green eyes and freckles and your smile (in the back of my mind making me feel like)

"I can't believe that we finally get to go to Hogsmeade!" Anya squealed as she dropped her purse by her seat between Damian and Emma in the Great Hall. 

"Haven't you already visited with your parents?" Ewen asked as he sipped his breakfast tea. 

"Well, yeah but it was only once and it's not the same," Anya replied as she reached for the butter and jam for her toast. 

"At least you've been before," Becky pouted from her seat next to Ewen and Pandora. Given that it was early for a weekend day, the whole crew had decided to sit together at the nearly empty Ravenclaw table. Most Ravens were night owls, after all. 

"Where are you guys planning on going?" Emma asked, trying to keep the matter from escalating. An irritated Becky was never fun to deal with and it was too early in the day to deal with her attitude anyway. 

"I really want to go to Zonko's and Honeydukes," Anya replied, excited. She really wanted to buy some candied peanuts and maybe some pranks she could try out on her grandpapa. They had started a prank war in the summer so that she and Sev could practice their spell work and potions skills but since they had never explicitly stated in the rules that they couldn't use outside help... well like any good Slytherin, she had a few plans already. 

"Oh, I want to go to Zonko's too! And to Dervish!" Pandora said, excited.

Becky chuckled, Anya and Dora were so predictable, "I want to go to Gladrags and Madam Pudifoots." 

"I need to stop by Scrivenshaft's," Damian said with a shrug when they turned to look at him. 

"I think we should go to Zonko's and the Three Broomsticks," Emma said and Emile and Ewen nodded their agreement. Before they could voice anything, however, they were interrupted. 

"Hey, um guys, sorry to bother but I wanted to ask Anya something," Lily said as she neared the group. She had just been sitting on the other end of the table with Aurora, Severus, and Alice. It was too early on a Saturday for Marlene or Mary, Lily's roommates, to be up and about as was the case with most Gryffindors. As such the odd foursome, having one member per House, had chosen a more neutral table. 

"Sure, how can I help?" Anya replied, barely swallowing her bite before speaking. She'd only remembered to do so at the last second so as not to make a grotesque display of her chewed food. 

"So, I was kinda hoping you could get me something while at Hogsmeade?" Lily said but it sounded more like a question. 

"You guys want some candy, I'm guessing," Emile asked, used to the muggleborn by now but still a little irritated that she wanted them to run errands. 

"Well, actually, it's Rory's birthday next week and we wanted some help getting her gift. We know that Dervish tends to have just about anything and well, she loves astronomy best and we were hoping to get her a new star chart and a portable telescope," Lily said nervously. 

"Of course, we'd love to help," Anya replied excitedly, already planning what she could get the girl as a gift of her own.

"Cool, thanks Anya. Here's a note from Sev specifying exactly what we want to get her," Lily said, passing the note and some money. 

"Wow, this is really detailed and specific," Emma whistled as she leaned over Anya's shoulder, an easy feat given the strawberry blonde's small size. 

"He really researched the gifts. Wanted it all to be perfect," Lily said eagerly. 

"Huh, that's weirdly sweet and thoughtful of him," Becky added. She wasn't a fan of Anya's grumpy and rude cousin. 

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, confused. He had always gone the extra mile with hers and Rory's gifts. Granted, he never gave as much effort to Alice, Marlene, or Mary, but he always got them stuff they wanted. He just wasn't as close to them really. 

"He didn't even get Anya a birthday gift this year," Damian hissed. They had all been at the party in Prince Manor. A huge event celebrating the heir. Everyone had noticed that she had gotten her lavish gifts from everyone except her cousin who she dotted on. 

"Oh," Lily said, shocked. She had been visiting her grandparents in August to enjoy some time with them before coming back to Hogwarts and so she hadn't been able to go.

"Well, that was incredibly rude of him," Lily added, crossing her arms. Fuming she turned to leave but stopped to say a quick 'thank you' before stomping away. 

Moments later, an annoyed Severus Snape-Prince was dragged by the ear by Lily Evans as she chastised him as Anya shook her head in exasperated fondness and the rest of the crew cheered Lily on, leaving a confused Aurora and Alice behind. 

"So, are you gonna do it or not?" Becky prodded as she walked beside her cousin on their way to the castle's main door. All of the students who would be visiting Hogsmeade needed to meet there to be dispatched and accounted for. 

"Obviously not, Becky. We're already on our way there. It's a little late, don't you think?" Damian grunted out. He had finally gotten the courage to say the words this morning at breakfast but that little, red-headed lion had ruined his plans. 

"Are you still grumpy about Lily?" Becky said, eyebrow raised, "It's not the poor girl's fault that you didn't ask Anya before." 

"Yeah well, your brilliant idea to ask her right now is worse!" Damian barked out, ego offended. 

"It's now or never, D. You either ask her now or miss the chance of this first outing AND risk the opportunity someone else will win you to it. You know Anya has all the guys after her, oblivious as she is about it all," Becky replied with a shrug. She loved her best friend but the girl could be so thick-headed at times. At least her dad was hot. She did get that bonus from their friendship. Just then, they reached the front, where said man was speaking. 

"Alright students, listen up, please. We will be visiting until 18:00 sharp. No more, no less. You are all 3rd years and up so I'm certain you can cast a simple tempus to keep track of time. If you aren't back at the front by said time, you will have this privilege revoked. You have to move around in groups, at minimum, in pairs. No one goes anywhere alone. Again, if you fail to do this, your privilege will be revoked. Yes, this includes 7th years. You may be legally adults but you're first and foremost students. If you have any issues with these rules, kindly take them up with Deputy Headmaster Henderson. I'm sure he would love to hear how you disagree with his stipulations," Loid finished and glancing at Yor, he verified that she was done with the second count. Nodding at her, he moved to let the students know they could go. 

"Ready for a lovely fall Saturday being ruined taking care of miscreants?" Loid asked, offering his arm like a gentleman. 

Yor laughed at his antics. Ever since she'd joined him at WISE, he had slowly been letting her see more and more parts of his true personality. She knew there were more secrets, of course. But she didn't want to push him, not when she wasn't willing to tell him all about her past in the Order and everything that she'd lived through.

"Well, at least this way we can keep watch over Anya," Yor replied. If there was one person she was certain her husband loved more than anything else in this world, it was his daughter and any opportunity to keep her safe was a good one. 

"I must concede to your greater forethought, madam," He replied jokingly but his eyes immediately sought their daughter in the crowd. As always, she was surrounded by her little group of Slytherin and Ravenclaw friends, although the younger Desmond stood closer than usual to Anya, the pair almost touching. He narrowed his eyes at that sight. Seeing the scene too, Yor decided to distract him. 

"Now Loid, they're just kids and they're going about all together in a group. I'm sure it means nothing. Now come on, I'm the one who actually wants to go on a date with her handsome husband," Yor said, dragging him to Madam Puddifoots. Other professors could watch the kids for a while. 

"Huh, I think we've somehow fallen behind," Anya said. She'd been walking with Damian having an interesting conversation about the differences in value of wizarding versus muggle forms of transport. Of course, the consensus in the end was that wizarding forms could be remarkably faster and more efficient although Damian was admittedly surprised about some of the muggle inventions. Somehow, however, they had gotten distracted enough that the rest of their crew had moved ahead of them, already going into the different shops. 

"Oh, come on, we best hurry so we can explore," Anya added, instinctively reaching for his hand and pulling him forward. She always did so with Severus or any of her girl friends and didn't think much of the matter. Damian, however, froze up.

"Sy-on?" she asked, turning to him when she had difficulty pulling him with her, "Is everything alright?" 

"I uh, I had actually… um I had been wanting to," Damian stuttered out, pulling his hand out of hers so that he could hopefully focus better, "I was hoping to um, to ask you to go on a date with me," he squeaked the last bit in typical pre-adolescent fashion. 

Anya froze and watched him, eyes staring directly into his own as she hoped for some clarity. His thoughts made the generally oblivious girl blush. 

"You like me? As in like like me?" Anya squeaked out. 

"Yes," Damian replied, looking at the ground. 

"I thought you only put up with me because of Becky," she whispered, looking down too. She may be blind to many things and pretty naïve but she wasn't a fool. She knew he was often irritated by her behaviour. 

"Oh," Damian said, kicking a rock around now, hands in his pockets as he tried to shrink himself, wishing the earth would swallow him, "I uh, I'm sorry, just forget about it." 

Anya looked up at that and noticed him making his way back to Hogwarts. She called out to him and instinctively reached for his arm. 

"Wait, Damian, just wait a moment! I was just taken by surprise!" Anya said, hand curling on his right forearm. 

"I just, I never thought you actually liked me. And well, I'm not sure how I feel, at least not yet but I would like to spend the day with you," she said, tugging at his arm to pull him closer. For once not caring whether it would help her papa's mission or not if she made up with Damian. She didn't want to lose her friend.

"You're my friend and I, I need time to think, but for now... For now can we just enjoy today with our friends?" Anya said with a tentative smile. 

Damian was facing her now and seeing that endearing, nervous look broke down his walls. 

"Yeah, yeah, I think I can do that," he said. Anya beamed in response, a smile so blinding it put the sun to shame and made his stomach do funny things. 

"Come on, let's go to Dervish for that present and then we can spend the rest of the day at Zonko's and Honeydukes if you want," Damian added as he began walking to the aforementioned shop. 

"I'd like that," Anya replied as she walked beside him, their shoulders touching. As they got closer to the store, she sneaked her hand into his. Blushing madly, they walked into the store. 

"I had so much fun today," Anya gushed at Emma as they made their way back to their dorms after supper and parting ways with their Ravenclaw friends. Like instructed, after a long day of running around different shops and a lunch at the Three Broomsticks and some dessert at Madam Puddifoots, the whole group had returned to the castle's gate at 18:00 sharp and then everyone had gone to put away their new treasures before meeting for dinner. 

"Oh, it was! I didn't even realise Honeydukes had so many different types of candies!" Emma replied excitedly. 

"And Zonko's has so many pranks. I still can't believe Emile made the toy cauldron explode and pour goo all over him and Ewen. It was hilarious," Anya giggled with Emma. 

"Not funny," grumbled Emile, "I still have goo in my ears, ugh." 

Damian laughed too, "It was kinda funny. We told you not to mess with the stuff so now you gotta suffer the consequences." 

"Exactly!" Emma exclaimed, laughing more. 

"Oh, shove off! It's not like I was the idiot that messed with it!" Ewen exclaimed, annoyed now. A small piece of goo fell from his hair just then. Not even an hour of showering had gotten rid of it all. Damian, Emma, and Anya glanced at each other and then burst out laughing. They entered the door in a ruckus and were immediately hushed by Demetrius who was doing rounds. 

"All of you, hush it. We're not Gryffindors, we behave with decorum!" the older Desmond hissed. 

Damian froze but Anya simply rolled her eyes and pulled him towards the stairs of the dorms. Emma had already made a quick retreat to their room so as to avoid losing points and Emile and Ewen had dragged themselves to take yet another long shower to get rid of the remaining goop. 

"Hey, you okay?" Anya asked, concerned. Damian never reacted well to disapproval from his dad or brother and so, in the privacy of a dark corner by the bottom of the stairs, she checked in on him. 

"Huh, yeah yeah, I'm fine," Damian said, shaking himself from his daze. 

"Good," she sighed and added, "I really had fun today, though. Thank you."

"We literally just spent time with our friends," Damian frowned in confusion. 

"Yep, exactly," Anya said then giggled when his frown increased. "What I mean is, you didn't push when I told you to give me time and you just let us have fun all together as friends, so thank you." 

"Oh," Damian said, blushing, "You're um, you're welcome. I had fun too, anyway," he shrugged. 

They had moved to the bottom of the girl's staircase now and Anya stood on the second step, liking how it made her slightly taller than him. Leaning forward, she smiled mischievously. 

"Next Hogsmeade weekend, ask me again," she said, eyes twinkling.

"Why?" Damian asked, surprised. 

"Because next time, I might say yes," Anya replied, then gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and ran upstairs to her room. 

Damian stood at the bottom of the stairs, his whole world frozen, a small smile creeping on his face and a hand on his cheek.