Invisible

Jessica nearly choked on air when he answered. She had been expecting something along the lines of "Can we just be friends?" or "Well, this is awkward... I don't like you in that way," - not that he liked her back. Her face went from red to redder, and she could have fainted at that moment.
"You... you what now?" she asked. She had to be sure that her brain wasn't playing tricks on her. Her eyes were wide and at some point, her jaw had dropped.

She kept blinking for no reason, and her breathing was slowly returning to normal - unlike her heart rate. Her heart was pumping triple time, and while she was ecstatic, she was confused. She pinched her left forearm, and winced. "Ow!" she exclaimed, slightly louder than intended. She slammed a hand to her mouth and looked around, hoping no-one had seen them. "That freaking hurt," she complained, rubbing the quickly bruising area and scowling at her idiocy.

His face appeared to remain calm - even though on the inside he continued going over the information in his head that he had just told the fellow Slytherin. He did not even realize those feelings had existed until that moment - But he was only eleven, he was not supposed to like anyone like that yet. But a small laugh arose to his lips at her shocked answer. It seemed she, too, had a hard time believing it. "I said. I like you too" Certh replied back, she was in the same type of trance that he had been in earlier with his mouth open - it caused very dry insides.

But when she pinched herself, that was new to him. He had never tried that, self-inflicted pain. It was either that, or her wanting to see if it was a dream. His hands remained at his sides, noticing her clap to her mouth, which brought out another slight giggle from him. His eyes moved around almost in sync with hers - glancing to see if anyone was around. "Well why did you do that in the first place?"

"You... You..." she stammered, but words refused to come to her. She racked her brain for something to say that wouldn't make her look stupid, girly, weak... She sighed and made a mental note to slap herself later. Jessica was, to put it lightly, shell shocked.

"Oh hush it, you," she joked, bringing her arm back down and rolling her eyes. "I was seeing if this was real. My dreams are scarily vivid," she explained in a matter-of-fact tone. Her skin was slowly turning back to it's natural colour, and her heartbeat was slowing to it's usual pace. She brushed her hair back out of her face, and her eyes seemed to cloud over in deep thought.
"What now?" she asked, wringing her hands and slumping against a wall, looking over at the one opposite.

Certh found it a little amusing as she stuttered a little, unable to find words for that situation. He, though, continued standing there with Jessica in the Corridor, he was a little surprised that there were no other students lurking around the halls at that hour - it must have been at least breakfast time by then. His eyes slowly glanced between her two almond-eyes, shifting quickly to each. "yes? What am I?" He asked her, in a sort of teasing tone.

His arms stayed at his sides, un-swaying even in that moment of hilarity. But there was a slight smirk brought to his lips at her apparent excuse for pinching herself. "They are all vivid. Makes it harder to discern the difference between reality and dream-land" He told her, it sounded like a tone that would match well with a tongue sticking out - although he held it back. His glance remained on her face as she moved slowly toward a wall. "What do you mean, 'what now'?"

Jessica rolled her eyes again.
"Certh! I was freaking lost for freaking words, you freaking... freaking... freaking " she scowled. "And again..." she admitted, sighing. Words never really did come naturally to her, and on the rare occasion that they did, she could never say them aloud.
"I'm not good with words... Why else would I have spent my childhood sat in my room, alone, drawing, being unsociable, not talking to anyone?" she said jokingly.

"I mean... Now that well, things have been said and all, what do we do now?" she said, making less than no sense, as per usual. "I mean, where... Where do we go from here?"

It was a rather uncomfortable moment for Certh, which was why he kept up that joking tone. He had never been in a relationship before, he was too busy keeping his mind on other things - like school, and.. other stuff. "Maybe they should start teaching English at Hogwarts" He replied back to her, keeping up the joking tone like a mask. He moved over to the other wall opposite her, and leaned up against it - making sure not to get any clay or anything on his clean slytherin-branded robes. "you do have magical parents - right?" He asked. He realized that never once before had he asked Jessica about her lineage, or her purity. He just hoped that she wasn't muggleborn - he disliked them with a passion. Even went as far as to say 'mudblood' if he came across any.

Certh remained a little uncomfortable, although his face cracked a small smirk to appear like nothing was wrong. "I don't know.." He had never given it much thought - where it would go, he had just found out about her feelings, as well as his, a few minutes before. "But - Are we even old enough yet, to have this type of 'thing'?"

A slightly amused/slightly irritated expression broke out on Jessica's face. "Oh yeah, that'll be fun," she said sarcastically. "We'll all just be muggles for a bit," she said, pulling a slightly disgusted face. "And well... My dad's a pureblood, but mum's a muggleborn and worked in the muggle world, which explains why I never really got on with her," Jessica explained. She rolled her sleeves of her jumper up to her elbows and quickly folded her arms. "I don't know either... I swear, this is the first crush I've ever had. I didn't get out much as a kid," she smirked, shrugging and resting her head on the wall.

Certh slowly pulled his legs closer to him, standing upright against the wall of the Corridor - but kept his arms outstretched at his sides as he looked to Jessica. A small laugh came out - again, at her remark. That was the most he had laughed in awhile, what was it about Jessica that brought it out of him? Once the word muggleborn came to her lips, however, there was almost an innate reaction come to his face of disgust even more so then Jessica's. "yes, I don't know. If I had mudblood parents, I don't think I would even want to go home - at all." He replied back, and hoped that, on some level, he did not upset Jessica by calling her mother a mudblood.

He crossed his arms slightly: not tying them together, just loosely placed on top of one another as Jessica spoke about her crushes. "oh yea. I am with you there. Being from a pureblood family - there was not much time to play with other kids. I am a little glad, though. Wouldn't want to be playing around with" He sighed "Muggles"

"I think I only ever had a decent conversation with her twice," Jess shrugged, standing up on her toes and leaning forward slightly, her arms stretched behind her. She looked like she was about to take flight.
"Ugh, I hated them... Whenever I went out, I would get picked on by them, or called a freak because I'm a witch. It was mental, really. Although how they found out was a rather funny story, I'll admit... I was walking down the road to do something... I can't remember for the life of me what it was... But I sneezed and some little kid's football just... Whoosh, took to the air, came back down and whacked him on the head. The rest of the neighborhood were far from impressed, but it was hilarious..." she laughed slightly at the memory and saw the child fall to the floor in her head.
"Some muggleborns are alright, I guess... Just they don't seem to understand that it's hard growing up with magical families who are always expecting amazing things off you."

Jessica stopped talking. That was the most she'd said in ages, especially about her past. There was something about Certh that just immediately made her trust him, but she wasn't sure what it was. She made a mental note to try and find out what it was about him that just... Just completely won her over.

He kept his arms lightly laid on top of one another, appearing to stare off into space as Jessica spoke. Rather then ignoring her, his ears picked up each word that she had said, and he wasn't just staring - no, he was looking at her, Jessica, as she looked like she was going to fly. He could relate, but was too busy listening to Jessica to really think about his own problems. He took his sight off of her for a moment, or rather, the part of her body he had been looking at, and peered up into her eyes, but did not want to interrupt her rambling - seemed the most she had spoken to him in.. Well, ever. A slight chuckle came out of his mouth at the mention of the whole football thing. "that is a lot of information" He replied back to Jessica, even though his mind did retain all of it. "I was just raised to not like them - the whole pure blooded thing, although half-bloods are fine" He paused, giving another smile in Jessica's direction. "Like you, I like you.." The smile continued to exist on his face, although it grew a little.

Jessica relaxed back against the wall again with a content sigh.
"Congrats, Certh. Not many people earn my trust. Not enough to be told stories of my past, anyway" she joked, kicking at the floor. Her once bright blue converse were not slightly dirty and worn, but she thought they looked better that way. She looked up to see Certh looking into her eyes. She felt a strange sensation in the bottom of her stomach that felt... strange. No, strange didn't cover it. It was unusual, different, slightly nervous. But she kind of liked it, even if it was nothing she had ever felt before. In her life. Ever...

"I was raised to give everyone a chance, and then if you don't like them, to just scream at them and walk away," she laughed. She felt herself blush slightly. Okay, 'slightly' is a slight understatement. And the word slight can also be exchanged for the word 'huge'.
"Thanks. I... I lo- like you to."

Certh, too, appeared content there - leaning up against a wall of a Corridor with his arms still crossed as he kept his view on Jessica. His right leg began swaying a little, back and forth, just knicking the floor a little with the sole of his footwear. "Thanks. But I'd try not thinking of it as a victory - more like a personal agreement" He replied back to her. His eyes continued staying at her eye-level as she looked back up. He slowly uncrossed his two arms and then slipped one into his pocket and left the other free-standing by his side.

"that sounds like an alright understanding - but we were both raised to see two different views. Mine is the pureblooded, yours - halfblood." His stare faltered slightly and moved to Jessica's left shoulder as she answered to his reply. A little chuckle echoed throughout the corridor after she messed up. Although he decided not to discuss it at that moment. "Well, now that we've gotten that outta the way. Do you have anything else on your mind?"

Jessica didn't drop her gaze for a while, but when she did it was because she had an idea. She'd made it awkward enough anyway, and this was a perfect way to make him uncomfortable but not herself. She pushed away from the wall, smiling strangely politely, and walked to his side. Jess rested a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear slowly. "I want you..." she whiapered, not backing away. She waited a while, looking up into his face for his reaction."...to be my potions partner," she finished sweetly, skipping off in the opposite direction to the way they came.

His sight remained hovering over her shoulder for several minutes before she pushed off, and continued keeping it locked at that position until she arrived at the wall, to which it moved to the wall in front of both of them on the other side of the Corridor. His eyes bulged a little at what she had said - before she clarified. He'd never been in that position before, and being only eleven would make it oddly awkward. His train of thought was soon cut off at the mention of potion partners. His eyes went back to normal - eye lids stopped bulging as he had a slight smirk show on his face.

He looked in her direction as she skipped off, being the boy that he was however - he picked up the pace and jogged after her. "that sounds like fun"

Jessica grinned when he caught up to her and she whipped around, her hair flowing out around her.
"If it didn't, would I have suggested it?" she said, nudging him on the arm again. "Honestly, Certh. I act slightly dumb at times, but I'm really not. Mostly..." she added, sweeping her hair to the side, and her grin faltered slightly.

"Your eyes went strangely wide, back there. What on earth did you think innocent little me meant?" she batted her eyelashes jokingly and smiled sickeningly sweetly, coming to a halt in the corridor.

His arms remained at his side, faintly swaying back and forth as he caught up to Jessica. The smirk had since disappeared from his face by the time he arrived near her again. "Being a Slytherin, I didn't know what you were going to say" A laugh was scratching at the inside to get out, but he was able to dampen it to only a little giggle. His head nodded in her direction when her hair swept to the side.

There it was again, a little uncomfortable feeling that came over him before had returned. But he was able to hold back his bulging eyes, doing so, however - made them squint a little. "Uh - y'know.. Nothing that should be bothered bringing up again. Atleast, not right now, anyway" Certh told her, smiling a little - unsuccessful at hiding it with his robes

Jessica sighed dramatically, placing the back of her hand to her forehead and rolling her head to the side.
"It's fine," she sighed again. "You don't have to tell me... I'll live, knowing that you didn't trust me enough," Jessica gave a long, heavy, dramatic sigh, and continued. "To tell me some tiny little thing, eeeeeven when I opened up to you. I don't always see, but when I do, I see how it is," she grinned, turning back to face Certh.

Jessica felt comfortable around him, like she could make a total idiot of herself in front of him, knowing that he wouldn't care. That much. Probably...
"Before I continue being the amazingly epic drama queen that I am, I will have you know that I was fully intent on the potions partners thing, and not whatever your strange mind was thinking. I've managed to retain my innocence, thank you very much," she said matter-of-factly.

Certh leaned his right side up against the wall of the Corridor, while Jessica went on about trying to make him feel guilty about it. However, the smile continued to remain on his face throughout her speech. "Well, okay. It sounded like you were talking about -" He took a slightly long pause, breathing began getting a little irregular "that intimacy stuff" A few pants escaped his mouth after the word. He was only a first year, he was too young for that type of 'stuff.'

Between the pants, a laugh escaped at her reaction. "Oh yeah, I know you were. I was serious about it, too. Seeing as we are both in Slytherin, and we - yeah. We'd make quite the.. er.. 'team'."

Jessica couldn't help but laugh at Certh. His reaction was funny, even though they were the same age. She put a hand to her mouth to try and stifle her giggling fit, but couldn't.
"Certh, I'm eleven... You genuinely think I'd say that?" she managed to say between giggles. She managed to steady her breathing, and soon all that was left was a genuine smile. She never properly smiled, really. She would pretend to smile, just to avoid an awkward situation or if she was pretending to have heard what had been said.

"So, uh..." she tried to get a ball rolling, because awkward silences didn't sit well with her. She knew that if neither of them spoke, she might have another giggling fit. "Uh..." Jessica gave up trying to speak, and seemed content nudging Certh in the arm every so often, giving her a somewhat reasonable excuse to look into his eyes. "Sorry, I'm a bit of a clutz," she grinned.

He remained standing there, the uncomfortable feeling lingering around, both of them it appeared. Although it was broken a little by her remark - he could have sworn that was what she was referencing. A smirk was slowly brought to his lips - to try and mask his awkwardness. "yes, I do" He said, teasingly back to her. His eyes still meeting her's, even in that awkward phase.

He continued to stand there, though, for several minutes - he did not much care if he was nudged, it wasn't hard - her being a girl and all. "Well, yeah. I can see that" He said, the smirk came back to his lips, a light chuckle escaped along with it. "So - uh. How've your classes been?"

Jessica spun on her toes for a while for no real reason, other than she felt like it. She gave a triumphant grin when she came to a halt and didn't fall over, but a feeling of dizziness came over her afterwards. "Woah," she murmured, trying to regain her balance, and she blinked continuously for a few seconds. In the end, she slumped back against a wall, trying to sort herself out.

"Not bad, I think... Uh, woah, my head feels funny," she said, paling. It had been a few minutes and she still felt strange. "What's wrong with me?" she asked, looking into Certh's eyes, confused and dazed.

Certh stood there, continued to lean against the wall, with his back pressed up against it. A slight amusing look came over his face, his smile spread and his eyes followed Jessica's movements as she spun around. Normally, Certh would not be doing this sort of thing - no, he'd be out doing some sort of mischief or making enemies. But he seemed to enjoy this - spending time with Jessica outside of their Common Room. "are you okay, Jess?" He asked her, his eyes now moving from her body back up to her face, and blinked once. "What was the point of that, anyway? Are you bored?" He asked another question, without giving her a chance to answer the first.

He stretched out one of his hands and pushed himself off the wall, prepared to grab Jessica if she was about to fall. "What do you mean?"

Jessica continued to blink, hoping that it would have some form of affect on her. Her throat was starting to feel dry, and her vision was slowly blurring. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening them again, but this only made her feel worse. She sunk down to the floor and sat against the wall, shivering. "I don't know... No, it was just one of those things you do when you want to do it..." she said, trying to stop her voice cracking. She wrapped her arms tight around her legs and her breathing became shallow. "Wh... Wh..." she began, but couldn't continue. "Certh... Why have I gone like this?" she tried to send him through her mind, silently hoping that it would work.

A little blush seemed to creep up to Certh's cheeks - even though it was a serious moment, he could not help it, Jessica's blinks appeared to make him a little embarrassed, or awkward. His eyes widened a little after she sat down and began to shiver. "Are you okay, Jess?" He asked, in a rather polite, sympathetic tone. Certh followed, and sat down beside her on the floor of the Corridor, up against a wall. His knees were off the ground - much like hers, but his elbows were touching his thigh's and the arms crossed over each other between his two legs. "Gone - like what? Because you're shivering?" He paused slightly, looking from his lap over to her face. "I don't really know."

Jessica turned to face Certh, looking about as young and weak as a five year old. Her eyes were wide and she was biting her bottom lip slightly and her breathing was still shallow.
"Somehow, I don't think Aliona's spirit went too far," she half-smirked, trying to keep a slightly joking tone between the two of them. She stopped shivering, and a little colour returned to her face, but she still felt dizzy. "Maybe spinning wasn't my best idea," she admitted, turning so her left shoulder was up against the wall and she was facing Certh.

Jessica liked being with him. She didn't feel pressured, like everyone was expecting her to do something. Instead, she felt like she could just sit and be herself. While she was a firm believer in not being who you aren't, she felt inclined to please everyone else; and she hated that...