prospicere futurum

Corinne couldn't decide if she wanted 2:00 to come faster or slower. She knew everything would work out alright. It had to, if they were going to end up together. But every time she pictured the bright gray eyes, the perfect smile, the sandy brown hair that could never stay off of his forehead-

"Corinne!" Taylor grinned, nudging her friend hard in the ribs. "Godric, how nervous are you?"

"Very! Thanks!" The blonde bit back with a huff, rubbing the now sore spot on her side.

She couldn't stop his last words to her, on replay in her mind. It'll be a quick practice, then I'm all yours.

"Where are you two going?" Ella asked, excitement seeping through her usually sarcastic attitude.

"I'm not sure." She got up from the bed she had been sitting on beside Taylor for the past half hour. "That's why I'm so stressed. What do I wear? I don't want to look like I care too much, but I want him to know I care... I mean a little. I mean I care a lot, obviously, but-"

"If only there was some potion you could have brewed to see if it would turn out alright, oh wait." Ella shot over a stern look, a hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"Come on, I'll help you pick what to wear." Taylor yanked her towards the dresser lying across from their beds, pulling out each drawer and scanning over the contents. "Oh, you brought cute stuff this year. Here, wear this." She chucked a light colored dress towards her friend, already pulling pairs of shoes out. "But you have no cute shoes."

"I can't wear this." Corinne held the dress up to herself in the mirror. "It's almost October. It's fall."

"So what? You'll look cute!" Taylor protested, standing before her own trunk now and digging around for acceptable shoes to go with the outfit she obviously had in her mind. "It's not that cold yet, and the sun will be out."

"Listen to Taylor." Ella agreed, absentmindedly, scribbling away on homework that wasn't due for at least another two days.

"Always listen to Taylor." Taylor grinned, crossing the room and handing over a pair of white sandals.

Finally, at 1:30, Corinne couldn't wait any longer. She buckled the strap at the ankles of Taylor's shoes and forced her roommates to wish her luck before starting down the winding staircase into the common room.

"Well, well, well." Fred grinned, his head lolling back on the couch to look at her. "Where are you off to, pretty girl?"

She bit back a smile, looking over her dress quickly as she stopped before the couch where the three Gryffindor's had been playing some sort of card game, George wearing a very focused expression while Lee looked overjoyed at the interruption to their game.

"Nowhere." She answered finally, wincing at her lack of an excuse. She wasn't planning to tell Fred anything about a date, but she probably should have come up with a better story.

"Need an escort to nowhere?" He threw the cards in his hand facing down on the table, his eyes never leaving her blue ones.

"I'm fine, actually..." She started, thankful when Lee interrupted.

"If you leave, you're out!" George looked hopeful at this, Corinne holding back a smile as Fred laughed.

"It's fine that you two never win. Keeps my ego big."

"Lord knows you need help there." George bit back, sarcastically and Corinne could no longer hold in the laugh.

"I'll walk you anyways, love. Can't trust the men around here to keep their hands to themselves-"

Lee burst into laughter, deep and booming throughout the common room as Fred swung around to face him.

"You act like you're not Gryffindor's number one womanizer." He pointed up at the ginger as George began to chuckle as well.

"Hogwart's number one womanizer. Don't limit him to Gryffindor only!" He played along, Fred crossing his arms over his chest and watching the two of them fall against their respective couches in laughter.

"I'm really fine. I'm going to walk myself." Corinne shot Fred a sorry smile, hurrying towards the portrait hole and stepping out before he could object.

"Thanks so much, you wankers." His voice faded out as the portrait swung shut behind her and she started down the first of many staircases. The hallways were surprisingly, and thankfully, empty, which was good, as Taylor's shoes were slippery and Corinne's eyes were planted firmly on each step.

"Wow." The familiar voice pulled her gaze up from her feet, the voice that had been on repeat in her head since breakfast. "You look gorgeous."

He said it as if it was a fact, and Corinne was glad they were still a few steps away so she had a few seconds to compose herself, forcing her mind off the flush she could feel taking over her cheeks. He was grinning, dimples poking through on each side of his smile as he waited for her at the bottom of the second set of stairs.

"I was coming down to meet you..." She changed the subject as she reached his side, both of them starting down the stairs again as she tried to meet his eyes instead of looking at her feet again.

"I ended practice a little early." He shrugged, linking eyes with her for a few seconds before she looked away. "I thought it wouldn't be very gentlemanly to make you walk down all alone on our first date."

She allowed herself a look to her shoes now. An excuse to hide her smile.

"That's an awful lot of stairs for someone who just finished a grueling quidditch practice." She answered.

"Oh, you know the captains just sit around and yell." He joked as they finally reached the doors to the Great Hall.

"Yeah, you strike me as that type." She lied, giggling as his teeth sank into his lip as he pushed her towards the front door lightly. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." He pushed through the heavy wooden door, holding it open and nodding for Corinne to step out first before he fell back into step at her side. "Do anything fun today?"

Agonized over this.

"Not really. Started some homework, but I didn't get far." She laughed, slightly as he nodded.

"It's picking up so fast." He agreed. "Although my potions partner is quite good, I think I have a shot at passing this year."

"Oh, because in previous years you failed?" The blonde smiled.

"Depends on the day. I'm not usually awful, but sometimes everything just goes wrong."

"I think Snape plans it that way."

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, faint hoots from owls coming from the forest in the distance and rabbits hopped alongside them, freezing anytime they got too close before dashing away. Finally, Corinne had a terrible idea of where they were headed.

"You're not taking me to fly, are you?" She nodded towards the Quidditch Pitch which was growing larger with every step.

"That might have been the plan if you hadn't worn such a pretty dress." He smirked, both of them stepping onto the field, the grass fading to dirt below their feet. It had been a dry few weeks back at school, or the pitch would have been mud by now.

"I'm not flying!" She protested, her heart beginning to hammer in her chest. Even if she had wanted to fly, she certainly wasn't going up in the air dressed like this.

"I was only kidding." He smiled, taking her hand gently and pulling her towards the bleachers. They climbed a few rows up, Corinne stopping on every other bench to steady herself, even as Cedric's hand never left hers. After stepping over the fifth row up, she saw it. The giant wicker basket on top of a golden yellow blanket which was so long it spread over two separate benches.

"What did you do?" She couldn't hold back the grin as he pulled her carefully up the final few steps, finally reaching the blanket and dropping down, thankful to no longer be hovering over the seemingly endless rows leading down to the ground again. "Where'd you get this?"

"I've got my ways." He shrugged, pulling open the top of the basket and handing her a chilled butterbeer bottle.

"Did you carry all of this out here?" She popped the top off her drink, feeling guilty.

"Yeah, I'm a muggle." He shook his head with a grin. "No, I summoned it after practice. None of the other teams booked the pitch today. I'm not even sure if any of them are practicing. I know Gryffindor doesn't even have a captain assigned."

"So you're expecting to take the Cup by storm next year?"

"That's the plan." He held his bottle towards hers, the glass clinking and foam rising towards the top. "Are you hungry? I guess I should have told you not to have lunch, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise."

Corinne felt her stomach rumble at the thought of food. "I didn't have lunch actually. I suppose I forgot."

"You nervous for a date with me, Corinne?" He smirked and she held back an eye roll.

"What did you bring me for lunch, you egomaniac?"

He laughed, reaching in and pulling out two giant sandwiches with melted cheese and an even larger bowl of fruit.

"Does Hufflepuff have a secret kitchen I'm unaware of?" She reached for the fruit bowl, popping a grape into her mouth.

"Not a secret one." He answered, unwrapping the paper from his sandwich and tossing it back into the basket. "The house elves are quite helpful if you ask nicely."

She unwrapped her sandwich as well, taking the first bite and watching as he brought his lips to his butterbeer again, blinking twice and looking to her lap to not be caught staring.

"How are classes, aside from potions?" He asked, leaning back on his elbows as he finished his sandwich, gray eyes locked on hers.

"Alright. Herbology's been..."

"Merlin, I know, right? Bloody terrifying." He laughed and she joined in, pushing the image of Fred's scarred wrist from her mind. "What's your favorite subject?"

"I do like herbology, actually. When we're not getting mauled. But I think my favorite is probably charms... which is lame-"

"No, it's not." He shook his head at once, "I like charms too. Not as much as transfiguration, maybe. Or Defense Against the Dark Arts. You never know what you're going to get with that one."

"Seriously, it's like a different class every year." Corinne laughed, reaching for another grape from the dwindling bowl between them. "So, two of the most impressive classes on your favorites list. What do you want to do after school?"

"Dunno," He shrugged, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Tell me!" She grinned, eyebrows pulling together as she tried to read his expression.

"You'll think I'm ridiculous."

"Too late for that." She bit back and his jaw dropped in mock offense.

"I'd like to keep playing. Quidditch. My dad thinks I'm living in a fairytale world. It's not like I'm a chaser or even a beater. There's only one seeker per team, and you have to be really good-"

"You are really good." Corinne assured him, both of them knowing that she had never truly watched him play. No more than the occasional Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match if the weather was nice. "They wouldn't have made you captain if you weren't."

"I think it has a bit to do with leadership and good grades over raw talent." He chuckled, biting into a blueberry.

"So you're the total package." She teased and he wiggled his eyebrows, earning a laugh from the blonde.

"You have siblings?" He asked after another sip of his nearly empty butterbeer.

"Nope. Only me. You?"

"Only me." He agreed. "What are your parents like?"

It was the polite way of asking someone's blood status, she knew that, but she had been curious as well. Cedric was well discussed around Hogwarts, but she couldn't recall much about him aside from the gorgeous hair and dreamy smile.

"My parents are both wizards, but my grandmother was muggleborn. I guess it was really hard back then, even getting into school. Or maybe she just liked to complain."

He laughed, his head flinging back into the sun as Corinne enjoyed the sound, laughing back between small sips of her drink.

"Did you know her well?" He asked once they stopped laughing.

"When I was little. She died the spring before I started school."

"I'm sorry." His smile vanished, his eyes still latched to mine. "My grandparents are all gone too. Just my mum and dad."

"Both wizards?" She pressed, realizing she still didn't have the answer.

"Mhm," He answered, straightening out the crumpled blanket before them. "My great grandfather was Minister for Magic. I think 17...40...ish." He shrugged.

"You're lying." She set her empty bottle in the basket next to his.

"No, I swear! I mean, I never met the guy, but yeah. We learned about him third year in History of Magic, or weren't you paying attention?" He teased and Corinne rolled her eyes.

"Let's not go around accusing people of not paying attention now from someone who just learned my name last week."

"Low blow." He laughed, leaning back against the blanket to rest his head on the bleacher, shutting his eyes into the sun which was already leaning closer to the forest. "I hope I haven't wrecked your dinner. What time is it?" He held his wrist up and squinted against the bright sky.

"You have, but I'll forgive you." She leaned back on her elbows, letting the sun sink into her skin and ignoring the worry that she might be getting burned.

"Should we go flying, then?" He sat back up, his eyes twinkling as they met hers and she shook her head.

"Literally never. I told you!" She backed away before he flung his arm out, grabbing her by her ankle and yanking her along the bleacher towards him. "Cedric! Don't!" She laughed nervously. The Hufflepuff grinned as he pulled once more until she was practically on his lap, the blanket bunching up between them as he stood, pulling her into his arms and starting down the first few bleachers.

"Stop! Please don't mess around, we're too high up!" She cried, her teeth clenched as she looked down over the side of the pitch, the grass far below seemed to spin in circles behind her eyes before Cedric dropped to the bleacher, setting her next to him on the wood, her legs still on his lap.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid, I didn't... I forgot about the heights thing." His eyes looked worried as he scanned over her face, his fingers resting gently on her ankles over his lap.

"No, it's... It's fine." She shook her head, taking a steadying breath and praying he wouldn't think she was stupid.

"Hey," He whispered, moving his hand on top of hers until she met his eyes. "I wouldn't let you fall. Ever."

✵

The chairs scraped against the stone of the floor as the girls jumped from their spots, dinner plates evaporating without their notice as they started towards the door.

"You should have eaten more, Taylor, you know how your stomach gets when you drink-" Ella teased as they neared the door, the Gryffindor table already clearing out behind them. Everyone had been talking about Taylor's birthday party in the common room all week, though that was no surprise. Taylor had more friends than Corinne could count, the entirety of the Gryffindor practically wrapped around her finger.

"I ate plenty!" She objected, starting up the stairs before the girls attention was drawn back to the Great Hall, to a voice calling Corinne's name.

"Hey!" She grinned, the three of them sliding to the side of the stairwell. "How are you?"

"Good, how are you?" Cedric asked, his head rolling to the side a bit.

"Good." She stammered out, feeling her face grow hot and wishing her friends weren't standing silently behind her.

"I was just going to ask if you wanted to study tonight? I've got that Transfiguration paper for Monday that I haven't even started on."

Corinne felt her chest pull for only a moment, wishing that she could go with him, before remembering Taylor's party. Their whole year had been waiting for tonight all week, and she wasn't excluded. Birthdays were important, especially when they fell on Friday nights.

"I'm sorry, Ced, I've actually got plans. We're throwing Taylor a birthday party tonight." She glanced back at the blonde and Cedric's smile grew behind her.

"Ah, happy birthday... Taylor, is it?" He held a hand out towards her and Ella each in turn before looking back to Corinne. "You girls have fun."

"Do you..." Corinne blurted without thinking, "Want to come?"

A smile pulled to his lips again as he considered, "A Gryffindor party? You don't think they'd slam the door in my face?"

"You're thinking like it's Quidditch season." She shrugged, "This is probably the one year no one will mind having the Hufflepuff team captain party with us."

"Yeah, plus I'm the birthday girl, and I can bring who I want." Taylor added in, taking another step up the stairs as if it had been decided. "Now, come on, they're going to start without me!" She yanked Ella's arm upwards and with a final eye roll, the brunette followed her friend up the stairs.

"I'll probably just do my paper then tonight... but, if you're free tomorrow morning? You know, if you're not hungover and puking-"

"I won't be puking." Corinne shoved him playfully towards the wall next to the stairwell.

"I'll come get you in the morning? Like, 9? We can grab breakfast and have a walk or something?" His smile was so warm, sincerity pooling in his eyes as she nodded.

"Perfect. But I can meet you here, you don't have to keep walking all the way up-"

"I'd kill for some extra time with you, Corinne." His hand reached slowly out for hers on his last word, his fingers sliding along her hand, his eyes latched to her.

"Okay." She agreed, tucking some loose hair behind her ear with her free hand. "I'll see you then."

"Have fun." He nodded up the stairs. "Sorry I made you lose your friends."

"Oh, I know just where to find them." She joked, waving him a quick goodbye and starting up the stairs to catch the girls.

Taylor must have dragged Ella up every last step at record speed, and as Corinne stepped through the portrait hole to a great roar of laughter, she spotted Taylor at once, clinking tiny plastic cups with Angelina, Alicia and Katie as music blared from an enchanted phonograph near the fireplace.

She started towards Taylor, Ella standing a few feet behind them with her own drink before Taylor joined the two again, holding two more shot glasses.

"Taylor, it's not been ten minutes and this is your fourth!" Ella warned with a small smile as Taylor forcibly clinked their cups and downed the next shot.

"And I'm seventeen in three hours! That's thirteen more to go-" Taylor winked dramatically.

"We're not letting you take seventeen shots, you're insane!" Corinne giggled, vanishing the empty cups away. "What is this song, it's horrible."

"Oh, I don't know, Lee put the record on. No one's paying attention to the music, Corinne. What did Diggory want?"

"I think you can start calling him Cedric." Ella pointed out with a teasing smile.

"Sorry, what did Ceddy want?" Taylor rephrased with a giggle. "Why didn't he come?"

"He's going to finish that paper." Corinne explained, plastering the smile on her face still as her mind wandered. She would have loved for Cedric to be up here, to be with him all night, to get him drinks and laugh and watch his eyes light up. Yet, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering, especially when eyes lingered on the pair in potions or in the hallways.

Cedric Diggory and the girl who's name he had only learned last week.

"But we're getting breakfast in the morning, and we might go on a walk or something." The smile pulled back to her lips at her own words. "As long as I'm not 'hungover and puking,' he said."

"Oh, how well he knows you." Ella grinned through another sip of her drink before Corinne gasped, a pair of warm hands had landed on her shoulders, squeezing tightly a few times over the muscles beneath her skin. She could tell who it was before she turned, before he had even spoken, the sugary cinnamon smell enveloping her senses.

"Happiest of birthday's, Tay-Tay." He grinned, his smile not faltering as Corinne pulled out from his grasp, fixing her hair around her shoulders and turning to the Weasley twins.

"Thank you, boys." She grinned, as George flicked his wand towards the table now sticky with spilled drinks, a few small shot glasses flying towards them once again.

"George, she's going to drown in firewhiskey." Corinne pleaded as Fred caught two of the flying cups, passing her one with a devilish grin.

"She's done shots with everyone but us, Baker, it's only fair!" George protested, holding his cup towards the center of the group and waiting for everyone to join in his toast.

Taylor's eyes flickered to the far corner of the room where an exceptionally loud group was calling to her, waving her over excitedly and cheering as she drew closer.

"Want an actual drink, Baker?" Fred asked, his brown eyes locked with hers as she glanced to Ella, who shot her a panicked look at the idea of being left with George alone.

"You know, I've got to go ask Angie what kind of punch this is anyways," Ella glanced down at her half full drink and hurried off towards the Quidditch girls before Corinne could protest.

"You guys miss Quidditch?" Corinne launched into the first topic she could think of, desperate to include George in their trip towards the drinks. She hadn't been alone with Fred since he had crashed her studying in the hallway, but judging from his persistent flirting, she was desperately craving a buffer.

"Yeah, loads." George answered at once, grabbing three cups and beginning to pour the fiery liquor out. "We're doing three thousand push ups a day to keep up the muscle. Can't you tell?" He grinned, teasingly as he flexed his arm out for her, passing the cups around the small group.

"And there's only so many pranks one can plan. We've nearly thought of doing homework to fill the time."

"The professors would have strokes." Corinne teased, taking a sip of the drink George had made and coughing a bit. "Good lord, George. Don't make that for anyone you're trying to impress, tonight."

"Don't be a baby." He bit back, "I'll be back, I'm going to get Lee to put on something tolerable in here."

"That's what I said!" Corinne smiled for a second before watching George storm off into the crowd and realizing she was alone with Fred.

"Got plans for the weekend?" Fred asked, stepping forward a bit until they reached an empty couch, staking it out for themselves before everyone grew tired of dancing and mingling and began the hunt for seating.

"Uh..." She stalled, her heart picking up speed, "Not really, much, just homework probably. Helping Taylor recover from tonight."

"I wasn't going to ask you out, Baker, you can breathe again." Fred teased, his mouth pulled into it's signature smirk as she felt her cheeks flush.

"I didn't think-"

"You never lent me that book." He cut her off, apparently unfazed by his previous sentence. "I wasn't joking, I actually want to read it."

She blinked, her mind still churning from his comment before the memory landed. "Oh,"

"I assume you finished it? Or are you a slow reader-"

"Knock it off," She laughed now, feeling the awkwardness leave them as she leaned back against the arm of the couch behind her, kicking him towards the other end. "I did finish it, and I really don't think you're going to like it-"

"Just try me, Baker, damn. You're harder to get a book out of than Pince."

She laughed again, thankful for the volume of the music around them to drown it out.

"Alright, you can borrow it. But it was my grandma's, so you'd better be careful with it."

"I'll shower each time I even think of picking it up."

"That'll do, I guess." She sighed, leaning her head back and forcing down another sip of her drink. "Is your drink this bad or does your brother hate me?"

✵

Although Corinne had stopped herself from drinking plenty early, waiting out Taylor's endurance on the couch with Ella and the Weasley's, the morning sun was not a welcome sight. The only thing that had her out of bed before noon was the thought of Cedric waiting for her outside. And possibly the thought of a pumpkin muffin.

She left the curtains drawn to block out as much light as she could, knowing that Taylor would surely sleep the morning away, even if it was her birthday. That would be her gift to herself, and there would be plenty of time left for her friends to fawn over her the rest of the day.

Pulling a soft brown sweater and jeans from her dresser, she slipped into the bathroom, pulling the door silently behind her and wincing at the light as the lamps lit around her. She changed quickly, brushing her teeth and running her fingers through her hair at record speed before she was rushing back through the dorm, sliding the slightly worn copy of Pride and Prejudice from her night stand and plucking a scrap of parchment from her bookbag at the floor.

She scrawled Fred's name quickly, dropped her quill back to her bag and hurried down the staircase. The room was vacant, even for a Saturday morning, though she supposed it was still early in the term and no one had to be up this early on weekends to study yet. Not to mention all of the upperclassman had been up much too late celebrating and would likely beat even Taylor in sleeping until noon.

Only pausing to drop the book and the note on the table beside the couch they had sat on last night, she pushed through the portrait hole, shutting it softly behind her, holding in a laugh as the Fat Lady snored away in her frame.

"Morning." Cedric's voice shocked her, she spun to see him stepping up to the landing, two steaming cups of coffee in his hand and a crinkled bag tucked into one arm.

"So not only are you walking all the way up here, you're bringing treats?" She smiled, reaching gratefully for the coffee he held out towards her, her headache subsiding at just the smell of vanilla.

"I figured you might be a bit tired." His smile was infectious, and she couldn't have stopped her own from spreading across her lips if she had wanted to. "How was the party?"

"Really fun. But it went really late, and none of us wanted to cut Taylor's fun short."

"No, I doubt anyone ever tries that." He grinned, knowingly.

"You've got to come to the next one." She replied after another sip of her coffee. "I promise they're fun."

"I'm sure they are." He smiled as they reached the final staircase. "When's Ella's birthday? I'm not sure I see it being as big of a bash."

Corinne laughed now, imagining the past few years of birthdays for her friend.

"No, Ella likes things a bit more quiet. We'd only throw her a party like that if we wanted to punish her."

Cedric pushed through the double doors to the grounds with his elbow, holding it to let Corinne out first before returning to her side and offering her the bag from his arm.

"I didn't know what you'd like, so I grabbed a few muffins and some scones."

"Hmm," She pulled the orange muffin from the center of the pile and grinned. "You're a lifesaver."

"I get that a lot." He said, the two of them starting towards the forest in the distance, the leaves crunching beneath their feet. "Do you have plans the rest of the day? Aside from Taylor's birthday?"

"Nope," She answered with a smile as she picked off another bite of her muffin, "And she'll sleep for hours more."

"Did I wake you up too early?"

"No!" She hurried to answer, looking up to him, his gray eyes shining in the morning sun. "I'm usually up early."

"Good," He answered, "So I have you for hours, huh?"

✵

Fred climbed the final flight of steps, two large coffees balanced in one hand and a napkin filled with muffins in the other. He wasn't sure what time Corinne usually woke up, but she was almost always in the Great Hall before he was, and he didn't want to miss her. He had dragged himself from bed the second his eyes had opened to the sun peeking through the curtains and rushed down to breakfast, sighing in relief when he scanned over the empty Gryffindor table.

He muttered the password, pushing through the portrait hole with his shoulder and scanning the common room which housed a few more students than it had on his way down, though most of them had eyes that surely rivaled his own in exhaustion.

He had just moved towards the couch he had spent the majority of Taylor's party on last night with Corinne when he noticed the familiar brown hair appear around the corner of the girl's staircase, Ella stepping into the common room alone, rubbing the sleep from her eyes absentmindedly as she started towards the exit.

"Stevens." Fred grinned, leaning against the couch and taking a sip from his coffee. "How ya feeling?"

"Not quite as giddy as you, why are you so chipper?" She answered, slowing beside him. "Where's your double?"

"Still asleep." He answered, watching her eyebrows pull together as she glanced to the second coffee in his hands. "Is Corinne up yet?"

Ella's eyes went wide as Fred waited for the answer, her fingers rising to pull her hair out of her face.

"Uh, yeah... she's already out, actually."

"Out?" He asked, holding in a sigh. "It's not even ten."

"She's an early riser, Weasley. You'll never catch her." She answered, moving towards the doorway before he stepped into her path.

"Well, you want her coffee?" He held the warm mug towards her and she ran her tongue over her lips, hoping the sadness wasn't seeping into her gaze.

"Oh, that's her coffee?" She teased, taking the drink from the red head as he shrugged.

"Not anymore, I guess." He forced a smile to his face. "Here, take these up to Taylor and tell her that's the nicest gift she'll ever receive from me." He pressed the muffins into Ella's open hand.

"Alright, I'll let her know... in two hours when she finally wakes up." Ella joked, turning back towards the dorms, "Thanks, Weasley. Saved me a lot of steps."

"Oh, anytime." Fred answered with a shrug, watching as the brunette started slowly back up the stairs before sinking to the couch behind him. His glance landed on the table beside him, a small scrap of paper with his name scrawled in looping letters. He slid the paper to the side and picked the book up carefully from the table, turning it over in his hands and allowing the grin to overtake his face.