Ariana walked into her room and claimed her bed.. MINE! she thought, thats nice. she layed on her bed and relaxed for a few moments.

She sat her stuff bag and book on her bed from last year and laid back on it.

Writing letters. Eugh. It was so BORING. They'd not even been at school for that long... why did her mum insist on her writing to them EVERY WEEK? Nothing changed. She went to class. She ate. She slept. Occasionally she talked to Aurora or Jonathan... Ooh. Talking of which... she could tell her mum about Jonathan's "mission"... Maybe then she'd consider Delilah to be less of a weirdo. Not that she ever SAID that. Delilah wasn't stupid, though.

She was sprawled out on her bed; completely immersed in what she was doing. Folded up next to her, was a letter from her mum. Carefully balanced on a book just passed her parchment, were a number of different coloured inks - they made writing letters more fun. Delilah often added drawings to her letters... Like right now. That's what she was doing. The girl had barely written 20 words to her mum... the rest were just doodles and sketches of what she'd been doing at school.

Finally. Finally, finally, finally she could get to her bed.

Aurora had FINALLY gone back to the dungeons, intending to either ignore or curse Kennedy if he was there and made her way up to the dorms.

Where she landed, face first, into her pillow.

Sebastian jumped up just in time and moved little Giacomo out of the way. That was one thing the cat was good for - looking after the pygmy puff. Because Aurora wasn't very good at noticing the little fella...

She had no tears left... no emotion really. Just the desire to sleep for a week... but it wasn't happening apparently. Pfft. She flipped over onto her back and stared straight up, letting Sebastian and Giacomo plonk themselves next to her (or, in Giackie's case, on her chest). She didn't know what to do... or say... or... anything.

Oh why couldn't she SLEEP?!

Delilah sang to herself quietly while she drew and wrote her letter, not really realising that she was doing so. She didn't really notice Aurora come into the dorms, it was only once she'd finished drawing a rather bad drawing of the Divination that she became aware of the girl's presence.

Sitting up, Delilah looked over to the girl on the bed nearby. She frowned. Something was wrong. Careful to not knock everything over on her bed, Delilah walked over to Aurora's bed and perched herself on the end of it, similar to how her dad used to when she was upset. Delilah didn't even know if the red-haired girl was upset or not... but she looked too restless to be okay...

"Um... Aurora?" Pause. "Are you okay?"

Aurora glanced up as she felt a weight on the end of her bed. Who on earth was disturbing her?!?!?!?!

Oh... Delilah. Well that was okay. Aurora liked Delilah... she still wasn't quite sure why... Hmmm. Was she okay..? She shook her head. "No..." People kept asking her of she was okay... and kept NOT being okay. Maybe everyone could just get together and tell each other she was being mopey. That would work...

"I broke up with my boyfriend." Her voice was flat. She had worked all the emotion out of herself throughout the day and now she was just stating facts. Oh Merlin, why? Why had she done it? Because he is a selfish idiot... and he didn't trust me... and he is turning into just another one of the people that my parents like... she thought.

Delilah watched the girl for a moment. She didn't even know Aurora had a boyfriend... "Oh... I'm sorry..." The girl sat in silence for a moment, not sure what to say. Relationships were something she didn't have a clue about...

She stood up, and rushed over to her own trunk. Fishing through it, she pulled out a large bar of chocolate. Her little sister had insisted that she brought it to school with her, even though Delilah didn't like the brand. Making her way back to Aurora's bed, she sat back down on the end of the bed, and held the chocolate out to her.

"My mum says that chocolate helps, when you're upset..."

Aurora shrugged, "Not your fault." she mumbled, pushing herself up into a sitting position and catching little Giackie as she fell off her chest. "He was an idiot anyway." For some reason, insulting Kennedy made it all seem a little bit easier...

Oh. Chocolate... "Um, thanks... but I don't think I can eat right now." she said with regret. It was a shame - chocolate was awesome - but she felt really sick. "And I er... know you can't eat them but... if you know anyone who wants some jelly babies. Give these to them." She pulled the muggle jelly babies bag out of her pocket and dropped it next to Delilah. "I don't want them." Nope. Kennedy had given them to her...

"Anyway..." Aurora straightened her robes. "That's depressing, let's not talk about it... enjoying being back at Hogwarts?"

Somehow, Delilah didn't believe Aurora when she said her ex-boyfriend was an idiot. If he really was, then she wouldn't have been with him, right?

"That's okay. Keep it for later, if you want." She offered the girl a smile, intending to keep the chocolate held out until she took it. When Aurora said she didn't want the jelly babies, Delilah frowned. Hadn't she said something at some point about really liking them? The slytherin simply nodded and eyed the sweets... Maybe the house elves would like them... "Oh... um... Right, okay."

Depressing. Well, that's one word for it.

Delilah shrugged, while fiddling with the hem of her jumper. "It's been all right. I have more people to talk to than last year... so I suppose that's good..." She looked up at Aurora. "What about you? I mean... um. Other than... that..." Oh, well done Delilah.

Oh... Aurora smiled gratefully and took the chocolate, placing it on her bedside table. She wasn't sure if she'd eat it... chocolate wasn't really her thing unless it was draped around some fried ants. She liked chocolate frogs though. Maybe she would eat it. "Thanks, Delilah." Emergency chocolate. Always good. Speaking of... "Did you go to Hogsmeade last year?" she asked. Because if not they would have to go together.

More people to talk to... Aurora was included in that. That made her smile a bit. "Good, that's good right?" Riiiiight? She knew Delilah was a bit... well... strange - But who wasn't? Everyone who was worth anyone's time was a bit weird - and she was glad she was... happy? Not miserable? Well, she was glad she was okay anyway. "I'm... okay." Aurora said with a shrug. "Things just aren't really going to plan."

“It’s okay...” Chocolate was always good... except for when it wasn’t dark chocolate - like the chocolate she’d just given Aurora. Then it was silly. Hogsmeade? Delilah looked up at Aurora, then shook her head. “Err... No, I never got round to going...” Maybe she’d be able to go into Hogsmeade with Aurora? Well, that’d be if she even wanted to... A hopeful look spread across Delilah's face at the idea.

Delilah smiled brightly and nodded, “Yes! Definitely!” Her mum had been really disappointed when she came back home, friendless, and now she had TWO to tell her about... well, kind of. Not really. BUT THEY'D BOTH SPOKEN TO HER AT LEAST TWICE SO IT COUNTED... right? RIGHT? “To plan? What do you mean?” she asked, not really thinking - or fully understanding, for that matter - Aurora’s words through. People had plans... for how school went? Oh.

Cardigan entered the common room, looking for her bed from last year. There it is!!! she thought ecastically as she ran towards it, making a rather loud springy noise when she hit the bed. Home at last. She rummaged through her trunk, making sure everything was there. Magazines? Check! Clothes? Check! Special socks? Check! That instantly made her think if her friend Tahnee Dixon, causing her to look where her friend was last year. OMIGOD. None other than Ariana Logan was there!!! "Oh. Fancy seeing you here," she called out over to her sworn arch-nemesis. That's right. Sworn arch-nemesis.

She hadn't beeeen?! "Wanna come with me next Hogsmeade weekend?" she asked, stroking the top of Sebastian's head as he flopped down next to her. "It's usually a lot of fun - I'll show you Honeydukes. They have all kinds of sweets and stuff. I bet there's loads of vegetarian things." Because it sucked that Delilah couldn't eat Jelly Babies! Maybe there was veggie jelly babies somewhere in the world... Aurora made a mental note to find out.

What did she..? Oh. Delilah really didn't get these figures of speech, did she? "Oh, it's just a saying - it means... things aren't going very well." Aurora explained, rubbing her eyes slightly... they were stinging a little, from being tired, and crying... but they were sort of going down now... which was good.. right?

Ariana rolled her eyes when she saw none other then Cardigan in the room AGAIN. "uhh Not Again!?!?!" she groaned. she did not need this, not this year not today, after hearing about Josephs and Josie's death and Okel being Odd and her her fight with Max, Cardigan was the last person she wanted to bump into.

"It's not like I wanted to see you either. I hate you as much as you hate me. We'll have to deal with it," Cardigan said icily. That girl just plain annoyed her. A demon in girl's clothing, Ariana was! How that girl got friends at all, she did not know... Hard to be friends with a girl like Ariana, don't ya think? She had like 3 enemies now: Ariana Logan(despises her), that kid(scared of her), and then Ella(most likely hated her guts). Oh joy.

ouch that hurt, a bit more than Ariana expected it too, she was wayy to upset to be bothered by her right now " OH, Would you just SHUT UP already Cardigan!" Ariana snapped at her tears in her eyes before closing the curtains around her bed post. " Just Leave me Alone!"

"Really?!" Delilah asked, eyebrows raised and eyes wide with hope. The girl didn't actually think Aurora liked her enough to want to spend the whole day in Hogsmeade with her. As Aurora talked about Honeydukes, Delilah grinned. Of course there was going to be vegetarian sweets there - chocolate was vegetarian!! Delilah just didn't like milk chocolate much. That's why she gave it to Aurora.

She listened to the explanation of the saying, while looking down at her hands. Of course that's what Aurora had meant - it made perfect sense. Merlin, she really was stupid. "Oh... I'm sorry..." The small Slytherin mumbled.

Delilah wasn't really sure what to say next... She supposed she could try to find out more about Aurora, but that seemed a bit rude - even to Delilah - considering that she'd just explained that things weren't going so well...

"Sooo...."

"Sure, I'll see if Jonathan wants to tag along too... or something." she said, perking up slightly. See? All she needed was friends. Boys were stupid... No they aren't... Anyway. A day out with friends would be great! And part of her wanted to spend twice the usual amount of time with Jonathan just to show Kennedy she didn't care anymore...

Aurora smiled, "Don't apologise, I get stuff wrong all the time." Hang on... she was being nice? Where had this come from. Aurora was kind of surprised at herself to be perfectly honest... maybe it was because Delilah was just so... cute. Or something...

Soooo indeed... "Boys are rubbish." Aurora finally said, sighing slightly. "Well, I don't know if they all are... but a lot of them." Yeah. Like Kennedy. Psh. Though she wasn't even sure why right now... she was sure she could work it out eventually. "Do you like anyone, Delilah?"

Delilah nodded in agreement. It'd be cool if Jonathan came along with them, too...

She tilted her head and eyed Aurora as she said that boys were rubbish. Delilah didn't quite agree with her. Strange, yes. Smelly? Definitely. But rubbish? ... Well. Maybe they were, a little bit. Hmm. The girl simply fiddled with the sleeve of her jumper and nodded quickly, again indicating that she agreed with Aurora's thoughts.

...

Did SHE like boys?

Delilah snapped her head to Aurora. "What?" Raised eyebrows. "Um... Well..." She brought her knees up close to her chest. "No. Not really..."

In all honesty, she didn't particularly like boys in the platonic sense of the word. Because of that, she didn't really know what it meant to actually like a boy...

She wasn't going to tell Aurora that out loud, though.

"Not including the muggle boys who I live near - because they're all really horrible - I only really know Johnny." She wiggled her toes a little and focused her attention on them, instead of Aurora. She'd not really wanted to talk to any of the boys - or any of the girls either, for that matter - that she'd come across since the start of the term. "And he's really... odd. But... A good kind of odd, I guess. I think." She shrugged.

"Oh and after Honeydukes we can go and visit the Shrieking Shack!" she said excitedly. Though something in the back of her mind warned her that the shy girl sat in front of her would be slightly opposed to that. Maybe Jonathan would help persuade her - he was almost guaranteed to want to see the Shack right? Adventures, yay!

Merlin, Delilah was quiet. Aurora wasn't really sure how to interact with people if they didn't humour her chatty nature... but she still liked Delilah for some reason. Hmm.

And then she spoke up. Hmmm... Not really? That was as good as a yes for Aurora. Whoooo though? HMMM!? To be honest, the only boy Aurora had ever seen her with was Jonathan..

Oh.

OHH!!!

Aurora was totally in support of that. Heh. Even though she fancied him a little bit herself, she would totally love to see Jonathan and Delilah. Hahaha. Can you imagine..?

Even though inside Aurora's head was in fits of laughter, her face was one of general interest. She nodded as she listened. Johnny? They already have nicknames..? She smiled a little bit. Good kind of odd.

Right. That was totally a thing now. Whether they liked it or not. Heh.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" she said with a grin. She almost added 'a good kisser, too' just to encourage Delilah a tiny bit but she imagined it wasn't the sort of thing on her mind at the moment. "Seen him much lately?"

"Um... Maybe." That was the haunted place, right? Yeah... Delilah definitely wasn't going near it. Aurora could go and visit if she really wanted to, but Delilah was going to stay faaaaaaaaaaaar away... somewhere with butterbeer. Yup.

Delilah looked at Aurora, blankly; her grin making Delilah feel a teensy bit wary. Slowly, she raised her eyebrows. "Wait... no -- I don't. Johnny's not -- like... no!!" Aurora seemed to have pieced everything together COMPLETELY WRONG in her mind, hadn't she?! Delilah could tell that much; she wasn't COMPLETELY stupid. "I don't... What I said... It doesn't mean -- I don't --"

GAH. GERALD HELP ME OUT.

Oh, brilliant. Now she was blushing, wasn't she? That was going to make Aurora believe her.

Then Aurora asked if she'd seen much of him. Slight topic shift. Good. Delilah shook her head. "I've only seen him in classes." But even then, there'd been no time to chat. "...Why?"

Maybe...? That didn't sound convincing... well, Aurora wasn't going on her own. So... maybe they'd just avoid it or something. Meh, the rest of Hogsmeade was awesome too.

... Well... if that wasn't a BLATANT attempt to cover up her true feelings then Aurora didn't know what was... "I wasn't... insinuating anything..." she lied, fiddling with the ends of her hair. "I agree with you - he is the good kind of odd." Hehehehehehe. She was in love with him. Aurora could tell. And who could blame her? He was very attractive... if a little bit insane. "I don't know what you're talking about..." Come on, you could practically see the halo... if you ignored the horns...

Okay. She was blushing. CLEARLY that meant Aurora was right. There was no disputing it now - even if Delilah said she'd rather eat a horned toad than kiss Jonathan then Aurora wouldn't believe her. Though of course she wouldn't say that. Because she liked him. Yep.

"I just wondered. I mean... I haven't seen him much." Then again, Aurora had been a little... preoccupied.

Aurora WASN'T insinuating anything... "Oh." Delilah blinked, then looked away. The book on the bedside table was more interesting. Less to do with Jonathan. Yup. Aurora was still talking. Delilah still wasn't looking at her. "Oh. Oh, okay." She was just agreeing that Jonathan was odd... Good. "Odd."

'I don't know what you're talking about...'

Delilah frowned and focused her attention on Aurora once more. She eyed the girl in a way that kind of said 'you're lying to me, but I don't know how and that confuses me. A lot.' HMMMMMMM.

"He tried to save me from an evil doctor a couple of weeks ago." She commented plainly, while examining the end of her hair; as if she were commenting on the weather. She really needed to start looking after her hair properly... "And nearly killed me in the process." Weeeeeeell... that was a slight exaggeration. The Groundskeeper seemed to have charmed the floor to prevent such injuries. But still. Theatrics. Hehe.

Aurora was decided now: She would do whatever it takes to get Jonathan and Delilah together. Because it was clearly true love. Why else would Delilah be avoiding the situation? HMM? Exactly. Aurora grinned at Delilah's slightly confused look, wearing an expression that said 'I still don't know what you're talking about.'

Okay... now she really didn't know what Delilah was talking about... Evil doctor? What? But he tried to save her?! SEE!!! HE LIKED HER TOO!!!! Truelovetruelovetruelovetruelovetruelooooove! And he nearly KILLED her?! THAT WAS SO TRUE LOVE! To love someone so much that you would risk both of your lives to save theirs. Wow. Heh. "How did he nearly kill you..?" Because that was the important thing, obviously... "And... there's an evil doctor in Hogwarts?" Huh?