Nancy's eyes darted back and forth between Steven, who was obviously still waiting for a proper answer, and the flames which were somehow comforting, soothing, giving her the calm to think clearly again. A few moments ago she had just been sitting here, staring into the fire with pictures of her and Steven happily wandering the corridors of Hogwarts as a real couple and had told herself that this was never ever going to happen. And now? Now exactly that would become reality? Was it that easy? Could it really be that easy?

You can say no... At that sentence Nancy bit down hard on her lower lip before directing her gaze at Steven's face. She could say no? Like she ever would. Like he didn't know the answer yet. He had to know it. She would never, not in the entire world, decline his "offer". It had to be obvious what her answer was going to be.

But as Nancy looked Steven straight in the eye she had to realize with a small start that there was doubt in those eyes. He wasn't sure what her answer would be. How could he not, though? Why did some small part of him expect her to say no. Why? Was there a reason for him to think that? A reason she herself had missed when an immediate Yeeesss!! had popped up in her head as soon as she'd heard his question. What had she missed?

Right now, though, all that was important was to make that doubt disappear from her best friend's eyes. There was always time to worry later. As he now turned slightly to gaze into the flames Nancy reached out for his face and placed both her hands on each of his cheeks. Applying a little bit of force she turned his head gently so she could face him before with a soft smile on her lips she said, "You really don't know my answer to my question, do you? Not for certain, that is." Nancy cocked her head slightly to the side as she regarded him for a moment. She still couldn't quite believe that he in fact was so unsure as to what her answer would be.

"Well, let's see..." And with that she slowly closed the distance between their faces until her lips softly met his for their fourth kiss so far. Hopefully it would not be their last. Gently tearing away from his lips again Nancy now moved her lips over his right cheek, further until she had reached his ear. "Is that answer enough?" She whispered with a grin that he could not see. She was going to say it out loud as well if he wanted her to.

As he looked into her eyes, he smiled a little, looking into her eyes there didn't seem to be a sinlge part of her that wanted to say no. . . And Steven could normally tell what his best friend was thinking by looking in her gorgeous blue eyes. He smiled at her a little, but there was still a small (very small) part of him that was wondering over the lenght of time it was talking for her to say yes or no. That, was what was creating the doubt. Not, the fact that he was nervous. Yes. That was it. Totally.

However, less than a few seconds of staring into the flames later, two soft hands were cradling his face and he sighed softly at the contact with his blonde Godess. He gulped and let her guide his face, and his gaze back to her. Still, there was nothing in her eyes but... what was that?... increduality? What was she shocked about? Then she spoke, and he shook his head. She was right, he hoped that he knew the answer but he wasn't sure. Wasn't certain. Was worried.

. . .

It was like flying. All of the previous thoughts from his head flew away, and he couldn't have told you where they flew too if he tried. All the knew, was that every single one of his senses were being wrapped in Nancy. Nancy was everywhere, and he didn't want it to stop. However, all she was doing, was kissing him lightly. It was like a brand-new lease of life and all of the clouds were lifted.

She was going to say yes.

He looked up at her, blinking a few times before he could actually look at her. He gulped again and grinned slightly. "Maybe..." He said, although this time his eyes were sparkling and he obviously knew what her wanswer was going to be. However, this time, he was going to make her say it. Slowly, he lifted one of his hands up to craddle her face. She was his girlfriend. He had the girl of his dreams and he couldn't believe it.

Bored, Iris made her way back into the common room. She couldn't find any of her friends, and didn't know where they would be. True, she hadn't looked far, but Hogwarts was a big place, and she didn't really feel like combing the whole castle for her friends. She had decided that Satine would be with some ravenclaw friends somewhere, but couldn't think where Aaron and Fallon would be. She guessed they would be together somewhere, as they were close friends... But where they would be she didn't know.

She walked over to an empty sofa and sat down on it, curling her legs up under her body. She hugged her self and watched the flames dance around the damp walls of the chimney for a while, beggining to feel strangely lonely without her friends by her. This suprised her, because before the 21st July when she met Aaron in Diagon Alley, she never had any proper friends. Just the kids who lived on the street, but they never understood her... Because she was different. Just remembering Connor Briggs made her feel weak and unwanted. He would pick on her and hurt her feelings, just because he had caught her doing magic one day. He had been spying on her through the conservatory window. Iris hadn't been doing anything wrong, she was 6 and liked using her magic, even if she couldn't control it. Connor had tried his best to make her miserable though. Used blackmail so that he wouldn't tell the other muggle children. Getting her letter was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She broke out of her thoughts as her leg went numb from leaning on it. So she put her legs down of the floor and stratched them out until the feeling came back to them, and then curled back up on the couch again.

Aaron walked into the Snakey common room and saw Iris sitting on a sofa by herself. He excitedly went over to her and sat down next to her. "Guess where me and Fallon were just at?" he said puttingthe game down on a table in front of them.

Fallon sat next to Aaron who was just bursting with excitement. It took everything in her power not to laugh at how excited he was.

Iris looked up as two of her best friends sat down. "Hi Aaron, Hi Fallon." She said, trying not to giggle at Aaron's enthusiasm at the smallest things. "Hogwarts is a big place. Just tell me where you've been, Or I will still be guessing at Christmas." She said with a smile.

"We were in the Room of Requirement!" Fallon said trying not to shout. She didn't realize that she was almost as excited as Aaron. "It was really awesome!"

Iris looked at Fallon, completely blank as to why they were so exited. "The room of what? Iris looked completely confused. What in Merlin's name were they on about?

"The Room of Requirement. Aaron and I needed a place to go and we went where we had heard it would be. We walked passed the wall four times thinking what we needed and then a door appeared!" Fallon said. She was glad she got the chance to explain the magnificient room. "When we went inside there were books and notebooks so I could read and write and" she paused a moment before she said this, "a paddleball and Newton's Cradle for Aaron." Then Fallon remembered something else. "Oh and there were really comfy bean bag chairs and a fireplace."

Aaron looked at Fallon as Iris didn't know what the room of requirement was and gave her a look that said 'are we the only two people that know about it?' He then looked back to Iris. He was about to explain it when Fallon started talking first. When she was done he turned back to Iris and said, "It's a room that can be any room depending on your needs. It's so cool! We have to show you before the end of term!"

Iris looked at her two friends. She couldn't think what to say to this... The room seemed interesting... "How did you find it? I mean like, When did you discover that it was there?" She asked them, You could hear the curiosity in every word.

"My parents told me. I wonder what they did there..." He then turned to Fallon wondering how she knew about it.

"Same here. My mom and dad went here when they were younger. They only moved to America after they got married. My dad was a trouble maker and needed a place to hide. He had heard about from some older students, tried what they said, and then yeah it worked." Fallon smiled glad she could remember all of this.

"Do you really want to know what they did in there?" she asked before she could stop herself. When she realised what she said she put her head against the arm of the couch and went bright red. When her face had gone back to it's normal colour, she looked back up to listen to how Fallon knew about it. "Wow... That's really interesting... But what exactly does the room of requirements do?" the more she thought about it, The more it seemed familiar... maybe out of a history book or something... But she couldn't put a finger on why it wasso familiar...

Aaron looked at Iris confused. "Huh?" He shook it off and listened to Fallon, too. "Oh, my parents just said," and he did a poor impression of his dad, "'Oh, there's a room on the seventh floor that can be any room you want it to be if you think about it.'"

"What does it do? It changes for anyone specific needs. Like, me and Fallon needed a place to calm down, so she had books, and a fireplace, and a notepad. I got endless paddleballs. "He smiled thinking about aall of them. "But like, if someone REALLY had to use the loo, then the room of requirement would be a bathroom. Or if someone wanted a place to be alone, then the room of requirement would turn into something for them." He realised he over made his point and looked at Iris to see if she got it.

Fallon couldn't think of anything else add. So she simply said, "What Aaron said."

Iris listened to Aaron, now it made sense. "oh..." and laughred at Fallon's response "I bet the room comes in handy.. Do you reckon the teachers know about it?" she asked with a smile.

"I think some of them should. I mean, most of them went to school here probably and probably had parents that went to school here." Fallon said after thinking over Iris's question.

"Yeah... I suppose your right... It would be odd if none of them kne wof it, even if they've never actually been in there." She sat on the couch quietly for a while, thinking about the room.... it sounded like the most interesting place in the castle... Then it hit her where she had read about it. "I know where I've heard of it before!" she thought outloud, "it's mentioned in one of my books... well, one of my Dad's. About the battle of Hogwarts... You know the one with Harry Potter." She sighed before saying "wow... Knowing that makes it sound so much cooler."

"Very odd." Fallon said leaning back on the couch. All of a sudden, Iris figured out where she had heard of it. "That's right! I remember seeing in one of my books." She tried not blush at her nerdiness. "That does make it cooler."

"Yeah, yeah!" he said remembering the same thing. "Harry started an army in his fifth year and used that room!" He then looked at Fallon with amazement. "We were in the same room that Harry Potter started Dumbledore's Army!" Aaron knew a lot about his History of Magic. "We have to take you there, Iris."

Iris smiled at Aaron... She would like to go there at some point. " When can we go?" she asked them with a grin.

Draconis walked in and sat in his favorite chair, and took out a book called
How to be an Animagus Volume 2: 5th Years And in big flashy letters that were actually flashing,
INCLUDING, FOR THE FIRST TIME, HOW TO BECOME A FOX AND A BEAR! THE MOST EXPLOSIVE VOLUME YET!
Draconis' mind was somewhere else, though. Where had Sabrina been? He began reading, trying not to depress himself.

He looked down at his watch again to see that it was too late to go that day. "We should go tomorrow. It's getting late now. You're going to think it's the coolest thing ever... Which it is." He said with a smirk.

Iris smiled at Aaron cheerfully. Tomorrow, it's a date. She almost laughed at the thought... A date, with Aaron... Sheah right... "Awesome. Like you said, it's getting late so I'm gonna go to bed. Speak to you tomorrow." She said as she stood up from her seat. As she passed Aaron, she ruffled his hair fondly and walked into the Girls' Dorms.