Selina playfully twisted her jaw into a smirk at him and she took her finger and lightly tapped his nose. Innocently she replied, "Good, because I did nothing wrong here Mr. Gert." Then she stuck her tongue out at him and turned to her "brother" who was quickly approaching them.

She swore, if Christopher could spend all day in the library with his tattered old books he would. It was not rocket science. She could see that he was uncomfortable with all of the people around. He was always welcome to spend time with her. Although, she was not sure how the two boys felt about one another. She had never really seen them interact. Ah well, if they didn't like each other they would just have to get over it.

Her hand gestured between Christopher and Gideon, "Christopher, Gideon. Gideon, Christopher. I know you two have talked a little bit, but I don't know how well you both know one another."

Selina hoped up from her seat and pulled Jai into a hug. She knew how tiny she was against everyone else in the room. There was nothing fun about being a munkin, but she was going to miss Jai terribly. The two had a great rapport between one another, although sometimes he did take it a tad father than friendly... especially when Gideon was around... awkward.

"Gonna miss you too Jai. Stay awesome, alright?"



Selina chuckled at his enthusiasm, "Oh very poetic. You are a poet and you didn't even know it." She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug. The fourteen year old was going to miss his antics, "Take care of yourself Josh. Promise?"



Selina heard another familiar voice boom through the Great Hall. She looked up at Auggie and nodded in his direction to let him know that she had seen him. Good ol' Auggie.

There was giggles. There was lots of high pitched giggles. The tiny figure crept in to the Great Hall unseen. It had a sore head from a not nice lady kicking it but it was ready to have a Great Feast too. Just like the little Hogwarts humans.

It clapped happily and all of a sudden and with a flurry, all of the banners fell from the ceiling and floated to the tables below. The Mysterious Tiny Figure caught one up and wrapped it over itself like it was a ghost.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

It jumped on a student's foot and kept running under the length of the table.

Christopher smiled a little at Gideon, almost amused, and turned to his little "sister." Even though they weren't technically related, they might as well have been. They were best friends and even lived together year round. Of course they bickered constantly. But hey! You probably couldn't get too much closer to siblings than that.

"Erm, Sel? Gideon and I have been in almost all of the same classes, and in the same dorm for four years. We're pretty well acquainted by now," he said with a light laugh. Of course, neither he nor Gideon had spoken or even noticed one another until the beginning of that year, but that was irrelevant. Sort of. The point was, they talked enough and were fairly friendly to each other. Perhaps Selina would be their linking to becoming better friends. Then again, he kind of relied on Selina for that. He wasn't all that social otherwise.

"I really do hope you..." Kennedy trailed off when heard giggles. Creepy giggles. Then the banners were all falling. Were the ghosts playing pranks on them? Was it Peeves?

It was a...fake ghost?

"Hey! You!" He was sure that was NOT a student. Was it an elf playing pranks? They wouldn't do that. No, they were much too polite. "My foot!" he shouted. That little. His curiosity won over and he ducked under the table, crawling after the fake ghost.

Teeeeheeeeeeheeeeeee.

The little tiny figure continued to giggle as it ran, wrapped in a banner that was green and had a snake on it. Green was its favourite color. Green like plants! It decided to go to the table where green people were next and scooted between the legs of another students and across the Great Hall, the edges of the banner wrapped around it flew out like a flag.

Okay first the pinched cheeks in front of Carter and now the bop on the nose just because. as he going to have to check his face for bruises after the feast. Selina was lucky he was low-key and good-natured about it all. But then if he wasn't they wouldn't have a chance as friends let alone together as a couple.

Gideon raised an eyebrow as Selina introduced him and Christopher which was quite strange since she acted like she wasn't aware of their relationship. Aye...Selina. We see each other everyday at least almost everyday," he remarked agreeing with the other boy almost wanting to wave his hand in front of her face.

Earth to Selina com--

Gideon broke off in the thought as he heard giggles. He looked to Selina first and then Kurumi since it was high pitched and more feminine. Neither looked to be the source as the giggles continued attracting his attention. Where were they coming from? he mused as he looked around just in time to see one of the banners float to the table causing his attention upward to see them all falling.

What in Merlin's beard?!

Another student yelled causing his attention that way just in time to see the younger student duck under the table. "What's going on?" Was that where it was coming from? Gideon himself bent down from where he was seated trying to spot something...anything to figure out what it was just in time to see a banner streak towards the Slytherin table causing his gaze to follow.

John's eyes widened as he protected his already healing leg.

"holy mother of god!" John said as he used his crutches as like a body guard.

He wasn't used to seeing ghosts yet.

"can i get an old priest, and a young priest?! The power of christ compells you!" John hollered as he watched the ghost.

Oh oh oh oh! Pips darted between students in search of something. His head was down and he was quietly telling himself off for being a VERY BAD ELF. More ear ironing in his future.

"Pips is needing excusing, please. Pips is looking. Looking..."

Carter chuckled. "Brilliant. Sounds absolutely brilliant." he said still chuckling at the two of them. He was going to miss out on seeing those two grow up. He hoped they said this sickeningly adorable forever.

He had a crazy urge to ruffle each of their heads. But he resisted. They wouldn't appreciate that.



Carter smiled and accepted Kurumi's gift. "Thanks Kurumi." he said running his finger along the embroidered cloth. "This means a lot." He wasn't really superstitious... he didn't even believe in those protection runes... but this was different. This was special. And Carter really appreciated the thought Kurumi put in to it.

"I'm sure it will be. Thank you Kurumi." he said giving the prefect another hug. "I'll wear it every match." he promised.



Carter smiled. "I will definitely do that." he said with a nod. "You know... I have an awful memory. I bet I'll need a personal calendar." You know... if he got famous enough to forget when he had interviews and whatnot. Ellie would be perfect for that. She was a Ravenclaw.

"You know. If you're interested." He couldn't deny he kind of liked the idea of perhaps needing a personal assistant.

"Brilliant. I can't wait." Ellie was so amazing. It was a shame that they didn't get to know each other before now. But now was not the time to think about that.



Carter smirked. "Brilliant." he said with a nod. They were graduating. He still couldn't believe it. And despite how sad it was that they were leaving... there were leaving. They were all grown up now. And Josh had been there right along side with him for all those years.

"Yup. And you're coming with me." Carter didn't care that the farm was waiting for his mate. The horses and squirrels would still be there later. They had to take advantage of the few days they had before they entered the adult world.



Carter returned her smug smile. "You're kind of hard to forget Miss Storm." It was just a shame they hadn't really spent time together before Marilyn. But that was his fault really... he hadn't really known any Hufflepuffs. But now... now some of his favorite people were Badgers.

"Garden gnomes. Merlin. Let's hope not." he said with a laugh. It was a well needed laugh. Laughing made everything feel better. "And exploding cake is the worst. We all know that that would be my favorite part of the wedding." Well... minus the bride... "Just so you know... I'll request a cheesecake wedding cake. And I'll expect it to be perfect." So, from now on, he expected her to find him the perfect wedding cake for whenever that day should come.

He smiled at her again before resting his head on hers. "Let's just stay like this all night, mmk?" he asked. He couldn't think of a better way to spend his last night at Hogwarts. Maybe they could convince a few of the others to sneak out and watch the sunrise over Hogwarts for the last time together.



Carter blinked hearing a very weird laugh. Was the table laughing? Was that normal?

O_O

Sweet Merlin! And the sky was falling too.

"That's... erm... odd..." But then it got weirder. Why was one of the banners now wrapped around something? Was it Peeves?

...And now there was a house elf. Wait a second? Did that thing belong to a house elf? Did house elves have ghost pets?

As Gideon finished talking to Selina, Christopher noticed that his attention was flying around the room as if looking for something. Raising an almost worried eyebrow at his housemate, he asked, "Erm... you alright, mate?" But then he heard it too.

Was that.... giggling?

And... a floating banner...?

Was he missing something? It actually seemed as though many people were confused as well, as murmers and confused heads turning filled the Hall. He nodded in agreement at Gideon's question. What was going on? Craning his neck to try to get a better view of the mysterious, giggling, banner, he asked to nobody in general, "What is that?" Certainly not a ghost, or a teacher using magic. Peeves perhaps?

That thing was too fast, especially since he had to crawl under the table because he was too tall to walk under it. His eyes widened when he saw which banner that thing was wrapped in. "That's not yours...!" but it was too late. The thing had turned and left.

The boy crawled up from the table and sighed. The THING had good taste in banner if he must say so.

Kennedy walked back to where John was, dusting his robes off. "Oh shut it, John," he said, rolling his eyes. Truth, he hasn't been here at Hogwarts for a long time, but he knew this wasn't some evil spirit... or whatever his friend was trying to warm away.

"That thing stepped on my foot," he grumbled, looking down at his shoe. He wasn't in a very good mood now.

His green eyes moved rapidly as he tried to follow the creature running around causing mischief...

... Mischief?

Hmm. Something crossed his mind, especially a bent telescope, but he let it go. Wasn't anyone going to stop HIM!

Brooklyn walked quickly toward the Great Hall. Yeaaaahhh. She was late. But y'know.. she wasn't all that hungry as it was. She was too worried and stressed about all of the people leaving. All of her friends leaving. She sighed and finally reached the doors of the Great Hall.

With a somewhat sheepish expression, she brushed her skirt down, making it flatter with her hands before walking forward, toward the Gryffindor table. As was usual for the young girl, it was not long before she got distracted. Sure, she did make it to the table, but she never got a chance to sit down.

A girl stood near the table with a PURPLE BALL OF FLUFF on her head. Curiosity getting the best of her, she approached the other girl. "Is that a Pygmy Puff?" She inquired.

John's face froze...

Did he just tell me to shut it? he thought to himself.

"hey! be nice jerk" John teased as he was proud of his friend's new attitude.

"Well the good thing, is that it didn't step on mine" John said with a huge smile, almost laughing.

"And they say Gryffindor boys aren't smart..." she rubbed his chin, like she always did with Josh, only Carter's face was smooth. NO stubble. She gave him a little wink and chuckled.

Cassie laughed again. That's right Carter had a very unnatural addiction to cake, especially cheese cake. She suppose that threat would keep him in line then."Everything that Cassie Storm puts her hands on or her mind to comes out perfect Phillips, so not to worry." She smiled at him." Besides, who says you're going to get married? For all we know I'll have to be your back up date until you're old and gray."

Cass smiled at him and nodded a little. "Yeah I can do that.." Snugs.

Whaaaaaaaaaa what was happening?

She looked up as banners started falling down from the ceiling...umm...mucho weird much. As far as she knew this had never happened before.

And there was the weird sound and then...a house elf..at the feast? All the better, she wanted to hug him! As she was about to grab the creature and pull him into a hug, a large green banner fell on top of her head, though she was still failing about for the elf..it needed to be hugged!!.

"Correction. They say that we're blinded by our stupidity." Carter replied rubbing her leg.

"Good." he said with a nod. "I expect nothing less than perfection." He then laughed at her next statement. "You're absolutely right. I can barely snag a girl for a year... snagging one for forever will be near impossible." And had this been a few weeks earlier that thought would have been incredibly depressing. But he was only 17. He had the rest of his life ahead of him. And he was going to do everything to make sure it was absolutely brilliant.

"Please. If we have to be each other's back up dates for that long then I'm going to have to properly steal you from James."

And so much for them just staying like that...

...because now there was a banner on top of them. And Cassie was flailing like a crazy person. She was flailing so much that she managed to punch him squarely in the jaw. "Cassie! Calm down." he said grabbing one of her hands. Why was she chasing the elf anyway? Hufflepuffs were a tad bit crazy.

And now that her hand was occupied, by being trapped in his, he could think properly. And he thought about how he couldn't see... so he threw the banner off of them.

Lexi watched the girl bouncing in her seat and shook her head before pouring herself a goblet of pumpkin juice. She had been so morose when she came in and now it was forgotten. Oh to be that young and carefree again, Lexi thought a shade bitterly to herself.

"A lot of pink makes Stradivarius a bit uncomfortable. I would love it, but you had best ask him, too. I really appreciate this, Kurumi. A lot," she said with a little nod.

OH. He was SQUISHING the life out of her! FLAIL! Lexi couldn't help it... she burst out laughing hysterically. He was so presh. MAN. How was she going to make it through a year without random dances with Orlando... long talks in the common room long after everyone else had gone to bed... the yearbook office get aways.

"I am glad it makes you happy. Truly I am. I am going to miss you, you know. A whole lot," she said getting a bit wibbly as she clung to him, too.

Lexi turned and smiled back at Caroline. She was sure a lot nicer than some of her family members. Good thing, that. Heh. "Devastated, I am. And yourself?" She was leaving, too. GAH. All of the awesome people were leaving this term. Too bad for Hogwarts.

"You'd be a jerk too if that THING," he pointed at the creature running about, "Stepped on your foot and gave you a black eye," he huffed, crossing his arms. He was pretty sure now that that THING was the one that destroyed the precious Observatory and bent a telescope.

He turned to John and gave his leg a small glare. "You sound like a Slytherin," he smirked. Yes, his friend you ask for a re-sorting.

As he traced the THING's whereabouts it oddly reminded him of when he used to run around the grocery store, playing tag with his mom, although she didn't know they were playing. His eyes then landed on the Elf a table away. It was looking for that THING. What if...

What if the THING was a kid elf?

It was sure acting like one. HMPH!

He said he would definitely do that, and Ellie hoped he would. She wanted to hear from him. And as Carter kept talking, Ellie kept grinning. A personal calendar. Was this an offer to be his personal assistant or something?! Ellie could kind of see herself following Carter around with a little planner notebook, writing down all his appointments.

If she was interested. Pff. "Carter, if you're serious, I'm so interested." She said with a small laugh. How brilliant would that be? And not to mention fun. She could be his personal assistant while she trained to be a healer for St. Mungos. Peeerfect.

And he couldn't wait? Pff. Ellie couldn't wait.

What on earth?! Kourt looked up, startled as the house banners suddenly fell from the ceiling. They fell further than from where she sat, but what had...? Her thoughts came to a halt as she heard a cry down the table.

She saw nothing, and instinctively pulled her feet up onto the bench of which she sat. Someone invisible? Was this the same...thing or person that was responsible for the chaos earlier this year? What was going on here?

Kourt shot a look towards the staff table to see the reaction of the professors. At least one of them appeared to have noticed what was going on. From here, it appeared to be Professor Roslund.

Nessie looked up with a mouthfull of food in her mouth. She smiled slightly and swallowed. "I swear they put something in the food. I'm addicted." She took another large bite of food that almost didn't fit in her mouth.

It took a moment for everything to process for Selina. They were dorm mates, they were in all of the same classes, Christopher was the reason was Gideon and Selina fought before she avoided him for that long stretch of about three weeks, they had talked about Christopher at the dance when she dressed him up as prince charming. Oh yes, all of these little clues would lead up to the fact that they did know one another. That was slightly embarrassing. She coughed, "Um, right, yes. I knew that. I was merely testing you two."

She looked at Gideon who was raising his eyebrow at her and then his head and eyes started to follow something around. What in Merlin's beard was the boy even looking at? Then her own attention was diverted when a Slytherin banner came crashing down.

Christopher seriously inquired what was going on and what the thing was, but Selina, in her own amusement, said, "I don't know, but if this term is not going on without a bang then I really don't know what is; this is brilliant."



Selina smiled at Carter and stood up from her seat. She walked over to the older and much taller seventh year and gave him a hug, "I'm gonna miss you, Captain."

Jai was another member of her house that she probably wouldn't have met if it hadn't have been for Quidditch. Well, that wasn't entirely true considering that they had been prefects together this term, but the first thing that came to mind was Quidditch seeings as they had tried out against each other as Beaters.

She giggled a bit when he...attempted to be funny? She couldn't always tell with people and their sarcasm sometimes. "I'll do my best," she nodded, squeezing him. She didn't really want someone else to be a prefect with her, there was a safety and a familiarity in Jai being there - yet another older brother figure. But, she would manage, she supposed. "I'm...really going to miss you..."

More wibbling.

And Josh's words made any sense of composure the little lion had had go flying right out of one of the Great Hall's windows and somewhere deep in the Black Lake. Kurumi tightened her grip around Josh's waist and just sort of let the tears trickle down her cheeks. No sense in trying to keep them all in, they were going to come out eventually. She usually blushed and got all flustered at the title Josh had given her, but right now the only thought swimming her her head was just how much she was going to miss hearing that - pink hair aside.

"J-J-Josh," she whimpered as she reluctantly pulled one of her hands away from him and shoved it into her robe's pocket. She removed a small wooden frame, no larger than the palm of one's hand, that contained a slightly crumbled chocolate wrapper. "I-I-I want you to have this..."
Kurumi turned her head to look at August and tried to offer him a bright smile, but a genuine smile was something that was becoming harder and harder to produce at this particular feast. "Yeah...it's over," she said with a sad nod.
Kurumi could probably fill a small lake...or even the Black Lake....with the amount of tears she was crying tonight. Merlin this was hard and it was only going to get harder and harder as she herself came closer and closer to graduating herself. She needed to stop. She didn't want to think about graduating.

"Even in blue robes, you will always be a Gryffindor first...wait...you will always be my big brother lion first," she said with a few whimpers and sniffles. "Thank you for everything, Carter."
Well, that was sort of good. Too much pink made Kurumi feel a little uncomfortable as well. She didn't dislike the color, but her mother had always forced it onto her, hoping that by wearing something so feminine that Kurumi would magically transform into a girly girl over night. With three older brothers...that wasn't possible.

"I'll be sure to ask him. It should reflect the two of you anyway." She nodded her had and sort of clapped her hands together in excitement. Baking...in a PROPER kitchen. Merlin...imagine that!

It had been Kennedy's voice that had taken her away from the staff table back towards the Gryffindor one. And he was shouting about his foot?

Rushing to the table, Kurumi arrived just in time to...
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF

Kurumi found herself lying flat on the ground with her nose pressed against the cobbled stone having tripped over whatever it had been that had caused chaos at the Gryffindor table. It was gone now, and the shrieking and falling of banners at the Slytherin table indicated that it had made its way over there.

"Ow ow ow," Kurumi mumbled as she rubbed her nose. Looking up...her eyes widened again when she saw Pips had appeared at their table as well.
"P-P-Pips?" Kurumi squeaked as she scambled, and failed, to get herself up off the ground. She had whacked her knee rather hard when she had fallen, so it was throbbing a little bit.

She watched Pips for a moment as he...was scrambling a bit himself. "Pips, if you are looking for...something small...I believe it has already run away to the Slytherin table..." she said, pointing her finger to the fallen banner. Unless he was looking for something else, which was also entirely possible. IF the little whatever it was was what the house elves had been searching for all term, then it was clear that they could not catch it on their own.

Johnathan chuckled and smiled.

"I think it's the elfs" he teased, as he giggled and admired that he finally saw a girl who's not self-concious about eating alot.

Maxwell searched the tables for his friends but found none, nothing but older students and they all seemed to be close and Maxwell felt interrupting that would be awkward so he searched for someone his age, a girl with bright red hair that he assumed to be a first year, he sat next to her. "Hello, I'm Maxwell I don't think we met all year, Which is odd." He said and laughed while putting some food on his plate.

[girlfriendstealer Carter] [/spoiler]

Cassie laughed. Was that better though? No she didn't think so. But if he preferred that then she would roll with it.

Cassie beamed at Carter and chuckled a little. It was nice to see that the boy could laugh at his predicament and not walk around all depressed looking. That was a good character trait and it showed that the boy had indeed grown on a lot. Maybe those girls should that thought twice about leaving him. But Marilyn had time..she hadn't given up on that yet, nope.

"You're so optimistic about your life Carter." She teased.

Once again she burst out laughing. Seemed he was son a roll tonight. "Do you really think you're that good?" She eyed him with an amused expression on her face.

Gah oh no! She felt her hand hit Carter's jaw and was about to search for his face and abandon her elf hugging mission when he took hold of her hand.

"I'm calm I'm calm, what's going on?" She turned her head this way and that until Carter threw the banner off.

"That was really weird...even for Hogwarts standard."