Whistling a little tune, Ivory took the steps two at a time down from the Ravenclaw common room to the fifth floor. Those mirrors were the best method ever to communicate, but sometimes, like this time, it was soo much better to see her best friend in person. Which is exactly why she'd told Arya to meet her here. Not many people usually came this way and even though it was a bathroom, it was a luxury bathroom so it wasn't odd.

So taking a perch at the corner of the swimming pool like tub, Ivory waited.

This kitchen being closed to students thing?

Not working for the Puff prefect.

Arya had her mokeskin bag around her neck and her kneazle at her heels, his green eyes on her more than their path. Her thoughts weren't on him at the moment though. She needed food that could only be provided by the lovely house elves who'd denied her acces to the kitchens multiple times.

How was she supposed to sneak a late night snack during patrols?

She stepped into the bathroom, she let the portal linger open for the tabby before moving over to where her bestie was. "Hey Ivyleaf."

Quote:

Originally Posted by grangerfan8

This kitchen being closed to students thing?

Not working for the Puff prefect.

Arya had her mokeskin bag around her neck and her kneazle at her heels, his green eyes on her more than their path. Her thoughts weren't on him at the moment though. She needed food that could only be provided by the lovely house elves who'd denied her acces to the kitchens multiple times.

How was she supposed to sneak a late night snack during patrols?

She stepped into the bathroom, she let the portal linger open for the tabby before moving over to where her bestie was. "Hey Ivyleaf."

Taking the time to look around, Ivory imagined how much better the room would look if there were some lounge chairs. The tub was pool sized after all. Speaking of which, she never actually taken the time to test the extravagance that was the Prefect bathroom. One of these days, perhaps after a particularly tiring one, she'd have to stop by and indulge in a bit of bubbles and scents.

But for now, she had other stuff on the brain. Like the small drawstring pouch in her pocket.

Standing up at the arrival of her best friend, Ivory grinned at her nickname. "Hey Arya!" Bounding up to hug the girl, she rushed on. Too impatient to wait.

"Alright so I picked us up something in Diagon Alley right before the term started and I totally forgot to give it to you!" Her smile widening, she reached her hand into her pocket and held it out. "Open it, open it!"

It wasn't as awesome as their communicating mirrors, but it was a token of her affection. "Pick a half."

Arya's eyes trailed after Perseus for a moment, watching as he made himself at home on the edge of the large tub and proceeded to playfully swat at the bubbles. Sometimes she forgot how worth the walk this bathroom was, It was beautiful and only the prefects and captains had access to it. Maybe she would spend more time here this term...

It was good to see that her bestie was in a much better mode than herself, she returned the hug halfheartedly, and managed a smile for the Claw. Oh, she got gifts today? Curiosity, and a love of receiving gifts, had her perking up a bit as she opened the box, fingers brushing over the two pendants. "There so pretty, Ivy."

How was she going to pick?

"Um... I'll take the left half." Which she did, unsure of where she would wear the pendant. She already had necklaces she wore daily... maybe a bracket? Arya handed the other half back to her friend, and worked on fixing the pendant around her wrist fashionably. "So, what have you been up to. How was summer?" She really should have kept in contact better with the girl over the holiday.

It took him forever to get here, and not because he got busy on his way up but because he'd turned back many times. If Ellie hadn't said a single thing about this, then he wouldn't be as terrified as to talk to the newly-appointed Gryffindor Prefect.

Well, no, not terrified, or yes, terrified, but not terrified for himself but for whatever damage he could still cause.

Either way, he stepped into the Prefects' Lounge and took a seat in the same chair he'd sat while he talked to Ivy that last time.

Kurumi almost didn't see the floating note sent by Treyen due to Walnut swatting at it like it was a fly. She had wished that she hadn't when she had seen who it was from. Her heart just couldn't take anymore of this. First she had been told that he was telling people the she had kissed him, which was a lie, then he had essentially flaunted Ellie right in front of her face in the prefect compartment of the train - making her feel like she was not wanted there despite her status. That was mostly why she hadn't spent time there...seeing how Treyen was essentially trying to rub salt in the wound he had made.

Now what did he want to do? Torture her more for her feelings? Kurumi had almost refused to come...but there was still a large part of herself that needed Treyen. She thought that she had gotten over her emotions, but with Adam's sudden appearance she had been thrown right back into a never-ending spiral.

Slowly, Kurumi opened the door and peered in. Her breath caught when she saw Treyen already there waiting for her, but she said nothing.

His eyes had been focusing on the nearest window and he almost didn't notice that the one he was waiting for had come in until he felt a change in the room.

Not even one single 'Hi'? That was...well, they'll see later on if he deserved no greetings.

"Kurumi," he said, as he instantly rose to his feet. No smiles or anything this time, he didn't feel nervous but was slightly concerned by the lack of words from the Gryffindor. "I...we kind of need to talk," like, BOTH of them, probably?

"But first I want to apologize for how I treated you on the feast. Really, there are no excuses for acting that way, and I'm sorry if I caused you any harm," yet he already knew that he'd caused too much hurt, one that she was able to handle, right? Because she was standing right in front of him.

He was going to keep quiet but he decided to keep going...why? In case she decided to leave. "Ellie told me what happened at King's Cross...and I need to apologize for that as well, because I never told her it was you the girl I'd kissed, yet he assumed you were," so, yeah, he was completely sorry about it. Ellie was blaming herself too much for that, and HE was the one to blame.

Kurumi didn't move from where she stood, which was still with her back to the door in case she needed to make a quick escape. She waited in silence as he spoke, not really know how or even if she should respond.

At least he was apologizing for the feast, but he should know that he did cause her harm because she had done nothing wrong but what he had asked. She tugged at the edges of her skirt for a few moments, pretending that one of the lose threads was the most fascinating thing in the world. "Did you...even bother to read the letter?" Because that made all the difference as to whether or not she would even consider accepting the apology.

And then Treyen stopped beating around the bush - not that he had to begin with - but he got right to the subject that hurt her the most. The so called kiss. Had the thought cross her mind to try. She would be lying to herself if she said no, but he had made it very clear to her that he had no interest in the little lion. That thought stung still. Her violet eyes looked up at him for only a brief moment, but it was enough to reveal that they were shimmering a bit. Her face contorted for a moment when he implied that he HAD kissed her.

"...will you...stop teasing me like this," she said weakly - in regards to this whole kissing business. "You made it very clear to me that I do not meet your standards...so why would you even say that you kissed me..." Talk about giving the girl even more false hope. Not to mention she still felt like Treyen had been flaunting Ellie in front of her in the prefect compartment.

At her question his eyes decided to stay on the girl with the violet eyes. The letter. The one Arya had read before he even had the chance to know it existed. It'd probably crush her if she found out that he'd left the box of cupcakes at the table and Arya had been the one to take them with her, so, he left that part out, it's not like Kurumi's question involved that tiny part.

Tiny, yet important part.

"I did." But at the time, he hadn't been too at ease with its contents. "I understand why you may not look up to me anymore, though," that was the last thing she wrote, that he was someone she could look up to, at least back then. "True friends don't react the way I did...that's what I'm apologizing for," he let her down, but she was a stronger Kurumi because of that, right? Like he was a stronger Treyen...that couldn't face his fears? That wasn't right. Er, any way...

He noticed. Her eyes. Yet he failed to act on the watery part because she started to speak again, and his brows got together in a frown. Wrong, Kurumi, you got it wrong. "I made it very clear that it's not because you don't meet my standards--you know what? That part doesn't even matter anymore because I've never said I kissed you." Which was oh-so-completely true....to an extent.

Treyen sighed and let his body fell on the chair he'd been seated before Kurumi arrived, eyes NOT on Kurumi.

Bold. He'll be.

"I thought it was you, though," he started to say, and laid eyes on the Gryffindor, "Yet I recently found out that it had been Sierra, instead," he had to say it all at once, "But for the few months that I actually thought it was you, I only told Arya. No one else, just her. I did tell Ellie I'd kissed someone else, but I never mentioned a name back then," not even to Neptune Bott, the nicest Ravenclaw girl he's met and one he was starting to miss oh-so-dearly.

A small smile tickled the corners of her lips. He HAD read the letter, at least that was something. It didn't really matter at what point in time he had read it, what was important was that he had. After all, it had taken a lot for the little Gryffindor to put all those thoughts into words and even more courage to actually hand it to him. She had chickened out several times.

"No...I suppose they wouldn't," she said softly. Was he saying that he wasn't even her friend anymore? She was so confused now. He was apologizing, but was that just so that he could move on with a clean slate? Kurumi thought she had moved on, but it was clear to her now that she hadn't. If anything, she was feeling even worse.

Her eyes widened at his next comment. Maybe that bit didn't matter to him, but it did to her. At least, she thought that it mattered. All her life she hadn't lived up to people's standard. Why did everyone think she studied so hard? She felt like she had to prove herself.

But her thoughts were dismissed for the moment as he continued. "You thought it was me?" she said, folding her arms. Did Treyen need glasses or something? But then she gasped. "P-P-P-Polyjuice potion?" She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. So THAT was why Sierra had wanted to be her partner? To get close to Treyen? Kurumi's entire body hunched over and it looked as though she were going to collapse to the floor. She had been so kind to Sierra over the summer, welcomed her into her own home, kept her secret...had she know that she had been harboring such a person...she might have handled things differently.

Still...that didn't change one very BIG fact. Treyen had kissed her. Well, he had kissed Kurumi, even if he hadn't know that it wasn't really her. He had done it. Her heart pounded in her chest.

"W-W-Why?" she finally managed to squeak out.

The Lockhart boy was learning his way in regards to saying the right things at the right time and in the right place. His mind had been quick enough not to let that Arya part slip past him, and he knew he'd done well in keeping that from Kurumi, or she'd be even more hurt than before. If that was even possible. But at the thought of 'hurt' he remembered what Ellie had said...AND was reminded of something else from that letter. Kurumi could actually be hurt because of how disappointed she was at him as a friend, not because she liked him still, right? It made sense. To him.

Was their friendship truly damaged, though? Because he still wanted to be friends with her. True friends were always true if they wanted you in their life, right?

He made no further comment because...his mouth opened up to say something, but she spoke first. Yes, he nodded, ashamed, it wasn't like she was saying it, really, but Kurumi was smart and he didn't have to explain himself even more. "Polyjuice Potion. I didn't know it was her, she acted just like you...except...a whole lot more confident," Sierra was the kind of girl that found a way to get what she wanted, right? Treyen was still unsure of what she'd truly wanted. "The same thing that happened between you and Conan, kind of happened to me and Sierra, except...reversed." Conan and Sierra had been the ones to kiss them, and those two seemed like they belonged together NOW, after thinking about it.

Treyen stood up, though, and walked closer to her, "You should take a seat," she didn't look like the floor could hold her for long.

Then he heard the question that had been a bit of a problem when Ellie asked it. The boy shook his head at once, "I...kind of wanted to know how I truly felt about you," and what it would be like to have those violet eyes looking at you once the kiss was over, yes? But he LOVED the blue eyes that gazed upon him now. "I'm really sorry, Kurumi, for everything," and for losing her, as well.

More...confident? Kurumi frowned and turned her attention down to the ground. Hadn't he realized that it wasn't her? She thought back a bit over the last term and how she had run into Treyen and...somehow...he had seemed a bit off. Clearly, due to their conversation now, that person hadn't been Treyen but someone polyjuiced as him. A small smile appeared on her lips as she realized that she hadn't reacted in the manner that she usually did because, well, it hadn't been Treyen.

The other side of that coin was that Treyen hadn't realized that it wasn't her. Hadn't felt that she was different from usual. THAT kind of hurt...but she decided not to comment on that. There seemed to be more important things to discuss than that at the moment.

"The same thing didn't happen," she said as her violet eyes now locked on his, a few tears trickling down her face now. "I told Conan to try and prevent damage being done. I didn't let him think that the lie was real." Furthermore, Kurumi had been very kind to the person who had caused all this.

Kurumi's body cringe and instinctively moved away from Treyen before she realized that she had. It wasn't that she didn't want to be close to Treyen, maybe even get a hug, but she was afraid now. She was actually afraid of him.

"I-I-I-I'm alright..." she lied as her knees wobbled a bit. Kurumi had always been a terrible liar to begin with.

She locked onto his gaze and allowed her jaw to drop. It was all an experiment? To see what it was like? How he really felt? Kurumi wasn't entirely sure what to think about that comment. "You still don't," she said softly. Not that she was implying that he try right now, but it was true. He hadn't kissed who he thought he was and therefore he really didn't know.

She looked down at the ground again, almost ashamed of how judgmental and cold she was being right now. At the same time, she wasn't and that feeling made her even more frightened.

"I've missed you...so much..."

Paulie was getting a liiiitle antsy waiting around for a prefect to leave the bathroom, but speak of the devil...

FINALLY, one of the prefects left!

The Gryffindor gasped and shimmied back behind the wall, out of sight, with Tori. "Okay, okay.. let's go!" He quick grabbed her hand and tugged her to the portrait hole before slipping in all sneakily like bandits. And... ohhhmiGagaa.

The prefects got this ALL to themselves?! Not only was it fancy shmancy, but it was HUGE. Well.... surely sharing a little wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? He turned to Tori with a smirk. "I hear there is a mermaid in here....."

Tori gasped after Paulie gasped, just for the sake of gasping. She squeezed his hand tight and squeaked a little as they sneaked into the most giant, squeaky clean, shiny, tiled bathroom she had ever seen.

"OOOOOOOOOH!" the ginger cooed, turning around and around as she stared at the solid gold taps and the Olympic-sized swimming pool. "I bet there is. I bet she lives right in there!" she added, pointing to the pool.

Tori just wanted to see what kinds of bubbles they had. Hehee.

Kurumi had been looking for a quiet place to think. Sure, she usually hung out in the broom cupboard, but the rumors of her really being a house elf were starting to wear on the fourth year. Best to find another place to hide in, right?

After greeting with the portrait and entering the prefect's bathroom, Kurumi heard...voices? Neither of them sounded like they belonged to her fellow prefects, which was odd. Tilting her head to the side, Kurumi edged forward and saw two students who certainly were not prefects.

"H-H-How did you get in here?!" she chirped with surprise. Had then stolen a prefect's badge or something? Were the portraits in need of glasses being drawn on them?

That small smile he saw...he didn't know what it meant, though, Kurumi could be thinking about anything at the moment, and maybe even thinking about stuff that was unrelated to any of this. He wasn't asking, mainly because if was a nice sight to see her smile.

He's tried to do the same with Arya but the outcome had resulted in one almost-smile that he'd rather not see again.

But now, Kurumi seemed to know something he didn't. Treyen's eyes never left her, and once she spoke...he shook his head, she was implying something he didn't like. Sierra was far more better than that and the Hufflepuff assumed that maybe Sierra knew she'd done something she shouldn't have but didn't want him to know? Rather strange, considering he played a key part in this story. "I meant, that me and Conan kissed someone that happened to be someone else," true. That's why he nodded. "I'm sure Sierra never meant any harm," to anyone involved. Yet he didn't know what the Slytherin girl's true intentions were.

THERE WERE TEARS, and he pocketed his hand, a concerned look on his face as he watched those tears fall on her skin. She shouldn't be crying anymore, because he...well, his eyes left her, he didn't want to see Kurumi crying again, not when he was in the same position as the last time where he couldn't even console her in any way.

Go figure. Ellie had said that she was a horrible person, when the horrible person was actually him, making girls cry. Awesome. Not.

That other thing he noticed, and so he took one step away from her.

But then...his eyes fell on her, and he knew she wasn't alright but if she didn't want to tell him, that was fine. She didn't have to. 'But you still don't'. That was enough to make him think about what that could mean, and he shook his head once more, "No, I do." He knew that his feelings for Kurumi were ones of friendship, and his feelings for Ellie were far stronger than that.

Treyen didn't move a muscle, he did eye her, though. "I've missed having you around, Kurumi," which was so, completely, true. "Therefore, I've missed you."

Paulie's mouth hung open a little as he took in this bathroom, and as he looked around, a thought came to him. "You know, Princess.. I think it's only appropriate for us - 'specially you - to be in here 'cause it is like a royal bathroom." And she was a princess, wasn't she? He really wouldn't be surprised if from now on, Tori demanded that she use this lavatory instead of the normal school ones.

His eyes averted to the pool when Tori mentioned the mermaid living there. "You think?" He stepped closer and stared down into the water. "I bet she's real pretty.." And maybe she just wore seashells and that's it!


The boy shuffled and spun around when he heard a voice. Oh, it was a prefect. One of his prefects, no less. "Oh hi, Kurumi.." Paulie offered a smile and attempted to appear as if nothing was wrong. "Well.." Uhhhh. How did they get in here? "Through the portrait hole, ya know." Never mind the fact that they SNUCK in here.

"I bet that mermaid is hideous, with like, seaweed for hair and starfish on her face..." Tori started to say to Paulie, when all of a sudden she heard a squeaky, shy little voice right behind her.

GASP! It was a Prefect, a real one! And it was THE ONE who had GLUED HER HAIR.

Tori glaaaaaaaaaaaared at Kurumi, folding her arms crossly. "Yeah, we came in through the entrance," she sneered. "We're prefects tooooo." Not really, but being a Princess was better than being a Prefect. So ha!

Paulie threw Tori a look. "Pffffffft. Mermaids who live in bathrooms like this are obviously going to be drop dead gorgeous." Obviouslyyy. He teetered forward on his toes a little to look over the edge of the pool, in search of the mermaid.

But yes, Kurumi! Was she buying the whole 'We're prefects, too!' deal? 'Cause she was staying pretty quiet... Hmmmmmmm.....

"Uhh, yeah.." Now that Tori said they were prefects, he couldn't say they weren't! "Yeah, we just got the positions, so we didn't get the badges or anything yet, ya know.."

Kurumi folded her arms across her chest and eyed the two of them. Kurumi might be naive, but she wasn't THAT naive. She knew the rules and how the prefect's bathroom worked and there was no way these two had made it into her by just walking in.

"If there is one thing that I cannot stand it is when people lie right to my face," she said sheepishly looking at the ground. Merlin this was the part of the job she didn't like. First she had had to tell Rose that she couldn't keep 6 cats in her dorm and now here she was. "I am going to have to ask that you both leave or else..." she bit her lip. This would certainly result in more point loss from Gryffindor, but there really was no other way around it. "I will be forced to get a professor involved." At least with Kurumi there would be no real punishment.


Kurumi took another step backwards, not knowing what to do or how to react, especially when he was seeming to take Sierra's side on this. Kurumi was more than willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt, but not when someone refused to do the same for her. "In case you never noticed...she hates me, Treyen," Kurumi said in a small voice. "Perhaps now she is at most indifferent to me..." Never meant Kurumi any harm? Kurumi wasn't sure Sierra had even thought of Kurumi when she was taking the polyjuice potion. She was almost positive Sierra had only been thinking about herself at the time and that it didn't matter what happened to the other parties involved.

Especially when Sierra had the chance to come clean with it those two weeks they had spent together during the summer when Sierra had run away from home and come to stay with her. Kurumi felt sick to her stomach suddenly.

Her heart did skip a beat when he said that he had missed her too, but he sure had a funny way of showing it. Kurumi didn't respond to that, other than biting her lip and hugging her arms around herself to give herself a hug. She didn't think much on his comment about him knowing, if he had decided that he was going to allow this mistake dictate everything, then so be it. Kurumi had tried to move on from that, but he was making it harder now.

But...now what to do? She couldn't just run over and hug him - which surprised her that her instincts were not telling her to do that.

"I...don't know how to act around you now..."

Kurumi was on the right track there, it wasn't like Sierra had liked the Gryffindor very much, he knew that from the one time they talked about her. Not that they always talked about Kurumi or anything, but Sierra had asked.

And he was very much uncomfortable discussing Sierra with Kurumi for some odd reason. That's why he decided to take a seat before speaking again, "You know, I don't think that's it. I don't think she hates you." Not really. Hate was a rather strong feeling. Maybe Sierra was just jealous of the Gryffindor girl in front of him, but 'hate' her? Who could possibly hate Kurumi? "Not everyone has to like us, perhaps that's it, she just doesn't like you too much," exactly what was Treyen saying? And WHY was he saying it?

Because if he was trying to make Kurumi feel better, THAT wasn't going to help.

He cleared his throat before looking back up at her, "Some people don't like others until they get to know them, that's what I meant." Yes, of course. That was totally it.

Wise, amber eyes were on her, and he just eyed her curiously as she said that she didn't know how to act around him. Like, what did that mean? She couldn't act as if nothing had happened, because MANY things had happened for her to just forget it all, but...did that even mean that she could still possibly like him? No, right? No, of course not. He was afraid to ask, though, it wasn't a question you asked so freely when the feelings of that other person weren't the same.

"I wish we could go back to being friends like we used to...," he started to say, still sitting in the seat he'd chosen, "...I could, yet I don't know if you're there yet...," he was trying to be careful enough in his choice of words, "...just let me know when you're ready." He'll be waiting, for she was a friend he didn't want to lose.

"Yeah right," Tori scoffed, wandering around the bathroom to give herself a tour. She walked right up to the sinks and started turning them all on, watching with amazement as the water was instantly hot and steamy. Niiiice.

Tori turned and smiled sweetly at the Gryffindor girl. "Look, if we give you cookies, can you just let us stay in here for like five more minutes? We just wanna see the mermaid."

She blinked her long eyelashes very, very innocently.

"Yeah, I am right." Tori simply needed to be schooled on all this mermaid stuff. Maybe he ought to make a bet, 'cause he KNEW mermaids were pretty. Take Ariel for example: if she weren't a cartoon, she'd totally be a stunner. Probably. Eh, maybe he just had a thing for redheads.

Wow.. Enter Stern!Kurumi. And he did feel badly when she said how she didn't like people lying straight to her face and all. She probably didn't like lying at all - even if it weren't straight to her face - but he didn't ask. Cookies? He looked to Tori with a puzzled expression. Where the heck were they gonna get COOKIES to give her?! Anyway. "Oh, uh, yeah... we really just wanna see the mermaid," he nodded quickly. "And we'll leave right after we see her - promise!"

Pleaaaaaassssse?

Kurumi's hands flew to her lips. WAIT?! There was a mermaid in the prefects' bathroom?! Why hadn't anyone told her about this? Kurumi had always wanted to see and speak with a real live mermaid. Last term, at the lagoon, she thought that perhaps they were going to get the chance to do so...which had only added to her disappointment when they hadn't.

"N-N-N-No need for cookies," she said shaking her hands in front of her face. Her eyes were ablaze with excitement. "But...there is a mermaid in here?! A real one?!"


Kurumi remained standing as Treyen took a seat. She wanted to sit down next to him, but something about everything that was going on in that moment prevented her from doing it. She just couldn't bring herself to want to get that close Treyen, not right now.

"You...might be right," she said slowly. After all, why would someone that hated you runaway from their own home to yours? Kurumi still wasn't entirely sure why Sierra had chosen to attach herself to her father and come all the way to Japan. Well, she knew WHY but not WHY she had chosen Kurumi. "Not everyone does like me," she said with a faint smile. Treyen knew that already though, right? "Hogwarts is the first place I had friends...and people I can trust...like you..."

She simply nodded as he continued. Nothing more to say on the matter regarding Sierra. That was an entirely different matter from the one at hand. Right now, they really needed to worry about their relationship with each other...whatever was left of it.

"But...Treyen...I don't think we can go back to being like how we were before," she said with a faint smile. Not that that was a bad thing, but she wasn't sure that it was good thing either. Her expression was softer now, but still showed a little fear underneath her violet gaze. "I...I don't know if it is good that you are already able to move past everything that was said and done...but..." But what? But she wasn't ready? Didn't understand how he could forgive and forget so easily? Completely leave her in the dust? A lot of things swam through her head.

She completely lost her train of thought and blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Adam is back."