"Chris just take the stupid coins, ok?" she asked tiredly, not in the mood to start arguing over money. Ok, she really needed to calm down. He was being so nice to her and what was she doing to thank him? Snapping at him, that's what she was doing - and that was NOT acceptable.

Sighing, she looked up at the familiar ceiling for a second to get her bearings and felt herself calm down a little. Good. "I'm ok Chris, really. I'm just having a small breakdown, it's been a long week. But I'll be fine," the fifth year replied with a small genuine smile at him, somewhat glad to see that he cared enough.

"How about you? You mentioned earlier that you weren't exactly a pile of sunshine either," she said, hoping to transfer the focus of the conversation from herself to Chris. The fourth year boy was really nice, and as he had said so himself, they were friends. If there was something the matter with him, then she wanted to hear it and help if she could.

Chris sighed and took the money she refused to take back. 'Fine he thought he would get it back to her later.' He then realised that she was just having a bad and busy week.

"Oh well my week wasn't all peachy either," he said taking a sip of his butterbeer. "I helped out in the Kitchens when they flooded and it was a terrible mess." he shook his head, he was scared to death the whole time.

"Oh well nothing terrible is bothering me, just i broke up with my girl friend because we never saw each other anymore and we were mre of friends. Now I realize I have feelings for the Slytherin Quidditch captain Paris Greenwood." he smiled as he talked about her. "I kissed her and now we are dating, so it's not all bad." he finished.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. I can imagine it was horrible - if it was anything like the dungeons then I seriously know how you feel," Rachel said, shuddering at the thought of those dark walls and that murky, slimy water enveloping her as she swam. Sure, she had found it pretty easy to swim through but standing on the stairs there had been a waking nightmare.

The fifth year listened as Chris spoke, her eyes widening with every word that was pouring out of his mouth. "WHAT? And you call that nothing?" she asked with a slight smile as she tried to process the information he had just given her. So - he broke up with his girlfriend, then got together with PARIS GREENWOOD the Slytherin Captain and the girl that towels do not seem to be very fond of - KISSED her, and now they were going out. "Erm, the Prefect in me has to know," she lied, for the truth was that she just wanted him to continue talking, "How did you guys manage to kiss on school grounds without getting caught?" she asked, overlooking the fact that they both held high positions in the student body.

"Oh yeah the Kitchens were bad. I didn't see the Dungeons when they flooded but the Kitchen corridor was like a rapids area in a river." he said shaking his head.

Chris smiled. "Well I guess it is something." he looked at Rachel obviously her wheels in her head were spinning pretty fast.

Then she asked how they got away with the kiss. "Yeah that's because we didnt." he laughed. "We were in the Prefect's bathroom when we did it. And then Vindictus came in. We had to go to office and then he talked to us about it for a while and then we were free. Oh and he took 25 points each." he added with a bitter tone.

A petite, blonde sixth year wandered into the The Three Broomsticks, a thick book nestled under one of her slender arms, a white bat perched on her shoulder, and her flaxen hair cascading over shoulders, just barely covering the tips of her inhuman ears. She shuffled over to a table; she not really in the mood to eat or drink but she did want to see if she could find a familiar face in here. One that didn't pick on her for being such an unusual halfbreed, at least.

Sera's large eyes scanned around the room hopefully but it didn't seem like any of her friends were in here. Well, one boy looked like he was a Gryffindor and she gave him a small, nervous smile but she got the vibe she might have freaked him out and she quickly brushed her hair over her ears entirely before looking the other way. He was already talking another girl, anyway. It'd be stupid to interrupt just because she was lonely.

She sighed and opened her book, merely staring at the pages.

Nodding at his answer, Rachel fell quiet for a second as she tried to think about the flood. How high was it going to get before it stopped? She just hoped that the water wouldn't be magical enough to go as high as the Ravenclaw tower, since that would really put the cherry on top of this fine term she was currently having. No really - it would be absolutely delighting! Rachel couldn't help but feel bitter - even though she knew that they were the lucky ones, it still bugged her that more than a fifth of Hogwarts was underwater.

"You didn't?" the Prefect repeated, snapping out of her thoughts as Chris began talking again. Paying attention again, she couldn't help but grin slightly as Chris told her that none other than her Head of House, Professor Vindictus, had caught Paris Greenwood and Chris Potter kissing. Must have been quite a shocker for him, she thought to herself with a slight chuckle.

"Aww, that must suck. But hey, look on the bright side. At least you guys didn't get detention," she said, attempting to be cheerful and offer the positive side to this rather bizarre, yet really amusing story. Cheerful wasn't emotion that was coming across, but the feeling was one of happiness - which Rachel thought was a pretty nice achievement.

Chris laughed as he saw Rachel's face turn to a slight smile. "So me getting in trouble amuses you?" he teased. He was happy she was acting in a little better mood. "But yeah it does suck that we lost the points but I was so happy we didnt have to do a detention." he said shking his head. "Im sooo glad."

"No, no, I'm sorry. It's just an amusing story... Of course, I didn't mean anything by it - I'm terribly sorry," Rachel said quickly, feeling even lamer than she sounded. Oh MERLIN! This whole thing just HAD to stop - if she didn't go to Reid soon, she would go even crazier than what she was now. Plus, her grades would begin to slip - and if there was something she would NOT let happen, it was precisely that.

"I.. I can imagine," she nodded with a smile, pushing her thoughts to the back of her head. The fifth year suddenly realised that her discussion with Chris about his troubles were over, and she quickly sifted through her mind in search for a safe subject that they could talk about. Erm... "Did you know that I live only a few buildings down, really close to Honeydukes?" she blurted out with a satisfied smile.

Chris smiled as she tried to appologize for smiling about him getting caught. "Don't worry I found it kind od amusing too."

now it was her trun to spill the beans about her troubles, but she changed the subject. "Really? You live right here in Hogsmeade? No fair." he smiled. "I live just outside of London." He then looked at her again. "Well now that we have established where each other live, can I know please know what's bothering my friend? Your secret's safe with me." he added hoping she would let up and tell him.

"Oh good," she said, relieved for two different reasons. One reason was the fact that he clearly wasn't offended by her words, and the other reason was that he hadn't called up any healers to take her away to St. Mungo's - which was very nice of him, she thought.

"Yeah I do - maybe on the next Hogsmeade weekend, after I get my uncle's permission, I could invite a couple friends over," Rachel said with a wide, slightly empty although genuine, smile at Chris. She hoped that that would have led him to continue the conversation about her living location, but apparently it hadn't.

Sigh. "It's not exactly a secret, and it's really stupid - you'll think I'm shallow or something" she said, trying her hardest to excuse herself from having to spill. It wasn't fair to Chris - why should he be worried or preoccupied with something that she had a problem with? She didn't mind doing it for others, but why should her friends have to as well? This whole friends and problems business was really problematic, if you ask her.

Jule almost ran towards the three broomsticks. Being in a crowded common room was just not working for her right now. Entered and ordered some pumpkin juice. She found an empty table near a window and went to sit. She bought her journal and a quill with her. She needed to clear her mind from everything that's been happening. From the flooding to common rooms being shared. She sighed and kept writing random sentences in the journal...

Divad walked casually into the Three Broomsticks. He had been quenching a butterbeer all day. He went up to the counter, laid out his money, and ordered one. He took it and looked for a seat. He panned the pub, and spotted Jule.

"Hey Jule! Mind if I sit with you?" Divad said.

Jule had been getting used to hearing her name everywhere she went. She looked up to see Divad, standing there.
"Sure. I don't bite." She laughed and smiled. She made herself more comfortable and picked her head up.

Divad walked over to her table. He sat down, taking a sip of his frothy drink. Divad looked at Jule and contemplated starting a conversation with her. His last one didn't go too well.

"Hi. How are u?" Divad said slowly...

"Extremely tired. Besides working on tomorrow, we have to share our common room with the Hufflepuffs. The flood took over their common room, so now they're up in the tower." she said and crossed her legs.

Divad knew he had word his next sentence carefully. He didn't want to sound uncaring, but he didn't want to sound overbearing.

"So Hufflepuffs are now in our Common Room? Great, now I have to listen to that kid Jake complain about Professor Lawson unending!" Divad said, taking a sip of his beverage.

"He doesn't seem that bad. I was talking to him for a bit. I just know not to give him sweets." she smiled.
"Why are you so tense?" she asked, concerned.

Divad looked over his shoulder. He squinted, and looked back at Jule.

"I just don't want to hurt you again. So, I have decided to word my sentences a lot more carefully."

"Jake makes me want to punch him some days. He has this bitter hatred for Professor Lawson, and Lawson is my favorite teacher!"

Jule began playing with his hair.
"It's okay. Really...and if you keep being tense around me, I'm going to feel more awkward." she sighed.
"I'm not a big fan of Lawson, he's okay and all but it seems that every girl is falling for him."

"I will stop, but I don't want to hurt you because I have this way of making people feel bad by saying something wrong." Divad said.

"I agree, Lawson has his share of girl-attention."

"Hn. Try me." she smirked. "My Slytherin family has thrown every insult at me you can find in a book, so I think I can take mistaken words."
"Not my attention. I'm happy with the one I have." she smiled and felt her eyes turn pink.

Divad smiled. He even blushed a little. "Aww. I am too."

"Aww. You're so adorable." she teased. She closed her journal and stuffed it back into her bag along with her quill.

Divad still blushed. He was happy he had Jule to make him feel better. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks. I missed that." she smiled.
"So what should we talk about now?" she asked. "Oh! My crazy aunt got a job at the ministry. If you met her, you'll see why I'm mischeivous." she laughed. But it was true. Abigail always planned jokes and made Jule do them. Sadly, Jule stuck to jokes and pranks.