It was "tomorrow" and Cress still hadn't seen Thorne. It was only noon, but they always met up in the library after lunch on the weekends. Today however, Cress couldn't see Thorne in their usual spot. He probably regretted the kiss, she didn't, but at the lack of Thorne in their usual spot she was starting to. She took a seat and proceeded to pull out various books from her backpack, which was poised against the legs of her chair. As she looked up she looked straight into the eyes of Thorne, blue as the sky.

"Hey," she said shyly, her hand found a small section of hair which she began to toy with.

"The short hair really works," Thorne responded simply.

"Thank you," she said, her cheeks warmed up, then all of a sudden she realized what he had said.

"You can see again?" she asked surprised, her eyes fleeting upwards, connecting with Thorne's.

"Yes." he smiled. Thorne turned towards the window, Cress followed his gaze. Heavy flakes of snow were drifting down slowly outside, plenty of them clinging to the window panes. Thorne exhaled sharply, in a sort laugh.

"What?" Cress asked, lifting a brow and shaking her head weakly. Thorne stepped closer to the window, and to her.

"I just came to think of when we were younger and used to play in the snow," he told her. Cress giggled as the memories came to her.

"Well... Our snowball fights were always all fun and games until you decided you were getting bored and threw snow down the back of my neck!" Cress scoffed and pushed Thorne's side playfully.

"Come on! You thought it was fun too!"

"Hilarious," Cress answered deadpan. "We both know it's because you couldn't stand the idea of losing, so you found a great way to interrupt the game before either one of us could win," Cress concluded. Thorne put a hand down on the back of Cress's chair, his other hand he held out towards her.

"What do you say we settle this once and for all. A snowball fight with no snow down the neck allowed. A fair and square game," Thorne smirked.

"Alright, let's do this!" she shook his hand and used it to drag herself up from the chair. Then she used the joking mood between the two of them to her advantage. She gathered up the courage to lean close, so close that her face was only a couple centimeters away from Thorne's.

"I have to remind you that my legal guardian is a lawyer, so if you do in fact smear snow down my back I will sue you," Cress threatened in a serious tone, but they both knew she was joking, there was no way she would interact with Sybil unless she absolutely had to.

…

As they were making their way towards the greenhouses the sun peeked out from between the clouds. The snow around them came down slower and slower. By the time they had reached the greenhouses it had stopped snowing completely, nonetheless the ground was covered with an impressive amount of snow. The snow glittered like diamonds when the sun hit it. The weight of their feet against the snow made a satisfying crunching sound. Thorne bent down into a squatting position, he tipped forward and stretched out his arms to keep his balance, then he dipped his left hand down in the sparkling snow to steady himself further. He then threw a glance at Cress who was still walking, he proceeded to wrap his hand around the cold and wet snow, with the help of his right hand he formed a ball.

"Are you coming?" Cress turned around, her hands hovered in the air as a display of her confusion at his lack of movement. Her eyes travelled to the ball of snow that he held between his hands.

"That is cheating!" she screamed as he lanced the ball towards her. Cress ducked down just in time and began cramming together a ball between the palms of her hands. Soon enough snowballs were flying back and forth in a frenzy, both of them using the corners of the greenhouses to shield themselves. Thorne pressed a ball together in between his palms, which he then rolled in the snow around him until it was the size of his head. Just as Thorne was finishing up his oversized snowball Cress came around the corner with several small snowballs gathered in her arms. She rapidly fired them at Thorne and ran in the direction she had come from. Screams followed her as her eyes had indeed caught sight of Thorne's bigger than average snowball. Although the weight of the snowball slowed him down, Thorne managed to catch up to her. It was no secret that he had always been a more swift runner than Cress. He preceded to throw the snowball towards Cress's frame, aiming for her back. Score! The ball hit her, the weight of it putting of her balance and pushing her down on the ground. Cress's fall forward was cushioned by the soft snow. Cress rolled around onto her back. She smiled as she looked at him. He smiled back, how could he not?

"Can you at least help me up?"

In response Thorne offered Cress his hand, which Cress accepted. Thorne pulled Cress towards himself, but as he pulled his feet began to lose their footing. He attempt to drag Cress up on her feet in a brash movement in a meek attempt to not fall. It did not work. He lost his footing and his body came full force down on Cress's body, luckily he managed to dampen the blow somewhat by placing his forearms down on the ground first, as the rest of his weight followed he apologized. Giggling bubbled out of Cress's mouth.

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't actually your fault."

Thorne could've sworn she was blushing, but then again it was cold outside, which could also be a factor as to why her face had turned red.

"Are you cold?" He decided to ask her, she answered by shaking her head. They were so close he could feel their warm breaths mingling with one another. Their eyes met and his eyes wandered down to her lips before he could stop them, butterflies began aggressively batting their wings in his stomach. He tore his eyes away from her lips and met her eyes once again. Can I kiss you is what he wanted to ask, but all he managed to get out what an excuse of a whisper resembling "can".

…

Thorne's eyes were peering deeply into hers, he kept throwing glances at her lips and she could have sworn he had whispered "can", could he what? Could they go inside? Could they get up on their feet again? Could he kiss her? It couldn't be the last one, or maybe it could? That kiss on the rooftop had to have meant something to him too.

"I still like you," Cress murmured, regret washing over her like a wave the moment the words left her mouth. There really was no going back now, after the little peck the night before he would know she was lying if she went back on her words.

"Can I kiss you?" Thorne whispered. Cress's heart sped up, it was almost beating faster than it was when she had to leave Hogwarts for the summer, to stay with Sybil. All Cress managed to do in response to Thorne's question was nodding. Yes, he was very much allowed to kiss her. All of a sudden their lips were crashing together, the wonderful warmth of his lips against hers reminded of her of how cold it was outside. Even though the new addition of warmth applied to her body made her aware of the cold snow beneath her she did not want to leave, she wanted to stay there for a while. Thorne rolled over on his side and Cress followed, their lips still connected, his arm cushioning her head. Their legs were intertwined, their lips were moving together in brash movements of desperation and desire. Years of wanting building up to this confirmation of mutual feelings. Their lips separated as they both took deep breaths of air.

"Better than last time," Thorne breathed.

"Oh," Cress's heart sank, hadn't he enjoyed their last kiss, why had he smiled if he didn't like it.

"It was good last time too, this was just... woah," he answered hastily in order to reassure her. His fingers were buried in her hair, toying with it.

"I'm starting to think you didn't want to go to the ball as just friends," Cress murmured.

"I'm starting to think you didn't either," Thorne shot back.

"You might be correct in that assumption," she giggled.

Author's note: Thanks so much for reading and for your patience. I actually started writing this chapter in May and got pretty far along the way, but never got around to finishing it. Fun fact this scene is the scene that gave me the idea for the whole fanfic.