Tumbling Down

Weekends. God bless them. Tate didn't know what he wouldn't do without them. Honestly, he would probably just die. There weren't classes on the weekends. Forty-eight hours of nothing. It was perfect. Most of the time he slept in and then caught up on homework if he wasn't hanging out with Luke, which was what he was doing right now. Homework, that is. He and Luke had opted out on doing all of it over the week and now he was left with a mountain of it. Last time he had sat down to do his homework had been in the Slytherin common room where he'd promptly fell asleep and taken an hour long nap, resulting in no homework getting done and nearly getting a detention from one of his professors. His parents would not have approved of him getting a detention for something like that so Tate had promised himself that he would get all of his work done this time. That was why he was on his way to the school's library, figuring he would get more work done there instead of curled up in one of the big but not-so-comfy chairs in the common room. He had his bag over his shoulder, his brown curls a messy mop around his face, eyes still sleepy and his features relaxed and content. Despite all of the dislike towards him from his classmates, Tate was still a pretty happy guy. He couldn't help it. It was just his nature.

Yawning, the seventeen year old Slytherin prefect made his way into the library. It was quiet and mostly empty, not that he was surprised. Not many students enjoyed spending their weekends in the library but Tate didn't mind. Books were cool. Some of them were boring but it was possible to find ones that had interesting topics. Personally, he enjoyed things on magical creatures. Especially unicorns. He thought they were cool. He got made fun of a lot because of that, people calling him gay to insult him, but, well, they were half right at least... he did like guys, but he liked girls, too. He just liked people in general. Especially cute boys with blue eyes and big bums but he wasn't going to think about that now. He hadn't even thought his name and his cheeks were already flushed, a goofy smile upon his lips, and he grew distracted, not even noticing the girl climbing on the table next to him until he heard the sneeze and then books came tumbling town on top of him.

Letting out a completely manly squeal, Tate jumped back, letting out a not-so-quiet "Ow!" as a book connected with his shin and he pouted, shuffling a few steps back with a huff. ”Oh dear. I’m very sorry about that… are you hurt?” He blinked, looking up at the girl as she spoke and instead of being angry, Tate just broke out into a pleasant smile and shook his head. "Oh, no, I'm fine!" he replied, his voice just as quiet as her's, deep and slow and warm, "What about you? You alright?"

The girl was younger than him. He had seen her around before but never really gone up to her before. When he first started here at Hogwarts, he had gone up to anyone and everyone to try and make friends but his family name was well known and either people hated him for being a Simon or they hated him for not being what a Simon should be or they just hated him because he wasn't a "proper Slytherin" and whatnot. Tate tried not to take too much offense to it because, well, it did hold some truth. He wasn't mean. He wasn't snarky. He could be a tad bit sassy (he blamed Luke entirely) but for the most part he was just, well. Tate. He'd been described as a kitten before - playful and cuddly. Or sometimes even a puppy. The only time he ever really was anything but nice was if someone hurt Luke or said something to Luke that he didn't like (or when guys started flirting with Luke which totally did not make him jealous at all nope) but, for the most part, Tate was a pacifist which really did not fit in with his Death Eater family's ways, something he had struggled to deal with his whole life.

”Lovely! I’m glad you were able to survive the avalanche unscathed. It was all a very unfortunate accident I must say.” Her voice was very soft and his smile grew. This girl seemed nice. At least for now, since she didn't seem to know who he was. "Indeed. But no one got hurt, yeah?" he responded with a light chuckle, placing his bag on the table she was currently standing on because, well, it seemed he had found his spot to do his homework in. ”I’m very well indeed. Though I think I have a bit of an allergy to all the dust in the air on this old books. These books haven’t been receiving all the love they should all these years. I must say most of them have probably been ignored for a very long time” The thought of the books never been used was actually upsetting and he ended up frowning as he looked at them, all dusty and old looking. "Poor books..." Luke would surely make fun of him if he found out that he was feeling bad for some books but Luke didn't have to know everything, now, did he? Especially about how I feel about certain... things.

”I really did make quite the mess … haven’t I?” Her statement drew the tall seventeen year old out of his thoughts and he blinked big, green eyes up at her, nodding, but didn't say anything as she spoke once more. ”Don’t worry though. I can fix this” Tate was about to offer to help clean up the books when, suddenly, the other student drew out her wand and waved it, sending the books back into place with what seemed like practiced ease. "Magic..." he chuckled with a shake of his head. Despite growing up in a pureblood family, sometimes he still kinda... forgot magic existed. ”I know I’ve seen you around here and there… but we haven’t properly met before” His body tensed slightly but his lips stayed pulled into a smile, warily taking the offered hand. Would she turn angry when she found out who he was? ”I’m Tallulah Luna Thistlebrooke. But most people just call me ‘Lula’… it’s shorter and easier to say I suppose.” Wow, that name was a mouthful. Thank goodness she had a nickname! He would never remember that, otherwise.

"And you are?” He released a sigh, reaching a hand up to run it through his messy curls. "I'm Tate," he said, leaving his last name out of his introduction. Quite honestly, he hated his last name and the image attached to it because he was nothing like his family. Not any of them still living, anyway.