Jai was walking around most of the day after breakfast with Caroline. He wasn't sure but he felt as if something was not right and something inside him was warning him of what may be lying ahead. He wanted to talk to Caroline about it. He hoped it didn't affect them too much if any at all.

Caroline Walked into classroom 11, Jai had wanted to speak to her. And this was the place that they had decided on. She had a pretty good feeling what this was about. In fact she was sure of what this was about. The problem was that she wasn't ready to talk about this with anyone. She had barely talked to Kita about this. She looked down at the floor. "You wanted to talk?"

Jai turned to her with perplexity in his eyes and confusion in his head."Why are you dating me?" The question was simple yet loaded. There was enough feelings twisting his stomach into knots. He wanted to make sure that nothing was amiss in any way. He hoped.

She stated for a minute. Well he just got straight to the point didn't he. She blinked and opened her mouth. And closed it. She looked down to the floor and let out a sigh. She was crazy if she though that she could keep this game up for how ever long she had too. Taking a deep breath "too try to forget about Carter." She whispered and swallowed hard. She was on the verge of tears. But she held them back.

Jai stepped in front of her, took her chin and raised her gaze to his,"Thank you for being honest. I know you still feel for him but you should told me. Do you even like me?" he said,"I mean...well I don't know what I mean. Caroline, I did say I would wait for you. That was my decision and I wanted to make sure you were ok before you moved forward with me. That's why I'm asking you. I just want to know you're ok."

It did sting a little when she gave him her answer but he knew it. He just had to come to terms with it before it festered and he resented her for it. Not to mention he negated any ammunition anyone had to hurt her or him.

She took a step back away from him. She couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. She knew that she had hurt him. She couldn't keep playing this game with him. It had to stop. "I didn't want you to wait on me." No one should ever have to live like that waiting for the other to come around. "I care about you, yes! you're my friend. And I was worried that if I made you wait long enough that we wounld even have a friendship left."

She leaned agisnt the wall of the classrom. "I'm not okay, I don't know when I will be. either. YOU CAN'T wait for me. I won't let you." She could feel the tears coming, she moved toward the door. "I'm s... sorry." pushing the door open and walked out.

Jai sighed when she stepped away from him."Caroline, that was what I'm gonna do regardless." he said. He drew brakes when he heard her real worry. "I'm not that fickle. Your friendship means a lot to me. More than you know."

When she continued, he knew what was coming. It wasn't the first time. He tried to catch her before she got through the door but she was gone. What was gonna happen now? He would do anything for her and she didn't believe that. "Caroline!" he called after before dashing through the door after her.

Seventh year was tough. Classes all day long and studies even more tough. It was ridiculous .. how exhausted he felt. Orlando was craving dinner already! He wanted to eat and go sleep for the whole weekend. All that, of course, got thrown out his mind when he turned around the corner and found Ryden walking ahead of him.

Without much hesitation, he took two big swift steps, grabbed her arm and pulled her into the first classroom that was next to them.

Did he mention - because of his hectic term, he didn't get to see her anywhere besides classes? So unfair.

"Hi .." he greeted, once inside. "I missed you"

Ryden was feeling a bit peckish, and besides, the blonde felt like a walk. Having decided to leave her bag in the tower, the fifth year walked at a leisurely pace down to the great hall, her mind on nothing in particular. It was getting colder though, and the sudden drafts of wind annoyed her.

All in all, Ryden felt like the walk was as uneventful as one at Hogwarts could get - well, apart from the bit where she walked down the wrong corridor, but she was SURE that Hogwarts was playing with her there so it wasn't HER fault - until she got to the ground floor.


"EEEAAAAARRRGGHHH!" Ryden yelled, having not heard anyone walking behind her, and stumbled ungracefully into the empty classroom. WHO IN THE WOR- Oh.

KOALA BOY.

Torn between feeling VERY indignant at being pulled unceremoniously like that into this classroom and excited to finally be seeing him OUTSIDE of class, Ryden settled for a small smile.

... That grew into a LARGE one as he spoke. He was SO lucky she was fond of him, seriously.

"Missed you too," Ryden replied, straightening herself and stepping closer to him. She took his hand and GENTLY like a HUMAN BEING - HMPF - led him further inside the classroom.

Okay, so she wouldn't lie. That had kind of been cool, being pulled from nowhere into here. The emptiness was comforting. The blonde couldn't honestly remember the last time they'd been together alone like this.

He was all wrong of her. Orlando just knew. And knowing that made him grin. For some reason, he always did things that would surprise her or take her off guard - that was definitely the thrill of their relationship.

He absolutely adored taking her off guard.

Her expressions and reactions were perfect.

Orlando smiled at her response, letting her take his hand and lead him away. His own hand tightening around hers. He could use this time to just hold her hand .. he really could. He wanted to. Taking a seat on the first desk that his eye, Orlando pulled her down next to him too - making sure she was close too.

"How is Hogwarts treating you this year?"

Ryden smiled as she felt his hand tighten around hers. There was something oddly comforting about holding Orlando's hands... Almost as if when they were holding hands, things were better. Obviously, it was a load of rubbish and Bridget would give her hell should she ever say that out loud, but it was how she felt. Or thought she felt. Or... well, whatever.

Her mind went back to her temporary blindness during the scavenger hunt last year and she grinned to herself. She'd polished and had the trophy charmed extensively before putting it up in her room. It was one of the best things she owned.

As he sat down, the short blonde followed and sat down close to him so that their legs were touching. Ryden leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled to herself, gazing down at their entwined hands as their legs dangled. It felt nice.

She shrugged slightly in response to Orlando's question. "Better than last year... then again, anything is better than the beginning of last year, so it's not saying much. I've got OWLs in May though so I actually need to pay more attention in lessons," she said, and groaned slightly. "It's terrible."

"What about you? How's seventh year?" she asked, her smile slightly slipping. She hardly knew anyone here so there weren't too many people she was missing that were no longer here, but Ryden knew for a fact that a lot of Orlando's friends weren't here anymore.

Poor Koala Boy.

It was hard to explain what he felt when he was this close to Ryden. Orlando's eyes followed hers and took pleasure in knowing how her small, adorable hand fitted into his. He wanted to use both his hands to trap hers - and then just never let go.

When she leaned against his shoulder, Orlando resisted the urge to break the smooth rhythm of their movement and wrap his arms round her - holding her for a long, long time. He wouldn't mind spending the whole weekend doing just that - only leaving her when she had to go to her class because she had her OWLs .. and she wanted to concentrate.

His hand rose to tuck a strand of her hair behind her hair as she continued speaking. Would she mind if he said nothing .. and just asked her to talk. "You will do great, I am sure," he said softly.

How was seventh year for him? Orlando stopped himself from simply shrugging and saying 'I don't know, I really don't.' and instead said: "I .. it's fine, hectic .. but fine," Not the same of course. It was different .. it was really different. But he wasn't here to ruin his mood over thinking stuff like this so he smiled down at her and tried to chnage the subject: "Koala misses you too, you know."

Ryden allowed herself to relax against Orlando, briefly closing her eyes as he moved back a loose strand of her hair. She felt... like she was resting for the first time in a long time. She had a similar feeling when she first walked into her room during the break, only stronger. It really had been too long since they'd just been alone together.

And Ryden had really missed him.

She shrugged in response to his words. If she'd do great was still to be decided, and besides Ryden didn't enjoy talking about exams and things before one HAD to talk about them. It gave her a horrible headache and a desire to eat everything in sight. Not that there was much to eat here, but still. It wasn't the most pleasant of feelings.

The fifth year could tell he didn't want to talk about his time here, so she dropped the subject. Yes, Ryden occasionally had tact. She smiled however, when he mentioned Koala. "Tell him I miss him too - many good things wouldn't have happened if it weren't for him, you know," she stated, and lifted her head off his shoulder to look up at him.

She caught his eye. One thing in particular wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for Koala. . .

Yes, indeed. A lot of things only happened because Koala had been so very interested in Ryden's lap. He owed Koala a lot, no doubt. He smiled at her response - not all that happy that she took her head off his shoulder. He would rather she stayed as close as she could before they had to leave.

When her eyes caught his - Orlando felt his heart's beat slow down, a sudden tension surrounded them and he knew what he wanted. What he had been wanting to do since the day he had seen her at Diagon Alley.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked. He hadn't asked her when he had first kissed her .. he probably should now.

Ryden knew that expression. She'd seen it before on his face, once, a few months ago during the end of term feast. The thought made her heart beat a little faster and she felt the mood in the room physically change. If he had that expression now, then he was thinking what she was thinking.

. . .

Unable to stop a small smile from forming at Orlando's silly question, Ryden cocked her head to the right and pretended to weigh her options. Then with a deft movement, she let go of his hand onto to raise both of her own and place them on the sides of his face. Gently, she pulled down and when he was the right height for her, she leaned up and kissed him herself.

If Orlando could, he would definitely memorize every detail of this moment - this private and such intimate moment. When her small hands came to rest on his face, his throat went dry and he almost turned to kiss her adorable palms instead. But he was more focused on her brilliant eyes -

- that was until his own closed due to her sudden movement. Her lips against his. It was the best feeling in the world. Orlando didn't move, he simply kissed back - softly and patiently.

Orlando's heart was not his, it seemed. It thundered to escape his chest and perhaps meet Ryden's.

He pulled back after what felt like days and perfect afternoons - forehead resting against hers. "I .. that .. that was something."

Kissing Orlando. . .

Well, it was surreal. For one, it created a peculiar feeling of being the only two people in the world, but in a good way... Like only them two mattered. And it gave her this strange happy feeling in her stomach, one she hadn't really ever felt before but was growing to enjoy it. She sometimes felt it just when thinking or looking at him.

It was all very new, and Ryden loved it.

Breathing a little faster as he pulled away and broke her trance, the blonde was surprised to find that her heartbeat had quickened to twice its usual rate. Allowing her hands to lower back down to her sides, she rested her forehead against his and blinked, clearing her mind.

At his words, Ryden grinned, unaware of a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Did it answer your question?" she replied, smiling at him. Her lips tingled as she talked.

Holding her wand loosley in her hand as she walked up the stairs from the kitchen level, Mia crossed the entrance hall and headed over to classroom eleven.

She pushed the door open a crack and peeked inside to make sure the coast was clear. Didn't want to walk in on any snogging students...or Professors for that matter. They were human too and she KNEW that they would have to snog occasionally.

But it seemed that no one was in a snogging mood today and the room was empty, so she pushed the door open wider and stepped inside. Flicking her wand, she lit the lanterns on the wall and found herself a chair to sit on.

Why was it she was always the first to arrive? Seriously those Slytherin girls were so slow. Merlin, she hoped that Destiny hadn't had any chocolate today. If she had then she could do Marie's hair because was not letting her anywhere near hers.

Well now, this was a first. Marie was going into classroom eleven to meet her friends to actually do some homework. Every time she had ever been in this room she was either snogging or fighting with a boy. She didn't foresee either of those things happening today... since her friends were both girls.

Entering the room she seen that Mia was already there. What was it with Hufflepuffs always being so prompt? Matty always got to places before she did too. Was promptness a requirement to be a puff or what? If that was the case then it was no wonder Marie wasn't in that house. She didn't like to be prompt for anything. She was too much of a procrastinator. Obviously not as much as Destiny... who wasn't there yet.

"Hey there Mia. You sure you want Destiny messing with your hair?" Marie wasn't too sure she wanted anyone messing with her hair. She liked it just the way it was. Long, blonde and beautiful.

Destiny knew taking that detour to the Great Hall would make her late.

It wasn't HER fault, though, really. That's right, it was all Mia and Marie's fault. If they hadn't suggested doing their homework in classroom eleven, she wouldn't have even thought about going to the Great Hall. But as she passed the GREAT hall, even though the food hadn't been up to it's usual standards lately, the smell filled her nose and she found herself practically floating over to the Slytherin table.

She was halfway through her bowl of potatoes when she remembered what she was supposed to be doing, and after shoveling a few more spoonfuls into her mouth, she decided to take the whole bowl with her. They were going to be doing homework. Homework always made her hungry and Destiny doubted her friends were going to let her leave the room to head back into the Great Hall.

And she HIGHLY doubted they would want her to eat chocolate.

So potatoes it was! Bowl in hand, and spoon in mouth, she skipped her way over to the classroom, flinging the door open and making her way inside.

"'M HEEEEREEEEE!!"

Just as she had propped her feet up onto a desk, Marie walked into the room and Mia couldn't help but grin at her friend. Her question was one that had been running through her head ever since she had decided to do her homework with the two Slytherin girls.

"Well actually, I thought she could do YOUR hair and you could do mine and I'll do Destiny's." She twirled her wand in her fingers and gave Marie a pointed look. Did she really want Mia doing her hair, was the better question.



Before they could discuss any more on who was doing who's hair, Destiny decided to make her entrance and Mia took one look at her with the spoon hanging out of her mouth and groaned inwardly.

"Tell me that is not chocolate you're eating, because if it is, you are not touching my hair Destiny Shepard." Not that she had any intentions of letting the girl anywhere near her hair anyway.

Mia had spent two weeks on vacation with the Slytherin and she'd had to stop the girl from doing many crazy things and she was sure that the girl was just itching to pay her back.

Hmm, maybe Mia was on to something here. Who would Marie rather have messing with her hair... Mia or Destiny? Maybe it would be better to go with Destiny, as long as the girl wasn't hyped up on chocolate. She was just about to tell Mia this but didn't have a chance because in walked Destiny... with a spoon in her mouth. "Is that... potatoes on your face?" Guess that answers Mia's question about chocolate.

Really, did the girl come to do homework or to eat?

Ignoring whatever was being said about hair, because really, Destiny had forgotten what homework they were actually supposed to be doing, she made her way over to an empty seat and plopped herself down into the seat. She pulled the spoon from her mouth after hearing Mia's question, and placing it into the bowl, she scooped out a spoonful of potatoes to show her friend what she was eating.

"Potatoes."

She wanted to say that, with how much potatoes she had already eaten, she probably wouldn't want her to touch her hair anyway, but Marie spoke up before she could. Dropping the spoon back into the bowl, probably flinging just a few potatoes all over the place, she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her robes before digging into her bag to pull out her wand. "I thought we were doing homework! Not worrying about what I am eating."


She would let them go first, so she knew what she was supposed to be doing.

Oh right. Potatoes.

Was that any worse than eating chocolate? Mia eyed her friend for a moment before turning her attention back to Marie. "You can start on my hair." That way she would know exactly what the spells were because quite frankly she couldn't actually remember them right now.

She dropped her feet from off the desk and sat upright in her chair, getting ready for Marie to start. Destiny's comment however, had her raising her eyebrows and she turned her head slightly to look over at the brunette. "We're doing homework that concerns our looks. We NEED to be worried about what you're eating."

Because let's face it, Destiny could be a little...crazy sometimes.