Natka laughed at Lizzie's insight - she always was good at reading people.

"Yep, it is," she grinned. "I, um... I have a boyfriend!" she finally said, her grin widening (if that was humanly possible) at that.

"I'm sorry, but it only just happened recently, I mean Clark and I got on well from the beginning, but I didn't think it would lead to this, and then he aske dme out and... I still have trouble getting my head around it," she said, not even pausing to draw breath.

Natka couldn't remember the last time she felt so alive, so excited and happy as she did these last few days. Everything seemed to be going great.

"I also just found out my couisn's a witch, which obviously makes me much happier - at least I'll have somebody my age to discuss magical issues with now when I visit my fmaily in Russia," she added.

"So anyway, how have you been? How is living with the Slytherins?" Natka inquired, noticing that Lizzie looked a bit sad, definitely more so than usual. What could have happened, she wasn't sure, but perhaps living with the other house had changed something?

"Of course." Cela agreed, taking on an angelic expression and looking up at his hand patting her head much like it was her halo. "Ooooh I like the invitation idea. Maybe we can charm some sheets of homework, that way everyone that goes to class will get one?"

She started untwisting her finger from her hair.

"Should we arrange like... a barbeque or a hotplate or something?"

Garret shrugged and waved off her suggestion, "I'm sure you'll figure it out." he was the Captain, for Merlin's sake! He couldn't be bovvered to think of the menial tasks that would be involved or the insignificant details. He was there to give them the ideas and then delegate. As his right hand man, it was Cela's job to ensure everything worked smoothly and that he never had to deal with anything first hand.

Of course, that was Garret's distorted view of the world.

"I fink doing a barbecue's gonna be too much work, especially cos we're going to be sneaking out a night... it'll be too obvious when the smoke rises."

Keltan sighed as he walked into the great hall, still carrying the old shoebox. He hadn't found Cela yet, and he was about ready to give up and just keep the taffy for himself.

He plopped down at the Ravvie table, and set the box next to him. He looked up and down the table, looking for something yummy to eat. "Will you pass me those biscuits?" he asked, nodding to the person across from him - who was closer to the buscuits. ... "Cela! I found you!" he exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. Finally found her!

Realizing that he probably sounded odd (or like a stalker, but whatever), he looked down at the shoebox full of taffy. "I have something for you. Um, something I was suppose to give to you." he looked down again, then grabbed the shoebox. In a very unpolite manner, he reached across the table to hand the girl the box. "It's from Plymouth." he said with a nod, then remembered the boy's reaction to the treats, and hoped that Cela wouldn't be the same way.

"Yes, but Garret, we can MAGIC the smoke away. I'll look into it, I'm sure there are plenty of charms that I'll be able to master so that we can cook things. Pretty sure I want sausages, what about you?" She shot him an innocent look, knowing that Garret was a man of MEAT and he wouldn't throw away the chance to get some if it were hot and offered freely.

"I'll do all the work Metal-Mouth, you just have to take the credit." And the fall if it went wrong. But that was the risk he took as Captain, and the reason she admired him so much.

"Hey Kel." Celandine tured her head and smiled cheerfully. "What's up?" She was not at all concerned by the fact that Kel was looking for her. She was awesome obviously.

Wait.

Plymouth...

Celandine stared at the box of taffy, all the different flavours...

and promptly burst into tears.

Garret nodded at her and kept his mouth shut when a younger Ravenclaw came to give her something. Best he didn't hear them planning this, he may be a friend of Cela's but until everything was set and the plans were formed... they couldn't be too careful regarding snitches.

He looked over her shoulder into the shoebox when he heard the rattling coming from it. Of course it was sweets! How could anyone ever doubt that?

"Hmmm..." Plymouth was guilty of enabling Celandine Toussaint's addiction, and Garret couldn't fault the guy for that. After all, sweets for Cela meant sweets for Garret, too. But then she started crying, and he was so shocked that he grabbed the shoebox from her and thrust it back at the other guy, "Hey, hey, Cela, whassamatter?" He honestly didn't know how to deal with leaking women, but he did what his mum did whenever Willie was down in the dumps and grabbed Cela by the shoulders and drew her into a tight hug, "Shhh, don't do that, it's bad! Bad!"

Great, now she was probably going to be angry cos it sounded like he was telling her off.

Kel's eyes widened in horror as water started filling - and falling out of - Cela's eyes. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. He watched as the other kid that was sitting there thrust the box back at Kel and hugged Cela. Kel set the box on the table, dumbfounded.

What was with these people!? Everyone at Hogwarts was a nutter.

Kel glanced apologetically at the kid that was comforting Cela. Maybe...well, he could come back and eat later. He didn't want to stay here while Cela was all crying and stuff - feeling like a third wheel. And besides, there would be more biscuits. He looked, his expression a bit scared, at Cela, trying to decide what to do. He was sure an apology would do no good...maybe leaving would be the best bet.

Wahhhhhhhhhhh!

"I-I-I-I broke up with Pl-lym-HIC-mouth." She was pretty much leaking all over Garret.

"I'm bad." She agreed and turned her head to peek at Kel.

... and the taffy.

Hic.

"I-I'm s-s-s-orry."

Celandine eyed the taffy and took one of those big horrible shaky breaths, calming herself down a bit.

"I.. we... went to a ca-carnival over the summer and got a b-bunch of taffy to eat at the same t-time every m-morning so we could wake up and-and-HIC-and," sniff, "Both think about each other no matter where we were."

Plymouth Morgan didn't want to think about her anymore.

Celandine Toussaint could hardly blame him.

Well, this was all probably fodder for good gossip for women, but Garret had honestly no idea where to begin with this story. The taffy, the carnival and well, Plymouth. He didn't know how to make heads or tails of it all.

His hand patted her back awkwardly as she insisted on pouring out all the details of her relationship with Plymouth along with her salty tears, but anyone watching closely would see that Garret would have loved to have been anywhere but there.

"There, there." he said in an almost comical way for the monosyllabic method of his delivery.

Then again.

"There, there."

Kel shook his head hurriedly. "No Cela," he said, his eyes still wide. He wished she'd just stop crying already. But it's not like he'd tell her to stop crying...because that usually made girls start crying harder and louder.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. He grabbed a biscuit himself and buttered it, looking down at the table. He'd just hurry and eat, then leave.

UGH.

Celandine wiped her face on Garret's shoulder and sat up, lifting her chin bravely. "You guys want some taffy? It's... really good."

Wibble.

NO!

Must be strong!

She took a deeeeeep breath and plastered a smile on her face. "Made by real carnies!"

Her favourite carnie would always be Plymouth Morgan though.

Relieved that Cela had finally decided to man up, and more than a little grossed out that she had wiped her snot and tears on his robes, Garret moved a good foot away from her on the bench.

Just in case she tried her little leaking act on him again.

"See? Isn't that better?" Garret attempted a light voice, hoping she wouldn't go nuts and try to chew his arm off or something in her current precarious mental state. He didn't even dare reach for a toffee, despite the fact that he was dying for some of it... she might latch on to him again if he put any of his limbs within her reach.

Try as he might to keep quiet and avoid triggering her tears, he couldn't help it. He had to ask:

"Wot's a carnie, neway?"

Celandine hooked the box of taffy with her little finger and shoved it closer to Garret.

"MUCH BETTER!" She answered, far too cheerfully and far too loudly.

"A carnie... is a person that works at a carnival. They are all crazy but in good ways. There was a creepy guy with warts on his foot and a vampire called Alan and these people that they call freaks with like, extra body bits and weird shapes and I said hi but they weren't interested in being my friend unless I gave them money, OOH and bellydancers!"

That was the best part.

Celandine got a little, secretive smile and pushed the taffy closer to Garret.

"Bellydancers!" Garret perked up immediately at the mention of those forbidden artistes. His mum had always been against them and their art, and had warned him from a very young age that no good came out of fraternising with belly dancers. But he'd been fascinated by them ever since his cousin Mars came home from his Great World Tour and shown him photographs of his visit to Turkey.

"Were they real ones?" he asked, popping a toffee out of it's crinkly wrapping and tossing it into his mouth as he waited for Cela's answer eagerly, "Wot kinda costumes did they wear?"

Kel was a bit skeptical to accept taffy from Cela. Not the taffy she was so attached to...or not attached to, or whatever. He'd wait for the Huffie to eat some first. He jumped slightly at Cela's loud voice. It was a big difference from the crying and quiet voice she'd had just seconds before...but it was a good difference. Kel much preferred her being loud then crying her eyes out.

He couldn't help but look up when HuffiePuffie asked what a carnie was. Kel wanted to know the same thing. He listened as Cela explained it, feeling kinda grossed out. Warts, vampires, extra body bits...weird shapes...and belly dancers. Oh My.

"Belly dancers?" Kel asked. He couldn't stop himself. They didn't sound to appealing, if you asked him.

"Very real." Celandine agreed, not like she was an expert on the subject even if she very much secretly wanted to be.

"Bellydancers." Celandine repeated. "They wore like... see through things. Scarves. With sequins. And bells and little... rustly things that moved when they did. And they moved a LOT. Like snakes. Undulating. It was fantastic!" As she explained this, Celandine moved her hands to her hips, her chest and finally her stomach in emphasis.

"Plymouth got all embarassed."

Kel watched as Huffie ate a taffy. He eyed the box for a second, then looked away as Cela started explaining about the belly dancers. He looked down at the table briefly to keep himself from laughing. When he looked back up, he was pretty confident that he wasn't going to blush or laugh or anything like that. That was until she mentioned Plymouth.

Kel looked back down at the table, hiding a smile. He couldn't blame the guy - belly dancers seemed...he couldn't think of a word. Interesting. "They sound wonderful," he said, looking up at Cela, his face nicely controlled with a smile.

Lizzie turned her head in Natka's direction, her eyes meeting her friend's. Wooow Natka! she said, happy for real for her friend. If someone deserved a boyfriend it was Natka, who was always so loyal and sweet. There's nothing to be sorry about hun, don't apologise! So who is he? How did you meet him? What've you guys been talking about? What house is he in? etc... the questions bubbled out of Lizzie, and for a little while her own problems seemed to go away momentarily.

But they came back the second Natka mentioned the slytherins. As if a grey cloud had covered the sky, Lizzie's smile went back to stiff and she thoughtfully looked at Natka. Most of them are ok.. I've made a friend called Theo... she said, avoiding to go into detail about the BIG problem a certain Slytherin had brought upon her life. She wanted to tell Natka, but didn't know how to start.

Garret couldn't help the giggle that escaped him at the description. And the Ravenclaw's understatement made him grin widely, "I wanna see 'em!" Oh yes he did. And Cela would take him, he would make sure of it.

"They really are!" Celandine agreed enthusiastically, "And they get these... looks in their eyes like they know a big secret and 'ha ha ha you don't know' but like, maybe you might find out if you keep watching."

"I want to see them again!" Celandine agreed, "Ooooh maybe we can invite some!"

It would be a draw card.

Natka grinned at Lizzie's enthusiasm, which infected her rather quickly.

"His name is Clark Landers, and he's a third year 'Claw, like me. he's mega tall - and he has blue hair, it looks so cool! He only came this year, he was homeschooled before... it seems his mother is a bit overprotective, you know. Anyway, we met totally by accident on the first night..." the third year laughed at the memory of her own clumsiness. "I tripped over him when I got up to the Common Room after the feast, I was so tired... and, you know, we started talking, and we became really close friends.

Then there was this whole affair with a love potion when I ran into him, but that's beside the point... we were walking by the lake the other day, and I tripped over him again, and in the end, um... he asked me out... and here I am," she finished with twinkling eyes.

Natka noticed the sudden change in her friend when she mentioned the Slytherins. You've gone and put your foot in it again, silly she scolded herself, but there was nothing she could do about it now. besides, maybe Lizzie wanted to talk about it... it was all natka could do to listen, and she'd love to be able to help her friend, whatever the problem was.

"Theo sounds great," she began. "But... something else happened, right? What is it?"

She paused for a moment. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, of course, but if there's anything I can do to help, you know I'm here, right?" she asked, looking at Lizzie carefully.

Lizzie grinned as Natka began to babble, sounding just like herself when she got into talking. She could remember quite a few times she'd been attacking Natka with gossip and thoughts, and now it seemed to be her friend's turn to give it back to her. He sounds great Sweetie she said enthusiatically, trying to imagine this guy she spoke of. Tall and blue-haired.. Well that is interesting she giggled slightly. And how typical love at first sight to trip over someone.. she added dreamy.

She glanced around the table as Natka asked her about herself, and then eyed her friend and winked half-hearted. You can always tell my mood, can't you? No point in trying to hide anything from you I guess.. And no that's not it, you know I wanna tell you. She hesitated. Well y'know about Chris.. He became Prefect this year and he's been very busy the entire term.. And well we haven't exactly been seeing each other much.. she swallowed, this was hard. But she knew Natka would listen and understand. She fixed her eyes on her hands, unable to look at anyone. Well he broke up with me a few days ago.. she said, then quickly added And he got a new girlfriend the same day. She rolled her eyes a bit. That's why I don't really like the Slytherins being in our common room.. His new girlfriend is the Slytherin Quiddich Captain, you see. She swallowed again. But I've talk to him now, and I asked him about her.. Since he didn't tell me himself he fell in love again that quickly. I guess we're friends again, kinda she said with half-broken voice.

"Oh yes, it most certainly is interesting," Natka agreed with a small laugh.

"Oh, Lizzie, I'm so sorry!" she excalimed at her friend's news, hugging her tightly. "That was so... wrong of him, not to even have the decency to wait! And you know, I absolutely admire you for being able to talk to him - you really do have true Gryffindor courage there," she reassured Lizzie as best as she could.

"If there's anything I can do for you, let me know," she repeated.

Suddenly, something Lizzie said struck a note. "Speaking of Quidditch Captains, maybe this will cheer you up... the love potion Clark accidentely had sent him running after our Ravvie Captain, Willow Kovac. Boy was that the day she wasn't my favourite person here," Natka said, recounting the amusing story.

Divad made his way to the table, and found a spot to sit at. He made up a plate of ham, eggs, and those things called, 'bacon.'

Jule sat at the table with Divad. She served herself some eggs and toast. She wasn't a bigger eater. She just ate enough to make her feel full for the rest of the day.

"So what would you like to talk about?" she asked, trying to start a conversation.