[thirty two ways]ZANE[to make her smile]

[Lou McGooken]

It was a surprisingly warm day for the middle of October. The sun was shining brightly down upon the little town of Hogsmeade and most, if not all, the Hogwarts students were chatting and laughing around the village. Bright, fiery leaves blanketed the ground, crunching merrily under the feet of passerby.

A particular Huffle was just making her way out of the shops lining the main street of the town. She'd just been in to order a beautiful pigeon quill to be delivered to her dorm later the very next day, as her last one was become rather ratty and beat up. The girl simply loved new quills, or new things in general, as she'd never much gotten new clothing of the likes when she was small. Mostly it was just hand-me-downs, or other things that had already been used at least once. Naturally, she'd begun to not really mind when she had to use old or damaged things. After a while, one got used to such things.

As she made her way out of the suppy shop, the Huffle made a beeline for the sweets shop just across the way. She simply adored sweets of all kinds, mostly, again, for the reason that she hadn't gotten much of them when she was a wee little thing. So, she had a tendency to buy at least a few sweets every so often with her meager supply of Wizarding money.

She entered the shop, the bell tinkling happily over her head as she opened the door, inducing a large grin from the face of the girl. Lou tied her best to not look too astounded at the vast amount of candy inside. She always remembered the place as a tad smaller and less sweet-filled than it actually was, so it often came as a shock to her when she entered Honeydukes after a long while away from it.

Wandering through the aisles, she eventually stopped right near a large pile of Chocolate Frogs, carefully arranged so as to be overly pleasing to the eye.

Outfit Here

[Zane Lestrange]

Zane walked down the main street in Hogsmeade pausing outside the Quidditch Supplies Shop, as usual, to see if there was a new broom out on the market. Of course on this particular day, he couldn't get anywhere near the window, due to a large crowd of third years who were all pressing their faces against the glass. Zane smiled to himself and just looked over the heads of the much younger students and saw what they had all been staring at - The Firebolt II. However Zane did not pause for long, knowing that if they noticed him there, the third years would all pester him about the broom. As it happened, Zane already had his own Firebolt II, but he didn't have it at Hogwarts. As part of his acceptance the the England First Seven, he had been given a brand new Firebolt II, with his surname on the handle. He hadn't told anyone that he had got one, except for James, Lily, Rosie and Teddy. But somehow the news had spread around the school like wildfire, as these things always did. He reluctantly turned away from the shop, resisting the temptation to go inside and talk to the shopkeeper like he always did.

Zane crossed the street and paused outside the window of another shop, looking at
the jewellery on display. I could get something for Lily. Something small mind you. Maybe a star or a heart or something. That's pretty but I don't know whether she'd like it or not. I know I'll reserve it and wait until I get some more money. Zane smiled to himself as he walked inside and had a quick word with the shopkeeper. The necklace in question, was a small, silver heart shaped locket. The shopkeeper took it out of the window and put it behind the counter ensuring Zane that he wouldn't sell it until he returned. Satisfied, Zane returned to the main street.

He looked up and down the street wondering where he could go next. He didn't want to venture into the Three Broomsticks, or anywhere for that matter. He was just about to start heading back up to the castle, when he paused outside of Honeydukes. The coins weighing heavily in his pocket, he walked inside, smiling as he heard the bell above the door chime. He walked slowly through the store, looking at all the sweets on display. He picked up a sugar quill and a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans before beginning the hunt for the chocolate frogs. They were his favourite sweet in the whole shop, but they always seemed to be in a different place every time he visited.

He turned and walked right into a girl in a brown dress who had stopped to look at the Chocolate Frogs. "I'm really sorry," he said, quickly trying to pick up the Chocolate Frogs which he had just knocked onto the floor. Luckily most of the display had remained intact.

[Lou McGooken]

The mind of the Huffle was wandering precariously as she stood in front of the Chocolate Frogs display. As such, she was rather caught off guard when she was jerked viciously back to reality when something like a moving train hit her in the side. She stumbled a bit, managing to crash right into the display and scatter the Chocolate Frogs across the floor.

Naturally, she'd probably blow up the things if she attempted to Levitate them back into place. So, instead she scurried around, picking up the things as fast as she could. The boy who'd bumped into her was helping her out, but he seemed rather reluctant to use his wand as well. Perhaps he was just as bad at spellwork as she was. But, a moment later, when she recognized the golden hair and rather muscular, tall build she realized who it was, and how utterly absurd it would be for him to be scared about a wand.

After all, the Great Zane Lestrange was rather popular around school. Girls had a tendency to fawn over him as well as flock to be friendly with him. Lou had never really seen much in the boy besides a rather overly-stocked amount of courage and a tad bit of good looks. Well, more than most boys that attended the school. She couldn't exactly complain.

Flashing him a grin, she continued to pick up Chocolate Frogs in her arms and pile them back onto the display case, pushing locks of russet hair out of her eyes every few seconds. "It's fine, really," she answered him, dropping a few frogs in the process of trying to talk and collect at the same time. Multi-tasking wasn't really her thing. "Probably my fault for standing too close to the display."

Outfit Here

[Zane Lestrange]

Zane continued to pick up chocolate frogs, not looking up until only a few frogs remained on the floor. He gathered these last remaining from into his arms and finally straightened up, looking into the face of the girl he had nearly knocked over for the first time. "No, it was me, I wasn't looking where I was going, sorry," he said with an embarassed smile on his face. He turned to stack the remaining frogs back on the display. I know her name, something like, erm, Lisa? No that's not it. Laura? No. Lorna? No. I'm sure it begins with a L, doesn't it? I know it.... Leanne? No definitely not. Leigh? Honestly, why can't I just remember one name? He continued to stack the chocolate frogs still deep in thought. Ah that's it! Louise! He turned slowly, smiling at the fact that he had managed to remember her name, "It's Lou, isn't it?" He paused before continuing, "look I'm really sorry, how about a chocolate frog and a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks to make up for it?"

[Lou McGooken]

Lou picked up the last of the Chocolate Frogs and attempted to arrange them in some sort of pattern on the display. She failed miserably. Art and beautifying things had never been her strong point. All she managed to do was mess around the pile a bit, even pushing two of the frogs off the table. Sighing internally, she picked up the chocolates and turned to look at the boy who had run into her.

The Hufflepuff smiled. "I suppose we can say it was both our faults?" she asked, her grin turning mischeivious. Sure, it was a joke. The girl always hoped to lighten the tension in conversations with little teasings. It tended to work very well, although it sometimes had a backfiring affect. But, that didn't really matter at the moment.

She was in complete and utter shock when he remembered her name. Sure, she wasn't that much of a nobody, but people didn't tend to remember the name of the chubby Hufflepuff in the corner who did as she was told and was too much of a coward to fight back against the bullies that ailed her day and night. They tended to just refer to her as such. In fact, this was probably the first time someone had actually remembered her name. Other than her friends of course. Which she didn't exactly have bucket loads of.

"Sounds lovely," she replied to his proposition, her mouth pulling back to reveal pearly whites. Her heart soared. Someone actually wanted a butterbeer with her? Crazy as it sounded, he was the one who'd said it. And she couldn't rightly refuse. Unless, of course, he was just saying that, hoping that she would turn the offer down. "That is, if you don't have anything better to do," she added, hopefully, always the one to offer a way out.

Outfit Here

[Zane Lestrange]

"Ok then...oh I'm Zane by the way," he said quickly, realsiing he hadn't introduced himself. Way to go there... forget to tell her your name, that's always a good start. "No I haven't got anything planned," he smiled once again, before noticing that he was still holding the sugar quill, a box of Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans and several chocolate frogs. He quickly headed towards the till, chatting with the shopkeeper whilst the items were rung up, before handing over the sickles and knuts required. With the sweets housed in a Honeydukes Paper Bag, he made his way back to where Lou was standing. He paused, totally lost in thought as he saw a stray Pygmy Puff run across the shop floor, closely followed by a harassed looking shop asistant. A few moments later, the shop asistant came back into view once more, Pygmy Puff in hand as he returned it to the cage. "Shall we be off then? Unless there's anything you wanted to get..."

[Lou McGooken]

"Delighted to meet you, Zane," she answered him, grinning brightly, her Irish-accented voice lilting freely over the words in a rather bird-like manner. Not the sort of bird that cawed and croaked viciously, but more of the songbird type. Later in life, if she would ever be able to produce it, her Patronus would come out as a hummingbird. Just like the tone of her voice.

When he asked her whether she needed to buy something, she made a small exclamation before a grin widened on her face and she muttered for him to wait a moment before grabbing a packet of chocolate frogs and hurrying to the counter to pay for them. Naturally, she ran into quite a few things on her way there. Once there, she pulled out a few Knuts and paid for the frogs, having a short, pleasant conversation with the shopkeeper, even managing to make the crotchety old man break a grin.

Afterwards, she headed back to Zane, chocolate frogs the over-the-shoulder bag that she'd brought along with her. "Ready, deary?" she asked him, her eyebrows raised as she pushed back a lock of her russet hair.

Outfit Here

[Zane Lestrange]

Zane nodded, walking towards the door, smiling as the bell chimed. He held the door open for Lou, just like he usually did. They walked slowly up the street towards the famous wizarding pub, the leaves underfoot crunching as they stepped on them. Layer upon layer of russet, scarlet and gold leaves, just lying abandoned where they had fallen. No longer belonging to the great trees at the edge of Hogsmeade. He smiled as a golden leaf fluttered by, which reminded him of his nickname amongst the Slytherins, well, one in particular.

As they stepped inside the pub, it became obvious that everyone else had had the same idea. All the tables appeared to be full and overflowing. Zane walked up to the bar, "two butterbeers please," the correct amount of money already in his hand. He looked over at the nearest table and counted at least twenty hufflepuffs and ravenclaws crammed around the tiny round table, some who were waving in Zane and Lou's direction. Zane looked at Lou with a smile before saying, "Are they friends of yours?"