Who: Kalista Rosier and Ludo Bagman
What: She's unsure of her feelings about the Hufflepuff
Where: Near the lake
When: Today, late afternoon
Rating: R, due to language



Kalista Rosier was not a particularly nice. She had a lot of friends, but she never went out of her way to make anyone feel any better about themselves if they were having a bad day, or if they were having an episode of self loathing. No, only her close friends got that special treatment. Either friends or people she gave a shit about. Which was why Antonin breaking things off had been so hard on her. But she wasn’t someone who let other people know when she was down in the dumps. She knew it would just be ammo for some people, seeing her down and depressed. Just because she had a lot of friends, that didn’t mean she had just as many, if not more, enemies. But pretending to not be as miserable as she was was…easier now. And she still couldn’t believe why it was easier.

Ludo Bagman was that reason. The boy had started off as nothing more than a feel good snog, but then it turned into more snogging, and then…just more. He was a distraction. A secret distraction that no one was ever supposed to know about. They had met up in empty classrooms, and broom closets, and in the back of the library, and when they wanted to get a little bit more physical there was always the lovely prefect’s bathroom. It wasn’t difficult to keep their relationship a secret, but…what the fuck kind of relationship was it? It wasn’t like they ever did anything more than fool around, and that was originally just supposed to be a way to get over her ex-boyfriend. But what was the reason now? Was she still upset? Was Ludo still just something to make her feel better? Fuck, she wasn’t sure. She hadn’t even told Cecilia about them, because…she probably wouldn’t understand. But how could she expect her to when she didn’t even understand it herself?

Sighing, Kalista leaned her back against one of the large trees out in front of the courtyard, staring out at the lake with her knees pulled to her chest, her arms around her legs as she just tried to think. The kid had definitely served his purpose in distracting her from Antonin, but she hadn’t expected him to replace those thoughts. At least, not in this way.

Fuck.

Ludo wasn't about to complain about their relationship. Kalista was spontaneous and so...ugh, he couldn't even describe it. She was perfect. Her hair, the way she smelled, the way that her skin felt. Okay, so he was being a typical male. But that didn't bother him any. Things were slowly settling down from the drama with Ralph, at least as far as he could tell and that was all that mattered to him.

He was on his way back to the Hufflepuff commons when he spotted Kalista sitting out on the lawn. And after debating it for some time, he slowly walked over. Ludo stood maybe 10 feet away from the tree, staring off at the lake as well. If he'd been ambitious (and more public about their relationship...or whatever it was that they had), he would've done something cutesy like cover her eyes with his hands. Unfortunately, he didn't have a death wish. So...10 feet away was a decent option. "You look lost in thought," he said nonchalantly, glancing at her quickly before staring back across the castle grounds.

The voice in the distance startled her a little bit, and made her jump, her head snapping in the direction where it had come from. She gave a heavy sigh and pushed back her hair with one of her hands. “Stop doing that! You really need to make your presence known before you just start talking to people.” Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around her legs again, resting her chin on her knees as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was far away, which…honestly, it was the smartest move on his end, but she couldn’t help but want him to sit next to her or something.

Oh shit, no she didn’t. She couldn’t want to be around him, just to be around him, because that would mean she actually liked him. But then again that was what she had been thinking about for so fucking long. Augh, he was going to drive her crazy. “I have a lot to think about.” Her answer came out after a few moments of remaining quiet, picking up her head to turn and look at him. “Why are you out here? Aren’t you supposed to be playing hopscotch, or doing whatever it is you Hufflepuff’s tend to do when they have some free time? Drink some milk and eat a cookie?” She raised her brows, before she went back to resting her chin on her knees, pulling her legs even closer if that was at all possible.

"Would you rather I get really close to you so that you know I'm here?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. Maybe a reminder that he was following the rules of her game would be helpful. He smirked a bit at her next comment. "Oi, just because I'm a Hufflepuff doesn't mean I lack a backbone." He really hated that stereotype. And the fact that she was bringing it up was frustrating and...exciting at the same time. He just wanted to prove to her that he was more than hopscotch and milk and cookies.

She looked really upset about something. He let out a small sigh--more of a huff than anything. "Look, if you want to talk or whatever...we can meet up tonight. Wherever you want. But, no pressure you know?" Maybe it was a bad idea to suggest it. She'd probably turn it around at tell him he really was a big softie.

Her eyes rolled a bit at his defensive statement, staring at the water that was gently rippling in front of her. She guessed it was the Giant Squid swimming around, or some of the other creatures that lived beneath the surface of the lake. “No, but you shouldn’t lurk like that. You just…stand there and expect people to know you’re there, and start talking to them like they already know and it scares the shit out of them.” Okay, so ‘them’ was ‘her’ but she was just talking in general.

It went quiet again until he huffed, which made her turn to look at him again, eyes narrowing curiously as she took in what she said. He was being nice. She usually went after the ‘bad boy’, the quiet and broody types, the secretive kinds of boys. For example? Antonin, the stupid bastard. But look at where that had gotten her. Crushed. Her temple rested against her knee as she looked at him, shaking her head. “No pressure?” She rose a brow, and even she wondered why she hadn’t told him to get lost. “I thought you had a backbone.” Her lips twisted into a bit of a smirk as she looked at him, her hair falling into her face a little bit before she tucked it back behind her ear.

Okay, maybe she was a little bit predictable, but she wasn’t telling him to go away, right? That was…different.

"I do," he said with a playful wink. "Just wanted to let you know that well...I don't expect anything in return for sitting there listening to you while you rant on and on and on." Because, really, girls liked to go on and on and on. And a snog would be nice, and he'd probably get one anyways, but...hey, he was trying to be nice about all this. Girls liked guys who were considerate, right?

"I'll keep the lurking thing in mind, though. Wouldn't want you to die of fright or anything. That would be just horrible," he said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his voice. Okay...the more he sat here and talked to her, the more he wanted to go somewhere to actually talk to her. "So...do you want to talk about all this or not?" he asked firmly, trying hard not to look directly at her.

“Oh no, of course you don’t.” She said doubtingly, her shaking her head in disbelief. It wasn’t as though she didn’t get anything out of what she ‘gave him in return’ but she highly doubted that they could just sit in the same room together and talk like they were pals.

She looked over at him and gave him a stare that made it clear that she wasn’t really all that amused by his sarcasm. After a few more seconds of looking at him, she turned away when he started talking again. Her teeth began to gnaw gently at the corner of her bottom lip before she sighed and leaned back against the tree. “There’s nothing to talk about.” Okay, so there was nothing that she could talk to him about because he was the reason she was so confused in the first place. Her fingers began to pick at the grass that was beside her before she brushed her palms together to get the dirt away. “You don’t have to go or anything.” Why she had added that last part, in she didn’t know, but she decided to cover it up to make it seem like she wasn’t really all that pleased by his company. “But don’t think that we’re going to have a heart to heart or anything. Because we’re not.”

Take that.

Well, even if she wasn't amused by his sarcasm, he was. He let out a small laugh as he pulled his bag off of his shoulder, letting it fall to the ground before sitting down next to it. "Alright, so no heart to heart," he said cautiously as he worked at the buckle on the bag. She didn't want to talk, but she didn't want him to leave? Oi, he was starting to remember why girls were so bloody confusing to him. Ugh, and he wanted nothing more than to sit next to her and be close to her, but he knew she would never go for something like that. He carefully pulled a book out of his bag and opened it; if someone came by, they would no doubt wonder why he was just randomly sitting on the lawn like that. Now he had an excuse.

"You can't blame me for enjoying all of our encounters," he said, failing to hide the smirk on his lips. He wondered if she enjoyed them as much as he did--well, if she kept coming back, he was sure she did. Most girls wouldn't bother being in the same room as him longer than required. "But I wouldn't force you to do something you didn't want to, you know that right?" She'd probably get him for that comment. Eh, who cared, he was being genuine. If she wanted to believe otherwise, she could.

It took a lot of concentration for her to not smirk as well, focusing on a rock that was sitting nearby to distract herself from thinking about their last encounter. Her hand moved to brush back some more of her hair, letting her hand go back to playing with the grass that was beside her. She really did enjoy all of their little meetings, but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone else. He was still just someone to kiss and make her feel better…or at least that’s what she kept telling herself. Their meetings didn’t mean anything more than that, in her mind. Or that’s what she wanted to think. Damn it.

“No one can force me to do something I don’t want to do, even if they tried.” She sounded just a little bit smug as she spoke, her long digits sliding through the blades of grass again. “Besides…Hufflepuff’s don’t do that sort of thing. Unless you were going to force me to bake or something.” She couldn’t hide her smirk this time, wondering how many times she could poke fun at his house. Hufflepuff’s just…even their house name sounded frilly and cutesy. The people residing in it usually didn’t do much to live down that image, either.

Ludo rolled his eyes. "You know, the more you stereotype me, the more I want to prove you wrong. Because I'm a nice person, don't get me wrong, but I'm not some spineless individual that scatters sunshine everywhere I go." He smirked to himself. "I could force you to do something if I wanted to, and you should be lucky that I haven't yet." Okay, so...he probably wouldn't be able to hurt a fly but he was willing to put up the fight. The mention of baking, however...oi, she was playing with his mind and now he had a rather devious thought of her in some frilly smock baking for him and then--he coughed, letting his thoughts trail off quickly before it got too awkward.

Part of her got annoyed at his last statement, looking over to him again with her eyes narrowed. “I really don’t think you could.” After hearing how harsh her voice may have sounded, she sighed and brushed her hair back with her hands. She would have apologized, but that just wasn’t very Kalista. She wasn’t someone who said sorry very often. She was just on edge, and she didn’t like being told what to do. Maybe she was overreacting, or maybe she was just spoiled.

Clearing her throat, she turned back to him, more relaxed. “Listen, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can we just move on to something else?” She bit at the inside of her cheek before she looked at the book he had in his hands. “What are you reading, anyway?”

Ludo smirked once again to himself. "Well, what would you like to move on to, since you're the one in need of changing the topic," he said as he slowly flipped to the next page of his book. He wasn't actually sure what the book was--it was the first thing he picked up and he hadn't actually paid attention to the words on the page. He paused when she asked him before glancing at the cover. "Ah, this would be...A History of Magic, 1100-1599." He bit his lower lip, thinking. "I'm trying to brush up on my middle ages, you know. Get ready for that NEWT test--" Bugger, that sounded really lame. Oh well. He shut the heavy tome with a satisfying, deep thud. "Then again, the story isn't likely to change between now and this evening, so I'm all ears."

She couldn’t help but smirk a little bit at his answer, bringing her hand up to bite at her thumb nail as she watched him flip through the book. “I heard that’s a good read.” She smirked a bit wider now, dropping her hand down as she stared out at the water again, her eyes squinting a little bit as the light reflected off of it. It was getting late, and the sun was beginning to get lower. “I don’t know.” Her shoulders rose up into a casual shrug, once again pushing her hair back, keeping it pulled back with her hand as she took in a deep breath and sighed. “I just want to get some things off of my mind.”

"Yes, I'm very anxious to find out whether or not they all die off or not," he replied calmly, not even bothering to mask his direct staring at her. Actually...if anyone had been walking past them within the past ten or so minutes, it would have been rather obvious that the two of them were conversing. Well, then. It wouldn't matter much if Ludo scooted over, now would it? No, not at all. "Well," he started after she mentioned wanting to get some things off her mind, "Maybe you should get them off your mind?" Each word was punctuated with a subtle scoot in her general direction. "I've been told that if nothing else, we Hufflepuffs are good at sitting blank faced and listening while," he stopped, trying to think of the correct wording--something that would make her laugh, "While those of more esteemed houses wax eloquently on subjects we'll never be able to comprehend." He had no idea if it'd actually work, but...he was poking fun at himself, so maybe it would. He could be hopeful, at least. Now sitting within arm's length, he mustered up enough courage to gently touch her shoulder. He would've gone for the hair (oh, he was such a hair man), but her hands were currently occupying it, so...shoulder it was! "So...lay it on me. Or, you know...do with me what you will."

She watched him move closer, and couldn’t help but have the thought to tell him to stop what he was doing. But she didn’t. She didn’t because that thought was just something that came up on instinct. It was normal for her to want to tell him to go away, because she was used to it. Used to wanting him no where near her, but right now? Right now she didn’t mind.

What. The. Hell?

Her head tilted to the side as he placed his hand on her shoulder, letting her hand fall that was gripping at her hair. Her eyes met with his and she just stared at him for a few moments, swallowing roughly before her gaze dropped back to the grass between them. “Well, it’s really not that simple, since-…” she cut herself off and shook her head. “Never mind, just…forget it, I don’t want to talk about it. I thought I told you know heart to hearts, remember?”

He laughed. "Right...no heart to hearts, I get it." He scooted a little closer to her, figuring that everyone was in eating at this point, so his being closer to her wouldn't be a big deal. His fingers slowly wound into the ends of her hair. He pouted a bit to himself before shifting so he was facing her more. "You've got..." he stopped. He was about to tell her that she had nice hair, but, she would probably say something snarky in response. Instead, he leaned in closer to her, his hand moving to her cheek before placing a soft kiss on her lips.

She avoided eye contact as he moved closer, once again staring out at the water, staring down at her shoes as he began to play with her hair. Her eyes blinked, turning to look at him as he began to speak, noticing that he had moved a little bit, making it easier for her to actually look at him. A brow arched as he started speaking, but he didn’t finish his sentence. No, he used his mouth for a completely different reason besides speaking. Her eyes shut as she felt his lips against her own, getting a little tense before she decided to return it, her fingers gripping at the grass that she was still holding onto, maintaining the contact for just a bit longer before she pulled away and looked at him. “You’re really not helping by doing that.” Whether or not that gave him a hint that her thoughts were directed at him, she didn’t know. It wasn’t as though it was her intention.

He bit his lower lip as she pulled away from the kiss. Bugger. "Well, you're not letting me try to help any other way," he replied softly, his fingers now moving from the tips of her hair up to the small hairs just above her ears. He looked carefully at her eyes. "I thought maybe some distraction would help you," he murmured with a bit of a pout. He'd never really thought of her before but ever since their run in on the pitch, he found his thoughts focused on her. He didn't care that Ralph and Miranda and Davy were around him constantly at practices, he just...he wanted to know when he would see Kalista next. Maybe the distraction would just be good for him.

“Well you thought wrong.” She sighed heavily and rose to her feet, carefully adjusting her skirt as she did so. Her heel pivoted, and she was a few feet away before she stopped, her hands fidgeting at her sides. Something kept pulling her back to him, and it was preventing her from storming away like she normally did. It was common for her boyfriends to try to stop her as she walked away, and she really should have just kept walking because she needed to get away from him for a while…so why did she stop? And it wasn’t like he was her boyfriend anyway, right?

Augh, she didn’t know anything anymore, and before she could help herself, she was standing next to him again, her arms crossed over her chest as those bright turquoise eyes met his. “You can’t help me Ludo, because you trying to help me is only making things worse. Because being around you is so fucking complicated now and I don’t know why and it’s so frustrating and you’re so frustrating because I’m not supposed to be able to stand you because you’re so fucking obnoxious and I don’t get why I am able to stand you, and you can’t help me by kissing me because that doesn’t answer any of my questions, so just stop trying!” With that, she pivoted again and began walking towards the school, wondering if that would be the end of the conversation.

He wasn't really sure what to say in response to that. He didn't find himself to be obnoxious at all. Obviously she was well...frustrated by him. He sighed before turning around to watch her as she walked off. "Maybe it's because I'm not frustrating. Maybe...maybe you're afraid of what would actually happen if you gave this a shot." Okay, way too sappy. Oh well, it was already out there, he'd have to keep going with it. He sighed before turning back to the lake. "I'm not going to force you to do anything, though. So I guess I'll catch you later." Great, just what he wanted. Another girl all buggered off because of him. He leaned back against the tree behind him, his eyes closed as he tried to lose himself in thought.

Bloody women....