Laura smiled at Christmas. "Yeah I know I am." Laura didn't want to see her friend get into trouble, "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid, I don't want to see you getting into trouble."

Christmas looked at Laura and said "I promise Laura i will not get myself into trouble and i will not do anything stupid"

Derry had been inside the castle for so long she'd almost forgotten what the outside looked like... sort of. Well... maybe not, but she'd been doing homework for ages and she wanted to be outside. She had pulled on her boots and her big fluffy tartan jumper, wrapped herself up in her cloak and made her way down to the lake.

December in Scotland was always a cold experience, but snow was great. So Derry smiled to herself as she moved through the flakes, her head back, tongue out, trying to catch the snow.

It seemed like only yesterday that it had summer and sunny and all of that and now .. it wasn't. Bliss kinda missed it. Summer time had been a good time, in some ways, anyway. Putting all her family worries aside, it had. West and Brighton had been brilliant, but now there wouldn't be much more West or any Brighton. She'd have to start making new memories, with other friends. Le sigh. Though, she would need to be alone to begin with.

Wrapped in several layers and her favourite scarf, she headed out of the castle and down to the lake. It was always so beautiful in the Winter, a sight that couldn't be missed. OHHHH, snow. Pretty. AND A SOMEONE. "Hey, Derry?" Bliss asked, peering over her scarf, which she'd brought up to just below her eyes to keep her nose warm. "It's nice, isn't it?" .. if you like this sort of thing. Obviously.

Derry was enjoying herself, wandering around catching snowflakes, and hadn't noticed she'd already reached the lakeside until her boots crunched on the ice at the water's edge and she glanced down. Oops, better start paying attention, Derry, or you might end up accidentally drowning yourself. She adjusted her scarf closer around her and stared out at the lake, feeling suddenly a little disappointed she wouldn't be going home for Christmas. But at least she'd be going to a friend's instead, that would be nice...

Thoughts of Christmas brought on thoughts of presents, and how on Earth she was going to be able to afford presents for the people she knew. She liked lots of people at Hogwarts enough to want to give them something, but she also didn't have any money to buy things with. Hmm... Maybe she should make stuff... She was totally lost in her own little world when she heard her name and turned around. "Oh, hello Bliss." she said with a smile, brushing some of the ginger hair out of the way that had fallen into her eyes. "I like it, snow reminds me of nice things." Like... last Christmas when she'd been riding with her dad and the snow had started falling on their way home and they'd pretended to be in Middle Earth and stuff...

Snow. Cold. Christmas. This would be so different in comparison to last year; mainly because her Dad wouldn't be part of it and also, West wouldn't. Without doubt, it would be a quiet Christmas. A lonely Christmas, even in a full house of people. Hopefully, she'd still be able to make it a good time for her friends (and family, maybe) by getting them all presents and spending time with them. If they wanted to spend time with her. She wouldn't get that many present, too much effort, especially in this now chilling world.

BRRRRRRR.

Bliss turned attention back to Derry and returning the smile, while wrapping her coat more snugly around herself. "Me too," she said, her voice quietened as memories flooded her mind. "Do you think it's snowed enough to make a snowman?" She thought it had, but then, maybe not. It took a lot of snow to make one. Ducking down into a crouch, she scrapped her hand into the perfect crispy snow to see how deep it was. Fairly deep by the looks of it. "What d'ya say? Want to make a snowman?" BEAM. If not, she'd make one on her own, no fuss. Two is always better than one, though.

Derry was kind of tempted just to flop on the floor and roll around in the snow. Or something. But she got the feeling that wasn't what normal people did around here - it wasn't what normal people did back home either but at least there it was just her parents who'd see her and they didn't mind how weird she was. Anyway, most people would probably be freezing in this weather, and Derry was used to it, so even that would look weirder. Psh, it was exhausting trying not to look like a complete freak in front of all these new people, but she was making friends and stuff which was awesome, so she wanted to keep doing that.

Of COURSE it had snowed enough to make a snowman. Even an inch of snow was enough, if you didn't mind making a really tiny snowman, but this was lots. "Definitely." Derry said, a big smile on her face. "Back home we used to use heather and grass and stuff as hair..." she said absentmindedly, bending down to start packing the snow together. "And dad always gave me a carrot to use as the nose but one time my horse ate it and trampled the snowman so... we stopped doing that." That was a nice memory actually, even though they had spent hours building the snowman, they'd been riding afterwards and Osiris had apparently been hungry...

As they headed for the Lake, Jory looked at Oliver. "He looks better now, doesn't he?'' As a matter of fact, it seemed as if he had not gotten lost at all. Oliver seemed to be back to his old self.

Oh yes. DADA. "Sure, we could start now, if you like?'' the Puffer said, enthusiastically. He wanted to duel again. it had been a while, so it would be fun. "Oliver can come too. We would be sure that we don't hit him with any of out spells. Oh ad Ronnie, you're going down!'' Jory grinned. He had never dueled her before but it should be fun as they were not really dueling to injure.

She smiled and nodded at what Jory said. "He sure does. He ate all that food really fast." she said, chuckling and kissing the top of his head. She loved her baby Oliver. Hehe.

She then rolled her eyes when he said she was going down. He was kinda cute when he got all...competitive. Heh. "Oh, please! I'm a master at dueling." she said, beaming. Yeah. That's right, Jory. YOU'RE GOING DOWN.

Bliss tried to remember her other snow related memories. Last year, lots of students had had snow ball fights, those had been fun. She glanced across at Derry .. maybe later. She'd ask first, of course, but surely the Slytherin couldn't say no to the chance of throwing snow at people without consequences. Or rather, not consequences from teachers. There may be some from her herself, but that was the way the game worked. An eye for an eye, a snowball for a snowball.

*hums* .. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snooow.

"GREAT," Bliss said enthusiastically, mirroring Derry's smile. It had snowed more than the fourth year had originally thought, so hopefully a big snowman could be made. "Oh. I've never had hair on a snowman." Heather and grass seemed like a good idea, though .. if had snowed, where did they get it from? Never mind, there was probably a logical explanation. For now, she'd just get on the snow-packing-into-balls. Bliss scooped up a small pile of snow and squashed it into something that resembled a small ball and held it up proudly, "we have a start!" Heh. She put it back down and let it rest on the other patches on snow. Time to add to it, she thought and listened to what else Derry had to say. By the end, they were both smiling. Happy memories were happy, yes? "I wish we had a carrot to put on it now," she sighed.

Though, they'd kinda need to build the snow man first :|

"We'll see about that!'' Jory said, putting on his best I'm gonna beat you at this look. But he had gotten distracted. Ronnie's smile. It was so adorable. He had began to notice that a few weeks ago after his break up with Ari. At first he had pushed everything out of his head but he kept spending more and more time with Ronnie and it became impossible to ignore.

The Puffer finally admitted to himself there and then, he had fallen for his best friend. He wanted her to know but at the same time he didn't want her to know. If she didn't feel the same way, their friendship would be ruined.

But he couldn't keep it a secret forever. "Ronnie,'' Jory began and he could feel his heart rate rising. This was gonna be so hard. "I er, gotsomethingtotellyou.''

"Breathe, Jory, just breathe,'' he thought to himself.

Ronnie shook her head, laughing. "Oh Jory. Don't be so sure." she said, giving him a wink. He then suddenly began looking at her. Just...staring at her. She looked at him curiously, cocking her head slightly as he looked at her. He seemed to...study her. And he looked deep in thought. Was he okay? What was he thinking about? She felt her cheeks grow hot.

Finally, he spoke. She nodded. "Of course, Jory. What is it?" she asked as she continued stroking Oliver, feeling her heart start to beat a little faster.

Jory noticed Ronnie's cheeks were suddenly red. Why? Then he realised! He had been staring. "Oh, no,'' he thought. "She must think I'm a weirdo or something.'' Way to mess things up even before he told her what he wanted to.

"Okay, here goes nothing.'' Jory, with his heart thudding rather loudly so he thought Ronnie must be hearing it. He wanted to look away from her, for fear of seeing rejection in her eyes. But he held his ground. "I really like you, Ronnie, as in more than friends.'' There, he said it.

Ronnie leaned forward a little, waiting to hear what he was gonna say. C'mon, Jory! Say it already!

Then he said it.

Wait...

He... liked her? Her eyes widened and her cheeks were growing more red. Her heart thumped wildly against her chest and her arms dangled to her sides, causing Oliver to jump out of them just in time. "You do?" she squeaked, her voice small. She had liked Jory for so long, yet she kept it secret since she thought he only wanted to be friends. She looked down at the ground, playing with her hands. "I actually... like you too. I have for... quite a while..." she said, slowly looking back up at him.

Jory braced himself for the worst, just in case things did not worked out. As Ronnie let go of Oliver in shock, he thought to himself. "Better get over it, Jory.'' He watched Oliver stare at Ronnie reproachfully.

But wait. She liked him too? Jory decided he had not heard correctly. Quite a while. That had to be since he was with Ari. "You do?'' She did! He was ecstatic! He took her hands in his. "Why didn't you tell me before?'' he asked.

She nodded, smiling shyly. "I do. I really do." she said, feeling her heart leap as he took her hands in his. She then shrugged. "I felt afraid. I felt like you'd only wanna be friends...I didn't think you'd feel the same way about me." she said. She then moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a tight squeeze.

"I felt the same way too,'' Jory admitted. "Imagine if nether of us said anything to each other.'' They would have gone years of maybe forever without knowing the truth.

Jory was not expecting Ronnie's hug but it felt right. He wrapped his arms around her. His girlfriend. "I love you,'' he whispered in her ear. Somewhere, around his ankles, he heard a meow. "Oliver must be confused, don't you think?''
he asked with a laugh.

Ronnie had just been thinking of that. "That would be...crazy." she said, shaking her head at the thought of it. They would go on for a long time not having a single idea they felt the same way about each other!

She closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her and she sighed. This was nice. No, perfect. This was just what she had been longing for for such a long time. Jory's arms wrapped around her, holding her close. Then, he whispered into her ear that he loved her. She literally felt like she melted inside when he whispered those words into her ear. She looked up at him, smiling brightly. "I love you too, Jory." she said.

Then she looked down at Oliver and laughed. "Yeah, he probably is." she said.

Jory literally felt at peace when Ronnie told him she loved him too. He had not realsied how much not telling her how he felt had been bothering him so much. From best friends to more than best friends. They couldn't be more perfect for each other.

"He'll figure it out soon.'' Who knows? Maybe Oliver had guessed this would have happened? Animals were smart. Jory still held Ronnie's hands. Now, he leaned closer to her. "I don't want to let go,'' he said with a grin. He hoped she wouldn't mind. He wanted to kiss her, let her know that he loved her very much.

She chuckled. "Yeah, he most likely will. He's a smart little guy." she said, smirking. Oliver probably had an idea right now, even.

She felt her heart beat faster as he leaned closer to her. She looked up into his eyes. "I don't either," she whispered, her eyes moving down to his lips. She looked at them, wanting to press her own against them. She held her breath. She wanted to kiss him, badly. But did he wanna kiss her? Her eyes moved back up to his, and she raised her eyebrows as if asking.

Jory kept his eyes locked onto Ronnie's. He grinned when he saw hers looking at his lips and then back at his eyes. "Yes,'' he said, answering the question she asked with her eyes.

He leaned in, his eyes closed and gently pressed his lips against hers. This set his heart racing again. But it wasn't caused by nerves. Once again, Jory felt at peace.

She smiled, feeling her nervousness fade when he said yes. This was it. It seemed like everything that next happened was in slow motion. Jory was leaning in, closer and closer. Then his lips were being pressed against hers. And it was...amazing. She melted into the kiss, her arms wrapped tightly around him.

Jory finally released Ronnie. He just smiled at her. They understood each other well so he was not worried about breaking the silence. They were too comfortable around each other to feel awkward. He still held her hand though.

"I feel very happy today. I wonder who caused that,'' he teased. Maybe he was in a dream? No, no. It was reality but it felt like a perfect dream. Jory watched Ronnie. He loved the way her hair blew in the wind.

When they stopped, she smiled back at him. "That was amazing..." she whispered. It was more than amazing. She couldn't even put it into words. She then smiled. "I do too. You're amazing, Jory. You know that?" she asked, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

She sat down on the ground and patted the spot next to him for him to sit. This was probably the best day of her life. She'd never thought Jory would like her too...but now here they were. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. Something she had daydreamed of for so long.

"It was,'' Jory agreed. "You're even more amazing,'' he added, squeezing her hand gently. This made up for the sadness he felt when he broke up with Ari. No, it more than made up for that. Everything worked out for the best.

Jory sat down next to Ronnie. He just stared out at the water, where he could see the Giant Squid. Everything seemed a million times better today.