A Bit of Happiness ::Frankie::

[Ariella Rockwell]

They snuck out of the front door with relative ease, as class was in session and there was a visiting Auror coming to the school so the wards had been lifted for the day. Ariella ran a little ahead of Frankie, the sloping hills making it harder to walk straight. She breathed the early morning air deep into her lungs, feeling refreshed. She smiled and turned around, walking back wards, She laughed some as she walked. She had never felt free like this, knowing that she would probably get in trouble later, being the headmaster's daughter an all, but she didn't care. This freedom was becoming addicting fast. She looked at Frankie. "So now that we've sprung ourselves, how about we go bowling?"

A surprise request, Ariella had never been bowling, but right now it sounded good.She tightened her scarf around her neck as the wind blew harder and stuck her hands in her coat pockets. Looking up at him, she marveled at how Frankie could walk outside without a jacket and seem unaffected by it. The sun glinted behind him, adding a golden shine to his brown hair and she admired his face too. He was so handsome, even if he didn't think so, and Ariella was glad she was getting to know him, getting to spend time with him.


It was easy to sneak out of the school. Even if the teachers saw Frankie they would sigh and be glad that Frankie was getting his unruliness out of his system and not cause any major havoc. Of course Frankie did have a plot in his mind that involved a gullible firsty, a pair of suspenders, a crowd, and a quite contagious hex. It was going to be great.

Anyway as they walked out of the school and down to the town Frankie couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Ariella was. She was laughing and walking backwards. When the wind blew and she pulled her scarf tighter Frankie realized that it might be cold out, but Frankie was used to the cold. Pushing aside the after thought that came with it Frankie smiled, but it was a meaningless one.

Then at the mention of bowling Frankie became a little confused. He had heard of it, sure, but he had never ever played the muggle sport. He remembered overhearing some muggleborns talking about it and what he gathered you through a ball at some white pins. How hard could it be?

”Sure,” Frankie drawled out and walked into town with her. Quite truthfully Frankie didn’t know where the bowling place was. So he looked down at Ariella and said in his Southern twang, ”Lead the way Darlin.”


Ariella smiled and linked her arm through Frankie's as they walked through the town. Muggle bowling, it seemed, would be a new experience for them both and she was excited. Now Frankie had said lead the way, but Ariella wasn't sure where it was herself, so when she spotted an alley, she pulled Frankie over, using him as a shield to block the wandering gazes of the muggles passing by. She pulled her wand out of her jacket and muttered the quick "point-me" spell, picturing what she thought a bowling alley looked like from a conversation she overhead a few of the 2nd years talking about. She could've asked for directions to it, but then people would start asking what two teenagers, obviously of student age, were doing bowling at 9:30 in the morning.

Satisfied she had the direction, she put her wand away and linked her arm through Frankie's again, smiling up at him. "Thanks for that. I didn't want to ask for direction, seeing as that would raise some other questions we wouldn't want to answer." She laughed some as they walked along the side walk, dodging muggles as they went about their everyday lives. After a bit of walking, Ariella began to wonder if she said the spell wrong, until they came into view of the bowling alley. There was no mistaking the giant ball and pins on the roof, and Ariella smirked some, her ego fluffed a little. "We're her. Ready for this." She said seriously, her voice teasing though.


It was obvious that Ariella didn’t know where she was going when she shuffled into an alleyway and used Frankie as a blocker between her and the muggles. He found it kind of amusing that she thought of using him to block out the world. Sure he was the perfect size, he nearly filled the entire gap for the alleyway, but he still found it quite amusing. He heard her mutter an incantation and Frankie realized that she was finding directions.

Once she emerged from the alleyway Frankie was pretty sure Ariella knew where she was going. When she thanked him for being a human shield Frankie just nodded, he wasn’t used to being thanked all too much. They walked a bit longer at that’s when Frankie saw a sign that said BOWLING and had a big black ball and some white…things, were those what the muggle’s called pins? Frankie didn’t know.

”Well lets get bowling!” Frankie drawled out and walked to the bowling alley. When he pushed open the door an overwhelming scent of tobacco smoke took over him. Did all bowling alleys smell like this? Anyway Frankie walked up to a counter with a bored looking muggle man standing there and said, ”Excuse me sir, me and this girl here wanna do some bowlin.”

The man looked at him weird and told him how much it was to bowl. Thankfully Frankie thought ahead and brought a muggle bill that he had found. It had a 20 on it and Frankie just hoped it was enough. After handing the guy the money which was thankfully accepted he asked for shoe size. Did they have to change shoes to bowl? Frankie looked at his own large feet and doubted they carried his size. ”Uh I don’ think yall got my size.” The man looked at him and sighed, obviously beyond caring.

After they got their shoes Frankie looked down at Ariella and asked, ”Wha’ now Ella?”


Ariella was surprised when Frankie handed the man some muggle money. Not many witches and wizards had muggles money on hand like that, but she just smiled. She frowned some though when the man asked her what shoe size she needed. "My show size? We have to change shoes?" Well that was different, but hey Ariella was willing to try anything once. She gave the man her size and he handed her a pair of shoes. She smiled brightly, "Thank you." He just nodded and she and Frankie headed to the lane the employee had opened for them. Frankie turned to her when they got to it, a puzzled look on his face as well. ”Wha’ now Ella?" She peered around him and saw a rack of balls on one of the walls. "Hmm... if I overhead correctly, you pick out a ball that is the right weight for you and you throw it at the pins. Underhanded." She nodded, recalling the conversation. Before she walked over to the balls she shrugged her jacket off and laid in on one of the chairs, making sure her wand was covered. approaching the wall, she looked over the balls, wondering how you knew what they weighed. She picked one up and her eyes widened as it almost slipped out of her fingers. Definitely not that one. She put it back and picked up a smaller yellow one. She hefted it in her hands, testing the weight and smiled. It felt good, like it wasn't going to slip out of her hand and she turned back around to see if Frankie had gotten his yet.


Okay that sounded easy enough. Just through one of those little balls the muggles were holding, through them like the muggles, and then hit a few pins. That had to be easy. Its not like there were obstacles or anything just through the ball straight and it would knock down the pins. However Frankie did see a few muggle’s balls go into the little ditches on the side. Was this game really complicated, Frankie doubted it.

He followed Ariella over to where the balls were and watched her pick up a ball that was too heavy for her. He chuckled and walked over to pick up the same ball, it was light, really light. It was probably heavy for her because she was so tiny and was so light for him because he was so humungous. Deciding to go for a heavier ball Frankie grabbed a jet black ball with a red stripe on it the number 15 was on it and Frankie thought it was light still, but couldn’t find a higher number so went for that one.

Looking over to see if Ariella was ready he saw her with a tiny little yellow ball and chuckled. ”Darlin tha’ ball is teeny,” Frankie told her in his Southern accent. Looking around Frankie noticed an open lane and walked over toward it. He put his ball down on the rack and looked at the muggle contraption that the muggles were fiddling with. He looked down at Ariella and drawled, ”Ella do ya know how ta work this thing?”


”Darlin tha’ ball is teeny,”

Ariella stuck her tongue out at Frankie when he teased her about the size of her ball, though she had to agree. Compared to the one Frankie grabbed it was small. The numbers on the ball must tell how much it weighs, cause Frankie's said 15 while Ariella's only said 9. And instead of retorting, Ariella just flashed him a smile and skipped to the open lane he was headed to. Once there, she glanced around at what the muggles were doing and put her ball next to Frankie's. Then she turned back around and looked to see where Frankie went and found him behind her, a puzzled look on his face. She went over to him and saw what made him look so confused. What the hell were all those buttons for? She frowned some and shook her head when he spoke. ”Ella do ya know how ta work this thing?” She tapped her finger against the side of it and looked it over. "I have no idea...hmm." She looked up and saw a boy around their own age in the next lane, just finishing with the button thing and she went over to him, ignoring Frankie's muttered "No!"

She cleared her throat when she was standing in front of the boy, a smile on her face. He looked up, a momentary look of surprise on his face before it slid into a smile. Can I help you beautiful? He asked. She didn't even hear the beautiful part, just continued with her question. "Well it my friend's and my first time bowling, and we're not sure how to work the machine over there." She pointed to it and looked back to the other boy. He nodded, the smile still on his face. "Sure I can help. No problem." He slid past her and sent a sly glance her way, which she ignored, a faint blush stealing across her cheek, and walked back over to where Frankie stood, his jaw gaping open. She smiled up at him and stood closer to Frankie, loving how safe he made her feel.

It only took a few minutes to align the machine, her own name and Frankie's appearing on the tv screen above them. The boy walked over to Ariella, and gave her a once over before he spoke. "There you go darlin'. All set to play." He smirked and walked back over to his own lane, her eye finding Ariella from time to time. She shuddered some as he left. Somehow, when he said 'darlin' it wasn't as pleasing to her as when Frankie said it. She looked up at him and smiled. "I got it working." She said.


Okay so Frankie was pretty sure that they could figure out that contraption on their own but Ella decided to go ask for help. That was the last thing that they needed, help from a muggle. Its not that Frankie didn’t like muggles it just made him feel stupid having to get some little muggle guy to work the thing that didn’t look too hard when the muggle did it.

It bothered Frankie even more when he talked to her and called her Beautiful and Darlin. Frankie didn’t like hearing some stranger calling Ella that. After taking a calming breath Frankie resisted the urge to punch the stupid little muggle for being too friendly. Then he remembered that Ella was there and he wasn’t going to freak her out by beating up a little muggle guy. Then it hit Frankie.

Was he jealous? No way. Jealousy was reserved to couples and stuff like that. Did Frankie like Ariella Rockwell? Well she was pretty and nice and she was helpful and caring and her laugh sounds beautiful and her smile… Woah. Did he really like her? The answer was obvious, yes he did. However Frankie didn’t know what to do. Was he to follow his feelings or was he to protect her from himself and stay away or just be friends like they are now?

”I could’ve done it myself,” Frankie muttered and grabbed his ball because the box said his name first. He walked up to the lane and through the ball like the muggles did and hit one single pin. Turning around to Ariella Frankie was totally confused. The muggles that were bowling were hitting almost all the pins, so why did Frankie only hit one? ”Ella Darlin’ I don’ understan this game.”

[Ariella Rockwell]

When Ariella had turned back to Frankie, she was confused for a minute to see a fire burning in his eyes, but e seemed to shake it off, muttering that he could have figured it out. He went to the lane and with his back to her, she bit her lips some, wondering if she did something wrong. She didn't want to make him mad, but she did. She glanced around and saw the looks they were getting. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come here. She opened her mouth to ask if Frankie wanted to leave, when he threw his ball like the muggles were doing and only hit one pin. His back was still toward her as he straightened and glanced over at the lanes next to him, where the muggles were hitting alot more than he did. She clutched her ball tighter in he fingers as she stepped foreward.

His drawl sounded from above her. ”Ella Darlin’ I don’ understan this game.” She made a face and shrugged her shoulders some. She didn't exactly understand it either, though when she had suggested it in the common room it had sounded like good idea. "I don't either." She admitted. He stepped away and she moved foreword without looking at him. She threw the ball like he did, and how the muggles were throwing it. But to her dismay the ball veered to the side and rolled in the groove on the side of the lane. What the-? She put a hand on her hip sighed some. There had to be a trick to throwing those things. She moved out of the way so Frankie could go again.

notes: damn I forgot about the two throw per turn thing, sorry XD and sorry it took so long

[Frankie Cuzco]

FRANKIE CUZCO !!

It kind of bothered Frankie that he didn’t understand such a simple muggle game, the muggles were doing the game right and well. So why couldn’t Frankie do it right? Its not like Frankie thought that since he was a wizard that he should be better than muggles, no not in the slightest. It was just that Frankie was kind of annoyed that he couldn’t do it, the muggles doing it right just made it worse.

Call him a jerk but it relieved Frankie when Ariella wasn’t good at the game either. Its not like he was happy that she wasn’t doing well the same as himself, it just made Frankie feel better that he wasn’t the only one that just wasn’t understanding the game. Smiling down at her, a real smile I might add, Frankie sighed and walked forward for his turn.

Grabbing his large ball Frankie rolled the ball down the lane and hit nothing. Absolutely nothing. Okay this was just annoying! Maybe they should just go do something different like go get food, that would be so much easier than trying to figure out the works of bowling. But Ariella had said that she wanted to go bowling so Frankie would stick it out for her, even if it meant that he was horrible at the game. ”Go ahead darlin,” Frankie drawled at Ariella and stepped aside for her to take her turn.