Haley was a bit skeptical at going out with Alex; what if he was just desperate for a girlfriend again? She suddenly felt sorry for Erica…then again, Erica was the one that dumped Alex.

She gazed into the fire on Friday night, the night before her first date with Alex. She was alone; Marina, tired from the whole day, had gone to bed, and Sherry she hadn't managed to sneak into the Gryffindor tower. The flames flickered left to right. Halia's mind was completely blank. It was like she had been put under a spell. She really should go to bed, yet she couldn't bring herself to it.

After a few moments of staring into the fire, she looked at her watch. It was already 11:30…sighing, she slowly got up from her chair and dragged her feet upstairs.

The next morning, Haley woke up at 8:30 with a pillow being thrown at her face.

"Hail! HAIL! You have to meet Alex at 9!" it was Marina, who was up and fully dressed.

"Oh my God! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" she exclaimed, immediately jumping out of bed and turning to her drawer. Marina shrugged.

"Here," she said, throwing an off-white camisole at her friend. "Wear this."

"Oh, come on, Mars. A camisole doesn't look good without anything," she laughed as she caught it.

"Um…don't you have that brown jacket that you love?" Marina asked.

"Yeah…"

"Wear that with it and a pair of jeans!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Ok. But I need to get changed quickly."

Marina grinned and went out the dorm. Haley got out of her pajamas and put on day clothes; quickly she ran a brush through her hair and put it up in a tight ponytail; applied a bit of eye shadow; slid on a pair of black boots and was on her way.

"Hi Haley," Alex greeted her as she walked up to him in the entrance hall, where all the third years and over were waiting to go into the village.

"Hey" she replied shyly. He grinned, and together they started to head out of the castle.

When they passed the gates into Hogsmueade, Haley spotted Elizabeth Mathoy not to far from them, eyeing Alex with apprehension.

"So, where do you want to go first?" Alex asked. Haley shrugged.

"Um…there's Madam Puddifoots," she said. For a moment they stood in silence, and Haley remembered a overhearing a 6th year last week calling the place 'the snog shack'.

"Wait, wait, no. We could just…go into the Three Broomsticks," she quickly said. Alex nodded, rather too eagerly, if she said so herself.

"Yeah, I think that's better," Alex replied. Haley smiled. They started walking. Haley was all too nervous. Her head was running with things it shouldn't be; as a nervous habit, she was clicking her bubble gum and tossing her hair every which way as they walked. Finally, after what seemed hours of awkward quietness, they arrived at the door to the pub, and Alex held it open for her. She grinned at him and proceeded forward.

He led the way to an empty table, one close to a bunch of popular 4th years chugging down firewhisky.

"What can I get for you kids today?" Madam Rosemerta, the bartender, asked as she approached the table.

"Two mulled meads. Is that alright, Hail…I mean Haley?" he asked. She nodded. The bartender left, and Haley spoke.

"You can call me Hail, if you'd like," she said, noticing his embarrassment at calling Haley her nickname from friends and family.

"Really? Um…thanks." Haley couldn't help but smile once more. "So…what's your favorite Quiddich team?"

"Timberton Twisters" she replied conversationally.

"Me too!"

Their drinks arrived, and soon the conversation flowed very easily. After a half hour, and realizing that they had lots in common, and lots not in common, including a shared fascination of Graphorns, Alex got up.

"Well, we'd better head down to another place," he told Haley. His hand was hovering inches from her. Haley's instincts told her to take it, so she did, and he pulled her up. As the door swung open, and Alex and Haley were still holding hands, she heard a popular guy at one table whistle, and a 'holy crap' coming from one of the girls at a different table. Haley ignored the comments; she was glad that their hands were still clamped tightly together.

"Let's go to Honeydukes," Haley said. She adored that place.

"Okay," he agreed. And there hands were still together as they made their way through the many Hogwarts students crowding the town.

As soon as they got into the store, Haley spotted Sherry standing with Marina over by a case of Chewy Newts. Sherry caught her eye, winked, and nudged her head over towards the girl's levity.

"Um, Alex, I have to go the bathroom. I'll be back in a couple minutes." She said, and as painful as it was for her to do this, she dropped his hand. He nodded, so she pushed a couple people out of her way to get to it. Sherry was there, waiting with Marina at the door.

"Hi!" she squealed.

"So, how's it going?" Sherry asked, her hands on Haley's elbows.

"GREAT! We've been holding hands since we got out of The Three Broomsticks!" she exclaimed. For a few seconds, Marina, Haley, and Sherry were jumping up and down, squealing joyfully like three teenage girls should do.

"Okay. I'd better go. He's waiting!" She smiled and waved at her two best friends and went back toward Alex. When she got back, he had a bundle of candy already in his arms.

"Err…It's one of my friends birthdays tomorrow. And you know, he loves candy!" He said, and smiled innocently at her. Haley started laughing. She picked up a couple boxes of chocolate from a different shelf, flashed Alex another grin, and went with him up to the counter. She withdrew a couple galaons and placed them in front of the cashier. He took the money, and Halia waited for Alex as he asked for a bag for all the candy. The cashier grumpily bent down behind the counter and jammed a plastic bag with the writing 'Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe' written on it into his hand. Alex pushed all the candy into the bag, and went out with Haley.

"That dude looked like he wanted to kill me when I asked him for a bag!" Alex exclaimed. Haley looked at her watch; there was only about an hour left until lunch, and she had skipped breakfast. Her stomach was rumbling already.

About 45 minutes later, after the almost-couple had visited the pet store and Zonko's joke shop, the dreaded moment came: lunch at Madam Puddifoots.

She really didn't want to go. If a different café wasn't packed, they would have gone there, but, due to Karma hating Haley, the places had no tables left open. And if Hogwarts served lunch for third years on Hogsmeude Saturdays, which they didn't, they would've headed back towards the castle. But, no, they had to go to the horrid Snog Shack.

Nervously, Haley opened the door, which was splattered in pink paint so you couldn't see inside. Not a good sign. She ushered herself in, Alex cautiously following behind her. She looked around. It was a cramped little place. All around were tables for two. Haley found herself standing in front of a restaurant-style podium thing with a sign that said 'wait to be seated.' That, obviously, wasn't there before, because you could smell the new smell of wood, marker, and paint.

A stoat lady dressed in pink silk robes came bustling towards them. She had much too much pale pink eye shadow on, and the red lipstick didn't add much to the rosy cheeks.

"Ah, yes, another young couple. Come this way, my dears," she said, making a hand motion towards one of the tables nearest the white-curtained windows. She waited for a few seconds, with both of the teenagers standing looked oddly at her, when she clucked her tongue. Alex finally made a nod of understanding. He pulled a chair out for Haley, who by now was very red in the face so she could've matched the red velvet tablecloth. Alex sat down across from her, his blue-beyond-blue eyes softening in the glow of the floated candle between them.

"Menus, menus!" she said, as she just heard the tinkle of the bell above the doors. She threw them onto the table and rushed over.

"Awkward place, is it not?" Haley asked. Alex didn't reply at first; he was staring with his mouth lolling open at a couple not to far from where they were sitting. The couple was so immersed in kissing that Haley thought if they would suffocate.

"What? Oh, um yeah. Really odd. Really, really, really, odd," he added. Halia felt the urge to laugh, but bit her lip and looked down at the menu instead. The waitress came by again, asking for their order.

"I'm just going to have the French Onion soup and a biscuit…and just water to drink. What about you, Alex?"

"Same…" he said, handing the waitress the menu back. Haley did the same, and literally two minutes later, she came bustling around again, holding two soups, two waters, and two biscuits. Haley quickly ate her food up; she wanted to get out of here, and fast. Alex did the same, put five galoans on the table, took Haley's hand, and was out of there like a bee. He told her he was going to meet up with his friends, so she waved goodbye, and he darted off towards the Quidditch store. She sighed happily and went off to find her own friends.

After dinner, in which Haley had sat with Sherry, Marina, and another Ravenclaw girl about the juicy details of her day with Alex, she was to meet Alex at the entrance hall. Quickly, she threw on her jacket, made sure by Sherry that her hair and makeup were still good, and pushed through yet another crowd, and found the doors. There he was, perfect as he had been today, crossing his arms at Gina and her friends. Haley looked by them. Elizabeth Mathoy was flipping her hair along with them at Alex. Right then, Haley wished that she could just kiss Alex in front of Elizabeth; that would sure make her day brighter.

"Hey Alex" she said. He turned towards her and smiled.

"Hi. Come on," he said. Haley glared at Elizabeth as Alex took her hand. He dragged her out to the cool grounds, where the sun was almost setting above the lake. They walked for a while in silence, around the outer edge of the small lake, until finally Alex spoke.

"Would you consider us…going out?" Alex asked shyly as he tightened his grip on Haley's hand.

"Well, sort of. I don't know. Only if you do," she said hurriedly.

"Um, yeah, I told all my friends you and I were," he said even faster.

"Then I guess we are," Haley replied, and her stomach left. Could God really love her this much, to give her Alex as a boyfriend? Alex smiled as big as he ever did, and, yes, of course he had to do this:

He turned around and locked his lips with Halia's.