entanglements | d.m.

08.clues

September '98 | H E R

"I am screwed." Michael says when falling down onto the grass next to Anthony. "I... am so screwed."

During lunch, majority of the student body lounge around the various courtyards the school offers to soak up the last days left of sun and bearable warmth.

With her notebook in her lap, Devyn is resting her head on Tarquin's thigh, enjoying the mild wind breezing over her face, through her hair. Something about fall—the earthy smell, the cozy hues or maybe this very castle standing proud against the bright sky, it awakens a deep feeling of comfort.

Faster than they can say Rowena, the brittle winter will make its damned entrance, pushing the grounds near impossible to enjoy and leaving no option but to huddle in the castle.

Less room to avoid some people...

Ugh.

"You look the part," Anthony notes, leaned back to peruse his friend.

Michael wipes a hand over his face. "I've been up all bloody night."

"Yeah, you were." Tarquin's grin is broad and knowing, his brows jumping up suggestively. "I heard."

"No, those were the redheads," Padma says, referring to the two Hufflepuff gingers who have been together before the goblet even paired them up. "Hopkins and Bones."

Someone was making noise last night, like noise. Devyn heard on her walk back to her shared room after a breather outside with Tarquin. It's wild what sort of stuff can be heard in the late hours behind closed doors.

Some people can seem so unassuming...

"I think it came from Lisa's direction, actually," Devyn recalls. "Either way, they should put up some bloody charm."

Tarquin gives Michael a sidelong glance. "You're next to Lisa's room."

"You couldn't hear us." He rolls his eyes at the second jump of Tarquin's brows. "I mean, we talked all night. We talked so much and I didn't grow tired of it or of her. It was like a flip switched between us. She understands me, Andy." He slides a meaningful look at his best friend, referring to something just between them, and Anthony returns a warm smile.

It's Tarquin who cooes, "Oh, sweet Corner is finally not coming in second to the Harry Potter."

Michael chucks a lorn acorn his fellow housemate's way with little to no force, chuckling at his own expense. "Shut up. I think she braided my hair at some point—I might still have it on here somewhere."

His hand roams around his wild hair, indeed lifting a short braid from ontop of his head. He leaves it be, already having spent half a day with it.

"Talking and hair braiding," Tarquin muses teasingly, angling his head down at Devyn as his hand passes over her hair. "Devyn, darling, we're in dangerous territory."

She grins. Some hair braiding may or may not have occured on both parts at some point. He just has such luscious long hair.

"Only if you kissed dumbass," Michael drawls, smile not faltering as he chucks yet another acorn at Tarquin.

But Anthony does a double take, gaping at his friend. "You kissed?" Even Padma, Sue and Mandy, all three respectfully occupied with homework, blink up to awe at the lovefool.

Padma presses what all three want to know, practically bouncing on her knees. "How was it?"

Michael opens his mouth and takes several attempts to try convey the experience. At last, he gives up. "I don't even have words for it." A hand goes through his hair, careful of that braid. "I told her I wanted to do it since the first week but didn't want it to come off as taking advantage or acting rash, and she said she was feeling the same."