The Park

Bella nodded and sat down next to him on the bench. "That would be nice, but you don't have to." she said politely. Crossing her legs, she leaned back against the bench and smoothed out her school robes.

"Terrible, you?" she replied, chuckling at how pathetic she sounded.

"I'm great!" Michael exclaimed cheerfully, though didn't know if he should inquire into what was bothering her. To make up for not asking, he gave her an expression of apology though Michael was fairly certain he wasn't the cause of Bella's... well, he wasn't quite sure how to describe what she was feeling because he didn't rightly know now did he?

"And sure, I'll play for you. It's not like I have anything uber important to be getting to..." he said, taking a moment to tune the last couple of strings. Once he was done he slipped the strap over his head. Next he stood up and took a few paces away, made a few adjustments to the various nobs toward the end of the guitar, and started to play...


((Click here for the link! It's not much to look at, though...lol))

Bella listened to him play, not recognizing the song, but enjoying it nonetheless. As he finished, she clapped heartily. "You play much better than my brother." she commented.

Michael's face practically split in half when he grinned at the applause. "Your brother plays guitar?" he asked curiously. Vaguely the Hufflepuff wondered if Bella herself played an instrument... that would be his next question.

"Yes, my middle brother, Severus." She replied. "Who taught you how to play?" Trying to make conversation and not pry, Bella had long sense mastered the art of saying anything in an innocent or interested manner.

"Private tutor at first... his name was Chad Tyler. Wizard, of course, and a wicked musician," Michael replied enthusiastically. "But, once he started his own band he quit teaching. So, my uncle Lorenzo took over. Now I pretty much pick things up fairly quickly or teach myself to play by ear."

'Uncle Lorenzo, the werewolf, you mean,' something that sounded like Michael's voice in the back of his mind forced him to remember.

"Hey, um... can I ask you a question? It's ... uh... probably a little off-the-wall..." he inquired, wanting to get that whole Astronomy Class business off his chest before he ended up writing a song about being a werewolf - provided of course he could ask his uncle some in-depth questions via owl post, that is.

"Sounds interesting and that is ironic." Bella sighed. "My aunt taught me how to play the piano..." she smiled.

"Sure, feel free to ask me anything you want."

"You play the piano? That's pretty cool," Michael replied with a half-smile he'd started to become accustomed to doing around his peers.

"Erm... back on Wednesday, with the Astronomy lesson on the moon... you mentioned werewolves. What was that all about?" he asked, feeling rather nervous about bringing it up. Michael didn't want to strain the relationship, but on the other hand he did have a family member that visited him over the summer and holidays whenever possible who just happened to be infected with the lycanthropy virus.

Bella shrugged. "I was curious about how Headmistress Kiara viewed werewolves... I guess I'm not very good at asking bluntly." she folded her arms over her chest. "What are you a werewolf? I didn't mean any offense. I have nothing against those with lycanthropy."

"Oh," Michael answered, feeling rather stupid. "Um, no, I'm not. But one of my uncles has lycanthropy, and some people can be kinda... weird about it. Y'know?"

"I was just really tired, I guess, and thought you meant something else..." he trailed off, toeing a stray rock in an attempt to not meet her gaze right away. It had been the reason for that look he'd given her, but Michael wasn't going to reveal this fact.

"Well, I do come from a family that dislikes half-bloods and muggleborns, so I understand why you might think I had something against werewolves." Bella admitted, smiling. "But since my brother was a werewolf I am fairly acceptant of them."

"Your brother?" Michael repeated, distracted from the rock long enough to look her in the eyes again. "Was...? Did he find a cure?" Something told Michael that because of the way she said her family was seemed to be a hint that a different result had occurred.

"Well, I'm not Muggle-born: both my parents are magical... I'm not quite sure what the lineage is, but I do know that both the Blackwoods and the Dolans - my mother's side - were, um, what do you call it? Pure-blood? We never really worried about that kinda stuff over in America..." he explained. Well, Michael mused, this is slightly awkward... time for another topic...

"This Triwizard Tourney sounds like it'll be fun... did you put your name in?" Michael asked curiously. Rather absently he started picking out the introduction to another song, but stopped before it could be recognized.

Bella nodded. "No, he died." she stated rather factually as if he had asked her what time it was. She became quite interested in a splinter in the bench seat.

"They don't value blood in America?" she exclaimed, eyes widening. "That must be wonderful. Here, everything is blood this, blood that. Rather monotonous after awhile."

Bella bit her lip. "No, I'm not old enough." she admitted. "Only seventh years are allowed..."

"Oh. Er... sorry," he muttered, almost wishing now that he hadn't thought there had been a cure. On the other hand he would have felt equally dumb if he'd assumed the worst and found out there was indeed a cure out there.

At the question, Michael shook his head. "Not where I come from. I suppose if you head into certain areas of the states they might, but if it exists there it's not that obvious."

Both of Michael's eyebrows rose: apparently he hadn't been paying attention when the restrictions were announced or something. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I didn't try - I'm sixteen, but in fifth year... not old enough either apparently," he admitted with a kind of shrug and a half grin. "But I think those in fourth year and over can go to the prom... er... Ball, I mean. The Yule Ball. Are you, um, going with anyone?"

Bella looked up. "You don't need to be. You couldn't have known." she smiled. "The states? Is that what you call America? Interesting." Twisting a bit of blonde hair with her finger, she sighed.

"Prom? What is that?" She asked, curious. "Oh, no...no one's asked me yet." Well that wasn't exactly a lie...no boy had actually come up to her and asked if she had wanted to go to the Yule ball with him, but more than three had attempted to and then there were her two unofficial boyfriends, who both believed they were the loves of her life... they had probably just assumed she would go with the other... "Have you asked anyone?" innocent enough question...

Michael grinned a bit sheepishly at having used an unfamiliar term. "Yeah... the full name is 'The United States of America'. Most just shorten it to America, or 'the states', or even the 'U.S.A.' " he explained, watching the hair twisting without realizing it. Sandy, the girl he was rather smitten with back in America that 'broke up' with him just weeks before his family's move to England, used to twist her hair in a similar fashion.

The Hufflepuff nodded with understanding, though had no idea as to the technicalities of the fact that others had contemplated asking. As the question returned to him, he gave the guitar a tap. "Just the guitar, and 'she's' fretting..." at the emphasized word he slid his fingers along the various frets to show what he was getting at, "...that we spend too much time together as it is." While he tried to keep a straight face while saying this, it hadn't worked very well: Michael was grinning ear to ear. "Guitar joke... couldn't resist. Sorry," he laughed.

"Seriously, though, I haven't asked anyone. Despite being here for a little over a year, I really haven't gotten to know many people yet..." Michael added, feeling neither here nor there it seemed by the look on his face. "Would you... would you want to go with me to the Ball?"

Bella chuckled. "Fretting, I get it. That is funny." She noted the sheepish smile and rather large grin that soon took its place, deciding she liked both expressions about the same.
"You would like to take me to the ball?" she exclaimed, obviously happy at the request. "I would love to, thank you." She beamed. Tossing the lock of hair back over her shoulder with her hand, she straightened up on the bench.

If such a thing were possible, Michael's grin widened at the fact she thought his joke was funny. That was his intention, after all. A light laugh that resembled an audible snicker left him.

After adjusting the nobs on his guitar to lower the amplified volume and deactivate the synthetic accompaniment for the time being, Michael returned to the bench and sat a short distance away. "Great!" he exclaimed. "You sure you don't mind going with a foreigner?" The grin lowered its intensity to a pleasant smile.

"A foreigner? Surely not, that makes you all that more interesting. Besides, isn't that why we have the triwizard tournament? To promote good relations between our fellow European schools?" She tucked another loose strand behind her ear. "I'll just be expanding our policies to include over seas..."

"Really?" Michael inquired. Clearly he hadn't thought his place of origin as exceedingly interesting.

"I guess so," he replied with a small laugh, sounding rather more positive than the words being used. He knew that that was one reason behind tournaments in addition to the thrill of competition. Perhaps it was a linguistic quirk.

"So, uh..." Michael attempted to start another conversation, casting about for something. "What do you wanna do now?" He was at a loss for what to do or say now that he had a date to the Ball.

"Well, we could take a walk or maybe you could play something for me?" she offered.

"We could do both, at the same time, if you want..." Michael suggested, twisting two of the nobs just below the guitar's whammy bar. The volume wouldn't be too loud so that he could play while walking beside her. He then cast a levitation charm so that his guitar case would follow them in midair.

Taking a slow, leisurely place, Michael took a few moments to find a song in his memory that he liked, and began... occasionally glancing over at Bella whenever he could spare a few seconds to do so.


((Click here for the song. It's lyrics only, though...))

Bella got up from the bench to walk along side him, enjoying the music mixed with the lovely breeze that was floating over them. Stealing several glances at him as they walked, she decided her day was now much better.

When he'd finished the song, Michael had a rather pensive look on his face. "Y'know, I think you might enjoy Phoenix Edge... the music club that's just started up at the school. Professor McKevin and I managed to get approval from the Headmistress," he suggested animatedly.

Bella perked up, smiling. "Sounds great. Something like those dull clubs professors start up?" she laughed, rolling her eyes. "Or is it going to be different?"