Smoking in the Boys Room

Jaina considered him for a moment. He could have made good with his pride and let her fly off but yet, he choose to swallow it. She wondered why. In her experience, boys weren't exactly lacking of pride. They would apologize sure, but after a few days or so. In any case, he gave her a new opportunity.

Jaina's frown disappeared in place of the smile she had on later - though it was a lot less playful and more genuine. "It's alright - I shouldn't be smoking anyway - big game pending you know. The Captain would kill me."

Then her eyes sparked once again. "Though, for your rudeness, I require the rest of your day."

Somehow Lysander very much doubted that whatever Jaina had in mind would be half as fun as their earlier encounter, but he found himself nodding in agreement anyway. He finally released his grip on the broom, looking a bit relieved in spite of himself; he hated them nearly as much as he hated the dark. Both things that he would never, ever admit.

"Yes, fine. Classes are over anyway -- what exactly did you have in mind, then?"

"Nothing too special," Jaina said practically laying on her broomstick again. "Just a trip to Muggle London."

He could refuse. In fact, it was pretty much a complicated endeavor that Jaina was confident that he would. However, she put up a single strand of hope that he wouldn't. Muggle London was lots of fun - besides it wasn't like they had school the next day.

Lysander stopped dead, stared at Jaina for a moment, and then threw back his head and laughed. The sound carried, magnified eerily throughout the stadium.

"Oh yes, of course! Let me just go get my thestral-drawn carriage and we'll be off! If we leave now, we can be back before dinner," he told her, rolling his eyes. "Be serious! I really am sorry, I shouldn't have sworn at you. Please, what can I do to make it up? I assume you probably don't want me anywhere near your homework but maybe I could...carry your books for you for a week? Or....help you sneak into Hogsmeade, or something?..." It never even entered his mind that she might actually be serious -- just another one of her little jokes, surely.

It was Jaina's turn to laugh at his proposal. "Carry my books?" The idea sounded as ridiculous to her as going to Muggle London must have seemed to him. Carrying someone's books meant the same thing in the Muggle World as it did in the Wizarding World. No, she couldn't let him do that - people would think he was her boyfriend.

"So I take it," she said straightening up slightly. "That you don't want to go?" She didn't bother to keep the disappointment in her voice.

"You know, if you don't like flying - there are other ways to get there." She added. "We just have to get into Hogsmeade, get into the Hogs Head, use the Floo Network to Diagon Ally and from there, take the exit from the Leaky Cauldron." It occurred to her that he may not have ever been to Muggle London. Some Purebloods just didn't bother. "It'll be fun I promise. And we'll be back before dinner - I just want your afternoon."

"You mean you're serious?" Lysander asked, looking incredulous. "I never said I didn't want to go -- I just hope you realise that there's no way that we could do that and not get caught. Fortunately for you, I don't care about getting into a bit of trouble. But on your own head be it!" he warned her, shrugging.

In truth, it was a completely mad idea, and he didn't want to go. Well, not while school was in session, anyway. Breaking rules was one things but Lysander knew how to toe the line. If they got caught, he would have to face a bad beating such as he hadn't endured for a few years now. When Jaina carefully brought up flying, however, she'd touched a sore spot. There was no way he could let on that what she'd said had hit home.

"Let's do it, then. We're wasting daylight."

"Oh don't worry about me. I'm collecting detentions you see. All you need to do is worry about your pretty little head." As she said so, she took advantage of the height she had over him and ruffled his blond hair - touching by extent, the activities of earlier today. She was practically grinning - now that she had his consent to go to Muggle London with her.

"Right, I need to return my broom - I'll see you in the third floor by the one-eyed witch statue in five minutes." She demanded slowly levatating. "And wear something a Muggle would." She added. She blew him a kiss, and with that she blasted of heading to the direction of the Castle.

A shiver went down Lysander's spine at Jaina's touch -- yes, he'd definitely go to Muggle London with her. If that didn't earn him another kiss, nothing would. Even if it was completely mad. He watched as she disappeared in the distance, quickly realising that there was no way he could go change his clothes and make it to the designated meeting spot in time.

Fortunately, magic could speed things along considerably, and so as he ran, he summoned a pair of jeans from his dormitory and hoped that it'd work. Not thirty seconds later, he caught then in mid-air, zooming towards him, and continued running to the third floor until he got to the one-eyed witch. Seeing no one about, he ducked behind a tapestry and switched his school uniform pants for the jeans and shoved them in his bag, which was getting rather full of clothing now.

He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off along with his tie, also shoving those in the bag before shrinking it all down again to a manageable size. Underneath his button-down, he wore a tight-fitting black t-shirt that he hoped wouldn't leave him freezing in London. The boots he was wearing with his uniform would have to do for now -- Lysander sat down, tying up the laces slowly as he waited for Jaina.

Jaina appeared a few minutes later without the broomstick and wearing her trusty black leather jacket. She hadn't actually gone and changed - no that would have taken more time and they were in a tight schedule. She just went up, dropped her broom, grabbed her purse and jacket, opting to transfigure her school clothes into something more Muggle oriented.

She grinned at the sight of him in Muggle clothing. "Very nice, Mr. Blake. 10 points to Slytherin." Yes, Muggle clothing fitted him well.

She opened the secret passage way to Hogsmeade. "So shall we?"

Lysander simply smirked at the compliment, watching in silence as Jaina revealed a secret passageway that he hadn't actually known about. Rather impressive, actually, but he kept the thought to himself.

"Lead the way," he told her, gesturing towards the darkened passage. He had no idea where exactly it led -- someplace in Hogsmeade, he assumed -- and the lack of light concerned him. It also concealed his discomfort, so Lysander supposed that was a plus, although he wouldn't have followed anyone but Jaina into the dark. There was no way he was going to admit such a weakness to her, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear it.

Somehow Jaina had managed to confront both of his biggest fears in just one afternoon -- flying, and the dark. It made Lysander wonder if she didn't know more about him than she'd let on. Perhaps she'd been watching him as closely as he'd been watching her....perhaps, but he doubted it. Simple bad luck, really.

He started slightly as the entrance sealed itself behind them, trapping them in the dark. The cramped space had the feeling of a tomb -- and the smell of one, as well. It was all Lysander could do to push down the panic he felt rising up in the pit of his stomach. Forcing his hands to stop shaking, he pulled his wand out of his pocket and lit the tip, alleviating some of the darkness. Something told him that this wouldn't be the last time that Lysander would willingly follow Jaina into the dark.