Let it snow (OPEN!)

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor had always loved snow as a child. She had some of her favourite memories stored in the snow flakes that fell in the forest near her house or the snow angels down by her grandmother's on Christmas Eve. This season was freezing but she didn't mind the cold all that much. So she had taken it upon herself to bundle up and go for a walk during a Saturday afternoon where there was just enough ice on the ground to feel a crunch as she walked around the grounds. She walked towards the black lake which hadn't frozen over and looked around for someone to chat with. She was feeling particularly social today and the Gryffindor wanted some company. It was nice to take a day off from studying for her classes, especially since this weather was particularly nice.

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The sky rained with white soft white partials of snow as a comfortable rate. It was indeed a beautiful sight on this Winter day. It was Mark's study period and he decided to take a walk towards the Black Lake.  There was something about the lake that had given Mark clarity in his head. It was often filled up with endless thoughts in their and it would sometimes catch up to him and drive him insane. The lake helped him ease all that thoughts and tensions away. The oxygen from his mouth quickly turned into a white mist as it evaporated. The cold air wasn't a problem for Mark as he was often covered in layers of clothes.  At least I can rest a little now. Mark said as he took the quickest way possible to the Black Lake only to find another human standing there.

Slowly Mark approached hoping not to scare her. " Oh, hello." Mark said in a friendly tone as he watched the birds fly across the Black Lake. It wasn't often you'd find someone else here and rarely at this time of the month. It was cold, very cold for some though it seems that for this girl and Mark it was a different story. " Fancy seeing you here. I'm Mark. " Mark proceeded to walk around the the snow covered grass patch for a bit signiling the girl to come with her.. " What was your name?" He asked awaiting her reply.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor hadn't heard the other guy walk up, despite the crunching of snow beneath his feet, so she jumped a little when he addressed her.

"Oh, hello. Fancy seeing you here. I'm Mark."

It wasn't often that Taylor ran into another seventh year that she had never properly been introduced to before. She recognized him from the years that they had random classes together or when she'd see him in the hallways, but she had never really taken the time to say hi to him before. Not that there was any particular reason for that, they had just never been in the right place at the right time.

"Oh, I'm Taylor," she said as she started to walk with him. "Out here to enjoy the snow?" she asked with a grin because she loved the frost, but then she mentally rolled her eyes at herself for talking about the weather.

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The girl was friendly. That was a good sign, she didn't have to hex , curse or hurt anyone. Well at least not today. Mark smiled and looked at her, she was friendly and Mark loved that.It was hard for him to make friends and this could potentially be the starting point. "The now is nice! " he replied with an excited tone in his voice.. He did after all have trouble making friends. The was nice today as it poured slowly over the lake giving it a nice blanket of white snow."So yeah, what subjects you doing?" Mark asked as he took his wand out and and began running at a large pile of snow. He smiled and raised his eyebrows and winked in a friendly way.

" Look what I've been studying, cos you know, I'm a Ravenclaw and stuff." He walked towards the large pile of snow and formed it into a snow man that stood up to his knees. " Not the prettiest but still, ready?" He asked as he looked at the weird looking shapped snow man. "Piertotum Locomotor" A small swishing sound came from the tip of his wand and slowly the snowman began to move. "Cool right?!" He said again before watching it move around in circles, or well, weird looking shapes but still, it was cute.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor was quickly amused as how talkative this boy was. Most people were a bit shy in their first encounters with others, but this kid kept on rolling.

"So yeah, what subjects you doing? Look what I've been studying, cos you know, I'm a Ravenclaw and stuff."

Taylor watched in amusement as the snow formed into a little snow man.

"Cool right?!"

She had to admit, she was mildly impressed. She wasn't sure what to make of his friendly wink or the way that he half joked at his own house, but she was enjoying watching the little snowman do its little snowman thing.

"Look at him go!" she said with a laugh, appreciating his company now more than earlier. "You should probably name him. A cute snowman like that deserves a name."

She spun in a little circle next to the snow man, mirroring his tiny dance. "He's quite the little charmer. I haven't been able to do magic like that in a while. I'm more into potions."

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It was kind of cool to see someone actually enjoying the spells he had used. It felt good to feel like he was wanted and that, well he actually had a friend for the first time. One that he didn't hurt, scratch or break any of their bones. Mark's pearly white teeth lit up from cheek to cheek. He had never met anyone who's actually interested in what he did.  " Y-y-you actually like it? " He said stuttering slightly as he did with his jaw slightly open just enough for small insects to fly in and out from.  The falling snow made Mark's cheeks glow a slight red as he her laugh. Oh shit, why am I blushing. He thought as his eye's widened and watched the two of them dancing.

He quickly looked back at the weird looking little snowman who was still dancing along in circles and watched as  Taylor decided to join in. He smiled once again and took out his wand ." I've got an idea, let's name him boom." he said with a mischievous smirk on his face whilst doing so. He was about to do another small prank that he thought wouldn't backfire. The blushing of his cheeks had cooled down really quickly, the weather was a great help, for once it was on his side. Normally it would be the other where the weather would go against everything Mark did from eating, games to clothes washing, Weather was never his friend.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

This boy seemed to be genuinely surprised that she was enjoying his company and his spells. That was odd, considering most 7th years had gained enough friends by the end of their time at Hogwarts to not feel so lonely, but perhaps this boy was different and she certainly wasn't going to fault him for it. Although, she did stop herself from teasing him for his blushing cheeks. No need to be rude to someone in a first conversation and Taylor wasn't feeling particularly snarky right now.

" Y-y-you actually like it?"

"I'm dance right along with him, aren't I?" she replied with a grin.

"I've got an idea, lets name him boom."

Mark's facial expression had turned more mischievous than anything else and at first, Taylor didn't understand, but she was becoming increasingly clued in that the life of this little snowman might be coming to an end shortly.

"Most usually go with Frosty or something of the like, but we can still love Boom for who he is, despite his odd little name," she said, although taking a small step backwards from the dancing figure in preparation for his inevitable explosion.

[Deleted]

It all seemed like fun and games till the snow began to fall as a much faster rate. The strong wind blowing was not a help either to his current situation. " Ready to know why he's name Boom?" Mark said with a small smirk on his face as he quickly shook his head to remove the snow that began to pile up. " Confringo. he stated as his wand was direct toward the snow ball. Mark closed his eyes as he looked away ensuring that his face was well hidden away from the snow that was about to splatter everywhere.

The tip of his wand lit up in a bright blue as a bolt of white light came blasting from the tip of his wand smashing into the snow ball causing it to explode as splatter everywhere. It didn't make much noise Mark found surprisingly. " Well that was fun right?" Mark said as he slowly turned around once again. He smiled as he noticed the snow falling more and more heavier by the second. He looked back at Taylor and back at the pure white sky. " We should get out of here don't you think? The snow isn't going to get any lighter right now." He shook his body once more to remove all the excess snow and gestured for Taylor to follow him. " Want to go get a hot chocolate?" He asked as he smiled before quietly whispering " Or you could come to my bed. " To which he knew Taylor wouldn't of heard.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor's suspicions were confirmed as Mark blew up the poor little snowman. It wasn't all that surprising but she still jumped backwards when the snow flew about and she actually felt a tinge of sympathy for the tiny snow person, despite its lack of consciousness. Maybe she had just too many stuffed animals as a child (And still one that she kept in her room to this day, but you wouldn't hear her saying that) which led to the odd sensation of sadness from watching the snow man explode.

The feeling passed rather quickly, however, once Mark brought up the notion of hot chocolate. How many days snowy days had Taylor wrapped herself up in blankets in the common room with a mug in her hand? If she thought back even further, she'd enjoy the old memories of when her mother was still around and they'd drink it together with her little brother. That was, of course, before they up and left when Taylor was eleven. She pushed those thoughts away and figured she'd be able to have a nice time sipping on the sugary substance with this new guy because, hey, why not?

"Hot chocolate sounds delicious," she replied, looking forward to the warmth already because, she had to admit, it was getting increasingly colder with how much snow was starting to flurry around them. "But you have to promise not to blow that up because I feel like the spray would be a bit more painful than the bits of snow. I'd like to keep my face free from boiling liquids," she joked, walking with him to their destination.

She thought she had heard something under his breathe but she wasn't quite sure. He was lucky, too, because if she had, she would've smacked him across the face and then neither person would be able to enjoy the hot chocolate. Well, not together, at least, because Taylor didn't let people get away with comments like that. That would be that. However, she shrugged it off since she couldn't make out what he said and just let it go.

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Mark got extremely lucky that Taylor hadn't had heard what he had just said. He took a small sigh of relief when Taylor responded quickly to his question. He smiled awkwardly as he opened his lips slightly. " y-Yeah okay!" He stated stuttering slightly as he was still nervous from his little immature stunt. Mark didn't have many friends, he didn't even have any pets to compensate for the lack of friends. He had nothing. " So the Three Broomsticks then? " He suggested as they began to walk towards the store.  Mark laughed softly as her response.  He quickly cleaned off the last pieces of snow from Frosty and began his small journey towards Hogsmede.

" Don't worry." He said taking a small pause. " I won't destroy or blowup anything in the store. I assure you that. " He said as he laughed and continued to walk. He knew he had to make some sort of conversation as they continued to talk towards the store. " So, are you a fan of Quidditch?" He asked thinking of topics to bring up for conversation. Mark wasn't really the best at making conversations or actually maintaining one. He would normally just get closed out from a conversation or just walk away from one.  The walk was going to be a short walk but Mark wanted to know much more about this girl and new friend he had just made. So he decided to take the longer path around to the Three Broom Sticks.

{OOC: We'll make a separate thread later in the The Three Broomstick?  Like later , later ,later yes? I want to drag this out a bit more. ]

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Although Taylor had grown up as an extroverted and sociable child, the way she interacted with others changed when she started Hogwarts and her mother and brother left. Only 11 years old, she became more withdrawn and confused about her place in society, especially given her werewolf and halfblood status, and she almost resented many of the other children who seemed to fit in so easily. Overtime, she found another mother figure who she could relate to even moreso due to their shared lycanthropy and this helped her feel more comfortable in her own skin and thus she was able to overcome her shyness and make friends with other students. Ever since, she'd become increasingly comfortable with herself and her mannerisms and personality.

This boy, however, seemed to be on the opposite end of the spectrum and reminded Taylor of how she used to be. She even used to stutter like he was, and that was something that happened still if she got flustered or upset.

"I'll still keep my guard up," she teased lightly about him not blowing up hot chocolate on them.

She smirked at his question about Quidditch. "Quidditch?" she said. "Who doesn't love Quidditch? Although I don't actually like playing. I've got a nasty fear of heights, so flying isn't my forte but I love watching the sport whenever I get a chance."

Sometimes, Taylor wondered just how much of her wolf side leaked into her human characteristics. Flying was something she always liked the idea of, but there was something about being off the ground that unsettled her more than just a simple fear of heights and she had always suspected that that might not be her natural reaction to flight and was rather just another symptom of her lycanthropy. Then again, she wouldn't ever be able to know if it was or not so she didn't worry about it often.