SPOILER!!: Arianna! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOPEendures

Arianna nodded slowly at his advice. "I've heard that before. Love can be so addicting though and sometimes it's hard to not go looking," she said smiling softly. Just the idea of love warmed her heart and made her want to cry all at the same time. "Still, I could always try to put more effort into not looking."


"Yes! Of course," she said pulling out a piece of parchment and quickly jotting it down for him and handing it over. "Please let me know when we can meet up again," she said pulling him into a hug. "It really has been a pleasure, Zachary."

“It’s also addicting enough that you accept the kind of love you think you deserve. Sometimes, it’s a toxic kind of love but you can’t see that.’’ Once again, Zach was speaking from experience. Whatever, he learnt from his past relationship, he was willing to share so that he could save someone the trouble if he could. Arianna was so confident and eager for the proper kind of love... there was no way that it wouldn’t find its way to her. He believed that with each passing moment he spent with her.

Zach took hold of the parchment after the number had been written. It was placed safely in his pocket. The hug was returned warmly. “I surely will. You take care, Arianna, and keep that upbeat hope. I just know you’ll have what you’re looking for soon.’’ He wished for that with all his heart. The young man released Arianna. “Bye for now.’’

Zach too went on his own way.

Kaitlyn looked around and started to worry. She didn’t see any familiar faces and she really wanted to take a glimpse of her father although she knew she would be scolded if he found her. Hearing the boy next to her talked, she turned to his face then looked around. He was talking to her? ”Uhmmmm.... Yeah, I’m lost”, her face started to blush when she admitted. He seemed to be older than her. He went to Hogwarts as well?

With the drink gone, Dorian rummaged inside of his bag searching for a packet of bubblegum. Finding it in the side pocket, he pulled it out and began unwrapping one when the girl next to him admitted that she was lost.

"Where do you need to go?" he asked as he popped the gum inside of his mouth and chewed on it. "A particular shop? I can show the direction you need to go" he said as he pulled out another wrapped bubblegum from the package and held it up. "want one?"

Kam smiled warmly as Anahera spoke. “Ohhh, you should come over to my house sometime! It’s kinda quiet with just me at home now, ” She said softly as she looked at her friend, the summer had indeed been quiet, but she sort of enjoyed it. She was liking baking by herself and reading and hanging out with Cam and not having the rush of being at school and always having homework and issues.

It was a calm, relaxing summer and she liked that.

“It’s good to see you as well! I’ve missed you. ” Had it been that long since she had seen her friend. No, but still she had missed her.

She moved with her friend towards the bench when they noticed the house elf again. “Yeah, I think it’s one of the house elves.. I can’t tell which one though, ” She squinted a bit and tilted her head. “I hope it’s okay. ”

Ooooh. "I'd LOVE to!" She grinned at Kamryn, genuinely excited about the idea. "Just tell me when and where and I'll be there." She'd just ask her uncle or brother to apparate her there. Or maybe they had a fireplace connected to the floo network?

Slowly sitting down on the bench, Anahera set her bag down between her feet onto the ground, eyes still on the house elf. "Do they usually come here to shop?" She hadn't SEEN any house elves here before. But then again, school was out for summer so why shouldn't they enjoy their free time, right?

Maybe the elf was here for the carnival?

Kamryn was all smiles as Anahera responded enthusiastically to her suggestion! Yay! A friend would be around this summer to spare her from the boredom of her empty house! She missed her brother something terrible, sure her other siblings not being there wasn’t fun, but Chase not being around. It made her feel a bit hollow inside. So the thought of a summer alone was nearly unbearable, and with Ansel with Indigo now..

Well he was busy.

“Awesome! We live in Scotland, so you can totally floo there and we can hang out and go explode Edinburgh if you would like to?” She suggested as she settled down on the bench and pushed some of her brown hair out of her face.

Her blue eyes squinted over at the house elf and her small shoulders gave a delicate little shrug as Anahera spoke. “I honestly don’t know. ” The Hufflepuff said as she looked over at her friend.

YAY, indeed!

And they were connected to the floo network which made getting there so much easier. Despite the fact that her uncle (and if she asked him nicely, also her brother) were doing their best to apparate her whenever she needed to get somewhere, Anahera could NOT wait for the day she, too, was finally able to apparate on her own.

"Sounds great! I've never been to Edinburgh." So that was exciting. "Do you have a house?" Anahera trailed off a little as her eyes wandered back over to the house elf. It didn't seem lost, though, right? No. They knew how to get places. THEY could apparate after all (unlike her).

Being back in the UK was more difficult that Tana had imagined it would be, after spending so much of her time in Brazil missing home. As fascinating as her year abroad had been, she'd been excited at the prospect of returning to familiar places and people, to sleeping in her own bed and to the same desk at the library that she'd sat in since first year. Now that she was actually here, though, it was all sort of... anticlimactic.

Her usual bubbly self felt flat, and the cold wasn't helping - she'd never noticed it before, but after a year of sun she was really feeling the biting frost. Bundled up in her coat, the faux-fur hood pulled close around her face, Montana dug in her pocket as she approached the fountain, pausing in front of it as her fingers closed around a couple of knuts. She wasn't exactly a wishing person, but she guessed it couldn't hurt.

"L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can

Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don't break it
Love was made for me and you"


Laila Parker(Sangeetha) & Bear Ronstadt (awakemysoul)

Skate into my heart:
There is a delightful new addition around the fountain - a skating rink, especially for Laila and Bear's date. Transform your shoes into skates and enjoy the playlist of inspiring love songs to get you in the mood for hand holding and skating in circles or love hearts even! Be ever so careful as the closer to the fountain you get... those pesky cherubs and dragons will love to spit the bright pink coloured water at any happy couple nearby. Is your hair charmed to avoid the frizz that water can bring? Are you wrapped up warm enough to be wet? If not.. perhaps your date has a warm embrace for you. The date isn't over when your legs go numb from skating too much, or your hands get too sweaty from holding.. there is a bench nearby with a heating charm placed on it and a selection of different flavoured hot chocolates on the house rink. Skate away to your hearts content, leaving your date as perhaps lovers or friends.

Okaaaaaaay!!
Date time!
Gosh, Laila had not gone on a date for AGES as she had been so busy. The ministry kept her busy all the time. Where was the time to look for love?

This was all her friends' idea. They had convinced her to sign up for the brand new matchmakers service. Although skeptical at first, she had eventually given in and had decided to give it a shot.

And that ,ladies and gentlemen, is the story of how Laila Parker was out here, on this beautiful summer day, waiting for her 'date'.

Was she kind of nervous? Yes, she was. She had dressed up in a red coloured off shoulder crop top and black jeans that seemed to compliment her fair complexion and dark brown hair.

They had sent her an owl asking her to wait here. She decided to wait.

Ahhhh why had he agreed to this? Well, to tell the truth, he hadn’t really. At all. His cousin had sent him an owl telling him that he was alone with his nose stuck in a book too often, and he needed to get out and meet some women, so she had signed him up for matchmaking.

Yikes.

Okay, so maybe Bear was always reading instead of talking to people. So what? Books are nice! He liked books! And it’s not that he didn’t have an interest in women (because boy oh boy, he sure did), but dating had just never been too high up on his priority list. Sure, he’d had a couple of girlfriends at Hogwarts, and a somewhat serious one through university, but he had never felt like he really needed to be in a relationship. (Come to think of it, that attitude was probably why his college girlfriend had dumped him...) Once he and Rachel had broken up, he hadn’t gone looking for someone to take her place. That was six years ago, and he’d been pretty happy since then, actually.

So. Why had he shown up to this date when clearly this wasn’t his idea and he wasn’t particularly looking for a relationship? Well, because he wasn’t a jerk, that’s why. He didn’t want to stand someone up who was genuinely trying to find love. That just seemed mean. And who knew, maybe he actually would hit it off with this Laila girl. As long as she didn’t mind a bit of nerdiness, at least they’d get along as friends if nothing else, he was sure.

It was a bit chilly, and he pulled his coat tighter around himself as he made his way to the designated spot — a pop-up skating rink. (Which frankly made him kind of nervous.) His hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his black coat, and a gray beanie sat atop his dark hair. He wondered briefly if he should have worn something other than jeans, thinking that when he inevitably fell on the ice, they would end up getting wet, and wet jeans were the worst feeling ever. But anyway, too late now.

There was only one person around when he got there, so he figured it had to be her. She was pretty. That was a plus. He wasn’t totally convinced that any pretty people would need a matchmaker, you know? ”Hey,” he threw up a hand to wave as he approached. ”Laila? I’m Bear. Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand to shake hers, realizing too late that it would probably feel like she was shaking a popsicle. Oops. Oh well. ”Just to warn you... I’m an absolutely awful ice skater. Truly horrendous. Maybe the worst you’ve ever seen.” A smile crossed his face, letting her know that he was just kidding. Or at least half kidding...

Laila was lost in her own thoughts when she heard someone call her name.

The brunette turned around to see - hey he was cute. She smiled one of her classic dimpled smiles. She shook his hand and oh wasn't it cold!?!

'Hey you!,' she said.

She grinned as he spoke about ice skating. He was trying to sound like he is kidding, but she could sense the lack of confidence in ice skating in his voice.

'Well I'm no expert but my dad is half-Canadian. So we used to do ice skating a lot,' she said, smiling.

'And your hands are so cold..maybe you're an ice prince yourself..who knows!,' she said, winking.

Okaaaaay, that was laaaame, wasn't it? Oh boy, was she driving this man away on their very first date?

She mentally *facepalmed* *facepalmed* *facepalmed*

Bear laughed lightly at Laila's comment about being an ice prince. "I don't know about that... But definitely cold, yes. I forgot my gloves. Guess I could have used a heating charm... Huh. Didn't think of that." He scratched his chin as the idea occurred to him. You'd think a wizard would have considered, you know, using magic to solve his problems.

"Well," he continued, "do you want to just go out there and see what happens, or should we stop for some hot cocoa first?" He smiled at her. Although he still wasn't sure about this whole dating/relationship thing, she did seem nice, and he did want to get to know her no matter whether it was in a romantic sense or not. He could always use more friends. Bit of an isolationist, this guy.

Patrick walked up to the fountain needing a break from all of the people in Diagon Alley. This whole World Cup thing was really starting to crowd the alley more than it used to. He seriously couldn’t believe just how many people were here. It amazed him more because he didn’t even see this many people come out for some muggle sports. Wizards... he mumbled to himself rolling his eyes.

Tossing in a few coins he turned his back to the fountain ready to take a seat at one of the benches. It was warmer than it had been and he was thrilled. He soaked up the outside but was ready to head back to the states for a week to be in the actual warmth. His eyes tracked the many bodies milling about waiting to spot someone from school.

There was light! But no shinnies.

The niffler scurried from the shadows of the courtyard of the Leaky into the alley in search. His head swaying quickly side to side for even a glimpse.

Chh---ckk.

Was that someth---yes?! The niffler sat back on his hind legs to look, only to spot three coins being tossed into the fountain right there in front of him.

Chh---chh-CHK!!

It scurried closer as fast as it could for the shinnies, capturing one in its paw. The coin disappearing into its pouch in a flash. The niffler’s gaze then turning in the direction the splashes caused by the other coins had come from only to spot more shinnies in the water. Jackpot! The niffler not hesitating to slip into the lower tier of the fountain and scooping a few into his pouch with the other.

There were a lot of people here and Anahera was here for THAT. It was exciting, no? So many people from different countries wandering around Diagon Alley. She wasn't all that interested in Quidditch per se, at least not beyond cheering on her friends on their respective teams. But this was still exciting! The whole atmosphere. She was spending every free moment she had at Diagon Alley, just walking around.

Something caught her attention over by the fountain (it was NOT the Slytherin Quidditch captain, though, sorry, Patrick), and she quickly moved over to it. Was that...? Once she was stood next to the bench the boy was sitting on, still looking into the fountain, Anahera laughed softly. That was...very clever. "Do you think it's still lucky if your coins are taken?" She asked before turning her head to see who it was who'd just tossed the coins in. "Patrick." Hello.

The question still applied.

Watching the fountain he spotted something scurrying along. Oh boy. He wanted no part in-- "I'm going to assume not and prepare myself for when the fountain spits at me." He remembered that stupid fountain spitting on him when he was a first year and didn't know any better. The fountains back home didn't spit at you if you didn't pay up. Turning his head a little further toward the voice required some maneuvering on the bench.

Ah he recognized that voice. It was Anahera, who he hadn't seen much.... but then again he had been so busy studying the last term that he was fairly certain that was why they lost the Quidditch cup but he would never say that out loud. Nuh-uh couldn't make him. "How ya been?" he said sounding less i have to make a polite reply to this person and more friendly.

The niffler splashed about in the fountain as it swam and scooped up the various coins found within, the creature not caring where the water being displaced was going. All that mattered was all the shinnies. ALL THE SHINNIES!!

Chh—cchk.
Chch—ck.

The nifflers clearly excited at his found treasure. He tried scrambling up to the next tier of the fountain in search of elusive ones. Except wet paws on stone slipped and the creature flopped back into the water below sending water towards the two students.

Wait, what?

Anahera laughed at his reply before simply sitting down next to him on the bench. "Spits at you?" Had that actually happened or was he being pessimistic? Although, she could think of worse things to happen than for a fountain to SPIT at her. Them. Him. Actually, just him apparently so she should be fine either way.

Looking back from the creature inside the fountain to Patrick, she gave him a genuine smile. "I've been-"

-good.

At least that was what she'd been INTENDING to say; however, it was just in that very moment that the Niffler faceplanted into the fountain. With a shriek, Anahera jumped back up from the bench, primarily - okay, solely - surprised rather than upset by the water. "You were right! It did spit on you!" Or at least that somehow was the first reason that came to her mind.

Oh yeah he figured that sounded extremely odd even for magic to have a fountain spit at you. “I didn’t know my first year when I came and sat down and it spit some water at me... Although now I’m wondering if it wasn’t some older student trying to get a laugh.” he laughed as he thought about that possibility.

He watched as Anahera was watching some sort of animal near the water. He felt like he should know what it was but for some reason he couldn’t remember what the silly thing was. Just as he was about to hear how she was doing she shrieked loudly and jumped. He felt the water splash on his ankles, bolting upright at the cool water. “Yeah, I think it was all the little guys fault. Uh... what should we do? Never had an experience like this.” he laughed as he noticed once he took in the situation. Although he really wasn’t sure how to handle it.

Well, her clothes were definitely wet now.

Anahera had instinctively taken hold of Patrick's arm when she'd jumped off the bench. She now squeezed his arm softly while leaning forward a little to see if it HAD in fact been the creature inside the fountain. "Uh- maybe. Possibly. Yeah." That was actually way more likely than the fountain spitting at them. Which, even though he'd explained earlier, still sounded incredibly random. Not completely unheard of, though.

Fountains that were prone to pranks definitely wouldn't be the weirdest thing she'd encountered in Wizarding Britain.

"Leave?" Anahera suggested, grinning at Patrick. "I don't know what else to do here." They weren't supposed to report this, right?

He noticed she had grabbed his arm but wasn’t sure what she was so afraid of. He tried to his his small smile, but she squeezed his arm softly causing him to glance at his arm. “you okay?” He was fairly certain that she wasn’t okay.

He laughed a bit as she said they should leave the fountain, “well where should we go now? Plus I don’t know what else to do either. Who would we even report that to anyhow?”

The niffler casually floated on the water it had flopped into, behaving innocently in front of the humans it seemed it had caught the attention of. Nothing to see here. Reaching the edge of the pool, the creature flipped back over and tried again to climb upwards, being a bit more successful this time around. There before him lay more shinnies, distracting the niffler’s attention from his two-footed companions as it scurried to rescue more coins from the water of the fountain.

Chh---chh chhk

All a nifflers could possibly ask for.

His news was huge. Life changing huge. And would definitely change her perspective on him...and maybe the person that was his father. All he knew was that this would be an interesting term at Hogwarts.

"Lets!" Sebastian said with a wink before grabbing her hand and guiding her through the crowd. There were very few places they could go and have some quiet time in the Alley. But the fountain was probably one of the best.

Seb grinned at that statement. "Good. Because I can't go there alone again. Its so boring to see the sites by yourself." He said poking her nose while they walked. Though he had seen them many times, they never got old to him and sharing it with a friend was always better.

Noting the sigh, he knew it was best to stop talking about her family situation. He just hated how they left her so much. He was a very overprotective best friend that was for sure, and he always would be of Kam. But now was not the time to talk to her about that issue. They always ended up arguing and he didn't want to start a fight with her today.

"Fine, fine. Here's a galleon. Toss it in before you sit." Sebastian didn't want to get wet today and he was sure she didn't want to either. He tossed his galleon in and had a seat at the edge of the fountain, and waited for her to do the same.

Tori needed a break. The kids would soon be flooding the streets of the alley and the quiet peaceful places she had grown used to in the past few years when students weren’t around. She ended up out at the fountain where she could just enjoy the sight of the fountain and not have to think. Tossing a few coins in for luck she turned and sat on the bench. The sun feeling good in her skin as she had been locked away getting first year uniforms sorted. Smiling she leaned her head back against the bench.