Gwen was seriously getting tired and decided to head back inside. With the notebook full of unsorted drawings, sketches and letters, the fourth year made her way back to the Common Room, walking with hasty steps along the third floor corridor. She’ll just have to organize those pieces of parchment a bit… Mhm… there were just so many that she could easily lose from the notebook. Ack. And the letters. She still had all of those thrown and forgotten between the pages of the notebook she was carrying in her hands. Enough is enough. I’ll just do this as soon as I get back to th…, she started thinking, and, before she knew it, she stumbled over something.

Surprisingly enough, the fourth year managed to hold her balance, but couldn’t catch the notebook in time. Instead, the notebook landed on the floor with a loud THUD, causing all of the things inside to fly and scatter over the whole place. This is just great, the Ravenclaw thought as she started picking up everything from the floor. Nice going…

Blue was lost.

Again.

For what seemed the fiftieth time.

And it was started to make her feel SAD. Blue was blue. She pushed open a door and wandered along the empty corridor, gazing at the ground as she walked. Right foot. Left foot. Right. Left. Sniffle. Right. Left. Sniffle. Right. Left. Sniffle. Right. Left. Sniff- WAIT. There was another person here. Blue perked up. Maybe this person/oldie could help her.

But first of all, it seemed this old!girl needed help to. Blue beamed. See people, this where Blue came in. This girl had dropped all her stuff and Blue would help her. Then the girl would HAVE to help Blue (maybe even give her a piggy back to the Ravenclaw common room?!?!) otherwise that would be MEAN and RUDE.

Blue skipped over to her and went down on her knees, picking up envelopes and pieces of paper. She shoved them into a messy pile and beamed before holding it out to the girl.

You will help Blue now right?

Riiiiiight?

Great.

This is just great.

Gwen started to pick up the things from the floor, not really minding to put them back orderly in her notebook. She would just sort them later, anyway. How did she even manage to draw so many portraits and start so many sketches this year? The fourth year was indeed a bit sorry that she hadn’t left the finished ones in the Common Room. This could have been avoided. At least no one saw her stumbling. Yes?

As she was picking up one of the portraits, the Ravenclaw was able to hear some footsteps walking along the corridor, but didn’t mind to look at who it was. Pffft. Probably someone she didn’t know, anyway. And perhaps that person was just passing by. Meh.

But then, as she kept picking up the parchment pieces from the floor, a girl, that looked like a first year appeared in front of her. It was only after the younger student beamed that Gwendolyn took notice of who it was. ‘Are you all right?’, the fourth year asked as she eyed the girl. It was one of the few times she was actually willing to help.

So... What was wrong?

Adam's jaw was stiff and sore to say the least. He kept moving it in a circle in the hopes that the muscles would sort themselves out but it didn't seem to be helping. Not to mention it was a rather gnarly looking bruise that was forming on the point of contact. Who knew that little weasel could muster such a punch. Spotting a near by bench along the corridor Adam plopped down on it, rubbing his jaw tenderly. This is what he had been doing all day: toying with the idea of going to the hospital wing for something to take off the edge, but ultimately Adam didn't want to give Joao the satisfaction. So instead Adam opened his History of Magic textbook and started reading. If it got any worse, then he would go.

Louisa was making her way up to her common room with a half doughnut in her hand. She was in a neutral mood, her movie night out with Jonathan and everything that happened after left her confused and calmer than her usual self. She had a lot to think about and figure, and learn. Her agreement with Joao about being friends set her heart at ease though... now she wouldn't feel guilty about going out on a proper date with--

"Adam!" She beamed at him, started jogging toward the boy spreading her arms out for a hug but... the color of his face stopped her. She stood right in front of him, biting slowly on her doughnut and staring at his cheek. "Adam? What's that?" He... didn't try to put on makeup, right? Because unless that was the option, it meant that he was in a fight which was NOT one of his characteristics.

Adam was half way down the page when he heard his name being called. He looked up knowing it was Louisa and attempted a smile, a gesture that sent a shooting pain through the entire right side of his face. Adam had started to stand up to give Louisa the hug that he could tell she was expecting hence her wide open arms but merely stood there as Louisa stood stock still. Adam knew the bruise was way too big and noticeable for it to go unnoticed by Louisa, but Adam wasn't really sure whether or not to tell Louisa about the encounter with Joao or make up a lie. "I was punched," Adam said with a gentle shrug, before returning to the bench and scooting over so that Louisa could sit down. Although, in all honesty Adam had a feeling that she wasn't going to sit down until she got the whole story. "Not a big deal...someone just needed to get out some apparent frustrations." Yeah, hopefully that would be obvious enough without Adam having to say that stupid Brazil Nut's name.

Louisa sat down on her knees, placing both of her hands on his thighs and looking intently at the bruise. He got punched? She frowned and her right hand went up to move his head gently to the side giving her access to inspect his cheek closely. It was a nasty one.. powerful... and ... she had seen one like this two years ago. On a difference boy's face. In different situation. By...

... it better be a different attacker. Louisa's hand rotated Adam's face back to look at him right into his eyes when he says it, "Is it Joao?" He had exactly three seconds to answer this before Louisa summoned a veritaserum potion and made him gulp that down.

Adam let Louisa do her inspecting, as he had been anticipating for her to do the moment she spotted the bruise. Adam flinched slightly, even though Louisa had barely touched it at all. It seemed like bruises were always more sore two or three days after than they were on the actual day you received it. Go figure. Well...since Louisa had asked directly there was no way that Adam could not answer without giving her a boldface lie. "Yeah, it was Joao," Adam said with a small nod of the head. "We were being civil, then the next thing I know I'm receiving a rather forceful punch to my jaw."

Louisa literally flinched at the name. She lowered her head and closed her eyes shut, both of her hands fell to rest on his legs now as she still knelt before him. This was the cutout. The mistake that she would never forgive Joao for, and deep down she knew that she had something to do with this punch, she might've caused the Slytherin to bottle up his feelings until finally flinging them at Adam like this. "I can't believe it..." she murmured to herself before looking back up into Adam's eyes, her own blue eyes hurting for him.

"Adam, tell me it wasn't me that you fought over." She straightened herself and placed one hand on his good cheek, staring at the bruise on his other side of the face. "Tell me you fought over some other girl, or got into a heated debate." Because if she was the reason then... she had to fix it.

And she knew only one way to do that.

Louisa did not want to go down that road.

Adam gave a gentle shrug at Louisa's disbelief. "Eh...I can. That kid has never liked me, even before you and him started dating." And that was the truth. Granted their first hostilities started over the fact that Joao liked Louisa, and Adam wasn't necessarily happy about that because he felt the same way, but that was besides the point. On a more fundamental level Adam just didn't like the boy and whether Louisa was in the picture or not he had a feeling that wouldn't have changed.

At Louisa's plea to tell him that it was over something else, Adam took a hold of both of her hands. "Louisa, we weren't fighting. I mean...we were...but really things only were hostile because Joao wanted it to be that way. He pulled his wand on me barely after I got out a hello," Adam said with a shrug of the shoulders. "And you and I both know that no matter what either of us said that he was going to be mad about me dating you, and we both knew that he was going to get that anger out one way or another. I'm just glad that it was on me and not on you." Adam gave Louisa's hand another firm squeeze. "Truthfully I wanted him to know how upset you are about the whole thing. And I know you are over him and everything, but clearly you still care about him, and ultimately I just wanted him to know that. I thought we were ending the conversation on an okay note. Hell the guy even looked happy that I told him that you still cared. I asked him if there was anything he wanted to get off of his chest, and then the next thing I know he punched me." Adam gave another shrug of the shoulders. "Of course, don't get me wrong Louisa, I gave him a piece of my mind when he drew his wand on me. Apparently he believes that I took advantage of you and tricked you into dating me."

Louisa sat down on her bent legs, her hands fell into his as he explained everything. She wanted to keep her face blank of any emotions, but she was getting both sad and disappointed - hugely disappointed by Joao's lose of control and his real emotions showing only when they shouldn't.

When Adam was done, she slipped her hands away from him and wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him cautiously not to bump his face with her head. "I wish he gave you a chance to get along." Because Adam got along with almost everyone he'd met, minus his family, while Joao didn't get along with almost anyone he'd met, plus his family. They were so opposites, so different and yet she had found something intriguing about both of them.

Moving away from him but keeping her face close to his because he deserved an intimate moment with his girlfriend after a punch he got for her - in fact, it was the perfect moment to give him something in exchange of that painful bruise on his cheekbone. Louisa's eyes found his mouth... lingered there... and then her fingers touched his chin. "Can I... say sorry... my way..." without waiting for his answer, she leaned closer and brushed her lips against his very tenderly. She had no idea whether it hurt him to kiss her back or not.

Adam could tell that Louisa was hurt, although whether it was by the situation itself, the way Joao reacted, or the fact that Adam got punched, Adam wasn't really sure. Perhaps it was a combination of all three, because like Adam had originally thought Louisa still did care about Joao. After all even after rough break ups one doesn't simply stop caring about a person that they had been with for so long. He returned Louisa's hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her somewhat tightly to him. At her comment about him not giving him a chance to get along Adam gave another little shrug. It was true. Adam had tried to be civil, and he supposed to give Joao some credit he had attempted to be civil too. "Well at least he had been civil up until this point," Adam said, attempting a smile that ended up shooting a rather painful string of pain through his face. Adam inhaled sharply, not expecting it to have been that bad. Ease into the facial emotions there Adam, Adam chided to himself.

Adam leaned back as much as he could as Louisa released from him slightly. He noticed that she was staring at his lips...well...that or she was still admiring the bruise that happened to wrap up and practically touch the corner of his lip. Could she give him an apology his way? "Louisa, you don't have to..." But before he could finish saying she had nothing to apologize her lips were on his. This wasn't like the goodbye kiss he had gently planted on her lips the other day, and the whole thing felt different. It almost reminded Adam of how it felt when he kissed Louisa awfully close to the lips in the Owlery during his fifth year. It had just felt right. Careful not to send anymore pain through his face Adam kissed her back as best as he could, allowing the moment to go on for a few moments before he released, taking a hold of Louisa's face in his hands. "I'm serious Louisa, I don't want you feeling like this is your fault," Adam said, staring at her intently. "Joao is a grown man, as am I, and we both know what we are doing and are responsible for our actions. Believe me, I am not excusing him for hitting me in the face, but I don't want you think it's your fault or that you could have done something to stop it from happening. Honestly I think it was just a matter of time."

He did kiss her back which made her almost smile into the kiss. Her fingertips traced his jawline and finally rested on his neck as he pulled away. She let her smile stretch across her mouth as he talked. He didn't want her to feel like it's her fault, it wasn't really possible when everyone who knew them knew that Joao hated Adam for essentially being officially with Louisa now. "You're not men." her smile started to stretch into a grin, "You're boys, worse teenager boys. And apparently you need some kind of chaperone to keep you alive through this year." Her plan was going to stay hidden, especially from Adam.

She got up to her feet and moved to sit next to him on the bench. "I think you should go to the hospital wing." Louisa's eyebrows knotted together and her hand hovered over the bruise on his cheek, concern was written all over her face. "Does it hurt so much?"

Adam returned the smile that was playing across Louisa's face as they pulled out of the kiss. It was the smile that he had been waiting for...maybe Paulie had been right when he said to not give up hope about him and Louisa. Perhaps now more than ever Adam was feeling confident about their relationship, and definitely about Paulie's plan At the comment about not being men, but teenage boys that needed chaperones Adam repressed an eye roll, letting a bemused expression play across his lips. "I certainly feel like a man considering all the stress and drama I have been through in such a short period of time. Plus I do believe that it is considered quite manly to take a punch for the one you hold dearest," Adam said with a little smirk. Well...at least those muggles were always making it seem like a noble and manly thing to do.

At the suggestion of going to the hospital wing Adam shot Louisa a slightly nervous look. "I have been considering it, but I am not really a fan of doctors." In fact Adam had made a point of avoiding them if he could help it. And there was that whole secret not giving Joao the satisfaction were he to find out..."I think it's getting stiffer," Adam said, reaching his hand up. "I keep trying to move it around, which hurts like no one's business, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Guess his punch was a bit more forceful than the one I received a few years ago." Yeah...Adam definitely didn't remember it being that bad before...

Men, right. Louisa scoffed and laughed at the same time. "It doesn't matter how hard you think your life is. You're still a seventeen years old." As for the punch, she gave him a genuine smile, "I'll always owe you." Whatever she did, she messed things up. Whatever he did, he always took the blame and the consequences.

... well, maybe this was an overstatement but Louisa felt like it at the moment. She just sighed and listened to him disagree about going to the hospital wing. "Adam, don't be a child." She gave a playful poke on the arm, "The healer will probably give you some potion, wave her wand at the bruise and all will be good." Unless she asked where he got this from... and from what Louisa had heard, the healer wasn't really one to take no for an answer so she'll ask and try to know how this happened.

"Maybe I can tend to it," Louisa offered after a moment pause.

Adam gave a little smirk. He supposed she was right...one couldn't really start considering themselves a man until they were at least considered an adult in the states, which at least in the US was eighteen. So, Adam had a year to go before that happened. "You don't owe me," Adam said with a gentle smile. "People do stuff, or in this case take stuff for the people they care about all the time." He knew even though he was insisting that she didn't owe him, that Louisa was still going to feel like she did, and that was quite all right. Louisa's stubbornness towards sticking to what she believed was right and what she felt was something that always made Adam all the more attracted to her.

At Louisa's playful poke in the arm, Adam gave a mock grimace of pain which unfortunately caused a bit of real pain to stream through his face, but he hid that fact pretty well. "I've never really been one for going to the doctor if I can help it," Adam said with a small shake of the head, eyeing the door to the hospital wing somewhat hesitantly. Of course Louisa was probably right that the nurse could make the whole thing go away quite quickly. Although that would also mean Adam having to answer up as to how he obtained such a wicked bruise which was not something he really wanted to be spreading around the entire school staff if he could help it. Almost as if Louisa had been thinking along the same lines, she offered to try and heal it.

"I'll admit I haven't really looked into too many healing charms and things like that," Adam said with a sheepish smirk. "Usually I'm more of a tough it out until it's absolutely necessary to get help kind of guy." Hence the scar on his palm..."But, if you have something in mind I'm all ears." Really...anything to at least ebb this pain would be great.

People do stuff for people that care about the most. Louisa wanted to roll her eyes at this optimism but she didn't because Adam was hinting at them both and she did believe that they both cared about each other very much, she didn't want to point out that her own father didn't care about her as much as her friend, or in this case boyfriend. Hmph. "Right," she smiled at him gratefully instead. Maybe dating someone with this passion would rub off on her eventually, and she'll get passionate about people more... or something like that.

"I do know healing spells but I'm not going to risk your face," she grinned and took her wand out. "I can at least put a bandage over the bruise and see if it heals in a few days, if not I'm taking you to the hospital wing myself." Dragging and kicking she wanted to say but refrained. Instead she gave him a serious glare and then ended it with a smile.

With a wave of her wand she conjured the said bandage, "On the bright side, it's not purple or yellow colored like the ones I had on my face when I fell off the pole." Heh. That was a very negative attention magnet, believe me.[/b]" Very carefully, Louisa placed the bandage on the boy's cheekbone. Admiring her work she widened her smile and got up, "C'mon, I need to get back to my dorm and... meet someone." To avenge for her boyfriend, of course. She slipped her hand into his and pulled him along.

Adam smiled at Louisa. Even though he had complete faith in her ability to cast spells Adam appreciated the concern for his well being. After all Adam wouldn't appreciate his face looking any more ghastly than he felt that it already did. "Bandages sound good," Adam said with a nod of the head. As she said that she would take him to the hospital wing herself Adam shot her a bemused look. "I would definitely be kicking and screaming the whole way." Of course, if it was that serious he definitely would go. Because if it took this long for the bruise to get better Adam was thinking maybe there was a little something extra that Joao had added to that punch.

"It may not be purple or yellow but it's still pretty gnarly looking," Adam said with a little grimace. Well...at least it wasn't so bad that Louisa was cringing away from it. He sat perfectly still as Louisa applied the bandages before standing up next to her. "Thanks," Adam said with a slow smile as to not hurt his face further, before he and Louisa walked hand in hand down the hallway.

Allie was slowly wandering through the corridors trying to remember her way to the library when she realized she had forgotten her homework back in the Slytherin Common Room. She turned on her heels and headed back in the direction she had come. Suddenly the first year stopped all together and stood there looking up and down the corridor, she couldn't remember what floor she was on let alone which direction to go in to find the stairs.

Letting out a defeated sigh, the eleven year old sunk down to the floor and sat there against the wall, waiting for a prefect to find her and point her in the right direction. Or at least for someone else to come along and help her out.

Nettie was on her way to the Healer when she found her good friend sitting on the ground against the wall. "Hey there Allie!" She called from down the corridor as she approached her fellow first year. "Why are you sitting down there?" She questioned as she came to stand in front of the blonde. "Is something wrong?" She asked next with a look of concern. Nettie normally wasn't one to worry, but Allie was her best friend and basically her sister.

Oscar strolled down the corridor feeling utterly bored. His attempt at playing sick had failed him. They seemed to be catching on to him. Damn. Still doing everything in his power to avoid class, he decided to wonder the corridors for a while, in the hopes that he would find someone or something to hold his attention for longer than thirty seconds.

He came across two first years, both looking visibly distressed. Better than nothing. he thought. 'Hey! Are you two okay?' he asked.

Allie heard footsteps from down the corridor, she jumped to her feet quickly hoping it was a prefect. When the footsteps became close enough for her to see who they belonged to, Allie was relieved to find it was only Nettie. "Hello Nettie." She greeted with a smile. "Everything is alright." She told her best friend. "I just got lost and didn't know where to go. So I sat down right there and waited for someone to come along and point me in the right direction." She explained carefully.

"What about you, where were you going? I was heading to the library to study, but I remembered I left my homework in the Common Room." She giggled, forgetting things normally wasn't something she did very often.

Allie noticed someone else who had come down the corridor. This one though, Allie didn't know. "Oh, hello." She greeted with a faint smile, she could get shy when it came to talking to new people. She stood there, beside Nettie and bit her lip, hoping Nettie and her normally friendly self would do the talking.

Nettie couldn't help but laugh with her friend. "I'm surprised I haven't gotten lost yet either." She commented. "It's alright though, I've come to the rescue!" She said putting her hands on her hips and posing as if she was a super hero in a comic book or something of the like. "Even though I didn't know you were in need of my help." She added on in another fit of laughter

"I was heading down to meet with the Healer. I had a question for her about paper cuts. But that can wait. I should go study too." She said with a little sigh. Hogwarts was fun but it was also a lot of hard work. Studying could often times become the dreaded thing that Nettie disliked to do.

"Hello!" Nettie greeted with a little wave of her hand. "We're alright." Nettie said nodding her head up and down, causing her short brown hair to fly all over the place. "I'm Nettie and this here," she said pointed her thumb to Allie, "is Allie." Nettie introduced. She could tell Allie wasn't going to talk much now that they were joined with someone they didn't know, but Nettie was good at talking.

Allie couldn't help but laugh at her friend as she pretended she was a super hero. Of all people she knew that could be a super hero, Nettie would be the best pick. It was probably her hyper self and her outgoing personality that would make her such a great super hero. Or maybe it was just because it was Nettie.

She stood there though beside Nettie and let her do the talking, something that she was extremely good at doing. It was amazing she didn't get in trouble in classes for over talking.