Closed Dance De-brief

[Felix Layton]

Felix had spent a good portion of the evening just nattering away to Nia in the corridor (or more like listening to Nia natter away) but he wouldn't have had it any other way. After finally saying goodnight to her in the common room, surprising even himself how much he'd enjoyed the night, Felix had abandoned the idea of sleep and left the Gryffindor tower.

Bolting back the way he'd come, he knew he need to give Amory the debriefing. He'd told the Slytherin he'd invited Nia to the Yule Ball, and now he needed to let him know how it had gone, too. He almost caught himself somewhere between the third and second floor, a grin on his face as he realised that for the first time in a long time he felt as though perhaps he wasn't as broken as he thought he was. Sure, the thought of being with anyone with any depth of emotion was terrifying, but maybe if he kept practicing being open with his friends, he could expand on that too. What had surprised him most of it all was how the wave that usually felt as though it was a punch to the stomach, knocking him off balance and feeling unwell, never seemed to surface as it had in the past. Felix didn't want to get ahead of himself, but that had to be a good sign.

He'd legged it through the dungeon, not having a clue whether Amory was still at the Ball or not but hoping that eventually he'd find him before he went to sleep.

 

[Amory Raven]

Amory wasn't over the betrayal of his best friend yet, leaving him to attend the thing alone. Though he supposed that'd be only fair given he'd attended so many events with Rose and left Fifi to attend he events alone. It was still rude though, but really he was just kidding. He was glad Felix had a date for the evening and really hoped the Gryffindor had had a good time. Having heard all about his many adventures including the opposite gender had made the Slytherin feel surprised when Felix had told him about the girl Mania. He sounded different when talking about her than he had when he'd told her about those other two girls Amory had never met.

Making his way down to the dungeons, fully meaning to get into bed and pass away for the evening, Amory had both hands tucked into the pockets of his trousers. He was whistling to himself when he caught a glimpse of none other than his lordship, Felix Layton. "My my, to what do I owe the pleasure mi lord? I would have thought that you'd be too busy with your date to even remember little old me." He spoke in a serious tone with a hand on his chest, but there was a grin on his face. He had lost sight of the Gryffindors after they'd had a drink by the tables and thus had no idea what had gone down with the two.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felix heard the whistling before he saw his friend. He picked up the pace and darted in the direction of it, hoping to catch the fourth year before it was too late. "Ohmygod, I made it," Felix was out of breath, because training for Quidditch didn't exactly help much with his cardo strength. He bent forward, resting his hands on his knees as he took a moment to catch his breath, his cheeks flushed, "Yeah, no," It was an effort to get the words out. "She just went to bed," he told him, finally walking closer and giving him a playful slap on the arm, "Little old you could've waited," he teased, not actually expecting Amory to have come looking for him given the situation, although how could he have thought waiting until morning was any better? "How was your night?" Amory hadn't gone with Rose this year which was strange, but then given his history who was he to judge what Amory did in that regard. He was exactly an expert.

 

[Amory Raven]

Amory shook his head as he looked at Felix that looked all flustered. "Had I known you'd get this flustered just by my mere presence I would have stolen you from her when I saw you guys having that drink." He joked a little further before going to sit on a bench on the corridor. Clutching at his chest again he wiped a fake tear with his other hand. "Only remembering me after she's gone? You wound me," it was fun being dramatic. "My night? Nothing too special, now tell me how'd it go?" He was much more interested how his night had gone, because frankly Felix had seemed excited for it.

 

[Felix Layton]

"You're lucky I remembered at all," Felix grabbed Amory's sleeve, pulling him further down the corridor in case any of the other Slytherin's decided to pop out of the door just then, especially those that were a redhead and knew Nia well. The Gryffindor had asked about Amory's night out of politeness, but it would have been a lie to say he wasn't bursting at the seams to tell him what happened too. "Nothing special? Ah I'll go with you next time," Felix checked over his shoulder a final time before turning back to the boy and lowering his voice. "She kissed me!" Felix's face was lit up like a Christmas tree, nothing like the usual nonchalant announcement one would have been accustomed to in this situation. He needed to back up, "She sort of, told me what she thought of me," the blonde continued to pull Amory down the corridor with the giddy excitement in his voice before finally pausing to face him properly, Amory knew what happened with Amelia and what had made it so awkward, so he felt like he needed to explain, only he didn't really know how to. He put out a hand, which was shaking just a little, trying to show Amory what he was thinking, given that words were failing him.

 

[Amory Raven]

Had Amory been petty instead of dramatic he might have kicked his friends leg but lucky for him he only got a gasp. Following the blonde he wondered what hd gotten the Gryffindor so secretive his brows shot up as Felic told him she’d kissed him. Fifi had kissed plenty of girls so the excitement he was showing was surprising. “Wait isn’t she like… the height of a first year? How does that work out?” He asked genuinely curious and wondering. As Felix went further to explain about how the girl had told him something about how he felt about him Anory was a bit confused first, but then he looked down at the boy’s hands and realization dawned on him. “Wait, she told you she liked you?” He asked to confirm. “Did you freak out and thats why you ran all the way down here? OR DID YOU NOT FREAK OUT?” The last part was a whisper yell because if that had been the case then well, god damn.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felic narrowed his eyes at Anory, "What.." Was he really asking for the logistics? "I.. you just have to.. look it doesn't matter," the Gryffindor let out a sigh, wondering whether this was the reason his best friend was single. The fourth year nodded, "Yeah, amongst other things," they'd been nice things too, things that he hadn't really expected to hear about himself. "Shut.. up" Now Anory was getting excited too and Felic was nervous he'd get loud enough for others to overhear, although there was a grin on his face. "I'm not.. I'm okay," at least, he thought he was which was the strange part. "I just think, Nia's really cool, you know? I don't know if it's because we've been friends before this or what but I don't want to run," which was ironic given the moistness of his brow. "Like, yeah she's not my girlfriend or anything and I don't want to make it weird, but it's kinda nice," Felic's was talking quieter still, almost as though admitting out loud to himself as well as his friend, "it's like, Amory she's so, ugh. I could just watch her or listen to her for hours and it's just easy." He didn't think he needed to worry about things getting too serious too quickly, Amelia was probably just a one off. "When she told me she liked me, and I told her I do too," which was a first, "it was just confirmation that we were on the same page, nothing scary." Even the words out of his own mouth were strange to hear.

 

[Amory Raven]

Amory was expecting Felix to explain it so imagine the shock when he said it didn't matter? Of course it mattered. That girl Mania was practically the height of a Minion and Felix the height of Gru in comparison, not that he'd want to know the logistics of those two ever kissing. You know what maybe his best friend was right. It didn't matter and now Amory couldn't wash that cursed image from his brain. Was there any obliviators around? The Slytherin grinned further when Felix told him to shut up but was grinning and then he told him he hadn't wanted to run. "Me oh my? You? Not wanting to run when a girl tells you she likes you? Someone get me a quill and parchment so I can make sure this makes it to the history books!" He was still keeping his tone low but it was a first so it was huge, especially given how notorious his best friend was to fleeing at the moment a girl voiced their actual interest in being with him.

He watched the Gryffindor talk about Mania with an amused expression, it seemed like this girl really had Felix charmed, pun intended. "You told her as well? Merlin, has anyone checked the temperature in hell recently? Might be below freezing, just saying." Amory sported a wicked grin with her jokes as he shrugged. "Seems like you got yourself a shorty, pun very much intended, Layton." He was happy for his bro, that he seemed to actually like the girl even if it wasn't anything serious as he kept trying to make it sound. "Merlin, I never thought you'd like them that much shorter." Yeah he was still not over the fact that the third year was as short as a toddler at this point.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felix had to resist the urge to punch him in the arm and roll his eyes, "It's not like that," Amory didn't have to go and make it weird. It wasn't a big deal, at least that's what the Gryffindor was trying to tell himself. It certainly felt a big deal although he suddenly didn't want to make out it was, because that would make it even more real. "Shut it," Felix did punch him in arm when he joked about writing it in the History books, feeling his own skin crawl with sudden embarrassment. Amory could be a fool and while Felix knew it was only joking, it was still weird hearing it out loud by someone else.

"Yeah okay, whatever," Felix shot back with half a smile, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers. Amory being surprised that Felix had admitted things back to Nia had sent a wave of unease through his body. It was different when he was feeling it in the moment, although he supposed it was true, that wasn't something he'd usually do and if anything, try his best to avoid it. He also hadn't really thought too much about Nia's height but it seemed a safer topic of conversation. "I mean, I don't like her because she's short," Felix shot a glance in Amory's direction, "that's just, how she comes," he shrugged. It was neither here nor there.

 

[Amory Raven]

Amory chuckled to himself when his best friend told him it wasn't like that, but his chuckling came to an abrupt end and morphed into a wince as the very same best friend punched him. Traitor. "Man you didn't have to go and punch me." He muttered as he rubbed the spot Felix had just punched. He best pray it doesn't leave a bruise, not that it would really matter, Amory just would never let him forget the moment the Gryffindor all but battered him on his way to the common room.

Flinging an arm around the boy's shoulders the Slytherin smiled a little with a nod. "Good to know, would hate to hear that my best bro is going around picking and choosing by height, means I still stand a chance." At the end of the sentence his face broke into a big grin and then he chuckled again. Yeah it wouldn't be happening in a million years, they'd thought about it for like a fraction of a second with that too close for comfort almost kiss at Halloween. "Really though, I'm happy for you Fifi." Even if his friend was just having a crush on a girl that had a crush back on him, he was happy for him.