Bloody Hufflepuffs were everywhere!

Scowl carved on her delicate face (or at least it would look delicate if she weren't scowling, glaring or frowning the entire time) and her mouth set on a tight line which clearly indicated profound distate, Willow Kovac climbed out of the door that led to the Ravenclaw (and Hufflepuff, too, but the sixth year always conveniently forgot that) common room, and slammed it shut.

Well, hell.

What was she supposed to do now? Stand in the middle of the hallway like a complete idiot? Well, she could always do some homework, she supposed. Wasn't there Ancient Runes to do? Hmmmmmm.

Boring.

Some Ravenclaw she was.

"What are you doing on the floor, Clifford Carden?" Asked -well, more like demanded- Willow, upon noticing the head boy, not too far away from where she was, "Did you know that it is full of germs that could potentially lead you to get a disease?" Not to mention that it was filthy and that his robes would get full of dirt and all those . . . horribly things. Her nose wrinkled.

He was making a mess of the corridor.. chocolate frog wrappers strewn all around him. Did he care? Not in the slightest. If it wasn't for those annoying Gryffindors he'd still be in the Common Room, but they were so... BLEH. Why couldn't they've bunked down with the Ravenclaws? At least they'd be quiet studying.. or even better, they'd be in the library all the time!

Clifford dropped the chocolate frog he'd been about to devour, when someone suddenly spoke.

Okay, maybe he DIDN'T wish he was with the Ravenclaws. Because then he'd have to share a Common Room with her. And then he'd probably wake up to find he'd been murdered in his sleep.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Talking to fairies?" The Head Boy answered with a huff, scrambling forward on the dusty floor to retrieve the chocolate frog which was making a bid for freedom. Ooooh, it was all fluffy now.. EH. Oh well. He wasn't one to waste such treats and promptly shoved it in his mouth.

Diseases? SNORT. He'd swallowed mouthfuls of icky lake water this term, he was probaby contaminated already.

... Hmph.

Whatever was the matter with him? She'd only asked a simple question! And to think some people had the nerve to call her rude. They'd clearly not met Clifford Carden, the Head Boy who very obviously lacked manners, personal hygiene and common sense. "It was a simply question, Carden, there was no need to be so rude," Snapped Willow at once.

And then, a sound she'd NEVER thought would escape from her, did.

"EWWWWWW," Gross "DON'T EAT THAT!"

Too late. He already had shoved the frog inside his mouth, not caring whether it was filthy or not. "Have you lost your mind?" Duh, "How can you eat that? And pick up all those wrappings, you are making a complete an utter mess on my corridor." Yes, hers. She HAD been living and roaming this area for over five years now, after all, "Go and pig around at the Gryffindors' place!" Then again, chances were than give how 'righteous' Gryffindors were, they'd kick him out of the common room or simply lecture him about keeping everything in order was the right thing to do.

Stupid Gryffindors.

AAHH!!

She was shouting at him. The Bone Crusher was shouting at him!! If he'd been his usual, Cliffie self, the Head Boy would've whimpered and cowered like a big baby. Actually, he probably would've been off down the corridor already, screaming for help.

Due to ... recent happenings however, Clifford Carden had gotten himself a thicker skin. He wasn't about to let any girl hurt him anymore.. hurt him, scare him, boss him around. Not ANYMORE! HMPF!

Glaring sulkily up at her, the seventh year nommed on his fluffy chocolate frog, making sure Willow Kovac got a niiiiice view of the contents of his mouth. Hah. "I'm the Head Boy. I can make a mess and eat my chocolate wherever I please!" So take that! Stupid girls.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

The truth was that Willow had been expecting Clifford Carden to squeal like a little girl at the very least, and run around, screaming for the help of the nearest professor at the very worst. She had definitely NOT been expecting, however, to have Clifford snap something back at her.

Either way, as shocked as the sixth year was right now, she would not be talked like this! "All the more reason to be more clean, Carden. Pigging around and making a mess isn't exactly a Head Boy's proper behaviour, is it? You should set an example for younger students such as myself." And with that, she stuck her nose up in the air.

Sure, he felt a little braver.. but Clifford was no Gryffindor and he was already regretting his moment of stupidity. He dared snap back at the Bone Crusher.. Dude, he totally deserved a medal for that. He was proud of himself. Proud, but suddenly nervous.

She was going to punish him now, wasn't she..?

"Proper Head Boy's behaviour?" He repeated, voice an octave or two higher. Proper Head Boy's behaviour!? This was coming from Willow Kovac!? He'd heard a rumour that she actually WHIPPED her Quidditch team when they made mistakes! And she had the cheek to say he should be setting an example!?

GRRRRRRRRR!!!

"Yes, proper head boy behaviour," Repeated Willow slowly, as if Clifford Carden were nothing more than a five year old little boy. What was the matter with him? Was he not only a little daft, but deaf, too?

How was he Head Boy again?

Willow still stood by her theory that the moment Forrester had chosen him, he had some kind of aneurysm. That, or he had just completely lost his marbles.

"Anyway," Willow started again, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, before taking a seat next to him (she did use scourgify first, of course), tucking her legs beneath her, "Are you ready to, er, face the real world?"

SCARY.

Ugh. Why was Willow Kovac such a bully? Actually, why were all girls in general so MEAN!? It seems that's all girls ever did.. upset him. There were a few exceptions of course.. but in time, he was sure they would too.

Hogwarts would - NO, the WORLD - would be a FAR better place if the female race was non-existant.

Yes, then guys could pig out all day.. have farting and belching competitions.. never ever have baths again..

... HEAVEN.

So wrapped up in his daydream, Clifford didn't realise that Kovac had taken a seat beside him. BESIDE HIM. Jeez, it was hard to believe that he'd once given her a Cliffie!Squeeze.

"Meh, I'm sure it's better than this place," the seventh year mumbled, shoving more chocolate in his mouth and sighing. "No studying ever again."

As she tried to pointedly ignore the mess that Clifford Carden had created, Willow absentmindedly took out from her pocket a bag full of fizzing whizbeess, and started to eat one of them.

"You sound bitter," Commented the sixth year Ravenclaw lightly, seemingly unaware that she was now floating a few inches above the ground, thanks to the magical sweet she was sucking on, "Personally -and if you tell anyone, I swear I'll hunt you down and make you pay- I'll miss this place." No, not the people or the classes. Just Hogwarts in General.

Bitter? What a genius Willow Kovac was. SNORT.

Not paying attention to the way she was now floating next to him, Clifford simply grunted. He'd miss this place.. it was full of memories. Unfortunately, not all of them were good though.

Sighing, the Head Boy brought his knees up, rested his chin on them and stared at the wall opposite.

"At least you.. just get to - to.. start over in the real world. Forget everything and just ... start again." You could be a whole different person.

Willow wasn't sure WHEN exactly it had happened, but the little row her and Clifford had a few minutes ago had been forgotten, for it had been replaced by one of those serious conversations that one would not expect to have with someone such as Clifford Carden.

Then again, this . . . should not surprise her. It was not the first time, certainly, that Carden had showed her that he was more than just a sometimes Daft boy who enjoyed pigging around and doing all those disgusting manly stuff.

But that didn't mean that Willow was used to it. Not at all.

"Why would you want to forget, though?" She mused under her breath, eating a new fizzing whizzbee, and resuming her floating, "My father said that half of his good memories are from his time here, at Hogwarts. And let me tell you, coming from my father, that means a lot."

Why he was telling Willow Kovac of ALL people these things, Clifford wasn't sure. Especially after she'd been mean and said he needed to start acting like a proper Head Boy. ESPECIALLY because she was the freakin' Bone Crusher.

But it seemed he wasn't able to stop talking.

"Your father's right," he shrugged, chocolate frogs laid forgotten, "there are tons of good memories.. but it's the bad ones.. the bad memories that are here.. they hurt."

Conclusion? He couldn't wait to get out of here.

Although Willow had known for a while that her father WAS indeed right, she did not like it when someone else voiced that same thought.

Willow detested when father was right. It was unnerving, and annoying, and it had her thinking if he was right about Quidditch, that girls shouldn't play - especially NOW that she'd failed as captain and lost the Quidditch cup the Bagders.

Stupid Hufflepuffs.

But back to Clifford and his serious self that, quite honestly, was freaking her out a little bit. It just wasn't normal. "Um," Without realizing what she was doing, Willow scooted just a little bit closer to him, obviously no longer floating, "I guess that . . . that's only normal? Not everything can always be happy and rainbows and sunshines and giggles." Willow didn't think there was anything good about giggles, but most people did, "I suppose there had to be some kind of balance."

If that was normal.. then life was even suckier and unfair than he'd originally thought. He understood there had to be some sort of balance between good and bad - Willow was a Ravenclaw and was probably right about that - but GRRRR. NO FAIR!!

"Horrible things shouldn't happen to nice people.. it's not fair." It wasn't. Only nice things should happen to nice people. "I try to be nice.. really, I do." Obviously not nice enough. Sighing for the bazillionth time, the emo Cliffie got himself some more chocolate. Yay for comfort food.

Something told Willow that the reason why Clifford Carden was so ready to leave Hogwarts was not because finishing his seventh year (you may call it graduating, too) meant that he wouldn't have to study or do any kind of homework ever again.

No, it was more than that. That much was obvious to Willow.

"Are you . . . " Gulp. Something told the girl she would regret asking that question, for whatever it was that was bothering Clifford was bound to displease her somehow, " . . . Are you alright?"

Really, now that she thought about it, it had been a pretty stupid question because Clifford Carden was obviously not alright.

Was he alright!? Did he bloody seem alright? Willow Kovac wasn't the smartest of Ravenclaws, was she? He'd been sitting all alone in the corridor, stuffing himself full of chocolate.. was that the behaviour of someone that was alright!?

Actually.. now he thought about it, that was normal Clifford behaviour. Eh.

"You're saying you don't know?" He asked bitterly, finally turning to look at her, expression sombre. "I thought EVERYONE knew thanks to that stupid gossip applesum thing." Everyone knew and everyone was feeling sorry for him. It was horrible.

Willow had seen sad before. She'd met sad, as a matter of fact, but the truth was that she'd never really expected Clifford to look THIS sad - which is why she involuntarily flinched.

"No, I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about." It was a bad thing, no doubt; Willow did not need to be a Ravenclaw to know that, for Clifford's expression and bitterness told her that much. "I don't really read those stuff." Hmmmm. "But, I, er, you can talk about it if you want?"

Or not. She was half hoping he didn't, but that was a bit ungrateful from her part - Clifford had been kind enough to listen her when she'd need to.

She didn't know what he was talking about.. she didn't know why he was sad.. she must've been the ONLY person in the whole castle that didn't know. Heck, he was pretty sure even the giant bloody squid knew a detailed account of what had happened.

"Meh, I don't wanna depress you too," Clifford mumbled, shrugging his shoulders sadly. If one less person knew, it was at least, one less person going on about it all the time. "Chocolate frog?" He offered, nudging the pile towards her and turning back to the wall.

He didn't want to depress her. And he was sharing FOOD with her.

Something was TERRIBLY wrong with Clifford Carden.

"I'm already depressed anyway." Not really. It was more like angry, but close enough, right? "I'm sure you know how we lost the Quidditch Cup to Hufflepuff." Sigh. "Embarrassing, really. I suppose I failed as captain." Smiling a little as she took a chocolate frog, Willow carefully started to open from the wrapping - she did not want to escape "And thank you, for the frog."

"No problem," Clifford replied absently, thinking about her words. Of course he knew Hufflepuff had stolen the Quidditch Cup from Ravenclaw. Honestly, who DIDN'T know?

"It's not embarrassing, and you didn't fail," he surprised himself by saying, turning to face her again. "You've got the best team here in Hogwarts.. everyone has a bad game. It's just bad luck, that's all." He even managed to crack a smile for her.

What was it with him and Willow Kovac having these strange little meetings, huh?

"I personally think it's cos you gave up that beater's bat," the seventh year teased, nudging her playfully with his elbow.

Never mind that Fizzing Whizzbees made her float a few inches above the ground! Eating chocolate frogs was always better, even if the frog seemed particularly unwilling.

Such as the one Willow was attempting to eat now, for it kept squirming on her hand, and the only thing she could think of to do in order to force it to stop, was to bite its head off - so, as brutally as it sounds, the sixth year did it. She took a bite out of the chocolate frog's head.

Tough luck for it.

Sure it wasn't embarrassing. Sure it wasn't. "Er, if you say so," Her pink bottom lip jutted out a little bit - a pout, "I guess there's always a next term, right?" Right. Well, there was a next term for her.

How weird was this? Granted, sure that it wasn't the first time they'd had a conversation in which they were civil and polite to each other, but still. It was almost like being friends. Which was even more weird because Clifford was a boy, and Willow often found herself by irked by the sole presence of the males.

"What are you planning to do once this all ends?" Surely he wouldn't go the Ministry? That was for lame and boring people, in Willow's opinion.

She obviously didn't believe, but it was true. Ravenclaw easily had the best team here in Hogwarts.. and sometimes the best fell. Luck couldn't always be on your side, could it? And like she said, there was always next term, and nodding, Clifford helped himself to another chocolate frog.

Willow was lucky. It was very rare he shared his chocolate. Yup.

"Uhhh 'unno," Clifford just about managed through his mouthful, and promptly swallowed it. MMM. YUM. "I dunno," he started again, tlying his head to one side thoughtfully, "..haven't really thought about it to be honest."

It annoyed him a little really. All this careers advice.. leaflets about what it is you should do when leaving school. Couldn't he just do... NOTHING for a little while!? A well deserved rest was needed after seven years studying surely!

"Quidditch... quidditch is the only thing I've really had in mind.." Hmm.

Clifford was speaking with his mouth full of chocolate.

Lovely. He really didn't have any kind of manners, did he?

"You've never thought about it?" It was a little hard to believe, in Willow's mind; she'd been worrying over her future for two years now, and being a seventh year like Clifford and not knowing what to do . . . "Doesn't it scare you a bit? Not having to live with your parents anymore?" Because SHE was moving out the second she finished her Hogwarts education.

"So you are going to play professionally?" Willow wanted to say TOO, but decided, for some reason, that she sort of wanted to keep that to herself, "It makes sense to me." What? It wasn't surprising, really, not in her mind at least.

"Sure I've thought about it, I suppose.." he said slowly, nose wrinkling a little. Quidditch really was the ONLY thing he'd thought about. So, if that whole path didn't follow through.. well, he was pretty stuffed. But Willow thought his playing profesionally made sense? Hm. "I just.. don't really care. I mean, don't you just wanna ... not care about anything for a little while?" He knew he did. He wasn't going to go job hunting the second he left school.

"And not living with your parents is the BEST." He nodded his head firmly. Warren had already helped him sort out a place to stay.. it was a little rough around the edges sure, but it was away. And it was his. "You can do whatever you want. Eat whatever you want. Heck, you can do the cleaning NAKED!"

... maybe he shouldn't of said that last one. Eh.

Reese headed out of the common room and made her way down the corridor. She felt that it was time to take a little break from studying since she felt like she was about to get a headache. Plus, she's been up in the dorms almost all afternoon and she was getting HUNGRY! So, you know what that calls for, a little trip to the grounds where she can fill her stomach up with yummy food. She might also take a trip to Hogsmeade to get some more chocolate frogs since she all her chocolate frogs were almost gone. Sad, isn't it?

As she was walking, her shoes made that tapping/clicking noise against the floor. Seeing Clifford and Willow up ahead, she gave them a little smile, then proceeded down the corridor. She only had 2 floors to visit until she made it to the fifth floor and from there she would take the chutes down to the ground. Then, she would run to the eating place and eat! Yipee!