Tide Me Over (closed, with Irridatedwarden)

[sumurset]

He was bored out of his mind.


Which was typical, especially during the evening, after everyone's classes were over, and before dinner had begun. There was nothing for the poor boy to do, and frankly, his fellow Slytherin "pals" didn't appeal to him. After making friends with the odd, rag-tag bunch of nerds in the infirmary, Mark had grown quite fond of compliments.


Those were rather lacking when it came to his house. People were far too worried about themselves to consider praising a peer. Though he didn't mind. He did the same thing.


Tonight it seemed his little crush for Fi was rearing its ugly head. He didn't like that thoughts of her were interfering with his studies, but really, he wasn't going to fight it too hard. No one had actually managed to hold his attention long enough for him to become interested. Frankly, they were all either too ugly, too dull or not nearly skilled enough for his tastes.


I mean, how could you hold a conversation with someone who couldn't properly hold their wand.


These things plagued his mind as he walked briskly towards the Ravenclaw commons. Upon reaching the door, he cursed. Right. Riddles.


"What is the antidote for every poison?"





Mark dead-panned at the door, staring at it with irritation. Really. Was this door so necessary.


Regardless, he would have to answer if he wanted to get through.


With a sigh, he considered the question with a furrowed brow before saying,


"There is no one antidote for every poison."

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The brass knocker in the shape of an eagle stared unblinking at Solomon. It seemed to be thinking, contemplating the answer. After a moment, there was a click that broke the silence and promised that Mark would be able to get out of the drafty stairwell.


The common room was large and round, cool colors and drapes giving the sense that it was always evening, something heightened by the fact that the dome shaped ceiling had stars painted across it, enchanted so they shifted in time with the real stars. The large marble fireplace roared on one side of the room, keeping the empty room warm and comfortable. From the back of one of the largest, plushest chairs, a leg could be seen dangling off the arm. Felicia had long ago abandoned her shoes, opting to let her stockings keep her legs warm as she was too lazy to change out of her skirt just yet. Her dowdy vest and button up had been replaced with a pastel sweater and she was the very vision of comfort.


Where the other Ravenclaws were, she couldn't say. Perhaps they had gone off to study something out in the court yard, or maybe they were hiding in the library aggressively trying to finish a research paper about her favorite subject: Curses.


She had finished that the day it was assigned, granted, she might have known a bit too much about curses as it was.


Still, she wasn't complaining, she was happy to have the common room to herself.


Idly, she flipped through her book and didn't look up when she heard the hatch click as it unlocked.


"Kir?" She called out.

 

[sumurset]

Mark quietly made his way over to her, thankful that the commons didn't seem very occupied. He disliked the looks of confusion and curiosity that followed him anytime he decided to visit.


It wasn't until he was standing just behind Felicia that he spoke.


"I hope you don't mind my visit, I was rather lonely."

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Felicia had been expecting the quiet voice of Kir to greet her rather than the much more masculine sound of Mark. She scrambled to sit up properly and turn to face him and, in the process, managed to throw her weight off of the chair and she slipped right off the seat and onto the floor. In an awkward scramble of limbs and trying to make sure she didn't break the spine of her book, Felicia managed to land face down, text pressed against her chest to keep it safe.


Of course, the price for that was a bit too much to pay as she noticed just how warm the fire was on her legs and how the pleated skirt had twisted up and around to an unhealthily short length.


She screamed.

 

[sumurset]

He really hadn't meant to startle her. In fact, his goal had been to gently inform her of his presence. When she gasped and fell to the ground in a whirl of purple hues, he watched with horrified fascination as her skirt road up and displayed her pink panties.


His eyes widened, the amber orbs showing themselves proudly. A gasp to match Felicia's escaped him.


It was after a moment of processing the situation that he remembered it was incredibly impolite to stare at a girl in such a compromising position.


A furious blush covered his cheeks and he covered his eyes; letting out a scream to match her own.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

She was screaming.


He was screaming.


And behind all of that noise, Felicia thought she could hear the bronze knocker screaming.


In her raw panic Felicia threw the book and twisted on the floor like a worm as she tried to wrangle her skirt back down. That done, she scrambled to her feet, socks slipping on the stone, and sprinted off to the dorm rooms.


She screamed all the while.

 

[sumurset]

Mark simply stood where he was, hands still covering his face as she ran off. He heard her socked feet padding over the floor in muffled panic. His own panic was not so quiet.


He remained static, mouth open in a terrified yell. He wasn't saying anything. There was only noise; a raw one, one that perfectly captured the spirit of a scared and aroused young man. Over his own yelling, and the concentration he was giving the image that was now burnt into his retinas, the Slytherin didn't hear the yelling knocker. Nor did he hear the footsteps of another coming to join the mess of embarrassment.


When he was absolutely sure Fi had left the room, he parted a few fingers to look in the direction she left. She wasn't present, so he relaxed; letting his arms fall back to his sides. A long sigh escaped him after he stopped screaming.


A look down only had his blush darkening.


He groaned in embarrassment, hoping she hadn't seen... his situation.


In the case she came back, he crossed his hands in front of himself before walking over and sitting down on the couch; pulling a pillow onto his lap.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Kir could hear the chaos half way up the stairs. Frowning, she was torn between annoyance and panic. With Tristan in their lives, there was always a lot of screaming, but this, for once, didn't sound like him. Lugging her rucksack of books up the final few steps the noise seemed to quiet down though the bronze knocker was still making a shrill sound. Pushing the door open she stepped into the common room.


She had expected to see Felicia, had expected to grab her friend and go down to dinner, yet, Felicia wasn't anywhere to be seen.


Mark, instead, had taken her place and he looked rather pink in the f ace and a touch out of breath.


In the distance, she could still hear faint sounds of panic.


Her gaze landed on the Slytherin.


"Do I want to know what you did?"

 

[sumurset]

Mark turned his gaze to focus on Kir and suddenly the blush was gone, replaced as he blanched.


Oh he felt ill.


"I... wouldn't ask."


He sighed; bending forward to hide his face in the soft pillow.


This would be the death of him.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Kir stared at him for a long moment. He looked mortified which was, in a sick way, a bit amusing.


Not that she'd say that. Instead, she offered the very smallest of smiles in an attempt to be comforting.


It probably didn't work.


"I will go talk to Fi and see if I can get her to come out. I am sure she will tell me, after all."


With that, she sat her bag down and started for the girl's dormitory, leaving Mark to sulk in whatever chaos he had caused.

 

[sumurset]

He was tempted to protest, to tell her not to go in. This was something they would never let him live down and he knew it


It hadn't been on purpose, of course. Scaring her wasn't his intention. He merely wanted to give her a few moments longer to read.


Mark knew very well how much she enjoyed reading.


Instead, however, he remained silent; face pressed into the pillow as though he was drowning and in desperate need of its air.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The silence in the room dragged on and on as the minutes ticked by. Calming down a socially awkward neurotic witch wasn't the easiest of tasks. With a handful of tissues and deep breathing exercises, Felicia felt her face start to cool down once more. She was mortified, of course.


Mark had seen her undies. Her undies, the stupid pink lacy things she wore because no one would ever see them.


God she thought she was going to faint.


But Kir stopped that as well with the promise that she'd feel better once she got some food in her.


Felicia calmed once more, Kir opened the door and gently took her friend by the arm and lead her out.


"Mark? Are you going to come join us for dinner or just drink your tears for the night?"


The comment was enough to make Fi smile a little.

 

[sumurset]

"I was not crying."


Mark, ashamed and petulant, followed after the girls. The mortification had killed his awkward boner. He just felt horrible now.


Dragging along behind him, the tall boy sighed.


"I.. didn't see anything. Just. So you know." What a liar.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Kir lead the way down the stairs, arm still wrapped around Felicia to give her an anchor, something to hold on to before she could start to panic again.


She knew it would work on Felicia mostly because it worked on her as well.


At his comment, Felicia glanced back at him. Her cheeks were still red with embarrassment and looking at his face filled her with a new sense of mortification.


That in mind, she looked forward once more, taking quick steps down the seemingly endless stairs.


"I- it is okay, nothing happened."


She could just pretend it wasn't real, right?


Right.

 

[sumurset]

"W--"


He quickly realized that, perhaps, he should refrain from talking about what had just happened. It was Fi's bright red complexion that prevented him from finishing his thought.


Mark simply cleared his throat and followed them.


The rest of the night followed rather normally. Mark parted from the girls when they entered the Great Hall, going to sit with his House.


After dinner everyone went back to their dorms to shower, finish homework, and finally sleep. Admittedly, sleeping wasn't the only thing Mark enjoyed as he laid in the dark, under the covers; eyes closed as he focused on other things.


For the rest of the week he tried to give Felicia as much space as possible. Though being away from the curly-haired girl who smelt faintly of lavender and paper was like torture, he managed. It was even easier to do homework and write papers with no shenanigans to think about.


It wasn't until that weekend, Saturday, when everyone else was at Hogsmeade that they finally met. He was sitting at a table in the library, pouring over Charms books when Felicia approached him. When she cleared her throat, he looked up; brows raising. He closed the book he was reading on impulse.


"Oh, Fi. Hello."

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The rest of the week was quiet for her. Her time was spent mostly dealing with her classes, trying to finish up whatever classwork she had before Toad Choir. They were gearing up for the winter season, ready to go sing through Hogsmeade in an attempt to show off their skin and all they had worked for. With all that on her mind, it was easy to forget about Mark, about the incident, when she was busy.


She had processed the information by Saturday, had told herself that it wasn't that big of a deal, that it would only be worse if she kept making it a problem.


It was awkward for the both of them, besides, Mark was probably over it already.


That in mind, she gathered her things and headed off to the library while Kir busied herself on the Quidditch field for extra practice. They were less than a week away from a game against Hufflepuff and even Felicia felt the anticipation and rare anger for the king House bubbling in her veins.


She ignored that as she slipped through the shelves towards the back. When she found Mark, she hesitated before stepping close to him. When she cleared her throat, he looked up.


She smiled.


"Ah, are you still going to help me with my Astronomy work this weekend? I understand if you do not wish to but I...thought I should ask."

 

[sumurset]

He'd forgotten. Of course.


The activities of the week had distracted him, and their study date had been mowed over.


Mark smiled, gesturing to the chair beside him.


"Did you bring your books? I... may have left mine in the dorm."


He offered her a sheepish expression as he tucked his books away; turning to focus his attention on the girl.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Lifting her leather messenger bag, she sat it down on the table before moving to sit beside him. She didn't keep a healthy distance between them but, rather, sat as close as she usually did. She told herself this was better, that if she acted like everything was normal it would be.


The witch withdrew her books and parchment, uncorking her ink as she searched for a quill.


"Lucky for you, I am always prepared."


Or, mostly always. When it came to studying, she always was.


"Have you had a good week, by the way?"

 

[sumurset]

He chuckled, watching as she took out her quill and ink.


"I have. It's been busy, what with the papers and tests Dumbledore keeps assigning us."


It wasn't said spitefully, no. He loved Dumbledore. The headmaster was nothing if not too kind. The only reason they were being swamped with work was thanks to the NEWTs coming up before holiday. The old professor just wanted to be sure they were prepared. Mark liked that he saved the most important information until just before the big tests rolled around.


"What about you?"

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The NEWTs, ah yes, the tests right before she was free for a few merciful weeks. She was excited to head home again, to see her parents and have a bit of time to relax before she started to get a head start on her studies once more.


Felicia was never away from her books for long.


In truth, she wasn't too worried about any of her classes save for potions. Slughorn, at this point, seemed to be more scared of how badly she could mess up a simple potion than anything.


"My week has been good if a bit busy. It is times like this I wish I had not taken so many extra classes."


She dipped the nib of her quill in the ink and pushed her hair back and over one shoulder to keep it out of the way.


"Do you know what you are doing for the holiday, Mark? I heard Kir is going to get to go back to Russia for a visit."

 

[sumurset]

"Most likely going home to stay with my father. I won't be doing much.


"Shall we get started on your studies, or would you rather just talk?"


He sounded amused. Which was good, he felt relaxed. He'd been stressing about what might happen the next time they visited.


Luckily they just fell back into the roll of things.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

"Alas, for as lovely to talk to as you are, I need to try and get this out of the way so I can go help set up the decorations." That said, she flipped the book open, fingers dancing along the pages until she found what she was looking for, that being the affect planets have on emotion as well as magic. A bland subject if anyone was to ask her.


It was still better than potions.


And, yet, for as eager as she was to get this out of the way, something he said gave her pause.


She glanced to him, biting her lip in thought.


"I am sure it is....forward to say, but if you want, you are more than welcome to spend the holiday at my house."

 

[sumurset]

Mark had focused on the book, perking up a bit when he realized what topic they were looking at. This one quite interested him. He enjoyed the way magic tied in emotion with the stars, validating muggles' horoscopes and zodiacs.


Her question had him looking at her with surprised bafflement. His brows were raised, and for a moment, he said nothing.


"That.. doesn't sound unpleasant. I've never stayed at anyone else's house before. At least, not after coming here to Hogwarts."

 

[Interstellar Bun]

He looked so shocked by what she had offered and it wasn't until she heard hiss answer that she understood. In a way, it was such a common thing to her, going over to the homes of those she called her friends. The idea that Mark hadn't done that was odd and almost sad to her.


She had brought both Tristan and Kir home before after all and, had Tristan not been going off with Kir to Russia, she would have brought him along again.


"You have not? Oh, well, I assure you that you would be very welcome should you decide to take me up on that offer. My parents have always been quite welcoming towards my friends."

 

[sumurset]

He nodded, thinking it over. If he went, he wouldn't be able to tell his dad. His dad would freak out. Perhaps he would go, and send a letter, just so his father knew he hadn't died.


"I suppose--since I imagine it would be better to know sooner rather than later--I suppose I could stay. Better than doing nothing, mm?"


Mark quickly changed the topic, however, pulling the textbook closer to them. It was time to discuss the planets and their months of effect.