Oh? He wasn't one of the tutors that Cel-an-dine was talking about? Probably just as well; of course he was good at several subjects, but enough to tutor someone else? Unlikely.

"I can help with Arithmancy," Dominic shrugged indifferently, considering from what he could recall, that was one subject that she didn't need help with. "Of course I don't think you really need tutoring there ..."

Oh. Yes he should have specified and been more clear. "I think it's just that I mean ... they're confusing." Dominic made a small face, wondering how to best word this. They were her housemates, but yet they wouldn't tell her they talked to him, would they? Did they even talk to Willow? Well, Dominic knew Cela did...

Sighing and pausing for a moment, Dominic then went on. "Willow Kovac. She asked me to not speak to her again." A request that had been bothering him since she made it. He didn't even know why she made that request.

Cela beamed at Copernicus. He really thought that? Teehee. She thought he was the best at everything. And after the summer with him working super hard in Egypt...

Cela bit her lip thoughtfully.

... totally better than Quidditch muscles.

"He is? Really?" Celandine frowned at that. Reaaally? "See I have Nico's notes and stuff, which are good but some of it... blah. Potions are just blah. Oh his name is Phoebus and he said he'd tutor Daphne and I. We met him in Diagon Alley the day of the green flash."

It was easier to say that then talk about Forrester having been killed.

"I need you for... Runes." It wasn't that Cela needed help with the subject so much as company studying and discussing it.

"Oh you could? I like Arithmancy but its sort of touch and go making an A into and E and if I want an O I'll definitely need some help." Cela smiled happily at Dom-in-ick. "I'd owe you one!"

And what was he on about now?

"Confusing." She repeated. "Did you ever stop and think that maybe she thinks you are confusing, Dom-in-ick Denton? I mean," Cela tossed her hair, "Not everyone gets you the way Iiiiii do."

Copernicus gave Denton a squinty look for a moment before looking back at Celandine. Cope wanted to be tutor-man for as much as possible, and here was Denton butting in.

It was a good thing the boy was a sap for the Amazon Quidditch girl, or Cope would have to feel all threatened and stuff. "But you WANT to speak to her again? You have more-than-friendly feelings for our Willow person?"

"Runes. I can do that," Copernicus nodded. In truth, Cela probably didn't need much help with anything. She was one smart tomato. "Or whatever you want. I'm very good at being quiet and studying while sitting next to someone else who is being quiet and sitting. A pro, in fact."

"Most girls are confusing to me, actually. Including Celandine. Very confusing."

Touch and go making an A to an E? Now that was probably the biggest stretch of the truth; Dominic had little doubts that Cela could get an E on her own. But of course, since he did well on his own Arithmancy OWL, he would help. "I could," he nodded.

What!?! Willow thinks he is the confusing one? No way! That couldn't possibly be true, could it? Only the seventh year was pretty certain that Cel-an-dine Toussaint could not be closer to the truth than she was. "You get me?" he asked weakly, eying her carefully to see if she really meant that. "But i guess that's possible..." She didn't understand anything actually about him, but just broke off their friendship quite abruptly. Weird.


Dominic nodded at Copernicus' response. "I do. I like speaking with Willow. I care about her.." And that was probably the first time he ever admitted that out loud. "And yet now, there's no way to even tell her that. Or to even find out what caused this abrupt change in her attitude towards me."

Oh. Girls confused Copernicus too? Maybe it was just something in their genes? They had this confusing gene in them, which made them confusing to figure out.

"I count on you to keep me company when I'm studying." Celandine agreed, thinking to herself that Copernicus was soooo toooootally adorable because he was so very eager to please.

"You confuse me too." Cela pointed out, leaning sideways so that she could prod Cope gently in the shoulder. It was true; he really did. "But at least we can be confused together now. At least... " At least while Cope was still around and not off in the big wide world while Cel would be left at Hogwarts for two years.

Assuming she did well enough on her exams.

She peeked at Dom-in-ick, her expression gleeful. "Good, I'm so glad you'll help me. And it will mean you won't have any excuses about spending time with me." She grinned at him, "You could help me in other ways too..." Cela suggested in a light tone and looked at Copernicus as well. "You both could."

She rolled her eyes back at Dom-in-ick then. "Of course I get you. You're kind of like... a lot like my brother Nico except not as good with your wand and not as much of a hit with the ladies." Cela told him cheerfully but sobered up fairly quick.

"Well have you done anything confusing? Did you want me to tell you what things Cope did that confused me?" Y'know, for comparisons sake.

She scooted over so she could lean against Cope some and just watched Dom-in-ick earnestly.

"Cela. It doesn't count, those things I did. I was trying to pretend I didn't want to be around you so you'd stay with... with Plymouth, and you were being all too good to pass up. It's totally different. Obviously, Kovac is already aware of how Denton feels. Right, Denton? You told her how you felt?"

Cope put his arm back behind Cela so she fit into the angle made my his arm and body. They were just going to keep on pretending this final year together stretched on and on and on forever. Yup.

Okay so maybe confusion between significant others was normal? Which was slightly odd because Dominic had never considered anything about his and Willow's relationship to be normal. But that was of course, besides the point.

Thinking on the subject, Dominic looked over towards Cel-an-dine when she seemed genuinely pleased that he would help her. "I never do have any excuses." It was true, he generally liked spending time with Cela. "Other ways?" The Hufflepuff raised an eyebrow at her. Apparently even Cel-an-dine could confuse him.

Oh. A lot like her brother... yes, he remembered Nico, but didn't really know too much regarding his wand skill or his being a ladies' man. Though it was probably true that Nico was better with wandwork; Dominic tended to prefer classes that didn't rely on the wand so much ... which is why he liked Arithmancy and History of Magic.

"I don't think so..." Dominic pondered her question for a moment. What could he have done to confuse Willow? Maybe mess with her thoughts about how she felt towards him? What else had Willow said back there at the Leaky?

Because obviously he HAS told her how he's felt ... just there was something that happened that must have made her doubt it. Something about spending time on a date with a girl? Or kissing someone? Or Yes... he was sure Anna Greingoth's name was mentioned in there.

ZOMG! That means... NO! Willow Kovac thought that he kissed Anna on purpose. That it was his choice to go on the double date with her and Cela and Cope.

"Um ... she knows how I feel about her, but I think maybe you're right. She's misunderstood something that happened at the end of last term. When me and Anna went out with you two to Hogsmeade." The Hufflepuff chewed on his lower lip nervously. "See, she seems to have been misled to think that I kissed Anna by choice... When really, it was her move. And she seems to have thought that me and Anna were on a date, but really we were just out as friends..."

Oh Merlin, he was slow and in quite a mess it seemed with all these misunderstandings . . .

"Yes but, there was that time that you kissed me in the tree just... mmm. And at my birthday with the poem? And then you didn't contact me for ages, I didn't hear from you for the rest of that summer and stuff." Cela told Coperncius and then, still leaning up against him, she turned her attention back to the Head Boy.

"You probably confused Willow too." Celandine repeated. "Maybe you should leave her alone for a while and show her that you aren't a complete doofy boy by your behaviour rather than just saying stuff."

Talk didn't cut it, right? Neither did hassling someone when you weren't being clear about your intentions.

Wait...

"...you kissed Anna?"

"Boys are confusing too," Copernicus admitted. He knew he was confusing, although everything he'd done made perfect sense to him at least. "But that is neither here nor there. I think we should consider Kovac in this. Do you think you simply confused her, or that she isn't interested in you?"

Dominic sort of was fading out when Celandine was talking about times Copernicus confused her. It wasn't until she looked at him again that the seventh year looked up from the dirt he'd been patting down a little too hard [most likely].

Leave her alone? He was doing that actually. He hadn't really known what to say to her, which was part of the reason he hadn't pursued her since the incident. "Possibly," Dominic admitted thoughtfully, looking between Copernicus and Celandine curiously.

"I'm not a doofy boy!!" Dom exclaimed looking between the two Ravenclaws and back to the ground and then back towards Cope. "I'm not, am I?" Maybe that was the problem ... Willow thought he was doofy. And maybeee she wasn't really interested in him. But was just using him because she thought her.

"... No. Anna kissed me. Some stupid bet apparently that she had with McKenna." Girls. He'd quite possibly never understand them.

Boys can be confusing though too; Dominic knew that, which is why up until Hogwarts, he really didn't talk to many people. And now, from talking to people, he got involved in dramas that he wasn't sure he'd EVER understand. "Maybe both. I don't know anymore. I thought she liked me, but see we never really spoke much when we were together." That was true; he did most of the talking. Perhaps Willow had wanted to break of their friendship sooner but never had the chance? Which is why she needed McKenna there because without the Slytherin, Willow would have been in the place as usual when she was with him. Content ... so he thought.

"I think she thinks he's pretty. But pretty isn't enough. It isn't everything and it isn't the most important thing." Cela mused and picked up Cope's hand so she could play with his fingers a bit.

"You can be pretty doofy. Like now you are being a bit doofy." Cela answered quite cheerfully. "Is this about you or about Willow?"

She folded Cope's fingers back and forward one at a time.

"McKenna... Evolette." Celandine frowned and looked at Copernicus then back at Dom-in-ick.

Not speaking much?

"So... if you didn't speak much, do you know much about her? Do you know Willow at all?"

"See? That's why Evee kissed me," Copernicus explained, his eyes on Cela's intense scrutiny of his hand. "I didn't ask her to, and I didn't kiss her back." He could totally understand where Denton was coming from, especially since the only reason he'd been on a date with Anna was because he was helping Cope and Cela.

Sigh. "Do you want me to speak with Kovac on your behalf, Denton? We have a cordial relationship. I could go now, actually, because the dung is all spread."

Torin was sitting on one of the benches in the garden, trying to write his ode for Lord Borr. He had no idea why he had to do this for Astronomy, but it was homework so whatever.

Maybe being in her garden would help him better form the words. Too bad he didn't have Fyo though..

Reese Upstead made her way to the garden after seeing Torin make his way in there a second ago. She had originally been making her way to the greenhouse to help Bunbury with the plants, but she was also going to ask the Professor if she had seen Kane lately. Luckly, there he was. Sitting on a bench writing something.

She continued making her way to the boy with a not very nice expression on her face. She was going to get answered about what had happened the last few days, because it wasn't normal having some strange thoughts about how cute Torin was going on in the brain that belonged to Reese Selena Upstead. It just wasn't normal at all. And, she had a feeling Torin had something to do with it. With all of it!

"I want answers," she sternly told the fifth year boy as she took a seat next to him. "No, let me repeat what I just said. I want answers...now." She wasn't a happy trooper right now. Not at all.

He looked up suddenly as Reese was sitting beside him. He didn't even know when she got there. Or what she was talking about.

Answers? To what?

"Look, Reese. If you want help with your homework you just need to ask nicely. Not demand answers." He turned his attention back to his work.

"This ode about Bunbury isn't turning out too great." He sighed loudly.

Reese narrowed her eyes at Kane. "I don't need help with my homework. I'm smart enough to know the answers," she sarcastically replied. Leaning back in her seat, she took her eyes off Torin so that she was able to look at the scenery around the area. It was pretty out here.

"Now, Torin. We can make this easy or hard," she began to speak again. "I don't normally think such...such...horrific thoughts about how cute you are. My brain doesn't normally to that at all. Never. I know you had something to do with that and I want answers." Wasn't it clear that she was back to normal again? Wasn't it clear that she wanted answers about what happened and not answers about their homework? Hmm. Maybe Torin wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box.

"Ode to Bunbury?" She questioned.

He raised his brow at her. "Someone is quite the brainiac. You're sounding like Hermione Granger now." He still had his eyes on his work. He was too busy trying to focus on the ode to really bother with what she was saying. He didn't even notice that she wasn't fawning over him.

Then it hit him. The potion had worn off. About time! "I'm writing the ode for Astronomy."

"...You think I'm cute?"

If she had something to hit Torin in the head with, she would have already hit him. Believe it. "Stop working on this ox or od or whatever you said," she said as she took the piece of paper from him that he was writing on. Gr. He was going to listen to her! "I'm not Hermione Granger," she added. "I'm not that smart. I'm just smart enough to pay attention in class and take notes, so I can do my homework. It's called just using your brain."

She rolled her eyes at the boy. "I don't think your cute," she replied. She was getting tired of not getting the right answers. Was it really that hard just to answer a simple question? "Torin, you are NOT answering the question. What had happened a few days ago? What made me think you were cute and that I was in," gag. "Love with you?" She asked. "You did something. I know you did something."

"Hey!" he said as she snatched the paper away from him. He quickly grabbed it back from her. "You will not have my ode. Thank you very much, Hermione clone."

"You don't think I'm cute? Well, in that case I don't think you're pretty." She was just being rude now. First it was Tammy saying that he looked like a freak and now she was saying he isn't cute What was it with rude girls?

"Er, you might have accidentally gotten some of the love potion I made for Professor Bunbury. And my might have I mean definitely."

Nothing else filted through Reese's brain except the last two sentences that had just traveled out of Torin's mouth. She sat there in her seat just staring at the boy sitting beside her. Love potion? That explained it all. That explained why she loved Torin. That explained why she wrote hearts on her notebook. That also explained why she told Jack she didn't like him anymore. With that memory of the feast in her head, she sighed.

"Torin," she began. "Do you know what you did? Do you know what you did to me? To Jack? To...to Brody?" Yep. She didn't forget that Torin's girlfriend wanted to hurt her now. "I can't believe it. I...I just can't," she said with disappointment in her voice. "You told me you wouldn't make love potion for Bunbury. YOU TOLD ME! And, what did you do? You did make it. You lied to me, Torin Kane. You lied." She was now slowly rising from her seat.

"I thought I knew you better than that," she continued. "Hufflepuffs aren't suppose to lie, are they?" She finally had risen completely out of her seat to where she was looking down at the boy. "I know you probably didn't like me under love potion. I'm pretty sure nobody did. Shana and Xander probably think I'm craxy. Jack thinks I don't like him. And Brody wants to hurt me," she explained. "But, it's all your fault. Just think, if you had listened to me and Fyo last term and knew you would never have a chance with Bunbury, this wouldn't have happened. You would have made love potion and you wouldn't have...have ruined my beginning of the term. And, you also ruined my 17th birthday. Congrats, Kane."

She didn't have much to say now. Instead, she just glanced back at the beautiful area around her. "Torin - it was nice knowing you," was the last thing that Reese had said before she left the garden, not even waiting to see what Torin would say.

Was she REALLY ending her friendship with Torin? Truthfully, probably not. She was just too mad at the moment to even consider seeing him. Right now, she wanted to go find Jack and talk things over with him.

He listened to her speak, wanting to cut in. To tell her that he was sorry. But he knew that she wouldn't listen to him. That she wouldn't forgive him.

And then she said it was over.

He knew she was serious and there was nothing he could do about it. so he just watched her walk off.

Acalia had a free period after Potions, so she decided to check out the student garden. Putting on her dragon-hide gloves, she slowly walked around, savouring the smell of the damp earth. She was content and happy, and the garden was quiet and peaceful. She decided to check out the Puffapods, and walked over to the plants, where she saw some older kids arguing. She saw a pretty sixth-year girl from Slytherin, named Reese Upstead, walk off from the boy. The boy looked dissapointed and sad. Acalia decided to leave him alone, and ran after Reese instead. Acalia was brave, so as soon as she caught up with Reese, she asked her "Hey! What's up? Why are you guys fighting?"

Walking to the pretty student garden's She admired all the pretty flowers.She wasn't reallly sure why she was here,Or more she'd forgotten why she came here.She didn't really have much of a interest in plants they just sort of stood there and grew.Not much too it really.But then Herbology was fun,interesting.Esspecially for a lesson.

Then it hit her.She was trying to find Torin,Her second attempt to a apology in her hand she looked around and there he was.Too chicken to walk up to him she made it into a paper airoplane and threw it at his head.Turning round she tried to walk out of the student gardens; she couldn't run incase she fell over."Walk fastly and with purpose." she mummbled to herself while walking.

Sighing loudly, he was trying hard to keep a hold of his emotions. He was not an emotional guy really.. but he felt so bad. Like garbage for what he did to Reese and Jack. And now they would never forgive him for it.

Everything was a mess and his best friend was nowhere to be found.

Sniffling, he went back to work on his ode.

Eyeing the letter as it evilly didn't hit Torin.Hmph.Rolling her eyes she watched it slowly drift to the floor about 10 centimenters away from Torin.Sneaking up behind him she grabbed the letter and threw it at his back with full force.Trying again she get up and walk away she failed.Tripping over her shoe lace she fell flat on her face to the ground.I knew I should've tied you darn things. she groaned.