Blink. Blink. BlinkBlink.

"You'd approve?" Evolette asked, blinking one more time. "But.... there's nothing to approve of. We just went on a date... and then he asked me to go on another date." She tucked her hair behind her ear, needing something to do with her fingers.

"Plymouth and I are nothing that needs to be approved... we're just friends." Right? Of course they were. And they were going to STAY just friends.... unless something happened to change that... "Merlin." she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

Thanks a lot Kovac.

"I didn't know at the TIME." she replied, wrinkling her nose. "UGH. It was for a bet I made with Anna, which of us could kiss one boy from each house first, and Cope was the first Ravenclaw I saw. It was literally like 2 seconds, and then he chased me through the street in Hogsmeade!"

"Plymouth was still with Cela then. How was I supposed to know that she liked Cope?"

And at the hint of mentioning commitment or relationships, cue Evolette McKenna freaking out.

Of course.

"Then why are you going on a second date? Hmm?" One of her eyebrows arched at Evolette again, "You know, I may not know much about relationships," And by that Willow meant that she knew absolutely nothing, "But I do know that if you are going in a second date, it means you like each other. Am I right?" Of course. When wasn't she right?

Er ... moving on.

. . . Maybe moving on, and changing the topic had been a bad idea.

"You did WHAT? Doesn't she have a boyfriend? That is SO stupid, Evolette McKenna!"

!!!!111!!1

And it was insanitary, too.

Gasping, Evolette grabbed Willow's gaze once more. "Because he asked me to." she replied, thoroughly scandalized by this entire conversation. "Maybe a second date means something in your world Willow, but I'm sure to Plymouth and I, it is just a date... a second date."

She chewed on her lip for a moment, and then sighed. "Stop freaking me out! I know you, you are having too much fun right now." Evolette did not want to think about this. What if she found out that she DID have feelings for Plymouth? Rejection was not something that she handled easily.

"She has a fiancee." she replied, glad to change the subject, "And she agreed, so don't yell at ME about it." Was everything always her fault?

"Because he LIKES you." Hah. What did she know of Pedro Morgan's feelings, really? For all Willow knew he didn't actually like Evolette that way and he'd only asked her out because she was FUN. But - Evolette seemed pretty close to looking for a bag and hyperventilate, so why NOT push it a little bit more? "Anyway, let me know when you get married, so I can find a date," Said Willow, perfectly serious. Snort. "Oh, maybe I can go with your brother Preston!" Snicker.

Some friend she was.

Gasping, and looking scandalized for Evolette's extremely accurate accusations, Willow said, "I am afraid I do not know what you mean. I am speaking nothing but the truth." And with that, she stuck up her nose in the air, trying to look both offended and haughty.

However, the haughty expression was SOON replaced by a shocked one, upon hearing Evolette's explanation. "She has a fiancee yet she's planning to kiss boys?"

....

Cale Newell had to be an extremely bad kisser. Poor fellow.

"HAH." Evolette exclaimed pointing at Willow. "When I get married, YOU will not be invited." SO THERE. Willow would probably do something to upset Evolette right before she walked down the aisle and ruin the WHOLE wedding....


WAIT A MINUTE...

WHY was she talking about weddings?

It was absurd.

Evolette McKenna, the commitment-phobe who gave a try with the wrong guy was NEVER getting married.

At least.... not for a long time.

She snapped out of her hyperventilation only briefly to point at Willow again. "You should stay AWAY from my brother. He's bad news. You know. I've told you so many times."

Why did Willow never listen?

"Apparently." Evolette replied, in a bit of a "DUH" tone, pretending that she had had nothing to do with Anna's decision at all. Hmmmm....

Gasping, Willow brought her hands up to cover her mouth dramatically. "I am deeply hurt, Evolette McKenna," Stated the girl, sounding profoundly offended. Snort. "Some friend you are." Cue fake sniff, Willow's rosy bottom lip wobbling ever so lightly. "But I suppose that I am glad you are considering marrying Morgan." Hah. "Will I be a godmother? Of one of your children?"

Rolling her forest green eyes and flicking a strand of dark brown hair to the back in a disdainful manner, Willow answered easily, with a shrug of her shoulders, "And I've told YOU that you are wrong." Because clearly, in Willow's head, she knew Preston McKenna more than his own sister did, "Your brother is a nice and respectable young man who did nothing but being kind to me over the summer." Hmph.

"Poor Cale Newell," Said the sixth year, using a tone that clearly indicated she did not thought of him as 'poor' at all. "Have you written to him? To suggest him that he should take some kissing lessons? Hmmm?"

Evolette was not buying it. "Come off it Kovac." she sighed, rolling her eyes, "I used that fake tone and pout on people all the time, you can't fool me." She flicked her hair off of her shoulder wit two fingers, "Besides, anything I said was justly deserved. You're doing this all on purpose to freak me out."

She let the part about Plymouth slide, instead, taking deep, measured breaths. "Yes Willow, you will be Godmother, and then one day I will drop them all off at your house and never come back!" Serves her right! HAH.

"He was NICE to you because he wanted to..... well.... I think we all know what he wanted, Willow. You're simply too blind to see it, because all of his little tricks are working on you." Evolette moved her fingers around quickly in Willow's line of vision, hoping that it would draw her friend out of whatever hold her brother had on her.

"No. I have not." she blinked, that was just absurd. She'd kissed Cale once, and she thought that he was a fine kisser.

"I am not." Yes, she was. "I am just being honest and speaking my mind, which is something I always do." Hmph. "But never mind about him - what's been going on with you lately? Other than meeting the father of your children, spending time with Greingoth," and yes, Willow did say the girl's name as if it were some kind of venom or insult, "and exchanging saliva with other people?"

Surely Evolette was joking? "I hope you are just being facetious," she declared firmly and sternly, "Because I would leave them at the nearest orphanage if you do that." You bet your crup Willow would; she didn't get along well with infants.

Why was it that they always ended up having this discussion? Evolette just kept on insisting that Preston was no good, and Willow just disagreed. Why? Because he was NICE, and he had NEVER tried to do anything to her. 'Anything' meaning, of course, stuff that could be considered highly inappropriate. "No tricks! I've fallen for no tricks!" Yes, you have! "He's just naturally nice - you should try it sometime." No, she should not; Willow would probably NOT get on well with Evolette if she changed anything in regards of her personality.

"Hmmm. I sort of feel bad for him." Not really.

Lies.

All lies.

Evolette arched her eyebrow at her friend. Willow KNEW what she'd been doing, and how Evolette would react to it. Willow Kovac was a mean friend, and a chain liar.

But she was Evolette's BFF! Wheee!

"Um." she wrinkled her nose, thinking. Besides Plymmy, and the bet and...well that was about it really. "Not much actually." she blinked, really, she hadn't been up to anything else? REALLY? Ugh. She needed more drama in her life. Really. She did.

"You do not need to worry about me having children willow." she replied, sighing. Really, did Willow NOT know her at all? "Unless of course, it's with one of your brothers. Auntie."

Okay, she just threw that in the be spiteful. But Willow SO deserved it.

She rolled her eyes once more, realizing that that happened a LOT when she was with Willow. "By thinking that he is nice and respectable. You. Have. Fallen. For. A. TRICK."

GAAAAAAH. Evolette was going to end up pulling her hair out.

Suddenly, everything became DEEPLY interesting for Willow.

Everything that wasn't Evolette's gaze could be considered interesting, actually, which was why she fixed her eyes on the wall, the floor, the high ceiling, her hair . . . clearly, she was avoiding facing Evolette's look.

Yes, well, Evolette was right. She was do in it on purpose. So WHAAAAAT? It was extremely entertaining to watch her freak out over such a silly business.

Granted, she would have freaked out, too, if someone had mentioned marriage and kids to her, but that was completely beside the point right now, was it? Yep.

"You sound disappointed," Noted Willow, curling a lock of hair between her fingers, as an absentminded movement. Really, it was NOT surprising that she did - if there was no drama, there was no content Evolette. It was as simple as that, really.

"There's no trick!" Willow snapped at last. Willow Kovac falling for some boy's trick? Never. "You are just ... biased. Because he's your brother, that is all, and that is completely understandable." She would know. "He's never tried anything with me, anyway, so I'm definitely not his type."

Willow wasn't bitter.

Actually, she totally was, "what is WRONG with him?" And no, she didn't like him that way - it was just that injured her ego just a little bit that he hadn't tried. It was all about the satisfaction of rejecting BOYS, and she'd not done that yet to Preston McKenna!

Hmph.

Evolette wanted to poke Willow's arm. Poke. Poke. Poke. Until she became extremley annoyed, or the true knowledge of her brother's behavior would suddenly come into realization in her friend's brain.

"What is wrong with him?" She repeated. Well. Lets see.... she could name a number of things that were wrong with Preston. "You just wait Kovac. He WILL put the moves on you. Mark my words, he will, and then you wont find him so charming or decent."

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Evolette just hoped that she was THERE when that happened. So she could SEE the look on her friend's face, when she realized what kind of a guy Preston McKenna really was.

Of course.... all of these feelings were out of love.

AHEM.

Hmm.

Hmmmm.

Willow KNEW what Evolette was doing. She could SEE it, it was as clear as water. Or at least, it was as clear as CLEAN water because the water that was invading the castle these days was ridiculously filthy. Eurgh. Gross.

But back to Evolette.

"You are just telling me these things because you do not want him to do it." Hmph. Willow would have felt touched by this if it weren't for the fact that her ego was slightly injured. "You are doing the same thing I do whenever you mention how good looking my brothers are," Cue Willow making a face at this part, "By saying all these things you expect me to be GRATEFUL that he's not tried anything, do you?" Obviously.

"You can think that Preston is as good looking as you like Willow." Evolette replied, shrugging her shoulders. IT was weird for her to think that, seeing as he was her brother, but Evolette figured it was a given that he was good looking, they all were, so it didn't bother her.

That part didn't bother her at least.

"But, don't think he's a nice guy, or a respectable young man as you very much like saying. You don't know the whole story." She really didn't. Evolette knew that Willow would be horrified at the things her brother had done, and gotten away with.

"You should be grateful." she added, frowning a little. "The only reason he hasn't done anything yet is because you are my friend, and he knows I am watching."

As soon as Evolette turned her back, even for a moment, Preston would pounce, that much was certain.

It seemed a good day for everyone except Alice. She was there, walking around the statue aimlessly. It had been a week passing on without seeing him really. She wanted her Lion. But no idea of where he was and what he was doing?! She sighed and pushed a lock of hair behind her shoulder.

Not a good day.

Fyo had not seen Butterfly in ages. And when he said ages, he meant ages! The last he had seen her was before the whole Mer King-Princess-more "saga," and that was definitely a massive while.

Guess what?

He spotted her.

"Butterfly!" Fyo exclaimed, walking over to her with quick steps, and wrapping her into a hug before she could say anything. "Where have you been? I missed you!"

The strong foot steps. She could indentify those steps. So familiar to her. She felt her heart fluttered instantly and before she turned back the two most strong and expected arms wrapped around her. "Fyo!!!" she almost shouted in excitement without turning back. He had not given her a chance to do that. Haha. "See who's talking. I missed you too Lion" she leant her head back on his shoulder, relaxing.

"I missed you more," Fyo said, very gently. There was something about absence that made the heart feel fonder. Maybe more passionate. Fyo held her, not wanting to let go at all. She felt so..... warm.

It was all so beautiful.

"Guess term's nearly over, isn't it?" he asked, shaking his head. It was hard to believe they had been together for almost a whole year, now. The time had flown so quickly. "Remember you have to come over for the summer?" he asked her, holding her hands to his lips, for a moment.

After few seconds she was somehow managed to turn around to see his face. His perfect face. She was dazzled instantly. Her eyes looked into his eyes as he took her hands to his lip. Aww. It was a beautiful feeling. She was home again. Her eyes glinted and stood there speechlessly for few more seconds.

"Yeah. I'm already prepared for that. Have you informed your parents about this?" she asked him, scared a bit for nothing. Silly. She was with him, for what else she needed to worry! Poor girl.

Being with Butterfly was.... just too good for words. Fyo lowered her hands, feeling on top of the world. He needed this break, needed it after the whole flood scare. He was starting to get used to Hogwarts' dangers, but he knew it would take some more time to forget the flood.

It had been such a nightmare.

Such a very, very bad nightmare....

He nodded when she asked if he had told his parents, coming somewhat out of his sudden mini-reverie. "Yeah," he said with a nod. "They can't wait. I'm headed off to camp first, though. I'm staying a few days in Diagon Alley, and then I have to go to this camp." This stupid camp I don't want to go to. "For a week. Home after that."

Speaking of home, he sure was missing it.

Missing it, like, a LOTTTT.

"You'll come, won't you?" he asked, now speaking more cheerfully. "I've asked Torin, and he's going to join me, so I think I can bear the camping, muggle-style. It would have been rotten, otherwise."

Alice felt his relaxed hands in hers now. She shifted slightly from one foot to another. Or just boucing around him?! Who knows? hehe.

So the bad time was over. Not seen him was a pure torture. She shook her head to get rid of those bad thoughts from her mind. Now she was with him, happy and all. Yaay!

As he was holding her hands and asking about her summer visit to his home, Alice felt like she was in cloud nine. "Me too cant wait to see them Fyo. But you should tell about them more..before i step in to your house" she almost whined, wanting to know about his family more. A true and genuine wish.

But wait. was he said something about camping? What camp? She blinked. "Camp? " and Torin coming too..? "Tell me more about it Fyo" she looked at his face, memerizing his amazing facial features.

She seemed relaxed enough. Fyo still held Lissy, trying not to get lost in thoughts of her as he listened to her words. "What more can I tell about them?" he asked, smiling slightly - was she worried about meeting his family? "My mum is Spanish, pink-haired and an awesome healer. My dad loves to laugh and work with dangerous magical creatures. And Nova is a ...."

Wait, what exactly was Nova? A pain the head, yes, and an adorable little dear, yes, but what exactly was he supposed to tell Butterfly? "And Nova is a fluff of curly, white-blond hair who loves kittens and astronomy." Yup, that described her nicely enough.

He watched the change in her expressions, the one that came over them when he mentioned Torin. They were getting along much better than before - Tor and Butterfly - now, but Fyo knew things were far from easy between them. "Well, Uncle Henry is arranging it," he began with a shrug. "He's a friend of my dad, and he's a muggle."

And a fat rhino.

He couldn't say that, though. Or maybe he could, and just didn't want to. Whatever the reason, Fyo kept his quiet. "He's not exactly my favourite person in the world," he went on. "But he insists on teaching me how to camp. Dad kept telling him there's no need, but he got offended, so I now have to go and attend his stupid oh-so-specially-set-up-for-me camp." He rolled his eyes at the last super compound word, clearly exasperated. "It was going to be a pain," he said, with a shake of his head. "I'm just glad Torin is coming, because now I know we're going to have a lot of fun."

And when he said a lot, he meant a lot.

Alice listened him describing everyone in his family. Oh..Wow. Everyone seemed an interesting personality. So different from one another. Alice..didnot interupt but OHed and AWed often as he was kept going on and finished with a nice touch about his sis Nova.

Well..seemed his mother was so flexible and his father was the one she was going to handle more easily since Alice too loved to laugh more. So the difficult part might be Nova. She started pressing the buttons of her think tank about how to face this lil sister of her Lion.

"You family sounds cool and interesting Fyo. I'm already ready to meet them. All i wanted is some courage " she giggled and linked her fingers with his comfortably.

Uncle Henry. The only person Fyo didnt like as far as she knew him. So apparatently camping in Muggle's sytle bothering him. She looked at him, "I understand Fyo. But dont worry fun will be guaranteed. I'm all up for this one" she said enthusiastically and hid the fact from Fyo that she had always liked to go camping like Muggles style.

The way she was listening to him speak of his family, Fyo felt like he was telling her the way to get a map leading to a truckload of treasure, or something! He laughed at her interest, taking her hands and putting her arms round his neck.

"They don't bite," he said, still laughingly. "My mum's a right old dear, and Nova is only difficult occasionally. Mostly, she's really affectionate -- and if you can tell her a bit about stars and stuff, she'll be ready to fall in love with you."

- Talk about astro-addictions.

"I think it will now," he agreed, when she said fun would be guaranteed. "I've gone camping a few times before, magical and muggle style, both. It's not the camping that bothers me - It's Uncle Henry. I don't really like him, he's way too strict."

Alice face was lighting up. He took her hands around his neck and now she got closer to him. Fyo. Your scent is too good for me. She giggled inwardly and looking up at him, "Stars? Well..I can tell anything about stars to her. My Dad taught me more about astronomy both reality and fictional" she relieved a bit about this Nova obsessed on Stars part.

So it would be easy to handle her the fluffy blonde cutie. She took a deep intake of breath happily and said, "So afraid of your Uncle. Sounds different. Since when Lion is afraid of someone?" she asked him playfully as tightened her grip around his neck. Uncle Henry..We're coming..so beware!!

"Fictional?" Fyo repeated. "I don't think Nova believes there's much to them that's fictional, Lissy," he told her gently. Fact was, he did not believe there was much to them that was fictional, either. Stars were.... his thing.

Afraid? Hehe. "Lion's not afraid," Fyo laughed. He loved it when she called him Lion and, recently, Torin had been calling him that, too. It was sweet, something that he liked, something that made him feel - - loved. "I'm just exasperated that I have to go spend time with him - especially when I don't want to."