moon { k i l l i a n }

He couldn't help but chuckle at her crying comment - not meanly, of course not, but after what he saw in the theatre, he had no doubt that Billie was the sort to cry at a good scene in a book. Ki couldn't relate to that, but he had thrown hardcovers at the walls in frustration when the plot took an unexpected twist before. It wasn't that different. “I’d like to read them,” Billie said, a small smile forming on the girl's face. Killian blinked, not really believing that she said that. He had been trying to get the girls in his friend group to read the books since third year, when he brought the extra copies to school, with only limited success with Mavis and no success at all with the others. He had been told they were "dense" and "not realistic" and "the illustrations don't move" many times. But it made sense, of all his friends, that Billie would want to read his favourite book series. She was, like, sophisticated, and liked reading, and clearly liked the concept of Middle-Earth.

"I can mail you the first book then!" Ki grinned. "I have the whole series in my library trunk, so you can borrow the rest if like the first one, too." Of course, that would require figuring out the owl post, something he had been putting off for years, and he left for camp tomorrow... "I might not be able to until after I get back, but as soon as I can!" He hoped that would be sufficient, and she wouldn't lose interest in two weeks.

Didn't have anything to play it on, huh? Ki frowned, passing Billie the boxset. "Well, I still want to check for vinyl, so that might be the move if we can find it." He was getting more doubtful by the second, though - the HMV record section was a lot smaller than the used record store at the university. "But! I'm sure we can get you a CD player." Maybe a Sony Walkman was the way to go? Did wizards have electricity? Ki had heard varying reports, but batteries - those had to work with magic, right? If he was doomed to be stuck in this world, he would have to make sure they could at least use batteries. Wasn't the electronics thing specific to the Hogwarts wards? Ki wanted to stop and write down these questions before he forgot, but he turned and saw Billie's wide eyes and lost the thought.

"Let's look at the records now, yeah?" Ki suggested, taking a step back and gesturing Billie to walk with him. There might be something else over there, if not this soundtrack, that she would like.

He looked a little surprised for a moment, but then grinned. She smiled back in response, pleased at the nonverbal positive feedback. “Oh, are you sure?” she asked politely, raising her eyebrows a little. “That would be lovely, thank you.” Ki had told her that the movie was long, for a movie, and Billie wondered if that meant that the books were long too. She didn’t have any doubt in her reading ability – she’d always been a fast reader – but she’d been doing less reading this summer. Less reading and more hanging out with a certain Ravenclaw upperclassman…

She didn’t know anything about CDs or CD players. A part of her regretted not taking muggle studies as an elective, now that she actually had muggleborn friends. As a pureblood witch who’d grown up deeply embedded in the magical world, Billie probably could have benefitted from a class like that. She’d consulted with her aunt when she’d been allowed to choose her electives in third year, however, and had ended up choosing the ones she’d been recommended. Truth be told, Billie didn’t know much about vinyl, either. There would probably be some trial and error when it came to her aunt’s old record player – and she didn’t think it was exactly the same as a muggle one, either. Nothing in that house was.

She didn’t say anything as he handed her a box, then started walking. She just nodded at what he was saying and walked beside him, a half-step behind. “I don’t have much muggle money,” she said after a beat, mildly alarmed at the idea that he might offer to pay for whatever they were buying today. She looked for price tags, but Billie didn’t know the conversion rate off of the top of her head; it wasn’t that useful for her.

He glanced back at Billie, eyes wide - "Oh, don't worry about it!" A little bubble of anxiety rose up in the back of his mind. "I can cover you today. Not a problem." She seemed a little hesitant, and Killian forced a bigger grin to put her at ease. "You can buy me the same value at Honeydukes or something." Hopefully that would be an agreeable compromise.

Killian wondered if Billie felt awkward about accepting a favor, even pitched as an IOU. First Hogsemeade weekends of third year had been a little strange for Killian - he hadn't realized he needed to bring enough Wizard Cash to school to cover more than just the sweets on the train, and had ended up paying Josie back for loads after they came back from Christmas. It had felt a little demeaning, and really awkward. Was that because he was a guy, though? Kilian glanced back at Billie, biting his lip slightly. Well, there was nothing for it.

The records section came up empty, as Killian had feared. There was some good old stuff there, though, but nothing that was particularly exciting to Ki. He wasn't really much a music person himself. "See anything interesting?" He asked Billie as they rifled through the collections. If there was something - well, he had the credit card, didn't he? Magic money, that was. More magic than Galleons.

Another glance at his watch - "Here, let me go buy those." Gently, he pried the box from Billie's hand. "Don't want to make you late!"

“Only if you’re sure,” Billie said. She gave him a smile when he said it wasn’t a problem. “Thank you – okay, I will,” she agreed. The Ravenclaw witch didn’t think much about these sorts of things – she knew she was fairly privileged and quite enjoyed paying for things for other people – but she knew that a lot of people did think about it. Phillip, for example, liked to pay for her when they ate together, and she thought he didn’t like being in her debt. Mostly, Billie just didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. She didn’t think much about money.

Billie’s eyes skimmed the stacks of boxes, and she wondered about what other muggle things existed that she’d never even thought about. Billie had never taken muggle studies – her aunt had helped her choose her electives once she was old enough to have them, and she’d never suggested that. As different as Ethelinda had been from the rest of her Sinnoway family, the woman was still a pureblooded witch, and had spent her life deeply in the magical world. Billie was realising more and more that she was quite ignorant when it came to the muggle side of things. She was lucky that Killian was kind about it, and patient with her.

“Oh, thank you,” she said again as he reached for the box. Their fingers brushed as he did it and she thought again about how he’d taken her hand earlier. Was it the kind of thing he did with his friends? Or the kind of thing that most guys generally did with their friends? She hadn’t had many male friends before Killian – none, really, except for Phillip – and none so casually affectionate. She was probably just extra aware of it because of her rather conservative upbringing. And the fact that she’d just started holding hands with someone for the first time in the past few weeks probably had something to do with it, too. Thinking about Phillip again made her smile as she waited for him to pay.

“Thank you so much,” she said as Killian stepped away from the counter. Billie unclasped her hands from behind her back as they started walking towards the door. “And thank you so much for today," she added. She thought about the movie, and the music. She thought about her ignorance when it came to muggle things, and how kind he was to introduce her to them patiently. "I know there's a lot I don't know, I'm sorry if..." Billie hesitated, not really wanting to apologise and shift the focus of what she was saying onto herself. "...I mean, I just really appreciate it." She gave him a small, thankful smile.

Their fingers touched for just a moment. Killian thought, just briefly, that he may have died. There was nothing fundamentally different from when he had taken her by the hand earlier, of course, except, now, of course, he was overthinking it. Earlier he had just wanted to show her around. He pulled his hand away with the box a little faster than he would have if he was acting normal. Casual touch was so normal among the Gryffindor girls - it had been natural feeling with Billie too, before he had gotten up in his own head about it.

"My world, my treat!" Killian said brightly. "You can grab me an extra box of Chocolate Frogs first weekend out or something, if you're fussed about it." Stupid thing to say! Come on Killian, what's wrong with getting a girl a gift? Is there something wrong if getting a girl SPACE friend a gift and asking nothing in return? Well, maybe there was when there was a boyfriend involved? Killian turned immediately on his heel, CD box in hand, and half walked, half jogged to the checkout, hoping Billie did not notice the darkening in his cheeks. Well, a benefit of melanin there - at least he didn't turn beet red like a white boy. Gave him a moment longer to escape before the heat off his cheeks just fried the air.

He held the CD box, newly purchased and tucked into a plastic HMV bag, to Billie. "Thanks for coming!" Was he being too chipper? Shit. "It was a really nice break from summer classes, and I'm really glad you had a good time." He had to resist the urge to offer her a goodbye hug - curse Gryffindor house - and just said, "I'd love to do something like this again, if there is time before term starts." Killian smiled. "I think there is loads of stuff in the 'Muggle' world you'd really enjoy." It was only a few steps to the outside - Killian looked at his watch, face falling, before dragging his feet towards them.

“I can do that,” Billie said, a little confused at the tone shift but happy to settle debts however he wanted.

The blonde took the plastic bag, a thankful smile on her face as she peeked inside, pleased to find what she found, even though she knew she’d find it. “Oh, of course, me too,” Billie said, glancing back up. There was plenty of time left this summer, and he had her address to write to. “Oh yes,” she said, nodding. She was a little nervous, in a curious sort of way, but she didn’t want to seem overeager. She started walking with him – a half-step behind, but still staying close automatically; she was scared to bump into anyone or anything.

“I think so too,” she added, for good measure. How could she say that she hoped he didn’t think she was a total idiot for not knowing or understanding anything out here? She didn’t think there was a way to phrase it that didn’t make the whole thing about herself, rather than how thankful she was for his friendship – and guidance – so she said nothing instead.

They stepped out onto the street, turning back towards the cinema where she was supposed to meet Kendrick. “Well, you have my address,” she said. Billie didn’t have a watch or timepiece on her, but she guessed that Ken would be here any moment, so she felt relieved when they were back outside the cinema.

"Yeah, - and you have mine? Or," he stumbled over his words here, time stretching out both too fast and too slow for this last moment Killian had with Billie. "I suppose - I'll write you from Stowe, then, and you'll have that." He felt quite stupid, laying it out like that, when the pieces were so obvious and Billie was so smart. He swallowed, hard, trying to push the feeling of sand slipping through his fingers away from the forefront of his mind.

The way back to the cinema seemed shorter than it had when they walked this way. Killian's eyes were peeled for signs of Mr. Silverman - he seemed like a punctual kind of guy, but there was always hope that Billie's guardian would be late and there would be - what? Some sort of moment. Some sort of pause before he had to go home and pack for Stowe. Soon enough they were out front, Killian's hands buried in his pockets.

"I'll see you soon, I bet," Killian settled on saying, pushing a smile onto his face. "Just make sure you keep some time in your schedule for me." The urge to hug her goodbye again - Killian pushed it down, just giving a small wave as Kendrick arrived and swooped Billie away.

[[out]]

“Oh – yes, of course, that works.” Billie gave him a polite smile. She held the plastic bag close, as if it were especially precious (one: it was, and two: Gollum’s creepy precious with the extended sssss played in her mind on cue). Billie felt the urge to apologise for crying again, but she was sure he’d dismiss it, so she kept it to herself.

“There’ll be time when you’re back from camp,” she agreed with a slight nod. “And I think – Oh, there’s Kendrick.” The blonde gave a small wave to her guardian, still far enough away that he wouldn’t hear her if she spoke in a usual volume. She turned back to Killian, hovering for a moment, wondering if he was a hugging type. “Well, write to me,” she said, returning his wave as she took a step away. She made sure to smile before turning around, jogging the last couple of steps to Ken, excited to show him what she had in her arms.



/end