The door was rude and refused to listen to Sammy, even if Sammy refused to be exact with the door. She nodded when Ness said that she was here now. She WAS here. It was freaking awesome. Imagine how dull it would be without her. She raised her eyebrows when Nessie seemed to be under the impression that Sammy would make it through the night without Amy. She knew practically no one except for Ness, she partially knew Adam and she thought she had seen Oakey. But then again she had already spotted two people that didn't like her sister, SO YEAH, she was a little nervous about that. "Dude, I'll probably go harass her soon enough" she said, then glancing at the dance floor "We gotta show these fools how to dance" she said proudly. She and Amy were freaking awesome dancers, everyone was jealous so they said they were bad. DUH.

Had all of that just gone in one ear and out the other? Or dissolved in the middle or something? She didn't exactly see what was funny about her storey but she grinned anyway. Just play it cool. "Didn't you hear the first part? I don't care whether you think you need presents or not. It's your birthday so I got you something" she explained. Honestly, and people said blondes were slow. Sammy was blonde and she understood it perfectly.

Welp. Adam was being weird. That much was obvious. Ellie blinked and stared at the Prefect as she waited for a more... realist answer. Obviously he was being weird, but Ellie was sure that he didn't come to Nessie's party just to hide in a corner and be weird about everything. And then he was patting the couch and claiming to be admiring the decoration... Right. Ellie raised an eyebrow. "Yes, the couch is quite beautiful." Her tone of voice was dripping with sarcasm.

To lighten the awkward mood, Ellie nudged him in the arm and smiled. "Tell me what you're really doing back here. You don't seem like to type of person to hide in a corner during a party." Plus, it just seemed kind of boring standing there all night. He might as well be on the dance floor or something having fun.



Nessie seemed happy, so that was good. Ellie knew she had gone through some hard times so she was glad to see Nessie this happy. And there were tons of people there! Which meant lots of people loved the girl. "I think it's amazing! There's tons of people and the whole thing just looks great." Ellie beamed. She was excited for the birthday girl.



Amelia thought she was pretty? Ellie's jaw almost dropped. Because Mia was, like... gorgeous. So for her to call Ellie pretty meant a lot. Ellie blushed a teeny bit and grinned. "Thanks, Miaaa," she said sheepishly. "I'm doing pretty good." Considering some things occurring lately, but it was whatever.

Cupcakes. Right.

Ellie was at the cupcake table... But Zayden wasn't. Ellie turned around just in time for Zayden to tell her that he was going to dance with that beautiful girl. Which was Mia. "Oh, I don't mind. Have fun." Ellie said with a little wave. She would just chow down on cupcakes while she waited for her buddy.

0_________________0.

Adam didn't know what to say. Maybe he had gotten her confused with another girl who might've looked like Carter? He had no clue. Not wanting to intrude, Adam was rather glad the girl continued talking.

Mr.Prefect? "Err..Burn,Adam Burn at your service. Gryffindor Prefect as you can see..not related to Carter Anya..." He spoke up in a shaky but slightly still confident tone. Yeah..He always had a way of making things end up awkward.




Adam was horrible at lying an making cover up stories. His arms fell limply to his sides when he heard the sarcasm emit out of Ellie's mouth. Grimacing a bit at her quick knowledge of his lie he said, "I have to tell you the truth..." Adam said leaning in a bit. Oh, the suspense. "I'm no couch whisperer or couch scout or anything..I was just..standing her." Awkwardness again. Honestly, if this guy were any more awkward, he might as well be the police of awkward city.

"Maybe I wouldn't be hiding in the corner...But I am the one that sits an watches an laughs at everyone dancing." He admitted with a low chuckle. Adam's stomach tightened as he prepared the worst response from Ellie from what he was about to say. "I was...hiding..From...you." He looked up timidly at her.



"So, you're just gonna start hating your favorite color because of one party? You love purple. Giving it up will be like going cold turkey on it- you just can't do it." Adam asked in utter shock. Nessie giving up purple would be saying like Adam on giving up on girls. The universe would die if that happened.

They were both turning red, an the tension grew so big that Adam felt like all the blaring music an chit chat amongst friends had died out an the two of them were just staring at each other, equally as embarrassed. When Nessie started to back away from Adam, he didn't blame her. He gave her this one last bizarre look an slowly turned away in a stiff manner an walked into a different direction. Best to avoid that.

Kurumi could feel people's eyes on her and she caught Nessie's glance out of the corner of her eye. Great...just great... Kurumi had hoped that with everything else going on that they would go unnoticed but it seemed like they were the dragon in the room.

Kurumi did notice the glimpse of some sort of emotion that wasn't a pleasant one on Adam's face, but she chose to ignore it. "He isn't coming," she said with a small shrug. Jonathan had his reasons and there was no convincing him otherwise - not that Kurumi had really tried. She knew how the Slytherin was around certain people and it was pointless to force the issue even if he enjoyed dressing up.

Kurumi was a little surprised when he took her hand again, taking control of the situation and Kurumi tried to just roll with it. Wobble was probably the better term for what they were doing to be honest. "Adam...maybe...you should dance with someone else," she finally said in a low whisper. "Obviously...I'm...I'm not the right person for this..." Because he was certainly uncomfortable and stiff as a board.

His shoulders actually slumped when she revealed that Jonathan wouldn't be making an appearance. Why was he actually feeling a bad thing about this? "Oh." Was all he could say at the mention.

0________________________________0

He looked up at her so quickly, since he was too focused on his feet, that he got a whiplash. "No,no,no..." Adam spoke up in a frantic voice, as he rubbed the back of his neck trying to soothe the pain from the lash.

Not.The.Right.Person? His face contorted into a frown an he looked at her with sad puppy dog eyes. "No...We're...right for this...I think." His own speech faltering with question. Was Kurumi right? If he danced with someone else would he actually be decent? Could he not dance because it was with Kurumi an things were so...different.

"I'm just horrible at dancing...You can't be suggesting..that I...dance..with someone else? Because..I do want to dance with you." He told her in a weak voice. This was turning out worse then expected.

"Maybe..I'll go dance with Nessie..Or Ellie..." Adam spoke in a quiet, slightly hurt tone, as he shuddered at the thought of having to dance with his 'sister.'

Adam's sudden slouch caught her a bit off guard and she stumbled just a bit. Why was he...seemingly upset that Jonathan wasn't going to be here? That ALMOST made her feel more comfortable around him, almost being the key word. His eyes are what caught her the most...the hidden meaning behind that look that caused her to chew on her bottom lip. She noted how he did not let go of her hand though.

She did want to correct him on his use of we. There was no we in this situation. There was him and her, but no we. Still, she couldn't bring herself to say that out loud and potentially hurt him more.

"You...do?" she questioned? Because it seriously looked like and felt like he would rather there be a ten foot pole between them. Kurumi glanced in the direction of the other girls he mentioned and attempted a smile. "If that's what you want." Kurumi couldn't tell him otherwise.

An eyebrow cocked when Thomas heard the voice of a small girl very helpfully pointing out he was.. purple. Yeah. Like he didn't already know. And he wasn't a huge fan of the colour. But he couldn't help his lips quirking into a slight smile at her boldness at talking to a random older Gryffindor boy. It was a nice way to break the ice and he relaxed a little, the smile growing a bit. “Yeah.. Ain' everyone?” He replied in his thick South London accent, peering at the masses of people. Ness was bloody popular. “I feel like a righ' divvy” He added, looking down at his extremely casual, purrrrrrple attire. Erk. Perhaps he should have made more of an effort.

Pushing himself off the wall, he leaned forward a little and looked down at the smaller girl. “'You ain' seen Ness 'av yer?” He asked her. He wanted to wish her a happy birthday.

"I'm happy too." she gave him a small grin. She wouldn't worry about that, she didn't move much in her sleep, well that was when she did actuallysleep. She usually had trouble with her sleeping pattern, which was why there were many times that she was up in the early hours of the morning. Those hours, was when she thought of many curious things that had been bothering her mind the whole day. It was quite a pain. "I won't don't worry." she said giving him a small wink.

Nessie looked at the food table feeling just a little bit hungry and without further or do, she decided to excuse herself." Um..I'll see you later, I'm gonna go grab something small to eat." And with that she headed off to the food table.It was kind of funny, how people didn't really believe she was a dancer, but it also made sense. She was skinny and she looked just a little fragile, which wasn't really what most dancers were like, but she was different as always. "Um..Yeah, I used to allthetime." she mumbled some more. Now she shook her head at him a little, yes she may have still had it in her, but she didn't feel like letting that side out of her again. "Ermm..I don't know." she said not too sure how to answer him properly.

Why was he apologizing? Nessie's lips turned into a pout. Didn't he know? She didn't want anything. "Pleaase, don't worry about, its not like I wanted any presents." she gave him a small grin and then a friendly poke in the shoulder. She hadn't realised how much she had missed him, and even now that he was back she barely got to see him, but hopefully that would change. "Is that so?" she asked just getting a little curious.Mia was so beautiful, it wasn't fair. Nessie would have done almost anything to look as beautiful as Mia. The good thing about Mia though, was that she wasn't just beautiful on the outside, she was beautiful on the inside too where it mattered most.

And it was purple, that was extra special, Nessie also remembered that Mia too loved purple. "And in yours." She said with a little grin. She then took the card from Mia and examined it, it was gorgeous. She didn't open the card fully yet, because she felt that might have been a little rude to do in front of everyone, but she was the birthday girl right? "Can I open it?" she asked wanting Mia's opinion.Now Nessie was really giggling, that was really cute though. Couldn't resist gift shopping eh? Nessie kind of understood that, but she usually ended up buying gifts for herself more than for other people. She couldn't help it, it was just how she was most of the time. "Is that so?" she said snorting just a little. She hadn't gotten rid of her snorting habit yet, but it was better than it used to be and hopefully Adam would help her with that.

"Your too cute." said Nessie without thinking. She thought most younger people were cute, and she couldn't help herself but tease them about it. She knew she used to hate it when people called her cute, which was why she did kind of feel bad to call them cute, but they really were.Harass Amy? O__O Nessie stared at Sammy for a few moments, untill she realised that Sammy wasn't really going to harass, she would probably just go bug her or do something silly like that. Now Sammy too wanted to dance, Nessie had no problem with that at all, as long as she wasn't included in the dancing. She just couldn't bring herself to dance again. It was odd. "They not that bad." said Nessie looking at Oakey again he really had telent with he's dancing, talent like she used to have and she worked hard to get, but that was all gone now..or maybe it hadn't, she wasn't so sure yet.

A pout had formed on her lips again. She did hear the first part, but she had kinda planned to ignore it , because she really didn't want any presents. " Fine, fine I'll accept your gift." she said with a small grin just so Sammy would be happy, and surely it would be a awesome present after all right?Naww, Ellie was being to sweet now, but that was how Nessie felt about most people that gave compliments. "I think people only came for the food." mumbled Nessie more to herself than Ellie. She herself couldn't believe how many people had come and she really didn't expect it, she expected maybe five people to arrive, but there seemed to be way, way more than that.

"Soo..um how you and Dallin?" It may have been a little rude to ask, but Nessie wanted to make sure that Adam hadn't done anything bad enough to destroy Dallin and Ellie yet.Cold turkey on it? Ness raised a brow, whatever that meant. Either way Adam did have a point. Purple was too much of an awesome color to hate, and no matter how hard Ness would have tried she could never hate purple. It was just so bright and pretty and it made her feel happy. "Okay..maybe I won't I love my purple too much." she said playing with her purple dress.

:| It took her a few moments to recover from the awkwardness. Why did he always have to bring weird and uncomfortable topics up. He was like the king of awkwardness, she even felt he deserved a badge for it. She was relieved to see him go away, because otherwise things would have just become very odd. Anyway..she turned around too and looked for somebody else to chill with.Adam had really made her feel weird, which was why Nessie had decided to avoid people for a while till, she felt normal again. She eyed the dancefloor once more and felt a sort of inside pull towards it. It was like her body kept on telling her to dance, but because of Adam the pull towards the dancefloor slowly faded away. If only it would come back again, because she really was willing to try dance again, she just needed the right sort of encouragement. She continued watching most of the people dance hoping to feel something anything, that would get her to move her feet.

Thats when she spotted him standing across the room from her, on the otherside of the dancefloor. Her pout from before, at once turned into a big bright smile. It was Tom! And Merlin, he looked really handsome in purple. She personally thought the color suited him, but that may have been because she thought the color suited everyone. He really didn't look like a plum though, no matter what he said. She eyed the dancefloor that was inbetween them, and hesitated. She wasn't sure what to do? To cross the dancefloor or not? Hmmmm..her lips formed a pout again. It wasn't like she had much of a choice, because she really did want to see him.

Carefully she placed one foot onto the dancefloor and then as quickly as she could she walked through all the people that were dancing and moving. Then a few seconds later she found herself was on the other side, where she safe and sound and far away from Adam.. She then looked to her right and a few meters away she saw him again. "TOM!" she said shouting and waving, a little over excitedly. Good he was making friends. She had only now realised he was talking to someone, but surely he could bring them along too.Right?

Oh, he was going to tell her the truth now? Good. Ellie raised an eyebrow and leaned her head in a little just like he had. Because apparently this was top secret or something. Or maybe Adam was just still being weird, which was entirely possible... He wasn't a couch whisperer. "I gathered that..." Ellie whispered, waiting for the real answer to her question.

And she just ignored the part about laughing at people dancing because she was still waiting impatiently. Wait... he was hiding. From her? Ellie's eyebrows furrowed in a look of confusion. "Me?" She frowned a little bit. "Why? Did I... do something?" Now Ellie was worried about all this.



People only came for the food.?! Pfft. "What? No, I came for you!" Ellie said, trying to cheer the girl up. "The food is just a bonus." Ellie winked and laughed a little bit. She did like food. But this party was all about Nessie, not the food.

Nessie's question about her and Dallin kinda caught her off guard though. Not that it was bad, Ellie just didn't expect her to ask. But whatever. "Oh, we're good. Everything's fine." Ellie grinned and nodded. She knew Nessie had sort of been worried about them and Adam's feeling toward Ellie, but nothing had happened. JUST like she said nothing would happen but no one would believe her...

"Yes. I do." He answered her in a weak voice. Obviously, things were getting more an more weird an awkward as each second ticked by in the song. Songs usually last about 3-4 minutes, well, this was his most awkward 3-4 minutes in his entire life, ever.

The most mature thing Adam could do was walk away, because honestly, he could not throw a hissy fit at a dance an even more ruin Nessie's birthday party because of a little confusion of a dance with Kurumi. He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about the decision.

Slowly, he let go of her arm an pointed in the direction of all the girls an guys standing by the walls, then he spoke up with a grimace, "I'll be...over there."

Maybe he made the better decision because he'd leave Kurumi more confused about what he had meant earlier than being confused about their 'dancing'.



At this point Adam wished there was such a thing as a couch whisperer. It'd make this mess a whole lot easier an less confusing to understand. "I wonder if I can become one..Hmmm." Adam spoke up in a dreamy thought as he looked up to the ceiling, his eyes falling into a gazing look.

He waved his hands no in front of her. It's not that she hadn't done anything wrong, she hadn't he just didn't want anything wrong anything to happen. The setting was too perfect, an to top it all off, Dallin wasn't there. But at least, he could sense Nessie was watching him.

"You haven't done anything..." Maybe she would understand. They'd gone through this before, an she may have gotten tired of it. "It's what may happen if I don't avoid you tonight. You do understand that much right?"

Adam could tell that Louisa was lying despite the nonchalant way in which she answered the question. Well he couldn't fault her for lying considering the fact that he too had chosen to lie to her about what was upsetting him that day near the lake when they buried their promises to one another. After all it would be a bit too much calling the kettle black for Adam to push the matter, so he decided to just give her a little nod.

He kept in his same position as Louisa hoisted herself so that she was sitting on the table. Was that why he was upset because she became so flustered? Although Adam couldn't quite put his finger on it he had a feeling the way he went about answering this question was probably going to have a significant impact. "Well...yeah," Adam said with a small shrug of the shoulders. "This is supposed to be fun, and I certainly don't want to upset you by doing all of this," Adam said with a wave of the hand. Err...he meant the boxing but given the somewhat obvious undertone Adam wondered if that was going to be taken the wrong way. "I mean...I'm just...we don't have to do martial arts if it upsets you or anything," Adam finally concluded, frazzled that he was stumbling over his words this much. Where had his composure in tough situations gone?

Logan smiled at her back and placed the guitar gingerly on her lap. "Can you play what I just showed you for me?" he asked, looking at her and smiling warmly.

Ella held the guitar carefully, looking at Logan eyebrows raised. "Am I holding this correctly?" She sighed, feeling completely out of her element. How on earth was a guitar so foreign to her? Her dad had played for years and she'd always wanted to learn. Why had she never picked it up? She looked down when she heard him speaking. "I-erm yeah, I'll give it a try." She scrunched up her face in concentration, biting her lip as she strummed the guitar. When she was finished she looked at Logan, wanting to know his opinion. "Kind of like that?" She asked.

"Yeah, you're holding it perfectly." Logan said, smiling at her reassuringly. "Okay." he said, listening as she strummed it. "Yeah, that's good! That's great, Ella!" he said, smiling at her.

Anya grinned trying her best not to giggle. Aww. Poor guy. Did she make him uncomfortable? Most people weren't sure how to react when she told them... so really this was no different.

"It's really not a big deal." she said soothingly. She blinked. Did he understand what she was saying? "I'm adopted. But I've been here since I was like three." There. Now it was all out there.

She smiled. "Adam. Adam Burn. I think I can remember that." she said with a nod. How fun was the last name Burn? Way fun!

"So. It's my first Hogwarts party. I don't suppose you know what I should do at these things?"

Ella returned Logan's smile. "Okay good." She was surprised that he thought she was playing well. To her it didn't sound nearly as good as he did but she was just learning."Thanks! I really want to be good at this. What next?"

"You're welcome." he said, smiling again. What next? Hmm...er...yeah what next? He didn't know exactly. Hmm....he took the guitar back, still thinking. He then stood up and walked over to where all the books were. He pulled one out, and saw that it was a sight reading book. He walked back and handed it to her. He then put his guitar on the ground for now. "We can begin sight reading. Like knowing what notes are what." He said. "This book can really help with that. I used it when I began." he said smiling.

What? Oakey sounded surprised. It's a big Birthday bash that she organized for them and they're having the times of their lives right now, but she want's nothing in return. Nonsense He responded quickly, I-I mean we owe you big time for this kind of party at least let us get you something, even if it's a tiny piece of candy Oakey didn't have any of those to spare though, He wasn't candy's biggest fan at the moment.

Yeah he smirked right back I ain't gonna tell you what you got. Not even if Dumbledore rises from the grave.

Ella watched as Logan walked to the shelf and returned with a book. She looked down at it and then at him. He looked so adorable at the moment and she heard him speak but didn't know what he had said. She was too busy smiling at him like an idiot. "Wait what?" She said sheepishly, snapping back to reality.

Logan looked up at her as she was smiling and...staring at him. Well not staring...Gazing? Looking? He didn't really know. He smiled and shifted a little, feeling his heart start beating faster...and faster...and faster. And really loudly. He looked down at his chest, wondering if his heart would burst from his chest at any second. He then looked back at her and smiled. "I said I found this book, this uh...sight reading book. I used it when I was starting, it really works!" he said, looking at the book and smiling. "So...we can just read through it and learn how to read the notes." he said, opening the book and scooting closer to her so they could both read it.

Ella realized she was doing it again, that staring thing. She decided if she was going to continue staring, it might as well be at the book. She looked at it curiously and then back at him as he scooted closer. "Alright, if it can help me play like you, I'm down." She said smiling.

Ellie raised an eyebrow at the Prefect. Was he really wondering if he could become a couch whisperer? That wasn't even a profession. Couches were inanimate objects - it would be completely pointless and stupid to whisper to a couch. And Adam though she was the weird one. Ellie snapped her fingers in front of Adam's eyes to jolt him from his reverie. "Snap out of it, kid."

Finally... he told her. But It was kind of as Ellie expected. Ellie hadn't done anything wrong, but Adam was afraid that he might do something wrong. Ellie sighed heavily and sat on the arm of the couch. "Adam, come on... Don't avoid me. I'm your friend. We're friends... right?"

Yeah, maybe Adam saw Ellie as more than a friend, but Ellie had faith in him. She was sure that he could control his feelings - even if Dallin wasn't there that night. Plus, Nessie was probably watching them at this very second. "I trust you. Nothing's going to happen tonight." Now, could they go eat or dance or something? This corner was depressing her.

Kurumi followed Adam's gaze towards the wall and it sort of all made sense in her head. Some of what had been written in that article appeared to be pretty darn true and she sighed slightly. Just one of the numbers, right?

Maybe she shouldn't even be here? Kurumi's presence seemed to be making things really awkward for a few people. "Adam," she said, grabbing his arm again. She should have never asked, obviously. "I'm...sorry..." For whatever she was doing to make him uncomfortable or sad looking. Giving his arm a gentle squeeze, she smiled at him and then let go once more.

She should go find Nessie and, well, make up some excuse as to why she needed to leave, right?

Louisa's mouth twitched before drawing a crooked smile, "You didn't upset me." It was amusing to study his reactions to her awkwardness. He didn't even know why she became so flustered and she was grateful for that. Louisa didn't want him to know or even sense her TEMPORARY attraction. The girl didn't even know if it was temporary or not and she certainly didn't know whether it was right to admit it to him yet or not... even jokingly, she wouldn't tell.

Taking a bottle from beside her Louisa shook her head gently, "It doesn't upset me, not really. I guess I'm not feeling that well today for.." COUGHclosenessCOUGH. "..doing it. You did teach me the basics of punching though!" She smiled widely at him, picking up her enthusiastic tone quickly, "I'm sure I can punch whoever tries to form himself as a threat." Chuckling at her own wording, she jumped off the table. "Ready to leave, sir?" She linked her arm into his and directed him toward the door.

Now THAT kind of closeness was not intimidating at all. She had no idea why or what was so different from before but she didn't get the shucks while they walked arm by arm.

Alec blinked as a boy made a grand entrance and walked over towards him and Lyss. Obviously, he knew Lyss. He seemed to know her very well indeed. Maybe they were best friends like him and Anya? He would be happy for the two of them. Best friends were nice people!

And the boy was introducing himself to Alec. At least he wasn't being shunted down for... being small? He wasn't that small, was he? Alec looked up at the guy and smiled. "Erm, hey!" he said, holding out his hand, "I'm Alec, Alec Summers."



Alec grinned as Anya rushed over towards him. She looked so pretty in her dress! See? He was right when he said she should wear more dresses. He held out his hands on either side of him as Anya got closer and closer.

And GLOMP! Trust Anya to rush up to him and hug him like mad. Alec wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. Best friend style. "Hogwarts has too many staircases and weird rooms," he said, letting out a small chuckle, "Erm... i'm sorry? I'll be your escort from now on, Rilez." But there was no way he was going to admit that he had gotten a little lost himself.

Step and twirl! Alec grinned. "I think the birthday girl had better watch out. Someone prettier is in town," A bit... cheesy on his part. Well done, Alec! "Rilez, you have too many secret oufits!" All he wanted was for Anya to model some of her dresses for him... was that too much to ask for? And... what was this? "I see someone likes their birthday gift."

... Did the girl just say gummy bears? "Is that her present or are you planning on sharing?" he asked, grinning down at the bag. GUMMY BEARS! They hadn't had that since... the summer? Or the train ride? Or his birthday?

And now it was time for the all important question. Being the gentleman he was, or something Alec held out his hand towards Anya and put anther hand behind his back. "Would the lovely lady like to dance?" he asked.