holding out for a hero;;delilah

[felix ian wood]

Of all the things that Felix did with his life, the thing that he was probably most proud of was Quidditch. Not because it was something that made him more popular around the school or because it was something that both of his parents had pursued, or even because it brought him a lot of attention with the girls around the school, but because it was something that made him really feel like he had accomplished something. There were a lot of great players out there and he trained and practiced to the point where he thought that he could count himself among those players. Not, perhaps, at the level of many of the professional players, but he had no doubts that he was right there at the edge of where he needed to be. His father and mother had both gone on to play professionally and he was proud to say that he too planned on following that path in life. Quidditch was, more or less, the most important thing to him. That was why, even though it was late on a Saturday night, he was itching to run down to the field and fly. He'd had the team practicing earlier, sure, but his adrenaline was pumping and he needed to be back out there. He could easily have been classified as a complete Quidditch nut, but he was damn proud of it.

Hopping up from his bed, Felix rummaged through one of his drawers and picked out a simple outfit for himself to practice in. Deciding on a simple t-shirt and a pair of shorts, he quickly changed into them and picked up his broom, slipping out of the dorm quietly. It was just past nine o' clock, so it might have been a bit of a strange time to be out practicing, but his housemates had more or less come to expect this sort of thing from him and hardly gave him a passing glance. Bounding down the stairs with excitement, Felix left from the castle and entered out into the open air of the outdoors. That was his comfort zone and he was more than relieved to be back out on the grounds. Kicking his broom up, he got on and rose up into the air, pushing forward and jetting over towards the Quidditch pitch. Hopping down off the broom when he cruised into the pitch, Felix walked over to the locker room to take out the Quaffle.

Even if he didn't have anyone else to practice with at the moment, he was sure he could find a way to practice well enough. Felix put in a lot of extra time whenever he could find it, just to ensure that his team did it's absolute best at the games. Felix didn't accept anything less than absolutely perfect from his team, particularly from himself. It was a trait that sometimes got to be irritating to other people and stressful on the team, but it was something that he couldn't get away from. Felix had a lot of confidence in himself and his team and anything less than absolutely perfect just wasn't good enough for him. Getting back onto his broom, Felix took off again and rose back up into the sky, slowly picking up speed as he began to circle the pitch as a warm-up. As he started to go faster, a bit of a grin started to play on his lips. This was his world and he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Falling back slightly, he looped down towards the ground and shot back up, zig-zagging back and forth across the field as he threw the Quaffle around. He continued like this for a good while before slowly coming back down to the ground for a break. Felix jogged back over to the locker rooms to grab a bottle of water and took a swig from it before heading back outside. Sweat pouring down his body, he slipped his shirt off over his head and threw it off to the side before leaning up against the wall outside. He took a drink from his water bottle and cooled down a bit, preparing for another round once he was ready for it. Sliding down the wall, he sat down on the ground, catching his breath. Despite the fact that he had actually been doing pretty decent that night, he was now convinced that he absolutely couldn't leave the pitch until he perfected the move that he had been working on lately. His determination bordered on crazy and it probably wasn't the best idea to keep exhausting himself like that, but he wasn't about to admit to that. He had a goal and he would stop at nothing to achieve it.

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[delilah]

Delilah sighed, rolling over in bed. Her dormmates were asleep, and had long been, but Delilah was still up, tossing and turning until she simply could not take it anymore. She stood up somewhat quietly, not particularly caring if she woke up one of her roommates, as they weren't particularly important to her anyway. She threw a pair of shorts over her purple underwear, and changed into a more tight-fitting cotton t-shirt. She fluffed her hair, and threw on her shoes, confident she wouldn't see anyone, but even if she did, she still wanted to look good.

She walked across the floor, hustled down the stairs, and out the front door of the school. Since her first year, it had been relatively simple to get out of the school, even in the middle of the night. Her shorts weren't enough coverage for the brisk Scottish night air, but she figured she was already outside, why bother walking back in and changing? She thought about how much better walking around outside felt than rolling around in bed, restless, until early hours of the morning. She sighed, her breath visible in front of her, as she giggled. It might seem a bit childish that she pretended to be a dragon, laughing hysterically, but when it came down to it, that was Delilah, and nothing was changing her.

Delilah walked down towards the lake, wondering if even the giant squid was asleep while she wasn't. She ran her hands through her hair, deciding it might be around time to turn back. She could feel herself wanting to yawn, her legs starting to get weak, and besides, her shorts were much too little to deal with these temperatures. Delilah decided that her warm bed was worth the trek back to the castle, and started to turn around. Then, she saw movement by the Quidditch pitch, and her heart lept. Could it? she thought, her neck stretching trying to get a better view of the pitch. Maybe it's not, but it's worth a try.

The movement through the air suddenly came to a complete halt before Delilah could make out the figure flying around, curving on the broom like nothing she had ever seen before. She walked up the stairs, when she heard a noise coming from by the locker rooms. Her heart lept again, and she set off in search of the noise. Finally, Delilah saw him.

Felix Wood, looking absolutely ravishing, his shirt off and his body all sweaty. It took all Delilah had not to completely jump him there, even though she wished she could. She fluffed her hair again, pulled her shorts up to make them a bit shorter, and walked into view.

"Hey, there," she looked down at him, a smile on her face, trying to be as cute as possible. "Looks like we both can't sleep." She tried to sound somewhat seductive, but it came out as a bit above monotone, a bit of laughter behind her voice.

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[felix ian wood]

As Felix sat there, sipping at his water and cooling down, the last worry on his mind was that someone else would come upon him at the pitch. It was probably later than anyone would stay up, not to mention probably past curfew by then, so it wasn't like there would be hordes of people out wandering the grounds. However, when he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him, a slight frown crinkled at his brow. Were he less worn out from his practicing, he might have hopped up and scattered behind something, just in case it was a professor, but at the moment he couldn't be bothered to care and so simply turned his attention towards the direction from which the sound was coming. It took a few moments for anyone to come into view, but when they did, Felix wasn't sure what to think.

Delilah. There wasn't much that he could say about her, honestly. She was just...Delilah and that was that. Past that, Felix didn't even know where to begin. Sometimes she wasn't so bad and could even be pretty nice to the guy, but other times she could get downright scary. He knew that, when she was around, it was best to just nod and agree and not talk to other girls...or anyone else for that matter, just to be sure that he was protecting not just his own, but their safety as well. Delilah was, for lack of better description, volatile and he never could tell what was going to happen with her next. She was just one of those people that you had to be constantly on guard around and ready to adapt to whatever situation you landed yourself in.

Running a hand through his hair, he nodded a quick hello to her. " 'Lo Delilah," he called out, keeping a light smile on his face. Of course, he tried not to smile too much, just in case she took that the wrong way. His eyes looked her up and down, since even if he knew he had to be wary of her, he couldn't help himself. Even if she was crazy, she was still pretty bangin' and Felix was all about that. He wasn't much of a relationships kind of guy, flirting with whoever came his way, but leaving it simply at that. Maybe, if they were worth the time, a bit of making out, but any further than that and Felix was usually out. A deeper relationship would have required someone seriously special and as of yet, he hadn't found that.

Stretching his neck to the side and bringing a hand up behind it, he nodded a bit. "Yeah, somethin' like that. Guess I lost track of time out here training," he said, a bit sheepishly. It was easy for him to get lost in the game, diving and swerving about on his broom. "So uh, you going for a walk?" he asked, looking over and raising an eyebrow. He was pretty much hoping that she was, in fact, just on a walk and not seeking him out there. Praying to the Quidditch Gods that were almighty, Felix looked over at her expectantly and almost nervously. He wasn't usually a nervous kind of guy, able to keep his cool even under the most stressful of situations, but Delilah was a different form of stress and that was absolutely bloody terrifying to the boy.

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[delilah]

Delilah stared at him, sweaty body and all. She had been completely head over heels in love with him since her first year, when she had shared a boat with him across the lake. She could remember it like yesterday, the way he had made her laugh, even when he wasn't talking directly to her. She had remembered sitting at the Hufflepuff table, her eleven year old legs barely reaching the floor of the Great Hall, watching intently as the list went from M to W. She had prayed to whatever deity would listen that Felix Wood would be in Hufflepuff with her, and they would fall in love and be the couple everyone envied, the one others tried to break, and the one that was constantly the center of attention. But as soon as she heard that hat shout "Gryffindor!" her heart was shattered, her world almost coming to an end. She cried herself to sleep that night, telling her roommates just to ignore her, because she "missed her parents."

Now, sitting here with him, five years later, none of those feelings had changed. Her heart still fluttered as he walked into the Great Hall every morning, she still got butterflies whenever Professor Bridges would pair them together in Charms, and now, seeing him all sweaty, sitting on the ground, pressing that water bottle to his lips ever so gently in the sexy way she was sure he didn't mean, it really got to her. Felix Wood turned her on like no other man ever could, or would be able to.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," she muttered, looking at her feet shyly. He still got to her, but she loved it when she gave him attention. "So I figured I'd walk around the lake a bit, clear my head." She hoped and prayed he didn't think she was stalking him. She mildly was, of course, but not on this particular outing. "I saw movement coming from the pitch, so I came over here to see who it was. I figured it was either you or your sister," she chuckled.

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[felix ian wood]

As he sat there, somewhat awkwardly, as Delilah pretty much stared at him, Felix wasn't sure what to do. Part of him was telling himself to throw his shirt back on and subtly find some reason to slink back to the castle and to the safezone of the Gryffindor commons room. However, even if he could be a bit of an ass sometimes, he was still a genuinely good guy and that would have eaten at his conscience. It wasn't like Delilah had really ever done anything to him aside from well, at least he assumed she was stalking him at times. Sometimes he wondered if it was all in his head, but that seemed a little too ridiculous, even for his own ego to have made up. So, while he never said anything about it...to her face, the thought that perhaps she had a thing for him was still there. Though, Felix thought that about most women. Delilah, however, took things to a whole different extreme.

In fact, Felix didn't even remember how the two of them had even met. It had probably been something stupid, in which he swooped in and saved her from some sort of impending doom, which had in turn led to her becoming more and more obsessed with him over the years. Of course, this was all just speculation on Felix's part and a large part of him sincerely hoped that it was all just crazytalk. Surely Delilah couldn't be as completely nuts as his mind sometimes made her out to be. Maybe. At the very least, Felix could understand why she would be completely and utterly in love with him. He was pretty ridiculously attractive and amazing, after all. Brining the water bottle back to his mouth, he took a long sip before setting it down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before looking back over at her.

The almost shy way with which she was talking to him was certainly not intimidating at all and Felix seemed to relax a bit when he saw that. He was probably just too winded from his practices and all the crazy inner thoughts of his were coming out. Perhaps now would be a good time to call it a night. "Well, uh, I could walk with you if you'd like," Felix offered. Not so much out of a desire to be around her, but moreso just because it was getting late and he didn't want some sort of crazy animal of the night to attack her. After seeing her now, he would have felt somewhat responsible for it if it had happened and for some reason, he doubted that Delilah knew enough magic to protect herself were anything major to happen. "But uh, that's only if you want," he added, hastily, just to make sure that he didn't seem too forward.

Letting out a small, but sharp chuckle, he nodded a bit. "Yeah, it's always one of us Wood's, I'd say. Bit crazy, we are," he agreed, an amused smile on his face. See, perhaps talking to Delilah wasn't so bad after all. She could hold a normal conversation just as well as anyone else. Well, usually. They partnered up sometimes in class, besides, which was always an interesting experience. They spent more time goofing around and making a fool of themselves than actually working, but it was pretty fun. Obviously, Felix was just letting things get to his head. There was no way Delilah was in love with him, or stalking him, or any other crazy idea people could come up with. Shaking his head a bit as he came to that conclusion, he hopped up from where he was sitting and grabbed his shirt, throwing it over his shoulder. Looking to Delilah, he raised an eyebrow slightly, not sure if they'd be taking a walk or what.

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[delilah]

Delilah looked down at her nails, picking off her cuticle. She was a bit nervous around him, and she hoped he wouldn't notice in her voice or her movements. She took a deep breath, crossing her legs and putting each of her hands on their respective knee. Why Felix, she didn't know. There wasn't anyone like him, and it terrified Delilah there wouldn't ever be anyone like him. She almost needed him in her life, and the thought of never seeing him again after Hogwarts scared her. Since it was their sixth year, she only had one more full year of him there with her, always in class, seeing him everyday. She would definitely miss him, but she knew she would read about him in the Daily Prophet about his winning stops for whatever team he decided to play for, as they would all look after him.

Delilah had their lives planned out. He would play for Puddlemere, because her father played for them, of course, and they would live in a flat on the outskirts of London. He would be making enough to support them well, so she wouldn't even have to bother working, which delighted her. And they would have one of the healthiest sex lives anyone had ever had in the history of marriages. Delilah just had to make him hers.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," she said, smiling lightly, but inside she was grinning. If he wanted to walk with her back to the castle, would he want to do something else with her, too? It was late at night, and no one was around... "I'm getting cold anyway, a warm bed sounds so nice right now," she said with a slight smirk on her face, being forward but not too forward. That was going to be Delilah's method for the next while, be subtle, and then reel him in like a fish. Or, so she hoped. She needed to get him in her life, or she would just be crushed.

She stood up, following his lead, and started to walk in front of him, cutely putting her hair behind her ear as she walked past him. She noted how he didn't put his shirt back on, and thought that maybe that meant something. Delilah struggled to not have her eyes look down at his beautiful abs, and so far, she was being very strong-willed, and she figured he should reward her for that. She bit her lip, trying not to smile at the thought of what they could do. She turned slightly toward him and spoke. "Well, you both are probably going to get signed somewhere anyway, why not be a little crazy? I think the hard work you put in to the game is crazy. If only we weren't in opposing houses, then it would be awesome."

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[felix ian wood]

Even though he had been slightly hesitant to offer to walk with her, the chill way with which she agreed was pretty reassuring. He didn't know what it was about Delilah that sometimes made him a bit worried, but there was just something. Perhaps it was the constant badgering about her that he got from Ellie and Erinn, since they seemed to find it incredibly amusing to egg it on and say that she was some sort of crazy stalker. However, perhaps a part of it was also his ego. In a way, he almost wanted it to be true, just so he could say that he was so absolutely amazing that women had taken to legitimately stalking him. Than again, even for Felix that was a little much, so he was relieved that she seemed to have just stumbled upon him and was now just fine with having company.

Nodding as she agreed to it, Felix flashed her a rather charming, but cheeky little grin. "Brilliant, I should probably head in before I kill myself with all this practice anyways," Felix said, a bit of a chuckle at the end of his statement. He was, no doubt, the sort that would forget to stop practicing until he fell off his broom in utter exhaustion. "Guess it's a good thing you came around, eh?" Felix asked, mostly as a joke. Of course, he was now relaxed and the possibility that Delilah could take that to mean anything else didn't occur to him, though it probably should have. Without realizing it, Felix often tended to make comments that could be easily misconstrued to mean something much more than they actually did and that never went well for him.

Raising an eye about her comment about the bed, Felix wasn't sure if he should respond in kind, or just blow off that part of the comment as if he hadn't realized what it had meant. "Mmm, yeah. I'm all for rolling into bed," Felix finally said. It wasn't something that necessarily would be taken as something more than it was and yet, at the same time, it left room for some flirtatious banter if she wanted to take it that way. Sometimes, Felix couldn't help himself. Even if it was Delilah, it could be fun to flirt back when she was being slightly forward. He was man, after all, and sometimes he just couldn't resist it. After all, it wasn't like she was making it difficult for him to chase after her in any way.

Gladly trailing after her a bit, Felix looked her up and down once more with an appreciative smirk before moving to walk next to her, as opposed to behind her. Keeping his attention in front of him, as opposed to on Delilah, he listened as she spoke, grinning a bit at what she was saying. "Well, I appreciate the confidence in me, means a lot," he replied with a sincere nod. Sure, there were plenty of people that thought he was good, but it was obviously quite special when it came from someone in another house. Certainly, anyone that thought he was going to go pro couldn't be that bad. "And what about you, what do you plan on doin' in the future?" Felix asked, conversationally. He actually had no idea what Delilah was into, never having bothered to ask before than.

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[delilah]

There was just something about him that made Delilah's heart beat fast, and put a smile on her face. She thought that his work towards Quidditch was admirable. She didn't really have anything like that to work for like Felix did with his Quidditch.

"Don't want that," she smiled, looking up at him shyly, "I mean, how would Gryffindor win anything without their star keeper?" She laughed at his question, and smirked. "I guess you owe me for saving your life, then," she winked jokingly. On the outside, she hoped she remained calm, but on the inside, her house was beating so fast, she thought she was going to die.

His bed response made her heart leap, and her arms want to shake. "Yeah, sounds like it'd feel fantastic," she said slyly, stretching her arms behind her and yawning. She wasn't tired before, but it was certainly feeling that it was dawning on her. She didn't want to be tired, regardless of the fact that it was late at night, but she wanted to make the most of the time she had with Felix.

"It's no problem, you're fantastic." His question really hit her, hard. "In all honesty? I have no clue. I guess get married?" She chuckled, that was all she had really thought of. "I just want to be happy. I haven't thought of a career, if I even have one at all, that'll every day make me happy. But when I find it, that's what I'm going to do. Even if it doesn't pay that fabulously, I'm going to do something that makes me happy. And if I'm a wife to someone who's rich and famous, that will certainly make me happy."