Chris didn't realize he was holding his breath until she spoke. He felt his muscles loosen and his breath escaped in a soft whoosh. "Friends wouldn't be too bad... just as long as I got to remain close to you," he said with a gentle chuckle. He normally would have joked about her going insane- but now wasn't the right time.

He listened quietly as she spoke- and had to say that he had seen a difference. She had become happier, talked of those previous boys less, and laughed a lot more. "My heart is yours for the taking- whenever you wish," he said with a smile. Without answering her question, he leaned down and kissed her softly just as another roll of thunder echoed across the sky. "Are you still afraid of thunder?" he asked her with a teasing grin.

Alex looked at Chris as he spoke, "Friends would be terrible, I would probably drive myself insane within the year." She said softly as she looked up at him, she heard his chuckle and sighed a bit. "Yes, you would be close to me, but I would be.. in so much pain." She admitted as she looked up at him.

She watched Chris, waiting for any reaction to what she had said, she held her breath, and she tensed, everything seemed to hinge on his answer, and when he gave it, she felt like..a weight had been lifted off of her chest. "Well, how about if I take it now, and you can have my in replacement. Does that sound good?" She asked him, and he kissed her again. She smiled a bit. "Thunderstorm? What thunderstorm?" She asked him smiling.

Kel was wandering aimlessly - that was never good. He'd made his way down from the Ravenclaw common room, and was now staring blankly at the weird portrait of trolls doing ballet. Weiiird. He turned away, and found himself staring at a blank wall. But not an ordinary blank wall, of course. Kel happened to know that this was the doorway to the Room of Requirement, and if he just thought about what he wanted over and over, the room would shape itself to his wishes.

But...what it was that Kel wanted? He bit his lip as he stared intently at the bricks in front of him. He could go with something that didn't take imagination, or something that would only be found in his dreams. He remembered the room him and Satine had thought up - the room with the bouncy, trampoline-like floors. But, that would only be fun if someone was there with him, and Kel was very alone. He didn't even have Neige or Jasmine with him, which was a bit of a shocker.

So, to make the decision. Kel cleared his mind, trying to think of something he really, really wanted. Nothing came to him. He groaned, turned around, then turned back, thinking of the first thing that came to his mind. I want a place where I can be myself. he thought strongly. A place where I can do what makes me happy. And as he thought that, a door appeared in front of him. Smiling slightly to himself, he walked forward, opened the door, adn walked into the room.

The room itself seemed...elegant. The walls were panneled in dark wood, as was the floor. There was a thick, dark blue carpet on the floor, though, infront of a crackling fireplace. In front of the fireplace was a very comfortable-looking, white couch. To the side of the couch, though, is what had Kel's eyes widening in surprise.

It was a grand piano. A very, very expensive-looking grand piano. It was shiny and black, and open so Kel could see the strings. It looked brand new. The piano is what makes me happy, Kel realized, and smiled. He walked over to it, taking off his Hogwarts robe as he passed the couch. As he sat down on the piano bench, he loosened his tie, and got comforable. He carefully placed his fingers on the white keys, took a deep breath, and started playing, and then singing.

Marilyn looked away from Rafe then, unable to further look him in the eyes. Instead, she rested her gaze on the wall behind him, laughing awkwardly at his choice of words. Happy? No.

"I think, for starters, you should know that my father has had someone watching and photographing me since Christmas of last term." She rubbed the back of her neck slowly, more so because of anxiety than necessity. She still couldn't face him.

"He's got detailed photos of all our...private time together. And even worse...he knows about Carter." Her heart felt like it might beat out of her chest. "When my father informed me that he knew about you and 'my muggle boyfriend', while throwing pictures in my face...Let's just say I'm surprised I walked away from it."
There was definitely some embarrassment fluttering through her heart...but Rafe deserved to know.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Parker's rat ball didn't deflate, it was made out of plastic, or some other undeflatable type of material. "And that's another reason I'm glad I'm the only child. No idiot brothers." Although if it was that much of an idiot, it could be fun. No, then all his parents attention would be on the idiot, and Parker would not like that. "Well then, his name is Parker Jr." he gave a firm nod. Unless he could think of something else that is.

"My irresistible charm just drew you too me." he grinned. "I understand. It happens a lot." Thalia knew she wanted to talk to him. Of all the people in Diagon Alley that day, she just happened to bump into him. "I think you owe my rat an apology still." She was awfully mean to Parker Jr that day. He could only laugh when she said she wasn't teasing blind people. Parker knew that, he wasn't stupid. "That's what you think." he mumbled, and then gave her a cheesy grin.

Was Thalia questioning his snarls? "I could if I wanted to." he scoffed. He would just need a good reason to do it. "So now you are looking at my body?" What was this? Thalia was just giving him reasons to mess with her now. "I hold myself well." he supposed. "Robert is my fathers name, and his fathers and everyone else's." He was glad he didn't get that as a first name, he would have been a Jr too. "Kathleen is alright." Alright as girls names go. He shrugged, he didn't know any Irish names, "Are you Irish?"

"Only when you are around me?" Thalia was mean to him, and she hurt his feelings..not. He didn't have feelings to hurt. "Either am I." He was never in the mood to get dirty, dirt was germ infested and he didn't have enough hand sanitizer to share. Her next words made his jaw drop. What!? "WHAT!?" What sis being manly have anything to do with kissing? "I might have," he LIED, "but what would that Ravenclaw boy do?" Were they even friends? Thalia only mentioned him that once, and Parker didn't know what happened between the two of them. Yeah, walk away.

"No." he answered. He was not going to play for her. Parker stood up pushed the bench in and walked over to one of the sofas. He hadn't realized how tired he was until he actually sat down on it. Propping his feet on the coffee table, he closed his eyes. "You think people would worry if I just stay here the whole term?" he asked not opening his eyes. Who would worry about him?

"I don't know," she shrugged. "You could have asked." It was sort of obvious though wasn't it? A normal person wouldn't have a giant hamster ball in their house. Maybe not the smartest thing to think considering what her brother's did on a day-to-day basis. "You shouldn't say that!" she cried, smacking him. "If you had an idiot sibling you would enjoy it. Most of the time," Thalia corrected. Cause sometimes Willie and Ethan invaded her room and privacy. And Ethan was 15!!!! Didn't he know better then to do that? "Fine. I'll agree to Parker Jr. Just don't be in shock if he ignores you for a week or two," she told him. She would ignore someone too if they named her with a junior at the end. "I'm not in the most creative mood right now." At times she could be the life of the party. Other times she didn't want to think.

She rolled her eyes at his tone. "Believe me, it wasn't the charm at all Yorke," she said through gritted teeth at seeing his stupid grin. Who would think he was charming? HA! NO ONE!!! "I believe I don't owe Parker Jr. an apology. He was probably wishing you'd take him back to the pet store. And when he finds out his new name he'll be begging," she said with sarcasm. If she were the rat she totally would want to run if she caught any sign of escape. "I wasn't teasing," Thalia added after hearing his mumble. Guiltiness wasn't going to work on her.

"No you couldn't," she shook her head with a grin. "You're trying to pretend you could but you couldn't. I'm too much of a charmer for you." She really did think her charm had some kind of effect on people. It worked on him. He was never mean to her. Just had a sense of sarcasm they argued with. Her eyes widened at his question. WHOA! He did not just say that. "Of course not," she snapped glaring at him. "You know what I meant so shut up." He just had to make it sound...weird....didn't he? "Don't we all hold ourselves well? When I went to Beaxbatons I had to walk around with a book on my head to make me stand like a proper young lady. It was hell." All those days at Beaxbatons were hell. Acting like a proper young lady just didn't suit her. "I wasn't named after anyone in particular. None of my siblings were. And nope. I'm French not Irish. It may be in my blood though." She wasn't sure. Her family was too big. They were like the Weasley's in a sense.

"I tease you. I argue with you. But it isn't like I'm mean to you," Thalia emphasized. She wouldn't ever be mean to him unless he seriously ticked her off. Or she was in an awful mood. When she saw him freak out, she burst out into laughter. In a laughter that she couldn't stop for at least a minute or so. "Merlins, that was hilarious," she grinned at him. She seriously meant it though. After containing herself she said, "He wouldn't have to know," with a raised eyebrow. She was still an excellent liar. "No one would ever have to know," she added.

She watched him stand up. "Come on Parker. You promised me you would," she pleaded. He had. She remembered. It had been when they were talking sometime. "I bet you play really good," Thalia mused, but actually meant this. She stood up and walked over, sitting down next to him. "I would," she simply stated. Her life would get boring without him.

"Sorry, I didn't think hamster balls deflated." Muggles and their crazy inventions. He was glad he would never have to use any of them. "What was that for!" he asked when she hit him. That kinda hurt..because he wasn't expecting it. "I have idiot house elves. That's all I need." he told her as he rubbed where she hit him. He was going to bruise now. "Parker Jr loves me." If a rat could show love, it would be all for Parker. "I feed him." Which meant Parker loved him too.

"Than what was it? You must have had a reason to stop and talk to me." She could've bumped into him and apologized and went on her way. She decided to stop and hold a conversation with him, there had to be a reason. "And I'm sure it wasn't because of my rat." He didn't think she liked rats. "Why would he want to go back there? He loves it here." he nodded. He was free to roam the halls, yes he was out there right now roaming. "He won't hate his name. Parker is the best name ever." he threw his arms up excitedly. "Fine. You weren't teasing.'

"Now that's funny." It really wasn't. Thalia did not charm him. It was definitely the other way around. He couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing at her reaction. "Yes. I know what you meant." he said catching his breath. It meant she was checking him out, and now he was going to be uncomfortable around her. Girls! "I'm glad I was home schooled." He was to point. Being home schooled meant being to use magic at home, at least his home allowed it, but the downside was having no friends during that time. He practically begged his parents to be sent to school, but he didn't expect Hogwarts. "French, Irish." he shrugged. "Close enough." They both ate food, they were practically they same.

"Teasing and arguing would be considered 'being mean.'" he pointed out. She would be considered a bully to any other person. He folded his arms and waited until she was done her little laughter fit. It wasn't nearly as funny as she made it out to be. "I'm sure you would run right to him and tell him." And then this Ravenclaw boy would try to beat him up..the muggle way.

"I don't remember promising you." He lied once again. He just didn't expect to ever find a piano at Hogwarts. "And what if I'm not good? You would be mean and tease me about it." He closed his eyes again at her last statement, "You are just trying to be nice to me to hear me play. It's not working." Well, maybe it was, just a little.

"Then what do you think we would do with it?" she asked with sarcasm and throwing and arm up. Geez, he did not understand muggles AT ALL. She was going to have to force him to show up at Muggle Studies someday. He needed all the help he could get. "Now you're making fun of having siblings!" she cried, and smacked him again. It was more of the irritation she had towards him that built up in her wanting to hurt him. "Don't criticize house elves! They have feelings too. Some can be very nice too if you give them a chance," she added with a frown setting in and leaning back against the couch. "Yeah, the rat loves you because you feed him. That's what it takes for a pet right?" she questioned rolling her eyes. How stupid was his excuse?

She shook her head and stared at the wall in front of her. "I said sorry you snapped at me. Something clicked and I knew you would satisfy my interest. Your arrogance led me on," Thalia looked over at him. She meant this. He spirited her in a way she didn't feel often. "No your rat had nothing to do with it and I highly doubt he loves it here. How could anyone like living with you?" Thalia questioned with a disgusted glare. She crossed her arms against her chest and had her jaw jutted out a little. "Parker is not a great name and I'm glad you see it my way." His name was strange. How could anyone stand being named after him? He better not name his kid Parker Jr.

"I am too a charmer! Ask anyone. I won two boy's hearts. Probably more than two. And who have you picked up for a girlfriend? That's right NO ONE," she emphasized the last two words hard. He must have an interest in some girl. She prayed it wasn't her. For her own good and well being that is. "Don't lie. I did not mean in anyway, form, or idea that I liked checking you out." It was the truth. Who would ever want to look at him. He was---not half bad BUT that was not the point. "Homeschooling would be boring. No friends. Nothing to do but listen to your tutor drag on and on about how some guy created this spell. I'm sure it was great fun," she smiled at him with all the sarcasm she could muster. Why would someone ever want to be homeschooled? BORING times one hundred or higher. "They are not close. What sort of tutor did you have Mr. Yorke?" she looked at him in disbelief that he would even think that. Number one, they both had completely different accents. Number two, they both had completely different cultures. Number three, the definition of 'hot boys' were two different meanings. So there.

"I like the teasing and arguing were you throw comments at each other that don't hurt you. So no, I'm not mean." She rolled her eyes at him. He bothered her but never hurt her. She likes hurting him physically. Okay so not reaaal hard but a little hit of slap never hurt a spoiled snob. He could get worse like news that his fortune would never reach him. If that happened she would laugh. At this comment she somehow calmed down quite a bit from her feeling of irritation and anger. "Would I?" she cocked an eyebrow. Instead she did what some would call was the number one CRAZIEST thing a person could do. She kissed him. On the lips. It wasn't just your average kiss either. Her lips moved with his. Suddenly she realized her craziness and broke them apart. Thalia stood up with a look of horror in what she had just did. She swore maybe five times under her breath. Some in French, others in English. "Oh my gosh!" she cried, staring at him. Panic surged through her.

There was only one thing she could do. Keep this her darkest secret. No one would find out would her impulse led her to do. Practically snog the enemy. She had nothing to add to what she had just done. Her eyes flitted to his. Waiting expectantly for anything to come out of his mouth.

"You did promise. I wouldn't tease. Even though I was made fun of for my singing," she gave him a tiny glare. Then sat opposite from him on the other couch with wide eyes still. Did she just enjoy that? Yes. Would she ever admit it? No. Never.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "maybe you had a special room for it. Or you kept it outside." Parker would have never guessed someone had an actual human sized hamster ball. It was just not normal to keep one of those in your house. "Will you stop hitting me?" he pleaded as he rubbed where she hit him again. Same spot too. He could feel a bruise coming and now he needed a Healer. "I wasn't teasing all house elves, just mine." They were idiots. House elves that don't know the difference between an apple and an orange deserved all the teasing they got. "I don't just feed him. I talk to him too." The rat was a very good listener too. Never complained once. "Do you have pets?" She must not, if she didn't know that food made every pet happy.

That was not how Parker remembered that day. "You are wrong." he argued. "You bumped into me and then started yelling at me." All he wanted to do was find his parents and she bumped him. "My rat has everything to do with it. You tried to steal it." Thalia was just talking nonsense, so that's what Parker did. He knew she would not want that rat. She did have a point though. He was a bit on the untidy side, but the house elves were always quick to clean up for him. "Parker Jr doesn't mind living with me." Such a spoiled rat it was sick. "Parker is a great name." he mumbled. It had to be great, it was his.

"Two boys that must has a vision problem." Parker laughed. One of them boys better not be him. She couldn't even charm the socks off him, unless she had her wand. "Did you ever think I don't want a girlfriend?" He hasn't meet anyone up to his standards anyway. Not yet at least. "I did have a picnic with Rue," he wanted to hear her reaction to that, "I think you know her." Cousins or something? He couldn't remember. "Next time you should explain yourself better." Just because he knew what she meant, didn't mean anyone else would. "I did have friends." he lied. There were no kids his age anywhere near him, and the kids that were his age, their parents didn't want to be associated with the Yorke's. "My tutors were highly paid and highly intelligent." Money well spent, as his father put it.

"I like the teasing and arguing were you throw comments at each other that don't hurt you. So no, I'm not mean." he mimicked her in his best girl voice. Before he could even comment on whatever they were talking about, since all thought vanished from his head, her lips were pressed against his. He closed his eyes for that split second and just enjoyed that moment. He opened his eyes when they broke apart, completely oblivious to the horror struck Thalia. "She kissed me." he mumbled under his breath, still reeling in the kiss. Then it hit him like a runaway train. Jumping out of his seat, Parker pointed at her, not really knowing what to say, not that he could say anything. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Closing his eyes, Parker took a deep breath and found his voice. "You kissed me!" he exclaimed opening his eyes wide, and still pointing his finger at her. That was all he could say. No words came to him except for 'Wow,' and he was not going to say that aloud.

Parker plopped back down into the sofa, not really paying attention to what Thalia was saying. There was no way he could play the piano now. He was too disgusted/confused/HAPPY to even think about playing. He couldn't even look at her now. Even thinking about her made his face grow hot. "I can't play." he whispered looking down at his feet. "I can't feel my fingers." Didn't she have a boyfriend?

Rex showed up for the party.

First floor, second floor, thrid....seventh floor. Yeah, they needed to do something about all these forsaken stairs Tyler felt like he was gonna fall down one day. This time was probably worse since he was carrying a cake and a present hanging from his arm. Surprise parties were a bit strange to him since the people who they were meant for, never usually got surprised. Thinking what the party would look like, a door appear and Tyler pushed it open. With streamer, ballons and other decoration everywhere, a table appeared towards the back. But something caught Ty's eye.

"Oh, hey Rex. You're early," he chuckled and set the cake on the table and the present under it.

Oh sorry did not mean to be early" Rex told Tyler. " Need any help?" rex asked Tyler. " i guess you do not know Kay and I had a fight, so I may be the last person she wats to see today" Rex said to Tyler. " I hope she likes her presents from me" Rex told him. Two dozen red carnations on the table from Rex plus a fairly bigb ox wrapped up and another small one wrapped up are put on the table for Kay by Rex.

"It's alright, and I think the room took care of most of what we would've needed to do in the muggle world," Ty chuckled and sat in a chair. His bum still hurt from the fall of the skateboard. "Kay and you fought...about what? It couldn't have been that bad," he said and leaned against his knees. Seriously it couldn't have been bad. Rex was like a year younger than Ty and he didn't know how old was Kay was. But not even Ty and Luce fought like that. But anyways... "Well she is very hyper so I think she will,"

" Kay was pretty upset with me" Rex told Tyler. " It seems she thought I told her not to talk to a certain boy and did not want her to play Quidditch" Rex said to Tyler. " I was not jealous, just mad at this boy who had been mean to me in the healers office while I had amnesia, but she basically took his side over me" Rex explained to Tyler.

Lucy walked into the RoR, her arms laden with Kat's present and flowers that she had conjured herself. So, when she actually entered the room, she couldn't really see infront of her, but thought she heard the voices of Ty and some other guy that sounded quite familiar. "Ty...Ty!" She said, her voice a bit muffled because of her load. "Can you help me?" She said as she tried to find her way into the room.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh," Ty said and tapped his feet. Yup, kinda kiddie drama going on. "Did you explain that to her?" he asked and leaned back on the chair, fixing his hat as well. "Maybe you misunderstood something as well," Why was Tyler giving advice all of a sudden? He had given some to Adam and now Rex. And it was all girl drama.

Lovely.

Tyler was talking to Rex when he heard a voice in the distance. He turned his head and it seemed to be Luce, who was carrying a bit too much for herself. "Alright hang on," he said adn walked over to her. "Why are you carrying so much?" he asked and took most of the things from her and settling them carefully next to the table.

Alexa scrambled into the Room of Requirement and smiled brightly. "LUCY!" she squealed. "I feel like I haven't seen you all term long!" she exclaimed as ran forward to hug her... you know after she unloaded her arms

Lucy sighed in relief as Ty took most of the stuff from her hands. "'Cause I needed to..." She said as she poked him. Silly boy.
"Umm what did you tell Kat?" She asked him, but then a girl's voice screamed her name.

Lucy whipped around and saw Alexandra running forward to hug her. "Alexandra! It HAS been a long time!" She said with a laugh and hugged her back tightly. "How are you?" She said as she let go and looked at the room--Ty had definitely decorated it really nicely.

Carter entered the Room of Requirement with a a handful of flowers and a stuffed Gryffindor teddy bear thing. Girls liked that kind of stuff, right? He didn't actually know Tyler, who sent him the invitation, but had seen him with Lucy a lot. "Hey." he said spotting them. "Where should I put these?"

Alexa hugged her tightly and then released her, laughing as she did so. "I am doing relly well!" she lied, but smiled brightly anyway. "When is Kat going to be here?" she asked as she looked around in awe. She was really glad that she had been invited to the party, she had felt terrible about losing touch with her friends lately.

Tyler chuckled but then Luce did her usual thing. Poke him. "Is this becoming like a hobby for you?" he asked with a smile and fixed around the table. "I told her that I wanted to show her what my "room" looked like since she's never been there,"

Hearing another voice, Ty turned and saw...Carter was it? Yeah, that was him. "You can put them under the table where the cake is," he said and pointed to the back table. "I guess we haven't really introduced ourselves. I'm Tyler, Kat's uncle,"

Weird that Tyler was only fifteen and Kat's uncle?
Yes. Of course it's weird!

"Uncle? Really? Wow." Carter said. "I'm Carter." he said introducing himself. He then made his way over the the table in the back to put his presents under.

"Hey Carter!" Lucy said cheerfully as he entered the room. She went over and hugged him--hmm why hadn't she seen all these people this term?? "Yeah, you can put the presents...where Ty wants you to put them," She said with a giggle. He was in charge here.

Lucy was glad she was doing okay. "Uh, she should be here soon," She replied, as she listened to what had was saying. "How's Lorcan?" She asked, trying to remember what was going on between them.

"Yup," Lucy said with a nod and then poked him again. As she arraged the flowers more artistically, she laughed at his response. "Well, she's gonna be surprised, no doubt about that!" She said.

Rex got it wrong. This is Kat's birthday. Well, hopefully she will like the carnations but he chaned them to red and yellow with his wand.He accidetally put oneof Kay's presents on te table. He took it back. He replaced it with another package for Kat.. " hello everyone" Rex called out.

"Yeah, pretty young, aren't I?" he chuckled and sat down. Rubbing his thigh, Tyler felt a dull pain. Probably a small bruise from before.
"It's just something I have to get used to," he laughed and knew that if he poked Luce back, Tyler would get poked even more. "I sure hope so or I might not hear the end of it,"