Kiri glanced around when she heard footsteps behind her. The student was wearing a Ravenclaw badge on his robes. Great, she thought, a smidge annoyed. Did he come here to gloat? Probably not, she added to herself a moment later. The boy was tiny, even smaller than she was. He looked like a first-year - he wouldn't be smart at her. Most likely, anyway.
She went back to peering at the green emeralds in the Slytherin bulb, noting that the glass had smudgy fingerprints all over it.

With a last look, she made as if to leave when her gaze fell on the Ravenclaw boy. He was curled up next to the hourglasses. His shoulders were shaking slightly, and his eyes shimmered oddly. Kiri blinked, confused, but then she realised he was crying. Biting her lip, she wondered what to do - and what the boy was crying for. It couldn't be the house points, surely. No, this was probably just a convenient location if he wanted to be alone, far away from the cheerful chaos of the Great Hall.

She knelt down beside him and gently prodded his arm. "Hey," she mumbled, "are you okay?" Dumb question, of course he wasn't. But clichés become clichés because everyone uses them, and as a start to a conversation, it wasn't the worst thing to say, was it?
More footsteps could be heard behind her Kiri twisted around, nearly losing her balance, her hand still on the boy's arm. Jake was standing there, looking oddly serious and authoritative. Kiri nodded her head in the direction of the Ravenclaw boy, choosing, for the moment, to ignore Jake's tone of voice - although she'd noticed it with faint disapproval. "Not sure," she said, "I was just, er, asking." She turned and peered at the crying boy again. "Hey," she repeated softly, "what's wrong, then?"

Oh no. People were talking to him. Tibi looked up, eyes shining, cheeks damp. There was a girl he didn't recognize. And then down the hall... Jake Upstead? It hadn't sounded like Jake, but there he was.

Looking between the both of them, his voice shook. "Nuffin," he mumbled. He was embarrassed someone had noticed. It was bad enough that the older girl was here, but he was crying in front of Jake AGAIN. It seemed like his run-ins with Jake either involved Jake saving him or magic disaster. Neither, at this point, felt good to him.

Wiping his eyes with his robe sleeve, Tibi tried to think of an excuse that would explain without explaining. He just couldn't think of one. Opting for honesty instead, he simply said, "I'm just worried about my Mum." And saying it aloud was clearly a bad idea, as his lip began to tremble again and the tears welled. He bit his lip, trying not to cry again. "I'll... I'll be ok..." his voice shook. "Swear."

Giving the girl, Kiri, if he remembered correctly, one firm nod, Jake turned to li'l Tibi who seemed upset about something other than the girl. Hmmmmm. She was off the hook, then. Okay.

This time...

This. Time.

"What's wrong with her?" Jake asked curiously. It was a fairly logical question. There simply had to be something wrong already if the boy was suddenly this upset. Hmmm. "Is she... I dunno, sick or something? What'd she tell you?" he added, believing that maybe... maybe he'd interpreted something wrong.

But when Tibi said he'd be oka, Jake straightened from the slouch he'd relaxed into and said a simple, "Okay," whilst giving Kiri another... look.

Kiri looked at the boy in concern, but he didn't seem to want to elaborate. She patted his arm in an absent-minded sort of way, feeling distinctly awkward, not least because Jake was there. Speaking of Jake... While the boy was busy wiping his eyes, she looked at Jake who'd joined them and stood next to her, appearing strangely imposing. She twisted her neck to be able to see him properly.

He was squinting at her as if he was trying to read her mind. Jake's such an oddity, Kiri thought, trying to shake off the impulse to run her hand through her face to make sure she didn't have marmalade traces on the sides of her mouth or something similar. Any other time, she probably would not have minded, but Jake's stare was getting on her nerves. She returned it with slightly raised eyebrows, but the Ravenclaw boy was speaking again.
Kiri leaned forward to catch his muffled words.

"I'm sure your mum is fine," she ventured, wondering what on Earth could have startled the boy this much. Did he get an unsettling owl post this morning?

Tibi looked between them and started to cry again. Trying to squeeze words out, and breathe and cry was proving quite difficult.

"She... she says she's fine..." *sniffle sniffle* "but we did a Rune reading where I asked about her..." *sniffle* *sniffle* "and it came up all secrecy and evil and death." *sob*

Tibi looked up at the both of them, wondering what they must be thinking. He was hysterical. Over a couple of stones. "And.. well," Tibi's struggled to catch his breath. "my partner did another reading for me and when he thought about the two together..." Tibi gulped. "He said maybe when my dad died..." tears started to run in constant streams down his cheeks. "that.." his voice dropped. "maybe he'd been murdered and Mum was in trouble now, too."

Catching Kiri's facial expression, Jake continued to stare at her, eyes seeming to look right through her, and he thrust both hands into his pockets, right hand clanking a collection of stones together. Looking back to the younger boy, Jake narrowed his eyes once more, before keeping his gaze on Kiri.
Scrunching his nose up, Jake was about to ask if it had been Lupa who did the stone reading, in which case he might take it seriously... when the boy mentioned a partner. Ohhhh, so, like the homework. "Tell me," he started, returning his gaze to the boy. "Was your partner also a first year?"

When Tibi mentioned his father maybe being murdered (and Jake had to listen closely to hear properly) he stood there and... didn't think at all. He just spoke. "But if he's dead already, why are you bothered about whether or not he was murdered?"

Surely... the bit about his mother would have rang true... depnding on when the father died. "When'd yer dad die?"

Kiri wanted to point out that if even the boy's mother herself had assured him she was fine, there wasn't anything to worry about, really. But the boy did not seem to be very susceptible to that kind of argument right now, and if Kiri was completely honest with herself, she would not be, either. She would want calm, soothing words and a little compassion. Preferably by someone who was good at it. Which meant... not Kiri.

She tried to, anyway. "Look," she said gently, squeezing the boy's arm, "your mum's said she's fine. I, um, I don't know anything about your dad, of course..." She broke off. The boy's father was dead? At ten or eleven years of age, he must already have had quite a hard life. Jake was completely rude and insensitive as usual, of course. "Jake!" Kiri hissed. "I don't think that's the right thing to say. Don't..." She glanced at the boy before continuing, "Er, I'm... sorry that your dad's dead, but I wouldn't care too much about the Rune reading. It's really tricky to get right. My partner predicted I'd sprout a second nose, and look... I've still only got one." She smiled and prodded it.

Jake, though... What was going on with him? His usual demeanour of slightly concussed good humour was completely gone, and his unblinking gaze was thoroughly bothering Kiri now. She returned it with a blank stare. "Something the matter, Jake?" she asked quietly.

Tibi looked between Jake and the girl a few times before speaking. "I... I was two." He stared at his shoelaces. "I don't remember him and Mum doesn't say much about it." Tibi didn't know anything about his dad, except for the two things he'd learned at school: He was a Gryffindor and he'd taken Tibi flying. He dug through his pocket for the photo; he was carrying it with him at all times now and looked at it. He and his dad were laughing and flying around in the picture, high above some buildings. "I... I don't know much about him." Tibi shrugged.

Looking just at the girl, he wore a puzzled expression. "Really? It sounded pretty convincing, though. I would have said the same thing if I'd pulled those runes." Tibi scrunched up his face. Maybe she was right. He giggled when she mentioned the second nose; clearly that was silly. Was he worried about nothing?

"I guess you're right.." he offered hesitatingly. "Makes me want to find out more about my dad, though." Maybe if he knew more, he'd find out the answers he'd tried to get from the Runes.. Maybe.

Blinking suddenly, as though someone had thrown cold water on his face, Jake stared again at Kiri, though it was a different stare from before. This time he looked slightly worried about what he had said and who it had affected.

"My bad," he said quietly, biting down on his lip as he watched Kiri and Tibi, feeling... bad. Kinda.

When Kiri asked him if something was wrong, Jake played the ashamed child and quickly shook his head, having the grace to stare down at his feet.

Glancing at Tibi again, Jake thought about his own father, though they probably wouldn't be interested in that, especially now. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean that... Just made me think about stuff," Jake tried for an excuse.

What was going on with Jake? Today seemed to be a day for puzzling behaviour - Jake being all mysterious, the boy crying because of a Rune reading... Kiri caring about house points? She eyed Jake as his face returned to something resembling its usual appearance. It lost its sharpness, and the squinty look he had been giving Kiri looked much more comical now.

She tried hard not to listen to the boy's story too closely, not really sure she wanted to find out about his past, especially if it was as sad as the few words that had registered with her suggested.
Kiri let him finish, trying not to look at Jake again, and when the boy was done, she nodded and said, "If you want to find out more about him, I guess you can look through the old yearbooks and stuff in the Library. If, er, it's not too, you know..." She trailed off awkwardly. She'd wanted to say something like 'painful', but such a heavy word wouldn't have sounded very sincere coming from Kiri.

She tugged on the boy's sleeve. "Want me to get you something to eat or something? By the way, what's your name?"

Tibi looked up at Jake rather surprised at the sudden change in mood. He sure had been acting strangely. "It's ok, Jake..." Tibi mumbled. "It's.. just been a rough few weeks." Stuff? Had made him think about "stuff"? Tibi clicked into concerned mode then, remembering that even though he'd melted his shoes, this boy had saved him on the train - yes, that's how Tibi was choosing to remember that day - and that Jake was his friend. "Stuff, Jake? What's wrong?"

Turning to the girl again, his eyes grew wide. His cheeks were still wet, but he wasn't crying any more. "Really? Why didn't I think of that?!" Tibi's mind raced. He'd been hoping to maybe meet someone who knew his dad, but he'd never thought there'd be stuff he could read, too!

His name? "Oh.. sorry. I'm Tiberius. You are?" And something to eat? Tibi's stomach flip-flopped, upset from all the crying. He didn't think it was a good idea to put anything in it, just yet. He shook his head slowly. "And no food, but thanks." He smiled weakly and wiped his eyes and cheeks again with his sleeve.

It seemed that now Kiri was avoiding his gaze, and Tibi seemed interested in Jake all of a sudden. "Hmm? Oh, nothing... it's nothing," Jake shrugged, stepping closer to the pair. "Just thinking about 'home'," he added, hoping that would be sufficient enough for them.

That being said, Jake looked intently at the hour glasses, finding his pink hair ludicrous to look at... as though it was trying to make him angry.

The sooner MacShack figured out how to get rid of it, the better. Jake tugged at one of the pink locks and unfocused his eyes from the reflection. "Ew," he mumbled to himself.

"'m Kiri," Kiri said vaguely, relaxing a little. The boy didn't seem to be in any immediate danger of crying again. The prospect of looking up his father seemed to have cheered him up a little. Kiri found that a little strange; if her father was dead, she wouldn't want to be reminded of it constantly. But she was not particularly close to him, maybe it had been different for Tiberius.
Jake had reverted to his usual self, too - sort of, anyway.

She got up with a sigh, joints crackling unpleasantly. She winced at the sound, but her body came to life again as she leaned against the wall, finally at the same height as Jake. She listened to the two boy absent-mindedly, her mind on homework again. The little episode had erased any real desire to finish her work, but maybe an aimless walk around the Grounds...?

Tibi frowned as he watched Jake pull at his hair in the mirror. Something was definitely wrong. But Tibi wasn't going to push. It just wasn't his style. "Well, if you say so," he said to Jake with a shrug. "But if you wanna talk..." he trailed off. Tibi sat up a little straighter, no longer huddling like a little weepy blob of child.

Turning back to Kiri, who had stood and was stretching, he smiled. "Nice to meet you." He picked at his cuticles. "Thanks.. uh.. thanks for talking to me. I think it helped." Tibi wiped his cheeks again, just in case some tears still clung. He was frankly getting sick of crying all the time, but he couldn't help it. "So, uh..." he dropped his voice low and it carried a bit of lingering concern. "You really think I don't have to worry about those Runes?" He watched her face expectantly for an answer.

Watching Kiri out of the corner of his eye, Jake noticed the faraway look present in the girl's eyes, and smiled slightly, deciding maybe his EXCELLENT sense of humour was being called for. "Boring you are we?"

... Errr. Maybe not so excellent.

"Sorry," he said again, mentally facepalming.

Giving the younger boy a searching look, Jake said nothing but went to sit beside him, dowwwwn on the floor. "I'll remember that," he said, glancing around the Entrance Hall. He was sure he'd sat in this very place when he was an upset first-year, wanting to go home. "How's your first couple of months here been?" he asked, changing the subject straight away.

"Hmm?" Kiri stopped staring at the opposite wall and paid attention again. "Sorry. Er..." She tried to remember what the two boys had been talking about. "Oh, sure, anytime you need help..." she said, smiling slightly.
She moved aside as Jake joined the Ravenclaw on the floor, ignoring his comment. (Partly because she wasn't exactly sure what he'd actually said.)

Now that she was watching them a little more closely, Kiri realised that Jake and Tiberius had to know each other. They acted as if the other person was familiar. Tiberius seemed a little reluctant, but, Kiri was sure, everyone who met Jake Upstead was at first. And maybe at fifth, too.
She knelt down next to Tiberius again, wondering what she could say. "Erm, well, I... I don't know exactly what that runic reading was about, but like I said, doing it correctly is really, really difficult," she told him. "Or maybe your partner thought it'd be cute if he predicted some gloom and doom," she added in an unconcerned voice. "For some reason, people like doing that. I wouldn't worry too much. If you really think something's wrong, just, I dunno... ask your mum to send you a weekly owl or something." Kiri smiled reassuringly and patted his shoulder.

Then she got up. With a look in the direction of the Great Hall, she said, "But anyway, I need to find someone who can help me with Charms later... I'll be back in a minute or two. Be good." She gave Jake a smirk. "Especially you, unless you want to help Slytherin out." Kiri nodded at the hourglasses, then turned around and wandered over into the 'Hall.

As Jake slid down the wall, Tibi looked to Kiri. "Well, if you're sure.... thanks." He smiled at her as she patted him. "I'll probably see you around then," and he half-waved as she went off.

Turning to Jake now, Tibi looked at him sideways. He didn't believe for a second that nothing was wrong, but opted to let it go. "This year?" Tibi shrugged.

"It started off good, I guess, well, after the opening feast and the poo, anyway. I did really well in Arithmancy, and then.. well..." Tibi chuckled. "You know what happened in DADA." Tibi thought for a bit. "And then when Mum sent me new shoes, she sent me this picture." He was still gripping the photo of him and his dad from before. "But, then it all kinda went downhill from there."

Tibi sighed, remembering his other classes. "Borr threw up on me, I totally spaced out in Muggle studies, Runes predicted disasters and..." Tibi bit his lip. "I'm always getting scared. I wouldn't go in the forest for the hunt and I nearly fell off my broom in practice because I was crying so much."

Tibi pouted and looked at his shoes. "I'm going to be a failure of a wizard... I just know it. Maybe I should just go home."

Giving Kiri an 'I'm-so-innocent-nah-not-really' kind of look, Jake giggled a bit and nodded. "I'll be good," he smiled up at the Slytherin, eyeing the changing hourglasses as he did so. "See you in a minute then..."

Jake then listened to Tibi's plight and gave another little laugh. But then, fearing he might seem insensitive, Jake turned to the boy as much as he could whilst sitting next to him against a wall. "Don't worry. I totally skipped Astronomy," he gave Tibi a little wink here. "And I spaced out in Muggle Studies too. It happens from time to time," he thought on a little more. "When I was a first year I was nowhere near as good as you at anything. Well... except maybe flying, but that isn't intellect. In DADA, you managed to do the spell properly... what did I do? Melted your shoes," Jake grinned. "Out of the two of us, who is more likely to be the better wizard?"

Tibi. Obviously.

"You won't be a failure. I promise. And... I don't make promises so easily," he added, grinning a little sheepishly.

"You think?" Tibi wasn't so sure. School had always been so easy for him, but here he was, pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to do this. Tibi giggled as he remembered the melted shoes. He'd saved them in the bottom of his trunk. "I just need to figure out why I'm always so scared... I try not to be, but..." Tibi shrugged and let his voice trail off. "It just makes it really hard."

"What about you? How's school been? I haven't seen you much." Tibi was concerned about his Hufflepuff friend, having to share a dorm with... *shudder*. "Has Willie bothered you at all? Celandine figured out what was happening and said she was going to talk to him... but I asked her not to, but I don't know if she did and I hope it didn't backfire... " and Tibi was rambling.

Shutting up, he leaned back against the wall. Huh, the glasses had changed again. Slytherin was back above Hufflepuff, but only barely.

"I was always scared... well..." Jake faltered. Technically he wouldn't have said scared... but he was forever anxious. It really wasn't fun. "But that doesn't matter. The scared feeling will go away."

Smiling again as Tibi mentioned Willie Crocker, Jake shrugged. "I haven't had any trouble from him at all," he said, sounding a smidge surprised even as he said it. "I've been sleeping on a sofa in our common room, though... They're dead comfy," Jake explained, before reaching up for something that was supposed to be hanging around his neck... but it was. Because Kaz STOLE it. "Lawson gave me this medallion amulet thingy. If something bad happens, I just rub it and he shows up. 'S dead nifty."

Noticing that Hufflepuff had dropped down into third again, Jake swore. "I should do more homework, really," he said, only half joking.

Tibi looked over at Jake. Jake Upstead? Scared? "It does, really?" Tibi certainly didn't feel like it would anytime soon. "I guess it'll just take a while?"

Tibi watched Jake grope for something and then realize it wasn't there. Lawson had given Jake something? Huh. "Professor Lawson seems really nice. Do you think he could help me?" Tibi didn't want to mention that he knew Lawson was going to give Jake private lessons... he didn't know if it would be a sore spot or not.

Tibi opted to ignore the comment about homework; he'd done nearly all of his so far. But he opted, instead, to jump back to the earlier part of the conversation. Tibi bit his lip. If Jake had gotten over being scared, maybe he could too? "What were you scared of?"

"Yeah, mate," Jake nodded, looking out over the hall, watching pieces of lint that were caught in rays of light through the high windows. "Sometime, something will happen, and you'll just think... And I've been scared of all that stuff... why?" He looked back over at Tibi. "But, sometimes, a lack of fear can be detrimental..."

Like tackling Willie Crocker.

Grinning as the topic turned to Lawson, Jake nodded, before his face fell. The second floor corridor... UGH! Lawson would probably want Jake to stay away from him now. "Yeah, he will... but be careful and don't step out of line. The bugger confiscated my wand, see?"

Evil... NO! He wasn't evil at all. At alllllll.

This time he smiled slightly again and thought for a moment, wondering if he should delve into this story. "There was a boy... Jack..." Jake started, shifting where he sat. "My year. My house. He... didn't like me. He was a bully, and he doesn't go here anymore... Jack and his brother both..." He cleared his throat and moved on. "And when I was in my first year I saw someone drop dead. Dead as a doornail."

That... had been quite scary... Jake was still scared of very infectious diseases, being sure that that was what killed the boy.

Tibi nodded slowly. So it would just happen on its own? There wasn't anything he could do? Hmmph. Tibi stared at the floor, picking out patterns in the stone. He'd need to get over it... but could he? "Did you ever think about leaving, though?" He sighed and played with his already really messed up hair. "I think about it every day.... not that my muggle school was better." Because it wasn't. Tibi was good in class, but nearly everyone there hated him.

Tibi was a bit taken aback when Jake called Lawson a bugger. He'd thought they were close. "He took your wand? How are you supposed to go to class?" Tibi was confused. You couldn't do nearly anything in some of the classes without a wand. It wasn't immediately dawning on him why Lawson might take Jake's wand. After all, he hadn't after the melting incident... had he? "Um.. Jake?" Tibi's voice betrayed a little nervousness. "Why'd he take your wand? I mean... it wasn't cause of what you did to my shoes, was it?"

So.. Jake had been bullied, too. And... someone had died in front of him? WHAT? "Wait, what?" Tibi's voice shook and his eyes betrayed some fear. "A student DIED here?" He'd somehow missed that piece of recent history. He knew about all the problems years ago, but... in Jake's first year? "What happened???"

Jake cracked an awkward smile then. "I think about leaving every single day. I don't really like it here... I'd much rather be with my foster mother all day, everyday... but I can't," he added bitterly, thinking about her stupid work and refusal to quit her job. Grrr. "But I always want to leave because I can't do magic... not really."

This just wasn't the place for him.

"Well, Lawson said he'd send it to me when I'd calmed down or something like that," Jake explained, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "He had to do it last year too. I have... anger issues," he added, with a small smile. Ahhhh, good times. Nearly bursting out laughing again, Jake shook his head. "Aha, no. It wasn't that... I was just being... dangerous, I think."

Yeah.

Ahem.

"Students have died here in the past... way way way wayyyyyy back..." Jake added hurriedly, remembering they were actually discussing fear a few seconds ago. "The boy... Set... Well, I was in the Library and I looked over at him and he just... fell down. And he hit the floor and was dead I think the second he started falling. In the end I think they put it down to something with his health."

To be honest, Jake didn't look into it when it all happened. He was busy trying to get his social worker to let him go home.

"It happened around Christmas."

Tibi's brow wrinkled as he pulled his knees back up to his chest, thinking deeply. Something didn't quite make sense to him. "But..." Tibi paused. "You can do magic... otherwise.." Tibi scratched his head, wheels turning inside. "Well, what you did to my shoes was magic... even if it wasn't what you meant." It had been pretty cool, after, you know, the shock of being melted to the floor had worn off. "And... well, if Lawson didn't think you were capable of doing dangerous things with your wand intentionally, then he wouldn't have taken it, right?" This made sense in Tibi's mind... or at least he thought so. "Since he didn't take it when you did dangerous things on accident." He tilted his head and looked at Jake. Did it make sense to him?

"Is your foster mum a witch?" Tibi asked. He realized in that moment that he didn't know anything about Jake's family or why he was with a foster mother, but he didn't think it appropriate to ask. "I mean.. could she teach you at home if you left?"

Tibi opted to ignore the entire part about the kid dying. He didn't want to talk about it. It was completely unnerving and he was just settling down. The last thing he needed was the worry about dropping dead the next time he sat down in the library.