Anya smiled. "That's perfectly fine with me." she said with a nod. "Alec would probably be the only one interested in seeing this anyway." Alec was usually the only one interested in things going on with her.

Well... all the little things or things nobody else would care about anyway.

"Yeah. He's got a few new friends and quidditch... just like I do." Anya said casually. "Yeah. We talk to each other all the time. And we still spend as much time as we can together." They just couldn't be together all the time anymore. It was part of growing up... or something like that.

She giggled as she grabbed a handful of the mushed oreos and sprinkled it over her sundae. "It's a much better job than I could have done though." she commented.

She then looked down at his hands. "You want some ice or something?" she asked. Those helped with sore hands. And so did hand massages. Which... Anya could attempt to do if he wanted.

Adam is completely over thinking Anya and Alec >_<
 

Adam wouldn't feel too pressured with Alec. In fact, it'd seem like he wouldn't even notice if Adam messed up the recipe or his idea of his sundae. So, his shoulders felt immensely light. "Doesn't seem like he'd care if I accidentally mess up or anything. So, that would be nice." Adam nodded. "Besides, he sounds like a good guy, so I won't feel like he'll be breathing down my neck."

On the outside Adam had a very playful,pleasant looking expression, but on the inside he was squirming. He didn't mind that she had guy friends that she hung out with, but the fact that her whole life,minus school,sundaes and gummy bears, revolved around Alec made him uneasy. If he could only just say something, but he didn't want to. They were just friends, and he couldn't say anything, guys and girls could hang out. "Right. He's your best friend." Was all he could utter. But on the inside he had been thinking so much more, he just couldn't make himself say that stuff. Anya was still young.

He then glanced at his palm. It was throbbing and red-ish purple on the squishy sides,but he just shook it off. "It'll go away in a few minutes." He then sprinkled the remaining oreo pieces onto his and lifted the sundae disaster on his plate. "This looks good for me."

Chocolate,whip cream, bananas,cherries. Unless Anya decided he was missing something.

Ellie / Nina
 

EVERYWHERE.

Do you know where everywhere is? Well, that's where he's been looking for. And he couldn't find his girlfriend anywhere. He'd stopped by the Hospital Wing, in case one of her teammates was still there and she'd decided to be with them...or she'd truly gotten hurt. But nope, not there. Treyen's last resort had been the LIBRARY, but to no surprise, she wasn't there.

He was beginning to think that Keefer had been right yesterday and he should've looked for her right after the match.

Either way, he'll have to send a note to her or something, or find another Ravenclaw to search for her in the Common Room, because that's all he had left, the Ravenclaw Common Room, and the Headmaster's Office. And...Vindictus' Office...but he wasn't heading there anytime soon.

The Head Boy decided to stop by the kitchen, though. Ice cream was needed again, like last night. But he didn't want the crowded Great Hall to be his companion, so, the kitchen it was. Some chocolate ice cream will be good, right? Right.

Honestly, she just needed the time to think. And now, she wanted to talk. But Max was useless because he thought incredibly high of her for some reason. She couldn't talk frankly to him about the match. Vindictus would be her best bet, but after making her way back to Ravenclaw tower yesterday, she hadn't mustered up the energy to go back down there. Plus seeing the Pitch was a bit depressing still. She avoided looking out the Common Room window had it for its view.

But you know what happens when you hole yourself up in the Common Room all day? You get hungry. And her cauldron stash was dwindling again...empty, really, so she was forced into the publicity of the Castle.

However, she wasn't forced into the publicity of the Great Hall. Where, Ellie had it in her head, she would come across either gloating or sympathetic faces. Neither of which she wanted to deal with. So kitchens it was.

She'd managed to find it unnoticed, a feat she attributed to having the hood of her Muggle sweatshirt up. Apparently her hair was usually a dead giveaway, so she tried to cover it up. Now, she could only hope that the kitchen wasn't uncommonly crowded....

It wasn't. However, it was occupied. By a face Ellie truly didn't mind to meet. In fact, she was rather relieved that face was out and about. "You okay?" She was skipping formal greetings. His storming off the Pitch yesterday concerned her a bit too much to bother with such silly things.

This was like Alec all over again, because he heard no footsteps, he only heard the voice of the person who had stepped inside.

No gummy bears were offered now, though. The voice he knew very well, but his face didn't leave the little bowl of ice cream the elves had served for him. It was still untouched at the table. Was he okay? "No, not really." And Ellie probably knew he wasn't. It was nice to hear the question. The ones who had talked to him about yesterday never asked him how he was, they just kept saying how Vindictus was wrong and whatnot.

"Are you?" He turned his head to face her this time, he tried to scan her for something that would give away an injury, but nothing came up.

This is clearly why he didn't play at Ravenclaw games. It was difficult for him. But she knew this too.

Curiosity filled his mind, "Where have you been?" This was probably the first time he's demanded something of her, but really, he's looked EVERYWHERE and she was nowhere to be found.

No surprises there. If Treyen were alright, he wouldn't have walked off the Pitch yesterday. If he were even close to being alright, he'd have at least come back when Vindictus called for him. Neither of those things happened and so...Of course he wasn't okay.

After having an elf go and fetch her some French Toast, she joined the Head Boy, pulling up a chair beside him, and taking one of his hands in her lap. She really wanted to hug him or something, but felt that Treyen much rather enjoyed holding her hand than any other sort of comfort she could offer him.

"I'm fine," she nodded. Bruises aside, she was perfectly okay. A part of her wanted to add something sarcastic. Like that it was kind of him to finally show some concern, but she refrained. Ellie actually liked that he hadn't been on of the people crowding her, asking her if she was injured or not. Just like she was glad Max hadn't mentioned it, either. That he joined her instead. Good best friend, Max was.

Though perhaps Treyen meant emotionally? As she had? If that were true..."Bummed, but fine." That would explain it, right? How could she not be bummed, though? She was out-Seeked by a First Year. It was a real damper on her spirits.

That mysterious note countered it, though, so...she was definitely less bummed now.

Where'd she been? "Common Room," she said, tracing her thumb across his knuckles. After a moments hesitation, she looked back up, to try and look into his eyes, so he'd know how serious she was when she asked, "Tell me about it?" It was a question, and Ellie'd respect her boyfriend if he didn't want to answer, but...she really wanted him to. To tell her what was wrong. "I couldn't really tell what happened." Well, she could hear. She heard what Vindictus had said. The problem was that Treyen had hardly said a thing. And she wasn't a Legilimens.

See? She was the healthy one, eating toast. Arya would be forever disappointed at him for eating nothing but ice cream since last night. And a cupcake. At least it was something. He didn't need ice cream, he really needed Aaron, but this was as close as he was going to get from his best friend right now.

And Arya...wouldn't understand. Or, she would, but it was different.

The moment she took his hand Treyen realized they were okay, and now believed he'd made the right decision by given her some space yesterday, even if moments ago he'd regretted that decision when he couldn't find her.

And she was fine. That was always good. Ellie was probably still tired from the game as they all were, but she got no injuries. All good. He actually meant to ask something else but...oh, no, never mind, she answered that as well. "Alec was very lucky." Very lucky Treyen didn't get on his way, of course, because that's what prevented her from getting the snitch.

AH! The Common Room? No wonder he didn't find her. But he wasn't going to mention it, he just nodded. It was entirely irrelevant that he'd been looking for her for the past...well, he couldn't remember since when but the search begun after he got ready to leave his Common Room.

His eyes dropped to their hands, and he shook his head.

No, he didn't want to talk about it. He already knew what she was going to say, or thought he did. So, why hear it confirmed. Her eyes, however, held some sort of concern he wished she didn't have, because he'll be fine. He'll go to Vindictus and apologize for leaving the way he did, and then move on. So, really, he'll be okay. But the look on her eyes wouldn't go away, right? She'd still wonder about what had happened...and, he kind of owed her an explanation, no? At least for dropping her broom.

He'll explain. Or try to. She wasn't going to understand, she never did, but he'll explain. "Vindictus wasn't right about the sabotage thing, Ellie," because he'd never do such a thing, to anyone, he was a real Hufflepuff, and tried to be as fair as possible, "But...it probably isn't very hard to catch someone, as he said, and...I couldn't help you. I was the closest to you and couldn't be there for you." Of course, when they fell to the ground together, he did take the worst of it by landing first, but when Alec took the snitch, all Treyen was left with was Ellie's broom, not Ellie. What if they'd been in the air over 50 feet up the grounds, eh? The fall would've been mighty different than this one, because they'd been fairly close to the grass. "Don't interrupt me." In case she wanted to disagree with him before he was done. "I didn't even help you after the game was over." She obviously noticed this, because she was seeing him TODAY. "And I felt so useless." THAT is the real reason for all of this. Because Vindictus had been partially right. "And yes, I know that I cannot keep you away from harm all the time, and that I can't expect to catch everyone who falls," words from others he's talked about this. And by others he meant Keefer. And Alec. Alec had been amazingly helpful. "But I still felt useless." What was the point of having him around if he didn't do anything? Mmmhmm, Keefer had mentioned the 'trying' part, but Treyen still was not accepting it.

He'd failed, not only Ellie, but Keefer as well, because he'd been more concerned with his girlfriend's well-being during the game. Can anyone blame him for doing so?

"Feel free to disagree with me whichever way you like." Because she was going to disagree with him. Others have done so.

"Don't," Ellie said. Don't even attribute Alec's victory with luck. She didn't want to hear it. He had...way too many advantages for that to be the case. But even if it was...yeah, she didn't want to hear about it. She just wanted to wallow in her defeat.

Treyen was shaking his head. And although she wanted to be a good friend/girlfriend/person and just accept that, she opened her mouth to fight it. To beg him to explain things to her. Mainly what was going on in his head. The things she couldn't read on his face. Emotions weren't thoughts.

Her begging never happened, as he made it unnecessary, voluntarily continuing, despite the initial physical response.

Her toast arrived just as he began, and she forked it one-handed. Her other hand, holding Treyen's, wasn't going anywhere.

Ellie very nearly rolled her eyes. She never believed for a second that Treyen sabotaged the match. Especially if that time they collided was supposed to be the actual act. Treyen wouldn't do something so risky. Something that could cause them to fall. Cause her to be injured. Though she was sure that not-so-pretty bruise on her left hip was because of that.

'I couldn't help you....couldn't be there for you'. As soon as those words left his mouth, Ellie knew that THAT was what was eating him up. Stupid, it was, for him to stress over THAT. Again, Ellie refrained from rolling her eyes. And she chewed fast to finish that last bite of her toast she'd taken to say something.

No interruptions stopped her.

She took another bite, then, as she continued to listen. Silently, unfortunately, because she kept wanting to interrupt. To disagree with nearly everything he was saying that was degrading to himself. Really, she hated hearing Treyen talk like this. Especially calling himself 'useless'. Where did that even come from?

And....now she could talk. After she swallowed, of course. "First of all, you're not useless, Treyen." She never wanted to hear him call himself that again. But she tended to limit his vocabulary, and then contradict herself, saying he should say whatever he wanted, so she didn't voice this. "Secondly, I don't care that you didn't help me after the match. I'm glad you didn't, actually. There were way too many people crowding me, unnecessarily concerned." Ellie sort of took Treyen's lack of interest as a sign that he knew her way too well to fret over a fall from such a low height. "And thirdly, you tried to help, didn't you? Why else would you have had my broom?" Which he DROPPED, by the way. She wasn't going to get into that either, though. "I think that's more than anyone should have expected." Pay no mind to Vindictus. "It's certainly more than I expected." There was also no mention of how, if he hadn't caught her broom, she might have been able to regain control over it and safely fly herself to the ground. It mattered not.

"I think....you expect too much of yourself. You say that you know that you can't always prevent things, but I don't think you believe it." She knew that feeling well. The knowing versus believing. She knew what she was talking about. "And you should. You shouldn't beat yourself up over this." Over what Vindictus said, or anyone said, or what he might have drawn from his own conclusions, regardless. "I also think that your intent...just the fact that you want to prevent bad things from happening...is what makes you a fantastic boyfriend...and person. Not useless." So he shouldn't feel that way simply because he couldn't succeed. He should feel good about himself for merely thinking about trying to catch her.

She was done disagreeing. Shown by the fact that she took more toast.

True. But still it won't feel the same. Like they said it hard to forget your first. First quidditch game, first time using magic, first friend, first ice cream buddies. He scooped up the last spoonful of his ice cream.

Kurumi? "Umm..If you mean the Gryffindor prefect. Yes I know her." he said after Messer made sure that he already swallowed the ice cream inside his mouth. "Why?" Why Arya suddenly asked him whether he know Kurumi or not.

Anya smiled and nodded. "Yeah. He wouldn't." she agreed. "He's really nice. Nothing ever bothers him." It balanced out her craziness.

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it's a bad thing." she commented. Was it really that weird that her best friend was her neighbor? It happened all the time back home.

Anya shrugged. "You could always put it up against the ice cream bowl." she suggested. That would make it nice and cold.

She looked it over and smiled. "Looks good." she agreed. "Oh. Wait. One more thing." she said sprinkling a handful of mini m&ms on his creation.

"You need more candy then fruit." she said with a giggle.

Now it was perfect!

"Shall we dig in?" she asked holding up her spoon.

Don't?

Okay, fine. He won't. Alec was simply better than her, then? Faster? Actually, how was she truly feeling about it? Ellie was probably thinking that losing to an eleven year-old was not...what one would expect from someone who's trying to get into the Professional life of Quidditch...but, seriously, she shouldn't be too concerned over that. If she was. He didn't know, nor did it seem appropriate to ask about it either.

So, "I won't." He said, giving her a small smile.

And yes, he knew she was dying to interrupt him, hence why he stopped her from doing so before she even had the chance. Treyen also had an idea of what she'd say, and the reasons for disagreeing with him...which he'll see if he was right about or not.

For argument's sake, let's pretend she's right and he's not useless. He was still failing to see the point of how he'd been useful, but whatever. Let's pretend.

His eyes fell on the bowl in front of him, as he played with the untouched ice cream and listened to his girlfriend. He should probably eat that. The elves will be devastated if he didn't. WAIT. An eyebrow was raised, though he wasn't sure Ellie could notice or not. She was glad he wasn't there for her after the match? He...sort of liked to have her there with him after any match, that's why they usually walked back to the castle together. Nice to know she was entirely alright with skipping that part. Very nice. He said nothing, though.

Yes, Ellie, that's why he ended up with the broom, no ulterior motives whatsoever. Her words weren't exactly helping and the 'expectations' talk reminded him of one particular conversation he had at the beginning of the school year. "What did you expect?" Nothing? Because that's what she got, apparently.

Sorry for interrupting, but he had to.

It wasn't that he expected too much of himself, but he couldn't see it all too clearly. Yet she was correct. Again. "No, I don't believe it. But I know I should." That's why he kept pointing it out, perhaps one day the idea will be accepted by him and he'll believe it. Right now, he chose not to. Ellie wasn't the only one who was stubborn.

Though, perhaps Treyen was simply blind.

Eh...what now?

Another small smile played on his lips at her words. So, he is a fantastic boyfriend? The same boy that leaves their girlfriend at the Pitch? He saw fault in her logic. The smile still appeared, and his eyes were still on the ice cream. "I didn't make that little girl cry either." He knows how many girls he's made cry, okay? And that one didn't make his list.

How coincidental it was that she also mentioned the word 'try', as Keefer and Alec had, and seemed to think that was the most important part of it all...

She finished off the bits of candy in her bowl before handing it off to the nice house elf that'd been waiting eagerly to clean it out. The girl hated having them clean up after her, but they enjoyed it so much that she really couldn't deny them the task. Though she could make sure to leave as little a mess as possible.

And she did.

"Kurumi would be a great ice cream buddy." She paused to turn the lemondrop with her tongue. "Or eating buddy period. You know she bakes? And actually, she'd just be a good friend." Arya was talking the younger prefect up because she was sorta feeling bad for leaving Messer after only a term, thought she knew nothing could be done about it. And because she knew how the firstie felt, being left behind by friends.

She also knew that it helped that all of them didn't graduate at once, and since Kurumi was her second youngest friend, a fifth year, it would be a while before the girl graduated. She could watch over him until then.

So, it surprised her a bit. That Treyen didn't say anything more. That he just wouldn't comment on Alec or...her...or the Seeker's performance or whatever it actually was that she didn't want to hear about. All of the above, perhaps. It was greatly appreciated. "Thank you."

She had to talk to Vindictus.

He got eyed a bit for interrupting, but...In all fairness, Ellie never said he couldn't. And she hardly cared.

What did she expect? Nothing from him, honestly. Not at that moment. "I don't know... You were Chaser. I suppose I expected you to be concentrated on the Quaffle." Not near the Seekers. That wasn't when the Snitch wouldn't move away from him so...

Yup. See, she knew he didn't believe it. Simple explanation for why not catching her was bugging him. "Maybe... If you thought about a situation...where you do believe you're....in control or...protecting...whoever...," her, someone else, whatever, "...effectively, then...it'll help. Because even if you're not in that perfect circumstance where you can help...the feeling's still there. And you know that you feel that way, no matter what." Ellie was....sort of drawing from experience. Even if she couldn't explain it properly. "Maybe it'll help you to believe it."

She took a few more bites of toast before responding. Little girl? "Indy?" Little Hutchinson. Ellie REALLY rolled her eyes this time. "She's little and she was hurt. Of course she cried. And of course it wasn't your fault." Vindictus really got to him, didn't he?

"Why are you trying to blame yourself for everything? Why are you taking everything he said so seriously?"

Adam nodded. That was a good thing because Anya was rather hyper and someone needed a lot of energy and patience to stay with her pace of living life to its fullest. "Good thing, he has the energy to keep up with you. You're like a little ball of fire" Then he bent a bit over and squished her cheeks together so that it looked like she was making a fish face.

"It's not." He forced a smile. Besides he shouldn't say anything he had never met Alec in person. And it wasn't in his place to say anything she was only eleven, she shouldn't be worrying about stuff like that.

Adam laughed as she added the candy onto the pile of ice cream. "Good idea. It's ice cream not some energy smoothie I'm having."

When she picked up the spoon Adam eyed her. Spoons were evil. Very evil. If he grabbed a fork she'd give him an odd look. Who cared? It was Anya, she wouldn't care. He grabbed a fork and began to dig in."Mmhhmmm... Taste like chocolatly heaven." He said in delight.

She didn't have to thank him. At all. He understood, and it was best if they didn't discuss how brilliant both Seekers had been. It's not like it could change anything, correct?

There was one small answer, for he nodded right after she spoke. And that was it.

That made total sense. Considering he was playing Chaser, his focus should've been on the Quaffle a lot more. Yet she knew he wouldn't be able to focus, didn't they discuss something similar not too long ago? He was certain they had. Instead of trying to disagree with her, he chuckled. That was pretty obvious, surely Keefer expected the same from him. "Of course."

Wait.

What was she saying? Treyen turned his head towards her, and tried his best to understand. He did, but..., "I think it'll take a little while before I can, though." Or maybe not, this was a single exception. Had he not played yesterday everything would've been fine. And none of these thoughts will be on his head. GRANTED, Vindictus had a lot to do with it. "But it'll be fine." He'll be fine. Eventually. He was always fine.

Treyen shrugged. He had no idea what the kid was called, and he didn't truly care either. "I know it wasn't." It wasn't his fault, that's why he said it.

SERIOUSLY?

DID SHE NOT HEAR THE MAN? BACK AT THE PITCH?

He'd dropped her hand without actually wanting to, and his other hand let go of the spoon. "Honestly? Did you fail to notice how upset he was?" That was hardly an indication of how right the man was, "He seems to have the idea that I had something to do with the outcome, I only agreed with him on one part." Her Head of House was crazy, of course, but he wouldn't mention that. "As to why...I think you'd understand if you happen to be yelled by Vindictus as well." There was no other possible explanation. She'd have to go through it.

Yay, he chuckled.

Ellie was going to take a minute to pride herself on that chuckle because she couldn't imagine him having laughed much since yesterday. Day before, maybe. She smiled as well because it was worth it. Treyen's moment of not being so melancholy was worth smiling. Yup.

"But you weren't," she said. "You weren't more concentrated on the Quaffle." If he was concentrated on the Quaffle at ALL at that point. "So....you went above expectations." Therefore, it was a good thing. He was a fantastic person, remember?

Right. Well, of course it'll take time. She didn't say it wouldn't. She just thought that...her....mindtrick? would help. Because it helped her. But that was on a different matter entirely so...maybe it just wasn't similar enough to work.

"Okay." It'll be fine. Treyen said so.

Yeah, Ellie knew he knew he hadn't made Indy cry, that wasn't her point. "And so do I. And so does everyone else." It was just something Vindictus had said. Vindictus said a lot of things that no one would believe.

No hand holding now? Fine, then. Ellie turned back to her toast, pulled her feet onto her chair, and now used BOTH hands to tear it into sizable bites. No more fork. No more lap for their hands to rest on.

Sigh.

"No, Treyen, I did not fail to notice." It would be awfully hard to do. Vindictus could shout.

Oh sure. She didn't know what it was like to have Vindictus shout at her. "All I meant was that Vindictus was wrong. He was clearly wrong. EVERYONE knows that." Ellie was still avoiding looking at him. "I just don't think that you should take something so wrong so seriously." Because it was very obviously affecting his mood. And she didn't like that.

No. She was entirely right about that. He wasn't concentrated, of course, because the Quaffle meant very little. Well, it had meant very little at one point or another during the game, but Keefer didn't need to find out, right? Chances were that even if Keefer found out, Treyen will keep on playing. The Captain was very forgiving...or the Head Boy didn't care enough.

The former was most likely.

All in all, he didn't comment. Treyen simply listened. That...wasn't exactly like him, truth be told, but he decided not to comment, and limited himself to a couple nods and shrugs here and there.

Now that everyone was aware he wasn't involved in this 'making Indy cry' thing, there was a question that came to mind, he wasn't waiting until Ellie was done talking, though. "She's okay, right?" Hadn't he said he couldn't care less about the little Ravenclaw? Because he had at least thought he didn't care. Things were slightly different, mainly because he'd caused her no harm.

SHE SIGHED.

And Treyen blinked.

Why was Ellie sighing? Wasn't that something he did? Repeatedly? For winning arguments? His eyes were on her soon enough.

"Seems everyone did." Or his teammates wouldn't have followed him out the Pitch. Teammates being Alyssa, Keefer and Alec, but he was pretty sure Lewis would've been there had his nose been intact. That kind of made him feel worse too, the fact that the Seeker and the Keeper came after him instead of enjoying their win.

Eyes on the ice cream, and the spoon was taken by the Head Boy again. You know what? He was going to attempt eating this little bowl. You know, for the elves.

What she said...was funny in a weird way. "Amusing, it is, how we tend to believe whatever is wrong, or bad, so easily. Yet the truth takes more convincing, no?" Just a thought. Eyes on Ellie.

He wouldn't dwell on this too much, though, he'll probably think it over before heading to the Pitch again. He still had to apologize for leaving. That wasn't very nice of a Hufflepuff, and Head Boy, to do. Setting examples was what he should be doing. Probably. Hadley didn't care if he did set a proper example, right? She probably didn't.

A spoon barely filled with ice cream touched his tongue. Yes, he was finally eating.

"So, I'm a fantastic boyfriend?" he was trying not to think of the last thing he said. It might turn against him sooner or later. A smile, regular-sized one, made an appearance on his face, his eyes still on the redhead sitting next to him.

Good to know he cared about Indy beyond the fact that he wasn't the reason she was crying. "She's fine. Went to the Healer and everything, but she's okay now." Poor Indy probably didn't even realize how brutal a real Quidditch match could be. Because it was different being on the Pitch, and watching from the stands, you know? And it was her first match and all.

Ellie was just going to...ignore his reaction to her sighing. She sighed in frustration, but as long as Treyen wasn't going to comment, and perhaps move on - from this entire topic, even, maybe - then she'll stay quiet.

Her lips curled into a small smile again. "Vindictus knows how to get everyone's attention." Attention seeker, that man. Must be a side-effect from being such an epic Quidditch player back in his day. Merlin help her if she got like that.

You know, if she still even had a shot at playing professionally now.

In all honesty, she didn't notice Treyen's lack of eating the ice cream. So she didn't notice when he did finally pick up the spoon. She was much more concerned with his emotional state, at the moment, than whether he was being nice to his body and doing things such as feeding it.

...Oh.

'We'. For some reason, Ellie was pretty sure that 'we' meant...them, specifically. Because that problem tended to pertain to them, particularly. Or...her rather. She bit her lip. "I suppose."

The largest smile she's had in the past couple of days made an appearance. "Yes," she said, turning her eyes to Treyen. Is that going to take convincing, too?

Because, you know, Ellie did like to brag about her boyfriend when the opportunity presented itself.

Transfiguration Post 4
 

Kennedy made his way into the Kitchens with three hovering vases. He glanced around the room and decided to leave a vase on a table. Besides the library, the kitchen was one of his favorite places in the castle. Why? Well, because it fed him.

Well...the house elves did, so they deserved flowers. Not just any flowers, but daisies. He was going to leave those there because it reminded him of his mom and her cooking, although, the elves could never match up to her food.

Charlie reacted quickly, trying and failing not to laugh all the while. He caught her out of the air, one arm beneath her waist, the other around her shoulder. He was laughing almost hysterically at this point, but he placed a hand on her head sympathetically. "Oh, I'm sorry." He said, but between laughs, he didn't sound very sorry. He set her down on her feet, shaking his head, unable to believe how funny this is. He put a hand firmly on her shoulder, bending slightly and trying to catch his breath between chuckles. "Oh, Merlin--hahaha--I really--ha--didn't think--haha--you'd fall." He said, putting his free hand to his chest, trying to calm down.

After a moment his laughter ceased and he was taking long, slow breaths, trying to maintain control. His grin was wide when he finally looked at Brook, snickering. "Oh, Brooks, you just make it too easy."

Wait. The girl went to the Hospital? Did she actually get hurt? All he managed to see before leaving the Pitch was a girl crying in Vindictus' arms. She didn't look hurt or anything remotely similar. Well, physically, he meant. The Head Boy nodded as the Captain spoke. Once she was done with it, he uttered a few words, "That's nice to hear," because between all the news they have been getting lately, well, this one of a little girl being terribly hurt from a Quidditch game wasn't going to be a great one.

Simple as that.

Now, he was joining Ellie with a smile too, a wide one. He chuckled. "Hence why he's Quidditch Official." EXACTLY the reason why Vindictus was Quidditch Official. No one would dare go against him as he called one of the 700 faults during a game. BUT...at the mention of sabotage, Treyen had to disagree with the man.

The Head Boy said nothing else on the matter. Why? One, it was of common knowledge that he didn't sabotage anything. Two, he wasn't the one that had made Indiana cry. Three...well, it was rather difficult, this part wasn't one to let go off so easily, though he was certain that he'll move on from it once he'd talked to Vindictus. The whole 'preventing people from falling' part that included his girlfriend.

Once that visit was done, he might be able to forget about it.

EXPECT COMPANY, V.

He'd begun with the ice cream again, and didn't reply to her almost-agreement with something more than a nod. She understood what he meant, that was the most important part of it.

And...

...that smile.

Considering he'd been looking her way from the moment she answered, he couldn't help but smile too, even though he didn't feel too fantastic at the moment. Plus, he was actually wondering who was she comparing him to so as to think that he was fantastic. But he didn't ask that. "Good to know." Yet he didn't fully believe it, of course.

Shouldn't he be saying how great she was too? No, because there was something else on his mind.

"Seeing as I'm such a fantastic boyfriend...," he air-quoted as he said 'fantastic', "...what's troubling you?" There was something on her mind, and over the past few minutes since she stepped inside the kitchen, he definitely knew there was something on her mind. Ellie knew she could tell him anything, and he'll help.

Advices and whatnot. You know, he was 'fantastic', after all.

Messer saw his female prefect handed her bowl to the nearest house elf. He didn't realize that there's a house elf waiting to clean their bowl. Awkwardly he handed his now empty bowl to the elf.

"She would?" Hmm..He need to remember that. "Yes. I know she baked." He heard the story and Kurumi herself told him when they met for the first time in Diagon Alley but the first year hasn't had the pleasure to taste the Gryffindor prefect famous cookies.

"She's fine." According to Spike, Indy was tougher than she appeared and let on, so Ellie was positive she was perfectly fine. That she'd come back the next match with more fight than the last. Makings of a good Beater, no?

Treyen had a good point. What good would a Quidditch official be if they couldn't get attention? "He made an excellent career choice, then," she laughed. Or whoever pointed him official made a good choice. Or both, you know.

Ellie's bites became smaller and smaller as she finished up her toast, trying to prolong it. It didn't exactly work, though, for she soon had an empty plate...and then none as an elf whisked it away before she could even say anything. What if she wanted the crumbs, hmmmm?

"Know but not believe, right?" Again? Not that not believing you were a fantastic boyfriend was bad necessarily. Some not-believing was good, right? Kept you humble and modest and all that?

Her smile grew as she laughed about the air quotes. No, he definitely didn't believe it. But it faltered.

What's bothering her? Weren't they not going to talk about it? Because, surely he meant the match, right? That was what was bothering her. Or, rather, the fact she was beat by Alec. A First Year.

She chewed her lip for a while, wanting to put off answering, and giving him a chance to eat more of his ice cream, which would surely be melting soon. Her smile grew smaller and smaller so that by the time she spoke, it was gone. "I don't know if I should..." No, that wasn't right. She still believed she should play. That was all she was good at. "...could play Quidditch after Hogwarts...." Mind you, she still had to talk to Vindictus about it. He was a professional. She needed a professional's opinion.

SHRIEEEEEK.

She was falling and- now she wasn't? But there were arms around her. She looked over and into the eyes of the person who not only scared her, but also almost made her fall and possibly get hurt. GLARE. GLAREGLAREGLARE. "CHARLIE! That. Was not. FUNNY." She scolded him for laughing at her and moved away from him. "MEAN PERSON. You so aren't sorry." More glares. She couldn't believe that he was laughing so hard. Though.. on some level, she knew she would have been laughing if the roles had been reversed. But.. she wouldn't admit that.

The blond folded her arms unhappily and continued her glare!fest. Brooke took another step back, watching him with scrutinizing eyes. "YOU ARE SO MEAN, MISTER." Just wait Charlie. Brooke would return the favor and he certainly should sleep with one eye open. The girl rolled her eyes. "I do not. You just.. happened to catch me in a rare moment of weakness." That's right. RARE MOMENT. HMPH. Don't get used to it.

Arya noticed the awkward, but didn't speak of it. He probably didn't like having them to clean up after him either.

"She really would." The prefect nodded her head. All Gryffindors made good friends, didn't they? Truthfully all houses had someone that was best friend material in her bias opinion. "I'm surprised she's not here now actually, but then again she is a fifth year." OWLs take away from fun times. "But enough about her, we had a reason for coming here didn't we? Besides the ice cream I mean." Though that was a good enough reason by itself. Heh.