ataraxia, lorenzo berkshire

"twenty six"

"you should wear a your hairpin more often, you know? it's very pretty." xander spoke as we walked shoulder - to - shoulder through the corridors as our lessons for the day had concluded.

i smiled to myself, still not getting over how genuine and heartwarming xander's little comments were.

"thank you," i looked up at him walking breezily beside me, "my mother gave it to me."

i hadn't worn my hairpin since we returned back to hogwarts for sixth year - it was my first time wearing it after getting relentlessly teased for wearing it religiously throughout third and fourth year - the boys in my potions class used to try to yank it out of my hair.

kill all men! joking.. i love dick!

it was solid silver, with gold accents resembling vines, twisting and accentuating around the hairpin and leading up to the dragon emblem at the top of it.

"it suits you," he admired as he peered down at me whilst focusing on the fluidity of his stride otherwise he'd get too distracted by our conversation and possibly endure a good tumble.

"the gold contrasts nicely against your skin."

this man knew exactly how to flatter a woman, huh.

i sent him a warm smile, but then i heard my name across the other end of the corridor.

"val! hey." lorenzo called out to me, standing outside the elderly dark oak concaved doors that unlocked to the library.

i narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what he could possibly want now.

"enzo." i greeted sincerely, as we had walked close enough for me to be a few feet away from him. "what do you want?"

he flashed a grin at me, as he stepped closer to me, wanting me to hear his next formula of words extremely clear.

"we need to talk, hm?" he dipped his head down a few centimetres, making the in interaction more personal, more direct - a signal to xander without the use of any bitter or passive aggressive conjunctions for him to leave us alone.

xander picked up on this hint immediately, as he tilted his head at me once i'd turned to him, knowing he was being forced to leave.

"sorry," i sighed, knowing there was no point protesting against lorenzo's wishes. "don't worry - magnora and draco asked me to help them with their herbology anyways." he shrugged.

"okay, i'll see you later." i plainly dismissed him in the kindest way i could, as i watched him disappear down the corridor, the only remnants of him were his withering steps.

"you and theo, huh?" he already began before i could even try to predict the how the next few moments were going to go, for he was a rather driven personality when it came to unearthing something he deemed relevant to him.

"it's not like that, enzo." i sighed, dragging my hand down my face, "i was stressed - carried away, i needed a distraction that night, like we all do, and he happened to be there."

as i spoke, he made himself comfortable by leaning against the library doorframe, crossing his arms loosely over his chest as he ran his tongue across his bottom lip.

"stressed about what?" he perked up after hearing me utter those words, his eyes interrogating my mildly frustrated frame as i pondered to myself on why the fuck this guy was all up in my business.

i opened my mouth to reply, to tell him to stop caring about things that didn't concern him, for once in his life - but before i could speak, he answered his own question, saving me the effort.