"Ah yes I know who your godfather is." Marcus lent forward and rested his arms on the table and he gave Less a small smirk. "And would Valon, be upset about you spending time with me...alone?" He knew the old man didn't like him, he had absolutely no idea why though.

Oh now that was interesting. "An ex fiancee? Who called off the wedding if you don't mind me asking?" The guy would have to be a fool to let Alessia Lupa go but if he was trying to find her then obviously she was the one who had called it off.

Oh... right... the whole remaining professional thing. "I'm not doing anything wrong. And it isn't as if we have made clandestine plans to meet up here... We are just... sharing a table and getting to know each other... to... have a better... professional relationship..." yes. That was it. "and I hardly think we're alone Marcus..." she said looking around at the students. She smiled.

"Well... my running away from him may have meant I called off the wedding... Remì was sweet and kind to me as a person, though very controlling. He abused me when in wolf form and when I discoved it, he was less than pleased with me. Remì wasn't a man you simply broke up with... so I ran away."

"Relax Less, I am just teasing you" he chuckled as he pushed back off the table and leaned casually in his chair once again. He didn't miss the fact that she seemed a little worried about the old man finding out. "Of course getting to know one another on a professional basis." Marcus raised an eyebrow and his lips twitched ever so slightly.

Some men could be pigs! Marcus knew that he was egotistical and a blatant flirt but he would never disrespect a woman. He couldn't help himself, he reached across the table and took Less' hand. "The man is an idiot, that's all I can say." He squeezed her hand lightly before gently placing it back onto the table and then he looked back at her with a smile on his face. "Would it be unprofessional, if I was to ask you to accompany me to dinner one night?"

Yes she liked Madame Puddifoots. Should she he ashamed of that, well maybe a little it was a cheesy little tea shop for all the couples to sneak a few quick kisses. But they had good food and it was easy to sit in a dark corner and just be alone and let your mind wander, and thats exactly what she wanted to do.

She had been drowning herself in Quidditch and she just honestly needed the mental release, and after that ugly scene with Vindictus and Kazo she figure it would be best to keep her nose clean and look for a good girl way of getting a mental release.

These were Paris' thoughts as she walked into the tea shop in her pink jumped. She forgot the decor was also pink and she cringed when she saw how bad she was clashing with the place. "Thats just what I need," she muttered to herself ordering a hot chocolate and some chocolate chip cookies. She paid for her things and found a quiet table near the back away from the windows. She sat down and pulled out a diagram of her latest invention. She was so excited about it and more excited about the alone time she had to work on it. She wanted to test it out on the grounds next week and she needed to get a working model up and running before she did. She pulled her notebook and quill out of her bag and went to work. She had some calculations and charms to figure out.

The weather outside was decent, thank Merlin. Anna had opted to wear a short, sleeveless, zebra-print dress, a gift she'd received from her parents for her last birthday. She'd never gotten a chance to wear it due to the colder weather, but she thought it'd be nice to bring it out today. Today was a special day, indeed. At least, for Cope and Cela it was. Not necessarily for she and Dom.

Outside on the streets, Anna turned to see if she could catch a glimpse of either Cope, Dom, or Cela, but when she couldn't, she simply pushed open the door to Madame Puddifoot's and stepped inside. The place was, of course, crowded. Anna wasn't even sure of exactly who was inside, for all she really could see was what looked like a sea of people. She stepped out of the door way and off to the side, thinking that might be a safe place to stand and wait for her friends to arrive.

Evolette grinned. Plymouth was sooo close to the ice cream, it took all the will power that she had, not to smash his face into it.

Crooking her finger, she swept a bit of whipped cream onto her finger tip, and smirked, as she tapped his nose. Smearing the white stuff all over it, so that he looked like a life guard on the beach.

"You'll have to give me a ride, when I come to visit." she replied. He had, afterall invited her over a few times now.

Cope sighed as he slipped through the door. He felt like a complete idiot dressing up for TEA. Sigh. Self-consciously, he smoothed the vest he'd opted for instead of the tie and coat. And it was a warm day, so he'd ended up rolling his sleeves halfway down the hill. Surely Anna and Cela wouldn't be so particularly precious about this whole dressing up for tea thing.

"Anna," he gestured at her and then pointed at an empty table by the window. "Meet me there," he called.

Oh, look! Plym and Evee were in here...and so were a few of the professors. Anna smiled and waved at each of them, suddenly feeling sort of odd for standing all by herself near the doorway. Maybe the group should have made plans to meet in the castle or at least out on the streets. Nevermind that. What was done, was done, so she'd just have to settle for waiting around as long as it took. Maybe she should just go get a table or something. No, no. What if she got lost in the crowd and no one else could find her? That wouldn't be good at all.

Just then, she heard her name, and she looked up to see that Cope had, thankfully, just arrived. Excellent...no more standing alone near the doorway. "Hey, Cope. I'm really glad you're here," she said, following him throughout the maze of tables and towards the one he'd indicated. "You look nice." Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced towards Plym and Evee, who looked to be thoroughly enjoying whatever dessert it was they'd ordered. What was it with Plym and dessert on his face, though? She recalled a similar incident with she, Plym, and birthday cake, but ended up just shaking it off and turning back towards Cope. She hoped the fact that the two brothers were in here at the exact same time wouldn't cause any awkwardness.

"I haven't been on it much since...," Plymouth paused to try and use his tongue to lick some of the whipped cream from his nose. Needless to say, he was unsuccessful. "Kayla came over and gave ME a ride. She's GOOD on it, but I apparently fell off face first. Should have seen my face." Plymouth held his hands up to show her an embellished version of how swollen his face had been.


Plymouth leaned back forward and motioned Evolette to lean down with him. "I have a secret," he whispered.

"You look lovely. Much better than merely nice," Copernicus guided her to the table with his hand on her back. There was a nice table that had just opened up, and he was going to be sure they made it there before anyone stole their spot.

At the table, Cope pulled out Anna's chair. "So, we should go ahead and order tea and cake, or shall we wait on Cel and Dom? I don't want to ruin the whole... tea thingy."

AH. COPE!

Evolette watched as Anna and Cope walked in, seemingly together, hmmmmmm. Well, this was one thing she had not been counting on. However, Plymouth hadn't seemed to notice them yet... and she was sort of worried about how he would react, once he did.

Eying Plymouth carefully, she had a feeling that he was going to get her back for the whipped cream, but, taking her chances, she leaned down, and arched an eyebrow. "I like secrets." And whipped cream.

Just to be sure, she watched his fingers.

"Dinner?" she repeated thinking about it. "To discuss... work?" She asked him innocently... "If you were asking me to dinner to speak about work, then no it wouldn't be unprofessional... and I would really enjoy accepting the invitation... though I can't go this Saturday."

When he complimented her, Anna sort of did a little curtsey, then said, "Why thank you, dear." She giggled a little to show that she was only joking by doing that, though. 'Tis the banter she'd adopted around Cope. "No, seriously. Thanks, Cope. You look much better than merely nice, too. I'm proud of you." This would have been the moment she'd reached up and lightly ruffled his hair, but she didn't want to leave it in a less-than-perfect state for when Cela arrived.

She smoothed out her dress and took the seat Cope offered, smiling in appreciation as she did so. "We can probably just wait. We're in no big hurry anyway," she responded. "Tea thingy, though? What tea thingy?" Did he think they were here to have some sort of formal tea party? Maybe they were, for all Anna knew. "Cope, you don't have to take this so seriously. We're just here to hang out and talk. Don't feel as if you have to do everything perfectly. Cela will have fun no matter what."

Plymouth burst out laughing. SHE KNEW what he was about to do! Her eyes kept darting to his fingers. "Leave it to the Slytherin, I suppose, to go all paranoid on me. No one else would ever suspect me of such a thing."


So, Plymouth held up his hands and leaned back in his booth. He was surrendering his chance at whipped cream payback. And that's when he saw STEPBROTHER with ... squint...


"SHUT UP," Plymouth whisper failed. "He.. no... no way...Lookit..."

A somewhat triumphant smirk flitted across her face, only to be removed very quickly, with a slightly concerned look. Plymouth had finally seen Cope and Anna. Well, at least it was JUST Cope and Anna, and not someone else.... like Cela or something. That would be worse.

"Cope and Anna." she replied, her voice low, only meant for him to hear. "Do you suppose they're on a date?" she asked, watching him carefully as he reacted to what was going on.

"Of course" he replied with an easy smile. They could talk about work for about five minutes and the rest of the time he could find out more about her. "Oh? Already got a hot date for Saturday then?" Marcus, waggled his eyebrows at her and stroked his goatee for a moment. "Hmm...how about Friday night then?"

"Proud of me?" Cope laughed at that. "Anna Bella, I hate to tell you this, but I've been dressing myself for years. Formal wear too, because of embassy balls. The dilemma for this event wasn't the fact that I don't like to dress up or wear a tie but that I was uncertain as how to dress for such an undetermined social function."

He took his own seat and picked up the little menu to examine. "I feel like there was a mass owl and I missed it. I'll trust you about this... event, but it doesn't mean that I'm not confused."

"No way," Plymouth said, but he was clearly not sure. "No. Nah. Never. You think?" Plymouth sure wished he'd held on to his menu. He could have held it up and hid behind it. "I'm ignoring him. I see him all the time, sleep in the bed next to him, live with him. I'm here with you."

And with that, Plymouth held his hand out for the taking.

"I have no idea." Shrugging, Evolette tried to keep herself from looking at Cope and Anna again. She didn't need to be caught staring. Of course she wanted to know what Anna was doing here with Cope, especially when she had Cale waiting for her at home. But, she wasn't about to ruin her Plymouth date.

They had been having a lot of fun so far, why let those two, or anyone ruin it?

"Besides, I'm prettier than him." she replied, smirking as she took his outstretched hand.

"Hot date?" LIE LESS LIE!!! "Oh it's nothing... just... one of the professional Quidditch players... He has never taken runes... it's sort of a private tutoring thing..." Ok... so not totally a lie...

"Friday night sounds perfect." She said playing with her hair. Two dates back to b- NO... Nonono... Marcus was not a date... merely... professionals... talking. Right Right... "So... what does your girlfriend think about you staying here at Hogwarts?" She asked sweetly.

"Yeah, proud of you," Anna repeated. She sort of wrinkled her eyebrows at the rather formal tone that followed. Sometimes, she hardly believed the boy sitting across the table from her was the same boy she'd tossed Jelly Slugs onto the walls of the train with a year and a half ago. Formal tones...that was Cope for ya, though. He wouldn't be the same without a wide vocabulary of words that left you asking... "Huh? I mean, okay, well...I take that back. I'm not proud of you. You disgrace me, Copernicus Kettleburn." She playfully stuck out her tongue on that note, too, though.

"You should have seen me during my fourth year. I was pretty much in the same boat you are now, but lucky for me Cale and I were both sort of clueless together," she continued. "Oh, I mean...oh, Cope! That's not to say you're clueless...we were clueless. Not you, though. No, definitely not you...okay, I'll stop babbling now." She grew quiet for a moment in an attempt to redeem herself, then said, "So, Cope. How ya feeling? Not nervous, are ya?"

"Hehe... No denying that, Evolette McKenna." Plymouth did not allow himself any peeks over to Copernicus or Anna. Nope. He was focused. Plymouth lifted her hand and leaned forward again. He took her wrist lightly with his other hand and examined her hand again.

Plymouth tugged on the ring Evolette had on her finger. "I wasn't aware that you were married already, Mrs. Mrs."

Focus, focus, focus. Plymouth Morgan was focusing.

"Why would I be... nervous?" He hadn't been nervous at all until this moment. WHAT WAS HE TO BE NERVOUS ABOUT? This was some sort of nefarious plot. Cope leaned in, grabbing at Anna's hand in a completely not-suave move.

"Anna, you are UP to something. Just be straight with me. You're trying for some sort of big romantic gesture, right?" he hissed at her.

Her eyes fell down to her hands, as Plymouth made a show of examining them. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Not only was the ring in question on her RIGHT hand, but it was also the ring that Nicholai had given to her for Christmas last year.

"Hardly." she replied, "That is from Nicholai. Christmas present." Nicholai with his... Kayla. Whatever they were now. She didn't actually know.

The whole conversation actually reminded her of the incident with the Fwooper, and she sort of wished she'd worn the necklace too. So she could bother Nicholai.

Oh, no. Now it really did seem like he was nervous, and Anna couldn't help but feel as if she'd made him that way. Had she not been wearing high heels, she'd have kicked herself. When he grabbed her hands, she squeezed them reassuringly. "No reason. No reason at all," she replied. "It's just me, Cela, and Dom. This is no different than the manner in which we were simply hanging out on the seventh floor the other day. Just a fun-loving group...having fun." She better stop while she was still ahead, though. She didn't want to give him the impression that she was trying too hard to reassure him.

Her face fell into an expressionless look when he point-blank asked her if she was up to something. Of course she was up to something! When was she ever not? She knew good and well what he meant, though. Her voice was small and quiet when she finally answered him. "No," she remarked. She glanced over at Evee and Plym, who were both having clearly having one heck of a date. The dessert all over Plym's face said that much. Surely Cope still wasn't planning on 'playing it cool' with Plym just across the way clearly displaying that he'd moved on.