After he admitted to Jasmine that he loved her, ,Cris didn't know what to do. The only thought that were racing through his mind was whether he had made the biggest mistake in his life. What if she didn't love him back? Had he now made the situation awkward for the both of them? If she didn't reciprocate his love, would that mean that he would lose her as a friend too? Cris felt so helpless.

He found it hard to look her in the eyes. Avoiding eye contact, he just looked down at his feet.

But then, Jasmine revealed her own feelings. What was he hearing? Cris immediately looked up, his heart full of hope, his ears trying to comprehend what she was saying to him. Momentarily lost for words, Cris could only stare at Jasmine.

Then it finally hit him. She loved him too. SHE LOVED HIM!!

Cris' previously sullen face broke into a great big smile. It was both a smile full of relief and at the same time, one of happiness. He immediately swept her up in his arms, lifting her up and twirling her around all the while laughing with joy.

When he finally allowed her to stand on her own two feet again, Cris cupped her face with his hands, gazed deeply into his eyes and whispered. "And I love you too. More than you'll ever know."

Then he leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead.

Grayson understood a lot of things but that scowl certainly wasn't one of them. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing of it. If Cutty was going to explain, he would. Unless he was the type of person to keep things like this a secret. Regardless, he was going to brush it off because OBVIOUSLY, the boy wasn't scowling at HIM. Nuh uh. Grayson was almost certain of it.

Almost.

And then there was smiling. Good. Keep it there, mkay? Because he was actually HAPPY to be in this room and Cutty should be too. It was the freaking BEST. Just LOOK at all those ingredients over there! Brilliant.

Not yet? Er. In all his excitement, the fourth year had completely forgotten about any part of their previous conversation. He was sure that it would come back to him later but NOW? No. "What's not happening just yet?" Because he was completely at sea. "You don't seem like the type of person to get careless." Shrug.

That last question threw him slightly. It had nothing to do with the third year's accent either. No. It was just weird since Grayson had thought that the answer was obvious. "'Course! Why?" There had to be a story behind it all.

"You'd asked if I had been punished for potioning a Professor. I said I wasn't just yet. That's what I was refehrrin' to." Back on track now? Very good. "In fact, the opposite sort of happened and Professor Flamsteed asked me to do him a favour." Cutty could NOT have been that charismatic, would he? Bad people often have good luck, however and enough skill to get what they want. How long had Peter Pettigrew avoided justice?

"You're right. I'm not. In fact, Whitty, I'm probably the least careless person you're likely to meet at this school." Was he lying or did he really feel that way? Ugh to either. "I was just asking because I had to make cehrtain yew weren't joost tellin' me things t'get me to show yer the lab. Booht,...yer not that kind of lad are yew, Whitty?"

Ah man. What was with her and faceplanting this term? First in the pathways and now here. At least this time she hadn't been propelled through the air first, meaning no broken nose.

With Dylan's help, Lux got back to her feet again. The skates sure didn't make it easy, but at least there was no serious damage done. "I think so. Do I look okay?" It didn't feel like there was any bleeding, but sometimes it was there without one feeling it. Blood would mean a trip to the Hospital Ward which was something that she wanted to avoid at all costs; Tillstorm might think that something was wrong with her. "Oh gosh. Would I get a concussion from that? I don't even know what a concussion IS." Feeling a little unsteady, Lux started to straighten her clothes out again.

"You look just fine," Dylan assured her with a nod as he looked at her head to see if she had any damage or anything. Nope, she looked fine. He smiled when she started asking about getting a concussion and he shook his head, waving a hand. "As long as you feel fine then I think you're going to be okay, I promise. Do you wanna take a break?" he asked her.

It was a relief when Dylan said she looked fine. Besides feeling a little shaken up, she felt okay too. But a break was probably a good idea for a little while. At least she seemed to be concussion free which was an awesome thing for sure. "Yeah, I think maybe a little bit of a break until I get myself steady again."

How silly she must look not even being able to do the spin. But remembering his story helped her feel a little better. At least she wasn't the only one who had messed up on the first try. And Dylan would never laugh at her for not doing things perfect on the first go; he was way too nice for that. Most people were kind, but there were some who made fun of people even if they hurt themselves.

Oh. OH.

Snort. MAN, did that make him feel stupid. Brush it aside, Whitty. "Uh huh. Gotcha," he said, nodding along slowly, "Here's hoping he forgets." Because surely, Cutty didn't want a detention, yes? "A favour?" Now THIS was interesting. Could you tell he was very interested about this? Because he was. Oh boy! "What did he ask you to do?" he asked in, what he hoped was, his most casual voice.

The least careless person he'd meet in the school. "Good. Some people in this school seem to be really very careless." OR they were just good at messing things up and letting things slip. Saying things just so that someone could show him a lab was......... iffy. That was the best way he could explain it. Could he see himself doing something like that? He wasn't sure. But it wasn't something he'd do to Cutty Mordaunt. "Nah! Not that kind of lad. Seems like a heartless thing to do, actually." So no, he wouldn't do that. Cutty could rela--

............... Oh jeez. UGH. Look at the TIME. "Hey, Cutty, you want to grab some dinner before curfew? I'm starving!" And he also had homework to do, unfortunately.

How many best days of her life could Cris give her? Jasmine was so happy, happier than she could have ever imagined. When Cris spun her around, all she could do was laugh along with him. They had both laid their cards on the table and the outcome had been positive. Now that Jasmine had admitted her love for Cris to herself and to him, she realized that she had really known it all along.

When Cris said that he loved her, Jasmine closed her eyes. It was partly because she was afraid she might cry and partly because she wanted to remember the moment for always. She tried hard to plant the memory in her mind. She wanted to be able to remember every detail about the moment. When Jasmine opened her eyes, she saw Cris' beautiful eyes staring back at her. A smile spread slowly across her face. "I love you Cristoffer Strand.", Jasmine whispered. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying that.". Jasmine couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they were still covered in cake and icing. No, she would never forget this day.

Now, at this point in time, Cutty Mordaunt thought of Airey Flamsteed as highly intelligent and so he didn't think he was likely to forget. It was, to Cutty, simply a matter of swaying any angry energy into something more constructive. De-stress Flamsteed, not distress Flamsteed. His imaginings of ways in which to get this done was ended with a clang by one of Whitty's questions. One of Whitty's many, many, many, many, many questions. Cutty tilted his head and sighed wearing a long and thin, but not fully exuberant smile. He was going to have to feed a game to Whitty, wasn't he? Yes. Yes, he was. "Have you been to his office? The man's a collector. He asked me to help him start up a new collection, basically."

He still wasn't sure he could trust Whitty. Not fully anyway. Perhaps, he never would. For now, that demi-piece of steaming excrement would have to do.


Time was up. Dinner and the curfew would be in place soon after that and there was no need to draw undue attention to one's self from the powers that be. So Cutty grabbed Grayson's hand, bridged the distance, smooched his face, headed for the exit and then said. "Right. Dinner." As if nothing had ever happened. As if he knew Whitty in his value for secrecy would never speak of this moment to anyone.

"Okay, sounds good!" Dylan said as they skated over and off the ice. "You'll get better, I promise. Everyone falls at first." he said with a laugh as he sat down. In fact, there wasn't one person he could think of that had gotten it perfect the first time.

Suddenly remembering the hot cocoa he had seen when they entered, he glanced over to where he had seen it and relief swept over him as he saw it was still there. "Want some of that cocoa over there?" he asked, pointing to it and smiling at Lux.

Smiling weakly, his words did help Lux feel even better. It was true that she would get over this in no time since she wasn't particularly hurt. It was more the shakiness that bothered her. But even that was starting to pass a little bit. The thought of cocoa helped even more. Lux loved cocoa.

"That sounds like an amazing idea." Dylan was one of the people she would enjoy a delicious drink with the most, and it was a nice way for her to warm up a little and feel more herself again. Heading off of the ice with him, she made her way over to the cocoa machine. "Got to love some of the muggle things like this, huh?" Suddenly she found herself wondering what his heritage was; it wasn't something she discussed with people all that much.

Cris smiled at Jasmine, the love he felt for her clearly visible in his eyes. "And I will never get tired of saying those words to you...and hearing you say them to me," he whispered to her, gently tucking her hair behind her delicate ears.

Then she laughed and he first blinked in surprise before he realized what she was laughing about. Looking down at both of them, he began to laugh too.

"We look absolutely matching right now. In fact, I have to say that you, my love, look very 'sweet' indeed. You remind me of one of those beautiful toppings on top of a cake. The only thing that's missing are the candles. Here let me add them," Cris chuckled as he plucked up the candles he had just blown out, and stuck one behind his right ear and then another one behind his left. Then he took another and placed it behind Jasmine's left ear before adding another behind her right.

"Now we both look like birthday cakes," Cris grinned down at Jasmine. "My lady, would you do me the honor of dancing with me?" Cris held out his hand for Jasmine's.

Dylan smiled when she agreed to cocoa and they made there way over. How could anyone say no to hot chocolate?! It was awesome.

He nodded at her comment about muggle things. He had always had a fascinating with Muggle things. In fact, he collected them a lot. "Yeah, seriously! They're so fascinating, huh?" he said as he grabbed a mug and filled it up and popped some marshmallows in. He then grabbed another and filled it up, turning to Lux. "You want marshmallows in yours?" he asked.

Noddding eagerly at Dylan's statement, Lux watched as he went about getting himself some hot chocolate. "Oh, definitely. Have you ever been to the Technology Centre? It's really interesting even though a lot of the stuff in there is out of date." The memories of Grayson's problem with the computer still amused her.

Oh, yummy. He was done hers now too. She couldn't wait to drink it. Tea and hot chocolate had become her favourite beverages recently just because of this terrible cold that had settled over Hogwarts. "Yes, please. I love marshmallows. Have you ever had s'mores before?" If not, she was so going to make him try one some day.

Birthday cakes toppings. Is that what they looked like? Jasmine thought they looked more like they had been caught in a birthday cake explosion, but OK, toppings sounded good. When Cris put candles behind her ears, Jasmine had to laugh. She never thought that she could find humor in being covered in food.

When Cris held out his hand, Jasmine took it and moved closer to him. "I would love to dance with you", she said. What more could she ask for than doing the thing she loved with the boy that she loved? Looking up at Cris, Jasmine said, "Let's dance".

Cris smiled lovingly at Jasmine as he took a step to the right and began dancing with her. As they danced, he pulled her closer to him, his one hand holding hers, while the other, wrapped around her waist. Burying his face in her sweet scented hair, Cris began to sing as they danced around the room.

"My love,
There's only you in my life
The only thing that's bright

My first love,
You're every breath that I take
You're every step I make

And I
I want to share
All my love with you
No one else will do...

And your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes
They tell me how much you care
Ooh yes, you will always be
My endless love

Two hearts,
Two hearts that beat as one
Our lives have just begun

Forever
I'll hold you close in my arms
I can't resist your charms

And love
Oh, love
I'll be a fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh, you know I don't mind

'cause you,
You mean the world to me
Oh
I know
I know
I've found in you
My endless love"

Cris then leaned back and gazed deep into Jasmine's beautiful hazel brown eyes. "Thank you for this wonderful belated birthday gift and party. This is and always will be the best birthday I've ever had," he whispered his thanks. Then he leaned her backwards before sweeping her back up and twirled her around once before bringing her back into his arms and brushing his lips with hers.

Reluctantly ending the kiss, Cris grinned down at her, "Did you mention you made another cake for us to actually eat?

Yep. This place really looked familiar.

Ethan stood up from the floor and he slowly smiled as he scanned the room. As soon as he turned his back on Josie though, the smile faded quickly. From afar was the kitchen, and he knew that during this time of the day, his mother would be there cooking breakfast for him. Right now though, there was no clanging of pots and pans, or the sizzling sound of bacon. It was too silent, and this made the third year swallow the bile in his mouth.

The reminder is too painful, really. He was back home, but his mother will never be there again.

The young boy sighed and shook away the feelings. He was here to impress a girl, yes? Yes. Turning, Ethan forced a smile and pushed away the thoughts from his past. The present was more beautiful, because he found another person; a girl who liked music.

Oh and did he mention that she’s pretty? “So, who’s going to play first?” Ethan asked as he removed his layers of jacket and tossed it on the sofa nearby. The temperature in the room was perfect.

Jasmine was in heaven as she and Cris danced. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. When he began to serenade her, she listened to his beautiful voice as he sang the lyrics with feeling. By the time Cris got to the second verse, Jasmine felt tears starting to form beneath her eyelids. She did not want to cry, but she was so touched that she couldn't really help it. Managing to contain her tears somewhat, only two or three had escaped. However, when Cris said that it was his best birthday ever, the tear count multiplied. As they kissed, Jasmine's heart was full. All she could say after that was, "I love you".

Then Cris mentioned the back up cake and Jasmine smiled. "I almost forgot about it." Going around the corner, she retrieved the other cake and brought it back over to Cris. Grabbing the plate and knife, she cut him another slice. "Here you go. Enjoy. I'll have to thank your mother. I couldn't have done this without her help."

The third year nodded. "I have! Pretty cool huh?" he said with a smile. Ever since he was really young, he had collected lots of Muggle things so he had lots of the technology there already. He had figured out how to work things like computers and what not. Perhaps if Lux came over sometime during the summer she could see his collection...

"Coming right up!" he said with a grin as he popped the marshmallows in. He then handed the mug over to her. He then shook his head at her question. "I actually haven't, I've always wanted to try them, though. Just never got around to it." he gave a small shrug before sipping his hot cocoa. He winced as the hot liquid slightly burnt his tongue. Ouch. That had kind of hurt. A LOT. "C-careful," he said, swallowing it down hard. "It's really hot..." he smiled sheepishly.

Lux had to agree that the Technology Centre was cool. "I go there to use Twitter and sometimes I talk on the phone." It was a lot of fun, though mostly she used Twitter when she went in there. "I showed my friend Grayson how to use the computer recently because he was not familiar with the older technology." That reminded her of how he said he would teach her how to use a tablet. Now that could be a lot of fun!

Eagerly she took her hot chocolate from him. "Thanks Dylan!" The heat from the cup was nice on her hands though she had to make sure that it didn't start bothering her. Wait, what? He never tried s'mores before? "Okay, that needs to change. They are almost as good as Chocolate Frogs." Almost being the key word. Heeding his advice about the hot chocolate, she blew on hers a little. No need to burn the inside of her mouth.

Having Jasmine in his arms was the best feeling ever, but sadly the song and the dance had to end. When their kissed ended and he leaned back to gaze into Jasmine's eyes, he was alarmed to see tears in them. The first thing he thought was that he had said something to upset her and he was about to ask her when she whispered those three magical words.

Cris smiled. "I love you too. More than you'll ever know," he whispered back at her and he meant every word of it. Then he waited as she walked over to get the back up cake and cut him a slice. Taking the plate from her, he scooped up a bite and slipped the fork into his mouth.

"Mmmm....this is soooo good. You're an amazing cook. Yes I know it's my mother's recipe, but not anyone can make it the exact way she does hers. Believe me I've tried doing it myself," Cris chuckled at the many cakes he had destroyed while trying to accomplish that same feat.

Then he scooped up another piece of cake with his fork, but this time, he held it to Jasmine's lips, "Open up," he smiled lovingly at her.

Jasmine was so very glad that Cris liked her cake. That was all she really wanted.......to make him happy and to have some way of acknowledging his birthday. When Cris offered her a piece of cake, she opened her mouth and took a bite. She would have to make this cake again. It was good. Jasmine made a mental note to send a thank you note to Mrs. Strand as soon as possible.

Suddenly realizing what time it was, Jasmine knew that they would have to wind the party down soon. "Eat up birthday boy. As much as I hate to be a party pooper, I should probably start cleaning up our mess. It's getting late." Before she did, Jasmine turned to Cris, wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him one more, sweet kiss. Then with a smile, she went to gather the plates.

Cris grinned back at Jasmine when she took the bite from the fork he had raised to her lips. "See I told you it was good. You are a great cook," he complimented her again.

But alas, Jasmine was right. He would have loved to hold her in his arms and share more kisses with her, but he decided that they had plenty of time to do that. It was getting late and it was time to start cleaning up. "Let me help you with this. With two of cleaning up, this place will back to being spic and span in twice the time," Cris offered as he began cleaning up the floor.

Jasmine didn't want to leave, but she knew that being late for curfew would not help their two steps away from detention situation. Reluctantly, she began to clean the plates and utensils. Then Jasmine wrapped up the rest of Cris' cake so he could take it with him. Finally, she began to help him clean the cake and icing remnants from the floor. If this was the result of a rather calm, two person food fight, she couldn't imagine the mess from a full-on multi person Cris birthday extravaganza.

"What do you think? Did we miss anything?" Jasmine looked around and thought everything looked pretty much back to normal. She started stalling a bit because she really didn't want to leave, but she knew she had to go soon.

With both of them working to clean up the mess they had made, the dance studio was clean in no time. He helped throw the trash they had collected into trash bin before vanishing the contents. Then he waited for Jasmine to wrap up the remaining portion of his cake.

"I think we've got everything," Cris smiled down at her as he placed an arm around her waist. "Thank you again for this wonderful night. I love you," Cris whispered those three words to her again. He knew that he would never grow old saying those words to her.

"Even though I hate to leave this place, I need to get you back to your Common Room before the curfew bell goes off," Cris reluctantly told her as he held out his hand for hers as they slowly made their way out of the Room.