"All summer,you say?" Cardigan asked, a smile creeping up onto her face. It would all work out. She could go to London early; with Liesel! Yeah! Her sister would definately let her! Weeeelllll, not her parents, but they didn't really pay attention to her, so they wouldn't notice the difference! What better way to rebel?!

Actually, the kiss made him focus. For the first time, probably. He was the one to break up the kiss. The smile was still there, and so was the blush, but the red on his cheeks had decreased a little bit.

"Let me rephrase...everything," he started to say, as his fingers were once again busy with her hair, busy with the blonde, "Blonde definitely suits you," he bit his lip, "I'm not saying that red doesn't...," because he simply knew she hated this. She hated not having her natural color around. "...but I love how it looks on you." Clearly. Hence the blushing, because she was far too beautiful, no? And for a moment there he failed to believe she was with him. Again.

Also, Treyen wouldn't lie, but there was something important he should mention. And no, his preference for blondes wasn't going to be mentioned. "That's my opinion, anyway, I know you don't like it." He was pretty positive the word was probably 'hate', but he wouldn't go that far.

Now. "Do you mind...," his eyes were on the strand of hair he was playing with, "...staying blonde...for a little while?" His eyes returned to her blue ones. "At least until you stop making me nervous with how beautiful you are." Shouldn't take long, because he was confident enough to say that.

And about the 'crazy' part she mentioned earlier? Yeah, she could have that, he wasn't disagreeing about it. He didn't mind being crazy. As long as the reason for being crazy was her.

She did mentioned something about spending his birthday in a library next year..., "I promise I won't." There. Ellie won again. Or perhaps he was too busy catching a glimpse of some golden highlights and decided not to argue anymore.

Remember the time when she asked if he could join her for a practice inside the stands? So she'll know where all the beams where and stuff? Truth be told, it was very likely he'll agree to do so if she asked right now.

The perks of being blonde?

Really, Ellie'd rather they not stop kissing. Treyen couldn't talk then. That seemed best at the moment.

Or...yeah, rephrasing could work. Yeah. You better rephrase, Lockhart.

She was more conscious than ever of his hand in her hair as he started to explain. It probably had something to do with the fact that her hair no longer felt like her hair. It was foreign. He was touching something foreign on her head and not her. AND he was biting his lip. Which, in most cases, wasn't a good thing. Ellie reached up and took his hand in hers. Stoppit. Her face, at least, remained expressionless.

Basically, he was saying that red - natural - simply suited her. But the blonde was...what? Better? Treyen loved the blonde, he said. She wasn't sure how she felt about this.

That she didn't like it was the understatement of the millennium, okay? "Why?" Why what, even Ellie wasn't very sure. Why'd he like it? Why was it SO different? She could very well ask herself those same questions.

Yes. Yes, she DID mind. If only because she didn't want him to care so much about what color her hair was.

And what was this about making him nervous? Was that what his inability to make sense before was about? A simple spell that changed NOTHING except what color her hair was made him nervous. He very clearly implied that she didn't normally. As she was.

...Ouch?

Roughly, she shoved her wand back into its holster. That was a 'yes', she supposed. Or a 'no'. Whichever meant that she was going to stay this way until Treyen seemed content. Until he got his fill. Of something that was NEVER happening again. No, sir. Then she dropped his hand and pivoted her body, facing away from Treyen, but leaning against his shoulder.

He cared most about what color her hair was? That was what he got to look at. She'd busy her own eyes with the view of the grounds.

"Good," Ellie mumbled about the library. But it was whatever. She didn't care anymore.

Logan nodded. "Yeah! And maybe we can hang out with Taylor and Ella as well...and some other people of course!" Logan said. He knew many friends at Hogwarts he'd like to have over. But the mustache...etc, etc party, that was only him and Cardigan of course.

"Yes yes of course!" Cardigan exclaimed, smiling even more. She didn't know that much other people though. But that's okay! She didn't really need much more people as friends than that. They were like the family she never had, her friends. She didn't like most of her family.

Logan nodded eagerly, the smile still on his face. "This'll be the best summer ever!" he said with a laugh. "We can maybe even go camping in the woods in my backyard!" he said. "That'd be fun!" It would indeed be the best summer ever. No work at all...just hanging out with friends...being the crazy people they were..

Now he was in trouble.

Deep trouble.

Treyen almost protested when she took his hands away from her hair. A little bit hypocritical of him, considering he didn't like other people's hands on his.

Why? Why what? There were so many questions going through his mind after she'd asked 'Why?'. And there were so many answers according to each of those questions. Answers he already knew were the wrong ones, because Ellie wouldn't agree with any of those. It didn't matter what he said, honestly. He'd already messed up, hadn't he?

But before he could say anything else, because his mind was still thinking and having trouble coming up with something to say, she dropped his hand.

Ouch.

Seriously, he couldn't help to like that color on her. He just couldn't. And it wasn't something easy to explain either, if someone could even explain that. He just liked it. A lot. It'd be like if she'd asked why he loved her. Mighty difficult to explain a logical reason behind it. He could still explain allllll the reasons he could think of.

So, what to do now? "I don't know." He was answering her question. But he also had no idea about what he should do. Since it bothered her so much..., "Change it back, please," he whispered, his face as close to her shoulder as possible, but he didn't want to get too close in case she was too upset, "Back to the red I fell in love with." Yes, never mind how much he liked the blonde, he'd rather see her as content as possible. And right now, she wasn't.

Clearly, there were things he couldn't get away with during his birthday.

.......................................

He didn't know.

Ellie bit hard on her lip, refraining from saying anything just yet. He didn't know. He didn't know how something as simple and stupid as changing her hair color could make him so nervous? He didn't know why he liked it? Why he was perfectly okay with her red hair, but transfigure it blonde and he fails at completing sentences?

HMPH, Treyen Lockhart. HMPH.

"No," she replied, far too quickly, to his whisper, not bothering to lower her own voice, "You wanted blonde. You get blonde. It's your birthday." And she was picking a fight on his birthday. Which was the last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn't really help her feelings toward him at the moment.

He made her feel awful on her birthday, if that was any justification. And she hadn't even done anything. Whereas Treyen? Yeah, he did a whole lot of something, according to Ellie.

That was fast.

And..., "You should stop biting your lip," he wouldn't dare on making her stop by kissing her as he usually did. Not right now. He was smart enough to know this.

Treyen was failing to understand it all. Why? Because she didn't want to be blonde! And he was asking her to change it back! So, he thought she will oh-so-gladly do that, but instead she decided on being just as stubborn as always and refused to do it. Well, FINE, Eliana Stone, do as you wish. Or as Treyen wishes. "I don't see what the big deal is," really, he didn't know why she'd reacted this way, there was still something to be amused by it, though, but he wasn't saying that out loud, "It's just a hair color."

Just that. A hair color. So what if he preferred one over the other? He still preferred her above all. Above everything, actually.

"I don't understand." ELLIE. He didn't understand her. She was the one person that raised more questions in his mind and the one who rarely gave a proper answer to those questions. And when she did gave him a proper answer, he understood even less.

Her logic was hers alone. So, he didn't follow it. Like it'd made sense for her to practice beneath the stands...it hardly made sense to him.

And this whole library thing too.

However, he didn't mind not understanding. As much frustrating as he found it, he was also enthralled by it.

"You know it!" Cardigan said with a laugh as well. This would be the best summer ever!!!!!! She couldn't wait for summer break! Hopefully there would be music; lots of it! "Really fun," She said with an 'excited' sigh. It was so close, yet it seemed so far away. That's not good. Not good at all.

FINE.

She blew her lip from her mouth with such aggravation, it made an audible noise.

What Ellie didn't understand, was why he could think the same thing as her, and come to such a different conclusion. "Exactly!" She rounded back to face him. "It's just a hair color, Treyen! So why is it, that when it turned blonde, it 'made you so nervous with how beautiful I am'?!" Yeah, she air quoted, "So nervous that you couldn't even form a proper sentence?!" Her voice was louder than she usually allowed it to get. ...Until she went on, "When have I ever done that as I am?" Her eyes fell to the ground, where she busied herself by unearthing individual blades of grass.

Treyen didn't understand. Right. "Me neither." Join the club. Only she didn't understand him.

She sighed, because she didn't want him on her about biting her lip again. "What, exactly, don't you understand?" By the way? Just to narrow it down some, perhaps?

Ellie really needed to stop this.

It hurt him. Not being able to see her. Even if she was angry at him or something, he'd still want to see her. She was doing it on purpose, wasn't she? Keeping those blue eyes away from him.

Hey, now. He didn't expect that. That she started to say it all at once. At least her eyes were on him. He was only missing the red hair.

OH.

Oh, Merlin. Well, now he was understanding a little bit. Or a lot. The reason why he'd messed up. And that reason was fairly obvious, because Ellie was the one saying it. He couldn't really formulate proper sentences without messing it all up. THAT'S WHY SHE NEEDED TO CHANGE HER HAIR BACK. But then it'll just prove her point right. Whatever it was, if she had any. There was no way he was getting out of this in one piece.

Oh?

He smiled. WIDELY. Probably not the best time to do so, but...he did. And there was no need to reply to the questions she pretty much yelled, mainly because he didn't know the reasons why, and the one reason he probably knew...will get him in trouble forever. So, no. He was keeping quiet about that, but he could answer what seemed to be most important to her in the first place. Which was the 'when has she ever done that as she was' part. "Always." True. "Ever since I first held your hand." And Saylen was to blame for that, by the way, because when he touched her hand for dancing was NOT the same thing. "And every single time I say nothing." Plus every time he blushed, and every time they kissed. "Only you don't notice...," he kept on saying, "...because there's hardly something to notice when nothing is said."

And she didn't understand either? Well, this was all rather difficult to explain.

Treyen smiled again. And decided to drop the hair color thing. It wasn't important, after all. And he was still being honest when he answered. "You." There. Simple. "But I don't mind it."

Completely honest.

First, Ellie rolled her eyes at his smile. As much as she loved it, she didn't see how this was an appropriate time to do so. And frankly, she'd rather he didn't. If partly because she loved to see it, and it made it just a tad difficult to stay upset. Therefore, her eyes rested on the ground again.

Then, Ellie snorted. 'Always'? "You've always been able to talk to me." Except for maybe that ONE time. But that was just once. And Treyen got along fine with speaking since then. Fine as in he can speak, not that he speaks things that are fine.

Which went along with when did he say nothing? Whenever she was talking...sometimes. But that was called 'being polite', not 'I'm speechless because of your 'beauty''.

She rolled her eyes again.

HER?! An eyebrow went up. Well, of course it was HER. That part was obvious. What Ellie didn't like was that he didn't mind. Right. Because she was TOO complicated to even try to understand, eh? Treyen would just rather sit in confusion?

Maybe it was just Ellie that felt that everything needed to be understood, though.

She bit her lip again.

Minerva walked out in the warm sun. It was nice to be out and about away from the eyes watching her every move at her grandparents home. She looked at the Willow and a smile crossed her face as she thought about a little game she might try to play. She set her back down and took off her robe sitting it nicely on her bag. With a hair tie she pulled her long brown hair back and started headed closer to the tree.

Harvey walked out into the sun again.. as he remembered hanging out with Mins the day before.. it felt good to hang out with a friend after such a long time.. and just as he thought this.. he saw that very person walking towards the tree! he couldnt believe his eyes.. why was she walking towards it?.. he had to stop her before she got hurt. He caught up with her before she got any further "Hey Mins! er.. may I ask why you are walking towards that tree?" he asked pointing at the Willow. He had a close brush with it the year before and he knew what it was capable of.. luckily the protective Rune they had been working on had protected him. But she didnt seem to have one.

Minerva heard him, but didn't really look at him at first. She stopped still looking at the tree. "Hey Harvs, what is it you have a spidey sense when I might be up to something?" she gave a weird little laugh. "Guess it broke for a few months, but looks up and running again. She then looked at him and gave that little weird grin. "Oh the tree, yes I had walked out here and thought about a little game I would like to play with this big bad tree." she said the last part with a little sarcasm. "Want to play?" she began walking closer to the tree again. Did it really matter if the game failed and she got hurt. Wasn't like anyone would mind and who would they call...

Harvey watched as she stopped and spoke to him but not really looking at him. "Er.. maybe!" he chuckled a little "No I just decided to come here and saw you and the tree" he said still looking between her and the tree. Then he saw her look at him with a grin.. yup there was some sort of change in her.. he just watched her not believing what he had heard.. she wanted to play a game with this tree?! yup definite change.. he watched her walk towards it again "But! what if you get hurt while playing this game?" he asked getting a little worried now as to what would happen if and when she played with this... this.. this tree! he thought looking at the tree

Minerva stopped and turned back at Harvs. Oh so innocent still wasn't he. She laughed a bit, "Oh not up for a fun game of chicken? So what if I do get hurt, no big deal." She felt a breeze on her back and turned to see a limb swooping near her. She wasn't close enough for it to get her, but close enough for it to be annoyed she was there. "Oh you are trying to play when my backs turned." she took a step closer "bring it on.."

Harvey was shocked at what he was hearing.. Mins was never like this.. all that had happened to her recently had most probably contributed to this.. he laughed and wanted to play chicken with this tree?!.. wow! "Er.. Mins it IS a big deal if you get hurt.. it always will be..." he suddenly stopped halfway as he saw a limb just miss her and she turned around and spoke to the tree and told the tree to bring it on.. he didnt want her to get hurt.. but it seemed she didnt see that it would matter if she got hurt.. so he followed her while watching out for the other limbs.. but what if he got hurt as well.. how would he call for help.. he wondered what to do as she watched her walk towards the tree.

The rolling of the eyes, the snort and the eyebrow. All of those things together were...not good for him. It really made him feel bad somehow. Awful.

He had nothing further to say, honestly.

And he was done with this talk too. Why? Because it seemed like the more he talked, the more he messed everything up. While it was true that Ellie told him to say what's on his mind, the more he spoke his mind then the more she disagreed with him. So, he was saying nothing else. Nothing.

Treyen lay back on the ground, eyes turning to the ground. Yeah, he wasn't in the mood to keep discussing this anymore. If she got upset by it, well, she was going to get a lot more upset if he started to talk again.

Thanks, Eliana Stone.

He sighed, without truly meaning to, "Spring weather is nice." That's all he said, eyes still on the grounds.

So...Was he giving up, then? Giving up because she was right? Giving up because he just didn't want to argue about it anymore?

Something in Ellie told her it was the latter. Or that it was anything but the former. At least, according to Treyen. Unless she truly just didn't notice these things. Was she really so unobservant? Or was it something anyone would miss?

And, in his silence, a million similar questions flooded her mind.

In the end, though, she came to the same conclusion that she messed up his birthday. Fantastic.

Ellie, too, lay down on the ground, on her stomach, propped up by her elbows. And she tilted her head toward the earth so the blonde was very visible to her. It still wasn't fair, that she couldn't see what she looked like. She just had to believe his biased opinion on it. And who knew? Maybe she was more beautiful blonde. Or...prettier. Or pretty at all, in her opinion, because she hardly thought herself attractive on a regular basis.

"Very nice," she answered, combing her fingers through her hair. She'd decided to follow his lead, wherever it would take their conversation, because she was feeling sorry already. Very sorry. And yet, she didn't think he'd want to hear it. So following him was how she was going to show it. Her eyes probably showed it, too, if Treyen could see them.

But it probably didn't matter much.

Minerva heard Harvey, but really didn't answer just shrugged her shoulders. "Doesn't really matter." not like I have a mommy to go crying to now.. she finished the thought in her head. She had to focus now a limb was coming towards her. She jumped out of the way just in time. Once the limb was passed she stepped a little closer and waited for the next one.

Harvey only just heard what she said as he concentrated on all those limbs that were getting ready to come towards her. He couldnt believe that she said that.. usually him saying that it did matter whether or not she got hurt would usually get a different response out of her.. but he was not expecting that response. "It does!" he called out to her. He then watched as she dodged one limb and got ready for another.. he ran his hand through his hair as he watched this scene.. he still thought about what to do.. he was thinking to follow her.

Minerva saw another limb and jumped over it as it swung to the ground. Then another one came quickly she jumped away just in time feeling the wind from it as it brushed by. What a rush this was. She turned to grin at Harvey just to show him she was fine when something struck her in the back throwing her a few inches from where she was standing. She landed on her back on the ground. Looking at the sky she laid there a little afraid to move.

He watched her focusing on her movements as she jumped this way and that to avoid the limbs of the tree.. he then saw her turn and grin at him.. and he was about to smile back when the next second she was on the ground and that wiped the smile off his face.. he waited to see if she moved to show him she was ok.. but he knew that if he didnt act fast then she may be hurt and could get worse as time went by.. all he could think of doing was getting to where she was and seeing if she was ok.. "Mins? You ok?" he asked.. as he wondered if she would answer.. whether or not she did.. he knew that he wanted to be there rather than here.. so he started walking towards her. He looked up in time to see a limb come to him.. and he jumped to the floor and felt the limb pass by.. he got up and looked for any others, and Mins thought this was a good game.. it was not!