Oh? Still not enough to make him get up? He was fine with taking care of a sick Penelope? Well, alright then. Maybe that was what it would take. And if she needed to get sick to win, then fine. Long as he took care of her, she could deal with it.

The snow under her back was basically all melted by now, she was sure, so now she felt grass poking her wet shirt. At least there was no more cold to go through...just what had already melted through her sweatshirt to her shirt. And the temperature was still ridiculously cold as well...and was that a cold wind blowing? Not that it really affected HER since Ascanius was blocking most of it from her, being above her and all, so that wasn't a big concern for her.

She was still shivering, and her eyes remained on the sky above him, but maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to deal with this too much longer, and she'd win...that thought kept her willing to just deal with the cold without moving.

Summer was here, okay? It wasn't anything like Saudi Arabia's summer, but at least it wasn't as cold as the winter either. So, Forrest was still wrapped in thick clothes, but at least he wasn't shivering and actually wanted to wander around.

So... wandering around and around. Alone. Wonderful.

Ronnie looked blankly up at the sky as she walked down to the lake. It was already getting warmer out which meant the end of term was getting nearer and nearer. Oh, Merlin. She hated the thought of it. The seventh year wasn't ready to leave, not yet...not ever...

As she walked, she didn't see where she was going and almost ran into a boy, nearly knocking him over. "Oh! I'm sorry. Are you okay?" she asked, looking at him with worry. Even though he hadn't fallen over...she had to check.

Ugh. Classic clumsy Ronnie.

Forrest didn't even notice someone passing TOO close by until he was suddenly in shadow and a gush of air hit him. He lifted his head to stare into the BIG girl's eyes as she apologised.

He nodded vigorously. He was okay.

"Your hair is beautiful." His mother had always advised him to point out the things he liked in other people and that there was nothing embarrassing in it, so... here you go, BIG girl. For your day to lighten up.

Mo decided on no hints. It was too much fun stringing Cat along with non-hints and dragging her out the doors and across the grounds. About halfway across, Mo even stopped and urged Cat to piggyback ride the rest of the distance to the lake.

The lake, though. That was a little too cheesy, but it was the best spot other than the Room of Requirement, which was the MOST cheesy of them all. And Mo wanted very much not to be cheesy. Romantic was okay, but cheesy was not.

"Careful of Titus," Mo moved his jacked pocket away from Cat's knee as he bobbled her along the pebbled beach.

By the time they got outside, Cat was really beginning to wonder where they were going. Every time she thought they were going to stop somewhere, he kept going so she checked places off of her mental list. Though really, not knowing was much more fun than knowing anyway.

She settled her chin on his shoulder and tried to peek at Titus. "Are you having fun on your date, Titus? Also, did he like being in Mo's pocket? Hmm? She wanted to know these things. She nudged the boy. "So I'm not getting hints?" Obviously not if they had gotten this far without any.

"No hints for you, Caterina. We have to keep you guessing or you'll get bored with the Mo and Titus team." He hefted her higher before she slipped off his back and tried not to think about his hands. On her legs. What was this?

The turned a corner in the lake, revealing a nice sandy spot with a tree hanging out over the water. Mo (and Titus) had made a blanket pavilion from the tree with a little table and two chairs tucked inside. He'd transfigured them himself, just like he'd made the food himself, and cast up the fairy lights to make blanket-stars. Himself.

What if she thought it was baby stuff and rubbish? "So... Titus did all this. It's dumb, right?"

"Fiiiiiiiiine." Fine. She was just going to pout a little bit and thought about pinching him but like, her arms were around his neck and she wasn't keen on letting go and possibly slipping. So alright, she was just settling with a little pout.

However, once they finally arrived at their destination, Cat immediately started to grin and giggle, there was giggling happening. She bounced a little bit so that Mo would put her down and she could do real bouncing because she wanted to. "Shush, it's not dumb at all." Not the least bit dumb or silly, it was sweet and Cat liked sweet. She was still grinning, though he wouldn't get to see that until he put her down. "So Titus did this all for meee?" Awww.

"Yeah, it was Titus. I mean, I helped. I hung the lights and made dinner and put up the tent and transfigured the furniture." Not like he was bragging or anything. Mo scurried ahead of Cat to put up one side of the blanket tent so a nice breeze could blow through as they ate, and when he turned, he was delighted to see that Cat was smiling.

"I thought it might be cheesy," Mo admitted, wriggling his fingers at her to invite her to come sit with him. "Titus helped too, though. He remembered that you liked orange lilies." And there they were in a little glass of water on the table.

Cat couldn't help but laugh, "You're making a list at me." He so was. It was a good thing that she liked lists though, even if she didn't, she still liked Mos.

"That's on account of you think too much." Cat grinned at him some more and tugged on his bow tie before she stepped inside the blanket!tent. She paused to admire the lights and then she headed over to the boy and stole the bunny. THEN she sat down, Titus in her lap. This was his date, right? "I think Titus has a crush on me, doing all this stuff for me." It was obvious by now that Titus really meant Mo, right?

She put her purple lilies in with the orange ones and was delighted by the two together. "Now I can't say I've never gotten flowers." Funny how it turned out being him to give her flowers first.

Her hair was beautiful? She blinked for a minute, taking in what he had just said. Then a smile slowly spread across her face and she looked down at the boy. "Y'know, you just made my day. And I thank you for that, you're real sweet." she told him. He seriously did. Thank Merlin she had run into him, actually. That was something she'd needed to hear today. "I'm Ronnie, by the way." she added, sticking her hand out towards him to shake.

Forrest grinned back at her. Now she made his day! He didn't hear he was sweet every day, hehe. How easy it had been to make her smile. Gryffindors were definitely better than Slytherins.

"Thank you too." Gringringrin. Taking her hand, he said "Forrest." 'cos that's how those formal people did, right? Just the name and a polite nod? He couldn't keep up very serious though as his face soon broke into a grin. Because he was HAPPY today, see? HAPPY.

"Which grade are you?" He was even making conversation. Way to go.

Ethan looked around at the scene slowly again at her words. It all looked so familiar and he knew why. Looking back into her eyes, he smiled. "You've been planning this for a while..? Well.. this is just.. wow.." He was a bit awestruck and just didn't know what to say. It seemed that she was trying to recreate their first date which was just sweet and incredible. "Yeah, I love it.." He grinned back up at her before letting his eyes fall over the food. "Did you make all of this..?" He knew how time-consuming Sauerbraten was, not that he made it without elven assistance the first time, but he could tell she really went through a lot of effort for this.

His eyes then wandered to the bluebell flames, smiling a little at the memory and the mention of the heating charm. He remembered having to transfigure a napkin into a blanket since the common rooms were locked at the time. Then he frowned slightly at the mention of the greenhouse, hating that she was so traumatized. "Conjured or not, they really add the finishing touch, don't they?" he smiled a bit at her, wondering if she still had a hard time with them the flowers even if they were created with magic, but he appreciated this tremendous effort. "They were yellow last time too, weren't they?" He tried to picture them in his mind, thinking that they were since he had his reasons for picking them.

He looked all around at everything again, then back up at her, nodding thoughtfully. "I think so.. it's one of my favorite memories, you know.. and this just looks perfect." He smiled, feeling awfully nostalgic, and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I love you, Min.. thanks for this." He still couldn't believe she had gone through all the trouble of recreating their first date.

"You like lists," Mo informed her. In case Cat didn't know that she liked them or something. Mo pulled out one of the wrought iron chairs for Cat to seat herself, even offering her a folded napkin. They were doing this right. Rules of Ravenclaw dates: do it right or don't do it at all.

"How does one think too much? Your brain just does what it does and why is it bad if it does what it does?" He gave Titus that jealous eye again before taking his seat too. "Titus, though... he definitely has a big crush on you. Biggest crush. It's embarrassing, don't you think? A nice girl like you with a goofy floppy-eared bunny like that? Tell him he has no chance."

And while she did that, Mo could take the covers off the plate of little sandwiches, the bowl with a fancy bean and noodle thing salad, and the bowl of fruit salad. "Lemonade?"

Cat just smiled all the while with the chairs and napkins and the Titus. She watched him and considered the question, "Alright, that's true, but still, some people's brains are like stuck on permanent overdrive." Or slid into it when said person was nervous and stuff.

She gave Titus a pat on his lil' bunny head. "His ears aren't so bad." She grinned and glanced back at the boy, "Seriously though, you did good. You know? This is the most effort anyone has ever put up for me. I love it." It was super sweet and she really hadn't been expecting all of it. Not that she hadn't expected Mo to be sweet, but this was a different level. And FOOD. Well, there had to be a moment of food appreciation, especially since it was part of the whole thing and Mo had done it himself.

"Yes please." She grinned ever on and on.

Mo poured them both drinks before dropping his chin into his hands and watching Cat just be... Cat. She looked happy and playful. She was nice. Like seriously nice. The kind of nice that extended beyond when people were looking or what was expected. And she didn't want to snog anyone but him right now. So basically...

She was perfect. Did she know, though? She didn't seem to know.

"I just wanted it to be real special is all," Mo shrugged both shoulders before sitting up again and carefully putting food on both their plates. "'Cause you deserved it to be real special. And you've had to wait, because Titus is so lazy when it comes to the romance department."

He perked up as if he'd suddenly had an idea. "Want to play a game?"

Lemonade was always a good idea and especially so when Mo brought it for date purposes. She had begun thinking about how long it took him to get all of this set up, but she didn't want to get him all blushy about it. So she just decided not to bring it up, yet anyway. But he knew, right? She'd said she loved it.

And he was watching her. Cat sipped lemonade and looked back at him curiously. She was pretty sure that his brain never stopped and she was sort of curious what he was up to. Fruit salad, yummy yummyyy. It went in her mouth. She glanced down at the rabbit in her lap and ruffled his ears. "S'Alright, Titus. You're still a good bunnyboy." Pat, pat, little love. "Besides, I didn't mind waiting." Truth. It was worth it and stuff. She grinned at the question, "I'm game for games."

And witty too, oh, so very witty.

Minerva's smile grew watching him look over the area and how he seemed to be in aww over everything she had done. The look on his face was exactly what she was hoping for. After the last few months and everything that had been going on. It was nice to get this chance to not only have one last date at Hogwarts before he graduated, but also to do something special to thank for not killing dumping her with most of the issues that happened. "I kind of had it in my mind all term, but started doing the planning for it right around Valentin.." She trailed off, not wanting to even bring that word up yet. Nope this was nice memories, first day nerves, excitement, and just them two. No need to bring up bad things.


"Did you wonder where I've been hiding the last two days?" She gave a small smile. Taking advantage of him being occupied studying for his NEWTs she had headed to the kitchen to prepare everything so she nodded, "Yeah I did make it all." So she really really hoped it was all good. Which he typically always enjoyed what she cooked or baked so Min wasn't to worried about that. Her eyes settled on the flowers she shuddered just slightly at them, but her smile never left her face. "They do and yes they were yellow last time." She wouldn't forget that, because it was the first time flowers were given to her by a boy and by a boy she was so nervous about that she had so much trouble keeping her composure.


Blue eyes looking into his green she tilted her head with a curious grin. "One of your favorite memories?" Not that it was odd, because she loved the memory of their first date and she had her reasons why it was such a great date to her, but she wondered why it was for him. Being that she was so nervous that evening she was just glad she remembered any of it. Her goofy love struck smile went across her face with his appreciation and kiss on the cheek. "I love you too E.. and this.. well I just really wanted to do something special for you since.. " no tears.. no sadness Min come on.. "Well since it's close to being it for you here. Plus with everything you have done for me this term even with my arguing and not listening you still pressed on about everything."


Pulling out the dinner ware she handed him over a plate. "Oh and here." She pulled out an espresso, yes it was colder for the first one, but she knew Ethan and knew he would have that drink no matter the weather. "Hope your hungry.." She winked knowing that was never usually an issue either.

Game for games. Hehe. Mo flipped both his hands upright on the table, half a move to show he wasn't up to anything in particular with this game, and half to offer them to Cat for holding. Even though holding hands was not a great idea when there was food to eat. Unless she wanted to just not eat with her hands. Faceplant in the plate?

"So it's not really a game, I guess. I mean there aren't rules. But I learned a couple of words in Italian, and I figured you could tell me if I said them right. And if I didn't, you can tell me the right way. Okay?" Hehe, he'd been practicing words with the stupid dictionary, but his pronunciation was probably terrible.

She figured that food could be put on hold for a little while if there was something else happening. Cat walked her fingers across one of his hands and grinned. She was pretty flattered that he had taken initiative to learn Italian on his own. She had taught him a few words, but apparently he knew more.

"Okay." She was ready to hear what he had been working on. "Give it your best shot, Branxton."

Whew, okay. Time for the game. Mo made a biiiiiiig production out of rolling out his shoulders and cracking his knuckles before leaning forward once again, chin on his fist. His smile was winsome, since he thought he was being very clever, and he thought Cat agreed.

"So first..." he pointed at Titus. "[i]Coniglio.[/]" Easy one. Rabbit. Titus-bunny. "And... panino." He pointed to the sandwich on his plate before stuffing it into his mouth. Romantical.

Cat paid close attention to his silly little display and shook her head. He was very proud of his words, she could tell, and she thought it was delightful. She sipped lemonade and listened to his two words. "Wonderful." not hard words, no but it was definitely the thought that counted.

"If you can talk about food, you'll survive a conversation with any one of my relatives. Especially my brothers." So that was a victory. "More?" This was a good game. MORE WORDS.

Mo grinned broadly at her praise, and since he was impatient, he decided to jump right to the point of the game. Winner take all. He slid his hand over hers and flipped up Cat's palm so that it lay flush against his. Just like holding hands in the most passive possible way.

Still looking at her hand, he carefully sounded out the slightly mangled phrase, "Vuoi essere la mia ragazza?" It had taken him ages to look up, practice, and memorize, and he'd been ridiculously proud as he started the question. By the end, though, he felt sweaty and stupid and wrong again.

She might say no. He might be making a big mistake. He might have just ruined everything. Still, he offered a jittery smile to Cat and squeezed her hand.

She'd been expecting more words, single ones like he'd said before. But she certainly wasn't expecting him to come out with a full sentence. She was more shocked by the fact that he HAD than over what he said. It definitely didn't set in right away, for that very reason.

But then her mind caught up with the words and her super impressed smile slipped a little bit. She hadn't meant to look at him for so long after that question, she really hadn't, but she was still thinking in Italian. Answering inside your head, Caterina, is not enough. She started to grin again. "Sì." GRIN.

She didn't answer for a really long time, and Mo worried first that he'd said it wrong.

And then that she didn't want to be.

When she finally smiled at him, Mo almost cried about it, he was so twisted up with worry. Instead, he pulled her hand to his mouth and laid a polite little kiss on the back of her hand. Just... seemed the thing to do at the moment.

"I'm going to be a really good boyfriend to you, Caterina. And it won't get ruined, ok? And you tell me if there's a spatula occurrence, and I'll fix it. And I should kiss you right now, right?"