Zhenya just kept giggling at the memories of Raven taking all those photos. And of the couples! And her friends... she didn't want to stop laughing and smiling at the memories in case she started getting upset at them. So she made sure the smile she was putting on stayed on her face. She smiled at her best friend and her boyfriend as they chatted about things, and she felt a weird peace wash over her. She, too, wondered if Desiree liked New Zealand or England better.

"Oh photos and stuff?" Zhenya asked. She had never even had a talk to Gary about what he wanted to do after Hogwarts. "Can you do a photo course after you graduate? I think you can do muggle things with photographs but... what about with magic?" She didn't know.

João looked worn-out as he flopped down onto the nearest coach from the boys' dormitories. His eyes were all sleepy looking and his hair was messy. He didn't seem to care, though. He was still neatly dressed according to the winter outside, as it was his usual, with a black sweater and jeans. He held a box wrapped in present papers and he was examining it closely, trying to get the paper off it without tearing it.

Because he was obsessed like that.

Delilah came bursting through the common room with a wide, shallow box in her hands and flour all over her school uniform. She'd just go and change, before going off to find Joao... However, on her way across toward the dorms, she spotted her friend. Grinning, she waved - unsure of if he'd even noticed her, but she waved anyway. ON TO THE DORMS!

15 minutes later, the girl emerged from the dorms in her pyjamas; the box now wrapped with a purple bow. She'd decided against wrapping the WHOLE thing in paper, mostly because she didn't HAVE any gift wrap...

"Hello, you." She said, sitting down opposite Joao. Delilah carefully placed the box next to her... She could give it to him in a minute. She looked at the gift in his hands, and smiled. "Who's that from?" So... maybe it wasn't her place to ask, but she didn't really realise that. She was curious. And she wanted to know if her gift was going to be better, or at least mean more than this gift did... because she could be a bit selfish.

João was so intent on the box that he nearly missed the wave, and when he reacted to it, it was too late. He caught the hair of a girl getting inside the dorms, and didn't really pay attention really. He was just considering how to open the box... or whether he should open it in the first place. But it had been under his bed for about a month now, and it would go bad soon. Besides, who else did he have, to gift it? He didn't even talk to Louisa. Louisa... she felt like a distant memory now, it had been two months that they didn't speak a word. And Aspen turned it down... better to have it all to himself. Hehe.

So, in those 15 minutes that Delilah was gone, João finally managed to get the wraps off it in one piece and was examining the box when he heard someone address him. Looking up, he smiled broadly.

"Olá!" he greeted back in Portuguese, eyeing the box in HER hands. Then, looking back at his box, he hesitated whether t tell the truth. Delilah wasn't like the others to gossip though... at least João hoped so.

"I meant to give it to someone, actually," he said, trying to keep the hurt tone out of his voice, but he failed a little. It still stung to think about that day, although it was a month ago. "But, ah... she refused." He opened the lid at last and showed her the contents. There were shapes of finest chocolate from finest Brazilian cacao. "Would you like some?"

Dylan entered the Common Room decidedly more cheerful than when he had left. Things had went according to plan and now...Well, now he didn't have to think about that psychopath anymore. The Slytherin had figured his plan was full proof since he now had something new else to devote all his attention to.

Allowing the pleasure he felt with himself to really shine through, he walked over to the couches, taking a seat. His guitar case was still in hand. Shrugging, Dylan set it down gently, undoing the latches and opening it to pull his instrument out. Positioning it on his legs, he smirked.

Hopefully he wouldn't be annoying anyone too much...NOT that he really cared at the moment.

*SMIRK*

Strumming some of the chords, he finally settled into a song.

Oh, so they were using their native tongues, were they? Well then! Delilah went to call out a second greeting, before falling short; remembering that she didn’t actually know how to say hello in Irish. Did Ireland even have a language of their own? Eh. Her dad did always say she wouldn’t make a very good leprechaun.

Looking at her friend, she frowned as he explained. “Oh... I’m sorry. That’s not a very nice thing to do...” Delilah smiled as Joao asked if she’d like some. “Are they okay for vegetarians?” If they were... then she’d definitely take one. THEY LOOKED SO FANCY. How could AAAAAAANYONE refuse THOSE?”

João nodded. It certainly wasn't a nice thing to do... he wanted to forget that day completely, actually. Or re-shape it in his memory that he remembered it the way he wanted. Really, was a person capable of performing memory spell on himself? He had to ask that sometime. To that charms professor.

"Well, they are of cacao." He figured they were good for vegetarians, but they had their types and maybe some of them didn't like caco as well. Who knew? He read under the box anyway, since she probably didn't know Portuguese. "No milk. They only contain different Amazon fruits." It was truly the FINEST chocolate in the world and Miss Odessa had refused it.

He got one for himself and waited for HER to take one as well.

She watched as Joao checked the ingredients on the bottom of the box, and grinned as he said they were fine. Vegetarian chocolate was always good. "Well, then... I think I will." She eyed them for a moment, before choosing one of the smaller chocolates. Delilah smiled, "Thanks, Joao..." SEE. She'd been practising! It didn't sound so strange to say, now.

omnomnom. Delilah bit into the chocolate, saving half of it. It would be easier to be dignified if she didn't like the taste of the fruits, that way. However, the smaller Slytherin needn't have worried about that. Looking back to Joao, Delilah grinned. "These are amazing!"

...

"Oh!" Delilah set the second half of her chocolate on her knee, and gestured towards the box. "That's for you!" She picked it up and handed it to him, beaming. Hopefully he'd like them...

Delilah decided to wait until he'd opened the box, to see if he understood that the 12 cupcakes each represented one of the 12 days of Christmas...

Hmm. Desiree had to think about it for awhile, which one did she like better? "Well they're both really nice... but probably England, it just feels more like home." since she grew up there and all, "New Zealand is more like a vacation." She smiled, a really nice vacation though. Sometimes she just needed get away from her parents. She loved them, but her aunt was just so much more.. free-spirited and fun. She couldn't remember the last time her dad told a joke.

She listened as Gary talked about photography and nodded her head smiling a bit, he seemed so interested in it. She wished she had something she was that passionate about, but.. she didn't. She was ok at a lot of things, but there wasn't that one thing she was amazing at or loved to do. I'll figure it out eventually.. she thought to herself Before I graduate.. which was what Zhenya brought up next, if he would study photography after he left Hogwarts. Just the thought of not going to Hogwarts felt.. wrong. Not that they had much to worry about, they still had four more years.

João grinned in delight as she pronounced his name right. "De nada," he said as 'you're welcome.' She would get it was in Portuguese, right? Besides his letters with his mother, it had been TOO much time since he last spoke Portuguese out loud and he missed it.

"I hope you enjoy them," he said as he ate his piece in full. Goodness! His mother did get the BEST chocolate! Gulping it down, he smiled at her brightly. "I knew this brand is the best, but this is beyond best!" It must have cost a fortune too. Good thing he was eating it with Delilah. Or else, they would have been a total failure.

For him? He got red all of a sudden as his face broke into yet another broad smile. "Oh, you--" was all he could say before he opened the box carefully. His face brightened at the sight of 12 delicious cupcakes.

"Oh, Delilah!" He held the box as if he was afraid of ruining it. He was quite touched and ashamed. He didn't get her anything! "I didn't know you'd really make cupcakes, thanks a lot!" And he was so surprised by the gesture that he didn't even know what else to say.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that, learning photography more serious." he smiled. Gary was madly in love with photography since two years ago, when his muggle studies Professor in Salem introduced it to them. The blonde guy heard Desiree's statement. "I see. New Zealand seems interesting. I've seen the leaflet about that and I think it's also a good spot for photographer." Could he say that Traveler and Photographer were two things that very related each other? Of course!

He cracked his arms and neck. Argh, he was very tired. Maybe he need to take a rest. "Well, enjoy your girl's talk." He chuckled. "I need to take a rest first. See ya." He smiled to both of them and gave a quick kiss on his girlfriend's lips. Then he walked to the dorm, leaving the two girls.

Back at Hogwarts. Great. Aurora would rather be at home to be honest - she wasn't sure she could deal with lessons right now. But there you go. She sank into a sofa in front of the fire and breathed a sigh of relief that she had managed the stairs. The sigh was a bad idea though - it irritated her chest and she descended into a violent coughing fit. She sat up, trying to catch her breath, and eventually managed to calm herself down enough to take one of the potions she now had to carry around with her. Eadric had given her a muggle inhaler but... Well... Aurora just didn't trust them.

When her breathing had softened a bit she slouched further into the couch and stared at the fire. This Christmas had been a bit of a disaster really... She was kind of glad it was over. She wished she could have stayed with Krys and Yvonne though...

Aurora glanced up as she heard the sound of wings... two owls? How did owls even get down to the common room? It's not like there were any windows. And owls can't exactly speak the password. She was even more surprised when both of the owls came and dropped letters on her lap. She'd been back for ten minutes and two people had written to her? What was so important?

She tore open the first letter and read it quickly. Her heart sank. Oh. The letter dropped to the floor. So that was why Milton wanted to talk, probably. Hands shaking, she opened the other one and scanned it. It was for the same reason... only angrier. Well of course it was angry - someone had kissed the man's wife for Merlin's sake. And that someone was her boyfriend. Aurora held up the letters in front of her. Mia Abrams... wasn't she heavily pregnant or something? Not that it mattered... Either way, Aurora still wanted to punch her 'boyfriend' into next year. She wasn't quite sure what to feel right now though... she was livid, yes, but should she be sad? Surprised? What? So she just sat there, staring at the letters, face like thunder. Oh Milton was so dead...

Kennedy walked into the common room with his bag slung over his shoulder. He had gone up to the library and got some books about herbs and dragons - like always. He was in a somewhat better mood than yesterday and the giagantic head ache was gone as well.

As he walked toward the fire place two birds almost collided with him, except he swerve and...

...his book bag fell. It hit the ground and spilled all it's contents out. "Bloody owls," he murmured.

Great.

Aurora looked around as she heard something fall. Oh. This was exactly who she wanted to see right now... Ha. "I... sorry." she squeaked, the letters still clutched in each hand. "D-do you want some help?" So her voice was apparently not working. It was coming out as a whisper really. Maybe she should try that thing... She took her inhaler - urgh - out of her pocket and used it. Wow... that was actually... wow. "I mean... d'you want help?" she said at a normal level.

She stood up and took a step towards Kennedy. But did he want her help? She'd totally understand if he didn't... and then she'd leave. It wasn't Kennedy she wanted a confrontation with...

Kennedy knelt down and for a second just stared at the mess. His quills, books, notes and other papers were all over the place. Who's owls were those anyway? He looked up when he heard Aurora's voice and was about to glare when he noticed her voice. It was probably because of that dang accident.

And...she had an inhaler?

Instead of glaring he nodded. "Yeah...sure," he said. Unknown guilt was eating him up. He then directed his attention to the ground and picked up a quill. Then curiously got the best of him. "Were those your owls?"

Aurora was ready to leave, really... but then... oh. Aurora walked over and began to gather up papers into a pile. See? She could do this. Her brother was being ridiculous when he told her not to strain herself too much. She'd managed three of the Ceili dances, she could manage this.

Her owls? Aurora looked up at Kennedy. He knew what her owl looked like... didn't he? And it wasn't like either of them... "They... were for me... yes." she said, pointing at the bits of parchment on the sofa. The papers were crumpled where she'd gripped them in anger. "F-from people I've never met before..." she added quietly. She stacked the pile of papers neatly and handed them to Kennedy, bending down again to pick up a book... herbs? She wondered what that book had to say on the subject of Belladonna... or deadly nightshade... because she intended to do a lot of research there...

He noticed that look she gave him. He knew her owl and obviously these two weren't her's. Thats why he asked. Oh. But whatever ever they were delivering was for her. He followed her gaze and noticed the letters. They crumpled and it reminded him of when friend died. Actually, they were in the same spot where she had cried and he had held her.

Kennedy shook his head and picked up a set of quills and stuffed them inside his bag and took the papers from Aurora. He found her next statement strange. From people she's never met? That was strange...and his curiosity spoke for him. "That's odd...why would a stranger write to you?" There went his plan of not talking to her.

She picked up the last books, not noticing that he shook his head, and handed them to him. Dragons? It had been dragons last time... in fact... he kept dropping his books around her.

Why would a stranger write to you? Aurora looked up at him, unable to hide the emotion from her face anymore. A mix of anger, sadness, guilt, frustration... "To tell me that my b-... that Milton cheated on me." she said, tears forming in her eyes. She blinked them away - no... she didn't want to cry about him... not after this. "One was from her..." Mia... ha. "And the other one... from her husband..." The word husband caught in her throat and she coughed slightly... Seriously? A married and pregnant woman..? What had Aurora done wrong that she wasn't enough? She had trusted him with everything...

She stood there nervously, nothing left to do with her hands, and fiddled with her inhaler, turning it over and over. It was a strange looking thing... But she was more concerned with what Kennedy was going to say. If he was going to gloat she would just turn and run to the dorms... but... well... she needed to know.

Okay.

He was not expecting THAT! Kennedy's hands froze and suddenly he just shoved everything is his bag, not caring if it made a mess inside. He stood up and...

Then what? He wasn't her boyfriend anymore. He wasn't nothing to her than just a house mate. Also, even if he was a Slytherin, he wasn't one to gloat over other's falls....Okay. That's a lie. He'd laugh at Milton.

He saw tears building up in her eyes, but all he did was ball his hands into fists. He had moved on and was happy about that, but...was it wrong that he wanted to hurt Milton. Like really bad.

"He deserves a good hexing," he said, seriously. Milton deserved a good beating.

What? He wasn't exactly reacting how she'd thought he would - not that she'd had much time to ponder over it... He had just... shoved everything in his bag..? Something in Aurora nagged at her that it would be all disorganised but she pushed it aside.

She nodded, "He deserves more than just a hexing." she muttered. Because he had hurt her. It was a different hurt to when she had broken up with Kennedy. This time it felt more like a slap in the face than a punch in the chest. And she was definitely going to do something about it... tomorrow.

Then it dawned on her that Kennedy had just said that. Surely he wasn't supposed to care? Then again... Milton hadn't exactly been nice to him... She understood now... he felt cheated, right? Because she felt the same... only... only Aurora had never actually been unfaithful. Still... she felt even worse about it now... "Kennedy I... I'm sorry." she said quietly, almost inaudibly. "I know it's too late and it probably doesn't matter to you anymore but... I am." Her sentence trailed off as she stood there, looking at him. "And... I just... I wanted to say that... I was wrong, I think." She took a step back... why was she even doing this..? "That is... I mean... You're nothing like them..." The pureblood extremists... "And I... well... I was wrong. About... everything I guess..."

It took a lot for her to admit that. She'd been going over and over in her head what she'd say in a situation like this and that had been absolutely nothing like what she had planned. Well, she'd said it now. She turned away and grabbed the letters from the sofa - she didn't bother to fold them, just shoved them in her pocket crumpled up. Her fingers gripped the back of the sofa tight... if he didn't say anything now... she'd... probably just go and lie awake in bed until she could go and see Milton and curse him until he begged for mercy. Twice.

The word awkward couldn't even cover what Kennedy felt at this very moment. He wanted to walk away and pretend he had not broken the deal he had made to himself of not speaking to Aurora, but he wasn't the coward he used to be. So. He nodded in agreement. Milton DID deserve more than that.

He then froze on spot from surprise. Had she just apologized to him? Yep, and she wasn't done yet. It is too late, he said to himself mentally. Sure, she had not cheated on him, but the at speed she had found someone else it only sent one clear message. She hadn't cared for him the same way he had. It didn't matter anyway. What was in the past stayed there. There was no changing that.

So what could he say in return? He didn't want to be a jerk right now because she was obviously hurting...maybe even seething. "What made you change your mind?" Aurora had been set on him being like those people, what changed her opinion? Had it taken this Milton incident for her to realize that?

Oh. Aurora looked around again, she really hadn't expected him to reply to that so... well... not angrily. If she was him... well... she wouldn't have been so quiet about it. But then, she knew he didn't share her knack for making a public spectacle of herself.

What had made her change her mind..? Had she ever actually thought that he'd been like that? "I stopped and thought about it..." she said. She'd realised nobody like Kennedy could ever turn into someone like... like his father. Possibly the final straw that broke her stupid ideas of that was when he offered her water at the Ceili. He hadn't ignored her, he hadn't yelled at her, he hadn't taken advantage of her being ill and... no stupid upper-class pureblood supremacy educated guy would have done that. "And I... missed you." Barely audible. The tiniest whisper. But she'd said it... and now she wished she could just suck the words back in and unsay them...

She gestured to the letters in her hand awkwardly... "I'm going to bed I... just made plans for tomorrow." Mhmm. Involving her wand. And Milton. And probably somewhere to hide the body. Yep. "Sorry about your stuff..." Even though they weren't her owls. And with that, Aurora ran down the stairs to the dorms. She knew her chest would make her regret that - but it was better than sitting and hearing... well... anything Kennedy had to say. Because she was a hundred percent sure he wasn't about to say anything good...

She stopped and thought about it? Couldn't she had done that months ago? Or maybe...maybe it was during the Christmas event at the Quinn Manor. He had been there along with his father and maybe she'd noticed that he wasn't like that man...well, as far as she knew.

Her next words caused his eyes to lock with hers in plain surprise. She missed him. Yeah, it took her four months and a Milton to realize that, he thought bitterly. He shifted his gaze to the fire place instead. He didn't know how to respond to that either. Had he missed her? Well...he has had support from friends and certain people that he hadn't quite had time to think...or miss. Right? What he HAD felt was extreme resentment toward her, but that seemed to be diminishing with guilt because of her accident.

His attention was once again drawn back to her when she spoke. Plans? He was sure it included the jerk face Ravenclaw. He nodded and walked away as well. This had to be the longest conversation they've had without fighting or ending up glaring daggers at each other.

Selena was bored. She ought to study for her NEWTs or something smarticle like that but she really didn't care at that moment. She had months to study for it. On her stomach was her pygmy puff and her cruppy was chewing on a rejected shoe on the ground. Selena also didn't feel the need to take the shoe away from the cruppy. She also didn't know who was the owner of the shoe because it sure wasn't Selena's.

She didn't know what to doooo. Lying on the couch was also getting awfully dull. Except for the eating part. Because all the while she was shoving Bertie Bott jellybeans in her mouth. She wondered what would happen if she released chocolate frogs in the common room. Meh. She had nothing to do.

"TALK TO ME."

Yes people. She was bored. Somebody. She needed to talk to people. And to eat more jellybeans. She probably needed to check out the person's shoe as well, but she wouldn't. Clarke seemed to like his new chew toy.

Asher had pretty much torn the dorm room up looking for it. It looked even worst than it did when he was looking for something to wear to the last match and that was a mess.

Maybe it was down here, in the common room itself. He wasn't sure why it would be down here though. In less someone bought it down or he took it off and didn't carry it up with him.

He searched behind couches and chairs. Crawled on his hands and knees. He even glanced in the green lit fireplace.

Nothing, not less it was already burnt to a crisp. He sighed, looking at the one shoe he had in his hand. Well some good one shoe was going to do him. He turned about and marched back toward the boys dorm. When he caught sigh of a cruppy...... chewing on something.

He rushed over to the couch where Selena the head girl was laying. He knew her mostly because of his sister. He liked her she was a nice girl, always sharing sweets with him. He even bough her chocolate pasta last term.

But today well today her crup was chewing on his brand new shoes like it was the crup's chewy toy. "Oi, Selena look what that crazy crup is doing!"


Asher was sure that this had been the longest day ever.... and it wasn't even dinner time yet. Asher was ready for some quiet time in the common room, which was highly unlikely winter time meant most of everyone was in doors. It was to cold to be wondering the grounds, unless in was for class.

He was relived to see not to many people where in the common room when he got there. Just a few people perfect. He didn't take anytime flopping down on a near by chair and relaxing.

He closed his eyes, but the second his eyes closed he heard...... music.... live music and it was right beside him. He sit up and listened to the guy sing and play. It was Dylan, or at least he was fairly sure that was his name. He remembered him from the match. He shot an awesome goal... the first goal of the match to be exact.

He waited for him to finish up the song before he spoke. "That was some nice playing in that last match you know and your music isn't bad either."