"If I HAVE to, I will. But out of free will - no way. There's a reason I'm not in Gryffindor, you know," Rachel retorted, shuddering at the mere thought of a REAL haunted house. She didn't know much about ghosts outside Hogwarts - were they all friendly? Or were they all creepy? WHY didn't she know this? After six years in the wizarding world, she still felt like a muggle sometimes.

Ugh - Note to self: GO STUDY GHOSTS!

She couldn't help but blink as Reid repeated her thoughts out loud. Last year, he had done that so many times it had stopped affecting her but after all this time... A huge smile crept onto her face and as hard as she might, she couldn't tone it down. Oh, how embarrassing. "I still enjoy thinking," she answered, her huge grin not only visible to people in China but also audible in her voice.

She was officially pathetic. But then again... Again, she raised her eyes to meet his and almost squealed with happiness as nothing happened. Or, more accurately, her chest didn't hurt like it did for all those months - it didn't hurt. It didn't ache. Not. One. Bit.

!!!

"Con... fused?" she asked, slightly puzzled herself. What type of answer was that? At least he had elaborated. "I've been fine... Doing the usual school things," she replied, pointedly avoiding any mention of her family. "Oh - did you know that I'm the new Ravenclaw beater?" she added with a large smirk and jumped into a beating stance, her arms raised and holding an imaginary bat - which she swung, full force, and missed Reid's nose by about an inch.

"Oops - sorry."