Friendship is magic?

The exam session had finally ended, allowing now the students to calm down and relax after the mental terror.
Even though Luxanna was among those who spent nights awake, studying and writing down all the details, she was still energetic and – above all – happy. Another schoolyear was about end. She had achieved so much during this time: experience, knowledge, friends and helped those poor first years to get into Hogwarts. Needless to say, she was very satisfied and happy with the outcome and when something bothered them, most came immediately to her.

She went outside along with the other students and found herself a comfortable position near the lake with her back resting against a tree. Even though she did no reading right now, Lux still had a book with her, her pale hand resting on the old and used cover; it was written by Shakespeare. His plays were her favorites and she usually read them to relax, but this time her eyes were just way too tired to even look at the letters and make out sentences.
Time passed and the azure sky was replaced with amethyst; the view was adorned by many white clouds, slowly moving and dragging the daylight with them. Eventually the first stars began to appear above her head.

Despite it getting pretty chilly, Luxanna still remained on her spot, although her light blue eyes were now locked on the castle. If Cronis remembered their agreement, he would come out soon.

The two had an odd relationship; when no one was around, he was relatively friendly towards her and they could speak of many things, but when other slytherins were near him, he acted cool and distant, as if she was not even worth his time. Would she not take him as a dear friend, Luxanna would be upset with that attitude, but she understood him perfectly well and had even encouraged to act like this in the past if the need was truly so great.

She crossed her legs and looked at her tiny watch. It was soon to be eight. As she did not even know if he had had any dinner, she had prepared a small meal for both of them consisting of several sandwiches, apple pie slices and bottled butterbeer (something she got from when they all went to the Hogsmeade).

If he was honest, Cronis wouldn't be able to place a finger on when exactly he'd begun to be friends with this girl. She's started off as a pest, if he was completely honest, but she'd slowly begun to grow on him. But he couldn't let anyone else know that he was actually friends with her, it would ruin his image.

What image was he talking about though?

He wasn't sure, exactly. Maybe he was just afraid. Afraid that someone would say something to him about her being around him. They were friends, yeah, but she was the oddball that creeped a lot of his friends out but did that really matter? He sighed softly as he glanced at the clock on the wall while he walked out of his classroom, finally done with the last of his exams. He'd promised he'd meet up with Luxanna after he was done and it took dodging a couple of guys to finally make it out to the Grounds.

They'd agreed to meet by the lake and herself as though he was already late, which probably wasn't wrong as his last exam had run a little later than it should have. He hoped she wasn't mad at him for it. Cronis thought he was a terrible friend, but after what happened with his ex, he didn't want to risk anything. Freyja knew what had happened and so did Lux, so both of them knew why he was how he was. The Slytherin felt a tug at his heart when he thought about Luxanna maybe being mad at him. He didn't know why, but the thought of her usually smiling face frowning at him actually made his heart hurt.

He ran a hand through his hair as he saw her light blond hair and figure sitting against a tree by the lake and he felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. "Hey." He said, after reaching the tree and leaning against it, looking down at her.

When she finally saw Cronis' figure emerging from the dark, approaching her slowly, Luxanna got up, bright smile adorning her pale features. Despite of him being late, she did not mind nor did she feel any anger towards him. Actually she'd expected to come even later due to the exams and actually the late hour; she certainly was hungry when she finished writing all the things down. Thinking and working consumed a lot of energy from her and she found satisfaction in food.

She reached out and hugged him tightly before giving a small peck on his cheek. Lux did not even know why she decided to show this form of affection to him; she had hugged him before, however never had she given him a kiss. Perhaps it was the exhausted look in his eye? Although she looked as if she had not had any sleep for at least a month, Cronis seemed even more tired than she.

"I brought some snacks," she informed him before sitting down eyes and attitude dreamy again. She showed him the insides of the bag before offering him him sandwiches.

Leaning against the tree once again, Lux's azure eyes wandered back to the Slytherin whom she studied with keen interest. "I also brought apple pie," she mentioned. The houseelves in Hogwarts made it heavenly and she felt lucky that she had managed to get into the kitchen before other puffers decided to follow her there as well. Many had the habit of sneaking in there and taking as many baked sweets as possible with them and then having a small gathering in the common room. As if talking behind the dining table wasn't enough... Usually Lux enjoyed participating in such events. More and more stories were shared and they all had so much in common!

"How are things?"

She began rocking herself slightly to the tune that was playing in her head. It felt good to finally relax and enjoy the fresh air. "I feel like my brain has turned into a mush..."

His usual calm and collected attitude had been thrown out the metaphorical window when she hugged, and kissed, him. The hug had been expected, that was how she liked to greet him, but the kiss- though it was a peck on the cheek, had been anything but. And it was something he couldn't hide his surprise of.

He was sure he looked ridiculous, staring at the Hufflepuff in amazement as she leaned away from him and sat herself back down. "O-oh, um, thanks." he stuttered out quickly, still dazed about what had just happened. It felt as though he were beginning to imagine things in his head that weren't true. She surely hadn't meant anything by it when she'd kissed him, especially since it was on the cheek and she was a bubbly sort of person anyways.

Yeah, that was it.

With her personality it would've been weirder if she hadn't done something like that at some point. After all, she had somehow gotten him to be friend with her, after all he did most of the time was tease her about things that she did. When he thought about it, Cronis wondered why she hung around him. He was anything but nice to her, unless they were alone, which in of itself was something bad because he didn't want to let anyone know they were friends.

He'd been looking down at the sandwich in his hands while she was speaking and he got lost in his thoughts. It wasn't until she was almost done speaking that he finally looked up, realizing that he wasn't alone, and he sighed. "I didn't think it was too bad, the exam times were just too long." he told her, feeling confident that that had been what she had been talking about.

"Anyways, thanks for bringing this stuff. And I'm sorry you had to wait for me. Did you wait long?" he asked softly.

She did not mind at all when Cronis fell silent and did not respond to her actually for a while. Not only did it give her an opportunity to finish off her sandwich and wipe her mouth clean, but also observe the young man with curiosity. Something was bothering him, she could tell. He could fool his friends, even his family, but not her. There was just something about him that made him easy to read and yet, to contradict that, she could not always pinpoint what the sort of emotions he was harboring inside.

When he finally spoke, Lux smiled again. Perhaps his brains were a ’mush’ too? She knew the feeling quite well, especially right now when she was an airhead and forgot many things even when they were written on a list. Speaking of lists... She forgot where she had put it.

Shrugging it off, she picked out another sandwich from her bag and bit the corner of it off, savoring the taste of the creamy butter. She loved milk products and thus she did not hold herself back when putting on some cheese along with other dairy things on between the bread, hoping that Cronis wouldn’t mind. There were other things too such as sausages, tomatoes and cucumbers, but cheese and butter were the most important things for her.

„Nope.“
She took another bite of her sandwich and chewed it carefully. Time was relative honestly. Even if he was late for almost twenty minutes, she did not mind sitting outside and enjoying the fresh air. It had been a while since she last had the opportunity to do so without having a pile of books next to her. It felt refreshing and Lux could feel energy slowly crawling back into her. Ah, how she loved nature!

„You should eat,“ she tilted her head, leaning it against the tree while looking up at him, azure eyes reflecting the lights emitting from both the stars and the castle. „And take a seat! I imagine you’re quite tired after forcing yourself into doing the most damaging thing ever!“ She giggled, thinking of the exams again. Although some of them were not as easy as she had expected them to be, Luxanna was positive she’d pass with above average grades this year. Next year she’d try harder and start studying earlier.

How did she always manage to do that to him?

Something about Luxanna always got him to lower his guard around her and it ended up making him vulnerable to most things she did. She was a wild card, and he never expected any of the things she did. In the beginning, he would always curse himself for not being cautious around her but that was because of his past experiences and even though now he still scolded himself for letting his guard down, he wasn't as opposed as he used to be.

He found that her outlook on life and thing that happened had begun to affect him and he found himself thinking like her sometimes, though he would never admit it to her. Or anyone else for that matter.

"Right." he nodded at her and sat down next to her in a way that he'd still be able to lean against the tree, like she'd been doing. After looking at the sandwich he'd been holding once again, he finally took a bite of it and leaned his head back onto the tree as he chewed it, staring at the night sky and the stars that lit it up. "Like I said, they weren't that bad, Lux." Cronis had studied like the other students but with all the tutors he'd had when he was younger because of what he was expected to live up to, he'd been slightly better prepared for the exams than say, Luxanna had.

"You know, if you need help with studying at any point, you can always go to my brother," he stopped for a second, getting angry at himself for sending her to his brother, but it was a weird angry, "Or you can come to me. I'm at least slightly smarter than I look, though I'm not a Ravenclaw." he added softly, not wanting her to think that he was pushing her away, but not wanting her to think that he was trying to keep her close to him either.

„Something is bothering you.“
She did not even know why she mumbled that out or if he even cared as she had spoken to him of the arua that surrounded every person, but right now she could almost see the dark dots surrounding him.

Or maybe it was just her due to the exhaustion. Lux did not even remember when she had a decent sleep and the proof of the lack of the rest were the darck circles around her eyes, making them look even deeper and wider. And even crazier to some as she kept smiling most of the time, despite being anxious or on the edge of hysteria because of the constant tension in the air.

She said nothing on his suggestion to ask Evan for help if she needed anything. Lux took another small bite of her sandwich and thought carefully about the offer. While she was not as smart as most of the Ravenclaws, she had a pretty good brain on her own. It was just that most of the people refused to hink of her as an adequate person due to her bubbly personality. And she really did not care what the strangers thought anyway.

„You are far more smarter than you actually think,“ she complimented him. Cronis and his twin brothers couldn’t be that much different; the only thing that gave away which was which was the character. Other than that, they were both smart and charming when they wanted to be. And cute when they were working on something and were into it.

Brushing the breadcrumbs off of her shirt and chin, she looked around, wondering again about many things that crossed her minds, but were too fast for her to actually concentrate on them for more than a minute. „You know... Once we are done eating, we could go for a walk? It has been a while since I could stretch my legs decently...“

"Nothing's really bothering me, I just have a lot on my mind."

There was indeed a lot on his mind. Different thoughts swirled through the Slytherin's head that he didn't know what to do with himself most of the time anymore. Thoughts that ranged from her, to Hit, to his brother, to being the heir of his family. There was just so much that went on in his life that it was hard for even him to keep track of it all.

"You may think so, but I don't know. Maybe I just make bad choices sometimes," he laughed softly at the comment about himself. He did make bad choices, a lot of them and they happened a lot of the time. Like his choosing to hide his friendship with Luxanna. But if he thought about it, it was a way to keep her safe and to keep him safe. Whatever way he wanted to put it, there was always a way route it into something about himself.

He finished the sandwich he was eating and brushed himself off before stretching himself out and standing up. "Sounds good, I'm ready when you are." He said, extending his hand out for her to take. Going for a walk at night under the moonlight sounded romantic, like something his brother would do to make a girl feel special, but Cronis didn't think of it that way. Unless it was this a specific person.

He's begun to think about this person a lot more recently, and it had caught him by surprise at first. It was something he refused to believe could happen. Their personalities just clashed way too much and they always argued, yet he always found himself wanting her so badly to forgive him, like he would die if she remained angry at him for too long.

He'd only felt this way once, and he was scared of letting it happen again. "Can I ask you something?" He asked softly, looking down at Luxanna.

She did not push further on this. If Cronis truly wished to share something, then he did so, and he knew that Lux would always listen and support him - no matter what.

Suddenly the blonde sighed. He was too harsh on himself. "Everyone makes bad choices." Even she did, but instead of being gloomy and lurking in the shadows, she remained positive. That helped her through a lot and the best part was that she managed to help others as well.

But even when he did try to brush her off, Luxanna did not forget things easily. There was something on his mind that did not let him rest at ease, not even when with her, and so she quickly got up with his help and gathered all the things. Throwing the bag over her shoulder, she slowly began walking down the small road, eyes wandering from Cronis to the lake and from that to the sky, but in the end she ended up looking at her companion.

Being with him was somewhat special to her. Perhaps it was because of the fake disgust he showed in front of the others when she was around? Or simply the fact that they had to meet in secret at all times and that had been going on for years. She tolerated it, still, bu at times she did wonder what it would be like to blend in finally and not embarrass him with her presence.

Lux smiled and gently tugged his hand:"Of course you can."

For some reason this seemed like an advice seeking question and she braced herself just in case. Turning her head, she stopped and looked at Cronis, urging him silently to go on. He should be aware by now that she never judged him.

Yet, the way he spoke and looked - that gave her a reason to remain alarmed as well. Nothing pushed Cronis off the edge easily.

What the hell?

Cronis flinched, feeling himself wince at his accidental movement when Luxanna tugged on his hand. He'd originally meant to let go of hers when she was standing but it hadn't happened, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't the first time he'd flinched at her touch though, but he still didn't understand why it would have even happened.

It wasn't like this was the first time they'd ever made contact with one another, or the first time they'd been alone together for whatever reasons, mostly for their secret meetings, because if they'd done this with everyone else around Cronis thought he might actually die. Of embarrassment, or regret, either way he'd die somehow if anyone saw them.

Thankfully, though, it was dark out and no one was around.

He sighed, not knowing how to place his words into sentences to be spoken outloud. Lux was willing to listen to him, the only thing left was to see if he could actually tell her what was on his mind. He knew they were strange, especially since the girl in question was a long time.. frenemy, you could say, and he'd never felt anything for her. Up until now, that is.

The Slytherin cleared his throat, lifting his gaze to search Luxanna's eyes. "Well.. What do you do, when you like someone and you shouldn't? Like, you feel like you shouldn't because things could be messed up if they found out?"