Lollygagging (Dare/Verity)

[Verity Bromley]

Verity was walking down random corridors for no other reason than she was bored. It was a common problem these days, but at least there weren't any classes in session during the summer. It was far too early in the day to open the Three Broomsticks and she was sick and tired of spending all of her free time there anyways. Where the heck was everyone? It was summer! She was supposed to have a social life now that she didn't have to worry about distractions such as schoolwork.

Verity had been so bored that she even considered getting a head start on her coursework for next year, despite the fact that she didn't believe in doing anything the least bit educational during the summer. Instead, she resorted to roaming the halls aimlessly. They were actually quite fascinating. For the first time, Verity actually got to take a closer look at all the paintings that lined the walls. Some frames were empty except for the background scenery as its figures went off to chat with other paintings. Another reason for roaming the corridors was that maybe if she did it now she wouldn't get lost so much next year. Then perhaps she wouldn't get so many detentions for being late to class.

She walked slowly down the hall, careful to take in all of the details so she might be able to differentiate this one from the next even though they all looked exactly the same. Verity stopped in front of a painting and studied it. She found herself humming the tune to a muggle song. One of her dorm mates seemed to be obsessed with all things muggle-related, especially music, a trait she was finding to be rare in Slytherin and in return Verity got lots of muggle songs stuck in her head. This particular song that was currently stuck in her head had a catchy beat. She began muttering the words and playing the air piano along with the melody playing in her head. "Making my way downtown walking fast faces pass and I'm home bound..."

If anyone saw her or heard her they would probably questioned her sanity. Or maybe they would just be insanely jealous of the fact that pwned that air piano.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was in his professors' robes. Technically. They were slung over his shoulders and his arms were through the holes, but made little impact thrown open as they were and half tucked back behind him, revealing his usual clothes beneath. It may have been mostly unconscious to disguise them that way, but part of it was that he was sick of stares that implied he'd knocked some crippled old professor down to steal them, then rifled his pockets on his way out. No, actually, he'd earned them. Somehow.

Yes, he knew he was good at Transfiguration and he liked it. Yes, he knew Professor laSalle had personally recommended him for the position when she'd decided to step down, but it was still massively surreal. He should be making sure he had some parchment and ink for notes, not trying to work out a lesson plan in his mind. This was so weird.

He turned a corner from one corridor to the next and halfway down stopped, the sight of a girl rocking out to her own imaginary music enough to call him out of his solitary thoughts. A lot of people probably would have thought she was just crazy, but Dare found himself trying to decide what instrument she was playing, since he was more used to air guitars. "Piano, right?" he asked, only realizing afterward that he should have started with a greeting and worked up to curiosity.

[Verity Bromley]

((that song always reminds me of this))


Verity finished out the phrase before letting her hands drop. There was no way she could just stop right in the middle. There needed to be closure. She looked up to find that she needed to look up more. Whoever it was who had approached her was almost a foot taller than she was. Even though she was wearing four inch heels that day, he was still quite a bit taller than she was. Ah, well she was always pretty short.

“Yeah.” Verity said grinning. She was glad he didn’t take her to be mad. Or maybe he did and he just handled it well. “But really the drums are more my thing. My piano’s okay and I’ve been working on my ukulele. That one is tough to master.” Verity was only half-joking. How could you listen to a song and not jam out along with it?

Verity’s eyes darted to the guy’s unusually, but still awesome, colored hair to his clothes. She didn’t recognize his robes and by the way he was wearing it she just assumed it to be a long coat. “Do you play any air instruments?” She asked with a similar curiosity. She was mostly happy he didn’t turn and run the other way, not that it would bother her much. She stopped caring too much about what people thought about her at some point in her life.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

(())

Dare's lips quirked, a crooked half-smile he couldn't help. "Guitar, everyone plays guitar, a little harmonica, some zither. I'm not great with the drums, though. Always losing a drumstick." He demonstrated with a couple good beats, then threw one hand out wildly and winced as though the stick had gone flying. Maybe it was stress build-up, but he couldn't resist playing along.

"Any tips?" he asked.

[Verity Bromley]

“Oh yes, I used to have that same problem!” Verity said. “Let’s see…” She paused to think. “Well, whatever you do, gluing them to your hand is a terrible idea. They fall off anyways, it hinders your ability to spin them, and all you’re left with is a broken beat and a sticky mess.” Verity shook her head. Sometimes you have to learn things the hard way. “It really just takes a lot of good practice and a nice, firm grip on the sticks. Sometimes I still send some flying across the room, if I’m lucky.” Usually she doesn’t have much luck and her dorm mates get in the way. “That’s why I like to keep a few extra sticks around. I can just grab one real quick if I need to.”

Verity’s upbringing was starting to get to her. She had always been taught that formal introductions were necessary. In this case it might be coming a bit late, but better late than never. “I’m Verity.” She said rather abruptly. There was probably a smoother transition she could have made into it, but she wasn’t too worried about it. If she scared him, surely he would have run off by now.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare wouldn't argue with an imperfect introduction. He offered a handshake and a smile, but no criticism. "I'm Dare," he said. The whole I'm Alasdair but people call me bit seemed unnecessary when they'd just been discussing the ins and outs of air drumming, so he skipped it entirely. No one called him Alasdair anymore besides his dad anyway, outside the odd introduction.

"So are you new around here? I haven't seen you around much. Not that I'm the school stalker or anything, but after a few years here you start thinking you know everyone." He knew a lot of people, if not personally then by name or reputation. But then, his first year had been a crash course in the social workings of Hogwarts.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity took the handshake. "I guess so. I've only been here for about four and a half months." She had forgotten about being the new girl, if she could even still be called that. It felt like she had been at Hogwarts for her whole life. She adjusted to it well and was extremely comfortable there, far more comfortable than she had been at any other school. Verity noticed he looked to be about the same age as her, maybe a little older. She was bad at determining the age of a person based on appearance. She had seen a picture of a muggle boy her dorm mate listened to. Apparently he was only a year younger than she was even though her first guess what that he was at least eight years younger than she was. When she was forced to listen to his voice too she concluded that there was no possible way that boy was around her age if he looked and sounded like he was a little kid. "Are you a seventh year too?" She asked with a warm smile.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare winced a bit at the question. "Not anymore," he said. "Technically I graduated." And un-technically he didn't want to ruin a good conversation by announcing that he was a professor. Students just didn't talk to professors, there was no point to it unless you were asking for an extension on your homework or sucking up and he wasn't interested in being sucked-up to. He still felt like a student, even through his status change. He changed the subject. "So do you play any real instruments, or just rock out the air drums?" he asked. It was lame, but Hey, I might be your professor in a couple months would be a show-stopper.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity raised her eyebrows. "Oh." She said. She opened her mouth to ask if he was visiting or maybe picking up a few things from his dorm since he graduated. It never occurred to her that he might be a professor. Was it possible to have a professor that young? "I used to play the cello." Verity said before realizing how lame that sounded. You couldn't exactly rock out on the cello. "But I much prefer to rock out on the air drums." If she had a real set of drums, she would probably just end up making a lot of loud obnoxious pounding sounds. At least with the air drums she could fake it with the best of them. "Do you play anything besides air guitar?"

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

It was an awkward question, but better than ruining innocent conversation with a pretty girl, and he'd done it to himself. "I play guitar sometimes," he answered. "I'm decent at it, but keep it to myself mostly." It was heinously complicated, but she didn't need a breakdown of why. Maybe he downplayed his ability, but after being volunteered to play at a concert, he wasn't taking any chances like he had with that blonde.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity nodded. It was his choice really. If she ever picked up a real instrument again it would only be because she wanted to play it. Not because other people wanted her to play it for other people. The thing with Verity was that she was a bit slow at times. She blamed it on the fact that it was summer. When school started back again, she would probably blame it on stress or lack of sleep. She suddenly realized where he had heard his name from. At least, she was pretty sure it was him. How many Dares could there be in one place? "You're Willow's friend!" Verity blurted out. A sheepish smile spread across her face. "Sorry, that was a bit late..."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's eyes widened a moment before he recognized the name. "Oh! Jeez, I haven't seen her in forever, I thought she'd transferred," he said. He hadn't seen her after the Shack thing and didn't usually grill his brother about his love life to know if they were still together. "Yeah, you've seen her? She back for the summer or something?" His status as professor slipped his mind as he remembered they were supposed to climb the astronomy tower together. He really needed to see if she was still into that.

[Verity Bromley]

"We met in the Kitchens the other night." Verity said shrugging. "I think she said she had just gotten back from somewhere." She racked her brain trying to remember the details. "From an internship. In..." She remembered. "...Egypt!" Verity beamed proud of herself for remembering. "That was it, I think. We were talking about putting on a fashion show and she suggested you be one of the models!" Verity took that moment to study Dare, walking around him. "Hmm..." She said. He certainly was tall and he had a good fit. Not to mention a nice butt. "It could work." Verity said finally.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare couldn't help chuckling, even with the dubious excitement/discomfort of being inspected the way she was. Seriously, what was with girls volunteering him to be in shows? The reason he'd missed the last occurred to him and the humor faded, but he worked to shake the thoughts off. They had no place here.

"I don't have any modeling experience," he pleaded. Not that he believed there really would be a fashion show, or that anyone would really rope him into modeling, but he could play along with this as much as anything else.

[Verity Bromley]

"And I don't have any experience in running a fashion show, but it doesn't much matter anyways." Verity said waving it off. She hoped to make the beat of it. If it turned out to be a complete and utter disaster, which she hoped it wouldn't, then she would write it off as just another experience for the books. She could always mend her mistakes next time. "You don't have to do it, if you don't want." Verity wasn't trying to force anyone into doing something they would be miserable doing. Also, nothing was finalized. The show was still mostly like a dream for her. "Although, I do have a piece that would simply look dashing with your eyes."