Ride to Greatness

[Eli Winters]

Eli notes his blush and feels an answering blush on her own cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't actually mean to ask that yet. Just kind of slipped out..." She flushes again, going over his words in her head. Did that mean he was interested in her if he was having trouble talking to her? She felt a small grin form on her pretty lips and knew it was too soon to even think of asking him something like that.

She eyes the bottle of soda pop and grins at him. "Couldn't resist huh? You better share. I wasn't able to grab anything before I got to King's Cross. I spent the last week in Diagon Alley remember." She steals the drink from him, and takes a small sip before handing it back to him, the bubbles fizzing in her mouth. She swallows the sip and sticks her tongue out at him playfully.

"And, yes I am michevious. I can't seem to help it. Trouble is in my blood." She says softly, glancing out the window She wondered what time it was, and how close they were to the school. She wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her time getting to know him.

[wright]

Damien nodded to her statement bout asking that at the wrong time. He blinked when his strawberry soda was gone instantly as he was about to take a sip. He looked to the girl as she had not only stole his favorite soda, but sipped from it. When she handed it back, his eyes lingered on her lips where they were moist from the beverage. He lifted one brow as he tuned to look to the bottle knowing her lips were just on it. He shrugged and turned it up not really caring. He gulped three large gulps before capping the other half and handing it to her. "All yours Red." He laughed as he commented on her red hair.

Damien licked his lips tasting his favorite flavor in the world, strawberry. He looked around as he sniffed the air smelling vanilla. He let it pass as the vanilla sugar pops he had in his pocket to. His mother was sorta into making home snacks, candies and deserts, before he had left so he was pretty much loaded up on the stuff. He wondered if she was one to eat sweets. "Do you eat candy?" He asked looking to her as she had stopped speaking.

[Eli Winters]

Eli smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "I'm a female Dami. I love sweets. Don't tell me, you smuggled some in too?" She giggles a little bit at him and shakes her head. At his comment about her hair she pats it. "I like being a ginger. What, don't you think it makes me more becoming and womanly?" She asks, batting her eyelashes at him, playing around a little bit, posing slightly, one hand in her hair, and pouting her pink lips at him.

She can't hold the pose for long before breaking into giggles. She moves a little bit closer to him, collapsing against the cushions still giggling, sending a waft of her scent his way, a sweet mix of vanilla and orchids. She glances at him and smiles again. "So, we eating sweets or what? I would love to try whatever it is you have in there." She opens the bottle of the sweet strawberry soda he had handed over and sips at it, licking her lips afterwards, making them glisten with moisture.

[wright]

Damien blinked before laughing at her pose. "That's funny. What part of a have fair skin and red hair makes your more womanly Eli?" He tilted his head slightly confused. "I see a woman who has red hair but not a red hair who has a woman..." He blinked confusing himself as he shook his head. 'Nevermind that. Anyway, Yes, sweets." He caught a waft of her scent and smiled lightly. She smelled like the kitchen back home minus the orchids. He laughed a bit before pulling a bag of home made candies in two bags from his back pack. He placed them on his leg as he dug around pulling out strawberry flavored hard candy. He smiled looking to the vanilla lollipops, the strawberry hard candy in shapes of tears, and then the chocolate bars.

He smiled warmly to her before nodding, "Have your fill. I've already had enough fruit today and sweets aren't exactly what I prefer but they sedate the cravings some times." He nodded as he looked around the area. He wondered how far off they were from Hogwarts. He wondered how long until he would have to leave her company. She was a new friend and was wanting to get to know her. "So, what do your parents do for a living as muggles?"

[Eli Winters]

At him making fun of her for thinking she was more womanly because she was a redhead, she sticks her tongue out at him. "I suppose you are right. I just always have thought of myself as confident and daring. A woman in charge. Really though, I'm just a stick figure teenager with an awful tendency to get in trouble and somehow not make friends." She shrugs a little bit, the loneliness appearing out of nowhere to gnaw at her heart. She shuts her eyes for a minute and pushes the feelings away, concentrating instead on Dami's voice.

Eli takes the bag of sweets from him, and withdraws a vanilla flavored pop before giving it back to him. She innocently licks it and smiles at the smooth, warm flavor. "Are these homemade? Wow. They are good enough to be at Honeydukes!" She exclaims, laughing a little. They were indeed delicious. She licks and sucks on the pop, making little noises of pleasure in the back of her throat, her green eyes shifting to a deep shade.

At his question she pauses in eating the lollipop to answer. "Ah well actually, my parents are retired now. Remember how I said I came about 10 years after my brothers? Well, they were getting ready to retire then when I showed up. My mother use to joke they spent their sailing around the world fund on my upbringing. My father is retired from the Her Majesty's Army, and worked as a broker/real estate agent for a while after retiring. My mom was just a housewife, though not your ordinary one. She was going to be a painter before she met and fell in love with my strict Army father. In her free time, she still paints." She says, thinking about her family. She felt a small pang of homesickness talking about them, but it was ushered away upon looking at his face again, her green eyes drawn to his blue.

[wright]

Damien smiled at the noises coming from her. Finding it interesting, he watched her while she licked and sucked on his mother's lollipop. He handed the bag to her and smiled. "Think it as a gift from friend to friend." He smiled as he pulled a strawberry up and bit into it slurping the juices as they spilled a bit. He licked his lips savoring the flavor of the homegrown fruit. His eyes lingering on the other fruit in his bowl. He was down to three strawberries left and a few banana slices. He frowned, "Almost out of fruit..." He mumbled before closing the bowl and putting it to the side.

He looked out the window figuring he had a few more hours before they were at Hogwarts. He shrugged as he knew he would be fine until the feast at least. He yawned while running his hand through his dirty blonde hair, blue eyes turning and looking her over. He smiled having listened to her and nodded every now and then. "Sounds very interesting, I don't know what I would do when it comes to surprise children. It would confuse me greatly and make me panic I would think." He said before fiddling with his shirt button.

[Eli Winters]

Eli smiled a little bit at his comment on being nervous and panicky on having a surprise child. She brushes her hair off her face her green eyes catching his looking her way and smiles. "I don't know. I think it could be fun. Though I'm also the same person who hopes I'm done having children by the time I'm 27." She laughs a little and shakes her head.

"I've never been a great planner, but I'm adamant on that front anyways. Usually my plans, if I make them, involve sneaking into Hogsmeade, or skipping a class to go explore the castle. The times that I did make plans like that though, I was caught, quite embarrassingly by the same teacher each time." She laughs a little at the memory and shakes her head.

"So, you spend a lot of time in the Library? I try hard not to, my friends think I'm a nerd enough as it is. Not that I care much what they think about what I'm doing in my free time. I tend to read the most at night, and sometimes when I skip lunch, I'll go to my tree and read then too. Or up in the Owlery, when they are just being a little bit too annoying," she says her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. Her green eyes twinkle in the light and she bites her lower lip a little bit, trying hard not to laugh out loud.

Laughter was something that always came easy to her. It was words and conversation that sometimes escaped her. She trusted too easy, loved too soon, and a slew of other character flaws that she wasn't ready to admit to herself. At least, not in front of this new boy, who she already could tell made her heart beat fast in a good, and exciting way. And she didn't mind it in the slightest.

[wright]

Damien blinked and smiled lightly at her in return when she had caught him staring at her. He wasn't shy, he didn't mind that he was caught staring at her. She was cute, so sue him. He yawned a bit before nodding. "I always thought about skipping classes, Mainly DADA. I could go my whole life without ever seeing that strict stick in the mud Professor O'Sarian." Desmond O'Sarian has been the DADA teacher since the reopening to the school nearly eleven years ago. Damien shook his head and laughed a bit before reopening the bowl which contained his fruit. He pulled a slice of banana out and placed it on his tongue.

Pressing the fruit on the roof of his mouth before he began chewing it. Damien loved the taste of fruit over just about everything else. He sighed contently as he nodded. "I suppose I would want to be done making kids before I am thirty. I would think by then my wife and I would be set with children. Should I actually have a wife, you know?" He fiddled with his shirt before yawning. He wondered if he had any more soda in the bag. He reached over and began to root through his bag thinking to himself.

[Eli Winters]

Eli smiles a little bit at him shrugging off her catching him looking at her. He was obviously confident enough not to be embarrassed. Confidence in a guy her age or thereabouts was rare and she found it intriguing. Especially since it was such a casual confidence, not the kind that usually cropped up if there was confidence to be found at this point of their development. She tilted her head, her eyes shutting slightly as he dug through his bag.

She offers him the strawberry soda from between her legs that she had stolen from him. "Did you need another drink maybe?" She says, her voice soft. She could smell his breath, which was sweet like candy and fruit. She pulled herself back, dropping the bottle into his lap gently, careful not to hurt him. "I don't often drink a whole soda myself. I don't mind sharing, since it was yours in the first place. And I also forgot to thank you for the candies. I really enjoy the taste of them." She smiles and tucks a curl behind her ear.

"Ah yeah, Professor Silver is a bit of a stick in the mud, but truly, I enjoy the class greatly. There's just something about knowing you could be facing danger when having to perform the spells he teaches you. The fact that he was an Auror before of course helps credit him with the kind of fear you should fear when facing an enemy." Her face gets slightly dreamy as she talks about Professor Silver and DADA. It was easily obvious it was a favorite class of hers. Unconsciously, she slips her fingers into his open hand, and starts to touch his fingers lightly with her own, barely thinking of what she is actually doing.

"On the other hand, History of Magic and Arithmancy make me fall asleep. As much as I love learning about our History and what not, I can't help but feel drowsy as soon as I enter the room. I think its the Professor's voice mostly. I heard they finally got a replacement though. Did you sign up for that new class, Ancestral Magic? I've been considering adding it to my own classes..." She says softly, trailing off. She realized she had been kind of rambling at him and flushes slightly. And then she also realizes that without thinking, she had started to toy with his fingers while she was rambling. She slowly untangles her fingers from his, embarrassed that she hadn't realized she was toying with his fingers.

"Sorry..." she mumbles, her gaze falling from his. "Old habit...I tend to touch people too much. Kind of like a confirmation that the person is there. My girlfriends call it an "are you real" complex." She lets her gaze flick away from his towards the compartment door.

[wright]

Damien's hand kept moving around in his bag before he heard her talking about sharing the soda. He looked to it, noting the place it had been sitting. It would probably be hot by now. He shrugged a bit before sitting back up and opening the bottle. His eyes half closed as he took a sip of the warm liquid. His hand twitching when she had began to fiddle with his fingers. Freezing as she messed with his fingers, his lips pulled from the bottle wondering what she was doing. Was she trying to hold his hand? Maybe he was imagining it. He grabbed her hand and held it a moment or two before deciding he wasn't imagining the tiny cool feeling of her fingers on his warm hand.

He had registered she had agreed with him about Professor O'Sarian, though the Professor sometimes went by Professor Silver because of the fact many children weren't able to pronounce his last name correctly. Damien had always found the History of Magic class boring as all hell. It wasn't just the teacher's voice for him. It was the fact the history of magic wasn't appealing to him. Sure, it was something he needed to know he was sure. But it didn't mean he had to like it.

"Ancestral Magic with Professor Black? I haven't decided honestly. It seems like an appealing class but, I don't think it will help me in my path of future I want. My main class that I'll be taking as much as possible is with Professor Parker. I want to get a job dealing with potions when I leave Hogwarts." He said smiling a bit. Potions was his passion. He loved the adrenaline pumped in his veins as he carefully dished out the ingredients to each potion. Taking bits of nothing, to form something potent and glorious. Be it living death, love potion, or what have you. Damien loved brewing potions.

When she pulled her hand away and explained that she had a habit of touching people. She was an odd one, spoke a lot and tried to make sure people were real. He laughed a bit before nodding. "It's alright. Your hands are cool to the touch. Are you always cold or just genetics?" He asked curiously.

[Eli Winters]

She flushes at his question and rubs her hands together on her lap. “I'm not sure why. I'm always chilly to the touch though. My mum and dad think its bad circulation. We never had it checked though, and I don't turn blue, so I doubt it very much. Sorry again for touching. I'm a bit of an odd bird,” she says, chuckling a little.

She tilts her head slightly and flicks her eyes back to his face, a small smile forming on her lips. “So, Potions? Really? Don't tell anyone but I want to be a teacher at the school when its all said and done. Or an Auror maybe. Though, to be truthful I would rather just be a teacher...either Defense Against the Dark Arts or Charms maybe.” She laughs shyly at the confession and shakes her head, her deep red locks fluttering around her face. She brushes a few stray pieces back behind her ears.

“I usually don't open up to strangers, so keep my secret okay?” She says, bumping into his shoulder with hers. Her face is slightly flushed still, her embarrassment at touching him still evident, but it didn't keep her from trying to be friendly with him. Her hands smooth down her skirt again and she lets her gaze fall to her boots, falling into her own thoughts.

Without thinking she quietly speaks up, “I think I must be crazy sometimes. Otherwise I would have more friends I think.” She starts to to twine her fingers loosely together as she makes another confession. “I think people avoid me because I'm socially awkward. I miss social cues all the time. Its really embarrassing to be standing in a group of people and have them all laughing and you going, oh, was that funny? People always stare and shift away when I miss jokes, or talk about things that are sensitive topic matter. Only people that are close to me realize I don't catch them.” She feels tears prick at her eyes and glances up at him. “Ah, here I am, baring my heart and soul to a stranger. See what I mean? No filter, no catching onto most social cues...”

Her voice trails off as her gaze drops to his lips and then wander back up to his face again. She wondered, briefly, if she would ever kiss him. A part of was almost positive it would never happen. But the other part of her longed for it, the part that hadn't had much experience with boys and felt like an outcast almost all of the time. Her hands grip the edge of her skirt, betraying her varying emotions.

[wright]

Damien blinked before tilting his head to the side as she explained the cold hands. He had never expected some one like her who looked so healthy to probably have a bad circulation problem. When she said she doubted it he decided it probably wasn't what she or her parents had thought it was but something unnoticeable. Maybe she just had cold hands and body. He shrugged it off as he listened to her go on and on about it before saying she was sorry about touching him. He smiled warmly to her to assure her he wasn't to offended by her touching him.

She went on about how she wanted to become a teacher or an Auror. Two of the typical jobs most students were looking forward to when they were in school. He knew that becoming an Auror was pretty difficult. He chuckled before his eyes looked down to the soda. His blue pools looking over the moving liquid in the bottle. "I've no clue what I want to be when I graduate but I know that I want to be able to work with potions" He nodded laughing a bit. "I'm a bit obsessed by potions...."

She went on about how she was socially awkward and had tendencies to be the odd one. He didn't mind it so much as she bumped his shoulder. He wondered why she was like this though. what fueled her to be this way. Was it a chemical imbalance? He shrugged before nodding. "Your secret about being open with me is safe." He blinked seeing the tears. He reached his hands up and brushed them away before nodding, "No crying over it. I'm not any better so we make a good pair of pals eh?"

[Eli Winters]

Eli felt the brush of his fingers on her cheek as he brushed away the tears that had finally pushed over the edge. She flushes and flashes him a smile at his comment. "Indeed we are, a good pair." She clears her throat, as her voice comes out huskier with the sound of unshod tears. She reaches up to cup his hand lightly on her cheek before letting it fall away from her face, her green gaze skirting away from his again. She clears her throat once more nervously and feels her hand twitching on her lap. She smooths them over her skirt again and lets out a small breath.

"I'm sorry for crying. I seem to be apologizing quite a bit, don't I?" She tilts her head slightly at this, letting her gaze come back to his again. "Bad habit I suppose. Sometimes I often think if I say sorry enough, it will help with all the other character and personality flaws I seem to have." She wrinkles her nose slightly, before sticking the tip of her tongue out at him, a laugh building in her chest. It emerges as more of a chuckle as she pulls back in her pink tongue, and grins widely at him.

"I know that whatever you do with Potions, you're sure to be great. You seem so interested in it, its hard not to be. Maybe you could work at the Ministry too...or at the Apothecary shop? I'm sure there are loads of other jobs you could find. If nothing else, you could always experiment and make a new potion." She wiggles her eyebrow suggestively, before falling into a small fit of giggles.

All traces of her tears were gone now, and she felt lighthearted again. This guy was someone who understood her problem, and didn't condemn her for it. Another first in her life. Her first and only boyfriend had found her much too strange, and said it often, only to be followed by, you are very pretty though. Thinking about it, Eli realized he had said something similar when they broke up.

She shakes her head free of the memory, and flashes another smile in Dami's direction. "So Dami! What kind of music do you like?" She says softly, crossing her legs, and turning towards him slightly in the seat. She over estimates how close they are and nudges him slightly with her foot against his leg, her thigh pressing against his tightly. She lets her gaze flick down, and then back up at him, a smile burning in her eyes.