"Right!" Celandine agreed, "I have soooooooooooooo many things that I want to research and experiment on!" She wouldn't have enough time in her life to do it all, she was pretty sure. Cel started walking toward the stairs, "Year one of how many, do you think?"

Wow. Loaded question much? Cope breathed out carefully as if doing calculations in his head. He was worried he'd overwhelm her with his feelings, but he didn't really feel like he could lie to her.

"I say, hopefully a lot. I hope we have a lot of years of working together on projects and research." There, that wasn't so painful and creepy-feeling. She wouldn't get the feeling that he was making plans about her or anything.

Lyra was leaning against the wall, whistling a song she loved. Scratching her wrist a bit she looked up to see Grace walking in the corridor, yesh!. Lyra pushed herself off the wall and walked towards her but froze when she heared the question. "err...we err..." 'i don't know'. she thought and ruffled her hair. "err.. we can ......."

'laugh, jump, tapdance, sing, look, talk, paint, walk, sit, curse, .etc etc...'

Lyra shook her head forcefully, and made a face "woah i'm confusing myself in my head" Lyra said nodding and gave a stupid grin. "i don't know" she finally said and looked at Grace. "do you?,"

"Hmm..." Grace thought. She really wanted to gossip about anything. She'd missed gossiping, something she used to do at her previous school. Of course she wasn't that fond of gossiping but according to a research, gossip made people feel fresher. She bit her lip, unsure if it'd be rude to suggest. 'What the heck?' she thought and gave that evil smile again. "I actually missed gossiping..." she said. "But I think we need a place more... uncrowded. Like toilets."

Lyra laughed "gossiping it is!" Lyra never really gossiped about anything but didn't mind to try it. "do you know which floor toilets are?" she said stopping with laughing and jumped up and down on her spot.

"Hopefully? Definitely!" Celandine answered with a smile. Funny how being around Copernicus cheered her up and made her forget about things. "After I graduate, maybe we could work our way through my Grandmother's library? Get more research and project ideas from there?"

"We could even start next summer during my visits, although I bet I'll be doing a different sort of research and they might get cranky." Copernicus managed to do the foot-rock thing that showed he was nervous even though they were walking down the hall.

"If you had to choose between Italy and Egypt for school, which would you choose? All things being equal, I mean."

"The sooner the better." Celandine agreed, not quite oblivious to his nervousness but not associating it as anything to do with her. Why would the prospect of spending lots of time with her make Copernicus nervous?

"Well... I'd choose Egypt. I suppose thats because I can always visit Italy anytime I like, and once I graduate I'd be able to apparate anyway. I'd like to see Egypt."

He rolled around the idea in his head. He loved Egyptian mythology and history, and he'd taught himself hieroglyphics as his first ancient language. The only real draw Italy had, other than the obvious, was that Cela would be there.

"Professors Truebridge and Lupa and Vindictus have all given me advice about what to do when I leave Hogwarts, and it is all different. I'm not sure who to trust or listen to. None of them know me well enough to know my feelings on the matter, and I don't even know my own heart."

"Well," Cela began slowly, "Even though I don't like thinking about you leaving, because... I'll still be stuck here without you for two whole years, but maybe I can help you figure out what you want?" She paused, "How can their advice all be different? And... who has had experience most similar to what you are looking at doing?"

"Truebridge does, I think, but they're all well-meaning. They just have different ideas on how to go about things. For example, Truebridge says I probably don't need to go to university right away, because an internship can count toward that and practical experience counts for more. But Vindictus said I should do university next, and Lupa said something in between." He shuffled his feet a bit.

"We don't have to talk about the leaving. It's been on my mind lately is all. I should be thinking more about now. House points and floods and..." His ears blushed. "Pretty girls."

"Do you want to go to university right away? I mean, if you aren't even quite sure what you want to do, except in a vague sort of way, hands on experience might help you narrow it down and figure out if you really do have a passion for the practical side of things and not just the theory." Cela pointed out. She paused for a moment before adding, "And it might give your father a chance to... get used to the idea?"

Cel sighed. She didn't want to think about it either. Of course she'd be fine it wasn't like she had a shortage of friends or anything, but... Copernicus was different. "House points and flood... pretty girls?" Plural?

"I feel pretty sure this is something I could really enjoy doing and could be very good at," Copernicus shrugged. "I would like to go to university someday, though. I think there are some things you just can't learn without books, no matter who teaches you. But perhaps you're right about the internship."

It didn't do to dwell on the future when the present was so very appealing, however. "More about the science of pretty girls. The magic of them. What they like. Who they like. How to keep them."

Celandine continued walking toward the stairs. "You would be good at it. You are amazing at everything." Her tone made it perfectly clear that she whole-heartedly believed it and was simply pointing it out as fact rather than intending it as a compliment of any sort. "I think you are right. But, some of those courses might be hard to get into right? And when you get into it and graduate, getting a position might be hard without experience, right? So, I think the internship would be the best place to start to give you even more of an edge."

She looked away from him a little uncertainly, "And what have you... found out?"

Reese headed into the first floor corridor after leaving the courtyard. She was still carrying Cedric's sweater in her arms and hopefully Torin was still following her. She walked down the corridor and stopped when she didn't see any sign of her brother. "I don't think he's here," she called out to Torin. She leaned against the corridor wall as she waited for her friend to catch up with her.

Torin frowned as he tried to catch up with Reese. She was walking way too fast. "Well... What does he look like?" He had no idea if her brother looked anything like her or not.

"Billie Jeansss is NOT mah lovvah!"

Ahhh yes, Cam was singing. His horrible voice earned him a reputation back in the muggle world because of well it's... it's lameness. Lame voices were lame but he was NOT lame, he just had a lame voice is all. He continued singing his song and he snapped his hands while he was at it too. Who was the guy that sang it again? Ahhh it was a way old song and he preferred wizard rock bands but he much enjoyed that person's songs a lot. Deciding not to continue the song because he obviously didn't know the lyrics, he started to skip.

Skipping meant that someone was awesome, thus making HIM an awesome person. HEHEHEHEHE. HAHAHAHHA. BWAHAHAH.

And then REESE.

GR.

GRRRRR. Worth a try.

"Haeyoo Reese's Puffs," he said and a snicker followed after it. Reese's Puffs. Hehe. Puffs. Insult. Hehe.

Reese looked at Torin, who was finally catching up with her. "Was I walking too fast for you?" She questioned with a smile. She looked around the corridor, hoping to see Jake walking towards them. But, he never came. She looked back at Torin when he asked her what Jake looked like. "Um, blue eyes and pink hair. You can't miss him," she informed Torin.

"What is that horrible noise?" Reese exclaimed turning around to face the place where the noise was coming from. Actually, that noise was singing. Someone really needed singing lessons. Then, she noticed it was Cam. Wait...CAAAAAAAM! He was just the person she needed right now.

Reese's Puffs? She shook her head at Cam. She had no comment on her nickname. "Cam, your just the person I need to talk to," she stated. She looked down at the sweater in her arms then looked back up at him. "I need you to do me two favors. I'll pay you with chocolate," she told him.

"Pink hair?" he was going to question her further when suddenly he had to grab his ears as he suddenly heard the worst sound of his life. And he couldn't block it out!

Then this weird... hobo child jumped out at them. He backed away. "Reese, I'm scared." What was this... thing?

Cam wondered if Reese's Puffs was a good enough nickname, it wasn't some sort of a nickname though... it was an insult, well to Cam it was. hehe. Puffs. Insult. Nickname. Hehe. He noticed there was a person there with Reese. Weird. Wasn't Reese some sort of a loner? It was just unbelievably believable that she was HANGING out with a GUY 'cause ya know, it was REESE. Ew. Ew. The thought of it made him vomit but he didn't want to vomit now. He would have barfed on her already... if there wasn't anyone watching.

Reputation reputation he had a BIG reputation, being one of the most popular kids in Hogwarts you know. Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeehee. "Scared, HUH? HUH? huh? HUUUUH?" He got closer to the guy and tip-toed to his heels, trying to get to be as tall as him.

Nope. The guy was simply too tall. Epic fail right dere.

"WELL. I can ASSURE you MISTER BILLIE and you MISSES JEAN," he said, looking at the guy first and then at Reese and then back at the guy, "That... I'm too awesome for you. So I should be the one SCARED of youuu two people!" Conceited much? Yeah. "Anyways. You should be scared, 'cuz I has powers. I can make you vanish with just the TIP of my finger!"

It was true. He really could. Yup.

"Favors?" Doing Reese a favor? EW. But the chocolate. "TELL ME."

Reese rolled her eyes when Torin said he was scared of Cam. She was only afraid of Cam when she was near water, because he almost killed her! Cam couldn't do anything to them when he was on land, could he? Actually, she took that back. He could harm them on land if he wanted to. She stepped out of the way when Cam got close to Torin. "Watch out. He bites," she warned him.

Misses Jean? She was sort of regretting wanting Cam right now. She could get Clark to do her favors for her. But, sadly, she knew Cam more than Clark. It better to ask someone you knew than someone you just met. "Oh, really? You can make us vanish with the tip of your finger? That's new," she smirked. "You know what I can do. I can ruin ships. That's what I can do." Bwahaha. Her and Lima ruined JamCake, didn't they?

She handed Cam the sweater before she said anything. "First of all, I need you to give this sweater back to Cedric what's-his-face. And, second of all, I need you to act like a spy for the rest of the term. I need you to watch over Jake and make sure he doesn't get into anymore trouble. When I mean watch over him, I don't mean hid behind the suits of armor and watching him. I mean, just casually keep an eye on him for me. Make sure he doesn't eat too much chocolate and so on and so on," she explained. "Can you do that, Cam?"

He felt better as soon as that boy stopped singing. He laughed when he got in his face. "nah, I'm not scared of you now. It was just your dreadful singing. And why am I Billie?"

He listened to the boy and Reese talking, feeling rather left out.

Cam was just plain out shocked when Reese told the guy he bites. HUH? Well pfffttt you don't need to scare people FOR me. He didn't glare at her because she was too mean to be glared, she deserved to go to MeanieWorld, where all meanies live out and suffeeeerrr. Hmm. If only there really was a place like that, he'd be soooo so soo happehh. He looked at the boy and sighed when he started laughing.

Mean people. HMPH. "You don't wanna be Mister Billie then? Fine, MISSES JEAN." And he'd sing to him later just to make him suffer even more. MWAHAHAH Slytherins were Slytherins, yes they were.

He looked back at Reese and didn't really... understand what she said. "Ships? NO YOU CAN'T. They weigh like 8,000 pounds, VANISHING them is simply IMPOSSIBLE unless you sink 'em down the ocean!" he told her, completely unaware she was talking about a different term for the word ships. Hm. Oh well.

Cam stepped back when she handed him out the sweater. It fell to the floor. Sweater? EWWWWW. he wasn't touching ANYONE'S sweater at all! "...You stole his sweater? I wonder what you did to make him take it off in the first place!" Wait, no, that came out wrong. "Watch over Jake? And I CAN'T act like a spy? AWWE." He picked up the sweater and held it with his index finger and thumb.

What did Reese do to it? She touched it. It turned into something so worthless. Eh.

"So how much you payin'?"

Reese smirked slightly. Torin was now Misses Jean. Bwahaha. "Torin, dear, just be Billie, okay? Unless, you know, you want to be Misses Jean. That's fine with me," she told him. She patted him on the shoulder and looked back at Cam, who was going on about her not being able to sink ships or something like that.

Sigh.

"Cam. Cam. Cam. Cam," she kept repeating. "I don't mean those kind of ships, you idiot. Ships like...you know...relationships or friendships." She needed to remember this boy was only 12 and didn't know a lot of things, unlike her.

Can she hurt Cam now? No, she couldn't. She needed the little boy's help. But...why would Cam think she would steal Cedric's sweater? She wouldn't do that. "No, I didn't steal his sweater. He gave it to me," she informed him. "As you see, your little Cedar gave me his sweater because it was quite cold outside. Then, he went on and told me he loved me. Please, do tell why these 12 year old are liking me? You'd think if they were your friends, they would know not to come anywhere near me." She crossed her arms and looked down at Cam. It was true. If he went around telling all the little kids in Hogwarts that she was a Crazy Woman, shouldn't they be smart enough to keep a distance?

She thought for a moment about the whole spy thing. "Okay, you can play a spy if you want to. Just, please, keep an eye on him," she told Cam. She uncrossed her arms and looked at Torin, who was probably feeling left out right now. She smiled at him, then looked back at Cam. How much was she paying? Good question.

"How much chocolate are you asking for?"

He was feeling uncomfortable and left out here. Not sure of what was going on, he decided that he would rather not be there at the moment. He could see Reese a little later. And he might find her brother on his own anyway.

So when Reese was talking to the weird kid he slowly crept away without either seeing him go.