Mr. Popular? Alex grinned, he had to admit he kind of loved that nickname too. "Hey there Miss Popular." he winked back at his best friend. She was the femal social butterfly of Slytherin after all.

She asked him if he was hungry? Did that girl didn't know him at aaall?! He raised one eyebrow at her, perhaps she had hit her head? Should he carry her around and look for bruises? "Of course I am." he said instead and nodded with a great force. With a great force, indeed.

"Aren't you?" he chuckled. Why else would she be in the kitchen, eh?

Alex reacted to that and his whole face shone up. She came down there several times a week just to bake? Oh. Dear. Merlin. He would so stalk come with her. "Oh so if I'm ever looking for something sweet I should check down here?" he grinned. If he ever was looking - Crikey it just hit him, he would be down there all the time. Set up camp, perhaps walk around in those green outfits (and not a cool green like the Slytherin colours but those natural green/brown/yellow colour that campers loved), shorts, sandals, socks that went up to his knees and those hats with feathers in them. Stereotype? Maaybe.

Research in the library? He raised his eyebrows and pretended to look like that was the best way to spend one's freetime. "Aaah." he said in his most interested tone. Now, back to the cookies. In the oven already? He felt like bouncing up and down, but managed to stay on fast ground and just did a little dance step.

Lada deee, lada daa!

"How long are they going to be in the oven?" So take the oven time plus five minutes for them to cool off before he could taste some. On second thought, who cared about them being hot? He wanted one as soon as they were done.

"They seemed....interesting." A few more flicks of his hair and she let her hand drop from his hand, a bit reluctantly. "Don't really see many protesters in Hogsmeade, or in any wizarding neighborhood for that mater." Not that she'd seen, and she'd been to quite a few.

There was some disappointment when she removed her hand, but he ignored it in favor of watching her quietly. "They weren't so much protesting as very....opinionated. The man brought up the article in the Quibbler. Seemed quite offended by it too."

"By the thing about the crups?" That was the only article about creatures in the quibbler. Needing something to do with her hands, she picked up Perseus and stroked his fur, eyes still on Sabel. "I guess I can see why he was so upset. The first creatures lesson had me feeling much more sympathetic towards them."

"Yeah, that was the article. Some kid mentioned pets were amusing. He...sorta blew a fuse." Shrugging again he watched Arya collect Perseus into her arms. "I think it was a bit of a misunderstanding, but then when you are passionate about things it can be hard to see it any other way."

Reaching out with one hand, he gave the kneazle a light scratch on the head. "CoMC? What did you do?" Unfortunately he hadn't had the time to attend the class.

Crups were amusing? Well, she could certainly see why he would blow a fuse about that. Though she didn't have a temper, it did make her think of a few things to say in retaliation to that statement. "I can see why he's so passionate about crups. Though the yelling wasn't necessary..." If anything it made things worse.

Her eyes followed his as he scratched Perseus on the head, her own hands caressing his chest. Of the three of them, she was sure the kneazle was the most content with the situation. "We talked about how a crup reacts to having their tail removed, and then she pulled a crup out and disillusioned his tail so we could see how he would react, though we thought she'd cut his tail off." She sighed softly at the memory, eyes still on her magical familiar.

"The poor thing was scarred without his tail, but she took the charm off after we saw his reaction. Then she had us get a partner and do a three-legged race during which she gave us the abilities based on the creature we were dressed as." She shivered slightly at that thought. It was not fun to have dog hearing, and she never wanted it again. "It was an interesting lesson." Gave her a lot to think about.

He continued scratching Perseus on the head as he watched Arya, chin propped on his other arm. There was a great deal of growing concern at each tail to her story with knowing how much the Hufflepuff would have taken each part of the lesson to heart.

Finally, when she was done speaking he gave a slight nod and looked down at the cat, his voice quiet with understanding. "There certainly is a great deal more to the world than we can ever see. And, I think, many people forget that."

"I think so too," she nodded her head in agreement, using one hand to lightly massage one of Perseus' front paws. "Its easy to forget something that you don't have to deal with everyday. Or at all." Maybe that's how is was also with wizards and muggles. Hm.

She kept silent for a while, considering these thoughts and many more before pushing them back. They could save that topic for another time, like when they had to speak about it. Peeking up from her kneazle, she smiled softly at her friend, tilting her head to the side slightly, enough to allow her hair to fall from her shoulder. "Where's Merlin?"

"That's very true." Sabel mused, drawing his hand back from Perseus to tuck it under his chin once again. There was a long moment of silence as he watched the cat. "Merlin? Sleeping. As usual. He's been doing it a lot. Guess being a prince is a lot of hard work."

"I guess so," she replied with a giggle. Arya could imagine the cat perched on some miniature throne sleeping the day away. "Though I wouldn't really know. Haven't met any royalty besides him. Does he do the same thing as human princes?"

"Never met any human princes, never want to." Sabel chuckled, letting his eyes slip closed again. Unless one considered Fletcher who, although not a prince to his knowledge, seemed to have the mannerisms of one.

"Never say never." She quipped playfully. "It could be interesting to meet a prince. A humble one though, not some stuffy guy." There would be nothing interesting or pleasant about the visit if the prince was rude in any way.

He had forgotten; meeting princes was every girl's dream wasn't it? They got to be saved. Every boy had to dream of defeating the dragon first before getting to the princess, a great deal of effort for a simple daydream.

Letting out a slight sigh, he tilted his head on his arms quizzically. "There a prince you fancy?"

"I don't fancy any princes." Even though that statement was true, she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed by his question. She let her eyes flick back down to the kneazle that had snuggled up against her, allowing a faint playful smile to cross her lips. "What would I do with a prince anyway?"

"No clue." His eyes drifted closed once again. "Go on vacations. Get a home without mortgage. Have a couple dozen pets. Go to fancy parties. Meet interesting people. Be happy."

She shrugged her shoulders lightly, eyes returning to him. "Doesn't sound to exciting. I do almost all of that now, and I'm more than happy." There wasn't many reasons for her not to be. "Any princesses you fancy?"

He had to force himself to keep his eyes closed and his expression simple and neutral. The statement could be interpreted in a grand number of ways, a few of which would be a direct violation of his promise to them both. "I've already told you, Miss Lovegoods. You'd know if I fancied anyone."

Something in the back of her mind told her that she already knew the answer to that her question, she just didn't acknowledge it until after he'd answered. Her mouth formed into a small 'oh', and she averted her eyes back to the kneazle in her arms. Despite her embarrassment, she took comfort in that fact.

Not really knowing how to respond to his words, she kept quiet, and nuzzled her face into Perseus' fur. And once again, her mind drifted.

There wasn't a response. Not a single word or indication. For all he knew she could be staring at him in that rather disturbed and upset way she had when he'd first admitted his feelings. But then again, it didn't feel like that.

Taking a chance, he peeked up at her, a slow smile lacing his features as he watched her nuzzle her kneazle. He hoped she never changed. That no one ever hurt her. That she could remain so peaceful and happy as long as she lived.

she'd caught a glimpse of his smiling at her, which in turn made her smile widen more, almost made her want to simply stare at him, but she kept her eyes on the kneazle she was nuzzling. It didn't last long, however, and she was soon glancing back over at him smiling, vaguely aware she was still nuzzling the kneazle.

Once he was caught staring at her with his stupid, lopsided and surely dopey smile, there was no turning back. Really, there was no turning anywhere. No looking anywhere either. She had him enchanted and he did not want it to be broken. Her smile widened his smile, an almost contagious phenomenon that transpired between them.

She couldn't look away from him now if she wanted to, couldn't stop smiling at his smile, but she could stop nuzzling the kneazle in her arms and simply hold him close. It was a long moment before she was able to wrap her mind around one single thought, before she was able to form a sentence that wouldn't sound like gibberish. "You know....I never really thanked you for our trip to Puddifoots. It was really nice." Somehow she wasn't able to call it a 'date' aloud.

The smile remained and so did his gaze. His eyes never leaving hers, he gave a slight shrug of his shoulder. "You don't have to thank me. I'm just glad you enjoyed it. It's not everyday we get the chance to do something like that." The 'together' aspect was bitten off the end of the sentence in the fear that it might make the situation awkward. Though at the current moment, awkward didn't seem to be possible.

"Not really," she agreed, her smile ever present. "Not like that. Though we don't have many chances to do so." Being at Hogwarts, and only being able to leave for Hogsmeade for the weekend didn't give them much chance to have any sort of outings. "I know I don't have to, just like you didn't have to do all those things you did last weekend, but I want to." She still hadn't said it had she? "Thank you, Sabel."

She didn't put any thought into her next action, just...let it happen. Leaning towards him, she gave him a quick little kiss on the cheek. And then she was embarrassed all over again, and grinning. Trying to hide both, she removed a hand from Perseus to let it run through her hair and bit her bottom lip softly, hoping both would hide some of her embarrassment. Hopefully.

He was in the process of formulating some sort of counter argument that no, she really didn't need to thank him, when she was leaning across the table. That movement in and of itself had him frozen in place, and before he could really comprehend what had happened, she was drawing back, the feel of her lips on his cheek lingering as if they had been burned there. Or perhaps that was simply an effect of the extreme blush that had decided to take over his face, compounded by a rather sheepish and shy expression.

Getting words to work and his mind to focus enough on the present rather than replaying the last three seconds on a continuous loop was a task in and of itself. "You're...welcome."