The court yard had not been Toby’s destination of choice. Really, he hadn’t had a destination in mind if he was to be frank. In all honesty he was just seeking a hiding spot away from his older brother. Toby wasn’t certain what had gotten Korbin’s knickers in a twist but the older Owens’ boy seemed intent on bringing it out on his younger brother. Okay, so Toby could acknowledge that he was probably partly to blame. Only partly, mind you. Toby wasn’t going to take the entire blame for Korbin’s sourpussness. That was something Toby couldn’t even dream of accomplishing. Toby knew he could be annoying to his siblings, but he had never been the sole cause of their ire. Toby figured he had just caught the elder Owens at a bad point, and being brothers … well, they were the perfect target for letting off steam, no?

So Toby had literally ran from his brother the moment he freed himself from the elders grasp. He wasn’t sticking around to be Korbin’s stress release in that moment. He liked his limbs all in working order and not having any undo pains. Really, his little comment really should not have set the elder off like that. Toby could clearly remember worse things he had stated to the other. So yeah, running. That’s what he was doing. It was cowardly. Nope. Not at all. He wasn’t afraid of his brother, nope.

He glanced briefly over his shoulder as he entered the court yard to make sure his brother had not followed him out. This was the Ravenclaw’s undoing. A different force of some sort decided to that Toby wasn’t to escape unscathed for whatever sin he had committed that day. With mild utterance of surprise and the wind being knocked from his lungs, Toby found himself on the ground with a weight upon his chest. He couldn’t help it. He wheezed for a moment before opening his eyes to meet that of the dead weight on his chest. An attractive dead-weight at that, and one he recognized despite their differing years and houses.

“Well, hello beautiful,” he managed to utter somewhat smoothly despite the girl’s weight pressing into his lungs. “We really must stop meeting like this,” he finished with a flash of a grin. While the two had never met in exactly this manner, they had met in a similar fashion out on the Quidditch pitch. Both being chasers they had slammed into one another in their vying for control of the red sphere.

If Toby compared to the situation with the other possible one he could have been in, he would definitely have chosen this one. He liked his older brother fine, but Korbin had nothing compared to the beauty currently laying on top of him. Toby could even forget about the minor discomforts the position brought with it. Like the two pebbles that were currently making themselves known to his tail bone and right shoulder blade. The ground was also a bit cold, but hey. Gorgeous girl on top of him! So hey, yeah, cold, who’s cold? Not Toby. Nope. Not at all. He was quite comfy, and if he wasn’t? Well, he could certainly lie his way through that. Yet there was something odd.

It took Toby a moment to realize what the oddity of the situation was. The girl had remained on top of him. In the Ravenclaw’s experience with most girls—or hell even guys—they were usually pretty quick to get off the person in question after toppling into them and squishing them into the ground. Now, this was an even more novel experience, one that Toby still wasn’t quite certain what to make out of. He did not know the petite Hufflepuff all that well aside from on the Quidditch Pitch. And being on the Quidditch Pitch their actions were rather basic and not all that complicated. Flirting wasn’t really something that went on there. Nope, that was usually get the quaffle through the golden hoop. Pretty basic. Easy to understand.

But people? Not so easy. He had nothing aside from their time on the field to go off of on how the girl usually acted. Not helpful. Yeah, but really, was it necessary information? His tail bone and right shoulder blade were starting to tell him it was, but the hormones in Toby said it wasn’t. Such conflicting emotions and thoughts. Thoughts which were flitting through Toby’s mind rather quickly, and his mouth was not inactive during this time. Toby very rarely was silent for long. It was a novel experience if he was quiet. His family usually thought him sick if he was quiet for too long.

“So, how are you?” he had been saying. “It’s quite chilly today, at least for October, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not even really winter yet, but here’s the wind blowing and making you think it’s going to snow at any moment. It’s like winter is just trying to horn in on Autumn’s territory.” Toby was a babbler. He could go on for an indefinite amount of time if given the time and breath to do so. Most of the time he just spoke without thinking and other times it was also a weird nervous habit—not that many people realized that given his talkative nature. “Hey, do you know, you look a lot like Professor Dunham … doesn’t that put people off, since it’s like hanging out with our professor, and all … not that that’s a bad thing. They’re people too and all…”

Over all, Toby was actually just engaging the girl in a normal conversation despite their rather odd position in the moment. Toby was certainly far from minding, and the girl hadn’t seemed to realize the faux pa yet.

When it seemed obvious that the girl wasn’t going to be moving by her own will, it had occurred to Toby that respectively he should say something or make some sort of hint to the matter. Yet, truthfully, Toby didn’t care. He was used to being on the bottom when it came to people piles, and did he fail to mention that on top of him currently was a very beautiful girl? People didn’t seem to appreciate those little details. It was one thing when he was being squished by his annoying siblings or cousins. Cause, come on! They’re family! It was an entirely different matter when it was a pretty girl. Toby decided not to contemplate the other various types of people who could be laying on him, as really that was not in the here and now. Really. Pretty girl! End of discussion there! But the point that was digressed from was that Toby really didn’t care if his personal space was invaded. He was an open sort of guy and went with the flow of thing. Hell, he was probably one of the people to invade other people’s space, so who was he to talk?

“I don’t know,” he argued, ignoring the hit to arm, unbothered by it. “The sun is great and all, but it’s also boring. Always up there, shining away,” he raised an arm out from where it was pinned to motion up at the sky, where the sun was probably shining behind clouds. “Now, bad weather! Give me that any day. Now that can be exciting with its constant motion!” Toby loved bad weather. He would stand out in rain, snow, and wind storms just to watch mother nature unfold. It was marvelous to see just what happened when things grew chaotic. It was ironic really, given Toby often hated the chaotic nature of his own home, yet he loved it out in nature. But then, people never made perfect sense did they? Perhaps he loved bad weather because it was something that was constantly in motion just as Toby was constantly active.

He furrowed his brows briefly when she had frowned at his question of her, apparently, aunt. However, at the end of her response, Toby had a reply ready on his tongue. “Yeah, but you look like her,” he pointed out, “and most students are put off by their professors as they don’t think of them as actual human beings who do normal things, so it’s probably off-setting when they make the connection to their professor to a person they’re hanging out with. Silly really,” he shrugged his shoulders, laying the arm he had freed back behind his head, completely at eased.

All the two needed now was some person to walk in on them—wouldn’t that be an interesting sight.

“I’m still lying here, aren’t I?” he challenged her back with a mischievous grin. Toby could certainly care less if she resembled her aunt or not. He had merely made an observation before, and of course being the talker he was he just kept talking and making further observations. Said observations were not necessarily his own. However, Toby was smart. He wasn’t a Ravenclaw for nothing. He was observant. So put those traits together and the lad could make stinging remarks that struck people close to home. This conversation was clearly proof of that. He had not even been trying to make any digs at the pretty Hufflepuff, and yet she had become on edge through this line of conversation. Just imagine if that Ravenclaw had wanted to hurt her or put his intelligence to actual use. It was one of the things that were odd about Toby. He was a Ravenclaw, and yet to most of his peers he didn’t possess that drive to continue to learn to expand his knowledge. Hell, he was often considered one of the dumber Ravenclaws just because he didn’t apply himself in lessons (but he still made high marks against the other houses, so HA!).

“But frankly, there is nothing cat-ish about your appearance,” he then continued with wink before continuing onward. “After all, there are no whiskers here,” he trailed a finger along edge where her cheeks met her nose, his hand trailing to her ears, “Definitely no pointy ears, and if I could reach I doubt I’d find a tail,” he teased, deciding not to test his luck on the latter option despite the devious temptation it posed. Toby was almost certain he could get away with getting a feel of that derriere, but he decided not to chance that just yet. However, the whole thing had been a tease. He knew the girl had been speaking about her aunt when she mentioned Cat, but Toby did not know Professor Dunham, and he certain was no on intimate terms to know her first name. He probably knew it if he put his mind to it—but off handedly it was not information he knew readily—but he could put two and two together to get four.

Toby was definitely enjoying himself. Oh yes. This was infinitely more enjoyable than getting the shit beat out of him by his brother. When Korbin’s in a better mood, Toby may even have to go thank him for making him run out there (he still refused to acknowledge that running had been a cowardly move, as it wasn’t! It was merely self perseverance as Korbin could easily kick Toby’s rear and has done so in the past).

The situation was quite the odd one, and one that we have already established that Toby was far from minding. His day had gotten particularly better due to this event. However, like all good things they had to come to an end. Before the Ravenclaw bloke could really respond to her words—which was saying something in itself as Toby always had a quick response to things—the girl had sputtered an exclamation as it seemed to finally dawn on her that their current position was anything but proper. Toby’s body registered its release from its prison, so to speak, rather quickly in that the weight pressing against him had suddenly lessened and the warmth—ah, no don’t go!—of the girl’s body had disappeared and the cold air was quick to rush in and reassure him. The cold was not really the reassurance that Toby wanted.

However, he realized that it was probably all for the best despite his male hormones bemoaning the change. So when the girl release him, Toby followed her up instinctively, moving to a sitting position so that the offering of her hand was not really needed. He grinned at her flow of words. If their previous position had not been indication enough of the flirtatious nature between the two of them then her babbling certainly was one of the last nails in that coffin. It was certainly enough to boost Toby’s ego, which really didn’t need any more boosting to be honest. The Ravenclaw knew that he was handsome and girls found him so. He was a well-known charmer for it. He didn’t try to lead girls on, but he wasn’t the type not to let a comment pass him by when the moment presented itself. That was just the type of person he was.

“Oh, was there something I was supposed to be complaining about?” he inquired with a mischievousness and flirtation to his tone. Why keep a secret that he hadn’t minded the position? From what he gathered from the girl thus far she wasn’t the type to become offended by it, or something like that. Some people would, but it seemed neither she nor Toby belong to that group. “Sure there were two pebbles trying to integrate themselves into my shoulder and butt, but hey! No big deal.” Speaking of pebbles, Toby turned to scan the area when he had just been laying down. “Ah! There’s the devils,” he exclaimed, plucking the two offenders from their place, tossing one up in the air to land squarely in his palm again.

“I think I’ll keep these, unless you want one?” he offered, holding out his palm. It was all really just a bit of silliness on Toby’s part. It was a flip of the coin whether he’d really keep them or use them as ammunition to shoot at some annoying student in class or something. The Ravenclaw was far from acting as if having been laid on was all that horrible—which it hadn’t been, as hey pretty girl! It’s a point Toby felt must be reiterated.

Now there was a question. Toby didn’t know himself what he’d actually do with the pebble, but the girl’s words sparked something in the depth of his mind. Mostly it was mild concern over whether she would actually keep such a trivial thing to remember the event by. Some people did that. Toby wasn’t really one of holding onto remembrance items of events, but some people did. Was this girl one of them or was she merely joking. It was something to wonder at. Toby wasn’t certain, and he wasn’t even certain if he could chalked this meeting up to not really warranting such things. This was to be honest the only real time they’ve ever chatted, but didn’t those muggle flicks show loved-struck girls holding onto such weird items for sentimental reasons? Granted, those often seemed to be the stalker and homicidal type of chicks too … Ah, it was far too much for Toby’s too analytical brain to comprehend in that moment, so he merely laughed and decided he’d just go with the flow of things and let fate be fate.

“Indeed because pebbles are very cherished items, but don’t be surprised if said cherished items ever makes it into the back of ol’ zit face Slytherin in History of Magic,” he stated with a tinge of both seriousness and tease. He bounced the remaining pebble in his hand as if weighing the possibilities before he tucked it into the pockets of his slack.

The wind blew, proving to be a nuisance in the chilly October weather, but Toby paid it no heed, despite wearing only his uniform. After all, going outside had not been originally on his itinerary of events for that day. But he was a guy, and being cold, well, yeah, he’s not cold. So there. And frankly, Toby wasn’t really bothered by it. It wasn’t as if he was going to spend hours out there—now if he was, he might just have to use a certain blonde as a personal heater.

He wrinkled his nose at the end of her introduction. “Nat?” he questioned, “Reminds me too much of a bug; I think I’ll just call you Ally, maybe even Alley-Cat if you get sassy,” he joked. “Tobin’s the name, but if you want me to actually respond you’ll call me Toby,” he then introduced himself, his smooth grin staying in place. He didn’t really like his full name, as it rhymed with all his brothers. His parents seemed determined to have matching names. The boys all ending with the suffix bin and the girls with yn. Why Toby didn’t know, but it was fun when they mixed and matched names, especially when his cousins were added into the mixture.

Toby had probably contemplated the girl’s “love-struck sanity” for a total of five seconds before he had completely dismissed the thought as being something not worth his time thinking out. His mind worked quickly that way. He didn’t come to any conclusions as there was nothing really to indicate either direction in the way the girl acted around him. It was all the influence of muggle movies. After all, Toby had no idea how the female mind worked despite having sisters and female cousins. Whatever happened would be the outcome and responsibility of the girl. She was the one with the thoughts after all. However, as noted already this was all really just a moot strain of thought that really had no baring, except to say that the lad did think about some of his actions and consequences, despite how real or unreal said consequences could actually be.

He grinned when she ceded to his idea of using the pebble as ammo. “Go for it!” he goaded her on willingly. He had played against her in enough matches to know her aim and arm were good. Besides it would quell some boredom in a class or at least be enough to enact a satisfying revenge on another student or something like that.

The grinned faltered to a slanted smile when the girl gushed over his name. “Yeah, it sounds nice and all but it’s a pain in the arse in my opinion,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, his thumbs hooking into the back pockets of his slacks. “Take into account all my siblings’ names end in in,” he stated before ticking the names off on his fingers, “Korbin, Tobin, Taryn, Durbin, Ruebin, and Brooklyn. Thankfully my Aunt and Uncle didn’t decide to continue with that naming trend otherwise I could add eight more names to the list,” he ended with a laugh, dropping his hands back to hook into his pockets. “Far too many names to keep straight and mess up, and when added into that bunch it’s really not all that unique.”

He knew it would really be enough to explain why he preferred the nickname, but he just did. He liked the sound of Toby better than Tobin. The only time he responded to his full name was when his parents or aunt and uncle called him it—and that was usually when he was in trouble… which might just be a bit often.