Sophie was outdoing herself this Valentine’s Day. She loved basically any and all holidays that gave her an excuse to tell people they were special. She was an odd ball like that. She always went far above what was necessary or even appropriate for corporate holidays like this. This year was no exception, in fact it was probably worse than usual. She had saved all of her Christmas money, plus weekly allowance for Merlin knew how many months just to go all out. Sophie was ever the giver, happier to find trinkets that had a special meaning for people in her life than to get lots of flowers or chocolate for herself.

After the last few weeks she felt it was extra important that they all have something happy for this weekend. The dance was coming and there was still a lot to do - which was why she was handing out some of her presents earlier in the week. Hence the fact she was loitering around just off from the Slytherin table, picking at her shirt, looking for a particularly scowl-y blonde boy to hand  off the nearly wrapped red and white package too. It might have just been Sophie’s imagination but this particular moody blonde seemed to be even more moody lately. It would be understandable of course, but it did precipitate her desire to do something nice for him.

She and Erin weren’t exactly friends now, but they weren’t exactly not either. It had just been one of those things really. She did notice he sometimes sat closer to her during lessons that he used to. Mostly her gift had started out as a joke. She’d asked Johnny to see if he could find some little thing that looked like a Yeti. She knew she wouldn’t be able to find as something as amazing as her little life action growling furball but she thought maybe there could be a joke to be had from that little shared experience. She still giggled some when she thought about skipping through the woods holding Harper’s hand.

Of course, since her brother refused to believe that she had friends of the male persuasion what he had found was an adorably cutesy little stuffed Yeti that one of her girlfriends would love. This made the joke that much funnier to Sophie. Erin considered himself so… macho. The idea of him having to tote around the little fury beast all day tickled her six kinds of pink! She did throw in some candy for good measure - so he wouldn’t totally hate it. Now it was just a matter of finding the bugger before he ducked out for the evening. She hadn’t managed to find him all day. Now it was supper time. He had to eat right?

Erin had been a bit more snarly lately, not that he'd thought anyone had noticed. Razzy had been gone for a month, back to France and his stupid family, and it was a bit of a crusher for someone with as few friends as Erin had to lose even one of them. Not that they'd been friends, not exactly - his relationship with the older boy was something undefinable, something Erin didn't really like to think about. A kiss at New Year's, and near-constant flirtation, but those choice encounters bothered him in all the wrong ways and didn't bother him in some ways they definitely should've. Razzy leaving now made Erin uneasy, like they'd started something that shouldn't have begun if it couldn't be finished.

And he didn't even know when the git was coming back. Razzy had been annoyingly vague about the whole thing, just telling Erin that he'd been gone for a while and then slithering out of all of Erin's demanded queries like his usual enigmatic self. He'd seen the Hufflepuff the next day, and then not at all. In the hallway, and only for a moment - and maybe it was his imagination, but Razzy had seemed particularly glum. Erin wasn't so self-centered to think he had anything to do with the disappearance, but the mystery of the thing was driving him half-mad.

He was even a bit sorry that he'd made fun of Razzy's name. Not much, though.

These were the thoughts that occupied him as he plodded down to dinner, not particularly hungry but knowing he'd go to bed starving if he didn't come down now. He threw himself into a seat and reached for a dinner roll, too lost in his thoughts to even notice Sophie standing nearby. He stuffed half the thing into his mouth, staring at the far wall, before something struck him. He paused. And then he turned around, and yes, it was Flitwick, what was she doing standing there like a twit? Gryffindors didn't usually come over here (well, cheery Sophie had always been a bit of an exception, he'd seen her chatting with Fergie here before), and by now he wasn't the only one watching her.

But he was the one she was watching, so Erin quirked an dubious eyebrow at her and glanced down the table pointedly, where the rest of his peers were watching.

"Yeah?" he asked, and his tone, while not overtly rude, wasn't particularly welcoming either. "Can I help you?"

It wasn’t as though Sophie were stalking him, right? She had friends in Slytherin. Actually, three of her closest friends were in Slytherin. She tended to loiter around the edges a lot. It didn’t garner as many strange looks as it used to - not that Sophie was aware of most strange looks anyway. She was the sort of person that just made herself at home and if people had a problem with it… well she never noticed much. Unless they said something, then she would blink at them sweetly before going back to whatever she was doing. Sophie was a known odd duck. She actually kind of relished in the side shot of attention.

When she finally spotted Harper she frowned. Why did he always look so miserable? It made her a little sad. Sophie was used to the bright side of things - even when they were bad once she had a couple cuddles everything seemed better. Things couldn’t get her down for long. Even being hurt by Devlin and Matteo, while it had lasted longer than normal it was nothing compared to the way some girls moped about. It was just too hard for Sophie to stay sour. She thought her pretty pink and blue thoughts, got cuddles, and all was right in the world again.

She felt bad for people who couldn’t do that. This feeling bad was also the reason she had gotten Erin a present, Maybe people just were put off by his snarking demeanor. If she were nice enough he might open up a little bit and smile once in awhile. Alternately he was just a jerk and this was all a game. She could play along. It was kind of fun for her to see his features twist in confusion - sort of like the day she’d kissed him in CoMC. She had giggled to herself all the way back to the castle. She found it rather amusing for days afterward too.

When she finally caught his attention she wiggled her fingers in a small hello before stepping forward and dropping into the seat next to him with a flourish. “Happy Valentines!” her smile was bight and voice tinged with a giggle as she handed over the red package to the blonde boy. “I know it’s not till tomorrow but I thought I should give it to you early. Who knows what tomorrow is going to look like,” she paused snitching an piece off the other half of his roll, “We have to help set up the dance and then my dad and the rest of his band will be here so I didn’t know when I’d see you,” she chattered happily, chewing on the doughy bread, pushing the package toward him with a finger, “Go on then, I won’t make you wait to open it”!

Undaunted by his tone, Sophie flounced into place next to him. Erin turned a little in his seat to face her, then all the way around when she shoved a brightly wrapped package into his hands. "Wha - " His birthday wasn't for months yet - but, oh, Valentine's. He'd forgotten. Erin stared down at the package, then looked back to Sophie, both eyebrows raised now. He wasn't used to all this cheer and constant chattering - wait, no, strike that, it was awfully reminiscent of his sister. She babbled in just the same way when they were alone. But unlike Hannah, Erin didn't think Sophie was doing it just to confuse him. He was pretty sure she was doing it because she was bubbly by nature.

It was still pretty weird, though.

He didn't so much as blink when she stole some of his roll. "Who's your dad's band?" he asked instead, a distracted frown appearing on his lips. But then he did blink as she pressed him to open it, before ripping the paper off with uncharacteristic care.

And then he stared.

After a moment, a bizarre expression appeared on his face, as if he couldn't decide whether to smile or frown. Erin gave a small bark of laughter, poking the yeti doll with one finger before examining the candy and the card with a puzzled smile. 

"Thanks, Flickwick," he said, looking up again. He gave her a grin, more forced than genuine, although he tried hard to make it seem so. For a minute he'd been surprised and a little worried that she'd fancied him, but the wording of the card made it seem like a mass-produced sort of present. The yeti, though, could only be deliberate, a cutesy echo of the doll she'd won from O Morain a few weeks ago. It wasn't at all the sort of present appropriate for a boy like Erin, and already he was plotting to hoist it off on his sister. But Erin had changed a great deal since the beginning of the year, through his rough-and-tumble experiences with the Dark twins, Razzy, Eli, Kitty and even Maddie. Not to mention the girls at Spellpunk, who liked him a lot more when they didn't know who he was. He no longer was embarrassed or indignant when it came to people seeming to like him, or at least like the looks of him, and he could accept this gift with much better grace than he could have months ago. (He wasn't even flushing... much.) This might've coincided with his distinct lack of lashing out recently, how he'd calmed down in classes and stopped the bit of bullying he used to engage in.

The younger year on his other side let out a snicker, clearly having been watching the whole thing and amused by Erin's momentary befuddlement. Without looking Erin cuffed him on the side of the head, only half-turning to complete the whip-fast shot and then looking serenely back to Sophie as behind him the boy yowled and scooted down a seat.

Or... maybe not.

Still, as far as Sophie's gift went, the effort was appreciated even if he didn't completely understand why it'd been put forth in the first place.

Sophie was taken kind of aback at the question of who her dad was. It wasn't so much that Mandrake Siren was internationally known or anything. In fact for most of her young life Soph didn't even understand that to some degree Duncan Flickwick was famous. He and Ramona had worked out a seemingly ideal system. He had a small studio at home, he played gigs on weekends, and Ramona worked the rest of the time. Soph had grown up around shows, around bands, around music. She didn't know it was uncommon until she'd come to Hogwarts at eleven. Still, she wasn't snotty when it came to who knew what about her family. Loud as she was, on the whole they were private people, so rather than letting her shock show she stole another bite of his roll and spoke around her chewing, "Duncan Flickwick. He and my brother Johnny, you member Johnny, he graduated third year, they're in Mandrake Siren".

She watched him as she chattered happily, waiting to see what kind of reaction she'd get. People being excited or amused, even touched by a present was really what she lived for. She liked making people feel special. She didn't expect Erin to throw his arms around her and thank her profusely, but with his obviously forced smile she felt her heart sink a little. She'd been trying to be cute, she thought he'd get the joke and at least really find it funny. He did have the good nature to laugh. That was something she supposed. She watched as he turned and thumped the person on his other side - so much for cheering him up. It was hard for Soph not to look completely crestfallen over the hard thing - but she gave it an honest go, "It's alright if you don't like it. I just thought it would be funny, you know, the whole Yeti thing?" she swallowed hard and twisted a her finger in one hand, "I'm sure Hanners will think it's cute - and you'll get to be an ace of a big brother for pretending to get her a Valentine," she gave him a small smile then, dimple appearing in her cheek, "I won't even tell you regifted".

And then there was that most awkward and painful thing for Sophie - silence. She hated when things were quiet. It made her feel like she needed to get up and do a strange little dance and make weird noises for the sake of filling up the air with something. It was worse with people like Erin who didn't really seem to communicate mostly anyway. Sophie raised her shoulders slowly before letting them fall back into place helplessly. There wasn't much else to say now was there? "Um. Well..." Sophie trailed off, unused to not having something to add. "I guess, um, I'll see you around then. Happy Valentin's," and with that she gave a small nod of her head and stood to go.

"He's that Flickwick?" Erin shouldn't have been so surprised - it wasn't like the the wizarding world was that big, of course there'd be some relation. "Huh. That's cool - yeah, I like Mandrake Siren." He pondered this for a moment, then tilted his head at her. "D'you sing too, then?"

Ah, he'd bollocksed it up - she looked unhappy. Erin, aware that his smile had been lacking despite his best attempts, lunged after her when she left, catching her by the elbow. "No - wait - " He dropped her elbow immediately and smiled again,  a little hastily but as warmly as he knew how. "No, I really like. It's cute. And, er, I like candy, so... Thanks, Sophie."

She'd been sweet to him when she didn't have to be, nice when no one else was - Erin didn't want to hurt her feelings. Now he wished he'd had something to give her, but he couldn't think of a thing. He comforted himself with the thought that she had stolen his roll, so... that counted, right?

No, no, that was a pathetic excuse. Regifting, let's see - Hannah had given him a stuffed dragon this morning, somehow snuck it into his dorm, but he'd destroyed that thing as soon as he could. He didn't know very much magic, nothing special that he could make or give her, except he guessed he could transfigure a flower out of a napkin except he would be too embarrassed to do that here in front of everyone and he might mess it up anyways -

Wait. Flowers. Magic. Erin knew something.

He grabbed her hand. "Come here real quick, I want to show you something," he told her, pulling her after him towards the doors. That wasn't embarrassing, even in front of people, because they'd done that before, and if she had no qualms about grabbing his hand he certainly had none about taking hers.

Quickly outside to the entrance hall, where he pulled her around the corner to an empty hall. Well, everyone was at dinner, weren't they? Which was good, because Erin didn't want witnesses for this either.

He crouched on the balls of his feet, leading her down with him. Then he dropped her hand.

"Watch," Erin instructed, and drawing his wand he pointed it at the floor and began to concentrate.

"Sero incendia," he muttered. "Flos e lux." And wavering flowers began to grow from the floor, made of tiny multicolored motes of light. They danced and swayed like flames, no taller than half a foot and clustered under his wandtip.

Sophie grinned at the boy, it always pleased her to hear people liked her dad's music. the Siren had been such a part of her childhood, when she was the last wee poppet at home Duncan had started working pretty seriously on his music again. She did sound checks and jam sessions - they even let her play tambourine!  Their drummer Alfie would teach her little beats to play - he was a big gruff man that had little use for anyone but even he was not immune to the charms of the littlest Flickwick.

She just shrugged at Erin's question though, she didn't like to make a big deal of the fact she could sing. Seemed silly, mostly because everyone in her family could sing. It wasn't a talent that set her apart, "Yea, I sing a bit. I did some backing vocals on the last album. Johnny is the true musical genius though," she said it without a note of disdain, a genuine fact that was followed by a genuine smile.

Sophie wasn't aware that Erin didn't see people smile at him much, apparently. As she got up to go he grabbed her arm and she felt her cheeks flush ever so slightly. She hadn't expected him to stop her - actually she pretty much figured that he'd be glad to be rid of her. The effort it then took for him to thank her, well it melted Sophie's heart a little. If he'd been anyone else she probably would have thrown her arms around his neck and given him a tight hug. Erin wasn't there yet, though if Sophie or Hannah had their way he would be before the end of the year. His smile even seemed genuine - which was a better gift than anything he could give her.

Apparently he was going to try though, Sophie giggling as he pulled her into the corridor. She was not used to this whole "having a boyfriend" thing yet; so it didn't occur to her that holding hands with a pretty blonde boy from Slytherin as they skittered out of the Great Hall might be at all a shady thing to do. It wasn't that she didn't care that it might upset Figaro... she just didn't think about it. Nor did she think about it as she crouched down next to Erin and watched him work his magic.

The flowers were such a sweet gesture, above and beyond anything she had expected him to do. She knelt with her hands clasp in front of her, mouth forming a small "o" as she reached out to let her fingers wave though the magical lights, "Oh Erin, it's just so pretty". Without thinking (again) she threw her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek, "You really are the sweetest boy. I wish more people knew that," her voice was soft against his shoulder as she hugged him tightly.

Figaro had been engrossed in a intellectual debate on the topic of which Three Owl Standard single was the most 'sick' whereas others were decidedly 'wicked'.  There seemed to be some measure of consensus, and the conversation included a fair amount of high-fives and lyrics shouted in unison.  Figaro didn't notice who it was that had called his name, just that when he looked up, he saw Erin Harper trotting out of the Great Hall as merrily as a pony with Sophie holding his hand after him.

They'd only been dating three days, but he'd not been shy about providing a play-by-play to anyone who would listen, so a small acapella chorus of "ooooOOOOoh!" came up from his mates. 

"Ha ha ha," he said sarcastically with a smile as he got up from the bench and trotted off after them, trying not to look too ruffled. 

But he was sort of ruffled.  Erin was a douchebag.  And was Sophie dating Fig or wasn't she?

It took him a second to see them once he got out into the Entrance hall, but when he did, he realized things were getting worse not better.  There was a welling of anger and embarassment, confusion.  Christ, he didn't know what his responsibilities were here.  He wanted Sophie to take him seriously - he liked that she liked him and well, holding hands with Erin Harper didn't really fit into that category of behaviors.

They were kneeling down in a corner, some dorky lightshow going on between them.  Figaro plastered an oblivious smile on his face and strutted over, hands in his pockets.  Act casual.

"Oh, heya Sophie!" He stopped nearly on top of them.  He dropped his weight quickly, descending into his heels to get on a level with Erin.

"And Erin Harper. Lovely to see you, mate.  Nice yeti.  Show and tell today? Mad fer it."  He was speaking quickly, and too loudly.

"So what are you two kids doing, huh?

Now, Erin was far from the sweetest boy ever, a fact of which he and the rest of the school was well aware. But Sophie was still hugging him, and he’d gotten a kiss on the cheek, and in the spirit of Valentine’s day Erin thought he’d stay quiet about his true nature.  The flowers were a remnant of his childhood, something magicked up by his mother for her precious daughter when she was ill or restless; Erin had memories of sneaking into Hannah’s room to watch them with her, because although flowers were definitely unmanly the magic itself was brilliant.  When he’d gotten old enough he’d gotten his mum to teach it to him, although it had involved a lot of wheedling and several highly unpleasant favors in return. But they were the only thing he could give to Sophie, and he was glad she liked them. Recently, Erin'd been a lot better about behaving himself around girls (okay, so that was the club's fault; he got more action when he was charming than when he was bitter) but it was completely out of pure intentions that he made the conscious decision not to correct her.

Still, his reward for his gift was a terrible thing. Erin’s mind immediately went from the fact that she was hugging him (which he ordinarily didn't like too much, but was willing to allow under the circumstances), to how he hoped nobody saw, that maybe it was okay because at least she smelled nice, that she didn't smell like Razzy, and then some weird conflicted emotions that Erin didn’t feel at all properly equipped to deal. It didn't help that it was bloody Valentine's; Erin had forgotten it, yeah, but if Razzy hadn't left he'd have expected to be cornered at least once, probably confused, possibly insulted, momentarily flirted with, and definitely snogged. It was very disappointing. He thought very hard about Sophie, who was after all the one hugging him, but that was no good, so he tried Professor Vaillancourt. Still a no go. Damn.

Thank Merlin Sellaphix showed up in time; with all these unwelcome thoughts Erin was looking for a good distraction. He’d slithered out of Sophie’s arms like the snake his House was named for as soon as he heard the other boy's voice, hoping for a fight, but instead Figaro had the audacity to crouch down next to them. The flowers extinguished themselves immediately; Erin’s eyes narrowed.

He ignored the comments about his newly aquaired yeti and show-and-tell, but he did reluctantly shove his wand away. If they did end up tussling, Erin wanted to ensure he'd get the chance to throw a few punches; once the wands were out, such chances were rare. Erin'd been raised a wizard, and he was very attached to his wand - but sometimes there was nothing more satisfying than actively letting one's fists fly. It was such a physical, addictive high. The adrenaline was already singing in his blood.

“What d’you want, Sellaphix?”

Sophie, caught slightly off guard by Fig's sudden appearance blinked once then twice. She tilted her head to one side before instinctively leaning over and placing a kiss on the corner of the Huffepuff's lips; "Don't make fun. It's a valentine for his sister; which I think is very sweet". Well, it wasn't a lie exactly. Erin and Sophie both knew that Hanna would end up with the Yeti. Sophie knew before she'd given it to him what his reaction would be. It was really just a joke, a gesture to try and cheer him up. Everyone knew Sophie made a big deal out of Valentine's Day. She was like Cupid...on a bender; trying to spread love and joy to everyone she knew, especially the sour people.

She looked between the boys, pretending to be unaware of the obvious tension in the air. She knew Erin barley tolerated her so why was everyone getting their dander up? It wasn't as though she'd shoved her tongue down his throat... she really had to talk to Fig about being more careful with that. Throwing a look to Erin as he scooted his wand out of the way and dropped the tone of his voice she shook her head, "Fig is hopeless for me. He magically turns up like a good boyfriend should whenever I'm happy so he can make me happier". Man could she lay it on thick when she thought she had to. She really was like her dad, making jokes and hopeless flattery when she thought people were going to fight. It probably wasn't the best way to deal with a possible jealous boyfriend and a boy you'd just been cuddling.

"Noneya business, Harper," Figaro snapped with a bigass grin.  What the frak did Harper think he could mess with him all the time? Seemed relentless from Figaro's perspective.  It wasn't that he was jealous, but it was more the principal of the thing.  No one seemed to take Fig seriously, especially when it came to dating.  And getting burned hard by Devlin in October (getting told to shove off Fauna, essentially) had made Figaro somewhat sore to the idea of being bullied off someone he was interested in.

I suppose it was fortunate that Sophie was so much more forward than Fauna'd been.  She was interested in Figaro just as much as he was in her.  But the last thing Figaro wanted was to be humiliated by Erin again like when they'd fought after Erin played chicken with the Whomping Willow.  That had been hard to live down.

So jealous? Nah.  Defensive. That was it.

"Probably want to quit bothering Sophie though.  She doesn't give a Whomping Willow about your poncy magic show," he said, still crouching down near the two of them.  The tension in their corner of the Entrance hall had just cranked up a few decibals and Figaro was just as aware of it as everyone else was pretending not to be.

"The hell it's not my business!" Erin shot back, his hands white-knuckled where they curled over his knees. "You came over here."
 
To his complete surprise, Sophie kissed the git. Erin's brow wrinkled, ever so slightly. Had he missed something here? But it was fairly obvious, even if it was utterly inane; he had already figured it out by the time Sophie said the b-word and confirmed it for him.
 
Erin gave Sophie a long, long look. Then he turned his attention to Figaro. And then the corners of his mouth twitched, and he burst into snickers.
 
"B-boyfriend?" he howled, but quietly, pressing his mouth into the crook of his elbow to stifle his laughter before anyone else decided to come over. "Him? Quite a catch, Flickwick..."
 
But the comedy of the thing lightened his temper, and when Figaro gave him a cheeky grin Erin grinned back, his blue eyes bright with mirth. It was more a baring of teeth than anything else, but at least it wasn't a snarl.
 
"Don't be so possessive, Sellaphix," he said innocently, in a tone so sweet it could have rotted teeth. He lowered his voice, leaning towards Figaro and curling a hand around his smiling mouth as if about to convey a great secret. "Girls hate that. Besides - " rocking back on his heels again - "I think your girlfriend liked my poncy magic show just fine."

Sophie looked between the boys, head tilted and suddenly very sure they were going to get up and have a literal pissing contest around her to see who got claim over her attention tonight. This was an extremely disturbing (and yucky!) notion in the pit of her stomach. Also she found herself being annoyed at Fig telling Erin to shove off. Sure she and Harper weren't best mates or anything but if Fig thought he could act that way towards someone who was sort of her friend; how the devil would he act toward someone like Chance? Would he demand she stop being affectionate with the older Gryffindor? Would she not be able to run up to Fir and give him kitty snuggles? Did having a boyfriend suddenly mean she couldn't jump on Dax's back and demand he carry her to class because her legs were short and tired? A lot of her relationships were based around the fact Sophie had little to no idea what personal space was.

"Just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean you speak for me," she gave a toss of her head then, the indignant "you will not be touching anything under my sweater or getting kisses until you make up for this" head toss of an annoyed girlfriend. As she slowly got to her feet she looked at Erin and gave him a lopsided smile - in the hopes that maybe the way she was trying to help him wouldn't be completely lost because Fig was being a wanker. "I did very much enjoy the lightshow. You'll have to teach me how to do that. I bet Lucia will love it when I try to put her to sleep at night. Babysitting four year olds is such a chore". She kept her voice light and airy as she leaned down an deliberately placed another kiss on Erin's cheek. She liked Fig but if he was going to start trying to place silly ground rules on what she could or couldn't do she was going to show him how likely that bit was to work. As she righted herself to walk away she threw a look over her shoulder and arched an eyebrow; "You coming, Sellaphix?"

It was a hard thing to have someone laughing in your face, and the embarrassment and rancor rose up in Figaro quickly.  Who the hell was Erin Harper to say anything about it? He wasn't being possessive! Erin's casual, blithe little schpeel was nearly too much for Figaro to take.  At least Figaro had a girlfriend!

Figaro was nearly ready to haul off shouting at Harper when the unexpected happened; Sophie was telling him to cool it.  A look of genuine surprise washed Figaro's face.  What the hell?!  He shifted backwards and scrambled up, just in time to see Sophie kiss Harper.  He didn't hear or care about anything Sophie was saying about little sisters and babysitting all he heard was that Sophie was mad at him.

"The hell?!"

He jumped to his feet, his face still colored drastically with anger and shock.  He held out his hands in a very What Is Going On kind of way.

'Sellaphix'? She'd called him 'Sellaphix'? Crazy, fickle, manipulative, crazy...!

He looked rapidly between Sophe who was walking away, and Erin who was grinning like a smug snunuvabitch.  All the wrath and confusion he felt at Sophie (and indirectly, Devlin) came flooding out in a giant shove into Erin's sitting shape.  "Shut up!" 

Completely misdirected.   Fig was a happy fellow, but it just ate at him that no one was taking him seriously.  It wasn't some insane thing that he have a pretty girlfriend like Sophie. 

Another kiss on the cheek, and this one was even more surprising than the first. Erin, who was perfectly used to driving people away with his spikey little insults, had half-intended to turn Sophie off of her good intentioned views of him - you really are the sweetest boy - with his nasty comments to Figaro. Instead she seemed to agree with him. Amazing. But, then again, he was a jerk and even he knew to treat a girl better than Sellaphix was doing if he wanted to keep her.

"Told you," Erin said maliciously.

But Figaro's sudden push surprised him, and, already teetering on the balls of his feet, he fell arse-over-teakettle backwards. Normally this would have been enough to have him spitting mad, but Erin was enjoying all the benefits of teenage schadenfreude now and he only blinked at the ceiling for a moment before pushing himself up onto his elbows.

He looked over at Figaro, raising his pale brows and pursing his lips in a mockery of prim-and-proper indignation. The image was ruined somewhat by the indolent way he was still lounging on the corridor stone.

"No need for violence, Sellaphix."