I wasn't even surprised that I was being dropped off to Cedric's house the day before we were to return to Hogwarts. After all, it wasn't unusual for my parents to be called out of the country to work as they tailed a particularly dark wizard. It was just a little disappointing that I wouldn't get to see them again before they left for work. But, it had happened so often that Cedric's home was practically my second one.

"Have you got everything you need?" Mum asked, and I knew that it was to draw out the time before her and dad had to leave.

"I think so," I cast a look at the bags by my feet with a small smile, "I can't imagine that I've left anything behind."

She sighed and took me into a hug, "Have fun at school."

"I will." I returned the hug and pulled away from her, "Catch the dark wizard and come home safe."

"Don't we always?" Dad asked, hugging me once mum had let go.

"Well you can never be too safe," I reminded them as Cedric's parents approached mine to say goodbye to them.

Cedric, following his parents lead, approached me and before I could protest, he'd taken my bags and began to carry them away. I moved to take one of the bags away from him, because there were way too many for him to carry on his own – no matter what he claimed. But he gave me a look and I stepped back, unable to stop the annoyed frown I threw his way. Following him through his home and up the stairs, I stepped into the guest room that I was far too familiar with.

"You've done all your packing for Hogwarts then?" Cedric asked, putting the bags down on the floor and making himself comfortable on the bed. He perched on the edge of the bed, looking over the sheer number of bags on the floor.

"Yep, this is all of it." Walking around the room I approached a picture frame that hadn't been there the last time I'd stayed over. The picture, one taken when I was much younger, featured me sitting side by side with Cedric on his birthday with cake smeared over his face. I couldn't help but smile, remembering that I had been the one to push the cake into his face and set the picture frame back down. Looking back to Cedric I asked, "What about you? Did you leave it til the last minute again?"

"Well you know me really well," he said without needing to say anything more.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at him with an unamused expression; how was he a prefect? Let alone the new head boy?

With a sigh, I turned back to Cedric with my arms crossed, "And this is where you expect me to sit with you and help you decide which clothes you're taking with you to Hogwarts?" He nodded and I pursed my lips. "Why do you wait until the last minute every year? And more importantly, why do you wait for me to help you pick out your clothes? You're old enough to make these decisions yourself or you can ask someone else."

"No one else is as brutally honest as you are," he replied, rising to his feet.

"Because I don't like you very much, I tolerate you."

With a chuckle, Cedric crossed the room to pat the top of my head – messing my hair in the process – as he left the room. He did that on purpose. Placing my bags into a corner of the room to keep them out of the way, I waited for him to return with his clothes in tow.

He returned minutes later and it seemed like his entire closet was floating behind him as he walked into the room and levitated the clothes onto the bed. Of course – he was legally allowed to perform magic now. So why did he insist on carrying my bags by hand when he could have just used magic instead? Who was he trying to impress with his show of strength?

"I still don't know why you expect me to help you," I said with a frown as I approached the bed and started to rifle through the clothes on the bed.

"Because I value your opinion," he said with a cheeky smile, walking towards me and watching as I looked through his clothes.

"That is a lie." I cast a glance up into his face before looking back to the clothes. The clothes I'd approved of were promptly thrust into his arms. "And you know it."

"I always listen to your opinion," he responded, accepting the clothes from me. "Your opinion means a lot to me."

"Ok, that's a lie." I rolled my eye, shoving another jumper into his arms knowing just how cold Hogwarts could get. "You didn't exactly listen to my opinion when I told you not to volunteer for the tournament last year."

"But that all worked out in the end."

"You almost got yourself killed," I deadpanned, "Normally I just have to worry about mum and dad's lives, worrying about yours too wasn't a welcome addition."

"You worried about my life," he said sounding touched and I scoffed, pushing him away from me.

"Of course I did you bloody idiot – people have died in that tournament before."

"But I didn't."

"Well you almost did."

"But I didn't."

I shook my head, turning my attention away from him and back to the pile of clothes on the bed, "You're utterly hopeless."

Once we had arrived at Hogwarts, I had settled back into the school routine and I had hoped that the nightmares would have stopped once I'd returned. But they hadn't. I'd resorted to sneaking back down into the common room once all of my dormmates had fallen asleep just in case I managed to wake them up because of my nightmares. That was the reason that I was curled up on one of the sofas in the common room in front of the fireplace, a book opened on my lap. I was trying to stave off the need to sleep.

The sound of the entrance to the common room opening echoed around the empty room and I looked to the entrance, rising to my feet at the sight of the man stood in the doorway. He shouldn't have been here.

"Cedric?" Quietly, I approached him as he looked around the common room, "What are you doing here? And how did you get in?"

"I answered the riddle, of course." He brought his eyes back to me, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you doing still awake?"

"What are you doing in the Ravenclaw common room?" I threw back without answering his question.

"One of your friends came to find me," he explained, "She said you've been having nightmares that have been stopping you from sleeping. So naturally I grew concerned and came to see for myself."

"And what would you have done if someone saw you?" I raised an eyebrow.

"That's not what's important right now," he said with a shake of his head. "What have you been having nightmares about?"

"I don't really see how that's any of your business," I insisted. "Look Cedric, I don't even know why you're here but go before you get caught."

"I'm the head boy," he rolled his eyes, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"One day that big head of yours is going to get you in trouble," I muttered. "Can you not just leave already?"

"Why should I? I'm not leaving until I accomplish what I came here to do."

"And that is?"

"Comfort you, of course."

"Cedric."

"So stop your complaining and come here." He held out his arms and I shook my head, lips parted in shock.

"You're mad, absolutely mad."

"I never said I wasn't." He shrugged, "But remember when we were kids? And when we slept together, you didn't have any nightmares? I wonder if that would work again?"

"We're not kids anymore Cedric." I gave him a look. "Sharing a bed with you now will be weird."

"I'm not denying that either, but let's just see if it'll work." He crossed his arms, "Besides it's my fault isn't it?"

"It's not –"

"Don't give me that rubbish," he cut me off, "You're absolutely terrified of deep water but still you were placed in the ruddy Black Lake during the tournament. And I'm willing to bet anything that that's what's been giving you nightmares."

"It's not as if you made them put me there," I protested, "So let's just drop this."

"Regardless," he crossed his arms over his chest,"Are you going to let me up into your dorm or do I have to drag you to mine?"

"Are you mad? If my dormmates saw you, there'd be so much gossip going around."

"It looks like we're heading off to mine then."

I was so tempted to let him leave the common room first and then close the entrance behind him but it seemed like he had already thought of that. He made me walk in front of him, practically frog marching me to his common room and I internally lamented my fate. Cedric was stubborn, more stubborn than some people realised and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Merlin, he even silenced me so he wouldn't have to listen to my complaints for any longer.

He removed the silencing charm when we reached his dorm, standing outside of the room. Placing his fingers to his lips, he motioned for me to remain silent and I rolled my eyes.

"My dormmates are asleep," he said unnecessarily, not knowing that I was seriously contemplating running away and would have done so in a heartbeat if I had been coordinated enough to not run without falling down the stairs.

Cedric took my hand, tugging me into the room behind him. Approaching his trunk, Cedric pulled out his pyjamas before ducking into the bathroom to change. I hovered awkwardly beside the bed, looking around at his sleeping roommates and just when I had worked up the courage to try and leave the room, Cedric re-emerged from the bathroom. He gave me a look, daring me to try anything and I pouted.

Taking off my shoes and placing them beside his trunk, I climbed into the bed and made sure to stick as close to the edge as possible. The mattress dipped as Cedric climbed in beside me, doing his best to not touch me either. And somehow, despite all my internal ramblings, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

Cedric's dormmates were annoying. How did I know this? Because it was however early in the morning – too early – and they were talking really loudly. And the subject of conversation was the girl curled up in Cedric's bed with Cedric. We had closed the curtains around the bed last night before going to bed but they had been wrenched open when one of his dormmates discovered the girl's shoes by the bottom of the bed.

So here I was, pretending to be asleep as they crowded around the bed, using my hair to hide my face and trying to burrow into my pillow. It was hard to believe that they were seventh years when they acted so much like bloody prepubescent boys. The murmurs continued, until –

"Would you knobheads keep it down?" Cedric muttered in a sleep filled voice. But it was odd – my pillow moved as he spoke. Oh –

I fought against the urge to blush scarlet when I realised that I was sleeping on his chest. They needed to believe I was asleep and blushing wouldn't help that. His dormmates tittered like bloody first years and began to tease him. Merlin, grow up.

"Grow up," he grouched, echoing my thoughts, "Don't you have better things to do on a Saturday morning?"

"Obviously not," one of them responded, just as I felt fingers brush the hair out of my face. If my eyes were open I would have glared at Cedric for removing my shield and exposing my face to his dormmates. Silence fell over the dorm before they all started speaking at once.

"Bloody hell, is that –"

"I knew that little sister stuff was rubbish –"

"She certainly grew up over summer –"

"Remember the silencing –"

"Merlin, how long have you –"

"Would you bloody wankers leave already?" Cedric asked and I heard something being thrown.

His dormmates took the hint, chuckling as they left the room. I heard the sound of the door shut and silence once again, filled the dorm room. But I kept up my act, feigning sleep, even as he trailed his fingertips over my cheek.

"You can open your eyes now," he said gently, voice laden with mischief. "They're gone."

"How did you know?" I asked, pushing away from him before opening my eyes to find him watching me with amused eyes.

"I grew up with you," he explained, rising from the bed to pick up what he had thrown – a particularly heavy looking textbook.

"Do you really refer to me as your little sister?" I asked, sitting up on the bed and watching him as he put the textbook away.

"I don't think I have since your fourth year." He glanced over at me with a smirk, "Why? Do you not want me to?"

Pressing my back against the headboard, I raised an eyebrow, "Did I say that?"

"Are you sure?" he teased, approaching the bed again to perch on the edge. "You didn't seem to complain when you were sleeping against my chest."

"I thought you were a pillow and you know it." I glanced away from him, "Maybe you should take in a few more gym sessions."

He chuckled wholeheartedly, "I can see past your defence mechanism."

"Well you clearly need glasses then if you're seeing things that aren't there."

"Oh, really?" He tilted his head slightly, eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Yes, really," with that I threw a pillow at him and although we both knew he was fully capable of catching it, he let it hit him in the face.

As the end of the term drew near, it brought with it the best news I could have received. My parents had succeeded in their mission and the dark wizard had been tracked down and locked away in Azkaban. Better yet, they would be home for the holidays and I wouldn't be forced to spend the Christmas with Cedric's family. Because, whilst I liked his parents, Cedric had an annoying habit that he'd picked up since we were children – he spent the holiday chasing me around with mistletoe and I had been forced to develop more and more creative measures of evading him. It would have only been harder to do because he could use magic now.

But I didn't have to worry about any of that anymore.

It was the last Hogsmeade trip of the term and maybe I had left it a little too late, but I was busy shopping for Christmas presents. The ones I'd brought for my housemates had already been wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree that occupied most of the common room. All that remained was for me to buy some presents for my parents as well as the Diggory family who were coming around for Christmas dinner.

Ducking into the shop, I pulled Cho behind me because she had dragged me along with her when she was buying her Christmas presents. Looking through the shelves, I got distracted by a display case of charm necklaces. I had bought mum a necklace last year, but I hadn't seen her wear it yet. And she always said that jewellery wasn't practical enough for her job. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to give her any jewellery for Christmas. But there was that book she'd heard all her friends rave about and had wanted to read – if I only I could remember the title.

"Have you found anything?" Cho asked, walking towards me with a bunch of things in his arms.

"Not for mum," I said with a shake of my head.

"Don't give me that look," she whined quietly when she saw the way I was looking at her things. "You know I have a weakness for pretty things."

"You clutter the dorm with your knick knacks," I complained, "No matter how pretty they are."

"I'll just clean them up from now on," she promised and we both knew that it was a lie. But what else could I say?

Turning back to the display counter, I peered into the glass before sighing, "Hurry up and pay, then we can leave."

"But you were just staring at that chain," she protested, forcing her things into one arm and using her free hand to point at the simple heart shaped chain I'd been looking at.

"Because it's pretty Cho, and if you hadn't already brought my present then I'd ask you to get me that for Christmas. Now come along."

After Cho had paid for her things, we hurried into another shop and I was adamant that I wasn't going to return to the castle until I had bought the presents. Cho, realising how serious I was, started to search alongside me with new found enthusiasm because she wasn't willing to miss lunch. And everyone knew that the lunch served in the castle was far better than anything you could get outside of the castle.

It was tradition in the Ravenclaw Tower that the entire house woke up early on the final day before term. And well, if you didn't, then you were fair game to the seventh years who would wake you up using some of the most creative yet brutal methods around. And every year, the poor first years experienced it first-hand but by the time their second year came about, they knew better than to sleep in.

Merlin, even the memory of the way I had been woken up during my first year had me setting four alarms the night before. I was awake before the first alarm had even rung and, because of a promise we'd all made after our first Christmas in the tower, I woke the rest of my dormmates. Once we were all awake, we headed down to the common room without bothering to change out of our pyjamas.

Only when the entire house was settled, did the prefects start distributing the huge pile of presents under the tree. Slowly, every member of the house started to open their presents and maybe the pleasant warm feeling that screamed Christmas, was worth the threatened terror that kick-started this entire day off. But then again, I thought muffling a yawn and leaning my head against Cho's shoulders, I wouldn't have minded the chance to have been able to sleep for another hour or two.

Just as my eyes started to grow heavy, someone shook my shoulder, making me open my eyes with a glare. I didn't even care that I was glaring at one of the seventh-year prefects as I sat up straight.

"What is it?" I complained, rubbing my eyes.

"There was another one," he explained, handing me a small parcel and I frowned wondering why there was an extra present. Taking the present from the older man with a small thanks, I looked down at the small package.

"Whose it from?" Marietta asked, leaning closer towards me.

"I have no idea," I said quietly, lifting the gift tag to see a small drawing of badger holding a sprig of mistletoe. I couldn't help but laugh quietly, shaking my head slightly as I complained, "How does he keep getting into the common room?"

"So you do know who it is then?" Cho asked and I nodded uncomfortably, remembering her crush on Cedric. She had been so disappointed when he hadn't wanted to progress their relationship after the Yule Ball.

"It's no-one," I insisted, unwrapping the package and the girls instantly dove towards the gift tag. The looked at the drawing and frowned, having expected a name to be written down.

Looking down at the unwrapped present, my eyebrows rose in surprise at the jewellery box lying in my palm. Opening the box, I stared down at a very familiar charm.

How the hell –

"It's from Cedric, isn't it?" Cho asked quietly from my side, peering down at the charm with a small – if not slightly bitter – smile.

"Cho –"

"Don't look so sorry – we went on a date, nothing else." She shrugged, "Besides, everyone knew I was the detour on his way to you."

I scrunched my nose, grabbing the cushion from behind me to whack her with it. "You've just made me lose my appetite."

The holiday flew by the way it always did and before I knew it, I was back in Hogwarts. I started the new term with confidence that I could do anything – hell I could probably take on old Voldy – although I'd leave that to wonder boy Potter. The confidence came from the fact that I'd been able to avoid Cedric's mistletoe, despite him cheating by using magic to appear in front of me from nowhere. He might have been able to catch the snitch but I was yet to be caught by him – and I was going to keep it that way.

Although … he did have his plus points. One such plus poiny being that he was always willing to help me whenever I needed something. And all it took was a few well-constructed phrases before he offered to help me with the essay I was supposed to hand in to Snape during my next Potions lesson, without realising that getting his help had been my intention.

He was sat across from me, looking over my essay with a critical eye and I was already beginning to regret my decision. I had forgotten how much of a perfectionist he was when it came to these things. Coming to the end of the essay, he handed the essay back to me.

"What grade do you want?" he asked, pulling his own books out from his bag.

"Well I'd like to pass," I admitted, rolling my eyes when he gave me a look. "And before you say anything I know 'that's not the attitude you should have', but I doubt Snape would ever give me more than an Acceptable."

"Not if you actually answer the essay question."

"But I thought I was?" I raised an eyebrow, looking up Cedric in confusion. My eyebrow slowly lowered, "Unless I wasn't?"

"You were at the beginning," he said, pulling my essay back towards him to gesture to the first few paragraphs. "But after that you start waffling and don't answer the question."

"I needed to fill up space," I muttered under my breath, pulling out some more parchment to start my essay from scratch. I really regretted asking him for advice. "It's not as if this essay has any weight on my final grade," I protested quietly, watching as Cedric took my course textbook and started to flick through it.

"It's a miracle you do so well in the final exams," he said offhandedly, passing the textbook back towards me.

I flickered through the pages that he'd bookmarked. "It's not like we can all be born smart."

"And that's what made you fall for me?" He battered his eyelashes, leaning towards me from over the desk. "My intellect?"

"Merlin, don't start this again," I complained, pushing him away from me.

He settled back into his seat with a slight chuckle and I started my essay from scratch, not paying attention to his friend who approached the table. When he started to speak, I failed not to roll my eyes when I recognised him as one of Cedric's dormmates who had rudely woken me up that morning, a couple of months ago. He sat down beside Cedric and I pretended not to see the way he looked between Cedric and me with wriggling eyebrows.

"Would you please cut that out?" I asked when I wasn't able to act oblivious any longer.

"Sorry," he apologised with a grin. "I was just wondering when Cedric was going to introduce me to his newest girlfriend."

"Well, when he does tell him to introduce her to me as well." I rolled my eyes, not even looking up at the unfamiliar seventh year, as I carried on with my essay.

He let out a low whistle. "Never thought I'd see the day a girl rejected Cedric Diggory."

"Then you've clearly never met me before." I set my quill down, looking over the paragraph I had just written. Looking up at the two men, I smiled cheekily and cast a glance between them. "I do it all the time."

"Now I know why he didn't introduce us sooner," he said whilst chuckling, "He knew someone would try and snatch you away."

I frowned, looking back at Cedric who had been looking between the still unfamiliar boy and me with a heavy frown. "Am I some sort of possession to you Diggory that can be snatched away?"

"Of course not," he denied strongly, "Damien here is a right moron. He speaks without thinking. You're obviously not a possession."

"You're damn right I'm not." Leaning back in my chair, I crossed my arms and gave 'Damien' a look, "I hope you relay that back to whoever the other members of 'us' are."

"I'm sorry," he had the sense to apologise, all whilst maintaining his smile. "It's just that he gets so touchy whenever someone brings you up." Cedric kept silent, watching our exchange with hidden eyes.

"He's got a major older brother complex."

"I don't think that's it." Damien shook his head, "Even a simple comment like the fact that you grew up a lot over summer sets him off."

"Would you stop saying that?" Cedric demanded suddenly, punching Damien in the arm. "How many times have I told you not to say that? Keep your x rated thoughts to yourself and make sure they're not about her!"

My mouth parted in shock and I looked to Damien who wasn't exactly denying it. Instead, he was grinning cheekily at Cedric before asking, "Why? So you can be the only person to think those thoughts about her?"

Cedric turned a shocking shade of red, the vein in the side of his neck started to throb the way it did before he had one of his very rare outbursts of anger. But he hadn't denied it, that supressed part of me supplied. I forced that thought to the very back of my mind – just like I did to the crush that had started blooming sometime after I realised that he hadn't died during the third task. The sight of his cold body lying on the floor had affected me in a way that it shouldn't have done and I had needed to re-evaluate my feelings for him.

"Aren't you both supposed to be seventh-years?" I asked before Cedric could explode, "Why are you both so immature?"

"We're boys," Damien shrugged as though that explained everything. He turned his attention to me, giving Cedric time to cool off, "So what's your deal then? Why aren't you dating anyone? Or are you waiting for this knob to steal some Gryffindor courage and ask you out?"

"Who says I'm not dating?" I asked, completely disregarding his final question.

"You are?" the shocked question came from Cedric who had kept silent since he had almost lost his cool.

"I'm not dating anyone right now," I said slowly, unsure of why I had to explain any of this to him anyway. "But I do have a date coming up soon."

"With who?" I chose not to answer Cedric's question.

I had been abducted on my way down to Hogsmeade – but did it count as abduction when I knew the person who had taken me? He had done it in broad daylight too. Cedric had simply walked up to the me as I waited for a carriage and cast an immobulus on me and slung me over his shoulder. It was useless to try and ask my friends for help – they were charmed by his face and instead let me go off with him. Whilst I wasn't able to move, I plotted exactly what I would do to him the moment he removed the spell from me.

Waiting patiently, I would have rolled my eyes if I could, when I realised that he was taking me to the Room of Requirement. Once we were in the room, he sat me down on the sofa and locked the door before he removed the spell. I was on my feet the moment the spell was removed. Closing the distance between us, I ignored the fact that he had raised his hands in surrender and delivered a swift kick to his knee.

He yelped, leaning over to rub at his knee. "What in Merlin's name was that for?"

"You're lucky I didn't kick you between your legs," I threw back, walking back to the sofa to sit down. "You had better have had a good reason for putting on such a scene and abducting me."

"I do," he insisted, straightening up and pocketing his wand. He made no move to sit beside me.

"Well out with it then." I crossed my arms, "I have plans Cedric – plans that your little stunt is going to make me very late for."

"I well –"

"I've got a date," I said trying to rush him, "Hurry up and say whatever it is you need to say."

"I know you have a date," he said slowly, "But I can't let you go to it."

"Why not?" I demanded, watching him as he started to explain. He had better have a reason for –

"Because I don't want you to go."

I rose to my feet, intending to make my way to the door. Realising this, Cedric backtracked until he was standing between me and the door, blocking my exit. "Did you ever think that I want to?"

"Tell me that you've got feelings for your date and I'll let you go," he said quietly as I looked uncertainly into his face. "Tell me that and I'll let you go."

"Fine." I rolled my eyes, looking away from him. "I have feelings for him – now will you get out of my way?"

Taking a hold of my chin, he turned my head to make me look back at him. Clearing my throat, I went to look away from him when he narrowed his eyes at me and I stopped.

"Look me in the eyes," he said firmly, "You've never been able to look me in the eyes and lie to me. So look me in the eyes and tell me that again."

"I don't understand," I said instead, taking a few steps back making his hand fall to his side. "Why are you being so uncharacteristically stubborn?"

"You can't say it," he said suddenly enlightened.

"Cedric –"

"And because you can't say it, I'm not letting you out." Leaning against the door, he watched me with an annoyingly smug expression.

"What in Merlin's name is wrong with you?" I couldn't help but demand, stalking towards him, "Why does this have anything to do with you?" It was his turn to look away, "You had better answer me Cedric Amos Diggory, or I'll kick you where I was too kind to kick you before, and leave anyway."

He kept silent for a few moments and I sighed; it looked like I was going to have to kick him for real? And besides, it wasn't like one kick to the balls would break it or make him infertile, was it?

"What else am I supposed to do?" he asked suddenly, bringing my attention back to him. He wasn't looking at me, a red flush creeping up his neck. "What on Earth is it going to take for you to open your eyes and see me standing in front of you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked quietly, "Of course I see you Cedric. You're too tall to miss."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair – acting as dramatic as one of the newly heartbroken fourth year boys that liked to mope in the common room. "That's not what I mean."

"Then explain," I insisted, "Tell me what you mean. And if you can't do that then show me or something."

He contemplated my words and started to speak slowly, "Everyone says you have a crush on me –"

I went to cut in, becoming bright red as though he had just aired my dirty laundry. "But –"

"And I didn't believe them because it seemed too good to be true – why would the girl I've been chasing after for so long actually like me back?" He rubbed the back of his neck, risking a momentary glance at me. It was like he expected me to say something but how could I when his words had rendered me speechless? "And then Cho came up to me and told me that you did like me back but were hiding it for some reason and well –"

"But I never told Cho that –" My words made him look at me suddenly and I found my voice trailing off.

"So it is true then?" His eyes regained that sparkle that he'd lost minutes earlier.

"I never said that," I protested, backing away as he drew closer to me.

"You didn't need to," he grinned handsomely and I felt butterflies erupt in the pit of my stomach. Merlin, this was not the time for that –

He wrenched me against him, arm around my waist. Bracing myself against his chest, I looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What are you doing?" Blinking up at him, I couldn't meet his eyes.

"Showing you," he explained with a bright smile, bringing his head closer towards mine. Surely he couldn't want to – "Like you said to. Unless that's a problem?"

He stopped his descent, eyes alight with mischief and it was clear that he already knew my answer. But he halted anyway, waiting. I shook my head.

I faintly heard him mutter, "Merlin, finally," before he closed the distance between us and sealed his lips over mine.

I very briefly extended a silent apology to the boy waiting for me in Hogsmeade who soon fled my mind as I leaned up, wrapping my arms around his neck.