Julia stared up at the professor, not entirely sure what to make of that. She'd hadn't meant to be nice when she'd called David names; that was the whole point. And what was all this about goats being interesting and nice and maybe sniffing wasn't so bad? Only weirdos sniffed goats.

...whatever he meant by it, it distracted her enough that all the big, gloopy tears in her eyes didn't actually fall. They reabsorbed in that weird, tingly way that tears do. But, she supposed she was willing to forgive David for telling her the Grim was real, if the professor promised them that none of the predictions were true.

"Because I bet she wouldn't have given me the Grim if Daaaavid hadn't been so rude to her." Julia stuck her tongue out at the boy.

...and now she had to say something nice to him. Did it have to be something nice about him, or just to him? She supposed it was the former, and grudgingly commented, "You have nice shoes."

Which she'd noticed while attempting to stomp on his foot.

And proud of it?

... okay Amur, be proud, be proud of your obstinance. Geeeeez. You try to insult a person, sigh.

Also, Amur could spin it any which way she wanted, but he didn't believe her. Who in their right mind WOULDN'T want to see his seat warmer? Hhhmm? Nobody, that's right. "I think you were trying to capitalise on an opportunity, and I don't blame you... it's okay to accept it," he teased, his smile evidence of his joking nature. And as for putting his money where his mouth was regarding the tattoo, there was still time for that.

There was time for many things, really, and neither young love nor old love would change that.

"Short lived? Ouch, thanks Amur," he mused, nose twitching slightly. Zeke Browne was not a phase, sweetie, he was the real deal. Not to mention, it had been a solid almost 9 months that they'd been dating, and longer still that they'd been kind-of-a-thing. Which counted, no? "She's amazing, you should give her a chance, it was the best thing I ever did," he also noted, regarding his arm-candy. Maggie wasn't everyone's cup of tea, he was sure, but she was his cup of tea (and many others, he was sure).

But then what Amur said next had his expression softening. She did care. OF COURSE she cared. Side-bumping the fourth year, Zeke flashed a smile, "I am happy." See, smiles = happy. But then with all this keeping his bum to himself and all that jazz, Amur's next words had his eyes widening in surprise...

....

Say what?

She was... what? And then sharing.

She was sharing what?

Zeke didn't have time to really consider anything because next thing he knew was she was dragging him toward the water. Did she want to swim? It was safe to say the fifth year was confused, but not confused enough to forget how to swim. Clothes were very uncomfortable to swim in, and shoes especially, so as he was being led, he kicked those off, pulling Amur back slightly and pulling a hand out of hers so he could pull his socks off too. Preparedness, he had it.

"Not really dressed for this, Amur," he muttered slightly as he withdrew his wand, pointing it at his pants and transfiguring it into shorts. MUCH better. "These are staying on though, no getting any funny ideas, got it?" he added, pointing at her for good measure. No means no, Amur. Just no. BUT... his shirt could come off, because who needed shirts anyway? Also, did she recognise the abs?

"You know, with all that gloating you're doing, you're going to get bloated." That was totally how it worked. Yup. Right scientific facts at work. Or perhaps it was wizarding facts. Either way, it sounded good and it got the point across. She did NOT want to see.

Rolling her eyes, Amur let out a huff of air. "Facts are facts. They hurt. Tough." It was her duty as a friend to let Zeke know the chances. To make him aware that a painful experience might just be right around the corner. "And no. The best thing you ever did was breathe."

Because breathing was essential to living. Arm-candy was not. It was actually proven to go against the ability to breathe. In many different ways. But he was happy, so she was going to let it drop. Nothing more needed to be said on the matter.

Nope. She wanted to show him -----------

What was he doing?

Amur blinked at her friend, utterly confused. Why was he.....what was he........? "Zeke........?"

WHY were his pants suddenly shorts?! And why was he...........

Amur over and out. He was shirtless. Somehow, before, it'd never bothered her. Guys took their shirts off. So what? It was normal when swimming. It didn't matter. It had NEVER mattered. WHY then, was it suddenly stalling her. WHY was she STARING at him. It was JUST Zeke. JUST her friend. They'd gone swimming before. SO WHAT was her problem?!

First off, she DID recognize the abs. That was part of the problem. The abs she had commented on off-offhandedly the day before. The abs she had called 'nice', because well, they were. It was a fact. She just didn't know they belonged to Zeke.

Now, she knew. And somehow, that made things ridiculously difficult. As in, she couldn't think of a word to say or somewhere else to put her eyes. She wasn't sure HOW long it lasted, but when she finally managed to suck a breath in to fill her red cheeks, Amur was thoroughly and utterly mortified. She straightened her back and marched stiffly past him.

"I. Wanted. To. Show. You. My. Tattoos." She couldn't help how short each word came out. As soon as she was past him, and he couldn't see her face, some of her hard demeanor faded instantly for a sort of bewildered panic.

WHAT. WAS. WRONG. WITH. HER?

HA! He saw what she did there, rhyming gloating and bloating... very clever, good one. But he wasn't doing to deny it, his ego was a little inflated, and rightfully so. How else was he to compete with the ego of Perfect Prefect Paton? Hmmm? And Amur's facts, had some truth, sure, maybe, but consider him an optimist where his love life was concerned. If Maggie was going to leave him, she'd have done it by now, but noooooo... he was an excellent boyfriend.

It hadn't occurred to him that Amur had stopped, wasn't she getting ready to swim too? So it was only as he pocketed his wand and looked up to meet her gaze that he noticed she was... not herself.


...

"Amur?" he questioned, just as she had questioned him seconds ago. Did he miss something?

Turning slightly to see if the Squid had reared it's ugly head, or if there was a thestral behind him, or a dementor, or a hippogriff on fire... Zeke then turned back, his brows knit together in thought. Her face was a shade of red he hadn't seen before, but she appeared to be breathing, which was good news.

"Amur?" he repeated... and then she stalked past him.

Okay then.

And OH! Her tattoos! "The fake ones that won't last long and were a waste of effort and money?" he asked as he followed her. Zeke kicked at the water as he reached the edge, wading into the shallow depths and splashing his arms and torso to test the temperature. The water was a little chilly, but pleasantly so.

She had decided to be nice. Almost promised it, in some ways. And sure, she had teased him about his tattoo idea, but that's because it WAS ridiculous. Hers was actually pretty and not attached to some floosy love life that likely wouldn't last the year. Her's meant something and she was proud and excited about them.

And then, he went and said that.

When she had first been sorted into Gryffindor, she hadn't really understood why. As she grew, she started to understand. Things happened, choices were made and actions taken that confirmed the hat's sorting. This, was one of those times.

It was a mixture of things that caused it. All from their banter turned argument on the rock, to the embarrassment she had just felt that she couldn't place and felt all sorts of oddly conflicted about. So, when Zeke opened his big mouth and took to wading in the water, Amur simply couldn't help herself.

Her wand came out, and before he could get far, Amur cast, sending a big ol' wave right up into his face. "Oh cool off!"

Why? Because he was hot?

.....Wait? WHAT?! WHAT BRAIN?!

And so she stood, wand in hand at the edge of the water, looking all sorts of angry-confused-embarrassed-and-regretful. How could one person have so many emotions at the same time?

His assessment had been an honest one, an honest one that wasn't filtered at any point between his brain and his mouth. Whoops? In hind sight, he probably should have considered Amur's wrath, because it came.

The waves on this shore were seldom big enough to be noteworthy, and so it had to be magic that did it. Coupled with Amur's comment to 'cool off' it was obvious his drenching was her fault. Drawing a hand down his face, wiping away the droplets that threatened to drip from his fringe, nose and chin, he turned to spy her at the waters edge.

... "Sorry?"...

His arms were at his sides, palms turned out in Amur's direction to show that he was surrendering. SURRENDERING. But circe, she was asking for a dunking.

Amur found that she couldn't even meet his gaze. For whatever reason, she didn't even want to look his way. It would cause the color in her cheeks to come back and she wouldn't be able to pass it off as anger. She didn't know what it was, but she knew she didn't want Zeke to find out or ask.

So, she plopped down where she was and began taking off her shoes and socks and rolling up her pant legs, muttering a 'it's fine'. Really, it was. She knew he meant the sorry, and knew that she had over reacted.

Seriously though. How could one person deal with so many thoughts tumbling about in their brain? She'd never had the problem before. Things were straight and obvious before. Now, just what even?

Thankfully, there were pretty tattoo's to distract her, and she found herself not caring if Zeke liked them or not. Really, she was fine with not even showing him. She was doing this now, for herself. Because she liked them, and looking at them was better than looking at Zeke.

Scooting forward, Amur dipped her legs in the water, using her hands to splash it over the front of her calves. The tattoos took a moment to appear, but when they did, they made her smile. Somewhat. Something Zeke had said was tickling at her brain, making her smile less as she looked at the colors and the patterns of the flowers. She couldn't pinpoint it, but something was different.

Suddenly, she felt a little embarrassed and even childish, for wanting to show him. She splashed more water over her feet, as if it would help hide them.

.... it's fine.

It was obviously NOT fine. For one, she sent a tidal wave at him, and secondly, she wasn't meeting his eye. Had he screwed up that badly??? Surely not. It hadn't been any worse than their banter had been before. Shrugging to himself, Zeke bobbed himself into the water before rising and wading back to where she sat.

He would have to see this tattoo she cared so much about then.

... and it was pretty. But it was exactly that, pretty, girly, colourful, flowery. Somehow he had never associated those things with Amur. She was all spit promises, dragons, cow tipping and adventure. "It's nice," he nodded, sitting now beside her. "Though when you get it done for real, get them to animate it too."

One thing was for sure, Amur could not recall a day when she felt so self concious. Especially not around her friends. When Zeke sat beside her, Amur sloshed more water over her legs. She almost wanted the tattoos to disappear, but of course water made them appear so it was a bit of backwards thinking.

She was finally able to look at him when he spoke, but thankfully they were practically on eye level and he was sitting so, his face was the easiest thing to look at. She held his gaze. "....What's wrong with them?"

Not in that they weren't animated, but there was something in the way Zeke said what he did, in his voice that made her question the integrity of his words. They'd known each other for long enough. She looked back at her legs. "Why would I want them animated?"

It was an interesting concept though, the whole water-soluable tattoo thing. It wasn't something he'd choose for himself, but it was a neat idea. He watched as she continued to splash water on it, the colours vibrant at the waters touch.

Feeling her turn to him, Zeke smiled, his eyes locking on hers though she still didn't quite meet his.

"What's wrong with them?" he repeated, wondering where that had come from. He'd said they were nice, not that they were NOT nice. Was her hearing okay? "Nothing, they're nice... didn't think you were the flowers type though," he supposed that might have been the answer she was looking for. "It is nice though, pretty." Yeah? Better?

He was terrible at these things... sigh.

But as for why she would want them animated, wasn't that obvious? "It'd look neat, like they were blowing in a breeze or something," he suggested. "My mum's is animated, but hers travels around, it's a phoenix." And come to think of it, she would probably kill him for divulging that information.

Nice. It was the right word. There was nothing wrong with it. Normally she would have exclaimed and agreed and gushed over them. Except, that she wasn't. In fact, the mention of her not being flowers type had her brow knitting together into tight knots.

No, she supposed she wasn't really. She liked them, but she'd never been particularly flowery herself. But, wasn't that what girls were supposed to be? To like? Another few splashes over her legs. She did like them, but something was bothering her and she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Thank...........you." He was being nice. Complimenting them when he thought they were a waste of money.

Her eyes went back to him when he explained the idea of animation. Though, it perhaps didn't have quite the effect that he had intended. Instead of her face lighting up with the possibilities, it fell. Rather abruptly. Tattoos that blew in the breeze? While his MOTHER had a PHOENIX that MOVED?!

Hopefully, her expression explained how awesome she thought that was. Because it was SUPER awesome. A grand idea. An idea that......why hadn't she thought of it?

She'd chosen flowers. She could have picked dragons or birds that turned into fire or a patronus or any number of awesome, magical things.

Nope. Flowers.

Amur splashed them a bit more, suddenly discontent. All of a sudden, Zeke's abs DID seem like the better thing to look at.

"Your mum sounds pretty awesome." A woman that got that kind of tattoo was just naturally awesome, and had Amur's respect.

She splashed the water over her legs again, suddenly not wanting to talk about this. "Should we swim?"

Yup. Totally ignoring the hinging fact that Zeke didn't have a shirt and that was STILL a point of pure confusion for her. They were at the water, he'd taken the effort to change. They might as well make use of it.

He still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd said the wrong thing, but for once there was no point analysing and agonising over it. Women, were notoriously difficult to understand, he knew this for a fact, and had already resigned himself to accepting that he wouldn't be able to decipher their feelings or reactions any time soon. So while he liked to think he KNEW most of the women in his life, he could respect that they were capable of surprising him. Emily with her stares, Maggie with her eye-rolls and Amur with her smacks... or lack thereof at the moment. Hhmm.

Even her thanks seemed forced, but all he could do was sit, and pretend that all was well.

And it was well, wasn't it? Amur's expression changed too, so it couldn't be all bad. The compliment for his mum wasn't surprising either, "She is," he assured solemnly. It was hard not to be awesome when you kicked the butts of grown criminal men for a living. He was still thinking of this when the invitation to swim came.

Blinking, Zeke nodded his approval, rising to his feet before wading back out into the water. "Just don't get my hair wet, I need to look good for class," he joked, grinning. His hair was already wet regardless, she'd seen to that.

Well. That was that then. They could drop the conversation of tattoos and what was a good idea and what was a bad idea, because all of a sudden, Amur didn't want to talk about them. Heck, she was starting to hope that her tattoos would fade away soon, so she wouldn't have to see them. The logic and the why of that didn't make sense right now, and she decided it didn't matter. Right now, she was going to focus on ignoring all those confusing feelings and thoughts.

And Zeke, naturally, made that quite easy for her. With a taunting challenge.

See. The thing about her was that she didn't need to change to go swimming. And so, as soon as Zeke was on his feet and wading back into the water, Amur did the only thing she could. That was, rise to the challenge so simply presented to her.

Hoping to her feet, Amur broke into a sprint and then launched herself at Zeke's back. It was a controlled effort at bringing them both down and into the depths of the water. Because, she really did intend to get his hair wet. Soaking wet.

That was, what swimming was for after all.

When no reply came, he knew he was in for it... what he didn't know, was how quickly he was in for it. He'd only managed to look over his shoulder when he saw an Amur flying at him. Literally. She was airborne.

Feeling the impact of her against his back, Zeke's knees buckled slightly out of surprise, his face leaning forward...

.... and just like that, completely lacking grace, he took a dive into the depths - all the while taking Amur down with him. When he woke this morning, face-planting water between breakfast and Herbology hadn't been on his agenda, but his days seldom went to plan. Twisting slightly in the water, Zeke's hands found Amur's shoulders in an effort to keep her under water a fraction longer than necessary. But then, he grinned, being kind enough to allow her to come back up for air.

Maybe he should give Hogwarts a second chance. The place was very beautiful indeed, and he confirmed it as he strolled around the many halls of the castle, as well as taking the chance to step outside of the walls and explored the grounds. It’s a peaceful walk, yes, and Jace loved how much green there was. He loved how he can breathe clean, fresh air as he strolled around the vast ground.

Oh, but who is that?

The girl looked awfully familiar, that Jace simply must get to this person and see who it is. Catching a glimpse of her face, Jace grinned and gently tapped her shoulder. “Rachel-san? You did well in the Gobstone match. Congratulations.” He said tucking away his hands behind him. “Oh...what’s that you’ve got?” he asked, gesturing to her hands.

A stuffed toy?

This, was the way it was supposed to be. Meant to be. Them, goofing off without a care in the world. Without a care for abs or tattoos.

So, Amur came up laughing. Of course it was done with a sputter of water and trying to splash more water in his face to keep him distracted long enough. Long enough that she could try and launch herself up as much as she could, onto his shoulders and push him down again.

Problem was, being airborne with momentum made it easier to tackle someone, than being buoyant. Zeke was a solid mass of .... she wasn't going to finish that. He was just solid and heavy and it was DIFFICULT to get him back under the water. But she would try.

Fierce little Gryffin.

It was easy to do this, fall back into what they'd always done. Fooled around. It was easier for him to wrestle with her than to understand her, and so he did. The splashing in his face wasn't off-putting in the least, after all he'd had plenty of practice with it over the summer. First with Ashley, and then with Frankie and the rest of them at Hady's party.

Whatever she was trying to do wasn't working very well, and his body only slightly bobbed in the water beneath her weight. What was she doing??? Zeke couldn't help but laugh, splashing water over his shoulder at her face.

Why. Wasn't. This. Working?

It was absolutely ridiculous. She should have been able to get some advantage, but try as she might Zeke seemed like a buoyant rock. WHY?

This was so much easier a year ago.

And when he wasn't splashing water all up in her face. Sputtering, Amur pushed away and tried for a new tactic. Diving down, she latched onto his ankle and tried pulling him down. It.....didn't work too well either.

His laughter grew more confident the longer she struggled, and eventually her efforts ceased and he assumed she was surrendering. It would be wise to surrender. Only, when he turned, she'd gone under water... and there was YAKING on his ankle.

She could have it. The one ankle, he let her have it, and so he remained balanced with the other.

Was she... okay?

Deciding to take a look to see for himself, Zeke contemplated letting himself sink beneath the water... but then, another thought occurred to him. He could just raise his leg with a hanging Amur. He wasn't sure how high he could get his leg, but the closer she was to the surface the easier it would be to grab her by the shoulders.

She ALMOST had him. She was SURE of it. Too bad she didn't know the bubble-head charm because she TOTALLY would have used it and WON.

She thought she was winning too, with the sudden movement from him. Then, she realized that she wasn't going down, but up.

WHAT. EVEN?

How was this fair?!

She tried and fought to pull said leg down, but it wasn't long before her head bobbed back above the water and through her soaked hair she gave him a look of utter disappointment and wrath. "No. Fair."

As in no fair what? That he was built? Wait. What? No. Nope. He was....just....stronger. Yes. Amur's head sunk a little below the water, her eyes just above it's surface as she felt that annoying heat back on her cheeks. What, was wrong with her? Really?

He didn't need to fish her out in the end, because her head bobbed up all on his own.

No fair?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Zeke laughed heartily, smacking the water as he did so. This was really too funny. He was INVINCIBLE. She couldn't get him. He won.

Regaining his composure, he gave Amur a look as she sunk a little in the water, and then peered back at the shore. "We should head in, get dry before class...." Yeah? Was she coming? He made to move, but didn't go far before checking to see if she was following - as sopping wet as she was. Lol.

Ohhhhhhhhhh the NERVE.

That decided it right then and there. She was going to give it to him. She really was. And her opportunity came when his back was turned and he was heading to shore.

With a valiant effort, Amur went after him and, with her hands planting themselves on top of his head, she used her full body weight to try and dunk him, one last time. Him and his hair.

Of course she knew well the repercussions of being in such close proximity after delivering such an attack, but it would be worth it. It totally would be. Maybe. Hopefully.

She didn't say anything, but he assumed she was going to be right behind him... they did have class, and he didn't want to be late. He had things to learn and O.W.L's to blitz - and all that started NOW.

.... unfortunately for him, Amur had other ideas.

All so suddenly, he heard splashing behind him, and then before he knew it there were hands on his back, shoulders, HEAD... and he was going down. Granted, he helped this process by allowing himself to sink like a rock beneath the water, swimming a pace and coming up and around to push Amur down his elbows in her back.

HAHA! Take that!

The worst thing she got? A mouthful of murky lake water?

The best? SHE DUNKED ZEKE. Though it did feel a bit TOO easy, and as she went under she couldn't help but think that he had ALLOWED it. So. Not. Fair.

Of course, these were split second thoughts between victory, mouth-to-water, water-in-mouth and a brief moment of not knowing how to get back to the surface. She did fail a bit, but made sure that her arms stayed well away from Zeke's upper torso. Just....abs. Why even? As much as she wanted to sock him in the ribs with a cheap shot, she couldn't and didn't. So, instead she squirmed out from under his elbows and swam madly for the shore.

She'd get him. Sometime. Later.

Clambering out, Amur wished she had brought a change of clothes. It was hard to walk under a couple pounds of wet clothes. But it had been fun, and things felt right. Normal almost. Almost. That was, until she realized that Zeke was going to come out of the water.....shirtless.

In a sudden scramble, Amur made for his shirt, grabbed it and chucked it right into his face as he emerged from the water. "You're impossible. You know that?"

Then, it was turning and rolling her pant legs back down. He would put it on right away, right?

He didn't hold her down for too long, like, he had his revenge but he didn't want her to drown or anything. So as she flailed, Zeke relinquished his arms from her back and distanced himself a bit. Last thing he needed was another dunking attempt from her. And again, he was wet, head to toe, most notably, his head. Shaking his hair out a little, Zeke wiped the droplets from his face before continuing in Amur's wake... leaving the lake.

Finally, they could---- huh?

Zeke caught his shirt with one hand, peering at it before looking down at himself. He was wet, his shirt was not... ergo, oh bother. He shrugged, slipping his shirt over his head and watching as it clung to parts of him. "You already said," he nodded. Was she blaming him for this??? Using his wand, he started drying it off. Not the most productive way of doing things, but they really did have to go. He still had to stop and grad his things, change over to his uniform and get over to the greenhouses. Doable, but he'd have preferred not to rush.

Grabbing his socks and shoes, Zeke stopped to ruffle Amur's hair before starting to jog back to the caste. "Catch you later!" he called.