Feels like Home (Nessa)

[Michael Rolen]

Mike sat up the top of the Quality Quidditch Supply store's 2nd level and looked down into the lower level of the store, it was so busy at this time of the year the store filled to the brim with young children dreaming of playing quidditch, the new first years checking out what they wanted to be riding if they got into the Quidditch team at their school, the older students looking for a new broom or a repair kit and then the parents reminiscing about the good old days.

Mike's legs hung over the ledge, only mere inches over the top and by far the biggest hat he had seen on a wizard before, a smirk on his lips as he took a swing at knocking it off the head of the elderly wizard, but to his disappointment, he missed and kept missing.

"Oh well"

He said as he lent back with a hand to grab his book to read but instead of grabbing his book, he grabbed an ankle.

[Vanessa Harrison]

Quidditch. Nessa hadn't been on her broom in what seemed like ages and she was dying to get back out on the pitch. Her mum had given her money for shopping school stuff, but Vanessa had gone right into the Quidditch store instead. It'd get her in trouble, but she didn't really care.

Wandering the aisles of the second floor, Nessa looked along the shelves. She didn't need anything in particular, but she wanted to buy something fun. As the Hufflepuff came out of the end of an aisle, her eyes landed on the back of someone she hadn't seen in a while, and hadn't actually wanted to see: Mike.

She could tell it was him, even from the back. She watched as he acted like a child, swatting at something idiotically in front of him. Vanessa scoffed, but went up behind him anyways, intent on informing him that he was a moron. As the girl stood behind Mike, she watched his hand reach back and felt it wrap around her ankle. With a smirk, she kneed him in the back, not hard enough to hurt but enough to knock him forward a little.
"Can I have my foot back, please?" she snapped.

[Michael Rolen]

Before Mike had time to remove his hand from the ankle, he felt what he thought may have been a knee in his back, which pushed him forward before he heard the voice. The familiar voice of Vanessa. A smile found it's way on his lips, before he released her ankle.

"Sorry about that, Nessa"

He said as he tried to stand up but found that her knee was in his back still.

"Mind letting me up?"

[Vanessa Harrison]

Nessa just looked down at Mike, scoffing in slightly at how he was acting. She was starting to regret coming over, but felt better knowing she’d kneed him. Perhaps it should have been harder or enough to knock him onto the floor below. The idea brought a smile to the Hufflepuff’s face as she pictured him falling and landing in a crumpled heap on the ground of the shop. It wasn’t obvious that Vanessa was still angry, was it?

“I suppose,” Vanessa mused, her arms crossing in front of her body. She moved back to let Mike stand up, although she would have preferred a height advantage here. She couldn’t believe she had been the one who initiated this conversation and thought about maybe throwing herself over the edge. There was no way she’d let Mike get under her skin like he’d been before. She was just trying to move on.

[Michael Rolen]

Mike took his time standing up, he knew this was going to be hard and that Vanessa was going to make it even harder than it already was, but hey he would like to have a few close friends by the end of the year.

"Fancy seeing you here"

He said deciding to initiate conversation with her, how far that would get would be up to her

[Vanessa Harrison]

"Yeah," Vanessa replied, her tone flat and uncaring. Her arms were still crossed in front of her body and Nessa shifted them so they were holding her body more tightly. She looked Mike up and down, wanting to say something about how he looked but she couldn't find anything to point out. So far this was not going in Vanessa's favour.

"What are you here for?" Vanessa asked Mike, not bothering to make it sound like she was really interested.

[Michael Rolen]

Mike brushed some of his hair from out of his eyes and caught Nessa looking him up and down, a smirk playing on his lips as he did the same back to her, just to see if she noticed.

"I'm here because I'm waiting for my order to come in, and you?"

He asked politely, hey they may of had a rather drastic breakup but it didn't mean they should be at each others throats.

[Vanessa Harrison]

"Looking for a broomstick care kit," Nessa replied truthfully, "Can't seem to find them though." The Hufflepuff girl looked over her shoulder at the shelves behind her, scanning them for what she needed. Her eyes landed on a row of boxes that looked like what she had come for and she backed up to see.

"And now I'm found them," she said to no one in particular, but more like just thinking out loud. Picking up the box, Vanessa turned her back on Mike while she read it over. Some tiny part of her mind wished Mike would follow and come up behind her while the rest of her mind was screaming a huge resounding 'no'.

[Michael Rolen]

But Mike in fact had followed Vanessa and looked carefully over her shoulder, and couldn't help but smile. "I think most of them are basically the same....although i'm sure you could find some higher quality ones as well" He said to her, almost in a whisper. Great, now what had he told himself after he had broken up with Seanna, no girl's this year and here he was talking with Vanessa.......just like when they were still together.

[Vanessa Harrison]

Vanessa had tired her best to ignore Mike as she heard him coming up behind her, but his words drifted into her ears and she couldn't help it. She heard his whisper and it sent a shiver down the girl's spine while her entire body tensed up. She was silent for a moment, but then Nessa blurted out what she'd been thinking before she even knew what she was doing.

"I miss you," she whispered to him without looking back and regretted it immediately. Damn it.

[Michael Rolen]

"That makes two of us then, because i've missed you too", he whispered back before moving down the aisle slightly as though he was looking for something, but in retrospect he was wanting to see how she would react to his words, and whether or not she would follow him.

Ah the games we play

[Vanessa Harrison]

Vanessa sighed, not sure whether she was happy to hear that or not. After the whole ugly breakup last year, she had sworn that she was never going to let him get to her again. But now here she was, finding herself unable to stay away, even when she knew she should.

Feeling him sweep past, Nessa's body tensed up. She felt like a child, acting this way but she didn't even have control of her body anymore. It would have been nice if it had just stopped there and she'd been thrown back into reality, but that didn't seem like it would happen for the Hufflegirl. Idiotically, Vanessa followed behind him, watching over his shoulder (as best as she could considering her height) as he had done to her.
"I want to try again, Mike," she said softly to him, "But I don't want it to be like before."

[Michael Rolen]

Mike felt Vanessa come up behind him, but what she said had sent him back a few steps....he had told himself just after finishing last year that he would try to not get involved with a girl till at least christmas break, so why did he feel like he was leaning towards getting back together with her. So he decided to take the high road, "Listen Nessa, i'd love that....but I need some time to think about it, but when I come to my decision it will be after i've gone over what I feel for you and many other things....I just don't want to rush into it again and ruin any chance we would have at remaining as friends or more after we finish at Hogwarts".

For some reason he had felt like that was the right thing to do, he didn't really know what else to say to her, but what else could he really saw. But then something came to him, "And what do you mean, that you don't want it to be like before?"

[Vanessa Harrison]

"If it ends again...I don't want it to be like that," Vanessa said quietly, her arms crossed against her body again as she looked down slightly, not wanting to see his face. She really wished she hadn't said anything because she knew she was just setting herself up to get hurt again. With a heavy sigh, Vanessa reached out and took Mike's hand, holding it loosely and looking at it rather than him as she spoke.

"Just let me know, OK?" she told him, finally stealing a glance up at the boy.

[Michael Rolen]

Mike couldn't help but smile at the tingling feeling that went through his arm as Vanessa took his hand in hers, so there was still some feelings held between the two. But what Mike did next was a bit silly on his behalf, he pulled her in close and kissed her on the cheek before walking off.

"I will"