A Picnic Date (Seffi and Lars)

Seffi had thought that it was about time that her and Lars went on the date that they had wanted to go on for a while now, she had been a little shocked when she had been told that he liked her, and that he really wanted to have a date with her.

Biting her lip she stood by the Crystal Lake and waited for Lars to appear, she had sent him an owl via his Falcon, and hopefully he would have gotten it, after all she had sent it yesterday. Running her hand through her hair, she made sure that her lipgloss was on properly.

After all she wanted to be able to make herself as preyty as possible and she had put her hair up in two small plaits meeting at the back, clutching the picnic basket she sat down and spread out the blanket, growing more nervous by the second.

This had been something that Lars had been looking forward to for a while now. They had decided a while back to go on a picnic date, and now they were finally doing it at Kristall Karminrot. It was one of his favorite places, and he was extremely excited to come here.

Lars had worn jeans with a dressy shirt, and he kept running his hands through his hair. He was so nervous, because this was his first date ever. Seffi was a great girl; so, he did not want to screw this up. There were butterflies in his stomach, and a lump in his throat.

Walking up to the lake, he saw Seffi and stopped short. She looked even more beautiful than normal, her hair was up in some plaits and looked beautiful. Lars thought there might be something different about her lips, they looked a little bit shinier. Steeling himself, he approached her. "Hello Seffi, you look...amazing. I was so excited when I received your letter, couldn't wait to see you." Lars told her, and he blushed a little bit.

Seffi turned and she saw Lars coming closer to her, she was just glad that the weather was good for them today, and by good she meant it had managed to stop raining for the time being, it was winter after all, it was strange for it not to be snowing too!

Lars looked different when he wasn't in his uniform, he looked like someone from a film and Seffi couldn't help but smile, she was glad to see him again, as she had begun to miss him now that the holidays had started.

"Hey Lars, you look nice today, I like your shirt." she said happily, smiling when she recieved her own compliments "I thought that you would like to come out today, and it looked like the only day it might not be raining."

"Thanks, I didn't want to look like a total bum for our picnic date." Lars said, smiling widely at her. "It is a nice day, you picked a good one. I'm just so glad to see you. It hasn't been that long since we saw each other last, but I really missed you."

Looking around at the scenery, he realized that this really was a beautiful spot. He had always known it was, but something about it was just breathtaking. "This is a really good spot to, love this lake. You really do have the best ideas, Seffi. I have a good one though, you should give me a hug." Lars told her.

Seffi always liked being around Lars, because he always made her feel important and good about herself, so she was more than happy to be around him, which was a change from normal as she kept to herself most of the time now, well, her and Eliza.

"I don't think that you would ever allow yourself to look that bad." she said with a smile "I know I wouldn't."

When he said that he loved this lake, Seffi was glad that he did, after all she had not known before she had decided that this would be the place that they would meet up.

Reaching across she gave Lars a hug before smiling at him and asking; "So what have you been up to?"

Spending time with Seffi was something he always looked forward to, she was so nice to him. Made him feel special for some reason, and it was nice. "True, I probably wouldn't. You do always look pretty Seffi." he said, smiling at her.

"Not too much, been kind of bored recently actually. Need to find a good book to read or something. Thinking about reading the Lord of the Rings, heard it is a good Muggle fiction book. What about you?"

Seffi blushed a little bit when Lars told her that she always looked pretty, and it looked like she was going to be told that more and more often if she went on more dates with Lars. She had to say it was going well so far.

"Thank you Lars." she said, the blush still on her cheeks "You're always so sweet to me."

Tilting her head to one side she opened the picnic basket and took some sandwiches out of it, placing it on the mat, followed by some lemonade and cups. She had never heard of this book, and it sounded strange;

"That book sounds odd....do you know what it's about? Would you like a sandwich?"

He smiled when Seffi blushed, she clearly was not using to being called pretty. Lars loved seeing her blush, it made her look even cuter. "You're welcome, and I enjoy being sweet to you. Love seeing that blush, quite adorable really."

The sandwiches she was pulling out looked delicious, and his stomach growled a little bit at him. "It's about a hobbit who has to destroy this ring that is really powerful. There's this dark lord called Sauron who is connected to it, and he made it a long time ago. Pretty much if he gets the ring, then he will rule the world. So, they have to travel to this big fiery mountain to destroy it. It's a trilogy, so apparently it will take three books to do it. There are wizards, dwarves, elves, hobbits, and all other kinds of creatures. I'd love a sandwich, they look really good."

Seffi blinked a little bit when he told her what the book was about, it sounded like it was something that would make her head spin just trying to begin to read it, and, it sounded like it would be a book that was rather long too.

"I see, it sounds like it's going to be a long story, maybe you should try and read it in the summer holidays when you have enough time?" she suggested,

Looking at the sandwiches she could not wait any longer and picked up one of them, eating it delicately, taking the crusts off first and then eating the bit with the filling on from inside.

"Although it does sound like its very interesting, I love creatures, theyre so interesting, I just found a book on creature psychology actually." she smiled gently.

Lars couldn't wait to get started, it was going to be a long series but oh so good. Everybody he knew who had read the series had liked it, and J. R. R. Tolkien was pretty famous.

"Yea, it's pretty long, but I can find enough time to at least start it now. Won't be able to read a lot, enough to do a little every night though. Just like ten or fifteen minutes before I go to sleep, I always read before I try to. A habit I got into when I was a kid." Lars told her.

Seffi grabbed a sandwich and started taking off the crusts, which he found pretty cute actually. Little kids did that, and it made him grin. He picked up a sandwich and took a big bite of it, it was really tasty. After finishing his bite, he said, "This is a great sandwich Seffi. Thanks for making them, I do love to eat."

"Creatures are definitely pretty cool. A book on creature psychology, awesome, what did you learn?" Lars asked, it sounded interesting.

For some reason, he realized at that moment that Seffi still hadn't told him when her birthday was. "Hey, I just realized something. You never told me when your birthday is. I need to know when it is, so when is it?"

Seffi was always told that people who read before bed often became very intelligent, although she had never taken on the habit herself, it was something she probably should have done, but, she was always so sleepy just before bed she couldn't take anything in.

"My parents used to read to me before I went to sleep as a kid, but, I don't read before bed myself, I do it in the morning when I'm more awake." she smiled "That way I'll actually remember what I was reading."

Blushing a little bit Seffi waved off Lars' comment; "It's no problem Lars, I just tried to make sure that I made ones both of us would like." she smiled gently.

When Lars asked her about the book on creature psychology Seffi grinned and she wondered where she could begin, the first thing she had wanted to read was the section on Vampires, it had been really interesting;

"Well I read about vampires and how their psychological progress alters when they have to drink their first blood, and how they cope with body changes, blood lust and all that." she smiled "I'm not done yet though."

Seffi grinned and she said; "My birthday is 14th February."

Another one of the reasons he liked reading before bed, besides the interesting part, was it made you a little sleepy. His brain was still able to remember most of what he read even when he was tired though, which was nice.

"My parents never did, but they say I should read books. So once I learned to read, I just got into the habit. Yea, I remember what I read most of the time, but it makes sense to read in the morning if you forget stuff. Everybody's a bit different."

"You made a good choice." Lars poked her in the side playfully. "Next time I might have to make something for you. Start learning how to cook, maybe we could bake something together sometime. Show me how to make those brownies you told me about, yea?"

"That does sound interesting Seffi, I might have to borrow that book sometime. Vampires and other creatures are pretty interesting, and I don't know that much about them to be honest." He liked learning about different things, and it would be cool to study creature psychology. "Let me know when you finish it."

"On Valentine's Day, cool. That just means you are extra lovable, right?" he asked her teasingly. "Do you want to go shopping with me for your birthday, and then maybe after get something to eat?" He was planning on doing that for Valentine's anyways, if she wanted to do it of course.

Seffi smiled gently and she thought that the subject of parents and families was one that was best steered clear from, especially when it concerned Lars as he did not seem quite so fond of his parents when it came down to it.

"Yes I suppose so, you're just lucky that you're so smart you can remember almost everything, no wonder you were placed in Verstand house." Seffi teased gently.

At the mention of baking together, Seffi's eyes lit up, she really did love to bake things and with lars by her side it would be so much funner than doing it on her own;

"I would love that! Maybe you should come over to my house one day in the holidays and we can do it, but no telling my secret though, my brownie fame will be ruined." she giggled.

Blushing a little bit, when Lars said she was extra lovable, and especially when he asked her out shopping, Seffi nodded her head with a happy smile on her lips; "I would really like to go shopping with you Lars, it sounds like a lovely treat."

"Thanks, but I would rather be a little less smart. Well, maybe just not have the eidetic memory. It is convenient for school, but...Seffi, c-can I tell you something I've never told anybody before. I know you can keep a secret, this is kind of important though; because, well it's about my dad..." His dad used to beat him when he was a child, and still did sometimes. Soon, he would be big enough to defend himself, but not yet. He would use magic to defend, but he was underaged and his father would report him if he used it. Even though the trace took care of the government finding out about it, he knew they would believe his father over him though. That was why he had never ran away, or reported the abuse.

At the mention of baking brownies together, Seffi's eyes lit up like stars. She really does have a passion for it.

Lars smiled widely at his beautiful girlfriend. "Of course I'll keep it a secret, my lips are sealed. I can't believe you just invited me to my house, I can't wait to meet your family."

"It's your birthday, you are supposed to be treated. I'll meet you at noon outside of Die am besten kleid if that's alright with you? Or, if you want to do lunch first we can meet at Zur Letzen Instanz. Your choice, since it's your birthday." Lars didn't have a preference either way, he just wanted to make her day as special as possible.

Seffi tilted her head to one side and she nodded her head when Lars asked her if he could ask her a question, she wondered what it was because it sounded like he was getting nervous about telling her what was on his mind, she was flattered though that he would trust her with something so important.

"Of course you can tell me something, I promise that I will keep it a secret, and hopefully I might be able to help you sort out whatever the problem is." Seffi smiled gently, placing a hand on Lars' own.

When he mentioned meeting her family Seffi hummed a little bit and pouted slightly; "My parents will probably be very busy, so they might not be home when you come and bake with me, they work very late some nights."

Humming slightly, Seffi grinned; "I think we should go shopping first and then eat later."

As usual, Seffi's kind and compassionate nature put him at ease. He relaxed a little bit, and tried to work up the courage to tell her what was on his mind. What would she think of him, of his family? Lars really wasn't sure how she would take it.

"My dad, he...he used to beat me when I was growing up. Sometimes, he still does. Since I'm bigger I can defend myself a little bit. Still though, often I have to use essance of dittany or healing spells to fix my injuries. That's all I had to tell you." Lars said quietly. He was embarrassed about it, and a soft blush came on his cheeks. It felt good to have it off his chest though.

That made him frown a little bit. "Well okay, make sure to tell them hi for me though. What do they do for a living, again?" he asked.

"Whatever you want. That sounds like a good plan to me. This is going to be so much fun, don't you think so?" A smile was on his face, and he was already getting excited about this.