"Elijah!" Well, this certainly was a kink in the plan, but that was alright. They still had about an hour before sunset. "Yeah, he isn't all that bright," Nate said as he stood up and took the owl from Jez's arms. "You were somewhere with closed windows, weren't you? I say, 'Get this to Jez, okay?' and see what he does? He listens well, but seems to forget about windows. It's always the windows..." Nate smiled and sat back down on the couch, patting the spot next to him. "Have a seat!"

Jez grinned and sat down next to Nate. "If you want to see a dopey owl, I'll show you Keegan's. His name's Toenails, and he's an absolutely horrid bag of feathers masquerading as an owl. He doesn't come through windows like a normal owl - he always has to come down a chimney. Almost got himself baked on many occasions - one time he didn't put on the brakes quickly enough and flew right into a cauldron of soup!" Jez giggled at the memory, then glanced at Nate. "So, why'd you want to talk to me? Is something wrong?" Jez hoped not.

Nate shook his head and set Elijah down gently on the empty chair next to him. "No, nothing's wrong. Except now Elijah's hurt, but that usually passes. I just wanted to spend time with you. Alone." He blushed slightly and reached over for Jez's hand. He still had something planned, but he would blow it if he couldn't remember the spell...

Jez smiled at the chair. Really the smile was for Nate, but she was looking at the chair. And their hands, she was looking at them too. "Like we won't have enough time to do that this summer," she teased, then looked thoughtful. "Actually, we probably won't. We'll be too busy doing fun stuff with Pam." Jez knew that Pam felt left out now that she and Nate were ... something. She felt incredibly guilty about it - Pam and Nate had been best friends for years, but she'd known him barely a year, and already it was like she'd taken him from Pam. Jez knew that wasn't fair or necessarily true, but it was how she felt, and how she knew Pam felt. Jez looked up at Nate, her smile, which had momentarily disappeared, back on her face. "So, what're we all going to do over the holidays? I've heard about bowling, can we do that? And can we see a movie? That is what Muggles call moving photos, right?" Jez was really excited about the holidays now.

Nate smiled. "Of course! Bowling, movies, water fights..." Nate said, winking at Jez. He needed a way to segue into his original plans...
He stood up slowly, patting Elijah's head and cordially helping Jez up. "There's also this, for rainy days," he pulled out his wand, "Creo Musica!" The gazebo came to life with soft, classical music. Perfectly fit for dancing to.

Jez looked at Nate like he was crazy. "Really?" She was grinning though, and shrugged. "I don't really know how to dance. Except if you count ballet, and I don't." She made a face, remembering the two years when her mother had forced her into ballet lessons. They had been awful, and Jez had completely loathed them, even though Keegan had commented that she 'looked nice in a tutu' with a straight, sincere face. She'd been allowed to drop ballet for horse riding, though, which she'd enjoyed a lot more. Jez bit her lip. "I have two left feet when it comes to dancing," she admitted, blushing slightly.

Nate smiled warmly. "Yes, really. I'm not too great either, but I tend to have musical flow. You need it for that charm to work." Nate stepped closer to Jez and eased her arms around his neck before softly placing his hands on her waist. "Stay relaxed," he advised, "And let the music move you. Let's start slow." Nate thought for a second, before looking back up at Jez and softly saying, "I've got it. Let's spin in a circle, slowly. And together. I step, then you step. Make sure they're small steps, too. Try it."

Jez hardly dared to breathe, afraid she might do something wrong. Then she realised that not breathing would definitely count as doing something wrong, so she tried to relax. That annoying voice inside her head wasn't helping matters when it screamed at her. Too close, he's too close! Jez ignored it, like she'd been doing a lot recently, and just listened to the louder, calmer voice in her heart. Let it happen, see where it takes you. Now she thought about it, the voice in her head sounded faintly like Keegan, but the one in her heart resembled Desdemona's voice. That was both weird and unsettling, not the least that she was actually listening to Des' advice before Keegan's.
Jez stepped in time with Nate. She wanted to look at him, but she couldn't. She covered it by looking down at her feet to make sure they were doing as she was telling them - i.e., not stepping on Nate's toes. She was actually doing pretty well on that front. She closed her eyes and let the music 'move' her, not just hearing it but feeling it too. When she opened her eyes again, she was looking at Nate and smiling, relaxing and calm again.
Jez actually quite liked dancing now.

Nate leaned his forehead on Jez's as they moved in time with the music. After a little while, Nate whispered, "You know, that charm doesn't require a wand to be in your hand. Only on your person." He couldn't remember where he had found the charm, or if it had simply come to him, a creation of his own mind. "Try it. Concentrate on a music type or a song and say 'Novo Musica' to change the music." Throughout his little charms lesson, Nate's head never left Jez's and his eyes never opened. He didn't want to open them, though, for fear that Jez would be gone when he did.

Jez was watching Nate all through his explanation, mesmerised by him. Half of her wanted him to open his eyes and look at her, but the other half wanted him to stay just like that. He looked cute like that - Jez could see why he'd had so many girlfriends this year. There was just something about Nate that made you want to be with him. Jez frankly found it hard to concentrate on what he was telling her, but she managed to get the general gist.
"Okay." Jez closed her eyes and thought about it, but before she said the incantation, she warned, "It might come out wrong, I only heard this song once or twice." Actually Jez had listened to it over and over - it had been on a CD that Keegan had sent to her earlier that term, along with the little black radio box Nate had called a 'Walkman'. She thought hard about the song, and said, "Novo Musica." Nothing happened at first; the classical music kept playing, and Jez assumed she'd done something wrong. She was about to try again when the music changed to her song.
Jez smiled, biting her lip. Would Nate like it or think it was weird?

Nate stood rather still, listening to the lyrics of Jez's song. Finally, his eyes opened and he pulled Jez into a tight hug, still moving slowly around with the music. "I like this song," was all he could say. He couldn't have said how perfect it was for him and Jez without bursting into tears. A quick scan around showed that it was getting darker out. "Want to watch the sunset?"
It was actually the second part of his plan, but Jez didn't need to know that. In fact, Nate had nearly forgotten the plan. But, he assumed, dancing with Jez for an hour could probably do that to him easily.

Jez smiled and returned the hug. "I thought you might." Then Nate suggested watching the sunset, and she nodded. She had a sneaking suspicion he'd planned this, and she was rather touched. She checked her watch and her smile widened. "We've been out here for almost an hour," she told him. She wasn't even tired though. She just felt really happy.
Jez pulled away slightly and ran a hand through her hair. It wasn't matted today, but brushed so it was slightly ruffled by the breeze. She didn't know why she'd suddenly had the urge to do something with her hair, but she thought it had something to do with Nate. That's what Des would have said anyway. Taking her sister's advice again ...

Nate put his arm around Jez's waist and led her back over to the couch they had first sat in. "Elijah," Nate called and the small owl ruffled hisnfeathers and flew into Nate's lap. Looking over at Jez, Nate felt his breath catch in his throat. Something about her had changed, but Nate couldn't have said what it was. Perhaps it was her eyes. Had they always been so gleaming? Or maybe it was her hair. Did it always flow like that? But then a thout occurred to Nate. Maybe she hasn't changed. Maybe I've just never seen her like this before. "Beautiful..." he managed to whisper faintly.

Jez was gently stroking Elijah's head - cute little owl! - when she heard Nate say something that sounded a lot like 'beautiful'. She stiffened slightly for a moment. Had he said that about her? Nobody had ever called her beautiful before, not even Keegan. She'd been called cute when she was little, but whenever anyone had called her that they'd get a dirty look and whatever she had been holding at the time in their face. But now, the thought that maybe someone found her pretty was actually really nice. Warming.
Jez looked up and smiled at Nate, realising he had been looking at her. She suddenly felt self-conscious. "What is it?" she asked, slight concern edging her voice. She tucked her hair behind her ear, blushing. Yep, she just looked weird ...

Nate snapped back to reality at the sound of Jez's voice, and was about to say something when she tucked her hair behind her ear. Nate almost fainted. "Just you..." he breathed before closing his eyes and cuddling into her shoulder for a moment in sort of hug. "Thanks for coming, Jez. It means a lot," Nate admitted as a blush entered his cheeks.

Jez smiled. Just you ... that felt nice. "I'm glad I came," she said quietly, looking at Nate. How had she gotten here? In one year she'd gone from just being Jez the socially awkward, bookish girl to Jez the strong, confident girl who felt liked, included, wanted. It was awesome. Some horrible things had happened this term, but also some really amazing things. Like Nate, Pam, Harvey, Scott Erin, Beezus and Olivia - her friends, and more in Nate's case. "You're amazing, you know that?" Jez found herself telling him. "All of you. All my friends. You're all awesome. You all mean a lot to me." She had as good as admitted she needed them all, and she didn't feel any remorse.
Jez was changing, and maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

"Novo Musica." Jez's song faded out nicely into a new one of Nate's choice. He slid closer to Jez, nestling himself next to her with his head on her shoulder. "Thanks. You mean more to me than you may think. Unless you've really thought about it, in which case you probably can get an idea."

"I've never thought about meaning anything to anyone, actually (OOC: unintentional alliteration!)," said Jez, her cheek resting on Nate's head. He smelled nice ... vanilla? Yes, but mostly it was an unique Nate scent. Calming. "So I guess I don't have any idea." She thought about it for a while, listening to Nate's song. She liked it. "Now I do," she said softly, after a pause. She turned her head slightly and lightly kissed Nate's forehead. "Shouldn't we be getting back up to the castle?" she asked quietly. She really didn't want to leave, but would prefer to go up now than having a teacher come and interrupt.

Nate couldn't tell if he blushed when Jez kissed his head: the rest of him was already feeling warm and cozy, so his cheeks didn't draw any attention to him. He sighed and hugged Jez tighter. They had to accept tat their time at the gazebo was up. "Yeah, we do have to go. But I cant move."

"Seriously?" Jez wondered if he might have been paralysed, then realised what he meant. She chuckled. "I don't want to." And couldn't, with Nate hugging her. She was physically unable to move. With any other person, Jez would had panicked and whacked them across the head, or at least told them to get off. But with Nate, it just felt warm and fuzzy. She smiled. "As much as I don't want to move, I can't." Gently breaking it to him ...

Maxwell frowned. "Well, if Your plans with them for the summer fall through You're always welcome to stay with me in London!" He said with a smile trying to save his summer from being boring.

"Thanks Max!" Ariana said. she was REALLY hoping to spend time with Joseph this summer but anything beats sitting at home alone for 2 months.

"You're welcome! And who knows maybe we'll hear from them soon enough." Maxwell said.

Lilly rolled her eyes. No information. From either statement. 'If you say so?' she sighed. She hoped her twin was alright.

'Yeah, I do say so. She'll be fine. So, how's life?' Rose asked, smiling at her sister.