Darius didn’t even know about all the drama going on behind his back and he wouldn’t care even if he did. He was on cloud nine for the entire week and more than one person assumed he had been hit by a stray cheering charm. Mione was much better controlled in public but she had no fewer butterflies in her stomach. She knew this was a chance to go beyond just being friends and she didn’t want to mess it up. Darius was a smart. Considerate and handsome guy with an off the charts power level. It also helped that he was just as much of a bibliophile as her and they got along swimmingly. She had caught several of the senior girls making googly eyes at him and she wasn’t about to lose him to someone else if she could help it. The two of them behaved mostly normally around each other over the next week except for the occasional shifty glance or foolish grin. They didn’t let up on their magic practice at all though. Time lost now would not come back and the RoR was a priceless resource. It was also their growing years and they would reap the maximum benefits if they trained harder now. It would not only make their magical core far larger and stronger, it would also increase the potential for further growth over the years. Darius had also told her about his wand when she had finally asked. He knew she had noticed long ago but he waited till she summed up the courage to ask herself. Most people only saw him using the White pine and Thestral hair wand but when he practised in the RoR, he always used his custom Yew and Unicorn hair wand. It looked much fancier than the one from Ollivander and that’s why she had first noticed it. She was absolutely fuming by the end of the explanation. Most of these things were never explained to muggleborns and they had to muddle along with the Ollivander creations, never finding the perfect wand for themselves. In fact, other than families with old money or lot of information networks, even most wizarding families didn’t know about this. Custom wands could prove to be a huge help. Even Darius’ first wan from Ollivanders, which had pretty high compatibility with him would only go as high as 70% or so whereas his Yew and Unicorn hair was at least 95%. Most people who got their wands from Ollivander didn’t even get that 70%. Darius had to promise her to take her to Magica Altum, Caelum’s wand shop so that she could get herself a custom wand as well before she calmed herself down. She was a perfectionist and the thought that she was limiting herself unnecessarily must have been abhorrent to her. The week passed by quickly enough and the day of the Hogsmeade trip finally dawned. Darius was getting the jitters and had to spend some time to calm himself down before he changed into his best casuals and headed down from his dorms. Mione came down barely a few minutes later and he had a hard time taking his eyes off her, she looked gorgeous. The drab and frumpy wizarding robes were very concealing and the muggle jeans and hoody accentuated her looks much better. Mione seemed pleased by his reaction and pulled him along for breakfast. He would also have to see about getting her some basilisk robes similar to his made for her if things went well today. He didn’t want to end up with a pretty girlfriend like her and then lose her to some random spellfire. The two of them sat down together at the table and started their breakfast. Darius noticed many of the remaining Gryffindors and he couldn’t help but blush. He had only come to know this last week that there was a betting pool running on his and Mione’s relationship. And started by none other than the Weasley twins. There was something mortifying about knowing that the rest of the house knew about this before he himself came to terms with it and managed to ask Mione out on a date. They must both have been oblivious to their feelings. Harry and Neville joined them just a few minutes later and they looked weirdly excited, almost as much as Darius himself was. Darius didn’t pay much attention to them as he was more worried about how the date today would go but it came back to the fore of the mind when they were leaving the great hall. As they reached the entrance, they were joined by none other than Hannah and Daphne. Daphne stood by Harry and Hannah with Neville. It was evident that they were out on a date as well but mentally Darius was stunned. He even forgot about his own date for a second as he pondered on this surprising occurrence. Neville with Hannah was surprising enough but Harry with Daphne was a shocker! This truly showed that the ripples of his actions affected the timeline and everything was changing. With the Slytherin hating Ron by his chance and no DA till much later, Harry would have never got the chance to get closer to Daphne and get to truly know her. And Neville’ parents awakening and his prowess in the DA must have boosted his confidence by a lot to ask Hannah out now. Anyway. The changes were all for the better and Darius had no problems whatsoever with it. The three couples walked down the Hogwarts grounds, earning a lot of stares from the surrounding people along the way before making it to the Thestral carriages to take them to Hogsmeade. Their dates had just begun. They had a comfortable ride on the Thestral carriage to Hogsmeade though Darius was admittedly still weirded out by the Haphne combination a bit. It wasn’t that he had a prejudice against Slytherins but it was just a bit weird. If they actually got together, they might be the only Gryffindor-Slytherin relationship in school. And what a combination it would be, Gryffindor’s golden boy and the beautiful ice princess from Slytherin. But all pre-conceived notions aside, they would be a good couple who would perfectly match each other. And there was no need to mention the Neville and Hannah relationship. They were as close to perfect as one could get. In fact, Darius wouldn’t be surprised if they had gotten together in canon as well. Neville started speaking and proposed a request to the other two couples. “So, guys, I hope you don’t mind but we kind of want to go our own separate way and explore the village together. We can meet up again later in the Three Broomsticks for a mug of butterbeer.” Darius was in immediate agreement. While he may like the other couples and was even a bit curious about their dates, there was no way he wanted them hanging around during his first date with Mione. “That’s perfectly fine. We can all separate when we reach the village. It will be nice to roam around with just our dates and have a nice time.” Harry must have been having similar thoughts because he agreed rather quickly as well. The girls saw no problem in it either and the three couples went their own way as soon as they reached Hogsmeade. The first place they went to or rather Mione dragged him to was the Hogsmeade post office. Darius had been here several times when he was a kid and was very familiar with the large building. It was always an impressive sight, just seeing the large number of owls in a variety of species was amazing. “Remind me again, why are we here?” “I wanted to pick up some owl order catalogues. I spoke to some of the girls about the Hogsmeade attractions and they mentioned it to me. They are available for a variety of shops across Britain and allow someone to conveniently send in orders by filling the forms in. It would be so much easier to get hold of books from Diagon Alley or other things we need.” The next place they headed to was Scrivenshaft’s for replenishing their stationary. He found a nice present for her there. It was an extremely regal looking, pure white, Pegasus feather quill charmed with all the required spells. She was extremely pleased with him and gave him a quick hug for his thoughtfulness. If that was what he got for being thoughtful, he ought to do it a lot more. Next was the renowned sweets shop Honeydukes. The place was famous and everybody made the point to visit the place at least once every Hogsmeade trip to refill their candy supplies. The sheer number and variety of sweets available there was amazing. They also filled up their pouches with a choice selection of sweets. He had his own spatial bag and had already charmed a bag with an undetectable extension charm for Mione. Next was a peek at the Zonko’s merchandise but that didn’t take long at all. Mione wasn’t really interested in the stuff and Darius found their products sub-par, especially compared to the Weasley twins. After all, they had hardly made any new innovations for years and were selling the same stuff for years. The twins’ sales were picking up rapidly and their shop in the Alley was becoming more famous over time. It shouldn’t be long before they start eating up into Zonko’s market share. They even passed Madam Puddifoot’s and Darius briefly considered whether he should invite Mione in for a romantic setting. Surely it couldn’t be as bad as it was on Valentine’s day. One peek inside on the way past was enough to throw that thought right out the window. Valentine’s or not, that place was truly cringeworthy and 2 trolls wouldn’t be able to drag him in there. He quickly pulled Mione along and passed the shop in a hurry. The next one was the shrieking shack. Darius didn’t have much interest in the place as he knew the true reason behind its existence but Mione wanted to see it at least once. They were a bit tired after their hike up the path and they settled down to rest awhile by the edge of the path. He wasn’t sure whether he should tell her about Lupin and his history but finally decided not to, it wasn’t his secret to tell. They settled down on a sheet he conjured and rested comfortably as they watched the snow-covered scenery. It was after a while that Mione turned to face him directly. She seemed a bit troubled and was biting her lower lip in that cute way she has when she is worried. “Darius, what made you ask me on a date today? Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy about it but I’ve asked around a bit and you never took anyone else the last two years. Even turned down a few girls who asked, if the rumours are right.” That was a heavy question out of nowhere!! Darius guessed she must be feeling insecure because of some reason. Darius had plans to see how the rest of the day went before even thinking of all this but he couldn’t very well leave her hanging right now. “It wasn’t a snap decision or a pity move if that’s what you mean. You have been the girl closest to me for over two years now and I wouldn’t put that in jeopardy for nothing. I guess, what I’m really trying to say is, I’ve realised that I really like you and wanted to give a shot at being in a relationship. I was going to wait till the end of the day but I guess there isn’t a better moment than this. Mione, would you do me the great pleasure of becoming my girlfriend?” Darius had the fingers of his left hand crossed tightly as he held out his right to her. He hadn’t planned to spring the question so suddenly and he was mighty nervous at the moment. To his utter delight, she clasped his hand tight as she replied with a wide grin, “I would absolutely love to be your girlfriend Darius. I recently realized that you meant a lot more to me than I thought and that I had strong feelings for you and I am so happy you feel the same way.” They sat as they were, hand in hand with blissful smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the delightful view. It was close to half an hour before they finally realised the time and started heading back to meet the others at the Three Broomsticks. The others at the Three Broomsticks didn’t catch the subtle change in their mannerisms but there was no doubt it would get out soon enough. The Hogwarts rumour mill was rather formidable that way. Everybody else had had a gala time at the village as well. It had been the first time for all of them except Darius and they weren’t disappointed. They all had at least a couple of mugs of delicious butterbeer and were starting to head back to the castle in high spirits. And that is when they heard the screams. They turned to see a horde of dementors moving towards Hogsmeade and students fleeing every which way. Darius noticed a couple of feeble incorporeal Patronuses but that wouldn’t be sufficient at all against a small horde of dementors. As one, all six of them drew their wands and shouted out, “EXPECTO PATRONUM!!” An ocelot, stag, lion, otter, swan and a badger rushed forward and scattered the dementors immediately. Darius had his wand to his throat as he said, “Sonorus!” “This is prefect Darius Icarus. All students head to the Hogsmeade gates near the carriage waiting area. The dementors have begun to rampage for an unknown reason and are dangerous to everyone now. All competent users of the Patronus, please assist your fellow students in driving off the dementors. Everyone gather at the gates together. ASAP!” The crowd began to calm down as clear instructions were given and started moving in our direction. The six Patronus constantly moved around, fending off any dementors that dared to move any closer. Soon, another half a dozen or so Patronus joined in and another crowd of students joined us. This was a disaster and worst of all Darius had no idea what caused it. Nothing like this happened in canon at all. Harry had been right, Halloween really was cursed for him, something always had to happen on that day. Thankfully he noticed Professor Lupin and Flitwick coming their way and another couple of professors as well as Hagrid heading towards the village itself. Darius moved forward to meet them. He had to get to the bottom of the incident!!