Who: Nora Thompson and Griffith Kirkham.
When: Evening of Friday, 19th October, 1978.
Where: Nora's cottage.
What: Nora shows Griff her Halloween costume. Snoggage ensues before they sleep together (but no sex, gosh!) Griff is *conflicted*.
Rating: PG-13, for snoggage and a WHOLE lot of fluff.

Griff appeared in the cramped hearth in a flash of green flame and puff of white smoke, swearing as his broad shoulders and thick head collided with sooted brick. Taking a breath of the ash-filled made him cough then spit once to get the dryness of his tongue. With a single grunt, he wrenched himself free and stepped out of the low archway. The soot of the hearth had given his normally straw coloured locks a peppered look and made his light eyes pop against the smears on his face. Pulling off a traveling cloak, he was careful not to shake all the dirt onto Nora's floor. It was then that he finally took a look around the room and blinked at the overtly-homely sight of the cottage.

Quaint indeed. It was like she'd taken a page straight from The Tales of Beedle the Bard for the decorating.

Holding the traveling cloak away from him to avoid sullying his clothes, Griff turned to look for Nora. Not seeing her, he cleared his throat and called out the cottage, "Oi, Nora! Where should I put me--" his voice was suddenly struck dumb when she appeared and he was forced to take a moment to remember what he'd been saying, "...cloak."

Bloody hell. What was she wearing?

To be fair, much of the furniture were things her mother had given her--family heirlooms if you will. She wasn't a modern girl by any means, and she didn't mind the cozy feel of it all.

She had been trying to tidy things up when she heard a spatter of swearing from the kitchen. She came in from the living room to greet him, realizing then that he was quite a bit taller than she and probably couldn't pop in and out of the fireplace as well as her. Bugger. She bit the left side of her lower lip, feeling particularly bare and vulnerable in her costume (the irony being that her costume was of a superhero).

Speechless was a good response, right? Right. She would just tell herself that. Repeatedly. "There's a hook right over here," she said, walking over to him in her three inch stiletto knee-length boots (were those even legal?) as if she were dressed in perfectly appropriate clothing. She grabbed the cloak gently and hung it up by the fireplace, making a mental note to do a cleaning charm on the fireplace sometime soon.

"Forget the manky cloak," Griff said in a rush and trailed after her, slipping an arm around her lower back the moment he caught up. Was that leather? Merlin. How in bleeding hell was he going to be able to weasel out of sex now? A straight man would have to be fucking mad to turn this down.

"What's that yer wearin'?" Not waiting for Nora's reply, the smudgy Quidditch player was already pulling her around to face him. "Let me a look at ye," he continued without pause and his smile widened when he realized with the boots she was now flush with his shoulders. Didn't those darn things hurt to walk in? "Ten looks at ye."

They hurt like a bitch, but if they made her tall enough to almost look him in the eye, she was okay with them. She blushed a deep red before her lips spread into a grin. "I'm guessing you approve?" she asked, her voice sounding curious even if she wasn't curious at all; she knew damn well that he approved.

"I take it you're not muggleborn," she added casually as he continued to eat her up in the visual category. Everyone exposed to muggle TV would be able to recognize her knock-off sex pot Robin costume.

"Aye," Griff quickly agreed, settling his large hands on her hips. Nora's blushing was adorable, he decided before leaning in to brush his lips against hers. Looking down at her once more, he wonder how in the name of Merlin had Nora talked herself into the clothing she was barely wearing at the moment. "Got me thoughts all radgy."

Griff then nodded at her assertion. "Family's auld blood," he told her with a drawl of his thick brogue. Smile faltering, he sighed and glanced away. "Min'stry says that makes me pure or sommat. Not sure I ahgree."

Right. He was doing well to preserve the mood with that one.

Turning back to meet her eyes with new-found exuberance, Griffith slid his arms up and hugged Nora to him. "But enough on that. Tell me aboot the costooms. This what yer plannin' t'wear next weekend?"

"Okay...there's this muggle comic book character named Batman. And--" she paused, trying to think of the best way to explain Bruce Wayne to Griff. "Rich bachelor by day, crime fighter by night. And he has a sidekick named Robin and he wears a costume a bit like this," she said, looking down at her red and green getup. "But...less skirty and more tights and...longer...but the same colors and everything," she added looking back up at him with a grin. "I tried to find a different costume, but all the other ones were too big for me." So instead, she was stuck looking like a slag. Hurrah!

"And I figured...every sidekick needs a hero..." she trailed off, hoping he would get what she was hinting at.

Comic book? What in bleeding hell was a comic book?

Griff's brows knitted in confusion but he let Nora keep talking. The way she always tended to ramble unhinged was cute. Though he had to wonder how she found the time to breathe.

"Aye," Griff replied with a smirk and gave her a tilt of his chin. What in the name of Merlin was she talking him into? Did she just say tights? "But what if the--ah--Bat Man, yeah? What if ah'm too weensie for the Bat Man's suit? Did y'think of that now?"

"Batman is a big, strong guy. I think you'll do just fine on filling his shoes," she replied. "Unless, of course, you don't want to..." She grinned up at him innocently. "Then again, I don't have anything else to fall back on, 'sides loin cloths and such."

"Should've expected t'be wearin' not but breeks, lettin' a cheeky lass dress me," Griff replied with a grin of his own. "But I suppose I'll still be lettin' ye dress me all the same."

Griff turned to bend low and catch the back of her knees, easily scooping the tiny witch into his arms. In a heft, he shifted her weight pressing into his shoulder to rest more comfortably against his chest. Without pause he pressed his mouth to hers to steal a kiss, pulling her up and closer to him as he did so.

Though he wasn't aroused and prickling with need like he felt when West kissed him, Griff didn't have an inherent dislike of kissing Nora. The thought of having sex with her had absolutely no appeal to him, yes, but kissing? Kissing her was nothing, really and he liked seeing her happy.

Breaking for a breath, Griff rested his forehead to Nora's and smirked at her. "Unless you be preferin' that table fer snoggin', love," he said in a gruff whisper, "you'll need to direct me to yer nearest sette."

She kissed him back, really liking how things were going right now. Her arm went around his neck, playing with the hairs at the base of his neck.

Table...snogging. Ugh, that voice. "Mmmm, living room," she murmured against his lips not wanting to stop the kissing. Merlin, was she really snogging him? This couldn't be happening...

Splitting his attention between Nora and navigation, Griff walked them from the cozy kitchen to an equally cozy sitting room. Blimey, her place was small. He quickly gathered that a teacher's salary was dim in comparison to a professional Quidditch player's.

Griff wandered forward, easily dodging the end tables and lamps, to reach the lumpy butterscotch coloured sette in the room. He broke their kiss and backed his nose from hers--hoping to avoid any collisions on their way down--but didn't take his eyes off of Nora's as he lowered his arse to the nearest cushion.

Allowing her weight to drop to the tops of his thighs, Griff settled back as his hand left her knees to cup her cheek. "Give us another, love," he said lowly, voice thick with Scottish brogue, while running his thumb along her jawline.

Dim as a match compared to a stadium light. But she didn't mind the shabby pay; her job wasn't about making money. She made a mental note that Scottish men were very much the way to go before smirking at him. "You didn't say the magic word," she hummed in response as she twisted her torso to face him. Her lips played at the nape of his neck, throwing in a small nip here and there.

When Nora moved past his fingers to nuzzle his neck, there was a bemused chuckle in Griff's throat and chest. She was cheeky. Very cheeky. "The magic word, you say?" His forehead creased as his brows knit. "Awful lot of those to be choosin' from."

Giving her an appraising smirk, Griff's hand dropped from it's motionless stay in the air to brush fingertips along the bare thigh on his lap. "How many guesses will y'let me?"

Her eyes fluttered shut as his fingers moved across her thigh. In turn, she let her hand slide from his shoulder slowly down his chest, resting at a comfortable position. She let her lips roam back up the side of his neck, placing a soft kiss just below his ear, at the jaw before letting out a breath and looking at him. "Let's go with three," she murmured, a grin playing on her lips.

"Three..." Griff echoed lightly as he watched Nora. His hand on her thigh opened to rest a calloused palm to her smooth skin. It very much a different sensation than when he gripped another man. Nora felt...soft, delicate even. Like if he pressed down as roughly as he might for West, he might break her.

But he had to keep her thinking he was interested.

"Mmmmm...Lumos," Griff drawled as he leaned in his face to softly kiss the skin over her breast bone.

Her head rolled back of its own accord, taking in a deep breath as he kissed her. "Better," she said with a grin, twisting her fingers into his hair. Damn, he was a good tease. She was really enjoying herself right now.

Feeling encouraged by Nora's reaction, Griff smiled against her skin before giving the spot another attentive kiss. As he paused to draw a breath across the dampened area, he allowed his bottom lip to drag further down her chest until his chin bumped the leather costume.

"Accio," he mumbled, lips bumping over her skin, as his eyes slid up to glance at her face from his more compromised position.

She was tempted to tell him yes just so she could kiss him. There was a burning need for something...anything more from him. "Merlin, just say the damn word already," she said, her voice almost coming out as a growl. Her eyes were hardly able to keep open, but she pushed her hand under the hem of his shirt, amazed at the feeling of the smooth, toned muscles underneath.

At Nora's outburst, Griff planted another peck to her chest and tilted his head far back to knowingly smirk up at her. The mix of frustration and anticipation in her voice had made him quite smug.

Griff delayed his third response a little longer to watch her thoughts squirm as she fondled his abdomen. He wondered when she'd last been snogged properly. The hungered expression made him think it must have been a while and for him, that just wouldn't do. Nora was a cute, sweet girl. She was the type that deserved regular snoggings.

His hands moved to seize Nora to him and in a smooth, gentle motion Griff laid the tiny blonde back to the length of the sette. Hips having twisted to follow, Griff sunk one knee into sette and dropped the other foot to the floor. Sitting back on her shins, he grinned widely at Nora before winking and pulling off his t-shirt.

Casting the shirt aside, Griff slowly slid forward and settled over her by bracing his weight with a hand to the cushion on either side of her head. Keeping his eyes on Nora's, he lowered himself in a half-pushup until his face loomed close enough that he could feel her shallowed breathing. Pausing again to tease her anticipation, Griff smiled slowly as whispered a low, "Please."

It was lucky that her skin was cooperating today, because she certainly felt like melting right out of it at that point. She never realized how small the couch felt, but at that moment with someone who was attempting giant-like height (at least by Nora standards) was dwarfing the poor thing.

Phew, he looked just as good as he felt, and that was good. It wasn't that the last bloke she'd been with didn't have any definement at all, but Griff was doing circles around that.

She watched him, amused and needy, as he slowly lowered himself, watching his eyes in attempt to guage his thoughts, but to no avail. Please? Please wha--oh. Snogging. Right. He'd gotten her so riled up that she nearly forgot the playful banter they were tied up in at the mo. "Tha'll do," she responded teasingly, picking up his Scottish accent, if only for a second, to respond before lifting her head slightly, letting her lips press against his, ready to get this started.

Smirking into the kiss, Griff let it hang it in the air for several seconds to preserve the innocence and simplicity of the moment. Then feeling as though he'd teased her long enough, he shifted his weight which sunk his left side into the sette which allowed him to stay intimately close to Nora but not rest all his bulk directly on her. All the while his lips stayed with hers as he kept the edges of his mouth attentively puckered to fit the smaller mouth beneath him and avoid any kiss that might be deemed "sloppy" or "wet".

Even though he could sense Nora's anxiety and hunger, Griffith continued to move slowly and smoothly through each movement he made. He did want there to be any chance of Nora regretting, or forgetting, any of this in the morning. He drew the back of his freed right hand up her torso before slipping his hand along from her upper arm to her wrist which he guiding back to the arm rest above her head. Lacing his fingers with Nora's, Griff gave her hand a light squeeze and moved his lips to plot lingering kisses down her throat.

Wait...wait. Hormones were pushed aside by a moment of rushing fear: he wasn't expecting anything besides snogging, was he? Because she didn't want to...He was famous and all, but they hadn't known each other that long. She broke the kiss, pulling her head away from him she let out a soft breath. "You're not...you don't want to...because...I don't, we shouldn't...I...I'm not ready for that," she blurted, all her thoughts and words jumbling together as she did so.

This outburst startled Griff and he immediately released Nora's hand before easing a little more of his weight off her. He gave her a look of confusion. Did he want to what?

His brows raised in immediate realization. Oh. Right. No, he definitely didn't plan on having sex tonight.

Giving Nora a warm reassuring smile, he brought his hand back down to lightly caress her cheek with two fingers. "Aye. A shag on the fir--ah, second date--not be the wisest of plans," Griff agreed quietly as he watched her face. "Despite the rowdy 'ppear'nce, love, I don' much take to all the ran'om shags like me mates."

He dropped a kiss to her forehead and petted her face once more. "It'll be worth the wait." His Scottish brogue drawled out the "weigh" in 'wait'.

She let out a soft sigh of relief. She fancied him and all, but not to the point that she'd let him have any on the first date. Smiling, her eyes closed as his hand caressed her face. "Thank you," she said softly, letting her forehead rest gently on his. "You don't have to leave though...I mean, if you want to stay..." she paused, not sure if the invitation would be welcome or not.

Bloody hell, was she ever adorable? Griff had to wonder why she hadn't already been snapped up by some well-to-do husband that loved her. With as much as he knew about blokes (and he knew the best and worst) he knew that this was the sort they all inevitably pined for.

Griff smiled warmly and brushed his nose across Nora's. "Fer you, love? 'Course," he whispered as his palm opened to her cheek to keep her held close. "I could ne'er leave ya."

With that he pulled her into a deepened kiss that soon turned into a snog that would last for near-on another hour and never ventured to anything more serious her blind meandering of his torso with her fingers. As the day--no week's exhaustion rose into his shoulders, Griff was forced to relent at last and suggest more comfortable board for the rest of the evening. Gathering Nora into his arms, Griff once more walked them through the tiny cottage until his heavy footsteps entered her bedroom.

Casting one lingering look over the small bed (wondering immediately if it would be too short for his legs), Griff approached one side and gently placed Nora down to the top blanket before taking a seat on the bed next to her knees. He gave the witch a sheepish once over before he clasped one of her knees and gave it a squeeze.

"It'll 'urt t'pull these off, hmm?" he said quietly, indicating her knee-high boots with a nod.

She honestly didn't have time to think about settling down, what with her students and how much work she had to put into that. There'd been plenty of blokes that she'd thought about settling with, but she was young and wasn't quite ready for that yet. Her independence was like a breath of fresh air.

The snogging had been good; she felt very much relaxed and even more so when he once again swept her up in his arms. Sitting up on the bed, she carefully unzipped the boot. "Not if you take them off right," she replied with a grin. Her mind quickly thought of the leather costume; not comfortable to sleep in whatsoever. Maybe she should change...

Griff gave Nora a crooked half-smile as he watched her unzip the boot. The hand on her knee hooked underneath and gently lifted the leg to his chest. With his other hand, he loosely gripped the back of her heel and removed the boot which he sat to the floor. The hand then cupped the top of her small foot as the fingers of the other hand pulled down her calf.

"Tha' righ' enuff?" Griff drawled slyly as he massaged her ankle.

"Yes," she said with a smile as she worked on removing the other boot (to hell with him making a show out of it, too), "Mmm, you're a pampering sort, aren't you?" He was getting a gold star for going above and beyond, that was for certain.

She leaned back onto her arms, watching him as he played with her feet.

Setting her leg back to the bed, Griff smirked at Nora before taking the calf of the opposite leg into his hands. Without a word he massaged it free of tension and rested it back to join the other foot on the bed, thoroughly amused with how quickly he had relaxed her.

He slid himself further up the length of the bed and brushed a hand past her waist to press it into the mattress for support. "Didn' 'ear you complainin'," Griff mumbled smugly as he leaned in for a kiss.

She grinned into the kiss before studying his face. "No complaints, just commenting." She kissed him again. "Are you going to be comfortable wearing that to bed?" she asked curiously. The lack of shirt was probably comfortable enough, but she couldn't be sure.

"'Course," Griff replied offhandedly before dropping his lips to her collar bone to continue talking between kisses. "Not the firs' time I slept in me trousers. Tend t'pass out after the ruff ma'ches."

Raising up, he scooted himself closer until he was practically hugging Nora to him once more. "But I don' imagine you'd norm'ly wear leather knickers t'bed, hmm?" he muttered against her throat as he tickled her jawline with his nose.

Nora giggled, both at his nose and the comment. "Only on Sundays. Would you be terribly bothered if I got up quickly to change?" she asked curiously, running her fingers through his hair.

There was noise of piqued curiosity in Griff's throat as he buried his scruffy chin into Nora's neck. "Mmm, be willin' t'stay the 'ole weekend fer that," he quipped against her skin.

He made a new noise, one of reluctance as he pulled back to free Nora from himself, mumbling "I'll be waitin'..." as he did so.

"You'd like that," she replied with an amused grin before standing up to get her pajamas from her dresser. "I promise it'll only be a second." She went into her bathroom quickly to change (because if you're denying a male any sort of intimacy, what's the point in giving them the show anyways?) before coming back to the bed, feeling much more comfy now.

"Better. Now, where were we..." she said slowly before leaning in.

The only thing that was afforded to Griff during the time Nora was gone was more time to think about West--which was probably the last person he needed to be thinking about while courting a would-be girlfriend. His thoughts were all jumbled with contradiction and guilt. He'd always been less than pleasant to Cassandra and now look at him, doing the same song and dance with a girl of his own. Bugger.

When she returned, Griff smiled as he caught Nora waist and pulled her down to be on top of him when he lounged back on the bed. "Don' remember," he drawled in a half-mumble with a smirk, "but this'll do."

"I imagine so," she replied with a smile before closing the small gap between them, kissing him softly. It was getting late, which was unfortunate considering that she was really enjoying herself. "Mmm, you wouldn't happen to know how to keep time from ticking away, would you?"

Griff gave her a sleepy smile. "Shoulda paid atten'ion in charms," he replied before relaxing his shoulders as he held Nora to his chest. "Make yer'self comfortable, love," he drawled quietly against her chin, bringing up a hand to run his large fingers through her soft curls.

Deciding that resting her head on his general shoulder slash chest area was more comfortable than his face, she repositioned herself so that she was lying next to him, one arm draped around him, her head feeling very much at home resting on his previously mentioned shoulder/chest area. She'd meant to say something, but couldn't bring herself to speech, and slowly drifted off to sleep in his arms.

Griff shifted himself as Nora sidled up next to him, resting an arm around her shoulders and continuing to play his fingers through her hair as he laid there thinking. His thoughts were a jumble of his growing feelings for Nora (a sweet woman who just needed a friend to hold her) and wondering what West (the man he'd rather let himself die for than lose) would think of it all. It was all complicated. His life was always so fucking complicated. He wondered at times why he hadn't already gone completely mad.

When Nora's breathing was reduced to shallow whispers across his chest, Griff sighed lightly and snuck his arm off her shoulders to reach a hand into the opposite side of comforter they were laying on. With a gentle tug, he dragged the blanket back and covered Nora with it before replacing his arm around her. He smiled a little as she nuzzled her cheek and knees against him in her sleep. Another hour of pondering West and Nora elapsed before Griff was finally unconscious from his own exhaustion, passing into restless dreams that would leave him tired when he awoke the next morning.