Siiiiiigh... he's not getting this.

"Yes, I would," Jake replied, ignoring the mess on the floor and deciding to sit down. "If she made me as angry as they did. I don't think you know that I already hurt her in the past," he pointed out.

No, not his finest moment... but no matter how much Jake liked someone... if they made him angry he'd just do what he wanted to do at that time. Self restraint was hard at the best of times... being angry made it harder. "I kicked a chair at her..."

Broke her leg, in fact... but Jake didn't actually know he'd done that.

Ricco's mouth dropped, time for a diffrent exaple he thought. "How about your sister" He said "I heard that you like her"

Ricco knew that he wasnt going to get out of here soon but he might aswell help others while he was there.

"Ripped some of her hair out last year and pounced on her from the balcony in our house that overlooks the hall," Jake replied, in a monotonous manner. "Can we get off that subject now," he muttered, glancing sideways at Truebridge. Now was not the time to talk in depth about his occasional violence...

... occasional...

After that, Jake stared at his fingernails, becoming engrossed in buffing and shining them on his trousers. It was a habit he had acquired... when he was nervous.

A sudden gold flash out of the corner of Jake's eye, and he had run to the window (because there totally was one there ). There, outside, where the hufflepuffs trying out for quidditch, following the snitch. And... they saw him...

Oh dear.

Ricco followed Jake's gaze and found him looking at one of the Quidditch teams practicing, Looking at what colours they were wearing Ricco's heart dropped when he seen the yellow.

"Thats just great" he whispered out loud before he could stop it. well there was alway next term, or maybe if Jake would start helping others like he should then maybe they would both have a chance to go to a tryout.

Kaika was going to kill him... she thought Jake was sweet and innocent... which he totally was, I mean, this was just a slight... bump in the road.

Yay for metaphors.

Hearing Ricco whisper something, Jake found himself smirking out of the window. So, Ricco wanted to try out? Well, Jake hadn't seen him at any so far... so...



"Perfect," he muttered, smiling slightly, still not looking round. Only this time, he meant it.

"Sounds to me like you two have more in common than you think." Truebridge noted, "It was you who broke a Slytherin girl's wrist at the beginning of the term, was it not Ricco?" Ethan placed a sheet of sturdy cardboard on the table and looked up at the two Hufflepuffs.

"Do continue your discussion." He gestured at them, "What you each did and why it was wrong. Perhaps it is time to think about consequences? Both those that actually resulted and those which might have resulted from your actions?"

Ricco knew that his consequences were starting to get more severe , "Well Jake, we are probably both very close to expulsion which i do not want" Ricco said sadly "Maybe we should calm down a little bit". Then Ricco did something that surprised himself, he stuck out his hand for a handshake, "We can both keep each other out of trouble and maye the Professors would like us better" He said not meaning Kazi when he said so.

Looking blankly up at Truebridge for a moment, Jake tried to process what the man just said. "You what?" he asked, a tad confused. WHY did that man always insist on speaking like a... a... tall person.

Ricco was holding his hand out... for a handshake? Erm... riiiiiiight. Jake stared down at it for a moment, before looking back up and staring at Ricco, shoving both hands into his pockets. "Nahhhh," was all he uttered, keeping his tone as light as he could.

"Jake just say what resulted from your actions like the consequences, what was bad or what good came out of it" Ricco said quickly, "And make it quick i wanna get to go to Quidditch tryout so just cooperate!" he said out loud accidentally , 'oops, now i have no chance of getting there' he thought to himself.

"I can't cooperate if I don't know what I'm talking about," Jake replied, clutching at his hair in a sign of stress. "Stop using all them words," he added, closing his eyes in frustration as he tried to make all the words add up and equal something... before he remembered he wasn't doing maths... GRRRRR! "I dunno, do I?"

Ricco thought about what jake could say, "Well one of the bad things that could come from what you did is that the head girl may have become injured" he said still thinking about what else there was "Also you could have been made to tidy up the corridor yourself"

"Well... Anna split her lip..." Jake tried, biting his own lip as he stared over at Truebridge, before quiickly averting his gaze. What was he going to have to do. "But... to be honest... I was trying to hurt her," he mused, swinging his leg back and forth where he was stood, so the toes of his shoes grazed the floor. "Lawson is writing to Kayla... so I'm dead..."

Racking his brains in thought, Jake's face twisted up in a painful expression. What did result? "Now I'm stuck up here with you..." he added, thoughtfully.

Ricco didnt know the girl known as Anna very well but he knew that she must be the Head Girl. "Why were you trying to hurt her" he asked interested in sorting this problem out. "Ohh i think i know Kayla...no wait" He said but realising that Lawson wouldnt write to someone that was already in the school anyway.

"Well i dont particularly mind being here but i can think of one other place i would like to be" He said knowing that Quidditch Tryouts was infact at the top of his list for things to do as soon as he got out....if he had time.

"Because... she made me angry," Jake said simply, looking up at the boy. He didn't hurt people just for the fun of it. No, he hurt people when he thought they deserved it. "I just... panicked... wasn't thinking straight. I rarely am, these days," he added, frowning.

Nodding in understanding, Jake glanced again over at Truebridge. He'd do anything for one last try-out... anything... But, any other time, being up here wasn't so bad. It was a chance to get away from everyone else if anything... but shhhhhhhh... "What about what happened after you did... whatever it was you did...?"

Ricco knew that wasnt a good excuse for hurting someone, but then again he had no right to say anything as he had had infact hurt three or four people for no reason at all. "Why is that?" he said starting to feel more and more like a Psychiatrist as their conversation went on.

Ricco followed Jakes view to Professor Truebridge before saying, " Well what i done was started swimming in the dungeons, then i didnt listen to Professor Truebridege or Head Boy Clifford when i was asked to get out and go to the entrance hall". Ricco knew he had told him this story before, "What i did could have cost a student their life as they were trying to help people get out from the rising waters but they couldnt because they had to make sure i got out" he said as he thought about his actions before drifting back to Quidditch.

Realising that his own voice had been drifting towards a whisper, Jake cleared his throat, before straightening up. "I don't know," he said firmly, eyes darting around the room a tad. "My thoughts don't add up, in my head. I think things I shouldn't, and really random impulses come into my head," And then there's the whole acting like a hormonal pregnant woman. "Intense mood swings."

Blahhhh. "I suppose I'll have to get used to it."

Hmmmm... what Ricco did. Yeah... there's the whole endangering the lives, yada yada yada. "Mmmm, I suppose that's kinda crappy," Jake stated, glancing up at the ceiling rafters. "But, like... my mother always told me... not to feel bad about things that haven't happened..."

But then again... alot of what his mother said were lies. Hooollllldddd uppppp...

"The dungeons are flooded?" Jake asked, looking back down and towards Ricco. "I... didn't know that... Is that why we're here now?"

It had been odd, being instructed to come up here, after all.

Ricco just stared at the boy as if he was crazy 'how could he not know the dungeons were flooded!!!'. "Well yea..of course the dungeons were flooded" Ricco said holding in a laugh.

Were has this guy been....

"Seems like we should both say sorry to the people we , in your case hurt, and in my case annoyed." He said as he took his back from the wall.

Hold. Thuh. Phone.

"Woah, woah, woah," Jake frowned suddenly, actually physically backing away. "I can see why you might... like, apologise..." he started, for he genuinely could... well... he would, as he hadn't done it. "But I don't think I'm going to apologise. That would just be a lie. Sure, I wasn't thinking straight, but I obviously wanted to do all that, and... well..."

I'm not in the least bit sorry.

"Why would you not apologize" Ricco asked as he began to wonder what exactly was going through this boy's mind. "Seriously when i cant think straight, i have some sugar and it can make me feel better" He said happily with a smile.

Shrugging, Jake fiddled around with his fingers behind his back, before pulling his wand out of his pocket for no reason other than to have something to do. "I'm not allowed sugar anymore," Jake frowned, glaring at the floor. "It makes things worse... I mean, I have it when I can... but I'm nearly always caught... Had to have a calming draught this one time, it got mega bad... My dad is considering making me take one in the morning and one at night," he added absent-mindedly, starting to wander around the training room, aimlessly.

Ricco was running out of things to say...quickly. "I was almost forced to take one of them once as i get Way too angry sometime" he said as he watched Jake fiddle around with his wand. Deciding he wanted to keep his wand he left it in his pocket as he watched him walk around the Small room.

"Mhmmm," Jake nodded, running his fingertips along the groves in the stony wall. It wasn't as filthy as some of the other places up here, but... it was still pretty blehhhh. "I have to take them alot..." he added, screwing up his face in distaste. "That's another thing, I guess... Now, my dad will find out and make me take that... stuff, like alot," he pointed out. That was a result of this... but more long term.

"I dunno about what could have happened," he tried again, concentrating fiercely. He shrugged yet again, spinning his wand around his finger. "But, like, the armour could have got scratched."

Well it was TRUE.

Taking a step towards the small window that overlooked the grounds, also to the side he could see the Quidditch pitch but by the looks of it the Puffs were not on it anymore. Hoping that he still had time to attend practive he turned to jake to take his mind off of it " I want to be calmer but its not easy because you just get these impulses in the back of your head making you do it and you have no choice but to do it and take a chance that nothing bad will happen from the action that you do"

"I don't like being calm, to be perfectly honest," Jake explained, an airy tone to his voice. "It's boring. I mean, sure... I get in trouble when I'm not calm... but anything is better than being bored. Or boring."

Anything.

But still, Jake listened to what else Ricco had to say, and... he kind of understood. "Impulses..." he nodded, knowing those exact feelings. The overpowering urge to do something you just know you shouldn't do... just daring yourself... yes. The kind of impulse that makes you stomp on your wand so you broke it in half... the kind that made you steal cats and turn them pink... "You tell yourself you have the choice... but, it's more like you're trying to believe it."

Strong impulses.

Waaaaiiiittttt...

They'd gone off-track... hadn't they?

... what exactly was the track they were meant to be on?

Hmm.

"I get those impulses all the time, for example i had the impulse to dive into that water in the dungeons" He said as he found a part of the wall that was sticking out, takiing a seat he began to understand Jake as he continued to listen to him describe what the impulses were like.

Ricco had completely forgoten what they were supposed to be talking about , but he knew that they were supposed to be helping eeach other and they were infact doing that in their own little way.