Closed To Your Heart's Content

[Eamon Tulloch]

It was well after dinner when the two of them reached the doors to the kitchen and the Gryffindor was sure that the curfew would start anytime soon. He wasn't too worried about the curfew, however. They had raided the kitchen before in the past and most times managed to get away again well before anyone would show up to check if there were any students in there. Eamon opened one of the doors to peek inside to see if anyone else was here beside the elves, and when he was sure that they were all good, pulled the girl inside with him. ''So what are you thinking of having? I'm thinking,'' he turned around to look at the leftovers from dinner on the tables and pointed at a plate with chicken legs. ''chicken legs and maybe pork chops? Jesus Christ, I'm starving.'' Walking straight toward the table, the boy let go of his friend's hand. He started putting the food on one collective plate and asked one of the elves who had approached them if they had anything he could wash it down with. He certainly missed this part of the castle in his absence.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia sighed as her friend dragged her along, and she didn’t have much of a choice as he still held her hand so she couldn’t just change her mind and disappear in her common room. Not that she would do that to Eamon, but still... somehow he had convinced her to join him as they raided the kitchens, the fifth year watching with mild amusement as the Gryffindor scoured the cupboards and fridge to see if he could find the food he was craving. "Oh, uh... I don’t know. Guess I’ll have what you’re having," she shrugged. Normally, the girl would watch out for fat foods and her weight, but right now, she needed any food she could get her hands on. She wasn’t about to admit it out loud, but she desperately needed to eat something. She frowned when she noticed there was only one plate. "So, I’m assuming we’re eating together?" she asked, folding her arms. She was too hungry to object, but she was curious.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon thanked the elf when it came back with two cups of pumpkin juice, and turned around to give one of them to Lavinia. He liked the elves, they never argued with him when he asked if they could prepare him a snack. If only his family knew about the wizarding world... he wouldn't have to worry about whether they'd be having dinner or not every night. In his haste to gather as much food as he could, the Gryffindor hadn't picked up a plate for his friend, so when she asked if they were sharing, he nodded and just went along with it. ''Why else did you think I've put so much on it?'' Eamon asked, putting down his cup of pumpkin juice on one of the worktops so he could put more food on his plate - the elves had overheard him talking about what he was craving for and had prepared pork chops whilst he was asking around for drinks. Once he had everything he wanted, the Gryffindor walked back to Lavinia and smiled brightly. ''Dinner is served.''

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

As Eamon handed her the juice, her stomach rumbled and she looked at him with an awkward smile, mumbling a quick ‘thanks’ as she took the cup from him. Of course, the fifth year had noticed the amount of food he had put on one plate, but she had to ask. If anything, he could have simply requested two plates and shared the food that way, but if it was easier eating from one plate then she wasn’t about to complain. The less dishes the elves had to wash, the better. She punched her friend’s arm playfully. "Don’t be such a smarty-pants," she chided, but had a small smile on her face. Despite everything, he knew how to cheer her up without even trying. Plus, his smiles were contagious. "Thank you sir," she said in an attempted firm military voice and proceeded to take a bite out of a pork chop. "Oh man, I’ve missed this food," she tried to say while chewing a mouthful.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

Eamon laughed softly when she punched his arm, happy that she appeared to be cheering up a little. He saluted her before he grabbed himself one of the chicken legs and tore off the meat with his teeth. ''I know right?'' he said after he swallowed it away with a sip from the cup of pumpkin juice. ''I forgot how good this food is.'' It definitely beat his mother's homemade stew or bangers and mash. Thinking of mashed potatoes, the boy turned around to look if there was still any left from dinner. It'd be cold by now but he didn't necessarily mind that. After several minutes of eating in silence, enjoying the meal and smiling at his friend whenever they made eye contact, Eamon asked, ''How's Hogwarts been in my absence? Found anything interesting while I was gone?'' Maybe they could eventually start exploring the castle again like they used to do years ago.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia simply shook her head at Eamon as he munched on his food, amused at how happy and excited he looked just at the sight of all of it. Maybe he hadn’t eaten, or he was just always hungry - knowing him, it was definitely the latter. She had definitely missed this. And him, of course. She automatically smiled when they made eye contact, and she felt a type of warmth she had never felt with anyone before. She blinked, trying to clear her thoughts. The girl didn’t know what that feeling meant, but she wasn’t about to analyse it. She felt more than relieved when Eamon asked simple questions and didn’t pry about what happened this past winter. She really couldn’t handle it right now, it was still too early to say much. "Well..." she hesitated. Should she tell him about dropping Quidditch entirely? "They changed professors quite a lot," she tried, though it wasn’t the most interesting topic. "My cousin Sara got prefect two years ago, she’s still playing Quidditch, and my other cousin Athena got named president of the sisterhood with one of her classmates." Beyond this, Lavinia really hadn’t been involved in dramas or gossip, she wasn’t interested. "I also made a new friend," she said carefully. "Her name’s Kira."

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

He had seen this change of professors himself when he entered the Muggle Studies classroom. He expected Professor Phillips, but instead, he found someone completely new waiting for them in the classroom. Eamon listened as she went on to tell him about her cousins. While he didn't know Lavinia's cousins as well as he knew her, he was still happy for them. ''How about boyfriends?'' the Gryffindor asked, raising his eyebrows playfully before tearing another piece of meat of the chicken leg. He admitted to himself that he was rather curious to know whether she had been dating someone in his absence or not. He certainly hadn't. He hardly had time to hang around with his muggle friends so dating anyone was out of the question, but now that he was back at school perhaps he would give it a go.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia half expected her friend to shrug and then just eat his food, like he seemed to be doing it a lot at the moment (to which the fifth year smiled absent-mindedly). She took a sip of her pumpkin juice but the timing was all wrong as Eamon asked her about boyfriends. She spit out her drink, before she quickly wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Ahem," she cleared her throat, shocked he would ask such a thing. Of course, it was probably normal that he would think that, and by his tone he seemed to be joking but that did not stop the puff from being surprised. "And why do you assume I’m attracted to guys?" she said with wit, waggling her eyebrows in return. Lavinia was humouring him but she wanted to see how he would respond to that.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

He almost choked on his food from laughter when the Gryffindor saw his friend spitting out her drink because of his question. It was good to know that it took her by surprise as he was sure that would mean something. He continued to eat while he waited for her to answer him, grinning the whole time. ''You're not?'' he asked surprised before drinking the last of his juice. ''Huh, alright, well then who's the lucky girl?'' waggling his eyebrows back at her. He shouldn't have assumed that she would be straight but he could hardly imagine her being into girls. Of course, he hadn't seen her for two and a half years so who knows what Lavinia would be into these days?

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia grinned at her friend, momentarily forgetting about the tragedy as they talked, and mostly fooled around. The brunette had not been serious, but apparently Eamon took it that way. She laughed. He had been fooled, poor guy. Though if Lavinia had been in his position, she probably would have been sceptical about it too. "Didn’t know I was that good at acting," she joked, seeing the Gryffindor’s surprised expression. "I’m actually not into girls. I am into guys," she cleared the air, taking her sweet time to reply to his question. "And no, I haven’t dated anyone while you were gone," she admitted. "But I’m curious - did you see anyone?" Lavinia didn’t know what he had been up to while out of new zealand. It could’ve been that he had someone, or had had someone.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

''Oh, ha-ha,'' the Gryffindor boy said, shaking his head in disbelieve over the fact that she just fooled him. Glad to see her joking around with him, he laughed at his own foolishness. He shook his head once more, though this time to give an answer to her question. ''No, too busy with school and stuff, you know.'' he lied, he didn't want her to know that he missed two years of education just yet. Eamon was about to ask Lavinia something else when one of the elves approached them with another plate - the one he had been looking at before they started eating the chicken and the chops. He thanked the elf and took the plate with mashed potatoes and spoons that come along with it from it or him or her, whatever the elf was. He did not plan to eat the potatoes though, no, he had had enough mashed potatoes back home, this was for something that would for sure keep his friend distracted from whatever had happened. It was cold still, which was a good thing for what he was about to do. He scooped some mash on the spoon, and without giving her a heads up, aimed for her head and flicked it off the spoon.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

sorry for the delayed reply

Lavinia simply stuck her tongue out at her friend when he realised she had been kidding. Of course she was an expert at messing around with her closest friends and relatives, didn’t they know that already? She grinned at him when he laughed, sincerely feeling a lot better about the past few months than she had all week. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at his answer, not believing him, but letting it slide because honestly, if he had something to hide he probably wouldn’t be able to hide it from her for very long. Besides, if she pressured him into telling her what was on his mind, she’d be a total hypocrite. "Sure, I know," she shrugged. "Ooooh," she said, her mouth watering at the sight of the mashed potatoes even though they had literally just eaten. "Are those for - " she stopped mid-sentence when she felt something hit her face. That, she hadn’t seen coming. "Yum," she said bitterly, but then decided to scoop a bit of mash from her face with her finger before licking it off. "Man, couldn’t have asked for anything better." She eyed Eamon. "Don’t think you’ll get away with this," she said, suddenly bringing all of her weight forward as she tackled the Gryffindor to the ground.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

He laughed as the mashed potatoes hit the girl in her face, thinking that it very much severed her right for making him look like such a fool. He liked this. He liked having fun with her and not caring about anything. He was ready to do it a second time, but before he could even move, was tackled to the ground by Lavinia. Still laughing, even more so now that she was on top of him, Eamon tried to reach for the plate of mash he let slip so he could cover her face in it. Upon seeing that it was spread across the floor, however, he got a better idea and stopped struggling to release himself from her grip. Eamon scooped some of the mash up with his hand and smeared it out across his face. ''And there's more where that came from,'' he said in between laughs.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

Lavinia was admittedly beginning to have fun again, but it almost felt like she should be punished somehow for feeling this way. She felt guilty, her sister was gone and would no longer be able to do the things she had always wanted, and here the fifth year was, having fun. Was it allowed? Pushing these thoughts far at the back of her mind, she grinned at her friend, desperately wanting to forget the winter break momentarily. "Oh please, as if you could get free from my grip," she said smugly, feeling rather strong as Eamon finally got the logic and stopped struggling. She giggled when he covered his own face in mash too. She scooped some off his cheek with her finger before eating it. "It’s still good," she said after a moment with a shrug. "We could probably scare off the next person with these good looks," she joked.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

He didn't exactly know why he had just smeared mashed potatoes all over his face, now he would have to take a shower before going to bed, but at least Lavinia was giggling which was why it was worth doing it. While he didn't know what was going on, though hoped to know soon so he could help out, he could see that him being an idiot was helping to distract her from it. He chuckled at what she said and nodded, ''Well, I would probably scare off the next person, you, on the other hand,'' the Gryffindor said whilst scooping up more mash, ''still look pretty.'' And with a grin spreading across his face, Eamon also smeared mashed potatoes over her face. ''That's better, now both of us would scare them off,'' he said, laughing softly.

 

[Lavinia Benivieni]

This wrestling seemed a bit difficult with mash all over her face and clothes, but Lavinia didn’t back down from a challenge. Never. She was all the more determined to come out as winner in this...whatever it was her and Eamon were actually doing. And was winning even the right word? Her stomach gave the tiniest of flutters when he complimented her. Was it normal? a small voice asked at the back of her mind. She pushed the thought far back. Now was not the time to analyse her thoughts and feelings. “Thanks, I think this make-up does suit me,” she played along, referring to the mash on her face. She blinked a few times repeatedly, then chuckled. "Oh, so you...” she trailed off, her cheeks a tinge of red. She decided maybe finishing that sentence out loud wasn’t appropriate. So you think I’m pretty, she finished silently. “You’re right, maybe this should be our Halloween costume.” Lavinia grinned at the thought of her and her best friend going around the school spooking people.

 

[Eamon Tulloch]

If Eamon had seen the change of colour of her cheeks he would have realised that he might have said something inappropriate, but seeing as her face was covered in mashed potatoes, he did not. Instead, he frowned as she trailed off, wondering what she would've said. ''The Abdominal Mash Monsters,'' the Gryffindor replied, ''Does have a ring to it.'' He only now remembered that celebrating Halloween was a thing here and for a slight second worried about what he would be wearing - something simple and easy to come by, most likely. He resumed his struggle for freedom and found it, at last, rolling over so he would be on top. ''There, I won.'' He said, flexing his muscles and grinning widely. He stood up and extended out his hand so he could pull her up. It was surely past curfew now, and if anyone would see them in this state, they'd both be in detention without a doubt. ''Let's get back to our common rooms, shall we? We've been here longer than we should have been,'' he told his friend, though smiled as this was probably the most fun he had in past few months. Still wondering what she would've said and why she stopped before finishing her sentence, Eamon walked out of the kitchen with her and bid Lavinia goodnight once they reached the fourth floor.