shivering gold

&&. featuring @crsydney

had daphne been the one to pick their primary destination, the young slytherin would have gone for madam puddifoot’s━ “really, sydney, the tea outways the disgustingly sweet couples snogging in every direction. although, i do agree with how tacky the majority feel the decor is, looking at all the hues of pinks and frills for too long gives me a migraine-”. thinking back to their original conversation, maybe daphne was glad she let the other girl take reigns for the day.

though crowded, honeydukes never really disappointed, especially when the sugared butterfly wings were stocked up ( she’d never tell you they were her favorite, but she made it more than obvious in how she’d buy multiple tins when possible without shame during each visit ). she can feel a faint grin spreading on her lips at the thought of them, walking side by side with her ravenclaw companion. the trek from the castle to town wasn’t very long, especially with the weather warming more with each passing day, the air enjoyable.

and sydney, first and foremost, loved people.

so it makes sense that she’s hardly visiting alone, sometimes arm in arm with her fellow ravenclaws or sometimes with gryffindors and hufflepuffs. slytherins, of course, don’t escape the gravitational pull of the girl’s otherwise happy deposition.

present company include—slytherin’s pretty daphne—falls directly under that list.

“what do you mean?” her tone is whiny, eyes flicking over the delicate features as a small pout forms. “what fun is honeydukes if you don’t stay for that warm chocolate aroma that floods the store? i mean—tomes and scrolls will still be here when we’re done!” sydney nods, bumping her hip against the girl’s playfully.

The windows in Hogwarts’ grand library are splattered with half-dried raindrops. Speckled with pale petals from nearby blooming trees; cherry or apple judging from the size and color. White polka dots suspended on glass, their backdrop steel-gray sky. There’s no shortage of rainy days around this time of year and no shortage of students studying diligently as his sharp eyes scan their faces and figures. There’s no bag on his shoulder, no books in his arms. He’s not there in pursuit of knowledge although he is there in pursuit of something…or someone, rather.

He can’t help but smile when his eyes land on her. Concentration level nine thousand it seemed, her eyes glued to the pages of whatever she’s reading be it for necessity or pleasure. Dashiell strides forward on long legs, confident but not cocky. The sun peeks from behind its cloudy curtain as he closes the distance between them, casting petal shaped shadows over the Ravenclaw; as if she wasn’t cute enough already.

He expects her to look up; to notice him for one reason or another but she doesn’t and the chair across from her is already pulled out from whoever had previously used it. So it’s silently that he approaches her and slides into that chair. Silently that he leans onto the table, stretching one arm out as a makeshift pillow to rest his head on as he lowers himself closer to her field of vision until he’s entered it. Dashiell greets her with a quirk of his eyebrows and a flash of a smile.

“Hey, Syd…do you have any plans Saturday night?”

not necessarily a school approved text-book—nor was it a ravenclaw approved book—given the last time she tried brewing one of the rarer potions in the book ended in catastrophe and a burn on the common room ceiling they have yet to remove—but it was a interest and a wonder regardless.

history of magic reading, our local rabbit-hearted fool’s actual homework, she can do at a later hour. 

right here, right now, her priority lies in perfecting the brewing method of felix felicis.

of course, even such an intense concentration is one easily deterred, especially by the appearance of another (one that she wholly hadn’t noticed till he entered her peripheral)—successfully pulling the girl out of her ‘zone’ with a small jump. 

“o-oh!” sydney chirps in surprise, doe eyes widening just a fraction at the proximity of it all. it takes about five seconds for her to fully register what the taller boy was asking, cheeks dusted a pretty pink hue out of sheer embarrassment and shock of being caught off guard.

still, teeth sunk into the soft of her tongue and chest swelling with a need to be pretty presentable, sydney shifts a bit in her seat to face the gryffindor, fingers running through her hair absently before cupping her cheeks, bright eyes fixated on the handsome boy that so selfishly withheld all her attention.

“saturday? no, what’s on saturday? is there a game? honeydukes has a free-tasting session?”

it’s a place he hasn’t gone to in a while. orion wondered if he’d missed it. it’s one of the places he used to frequent from years ago. much less, as of the late.

the hours of late eve were drawing nigh and the hufflepuff barges in indiscreetly, and halted upon seeing that it was already occupied. thankfully, a familiar face and not a prefect on his back, orion calmed and didn’t ask for permission before moving beside sydney. 

        “fancy my company?” he questioned as if he gave her an option prior to sitting next to the girl. even if she said no, orion would likely pester her into saying yes. 

he hadn’t seen the ravenclaw in quite some time, more often than not only in passing and it made him wonder, do the girls in blue not hang out together? as if he would know what a girl’s behavioural pattern was - it’s already been determined since many years prior - he had no idea what went on in there.

but he’s tired, and there’s not much to say. his back melts into the coldness of the wall, and he turned to look at the girl before facing out at the moon.

there’s a serenity about it.

a peace that he hadn’t felt in a long while. 

and there he goes again, wordlessly plucking a cherry from the jar despite no permission, sheepishly pulling back after he popped one into his mouth, the sweetness having brought a pursing of his lips.

                                               “what brings you up here, syd?”

                                                                    * ☆ * 

      she hadn’t expect company in the slightest. therefore the sudden appearance of the boy has the space case ravenclaw jerking back into reality. syrup sloshing in the mildly sized container with the way her body jolts, eyes wide as she regards the male beside her.

     “wh—” when did he get here? “uh—” oh. he’s already sat down. not that sydney would have denied his request regardlessly—the tower wasn’t hers to ban people from. “y-yeah, sure, orion.” the ravenclaw wills her rabbit heart to settle, exhaling through her teeth as she reaches for another cherry.

     it isn’t as if his presence made her nervous. though the two have barely spoken throughout the expanse of the semester, there was only a small handful of people in the castle that sydney felt uncomfortable about. orion koh and his kind eyes? anything but. 

     even so, it took a couple of seconds to regain full composure, the hufflepuff’s words nearly slipping in one ear and out the other before her conscience snaps around the datives, tugging back broken pieces to piece together what his question would’ve been. 

     or, at least, by now she knows how to guess.

    “oh—huh? i’m... uh—not cold. i have a blanket!” she tugs the fleece up to eye level, wiggling it to prove her point. yeah, so much for guessing. “oh, but?” the ravenclaw tilts toward the other slightly, “why are you here?”

     her semi-question expression tightens for a second, releasing just as quick to form a wide, toothy grin, eyes crinkling into crescents. “here to find your belt?”

     her elbow finds his ribs, prodding lightly.

    “get it? your belt.... cause—you know...orion’s....”

     a few more nudges for good measure. eyes outshining the stars out of sheer eagerness to land her joke like a fool.