Thea glowered at the girl. She had said sorry about a thooousannd times! Blimey.. Did she want a leg too?! Like blondie, Thea also ran a hand through her dark hair, sigihng loudly. Grabbing the scrumpled up piece of parchment, she squeezed it while listening to Cass. 'You aren't mad...' she repeated, slightly confused. How could she not be mad!? Thea had been mad.. even thought it was only for about five minutes.

Looking up sharply, Thea stared at the hand that appeared to be extended towards her. Wrinkling her nose, Thea pouted. Then, very slowly took ahold of Cass' hand and shook it once. 'Whatever..' But she grinned.

Ooooh, this could be intresting, thought Daisy, smirking still from the last hug. What a great way to make enemies, but it was so funny. Walking past the windows she spotted a fourth-year Slytherin deep in conversation. She would hate Daisy for this, but It was something Daisy had to do. Closing her eyes and blocking out the horrible thoughts about what could happen, Daisy walked up to the girl and hugged her, grinning.
'Happy hug-a-Slytherin day,' she grinned, running off...

"Well yes I am, are you a ravenclaw?" Minerva wasn't sure if this girl was being nice or mean, but she didn't care she was always one to give everyone a chance at first.

"Nope. Not even the tiniest bit." Cass said as shook her head once more as she smiled reassuringly. "I don't even get why you would think I was remotely upset, I mean, it was just a quill, it wasn't as if you broke it on purpose."

The blonde then resisted the urge to roll her eyes as the girl grudgingly accepted her apology. "Well, I'm glad that's settled."

Suddenly while she had been conversing with Thea, someone had approached them and hugged her from behind, while greeting her 'Happy hug-a-Slytherin day.', effectively taking her by surprise.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Cass swiftly turned around and caught a girl wearing a set of yellow school robes running off, a manic grin on her face. The blonde took a minute or two to glower at the disappearing girl before facing towards Thea with an annoyed huff. "What is it with that bloody hug-a-Slytherin day?!" She exclaimed as she brandished her arms around in an exaggerated fashion "I've already ben hugged twice today!" Seriously, why was even a day like that?

THea smiled and shrugged her shoulders. running a hand through her dark hair again, Thea also jumped as some irritating girl came over and hugged Cass. Cass seemed horrified...

'Ew' Thea wrinkled her nose. 'People are very lucky there isn't a 'Hug a Gryffindor Day'.. I can assure you, anyone who touched me would not be walking..' Thea giggled. Okay, that sounded mean but seriously.. whaddup with the whole hugging randomers? She hoped that girl got hexed.. badly.

"Wasn't she the same nutcase who hugged Professor Lafay?" Cass asked as she stared at the empty aisle where the Hufflepuff disappeared to. Bloody Hufflepufffs and their weird attachment to hugging people.

Then she laughed as she regarded Thea's obvious...dislike for the day. "Yeah, you lot are lucky indeed." She agreed with a single nod. Then she placed a thoughtful finger under her chin and added "I do wonder though, who created this stupid event. Honestly." It was pointless, and useless, and worthless and did she mention pointless? Good.

Thea nodded, scowling. 'Huffle..' She stopped her self from adding the 'duffers' part. Tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear, she sighed. Like Cass, she watched the girl run off and disappear amon the shelves. Bloody moron...

Thea grinned. 'to be honest, they would orobably hug me once, and only once.' She snorted. 'I know! They want sorting out..' Thea laughed again. 'What's your homework?..' Thea frowned. Woops. Homework.. she had a lot of that herself.

"Huffle--what?" Cass asked as she glanced at Thea questioningly, Heather had once mentioned that Gryffindors had a special...name for Hufflepuffs, but she never did have a chance to find out what.

Then she laughed "I would have said that too if I wasn't taken by surprise." Then she rolled her eyes, honestly, there were just people begging for a good hexing. Preferably one that would make antlers grow out of their heads. Yeah, that was a good one.

"Oh, that." Cass replied with a frown as she glanced down at her unfinished homework "I'm trying to research about that spell from Aritmancy..." The blonde admitted "I don't really get it." Then she leaned back against the back if her chair with a tired sigh and said "But so far, I haven't found anything." Merlin, how she hated Arithmancy.

Minerva was reading her book when she felt a nudge from her bag. She opened it for Sparkles to come rolling out. Minerva noticed Sparkles was shaking. "Aww what's wrong Sparkles? Are you cold?" Minerva picked up the egg it did feel cold. Minerva took her wand and swished and tapped her egg saying "Argentum Calidus" the egg started feeling warmer. "Would you like to read my book with me Sparkles?" The egg rolled into Minnie's lap. "I will take that as a yes" Minnie began to read the book softly so that Sparkles could here.

Smiling sheepishly, Thea shook her head. 'Nothing nothing..' She looked down at her feet again. Woops. Muhaha. Grabbing a piece of hair that had fallen form her ponytail, she began to twirl it inbetween her fingers. Awkward slightly..

Thea laughed. 'They honestly are. Maybe you should get practising the good ones..' She rolled her eyes, but giggled a bit again. You would probably get in all sorts of trouble fi you hexed somebody.. but Thea honestly wouldn't be bothered. It was possibly a good thing she hadn't been placed in Slytherin...

Thea's eyes widened slightly. They had homework from that subject? Woops. Again. Thea shrugged her shoulders. 'I don't like that subject at all.. I'm no good at it. I was never good at maths in my Muggle school, she why should it change here?' Shrugging again, she wrinkled her nose. She despised maths possibly a bit more than being hugged by suprise..

"Alright..." Cass said uncertainly, seriously you cannot just leave her hanging like that, now how was she supposed to go through life without knowing what Gryffindors call the Hufflepuffs, not that it matters much as Slytherins only refer to them as 'the people in yellow' Hehe.

Then she nodded "I probably should, good ones that don't last for very long." That way, of the student ever thinks of telling a professor, the evidence would be gone for a while and they would have no proof...unless they cast Prior Incantato on her wand

"I'm not particularly fond of it either." The blonde answered glumly, it was the one of the few subjects that she had difficulty doing well in, and it really didn't suit her and her ego. "But I suppose I won't need to worry about it once I finish my OWLs...but that still seems like an awfully long time." two more years. Sigh.

Thea smiled. Pulling her knees up, she hugged her legs. 'So.. did you have a good Christmas?..' She knew it was a bit after Christmas but better late than ever hmm...
Thea had had a pretty good Christmas. The whole fmaily as usual, minus her Dad & a couple of others. The presents had been good, as had been the food. Muhahah.

Resting her head on the table, Thea stifled a yawn. 'I don't like it..' She stated simply, then giggled.

"Christmas?" Cass repeated as she tried to remember what she did for Christmas, but could only summon a flurry of things, all equally confusing. She could only guess that it had been that chaotic for her. "Ah, well, I stayed in Hogwarts." She explained with a smile "Much to my mother's displeasure." She really loved riling her mother up, it was amusing to see her mad, but she had constantly remind herself to not push it or she might just send her a howler. Then she smirked when she remembered what happened during Christmas "Well, it was certainly interesting." Couple of months ago she wouldn't have dared call it anything but terribly, or devastating, but now, she just found it...amusing actually.

Thea nodded, as she listened. Hm. Thea could never stay at Hogwarts.. She loved the family gatherings to much. 'Oh. Was it.. fun?' Thea's eyebrows shot up as she asked the question. She couldn't imagine it had been.. but oh well. 'Do many people stay here over the holidays?' She asked her. Her eyes went wide with suprise when Cass mentioned her Mother. Hm. Weird.. Thea and her brothers loved their Mother with all their hearts! Their Dad however.. not so much. She frowned at the memories.

Shaking herself, she smiled again at the older Slytherin. 'My Christmas' are pretty.. hectic.' Thea shrugged.

"It was...alright, I guess." Casss answered slowly, more like surprising, eventful...or even...hm.. yeah, interesting. "I mean, it's nothing compared to spending Christmas at home with my mother." She explained with a shrug "But, I wasn't feeling well enough to board the express, but then, maybe a week into the hols, I recovered, so I had to stay in Hogwarts."

Then she nodded "Oh yeah. Loads of people stay around." Well, Slytherins at least, she wasn't sure about the other houses though. Then she laughed at the memory "The Slytherin Common Room had never been so full before." With the cold air outside, and the draft inside the castle, it was no wonder that only the crazy ones like her even dared venture out into the grounds.

Thea nodded, only really half listening. something about being ill.. feeling better. Whatever. 'I don't know.. I would never stay!' She shrugged. Thea had no idea about her own house never mind anybody elses.

Tucking a strand behind her ear, Thea sat up. 'But do you not have any brothers or sisters that you would want to see?..' Thea trailed off, running a finger around the table as she spoke. She never really got to speak to her brothers properly while they were at school; holidays were the perfect time. As much as they irritated her, she couldn't imagine not having them..

She smiled when Cass made the comment about the Slytherin common room. Crossing her legs, she sighed. As much as she loved Hogwarts, she did miss home. This conversation confirmed that much.

"You'll be taking that back once you start nearing your OWLs." Cass stated with a grim nod as she remembered the sheer number of fifth years and seventh years that had camped out in the library.

Then she shook her head "I'm an only child." She said with a shrug "Well, to my mother at least." The girl added, thinking of her dad and his way ugly new wife Priscilla.

It felt like forever ago. Forever ago that he'd stepped into the library and stayed more than five minutes. The Common Room had managed to become his own personal library and the books were returned into the Hogwarts one when they were meant to be returned. So, really, there was no problem with no studying in the actual library.

But no one should tell Ellie that.

Either way, instead of heading to the reading lounge as he always used to, Treyen took a seat near the window, one that had some wizard that seemed to be enjoying looking OUT whatever window was drawn into the real one.

That worked for him.

The boy was expecting to meet someone in here, but he still opened a book as he waited.

Kurumi felt...nervous about meeting Treyen again, but it wasn't the same nervousness that she used to feel. Sure, some of that girlish giggle and blush was still there...but it had mostly been replaced by awkwardness and, perhaps, a little bit of regret.

Her hair was down, hanging around her shoulders now with a slight wave - a look that he most likely wasn't familiar with. She usually hid behind her bangs and pony tail, but recent things had helped her let things go, quite literally.

And then...she spotted him sitting and reading. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt her cheeks flush just a tad. Slowly, she made her way over to him. "Hey...um...long time no see."

Not awkward at all.

As soon as a voice was heard (because there were very few people in the library) Treyen turned towards it. He didn't turn to see who it was, for he knew whom that voice belonged to, but it was still nice to see the person that carried it. "Kurumi!" he instantly smiled and closed the book. She looked...different from the Kurumi he'd known for so long, a good different of course. "Yeah, it's been a while, eh?" but their last agreement had stated that she was the one to look for him whenever she was ready to do so.

"You look great," or, wait, what? "Your hair, I mean, down like that." the ponytail was the only hairstyle he's ever known when it came to Kurumi.

But where were his manners? "Feel free to join me." He gestured towards a chair nearby, really nearby, but she was more than welcomed if a seat by the window was what she wanted.

The wizard in the glass seemed to think that some other window held more interest and left this one unattended. Great timing.

And there it was. The smile that she had been missing so much. It was really nice to be blinded by it again and a small smile appeared on her lips. "A little too long," she nodded, eyeing the open seat next to him. Really, that was mostly her fault since she had been the one who needed time to think and sort things out. It had taken her longer than she thought it would, but at least she had come to the proper conclusion, right?

MEEP? The blush returned to her checks as she idly played with her hair. "Um...thanks," she said with a small bow. "Mother insisted that I change my hair style a bit, no more hiding behind my bangs and all that." Which had actually proven to be a very good thing.

Smiling again, Kurumi accepted his offer and took a seat. Her body was a little rigid, but that was to be expected after everything that had happened. For her to be perfectly normal would have been more odd. "I'm um...sorry that things happened the way they did." Yeah, Kurumi was still blaming herself for all that. "And..just so you know...there will always be something there, but, I'm okay with that because you are someone very important to me." Just that it had, you know, now been categorized and was finding its proper box to be tucked away in inside her.

See? They were back to normal, weren't they? At least that was the small smile on her face suggested. "It matters no more." She was here now, right? How long it had been didn't matter anymore, mainly because it was in the past and no longer important. Not at the moment, anyway.

He did notice the blush, but he was going to blame it on the tiny rays of March's sun.

The bow. He'd missed that. Which is why he merely nodded instead of saying that she didn't have to do so, "Looks good on you." Enough was enough, Treyen. So, yeah, never mind, he cleared his throat and sunk into his seat a liiiittle bit. Being all cool and relaxed works wonders for him.

Oi. Kurumi should stop mentioning what had happened. He'd tried to forget and sort of succeeded but if she kept bringing it up..., "So am I." She wasn't the one to blame, yet the fault wasn't just ON him. "Apology accepted." Now...moving on. Or not. Sigh. Why did she have to say that? It was slightly awkward for him to hear that, he was hoping she'll be completely over everything by now. Though, if Ellie hadn't taken him back, chances were he'll be in Kurumi's position somehow. "Friends are always important. Kind of what you are to me." A friend, a very good one.

Aha! He straightened himself a little. "So, tell me. How's the Prefect life treating you?" he was actually curious to find out about this.

Kurumi adjusted her seating position a bit, folding her legs under each other to sit crossed legged on the chair. She idly took some of her hair and play with its ends a bit. "Thank you," she chirped. She was still getting used to the whole image change a bit and still wasn't used to her face being so...out there. Hiding behind her bangs had become a habit, but Jonathan was always pushing them away to look at her eyes.

"Agreed," she nodded. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as badly as she thought it was going to be when he used the word friend. Then again, why should it? She had been preparing herself for the whole friends and nothing more label ever since that day in the trophy room and the whole polyjuice potion had just complicated that situation. She had been going down that path the whole time, right? Although, she wasn't sure what the kind of meant in his sentence, but Kurumi assumed that the kind of was implying that she was more than just a friend. She was a little sister and that made her smile.

"Prefecting has been alright," she nodded. Besides the whole event planning making her exhausted. "During the first weeks of school I had to tell a second year she wasn't allowed to keep five cats...it was kind of hard. She got so mad at me..." Kurumi would have probably kept them all herself if she could...but Walnut would have tried to do something to the poor felines. He was very territorial. "I dunno...I still feel awkward wearing the badge around. I don't want people to see or treat me any differently because I have it. I'm Kurumi first." Heh, she sounded really mature there. "I'm really enjoying it though. I'm glad that I can serve my house."

And the answer to that? Just a smile, a sweet small one. There was no need to comment any further on the matter.

Then Kurumi was finally agreeing and they could put everything behind them, yes? It was always a plus when she smiled, really. He took that as a good reaction, of course. It couldn't possibly be taken as a bad one.

Say what? FIVE cats? Like, why? That was besides the point, though, he's never had to deal with any sort of difficulty involving students. So far. Perhaps Arya got them all. Lucky him. "Pretty odd for a second year not to know the rules," she could be a transfer, really.

You know what? "I know what you mean," he nodded, Treyen had been through a similar situation when he was a fifth year, he'd probably would've freaked out if he'd become a Prefect in his fourth, like Kurumi had, "I used to carry my badge in my pocket for most of the school year," a chuckle came after he spoke, "For slightly different reasons, since I didn't think I was the best choice for that," hadn't he once thought that he'd charmed the HoH and that's WHY he got the badge? Yeah, he'd been terribly worried about doing a good job.

He'd been doing okay so far, regardless of which position Hufflepuff held in the race for the House Cup.

But...serve? That was funny. "You don't truly serve your House, Kurumi, you represent it." Hence why the Prefects were supposed to set an example. Supposed.

Treyen realized there was a liiiiittle bit of pressure involved when he traded places with Dallin. That experience helped him understand his Prefectness a bit more.

She once again found herself surprised by how normal this felt. Sitting in the library together just chatting like old times. Granted, there was still a small little string attached to her heart that tugged whenever he smiled or she go to look into his eyes, but it certainly had transformed from what it had been before. The biggest indicator? Her hair wasn't changing colors.

Oh right, back to the cats. "This particular lion is always seeking attention...so she is more prone to breaking rules here and there. I was able to find a compromise with her since sending them back home would be too hard. She gave them away to friends." Still, why she had even brought five kittens with her to Hogwarts was beyond Kurumi. Hadn't been the way she wanted to start off the term..crushing the sparkle in the eyes of a second year.

"I remember that," she giggled. She hadn't seen Treyen with his badge pinned proudly on his robes until about midterm. "Wait...you thought that you were not deserving of the badge?" Kurumi gawked at him now. Was he insane? Well, Kurumi knew that he did have a bit of an odd streak in him, but insane was not a word that came to mind when she thought of Treyen Lockhart. "I can't think of anyone else better suited for the role." She paused, biting her tongue before she could say more. It would only brings things back to being awkward. "But...I might be a little biased." There, light hearted.

Kurumi's smile faded just a little at Treyen's last comment, but not because of what he had said but because of WHO it made her think of. Patroclus. No one knew that she was the last person to see him before he left the grounds. She had seen him apparate right before her eyes and his parting words were still with her. Words about her and her relationship to Gryffindor. Merlin did she miss him. "Yeah....right..."