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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]

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.

[cornstalks]

Cornelia had previously had an idea for something else to do for Chase, before the idea for the pin came to her mind. She had initially been planning on asking Perpetua to write 'Happy Birthday' on the skin just below her neck, skin that was normally covered with her shirt. Somehow she'd have to rip it off in some sort of clever way for Chase to see, but once she couldn't think of a clever way to do so she soon decided on the pin and placing it in the same general area that the words would have been. As inexperienced as she was, she almost seemed to radiate a confidence that was overwhelming, but in some aspects of the matter she was confident, just often puzzled and curious and wary of other people and how unpredictable they were. Once Chase's arm was around her she could take notice of how good he smelt and how warm he was, and she immediately tried to curl herself side-ways into him.

When her eyes wandered back down to the parchment she noticed just how well her charm had worked, and her little shape was ignoring everyone else and running to hug Chase. It had been, of course, intentional and her eyes flickered back to his face to see if he picked up on that. Noticing that her lips were close to his ear, she leaned her face in closer so she could whisper in his ear. "We should play it. It's where you share a secret. You can use words or actions, they both work. Would you like me to go first, or would you like to?"

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Having Cornelia in such close proximity made Chase work even harder to remain a gentleman. He didn't want to upset her or make her feel like he disrespected her. She was so precious to him, and that happened so rarely that he didn't want that to be ruined. Though when he felt her snuggling in to him he did give a silent sigh of contentment and relief. At least she wasn't upset at him for having finally a little bit of guts to do something that wasn't normally something Chase Trimble would do, at least without a copious amount of encouragement.

He liked that Cornelia's picture hugged Chase as hard as the real Cornelia did every morning. Lucky bloke. Gooseflesh rose then when he felt her lips near his ear. A small shiver ran through is body and he sighed again. Her lips...oh her lips. "You can go first if you like...tell me a secret." He said softly, matching her tone.

[cornstalks]

This was almost a different side of Chase that she was seeing, for she had become rather good at picking up on the small things he did, like how his expressions changed with his mood and how he carried himself when he was nervous or happy or relieved. She sensed that sigh, and somehow seemed to know it was a sigh of relief. He was so different than all the other boys that she wished she knew everything about him and the way he worked, but she wanted him to know that there was nothing short of hexing her head off that would scare her away from him.

Sometime she was going to have to tell him about what else their little figures on the parchment could do, or perhaps she'd simply have to show him, but right now she was studying how it felt to be so close to his face like that, to his hair, his ear, what looked to be the incredible softness of his cheek. "I'm not sure if it's much of a secret, really, but the first things I charmed us to do, on the parchment, was this." She closed the small space that was left and kissed his cheek, referring to it as a birthday kiss in her head. "You could ask my shape to do that, and it would," she murmured against his skin.