Braeden's brown eyes sparkled when Ruby confirmed, yet AGAIN, that they really were friends. FRIENDS. Friiiiiiieeeeeeendsssssss. *O*

However, before the boy could cheer too much, the redhead was speaking again. This time warning him not to say a word. Braeden's smile twisted into something that resembled a smirk for a moment there, before pretty much throwing himself on the poor unsuspecting girl and crushing her bones into a hug.

"Of course I won't tell anyone!" Brae promised.
Loudly enough for the whole school to hear.
"Don't you worry a thing! Not a soul will know about our secret relationship… sugarplum," he assured, still holding the girl tight in his arms. He stayed there (and, assuming that she was probably trying to push him off or something by this point, he completely ignored her protests) for a couple more minutes longer than necessary (he had to make sure the whole world saw), before finally pulling back and planting the most idiotic of his grins on his dorky face.

"Good to have you back, Lioness."

Christopher shrugged."Don't worry about it. I could really use a laugh too." His third year hadn't exactly been going smoothly, and he was sure he would've loves an opportunity to laugh too. Too many students seemed down in the dumps these days. It was like a contagious disease of sadness. He found it rather peculiar too that she thought he looked familiar. He was sure it was not a coincidence. Putting a finger to his chin, Christopher studied the girl, analyzing every inch of her face, trying to remember where he'd seen her; it was killing him. He hoped he didn't seem creepy, but he really had to know. Then suddenly, it hit him again, the idea/epiphany thing, that is. Now grinning, he nodded and shook his finger a little in the air. "I have met you before! You were that sad girl in the Courtyard!" But as small of an answer it was, it was all he had. He couldn't remember why she was sad or what her name was, but he had briefly talked to her, which made him feel a little better if anything.

The older boy smiled, nodding in agreement. "I'm afraid you're right about that."

"Nessie! That sounds familiar to me, it really rings a bell!" He laughed a little, glad he had solved this tiny little puzzle, despite the oddity if the situation. "I'm Christopher, Christopher James." He held out a hand to shake. "Oh!" He said rather loudly, causing him to blush a little. "Erm, sorry about that, I just remembered I meant to say something. This is Chunk. He's my cat. Well, my sister's cat anyway. I don't have one of my own." He nodded down at a large mound of squishy, orange fur napping at his feet.

Nessie blushed as soon as he realsised where they'd met before. Did he have to remember the sad part she thought, frowning just a little.Ohh so his name was Christipher, now she was starting to remember him better.She shook his hand when he introduced himself hoping her cheeks were getting back to normal. "Well nice to meet you again!" said Ness giggling.

She then looked at his Cat Chunk? She had never heard a cat name like that before but she liked it, she remembered seeing the cat the day they had met. "Hello Chunks!" said Ness giggling. Ness was just about to talk again when Puffles bit on her shoulder. "Oww!!..." she said looking at Puffles. "What?" Puffles seemed to be irritated but she didn't get why he bit her again then looked at the other two. "Stop it!" she said to Puffles. Now she got she was supposed to introduce them. "Sorry!..." she said blushing again. "This is my pgmy puff Puffles." she put Puffles in her hand so they could get a better view.

Christopher grinned as she shook his hand. Of course he couldn't tell he'd irritated her, but kids as awkward as him tend to miss stuff like that."Nice to meet you again, too, Nessie!" He did know that their second meeting had started a little bit off foot, bit despite that, he rather liked the Hufflepuff girl now. She was, erm, growing on him!

"It's just Chunk," Christopher corrected pleasantly, "but he's so lazy and chubby and quite asleep that I doubt he really cares what his name is." He nudged the giant blob of sleeping cat, but Chunk did not stir. He heaved an exasperated sigh and turned his attention to a small, yet faintly familiar Pygmy Puff. It seemed to be nipping at Nessie's shoulder, fighting for attention. The third year was just about to bring that up, when Ness figured out the small creature's true intentions. "Erm, are you alright?" He asked tentatively, looking at the Pygmy Puff more than her. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Puffles," he said addressing the tiny little thing; though he added in an undertone, "And please don't bite me..."

What was wrong with Ness today, she was probably going deaf. "Sorry! Well Hello Chunk!" she said looking at the cat which seemed to be snoring away.She gave Puffles a little stroke, then watched him as he gave her finger a little lick (kiss)."Yeah I'm fine he can just get a little irritated sometimes." said Ness answering Christipher. "Owww!"she exlaimed as Puffles bit her again."Sorry, but please stop it puffles." she didn't mean to affend her Puffles but he could be pretty irriatting sometimes. "He isn't usually like this, don't worry!" said Ness hoping Puffles wouldn't chase them away, she was really enjoying some company for a change.

"No worries," Christopher said chuckling. He reached out and stroked the Pygmy Puff, smiling kindly at it, secretly hoping it wouldn't bite him. "I'm sure you're a sweet heart Puffles, everybody has their days!" He cooed happily. But then..... CHOMP! Apparently, this had not been the right thing to say to Puffles. Christopher yanked back his hand, and tried his best not to curse silently under his breath; he didn't like to curse. But those Pygmy Puffs had sharp little teeth! He sucked on his finger and muttered, "Or maybe not....."

Ness watched and listened carefull hoping niether of them would mess up, she was just about to look up as it seemed as it was safe when she heard Christophers next words, he had deffinatley made Puffles a little mad. "Oh My Word are you okay?" she asked really concerned. She then turned to Puffles and said. "Stop it or I'm going to make sure you never go out the dorm room!" she hoped her scolding was working. Why did Puffles have to do this he was being somean today, Ness wondered why, maybe he was still angry from that cat yesterday.

"I'm fine, but the real question is, is Puffles? He seems a little," Christopher backed up a little so he wouldn't be the creature's chew toy again, "on edge," he concluded with eyebrows raises at the Pygmy Puff. Surely something was making him behave this way. He seemed like a nice pet, and he believed Ness that he wasn't usually like this. Something must've happened to him to make him be defensive and toothy. "Has he had any, erm, traumatic experiences or something lately? Because that could be the reason why he's behaving this way." He shrugged. It sounded reasonable enough to him!

Ness was a little surprised at this question, but maybe Christopher was right, but maybe not, She hadn't really seen Puffles that irritated much. He only used to behave like this when he wanted something. "Yeah I don't really think so, there was a cat which tried to catch him yesterday, but I picked him up before the cat could even touch him!"said Ness doubting it was the cat. "I think he just wants something he's usually like this when he wants something."said Ness trying to figure out what he could have wanted.

She looked down again, the realised he must have been scared of the cat. "Don't worry!" she said to Puffles. "Chunk, wont hurt you!" said Ness hoping the cat wouldn't wake up. It seemed as though Thea's cat seemed to have really freaked Puffles out yesterday, as Puffles climbed onto Nessies shoulder and hid behind her back.

Puffles is........ afraid? ......Of....... Chunk? Well that was surely a first. Chunk was just fat and lazy. But scary, not at all! And then bad timing struck. Maybe it was saying his name so many times, or maybe the kitty was just hungry. But either way, the cat suddenly began to move around, and struggled to his feet, which were shaking under his enormous weight. The cat sniffed the air, his eyes flashing hungrily. He looked rather silly as he waddles over to Nessie, circling her as if he was closing in on his prey, Puffles. "Uh-oh...." Christopher said quietly. He knew Chunk wasn't a threat; the cat was hardly in enough shape to go for a walk, let alone to chase down a Pygmy Puff. But Puffles didn't know, and he didn't want the little guy to bite Ness anymore.

"Chunk isn't quick enough to hurt Puffles, but I'll pick him just in case- now Puffles may be a little bit calmer," Christopher told Ness with an amused smile. He picked up the giant cat, which was quite a challenge- Chunk wasn't exactly light weight. The giant orange ball of chub squirmed in his arms, but the third year managed to keep him away from Puffles and under control. "Better?" Christopher asked, though he spoke to the Pygmy Puff more than the Hufflepuff. Heh, they both had the word 'puff' in them.

Ruby only glimpsed Brae's weird facial expression after she forbade him to speak about their...their secret relationship when she was being crushed to death. Her eyes widened in horror as she figured that the Goofball was trying to hug her and she was instantly repulsed. "Brae--what--STOPPIT!!" She screamed, trying against hope to release herself from his arms. And when she heard him screaming to the whole school about what he had just promised, she was even more enraged. She should have known he wouldn't change.

When the lioness was finally released, her face as red as a tomato, she was glaring at her friend. "I cannot believe you just--ugh!" She hissed at him while massaging her arms at the same time; it felt like her bones were broken. And when he expressed his gladness in having her back, Ruby almost grinned again. After some pause, she spoke.

"Good to be back, Goofball," She replied and returned his smile but her eyes were narrowed as always. Some things never change.

Braeden was in a fit of laughter as he listened to Ruby complain and express her disgust at the gesture of a hug. HEHEHEHEEHHEEEEEEEE. Awwwww, she was so cute when she got all annoyed and irritated and aggravated. He would've pinched her cheeks with adoration, had he not feared getting his hand bitten off by the fuming Lioness. Leave it up to Braeden to find it cute, of all things, to aggravate his bully.

When the girl expressed her joy to be back in the game with a smile and evil narrowed eyes, Braeden grinned, though he seemed a little uneasy.

They were back to it: the cat and the mouse.
He should… start running, shouldn't he?

"I'll be seeing you then, Lioness," started the boy as he slowly began to take clumsy steps backward, one of his feet in a shoe and the other still bare. He'd forgotten about that by now, "In my nightmares… and in my dreams!" He winked before turning at the speed of light and running down the corridor, jumping in midair every now and then, in his hopelessly dorky glee. "WHOO!"

Some things would never change.

When he finally said he was leaving, Ruby gave a very audible sigh of relief. Glancing down at Brae's bare foot and then back to his face, she made a face at him when he said he'd see her in his dreams. Nightmares, yes, but dreams, no.

"See you around, Marshmallow."

The redhead shook her head at his retreating figure and watched him jump for glee every few feet before finally turning around and walking away.

"Yeah I think he is!" said Ness trying not to giggle incase to anger Puffles. She then turned her eyes to Chunk which seemed to be circling her now, this didn't seem to worry her much, but she could see it was worrying Puffles. She stroked Puffles hoping it would reasure him, but he just kept on shivering. "Thanks!" said Ness smiling starting to feel Puffles calm down. "He seems much better now!" she gave Christopher a wink then a thumbs up with one hand while Puffles was in the other. She wondered if he knew Zara, Tyler or Matt as he was a Griffindor , but she doubted he wuld know many first years so she just left the matter. "So um.. how old is Chunk?" she asked smiling.

Christopher laughed as she gave him a thumbs up, still struggling under the weight of that darn cat. She asked his age, and Christopher had to ponder it for a moment, as he wasn't really sure. "Well, Chunk is my sister's cat, and she bought him at the Magical Managerie about two and a half years ago, right before she came to Hogwarts. But I'm not sure how precisely old he was when she bought him. I'd say he was about three or four then, so about five or six I'd say. Maybe seven at the most." He nodded towards Chunk, almost as if he were expecting some kind of nod, or verification from the cat himself.

Turning back to Nessie, he asked, "How old is Puffles? He looks fairly young to me." Christopher hoped that was the right thing to say. But when he looked closer at Nessie, he remembered something else. This time, it wasn't a brief run in, but he'd seen her before. With another girl. A girl he knew. "Wait a minute, do you happen to be friends with a girl in Gryffindor, named Zara?" Yes, he was sure that was it. It had to be! Otherwise, he'd just seem like an awkward nutter again. But he had a pretty good feeling Nessie thought that of him anyway.

"Cute!" said Ness looking at Chunk in Christiphers arm, she hoped he didn't mind carrying Chunk, but he did seem to look as though he was struggling, she felt really bad, but she was holding Puffles so she couldn't exactly help him.

"Oh Puffles is just over a year!" said Ness "I bought him when he was about 9 months, I think his Birthday on the 20th of November 7 days before mine." she said smiling. The next question really surprised her, it was as though he had reas her mind, she was shocked. "Yeah she one of my bestest friends here!" said Ness missing Zara, she hadn't seen her in such a long time, she really missed her friend, but couldn't find her around the palace, where ever she looked, she didn't even see her in class anymore. "Have you seen her lately?" she asked wondering if maybe Christopher knew.

"Thanks. Cute and old." He added with a chuckle. "Puffles is rather young then! I remember when I first saw a Pygmy Puff, I was rather freaked out!" Christopher laughed, recalling the memory. He'd first seen one when he'd bought his Snowy Owl, Baltimore, in his first year. A Pygmy Puff was definitely not something he'd been used to from a Muggle pet store.

"....Actually, no." He thought hard, trying to recall if he'd seen Zara recently, but he hadn't. The last time he'd seen her was a few weeks, maybe even months ago. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her in really long time. She's not in any of my third year classes, but normally I'd seen her in the Common Room- a place Zara hasn't been spotted in for a while." The thought rather worried him, first years going missing about the castle. He hoped she hadn't wandered into the Forbidden Forest, though she was probably much to clever to do this. "When was the last time you've seen her?" He asked the worried Hufflepuff.

Ness giggled, he must have thought they were pretty strange creatures if he wasn't used to them around. The first time she had ever seen a Puffle was at her aunts house in England and she was about a year old, so she was pretty used to them by now.

"I saw her last on my birthday, which was about a month ago, she was a little upset and ran out my party, I tried to go after her but somone else went instead." said Ness really worrying now, what if Zara had ran away she thought. A tear slid down Nessies face in fear and worry of her friend.She tried to wipe it away before anyone could see, but before she knew it more and more tears were comming down. Ness really needed her friend Zara, she had already lost one best friend, she really didn't want to loose another. "Im...Sor..ry!" she said trying to hide her face so Christopher wouldn't have to see her cry, once again.

Oh dear. "A month ago? Oh my, why was she running out of your party?" Suddenly realizing that this wasn't any of his business, he said, "Oh, erm, sorry, I just was trying to figure out why so maybe you could ask whoever went to console her when they'd last seen her. I'm not meaning to intrude." Oh Christopher. He was such an awkward little boy.

And then a tear fell. And another. And another. "Hey.... hey.... it's going to be all right...... We'll find her..." He said soothingly, ushering her to sit down on a nearby staircase. Right now, he didn't really care if they moved. He just wanted her to stop crying. Crying girls were the worst. It wasn't that they were bad, it was just that Christopher was never really sure what to do around them to make them stop. "No, don't apologize. Let it all out. We'll find Zara. Have any of the teachers noted her absence? Was she pulled out of school? Maybe you should talk to Headmaster Tate." He suggested, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.

Ness took a seat on the staircase with, Christopher starting to feel really bad for him, she listened to what he had to say,but couldn't stop the tears as she listened. The tears had been building inside of her, for quitea while now, seeing as this wasn't her first best friend she had lost.She didn't think she could take it longer, so she decided to just let them flow."Im.... Rea.lly.. Sorry... you.. ha..ve ..to see... me ...like ....this." she said through the tears.

"I... don't .. thi..nk.. so." said Ness replying to his answer still in tears. "Head...master... Ta..Tate.. I ..don't.... if...thats....a good... Idea" She was getting more and more concerned by the moment, but however much she tried to calm down, she would just get more worried.

Louisa had a plastic white bag in her hand when she made it to the corridor. If only she could do the cleaning spell right, she wouldn't have gone into so much trouble cleaning her hair from all the dirt. The drying spell worked perfectly though. Now she was all up to try the joke products she dared to buy this summer. Usually, she thought they were silly and useless -not providing information to humans and all- but this year was different. She was feeling more open and... curious- If that was possible.

Dal was supposed to be around here somewhere, right? They didn't really agree on a specific place but she could just wander around slowly? Baah, that sounded stupid. Wait a sec! how about send sparkles in the air to get the attention of people nearby? And Dal should investigate, no? He was somewhat curious about things, wasn't he? That should be fun.

Besides, she just read about it and practiced in the training room so...

With a flick and concentration, green and red small sparks shot out from the tip of her wand and traveled all the way to the end of the corridor. She couldn't see where they went but was proud of her successful charm! ^__^

OOC: For syd <3

Dallin had stopped by the Great Hall and was now on his way up to the Ravenclaw Tower, hoping to find Louisa along the way. She had said something about doing something after she did whatever it was she wanted to do, but now he didn't know where she would be. So he chewed on a poppy seed muffin and climbed the stairs.

Then he dropped his muffin. Because coming from the corridor right by him were sparks. He jumped back, his eyes widening. What in the name of Merlin's great aunt? After picking up his muffin he looked down the corridor. And he grinned.

"I should have guessed," he said, walking toward Louisa when he spotted her. "Hey."

Louisa chuckled waving her wand proudly, "What? No girl ever caught your attention with sparks?" She winked playfully at him. Fingers crossed he wouldn't choke on his muffin. She didn't know a spell for that shockingly.

"So!" She started with a whole new tone.. excited one of course, "Do you think we try those things on people.." Shifty grin, "..or you're going to make a sacrifice here." HEHE. Guess who was left out? She had the right to decide who to try the products on. She bought them and don't get me started on how on earth did she convince her guardian to buy them.

O_______O

Did she wink at him? "N-no," Dallin stammered, shaking his head quickly, "Never happened before." Quite honestly. It was definitely a first.

Ahem. Blink. Chew muffin. Okay, we're good now. "What are those?" he asked suspiciously, looking at what Louisa was holding. It was kind of surprising how much Louisa had seemed to change in just a small time. Maybe Dallin was bringing out the bad!Louisa in her. Or maybe she was just feeling daring. Who knew. Dal just knew that she wanted to have fun, so he was all for it.

"I'm definitely not making a sacrifice." No, they could find an unsuspecting victim. Not him. Especially not when he didn't even know what she was talking about.

Louisa rolled her eyes at his careful answer. He obviously needed to get used to her messing around, "Relax, okay? I'm not making a 'move on you'." making quotation marks on the last few words and she scoffed before quickly looking up at him with a weak smile, "No offense." Should she say she didn't have ANY interest in ANY romance ever? Probably not. Since he was uneasy enough by her plastic bag.

"This, my friend.." She raised the bag dramatically, "is the joke stuff I wanted to try. In case I go next year and get some more. I want to see if they really are fun." She took two steps from the middle of the corridor and sat on her knees by the wall. And she threw the contents on the ground. "It's been quite some time since I bought them. You think they're good?" She looked at him, concerned. Well yeah she collected the sickles really hard to get those so if they are ruined then ... she would throw a tantrum. Hmph.