Hmm, she hadn't really wanted the kiss to end so soon, but she remembered that he had in fact wanted to meet her, which meant...there was something he wanted to say, right? She supposed they could talk now, and be distracted later. His reason for wanting to meet her down here must have been rather important.

Staring up at him with curious hazel eyes, she hadn't been all that nervous until he started to have trouble making even a simple complete sentence. The long pause had her even more worried though. She didn't like it, but the worst kept flying through her mind even if she tried to see the best of the situation. With her heartbeat starting to pick up it's pace a little, she was going to speak up, however, he did finally speak again, and she could've sighed a breath of relief, though held it in. He wanted to give her something. That was thankfully not what she had been thinking of.

"Okay..." What that something was, she didn't know, until he brought out the little wooden box into her view. A box? No, what was inside of the box. Looking back to him, she slid her arms away from his next and took a small step back. She did attempt a smile to replace the curious look as she reached out to take it but, Evelyn retracted her hand at the last moment.

"You're making sense." she said to reassure him. Whatever it was, it was making him nervous. Him nervous made her even more nervous. "What's...in it?" Somehow hearing it from him instead of looking inside the box just...made sense? o____O That didn't even make sense.

Eh...

Was that making her feel...uneasy? Because it had just seemed to him like that. On the other hand, it should be natural to feel like that if someone before you had failed to talk properly. Sighing a bit, Josh stared down at the floor a bit. He did not make her feel uneasy, worried or bad in anyway. This was nothing to be feeling like that for, or at least he hoped it was not. It was not, right?

Well...he just had to reveal it and see the result if he wanted to know. Looking into her hazel eyes back, the Gryffindor tried to smile some yet it only ended up to be a nervous one instead of the warm and relaxed one he wanted to show off.

Ha? What? Had she just said that he made sense? Eh...she was probably only trying to make him feel better because he did not think there was anything of sense with he had uttered so far. Yet since she now had asked the most important question of the day, Josh had to make up his mind, collect himself, be the brave and confident man he was and just do it.


''It is...'' so he began, but quickly gave it up thinking it would be better to show it instead. Opening the wooden box slowly, he carefully picked up the shiny thing inside. Which still looked shiny, shining little scarlet rays, despite the darkness. ''This...'' he started holding the necklace with thin silver chain close but towards her ''...was my mother's. And i...want you to have it.'' Yes this was the summary of what he had been trying to say so far. Good thing he had managed it without stuttering or else finally. ''She also used to work on gemstones and their magical properties. And i don't remember what was the magical properties of this one though but she used to wear it a lot.'' He knew everything was written in that little black notebook of hers but it had been to be found nowhere in the home...well...ex home. He was going to look for it again though, once he could properly get rid of Ryan's eyes on him.

''I know, by her words, that this is a red diamond which the rarest among all diamonds, though. And...'' he couldn't help but smile at this point ''I used to call it strawberry stone because...well...it looks like one, doesn't it?''

Didn't it?

Did she like it?

''I know this might be...kinda...too...whatever...for your taste. But you don't have to wear it. I just want you to have it because...'' *deep breath* ''...i think you are the next woman who is most important to me in my life.''

Woman? Eeeeeh...he meant girl. But he was thinking about his mother at the same time...so perhaps she would understand...that.

She waited patiently for him to tell her what was in the box, or to show her...anything!...but on the inside, she was a bit antsy. Holding her breath when those first two words were said, she stared at him with anticipation only to suddenly have her gaze glance to the box. He was opening it! Slowly but surely, opening it. And...he was reaching inside, and pulling it out...and...

Oh...

Oh goodness...

Regardless of the darkness that surrounded them, she could still see the shine and beauty of the gems and silver chain it hung on. It was rather beautiful. Very even. This was his mother's? And he wanted her to have it? She hadn't known his mother worked with gems, but she was in awe really, at both the gift and the thought that he was giving it to her as it showed on her expression. She listened to him as he spoke, her gaze moving from the necklace to him a few times. She couldn't...accept this, could she? The thought did cross her mind that this was something very special to him and that she couldn't accept it, but...

Looking up to him, his reason sounded almost like it echoed in the passage way to her, causing her to make up her mind every time it was repeated. "It does look like a strawberry." she said almost like a whisper, nodding somewhat before finally giving a small, sweet yet shy smile. "And...it's beautiful. Very beautiful." Merlin, it was amazing. Staring at the perfect necklace for a few seconds longer, she moved her gaze back to Josh, slowly reaching up to lift up her hair slightly, almost hesitantly, as she turned to the side. "Can you...put it on for me?"

Did she like it?

Did she like it?

Was she going to like it?

Looking at her and watching her every more with a combination of utmost anticipation, excitement and worry, the boy almost stopped breathing until that look appeared on her face which gave him the impression that she, at least, did not hate it. Well...to be exactly it looked like she liked it but he was never going to be sure unless she voiced the idea herself. Reason why? He did not know. The only thing he knew was that he wanted her to like it and accept it so badly. It meant a lot to him. She meant a lot to him. And he wanted to express that. He wanted her to know that.

Then his happiest and warmest smile ever formed itself on his face when she agreed that it looked like a strawberry and actually said that it was beautiful. Now he could let this breath he had been holding in out and totally relieve. She did really like it! She did! ''Mum used to think the same way as well. It was her favourite.'' and she was also among those people that had confirmed it being priceless. But he was not going to mention that to her fearing she would not accept it then. And it was a fact that he valued his love more than all the money combined in the world.

Still smiling, his expression turned into a more surprised one when she lifted up her hair some revealing the back of her...beautiful neck. What was that? The sight took his mind away so far that it did not occur to him why she had done that until she asked him if he could put it on for her.

Ahem...

''Sure...'' he said quickly looking back at the necklace when he was finally able to take his eyes away from her neck. Then taking a step forward, he moved to her back and placed the jewellery around her neck finally dealing with its little silver clip. And when he was done he smiled again, at the sight this time, just before hugging her from her back and burying his face in her hair as he always liked to do. He wanted to thank her for accepting it. Thank for it. Yet only those three words came out of his mouth:

''I love you.''

Feeling the cool chain against her neck, she couldn't help the small smile to grow a little as she took a deep breath, letting it out quietly. Glancing down, she let one hand out of her hair to hold up the shiny red gemstone so she could see it better. The contrast between it and the necklace with the green gemstone she usually wore as well as her Slytherin uniform was almost startling, yet it was perfect in her opinion.

Glancing to the side as if to try and see Josh when he hugged her after placing the red necklace around her neck, she tucked the dark emerald green necklace behind her school shirt before hugging him back; or at least hugging his arms since she wasn't facing him.

Hmmm. "I love you too, Josh." she murmured, leaning against him for a moment to just take in his warmth before turning around in his arms to face him, staring into his eyes. "I really do." She wanted him to really know that. To remember it and never forget it.

''Thank you''

He finally had managed to say hoping she would understand why he was thanking. He had kinda explained what it meant to him, right? So, her accepting it meant that she was accepting to be that most important person in his life and he couldn't thank enough for that. Aware of it or not, the boy definitely needed someone to help him through all what he was going to face in his life and who could fill this position in his heart better than his beloved she-snake?

Closing his eyes still taking in the lovely smell of her hair in, Josh's smile widened when the girl expressed that she loved him back. Yet, he opened his eyes and lifted his head up when he felt the girl moving in his arms, obviously to face him. So, her beautiful face entering his eyesight again, Josh nodded for a reason even unknown to himself then she said she really did...love him.

The warm smile remaining on his face, the lion boy looked down at the red diamond necklace around her neck for a moment, before gazing back into the hazel of her.

''I know.'' then he whispered and leaned in to kiss her, properly this time.

She didn't really know what he was thanking her for, perhaps for accepting the necklace, but she definitely knew this was a proper kiss. Smiling just a tad before kissing him back, she resumed her previous position of arms around his neck and enjoying the closeness.

Still feeling the cold chain against the skin of her neck, for some reason, it just made her love him even more. He always surprised her at times, and Evelyn definitely wasn't expecting this when he had asked to meet her down here in the dungeons. Both the necklace and the message that came with it...everything about it was a symbol of him in her opinion. Speaking of the dungeons, why HAD he asked to meet her down here? It was dark, sometimes damp, and...he hated the place.

Pulling back from the kiss, she stared up at him before narrowing her eyes playfully. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Iris was still covered by the disillusionment charm. She'd gone all the way to the castle without bothering to lift it. No... She was intending to wait until the safest point to lift the charm without being caught. Walking into the secret passageway near the common room entrance, she checked that it was empty before taking out her wand and lifting the spell.

Sure, she could have just gone into the common room and "appeared" but it would have looked far too suspicious, considering that there's nothing to be suspicious about. None of the Slytherins would believe that, though.

Taking Hermes out of her pocket, Iris held him close. "Hermes! There you are, you silly Pygmy... I think I'm going to need to glue you to my shoulder!" Hehe. Just in case anyone happened to be walking past the entrance to the passageway...

Fallon was walking back to the common room after her talk with Finn. She was on a hunt to find Iris. She promised Finn that she would talk to her today and she was going to stick to that promise. She had a feeling it wasn't going to go over well. She just hoped Iris wasn't busy with something.

As she passed the secret passage, Fallon heard someone talking. She looked down the passage to see Iris standing there with her pygmy puff. Well...that makes my job a bit easier. Fallon let out a sigh before she turned towards her friend. "Hey Iris." She figured she might as well get this over with. "I've got something I need to talk to you about..."

Iris looked up as someone said hello to her. Oh.... Fallon. Wow, her and Finn must've gone off in different directions not long after I left. Petting Hermes, Iris smiled. "Hullooo, Fallon."

She raised an eyebrow when her best friend said she had something to tell Iris. "Oh?" Yeah... I know you do. Pocketing her Pygmy Puff, Iris leant against the wall. Fallon could just tell her here, now; right? There was no need to go anywhere else if they were both here right now..

Fallon took a deep breath. She really didn't want to do this. But now there was no escaping it. Fallon looked at Iris as she leaned against the wall. "I'm just gonna spit it out: I'm dating Finn." She wasn't going to wait for her friend to react before she started explaining. "We have been for a while and at first I was avoiding tell you and then I never saw you and it's practically been killing me that you don't know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I feel like a horrible person." There. It was all out there now. And hopefully the remorse would help her situation a bit. Hopefully.

The Head Girl looked at Fallon as she said it. Her look was plain but mellow. "I know." She said, somewhat coldy. Iris doubted that Fallon actually paid any attention to what Iris had to say, because of how quickly she continued talking. "... you tried to avoid me?" ... That was one she didn't hear on the pathway. Ouch. "... Why?" Iris didn't like Finn... blah, blah, blah. That's no reason to hide from Iris, though.

Iris let out a small laugh and rolled her eyes. "You're not a horrible person, Fallon..." She slid down the wall so she was sat on the floor. "But I already know... about you and Finn." the girl added, looking up at Fallon. She was ignoring the actual apology for now... Iris didn't really see why she needed to apologise. But then again, she didn't get why Fallon decided that she needed to avoid her best friend for so long...

Fallon had missed the 'I know' part. She was really caught up in the explaining part. Now she felt bad for talking about the avoidance out loud. She knew the not liking Finn thing was an overused excuse...so she was going to go with another reason that had actually been in her mind at the time. "I wanted it to be a secret for a little while so I could make sure it was what I really wanted...without anyone else's opinions." Fallon realized that that made it sound even worse.

Iris statement really didn't reassure her. "Doesn't mean I can't feel like one..." She couldn't change the fact that she felt like a horrible person. Even though she did feel better now that she'd told Iris...wait. She knew? "Wait-what?" Now Fallon was confused. Really confused.

Iris watched Fallon, and nodded. "Well... Yeah. I know about you and Finn." Oooookay. This could get very awkward, very quickly. "I mean... well... I suspected that something was going on months ago; that night when you got back to the common room really late. Lost track of time? That's not like you. And, well... the only time I ever lose track of time is when I'm with Aaron... so... yeah."

But that was only the start, really. Because, obviously Iris got no actual confirmation from that night. She shuffled, somewhat uncomfortably. "But... um... Well... I actually found out... um... just before. On the pathways near the Groundskeeper's Hut..." Now it was Iris's turn to feel uncomfortably horrible. "I was heading towards the castle, and you and Finn were going... somewhere else. I was kinda shocked, but I figured walking right into you two would've been too awkward." More awkward shuffling. Iris looked down at her feet. "So I jumped behind a bush and cast a Disillusionment charm over myself so I could get away."

The Head Girl nodded, in a way that ended her story. So... yeah. That's how she found out. Ooh. This was awkward.

Fallon let out a sigh. She should have figured Iris would devise something from that. Her friend was pretty smart after all..."You have a point there..."

Fallon looked at Iris as she went on. She had seen them? Fallon then remembered that rustle she heard in the bushes. Maybe it wasn't an animal. Maybe it was Iris...She listened as her friend kept talking.

Once she was sure Iris was done talking, she looked at her. "That would probably have been a little awkward...but would have made talking about it easier." She smiled at Iris. "I'm just glad it's out in the open..."

Carter took slow, heavy steps. He wasn't sure where he was going. But then again, he also didn't care. He just knew he couldn't go back to the Gryffindor tower, and he knew that he had to put as much distance as possible between himself and the trophy room. He headed down stairs, turned corners, and twice completely backtracked and headed in a new direction. Soon he was facing a dead end. It seemed like through his pointless walking he had somehow ended up facing the dead end wall at the end of the secret passage in the dungeons.

He punched the wall with his fist in an effort to let out some of his emotions. He then leaned his forehead against it. He felt so numb that he hardly registered the cool feeling of the dungeon wall.

This was officially the worst day ever. And what made it even worse was the fact that Carter had wandered into the dungeons - home of the Slytherin Common Room. He'd have to stay there awhile or risk running into Caroline. Which, he knew, if he did, he might completely lose all feeling.

Marie was walking back to her common room hoping she would be able to sit in front of the fire and relax... without anyone bothering her.

Nearing the entrance to the secret passage she noticed someone enter it. Was that... nah, it couldn't be. Why would Carter be going in there? He knew that was where Marie went when she wanted to think.

Following the person in she realized that it was Carter... and he wasn't in a good mood it seemed.

Standing next to him, yet far enough away so he wouldn't be able to hit her if he decided to start punching something else other than that wall, she just looked at him for a moment before speaking. "Carter, what's wrong, what happened?" In other words, why are you punching a wall?

Carter was busy feeling sorry for himself when he heard someone behind him. And that someone was Marie. What was wrong? Well, the very thing that Marie had told him the second he started dating Caroline - that they'd never work out.

"Caroline dumped me." he said solemnly pounding the wall again with his fist.

He turned to face Marie. She had come up as one of the reasons that Caroline was tired of 'fighting'. That's how she put it. Like Carter was something that was a struggle to be around.

"She... she just told me that she was done. Like I was too much work." Or last year's shoes. He heard that girls get rid of shoes the very same way.

He once again turned to the wall and leaned his head against it. He didn't want to be looking at Marie when she said that she told him so.

Well that's not what she was expecting to hear come out of his mouth. Sure, she knew that relationship was doomed from the start, but honestly, she didn't expect it to end already.

Stepping closer to him Marie reached out and grabbed his hand so he couldn't punch the wall anymore. "Punching the wall like that isn't going to change things Carter." No, it was just going to make his hand hurt like hell later.

She REALLY wanted to tell him 'I told you this would happen' but decided not to when she seen the hurt in his eyes once he turned towards her. It was the same hurt she had in her eyes when he had dumped her. She wasn't going to bring that up though. Not today anyway. "She was done? Done with what? Done being in love with you, done leading you on...?"

Now Marie was hoping there would be someone in the common room when she got there, and that someone was Caroline.

Nessie still wasn't used to the 'new' her (him).She guessed it would take some time, it had only been five minutes since she drank the potion. She was feeling wierd and akward and was regretting what she had just done. Nessie feeling too wierd and unusual headed of down the dungeon passage way, but before realsing where she was really going, she started heading down what seemed to be a secret passage way. She then realised that she was getting lost. Today is deffinately not my day she thought First I get turned into some Slytherin boy and now Im lost in the dungeons. Just great said Ness to herself inside her head. Ness carried on walking hoping the passage would lead her somewhere safe and recognisible.

Helena... uhh, Nika, was walking around the dungeon corridors, having no idea what she was doing there. Seriously, she was a Gryffindor now. She really needed to get as far away as possible from the Slytherin territory. But as she found this passageway...

"Hey Jonatha-"

The red haired girl clapped her hands over her mouth the moment she realized that she had actually said that out loud, while her heart started beating crazily in her chest, threatening to get out. Uhh what if he didn't know Nika? And why did Helena have a feeling that he really didn't know her? WHY did she have to mess everything up?!

Ness was really starting to freak out this was TERRIBLE!! It felt wierd and AKWARD! Nessie hated every moment. As Ness continued walking, she kept on trying to convince herself that she would eb okay it was just a few hours, just a few hours of not being herself. She could do that couldn't she especially for the points that it was worth.

Wait didn't somone just say 'Hey Jonathan' Ness turned arouned to see Nika, how did Nika know Jonathan. Ness was really confused. Nessie walked over to Nika deciding wether to tell her that it wasn't Jonathan, but Ness decided not too, she wanted to see what would happen. So instead Nessie smiled at Nika and said."Hey! How are you?". She just hoped that the Jonathan and Nika really did know each other otherwise that would be highly AKWARD!

He... knew Nika?

...

Alright. Breathe, Helena. Breathe.

But... what was she supposed to do now? Pretend to be Nika? Well... since they seemed to know each other... why not? "I'm... good," she spoke hesitantly, wondering if he'll ever figure out who she actually was. Maybe she should tell him? "And you?"

He was apparently up for another walk outside the common room. Hehe.

Nessie was calming down now just a little. She was finally starting to get used to this body, but just a little bit. It was still highly Uncomfortable and she was counting down the seconds till the Polyjuice Potion would wear off. It was still Driving her highly insane.

Nessie was shocked when Nika replied, she wasn't exactly expecting it. So the probably did really know eachother. Ness tried to stay in character, she made sure she acted like a boy, and she also tried to make her vioce sound like Jonathans, she really hoped it sounded the same or simialr. Otherwise Nika would figure out it wasn't Jonathan."Im Good!" said Ness in her Jonathan accent hoping that was what Jonathan would say. "So um.." Ness didn't exactly know what Jonathan would say next.

... good?

For the first time, Jonathan didn't complain about how bored he was. What happened to him? Maybe that special someone, whoever it might be, finally decided that she liked him back? Helena could only hope that it was not it.

The cool part was that she didn't even notice that his voice really didn't sound like... his voice. And... she was used to the awkward silence around him, but never awkward conversation. She also really needed to at least try and act more cheerful, since that's what she figured that Nika might be.

This was SO not going to end well, but she felt the urge to ask. "Are you... alright?" But maybe he could ask her the same thing, since they were both acting super weird. And besides, what would a Gryffindor do in the DUNGEONS?! She was not good at this whole Polyjuice thing.