Hello Young Lovers (Darina)

[Irina Rose Krum]

The high Irina had ridden on all day had come down suddenly when it was time to decide what to wear for her dinner with Dan.  So much she had panicked that she had burst into the sixth year Girls Dormitory with about six different outfits crying for Lily to help her.  After many smirks and 'I called it's from her friend, Rina had settled on a sapphire blue dress to bring out the color of her eyes.  It was a simple boat neck cut dress that fell down to her knees, but she had put in small diamond stud earrings and Lily had helped her get her long dark hair perfectly straight so that it swished down to her lower back.  Feeling a little better, Rina let herself get excited for seven o'clock that night. She had no idea what Dan had planned; she was surprised that he even knew where the Gryffindor Common Room was, but then again perhaps Niko had talked to him about it and he remembered. She didn't know if he was planning on taking her somewhere in the castle, or if they'd just go to Great Hall and eat, or Hogsmeade. She couldn't worry about the details of dinner now though; she had stopped by the kitchens on her way upstairs and asked them if they could prepare Dan's favorite dessert, pudding, as a surprise for him after dinner was over. Plus then he could see the kitchens where almost every student had sneaked into over the years. She hoped that the house elves emotions wouldn't be too much for him but normally they didn't seem to have overflowings of mixed emotions; just happy and busy. 

Six fifty-five came, and Rina checked her reflection in the mirror one more time. She picked up her Gryffindor robes and slipped them on, just in case they weren't leaving the castle. She flipped her hair over the robes and took a deep breath. “Relax” she whispered to herself; this was just Dan. Dan who she had spent part of the afternoon kissing. But still, just Dan. It'll be fine. She exited the portrait of the Fat Lady, who asked what she was off too looking so nice. Shushing the woman, she smiled and stood a few paces away, bouncing on the balls of her feet, waiting.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Birthday dinner with Irina. What a strange thought. It was already strange turning 18 way before every else and now, today, he had kissed Irina Krum and asked her to eat dinner with him... what was the matter with him? He shouldn't even be doing this, at least not without talking to Niko first... another source of panic for him was that he had no idea where they were going to eat. he didn't want to do this in the Great Hall with everyone else, but he also didn't want to have to prepare food himself. After a decent amount of panic, he finally asked one of his friends from Durmstrang to help. Together they came up with a plan- one that Dan thought was pretty good. It was his birthday after all, right? he should try not to stress out.

He was blessed with the knowledge of where the Common Room was due to having Nik mention it in the past. All he needed was to tell a Gryffindor he was meeting someone there and viola, he was headed the right way. He just wore a simple black button up and some dark brown slacks, his robes over top for now. He took in a deep breath as he turned the corner, but his nerves plummeted away when he saw her standing there, bouncing on her toes. He smiled softly, walking over to her, not greeting until he was right beside her, "you look lost. Waiting for someone?" he joked. Before she could answer he turned on his heel, "now quick, before anyone sees," he gestured for her to follow.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina jumped as she heard a voice from next to her, but quickly realized it was just Dan. “Don’t you know better than to sneak up on a girl?” she teased, swatting at him lightly. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered excitedly as she took him in; he had dressed nicely for Dan standards, so she was glad that she had put on the dress.  "You look nice, for you," she said casually.  Perhaps it was because of their conversation at the lake, but now that she knew his secret, she somehow felt more at ease around him, even with how she felt. She had thought it would be the opposite; possibly her subconscious was reminding her that an overload of emotions would not be good for him. It also probably had quite a bit to do with that she knew he returned the feelings, even if a discussion on what was going to become of that hadn’t happened just yet. There was time, there was plenty of time for that.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked curiously as they swept down the halls. She hadn’t been offended by him saying to hurry up; it would be very awkward if Gabi was on Prefect Duty and saw them together. “Gabi isn’t on duty tonight, she said she was going to be helping Tania with some OWL practice exams in their common room,” she found herself saying automatically, before swallowing sheepishly. She didn’t want to hide what was going on from her sisters per se; it was possible that if they saw them together they’d ask to tag along. That was something Irina certainly didn’t want tonight, the only bit that was making her a little nervous.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Dan gave a little scoff and then chuckled, "you should get used to watching your back if you get in the tournament," he muttered, raised an eyebrow at her in challenge. At her 'compliment' he shrugged and looked down at his outfit, "I guess it ain't bad. Whatever," he cleared his throat, glad that her emotions were at ease and gentle. He wasn't sure he could handle her emotions and his right now.

She asked where she was being taking and mentioned Gabi not being out and about, which was comforting in a weird way. He nodded, "well, if we run into them then I guess this charade is over," he was joking, but his tone was incredibly flat. That was pretty common for Dan, though. "And it's a surprise. You'll figure it out eventually," he smirked.

Soon he was leading her outside, toward the black lake. Since everyone else was at dinner in the castle he and a few friends had set up a dinner right on the boat. technically he wasn't supposed to bring other students there but...

He gestured to the ship as they arrived, "now, keep quiet," he said, hesitating before offering his hand to lead her up.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina puffed up slightly in indignation at the word charade. Charade? It took her a moment to realize Dan was just being himself, his usual, apathetic, smart-aleck self. Well, two could play at that game. “Well then I suppose I’d just have to find myself another curly haired gentleman to snog,” she suggested, her voice cool but the hint of a smile on her face. It was still a surreal feeling that she had been snogging him at the lake a few hours ago; what was even more surreal was her desire to do it again. She kept that one to herself for now; luckily desires and emotions were different, so Dan wouldn’t be able to pick up exactly what she was thinking.

Rina’s curiosity peaked as Dan led her past the crowded Great Hall and out the front doors. She felt relieved that they weren’t eating in the Great Hall; partly because who takes a girl on a first dinner….whatever, to the school cafeteria? The other being that whatever this was or was turning into, she liked the idea of keeping relatively private, for now. Lily had been sworn to secrecy and Rina believed her friend wouldn’t dare say anything to Adrian, at least for now. She saw that they were heading to the Durmstrang ship, and she felt excited. “Oh come off it Hoh, my father was Viktor Krum; I think they’d welcome me on the ship,” she whispered haughtily, but she couldn’t help but give his hand a light squeeze as she took it to help herself up on board. Her father had promised to take her on the ship one day but the idea had never panned out; the timing was never coinciding with everyone’s schedules. If Irina had gone with just her father, then her sisters would have gotten mad, and vice versa. She was glad that she was finally going to be able to see at least a small part of it.

When Rina saw what Dan had set up, her jaw dropped. She was stunned, in the best way possible, that he’d gone through the trouble of setting up a real dinner for the two of them on the ship. “You...you did all of this?” she asked, holding back the ‘for me’. Dan was not the gushy, romantic type that would appreciate being fawned over, but Rina was visibly, and emotionally, touched by the effort. “Its...the perfect way to celebrate a birthday,” she said, finally turning towards him and kissing him on the cheek. Her cheeks pinkened slightly; it was the first time she had made a move on him. But she was never one to sit on the sideline and let a man do all the work for her. “So, what do we have on the menu?” she asked.

@daniel

[Deleted]

“Well then I suppose I’d just have to find myself another curly haired gentleman to snog,” Dan let his jaw drop just slightly at that, then he chuckled. "Impressive work. Tell me, do you spend a lot of time in the freezers to be that cold?" he tried not to pay attention to the word 'snogging', for it just made his head ache. Not to mention it just made him want to pick up right where they left off and that was not an option... right now.

At her little comment about her dad he just shook his head. "But he's not a student now, Rin." He honestly didn't know what they'd think about Irina coming on board but he didn't want to take any chances as to getting in trouble. Normally he wouldn't mind that much but with the tournament and all... he had to stay focused the best that he could.

Not that he was doing great at that focus thing right now.

As they arrived on the ship and her jaw dropped he shrugged, turning to her with a faux humble look. "Thanks," he said before she kissed him on the cheek. He was glad she couldn't feel his emotions then because he was pretty sure she would have been overloaded. He blinked for a moment, not realizing she asked a question until he shook his head and gestured to the table, "well, I'm rather fond of Italian food. So we've got some spaghetti," he crossed over to the table and walked to his own chair, but before he sat down he realized he was doing this the wrong way. "Erh- here," he said, jumping up to pull a chair out for her. "I'm real good at this aren't I? Wait, it's my birthday. Maybe you should be the one pulling chairs out for me," he raised an eyebrow and smirked in challenge.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina couldn’t help but let a laugh escape when Dan did not respond to her question right away. “My apologies if I’m distracting you,” she teased, not even a little bit sorry as she nudged his shoulder lightly. It was still fun to tease him a little bit, even though things between them were changing. She was glad that that part wouldn’t stop, at least for now. Rising to his challenge, Rina stood up with a smirk. She walked over and pulled out his chair for him. “Your throne, monsieur,” she said, bowing low so that her dark hair covered her face. She stood back up after he sat and tossed her hair back, grinning, and sat back in her seat. “Next time, I expect you to automatically pull out my chair for me, I’ll give you a pass this time because of your birthday,” she said, sticking her tongue out. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what she had said, and that she felt quite certain there was definitely was going to be a next time, and it made her feel quite giddy. A strange feeling, considering she was thinking about Daniel of all people.

She shrugged her robe off so she felt less like she was at school and took out her wand. “Muffliatio,” she said, pointing to the door. “There, now people won’t hear that there are others in here, so you don’t have to worry about getting in trouble,” she informed him with a small smile. She held up her glass to toast him. “Cheers to your birthday, I’m glad to have spent it with you,” she toasted. She looked down to her food, feeling a little shy all of a sudden, and swirled her spaghetti onto her fork. “I love spaghetti too,” she said, then gave a little laugh. “All this time I thought Niko would make spaghetti because he knew I liked it, but now I wonder if it wasn’t mostly for your benefit,” she said, before taking a bite. “It tastes amazing, better than Niko’s for sure,” she told him after she swallowed. “How did you get this in here? Normally I know you guys eat in the Hall with us; are there kitchens on board?” she asked curiously. She also hoped that he had not planned for dessert; the house elves were standing by with the pudding in the kitchens that evening as requested. She wondered how and if she’d be able to summon one of them out there, or if they’d have to dash back up to the castle. She’d keep it a surprise for now, and go with her gut instinct when the time was right.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Dan could feel her sass/teasing seeping into his brain like a gas in the air. It caused him to chuckle, along with that shoulder nudge with he, regrettably, leaned away from afterward. Force of habit. He didn't expect her to actually pull the chair out for him but he took it and shrugged, crossing over to it even as she was mentioning the next time. That giddy feeling someone from her, or maybe it was from him? was strong enough to cause him to laugh. He looked down at the table for a moment, an attempt to hide his smile from her.

He took his own robe off and hung in on the chair behind him, watching as she cast the mute spell. He nodded, eyebrow slightly raised, "awe, see, this is why you should be the one planning things," he said casually. As she held up her glass to him he lifted his gently to tap hers. "And I you," he agreed. Who better to spend a birthday with then... your best friends little sister who is like a sister to you but not really anymore who you kissed today who you're having a lot of mixed feelings about who is oddly incredibly confident and gorgeous right now?

Eh, whatever.

He chuckled as she mentioned Niks spaghetti and shrugged at her question, "no kitchens on board. My friends and I went to the kitchens in the castle," he explained, gesturing his fork towrad the direction of the castle. "Those elves are pretty decent," he smiled softly, getting to work on his food.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina shrugged nonchalantly. “You were the one who invited me to dinner. You could have said ‘hey Rin, it’s my birthday dinner, make me food,’ and I...would have gone to the house elves for help,” she told him, and started laughing. “I know some people will use the kitchens for their own culinary purposes, but I think it’s mostly baking. I go down there if I ever wake up late and miss breakfast,” she added, then fell silent. Usually she missed breakfast because she’d had terrors during night plaguing her dreams, jerking her awake from a deep slumber. She’d always been able to catch herself before crying out; the one time she did it, Anna was still awake and was able to comfort her so she could get back to sleep. Anna was the only one in their dorm who actually knew about Rina’s newfound clairvoyance; she had only confided in Sao and Mori, who were like her, because she hadn’t wanted to draw attention to herself. And now Dan knew too. She felt oddly comforted by that fact, because it meant she could talk to him about it, something she found herself wanting to do. Her dreams weren’t really...emotions, more images really, which Dan had confirmed he couldn’t feel. Thankfully.

Irina had finished about three-quarters of spaghetti in silence before she put her fork down. Who was this girl she was acting like? A silly girl all twitter-pated with feelings for her brothers’ best friend? She was better than this. She was Irina Krum for Merlin’s sake! “You know, the mood in here seems a bit serious, don’t you agree?” she said, a devilish smile sprawling across her face. She put her left hand into her spaghetti, picking up a handful, and flung it right at him. “Happy birthday!” she called, laughing as the food got caught in his hair and clothes. Was it childish? Perhaps a little bit. But she knew Dan of all people would not get too angry; the amount of food fights they all had in their youth could attest to that. "You look very nice with that sauce accents," she added, laughing.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Dan rolled his eyes at her mentioned he was the one who invited her to dinner. He didn't recall telling her to make food... but it sounded like something he would say. But he laughed right along with her when she said she would have gone to the house elves. Dan wished he could wake up late, but that wasn't easy for him. Once the people around him were awake he was because their emotions were stronger in the morning. Mostly grumpiness or a strange sense of adrenaline, and those woke him right up. "Irina Krum, sleeping in," he shook his head at the thought, giving her an amused smile.

At the mention of the serious mood, he raised an eyebrow at her. As soon as her hand went for the spaghetti he lifted his own to block, but he wasn't fast enough. The noodles and sauce made contact with his hair and dripped onto his shoulder. His jaw dropped and he looked at her, slightly shaking his head in awe. "Birthday..." he muttered, then he grinned and pulled out his wand and in one swift motion was sending his own food over to her, "I think the accents would suit you more, what with the blue and red," he said as the food was flying onward.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina knew that as soon as she started the food fight, he would retaliate. What she wasn’t expecting, however, was for him to use magic. She cursed herself for not thinking of it herself; perhaps she was so used to not being able to use magic outside the grounds, that she forgot levitating the pasta would be far less messy initially. She raised her hands and shrieked as the pasta landed on her clothes, immediately glad she had cast the muffling spell. “Oh you’re so dead,” she said, eyes glinting devilishly as she pulled out her own wand. If he was going to fight with fire, she’d be happy to fight the flames. Levitating some of the pasta on herself and in her bowl, she whirled it in the air and flung it back at him. “Oh but black and red just looks so much more smashing,” she said, laughing as the pasta was getting everywhere. Picking up her bowl, she dashed over to him and dumped the contents on his head, patting the bowl gently against his head. “It’s a good luck for you,” she said, trying to sound serious before doubling over with laughter. She was laughing so hard she fell to the floor, taking short gasping breaths before laughing again. “Okay...okay, truce?” she said breathlessly, her mouth still quivering with mirth.

@daniel

[Deleted]

Her feels of delight, mischievousness, childishness etc. mixed with his own was enough to make him laugh loudly when she was hit with the food. Dan was not a big laugher, especially not a laugh that would have echoed up to the castle if the spell wasn't around them- but here he was. He normally stayed apathetic, as she well knew, to avoid heightened emotions but this... this wasn't that bad. He grinned back as she lifted her wand and flung a swirling mix of pasta at him, he lifted his wand in time to freeze the pasta in the air, but then she stood and he yelled in surprise as she dumped the rest of her food on his head. Meanwhile, he released his spell on the other food flying at him and it hit him in the face simultaneously. As she patted him on the head he reached up to catch her wrist, but he missed due to her doubling over with laughter.

He stood as she fell to the floor, attempting not to laugh himself because her emotions and his were so high now. A good kind of high, one he wasn't sure he'd ever had. "No," he started, leaning over her, "good luck is you laughing so hard you can't defend yourself," then he shook himself over her, using his hand to assist him in getting all the food off of himself and onto her instead. Then the laughter came and he clutched his stomach now, and he sat on the floor beside her. Still doubled over, he looked up at her, "does laughing always hurt this bad?" he asked, still laughing.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

He was laughing; Dan never usually laughed, not this much at least. He usually let out a chortle or a guffaw, and then brooded over something. It was a nice change, and it meant that his empathy wasn’t feeling too out of control for him to enjoy it. “It only hurts when you find something really funny,” she said, then grabbed his wrist and yanked him down to her level. Before he could do anything else, she leaned over and kissed him, slowly picking the spaghetti out of her hair and piling it in her free hand. Ignoring her racing heart, she broke the kiss and stuffed spaghetti in his face.

Laughing again, she stood up and started brushing herself off. “Come on, we need to clean up and head back to the castle,” she said, giving him a smirk. “What, you thought that because you planned dinner I didn’t have any surprises up my sleeve for you? It is your birthday after all,” she told him, taking out her wand and siphoning off the sauce. Luckily it didn’t seem to do too much damage, and her mother had taught her a staining removal spell to get rid of the dark spots on her dress. When she was done, she reached out her hand towards Dan. “Need help?” she asked, suppressing a laugh.

@daniel

[Deleted]

When his hand was yanked as she answered his question he yelped as she pulled him down. He had never been this vocal about anything before, except for maybe when playing Quidditch. He smiled into the kiss she gave him, until he felt that budding sense of mischief coming from her and then his eyes widened, just in time to be pulled away from her and shoved in the face with spaghetti. He choked and spit it out as she stood. His eyes narrowed at her as he attempted to get the last of it out of his nose.

Her suggestion at cleaning up had him sobered up for a moment, though, and he raised an eyebrow at her words of surprises. He nodded and took her hand when she reached it out, allowing her to pull him to stand, "fine, we can call the dinner a day but-" he kept her hand in his hand pulled her right up against him, glaring into her eyes only inches from hers, "but only if you stop using kisses to trick me," as he made the request he smirked, showing that he didn't really mean it.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina smirked and leaned forward to kiss him quickly. “Sorry, no promises there,” she said, wrinkling her nose with a smile. Keeping her hand in his, she jerked her head towards the door. “Right, let’s head up,” she said, grabbing their robes off the back of their chairs and tossing him his as they headed out. It wasn’t until they got to the ships exit that she realized she was still holding his hand. It had felt natural and Dan hadn’t even tried to pull away yet - her emotions were apparently something he could handle. She supposed they weren’t too bad as they were mostly positive and silly. It had certainly loosened him up at the very least. Reluctantly, she dropped his hand so they could climb off the ship. “I suppose you need that back,” she said jokingly as she hopped down onto the grass.

They hurried back up the lawn, Rina slipping on her robes back on as they reached the castle. She checked her watch; it was only half past eight. Time seemed to fly by whenever she was with Dan lately; she knew it meant she was enjoying herself, but she lamented the fact they had a curfew at school. “Alright, we have until ten before I have to whisk myself away to Gryffindor Tower,” she informed him, pushing open the big doors and glancing around automatically before heading down towards the kitchens. It was almost second nature to come down this way now with her sisters in Hufflepuff and the kitchens being a few turns away. “Down that way leads to the Hufflepuff Common Room,” she told him as they passed a hallway. She did not see Ripley’s red mane or Tania’s dark hair; they seemed to be keeping to their tasks like they had said at breakfast that morning.

She tickled the green pear on the bowl of fruit painting in front of her; it squirmed and turned into the handle which Rina pushed open. Immediately a squeal from one of the house elves rose and the scurrying of little feet was heard. “Mistress Rina! We has your-” the house elf who squealed came running over, stopping short at the sight of Dan. “That’s okay Pia, that’s who this is for,” she confirmed. Pia bowed low and immediately a great tray of chocolate pudding with eighteen candles burning brightly made its way over to them. Rina started the chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ and the house elves joined in, their voices several octaves over her own. “Happy Birthday!” they all exclaimed, as Rina beamed. “Make a wish,” she told him softly.

@daniel