Climbing the stairwells was 100 times more exhausting when one had to stretch over steps and have constant look out on the ground because of all the vines taking over the castle. It still had a certain beauty to it in Evan's mind, being the type of person who loved greenery and thought moss was one of the most pleasing décor that could be on a house. But he was starting to realize how invasive things like that really were for the trees and woodland creatures.

Which... wasn't that usually from suffocation? He paused on the six floor corridor, considering it for a moment. Trees died from strangulation from moss. Could the roots of the vines being doing the same to everything outside? Unseen under the ground?

Evan reached into his bag, pulling out his notebook in order to make note. It was something worth looking into more in the library.

Not to mention it would be a nice thought filler while he tried to forget his embarrassment over the love potion debacle on Valentine's Day. Though there was a Gryffindor he really should be seeking out instead and having a candid conversation with. Was he against the idea of a date? No, it might help him start to figure out how he felt about people. And FULLY move on from the previous... whatever it was. But he also wondered if she'd be upset with him about the fact he'd asked in such a... public way.

He was also still puzzled by what it meant that she'd said yes.

Valentina was on her way to the common room. She was done with classes for the day - which meant that she had to get started on her homework soon. UGH. Booring. But maybe that would distract her from all the Evan related thoughts she had been having lately. The gryffindor still couldn't get over how surprising the whole thing was - and she didn't know how she felt about him yet. Friend? Something more??

- aaaaand there he was. What a coincidence! "Evan! hi!" She greeted with a bright smile.

He'd just finished scribbling down his thoughts in his notebook, and was in the process of stashing it back into his bag as he took a step forward to head towards the next staircase, when he heard Val's voice behind him. And as if he needed something else to be embarrassed about in front of her, the surprise distracted him from lifting his leg high enough to clear another vine which caused him to fall on his knees. At least he'd managed to not FULLY faceplant.

Fairly red now, he turned and still offered a sheepish smile her direction. "Hey, Val. Heading up to the Gryffindor Common?" Or maybe she was going for Astronomy or something else entirely? He quickly scrambled back up, reaching down to dust off his knees in the process. "Uh, how're you?"

"Hey, be careful!" Valentina looked at him in concern, hoping he hadn't hurt himself in any way. She offered him a soft smile when it looked like he was okay - feeling suddenly self conscious. Tucking her hair behind the ears, the gryffindor nodded.

"Yes, I'm heading up to the common room." Wait.. had he already forgotten the whole great hall incident? Or did he choose to forget about it? She turned red with embarrassment. Oh, no. He did regret that, didn't he?? Of course he did. Unless he wanted her to talk about it first. "I'm.. uh.. alright. Yes, fine."

If a vine wanted to wrap around him and swallow him whole now, that actually might have been okay with the Ravenclaw. He gave a small smile back at Val regarding her concern, "These things really are overrunning everything."

He had... definitely not forgotten. He was just having a hard time figuring out how to broach it. Did he apologize? Because given how... public he'd made that, it had probably embarrassed her too. Or would it be offensive to apologize because of the outcome? And even though he did not necessarily want to cancel their date, he also didn't think it was right to go without telling her that he hadn't been him when he asked. It was all... very confusing. But given the fact how many of his relationships he'd already ruined with lack of communication, he wasn't really looking to continue to make that mistake. "I'm glad to hear that. I'm actually really glad I ran into you too. I was just thinking about you, and was hoping you'd have a minute to talk about what happened on Valentine's day?"

Valentina hated feeling this awkward and weird but she really had no experience with any of this. She had dated before yes but she had been young - only excited about the idea of having a boyfriend and showing off to her friends a bit - but now, everything felt different.. and more grown up in a way. If that made sense.

OH. oh. The blonde widened her eyes a bit, turning slightly pink. So, he'd remembered. She nodded, running a hand through her hair a little nervously. "Yeah, sure." Homework could wait for a little while longer. "I have time."

Awkward was by far one of his least desired feelings as well. It was uncomfortable, for both parties and one of those things that truly felt impossible to shake off once it had showed itself. And this was... an entirely new realm to him. He'd had a crush, yes, but it was something that couldn't go anywhere so he'd never had to figure out what to do with it. And he was pretty sure that was over to, given the fact he hadn't felt as weird last time he hung out around her. And he certainly thought there was a fair amount of people who were good looking at Hogwarts, but... he wasn't sure if it was anything beyond that.

The pink was noticed, but he was also sure he was as red as a tomato at this point so he naturally made no comment. "AWesome. Thanks." He wasn't sure what the best way to start was so... he figured he probably just should. "I'm sorry, firstly." that was the first thing that came to mind to blurt out. "If I embarrassed you by being so... loud. And what I said... I do think you're really pretty but all of that stuff about lo-" he was genuinely too embarrassed to even say it again. "Well... I'm pretty sure my juice had love potion in it. And that's why I got so loud and... recited poetry."

Oh wait til Chase and Noah heard about that.

Love potion.

of COURSE.

Valentina turned a brighter shade of pink, feeling all kinds of embarrassed. Sure, she thought all the love things that he'd said were a little over the top but she never assumed that it was because of a love potion.. and she didn't what to make of it now, except that there wasn't going to be a date. Again, she wasn't sure how she felt about THAT - maybe a little disappointed.

"You think I'm pretty?" She asked, his apology completely sidelined for the moment. She couldn't help but smile, fidgeting with her hair again. "Anyway, the poetry was rather cute. Very.. interesting."

He felt worse and worse the more pink she got, thinking he must have thoroughly embarrassed her and she'd probably hate him now. Sure, he had not been the only person declaring love that evening but.. he hadn't noticed how embarrassing the others had been. IF they had even been.

But.. she didn't really sound upset with him when she spoke. Which was a relief. Her surprise at thinking she was pretty was surprising to him as well and he blinked a bit, before nodding. "Yes, I do. You are. You have such a bright and cheerful personality, your energy tends to brighten a room when you come in." Had she not known that? Did she just say... the poetry was CUTE? The interesting part got a smile though, and he relaxed a little before chuckling. "I guess that's one word for it. I like Chaucer's work but... it seemed a bit much. My cousin had a field day with that." The fact he'd used it when asking someone out.

Which... brought him to the next thing. And he felt even more awkward, scratching the back of his neck for a second. "But uh... I was thinking, if you still... wanted to go have a picnic by the lake or something the two of us it... could be fun?" Unless she hated that idea. In which case it was terrible. The worst.

Even stationary, the vines could cause tripping and other sorts of trouble. But now they weren't acting so stationary, as one vine casually creeped its way up the boy's leg, wrapping loosely so he might not notice at first. Meanwhile, another vine was twining itself around both of the girl's legs, gently holding them together. Ever had your shoelaces tied together? This kind of wrapping made such a prank look mild.

Valentina turned a bright shade of red. "Thank you." She finally responded with a soft smile. As much as she enjoyed compliments, it always felt like people were just being nice.. if that made sense. But.. maybe Evan genuinely meant those words, which only made her look like a tomato. Was she really like that?? Hmm. She raised her eyebrows, grinning a little. "Well, I guess it was super funny in a way. Like.. very one of a kind, you know??"

... oh. OH. UM. Her eyes widened a bit. "I.. yeah, sure! I think it's a great idea, yes." Before she could continue speaking.. wait. She looked down to find a vine wrapped around both her legs. What on earth! The blonde tried to pull herself away but only in vain. How strange. "I can't seem to move much.." Pulling her wand out, she casted a diffindo.. that should do the trick. Hopefully.

Truthfully, whenever he tried to give any type of compliment that wasn't sincere.... it went very badly. It sounded awkward and forced and usually just made people uncomfortable. Which was why he had stopped his prior experiments' on flirting, chalking it up to him just being bad at it. So everything he said currently, was meant sincerely. One of a kind certainly sounded more on par, and he laughed a bit. "I guess I do have that going for me."

Uhhhhh was it weird to have asked? The widening of her eyes made him wonder if he'd made a mistake. But... she was agreeing, so he supposed they did have like... an actual date now. Which who knew how it would go but... it didn't hurt to get to know his classmates on one on one settings either right? Not that he agreed with the idea of like a 'serial dater' type of thing but... this was a good start. And they got along well. "Well, cool! Next weekend?" When she paused and looked down, his eyes traveled too and blinked seeing the vines wrapped around her legs.

Which led him to then look at his own too and see them loosely around his own leg. It was not unsurprising he hadn't felt that. While Val cast diffindo at the ones on her legs, he attempted to pull out his own - carefully. "The last time I had a run in with these things they decided Aries and I should be pals or something." He was hopeful this was not about to be a repeat. He and Val had certainly had a share of awkward encounter already without adding the vines trying to 101 Dalmations them.

.... Did this mean that she was going on a proper date now?? A date with Evan? Valentina smiled, feeling a little excited. She wasn't sure how it was going to go either - maybe they'd have the best time or maybe not but it was worth a try, right? And if it didn't work, they were still friends so it was fine. Hopefully. "Next weekend sounds perfect! Evening, perhaps??"

She wrinkled her nose a bit as she looked up at him again, super fed up of these things already. They needed to just.. go away. "Really? How come??"