Arianna started biting her lip, something entirely new for her to do. She was worried about Rafe's future, and for Theodore's condition. A lost lung? That didn't sound right. " I'm sure everything will turn out fine Rafe, you didn't really mean him any harm..?" she said, not so firmly. She wasn't sure what Rafe had meant, after all him and Theodore weren't exactly best friends. She pulled his face by the chin to face hers, so all he could see were her enormous eyes, behind the thick glasses, and her hair, loose in every direction on it's attempt of a pony tail " You will not be expelled, I was there two remember? I can testify how things happened, I can convince professor Kazemir that you meant no harm! Don't beat yourself up doggy!" she added in a low murmur winking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojogali

Arianna started biting her lip, something entirely new for her to do. She was worried about Rafe's future, and for Theodore's condition. A lost lung? That didn't sound right. " I'm sure everything will turn out fine Rafe, you didn't really mean him any harm..?" she said, not so firmly. She wasn't sure what Rafe had meant, after all him and Theodore weren't exactly best friends. She pulled his face by the chin to face hers, so all he could see were her enormous eyes, behind the thick glasses, and her hair, loose in every direction on it's attempt of a pony tail " You will not be expelled, I was there two remember? I can testify how things happened, I can convince professor Kazemir that you meant no harm! Don't beat yourself up doggy!" she added in a low murmur winking.

"Well, Professor Lupa created a temporary lung and that seemed to help and then I went to get Nurse Melita and no telling what she will do! She thinks a cookie can cure anything," Rafe said shaking his head. "I don't think anyone believes I'm genuinely sorry. It was meant as a joke, it was a simple spell, harmless. I never meant for his life to be in jeopardy." Rafe scoffed. He was so mad that things went so downhill. "I even tracked down his best friend to try and comfort him..." Rafe sighed, "...but getting the nurse and his friend doesn't even make up for half the damage I've done." Rafe really was beating himself up. "I would take months of detention if that means not getting expelled, that's all I ask." Rafe tried to force a smile at her, but he almost felt like he forgot how to.

Arianna's lips started to tremble and she jumped on Rafe, hugging him so tightly, she wished she could just squeeze all his guilt away. " I believe you, I will never be against you!" she said, a little sob in her voice. She had be crying a lot since that happened. " I'll go to professor Kazemir, to the Headmaster, I won't let them expel you" she cried out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojogali

Arianna's lips started to tremble and she jumped on Rafe, hugging him so tightly, she wished she could just squeeze all his guilt away. " I believe you, I will never be against you!" she said, a little sob in her voice. She had be crying a lot since that happened. " I'll go to professor Kazemir, to the Headmaster, I won't let them expel you" she cried out.

"I felt so bad, I threw up A LOT!" Rafe said shaking his head trying not to remember it. "I've cried, I've gagged, I doubt there's going to be any fluid left in me when all of this is over." Rafe said with a little chuckle. It was the first bit of anything to laughter that he had done in awhile. "You should have seen Fia...Theo's friend...I swear she wants to punch me, which I probably deserve, nonetheless." Rafe hiccuped. "Don't...hic...go...hic...unless I'm...hic...actually expelled...hic...I don't want...hic...to risk it..." he held his breath hoping the hiccups would go away.

LouAnn glanced up, giving Audio a rather apologetic look for a few seconds before finally looking back down again. She knew he didn't believe her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was stretching the truth juuuust a little bit. She didn't want him to think she was insane, though, so she figured an obvious lie would be much better than the shameful truth. The truth was that she was having strange blackouts, yet she had no idea why.

She started to reply to Audio's question, but when Jake answered for her and said that she didn't need to see anyone, LouAnn just let it be. Although she'd just met Jake, she'd quickly developed a trust for the boy, and there was just something about him that always drew her to him. Here eyes flickered to the Hufflepuff boy for a split second, an acknowledgment that she'd heard his explanation, then she looked down once again.

When Abby first approached, LouAnn looked up at the older girl with a bright smile. "Hi, Abby. What's u---." She was asking how LouAnn and Jake were, though. Did they honestly look that bad? Was this situation so terrible that it'd become blatantly obvious to those around them? No, no. Not too many people had asked her if she was alright. Most people tended not to notice when she blacked out. Then she inquired about the runes, and Jake was quick to reply that neither had the runes on them. The fact was, though, that the runes never left their presence. They'd become such a big part of them, that they were almost as necessary as breathing and eating. "No, no, I'm afraid we don't have them, Abby," she said, echoing Jake's lie. She hated lying, she honestly did, but there was just something about these runes that brought out a slightly different side in her. She wanted to protect them at all costs, no matter what.

When Jake rattled some stones in his pockets, then willingly handed them over to Abby, LouAnn momentarily gasped, shocked at how easy it was for him to part with the---oh, wait. That wasn't...ahhhh. LouAnn gave Jake a pleased smile, then distracted herself with two boys who were walking their way. "Oh, hey, Chris! What's up?" she asked, greeting their Gryffindor prefect first. He'd been the first to arrive, after all. The next boy was new to LouAnn, and he'd introduced himself as Zeke. "Nice to meet you, Zeke. I'm LouAnn Purple." She waved bye to Audio, giving him last apologetic look before turning back to the others.

Chris smiled as LouAnn greeted him. And he looked a bit questioningly at Jake who looked pretty rough. What was going on? He smiled again and sat down with LouAnn, "So what's up? I havent seen you in a while." he said running a hand over his arm to warm himself up. It was a bit chilly around the castle today.

Abby rolls the runes in her hand and looks at them. They look like ordinary stones to me. Of course the rune stones we studied my first year here also looked like stones you would find in the student garden. Abby puts the stones in her left hand, and pulls a pouch out of her bag. She starts to put the stones in it when Jake demands them back. Abby looks at him surprised. Her first instinct is to say no. Possession is 9/10 of the law, but they are Jake's stones. Abby looks them over one more time hoping she can get a good look at them. Hopefully, she's remember them and be able to find them in a book later. She then tries to turn her face back into a expressionless mask. "Sure Jake, whatever you want." Abby closes her hand and places it close to Jake's out stretched hand. "I just want to have them checked out. Make sure they aren't cursed. By the way where did LouAnn and you find them?" Good Abby, keep him talking. The more imformation you can find out the better. Jake is acting different now. Where is the garbled speech, and his mannerism. I've never seen Jake be forceful before. It's so unlike the Jake I've experienced before, and I have the stones. I don't feel any different.

Glancing back at LouAnn, Jake saw a kind of shocked expression on her face, replaced by a kind oof understanding... then a smile. Well, that just settled it. Yeps, it did.

Blinking again, Jake turned back to Abby and bit his lip.
"Errrr..." Jake stalled, twitching his hand so it came back towards him again. "Nnnno... you c'n- you c'n- you c'n tekk 'em," he added in his strange way of speaking again, drawing his hand all the way back.

Almost as soon as he said this, Jake's eyes snapped up to Abby's again. "We just found them. 'Where' is irrelevant," he said, once more totally fluent.

Annnnnd once again, he blinked, and shrugged. "I dddd-ddd-dddunno," Jake said, shoving his hands back into his pockets. "I c'n't 'member."

Arianna's humourless laugh echoed through the halls for a minute, lingering in the air. She still had her arms around Rafe's body, squeezing him. She tightened her grip on him trying to make the hiccups away. " You have to control yourself, crying or draining yourself won't help your case Rafe" she said, more seriously. " Anyone that knows you, knows that you meant no harm, don't worry, it will be just fine" and she smiled at him.

Now Abby is totally confused. One minute Jake is Jake, then he's someone else? No that can't be, can it? Then Jake totally startles Abby. He looks her straight in the eyes and speaks.... Just like a professor..... Abby opens her hand and looks at the stones, then at LouAnn and Jake. "It's okay Jake. I don't need the stones. You can have them back. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Abby finds herself scared of Jake. He's already snapped with Professor Lawson.

Taking the stones back eagerly, Jake pauses again and stands stock still, looking around at LouAnn and then back up at Abby. His head was pounding... he couldn't think straight.

"URGRGRGGGHHHHH!" the boy suddenly shouted through gritted teeth, throwing his head back, twitching somewhat.

This was Bunbury's fault, surely. She would pay.

With out another word, Jake turned to face the suit of armour, stared it down for a moment or two, thumped his fist on it (though it remained standing) and stood still once more, staring down the corridor.

And then... he ran. Down the corridor and out of sight.

He ran.

Being her normal self, LouAnn kicked into 'chatterbox mode' when Chris sat down beside her. She turned from the conversation Jake and Abby were having so she and Chris could properly talk. "Well, you know, same 'ole, same 'ole. I go to class, I do homework, I sleep...then I wake up and do that all over again," she said, exaggerating just a little. Of course that wasn't all she ever did, but with the amount of work she had been assigned lately, it sure seemed like it. "Well, I've been hanging out here and there sometimes, too. So how've you been?"

When she heard Abby mention her name, LouAnn turned and listened to a bit of the girl's conversation with Jake. "I can't remember where we got them either. It seems so long ago that the matter is almost trivial now," she said, echoing, for the most part, what Jake had just said. All seemed okay, and LouAnn thought she was free to return to her conversation with Chris and Zeke, but Jake suddenly screamed then ran off. For a moment, LouAnn looked shocked, and she gasped as she watched the boy get further and further away. She nonchalantly stood, then smoothed out her skirt before glancing over at Chris, Abby, and Zeke. "I have to go now. It was nice meeting up with you," she said, giving them a sweet smile before heading off in the direction Jake had just run. As she disappeared around the corner, a slight clinking sound could be heard in her pockets.

Abby hands the stones back to Jake. Then she watches in horror at what happens next. Jake seems to be have some kind of seizure. Then he punched the suit of armour and ran down the hall."


"Sure LouAnn, it was nice meeting you too. Please take care of Jake." After LouAnn runs down the hall after Jake. Abby goes over and examines the suit of armour. She runs her hand down it. Abby finds a minor indentation of the metal. She walks down the hall towards the moving staircase. I need to tell Professor Lawson what I've done. I hope Jake didn't break his hand hiting the suit of armour. What am I saying? He must have. He couldn't have dented it without doing serious damage to his hand.

Chris nodded, laughed and grinned as LouAnn told about what she had been up to. He was about to tell her, but then the third year, Jake, got up and ran off. She had smiled and said good-bye and went after him. "I will talk to you later!" he yelled after her. 'Yeah real smooth Chris!' He thought to himself and then looked at Abby and Zeke who were still there. He ran a ahnd through his short, brown hair and then said, "I uh will se you guys later." and he headed up to the 7th floor.

Arianna had her camera in hand, ready to snap a candid at anyone, she found a girl chatting with some friends, she walked closely, and called her "Sorry miss?" she said in a polite voice. When she looked in her direction she snapped a picture of her, blinding her with the not so powerful flash light of her muggle enchanted camera. She bet she looked surprised on that photo. Very candish-like.

Lorcan waited by the suits of armor for Alexandra, hoping that he could talk to her about what was going on. He hoped that she knew, because he had no idea.

Alexandra wandered over to the suits of armor to meet Lorcan. She knew he wanted to talk to her about his little cry baby friend.... Wow, this was going to be great. She wouldn't lie to him. She knew he wouldn't like her being so rude to his friend though. But, she deserved it as far as Alexandra was concerned.

Spotting him she skipped over to him and said, "Hey Lorcan! How goes it."

"Hi, it goes well" he said to her with a bit of a grin. He realised that Alexandra made him feel happy, without trying. "What was all that about in the sweet shop?" He felt that it was best to be direct.

Alexandra sighed and thought to herself, "Well that didn't take long!" It was a bit irritating having to defend her actions to Lorcan, but she liked having him as a friend...

"Well, to be quite frank I have a bad temper and I overheard her talking about how she wasn't sure that you could trust me. Also, she and her friend kept staring me down in class and it flew all over me, okay. I didn't do anything to the girl and now she has been saying things about me that she knows nothing of. I don't judge people, Lorcan. I let them prove their true colors to me before I make a decision about them." Alexandra said quite quickly. She was starting to get angry all over again. "And another thing. I took that photo in the Courtyard simply because I was doing my Muggle Studies homework and I thought it was a nice candid photo. She is the one who went all hinky about it, not I. I will not have cry baby little Kay ruining my day because she has problems, Lorcan. Last time I checked we all had problems." she said, her voice starting to quiver and raise in volume.

Good grief all this girl stuff was complicated.

"Calm down! I can understand that you didn't like being talked about or stared at like that, I wouldn't like it either. Kay's really sensitive, all her emotional stuff is on the top y'know, it doesn't take a lot to upset her. She walks around thinking that everyone hates her all the time and you've proved it, in her head at least." He hoped he was making sense.

"You haven't lost your temper with me yet, but you might now." he took a deep breath and a step backwards. "The photograph thing was my fault. Some boys at my other school, my muggle school, beat me up when they saw me doing magic by accident. They took photos of it." He gulped in air, trying not to get too upset. "Well, in the common room, someone took my photo without asking and the flash freaked me out. I went out to the courtyard, I was really upset and Kay came to calm me down. That's why she got upset when you took your photo. It's my fault." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was most of it. He could feel the familiar blush that had crept across his face. He couldn't look at Alexandra, so he looked at the floor,

Lorcan had just lied to her... " I am sorry about what happened to you, that is terrible." she paused, "Oh my, that is very noble of you Lorcan but I overheard the real reason that she doesn't want me to have that photo. I actually had a little talk with her about that. Don't get me wrong, I am not a mean person but I can very vindictive. I just don't care if she is not supposed to do magic of that caliber or if her Grandmother is a squib. Why should that concern me. Why did she have to automatically assume that I was going to run off and turn it over to someone to get her into trouble. Yeah, I was listening in the Courtyard Lorcan." She said to him. It hurt her that Lorcan lied to her, but it was always a nice quality to try to save a friend's behind like that. Hufflepuff's she thought. "Look Lorcan I may have said some pretty mean stuff to her and I even yelled at her earlier in the kitchen corridor, but I will not apologize. I won't do anything to her either unless I catch her doing something mean. I may look like a sweet little girl Lorcan but I can perform magic well beyond the talents of a first year." she said with a mean little smirk

"You think I'm lying, don't you?" He frowned at her. "You're right about everything that happened in the courtyard, Kay really is a bit..." He stopped, feeling that it would be a betrayal to say that Kay was messed up. "But you think I'm a liar, that I'd lie to you for her benefit, don't you?" He couldn't hide how hurt he was. "Y'know I'm sick of trying to prove that people can trust me. I'm not a liar Alexandra."

Oh that did it! "Lorcan, I am not trying to say that you are a liar. You just covered up for your friend, you didn't want her to seem so... i dunno... screwy. I get it. I would do the same for one of my friend's but I heard the conversation so I know that that was not the whole story, Lorcan." SHe took a deep breath in throught the nose and out through the mouth. "See, Lorcan I have a problem also. Everyone either assumes that I am this fragile little girlly girl that cannot handle the reality of life, or that I am not trustworthy because I am a bit of a sneaky little prankster. Well, I don't like having to prove myself to anyone either, Lorcan. It doesn't feel good when people make assumptions about you, does it." she hissed at him. She was getting so angry that hers eyes were starting to water.

"It feels awful when someone you really like keeps calling you a lair!" He was starting to get really angry now. He took a deep breath. "I'm not saying that I agree with Kay, she's nice but she walks around thinking that everything is about to blow up in her face, that she's going to get kicked out or something. She's hurting because..." He wasn't sure if Alexandra had overheard about Kay's parents, and he wan't about to tell anyone. He'd be mortified if someone broad cast that fact that his dad was dead. "Well, she's hurting over something big let's say. I'm her friend, but I wouldn't lie to you. I don't think you're a fragile girly girl" he risked taking a step closer to her. "I think you're pretty... cool, umm I think you're pretty cool. Kay wouldn't have blown up that plank with me." he blushed again, realising that he would now look like a beetroot covered in grated carrot. He had almost told her that he thought she was pretty.

Okay... that caught her off guard. He said he really liked her and almost called her pretty. Aww.. look he's totally blushing again. She softened right on up then and said softly, "Look, Lorcan. I don't want to fight with you. I really don't. I am very sorry for saying that you lied for her. I understand that she must be going through something to be so weepy all the time. But I won't stand by and let her get away with being rude. Do you get that? if she or that stupid Slytherin mess with me again I will not be so nice."

She had to laugh when Lorcan said that Kay wouldn't have blown up the plank in Transfiguration class. "Truth is Lorcan, we probably shouldn't have.. but where's the fun in always doing what you are supposed to do? Right?!" she said with a rogueish grin on her face. She patted him on the arm then and looked directly into his face and said softly, All that matters to me is that YOU understand that I am not a bad person, Lorcan. You are one of the only friends I have." She then pulled him into a quick hug and stepped away.