Cat really hadn't meant to make him wait like that and she sort of felt bad about it too, but he knew, she told him that she would say yes. Besides, he didn't like have a heart attack or anything, so that was always a good thing.

She had absolutely no doubt that he would, she never ever believed him when he told her he was no good at it. Obviously he was if he did all of this. "No ruining." She agreed with that too. "You'll be good and so will I." Ya know, she was good at girlfriending, as good as a teenager could be, anyway. Cat just kept on smiling because that was mostly what she did when she was around Mo, so she didn't question it. She did, however, touch her cheek with her free hand. "I think you should kiss my cheeks, they're doing that hurting thing again."

Also, no spatulas, but that might be inevitable.

"We're so cheesy," Mo shook his head ruefully, although he wasn't too afraid of being cheesy that he wasn't willing to stand and pull Cat to her feet by that hand he was still holding. He kissed her lightly - one cheek, the other cheek, and then the tip of her very pretty little nose.

"You should eat your food before I decide I'm too hungry to share," Mo decided as he let Cat go and took a seat again. And now that the asking was done, and his heart hadn't exploded from it, and he was ridiculously proud of himself, NOW he was hungry and didn't want to worry over things at the moment.

"You can teach me some more Italian, though. I already know French, so I bet I'm a quick study. And then we can pass notes in Italian, and it will almost be like code."

"Yeah, well." Cat shrugged. It couldn't be helped, right? Cheesy or not, it didn't matter either because it wasn't like she was going to be asking anyone's opinion.

"I'm trying to." She started, gathering up Titus again and sitting back down. "But you just keep on distracting me." True facts too, though Cat hardly sounded like she minded that one little bit. She tore off a little bit of bread and offered it to the rabbit in her lap, did he want? Hmmmmmm? "I will, if you want. It would impress my parents like a million times over if you spoke Italian with them." Cat looked back up and grinned a little mischievously. "Will you teach me French? Then we can write half in French and half in Italian."

Yeah, it was cold. He'd admit that because, well, it was and it wasn't going to deny it. But it still wasn't enough to get him to move. Ever. 'Cause he was in this to win it and......

......was that the grass? Jeez, how long had they been in the snow that they had sunk through it? No wonder her teeth were chattering and stuff. Jeez.

Ahem, so she was really cold then. And she was doing the stubborn Pen thing because SHE wanted to win. Ugh, but that wasn't fair. He had the upper hand. He had won and she needed to just deal. Pfft. S'was the rules.

And so he just looked down at her and sighed, "You'll wait out here all night, yeah?". That wasn't a question. Nope. He knew her. That was just the straight up truth.

Heeeeeeeeeeey, lookit! She finally got around to stopping by the lake! She'd been meaning to stop by here and now she had...too bad she still needed to finish carving her runes. Only four left, that wasn't so bad. She could do this then head back for some ice-cream. That was good at any time of the day.

She took a seat right by the edge of the lake and got out the book again. Only four. Not so bad. She'd be over with this before she knew it.

LAGUZ!!! THIS ONE!! The first riddle in their maze!!! She didn't know the answer but everyone else did and that kinda made up for it so she wouldn't complain. She GRINNED down at the rune, kinda like it could see her if her cheeks spread far enough. Useful as a symbol of water, of transitions between states, e.g., birth, life, growth and death. It is a perfect means for building an oath. Uh-huh...no idea what that was saying but that never stopped her before! On to carving!!!

"Itaglio laguz laguz laguz."

That looked good. NEXXXXTTT! Ingwaz. There we go. Right back to the runes she didn't know. Though if she was being honest, that was most of them, wasn't it? To gather people or to influence them. It can be used to establish dedication and loyalty, the "we" of a group. Okay, she had to admit, this one was kinda cute. She liked it. It would be a nice addition. "Itaglio ingwaz ingwaz ingwaz"

TWO MORE TO GO!!

Dagaz...and this one was...It is a good luck charm, and can also be used to advance one's station in life. It is helpful for spiritual advancement and understanding. It is an expression of universal love. Meh, nothing special but who caaared, she was almost done!! "Itaglio dagaz dagaz dagaz."

Eeep!!! Almost done!!

Othala? What the kneazle? That wasn't even a legit word! Again, she wouldn't complain. Nope, this was the last one!! This is a rune of merchants, but also the land-holding nobles and both classes in which inheritance, property and goods play a key role. It thus aids in partnerships, whetehr those of business, politics, or marriage. She was fine with this up until marriage...just saying.

Ahem. Carving. "Itaglio othala othala othala." EEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!! DONE!!! YEEESSS!

Mo kept adding sandwiches to Cat's place as she ate them. His point of reference when it came to women were his sisters and Alice, and all three ate like it was their job. Surely Cat would keep eating until there wasn't food. And if she didn't... well. Lesson learned.

Mo snagged the last sandwich and ate it himself. "I'm very distracting," Mo agreed. "And I will definitely teach you French. I bet I'm a great teacher with a student like you." Pretty and interesting and clever. And if it impressed her parents... all the better. Who knew that impressing parents was now one of the expectations placed on Mo's life? "Lemonade?"

So cold. At this point, that was all that was on her mind - besides winning - even though she tried to focus on other things to keep her mind off it. It would be easier to deal with the cold if she didn't think about it, after all. But no matter what she did, it just kept coming back every time she was even briefly aware of her shivering. Merlin, she wasn't sure how long she could really last, but she wasn't gonna stop pushing herself...

"P- P- Prob- b- bably..." Merlin, and now it was even so bad she couldn't talk without stuttering...keeping her mouth shut had been a better idea. Penelope wasn't sure she'd even last to the night, and they'd get in some serious trouble for staying out here late if they did, but that didn't bother her too much. Not as long as she won.

He could feel her entire body SHAKING up against his sort of vigorously. Penelope was freezing and she was just going to do her usual stubborn crap and pretend that she wasn't. Hey, he could FEEL how cold she was so why wouldn't she just GIVE up? 'Cause he wasn't going to back down. Boo hoo. He was a bad boyfriend or whatever, but he was winning this.

"Pen, you're shaking." It was more of a statement then a concerned question. 'Course he was worried about her well being, but she wanted to be difficult and stubborn and he wasn't going to lose. Nope, nope. So they were at an impasse. Unless, of course, she gave up. WHICH he welcomed.

She was shaking? Well thank you, Captain Obvious, she TOTALLY hadn't even noticed. "S-S-So? D-D-D-Doesn't really matter." Nope, all that mattered to either of them, apparently, was winning right now. Which was understandable. Winning was fun. Way better than losing. Also better than shivering and getting sick from the cold...but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make to win this...snow fight?

Yeah, that was what it had been. It seemed like forever now since they were just throwing snow at each other. How long had they lain here like this anyway? Not that it really mattered, but she was a little curious. And it was slightly taking her mind off trembling because of the cold. Mind over matter, and all that.

COME ON PEN. Yield. Give up. Do something besides just laying in the half melted snow/grass and give stilted answers. It was annoying and her shivering sort of KIND of made him feel badly. Like he was being a bad person. A bad person who wanted to WIN, mind you.

Also, her cold stutter was getting bad too, which meant it was time to just give in and such. Please? He would never say that out loud, but it was in his eyes along with the burning desire to kick her butt and win. Epic snow tackle of '81. This was history in the making.

Sighing dramatically he pulled out the pout and asked, "Can't you just give up? So you don't get ill." AND so he could have bragging rights. That mostly.

Since she was finally looking away from the sky and back at his face, Penelope could tell from his expression that he really wanted her to give it up. But he was gonna be disappointed because she absolutely refused to do anything of the sort. She'd held out this long, there was no way she was giving up now.

And the pout and dramatic sigh was cute, but still not enough to force her to give up.

"Th-Th-Then I'd b-b-b-be ill AND a l-l-loser." And that was not how she wanted this to end. The getting ill seemed inevitable now, so the least she could do was win and make the sickness more bearable. Getting sick and STILL losing was not a nice combination though. Worse than yogurt tacos.

Green eyes lifted from the flowers and blue flames to look back at the girl in front of him. "All term?" Ethan took another glance around again, smiling a bit as he gently ran his fingers over the flower petals. He was very touched that this had been on her mind for so long and she had planned out every detail. He looked back up as she trailed off. Right.. Valentine's Day. He didn't want to think too much of that day. It still upset him that not only their date was ruined but also a day that held such importance to them. But maybe this would make up for that. "It looks like you went through a lot of trouble to make this just right.." Hopefully not too much for her, but it was so thoughtful of her to recreate this.. and he settled in next to her as memories started to drift through him.

He looked up with a smirk as she said something about hiding. "This is what you were doing? I guess I had been a little preoccupied with my studying.. and I figured you had other things to do.." he trailed off, still appreciative of the fact that she used that time to do something nice for him.. well, them. His eyes fell on the Sauerbraten again, knowing full well that it took two days to prepare.. which was probably the reason he never learned to make that particular dish himself. That in itself told him of the effort she went through, though perhaps it was his own fault in having it the first time. "I'm sure it's all going to be great," he said with a smile. Had she ever cooked him something he didn't like? He didn't think so.. but he was especially looking forward to this for some reason. His eyes wandered over to the flowers for a moment as they were mentioned. Wow, she really did have a good memory.. or maybe the day had been as special to her as it became to him.

Ethan nodded as she questioned him about their first date being one of his favorite memories. "Well.. yeah.." he admitted, slightly surprised. "There was something about that night. Everything just seemed so perfect." He guessed he couldn't quite describe it. He remembered at the time wanting to make it really special for her whether they progressed in any kind of relationship beyond that first date or not. Smiling a bit bigger, he added," I think somehow I knew that it was the start of something special." Not to mention that first kiss that he had never forgotten. His green eyes looked into her blue ones as she explained her reasoning, then he nodded a bit, looking down. "That's just.. really sweet of you, Min.." Bittersweet, really.. he was very touched by how she pulled all this together just for him, but this really probably was the last time they'd do something like this here. He had tried so hard to ignore those types of thoughts all term, but the end was so close, he could see it looming on the horizon. He couldn't really ignore it anymore. And everything he had done.. He gave her a sad, small smile at those words. "Well.. it's just that I care so much. It's worth it for me to fight for you." Even if this term had been so torrential, he could never stand by when he knew how much she needed him.. even if at times she didn't know herself. Shrugging, he added in a small voice, "I'd like to think if the situation were reversed that you'd do the same for me." But he knew that would be asking a lot.

He tried to push those thoughts aside because he really wanted to enjoy this day, not think about difficult things, and he happily accepted a plate. "Looks great.. thanks." Oh, an espresso, too? She really didn't forget anything.. He grinned as he took the cup from her and took a sip, before digging into his meal. Yes.. he was rather hungry and this just seemed perfect..

Minerva couldn't help but smile at his shock. Well she hadn't been doing fine detail planning all term, but the thought of this was in her head since the beginning and it just grew stronger as the term went on. He deserved something special for the end of his Hogwart days and she hoped that she could help with that. Glancing around again as she dished out the food on his plate. "It was no trouble and even if it was you are worth it." She said matter a fact, because she didn't bat an eye doing all this for him. There was no thinking involved well there was thinking but not if it was to much work.

As she placed some of the food on her own plate she looked up at him and smiled, "I guess I took advantage of your studies to do this." She knew he was working hard on studying for his NEWTS when he was able to break from drama going on around the school. Frowning a bit, "How is the studying going?" If he didn't do well she was going to blame herself for putting him through so much stress this term. How was he going to study when most of the term he was dealing with her.

He thought their first date was perfect, Minerva couldn't help but aww at him with those words. "It was the perfect first date, wasn't it. Well minus the rambling nerves." She chuckled a bit at the thought. Something special.. It was special wasn't it.. amazing. "Well maybe Professor Elwood should see if you have a gift, because I think this has been very true. " She hoped it would be true for a very long time even though a frown started as she thought about him not being there next term. What if things like this term happened while she was alone. Trying to get those thoughts out of her head she looked back up and bit her trembling lip. She had cried so much lately she didn't want to do it now. No she was good at faking happy when needed, she needed it now, even though she was happy, but sad at the same time. Oh her damn emotions she hated them.

Blue eyes softened looking up at him and her trembling lip had tears that followed. He would fight for her and he proved that so many times this term. She took his hand and squeezed it. " I love you so much Ethan." She knew she could spend a life time trying to live up to everything he did this term and it wouldn't be enough. All the protecting and taking care of she had to have drove him mad at times. Then when she heard his soft words she couldn't help but sit his plate to the side and put her arms around him. "I would and will do anything for you. Don't ever question that." She didn't want him to have any doubts.

She looked back at the bag and picked it up. She was going to wait until later, but maybe this would show him how much he truly meant to her. "I had gotten you a few things for like a graduation gift I guess you could call it." She handed him the bag. In the bag is a letter as well. After handing the items to him, Min picked up her plate and took a few bites trying to keep her emotions under control. It was such a hard moment to realize he was so close to being done and she had a full term left in front of her.

Jeez, Pen. Give it UP! He wanted to win and had even pulled out the big guns- the pout. What more did she want from him so that he could win and they could call this a day because it was starting to get to HIM, the cold, and he wanted to WIN. His girlfriend was being a pain. Stubborn Gryffindor.

And then when she spoke he got even more frustrated. It was as if she was purposefully doing this just to make it harder for him. Sure, winning was one thing but the level that Pen was taking it too was extreme and he did not want to give in. At the same time..........she was cold. Really cold and he felt rotten. Just not even to lose.

So with a BIGGER pout he tried to reason with her logically, "Please?"

It was almost funny to Penelope how he clearly wasn't happy about her being stubborn about this, but HE was doing the exact same thing. He could have sympathy on his shivering girlfriend, but noooo, winning was more important than her health. Just like it was for her right now but that was beside the point, ahem. It was easy to be a stubborn Gryffindor when there was an equally stubborn Slytherin around. Heh.

"Wh-Why don't y-y-YOU give up then?" The cold and shivering made her immune to giving in to the pout right now - although it was STILL really cute - so she continued to question him, even managing a little bit of a smirk. "If m-m-my health is r-r-really th-that imp-p-ortant to you..." Hmmmm?

"Cause I don't wanna," he said with a smirk and felt his coolness, NOT the actual cold because that was a constant, return to him. He was not going to give up, no matter how cold she was because he didn't want to. There was no way that he was gonna give her the victory 'cause she got all merciless about it. Yeah, so no way he was giving up. Ever. Smirk.

With his pout gone, he started to play with her hair a little 'cause they were gonna be there a while and he liked her hair. A lot. S'nice.

As for the guilt trip, didn't work. Not a bit. Yeah, he cared about her health, but he cared about winning. And if he measured those...well...he wanted to win. Yeah? So she just got a wink and nothing else. No words.

He didn't wanna? Well, fine, she didn't wanna either, soooo... "L-L-Looks like we'll b-b-be here all d-day and night then." Unless he gave in, which she was SURE he would eventually. If not for her health, then for his. Why? Because he was probably gonna be wanting a kiss soon. She hadn't kissed him at all during the fight and it had gone on for awhile, so he was surely gonna realize that soon. BUT she wasn't gonna give him a kiss until he gave up and got off of her. So HA.

With that in mind, Penelope watched him as he winked and started playing with her probably slightly wet from melted snow hair. She was still shivering, still smirking, but now also waiting for the moment that she was sure would occur eventually.

Her hair was a mess. S'was really pretty, but, yeah, a mess of course because it was knotty and wet and they had been here for a WHILE. So getting back around to what he wanted- she should give up. Snowball fights needed to end in HIM winning, which was okay with him, yeah? And now he was getting bored. Starting to feel like he was in one of Glitter!Trousers classes. Aka, he was really booooored.

Could they wrap this up please? By her, yeah, giving up. That was the only way.

And then she was doing her own smirk. Wasn't as well practiced or attractive as his, 'cause he was real nice to look at-- it was the jaw-- BUT it was cute. In its own way. Hmmm.

He wanted a kiss now.

JEEZ, PEN! GIVE UP!

No more replies? That was fine. It was getting hard to really talk anyway, and she hated the stuttering that she couldn't really prevent because of the cold. It made it sound even worse than it already was.

She was really bored too by the way. Bored and cold. How long HAD they been out here? She was really curious, only because she didn't have much else to think about besides being cold and tired and wanting him to just GIVE UP and lose like a gentleman or whatever he was.

And because she was bored, she looked away from his face - yeah, how you feel about that Mr. I'm-So-Attractive? Smirk - and noticed the snow that was still nearby and around them. Right. There WAS snow everywhere else. Only the snow under her had really melted...the rest was fine...and she had a free hand...

Hmmmmm.

"Wh-What if it w-w-was a t-t-t-tie?" Throwing that idea out there. Just to see what he thought. She much preferred winning, but a tie was also better than losing/giving up, and she figured he might think so too. But maybe not. He did have a knack for surprising her a lot of the time.

And if that was the case, she might have her own surprise up her sleeve.

Jory headed down tot he Lake, humming a random tune. It was one he made up and really he wasn't all that proud of it. He thought it was a bore. Anyway, he continued to hum as he sat down on one of the big rocks which over looked the Lake. With him was a container of ice cream. Not for himself but for Ronnie who was supposed to be joining him soon.

The seventh year glanced at his watch. Maybe he could catch a nap after this? He was very tired as he had stayed up later than usual studying for NEWTs. Trying not to yawn too much, Jory kept a look out for Ronnie.

Blue, was going all out for her best friend. Why? Because she loved her to bits, that's why. Well, she did but the reason she was going to such effort was because it was homework after all. By all out, it just meant she'd picked a nice spot by the lake on some grass that didn't look scratchy. The fourth year sat the two bowls of ice cream carefully before flopping down and crossing her legs.

All she had to do now was WAIT and she was hardly the most patient witch in Hogwarts.

Blue reached out and pulled over the bowl that had slightly more than the other. She figured she'd get bored waiting for Cassia to finish her ice cream if she wolfed down hers so she just...mashed it up to keep her occupied till the snakette arrived.

Ice cream soup.

.......Luuuuuurve-ly.

The weather was cool...like literally and she had nothing else to do. Actually, she did. But would you rather do homework and boring stuff or go eat ice-cream with your bestie. Needles to answer that question. Pfffft. The snake, left the common room and headed out to the grounds swinging her bag as she skipped there. Was she late? She hoped not.

As she neared the lake, Cassia spotted a familiar figure and picked up her pace. Somehow she had thought that she'd get there because her common room was closer!

Or maybe not.

Was Blue mashing the ice-cream. O_O She wasn't that late. "That's mine!" She said plopping down and picking up the other non-mashed bowl of ice-cream. Unless Blue was mashing it for her. "Sorry got a little bit late," She said bringing her bowl up and crossing her legs then placing the bowl on her knee. "Having a bad hair day," She said with a siiiiigh. Yeah, it was very important and Blue would understand that.

"How's it going?" She asked before dipping her spoon in the bowl.

Ethan gave Minerva an appreciative smile as he accepted the plate. He knew it had to have been quite a bit of work to pull together but he was very thankful that she did it. It made the day even more special.. not that he really wanted her to go through a lot of trouble. "Well, this all is just very sweet," he said with the hint of a grin. Though that was just like her..

He knew he had at least been trying to spend more time studying with his exams right around the corner, which made it even more sweet that she had spent that time planning this dinner for them instead of just hanging out with some of her other friends that he was sure he took her away from. He shrugged a little at the question. He didn't want to worry her, but the truth was that he was having a more difficult time studying for these particular exams than he did for his OWLs for some reason. "It's going alright, I guess," he admitted. "A little slower going than I'd like, but it's getting there." He was often having difficulty focusing and he supposed that was why it seemed to be taking him longer to get through certain subjects to feel like he knew them well enough to be tested on.

Ethan allowed a nostalgic smile to form on his lips as he thought about their first date. "Well.. I did enjoy the nerves as well, I think. You were just so cute about everything.." He always did seem to like how nervous she could be around him, not in a bad way really, but that playful sort of tension there was sort of fun. He chuckled a bit as she mentioned the Divination professor. "I don't know that I have any sort of gift for sight.. but I do think that much has come true at least.."

His smile began to falter a bit as he noticed her beginning to tear up. "Oh.. don't.." he started, then smiled a bit as she squeezed his hand. He could see she was being sentimental and he was definitely feeling that way too, with memories of their first date surfacing and thoughts of how much they would always really be there for each other.. or at least he hoped. "I love you, too.." He hugged her back, holding her against him for a moment, as she wrapped her arms around him. Smiling at her words, he nodded. "I know you would.. I do know that.." Even with some of the fights they had, Ethan knew deep down that she really was his biggest supporter and would do pretty much anything for him.

Green eyes landed on the bag as she picked it up, then he looked back curiously at her as she handed it to him. "This is for me? Oh.. you didn't need to get me anything.." But he smiled a little, thinking how sweet it was, as he peered inside. First he pulled out a letter, which he began to read. Wow.. this was really just touching.. Once he finished reading, he looked back at her with a bit of awe in his eyes. "Min.. I.. don't even know what to say.. this is really.." He looked back down at the letter for a moment, then back up at her. "This really means a lot to me.. thanks." Other than that, he was just sort of speechless.

Ronnie walked down to the lake a frown upon her face. It had been so weird how last night she had went to happy from the ice cream toppings party to suddenly depressed after eating it...then she had fought dementors who had been in the common room. She had barely got any sleep that night and wasn't really in a great mood today. But maybe Jory could change that. He always made her happy and it felt like she hadn't really seen him in a few days. Which she didn't like!

She came up from behind and wrapped her arms around him, and stood on her tippy toes so she could kiss his cheek. "Hey, handsome." she said with a smile.

Jory was now trying to remember some information on Polaris. He had not studied Astronomy last night but he was just trying to see if he could remember anything off the top of his head. One thing for sure, he knew it was the brightest star. Frowning, he tried to remember more but was suddenly aware of something around him. He was being squished! Aaaaah! Squirming, he tried to break free. That is until he felt the kiss on his cheek and heard her greeting. Oh. It was only Ronnie.

Feeling utterly foolish and flushing he turned to face his girlfriend. "Hey, Angel!'' he said, returning the kiss. "How are you?'' He looked closely at her. "Is everything alright?'' he asked with concern. She looked a bit...down. And around her eyes were a tad dark. Would ice cream cheer her up?

Jory grabbed the container he brought. "For you, my lady,'' he said with a grin.