By the lake [Steve]

[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

It had been about a week since the masquerade ball, and she still couldn’t believe half of what had happened the day. She still expected to wake up and figure out it was all just a dream and that none of it had happened. It was a rather depressing thought. Either way she was happy to report that everything had not been a dream and that everything had been very real. She had made plans with Steve to meet by the lake, it was sort of their spot now that she thought about it. It was where they usually met for their tutoring sessions, and she wondered if it was because of how large the spot was. She grabbed her jacket, because she had no idea where her cloak was, and made her way out of the ravenclaw tower. She had a blanket with her, the ground had the possibility of being wet and that way she could sit down on the ground without any worries. She made her way down the familiar path, people greeting her once in a while as she approached the courtyard. She was a little more focused this time, so she didn’t stop to talk to anyone, because she knew that people tended to distract her sometimes. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel like being social, but she had agreed to meet him at a specific time and the last thing she wanted was to be late.

Even though he never really bugged her if she was a couple of minutes late, it wasn’t in her nature to actually accept being late, so she knew that she had to hurry. She crossed the courtyard and made her way down to the grounds, to the spot where she said that she would be meeting Steve. She paused for a moment to stare at the lake from a particular angle, it was midafternoon so there was no pretty sunset to stare at but either way it was still a pretty sight. The way that the sun caused the water to sparkle, She kept down her path as she finally arrived at her spot, and she spread out the blanket by the tree. She liked to lean against the trunk when she was waiting so as soon as the blanket was all nice and flat she settled herself on it to wait. She was surprised that she had actually beaten Steve to their meeting spot and that made her feel a bit proud since usually it was the other way around. She had brought a book with her, just because she liked to carry one around if she had to wait. She made herself comfortable as she opened the book, finding the page she had left off in the last time. She smiled as she continued to read, allowing herself to become a little immersed in the book, her momentary escape from reality (not that she needed one but still it was hard to not become absorbed in books sometimes) as she waited for Steve to arrive.

*eww this sucked next post will be better

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve had just gotten out of potions and had put on a scarf to go with his dark gray jacket that had a little belt to it to keep him warm. Finally keeping his eyes on the ground as he maintained his balance even over the ice that was littering the ground under certain patches of snow. It only made sense for him to just give up everything even if it made too much noise for his liking since he knew Layla would have gotten there before him by now. Well the snow wasn't as sparse as it was back there, but it was around the time it should have started to keep doing this. Steve just decided to use a warming charm on himself as his blue jeans kept him warm too, but he rarely ever used any form of formidable clothing to keep him completely warm.

Walking along the ground there was still barely any snow, but it was certainly the time of year where the first snowfall would have been such a sight to see. This wasn't what he was here for and had to focus on the present on what he was doing out here. The usual meeting place where he normally arrived first, but this time he had been the one to dawdle since he really didn't like the cold. Wondering why they had met outside in the first place in just a week since the masquerade ball was so confusing to him. Layla was certainly beautiful but he didn't want to seem too clingy at all. Finally he managed to reach the area, and looked around for her seeing her sitting under a tree with a book. Realizing she was at the right distance where he could sneak around her.

Making sure that he was using his stealthiest moves possible to get away from her line of sight so he could make his way around behind her. Then as he made sure to tip toe towards her while her back was turned towards him, made his way slowly up behind her. Two hands came down onto her shoulders as he kissed her neck and then whispered into her ear after covering her eyes. "Hey there, I bet you can't guess who it is?" he asked her playfully hoping he had at least made her jump just a little bit with what he had done.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She tended to get a bit unobservant when she was reading, it was a habit she knew she had to break but it was rather hard. She loved that books allowed her to become absorbed in another world, not that she didn’t love her world, because she completely did. But it was nice to travel to different places, so to speak, because books had that power. She knew that she was probably one of the only people who thought that way because she spent half of her time in the muggle world. Her own room was full of books and she could often be found in the library just reading books to keep busy during the summer. She wasn’t sure why she loved books so much, she just did and well it was just the way she was. Either way that could possibly explain why she was a bit startled when she felt hands on her shoulders, and she tensed for a second. It was rather silly because people weren’t known to sneak up on her, well there was one person that did sneak up on her and she should have known. His hands left her shoulders to cover her eyes even though she already knew that it was him. She dropped the book in her hands as she tried to remove his hands from her eyes, she was also trying to think of something funny to say but of course she wasn’t coming up with anything that would sound all that witty. That was probably because she could feel her heart beating a little faster again. She wasn’t sure how long this would last, the whole accelerated heartbeat but she hoped that it would calm down soon.

“I don’t know, would it be that cute hufflepuff from my charms class?” she teased lightly, “Or maybe that guy from transfiguration”

She normally wouldn’t have been teasing him about it, but she was feeling a little playful right now. Either way when she finally did get him to release her eyes she turned to look at him, a smile playing at her lips. She was glad that he was there, and she was glad to see him. She hoped that she would always be happy to see him because she knew some people spent so much time together that it got to the point where they just got tired of seeing each other. Then again she was pretty sure that wouldn’t be the case for them, because neither of them were being very clingy in this new relationship. She had no issue if he wanted to spend time with other people, because he was allowed to have his friends and the last thing she wanted to do was monopolize him and have the people he cared about hate her. That obviously didn’t mean that she wouldn’t love to spend most of her time with him, because that would be completely fine with her too. And she knew that she was maybe thinking about this too much, and that she should just focus on spending time with him now that they were together.

“How was potions?” she asked.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

(Steve is sad his post didn't first go through DAMN INTERNET) Steve was sighing as he finally just let his hands linger a little longer on her face as he merely suggested something to get an answer out of her and then whispered to her ear. "I'm the boy of your dreams and I no longer need to stay attached to you any longer. I now may move on towards the light and forever live my live in peace knowing you love me...goodbye Layla" he said to her as he let his voice slowly fade as the sentence was dying away. Finally just letting go of her head with his hands and looking into her eyes as he leaned over awkwardly kissing her on the lips in greeting.

"Hey there, beautiful, what are you doing out here? Don't you know you could catch a cold if you're not dressed properly. By the way, have you seen my wand anywhere, last time I remember, this was the last place I had it before I lost it," he said to her, hoping she would know and his question wouldn't go unanswered. Steve felt lost without it and having to use one of the school wands wasn't exactly high up on his priority list for wands to use. Almost wanting to go visit the wand shop to get a new one, but figured he didn't want to hassle the new owner too much. It would have been the second time he would have gone to her.

Steve seemed to lose wands a lot, but he had held onto this one for at least four years compared to the last. Apparently it wasn't the only thing he needed to keep close to him, but if he could just use wand-less magic right now he wouldn't be in this mess. Perhaps Layla had picked it up the last time they had hung out and merely hoped with a glimmer of light in his eyes that she had indeed found it before someone else had the chance to murder his hopes and dreams. Of course, that was a serious thing to be missing and hoped Layla had enough common sense to not joke about it as he looked at her seriously and a little distressed...cute in a way.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

His hands were still covering her eyes, and she knew that whenever he decided to move them it would take her eyes a little while to get used to the change in light. She let out a little laugh at his words, knowing that he was just joking. He had a tendency to do that, so she knew not to take him too seriously when he was doing that. But it was rather interesting to hear what he said, just because there was very little chance that he would be moving towards any light while covering her eyes. She waited for him to finally move his hands, and he did indeed release her. She blinked a couple of times trying to get used to the light, and when he leaned into kiss her, she smiled. It was nice, any feelings of shyness from before had long since disappeared. She knew that she had felt a little odd at the idea of liking him, especially when she wasn’t sure if he would return the feelings. But given that he liked her too, well it made things all the simpler and she was happy for it. She had no idea who she had to thank for pairing her up with him at the ball, but she was grateful either way.

“See, you didn’t go anywhere so you had no reason to say goodbye” she said lightly.

She gave him a look when he said that she could catch a cold when you weren’t dressed properly. She looked down, and she felt like she was properly dressed. Okay she had forgotten a scarf and some gloves but she felt pretty warm right now. So she knew that he had to have been joking because she was so dressed properly. He asked her about his wand, and she grew thoughtful for a moment. She really couldn’t remember much of what she did during their last meeting, His words had echoed as he left and she remembered spotting the wand, but did she grab it? Well of course she did, she wouldn’t have left it there, but the question was, if it was still in her bag or not. She hadn’t really emptied her bag out yet, and if she was honest she had completely forgotten she had it until he had mentioned it. She had been basically on cloud nine for the past week, and well now that he asked she could remember that it was. In any other situation and if it would have been any other object she would have made fun of him because of it. Teased him slightly, but of course losing your wand wasn’t a good thing so she would never tease him over such a thing. She leaned over to retrieve her bag, which she had brought with her to store her own wand and of course her books, and she indeed found the wand in there. She grabbed it, and then held it out to him.

“You left it last time, I kept on forgetting I had it” she said, “I was planning on giving it back to you when I saw you in class after the masquerade but well I sort of spazzed and forgot I had it. I’m sorry about that”


*I spazzed and forgot so she did too xD

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was glad as he sighed in relief after hearing her say that she had his wand, and almost made him scream with joy. Even as he walked up to her and then started to wrap his arms around her waist slowly. Using most of his muscles to drag her up to his level and kisses her on the lips once more being rather greedy with her. Clingy wasn't really the right word to use here, but right now he seemed to be acting just like it. Steve honestly needed to get his grasp on that wand and to hold it in his own hands again felt right. Weird how one could live without their wand and not realize how much they missed their original just due to the fact he had left it behind.

Steve's wand wouldn't have chosen a new owner lightly at all and probably would have killed anyone stupid enough to try to tame it. No, it wasn't that heartless, and in fact it was really quite tame compared to a lot of other wands he knew about. Some of them couldn't even mix potions well, but luckily for him he was able to see past all that drama. Now as he held his hand out to grasp the wand and place it in his own hand he smiled slightly. The school's wands were crap, as well as temporary. Deciding to just get rid of it right now would do him the honor of having his original back in his hands and threw it away to the ground. Someone else could find that wand, and suffer the consequences of using one of the damned school wands.

Steve normally would have gone out of his way to diagon alley but it was hard to do that during the weeks he had been busy with his studies figuring out ways how to make his potions work without much interruption in his part. Finally he nodded towards Layla smiling warmly, "Oh of course, thank you Layla, and what if I was someone else, hmm?" he asked her playfully as he nudged her shoulder softly trying to tell her she could have been gullible if someone had used the right voice. Steve was tempted to test this theory but decided to leave that for another day.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

The point was that she hadn’t forgotten to give it to him this time around. Normally she wasn’t much of an airhead but of course she had her moments when she forgot some things. This of course was something she viewed as a major flaw because she hated forgetting things with a passion. It had to do with the fact that she liked to be on top of things at all times. It’s why she had even bothered to seek help for potions, her weakness in that class had been very irritating to her. She had been doing a little better, but she knew that she would never be a potions master or anything like that. She was beginning to adapt well enough that she was becoming better at making potions without much outside help. She knew that was thanks to Steve because he had been patient enough with her (because if she was honest she was usually really bad at potions) and he had also always been encouraging to her even when she made mistakes. It was a bit weird to be picked up by anyone, and she was actually surprised he had managed to lift her at all. She had always thought she’d be too heavy to actually be picked up by anyone, then again no one had ever tried to pick her up.

“Well if I get thank you’s like that more often, I’ll try to keep in mind to always give you things you leave behind” she teased lightly.

She could tell that he was relieved to have his wand back, and she didn’t blame him. She always felt different when she didn’t have her wand with her. After all those wands had chosen them when they were eleven years old, and they had been the instruments they had used the most throughout their magical education. She knew that she would have been beyond distraught if she would ever lose her wand, especially because she was sure no other wand would work as perfectly for her as her own did. She was also glad she had managed to actually grab Steve’s wand before she returned to the dorm that day. What if someone else would have found it, they might have decided to keep it. She knew that wands were tricky when it came to things like working for others, and who they considered their master. Most wands would work for any wizard but of course for it to work properly for you was a complete different situation. She turned her attention back to him when he spoke and she rolled her eyes slightly. She wasn’t that gullible, after all no matter how good you were at imitating another person it was easy to pick up differences. Especially if you know the voice well, and she would like to think that she knew his voice well enough that someone wouldn’t be able to impersonate him without her figuring it out. But there was always the small chance that this could be the truth, but she obviously didn’t want to think about that.

“I’d like to think that I know your voice well enough that I wouldn’t be easily fooled” she pointed out, “Plus remember I’m a ravenclaw, we are smart”

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was just watching the beautiful ripples of the lake while it still remained normal and not frozen at all, it was decided that he was going to have to get on her good side. Although, when she said that she was smart like most Ravenclaws, that was besides the point, there were more things than just being smart within that house. In fact, he knew a few Ravenclaws that would have flunked out if they weren't so caught up on everything they did, and from what he remembered he knew that a few of those Ravenclaws barely even showed up to class usually. Funny as that may seem, he soon had his wand back in his hand and did a little twirl with it in the air. Catching it as he did so and added quite nonchalantly about her Ravenclawness, "So next time, you'll be able to tell it was me right away at the Masquerade Ball?" he chirped up.

Now that was the Steve she knew making all those snide remarks just to make sure she knew that he would play along on any of her comments. Turning them around against her was his favorite thing to do, but he didn't want to annoy her completely as he smiled innocently at her. Looking towards the sky and the clouds that were gathering it really looked like it had snowed already. Yes it was littering the ground almost considering they were near the end of November, but Steve could still have his fun while it lasted. "I'm just glad you found my wand and not someone else. So, what are we going to do today?" he asked her as sat down beside her making sure there wasn't any snow where he was sitting using his wand to warm up a spot so that it wouldn't be intensely cold to sit there.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She kept her gaze on the lake, feeling an odd sense of peace watching the little ripples. She knew that no matter what was going on in life, if she sat in front of the lake she always managed to get somewhat relaxed and happy. It helped that she was feeling great, because of everything that had happened at the masquerade and of course she loved to spend time with Steve either way. She pulled her knees up to her chest so that she could rest her chin on them to keep her gaze more focused. At his words her gaze left the lake and went towards him and she gave him a smile. She knew that he had a point when it came to the masquerade, she had no idea it had been him. But she felt that it would be harder to fool her now, after all he had intentionally started off the ball trying to trick her anyway. And well she had been annoyed at the different accents thing, and she had been paying more attention now. So she really did think that she’d be able to tell it was him, if he talked normally, there was no guarantee that she’d know it was him if he spoke in the different accents though.

“Well I sure hope so, but one never knows” she said with a small smile.

She wasn’t sure if they had anything planned, she would be perfectly content with just sitting here with him and enjoying the view. That obviously had the ability to get boring, not that she would immediately think that way. Even though she had no issue with silence she also liked to talk with the people she cared about. Especially when you got to learn more about them, because no one truly knew everything about the other person unless they lived with them. They could possibly take a walk too, the air was chilly and that might help them keep warm. There were possibilities for activities but she wasn’t sure what she could offer up. The only thing she knew was that the last thing she wanted to think about was potions, she had already thought so much on the subject that was she sure she needed a break from potion making. After all she had managed to do well enough in her lesson earlier in the day, and she had been happy with the result. She had even gotten a compliment from the professor, and a comment that she had obviously been working really hard. Layla knew that her growing ability to make potions successfully were because Steve was patient and he was a good tutor. After all he had no issue with telling her if she did things wrong, but he had never made her feel handicapped while making the potion. They were all good qualities and she knew that it was one of the many reasons that she liked him so much, though there were other things that she liked about him.

“I’m not sure, anything really” she said,
“Just as long as it isn’t potions related. Too many of our meetings have been because of my handicap in that subject”

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve looked at Layla with a raised eyebrow for a moment as if she was incredulous for saying something so ridiculous that sounded onerous to him, but he kept his mouth shut cause he didn't want to be obnoxious. Considering it was true and he really didn't want to belittle her though either knowing that her down-fall lay with potions. Yet, she had recently given him artillery to use at her and he was going to go down firing all cannons at full speed, and let his mouth just fly at a hundred miles per second. Yes, he just let it rip without no warning or thinking of the consequences either realizing just how much he could have erred here. "Well, you were right about the handicap in potions, and -I- thought I was terrible," he jested at her, and hoped she didn't take that the wrong way.

Steve saying he was bad at potions was like saying a chipmunk had a chance against an alligator running full speed towards it as a snack. Surely the chipmunk would be fast enough to get away but it's surprising how fast an alligator can be. Eagerly just nodding his head in return looking over his wand a few more times considering he had missed it quite a lot. Starting to just let his body move towards her he soon leaned over to kiss her lips fully just to leave her speech-less for a little bit too as he enjoyed the lakes rippling waves across the water. There was just a serenity about it that put him at ease, and he kept himself pre-occupied with glancing at Layla every so often. Well, he had asked her out to the Yule ball already so that was out of the question.

Talking about anything and everything was usually they're agenda even if it was just a day to hang out with her. Steve was fine if she wanted to invite her friend Molly too, and he had heard a lot about her already so it was fine with him either way. After all, friends are one of the important things in your life that you should value no matter where they are, and should try to keep in contact with them as much as possible. Now he finally leaned back, and soon put his arm around Layla after remaining seated with her for the moment.

"So, anything new with classes? And yes, this time we're just hanging out, can't always be teaching you how to make me blow up," he said, and chuckled after that giving her a small nudge on the cheek.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She knew that she had accidentally given him ammunition to tease her, but it wasn’t like she was about to lie and say she was a great potions maker. Because in all honesty she wasn’t, and she knew it, one good thing was to always know your weaknesses. That way you knew what to correct in life, and well Layla hated being anything less than perfect in some subjects, but sometimes it just happened. She knew that she usually tried her best in potions and of course with Steve’s help she had gotten much better. She had also been practicing in her free time, so she was confident enough to make a potion without fear that she’d end up blowing it up or something of that degree. Either way she gave him a nudge when he admitted that she did have a handicap in potions and that he thought he was terrible. She knew he was joking about the last part because Steve was not bad at potions at all, it’s wh she had asked for his help in the first place. Either way she knew that he was joking but either way she didn’t want him to make too much fun of her, she didn’t like that.

“Don’t be a jerk Steve” she said, “I’ll get mad at you”

She wasn’t good at being mad at him anyway, and she knew it. The last time she had been mad at him was during their last potions session he had scared her, and of course she had told him that she was a bit mad at him. Obviously her anger at him had last a good two minutes before she realized she just couldn’t stay mad at him. She knew this would be bad at some point, because you had to be able to get mad at someone for longer than two minutes. But she just couldn’t help it, she wasn’t really good at keeping grudges with people she cared about. It was usually just people she didn’t like, and there weren’t many of those around in the first place. She was actually musing on the fact that even though she could keep grudges with people, she hardly did with those she loved, when he kissed her again. It was weird how easily her thought processes were interrupted when he kissed her. She knew that she couldn’t be around him when she was studying for this very reason, she felt like an airhead whenever they kissed which she was sure wasn’t inherently bad but it was when she was trying to focus on her schoolwork. Either way she felt comfortable with him, even if they were just sitting there doing nothing in particular it felt nice. It was just as comfortable with him, as it was whenever she was with Molly (and she wasn’t trying to make her over in some form) though it was a little different. Either way she enjoyed her time with Steve, even if he did enjoy teasing her quite a bit.

“I don’t always blow you up. Remember last time, I made two very effective potions” she reminded him.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was just looking at Layla with his head tilted for a moment, but wasn't sure if he should take her seriously when she said that since she knew a lot about him. Funny as it seemed he was soon just tapping his wand against his cheek lightly for a moment in consideration of taking things too far. Yes, he shouldn't have done that, but this was him they were talking about, and the way she puffed up her cheeks a little when she was angry was incredibly cute. Starting to just talk to her again as if nothing had happened and they had always been friends no matter the outcome. If he did keep this up he wouldn't be with her long, but they had a yule ball to attend later on. Luckily the outcome of said event was going to be rather desirable he was sure.

"Sorry, you know I can't resist putting a joke or two in there, but at least you don't forget your wand I suppose. Least you could do is at least make fun of me for that, since I do it to you all the time. I really did have wand-less magic for a bit there though, haha," he said to her as he just kept her in his arms holding her close by his side. Steve honestly never wanted to let Layla go ever no matter who they were with, but had to consider the public display of affection to be a little too over the top even in the hallways at Hogwarts. There would certainly be a few prefects that would jump all over that in telling them to separate from each other.

Finally he just looked over the lake one last time as he focused on Layla for the topic of the day, and smirked softly as he spoke to her again, "So, are you excited for the ball?" he asked her calmly.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

He was quiet which meant there was something going on in his head, normally that was a bad sign. She often had a feeling that he enjoyed making her mad, just based on how he said that her reactions were interesting. Obviously her inability to stay mad at him longer than five minutes probably helped because he knew that even if she did get mad at him, it didn’t last too long. But either way she just wanted to enjoy the time she spent with him because their relationship was too new to really get too upset at one another. She gave him a smile when he apologized letting him know that it was fine, and she bit back a giggle at what he said. She really didn’t like making fun of people just because she knew that some people took it too seriously. After all everyone was forgetful in one way or another, and one was allowed to make mistakes as Steve had in accidentally leaving his wand behind. But she wouldn’t make fun of him for that just because she knew how easily it could happen to her and she wouldn’t have wanted him to make fun of her.

“No I wouldn’t want to make fun of you because it’s an honest mistake” she said, “Plus I don’t want to be mean to you”

She felt comfortable with him holding her, and she honestly could have stayed like that for a while. They really didn’t even have to talk about anything, their silences tended to be pretty comfortable sometimes. Plus it was so nice to just sit there with him that she knew that spending time with him in any way or form made her happy. At his question she bit her lip for a quick second, because she knew that since she was now going to the Yule ball it would give Molly yet another excuse to drag her dress shopping. It wasn’t that she didn’t like to go shopping she just wasn’t as enthused with the idea as her best friend. Her dress for the masquerade had been somewhat comfortable, but the first dress that Molly had wanted to put her in had been the epitome of girly. It wasn’t that Layla didn’t want to look nice but things that were pink and frilly tended to just make her walk in the other direction. So just as long as she didn’t get dragged into a store that wouldn’t have anything that she liked she would be fine. Plus she’d be going there with Steve and he always kept her happy and that made the outlook of the Yule ball definitely more fun and bearable.

“I’m excited for the ball, but I know that Molly is going to want to take me dress shopping again. You should have seen the last dress she wanted to put me in, it was pink and frilly and I swear it sparkled” she said, “It looked way uncomfortable, not something I’d want to wear for more than two seconds. Luckily I got her to choose a more sensible one, that blue one I wore. So I’m hoping this time she won’t even try to put me in something like that again. What about you?”

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

"Seriously I think that girl might be bad for your health if you hang out with her too much. You might even start growing more freckles than you already have, just kidding," he said to her, and then smirked softly as he said it. Soon enough he was just staring out at the usual greeting spot as he always did when he had another thought rumbling within his mind, but the silence really couldn't cure what was on his mind about the dresses. Why did girls have to make such a big deal over dressed in the first place, "You know I'd be fine with not dressing up, but I have to stand out from those that try to get by with the sub-par fashion they like to wear casually around the school all the time," he nodded towards her.

Finally just crossing his arms for a moment as he sat in silence once again awaiting her answers to his previous statements as he merely examined the rippling waves of the ever-quiet lake. The wind blowing by his hears just making the usual howling sound that seemed to whip by to cause all the leaves that still remained on some of the trees to shake. Then suddenly they all blew away with one strong gust, stripping all the trees bare of their leaves indicating that the newly fallen snow around them had taken over the entire ground. Finally just letting his eyes follow the pat of the leaves as they swirled in the air thanks to the new found wind and finally landed to settle itself on the ground. It looked like the leaves wiggled themselves into the snow, but were truthfully just rolling across it towards them. Feeling some of them graze past his feet as he smirked towards Layla again and then just held her close to him so she could feel the warmth of his arms.

"Well, that's the last of those leaves," he commented again.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

“I don’t have that many freckles, thank you very much” she said, “Plus I’m pretty sure freckles aren’t contagious or I would have gotten them ages ago. She’s been my best friend for years”

She knew that he had been joking and well she knew that Molly did have a lot of freckles. It was like a Weasley calling card, but she knew that it didn’t take away from Molly’s personality. Either way she loved her best friend and was certain that she’d go crazy without her sometimes. She knew that boys had no issue getting dressed up for parties, after all it was all a matter of just wearing a nice shirt, some nice pants and you were all good. But most of the time it was a complete fanfare for girls, and it didn’t help that Layla just wasn’t that kind of girl. She liked to wear skirts occasionally and dresses, but it wasn’t like she spent more than an hour on her appearance on a daily basis. She was more of a just make sure you looked appropriate before leaving the dorm, not someone who worried about looking perfect. If she was honest she was fine if her hair was being manageable, her clothes were fresh and she just felt comfortable.

“Well you can be the one of us who stands out, while I just stand there” she teased, “I’d much rather just feel comfortable than worry about standing out fashion wise”

It was kind of windy, so she was able to keep track of where the wind was going just by where the leaves were going. Whenever the ground was covered by snow, it would be impossible to sit here like this. Something she would miss because she liked being outside. She would also have to start wearing thicker winter coats and leave the castle basically bundled up so that she wouldn’t get sick. That was one of the bad things about the colder weather, that you were prone to getting sniffles or something ridiculous like that. Not that it really mattered because she was sure that a visit to the hospital wing would be effective enough, but she just hated waking up feeling horrid like that. Even though she did feel warm enough right now, she knew that Steve wouldn’t always be there as her human blanket, so she definitely had to be more careful about what she wore. She watched as the last of the leaves fell to the ground, and with that the poor tree would be bare until the spring when all the snow would begin to melt and the trees would begin to bloom again. Watching the leaves rustle by reminded her of when she was younger, her mother would sometimes take her to a nearby park and they would watch the leaves just fly by, this was when she was much younger, and she remembered that she loved watching where the leaves ended up after the wind picked them up.

“Soon enough all the leaves will be gone, and there will only be snow” she said, “That’s kind of sad, because snow isn’t really as fun as leaves, you can’t really jump into it without ending up wet somehow”

*so sorry I took so long. School is evil

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Starting to keep his mind out of the gutter right now as he thought of what that best friend thing entailed, but then started to just keep his own thoughts to himself. Yes, that was the best thing to do when it came to them, but he wasn't sure what was happening to her. Sometimes he just had to go with the flow about certain things when it came to Layla and didn't want to just bewitch her with his own presence. Oh yes, that was easy to do considering he was such a handsome devil, but that was just his ego talking now. Steve really didn't think that highly of himself, but he had gotten a date without really even trying, especially thanks to the Masquerade ball.

Even as the tranquility of the lake had it's soothing solace within he just contemplated how the lake would freeze over unless it had already. Snow was indeed rather boring and dull to him. No fun could really be had out of it besides snowball fight and the occasional trollop through the snow. Although horses did that, he wasn't sure what trollop even meant or if it was even a word. The correct word was trotting, but he shrugged that aside. Sometimes his mind just worked in mysterious ways as he merely smiled at Layla, "Are you sure, cause OH MY GOD, THERE'S A FRECKLE, ONE FRECKLE, it's going to take you over...it's a viiiiirus...just kidding. Sorry I know I shouldn't do that. Besides, you barely have any freckles on your smooth skin, and you're fine just the way you are, beautiful to me no matter what," he said to her nodding proudly.

Smirking as she was glad to be here with him, but he shrugged his shoulders at what she said. Shaking his head once more, he soon went back to just keeping his mind preoccupied with the conversation. One hand started to gently stroke along the back of Layla's hand. Then kissing the back of it slowly he spoke to her again, "Yes, well we can't all be perfect, and no matter what this moment will always be perfect with you. Now I just sound like a hopeless romantic, haha, and I already stand out as is, that aside, I agree. Leaves should stay and snow can go away, that's how I see it too, haha," was all he said in contemplation over their current topic of conversation.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She looked at him, usually when he was that quiet it wasn’t a good sign. Boys were just weird that way, if they were too quiet, it meant that they wheels were turning in their heads and sometimes that wasn’t a good thing. Then again she wasn’t a mind reader so she wouldn’t even be able to tell what he was thinking. She was sure the more time they spent together, the easier it would get to guess what he was thinking. She closed her eyes for a second, letting her mind just wander different places just because of how peaceful it was right now. She knew that at one point she would end up getting cold, but for now she was very happy and warm. She opened her eyes after a few seconds, in time to see him smile at her. She smiled back, but It faltered and turned into an eye roll at his comment. She gave him a slight nudge, to show that his comment wasn’t appreciated. She did have a few freckles, but they weren’t really visible unless you took a really good look at her. Obviously she knew that he was kidding, and he seemed to amend his comment soon enough though she was sure that he was doing that in case he did make her mad. Though she had a small feeling he knew that it was hard for her to stay mad at him, just because she could never spend more than five minutes upset at him.

“I do have some freckles, just not a lot” she said, “And your opinion is biased because you like me. But I appreciate it anyway”

It was kind of funny how easily she was losing her train of thought right now, it was kind of funny. Not at all what she was expecting, she rarely had coherent thoughts around him right now. She knew that this was probably because the relationship was so new, and there was still so much to learn about the other person. Not that it mattered, she had been friends with him before this, and they had been good friends too. Even though their basic dynamic had changed, it had shifted, but it had been a change for the better in her opinion. She smiled at his comment, really when would she have thought they’d even be in this type of situation. She knew that Steve could be sweet, after all he wasn’t like the stereotypical Slytherin’s because he had always been nice to her. Just like she wasn’t your know it all Ravenclaw, sometimes it was nice to break the mold that way. But either way she appreciated when he said things like that. She laughed at his comment that he sounded like a hopeless romantic because in her opinion he didn’t, because from what she understood about hopeless romantics they tended to just spout those types of comments every other sentence, and that wasn’t the case for him.

“You don’t sound like a hopeless romantic, believe me”[/cikir[ she said with a smile, “And nice segway back into the topic of leaves. Do you think there’s a way to just not make it snow, someone should invent a spell that could do that or something”
*so sorry I took so long. School is evil

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was finally considering just getting this over with, however, there were too many factors he had to consider with what she was thinking in return. Thinking about thinking would only make him hurt even more in his head, but he really didn't have much to think about. Aside from what he was going to say to her next after she mentioned something about the leaves falling, but he thought it was amusing how his mind worked. Although, he loved the way she commented on his own comment, but that was what one did when you criticized them to make fun of them. Steve had to keep in mind he wasn't the only one with a sense of humor, but her freckle did make her quite cute...with the few she had. "Well, if I had to choose, I'd choose the one with less freckles...not that Molly is really any competition to you since she's obviously got her eyes on someone too," he said calmly as if just admiring her from a distance.

Steve was right beside her but he had his head tilted so that he looked as if he were constantly judging her for something she didn't do. Finally scrunching his nose a little he finally let her have what was on his mind at the time again. "What if I'm pretending to like you? Although, that would be very hard to do by this point I would guess too. Especially since we swap spit on a daily basis where we tell all our nasty secrets to one another. Now when I put it that way it sounds disgusting, but seriously, our DNA's running through each other now. Okay now that sounds a little too perverse, sorry if you took it that the wrong way at all," he said calmly to her.

Almost trying to hold back the grin as he said this knowing his own mind did indeed think of a rather perverse version of this encounter, but he soon dragged his mind out of the gutter. Striking out was not going to be his forte today and had to cover his tracks. "Yes, well in four months, the snow will magically disappear and I have just invented heat," he mused as he mocked her slightly, but it was a playful gesture as he lightly pushed her shoulder softly.

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]

[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

“Oh does that mean if Molly wasn’t taken, you’d take her over me?” she teased lightly.

Obviously she was just playing with him, because she knew that Molly was definitely pretty. But of course Molly only had eyes for Elijah and she had a feeling it was vice versa. She often wondered how on earth Molly could actually mange to detach herself from Elijah because if she was honest her best friend was like always lost when she was with him. She was pretty sure that was how it was supposed to be when you were in love and all of that. Not that Layla herself had much experience in that department, the only real thing she could say she had experience from, was just by observing Molly. Either way it wasn’t like it mattered much, she would gain experience in the department, and of course it wasn’t like she wasn’t in a relationship now. Even though it had only been about a week, she still couldn’t actually believe that she and Steve were in an actual relationship. She had hopes that it wouldn’t be something that killed their friendship because that was probably one of her biggest fears when it came to this situation. But she didn’t want to go there right now, she just wanted to think positively.

“Well if you were only pretending to like me, it would come out eventually” she said, “And I’m pretty sure Jayce would totally hurt you if that happened too. And gross, that is definitely not something I had thought about before, maybe I should avoid kiss you now”

That last part was obviously a tease because she was well aware that even though what he said sounded completely wrong, it was probably pretty accurate. Then again she wasn’t sure where his mind was going with that comment in the first place, so maybe it was best to just avoid it now. She rolled her eyes when he said that in four months the snow would melt and he would have invented heat. He was obviously joking because heat wasn’t something you invented, it was something that just existed now. Plus the snow would melt all on its own it was all a part of nature, and just the natural procession of the seasons. It was why Layla liked the spring more than she did winter, and the summer. She had nothing against the cold, and she obviously preferred it more than she did the heat. When you were hot there wasn’t much you could do about it, but if it was cold all you had to do was dress appropriately and stick to places that were warm and you were golden. But when the snow was all gone, you were perfect because it wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold.

“Oh sure take the credit for inventing heat, because the person who discovered it isn’t alive anymore” she teased, “But I miss warmth, I mean it sucks that I can’t go out without a proper coat unless I plan on freezing to death”

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was no longer concerned with how cold it was outside, because you just had to get used to it was all. It seemed that he was just staring at Layla for what seemed like a good hour, but he rather not talk to her about anything concerning Molly since he was trying to think of that girl in general. Sure, she was beautiful, but it wasn't hard to think of anyone else now after Layla had mentioned her beauty. Yes, Weasley's did have that stunning glow about them at times, but that didn't mean he was going to act on any urges he had. Yes, a lot of people would hate him for trying to go after her, but he was no longer concerned with this.

Looking at her again, he nodded, but started to shiver a little himself as he noticed the weather started to get a little colder. Steve could have sworn it had been warmer than this outside, but he wanted to keep his own feet from falling off completely. Sadly, he now had more things to get used to than just a talk, and now he was with Layla all over again. Sure, they had started out as friends, but he was trying to determine where they could actually go from here. Was there some space they could just hang out at, but then he had an idea, a very smart one they should have thought of before coming out here. "Uhm why don't we head inside now and talk there, I'm sure there will be another time for us to talk more after the holidays," he said to her offering to help her up so they could head back inside.

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