The month of November was now drawing to a close and the Christmas Holidays were fast approaching, students hurried from classroom to classroom in an order to escape the freezing passageways and whenever a class ventured down into the dungeons they were hit with a wall of bitterly cold air and were forced to huddle around their cauldrons in an attempt to stay warm and stave off the encroaching cold.
"You know, I really don't understand why they don't install some sort of heating system down there," Jules muttered angrily as she sank into an armchair trying to rub some life into her hands after a particularly gruelling and not to mention cold potions lesson.
"They do have the fires …" Lana replied pulling out several rolls of parchment, unfurling them and unscrewing a pot of ink.
"Yeah, but not everywhere, I think I'm going to have to cast a permanent heating charm on my robes." Stacey interjected.
At this comment Jules smiled wickedly, "Oh I don't think you need a heating charm, after all you do have Oliver to snuggle up to…"
Snuggling huh?

"Yup, reckon you and Oliver will be doing some serious canoodling tonight," Lana nodded knowledgably whilst dipping her quill into the ink well and commencing work on her essay. Stacey rolled her eyes, "There are some details we have to figure out on the charms work…"
"Phfft," Lana waved her hand airily, thankfully not the hand holding her quill as neither Jules nor Stacey felt like being showered with ink. "That'll take what, ten minutes? And then you two will be there in the library, lamps flickering and you'll suddenly catch his eye across the table and bam! You'll be on each other like animals." Lana tailed off and looked in the distance with an almost wistful look.
Animals? I've got way more self control than that.. heh… I'll show her… well no I obviously wont show her….
"Besides," Jules piped up, "There's always the Hogsmeade visit this weekend and we all know what happens in Madam Puddifoots…"
oh there is no way in hell am I setting foot in that place…
"Do I look like the kind of person that wants to sit in a fluffy, pink coffee shop?"
Lana sniffed, "Cho thinks very highly of Madame Puddifoots…"
Jules snorted, "Ah let it go Lana, anyways I reckon Stace will drag him off to the Shrieking Shack," she giggled, then doing a passable imitation of a swooning woman she added, "Oh hold me, you big manly quidditch player, you…"
Stacey threw a cushion at Jules and glared at her playfully, "enough messing around, I actually want to do something in this free period, like start and finish this potions essay."
"You threw the cushion!" Stacey narrowed her eyes at Jules
"Ok, ok, to potions then."

Having thoroughly exhausted themselves with their potions work Lana, Stacey and Jules left the Ravenclaw common room and rushed down to the Great Hall for what promised to be an excellent meal. Just as Stacey was about to enter through the main doors she felt a hand slip casually into hers. She noted Jules and Lana walking on with out her, sharing a look. Stacey smiled to herself and squeezed Oliver's hand, looking up as she did so.
"Good evening Miss Lewis, I hope I find you well?" came Oliver's smooth voice.
"Very well indeed, and you Mr Wood?" Oliver grinned brashly at her.
"I'm great," he leant down whispering into her ear; "see you in the library, the advanced charms section." With that he placed a chaste kiss on her temple and walked off towards his fellow Gryffindors leaving Stacey standing under the threshold to the hall like an idiot.
Huh, Oliver… perfect sexy male specimen with broad shoulders and…Stoppit. FOCUS! Move… blocking the doorway Lewis…
Hurrying towards her house's table she quickly sandwiched herself in between Jules and Lana and pilled food on to her plate, smiling to herself all the while. Looking either side of her she could not but fail to see that her two companions were not eating, in fact there was a very obvious lack of food on their plates and very obvious smirks on their faces.
"So making plans for your secret assignation?" Jules inquired taking a delicate slip of pumpkin juice.
"The flobberworms section?" Lana added lightly
"Advanced charms," Stacey replied acidly, "are you two going to eat or would you rather spend the rest of the evening grinning at me like the Cheshire cat?"
Lana looked at her puzzled and pulled a Stacey's-lost-it face at Jules, "What have cats got to do with it?"
Right, forgot pureblood…
"I was making reference to a muggle book…but that's neither here nor there, you gonna eat something?" Both Lana and Jules needed no further encouragement and proceeded to dig in.

Half an hour later Stacey having bid her fellow Ravenclaws goodnight made her way down the echoing corridors to the quiet and relative warmth of the library. Poking her head around the doorway she peeked into the gloomy room and noted a few sixth years bent over scrolls of parchment, scribbling away furiously. Stacey pushed open the door fully and walked down several aisles, the further she delved into the bowels of the library the darker and less illuminated it became. Sighing she pulled out her wand and waved it at a nearby oil lamp which flared to life in response. Dumping her book bag on the nearest table Stacey plonked herself down into a chair, kicking off her shoes she pulled out her hair-tie running her hands through her messy tresses as she did so.
"Nice, I'm really digging the birds nest look," came an amused voice behind Stacey.
"Oh you know, I try my best…" Stacey said primly, patting her hair lightly. Oliver then came into view as he lowered himself with casual ease into the seat opposite her and loosened his tie.
"No really, its uh…" Oliver let out a small laugh, Stacey's eyes narrowed, coughing slightly he continued, "very, unique. Very attractive"
"Somehow I don't believe you." Stacey returned
"No really it is, but I suppose its going to have to take some convincing right?"
Stacey looked at him, one eyebrow raised in question, Oliver licked his lips and nodded as he leaned forward, whispering in her ear, "you look," he placed a light kiss on her cheek, "very," a second kiss on her other cheek, "very," he kissed her lightly on the crown of her forehead, he paused. "Attractive" he muttered his mouth centimetres from hers, and with no further ado his lips were on hers in an all-consuming kiss.
"Proof enough?" Oliver asked, grinning when he broke off the kiss.
Stacey swallowed and bit her lip, "Oh it'll do, for now. But really we ought to be doing some charms work, don't you think Mr Wood? And besides we're not even in the flobberworms section."
Oliver chuckled slightly, "You kill me you know that?"
Stacey flashed him an uncharacteristic smirk, "Oh I know I do, but I think you can manage a little bit of charms."

True to Lana's prediction the pair of seventh years only needed ten minutes to finish off the project and it was with a flourish the Stacey wrote her name on the piece of parchment.
"All done then?"
"All done," Stacey smiled and leaned back in her seat sighing to herself, "Can't say I'm not glad to see the end of that. I'll just put this book away, be back." Stacey then grabbed the offending book off the table, ignoring her shoes she tiptoed on the cold stone floor towards the correct shelf. Humming a familiar tune to herself she put the useful tome back in its allotted place and once again tiptoed across the library floor. Suddenly two arms shot out and grabbed her round her waist and a small gasp escaped her mouth.
I seem to have been attacked a lot recently…
Stacey then found her self in Oliver's lap her legs hanging over the arm of the chair.
Not that I'm complaining
"Any reason why you felt the need to do that?" Stacey asked, feigning anger
"Oh, you looked somewhat unsteady, didn't want to take any unnecessary risks."
"Unnecessary risks? So instead you give me a heart attack?"
"You know you really are going to have to overcome this," Oliver said in a serious tone "We cant have you experiencing heart problems whenever you come into close proximity to me."
"I told you it's your animal magnetism," Stacey sighed dramatically "I really can't help myself. But the question is what are we to do about it?"
"Well, I think the only way to go about this is for you to spend as much time with me as possible, so you become desensitised so to speak." Oliver pulled Stacey closer to him, "How's this? Feeling any heart palpitations coming on?"
"Mmm, I think you're going to have come a lot closer than that."
"Closer, huh?" Oliver smiled at the prospect; he leaned in towards her, his eyes smouldering. Stacey breathed in deeply taking in Oliver's scent, she stuttered nervously, "Oh I think they're coming on again."
"You don't sound very sure." Oliver murmured his voice low and gravely, his mouth grazing her neck.
Stacey swallowed, "Oh they're there." She felt Oliver smile, brushing his lips softly against her neck and trailing butterfly kisses up to her jaw. Stacey sighed as Oliver's lips found their way to her own.

"You know," Stacey muttered, between each small kiss, "I never thought, I'd be one of those girls who spends their spare time sneaking around in the back of the library."
Oliver backed up slightly, "Oh this isn't sneaking, although I do happen to know the flobberworms section is only a few rows back, so…" Oliver grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Bloody hell... is the entire population of Hogwarts a bunch of completely over sexed teenagers??
Stacey grinned lightly and bent down, her mouth hovering inches away from Oliver's ear, her hair falling across her face "The flobberworms section huh?" her voice came out low, dripping with sugar, "Oh but you see Oliver, I've always had this fantasy involving the quidditch locker rooms and my very own captain." Stacey broke off, noticing Oliver's now wide-eyed expression, "But as you seem to have this odd fixation with the flobberworms section, I'm sure Roger will be willing to oblige."
Oliver eyes locked with hers, he let out a sudden growl, and grabbed Stacey once more around the waist, causing Stacey to shriek out as he picked her up and placed her on the table. Oliver's chocolate brown eyes bored into Stacey's, causing her breathing to quicken once more at the intense gaze she was faced with.
"What's to stop me from ravishing you right here?"
Stacey's eyes flicked over Oliver's shoulder and she muttered "Madame Pince?"
Oliver snorted, "Madame Pince my arse…."
"Leaving your bottom out of this conversation Mr Wood. I think a sense of propriety would do you good at times like these."
The change in Oliver's demeanour was startling, and would have been amusing if the situation hadn't had been so awkward. Blushing a furious shade of red, he straightened up immediately and coughed lightly turning towards Madame Pince with what he hoped to be a winning smile.
Oh good God… I've been caught by a teacher... she's going to tell Flitwick, then he'll tell Dumbledore, who'll tell my parents... oh God... I may as well pack my bags... Mium's going to home school me… and lock me away till I'm thirty...
Noticing Madame Pince's withering look and taking into account her previous comment about propriety Oliver adopted a more sober expression.
"Miss Lewis, I'd appreciate it if you left this sort of behaviour out of my library, I really expected much better of the Head Girl. If you and Mr Wood would be on your way." The schools hawk like librarian looked at them imperiously, "Now scoot!"

Stacey hastily jumped off the table, grabbed her bag followed by Oliver's hand and pulled hard only letting go once they were safely out of the library and several corridors away.
"If I lose my head girl ship and end up being brought back home by my Mother, mark my words Wood, you will pay." Stacey enunciated each word with a hard poke to Oliver's chest.
Oliver looked down at Stacey; he nodded solemnly, "I'm really sorry Stacey." The tall quidditch captain paused and breathed in deeply, "But, I did tell you the flobberworms section would have been better."
Stacey let out a strangled yell and turned on her heel shouting over her shoulder, "Flobberworms section my arse!"
"Ah Stacey," Oliver said grabbing her hand as he did so.
Damn his long legs and quidditch playing induced fitness
"You're not going to lose your badge, if anything I think Dumbledore will find the whole thing very amusing." The frown on Stacey's brow lessened, and Oliver leaned forward resting his forehead against hers. "I think we've had enough excitement for one night."
Stacey nodded, cocked her head to one side and held out her hand, "Walk me to my dorm?"

As the first term of the year was drawing to a close, the weekend of the last Hogsmeade visit before the Christmas holidays was upon every third year student and up. The morning of the trip Stacey, Jules and Lana all came down into the Great Hall to get in a hearty breakfast before the outing.
"I reckon," Jules began just as the three sat down opposite Roger Davis and his 'posse', "I reckon the Hogwarts administration must have cut a deal with all the traders in Hogsmeade, so that they'd arrange a trip close to Christmas so we can all do our Christmas shopping."
"So?" Lana replied, cereal spoon half way to her mouth.
"Its like they're forcing us to buy our gifts there."
"What do you have against helping small businesses?' Stacey questioned.
"I'd hardly call Madame Malkins a small business."
"Fine, Madam Malkins aside…"
"If you feel so strongly about it, don't buy any presents from Hogsmeade." Interjected Lana.
"Maybe I wont!" came Jules declaration.
Both Stacey and Lana nodded, and went back to the serious business of eating.
"How long do you reckon she last?" Roger Davis leaned over to ask the two girls as Jules was engaged in conversation with a Ravenclaw fourth year.
"10 minutes," both Stacey and Lana replied with no hesitation.
"Really, I was going for more like five." Roger smiled as he shook his head; "I'll see you girls later."
As Roger rose from the table with a wink, Stacey lent back and quietly sipped her morning coffee.
"So, today's the day, huh?" Jules interrupted Stacey's mulling having finished up with the Ravenclaw fourth year.
"Ah, yes the long awaited date with Mr Wood," Lana added.
"You guys seem way more excited about this than I do…" Stacey muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Jules asked cheerily
"Nothing, nothing… well c'mon I need to grab a coat from the dorms"

With that the three seventh years followed Roger up to the Ravenclaw tower and their dormitory.
"So where are you guys meeting?" Lana asked when Stacey had found a suitable coat and they were descending the steps into the common room.
"Oh he said he'd meet me in the Entrance Hall."
"Ok, cool…" Jules muttered, "Oh damn, I forgot my money, er…'
"Its ok, I'll go ahead, see you guys this evening."
Stacey then proceeded to make her way down the winding steps of the Ravenclaw tower to the main part of the school. As she meandered her way down one of Hogwarts ubiquitous corridors she ran into a gaggle of fifth year Hufflepuffs.
"Hey Stacey," came a familiar voice from behind her, she turned to see the handsome prefect Diggory.
"Hi there Cedric, going to Hogsmeade?"
"Yup, got to stock up on Honeydukes chocolate before I get cut off from the rest of world."
Stacey fell into step with Cedric and the rest of his friends, "Cut off from the rest of the world?"
"Oh yeah, Ced's getting sent off to grandmas," piped in a random member of the group Stacey vaguely recognised.
"Oh tell me about it, the whole summer I was with my Grandparents, they live in the middle of nowhere, and there are only so many country walks you can take, you know?" Stacey said sympathetically.
Cedric shrugged ruefully, "write me?"
Uhhh….
Stacey laughed nervously, "If you're lucky, " by this time they had arrived in the entrance hall and Stacey saw Oliver, his scarf flying in the draft; his collar loosened as he stared into the distance his eyes squinted slightly. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Um, looks like Oliver's waiting for me," haha… yup hot quidditch boy is waiting for me… oh god… stoppit Lewis.. "If I don't see you later have a good holiday Cedric."
"Yeah you too, Merry Christmas Stacey"
Is it just me or does he look slightly put out?? Nah, its nothing…
"Merry Christmas, don't get too bored." Stacey replied and waved slightly before making her way towards Oliver.
"Oliver!" at the sound of his name the quidditch player turned to face Stacey with a smile.
"Hey, how are you?" he grinned down at her.
"Not too bad, not too bad." Stacey casually returned, "So what are our plans for the day?"
Oliver looked at Stacey slowly, "Um.. I didn't have anything specific planned…"
"What?" Stacey asked feigning disappointment, "no romantic walk where you take me by the hand and lead me to some place that you've been going to since third year, where you can have some time to yourself and just forget about the world?"
The look of complete and utter confusion on Oliver's face following her statement caused Stacey to burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
"Right, well now that you've had your daily dose of laughing at my expense. Fancy a trip to Zonko's?" Oliver asked, offering the crook of his arm as he did so.
"Why not, its been a long time since I've stepped into a shop expecting to come back out again maimed, time to mix it up again I reckon, live life on the edge and all that."
"You talk a lot, you know that right?"
"What?" Stacey spluttered out an attempted indignant response.
"I'm kidding, c'mon" Oliver threw his arm around Stacey and pulled her closer to his side.
"What do you mean…??? I what?"
"Shhh… " Oliver soothed kissing Stacey on the top of her head, "you overreact too…"
"Ugh.." said Stacey as she pushed Oliver away. "Fine if I have soooo many faults."
"Yeah, but they're endearing." Oliver said as he took her face in his hands and laid a kiss on her nose. "Very endearing."
He's so… too perfect
"So Zonko's then?"
"Right," Stacey nodded the affirmative, "Zonko's"

The couple had finally made it down the high street, and there it was, every prankster's dream. The fine establishment that was Zonko's, often frequented by names that appeared several times on Filch's equivalent of the FBI's most wanted list.
"Ready?" Oliver asked in mock seriousness
"As I'll ever be…" after considering her comment, "oh god that was corny."
The two stepped over the threshold and were greeted with a number of magical contraptions to aid and abet any prospective troublemaker. The shelves were stacked high with various kits and packs to keep even Fred and George Weasley occupied for days. As Stacey moved away from Oliver and trailed her finger across various names that were emblazoned on the boxes crammed onto the shelves she failed to notice the brightly coloured boomerang headed for her, only when several voices yelled "LOOK OUT" and a large figure dove straight for her did she notice anything was wrong.
"Really Lewis you should start paying more attention to your surroundings."
Eh, would you look at that, my own white knight
"You know," Stacey paused, looking up at Oliver's face, "you have really long eyelashes."
Oliver frowned lightly, "uh thanks?"
Suddenly realising the compromising position they were in and the group of concerned customers surrounding them, Stacey tapped Oliver on the shoulder, "not that I don't like you on top or anything but could you let me up?"
Oliver smiled and sprung to his feet, holding out his hand for Stacey to take.
"Thank you Mr Wood," came Stacey's prim reply.
"Oh are you alright my dear?" came the breathy voice of what appeared to be the very harried shop manager.
"I'm fine, just a little sore but its cool."

After having left the premises Stacey and Oliver stood outside the shops doorway not quite knowing what to do with them selves
"How about some lunch, why don't you get us some drinks and I'll get us the food and we'll meet at the benches in the town square, say ten minutes?" Stacey suggested after some deliberation.
"Sure, sounds like a plan."
"So anything in particular you want?"
"Surprise me," Oliver called over his shoulder as he turned away from Stacey.
Okkk.. well I could get something from the Three Broomsticks… or….
Stacey smiled grimly to herself as she saw the floral print curtains that framed the windows of Madame Puddifoots. As Stacey was now near enough to see the stitched detailing on the pink curtains, she grimaced.
Never did I think I'd go into this place…
A younger couple opened the door to gain access to the small teashop and Stacey caught a whiff of the various pastries and delicacies on sale within.
Mm, it might not be too bad after all.
Shaking her head she turned the handle and pushed opening the door triggering off the charm that was placed around the door so that a small chime went off in the depths of the tearoom.
"What can I do you for, my dear?"

Several minutes later Stacey emerged from Madam Puddifoots laden with several paper bags smiling lightly as she made he way to the town square. As she rounded the corner she noted Oliver already there also with two paper bags and a freshly conjured blanket.
"Nice," was Stacey's first comment when she reached the tall boy.
"Aint it just?"
"Mhmm…." Stacey nodded, " just wonderful." She grinned as Oliver leaned down towards her, his lips catching hers just as snowflakes began to fall.