Originally Posted by Bazinga

Minerva watched as he pulled his wand again and studied his movements and words. This time to lock it in her memory. Pulling out her own wand, Minerva copied his movements to practice. Then she did it once, “Papilio” and smiled as the butterflies emerged. “I like that one. I think it could come in handy days that I am thinking of mom.” She placed her wand back in its holster and smiled watched the butterflies. She then turned and looked at him curiously, a spell? That was interesting, she wondered what he was up to and why he would hide it, she could have practiced and helped him. Then her curiosity grew when he said it was a surprise for her. “For me? What on earth have you been up too?”

Minerva’s eyes shifted from Ethan to her hand, the one with the galleon in it. His words registering in her head. Wanted to take care of her.. Wanted.. An odd feeling went over her. She felt like her heart might just burst from emotion. Since her parents she really felt people were just forced to take care of her, no one really seemed overly excited to actually do it. So she was just use to taking care of herself. Not asking for much from anyone and figuring it out on her own, but he wanted to take care of her. She knew to anyone else this was not that big of a deal it was just a galleon, but her emotion wasn’t about the money at all. Biting her lip to try and control the emotional rollercoaster going on inside her head, Minerva finally looked up at Ethan and gave a loving smile. Leaning in she gave him a soft kiss then rested her head on his shoulder. “I.. umm.. thanks..” was all she could get out with a bit of a shaky tone. She shrugged at his comment about the larger coins, “It was just something I overheard probably could ask Oakey next time I see him.”

The thought had crossed her mind to do the walls for quidditch matches, but Ethan looked as if he thought it was a good idea as well. “That could be a plan, it’s such an easy charm to do.” She thought for a moment at what she could put on the wall during those days. “It might be good for the common room walls as well as the dorm.” She was just speaking her thoughts now, but it was an interesting idea. Turning to face him she listened to as he talked about being more creative and different ways to spend time together. “I wouldn’t mind doing any of that. As long as I’m getting to see you.” She was okay if there were times she couldn’t see him though and she didn’t want him to think he had to spend time with her. She didn’t want to be a pest or anything. Shaking her head and smiled she knew he didn’t need her to help him do well on his N.E.W.T exams. “Ethan you’re a seventh year Ravenclaw, your smarter than I am, you are going to do just fine on the exams, but of course I would love to help you study if you want.” She wasn’t going to say no to extra studying herself, it would benefit her as much as him.

Originally Posted by emjay

Ethan turned to Minerva a little more fully, watching as she practiced the spell. "Yeah, that's it.." he grinned as he watched the butterflies fly out of the tip of her wand. Now the place was brightening up with all their conjured butterflies. It was actually becoming reminiscent of last term. "Do you think she knew that spell?" he asked, curious if her mother ever conjured her own butterflies, knowing that she liked them. Maybe it would make Min feel closer to her mum, performing the same sort of spells. He grinned a little, looking down as she expressed her surprise. "Oh.. well, not for you so much.. it's just that its a more difficult spell, but one that a seventh year and certainly a prefect should know." And it bugged him terribly when he found out that some younger students could already cast this spell. "I've just been practicing and now that I can do it, wanted to show you.." More like, he wanted her to be impressed that he was able to master such a difficult spell on his own. "Ready? It's pretty cool.." He smiled widely at her before sliding a little bit away on the bench to allow more room. Pointing his wand in the air, he focused on one of his happiest memories in his mind, then commanded firmly, "Expecto Patronum!" He watched with a bit of excitement as a silvery badger emerged from his wand and scampered around the butterflies. "What do you think?" he asked turning to her with a grin. "You're the first one to see it.. well, besides myself, of course."

Ethan watched Minerva carefully as she seemed to be thinking over the galleon. He wasn't sure exactly what was going through her mind, but he really hoped that she wasn't thinking he saw her as some charity case. He loved her and it was only natural for him to want to take care of her.. and he wasn't taking no for an answer. He knew there were families in Hogwarts that had more money than his did, but his own was fairly well off and what was the point in having the money he did if he couldn't take care of the one person who was most important to him? She finally looked at him and he mirrored her smile, cupping the side of her face with his hand as he kissed her back, and putting his arms around her as she laid her head on his shoulder. He frowned a little bit as her tone suggested she might cry, then he allowed a small smile to appear as he rested his head against hers. "No need to thank me, really.. you'd better get used to it though," he said softly, with a little chuckle. "I'm always going to want to take care of you." He shrugged a bit at her next words. "It does make sense, actually.." Though why they couldn't add that on the sign at the turnstiles was beyond him. "No need for everyone to make change then and that galleon would hold you over for almost the year probably and you wouldn't have to worry about it. I'll try a sickle next time I go inside and see how that works." Then if it didn't, he didn't waste all that much money.

"Yeah, I think that would be a fun charm to do.. you'll have to let me know what you can do and maybe we can coordinate.. even get the other houses involved," Ethan agreed with the wall changing idea. Though he didn't admit he wasn't so good with the writing on the wall charm.. especially when she said it was easy. He could do the color changing one, no problem.. but for some reason the words came a little more difficult to him. Would he ever be good at Charms? Ethan wasn't so sure he thought so.. There were quite a few that he was fairly good at and some he would even say he mastered, but it just seemed to not come as easy to him as other subject areas. He leaned back and listened to her as she agreed with spending time with him even if it was one of the creative ways he had thought. Smiling a bit, he said, "I don't know about smarter than.. but I think we can both benefit from that, don't you? We both need to study, whether NEWTs for me or finals for you, plus we both have homework.. Though I do prefer hanging out like this to doing actual work." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Plus, he needed to take her out on an actual date.. when was Hogsmeade open again?