Keller followed behind Jasmine over to a corner of the Common Room. He sat down on the couch and pulled one of his legs under his body. He had dreamed about this moment since he had been back at Hogwarts, and now, he had no clue what to say. No clue at all.

"Jasmine..." he said very softly, but that was it, that beautiful two syllable word was all that would escape his lips. All he could do was let his eyes rest softly on hers.

In a way, it was fun for him to rediscover what he already knew throught her eyes. "Technological stuff can be many different things but I wont start now since it will take forever to talk about everything. For the music one, I have at home something that I can hold in the palm of my hand that can play music. It's basically recording of peoples voice." Basically what he was taking for granted was something else for her.

Putting one of his hand on her shoulder, he really want for her to be at ease. "It's ok for you for not understand everything. I mean you are used to different things than us. Like I said once, take your time."

Still having fun to watch Bucky, he took out his wand and make appear a delicate chinese fan which he gave to her. "If it is too hot in here, you could always used this." But as she mentioned the word Dandy, he blinked not sure of how to reacted to that word. What the heck was that. It was basically the first time that he ever heard something like that. "Well I guess been Dandy is something I never saw before. It's quite amusing if you ask me."

Jasmine tentatively sat next to Keller, her eyes straying from now and then toward the group of people on the other side of the room. Hearing him say her name, Jasmine slowly raised her troubled hazel eyes to his and waited for him to continue. Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes met his. She had forgotten how green they were.

It was all Keller could do to keep himself from melting into Jasmine right then, there eyes locked, but he knew he had to press on.

"Jasmine, I am sorry. I never would have left you if I had any choice in the matter at all. It was my Dad's job and he barely knew about it, and then we had to go, to leave We had to go Jasmine, I didn't know where to get a hold of you. You have to believe me, I thought about you every day, all day. It was hell Jasmine, completely." he rambled on, not really knowing what he was saying, just trying to get everything he had been thinking the past couple of weeks out, so she would understand.

He laughed a little to himself, and placed his hand softly on her cheek. "I am sorry. Except now I'm more apologizing for rambling than I am for leaving." he smiled at her.

"But, no, I am sorry Jasmine. Ah, I missed you." he whispered placing a hand on her hand and rubbing it lightly, choking back tears, and bracing for how she was going to respond.

Jasmine held back tears listening to Keller explain why he left. She heard his words,even understood them but, it still hurt to think about that time. She turned her head away but his hand cupped her cheek and she had to look back at him.

Her bottom lip quivered as memories of what they had before all the craziness happened came back to her."Keller..I understand what you are saying, but it doesn't take the hurt away. I missed you too but, I...we can't go back to the way things were. Too much has changed." She felt a tear roll down her cheek and angrily swatted it away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucky

Celestina nodded quickly, thankful for a distraction. "I'd love to unless something unpredictable happens."

Taika Ai smiled. "Well, I hope you do. Your commentary at our first match was very amusing. It's too bad I'll be listening from the stands this time around though. Maybe I can sit with you?" she asked. "And maybe meet Tagren if he isn't playing-- I forget who we play next..."

Taika Ai smiled, blushing slightly. Ryan was so nice to her, she'd missed his company; it had really been too long since he'd sat with her in front of the fire while her leg healed.

"Thanks Ryan, that's nice. Maybe you can explain it some other time-- when you have more time, you know. I'm sure I'll understand everything you do sooner or later. I've still got a few more years left here." She smiled, thinking of her time here at Hogwarts.

"I miss talking with you," she said, looking to the floor, before glancing back up. "I miss the team, too. Do-- um... you think I could watch practise sometime? I could study in the stands and watch too-- maybe even fly a bit after practise. I haven't done that in awhile."

The lump in his throat grew by the second as Keller listened to Jasmine talk. Keller gently wiped away a tear that fell down her face,it was killing him insdie that he did this to her. He knew it would be hard for the couple to go back to being completely normal, but he never expected her to say it was impossible. He wouldn’t give up though, he knew that all along.

“Jasmine, I know you’re upset now and you have every right to be as angry as you would like with me. But we don’t have to go back, we can move forward, together. We can overcome this. I need you Jasmine.” Keller said all of this in a shaky voice he knew wouldn’t hold out much longer. “Tell me what I need to do. Whatever I have to do, however long it takes, I will do it, all.”

It wasn’t Keller’s fault he’d had to leave but now he was dealing with the consequences. A red hot anger towards his Father burned in his stomach, though he knew it wasn’t his Dad’s fault. His Father felt terrible about the whole situation. He had told Keller so every night when they arrived home, Keller from school and his Father from work, and he would find Keller at the table talking to his mother about Jasmine, the same issue they discussed every night while they were away. He was angry at his Father though he knew he shouldn’t be.

Jasmine sighed and closed her eyes a moment before looking at Keller and saying softly,"I'm not angry anymore Keller. I'm passed that. But, I don't know if I can open myself up to you again.I felt so alone when you left and it hurt so badly I thought Iwanted to die. I realize now it wasn't your fault, but, I still don't know if I can go through loving you like that again." Stopping to take a shaky breath, she went on to say," And what I need from you right now is space and understanding." Seeing Keller so emotional tugged at Jasmine's heart and she felt herself giving in slightly."Keller..maybe someday we can get passed all this but right now..Let's just start off as friends for now OK?" Jasmine gave Keller a pleading look and hoped he realized that friendship was all she could offer at the moment.

It almost killed Keller inside to hear what his leaving did to Jasmine; he never would have done it if he had any choice in the matter. He was confident she knew this.

“Jasmine I will give you everything you need. I will try very hard to be the friend you need, I want you in my life in any way possible, but know that it will be hard for me. I still love you Jasmine, I will always love you, and you do need to know that.” Keller responded stroking her cheek lightly and looking into her eyes.

He would be there for her, he wanted to be with her in any way possible and if that meant only being friends for the time being he would do it. But she deserved to know how he honestly felt.

Celestina's shade of red would put a beet to shame. Taking the fan she well--fanned herself quickly trying not to wheeze, giggle or splutter. Especially when Ryan began to say something about how amusing it was to watch someone being dandy.

"Thank you--you're very kind," she muttered again. Man, Tag was going to MURDER her.



Bucky continued to use the fan and once more thanked Merlin for the existence of Taika Ai. She was a life-saving pixie of a girl. "Of course you can sit by me! Not many people do. They say I get scary when I commentate. I'm pretty sure Tagren will be joining me too," she finished in a shy tone. "Hufflepuff. We'll be playing Hufflepuff."

And we better win!

Taika Ai grinned broadly. "Great. I'm looking forward to it.

"And I'm sure we'll win! We have a great team. I should know!" she said with a wistful laugh. "So I guess I'll finally get to meet Tagren?" she asked. "Is Hufflepuff good, though? I haven't seen them play..." she said, thinking it over. "It doesn't matter. Gryffindor will win!"

She laughed happily, anxious for the next match. "When is the next match schedueled? Do you know?"

Patrick burst into the common room. He was hoping that he'd see Whende right now. She wasn't there. Why wasn't she there. Then he spotted Bucky. He dumped his bag by the portrait hole and approached the seventh year. "Bucky!" he said urgently, "You seen Whende?" he asked. He glanced over his shoulder in case Rainbow Hair appeared magically.

Jasmine shook her head as he kept saying he loved her , but she reached out and hugged him just the same. "Friends Keller. Friends. Thats all. For now anyways."

Feeling fresh tears start up again, Jasmine quickly kissed Keller on the cheek and made her escape up the stairs to the girl's dorm. There had been way too much drama today and she couldn't take not a second more.

Whende slid into the common room, her bag slung over her shoulder and her hair loosely braided into pigtails. She was busy putting Peter Pan back into her bag as she wandered toward the couch. But when she looked up, she just about choked on her own spit.

Trick.

She panicked for about 2 seconds before she ducked behind the Flaming Couch of Doom (did it really matter that the sofa didn't happen to be on fire at the moment?) It wasn't as though she expected him to never ever be in the common room. But she wasn't ready for him to be there now.

Kerry was amazed at how quiet the room was becoming. "I thought this was a party!" Kerry said as she stood up and walked over to the open space in the middle of the room and began to dance. "Who's gonna join me? Come on! Let's have some fun! By the looks of this room, we all really need to blow off some steam!"

Agie walked in to see her sister in the quiet room. She thought she'd have some fun and stir her sister.

"What happened sis? Did ya scare everyone away" She teased.

"Agie!!" Kerry said running over to her and pulling her onto the dance floor. "Come on, after that quidditch practice, don't tell me you don't need to blow off steam. Come dance with me!"

Agie stopped in her tracks. "Blow off some steam? I don't need to blow off anything. It's so dead in here for a party? Is everyone in bed or something" She asked. Trying to sneak away from her sister.

"I think we need some butterbeer or even better, some firewhisky. Oh I know just the place to get it from" Agie said with a sneaky look on her face.

Kerry eyed Nikki, "Hey, be good! We're a week away from championships and we can't have our star seeker landing herself in detention for the match. Can you imagine Ryan's reaction if you did? I don't even want to think about it. Besides, you're right about this party being a bust...that's why I need your help to get it going. Who better than the Gryffie prankster?" Kerry smirked.

Agie hated this sense of having to be careful to stay out of trouble. Besides, trouble usually finds her. "I'm always good" She smirked. "It's not usually my fault that I get into trouble. And you are right, you'd be stuffed without me" She teased"

Well ok maybe I will help a bit. Agie conjured up some food she had be saving and some party drinks and put on some music. "This is better" she said. "Now All we have to do is get everyone from the dorms."

"Well we could replace you if we had to, but I'd much rather have my sister on the team, standing next to me as we hoist the cup. Besides...don't you want to see the look on the Huffie's faces when we win the cup!"

Kerry watched Agie conjure more food and laughed. "I guess you missed all the food over there," Kerry pointed over to the table where Bucky had placed a large box of food she had gotten from Quirly. "But hey, this is meant to be a party and you can never have too much food at a party. So what do you say we kick this into high gear...any ideas of how to get more people in here, besides stunning them and dragging them in here?" Kerry laughed.

Agie put on a pretend shocked face. "And then you wouldn't win without me. Of course I want to see there faces. You don't need to watch me all the time. I know where to draw the line"

Agie looked and noticed the other food. "Ahh well, that food looks like what they serve at a deathday party" Agie laughed.

"Awe, but I was looking forwards to stunning people. Hmmm maybe we can scream out in the corridors" She suggested.

"I'm your big sister and a prefect, I know better than that. I always have one eye on you. But .... it's only because I love you." Kerry teased.

"Deathday food? Now that's just gross! Taste it, it's really good, you don't know what your missing. Especially the brownies! Mmmm...sugar! It always hits the spot."

Kerry looked at Agie strangely. "Oh yes, screaming out in the corridors won't cause too much of a scene. This party will be shut down before it gets started."

Patrick shifted awkwardly. The hairs on the back of his neck were acting like alarmed cat fur. He looked over his shoulder just in case there was someone staring at him.

Nobody.

He shrugged. Bucky didn't seem to know where Whende was so he walked away. Maybe he could get some reading done before she came up to bed. He sat down on a couch, which although he didn't know it was the one behind which Whende had ducked. He fumbled around in his bag and produced The Odyssey. He flipped through it until he arrived at the twenty-third page and began to read about half-way down the page.

Sam walked into the common room and walked over to one of the couches, laying down by the fire he pulled out his guitar, while laying down, and began to play. He began to play one of his mothers favorite songs around Christmas time which was, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". Remembering back when he was home and his mom would hum the song over and over again. Her beautiful voice would carry throughout the house. The smell of her christmas chocolate chip cookies rang through the house. As Sam sat there and remembered the old times he began to cry. Now his mother could no longer sing, she was in dire need of help with the keemo(sp?) they were giving her. Her beautiful long brown hair was gone and her complection was rather dull, but that smile was still on her face. He couldnt take it, grabbing his guitar he raced out the common room to find a place to cry alone.