Cayden looked over at the Hufflepuff as she had asked if they were married. He was unsure where she had come from, but here on Earth that was what wife meant. He said nothing to her as she had requested that they stop for a moment and then had suggested that poor robert's feelings had been hurt by everything they had done. It was his own feelings that had started this and roberts was the end of this." I find it noble of you to stick up for the people you care about. Very few people do it any more, but im going to have to correct you on this. Why should i extend any help to him when he was the one who did the same to me. He had kissed her and decided that they would be together while i was still unaware. If you like to call it anything Miss Noir it would be karma." he removed his hands from her pockets as he gave her a small nod. It seemed like he wanted to leave. Fine with him. No one wanted him here." Have a good Afternoon." he told them both politely. He had really nothing against lyra then her obvious friendship and her mouth.

He looked at her as he stuck his own hands in his pockets as he looked at her." You hadn't seen her when I first met her in the library. She was using a book I wanted to read. She was quite the chatterbox. Which is where I came up with the name." he paused for a moment as he gave her a smile." How are you?" He was a little worried for her nerves and not to mention the company. She took people disliking her much harder then he did. He had been in a family of politics. He was use to it.

Lyra felt her hand being tugged in a direction other than the one she wanted to go...that boy's face. He was a jerk and..."STILLLLLL BORRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!" If she said it before, she YELLED it this time as the Ravenclaw boy pulled her towards somewhere else!

Robert spun back around as he heard Caydens response to Lyra. "You bloody hypocrite!" He closed his hand tightly around Lyra's to stop himself from going at Cayden. "You know what happened Mr. I Know Everything. She" he pointed at Mariska. His temper was rising and he could tell, "She came to me in the green house so don't start feeling like the more noble one here."

He clenched his jaw and his voice dropped down to a whisper, "You were the one who was hitting on her in the first place. If there's any karma it will be when she leaves you for someone else." He looked at Mari in disgust, "Which will happen. My father was right about one thing it seems. You can give that locket I gave you to Liz since it obviously meant nothing." And if anything had cut him deeper it was that fact. He had stood up for her and she had turned out exactly how he said she would. His voice going back to normal as his temper eased he turned back around and headed down the corridor. "Good ridance," he said as he walked though deep down that's not what he was feeling at all. He needed some place, any place else.

Cayden snickered at Lyra as she talked about how it was boring. It would take a boring person to know something of that sort. It was then that Robert decided to talk back to what he had said. About time he had stopped being a baby. He had been waiting for some discussion between them ever since he had decided from the beginning to be a Jerk.

His smile left his face as he talked about how he was a hypocrite for flirting with her. At the time they werent together and he never made a move on her while they were together. THEN to insult mari. He almost let a growl escape him when he caught himself. He had just gone over the line with his comments. Then bringing up elizabeth in a comment that irritated him even more. How long had he told Mari that Liz would never pick her over him because she had always proven his point with her own actions.

Cayden moved from Mari's side as he grabbed robert by the back of his collar and spun him around. It didnt take anything to do so, even if he was taller then he was. He took his shirt as he pushed him up against the wall and spoke to him." Listen good because your very lucky." Lucky that they were in school otherwise he wouldnt be in even more trouble.

"It doesnt matter matter if she came to you, it takes more then one person to start a relationship. Dont blame it all on her, its just as much your fault as it is hers.I never hit on her while she was with you. I just became her friend and she was your girl. This i understood. I dont steal people from underneath peoples feet because that is lowly and I'm far above that. Just because you were insecure about her hanging around me and enjoying herself...that is not my problem. Maybe if you took the time to know her then she might of stayed around a little longer. You dont want to like that's fine with me." he told him as he lifted him off the floor more as his anger was rising."But you ever insult her in front of me again...so help me." He told him as he clinched his jaw. He wanted to hurt him so bad...and it would be so easy. Cayden knew Mari wasnt going anywhere. After everything they had been through with Charlotte and Marc. They both werent going anywhere, but with each other. They both knew this.

Mari thought this situation couldn't get any worse, but in a few crazy moments it did. She stared at Robert with obvious anger when he insinuated that what she had with Cayden wasn't special, that she would just leave him too. She opened her mouth to say something, anything to defend herself when suddenly Cayden was on Robert, pushing him against a wall.


Mari's eyes widened and she froze for a moment while Cayden took to telling Robert off, but everything was happening so fast that it was when Robert was pushed farther up the wall that she moved to stop this. " Cayden!" She said his name sharply, the worry in her voice obvious. " Just leave it for now. it's not important. Please?" She moved quickly between them and pulled Cadyen off of Robert. She turned to him, pushing him back by his arms, her back to Robert. " This isn't worth the trouble it would cause." She said to him, not even looking at Robert or Lyra anymore. She just wanted to keep Cayden out of trouble.

Robert frowned as he was spun around and forced against the wall. Being almost a foot taller and outweighting the puny Slytherin this suprised him. Something was up. Robert dropped all pretense as he spoke and then Mari pulled Cayden off and was standing between them. Pretending to brush himself off he glared at them both, "Sure...its so easy for you to take the high road now."

Picking up his bag he looked at Mari and shook his head, "You know what...you should've just made things easier and just let him kill me. At least then this wouldn't hurt so damn much. Do whatever the hell you want. Its not like you care how many peoples lives you hurt in the process so long as you can have what you want right Mariska. Never mind the fact that everywhere I go around here I'm bombarded with memories of something we did together." He started walking back to Lyra but stopped, "And the thing that kills me...it did mean something to me but so obviously didn't to you. Keep the necklance I don't ever want to see the thing again. Melt it to whatever." His emotions getting the better of him for once he spun on his heel and headed to the stairs past Lyra, not bothering to grab her hand thing time as he went...who knows where.

Mari turned at the sound of Roberts voice, her anger rising as he spoke stupidly in her opinion. " You don't have the right to say that," She said quickly, obviously angry with him now. How dare he insinuate she never cared, that she was so selfish...that she was that kind of girl. She had done wrong by him, that was for sure but he took it too far. " No, you don't get to do that, paint me like some cold,unfeeling monster! Because I cared, I did I just..No!" She shouted at his retreating form. " You might think you know me,but you never really did. You never tried!!" She stopped as she heard her voice tremble and she realized with alarm that she was dangerously close to tears. That dreaded, disastrous reaction, the one emotion Mari hated to let anyone see was coming to the surface again like it was so wont to do anymore. She turned around quickly as the tears fell, her back towards Robert and Lyra again. She began wiping at her eyes hastily with the dark sleeve of her sweater, refusing to be seen by anyone but Cayden that moment.

Well, that was interesting! Good for Rob for getting a word or few in.

The hair on Lyra's arms stood on end as that boring little kid laughed at her. It was a good thing that someone wanted him because only boring people stuck with boring people. There was no way in Merlin's big toe that this kid was Slytherin. He may have worn the green robes but he surely didn't have the mentality. She expected more. What a shame.

But then Robert walked past her, clearly angry. She tuned out any and everything from the two people who didn't matter to her and took off after Robert. He was her friend and helped her in so many ways, someone who would listen to her and help her through her problems, now it was time for her to show the same respect to him.

Mari sort of wanted to be alone, so she figured this was the best place to go what with the swamp and all. People generally tried to avoid it most of the time or at least that was what she assumed. She moved to a wall and sat by it, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor and she brought out a book from her overlarge book bag. Studying of course could be done in the library, but there were people there too. Mari just wanted...alone time. She opened her book and pulled out a few pieces of candy, popping one into her mouth as she settled against the wall for some solitude.

Robert wandered down the fifth floor corridor for no general purpose other than just to walk around. The weather was kind of dreary outside and with Rose being who knew where there was no reason to be in the Greenhouse. He rather thought that she had given up on his little scheme. Well her loss if she wanted to fail. And Liz...well she was in class and couldn't keep him occupied sadly. A small smile came to his lips. It was still kind of surreal that they were dating but he had honestly never been happier. Even with Mari it was kind of a love hate thing. It had been great when she was with someone else and then kinda....faded? Shrugging to himself he sloshed down the corridor, kicking up the murky water on the ground. That was in the past. Liz was his present and hopefully his future.

He started humming to himself and found himself laughing as he was reminded of Liz's love of muggle musicals and one in particular he knew, "I'm singing in the rain...just singing in the rain. What a wonderful feeling. I'm happy again. As I walk down the lane, with a happy refrain. Just singing and dancing in the rain." He kicked up the water as he walked and broke out into laughter before muttering to himself, "Not exactly raining though is it." Just then his foot slipped and he started skidding. "Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa..." CRASH. He slid head first into a wall and he groaned. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

Mariska heard Robert coming from a while away, but she hoped he would just...pass her by because she had no idea what to say to him because of recent events. She willed him away but that obviously wasn't what fate had planned for her. She closed her eyes and sighed when she heard him go skidding and then crash into a wall. She almost didn't want to ask him if he was alright, but...well. She couldn't just leave him there. " Shall I go fetch Healer Avalon for you again?" She spoke calmly as she watched him from where she sat.

Robert swore and sat up his clothes sopping wet as he started to push himself off the ground he felt dizzy and sat back against the wall. "No...lord knows I don't need any more pain killers." He rubbed his head and winced feeling yet another knot starting. "Great." Looking up he saw Mariska sitting at a distance and he sighed. "Sorry to interrupt your...why are you sitting down here by yourself anyway?" He attempted to get up once more then decided better of it. Planting himself against the wall and tilting his head back harder than he thought causing his head to hit the wall again. "Son of a..." he rubbed his head with a grimace and looked at Mari with a weak smile. "Going to need to put me in a giant cast at this rate."

Mari said nothing until Robert asked her what she was doing in the corridor by the statues. " Well. Despite my dislike for dirt and muck, this is the only place I can ever really be alone. Not many people like to come around here." She said with a shrug. She pretended to take a breath and then spoke in a similar fashion as she had with Cayden. " Elizabeth told me that you two are dating." She said, looking at him in her usual, straight forward manner. " So...I might as well as say this now. I don't have any suspicions, but just...you know. Don't hurt her or anything." She mumbled the last bit and got up, gathering her things with her. " If you're really hurt, you should go see Healer Avalon. " She suggested. Maybe she should tell Elizabeth, see if she could make her stubborn boyfriend seek medical attention when he obviously needed it.

Reese headed down the fifth floor with her shoes squeaking against the floor as she walked. She had no idea what floor she was on nor how far she was from getting back to the common room. She had just gotten back from Hogsmeade after having that snowball fight with Karma, Torin, and Fyo. She had dried her hair and robes off on the first floor, but her face was still a little pink from where Karma and Torin threw snow at her face.

She stopped walking once she spotted two statues and a roped off section where a little swamp was at. She knew where she was now. She was on the fifth floor and...oh, happy day! She was only 2 more floors away from getting to her warm common room. A smile formed on her face as she thought about sitting down on her bed in the dorm and going to sleep, even thought it wasn't even nighttime yet. So, she might just go up there and sit down on her bed and read or something. Maybe even eat a few chocolate frogs.

Jack had been walking along the halls on his way to the common room, feeling utterly exhausted from catching up on all his homework. He had finally gotten all his assignments done from his little sickness a few weeks ago and he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Now he could just relaxxx.

If that was even possible anymore.

As he turned the corner, he saw Reese up ahead of him, obviously headed to the common room just like him. It was still hard to get used to sharing a common room with Slytherins. Especially Reese. Smiling to himself a little at his awesome luck, he hurried up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. He tapped her left shoulder, even though he was on her right side. He wondered if she'd fall for that little trick--why he had even DONE it in the first place was beyond him.

Maybe she'd find it cute. Hehe.

Reese finally came to a decision. She was going to go up to the common room and just sit on the couch and eat chocolate until it was bedtime. Yep. That sounded like a pretty good idea to her. But, that's IF she still had chocolate left. She couldn't remember if she ate her last five chocolate frogs last night after talking to Professor Lawson or not. Hmmm. She sure hoped she had some chocolate left, because she was DEFIANTLY not going back down to Hogsmeade. She didn't want to get into another snowball fight. One was enough for today.

She jumped a little bit when she felt someone tap her on her left shoulder. She turned in that direction, but didn't see anyone. She kept turning around, making a full circle, until she saw Jack. Oh, hey! It was Jack! "Hey there," she said with a smile. "What's up?" He was probably going to laugh since she fell for that little trick of his. Oh, well. She'll get him back sooner or later.

Jack grinned when she fell for the trap, turning in a full circle before she even saw him. Tee hee. Epic fail. "You fell for it," he teased her, chuckling and shaking his head. Didn't she know to never look when people tapped her on the shoulder? That was what he had learned from living in a home with 4 other siblings. It was almost ALWAYS a joke waiting to happen.

"Not much...just planning practices and stuff," he told her with a sigh. He had told her he was made captain, right? Yes, he was sure he had told her. "I'm so exhausted from homework...I think I'm just going to collapse in my bed," he said with a chuckle.

"What about you?" he asked as they walked along. Now that he had met up with Reese, his fast pace had slowwwwwed really dramatically.

Reese rolled her eyes when Jack said she fell for it. How was she suppose to know it was a trap? Yeah, her point exactly. She didn't know it was a trap. Truthfully, nobody has even done that to her before, so it was new. Next time, she will turn the opposite direction. Mmhm. "Well...I didn't know it was a trap," she stated. Still, she couldn't help but smile at the way Jack was teasing her about it. "Don't worry. I'll get you back one of these days Fritzera. You better count on that," she explained.

She raised her eyebrow at the next thing Jack said. Planning practices... "Isn't planning practices what the Quidditch Captain does? And, the last time I checked, that Paris girl was the Captain," she told him. Her name was Paris, right? Right. She was sure that girl's name was Paris. "Unless, your being a good little boy and helping the Captain plan and stuff," she added.

"Nothing much. I just got back from a HUGE snowball fight. Yeah, I learned people like to throw snow at my head. I think their implying that I have a big head or something. I don't know," she answered. She started following him down the corridor, trying to think of what else she should tell Jack.

"Oh, yeah. Guess what? This boy- um- second year Huffie...goes by the name of Cedric, yeah. Funny story," she started to say. "I was in the courtyard and he came up. Uh, he told me he liked me, well, loved me. I know, it's weird. But, lucky enough, my friend Torin showed up and pretended to be my boyfriend, so Cedric would leave. And, it worked! The little boy lefted, but he was hurt and I feel bad for hurting him and stuff, but I don't like little boys telling me they love me." She shook her head. Thinking about Cedric, she hoped Cam gave the boy his sweater back.

"Right. Sure. We'll see," Jack said with a grin. Part of him should be scared, since she probably would hold out on her threat, but he wasn't. He was in a weird mood now. He was like...all happy and goofy. That was weird. Had he hit his head recently? Maybe he took a bludger to the head at practice? He didn't think so--maybe he was having a delayed sugar rush from yesterday when he ate a whole bag of Peppermint mice.

Gah. That had been an ugly moment in his life.

Oops. And apparently, he hadn't told Reese about his promotion. "Oh, erm...I didn't tell you? I actually, um...got promoted. I'm Captain now," he said, blushing as he spoke. It felt weird saying it out loud, especially since the humble part of him hadn't even accepted his new, fancy badge yet. "It happened about a week ago and erm...yeah. That's me now," he explained with a small smile.

"You don't have a big head!" he told her in a rush. He couldn't have her feeling bad about herself, now, could he? "I mean like--physically and emotionally. If that's what they meant. You're not like an egomaniac or anything. You know who had a big head? Cale...physically AND mentally. I think it was the hair," he said. Hehe. It was somewhat true. Silly prefect.

Jack blinked when she explained to him the whole Cedric story. Reese certainly had a lot of little boys after her. Weirdddd. "That's...well, kind of sad for Cedric, but he's only 2nd year, right? He's got 5 more years after that to date. He'll find someone, don't worry about," he assured her.

"So um, this Torin guy--who's he?" he asked. Uh oh, was there a hint of jealously in his voice? There had DEFINITELY been some hidden jealously in there. Oops. Not like he could do anything about it now.

"Indeed..." Reese said with a small nod. "We will see." She was sounding all evil now. Hehe.

Jack was the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain? She didn't know exactly what to say about it. She was defiantly happy for Jack, no doubt about that. "Congrats," she told him with a smile. "Your first time on the Quidditch team and you become Captain. That's pretty amazing." Jack must have some mad skills on the pitch during practice if they promoted him. She wouldn't know how he plays Quidditch since the Gryffindor game was canceled. She was still a little mad about that, because she was so ready to see him play.

She blushed slightly when Jack said she didn't have a big head. Well, at least someone things that. She wasn't even too sure if Karma and Torin meant she had a big head, she just thought they were implying it since almost every single snowball they threw hit her in the head. "Thank- HEY! Let's not go off and talk about how big Cale's head is," she told Jack, trying to hold back her laughter. Maybe it was slightly true that Cale had a big head.

She nodded. "You are right. Cedric does have 5 more years to find someone," she said. "I shouldn't feel bad for that whole incident, I mean, I should feel bad, but..." Gah. She didn't know what she was saying. "I don't even know why a second year would like me. Maybe he thought I was single and desperate for a boy. True. I'm single, but..." She stopped talking once she figured out where she was going with this. Uh- "Nevermind," she quickly said.

Hoooooold it. Did she just hear a hint of jealousy in his voice? Ohmygosh. Anna was right! Jack did like her. Why else would he sound a little jealous about Torin? A little smile formed on her face. "He's just a friend," she answered. "He's really nice. You should meet him."

Jack blushed and suddenly stopped. OHMIGOSH! He hadn't even occurred to him that he got picked to be captain without ever playing a single game. Maybe it was because he was Seeker? No, that was a silly reason. Uh oh, he hoped no one was mad at him. He couldn't stand when people were angry with him, especially if people were mad and he didn't know WHY. He had an uncontrollable need to please people. And it was horrrrrrrible. "Thanks," he mumbled before blushing again.

"Sorry," Jack chuckled, glad that the conversation had changed from Quidditch to Cale. "He wasn't THAT bad really. He seemed pretty cool," he said. Even if he did think a little too much of his hair. And himself. The professors having crushes on him had hardly helped matters either.

Jack wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. "Desperate for a boy? Why would he think that? You've still got two more years too, and who says you have to find your soulmate at Hogwarts?" he asked. He immediately regretted what he had said a moment later. Note to self--you're trying to get this girl to LIKE you! "I mean, erm...not that he might not be here," he added quickly.

There. Problem solved. Crisis averted.

Jack nodded. Well, he was just a friend, which was good, but didn't ease the weird butterflies in his stomach. "Yeah, I should...I think I need more guy friends," he said with a chuckle. Not that he was complaining about all the female company.

"Yeah, he was pretty cool," Reese said. "Hey, speaking of Cale, have you heard from him? Like, has he wrote you or anything?" She hasn't wrote Cale ALL year and he was probably at his house wondering why he hasn't heard from Reese. Honestly, she didn't know what to write him. Anna has probably already told him everything about the flood.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, why else would he come out and say he loves me? I think he thinks I'm desperate and he thought he had a chance of dating me since I'm desperate...or something like that," she told Jack. "Not that I'm desperate or anything." She had to make that clear. She wasn't too desperate, but it would be nice to have a boyfriend. "I think he is here," she stated after Jack said 'not that he might not be here'. She continued walking slowly down the corridor next to Jack.

Oh, Jack needed more guy friends. She could help him there. "Remind me one day and I'll introduce you to some guys. It seems like I hang out with more guys than girls, so yeah..." She told him. "I'll introduce you to Reed, Em, Torin, Jake, Miles, and Zeke...oh, wait. You already know Zeke, don't you?" Who else was there? There was Cayden, but she hasn't seen him in forever. So, he was out of the question.

Jack shook his head. "No, I haven't. We weren't real close acquiantances or anything," he explained. The only conversation they had ever really had was about Anna. And Reese. So Jack didn't really consider him and Cale friends. He didn't know anything about the guy. For example, if him and Cale were friends, he would have known stuff like what his favorite ice cream flavor was. Or Cale would know that Jack had 4 siblings. But if anyone asked either of the two boys those questions now, he was 110% sure they would BOTH be clueless. "I'm sure Anna has though. I'm sort of surprised he hasn't written to YOU...he made it sound like he didn't trust you or something," he teased. Cale had been very protective over Reese, that was certain.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think Cedric was in LOVE with you. I'm sure he's just infatuated with you, and as ALL twelve year olds do, he automatically jumps to the conclusion that he is in love with you. Kids that age don't understand love," he said simply. His little brother had ALWAYS said he was in love with his girlfriends the day after they started dating. And where was his brother now? Single.

"Wow, that's a lot of guys," Jack said with a chuckle. "Yeah, I do know Zeke, he seemed like a pretty cool kid--he had awesome hair too," he added with a grin. "And I know what you mean...I seem to have more girl friends than guy friends. I guess Fyo is a friend. Have you noticed that it seems to be that way through the whole school?" he added as an afterthought. "A lot of the girls seem to like hanging out with guys, and a lot of the guys seem to hang out with the girls more."

Reese wrinkled her nose when Jack said he hadn't heard from Cale. She sort of knew that was going to be his answer, but it was worth asking him. She knew Cale and Jack weren't really friends, especially since they both talked about each other when the other one isn't around. She shrugged her shoulders when Jack said he was surprised Cale hadn't written her. "He's probably suprised I haven't written him. I think the reason he hasn't written me is because he's probably busy with trying to find a job and-what?! He sounded like he didn't trust me?" She asked, not even knowing Jack was teasing her. She stopped walking and crossed her arms. "I'm a very trustworthy person." ...sort of.

Infatuated? That was a big word Jack had just used. "Very true. Kids that age don't know love. I didn't know love at that age," she said. Maybe that was why her first boyfriend didn't last long. She didn't know love and...he was a jerk. Oh, yes. He was a BIG jerk. Not to mention he was way too old for her. People say age doesn't matter, but when your boyfriend is 4 years older than you, it starts to matter. She didn't even know why she dated someone older than her.

"Yeah, it is a lot of guys. I wish Dusty was still here. You would love him. He was just about as cool as Cale was," she told Jack with a smile. Maybe comparing Dusty to someone Jack didn't like very much was a bad idea, but oh well. Dusty was protective of her just like Cale was. Why were so many people protective of her? She didn't really know. It wasn't like she was living with Reno anymore, right?

"Fyooooooo. I know him," she informed Jack. "He was one of the people I had the snowball fight with." Oh, yes. She liked Fyo. He was a pretty cool dude. She nodded when Jack said that girls seemed to hang out with guys while guys seemed to hang out with girls. "I guess that's just the way people in the school roll," she told him.

"Yeah, that's probably it," Jack said. He didn't have the heart to tell her that in his last letter to Anna, Cale had explained how he hadn't been doing much in the past few months. He had barely left his couch, more intent to watch their new muggle television than to find a job. Jack felt it was best to keep this info a secret, for now at least. "I don't think he doesn't think you're trustworthy...he's probably being a typical paranoid los--prefect who has let his imagination run wild with all the crazy stunts he has convinced himself you're pulling right now," he said with a small chuckle.

"Yup, must be," Jack said with a shrug. Now that they had brought that up, he was kind of curious as to why all the guys hung out with girls, and visa versa. Maybe he'd do some sort of research on it. He could pretend that he was studing the gravitational pull of certain planets, and why they repelled other planets. Now he was REALLY interested.