Far away from all distress

[Guy Styles]

Guy didn't really make his way to Hogsmeade all that often. He usually didn't have a reason to, his workplace was in Diagon, and he lived in Wendelring, so making the trip to the village next to Hogwarts was a bit unnecessary. So it would be a good question to pose if one were to ask why Guy was even in Hogsmeade on this particular Saturday.

He could have been doing something else, finish writing the new song he started a couple days ago, tweak and fix the guitar solo in the song that he and his one bandmate had worked out, but instead of doing those things he chose to be at the little town, waiting impatiently. He had never been any good at waiting, but the fact that he was waiting for someone in particular made the patience thing that much harder. He stood on the main street of Hogsmeade, walking around a bit and glancing back every so often to the direction he knew Tianne would be coming from. He remembered the trips he used to take to Hogsmeade when he was at Hogwarts, generally he didn't do much but hang out with his friends, and that was exactly what he was doing now. Just hanging out with a friend.

Regardless of what the event was, Guy was pretty excited. It had been a while since he had seen anyone from Hogwarts, and he had wanted to hang out with the seventh year Ravenclaw girl ever since they started talking again. The day was fair enough, windy and cloudy but enjoyable all the same. He wore asual attire including jeans, a long sleeved black tshirt with a gray zip up hoodie over it and a gray and red plaid scarf wrapped around his neck. He warm enough, and kept walking with his hands in his pockets, just waiting...

[[ Tianne ]]

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

As she threw her clothes either side of her, Tianne flopped down on her bed, in an obviously defeated way. Choosing something to wear was never an easy thing for a girl, and thanks to her petite frame, it was even harder for Tianne. She couldn't wear a lot of the things that were in fashion, because it made her look even shorter than her already height deprived five one. Skinny jeans didn't fit her properly, the legs were always too long, dresses were too cold for this weather, although she really had to settle for one of them.

Having chosen to wear a pair of dark blue skinny jeans ( they made you seem slimmer AND taller, all in one ) and a brown leather jacket, Tianne's feet were kept warm in a pair of ugg boots. She didn't have any warm shoes; the ugg boots were as good as it got. Underneath her jacket, she wore a brown, cream, and a mixture of off-whites and pale pinks, singlet top, made of a fabric that was loose and flowing.

As she wandered down the street, her hands clutching nervously at the bag that was ever so carefully placed over her shoulder, Tianne separated herself from the crowd. She knew that it would be easier to find exactly what she was looking for if she wasn't surrounded by a posse of third years, some of which were taller than Tianne. As she glanced around her, Tianne spotted a lone soul standing by himself, someone that she easily recognized, even though it had been so long.

Merely smiling, her feet glued to the spot, Tianne waited to make eye contact with the boy.

[Guy Styles]

Guy rocked back and forth gently on the balls of his feet, glancing around. He was glad that he didn't feel too out of place among his former classmates, he even recognized a couple faces and grinned. He was wondering if he looked a bit paranoid or something, because no one was bothering to come over and say hullo. He supposed they were all too busy and all with their shopping and hanging out. Plus he had changed a bit since his time at the school, he was no longer that awkward gangly Gryffindor lad. He had subtracted a few of his piercings, had somewhat tamed his hair, and was no longer tall and gangly looking. He just looked... older, really.

Guy squinted his eyes against the sun and turned away from the brightness. And just as he did, he spotted her.

His stomach did that awful flip flopping thing that he hated and loved at the same time and a smile lifted his features. She looked as he recalled, petite and cute, dressed stylishly as well. She was... short, too. He smiled as he remembered their short letters poking light fun at the girls short stature. Guy realized that he had just been looking at her with what was probably a big goofy grin on his face, his cheeks flushed slightly and he walked forward to be less awkward looking.

Once he was close enough he called out, " Hey, you. I see you managed to escape with your life. "

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

As she stood, watching the boy, waiting for his eyes to meet with hers, her mind drifted back to the days when he was at Hogwarts. It seemed like so long ago since Tianne had met him out in his boxer shorts, after polar swimming. It had embarrassed the girl quite a bit; one of the main details that she could remember was the heat in her cheeks after she noticed him. And then there was the time when she decided to go polar swimming with him. That was... fun, to say the least. This boy didn't seem to care what anyone thought of him; he just wanted to have some fun, and Tianne respected that.

As she finally caught Guy's eye, Tianne smiled all the more. It was her excited, happy, but slightly anxious smile. She wasn't sure what the boy would say, how he would act, or what they were going to do, but to be honest, that wasn't really bothering her at that very moment. The boy looked so... different. She didn't know how or why, only that he had changed so much.

As the boy walked towards her, Tianne too took a few little steps. "Hey." She said shyly, as she looked down at her shoes, instead of at the boy. "You know me, I can get away with anything." Tianne said, with a small giggle, looking up at the boy. "You look a lot different to when I last saw you. Have I changed? Have I grown?" Tianne asked with a giggle, her hands fiddling in front of her.

[Guy Styles]

This was what he had been looking forward to... But he still felt extremely nervous. He tried to relax himself by saying that everything was fine. And really it was, he was out with a beautiful girl... Well, he wasn't exactly sure if they were out on a date or anything like that, but he did appreciate whatever it was that was going on between them now. Even if it was just friendship, then... he could deal with it. But it was worth a shot.

" That's true. You are, afterall, a Prefect. " A slightly goofy smile spread across his face, excited, nervous and thrilled all at once. It was a pretty crazy place inside his head at the moment. A part of him was in the current conversation, another part reminding him to be polite, and yet another thinking about the first time he had officially met the girl. In his boxers. Thankfully he was fully clothed now, but it was odd... He felt more at ease in his boxer shorts the first time they had met rather than feeling nervous while being fully clothed.

" I'm not toooo different. Really. Same old me. " Guy grinned, then lifted a hand and held it level with Tianne's height, comparing it to his own. It came up to about his shoulder or so. Noticing this, he grinned and lifted his lips in a small smile. " You might've gotten that inch you were beggin' for... You look really pretty... er nice. " Pretty, nice... both were true, he just wasn't sure which was better to say.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

It wasn't that it was awkward being around the boy, it was that she was nervous. Guy had asked her to meet up with him, but she wasn't really sure what that specifically entailed. And to follow on that, she wasn't sure what the feeling of the 'meeting' was. Did the boy think this was a date? Did she think it was? There were many questions swimming around her head, though she knew that they would all be answered in due time. That and the fact that she was in no way about to ask the boy.

As she smiled at the boys comment, Tianne couldn't help but grin all the more at his own. The emotions in his face looked exactly the same as how she was feeling, excited, but nervous, and happy all at once. That was reassuring for the girl; she wasn't the only one that was feeling that way.

"I hope so." She said, as the boy held his hand up, to compare her height to his. She came to his shoulder, something that she probably would have preferred to have not been pointed out, but he didn't seem to think that it was that bad of a thing anyway. As he told her about the inch, she knew that he was joking, Tianne met it with a small fist pump. Tianne smiled at the boy when she received her compliment, her cheeks attempting to brighten, though failing because of the colder weather.

"Aw, thankyou. You look er, nice, too." She joked, copying the boy, hoping that he wouldn't think that she was being rude.

[Guy Styles]

Man, she was pretty. Guy had to remind himself to not stare, awkward eye contact would be no good at all.

He was rather glad that Tianne took his height comment lightly, he hadn't meant to offend of course, and he let out a small laugh at her first pump. Guy wondered if he had over-stepped some line he didn't know about by giving her the compliment, but she didn't seem to mind so he didn't mention it. He couldn't tell if she was uncomfortable or anything, so he just hoped for the best instead.

" Oh, you know... I try. " He flashed a joking grin at her, although he had tried to look nice for the... date or whatever this thing was. And he hoped he had succeeded, too. " So what do you think we should do? We've go some options... if you're hungry then we can go to the Three Broomsticks, or if you feel like shopping or something then we can go wander around and all... " He felt as if they should be doing something, primarily because he felt like moving. He didn't like standing still in general, let alone when he was with someone else.

" What do you think? " he asked with a curious tone in his voice, hoping she would have an idea of what she wanted to do. He wasn't much good at making decisions.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

As Tianne looked up into the boys eyes, she tilted her head on the side. She wondered whether or not the boy had actually tried, whether he gave a crap about how he looked. She hoped he did, for her sake, she'd love to know whether or not boys in general paid as much attention to how they looked as girls. It was an age old mystery, one that Tianne figured she'd never find the answer to.

"Well, we could go and get some lollies." She said, clapping her hands together excitedly, a childish grin on her face. Going to Honeydukes would have to be something she loved most about the trips to Hogsmeade; she always had to get enough goodies to last her until the next trip. But other than that, she loved going into the joke shop, and the Three Broomsticks. Actually, she loved everything about Hogsmeade.

"But after that we can go and get a coffee or something? Or whatever you want." She said, her eyes drifting around the boy, watching the looks that people gave her and the boy.

[Guy Styles]

Guy tugged gently at the gray and red checkered scarf round his neck, more than likely a nervous movement than anything else. He hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt, that would be pretty awful, but as far as he knew he was keeping his cool decently well.

" Some lollies? " he reiterated back to the girl, a small smile on his face. Candy, that was something he could do easily. Honeydukes was just down the road from where they were standing, a simple destination for them. " Sounds great to me. Any particular candy you're interested in? " Guy began to move forward in the general direction of the sweets shop, looking to Tianne as he listened to her next suggestion.

" No, yeah that sounds good. Candy and coffee. " He grinned slightly, imagining walking into the Three Broomsticks with Tianne. He wondered if people would think they were together...? In retrospect it didn't much matter what other people thought, but he was curious. He wasn't even sure what Tianne thought of it all.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

As she played with the cord that was hanging loosely off her shirt, Tianne grinned. It was fairly obvious that Tianne was nervous around the boy, the reason being quite blatant as well, but she hoped that the boy didn't noticed. She wondered what people thought, but moreso she wondered what he thought. The smile on her face was that of an excited girl, her dimples barely showing in her cheeks.

As she followed the boys steps towards Honeydukes, Tianne smiled up to the boy. She wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to do that, but he seemed happy to do whatever she wanted to do. They were things that had to be done, whether she did them now or later. "Mm. I still like my Bertie Botts." Tianne shrugged, the smile still permanently plastered over her face.

Wandering through a pack of people that were standing outside the shop, most of them looking her and Guy up and down, as they knew her from school, Tianne smiled. To be perfectly honest, she didn't care about the odd judging glance, as long as she was happy, it didn't matter to her. Reaching the door, Tianne pulled it open, holding it there so Guy could walk in.

[Guy Styles]

He figured it was going decently so far... he hadn't spilled anything on himself yet, hadn't tripped over anything, and he didn't feel toooo awkward with the girl. It was all pointing in a decent direction to the adolescent male. He cocked his head to the side, noticing the smile on the girl's face. She seemed happy. Her smile was infectious, too, and caused his own smile to widen slightly into a small crooked grin. He was less nervous now that things were rolling along nicely, and the walking helped, too. He didn't like to be stationary for too long, it never did any good.

" Yech, Bertie Botts? What about when you get a particular nasty one like bogies or something? " He scrunched his nose up in mock dislike, shaking his head as he did so. He didn't like Bertie Botts because they were two extremes. Either the wizarding jelly beans were really good or they were really, really bad. Point and case being the bogie flavored ones as well as the vomit tasting ones. It wasn't pleasant.

Guy stopped in the doorway, looking back to Tianne, who was still holding the door. " You know, usually it's the guy who gets the door for the girl.... Just sayin'. " His comment was in jest, but he was somewhat serious. Once they were both inside the place he turned and commented, " You should at least let me feel more manly by letting me pay. " He smiled in what he hoped was a convincing manner, hoping he would be allowed just that.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

As she became more comfortable around the guy, Tianne actually felt like her personality, the cute, happy, positive girl that most people knew her as, was finally starting to show. She hated holding back, especially because she wanted the boy to know her as the joking girl that she was, and not as some shy little sixth year, someone that didn't deserve his time of day. Okay, so there was some pretty negative thoughts going through her mind; Tianne just hoped that they didn't show.

"I like Bertie Botts because you don't know what you're going to get. They aren't predictable - at all - so you never know what you're going to get." Tianne spoke cutely, as if she had this insight into how they were advertised, the selling point. Although she dared to eat the multi-flavoured jellybeans, she hadn't tried many of the other lollies in the shop. Maybe it was because she was scared of getting something that surprised her, although it totally contradicted the whole thing. "Okay then, sir. What's your favourite?"

Giving a quiet giggle to the boy's comment about the door, Tianne smiled at the next thing he said. Before thinking about what she was going to say, Tianne opened her mouth. "And what kind of a date do you think I am if I actually let you." The younger girl smiled, not picking up on what she had said, including the word 'date' and all.

[Guy Styles]

Now that they were joking and having a good time laughing at one another Guy began to feel a certain familiarity. He remembered the two instances that they had hung out, and this was pretty much what it had been like - fun and carefree. Moving into the adult world had matured Guy a little bit, but being there with Tianne just reminded him that not everything had to be so serious all the time. The smile on his face held true as he listened to her go on about the magical candy...

" Well while I might not like them I gueeesssss I can respect your opinion on the matter. " He chuckled, but then added, " Maybe that's why I don't like them? They're unpredictable. I figure if you're going to put it in your mouth and eat it ya might as well know what to expect. " Guy supposed it was a good idea in general, knowing what was going to happen. " My favorite... hm... buttered flavored popcorn. Yum... How about you Miss Tianne? " He cocked his head to the side, curious about whether or not the girl had a favorite.

' And what kind of a date do you think I am if I actually let you. '

At first he wasn't really sure what to make of the comment, so he just grinned, then shook his head. " You'd be the kind of date that would be doing me a favor. Seriously, my treat. "

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

"Thank you." She teased, tilting her head in a gracious sort of way. She was in that frame of mind that she sometimes got, where she couldn't stop smiling no matter who she saw, or what she was with. She wanted to have a good time with Guy, it would take her mind of the studies of school and the worries at home, and so far, the positivity was doing its job. The boy was smiling too; but it wasn't fake. The fact that she was making him smile just made her heart beat a little bit faster.

"And this is coming from the boy that I thought liked a challenge?" She grinned with a laugh, her arm reaching up to softly punch the boy on his arm. So it wasn't a punch, it wasn't anything like one. But it was the thought that counted. "I don't have a favourite. Basically when you get a flavour that you actually like, it's not often that you'd get it again." Tianne answered with a shrug.

As she realised what she had said, Tianne's face flushed red. The girl immediately turned away from the boy, so he didn't see her red cheeks. But as the boy answered her, she smiled sweetly. He didn't seem to take any notice of it, but if he did, he didn't care? Maybe that was because that's what he thought of the situation that they were currently in, maybe it was him agreeing with her. She didn't know, but she was happy nonetheless.

"Not a chance, bud." She said, grabbing the boy's hand, and pulling him towards the Bertie Botts, with an excited smile on her face.

[Guy Styles]

' And this is coming from the boy that I thought liked a challenge? ' He jokingly lifted his hand to hold the spot where she had ' punched, ' pretending to be hurt. His bottom lip jutted out slightly in a pout.

Guy's easy going grin was quickly back in place as he recalled some of the shinanigans he had managed to get into in the past couple years... there was the summer spent at his mum's that he convinced one of his best mates Jimmy to go skateboarding with him in the dead of night all throughout the neighborhood, waking up people and generally disturbing the public... That had been fun, although Guy had felt bad about it afterward... And then there was the occasion where he managed to get himself into a lot of trouble by pulling a couple pranks on his step dad... An event he really didn't regret putting together.

" Challenges like... skateboarding, or music, or even people. Not a random flavored jelly bean. I'll stick to the muggle variety, thanks. " He nodded his head convincingly as he spoke of the candies.

So was it a date? The fact that she had actually said ' date ' first struck in Guy's mind and he wasn't too sure if she meant it the way she had used it. But she hadn't said no, either... so did that mean...? He didn't have more time to think about it due to his hand being grabbed and gently tugged on. He followed, of course, and spoke as he saw what they were headed for. " Okay... at least let my buy something. I'll feel like a bum, really... "