Let me help (Lien)

Serena sat on the couch near the fire place with her potions book open. It was part of her nightly routine. She was reading about the use of certain ingredients in certain options when she saw Lien walk into the room. She smiled at him from her spot then returned to her book.

@Lien Chang

Lien thought that he could very easily slip past Serena without thinking about that time in the bath. As their eyes met though, he immediately felt the colour rise in his cheeks. The smooth, cool player than he'd been in Professor Riddle's office hadn't lasted, apparently, because now he was all nerves again.

He didn't want Serena to think he was some kind of pervert. So he tore his eyes away, headed for a seat and took out his books clumsily.

@Serena Snape

Serena noticed some color start to fill his face and wondered what that was about? Why was he blushing? She watched secretly as he pulled his books out of his bag. She had heard he had been through alot of trouble lately and wasnt acting like his normal self. But he seemed a tiny bit more relaxed, "You seem more relaxed today. Did you take any of my advice?" She wondered what it was that had helped him

@Lien Chang

Oh boy, if only she knew that he'd taken her advice to the word. He couldn't quite look at her in the eye, so he pretended to be busily searching the depths of his bag for something.

"Yeah, I did actually. Thanks."

He didn't want to tell her anything about the bath, so he thought he'd tell her about taking his frustration out on Ptolemy Rowle. "I turned Ptolemy Rowle into a rat and got a few detentions for it. That cleared up a lot of my frustration." There were new and unique ways to relax, apparently.

@Serena Snape

Serena was pleased he had taken her advice, she gave good advice often. "So what did you do?" When he talked about Rowle and turning him into a rat, she frowned, "You used transfiguration on a fellow student over some petty stupid jealous thing?" She was not impressed by that. It was immature in her eyes, yet she was the younger one.

@Lien Chang

"I wouldn't exactly call him a fellow anything," he said airily, unperturbed by her reaction. It was a little disappointing, though. "And if you perceive him to be a victim then you clearly do not know him very well. He is only content with making others' lives miserable, is always looking down on people and would do more to humiliate and demean someone than just turning them into a rat. Half of this school wishes they could do the same."

@Serena Snape

"I don't see anyone as a victim unless it counts sexual assault. Everyone has done something to anger someone else who wants vengeance for something." As he spoke, her frown deepened a bit. Serena wasn't the type to talk bad on someone, at least not on purpose. Sometimes her honesty was mistaken for cruelty. She cocked her head to the side and just looked at him, "It didn't have to do with you seeing him with her?" She was perceptive enough to know Lien still thought of Alayna now and then. She had seen it in his head before. But he didn't know that.

@Lien Chang

"Perhaps that was the trigger of it," he confessed, "Because I realised that they'd both taken me for an absolute fool the entire time. There were intimate when Alayna and I were seeing one another, and I told her that I didn't like it."

He frowned, sinking further into the couch.

"So, yes. It did piss me off."

@Serena Snape

Serena tilted her head to the other side, keeping eye contact with him, "I don't think that's the case. I think she really did care for you. And then you broke her heart. At least that's her version. You left her to go be gay with James Potter." She said, quoting Alaynas words, "you could get back at her? Find someone to flaunt around like a show dog and to have on your arm."

@Lien Chang

Lien crossed his arms.

"Now who's being petty," he snorted, feeling annoyed by Serena relaying Alayna's version of events. "As far as I'm concerned, I got my own back. Seeing her cry over perfectly reversible transfiguration was rather pathetic."

@Serena Snape

Serena rugged, she didn't see herself as the petty type. But maybe she was and just didn't know it, "Yeah. You find some new girl and just bang her all over the castle like she's doing with Rowle." Serena did know alot of the gossip as most people don't stop talking when she entered a room. Most people didn't notice her. "she couldn't reverse it herself? Even I know how to do that."

@Lien Chang

"I um - I don't need to... do that."

He shifted uncomfortably, not looking at her. Alayna wasn't really in his thoughts where sex was concerned. He'd just want to have sex with a girl because it was nice, not to annoy Alayna. It was unlikely to bother her anyway. He couldn't help thinking that Serena was offering herself to him, as this girl to bang around the castle. Once he started thinking that, he couldn't really get it out of his head.

@Serena Snape

Serena saw a flash of her being naked in his head and looked at him. She raised an eyebrow and smirked, "I'm gonna tell you something about myself. I'm a telepath so that little thought you just had.... Well, you're not exactly wrong." She said, a huge blush filing her cheeks. He was handsome, and obviously he had some experience, something she lacked.

@Lien Chang

He'd heard of legilimens before, but she had described it as telepathy. For a moment he sat there in a stunned silence, piecing together exactly what she had meant. So she had seen right into his mind this entire time?! A heat flashed across his cheeks as he worried, sincerely, how much she had seen. There were a lot of private thoughts in there. Like with James...

He tried to force himself not to think about it.

"Um - I... er..."

There were quite a few things to get flustered about right now, and he couldn't decide which one to prioritise: the fact that she could read his mind, or the fact that she was offering herself up to him.

@Serena Snape

"I don't tell people's thoughts. You're actually one of the very few people I've told here. I just didn't think it was fair for you to be having those sorts of thoughts and not know that they weren't exactly private. I wasn't trying to snoop, im still learning to control everything." When he started acting nervous and flustered Serena bit at her lip, "Just forget I said anything." She stood up and gathered her books

@Lien Chang

"Wait - where are you going?"

She really didn't have to leave.

@Serena Snape

Serena stopped and looked at him, "I was going to go literally anywhere but here due to the extreme embarrassment I just put myself through." What had she been thinking? Of course he didn't see her like that. She was stupid to think otherwise.

@Lien Chang

"I don't think you should be embarrassed," he said. He felt, if anything, it was more embarrassing for him. But that didn't really matter too much: she didn't seem the type who would use this power for personal gain, or to exploit or blackmail people. If anything she probably saw it as more of a burden. "Would you come and sit with me for a bit?" he ventured, feeling as though he may as well try to push his luck.

@Serena Snape

Serena looked at him, her face still a light shade of pink. Shee was confused when he asked her to sit by him. Push what luck? She approached with her bag still in her hand and sat down. She smelled something like a cologne. Was it his? It smelled good. It made her smile a little bit without meaning to.

@Lien Chang

When she sat down, he tried to clear his mind of too much thought. Instead, he concentrated on what was happening right now. There was a draught coming through the room and, although the fire was crackling, it wasn't heating the room entirely. The tower got quite chilly sometimes. Seeing that the elves had left some blankets here and there about the room, Lien moved forwards and took one off the table. Smiling, he opened it, shook it out, and spread it over the two of them. Now they were cosier and under the blanket together.

Taking a book out of his bag, he opened it and began reading. There was a look of contentment on his face.

@Serena Snape

Serena watched as he covered them with the blanket, his body heat now trapped under the blanket with her, she began to feel warm. She watched him pull out a book and tried to look at what it was he was reading. She leaned a bit closer and began looking over the words on the page, "What is it?"

@Lien Chang

"Let's just read like this for a bit. Here."

He passed her the book he was reading, then got one for himself.

"I think it's nice just to... enjoy the silence."

When he sat upright again, he concentrated on the comforting sound of the fireplace. A few pages in, he started touching Serena's leg under the blanket. He wasn't looking at her: his eyes were solidly on the book.

@Serena Snape

Serena smiled up at him and took the book. It seemed to be a tale of a boy named Tom Sawyer. She had never heard of the tale before. She got so caught up in reading and imaging the world of the story she almost didn't notice liens touch. Almost. But she did notice and it made her blush. She enjoyed the touch a bit.

@Lien Chang

His hand moved further up her leg, to her thigh. He caressed her gently, then moved up higher. He swept his eyes to her languidly, just to check she was okay with it. All she had to do was tell him to stop, he thought.

@Serena Snape

Serena's heart rate began to increase as his hand moved higher up her thigh. She had never done anything like this before. Most boys didn't look her way. But lien wasn't a boy anymore. She heard his thought and shook her head, "I don't want you to." She really didn't. She wanted to see what all the hype was about. What had so many people fighting over him

@Lien Chang