Chris had had a LONG day. He had been to the Library for hours doing his homework and had been walking up the stairs on his way up to the Gryffindor Common Room when he fell and got dirt and dust all over his hands. Why did he have to fall into the ONLY dirty corner of the school?

He opened the password-guarded door and entered into the coveted Prefects' Bathroom and headed over to the familiar sink and turned on the faucet. He looked into the mirror as he began to wash his hands.

Reese was humming a little tune inside her head as she walked patrolled the fifth floor corridor. She had her school bag over her shoulder just in case she ended up deciding to knock out some homework while she was out and about.

When she came across a large painted picture of people talking, a large smile formed on her face. It was the PREFECT BATHROOM! She had yet to visit this place a visit.

She opened the portrait and stepped inside, then she closed the portrait behind her. "Oh, Chris. Hello," she greeted the Gryffindor Prefect when she noticed he was in there. "How are you?" She headed over to one of the sinks and after she placed her school bag on the floor, she pulled out her make-up bag and placed it on the side of the sink.

Chris had finished washing his hands when he had reached for a towel and had seen another person enter the bathroom. He was going to ask who it was but he knew as soon as he saw the familiar face of his Slytherin friend Reese. She walked towards him and stopped at the sink next to him. It looked like she was going to put some make-up on. Maybe he would she what took girls so long to do with the stuff.

"Hey Reese, how are you?" he asked her with a grin, his voice echoing slightly in the tiled room. Since it seemed that she would be here for a little bit, Chris decided he would stay awhile and clean up a bit as well. He put the plug in the sink and turned the water back on and it began to fill up so that he could was his face.

Reese turned her blush compact around in her hand until the top was facing the ceiling, then she opened it. "More or less, I guess you could say I'm good," she replied to Chris. "Though, I'm starting to stress over the NEWTs." It wasn't just the NEWTs, but the Astronomy NEWT itself. She had yet to ask Jack to help her with her Astronomy studies, but she was definitely going to get around to it sometime this week.

She leaned in closer to the mirror and took her tan colored pad, then she wiped the blush onto her face. Accidentally, she loosed her grip on the tan pad after wiping the blush on her face and the tan pad fell from her hand onto the ground. Gahh! She switched her compact to her right hand, then bent down and picked her pad off the ground and, just her luck, she accidentally tilted her blush compact and some of the blush fell onto her.

"Crap," she mumbled.

JUST GREAT.

Snatching the tan pad off the ground, she stood back up and then placed the pad back into the compact before closing it completely. She placed the compact on the side of the sink and looked down at her shirt. She took the little red ring off her right hand then rinsed it under the sink to get the few particles of blush off of it. She would get to her robes in a minute.

"This is just my luck," she told Chris. Lucky indeed.

Wow. So this was what the Prefects washrooms looked like.

Torin headed inside the beautiful room and started looking around it because it was so pretty. And then he walked over to one of the sinks and turned on the faucet, splashing his face with water. He was feeling a bit sick. That and his mind was preoccupied.

He needed to break up with Gold even though he liked her a lot. And he didn't want to do it, but they both must of known that they were just better off as friends. He would still miss her though. She was a great girl.

Good place to brush her hair.

Gold stepped into the Prefects' bathroom, and looked around. It was a neat place, a really tidy one, and she liked the look of it. Which was saying something because, well, it was a washroom.

She headed for a sink, then paused on the way - was that Mr. T? Her stomach turned at the thought, and the flood of thoughts she had been trying to keep at bay, broke all dams of restraint, and washed over her. Torin ... Dylan ... Gosh, this was so weird, so sudden. She didn't want to think about it, but she knew she had to. Had to let Torin go, too.

Because they weren't meant for each other. They weren't in love, not at all. It was Dylan, she wanted to be with. Not Torin.

"Mr. T?"

He turned the tap off and looked up as he heard his name being called. He could see Gold walk towards him though the mirror.

"Miss G." He smiled at her and turned to look at her properly. He needed to face her.

"we need to talk about us. I don't think we should see each other anymore. We just... are better off as friends."

Well, that was straight to the point.

Miss G.

Yep, that was her.

"Mr. T," Gold said again. He looked alright. A bit preoccupied, but otherwise alright. Well, that was good. Because it meant she didn't have to worry about some guy with dampened spirits, or anything.

Then he spoke.

"Can you read minds or something, Torin?!" She exclaimed. She couldn't say she was upset because, well, she wasn't. Because this was exactly what she had wanted to say to him. "I wanted to say the very same thing! You're right, Mr. T, I really don't see our relationship working out... not to mention, I think I have feelings for someone else." She didn't want to say Dylan's name, though. It made her feel all hazy and warm and confused.

She shrugged her fair shoulders, but didn't say how she hoped this wouldn't ruin their friendship. Because she knew it wouldn't -- Torin wasn't the kind of guy who would let this create some sort of wall between them.

... and neither was she that kind of girl.

"Sooo ... good friends?"

He sighed in relief at her response. He had figured she would be cool with this. And they weren't really serious in the first place.

"Great. Because I love someone else." And as much as he liked Gold, he loved Brody. Gold was just like a really good friend. Someone he felt like he knew forever.

"Great friends." And they always would be.

Gold threw her arms round him and gave him a super!friends hug. "I know," she chuckled. "Brody, right?" Which was sort of weird, now that she thought of it, because, well, Brody had been with Dylan.

Sure, it hadn't been really serious between those two, and Gold had been a witness to their rather messy breakup, but that was that. End of story, end of anything Brody-and-Dylan. Torin's Brody and HER Dylan.

Well, sort of.

Because she really didn't want to think about it, to tell the truth. Thinking of Dylan made her feel ... all confused.

"Hehe, sure!"

He nodded and hugged her back. No sense in denying anything. Because well, he figured that she had already assumed as much anyway. "We love each other." Because she had told him as much. And he was jealous of her being with Jorma, but he wanted to be able to get with her when they broke up.

"It's Dylan you like, right?" Because the way she had hated him for no reason had made him wonder. It was a shame though. Because honestly he figured that she could do so much better than Denver.

He was such a jerk.

Gold pulled away, and nodded. She knew, of course she knew -- the way he acted towards Brody, the way Brody responded, it was so clear those two were meant for each other.

"Has she said yes, then?" she asked, hopefully. She really wanted Mr. T to be happy. He was one of the very first friends she had made, after her arrival to England, and she really liked him.

Then he mentioned Dylan.

"Umm ..." She knew he didn't like Dylan, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that she didn't want to talk of Dylan. Because it made her feel all weird. Like she hadn't ever felt before. Like she was ... in love. "I think so, but -- well, you know. It's all really confusing."

Meh.

"She has told me on Twitter how she wants us back together." Something that he hadn't mentioned to anyone. And it was only by telling Gold that it seemed to become real. Because before then it was more like words written down.

He studied her as he waited for her reply. And her response and manner told him everything that he needed to know. "Do you think you love him maybe?" Because if she did... he could relate to her. Because he had been confused with Brody too.

Aww. AWWW. "You have your Juliet, Romeo," Gold chuckled. No pun intended, people, she was NOT trying to remind him of that day in the courtyard. The time he had been trying to read Shakespeare.

"Guess she can help you with your Shakespeare difficulties, now." Cue grin. Correction: Cue totally mischievous grin! BWAHA!

She blinked, turned away for a second. "I'm not sure," she said, finally. "I was so sure that I hated him, Mr. T. But now I know I don't. Maybe it's not love, but ... I've never felt this way before. Maybe it is."

"Help me?"

He totally laughed because he got what she was saying. He was referring to that day in the courtyard when he had read to er the passage that reminded him of Brody. "She actually has called me her Romeo." That made him smile. She was just so adorable.

"Yeah, she can." Because she knew how to pronounce the words better than he did. And she could also read some to him if he didn't get it.

He shugged and then focused on what she told him. Because he wanted to help her if she was confused. "I know how you feel. Ive been through that too. Where you just don't get it. And I think that means that it's love. Because I've liked a lot of girls, but Brody made me feel that way too." She was special.

Chris used the white, cottony wash cloth over his face the warm water slightly eased the tiredness that he was pretty sure was evident on his face. He looked at her with his brow furrowed in thought as she talked about her being ok she guessed, and that she was just nervous for her exams. "The NEWTS? Oh I almost forgot that you had those this term!" he smiled adding something. "You know you have nothing to worry about, you will do fine." he reached over and pushed he shoulder playfully.

Chris had turned back to the sink as he heard a clatter, and turned to see Reese bending to pick something up off the floor. When she came up he saw the make-up covering her robes. "See Reese, this is why us boys have it easy." he laughed and then pulled out his wand, pointing it at his Slytherin friend's robes. He did a non-vocal charm that blew warm air out of the tip of his wand, brushing the make-up off and making her robes clean agian.

"Yep you are lucky, you have a friend like me!" he winked at her. He then noticed a little glint on the edge between his and her sink. "What's that?" he asked looking back and forth from it to her. What was going on?

The bathroom for the prefects was a long way from his common room. Fifth floor? Who had decided to put it up so hiiiiigh. Why couldn't it be down one floor lower or something, put it halfway between all the common rooms?

Eh. It was useless to worry about that. Raiden tugged the portrait open and stepped inside, glancing at the others that had congregated there as his hand tightened around the paper bag he held by his side.

Hm.

Giving them a quick smile, he headed for a sink, setting the bag down on the floor before turning on the tap. He was tired, and even splashing water in his face didn't seem to help banish the feeling. With a sigh, he washed his hands and turned the water off again. Shaking the excess from his fingertips, he glanced down at the bag before turning and leaving the bathroom, wiping his hands on his robes as he went.

The side of the paper bag was blank, except for one single word written across the middle. 'Celandine'.

Inside were the things she'd bought him in Diagon Alley. She'd get the eventually.

Reese sighed. "I have everything to worry about," she corrected him. "Not that I'm planning on getting a job that requires NEWT scores, but I still want to do absolutely wonderful in them." She also wanted her kids to be able to tell their friends that their mom was smart! Being smart required getting a higher number of NEWTs than she got of OWLs, which meant she was in trouble. NEWTs were obviously harder and she struggled to get 5 OWLs.

Rolling her eyes, she really wanted to disgree with what Chris just said, but she couldn't. "You guys do have it, hey..." Before she could finish her sentence, Chris had pulled out his wand and non-verbally casted warm air out of his wand and towards her. The air did get the blush off of her, but it also caused some of the particles of the blush to just float in the air. She blew the particles away from her face, then said, "Thanks." Her robes were now clean. That was good.

"Very lucky," she smiled. She finished washing her plastic red heart ring, then she wiped it off on her robes. There. Now it didn't have blush all over it. Placing the ring back on her hand, she looked up at Chris. "It's a, umm..." What had she told Torin it was? "Pre-engagement," she answered. "I think that's what you call it." It definitely wasn't a true engagement ring, but it was close to it!

Hearing the bathroom door open, she turned around to see Raiden enter the room, but he didn't stay long. She gave him a wave before the boy left after washing his hands. Her brown eyes looked over at the brown bag he left before turning back to Chris. That obviously wasn't for her or Chris considering it said 'Celandine' on it.

Cela wasn't skipping or bouncing or anything that could be considered normal behaviour for her. Instead her expression was troubled and thoughtful as she went into the prefects bathroom, barely even noticing anyone else except to give them each a distracted smile in greeting. She went to the sink and turned the tap on, flicking her wand to splash the water in her face.

Academic Probation. Letter to her parents. Copernicus. Vouchers. Hogshead. Raiden. New nephew. Missing Plymmy. Bad Prefect.

So many thoughts were whirring through her head that Cela barely even saw her own name written on a... paper bag? What was that? She opened it and then, upon realising, she let out a choked little noise.

Apparently she'd been totally successful since Raiden's crush on her was very much replaced by something far more negative. Something she'd never actually had experience with.

He hated her?

Cela blinked, her face going all blank and she took each bottle out, one at a time, flipped the tops and squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezed the contents of the shampoos and stuff down the sink, her expression dull and intent on what she was doing.

Chris just shook his head with a chuckle as he turned back to the sink to check and make sure there wasn't in his teeth from lunch. There was no point in persuading Reese that she was going to do well on her NEWTS, he knew she would. He just had no chance winning the conversation, she was so much more stubborn than he was.

The Gryffindor coughed a little as the make-up flew into the air much more than he had expected, when the cloud cleared he spoke up. "You're welcome, but I have no clue how you all survive with that stuff on your faces all day." he laughed checking in the mirror to make sure none of the wretched stuff landed on his face.

He then turned his attention back to the ring she had cleaned off. "A what?!" he blinked a few more times and when he could talk again he broke into a huge grin and gave her a quick hug. "You and Jack?! Well duh you and Jack but...Wow! Im so happy for you guys! I knew you would." he said grinning still shaking his head confidently. He looked around the bathroom as a few of the other Prefects began to trickle in. He didn't know how much people Reese was wanting to tell so he whispered to her. "How long ago was it?"

He tried to hide his excitement as he turned to see Reese's fellow Prefect Raiden walk in and join them by the sinks. Chris smiled and waved to him, but it was easy to hide his grin, Raiden seemed...strange. Chris watched out of the corner of his eye as he washed his hands again. Raiden left as soon as he had gotten there, and left a bag.

Chris would have been oblivious to the paper bag, except for the fact that Reese was staring at it. "Wonder what that's for?" he walked closer to it on the side of it the word, 'Celandine' was printed out. Hmmm... he walked closer.

Suddenly the door opened again and in walked a less bubbly version of Cela. He rushed back over to the sinks with Cat and smiled and greated Cela as she too joined them at a sink, with the mysterious bag.

As she pulled out the contents Chris raised up on his tip-toes inconspicuously to see what it was. So he was nosey, sue him. Shampoo? Body wash?

Booorrrrriiiinnnnnngggg.

Chris turned back to his sink and bag of toiletries. Cela must have been about to bathe or something. But then out of his mirror he saw her start to squeeze it down the sink. Wait that was men's stuff. He waited a second and then decided to question her. "Hey Cela, you ok? What'cha doing there?" Man that stuff was nice, definately work a galleon at least.

"I'm okay. Just... I'm okay. Everything is okayyyy." Cela answered, still squeeeeeezing the bottles. "Making stuff go away. And people, you know?"

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.

A satisfying dollop glopped into the sink and Cela paused to use her little finger to draw a smiley face in it. Then she let it wash down the plug hole.

"I have to do homework." She chattered. "All my homework. Extra credit. Professor Vindictus says."

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez e.

Bubbles were starting to go everywhere but Cela ignored them. If she'd thought about it then a bubble fight would have been in the works.

Chris' eyes got wide as Cela talked in what was close to her cheery voice again, but you could tell she was still determined at what she was doing. She was beginning to talk about school work as well. Chris thought she was going crazy.

"Yeah I...know what you mean." he said walking closer to her, and picking up one of the non-disposed bottles and looking at it. It was nice stuff, and definately more than a galleon. "Umm..Cela, what's the story with this?" he asked a little nervous for her response.

He did have something that could maybe help unstress her. "Hey Cela, I know we have a lot of homework, but perhaps you should take a break one afternoon, and go down to Hogsmeade." he bent down to retrieve soemthing from his school bag.

"Here you go, I saw that you weren't very happy with the one that Vindictus got you. The Hog's Head gives me the creeps too." he rambled on as he held out the coupon he had gotten in the same class.

"Raiden doesn't want it I guess." Celandine answered and started on another bottle.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.

She frowned slightly at Chris. He didn't know what she meant at all, even if he thought that he did. He was smart and all, but she, Celandine Toussaint had always been the top student of her year and achieved 12 OWLs last year along with earning the highest points for an individual student ever.

She was used to being on top, except in her second year when she'd spent most of her time climbing trees and mucking around with Garret. Even still she'd still done better that year than she was doing now. And if Vindictus wrote to her parents? They'd pull her out of school no questions asked.

They wouldn't let her come back either. They'd probably arrange a marriage for her with one of her suitors, she'd have to run away with Copernicus and they'd have to live as muggles. Poor muggles.

Right now she blamed the shampoo.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.

"This is me taking a break." Celandine pointed out. Clearly she wasn't doing homework right then. Clearly.

She flinched in an obvious way as Chris thrust a voucher at her, though after a moment she reached out tentatively and touched it, just with her little finger mind you.

"No." She answered thoughtfully, not being clear about what she was saying no to.

She swallowed a bubble and started to cough.

After Cela stated that Raiden didn't want the stuff Chris though to himself. 'Geez, Raiden that was nice stuff. You couldn't have helped out you fellow Prefect brother?' jokingly of course.

When he had mentioned her taking a break, he could practically see and hear the cogs and wheels spinning in her head. He wasn't expecting such a harsh answer. Well clearly she wasn't doing homework now. Chris' grin fell slightly and then brought it back up to cover up his shocked inside. 'She didn't have to talk to me like I'm an idiot.'

But Cela was stressed and Chris could tell that. Anyone in the room could tell that. He then was suprised yet again at the blunt answer he had gotten for being nice and giving her his coupon, voucher thingy. "No? Ok well I needed new gloves anyway." he said matter-of-factly as he put the coupon back into his pocket.

He made sure she wasn't choking or anything when she coughed on the bubble and then returned to look at his sink. In the mirror he could see the fake smile he had plastered on his face. Something was definately up with Cela.