First Dibs ((Chris))

[noah]

Noah groaned as he felt the warm rays of the sun across his face. The curtains had been left unclosed, a gentle breeze swaying the soft material in its direction from the open window. It had been to hot lately to leave the window closed. Running a hand through his dark hair, Noah covered his face tiredly with his hands. He was never the kind of person who slept in late during the summers. Even though he stayed up late at night, he still didn’t require a lot of sleep to function properly. Yawning, he rolled over on his side, glancing at the small clock on the bedside table. 8:30, which meant that almost everybody had to be up already. There wasn’t the familiar warm smell of bacon frying, or any kind of food. “That’s strange,” he thought to himself setting the covers aside, as he got out of his warm bed. Every morning, there was always the inviting smell of breakfast lingering in the air. Normally, that was one of the things that woke Noah up; either the smell of sizzling sausage, or maybe even an occasional homemade pancake, there was always any breakfast smell in the air. His mother Victoria was almost made the kitchen, always making her kids eat Breakfast. “It’s the most important meal, honey. Makes you more energized for the day,” she would tell her children when they protested against wanting to eat. She always made something before leaving for work, which normally didn’t take long, since she could apparate in a blink of an eyed. Noah’s father, however, was a different story. He was up before anyone in the house, making coffee and leaving some left behind in a kettle for anymore. Noah loved the taste and smell of coffee, and so did his other siblings, besides Elaine.

Yawning once more, Noah stood from his bed, stretching for a short second. His room had never changed in the past couple of years. The walls were still their normal white color, covered with different posters, and even pictures frames of different things he took. In the farther end of the room, where the window blew in summer wind, was a sort of collage of different photos that he had put together. You cold call Noah a creative, old fashioned person, since he loved black and white photographs. It was an old way of looking at pictures, but it seemed that it held more value than color did. In black and white, you could just imagine the different colors, or try to find the meaning behind the picture. Bringing his right arm across his shoulder, he stretched them both before heading toward the large closet on the east side of the room. Inside were at least a dozen racks, filled with different CDs, and even some old records. That mostly took the space up in Noah’s closet, but there was a small section reserved for his clothing. Pulling out a dark navy blue shirt with his favorite band on it, he also took out a dark pair of jeans. Noah style could be considered dark, but he was just attracted to that specific coloring. Pulling he clothes on over his body, he took a comb, trying to straighten out his bed messed hair the best he could.

Once he was finished, Noah grabbed a wallet from the dresser, settling it into his back pocket along with his wand before heading down the stairs. The steps creaked under his weight, but that just came with the age of the house. He finally reached the kitchen stopping as he saw Gabriel’s arms wrapped around his girlfriend’s Alice’s waist, his head propped up on her shoulder. Alice was a gorgeous young woman, with beautiful short brown hair that accented her playful dark eyes. They were perfect together. The perfect couple, which somehow made Noah somewhat disgusted. Maybe it was envy that his brother had found someone, or maybe it was just something deep down that he couldn’t explain. “Oh….Hey Noah!” Alice greeted, smiling brightly at him before looking down at the eyes that were cooking. Noah nodded before catching his older brother gaze. “Where’s mom?” he asked heading toward the fridge, taking out a cartoon of orange juice. “She left early for an emergency at the bank. Maybe the goblins got out of control.” Gabriel chuckled before dropping a sweet kiss on Alice’s lips. Rolling his eyes, Noah poured himself a glass of orange juice, putting the cartoon back. “I’m going to go to Diagon Alley today. Need anything?” he asked taking a sip as he walked toward the Mahogany brown stable, looking through the owl post. “No…Alice and I are going cottage hunting today.” Oh yeah, Gabriel was also going to move in with her, which meant that there was going to be another Bentley child leaving the house. Carmen, the oldest, lived in a small apartment with her own boyfriend Phil, who happened to be a muggleborn wizard.

“Can I come with you Noah?” asked a small voice behind him, as Elaine headed into the room. She was carrying her gray kitten Diane in her arms, her dark hair pulled up into a bun. “No. I want to go alone…need anything?” he asked his youngest sister, before gulping down the rest of the glass of orange juice. Elaine looked at Noah with those sad brown eyes. “Oh no…she’s giving me those sad eyes,” he thought to himself looking away at the counter so he wouldn’t give in. The truth was, he didn’t want his sister to come along with him. “Alright, I just needed some pens and stationary. Could you get me some?” Noah nodded setting the glass into the sink, making sure he didn’t interrupt Alice and Gabriel’s affectionate moments. Elaine just smiled at her older brother before leaving the room, the sound of the stairs creaking a she headed back to her bedroom. “Alright, I’m gone. There’s way to much love in this room.” With that side, there was a loud pop, and in a blink of an eye, he was standing in the pub that was the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Digging his hands into the pockets of his pants, Noah headed first into Flourish and Blots to get a couple of books. Normally, Noah would just find a spot in the backyard by the street, lying out in the grass under the sun, reading most of the summer. The store was crowded somewhat, filled with all ages trying to get books for the summer assignments. Noah stayed cleared from the large crowds, heading over toward the classic section, his brown eyes scanning the titles. Finding one that he was looking for, he reached out a hand for it, but before he could even touch it, the book was already off the shelf. Glaring, Noah noticed that it was the only one left. Looking to his side, he stared at the boy next to him, who seemed to be his age, holding the book in his hands. “Well are you going to read that book, or just put it back on the shelf, because I was going to read that?”

((OOC- Opps...I accidentaly put this in the wrong place at first. ))

[Chris Crawford R7]

Chris never visited Diagon Alley anymore. He reasoned that he had everything he already needed and if he needed new books – he could send for them. Chris hated going to Diagon Alley. It was always so busy and noisy and there were always little kids running around. Chris wasn’t too keen on little kids. So, since he hated Diagon Alley, why was he walking through the place at that exact moment? Because his mother was making him, that’s why. She had thrown open his bedroom door early that morning, exclaiming they were going to Diagon Alley in an hour. Chris had made a complaint, but nonetheless he had allowed himself to be pulled into the floo fireplace and whisked away to Diagon Alley. They had been there for hours already and Chris was surprised with himself at how long he had stayed with his mum and not wandered off on his own.

Now, as they left another meaningless shop, Chris felt his patience slimming. He looked at his mum as she headed toward a plant shop, not wanting to follow her in, “Mum, I’m going to wander around, find me later, okay?” She smiled at him over her shoulder and motioned for him to go ahead. Chris didn’t need the OK twice, he turned on his heel and quickly made his way to a shop more attracted to his interests. Honestly, it could be the dullest store in the world as long as he could talk up some of the girls there. The only reason Chris would go to Diagon Alley was because of the girls that showed up; it was why he had only complained once that morning when his mum mentioned going. He figured he might as well make the best of the situation. Which was a really optimistic outlook for Chris.

Chris wasn’t optimistic in the least. He always thought of the negative before he thought of the positive, and he usually dwelled on the negative; unless he could benefit from dwelling on the positive without eventually getting disappointed. Chris hated being disappointed, so he tried as hard as he could to make low expectations. His lowest expectation? A serious relationship. He, actually, didn’t expect a serious relationship at all. The last one he had hadn’t ended well. Chris was a weekend date kind of guy anyway. The way he saw it, “more Chris Crawford for the ladies.” Maybe that was conceited of him, but what could he say? It was who he was. Chris had always been this way, but … not with Alyss. She just made it worse. Alyss wasn’t here now, so he couldn’t think about her. He wouldn’t think about her.

There was no need to think about her. Not with all the girls he could get. Speaking of… Chris sidled up to a pretty blonde who was flipping through a copy of Witch Weekly on a bench, “Hey there, weren’t you in their last issue? Most beautiful witch of the week?” The girl looked up, apparently annoyed and started to say something when Chris cut her off, “I’m Chris, and that was the type of pick up line I wouldn’t ever use.” The girl smiled at him, then, and five minutes later, Chris Crawford was walking away with a date for the upcoming weekend. He smiled to himself all the way to Flourish and Blotts, quite proud with himself. When he entered the shop, he quickly lost his smile. It was crowded. Chris really hated crowds. They were annoying. Chris hated annoying.

He sighed and shoved his way through the crowd to where the classic books were stacked. Chris reached for a book on one of the shelves, only because he was dreadfully bored and figured he could at least pretend to look. Chris read often, after all he was a Ravenclaw, and he had his favourite books. Besides, some girls went for the whole well read thing. Chris smirked to himself – not all the things he did revolved around girls, just the majority of things. He was jogged from his thoughts by a rather annoyed tone of voice asking about the book. Chris looked up to see Noah Bentley, “I don’t know, I’m waiting for a sign to tell me whether or not this is the right book.” Chris smirked, thumbing through the book just to annoy Noah. Chris did like annoying people, but he hated the people who were annoying.

[noah]

Noah continued to glare at the boy, noticing that it was only the arrogant Chris Crawford, who was in his year and house at Hogwarts. Chris was known as the typical shamanistic male pig in the women world, but in the world of men, a ladies man. Personally, Noah thought anyone who was like that was putting out a bad name for some of the good guys. Yes, he was a good guy who liked girls, but he didn’t make them his top priory. Noah was just waiting for the one person to finally come along in his life. He wasn’t going to look for her, but rather believed fate would bring her to him. It was corny for a guy to think that, but Noah just did. It was just what he believed, plus he didn’t know any other girl out there who could stand to listen to music 24/7 like her did. He was drumming through the pages of the book, the swishing noise ringing in Noah’s ears. Was he trying to irritate him? Well, it took a lot more to set Noah off, which had to be something worse than nail son a chalk board mixed with a screaming baby. Noah calmed his face slightly, his brown eyes clearly showing boredom. He figured that Chris wasn’t worth his irritation. “I wouldn’t expect to see you here in this section, Chris. I think the guide to the worst pickup lines is over there.” Pointing in the direction, Noah smirked as he wondered if the book was worth dealing with Chris about it. Maybe he should give this guy a chance. What would his parents think about teaching him to not judge people before knowing them? Apparently, Noah somehow already couldn’t stand him.

Taking out his wand he pointed it toward the bookshelf, flicking his wrist and saying a simple incantation. A bright flare flew out of his wand, forming a cloud of smoke with words on it. ‘Not the book for you’ Nodding his head, he smirked once again at Chris taking the book from the other boy’s hands. “Looks like the sign has spoken. Better luck next time.” Noah ran his fingers through the pages just like Chris had done, his face slightly raised. Tucking the book up under his arm, Noah looked through the rows of books, another title catching his eyes. Pulling it out, he handed it toward Chris nodding his head. “This is another good read. I already have it and could almost recite every line.” Noah’s face has calmed down, the glare no longer apparent in the lines of his face. Glancing back at the shelves of books, he stepped around Chris look for another book to satisfy him for a couple of weeks. Noah was trying hard not to go through books within days, trying to make one last a week. It was hard, especially if the plot picked up quite fast. His finger fell upon a romance novel that was a personal favorite of his mother’s. Noah turned his head sideways at Chris noticing that he was still there. “Do you like romance novels, Chris?” he asked, lazily picking the book of the shelf and handing it over to Chris.

“I normally go for the whole mystery, action, thriller type books, but you can learn a lot from the male character in a romance novel.” Watching Chris out of the corner of his eyes he leaned his shoulder against the shelf, which was perched up against the hard wood wall. “We can learn from their mistakes, triumphs and maybe ideas for later on in the future.” What was he doing? Noah normally wasn’t one who did this, but somehow it seemed like Chris could learn from a romance novel. Taking the novel back from his hands knowing that he didn’t like it he shoved it back on the shelf. “So are you going to buy that book I showed you?”

[Chris Crawford R7]

Chris smiled cheekily at Noah, “Nah, I don’t need that book, mate, I wrote it.” He winked, letting his smile slip into a smirk. Noah Bentley was like every other person who had ever had the pleasure of talking to Chris. He thought Chris was a chauvinistic, womanizing, pig. And, honestly, Chris didn’t blame the guy – but there was more to Chris Crawford than what met the eye… No one cared enough to get past the surface. That was probably why Chris had no friends; that and the fact that he isolated himself often. Chris coughed and waved his hand in front of his face as Noah did his magic trick before taking the book from his hands. Chris shrugged. It was just a book, it wasn’t like he was going to buy it anyway. He wasn’t expecting Noah to do what he did next, though. Chris took the book and opened it, reading the first sentence as Noah spoke. Chris pushed the book back into the shelf. He turned and leaned against the book shelf, his arms crossed, and watched Noah look through more books. He smirked when he was asked if he looked romance novels, “Depends. Any dirty scenes? No, just kidding, mate. I don’t go for the romance. See, love’s just not my thing. I’m a pleasure kind of guy and from my experience… you can’t get both, eh?”

His brash attitude put most people off, but Chris couldn’t help it. It was just how he was. He blamed Alyss, though, and he wouldn’t ever tell anyone what he really thought. He had gotten really good at saying what was least expected of him as compared to what he really thought. He really did throw people for a loop with some of the things he said, but Chris liked it. When Noah started talking about how you can learn from the male characters in romance novels, Chris chuckled and shook his head; “I don’t need the learning, I need to do the teaching. There are too many schmucks running around with the idea that a girl deserves all of his love. I intend to inform said schmucks that that isn’t the case at all. So, tell me, Noah, how well is my program doing? I mean, you’re my experimental case study – are you learning anything worth while?” Chris knew he was setting himself up with that line. Noah could go on about how he was learning how not to act toward girls, but the truth was Chris was never this cocky around girls. He was cocky to a point, but he was never this smug.

Noah asked if Chris was going to buy the book that he had said was good and Chris smirked, “Nah, I don’t think I will.” He stepped away from the book shelf and turned to eye the books, “I might buy this one, though. I haven’t read this one, but I’ve read the one you showed me. I’ve read it a couple of times actually. You see, next to girls, reading is my number one passion. I love reading. If you tell anyone that, though, I’ll deny it. Chris Crawford does not read, at least, according to everyone else Chris Crawford doesn’t read.” Chris shrugged and pulled a book off the shelf and opened it to read a couple of sentences. That’s how he fell in love with books. He’d read the first few sentences and if they drew him in, he knew the book would be one he would enjoy. There were few books that did that, though, which was why Chris hardly went to the book store. He just read the collection he had at home in his library. His father and mother had so many books that he could probably start his own bloody book store.

Chris held up the book in front of Noah, “Have you read this one? Is it any good?”

[noah]

Noah looked over at Chris as he made a comment to the pickup line book. He really could imagine Chris writing a book about what exactly to say to women. “Strangely…I really do think you could write a book about corny pickup lines,” Noah informed glancing over toward the section wondering what exactly other men advice. He had looked through one of those books once, but found it uninteresting. Every guy should have their own technique for talking to women, though it didn’t hurt to look through it once in a while. Just for a good laugh. His fingers glided through the edges of the pages of the book in his hands as he watched Chris pick up another book form the shelf. Maybe he was judging Chris too soon. There obviously had to be another side to Chris that people don’t know about. Everyone had one of those sides. It’s what balances people’s personalities. Or maybe there was a reason for the way Chris acted. Noah debated these possibilities in his mind, his fingers going numb from the edges of the page of his book. When Chris made a remark about a book Noah had chosen for him, his eyebrow rose slightly. “If your looking for dirty scenes you won’t find any in these books,” he began pointing to the lines of books shelved in front of them. “Most of these books are either about something finding themselves, great heroes and a forbidden romance of sorts.” Noah nodded as he looked over the books trying to recognize which one’s he had already read. “The only thing you’ll read about in this section is maybe a kissing scene…if your looking for dirty scenes should I suggest playboy, or any other magazines like that?”

Smirking at his comment Noah thought more about what Chris mentioned with the whole not being able to get both love and pleasure at the same time. “What makes you think you couldn’t get both?” he asked taking out another book from the shelf. He wasn’t even feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable about the topic they were talking about. “Not that I would know, but I would think it would be better if you loved the person, then go off sleeping with six other ladies during the course of the week.” Noah put the book back on the shelf wondering if Chris would ask him a certain question that most guys asked him. When he made a comment about sick romantic fools in the world, Noah just shrugged. “I’m not one of those guys, but I do believe that there is one person in the world who you are to spend the rest of your life with,” he began looking over his shoulder at Chris, a reasonably calm look on his face. “I just choose not to chase after every girl to find her, or sleep with every girl out there because I’m afraid of one little heartbreak.” Noah’s brown eyes stare intensely at Chris before turning away to look at the book shelf again. There were different guys out there in the world. Some just wanted some physical things from girls, other just their love. Noah was just in the middle. He didn’t care too much about the topic. “Unfortunately I’m not learning much from this littler experimental program other than how to be an ass. Maybe you try to corrupt a little first year’s mind.”

When Chris said he wasn’t going to buy the book, Noah just shrugged before his eyebrows rose again. So there really was much more to Chris other than girls. Reading was one trait that defined almost anybody in Ravenclaw. “Don’t worry. I don’t think people care too much about what Chris likes other than girls. Though, it would disappoint the few men out there who look up to you.” Noah coughed trying to hide his snicker that was building up in his throat. Maybe he was being too harsh on Chris? When he held out a book asking Noah’s advice he looked at the title. “That’s a good book actually. Read it once though,” he said walking to another part of the shelf pulling out another book. “This one,” he began handing the book over to Chris, “seems more of your type. It has a few scenes you like, but in the end it’s a lessen well learned to the main character.”

[Chris Crawford R7]

Chris smirked and shrugged, “I don’t know, my pick up lines aren’t terribly corny. But I am known to have some rather corny ones, I suppose.” Chris looked at Noah with a small look of boredom on his face. He knew that Noah was the type of guy who was unimpressed with the things that Chris did, how he talked to women, but if Noah only knew why Chris was the way he was – he was certain that Noah would see him in a different light. After all, wasn’t it only plausible that a person should change after a heart break like he had with Alyss? Of course. Then again, Chris had been convincing himself this for a whole year practically, so he had time to make it appear plausible in his head. Maybe it wasn’t so plausible to anyone else. Chris mentally shrugged and tuned back into the conversation that he was having with Noah. It was funny to think that they had shared a dorm room for 6 years and that they hardly knew each other at all. Okay, so perhaps it wasn’t too unbelievable because Chris was rather isolated but you would think they would know a bit about each other. They didn’t, though. And Chris was perfectly okay with that.

“Ah, so they’re girly books are they, then?” Chris asked with a smug smirk on his face when Noah told him about what type of books were in the aisle they were standing in. If Noah then asked whether or not Chris had ever read that kind of book, his answer would be an honest yes. Actually, they were Chris’s favourite type of book. He liked the books that made him think about who he is and the books that usually did that were the ones that held some sort of journey to find the main character’s soul or what have you. He wouldn’t, however, admit that without being asked so he played it off as if he never read any of those books because they were girly books. When Noah suggested Playboy or another type of dirty magazine, Chris laughed and shook his head; “Nah, mate, I don’t go for dirty magazines. I don’t need the magazines when I can just get the real thing.” He smirked at Noah, “Though if I ever have the need for a dirty magazine, I’ll make sure to ask to borrow yours.”

Chris had been the type of guy Noah was. He had been the type of guy who preferred romance to sex. But after the whole thing with Alyss, Chris kind of just shut down and lost every bit of romance in his body. Now, he just believed that you could only get one – pleasure or love. And Chris usually went for the pleasure. At least with pleasure you could control whether or not you stop receiving it. Love isn’t like that. Love is chance. Chris hated chance. He looked at Noah when he spoke about pleasure and love, asking him what made him think that you couldn’t get both. Chris shrugged and was about to answer when Noah kept talking. He spoke of chasing girls and sleeping with one every night of the week, and this caused Chris to raise his eyebrows. Is that really what people thought he did? Hah. Yeah, like a girl would be stupid enough to sleep with him every night of the week. Noah said he wasn’t that type of guy, but that he believed in a soul mate type of idea. Chris smirked and shook his head, drumming his hands against the bookshelf he was leaning against. The poor sap, he thought. Chris didn’t believe in soul mates. Not anymore. It was when Noah mentioned chasing after different girls because of fear of heartbreak that Chris’s playful demeanour changed; “Have you ever had your heart broken, Noah? Because you’re sure fooling me if you have. You go and get your heart trampled on and then come back to me and tell me you still have those foolish fantasy notions in your head.”

With a small sigh, Chris turned and surveyed the books now. He didn’t want to go into detail about what he had just said, and he wondered if Noah would pry. If Noah did pry, Chris would just shrug it off, mention an ex girlfriend and change the subject. It was what he always did when someone brought up his past. His mother liked to do that often. Chris shrugged, “First years are too young, Noah. They run around thinking girls have cooties.” Chris laughed at the thought. He didn’t think he had ever thought girls had cooties, but then again, Chris had thought girls were interesting at a very young age. He had always been rather interested in girls. There was just something about them. He didn’t know what then, but now he had a fairly good idea what it was about them that made him tick. Noah mentioned not telling anyone and Chris smirked and nodded in agreement, “Most people don’t care to get to know me.” Taking the book that Noah offered him, he skimmed through it and then shrugged; “Alright, I’ll buy it.”