Elijah arrived in the boy's bathroom roughly ten minutes earlier than he and Vickers had agreed. He wanted to scope the area and ensure that no eavesdroppers were about to overhear the conversation. They had some serious BOY talk to do, after all.

The urinals were, thankfully, absent of any bladder-filled Hogwartsians and a quick sweeping look underneath all the stalls gave him confidence that the bathroom was, indeed, empty. Now just to wait on the 'Claws arrival.

Alright, meet up with the best bud....

Its true that after he came home from THE summer party-- and has sufficiently recovered-- he had pondered of owling Elijah. But just as there was a strong pull to get in touch with his best friend and tell him all about such incredible... experience?... he had, there was also just as strong an emotion to wanting to keep things for himself. Kind of like his own little secret shared with only one other person. And obviously that other person wasnt the CurlyPuff.

But events caught up with him and his best bud needs some serious update on Vickers' surprising romantic life, so in goes the Ravenerd in a place where hopefully nobody can eavesdrop.

At least thats what he thinks.

He rounded the corner from the stalls and saw His Huffiness already waiting. "You know, when I said to you over the summer that older gals arent bad and we should give them a chance, I didnt mean to say you start zeroing in on the first excitable old pensioner you lay your eyes on." he snickered. Obviously he was talking about Burbage.

Elijah had been startled at first, but a grin played at his lips as he saw his friend enter the bathroom and greet him with a rather hilarious jibe. "The reaaaalllly old ones LOVE a bit of flirtation because they'd LOVE to be able to get a catch like me, but are too aware of their OLDNESS. Burbage is one of those women. I ended up getting points, so it worked didn't it?" the Hufflepuff responded before adding on, "And at least Burbage is nice and not half-demon." Because Elwood was. Maybe even three quarters so.

"So, Vee. I think you have some things to tell me," Elijah raised an eyebrow to indicate his curiosity, obviously referring to what was mentioned, or rather, NOT mentioned, during the opening feast.

Shaking his head, he chuckled at Elijah, he coulndt tell if that was a smart tip he should be taking note of or an insult to silver haired generation. Maybe it was both.

Not that he would be using such tips anytime soon.

Right, updates for the best buddy "Well....." he started as he stole a glance at the Curly Puff before pressing his weight against the sink to test it a bit before turning around and leaned against it "...Louisa and I...... well Louisa had a birthday party over the summer. I mean it wasnt her birthday last summer, its just when she celebrated it." He's babbling he knows "Aaaaand I had a great time-- WE had a great time. I mean A LOT of us had a great time." Wait before the Hufflepuff starts getting a certain ideas about what that great time is the Ravenclaw interjected "It was a pool party and we played... games. That doesnt require any kind of contact." Well most of them anyway. He's leaving the McKinleys out of this. Elijah probably doesnt know them anyway.

He paused for a moment and ran his hand against the back of his neck. How was he gonna move forward with the tale and tell Elijah enough to understand without making things uncomfortable (mostly for himself)? "Uhm... Louisa got some really nice gifts...." he's not gonna say anything about the nature of such gifts, lest Elijah starts asking him what he gave her and out him as Major Lame "......aaand she.... had a rather interesting gift-- a book-- that she wanted to check out.... sooooo we checked it out. Together."

Two Ranvenclaws checking out a book? Absolutely nothing unusual about that mmhmm.

As Vickers began, Elijah had to contain his slight disappointment that he hadn't been invited to the Head Girl's birthday party. Sure, the only time they had first properly spoken was when she had tried to give him into trouble at the start of THIS term, but who wouldn't have invited, like, the hawtest guy in school? It didn't help that he had gone on to say A LOT of them had great fun. Hmph. Not. Bothered. At. All.

Naturally when the 'Claw began talking about gifts, Elijah's curiosity got the better of him and automatically asked, smirking, "What did you get her?" A completely reasonable question. Elijah would have guessed a book, but the 'Claw had gone on to discuss another interesting book that she had received that they had apparently checked out together. Was that how Ravenclaws made out? By reading books together? They were so strange...

"So does this mean you are a couple now? Who asked who out? Is she as bossy when your in a relationship with her?" the bombard of questions began. He wanted to ask other such things like, 'was that her real nose?' and such, but he gathered that now probably wasn't the best of times to go insulting his best friend's new girlfriend.

Myrtle was bored of her bathroom, with all the boring girls and the boys who never came to visit. So it was with some glee that she left the half-flooded place and floated upstairs a bit, coming to rest on a sink in front of two boys. Two handsome, living, breathing, REAL boys.

She was going to call them Harry and Ronald in her head. Harry was obviously the Ravenclaw (like Myrtle had been), and Ronald was the one not getting invited to things, like all Ronalds.

"Booo hooo hoooo," she sniffled loudly to get their attention, blinking through her spectacles at them like a large, wet owl. "Booohoohoo. Nobody invited poor, Moaning Myrtle to the Head Girl's birth-day part-ay."

Yes, Myrtle knew who Louisa was. Woe is she, not getting invited to anything everrrrrr!!!!! How come she never got asked out ever either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eeurghh he just had to ask didnt he? Of course maybe it was the Ravenerd's fault for mentioning gifts in the first place, but yeah there was a question and now it needed an answer "I.... wasnt sure what to get her. I mean, its not like she's a total stranger-- she's a good friend and a class partner and we get along great and..." babbling again much? "-- I got her a gold plated sundial pendant." he blurted out finally.

He looked at Elijah as he raised his hands to his buddy. Yeah hear him out before the future stud muffin starts mocking him "The invitation said something about.....'gifts not for children' I knew it was Louisa's coming of age party so I got her a timepiece." he shrugged "Its tradition to give someone a watch at their coming of age right? And a sundial pendant isnt a children's gift....." he trailed off as he eyed his best friend. "Dude I had absolutely no idea that gift instructions meant something else." he murmured at the end. How naive was he walking in her front door? Very. "But you know... learning experience right?" to say the least. Ahem.



And just when he felt that he should start asking Elijah his own barrage of questions about a certain brunette Ravenclaw another brunette Ravenclaw-- albeit a very dead one-- decided to give them company. He jumped a little when the wailing started echoing all of a sudden in the bathroom "Uhm Myrtle....." Merlin how can they effectively tell her to shut up without hurting her feelings and turning them deaf before they can reach the door? "..... It was just a small gathering...." well it wasnt really that small but he wasnt going into specifics now with two people apparently slighted with the non-invite "... of the ones Louisa felt comfortable enough to invite into her home. And her home was in the middle of Muggle London. You know how Muggles are.... we always got to keep a low profile when the only thing separating them and us is a picket fence."

Waiiiitttt forrrr ittt..... waaaaiiiittt forrr ittt.....

one.

two.

three.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Elijah dropped to the floor after Vickers had finished trying to justify his gift. There had been the occasional escaped snort and his face had gone slightly red as the 'Puff tried to contain his laughter as Vee spoke, but as soon as he had finished it was all too much.

"Merlin's BEARD, Vee. You are naive. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....

SPOILER!!: Myrtle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moaning_Myrtle

Myrtle was bored of her bathroom, with all the boring girls and the boys who never came to visit. So it was with some glee that she left the half-flooded place and floated upstairs a bit, coming to rest on a sink in front of two boys. Two handsome, living, breathing, REAL boys.

She was going to call them Harry and Ronald in her head. Harry was obviously the Ravenclaw (like Myrtle had been), and Ronald was the one not getting invited to things, like all Ronalds.

"Booo hooo hoooo," she sniffled loudly to get their attention, blinking through her spectacles at them like a large, wet owl. "Booohoohoo. Nobody invited poor, Moaning Myrtle to the Head Girl's birth-day part-ay."

Yes, Myrtle knew who Louisa was. Woe is she, not getting invited to anything everrrrrr!!!!! How come she never got asked out ever either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" his laughter had soon quickly turned into a scream as he saw something HIDEOUS appear from nowhere. Calming down from his initial shock he realised it was a ghost. By the looks of things, this ugly creature could be the Moaning Myrtle from the girl's bathrooms that girl's always went on about. No wonder they complained. Elijah would have serious stage fright trying to pee when something as unattractive as that could pop out at you any second...

Vee was trying to reason with her. Elijah would just let him deal with it whilst he backed away, hoping that ghostly ugliness wasn't contagious.

His best bud is laughing. -___-

Oh not just laughing-- dropped-on-the-floor-nearly-pee'd-his-pants-laughing.

The Ravenclaw could feel his face burning as his eyes slid annoyingly at the laughing spectacle of the Huflemuffin. Yes yes he was naive. He knew that as soon as he saw the second non-children's gift emerge from its wrappings. Haplessly he shrugged his shoulders "Even if I knew what she truly meant, what was I supposed to give her? Its not like I can walk into the intimate apparels section of Madame Malkins and start selecting... you know." even ifback then he could already muster a pretty good guess as to the birthday girl's measurements. 'Course now he doesnt need to guess

And man if only he could get a quick one in and tell Elijah he screamed like a girl. But he cant, at least not for so long as MYRTLE was being all wailiy and undead on them. He did manage to hang onto Elijah's robes though, just in case the Badger suddenly decides to high-tail it outta there.

Psssssssssssssssssssss........

Flushage.

Theo was about to rub his eyes from tiredness, but then he was like WOAH, wash the hands first, dude. After closing the cubicle door that he had just been in, Theo made his way over to the sink and stared at himself in the mirror as he massaged soap through each finger and even along his wrists.

Boy gotta be clean.

He wasn't here to use the toilet facilities. No no no.

DUDE WAS HERE TO CHECK HIS HAIR.

This was one of those things he was going to keep to himself and himself only. No one needed to know that he was so desperately in need of a mirror that he decided to come to the bathrooms just to do that. But... all his hair care products were still in the dorm. And the big mirror that him and Messy fought over was still there as well. So... you could say that this was a bit of a crisis.

Alec pushed open the door to the bathrooms... and then stopped. Why? Theoman was there. And he seemed to be so absorbed by his reflection -- SNORT! -- that he didn't even notice Alec walking in. Not yet anyways.

But Alec wasn't going to stand by the door awkwardly. Nooooo! Smiling, he walked over towards the sink right next to Theoman and looked up at his reflection as well. "Hey Theoman!" he said, taking in every inch of his hair in the mirror, "You okay, mate?"

And... Hairflip.

Dang, those dark circles under his eyes were getting worse. They were even starting to draw attention away from his pearly blue eyes, which he was proud of, BTW. He'd have to ask one of his girly-friends to borrow some concealer or something. Who, though? Did Blue even WEAR make-up? Theo hadn't actually noticed. Eh....

He quickly sensed a body next to him, who he chose to ignore, but when they greeted him as Theoman, he turned around with a placid expression. One does not just talk to another in a bathroom, DUDE.

"Hello...." Theodore paused, studying his Hufflepuff friend very closely. "Did you just... flip your hair? In front of the mirror?"

LOL.

WHAT.

Theo did wonder why he bothered with some of his friends. SIgh. The second year continued to scrub his fingernails.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay?"

BLINK. The expression on Theoman's face... yeah, that was scary. Dude wasn't usually the peaceful sort, was he? And Alec was only here to flip his hair and make sure everything was okay up there. You know, that was a perfectly normal thing to do in the bathroom. And talking to your bros. That was normal too.

Except... him and Theodore... bros... SNORT.

Wait was it acceptable to HUG someone in the middle of the bathroom? According to Ella, he had super hugs so if he hugged Theodore... then the guy could calm down and stop attacking his fingernails. Yeah... this Seeker noticed EVERYTHING. "Yeah!" This was normal behaviour Theodore. "This is the only mirror us dude have access to since the lockout and all." He just HAD to do something about his hair. And he had to get some more hair care products.

But back to Theodore. Alec inched closer and wrapped his arms around the guy, giving him a hug. "That's awesome!" he said, grinning and letting go. Was he okay? Yeah... he didn't know how to answer that. Confused, awkward and slightly weird. That was him right now. But okay? "Yeah... I... I'm okay." And he was starting to feel slightly awkward now. And Ella wasn't even here.

Ella... erm... Hairruffle.

REALLY? Theo rolled his eyes, not being subtle at all, but it was needed. "Isn't it a bit girly to check your hair in the mirror?" Whenever Theo looked into the mirror, he mainly checked for zits and stuff. The gross stuff. As long as his hair was CLEAN, he didn't care much about it.

But if Alec was a secret girl, then fine.

Theo looked back down at his clean hands, but before he knew it, Alec was wrapping his Hufflepuff-wreaking arms around his body. The poor Slytherin went rigid and did NOT hug back. Like, ew... there was only one Hufflepuff that this boy hugged and it was NOT Alec Summers. Vom. When he let go, Theo's eyes were kinda wide and he just stared at him. "Well, thanks a lot for that." He laid on the sarcasm thick. "Now I have to wash my hands again." As well as his whole body.

"Are you sure? You sound a little..... not sure." And Theo wasn't sure about HIMSELF either but at least he could hide it. Alec's odor was just awkwardness. From head to toe.

"You can tell ME." <3

Alec raised his eyebrows at the eyeroll. Theo really wasn't good at hiding his emotions, was he? Or... maybe he was? But not about this! And was it girly to check your hair in the mirror? "Erm... no!" he said, "I do it all the time and... I'm a guy!" He was definitely sure of that. Nodnod. And... "So you don't... care how your hair looks?" That was ridiculous. Everyone had to care about how their hair looked. EVERYONE.

So the hug... that was awkward. And Alec was just... a very awkward person so he should instantly know whether something was awkward, right? And this was definitely awkward. More awkward than that time the two had bumped into each other in the broom closet and decided to have a hair flipping lesson in there. And Theodore? "Anytime!" Yeah... he was going to ignore the sarcasm. "Erm... but why?!" It was only a hug...

Yeah, the fourteen year old was slightly confused now.

...

This boy. He was smart, wasn't he? Alec had underestimated him. And really, he was too used to people not questioning him about this was the Hufflepuff was a little taken aback by Theoman's words. Was he... actually being caring? What. "Erm... I..." This was rather touching actually. "Let me ask you something, Theoman. Do you... erm... do you like someone? Like... like-like someone?"

... He was going to regret this wasn't he?

Theodore shrugged, "I don't care how it looks, as long as it is clean and smelling good." Theo used girl shampoo and conditioner, but no one needed to know that, because he liked the Blueberry kind. Twice a day he washed it, ya know. "You don't.... put HAIR GEL in your hair, do you?" Theodore eyed him up curiously, he couldn't quite tell. And he wasn't gonna go closer and sniff it.

No, there were plenty other heads of hair worth sniffing, not this one.

"I don't like hugging." Seriously, didn't he KNOW Theodore at all? He hated the touchy-touchy stuff. Bleugh. "Yet another girly quality that you have there, mate." Theo was onto something big here. THE BIG REVEAL. ALEXA SUMMERS WOULD BE HIS NEW NAME. He kept that to himself, and squirted a ton of soap back onto his hands.

...
Alec say what?

This wasn't exactly what he meant by 'you can tell him anything'. Theo scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Do I like like like someone?" Something told him that it meant a little more than being just BFFS. "Uhhh, that is secret information but yes, yes I do." AWKWARD. Only West knew who he had a soft spot for.

Well, he hoped his bestie had figured it out after the whole hair touching ordeal.

"WHY? Do you?" He so did.

'... don't care how it looks...'

Those were the only words that registered in Alec's brain. He, Theodore Kinsley, did not care how his hair looked. Alec... didn't understand this. Dude was talking about his HAIR. Everyone had to care about those luscious locks that grew out of their head. "So... it wouldn't bother you if it was... messy? And just... everywhere?" He was NOT going to let Theo turn into a madman. No no no. ... HAIR GEL? "No! That would make it... non fluffy. And non flippy. Do YOU?" And at this Alec glanced at Theo's hair, scanning it for any signs of that shiny formula.

What DID Theoman put in his hair?

Was. He. Serious?! First the thing with the hair and now hugging?! "Hugging's not girly!" He hugged his Dad! All the time! "You can have really manly hugs, you know," Alec frowned as he watched Theo rub his hands for the whole of Hogwarts. Obviously, he was going to have to teach the young man a thing or two on how to be a man.

Maybe once the dude was a teen though. Then they could talk.

... Wasn't that what he had asked Theo before? Really, for a guy, Theodore Kinsley was confusing. Oh so... he did like someone. Alec grinned sheepishly, ready to mock Theo just in case it was someone like Blue. ... Actually, if it was Blue, Alec would have to ask him numerous questions. But he didn't have a problem if Theoman wanted to date his sister. "So..." he started, trying to sound as casual as possible, "Who is she?"

... GULP. This was... awkward. More awkward than him and Messy talking about girls. And that was saying something. "Erm... I... maybe..."

Well, "I brush it, of course, but what's the point in doing anything else, when as soon as you go outside, it just goes out of control anyway?" Especially since Theo's hair was beginning to grow a lot longer lately. "I mean, I tried to put gel in it once but it made my hair go greasy so I had to wash it, like, straight away. Casper puts gel in HIS hair." He paused momentarily to think of his brother. "So now I just wash it and dry it with a hair dryer, and then try to tuck it behind my ears, but it always flows over my forehead so that's kind of annoying." And THAT is the story of Theodore Kinsley's hair. He was kind of pleased to hear that Alec didn't put gel in his hair, though.

"I don't like fluffy hair on boys." Only girls, just sayin'.

"It is. I fist bump people instead." Like, wasn't that the first rule of being a boy? Boys fist bump, girls hugged. It was like.... girls wore bras, boys do not wear bras. Unless you were into that sort of thing... ANYWAY... that was off the point. "No, you can't. They are sissy." And you are sissy, too, Alec.

PFFT.... don't think so, Summers. "I'm not telling YOU." As blunt as that sounded, that was as much as he was getting, I'm afraid. But, like... Alec could totally tell Theo HIS crush.
... ;-)

"You do?" Theodore paused, feeling suddenly concerned about who it was gonna be. Cos... cos if it was... no it wouldn't be... anyway.... "How do you know if you like someone?" Cos Theo had actually never felt like... THIS before. Ugh, was Alec the right person to be talking to about this? To be honest, this kind of information shouldn't be shared with ANYONE.

Anyway. "Whoooooooooo?"

Alec liked talking about hair, he really did. But this was a bit weird, right? This was THEODORE, for Superman's sake. The two didn't really have these kind of conversations. "I... I guess you're right..." He did hate the days when his hair would get messed up because of the wind. "But dude! What about the summer?" Alec scrunched up his face at the mention of the word 'greasy'. Greasy hair was just... he shook his head. Soft, non-greasy hair was the best. "Why does Casper put gel in his hair?!" He KNEW there was something wrong with that guy. Really, who pushed someone away while they're hugging them? "Erm... you have a hair dryer?" And to think Theo thought that he, Alec, was girly what with the hug and all. "Sooooo... are you never going to cut your hair?" Because... they had this conversation before, right? Where Theodore wanted to become Theodora and have long, flowing hair?

"But... but... it's better than greasy hair," And Tag's hair was fluffy. Alec liked that.

Just... a fist bump? "Wait wait wait... do you fist bump Blue?" And what if he felt an overpowering love for his bro? Wouldn't he hug the dude to show him that brotherly affection? ... Yeah... Theodore was weird. "They're not sissy!" What. "They're... they're nice, you know." Or maybe he didn't know because he had a cold heart when it came to hugging people.

OH OH OH! New mission: make Theoman like hugs.

BLINK. "But why?" He was a Hufflepuff! He was loyal and he was GREAT at keeping secrets! And... they were bros, right? Bros told each other EVERYTHING! "Dude... you can tell me anything," Smile.

And then Theoman asked the one question that Alec didn't know how to answer. How do you know if you like someone? Was there like... some sort of sign? Like a big arrow above the person you like's head that said 'YOU LIKE THIS PERSON NOW' or what? "Erm... well... I think if that person makes you really happy and you just... want to hold their hand... and spend lots of quality time with them and... erm..." Yeah... he had no idea what he was saying. "Erm... well... this girl, how does she make you feel?"

... "It's... no, I'm not telling unless you tell!"

Yeah. Theo was ALWAYS right.

"I dunno, I like to wear sun hats in the summer." To protect his skin of course. CHEEZUS, what was this? Twenty questions about Theo's hair life? The second year made an annoyed face at Alec, but answered them anyway. "Casper does, yeah. But it kind of suits him." Kathryn always gave Casper style advice, but she never bothered with telling Theodore. He took it as he already *had* the swag, didn't need teaching. What kind of question was that? "Of course I do, how else would I dry my hair?" He didn't have TIME to towel dry it.

"I was thinking of letting it grow over the summer, to see how it goes." Shrug. shrug.

Uhh.. Theo shrugged again, "I don't really touch Blue at all." Maybe an occasional fist bump, but certainly NEVER any hugging. That would be weird. "They are nice when they're with the right people." Not just any old Hufflepuff friend.

"Because..." Theodore paused, trying to think of a legit reason. To be honest, Alec was a really good person, and he didn't think he would tell anyone. But it was just an embarrassment issue really. Theo wouldn't want Alec to laugh when he told him. "You'll probably think I'm dumb because she'll never like me back." No one ever did like Theodore back.

#ForeverAlone

Theo nodded when Alec explained what it's like to like somebody. And yeah, he guessed that he was feeling ALL of those things. All he ever wanted to do was hug Ella, because she smelled nice, and was warm and cozy and lovely... "She... makes my tummy feel a bit poorly. I always need the toilet a lot before I see her..." To do *you know what*.... don't worry, he'd only done a wee today.

"But she... has a boyfriend. And unless I can destroy him, I don't really stand a chance." Theo shrugged and felt his under-eyes quiver a little bit. No, he wasn't going to cry. Theo wasn't a sissy. BUT - WIBBLE.

"Tell me first."

Sun hats? SNORT. "Erm... I... do they have flowers in them as well?" Oh, if only Messy wore sunhats with flowers in them. The amount of teasing that could come out of that... "I bet it does..." he said, wrinkling his nose. It was a good thing Hogwarts got Theo, actually. Casper... wasn't too nice, was he? And... maybe he needed to ask Landon if he used hair gel. Oreo Boy's hair was always nice. ... "Erm... towel dry?" You know... what normal boys use to dry their hair? BLINK.

"Erm... I... will you start flipping your hair then?" It might be a little less shocking than the nose hair whipping.

He didn't touch Blue? "Well done, mate," he said, patting the boy on his back, "Keep it that way." No one was allowed to hurt one of his sisters EVER! Otherwise... otherwise... he'd think of something later. "Soooo... are you saying I'm the wrong person for a hug?" It was his SUPERPOWER. Awesome hugs. Ells had told him so. Nodnod.

"I don't think you're dumb, Theoman," Because... well... that's how Alec felt. There were so many awesome girls at Hogwarts and he didn't think that any of them could ever like him, especially not the ones he liked. "Erm... well... I think she could like you," he said sincerely, "I mean... you're awesome and you play Quidditch and... and... you have awesome hair! Girls like guys with great hair." See? They could teach other things and... bond. No need for awkwardness or weirdness or any of that.

... Poorly? Always needing the toilet? ... What exactly was Theo FEELING?! "Erm... like... number two?" Yeah... he didn't know what Theo was talking about. "It... erm... do you get butterflies in your stomach?" Guys can get butterflies, right? He sometimes got them... sometimes.

Woah. Boyfriend? Who exactly was this guy talking about? "Erm... I bet the boyfriend's not as great as you," And Alec will try and make sure that Theo didn't beat up this boyfriend with a Bludger or something similar. "Have you... told her that you like her?" Apparently, that's very important. Or so Tag says.

Head!Shake. "You tell me first."

Was.. was Alec trying to be funny here? Theo's eyes narrowed slightly, "NO, they do not have flowers on them. I'm no girl." He did kind of feel he had to make this 'not a girl' argument quite a few times. Maybe he was destined to womanhood? .... He ignored every further comment about Casper now. Theo didn't like to reminisce that he was the uncool twin. "Towel drying takes too long." And what was the POINT, when you had a hair dryer?

"YEAH!" That was all that needed to be said.

O___O well done? For not touching Blue? Theo flinched when Alec patted him on his back. Ugh, seriously with the touching. "I don't really touch anyone in general." So, he'd kindly request that you get your Hufflepuff hand off of him, please. Thanks. "I guess you are." Theo shrugged, not even feeling the slightest bit of sympathy for him. He hardly imagined that Alec would lose any sleep over not being able to hug Theodore.

He smiled, kind of. "Thanks... you're not dumb either. Well not all the time." Yeah, ya know... anyway, moving on, back to the bro-talk. "Trust me... we are really, really good friends so I don't think we could ever be more cos we are too good of friends, you know?" Friend zone, and all that jazz. His eyes lit up at Alec's very accurate description of him. "You really think that? That's nice... thanks man... and.." And...

"You're hair is nicer than mine."

"Yeah, a number two." Alec had it in one, so maybe he was feeling the same way now? In fact, all this crush!talk was making him need the toilet right now, even though he'd just been! The boy shrugged, "I guess I get butterflies. Whenever I see.... her... or even talk about her... or even think about her." And her hair that felt like cat-soft-hair. Those were West's describing words, by the way. Theo had yet to stroke Ella Bishop's hair. "Do you get them, too?" Cos that was important.

Theo actually giggled at the boyfriend comment. Damn straight he wasn't as great as Theo was, "He's a Ravenclaw." ENOUGH SAID, right? As for his next question, the second year shook his head frantically. "I can't do that. Or...... should I?" Cos he would much rather sit in a lonely old corner and pine and stuff.

"I...I-I can't. Cos she's one.. of your friends." And he would TELL her, he was sure of it.

Alec kind of felt the insane urge to laugh at Theo's reply. He wasn't a girl, sure, but he seemed to have a girly quality about him. Maybe it was all the nose hair whipping he had done before? But girls didn't get long nose hairs so... shrug. The incident was very Mario Brothers, now that he thought about it.

So in conclusion, Theo reminded him of Italian plumbers instead. Yeah. What a legit connection. "Erm... but... aren't hair dryers for girls?" ... Were they?

"I am so proud of you, mate," Nodnod.

... This had to be the most confusing boy in the wizarding world. Or maybe the guy was just very... manly? SNORT. "Well... what if you're seeing your... erm... parents after being away at Hogwarts for so long? And you hug them?" Hopefully the guy knew where he was going with this. ... He was... meant to be great at giving hugs! That was... one of his talents, yeah? Like noticing small details. Probably. "But... that's my superpower. Giving awesome hugs." Nodnod.

That... was a very Theoman compliment. And not that great of a compliment but he'd take it anyways. "Thanks mate!" GRIN. ... Oh. That... well... he could understand where the second year was coming from. That was the problem with being friends with a girl you liked first, yeah? Especially being really good friends with them. "Oh... that's...not great," he said, frowning slightly, "But... if you two did get together well... isn't it great knowing that you're with someone you know so well? You know, a friend. And... erm... she could like you..." There was always that possibility. Nodnod. "Yeah, I do! Anytime!" See? Bro-bonding!

... "Thanks, dude! That means a lot to me!" CUE MAJOR WIDE GRIN FACE.

And... with the way Theo was talking about this, it seemed as if the two guys were feeling the same way about girls at the same time. Who would have thought it, eh? "Wow! Erm... that's a lot of butterflies!" Dude could start up his own butterfly zoo! ... Wait, no, he had to be serious about this. "It sounds like you... really like her," Nodnod. As for him... "Yeah, yeah I get them as well. Weird feeling, isn't it?" Yeah...

Right. Theoman and his... well... dislike for Ravenclaws. Alec didn't understand that. "See? You're immediately more awesome," Although, Ravenclaws were pretty awesome but... he wasn't going to say that in front of the Slytherin. "Erm... well... apparently, it's really important that the girl knows if you like her..." This is all what Tag had told him. He, however, was dead scared about telling anyone anything. "Maybe I... erm... do you know if she likes you?"

One of his friends... one of his- NO. NO NO NO. THEODORE KINSLEY, NO. "You... you like Ri-Anya?" He was NOT going to be happy if this was true. But Theoman was a great guy so...

... this was just confusing.

"Are you really accusing ME of being girly? I just caught you flipping your hair in front of a mirror."

Sheesh...... Hufflepuffs these days.

Okay - now he really was sure that Alec Summers was an idiot. "Of course I hug my parents..." Who WOULDN'T? Unless you didn't get along with them, but Theo did just fine. His parents were cool, kinda. "Well, I hug my mum, not really my dad. And I never hug my brother and sister, but I hug my cat." And that was that. Hey, that could be turned into some sort of song, you know. The story of Theodore's hugging antics. "That's pretty.... lame." For a super power, he meant.

"Noooooooooooo." Theo suddenly piped up, "I am forever in the friend zone, duh!" That's right, Theodore knew all about the friend zone. He'd been doing research lately. He couldn't wait to tell Casper about this stuff, cos he was MUCH more likely to know about it. Which was only another thing that he envied his brother for, but eh, we won't go into those details any further.

Ugh.... overreaction, much? Theo rolled his eyes.

"Is it..." He paused, feeling a little isolated in his problems, "... is it too many butterflies?" Cos he wanted to be NORMAL, and if some butterflies were normal for preteens, then fine, but if he had TOO MANY...... Was something wrong with him? "I do. Really, really like her." He was borderline in love with her. Though, he still loved Professor Bellaire the most. BUT OH, Alec gets butterflies, too?! Theodore nodded, all understanding-like.

"YEAH - wait, really?" Theo raised an eyebrow. Since when did Alec agree that Ravenclaws were plonkers? Unless he was just agreeing to avoid an argument. Yeah, he could deal with that cos he wasn't in the mood for arguing either. "But what if she doesn't feel the same? That's just total embarrassment." Theodore would not be able to DEAL with that kind of rejection. He'd have to leave school and move to Norway for sure. He just shrugged at his next question. Life was just full of exhausted shrugs right now. "Maybe. I think I've made it obvious but she isn't saying anything." Meaning she just wanted to avoid the whole situation.

It was hard being a human being.

Whaaaat? Where did he get that from? "Anya? The Gryffindor? I don't even KNOW her." Theodore didn't just get regular crushes on any old pretty girl, because he had to really KNOW them first. The boy rolled his eyes slightly, but he still wasn't going to tell him so easily. Nope, him first.