The Grand Staircase

Tracy is rather happy someone seems to believe her. "That's the odd thing." she pouts. "We just sat the flower pot over in the corner and all that was in it was dirt...but then ages later I looked at it and there was a pair of shoes in it! I mean, I suppose that could mean it was an even more magical plant, right? Yeah, I suppose so." She nods in agreement with herself.

Ah. Suddenly things made a lot more sense to Jesse. But he smiled anyway, and nodded his head as if understanding and agreeing with her. "Well, you're a very lucky girl. I believe you might have the only shoe plant in all existence."

Tracey's eyes lit up and she flailed happily. "Wow, I am lucky then, aren't I?" she giggled, twirling on the step she was currently standing on. "Maybe I could try and grow some more from that original so that other people could have shoe plants too! Would you like one? Maybe some dress shoes cause I doubt you'd want to replace these guys. They're comfy."

"They are comfy," he agreed, amusement heavy in his voice as he watched her spin around on the step. "And I would love a shoe plant. I'm sure you could make quite the profit off of those if you charged people for them. Think how much people would pay to have their very own shoe plant."

Lily is here, sitting on the top step and stretching her legs out in front of her. She's facing sideways so that her back is resting against the railing, and a book is propped open on her lap for her to idly flip through. She likes it here, there's something relaxing knowing the whole castle could theoretically just pass her by while she's lost in another world. Cue Ted.

Ted walked down and sat down one step below her, dropping his head back into her book, "Hey you. Wait... is it you Lily or is this still Gideon?" He wasn't sure but he figured seeing the shock in Gideon's face if it was him would be pretty priceless. Then again he would want his head out of the other boy's lap asap.

p.s. I'm actually going to do a little review so posts might be slowish

[Mkay love. Good luck. XD]

Lily blinks as a head drops into her lap. For half a second she contemplates informing Ted that yes, this is still Gideon, but she decides that would take too much effort today and she smiles. "What would you do if I said yes, Ted?" she wonders, running a hand affectionately through his hair in greeting.

Ted smirked at her, "I would jump up and away, but I was pretty sure it was you because I'm almost certain your boyfriend would never be caught dead sitting in a hallway reading. Let alone an advanced potions book." And now Lily you have gotten another voice in my head addicted to head-petting. Thanks.

Sorry. Lily likes to playing with hair, and Gideon flips out when she does it to him with her clothes on. You see her dilemma.
"He would if he was trying to impersonate me," she points out, eyes sparkling with amusement. "What's new, Teddy dear? Did you find Andromeda?" she asks, hand still comfortably in Ted's hair because if he can make her into a pillow, then she can pat his head.

Ted and Draco LOVE head-pettting. It's a little bad.
Ted laughed, "Actually he wouldn't be. He was failing miserably last time with a book on mushrooms that honestly I don't think even you would crack unless you desperately needed a reference. And I did find her, we had dinner. It's awful Lils, what that fucker did to her."

Lily smiles at the image, because even if it was a God-awful book that she would never touch, Gideon had tried and it means a lot to her. Her smile withers and dies quickly when Ted brings up Andromeda. "Oh," she says softly, her hand rubbing his head in a soothing way. "But he's not still... I mean, the worst of it is over now, right? She can start to move on?"

Ted nodded carefully, making sure not to dislodge her hand in his hair. "Hopefully she can, she's still shying away from people at the moment but I'd like to think she'll be better away from the school, though I don't think her family helps at all."

Lily frowns. "The way I hear it, while she's at school might actually be your best shot at getting through to her. Those homes are meant to be... Well, I don't even have a word for some of the things I've heard. At least you get to see her now, I suppose?" she sighs, not moving her hand and biting her lip in worry for her friend, and the girl he cares for by extension.

Ted pulled a face, "It's one giant mess really. I wish I could take her away and keep her in Puff or even Claw for a while. With people who care about her as more than just a bloodline or a broodmare. Anyway," he shook his head slightly and changed the topic, "when did you get back in your body?"

Lily's nose wrinkles at the thought of anyone being thought a broodmare. "It's a shame people can't have their House changed, she'd probably do well in somewhere like Ravenclaw," she agrees. "Oh, more than a week ago now, actually, and not a moment too soon. I'd have liked to hunt you down right away for a proper hug, but things got in the way and Gideon ended up taking me away for the weekend."

Ted smirked and stared up at her, "A weekend? Well did you two have fun? Actually don't answer that... I don't think I need to know." He pulled a face and laughed at her. "And I do want to meet him now he's back in his own body you know."

"Yeah, not that you need to know," Lily says with a little smirk. "It was an amazing weekend. His family has an apartment in London, and when I said I needed to get away he took me there. And it would be nice for you two to meet properly sometime, wouldn't it?" she agrees, because she'd very much like her best friend and her boyfriend to get along.

[PAUSED FOR TAM UNTIL SHE GETS TO ENGLAND.]

Ted nodded, "It would. And I'll have to introduce you to Andi at some point, maybe having some other friends might help her too." He relaxed back into her lap, peering up at her through one eye.

Lily hesitates. "Will she want to be friends with me?" She doesn't mean to be rude, but she can't forget that she's been burned by Slytherin friends before. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she hastily continues. "I mean, I'd love to meet her, and I want to be friends too, Merlin knows I don't have too many of those, but after Sev I just... worry," she finishes lamely, colour rising in her cheeks.

Ted gave her a sad smile and reached up to tug on the ends of her hair, "Hopefuly it will all work out, she's sweet and wildly smart, you would get on well with her and I think if you keep it academic at first then slowly bring it around to friendship it should all be fine. Just don't rush it, if you two butted heads I think the whole castle would run and hide."

Lily bats Ted's hand away from her hair, but she smiles because he's always been good at doing the simple things to keep her from dwelling and getting upset. "Well," she finally says, "At least the whole castle would be on its toes, just as it should be. I'll do my best, Ted," she promises, her hand dropping back to Ted's hair once more. "She sounds like a nice girl, it's not her fault she was born into that family."

*takes deep breath and huggles poor bb Reed*

Reed was having an awful day. It was just one of those days where everything seemed to be out against him. First, he had woken up late so he didn't have time to moisturize properly, and he hated starting his days in a rush like he had this morning. Then he forgot about his assignment for Charms and got in trouble with Flitwick, and Reed was just the type that did not get in trouble. To top it all off, his least favorite subject was today. He was usually a disaster in Potions, but today was worse than ever, along with the teasing from the Slytherins. He had read the instructions completely wrong and ended up producing a brown lumpy substance that smelled like burnt popcorn. And naturally his clumsiness kicked in and he spilled some onto his favorite Doc Martens, which were now ruined. Usually he didn't let the teasing bother him, but today it all hit him much harder than usual. He knew the only thing that would make him feel any better at all would be to see his amazing and wonderful boyfriend.
We'll just pretend that Kras is still in class right now, so Reed was making his way to the Great Hall to wait to have dinner with him. Reed was distracted with all the nasty things the other kids were saying, and with thoughts of just cuddling up with Kras that he hadn't been paying close attention to where he was going, which was a very dangerous thing for him. Without realizing it, he had reached the Grand Staircase. Before he had time to react, he felt himself flying forward without anything to catch himself on. It felt like slow motion to him. He saw the stairs coming closer to him, and held his arms out to brace for the impact. That's when he heard, rather then felt, the loud crunch indicating his wrist being broken. Then the pain shot through him before he could realize that he was still stumbling down the staircase. The last thing he remembered was the sound of something else making that same crunching sound, then a pain shooting up from his leg, then nothing at all. He passed out from the pain.

And since this is easier...

Dean was heading back to Gryffindor tower after his last class to drop his bag off before supper. He had reached the bottom of the staircase just as he saw a small boy approaching the top. Dean felt his stomach lurch as he saw the boy start to fall. He couldn't react fast enough to get his wand out of his bag to help the poor boy before he fell. He started sprinting up the stairs as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough. He clearly heard the sound of bones snapping, and he definitely heard it twice. He finally reached the boy and grabbed him around the middle to prevent him from falling any further. "Shit" he muttered under his breath when he saw the boy was no longer conscious. Dean quickly scooped up the boy, and hurried off to the hospital wing. Lucky for him, the boy was rather small, so he was able to carry him easily.