This was nothing but odd. An entirely new sensation. He had a girl clinging to his arm, giggling and kissing him. For ffleurbert it was all uncharted waters.

Which made it an adventure, by definition. Of course, ffleurbert was unaware of the definition of an adventure that goes: ‘Some God-awful thing that happens to you that makes a good story afterward.’ This was just as well, because it would have blighted an otherwise splendid day.

“Aww, you are sweet,”

“I am? Odd, no one else has ever mentioned it.” Not even the Mater. Possibly one of the Stable-girls? When he was tiny?

“Okaaay,” she told him. “As long as it is this small.”

ffleurbert studied the gap between Ava’s fingers. Allowing for some exaggeration, plus the fact that they had no accurate means of measuring the gap, he felt sure he could manage something that size without too much difficulty. A two carat stone at about eight-point-five millimeters would certainly fit. But, given some kind of mounting he’d best go for something in the one and a half caret range.

Standing up ffleurbert smiled. “Right,” he said. “I can do something with that.

“So you are going to have to get creative.”

“Oh, I believe I can do creative. Or, failing that, find someone who can.” He was feeling much more confident about the whole thing now.

Ava grinned. “I get full reign over your gift though,”

“Meaning what? I’ll not have you flogging off anything I give you, don’tcher know.” Not that he thought it likely. “No, when I give you something I believe it has to stay given.”

He was taller than Ava. Not for the first time, ffleurbert realized that this was yet another benefit to having a slightly younger girlfriend. He kissed her lightly on the top of her head and put his arm around her shoulder.

“Right, now that we have got that out of the way, let’s find a sunny spot and make plans.” He led the way in a desultory circuit of the courtyard, but found most of the sunny spots taken by other couples, in the main. There was a rather nice spot in an archway, that had two tinies in it, so ffleurbert led the way there.

“Right, young’uns. Hop it,” He said amiably.

“Why?

“Well, if you don’t I’ll give you a thick ear, to teach you respect for your elders and betters,” Said ffleurbert, still smiling. “But if you do, I’ve got a chocolate frog for you to share. Your choice.”

They chose the frog.

After drying the stonework with a wave of his wand, ffleurbert spread his uniform robe on it and settled next to Ava.

“Well, this is nice,” He said, and pulled her up against him. “Now see here, Avaline, we need to make some arrangements, don’tcher know. It’s all well and good leaving our meeting up to chance, but I for one require something a bit more definite. I figure we’ve got about a week until the wet weather sets in, so we have to find somewhere to meet in the dry. I’m open to suggestions, of course, but our best bets are the Library, the Study Hall, the Student Lounge thingy, and…” He gave Ava a kiss on the nose, to make sure she was attending, “The Trophy room.”

He shifted his weight a little and took one of her hands and began studying it. Small fingers…. Her index was hardly any bigger than his pinky. Making her ring finger about … two sizes smaller?

“The Library, as you know,” He said, studying her nails carefully, “tends to be difficult to talk in, should talking be required.” He kissed her gently on the mouth, to demonstrate that it wasn’t always. “The Study hall is alright if one wants to do any homework, I suppose, and I know we’ll have to do that from time to time..” He nibbled at the tip of her middle finger absently.

“And the Student Lounge is filled with all and sundry. But I think you’ll find nobody ever goes to the Trophy room except on detention. But!” He let go of her hand and raised an admonishing finger, “It isn’t actually necessary to have detention to go there. Right. Comments? Feed-back? Any other suggestions? I am not dictatorial in these matters.”

And to show his general good will, he kissed her again, to give her time to think.

30ee28b3-3889-4ed0-b243-0cc62893a81a_zps


Not Getting Any Younger

Last Edited By: BJB47 Sep 24 13 8:10 PM. Edited 1 times.