Dock by the Lake

Ted stayed silent as he saw her wave back to the squid, smiling slightly he debating raising his own hand in greeting but didn't want to upset her or her seeming ease. It was nice to see her smile, not that he had known her for long enough to know if she did smile regularly or not but to him it seemed as though she didn't.

With Ted falling silent, Marlene finds it all too easy to forget he's there. Something about the way she moves suggests she's done this before as she places the butt of her cigarette between her lips and takes up her wand again. She conjures a gigantic ball -yellow, not shiny and red because then Inner!Molly would chase it and maybe drown Imeanwhat?- and floats it out above the squids tentacles, jiggling it invitingly up and down, waiting patiently for the squid to take the bait and begin the game.

Ted stayed quiet, watching her tempt the squid into a game. Obviously there was more than one side to her, any idiot could have told you that, but he was intrigued to see the seemingly stark difference between the two and how quickly she could switch back and forth.

Marlene smiles as one giant tentacle swipes into the air and bats the ball back towards her. "Depulso!" she cries, sending it soaring away from her on a bit of an angle so that the giant squid has to move to return the ball to her. It's like a giant game of tennis, but to Marlene it has a purpose beyond the fun she gets out of it; her spells become steadily more advanced and intricate, the ball is a moving target perfect for practicing her defensive moves. The cigarette dangles loosely from her lips, she forgets about it until a trail of ash drops and she hastily stubs it out on the dock to be vanished later.

Ted watched her playing with the squid for a while before deciding he had intruded enough and he slowly, very quietly, got up and walked to the land-end of the dock, turning around to look at her fo a moment before walking back up to the castle, pondering his newest acquaintance.

Marlene doesn't remember Ted was even there until he is gone. She's too focused on her game, and after a good long while she finally vanishes the ball, waves to the squid, and strolls back up the dock towards the castle for dinner. Her carefree expression falls away with each step so that by the time she's even reached land, the shutters are redrawn over her eyes and her jaw is set with its usual defiance.

Jesse walked down to the dock and sat down on the edge, smiling to himself about his new girlfriend because she actually makes him happy even when they're not in bed. He hasn't even had sex with her yet and he doesn't' even care! It's mind blowing.

Dee skipped down to the dock because that is her usual mode of transportation. She saw Jesse sitting on the edge of the dock and pondered for a moment, wondering if she should push him in the water or just scare him. She decided to go for the less violent of the two options, because knowing Jesse, he'd pull her in after him, and Dee didn't want to get her beautiful, er, hair or something, wet. So she walked up behind him and did that thing where you like push them, but you catch them at the last minute. You know what I mean?

Jesse let out a light squeak, that really didn't sound all that manly as he felt himself falling forward. His heart was still racing as the person pulled him back, and he quickly whipped his head around to see who had pushed him. "Dee," he grumbled, though his smile showed that he really wasn't' all that annoyed now that he knew who it was. "Very. Funny."

"Course it was," Dee said with a wide grin, plopping down on the dock next to Jesse, her legs criss cross apple sauce. "I'm hilarious, and you know it. Why else would you hang out with me? It can't be because I'm pretty and popular and I know people in the alcohol business."

Jesse laughed and leaned back on his hands. "Right. I can't imagine why anyone would want to hang out with a girl who's hilarious, popular, and pretty," he chuckled. "So, how've you been? Staying in trouble, I hope?"

"Si, senor," Dee replied with a nod. The accent is totally on the n, btdubs. "What would make you think otherwise? Just ask my Italian boyfriend. I hope that he knows by now that I am slightly, if not fully insane. Or he is in for one tough ride," she joked.

"Wait, your Italian what? Since when have you had a boyfriend?" he asked with a grin as he nudged her playfully in the arm with his elbow. "Details. Now. Or else I won't tell you how my date with Milli went."

"Since like, recently. Duh. But fine, if you really want details," Dee said, feigning annoyance. "We met in the common room, because he's in our house. And he's in my year too. And he made me spaghetti and we made out and stuff," she said vaguely, because I'm not entirely sure how it's going to end, I just know that they end up together and stuff. "Oh, and his name is Marco. And yep, that's it. Now tell me about Milli or I will... I'll eat your owl!"

Jesse gasped and brought a hand to his mouth in mock horror. "You wouldn't! Well, this Marco guy better know that if he hurts Dee Greengrass, that I will go after him like that," he said as he snapped his fingers. "But Italians are usually the way to go. They can cook, they have those cool accents, and I'm pretty sure they're as faithful as it gets," he said even though he really doesn't know what he's talking about. Jesse doesn't' know any Italians. "My date with Milli...was awful. Well, it was amazing at first. We went to the Three Broomsticks and then I took her up to the Shrieking Shack, and everything was fine until I tried showing off by saving her life. She...wasn't very amused by that, actually. But she couldn't resist my charms as I snuck into her common room with roses one night, so everything is perfect now, and I'm pretty sure I'm actually going to keep her around, unlike the other girls I've been with in the past because...Well, I've known her for weeks now and we still haven't shagged! Can you believe it!?"

Dee listened, doing all of the appropriate reactions at the appropriate times, such as gasping in shock and clapping when the happy when everything became perfect. "How'd you manage to sneak into her common room? You're quite the interesting bloke, St. James." She rolled her eyes. "Does everything have to come down to shagging with you? I suppose I'm glad that you haven't had any... relations with this girl. though. It means you're taking it slow. That's good."

"Through...the window," he said with a triumphant smirk. "I stole a broom from the team's storage closet and flew up to her window...and...then proceeded to crash through the window, shattering it into millions of little pieces, but that's beside the point," he said with a wave of his hand. "I suppose," he sighed. "Taking it slow is sort of nice. We do a lot of talking. That's...that's different."

"You're bloody weird, Jesse," Dee said, shaking her head with a small laugh. "I applaud your erm, creativity, I suppose. And recklessness." She stared at him blankly. "You do a lot of talking. Of course you do. You do know that's how most normal, healthy relationships work, yeah? If you want to be in a relationship, you have to talk to the person. You can't just shag them and say 'this is my girlfriend and all I know about her is that she likes the way it feels when I bone her senseless.' No, you get to know her favorite color and what she likes to do first. And knowing you, this is mostly completely new to you," Dee said with a smirk. "You're a horny bastard, you know that?"

"Wait, I have to know her favorite color? I don't know her favorite color! Shit, I'm an awful boyfriend. I'm going to have to figure out her favorite color, like...yesterday." He smirked over at Dee because, yes, he is a horny bastard. "Why yes, I do know that. It's one of my many wonderful qualities that make Jesse St. James the amazing person you see before you. You sure do know a lot about this relationship stuff. I feel so...uninformed! "

"Just because you don't know her favorite color doesn't make you an awful boyfriend. But I'd ask her, because honestly, knowing that will come in handy later when Christmas and her birthday roll around." Dee nodded seriously, because she is Dee, the Love Guru. Whatever. "You're so uniformed because you've been spending the last few years at Hogwarts under assorted girls' bedsheets. You don't exactly get information about relationships from that."

"Right. I'll have to get on that," he noted with a nod, thankful for having a BFF who was also a Love Guru. "No, I didn't get much relationship information from that, but I did get laid...a lot," he reminded her with a broad grin because sex is one of his favorite things. He loves it more than...more than chocolate and apple juice.

Dee facepalmed. "I am aware. I am most certainly aware of your shenanigans, bff," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's lucky that you didn't get any STD's. Your penis could have shriveled up and died, and you would have been so sad. And I'd have to listen to you cry," she teased. "And I don't want that."

"Me? STD's? Please, I would never be that careless. Besides, I have standards. I didn't sleep with just anyone," he said matter-of-factly. "Only the best of the best get to experience love making with Jesse St. James," he teased, laughing lightly. "But I do appreciate your efforts. The next time I need someone to cry with, I'll find you."

Dee gagged. "Okay, okay. We're done with that topic, thank you very much. If we go any further I'm going to get details, ugh." She made a disgusted face. "Oh, yay," she said, mock enthusiastically and patted her shoulder. "You can cry right here. Just bring a towel," she said, her eyes glittering threateningly. "I don't need my robes all wet and gross."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind. Can't be getting my BFF's robes all wet and full of my pathetic tears now, can we?" he chuckled as he brushed her shoulder off. "But luckily for your robes, I don't think I'll be crying on any shoulders anytime soon."