He smiled as she said that he was probably right and chuckled as she laughed "Well I am a claw..so you wouldnt expect anything less" he said as she kissed him on his cheek and hugged him.. which was totally friendly of course.. yeah friendly.. nothing else. "No worries." he said as he heard her laugh some more before he saw her frown before she shook her head "Well its good that their love is true.. it means that your mom got back the man she loves, I am sure your mom would have been very sad to have lost him without a fight cause he couldnt remember who she was" he said trying to see it from her mom's point of view.. cause he would not be upto losing anyone without a fight so that meant her mother too wouldnt let go without one.

He chuckled as she laughed before she ruffled his hair "Hey! I like it the way I had it.. what is it with you girls and ruffling hair?" he chuckled as he remembered how Ella liked his hair.. all messed up and ruffled.. by her of course! He nodded "Yeah.. that was the name you gave me.. Umm no I dont think we did.. maybe next term" he smiled as she realised that maybe they hadnt had a fight..but there was always a few more terms to have it in. He saw her glance down "Well.. your mom sounds like a strong woman to have held on just long enough to make him remember. Be happy that your mom has the man she loves back" even if he had brought a baby with him.. but the main thing was having the person you love by your side.

Everyone basically // WE'RE WITH THE BROOCH BEWARE
 

Louisa left all her feels upstairs - or well she thought she did as she descended the moving stairs, savoring every single detail in this last journey down to her last feast as Hogwarts.... Darnit! She wiped the annoying moist from her eyes and continued to the Great Hall's door. She kept focusing on how her friends walked the same way, probably with the same feelings and yet they survived. They didn't have an EVIL brooch that hosted the four ghosts for quite some time and was probably associated with dark magic but that was over, yeah? Yeah.

With the brooch tucked in a very plain and un-catchy pouch the head girl headed for her house table, the lump in her throat oddly lifting already at the sight of desirable familiar faces. She smiled at everyone, her mind told her to talk to everyone, wish them good luck and ask them to forgive her if she was too bossy or didn't live up to their expectations somehow. But she wasn't sure if the lump in her throat would allow her to say all this.

... she needed Spike. He was good with speeches and reaching out to others WAY more than she was. WHERE was he?

And her eyes found the small thirteen years old crying alone at the table. Instinctively, with the powers of an older sister, Louisa quickened her pace and slid next to Lily. She nudged the girl's arm gently, "Hey, hey! With every fallen tear, a fairy in Neverland cries and forgets to fulfill a wish for someone." What was with Louisa and making up LIES to console kids?! Although this was not a lie... more like a hypothesis. A joke?

"Wait here for me, okay? I need to do one more thing and be right back! Save my spot." She leaned in to give the girl a gentle pat on the head, like Jonathan used to (STILL) do to her, and made her way to return the evil brooch to the headmistress.

When he heard his name, Max turned abruptly, expecting to see the smiling face of a friend, and... frowned down at the young Ravenclaw. She was crying? Over him? He had seen Lily around plenty of times and naturally cared for her as he did for everyone in his houseexcept for Milton, but he had never quite established any kind of relationship with this one. He immediately felt regret over that, though, and pulled little Lily in to give her a nice brotherly hug. "I'll miss you, too, Lily. You keep up the good work, okay? Make us proud. I believe in you," he told her softly, then pulled away and gave her a sad smile before she departed.

Ouch. Were there going to be more like Lily? Max wasn't sure if he was ready for them.

Text Cut: Vivi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin (Post 11272192) She snatched the napkin up in relief and gestured for Max to sit as soon as she spotted the boy. "Sit, sit... who else would I save a seat for? One of my many and adoring public?" She gestured to the empty seats all around her. Someone had NOT done their best getting to know the other Claws. "I'm glad you asked to sit with me, Max. It'll be good to have a friend through all this, and not someone who will use my sleeve as a tissue. Everyone is so emotional, aren't they? Is this normal?"

Quickly sitting down next to Vivi before someone else made Max want to hug everyone, he set the blue box down on the table and slid it in front of Vivi. "Well, let's be honest - you do have quite a fanbase, I've noticed. Little Nightingale will probably want that other seat next to you." Poor Bee. She was taking Vivi's departure worse than anyone - other than Lex, who had formed some sort of weird attachment to her. Of course, Vivi had been a good role model for the Gryffindor. She was probably the reason Lex straightened up so well after almost being expelled.

"I'm glad, too. I'll try to be strong for you," he remarked playfully - though he meant it, too. He wasn't feeling particularly mournful at the moment, but... those feelings were there. He was just going to ignore them for as long as possible. The gift in front of Vivi was a helpful distraction. "That's for you," he stated the obvious. "It's kind of a... um... mix between a belated birthday present, a graduation present, and a..."

...

Where did Vickers come from?

Max stared over at his yearmate, confused, as Vickers gave Vivi a present, too. He sat there awkwardly, feeling embarrassed, and lowered his head, very clearly giving Vickers permission to get his business out of the way first. As he did so, Max very casually set his hand on the present in front of Vivi and slid it back over to sit in front of him on the table.

Awkward.

She couldn't help it. In spite of her best efforts, in spite of time apart, she still followed Vick with her eyes and gravitated towards him when he sat down so close, like some pathetic flower to someone else's sun. After a moment, Vivi recalled herself and slumped a bit in her seat to hide her reaction, reaching under the table for Max's hand for comfort and to avoid reaching for Vick's.

"I've never had unkind words for you. They were always in your best interest," she responded quietly, her eyes flickering from his steady gaze to the box in her hand. Now, though, Vick? In front of everyone? He had interesting timing... Maybe to keep her from reacting in public.

"I'm listening... But Max was here first." She set Vick's gift on the table between him. "Are you willing to wait?"

She smiled at Max and gave his hand a squeeze before pulling his gift back in front of her. It wasn't punishing Vick, more like making a point of not showing any favoritism. "I've appreciated that strength all term. You really did a marvelous job filling in for Milton and leading us to victory when he couldn't be there. You didn't have to get me a gift, though."

Especially because she hadn't done much in the way of birthday gifts this year. It made her feel guilty to think she was being unappreciative to the friendship Max had shown her this term.

"I better open this, right? I'm keeping you from the girlfriend, and Merlin knows Hufflepuffs get separation anxiety," she teased lightly, although it was a fact that both boys were going to abandon her, and Vivi would still end up eating alone.

Vivi and Max as well..
 

Minerva had made her way over to the claw table, of course she would get there at some point in time. By the looks of it, most of her little group was gathered there, so she needed to go over and at least say hi and sit with Ethan, but as she made her way over her eyes landed on Vickers and Louisa. She had never had a end of term feast bother her before, but she didn't know many seventh years until now. Was it odd that the seventh years weren't even in her house...

Coming up behind them she let emotion take over and hugged Vickers and Louisa... "I..sorry.. should have warned you first." Letting go of them she smiled, "I just wanted to say how great it has been to have you both around and how much you have helped me. I'm going to miss both of you. I hope you can stay in touch." She then looked to Vivi and Max, she didn't know them as well and she was just kind of getting off the rocky road with Vivi, "Good Luck to you two as well. Max it will be weird not seeing you at Quidditch next term. Great season by the way. Vivi.. ummm your a great player as well. Good luck in whatever all of you are doing after Hogwarts." She gave a nervous smile, towards the girl. She had been slammed into and then her teammate helped throw Min off her broom, she felt like she should be keeping watch over her shoulder being this close, but they did apologize to each other, hopefully that was a good start.



After talking with the seventh years Minerva made her way down the table and stopped next to Ethan. Putting her hand on his shoulder she sat down next to him and smiled, "Hey there cutie.. miss me?" She giggled a bit and then looked at the rest of the group, eyeing Harvey and Damon for a moment. Didn't they get in enough trouble over being that close to Taylor and didn't Taylor have enough issues as well to know better then to lay her head on shoulders and hug these two.

"Hey Damon where is Ariana?" Yes, she was making a point to see where her best friend was. Then she smiled, "Damon have you met Ethan yet? Ethan this is Damon. I know you have heard me talk about many of these friends, but you finally get to meet them." She liked that he was meeting her little group, hopefully Ariana will be around so she can finally meet him as well. Then turning on Harvey, Minerva gave him a look.. "I am surprised I beat you to the other table. I assumed I would see you right away at the puff table. Feel like being different for once in four terms?"

Then giving Taylor a smile she wasn't mad at her friend, just not exactly happy with her recent choices. Taylor needed to more girl friends, maybe that would help her stay out of trouble. "Haven't seen you around much Tay, where have you been hiding?" Looking at the entire group Minerva thought of something, "So if I do stay in London this summer you are all going to want to hangout, right? Maybe we could do a picnic or party or something." Yes, last summer was so lame without them she didn't want to do that again if she could help it.

oops so how do i go about this *whistles* || Max, Vivi, Minnie, Louisa
 

So focused was he on getting to the Ravenclaw blond and making sure she doesnt bolt on the mere sight of his shadow that he completely missed what was going on between her and Max. Max was giving her a gift. "Oh..." he stammered flustered. "Right.... well yeah its there...." his gift he meant, the one on her hand. He shifted his gaze to Max "Sorry bud, I didnt see... uhm yeah I'll wait-- no I'll need to drop by at the Gryffindor table, I'll be back yeah?" So that if they need to talk in relative privacy they had it. "Oh Max, my gift to you, its up at the dorms, I'll leave it on your trunk, its not exactly something that would fit in your pockets..." unless he shrinks it of course.

And then he stood, slipping out of the chair then nearly ran headlong at Louisa, who seemed to have that purposeful walk towards... the dias? Although just when he though he avoided a collision something collided against him that nearly had him keeling over. Oh someone was hugging him? "Min? Hey thanks... of course we'll stay in touch. Oh and congratulations with the Quidditch win. That was one heckuva game." Indeed it was, even if it crushed the Ravenclaw spirit for a while there.

And he was off to the Lion's den....

Sorry Vick. <3
 

Max looked back and forth from Vivi to Vickers for a long while, giving Vivi's hand a supportive squeeze under the table throughout their exchange. When Vivi turned her attention back to him and Vickers left, Max raised his eyebrows in surprise, avoided awkward eye contact with him, and cleared his throat nervously. "Okay." So... Vivi probably didn't feel like talking about that, right? He should just pretend like nothing happened?

Probably. But Max gave Vivi's hand another encouraging squeeze before releasing her hand under the table to let her know he was there for her.

Text Cut: Min

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga (Post 11272385) SPOILER!!: Vickers, Louisa, Vivi, Max Minerva had made her way over to the claw table, of course she would get there at some point in time. By the looks of it, most of her little group was gathered there, so she needed to go over and at least say hi and sit with Ethan, but as she made her way over her eyes landed on Vickers and Louisa. She had never had a end of term feast bother her before, but she didn't know many seventh years until now. Was it odd that the seventh years weren't even in her house... Coming up behind them she let emotion take over and hugged Vickers and Louisa... "I..sorry.. should have warned you first." Letting go of them she smiled, "I just wanted to say how great it has been to have you both around and how much you have helped me. I'm going to miss both of you. I hope you can stay in touch." She then looked to Vivi and Max, she didn't know them as well and she was just kind of getting off the rocky road with Vivi, "Good Luck to you two as well. Max it will be weird not seeing you at Quidditch next term. Great season by the way. Vivi.. ummm your a great player as well. Good luck in whatever all of you are doing after Hogwarts." She gave a nervous smile, towards the girl. She had been slammed into and then her teammate helped throw Min off her broom, she felt like she should be keeping watch over her shoulder being this close, but they did apologize to each other, hopefully that was a good start.

Turning to Minerva, Max smiled and gave her a polite nod. "Thanks, Minerva. Good luck to you, too." He gave her a half-hearted wave and directed his attention back to Vivi.

...His... girlfriend? "Oh... no. You're not. I'm... staying here with you, if that's okay?" He anxiously glanced over his shoulder to Emmaleigh at the Hufflepuff table. She would be all right. Even though she would probably disagree with him, Max thought they were both better off soaking up their last moments with their housemates, not each other. At least... that's the way he preferred it.

"Err... right. Yeah. As I was saying..." Max looked from Vivi down to the box in front of her. "I didn't get you a gift, exactly. Erm... and it's a... birthday slash graduation slash general friendship present."

Inside the box was a little something he had made toward the end of the term. Originally it was intended for Emmaleigh, but... halfway through making it he decided this gift was actually much more suitable for Vivi. Perfect for her, actually. "Sorry that it's... really cheesy and... I just thought... I wanted you to have it, 'cause I think you're a star - at Quidditch, at being a role model, at being cool, just... at life. I made it at that... seminar thing. It's... a starfruit? You don't have to, y'know, wear it or anything," he shrugged timidly. "I just... wanted you to have it." He offered a bashful, weary grin.

Harvs, Tay, Damon, And Min
 

Ethan took to drumming his fingers on the table as he propped up his head with his other arm. He was feeling really awkward as he had obviously interrupted something between Taylor and Harvey, and he merely smiled in their direction when they returned his greeting. Trying not to intrude on their conversation, the boy's eyes drifted away from them and towards the other side of the table. Oh.. there were the Seventh Years.. He really wanted to make a point to say goodbye to Louisa and Vickers.. though they seemed to be engaged in their own conversation at the time.. definitely later though.

Ethan's eyes then wandered over to the Hufflepuff table. Oh there was Minerva.. He hadn't seen her walk in but he smiled at the sight of her at her table. He wondered if it would be alright to go over to see her, but wasn't sure if he should wait until after the speech and food was served. He wasn't sure about the rules of that sort of thing being his first feast here and all. Besides.. she was surrounded by friends right now, he'd give her some time then see her in a few.

And then his eyes snapped back to Taylor as he heard his name and he looked at the boy he was being introduced to. Damon..? That name sounded vaguely familiar.. "Good to meet you, Damon," he smiled and nodded to the Hufflepuff boy. Oh.. so they were allowed to sit at other tables?

Ethan glanced over at the Hufflepuff table again, thinking that maybe he would go sit with Minnie for a bit, but she was.. gone? Turning as he felt a hand on his shoulder, he grinned at the girl now sitting next to him. "I was just looking for you, actually.." Same wavelength or something. Nodding at her, he glanced to Damon again. "We just met actually." Nice to meet a few of her friends and be able to put names with faces. He vaguely listened to the conversation around him, happy to know that whatever drama he had originally walked into seemed to be faded now. At Minnie's last words he nodded and glanced over to the little group. "Sounds good to me," he said with a casual shrug. They all seemed cool enough.. he wouldn't mind hanging out with some of Min's friends along with her.

That was only incredibly embarrassing, and Vivi gave Max a half smile that said she was well aware of how it looked... and she couldn't explain it away. Whatever it was he thought, it was probably exactly true. She was being an idiot.

"I... erm... we've had a falling out. Sort of." That was woefully inadequate, but at least it opened the door if Max wanted to ask about things. Or not. She didn't mind.

She opened the present instead, and a lopsided grin appeared on her face as she held up the gift obviously made for her in the seminar class. It was very thoughtful... and very pretty, and Vivi put it on immediately. "Ravenclaw star, Quidditch star, you'll make my head go all big and puffed. I can't eat it, right?" Vivi pretended to put the necklace in her mouth before dropping it back down the front of her jumper.

"Thank you, Max. It's very thoughtful of you. My mother always says a homemade gift is invaluable, while a bought gift is worth only the value of the price tag." Which was ironic, because what she had for Max was purchased... but she'd put thought into it. "I actually have something for you, too... but it's not nearly as nice as this. I didn't make it." Her tone was all apologetic.

Harvey is in here too. and timelines are confusing...
 

Lily looked up when her name was called and noticed Tay waving at her. The third year barely picked up her hand to wave back. Right now she just wanted to eat away her misery so she would meet up with her buddy later on. The boy with her Harvey got a tiny wave too. Yeah... Hi to you too.

Vivi was nice. And Lily tried not to sob as much as the seventh year spoke to her. "Yeaaaaaah..." The third year stuttered as she nodded her head. "'Bye Vivi." She said before turning and seeing Vickers walking towards her.

Why did Vickers and Vivi and Louisa and all the others have to be graduating now? The little redhead sprinted up to Vickers and gave him a hug. "I'll...I'll miss you V...Vickers..." She said between sobs. She didn't want him to leave.



The redhead couldn't help but return Max's hug. Sure they hadn't really gotten to know each other but he was still an older claw. So Lily nodded in response to his comments. She would work hard in the coming years for all the seventh years who had left...and for Professor Vindi.



After moving off on her own, Lily just sat and sobbed until she felt a nudge. The third year turned her head so that she could see who had nudged her. Had she not been sobbing for the past few hours, she probably would have been happy to see Louisa, but she just couldn't manage a smile. "The only fairies are wizarding fairies." Said the little claw, moving her head from the table so that she could properly look at her older claw friend. Her mouth only slightly formed a smile as if to try to get Louisa to know that her response was somewhat of a joke.

The third year wanted to be happy with the head girl... who apparently needed to run and go do something. So Lily nodded to her about waiting and saving her seat before watching the older claw walk off, leaving the redhead alone again with her thoughts which led to more sobbing as she waited.

Oh. So... maybe she did want to talk about it? Max nodded in understanding and replied lightly, "I kind of gathered that. Do... you want to talk about it? It's okay if you don't - I mean, I'm... here for you if you do. I'd like to know what's been going on with you guys, but... I'll understand if you don't want to share." Did Vivi ever talk to people about things? Her feelings? She was pretty close with Selina and Kurumi, right? Maybe she had sufficient girl time with them. But... Selina was kind of tough to talk to, wasn't she...? So... maybe Vivi had talked to Kurumi...

...or maybe she hadn't. That concerned Max; he wanted her to be able to talk about things. She could trust him - he wasn't one to gossip. Even if he was, the term was virtually over, and soon there would be no one to tell anyway. But Max would wonder what had been going on with his yearmates, even after they graduated. He wasn't completely clueless and he had drawn his own assumptions, but... he would rather hear it straight from the source.

When Vivi opened the lid, he examined her face uneasily, but his grin matched hers as soon as it formed - and she was even putting it on! She... wasn't just humoring him, was she? She really liked it? "You deserve to have your head be puffed sometimes." His smile softened when she brought the star up to her mouth; his eyes glinted at her with pure admiration. And then it hit him how much he was going to miss Genevieve Branxton.

Her sense of humor, her spunk, her sass, her general brilliant demeanor... she was so unique, intriguing, and... he had never known anyone like her before.

And not knowing when he was going to see her again hurt.

Looking down so she wouldn't catch sight of his moistening eyes, the corners of his mouth turned upward once more as she thanked him. "You're welcome. Your mother is a wise woman." He felt the same way. That's why it was important for him to make something for Vivi, even if it was kind of corny. When she said she had something for him, too, he frowned up at her in confusion. "What? No!" he shook his head. "You didn't have to get me anything, Vivi." It wasn't his birthday. But... it was weird; as fondly as he thought of her, Max didn't really think Vivi retaliated the same fondness - and though he didn't think a present constituted a deeper level of friendship, he was still honored that she thought enough of him to get him anything at all.

moody..so sorry...
 

Sigh.

She was just a bit late for the feast...Elliot Morganzo..late for something...the world must be ending? Right? Well...meh.

She looked reeeeeeaaaally down as she plopped down at the table, not seeing anyone she particularly cared for...she did see Ethan, but he was busy talking to Minnie, and Elliot couldn't deal with her right now. She slipped in at the end of the table...eyeing the Gryffindor table a bit...she would go see him a bit...

When she wasn't feeling so sad.

And it wasn't even that she cared for the seventh years. Sure, she might..if she knew them well...but she didn't. So...yeah. Her sadness was NOT for them. She tapped her fingers on the tables...looking around for tea..or water...anything to keep her busy. Elliot sighed...again...loosening her tie and fixing it on her neck...

Tap tap tap...

She was tapping her fingers on the table still...looking at her lap, just...deep in thought...

Aurora left the Slytherin table very briefly as she saw Elliot enter the Great hall - not looking happy - and ran over to the Ravenclaws...

"Elliot!" she called, dodging past a few younger students to stand next to her. "I found this when I was packing. Thought I'd lost it... it might come in useful." She put a green notebook in front of Elliot. It was full of all the tips and lessons she'd learned in training after the accident. And it actually helped her a lot... maybe Elliot could use it.

"I... um... try looking through it. I... hope my handwriting isn't too terrible." she said with a small shrug. "Erm... Have a... an alright summer..." Well... Aurora wasn't exactly renowned for her eloquence. Them she leaned down and gavr Elliot a quick one armed hug before waving slightly and disappearing back to her own table.

He nodded as she laughed and stuck out her tongue "Well that is true.. ok.. you can.. but not too much!" he said nodding as she giggled and beamed at him "Yeah I guess it is cause then we get the chance to have that snowball fight!" he smiled as she laughed.. before she frowned at him talking about her mom.. he knew that he was not going to succeed in trying to convince her that it was a good thing in a way. He nodded and just smiled not saying anymore cause he didnt want to upset her. He then saw that Damon came over and asked if he could join before she hugged him and Harvey.. it was just a friendly hug! He then saw as she ruffled Damon's hair too before thanking him "Just doing what I do best Taylor" he smiled cause he was good at helping friends out and had never had trouble with girls snuggling him and him comforting them before... but this time it had been different.. but he was glad that it was over, at least he hoped so.



Harvey heard Mins voice and turned around.. and he glanced at Taylor and wondered what Mins would think now.. but her eyeing him told him everything and suddenly.. he wasnt feeling too good anymore.. not cause she was here.. cause he was VERY happy that she was here cause she was his best friend and knew him more than anyone else did.. well apart from Ella.. but him being with Taylor didnt help.. buthe didnt let it show and kept a smile on his face as she talked to Damon and introducing him to Ethan before she turned to him and giving him a look that he was hoping she wouldnt give him. Trust her to say that.. yeah this was the first time he hadnt made it there "W..well I.. I thought you would wanna spend this one feast with Ethan.. it being your first with him.. you know" he smiled a little "And.. I .. I wanted to let Ella hang out with her friends for a while before I came over there... thats all." he shook his head "No.. no I didnt feel like anything.. honest! Just wanted to let you hang out with others.. thats all" he said trying not to show how nervous he was about all of this.. cause he knew one word from Mins.. to Ella.. and it could all fall apart again. But he felt a little at ease as Minnie talked to Taylor with a smile well that was good for him, meaning she wouldnt mention this to Ella.. cause he had lots planned with her and he wanted it to be the best summer for Ella. He then listened as Taylor asked Ethan a question and smiled as Lily waved at him, he kept his ear open for Ethan's answer to Taylor's question

Vivi fiddled with the new necklace and considered how much of the truth to tell. "I got some... well, it seemed like good advice at the time, but I'm not sure now. But I got advice to confess... something to him." She nodded at where Vick had been sitting. "I think I just muddied things up between us, though. It was inappropriate of me."

But on to bigger and better things, right? Vivi shrugged and patted her pockets in search of the gift. It wasn't fancy and wrapped like his had been, but then it was more of a whim and less of an official gift. "I wanted to be sure you had this, considering what happened at the Quidditch Cup party. You might have it already..." But maybe not.

She laid a single card on the table in front of him, one of those Quidditch player cards everyone used to collect when they were little kids and that only serious fans continued to collect into adulthood. His mother's card. "You know what? I think you should take them up on their offer. I don't know if you want advice, but my opinion is that you shouldn't leave anything undone that you'll regret."

Elliot's head snapped towards the voice. Who was disturbing her-

OH.

Auroooora.

Right.

She managed somewhat of a shadow of a smirk and just looked at her like she was crazy...a book..she immediately took it and set it on her lap, running her fingers over the cover...it was a nice shade of green, too. She started flipping through..whoah. LOADS of tips and stuff...she actually looked very appreciative...

"T-thanks, Aurora!" she said, looking up at the redhead with serious eyes...and then Aurora gave Elliot a REALLY awkward hug, which Elliot didn't really return, and the blonde eyed the older snake all the way back to her table...

Yeah.

She felt...special. That was too strong a word, but she definitely felt nice. And no, not like mean-nice. Like...just content now. Like maybe her summer wouldn't be SO awful.

Well, it would, but Elliot was just a bit more optimistic right now...