Raven headed into the Room of Requirement with her drumsticks in hand, she needed to work off some stress and the only way to do that was play drums; she headed over to the drum kit and sat down on the stool then took out her mp3 player, putting her earbuds in and cranking up the volume so that she could only hear the music and the drums. Flipping through the songs, she stopped on one then began drumming along a little loudly but that didn't matter to her seeing as she was the only one in the room.

Reese was starting to feel a little better now after all that stuff had happened earlier in the week, so she thought today would be the perfect time for her and Torin's 'friendship time' that they tended to have at least once or twice a week.

With her hair pulled back into a ponytail, she click-clacked down the hallway in her red high heels. The only time she stopped walking was once she came across the big, empty wall onto the seventh floor corridor. She leaned up against the wall as she waited for Torin to arrive.

Whit walked down the corridor, following a thumping noise she could hear from the common room. "Hello?" She called out, trying to find the source but getting nowhere. Then she reached the room of requirement and decided that, since she had nothing else to do, she'd check in there. Thinking of something to take her to the sound, Whit entered a room that held none other than Raven and a set of drums. 'That would make sense.' "You are very looouuuud!!!!" She felt like she'd lose her voice if she yelled that loud one more time. Hopefully the girl heard her.

Torin was shocked.

Reese was wearing a pair of shoes that... that weren't UGLY. Finally there was a pair that made the 0.009% of her shoes that weren't ugly. He was so writing this in his diary book of thoughts later.

But for now...

"Hey, Reese," he said as he smiled at the blonde leaning against the wall.

Raven heard someone yelling at her and she winced slightly then took the earbuds out of her ears then turned the mp3 player down and turned it off, putting it back in her pocket. "Oh sorry Whit, I couldn't really tell how loud I actually was while I was drumming." she said, rubbing the back of her neck slightly. She wasn't one to ever realize how loud she was playing when she got right into it. Getting up from the drum kit, she left her drumsticks resting on the snare drum then sat down in one of the recliners and crossed her right leg over her left. "So, what brings you to the Room of Requirement while I'm here?" she asked curiously then adjusted her fedora slightly.

Reese tapped her heel against the stone ground as she waited for the Hufflepuff Prefect to get there. Though, it honestly didn't take long until she saw the boy walking down the corridor looking shocked about something. A little smile crossed her lips as she stepped away from the wall; she was also thinking about a place her and Torin could visit.

"Hey Torin," she greeted him with a smile. "Don't you look...did you get a hair cut or something? Or are those new clothes? Because you look quite gorgeous today." Wait...WHAT? "I mean...I'm hyper today," she quickly added before turning around and dashing through the door to the room that had just been created.

She should have NEVER ate all that chocolate. Chocolate always tended to make her say things she didn't mean to say.

"Hey, Reese! I just went and got new -" Wait a second... What did she just say?

Reese called him GORGEOUS?!?!?!

This was almost as bad as when she had been on the love potion.

"Did you just call me gorgeous?"

Gold smiled, a bit. "But love for a dog is love," she said, softly. "I think we limit love. Try to, anyway. Because you can't really place restrictions on love. It tends to break them down."

"... and it's not just between a boy and a girl, or a man and a woman, Dylan." Love wasn't that. "It's about a lot of other things, and about trusting and sharing and sacrificing --- and that said," she looked up at him. "It's very natural to love a dog. I mean, I love my kittens."

A lot.

"Mmmm."

"Very good. Nice to see that you have both been listening in class." Marcus unfolded his arms and began to move around the room, his wand gripped firmly in his hand. "Being aware of your surroundings is essential, checking out what else you can use besides your wand will come in handy especially if you need a distraction." He paused for a moment and gave his wand a small wave, conjuring up a box of ping ping balls.

"And yes Arya, never underestimate your opponent. Looks can certainly be deceiving and someone who doesn't seem very adept at magic can do some amazing stuff if they are under the influence of say the Imperius Curse or a potion of some sort."

Marcus stopped and looked at the two girls with a grin, "Okay so first I think we should start with the shield charm but before we do that I want to check how you hold your wands."

Dylan shook his head, "I didn't mean that love for a dog isn't love. I meant that people could interpret that he sang it for his wife or something." Oh now he was a tad confused. Sure anything could be love. He did love Artie afterall. Oh how he loved Artie. And Artie loved him back. Especially when food was involved.

"Do you trust me?" he asked. He was curious. Since he trusted her. And he was making sacrifices being with her. He could be with any girl he wanted. And he had chosen to be with her. He was sure Kiri wanted him.

He realised she was avoiding his question. He didn't want to push it though. Yeah he had reminded her. So what? She reminded him that she loved him. Yeah.

Oooh, that was so true!

Nodding affirmatively at Arya's response, she smiled widely when she saw her friend tying up her hair. Remembering her last duel, where her hair was streaming all over the place, Ivory searched her pockets for her head band tugged it on. Little baby hairs standing out all over the place. Hey, it was last minute and she didn't have a mirror.

Listening intently as Sir Lawson explained the importance of being aware and not underestimating your opponent, Ivory nodded again. This part at least wasn't difficult to understand.

Her ears perked up at the mention of the shield charm, and she smiled excitedly.Her own shield charm was sadly lacking and although it could stay strong if it was small, the more stretched out it was and the more she moved, the less effective it was.

Wait, what?! There was a particular way to hold a wand? Wow...you learn something new everyday.

As she unholstered her wand, Ivory snuck glances at the box of ping-pong balls as if they were suddenly going to fly up and attack to provide motivation. Odds are, she thought ruefully, they probably will. Grasping it firmly, she felt the familiar feeling of warmth wash over her body and pinpoint at the tip of her wand in a small blue flame.Already used to her wand's weird quirk due to its wand core, Ivory ignored it and lifted her arm slightly, pushing the sleeves of her robes back.

Smiling hesitantly at Professor Lawson, she held out her arm to show him how she held her wand.

As she listened to Sir Lawson her eyes flickered to the objects in the room, wondering how she could use them to her advantage, sure she was good at charms but not that good. Arya eyed the box of ping pong balls curiously, wondering what they would be used for before her eyes turned back to Sir Lawson at the sound of her name, taking in his every word. She had never thought of dueling someone who was cursed or had taken a potion. When this was over she would definantly head to the Library and read more on the subject.

Her eyes full of excitement, she stood up and pulled her wand out of her school robe. Arya knew the shield charm, but wasn't able to hold it long on account of the whole concentration thing. That's not really a shocking fact considering the girl has trouble sitting still let alone concentrating in her classes when a professor lectured.

Grining she twirled the wand once before holding it for Lawson to see. She held the wand with just enough firmness so it wouldn't slid out of her hand, but loose enough that she could easily twirl it between her fingers whenever she felt the need to do so. Despit how much she loved her wand and how it felt in her hand, as if she found a part of her that was missing, she didn't use it much. It wasn't that she didn't like preforming spells or even that she was bad at them, but having been raised on a ranch she much prefered to do things manually. Arya was actually finding quiet difficult to incorporate magic into her daily life, only using it when needed like in class.

Whit sighed happily when the drums finally ceased though she now heard a ringing in her ears. She wondered if she could sing the same note and was about to try but figured she would barely even be able to hear herself anyways. "Yeah...you should work on that. I could hear you from downstairs." 'Maybe if I put water in my ears? ...Do I always sounds like this?" O_o

"I am in here becaauuse....well I was trying to figure out where the noise was coming from and I figured I would check in here. Luckily, I found the noise and you." Whit followed suit and walked over to a chair next to Raven and sat down comfortably. "So how are things? How's the boyfriend?" Whit, honestly, couldn't remember whether or not Raven had a boyfriend but she was taking a chance.

"Ah see that's not something I can really control, when I'm playing; I never notice how loud I actually am so yeah. Not that I've haven't got yelled at before, that happened plenty at my old school with my band and I think people just gave up after awhile." Raven said with a slight chuckle as she picked up the bass beside her and began to play a few chords just strictly out of boredom.

"Haha well, at least you found me here; for all you knew that could have been someone else completely." As Whit asked how things were and how her boyfriend was, she sighed slightly and ran some of her fingers through her brown hair. "Well things are good, it's soon my birthday so I'm looking forward to that and as far as Daniel goes, well I've not seen him since he was given love potion by Gold and that's exactly when I headed off to Australia to just figure things out and just relax."

Reese was already inside the room, but she had caught what Torin had said. She was hoping that Torin didn't catch that little hyper slip up of hers, but he had, so now she had to deal with it...

"Nope, I didn't," she replied while she stayed where she was. So much for 'dealing with it'. Truthfully, she didn't really mean to say that out loud. That was something she was suppose to say to Jack. Not Torin. NEVER EVER AGAIN will it be to Torin. "Now, come on it, Torin!"

Gold shrugged. "If you say so," she said. Love... is just love though, is it not? Even though Dylan had a point.

She raised an eyebrow, at his question. "I might," she replied. There was just something in that look of his, something that... made her not say yes. Even though she was quite sure that she did trust him.

"Do you really trust me, then?" She asked him, with something of a shrug. There was boys who trusted her. Loved her, too. Lots of them. She could be with anyone, couldn't she?

She was in a strange mood, today.

Hmph.

Gave up for a while? Whit was in the same house as Raven and had never heard her playing anything before. Was something wrong with her ears that suddenly got fixed? "I guess you were just meant to be heard." When Whit sung she thought she knew how loud she was...but then again singing is completely different from playing an instrument...

"Very true, but, I do love meeting new people. I don't think I know enough people here." 'I might as well live under a rock.' Whit knew the same people for almost 3 or four years now, not that she was complaining, but they were only a select few. "Are you serious?" How did she not know when her own friends birthday was? "When, exactly, is your birthday?"

Love potion? This sounded like Torin and Reese all over again. "So then...you two aren't together anymore? Did he know it was a love potion?" Surely, if the boy knew it was love potion from Gold he wouldn't have taken it. It must've been a trick!

"Ah well, you really should come back with me this summer; you'd meet my new friends who are really cool and I think you'd like them." Raven said with a nod, as she continued to play more chords on her bass; that seemed to always calm her down when she wasn't feeling the best. "It's March 17th, what the muggles refer to as St. Patrick's Day; it's a very significant day for all Irish people."

"Well we are still together sorta, I mean it would be rather foolish of me to breakup with him just because of that. No he didn't know that it was love potion, Gold explained to me that it was an accident and I mean I did forgive her so things are fine there."

He raised his brow at her. "You said that and I've called you pretty before, so you don't need to pretend that you didn't." 'cause that would be ruse even though she was wrong and he wasn't gorgeous in the first place.

Besides the point when they needed to get to their Torin/Reese time.

"What you wanna do this time? Talk about Professors?" 'cause he did enjoy the occasional gossip session. And no, this did not make him girly.

"That would be great! Even if your friends don't come here....though if they do that would be even better!" It would make sense for Raven to be talking about friends from Hogwarts and why Whit thought otherwise was unknown. "Ooooh I love St. Patrick's Day! What with all of the four-leaf clovers and the leprechauns! Such a great holiday. That's so cool!" Whit would have to make sure to get Raven something green....both for Slytherin and St. Patricks Day.

Whit nodded understandingly while listening to the whole situation. "So then....what exactly is the problem?" If he didn't drink it on purpose then any of his actions while on the potion shouldn't count against him, right? "You forgave HER but not HIM?" 'I thought she and Gold weren't really FRIENDS...he was her boyfriend...soooo...huh?'

"My friends in Australia go to some private magic academy in Sydney, not sure the name of the school although I do know it's the Australian equivalent to Hogwarts." Raven hadn't remembered to ask them about their school but it didn't matter anyways seeing as she didn't exactly care about education at the time. "Ah it's such a festive day in Kilkenny, I was right lucky to be born that day since there was a massive party going on out in the streets." She remembered the stories that her parents had told her about what was happening the night she was born.

"The problem is, I'm not sure if Daniel and I are actually meant to be; I mean, I had things all figured out back early last term when Asher was around but ever since he disappeared I've been uncertain about every relationship I'm involved with." Out of boredom, she began fiddling with the necklace that Gold got her for Christmas, she never took it off unless of course she was about to sleep.

"Are you serious? That's so cool!" Whit hadn't ever really thought about other magic school other than this one, Beauxbatons(sp?) and Durmstrang (sp?). It would make sense for there to be other schools otherwise Hogwarts would be PACKED, and there were enough students as it was. "That's like being born on Christmas! Always a celebration on your birthday no matter what."

Whit couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I'm so sorry. But there's no way you could possibly know if you're meant to be yet, it takes time. I understand that things with Asher hurt you though." At a point in time Whit thought she had found the one she was meant to be with...twice really, but the first time she learned that it wasn't and the second well....Whit was still trying not to think about Keith too much. He was off somewhere finding Lima pretty or something.

"Maybe," Dylan smiled. Yes he did. But she only said might. He didn't want to sound needy. Oh how confused he was. This whole long term girlfriend thing was confusing him more every day. This had been the longest relationship he had ever had. And probably were all put together.

"You...um...want to come to my house over the summer?" he asked. Yes it was early but he had to tell his parents. Maybe.

What?

It wasn't like she had not been invited over to someone's house, before. Loads of times, by loads of different people. Friends. Family. One or two boys, too. But Dylan? Well, she hadn't expected that from him. Gold frowned, then beamed at him.

"I would love to!"

Waittttt.

"DyDyyy. Where do you live?"

Marcus walked over to the two girls and checked over their grips and gave a slight nod of his head. "Excellent Arya." He turned to Ivory and gave her a smile and placed his hand over hers. "You're holding yours just a little too tightly. Loosen your grip just a tad, you want it firm but not too firm. Grip it so that it won't fall out of your hand but it still has enough movement for when you cast."

He took a few steps back and 'accioed' the box of ping pong balls, "Okay we're going to practice the shield charm. Now as you probably know the incantation is 'Protego' and your wand movement is an upwards flick." Marcus gave the two girls a demonstration of flicking his wand upwards and his shield automatically went up in front of him.

"Now producing a shield charm is easy enough but you keeping it up takes some practice and lots and lots of concentration. You need to block everything else out and simply focus your mind on keeping the shield in place." he lent over and picked up a handful of ping pong balls, "Now I know these don't look very hard but they can still shatter a weak shield and since you two are just beginning, I wouldn't want to throw anything harder at you. So what we're going to do is, I want you both to put up your shields and I will throw some ping pong balls at you until the shield either shatters or you can sustain it for a full minute."

Marcus looked between the two with an expectant look, "You okay with that?"