When tears began falling down Max’s it was so hard to keep hold of his face, and keep talking. So hard to keep herself from crying. She just wanted to give him a big hug, and hold him close. When he finally spoke, not looking at her, running his words together, her heart broke once more. Letting the tears finally fall down her own face, she stood on her tippy toes and pressed her forehead against his. “Max, I, I love you, and it hurts me to see you so upset. But we’ve always been honest with each other, and I know you. I don’t want you to ever hide when you’re feeling this way. I, I don’t know how to fix it or make it better, but I promise to always be here for you when feel this way. I promise to always try to help.”

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.

Did... she just say the L-word?

Max's eyes squeezed shut, unsure of whether or not he was hallucinating... or if she had simply meant 'love' like the kind of platonic love he had for Ellie. After a moment, he assumed the latter, and tuned back in to what she was saying to him. No, that was the OPPOSITE of what he wanted. He didn't want to hurt her. Upon realizing this, he started to convince himself he should never let her see him hurting anymore... until she said she didn't want him to hide it.

So... she didn't mind that he was upset? He was allowed to be vulnerable and sad sometimes? And she promised to be there for him?

Somehow, this had to be too good to be true. How was it possible that someone could know exactly what Max needed to hear? And someone so loyal that he KNEW she was being sincere?

"I don't believe that you're real, Emmaleigh Swynford," Max murmured through soft laughter, using his robe sleeve to wipe off her face. "You cannot possibly exist in this world. Too perfect. Don't believe it." He shook his head, crossed his arms, shut his eyes, and stuck his nose in the air in playful disbelief. When he dropped the act, another massive smile spread across his face and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, lifted her feet gently from the floor and spun in a circle.

Upon setting her back down on the ground, Max gave Em a soft, sweet kiss on the cheek. He pulled back, his own cheeks a brilliant shade of crimson as he said, "Thank you, Em. You mean the world to me."

He was laughing, and Emmaleigh felt relief wash over her. She smiled up at him as he wiped her face dry once more. He was getting good at it, he could be a professional or something. She giggled at his act. “That’s it, I’m just a figment of your imagination.” One that likes it when you act silly, She thought as he spun her around.

When she felt his lips, Max’s lips, on her cheek, Em turned bright red. This boy, she was perfect. She pressed her hand against her cheek and smiled. “Me too. I mean. Yeah.” She said all flustered. He got that right? After a moment, she wrapped him in a hug once more, and buried her red face into his robe, not even minding that they were his quidditch robes, and that he was all icky from the match he had just played. “You’ve got permission to do that too, whenever you like.” She said squeezing him tight.

Letting him go, she grabbed hold of his hand. “So… what now?” She asked looking up at him. “Do you wanna get so food and hang out, do you need to go do stuff?”She didn’t really want him to go, but if he felt like he needed to get clean, or change, or even take a nap, she wouldn’t stop him. She just, wanted to look after him.

"I knew it had to be too good to be true," Max replied solemnly, lowering his head in pretend sadness. He knew she was joking - or he hoped she was joking, and for a moment he wondered if he was in some state of sleep. It was kind of too good to be true, wasn't it? Maybe it was a dream...?

But... it felt quite real and vivid as he spun her around, their emotions so overwhelmingly joyous that any passersby would certainly feel their positive vibes.

Grinning as Em stumbled over her words, Max's smile broadened even more when she wrapped him in an embrace. He gave her a nice, warm squeeze, and hoped he didn't smell too badly from the match. "Permission to do what?" Kiss her cheek? He assumed that's what she was referring to, but... he didn't want to assume. Though she did seem to appreciate it, considering her gesture in return had been a hug.

Max held Emmaleigh's hand once more as she pulled away, swinging it gently between them. What now? Err... "Well... I should... probably head to the showers, since I didn't get to stop by the locker room after the game... and change out of these robes." And the other equipment he was still wearing. "But... I am really hungry. Maybe... I can meet you back down here in a half hour or so? If you want, or... if you're not busy."

He was physically quite tired, but his mental and emotional state overrode that exhaustion and told him that Emmaleigh was much better than any nap could be.

Permission to do what? He was trying to make this as hard as possible wasn’t he? “Uh, well. You can do, um, both if you want. But I, um, meant the uh, cheek thing.” She mumbled, trying to hide her ever reddening face into his robes.

Emmaleigh couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when Max said he needed to go shower and stuff. She was perfectly content to have him with her, even if he was all sweaty and stuff from the game. “Okay,” she nodded, trying to keep her disappointment from showing. But when he said he was hungry, and would meet her down here, she quickly said, “Not busy, not busy at all,” as soon as he had finished talking. “You’re not too tired to come back down here are you? I can grab us some food and meet you upstairs if you want. We could eat in the room, or” she paused for dramatic effect, “We could have a picnic in one of the corridors.” Because that actually sounded like a lot of fun, the two of them sitting on a blanket on the floor, eating, as others passed by in the hall.

"The cheek thing? Ohhhhh," Max teased, pretending to sound like he had no idea that's what she was referring to, then added, "Well in that case..." Pulling back slightly from their hug, he gave Em another brief kiss on the cheek, then returned back to their embrace. "Might as well take advantage of that whenever you're with me, right?" He grinned to himself behind her back.

When they broke apart and she looked a bit saddened by his forthcoming departure, Max gave her hand an encouraging squeeze as he swung their hands between them. Then he chuckled at her change of demeanor. Yes, Em, he would love to spend more time with you. "Err... well... we could do any of those? A little corridor picnic could be funny. But... we should go on a floor with a fun professor, in case he or she walks by." So that left out the first(Scabior) and second(Truebridge) floors. The third floor was also out of the question because he did not want anyone vomiting on them on the way to the hospital wing.

The fourth or fifth would probably suffice just fine. The fourth would have a bit of traffic thanks to the library, but... who really studied after a Quidditch match? Max knew that if the Runes professor scolded them, he probably wouldn't understand what he said anyway, so that didn't bother him too much, and... Magnus was nice enough on the sixth. The seventh was home.

But he didn't want to make Em walk all the way up many flights of stairs just for a picnic.

"How 'bout the fourth floor?" Of course, any professor could decide to take a stroll to the library, buuuut... he thought of the mirror where he and Vivi had failed at discovering the secret passageway, and he thought it would be cute to return there and have a picnic. And... to be able to see themselves in all their glory as a couple.

He was quite curious to see how good they looked together from an outside point of view.

"Are you sure about getting the food? I mean, I can just come back down here and meet you and... help you get it and we could both take it up there." He knew she probably didn't mind all that much, but he hated the thought of letting her do something for him without offering to help.

If she wasn’t so embarrassed, she would have given Max a poke in the side for teasing her. When he gave her another peck on the cheek, she smiled, and hugged him even tighter. “That sounds good to me.”

Oh, yay, he liked her idea of a picnic. That was really good because the more she thought about it, the more exciting the whole thing sounded. “Oh, I didn’t even think about what the professors would say. I just figured everyone would wish they were as cool as we are.” She nodded when he suggested the fourth floor. “Sounds good I guess. It’s about half way for both of us.”
She shook her head at his offer to help. “No, I’d hate for you to have to go all the way up, and then come all the way back down here just to return to the fourth floor. That’s just too much stair climbing.” She said giving him a grin. “Anything you wanna eat?” If there wasn’t anything in particular, she would probably just grab all the things she had grabbed last time. And pumpkin juice, lots of pumpkin juice.

Em gave his hand a squeeze. “So, we’ll meet by the staircase on the fourth floor in say forty-five minutes?” she asked, adding a few minutes to Max’s original meeting time. There was no need for them to feel rushed or anything, and she knew it would probably take her forever just to climb all the stairs he had to climb.

Holding Em close in his arms, Max smiled down the long corridor behind her. He was glad she seemed to appreciate his light teasing - or at least take it well enough. And she gave him permission to show light physical affection. That was encouraging, considering how Michael had made her feel about a variety of aspects in a relationship. Upon releasing her, his hands lingered by her waist, not quite wanting to let her go just yet, then his hands found hers.

They WERE pretty cool, weren't they? Max was glad Em acknowledged that, and he gave a few firm nods to support her claim. "Understandable thought process. Just... to be safe, though." Better to be safe than sorry, yeah? He would hate to get Emmaleigh in some kind of trouble - even though SHE had suggested it.

Emmaleigh was the best. Really. Max couldn't shake off that thought as she seemed to truly look out for him and have his best interest in mind - she didn't want to inconvenience him, even though he offered to be a gentleman. Wasn't that sweet? He had never met anyone who genuinely took his feelings and thoughts into consideration - even the feelings and thoughts that may not have been spoken aloud.

Though he tried to be tough, he was tired, and the thought of going up to the seventh floor, coming all the way back down, then going back up to the fourth floor was exhausting in itself.

Did he have any requests? Uh... "No, not really. Just... really, really hungry." She understood, he was sure, and he trusted her to pick something delicious. "You have good taste, so just... whatever you want sounds good to me."

Forty-five minutes? Once again, she seemed to be looking out for his best interest, unless there was something else she needed to go do that she wasn't telling him about. "Forty-five minutes. Right. Sounds good. I'll... still try to shower and get ready as fast as I can. Don't wanna keep you waiting," Max said with a shrug. He always wanted to be at any given meeting spot before her. He loved that feeling of anticipation while waiting for her to round a corner or appear through a doorway. And then the feeling when she did arrive.

Ugh.

He was absolutely smitten with her.

Em nodded when Max said he didn’t care what she packed, and that he would rely on her taste. “So, fish fingers and custard it is then,” she said grinning before letting out a laugh. She didn’t care what anyone said, that sounded so gross. “No, I’ll find something good, maybe Sheppard’s pie or something.” That would definitely help to fill them up.

He didn’t want to keep her waiting? That was really sweet, but she shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Take your time, I promise it’ll okay.” After all, she felt like he was always waiting on her, and it made her feel bad, especially when she ran a few minutes late. She was just turning to go, when suddenly, she turned back to him and said, “Wait take this with you.” Standing on her tippy toes, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, and then quickly scurried several yards down the corridor. Turning back to him, she grinned, “Now go get ready, you have a date.” Putting her back to him once more, she made her way towards the common room.

Her grin was still plastered all over her face. She just kissed a boy.

Fish fingers and custard? Custard was okay, but Max wasn't too wild about fish. Even if he had been, he wasn't sure that the two would be remotely tasty together, so... he didn't even make a joke about how that would be wonderful, just in case Em took it literally. He smiled when she suggested it though, well aware that she was kidding, but he was glad she made it clear that she was jesting. Shepherd's pie! "Mmmm, that sounds perfect. Good choice, if they've got some." A nice hearty meal.

His lower lip curled inward in a... smiling frown sort of thing. It'll be okay, she said. Those were such... simple, yet quite powerful words of comfort. "Thanks," Max replied softly, smiling as she turned to walk away.

Then, before he could process what was happening, Emmaleigh had turned back around, kissed his cheek, and was already on her way down the hallway.

A date? It was a date? "...Thank you!" he called to her weakly down the corridor, lifting a hand to wave at her retreating back. He folded his arms in front of him, a content smile playing on his lips as he watched her leave, and only turned to head toward the staircases once she turned a corner and moved out of sight.

His girlfriend just kissed him on the cheek.

Hehe.

He took her kiss and his giddiness all the way up to the Ravenclaw common room.

Minerva was still on cloud nine even after a week since she had saw Ethan in the kitchen. Smiling as she thought about it, she tried to shake it from her head, but it was just to hard. She had just left the common room and knew she was suppose to meet Maxwell. So she leaned again the wall and hummed a bit while waiting on him.

Looking towards the kitchen she thought about getting some hot chocolate, oh wait that was what she was getting that day. Giggling to herself she couldn't believe how much she forgot when he was around. Maybe after she saw Maxwell she would head in for some hot chocolate.

Maxwell walked toward the kitchens, Min seemed so happy..he was happy for her, hopefully she would be happy for him and she wouldn't think he was stupid.

He walked up to her and leaned against the wall with her. "Hey, so tell me all about it, detail? What happened?" He asked for the first time like a real friend who cared.

Minerva looked at Maxwell and smiled, "Hey" she was shocked by the rest of his statement. "Maxwell are you sure? It won't be to weird?" she didn't want to make things awkward between them, but honestly she was wanting to tell her friends and since she hadn't seen Ariana or Taylor, she was glad to find Maxwell.

"Oh got something for you..." she smiled and pulled out a box from her bag. "You didn't think I would forget your birthday did you?" she chuckled and handed him the gift. "It's nothing special, I just had Midnight the school owl get it for me. I don't know why I was thinking about your singing and figured I would help you keep your guitar in top shape." she smiled hoping he liked it.

Maxwell nodded. "Yeah, Min...tell me all about it, i have something to tell you about too if you'll listen...it's cool if not, i just..i need to tell someone.." He said with a big goofy smile.

"Oh, you didn't have to get me anything.." He said and opened the kit, everything he needed to take care of his guitar was there. "Thanks Min!" He said hugging her, in a purely friendly way of course, it didn't seem awkward or anything, completely normal. "You're always such a good friend.."

Minerva smiled, "Okay if you want to hear.." she smiled and then felt her cheeks blushing as she got excited. "Well I was in the kitchen to get some hot chocolate, when I saw Ethan, we hadn't spoke since before that stupid match how many months ago." She was talking way to fast, "Well anyway, he was in the kitchen when I got there, and we talked, he well... I told him I liked him." she smiled and giggled a bit, "and he said he well he liked me as well and then asked me out. We aren't going to be like boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. We are just trying to get to know each other and see what happens." her smile grew bigger. "Then.. well.. he kissed my hand before he left." she leaned the back of her head on the wall and sighed not believing it happened even still.

"Of course I had to get you something. I never forget my friends on their birthdays." she smiled and nudged him a bit. "So what do you want to tell me, of course I'm going to listen."

Maxwell listened and tried to keep up with her, somehow he managed to. "Wow, Min that's amazing news!" He said actually excited for her, it wasn't fake or forced, it was real. "So he's going to take you on a date or what?" He asked wanting details.

"Well, thanks Min...it's a great present." He said smiling. "Well, umm it's about Elliot and I...you sure you wanna hear about it?"

Minerva blushed and laughed, "Sorry I guess that was a bit much. I.. I dont' know what comes over me when it's about him. He just makes me all nervous." she laughed again, but then tried to calm down not wanting to make Maxwell nervous. It was different the Maxwell. Thinking of last term, she got all excited to see Maxwell, but thing had just happened without much thought between them. This was just different.

Minerva then smiled, "Of course I want to know. What's going on?" she looked at him really wanting to know.

Maxwell laughed a little. "It's cool, Min...you like him." He shrugged. "It's nice to see you happy." He grinned a little. "I've never felt like that...never really been nervous around anyone.." He didn't get it, but he was curious.

"Okay...Well remember how i said that I told Elliot how i felt and she told me she wasn't ready yet?...We got in a huge fight the other day and we just got so frustrated with each other..but we made up and when we did....she told me she feels exactly the same...." He was grinning from ear to ear. He whispered this next part so he could just say it out loud to someone else, though he knew she wouldn't want to hear it. "We love each other.."

Minerva blushed, "Sorry.. I.. I know the nervous thing is weird. I think it's just he is older and he seems super smart.. I just can't believe he would actually ask me out. He has to have a million girls liking him." she still couldn't believe it. She knew they weren't dating or anything, but for him just to ask was big to her.

Minerva's eyes widen as he talked, wow that was big even if it was with Elliot. She knew this day could happen, but she just had not expected it so soon nor with Elliot. She smiled super happy for him though, she liked seeing him happy and if it had to be the wicked witch of the west then so be it. "Awww Maxwell that's great, I'm so happy she finally came down to earth and realized what a good thing she has." Minerva smiled meaning her words.

Maxwell shook his head. "Don't be sorry, Everyone's been making me feel bad for talking about Ell, but i just can't help it...Say whatever you want, Min...we're friends, it's whatever okay?" He said happy to listen if she was as well.

He laughed. "Yeah...I knew if i gave her some time she would come around...there is good in her, Min i know it...even if it's hard to see i know it's there. It's why i keep fighting for her. There's something really special there, Min...and i wish everyone else could see it."

Minerva smiled and pushed her hair over her shoulder looking at Maxwell. "Thanks Max, it's kind of nice being able to talk like this. I didn't know if we would ever get to this point." She was happy to have him back as a friend.

Minerva couldn't help but laugh a bit, not mocking, just happy, "Well that is fantastic Maxwell. If you say she is great, then so be it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess." Minerva smirked at him, "It's great to see you happy Maxwell.. Really it is."

Maxwell nodded. "Anytime, i hate when people do it to me and i don't want you to feel like that around me." He started itching the back of his head. "Me neither but i'm glad we're here, Min.."

He knew her laugh wasn't rude or mean, she actually seemed to be happy for him. "Thanks...and she is, she's rough around the edges but all roses have thorns.." He knew it was corny but it was true. "Thanks...i'm glad Ethan makes you happy, I hope things work out for you."

Minerva smiled, "Well it's nice to talk to you about things." She slid down the wall and sat on the floor. "So what else is going on? Elliot have any amazing plans for your birthday?" Minerva then smiled, really smiled. "Well it looks like your getting to her, making her a softer girl." Then she blushed, "I hope so to, but we will see. I still think that there might be another girl or something, but that's the fun of it, right? Getting to know him an seeing where things go." She knew she felt nervous, excited, and so many other things thinking about Ethan.

Maxwell nodded. "Yeah it is.." He sat down next to her, leaving her present on his lap. "I know she's got something planned but it's a surprise...So i don't know what it is.." He said with a grin, he was very excited to say the least. At her next words he smiled a little. "Yeah..i guess i am...please don't tease her about it though....I don't want her to start acting different to seem tough." He listened as she talked about getting to know Ethan. "Yeah, a date will be fun. I'm sure he'll think of something interesting, since you can't really go on a real date at Hogwarts."

Minerva laughed a bit, "Tease Elliot.. please Maxwell.. I don't talk to her enough and if possible not near her long enough for any teasing. So don't worry about that." She shook her head, it would be fun to tease her a bit, have the upper hand on her. Taking those thoughts out of her head Min tried to smile, "Well whatever she has planned I bet it will be great." Trying hard not to roll her eyes or make any wrong comments Minerva thought for a bit, "Yes.. I wonder what he could be planning? You know how I am with surprises..I.. I don't even know when we are going, he said he would owl me the details."