Anya looked over her shoulder a little. "Really?" she asked. "I didn't know that." Of course, she wasn't around him during one of those "having trouble sleeping" nights.

Well... until now.

She turned him a little and nodded. "Yeah. At the feast." she replied. She looked back out window for several seconds. Her fingers absentmindedly playing with the bracelet on her right wrist. She looked back over at him. "And you?" she asked. She suddenly felt weird seeing as she really knew nothing about the girl other than she existed.

It was really interesting that you could know so much about someone and so little about someone at the same time.

Milton shrugged a little. It wasn't really common knowledge, since most people were sleeping when he was... sleepless. "Now you know." Another interesting fact about Milton Shacklebolt.

At the feast. So her and Jake were official since the feast. Milton nodded and stared out the window. His attention turned to he wrist soon, though. He couldn't help but smile at that. It was the bracelet he had found for her in Atlantis. It made him happy that she still wore it.

Milton nodded at her question. "On the train." He was referring to him and Taryn, of course, but Anya knew that. Taryn. His new girlfriend.

He had to look away again. It was getting uncomfortable already, but he wished it didn't have to.

Zack was wandering around the corridors from one place to another. He hadn’t got an idea where was it he wanted to go. He was just roaming around exploring every side of the castle.

The school was so big that he always wanted to have a complete view of every side of the school before he graduates.

He came to the seventh floor not aware when he crossed the fifth or the first floor.

He walked up to one of the windowsills just looking out at the view. Looking out the window and the back at the corridor he saw people standing and then he looked back outside.

Anya gave a little nod in acknowledgement. She'd just tuck that bit in to her ever-growing file of random things she knew about him.

She dropped her hands and rested them on the windowsill. She stared at the window.

For a long time.

She should probably comment, huh?

She looked at him from over her shoulder and gave him a tiny smile. "Congratulations. I know you've liked her for awhile."

Congratulations? That word sort of seemed weird to him in this situation. Congrats on getting a girlfriend... He didn't know, but it just seemed weird. "Thanks," he said anyway, but he wasn't sure if he meant it.

Milton turned his attention away from Anya and the window and looked down the corridor for a moment. "I guess I better get back. Quidditch tryouts in the morning." Not that he would be able to sleep much, probably.

Anya fiddled with her bracelet. Was it just her... or were things quickly getting awkward?

Oh right. Quidditch. School. Stuff.

She'd momentarily forgot... everything.

"Yeah." she said with a little nod. "I should head to bed too."

"Night." she said starting to go for a hug. "Love--" she stopped suddenly. She took a quick step backwards.

"Gotta love being back." she said in a bad coverup attempt. "See you around Milton." she said quickly. All she could hope for now was a quick escape.

And so with that, she turned on her heel and made a quick escape down the nearest corridor, not daring to look back.

This was going to take some getting used to.

Milton nodded, about to take a step away, when Anya started to go in for a hug? And... blinkblink. Milton froze momentarily. Like he was waiting for her to cover up what she had almost just said.

"Yeah..." Nice save. Even though they both knew what had almost just happened. Night," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes. But it was okay, because she was off and away within the next few seconds.

Things were weird now. Weird and horrible.

Milton rubbed the back of his neck and glanced out the window one more time before heading back to his common room.

So there she was waiting for Elliot. Her bag was slung over her shoulder and for once she seemed a little nervous because inside her bag was something that she worked very hard on and she wanted Elliot to love it. She bit her lip and looked around to see if she spotted her. What was taking her so long? She put a lot of hard work into making the wreath perfect. It took her hours because frankly Hannah would only be ok with the best of work.

She kept wondering if she should keep it in her bag or have it out waiting for her? She decided to go ahead and hold it. After all it would give her hand something to do. She took the wreath out and looked over it once more. The beautiful green and blue flowers worked beautifully together. She had no reason to be nervous. It looked great. She breathed in deep. It even smelled great. Elliot is lucky to have a good friend like Hannah.

Elliot was having...a grumpy day. She was feeling a little sickly....probably from changing weather and stuff....meehhh. She sniffled a bit, her her nose clogged....YUUUUUCK she felt so GROSS. SHe sounded like a...well, her voice was just scratchy and her nose was stufffed. EW.

She thought...perhaps she should go to the healer? Get that taken care of? She didn't FEEEL like it though...

Elliot checked her watch...she was on time this time, thank Merlin! She spotted her friend and rolled her eyes..."Before I day anyding..." she began, sputtering a bit.."Don' madke fud od my voice...I'm SICK," she pointed to her nose...

She eyed her..."Now whad is dis adout?" SHe glared....YOU BETTER NOT MAKE FUN OF ME, LOCKWOOOD!

So many thoughts came to her mind about what she could or would normally say, but this was a happy occasion. Flowers were supposed to brighten peoples day and stuff. "I really think you should see the healer." She would get that cleared up quickly and not have to deal with it. She wasn't a muggle! she wasn't going to press it though because she knew Elliot would do what she wanted to do and she didn't want to mess up her happy moment!

"I made you something." she said as she handed over the wreath she had been holding. The wreath that took her forever to make. The blue flowers represents your house and the green mine." Hannah tried to guage her reaction because this was very out of the norm for Hannah! "Christmas is coming up and it's like a friendship wreath..." and she was doing it for Herbology, but Elliot didn't need to know that detail. Hannah picked Elliot out of everybody to do something for so she should definitely feel special.

Elliot scowled, which probably wasn't a very good idea...since, you know, her nose was stuffy..."Oooops," she said thickly, and she pulled out a tissue.."I'b sorry...thab was not polite..." yeah..she blew her nose into the tissue and shoved it back into her pocket...the rubbish bin was aaalllllllll the way down the corridor...Merlin..

WHAT?

Elliot eyed it....she had made...she had made Elliot....she had made Elliot something...?

THE WORLD WAS ENDING. IT was done. Elliot and everyone else was going to DIE....because Hannah Lockwood had done something nice for someone..and that someone was her best friend, Elliot Morganzo.

She took the wreath, and she smirked a bit. "So...you just decided to make me a friendshib wreafff?" she asked, a little suspicious..."Oh! You cursed it, didn't you?!" She looked carefully at it...it WAS very pretty...

Fighting the urge not to conjure up some germ x and squirting Elliot with it, Hannah just watched as Elliot so rudely blew her nose in front of her. Manners please! "I really need you to do something with yourself." as in Hannah did not want to get sick and the sight of all her grossness was making her stomach roll.

"Really? Can't I just do something nice?" She could say thank you or something. She worked really hard on it. Yes, Hannah was not the nice type, but she had to do something and she wasn't going to waste her time on just anybody. Who else would she have given it to? If she was going to curse something it was going to be gifted to a puffer...most likely Soapy!

Still even Hannah had to admit that something was going on with her. She was even starting to have feelings for boys. She wanted to talk to Elliot about it, but it wasn't a comfortable thing for her to discuss. She liked it better when she sisn't like anybody. Life was much easier!

Elliot scowled..."I'b sorrry, Handah..." she said, narrowing her eyes a bit. She pulled out her wand and cast the disinfectiing...spell. That she had learned...she wrote home and asked for it..since, you know, she was feeling ill and all. "I just don't hab time to go..." too much work! And Maxwelll...

EH? What?!

She examined the wreath some more...and decided...hmm. "No, you can't. not widddout reason. Do you need to cobby my notes or sumdin?" she asked, sniffling a bit. She smirked, though..."I like id, doe. I'm going to hang it in by room when I go home..." and it would stay there forever!!

And then she noticed...Hannah seemed to be lost in though...she raised an eyebrow.."Whad's up?" she asked, knowing...it was something. She could see it in her best friend's eyes...

Finally Elliot had done something with her germs. Hannah hated being sick. No time to go? Wouldn't it take like five seconds to get the healer to whip something up or a quick spell or something. "You Ravenclaws." She shook her head. Hannah would have used that as an excuse for a break. Still she thought that her friend made plenty of time for Maxwell.

"Ok I had to make something for Herbology." There was she happy now? I couldn't just make something for anybody." There were not a lot of people that were worthy of Hannah's time. She was starting to regret making it for her though. She was ready to drop it. She did a nice thing. Yes, make the day down in the calendar or something.

She knew. Of course she would know. What could she say? "Er...it's nothing." Nice job Hannah that was totally believeable.

Elliot scowled..."Yess? Us Rabenclaws..." are what exactly, Hannah, darling? She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, much in a conceited sort of way, and shifted in her position.

Aahhh! And the truth was REVEALED! AHA, LOCKWOOD! Elliot had you!

Smirking..."Oh, makes muuuuuuch more sense, now. But thanks, Hannah. I do appreciate it..." yeah, yeah. Enough mush. That was for Maxwell...not Hannah. She hung it on her elbow so that she could free her hands...

The blonde stared..and stared...and stared. Really. Really, Hannah Lockwood? Did she take Elliot for a fool?! Elliot was NOT that stupid...she could see right through you, sweetheart. And she wondered what in the world her friend was keeping to herself? Like seriously...what could Hannah Lockwood feel weird about talking about...was it something..deep? Or something? A smirk came her lips..

"Tell be. Now."

It was a command.

What was there really to say about Ravenclaws? Everybody knew how they were. "Nothing really to say." Other than they always had their noses in books and put other things on the back burner...like their health. Hannah didn't care anymore though since Elliot was in her own sick little bubble.

Yes, yes. Hannah had finally told her the truth. "I don't have to have a motive you know." Well maybe she did, but still that was not the point. "I'm glad you like it." Had she of said that she didn't she probably would of hexed her on the spot. Well maybe not hexed, but something... Hannah had done a lot of work on that wreath and she better cherish it.

Hannah did not react well to commands. Nobody commanded her. Nope. She was going to be difficult. After all what she was going to tell her was pretty juicy and she was going to have to work for it. "What's the magic word?" Her eyes twinkling like an innocent child.

Ooooh LIE! Elliot always had a motive..so clearly, Hannah did, too. And she was a snake. And snakes were worse than anyone else for motives.."Riiiight..." she rolled her eyes.

Magic words? Elliot grumbled....

She suddenly had another coughing attack..so she took out her handkerchief and coughed into it...she needed to remember not to use this one tomorrow...ew.

And then, hit with evil inspiration..."Madic word? How about if you don' dell me, den I will SNEEZE on you!" she laughed crazily, and she opened her mouth as if she sneeze on her..not that she would, though..she was NOT saying please..NO!

Hannah watched in disgust as Elliot had a disease attack. Ugh! Bubble or no bubble she was starting to get sick to her stomach just by watching her. Why was she fighting telling her best friend what was going on? Maybe because it was so out of character for her. Maybe because she still didn't really know how she felt about it. Didn't know if she wanted anything to come out of it.

She started to bite on her lip nervously. "No need to sneeze on me." Would she really have done so? Probably so. "It's just weird for me." That was an understatement. "It all started with Dylan...you know the slytherin captain?" Gulp. "When we were cleaning our fire crabs...I seen him." She was sounding stupid now. She had only seen him a million times. "But it was like the first time seeing him..." Merlin... did this even make sense? "It was like I was attracted to him." Really she wasn't though. He was nice to look at, but she hadn't thought about him again.

"Well..." How was she going to say this? She really hoped that Elliot wasn't going to make fun of her or give her a hard time. "Ever since I worked with Ethan...you know him...I think." Gulp. "Not only is he nice to look at, but I think I actually have a crush on him too." Because after class she didn't stop thinking about him. She was still thinking about him to this day. She didn't want to though. She really didn't!

Elliot nodded, and took a step back...that was it...she would be going to see the Healer lady like, right after this. She couldn't take being so sick! UGHHH. She eyed Hannah curiously....hmm. What was going on?! Hmm?!

Ooooh.

Of course she bloody well knew who Dylan was...Beezus' man. Or...whatever they were these days. he was very attractive...so obviously he had caught Hannah's eye. "Uh huh. He's pretty bad..." yeah. Like making Beezus cry for hours bad. Which Elliot didn't like, but whatever. Withholding judgement here...was this what she wanted to tell Elliot? That she had a crush on Dylan?!

Oohh....no...no...ETHAN. Blast! Elliot wanted to smile nervously, to cover up...but...she had to be truthful...she trusted Hannah to always be...honest with her, right? Elliot cleared her throat, preparing for...Hannah's wrath. 'Um...Well...you see about Ethan, Hannah...I screwed up...well..." she was getting tongue tied. UGH. OKAY, REDO. "All right, my friend Cora has been crushing on him for awhile...and...I sort of helped...him...to know that...and now...he's going to ask her out..."

Awkward? She sighed. "Hannah, I didn't know! If I had known I wouldn't have--you know I wouldn't have chosen Cora over you!" she cried, sounding a bit outraged...as if Hannah had already suggested that she had done just that!.

Dylan was bad? Her captain? She didn't know Dylan at all other than that he was the slytherin captain and he was nice to look at. She didn't know him at all on a personal level and she was suddenly curious. "What do you mean bad?" Bad like how? He was a snake yes...so somethings should be overlooked, but she wanted to know only because she was being slightly nosy.

Then the info about Ethan happened. Hannah just looked at Elliot before she could say anything. She was trying to process the new info and how she felt all at the same time. "Oh." was all she could get to come out. She felt like she had been betrayed by her best friend again. Even though Elliot had no idea about her liking Ethan she still couldn't help but to feel like she put yet another person before her when Hannah was supposd to be her best friend. The best friend! It wasn't like she was wanting to date Ethan...she just knew that she liked him. She liked her freedom, but just knowing that she couldn't bothered her.

Cora...why did that sound so familiar to her? Then finally it hit her Elliot had introduced her in class. She was that super shy and nervous chick. Ethan wanted that? Her eyes narrowed.

Uh.."I mean, he has this thing with Beezus...you know her, right?" Or at least who she is?? Hmm? "And he kisses girls like crazy even though he kNOWS he likes Beezus and Beezus likes him..." she rolled her eyes. They were too weird for her. "I had to hear about it...all night...last night..in the dormitory...she was crying..." she sighed.

Poor Beezus...but Hannah probably didn't care muuuch...


O___________O

Elliot shifted uncomfortably...uh...what to say? Morganzos were GOOD with words...."Listen, they probably won't last long..." she rolled her eyes, stifling her inner voice telling her that this was totally mean...she was mean. But Cora...*inner flailings* "So don't sweat it. Plus..I mean..You're Hannah Lockwood...who could resist you?" she asked with a smirk, raising her eyebrows trying to get Hannah to feel better...

But...she was very conflicted now. Why was she in the middle of it, anyways?! She shouldn't have offered Ethan her help...then she could pretend to hate Cora along with Hannah right now..and things wouldn't be awkward...

So wait... they technically weren't even together and she was crying over Dylan? Girls...they could be so dumb. Not her of course, but she wouldn't cry over some guy that she wasn't even with. "I've seen her in class, but I don't know her."She didn't want to either if she was going to be an emotional basket case. "Sounds like she needs to get it together." Obviously Dylan doesn't like her that much if he is going around kissing other girls. She needed to put on her big girl panties and move on.

They probably wouldn't last long? That's what she had to say? "Makes no difference." Oh yeah Hannah had her tough exterior back in full swing. If Ethan likes cowardly girls then good for Ethan. Hannah was not that girl. She was very different from that girl. Hannah flipped her hair back in a conceited way. Of course she could have whoever she wanted. She knew that. "I will never sweat a boy." She could promise you that. "Besides who needs to get help from someone else to get a guy?" Oh yeah...Cora did. Pathetic. Ethan could do better.

Right.

She just nodded..."I mean...he's a jerk...whatever." And Beezus didn't deserve a jerk, anyways. though she could see what Hannah was saying...ehh.

NOT THE POINT.

Well then, Hannah.."I won't, either. It's pathetic to cry...or pout...for weeks or anything after it ends. Move on. The other person did..." she scowled. She had decided...that if Maxwell broke up with her for any reason...she would NOT go around moping. No. She would continue her daily life as usual. Boys were so not worth it. Not at all.

Ehhh. The slant at Cora...Elliot raised an eyebrow..."She's really nice, you know. ANd she's shy." Yeah...Elliot was attempting to somewhat get Hannah's line of fire awaaaay from Cora.

Maybe he was a jerk. Hannah didn't know. She had never even spoken to him before. All she knew for sure was that the girl that Elliot spoke of didn't have good sense. Still she really didn't care either way. "Maybe he is." He was not even the point anymore. She was just curious. She hated weak people.

Moving on.

"Pathetic." She couldn't agree more. Even if you felt hurt there was no need to go around and display it like a fool. If somebody did hurt you, you would think it would be all the more reason to move on and not harp on it.

What was up with Elliot? She was becoming friends with puffers and now taking up for some girl...saying she was nice. Who cares? "Since when did you become so caring about others." Hannah didn't lower her standards simply because somebody was nice. Maybe she was thinking too much into it. She just didn't know anymore. She had too many emotions going on at once.

Maxwell had just gotten back from break and was utterly tired...so much drama over the break was just so stressful and it was nice to be back at Hogwarts and away from it all. And it was even nicer to be spending time with a friend cause right now Max needed a friend he could just hang out with and not get into anything serious with, he hoped that's how it would be.