Calum stepped out into the cool winter air of Hogsmeade. It was his first time into the magical, snowy city. As the first breeze of winter cold air brushed against him, he smiled.
It was as wonderful as everyone told him it was. Hogsmeade was crowded with Hogwarts students by now, and Calum wondered where Valentina was. They were supposed to be meeting on their way out from Hogwarts, but Calum had been a bit late, doing his homework in the library. So, he looked around again.
Suddenly, someone called him from behind. He turned around and saw Valentina.
"Hello, there." he said, smiling.

Valentina had been waiting for a few mintues, waiting for Calum.
Hogsmeade looked beautiful. A white layer of snow covered the ground, and from the chimneys rose a thick layer of soft white clowds.
Valentina shivvered in her white winter coat, and blew into her hands. A soft bubble of heat rose from her mouth and flew upwards.

"Hello, there." a familiar voice spoke, a few meters behind her.
It was Calum, looking happy and smiling.
She ran over to him and grabbed his hand.
"I've been waiting!... What kept to up?" She asked, smiling back.

OOC: Sorry! I was just going to post when I saw that it said 'Valentina'.

"Studying in the library, sorry, but I'm finished now. I'm free for the rest of the day." He said. "I think we should start with a nice cup? The Three Broomsticks? The Hog's Head? Madam Puddifoot's?"

He felt Valentina grab his hand and he gripped hers in return.

Valentina smiled as she felt his hand around hers.

" I see... I do that quite a lot, lately!" She explained, showing that she understood.

"mmh! I would say to get a Butterbeer first... and then we could go to Zonko's Joke Shop... or Honeydukes Sweetshop!... What do you think?"

She had brought a lot of money with her, her father treated her quite well will pocket money.
"I'll offer you a drink, if you want!" She said, smiling happily.

"I'm glad you understand." He said, smiling. "You've just read my mind, Valentina Greysoul. Let's go then, shall we?"

"Thank you, Calum Ferguson! " she said, and let out a giggle, "yes, why not?"

they started walking. Valentina slightly swinged her hand, that was still grabbing his.

They both entered The Three Broomsticks. It was a bit crowded today. People were sitting or wondering about.

"Ok, firstly.... I'll just have a Butterbeer, how about you?"

"Yes, that'd be nice." He said. "I'll get us a seat, huh?"

Calum searched for an empty table and stopped at the free table near the corner. He sat down and waited.

"sure!" She replied happily.

She ordered two butterbeers and looked around to see where he was. He was near the corner, close to the window, perfect for staring outside at the white snow and passing people.
She went towards him carrying the two drinks.

She sat down and looked where his gaze was set.
"It's a beaytiful place here, isn't it?" She smiled and passed him the drink.

"Thanks." He said, smiling and accepting the butterbeer. "Yeah. Winter's my favourite season. No idea why, but it just is.. for some reason."

He smiled at her cheeriness.

"Well, you're cheerful today, Valentina." He said, smiling too. "What's going on?"

"mmh! Mine too! Maybe 'cause of Christmas..." She said nodding.
She looked back out of the wide window.

She took a long sip of butterbeer, anjoying the warm feeling running through her. she closed her eyes and continued drinking.

"Well, you're cheerful today, Valentina. "What's going on?" Calum said, smiling too.

Valentina, for half a second, made a sudden movement (while she was still drinking), turned, and started caughting and spatting out butterbeer everywhere.

"Calum... don't ever...*caught* do that again!" she croaked, her throat sorrowly acheing. Most of the shop had turned to look at her.
She stood back up and said something alond the lines of "brainfreeze" "sudden urgent thought" and "blimey, haven't done my homework!" so that everyone would look away. Which they did.

Valentina turned back to face Calum, pink cheeks with embaracement.
" It's just that I'm already enjoying the day out!" she answered cooly, with the most casual voice she could master.

OOC: i'll copy this thread on Word, so we can still have it after Mel has deleted everything! (lol, love this part :lol: )

Valentina, for half a second, made a sudden movement (while she was still drinking), turned, and started coughing and spitting out butterbeer everywhere.

"Uh, Valentina? Are you okay?" He asked, rubbing butterbeer off himself.

"Calum... don't ever...*cough* do that again!" she croaked.
Valentina turned back to face Calum, pink cheeks with embarassment.
" It's just that I'm already enjoying the day out!" she answered cooly, with the most casual voice she could muster.

"How was it my fault anyway?" he asked, interestedly. "Scourgify." He said, pointing his wand at the butterbeer, and clearing up the mess.
"Oh, that's good. You seem to be in a coughing mood." He remarked. "Should we go to Zonko's now? "

Valentina Blush very hard. Her cheeks become a very soft pink, contrasting with her pale skin.

"hmm..." She looked down at her black jeans.
"yeah... I'm okay!" She said smiling, but was still blushing and looking down, now fidgetting with her hands.

" I like your company!" She looked up, feeling her face cooling down, since she was forcing it to.

"finished your butterbeer? Shall we go?"Valentina said, making her voice sound normal, and trying to change the subject.

"Well, thank you. That's very nice of you to say so." He said, clearly pleased that he had made a good company. "Yeah, I think that'll be cool. Joke shops are always fun."

He held out his hand, signalling her to grab it.

Valentina looked at him as he lent his hand over. She looked at it suspiciously, as if expecting it to bite, clearly surprised.
She looked up again, smiling proudly, and took it.

"Yeah, I've always loved joke shops, too!" she said happily, getting up.

They left the shop and were hit by a cold wind, blowing soft snow flakes.
They passed the post office (where a wizard with a big barn owl came out), Honeydukes (a large candy floss cat was purring and miaowing) and finally they reached their destination.

"Zonko's Joke Shop!" She said satisfied. She was still holding Calum's hand.

((OOC: By the way, Zonko's joke shop closed in 1997. But let's continue this anyway.))

"Don't worry, I don't have any diseases." He said, smiling.

They left the shop and were hit by a cold wind, blowing soft snow flakes.
They passed the post office (where a wizard with a big barn owl came out), Honeydukes (a large candy floss cat was purring and miaowing) and finally they reached their destination.

"Zonko's Joke Shop!" She said satisfied. She was still holding Calum's hand.

"I guess this is it, huh?" he pulled Valentina inside and looked around. "Hmm.. I might need a few dungbombs.. or some Frog-spawn soap... just to give a little fright to those Clandestines.."

He browsed the shop interestedly.

((OOC:oh, dear... didn't remember that! lol))

Valentina looked intrestedly from shelf to shelf... it was crowded with the most unusual products ever.

She grabbed a purple flower. It looked quite normal, until she squeezed a petal and it started singing a christmas carol.
After that, Valentina looked at a bright yellow caneree that started insulting openly the shop keeper.

"hey, look at this, Calum!" she said happily, as she held in her hand a fake cat that started miaowing a hissing until it started caughting out fur balls.
"Cute, isn't he?"Valentina asked, pointing at the cat.
"Emanda will love him!" She laughted, immagining the face of her doormate, that hated cats.

Calum laughed.
"Yes, I think she will. Now, I think the Clandestines will absolutely adore this. It looks good enough to be real." He smiled, holding up a cockroach.

"That is real." said the shopkeeper, looking amusedly at Calum.

He yelled and dropped it in sudden fright.

"Well, thanks for the update." he said, scornfully, making the shopkeeper shut his mouth quickly as he strived for a retort.

Valentina laughted and looked over at what he was holding.
A nice, greenish cockroach. Her yaw dropped and she slightly backed away.
If it was a toy, it looked real enought. She reached out to touch it.

"That is real." said the shopkeeper with a surprised tone.

Calum yelled and dropped it, while Valentina screamed (she had just touched it's squashy back), tripped over her own feet and landed with a thump!.

"That was desgousting!" she yelped, watching the cockroach scutter away.

she looked at Calum, who still looked stunned.

She gotup and searched for something alse, looking back and watching Calum still on the spot.
He's so cute! she thought, blushing slightly.

He flushed as everyone in the shop turned to stare at him and straightened himself up. He was annoyed with himself, why couldn't he see that it was real?

"Sorry, 'bout that.." he said to Valentina, his ears hot. " Are you ready? Let's check out Honeyduke's."

He took her hand.

Valentina had just bought a new pair of Hitting Headbands, which hit you everytime you said a lie or anything mean (for Adelaide, a 5th grader Slytherin girl), so she could get everyone to look away.

Just as she was turning back to face Calum, he took her hand.

She was blushing very hard, as if she had to sing a solo infront of the whole school.

"yay! I love Honeyduke's!" she said merrily, even though her voice was very high-pitched.

Another cold wind hit them, until they entered the sweet shop.
It was pretty crowed that day. Valentina nearly got run over by a few Hufflepuff second years.
A sugar smell flooded the shop, and Valentina started getting out her purse.

"what would you like first?" she asked, eyeing the Sugar Snakes.

"Looks so sweet." he said, looking around the place. "Smells sweet too."
"what would you like first?" she asked

"uh, I don't know..you?" he said. "Sugar snakes, I suppose?"

He got out a bag of galleons and paid for a bag.

"Here." he handed it to her, smiling. "I owe you one for the butterbeer."

Valentina gasped surprised.
"Calum!... Are you sure?... I mean..." She mumbled. But Calum had already paid.
"Thank you!" she whispered, feeling as if she was going red again.

She looked around the sweet shop for anything interesting.
"Look at that!" she ran over to a jar, knocking over a tall boy.
The jar contained various dibbling droblies. It was ages ago that Valentina had tried one.

When she finally decided she was full (her arms were busy holding tons of different sweets) she made her way over to the counter.
She had decided that she had got enought things.

Valentina turned around to look for Calum, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe she had taken her sweet hunt too seiously.
She looked around again. "Calum...?" she asked loudly, but nearly everyone ignored her and continued with their shopping.

Calum had gone out for a gulp of fresh air, chewing a toffee. Then, just as he went back in, Valentina was nowhere in sight. He shoved through the crowded area.
"Sorry...coming through... sorry... " he said as he weaved through. "excuse me... sorry... Valentina? Oh, there you are, where have you been--?"

The girl turned around and he relized it was not her.

"Oh, sorry.." he said, grinning slightly, resisting a laughing fit. A mistake similar to those in movies. He shook his head in disapproval at his way of thinking. Then he saw her.

"Hey." he said, smiling, putting his hand on her shoulder while she faced the other way, looking furious around.