Emmy sat back down in front of him, and, looking him straight in the eye, said,
"Ok. Enlighten me. I can't try to make amends til I know what I'm amending, can I...?
Just... Don't go thinking I don't care about you. Please. Now, may I hear your side of the story?"

Ling frowned, not really wanting to make eye contact with her but forcing himself to anyway. Maybe she would have taken him more serious if he had mirrored her business-like actions. He was grateful, at least, that she had not broken down over what he had to say. He knew many other girls who probably would have smacked him across the face at this point because they just didn't understand where he was coming from. It seemed like whenever there was a falling out, the blame was always placed on him.

"Just put yourself in my shoes--imagine that you're the gawkiest, weirdest student in the fourth year that no girl would ever look twice at. Then picture having an extremely crappy term of loneliness and being taken advantage of by pretty much everybody you meet. Then you find out the one girl you might have a chance with likes some other guy because he's perfect and better than you at everything...and she doesn't get why you're upset. What else can I say?"

Emmy put her head on one side, and gave a little half-smile.
"You're not gawky in the least! Or weird. And he's certainly not perfect.
"I think you're brilliant, I really do. You knew just what to do when I fainted,
and you were a perfect gentleman all evening. You're marvellous - and a dashed good dancer to boot."

And a blooming good kisser, too... she thought, gazing at his handsome face, and smiling at him.

For a moment, Ling was touched by her words and he let them sink in a bit. Nobody had ever referred to him as gentleman before, much less a good dancer. Sometimes he would receive accolades for his intelligence, but only from professors and it was once in a blue moon. Most of the time, he was mocked by his peers for being too bookish and not concentrating on more trivial things like Quidditch or trying to impress others at the dueling club. He just didn't care all that much about those things, mostly because he stunk at them and they didn't hold his interest.

"Thanks, but uhhh, that doesn't explain why you ran away from me..."

Janet cracked up laughing at Willow's impatience. She was trying to hold Willow up to see how long for the foot to stomp. Janet spoke then, 'cause she knew grabbing the shoulders and a good shaking was next if she didn't speak up right now. Giggling, and throwing her long back rebellious curls out of her face, Janet spoke loudly, and held both of Willow's arms to her sides lightly, just enough to stop any more tantrums that might erupt wit Janets' teasing. All right yes, my brother, Lance, is training Golieth's twin. His name is Brutus. He is beautiful and instead of a blade on his nose, he has a perfect star. And further more," Janet got very serious when she started this sentense, "He is yours, not just for the summer, but, always. If you want to, you can take him back to your home next school term. Or you can keep him on the ranch, and let Lance take care of him for you. He is a throwback. We can't use him to breed, or race. So, he isn't a money maker for us. Now, don't worry, there is absolutely nothing wrong with him. He just had a little birth defect that's all. We'll tell you later what it is." Janet looking at the impatient look coming back on Willow's face made her laugh. "OK, I'll give you a clue. Lance gave him a nickname. He calls him, 'Ball o Fire' That's all you get, you have to guess or, wait till we get in the truck on the way home."

" Ok, count on me for a lot of ideas and things we do in Hogwarts" Rex told Daisy." Ok, you are not that young, so I am not that old" Rex laughed. "Well, i like the choices of yoru cool people, Annabel, Carson and me' Rex smiled.

"Carson, trust me, you are great for Dasiy' Rex whispered to him. " Just give Daisy space in her love life and she will come around, I know" Rex told Carson in a whisper. " She nneds you , trust me and she really likes you" rex explained to Carson." You beat me in the cool department" Rex laughed.

Jimbo really was glad that she wasn't mad at him. "Good." he said, smiling at her. Especially since one of his pink butterflies landed on her head. It seemed to compliment her beauty. He flinched when one of the butterflies came near him. Maybe he shouldn't have conjured those things up. They really were quite frightening. But he hadn't exactly been thinking straight when he did. He was only focusing on cheering up Monty. He wanted to make her smile. But even though the butterflies were mostly rotating around Monty, there were a couple that came his way a few times. And every single time, he flinched. He was improving with his fear though. Well. Just of butterflies. Anything else, he would have to run and hide.

Ever since that day in the park, Jimbo could only ever see butterflies as a reminder on Monty. So since then he'd been trying to convince himself that maybe butterflies weren't so bad. Trying to make himself immune. While he was trying to achieve this difficult goal, he did a lot of running and screaming and he destroyed a couple things, but he fixed them right back up. He'd really gotten better with the things though. Especially now that he was thinking about Monty all...differently. The butterflies seemed THAT much...less harmful. Think about it, when would he ever have been able to willingly conjure up butterflies. PINK butterflies, too. His second favorite colour. Just a while ago Jimbo would have thought that the butterflies would be tainting the colour. And he could actually sit there pretty calmly as the butterflies were harassing him. Okay, sure. He was flinching quite a lot, but it's a GREAT improvement. Anybody who knew about Jimbo's fear could see that.

But wait, Monty was speaking. Focus on Monty, not the butterflies...especially not the ones in his tummy.

Candy. She was asking about the candy. He gave her a skeptical look. "Monty...why wouldn't I get that much candy? It's CANDY." Did he have to explain the whole candy thing to her too? Honestly, as his best friend, she really should know these things. And agree with them. Why was she questioning his food motives?

He was grabbing a chocolate frog when she asked about Pebbles. "Wha? Oh. No, he'll be fine. He eats that kinda stuff all the time. He eats anything. I was scared at first, but then I embraced it." He eats his proper turtle food and then a whole plate of human food for dessert. He had quite a big stomach.

Emmy bowed her head, saying,
"I know. I'm so sorry. I was confused, and I felt things were moving too fast for me. I felt pressured into making a quick decision, and... Well, I think I probably made the wrong one." she admitted sadly.
"I really am sorry - I know it doesn't mean much, after all, it's only words... But it's the best I can do."

Annabel looked at Daisies amazing friends and just sat there, enjoying the ride home...

"Annabel, why don't you tell me, us about yourself" Rex asked her. " You know favborite classes, teachers, whare you are staying for the break" Rex explained to Annabel. " my girlfriend here is Kay as Daisy already told you and I am a ballroom dancer" Rex said to Annabel. " I have won some competetions in ball room dancing, too" Rex told Annavel.

Wllow went limp within Janet's restricting arms, as she listened to her best friend talk. "Mine?" Willow mumbled. "All mine? I get to keep him?" Large tears began to gather in her big, blue eyes. The gift was just too much. Janet's family had always treated her like a second daughter, but this was just too much. Quickly, Willow pulled herself together and gave Janet a big hug. "Thanks, Janet! I'll take extra good care of him; I promise, but I think I'll keep him at the ranch. My parents are just too busy to care for a horse during the school year, and I don't want him to be lonely.

Willow knew enough about horses and breeding to blush as she listened to Janet talk about Brutus. Lance named him Ball o' Fire?" Willow gasped, as she turned a deep shade of red. "You mean... you don't mean... that is to say... he only had one?" Willow didn't care how many Brutus had had at birth, all that mattered was that he was healthy right now, and Willow's very own.

"He's got a star on his forhead you say... and not a blaze?" Willow asked, wanting to know everything aboit her new horse. "I'm so glad, because I'm not that into the blaze, but then, any horse of mine would have to be a star, right?" Willow giggled amd grinned with delight, as she twirled happily. "So, how tall is he?" Willow asked. "Seventeen hands?"

Willow looked at her friend and instantly stopped talking. Something else was going on here... Janet had that certain glint in her eye and Willow was always cautious when she saw it. "Ah, Janet?" Willow asked. "What else do you have up your sleeve? Why do you keep talking about your brother? Lance... right?" Willow waited on pins and needles.

He was nearly a seventh year.

That was not good; it seemed like less than a year ago he had been in the Headmasters Office in Durmstrang being told he would not be welcomed back the following term. Then, with all it's complications, it had seemed the worse thing that could happen to him; he father was extremely angry; his mother just plain dissapointed; and he had to repeat the year in a new school, a strange environment.

Now he knew it had probably been the best thing that ever happened; he'd met Lori, and made some amazing friends, although Tyler was leaving. Which was so annoying - his best friend, going back to America. And Nance, she was going too: but that was different - she had to. If he'd had his way, he would have chained them both to him, and made them stay at his side.

Something made him not look forward to next term, and he knew it was this. Leaning back in his seat in the empty compartment, he stroked the barn owl that was on his knee.

Shana got out of her compartment. She was lonely. She skipped up and down the train looking in all the compartments. She skipped straight past Torin's compartment because she knew everyone would be in there crying their eyes and to be quite honest she didnt care cause he lived with her and Tam so she saw him a lot. She then spotted a familar face in a compartment as she passed. She skipped backwards making rewind sounds as she did so. She then spotted it was Adam. She slid open the compartment door and smiled at him. "Mind if I sit with you ?" She said stroking Charlie who was being rather quiet. She wondered if he was up to something. Hmm. She stood in the doorway, squishing herself to one side she pulled the door trying to see how much it closed with her still standing in it. Okay so it closed about half way but still she carried on trying to squish it shut more. She fell forward and onto the floor dropping Charlie and screaming in laughter as he scuttled over her face. "Sorry." She said noticing she'd landed on Adam's feet. She pushed herself up and stood up standing in the doorway again not even noticing Charlie had escaped.

Iris nodded at Jimbo, and smiled back at him. She watched the butterflies as they danced around the cabin. Siiiiiigh. They were so pretty. hehe. Iris looked over at Jimbo, when she saw him flinch at one of the butterflies that went near him. Yup. He was scared of them. Jimbo didn't seem as freaked out as usual, though. Maybe he was working on it? Well, it seemed like it was. She just smiled knowingly at him, then looked back to the butterflies that were nearest to her.

As Jimbo started to explain the obvious, Iris grinned. What was she supposed to say to that? "You're point? THAT much is really bad for you." Seriously. Jimbo was going to lose his TEETH, eating that much sugar. he could at least get a load of fruit and turn it into candy. That way it would be better for him.

"... Oh. Um, but... are you sure?" Iris looked at Pebbles cautiously. WHAT IF HE DIED ON HER?! That would be reeeeeally bad. But no. She wouldn't think about What If's... they usually lead to bad things. And bad things were well... bad. "You... embraced Pebbles' eating habbits?" Hehe. That made sense. It was Jimbo. Having a turtle that loved candy as much as him probably came across as a Godsend to Jimbo. She rolled her eyes and grinned at Jimbo. What Iris wanted to know is why Pebbles completely did not care about these butterflies. There was one fluttering RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! Silly turtle.

Then she looked to the door, and saw that the blinds were still closed. "Can we... um... open the blinds again, now?" Y'know... now that she had her normal hair back and all.

Hearing the compartment door slide open, Adam turned away from the window and placed a hand on Tythe's head as she hooted. He smiled up at Shana; he was glad she had come, he'd barely seen her this year and he was glad, heck, in need of the company. Opening his mouth to tell her, yes, she should come in and sit down, he paused.

What on earth was she doing?
It seemed to him, although he was very unperceptive and therefore could have been wrong, that she was trying to close the compartment door whilst standing in the way. His laugh underlined by a slightly confused note, he peered up at her from his seat. "Uh, Shana, what are you do-" he began, before she fell forward.

Lunging to catch her, he felt Tythe fly from his knee and perch on top of his cage in the luggage rack. Missing Shana by mere centimeters, he fwinced a little as she landed on his feet - his Vans where hardly protection - but she wasn't really that heavy, and so he stood up to help her back to her feet. "It's fine," he laughed, waving away the apology. "Hey, where's your cat?"

Shana beamed as he smiled up at her. She'd only seen him once since the start of the term. Because well she'd been sorta very antisocial. She'd hardly even seen Torin and like he was the most person she talked to ever. But yeah she just couldnt be bothered to make the effort to go find people and whatnot. So she'd spent a LOAD of time in the common room, she hadn't seen Blake for ages either. She missed him.

She giggled as he asked what she was doing. She Shrugged her shoulders deciding not too tell him cause she'd fallen and hurt herself and to be fair it was quite childish.

She smiled at him as he helped her up. That was nice of him. He was right. Where was Charlie ? "I dunno. Where is he ? Have you seen him? Nooo. He didn't escape did he ?" She stuck her head out the compartment and looked left then right. No sign of him. "I hope no one squishes him." If he had escaped.

Jimbo frowned at Monty. Was she criticizing him about how much candy he eats? "Monty..." He shook his head, not even bothering to argue with her. Like with Teegan, if she didn't get it, there was no point trying. Because it's CANDY. And JIMBO. TOGETHER. "You know, I'm not going to eat all of it now." He admitted. He never really planned to eat all of it. "This is how much I get all the time, and I always share it with you. Plus I take some home because my parents get a bit mad when I ask them for so much candy so I have to have my own stash."

Jimbo was finishing up a second chocolate frog. He ate his candy quite quickly. "Yeah. Pebbles is...really weird. He'll be fine though. Just um...don't shake him too much. Whenever he eats a lot of candy I just leave him alone and wait for it to get through his system. I'm worried if he's moved around to much he'll get sick. But mostly, he's fine." Jimbo frowned at the turtle for a bit and looked at the empty wrappings that had come out of his pocket when Pebbles fell out. "You know, I actually save a lot of money with him. Who wouldn't want a pet that eats anything you give it?" As long as said pet doesn't get sick. "Er...don't give him any more candy." He added.

Oh. Right. The blinds. You know, weirdly enough, he didn't want them open again. He liked the privacy he was getting with Monty while the blinds were closed. And if they were open, people might see them and want to come in. And he didn't want anyone to come in. "Right. Yeah." he said to Monty. He fumbled around for his wand beneath all the candy, taking his SWEET time and then opened the blinds with a flick. He was tempted to lock the door but he didn't do it. Monty would notice and he'd get a lot of awkward questions.

Every time someone passed by he gave a nervous glance towards the door. Darned people. Don't come in.

And the butterflies! They were getting in his face! Flinch, flinch, flinch.
One flew right at him as if it was BLIND and got him in the eye.
"ARGH!" Run! Scream! Hide! He dropped all his candy and jumped up from his seat. "Don't touch me! Leave me ALOOONEE!"

Janet grinned from ear to ear and just as suddenly as before had the wind knocked out of her from the heart felt hug from her best friend. She wished she'd take notice of the look on her face so she could be forwarned of these sudden, but wonderful hugs. She's so quick! Like Lightning! We should call her horse, Thunder and her, Lightning. She laughed at her inside joke. Willow was all emotional about getting to keep her horse, and it was causeing Janet's own eyes to well up. Janet was glad she wanted to keep the horse on the ranch. Janet took note of Willow's red face. She laughed and new she understood the clue Janet gave her. "Yeah, he's perfectly fine, and yes, he was born that way. It happens, now and then." She said with the shrug of her shoulders. The star? Willow was saying the exact same thing Janet was thinking. She needed a star instead of the blaze, it fit her better. "You're very good! Yes, he's 17 Hands." Janet caught a glimpse of curiosity in Willow's eye's as she suddenly looked into her own eye's. She turned to face the tracks as they were going through the countryside. Uh-oh, she knows I'm cooking something up... "Shoot!" Janet smiled as she thought again of her daydream about Willow and Lance at he Alter kissingat their wedding. "I can't tell her that!" Janet thought as she heard Willow ask what she had up her sleeve. "I'll just come up with something plausable that I know she'll believe. And, it will be the truth, cause it's what I'm thinking of now. Janet thought hopefully. Janet looked at Willow in the eye's and said with an innocent smile. "It's not that I'm trying to talk about him. You asked what his name was, cause you forgot it. And, I needed to tell you the horse was being trained for you, and it just happens that I asked Lance to train him, so it would be taken care of specially, cause he knows you're my best friend and he would make sure everything was done proper. But, while we're on the subject of Lance, He wants to run your horse against his to clock his speed. So, you can either race me on his horse, or race him on his horse. What ever you want. You can be thinking of it. The race won't be on the track, but the open range. I'll take you around it after we get settled in. It's beautiful country." Janet saw the gleem in Willow's eye's and was sure she was hooked by the challange.

Iris looked at Jimbo as he said this. He was right, probably... that much candy would take all summer to eat. She eyed him as he explained what he did with the rest of the sweets. "Oh... Oh yeah. You always do..." It hadn't even ever occured to her that Iris DID eat a fair amount of the candy that Jimbo buys...

HMM. So... he hides most of it. "Y'know... that's actually quite sneaky. No wonder you ended up as a snake. Hehe."

Iris blinked at Jimbo. Don't shake him too much?! She had no intentions to! That would be like feeding a baby, then throwing it in the air. Stupid. That's what it is. Iris looked at the turtle cautiously, anyway, and put him down on her lap, so that she didn't shake him on purpose. "Um... It won't um.. 'get through his system' whilst he's sat on my lap, will he? If... you get what I mean." She asked Jimbo, seriously. Turtle pee wasn't something she particularly fancied on her jeans. But then he said that Pebbles was a money saver, and Iris grinned. "I suppose your right... So... he eats anything?" ... like, even vegetables?

Don't give him more candy. Please. I wasn't going to. Iris looked at Jimbo like he was joking, "I really wasn't going to." Hehe. GRIN.

She sat there, looking cautiously at Pebbles as Jimbo began to look for his wand. Maybe if she was less worried that her jeans were possibly going to become Pebbles's next toilet, then she'd have probably noticed that Jimbo was taking his time getting his wand out and unlocking the door. But no, right now, her jeans were more important.

Iris looked up at Jimbo as he yelled, and she instantly noticed the sneaky little butterfly. If they could grin evilly, then that butterfly was probably doing exactly that right now. Iris was kinda startled at Jimbo's outburst... she'd forgotten how bad they were. Iris couldn't really tell if he was yellin that at the butterfly or at her. She was routing that it was aimed at the Evil!butterfly. She put Pebbles on the seat next to her and jumped up. "JIMBO! Calm down!" She glared at the butterfly and swatted it towards the window. Then, she fumbled to open the little window at the top of the glass, and ushered all the butterflies out of the window with her wand. "Jimbo, look, they're all gone! You can calm down now! They weren't going to hurt you, though!" She put her hand on his shoulder, "Heeey... c'mon... Butterflies aren't that bad... and besides, they're all outside on the platform, now..."

Looking at Jimbo, Iris sat back down. Then she looked at the vast amount of candy that was scattered across the floor. She picked up her wand again, and gathered it all together, and then hovered it all until she could drop them on the seat opposite her. It was a good job that most of that was in wrappers, really...

Willow was almost giddy with happiness. She loved a tall horse. Their gait was always so long and graceful at the canter and the gallop. The rider hardly seemed to move in the saddle. Willow laughed to herself, as she wondered how Brutus would take to an English saddle. She wondered what Janet would think of an English saddle! "Hey Janet..." Willow asked, "does Brutus prefer a nice strong cup of coffee or a nice cuppa of sweet ENGLISH tea?" Willow giggled as she waited for Janet to catch on to her prefered riding style.

Moving on, Willow thought long and hard about the race Lance wanted to take place between Brutus and Goliath. "Umm, Janet? Would you be awfully upset if I raced Lance instead of you? I mean, I'd race you later, of course, but I'd love the chance to beat Lance on his own horse!" Willow was a very competive rider; actually, she was competitive in evrything she did. She was lucky to have found a friend such as Janet, because Janet, too, was an awfully intense person as well. It was a sort of give and take relationship between the two best friends. If Willow won at something, it was more than likely that Janet would wind-up beating her the next time around. Jealousy wasn't even a consideration.

As Willow watched Janet and waited for an answer, she noticed a quick smile come and almost immediately leave Janet's face. It was almost comical. She had been right; Janet was up to someting, and that something had to do with Lance... "Hey Janet?" Willow asked her now serious friend. "Does Lance have a girlfriend?"
Willow burst out laughing at the surprised look on her best friend's face. She's been right in her assumption... Janet was trying to play matchmaker!!!

Ling was still frowning, but it lessened slightly as she gave him the explanation. Maybe it was him but it didn't feel like he was pressuring Emmy that night. It seemed like she had wanted to snog him just as badly as he did with her but maybe he might have been caught up in the moment. Still, it could have been the best night of his life so far if it hadn't been ruined by Mark's existence. He was sick of always being the second option, especially when it came to who girls preferred.

"I didn't think my fourth year was gonna end so crappy..." was all he had to say.

“Sneakin' skills?” Oliver smiled broadly at the wee girl. Maan, he was glad for some company and a distraction.. even if it was in the form of this strange little girl. “That stuff should be natural to you.” He smirked. “Being a Snake an' all.” heh. She was like a cat? Yeah, he could totally see that. “Is that why you're on the floor?” He asked with a curious tone, although his eyes didn't lose their amusement.

He watched with interest as the girl attempted to shoot webs out of her wrist. “You can?” He cocked a brow. “Well me and you have more in common that I thought.” Cos 'Baboon Boy' didn't have that particular nickname for nothing. No siree. “You know, I've always wondered why Spider-man doesn't shook webs out of his butt and not his wrists... and how come he doesn’t have a massive abdomen.. like a spider, you know?” Baha! And the comic book would only appeal to a minority (and very odd) section of the public.

Girly? Surely Batman didn't have girly moments. His eyebrows raised – Pffft.. Oliver was ALL man thank you very much. He didn't go for girlish pizza toppings...

He couldn't help but smile when Klaudette clapped delightedly as he moved to sit on the floor. His long insect like limbs hardly fit into the small space... but he'd always been quite the contortionist – he must have been double jointed in more than a few places.. “Well you get a different perspective from down here. Now I know how it feels to be your height.” Wink. Paddy-cake? Oh no no no. He shook his head. “I have no idea how to play that.” He lied, raising his hands defensively. But Klaudette seemed distracted with other things outside. ...Thank gawd.

Not wanting to seem too forward, or to estrange him further, Emmy said hopefully,
"Well... Maybe your fifth year will be better?"
Hopefully with me not making any more mistakes... she thought ruefully.

"Please Ling - tell me, what can I do to make up for what I did?"
She was kicking herself for being such an idiot that night at the ball.
I was really happy with him.
"It started out as such a fairytale evening. But then I had to spoil it, as per usual." she whispered, unable to raise her head.

"It's not just that...like, I felt like I didn't know you anymore when you went after Mark..." Ling commented flatly, examining the raggedy sleeve of his robes. He wasn't feeling quite as ticked off at her as he originally did but he couldn't help it. He should have been used to disappointments by now but it still hurt on the inside. Emmy was probably the first and only girl he had really had his eyes on at Hogwarts. She was very pretty but she also seemed so intellectual and pursuing. After she had met Mark, she seemed to turn into a ditz and cared only about him; he not only felt bad for himself but it was depressing to watch a smart girl go through that and do a 180.

"I dunno..."