* - and that's why i smile

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Lately it seemed that everything was going well for Aubrey. Sure the awkwardness between her and Scorp was slowly starting to tone down ever since their last patrol together, but the young peppy Gryffindor wasn’t even going to think about him this day. No, her mind was on another rather dashing young man and his name was Frank Longbottom. It seemed that ever since her and Frank had started dating it was almost like a whirlwind romance between the two, like they were almost meant to be. She only thought almost, because she knew her parents wouldn’t exactly be happy about her claiming she found her soul mate already. They were the ones that said love took time, but with Frank it felt… like they had all the time in the world, yet she wanted to be with him every single moment of it.

The young blond was standing in front of the mirror, fixing up her outfit as she looked herself over. Today, Frank was going to be bringing her to the Hogwarts Carnival. Oh how exciting it sounded! She had been to many muggle carnivals with her parents during the summer, but she was sure that a magical one would be much more fun! And with this being the first time Hogwarts has ever done such a thing, the peppy young Gryffindor couldn’t wait to get out there.

Aubrey pointed her wand at her red and gold plaid camp shirt, fixing a wrinkle she saw on it before proceeding to her matching skirt and fluffing it out, knocking any dust or lint that happened to land upon while she got ready, even though there wasn’t much as the house elves kept the dormitory rather neat in the first place. When she considered her look satisfying she placed he wand in the back of her skirt, a little pocket at the top of each skirt she had added ever since she had been attacked one day in the hallways. She wasn’t going to let anyone try and get to her this time, especially with the fact that students were now being petrified, and honestly she felt that there was a good chance she was on that list.

With her wand tucked in, the young blond headed on down to the Gryffindor Common room where she was to wait for the handsome Frank Longbottom. She hoped that she wouldn’t have to wait long, rather full of excitement for their date she couldn’t keep still. Bouncing on the heels of her feat as she waited near the fat lady portrait for the one she could never stop thinking about.

[FRANK ALGIE LONGBOTTOM]

you said hey since that day you stole my heart and you're the one to blame- - -

life was just great. it was. frank didn't think he would ever be a 'debbie-downer' again in the near future. there was nothing in hi life right now that he could find fault in. his friends were great, school was going well and he had few worries about achieving the grades he needed to reach his desired career, and then of course there was aubrey. he'd had a few worries when they'd started dating... worries that aubrey might tire of him quickly, that he was just a quick rebound that she would be over with within a few weeks, but that wasn't the case. they were still going strong, each day just as good (if not better) as the last. a relationship with aubrey was everything that frank had been hoping it would be for the last several years. as long as she was happy, he was happy, and there was no evidence to otherwise.

the hogwarts' carnival was a bit of an interesting idea, one that frank hoped would go off without a hitch. it was actually pretty surprising that the professors would set this up, even with the odd attacks and hanging over the heads of everyone in the school, likely occupying the minds of many of its students and staff alike. he got the point of it, though. it was meant to be a fun event, something that helped everyone relax no matter what had happened recently. from the talk throughout the school, that method was working. everyone was speculating about what would be at the carnival, who would be attending with who, how many rides there would be, what they would look like... frank had to admit that he was curious himself. despite his father being the deputy headmaster, frank wasn't in the loop on these sorts of things, which was fine with him. he would more than happily just be 'frank longbottom' than be 'the goody two shoes son of the headmaster's deputy'.

wearing a simple maroon t-shirt and jeans frank set out of his dorm room, down to the commons room where he had promised to meet aubrey, right on time. she was there, of course, near the entrance to the room waiting for him. as usual, the teen couldn't hold back a grin when he saw her. even when they had just been friends, he'd never been able to stop smiling around her. that, of course, could probably be attributed to the fact that she had never been just a friend to him, but now he had even more reason to smile. "ready to go?"

TEMPLATE BY VIKA OF CAUTION.

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Aubrey was rocking back and forth upon her feet lightly as she waited for Frank to come back down. She was busy daydreaming about what the carnival would be like and how much fun the two of them were going to have that she didn’t even see Frank walk down into the common room. “ready to go?” The young blond heard the familiar voice that she always looked forward to hearing every day. She had twirled around to see him, a smile up on face as her hair floated on up for a brief second before falling back down upon her shoulders.

She bounced towards him, linking her arm into his all set and ready to go as she literally pulled him out through the fat lady portrait. She was usually an impatient one, always ready and roaring to go before her friends and had a tendency to lead everyone. Perhaps it was because most of the time she had a short attention span, if you didn’t keep her interested expect her mind to wander off and become bored of you. But that was never the case with Frank, there was just something about him that she never got bored with him. Really, she could just spend the day sitting across a table from him and gaze into his eyes. Sure it may seem she was out of it, but really she would be enjoying it. “So what do you think they are going to have? I’ve been to muggle carnivals before, but never a magical one!” she said with quite a bit of excitement. After all, this was indeed her first magical carnival and she was going with the one she knew was her soul mate.