Whit watched Reese walk out of the room and wondered why in the world she was left with a piece of parchment to write on. She looked at it and shrugged. She really wanted to send Lima a letter to tell her everything that'd been going on, and now would be a great time; she wouldn't even have to waste her own materials. Whit scooched her chair to the table and wrote away. About thirty minutes later, Whit thanked the room, took her letter and walked out of the room.

Elizabeth paced in front of the wall disguising the room of requirement, and once the door appeared, she slipped inside. Although, other than dropping her school bag on the floor of the small room that she came into, she didn't stop moving. She was supposed to be meeting Robert to help him with his charm work, but she didn't quite understand why he wanted to work on it so soon after he had been complaining about his head hurting. It wasn't really sitting right with her, and as she continued pacing, she decided that if he showed any evidence of still being in pain, she was going to make him go back to the hospital wing.

But he had to show up first.

Robert hitched the strap of his satchel higher up on his shoulder as he ran toward the Room of Requirement. He was soooo late. Skidding to a stop in front of the blank wall he walked back and forth until the door appeared and hurried inside to find Liz pacing. "Liz...I'm so sorry. I lost track of time..." He threw his bag off his shoulder next to hers and smiled, "So...what first?"

As the door opened, Elizabeth barely stopped her pacing to notice that Robert had arrived. But as he spoke, she stopped, her green eyes watching him closely. He looked okay, but then he'd looked fine yesterday before he suddenly had said his head hurt. "It happens," she said, watching as he let his bag fall to the ground by hers. She still had the candy in it, since everything had conspired to prevent her from giving it to him when Mari had mentioned it.

Her gaze went back to him as he spoke again though, her head tilting curiously at the question. "What first?," she repeated, momentarily having forgotten why they had been meeting there in the first place. But then she blinked. "Oh. Um, what do you want to work on, or whatever?," she asked. It wasn't like she knew what he wanted to know.

Robert looked at Liz and smiled, "Have you been here long?" He looked around the room and then back at Liz and laughed, "Or whatever?" He smirked and walked around a bit. "Whatever would be consipiring how to get back at Willow but...sadly that will prove fruitless I'm sure."

He smirked and turned toward her again, "In all honesty I'd rather just hang out but that's what I always feel like when I have to start this." He walked toward her and smiled, "How about what will let me pass this term?'

Elizabeth shrugged as Robert asked how long she had been there. "Not long, I guess. To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention." And that was probably as close as she could get to admitting she had been worrying about him, without wanting to have the floor open up underneath her and swallow her whole. There were just so many things wrong with what had been stuck in her head since Mari's little trick in the common room, and she didn't want him to figure out those things.

Her eyes continued to follow him as he wandered the room, as she unconsciously started biting her lower lip again. But even that stopped as he joked about getting back at Willow. "And what exactly do you think would work to get back at her?," she asked curiously. "Because I'd rather just make the team and prove to her that whatever she thought she was seeing back there wasn't the case." Or, whatever she thought she saw wouldn't keep them from playing at 110 percent, she thought, unbidden, and found herself going back to her new nervous tic of biting her lip, this time to try to stop thinking about things.

She managed to smile back at him when he brought his attention back to her, though, and glanced at her bag when he walked closer. "Well, you can't learn anything if you're uncomfortable," she murmured quietly, before looking back at him. "I'd think passing this term would mainly be passing the annoying NEWTs. And to be honest, I have no idea what might be on them," she said, in a slightly more normal volume. Why can't I think straight?

Robert looked at Liz curiously, "So what were you paying attention to then?" He walked back over toward his satchel and pulled out his charms book hoping that it would help out a bit. He laughed and looked around watching as a table appeared. "I do so love this room."

He set the book down and flipped through the pages, "Yeah...I suppose you're right." He glanced at he and looked back down at the book. There seemed to be a slight awkwardness between them and he wished it would go away, but that would mean saying things that he may or may not want her to hear or know her response to. Leaning against the table he shrugged, "Well I haven't a clue so..." He trailed off and looked at her, "Are you alright? You see a bit...off."

Elizabeth gave up as Robert asked what she had been paying attention to instead of the time. She contemplated being honest, and part of her wanted to come up with some sort of flippant response to avoid the question. Everything was just so . . . And she gave up again. "Do you really want to know what I was thinking about?," she said, then watched as he took his charms textbook over to a table the room had helpfully provided. "Yesterday you had me terrified you had a concussion or something. And then now you're just acting normal, like Charms is the only important thing. It's kind of bizarre," she said, before walking over to look out a window. This room really was strange but helpful.

She chose to tune out most of the murmurings from behind her, as he tried to figure out what they should work on. She didn't really want to watch him in case he had actually registered her mini-tirade. Or figured out what was underneath it. But then the sound of pages turning stopped, and she heard him ask if she was alright. Leaning her forehead against the glass, she shut her eyes before tiredly answering. "I'm fine. Just having issues concentrating on things," she said, hoping he would accept that response, but part of her knew he wouldn't.

Robert looked at Liz as she asked him if he was sure and he nodded, "Of course, wouldn't have asked if I wasn't." He smiled and listened as she went on about how she was worried about him. Leaning against the table he shrugged, "I just had a headache...like I said. And no, I wouldn't say it was the only thing important to me," he said muttering the last to himself. He looked down and then back up at Liz, "I'm sorry?" He really didn't know what he could say to make her feel, well less weird.

He watched as she moved toward the window and rest her head against it as he asked his question. She was really acting bizarre and it worried him, especially so considering how he was starting to feel about her. Stopping his browsing of the book he walked quietly over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Liz...we don't have to do this today. It's fine. We could, I dunno, do something else," he whispered.

Without turning to look at him again, Elizabeth addressed Robert's comment about yesterday. "You had a headache after getting whacked in the face with a bludger. And then running into a doorframe on the way to the hospital wing. I'm sorry if I may have gotten a little paranoid," she said, the last sentence barely audible. It wasn't her fault that, even though she had joked about it earlier, she still felt a little guilty about the doorframe. But then he apologized, and she glanced at him quickly. "It's okay. You don't need to be sorry for me being weird," she said quietly, returning her gaze to the window.

As she felt him come up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, she gulped a little, before spinning around so she was looking up at him. "Do what? I said I'd help you with this, and just because I'm . . ." She trailed off, as she wasn't exactly sure how to finish the sentence. There were so many ways she could, and yet none of them were allowing themselves to come out.

Robert smirked at Liz's response and shrugged, "I've been through worse and I'm still alive. But I do appreciate that you cared so much, not many would." And how true that statement actually was though. As she glanced at him and he heard her words he smiled, "But that's what makes you, you." He watched as she turned back toward the window and looked out his worry growing more as he knew something was bothering her.

As he walked over and tried to comfort her he was taken aback as she spun around to face him. He looked at her worriedly as she spoke and trailed off but couldn't help notice the closeness between them. No...she's your best friend and like hell will you bugger this up. Wrapping his arms around her he pulled her close to him and hugged her as best as he could with the height difference. "Liz...I know something bothering you. What is it? You can tell me anything."

Elizabeth pulled her lower lip in between her teeth as Robert talked about how he appreciated her caring about him. She wasn't quite chewing on it, but something about his statement had bothered her. She couldn't quite figure out what, which actually bothered her even more. But even that faded a little at his joking response to her saying she was weird. "I didn't know being weird and paranoid could be seen as a good thing," she mumbled, still not quite looking at him.

She could tell her quick move to face him had surprised him, but after a few seconds of watching him look at her worriedly, she couldn't take it anymore. She looked back down almost simultaneously to his pulling her closer to crush her in a hug, and had to turn her head so her nose didn't get squished. She heard his plea to tell him what was wrong, but shook her head, her movement hampered by how close she was. "It's not that easy," she whispered. She couldn't even actually admit how she felt to Mari, although she knew for a fact her best friend had figured it out. There was no way she could just admit it to him. It was torturing her, a little, but she wondered if it was better if he didn't know.

Robert smirked and shook his head, "I never said it was a good thing I said it was you. Without those little quirks of yours it wouldn't be the same, not the same Liz that I like so much anyway." If only she knew how much but he wasn't about to ruin their friendship for his own gain. He'd never been more than a friend to her and that's probably how she wants to keep him.

Robert frowned as he heard Liz's words, muffled by her head against his chest. Letting go slightly he sat down in front of her by a chair the room had provided and looked her in the eyes. "Nothing is ever 'that easy'. But...sometimes it's better to get it off your chest so to speak." He smiled softly and continued to look at her not giving up until she spilled so he could either help her solve it or...well he didn't really know what else but figured it would come to him at the time.

A faint smile crept onto Elizabeth's face at the response Robert gave her regarding her being weird, although it was partially hidden by the fact she still wasn't looking at him. It was funny. And she was fairly certain he had no idea how much she liked that he could say that to her. Which was her main problem, because it seemed like he wanted to still be her friend, and she wasn't entirely certain if she could. Things were just so awkward.

As he moved back to sit in a chair, putting him way closer to her height, if not actually a little bit lower, she started biting her lip again. She managed to keep still for a few seconds as he loked at her, but after that it was too much, and she looked away again. She couldn't tell him outright, that was way too risky, even for her. And she could tell by the fact he kept looking at her that he wasn't letting up until she told him something. Her problem was that she couldn't lie. She just couldn't figure out what to say.

Then she had a sort of epiphany. And it would kill two birds with one stone, in a way. Pulling her wand out of her pocket, she pointed it toward her bag, on the floor near the door, and summoned it silently. Once it arrived where she was standing, she dug around inside and pulled out one of the packages of candy Mari had pointed out she had the day before. Tossing it over into Robert's lap, she quietly spoke. "You want to know why Mari was so entertained yesterday? I don't eat these. And that's not the only package I bought." As she finished speaking, she went back to the window, dropping the bag at her feet. That was probably the closest she'd get to telling him what he kept saying he wanted to know, and she didn't want to see his reaction.

Robert watched Liz curiously as she bit her lip and looked away again. It was slightly amusing but at the same irritating because he didn't know what was bothering her or the cause. He raised an eyebrow as she pulled her wand and followed her glance to her bag. As it moved toward her he looked at it curiously wondering what she was doing and why she was avoiding his question.

As she pulled a bag of his favourite candy out and threw in into his lap he picked it up with a smile, looking up at her as she asked a question and merely nodded listening as she spoke. He looked at her curiously and then back down at the bag of candy. "So...you bought them...for me?" He asked slowly knowing the answer since no one else liked them. He watched as she walked toward the window. He set the candy down carefully on the arm of the chair and stood up. He would have asked why, he would have asked a lot of things but they would all lead to why she was acting weirder with him than she had before. Looking at her for a moment he then walked over toward her and put his arms around her. Lifting one arm he turned her head toward his. He wasn't sure what he should do but...when did he ever fully think things through. After another moment and looking in her eyes he leaned down and kissed her softly.

Elizabeth could practically hear the wheels turning in Robert's head as he spoke in response to her confession. But she couldn't quite tell what exactly he was figuring out, her mind was still all confused and spastic. She could tell he was even more confused, though, and she felt him watching her again as she went to the window.

Continuing to bite her lip, she tried not to watch in the glass as he stood up. Or, at least, she chose not to try to see the expression on his face. She wasn't entirely sure she could deal with it if he had figured it out and was horrified or something. She already had the faint fear caused by knowing Cayden would step up his attempts to get Mari away from her if he knew, even though she was fairly certain Mari actually, weirdly, approved or something.

If she'd let herself actually wonder about what had been going on in the common room when she had gotten there yesterday, it would probably have saved her some of her worry, but as it was, she was too ensconced in her own issues with convincing herself she was wrong and her feelings were wrong. She was startled a tiny bit when suddenly she felt his arms around her, having stopped paying attention to anything and missing his approach. And when he suddenly shifted to turn her face to him, she looked up at him, her continued worry reflecting in her eyes. But then he had leaned down, and her eyes flickered shut as he kissed her and she shifted to turn toward him again, going up on her toes a little as her arms crept around his neck.

Robert closed his eyes as he kissed her and felt her turn toward him her arms going around his neck. He pulled her closer and continued to kiss her. Finally he pulled back and rested his head against hers, opening his eyes to look into hers. He smiled slightly in his quirky way and kissed her forehead. "Thank you." If that wasn't showing her how he was feeling then he didn't know what to do.

"So now that that's out of the way any chance we can actually get some work done?" he said playfully before leaning down and kissing her again. He hadn't kissed anyone since Mari but even he had to admit that something about Liz drew him and always had. She knew him better than anyone else that was for sure. Pulling back he winked playfully and pulled her over toward the table, grabbing the bag of beans off the arm of the chair on his way.

Elizabeth couldn't help but feel like at least a little of the stress she'd been dealing with had faded as Robert pulled her closer. But then, all too soon, he pulled back again, breaking the kiss, and she opened her eyes again when he leaned his head against hers. Smiling back at him, she couldn't help but respond when he spoke. "For what?," she asked as he kissed her forehead. She almost felt like it should be the other way around. Like she should be thanking him.

She couldn't help but laugh a little as he playfully tried to bring everything back around to what they had actually come there for, and kissed him back when he leaned down again. "Well, did you ever actually figure out what you wanted to work on?," she teased, snagging the strap of her bag with her free hand as he started pulling her toward the table, and then she laughed again as he grabbed the candy on the way. "Can't forget that. However would you survive?," she joked, before sliding into a chair that appeared by the table. She definitely felt like she was in a much better mood now, even if she still couldn't quite figure out what charms they might need to know to pass the exams.

Robert continued to look at Liz and smiled as she seemed much more relaxed then she had before. It finally dawned on him why she had been acting so weird and he started laughing. I'm such an idiot. Hearing her question he smirked, "For the candy of course." He winked and smiled with a light chuckle. He placed his hand under her chin and looked into her eyes, "Hey...lighten up alright?"

As he led her toward the table he shook his head, "No, I haven't a clue. I was hoping you had thought of something." He sat on the edge of the table and started opening up the candy, "Nope...can't forget this. It would be difficult let me assure you." He grinned and popped a handful of the multi-flavoured beans into his mouth. Seeing her sit down he could sense her moody stupor had been lifted from earlier. Funny what one kiss, well two could fix. As he chewed the candy thoughtfully he watched her. "How long..." he asked simply as he poured himself some more candy hoping she knew what he was talking about. It seemed kind of odd just to kiss her and not say anything about it and pretend everything was back to normal. What did that mean exactly? Were they going to be dating now? Was this just an impulse thing? He was starting to give himself a headache again with all the questions that he didn't have answers to.

A curious expression crossed Elizabeth's face as Robert started laughing. What's so funny?, she thought. But before she could start worrying it was something to do with her, he had stopped, sort of, in order to answer her question. "Oh," she said, blinking a little to get herself completely out of her head again. "You're welcome, then." When he suddenly put his hand under her chin to tilt her face up again, she looked at him. "I'll try." At least, as long as she could avoid people annoying her about whatever this was.

She laughed as he confessed he still didn't know what charms they should work on, and watched as he perched on the edge of the table. "There has to be some sort of charm or whatever you want to learn," she said, still smiling, "You're the one who wanted me to help you." Pulling her legs up onto the chair, she watched as he started eating the candy, and giggled at what he said. "I don't think I'll ever be able to understand why you like those." Now, chocolate was another matter entirely, considering she would do practically anything for that. But then he was looking at her, and asked another question. Which she completely understood, even though he hadn't finished it. Shifting so she was curled up with her feet on the seat in front of her, she hugged her knees and rested her chin on them. "I don't really know," she said, watching him intently as he continued eating candy. "I think sometime after we talked out in the grounds. But I'm not sure." Stupid weirdness. For all she could tell herself, she wasn't really aware of any of the reasoning until after the disastrous tryout. And she couldn't tell how he was going to respond now, which was making her nervous.

Robert shrugged and chewed his beans thoughtfully, "Nope, not really. I just don't care that much and I wanted to..." he shifted on the table and muttered, "spend some time with you." Turning slightly red he ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the bag of candy. "They're good you should try them," he said with a shrug when he heard her question glad for the moment that they were off of him. Hearing her answer to his question though he looked at her and watched as she curled up again, feeling uncomfortable. Sighing he stood up and moved until he was across from her, "Come here," he said wanting her to not close up again. "That...does explain a lot though..." He looked at her thoughtfully, "Would...would it be weird if I told you that that was when...well me too." He looked down not really wanting to see her reaction for some reason and suddenly finding a green bean in his hand very interesting as he moved it about his fingers.

Elizabeth listened with a smile as Robert continued to say he didn't have any idea what they should work on, but surprise flickered across her face at the muttered conclusion to his statement. Even after what had happened, she hadn't really expected to hear anything like that. And the fact he had turned red told her he hadn't really expected to confess the fact, either. It was cute. She grinned as he talked about the Bertie Botts, and shook her head slightly. "No thank you. I think I'll let you have them to yourself, stick to my chocolate and fruit." Which, as usual, she had hidden in her bag. As if she ever actually got hungry enough to need it.

She blinked as he moved in response to her confession, and then looked up at him again. Uncurling herself, if only to not feel quite so tiny when confronted with his height, as if she could ever not feel tiny when compared to him, she simply watched him, staying in her chair for the time being. But when he suddenly looked down at his hand after he finished talking, like he was uncomfortable for once, she couldn't help but go over to him. Curling her hand around his to stop him from playing with the bean, she tilted her head to look at his face. "It's not weird. It kind of makes me feel better, knowing that," she said quietly, "Is that weird?"

Robert looked up as he felt and saw Liz's hand cover his, not realizing that she had actually gotten up while he was speaking. Looking at her he shook his head as she asked the question, "No." He said simply and met her eyes taking a deep breath he prepared himself for what he was about to do. Sure...she liked him a little and he liked her but he wasn't sure if she was really willing to put their friendship on the line....

Moving his hand he entwined his free fingers in hers and looked down at it, "Elizabeth..." He ran his other hand through his hair nervously and cleared his throat. He had never been this nervous in awhile but...what he was about to say could possibly ruin their friendship...hopefully not though. "What...what would you say..." he looked up and smiled slightly, rubbing the back of her hand with a finger. "What would you say if I said...that I wanted to ask you out?" Oh, yes that's a winner why couldn't he just ask her.

Elizabeth continued simply looking at Robert as he looked up finally and then answered her question. At least they had straightened out that neither of them thought the other was weird for whatever they were talking about. She wasn't entirely sure what that was, though. But that oddly didn't bother her anymore.

She glanced back down, however, when he shifted his hand to entwine his fingers in hers after he took a deep breath. She couldn't help but try to swallow, as her nerves suddenly took over and made her feel like she had a lump in her throat, and was momentarily grateful he hadn't been looking at her. She looked back up at him almost simultaneously to him looking back up as well, and flushed a little at his smile. "Um, well . . .," she started, glancing back down as he started stroking the back of her hand and wondering if he actually realized how that made her feel. But then she managed to look back up at him, and took a breath. "I think we're going to have to do something about all this." Some sort of threshold had been crossed, and at least on her part, she was fairly certain she wasn't going to be able to just go back to how they'd been before all this. But she still couldn't tell what he was thinking about it.

Robert smiled more as he saw her flush when she looked up at him. Her hesitation was making him even more nervous and he had to force himself to sit still and not run his hand through his hair or anything, easier said than done. He was growing impatient as she looked down and when she finally spoke it only made him confused. "About what exactly?" he asked in a barely audible voice. He felt anxious and nervous and..who knew what else. It almost scared him since he had never felt this way, not even with Mari which disturbed him in another way since he really did care for her.

Setting the bag of candy down he reached over and grabbed her other hand. "Look..." he wasn't really sure what he was going to say this was...unusual. "I know what this would mean. I know the risks and...honestly I don't care." He looked at her and stared into her eyes. "I like you more than just us being friends and...I want nothing more right now than being with you. Even this..just us here talking it...makes me normal." No that wasn't right. "I enjoy it. It makes me happy." Was that better? Geez he felt like he was 15 again. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and then looked at her again, "What I'm trying to say is...will you go out with me?"