"that was hard for me at first as well.. let's walk and i'll show you haw i remembered how to get places ok?

Zhenya's eyes became unfocused as she let the tears run down her face. Sobbing was taking the energy she didn't have. She was all sobbed out. She listened to Desiree's hope, and wanted so much to believe it. To believe ANYTHING. But she didn't know what she could think. "I send my dad a letter and... and.. he-e's a Healer so may-be he can suggest something," she said through the sobs that were slowly starting again. "He works at St Mumgo's maybe he can find out if they can-help or if they can sug-gest anything."

She really wished her father would reply to the letter soon, otherwise she would be stuck like this, dreading the moment when she got a letter from... who? Who would know to write to Zhenya and let her know? She had never met Raven's family, they didn't know she needed to know. Raven wouldn't be able to send her a letter and tell her. Unless it was a goodbye letter, but still, that would imply she was still alive. Would... would her letter be returned to her? Maybe they would send something back with Rosie? Now she was dreading the moment Rosie might come back with a letter attached to her.

Jacques couldn't handle the blubbering girl anymore, from what he caught, someone had cancer and was going to die. He knew he should have felt sympathy, and from the slight change in his breath he knew he did but the logical part of him won over and he couldn't help but think that by now they should have expected death as the inevitable. Brain cancer wasn't something to take lightly and by the sounds of it they'd discovered it far too late. To do surgery would be risky even for wizards. Of course the girls seemed to be holding out for a miracle of sorts. That's all girls did.

Jacques used the arms of the chair and pushed himself up his eyes darting to the floor as the book he was reading made a loud THUD causing some of the older students to look his way. Sheepishly he bent and muttered an apology before gathering the hardcover against his tiny frame and bolted up the stairs to the boys dorms.

You two *shifty*
 

Zhenya's eyes slowly focused on the face in front of her. It was Gary, why was he there? She jolted back to life at the sight of him, and the feel of him wiping her tears away... yet again. Wouldn't he get sick of this soon? Or start to think she was just an emotional person? Well, she wasn't. She hated crying, but this was different. She was almost beginning to mourn the loss of her friend, but was on the fence. It was hard knowing which way to jump, to mourn or to have hope. What one would it be? Only time would tell, and that time held with it the most anxious feelings she had ever felt.

She started hyperventilating, just thinking about it. Her hands reached up and closed around his wrists. She held herself there for a few moments before stepping into his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. But only for a moment, because Desiree was there and that was rude. She just needed that hug to make her feel better.

She pulled away slowly, but not completely. "Gary this is my best friend Desiree. I'm... I just had to tell her... tell her about.. y-you know... Ra-" she started to say, but stopped. She couldn't speak her name, but she knew Gary would understand. She reached out and took Desiree's hand and gave it a small squeeze. "Desiree this is my b.... boyfriend, Gary," she said, feeling her face going red.

Desiree's tears had finally stopped, or maybe she had just run out. She felt.. empty. She could tell that Zhenya had almost given up hope.. maybe she should too... but no, she couldn't. Because that would mean it was over. When she finally looked up rubbing her red puffy eyes, she saw a tall blond Slytherin walking in. She didn't recognize him, and was shocked that he was heading straight towards them. A friend of Zhenya's maybe?

OH. More than a friend. Zhenya confirmed what she already guessed when she introduced them. Even given everything she just found out she found a small smile playing on the corner of her lips, she couldn't help herself. She looked from Zhenya to Gary and back again. Zhenya had a boyfriend.

She returned her friend's squeeze giving her a look that said "why didn't you mention him earlier! and he's really cute!" and looked up at the older Slytherin, "Oh well it's.. it's really nice to meet you Gary" she paused and felt embarrassed surely she looked horrible, scary probably "Sor-rry it had to be like this though.." her voice had quavered a little and another tear managed to roll down her face. But she held out her hand for him to shake anyway. She was going to hold herself together and be polite. "Like.. like Zhenya said I'm Desiree." that didn't need to be repeated, but she wasn't thinking very clearly right now.

Zhenya bent her head down when she got the look from Desiree. She had a feeling she knew what it meant, and knew that when Gary had to go to bed, and the two of them too, that Desiree would make her tell her everything. She took a deep breath in and slowly released it with a small smile on her face, at Desiree.

She leaned in to Gary resting her head underneath his shoulder. She was too short for her head to actually be able to rest ON his shoulder. She felt so drained now. She was so hungry too. And she was sure her eyes would be swollen tomorrow from all this crying. Oh, all this crying she had been doing recently, it was worrying her. Was it happening? She was finally turning into a girl? The amount of times she was crying lately, but no... it was for a reason. She wasn't just being a blubbering mess like one of her aunties.

*too lazy to quote, but you know who you are*
 

Zhenya felt herself calming down, just by him stoking her hair. Did he know how calm that made her? More calm than her father patting her back to sleep after her grandparents died. She nodded at him when he said those things, because she was sure if Raven knew they were crying about her she would roll her eyes at them and walk away. She wasn't into this stuff, and Zhenya needed to lift her chin in the air to stop the tears from now on. Could she do it? Well, she HAD to do it for Raven.

"Desiree was my best friend in first year, but then she was pulled out and moved to New Zealand, but she came back! I haven't spoken to her in like... a year or something," Zhenya said with a smile. She was so happy she was back, more than she could tell her.

Desiree couldn't help but overhear Gary's comment, about Raven being sad if she saw how sad they were. And it was true; Raven would hate that they were like this because of her. So Desiree pulled herself together, and besides crying wasn't going to fix anything as her father would say. She pulled back her long blonde hair that was stuck to her face and up into a pony tail, as she watched Gary stroking Zhenya's hair. Aw, he seemed so sweet.

It was still going to take time to get used to the fact Zhenya had a boyfriend, it was just.. weird, since the last time she saw her they were just little first years.. She had missed sooo much. She gave a small, almost shy smile to Gary. Well, she was pretty shy when meeting new people. But since Zhenya was there, she felt more comfortable. "Ya best friends," she agreed with a grin, turning to Gary "I basically missed my whole second year, well at Hogwarts anyway, I was home-schooled there." in New Zealand. "It wasn't all that bad though." You know except for the fact that her friend got brain cancer while she was gone. Ok, keep it together Desiree. She felt like she needed some air, maybe they could go out for a walk later? Ya that sounded nice.

But for now she eyed the older Slytherin, well she assumed he was older. "So what year are you in Gary?" maybe just a really mature third year?

Gary just kept stroking his girlfriend's hair in order to make her calm. Actually the blonde guy wanted to give her a hug or a kiss to cheer her up, but it was not appropriate since her friend was there and he was quite shy to do that in front of people. But another her best friend was there, maybe she could cheer her up or cheering them up each other. Knowing their best friend was seriously ill might be the worst thing that they'd ever thought.

"I'm fifth year actually." said him to Desiree "And just moved from Canada this year." he turned to Zhenya who was sitting beside him and smiled. She had stopped crying about her best friend. Well, he admitted that she looked pretty after she'd cried. But it didn't mean that he liked to see her crying of course.

<3
 

Zhenya winked at Desiree. The three best friends, and nothing would ever break that. Not even... just, nothing.

"Gary helped me take photos of the lake to send her. We took them in the moonlight," she admitted, biting her lip, "And they were really beautiful I have some in my bag," she said, reaching forward to pull them out and passed them to Desiree.

She listened to Gary's soothing voice talking to Desiree, things she already knew but liked hearing again and again. She was so glad he came to Hogwarts. And she was soooooooo glad Desiree had come back. When he stopped talking it took her a few moments to realise he was looking at her. And smiling. She looked up at him, knowing her eyes and face would probably be red and swollen from her salty tears. How could he always manage to smile at her like.... like THAT? The smile that, even though they were together now, still made her stomach flutter from the butterflies. She smiled back at him and felt something inside pull, like... well what was it? She had no idea. But she was so happy just smiling into his smiling eyes.

Oh wow a fifth year, her eyes widened a little, and from Canada! Desiree smiled, a real smile this time. "Canada, that's really interesting!" and she meant it, she had never met anyone from there before. She really wanted to asked him why he didn't end his sentences with 'ay' then if he was from Canada, because she heard they did. But she stopped herself.

Desiree noticed the wink from Zhenya, and thought she knew what it meant. She smiled a knowing smile. And then looked down at her hands for a minute. But she looked back up when Zhenya mentioned the pictures. She carefully grabbed the ones's Zhenya handed her, and laughed a little, "In the moonlight, huh?" she said glancing at the two of them again.

But she stopped laughing as she looked at the pictures, "Wow Zhen, these really are amazing." Just everything about them was so.. perfect. She was glad Raven got to see them. "You're a really good photographer Gary" she admitted flipping through the pictures. "You should take a picture of me and Zhenya sometime." She suggested lightly. Maybe they could send those to Raven too..

"Yeah. I was born and raised in Canada, then my family moved to America when I was 7." He explained. He didn't mention about his uncle, No. Because there's a few people knew about his real family, including Zhenya. "You were originally from New Zealand?" asked him.

Gary just gave a smile when his girlfriend told Desiree about the night when they took the photographs at the lake. It was the most unforgettable night in his life because.. It was the night when he kissed her, confessed about their feelings each other and they officially became a couple. "Thanks." he said. Photography was his favorite things, sadly he couldn't bring his DSLR muggle camera to Hogwarts. But polaroid pocket one was not bad too. "If you really want me to take both of your pics, that's okay. Contact me everytime." He smiled and grabbed his girlfriend's hand.

Zhenya blushed and gave a small laugh. "Yes... moonlight, it was... perfect," she said, lightly elbowing Gary. She nodded along, agreeing that Gary was a perfect photographer. She wondered if he would graduate school as the School Photographer. Maybe? He could take all the photos of students, and Zhenya could make sure he took some of himself too. That face needed to be put into the yearbook.
"I think Raven would like a photo of us, letting her know we miss her so much," she said. She might be a bit upset that she couldn't be at Hogwarts with them, but they both wished she could be there too. "Gary you can take lots of photos of us," she said. She only had a few photos with Desiree. Laughing she said, "One year in Potions we got to take photos and develop them in a potion we learned, and we had so much fun taking all those photos. Raven took so many sneaky photos of people around the school." It was very funny.

Feeling Gary's familiar hand in hers, she looked at him and smiled. She wished they could all go and see the moon in the lake again. But she didn't want to risk it again, they were lucky not to get detention, or points deducted.

After the headmaster and even head of house ignored him, Isaac headed back up to the castle to his dorm where he tossed his broomstick he'd retrieved, and headed back to the common room. He was tired, but too wound up to sleep...plus it was way too early to go to bed. Collapsing into one of the chairs infront of the fire, he stuck his stocking feet out infront of him towards the fire, yawning as he did so.

Ariana walked into the common room, she didnt want to be confined in there but she had no choice, and she didnt want another detention upon arriving she saw a player already there "Good Job today Isaac, that was a great game!" she said to him, yeah she knew his name they SHOUT IT OUT during the games o she didnt care to seem creepy

Looking up as he heard his name spoken, he spotted a younger girl that had entered the common room "Thank ye." he said smiling at her. It had been a fantastic game, really, they'd finally won a game, with him on the team. "It was a great game." he replied nodding. "So ye know me name, what's yers?" he asked teasingly.

oi he had a weird accent. strange kids here at this school really, seemed to get stranger by the day. She sat on a chair across from him "Ariana." she said as she zipped her green jacket so no one saw her TeamBadger shirt. How embarrassing, but it wasnt her fault her best friend was on the team.

Nodding he smiled quietly at the girl big talker... he thought looking back at the fire. "Nice te meet ye." he added. His eyes caught the movement of her zipping up her jacket, but didn't think anything of it, it was a tad chilly there in the common room. It was why he was sitting with his feet towards the fire, "Yer a...fourth year?" he asked casually.

oi what a busy day for me!!! ahh
 

Ariana Looked at him with a raised eyebrow "Third year actually." she said as she looked around the room and noticed it was practically empty "So how long have you been here? Since 1st year?" she asked trying to be nice and strike up conversation

>.< tomorrow just got busier for me
 

"Pardon me." he replied, he really wasn't all that great at guessing a person's age. She'd been here much longer then he had that was for sure though...ok maybe one year more, but still. Shaking his head at her question, "Nah, I've only been here since last term. Before thet I was homeschooled, but me mum and dad wanted me te go te school fer the rest of the schooling."

Ohh so he lived in America. That explained the accent, or lack of. She shook her head and let out a small laugh, "Oh no, I was born and raised in England. But my mom's side of the family is from New Zealand so we visit a lot."

Desiree smiled as she noticed her friend blushing, what exactly happened in the moonlight? hmm? She would make her tell her later.. "Thanks, that'd be really great Gary." she said when he said could take their pictures and she nodded in agreement with Zhenya "I thought so too." She smiled sadly thinking of Raven's reaction.

But the smile soon reached her eyes when Zhenya brought up the potions project, "I remember that!" she giggled remembering all the poses they made each other do, "We were in the garden.. and then didn't we go down to the lake too?" she couldn't remember, but she made a mental note to try and find those. She laughed again, "And no one ever noticed Raven was taking them."

Noticing that his girlfriend elbowed him when they spoke about the moonlight, Gary just gave a small laugh. Did she want to go back at the time again? He'd like too. Hehehe. But it was risky to sneak out at night again and have a date at the lake. Luckily, at the time no one noticed about that and they were safe from points deducted or Detention. Maybe Desiree was a bit confused about that, since no one knew what actually happened at the time. Perhaps she would tell her friend about that? That's okay, though he was a bit shy if someone knew about that. But he was very glad at the time.

"Oh. I see. So, which one is better? England or New Zealand?" said him joking. The blonde guy had experienced living in three different countries; Canada, America and England. He still said that Canada was still the best and he usually went back there at least once in a year. He didn't know if his uncle would go back there at Christmas since he was very busy with his new business. Huh. And speaking about photography, he really loved that! Not the wizarding one, because the picture could move just liked a muggle video. He preferred the muggle one. "You know, from this silent picture there are so many stories inside." he explained while he took one of the pictures. "I've been thinking to learn more about it seriously." Yep, he had planned to take a degree in Photography after he had graduated from Hogwarts.

Gary just nodded when they started talking about Raven. Seemed she was a remarkable best friend for them. She must be very lucky to have best friends like Desiree and his girlfriend. But poor her, in her young age, she'd suffered a serious disease.