Tay looked at him, "I doubt they will think it is true." She sighed.

"Not if we act like we can't stand the sight of one another." He smiled, "Come on Tay... isn't it worth a shot? I don't want to lose you again; not talking to you was horrible."

Tay nodded, "Okay. We can try...... but what if they find out that we are still close?" She sighed.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He said trying to reassure her, "All I know is I don't want to deal with even more restrictions from Maxwell, and I don't want Minerva to get the wrong idea about us. I mean, it would just be two friends talking, nothing more... Right?"

Tay nodded, "Yeah right." She smiled, "Just two cousins.... two friends." Taylor sighed in relief. She had missed him.

"I know I've said this fifty million times already, but..." He looked at her, "I've missed you. Talking to you, dancing with you, just seeing you really..."

Tay nodded, "You can say it fifty more times and i wouldnt care about yo urepeating yourself. It comforts me because i also miss our talks, dancing and being with you." She sighed.

He sighed, "Do you have any idea how difficult how hard it is to act like I hate you?"

"And me, you?" She sighed and stopped herself from giving him a hug.

Damon sighed, "Just act like this never happened, for you I guess." He chuckled, "because it sure seemed like you hated me when I first showed up." He never could hate Taylor, but he'd have to try which obviously he'd probably succeed, he was raised to be a bit of a performer.

Tay sighed, "Damon how would you feel if i told you that i dont want to talk to you anymore? Hmmm? Yeah i wasnt too happy about it especiually breaking a promise." Taylor grimaced.

"I didn't say I didn't want to talk to you anymore... Just that I thought it would be for the best if we didn't." He sighed, "I was being stupid and was trying to think what sounded like the best thing to do with a hurt pride and well... the only thing that came to mind was to go back to how I use to be."

Tay sighed, "It sounded like you hated me and that you never wanted to see or talk to me again..... It hurted a little but i guess i deserved it for rejecting you....." Taylor trailed off.

He sighed and hugged her again, "I promise you that I'm not going to do that to either of us again."

Paulie was ambling around outside. He needed a break from the common room and he wanted to take advantage of the warm-ish weather while it was still around. The seventh year found himself walking along the pathways, when he realized that there was someone - a student - sprawled across the middle of the pathway like she was taking a nap! Minus the closed eyes....

And WHO did this happen to be? WHO? HMMMM? The corners of Paulie's mouth stretched into a grin. Thea.

Now, Paulie knew perfectly well that she didn't appear injured at all, BUT... she was lying down in the middle of the pathways, wasn't she?

In a sudden state of theatrical panic, Paulie fell to his knees behind Thea's head. "Ohmygosh - Shortstop! SHORTSTOP!" He mustered up the best anguished expression he could and cradled her leafy-haired head. "Thea, darling. Ophelia..! Juliet! Don't leave me this way!"

If he WANTED, he could even whip out the fake waterworks.

"Promises get broken." You have broken already.... but now you.... unbroken it?

He sighed, "I only did what I thought was best for both of us at the time... I know now, like I said, that that was extremely stupid of me to do, to both of us; and I'll never do it again." He slid his arms off of her, so he could look her in the eye, "I'm sorry I hurt you so badly."

Tay kissed his cheek, "Sorry for everything, Damon..... best friends again?" She looked at him.

It would be foolish to ask her where she was going. Not because she was obviously going to the Pitch. Or back to the Castle from the Pitch. But because she had no idea. She wasn't even on the actual pathway, but rather the open spaces between. Pacing. Walking in circles. Whatever you'd like to call it.

Until she got tired of that. Because she wasn't a pacer. Or a walker. She was a flyer, a runner, and a cuddler.

It was the latter she decided to act on now, collapsing onto the soft grass and wrapping her arms around her tummy.

Whatever was she to do with herself, eh?

He smiled at her, "I wouldn't have it any other way." He kissed her forehead.

Tay smiled and kissed his cheek, "Good and..... thank you....." She hugged him and laid her head on his shoulder.

So far Stella had managed to avoid focusing on that hole inside herself. Seeing Gidget at the beginning of term had helped immensely, but after she'd sent the owl back, loneliness had set in again. She hadn't expected owls every week, anything like that, but the waiting wasn't fun. Classes could only distract her so much, and she couldn't study for NEWTs when she didn't think she could sit still. She'd have to buckle down and study eventually, but wandering around outside seemed like a better idea while the weather was still nice. Studying could happen later. She just hoped her inability to focus on studying right now wouldn't reflect on the exams next summer.

She was definitely thinking about the holidays, though, as she wandered the pathways with Nuage on her shoulder as usual. Getting to go back home. Hopefully it would make things better, not worse, since she'd have even longer to wait again after the second half of term started again. Once she'd turned another corner, however, she blinked at the sight of a vaguely familiar redhead curled up on the ground just to one side of the path. It looked almost like she was worse off than herself, although there wasn't evidence of a physical injury, and Stella couldn't not stop. "Are you alright?," she asked. She didn't think she could help, exactly, but maybe talking would just make things better. For both of them, if her guess was correct.

He laid his head on top of hers, "For what?" He sighed, "Not fighting what I want anymore? I should be thanking you Taylor... Without you, I wouldn't be here. I didn't want to come back to Hogwarts before I met you, I didn't want to be here period actually. I had always hoped that magical abilities wouldn't have shown up in me. That's I'd be a muggle like Mom."

Tay looked at him, "Thank you for not pushing me away again...." She sighed, "Damon, i came back to Hogwarts this year, because of you honestly.... I would of gone back to Beauxbaton even if Maxwell was here....."

Christopher wandered down the path, heading towards the grounds. It was a nice day and he figured he'd get out of the castle and get some fresh air. The year was still early on, but he was still already stressed out. With Adam being gone to his reappearance, his Hogwarts had been turned upside down and he was just trying to figure out how to flip it right side up again. Some of his friends were angry at him, some where overwhelmed still, and others were just calm and happy about his return. Everyone was different and it was still confusing.

Stopping to sit down on a bench along the way, he decided to just sit and think a bit. He was always thinking now-a-days. His blue eyes stared blankly in front of him as his brain began turning. He thought about a lot of things that happened over the past few months, but the one thing he couldn't do was get the picture of her smiling face out of his mind.