Kurumi had spent a few hours in her common room prior to coming back down, but she knew it was something that she had to do before going to bed. So, as all her fellow lions were getting to know each other and share the remaining Gryffindor cookies left over from the feast - perhaps the last batch she would be able to bake for a while - Kurumi had slipped out unnoticed and made her way down to the broom cupboard.

This time, however, she left the door open and didn't even bother casting the charms she had previously. There was no point now anyway. She had really only come for closure.

Rummaging through the shelves until she found what she was looking for, Kurumi removed a small off white knitted pouch that was covered in dust. It was the same pouch that she had placed there last term, and she could feel the parchment crinkle under her touch. It must have been a dry summer.

Slowly, she removed the parchment and read it over. Sure, it had only been a year since she had written the words there, but she needed to revisit her thoughts.



Smiling to herself, which was odd considering just how broken she felt again, Kurumi swallowed back some tears as she searched her pockets for her quill.

Striding down the hall Salander spotted the half open broom cupboard and grabbed hold of the door's edge, wondering why it was even left open "Peeves again I bet..." he muttered and made the motion of closing the door. But just before the door swung shut he thought he spotted a shadow of someone inside. He swung the door open again and peered in "Kurumi???" he uttered then peered around trying to see if there was ANYONE with her. Realizing she was alone he edged closer in and tilted his head trying to see her face "You ok Cookie Princess?"

Kurumi's head shot up when she heard someone speak and all the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. If she had been any more focused on what she was doing, chances were that her hair would have had some sort of reaction. However, it wasn't long before it registered in her head who it was that had just entered the broom cupboard along with her.

"Salander?" she managed to squeak. Her eyes widened and now it was too late to try and keep everything locked up. She needed a good hug right about now. The entire day from Kings Cross Station to the end of the feast had been one disaster after the other - at least on the social front with two people that she thought really cared about her.

Throwing caution to the wind, she ran over and hugged Salander, a few little droplets trickled down her face. "I-I-I've been better..."

He started to smile when he heard her squeaked out his name then caught her bear hug. Huh... she's been better? Somebody's gone upsetting his Cookie!Princess again. Quelling down a low growl as his eyes darted momentarily towards the general area of the Kitchens he continued "Whats wrong Kurumi tell me? Maybe I can do something to help sort it out...." Or sort someone out. Cracks knuckles.

A lot of things were wrong and she didn't even know where to begin. First of all, she was already stressed out about her prefecting duties and hurting a second year who had too many cats. Then there was the matter of the kitchens being closed and her concern for her house elf friends who had been nothing but generous to her every time she went down their to bake. Naturally, she was worried sick about them and she wanted to figure out how to get into the kitchens to see for herself just what made it so off limits.

But...that wasn't what had brought her here.

Arms still around her Papa Snake, Kurumi peeked up at him through her dark bangs. "A-A-Adam is back..."

He looked into his Cookie!Princess' teary eyes and can feel the anger starting to stir from within, his old tempestuous nature whispering like a little demon in his ear. Then Kurumi uttered a name.... and he drew a blank.

Adam?... Did he know an Adam? Treyen's middle name didnt happen to be Adam is it?

Oh!

Salander scowled as the memory of the Gryffindor boy resurfaced. Yes he-who-has-no-concept-of-personal-space! "Didnt you say he moved to Mexico or something?" he muttered as he glanced back into her face the added through gritted teeth "Did he make you cry again?" Oh he's is so in the mood for a knuckle sandwich.

Kurumi clutched Salander's robes a bit tighter, taking care this time to not to make her forehead connect with his badge. One Head Boy imprinted on her forehead was enough. As she stood there, feeling like she would collapse into a broken pile on the ground at any moment, Kurumi thought back to the last (and only?) time she had seen them interact.

Salander hadn't been exactly keen on the boy, and she didn't blame him. Especially now that she had seen was could only be his true colors.

"H-H-He did...and he j-j-j-just came back..." she murmured, taking a few deep breaths as she did. "I...I...I slapped him...right across the face..." And it felt kind of good, but she wasn't going to admit that.

Salander comforted his Cookie!Princess then froze mid pat. Wait did she just say she hit Adam? His eyes fell to the top of her head. That sure was a more direct approach than flying cookie dough uhuh. "Wait... why did you hit him?" he was oddly curious because he knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end. Whoever said that women were weaker than men apparently didnt get a handful right across the cheek.

"I didn't hit him," Kurumi said calmly, looking down at the ground sheepishly for a moment. "I slapped him, right across the face." Kurumi tugged on her hair, perhaps pulling on it a little too strongly.

"H-H-He lied to me Salander...about everything," she said as she bit down on her lower lip. "He said he would write and he never did. He even....he even...." This is where Kurumi felt like she was the idiot. Telling him that she would wait, mostly because she was afraid of letting go, and she had waited...perhaps even given up chances with other people. "...he replaced me..."

Adam crept into the room.THEIR room.How it had served so many purposes,so many discussions an laughter in the past.He could hear him an Kurumi pretend to fight with broomsticks or remembering watching the snow drizzle down outside looking through the window.

The memories.All their happy memories,sad memories,confused memories all lived in here.An now,they were mixed up feelings,memories.It had been so long,so long an so much had passed them it seemed as if it had been 5 years he had left Kurumi an this place.The broom cupboard.

Sighing heavily Adam glanced around the room once more,as if his long breath symbolized all he had gone through with her.How it had just been the two of them an no one ever discovered them in their special place where he wouldn't be judged,where she wouldn't be judge.

Slowly he closed the door behind him.

Kurumi had been making her daily trip to the kitchens to see if by any chance the house elves had decided to reopen the kitchens, only to find that that was not the case and she was once again without her baking outlet. This was really starting to weigh heavily on the fourth year. While she had been successful in the Transfiguration practice room, it just wasn't the same. Nor was using the Room of Requirement. Sure, she could make them look like a kitchen, but the feeling and smells were off.

Hanging her head, she heard a door shut as she walked by and her head turned to follow the noise. Odd...very odd. Slowly, she reached for the handle and opened the door.

Hearing the small creak of the door Adam spun around an saw the knob turning ever so slowly.No.This couldn't be happening right now.What if someone found him hanging out in a dirty broom cupboard by himself,they'd ask him what his intentions were an his whole secret,or their whole secret would be discovered an be no more.

Thinking of a quick get away Adam spotted those old brooms he had used a few years back an camflauged himself behind them,but his foot had slipped on a bucket that smelled of sick.Great timing Adam Burn.

Hearing more crashes and bangs, Kurumi began to wonder if she had made a mistake coming into the broom cupboard. What if...she had just walked in on a couple having a private moment? EEK! She ought to get out of there before she made things even worse...until her nose smelled something ridiculously foul.

Plugging her nose, Kurumi took a few more timid steps inside and the door shut itself behind her. "I-I-Is there anyone here?" Maybe there was a mouse that had got stuck? Or a house elf?

Adam was silently getting mad at himself for being such a klutz.Now someone was completely standing in the broom cupboard.He wondered how long the person would be staying there an then thought it he had the patience to wait for them to leave.

Now his foot was inside the bucket an had made him crash out of his hiding spot,landing flat on his back from the different levels of his feet. Groaning in pain Adam got up as he rubbed his back an then rubbed his eyes to get a better look.

"K-K-Kurumi...Well,that wasn't embarrassing."He stuttered quietly looking up at her.Well,if it weren't embarrassing enough for him,things were about to once again,as usual in this place,were probably going to get awkward.

EEEEEEEEK!

Kurumi jumped backwards, crashing into a cabinet filled with broken broom handles and lose straw that fell everywhere. She would pick that up once her heart rate evened out.

Beneath the fallen brooms, Kurumi managed to make out red hair. "Adam?" she squeaked, bending down to pick up some of the brooms and setting them to the side. "What...what are you doing in here?"

This was that awkward moment between them.Though his crashing had made it less awkward but more dramatic than anything else.When she had finished helping him out slightly,he gave her a weak,grimacing smile.She wouldn't believe his answer when he told her.He began to wonder what emotions this would bring her to,him being in her after all that had happened.

"Visiting." He answered her sheepishly."Sounds weird,coming from me,huh?"

"It's...certainly not what I expected," she replied with an airy giggle. "It probably wouldn't surprise you that I came here a lot the year you were gone." More often than she wanted to admit to to be entirely honest. With everything that had happened to her recently, Kurumi expected to hate herself and all the emotions that were still attached to this place, especially now that she was in here again with Adam. Strangely, she found herself comfortable...and she wasn't sure that she liked that.

There!He had expected that answer to come from her,but he had mentioned it himself.Although,he didn't want to say anything stupid or make things worse for himself so he kept his lips glued together.

Well,he hadn't thought about it,her answer at first.But now that he dwelled on the thought an went through this whole school year so far,it wouldn't be hard to imagine it."It's not very hard to imagine,no.Ironic how a place that turned out to be so happy for us turned out to be a horrible place for us...We never meant this place to turn as bad as our situation.It was our small heaven."He chuckled at his own thought,but not at the meaning of it.

Kurumi fidgeted awkwardly in place and pushed some of her hair over her shoulders. It had been a while since her and Adam had last spoken thanks to the winter holidays. She had changed a lot, both emotionally and physically. Her bangs were gone, hair was a bit more wavy, and she miiiiiiiiiiight have grown an inch. Not to mention that her hair was no longer worn in a pony tail - people seemed to think that it suited her better.

"Adam...can we stop talking about what we were and what we might have been," she said suddenly. Reality was that it killed her every time that it did. Unless...he was wanting to go back to those days. Which made things every more difficult on her.

Adam took a few steps back when she sternly spoke to him.It was calm,yet fierce at the same time which had thrown him off guard.She had a point though,he had done this to him,yet he always kept bringing it up.He just thought that the more he brought it up the more it'd make it apparent for him the scale of everything.

"Ok...I can do that." He said nodding at her demand.Now,he had to ask her to duct tape his mouth whenever they were together so he would not speak what she wished him not to speak.But,he kept it back.He knew if he asked for the tape she would give him more choices of words.

Kurumi bowed her head slightly in gratitude. "Th-thank you," she mumbled, not really sure if it really made her feel any better. Shuffling her feet a bit, she attempted to pick up the things that she had knocked over and returned them to their proper place. Having done so, she knew she couldn't pretend to distract herself more and she had no choice but to turn and face him now.

She wanted to know what was going on in his head. Why he kept thinking about THEM. He was the one who had decided to move on before giving anything a chance. It all made such little sense to her. How naive she had been then. In her defense, Adam had been the first friend she had ever had, so there was a much stronger attachment on her end than his.

"So..." she swung her arms slightly. Merlin was this awkward.

The air was getting tense again,an a bubble was soon filling up the room.As they both stood there,enduring the awkwardness the only thing Adam could think about was competetions,more likely,'most likely'.

"If we where in highschool..I'd easily say we'd win, 'most likely to have an awkward silence' award." He piped up hoping that the tension would ease,an things would be back to normal.It was the best joke he could think of,even if it were a bad one.What could they really talk about.Though,he really also wished she wouldn't take that joke the wrong way."Or,we can help the elves at the school,grab a broom an start sweeping away at the school." He suggested.She had always been the neat one,an worried about others before herself.

Kurumi tried to giggle, but nothing came out and if she tried any more it would only be forced and make her look even more ridiculous than she already was feeling on the inside. "I think...we would have won that one a long time ago," she said with a small nod. No denying it anymore.

Kurumi's face was still rather grim considering the circumstances, but it was only matching the mood of what she was about to ask. Adam was the only person that she knew who had dated someone, felt so strongly for them, and then moved on. She wasn't breaking the rule she had made with him since it wasn't talking about what they had been and what they could have been. Totally different topic. "Adam...how did you know you were ready to...try again with someone else?"

To be honest,he had never expected her to ask him this question.In fact,he didn't even know it could exist in her mind until this moment.He stood there,squirming in his own clothes as he thought about his answer an how he would carefully word it.

Taking a deep breath he said it in the best way she might be able to understand.

Yes.He was bringing out the guns.

"Look at it this way...You're baking you're favorite cookie,an then you see this recipe for a new cookie that looks good on the catalog or the recipe book so you say 'Hey I'm gonna try this out.'So you make that new cookie an you taste it,an at first you may like it.It's new an different an it's something that you never really expected cause you were so used to that old cookie.But once it really settles in..You realize the old cookie was better,because you felt more comfortable with it.You had grown up baking that cookie an you couldn't let it slip too easily when it had become such a constant part of your life.

Are you asking me this because you want to try a new cookie?Which-I completely understand." He said angling his head.