Time was of the essence when it came to finding Mortimer. The redhead had so much to do and so many people to reach if she was going to be able to find him in time for the season to start. Also, she just missed her bat and being without him upset her greatly. It had been weeks since she had last polished him with broom polish- because he liked the expensive stuff- and she missed their late night rituals. All Mommy's missed their children, especially when they went AWOL like Mortimer had. He was a good bat... where had he gone?

So he needed to find him and she needed to find him fast. That was why the redhead had been posting her fliers all around the school so people could be aware that he was missing. Not a lot of people were aware that he was gone, so she had to educate them, naturally.

That was why she was hanging up fliers in the library. People came here to study, so when they did they would find these posters next to where they were sitting. It was a sure fire way to make sure that she covered all of her bases. The last thing she needed was a small, logistical error to be the difference between Mortimer's safety and an extra three months of searching.

So she hung them up... just to be safe.

Elektra had left the feast feeling like a whole bunch of time was wasted there. She didn't know what was worse though: The New Headmistress giving her annoying speech or the fact that there were Elves around?? Uggh Elves were not something that Elektra fancied at all. She just wanted to get away from everyone that would seem to get under her skin so what better place to go other than the library. She just needed tim to herself and think and plot out what she was going to do to get her through this Sixth year. As she found a spot to sit where t looked like no ne was really around she let out a sigh and tilted her head back giving herself a few moments to close her eyes, thin of random and I mean REALLY RANDOM things before picking her head u and noticing a flyer on the wall across from her. She raised her eyebrow before slowly getting up and walking ver to the wall and began reading the flyer. As she continued reading she couldn't help but to start laughing softly, but as she kept reading her laughter just got louder and louder until she fell back in her chair and helf the flyer in her hand. "Moritmer Skylar?! Oh, bloody hell that little midget really HAS lost her mind! Who names a bloody bat Mortimer?!" At one point she felt like she couldn't breathe from laughing so hard looking at the flyer and she crumpled it up into a ball and tossed it a bit in her hands thinking of who to throw this at or to just throw it in the trash...Hmm...what to do...what to do...

Selina was in the midst of hanging up the posters in another part of the library when she heard a voice very loudly exclaim something about her missing bat. Springing into action like a Mother Bear protecting its cubs, she leapt across the table and landed right in front of the voice. Upon reaching the site, she stopped. Elektra.

She tried to stop the impulse to have her eyes narrow, but it happened anyway. What was Draven doing with her flier? It needed to go into the hands of people who would actually use it and respect it... and Draven was not that type of person.

Trying not to seem rude she watched in horror as Elektra crumpled it up. That was when she could not hold it back anymore, "You are wasting that flier, Draven! I'm looking for my bat. Have some humanity!" Merlin, really? Rude.

Gwendolyn made her way along the corridor, rapidly heading to the library. She only had a few pieces of parchment in her bag, the book for Arithmancy, and, of course, the diary which Ariadne gave to her. She needed some time to work on the code cracking. Seriously... why couldn’t those pages have been written normally?! Noo. They had to be all full of numbers. Though, Gwen couldn’t say that she didn’t wish to start analyzing it. She was curious to see what pieces of information it contained. There had to be something important inside, otherwise it wouldn’t be written in that stupid code. Though... she had to admit. It felt good to know that Ari trusted her with it...

She suddenly stopped for a second when she arrived at the entrance. She made her way in quickly, immediately heading over to the study tables. From a considerable distance, Gwen started scanning the place, looking for a certain Hufflepuff. After all, they agreed to meet here and start working for Arithmancy. That was one of the reasons... The other was that Ari made her come and talk to Jory. As much as she would have wished to be able to refuse her friend, she couldn’t.As she got closer to the study tables, the fifth year could only spot a few students there.

Looks like Jory wasn’t there yet.

Gwen picked a random seat at the table and got the Arithmancy book and the pieces of parchment out of her bag. Good, now she only had to wait for the Hufflepuff. Maybe she did have a bit of time to work on the code cracking? As tempting as it was for her to start thinking of methods of finding out whatever there was written on those pages, she decided that it wasn’t the best time. So, the fifth year drew her attention to the Arithmancy book and started looking at the first page. Values of numbers...

Wait...

She suddenly remembered what she had thought about on the train. Since the maximum number written there was nine,each number had to correspond to a letter. Or, in this case, to three. There had to be some logical combinations. So that’s it! Gwen made a mental note to try this later that day.

Since the term just started, Jory knew the library would have only a few students. He really needed the quiet time to catch up on some studying. And lately he had been very distracted. By someone. Hoping he would focus more today, he headed for the Study area. He planned to turn his attention to Arithmancy first which was not his best subject.

Looking about, the badger spotted three other students one of whom was very familiar. "She remembered,'' he thought pleased. Good. At least he'd get the help he needed with Arithmancy. Also he probably won't be distracted since he also had to help Gwen out too with Muggle Studies which was his best subject.

Quietly Jory approached the tale at which his Ravenclaw friend was sitting. "Hi, Gwen,'' he greeted as reached by her side. "I didn't expect you to be here as soon as the term started.'' He dropped his bag on the table and took the seat next to her. "How are you?''

Noticing the Claw already had her Arithmancy book out, Jory also took out his. And his Muggle Studies one as well. He didn't think he would really be needing it too much but it would probably come in handy with diagrams and what not. He hoped he'd make a good teacher. He amused himself by imagining Gwen's face if he confused her with Muggle world. "She'd probably hate us and our complicated world,'' he thought forgetting as he often would, that he wasn't a muggle.

The fifth year continued to analyze the first page of the Arithmancy book, carefully looking over the values of numbers and trying to figure out which were the first numbers written in the diary which Ari gave to her a couple of days ago. Of course..., she thought and scribbled something on the piece of parchment she had placed on the table in front of her. That was it! Gwen couldn’t believe it. She may have just found the way to crack that stupid code. She’ll have to at least have one page done before going to talk to her best friend. But that didn’t make her feel less enthusiastic. As she scribbled the last numbers and letters in a hurry, she heard footsteps approaching the place where she was sitting.

It was Jory, of course.

Gwen had the time to put the piece of parchment on which she had just scribbled something to the side. ‘Hi’, she greeted him with a smile. Hmm. How was she? 1. Extremely pleased that she managed to crack the code? 2. Enthusiastic to go tell her best friend about it? 3.Concerned by the fact that she had to talk to him because Ari asked her to? 4.All of the above and some more tings to add? ‘Good... good...’, she mumbled, trying to figure out which was the fastest way to finish the whole mission which her bestie came up with. Against her will, Gwen had accepted. Though, she knew that as many reasons she could have had to refuse her best friend, she couldn’t have been able to say no to Ari.

‘You? I haven’t seen you on the train...’ That’s right. Because she had been busy listening to her friend talk about him the whole train ride. That was fun. NOT. Things were going just perfectly normal until her best friend decided to fall in love. Hmph. So yes... the train ride. Maybe from here on Jory will ask something about Ari and make the subject more approachable. Please don’t make things even more difficult, the fifth year thought, seriously hoping that she would get over with the sentimental stuff soon.

‘Umm... what do you want to start with?’, the Ravenclaw asked her friend. Yes, he was still one of her very good friends, despite everything going on at the moment. She then drew her attention to the books. She wouldn’t mind starting with Arithmancy. And Muggle Studies couldn’t be that bad, right? Riiiiight?

Jory noticed the piece of parchment which Gwen put to the side. "You don't waste time, do you?'' he asked thinking that maybe she was writing down some complicated Potion which she planned to brew in the Potions Lab. He remembered he had accompanied her once there and they had each brewed a potion a couple of terms ago. He had not gone back since but he wondered if his friend had lived in the lab last year.

As Gwen replied she was, the boy couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be thinking about something else. "Is something wrong?'' he asked. "You look distracted.''

"I'm fine,'' Jory replied as he fidgeted with the Muggle Studies book cover. "Well, I was on the train obviously but I spend the entire ride in my compartment reading.'' Not to mention he was hoping not to run into Ari. After they had met in Diagon Alley, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He was beginning to think he was crushing on her. He didn't want it to go any further. What if she didn't feel the same way about him? It would surely ruin their friendship.

The badger wanted to ask about Ari. He had not seen her in a while. "Not now,'' he thought. "Would Arithmancy be okay?'' he asked Gwen. "I won't mind either though.''

Elektra continued to laugh not caring that the library is a place of peace and quiet...not when a missing bat named bloody Mortimer is missing from the midget red head. This was too priceless at the moment. As she laughed she heard a voice snap out a her and Elektra wiped her eyes from the tears she laughed out and she saw Selina bloody Skylar standing in front of her with even mnore fliers in her hand she put a hand on her chest and then put her other hand up holding the crumpled flier shaking it then lowers it and sighs trying to contain herself, but laughs a couple more times as she laughs saying, "Have you had any luck finding your bat miss?" She then takes a moment to finally compose herself and she crosses her legs and looks at Selina up and down and shakes her head. "And to think that this year was going to be really boring, but I think you are quickly changing my mind Skylar. Elektra then lodged the crumpled flier at Selina and smirked. "Good luck trying to find....Mortimer...MORTIMER! Really who the bloody hell names an inatimate object?! Well- then again look at who stands before me."

It was too early in the term to deal with all of Elektra's nonsense. Honestly, ever since Elektra had woken up one morning and decided to return to Hogwarts she had been nothing but nasty to Selina. And to think that the redhead had been really excited to see her friend again when she had returned to school. However, Elektra obviously had decided that she did not want to be friends with Selina anymore. That attitude quickly manifested into the very tense relationship the two girls had now. They could not even be in the same room as one another without some sort of fight ensuing. Mostly because Elektra couldn't help herself and she always felt the need to prove a point that Selina still did not understand.

As Elektra attempted to torment Selina like a child, the redhead simply took a step back away from Elektra so she could just do what she wanted to do until she had tired herself out. So as Elektra spoke, Selina mostly tuned her out. Until a flier was flung into her face. Her blue eyes widened at the gesture and she picked up the crumbled flier in her fist. With a little bit of bite, she snapped, "You know what Elektra, I know that you don't care about anything, but some people actually have things they are passionate about. And I feel sorry for you that you are so cold. You're just like your father and you never wanted to be like him." Well, she had become him.

Elektra being complicate, hot headed, and downright rude was just something she always was around Selina. To be honest Elektra always had a really bad feeling towards Selina, but then again...how would you feel if you were muggle born and then find out just weeks before your frist year starts at Hogwarts that YOU ARE A WITCH?! Well that is how Elektra feels...Even though she is 16 now she STILL feels like she doesn't understand this wizarding world. Even though she acts tough...there is some weakness to her, and...Selina just found Elektra's weakness. Her father. The very mention of her father made her cringe and her skin feel colder than it already was and her hand that laid on the arms of the chair slowly clenched up into a fist and Elektra bit her tongue. How...DARE that little fire head talk about my father!!! SHE WANTS TO GET HURT DOESN'T SHE?! Elektra then stood up and she took a couple of steps towards Selina with her fist still clenched. "How DARE you speak of my father to me!! Didn't you forget what happened the last time you mentioned him? I think it ended with a certain someone with a broken jaw Skylar!"

Once upon a time, Selina would have buckled in fear at Elektra's tough person act. But now, years of handling her abuse, Selina wasn't scared anymore. She was too old now to deal with all of this petty nonsense that Elektra seemed to carry around like a badge of honor. The raven haired Slytherin always preached that she was leaps and bounds more mature than the redhead because of her life experiences, but that didn't make people mature. It just made her more cultured. Selina wasn't afraid of her anymore. When that happened, she could not be sure, but what she did know was that a weight had been lifted.

So instead of cowering in fear, she simply rolled her eyes and said, "You don't scare me anymore, Elektra." Standing her ground, her eyes softened a little and she added darkly, "And I feel sorry for you. I'm sorry that you think that you need to intimidate me for whatever your reasons are, but I don't care anymore. You can't scare everyone into submission." And THAT was the truth.

What was this? Not afraid?! Oh bloody hell...Well looks like Elektra's reign of fun was slowly about to come to an end for her tormenting Selina. Sigh...And I was having so much fun tormenting you so... she thought. On the outside Elektra raised her eyebrow to Selina listening to her words eat at Elektra like they were poison. Feels sorry for me? SHE FEELS SORRY FOR ME?! She could not believe what she was hearing at this moment. This was a side of Selina that Elektra NEVER saw before and she did not like it one bit. Her expression was emotionless. What was Elektra going to do? What could she say? First, her father is brought up and Elektra's mind started to run wildly thinking of how he treated Elektra, and now Selina isn't afraid of her? What's next? Elektra getting cursed again? All Elektra could do was scoff and sys, "Whatever Selina. I don't need pity coming from you." She said walking by Selina bumping her shoulder and letting her fist go slowly as she tries to calm herself down before she punches another mirror in the bathroom.

Selina had to repress a scoff when Elektra walked by her and bumped into her shoulder. That was the only thing that she needed to clarify that Elektra indeed did not know how to respond to Selina's new outlook on Elektra. But honestly, she did not care. She was over all of this nonsense with Elektra. The redhead had come to grips with the fact that she and Elektra were never going to be friends again, but that was HER choice. And honestly, after everything that had been said and done by the Slytherin, she was okay with that. If Elektra wanted to fight, she could fight until she was blue in the face because her words meant nothing to her anymore. They were pathetic.

When Elektra walked past Selina, the redhead turned around and cocked an eyebrow of her own, "Good because you won't get ANY pity from me. You want to be angry at me for something that happened almost three years ago, that's fine." And that was truly fine, "But your anger won't change the fact that he's still my boyfriend." Because when everything boiled down, HE was what Elektra was so mad about.

As Elektra kept walking away she stopped hearing Selina talk about Gideon Gert. Just had to bring him up again Selina? You can't leave well enough alone can you? Elektra turned around and raised an eyeborw to her and then she chuckles and this chuckle wasn't like her. It was a different chuckle. It was like it wasn't even Elektra that was chuckling but...her father...What the bloody hell was going on? Elektra's eyes then narrowed and she took a couple of steps towards Selina. "Selina....Selina, Selina..." Elektra grinned to her. "Gideon Gert means nothing to me anymore, but you seem to think that he does...and you call me pathetic? Let it go now because that is childish."

Elektra stepped a little closer. "By the way that boyfriend of yours...how long did he exactly take to say 'I love you' hmm? Two years right? Huh...well if he really loved he would have told you sooner, but two years? Ooh, the thought of what he could have been thinking of in those two years make me shiver with anticipation." She pats Selina on her head. "If I were I'd be very concerned."

Whatever that chuckle was really raised suspicion in the pit of Selina's stomach. It was not that she was afraid of Elektra- because Elektra had lost that right over her a long time ago- it was more that the chuckle was not her own. Even though they were the farthest things from friends now, Selina remembered once upon a time how Elektra used to laugh. And whatever that laugh was, it was not Elektra. In fact, it was not even remotely similar to how she used to laugh- how they used to laugh. However, that part of their lives was over. They weren't friends anymore. So she didn't care about her weird laugh or what it meant.

The redhead just rolled her eyes at Elektra when she called her childish. It seemed that Elektra had been using the same insults on Selina for over two years now. If she ever had any sort of creativity it was long gone. She was just recycling the same insults from years of stale material. Now THAT was sad.

The part that did set Selina off just slightly, though, was when Elektra brought up her and her boyfriend's interpersonal conversations. How did she even know that? ....Violet. She would have to have a serious talk with the blonde later, but for right now she had to deal with Elektra and her obnoxious remark. Her arms crossed over her chest as she retorted, "You actually don't know ANYTHING about our relationship, Elektra. That's first of all. Second of all, not everyone rushes into saying something that serious, Elektra. Normal people take there time."

Elektra smirks. "Oh, please your relationship is like every one out there. It's bound to tragically end. You are just too daft to see it and same goes for Gideon. I mean do you really think that- that Seleon or whatever that stupid name I keep hearing about the two of you will really last forver?" She shrugs. "Food for thought because I know that you just LOVE food Selina. I just hope you don't choke on this food. Good luck finding that stupid bat of yours." Elektra said before taking a couple of steps back and turned to walk away from her.

Tragically end? Those words really ran through Selina like an electric bolt. She had always figured that they were different. The pair of them took their time and really tried to work through their relationship so it didn't end tragically. And yet, Elektra said those words with such conviction it gave Selina room for pause. The two of them had only ever dated each other, did that mean that they were going to tragically end? Did they not know what a real relationship consisted of? Those thoughts actually really upset the redhead.

Trying to keep these thoughts from bubbling over and manifesting into a weakness, Selina said, "I don't know if we are going to last forever, Elektra. I don't. But what I DO know is that I care about him and he cares about me. And that's enough for me right now." At least she thought it was... Selina always thought it was silly how people jumped from boyfriend to boyfriend, but was that because all relationships were doomed like Elektra had insinuated? That was a horrible thought.

She was so consumed by this thought, that when Elektra started to walk away, Selina did not even notice. With almost a blank expression, she replied, "Yeah.... thanks..."

...this was really, really something she had never considered before.

Gwen just smirked at his remark about not losing time, but didn’t reply anything. She was still thinking about how she should start to even bring up the subject. It was harder than she even expected. Just as she was once again lost in thought, trying to decide what she should say, the fifth year heard Jory ask her something. Errrr. Was there something wrong? Yes, the sentimental stuff was making her sick, but she couldn’t reply that, could she? Before Gwen could say a word to answer his first question, the Hufflepuff added something...

Distracted?

‘Do I?’, Gwendolyn answered with another question. In the next moment, the fifth year wanted to draw her attention to the Arithmancy book, but stopped herself. Jory was talking about the train ride. Maybe he would be so kind to make things easier and just ask about Ari?, the Ravenclaw thought, waiting for that to happen. But noooo. No such luck. But wait... he was reading... ‘Anything interesting? I’ve been meaning to start reading on the train as well to make time pass faster, but I ran into Ari’

Come ooon.

Be so kind and get the hint!

After waiting for Jory to say something, the Ravenclaw drew her attention to the book she had previously placed on the table. ‘Arithmancy it is’, she nodded, while taking a piece of parchment and scribbling something on it. ‘First we should start with the core numbers. These are the Life Path, Expression/Destiny, Heart's Desire and Personality Number’ Now she passed the piece of parchment to Jory for him to write his full name and date of birth. ‘If you want me to skip a part-’ Because that was understandable. ‘-just tell me’ Seriously... she had nothing against having to talk less.

"Yup, you do,'' Jory said as he flipped his Arithmancy text open to the first text. "Come on, tell me what's bothering you.'' As he waited for a reply he pondered on if they should start with the basics to refresh his memory or move on with more difficult topics. "Not really,'' he replied referring to the book he was reading. It was On the Street where you lived that had kept his thoughts from straying away. "The usual crime book.'' He had managed to read a considerable amount of pages during the ride before the technical difficulties occurred. But he had finished off that night in the dorm.

The badger thought his heart skipped a beat when he heard Ari's name and her smiling face flashed before his eyes. "How is she?'' he asked Gwen resigned to the fact that he did want to know about her. "I haven't seen her since we got here.'' Not that he hadn't looked for her but he didn't see her at the Gryffindor table. But Jory hadn't really checked the other House tables. If he did find her, he didn't want to be staring at her all the time.

The boy took the piece of parchment Gwen passed him. As he wrote his name and date of birth on it, he told Gwen "Lets just touch on this part a bit. I think I've got this covered from last term's class.'' Not to mention the final homework of the term and he had calculated those numbers. Jory passed the parchment to his friend.

She looked distracted.

Great. This is just great.

The fifth year tried hard not to roll her eyes. She had ONE thing to do. Just ask him that. And it should be over immediately. But no. She was still making an effort to think of the best way to make him talk. Too bad Veritaserum was out of question... Shaking her head a bit at that thought, the Ravenclaw looked back at the Arithmancy book. What to do? What to do?, she asked herself, since Jory was seriously only talking about the book, which, for her information, wasn’t even a good one. Mehhh. She couldn’t say she hadn’t tried...

And yet, after a moment, Jory asked about Ari. ‘Well... The last time I’ve seen her was at the feast’, she said simply, but then stopped. Hmm. She needed to get this over with. Soon. Seriously... leave it to Gwendolyn Greene to deal with the sentimental stuff. Great plan,Ari... Hmph. ‘She’s alright...’ Paaause. Think, Gwen. THINK! ‘How come you haven’t talked to her? You guys always seemed pretty close’, she said and then drew her attention back to the Arithmancy book. She was going to be sick.

But there. She was almost done.

If and only IF the Hufflepuff would start talking.

But now back to Arithmancy... ‘For the Life Path Number you add the Day, Month and Year of birth...' , Gwen said and calculated the number quickly. 'In your case it is five’ Guess that was enough. ‘And now for the Expression Number, you need to reduce the numbers in your name’ Full name. And that was why Gwen was thankful they were using Jory’s. Gwen scribbled the values of each number on the piece of parchment, so Jory only had to see which ones he had in his name. ‘Then it goes just the same, you add them together’ And then reduce. Obviously.

Jory watched as Gwen shook her head and sat there looking as if she wanted to burst out somethings. "I wonder what she's thinking about,'' he thought not knowing she was scheming on how to find out his feelings for Ari. "Oh come on Gwen,'' he said. "I won't bite or anything. Out with it.'' Seriously, how bad could it be?

"I dunno...,'' the boy replied frowning at his text book for no reason and to avoid eye contact. "Liar,'' he thought hoping he sounded convincing. He was no good at lieing most of the time. "The Hall was crowded and I had other things on my mind.'' Yeah right. "Lame.'' The Hall wasn't all of that crowded was it? But he did had other things on his mind. Like tackling the feeling he had for Ari. "Not as close as you guys,'' he added picking up his quill and making notes about the numbers which had just been calculated still trying to avoid all eye contact because he was afraid Gwen would probably figure out his feelings.

"...and reduce,'' Jory mumbled finishing up on his notes. "And then we find the meaning of the reduced number.'' He recalled how they'd done it in class with Professor Hadley. "Got it, thanks,'' he said. Finally he looked at Gwen. "More Arithmancy or a little Muggle Studies now?'' Which ever worked.

Of course she looked distracted. How easy could it be to be part of this plan? Gwen just couldn’t believe how easily she had been dragged into this whole story. And she still couldn’t understand why Ari didn’t go talk to Jory herself. Her thoughts were then interrupted by something the Badger said. So Jory wasn’t giving up. Nice. ‘It’s nothing’, she said a bit too fast for it to be true.

Gwen failed to notice the fact that the Hufflepuff was staring at the textbook, and that he was looking a bit troubled. Why? Because she was not the kind of person to notice those things. Psh. Please. And leave it to Gwendolyn to talk about the sentimental stuff. Hmph. Come ooon. You can do it. Just ask, she tried to convince herself. It’s not the worst thing to do… well… it actually was…since she would probably feel even more sick than she already was. Oh well.

But then she heard Jory say something else. Not as close as she and Ari were. Well duuuh, the fifth year nearly said, but stopped herself. ‘Oh?’, she enquired. Please just say something.

Anything that would make things easier.

Anything will do.

Pretty please with cherry on top?

And back to Arithmancy. As she listened to Jory talk, the Ravenclaw just nodded. ‘Right’, she said simply, since she didn’t have anything to add for this part. ‘I think we should calculate the last two core numbers, and then we could start with Muggle Studies’ Hopefully Jory was better at teaching than her.

Annabelle came to the quiet library after she just finished her lunch from the great hall. All she wanted to do with sink her teeth into a good book. Belle didn't have homework yet so she wanted to savor the moment before classes start. She also went to see the librarian too.

"Fine, don't tell me then,'' Jory said good naturedly. He was getting rather curious as to what Gwen couldn't bring her self to speak about. He had his own thoughts crowding up his head but he was willing to help his friend if something was bothering her. "Ah well, if she doesn't wanna talk.''

"Alright,'' the Badger said and waited for the Claw to refresh his memory on the remaining Numbers, his quill poised to make more notes.

He looked back at his text. The boy desperately wanted to ask Gwen something but how could he say it without her putting two and two together? But he had to know since he had not seen Ari since weeks ago in Diagon Alley. And a lot could have changed in that time since he had asked her, couldn't it? "Okay, I'll ask Gwen,'' Jory thought making up his min and trying to gather up as much courage as he could. Keeping his eyes on the text, he turned to the next page and pretended as if he were interested in reading a paragraph about the Life Path numbers. "Er...,'' he began trying to sound casual. "Does Ari have a boyfriend?'' He stared at the word "Life" printed on the page without realising it while waiting for an answer. "Don't let her figure anything out,'' Jory prayed silently and his heart seemed to be hammering so hard in his chest he was sure his friend would hear it in the quiet library. What if she did and she told Ari? Worse yet, if she told Ari and Ari didn't share his feelings? He wasn't afraid of rejection but he was of the hurt that came with it.