Althea sat next to Dallas on his couch, two hands around his head, feeling at this hair, Their lips locked. This was a common action for a couple. There. Out in the open. It was official in her mind. They were a couple. She was happy, Dallas was happy, and though they kept it mostly hidden, except of course Gale, but Gale was Gale, it wasn’t a standard small flame. Oh no. When Althea fell for someone, it was a freaking pyrotechnic show.

She pulled away for a minute, with a smile on her face. “I’m happy we’re doing this, Dallas,” She said, as she sunk down, and leaned up against Dallas, one of his arms wrapped around her. They gazed at the crackling fire, as the sun started to set off in the distance. “I’m happy we’re a thing.” She said. It was true. She had had so much trouble with moving on after Harold. But Dallas was different. He made the move easy. She really, really liked him, and hoped that he liked her too.

She couldn't even thank Gale enough for lighting that first spark that got them moving together. And though they seemed like polar opposites, it worked. He was a neatfreak. She had organizational issues. Mostly, they hung out together at his cottage, not really wanting their relationship to go completely public. But, Althea had trouble keeping secrets. She had to tell someone, which was why she had actually invited the new Keeper Of Keys down to the cottage. She had been meaning to welcome the new Hufflepuff to the staff, but was also eager to tell someone else about the relationship.

Though she wouldn't ever tell Dallas that that was her motive. First thing was that she would meet her, and they would become BEST FRIENDS FOR LIKE, EVER. Or, well, she hoped. And then, Althea would open up to her, as they spilled gossip over tea. That was Althea's dream. To have a really awesome best friend, to do best friend-ish things with. She didn't have one growing up. Mostly, she just hung out with the people in her house, on occasion, when her nose wasn't stuck in a book.

It was scary at first. Dallas had never been in a relationship before. Sure he’s had small crushes here and there, one woman he particularly fell for when he was 18, but nothing like this. Quick kisses stolen when no one was watching were electric to him and when he was most calm and contented, he thought about her smile, or her elegant fingers, or her eccentric clock collecting obsession. They didn’t want rumors to spread like wild-fire, so they kept to themselves, lunch in her office, tea and coffee in his cottage. It was picturesque, and he loved it.

“I’m happy too.” A thing. This thing was nice, whatever it was. Gale was one hell of a Dolly Levi and Dallas reminded himself to do something nice for him this week. “I wonder…” Dallas said, taking his hat off the table and plopping it onto Althea’s curly top. “Yup, there you go. I knew you’d look fantastic in a cowboy hat.” He grinned, getting up to pour himself another cup of coffee, drinking it with cream. Not as good as morning-fresh cream from the cow, but close enough.

Dallas sat back down on the sofa and put his arm around Al’s small shoulder, putting his coffee mug between his legs and pulling a small parcel from his jeans. It was simply wrapped in brown paper, with small pressed flowers pasted to it, with a small yellow ribbon wrapped around it. “I didn’t have any wrapping paper, so I made some. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been pressing those flowers and never had a use for them.”

He handed the parcel to Althea. “It’s been a month and a day since our first date, I thought we could celebrate a little.” he pulled his wand from it’s sleeve holster and levitated two glass flutes of sparkling apple juice their way. “And since it’s a school night, no alcohol, sorry” He grinned. He hoped he liked the small silver necklace. He’d spotted it in a Hogsmeade shop the week before and purchased it on a whim. Hopefully she didn’t have a turtle necklace already. If she did, he’d point out that the legs magically moved back and forth, as if it was walking.

Thor rolled over onto his side in the corner of the small cottage and whined in his sleep. Dallas held his glass up to hers. “To our thing”

She laughed as he put the hat on her head. She tipped it back slightly. "I believe in the old wild west in America that if a cowboy gave a girl his hat, it symbolized his heart. It used to be regarded as a way of expressing true emotion between two people." She said, with a smile, spouting off a fact like that. Sure, it was a bit quirky, but he never seemed to mind when she started with her facts. She then watched him curiously as he pulled out a package.

Oh boy, they were doing presents, Oh God, his was going to put hers to shame! She was hoping on the fact that they weren't doing presents! So that her present to him wouldn't be so lame! Her jaw dropped a little, as she opened it. "Oh my god, it's a turtle." She said, her face frozen. She grabbed at a pillow next to him. "It's a turtle! You got me a turtle necklace!" She said excitedly hitting him with the pillow on his arm. Sure, it was immature. But she was surprised! And this was awesome! It was moving!

She put the pillow down next to her, and pulled out the necklace, as she draped it around her neck, clasping it in the back. She smiled, as she leaned back into him, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Thank you, Dallas. That was really sweet of you." She said, taking a glass of the fake champagne, and clinking glasses. "To our thing." She said, as she took a sip, her smile could not be contained.

She then reached into her pocket, withdrawing her own present for him. "Okay, Dallas. For your present you need to close your eyes, and hold out your hand." When she thought his eyes were closed, she put the rock in his hand, and closed his fingers around it. "One month ago, I found this, the morning of. And I thought that it was a strange little rock, and so I saved it. ANd I didn't realize that it would be symbolic." She bit her lip, as she tapped his hand to tell him to look. It was a heart shaped rock. Corny, sure, but special all the same.

"It's not nearly as nice as my turtle, but I don't know,  I thought it was sorta odd." She said, with a smile.

Dallas smiled as she spewed out a fact that made him adore her even more. He grinned and held up his arm to block the pillow coming at him, laughing at her adorable excitement. She told him to close his eyes and hold out his palm. He obediently held out his arm and closed his eyelids. He was glad she liked the turtle and he knew hers would be thoughtful and special. “You went and told me what it was.” Dallas said, opening his eyes to the heart in his hand. “Oh my god. You found this that morning? That’s amazing” He pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head, her forehead and her neck.

“You are fantastic, it’s going on the shelf.” The shelf was a place of honor for Dallas. The mantle shelf held all of his memories and achievements. Pictures, magical or otherwise, grinned in their frames, jars of texas dust and bottles of Scottish sea water were tucked in the corners, along with horseshoes and his first pair of spurs. The rope that tied his first successful lasso snaked through the frames. “You’ve made the shelf Al, I hope you know that’s a big deal to me.” He placed the stone next to a picture of himself as a boy with his father, both of the Scots holding large fish that they ate later that evening.

“You’re fantastic, you know that?” He asked, sitting back down on the leather sofa, curling his arm around her, resting the side of his cheek on her head.

Althea curled in closer to him, as he put his arm around her. She put her head on his shoulder, and he layered his head on top of her's. She smiled, as he complimented her, and she snuggled in closer. "Not nearly as fantastic as you." She said, totally corny, and totally weird. But she was so content. She was so happy, just sitting here, wrapped in Dallas's arms. Was that all that weird? No. He was her boyfriend. They were a couple. This was normal behavior for a couple.

"One month. I can't believe it. Time flies when you're having fun." She said, as she sighed watching the fire crackle. Althea then turned her head quickly around to kiss Dallas, but instead clocked him on the nose. By the sound it made, it had to have hurt, as she moved from his arms, two hands over her mouth. "I, oh God, I'm so sorry!" She said, getting up and starting to fret around.

"We need pressure, and uh, tissues, and spells! Healing spells! And medicine, and potions, oh God, I'm a terrible healer! But if we get you to Nagade, she can probably fix you up, and oh God, I'm a clutz, and-" She kept rushing around, panicking quite a bit. Althea wasn't good in high stress situations. That was not her strong suit.

Dallas was smiling one moment and holding his nose the next. He laughed, even though he could feel blood trickling from his nostrils. Althea began panicking. "Al" Dallas said, holding his nostrils shut. "Al" He said again, trying to get her attention. It didn't even hurt that badly. He'd had a bloody nose a few times in his day. He'd been bitten by a Kelpie, this was nothing compared to the stitches he had to sew himself. "Althea!" He said, gently grabbing her wrist. "Al, I'm fine. Don't worry. It's no problem." He let go of her arm and walked over to the only mirror in his cottage and pointed his wand in his reflection.

He took his hand away from his nose, the bridge was slightly bent over to the side. "Episky," the spell hit the mirror and hit his nose, fixing the bridge and stopping the bleeding. He used his sleeve to wipe of his philtrum and lips. he turned back around to Al. "See? No problem" He reassured her, grabbing a dish towel from the counter and started wiping off red droplets splattered onto the floor. He chuckled lightly as he got down on his hands and knees. “You realize you’re darling when you’re panicky. It’s rather adorable.”