Gideon did his best to remain interested in what Holly was saying as she gave the rundown of her morning. Thing was, he really did love to hear every minor detail of what she did when they were apart. It made him feel closer to her.

Taking the box, he flipped it open and took out the quill turning it to examine the way the light played across it. "I almost got you these for Christmas," he commented, looking across the table at her with a soft smile, his eyes dropping to the delicate necklace that graced her neck. "I just figured that would look better on you than these," he grinned.

And then he found himself lost in her eyes again, a hand dropping to slip into his pocket to wrap around the small box he had. The problem he had now was just when to do it. It wasn't like there was a class on proposing or anything. And his mates were certainly no place to seek help. All he'd have gotten from them were wisecracks about him being whipped, getting hooked to the old ball and chain, and so on and so forth.

And so he was left to his own devices. Devices he wasn't all too pleased with. He figured that Holly's birthday was the perfect day for it - afterall what better way to celebrate someone's life than to propose to them on their special day? And then Madam Puddifoot's was one of those romantic girl spots, and it didn't seem to make Holly the least bit suspicious that he'd asked her to meet him here like it would have had it not been her birthday.

So, there it was: birthday and Madam Puddifoot's. That was his grand scheme.

It quite suddenly occured to him that he'd not thought a bit about how to go about actually pulling the ring out and doing the asking bit.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh...nothing. Just..." he yanked his hand from his pocket and raked it through his hair. "Nothing at all. Just a bit exhausted. Can you believe how much work Evercrest and Flitwick have been piling on us? It's like they think we only have their class."

Stall. Good plan.