Barnabas the Barmy
 

A moving tapestry depicts Barnabas attempting to train trolls for the ballet.

Rawr.

Jacqueline was in a VERY good mood. After finding out that she hadn't left her little music playing muggle device at home, but packed it in the tiny pocket inside her bright blue bag, she'd also found out that she'd packet a battery charger for it as well! Awersome. Wandering around for a bit, she came across a tapestry. NOMIDAAAAAYZ! Who said that tapestry-makers didn't have a sense of a humour? Well, no-one, but heeey. Standing right in front of hit, she giggled, and turned the music up in her ears.

Clark wandered away from the common room after fighting off a sudden urge to dance. He noticed a younger boy exclaiming, so he decided to bother him. (Cos he was a Clark.) "Hey!" he yelled to him. "Do you like to dance?" Clark asked him ponderingly. He liked to dance and didn't like dancing alone. Cos that was NOT cool.

Hey!

"Hey-ho! Let's go!" Jake responded automatically, glancing down the corridor. Twas a duuuuuuude. An older dude. Well, older than Jake was. "When the mood takes me, I do enjoy the occasional frolic to music," he responded, not bothered that he didn't know this guy at all. "But SHHHHHH!!!!! I'm HIDING!" he whispered, pressing him back against the wall.

Cue mission impossible music.

*hums*
 

"WHY ARE YOU HIDING? CAN I HIDE WITH YOU?" Clark asked loudly.

Poor Clark. He wasn't the most...wise? quiet? short? Well, yes, all of these but he also wan't the most discreet. Of course, he was also not very comfortable around short people, teachers, he was accident-prone....but he should dance.

And so, like those trolls in the tapestry, he danced ballet. And hummed.

"Mmmmh,mmh mhmhmmm...."

... Why did Jake aaaaaallwaayyyyyssss attract the weird people to him. Seriously, it's not like HE was weird.

...

...

...

Anyway, narrowing his eyes at the kid, Jake literally facepalmed. Sure, they were on the top floor, and mister cripple-hip was like... allllllll the way downstairs... but the man had the hearing of a BAT! "Kazimeriz," Jake explained, watching the boy's... dancing?

Could you even call it that?

"OOH! I'M CLARK LANDERS. I GET IN TROUBLE A LOT TOO." shouted Clark, up on his toes.

Which really hurt.

As he twirled around, he stopped, then ran over to where the boy was hiding. "WHAT'S YOUR NAME??" he asked, standing beside him, however, he was still yelling. (It's unneccessary Clark! UN!) His blue hair was still standing up on end, for some reason. But oh well.

"Hey!" Jake yelled indignantly, looking up at the freaky boy. "I never said I get in trouble alot! I'm never in trouble... it was just a... misunderstanding..." he trailed off, realising he didn't have to hide anything from the other students. "I kind of... forgot to go to his detentions."

Geeeeeez, so loud! "Name's Jake," he nodded to the guy, eyeing his blue hair. They must have looked a right sight... blue haired boy and pink haired boy. Well... Jake knew what he'd rather have.

... PINK!

Helped you get away with things when girls were around.

"Jake Upstead," he elaborated.

"I know what you mean-li'l kids got me in trouble. Now they blame me for their detention-it was their fault I got mine! Totally NOT my fault..." Ya it was. But he was in denial-not willing to let it go either. Who goes around kissing in their first year? Seriously.

DUMB! And so it was their fault.

"How'd you get your hair?" Clark asked, looking down at the little boy. Probably second year. Not first-or Jake might get offended of him making fun of his fellow firsties. But they deserved it.

ALL their fault.

Haha, oh the irony. Jake had gotten in trouble for acting like a little kid. Strange, how that tended to happen. "My hair?" Jake asked, bamboozled at the way the question was worded. Didn't everyone have hair?

Oh... hang on...

"Ohhhh... my brother got hold of my wand," Jake explained, tugging on a lock of his own hair. "And zapped it... then my other brother tried to wash it out with a potion... but it made it stay for longer... what about your hair?"

And Jake was verrrrrrry intruiged to find out about this detention Clark had apparently been in.

Clark listented to his story. "I never have that problem, I only have...." he silently counted, "11 brothers and sisters. So I'm fine. But I'm the oldest, so, they all 'respect' me." He paused before continuing with the quite long story.

"Well it has to do with my detention, so I'll just explain that. I was with my.....friend Natka, and we were talking. And two ravenclaw firsties were getting in trouble for kissing, and I was trying to get them out of losing points, et cetera, by saying they were my sister and step-bro, very disturbed. No one believed me, and so I got five points from Ravenclaw, and a detention. Never got thanked for it, and now they think their detention was my fault."

He gasped for air, as he had said all of that quite quickly. "And so for my detention I had to watch Masterson's dog, Roma, and I'm really allergic to dander of any kind. The nurse gave me a potion but it wore off and I got really bad welts, really long fingers, and uh...blue hair. Everything else is normal but the hair won't go back. Which is bad cos I had lucious black, wavy hair. I don't think the nurse likes me."

"Well... I didn't know I had any siblings 'til I turned up at my dad's house this summer... and he didn't even know I was going there..." Jake explained. "I got one little half-brother, and a step-brother and step-sister, both older," he added, stretching his arms out a little. Boy... he was tiyyaahhhd.

"The nurse is okay..." Jake noted, though he wasn't entirely sure whether she was annoyed at him or whether she didn't mind him all that much. "But... your detention was way better than mine," he added indignantly. "Mine took like... ages. And I messed my jaw up."

"MY LOCKS, MAN. MY LOCKS." A passerby would be wondering why Clark was shouting about his smoked salmon. But oh well. "I've seen her about nine times in the past three days. And she doesn't like me cos I was kinda...talkative." he muttered sheepishly.

"Dude...." Clark paused, then continued quietly. "Have you seen that girly gossip rag? Apa-something?" Aparecium...it was passed out in Prof. Bunbury's class. Clark was a secret fan-ok, that was an understatement. He was addicted.

Even though the last installment was talking about him.

Nodding and wondering what the heck Clark was on about, Jake figured his best bet was to just agree. Yup, nod and agree... thaaaaat's the ticket. He knew what it was like to keep on turning up at the hospital wing. Jake himself only just realised how accident prone he was... well, last year he never really went to the hospital wing as muuuuuch.

"Apa-what-now?" he repeated, looking at the boy as if the guy was insane.

Which, of course, he was.

Well... whatever that thing was, Jake was clueless about it.

Hogwarts was weird.

Clark blushed quited girlily. "Uh, nothing. Just a little girly thing. Yeah. It's just...nothing." Her sat down criss-cross-applesauce (WHAAT?) and shook some of his blue hair out. Wait....he was shedding? That's weird.....allergies. Whatever.

"Well, this magazine type thing, and then it was gossipping about everyone, and it mentioned me. And it said that I liked one of my best friends, and that I was seen 'slow dancing' with this first year. Quite icky."

The boy paused, the went up to the tapestry. "I've always wondered about this." he said, and touched the yarn. Which promptly fell down on the floor. The sounds of angry small trolls filled the corridor.

"Oh man. We gotta get outta here." Clark exclaimed wildly.

"Erm... strange..." Jake commented, furrowing his brow. Wow, he sure was glad he wasn't in with anything that could be written in that thing.

But wait... Jake had informations.

:shifty:

"That's... quite good to know, anyway," the pink-haired boy stated, glancing down the corridor as Clark approached the tapestry that was hanging on the wall. Only, when he looked back, the tapestry was no longer on the wall. Which only led him to one conclusion.

"YOU PULLED DOWN THE TAPESTRY?!"

Dani walked toward the tapestry, and saw Clark and el crazy chico. Smiling she waved. "Hi Clark. What you doin?" He looked like he was attempting to hide something and freaking out a little. She glanced at the weird kid. "Um. Hi." She still didn't know his name. What was the crazy boy yelling? Something about pulling down a tapestry? Oh noes.

"I didn't pull down the tapestry! Uh...um..." Clark desperatley tried to come up with an excuse. "You did! Ya! It was you!" he yelled as Dani walked down into the corridor.

"Hey Dani. Umm...I just walked in here. And Jake just pulled down the tapestry. Just reprimanding him." At that point, he broke down. "OK, it was me. You just CAN'T let anyone know. CAN'T." He spat on his hand then stuck it out to her. "Do you promise?"

"Now how are we gonna escape?"

Dani looked at Clark with wide eyes. "You pulled down the tapestry? I didn't even know it could fall." Looking down at his spitty hand, she shook her head. Eww. "I promise, but I'm not touching your hand until you wash it."

She thought for a minute and then smiled and pulled a roll of spell-o-tape out of her bag. "This might work." She held it out to him. "What do you think?" They might as well try it, it was better than leaving the angry trolls on the floor. Of course, now she was here so if a Professor happened to show up she'd probably be in trouble too. Great.

"Dude, it was toterly you!" Jake exclaimed indignantly, eyes widening as clark tried to pin it on him (pun?). Then there was that girl Jake ended up seeing everywhere... who always seemed to be giving him strange looks. Ya.

Ew.

"Don't touch his hand," Jake warned the girl, tackling her out of the way. "He has the lurgy! Look at his HAIR!"

Ahhhh, the good ole lurgy excuse. Good times.

"We? WHADYA MEAN WE?!" Jake yelled, demeanour changing once again. "YOU pulled it down."

"Uh...does tape work on yarn? Plus, it'll be kinda visible, the tape. So that's probable a no, I guess." he shrugged. "Maybe we could push some firsties in here then tell a proffesser that they pulled it down....is that mean?" Ya. "OK, um I thought that there was a permanent sticking charm on it. But, I don't really know."

If he was gonna be in trouble, he might as well get it over with.

"I don't have lurgy!" Clark tackled Jake. "Now YOU have lurgy. And since you were a witness you will get in trouble."

Dani grunted. "Gerr off meh!" She flailed a little. She didn't want the lurgy. "It does work on yarn, just tape the back to the wall, do the rolly-thingy with the tape. I'd do it but.." She eyed Jake. "I'm Dani by the way." Now was as good as any time to introduce herself. She didn't want to get in trouble, so they needed to fix it.

Straightening himself up and pressing the creases out of his clothes that he'd acquired after his act of... heroism, Jake smiled at the girl. "Hi Dani, I'm Jake UpstEAAAAAAAAAAAD!" he exclaimed, for as soon as he stood up, Clark had tackled him back to the floor. "AAARGH! LURGY! LURGY!"

NOW his hair would turn BLUE! Or so he thought. His hair couldn't turn BLUE! That was an unnatural colour.

Whereas pink hair was toterly normal.

"Blame a first year?" Jake repeated, his gaze s-l-o-w-l-y resting on Dani and an eeeevil smile cropping up on his face.

CackleCackle!

A slight smile cropped up on Jake's face as he glanced up at the nurse. "Herippedthetapestrydown! HetackledmeandgavemetheLURGY!" Jake gabbled out, pointing accusingly at the boy.

Now we're gonna see what the nurse reeeeeeeally thought of Clark.

Bwaha.

Dani dove behind Jake in an attempt at hiding herself. She was actually quite fond of healer Avalon. Knowing that she was acting like a wimp, she said, "Miss Avalon, It's not entirely his fault. Clark just wanted to see what the tapestry felt like, because it's so old. We didn't realize that it didn't have a permanent sticking charm." She looked down at the floor hoping that she wouldn't get in trouble for trying to help her friend.

When Jake turned into a total blabber mouth, Dani smacked him upside the head. Smacking Huffies was turning into a habbit of hers. Pulling the spell-o-tape back out, she said. "We were going to try and fix it."

"Ouch!" Jake gasped, giving a fake glare at Dani as she went and whapped him round the head. "I'll 'ave you for assault," he joked, sticking his tongue out.

Stepping back a little at the raised eyebrow, Jake cocked his head to the side. "I know... but... he got the lurgy too... I mean, a common sign is craziness. I don't want to catch his crazy!" Jake blurted out. "And... and he pulled it! Tugged it! RIPPULLTEAR!"

Dani looked at the tape again, "But we was going to fix it!" The healer didn't seem to want to listen to that part. An earnest expression fixed on her face. She looked down at the floor and said, "Well in all fairness, if you're gonna yell at Clark you should yell at Jake too. When I got over here they were both playing with the tapestry." So maybe the crazy boy would hate her for the rest of her life but whatever.

"But-the-I-wha-he-and-but-if-WHAT?!" Jake exploded, rounding on Dani. "You liar! You bloody liar! I never even touched it!" he cried out indignantly, stepping up to the girl. What was her game? Why was she being so mean. "Take it back," Jake muttered, through gritted teeth, ready to pounce.

Dani shrank back. He was scary. "Miss Avalon!!!! He's gonna kill me!" She started crying. She was scared. And she was gonna die. She contemplated running, but he'd find her. So instead she jumped and ran to the opposite side of the healer and hid behind her. "I don't want to die!!"

RAWRRRR!!!!!

"Take it back!" Jake yelled, spinning around as Dani went and hid behind the nurse. COWARDICE! Oh, you better believe he'd pounce. As soon as she was out from behind Miss Avalon... he'd get her. Mwaha.

"I had enough of liars," he growled in response to the nurse, charging forwards, intending to dodge around the nurse and get Dani. "Not my fault!"

Kazi, though... hmmm.

PFFT!

Clark watched as Nurse Avalon came up to the corridor. Great. His FAVORITE staff member.

"Ma'am, I don't like it when people call me crazy," he whispered, seemingly on the verge of tears. "It was an allergic reacting, not lurgy. I DON'T HAAAVE THE LURGY!!" he sobbed. "I didn't pull down the tapestry on purpose, I was just looking at it! I'm very fascinated in fine art," he added. He watched as Jake almost charged Dani. "Yo, back off!"

Clark had to admit it-he respected the nurse. It might not have seemed like them, but she was a tough cookie.

Of course he just got detention. Darn.

"Yes ma'am." he nodded to the detention. "But no to the pretzel. I'm allergic to those too." What wasn't he allergic to? Water. Among other things.

"C'mon Jake! Let's go to detention!" he said in mock enthusiasm. "Can I have a potion for owl feathers?" he asked, not wanting to change his hair color yet again.

"No fair!" Jake exclaimed, scowling thoroughly... though of course, he knew there was no arguing. "This sucks..." he muttered, glancing up at Clark... heeeee knew what detention was like.

EVIL WOMYN!

They were in it together, he swore they were.

"Fine," he mumbled, thrusting his hands into his pockets and turning on his heel, more miffed about the point loss. He didn't say anotherrrrr worrrrrd.

Chris Potter turned the corner of the corridor that was home to the Barnabus the Barmy and saw the Nurse Intern. With her was the fainting boy and another kid. He smiled and then went to great them. "Hello Ms. Avalon. Hi Clark you feeling beeter?"

Chris stopped his polite greeting when he noticed there was tention amoung this group. "Is everything alright?" he asked the intern.

"Not a good time Chris," Clark spoke through his teeth. "Not." If there was something Clark could do besides annoy authority, sing and dance, and have allergic reactions, he could also subtly hint. "Um....ya, Chris. How about you have a nice little talk with Nurse Avalon about it?"

Chris shook his head in amazement as Clark and the other kid ran off. He looked at the Nurse and asked. "Does he always get in trouble like this?" He was curious as to why he couldn't get a grasp on the rules. He didnt know what he did this time but his guess was he would find out soon.

we didn't run off
 

"We do seem to get in trouble a lot," Clark nodded. "But not together. I guess this is a new record, the Hospital Wing's biggest....stalkers, getting in trouble together. I guess this is pretty cool."

Clark turned around a few times and started cha-cha-ing. "Yo, we gonna go to da detentions now! yo, yo." he rapped. "C'mon Jake. We have a detention to do....this shall be fun."

Chris smiled as she said she can't chat. 'I understand you are very busy. Have a good day," He then turned to wait for the studnets to leave. He didnt want to escort them away but he would since he was instructed to.

"Can't help it," Jake mumbled, turning to look at the Gryffindor Prefect and then back at Clark, and then the Prefect again. "I'm sure we can find our own way," he pointed out, bluntly.

Ignoring Clark's stupidness and the exclaimation about detention being fun(?!?!?!?!?!) Jake strolled off down the corridor at a leisurely pace. "Sorry Dani," he called back over his shoulder. "But it's what happens when people lie."

And he was gone.

Like, POOF!

Clark rolled his eyes at Jake. Whatever. "Catcha later Dani...." he nodded, then followed Jake into gone-ness, leaving only a mess of bue hair behind him. WHY WAS HE SHEDDING???

Chris watched as the students left and he sighed. Good he could get out of here, he needed to go rest for a bit he had had a long day.

Dani watched everything that happened. Convinced she was finally safe, she unhid herself. Oops. She was a horrible person. Now she had to be on the lookout for Jake. So much for making a new friend. And he was cute too. Bummer.

Alice had no idea what kind of place this was. But randomely she ended up there. She looked around to see if any familiar face was there. No one. My bad luck. She shrugged and continued to explore the place. Mmm..dusty and bit dark.

Alice didnt expect this. Him. Torin. Not expecting him right in front of her. She took a step backward. Please leave me alone boy. She looked around and eyeing on the exit.

But his voice sounded bit different this time. Something soft. Or it was just her?! But no, dont take risk. She looked up at him with wide eyes, "You got bored, right?" that's why you're here to tease me, to bully me, right? she asked, started chewing on her finger nail.

Alice couldnt believe her own ears. He apologized. HE APOLOGIZED. Was it true?! My goodness. She pinched herself to make sure of it. Ouch! Alice shook her head, making no sense, so nervous.

Not knowing how to react to him, her natural soft side had showed up, quickly. "Oh..Umm.." she trailed off, "It's okay." what is okay? i mean he bullied you right in front of other people. Are you crazy?! Ofcourse she didnt like him, but it wouldnot be fair if she didnt show some manners when he realized his mistake and apologized. And moreover it was Alice. A shy, soft and well-mannered Alice.

He was still there. Talking to her. Alice's breathing became ubnormal. No. Why should i get nervous?! Alice cleared her throat, gained her courage again.

She raised his brows at his question, surprised. "Well..nothing much. I just..looking for..Lion" Fyo. Her brave Lion. She bit her tongue, giggled.

Ha! He intrigued. Her eyes glinted at the sound of Lion. His sweet talks and mermerising scent. Mmmm.. She was standing there, dreaming about her Lion. And she was about to answer Torin, but wait, why should i tell him about Fyo?! No way...

She bit her lower lip as she couldnt ignoring the blood rushing to her head at the thought of Fyo, she spoke, "Umm..Lion is my Candy Factory."

Alice giggled again. It was interesting to see him confused, the bully and flirty boy . Seemed it was her turn to make him uneasy. Well..

She straightened herself, "Umm..Yes. But why you bother?" she raised her brow, beamed.

He was thoughtful at her question. He had no idea why he seemed to care. And that was annoying. This girl was annoying!

"I... don't know." He frowned slightly. "Why can't you tell me who it is if it's not big deal?" He had her there. He wanted to know who Lion was.

She had no intention to see what he was doing or thinking or whatever. Her mind was full of her Lion. And all those sweet happenings.

But wait, why did he bother about her and her Lion in first hand. Since when he started caring about..umm..such things?! Weird. She had nothing to fear to tell about Fyo to him. They were in love, focourse. "Well..His name is Fyodor, shortly Fyo." she mouthed, and went to deep pink, blushing heavily.

Alice couldn't stop blushing. She looked down at her finger nails, nodded her head quickly, "Yes." was all she could say at the moment. She was too happy to say anything morethan that Yes.

She looked so dreamy as if she was going to sleep mode soon.

"Thanks." Alice started curling and uncurling her hair, still smiling as leaned against the wall.

Her light pink outfits seemed goes very well with her cheeks. "I gotta go," she said, not wanting to get into any quarrel with him anymore. She had suffered already. Twice.

She started worried as he was getting closer when she was about to leave. Go. Run Alice. He was upto something. And then he apologized again. Who wants?..i mean..seriously.

She raised her head up and spoke,"It's..o.." and next second he kissed her. Oh..what..the..h..She pressed her hands on his chest and pushed him away before slumped down on the floor, fainted.

As he walked down the corridor, his mind on the hand drawn map he'd got from Professor Dumont, George looked up at something pink. Alice?! "Alice?!" he ran over to her and bent down at her side "Oh no, Alice?" he put his hand to her head and then watched her breathing. Satisfied that she was still alive, he sat next to her and waited for her to wake up. Is she sleeping? What happened?

It was not clear how long she had been there lying on the floor, unconscious. But when she opened her eyes, all she could see was that cute face. George. His worried face hovered over her, watching her intensly. She blinked, trying to get focuss on what had happened to her before and why she was lying on the floor.

Slowly one by one swimming through her mind. Apology, Torin...kiss. She sat upright on the floor, clutched her head in her hands, "George," she called as her eyes started welling up.

As she stirred, he kept his eyes on her and scanned her face worriedly "Alice, what happened?" he asked as she put her head in her hands. He moved closer and put his arm around her "It's okay" he whispered comfortingly to her. What HAD happened? All he'd seen was her on the floor on her own, it wasn't exactly normal.

By the second George asked her what had happened, tears started rolling down on her cheeks. What could she say? How could he be behave like that to her? Was it another sort of bullying?! Her head seemed spinning and couldnt think properly.

"He..He kissed me George," her voice was trembling as she burried her face in her hands.

As the tears ran down her cheeks, George looked away, she didn't need him staring at her while she cried. Then he heard what she said, his gaze turned back to her face, his expression was horrified "Who kissed you?" he asked her, not knowing if he wanted to really know or not.

Alice shook her head. It was shocking. Unexpected. Alice wiped off the tears from her face by her sleeves. It was so embarrasing. She somehow managed to look at his face. "He..the boy.." she trailed off, "..Torin." she said as if she said something a bad word.

Speaking of him, where he was? Ran away? Oh..you..boneless Duck!

All she wanted was him. Her Lion. Fyo. She WANTED her LION. Now!

Watching her movements closely and worriedly, George shook his head "That boy who was picking on you?" he hugged her and then sighed "Alice, I think he likes you" George looked into her eyes "It must be why he was being so rude, cause he was denying his feelings" For a young boy, George had a good grip on reality. He might be young and cute, but he could say what he was.

Stepping out of the portrait hole leading the merged Gryffindor and Slytherin Common Room, Anna took off on a random stroll down the seventh floor corridor. The hallways weren't as busy today, although that could be because everyone was off doing what she probably should be doing---schoolwork. She'd tried to sit down and concentrate on her work, but she'd gotten distracted and then finally given up for the time being. Upon reaching a tapestry, she stopped to study it for no particular reason. She laughed lightly at the scene depicted---Barnabas teaching a group of trolls the art of ballet. Whoever thought of such silliness? The tapestry was still interesting, nonetheless.

"You know, when I was a child and up to something particularly ill advised," Copernicus appeared behind Anna Bella and studied the tapestry over her shoulder. "She would often say 'Well, my Teapot, you have about as much of a chance as Barnabas and his trolls.' I'm not sure I ever fully appreciated how ridiculous she thought me."

Cela...


Was not following Copernicus.


She simply did not DO creepy things like that. She spotted Anna and opened her divination book, walking towards him them her.

Quite deliberately she walked into Anna. "Oh! Anna! I didn't see you there! How are you?"

Anna had allowed herself to get lost in thought through staring at the tapestry. She'd been daydreaming about Barnabas and what he must have been saying to those trolls when she heard a voice speaking to her. She blinked, then stared wide-eyed at Barnabus for a moment before realizing that she now had company on the corridor. She stood, or rather whirled around, and found Cope standing there staring at the tapestry, as well. "...as much of a chance as Barnabus and his trolls," she said, laughing as the meaning behind what he was saying registered. "I like that...Barnabus and his trolls. So how ya been, Co---ohhhh---pe?"

The reasoning behind her rather odd way of saying Cope's name was, of course, that someone had walked right into her, causing her to stumble but not quite fall. Fritzera. That had to be Fritzera. Only he would be capable of doing such a thing... "Oh! Ohhh... Hey, Cela," Anna greeted, sort of surprised that it had been her and not Jack. Then again, Cope was around, which usually meant that Cela was around, so she guessed the sudden appearance wasn't all that unusual after all. "I'm doing well, Cela. How about you?"

"I'm great!" Celandine nodded, "Just been working on my Divination homework. What about you? Done prodding Gryffindors for the day? Have you heard from Cale lately?"

She bounced a bit, partly out of habit and partly to make Anna think that everything was fine and dandy in Celaworld.

Sigh.

"Goodhello." Celandine agreed, shooting the tiniest of looks at Copernicus. She thought about what he said and cocked her head.

"Noble? Nobility and stupidity are often intertwined. He was either stubborn or stupid or ignorant." Cela suggested, a hint of her debating tone trickling into her words.

Anna continued to stare at the tapestry, nodding as Cope spoke his words of wisdom about the nobility of the scene. Leave it to Cope to have something like that to say about the nonsense depicted in front of them. "Oh, you mean...like me...when it comes to Divination," she said, joking around about her failed efforts to stay ahead of the game when it came to the art of telling the future. She giggled and sort of gave him a friendly one-armed hug. "I'm only kidding. I---..." She started to say something else to him, but then he said something to Cela, so of course all of his attention was then directed to her.

...speaking of Divination. "Divination, huh? That's what I was up in the Common Room starting on. I'm rubbish, though. That's just all there is to it. I'll figure it out sooner or later, though," she said, brushing the subject off in favor of a less difficult one. "Yup, he's been home getting ready for the holidays. I'm going home to see him, you know...and I can't wait. We're going to try and put the final touches on the wedding arrangements." She giggled at Cela's thoughts regarding the tapestry. Ahhh, Cope and Cela. In so many ways, they were so made for one another.

"It's the only subject that Nico and I have in common as a favourite and being good at it." Celandine mentioned. The difference was, with Nico it was the theoretical based knowledge and with Cela it was much more instinctual and interpretive.

"That depends." Cela lifted her chin, "If you like someone and are to busy worrying about other things to notice that they like you too, you might miss it anyway. Sometimes I think people like to aim for goals that are unattainable. And, the noble part only comes in to play if you care about the person for them and not for yourself, otherwise its more selfish than noble." Cela suggested, flicking a glance at the tapestry. "I think that any goal should be an informed one. How can you truly want something unless you know it well enough to see that it is worth wanting?"

Cela took a piece of candy out of her pocket and slowly began to unwrap it.

Anna nodded then glanced back up at Barnabas and his trolls. She actually wondered how far he got with training them...if he ever even got far at all. She thought about heading over to the library tomorrow or something and checking out a book or two on the man. It'd be an interesting read if nothing else. It was only when she heard Cope say her name that she realized he'd been talking to her...or at least said something to her. She looked over at him with a confused expression at first, but then what he'd said suddenly registered. "Oh, erm...I...hmm. I don't know, Cope. I've always been somewhat of a romantic, so I've always kind of thought that true love, if it's meant to be, will always win in the end. What if the person you're caring about is truly your soulmate...only they don't realize until a little while later. It could happen...," she suggested.

"Nico...so what's he been busy getting into these days? Besides his potions business, I mean," she said. She'd have to owl Nico sooner or later, as it'd been awhile since she'd talked to him or heard from him. She nodded as Cela shared her thoughts about Cope's whole nobility and stupidity thought. "You know, though...my mum once told me 'When one door closes, another opens.' It's a simple old saying, right? The tricky part comes in the end, though. 'We often look so long and so regretfully at the closed door, that we don't see the one that's been opened for us'."

"He's just getting things ready I guess. Not long until March." Cela shrugged, preferring not to think about that whole thing too much. She'd never be his favourite again after that.

Cela looked at Copernicus with a mixture of surprise and alarm. "Neither." She said finally giving pause before adding, "But... I think you kind of subconsciously like feeling guilty all the time and... maybe you don't know yourself when you are happy or feel like you have a right to be." Cel was pretty sure by now that Copernicus felt like he had some great big pennance to pay that had nothing to do with Plymouth at all. She figured it was more about his mother.

She looked down at the little piece of chocolate she'd just unwrapped, back up at Cope and down at the chocolate again. Hesitatingly she broke it in two, placed one piece on her tongue and offered the other piece to Copernicus.

More than anything, Cela didn't really think Cope was selfish enough.

Anna returned the blink Cope had given her, for all the sudden, she felt sort of right smack in the middle of a conversation she might not need to be a part of. Ohhh, but it was really interesting to hear! She tried to distract herself with Barnabus and his trolls again (really, she did), but when drama presents itself right in front of your very eyes, it's sort of hard to turn it down and look the other way. Suddenly feeling as if she were at a Quidditch match and watching two different teams battle for the snitch, Anna glanced back and forth...back and forth...back and forth. When Cope asked Cela about being unattainable, she stopped all the back and forthness and fixed her eyes on Cela.

Cela had answered her question about Nico, but continuing that conversation sort of seemed rather random right now, so Anna just nodded and settled for a nice, "Hmm...I see." She listened as Cela spoke rather deeply about how she saw Cope as a person who sort of liked feeling guilty. Feeling like some sort of "Couples Therapist," Anna shifted her attention over to Cope, watching for his reaction. "You know, I think this sort of goes along with my mum said about the whole open and closed doors thing. We do sometimes often look so long and so regretfully at the closed doors that we can neglect the ones that have been opened for us," she said, chiming in and adding her two knuts.

Celandine shot an awkward look at Anna. It was not a go-away look, it was a use-your-head-girl-powers-and-make-this-make-sense look.

She looked down at Cope's hand and a faint furrow appeared between her eyes. "You do deserve things though. You do." Why should happiness be something that needed to be earned anyway? Who made that rule?

Cel nommed on her piece of chocolate and continued staring at his fingers.

Anna sort of rocked back and forth on her heels, trying to appear absentminded, while Cope and Cela talked. One one hand, she sort of felt like she was in the middle of someone's private conversation. On the other hand, though, she felt as if...maybe...Cope and Cela sort of needed a little nudge in the right direction. What on Earth were they waiting for anyway? Had Cope even taken Cela out on a little date yet? ...had Plymouth? "Too scared? Nonsense, Cope! If we don't take risks, then we never what rewards are waiting for us on the other side," she replied.

...but then Anna caught that look Cela was giving her. She blinked, unsure what to do, then started babbling about pretty much anything. "Speaking of deserving things, you know what you two need? A nice quiet evening...at Madame Puddifoot's!" she said, looking at Cela with an 'I didn't know what else to say' look. "I tell you what...we'll make it sort of a group thing. You two, me, and...erm, well, I'll find someone. Come on! It'll be fun!"

Cela brightened a little at the idea. The only time she'd been in Puddifoots was when she'd gone in there and Will was all dressed up in the nicest suit ever and Jaimine's rope was all tuggy and stuff.

"A group thing?" That was safe, right?

Cela fit quite naturally under Cope's arm and she did her best not to look up at Copernicus with too hopeful an expression. "They have pie too." She ventured in an I-don't-really-care-but-I-totally-do voice.

Anna just sort of eyed Cope when he said he was risking enough. She wasn't quite sure how to reply to that, so she just nodded a few times instead. "You can drink tea here in the castle...but you can't dream Madame Puddifoot's tea. Besides, they don't just serve tea. The cheesecake's really good, too," she said. As soon as she said that, her mind drifted back to how she'd kissed both Plym and Steven at Madame Puddifoot's here recently. That'd be sort of odd if she could convince Dominic, the Hufflepuff she needed to kiss, to tag along with she, Cope, and Cela. She could kill two birds with one stone then.

"Yup...a group thing," she said to Cela. "I'll bring...Denton or someone like that. You know, just as friends. She could tell that Cela was warming up to the idea. Now if she could just get Cope to agree, they'd be all set. Well, Cope and Denton, that is. "So what you do say? This weekend?" she asked both.

"Oooh. I like Dom-in-ick. He's totally my friend you know." Though, if you asked her, Cela'd probably claim anyone as her friend.

It would be safe right? Allowed? Since it would just be a bunch of friends spending time together. Having tea and cheesecake...

Cela looked to Copernicus to see what he'd say about it.

"Tea and pie!" Celandine repeated with almost too much enthusiasm.

Then she looked at Anna, panic starting to set in. What am I supposed to do now?

A tiny hint of a grin spread across Anna's face, and she simply watched Cope, waiting for him to cave in, as she knew he would. She couldn't imagine him saying no to a little date with Cela in Hogsmeade. A plan was already forming in Anna's mind. She and Dom (hopefully Dom) would accompany Cope and Cela (just to make sure they didn't back out or get nervous or something like that), then they'd sort...kind of...bail on them to leave them be. She was sure they'd understand.

...and then, Cope caved in. "Tea and pie...or cheesecake or whatever else you want...it is, then!" she happily exclaimed. She nodded when Cela mentioned being friends with Dom. "Yeah, me, too, so I'm sure he'll come along just as friends. I don't imagine he'll have a problem with that," she added." Her eyes flickered from Cela to Cope then back again, and she picked up on the little expression her friend gave her. She winked, letting Cela know that it'd all be okay. She had to find, Lyra, though! They had a date to plan!

Dominic was innocently making his way down the seventh floor corridor towards his new temporary home in the Ravenclaw Tower, as he passed by an interesting tapestry which caught his eye. The tapestry was of course of Barnabas attempting to train trolls for the ballet. Definitely one of the more humorous things to be found at Hogwarts.

But that wasn't really what caused the sixteen year old to stop dead in his tracks. It was the sound of very familiar voices; Anna Greingoth, Copernicus Kettleburn, and Cel-an-dine Toussaint. Talking about him, no less.

Frowning, he turned around slowly to face the trio standing there gibbering. "Ask Denton what? Join who? Where?" Dominic asked, raising a brow in suspicion.