"Hey," Kellen gave a distracted wave to Ian as the boy entered, and went back to discussing with the others. Paper and notes were all very well in the muggle world, but at Hogwarts? Where people seemed to be able to smell secrets from three floors up or down? They'd definitely need an upgrade.

"A Protean charm?" Hadn't someone mentioned that in Charms class? Oh right, it had been Ian. Just to clarify, he asked Raiden, "That's the one like the Dark Mark, right? Or Hermione's Coins?" It was possible Professor Kade would help them out, but, "How do we ask him about it?"

Then he blinked as his brain caught up with his eyes, and he turned back to the new arrival, "Ian, what in the name of Severus Snape did you do to yourself?"

After leaving the Room of Requirement, Parker needed to think. He was overly confused about a lot of things. He wanted to run up to the owlery and write his parents, but they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't care about his problems, they were too busy dealing with their own.

He walked aimlessly around the corridors, hands deep in his pockets. He halted when he came to the boys bathroom, extracted his hands, opened the door and entered. It was really quiet in there and it would be a perfect spot to just think. Parker felt his face and it was still burning. He quickly walked over to the nearest sink, turned it on cold and dunked his face in the water. He needed to cool off.

Jude looked up from where he sat on the ground to see another boy, one he didn't quite recognize come into the bathroom and begin to splash himself with water.

'Why would you dunk your head in cold water when it's almost winter?' he wondered to himself watching the boy, waiting for him to notice that there was another person in his presence.

Turning off the faucet, Parker glanced at himself in the mirror. He looked like a wet dog, and it was how he felt at the moment. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe some of the water off his face, looked in the mirror once more and spotted the boys reflection in the mirror.

HOLY MERLIN!

Clearly startled, Parker turned around swiftly to the boy. "Merlin. You scared me." First impressions are the best, aren't they?

When his heartbeat returned to normal, Parker raised a brow at him. "Why are you sitting on the floor?" The dirty, dirty bathroom floor.

Jude looked up as the boy seemed to finally notice his presence. Clearing his throat he began with an apology, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

When asked why he was on the floor, Jude shrugged his shoulders. "Seemed like the logical place to sit in a bathroom when all you want to do is think."

Apologize after you give someone a heart attack. Parker shook his head, water drops flying, "You didn't startle me." Was it that obvious? He would have to work on that.

This boy had the same idea as Parker, only he wasn't sitting on the floor. "But..the floor is dirty." Couldn't he find a cleaner place to sit and think? The only thing Parker was thinking about was the germs crawling all over that boy.

"To be frank, I really don't care if the floor is dirty. It's no worse than sitting on a sandy beach, or on the lawn outside." Jude replied in a direct matter. Apparently the boy was a germaphobe. Interestingly enough, Jude didn't mind rolling around in the grass and the mud; it was just a lifestyle he enjoyed.

He returned to his moody look, looking not at anything in particular, sometimes at the tiles that was on the floor, or his shoes, or the other boy's shoes.

Ow... ow... ow... ow... ow...

AND A LITTLE MORE OW, KTHX!

Jake winced as he hobbled into the Boy's bathroom. He wore his loosest t-shirt, grimacing even at the feel of that on his skin.

See, Jake had just woken up, and found that... well...

He wasn't in the best state. And that was an understatement.

Approaching a mirror, ignoring the other boys there for now, Jake peered at his reflection, visibly grossed out. There was congealed blood on the right side of his face, apparently from a wound above or on his eyebrow. His left ear looked like it had cut as well... and Jake weren't touching it.

Now inspecting his arms, Jake found odd little diamond shapeds wounds; deep, and mostly on his forearms, but he knew there were more of these on his chest and shoulders. He had, after all, woken up in that torn and bloody shirt.

Man, his mother was going to kill him.

Glancing furtively at the other guys in the room, Jake carefully raised his shirt, unaware of the bruising on his back, as though he'd been thrown heavily against something, or vice versa. And yup; there were the other wounds.

Heck, now he noticed, there was even one on his finger.

Remembering the awful taste in his mouth, Jake dropped the hem of his shirt and opened up, sticking out his tongue.

Black. Like he'd eaten ash. Which would explain the chest too.

Heaving a sigh, a worried look on his face, Jake began to run the water, ready to clean up a bit, before the Healer.

The wounds weren't what worried him. No. What worried him was that he couldn't remember getting them.

Parker cringed when the boy said he didn't care if the floor was dirty. What was wrong with him? He must have been really deep in thought if he didn't care about germs.

He leaned against the sink and folded his arms, "I guess so." This wasn't awkward at all. He should probably leave, introductions first, just no handshakes. He left his hand sanitizer in the dorm. "The name is Parker. And you are?" The boy that sits on dirty floors..

"Jude. My name is Jude." the boy replied looking up at the boy curiously. 'Parker...why do I know that name?' Jude wondered looking from left to right. 'NO!' and he stood up. "You're Thalia's Parker. You..you.."

"Well Jude, I think I'm--" Parker couldn't even finish his sentence. The boy, Jude, was standing up and mentioned Thalia. There went his chance of leaving now.

You're Thalia's Parker?

"Well," he started, confusion on his face. Thalia never mentioned a Jude before.. "I'm not 'Thalia's.' She has a boyfriend." Parker was not hers, and somehow this boy knew of him.. This just got a little more awkward.

Not good. Not good. Not good.

Tiberius had woken up that morning feeling like he'd been run over by a truck. Not that he knew what being run over by a truck felt like, but he thought it was a good approximation of the feeling he had when he tried to sit up.

And then he'd looked at his arms. Dozens of little prick marks ran up and down his arm, blood smeared and dried between them. He reached up to touch his forehead and felt a similar dried something.

He'd escaped the dormitory rather quickly, opting instead to take a look in a different bathroom. And so the 6th floor it was. Heading over to a mirror, he didn't notice Jake at first, instead aghast at the caked on blood and dirt that smeared his face over dozens more of the strange small wounds.

And... why did his clothes smell like smoke? Tibi picked at edge of his shirt and raised it to his nose, inhaling.

Wait... hadn't he worn these clothes yesterday? Hadn't they fit yesterday? Tiberius was aware that his clothes felt baggy, but dismissed it as whatever was making his head hurt so much messing with his perception.

And then he saw Jake. Jake who looked even worse than Tibi did.

Turning slowly toward his friend, his eyes were wide. "What happend to you?"

Maybe Jake knew what had happened to Tibi, too. Because Tibi certainly didn't.

Wincing and swearing loudly and he touched a sore area in one of the wounds, Jake took a break for a moment. At least he'd started to get most of the blood off his face.

Theeeeen, Jake heard a very familiar voice. The same voice he'd gone to the last time he kept misplacing time.

Turning to his best friend, Jake blinked for a moment... there was a very subtle difference, (as well as the fact that he was bloody and dirty) and Jake knew what it was.

He ignored the question for now; he didn't want to face the answer.

"Tibi... you're tiny."

Well... tinier.

"I'm Jude. I'm the boyfriend." he explained with a weak grin, pointing to himself. "She hasn't mentioned my name to you?" Jude asked, curious of how Parker didn't know of him like Cesar had seemed to.

"Thal's mentioned you before."

"I'm always tiny, Jake..." Tibi said hesitantly, hoping that's what the boy had meant. Not that he was even smaller. People didn't just SHRINK overnight.

Right?

He winced as pain shot up his back, beginning at his tailbone and traveling up to his shoulder blades. It was if he had taken a nasty fall, but he couldn't remember.

"Do you... you know... know what happened?"

"You're ssssmaller."

...

Well he WAS!

"Did sssomeone hit yuhh-you really hard on yyyour noggin? That cccould... you know," he made a motion with his hand, of the height Tibi used to be, down to where he was now. He made a funny ziiiip noise as he did.

Hearing the question, Jake blinked and turned, looking down into the sink.

"No."

He turned, looking at Tibi's injuries... "How about yuhh-you?"

Tiberius groaned. "I was hoping I was imagining it. " Tibi pressed his palms to his eyes, aware of how oddly rough his hands felt.

"I don't know what happened. I just... woke up like this." Tibi dropped his hands, looking at Jake nervously. They, perhaps better than anyone, knew how not good it was that you couldn't remember things happening to you.

"Last thing I remember was going to bed... clean. And, you know, not hurt."

Okay, no... Jake was starting to hate his reflection.

Not that, you know, he'd ever particularly love it...

Hearing Tibi's story, Jake looked really REALLY worried. This wasn't good.

"C'mon," he muttered, gently pulling Tibi towards the door, feeling a nasty shot of pain in his back.

Tibi registered the look of worry on Jake's face which only intensified his own.

Not having gotten around to washing his face or doing anything other than look at it, Tibi allowed himself to be tugged toward and out the door, a dull throb radiating through his entire head.

Oh.

This just got three times more awkward now.

Parker shook his head, "She never told me your name." He would have remembered a name like Jude. "Isn't that a girl's name?" he smirked, then realized that might not be such a good thing to ask. Can't take it back now.

The smirk became a frown with Jude's next sentence. "Did she say I was annoying?" Please let that be all.

He should have left with those two boys.

Jude arched a brow. "Uhm, not it's a very masculine name actually. But thanks for that." he replied cooly looking at the boy. He didn't understand what Thalia saw in the boy. Was he supposed to be friendly or something?

"The only thing she's mentioned is that you two were friends, but she messed up over something so there's no chance for you two."

Unbelievable. Parker told the boy he had a girl's name and he gets thanked? What did Thalia see in him? He wouldn't even defend his name! "Yeah, anytime." he grinned.

Parker nodded slowly, "Yeah, we are friends." he unfolded his arms and shoved his hands in his pockets. "She didn't say anything else?" he asked looking at the floor. He should just keep his mouth shut.

"No, is there something I should know?" Jude asked curious. The boy seemed to be holding back information about his girlfriend and to be honest, Jude felt that he had the right to know. Although the couple were fighting, he still liked her all the same.

"Nooooo." Parker dragged out the word and shook his head. There was absolutely nothing he should know. He might want to know, but he was keeping his mouth shut.

"Don't you trust her?" he asked, eyebrow raised and a slight smirk on his face. He really wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Of course I trust her." Jude insisted, his hands clenching into fists. "It's you I don't trust." Jude's eyes squinted at the boy suspiciously. Why did it feel like the boy was holding back information that seemed rather important. 'Did he do something to Thalia..or try to do something?' he wondered still glaring at the boy.