hold me near, while i'm still here [tag; anwen]

It was a Saturday, and a holiday, which meant it was a Hogsmeade weekend. It had been New Year's eve a few days ago, and the students were coming back from home. Tavish hadn't gone home this year, he claimed he was too busy with school work to leave the castle but the truth was he just didn't want to see his family. He didn't like them much, and his parents were busy with parties this time of the year so he would have gone ignored either way. Tavish spent most of his holiday in the library with the other students who stayed at Hogwarts, the ones who had no life or friends.

Today however, was going to be a change of pace for the Slytherin. He had invited a girl to accompany him to shop today and he was currently gazing at himself in hatred in the mirror. Why did he always look like a nerd, regardless of what he did to change his appearance? He wished he could gain ten pounds of muscle so he would actually have a frame to him, instead of looking more or less like a popsicle stick. He decided it would be best to wear something comfortable and warm today as it was snowing already so he wore a deep green sweater with a pair of khaki pants, and a pair of walking boots, and over that he wore his Slytherin scarf.

Sighing deeply as he normally did, he left the mirror behind him and headed out of the Slytherin dungeon and towards the Great hall where he was meeting his friend. Tavish was nervous, he had never been this close to a girl in his life and he had only spent a few hours with her so far. He couldn't believe that he actually asked her to spend time with him outside of school. He must have really been getting lonely or perhaps his mind was acting up because of the icy cold weather. Either way, he had no way of getting out of it.

He gazed up at the clock, it was ticking towards one in the afternoon which was the time they agreed to meet. "Hmm." he began to think aloud, just as he felt a gentle finger tap his shoulder.

Saturday rolled around, at last. She had agreed to meet Tavish near the doors to the school to go to Hogsmead together. In all honesty, Anwen couldn't believe he had asked her. After all, she was just...well Anwen Sawyer. She spent most of the morning figuring out what she was going to wear. It was rather chilly outside and she didn't want to be cold as they walked to Hogsmead, but at the same time, she wanted to be cute. Adorable, to maybe catch his eye. She soon decided on a white, long dress with a slightly lacy cuff at the neck line. She grabbed her blue sweatry cloak and tied a cute little scarf around the top of her head to keep her ears warm. On her feet she slipped into black boots. She normally hated wearing shoes, but it was snowing and there was no way she was going to walk in the snow with no shoes on.

She finished up her outfit and nodded at her look in the mirror. She didn't think she was that cute, but maybe he had a different opinion of her. Besides, at least she would be warm as they walked through Hogsmead. She made her way up the stairs from the Hufflepuff common room and walked past the kitchens. She almost thought she would be late, but she had a few moments to spare as she walked up behind the handsome boy from Slytherin.

Her slender hand lifted and she gently tapped his shoulder. "Hello again." She smiled and dropped her hand. Her body sort of curled up into a shyish pose before she looked down slightly. "It's good to see you again." She played with the fabric of her dress as she rocked from side to side. She was nervous because she had never actually been on a date before, if that's what this was. She liked Tavish, but maybe he was just trying to be polite. At the very least though, they had to be considered friends...right? "Are you...um...ready to go then?"

He turned around and gave her a half smile, she looked nice. He hoped they would have a pleasant day together; and at the very least he would get  a few things he was out of. "Hello." he finally said. He was more than ready to go, he was practically there already mentally. "Yes, we can go." he said as he began to walk towards the doors that lead to the path to the village. He honestly didn't know what to say to her, he didn't know why he asked her to go in the first place other than being a lonely boy. He supposed their time together so far had been interesting enough, though he couldn't tell if he enjoyed it or not.

"So, how were your holidays?" he asked her. He hoped her's were better than his own. He absolutely didn't understand how his family could act so non family like, and hoped his was the only one who had such a scenario. Once out the door, Tavish lead the way to the village. He began to walk at a quick pace and hoped her tiny frame could keep up, as it was quite chilly out and he wanted to keep his circulation at its' peak.

"Sorry, I walk fast -- " he began.

Anwen didn't know what possessed the boy to ask her out to Hogsmead, but she wasn't going to complain. She knew that the two of them would have a good time. She would make sure of it, even if she had pull out some her own lame jokes. There was no way that Tavish was going to find Anwen boring. When he finally said hello she smiled at him. He was sort of adorable in a shy boy sort of way. The conversation between the two of them might have been short but at least there was one. "Alright then, you lead the way." She grinned and tugged on her scarf before following him out into the cold weather.

"Oh. They were alright I suppose. I mean for having to share a house with a bunch of dead relatives. Sometimes I wish I had the place to myself, or at least to the living. Not that I don't enjoy their company sometimes.....but it can get a little creepy when you're trying to do something on your or you know, alone and they are always there." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "But otherwise, I guess it was good. I did have to argue with my mom about why I wasn't going to eat her roasted turkey dinner though." She looked over at him and stuffed her hands into her pockets. "What about yours?"

He was walking mighty fast, but Anwen forced herself to keep up. She was a dancer so she had quite the stamina it was just a matter of taking two or three steps to his one that was the problem. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'm okay." She grinned at him before looking up at the sky as it started to snow.