Weaving to and fro, Kingside ducked under and past any standers-by frequenting Diagon Alley -- he quickly ducked down a narrow side street and followed a spat of steps to their end, coming to a sparsely populated street. Just perfect! That is to say, in that not-so-perfect way. A furtive glance cast about the locale revealed several escape routes -- but one of particular appeal; Reducto Records! Given the time of day, the storefront might not be packed, but it would provide a solid two-story escape from his pursuers.

Once inside Reducto Records, Kingside kept an eye out the front door -- he watched as two second year Gryffindor girls sprinted into sight, ducking as they looked his way. They had missed him, though, it seemed! Turning away, the ladies marched off in a guessed direction, hoping to continue their pursuit.

"Finally," Kingside said, exhaling in a woosh with relief. A quick gaze around the store revealed that it was barely inhabited; only a minute smattering of loungers & shoppers, as well as the occasional employee, dotted the interior of Reducto Records. One of the rarer, poor-business times of days, it seemed! Ah, well, Kingside wasn't necessarily in the mood for socialization en mass, given his most recent near-miss with a cluster of young, fairer-sex-stalkettes. The boy made his way up the flight of stairs leading to the second floor, exploring quietly -- he'd been in before, but never up to the second story. How exciting!

Finding a lovely grand piano tucked into a corner, Kingside seated himself on a small bench in front of it and poised himself over the keys, pausing a beat; he had taken lessons when he was a boy -- before his introduction to the world of magic & wizarding -- but his fingers had not been limbered in years. As he began to roll his fingertips across the keys, he recalled and played a gentle, lovely melody, none too complex but pleasant to the ear nonetheless.

"Yes, Tilly; I think I know how to tune a guitar, besides I really just want to get some pictures of the street and the light's absolutely perfect," Sophie's amused voice could be heard from the stairwell along with the muffled reply of the shop owner. When not lazing about with Ollie at #12 St. Mary's, Sophie had taken to coming round to the shop. Ruby had been all set to work Reducto over the summer only to bail out last minute and head Stateside. Soph still wasn't totally sure how she felt about that. Still, when there was nothing else to do and no one else around visiting Tilly and the baby kept her mind off unpleasant things and kept her from plotting more devious things like another potion's experiment with Deus. She had to be careful about that one, he could get to be a habit and she was awful at breaking those.

Her boots made a stomping sound as she bounded the last few stairs and entered the wide open room, ponytail atop her head bouncing happily, camera in one hand. Even though she had been vaguely aware of a tune coming from inside she had not expected to find an acutal person playing, least of all a person she knew reasonably well. It wasn't as if she and Kingside were best mates or even close mates - they were housemates though so she'd known him nearly six years now. She might never have taken him for the musically inclined type at all but you just never could tell with people. He wasn't half bad actually. He was no Dennis Creevey, but then Creevers wasn't even really all like the hype made him out to be... or Sophie had just grown up around musicians and wasn't over-eager and easily impressed.

She left the door open, letting his music mingle with the other sounds - a violin lesson, an oboe, and a cello, the faint sound of Lola and the Azkabait's most recent release as it played in the main room of the shop downstairs. She gave him a slight smile, though she wasn't really sure if he caught it as she made her way to the sunlit wall of windows and looked down at Diagon Alley. There was something about the play of light that had been nagging her the entire time she'd been cooing at Colin. He was the sweetest baby, but when the light was right not even his gleeful jibbering could keep her attention. Without looking up from the window, finger clicking off frames slowly, she finally said, "That was one of the first songs my da taught me to play. I haven't heard it in ages," glancing over her shoulder she smiled again, "Not half bad for a Quiddy Brute".

"Yeah?"

Kingside glanced up from the piano, drawn from his reverie. He recognized her, too, of course; they weren't the best of friends, but he found that he did not dislike any of his Gryffindor housemates. That would be why he was sorted into Godric's house, 'eh? Scooting the bench back a bit, he leaned forward onto his knees, watching her as he spoke;

"Nice piece, yeah. Me dad sent me off t'learn to play a bit when I was a boy, after me mudder passed. S'pose it was his way of keepin' me out of the house." A wry chuckle was proffered as the young athlete ran a finger along the well-loved piano keys before him. "Ah," he said with a coy grin, "you've made a fatal mistake, love; ye presume that my natural athleticism and statuesque physique make me incapable of other pursuits! Yes, you've discovered one of my many secret talents -- though I'll be th'first to admit that my fingers 'aven't been limbered up in years. Truth be told, I haven't touched a piano since I started me first term at Hogwarts."

Returning to the piano, he began to delicately coax out a rather haunting, yet just as lovely as the previous, piece.

"It all comes back to ye, though, tha's for sure."

"He had a fair bit of free time on his hands, even with producing other bands after Mandrake Siren took a break from touring. He was all about passing along the gift," she sounded vaguely amused as she turned back toward the window, brown eyes focused on the street below. That person and the man her father was currently being seemed very far removed from one another. There had been a time, not so very long ago even, that she might have told people her father was her best friend. It certainly seemed that he understood the way her brain worked better than most people. Her mother's death had shook something loose in all of them though and none of them were the people they had been... so now she filled her world up with people like Tilly, and Ollie, and Luc. If you couldn't count on your actual family a makeshift one would do nicely.

At the mention of his long since dead mother her face flickered a little, lips drawn together. Dead mothers were not something she yet felt comfortable talking about with people who might as well have been strangers. Well, John wasn't really a stranger but some people felt like strangers even when you'd known them a long time. It wasn't like with Luc where she could offhandedly remark about something her mother had said or done. While everyone was aware of Ramona's tragic death in the March 11th Werewolf attacks only those closest to Sophie felt the depth of the devastation. At the same time, while not being able to say anything she didn't want to fall into the trap that had made her so tired of people in the months since her mother's death. The looks of pity and not knowing what to say... it became infuriating to the point of being unbearable really.

So she opted to leave it as a passing comment, focusing instead on his semi-self important admiration. "Statuesque? Is that what we're calling it now? I wouldn't actually know, I've barely made it to half pint," even in her boots she was barely 5'4, without them she lied through her teeth and swore on Gordic's garters she was at least 5'2 (she was much closer to 5 even). Everything about her was tiny, except big brown eyes that seemed to smile even when she didn't. "It can't be much of a secret Johnnycake. I didn't even have to flutter my eyelashes to figure it out". Meandering back from the window she took a seat next to him on the fair sized bench and looked down at the keys, faint sort of smile on her lips, "I'm a sentimentalist at heart, I like thinking about all the stories the old notes could tell as much as playing itself. It's a lucky thing, remembering how to pull beauty from thin air".

She watched his fingers for a few moments before picking up her camera, and eyeing them through the lens, "Next you'll try telling me you don't like the Qudditch Boy image and all that it entails - especially the selection of groupies". The shutter sounded as a black and white frame captured the smooth movement of his hands. "Your forms not even that rusty, most people get sloppy the longer they don't play". It was, by in large, the best compliment she could give a person - though it might sound rather meaningless and arbitrary off the cuff.

Rather acutely acknowledging a slim flash of hurt at the mention of mothers passed, young Mr. Quidditch let the subject falter. Kingside chuckled, maintaining his keystrokes as his gaze wandered towards his new conversationalist and her camera. How quirky -- perhaps she had aspirations to work for a newspaper? That would be cute. Besides, her quaint figure would throw people off; nobody ever expects a woman of five feet to be mischievous.

He hrm'd, quietly -- given the proximity of the girl -- explaining the merits of recognizing a statuesque figure whilst not possessing one. With a playful grin, his fingers eased towards a halt, finishing off on a literal high note.

"Stories? If y'say so -- I jus' enjoy letting music take me back to simpler times." Or at least times when one was less painfully aware of the world around them. "No, nope. Can't say I don't fancy me image, or the ilk I associate with -- though the ladies bother me a bit more than ye might think. Mos' of the minxes that keep an eye on we athletes are vanity-stricken ditzes, aye? They don't make good for a relationship, trust me."

If anything, Kingside was well known for his non-jock persona; he kept some of the ruffians on the house team in line and did his best to pass off a pristine little image of Quidditch players. There had to be some nobility and chivalry in the house Quidditch team for Gryffindor, for Pete's sake.

"Thank you," he glowed warmly, obviously rather pleased with her comment. A winning, pearly-white flashin' smile was offered -- though, rather than its usual forced nature, primarily utilitarian, this smile was instinctual. Kingside took in many comments about his flying, his prowess as a Chaser, his leadership, and his marks mid-term. They had default to Old Hat status. It seemed he rarely receiving a compliment about his less brandished talents.

As of late it seemed that someone came attached at the hip to Sophie Flickwick, and that would be one Ollie Foley. Today was no exception. Sophie might have left the house with the intention to go help out at Reducto and leave Ollie some freedom to do her own thing, but after some time alone she opted to follow along. She had made a stop at home, had tea with her mum and got some fresh clothes before heading out to locate her friend. She did not want to go storming into Reducto right away, so she spent a short bit of time window shopping. It was also a good time to take note of her gangly appearance. Her hair was a messy mane of brown hair, but as usual she did not do much too it. It was often said that Ollie was the only one who could successfully look good while being a mess.

Finally loneliness, boredom, or a combination of the two made her head to Reducto. She had been there many times in the last year, after all what else was she supposed to do with her free time when not at Hogwarts. Ollie had a growing interest in music, thanks to the fact she spent so much of her free time in the shop. Sometimes she joked she should work here, but perhaps that would be something to consider post education. Of course her education was home schooling since last year, how she wished in September she could go back to Hogwarts. The time away from her friends proved to be harder than ever, and now that she was spending so much time with Sophie it would probably be even more painful. She was just trying to get in as much time with her best friend as possible, but that would also mean an even bigger empty feeling when Sophie went to school. If only there was a way to sway the thoughts of the administration.

Ollie had seen Sophie headed upstairs, but she did not immediately follow. She was distracted by new arrivals. She was flipping through the albums with a smile on her face, rather content to just do this for a few hours. Then she noticed a new release by the Howling Gang. "No way!" Ollie exclaimed in excitement. She picked it up and flipped it over to ensure that it was a new release. It was. "It is like a pot of gold at the end of rainbow." She exclaimed to nobody but herself.

Nope, she had to go talk to Sophie now.

"Going to find Sophie!" She exclaimed to Tilly, after all she was running out of sight with merchandise. She ran up the stairs holding the album in hand. "Rawr it's a Dance Party!" Ollie laughed to herself as she got to the top of the stairs. Ollie had not been expecting another person up there so she just went right on talking since she was looking at the album and not in front of her. "Soph! Howling Gang has a new album. It sounds fantastic. I am totally buying it we should totally listen to it tonight." Ollie finally looked up to find the location of her friend, only to find her and a second figure. Oh bloody heck what was his name? He was a Gryffindor, she knew that. Outside of Sophie and a few others the Gryffindors were just faces she knew and sometimes names she could place. Oh the life of a Hufflepuff, she did not pay much regard and not to mention that whole year away. He was definitely just a face she thought she knew, without a name. "Oh Helga! Sorry I interrupted." She tilted her head to the side to observe him playing the piano and furrowed her brow a little, why in the world was he up here?

Sophie was going to remark on how generalizations about the female population would not win him any legitimate fans when Ollie burst in. If it surprised her at all (which it didn't really) there was no indication of it on her face. The fact was she and Olivia spent most of their time together (save full moon times) since the night at Spellpunk. Soph liked having her around, it made the house less lonely and cooking more fun again. It was best on the nights when even more people just showed up on her door step. It made life feel normal, like maybe the whole world hadn't spun off its axis not so many months ago. Sophie needed normal, she needed constancy. Even when running off to have adventures (like getting an enchanted pair of heels from Deus and staying out all night for a concert) there were elements of familiarity.

"Don't be an idiot. There's nothing to interrupt. I'm sure John will make his confession of undying love for me later," she grinned at the wild haired girl before pushing herself off the bench and going to inspect the record she was holding. Sophie had known a new LP was in the works but had no idea they had released anything. The Howling Gang had been her first non-Mandrake Siren concert. She kind of adored them. Without looking up from the track listing she asked, "You remember Ollie, yeah? She was in Hufflepuff," she didn't know how anyone could forget Ollie. It was a huge... thing and you had to fall on one side of the issue or the other. It had sparked such a passionate outcry that Darcy had actually burned down the hospital wing - using dark magic no less. She was also, really, the reason SAWS had taken off.

It might have been easier to say you know,  the werewolf, but that wasn't how Sophie saw her. Ollie was much more than the curse that sent her life into upheaval once a month. She just hoped that John wasn't one of those people who got all weird around werewolves. There were lots of people who wouldn't understand how Sophie could have lost her mother the way she had and still be friends with someone considered so "dangerous"; but in some ways... Ollie was the biggest help she'd had in putting herself back together. Glancing at the other girl she couldn't suppress her gleeful grin as she bounced on the balls of her feet, "D'you think they'll be doing any shows? Gordic's Garters, I hope so! I haven't seen them live in ages. Wouldn't that be amazing? Wonder what Tilly knows, d'you tell her before you ran up to tell me," Soph's voice was a little teasing as she finally handed the album back.

Sophie was, obviously, unfazed by the spontaneous erupting of another young girl into the room; Kingside was a bit more surprised, glancing sharply away from Sophie. After a moment he settled down; ah, just a friend of hers. Oh, he knew who she was -- not that "the werewolf girl" was the first thing that jumped to his mind. No, primarily he remembered spotting her on several occasions at Hogwarts, and only after a moment did he realize -- well, y'know.

"Ah, right," he replied, to her undying love comment, "th'speech could use a bit of polishin' anyway, no doubt." Smiling warmly, John offered a hand to Olivia; "I'm sure I've seen ye, but I don't think we've ever been properly introduced. John Kingside. Pleasure!"

If the young man was at all bothered by her tendency to explode into a werewolf every now and then, he didn't show it. That's admirable, at least!