HoM Study Buddies PV Samantha Salwis Finished

"I think it means you like her. Maybe the love potion was enough to get you over the hurdle of opening your eyes to the possibility of liking someone - breaking the ice, so to speak - and then once it wore off, that realization was still there. Lucky for you, it was still toward the same person. Liking someone is a combination of feeling elated and nervous all at the same time. You think of them fondly and you think of all that could go wrong in the same moments. You want to be your best for them but you also want to be your genuine self with them and hope that they accept anything and everything about all of your faults. It's a risk - but it's a risk worth taking. The benefits far outweigh the bad."

And even he could say that despite having broken up with Haley. He had hurt a girl that meant so much to him and he felt awful for that, the very depths of awful. He had suffered because of that mentally and emotionally, and then also physically when she broke her nose. But now he had something with AngelFyre and so far it had been nothing short of amazing. Again, it was all a risk.

"Maybe you could approach this like some kind of experiment," he said, trying to give Samantha another angle of looking at things that would appeal to her Ravenclaw nature. "Maybe you could work up the courage to ask her out and give it three dates and reflect on each one, then come to the conclusion on whether or not you should continue things?" Was that even a good experiment? If anything, at least she could look at it a little more analytically and maybe explore her feelings more easily.

The idea of liking somebody slightly scared Samantha, it had been the thing she swore she would never do because she knew it made people act stupid. She had had her sister as an example, which wasn't the greatest one, since her sister had broken many boys' hearts but also had her own heart broken a couple of times by other boys.

She nodded as Simon explained how it felt to like somebody, finding his words very wise. "You are right, but it is so scary! What if she doesn't like me, or even dislikes me? Maybe she thinks I am weird?" she rambled nervously. This wasn't like Sam's usual self, who didn't care what other people thought of her as long as she was happy with herself. "Am I weird?" she asked, suddenly very worried.

"An experiment," she repeated Simon's words doubtfully. Dates? Samantha looked at Simon like he was crazy. "I don't know Simon, what if she doesn't even like me? She did say she liked me at the tea party, but she barely even knew me then and also she had eaten a cupcake so it was probably the love potion that made her say it. I mean, she also asked me to the ball, but I think that was the potion too." There was no that such a beautiful girl like Del would want to go to the ball with her.

She sighed and looked up to the ceiling. "I mean I would love to spend more time with her and get to know her even better, so a date sounds nice," Samantha mumbled nervously while avoiding watching Simon in his eyes. Maybe he was right, it would be a nice experiment and after that, she would probably know more about how she felt and also what Del thought of her.

Simon smiled widely, glad that another friend was starting to get the love bug, so to speak. He got his early on, like at age 9 or before, and it was difficult when it seemed that everyone else was still thinking such things were icky and here he was with that. It was nice when others finally came to the dark side.

Actually it wasn't the dark side at all. It was greatness.

"I mean, if you're apprehensive about it, you could probably pitch it as just hanging out? See if you two click more, you know?" But he really hoped that Samantha would pursuit this and maybe by their next meet up she could fill him in on how things were going between them. Maybe they'd be going as great as things were going with him in his new relationship. Everyone deserved happiness, especially Sam.

"It could be practicing flying or just hanging out by the Great Lake." Both of those would be good 'first date' sort of scenarios. "I know she likes musicals," he smiled. When he met Delphinia, the two had sang a duet from The Greatest Showman in the Hufflepuff Common Room. Simon couldn't resist a moment to be Zac Efron for the moment.

@Simon Kincaid

Just hanging out sounded a lot less scary than going on a date and you could also do that as just friends, so if Del didn't like her that would be fine as well. Simon was pretty good at this dating stuff! Glad to have the Hufflepuff as her friend, she gave him a sweet smile. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, maybe I should do that."

"She likes musicals? That's good to know!" Maybe they could talk about that or maybe they could do something related to musicals one day. "Wait, you know Delphinia?" Samantha asked as she flushed a little. Simon knew what she liked, so that meant her probably knew her and for some reason that made Samantha nervous. "What do you think of her?" She wanted her friend to find her just as amazing as she did. What if he didn't like Del? That would be horrible.

Saturday, May 21 I can change the date if needed

Change was something constant in life and Samantha was no stranger to it. Luckily, becoming prefect was a positive change and the young girl wouldn't want to change it back for the world. She loved it. She loved having a little more power than others, she loved the responsibility and the fact that she could help make Hogwarts a better place. Rules were really important to the brunette and she could now make sure other people followed them as well.

But Samantha wasn't the only one who had become prefect lately, Simon had already become prefect before she did and she was extremely proud of her friend. To celebrate the special occasion, she had made a friendship bracelet in the colours of her friend's house right after she had heard the news. Before she had been able to give the friendship bracelet to the boy, she had also become prefect, which had given her an idea. To match the bracelet she was going to give to Simon, she had made a similar one but then in the Ravenclaw colours for herself.

With the two bracelets hidden in her bag, Samantha entered the library again for the usual study session, which also was a way to catch up with her friend. She had come a little earlier than usual and made her way over to their usual table. After sitting down, the brunette carefully placed the two friendship bracelets on the table, the yellow one on top of the blue one, and waited for her friend to join her.

The school year was wrapping down to an end and it was crazy to think that third year would soon be approaching. He could only imagine what sort of things that they'd have in their study sessions with new topics like Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. Sam might be in hyper-drive and he'll have to calm her down. Maybe it would be good to find out what kind of candy his Ravenclaw friend liked best and he decided he should have some on him for her at all times. Candy helped most people and even Simon liked a lemon drop now and again despite his usual distaste for other candies.

He got to the Library and found Sam at their usual table. "Sam, what's your favorite candy?" he asked as he went to place his bag down. He had almost placed it right on top of two woven bracelets and paused, before moving it over a bit and put it down. Immediately he saw that one was in Hufflepuff pride house colors and the other was in Ravenclaw's house colors.

Instead of taking the seat across from her like he normally did, Simon came over to hers and wrapped his arms around her, leaning in to give her a secure and tight squeeze (but also careful not to squish her). "I would think the librarian would look unkindly on confetti, so I didn't bring any, but congratulations are in order! Prefect of Ravenclaw, Samantha Salwis! That title just sounds like it was meant to be!" He was proud of his friend and knew she deserved it.

"What's my favorite candy," she repeated thoughtfully. Any type of candy was good for her, preferably something sweet but other things were fine too. "I do love chocolate frogs a lot. They aren't the sweetest but they are pretty amazing and like really cool." Chocolate frogs had been one of the first magical sweets the young girl had tried and because of that, they had a special place inside her heart. On top of that, they contained cool cards with new information which the curious girl was more than happy to learn about.

A happy little smile appeared on her face when the Hufflepuff gave wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. First, Samantha hadn't been the greatest fan of hugs, only giving them to her parents and sometimes her sister, but with Simon as a friend she had no choice but to get used to them. "Thank you," she said happily once the dhampir released her from the hug.

"I made something for us," she said as she gave the boy the friendship bracelet. "Yours is in the Hufflepuff colors because you are a prefect of the badgers and mine is in Ravenclaw colors," she explained, a bit unnecessary. "They are friendship bracelets because we have been friends for a long time now and I wanted to know that I think you are a great friend! Now we can wear these matching bracelets and everybody will see!" she said with a big smile and a little twinkle in her bright blue eyes.

Sam handed over the hufflepuff pride colored bracelet and smiled. The idea that a friend would have a matching sort of bracelet, just with the Ravenclaw colors instead, carried out some pretty good meaning. "Here, tie it around my wrist, please, and then I'll get you your congratulatory gift," he said and reached out toward her.

He figured he would have her put it on the same wrist that his claddagh ring was on that he got from AngelFyre. Once it would be tied on, he reached over the table to retrieve the other one that had the Ravenclaw house colors and placed that one on Sam because tying a bracelet around your own wrist was tricky - probably even so for a Ravenclaw.

"Congratulations on making prefect. I'm proud of you. I'm sure you'll be one of the best at it," and he really was. Sam knew the rules and she was going to expect that those rules be followed. Simon? Eh, he was pretty lenient with it all if one was going to be honest. He'd be a hypocrite otherwise as he too had bent the rules, both before being prefect and after. Nothing tragic, just small stuff.

"I wasn't sure your favorite, so I got a chocolate frog, some cauldron cakes, and a sugar quill." He placed them over on the wooden table surface beside her as his congratulatory gift. This would have been the perfect occasion to stop at his aunt's bookstore/bakery and pick something up, but obviously that wasn't possible.

He smiled to Sam, hoping she was happy with the prefect title and knowing Sam, he was pretty sure she was very happy with it. He hoped that they'd still have time for their "study sessions" (which really were just guarentees that they'd keep in touch and hang out) and knew that her time would now be more sparse than it already was. Hopefully their friendship could continue but regardless, he wished her the best.