Invincible (Harriet/Open)

[Bryn Kennedy]

It was a saturday afternoon, just after training for Quidditch and Bryn was walking back across the lawns. The sun was high over head now, though it wasnt overly warm. Typical english weather, the sun could be blazing down and it would still be cold. It was really just typical for it, Bryn shook his head, at least it wasnt as unpredictable as welsh weather. It could be blazing hot all day and then suddenly it would pour with rain.

He saw ahead of him, the familiar black haired girl of Harriet London. A smile filled his face as he sped up to catch her. Running up behind her, as quietly as he could he slipped his arms around her and picked her up spinning her around with a yell of "Harriettttt!" He put her down and ran a little away from her though before she could turn and slap him for it.

He stood a little ways from her laughing. Bryn looked at her, almost expecting her to throw a hex at him or something, finally he walked back over to her and stood next to her, his idiotic grin on his face as he put his arms behind his back. He wouldnt apologize for it, it had all been in fun and Bryn had found it quite amusing if he was honest. "That was my way of saying hello."

(So I offically suck at starting threads... sorry)

[Harriet London]

Why did people find pleasure in greeting her in ways that made her uncomfortable? One moment, Harriet would be walking along happily, and the next she'd be tackled to the ground, or pinned to the wall, or lifted up and span around in the freaking air. The arms around her waist were enough of a shock as it was! After squealing, flailing ungracefully and kicking out as much as she could, she finally felt the ground under her feet again, and she span round to beat the hell out of whoever had just done that to her.

Bryn. Her face softened for a moment as she recognised the boy, but was immediately replaced with an irritated pout. "Brrryyyyynnnn!"

[/color] She whined back at him, crossing her arms and stamping her foot a little. As he got closer, she swiped at him a little, though only playfully and lightly. As much as she hated being surprised and lifted up, she'd let this stunning boy get away with it.

Harriet was ever so slightly fond of her brunette, pretty boy housemate. Even overlooking his looks, he was a sweet man, and he was genuinely fun to be around, fun to play with like this. She tried to hold her pout, but that stupid grin made it hard, and she ended up cracking up. Throwing her arms around Bryn's neck, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "That's how I say hello! What do you want, anyway?"[/color] She joked, releasing him and giving a bright grin.[/blockquote]

[Bryn Kennedy]

Bryn laughed as her face softened. She couldnt stay mad at him, he knew that and my word did he use it against her. He was pretty much able to get away with anything when it came to Harriet, sometimes it worked in his favour and sometimes it didnt. This was one time when it did work in his favour, he didnt get a severe slapping or a headbutt. "Whaaaat?" He answered in the same tone she used. He gave her a sweet grin, hoping to be forgiven, and apparently he was so all was well in the world.

He liked Harriet, the two of them got along and could play silly games like this. They could annoy the hell out of eachother and still walk away with smiles on their faces. Bryn loved that. It was so much fun for him. He watched as her pout turned from a pout to a smile, instantly matched by his own and soon enough the two were laughing at eachother like usual. As she threw her arms around his neck his went automatically around her back. When she kissed him on the cheek he faked being embarrassed, touching his cheek and looking as shifty as his joking self would allow. "Awhh, shucks Harriet!"

He let her go and shrugged. Did he have to want something to say hello to his friend? Well okay, maybe he did want something but nothing he was willing to say to her, not yet. Instead he just grinned again. "How about dinner and a movie?" He said in a playful voice and nudged her. "Nah seriously, I dont want anything... Just saying hello to a friend is all." A very cute friend at that. Bryn could think many things and somehow, his face never showed what he was really thinking.

[Harriet London]

Chuckling lightly, she shook her head at his blatently fake embarrasment. Like Bryn would ever be uneasy around her. Or by anything at all, come to think of it. Harriet had never seen him even blush at anything before, she didn't think anything in the world could phase the boy. She made a mental note of this in her mind, and set herself the task of trying to embarrass her friend at some point. That would be amusing to see.

When the boy suggested taking her out, she gave him a bright, innocent smile and leant in to him, playfully laying her hand on his chest. "That depends... Are you paying?"

[/color] She said sweetly, batting her eyelids as she did so. The girl was only playing with him, though in honesty, she wouldn't turn down a free dinner date, even if it was just with a friend. Especially if it was with a friend as attractive as Bryn. Giggling again, she reached up and ruffled his hair playfully. "Fair enough, I suppose. I never know with you, you might have a darker ulterior motive."[/color] She winked at him, laughing in her head at the thought of Bryn being anything less than honest. Even if he wasn't completely transparent, you could be sure that his intentions were entirely good. "So, what are you off to do now, after our totally awesome practice which we owned?"[/color] [/blockquote]

[Bryn Kennedy]

The grin on his face seemed to irremovable and honestly his cheekbones were beginning to ache considerably. He wasnt one to get embarrassed easily, it was hard to embarrass someone who wasnt bothered by most things. Bryn pretty much kept himself open so there wasnt anything really people could use against him, but the thing was, something embarrassed everyone, the question was, what would embarrass him? He had no idea, although he was fairly ticklish... but that could hardly be used as embarrassment, just a form of torture as Bryn despised it. How could you laugh at something that was unbearable? The thought of it sent a shiver up his spine. Nasty.

"Of course I'm paying." He smirked, rattling his pocket. "If I wasnt I would say, Harriet, take me out. Not the other way around." He laughed at how unlikely this event was. Not the event of him ever taking her out, he'd get there eventually, but of him asking her to take him out... now THAT would embarrass him, not being able to afford taking a girl out. He cocked his head to the side and added as an afterthought, "Maybe I'll ask you seriously one day?" It sounded like a statement, but Bryn was actually curious to know whether she would seriously answer him... afterall, even he didnt like rejection... and this way he could pretend he wasnt rejected and avoid asking her in future if that be the case. Although, it was doubtful he'd have given in so easily anyway.

"Oh heaven forbid I have an ulterior motive." He smiled playfully, his eyes lighting up at how right she was really. He held out his arm for her as they walked, knowing girls liked to put their arms though a guys sometimes... linking was it called? "Honestly I have no idea. Nothing planned at any rate and I dont fancy being inside right now either..." He stopped at a trail and looked from it to the castle. "Hogsmeade?" He asked her, and without waiting for an answer, guided her down the path leading just past the shrieking shack and into the small wizarding village.

[Harriet London]

Harriet laughed heartily at the idea of Bryn getting a girl to take him on a date. How un-manly that would be. If any boy did that to her, she'd just have to turn him down, probably while laughing very loudly in his face, clapping him on the shoulder and walking away. Even her poor little Danny wouldn't result to that. Granted, he wouldn't take anyone out on the town, but he wouldn't make them pay for it. She assumed that any man that did that would have to have very little pride in himself.

An amused grin on her face, she shook this thought out of her head just in time to hear the boy's suggestion. "Maybe I'll ask you seriously one day?" Harriet hated when she couldn't tell if the man was being serious or not. Biting her lip, she looked up at him with the most adorable look she could muster (complete with big, shiny eyes) and answered softly ”Well, maybe I'll say yes...one day.”

[/color] With a mischievous smile, she slipped her arm through his. That was another thing she liked about Bryn, the way he always seemed to her like a true gentleman. Honestly, the shorter Gryffindor could easily think of much worse people to go on a date with.

That look in his eyes alarmed her just a little bit, though Harriet trusted that even if he was plotting something, it wouldn't have been anything bad. She didn't have a chance to even begin to voice her concerns before the tall boy dragged her off down the trail to Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade? She giggled girlishly, and looked up at him ”Bryn, you rebel rule-breaker!.”[/color] She teased, speeding up her pace a little to keep up with his wide strides. ”I never knew you had it in you. But yeah, Hogsmeade sounds cool... As if I had a choice, anyway.”[/color][/blockquote]

[Bryn Kennedy]

He watched her face as it fell on amusement for a moment, before changing to a slight frustration when he made the suggestion he knew she wouldnt know if he was serious about. It was his way of asking her, if he did ask her, would she say yes, without coming right out and saying it. Yeah, Bryn Kennedy had a bit of a sly streak in him. He was able to find things out without being totally obvious about it but Harriet played him at his own game. She didnt give him a proper answer, she answered the way he asked and he couldnt help the laugh that came from him. She seriously did give him a run for his money.

"I'll remember that." He spoke with a smile and made a mental note of it as she slipped her arm easily through his. He patted the back of her hand with his free one before setting off again. Bryn was proud to say he wasnt like most guys, he respected girls and didnt just see them as a toy. Maybe that was part of his charm? Who knew. Walking down the trail to Hogsmeade he looked at Harriet from the corner of his eye as she spoke, letting out a soft chuckle. "I have it in me." He laughed, "You just never see me rule-breaking."

He stopped for a moment and looked at her, his eyebrows raised in amusement. He nodded back up to the trail towards the castle. "Course you have a choice." He wasnt kidnapping her or anything. "You can go back if you want too." He didnt think she would and so continued walking. Though his brows had furrowed, usually Bryn didnt like making people do things they didnt want to do. As they walked, he began humming the song 'dirty diana,' humming songs helped him ease up and since Bryn couldnt sing it was better than sounding off a chorus which would sound like strangling cats or something similar.

[Harriet London]

That didn't help at all. She still didn't know whether or not he meant the offer seriously, and damn it, she was curious! Harriet tried to push it to the back of her mind, telling herself that she'd know eventually - Something would eventually come of it if he was being serious, so it wasn't worth wondering about right now. Even if she did really want to know... Bryn wouldn't tell her. It was a hopeless cause even thinking of asking him what was going on in his mind, and it was hurting her head trying to figure it out for herself. Best to stop thinking about it altogether, she thought.

Looking up at Bryn, she gave him a bright grin. "Well, that means you're just really, really good at it!"

[/color] She told him happily. They always said that the best criminals were the ones that never got caught. Well, that was obvious, really. If a criminal got caught, then he was quite clearly a very bad one. Though, Harriet really doubted that her companion really had a law-breaking bad boy streak in him. You could never be sure... he'd surprised her a couple of times already since they'd known each other.

At his suggestion that she could go back, she raised her eyebrows and laughed heartily."Of course I don't want to go baaack."[/color] She laughed happily. What kind of person would she be if she chickened out? In any case, an afternoon with this boy couldn't be too bad. She was sure he'd keep her well amused, more that most people would anyway. "Though, I preferred the idea that you were stealing me away. Things are a lot less fun when they're consentual."[/color] Harriet winked at him and chuckled some more, dancing a little as they walked along.
[/blockquote]

[Bryn Kennedy]

It seemed as though both were in the same boat. Both wanted to know if the other was being serious and neither one had any clue what was going through eachother's mind. Bryn would more than likely lose patience in the guessing game soon enough and just ask her. As much as he was playing with her mind, he was playing with his own even more. He gave a sidelong glance to her, wondering silently if he should just ask and get it out there, or wait a bit longer and see if he could figure anything out. He'd look pretty much a monkey if, after all this joking, he did ask her out and she said no. Bryn chuckled to himself, there was one thing about being a Gryffindor... bravery... wasnt it a must have trait? But being brave in the forest and actually asking a girl -- who could reject him -- were two different forms of bravery and right now, Bryn was not brave enough.

"Or you're really really unobservant." He meant this in a completely different way. He didnt mean she was unobservant about his rule-breaking attributes, but at the fact he was more or less throwing hint after hint at her that he wanted to know and she just didnt have a clue... of course the same could be said about him... maybe both were as unobservant as the other. Bryn furrowed his brow, every time he got on the edge of just saying something to her, he chickened out. Bryn Kennedy! Chickening out! What was the world coming to. "Mental..." He laughed to himself and continued walking down the path, stopping outside the shack. "Creepy comes to mind, looking at that place... but with a bit of work you never know... could be a nice place." He rolled his eyes at the thought, who would pay to do that place up? He wouldnt.

"Well good," He grinned, "Cause I dont want you to go back." He of course, laughed when she told him she'd prefer him to steal her. There were so many things he could have said to that, but instead he picked her up over his shoulder and ran down the narrow path. "Alright I'll steal you!" With his free hand he pushed open the gate leading up a small grassy hill, away from Hogsmeade. Running up it was easy on most days, but running up it with the added weight of another human was considerably harder and he found he lost his footing and fell over, yet managed to fall so he didnt fall on Harriet! Oh noo! She fell on him. "Hey! No fair! Gerrof me!" He laughed, his arms lay at the sides of his head, Bryn was flat on his back staring up at the girl. "Just so you know, that really was not in my game plan."

[Harriet London]

Unobservant... That pretty much summed her up. Harriet could be pretty blind sometimes, in all senses of the word - feelings, personality and sometimes even physical attributes were all included in this. It wasn't unknown for her to be completely oblivious, even if you were dropping hints like bombs."Probably... that sounds like me, at least."

[/color] She agreed, nodding her head as she turned to see what Bryn was talking about. The Shack was pretty freaky. It looked like the classic haunted house that muggles always put in their films or wrote about in their books... The only difference was, Muggles thought that werewolves and vampires and things like this were all a myth. Harriet knew they weren't, and something could be in that house, waiting to eat them whole right now. That made the whole thing a lot scarier. Shuddering, she turned away from the deteriorating house and looked back up at Bryn.

"Ahh, who knows? It probably only needs a woman's touch."[/color] She laughed nervously. A woman's touch wouldn't fix this place, more like an exorcist, a demolition crew and a complete rebuilding. You couldn't just revamp a place that looked like it'd fall down if you'd sneeze on it. It'd be a waste of time and money that you could easily spend on building a whole new house in a place which was nicer. That's probably why no one had bothered investing in it.

She had no time to think about this more before the tall boy picked her up and ran away with her. Half screaming, half laughing, she attempted to get him to release her by hitting his back, but failed miserably. This was incredibly uncomfortable, having his shoulder jammed in to her stomach, but the main thing she could think about was how thankful she was that she didn't have a skirt on. That would be embarrasing.

And then, somehow, she landed on top of the brunette. Huffing, Harriet put her hands either side of him and put on the best scowl she could manage. "Not fair?! That's what you get for picking me up! You totally deserved that, and I hope you hurt yourself." She reprimanded him, though her attempt at an angry face was failing and she was slowly cracking in to a grin. " Nuh-uh. Bryn, you evil genius, you planned this, and I'm not moving anywhere. I'm comfortable."[/color] Now giving him a bright smile, she shuffled down a bit and laid her head on his chest, not intending on going anywhere any time soon. A thought hit her, and she added "...You're not hurt, are you?"[/color][/blockquote]

[Bryn Kennedy]

Harriet was actually really very light. Of course Bryn knew that just by looking at her, she was quite thin, not to mention she wasnt heavy on a broom either. She could dash quicker than he could around on it, and he knew she'd win any race the two of them would run. She hit his back, not hard at all, in fact barely enough to even make him feel it. This made him laugh, her half-hearted attempt at getting him to put her down. He wouldnt have done even if she'd have thumped him full whack on his back, he'd have still kept a grip, probably tightened it so it was more like a vice.

He didnt know what he fell over, might have been a twig or his own feet. It could have even been just his own stupid-footedness. Either way, the two had landed in a rather awkward situation. This really hadnt been in his plan, his plan was to run to the top of the hill and put her down again, not get half way up and fall over like a complete monkey. Still, it was quite a good result, she didnt seem at all phased by the closeness in which they found themselves. Neither did he as a matter of fact. He allowed himself a laugh as she scowled at him, her fake scowls could be scary enough. He'd hate to be on the recieving end of a real scowl.

"Ouch.." He stated as she shouted at him, he put on a pained expression as though her words had cut deep into him. "That was harsh Miss London..." He turned his head away and pretended to hide the hurt expression on his face. He missed the grin she cracked completely as he wasnt looking at her. It wasnt until she spoke again did he turn his head and see the grin, which he couldnt help but return. Sometimes, smiling was infectious, despite how much you really might not want to at the time.

She shuffled down and placed her head on his chest. Laughing at her, he placed his arms around her back and stared up at the sky. "Dont move then," He said quietly, being comfortable himself he wasnt overly bothered by the situation. "Cant say I hate this at any rate." He laughed again, his chest bobbing up and down, making Harriet's head bounce, which of course made Bryn laugh twice as hard. "I'll try not to laugh much more, I promise..." The emphasis on try was great, he couldnt say he wouldnt laugh again this whole situation was very amusing in his eyes.

"Hurt? Me? Naw" Sure, his ankle was painful where he fell and his lower back ached uncomfortably, but he could easily put up with that. Besides, this could be classed as a painkiller, being around Harriet you pretty much forgot anything else except how to laugh and have fun. Pain was void when it came to that. "Are you?" The thought of his clumsiness hurting her actually horrified him and he found suddenly he was actually very worried about whether he had or hadnt. He couldnt help worrying about people, he tended to worry quite a lot. Brooke always told him he'd get premature wrinkles. Bryn had all the worries as his twin never seemed to bother to worry. Or if she did, she never showed it.

[Harriet London]

Bryn's fake hurt expression only earned a sceptical look in response from the black-haired girl. He must have known that wouldn't work on her. If he honestly thought she'd believe that, then he was truly an idiot... Or thought that she was one, at the very least. His poor facade was dropped almost as soon as he'd put it up, let down by his bright grin. ”Mr. Kennedy, next time you try to guilt-trip me, at least try not to laugh.” She giggled at him, shaking her head disappointedly.

His laughing shook her head, and though it didn't make her that uncomfortable, her vision was jumping along with it and blurred slightly every now and again. That wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world. Squeezing her eyes shut to cut that out, she slapped his chest playfully. ”Stooooop.” the small girl moaned, though she couldn't quite keep her face straight enough to make this complaint seem serious. It seemed to be impossible for her to stop smiling around Bryn, her cheeks were already aching and she couldn't have been around him for longer than an hour yet. Thinking about it, that tended to happen every time he was around. Someone slightly smarter than Harriet may have taken this as some sort of sign, but her ignorance blocked this idea from ever forming in her mind.

On hearing the brunette's worrying, she paused and bit her lip while she formed some sort of evil plan in her mind. She wasn't hurt, not even a little bit, but she did like to mess with Bryn. Her plans never succeeded, either she'd broken character and started laughing or he'd seen straight through her, but that didn't mean that the female Gryffindor would stop crying. Frowning gently, she looked up at the man ”Actually, my leg hurts a bit. I think I landed on it awkwardly...”

[Bryn Kennedy]

Of course he’d known it wouldn’t work on her, it never did but still it was fun trying. He suspected it would work if he was able to keep the pretence up and not break into a laugh or a grin or some other facial/bodily expression which would set her off onto the game. But he couldn’t not smile around Harriet. ”I’m sorry.” He apologized, his grey eyes widening at the sudden outburst. There was something you rarely heard from Bryn. He rarely said sorry. He furrowed his brow, he disliked the word sorry but even with him it slipped out. ”I cant help it you make me laugh!” and smile to the point it actually begins to hurt.

Bryn couldn’t mistake the evil look in her eyes. She was formulating a plan, his own eyes narrowed in suspicion, waiting for the results of whatever plan she was forming in her mind. Usually, Bryn was able to tell her jokes from seriousness, but occasionally he failed and she left him completely confused. Thankfully this wasn’t going to be one of those times. She spoke, her obvious ploy to get him to feel bad, he looked at her for a moment. His eyes softening as a lopsided smile came across his features. ”You don’t honestly think I’d fall for that did you?” He grinned, keeping hold of her around her back with one arm as he used his other to push himself off the ground and into a sitting position. ”You landed on me for starters, not your legs.”

Once he was upright, he let go of Harriet and stretched. It was obvious to anybody but Harriet that Bryn had an unusual soft spot for her. He didn’t bother trying to hide it and he often wondered how she couldn’t have noticed it, but even now she seemed completely oblivious to the fact Bryn liked her. Though, in his mind, until he was sure whether she liked him or not he would never do anything to jeopardise their friendship. She meant too much to him for that, although a simple question couldn’t hurt. ”It’s a Hogsmeade trip next weekend.” He announced, as though she didn’t already know, the school was practically buzzing about it. ”You wanna go?” The way he said it made it seem flighty, casual, but honestly Bryn was pretty much a newbie at this, anything that happened with him and a girl just happened with nobody asking questions and that was usually the way he liked things. But he couldn’t see anything just happening with Harriet. Feeling a bit odd he added rather quickly, and with a laugh. ”It doesn’t have to be like a date or anything if you don’t want it to… just two friends out having fun and getting sick because of all the Honeydukes sweets.” It seemed light enough… of course once the words were out Bryn was kicking himself mentally. Turning his attention quickly to something else, he nodded in the direction of the shack. ”Wanna go test our Gryffindor bravery?”