The Back Alley
 

For anyone.
 

For me she means.
 

They'd not been back from Christmas for that long and already Dora was feeling trapped. Confined. Robbed of her freedom. The prefect needed SPACE to be away from all the sticky fingered underclassmen, liplocked upperclassmen, and constant pestering of professors and school staff about assignments and their future blah blah blah.

Hogsmeade weekend couldn't come at a better time.

Even though everyone and their familiars would be out here, she still came. Totting her own creature in the pocket of her jacket, shaded eyes scanning the crowded street idly. Not really looking for familiar faces so much as a place that was void of children. Hog's Head seemed like the ideal location until she spied a familiar someone heading down the alley.

Smirking to herself, Dora followed after Olly, pushing her shades up into her hair when they were no longer needed and leaning up against a wall casually. "Interesting place you've picked to visit." She glanced around idly. "Doesn't hold the charm of a sweet shop, but the solitude does leave nothing to be desired."

Yes, I meant you. :3
 

Olly had not heard the approaching footsteps. While she had been focusing on her surroundings, she was mainly just squinting against the darkness of the alley. Where did it come from? Where did it go? Cotton Eye Joe. And most importantly, why had she not been here before?

She'd just been about to take another step further down the alley when Dora spoke up. And made Olly jump slightly. And wince a moment later because jerking around to face the other girl so suddenly had NOT been a good idea. The Hufflepuff rubbed the back of her neck with a frown, just staring at Dora for a couple of seconds.

"I was going for solitude so this place is pretty much perfect." Olly finally replied, walking up to the other girl to lean against the wall next to her. "Why are you not in a sweet shop?" There was a small smirk playing around her lips. She was pretty sure the Ravenclaw prefered solitude over sweets too right now.

Casey ^_^
 

Amy <3
 

Louis was a bright boy, but if there was one thing he always failed miserably at, it was finding a sense of direction; especially in a new place. And that’s exactly what the little town of Hogsmeade was.

“Um… I think it’s supposed to be around this corner,” muttered Louis thoughtfully, more to himself than to the blonde girl walking along with him. He had asked his best mate for directions to Honeydukes before parting ways and meeting up with Delilah, but… yeah, he had NO CLUE where he was going right now. One thing was clear: this was not Honeydukes.

Louis made a sharp left turn behind a shoe shop, only to find himself in a dark, deserted alleyway. UHH. Okay, this was OBVIOUSLY not going to take him to a candy shop!

"Right. Well. I'm not sure we're going to find candy here..." more like illicit drugs or something.

OKAY.

Delilah walked alongside Lou, trusting him to take her to Honeydukes. YES. She needed to stock up on a lot of sweets.. especially chocolate frogs. But, it looked it that wasn't going to happen anytime soon 'cause they were lost.

She raised an eyebrow as they entered a dark alleyway.. What. The girl stopped walking abruptly. Her hand reached out for Lou's An excuse to hold his hold, yeah?, her eyes widening a little. "Lou, please tell me you know a way out of here?"

... Nope. Delilah wasn't scared. Not at all.

Marigold squinched up her nose. "You're heavy," she fake-whined, but not shoving his arm off. Maybe because it was too heavy, maybe not.

"Umm... I'm lost?" Same as him, probably. Unless he wanted to dwell in alleys like a weirdo.

She wouldn't put it past him.

Louis had to squint his blue eyes to see anything. The weather outside was already rather gloomy, due to the dark grey winter, and being in this light-devoid alley sure wasn’t helping make the way any clearer. There was a creaking sound somewhere in the distance, and then the clatter of what seemed to be a trash bin falling to the ground.

When he felt Delilah’s warm hand wrap around his colder one, Louis turned his gaze in her direction. He could barely see her in the dim light, but he felt absolutely terrible to be responsible for her feeling scared or uncomfortable in this eerie place. Gahhh, he knew he should’ve asked for a map or something!

“We’re going to get out of here, I promise,” he said, giving the girl a reassuring smile, though she probably couldn’t see it in the dark. “But first I think we’re going to need light.” With his free hand, Lou pulled his wand from his pocket and whispered, “Lumos” then waiting for Delilah to do the same.

O_O

Delilah almost jumped at the sudden sound. Okay... NOW, she was really scared. The girl moved a little closer to Lou, holding his hand tighter. Yeah, maybe a little TOO tight but whatever. She raised an eyebrow when he tried reassuring her. "Are you sure? Because it seems like you're just as clueless as I am."

.... The Hufflepuff cleared her throat, blushing slightly. "I forgot to bring my wand." What? How was she supposed to know that she was going to get lost in some creepy, dark alleyway? But, the light from his wand would be enough, yeah?

.. Maybe. At least, she could SEE now.

Um, ow? Louis furrowed his brows as Delilah tried to break the bones in his hand but said nothing. If it made her feel better then so be it, he kinda deserved it for getting them in this situation in the first place. When she went on to totally call him out on his bluffing, Louis laughed aloud, the sound of it echoing through the alley. Okay, he probably shouldn’t be making so much noise, but he couldn’t help it, Delilah’s comment had really amused him.

“Hey, I take offense to that!” he complained playfully, a bright smile on his face. “I know perfectly well where we are. We’re in an alley in Hogsmeade.” PSH. What, did you want specific coordinates too, Lady D?

Okay, jokes aside. They really needed to get out. But then Delilah was confessing she had forgotten her wand. “What? D, you’re a witch, how can you not have your wand with you at all times?” he asked. Not wanting to make the girl feel guilty or anything though, he dropped the subject and began to slowly walk down the alley, with only the light of his wand to guide the way.

Whoaa, whoa, what was going on here? One moment Delilah was right next to him, hand in his, then a minute later she was somewhere behind, arms folded and eyes glaring daggers at him. Okay...?

When she pointed out they weren't supposed to be there, Lou said nothing. That much was obvious already. At her following sarcastic apology, he remained silent once more. Right. He wasn't even sure what to say; he was scared to say anything, actually.

"Right. Don't worry about it, it's fine," he said after a moment's silence, waiting for the Hufflepuff to catch up. He tried to give her an encouraging smile but failed terribly at it; he knew Delilah was having none of it. Siiiiigh.

Okay, so he had upset her (yet again) and this reeeally wasn't the time or place to have your only company teamed against you. Besides, he did feel horribly guilty for putting her through this in the first place. "I'm sorry, D," he finally spoke again after walking in silence for a few moments. Maybe she thought he secretly enjoyed freaking her out or something, he figured he might as well try to clear it up. "If it makes you feel any better, you have full permission to kick me or slap me or cause any damage you want once we're out of here."

Louis felt his heart sink when Delilah decided she didn't want to damage his 'pretty face'; he'd secretly been hoping she would, her lack of willingness to interact much with him at all was worse than a slap to the face. He wasn't sure what to do, what to say. He didn't even understand why she was so upset in the first place; sure, he had royally messed up in the directions, but he didn't think the situation was that irritating. Perhaps there was somewhere she needed to be and he had delayed her?

The next few agonizingly long minutes were filled with nothing but silence, except for the occasional sound of a stray cat rummaging through the garbage bins in search for food.

Lou couldn't take it anymore.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Delilah was the first person he'd met at Hogwarts, they were supposed to be friends, they were supposed to talk and joke and laugh!

"D, what's wrong?" he finally asked, coming to an abrupt halt. Yeah, he didn't care if they were still stuck in the middle of an alley running the risk of getting kidnapped or attacked or whatever. He wasn't going to take another step until Delilah gave him at least a CLUE as to why she hated his guts so much.

"How can my arm be heavier than your shoulder?" Mitchell asked. He knew she just wanted to complain. It's what she was good at.

"Oh. I am too. Maybe we can find the road together?" Since they were going the same way and whatnot.

Plus, she was holding his arm up.

It was true Lou was, for the most part, a rather oblivious boy. But even he had an idea what was going on here, as Delilah avoided his gaze and denied that there was anything wrong.

At her response, he sighed. This wasn't working out. "This is because of what you told me the other day, isn't it?" he guessed, eyebrows raised inquisitively. He still felt selfish for asking her to continue being his friend, despite her feelings, and this unpleasant afternoon only confirmed just how wrong the whole thing was.

"I'm so sorry, D, I-- I'll leave you alone from now on, I promise," he assured her. Of course, he didn't want to leave her alone, but at the same time he didn't want to be a jerk and make the girl uncomfortable or miserable with his constant presence. He knew he'd probably avoid a girl like the plague if he was in her position.

Louis listened attentively as Delilah began to talk - finally she was actually speaking to him again! He didn't realize just how much he needed to hear her say something, anything until she was finally speaking again.

At her apology, the boy shook his head, but he said nothing and allowed her to continue. Until she was asking him for a proper kiss.

Wait, what?
"What?" Lou stared at her wide-eyed. That's what she wanted?! Well, at least she was asking this time. But srsly. Why did everyone think it was funny to practice kissing on him, c'mon, the boy had feelings too.

Louis looked away from her for a moment, conflicted. This had BAD IDEA written all over it. Oohooho, yes, he knew it. But at the same time he didn't want to upset Delilah (that seemed to be his strongest skill lately). And besides, he kind of missed her affection. Was that wrong? It was totally wrong.

Without giving it another thought, Louis closed the space he'd been keeping from his friend and leaned in toward her, blue eyes closing just before his lips met her own gently. Despite the cold outside, she felt unbelievably warm, and though he had meant to keep it brief, now it was hard to pull away.

But a voice inside his head kept screaming: Bad idea. BAD. IDEA. BAD FREAKIN' IDEA.

It was all out of his control at this point. Louis knew - he knew - just how wrong this was, he knew he had to finish it just as he’d been the one to start it, he knew that this was all completely WRONG. But. He couldn’t. At this point, his mind and his body weren’t agreeing, and while his mind threw every possible warning sign at him, his body had plans of its own.

Without thinking about what he was doing, the boy allowed his right arm to wrap around the shorter girl’s waist while still holding his wand, while his left hand came to rest gently on the side of her face. He pushed her back a couple steps without realizing, lips still locked with hers, until the loud echoing in his head became too loud to ignore. As much as he wished to continue to tasting her lips, he HAD to stop. This was ENOUGH.

Abruptly, Louis’s blue eyes flickered open and he pulled back enough to get a clear view of the girl’s face. OH GOD. What had he done?! Realizing his hands were still on her, he quickly pulled them away, taking a couple steps back to give her back her personal space. Ohmygod, this was SO WRONG. Delilah was his friend, for Circe’s sake! He wasn’t supposed to be kissing her! And certainly not like that! He had no idea what had taken over him.

“D— I’m so sorry,” he immediately apologized, eyes staring at the floor as he felt the heavy weight of shame settling upon his shoulders.