Finlay was not happy at all. Why were there bloody animals in his bed. Well he knew why. He knew exactly why. It was all thanks to his favorite 2nd year. It was exactly why the seventh year was storming out of the boys dorms, not exactly looking his best. but then he had just got the shock of his life.
"SPIKE HUTCHINSON!" He yelled, as he stomped down the stiars. Oh. Finlay was not a happy bunny at all. As he got to the bottom of the stairs, he stood there, arms folded. Spike had better had a good explanation for this. Sure he loved the boy, and Matilda was cool, but he didn't want Spike's pets in his bed. He wasn't that friendly with him.

Now...that boy better be in here.

Spike puffed out his cheeks. Where were they? They wouldn't just leave him. They wouldn't!

He continued looking under the sofas, until his eyes met with feet. Standing right in front of him. "Hello," he said softly, worry showing in his eyes. Kneeling up, he looked up at the girl hopefully. She'd found one them? His eyes lit up...until he actually looked in her hand.

It wasn't them.

He shook his head slowly, curls bouncing. "Close," he said softly. "Right creature. But too big. And not enough." Killy and Kranky were always together. Always. He gave her a glum look. "Thanks though."

Weird. He didn't know anyone else who had frogs. At least, noone who'd publicised the fact. And it was a long way from the grounds for one to just pop into the Ravenclaw Common Room. He looked back up at the girl. "Lemme know if you can't find the real owner. I'd love to adopt it if it's been orphaned." He gave her a crooked smile, before dropping back to the floor to continue the search.

Crawling under a table, Spike was becoming more doubtful. Maybe someone had STOLEN them! He pouted. "C'mon Killy. I'm hereeeee. Come say hello."

And then he heard his name being yelled. What had he done? He certainly recognised the voice, and didn't have a clue why Finn would be yelling at him.

Spike went to stand up and find out, forgetting he was still under the table. A bang could be heard, shortly followed by a rather loud "OW!" Wincing, and rubbing his head, Spike made his way out and slowly stood up. "Good job Matilda's wasn't with me," he said sulkily. "Shouting for me like that." He pouted, still holding his head. "And anyway, what've I done? Cos I've got more important things to be doing." He looked down at the floor and sniffed. "Killy and Kranky have gone missing."

As the boy looked up, Brielle instantly recognized him as one from the same year as she. She always thought that he looked a lot younger than all the rest though. As he looked at the frog she held, Brielle could see the dissapointment in his eyes.

Riiight. Wrong owner then.

"Oh, no," she groaned when he explained to her. "That's a pity. I really don't know where else to look," she said, laughing. But maybe she could find the owner outside? "Do you need any help, by the way?" she asked, trying hard to hold on to the frog in her hand.

Yes! Finlay knew that Killy and Kranky were missing. But he knew exactly where they were. Right on his bed. Exactly where Finlay wanted to be. Sleeping. "More important?" There was something more important than Finlay? Spike really had to think he was moer important. Because Finlay was. "I know where they are Spike..." The ravenclaw was not happy at all. He folded his arms, still not looking very happy.

But he could tell that Spike looked like he was in a bit of a mood. So maybe Finlay should like tell him where Killy and Kranky were. "There on my bed..." He mused, eyeing his little buddy. "And when I say on my bed....I mean they are IN my bed!" And that was exactly where he wanted to be.

He nodded. "S'okay," he said with a shrug, before shaking his head. They were more likely to come to him. And he wanted to know what they'd been up to. What adventures they'd been on whilst he'd been worrying. "I'll find them, thanks."

He did break into a small smile seeing her trying to hold the frog, though. "You need to cup you hands," he said. "And stroke it with you thumbs." He watched it, definitely intrigued as to who's it was. "Else it'll keep jumping all over the place. And we'll lose that one again too." And then three frogs might fall foul to the frog thief!
Spike looked at Finn, now doubly worried. His head was starting to pound, his frogs were missing and now his epic seventh year mate was shouting at him. His lip wibbled, and he nodded slowly. Surely Finn knew how important his pets were? Like even more than Quidditch. He swallowed slowly, because Finn actually looked really scary now. Arms folded and stern and everything.

"I'm sorry," he squeaked, still not quite sure what he'd done. Or maybe what he'd not done. Was he meant to be doing something for Finn? Hmmm. Either way, he looked guiltily to the floor. He'd never want to let his mate down. Not Finn.

Hang on. Finn knew where they were? Spike lifted his gaze hopefully. "On your bed?" He looked at the Head Boy, clearly confused. His eyes widened, and he frowned. "Why did you take them and put them there without telling me? I've been so worried!" Why Finn was so annoyed, Spike still didn't know, but at least his froggies were safe. "Are they asleep?"

Opps. Spike looked like really scared. Was he scaring him? "Spike..." Finlay shook his head, grabbing his little buddy's friends shoulders gently, and smiling at him. " Don't look so scared...." Because Finn really didn't care that much. Sure he was kind of annoyed, but he really liked Spike. He was his little best friend. "I don't hate you...." He mused with a smile. Nope. He loved his little Spike.

"i didn't take them!" Finlay shook his head, looking dead serious. Finlay didn't have any pets, and he really didn't want any frogs. Spike could have his frogs back, Finlay didn't want them at all. "They must have gone from your bed to mine..." He mused with a smile. They did sleep next to each other, so that was probably why the frogs had gotten over. Mmm. He didn't mind it really. He just really wanted that nap.

"They are!" He mused with a little laugh. "And its where I wanted to be..."

"I hope you do," Brielle nodded. "I don't think anyone else would be too happy finding someone else's pets on their bed,"

Brielle's brows furrowed in concentration as she did what he had told her. Immediately, the frog in her hand seemed to calm down and she could hold it easier already. "Well then, wish me luck!" she said, smiling as she started to move away. "Oh, I'm Brielle by the way, and I really need to find the owner of this poor frog," she grinned to the boy, before finally heading out of the common room.

"Hmm?" Spike looked up wide eyed from under his curls. Seeing Finn's smile, Spike relaxed a bit. His hands on Spike's shoulders were reassuring too. "I wouldn't you think did hate me. Not properly. But you sure did shout pretty loud. And look pretty fierce. I sure know why you're Head Boy. You can be scary." Spike smiled, his usual crooked grin spreading across his lips. "Why did you want me, anyways...?"

"You didn't?" Spike bit his lip. "Oh." He was quiet a moment. "They must have wanted to explore. Though it's a very big jump." Their beds weren't that close. He shrugged, as long as he knew where they were, he didn't mind where they slept. "You could have just moved them, you know. Put them back on my bed. They wouldn't get grumpy with you."
He nodded. "Good luck with finding that owner." He was a lot happier now he knew where his own little fellas were. He watched the girl stroke the froggy, and smiled. "Nice work," he commented, as the frog relaxed at her touch.

"And Brielle, if you don't find them...I was serious about adopting him. Gimme a shout, and he can join my little family."

Dallin was trying to keep a straight face as he walked up to the common room with Ellie. He was still trying to make sense of what just happened, but he was glad that she had decided to come up to the common room with him. Now they could like, talk and stuff. Get to know each other more.

After answering the riddle to get into the common room, Dal held the door open for Ellie. "I wish we had a password instead of those riddles," he said, glancing over at her with a smile. He looked around the common room and spotted an empty couch. That was better than the chairs at the study tables, so he headed for the couch.

Ellie was quite glad they had decided to come up to the common room. She'd always seen him around before, but they had only talked once for like... five mintues. And now Ellie had a feeling that they would be seeing each other more often. Wiiiiink.

Smiling as Dallin held the door open for her, she entered the common room. "I know what you mean. Especially on those days I'm just not feeling creative or witty." She said with a nod. Those other kids had it easy with just remembering one word every month.

Ellie followed his gaze to an empty couch and she led the way. "Shall we?" She said with a light grin and plopped onto the the couch, crossing her legs, criss-cross-applesauce on the couch. As she waited for him to sit she figured they should probably talk and get to know each other. So, she said, "So, er... Tell me about yourself. Basic stuff, like your favorite color or... your last name." Ellie laughed. Another minor technicality.

"I have a lot of days like that, too," Dallin said with a laugh. It was a miracle he even got into the common room most of the time. Rowena Ravenclaw would have to be slightly insane to think that everyone in her house could answer a riddle at any given time.

He sat down on the couch next to her, crossing one leg in front of him so that he was facing her. When she asked for his last name, he looked down at his hands and smiled sheepishly. It was weird - they kissed and she didn't even know his full name. He was doing this completely backwards.

"McKinley," he told her, looking back at her. "That's my last name. And my favorite color's blue." What else could he tell her? He couldn't remember what she already knew. So, he'd change the subject to her. "What about youuuu?" Maybe something she said would make him think of something to tell her about himself.

Suddenly, Ellie thought of what her mother would say if she knew what had just happened. SNORT. What her mum didn't know wouldn't kill her right? ..Right. She was still smiling when he pulled his leg over the other to face her. This whole ordeal was indeed interesting. But a good interesting. It sure mixed things up a bit.

"Dallin McKinley. Nice to meet you." Ellie mused with a snicker. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, but hey, it was funny. And blue, it was a good color. Especially being a Ravenclaw. "Mine's Johanson." She informed him with a nod. And now her favorite color? "Hmmm." Ellie tapped her chin and looked up. "Right now, it's turquoise. But sometimes it's fuchsia. I'm pretty high maintenance." She said sarcastically with a wink.

"Nice ta meet you too, Miss Johanson," Dallin said with a smirk. Merlin, he really had to forget about how odd this really was and focus on just getting to know Ellie. Because at the moment he kept thinking back to the lake and he was honestly quite distracted.

Turquoise? Fuchsia? "That's light blue and bright pink, right?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow. He laughed when she said she was high maintenance, though. Somehow he could believe that.

"So what do you do for fun?" He asked the first thing that came to his mind. "At home and here?"

Ellie laughed when he called her "Miss Johanson", but then she noticed something about him. He seemed a little... distracted. And it made perfect sense; just minutes ago they shared a kiss by the lake after a session of much flirting. And now... they were getting to know each other. Hmm..

Distracted also by the thoughts of the lake, Ellie just nodded and said, "Mhmm." In agreement. When he asked his next question, she just looked at him and paused.

"You know what? This... This seems a little forced, the whole 'getting to know each other' thing." Ellie said with a slight frown, using her fingers as air quotes. And it was kind of awkward, considering where they had been just minutes ago. It was like some weird switch had been flipped. A smirk grew on Ellie's lips and she started to crawl across the couch toward Dallin. "Why don't we... do something, ey?" She squeezed in between him and the back of the couch and got close to his ear to whisper, "What do you say?"

Dallin couldn't help but agree that the getting to know each other thing wasn't exactly working. For him, at least, it seemed weird that they tried to do that now. And because his full attention wasn't really into the current conversation, he was easily distracted.

...Speaking of distractions. Dallin's eyes widened when Ellie started coming toward him with a smirk on her face. He tried to put a calm, cocky smirk on his own face but it ended up much less cool than he expected. Thankfully, though, she was no longer facing him. Instead she was squished right up next to him and the couch. OHAI.

He felt her breath on him as she spoke in his ear, and he swallowed. He did not know what he'd gotten himself into. Or even how he'd gotten himself into it, to be honest. "I - uh - yeah." he said, turning his head slightly so that he could look at her. He pulled his arm from between them and put it more comfortably behind her, on the arm of the couch. "Sure. What would ya like to do?"

It's official. He's an idiot.

Ellie could tell that Dallin's attempt at a calm smile was failing, but she didn't mind, really. And when his eyes widened, she smiled even more. And even more when he put his arm around her and turned his head to look at her. She twirled some of his hair with her finger. Ellie glanced back and forth from his eyes to his lips, like she had done at the lake. She almost snorted when he asked what she would like to do. Silly question, boy. What do you think?

"Oh, I dunno. We could..." Ellie let the last word drift away as she slowly closed the space between their lips and kissed him. Hopefully there weren't any prefects or Professors around...

She was doing it again - looking at his lips. She was also touching his hair, though, which was new. He didn't say anything, waiting for her to answer his question. Dallin surely wasn't going to decide what to do, because he was pretty much fine like this.

And - oh. Dal automatically kissed her back, all thoughts of his question disappearing from his head. Soon, though, he remembered that they were in the common room and there were people here. And then he pulled away. Because he did need to breathe once in a while.

"We could." he agreed with a laugh, smiling.

Ellie smiled when his lips were on hers and he was kissing back. That way, she didn't feel like she was forcing herself on him. Hm, he had soft lips. Bummed as she was when he pulled away, it was probably a good thing. There were a few other people in the common room...

Giggling in his ear, she leaned her head back against the back of the couch and sighed. "Don't want to get caught now, do we?" She smirked. Hm, now what? Heh. "I have a question for you." Ellie said suddenly, lifting her head up and looked at him.

Dallin laughed lightly when he heard Ellie giggle, leaning back against the arm of the chair. Nooo, he didn't want to get caught. Because not only would it be slightly embarrassing to get caught kissing by a prefect or professor, but he didn't exactly want to get in trouble for it.

Raising an eyebrow, Dallin sat up again. "Ask away," he said, half-smiling and wondering what could have popped into her head so suddenly.

Getting in trouble was no fun. Although... Losing house points for snogging... That could boost a reputation. Snort. Never mind. Bad idea, probably.

When Dallin sat up, Ellie adjusted with him and smiled, looking in his eyes. She hesitated. Now, how did she word this? She could just come out and ask it in plain words. Or she could annoyingly beat around the bush until he got it. But that took to long and she was slightly impatient. "Do I get to call you my boyfriend now?" Ellie asked sweetly, trailing her finger around his ear.

That... wasn't what he had been expecting.

When Ellie asked that question, Dallin had to actually tell himself not to let his jaw drop open like an idiot. He looked away from Ellie for a second, trying to register what she'd just asked. It wasn't very easy, though, since she was still touching his face and distracting him.

Finally he turned back to her with surprise still clear in his eyes. He supposed he should say something cute, such as 'as long as I get to call you my girlfriend,' but what came out of his mouth was, "Do you want to call me your boyfriend?"

When Dallin looked a way, Ellie frowned a little bit. Was that... a bad question? Maybe Dallin didn't want Ellie to be his girlfriend. She took her hand away from his face and ran it through her hair. Pout.

Ellie looked at him in the eyes when he turned back, a light of surprise was set in his eyes and it made Ellie smile again. Did Ellie want to call him her boyfriend? She almost snorted. Instead, she took his face in her hands and kissed him again. She pulled away. "Of course I do. Why else would I ask?" She said with a grin.

One side of Dallin's mouth turned up in a lopsided grin. That was an excellent answer to his question, in his opinion. Very believable. "Well, then of course ya can," he said, squeezing her shoulders with the arm he had around her. That meant that she was now his girlfriend. The thought made him smile again.

"Hey," he said suddenly, shifting slightly so that he was facing her. "You feel like going somewhere? Maybe Hogsmeade? I haven't been there yet this year." And it seemed like a good idea to him. Better than just sitting in the common room, right?

Jeanne went in with her parchment and quill on her hands. And a couple of books on her left hand. She sat down on the comfy chair and rested her head. Looking up to the ceiling she thought of winter vacation. Few more weeks and she'll be home, free to rest.

She looked at her left and saw the 3 books piled up into place. What is she going to do with it anyway? Read them all in one night? Although, she finds one book in particular, interesting. She has read most of the pages back at the library, well, she's kind of half-way through.

She took that book and began to shuffle through its pages until she have reached the part where she folded a page, indicating she last read. Flipping it back into place she began reading again.

Reading??? She remembers that she haven't been to Hogsmeade because of her reading. She promised herself to buy something nice or maybe another quill, since she just lost her spare one. And a present for her mother. It is Christmas after all.

Naaahhh, she'll go tomorrow.

Dallin's lopsided grin was adorable and it made Ellie grin, too. Dallin and Ellie. Dallie. Hmm, that was cute. Ellie quickly kissed the corner of his mouth and laughed. Today was a pretty good day so far, huh?

Suddenly, he shifted and was facing her. Her eyes lit up when he mentioned Hogsmeade and that he hadn't been this year yet. "I've only been there once. Let's go, it'll be fun!" She said with a grin. Ellie got up/crawled off the couch where she was slightly squished between her boyfriend and the cushions. Grabbing Dallin's hand she pulled him off the couch. Ellie pulled her wand out and Summoned her scarf and coat to finish up her winter outfit. It was getting cold and snowy out there, after all.

She slipped her coat and scarf on and looked at Dallin. "Ready to go?"