She blushed slightly, smiling. Jory was good at that, making her smile. And making her blush too. She scooted closer to him when he sat next to her. She leaned her head onto his shoulder, staring out at the lake with him. This was nice. Peaceful. Perfect. She loved just sitting here with Jory, close to each other. It couldn't get any better.

"We need to come out here during the spring and have a picnic." she said after a little moment of silence. The thought of going on a picnic with Jory during the springtime seemed perfect to her. She sighed, putting an arm around him and giving him another little kiss on the lips. "I love you." she said again, smiling at him and looking into his eyes for a minute before leaning her head back onto his shoulder.

Jory was enjoying this. "You look pretty when you blush,'' he said. She always looks pretty. She was the most beautiful girl he ever saw. He let her lean on him.

"Sure,'' the Puffer agreed. "It would be wonderful during that time. The flowers and everything out in bloom.'' That would be wonderful. He put his arm around her as well and kissed her back. "I love you more,'' he said. When Ronnie leaned her head back against his shoulder, Jory rested his head gently against hers.

Winter.

It was freezing and Ella could see her breath as she walked towards the lake, arms wrapped around herself for warmth. She'd much rather be sitting by the cozy fire but the need for fresh air far outweighed the need for heat.

Approaching the water's edge, the blonde looked out across the water and smiled. Hogwarts was even more magical in the winter time. It was quieter too. Much quieter. The sixteen year old let the silence wash over her as she let her green eyes wander.

This was nice.

Snoooooow.

Finally. Blue picked her way down to the lake, very carefully because of reasons. Reasons that involved a very yummy things. Hot chocolate with whipped cream reasons. Already it had sloshed over the edge of the mug when she'd slipped on an icy patch by the courtyard and in turn, the yummy drink had stained her mittens. But was all gooooood. Because there was still plenty of it left.

The snow crunched under her feet but 'twas completely fine because she had West's lovely and woolly socks and her new boots she'd written home looking for. She sipped the hot chocolate gingerly and smiled lightly because it was the PERFECT temperature. Not too hot and not too cold. But warmer than lukewarm. She peered around from underneath her hat that was lovely and toasty but making her forehead itch. A familiar blonde caught her eye and Blue maneuvered over, holding her mug away from her so she didn't like, accidentally throw it into her face or something.

"Ella!"

It had been a while since she'd talked to the older girl. And not about Alec and her's wedding. And she'd be very good today and not say a word about that particular subject. She didn't wanna make Ella all sad and upset and the like. Not with Christmas coming up. Thinking of which... Blue tugged on Ella's sleeve and beamed. "Hi! I actually have something for you." Something Christmas-y. That kinda thing. Like a present type thing.

Mila shifted her position on the grass and huddled into a ball to keep herself warm. She gazed out at the lake's surface, which was beginning to freeze. If only I knew how to conjure a hot chocolate, she thought, starting to shiver.

She heard the crunching but Ella's eyes were fixed on a point beyond the lake. She might have been daydreaming about a certain someone just a bit so when she heard someone call out her name, she jumped. Meep!

"Blue!"

It was really nice to see her. Actually, they hadn't talked in a while, yeah? Not about anything other than wedding plans. Oh Merlin, that wasn't why she was here was it? If so she could just casually head inside, yeah? ...Yeah.

"Hi Bluetiful!" BEAM. Ella was struck by how much older the younger girl looked. Merlin, when had she grown up? And she had something for her? That was sort of nice. She just sort of hoped it wasn't another wedding invitation. Ella already had one of those from Astrid. "What kind of something?" Cause she was curious now, y'know.

Her blush turned even deeper when he told her she was pretty when she blushed. "Aww...thanks." she said, smiling shyly at him. How sweet was he?! He knew just how to make her happy.

Yay! He wanted to do the picnic. Well...of course he did. Who could turn down a picnic with their girlfriend on a beautiful spring day?! She nodded. "It sure would be." she said. She closed her eyes as their heads rested against each other, and a smile slowly appeared on her face when he said he loved her more. "That's impossible. I love you way more." she said, reaching for his hand and locking her fingers between his.

Jory laughed as Ronnie blushed even more. "See? You're making me love you even more.'' He was glad he finally got the courage to confess his feelings. "Hey, Ronnie, what do you think of spending the summer with me and my parents. And sister?'' He tried not to think of his sister. Nothing or no one was going to ruin these moments. "I mean, if it's okay with you and your family.'' As for his parents, Jory knew they would not mind. They were always telling him to invite someone over. Plus Ronnie liked Muggle stuff so she'd fit right in. "We can have lots of picnics during that time,'' he added with a grin.

"You know, I could go all day telling you I love you more,'' Jory said. He and his sister used to banter all the time over petty things like which movie or book was better so he had lots of practice. He let Ronnie lace her fingers with his. "So,'' he began casually and gently squeezing her hand. "How long were you crushing on me?'' It was just something that popped into his head a few seconds ago.

She smiled at what he next said. D'aww, he was a pro at making her happy inside! "Awww!" she said, giving him a little kiss on the cheek. Wasn't he the sweetest?! She was lucky to have a boyfriend as sweet AND cute as him!

She brightened at the idea of going to Jory's for the summer. "I'd love to! My parents wouldn't mind." she said, shaking her head. "They're going to Paris together for the summer for their anniversary anyways, so it works out perfect!" she said. Yay! This would be so much fun, getting to know Jory's family and being around them. She couldn't wait! Ronnie made a mental note in her head to owl her parents about it later.

"Oh, really now?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "I could too. I could go on for several days." she added with a firm nod. Yup. That's right. "I love you waaay more." she said, kissing his forehead. She then chuckled at his question, blushing slightly. "Well... it was around the end of summer..." she replied. "What about you?"

Hogwarts had a hidden swimming pool. That was all.

ANYWAY, Ascanius looked around for something to do in the really cold weather and he had decided to go and wander. Yeah, okay, he had been there for a few months now, but he still got easily lost. So Ascanius needed to go and wander because, well, he had decided he wanted to stay at Hogwarts now.

No getting kicked out for him. Unless it happened... and then... fine. Whatever.

But he was gonna chill out here for reasons and just relax. And think about the hidden swimming pool.

Jory could feel his cheek go red after Ronnie kissed him. "You're making me go all red now,'' he playfully accused. She was adorable. She really was.

He was very happy. "That's great,'' Jory said enthusiastically. He could hardly wait! She would get along with everyone. "I'll introduce you to all my friends and everyone I know.'' Yup. Because she was his girlfriend. He would show her off. "And we can do tons of stuff. Like going on all the picnics you want.'' This summer was going to be the best!

"No ,no,'' Jory said. "I could go for years and years.'' Grin. He loved the way they were acting like kids. "I love you tons more, Ronnie.'' He stuck his tongue out at her. He smiled. "Around the same time. If I remember correctly, it was that time when we met up in Diagon Alley. When I sneaked up on you when you were having that ice cream.'' Yes. It had been then. He loved the way she would get this startled look on her face when he snuck up on her.

Definitely wasn't a good time to swim in the lake now. Considering it was December, the water was probably already started to freeze, if it hadn't frozen already considering it was already snowing. But she wasn't here to swim anyway.

Penelope wasn't really here for anything really. She'd just decided to wander around outside since she was getting a little tired of being cooped up inside already. Plus, the holidays being so near made her a little restless too. So close to being off school and not having to do any homework and yet not there yet. So she was left to wander and find ways to procrastinate on homework. Not that there was a shortage of ways to distract herself. Heh.

And look. There was a distraction now.

Was she going to be a normal person and go up to her boyfriend and say hi? Nah. She always did that. That was boring and would be a waste of perfectly good snow on the ground. So instead she bent down, gathered some snow in her hands, stood up, quickly formed it into a ball, aimed....and chucked it at the back of Ascanius' head.

Mila was getting very cold; She hadn't put on a proper cloak to keep warm in this weather. She stood up and brushed off her robes, heading towards the castle to change her clothes. She tossed her long, glossy black hair behind her back and hugged herself to block the cold, bitter air.

Arm in arm with Medea, Leo walked out from the castle licking on the top of a big ice cream cone. Decked out in a winter coat, cap and winter shoes the usually curly mop haired librarian glanced around at the snow covered grounds. "I think winter is a nice season but I wish it was warmer." Leo commented. Shivering a little he took another lick from his cone. "Do you want to go out on the lake and test the ice?"

The ice cream was very yummy.

It was about time that Daichi started his year long defence training log booky thingy... Mweh, he couldn't even remember what it was called but he knew it was for points and points were awesome so yeah!

Reaching the lake dressed in his school uniform since he doesn't have sport clothes (minus the robe) he began to stretch his body to warm it up a little before he started. It was cold outside as a chilly breeze of wind swept over the beautiful landscape and he shivered a little. BUT that was not stopping him from his jogging trip.

YEP, Daichi was going to jog. Not because he HAD to for that year long assignment but because he WANTED to. Big difference! Plus he could score some points now~ Done with his warming up, he smiled after taking a deep breath and began to jog.

It....it was harder than he had first expected...it didn't take long (40 seconds) for him to slow and catch his breath. MWEH he totally had zero condition... But something in his head told him to continue, to build it up slowly. So off he went again, jogging along side the lake until he had to stop again because his side began to burn.

Breathing heavily, and already sweating the Slytherin looked behind him to see how far he had run. BLEH! totally not far! It felt like he went to the other side of the earth! "Owww..." he gasped as he grabbed his side and leaned forward a little to put pressure on it. To stop it from hurting.

It was precisely at that moment that the Prefect saw something. Not the fact that the Defence Professor and Librarian were walking together while linking their arms, no. He noticed the icecream and Daichi wanted one too. Which was odd because he didn't even like icecream that much. But he had a craving for it right now OH! he could JOG to the castle and JOG inside the great hall and get some icecream~

HE WAS A GENIUS!

A bit of a smaller ice cream cone in her own hand, she smiled at the mention of the chilly weather. "Hmmm, Spring is just around the corner." The corner may have been a little ways down the road, but it was still just around it. Though she wasn't so eager for it now that Leo brought up possible ice skating upon the frozen lake.

"Test the ice? Oh, sounds so safe." she teased while chuckling, starting down towards the lake anyways. It was December. It'd be fine. Adjusting her scarf a little to cover a bare spot, she glanced towards him. "You ever been ice skating vithout skates?"

Blue beamed and took a sip of the quickly-cooling hot chocolate. "Heeere, could you hold this for me?" She held out the mug and waited for Ella to take it. Best not shove hot liquid at her friend, mm? "I promise it's not a colour card so you can choose what kinda white you want for you wedding!" Not this time anyway. Over Christmas she was going to collect a load of muggle wedding magazines while moaning about her new teeth-straightening device, though.

Her slung her bag in front of her and pulled out her Astronomy text and flipped it open to page 394 where she was keeping a couple of envelopes safe and sound. "Um... I'm really broke right now so I can't really ... afford to breathe right now so instead of buying Christmas gifts I decided to make some which probably actually cost more than actually buying stuff because of material," Okay. She was babbling because Merlin forbid, she was slightly embarrassed by the hug coupons. Maybe even a little shy. She held out a green envelope and shuffled.

"Merry Christmas Ella."

Hot chocolate made Ella think of Alec and she smiled a little to herself as she took the chocolaty liquid from the younger girl. "No problem, Bluetiful." Grin. BLINK! Merlin's beard! She just had to mention something wedding related, didn't she? Even if it was just reassuring Ella that the hot chocolate wasn't wedding related. It still made Ella all inner squirmy and awkward. The blonde was totally blushing but she hoped she could blame the cold if asked about her burning cheeks. "Yeah that's...good to hear." Cause she wasn't even sure if marriage was in the cards for her, okay?

...Speaking of cards.

N'awww, Blue!

Ella accepted the green envelope and she smiled warmly, eyes flickering from it to the Ravenclaw. "You know you didn't have to get me anything, right?" But it was really sweet that she had. "Should I open it now?" Beam! "Yours will have to be owled, okay? It's nothing big just...something that reminded me of you."

She giggled as he got red in the face too. Well, it was nice to know she wasn't the only one blushing here. She knew there HAD to be a way to make Jory blush, and now she had found one. Mwahahahaha! "You're pretty adorable when you blush too, y'know." she said, winking.

She smiled. "I'm really excited to! I can't wait!" she said, an excited look in her eyes. Ronnie then gasped at his picnic idea. "Yay! That'll be perfect!" she exclaimed, nodding eagerly. This would be the best summer yet! She was actually going somewhere other than her boring house! AND she was gonna be with Jory the whole time!

"I could go on FOREVER." she said, smirking at him. Yeah, that's right. She wasn't going to give up on this, never! "I love you mostest, Jory!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him too. "Is mostest even a word?" she thought to herself in her head. Eh. Probably not. But it was now! Her eyes then widened a little. So they had liked each other all this time, but hadn't told each other...? That was crazy! She had no idea he had liked her the same time she had. "Wow, I never knew..." she mumbled, shaking her head. She laughed softly at the memory of him always sneaking up on her. He was good at that.

"You look like the cat that ate the canary,'' Jory joked. He could practically see her brain at work, pleased that she had made him blush. "But manly adorable, right?'' he asked, feigning a worried look. He just loved teasing Ronnie.

Jory grinned. "It'll be fun! Best summer I would say,'' he said. "Maybe you should tell your parents you're moving out permanently,'' he said with a wink. But he was holding back something but he had to tell her. But there was still time to do that. Why spoil this perfect time? Still...he didn't want to put it off. He frowned. What should he do?

"I can go on forever too,'' Jory said. He laughed when she said mostest. "You're such a child,'' he told her. An adorable child. "But I love you the mostest.'' He paused. "Quadruple that double.'' Now that sounded weird. Jory shook his head. "Neither did I,'' he told Ronnie. "We had a pretty good friendship so I didn't want to tell you anything. But in the end, I'm glad I did.'' He squeezed her hand gently.

Jory cracked Ronnie up. It felt like there was never a time where they hung out and he didn't make her burst out laughing. She chuckled when he questioned being 'manly adorable, and nodded. "Yes, of course. A very manly adorable." she said, winking at him.

She nodded in agreement. "I agree!" she said. Of course she agreed. Jory knew she'd agree, since he knows about her staying home pretty much every summer... so no surprise there. She then laughed. "Oh maybe!" she said, smiling. But then he looked...confused. Or more like...deep in thought. Ronnie cocked her head to the side, studying him. "You okay, Jory?" she asked, wondering what was up.

She grinned when Jory said she was such a child. Heh. Yeah, she kinda was.... "Yes, I am. And I'm proud of it." she said, putting on her proud-face and giving a firm nod. Laughing, she shook her head. "Nuh uh! I love you moooore than you! More than ANYTHING!" she said, giggling and flinging her arms around him and squeezing him tightly. As she held him, she listened to what he said. She nodded. "I'm glad you did too." she said, kissing his cheek.

Jory grinned and tried to put on the most grow up and mature look he could muster. "Good. That's how it should be.'' He winked.

Oh no. Ronnie had noticed him being distracted. He looked at her. "I should warn you. My mom and Dad will be very nice to you. But my sister, Grace will not be.'' Jory looked away. Talking about his sister made him sad and he didn't want to make a big deal of it and ruin their moment. "She's... well, jealous of me... being a wizard and all. We actually used to be very close and then things just started changing before I came back for fifth year.'' He sighed. "Sorry for bringing this up but I wanted to let you know.''

Awww she was so cute. But he suddenly pulled on a serious look. "I don't know if I love you more than anything,'' he said but putting his arms around he just as well. He was teasing her even more.

A frown slowly appeared on her face as Jory explained about his sister. "Oh, Jory. I had no idea. I'm so sorry." she said softly, gently putting an arm around him to comfort him. Poor thing, that must be...awful. "Don't be sorry for bringing it up, sweetheart. It's totally fine." she said. "And I'm always here for you, y'know. You can tell me anything. Don't forget that." she said, giving him a serious look.


She tilted her head slightly when he had a serious look. She smiled a little, and leaned her forehead against his so that their noses were touching. "Perhaps," she said quietly, looking into his eyes. "We love each other equally? Like the same amount?" she asked, smiling still.

Ascanius was still thinking about hidden swimming pools and hours he had spent up in the castle while he sat on the edge of the lake. It was kind of peaceful here and he was going LEGIT stir crazy up in dat houzz. Essex pride, man. NO, but really, he was going nuts. So it was nice to be out and about.

In fact, he was so at peace and relaxed that he didn't even notice someone creeping up on him. Until... SPAZZ ATTACK. COLD. COLD. THAT WAS COLD.

Very awkwardly and unmanly like, he shrieked and fumbled up to his feet where he started to do a dance to get the snow that was starting to travel down his back that had gotten into his jacket and down his shirt OUT. He was making a million uncomfortable noises, some of which were Chewbacca sounding in nature, and spazzing.

Finally when he got it out, he looked around wildly and ANNOYED for the person who had done that to him. He was about to go ESSEX on them and once he turned it on, there was no going back. Pfft. Ascanius Stark was a man, mmk?

.............Pen? Oh no way.

And that was when he ran at her.

When Penelope decided to chuck a snowball at her boyfriend's head, she figured it was gonna be pretty funny. He'd get hit, turn around, smirk at her, throw a snowball back at her, and they'd have a fun little snowball fight.

But that didn't happen.

No, it got better.

Apparently - and unintentionally - the snow went down the back of his shirt or something, and Ascanius started shrieking like a banshee and jumping around and sounding like Chewbacca from Star Wars. Oh Merlin. This was brilliant. She should throw snowballs at his head more often.

Penelope didn't even try to stifle her laughter as she watched his antics, doubling over from laughing so hard. She had to rest her hands on her knees to keep herself from falling in the snow, she was laughing that hard.

Not hard enough to not hear when the shrieking and other noises stopped though. She looked up then - just in time to see him running right at her. Oh, welp, time to go.

She quickly started running away from him, though still grinning and laughing a little.