Presley's face fell slightly. Awar didn't like them? Had Presley done something wrong to them? She'd put in all the ingredients! And lots of chocolate chips. But she bravely stuck her own finger into the batter and tasted her concoction.

Spontaneously she began laughing. They were disgusting! "I'm.....so....sorry!" she chocked out of her laughter. "These are nasty!" She wracked her brains. It was getting closer to 3, and they couldn't stay here all night. But Awar had wanted cookies. She'd been sleep walking for the cookies! Hadn't Pres read something somewhere?.......Yep! She laughed again. "Don't worry. I really do know a spell that will whip them up in no time." After briefly scourgifying the bowl and spoon, she mentally repeated the incantation, focusing as hard as she could. She'd managed her first non-verbal spell this week, and she was determined to do it again.

Suddenly ingredients began pouring themselves, and the spoon began mixing them together. All in proper quantities and at the right time. Presley beamed. "There. That should do it." she said as if her second ever non-verbal spell was a casual thing. No big deal, I just did that without opening my mouth, thank-you-very-much. Not that she was pleased with herself or anything.

Ethan looked down, trying to find the words to explain.. he just didn't know how. Their avoidance in class, the awkwardness.. his walking away.. it was his fault things were they way they were, and he just wanted it to go back to the way it was. But could it? And how was he to explain what he was starting to realize he felt before the game.. not to mention what he was feeling at that moment? Emotions the boy thought he had at least attempted to resolve found their way to the surface again as he felt his heart thudding in his chest.

Ethan looked back up as he decided he had to say something.. anything!.. he owed her at least that.. when Minerva beat him to it. His eyes widened slightly as he listened to what she had to say. The boy looked at her in slight disbelief and gently shook his head. She thought he was mad at her.. ? It was no wonder, since he was the one to walk away.. but it wasn't like she thought. "Not be around you..?" Did she really think he didn't want to see her ever again? "Of course I want us to be.. friends. You didn't embarrass me.. not really." He thought for a moment.. he had felt a lot of things after the game. Was one of them embarrassment.. no, he didn't think so. And yeah, he sort of gathered that she had a crush on him.. but after what he saw and heard, Ethan was sure he wasn't the only one. And that made him feel like his emotions were being played with. Not to mention other conflicting feels that he did not even want to delve into at the moment..

Shaking his head as if to shake the thoughts away, Ethan managed a rueful smile. "I just wanted to apologize for walking away from the game.." He pushed the last image he saw before leaving out of his head. "I was just.." Here, he didn't know how to explain what he was feeling at that moment.. "..confused about a few things." Hm, that was a bit awkward and he rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away. That was probably about as good as an explanation he could muster presently though. "You did a really good job announcing the game," he added with a smile, trying to change the subject a little.

Setting everything down and ignoring the cookie preparation for now - there was something MUCH more important to tend to now - Kurumi made her way towards Nessie just as the Hufflepuff began to wipe her eyes. Okay...something was really bad... Nessie was, by nature, more of an emotional person than not. It was something that Kurumi could relate to since the Gryffindor more times that not literally wore her emotions on her sleeve in her hair. Only Nessie didn't cry around people - or she tried not to at least. Kurumi had seen her do so on several occasions now...and each time had been very VERY serious.

Moving even closer to the younger girl now, Kurumi didn't make any sort of physical contact just yet and instead tried to catch the girl's gaze. "Nessie...what happened?" No sense in asking what was wrong. It was already obvious that something was.

Noot good! Kurumi was coming closer, maybe too close and surely by now she'd notice the baggy eyes. What came out of Kurumi's mouth next, was predictible and Ness knew the Gryffindor would have said something. She wasn't one to keep quiet when seeing someone subdued. Good thing it was then that Kurumi had good advice, advice Nessie trusted.

Answering this question took Ness a little more time than it usually would have. This wasn't something she could pretend she was alright about, this wasn't something she could pretend never happenedl. This was something huge, something that would possibly affect her in many painful ways.

Looking down at her shoes, the red head took a deep breathe. She was now ready to attempt to talk. "I..I.." Not as easy as she wanted it to be. "I..I told Tom we..we couldn'tbefriendsanymore." The last bit was mumbled rather quickly. There was much more, and before Kurumi could comment, Nessie felt the need to add it all even if it felt like her heart was shattering into a thousand pieces as she said each word. "I think he hates me now. I ..I told him I caredtoomuch, which I do and then I said I just couldn't it anymore which I think confused him. I feel like I've broken everybitofhistrust...I feellikeI'mbreaking." The hard parts were rushed, but still as the last sentence sunk into Ness once more she felt even more broken, thus beginning to cry all over again.

Why? Why the tears? She hated them so much. :/

Minerva decided she had to look at him, but looking at him was hard. It made her concentration and thoughts get all jumbled. Why did he do this to her. Sh tried to smile a bit, but it just seemed like he was struggling with something. Minerva feared he was trying to figure out away to let her down nicely. Which was fine, she just hoped he still wanted to be friends with her.

Once she started explaining herself she felt she might be saying to much by the looks he was giving and then he spoke up. So he wasn't mad she said it, that made her sigh a bit in relief. She had worried so much that he was mad that she said he was cute in front of the entire school. Then the way he said friends made her face fall a bit, yuup just friends. He didn't like her back and why would he, she thought. "Well I.. I was just so embarrassed after I pretty much blurted out I liked you in front of the entire school. I was just thankful that my friend Ed was there. Since he is a seventh year, he is a lot taller then me, he hugged me and hide me from the other students until I could get the courage to leave, but then I saw you leave. I hope you didn't think that I was hugging him for a reason." she frowned remembering him walk away and thinking she had horrible timing for things.

Minerva then looked at him, "Confused.. hmm that would be a great word for my world." she chuckled thinking of him and her small crush on Oakey as well, but she wondered why he was confused. Looking at him questioning, she didn't want to push him to say if he didn't want to. "Ethan, I'm just sorry. I.. I guess if I was going to tell you how I feel about you, there was probably better ways then at the quidditch match." Minerva felt her face blush, did she just say that to him. Why did her brain hate her when he was around. Fidgeting with her hands again, she wasn't sure what to say, "Sorry, I'm doing it again.. I..I can't stop my thoughts from coming out of my head for some reason." She finally just stopped talking and looked at him. Then her face turned again, "Oh well.. Thanks, I ..I guess you could say it was entertaining for some people." she giggled a bit. "It was a lot of fun, you know until I made a dumb dumb out of myself in front of everyone." She felt a small smile cross her lips as she shook her head a little embarrassed about everything.

Ethan eyed Minerva carefully as she explained about Ed. He guessed that could be true although there were lingering emotions about that moment.. so he wasn't sure if that was all there was to it. He smirked slightly as she seemed worried that he'd got the wrong idea. ..and so what if he did think there was a reason? The thought was sort of amusing to him because.. well, he probably did think that and for the fact that she didn't want him to.

The boy merely stood and listened as she continued, offering her a small smile. Things were still not the same as they were, but he could feel the tension lessening, although she looked so nervous. At least they were talking though.. He chuckled a little bit - yeah, announcing how you felt about someone in front of the whole school probably wasn't the best.. but wait just a second. Ethan stared at her for a moment, the hint of a playful grin threatening to emerge on the boy's face. "No.. you said you thought I looked cute," he began, smirky grin even more apparent. "Not how you feel about me." Because those two things did not have to be one in the same.. they could be exclusive of each other. "So.." he said as he took a step closer to her. ".. how do you feel about me?" As if he didn't know.. And no, he wasn't thinking about anything else right now.

Minerva saw the looks she was getting as she couldn't shut up and just kept explaining things that Ethan probably didn't even really care about. Like he cared who her friends were and that kind of stuff. Then she saw a few smirks, was he being entertained by her. Well I guess at least I can be entertaining, she thought to her self. Oh was it hard to concentrate around him, she felt herself fidgeting with her hands. Then she felt her face get really red. "umm.. did..did I say cute.. Oh umm.. I guess I did." she didn't know what to say, she figured just by saying he was cute the entire school made it super duper obvious that she liked him, and not just friend like.

Blushing horribly and fidgeting more with her fingers then she had ever done she looked at the ground. Oh lord, now he wanted to know how she felt about him. How did she get herself into this. Then he was getting closer to her, this made her heart step up a bit and her nervous jump. "How did I feel about you?" way to just repeat the question Min.. "Well. " she took a deep breath to calm her voice from the nerves. "Ethan, I think it's obvious I think your cute, and fun, and I like being around you. I well.. I like you Ethan." There she said it, she told Ethan she liked him. No one could say that she didn't. Now she looked shyly at him waiting for him to laugh or just tell her he did not feel the same way. She was glad it was out in the open now she could go hide in her common room until it blew over, maybe until spring??

Awar laughed alongside her cousin. It was the best they could do without magic. She watched as her cousin whipped up a batch magically and unspoken. She was jealous. Manolo always pranked her and she would never see it coming, now her cousin could cast non-verbally. She had much to learn. She stuck her finger in the bowl and tasted it. "Mmmmmmmmmmmm, its great!"

"Crazy people. That's who," Adam replied with a nod. Cause caramel is its own awesomeness and if anyone dare say otherwise, Adam will hunt them DOWN. Adam gave Rons a one-armed hug as he finished his awesome icecream. "This is the funnest day ever, y'know?"

Ronnie laughed, nodding in agreement. "Yes, that is true." she said. THEM CRAZY PEOPLE! How do they hate caramel? Just...BLAAAAAAAAAH! They really were crazy!...crazier than Ronnie!

Ronnie smiled as he gave her a one-armed hug. She chuckled. "It IS the funnest day ever!" she said. "I've never had so much fun with someone before..." she said, her eyes meeting his. She smiled and blushed slightly. "I like being around you." she said, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a big hug.

Ethan's slight grin grew slowly and he watched Minerva with a playful glint in his eye. She seemed awfully nervous around him, even more so by the minute, and he was enjoying the fact that he was able to elicit this sort of reaction from the girl. He tilted his head slightly trying to meet her eyes as she looked down and took another step towards her as she finally spoke. "Yes," he said, smirky grin apparent, as he confirmed the question that she repeated back to him. "How do you feel about me?"

Cute.. fun.. like to be around you.. Ethan nodded to each of those as he continued his smirky grin and took a few steps to narrow the gap between them. "You know.. you're pretty cute when you're blushing," he said, finally meeting her gaze as she looked up at him. "Am I making you nervous?"

Dora broke apart her candy and added them to the batter, snagging a piece for herself to snack on while they waited for the cookies to bake. "Check the cabinets. Or whatever's sitting on the counters. The tea can't be too hard to find cause they have to supply the whole school." So there was a big stash of tea somewhere. No need to run to the greenhouses just yet.

Since they were doing all the work... she would sit back and let them. "Are you using tea making herbs for your herbology journal?" She was mostly speaking to Sarah, but the question was poised to both of them.

Minerva felt herself blushing even more and then when she made eye contact with him, she saw his grin. She was glad he was enjoying this. She felt so awkward and she felt her heart start to race even more. She glanced back at the ground and then a quick glance at the door, she didn't want to run, she liked being near him, but she felt so nervous. She hated not being in control, books she was in control, class most of the time in control, but around him, not so much.

Then he said the only thing.. well one of the only things that made Minerva giggled a bit and blush even more. "Oh.. I am?" she questioned him and made eye contact noticing he was so close to her now. Minerva then rolled her eyes and giggled again, "Like that isn't obvious.. Yes, this is making me nervous. I just told you how I feel about you, that would make anyone nervous, but yes Ethan you make me nervous whenever your around." she smiled and looked into his eyes.

"Going somewhere?" Ethan's grin started to falter almost imperceptibly as he saw Minerva's eyes dart to the door. He could tell that her nervousness was growing and he rather enjoyed that the previous awkward tension had been replaced by a different kind of tension.. one that was more fun. Was she not enjoying it as well?

But then she was looking at him again. "Mhmm.." he drawled as an answer to her question as he started to lean closer.

". . ."

Giggling?

Ethan straightened up and listened to Minerva's next words. "Well.. you're not supposed to be laughing.." he started, grin falling into a mock pout. He wasn't upset, really, but his close proximity was obviously making her nerves work overtime. "I don't want to make you too uncomfortable though.." He gave her a genuine smile and took a few steps backwards. As fun as he thought his flirting was.. He was afraid she'd have a heart attack if he got any closer.

Minerva froze and found a frown coming to her face, what did she do wrong. How did she mess this up. She was nervous way to nervous, but it wasn't a bad nervous. It was more of an excitement then anything else, and a fear of him not feeling the same, but stil not a bad nervous. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. Pull it together Min or your going to scare him off.

Opening her eyes she smiled and stepped closer to him this time. Without thinking she placed her hand on his arm. Keeping the shy smile across her lips she sighed, "Ethan, I hope I didn't just freak you out. I wasn't meaning to. This is.. well different for me. Yes I have dated, yes I have had crushes, but you make me so nervous, and I'm not sure why." she blushed again, "I'm sorry if this seems odd or anything, but I.. I do like you and I would like to see if well.." was she really going to say this.. did she have the courage or was Maxwell right, she was just to backwards and couldn't tell a boy how she felt..."I would like to know how you feel about me and if there might be a chance at anything here." Minerva knew her face had to be super red at this point, but she tried to keep her breath from faltering as her heart was racing. She couldn't believe that just came out of her mouth, but it was now or never. Now to see Ethan's reaction, looking down for a second Minerva pushed her blonde hair behind her ears and then looked up at him with her blue eyes hoping he wouldn't think she was to forward at that moment.

Adam grinned. Ronnie was so adorable when she blushed!!!!! "You aren't too bad yourself, girlie," he said, hugging his girlfriend back and grinning more. "We gotta adventure more often." It gave Adam excuses to spend time with Ronnie, and if each adventure was as great as this one, he'd be set for the year!

Ronnie giggled. "Why, thank you!" she said, beaming and still hugging him. She then nodded, giving him a little squeeze. "Yeah, we really do! Like, every time we get the chance!" she said with a grin, kissing his cheek. She could adventure with Adam for days and could never get tired of it! And she wouldn't mind going and getting ice cream afterwards every time, also.

. . .
Well, not EVERY time 'cause they might get fat. And Ronnie surely didn't wanna be fat.

Kurumi waited quietly while Nessie seemed to sort her thoughts. Whatever it was that was bothering her, it was not just effecting her emotionally but also physically. She seemed more pale, which made the bags under her eyes more prominent, and just everything about Nessie seemed smaller. Like she was trying to hide herself. Trying to maybe disappear.

A feeling Kurumi knew all too well.

When Nessie did finally speak, Kurumi's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. Her and Tom...NOT friends anymore? They couldn't be friends anymore? How did that make any sense?! They were perfect for each other - as far as Kurumi was concerned. Tom seemed to know the ins and outs of how Nessie thought and was one of the people Nessie trusted most. What made it so that they couldn't be friends anymore? This made no sense...

In a feeble attempt to blink away her confusion, Kurumi summoned to mugs from the cupboard and then some cocoa from another and fixed the pair of them some hot cocoa and set them on the table in the center of the kitchen. "Nessie...come here and sit down and tell me everything that happened," she coaxed softly. Nessie didn't have to drink the cocoa if she didn't feel like it, but the heat on her hands and smell might be a little soothing. Chocolate did have magical properties after all. Kurumi didn't want for Nessie to move and instead too a quiet lead on her own and sat down. "Why can't you two be friends anymore?"

"You're welcome, beautiful," Adam said with a wink. He couldn't help but smile as Rons kissed his cheek. "And we could do a little something kinda like this afterwards!" With just hanging out like they were now, cause there was no better way Adam could imagine it.

Ronnie blushed deeply as he called her beautiful. D'awww shucks!
She grinned at what he said. "YAY!" That'd be SO awesome! she said, doing a little dance and giggling. Her and Adam were the bestest adventurers...and...couple...EVER! She was one lucky gal!

"Sooo..." she said, leaning against him. "You hungry for anything else?" they could probably go to the Great Hall now to eat since it was just about time for dinner.

Adam wrapped his arms around Ronnie as she leaned against him. "Yeah, I think it's about dinner time," he said with a nod, suddenly aware that his stomach was growling. Apparently a giant ice cream sundae was not enough. "Wanna head to the Great Hall? I think there's a Gingerbread house thing, it's all edible." Cause more sugar was awesome. "Or we could just head to the Hall for a real dinner. Your pick."

Ethan merely stood and waited for Minerva to speak. Had he come on too strong? He couldn't help it really.. was just the heat of the moment, he guessed, and now he sorta felt bad for making her so uncomfortable. But, come on Min.. it was a fun kind of uncomfortable, right? The boy watched her curiously for a moment as she closed her eyes, then found his grin returning as the girl came closer. That was more like it.

His eyes fell on her hand for just a second then looked back up to her face. "You didn't freak me out," he began shaking his head lightly. "I think that might be the other way around.." he added, raising an eyebrow. Then he just listened to her words, the hint of a grin still lingering on his lips. Was there anything between them? Ethan couldn't deny the growing attraction he had felt since he first met her. And he certainly couldn't deny the electricity he had felt in the room mere minutes ago.. "Well.." he began, "I do like being around you.. and I think it's possible that we can be more than friends.." Ethan paused and looked the girl directly in the eye. "But I also want you to know that I'm not looking to jump into a relationship right now.. Can we just see how things work out?" He'd love to get to know her better on a one-on-one basis.. but he also still had some lingering confusing emotions, that he thought she might have as well. And best to be upfront and honest, right? He certainly didn't want to play any games with her. "Or.. what do you want to see happen here?"

Minerva watched as she talked to his face, the grin made her keep a weird smile across her face. She liked that grin, it was cute, and fun, and made her nervous.. She kept talking hoping she wasn't talking to much. She breathed a sigh of relief when he said she didn't freak him out, well at least that was a plus. She would have hated to upset or freak him out. Her hand was still on his arm without thinking about it and she kept her blue eyes on his green eyes.

Her smile grew as he said there could be something more. Then he said he didn't want to jump into a relationship. Well that was different, not losing the smile she thought for a moment, it was probably that girl that Maxwell had told her about. Elliot was trying to set him up with. Did he like her as well, well she couldn't blame him. There were many girls who seemed to like him, and why wouldn't they look how cute he was, and charming. She bit her lip without losing the smile. Playing with her blonde hair with her free hand, it was time for her to talk again. "Ethan, I do like you. I understand that you don't want to rush into anything. It's not like we have known each other very long. So I would like to get to know you bother and see what happens." she took a deep breath to keep her nerves down.

Stop crying. She told herself in her mind. Stop.

It wasn't helping at all, nothing really was. It was a good thing Ness couldn't see the expression on Kurumi's face though, because that would have made her feel a little worse. Her tears were blocking her eye sight and it wasn't entirely easy to see things clearly.

The smell of hot chocolate filled the air, and it was because of this, Nessie noticed Kurumi had made exactly that for the two of them. The red head nodded at Kurumi and then moved over towards the table slowly, not wanting to trip because of her unclear view. She coped though and finally sat down to grasp a warm cup of hot chocolate. Her favorite drink in the whole wide world. She took a sip of the soothing hot drink and then attempted to wipe her eyes with one hand as she tried to think of the best way to explain everything.

"We..we.." Hiccup. Silly tears. "We..can't be friends..any..anymore..bec...because I..I had biggerfeelings..than justthattowardshim." Mor hiccuping "I do...don't think hefeelsthesame, whi..which was why I..I decided..it..it..would be better not to get..get hurt more by beingfriendswithhim." A whole big mess this was, that was something Ness was certain of, another was that no matter how much she wanted to seperate herself from him she felt it was almost impossible. He was her bestest friend, probably even more special than the one she had lost so many years ago. She loved him, he was her everything, he was one person she could go to for literally anything. He was her Tommycat.

Ethan watched her face carefully as he waited for Minerva to speak. He knew she liked him.. and he liked her as well, but did he upset her with his honesty? The fifteen year old hoped not. He did want to get to know her better.. maybe take her out.. but did she expect more than that?

And then she spoke.. and he grinned again. "Perfect," Ethan said, quite happy that she agreed.. they could get to know each other and see what happened from there, no premature commitments. The boy picked up Minnie's free hand and held it loosely between his fingers as he looked into her eyes again. "So.. let's get to know each other better then.. Would you like to go out sometime? Just you and me?" He watched her, waiting for a response, but had a pretty good idea of what her answer would be.