Louis was passing his hand over his right cheekbone, feeling the brown-grey scruff that had taken over the lower half of his face. He'd JUST shaved the day before, why was it growing so fast?! He looked like a baby-faced fifty-year-old man. If that even made sense.

"Hey."
Louis turned around as he heard the familiar voice, his expression lighting up at the sight of his Hufflepuff friend. "And so the model arrives," he announced with a smile. His camera hung from his neck, one hand fidgeting with the lens while the other continued to fuzz over his jawline. He couldn't get used to it. "Hope you don't mind your photographer transforming into a creepy old man overnight." 'Cause seriously, that would probably look kinda creepy, him looking all old and grey following some young pretty girl around with a camera.

Creepy old man.

Delilah snorted and shook her head. "No. If you were, I wouldn't do this.." She leaned in and placed a very small kiss on his lips before pulling away almost immediately, her cheeks turning slightly pink. And that was only cause she'd wanted to and now that she had.. well. They could move on to the photoshoot, yeah? Because if she gave this too much thought, well, she'd probably start giggling or something. Hah. NOPE. Not happening.

"So.." She started, pretending like she didn't just full-on kiss him on the lips, "Where are we going to set this up?" The girl walked to the edge, rubbing her hands together together. She stared out for a moment, taking in the beautiful scenery, the dark sky and half-hidden moon. Sigh. She could just stand here for forever. But, they had work to do. Yes.

Louis chuckled as Delilah snorted. Then, OUT OF NOWHERE, the girl just kissed him. On the lips. Like it was nothing. Yeah, he hadn't expected that at all. "Uh..." He was frozen for a brief second after the blonde pulled back, blue eyes just staring at her in disbelief.

"I--I--Yeah, I guess you wouldn't..." What was he supposed to say after that?! And oh, what was that warm feeling on his face? Louis had no way of knowing, but his face seemed a little more colourful than usual. A little more pink in the cheeks.

"Just so you know, this is way worse than if you'd kissed me at the Great Hall. Now people are going to think the innocent Delilah likes kissing old men." Bahahah.

The boy looked around at their surroundings for a moment before turning back to Delilah. Where were they going to set up? "Actually..." Louis pulled his camera up to his face as Delilah just stood there, looking out at the scenery with a star-filled sky and a bright moon framing her silhouette. Just a second after he'd pressed the shutter, the camera itself processed the photo, revealing a small square photograph in which a blonde girl stood half-turned away from the camera, her hair blowing lightly in the cold breeze as she admired the view ahead. Her hair and the clouds moved in an infinite loop, the beauty of magical photography.

Louis examined the picture and grinned. "Looking good, Lady D," he said as he handed it to her for her to see. "Mind if I get your face this time?"

Delilah SQUEALED.

Ooops.

She didn't care, though. See, Lou was blushing. BLUSHING. The Hufflepuff started to laugh. "You... You look so cute, you know that?" The girl managed to get out in-between laughs. She got him to blush and all it took was a kiss. A kiss that she liked, to be honest. Speaking of, "That was my first kiss, you know." Heh. The reason why she kept it brief. Who knew? Maybe she should have kissed him a little more but.. she didn't want to risk embarrassing herself. What if she turned out to be a terrible kisser?

"Well, I don't really care what people think. I wanted to kiss you.. so I did." The girl shrugged, blushing slightly. "Did you enjoy it?" Curious!girl was curious.

.... Lou! Delilah turned to look at him when she heard the click of the camera, her eyes wide. No, she wasn't ready yet! The girl hurried over to him and looked at the photo.. Oh, wow. She took it from his hand and examined it more closely. "I look.. nice. You're a really good photographer, Lou." Delilah smiled and looked back up at him. "Do you mind if I keep this?"

Her face. Yeah. Of course! The smile on her face widened to an excited grin and nodded. Absolutely. "Where do you want me to stand?"

Louis seemed puzzled as Delilah squeeealed in delight. And now apparently he looked cute? The boy had no idea of the colour on his face, so the comment seemed to come out of nowhere. "So does that mean you're into older men with grey hair?"

And this was her first kiss too! Louis raised his eyebrows. Didn't usually girls consider their first kiss like a big deal or something? She seemed so casual about it. As she explained that she simply wanted to kiss him, the boy smiled. "Very much, yes," he replied when she asked if he'd enjoyed her kiss. "Did you?" Now that he knew he'd had the honour of being her first kiss, he hoped he hadn't royally ruined that experience for her by it being a bad kiss or something.

Delilah was now examining the photo the boy had taken, and as she asked if she could keep it, he nodded. "Sure. But I get to keep the next one." Yep, he wanted the one with Delilah's smile.

As the Hufflepuff girl beamed up at him, Louis picked up his camera once more, taking a series of shots that consisted of the happy blonde smiling brightly at the camera, seeming to glow just from the moonlight and her contagious energy. The boy was right. The camera loved her, and each photograph was more radiant than the last.

Delilah sighed, fighting the urge to smack him on the head. But then again, she didn't tell him why she had squealed like a little girl. She just hoped Airey hadn't heard that. "You're blushing, Lou." She couldn't believe that he was STILL blushing. Heh. The colour looked so nice on his face. The girl leaned forward once again, smirking a little. "Maybe I should kiss you more often."

"What? I mean, I HAVE kissed once before. It was a dare though.. and it didn't.. Um.. well, it was horrible." She was still so embarrassed about it. Her first kiss and she decided to snog a guy she didn't even like that much. Oh, well. Did SHE enjoy the kiss? Hmm. She pretended to ponder over that question for a few moments. "Well, yes. I think I did."

"Why would you want to keep a picture of me?" For once, she wasn't trying to tease him. She really wanted to know. In all honestly, she really wasn't all that gorgeous. Pretty.. maybe but not stunning. Definitely not.

She grinned at the camera for the while before she decided to make kissy faces. Heh. Now, wouldn't those pictures look ridiculous? But hey, this was fun! One: She liked spending time with Lou. Two: He was really good photographer and managed to make her way prettier than she actually was. So, yeah. She was having a pretty good time.

Blushing? He was blushing?! When did that happen?! Louis's eyes widened when Delilah shared this news, his face turning an even brighter shade of pink. He had to glance away for a moment, rather ashamed of himself for the undesirable color on his face. As the girl leaned toward him, Louis returned his gaze in her direction, rolling his eyes as she teased about kissing him more often. "Then I'll just get used to it and blush no more," he pointed out. "The fun will be ruined. Your fun anyway." Yeah, 'cause having the color of his face betraying him was definitely not fun for him.

Anyway.
Why he would want to keep a picture of her? Well... actually, that was a good question. Lou had no idea why he'd suggested that idea. He... just wanted to? Was that weird? "Um. It's for my portfolio. I'm an aspiring photographer." Mmhmm.

It was true Louis thought about composition and framing each time he looked through the camera, but it was really the girl on the other end that made every photograph amazing. She was lively, beautiful, and most importantly, natural. By the time Louis finally pulled the camera from his face, he had at least a few dozen sets of photographs in his hand, all of them featuring a never-ending loop of a beautiful blonde girl smiling or blowing kisses at the camera, sometimes even looking away and getting caught off-guard until the last frame when she'd turn and catch the lens pointed in her direction. All photos were very... natural. And Lou liked that.

At this point, after spending some time following Delilah around the tower patch with camera in hand, Louis was just examining all the photographs in his hands, sharing with Delilah whichever she wanted to see. "You're pretty good at this modeling stuff, y'know?" he commented as he examined a photograph of his Hufflepuff friend giggling at the camera with the moon glowing right above her head.

"You're blushing MORE." Cue more giggles. "Aw, don't be embarrassed about it." Delilah felt so pleased, though. She made a boy BLUSH. It was kind of an achievement, yeah? The girl was rather proud of herself. The girl poked his red cheek, unable to stop laughing. It was just so cute and adorable. "I don't think you'll ever get used to kissing me. My kisses are awesome and you'll blush each time. Want to bet?" Heh.

Portfolio? REALLY? "I'll be honoured." Wow. Aspiring photographer. She was pretty sure he was going to be a very successful one. She wasn't an expert or anything but she could tell he was brilliant. Mhm.

Delilah continued to pose for pictures while Lou kept clicking. She smiled, giggled, laughed, made the weirdest faces.. This was just so much fun! The girl kind of wanted to take off her jacket too. She had a pretty nice shirt on but it was freezing and the last thing she wanted was to get sick. So, no.

"Did they come out okay? Do you like them?" She walked over to where he stood and examined the photographs, too. They looked fantastic. Not SHE, per se but the way he'd taken them.. So perfect. Pretty good at this modeling stuff. Hm. "Really? You think I'd be a good model?" Cause you know. It could be a career option.

She finally looked up at him again, a small smile on her face. He really was beautiful too, you know. Blue eyes, nice cheek bones, perfect lips. Oh-so cute. Without realising, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips again.

"No I'm not," Louis quickly denied as Delilah accused him of blushing more. Of course, he had no way of knowing. He passed a hand over his face and through his grey hair, looking away as the girl continued to tease him about him blushing each time she kissed him. No, he was not going to let that happen again! He'd just... wear a ski mask from now or something.

Louis returned his attention to the girl as she asked if he liked the photographs. "They're great. I love them," he replied honestly, lips curving into an aged smile. "I think you'd make a great model. You really should consider it." Nod nod.

The boy was distracted admiring his masterpieces when out of nowhere, Delilah kissed him. Again! Wide-eyed, Louis found himself kissing her back for a brief two seconds before taking a step back. Noooo, his face was getting all warm again! Why did she have to tease him so much!? D:

"No. No, nope. No, you're not going to make me blush again, Lady D," Louis declared stubbornly as he covered his face, turning away from the girl. Nope, nope. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, he needed something that would cool him down.

Delilah rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Fine. He could think what he wanted to but she'd make him blush each time mhm. Oh? She would make a great model. She grinned brightly. That made her feel good. "Thanks! But... that would mean I would have to wear skimpy clothes and I'm not sure I'm okay with that."

.... Aw! He pulled away. Delilah grinned as she watched him turn away and cover his face. So cute. She moved closer to him and gently pulled his hands away from his face. "Okay, okay. I won't kiss you again." And he was blushing again! She bit her lip from smiling and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry."

Louis peeked between his fingers as Delilah moved closer, but didn't complain when she pulled his hand away from his face, revealing his slightly-colored cheeks. "Thanks," he muttered as she promised not to kiss him again.

Wait. Had he just thanked a girl for promising not to kiss him? "I mean-- not thanks... just--" yeah he had no idea what he was saying anymore, he just appreciated Delilah's effort to comfort him.

As the girl apologized, he flashed her a smile, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it." He looked down at the photograph he was holding in his hand for a moment before looking back up at her. "I'm keeping this one." He held the photograph up for Delilah to see. It featured the blonde girl giggling joyfully, in an adorably childlike sort of way.

You know what Lex loved about Astronomy homework? The fact that it usually got her out of observing curfew for at least one night. Granted she ignored that dumb rule anyway but times like this made it real legit. Yes. Super ready to get this started and Lex figured she'd multitask here. Last place she saw this ghost was the Tower Patch. She and Mikey never made it up here to check that other time....because of how weird things got but now she had all the time in the world, an Alice and a kneazle for company.

The Gryffindor trudged to the fountain and plopped down on the edge, Felix opted for the ground where he was less likely to get himself splashed with water.

"Did you bring that list of galaxies and stuff we're meant to be looking for?" She asked, turning to Alice. With Alice coming to work with her she thought she could leave all the responsible stuff to her, as a result, she brought nothing--Alice had extra parchment to share too right? Otherwise Lex would be copying her notes when they got back to the Common Room.

And where was that ghost? She didn't have all night to wait.

Aw. Delilah felt bad for making him feel so awkward. She smiled at him apologetically before moving away. She slowly walking around the tower patch, tucking her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket. She was shivering. Visibly shivering. Ugh. Maybe she should have worn a coat cause this it was ridiculously cold. Her cheeks were even starting to turn pink now. Stupid!weather was stupid. And SHE was starting to feel really stupid now. For the events of the past few minutes. Ugh. So embarrassing.

... Which one? She turned to look at the photograph Louis was holding up for her to see. "Are you sure? I look so weird."

"What?" Louis furrowed his brows and looked down at the photograph again as if attempting to find 'the weird' that Delilah was talking about. "I think you look gorgeous," he stated honestly, returning his gaze to the girl who suddenly seemed a little down.

Oh no, he had something to do with that, didn't he?

"Hey..." the boy tilted his head slightly to get a better look at the girl's dimly-lit face. "Cheer up. Pretty girls shouldn't look so down," he said with a small smile. Noticing that the girl seemed rather cold, he added, "Would you like to head inside?"

"Don't say that just to be nice, Lou." Delilah wasn't 'gorgeous' and she knew that for a fact. "I don't know.. If you like it.. I guess you can." She eyed the picture some more. Actually, her eyes looked really nice in this picture.. and her smile. Yeah, it wasn't a bad photograph but she didn't see how he thought she was gorgeous.

Delilah gave a small shrug of the shoulders and gave him a fake!bright!smile. See, she wasn't down. "No. Let's stay here for a while. I like the quiet. Unless you want to leave..?"

Just to be nice?! When did the boy lose Delilah's trust so suddenly? "I'm not," he replied, completely serious. And though the girl seemed a little unsure about him keeping the photograph, Louis placed it in one of his coat pockets anyway. He'd said he'd be keeping a picture and he meant it.

As Delilah went on to give him the most forced of cheery smiles, Louis chuckled softly. "I don't believe you for a second," he replied, shaking his head. "C'mon. Tell me what's bothering you. I want to help."

"I just feel like an idiot, that's all." Delilah muttered and looked away, flushing a little. For reasons. Mitchie had WANTED to kiss her but she had refused ( she kind of wanted to but he was younger so NOPE ) and here she was snogging Lou who probably didn't like it.. and she was panicking. This wasn't her. Like, at all. What if he thought she went around kissing every boy she found attractive or something? What if he didn't like her kisses?... Okay. The girl was starting panic. Big time.

"You're not an idiot," said Louis with furrowed brows. What made her think that?! He wasn't completely sure, but he had a faint idea of what was going on and he couldn't help feeling partly responsible for it all. Poor Delilah, she seemed so tiny and down at that moment; it was strange seeing her without her usual glow or smile. Louis missed it.

"I'm really sorry," he said, giving the Hufflepuff an apologetic look. Delilah was the first friend he'd made at this new school, he felt like dirt for depressing her. "C'mere." After a moment of just silently watching the girl, Louis took a step toward her and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame in a warm hug. She seemed like she needed one. Actually, he probably needed one too because it felt strangely comforting to hug his Hufflepuff friend, his chin resting on top of her head due to their height difference.

It was when Louis glanced down and began to pull away that he noticed something - "Um... D, I think you have..." Was that... "Grey hair?"

"Yes, I am." Delilah didn't want to talk about this anymore. She was pretty sure he'd just keep arguing with her anyway. But then.. Louis suddenly pulled her into a hug. Okay. This felt nice. Really nice. She kind of felt weird and sad.. so this was rather comforting. She closed her eyes and smiled a little, before he started to pull away. REALLY? She started to protest when..

................... Did he JUST say grey hair!?!?

WHAT. No. No. Nooooooooooo. She looked up at him wide-eyed. Was he kidding? But, no. It didn't look like he was. That meant she DID have grey hair. NOOOO. Her precious blonde hair! This was so not fair. Her beautiful hair was being ruined. Why!? She could already feel her eyes starting to sting with hot tears. She really hated to cry in front of people but.. UGH. This was a freaking nightmare.

"How many do you see? Please don't tell me there are many, Lou. I mean, there can't be. I just checked a couple of hours back and I'm scared.. This cannot be happening. I.." She was actually sobbing now. Delilah brushed the tears from her face and turned away. UGH.

Officially the worst day ever.

"I haven't been up here in a while, have you?" She could recall the last time Lex had visited the Tower Patch with her, but not really for reasons pertaining to today's Astronomy partner. More for boy reasons. Mo had put a flower in her shoe, too. Alice actually still had that flower. Pressed onto a page and all dried up now, but that counted for something, yeah?

"I don't need a list." Tapping her head, the seventh year went about setting up the telescope she'd borrowed from the Astrophysics Lab for the assignment. No more spells on her eyes, thank you. "Want to start by looking for the planets? Or the Andromeda Galaxy? We might not even need a telescope for that one, 'cause it's the most distant object you can see with your naked eye. But if we DO use it, we can see the shape of it, it's like an ellipse...."

Never mind. Alexa probably didn't care.

"I have." Lex confirmed with a nod. "About a month ago. Ran into this ghost up here too just kinda floating around the fountain." One she wouldn't mind floating by any minute now, juuust saying. Felix was actually the first to see the ghost if she remembered correctly. He had an eye for that sort of thing, which was one of the reason why she'd brought him along. "You been avoiding this place?" The tower patch was on the same floor as their Common Room, stopping by was super easy. She did even when she didn't need to.

And look at Alice being a Ravenclaw again. All that stuff stored away in her brain? Good for her, otherwise this trip would have been a waste. Lex watched curiously as she began setting up the telescop--wait what?

"You do know there are spells for that, yeah? Ones that require less effort and back straining? You saw what happened to Professor Airey and after seeing what happened to you in Dorms, I wouldn't be exerting for anything." Alice was screaming about dying and being over dramatic, Airey was just....yeah, no, she wasn't gonna be setting anything up for herself when a flick of her wand was just as good. Didn't mean she wouldn't make the most of her friend's effort though!

On to the options. While Alice rattled off about galaxies and planets and the like Lex hopped up from her seat, walking by her kneazle to take the spot behind the telescope. "Andromeda. That's easiest. I already know where it is." Because no, she didn't care that Alice knew the shape and all the other little details. "Right there." She said, shifting the telescope then taking a step back. "Take a look."

Oh Merlin no, what had he done?!
Louis watched with panicked eyes as Delilah had a complete meltdown that ended in her bursting into tears. Um yeah, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned the grey hair?

“Hey, hey,” Louis walked around so that he was once again in front of the girl who’d just turned away from him. “It’s not that bad! They really weren’t many.” He really just saw a couple. And anyway, since her hair was already so light, they weren’t quite as noticeable as they were on his dark brown hair. “It might be the stress… maybe if you stop thinking about it they’ll go away?” Though he couldn’t promise that would work. He’d long forgotten about his own grey hair and they were still there, abundant as ever. But a little lie for the sake of comfort couldn’t hurt, right?

Lou had no idea what else to do. He’d never been in a situation like this before. It was one thing to comfort himself about the ugly grey hair, but someone else? Yeah, no clue how to deal with that.

Not that bad? Not that bad!?

"Are you okay? It's GREY hair. Soon my beautiful blonde hair will disappear and I'm only 15." Delilah wailed, turning away from Louis again. This was such a disaster. And, she couldn't stop crying! The girl moved a little further away and tried taking a deep breaths. She needed to keep calm and not freak out but her HAIR.

"I do NOT stress. I never stress. It's probably the old age disease that's spreading around......" She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Delilah had stopped crying by this point but she still looked a mess with the mascara all over her face. But, she was still panicking. What if this disease was incurable? What if she was stuck with grey hair forever?

.... She just wanted to cry more.

Louis watched Delilah and tilted his head to the side just very slightly as she mentioned that she never stressed. He wanted to laugh at the irony of that, but she would've probably pushed him off the edge of the tower. "You're stressing right now, D."

Poor Delilah. She really was taking this hard. It seemed for girls it was an even more traumatizing situation to be in.

"C'mon." Louis walked over to the Hufflepuff girl that had walked away from him, took her hand, and led her over toward one of the wooden benches facing the fountain. Once there he proceeded to sit, gently tugging at the girl's hand for her to sit as well. "You need to breathe, D. Panicking isn't going to make the problem go away," he told her, giving her a small sympathetic smile. It was okay to panic. But it was better to remain calm.

.... "Well, yes. Of course, I am. It my HAIR. Do you even understand WHY I'm so upset? I can't be greying now, Lou. This is ridiculous.." Delilah suddenly bit her lower lip hard. Lou didn't really have to put up with her childish behaviour. She shook her head and remained quiet, still clearly upset. Why? Why did this have to happen to her!?

The girl sighed and let Lou lead her over to a bench. She sat down quietly and listened as he went on to say that she shouldn't panic. Yeah, he was kind of right.. but how could she NOT panic? This was a freaking big deal.

"I need a distraction." Yes.. Something to make her forget about the greying.