Post by lily luna potter on May 9, 2017 8:47:19 GMT -7
February 2024 - Gryffindor Common Room - grey xavier slater
Lily had noticed something rather interesting occurring lately. At first, she had played it off as a normal interaction between two people, but then it became more frequent, to the point where it was almost painfully obvious what was going on. Of course she had to know more, and so the last few weeks of January had been spent observing her targets. It was easy to do so since they were also in Gryffindor, and most of the time she could bound right over and get between them to see how she would affect their encounters. She liked to think she was quite a bit of a matchmaker from time to time, and when things needed to be done, she could easily force her hand into making it happen. This time was no different. With her preliminary research done, and her very, very, interesting targets unaware of what was going on, it was time to play all of her cards. February was here after all, and that was the month of love. It was the perfect set-up, even if they didn’t realize it yet, and she knew of numerous ways to get them into a situation where the inevitable would finally happen.
The trick was to plant the seed of the idea first, and to do that, she needed to wiggle her way into the middle of it once again. One target was easier than the other, mostly because she knew she had a way with words around him, and getting what she wanted with little to no opposition. He was also easier to find in the common room when everyone else had already gone to bed. Staking out the common room one night in early February, Lily finally found the perfect time to strike. The last student in the common room other than herself and Mr. Target had finally up and left. Adrian had clocked out hours ago, stating something about an exam they had the next day, but Lily had neither the time nor patience for that. More important forces were about to be at work in the Gryffindor common room, and they trumped anything that a silly little exam could do. It was love after all, and Lily was almost positive about that. She had seen mild obsession and devotees before this, but having her own taste of the real deal meant she knew it when she saw it, even if the parties involved didn’t.
Shimmying her way over to the big couch that sat in front of the fireplace, Lily hopped over the back of it and landed right next to her target: Grey. His lack of reaction was a tad annoying, which meant he either saw it coming or didn’t expect anything less from her. She was positive he’d point that out.
“Hey kid, what’s up?” she asked as she inched closer on the couch to him, trying to get an eye on whatever it was he was reading. It was way too late at night to be doing that. Obviously talking was more important. Or prying into his personal life. Either or.
“The sky,” Grey responded rather flatly, not taking his eyes from his book the entire time.
A snort escaped from Lily as she lightly punched him in the arm. “I expect nothing less from you! But really, what have you been up to lately?” She’d had only seen him in the common room late at night, and aside from that, occasionally in the Great Hall getting food. That silly little newspaper of his couldn’t be that important, could it? The rest of the time had to be spent with his new friend.
“How about new friends? Make any of those recently?” she added, not giving him a second to breathe from the first question.
“Something like that,” he said, flipping over to the next page in his book. “You’ve been pretty comfortable with Adrian. Took you long enough.”
She scrunched her face at him, sticking her tongue out in the process. Clearly he wasn’t taking this as seriously as she was. Lily got even closer, practically to the point of sitting on his lap, and leaned up so that she was eye-level and only inches away from his face. “My, my Grey. You aren’t jealous of me are you?” Lily taunted, giggling a little. “So innocent. I know something that you don’t,” she purred, sliding back down onto the couch, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. “Though I think you do, but haven’t realized it yet. If that makes sense.” That had some kind of effect, she noted, because he immediately closed his book and set it down. This was too fun!
“Do tell Lily,” he stated, looking her dead in the eyes. Quite the serious one, he was!
“Should I? That would ruin the fun…” she tapped her lips with her pointer finger a few times, before turning it into a grin. Another stern look from him only told her to carry on or drop it. “Fine Mr. Grumpy,” Lily huffed. “You and Cece. Obviously a match made in heaven. Whatcha gonna do about it? Huh?” No response on his end, other than a quizzical look. “Oh my god you really don’t know do you?” Lily raised her voice, moving to stand on the couch so that she could look down at Grey. “It’s so obvious! If you thought I was bad about Adrian, this is like, a million times worse!”
Grey started to laugh at her. She couldn’t tell if it was one of those ones that people did when they weren’t taking her seriously, or if he actually found all of this comical. She wasn’t going for style points here, just trying to help her buddy fall in love. Placing her hands on her hips seemed to give the effect that she was serious about this, and he needed to take it the same way.
“Grey,” she said in her best parent voice.
“Lily,” he responded in his own equally parent-like tone. Why was he so good at that?
“I know you like her, even if you don’t realize it.”
Lily stayed planted on the couch, looking down at him. He didn’t respond at all. Was that it? Had she won? He was always so darn quiet when he was thinking, that it was impossible to figure out what he’d say next. Usually it was something to joke around with her, but this time she was being serious about all of it. Maybe her own change in demeanor was what caused this.
“I’ll think about it,” he finally said, picking his book back up and returning to where he had left off.
She watched him for a few more seconds before hopping back over the couch. “Good luck kid,” she called out as she headed up the stairs to her dorm. Silly Grey. Sometimes he was so easy to read, and then he’d pull something like this. She’d keep watching though. The seed was planted, even if it was a little more forceful than she had initially hoped.
