It's a Fine Line
CHAPTER V:
Written by*: Laura and Utopia
Liam was surprised when Maria mentioned and apologized for his very recent encounter with her brother and shrugged it off, feeling a profound embarrassment again, angry at himself over the fact that he did not stand up to the slimy arse. The Ravenclaw boy was a moderate height, his dark ash brown hair draping to his low, feverish cheeks and even past them, falling in brunette waves that were far too short for a girl's hair cut and a tiny bit too long for a boy's hair cut. It was a style somewhere in the middle, as if the hair a top his head had just as much of a mediocratic root as Liam had willpower in his heart.
As the Ravenclaw picked her things up, he thought Maria had begun to protest for a moment, but was vastly relieved to realize that the appealing girl was simply being pleasingly polite; she was not insisting that he unhand her belongings at once, and never talk to her again. The eagle gave her a tentative grin that quickly quivered, then faded away, though his gemstone green eyes were still smiling with happiness.
"It's fine, I don't mind—the least I can do after pinning you down like that. Going up, are you? I'll walk you, sure." His accented voice had dropped the irritating stammer and instead seemed to have added to itself an exciting accelerando.
Maria seemed absolutely incredulous that Liam had suggested she be a Slytherin, expressing clear contempt for her identical sibling, which really made the ever-questioning Ravenclaw wonder; Why on earth was Thomas as rude and crass as he was? Even his sister thought he behaved like a fool. Could the tough Slytherin be intimidated by Liam and Maria intellectually? When might this have happened? Liam shook his thoughts away, not willing to bog his mood down any further with thoughts of his annoying nemesis.
The raven-haired beauty happened to catch his eye just as he was admiring her curls, and he blushed and looked away with a pout, positively ashamed to have been caught. The eagless requested that he stop staring, and he felt even more discomfited. What did she expect, looking as beautiful as that? He had only just been observing her features, not drooling over her body and having delitefully dirty thoughts…
In the end, Liam cleared his throat, not answering her remark, and turned in the hallway toward the upward-spiraling stair case on top of which was perched the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories. Liam began to count the torches on the wall in the silence, trying to think up something to say. All had been awkward silence the entire time, until they reached the first step of the spiral staircase, and began up it together.
Liam quite enjoyed himself on his frequent trips up the stairs, counting 83 steps from the third floor landing to the entrance into the penthouse every single time. He found that it was only when he was upset or distracted that he happened to miscount, which had served as a good indicator to him for when he needed to get alone by himself to think through his emotions or problem. More than once he had trotted up the steps, counting as he went, and came up with the wrong number. One time it had been when he saw his dad at Diagon Alley and his father hadn't so much as glanced at him, leaving him to begin his second year at Hogwarts with out hope that his father would ever care about him again. He had needed to sit on the thought a while before he could accept facts for facts…
"So… uh, this book, here…" He gestured to the red book with the golden markings, "The Farmer and the Nymph, right? Is it a favorite of yours?" He knew he had seen her with the book several times before that day, sitting in corners, drifting lazily through the courtyard on her broom, eating breakfast, going through day after day after day with her nose in it. The fact that he had remembered her enjoying the volume so much was part of what had caused Liam to choose it from the shelf in the first place, come to think of it. Liam had a few favorite books himself, preferring adventurous reads, of course, especially Muggle science fiction novels. Mechanics simply intrigued the wizard—he had a serious curiousity as to what exactly this witch was into, for whatever reason.
*Disclaim: Hogwarts and canon characters are owned by J.K. Rowling.
A/N: word count is 751.