Second Floor Corridor
 

So many a door and so many a chore are found on this, the second floor.

Stairs. Hogwarts was full of them, and it was just his luck that he would trip and almost fall down the ones he had been on from Floors 2 to 1. If it wasn't for that banister...he would have to go to the hospital wing for sure.

As he brushed some dirt off of the bottom of his robes, the Gryffindor Prefect almost fan over a little Hufflepuff firstie. "Oh I'm sorry. Guess its better to watch where I'm going huh?" he asked her with a grin. He saw the look of concern on the girl's face and wondered what was wrong. "Is there anything I can help you with? Oh wait, I am Chris Potter, gryffindor Prefect. Its nice to meet you." he said with a quirky smile.

Emily walked down the corridor, bored. She had been pointlessley wandering the castle for a while now. She hoped she would eventually find someone she knew, or someone she didn't know. Then she heard someone introduce himself as a gryffindor prefect. "Hi," she said. "My name's Emily, is it fun to be a prefect?"

Hey guys!!! :D
 

As Chris had just finished asking the Hufflepuff girl that he had nearly run over, he was approached by another one. At least he wasn't half-falling down this stairs this time and almost crashing into her.

He was a little caught off guard by her question. Was Prefecting fun? "Well I guess it is. I love helping out others alot and I also like pumping up my Housemates on the Points race." he nodded. "So I guess, yeah, it is quite fun." he finished with a nod. Cute little Hufflepuffs.

Another Hufflepuff!!!

Chris smiled and waved at the girl who approached him and the two Hufflepuff firsties. This newcomer obviously knew the second one.

Badger attack!!!! Torin and Sarah must have had them bombard him. Not really he loved little Hufflepuffs.

haha, Badger attack :)
 

Arya looked away from Emily when the older boy started to speak to her. Noticing that he was a Griffindor Prefect she looked up to him, realizing that she hadn't meet that many Griffindors."Hey, I'm Arya!"She waved at the tall boy making sure not to knock Perseus off her shoulder.

Apon hearing someone inter to corridor she looked to see Sabel leaning against the wall lookin ill. Frowning as she tilted her head to the side she watched as her ran his hand over his face. "Are you alright Sabel?"

He had been imaging what was supposed to be a straight yellow line running from his feet to the other wall and debating if he could walk it. At the current moment however, it was doing as many twists and turns as his stomach and he had no doubt he would trip over his own feet if he attempted the task.

Pulling his head up from staring at the floor Sabel glanced around upon hearing his name, being careful to keep from moving his head too fast. Arya stood a few feet away with two other girls and an older boy. A smile touched his lips as they rose up and down as if riding gentle swells on an ocean. It wasn't healthy to be seeing such things, but at the moment it was rather entertaining and he knew it would pass so there was no sense in worrying about it.

"I'm alright." He gave a small smile and wave to the other students. As long as they didn't ask him to move from his secure spot against the wall, he would be okay.

She didn't believe that Sabel was alright, not one bit. But it seemed that moving him would just make it worst, and there was no physical injuries that she could see so she let him be. Wiping the worry off her face she turned back to Emily and the Prefect.

"Hey, Arya," Emily said. "It's going good i guess. I was bored so i started wandering around. What brings you here?" Then Emily saw Sabel come into the corridor. Woah, major coincidence. "Hey Sable."

They weren't going to move him. That was a relief. Sort of. Shifting his weight Sabel watched the group. He didn't particularly feel like tripping over his own feet, but at the same time he didn't really want to stand against the wall alone while his friends were just a few feet away.

Letting out a heavy breath and then taking another one in, he pushed himself away from the wall, making his way carefully over to the group, staggering a little and tripping once on what he would later realize was an undone shoelace. He probably looked like a newboran foal trying out its legs for the first time. Luckily, without any acid reflux or crashes into the cold, stone floor, he stopped beside Arya, giving her a small smile. "Hey everyone."

"Are you okay?" Emily asked Sabel. He most certaimly didn't look ok.

Shruging her shoulders nonchalantly, she looked around at the corridor they were in. "Me and Perseus decided to go somewhere, but we forgot where we were goin and got lost. Where are we anyway?"Looking back to Emily she realized she still didn't know were they were. Perseus hoped off her shoulder and over to a window, sitting gracfully while staring out the window.

A small smile touched her lips when she saw that Sabel had come and stood beside her, glad that he was well enough to stand. "Hey stranger, are you sure your ok? You can lean on me if ya need to."She wasn't sure how much support she could offer seeing how Sabel was so much taller and bigger than she was. But she didn't want him to strain himself by standing."What brings you down here Sabel?"Even though she didn't know were she was, she knew it wasn't the seventh floor so you had to go down.

"We're on the seconed floor,"Emily said. She looked around at the boring gray walls and normal flooring. "This place is boring... I know how to make it prettier. Orchideos." Emily took out her wand and said the spell. Flowers cameout of the tip, making the hallway much prettier. "I suppose we'll have to clean these up whn we leave." she turned to the older boy. "Do you know a spell to make these go away?"

"Hmm, ya don't say..."She looked around thinking they should put more portraits up when suddenly Emily said a spell and made flowers appear in the corridor. Perseus looked away from the window and began to play in the flowers. Smirking she spoke to Emily in a playfull voice, "Now Em, didn't you parents tell you not to do a spell you don't know the counter curse too?"

"Well, we can always pick up the flowers," Emily said. "I wouldn;t, say, stun someone, because I don't know the countercurse to that. Anyway, I was hoping Sabel or.." Emily turned to the Gryffindor prefect. "What's your name?"

He was reminded yet again of another reason for his loathing of heights, the moving staircase included. Not only did it put him in a state of physical unease for a time but it also drew unneccessary attention to his state of wellbeing.

Shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from fidgeting he gave Emily a small smile. "I'm fine. Just feeling a little sick is all." His smile widened a little at Arya's offer, but decided it was best to remain standing on his own. If he really needed to lean, he would, but that would probably also involve someone helping him walk to the infirmary, which he didn't think would happen anytime soon. At least he hoped it wouldn't

Instead he swayed slightly to give Arya's shoulder a gentle bump, letting her know he was alright and that he appreciated the offer. "I was going to head out for a walk...got kinda lost too. Again..."

She grined a silent giggle when he bumped her, all of her worry fadding away. "I know, this castle is so big. You think they would've gave us a map or something."Sticking her hands in her pockets she looked around deciding on which door she should go through and which one would lean her outside.

"You can probably request one, or buy one. Or something less convienent." Sabel agreed, giving her a smile. He noticed her glancing around, apparently looking for something and swivled his head this way and that to follow her gaze. "What are you looking for?"

Emily laughed. "I don't think even a map could help us through this place." She heard her stomach growl faintly. "I'm getting hungry," she said. "Want to go get some food from the kitchen?"

[B]Sidney is about to answer the Gryffindor Prefect question when she finds herself surrounded by other students. I don't think it's a good idea to talk about the Headmaster even if he's a nut case. He's still our headmaster. Hello, I'm Sidney Marlowe. I'm having trouble finding Professor Lawson's office. I think he said he teaches Muggle Studies."{/B]

(ooc: To those who know Allison ignore this, she is just passing through at another time of day ;p)

Allison pursed her lips and guilt began to appear across her features. It really hadn't been the old man's fault. It had been all the giggling and knowing looks that girl had sent Sabel. Well and Chaucer too. But she didn't know Chaucer well enough to feel anything towards him. However Sabel was her adopted brother/hero. Once again, if it were up to Allison the boy would be sitting with her at the Ravenclaw table like a Ravenclaw, not as a Gyffindor. Grimace goes here.

Mumbling all sorts of nonsense under her breath Allison paused and pondered. Perhaps she had overracted, but the fact remained that if she had stayed one more second in such a crowed place she would have exploded on them instead of on the poor lying old man that claimed himself a pirate. She'd have to go back later and say sorry. Her mother would be very angry with her if she found out. Well she'd just have to leave that out.

Hearing a little hoot Allison looked down to a sad looking Robin. Not only did he look sad, as if she had taken him away from his friends--when they were certainly Allison's, but he looked scared. Well oops it was not her fault. "Robin had we stayed it would have been awful. Now, I need a break from all that, and don't you look at me like that either. That pirate deserved it!"

Sending angry looks that could kill, Allison ascended the stairs once again.

"Something less convienent?"She smirked, curious to see what he would come up with. She stoped looking around to look at Sabel. "I was just wondering what all these doors lead too...don't supose you know?" She hadn't really seen the second floor so it couldn't hurt to do a little exploring while she was here.

"True, what with all the moving stair cases and secret passage ways.No I already ate, I wanna look around and do some exploring."She went back to looking around noticing the flowers. "We should probably get ride of the flowers."

"Good point," Emily said. She picked up some flowers and put them in a trash can. She kept doing that until all the flowers were put away. "Now the trash cans look pretty," she said. Her stomach growled again. "Shall we go now?"

Kylie was walking around, looking for ideas for spells. She'd finally given up on trying to be truly challenged in class and decided upon challenging herself by creating things. As she was walking, she wasn't really paying attention to what was in front of her...

SMACK!

She literally walked straight into Carter. She was a bit disgruntled, starting to fall over backwards. "Whoa!" Was all that came from her mouth.

"Whoa." Carter said as someone collided with him. He reached out a hand to Kylie as he balanced himself. He was really getting good at catching girls. They seemed to be falling right and left around him.
"Hey Kylie, nice running into you." he said with an awkward laugh. Yeah, bad joke. He had spent way too much time with his parents over break.

Kylie sincerely laughed as she pulled herself from falling flat on her back. "Thanks." She gave him a quick glimpse, he'd changed. Gotten a little taller, then again, so had she. She was even thinner than she had been last year, yet her unfortunate (well, at least in her opinion) model-esque looks still remained. Her brother and parents told her that when she was older, she'd be glad for them. But now they seemed like a hassle. Most people judged her off her appearances more than her brains, something she was much more proud of.

"Hey Carter, it's been a while." She said after finally steadying herself. She pulled him into a friendly 'nice to see you after all this time' hug.

Carter smiled and hugged her back. "It has been awhile. How are you? How was your summer?"

Kylie smiled, "I'm well. Glad to be back, but also not. You know?" Hogwarts was truly more of a home to her than her actual home was, as was the case for many students. The only downside was that she couldn't be with her family, truthfully, she loved her family very much. "Summer was fantastic. I stayed with Ella and her family, my brother stayed with them too. It honestly contains some of the most amazing memories." She sighed just remembering it. "And yours?"

"That sounds like fun." Carter said. And by fun he meant slightly weird, but whatever. If she was able to stay friends with an ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend more power to her. "Well, let's see. I played a lot with my little sister. Went to the Quidditch Cup. Got an owl. And just hung out a lot with my family. So I had a lot of fun too. But it is good to be back. A summer seems so much longer without magic." And he missed all of his friends alot.

Kylie saw the initial look of surprise on his face. Or was it disgust? "I know it sounds weird that I stayed with Ella.. but the thing is, her house is so huge, I didn't even spend time with her or Nate much. I spent most of it with her neighbor Adam or my brother." She sort of chuckled a little, her summer had definitely been quite magic filled. She had no idea how her grandma did it, but it was miraculous to say the least. She never got in trouble for using magic outside of school or for doing it in front of a muggle.
"An owl?" Her inquisition flared up. She felt safer around animals than people, in a way.

Which made it strange that she heavily disliked CoMC. But, whatever.

"Yeah. Marilyn bought me a beautiful owl over break. We ended up at Diagon Alley the same day and she insisted on getting me one." Carter said recalling the day with a bit of a laugh. That was quite a competitive day for them.

"Aww. That's really sweet..." She trailed off, remembering she was making certain friends gifts. She had no idea what Carter would want.

"Carter, if you could have anything in the world, what would it be?"

She seriously hoped it wasn't something out of her magical abilities.

Carter laughed. "Seriously?" he asked. "That is a random question. And probably one I couldn't answer. I don't really think I want anything. Things are good."

Kylie rolled her eyes jokingly. "Guys are always impossible." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. For some reason, she thought of mittens. "All right, mittens it is." She said out loud.

She didn't really like conjuring gifts, as conjuring implied that she was taking them from somewhere else. So she took out a few scraps of cloth in her bag and started mumbling a few words. The cloths morphed and stretched into two pairs of Gryffindor-esque looking gloves. They had grips on the hands to help hold on to a broom while flying. Or grabbing a Quaffle. Or snitch. Or beater stick. They were really quite versatile really. She hoped she was remembering correctly and Carter liked Quidditch.

She took the gloves into her hands, looking for any imperfections. Upon finding nothing horrid, she handed the gloves to Carter. "Welcome back, bud." She hoped Carter wouldn't have some sort of adverse reaction.

Carter was about to ask why she randomly said mittens when she began making some. "Thanks Kylie. They're great." he said looking them over. They had grips. "These would be good for quidditch. Thanks." he said happily. "I didn't get anything for you though... how about first Hogsmeade weekend I buy you whatever you'd like." he suggested. It wasn't really a fair trade... but he didn't have anything else he could offer.

Kylie laughed, "Carter. It's okay. I made those. They were free, all my own magic. You don't owe me anything. Just a welcome-back gift." Kylie smiled. She'd been doing this whole magicking thing all day for a couple days now, it was starting to wear her down. But she liked it, it forced her to use the magic she knew and be creative to make things. "You do like Quidditch right?"
She seriously hoped she hadn't messed up a detail that small.

Ella decided to stroll around the corridors to find new things she hadn't been able to see the year before. There was still so much to explore, and a lot of time to do so. Classes had started, though, and she had to work hard to have Gryffindor win again this year. It was really low, and she was determined to bring it up with her fellow housemates.

She glanced around at the paintings. A particularly unique one (was the there before?) caught her eye, and she watched a lady dance around a ballroom that resembled the one magically conjured up at home by her parents. And Hunter. He "wouldn't tolerate" not being credited. What a baby.

Nate was walking back to the common room from the library and saw Ella. He had to use this hallway to get back? Well he kept walking seeing if she would notice him.

Oh no.

Ohhh no.

There he was. And she didn't know what to do.
Her first instinct was to avoid him. Just play it cool. But that wouldn't work.. as she had to return his ring. He could keep hers if he liked, but Ella couldn't keep his ring. She would feel too.. weird. And she had this newfound hatred for him, and Ella knew she shouldn't. But she couldn't do anything about it. Her brain just argued NO.

"Hey, Nate," she fnally had the courage to say. The fire in her voice was unmistakable, and Ella really wished it hadn't come out that way. She wasn't sure how she was feeling right now, still content or mad.. even sad. She was just confused, and that's all she could tell.

Bloody Heck, she noticed him.
He turned around and smiled a little. Very very small smile. "Yeah?" he said looking at the ground. He wanted to give back her brothers ring(or watch) but it was in his bag. He would wait till she gave him his ring.

"How's it with your girlfriend? Pretty sure that your parents will let you back in your house now?" Ella said menacingly, biting her tongue after she spoke. She had nasty things is mind, and she couldn't let those slip. She wasn't that mean, and her usual bubble-gum-sweet attitude was only provoked by situations like this.

Where was Nate? He said he was going to the library, but now he's not there...

Cadence walked along the second floor corridor, hoping to head back to the Common Room and find Nate. He had left his bag in the Common Room, and she was pretty sure he would need his books to study. So, Cadence, being the awesome girlfriend that she is, was going to take it to him in the library, but he was gone already. Perhaps he had realized he had forgotten it?

As she turned the corner, she found Nate talking to some girl she didn't know. Smiling, she walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Found you! Here's your bag... you left it in the Common Room, and I thought you might need it to study."

Turning to the girl, she smiled politely at her. "Hello, I'm Cadence!"

"Yeah, they will. Hey, I'm sorry ok? I don't want things between us to be like how me and Kylie were. I feel terrible about it." he said digging through his bag and looking up occasionally.

"Hey babe. This is Ella." he said holding her hand.

"Oh." Cadence said simply, her eyes widening in horror as she looked at the girl. Oh, this was not good. Not good at.all. What did you say the girl your boyfriend dumped so that he could be with you? Do you apologize? Do you act like you're better than her? Do you ignore her? Her mouth was suddenly very dry and she felt very nervous, a little queasy actually. She squeezed Nate's hand, putting her other hand in her pocket to make sure she had her wand, just incase she needed it. She didn't know much about Ella, but Cadence knew that if this had happened to her, she'd be very tempted to hex the other girl to oblivion.

"Um.. hey.. Ella, look I'm really really sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen, I promise. I was really really surprised when he told me... I didn't mean to... I just... um... I'm sorry." Yes, blubbering on like a buffoon was a great idea Cadence!

"I..." Was love too strong a word? absolutely love quidditch." Carter said deciding it wasn't too strong. He smiled. "Thanks Kylie. I really do like them." He gave her a nice, tight hug.

Alexa took off down the corridor after leaving the Headmaster's seating area. She felt much better after tattling speaking with Headmaster Tate about Creepy McCreeperton, she even had a little pep in her step. She had been having such a rotten start of term that it was a relief to finally feel better.

She hummed a little tune as she headed toward the suits of armor. She would seriously have to find that ... boy and thank him for speaking up when she did.

Ella thought about how Nate had dumped Kylie for her, and now he was dumping her for some other girl. She knew that it had been pretty uncomfortable for her to talk to Kylie, but now they were great friends. Kylie was a strong girl, and she was very smart, too. But Ella didn't think she could handle it the way Kylie had.

"Oh.. hello." Ella said to the other girl, whose name she still didn't know. She felt a bit awkward meeting her, because she didn’t know what to say to her. It’s not your fault? Ella didn’t like her apologizing, but she couldn’t just dismiss it either. She turned back to Nate.

”Here, I suppose you want this back,” Ella said with a small huff, facing Nate’s hand outward and putting inside his ring. She turned around, ready to leave, not knowing if there was anything left to say.

Cadence wasn't really sure what else to do. She knew she'd never be bosom buddies with this girl, but she did hope that at least she wouldn't hate her. She tried to speak several times, but had no idea what should could say to make this better. The girl put a ring in Nate's hand, and her eyes widened a little. A ring? Why was she giving Nate back a ring?

And then she was turning to leave, and Cadence said. She had absolutely no idea what to do or say. This girl would probably go back to the Gryffindor Common Room and plot revenge against her with Lucy. They were probably going to start a, "We Hate Cadence" club.

Maybe coming back to Hogwarts hadn't been such a great idea after all...

"Oh! Ella. I have your brothers watch." he said sliding off his wrist. "Hey Candence can I meet you in the Common Room?"

He waited for her to leave before turning back to Ella, still holding the watch, to say, "Ella, I...just...here. I just want you to know I DO feel so bad about it but I just think we were slowing down and I fell for her so quickly."

"Yeah, sure!" Cadence said as she turned to walk away. She didn't kiss him on the cheek, though, afraid that that would just make things worse.

To spy or not spy?

She turned the corner as if leaving, but instead stayed just out of their line of vision so she could hear the rest of their conversation.

"Um.. yeah.. thanks." Ella said slowly, taking back the watch. Something was caught in her throat now, but she felt like she wasn't angry anymore. BUT she could do without all the details on how he 'fell for her.' Ella wasn't going to lie, she seemed like a nice enough girl and was pretty too. But she just felt like their was no future to her and Nate anymore.

"See you," she told them, but wasn't sure if she would.

Nate waited for Ella to leave before trying to catch his breath and make sense of what had just happened. Or what had happened over the past few days. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor. He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands as he began to slowly but not very loudly cry. It was just tears streaming down his face. He felt like a wussy but he couldn't keep things bottled up forever.

After she heard Ella leave, Cadence peeked around the corner to see which way Nate went so she could catch up to him, but Nate hadn't gone anywhere. He was sitting on the floor and... was he crying? Oh no.

She rushed over to him and sat down on her knees next to him. Gently, she touched his arm, not wanting to scare him. "Nate, what's wrong?"

"Oh. I thought you left. I didn't want you to have to see me cry. I'm just stressed because Ella doesn't forgive me and I don't want to ruin another friendship. I mean we were great friends before we started dating, why not after?" he said all of this between hiccups and crying. All he wanted was a hug from his mum, or Candence, and to have all the drama gone. Nate didn't enjoy drama only when it was nesscary. Girls on the other hand...

Cadence looked away in the direction Ella had just left before throwing her arms around Nate and pulling him into a really tight hug. "Shh... Nate it's okay. Don't be afraid to cry in front of me. If anyone knows about feelings and how crazy they can be, it's me. I blew up half the bloody common room!" she said, trying to make him laugh. "Besides, I don't think it's going to be dramatic with me and Ella. It'll just... take time, ya know? You have to give her time for her heart to heal. We all need that time when something has hurt us... especially girls. I bet you guys will be able to be friends again someday. You just... can't rush it. You've just gotta... let her have time and space for her heart to be fixed."

Nate smiled at her comment but just hugged her tighter. He felt so good hugging her even as good as the other way around. It felt good to be cared about instead of ignored or akwardly loved. He felt loved for the first time in his life by this girl. Nate seemed to belive there was a connection deeper than either of them could see.

Cadence just sat there hugging him and letting him hug her back. She didn't feel a need to say another word, so she just sat there with him in silence until he had calmed down. "Ready to go back to the Common Room?" she asked quietly.

Kylie smiled and hugged him back. "It's no problem, dear." She'd caught the habit of saying 'dear' from her brother's sarcastic remarks. Although she meant the pet-names more seriously than he did, she had now developed a maternal tick. At age twelve. Oh my. "And I'm glad you like them."

She stepped back from the hug, "So, tell me exactly what happened this summer? How are you and Marylin?"

She sincerely hoped they hadn't broken up.

"Sure. Thanks for not freaking out like I know some girls would. Thanks for being there for me." he said standing up with her.


OOC: just post in the Common Room?

Lucy was walking--walk walk walk. Why did she always end up roaming random corridors?? Probably because she had no sense of direction. As she walked down the corridor, which she now recognized as the Second Floor corridor, she decided to stop and lean agaist the wall. As she did so, she started rummaging around her bag for her hair elastic because her hair was starting to get in the way.

Nate was walking down to the Common Room after class. He saw Lucy going threw her bag looking for something. "Hey Lucy. Nice hair." he said stopping in front of her.

Lucy finally found her hair elastic, but not before she saw someone enter the corridor. It was Nate. As she pulled her hair into a ponytail, she smiled at him. "Hey Nate! Thanks," She said, touching her hair. Did he really mean it? "Whats's up?" She asked, putting her bag on the ground and leaning against the wall.

"Not much really. Heard your going out with Tyler." he said leaning against the wall parallel to her. It was about 3 to 4 feet away.

"My summer was fantastic. I told you I have a sister now, right? Marilyn and I are good. She bought me an owl over the summer and I got her a necklace." Carter said recapping. He still hadn't seen Marilyn yet and seriously hoped she made it to Hogwarts and was just preoccupied with her little plan.

Kylie listened patiently as he told her a brief description of his summer. "You didn't tell me you had a sister!" Kylie was filled to the absolute brim with excitement. That was so cool! "What's her name?!" An owl? "What's the owl's name?!"

"A necklace?! That's so sweet."

Kylie was a little excited. "Have you seen Marylin yet?"

Lucy watched him as he leaned against the wall opposite her's. "Yeah, I am," She said with a smile. Awkwaaaaaaaaard silence.

"Yeah. My parents adopted a little girl. Her name is Anya and she's three years old." Carter said happily. "And I actually haven't named my owl yet." he said with a bit of an awkward laugh. He laughed again as she mentioned the necklace. "No, I haven't seen her yet..." he said trying not to sound worried.

Nate nodded. He really wanted Chinese food from this place back in London near his house. Mmmmm Sweet and sour chicken. Yummy. :eyebrows:

"So..." he said twiddling his thumbs.

Well. This was turning out to be a bit more awkward than she had expected. Lucy straightened up and looked at him. "Is...is there something wrong, Nate?" She asked him, her face a bit sad.

"Umm..no. Just you seemed to have changed over the summer."he said twiddling his thumbs again.

"Really," Lucy said as she narrowed her eyes. This was totally unexpected. "In what way?"

Raven headed up to the second floor just to get away from the common room, not that there was much really going on and she just need to be alone with her thoughts for a change since there had been so much happening with her but she didn't want to discuss it. She sat down in the shadows of the corridor then brought her knees up to her chest then leaned her head back against the wall and sighed slightly.

"Raven?"

She had sort of been on a patrol. Gold came to a halt, and blinked when she saw Raven. Who looked sort of ... really thoughtful? Kind of a change, you had to say.

The fifth year sat down besides her friend ... well, SORT-of-friend. Frenemy, more like. "What's the matter?"

Raven looked over when she heard Gold's voice and then sighed slightly, she really didn't feeling like talking now but maybe it was best if she got out what she was feeling to someone else. "There's a lot going on now, my parents are fighting and things on the relationship front aren't so good either." she replied, moving her head back against the wall and fixed her tie so that it was perfect.

Gold's bright, green eyes sort of widened. She hadn't really expected Raven to spill, all of a sudden. Mostly because she wasn't sure Raven trusted her. Their relationship was so complicated.

"I'm sorry," she said, after a bit of a frown. Her own parents were still in love. "I know there's not much you can do about your parents, but what's wrong with the relationship stuff? Did Daniel do something?"

Hopefully, not.

"Well it's not him, it's my fault; I kissed another guy but I don't exactly feel much for Daniel anymore so I just dunno what to do. Funny how it is, I went from being able to break any guy's heart to being absolutely confused and frustrated." Raven replied with a slight shrug, it seemed as though she had trusted Gold more than she originally thought but since her best friend hadn't been around for days, this was the next best option.

"Yes I did and I don't know exactly what I feel for Daniel now; I mean I kinda like him but I don't at the same time and it's just all giving me a headache." Raven said then rested her head in her hands out of pure frustration, it seemed like being at Hogwarts now wasn't exactly a good idea for her because of all the stress and other nonsense that she had to deal with constantly.

Gold nodded. "Maybe it's just infatuation?" she asked. For both guys, she meant. "Do you think you rushed into things, with Daniel? If that's the way it is, why don't you take a break?"

Again, from both.

"That is probable, things with Daniel just seemed to go quicker than I'd like; like he kissed me practically the same day he met me which I didn't mind but it kinda showed that this whole thing was going to be rushed and before I knew it I'd be married and I just can't handle that." Raven muttered slightly since her hands were still covering her face and she was not about to move them quite yet.

Gold frowned. Raven seemed rather at fault, too. "You should have kept your distance," she said, with a shake of her head. "Why didn't you? But that's that, Raven, forget it. This is your life, and you need to make your own decisions. I really think you should take a break from both. Tell them you need some time to think over things."

She placed her head on her knees, and hugged them close. Boy trouble was sort of always the same.

"I think that would be a good idea, I really just need to go away for awhile to clear my head then come back and be able to deal with the situation that I had gotten myself into." Raven said before moving her hands from her face and resting them on the ground beside her so that she wouldn't begin fiddling around with her ring and her watch which she got for her 16th birthday back in March.

Gold nodded, in agreement. "I think that's the best idea, right now," she said, sort of encouragingly. "Take your time away from both of them, and think over it. Then do what you think is best."

....

"Who is the new guy, anyway?"

"Oh um.. his name's Adam Stempo; he's a 5th year Ravenclaw, really cute and an awesome musician who was supposed to be starting up a band with me but since that kiss things have just been really awkward like we haven't even spoken to each other." Raven replayed that whole scene in her head and smirked slightly, she certainly took advantage of the situation then which unfortunately didn't make things any better.

Gold raised an eyebrow when Raven smirked. "Looks like you actually enjoyed that kiss," she pointed out, rather unhelpfully. Hey, she couldn't help it! Raven didn't seem unhappy, really.

"Well, I would like to meet this guy, I guess. I did get to meet Daniel, the other day."

"As a matter of fact I did, it was good, really good." Raven said then giggled slightly and began to fiddle around with her ring which was strictly out of habit by now; it seemed whenever she was bored or sorta frustrated, she began fiddling with any piece of jewellery that she had on at the time which did get quite annoying very quickly.

"Hmm.. well, that it is if you can find him. I have no clue where he is at the moment so I'm not much of a help. Oh you did huh? So what do you think of him?"

Bwaha. That was the good thing about Raven, she always bounced back. Gold grinned, then glanced at the ring. "That's a nice piece of jewellery," she remarked. Slytherin colours, too.

"I think he's ... okay?" She had actually found Daniel sort of ... boring? Maybe because he wasn't all cheerful and bubbly, like she herself was. "I haven't gotten to know him that well, to tell the truth."

Umm...

"Oh thanks, my parents actually gave it to me for my 16th birthday along with this watch and of course some money not that I don't have enough of my own already but it definitely helped out when I was doing redecoration of my house out in Sydney, Australia over the summer." Raven said as she lifted her wrist to show off the shiny silver watch then fixed her collar slightly and rested her free hand back in her lap.

"The only thing that bothers me about him is that he's way too sweet like it seems that he's hiding something beneath that exterior and I want to know what it is."

Cadence had made her way down from the fourth floor bathroom. She looked like an awful mess from crying herself to sleep. At least now she thought she understood what Nate had been trying to tell her. All she wanted was to find him and to tell him that she understood... if he was even speaking to her again yet. What if he still didn't want Cadence around? She just kept walking down the hall, willing to take that chance. She wasn't just going to give him up because some stupid other people had made her feel so bad about herself. No. Nate was worth way more than that.

Nate was wandering by himself back down to the Common Room when he spotted Cadence, looking like a mess, walking down the hallway. Nate wasn't sure weather to go talk to her or wait for her to talk to him. So he slowed his pace a litte seeing how he was a little ways away.

Cadence looked up from the floor when she heard footsteps, noting that the footsteps had slowed their pace. It was Nate! Her heart was beating so hard in her chest. What if he didn't want to talk to her? Well, he had slowed down and hadn't turned and ran away so obviously some part of him wanted to talk to her, that was a good sign! She ran over to him and stopped directly in front of him. Cadence wasn't sure whether she should hug him or not; she certainly wanted to hug him, but he was the one who was mad at her, so maybe she'd wait for him to initiate a hug.

Taking a deep breath and tucking her hair behind her ears, she looked up into his eyes and began, "Nate, I'm so sorry. I know why you're mad at me now, and I'm sorry. You love me, and I shouldn't care what a bunch of mean people say or do to me because at the end of the day you still love me and care about me, and that's way more important to me. From now on, I'm not going to let them get to me because what they think of me doesn't matter. All they do is make me upset and make me feel bad about myself, and I don't want people like that in my life. I love you Nate, and you make me so happy, and from now, I'm just going to focus on that." She finally took another big breath and just looked up into his eyes, waiting...

Nate smiled at her big rush of words. His eyes were small because his grin was so big. He hugged her tight and then kissed her. "Thank you."

When Cadence saw his smile, every bit of tension and fear melted away from her body, and she just smiled back at him. And then he was hugging her, and it felt so perfect, and she didn't want him to ever let go. She returned the kiss, and said, "I don't like fighting. It's scary." and she giggled a little. Then she just went back to hugging him, her head laying against his chest.

"Me either. What shall we do now?" he said right before coughing and saying at the same time,"Like fix your hair."