It was a surprisingly pleasant day, probably one of the last warm breaths of the sun before the winter would take over. It was warm enough for Emilia not to wear any heavy sweaters, despite it being almost the end of October. Instead of her usual, oversized and comfortable clothes, she actually let Rosie dress her up, and to her own surprise, she actually didn’t regret it.

Her friend picked out a nice, beige, long skirt with suspenders and paired with a plain white shirt which she left unbuttoned by at the top and decorated her slightly visible cleavage with a small pendant which her mother gave her when she was a child. She considered it to be lucky and only wore it on special occasions.

She insisted on wearing her usual boots, despite Rosie’s disapproval, since she assumed that the date that Ash had planned for them for that day required a lot of walking, similarly to all of their other dates, which were mostly just strolls around the castle. But she didn’t mind, she enjoyed every single one of them and had become quite fond of their little escapades that he would take her on every weekend.

This time however, she was especially excited, since Ash mentioned some ‘special place’ that he wanted to show her. After she revealed it to her friends, Rosie obviously insisted on dressing Emilia up to make it even more special.

She actually didn’t mind, she felt very pretty in the outfit she had picked out for her. Her only hope was that her date would think the same thing once he saw her.

Emilia left the common room at around 11 at night, very careful and quiet, trying not to bump into any teachers or prefects on her way out of the castle. The timing that Ash had picked out for their date was unusual, so it only made the girl wonder about what he had planned even more.

She finally sneaked out through the main entrance, and immediately bumped into some tall dark figure, making a small eek escape her mouth in fear.

‘Chill, Vay, it’s just me.’ – Atticus’ gray eyes looked down at her from underneath the hood of a dark cape that he was wearing, as he grabbed the girl by the arms to calm her down.

‘Merlin’s beard, Atticus, what are you even doing here at this hour?’ – she questioned him, eyeing his bizarre clothing.

‘I was just out, doing some exploring, nothing new.’ – he chuckled before he looked at her with realization. – ‘What are YOU doing here? I’ve never seen you sneak out past curfew before. Gotta say, you’re making me proud, Vay.’ – his iconic cocky grin appeared on his face.

‘Uh… I’m meeting up with Ash.’ – she replied with a slight feeling of guilt in the tone, knowing he wasn’t going to like that answer.

‘Oh.’ – the grin was gone. – ‘Cool.’

The silence was awkward. Emilia stared down at her feet, not knowing what to say.

The sudden footsteps behind caught them both off guard.

‘Hi Emilia.’ – Ash appeared out of nowhere and smiled at the girl warmly, before raising his eyes to his adopted brother, his smile fading. – ‘Good evening, Atticus.’

Atticus’ face shown nothing but disgust, as he stood still, not replying.

‘I think you should head back to your common room. I don’t want to have to take any points away from Slytherin.’ – Ash warned, staring at him coldly.

Atticus scoffed and just left. He walked right past Emilia without even saying goodbye, which slightly pained her. She could feel the tension slowly go away.

Ash turned back to her, his gentle smile already back on his lips.

‘I have some place special to show you. Come on.’ – he revealed happily.

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He grabbed her hand and led her out of the school grounds. The began walking south, leaving the train leading to Hogsmeade, up a small hill that was right next to the Forbidden Forest.

Emilia kept looking towards the deep darkness that was in between of the forest’s trees with worry, as they were climbing up the grassy hill. The night was surprisingly calm and warm, there were no clouds in the sky and the moon was almost full. It was so quiet that every time she heard a sound coming from the woods she would turn her head in fear and squeeze Ash’s hand. Once, she was even almost sure that she saw some dark figure in the bushes, but she just reassured herself that it was all in her head.

Climbing up that hill was more tiring that she expected, by the time they reached the top she was almost out of breath, but it was completely worth it. At the very top there was a big, dead willow tree, which they walked up to. Emilia looked around her, amazed. From up there they could see most of the Highlands, to their left there were the faint lights from Hogsmeade, then there was the Black lake, which was reflecting all of the stars in it’s still surface, as well as the lights from Hogwarts, which looked just as breathtaking as always. A giant castle, standing on top of a hill surrounded by water, just as grand and strong as the day she saw it for the first time.

She sighed loudly and looked at Ash.

‘It’s so beautiful here. Now I see why you call it a ‘special place’.’

He smiled at her warmly.

‘Well, I figured it would be the perfect place for some stargazing.’ – he pulled out a small blanket from his bag and unrolled it, placing it on the grass right by the tree.

Emilia sat down, her legs crossed, and kept staring at the beautiful landscape. He laid down right next to her, his arms underneath his head, and he glanced at her, smiling.

‘You look really beautiful today, you know?’ – his green eyes were looking right into hers.

She smiled happily, her cheeks turning slightly pink, before laying down next to him, gazing at the starry night.

They started chatting, as usual, and it felt as if nothing in the world existed besides them at that moment. That the only thing that mattered at that time was just them, that moment which they were sharing. Emilia felt so relaxed and comfortable with Ash, she enjoyed talking with him so much, he was so intelligent, so refreshing and kind. She was telling him all sorts of stories as minutes began turning into hours and the stars were shining down at them as they laid there, in the darkness.

The girl would notice Ash staring at her, instead of the beautiful view that they had right under their noses, his emerald eyes studying carefully every inch of her. He was surprisingly quiet, so after some time she turned her head towards him and asked:

‘Is everything okay?’

‘Yes, everything’s great. It’s just…’ – he paused for a moment, before sitting back up and laying against the old tree behind them. - ‘…you.’

‘Me?’ – she asked, confused.

He laughed softly.

‘You know, I just keep thinking that maybe you have me under some sort of spell or something, because I’ve never felt so… enchanted, by anyone.’

Emilia chuckled and sat up too, laying her back by the tree as well, and him instinctively putting his arm around her.

‘That was very corny, Ash.’

He laughed with her before continuing.

‘I’m serious though. I’ve never met anyone that would have me so… huh, I don’t think there is even a word for how I’m feeling.’ – he paused, his eyes meeting up with hers again. – I just… I’ve thought about you constantly ever since that first day in Herbology class or actually, even earlier, I first noticed you during the Welcome Ceremony and I already knew, that there was just something about you. You don’t even realize how happy I was when you agreed to go out with me for the first time. You have me in such a chokehold, Emilia. I could spend every living second with you and never get tired.’ – his words were so captivating and genuine, the girl just listened to him, entranced, their eyes connected as he spoke. – ‘I hope you won’t think anything weird about me now that I’m saying all this, I just wanted to be honest with you, but I’m pretty sure you already know well how much I like you and enjoy spending time with you.’

‘I won’t think anything of you, I promise, Ash. Besides, isn’t it obvious that the feeling’s mutual?’ – she was shock with her own forwardness, her heart began beating faster.

He smiled at her softly, not taking his eyes off of her, and raised his other hand to brush her cheek with his fingers, which gave her butterflies like never before. She was so nervous and yet excited with the sudden closeness and intimacy that he had shown, before he was always trying to be reserved and proper, not doing anything above holding her hand or greeting her with hugs. This was different. And she loved it.

His emerald eyes looked down at her lips for a split second before meeting back up with hers. He then took a deeper breath, seemingly as nervous as she was, before finally leaning in. His lips kissed hers gently, they were so warm and soft, it made her melt inside. She opened her mouth slightly, surprisingly confident in her moves. They started making out more passionately, it was still very sweet and gentle but she could tell that Ash wanted it just as much as she did. She raised her own hand and buried her fingers in his soft hair, allowing herself to get lost in the moment, as she pushed herself closer to him.

Everything about that moment was beyond perfect.