"Yes, I highly doubt you'll find anyone messing with you here." She paused for a moment and smirked. "Anyone besides me at least." There usually was the occasional student who wanted to brave this alley, but she always managed to scare them off somehow, or find use for them if not. Slowly and dramatically she shrugged. "Nothing there to my liking, plus this is my preferred area of residence when I'm here. And Hog's Head." You know, for all the reasons.

At this point, Louis just wished for the ground to open up and swallow him. He was so ashamed, so embarrassed; he’d completely let himself go and it was the most unfair thing he could possibly do to Delilah, especially considering the fact that she had a crush on him.

But the girl didn’t even seem upset with him. Oh?
Louis looked up as Delilah spoke, offering her hand to him and asking him to come to her. The boy sighed softly to himself and took her hand, taking a step toward the girl that was leaning against the wall.

Even if she wasn’t mad at him, he had to apologize. At least for his own peace of mind.
“I’m really sorry, D. I— I’m not sure what came over me.” He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it, while his gaze fell to the ground for a moment before looking up at her again. “I promise it won’t happen again. I want us to be friends, I don’t want to ruin it,” he said honestly.

Delilah waited for the boy to take her hand before she pulled him closer, finally looking up to meet his eyes with a small smile on her face.

"I asked you to kiss me, remember? I should be the one apologising, Lou.. but I'm not going to because I really enjoyed it and I know you did too. So, stop feeling bad about it.. okay?" She said, with a slight raise of an eyebrow.

Friends.. He REALLY needed to stop saying that but he was right. She didn't want to stop being friends with him either. Delilah gave a small nod of her head.. and smirked. "Don't promise me that, Lou. I kind of want it to happen again." .. And more. What? She was just being honest, alright? So what if she couldn't date the boy she really liked? She could still get kisses, yeah?

Uh.. also. The smirk on her face vanished as she turned to look away, letting the fingers of her free hand play with the ends of her hair. "I don't want you talking about this with anyone, okay?" Her blue-grey eyes finally met his again. "Promise me."

Louis's sheepish expression turned into one of surprise when Delilah spoke, deciding that she wouldn't apologize because she had enjoyed their kiss, and she knew he had too. He laughed, though his cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. He much preferred this blunt and honest Delilah than the mysterious one from moments earlier.

"Very well," he agreed with a nod. If she really wasn't bothered and felt okay with it all, then he'd stop sulking about it.

And then Delilah was rejecting his earlier promise and confessing she wanted them to kiss again eventually. Lou's eyebrows raised, eyes widening slightly. What, she liked it that much? He wasn't sure he could go along with that, though. They were that word which Delilah hated - friends. And this wasn't proper friend behaviour. "We... we'll see about that," was all the boy could reply without flat-out saying 'are you mad? That's a terrible idea!'.

Now Lou had other promises to make. He was not allowed to say one word about what had happened to anyone.
Oh? The boy raised an eyebrow at Delilah. Of course, he hadn't been planning to run around and tell the entire school that he had snogged Delilah Starr in a creepy dark alley, so the promise would be easy to keep, but he was still curious.

"I promise," he assured her with a smile. "May I ask why, though?"

Messing with her? "People usually don't mess with me anywhere." Olly smirked back at the Ravenclaw. "Except you." No that obviously wasn't true but it had fit their current conversation.

Looking around once again, Olly stared into the darkness of the alley for a moment before glancing back to Dora. "No?" No sweets and sugar for Dora? "I've never been here." She admit with a nod down the alley. Her lips curled into a grin when Dora mentioned Hog's Head. Ah, yes, she hadn't been there in a while either actually. "We should go some time."

Coz she was a delicate flower, duhhhh. "I dunno why, it just iiiis," Marigold whined. Meh. The trip had started soooo well.

"Kay," she said, letting go of his arm and skipping with him. "So, how d'ya like my overalls?"

Loooooaded question, Mitch. Loa. Ded.

Mitchell fought the urge to roll his eyes. Weirdo. She was a weirdo. He was starting to question why they even hung out. Not much though. Because finding new friends are effort.

"They look like overalls." he said looking her up and down. "Is there a difference between them?" Because they all looked the same to him.

Lou was bluuuuushing. It made her happy when he did. Delilah wasn't going to say anything, though. She didn't want him getting awkward again. So, she just grinned. Or rather, beamed. She gave his hand a light squeeze, the colour rising in her face again.

"We'll see about that?" Delilah repeated, feigning surprise. Yeah, she kind of saw that coming.. She inched just the slightest bit closer to him, clearing her throat slightly. "No.. we should do it again. You know you'd like to." She looked at him, a small smirk playing at the corners of her lips. And she KNEW she wanted to.

... He promised. Delilah couldn't help but look slightly relieved. "Uh.. well, I don't want people asking me awkward questions, I suppose." She said, with a light shrug. She would probably, MAYBE only tell Lottie but she knew for a fact that her friend wouldn't talk about it with anyone else.

".. Do you want to talk about it, though? With anyone, that is?"

Without realizing, Louis leaned back just very slightly when Delilah leaned in toward him, teasing about kissing again and him wanting to. He let out a breathless chuckle, looking away from her determined gaze for a second before looking back at her. "Well-- I-- yeah," he confessed with a guilty smile, but it faded as he added, "Are you sure that's really a good idea, though?" Wouldn't he be leading her on if he went around kissing her without even properly asking her out?

Right. Awkward questions. Louis nodded his head understandingly. He didn't want that either, not to mention that this officially made him a total hypocrite. Wasn't he the one telling Lux that you don't kiss friends on the lips just a few weeks ago? The Lady must never know!

Did he want to talk about it with anyone? Hmm. "Why? Are you granting me permission?" he asked with an amused smile, though he wasn't sure he had anyone besides his best mate to talk about it with.

Good idea?

Yeah, no. Delilah knew it wasn't a good idea at all. She LIKED this boy. Liked him more than any boy she'd met so far. So, how was it okay to just kiss him when she knew he didn't have any feelings for her? BUT. She simply found herself tilting her head at him, smirking a bit more. "Well, we'll both have fun so I don't really see the harm." ... Well, she did but chose to ignore it. The girl leaned her head back against the wall once again and just looked at admired his face.

.. What was she even doing? Siiiiigh.

She hesitated for a moment. Did she want him talking about it with someone else? "... Just as long as.. you know.. you don't go into the details." Like how they kissed and stuff. That would be weird and creepy. Plus, it was private. Even Lottie won't get to hear about it. "... If that's okay with you."

"Not if they know what's best for them." She finished the other girl's sentence with a wink and shrug. "I like to play with fire." And Olly was most definitely fire. And lots of other things.

Dora shook her head. "Not since I was thirteen." To put a date on it. She'd grown out of her sweet tooth fast. "I've been all over these streets. Nothing exciting about it, really. Except that no annoying students dare to venture here, not counting the annoying gryffindor." Which was virtually all of them except maybe three. Another shrug rolled off her shoulders. "We could go now if you like...."

See? That's what she liked about Dora. "Exactly." She smirked at the other girl, nodding along to her words. "You're not gonna get burned though." At least not with how they were now. They were getting along and all that. Olly sometimes even considered her a friend.

Olly did like sweets but she really hated sweets shops. HATED them. There were ALWAYS lots of people in them. Most of them under the age of fourteen. Which made them all the more annoying. So she totally shared Dora's sentiment there.

Listening to Dora's thoughts on those who dared to venture into this alley, Olly perked up at 'annoying Gryffindor'. And smirked. "Like Alice?" Kidding, obviously. Yes. Alice wasn't annoying. And now? Hogs Head now? Her lips curled into a small grin. "Sure." She hadn't been there in a while.

Marigold skipped and twirled in a circle because WHY NOT. Heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheehheeheheh.

Heh.

"They are overalls, Mitchie," she said in a slow voice you use to little kids. Merlin, he was a bit slow, wasn't he? "And it was more like... how do I look in them?" NOT THAT SHe CARED COZ SHE WAS STRONG AND INDEPENDeNT YEAH.

Whoa. Homegirl was hyper, wasn't she? Mitchell watched Goldilocks skip around with an amused expression on his face. She was cute.

"Yeah. I just meant, they're not my thing. But you look alright in them." They just sort of seemed like lazy pants to him.

Also, they reminded him of farms. Not that he had anything against farms, but he was raised in the city. Pretty much the world's biggest city. So. Yeah. Not his thing.

"Likewise." They were good now, yeah? Yeah. And Dora liked Olly well enough to not even consider raising a wand at her with intent to do harm. She never had actually, funnily enough.

No, not like Alice. Dora made an obscene hand gesture at Olly for the comment, though the smirk on her lips betrayed her. "Exception obviously. Like Schuyler." She wiggled her eyebrows at the other girl. Interesting how that worked out for them both. Most all of the rest though, were annoying.

Inclining her head towards she started out of the alley. "So I've seen you playing quidditch. Not bad."

HEHHEHHEHH. Marigold was having a GOOD time in her comfy clothes and with a heh-worthy companion. It was a nice day, a zephyr in the air, but Marigold was generating wind herself by spinning around.

"THANK you!" she said, giggling. GOOD ANSWER FARMER BOY!!! Hahaha remember that!!??

Mitchell continued to watch Goldie. His eyebrow raised slowly when she continued spinning around.

"You're going to make yourself sick, you know?" he commented still watching. In fact, she was probably going to make him sick. Around and around she went.

"I'm not carrying you back to the castle if you get too dizzy to walk."

Except... he probably would.

So, Devlin finally had persuaded his father to let him out of the house and just explore any wizarding places that they could go to. And what was his first idea, besides going to Diagon Alley which they really only went to, Devlin had suggested Hogsmeade instead. To which his father agreed to. But, Devlin was simply meant to be left alone, and would then catch up with his father a few hours after their arrival.

The boy, having been caught fascinated by all the stores and not watching his footing, had somehow managed to end up in a really really random alley. Ummmm. He didn't want to be in this position. Sure, he wanted to find his way out but he'd always been told that if he got lost, wait wherever you are lost at, until someone finds you.

And that's exactly what he decided to do.

Also, it really stank here. Was someone going to do something about that? Just saying.

Galloping out of the forest as fast as it could the Unicorn flew threw the grounds of Hogwarts. Running quickly it's fur was too cold and it wasn't sticking around the forest anymore.

Gallop... Gallop.. Gallop


It stopped for a moment feeling the slightly warmer air. Was this a better place to stay for awhile?

Lex had been standing out on the High Street when something darted right by her. A flash of light maybe but not quite, no. Whatever it was, it had footsteps, loud hammering ones against the pavement as it darted on. She blinked, ruling out any number of things that she could have seen before deciding she wouldn't really know unless she followed. Last she saw it'd gone further down the street and....a back alley? That's where she saw it turn anyway.

The Gryffindor rounded the corner cautiously in case it wasn't the type of thing you wanted knowing you were following it but after getting a good look her eyes widened and all caution left as she completely entered the alley.

A unicorn in Hogsmeade? Was that even a thing?

Slowly, veeeeeeery slowly Lex started toward the creature, holding her hands out before her in a show of good faith that she didn't plan to hurt it. She remembered her cousin telling her about Unicorns once, about how they were more likely to trust women and children so she wasn't TOO worried but at the same time that horn in the middle of its head prevented a rapid approach.

Zander wandered around Hogsmeade with a huge smile on his face. He was SO ready to explore this place BECAUSE HELLOOO THIRD YEAR PERKS, right?

As he made his way towards the back alley, he noticed a gross stench. EW. And a lot of noise? It sounded like some type of horse or something...? Were Professor Thompson and Fuller having another winged-horse race? And before Zander could look around some more he was suddenly struck by the image of a unicorn standing before him. WOAH. He had never seen one of these in real life.

It was so majestic, but also really out of place? "... What are YOU doing here?" he asked it, as if it could reply back. Didn't the unicorns belong in the forrest? ... Certainly not in the middle of Hogsmeade, that's for sure.

He noticed another person standing there staring too, was that the Gryffindor prefect? Zander walked up to the girl and looked at her with an extremely confused face. "Uh... I've never been to Hogsmeade before... But uh, are there normally unicorns around these parts?" he asked. Nope he was pretty sure they belonged at Hogwarts. In the forrest. Where all the other magical creatures lived. Yeah. Duh. That would make sense.

The Unicorn was looking around maybe for a place to rest. It slowed from a gallop to a trot and glanced around throwing it's beautiful mane back behind it. Looking around it noticed children coming towards it.

Stepping backwards it stayed cautiously at a distance. Neighing at them to keep back it continued to step back. Hearing the boy speak loudly it turned and Galloped a few feet further away.

Stopping it looked back at them curiously to see if they were following or leaving the Unicorn alone.

Lex had clearly been paying too much attention to the unicorn because she completely missed the kid standing somewhere about the place too. Missed him and couldn't properly tell him to SHHHHHHHHHH. You didn't approach creatures with LOUD voices. A second glance at him confirmed he was from Hogwarts; he took Care of Magical Creatures and should have known this. What's more he was a Gryffindor, one of hers, Zander wasn't it?

Lex put a finger to her lip, indicating that he was going to have to be a lot quieter than he was currently being. Especially after his loud noises scared the thing further away. Sigh.

She watched him walk closer, her eyes flickering occasionally to the unicorn hoping it wouldn't go anywhere. "There aren't. This is the first I've seen." She replied in a low voice, trying not to startle it further. "Listen, you're gonna have to keep it down and move reeeaaaalllyyyy slow, okay?" He didn't have to listen to her but she was prepared to shoot him with a body binding curse otherwise. Ahem.

And again she took slow, cautious steps toward the creature, giving a nod for Zander to do the same. If they could get it to come back with them then Thompson could check to make sure it wasn't suffering from dementor shock like the ones a few years ago WERE.

Ooops O.o... Zander did not mean to scare the poor unicorn. Nuh-uh. That was totally an accident. And one look at Lex's angered face definitely confirmed his mistake. Double oops. Zander gave Lex a nod and an apologetic look. Then he turned back to the unicorn and this time, didn't say a word. Because he could be cautious and careful toooo.

Zander listened carefully as the prefect spoke, so as to not miss any further instructions and stuff. See careful! "Okay, promise," he whispered quietly. He'd be as quiet as a mouse. Pinky swear. So they don't normally come down here. "Does that mean there's something wrong with it?" he asked again in a soft whisper. Should they try to take it back to Hogwarts with them?! Did someone scare it out of the forrest? What in Merlin's name is going on!

Zander returned Lex's nod with one of understanding. Okay, slow and careful. He cautiously took a small step forever being as quiet as he could. Then he paused to make sure they unicorn wouldn't run away. Right, totally careful. Were all Hogsmeade trips like this!?

The Unicorn stood still watching the children. They got quieter which made the creature relax a bit. Stomping it's foot in disapproval as the girl tried to move closer again. All it wanted was a warm place to stay.

Shaking it's head the Unicorn neighed at them to stay back. Where did it's herd go they were all together and now it was alone.

Stepping back again the children were very close. Rearing up on it hind legs it shook it's mane before darting away from them again.

Gallop.. Gallop..

Was that open door the way to it's herd?