Playing with the boundaries of normal social conduct -- January 1994

I smile up at him, "I look forward to it."

We had made plans for me to let her know when the next western movie shindig was.  I went down to where the Hufflepuff common room was -- I separated from Lee Jordan so he could go to the kitchens and nick some food for everyone.  I had told Cassie to meet me outside her common room so I could take her to the chosen venue for the evening.  Of all the things we did, this was by far the most innocent.  I knew the teachers did not want any of us to be out after curfew, but we did not really care.  I knew the castle and the hidden passageways like the back of my hand, so I was not overly concerned with getting caught.  I knew that this movie night thing was really picking up attention from other students, though.  There were a few more than normal coming tonight, which was fine, we would just have to be more careful.  I looked around to make sure that Filch or Mrs. Norris was not around and waited for Cassie to come out.

Today was finally the day of the movie night! I had been waiting excitedly for this night since we made plans. I wasn't sure what to wear though. Right after dinner, I had run down to my dorm and pulled out all my non-uniform clothes. I tried on a couple outfits before settling on a light powder blue dress, which had a 60's ish feel to it. I brushed my hair, and put a ribbon that matched my dress in my hair like a headband, tying it at the top in a bow. I decided not to bother with makeup, so I tried to keep myself busy until the time I was to meet George outside the entrance to my common room. Finally the time came and I was able to escape without people casting weird looks my way. I opened the door to the hallway outside the common room, and as I was stepping out, I tripped. My eyes widened as I fell.

I had been double checking myself to make sure my shirt was presentable -- I had put on a button down with my pair of jeans and was not entirely sure if I wanted it completely untucked or have the front tucked in and the back out or what -- when I heard a noise behind me.  I spun around and saw that Cassie was on the ground.  "Oh!" I said, slightly startled and goign over to her.  "Are you alright?" I asked, helping her to stand back up.

As George helped me up, I could feel my face redden. I felt so embarrassed. We haven't even left yet and I already have done something stupid. I looked down at my feet, which I glared at for causing my fall. "I'm ok" I say quietly. The only thing hurt was my pride. "Sorry. Guess Dora isn't the only clumsy one in my family."

I smiled easily and shrugged.  "Happens to the best of us," I assured her, trying to make her feel better.  I just wished I had been paying attention, perhaps I could have prevented her from hitting the ground.  Now that she was up and I knew she was alright, I was slightly stunned by how pretty she looked.  "You look great," I blurted out before really thinking about what I was saying.  Would she mind if I said that?

I blush for a different reason now. "Really? I mean thank you!" I use my hands to flatten the dress out to make sure it wasn't oddly sticking up from the fall. I look up at George when I am finished. "You look pretty great yourself" I smile.

I grinned at her, not really surprised to see her get red in the face.  "Thanks," I said, taking a compliment slightly better than her, but that was due to my extremely easy going nature.  "I can get cleaned up a little bit..."  I chuckled and realized that it was hard for me to keep my eyes off of her.  "Shall I lead the way?" I suggested, thinking that was better than me just standing there like a fool looking at how pretty she looked.

"Lead away" I smile, willing the blush to leave my face.

I started to head back upstairs, we passed the kitchens and I swore I could still hear Lee in there talking up the house elves.  I rolled my eyes slightly and walked past.  He knew that he would have to get all the food upstairs by himself since I was going to be bringing Cassie.  I pulled out a beautiful piece of old parchment and glanced down at it.  Perfect; Filch and his cat were nowhere on our route to where we were having the movie night.  "Right this way," I said, winking at her and pocketing the map.

I follow him to the stairs. I see George pull out a piece of parchment, that looked like a map. "What's that?"

I grinned at her and pocketed the map.  "Just a little device we use to avoid detection," I told her.  It was not that I did not trust her or anything, but Fred and I guarded that map the best we could.  If it ever fell into the wrong hands, we would be done for.  "It tells me where people are... like Filch is in the trophy room, Mrs. Norris was meandering the dungeons, and Peeves was somewhere near the Astronomy Tower.  None of them close to catch us," I informed her easily.

"That's brilliant! I bet you use it a lot" I tease smirking. "So where is this taking place?" I was curious to see where we were going, I mean its not every day that you have a movie night at Hogwarts... At least not for me.

I grinned, leading her down a dark corridor.  "It's in the unused classroom near Flitwick's," I said to her.  "We managed to get a pro-something-or-other that shows the movies on the wall.  Do you know what I mean?" I looked at her, knowing that when it came to Muggle inventions, I had no clue what I was talking about.  "Of course we use magic to get it going rather than the eclecticity...?"  I had no idea if I was even calling any of this stuff correctly.

I let out a giggle at his mispronounciation of the muggle inventions. "It's called a projector, as it projects images and movies onto a wall. And it usually uses electricity." I wink at him. "You were very close to getting it right!"