an invitation [[rasmus]]

[CHORD D'ANTOINE]

The news of the dance had arrived to him early that morning, carried by his snowy owl. He was among a handful of students who had been chosen to attend the Professor's dance. Apparently, it was a very common thing- each year students were invited, but it appeared that for some reason, he had been chosen.

He had heard some girls gossip about one of the other boys invited, wondering who he would ask out. It was proper etiquette to arrive with an escort; the invitation even hinted that those who arrived without one would be deemed as outcasts. Well, it never specifically said anything of the sort, but Chord was known for reading too much into things. And he knew just how much public appearance meant. The choice for a date was obvious, but he was hesitant.

Entering the Three Broomsticks, he was at first thinking of getting himself a butterbeer, but then he saw Rasmus- he assumed the boy was waiting for some friends, but he wasn't sure. As he got closer, he realized it was a small table and that Rasmus was, in fact, there alone. Well, no better time than the present. He strode over and sat down across from him without being invited.

"Have you heard about the dance?" he asked, gazing across the table to the other boy. Ever since the incident when he'd been kidnapped on the broomstick and forced to fly, he had to admit he was seeing Rasmus in a different light. He had trusted him during that time... and Chord wasn't used to trusting anyone but himself. It was both exciting and terrifying.

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TAG - Rasmus
WORDS - 369
SONG - None
MUSE - Great!
NOTES - :3
CREDIT made by flyy~

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[RASMUS BLACKEBERG]

Rasmus leaned back in the old wooden chair, a mug of butterbeer in front of him on the table, the warm, low light of the Three Broomsticks and the crackling fire in the large fireplace ahead were divine. The perfect end to a long day. He looked down at the frothy beverage and lifted the mug to take a long sip. It seemed to warm him from the very inside and he lifted it to his lips again right before a voice cut through causing him to jerk in surprise and choke a little on his drink.

"Chord!?" He gasped, pounding his chest and coughing. The butterbeer sloshed onto his hand as he slammed it back to the table, and he winced, giving a last small cough and looking at the boy who was now directly across from him.

When he could finally talk/act/speak normally, Rasmus straightened up and peered at the other boy processing his question. "Yes I had heard of the dance. Sounds pretty fun." He shrugged noncommittally. He hadn't actually been invited to the party. Apparently he just wasn't special enough.

Not that he really felt like he was missing out, Rasmus didn't really put much stock in that sort of thing unlike a good many of the other students. He had listened to enough gossip about who actually was invited and moaning about who wasn't that he was already tired of it.

"Why?" He eyed Chord, the blonde's hair a halo of light in the firelight atmosphere of the pub.

Rasmus had come to Hogsmeade with some friends, but they had wanted to do some shopping and so they had gone their separate ways. He'd stopped in to get a butterbeer, which was all he really could afford. "What have you been doing in Hogsmeade? Mischief as usual I hope."

[CHORD D'ANTOINE]

Chord knew Rasmus hadn't been invited- the letter to each of the students invited had included the guest list, and Rasmus's name hadn't been on it. He gazed at the Quidditch captain with a curious look in his eyes. He was just glad he was not like one of those giggly schoolgirls who would bat their eyelashes and hint to the guy that they wanted him to ask them to go.

No, Chord knew what he wanted; and, he'd come to realize that he wanted Rasmus to attend the party with him. He believed the other boy deserved to go and did not quite understand why he hadn't been invited. Then again, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was strange, in Chord's opinion. He was very particular about those he considered "up" to his standards. Truth be told, he'd never quite understand why the professor had chosen Lily Evans of all people. The girl was terrible at the class.

"Oh, I did some robes shopping and stopped at Honeyduke's," he'd stocked up on sugar quills- they were his favorite sweet.

He seemed lost in thought, not really wanting to answer Rasmus's first question, even though he had been the one to bring up the subject of the dance. But if he didn't ask him, some girl would, and then he would have to be there watching as the guy he wanted to go with be with someone else. He would surely get weeks of detention after he tried to turn the girl into a rat. ...Considering he could probably blow her up instead. Either way would work in his favor, really...

He shook his head and blinked, "You should go with me." he said with confidence. "I'd like you to be there... with me.", he clarified. All he could do now would be to wait for an answer.

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TAG - Rasmus
WORDS - 407
SONG - None
MUSE - Goooood
NOTES - None
CREDIT made by flyy~

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[RASMUS BLACKEBERG]

Whatever he had been expecting, it had not been that. Rasmus blinked, silent for a moment as he regarded the other boy with an almost diagnostic gaze. There was a faint hum of noise in the background, the muted din of pub goers, the clinking of glasses and scrape of wooden chairs against ancient floors.

The corners of his lips tugged upwards into a rather excited sort of smile and he leaned forward, "Like a date!" He pronounced, not questioned, eyeing the boy with an unwavering gaze, "Well if you want to."

The Hufflepuff was unsure exactly what Chord's intentions were, but he knew his own and strangely enough this situation could prove to work to his benefit. "That is if you can stand me for an entire evening."

Rasmus had once envied the Slytherin, when they had first come to Hogwarts. Chord had seemed to know everything about magic, being from an all wizard family. Rasmus had literally peppered him with questions the entire ride and the blonde had sat through it all with patience (that Rasmus had not seen much of lately) and answered everything he could. Rasmus had been happy to find a friend, but after the sorting (which Rasmus did not agree with) they had been sent to start their schooling in separate houses and did not see each other much.

Somehow, over the course of the years they had ended up on opposite sides, two people that had not gotten along. Now it was so strange, but Rasmus and Chord had drawn together perhaps through their differences and their need to understand one another.

Rasmus lifted the butterbeer and took a sip, these thoughts still churning about in his head, looking rather unfocused, gaze drifitng over towards the fireplace.

[CHORD D'ANTOINE]

At the exclamation "like a date" some curious students glanced over in their direction, causing the pale Slytherin's cheeks to flush a light pink. He barely paid attention to another word the boy said. "A date!?" he said in a hushed voice, hissing across the table at the boy he wanted to take to the ball.

Well, he supposed that some people would see that as a date, but then that would mean they were going to be going out, and if they went out, then that would mean he liked Rasmus. And if they went together to the ball on a date, then that would mean the whole would know that Chord d'Antoine liked someone. He could hear the rumors in his head, and he was sure what he was thinking was much tamer than some of those foul-mouthed Gryffindors like Black and Potter would come up with.

"I never said it was a date!" he clarified once he had gathered his composure. He was still talking in a hush tone- really, how did people do this on a regular basis without making fools out of themselves? He realized, though, after saying that, that Rasmus would get the wrong impression. It wasn't that he didn't want to go on the date, it was just that he had been caught off guard by the question.

He wasn't even paying attention to the off-hand remark of "if you can stand me for an entire evening". He was too busy mulling it over in his head. Surely the Hufflepuff wouldn't have made the remark if he didn't think of it as a date, so what did that mean? He narrowed his eyes in suspicion- he didn't trust Rasmus to not trick him after the Quidditch Pitch incident. "Well, do you want it to be a date?" he asked. He would leave it in the other boy's hands.

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TAG - Rasmus
WORDS - 412
SONG - SR71 - She Was Dead
MUSE - Great!
NOTES - Sorry it's choppy. x-x
CREDIT made by flyy~

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[RASMUS BLACKEBERG]

He found the dusting of color across Chord's features amusing and he leaned forward with big, blue eyes.

"Yes you did." Rasmus said, blinking and staring at the boy. He knew fully well that those were not the actual words Chord had used. But he might as well had. After-all it was a formal event, a dance in fact. And one would assume that asking someone to accompany you to a formal dance would entail the small detail that they were expecting a date.

He hadn't quite worked out everything when it came to Chord. There was so much about the other boy that he had not seen and that he did not know. He enjoyed his company and he found the boy's prickly attitude rather endearing if not incredibly annoying. But Rasmus was not an idiot, he knew Chord had his reasons for the things he did and Rasmus would be the first to admit that he was far from understanding himself let alone another person.

The blonde gave the Slytherin a scrutinizing look, "Do you want it to be a date?" It was a loaded question and there was a host of undertones and meanings in a single phrase, a single emphasis.

"Dates are fun." He grinned noncommittally.

[CHORD D'ANTOINE]

Chord gaped at the Hufflepuff boy at a loss for words. Was he teasing him about this!? Rasmus was the one who'd said it was a date- not him! Where had he gotten that from!?

"I've never been on a date before! Why would I suggest it!? You're the--" he huffed angrily, trying to compose himself and get his word order straight. "I don't know. Do you want it to be a date?"

"I'm the what?" Rasmus asked, suppressing the urge to grin, cocking his head to the side in a show of mock confusion. "Well I thought it was a date." He said, taking a long sip of his butterbeer and staring over the rim of his drink at Chord. This was extremely amusing. He liked seeing that icy mask of Chords slip, liked the real emotion coming from the boy even it it was only frustration.

Chord scowled at Rasmus. "You're the most frustrating person I've ever met," he watched Rasmus drink his butterbeer. Rasmus had thought it was a date? So then did that mean... "I... I guess it's a date, then," he seemed rather uncomfortable, but determined in his answer.

Rasmus set the butterbeer down and his lips curved into the subtlest of smiles, "I didn't say that." The blonde said, getting up now that he had finished his drink and shrugging into his dark jacket, the cheerful yellow in his house scarf complimenting nicely. "You coming?" He called back to the boy, starting to leave the Three Broomsticks, smiling to himself.

Chord glared at him and stood up. "WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" and it was due to his yelling that the place quieted down, but instead of seeming embarrassed, he carried himself out with grace and dignity, following the blonde Hufflepuff. "Is it a date or not!?"

He didn't answer, wanting to laugh out loud when he heard the boy practically explode from behind him. Before ducking out of the tavern, Rasmus waved to the barmaid and she winked at him and gave a little wave back. Now on the street, he turned, eyes wide, "Chord people are staring, why are you yelling at me? You know I always thought you were more refined than that." But his tone was light and airy, as though it hadn't bothered him at all that the boy had so suddenly caused such a scene. "Have we not figured this out already?" Rasmus asked, sighing, "I thought we had already come to an agreement."

Chord growled. "It's all your fault. You're the one taunting me." He was playing right into Rasmus's hand without even realizing it. "No we haven't! You said you thought it was a date, and then I said I thought it was, and you said you didn't say it was! So which is it? Are we going on a date or not?!" he was glaring at Rasmus murderously.

Rasmus decided then that the joke had gone far enough, his goal wasn't to completely enrage his friend after-all and there was only so much further he could take it. The smile slipped from his lips and his expression softened, watching Chord with an intense gaze. The other boys face was flushed and his hair was out of place, crystalline eyes narrowed in a fearsome expression that sent shivers up the Hufflepuff's spine. Rasmus had liked Chord for a while now, his feelings shifting from friendship to something deeper and more personal ever since that day on the edge of Hogsmeade. He had never seen Chord being so honest, and even though the boy had been flushed and splotchy, with tears running down his cheeks and his nose bright red and shiny from the cold, Rasmus had never seen anyone more perfect. It wasn't until he realized how human Chord was that he had realized that Chord was more to him than just a friend. The Quidditch captain stepped into the others space, so close that he could practically feel the anger radiating off of him. He leaned in slightly and for a moment he debated kissing him, right here on the street where everyone could see, but he didn't even though he was close enough. It would be so easy...Instead Rasmus nodded, "Of course it's a date." He said seriously for the first time and then he smiled kindly and winked. Honestly he would have liked to think he was being sauve when he turned slowly and strode off back to the castle, but some part of him was worried about how the other boy would react and he was feeling too anxious to stand there and see for himself. Rasmus took a deep breath, knowing he needed to cool down.

Chord's was breathing hard- though he hadn't realized it. He gulped some air down as Rasmus's expression changed. The other male was standing so close to him- it intimidated and frightened him. Well, Rasmus didn't frighten him, but the fact that he wasn't pushing the other away did. His feelings were confusing to him- he knew he liked the Hufflepuff boy- but he had yet to realize just how real and deep those feelings ran.

The words left Rasmus's mouth so easily, and it wasn't until he had said them that Chord had realized he'd been holding his breath. His eyes were wide, and he watched in wonderment as Rasmus strode off. A date... He had a date with a male, Hufflepuff, muggle born. And strangely, he felt a sense of relief and elation flow through him. He smiled after Rasmus, but didn't try to follow him. Instead, he turned and went about his own way.

And to anyone who knew Chord d'Antoine, they would be left in shock to see that the boy walked around Hogsmeade with a genuine, happy smile.