Valentina made her wayover to the school grounds, feeling both excited and nervous. She was going to meet up with Caulm, a boy who she had had a crush since her third year.

Since lessons had long finished, she had changed from her brand new Slytherin uniform to a cozy but cute looking beige puncho and designer jeans. Her heair were now tied in a loose ponytail, wiched looked ever so pretty on her.

She finally reached her destination: an old oak tree that shadowed the ground around it from a bitter wind. The sun was there, but too weak to overwealm such cold force.
Valentina sat down and waited for him, a smile printed on her face.

She had also bought him a present. She had been thinking about it all summer, but was too shy to actually do it. Now here she was, holding the golden wrapped bow.

Calum got dressed in a pair of black jeans, sneakers and a white shirt. He brushed his hair, awkwardly, not used to doing it before and looked at his watch. Two minutes left. He, quickly, pulled on a black jacket and ran down an awful lot of stairs from the Ravenclaw tower to the grounds.
Why couldn't there be one of those muggle evelators in Hogwarts? (elevators) he thought.
He smiled when he reached the tree of which they were to meet, slowing down his pace considerably.
"Hello." he said, sitting down next to her. "You look nice."

Valentina watched Calum walk over to her and felt a bit awkward... Maybe she should have put on a white t-shirt instead of black...
"hello, you look nice." Calum said.
She smiled gloriously, not having expected it at all.
"Thank you! You look great too!" she said, grinning.

Remembering her present, she gave it to him as soon as he had sat down.
"Here, Calum. It's just a small present, nothing too big!" She carefully avoided mentioning the price.

She watched him anxiously, a faint smile on her lips.

Calum looked surprised when Valentina offered him a present. He hadn't brought anything and felt slightly embarrassed.
"I-- er.." he said, recieving the gift awkwardly. "Thanks."
He smiled and slowly opened the gold ribbon that had been carefully wrapped around the presents. He opened to see a golden, slightly bigger than normal monument of a snitch.
He observed it with interested eyes. It was perfectly carved to the slightest feather of its wings.
"Thank you." he said, smiling.
Calum got out his wand.
"Accio, model." he muttered and seconds later, a zooming noise could be heard. A small model of a Viktor Krum on a Firebolt zoomed to his hand.
"Enjoy Quidditch?" he asked, giving it to her. "My dad's a quidditch fanatic. He sends me a different one of these every month. So, I have tons more in my trunk. This one's the best so far."

OOC: I'll be away on week days from tomorrow on. Sorry for the inconvenience... Click here for more information

Valentina studied Calum's expression very carefully, a smile printed on her lips.
"Like it?" she asked, slightly nervous.
She smiled again, now more relaxed.

"Yeah, I enjoy quidditch... especially when i get to play it!" she replied, carefull not to blabber on about her flying skills.
She felt totally at ease with him.
"and thank you so much! I love watching Krum's flying tecniques! Thank you!" She lent in for a quick, friendly hug.

However, Valentina was slightly confused. Everytime she mentioned his dad, Calum went quiet.
she tested the waters.
"That's cool...What quidditch team's do you and your father support?"

OOC: Starting school again? Wow, that's pretty early!... How does your school sistem work there in Australia?

"Yeah, it's a perfect present." he said, hugging her also. He laughed slightly. "Doesn't everyone..? Personally, I think Quidditch is also a very good spectator sport.."
He fiddled on the golden wrapping of his present, uneasy at talking about Quidditch. It was a mistake to bring up the subject.
"I support the Tutshill Tornados, but I dunno about my dad, he's changes his support everytime another team beats his best one.."
He grinned.
"So, uh, which do you support?" he asked, seeing this as a way to escape the subject of Quidditch.

OOC: School starts at February and then they divide it 4 terms and we get a two-week holiday between those, also a two month one at the end of term 4... well, nearly two months.

Valentina smiled, but felt bad about testing that out. Calum was struggling, and she didn't miss it.
She laughted at Calum's comment.

"Weird, my older brother does that as well...I got influenced by him will all the quidditch stuff!..." she giggled, remembering the time when Brandon and her had gone to the Quidditch finals... Brandon had changed the supporting team-who had lost- with the other one.

"I support Montrose Magpies.. they're cool! Probably both our fath-" she stopped mid-sentance at the word 'fathers', scared to hurt him.
She hadn't missed his wince.

She watched him for a second, delibating weather to apologiaze or not, in case it would hurt him more.
She reached out and put on hand on his shoulder, and patted it.
"Calum," she said softly, "please tell me anything that troubles you."
She was sincere, her natural kind soul. Not the typical Slytherin behaviour.

Or.. maybe not...
His strategy was not quite working, instead of escaping the subject, they got deeper into another one of his worst subjects: history.
"Calum," she said softly, "please tell me anything that troubles you."
He looked up, startled.
"Erm, err, I-- uh.. don't know what you mean." he said. "I'm perfectly fine."
But, the supposedly reassuring smile that came after these words was everything but reassuring.
He sighed slightly and hesitated, reluctant to even mutter, but then let out the series of words, staring straight at the grass as if inspecting if they had grown or not.
"Dad.. fell.. fifty feet... landed on his neck.. died.. trying to forget.. not working.."
He sighed and returned to full sentences, staring up into the distance.
"I never did please him, either. How can I? I can't even fly on a broomstick."
Calum sighed again and smiled, trying to relieve all the awkwardness.
"So, how's your life been?" he asked in an unusually jolly voice, that one can be surprised about, considering the sadness in his previous sentence.

Valentina gasped, tears swelling up her eyes.
"oh, Calum! I'm so, so sorry! I-! Sorry!" she covered her mouth, gulping back the tears.
Why could she be so cruel to bring it up?!
She breathed in, deeply before continuing.

"I'm the Vice Ministers daughter, right?" It came out in a rush, a bit hysterical, "I need to be perfect: say the right thing at the right time, wear the right dress for the right occasion, act right infront of every person, study hard at school, get good grades, go out with the right people, have the right friends, get along with everyone... I can't stand it anymore!" she half shouted.

"My father can't stand seeing my right side... my side... My real nature. I feel like a puppet.
"and he's obsessed with the Dark Arts... so I have to be!... And,"-she hid her face in her hands- "...visions hunt me... about my father..."
The tears were running freely down her face, "...and some people..." a sob drowned the last part of her sentence "...and he... kills them... one by one...!"
Before she knew it, she had thrown her arms around his neck and back, hugging him, her head hidden in his chest, wetting his shirt.
"sorry!..." she sobbed, her voice muffled by his shirt.

OOC: Damn, your version still sounds better... lol (and aww! :whimper: It's so sad!)

OOC: haha, that's ok. I took a lot of time thinking about mine..

He smiled slightly.
"Don't worry about it." he said.
He gasped at first when Valentina had thrown her arms around him, the scar on his chest still not healing. But then relaxed and put his arms around her sobbing body.
"Don't worry, dad's.. can be a little too strict. They don't always listen to what you say." he said. "But, it'll be ok soon. I'm sure."
He smiled.
"It's alright, I like my shirt wet anyway." he said.

OOC: I was improvising most of the time...lol. ^_^

Valentina laughted slightly, still hanging on to him.
"Yeah... we're brave enought going throught this!" she said, relaxing a bit and looking up.
"So sorry about your shirt...again!" she said, smiling again. She whiped her eyes dry with the back of her hand.

"do you know, you're the first person I've told so far?" Valentina asked, sitting straight now.
"You sure must be very important to me!" she blushed slightly.

OOC: I'm sneaking on the computer now.. I get so bored without Lumos..

He rubbed his wet shirt a little, aiming to sooth his scar down without notice and put her arm around her.
"I guess you're pretty special too. I haven't told the story of my dad's history to anyone yet." he said. "They're all too busy to hear it."
Calum smiled at her. How they've come such a long way from the way they had met, is just surprising, He had actually forgotten how. He felt comfortable around her now. Before today, he was still a little uncomfortable, he can admit. Everything has changed today.
"Do you remember how we met?" he asked. "My brain is so full, I honestly can't remember.."
He stared at the distance while searching his mind furiously.

OOC: Yeah, I do that as well. lol.

Valentina left Calum the space to rub his shirt dry, before leaning on him again. She felt a bit exhausted.

Instead, she focused on his question.
"The first time we've met...?" she asked, focusing. "I guess it was..." she paused. The Spring Ball wasn't the real first time.
"... during a DADA class... We started talking about art..."
She snuggled a bit closer.
"I remember we were saying we didn't like it..." she said, before letting her mind go blank. "6 months ago... feels weird, right? Time passes quickly..."

"And do you remember the Spring Ball?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Oh yeah." he said, his head finally clear. "Yes, I do. Poor Casey, though."
He sighed. His consicence was still bugging him about that.
"I like you." he said, thoughtlessly. "I'm really not very good, am I? I mean, you ask all the time. Usually, the boy is supposed to do that kins of stuff. In this case, me, Not, you."
He smiled.
"I'm completely tackless.." he said, shaking his head.

"yeah" She agreed, feeling slightly guilty, "poor Casey... at least we had a great time... at least, I did." she said, now looking up at him.

"I like you." he said, thoughtlessly. "I'm really not very good, am I? I mean, you ask all the time. Usually, the boy is supposed to do that kins of stuff. In this case, me, Not, you."
She blushed automaticly, examining his face carefully.
Her throaght had gone suddenly dry, obvious reaction that she had been taken by surprise.

"Thanks," Valentina replied. "I like you too, a lot!" she blushed a deeper shade of pink.
"And it's okay... really okay... After all, only true men show their feelings!" she giggled a bit at this, before smiling again.

"And don't say your tackless, you're not!" she exclaimed, feeling better in comforting Calum.
"It's me who's too shy!"

He smiled when she blushed a deep shade of pink.
"I'm glad you do." he said, facing her.
"It's me who's too shy!"
"I don't think you're shy," he said, simply. "You're the one who had to pick up a lot of courage to ask me. I'm just lazing around, doing nothing of the sort."
He sighed, but still kept his smile.
He thought about asking her how she got into Slytherin, but thought that it'd raise up the subject of fathers again. He wanted to ask her that in a different angle.
"So, do you like your house?" he asked, hoping it wasn't too obvious.

She smiled so widely it hurt her pale cheeks.
"Thank you, Calum!" she said again. She leaned against the tree trunk, breathing evenly.

"By likeing my home, do you mean the furniture or my family?" she asked, grinning, flicking away his attempts of covering his curiousity.

"My house is huge, as you might have seen last summer, that I sometimes feel lost in it!" she said truthfully.
"And there are all this snake stuff, it kinda gets on my nerves. All right, I guess all my family has been in Slytherin for generations, but still..."
She took a deep breath and sighed.
" You don't know how close it was, at the Ceremony in my first year... You know the Sorting Hat, right?" she asked him, not really waiting for an answer, since it was so obvious, "It was a hard choise.
"You know, blood against person? That sort of thing..."

She waited for him to show any sign of intrest, before continuing.

Calum let her talk about her house, although that wasn't exactly what he wanted to know. Somehow, though, it surprisingly lead to the subject he was curious about.
"That wasn't really what I was aiming for, but.. it's fine anyway." he said. "I guess I do."
He shrugged.
"I'm a half-blood, but I can easily be a pure-blood." he said. "I don't go around muggle streets very often and I'm usually around wizards."

OOC: so sorry, I couldn't remember I had this forum running! > o <

Valentina stared at him for a while, her eyes soft and sweet.
"What were you aiming for, then?" she asked playfully, leaning a bit closer to him.

"Ah, you are very lucky about that. With all this NDE nonsence, they could murder you for even just looking like a muggle-born!" She said, her voice now sour just naming the NDE's.
"Very lucky indeed!" she repeated, now thinking, her face screwed up with dought.

The NDE's had murdered a whole family of half-bloods last weekend.
She shivered at the thought.

OOC: it's alright. Sorry as well, I didn't notice you replied...

"Nothing." he said. "It ended up in the right place anyway."
He smiled.
"How can you look like a muggleborn?" he asked, skeptically. It didn't feel to him that anyone could look like a muggleborn. It just wasn't right to judge people by their looks.
"Do you like muggleborns?" he asked, suddenly very curious.

Valentina laughted. She had not expected this.
"Well... wizarding cloths are different from muggle ones!" she reasoned, not really knowing how alse you could recognise a muggle from a wizard.

She then bit her lip. Being a Slytherin had it's skeptical points.
"In general, not really... it's mostly a thing to do with the past, you know, witch-burning... and then they are so headstrong to believe that magic doesn't excist!" She continues, before pausing.
"You know, if you were a muggle, I wouldn't hate you anyway!" she pointed out, not really sure what made her say this.

"And you? Do you like muggles?" she asked, smiling curiously.

"I meant muggleborns, but I guess we can talk about muggles." he said, shrugging. "Yeah, but the with the witch-burning, the witches enjoyed it. They said it felt...tingly."
He laughed slightly at that and then again when Valentina spoke again.
"And why would that be?" he asked. "I don't know what to think of muggles. I've never actually met one."

"oh," she said, blushing slightly. "Muggleborns are... i dunno... it's kinda weird actually, but it doesn't feel fair. I mean, they shouldn't belong in the magic world!" She explained, feeling slightly embarassed and unfair by her way of thinking.

She was quite shocked when he asked her why.
"Oh, like, come on! You know perfectly well how important you are to me!" she replied simply.

"Well, I have!" she said, going back to the main subject. "Actually, he's in your House... Andrej, he's called. He's funny at times, but he's got all this prejudice against Slytherins!"
She crossed her arms angrily, flicking her hair out of the way in fustration.
"I know Slytherins aren't always nice, but I don't find any reason to hate them!" she explained, remembering Aj's behaviour at the three broomstick.

Calum doesn't know what to think of her anymore, not liking muggleborns.. and prejudicing them. He looked insulted.
"Why not?" he asked, shocked.
He forced a smile, not being able to force a laugh.
"Yeah." he said.
He looked expressionlessly at the grass.
"Yeah, just like you prejudice muggleborns.." he muttered, before he could stop himself.
He flushed, angry with himself.
"I didn't mean that." he said, looking away and unable to face her after directly insulting her. "You're nice enough, but some aren't that good."

OOC: I could change that if it's not suitable for the situation...

Valentina look at Calum again, blushing slightly.
Tears started whelling up in her eyes, but she did not spill them.
"It's okay," she assured him. "I've been told that before."
But never by a person she cared so much about.

She looked at her pale hands, wishing strongly she had kept her mouth shut.
"My parents are very strict about some things." she explained quietly, trying hard not to let her voice crack with pain, "I was tought not to like them."

She didn't dare look up at him, scared he would be angry at her.
"Please, don't think badly of me!" she begged, still avoiding eye contact, wishing her tears would go away.

He flushed even more and looked more ashamed of himself. Now he had insulted his girlfriend, the worst thing you can do in a date.
He reached out to her and hugged her.
"I told you, I didn't mean that." he said. "A mistake. My stepdad told a story when he was brought up. His family was all Slytherins, like yours. He, however, ended up in Ravenclaw. He had a hard time there, because he, like you, was also taught to hate muggles and muggleborns. He argued a lot and made enemies. Lots. He, then, finally met my mother who suggested he spoke no more about the subject. My mother, though, met another and married him. She had me and my brother , then that was when my muggle dad died of cancer and then.. you probably know the rest."
It took him a lot to just recite that.
He almost shed a tear, but held it back, still holding on to her.
"Do you have a nickname?" he asked, suddenly, almost laughing that he could actually think about nicknames in such a tense situation.

Valentina was surprised when he hugged her, but willing.
He seemed to read her mind when she was embarassed or upset.

She hugged him more tightly when he told her the story.
"Thank you, Calum.... And I'm so sorry!" she whispered. "It's just that I've never actually met a friendly muggle, so I tend to believe the whole pure-blood nonsence!" She admitted, slightly embarassed.

She laughted too at the question, lightening up the tension.
"Mmmh... let's see... Valy or Val... what about you?" she asked, a smile on her lips.

"Me? I don't I have one.." he said. "Most just call me Calum. One, called me Cam.. I don't know how that came to be, but.. yeah."
He smiled, not relising he was still hugging her, but let go when he finally did relise and just swung her arm around her.
"Okay, then, Valy." he said, using the new nickname. "Tell me, what's your hobbies?"
He was inventing questions again.

Valentina giggled as he swung his arm around her.
"Well, Cam, I like swimming -even if I have never swam in the Lake- and... exploring!" she finally said. "What about you, Cam?"
She siled when she said his nickname.

"Oh, that reminds me... have you ever swam in the Lake?" She was obviously planning ahead for a swimming trip, even thought she didn't know if he liked swimming.

He laughed.
"I have." he said. "It's really refreshing, actually."
He had swam once when he was in the lake with Fawne Sugarmoon. It was quite an experience.
"Yeah, let's go sometime." he said. "Maybe tomorrow? Or whenever you're free."
It felt good to ask her out, instead of the other way around.

Valentina's smile widened.
He was asking her out, and offering to go swimming in the Lake.

"Thank you, tomorrow is awsome!" she replied happily.
"Should I ask our potion teacher to let us borrow some Gillyweed?" she asked, thinking forewards.

She was very happy and excited now.

He smiled.
"I guess that would be alright.." he said, unsurely. "I thought gillyweed is pretty special.."
He got up.
"I think I should go, now.." he said. "Although, I would gladly stay if you want to."

"yeah, Gillyweed is special... but I'm sure the professor will understand!" she assured him.
She got up as well, even though she was a little desapointed.
"It's okay, I'll come with you!" she said, keeping her tone light.

OOC: mmh... let's do until the front doors..?

OOC: Yeah, ok.

"Alright." he said, holding her hand and leading her to the front doors. "I enjoyed today."
He smiled.

Valentina grinned when he held hands. She was by far too happy to blush.
"Yeah, I enjoyed today, too!" she said happily. She was wondering if they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but was too shy to ask.

A warm breeze swept throught them and she closed her eyes brifly, enjoying the moment.

As they entered the entrance hall, everything seemed smaller. The landscape had gone and walls had come in again.
"Is your common room downstairs?" he asked.

Valentina nodded, looking around the huge entrance hall.
"Just that way," she pointed at some stairs leading down. Shw was used to seeing the immediate dimly lit light.

"Where's yours?" she asked. She had been wondering that for some time.

"It's in one of the towers." he said, pointing upwards. "So, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."
He winked and walked up the stairs.

OOC: I'll make a topic in the lake.

Valentina blushed as he winked at her.
"Bye!" she called after him.

As soon as he was gone, she let out a low sigh and did a pirolette, grinning.
It had gone almost perfectly!