Sav actually didn’t mind that he was the only one peddling. He liked having something to do with his legs. They got restless if they sat still for too long; which was one of the reasons why he took up running in the first place. He went on his first run during his third year and never looked back. It developed into a daily habit that he craved more than caffeine quickly.

She explained that her mother was a muggle but she was a pureblood despite it. She asked if it was a problem. Sav shrugged. “Not a problem for me. I don’t think most would think twice about it.” what would his family think? He wasn’t entirely sure. Her blood was pure, and that was what mattered the most, right? Despite the circumstances of her life up until this point? Either way she had wizard blood? It seemed like it might be a gray area. Though regardless, he wasn’t in any rush to bring Tia home to meet his parents. Nothing against her! She was great. Savtaj just wasn’t in a rush to bring any girl home to meet his parents. He didn’t want to end up with Priya’s fate.

Where would he go? The Gryffindor beater shrugged. “India, maybe. We went there once to visit mums family and it was incredible…” obviously not all of it. Sav wasn’t ignorant to the clear class struggles in his grandparents home country, but he loved being there nonetheless. “Or maybe Japan! I hear they have robots that serve you at some of the restaurants there - that would be so cool!” he decided. Sav had never seen a real robot. He hadn’t seen a lot of what some would consider the great muggle inventions. He then turned to the girl by his side and asked. “Why are you asking? Is there something you want to run away from?”

Tia Monroe,

He had a feeling that she might be someone who was easily frightened, he wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was her softer demeanor, but he felt a little bit of pride in knowing that he had read her right. She added however, that if anything jumped out and scared her that he wasn’t allowed to laugh. He made his face go solemn and nodded his promise. “I won’t laugh.” he declared. “But you know if anything gets too scary you can always just come a little closer… I’ll protect you.” he wiggled his eyebrows in jest. Of course he wouldn’t mind a bit of a cuddle with the pretty blonde by his side, but he was mostly just teasing her as they continued up the walk towards the shack.

He shrugged when the topic of Quidditch came up. “Didn’t you come to the last match?” he asked, figuring that since she was not only a Slytherin, but related to the Slytherin seeker, she might have been there. Though after the match he had been so upset that he hadn’t paid attention to anyone really, except Mei Xing, but that was because she had stoped him to let her fix his broken nose. “The Slytherin team seems to be out for blood this year.” he scoffed. He didn’t mind a little conflict on the pitch. Sometimes it called for it. But for no reason? He shook his head. He couldn’t stand unsportsmanlike behavior.

Elspeth Prince,

Well this couldn’t have gone better. While girls were sometimes annoyed to be stolen away by him, Elsie seemed thrilled by his bold act and was more than willing to abandon the girls that she was with and be taken away by him. He knew most of the girls; purebloods, just like the two of them. Sav also understood the concept of obligation-friends more than most people. The guys he hung out with at society events weren’t his usual sort of friends; at least not all of them.

“Well then I’m glad to have been of assistance.” he added in a smooth tone, or at least he liked to think it was smooth. “And in exchange for freeing you, you can accompany me through the haunted house?” it wasn’t really a question, however, if she had big objections he’d be willing to hear her out. Though what better excuse to hold her close than under the guise of protecting her from false horrors?

Elspeth Prince,

Savtaj pedals them around the lake at a comfortable speed as they talk. As much as the gryffindor boy enjoys being active, he doesn’t always mind the occasional bout of stillness. However, it’s hard to call actively pedaling being still. Though the mindless repetitive movement makes it easy for him to give his mind fully to their conversation as it turns to families. She didn’t seem to bat an eye at his answer and he supposed that it was probably obvious to those outside of his family's social circle that their way of life was unique, to say the least.

“Is your adopted mum a witch?” he asked, realizing that he didn’t know. Not many members of their world went to work in the muggle world. But it wasn’t like it never happened. Though the stark realization that she was the only black person on her island was stunning. Sav knew that the world had a long way to go. Even his society (sometimes especially his society) wasn’t as diverse as many would like. Though as a MacMillan he had family money and a white father to ensure his half Indian children had every door opened for them.

He nodded. He thought about it often. But never once had he admitted it outloud. Not to anyone. Not ever before. He looked sideways down at the girl beside him before admitting, “Yeah I do.” People knew he wasn’t a fan of the expectations, sure, but when it came down to it, he was a good boy and did what he was told regardless of his own wishes. He did it for Sami, though. He did it so Sami might stand a chance of really getting out.

Tia Monroe,

Sav didn’t scare easily, which attracted him to the haunted house at the edge of Hogsmeade Village. Students claimed that it was haunted all year round, however, this year it had been actually transformed into a haunted house for the sake of the new festival. Sav was never one to complain about school events, they gave him a chance to let even looser than he normally did.

On his way through the village on his way to the fright shack, Sav spotted the familiar Slytherin girl standing with a group of girls he vaguely knew but didn’t care much about. He walked up to the group and bravely declared. “I need to steal this one if you don’t mind, I require her assistance.” and with that, he took Elsie by the hand and pulled her away, a devilish smirk on his face. There was nothing in the world that brought the Gryffindor greater joy than having a pretty girl by his side, and Elsie was his current drug of choice. “I hope you don’t mind being stolen away.” Sav added as they grew further out of earshot.

Elspeth Prince

Sav gave a breathy laugh as he continued to catch his breath. Her enthusiasm at having won made him smile. Sav tried to be a good sport and always took losses by congratulating those who won, but he couldn’t help the little comment that escaped his mouth at her obvious cheer. “Yeah yeah, rub it in, why don’t you?” he was clearly being sarcastic as he held the boat in place for her and then hopped in himself. He didn’t mind, in the grand scheme of things, him losing made his date happy, and in that sense he had won.

Sav chuckled as she fell into the seat. He kicked off from the dock and sat himself down a little more gracefully than she had, probably because he was used to keeping his balance on a broom. The boat wasn’t too different in some ways. He positioned his feet on the pedals and started them off on a turn around the lake. Her question caught him off guard. He didn’t usually talk about money and status with his dates unless they were arranged by his parents. “Suffocating.” he answered honestly. “Having someone critique your every move is exhausting. But at least I have some freedom at Hogwarts, and here at the festival.” he loved being away from his parents' prying eyes. And he spent as much time as possible away from his twin’s view as well, even in the castle. “What about you? What’s your family like?” he asked, not knowing much about her home life.

Tia Monroe,

Sav couldn’t help the easy smirk that rolled onto his face at the sound of what she expected from the night. Sav wasn’t one to stick to the side of the room either. His twin sister was the wall flower of the family, Savtaj was more likely to be the one sneaking firewhisky into the punch bowl or causing a scene on the dancefloor (or snogging in a broom cupboard somewhere… but that was usually reserved for later in the night). “Yeah I think a bit of everything.” he agreed. “I’m up to get down on the dance floor if you are. I’ve got some pretty wicked moves.” he warned.

Roxanne Weasley,

The small Gryffindor girl was counting them down and starting the race before Savtaj even knew what was going on. He chuckled and bolted after her. She was right, even if she hadn’t said so out loud, her little legs did give her a surprising advantage and while the boy had caught up with her for a moment, he could only keep up the speed for so long before he found himself falling a few footsteps back. Sav was a distance runner, not a sprinter. That was more evident now than ever. “Okay okay, you win.” he admitted through uneven breaths. “I’ll pedal you around the lake, give you the full princess treatment.” he declared. He led the way over to the boat rental and secured their boat before getting in and offering his hand to help her in as well.

Tia Monroe,

While a Weasley wasn’t exactly the caliber of pureblood that his parents wanted Savtaj to marry, he felt like it was a good enough loophole to get out of his parents giving him a hard time about his choice of date. They encouraged him to ask a girl to the ball, a pureblood girl, of course. And he couldn’t help it if the pureblood girl who happened to catch his eye was Roxanne Weasley. He hadn’t asked her just out of spite, though. He did think that she was rather pretty. While they were in the same house and the same year, he didn’t know her all that well and thought this would be a good chance to see how they got along in a 1-on-1 setting. He descended the stairs in dark wash jeans and a black T-shirt. He didn’t put much effort into his outfit since it was a fairly casual ball anyway. He spotted her quickly and headed over after giving her a wave. “Hey! Ready to have some fun?” he asked, flashing her his usual, devil-may-care smile.

Roxanne Weasley,

Savtaj gave an easy laugh. She was right, she was rather short. However, even if she couldn’t actually reach he didn’t mind. He’d gladly do all the work. Part of how he was raised was, in fact, to do all the work so the lady he was with could sit and look pretty. It was an honor to have a pretty wife who never had to lift a finger, at least as far as his parents and the people they were associated were concerned. If Sav did ever take a wife, he wanted her to be an equal. Someone who could keep up, or at least wanted to. However, when she suggested a race, the Gryffindor smirked. His legs were about as long as most of her body, but he was game. “Sure, let’s see how fast you are.” he nodded.

Tia Monroe,

Sav smiled, it was nice to talk to someone who took life as un-seriously as he did. Sure, he knew when the jokes were too much and he knew in what situations he needed to at least act like he cared, but this wasn’t one of those situations. In fact he couldn’t imagine any situation during the End of Summer Festival that would merit such a serious attitude. This was one of his favorite events ever and something that he looked forward to every year.

He gave a little chuckle at the idea that she might be too short to reach the peddles, “Are you actually or are you just trying to pawn all of the work off on me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in a playful way. Even if she was, he didn’t have any issue putting the work in to impress a cute girl. He was certainly fit enough for the challenge.

Tia Monroe

She explained that Lady Bugs bringing good luck had something to do with farmers and crops or something like that. Sav wouldn’t really know anything of that sort of thing so he just shrugged and nodded, it sounded reasonable enough for him not to really question. She then explained it was something that her mother had told her growing up. Sav smiled, he liked hearing about parents that were kind to their children rather than acted like drill sergeants. It was the type of parent that he wanted to be, one day, hopefully not anytime soon. “I mean I feel pretty lucky right now so I’m convinced.” he smirked. He was standing there with a pretty girl while the sun shone down on them, he couldn’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

“Well speaking of our great date - I have an idea.” he admitted. He nodded down to the lake and the peddle boats that some people were riding around on. “What if we rent one of those boats… but… can’t use magic to peddle them? Just do it the muggle way?” he wiggled his eyebrows. Some people would definitely not be up for that sort of thing, given that it was a decent little work out to actually make the boats move, and could be a challenge to steer them in the right direction. But he figured if anyone could do it, they could.

Tia Monroe,

Sav didn’t mind a bit of teasing, not taking life so seriously made it all the more interesting. He preferred to leave the serious side of life at home, shut away behind the heavy stone doors of MacMillan Manor. At school he was carefree, playful, and fun. And Tia seemed to already be giving him a run for his money. Sav looked down when she started and spotted the bug on her arm. He would have instinctively swat it away if it had landed on him, but she seemed to admire it. He changed his perspective. “Good luck huh? Why’s that?” he asked, never having heard the expression before. But he’d take the luck. Though he rarely needed luck on dates.

Tia Monroe,