"Im talking about if your not going to be a good friend to her then dont lead her on. You'll only hurt her more. Your already doing that." he told her as he had talked to Mari about this before coming to talk to Elizabeth. He would like her to react in the way that wasnt proving that she preferred one person over the other.He would of liked her to be Mari's friend over Roberts, but it wasnt his life.He snickered at her comment about him being a slytherin."Your in Ravenclaw because you lack traits to be a slytherin. We already have the smarts to surpass your house." He looked at her as she took a step away from him, if she wanted to run away then she could do so. When she talked about not hurting him he had to correct her." No. It's what you've already done." He watched her as she seemed to be having a hard time with the truth. He watched her leave as he did so a few moments after. It was not his fault he told her the truth.

*Gabben walked down the hall with a book in one hand and his wand in the other. Using his wand he tapped his leg to some unheard of tune. Every once in a while he would mouth a word and frown. He finally looked up to see that he had walked to the seventh floor.*
"Hmmm where is that blasted room again?"

It was downright gloomy outside, so Caitlin took to roaming around the Castle once more. She thought about going up to the Astronomy tower again just to see what she could see from the view that the towers offered. Usually she could get a decent view of the lake, watching the giant squid swim some tricks around the water.

Once rounding a corner she spotted a familiar head of blonde hair. Half smiling and half smirking Caitlin walked up to Gabben with a wave of her hand.

"You look lost," she said with a light laugh.

*Gabben laughed a little and saw that it was Caitlin.* "Hey, and I'm not lost... the room just moved on me is all. How was your holiday?"
*He shut his book and tucked it under his arm.*

"I always had trouble with that too," Caitlin said tilting her head to one side. A lot of the times I gave up on the Room of Requirement and made my own quiet area in the library ..." she triled off noticing the book in his hand and wondered what he'd been reading, but did didn't appear to be a novel or a textbook or any sort.

"My holiday?" she repeated before tucking her hair behind her ears. "It was ... busy," she said with a nod of her head, not wanting to say anymore on the subject.

"Yours?"

"Boreing and stupid. I spent most of it baby sitting my little cousins and going to stupid ministry parties..." *He shrugged.*
"The Room of Requirement is easy to find." *He smiled, why didn't he just think of going there?*

Irial walked down the corridor, wanting to head back to his common room. It was rather crowded in the other places of the school, and he wanted solitude. He didn't find much of that here.

He turned a corner and stopped in his tracks. There was a girl, talking to another boy. Irial's throat was dry as he gazed at the girl. Taking a step forward, his eyes narrowed.

"Caitlin?" he whispered, unsure if what he was seeing was real, or an illusion.

"Of course the Room of Requirement is easy to find," Caitlin replied with a light bit of laughter. She then figured he'd make his way there and she would continue on her way to the Astronomy Towers.

But something happened.

As if it were something you could see, a surge of energy filled Caitlin to the very depths of her soul ... when a feeling that like comes along it can only mean one thing.

That voice. The one voice she'd been dying to hear for what felt like an eternity.

Caitlin turned slowly to her left and there he was ... appearing like a thin shadow ... like a clouded memory. Only this was no memory. He was here. Standing before her.

"Irial ..." she choked out and took a couple steps closer to him. Almost afraid he'd disappear if she ran straight for him in one swift motion.

Irial stared, that's all he could do. Everything that had happened in the past few days just vanished. The detention, the flooded dungeons, the fiasco at the Whomping Willow, even the water fight with Rhea down at the gardens today. It all vanished when he looked at her.

He stepped closer to Caitlin, and, knowing that he must have looked incredibly stupid standing there, he took her in his arms and hugged her tightly, planting a kiss to her forehead. "Caitlin," he murmured, not paying any attention to anyone that may have been watching.

"I thought I'd never see you again...I've been back since the start of term..Travis said you'd gone..." he was rambling, but he didn't care. "Oh, Caitlin I missed you so much."

This is a dream.

No way was she standing here looking at Irial. No way she was mere feet from him. From his embrace. From finally feeling somewhat whole since he left. The sound of her name on his voice sent chills down her spine, and she almost sprinted to him a second time.

The world vanished. Caitlin had almost forgotten where she was, let alone who she was with. Somehow she made a mental note to explain everything to Gabben later.

She had more important people to be with.

A small smile spread across her face and she chuckled lightly at his rambling. Hearing him say that he missed her. That he was waiting to see her. It made everything seem worthwhile. That stupid war and everything else that he'd left Hogwarts for all of a sudden seemed worth it ... to hear that he still thought of her.

That he still wanted her.

Caitlin took off at full force then, throwing her arms around Irial, clinging to him desperately. The tears she'd held back since first laying eyes on him finally let loose and she sobbed uncontrolably into his shoulder.

"I didn't think you were coming back," she whispered between sobs. "I went back to look for you so many times, hoping I'd find you. Hoping someone would tell something."

Irial clung to her as she sobbed into his arms. He finally felt whole again, overjoyed that Caitlin was back in his arms. "I said I was coming back," he whispered into her hair. "I promised you. I'd never break a promise to you."

He didn't know what to tell her, without revealing too much. "I was...detained," he murmured. "They wouldn't let me go." He leaned back and wiped her tears with his thumb, kissing her nose. "But I'm here now, I'm back, and I promise you I'm not leaving again any time soon."

He wrapped her in his arms again, hugging her tightly. He felt a lot better now. No more coughing, no more illness. No more nothing. He supposed it was just lovesickness, but he knew better than that.

"I love you, Caitlin," he murmured.

Of course she knew he was coming back. He had promised, and he never once broke a promise to her. "I was just so worried," she whispered. "You were gone so long and I ... I panicked. I thought something had happened to you and ..."

But her voice trailed off as Irial wiped her sadenss away and gently kissed her nose. Again the same shivers ran up and down her spine. This is how she should be feeling. Not worried, not sick. For the first time in a long time, Caitlin finally felt happy.

His arms wrapped around her once more, and she nuzzled into the crook of his neck, taking deep breaths at the words he spoke to her.

"I love you, Irial," she replied, softly kissing his collarbone. "I love you so much."

Irial smiled at Caitlin, feeling happier than he had in a long time. Even when he was messing around with his brother, or dumping water on Rhea at the garden. There was something about being near his girlfriend that made him want to just kiss her until they both ran out of breath.

Instead, he pulled back, but kept her in his arms. He wasn't going to let her go for a while yet. "How have you been?" he asked, knowing the answer already. "I spoke to Travis on the train..." His eyes darkened. "You haven't been well? And he thinks he broke his promise to me."

He gazed into her eyes. "He thinks he failed me by not looking after you. What happened?"

Caitlin expected Irial to ask after her. To see how she'd been handling the separation and what not. And speaking to Travis was, of course, going to raise a few red flags.

Now the complication sets in ...

"I haven't been well ..." she started to say. "But I don't want you to worry about it. I mean ... I know you're going to worry about it, and you want to know what happened and what's been going on ..."

Suddenly feeling rather exposed, Caitlin looked up and down the corridor. They were the only ones there now. Turning back to Irial she cuped his cheek in her hand. "Can we go to the Room of Requirement? For some privacy?"

Irial frowned but nodded anyway. What was the difference between the empty corridor and the Room of Requirement? "Let's go then," he said uncertainly, taking her hand and walking with her to the RoR.

As they walked towards the room (he hoped Caitlin knew the way, because he'd never been), he wondered why Caitlin was so...nervous now. What exactly had happened when he was gone? He sighed, supposing that he'd find out in a few moments time.

It couldn't be that bad, right?

Wobble.

Wobble wobble.

It took so long to get up to the Astronomy Tower, how had he never noticed it before? Raiden trudged onward, down the seventh floor corridor, tired and drained. Defence Against the Dark Arts had just... destroyed his stamina today. What had been different this time as opposed to all the other classes? How in the world was he more drained than he had been during Kazimeriz's classes? Today was making absolutely no sense in his head.

He stopped abruptly; his wand holster was loosening, ever so slightly, but he could tell the difference now. He pulled up his robes' sleeve and started tightening the straps, his brow furrowed as he tried to remember if there was a spell for tightening things. There had to be...

"What you doin' up here, Rai-Rai?" Celandine herself was just about to answer the riddle and head into the common room. She tapped her mouse shoe absently and sort of half-bounced over to her friend. Today had been crazy. CRAZY.

And she needed to find something other than a delusting potion to distract herself since the side effects of that hadn't work out so well.

URK.

Raiden very nearly jumped. Celandine, how had he not noticed her nearby? He very hesitantly turned his head and looked at her before holding out his arm, showing the holster.

"Well... my common room's still flooded... and... Astronomy Tower," he said, feeling slightly stupid. "And this keeps... loosening. Do you know if there's a charm to keep it tightened up, if only for a little while?"

She seemed... better. A lot better. Good. She was back to her old self, bouncing around and being happy and Cela.

Which made his stomach do little flips and his head kinda go even more fuzzy. Girl allergies were just... so horrible. Silently he promised himself that he'd try and spend more time with Cela as well as time with Kiri... because it seemed that he was being cured of his Kiri girl allergies, but not his Celandine girl allergies. Sad.

"The astronomy tower is flooded?" Celandine blinked a bit in confusion and took hold of Raiden's arm unceremoniously. "Well, you could use a sticking charm on the straps, do you remember the adhaero charm we learned last term? That would work. otherwise..." Cela tugged the straps tighter, "Well most of the tightening spells I've heard are for cutting off blood supply so that wouldn't be good. I really think its best to go with spells you already know."

"Er... no, the common room... in the Dungeons... and we stay in the... what?" he murmured distractedly, rubbing his left eye as he tried to get his attention off the fact that she'd just grabbed his arm and her fingers felt like fire against his skin. "Adhaero, right... That would... yeah."

As she pulled the straps tighter, he found his eyes wandering down to his feet. And her feet were right there, too. And her shoes were mice. How oddly... cute. Why mice? Roscoe would probably love them; he could see the small cat chasing Cela around, batting at her shoes. Heh. He grinned at the thought.

"Tightening spells for cutting off blood supply?" He dragged his eyes away from her shoes and back up to her face. "You read an awful lot, Cela, if you know all that stuff already. I should probably start reading more, shouldn't I... rather than just worrying about my girl allergies all the time."

...wait. No. She didn't know about that, did she?! Words, words, come back into his mouth! He winced; they were already gone. Had he told Cela he was allergic to her before? He couldn't recall.

"Oh! Well I guess that explains why there are so many Slytherins around the seventh floor these days." Cela answered cheerfully, finishing adjusting the straps on his holster.

"Oh I don't know that from reading, Adri and Nico like to use it when the duel. But see I figured it was a good one to use as an applied charm for like, healing or something, so I practiced it too." Cela explained.

Girl allergies. Celandine blinked at him, "What?"

"You like having so many Slytherins around the seventh floor, don't you," Raiden murmured, more of a statement than a question. "It seems like you would have a lot of friends in my house..."

As soon as she'd finished tightening the straps, Raiden released his wand from the holster and pointed it at the point where it kept slipping. He muttered the spell under his breath, face turning pink as he tried to concentrate on the spell and not on how he was going to have to explain himself now to Cela. Girl allergies were... hard to explain.

"There... it's all secure now, I hope," he mumbled, tucking his wand back into it and pulling his sleeve over top. "Uhm... well I... that... I'm allergic to you."

Oh that sounded bad. He flinched at his own words and immediately tried to correct himself.

"It's nothing personal, really! It's just... you're one of the people that makes me all... allergicy. I dunno why it's just you, but... well nothing went wonky when Miss Kayla was hugging me, and I can be around most of the girls in the school and be just fine, like Anna, but... well..." He twitched slightly. "My stomach does weird little flips when you're around and I get all warm and distracted and when you touch my arm it feels like fire. I dunno why... it just started last term, and I'm sorry and please don't be upset that I'm allergic to you because I'm trying to figure it out and I don't want to be allergic to you I promise..."

Rambling. Oh, he was getting so good at it.

"Of course I do! I love Slytherins!" Celandine answered, clearly enthused.

For someone who loved Slytherins so much, it was surprising how much time she spent with her own housemates, really.

"Like fire?" Celandine repeated, tipping her head to one side. "Raiden I think..." She looked around the corridor and stepped closer to him to whisper, "I think maybe when you say allergies you maybe mean crushes? Do you... think I'm pretty and stuff? I think... maybe you like like me a little, maybe? So... it's mostly normal... at least... I have 'allergies' too, so if it isn't normal, then we are both messed up."

Of course, Celandine was allergic to Copernicus Kettleburn and still a little to Plymouth Morgan even if she didn't get herself nearly so flustered around her still-boyfriend-despite-everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celandine

"Of course I do! I love Slytherins!" Celandine answered, clearly enthused.

For someone who loved Slytherins so much, it was surprising how much time she spent with her own housemates, really.

"Like fire?" Celandine repeated, tipping her head to one side. "Raiden I think..." She looked around the corridor and stepped closer to him to whisper, "I think maybe when you say allergies you maybe mean crushes? Do you... think I'm pretty and stuff? I think... maybe you like like me a little, maybe? So... it's mostly normal... at least... I have 'allergies' too, so if it isn't normal, then we are both messed up."

Of course, Celandine was allergic to Copernicus Kettleburn and still a little to Plymouth Morgan even if she didn't get herself nearly so flustered around her still-boyfriend-despite-everything.

Ohhai too close. Raiden's entire body froze up on him, refusing to let him move even an inch back as Celandine stepped closer and said... things. Crushes? WHAT? But... on Celandine? She was his friend, was that even allowed?

"C-crushes?!" he nearly choked on the word. "Of course I think you're pretty and... stuff. You're my friend. You're awesome and nice and pretty and everything, and of course I like you. But..."

This was the single most confusing thing that had happened to him today. It trumped his random and mysterious air-choking in Defense Against the Dark Arts... which would kinda be explained if... wait... no...

"But... but that... you're..." he took a deep breath. "It can't be that, if it is then... I'm..."

His brain had just stalled completely at the idea that he had a crush on Celandine Toussaint. A crush. He liked her? Like more than a friend? And then there was Kiri... was that a crush too? If so... that certainly wasn't something that was allowed, was it? Having crushes on TWO people? And did either of them actually like him back? He didn't even dare to think about that. It was too dangerous.

"I think I prefer the idea that we're both messed up," he blurted. "Because I don't think me having a crush on you... is... a good thing. Plymouth might get... mad at me."

Having a crush on a girl with a boyfriend? Plymouth Morgan certainly didn't seem like the type to like the idea of another boy having a crush on his girlfriend... even if Raiden had known her longer and hadn't ever done anything to make her sad.

No, no. It had to be allergies. It being a crush was just... too cruel. It wasn't a good thing to have a crush on a girl with a boyfriend who was one of your best friends and was awesome in every way.


...was it?

"Crushes? You have more than one? Gee Raiden you don't even know the half of how messed up Iam." She looked at him and wrinkled her nose. It was so neat that she didn't have to tip her head up to meet his eyes. They were almost exactly the same height.

"Want to know a secret?"