touch of life

The base instincts that Alice had been operating on protested against the separation as Oliver pulled away fractionally. She wanted to pull him back, press her lips against his again, and reenter the in-between place they’d inhabited in the kiss. But in the space of a much needed breath some of her finer mental capacities began to return, displacing the fuzzy euphoria that had flooded her brain. She realized that he must have had a reason for breaking the kiss and, to her embarrassment, she had been coming on a little strong. 

Oliver swallowed, taking a second to find his voice through the way his vision seemed to swim in the haze of the moment, among the other senses that had been impaired by such actions. A deep breath later and his eyes managed to refocus themselves, to gaze at Alice in front of him who was now rather nicely pink faced and Oliver could only assume he looked the same. Or, at least as similar as his complexion would allow. 

"Are these good? I’ve never tried them." 

"Yeah, they are." Olivia gave him a shy smile as he asked, reaching into the bag slung across her chest for money to pay for the sweets before Alec plucked them from her hands, setting them on the counter next to the sweets that he had planned on buying. "I've...I've noticed that they all taste kind of different....the really dark ones are the sweetest. And I don't care much for the vibrantly red ones. They taste more like pennies than candy."

Alec pulled Olivia up the steps into the cellar of Honeyduke’s, and then into the store proper. Honeyduke’s was at its best when not crowede with students, in Alec’s opinion. When it was nearly empty, as it was now, you could better see the carefully arranged displays and meticulously planned color schemes. It was bright and warm without being stuffy from too many people. They passed by the front counter, and Alec waved at the owner standing behind it.

With a small nod and a shy wave of her hand at the aging owner by the register, Olivia followed Alec from around the counter from where the trap door led out, clutching on to the back of his shirt as if in fear she would lose him in the small store. This wouldn't have been her first time at Honeydukes; she actually made a point of going at the end of every year, buying as many sweets as she had saved up for in order to bring home with her to last the summer and share with her mother. 

"I learned a fair number of them myself, thank you very much."

Olivia leaned in closer to Alec when he squeezed her hand as they walked, comfortable in the short silence that fell between them before they arrived at a trapdoor, the light from the room it led into bleeding into the dark passage around them. She let go of Alec as he went first, watching as he climbed the steps and shouldered the trap door open.

Heaving a put out sigh, Scarlet went along with Olivia’s pushing, sitting down right next to her. How are you going to do this??

The Muggle way first. [Her fingers danced across her best friend's back, poking and prodding until she found places of tightness before focusing on them.]

"Well, I knew they were there coming into the castle, it was just a matter of finding them. I snuck out after dark a lot, just exploring the castle, looking for secret passages and empty rooms. Freddie showed me this passage, the ones with passwords are a little tricky. I think her dad told her about it." 

"Leave it to the Potters and the Weasleys to show you all the tips and tricks of how to sneak out at night."

Scarlet promptly turned around, and pointed to her back over her shoulder. Right there.

Well then turn around, won't you? [She drags her friend over to a nearby couch, sitting down and pulling her to sit as well.]

Of course I’m going to help you. Was it ever even a question?

N-no I guess it wasn't.

Alec could see Olivia well enough, back lit by the light from the corridor as she was, and when she jumped he caught her with ease, gently setting her down. Alec lit the tip of his wand with a hastily mutter lumos, pushing back the darkness of the passage and the statue slid back over the opening above them. Screwing up his courage, Alec reached out and took Olivia’s hand, making sure to hold it gently enough that she could pull away if she wanted to. 

All of the breath left Olivia's lungs as she landed in Alec's arms, a mess of her own fabric and hair as everything seemed to swirl out of place in the split seconds that she had been falling. She reluctantly let go as he put her down, settling to take his hand instead, lacing their fingers together to hold it tighter. 

"No, I was planning on letting you fall and twist your ankle." Alec grinned. "That was a joke, just for the record."

She watched as Alec threw himself into the hole, disappearing into the darkness with an audible thud at the very end where he most likely had landed on the ground. It wasn't a loud noise, so she could only assume that he landed safely, though she could not see him. Quietly, she got on her knees, leaning over the edge as she strained her eyes to see him.

Alec’s insides warmed notably when Olivia wrapped her arms around his. He liked the way she clung to his arm and looked up at him, slightly worried, it made him feel, for lack of a better word, manly. A small part of him knew it was probably ridiculous, but he didn’t much care. Unfortunately, she’d grabbed his wand arm, and he needed it to open the passage. 

Olivia watched in awe as the statue started to move with Alec's soft muttering, an incantation she had never heard before. She had half a mind to close her mouth before he noticed, not wanting to make herself seem more unattractive than she already was. Moving over to where he pointed, Olivia couldn't tell how far down it was through the darkness even though Alec seemed to know, most likely because he had done it before. She nodded shyly, nudging him ahead of her gently.

"Okay, your wish is my command." 

She followed closely behind Alec as they made their way through the portrait hold and out and away from the common room, closer and closer to their destination of Hogsmeade. Olivia had no idea how he planned on accomplishing this as they got to the familiar status of the one eyed witch in the corridor. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm, wrapping both of hers tightly around his to hold him close.

Alec paused, about to push open the portrait hole, and looked back at Olivia. He could tell she’d been joking, but there had also been an underlying note of distress. With her arms wrapped around herself and her lips slightly pursed, she didn’t look quite as happy as he’d always pictured when he imagined their first date. 

"No. I want to go."

Six minutes after they’d gone to their separate dorms, Alec was beginning to work up a nervous sweat. He was about to come up with a plausible reason to send one of the second year girls up to look for Olivia when he saw her emerge from the staircase. He broke out into a grin and waved, even though it was unnecessary and he was exactly where he’d told her he would be. 

"As ready as I'll ever be to risk detention and my perfectly clean record because of a boy that I just can't seem to say no to."

Alec shifted from foot to foot beside the portrait hole, he’d only taken three minutes in his dorm, and he’d told Olivia five, but that did nothing to calm his nerves. He worried a hole in the sleeve of his jumper with his fingers as he ran through worst case scenarios in his mind. Maybe Scarlet was in their room and she’d gotten distracted. Maybe she was hexed on her way up the stairs. Maybe she was hiding in her room because she knew that was one place in the whole castle that he couldn’t go. He checked his watch again, just a few seconds since the last time, and tried to remember to breath. 

Olivia had made sure to take exactly one minute longer than Alec's planned five minute allocation in order to assure his appearance, but at the back of her mind, she knew that it was really because she was nervous. The momentary flare of passions towards getting in trouble had been just that, momentary, and it had faded just as quickly as it arrived when Olivia had gotten to her sleeping quarters. Unable to find the sweater she had gone up to the room for, she exchanged her school shirt for one with longer sleeves that could provide her with more warmth, even though the shivers as she walked to meet Alec at the portrait hole were those of nerves rather than of excitement.

he blinks puzzled and a little worried at the look on her face

Five minutes.