The Dancing Quills ((William))

[aithne]

The day was horrible, in Brianna’s view. The strong wind whipped at her dark, wavy hair and as she stepped into Diagon Alley that Saturday, she almost fell over. “Sorry…sorry….oh dentists!” A few people around her looked at her oddly, and she smiled sweetly as she continued. ‘Dentists’ was Brianna’s new swear word. After being searched by the guards outside the Alley, and after scowling at them as they laughed when she tripped, she wandered through the Alley, not really doing anything in particular. “Dentists!” She blurted out loudly. A beautiful quill stood in the stationary shop, white and gold which seemed to shine in the sun. As she thought the thought, Brianna looked up the sky and giggled softly. What sun? Stepping into the shop Brianna checked the price of the quill, then walked straight out. She couldn’t afford that! Her family were not the richest people you could find, although Brianna often spent most of her money on clothes and not expensive but gorgeous quills, and she was not often allowed to take too much money into the Alley.

As she stepped out into the pavement again, Brianna caught sight of her image and both smiled and scowled. She was wearing a long, pure white (fake) fur coat which ended by her knees and was not drawing over her torso. Beneath it lay a forest-green woollen jumper- Brianna’s sister had once told her green was her colour. Before Brianna even knew about Hogwarts and the abilities and history of the Four Houses, she wanted to be put in Slytherin as their colour was green. Of course, that was only before she knew, Brianna whispered to herself. Glancing back at her reflection in the mirror, she noted the faults. Her skinny, black jeans were dotted with specks of mud from her half-trip, and her white knee-high boots were undeniably not purely white any longer. As well as this Brianna’s dark hair was messy and flew in all directions, hiding her equally dark eyes which were rimmed with green shadow and lashed with black mascara. As she stood in the wind and inspected herself, pondered going into a nearest toilet and cleaning herself up. As she took the first step, she scowled and changed her mind. She knew she was a little vain and often tried not to be.

A little while later Brianna stepped into her favourite cafe with a happy smile. Not many students knew the place, as it was sandwiched between two large shops and was small and unnoticeable. However, the place was Brianna’s favourite cafe. It was very old, with wooden beams everywhere and two gorgeous stone fireplaces, which sent dancing shadows across the walls. The Dancing Quills contained just one room, other than the cooking area in the back, and a mixed-gender toilet. Wonderful, comfy chairs stood in the room, mostly cream colours or browns. Stuck between were small coffee-tables with glass tops and a floating candle above each one. Lying upon the floor were rugs, mostly dark red colours, and the cafe allowed you to take off your shoes. The atmosphere in the cafe had appealed to Brianna the moment she had first stepped inside it. She often preffered smaller, cosy things to large, plain ones where there were too many people distracting her from her imagination. As she took in the familiar view, Brianna grinned. Her favoured couch was empty, the elegant white resting beside one of the two roaring fires. Sinking into it happily, Brianna smiled at the owner of the place, who smiled back kindly at his regular customer, then kicked off her boots as she ordered a butterbeer blissfully.

[will]

"I'll be there," Will assured the teacher who had driven him there. She nodded curtly and hit the gas-peddle, accelerating away from Diagon. It had been a long drive, but Will didn't mind. Although the silence had been a killer, he had survived and was ready to make his weekly rounds in Diagon Alley. He side-stepped some kid who was running back to a parent and stood in the line, waiting for his turn to be checked. The breeze continuously flopped his shock of brown hair around and the five people long line made him impatient. Will made himself wait as the man seemed to take extra long time on a woman's purse. Honestly, did he have to look at everything? "C'mon!" Will grumbled under his breath, moving his feet around on the street where a stray pebble lay. Three people were behind him by now, and all three raised their eyebrows. Will didn't give them a second glance; just snobs who thought they were better then everyone else. You could say this wasn't one of Will's good days. He was grumpy and frustrated. The Orphanage had told him he couldn't visit Luce today (it was a perfectly fine day!) and that he could go anywhere else. Diagon Alley wasn't the place they had wanted, really, which was why Will decided to go there on this day.

After he was checked, he meandered around Diagon Alley, pausing here and there to look through shop windows. Nothing appeared appealing to him, so everything failed the inspection. Diagon Alley had more to offer then childish toys. Coffee, butterbeer, and much more food and drinks were possible through the newly built shops and the old, repaired ones. The newer ones seemed to be better, so Will always looked for somewhere nice to go. He looked at the prank store with some interest, but walked away empty-handed. He only had, what? Ten bucks on him? He hadn't even counted before coming. Talk about short-term-memory. Will suffered from that all the time. He couldn't remember Dana's name upon seeing her in the summer, it's that bad! Will smiled unconsciously to himself and looked around for somewhere nice to go. He spotted a nice looking kind of shack stuck between too much larger shops that looked fun. Will headed over there, occasionally shaking back his brown hair from his eyes. When he entered the shop, he was surprised to find that everyone was wearing no shoes. Well, almost everyone, but still! Will gaped at the people without shoes for quite a while, until he realized what was happening. You can take your shoes off! Oh!

Adapting to the store after reviving from his shock, Will looked around. It seemed a comfy place. People sat and sipped at their drinks, looking at no one in particular but just enjoying what their money bought them. Will pulled out his own on thought, and counted it quickly. "One, two... four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.... eleven." Will counted again just for spite, but still got eleven. With an aggravated scowl that wasn't any good as he was far from that dreaded orphanage now, he looked round at the people. A girl who looked about his age was sitting on a white couch, her shoes off. Since she seemed to be the only one close to Will's year, William stepped closer to her. "Hey," Will greeted, calmly siting down and pulling off his shoes. He sat back with a sigh. "Oh, hope you don't mind if a land here for a bit. Rather nice place, don't you think?"

[aithne]

Sip…sip…Brianna’s sipping of the butterbeer continued as she sat, almost closing her eyes in the sheer peacefulness of the little place. The entire atmosphere seemed to make you fall asleep, and Brianna barely noticed a figure sitting near her, someone quite tall with something like a brown hat on his head. Using her will to force her eyelids open, she looked at the boy. He was in the year above her at Hogwarts, she knew, and with her eyes actually open she could see the hat on his head was actually his brown hair.
“Oops, sorry about that!” Brianna spoke with a small laugh, passing the fact that the boy didn’t have a clue what she was on about. “Sure you can sit, and yep it’s a great place- I come here often just to relax. And I love the fact that you can take your shoes off- though the other day I do remember the barman, Kloud, telling one man to wash before he took off his shoes!” Brianna chuckled at the memory, and then sat up so she didn’t look a complete fool. She smiled at the boy and spoke again, though this time a little more sanely.

“I’m Brianna Felica, great to meet him-you. Sorry if I seem a little ‘out-of-it’, I’m just sleepy.” She studied the boy, wondering what his name was. She recognised him a little from classes and whatnot, and with a small frown remembered that it began with either F or W, and chose the latter. “Is your name Walter? Or William. Maybe just Will?” Though, she thought, maybe she wasn’t speaking so sanely after all. She looked at the boy and noticed he hadn’t ordered anything yet, and asked him sleepily why not. “The drinks here are great, and the blueberry muffins and delicious.” As if to prove a point Brianna stuck her head over the white couch, requesting to Kloud happily for one of his famous blueberry muffins. As he came over she checked her money, counting it out as she paid. “Oh no! Kloud, sorry but I can’t afford it! I still have to get a present for mum’s birthday,” Kloud smiled a nodded- Brianna had once taken her mother to The Dancing Quills and the two had gotten on fabulously.

“No worries Bri, you’re only a few Sickles off. Actually, consider it on the house.” He smiled kindly, blue eyes crinkling and mouth turning up as Brianna thanked him with a hug. “And anything for this young gentleman?” Kloud spoke again, this time to William.

[will]

"Um... am I missing something?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow. She had said sorry for something, but the only thing Will had done was sit down beside her. He raised the eyebrow higher as the girl talked and made it clear she should clearly go back to bed. William shrugged; "It's William. Will for short." He nodded at Brianna as she introduced herself. He didn't recognize he except for hallway passings. William didn't know the name Felica either as a pureblood family. Then again, Will didn't care if she was muggle born or not, but he had suddenly found an interest in the pureblooded families in the wizarding world. After finding out who he was, the whole thing seemed much more important.

"Uh... I dunno. I just decided to get a seat first." William snuggled closer into the couch and folded his legs under him. She was asking why he hadn't ordered anything yet; maybe he didn't want to have anything to eat and or drink? Was it really her business? His questions didn't go into the air, as Will wasn't like that, but he couldn't help wondering why she wanted to know. An older man came over as Brianna ordered something. A blueberry muffin. Will raised an eyebrow as a scene unfolded. Brianna didn't have enough money and the man let it go, saying he would give it to her on the house. Did Will get something free too? He took a deep breath, clicking his tongue thoughtfully. "I guess I'll have a... muffin as well. And - hot chocolate. With some marshmallows on top, please." Will smiled at the man, who seemed rather nice, and turned back to Brianna when he walked away. "So - are you friends with that man? He seems to know you rather well."

[aithne]

Brianna smiled at Kloud’s retreating back and listened to William talk. He seemed a little stoney, though obviously not Slytherin-ish. She smiled lightly at him and noticed she had said sorry for something he didn’t know had happened. In an apologetic tone she explained it was nothing- merely a mistake in her side. She wondered if he thought her weird but in a slight, secret shake of her head ignored the thought. Who cared if this sixth year didn’t like her? That was his loss, she thought. But she didn’t yet know if he didn’t- she could tell she had unnerved him, at least thought she did by her view. So far no signs had shown he didn’t but she really wasn’t sure what she was on about, the rambling in her head was beginning to annoy her so she stopped it abruptly as she listened to William.
It was a little obvious that the Ravenclaw boy was a bit taken-aback by the familiarity between the female student and the barman, and as William ordered Brianna saw Kloud looking a little surprise, but smiling quickly and agreeing to the deal he had just made without even noticing. Brianna looked at William, fairly surprised herself at his immediate order. How could he even know he was to get something for free? Shaking off the thought and replacing it with the fact that Will was probably a really nice guy, Brianna answered his question with a nod.

“Yep, I suppose we go quite a while back. Well, since my first year anyway! After getting over the fact that I was a witch, my mother brought me to buy all of my Hogwarts things, as is needed. While here we ignored the business of the usual places to get a drink and found this place. But my Puffskein found it really. My mother got talking with Kloud and for some reason they became great chatting buddies. Whenever I take mum to Diagon now we come here and the two have a nice long chat about some boring adult thing. I suppose that’s the main link, and also Alico, my Puffskein, loves Kloud’s Puffskein.” As if on cue, onto the bar beside Kloud- who was adding marshmallows to a steaming mug of chocolate, a fluffy purple Puffskein pounced up energetically. It’s oddly white eyes stared around the room happily. Brianna looked at it, and it in turn looked at her. The Puffskein immediately ran away, hopping over a mug of butterbeer on the bar and hiding behind a rather thin cane which was resting on the wall. Now and again it poked it’s little purple head around the wooden cane, and when it saw Brianna staring back at it, clearly amused, it shot back round, oblivious to the fact that it’s little, purple bulk could be seen around the cane.