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Who: Chase Trimble and Cornelia Stalk
What: Their Birthday Visit
When: After the party ends but before bed time
Where: Hufflepuff Sixth Year Boy’s Dorms
Status: Incomplete.
Rating: n/a

Comments

[cornstalks]

Was it bad to be slightly pleased with knowing that everyone else was gone from the Hufflepuff commons? It wasn't as though she'd hated every moment that there was a party taking place, of course, but getting to sit there with Chase and look at him, at a closer level than from just across the room, was making a happy warmth rush through her body. But it also meant that she was going to have to focus on what was going on, and that she had run out of time to herself to analyze what she even wanted to go on, even if it didn't make sense. It was, however, a risk worth falling into.

At the sound of his voice, Cornelia smiled a bit more as she listened to his words and put the pieces together in her head, slowly but surely, and focused on what he was saying. His words confirmed what she had figured out on her own almost from the exact moment he wandered into the commons and saw what was going on. Perhaps she was good at reading people's expressions, or maybe she was just good at reading Chase's expressions, but there had been that sneaking suspicion inside that it was all a bit too much. "I almost spilled the beans to you a few times, really," she responded casually, wanting to scoot closer to him on the couch. "Andrew came up with the idea. Seemed like a good idea, of course, if only so we could all express our adoration of you. I don't like birthdays, either, but I like yours. More than my own, at least," she continued, shrugging and shaking a piece of hair from her face.

Cornelia's eyes had wandered over to a spot beyond Chase's head as she started to think about ways to approach giving him his gifts, but then they shot back over to him when he asked if she was tired. The question made her chuckle softly and she shook her head. "I'm never tired, Chase. You can't possibly think I'd want to go back up to my dingy bed instead of spending time with you!" she declared, reaching over and patting his arm. "Besides, you know that I still have to give you your gifts, even if you don't want any. I spent quite some time writing this, and the others..." her voice trailed off, almost mysteriously. "Would you like them?"

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Pushing his glasses up his face, he studied Cornelia as he finished speaking. She really was quite pretty, at least, Chase thought so. Then again he'd spent time with her one on one, even only just once, in a setting where he could look at her properly without feeling like he was rushed or that people were watching them. He spent time with Lucy all the time, often working together for homework for hours, and he still didn't have her face memorized like he had Cornelia's.

If she had asked him, Chase would have said that it was because she could read him better, mostly because he felt he'd kept his detest for the idea of his party pretty well hidden when he'd walked in the door. It was hard to grimace or scowl when all your friends were looking at you happily. His body language might have been a fair bit stiffer and not so relaxed and his smile may not have reached quite up to his eyes like it normally did when he was happy. If Chase knew that Cornelia had figured him out as such, he'd been a little concerned, for Chase valued his privacy and wasn’t one for public displays of anything, but also secretly pleased, as he'd always wanted somebody to know him that well. Though, Chase of course knew none of that, and so he remained smiling at her.

"Did you? You did a very good job at keeping the secret." He replied with a nod. "I had no idea...I figured he was up to something but not that." he confessed. "And I don't know that you can say that Mister Kirke adores me." he grinned a bit running his hand through his hair. Though when she patted his arm he looked down at it curiously. Her hands were warm and soft and he liked them on his skin greatly. It seemed to not matter where her hand was touching on his skin, it just felt nice. "I would. Though would you like to go...elsewhere?" he asked, managing to keep the small bit of hope that was threatening to creep in to his voice out. He didn't want to share this time with the people who were still in the common room. It may have been greedy, but he wanted his time spent with Cornelia with Cornelia. Not the rest of the Hufflepuff commons.

[cornstalks]

Did birthdays usually call for dressing up and looking nice? Cornelia hadn't a clue, so she didn't think to wear anything fancy or do anything to her hair. On most days she would use a straitening charm on it to take the wave out of it, but on this night she had forgotten to bother with it. No one seemed to look at her, anyway, as she was the one who normally looked at people, so she wasn't sure if anyone was really missing anything. She also briefly wondered if all boys always looked as nice as Chase did at all times.

"I wasn't sure if you'd enjoy it or not, I think that's why I wanted to tell you. And so you could start being happy from the moment the idea of the party first existed?" she asked mainly to herself. "But I'm glad nothing got out of control! And that no one came in and rained on our parade. Even if we didn't particularly have a parade, but there's some saying that goes like that," she added, watching the way his fingers moved through his hair, almost effortlessly. She kept her hand on his arm as another grin came across her face, but a softer one. "I think Andrew adores you, but not nearly as much as I adore you, you see." She said it almost matter-of-factly, as though it was something everyone knew. Her body wouldn't let her blush or feel embarrassed, so she continued to smile as both of her eyebrows arched.

His dormitory was the first place that came to mind, and she thought of the first time she had wandered up there to explore his land and everything that it entailed. "Can we go to your dormitory again? Oh, I know! Can I meet you in there again? That way I can stop in my own dormitory and pick up what I need first!" Cornelia uncurled her legs and moved her hand down so she was grasping his. She pulled him up with her as she got to her feet, but didn't know if he'd let her hold it as they walked across the common room so she let it go once she was on her feet. "But I'll be sure to hurry, I don't want to waste any of our visiting time."

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They probably didn't. At least that’s what some might say. Though Chase was the type of person to always take care of what he looked like. Two showers a day and plenty of anti wrinkle charms on his clothes kept Chase looking fresh and clean all the time, even in his school robes. He knew a lot of his dorm mates made fun of him for always making sure he was presentable, but in Chase's eyes it was worth it. Visual impressions one gave were very important, at least that's what his mother had told him. Chase would never admit to any of this though.

Chase's face softened considerably when he'd heard she'd wanted to tell him so he'd be prepared. It...was so very sweet of her. He wanted to say something, to thank her, or maybe he just wanted to pick her up in a giant hug right then, he wasn't sure. "Who would have wanted to come in and rain on our non-parade parade?" he asked curiously to himself. He didn't know to have anybody that really disliked him all that much. He knew that the usual suspects of Goyle and Crabbe would possibly be a set that could have potentially ruined the party, not that anybody would have let those two in anyway. "I'm glad you adore me more then Andrew. He's not really my type." he said casually. Because, as much of a good friend Andrew seemed to be, he really wasn't Chase's type. Blond hair or not.

"Yes of course we can go and you can meet me there." he replied, raising his eyebrows, wondering what she had to go get for him. When she took his hand and pulled him up he was vastly disappointed that she'd let go so suddenly. Perhaps she didn't like him quite enough to have people see the two holding hands. He wasn't sure really so after a moment of looking down at her hand, a small wrinkle of dissatisfaction in his brow he looked back at her. Checking his expression, not wanting her to know, he smiled at her. "Off we go then." he said with a nod.

[cornstalks]

Cornelia could think of a few people who would want to come in and ruin their non-parade parade, but at the current moment it didn't seem worth mentioning. Should she really start talking about the Carrows and Crabbe and Goyle right now when she was trying to enjoy her time with Chase? Usually she didn't mind thinking about them, as she thought about their ways often, but she figured that Chase wouldn't like it very much if she suddenly went on a tangent about how the Carrows probably don't like the thought of them all having a birthday party for someone.

Oblivious to the fact that she had something that Chase really seemed to appreciate, she continued to study him, still looking at his hair and wondering what he would do if she suddenly ran her hand through it to see if it was just as effortless for her own hand. "You never know; I reckon there are people out there who like to ruin parades. They're no fun." She made a face at the thought of Crabbe and Goyle trying to take the fun away from Chase. His next words made her think. Did everyone have a type? What was his type? What was her type? If he would have asked, she would have been completely honest and claimed that Chase Trimble seemed to fill whatever the definition of type was. "That's definitely nice to hear, otherwise I'd have to convince Mei that Andrew doesn't really like her. I hope your own type is nicer." Now that was an interesting thing to think about.

"Oh yes, off we go!" she responded, taking advantage of their new position and wrapping her arms around his waist in a quick hug before she nearly bounced backwards and took the stairs two by two. "I'll be right there, yeah?" she added quickly, just as she was about to vanish into her own dormitory. There wasn't much to see there, but she knew there was a box under her bed just waiting to be grabbed. After pulling the box out, she opened it up and pulled one of the things out, a pin she had charmed to flash CHASE in multiple colors. She stuck in on her shirt, wondering if just above her chest was a good place for it, and picked up the box so she could bounce to Chase's room. It was almost like deja vu, like the last time she had visited him.

"Hi!"

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Chase could barely follow the whole conversation and just walked up behind her scooping up a few things that were given to him at the party. His own type was nicer. Well he wasn't sure if he had a type though he seemed to think highly of blonds, and Cornelia's hair was just the right shade he thought. And well...she had legs and he seemed to like those quite a bit too. Chase tended to not think on these things very hard though, as it was confusing enough to have to think about two sets of things that attracted him. It was easier just to not. Waving to her as she bounced in to her own dorm he made his way back to his own.

Kicking off his shoes and putting away immediately his gifts, Chase sat down on his bed and looked around. Everything was fairly clean, like he'd left it yesterday, but there were a few things out of place this time, as his dorm mates had shucked their uniforms and had changed in to street clothes after classes. Chase took his wand and carefully folded up the pieces of clothing on the beds and put them neatly on each of the two boy's who'd left them out on their trunks. It really wasn't a 'compulsion' so to speak. He just really wanted Cornelia to want to spend time with him in his room. It was easier to be quiet with her in there, as well as get some privacy. Chase would ask her for a walk but it was beginning to be quite cold out, and he didn't want her to catch a chill.

Sitting back on his bed, leaning against the headboard he looked at the door and waited. She said she'd just be a moment, but a moment was enough time to think about what he wanted to have accomplished this evening. Not that he had an agenda but things that he'd like to perhaps talk about. He didn't let his mind wander to what he wanted to do, because honestly he really did want to be close to Cornelia again. To have her near him so he could touch her hair and her skin. Perhaps even...he didn't get to finish that thought though. "Hi!" He said with a very wide grin, definitely noting how similar it was to last time this happened. Except last time she didn't have a box...

[cornstalks]

Cornelia was usually very creative, but she did have a hard time thinking of things to get for others. When it came to herself, she could figure things out easily, and when it came to giving suggestions over journals for simple likes that what to do after classes there was no problem there, but this was a bit different. Chase was a boy, and she didn't know what boys liked to a full extent, even though they were fascinating to watch and try to figure out. Some seemed to like sports, others like to read, and some liked both. There wasn't much she could really go out and buy right now for Chase, what with the way things were, so it definitely seemed easiest to give him things that she had wrote, hexed, charmed, or made herself, even if she didn't normally like showing too much of what was inside her head and heart. Chase was different, however, and she almost thought that he deserved to know, or that she wanted him to know.

For a minute she simply stood in place and looked at the way he was sitting on his bed, looking very warm and cozy and content, and she nearly dropped the box from wondering if she should just crawl up next to him for a cuddle, but then she caught her composure and walked the rest of the way into the room with the box firmly in her hand. The pin on her shirt was flashing from red to blue to yellow to green, but she nearly forgot about it as she bounced onto the foot of his bed and scooted closer. "First!" she exclaimed, pointing to the pin. "It says Chase, see? Chase is a great name. Now your name is over my heart." She opened the box and pulled out what appeared to be a simple piece of parchment. "Watch." She took her own wand out of the box and tapped on the piece of parchment. A second later, everyone they were friendly with popped up in a small, ghostly sort of way and waved. "You can make them do whatever you want. Like there's me, see? Cornelia, twirl." Cornelia pointed her wand at the little version of herself and watched as the ghostly shape twirled. "Took me forever, but I finally figured the charm out." She placed the parchment on the bed and reached into the box, pulling out a bag of biscuits. "Biscuits!"

The other thing was the song she had written for him, but she didn't know if she could sing it. "And I wrote something describing all the things I like about you. It's supposed to be a song, but I reckon it could also be a poem." She looked up at him for the first time with curious eyes and smiled again as she handed him the parchment.

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Chase knew that with his birthday being amidst all the chaos of the Carrows he wasn't going to be receiving much. And he was grateful for small luxuries. Chocolate, home made cards, ink and quills had been popular gifts, considering most of his friends thought the quill he was using was bad off after scratching out all of the things he wrote in his journal. Of course Mei's gift had been the cake and Andrew’s gift had been the party, which Chase was now rather appreciative for. He'd have to remember to tell Andrew the next day that he hadn't hated it, if he hadn't picked that up from the extra hard hug he'd given the boy before he'd left the Hufflepuff Commons. So Cornelia's gifts surprised him. And the button was a great delight to notice first.

He watched her carefully as she approached the bed, smiling when she sat down and started talking. He wanted to say something after everything she said, to answer her and to have her smile at something witty he would say. For her to say she wanted only him to make her laugh at such silly things. That he was indeed her favourite person. She kept on in such a steady stream he first off couldn't think of anything witty and second off that he didn't want to interrupt her. "I like the thought of my name over your heart." he said and then quieted to listen to what was next. He grinned then at the parchment. It was brilliant. Better then any of the gifts he could receive that were bought from a ruddy store. "Cornelia...this is amazing..." he said picking up the parchment and about to add more when she pulled out the biscuits. He laughed at how pleased she seemed to be when she tugged those out. He wasn't sure he could find her more adorable. This thought brought a blush to his cheeks though. He was still so nervous over the fact that he did indeed like her. Letting things happen naturally like he'd talked about with Andrew kept him on pins and needles.

He placed the one piece of parchment down, with all of the familiar faces and took the parchment she was holding in her hand. "Shall I read it out loud or just to myself?" He asked quietly, looking over at her and wanting nothing more then to touch that smile on her lips with his fingertips.

[cornstalks]

With the mention of the pin being over her heart, Cornelia was terribly tempted to take his hand and placed it over her heart, where the pin was fastened securely to her shirt, but she didn't know how he would react to such a thing. It didn't seem strange to her, but that was probably because she didn't find a lot of things to be strange. That was just the way she was. He could put his hand there, and she certainly wouldn't object, but perhaps that could come later on when he had taken notice of all his gifts. The song, or the poem, rather, was a list of adjectives and verbs and happy things she thought of when they were together, and somehow she'd managed to get them all to piece together in a melodic, pleasant sounding rhythm. This made her slightly nervous, which was a lot more than she had been when she'd sang for Andrew. She hadn't perfected those lyrics so much, and she hadn't wanted him to like it as much as she wanted Chase to like this, or like her, in whatever terms "like" really was. Fancy her personality? Fancy her face? What was there to fancy? She knew what she fancied about him, but it wasn't entirely too confusing.

"You can read it to yourself, if you'd like," she responded, shifting so she was closer to him and one of her hands was tickling his knee gently. It was the only place she could think to touch that wouldn't distract him from reading what was on the parchment, though it was possibly causing him to be unable to focus more than she knew. There was a smile on her face as she watched his face, his eyes, his nose, his lips, hoping to find a pleased expression there when all was said and done.

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Chase nodded his head, though he was indeed distracted by her fingers on his knee. He managed though, to ignore them after a few moments of enjoyment. He was sure that Andrew would make fun of him for liking such as simple thing, it probably meant nothing to most but to Chase it did. He wouldn't tell anybody that he was pretty sure though, he didn't want to be made fun of. Adjusting his glass quickly and then as he read to himself, quietly mouthing the words once again not realizing he was doing so, he slowly smiled as he went down the list of things that she'd listed about him and them and what she liked. They made him feel quite warm inside and tingly. Reaching absentmindedly for her fingers on his knee he brushed his thumb across them slowly.

When he was finally finished reading the paper, he smiled at her brightly his cheeks a tint of pink. "That was...very lovely Cornelia." he said feeling her fingers under his and taking them with his own and managing to flip her hand over and entangling his with hers. “I didn’t know you thought so many wonderful things about me. I have to say though I think that you may be looking at me through Rose tinted glasses.” He said with a small shrug, but continued to smile.

[cornstalks]

For some reason, Cornelia couldn't take her eyes off of Chase's face, even as her fingers gently tickled his knee on their own accord. She really wasn't thinking about what they were doing, but rather trying to figure out what he was thinking, feeling, wishing. If only she could be in his brain right now as he read through words on a piece of parchment, words that were just that, words. But they were true words, even when the truth was hard to come by these days. The flashing of her pin against his face distracted her slightly, but not enough to lose focus on studying him. The littlest movements from him, like when he moved quickly to adjust his glasses, made a little excited shiver run down her spine, enough so that her entire body shivered in reaction to it. The way his thumb brushed across her fingers made another run down her spine, and she wondered if she should take his hand.

She didn't have to wonder very long, at least not until he took the first initiative and threaded his fingers with hers. It was like a warm little burst of happiness radiated from his skin and into hers, and as different and new as it felt to hold his hand, she found that she really liked it. So much so that she wanted to feel more of him, and her free hand came up and touched one of his cheeks softly. "Happy birthday," she responded in an almost dream-like voice. "I'm glad you liked it, but I don't think you're right. I know how I'm looking at you. It's a good thing to see, really. I wish there was more to give you!"

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Tipping his face just slightly in to her touch to his cheek, he sighed with a small smile. "You needn't worry about giving me more, this present is the best I've ever been given." he said truthfully. "Even better then my harmonica." he quietly murmured. That was not a light thing for him to say either, as he quite treasured the stolen gift from his family. Those Carrows, oh they made his blood boil, but he quickly let that die because he did not want to ruin their moment. "Thank you very much Cornelia. You've made this birthday the best." he told her as he lifted the hands that that were entwined together to his lips and kissed the back of her hand gently.

It was bold of him, he knew. At least, he thought it was bold of him. Chase was still quite shy around people and so this was a big step for him. Cornelia made him feel shy though. But also very comfortable. It was a plethora of feelings and he wasn't really sure what was more prominent. Dropping their hands back down though, Chase wasn't sure what to say. So he groped looking around a bit. "So...on the parchment anybody will do what I ask them?" He was thinking about how funny it would be to get Andrew or Lucy to dance around with each other or to have drawing! Cornelia cuddle with drawing! Chase. Though he hoped that life would imitate art in that case.

[cornstalks]

For a second, Cornelia forgot all about the fact that there were other people in the world, and instead decided to just focus on the two who seemed to matter the most. Of course this wasn't true, someone could interrupt their alone time at any moment and all they had to do was climb the stairs into the dormitory, but that idea seemed so far away. Chase really did have lovely skin, soft, but yet soft in a different way. It made her want to explore his entire face. "I'll have to give you an even better one next year, then," she responded, not knowing if she should believe that this was the best gift he'd ever received. "I'll get you a new harmonica. I don't like it that you're without yours," she murmured, surprised by the way his lips felt on her hand, though entirely intrigued.

The moment of silence that followed just made her all the more curious, and instead of saying something she didn't care about, she decided to cut right to what was on her mind. "Can I come sit closer to you?" she asked, not content with the way they were almost on opposite sides of the bed, or at least not sitting as close together as she thought they could be. "And yes, it really will. I was playing with it last night, and we were playing a game on your bed. It seemed fun, really. But you can do whatever you please." As she spoke, she kicked her shoes off so she could prepare to scoot up, if he allowed her.

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Before he had time to answer about the harmonica she was asked about sitting closer. Chase nodded his head eagerly before answering in a rush, "Yes, please come...sit with me." Letting go of her hand he moved the pillows so that she could sit next to him if she wished, and he tried not to think about last time and how she had ended up on his lap. That was surely something that he should not be thinking about while she was just right there only a little ways away from him. It excited him to have her be so close and he didn't want to make a fool of himself, or embarrass both of them with things he couldn't quite help. Sure they hugged every morning and that was lovely but being able to curl up with her was far more intimate in his mind. Letting her decide where she wanted to sit though he picked up the parchment again in his hands.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to have a harmonica the same as the Carrows took." He admit to her, still thinking about what he wanted to do with the little ones on the parchment. Leaning over for just a moment to pick up his wand he poked at the picture that looked like Andrew, "Hug Mei Andrew..." he prompted the little picture and grinned widely when the two little pictures found each other in the crowd and hugged each other. He really thought that this little gift was brilliant. He knew she must have worked very hard on it and that is what he appreciated most about it. "What kind of game were we playing?" he asked her, watching her ready herself to come sit closer to him on the bed.

[cornstalks]

Once the shoes were off, there was nothing left for Cornelia to take off before waiting for his response to her question. Well, there probably were a few more things she could take off, but she could almost picture Chase's reaction in her head. There were two possible reactions; one was fainting, and one was him getting completely angry. Some blokes seemed to always talk about taking things off, while others seemed to prefer it when things were left on. The thought was making her smile as she cheerfully clapped once at his response, though her hand didn't feel the same when it wasn't with his, and got on her hands and knees so she could crawl carefully up to the cozy looking spot next to where he was sitting. She wanted to crawl on his lap, to almost feel surrounded by him, with his legs and arms encircling her, but perhaps if he was comfortable with this position she could change to that soon.

When she was comfortable, sitting very close to him with one hand reaching down to itch her knee and the other tucking her hair behind her ear, which didn't work because it simply fell forward again, she let her head rest on his shoulder for a moment a she pondered the meaning of this new position. The pondering only lasted for a second before she lifted her head back up and looked at him, realizing that their faces were rather close. "Maybe we can get your old harmonica back, yeah? I reckon...they just have it hidden somewhere. I could find it for you, and then you could play something for me." As she spoke she watched the little ghosts of Mei and Andrew hugging and felt another rush of warmth envelop her body. "First we were playing tag. But then we started playing the secret game, where you whisper things back and forth. It was exciting."

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At least she knew him that well, because as much as every time she'd mentioned taking off her shirt in his presence in the journal, and he really had no idea how serious she was on that, he had managed to react both favorably but highly nervous at the same time. So nervous in fact that he probably could faint if if it happened. He was starting to hate how inexperienced he was, and how shaky he got around girls...okay around Cornelia. He had to admit that to himself. It was not not just girls in general. He couldn't call Morag beautiful and have Lucy massage his hand with such ease if it was just any girl. When Cornelia crawled up next to him he automatically put his arm up to have it around her shoulders. He wasn't sure why it was automatic, but it felt nice to have her so close.

Chase was busy looking down at the paper, tapping it and then ordering everybody in to a group hug. He noted that Cornelia and Chase managed to find each other in the group and hug in close to each other. He thought perhaps that when Cornelia was charming, she might have been thinking fondly on the two of them. Then of course it could have just been a complete coincidence. Turning to look at her when she mentioned the secret game he noticed how close their faces were as well and blushed, easily this time. "Um...I've never played the secret game I don't think." he replied honestly.