemate. What with all the puppy eyes and the dancing around the Ravenclaw, Fir wouldn't have believed that Fergie and his puppy eyes had actually kissed Sasha. "Fig, well we know he's...Fig. Kit I think wants to tie everyone to chairs and give etiquette lessons...hell she's probably tried giving them to the Womping Willow. Demetria...she's a Slytherin and sad to say I think I'm the sanest person in that house. Which. Scary thought, huh?"

Oh Slytherin. Why must you should like such a perfect house for Fir to grow in his amazing and yet be filled with such trying folks. Oh Sorting hat. Though weret a heartless bitch.

"But really, if you want me to clock any of them up the head, or do something more my style," Fir said. "Like make banners from their undies or shaving cream and honey bikinis and midnight makeovers. I totally will. Demetria is in my house and one of these day I will fool the dorms into thinking I'm a chick."

Sophie just sighed and wiped her eyes. She knew all of the things he was telling her, and she knew they were true but it was just… “Everything I do lately is wrong Fir, I was just…” she gave a helpless shrug turning her face toward the sky, “It’s been so bad since the fight with Quinn. It’s like she’s inside my head telling me all the time I’m a selfish horrible friend who never thinks of anyone else,” she tucked her hair behind her ear and chewed on her bottom lip, replaying the fight in her head from before New Years Eve. “I just… I put myself out there and I defended Sasha because whatever they’re saying about him, whatever happened, there has to be more than just what they’re printing. And he didn’t deserve to have someone who is supposed to be his friend…act like that. Even if he did it…its just not in Sasha to kill someone in cold blood. If he was defending himself, if he was trying to protect his family - whatever happened it’s not like the papers made it sound. And I tried to say that, to point that out and everyone just told me to quit yelling”.

She looked forlorn… and lost. She was confused and nothing felt right anymore. Well that wasn’t totally true, curling up next to Fir and resting her head on his shoulder felt like it always did. She felt a deep sense of gratitude as he hugged her shoulders. Lots of people thought Fir was just silly and self involved - and there was that side to him, but there was so much more. He didn’t show everyone because it would have completely killed his reputation as a lady-man killer. She knew though, she knew because in moments like these when she felt so beat up he took the time to follow her and cuddle her on a rock even though he hated being outside on the nicest of days - let alone when it looked like it might slush on them any second. Sophie was good at finding the good in people. She had a lot of friendships that didn’t make sense to anyone else, but they made sense to her and that was what really mattered.

“You can’t be a girl because then you would out pretty me on two fronts and my self-esteem just cannot take that kind of hit right now,” though her eyes were still wet and her cheeks rather splotchy, she gave him an almost playful nudge with her shoulder. Getting all of that off her chest and not bottling it up made letting the anger go easier…well not at Demitria. She was still unimpressed with that little twit an she would hold a long grudge, but she could see the logic of everything else Fir had to say. Fergie was worried about Sasha and Sasha…well it was a wonder he hadn’t completely lost his mind and started running around Hogwarts sans robes with a blue headpiece, claiming to be Rowena Ravenclaw. And Figaro… well he was who he was and he’d probably always be that way. So really the only person she had a right to be upset with was Demitria…but that made her storming out seem a bit silly.

"Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah," Fir said, blinking in surprise and shaking his head at Sophie. "Back up a second. Quinn told you what? I know you to had a falling out, but the hell?"

Fir gave Sophie a tight squeeze as continued to talk. Word vomit was a better phrase really. Girl sounded like she had some serious issues on her mind and oh look there was an ear under all of Fir's hair. Why, there were two! Fancy that. Though why it seemed all Sophie's other friends all mysteriously had their ears go missing was Fir's guess. Not that he wasn't happy to be hugging Sophie and reassuring her- it just kind of ticked him off that his pretty kitty had one person instead of a tight circle right now.

"Sophie, Sophie," Fir said soothingly. He kissed her on the top of the head again for good measure. "Now as we all know I am a fickle, flighty person. I would not be your friend if you were selfish. Because I am too selfish to allow more than one selfish person, much like I am too much of a drama queen to allow another drama queen. Sasha, Fig and the rest were being asses. I don't care if freaking Voldyfart rises from the ashes and starts beating Sasha over the face with the house cup. They still need to treat you right."

Fir laughed aloud when she shot down him going girl.

"You know what?" he said in mock seriousness. "I think for the mental health of all the girls at this school, I should restrain myself. I mean, I can barely keep all the guys off me as it is." Cue dramatic eyeroll and eyebrow wiggling for effect.

Sophie looked at him and sighed, she hadn’t really told anyone but Johnny what had actually happened between the two of them. She had told John, she had absolutely fallen apart on him right after it happened. He had been furious and wanted to send Quinn a howler but Sophie begged him not to make it worse. Since being back at school she hadn’t talked to most of her seventh year housemates because she didn’t want to know what kind of lies Quinn was telling. She didn’t want to ask people to take sides simply because she didn’t think anyone would choose her. That was how battered her self-esteem had become in the last few weeks. She felt like a filler person, a nameless faceless being with not real importance other than to be a warm body who said silly things sometimes.

The problem was now Fir was asking. If he asked she had to tell him, because she didn’t want to be a liar. “She cornered me in Diagon when I was shopping for New Years Eve. She said she wanted to makeup… so I told her how I felt - which is how I felt since she started seeing Johnny, like I couldn’t trust her because she put a boy before our friendship, and not just any boy but my brother. You know how close we are,” she started wringing her hands again and chewing her bottom lip, her stomach felt sick but she didn’t want to cry, “I explained all this calmly to her, and she tried to tell me that she hadn’t set a dirty bomb off in my life and Johnny and I had always had problems”.

She looked at Fir then, her bottom lip caught between her teeth for a moment, “You know Fir, you know the one thing I can’t stand is people talking about my family. They may make me crazy and they may not always hear what I’m trying to say but they come before everything and… I just lost it when she tried to act like she knew more about my life, my relationships with my family. I told her it was her fault because in the end Johnny chose me. He chose our family over her, and she was the one who couldn’t keep her pants on to save a relationship. And then she told me that I made everything be about me and I just pretended to be loving and giving but really I was selfish and she didn’t care if we ever made up and vaguely threatened to turn everyone against me”.

Sophie wound her arms around his middle and literally curled into Fir, her head resting in the middle of his chest as she tried to hide the fact she was crying again. She just wanted to run away. She wanted a time turner, she wanted to get back to the point where she was happy and silly all the time and there was not this putrid angst drowning her half the time. She was sick to death of talking about all the bad things but nothing good seemed to be happening anymore. She was just so tired, how was it possible to be only fifteen and so exhausted at the same time? It didn’t seem fair at all, but then Sophie was learning the hard way, over and over, that life had very little intention of being fair.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

That about summed up Fir's feelings when Sophie spilled her guts. Because apparently, being yelled at by good friends wasn't enough. Dude. Enough with the messing up the pretty kitty already.

Fir adored Quinn. He did. She was crazy, feisty and could keep up with his parting. She wasn't romantically attracted to him, or at least that's what she claimed (Fir just thought she needed more time), but Fir had lots of girlfriends that weren't dating girlfriends. He seemed to attract more of those than bloke mates. Go figure.

But oh the drama. The Quinn and Johnny and Sophie drama. Being good friends with the girlfriend and the boyfriend's sister kinda made it hard to miss. But the Quinn and Sophie spat before New Years? Fir felt a little bad for not seeing it when he was at Sophie's house just days later.

"You know, I was never really down with her dating Johnny," Fir said. "I probably told you that a couple times. Love Quinn, but that's a little too damn incestuous for me."

Despite popular misconception, Fir did have a few morals when it came to dating. He did not go after friend's ex's, friends' brothers or those currently involved with someone (at least no seriously). Because even though Fir wasn't exactly known for his monogamy, it could never be said that he 'stole' anyone. Unless of course, the poor things were just hit by cupid's arrow when Fir walked down the corridor- but that could hardly be blamed on Fir.

"Anyone who tries to come between one of you guys and your family is an idiot," Fir said. He kept hugging her tightly, stroking her back and running his fingers through her hair. "You lot have something really special going for you there. That kind of thing doesn't make selfish people or bad friends. Not when you got how many people sleeping over as often as they do."

His voice was almost wistful when he said that. Fir made it no secret he didn't get on with his parents. They weren't bad people. They were just the wrong people to be raising this particular mix of their DNA. Family dinners at the Cuween's were filled with awkward silences. But this wasn't about Fir. This was about Sophie. And if her sharp little mind dared to pick up on something and talk about it, Fir was denying her and making her help herself first for a change.

"Sophie Flickwick," Fir said to his chest (hey- its where her face was) "Now you listen to me. You are without a doubt one of the least selfish people I know and one of my very best friends. Anyone who tells you otherwise is only kidding themselves. And anyone that tells you off for being you deserves a good rap on the head, because you are an amazing girl and friend and those bone-heads don't realize how good they got it with you."

Sophie nodded against his chest, indicating that yes, she remembered that he had told her it was completely messed up that Quinn slept with her brother. And it was - Sophie didn’t know if she could ever forgive that. She opened her home to her friends, they became like family, the Flickwick’s house was a safe haven for anyone who needed a fresh port to get a little perspective. There was always lots of room and good food, the dogs running around and the owls wanting biscuits. No matter what, when everyone was home they had a family dinner - no matter how many hours their mum had worked or if their da had a show. She had opened her home to Quinn just like her other friends, had fought with her mother and insisted that Quinn was a good person. Then Quinn had violated that trust, all in the name of doing the nasty with John.

Sophie knew how good she had it with her family. She knew that even when she had to fight for attention or to feel like she was being seen the moment anyone called her into question that they would have three very angry siblings on their trail - and Gordic forbid her mother find out. It was the other reason Sophie had tried to keep the fight so hush hush. More than once Moan had paced the floor ranting about some glitter tart messing with her family. Of course it was all in Spanish and her Barrio Diva coming out, it wasn’t often that Mona let that side of her show - Sophie had been caught between amusement and mortification. Of course the extent of her fury went to barring McAvoy from their home.

That had never in the history of Flickwick Kid Friendships happened - not even when Johnny’s best friend Edmond talked him into throwing a raging party while the family was on vacation and John was asserting his independence. That next weekend Edmond was back at the house helping clean up and getting his ear chewed off - but then Mona had stuffed him full of food and told him she knew he was a good boy. That was how she was, the village mother - but she had no love for Quinn, and after so much pain and angst Sophie had mostly aligned herself with her mother’s point of view. Some people just weren’t worth the heartache. Sophie was sad to find out how many people in her life happened to not be worth it.

Finally Sophie pulled her head away from his chest, though feeling the vibrations of his words has been comforting, her cheeks were streaked with tears and her eyes a little red, but her lips formed a soft smile as she leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek, “You always know just what to say Fir,” she hugged him tightly and inhaled deeply, she felt absolutely exhausted, like she could crawl in bed and sleep for a million hours. She had no desire to deal with the rest of her classes today. She just wanted to curl up like a kitten and be loved on. It really was too bad she couldn’t sneak Fir into the girls’ dorm, “I feel like I need a nap…but you’re a better pillow than my actual pillow”.

The heavens were starting to open up and let a little of that sunshine, also known as Sophie Flickwick's usual adorableness, peek through. That was most defiantly a little smile. Fir matched it with a grin of his own. He hated seeing friends cry. He just hated crying, when it came down to it. Fir was a happy creature. He thrived on grins, smirks and the occasional eyeroll. He loved drama, but the drama of the ridiculous nature, the kind that involved flailing about and flying tackle hugs.

"Of course I know what to say," Fir said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Haven't you read the shirt, love? I am, after all, Captain Awesome, and my awesome knows no boundaries on what it should encompass."

It really was a good shirt to wear for today, Fir thought. Even with wrinkling and tear spots, it pretty much fit his role today. Not that we hasn't always awesome- he was- but today he felt especially more so. And in need of cape. Or a dramatic pose. Or a theme song. Or a pretty kitty sidekick. Hey look- found one.

He did laugh at Sophie next comment, oh so cute and finding a hole in his previous statement at the same time. "Then you got some crappy pillows up in the Gryffindor," Fir told her, "Because while I may be many multitudes of awesome, I lack the necessary squishy to make even an average pillow."

Part of the reason Fir and Sophie were so evenly matched was because most of the time she was the same kind of silly happy he was. She laughed and giggled and wiggled her butt in little dances and was loud. They were two peas in a pod normally - it was just growing pains lately.

At least that’s what Ruby told her. Ruby didn’t know everything of course but she summed up Sophie’s moodiness as a rough patch which Sophie was having to be more emotionally mature than she actually was. Soph didn’t know if she should be happy her sister was trying to understand…or insulted by her reasoning. Fir was good though, he just let her be emotional and tried to make her smile.

“Surely there are some bounds to your awesomeness? All Super Heroes have a weakness, a downfall,” her grin got a little wider as she looked up at him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, “I bet I know what your weakness his,” her expression shifted from one of adoring gratitude to something more coy.

“You weakness is…” her voice trailed off and then she half flailing crawled on him, “Pretty kitty pouncing and POKING ATTACKS!” and with that her tiny hands made quick work of poking his sides and belly - even is nose as she wiggled on his lap, giggling for the first time all day. If there was one person who could always make her feel silly it was Fir.

She did not cease her poking, even as she laughed at his comment about how much the Gryffindors’ pillows must suck. She shook her head and RUFFLED HIS HAIR, “Silly Fir. A people pillow almost always is better than a not people pillow. What you lack in squishy-” she paused to poke his belly, “you make up for in warmth and the being good of smelling. Like everything a even a Fir pillow has it’s pluses and minuses”.

"Pfft. I am the epitome of awesome. I know no bounds or weakness," Fir scoffed. "You know no-ACK!"

Fir flailed about, as Fir was known to do. Because there was poking. And oh my gawd, Sophie was lucky she was special. Now anyone was invited and welcome to crawl on Fir's lap and Fir was sure to inform anyone that might have an interest (or who Fir though might one day- which was pretty much everyone) about the open invitation.

Poking that was dangerously close to tickling. Fir twitched away from Sophie, trying to grab her hands and making cute (by his definition) little 'acks' and 'eees.'

"Would you- ACk- Now Sophie-EE-sensitive spo-ack. Stop!" 

Fir couldn't quite hide the grin from his face, however. Poking attacks, if administered by the right person and with a small enough audience (read: only Fir and the attacker) could be acceptable, even fun. And Sophie got certain special privileges.

THEN THE HAIR. OH THE HAIR.

Fir gave her a look somewhere between horror, amusement and panic. Complicated facial expression unknown to man were a specialty of Fir's.

"You. Are. So. Lucky. You. Are. Cute." Fir said. He could hardly keep from twitching. Just because he let her mess with his hair didn't mean he had to encourage such atrocious behaviour.

Fir arched an eyebrow at her detailed explanation of Fir pillows. "A Fir pillow, much like anything of Fir has no 'minuses' And I am very warm and good smelling. Fantastic smelling even. But I stand by my earlier statement that your house pillows much be crap. Slytherin pillows are nice and warm and soft, probably because all the pretty pureblood patronage we get."

Sophie was lucky that Fir had never managed to give her a black eye. The way they both flailed around and her history of horrible physical luck it was kind of a miracle actually. Her days were probably numbered before he ended up poking out her eye or something. She didn’t mind though, at least not in theory. She felt like a weight had been lifted for a little while, like she could breathe and smile. It was something she needed and sometimes Fir was the only one who could give it to her.

When she finally ceased her attack on him, she slid her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “You act so indignant but everyone knows you love me best - and I dare say even enjoy when I muss your hair,” that was pushing it a bit. He really didn’t like having his hair touched - but Fir was one of those people that understood the art of annoying affection. It was like when a boy pulled the hair of a girl he liked or pushed her in the mud.  Sophie would push Fir in mud - if she didn’t know for a fact, possibly from experience, that he would pull her in behind him. That was less than awesome.

He always got her back some how though, once the flailing and squealing stopped. Biting her lip she tired not to laugh, her nose wrinkling, “I am, aren’t I? Adorable, I mean, you love me so much,” she gave his neck a small squeeze, “I’m  glad you know, cause I have a feeling I just burned the hell out of some bridges”. She sighed and rested her forehead on his chin. She was so over this term already. The only reason she didn’t want it to end was because the handful of people she wasn’t upset with were seventh years - like Fir and the twins.