entrancelogs | You might belong in Gryffindor

You might belong in Gryffindor

Who: Gryffindors! (+ Friends/Visitors/People sneaking in)
Where: Gryffindor Tower: Common Rooms + Dorms. Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall.
When: During the event
Rating: Label as you go
Summary: Gryffindor Mingle Log
The Story:

Common Room
The common room is a circular room where Gryffindor students can relax after a long day of studying. It is full of squashy armchairs, tables, and a bulletin board where school notices, ads, lost posters, etc. can be posted. The common room is decorated in several shades of red, which is associated with the house.

There are many windows that look out onto the grounds of the school, and a large fireplace dominates one wall. The mantle of the fireplace is adorned with a portrait of a lion. The walls are decorated with scarlet tapestries that depict witches and wizards, but also various animals. There are also bookcases located in the room.

Dorms
The Gryffindor dormitories are also located in the Tower, with two doors leading off from the common room that open to spiral staircases. One of them leads to the girls' dormitory, the other to the boys'. The stairs to the girls' dormitory are enchanted to become a slide if any boy attempts to climb them, but not vice versa, since it was deemed that girls were more trustworthy than boys... (Look don't blame me it's canon)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ iris straightens into a seated position right away, despite the fact his fingers feel very nice.

of course, she was sprawled on barry's chest, so it's his stomach that she is sitting on now, looking down at him with an intently worried frown on her face. he is the one imprisoned by her legs this time around, and she isn't going to let him go anytime soon. ]

Barry!

[ it's not a hint of reproach in her voice, necessarily. first things first: ] Of course you'll get in.

[ but also, a light smack on his chest. ] That's why you've been exhausted, you're running yourself ragged.

[ his hand falls to his chest. ] Ow. [ and with a laugh, he tries to pretend like she's punched him with super strength. ]

[ but iris has never been able to, and he doubts she's ever had any intention to punch a hole in his chest for whatever reason. he's given her one in not telling her of his plans to grab a time turner and take as many of his classes as he can so he can prepare for a life beyond hogwarts, but he thinks she may understand why. (barry barely understands why he hasn't let her in on that little secret.) ]

[ looking up at her, he doesn't move. ]

I've been running a lot … [ the joke falls flat when he inhales deeply and the smile slips a little from his face. ] I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I first got it. I wanted it to work out so bad and I didn't want you to think … I couldn't do it if it didn't work out.

[ a quiet sigh unfurls in her throat.

iris rarely gets angry at barry. truly and legitimately temper-flaring-angry. iris usually understands where he is coming from, and as long as there's understanding, there isn't much she won't meet him in the middle for. but his well-being is her priority, because so often it won't be his. ]

Baby, you know I believe you can do anything you set your mind to. [ iris west is his number one supporter. ] But if you don't pace yourself, you won't survive this school year long enough to go to a muggle university at all.

[ she pins him with her gaze this time around. ]

Promise me you'll take better care of yourself, and tell someone if this starts getting out of hand.

[ barry sighs, feeling slightly caught. there's a reason why he hardly lets anyone know anything going on with him — they take it upon themselves to worry, and he's never done well with that. when mom ended up in the hospital his first year of being at hogwarts, he knows keeping it to himself had been his initial plan. remain strong that way, don't acknowledge it, maybe he'll wake up and mom would be okay. but his kingdom had crumbled as the foundation it'd been built on had been flimsy at best. ]

[ he looks up at her, and knows why he told her. barry allen tells iris west everything in his own time, even when she's smart enough to figure it out long before he thinks to confess to her. ]

[ lifting his arm, he curls his fingers into his palm, leaving his pinky jutted out. ]

Promise.

[ iris flashes him a small grin, wrapping her pinky around his. ]

And don't pout. You won't be losing any points from the House of West.

[ he told her eventually, and that means a lot to her. you can't rush barry, fast though he may be with his legs. he needs to come around at his own pace and in his own time. iris is thankfully patient enough to let him do that. ]

[ barry doesn't let go of her pinky, using it to pull her hand rest against his chest and hoping the rest of her will follow. ]

I was hoping I'd earn a few points from the House of West. [ his smile's boyish and almost embarrassed, but that's how barry always is around iris. a little shy, almost like he's finally taking her out on that first date all over again and believing it'd be the best planned thing ever. he's since learned when things don't go to plan, they make for memorable moments. ] I think I'm close to winning the House Cup.

[ iris plops back down on the bed unceremoniously, tugging him with her so they're both resting on their sides, their limbs tangled together. a leg is wrapped snugly over his own. she loves those boyish smiles. she'd be sad to ever see them go away.

an eyebrow arch. ]

That's a highly confident, ambitious statement to make. Is there evidence to back it up, Mr. Allen?

Yeah.

[ he easily lies on his side, long legs not quite under his own control as they get lost in hers. reaching for her hand, he keeps it between both of his own to fiddle with instead of the linens. his smile remains big and bright, and then he scrunches up his face as if he's mulling it over. ] But I can't tell you. I took a vow.

[ given the fact he probably shouldn't have told iris about his time turner, it's safe to say barry allen doesn't take vows very seriously. perhaps that's why no one would ever insist he commit to an unbreakable vow. his mouth runs quicker than his feet sometimes. ]

[ her lips part in utter indignation. ]

I'm supposed to be the exception!

[ she studies their hands thoughtfully, palm settling against the smoothness of his, and the pads of her fingers pressing to his own.

for all her teasing, there's nothing barry could tell her that iris wouldn't believe. in this case, she knows how serious it is to have a time turner; barry would've been sworn to secrecy. ] Isn't it really hard to get permission from the Ministry?

I guess they really like me? [ he laughs, clearly not believing it. as much as he'd wanted to pursue the career of an auror, it'd been listening to mom and dad argue over the wizarding world and the politics he was too young to understand that had turned him off from it. there were people out in the muggle world who'd benefit greatly from his skills and what he learned from hogwarts, and so barry was set to try and become a csi. ]

[ besides, he's always wanted to be like horatio caine and walk away from a crime scene in slow mo. ]

Yeah — I wanted it in Fifth Year, but Mom said no. She got my Uncle Jay to block it. [ barry doesn't quite say it with a smile; it hadn't been kind to hear of mom's meddling, even when she'd seen so interested in shedding her witchy heritage and remaining in the muggle realm. ] But I guess she asked him to push for it this year? [ he shrugs his shoulders, and focuses on fiddling with her hand. presses his palm to hers, wiggles his fingers, even tries to guide their joined hands up to let them fall gently like feathers. ]

Maybe the Ministry want to use me as a study case. The reasons why you shouldn't let students have a time turner for school.

[ note to self: buy barry some really cool horatio sunglasses.

iris smiles softly, aware of the rough patch barry went through with his mom during their fifth year. her free hand reaches out to comb his hair again, a soothing gesture that's become habit at this point. she likes playing with his hair while he talks. it feels like the most natural and comfortable thing in the world. her other hand seamlessly follows his above their heads. ]

Or they trusted you with it for a reason. [ iris west, believing in barry allen circa forever.

she bites her lip pensively, and slants her head to the side, regarding him with open affection and curiosity. ] What's it like? Going back in time.

Weird. [ he laughs it out, and then grows quiet. much like a cat, he relaxes into her touch. barry lets his hair grow to be a mop that stands up, as if electrocuted, for this very reason — and the james deen look's coming back in style, he just knows it. ]

Sometimes it's confusing. Sometimes I feel really impatient, because it's kind of happened before. [ whenever he clicks it back too far, barry's all restless energy and impatience, wanting to move instead of stay still and wait for his turn to leap forward and go along a different path. ]

Other times it's … [ looking away, he shakes his head, and finds he can't quite explain it, despite having rehearsed such an answer many times over. shrugging his shoulders, ] I don't know how to explain it. I like having the chance to relive a moment that I really liked. [ he looks up at her. ] It's as close to living in a moment for as long as you want.

[ her fingers continue to tangle into his hair and smooth the strands back out as she listens. a smile lingers in her gaze; she swears she can feel barry's restless energy. he radiates it, gold tendrils curling around them both.

iris doesn't know if she'd want that kind of responsibility, but it does sound nice: the ability to not just look back on a moment, but live it all over again. ] And what moments have you been reliving, exactly?

[ an eyebrow arches coyly. ]

[ he shrugs his shoulders, and answers coyly, ] You know … [ his fingers tap against her sides as he tries to think of a way to respond without responding — she doesn't need to know he's been a little selfish with the time turner when he swore he'd behave and use it for only educational moments. she doesn't need to know certain things, even though she can easily deduce what it is he's avoiding answering by watching how he blushes just a little. ]

Just … moments …

Barry.

[ iris can't help it. barry allen is very cute, but he is at his cutest when he's flushed. it may be why her thighs tighten around his waist, but just a little. ]

Moments that involve the prefect bathroom?

Uh —

[ barry squirms for only a second before he stills. his eyes dart down to where she's straddling him before he looks up at her again. he's still flushed a nice scarlet, and his smile's one that's suggesting he's hiding something. ]

[ he's hiding many things, and one of them is the fact he hadn't wanted her to know he sometimes breaks his own promise to not interrupt the iterations of them and go spend some more time with iris. ]

Maybe? [ he opens his mouth and shrugs his shoulders the best he can while laying back on the bed. ] I mean ... You know ... Yeah?

Barry.

[ his name is said in singsong, iris' treacherous little fingers ghosting down his sides; they linger right at his ribcage where she knows for a fact he is most ticklish. the dangerous part of two people knowing each other so well? they're hopelessly disarmed where it matters most. ]

Tell me which one.

[ this version of iris west may not be a reporter ~~yet~~, but her dogged pursuit of the truth remains much the same.

even dirty truths. especially dirty truths! ]

I don't remember?

[ barry tries to not squirm beneath her while shifting all the same. he knows he can't unhorse her from him without giving her the chance to hold on tight and quite possibly make his life even more uncomfortable. ]

[ but he tries. ]

[ he looks up at her, smiling, and bites his bottom lip as his hands move to try and wrap his fingers around her wrists. he does his best not to shift beneath her, but fails. ]

It was one of them. A good one.

[ he is successful in capturing her wrists, but not her full attention.

the shifting of their bodies nudges iris off toward the side a bit, her smile not faltering once. it softens the more she watches him, squirming though he may be, her fingers finally relenting as her cheek presses against the warm pillow. ] They're all good ones.

[ they're two of the lucky ones that way. ]

[ once her cheek presses against the pillow, he turns his head to follow suit. he doesn't twist his body around yet, remaining on his back as he looks at her. his hands remain around her wrists before he releases them to slide his fingers between the spaces of her own. ]

Yeah? [ he can feel himself blushing just a little. his smile's one that's shy in the way it wants to be big and wide, but also small and hide. ] Which one would you go and visit if you could?

[ iris doesn't need to deliberate for very long. ]

The first one. At the Ball. [ she likes starting at the beginning. not their finest moment, perhaps, where other people's feelings are concerned. but it's where they came together, and long after the yule ball had ended, iris and barry were enjoying each other. ]

[ barry lifts his hand to try and hide his face, but it's useless. his hair's bigger than anything that could possibly hide him, even a pillow. he can't say that moment is one of his proudest, given how he'd incidentally lead patty spivot on, but he doesn't regret it. ]

Yeah? [ he lets out a nervous kind of laugh, letting his hand slide along his cheek and fall back against the bed. ] That's a pretty good one to go back to. It's somewhere high on my list.

[ barry's answer earns him the tiniest of smiles, pleased and sweet all at once.

she isn't proud of her behavior that night. she wasn't at her best, outside of what brought them together, but iris wouldn't want him to regret that night, either. iris west has difficulty knowing her own heart, but once she finds its true desire, there's no moving her from it.

his nervous laugh jumpstarts a flutter of nerves inside her own belly, but it doesn't keep her from slowing down, resting on her side, and looking at him from across the bed. he is very handsome, and it hits her every now and then. now. ] I love you, Barry.

[ sometimes barry thinks he should've ended up in another house, perhaps ravenclaw or hufflepuff. there's times where he finds himself sitting more comfortably in a shade of yellow or blue, but then there's those moments where he's filled with the sudden recklessness that colours gryffindor. ]

[ he used to question his place many times over in his house, knowing he hasn't been as brave as those who sit inside of it now and had graduated from it. but then he remembers he runs on pure adrenaline. he acts quickly and recklessly, and often that bravery is pigheadedness as he thinks of no one but himself. ]

[ barry can list those moments where he's turned around in hindsight and travelled back and realised how much he'd embraced the negative traits of his house. but he finds, unlike a hufflepuff or the typical ravenclaw, he doesn't regret it. ]

[ he breaks out into a smile, as though he hasn't heard this one before, and acts on that impulsiveness that's bound to be reckless in the end. he does the gryffindor thing and leans forward to kiss her. ]

[ if one thinks about it, this whole kissing thing is kind of weird.

it mostly consists of tongues poking around in places only a toothbrush does. but with the right person ... with the right person, it can melt you. iris sighs into him, her hands curving around his neck to tug him further toward her, encouraging his weight to settle on top of her.

for those watching at home:

that isn't barry's wand. he's just very happy to see iris. now, if you'll excuse them, they have things to do. 🍆 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You might belong in Gryffindor

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject