The first bit of the Prefects meeting passed without incident. No one had had any issues on their patrols yet, and only a few house points had been taken, as well as only a handful of detentions being doled out overall. Finally, it was almost time for Ray to present his idea. He was clearly nervous, bouncing his left leg erratically. About five minutes before he was due to present, he felt a hand on his knee. He stared at the hand for a minute, before gazing into the eyes of its owner to find Nora there, an encouraging smile and earnest eyes offering support. Ray gave a grateful smile back, and he stopped bouncing his leg, instead nervously taking Nora's hand in his. When she didn't remove her hand from his grasp for a bit, he relaxed somewhat, letting out a shaky breath as Nora drew comforting circles on the back of his hand with her thumb, and listened (although not necessarily processing) to what Ava was saying.
Sara took over from Ava a few minutes later. "Last order of business for the meeting: Ray Palmer had an idea about the Hogsmeade trips. Both Ava and I have approved his idea, and we consulted Headmistress McGonagall, and she gave her consent. So, Ray is going to present his idea, and if everyone agrees that it's a good one, we'll implement it. So, without further ado, Ray Palmer!"
Ray stood, reluctantly releasing Nora's hand, blushing due to his sweaty palms, which he subtly wiped off on his trousers. He maneuvered around the chairs before him and made his way to the front of the classroom they were using for the meeting. Upon arriving in the front, Sara gave him a fist bump and a thumbs up, as well as a whispered "You've got this." Ava also gave him an encouraging nod; they weren't friends, per se, but they'd been in the same House for years and harbored no ill will towards the other. He nodded back to them both and gave them a shy smile as they took their seats and Ray turned to face his audience.
"Hi! So, uh, there has been a decline in past years of student participation in school-sponsored events. Hogsmeade has been the only exception to that rule; even Quidditch really only draws diehard fans and friends of the players. Most of the teams don't even show up to matches that they aren't a part of, except for a few captains scoping out competition. And this year, we have the Yule Ball right before the winter holidays, and McGonagall wants student participation to be higher. So, I thought, since Hogsmeade trips are the only school events that everyone consistently participates in, that we could start encouraging more participation in the Hogsmeade trips."
"My idea was to do themes; in Muggle schools, they have these things called "spirit week" where every day of the week has a specific theme, like one day everyone wears school colors, and the next everyone wears pajamas to class. I thought we could apply that with Hogsmeade visits; give each one a theme. We could even make themes open to the student body to get input. I thought for the first one, we could do Camelot, like from King Arthur? Muggles have these things called "Renaissance faires" where they do a week where they set up stalls with potions and trinkets, and they do jousts and stuff, with really great costumes, and it's really cool. I thought we could do that for the first October Hogsmeade visit, and then do a Halloween theme for the other October visit."
Ray paused as everyone took in his suggestion. "So… what does everyone think?"
Gideon, Nora, Lily, and Mona all had excited smiles on their faces. Amaya and Nate, having already known about Rays idea, gave thumbs up, indicating to the other Prefects that they liked the idea. Zari shrugged, and nudged Wally and Jax on either side of her, and they seemed to agree that it was a good idea. Gary, who sat with Dez (John's boyfriend, if Ray remembered correctly) and Konane (Mona's boyfriend, who was giving him a pleading look to agree), nudged his two friends, and they all nodded in agreement. Only Damien Darhk, Eobard Thawne, and Cassandra Savage looked displeased with the idea, but they didn't seem to hate it, just moderate dislike.
Ava called for a vote, and all hands were raised in favor except for Damien, Eobard, and Cassandra. Ray let out a sigh of relief, and remained at the front of the room as Sara and Ava dismissed the rest of the group, waiting for Nora. Nora hung back until everyone else left, including Sara and Ava.
"Ray, I think this is an awesome idea! I've always loved the stories about Camelot; I think they're so interesting. Plus, it's the origin story of Merlin, who was like the founder of modern magic as we know it today! This is so cool!"
Ray blushed and gave Nora a bashful smile. "I'm really glad you like it! I was, uh, wondering, er, if you'd maybe want to go to the Camelot trip with me?"
Nora was surprised for a moment, and Ray started desperately backtracking. "I mean, you totally don't have to if you don't want to, I get it, I really do. I'm sorry if I made things weird or awkwa-"
Nora rolled her eyes and cut him off with a shove to his chest. "Yes, I would like that. What should I dress up as though? I don't really know much about the clothing styles or whatever; I prefer to read about the magic of Camelot." And the love story, but Ray doesn't need to know that I'm a total sap.
"Oh, uh, I have an old picture book in my dormitory, from when I was a kid. I can show you the basics and everything, if you like?"
"Lead the way."
Ray grinned and bowed, before offering his arm to her. "Lady Nora," he addressed her.
"Sir Raymond," She responded with a hearty laugh and a smirk as she took his arm, and together, they made their way back to Ravenclaw tower, chatting and joking and laughing.
They came to the Eagle knocker at the door. It creaked to life, before providing the riddle.
Tear off one and scratch its head; what was red now black instead. What is it?
Ray was clearly puzzled, his brow furrowed (quite adorably, in Nora's opinion). "Maybe it's a flower? Is there a flower that has red petals and a black center?" Ray pulled out his phone and typed a few words. "An Anemone St Brigid the Governor?"
The knocker didn't move at all. "Damn. Don't worry, I'll get it soon, just give me a moment to think."
"Ray, you're taking it too literally," Nora chided gently. "It's a match."
The door swung open, as did Ray's mouth as his jaw fell. He knew Nora was bright, but he'd never been stumped by the door before. It made him admire her even more, if that was possible.
"Well don't look so surprised, I am in Ravenclaw, too, after all." Nora's tone was annoyed. She hadn't anticipated Ray being threatened by her wit, but most guys at Hogwarts were. She was disappointed; she'd thought Ray was different. She made to storm past him into the common room, but he stopped her by taking her hand and spinning her to face him.
"Whoa, slow down there. I wasn't surprised, I was awestruck. I think you're amazing, and I was just floored by getting to see you in action." Ray's cheeks heated up, and as his words sunk in, Nora's did, too.
"Oh. Sorry, I shouldn't've assumed." Nora sighed. "It's just that every guy I know, except Gary, of course, has been intimidated whenever I do something better than them. It's not just Damien that prevents me from getting a date; I scare guys off." Nora studied her shoes.
Ray chuckled slightly, a deep rumbling sound that seemed to reverberate through Nora. He took her chin in his free hand and angled her face towards his, staring deeply into her gorgeous emerald eyes. "You clearly have been talking to the wrong guys, because you are beyond amazing and anyone should be happy to be within a kilometer radius of you." His eyes shone with admiration, before he looked away as his blush deepened, and he held the door open for Nora as she stepped in, his hand lightly touching her lower back as she passed him, ever the gentleman.
Once inside the empty common room, Ray took Nora's hand again and pulled her towards the stairs, leading her up to his dorm to get the book they had planned to look at.
Once there, Ray gestured to his bunk. "Home, sweet home," he commented cheerfully.
Ray's bed was tucked into an arched alcove in the wall, just like the rest of the beds in the cylindrical tower. The curtains, which could be pulled around the alcove to obscure the alcove from the rest of the room, were left open, and tied to hooks in the wall on either side of the arch.
On the left side of the alcove, perpendicular to the wall, was a dresser/wardrobe combination, and on the right side, facing the dresser, was a bookshelf, with a desk facing away from the wardrobe up against that, as well as a desk chair. Tucked into the alcove was Ray's bed, parallel to and against the window, the blue and bronze wide striped curtains around which were pulled to the side, allowing for the low evening sun to illuminate the space. On the other side of the bed than the window sat a nightstand with a reading lamp. At the foot of the bed was a chest, with a few extra blankets on top, with a navy bean-bag chair tucked between the chest and the wall of the alcove. Ray's comforter was Ravenclaw blue, and his sheets were narrowly striped with Ravenclaw blue and bronze, with a matching blue pillowcase and a navy blue pillow-seat. Personalization of the space came in the form of small glow-in-the-dark stars dotting the ceiling of the alcove, arranged in little constellations, as well as a poster for the American space program NASA on the wall opposite from the headboard of the bed, and a few posters of several superheroes (Wonder Woman, Superman, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Batman) on the wall above his headboard. Sitting on top of the pillow was a stuffed eagle plushie, which Nora picked up before turning to face Ray, who was perusing the bookshelf for the book (and shooting glances at Nora as she studied his space). She cocked an eyebrow at him, before shaking the plush eagle questioningly.
Ray blushed once more. "That's, uh, Arnie. My mom got him for me first year. I wrote home and explained the sorting, and how it was my mascot. She got a snake for Sydney, too."
"Arnie? Interesting name. How'd you decide?"
"Arnie is short for Arnold, which means 'power of an eagle', so it just kinda fit. My dad's middle name was Arnold, and he'd bragged about how his name was powerful, considering his middle name, and because his first name was David, like the David and Goliath story." Nora gave him a puzzled look. "Oh, sorry. There's a muggle story about this massive guy named Goliath, and he keeps challenging this village to send out their strongest warrior to fight him, and they keep losing. This guy David isn't very strong, but soon he's the strongest one left, as the others were defeated by Goliath. So David fights him and takes him down with like a slingshot or something, I think? Anyway, it's used as a metaphor for overcoming big struggles in one's life. I like the name Arnie for him, and it became even more fitting after my dad died." Ray's face turned solemn for a moment, before turning back to the bookshelf to resume his search for the Camelot book.
Nora nodded, clearly still confused, but somewhat less so, and not wanting to poke into Ray's personal past with his father; after losing her own mother, Nora understood just wanting to move on from it all.. She set Arnie back down on Ray's pillow, gently, giving him a pat on the head and smoothing his wings for good measure.
Ray found the book, and shook it in triumph after pulling it off the shelf. He turned back to Nora with a grin, the previous conversation far from his mind, replaced instead with the excitement of sharing his passion with Nora. Ray loved the stories of Camelot and King Arthur. His mother read those stories to him every night when he was young, and he had watched the Merlin BBC show and had adored it.
Ray gestured for Nora to take a seat on the bed, and he plopped himself down next to her as he opened the book to an illustration of a marketplace, with people milling about to and fro, for Nora to see. Nora ran her fingers over the page as she squinted somewhat at it, unable to completely make out the details of their outfits. Ray, who was watching Nora intently, noticed this.
"Maybe this wasn't the best way to show you Camelot fashion. I have another idea, though, if you're willing?"
Nora looked back at him, into his eyes, shining with excitement and anticipation, and nodded her consent. Ray jumped up from the bed, startling Nora somewhat, and closed the book with a snap. He replaced the book back onto the shelf, before turning back to Nora and stretching out a hand, which she took, and he pulled her up from the bed. He underestimated his strength, fueled by his excitement, and he pulled Nora up with a little too much force a little too quickly. She landed against his hard chest with an "oof", and his hands went to her hips and hers to his chest to steady her. Both shocked, they didn't move away for several moments too long. Nora's breathing quickened, and Ray's slowed as he inhaled the scent of Nora's berry shampoo, his hands tightening slightly on her hips. Her hands, slowly and almost unconsciously, made their way from his pecs to his shoulders and around the back of his neck, playing slightly with the hair at the nape there. Nora took her eyes off of his chest and directed them up to his eyes, the chocolate color of them giving her a sense of home as he gazed back into the sea of emotions behind her own eyes. Ray began to lean his face closer, frustratingly slowly. Once he got close, he closed his eyes, and Nora's fluttered closed as well.
BANG!
The door to the dormitory shot open as Cisco Ramon and Barry Allen walked in, debating the merits of superpowers ("Dude, superspeed is totally the way to go." "No way. I'd much prefer to get visions of the future, the past, and be able to access alternate realities. How fucking cool would that be?"). Ray and Nora jumped apart. Ray's hand shot up to the back of his neck, feeling where Nora's fingers had been playing with the hairs there, but playing it off as a nervous gesture. Barry and Cisco didn't seem to notice the exchange, too caught up in their argument ("You know what, we should ask Caitlyn; I'm sure she'd agree with me." "Nah, she'll just say something about ice powers, and you know Ronnie won't be any help.") to even acknowledge Ray and Nora's presence.
Ray willed his blush to leave his cheeks as he extended his hand to Nora again, and he led her from the dorm and out of Ravenclaw tower.
"Ray, where are we going?"
"It's a secret," he replied with a mischievous grin. "But it'll have everything we could possibly require."
