Valentine's Day Blind Dates

[Professor Albus Dumbledore]

Valentine’s Day was always busy at Madam Puddifoot’s. It was the one day per year where almost the full staff was working all day, and where special permission was obtained from the Ministry to magically expand the inside of the store so that they could fit the sheer amount of customers. This year, however, was bound to be even worse, because this year Hogwarts was holding a special blind date event on Valentine’s Day itself. If they weren’t, it certainly wouldn’t have been as busy as 14 February was not on a designated Hogsmeade weekend, but of course the students participating were allowed to make that special trip after classes – whether that meant after four, or even as early as noon if they had corresponding free periods. It could have been worse, of course. All of the students could have been allowed to come during the day, when the shop was at its busiest peak. Evenings weren’t nearly as bad in comparison with the midday and afternoon. The staff was exhausted, but they could last a few more hours – hopefully.

*Your first post must meet the minumum posting requirements (500 words); however, your next posts need only be one paragraph posts.
*The date can end whenever you/characters choose, be it happily (and possibly continuing elsewhere) or badly.
*Madam Puddifoot's will close at eight p.m., and students must be back in the castle by eight-thirty. There are Auror escorts waiting for students to ensure safety.
*Have fun!

[Noah Orchard]

Hello, table D. It was lined against the wall of Madam Puddifoot’s right in the middle of a long row of tables. That put Noah and his date at the center of attention, which as we all know, is where Noah wants to be 24/7. Of course he was going to arrive a couple minutes earlier than the time chosen for Noah and his blind date to meet up. It was classy, in his opinion, for a guy to be the first one on a blind date. It showed commitment. And, thought commitment was not what he was going for, it was still a classy move. It got him out of Hogwarts earlier didn’t it? Score. Noah hadn’t ever been keen on blind dates, because the initial point of going out with a person was because you thought they were hot. Let’s not kid ourselves, here. This time was different. This time he was working up a sweat to get over Isabelle and that meant jumping at every and all dating opportunities short of men and stalker chicks, and when they were asked questions in order to pair the students with their best possible match, things began to look more promising. Madam Puddifoot was the downfall in the equation. Only the hopeless, clingy artsy types and old people frequented Puddifoots and it was a shame they couldn’t have Valentine’s Day in a place full of life like The Three Broomsticks. He didn’t think of a good time and racing heartbeats when someone mentioned Madam Puddifoots, instead, he thought about cups of dainty tea and awkward silences. Ah, well. If Noah couldn’t fill any silence with comic relief than he had lost his touch.

Noah entered the shop and had he been there a million times he wouldn’t have recognized it with all the renovation done for the special event. He took a seat at his table and leaned casually against the back of the wooden chair. He’d dressed the way he liked, always a cut above what was typical for a male but not overdone, with a red plaid shirt and a well fitted pair of slacks. His hair had taken on a mind of its own and he let it, having not quite grown out of wearing the longer locks he had sported over Christmas break in California. It took him a long time to get out of a California surfer funk once he had delved into it. He set down a single white rose on the table, running his finger down the de-thorned side. Whether he was an ounce interested in her or not he was still going to be a gentleman. Initially. Every girl was different, every girl preferred different results from a date. Noah really just wanted to take his mind off of someone else and he was going to make a real effort to focus on his date, who undoubtly deserved it. Maybe, unless she was one of his ex-girlfriends. Haha. You know, he wouldn’t be surprised a bit by a discovery such as that. It wouldn’t be so funny if it was his most recent ex-girlfriend, because Noah still hadn’t really worked out what he should say to her. “Sorry” obviously doesn’t cut it, a rose would be a slap in the face…so what, then? Noah shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the door, obviously wanting his date to arrive and get it over with. Get it over with…god, do you remember when he used to love dates? If it seems like yesterday that’s because it was.

[aceline20]

Table D. Aceline stared at the little slip of paper in her hands, feeling absolutely ridiculous as she stood outside of Madam Puddifoot's. I cannot believe i'm doing this... she thought, tugging on the hem of her pink sweater. She was dressed casually in flared beige pants, matching pink heels, and a string of pearls wrapped around her neck. Her hair, usually straightened and reaching the middle of her back, was now chopped off into a layered bob and full of bouncy curls. After so many years of looking the same, Aceline decided she wanted a change. She wanted to let the past go, and introduce the world to the new her. She wanted to let Noah go. Her chest throbbed softly at the thought of him, as it did every time she would think of him. It had been months since they talked, too many days since they had been together, and Aceline hated the fact that he still mattered, even slightly, to her. She pulled on one of her curls, remembering how Noah would run his hands through her hair as he kissed her. Now there was no more hair, just like there was no more Noah. Aceline sighed, wishing she could slap herself. He was just some stupid, american, party boy. They had a....a.. fling for a few months, she should of known it had never mattered. Still. He was the only one that could make her laugh. The only one that ever saw her cry. The only person to ever make her feel like she was important, and that she could possibly be better then what she was. Stupid. But that's why she was here. Aceline never really got back into the dating scene after him and, after contemplating Hogwarts stupid survey for several days, deciding to fill it out and send it in...just for fun, you know?

Pushing open the heavy oak doors, Aceline was hit with the smell of several different powders and perfumes. She had never been very fond of Madam Puddifoot's, the place always reminded her of hopelessness and sorrow. On a regular day, you could find the place filled with older women, the classical type, sipping tea and muttering in hushed voices as they shot glares at the much younger, university students that recently migrated there. Today, however, it was jammed packed for the holiday, Aceline noticed several of her peers hanging about within seconds of the door closing behind her. She scanned the room for table D. After pushing through the crowd she found it in the center of the room, exactly where Aceline liked to be. She strode towards it, lifting her chin in that confident way of hers before coming to an abrupt halt less then two feet away. Sitting at her table. Table D. Was Noah Orchard. She didnt know what to do.

[Maylene Bell]

This was the last place on earth that May had ever thought she'd find herself at on a Valentine's Day. Madam Puddifoot's was the epitome of romance horror, and no, she didn't mean that in a vampires type of way. It was girly and pink to an extreme, and every time she'd passed by it she had literally had the urge to throw up. It was ridiculous. Why somebody who respected themselves would ever want to go on a date there was completely and totally beyond her capability to comprehend. And yet, here she was, dressed and ready to go to the very same place of nightmares. On Valentine's Day. The whole thing had started out mostly as a joke, really. She'd been looking through the school announcements with Alice and they'd read the whole Hogwarts hosting a blind date setup thing for singles on the holiday with a questionnaire attached. After laughing heartily at the idea for a few minutes, she'd stopped for a moment to really think about it. The questions were ridiculous--How much does physical appearance matter to you in a partner? The people doing this would probably be just as ridiculous. Full of giggly girls with lots of make up. Gross. But which guys would actually go through with something like this seriously?

As per usual, curiosity took the better of her, and before she knew what she was doing, she was signing up for the whole thing with Alice, answering the questions with as straight a face as she could manage. It was almost a month later that she got the owl with her table. Apparently they were setting it up in tables of two. M, she read, and hummed a little. Like her initial. Cool. So, then, the date came, and it was Valentine's Day and Hogwarts was bursting with pink and flowers and boys and girls kissing in the hallways and May kept thumping her forehead against her desk in class because why did people not understand that PDA is not okay, and please keep your relationship out of my face. It wasn't that she was bitter about being single. Come on; she didn't even really want a relationship that much. Sure, she liked it when she was in one--she liked kissing, she liked the whole having someone there thing, but she just didn't have the need to have a boyfriend that she so frequently saw among other girls. If it happened, it happened. If not, then okay. She was an eighteen year old, mature witch for Merlin's sake. She didn't need some guy to feel good about herself.

Come noon, people were already dressing up and chattering animatedly about their Valentine's Day plans, getting ready to go to Hogsmeade, and May watched with amusement. She figured she'd go there early, meet the table M guy, whoever he was--she had to admit, if anything, she was kind of excited to see who could possibly be such a good match for her. Looking around her fellow Gryffindors, her eyes lingered on Noah, Pierre, Kieran...and she laughed quietly to herself. Yeah, this was definitely going to be amusing at the very least. She got dressed in a pair of white jeans, a lightly striped white blouse with a matching belt across it and a black vest that she left open at the front--casual, but nice, she supposed. Even if her heart wasn't in this whole date thing, she didn't want to be rude to whoever had the oh-so-luck to be paired up with her. Grabbing a black coat off her closet, she slung it on and trotted down the stairs, meeting up with Alice, who was going as well. She grinned at her friend. "Let's get this done with, huh?" she said, reaching over to link arms with her and going down to the carriages that were to take them there. There were Aurors escorting them for their protection, and they chatted up the guy there with them until they arrived at Hogsmeade, and parted to head to Madam Puddifoot's. At the sight of the cafe, May groaned, dropping her forehead against Alice's shoulder and sighing, straightening up and walking inside. There were only a couple of people there already (including Noah, who was with some other girl, so that ruled him out at least) and May shrugged off her coat, grabbing her piece of paper and flicking it at Alice's face. "M,

[/color]" she said, tapping her on the butt with a wink. "Go find your own date.[/color]"

Turning around, May made her way across to find the table labelled M, near the entrance. It was round, and she hesitated for a moment before pulling back one of the chairs, the one facing the rest of the cafe, figuring she'd have some entertainment watching that way, and flopped down on it, crossing a leg over the other and tapping her fingers against the table. Now, she waited.[/blockquote][/color]

[Gracie Marlow]

Table I… Gracie thought as she made her way to Madam Puddifoot’s café. She couldn’t remember ever having set foot in the place and walking up to the outside of the building, she knew why. It had a very lovey-dovey atmosphere- not somewhere Gracie was willing to go alone. And, of course, she had never had anyone to even think about going into the tea shop with, so the thought of stepping in had never really crossed her mind. Her heart beat wildly as she remembered why she was outside of the shop in the first place: a blind valentine’s date. Blind! That meant Gracie was being set up by some higher power (Gracie’s money was on McGonagall for her own amusement) to go out with someone that she quite possibly had never even met. Of course, the person would be from Hogwarts but there were so many students, Gracie knew that she had never met- or even seen- them all.

But it was too late to back out now. Gracie had signed herself up for this date thing- reluctantly, might she add- if only for experience so that Jules could no longer make fun of her for being a kid. And to make him jealous. No, wait. That wasn’t why. Was it? No. She thought, I need dating experience if I’m ever going to get Jules or Cal or any guy, for that matter, to take me seriously. She smoothed down the hemline of her skirt before entering the tiny shop, hearing a faint bell sound as she crossed the threshold. Table I… She spotted it almost immediately, her table being a small round one towards the back of the room, neatly labeled with a place card that read, “Table I”.

Desperately trying to wet her dry mouth and lips, Gracie began to make her way towards her table, hoping that she wouldn’t be the first one to arrive. Of course, on the way she noticed Noah Orchard at a table not too far away from hers. It comforted her to know that if, for any reason, the date did not go well, she would have him there to call out to. Nodding to him briefly, she sat in her chair, disappointed that she ended up being the first one there. Nerves were getting the best of her… Where in the world was her date? She herself had been a little late getting to the shop because of classes but he wouldn’t keep her waiting all night… right? A thought struck Gracie and made her heart stop all together: what if her date stood her up? What would she do then? Trying to keep her eyes and ears from changing colors due to embarrassment and nervousness, Gracie focused on fixing her lipstick in the compact mirror she kept in her purse.

Her date better hurry his butt up or he was going to get an ear full when she found out who he was…

[/color]

[Kieran Sullivan]

Kieran wasn't one hundred percent positive why he'd signed up for the blind date thing. He supposed it was equal parts "I haven't been on a date in ages and that's sad" and "it's an excuse to leave the castle without getting into trouble for it." Besides. He'd never pass up the opportunity to meet a pretty girl in a romantic setting. Granted, Madam Pudddifoot's looked like Cupid had threw up on it, but a date was a date, and if his date turned out to be cool, he might be able to convince her to ditch the love-infested cafe early and continue the evening elsewhere before his vision permanently turned pink from the decorations that would surely be there, and that sounded dangerous to his health and mentality. Of course, it was entirely possible that he would be matched up with someone who adored the cafe and his suggestion that they move elsewhere would be met with scorn or, worse, he might deeply offend her. Females were strange that way, and he had never pretended to actually understand them, and probably never would. Then again, he believed that males weren't capable of understanding the opposite gender, and it was unnatural if they did, just like it would be strange if girls understood the inner workings of a boy's mind. It would end up giving them power, power that Kieran doubted they would use for good. Either way, he didn't think it'd be a good idea if girls actually knew what was going on inside of a boy's head. Who knows? It might make them swear off males for good.

Frowning at his reflection, Kieran fluffed a piece of hair a few times (because the accidentally-messy, bed-head look didn't actually just come from waking up in the morning and not bothering to brush one's hair). He then stepped back to look at his overall appearance, squinted a little, and then decided he looked decent enough that he wouldn't scare off the poor girl. Idly, he wondered who he would be matched up with. They'd had to take short surveys, so he knew he'd at least have to be with someone who had similar interests (unless they went for the whole 'opposites attract' concept which, while might work sometimes, other times it was strictly for magnets and should stay as such). Maybe he'd end up being matched up with someone he already knew, which would at least mean he'd have a good time. He knew Alice was doing it, and she'd told him May was doing it, too. He definitely wouldn't mind a blind date with either of them.

Self-consciously ruffling a hand through his hair, he followed Noah down from the dormitory and out the common room, making random small talk along the way - mostly joking around about who they'd be ending up with. To be honest, Kieran was a little confused as to why Noah was doing it since he was sure he still had a thing for Isabelle, but since they were blokes and blokes didn't "talk" about things like that, he'd let it go. Besides, Noah was a big boy. He knew what he was doing. Most of the time. Er, okay. Some of the time. Either way, he was free to do whatever he wanted. When they came close to the coffee shop, Kieran lagged a little and allowed Noah to go in first alone, glancing down at the paper in his hand. Table K, it read. Inwardly hoping for the best, he entered the cafe and immediately cringed at the site that met his eyes. It was even worse than usual, probably because it was Valentine's day. Steeling himself, he made his way over to the table and was surprised to find he'd made it first. Trying not to groan as little rose petals fell on top of the table and his head, Kieran patiently brushed them off his shoulders and arms and gave his hair a couple more ruffles, just in case. He saw that May was already sitting at a table across from his and was also waiting for her date. Catching her eye, he gave her a cheeky grin and waved. While Noah's decision to join in had been unexpected, May's was completely baffling. But hey, at least they were willing to live a little. Nothing wrong with that.

[/color]

[Michaela Petrova]

Outfit
Table C

She tried not to chew on her freshly painted fingernail. Her nails had a white backdrop with blue roses delicately swirled on top, and her face held a new, brighter layer of makeup than usual. Dates didn’t make her nervous so much, although everything was different when you didn’t know who your date was. What if it was someone Michaela wasn’t compatible with? The sorting hat always had a sure fit but she hadn’t a clue who set these arrangements. Not the hat – the hat couldn’t do that, right? Mica was not worried at all if neither one of them were interested; those things happened. What concerned her was sitting at a table for a long period of time with someone who absolutely did not like her. It was probably silly; Mica wasn’t a person people really hated. She wasn’t being conceited, it’s just that she very infrequently got into arguments even though she was able to speak her mind. Peer pressure tended to make her cave, and when everyone else in her house began to sign up their names, giggling and asking what answers the others had put down, suddenly Mica, completely disinterested before, wanted to do the same. Could it hurt? Life is a journey and it was one little date on the love-y day of the year and since she had no one to share it with, why not? Her mind wandered as she thought of who she could possibly be paired with. Obviously, it was going to be a male. Hogwarts hadn’t progressed That much. Did she have a particular someone in mind that, if given her ideal date, would fit it? Yes. She was a girl, of course she had someone in mind!

Although, she didn’t know if that “someone” had even signed up for the event and if she had by some chance been paired with him, perhaps it would be awkward. Things were never awkward between them, but maybe this time… She would have to just see. Mica had surely been paired with someone else, anyway. It isn’t as though she thought about what possible responses he may have answered with were he to take the questionnaire…A line creased down Michaela’s forehead. Did she actually like him that much? Sure she had a crush but she wasn’t sure it had gone that far, and then suddenly, she was answering things the way she thought he may have answered them. No more of this. Mica clipped an accessory into her hair and went into Hogsmeade with a few of her friends, listening to their chattering as they entered Madam Puddifoot’s with complete excitement. Mica was the quieter of her friends usually, but even now she seemed abnormally silent. Puddifoots was very floral, with petals falling from the ceiling and tables lined with extravagant lace cloths. She reminded herself this would be a good thing. Being alone on Valentine’s Day was, after all, almost never fun. Waving goodbye to the others she looked for table C and learned that she was the first person to arrive. Most of the people around her she really didn’t know so Mica stayed quiet as she took her seat. She had already decided that she would be charming and pleasant and completely herself, and why shouldn’t she be? There were other things about her besides her liking for the piano, honest . She just….had to remember what those things were.

[Noah Orchard]

At first glance, Noah deserved all that he had coming to him this year. He had broken girls’ hearts with little regard, partied like a spoiled teenage boy, caused his parents and guardian stress and unnecessary worry, vandalized personal property, lied shamelessly to just about everyone, made fun of his roommate, was self-obsessed, cheated, fought, gossiped, intentionally offended individuals, and apologized to less than half of all these people that he wronged. Still, he had been able to sleep at night. When you took it from just that angle, Noah became the most horrible person you ever had to lay your sorry eyes on. Fortunately, there are two sides to every story as there as at least two parts to each person. Over the years, Noah had also: Defended a person’s honor, told a girl he loved her even when she had responded with malice and he still continued to love her, told white lies to make people feel better about themselves, apologized, complimented many, remained faithful to a girlfriend, refuted gossip, was a loyal friend, protected someone’s innocence, refused to get angry and turned the other cheek, assured his parents he was okay even when he wasn’t, and hardly had to work at all at being nice to people unless they were rude to him first. All of this had to count for something! Sadly, it really did take two rights to right a wrong, and apparently he didn’t have near enough rights. When he saw Aceline walking toward his table with a stunned look on her face, Noah knew he was being punished again. The last time they had talked was in a note and they had been very sharp with each other, and before that it was her party and we all know how that went…Of course he felt sorry for the Hogsmeade party last year when he’d kissed Massie without thinking, but he’d tried to apologize. You couldn’t always make up with your ex-girlfriends and this was a case where it hadn’t really been resolved. Come to think of it, Noah had a lot of those lately.

Aceline, Isabelle, Kiki…okay, he and Kiki hadn’t even spoken since the day he ran out to catch Isabelle after poker and he had to admit to Kiki that he had feelings for Isabelle and they’d kissed. On purpose. And, yet again, he had told Isa….belle that he loved her. He really did get in that kissing issue a lot. It had been worse with Kiki, because he’d been friends with her for a long, long time, and you never did that to your friends. He was being a coward by not confronting her and Noah knew it. But he just thought: if she never had to see him again it would only be too soon, right? He waited to see what Aceline would do, as she remained where she was, close to the chair but not quite in it. Noah smiled at Aceline, hoping to motivate her into taking a seat. “Hi Aceline, you look beautiful today.” Blind date this turned out not to be. Noah stood up from his chair, went around the table and pulled Aceline’s out for her, like a gentleman. He looked cool on the outside but he sure was sweating on the inside over this. Now what? He held out the rose to her, for Aceline to either take or to reject. Noah chose not to say anything about the irony of the situation or how the people setting up the dates may have found this funny – that would be rude. He wasn’t going to bring it up unless Ace did. “How your Valentines’ going so far?” He said instead, with sincerity. How’s it going until you found out you had a date with me, that is. The only way this could have been worse is if…..no actually, it couldn’t be worse. At least if it was Kiki he would finally have the opportunity to apologize, and Isabelle, who would never sign up for one of these, would have just snickered the entire time and they would have made jokes. Noah smiled again, showing his teeth, because it was really all he could do. Kill me now.

[cococalloway]

It had all started off as a gag. Seriously, why the hell would she voluntarily go into vomit central Madame Puddifoot’s otherwise? The little surveys had been left in the Gryffindor common room, and going along with the always wise decisions of ignoring one’s homework in favor of something much more ridiculous and being far too nosy for one’s own good, Coco couldn’t help but fill out the stupid thing. That had been a couple weeks ago. As the time went by, however, there were slight flickers of, “well dating never has been one of my strong suits and this couldn’t hurt” every now and then… only to be quickly quashed once the fact that she had signed up for a blind date in one of the cheesiest places possible was remembered. No, this whole experience would be a total lark, something to laugh about later on since undoubtedly she would know and (hopefully) be friends with whomever she was matched with.

There was only thing that Coco was actually worried about, and romance was far from being involved in said worry. The survey mentioned the importance of blood status and, of course, Coco wrote down very important. Most other people of half blood or muggle born status would put such a thing down. Hell, even some purebloods, as riddled with genetic mutations and backwardness as they were, probably didn’t care as much as she did about blood status. The ones who did, however, were the very ones that both targeted Coco, muggleborn as she is, and that she, in turn, targeted with equal ferocity. It would be a cruel, cruel joke indeed if she was matched up with one of those assholes. If that were to happen? Well, she’d better be the first one to lay hands on the scalding hot tea pot and water since at that point it’s either be attacked or do the attacking.

Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her skirt and wool of her dark tights as she walked down the familiar lane to Hogsmeade. This morning Coco had been hell bent on not doing a damned thing to prepare for this abhorrent day (really, a blind date on Valentine’s day on top of everything?), but both peer pressure from her roommates and those annoying “but maybe I’ll actually meet someone decent” sort of thoughts had her changing seconds before she was meant to leave. The result was a slightly more put together Miss Calloway. There were no paint stains on her hands, her hair was smooth and hanging nicely around her face rather than carelessly tied back into a ponytail (though she did have a hair tie around her wrist just in case), and thanks entirely to her roommates rather than any urge on her own behalf, there was a touch of mascara on her already dark lashes. It wasn’t a very pronounced difference, but it was something that was easily noticed even the specifics weren’t immediately apparent. And it was because of all of this that she was fidgeting.

There was a rather large amount of people milling about outside the teashop as the girl drew closer. Damnit, if those idiots weren’t there because of signing up for the blind date thing and instead there to just mock everyone (something Coco herself would be doing mentally despite being a participant), they’d have another thing coming. But it seemed that the majority either were going inside or waiting for a table. With one last deep inhale and vocal exhale, Coco pushed the door open. Table K, table K, table K—“HA!” The burst of laughter was automatic the moment she saw who was sitting at her table, but then instantly regretted as the hope of a sneakier approach was ruined. Despite everyone looking at her for the noisy entrance, her enormous smirk was met by an equally amused one from Kieran. Brushing away the annoying cupids floating and dumping rose petals around the place (who thought that was a good idea, seriously?), Coco sauntered over to her assigned table, beaming. “Well fancy meeting you here, Mr. Sullivan! Are you the one—” she picked up in almost a surgical manner a rose petal on her seat before flicking it at Kieran, “—they picked to sweep me off my feet on this special, special day?” Another amused laugh escaped her as she sat down in her usual fashion, all thought of nervousness completely gone. “I dunno, kid… I don’t think they did a good job of matching us up. After all,” Coco leaned in, hand going to her mouth in a stage whisper, “If this were to work out? I wouldn’t be the weirdest one in the relationship… and you know I can’t have that.”

[Kieran Sullivan]

Kieran wasn't sure who to expect, but he definitely hadn't expected Coco Calloway, of all people. He hadn't even known she'd signed up for this. Of all the people in Gryffindor, Coco was definitely the least expected, even more so than May because if May was weird about relationships, Coco laughed in the face of them. Still, he would be lying if he said he was disappointed. If there was anyone who'd want to get out of here faster than you could say "quidditch", it would be Coco. Grinning widely as she sat down - was she wearing a skirt? Blimey, maybe she was taking this more seriously than he'd originally thought she was - Kieran laughed at her question and then offered her a saucy wink. "Yup, that's me, Kieran Sullivan, here for the sweepin'." He tilted an invisible hat in her direction and then suddenly picked up the letter on the table, suddenly connecting two dots. "Oi, I jus' realised - Table K for Kieran."

[/color] He burst out laughing, entirely too amused by this coincidence then he should be. But then again, the smallest things amused Kieran, so that wasn't much of a surprise. "Ye look real fit, though, Coco. Almost didn't recognise ye. And all this for plain ole' me? I'm flattered."[/color] He dramatically pressed a hand against his heart and then batted his eyelashes in a pretend-coy matter.

"I take offense to that! Yer clearly the weird one in this relationship. I dunno who's been feeding ye lies, I'm perfectly normal."[/color] Of course, he'd never viewed himself as normal, because normal was boring and all, but he had to stand up to himself anyway. "I'm jus' a citizen of Coocoo Town, ye, luv? Yer the bloody mayor. And I mean tha' in the best way possible, naturally."[/color] He paused here for a moment, looking at her with genuine confusion and curiosity. "Seriously, though, what're you doing here?"[/color] While he waited for a response, he flicked a rose petal in her direction in retaliation to her earlier movement, grinning when it landed in her lap. And then, because he was obviously an absolute child, he continued flicking rose petals towards her lap, making a game out of it because suddenly it seemed like the funniest idea in the world, to fill Coco's lap with drying rose petals.

Such an excellent date, he was.

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

[skye]

this is where I stood, at the end of it all

What was she thinking? Ever since Skye had put her name out there for a blind date, she was regretting it. Sure, she was extraordinarily attractive and overall, the best thing any living man could ask for but a blind date? Really? Knowing Skye's luck, it would be a terrifyingly unattractive, babbling sixth year or something and she'd be stuck listening to unintelligent conversation until she could leave. Stupid move, Skyler. Rolling her eyes, she pulled her coat closed tighter over her bright red scarf and hugged her oak colored bad to her side. The wind was chilly, normal February weather, the kind she loved for fashion's sake rather than practical reasons like the beauty of snow or the gentle calm before a heated summer. Madame Puttifoot's seemed to glow through the dim lit street in Hogsmeade, people inside chatting or nervously shifting, waiting for their own sorry mistake at a blind date. God, this was stupid. Seriously, what was she thinking? When she drew closer, she could see Noah sitting along the back wall, Aceline across from him. Good pairing, she supposed. Not that she liked Noah, or even Aceline for that matter but never the less, it didn't look like either of them were uncomfortable. Kiki was inside as well, having left earlier than her, sitting on her own for now. She looked outwardly confident but Skye saw the occasional shift that signaled to her best friend instincts that she was a bit uncomfortable. She figured Kiki was thinking the same thing she was. Why the hell did she do this? Skye sighed loudly and annoyed, pushing the door open with her elbow, keeping her limbs close together until the cozy warmth rushed into her cheeks, the atmosphere of the room smelling sweet and warm. Her hair settled strangely from no longer being under the force of the wind so she quickly and gracefully sweeped it across her head, pulling into a perfect wave of a waterfall. Smiling at Kiki, she approached the counter, "Hot pumpkin spice tea, please," she said elegantly, laying down enough for a drink and a hefty tip for the plump woman as well. Turning, she strode over to Kiki. "No Sev today? You two have been together a lot lately. Didn't have the balls to try this blind date thing, did he? Really, that fool needs to learn how to talk to girls. Or how to talk in general." She laughed, flipping her hair and turning toward the back wall. With a wave of her hand, she called "Good luck," over her shoulder and made her way to the table with the letter F marked on it.

The table was wedged near the back table, completely empty at the moment. She set her bag down next to her chair and pulled her peacoat off, revealing an over sized, silver shimmer sweater and her favorite red skinny jeans . She sat down against the wall. crossing her leg and digging into her bag, pulling out her potions book. Whoever was coming, they better not make her wait too long. She was already getting impatient and ready to leave. She glanced at the clock. She'd give them fifteen minutes, long enough for her to drink her tea and look over some notes she had written in the margins of her potions book. She barely noticed when her tea arrived, immersed so far into her book that she almost forgot where she was. The tea was exactly what she needed. Her mind hadn't been in the right place lately. It was as if she had been just going through the motions of what she was expected to do. She and the girls of the Trinity hadn't been up to anything lately, mainly because they were all preoccupied. Tori was pulling away from them and Skye had only barely noticed. Severen had been around a bit more than usual, almost taking Tori's place, as long as they weren't causing any trouble. He seemed a lot less hazy than usual but the reason was beyond Skye, nor did she really care. All she knew is that Kiki was suddenly a whole lot happier, especially when he was around. That's all that mattered to her. Skye glanced up toward where Kiki had been, checking on her. She, too, was immersed in some piece of literature and Skye smiled. If Kiki was happy, Skye had one less thing to worry about. Then, there was the matter of Wes. Wesley Carrington seemed to almost vanish off the face of the earth for her. Her wasn't responding to her owls, hadn't appeared in a long time. But what did she care, he was nothing to her. Or, at least, that is what she kept telling herself. So far, this entire school year had been a bunch of shit. She and Levi had spent almost there entire Christmas holiday at the Valentine mansion in order to avoid Elijah but she couldn't avoid him all the time. She looked up and scanned the room, scanned the street outside the store fronts. Then, silently, she pulled a thick, short and tattered book out of her bag, placing it in the pages of her potions book. Letting a deep breath escape, she closed her eyes and opened the pages. Her delicately sharp writing scrawled across the pages, wild at intervals, neat in the rest. There were water stains, coffee rings and ink blots throughout the small book but the content was almost repetitive. Her dream diary. It was almost completely littered with the stick of nightmares, most of which revolved around Elijah, the brother she hated with all her soul. Retrieving ink and a quill, she turned to the next blank page and wrote in large, elegant letters, "Woke up in the same place. What happens next?" She starred at the letters on the page.

And still, she sat alone, completely lost.

[aceline20]

Aceline stood there for several moments, contemplating her next action. She could look around the room for for a few seconds, wander off, and pretend she picked the wrong table. She could just turn around and leave, who was Noah to stop her? Or she could just walk over to him. But what would she do once she arrived? Sit in awkward silence? Get mad, make accusations? Or tease him like she used to? laugh, maybe flirt? Lifting her chin slightly, Aceline wished she still had the long hair that used to fall in her face. It was almost like her shield. Blinking sharply at the sound of Noah's voice,“Hi Aceline, you look beautiful today.”, and him standing to pull her chair out from behind her, Aceline regained her composure. She smiled, not her full teeth glamor model smile, but her closed lip quirky one where one side of her mouth turns up more then the other and reveals her dimple. The one she only uses when she's mocking you, or when she feel's close and comfortable with you. In this case, it was both. "I look beautiful everyday Orchard." Unlike the trash you've been hanging with. Aceline thought, before scolding herself. Her and Isabelle...well...they weren't exactly friends, but they had come to an agreement and Aceline had to admit, the Hufflepuff wasn't as bad as she had previously assumed. It was hard to let the jealousy and anger go, though. "Or have you been hiding from me so long you've just forgotten, garçon drôle?" Funny boy. When they were together, Aceline called him lover boy. But now they weren't and it was funny.

Aceline quickly ordered two butterbears, one for her and another for her date. She asked Noah if he wanted anything, prepared to order herself some real food...not this holiday junk. Picking up a cannoli, Aceline nibbled on the edge. “How your Valentines’ going so far?” She bit off the fried, flaky dough and chewed it slowly. "I've had better, what about you?

[Noah Orchard]

He was so lucky this wasn't awkward like it could have been. Psych. If Aceline would have known that he and Isabelle hadn't spoken in a long time, that she and him - well. He was mad. He didn't want to be mad; being mad was stupid and boring and took all the fun out of everything which made it so unlike Noah to be angry but when he really looked at it for what it was - that's what it was. He was mad at Isabelle. There had been some re-connection when she had gone to California over the Christmas Break and Noah wished he could bring himself to talk to her now, what with Justin in a funk that coincided after they returned with the death of Marlene McKinnon, he didn't have that many people to talk to. Noah winced, being friends with Benjamin Burke right now had to be a hard circumstance for Justin because he and Marls...or, Marlene..had always been attached at the hip as long as Noah could remember. Noah gave Aceline a half smile in return, knowing she must have heard the news about Marlene and wondering if the other girl really cared. He'd seen some of Ace's insecurities, knew that she was more than a pureblood clone, but at the same time, he was also aware that she was a little you know, shallow and turned in on herself and it wouldn't have been surprising if she hadn't thought much about the latest Death Eater attack. His half smile turned into a bit of a frown and he had to hide it by glancing away from the table for a moment to pretend to look at somebody. He'd liked Aceline, he still did, but there had always been some unspoken things between the two of them that Noah expected to come out some time or another - like the fact that she was a pureblood and had a different stance on life that Noah did. He guessed, they had really never had enough in common as much as they had wanted to.

"You do, that's a fact, which is what makes it so hard to compliment you" he replied with an answer so swift and a tone so sly it was almost difficult to see what it was: a backhanded compliment. Aceline had cut her hair recently, and it gave her more mature, and somewhat dangerous appearance. He'd loved her long blonde hair, perfect for running his fingers through, but now that he was looking at the new do, he had to say, he liked this much better. "If you're going to order us some butterbeers, please allow me to be a gentleman and pay for the food." He didn't add that he knew she had more than enough money but that it was the principle of the matter anyway, even though he could have. Before she could say anything he put a menu in front of her, as if he could read Aceline's mind. In actuality, it didn't take too much effort to put two and two together as he watched her nibble unsatisfactorily on the cannoli that had come complimentary with the event. "I don't hide from you," he chuckled lightly, tilting his head to the side that suggested innocence. "But I have been...busy. Can you imagine, me busy?" He put his hands out to the side for examination, like the words "busy" and "Noah" in the same sentence was grounds for investigation. He hadn't a clue what she had said on the end, gargle something or other, but it really didn't matter because other languages always had a way of tickling his fancy. He shrugged in response, adding, "I can't complain. I didn't get detention today and I'm Hogsmeade so all in all, a success. Since we both know you're stuck here with me," he paused and that creeping, sneaky little smile came to his face again. "-what can I do to make it better?"

[Adam Quinn]

time won't save our souls

You know, he still wasn't exactly sure what possessed him to sign up for this dumb thing. He was just bored, he supposed, and a little fun with a girl wasn't gonna hurt nobody. Granted, it was... less than ideal that this shindig had to be at Madame Puddifoot's, of all places, but he wasn't about to leave some pretty girl at a table alone waiting for him to show up just because he didn't want to be spotted there. At least, he hoped she was pretty. ...Then again, he didn't really care either way. He didn't have too many expectations of this date. Adam wasn't exactly a relationship kind of guy, or at least, he hadn't yet found a girl he liked enough to want to bother dating officially. He was almost certain this date wasn't going to come to anything like that, but there was nothing wrong with expanding his circle of friends. At best, he figured this little blind date would result in just that - another name to add to his little black book, figuratively speaking. Maybe if he got really lucky he'd end up making out with his date in a broom closet or something, but he didn't expect much more than that. Even the broom closet make out session was pushing it. It didn’t matter that much, though, he was just hoping to have a nice time. He couldn’t imagine it’d be too hard – even if his date was miserable and awkward, he was good at making the best of a bad situation. Besides, he always thought he was a pretty good conversationalist! Well, when he wanted to be.(And with a girl? He wanted to be.)

He walked into the tea shop and nearly let out a laugh at all the ridiculous decorations. It was so damn pink it looked like someone hosed it down with hundreds of gallons of pepto bismol. He shuddered just thinking of that crap. He looked around the room, which was busy and full of couples chatting away. Adam continued through the shop until he found table F, at which a young lady was already sitting with a cup of tea. He smoothed out his sweater before glancing down at his watch. Shit. Fifteen minutes late. This wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t stopped at the florist, but nooo, he just had to be an impressive young man and bring flowers to the blind date which would probably get thrown away anyway. Whatever. He approached the table and placed the bouquet of purple and white roses on the surface before sliding into the booth chair opposite of her, a frown on his face. ”I hope you like roses, they’re the reason I’m so late,” he said, his deep, lazy Southern drawl standing out among the British murmurs. He got properly settled into his seat and glanced up at the girl who sat across from him.

She was gorgeous.

He definitely recognized her from school, and if he could remember correctly, she used to play Quidditch for the Slytherin team. What was her name… Skye? She was the popular pureblood type, or so she seemed, although he wasn’t entirely sure what her blood status was. He hoped his wasn’t going to get in the way of this date because he wasn’t going to have that, he didn’t have the patience for bratty, ignorant girls – or men, for that matter. But he couldn’t fully guage what she was like until he actually started talking to her, so he’d figured it’d be best to do that. He grinned at her and said, ”So. Tell me about yourself.”

Good enough of a conversation starter for a blind date, right?