Dream about Her Laughter (Ali)

[Percy Weasley]

SHE'S COLD AND SHE'S CRUEL
BUT SHE KNOWS WHAT'S SHE'S DOING

SHE'S BITTERSWEET SHE KNOCKS ME OFF MY FEET
and I don't want anyone else !

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Percy shifted nervously on his feet. He had been through this portrait hole too many a time when he attended school here and yet now he was as nervous as a first year. The Fat Lady was giving him a look that clearly said, Get on with it, boy and predictably did nothing to ease his knotted nerves.

He adjusted the cloth draped over his offering again, although the folds were immaculate to begin with, and cleared his throat. Only to come up dry. Merlin alive, he did not humiliate himself in front of his baby brother for nothing and he was going to go through those doors any moment now.

Getting Ronald give him the password to the Gryffindor common room had been a great bloody ordeal that Percy would be more than happy to never repeat. It had involved a bit of bribery and a thorough rendition of "I'm a little tea pot" performed by Percy with the proper gestures. By the time Ronald had actually provided the password, Percy had wished he had never come up with this ridiculous idea in the first place.

Stupid Alicia and her stupid bloody...whatever it was.

Percy coughed again and The Fat Lady rolled her eyes towards him in a gesture that confirmed her disbelief in Percy's knowledge of the password.

"Headless Nick," Percy choked and--thank Merlin--it was the correct one.

Percy placed one elegant hand over the top of the fabric covered sphere so that it wouldn't topple out of his hands as he entered the common room. As per the plan, the room was comfortably full of idling students. A quick scan of the room gave no clue as to the location of Alicia Spinett.

"Erm," he started rather quietly. A pathetic attempt that resulted in a second go. "Does anyone know where Ms Spinett is?"

Again no reply, so this time more loudly. "Does anyone know where Ali is?" Four pairs of uninterested eyes dripped over him lazily, then returned to their original focus.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Sonorus," Percy aims a spell at his throat and the next words billow out of his throat, "Where's Ali Spinett?"

Percy feels equal parts embarrassment and pride when the room quiets and twelve fingers point in the same direction towards Ali. Well, at least the Ministry taught him how to get attention.

* * *

[/font]

TAGS !

[/color]Ali
NOTES !Oh let the cheese begin...
COUNT !623
CREDIT !Credit to SUPER ECHO?! of Caution 2.0. Lyrics by Timbaland.[/center][/font][/size]

[Alicia Spinnet]

Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Is this all we get to be absolute

There was simply no reason to appear untidy in front of the others; according to Alicia's mother, Missus Spinnet. Mrs. Spinnet had spent the better half of her existence on this earth bettering her children, in appearance especially. She had instilled them with a sense of pride, regarding appearance and tact.
Ergo, Ali only allowed herself to appear relaxed; or even poorly dressed in the security of the common room. She could hear her mother's course tongue, repeating scoldings over and over in her mind even as she was perched on the large sofa chair. She pushed back those words and redirected her gaze on the text before her.

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

A prickle raced up her spine as she drove through the words; attempting to cling to each one like an exit sign on the freeway. Perhaps another chance to just exit. She lifted a palm to rack through her long dark tresses as she glanced to the words once more, and like the narrator, believing every single statement.
And yet for a moment, that was all they were: words, words, words.
Purposeless and poised on paper to attract a reader; strung together like christmas lights to be beautiful. Alicia prevented herself from groaning at yet another cliche thought; she feared she was subsiding into normalcy.
Perhaps she could brood on the past longer if it had not been so early in the evening. Dinner had already been served and Ali had dutifully skipped out that evening instead to bury her nose into the spine of the novel.

The brunette curled up gently; her sweater, knitted by a talented Mrs. Weasley herself, swallowed her shrinking frame. She glanced at the stitching; wondering if she would ever be as maternal. She didn't believe so; she had never been a particularly kind girl.
"Does anyone know where Ali is?"

Ali's large eyes widened; a shock washing over her as she curled into her chair. What the hell was Percy Weasley doing here?! Was she not blatant enough during their last meeting on the stairwell?
Obviously not; for he was trifling about them. Dear Lord, Fred and George were about here, tousling about the golden and crimson furniture. If they caught wind of this, Alicia would never hear the end. She glanced over her shoulder from where she was curled into a tiny exhausted ball; the fireplace splayed out over the sofa and the light strayed over her terrified cheekbones.
Wait... how exactly had he even gotten the password? Had he had to bri_
"Where's Ali Spinett?"

Shit, shit, shit...
What exactly did Percy believe he was doing? He may have a sharp suit now, but as little respect as before. Ali ducked her head down to the novel, attempting to whip through the next page.
Ignored beings tended to drift away; sans the ghosts, they had a tendency to linger.
"Filled with faces dead and gone. Filled with friends gone now forever. I can't forget so long as I live the night they shot Rosy Rosenthal there....they shot him three times in the belly and drove away."

It only took a matter of seconds for Ali to become terribly engrossed in her readings. She allowed her fingers to stray to her lips, biting the beds of her nails as examined the words. What exactly was she even doing? She hadn't written nor accomplished anything of purpose and the depth, the sheer complexity of the words struck her with a rush.
However, nothing could prepare her for the following epiphany:
Percy Weasley was looking for her. And she was wiping away at her cheeks like a little git.

She groaned in exasperation as Percy neared her. She met his eyes; ashen green, like a light colored stone, flat; smooth. She bit her lower lip; like a silver dollar fish. She spoke clearly, a crack in her tone betraying her as she did not budge to greet him,
"What exactly do you want Percy? Finally figure out that your brother's stole a toilet seat from the bathroom?" She asked this cooly, as if she were not snapping but merely stoic. She glanced downward and froze; suddenly humiliated.

Boris and Beatrice were on her fucking feet. Those damn purple hippopotami looked like a sheer joke on her petite toes.

Tell me everything cause I want to hear
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All we are and all we want


Words I refuse to count
Tagged Percy Weasley
Outfit Click!
Tunes The Only Exception by Paramore
Notes Ali is not a happy girl
Credits! Credits go to IrishEyes of Caution 2.0. Lyrics are Absolute - The Fray. Remove this credit, and I will eat you =D

[Percy Weasley]

SHE'S COLD AND SHE'S CRUEL
BUT SHE KNOWS WHAT'S SHE'S DOING

SHE'S BITTERSWEET SHE KNOCKS ME OFF MY FEET
and I don't want anyone else !

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Percy shuffled awkwardly on his feet, he could feel the eyes of past classmates boring into his sides and--oh Merlin, there was Fred and George. Alicia would kill him. If he didn't die of embarrassment, she would kill him because of her own. Painfully. Slowly.

Merlin, this was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea. How had he ever convinced himself otherwise.

"What exactly do you want Percy?"

Oh sweet surrender, she was wearing her pyjamas. Percy had the sudden image of her as a girl, running through The Burrow in pink pyjamas horrendously reminiscent of this ensemble. Was the shortness of her bottoms really entirely necessary? This whole scene unfurled as ungodly ridiculous. Percy was wearing his Fioravanti, for Merlin's sake. The Fioravanti with a silk tie. Silk. And she was prancing around in...that. With hippo slippers. Hippos.

"Finally figure out that your brothers stole a toilet seat from the bathroom?"

Percy's head shot up to her face--where he probably should have been looking all along--with a look of utter indignation. "They did what now?" Percy's gaze snapped over to his brothers whose grins confirmed Percy's earlier suspicion: Ali was going to kill him. "Wait, no...that's not why I'm here."

Alicia's pure venomous glare made Percy reconsider his presence here. Perhaps it would be best to simply cut his losses and flee from the common room at this very instant. Change his name. Go by Herbert and magic his hair black. Quit the Ministry and live in a cave.

He gripped his gift tightly to remind him why he was here. Percy had gone into a muggle shopping centre for this. He had humiliated himself four ways from Sunday and hadn't even wandered into Hugo Boss for his trouble.

After Percy broke up with Penelope, his mother had sat him down for a long talk about women. In a flurry of disjointed analogies and sharp reminders, she had told him that the only way to really please a woman was to stop trying to please himself. His father, fidgeting with some muggle contraption at the time, had snorted and muttered, 'Women are happy only when their men are miserable.'

He had received Molly's shoe in his face for his trouble.

Percy clenched his teeth. Best to get this over with as quickly as possible. "Is there somewhere," he swallowed thickly, "else we could talk instead of right in the middle of the common room?"

Someone behind them catcalled and he could have avada kedavrad them for the extra bloom of red across his already flushed cheekbones.

Percy's shoulders were up to his earlobes and his jaw creaked from the tension on his molars when he gritted out. "I have something to give you."

He considered thrusting the cloth-covered bowl into her hands and running, but that would be too much in line with what he wanted. If his misery equated with her happiness, then she'd be pretty bloody euphoric at this moment.

* * *

[/font]

TAGS !

[/color]Ali
NOTES !Oh let the cheese begin...
COUNT !728
CREDIT !Credit to SUPER ECHO?! of Caution 2.0. Lyrics by Timbaland.[/center][/font][/size]

[Alicia Spinnet]

Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Is this all we get to be absolute

Completely anal retentive in nature, Ali was the first to quirk a brow at the elder Weasley's ensemble. He was, after all, wearing a silk tie. Silk. She flushed, indignantly at the two identical hippo slippers which peered up at her now in curiosity. The girl bit her lower lip sharply, chewing gently on it, until it stained a delicious cherry red in color. She could not pinpoint the exact brand of suit he wore; she had very little knowledge of mens' clothing in general, but it appeared nice; much more formal than his normal garb.
The only thing Percy's presence caused in her was a swell in her gut and obviously he created silence in a room of Gryfinndors. What exactly was occuring? She had no clue, now as she lowered the emerald covered copy of her novel.

Keep your feet on the ground, Alicia.
The entirety of the room had redirected their attention on the two and Ali flushed out of the sheer humiliation. She wanted to melt into the floor; or maybe even ask Percy to kill her and bury her organs under the floorboards. Perhaps, maybe he could just pity her for once and do her one last favor?
"Is there somewhere else we could talk instead of right in the middle of the common room?"
Keep your head on your shoulders, Ali. Her mouth dropped as a catcall emerged finally from the laughably large crowd of students. She flushed, brilliantly, a pink smearing over her cheeks as she clasped a thin hand over her expression as if to shield her painted cheeks.
He was trying to humiliate her; she knew it. This was ploy, some sort of manipulative plot. She sighed gently as she redirected her gaze away from him as if thinking of something darkly and viciously sarcastic to rebuttle with when suddenly, the boy added,
"I have something to give you."

This statement, of course, caused a dirty stir in the audience; some laughed while boys nudged each other with suggestion. Ali suddenly, glanced back to Percy, noticing his squirming features.
The fourteen year old sitting by the bread basket, appearing miserable, as his father entertained the rest of broad. His thin, pale ginger hair hanging over ash green eyes as he kicked his feet idly under the table with a grimace.
Same boy; new suit.

She said suddenly, standing, still rolling her irises, "Follow me, Princy." It was a mutter until she glared back at the group of fellow house mates. The crowd parted like the red sea for the two as Ali routed back to the spiral stairwell, nestled in the corner of the warm room. Instead of looping upward to the dormitories, Ali dodged down, underneath the main common area. The hippos bobbed up and down mockingly as the two ventured into the basement room; a space that mimicked it's partner common area. Gigantic blood red sofa chairs and a large mantle. Flames licked upward from their place as if protesting confinement as Ali flopped down on a smaller sofa chair; still expansive enough to seat five people. The brunette tossed her ringlets over one shoulder, sniffing the air slightly until glancing over to spy two other Gryffindors.

Maggie McGoan and Wiesel Frank... she wrinkled her nose in distaste before snapping suddenly; shocking the two from their vivid embrace,
"Get out." The two shot up as if fire had been lit beneath them; flushed and bothered as they spied Ali, who merely quirked a fine, but tested brow at them. Maggie offered a quick apology while Wiesel grumbled; figures. Both though, took Ali's subtle hint and fled the place; rattling up the steel spiral stairwell.

Ali redirected her attention back to the standing Percy with a similiar aura; she could not deal with any of Percy's snide remarks. If he weaseled the password out from one of his brothers and subjected himself to humiliation just to bother her, so be it, she would simply end him.
"Fred and George are never going to let this go..." She scoffed before glancing back to him, "So, what did you want, Percy? Because I already feel underdressed for this 'occasion.'" She added almost more gently; a sharpness to her tone but a more sweet manner, as if she were merely tired.

Tell me everything cause I want to hear
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All we are and all we want


Words I refuse to count
Tagged Percy Weasley
Outfit Click!
Tunes The Only Exception by Paramore
Notes Ali is not a happy girl
Credits! Credits go to IrishEyes of Caution 2.0. Lyrics are Absolute - The Fray. Remove this credit, and I will eat you =D

[Percy Weasley]

SHE'S COLD AND SHE'S CRUEL
BUT SHE KNOWS WHAT'S SHE'S DOING

SHE'S BITTERSWEET SHE KNOCKS ME OFF MY FEET
and I don't want anyone else !

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It was seven years ago that a shaking Percy Weasley was ushered onto an abused wooden stool and a filthy hat was shoved over his pink ears. It was seven years ago that he had squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for the hat to put him somewhere, anywhere just as long as he belonged. And when it screamed Gryffindor over the great hall, it wasn't a sense of relief or certainty he felt but surprise.

Gryffindor: brave, strong, loyal, and a little bit dense when it came to the rules.

Percy fit none of the above. Even as a little eleven year old, he knew that. But--and he hoped beyond hope that this was the case--the hat had put him in Gryffindor for a reason. And he would prove that the hat was correct about his potential for bravery.

Well, at the very least he would follow Ali into the basement area despite the low murmur of filthy remarks. It seemed that the public suggestion of provocative activity was well placed as the area was currently housing a couple, well...coupling.

Percy was about to spout his indignant remark, but Ali stole the words from his lips. The two disbanded like bombshell shrapnel. Percy had to admit: he was slightly impressed. He never possessed much command, even as a prefect.

"Fred and George are never going to let this go..." Ah, there was that presence again. Percy bowed his head by way of apology. "So, what did you want, Percy? Because I already feel underdressed for this 'occasion.'"

Percy flushed. Okay, the Fioravanti was a little much. Perhaps he should have stuck with the American cut Hugo Boss two piece and no tie. Or even a tie with an argyle sweater vest. Nothing said casual like argyle.

"I brought you this," Percy coughed and held up his gift awkwardly. He pulled away the fabric carefully, so as not to tip the glass bowl out of his hands. "I hope it's okay. You...you used to have one as a kid, right? You...said that's what you wanted."

He tucked the fabric over the horizontal stretch of his forearm, like a waiter. Percy had only felt this nervous once before, and that was during his job interview for his current position. He felt vulnerable and horribly out of control. He didn't know what to say or do or what to do with his eyes.

So he settled on staring resolutely at the benign silver dollar fish that fluttered like a dream in its little glass bowl. Its mouth gaped pointlessly at the water as it made its lazy circles, sometimes it would jerk out of its cycle in a flurry of panic, but would ultimately return to its lazy route.

"I hope it's okay," Percy repeated softly, extending the bowl towards her, "I've another one at home, should it get lonely."

* * *

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TAGS !

[/color]Ali
NOTES !This is about as adorable as Percy gets.
COUNT !693
CREDIT !Credit to SUPER ECHO?! of Caution 2.0. Lyrics by Timbaland.[/center][/font][/size]

[Alicia Spinnet]

Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Is this all we get to be absolute

And suddenly it was there.
Dangling before her gaze; no, swimming before her gaze, cutting twisted paths through the water; routes created by quick flashes of silver. The scales caught her eyes first; her large oak colored irises scanning the contents of the bowl with decision.
She didn't really know how to accept the fish; the last time she had had one was before her russian blue kitten had swallowed Derek whole. Derek had been the fish; named for her father's current business partner of whom Ali had previously had a crush on.
The russian blue had long ago died and now as Ali brought her tiny palms upward to clasp the bowl, she stared, red lips parted as a horse's might when pressed to water. She stared over the rim of the bowl and into the water, vaguely hearing Percy's words. The coin of a fish terrified by her expression so close to his domain darted about sporadically.

Nothing changed the presence of the fish; Percy had remembered that single statement spewed from her lips during their obnoxious, awkward run-in on the stairwell.
Now he had managed to show up in a suit in order to present her with a gift. What exactly did this mean?
She narrowed her expression at him as he claimed that he had one as well, then redirected her feline-like gaze downward back to the gaping aquatic creature which had now settled about the fake multi-colored rocks that laced the bottom of his bowl.
"What I wanted; really?" Ali couldn't help but release a bark of laughter; her entire frame shook briefly as she leaned forward to place the bowl on the dense; dark wooden table before her. She stared at it's shaken expression; if a fish could have an expression before glancing back to the red-headed lad that stood before her.

"You bought me a fish, Percy? And you bought one for yourself as well?" Her tone was sharp but low in volume as if she were processing the thought before she stood and sauntered incautiously before him. "This is a joke, right? Most men would bring flowers or candy or some sort of card, but you dare to be original and get me a fish. By the way, you nearly killed Derek once when you crashed into me as a kid in the hallway of your house! I spilled the bowl everywhere and cried and you snidely told me that it was just a fish! Now, you bought me another one? What for? So that you have a repeat offense and enjoy it?" Ali stared wide-eyed at him as she spoke; realizing that her words were absurd. Everything about her was absurd when Percy was involved; the boy managed to wiggle into her mind and pull every single wire from the proper outlet, causing her to spew words faster than a racehorse could bolt from it's starting gate.
"You just want to humiliate me by attempting to kill Derek II! By proving that I would fail as a pet owner!"

She let out a breath and examined the shocked expression of Percy Weasley before her. His normally well-groomed hair was disheveled and she gasped gently when she saw his wide eyes and how they managed to mirror her own at the moment.
Before she could apply any other thought, her toes stretched forward, leaning upward to lift her frame closer to his own. Her lips caught his own, pulling against their part gently, in a chaste kiss of gratitude. It was an action that required not one brain wave and one that would spurn a ridiculous repercussion.
Something deep within the pit of her stomach burst and she felt a heat flood to her lips and countenance. It took all her energy to keep herself from pushing even physically closer.
Ali was not a little girl anymore; she was a woman who took what she wanted; at that particular moment, she had wanted to actually thank him. His fingers had clasped only briefly about his neck as she pulled away from the kiss, the taste still lingering on her lips.

"I..." she felt the strands of his red hair, short in her palm, which caused her nails to graze his skin. "Thank you."

Tell me everything cause I want to hear
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All we are and all we want


Words I refuse to count
Tagged Percy Weasley
Outfit Click!
Tunes The Only Exception by Paramore
Notes Ali is not a happy girl
Credits! Credits go to IrishEyes of Caution 2.0. Lyrics are Absolute - The Fray. Remove this credit, and I will eat you =D