Marie was out wandering the school hoping to maybe run into Carter. They had already been back to school for a couple weeks and he still wasn't talking to her. She was seriously starting to think he was never going to talk to her again.

Finding herself going nowhere in particular she stopped next to the weird looking tapestry hanging on the wall. Leaning against the wall she slowly slid down it then hugged her legs close to her. Why wouldn't he talk to her, what did she do that was so bad it seemed to make him hate her?

Patroclus had no idea where he was walking too, but he knew wherer he was coming from. His arm's overflowing with books, and his head buried into an open on the top of the pile, the Fourth year was walking in a slow sort of zig zag, his foot moving because they had too.

Not being able to see his feet, if he tried, it came as no surprize to Patroclus had the ground began to rush up towards him. Yep I am falling was all he thought, not even trying to stop or brace himself.

With a loud Whack as his books hit the floor, and a loud Thud that was him hitting the floor, Patroclus found himself, on his side starring at a wall haginf tapestry, and also the back of a rather familiar looking blond girl,

"A little help Marie?"

Marie was sitting there deep in thought when all of a sudden there were books flying everywhere. "Hey, watch what you're doing." she said sounding annoyed that someone had bothered her.

Pushing one of the flying books off her she looked up when she heard her name. Oh crap, it was Patroclus. "Hey, what are you doing with all these books?" she asked as she held out her hand to help him sit up. "Are you alright?" He was sure to be sore tomorrow with a fall like that.

"What do you think?" Patroclus smiled, taking Marie's outstretched hand, "I am going to eat them," he joked, it was plainly obvious what he neded them for, reading.

"I am fine thanks," he replied as he began to re-stack all his books. Patroclus looked up from his books, his eyes looking into Marie's , "But it seems I maybe the only one what is fine. Are you OK?" Patroclus had come to know the tells of Marie's emotional states, and right now she looked emmensley sad.

Marie attempted to smile at Patroclus when he said he was going to eat the books. "I think you'll find the food in the Great Hall a bit more tasty than a stack of books." However she could't be sure of that herself since she pretty much avoided that place. Lately she had taken to just going to the kitchen to grab something to eat. There she was less likely to be ignored by anyone.

He was the one that had just smacked onto the floor yet he was asking her if she was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she started to help him stack his books back up. Okay, so maybe that wasn't the truth but really, didn't want to keep dumping all her problems on Patroclus... or did she?

Looking up at him she couldn't stop the words from coming out... it just happened. "Have you seen Carter lately? I have a feeling he is avoiding me." More like she knew he was avoiding her.

It seemed Marie, had not got Patroclus' little joke, and he planned on telling her, but decided he could not be bothered. He had far more pressing matters to discuss, the main one being the severe depression his friend seemd to be in.

Patroclus had seen Carter, not nearly an hour ago, they did live together....well pretty much. "I saw him in the dorms. But only passing, and why would be avoiding you?" Patroclus had made a small decision about a week back, to stay out of this lover's tiff, but it now seemed he needed to interveen, it was getting drastically out of control.

"What is going on with you two, seriously I am struggling to keep up," he spoke the truth, the once loving relationship was experince a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

"Oh," she said when Patroclus said he had seen Carter earlier. Well at least someone had seen him today which meant he was still at school and hadn't left without telling her... like her last boyfriend did. "He's avoiding me because he doesn't want to be around me." Why else would he avoid her?

"I'm not really sure myself what is going on." she said. "All I know is that Carter said he didn't want to be around me over the summer and that is why Destiny gave him that potion." Her friend really needed to start paying better attention in potion class if she was going to give potions to others. "I was really hurt when he told me he didn't want to be around me so I told him when he was ready to be around me again he would know where to find me. Then I left him in the Great Hall. That was the last time I seen him. I haven't even seen him in any classes." Yep, he was totally avoiding her if he wasn't even going to classes. "I don't even know what I did to make him not want to be around me anymore." she said as tears started to run down her cheeks.

Crap. Marie was Crying. He had not meant for that to happen.

Placing his arm around her shoulder's Patroclus spoke, "It's OK, let it all out." It was obvious she had been holding this all in from quite sometime.

Sitting there, Patroclus thought of all the possiblities that could have lead to this, "What do you think is the reason, why he didn't want to see you in the Summer?" Patroclus remembered a certain train trip, where he had told Marie to trust Carter..... the reason? Maybe...

It was a delicate situation, Patroclus was not going to pick sides, they were both his very close friends, but he was willing to listen, and offer advice, as best he could. "There must have been some reason, why Carter would go from Loving you like crazy to asking not to see you?"

Marie cried even more when Patroclus put his arm around her shoulder. She really didn't want to cry again but she couldn't help it, the tears just came.

"I..I don't really know wwwhy he dddidn't want to ssssee me." she said through sobs. "Hhhe said sssomething about me nnot inviting him to that stupid pparty Lawson had for me." You know, the party where she seen Carter kissing Destiny. The same party where he broke up with her and said he had moved on. "I tried tttellng him I wasn't the one wwwho ppplanned the party but he didn't listen to me." No, instead he was more worried about Destiny crawling away with that stupid potato spoon.

Patroclus began to see the issue.

"Marie, you do know Carter was under the influence of a very strong love potion at the Lawson's place?" It was sounding as thought it had all be just a misunderstanding.....or at least he hoped so.
"Destiny had drugged him, but with the intention for potions affect to be directed at you! However it was first seen first love." The whole thing had been messy, he was luckly he was there......imagine if Carter had on seen him....awkward.

"That's why he said those things, all he could think of was Destiny. He had Destiny on the brain"

Patroclus wasn't telling Marie anything she didn't already know. What she didn't know was WHY Carter had to be given a love potion to want to see her. WHY he didn't want to be around her to begin with. Whatever THAT reason was had nothing to do with him being drugged by Destiny. "That still doesn't explain why he didn't want to be around me BEFORE he was given that potion." she said. "He TOLD me he didn't want to see me. That he wasn't going to come to the party because he didn't want to be around me. No matter how you look at it, him not wanting to see me had nothing to do with being drugged."

Marie hugged her legs close to her and put her head on her knees. "He's not drugged now so why is he still avoiding me?"

OH.

So Marie already knew....there went Patroclus get Carter of jail free card.....

"Have you tried to talk to him, I mean after the little break you two have had over the last two weeks?" Patroclus had said to Marie on the train at the end of last year that absence made the heart grow fonder, or something along those lines, and perhaps it had, "Maybe by you being distant, Carter thinks you don't want him to come back to you. I am a guy, and if it was me, I thougth the girl I was in love with was giving me space, it would make me think that rather than her wanting to work on our problems, she would be wanting to be rid of me!" Patroclus hoped that made sence.

"I think what you two need to do, is find a place, where it is just you two," he heavily stressed the last part, "and just talk it out, away from everyone else, away from Kay, away from Destiny. just you two, alone!"

Hello Patroclus. Have you not been listening to what the girl is telling you?

"No I haven't talked to him. I told you I haven't seen him since the opening feast. How can I talk to him if I don't see him?" And why did he keep talking about Carter being in love with her? If he was so in love with her then why was he avoiding her?

Riiiiiight, talk to him alone, just the two of them. "I would love nothing better than to talk to him... alone... with no one around. But until he decides he wants to talk to me then that's not going to happen now is it."

Crap.

Patroclus was only trying to help and here she was getting sort of snippy with him. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to help and really I'm not trying to be mean to you. It's just I have thought of nothing but talking to Carter and trying to work things out but I can't do that if he won't talk to me, and especially if I can't find him anywhwere." How is it that they live in the same school, are in the same year, yet it has been weeks since she has seen him. "When you see him again will you please tell him I would like to talk to him?" She really hated putting him in the middle of this and asking him to do that but really she didn't know what else to do.

If Carter still didn't want to be around her or talk to her then she would know that there was no hope for them, that he really had moved on without her.

Patroclus sat wide-eyed as the tyrad that was Marie unleashed it's self.

Being the lovely guy he was, Patroclus just sat there and let Marie get out her rage.

"It's OK," he smiled, as if he was going to get angry at the poor girl, she was in an emotional blender, of course she was feeling mixed up.

"When I see him next I will tell him to go find you." Patroclus was more than happy to help the girl out, as long as it didn't hurt his and Carter's friendship.

Jokingly Patroclus added, "You know where he sleeps, you could always camp out at the portrait, and ambush him!" he smiled, it was a joke, you know easing the tension and all that jazz.

"I am sure he wants to talk to you too. He's a boy, sometimes we are just to proud talk about emotions......proud or stupid."

"Thanks," Marie said when Patroclus agreed to tell Carter she wanted to talk to him. "I'm really sorry for putting you in the middle of all this. I just don't know what else to do."

That is until he mentioned camping out at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Well now that was an idea. Carter couldn't avoid her if she was waiting for him there now could he. "Um thanks, I think I'll save the stalker tactic until later, you know if he still won't talk to me after you tell him I am looking for him." She said with a hint of a smile. Yeah, he may have only been joking but if she had to she would do it just to make him talk to her.

"I hope you're right because I really don't want to have to resort to stalking him." What was she saying here. No, she would not stalk Carter. If he didn't want to talk to her even after Patroclus told him she was looking for him then she would leave it at that. She would not resort to sitting outside a common room just to get a boy to talk to her, even if it was a boy she was in love with. "Um, forget that last thing I said." She would hate for word to get around that she could be a potential stalker. That would not be good.

With her headphones sitting nicely in her ears, Ella lazily wandered around the castle with her drawing pad tucked under her arm. She was looking for a calm place where she could just sit and daydream for a while. Peace and quiet was nice, and she seemed to be seeking it a lot more lately. Well, it's not like she had anyone special to spend time with, did she?
She approached a funny looking tapestry and smiled at the almost emptiness of the area. And with that, she sat down almost directly under the tapestry and pressed play on her Muggle-Music-Box. The only song she ever really listened to now came on, and she rested her head against the wall.

Iron & Wine- Such Great Heights.
Why this song? Because it was Aiden's favourite song and she just couldn't stop listening to it. She hummed to the song, but didn't sing it, because if someone came and approached her.. well, that'd be awkward. So, humming it was, but she automatically sang one or two lines of the song here and there.
Oh! Ella almost forgot the purpose of finding this quiet spot today. She wanted to get back into her drawing. So she got out her drawing pad, opened it onto a clear page and began to scratch the paper with her pencil lightly. She didn't know exactly what she was drawing yet though.

Ahh, peace.

Patroclus had thought for a moment there, that Marie was seriously considering the camp out idea. It had been a joke, right?

Phew, the boy thought when Marie said, she was not going to initiate Operation Crazy Stalker, that was no way to win Carter back.
"I just hope I can help, by talking to him. You and Carter just seem, I dunnno.....right." the boy shrugged.

What? Stalking was back on the cards, Oh not it wasn't.

Patroclus couldn't help but smile, his friend was doing yoyo tricks right in front of him.
"I am sure it will all come good in the end." the boy smiled, "We just need to be patient" with that he hugged his friend and stood up, "Want me to walk you to where ever it is you are/were going?"

Hands settled leisurely in his pockets, Aiden walked along throughout the fourth floor, no destination on his mind. He sighed and continued on, nearing the tapestry up ahead. As he he got closer, he noticed some blonde girl sitting beneath it, but what really caught his interest was what she was humming. The few lines that she did sing sounded quite good and he immediately turned and went over to her. Anyone listening to 'Such Great Heights' had excellent taste in music. Fact.

"Iron and Wine.. you've got great selection in -" .....Music.

Ella? Wow, this took him by total surprise. He opened his mouth to speak but was at a loss for words. She was a blondie. He quickly shut his mouth and cleared his throat. "I hadn't recognized you." Gah, embarrassing.

Aiden looked at her for a moment. He had been trying to avoid her, yet at the same time he always hoped to catch her walking to class or on her way to the common room. Or sitting beneath a tapestry.

His eyes shifted to the spot beside her for a split second. Would it be awkward to sit? He decided to do so, though sat not quite as close to her as he normally would have.

"You're listening to my favorite song," he said, unable to not smile. He could pick up on the muffled slow rhythm even now. And not only that, but he suddenly realized what was resting on her lap. A sketchbook. Right..? "Oh, are you drawing..?" He lifted his head a bit to try to get a peek at the page.

About 3/4 of the way through the song, Ella was getting ready to belt out the last few lines, but her thought process was immediately interrupted by someone approaching her. She pulled her headphones out and looked up, "Oh, tha -...."
o______O
GREAT. It was the one person that she did not want to see. In some ways, anyway.

Darn, if only he still hadn't recognized her and walked on. Ella had actually forgotten about her new hair, and that Aiden still hadn't seen it. "Are you saying that it looks horrible?" She said moodily. Right, Aiden didn't actually say that. But she had her reasons to be cold with him. MANY reasons, in fact.
And now he was sitting by her... WTH? Ella shuffled away from him a bit, even if there was distance between them already.

Noo, he caught on, and he bluntly said it out loud. As if he was purposely trying to embarrass her. She felt her face go red, and she cleared her throat. "Yeah, well.." She looked upwards to the ceiling slightly to think of a decent reason. "This thing is on shuffle and it just came on now." Mhm.. that didn't explain how she knew all the words though.. "I wasn't listening to it just because it was your favourite song, y'know." PSH, was that convincing enough?
Catching his eye as he tried to peek at her book, Ella almost threw it to the other side of the room, but not quite. Instead, she snapped it shut and glared at him. "I told you before that no one sees this." And she placed it back into her bag, followed by a sigh. "I would've shown you something, but I have recently changed my mind." Yeah, before he dumped her.

Pause...
"What're you doing, Aiden? Why are you talking to me?" She said simply. It's not like she didn't want to speak to him, but it didn't do the whole 'getting-over-him' thing any good. Also, she began to wonder where he had just been before seeing her here. With Savannah maybe? Snogging her face off?
*cringe*

Okay, so once the initial awkwardness of realizing they were talking to each other passed, Ella seemed to think the worst straight away. With her hair, this time. "No, of course not," he denied. "I just.. didn't know you wanted to go blonde."

She shuffled away from him when he sat down. Heh. It felt like he had cooties or something. Ah, right. So, her music player was on shuffle mode. "Oh." And he believed that until she said how she wasn't listening to it because it was his favorite song. Hmmh. Well.. he'd just keep the false hope that she was lying to him. "It's a good song, though.. don't you think?" It wass. Although he really didn't listen to that song lately for rather obvious reasons.

Ohhh. Yeah, he could see that reaction coming. The book snapped shut rather loudly and he looked at her. "I know.. I was just curious." It was no surprise that she didn't want to show him anything anymore... but that didn't stop him from wanting to see her work anyway.

And then she was questioning him about all this. About talking to her and all. Really, he hoped to not talk to her anytime soon. Make things a bit easier. But he couldn't just start talking about Iron & Wine, then suddenly trot off when he realized he was talking to Ella. Plus, it was kinda nice.. "Well, I.." MISS YOU. He shrugged awkwardly and thought something up. "I got a letter from Patrick last week, and he wanted me to say 'hi' to you for him." Which was true. Not that Ella and Patrick were super tight anymore, but y'know.

Psh, should she tell him the truth? It would probably save her the embarrassment in the future. "Of course I didn't want to go blonde. Do you think I like having the same hair as Savannah??" She started. Ouch, she'd hate to be in Aiden's shoes at the moment, with all this shouting he was receiving. "If you really want to know, I did it because I thought you prefered blondes, meaning, you'd take me back." A bit full on but Ella really didn't care.

Did he buy that excuse? Ehh, she didn't know! In response to his question, she merely shrugged. "It's alright, I suppose." In all fairness, she listened to it quite a lot so it was kind of drummed into her head. Songs did get boring easily, but she was still listening to this one.
FJODJODSF.
"Yeah well, curiosity killed the cat." She said with a huff. So much for chillaxation time with her sketchpad. She was looking forward to it actually.

She blinked.
And there she was, thinking that he actually wanted to spend time with her...! "So the only reason you are speaking to me, is to tell me that Patrick says hi? That's real nice, Aiden." She looked away from him and down at her feet. Stupid boy. She felt her fists clenching slightly. "In that case then, you can tell Patrick that I said a huge, massive HEY back." There, Aiden's purpose was finished.

"OH! Before you up and leave again, I'd like to say congratulations. I heard you and Savannah are back together." She smiled falsely. Duh, it wouldn't be a REAL smile, would it?

Gahh, more yelling. This was deserved, though. Huhwaitwhaaat? If she didn't want to go blonde, then why would -- ohh. She did it for him. He shifted slightly and brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck. Nervous habit. "Well.. it looks good both ways," he finally said. "I don't have a preference for blondes, though." He actually liked the brown hair, and he always thought of Ella that way. Still, she could have green friggin' hair and he'd still be lovesick for her.

All right? Okay, considering her mood right now, Aiden took that response as her liking it. "All their songs are good, but that one's the best," he concluded. Curiosity killed the cat. This is true.. Aiden was probably too curious for his own good. "Fair enough." He'd have to just wait until she was ready to show him any artwork of hers. If she would do that now.

Ohh, great. Now she was all ticked that a greeting from Patrick was all he had to say, when really that was the last thing on his mind at the moment. "Well, no, I mean.." Sheeesh. He needed to quit fumbling over words and get with the program already. Maybe next time he knows he's going to talk with Ella, he should plan ahead. Make a list of things to say. "He did say 'hi' and I figured I'd just talk to you for a bit or something." He looked to her. "But yeah.. I'll tell him."

Congratulations? For what? Ah. Right. Well, technically Aiden wasn't dating Savannah.. but he did kiss her, so dating was next, right? "Right, thanks," he said, unable to conjure up something else.

Ella snorted. He obviously didn't like the hair, but that was too bad 'cause it had really grown on Ella and she was now quite fond of it. He didn't prefer blondes? State the obvious. "Yes. I figured that out." She responded coldly. Duh, her plan failed and they still weren't together. It sounded really stupid though. Like Aiden would be that shallow, but oh well, too late to ponder on that now.

"Oh yeah? Are they your favourite band then?" She asked. What was THIS? A casual conversation?! Oh, that would never do. "Not that I care or anything." Bahah, that last comment was laughable. Too bad Ella was in too much of a bad mood.

In a bit of a pickle now, hmmmmmmm? Ella rolled her eyes at him and sighed. "Whatever. You are lying." She said simply, then paused.... "I know you've been avoiding me." And yes, she'd been avoiding him too but they'd talk about that another time. Besides, according to Savannah, Aiden didn't want to see Ella at all. Nice.

Thanks? How could he say something so simple, yet it be so wrong? Something clicked within Ella's mind and she decided to bring the next subject up right now. It was the perfect moment, she thought..
"I'm dating someone else too, y'know." There. She came right out with it, then eyed him curiously to see how he'd react. Surely he still felt something for Ella. And this would be the perfectest way to find out.

Aiden blinked. Okay, what should he say to that? He really didn't talk about hair that often.. "Right, of course." Speaking of changed appearances, Aiden brought his hand up and ran it over his jaw for a moment. Scruff! Meh.. this wasn't exactly anything too drastic, though.

Oh? For a moment it seemed that they might go back to talking about things in a more low-key manner. "I like 'em a lot, but they're probably not my favorite. Just my favorite song.." But she tacked on the part about not caring, and things seemed to go back normal. Normal, in this case.

Yeahh, she was right. "Okay, I have been avoiding you, but you've definitely been avoiding me too." Hah! Way to point fingers at one another, eh? So mature. "Besides, it's easier to just go with the 'avoidance' route." 'Cause he was doing such a bang-up job of avoiding her now. PFFT. Yet, in spite of the fact that she was clearly ticked with him, he wanted to stay anyhow.

He spread his fingers out and looked down at his hands, but the next words out of her mouth made his head whip to the left to look at her. "What do you mean? Who?" The words flooded out so quickly that he must've sounded ridiculously anxious. But, whoever this guy was, Aiden wasn't fond of him already.