RP: It's her hair and her eyes today...

[shh_oliver]

Date: 17 November 2004
Character(s): Oliver Wood and Penelope Clearwater
Location: River Place, then Roma's, then we don't know yet
Status: Private
Summary: It's their first dinner date!
Completion: Complete

Comments

[shh_penny]

Penelope had been fretting all day. She had not been on any sort of date since, well, the last millenium. She had also been struck with the realization that she had no dressy clothes.

Oh dear.

Upon many changes of clothes, she finally settled on a simple burgundy dress. She accessorized with a pair of silver earrings and pinned a few pieces of her hair back. She cast a simple Cosmetic Charm, not trusting herself with applying any sort of make-up manually and shrugged into her travelling cloak. She had only just finished applying a bit of perfume when she heard a knock at the door.

She Summoned her cane and made her way to the door.

She took a deep breath and opened it.

[shh_oliver]

Oliver had begun muttering to himself about how this was only Penny and they'd known each other forever and how everything would be fine and he wouldn't bugger things up when the door opened. He stopped, gaping when he saw her.

"I..er..um." Just a second. Inhale, exhale. "Wow. You look.." He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. "Beautiful." Yeah, that was the word he was looking for.

[shh_penny]

She blushed although Penelope would have been lying if she had said that she didn't want such a reaction. Beautiful was always a good thing to have said about you, she thought.

"And I'm sure you look suitably handsome," she said with a grin.

[shh_oliver]

"Pshaw, I don't know about that, love," Oliver replied, his own cheeks turning a bit pink. And then he remembered. "Oh. I brought these for you, too." He handed her the flowers. "It's not much, and nothing fancy, but...I thought you might like them."

[shh_oliver]

Oliver laughed. "Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. You order whatever you want, love." He ordered an iced tea for himself and watched as the waitress ambled off for their drinks.

"D'you have anything in mind that you'd like to do after dinner?" he asked.

[shh_penny]

Penelope raised an eyebrow and rested her chin on steepled fingers.

"I thought a walk might be nice," she said, "It's a rather pleasant evening. Not too cold."

When the waitress returned with their drinks, Penelope thanked her and ordered the tortellini.

[shh_oliver]

"A walk sounds lovely." Oliver smiled brightly before turning his attention to the waitress, ordering the spaghetti carbonara. He reached for some sugar to sweeten his tea and took a sip.

"I'm glad you agreed to this," he said, almost shyly.

[shh_penny]

The comment surprised her.

"Why wouldn't I agree?" she asked as she added some cream and sugar to her tea.

"It's not everyday that a dashingly handsome bloke asks me out on a dinner date," she said, laughing.

"In all seriousness, though," Penelope continued, "We've known each other for ages. It's not like I'm going to deny a dear old friend of my admittedly wonderful company."

She grinned.

[shh_oliver]

Oliver flagged a waitress to get Penny more tea and smiled. "Sounds good," he said, leaning back in his seat. The girl quickly returned with the check and Penny's tea. Glancing at it, Oliver pulled out the money to pay and handed it to her before his attention returned to Penny.

"It's crazy, isn't it?" he asked, "how quickly time flies. Sometimes it feels like only yesterday we were still back at Hogwarts, tackling each other into the snow or barely beating curfew because we were trying to study for McGonagall's exam.."

[shh_penny]

Penelope sipped at her tea but as it was still hot she decided to let it cool for the moment.

She nodded. It had been so long ago. Hogwarts had been a fairly pleasant experience for Penelope, barring of course the incident with the Basilisk and the Dementors in her final year.

"I'm amazed you had any time for studying," Penelope teased, "you were always planning new Quidditch strategies."

[shh_oliver]

"Hey, I managed well enough!" Oliver smiled and shook his head. He had always done well enough in school, though it was true that he often had his head- quite literally- in the clouds. "Of course, I had you and Percy to help me with the studying.."

[shh_penny]

"Damn right you did," she said, laughing, "I feel so old. Here we are, all grown-up and reminiscing about the good old days at Hogwarts."

She shook her head. "Still, it seems just like yesterday I was sitting in Charms learning Wingardium Leviosa."

[shh_oliver]

"Mostly," he replied, looking up. "There are a few clouds- whispy, a silvery grey." He smiled. "The stars are bright, though. I see Orion's belt." He nibbled his lower lip as he studied the stars.

Suddenly, he gasped and released Penny's arm as he tripped. "Oomph!" The breath was knocked out of him as he landed face first on the ground.

[shh_penny]

One moment Oliver was by her side and the next he wasn't. Penelope heard the distinct sound of body hitting dirt and sussed out what had happened.

"Oliver!" she said as she knelt down, trying to feel out where he was.

She soon hit upon his leg and she followed it up to his shoulder (having skipped a rather firm part of his anatomy, of course).

"Are you alright?"

[shh_oliver]

"Yeah," he said, shivering slightly as her hand trailed up his side. He sat up, wincing slightly. "Bloody rock or something." He shook his head. "But yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, is all."

[shh_penny]

She was glad that he was alright. It was her fault that he hadn't had his eyes on the road after all. However, that didn't stop her from grinning.

"Still haven't quite mastered that walking thing," she said, "have you?"

[shh_penny]

She laughed.

"Definitely a Gryffindor," she said and swatted him playfully on the arm.

She stifled a yawn.

"All that food," she said, "has made me rather sleepy, I think."

[shh_oliver]

"Shall I take you home, then?" he asked, looking around to see just where they were. They weren't too far from her flat, and worse comes to worse, they could always Apparate back if they wanted to. "It's not too long of a walk from where we are, I don't think."

[shh_penny]

"Fantastic," she said, once more resting her head on his chest.

"You've a rather comfortable chest, you know."

[shh_oliver]

"I think you've mentioned it once before," Oliver replied with a chuckle. "But thank you."

It wasn't long before they found her building, and they made their way to the lifts.