Well well. SOMEONE was defensive. Jack rolled his eyes and looked at the place he had just been searching. "Well, my cat Jinx has gone missing, and he's either be catnapped by my siblings, or he just slipped out of the dorm somehow. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually but--you know. He might not know the way back home," he explained. WOW. That sounded corny. But it was the truth! He was pretty sure Jinx had short term memory loss.

"Ahhh, I see," he said with a head nod. Right. SURE. If that was what Torin wanted him to believe, he'd go along with it. "Why were you reading that for FOUR hours?" he asked. "My brain goes fuzzy with history after just two!"

He hadn't even known that Jack had a cat. But then who didn't these days? Well, him but that was besides the point. "And how long has he been missing for?" He would have to help Jack look now. There was no way that he could just leave him no matter how tired he was.

"I have OWLs this Term and I have to ace as many as I can or my parents will kill me." That seemed to be a good enough explanation for reading so much that it made his eyes feel that they would bleed.

"A couple of hours. I checked all over my dorms, got a girl to look in their dorms, and scoped out the common room but no luck," Jack explained with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair--gah, he needed a trim!--and sighed again.

"Oooh, that's right, you have OWLs," he said. He too remembered all too clearly the pressure that was associated with those tests. "I was in the same boat last year--I tried to ace all of them, but only ended up with nine," he replied. He totally regretted his choice of words a second later. ONLY nine?! Great, now he probably made the poor guy feel like he HAD to get nine or something. "They're not TOO bad though, just don't go nuts," he added with a small smile.

He bit his lip as he listened to Jack talk. "Okay, so where have you looked so far? I mean besides here, your Dorm and Common Room." Those would be the natural places for him to start off. And Torin had a feelings that he would need a cup of coffee soon. Nothing was a better way to end the day than having to search a castle for a lost cat.

"Only 9?" Was it just him or was Jack sending off major dork vibes. Or maybe he was just a high achiever. Whichever it was, 9 was still quite an accomplishment. "I'll try to keep that in mind. I've just been studying and trying not to stress out over them." If he did he would sorta be a hypocrite with everything that he had told Arabelle and even Sylvia.

"All the corridors...up to here, at least. I started at the top and worked my way down," Jack explained. He sighed. The more he searched, the more he was certain that Justin and Jasmine had him. He hated having siblings at Hogwarts sometimes. It was bad enough that they were more popular than him--they just HAD to go STEAL all his stuff too. BOOOOOO.

"Well, I mean...I barely scraped by on some of those!" he told him. Ok, so that was only true about ONE of the tests but he didn't want Torin to think he was a major nerd although it was probably too late anyways. "The best thing to do is not stress. I think I pulled some of my own hair out last year, which is probably why I didn't do so hot on some of them."

Note to self--don't try to give advice AGAIN. He was CLEARLY rubbish at it.

Oh dear. Things were getting serious now. "Can you think of anyone that would take your cat?" That might have been an odd question under normal circumstances, but he had learned a long time ago that anything was possible at this school. And hadn't someone taken Bunbury's cat once? Jake Upstead as far as he remembered hearing.

And why did he have a feeling that Jack was trying to be modest here? Jack might be as big a nerd as Fyo from what he could see. But he didn't want to think of Fyo because that would make him realize just how much he missed him. "Well, I'll keep that in mind." He smiled and thought to himself that Reese probably wouldn't have liked it if Jack pulled out all of his hair. She wouldn't like it if Torin did that too for that matter. Seeing as she apparently wanted him to grow it out for some reason.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, my twin siblings Justin and Jasmine. They're a year younger and they're always borrowing my pets without asking," he grumbled. "In fact, that's probably where he is," he added. Now that he thought about it, didn't Justin tell him at dinner the other day that he was going to take Jinx down to his dorm for a few days? The scene was slowly coming back to him.

"Anyways, don't worry about OWLs. Everyone gets all worked up into a frenzy over them," he said, waving his hands around as he spoke, "but really, they aren't that bad. If you know you're stuff, you'll be all good." NEWTs, on the other hand--gulp. He had heard HORROR STORIES about those. FAR more stories about NEWTs than OWLs. Yupppp.

Smiling at Evan as he laughed, Laura nodded. "Yeah, that'd be even more extreme," she said with a grin. She was glad she'd stopped to talk to Evan now, and that they hadn't walked way from each other as they had wanted to on first sight. He was alright, for a Slythie.

Laura thought a little about Evans next question. She did watch other leagues, but not often. "Sometimes," she said with a nod. "When I can. I used to, a lot. Before I started Hogwarts, I had Muggle friends." She nodded again. So, partial lie. Not many Muggle frifends. Not many friends at all 'till she started Hogwarts. But there was Shannon, and Paul. And they where the ones who'd gotten her into the game.

Wait, Jack had twin siblings? He didn't know that. "You have twin siblings here? How come I never knew that?" Okay, well, there was the fact that he had hardly ever talked to Jack about anything other than Reese. But whatever. "Why would they steal your cat?"

Well, it was a relief to hear all that he had to admit. It was like a confirmation of everything that he had already told himself. And Jack also had done the tests the Term before so he would know. Reese never talked about her results though; he had to admit that he found that a bit odd. Though she didn't seem to be a nerd to him really. "I take it that you aren't ready for NEWTs next Term, are you?" Was it even possible to be ready for those? Not from what he had heard.

Reese had just visited the first floor corridor where she ran into Jasmine and Justin Fritzera, who - not surprisingly - had Jinx, her boyfriend's pretty kitty. Taking the cat from the evil twins, AFTER threatening not to take the cat anymore of course, she made her way to the third floor corridor. The kitty stayed in her arms for the whole little adventure from the first floor to the third floor and, before they reached the third floor corridor, Reese had given the kitty some little treats that were in her bag that she had for her own cat.

Finally making her way down the third floor corridor, the cat still in her hands, she heard people talking from the other end of the corridor. She knewwww that voices! She picked up her speed and scurried down the corridor (while making sure Jinx wouldn't slip out of her grasp) towards the voices and when Jack and Torin came into view. Wait, Torin AND Jack? They were talking? Wow. And, just a few days ago, she thought they didn't like each other.

"Well well well," she spoke up.

Jack shrugged. "Erm, it's probably a blessing in disguise that you DON'T know about them..." he said. Although he was a bit surprised...Jack had assumed that whenever the name "Fritzera" was heard, people thought of the twins. Perhaps not if someone in their own house didn't know. "Justin is...well, a womanizer is probably the nicest way to put it, and Jasmine is...not a nice girl," he said. There. That was the best way to describe them without being meannnn.

"Not even CLOSE," Jack said with a laugh, but it came out as a bit of a snort. "And with Borr not being the best professor we could have gotten to replace Forrester, I'm seriously starting to worry about my astronomy NEWT. How can I advance in the field if I FAIL the NEWT?" he wondered aloud. He stopped after that and reminded himself to not bring up starsss again...no need to get all nerdy on the poor boy.

He turned as he heard someone walk down the hall--good Merlin, not Borr right?!? Especially after he practically just insulted him--noooo, it was Reese. And--she had Jinx! "Reese!" he exclaimed, grinning in delight and taking the fat orange tabby from her. "How...where...how did you end up with Jinx?"

Jack's brother is a womanizer? That was news to Torin. "That's interesting. My twin is a lot different from me." He nodded. Even though the twins in Jack's family seemed to be the same, they were obviously different than him. That was genetics for you though.

"And do not start on Lord Borr. He gave me 5 on my ode because I wrote it on Bunbury." That thing deserved at least an 8. It was a good ode. Or at least it was for all the effort that he put in it.

But whatever. He heard Reese's voice behind him just then. He turned to her and smiled. "Hey, Reese. Where did you find Jinx?" Looked like he wasn't going to need that cup of coffee after all.

Reese pouted a little bit when Jack took Jinx from her. Aw, she was kind of liking holding that fluffy kitty, but oh well. If she wanted to hold a cat, she can just go find Isabella in a little bit and hold her. "Well, I ran into Jasmine and Justin while wandering down the first floor corridor and I noticed they had Jinx with them," she answered. "Knowing it was your cat, I took Jinx from them and walked off to find you, because I'm sure you were missing your little kitty." She smiled at her boyfriend before turning to Torin.

Did he just asked the same question? Was she really going to have to repeat all that? Nope, she wasn't going to repeat all that she just said to Jack. "Jinx was with Jack's twin siblings," she simply replied back. Okay, so we all know now that Jasmine and Justin are two evil little Hufflepuffs that stole Jinx. Maybe they should be known as the catnappers instead of her own brother.

"Anyways," she began. "What are you two up to today?" She glanced at Jack, then to Torin.

"Yes, I got that from what you just told Jack," he replied passively with a shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't deaf or stupid. So why was he seeming to get annoyed with Reese? Hmm. Anyway...

"I was just coming back from the library when I came upon Jack behind asuit of armor." He was speaking as if this was an everyday occurrence.

Good, Laura was really knowledgeble about football. Evan was really happy that he hadn't just walked away, that would be shame. She was pretty... unarrogant for a 'Claw. Interesting. But then again, they had just met, and maybe she'd start looking down on Evan after knowing him further.

He nodded sadly. He used to go most of the matches of Liverpool Chelsea before Hogwarts either. They'd either floo or apparate in the Ministry, then take a Muggle bus to the stadium. He sighed. Those were the days... He smiled, not sure what to say. As she didn't ask him back, he just looked at her and pretended to be thinking. In fact, he was again living one of the Chelsea-Manchester matches.

Laura looked at Evan curiously as his face darkened. He seemed sad, and although she couldn't understand why, she could have a guess, and they were one thing she was alright at. Maybe it was because he was missing going to all of the football matches she too missed often. Or maybe it was because she was seeming rude, lik the arrogant Ravenclaw he'd thought she was when they'd first met.

"So, you watch any other leagues?" she prompted, not wanting to have him think her rude. So caught up in the moment, she hadn't asked about him, and felt a bit... well, a lot - stupid. Hmm. The she realised what she hadn't thought about. "What year are yo in, Evan?" she said. Just because she was curious, and felt like she didn't really know much about him. Except that he was a football fanatic Slytherin, who was about a year older than her.

Evan snapped back to reality while he was imagining Lampard's free kick once more. He frowned, not hearing the first two words. He looked a bit lost, but then remembered what they were talking about. Other leagues, riiight. He nodded. "I watch--ed..." wince at the past -ed suffix, "...Spain and Turkiye, and always the Champions and UEFA League. Now I only read from newspaper." He sighed one last time heavily, and ended the drama. There wasn't many things he could do now, was there? He had to get over it.

He frowned, trying to remember what year she was in before answering but... they'd never told. "Second year." he said, nodding. She really must be interested in or something, otherwise Ravvies were a bit unsociable according to his experiences. Maybe it was again his blond hair and blue eyes. He had to bite his lips hard not to grin at the thought, and asked "How about you?" She seemed around his age too, although he had never seen her in a class. A Ravvie skipping classes? That was sensational. Maybe he didn't look careful enough.

Laura nodded absent-mindedly as Evan spoke, remembering how she'd watched the UEFA League years ago with her maternal grandfather. She smiled sadly at the memory, and knew that Evan was thinking the same as her; about how they used to watch the games, and couldn't now. But she shrugged. It was something that you had to give up to be a wizard. Or a witch, in her case.

Smiling at Evan, she nodded again at his question, before realising that her nod must've meant nothing to him. "Second year, too," she said hurridly, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. Trust her to make an embarrassment of herself. "And how're you ebjoying the year so far?"

Evan knew her sad smile meant the same thing too: the mourn for the missed matches. Sighsigh. He'd totally watch the videos of goals once he got home. Remembering the promise to Fallon that he'd take her to a match, he blushed slightly and jumped at her answer. Yeah, she was a second year too. A missing second year, like Vicky. It was good that they didn't attend classes, they were already ahead of Slytherin. Just, it was odd. Shrug. Their choice.

He hesitated at the question. His honest answer would bring harder questions, but he decided to go with honest&short answers again. "It was... I'm still thinking about present's goodness." That was honest and short, but questionable. Hopefully, she wouldn't. "How about yours?" he asked, trying to draw the attention on her.

"You have a twin?" Jack asked. He didn't know that! He was guessing it wasn't an IDENTICAL twin since--well, with his luck, Jack would have accidentally found him and called him Torin by now.

At his second statement, Jack rolled his eyes. GREATTTTT back to Bunbury! The dude needed HELP. He really did, this obsession was unnatural.

Smiling, he pet his cat as Jinx started to protest being held once again, squirming and trying his hardest to get out of his arms. "Not much, just kind of hanging around--not doing anything really now that I've got Jinx back," he said with a smile. "What have you been up to?"

Reese crossed her arms at the mention of writing an ode on Bunbury. ON BUNBURY?! She really really realllllllly wished Fyo was here at the moment, so he would talk sense into that boy. She wished for the day to come when Torin finally decided that Bunbury was too good for him. Sadly, she had a feeling that day wasn't coming anytime soon. "You should have wrote the ode on me," she said with a smile. "I'm a good role model." Kind of...

She shook her head when she caught the tone in Torin's voice. Annoyed, much? For some reason, it seemed like one of them got annoyed everytime they met. Last time, she had been the one that got annoyed when Torin couldn't believe she was reading. Now, Torin seemed to be the one that was annoyed. Teehee. Maybe getting each other annoyed would be a new tradition for them.

Library? Torin Kane was in the Library? Don't you read in the Library? Bwaha. That brought back memories of when she was astonished by seeing Torin reading a book. "Oh, really? So, why were you in the Library? Were you studying for your OWLs or..." She paused not sure what else to add with that. "Reading for fun?" She added. She had a feeling his answer would be the first option since Torin would know Reese would nag him about studying for his OWLs. She didn't want him to fail.

She looked at Jinx, who was now trying to get out of Jack's hands. "You know," she started to say. "Giving him a treat might make him not be so - squirmy?" Was that even a WORD? Probably was, it just didn't sound like a word. She sat her bag down on the ground in front of her feet and bent down to open it up. It took her a few seconds, but she finally pulled out a little bag of treats. "I already gave him a couple on the way up here, but a little bit more shouldn't be bad," she suggested.

"So, you were looking for Jinx? You should have known Justin and Jasmine would have had him," she told her boyfriend. "Oh, I haven't been up to much. I've just been in the common room working on my homework." Yep, it's been one boring day for her.

He nodded at Jack, not surprised but his reaction in the slightest. "Yeah, she doesn't really hang out with me much. She's more of the quiet introverted type." He shuddered, not getting how she could live that way when there was so much going on in the world. At Hogwarts.

He noticed the eye roll and chose to ignore it. "Well, I do look up to her. She's a good teacher." Why was he being defensive? He had no idea. But still she was a god teacher and he did honestly admire her for that.

And now Reese was starting in on that too? Sigh. He turned to her. "Ode on you? But why?" Okay, that might have sounded a bit rude but still. He had never looked at her as a role model really. She was more like the bigger sister that he argued with all the time. The one that called him insane and all that. "You wish Fyo was here to yell at me. And think that Bunbury's too good for me." Yeah, he didn't look up to a girl that was mean to him like that.

And there was that comment about reading. He knew where she was coming from with that. He remembered their recent conversation about that in Hogsmeade. And he wondered if she would feel proud of him for all the studying he was doing now. "I spent the last 4 hours reading on History of Magic." He was almost literally dead on his feet, feeling like a zombie.

Laura frowned a little at Evans answer, and was about to question what he meant, when he asked her. She pondered what to say. Had it been a good term so far? She supposed it had, as she'd been with friends, and Victoria hadn't been around. But it kinda hurt to think it would be the last. "It's been alright," she said with a little sigh. "Just trying to enjoy the moment, you know?"

Pausing for a moment, Laura looked at Evan curiously. What had he meant? She wondered, and although she didn't want to, her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened her mouth. "What do you mean, the present's goodness?" BLushing slightly, she looked down. Now she seemed rude.

"You don't have to answer that," Laura added hurridly, not looking up.

Evan did notice that little sigh, but he wasn't the type to ask and demand to learn why, from strangers at least. So he just nodded and smiled a little, to show that he was glad at least someone's term was going alright. Maybe he should enjoy the moment too, and forget all? Yeah, another thing to think on.

Uh-oh. She questioned. The blondie didn't expect that. Although she added quickly that he didn't have to answer, he knew he should. And her question wasn't going deep, just the meaning. He could play the fool and answer shallowly. Yeah, a good tactic.

" 'Tis OK." he said with a reasurring smile. "I mean that I'm not sure if the my present life is good now." There was too much drama for a second year. Not good.

Laura smiled at Evan as she looked up from the floor. She didn't want to pry anymore, and so just clasped her hands behind her back, swaying a little on her feet. She was glad he hadn't asked any furthur about her year; she wasn't ready to tell anyone else about her leaving, and she didn't even know Evan, really.

"It was nice meeting you, Evan," Laura said, swinging her bag onto her shoulder and slumping a little under the weight. "But I should be going now." She'd agreed to meet Thomas to have a look at the Maze-thing in the grounds, and by the time on her watch, she was a little late. "See you around sometime, right Evan?" Laura asked, hoping she would see him again sometime. He was alright, for a Slythie.