[spilling]::{secrets}::/keep/::comin'::[Lou]

[Tucker Pierce]

On his tippy-toes, Tucker crept about the halls of the large castle. Clung to his chest was Claire, the tiny two year old who was spoiled rotten. Of course she was not spoiled by expensive clothes or anything of the such... she was spoiled with love and constant attention. She had a knack for knowing how to get anything she wanted, whenever she wanted it. Although, she knew not to ask for expensive items. She was smart enough to know that they didn't have money. Well, not the kind that they preferred. They basically lived off of the streets during the summer, except for the last one when the Malfoys had taken the two siblings under their wing. Tucker preferred it being just the two of them sometimes though. He tried to be a good role model for his little sister, although he didn't think he was doing such a great job about it.

Finally reaching the grounds, Tucker pressed Claire tightly to his chest, as she squirmed trying to get down. He had been holding her for a while now, and it had almost been a two full months since she'd been outside. Tucker quickened his pace, his eyes focused on the big tree that neared them. His eyes shot up as a big shadow loomed over the two who were very close to the tree now. He used the spell that froze the tree quickly, afraid if he let Claire go before the tree was unmoving, that it would snatch her and have her for his daytime snack. Moving under the tree slowly, he leaned against the root, sitting Claire down next to him. It was a very nice sunny day, as he grabbed his apple, and his DADA book.

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[Lou McGooken]

There had never been a lack of babies within the shabby walls of the orphanage Lou grew up in. As such, she'd grown to be quite good with small children. She enjoyed playing with small children very much, and missed it terribly every time she went off to Hogwarts. In fact, children were probably the only people she felt comfortable around. After all, they were the only people who didn't talk down to her or think she was an airhead.

So, she was very surprised to find a toddler wandering around near the Whomping Willow on that particular fall day. It was sunny out, and Lou had decided to take a walk to soak up some sunshine. And she'd come across a little baby girl, toddling aroung to her heart's content. She leaned down, pushing aside a stray piece of russet hair, wondering what the purpose of messy buns were if it wasn't to keep her hair out of her face.

She grinned at the little girl, who giggled in response. Covering her eyes, she played a quick game of peek-a-boo with the little darling before picking her up and setting the toddler on her hip, on a quest to find the guardian of the small little creature, and give her back. After all, you couldn't just leave your kid to wander around the Hogwarts Grounds. That was dangerous. Even a slightly less intelligent person as Lou was would know that.

Lou found Tucker a few long strides away, just over a crest from the place where she'd found the little girl. And at that moment, it was unmistakable who the child was related to. The pair look strikingly alike. The Hufflpuff flashed Tucker a grin. "This yours, love?" she asked him, a shadow of an Irish accent in her words.

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[Tucker Pierce]

Tucker's head shot up and he peered at his little sister, and another student whom had wandered upon the little curious Claire. She'd been in his range of hearing and eyesight, so he hadn't found the need to run and grab her. He also knew the girl whom had approached her, and didn't find her as a threat at all. So, Tucker just watched his little sister giggle at the well known Lou McGooken. He shook his head, watching Lou pick his sister up and stride over to him. He put his book down on the ground, jumping up from his spot under the tree. He smiled at his fellow student, his voice deep but gentle, "Yeah... but don't worry I'm not her daddy... I'm her brother." He laughed gently, letting Lou hold Claire for as long as she could possibly want.

He put his hand out in a formal greeting to Lou, though he already knew her around school. "Tucker Pierce. You're Lou McGooken correct? This is my little sister Claire." He shook Lou's hand softly, trying not to crush her hand under his rather firm grip. He looked at Claire, whose sandy blonde hair was pulled up in two messy bun-pig tail things. He laughed gently at his masterpiece on her hair, then turned his attention to her clothes. He had put Claire in an Emerald green shirt that had Slytherin written in cursive handwriting in the bold silver color. On the back it said, DE like any other shirt of hers would. He sighed looking deeply into her dark green eyes, which also had a yellow color in the center.

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[Lou McGooken]

She laughed lightly, like a little bird, when he told her he wasn't the dad of the sweet little girl. "Well, you're quite a good older brother, I must say," she told him, looking down adoringly at the sandy-haired little girl. "And she's a dear." Lou tickled the small girl's stomach playfully, a grin spread across her face, encouraging the bout of uproarous laughter the toddler emitted, before looking back up at the girl's brother.

"Right-o, m'dear," she replied, her voice warm and friendly. She didn't exactly care that he was a Slytherin. He'd acted rather nice to her earlier so she didn't find any reason to be mean to him. A girl like Lou never found any need to be need to most people. As long as they didn't stick her with a pitchfork, she couldn't care less if they called her names. She'd simply smile back and continue conversation. In fact, if they jinxed her, she'd probably still treat them perfectly fine afterwards.

His hand almost crushed her own when he shook her spindly, delicate fingers, and she couldn't help but wince when he did. "Strong grip, no?" she chuckled at him, shaking her hand out afterwards, golden bangles clinking around merrily as she did. Of course, it didn't exactly phase her that the boy could probably wring her neck in a matter of seconds. The girl simply didn't think about such things. It was all happy thoughts, sunshine and happiness, for her.

She made a small exclamation as a delightful idea came to mind. "Tucker, you mind if I braid her hair? I haven't been around little kids since summer at the Home and I've been having a tad bit of withdrawl for the last couple weeks." Laughing a tad, again like the birdsong, she looked at the boy with a hopeful look on her face. She dearly wished he would let her play with the little girl. After all, she really adored small children and summer, Christmas, and breaks were the only time she could see them.

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[Tucker Pierce]

Tucker smiled, stifling his laughter easily. He walked towards Lou, his eyes smiling gently at her. "Oh, please do. Save her from the disastrous job I did with it. You can't deny that it looks horrible." He laughed now, without stifling it. He ran a hand through his short hair, sitting down on the ground underneath the still, and frozen tree. He patted the space next to him, resting his back against the root once again. Welcoming Lou and his little sister with a smile on his face, he began talking again. "I'm not so good with all the girly stuff, like hair and clothes. Thank God she's far away from puberty though. I wont have to deal with that for a long while. Hopefully by then I'll have a woman role model to help with that slight awkwardness between us."

Another laugh came out of his mouth, happy that there wasn't a weird silence after what he had just said. Everyone was mature about it now. Unlike how they use to be. Especially if you said 'booty' or 'boobies', or especially the words, 'sex' and 'do it'. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he was happy how mature he had grown to be in the past years. He had to stick up for his mother, and then his little sister. Later he had to deal with the death, or to be specific murder, of his dear mother. After that he chose to take care of his little sister, and not take her to someone else, and dump her to add to the rest of their own problems. He had taken her in, and dealt with her, happily.

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[Lou McGooken]

Lou giggled, settling the little girl down on the grass in front of her before plopping her own self down behind her. She gently wiggled the little girl's hair out of her pigtails before running her earthy-painted-nailed fingers through the mass of sandy curls, releasing it from all knots. The Hufflepuff continued to do so until the golden mane of the girl's was completely straight and soft, free of clumps and the likes.

"Oh, it's not horrible, love," she told the Slytherin boy, flashing him a grin, "In fact, it's pretty top-notch considering you're a guy."

Naturally, she didn't exactly like to be sexist, but it was common knowledge that women were better with things like fashion and doing hair. That was probably why the women usually spent all their time on the children in most relationships, while the male went out to bring home the bacon. Of course, there were exceptions, but that was usually the way or life with Muggles as well as Wizarding kind.

As she separated the hair with her long, spindly fingers and began to braid it with complete and utter expertise and speed, she replied to Tucker, her creamy brown eyes smiling perhaps just as much as her mouth. "I'm sure you'll be fine, dear," she told him, "There's always a little awkwardness in that realm. Besides, she'll be attending Hogwarts by then, so there's really no need to worry much about that."

She finished up one braid and, pulling out her wand, picked a piece of grass and tapped it with the long, wooden stick. She tested it for a moment, pulling on both sides of it. Amazingly, it stretched out instead of snapping in half. Lou tied the green piece of grass around the end of the little girl's braid and began starting on the other one, stowing her wand by her thigh. The Huffle had learned the spell in Herbology, her favorite class.

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[Tucker Pierce]

Tucker chuckled under his breath, as he watched and listened to Lou. He shook his head slightly, watching her braid Claire's hair. He was simply amazed by how quick, and perfect she did it. It was close to insane. Of course, Lou did look like she had been around kids for quite a while. He smiled at her, responding earnestly. "Well, I suppose so. But, it nearly took me half an hour to fix it. Normally I have Kia or Corliss do that for me. They're normally around her." He laughed remembering the time when Kia and Corliss had begun fighting over innocent little Claire. Of course they were just playing around though. It was quite an interesting night.

Laughing tenderly at her last comment, he stared at the sky, closing his eyes tightly whenever rays of sunlight flashed into his dark eyes, causing him to squirm beneath the touch of it. He preferred darkness instead. Finally, he responded to Lou very confidently, "Thank the sweet baby Jesus. I can't wait for that day..." He stopped to laugh quickly but then continued talking slowly, "I'm just kidding... It's gonna be really hard for me to let her go. I'll have to though." He sighed, his eyes staring at Lou's quick moving hands that spidered through Claire's soft light hair.

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[Lou McGooken]

Lou sighed, leaning to the other side to begin braiding the other side of the blonde girl's hair. She hardly had to think anymore to braid people's hair. Thank God. Multi-tasking wasn't exactly her thing. In fact, she usually bungled things even doing just one task at a time. So, if she only had to think about talking to Tucker and her hands did the rest of the work, then she was home free. At least, she hoped.

The girl laughed her bird-like laugh as he told him how long it took him to do the girl's hair. "Oh, you poor dear," she sympathized with him, an encouraging smile on her face as she glanced at her hands to make sure they were braiding correctly before turning the creamy brown orbs back to the Slytherin boy. "I suppose it must be hard, balancing out your life with Claire to think of." Jesus, it must be. Lou could hardly keep up with her schoolwork sometimes, and she was a sixth year. Also, she didn't have a little sibling to look after. The poor boy.

When Tucker mentioned Kianthra and Corliss, Lou had a hard time not shuddering. But she supressed it. The two Slytherin girls were perhaps her greatest tormentors. They jinxed her in the hallways whenever they damn well pleased as well as jeering at her on other occasions. Those weren't exactly the people Lou thought best being around children. They could kill the little girl.

She smiled at him, bringing herself back to reality. "I'm sure you'll learn how to let her go. But not for a while. You've got what, nine years left?" Joking around with a Slytherin wasn't exactly what Lou had in mind for today, but what the hay? She had a tendency of going with the flow. It was simply what she did. After sixteen years, the Huffle had learned that was what was best.

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[Tucker Pierce]

A gentle sigh easily escaped Tuck's lips as he listened to what Lou had to say. Her voice seemed to sing to him, as did her eyes. Slowly he propped himself up on the tree, the rest of his body slumping easily. His eyes turned dark, hiding any emotion he felt at the particular moment. He ran a had over his hair, thinking about how he should respond to her, and what tone of voice he should use. Then the thought struck him, he was sitting with LOU MCGOOKEN. Oh, he had heard stories about her. His voice was odd, a different tone of voice creeping out of the deepness of his voice. "Wait a second... you're Lou... the girl that Cor and Kia always talk about. Oh wow..." He shook his head slightly, remembering all the stories that Corliss had told him while holding Claire tenderly, and yet somehow motherly.

Sighing again, Tucker shook his head tearing his eyes away from Lou's. Finally thinking about her question, he answered thoroughly. "You have no idea how hard it is actually. At times, I don't sleep for days, or even weeks. It's crazy in my dorm. I have to find someone who knows somewhat about Claire, and beg them to babysit her. Well, that is if I trust them with her life fully. I don't think anyone would mess with Claire though. That's what people tell me at least, well when I'm worrying about her. If I can't find a babysitter, I sometimes have to take her with me. To DE meetings, but I have never taken her inside a classroom, and I don't plan to." He ended his statement, looking at Lou's growing progress on Claire's gentle hair.

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[Lou McGooken]

Lou found it hard not to wince when he realized who she was. Oh Lordy, the two Slytherin girls talked about her? Well, the Huffle couldn't exactly blame them. They're stunts with her could be considered completely and utterly hilarious. If you were a cruel, sadistic person like Corliss and Kianthra.

It wasn't as though Lou hated them. No, far from it actually. She couldn't hate anyone simply for wanting to have a little fun with an airheaded girl like herself. After all, they never REALLY hurt her. It was just little things. Sure, she felt a little hated after a while, and a little down-hearted after a whole class period of Corliss breathing nasty comments down her neck, but she shrugged it off. Being spite-filled was unhealthy, and she couldn't force herself to be that way, simply because two Slytherins were trying to get under her skin.

She looked at her hands again, a small smile still braving her face. "They talk about me?" she asked him, rather interested in the topic. Glancing at him, she laughed her little bird laugh before continuing in a light airy voice that one wouldn't expect to find someone talking about their tormentors in. "I suppose they've got plenty of stories to tell about me."

When she listened to him talking about how hard his life was, she quietly thanked God that she didn't have asshole parents that would leave her siblings with her. Okay, so she had a pretty bad mom, to leave her kid on the doorstep of an orphanage, but it wasn't as bad as what Tucker had. "Jesus, Tucker," she started, expressing her utmost sympathy to him. "Y'know, if you ever can't find someone to take her, I'm always free."

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[Tucker Pierce]

Tucker sighed, slouching against the tree. He really didn't want to talk about this right now. Especially with this girl that he didn't even know. She was also involved in the story, so he thought it would be best to say as little on the subject as possible. He swallowed the lump in his throat and began talking with ease, "Yeah... they talk about you. They just normally tell me about the events that happened with you on that particular day. I don't find it very interesting though. Corliss does, and she' practically my sister."

Slowly, Tucker sat back up, moving a stray hair out of Lou's eyes. He smiled softly at her, but looked away just as quickly. He took in a deep breath of air, popping his neck erratically. He sighed again, responding to her last statement. "Well yeah I could but do you realize what would happen if Corliss walked in when you were babysitting Claire? She would flip, then she would rip your throat out and then she would slap me. Not a pretty sight trust me." Tuck rolled his eyes quickly, but then looked back up to the sky.

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[Lou McGooken]

Practically his sister, eh?

Lou couldn't imagine such a nice guy as Tucker being so close to someone who was so cruel to her as Corliss was. Perhaps the Slytherin simply didn't like anyone out of her own House. Maybe she'd had a bad experience with them previously and now simply couldn't handle them. Well, there was one other option, and the Huffle took the courtesy to voice it.

"I suppose they're better once you get to know them," she muttered to the Slytherin boy in a rather quiet voice, finishing off braiding the little girl's hair and tying it with another piece of grass that she charmed with her wand. She smoothed the small girl's hair down and flashed a bright grin when the toddler turned around to glance at her. Claire collapsed in giggles and crawled into Lou's lap, sucking on her right thumb.

Lou wrapped her arms warmly around the girl as the blonde began to play with her dangly earrings, giggling uproariously before moving onto her bangles. The Huffle pulled off her bracelets and slid them onto the little girl's tiny wrist, assuring her all the while that it was perfectly alright. Claire sat, aghast at the golden bangles, jiggling her arm around and listening to the music they created.

Lou turned her attention away from the toddler and back to what the Slytherin boy across from her was saying. "Do you realize how absurd you sound? A grown man afraid of Corliss Malfoy?" she asked, laughter spreading across her features. "Honestly, love, it's not as though I'd parade your sister around the school. And Corliss doesn't have a habit of storming the Hufflepuff Common Room, if I'm not mistaken."

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[Tucker Pierce]

Tucker's eyebrows furrowed again, trying to fight the urge to flip out himself. He hated the fact that Lou thought he was scared of Corliss! He wasn't necessarily scared of Corliss. Actually there was no way in hell he was scared of Corliss. He laughed quietly, partly laughing at Lou. He cocked his head to the side speaking with confidence. "No... you got that all wrong. I'm not scared of Corliss. She wouldn't hurt me if she slapped me. She would never get that pissed off at me." He had thought about saying more but was afraid of how it would turn around on him. He was going to say that, he could be afraid if Corliss was extremely heartless to take Claire away from him, which she could definitely do. He loved Corliss, and she loved him. There was no doubt about it. They were best friends, basically family. They were tighter than anything else.

Tucker sighed, still thinking about how torn apart he would be if Corliss would ever take Claire away from him. He would be nothing without her. Nothing without Claire. Nothing without Corliss. And nothing without Kianthra. Those three girls meant everything to him. Even though his feelings for each of them was different. It was expressed in totally different ways. He loved Claire like his little sister. His only blood related family member left, well that he knew of. He loved Corliss like his other sister. The one he could tell everything to. The one who had helped him through thick and thin. Then he loved Kianthra. She was a totally different story. He was madly in love with her, even though she was dating Rowen. Well that's what the story was. It pissed him off entirely. He was suppose to be with her. He loved her more. Well, that's what he thought at that particular moment in his life.

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[Lou McGooken]

Perhaps something had gone wrong when her mother was pregnant with her. Or she'd been pushed around one too many times when she was just a child. Or maybe there simply was no explanation to such a puzzling mystery. But, for some reason, the Huffle was rather daft in the head.

For this very reason, she wasn't exceptionally good at putting two and two together, or even one and one if she had the need to. Math had never been her thing, nor had any of the subjects they taught at Hogwarts. She was mildly good at Herbology in comparison to her other subjects. By that, one must see that she was completely and utterly dreadful at it. But at least she liked it, and that made the whole experience a little more bearable. For her more than anyone else.

Back to the point. Lou had never excelled at logic, and thus, she never really got what most people were talking about. As such, she'd come across as completely airheaded over the years when she talked to people. Such were the misfortunes that befell those who lacked in much brains. Although she'd imporved over the years, she fell short at that moment in the conversation and began to resort back to her old self, the questioning, confuzzled little Huffle who had to have everything explained to her.

"Then why exactly are you worried about Corliss slapping you?" she questioned, not really noticing that he was laughing at her, "If she'd never hit you hard enough to hurt you?"

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[Tucker Pierce]

Tucker sighed, hating having to answer such deep questions. On this particular day he had wanted his brain to relax, and such. Not to be worked the hell out of. He shook his head, breathing heavily. "I didn't exactly say I was worried about anything, but if I had been worried about her slapping me then it would be just because I hate being slapped. It brings back old memories that I'm not too fond of. Is that a good enough answer?" He asked, trying to steer away the awkward silence that followed after it. "I can't really explain to you what it's like though... to be hit by Corliss. It wouldn't physically hurt, but I'm afraid it would hurt emotionally. Just bring back bad memories, and I wouldn't feel the same about her... weird I know."

With that, Tucker yawned, laying his back down on the ground. He looked at Claire's hair, happy that it actually looked good for once. He complemented Lou nicely, looking at Claire with big eyes. "Whoa. Her hair looks great... who would've known it was so pretty? I wouldn't have." He laughed quietly, watching Claire giggle adoringly at Lou. He could already tell that it was going to be hard to take the small child away from her newly found friend. She would whine before leaving her, but then she would quiet down, not wanting to cry in front of Tucker. That's just the way little Claire Kay Pierce was though. Almost exactly like her older brother.

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