Just Like Before {Fran}

[lachlanparker]

LOVE LOOKS NOT WITH THE EYES
but with the mind

[ ooc: i'm setting this before the death eater attacks. hope that's okay. <3 ]

Lachlan wasn't having a particularly good night. He and Trent were meant to go out exploring tonight, but as Lachlan looked over his left shoulder, all he could see was Trent lying on an awkward angle, asleep, with drool sliding out of the side of his mouth. Sighing, Lachlan pulled the sheets back in frustration and pulled a jumper over his head. Dressed in his finest gear (his spiderman boxer shorts and his Arsenal jumper), Lachlan made his way towards the common room.

It was pretty late. The fire in the mud-brick fireplace was nearly out and someone had passed out on the armchair by the entrance to the common room, but Lachlan barely paid any attention to them. Instead, as he walked down the creaky wooden stairs, his gaze fixed on the girl sitting in the chair by the nearly-dead fire; Francesca Halle.

Lachlan and Fran had been good friends for such a long time. Other than Trent, Fran was probably the closest friend that Lachlan had. Sure, he and Emily were close, and he was trying to get somewhere with Hestia, but nobody really clicked with him like Fran did. There were silly games that the two of them used to play with each other; stealing each other's stuff, particularly necklaces and slipping silly riddles scrawled on bits of old parchment into each other's school satchels. It was only one of the things that had made their friendship so strong.

"Hey," Lachlan said, yawning, as he plonked himself down on the couch opposite to Fran. "What are you still doing up?" He rested his elbow on the armrest and put his cheek on his hand, looking over lazily at Fran. She wouldn't care that he was only in his boxers; she'd seen him enough times like this anyway. "It's gotta be like, two in the morning or something."

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[concealedtruth]

This was hopeless. There was no way Fran was going to be able to finish all her class assignments before tomorrow. Why did she always have to put her school work off until the last second? She should really know better by now. She looked up at the clock, it was already after ten. A long sigh left her lips, she was in for a long night.

Fran picked a chair next to the still blazing fire in the common room, reached into her school bag and pulled out her first of many assignments, and set to work. She was used to not getting the best marks, but she still tried her best to do a good job. If she actually gave herself enough time to do this stuff right, she would probably get very good marks; but as it was everything was always rushed, and therefore never her best work.

Hours past and still Fran sat doing her work. So, when she wrote the last word on Herbology essay she could hardly keep her eyes open. Herbology was her least favorite class, and the one she struggled in the most. She probably should have started with that assignment first, then it might have sucked a little less than it did.

After all her completed assignments were roughly stuffed back into her school bag, she sank into her chair and watched the fire burn out.
It was very peaceful and extremely comfortable in this chair, maybe she would just sleep here. Absentmindedly, she stuck her hand into her pocket, pulling out one of Lachies old necklaces. She'd had this one for years now, and liked to carry it around with her. The lace was worn from Fran playing with it so often. Not that Lach new this. How embarrassing would that be? If he knew she carried this old thing around with her all the time? He probably had forgotten she still had it.

So when Lachie walked down from the boy's dorm and sat down on the couch opposite her, she thought that she'd fallen asleep and was dreaming. She gave him a lazy smile, not answering any of his questions, but gazing at him dreamily. When she had first meat Lach she didn't think he was all that cute, but he had grown on her so much since then everything about him seemed adorable.

It wasn't until Lach started waving his hands in-front of her face that she snapped out of it and realized she wasn't dreaming. Her face went a dark shade of pink. She blinked a few times and shook her head. "Sorry Lach." She said, stuffing his necklace back into her pocket as fast as she could, hoping he hadn't noticed it. "I'm so tired I kinda lost it there for a bit. I've been catching up on my school work you see, and had just finished with it when you walked down. Guess I thought I'd dozed off already." She grinned sheepishly at him, her blush still visible on her cheeks. "What are you doing up?" She asked him, trying to change the subject.

(OOC: If you don't like that I had him wave at her just let me know and I'll edit this.))

[lachlanparker]

LOVE LOOKS NOT WITH THE EYES
but with the mind

[ ooc: it's great! you're welcome to godmode lachlan in this thread anytime. (: ]

Uh oh. Was Fran alright? She wasn't really responding, but instead was playing with some sort of jewelry instead, gazing off into the distance. Frowning, Lachlan moved closer to the edge of his seat, reaching his arm out in front of him, waving at Fran from a distance. Nope, nothing happened. Sighing, Lachlan moved closer towards Fran's face, "Fraaaan!" Lachlan said, watching as her eyes refocused and her mind came back to the Hufflepuff common room.

He flashed a grin at Fran as she flustered, shoving her jewelry back into her pocket. "Nah, it's all good," Lachlan said as Fran started to apologise. Homework? So soon? Well, granted, Lachlan probably had a tonne of homework to do, but most of it had been taken care by Trent. Except for his Herbology homework; that, for Lachlan, was a pleasure to do. Lachlan was one of the few people that really enjoyed Herbology - most people didn't like getting their hands dirty, or some people didn't really like Professor Sprout, but for Lachlan, seeding things and watching them grow was one of the most relaxing feelings on the planet. "How'd you go with your Herbology stuff?" Lachlan enquired, raising an eyebrow as he sat himself back into his armchair, dangling his legs over one armrest, and leaning his head against the other. He would be happy to look over it, if Fran wanted. After all, that's what friends did.

"Trent and I were meant to go exploring tonight," Lachlan yawned, resting his hands behind his head. "Silly bugger fell asleep. So here I am, all excited, with nothing to do but talk to you." He winked over at Fran and chuckled. She was still blushing slightly; probably just embarrassed about Lachlan finding her here so late. But then again, Lachlan was the one wearing nothing but spiderman boxers and a jumper.

"Hey," Lachlan said, after a moment of thought. "What was that bit of jewelry you stuffed into your pocket?" He pulled himself up from the chair and sat normally, his eyes focused on Fran.

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[concealedtruth]

Fran was able to relax a bit when Lach didn't mention anything about her odd behavior, or the necklace she had stuffed into her pocket. Maybe he hadn't noticed. She rubbed at her eyes, starting to wake up a bit more.

She listened as he asked about her Herbology work. Of course he would ask about that subject. "How do I ever do with Herbology? Plants' hate me." She pouted, glaring at her school bag. If the plants could just be more like muggle plants she didn't think it would be so hard for her. There was just something about raising a plant from a baby that cried, to an adult you had to cut up that didn't sit right with her. It was almost barbaric. She just didn't have the stomach for it.

It was just like Lach and Tent to plan stuff like that. Fran rolled her eyes when Lach winked at her. "You love talking with me and you know it." She smirked at him. "You could have invited me along though, I would have gone." She told him, pouting once again, this time playfully.

Fran gulped when he asked about the necklace. Guess he had noticed. 'Okay, don't panic,' she told herself. "Oh, th-that?" She stammered, trying to think of something but not able to look him in the eye. "W-was nothing. Nothing at all. Just something I found on the floor earlier." Fran was an awful lair, Lach new it. She needed to change the subject, and fast.

"Hey, who needs Trent anyway? We can still go! Why don't you go get some pants on and we can explore stuff. We could go to the grounds. I think I fancy a walk outside." Fresh air sounded great to Fran, she was starting to feel claustrophobic in here. She didn't even feel tired anymore, guess she was getting her second wind.

[lachlanparker]

LOVE LOOKS NOT WITH THE EYES
but with the mind

Lachlan chuckled. "I can take a look at your essay, if you want." he offered. Offering to do someone else's assignment was something rare for the young Hufflepuff; he never really had time to finish his own homework, let alone someone else's. But, seeing as it was Herbology, and Fran was one of his closest friends, he was more than happy to do it.

He flashed a small smile at Fran, "You know I love talking to you." Although Fran did have a point - and she would be a lot of fun to bring along on the adventures - Lachlan wasn't sure how Trent would feel about it. But, seeing that Trent wasn't even awake right now, it made no difference.

Fran looked extremely flustered when Lachlan brought up the subject of the necklace in her pocket. He frowned, staring at her pocket. "Well, alright," he said slowly, willing to drop the subject if it would make Fran feel better. Something was up, but now wasn't the time to get to the bottom of it. Lachlan wasn't exactly super-sleuth material; he barely noticed anything.

He laughed. Fran was so excited to do this! "Sure," Lachlan said, hopping out of his chair. "Sounds like fun." He scuttled away, back up the stairs towards the boys dormatory. "Not too embarassed about seeing my legs, are you Frannie?" he called out to her before opening the circular wooded door. He knew Fran; she wouldn't really be embarassed in the slightest, but it was always funny to watch people's reactions. He threw around some clothes, looking for a pair of muggle jeans to wear. Afterall, they were the most comfortable things in the world.

"There. How do I look?" Lachlan raised his arms and did a twirl as he reached the bottom of the staircase. "So, outside then, hey," he thought, putting a finger on his chin for emphasis. Well, they would need a couple of things: first, a disillusionment charm for each of them and probably a jumper. It was Autumn, and the night was probably very cold.

Lachlan walked closer to Fran, digging around in his pocket for his wand. He pulled it out and tapped it on top of Fran's head, creating a disillusionment charm and making her camouflage with the background. He then tapped his own head and the same thing happened.

"Come on, let's go," he said, grinning, although Fran probably couldn't see it.

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[concealedtruth]

It was sweet of him to offer to look over her work. That was Lach for you though, and one of the many reasons she fancied him. If only she could tell him how she felt; but it just wouldn't work, he didn't think about her like that, she was his buddy and that was it. Aside from the occasional joking flirtation, she might as well be one of the guys. In all honesty he might flirt with Trent more than he did with her. He was clueless to her affections, and that's just the way things had to be. She saw the way he looked at other girls, the ones he wanted, and that wasn't the way he looked at her. "Thanks Lach, but if I spend anymore time on this stuff tonight I might just go crazy."

A true smile lit up Fran’s face when he said he loved talking to her. She knew that he didn’t love talking to her the same way she loved talking to him, but it was still nice to hear that. She could get over the fact that he didn’t feel the same way about her, but she knew that if she lost him as a friend she would be crushed. All Fran ever really wanted was to be accepted for who she was, and Lach did.

It was a relief when Lach dropped the subject so easily. He could probably tell she didn’t want to talk about it and just left it at that. He probably wouldn’t think anything of it if he did know it was his, but Fran would be embarrassed none the less. She was lucky that he didn’t seem to be very perceptive when it came to how she felt about him. Everyone seemed to be able to tell but him, no matter that she denied it.

Fran was excited about going out like this. It had been a while since she had gone out after hours, and she liked the rush she got from it. It was probably pretty cold out though, so she picked up her jumper from the floor and put it on as he walked back to his dorm to get dressed. She smiled and rolled her eyes when he asked if she was embarrassed about seeing his legs. There were quite a few things that embarrassed Fran, but she had seen him half naked so many times it didn’t faze her anymore.

After waiting a few minuets Lach came back down. Fran giggled as he twirled down the stairs. “You look gorgeous, love. You should be a ballerina.” She told him, still smiling when he reached the bottom. He walked over to her and taped her head with his wand. She felt a chill go through her body as the charm spread. He taped his head too, and then disappeared from her vision. With Fran’s luck she was going to lose him before they made it out of the castle. She would probably trip over something and he wouldn’t even know and leave her behind. “Umm, you think maybe we should hold hands until we make it outside? You know how clumsy I am.” At this point she was glade he couldn’t see her, because she was sure her cheeks were bright red again.

[lachlanparker]

LOVE LOOKS NOT WITH THE EYES
but with the mind

Lachlan and Fran had been friends for as long as the two of them had known each other; something about Fran's kindness and Lachlan's, well, Lachlan-ness, had clicked and the two of them had been close ever since. People had always joked that Fran had liked Lachlan, but Lachlan never listened to them. The same people had told him that Trent had liked him, too, and that was just plain weird. Fran was a good friend to Lachlan, and besides, she never really seemed to mind when Lachlan was off chasing other girls. So, therefore, by Lachlan's warped logic, Fran and him were just friends.

Lachlan finished spinning. "A ballerina?" he chuckled, his eyebrows raised. "Oh, you make me blush," Lachlan said in a high pitched voice and fluttered his eyelashes at Fran. He was a dweeb - there was no two ways about it. And as for Fran seeing him in only his boxers, it wasn't a rare occurrence. Lachlan wasn't a show off when it came to walking around in nothing but boxers; he just simply didn't care. What did he have to hide, anyway?

Fran was absolutely right. The two of them would lose each other quickly; and if Lachlan's sense of direction was anything to go by, he'd probably end up somewhere south of Dublin. "Yeah," he said quickly, grabbing Fran's hand, "Good point." His fingers intertwined with his and Lachlan could only hope that his palms didn't get sweaty - again. "Okay, let's go."

The two friends crawled out of the Hufflepuff Common Room and into the hallway of the Kitchens. Scrambling around, Lachlan finally found Fran's hand and folded his hand within. Not that she was able to see it, but Lachlan smiled at her as the two of them set off towards the front doors of Hogwarts. Lachlan was secretly praying that they were still open and the both of them would be able to go outside.

Filch was nowhere in sight, which either meant that the doors hadn't been locked as of yet, or he'd already come by and locked them. Frowning, Lachlan stood in front of the doors and looked up at them. "Do you reckon he's already locked them?" Lachlan leaned over and whispered into her ear, still holding her hand.

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