The measurements were done, the saddles were sorted; so now Cela intended to research some sticking charms that would work juuuuust right. She skidded to a stop by the statue and sat down to look through her books.

Of course she also had candy; but it was of the sugar free hot chilli variety.

She crammed her mouth full of them and busied herself with reading and researching.

That girl was ruddy near IMPOSSIBLE to track down. He'd asked 3 people if they'd seen her. Finally it was a portrait of Dendric the Daft, that sent him to the statue of the Humpbacked witch. He had half a mind to ignore that piece of advice because he knew from experience as a first year, having once been told that the rule about the Forbidden Forest had been tossed out. A weeks detention for believing that one.

But it was the best advice he had to go on, so he went.

And sure enough, Celadine was there.

I'll never doubt Dendric again. Wait a minute...

Cela looked up in surprise, her mouth so full of candy she couldn't swallow it fast enough to say hello, so she settled for waving her head from side to side in greeting... hands being full of books and all.

Tobi grinned. "Feeding your addiction, I see?"

He was starting to get used to Cela; he might once have asked what she was doing commiserating with a statue of a humpbacked witch, with a mouthful of something that Tobi prayed was sugarless but couldn't be sure, and had her arms full of books, she rang true to the Ravenclaw type in that way, but now he sort of took Cela as she presented herself, because sure as Quintaped's had four legs and a spare, Cela did things her own way, and rarely the same way twice.

"I've been looking all over for you. I wanted to ask you about History of Magic," he told her, hoping she'd be able to swallow and contribute to the conversation verbally. He didn't understand 'headshake' too well.

Celandine shot a puzzled glance at the great big lump of Gryffindor standing before her, "Ah-ih-hih?" She attempted to repeat back to him and found that the candy wasn't cooperating at all. Rather than wait for it to dissolve or waste it by swallowing it too soon, Cela pushed all of it into her hand using her tongue and looked up at Tobi, "History of Mag... oh the numbers? Oh yeah! I'm excited about that."

Cela nudged the charms books off her lap with her knees (since one hand was full of sticky and half consumed candy), then used her free hand to stack them into a neat pile.

She dumped the candy back in her mouth, licked her hand and pulled out her wand to scourgify her palm of sticky residue before looking at Tobi expectantly.

He didn't ask what she was doing, but that didn't mean he couldn't find it weird. He could have waited for her to finished chewing...

Oh well. It was Cela, and while she was the most creative witch he knew, that had its pitfalls. Like the fact that she was one step up from being completely barking mad.

Tobi shrugged, Might as well join the asylum, and sat down on the floor with her, opening his copy of Encyclopedia of Numerology and Grammaticain his lap. He grunted. It wasn't a cheerful little pamphlet.

"So," he croaked, as he readjusted the weight of the book. "I was thinking it might be difficult to rely on numbers that require dates of birth. Because some aren't really well documented. But the Destiny number is based on the name so that one at least is a good one. And their destinies are definitely pertinent."

Mouth now completely devoid of all but the tiniest traces of candy, Celandine nodded; all business.

"Right and maybe the universal year might be an interesting contributing factor." Cela noted, "Especially in the years where a bunch of them intersected?" Celandine eyed the giant book that Tobi had as if she wanted to eat it, "So what if we choose say... five people from the time line each, and go from there?"

"oh, I didn't think about the Universal Year. I like it." Tobi's mind started turning. "And Five is a good amount too, I was wondering how many to do."

Actually he was considering if he should try and do them all, but that would definitely force him to turn the assignment in late, and then Professor Pierce would kill him.

He thought about it, "We just learned about the Balance Number and the First Vowel in Advanced Arithmancy," He tipped his textbook so she could see the page better. There was a good chance she already knew the concepts, it was Celadine, after all. "The balance number shows how a person reacts to challenges, and the first vowel kind of shows a person's soul, and then some." He explained, remembering what Professor Shackleton said about the ancients believing the soul entering the body on the first vowel. "Those numbers would kind of give an interesting perspective into our candidates. I mean to see what they have in common."

Cela nodded, "Yeah... I read about that when I saw what you guys got for your homework assignment and... ermm... I kind of did it for funsies." She smiled a little self-consciously at that admission before soldiering on.

"So... 5 people each, Universal Year, Balance Number, First Vowel and... Destiny number?" Cela questioned before turning to rummage in her bag and pulling out the HoM timeline.

"You choose first who you would like, Tobi." Cela offered him the timeline.

Tobi took out his list of Famous Witches and Wizards as set by Professor Truebridge, closed his eyes, and pointed to the page, selecting five names at random. "I pulled Ronald Weasley, Mungo Bonham, Perpetua Fancourt, Roderick Plumpton -Cool!!, and Ignatia Wildsmith."

He knew the men he had picked, obviously, who didn't know Ronald Weasley, and Saint Mungo's was obviously named after someone wasn't it? And Roderick Plumpton? THAT was just plain Fab-O!

Celandine chose hers at random too, having to skip over one that had already been selected, "Daisy Dodderidge, Edgar Stroulger, Carlotta Pinkstone, Beaumont Marjoribanks and.... Lord Stoddard Withers." She smiled brightly and looked up at Tobi.

"Neat! And I was worried we'd get some that only had one known name. I think i'll have to go to the library to research some of these people though!"

Tobi was thinking something along the same lines. Who in blazes was Perpetua Fancourt anyway?

"I should probably go spend some time there too." Tobi agreed. "I don't have a clue about the witches. And I want to brush up a bit on my arithmancy. See if there isn't any other numbers we should be looking at or some fine details we need to know about for any of the numbers we picked. It wouldn't hurt to have Professor Shackleton check our numbers after we get them worked out."

Celandine nodded in agreement, "Oh yes, Professor Shackleton is very nice and helpful!" Celandine enthused, "I have to finish my Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures Homework, which won't take very long; but after that shall we meet in the library?" Cela asked.

"Sure thing," Tobi nodded. He was a little curious as to what she had been doing when he found her there in the first place, but he figured she would share that in her own time if she felt like it. and if not...

well then he probably didn't want to know...

"Neat!" Cela jumped up and packed up her things, "See you later!" She scooted off, a lone sketch of the whomping willow falling next to Tobi as she disappeared up the corridor.

Tobi picked up the stray piece of parchment as it fluttered to the floor. "Hey you dropped-" But Cela was gone. She kept doing that. If he didn't know it was impossible within Hogwarts, he'd think the third year could Disapparate.

Tobi gathered his books and stared at the drawing. Eeep! is that the Whomping Willow? Why would she have any interest in the Whomping Willow?

Well, it is Cela after all.

Maddox finally found a nice quiet place to sit down and study. Yes it may be next to the ugly humpbacked witch statue, but not many people came around here. So why not? He sat down on the floor, his feet and legs sticking straight out, there for anyone to trip over.

He pulled out his books, and quickly started to read. But he was so distracted at the moment about Camira...he couldnt concentrate. What was going on there? He was so baffled about Her right now. He leaned his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes with a sigh.

Evolette walked along the corridor, headed to the Slytherin Common Room after sending off her owl with Nicholai's letter. She stopped walking right infront of someone. Or rather, someone's legs.

Pursing her lips, she looked down, and coughed, before following her gaze up to see who it was that was sitting there. "Maddox!" she squeaked. Dropping down beside him. "Guess what. Guess what. Guess what!"

Maddox heard the footsteps, but he figured they would keep on walking. He kept his eyes closed. He was so utterly confused right now it was insane. Then he heard a familiar voice say his name, excitedly, and asking him to guess something. His eyes poped open instantly and he looked up to see Evee.


He grinned, it was kinda fake but she would never be able to tell. "Yes, my darling Evee what is it?" What could she be so excited about?

"Well." Evolette started, shifting against the wall as she crossed her legs, "First off, I left Muffin in the Common Room." she announced, winking at him, "Second, I just got this." Reaching into her pocket, she produced slightly wrinkled letter.

"It's from Nicholai!" she squeaked happily, clapping, "I simply had to come right away and tell you because I knew you would be-" she stopped abruptly, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Maddox chuckled at that. The little kitten had tried to eat him last time they were together. The little bugger was cute though he had to admitt that. "Well thats a good thing wouldnt want to lose a shirt due to kitten teeth!" He smiled and looked down as she pulled out the crumpled letter.


As soon as she said the name, he clenched his jaw. Of course the beautiful girl would get the letter first instead of the best friend. He suddenly felt like their friendship was a complete lie. He tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. "Well arent you lucky love. At least we know he values your friendship." Now this on top of his confusion for his feelings for Camira. Lovely. Then she asked. He sighed and replied, "I have alot on my mind right now...I didnt expect to..." He sighed and stopped. It was hard to explain.

Evolette pouted, "Oh Maddox." she sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "I didn't mean to rub it in. I just thought that maybe since I got one, you'd have one too."

Her lips pressing together lightly, she took a deep breath, blue eyes going wide, "Do you hate me now? I'm such a terrible person. Oh!" She dropped her head on his shoulder, sniffling as she stuffed the letter back into her pocket.

"You can tell me you know." she added, "I've been told that I'm a good listener. Especially when you throw in a few sweet comments about me."

Maddox gave her a week smile, and quickly stroked her cheek with his thumb. "I know darling. It just bothers me that he hasnt even attempted to contact me, and I'm supposed to be his best friend. His only male best friend mind you." He raised his eyebrows as he spoke.


"How could i hate the only person who can make me melt at the sight of her pouty face." He smiled and gave one shoft chuckle as she placed her head on his shoulder. "Dont fret my darling." He gently stroked her cheek and kissed the top of her head, breathing in her amazing scent as he did so.


With that, he sighed. How was he going to tell her whe he didnt know how to explain? He pondered a moment and decided to just say it. "I think...I have...feelings for Camira." He said quietly, with his head turned away from her. He didnt know how she would take it, and was scared at how truthful those words were, yet again.

Evolette offered him a smile, peeking up at him through her long eyelashes. "Would you like me to talk to him? Yell perhaps? He tends to listen to me quite a bit." she smirked. Nicholai was the only boy who didn't listen to her ALL of the time, but he did comply with most of her wishes.

"Maybe you just need to see Celandine. She had my letter. She might have yours too." she added.

Blinking at him, her eyelashes brushing against her cheeks lightly, Evolette grinned, "How long have you been thinking this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, quite intrigued. "Plus, you think I'm pretty, right?" she added, nudging his arm, when she noticed that he had not given her a compliment yet.