Cadence laughed. "I'm glad you want to learn more! But right now, I need out of this castle. Want to walk down to Hogsmeade? We're allowed to go there now?"

"Sure. How about Mademe Puddifoots?" he said gathering his things.

"After you, Sir Ignatius!" she said with a giggle!

Sometimes, Phoebus truly forgot the gifts that Adrienne and Riley both possessed. Which made him wonder why Riley didn't already know about all of this. Well. He supposed with a distraction like Chloe around, he wouldn't really want to be delving too much into his best friend's thoughts now would he?

Then he heard her question about Kazi. " I don't know either. About Kazi," he clarified with a thoughtful expression. " I guess he's just around but we...I dunno." He said, shrugging. " I do kind of miss Potions though. That class always gave me a bit of calm, despite what it does to other people." He smiled a bit and then looked back at his shoes again. One of his shoelaces was untied.


Looking up from tying the lace, he heard Adrienne speak. " I know you wouldn't let him kill me. And even if he gets mad...I think he would be more mad that I'd probably be on your side all of the time now." He joked, trying to make her smile a bit more again. " You still want to?" He said, upon realizing she still wanted the...friends...and the...kissing bit too. He ended up getting up and walking over to her, dragging his chair with him too.

Plopping himself into it, he got comfortable before he spoke again. " I guess we could...I don't know. Try for friends...with..the other stuff?" he said. " Like...go out? We could go to Hogsmeade or something? Like that?" He was getting a little bit more of a high pitched voice as he spoke. So he cleared his throat and then looked ahead away from her. " it's up to you though." he said, looking nervous again.

Alex jumped as she heard another loud rolling of thunder..and what sounded like her name? She jumped as the lighting illuminated the hall, and she could see Chris looking lost just down the hall. "CHRIS!" She yelled at him,waving one of her arms at him. "Over here!" She called, as lightning flashed and she jumped again.

Adrienne had a feeling she knew what Phoebus was thinking about after her comment about knowing Riley's thoughts, even without actually getting into his head, and she grinned. "It really is kind of a dangerous place, when it comes down to it. I've gotten really good at ingoring certain things," she commented, before he actually responded to her questions about Kazi. Shuddering theatrically for a second, she looked at him before speaking. "Yknow, I think it almost makes him scarier, to think he might be lurking." But then, she generally found Kazi scary just for existing. "I'm sorry that we haven't had class for your sake, but personally, not having Potions doesn't bother me. Except when I think about NEWTs." And that confession should hardly surprise him, especially since she'd already gotten him to admit how much of a failure she was when it came to the subject. Besides, he seemed awfully concerned about his shoelace.

Adrienne started to worry a little, until he looked up again. "Well, I don't know if you need to worry too much about that," she teased, "You're not as good an actor as you think, when you pretend to go along with all his craziness." But she did still sort of feel a little scared of what reaction this would get from her brother. There was no getting around that. Until Phoebus registered the last thing she'd said before, and her eyes widened as suddenly he dragged his chair across the room. The dancer part of her hoped he wasn't scratching up the floor too much, but the other part of her was more nervous about what could happen. She took a breath as he simply settled in his chair again, unconsciously letting herself relax into a more normal position in her own chair until she blinked at his suggestion. "You mean, go to Hogsmeade on an official date-type thing?" The concept didn't surprise her, and she had to admit to herself that she'd been wondering if that was the path they were headed down ever since he'd kissed her at her house the first time. But the way his voice was reaching new pitch kind of made her wonder if he'd meant to say it. "I guess we could," she said softly as he left the decision up to her. "I mean, it could make it harder to hide from Riley, but maybe that's better." Get the part they were both afraid of over with. Well, except she was kind of still afraid of the thought that she hadn't known any of this before. That anyone, let alone Phoebus, could actually see her as more than just a friend. It was all still so confusing, but she just wanted to go with it, hope she got used to the idea.

Chris turned at the sound of his name, and smiled as he saw Alex jump as another fork of lightning split the dark sky. He lengthened his already long stride and wrapped his arms around Alex. "You're fine- I'm here now," he said with a grin, giving her a tight hug before releasing her once more. "So this is it?" he asked, stepping into the room and looking around. "What makes it different from the other tower rooms?" he asked, looking back at Alex with a smile.

Alex grinned as Chris saw her, and she was so very grateful that he practically sprinted the last few yards. She was scared, there was just no way around it, and his embrace felt good. It made her feel safe. "Good, I am glad you are here now." She said in a relieved voice as they stepped inside and closed the door. "Yes this is it." She said as another bolt of lighting lit up the sky. She shuddered as the thunder rolled over them.

"Well, This room can be anything we want it to be.I turned it into a tower room for us." She said with a nervous grin. "Complete with snacks." She motioned to the ice cream and popcorn..

The game, by no means a classic up to now, began to pick up pace but both teams were finding the opposition defensive barriers hard to break through. "Lampard keeps going. He looks to see Drogba, but Evans puts the ball out for touch. He's taking no chances there." Evan let his breath out angrily. He noticed Marie had gone too silent. While Ballack tried to decide who to pass, he asked "Enjoying?" He hoped she was, because he'd love to go through the match afterwards, even though Chelsea lost. His statements would more harsh then though, but still. It was nice.

Ballack took the throw-in towards Anelka. Anelka struck a low shot from distance but Van der Sar was secure. That over talented and good goalie. Evan shook his head. He knew his team would eventually pass through him, it was just a matter of time. Van der Sar sent it to Giggs who was playing wide left in absence of Nani. He attempted a speculative lob that cleared the bar. The visitors were looking their most dangerous as a counter-attacking team. It was another minute for Evan to come over a heart attack. Though Chelsea's Cech was world class too. He smirked as if there was a Manchester fan in the room. How funny it would be to make fun of them now. He looked at the time. It had been 30 minutes and there was already a few dangers at both goalies.

Chris heard the nervousness in her voice and grinned. "Someone's nervous," he said with a smile, reaching out and taking her hand. "Come on, you need to enjoy this for all its worth," he said, indicating the view before them. However, the disadvantage was that he could still see the ground, and that caused a small shudder to run through him. If he kept his eyes on the sky and his feet on the stone, he would be fine. He just didn't want to look down.

"Snacks! You remembered!" he said with a laugh as he saw the popcorn and icecream already laid out. "Just what we ordered too!" he added, still laughing.

Alex grinned as Chris took her hand and moved them over to the window. She had to admit it was a great view."Yes, I am pretty nervous." She said softly as she looked up at him, just in time to see a flash illuminate his face. She watched as a small shudder ran through him, and she wondered what that was about. "Looks like you are nervous as well." She said with a nod as she looked up at him. A loud clap of thunder sounded and she hid her face in his chest. GAH! This was not a good idea.

"Of course I remembered!" She said with a smile, "How could I forget?" She grinned. His laughter was infectious and she was starting to loosen up, a bit. She was still nervous though.

It's been weeks since school had started. Maybe a month already? Who really knew? It was hard to remember with all this homework and classes going on. To add on to that, so much drama. Had she been like that when she was thirteen? Fourteen? Fifteen? AHHH. Seriously. It scared her. The mere idea of her slipping into such craziness at that age. Made her wonder what the older students had thought of her.

Sighing, Livvy stood before the Room of Requirement, thoughtfully. She needed... a friend. Someone she could talk to. Someone she could bother. As if the room was answering a prayers, a door appeared and she could hear the faint, no... rather loud now, sounds of drumming. Livvy walked on in, smiling as she heard the noise.

"Raven! Nice beat."

he just walked in the room with too much on his mind and collapsed, after looking for a quiet place.

Chris flashed her a smile before looking out at the sky once more- just in time to see a beautiful fork of lightning dance across the sky. "I love storms like this," he said softly, giving her shaking hand a squeeze. As she commented on his shudder, he gave a small shrug. "You're not the only one with something to fear," he said quietly. He smiled as she hid her face in his chest. He wrapped his arm around and gave her another small squeeze.

"Come on, I think its time for some food!" he said, moving over to where the food was and settling down on the blankets. "Come on now- the thunder won't bite," he said with a smile.

Raven looked up slightly when she heard someone commenting on the beat she was playing, she stopped for a second and set the drumsticks down on the drums for the moment at least. "Hey Livvy, I didn't hear you come in so I'm a little nervous for someone else hearing my drumming since not many people have had the privilage before." she commented before picking up the drumsticks once more and continuing right where she left off before her friend had come into the room.

The thought of Kazi lurking around hidden corners was really kind of unnerving, Phoebus thought as he heard Adrienne voice the opinion. " I'm with you on that one." He said, looking over at her for a moment. He merely smiled at her mention of being glad that no Potions classes had been listed because then that meant a possibility of no N.E.W.Ts. It was amusing to him but then he could understand her position. He'd be just fine if they gave up Runes for the term.

" I'm not that good of an actor? " Phoebus smiled a little. " Well generally I was all for Riley's craziness, I just liked to temper it with my own calm." He said, still smiling at her.

Then...she'd answered his suggestion. His smile faded to a more serious expression. " It would make it harder to hide." He said, as if he'd never realized it. He thought, glancing away from her for the moment while he did so. " We could go to Hogsmeade...and we could study. Here, sooner." He said, thinking on his feet. " You know studying. Together....uhhmmm a study date?" He asked her, looking at her as if he expected her to say no, like that kiss that day had been a fluke and never to be repeated again.

Adrienne looked at Phoebus in surprise, her blue eyes wide once again, as he agreed with her comment about a lurking Kazi being scarier than the normal Kazi. She'd thought . . . "But don't you, like, like Kazi? I mean, you like Potions. And you're really good at them," she asked, a little confused. Especially when he just smiled at her in response to her bringing up the idea of no Potions classes. "Well, what class would you rather we be without?," she asked hypothetically. Just to get rid of this confusing silence, because she was starting to wonder what he was thinking about. And that could get dangerous.

When he answered her teasing about his acting skills with a joke, she smiled. At least this seemed more normal. For the situation, at least. "Hey, I don't mind his craziness, usually. It's just when I'm the target when I find a problem with it." But Phoebus was right with his calm comment. He was way more . . . centered than Riley, but maybe that came with having thoughts other than making out with random girls. Or Chloe, which reminded her that she hadn't seen either Riley or her best friend again in a while. At least she was fairly aware there weren't any cars hiding on the grounds,so that was out.

She snapped out of her thoughts about her brother, which were getting steadily more unnerving, as she noticed Phoebus's expression change. "Yeah, it will. But sadly he's going to have to find out eventually," she said with a tiny shrug. They couldn't hide forever, even though it was an oddly intriguing thought. She nodded as he kept musing aloud, then a faint grin crept onto her face as he brought up studying. "That is so a Ravenclaw thing to do, but okay. Besides, it's not like we won't have to study anyway. And you still have to take up the challenge of getting me to be not so much of a failure in Potions," she said, amusement obvious by the time she finished speaking. Even though it almost looked like he'd expected her to refuse. Or run away or something. The more she thought about this, the kiss, all of it, she was getting more used to the idea, and realizing she'd been stupid not to notice it before.

Did he like Kazi? Hmm. Phoebus hadn't thought of it in those terms exactly. " I just knew how to get along fine in his class without having to either like or dislike him, is what it was. And even if I thought Kazi was really talented, doesn't mean I don't find him terrifying." He said with a light chuckle. He then answered straight away, since he'd been thinking about that answer anyway. " I coudl go without Runes really." He told her.

She had a point there. Riley was always kinda spazzy and fun in his own way but when that energy was focused on Adrienne, it was always set on Annoy. Hmm. He wondered if they went on dates, would Riley ..actively bother them. It was a possibility. " So you're saying I can kill two birds with one stone. Go on a date with you and also actually study with you," He said when she reminded him of how he had to help her with Potions. He smiled a little.

That was when he stood up finally, looking over at her. " So...since we're both such Ravenclaws...How about tomorrow we study. THen we can go to ...the great hall for supper at the same time?" He asked, trying to figure out if he'd just asked her to dinner in a very weird and roundabout way.

Adrienne nodded as Phoebus tried to explain how he saw Kazi, laughing a little as he admitted the really old professor was terrifying. "Okay. At least you agree with me there," she said with a smile. Even though she certainly didn't know how to get through Potions without feeling like a complete idiot. It just definitely was not her subject. And then he brought up Runes, and she laughed again. "Did I ever tell you about last term, when Professor Lupa almost seemed all passive-aggressive when she thanked me for showing up to the joint Runes/Arithmancy lesson? I think she knows that's like my second least favorite class." Not to mention the fact she'd barricaded the professor into her office, on accident, after that lesson. Stupid spending half of last term cursed. She still felt guilty for that, even though she hadn't gotten caught.

And then he hadn't really responded to comment about Riley, and that set her wondering what he was thinking about again. This was starting to be a real problem, considering she'd never really worried about what Phoebus was thinking before. Not to mention the fact neither one of them really knew exactly how Riley was going to respond to the idea of them. As a whatever this was turning out to be. Are we dating now?, she wondered, before he spoke again. Oddly answering her thought. "I guess. I mean, sure. Why not?" They were still going to have to deal with exams at the end of term. They may as well, kind of, double things up. "But we could always do stuff without studying too." Before her head exploded from too much information. Besides, she really needed a trip to Honeydukes for chocolate.

As he stood up, she looked up at him from her chair, before standing up as well, slipping her flats on again along with her school robes. It was just easier getting around the school without dealing with people wondering why she was wearing dance clothes, until she could get back to the dorm to change back into her uniform. "Sure. Tomorrow. Should we meet somewhere?," she said, looking over at him as she leaned over to pick up her bag. Easiest would probably be the common room, but then it was often hard to really do much in there. Studying or otherwise. Then she smiled at his uncertainty about what he'd suggested, not really even registering what it really could mean. Other than the fact that as far as she knew, if they were going to try this dating thing, going places together made sense. "We do have to eat at some point. We may as well go together. And even if Riley's in the Great Hall, we don't have to think he'd immediately figure things out." Her brother could be a bit oblivious sometimes, unless a girl was involved. And she certainly didn't count. Which could fall in their favor, really.

Alex nodded as Chris spoke, and her gaze also moved toward the window, however the fork of lightning the flashed across it was not beautiful to her, but terrifying. Why had she agreed to this? She wanted to be huddled up in her room, or hugging onto one of her brothers who knew about this fear. Not here with a boy she liked. She wanted to pretend to be strong. It wasn't working. "I am glad you love storms like these." She said in a soft voice, her had gone back to being buried in his chest. She felt his small squeeze and she pulled back a little. Merlin she was practically all over him. This wasn't right! She pulled back all the way and looked up at him as he spoke. "And what do you fear?" She asked curiously.

Food? Who could think of food at a time like this? Her stomach was in knots, and she felt like she was going to throw up. But.. She slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him on the blanket. She settled pretty close to him though, her fear winning out over her pride. "So. what do you want first? Popcorn or Ice cream?" She asked as she hear another boom of thunder and shuddered more. Hiding her face in her hands.

Marie sat there watching the two teams battle it out over the ball. She was totally lost in the game trying to keep up with all that was going on. She was so focused on the TV that she wasn't even paying attention to Evan, that is until he spoke directly to her instead of the TV. Looking up at him she said "Erm, yeah, I'm enjoying it." 'Now if only I could remember everything that I am watching things would be great' she thought as she turned back to see what was going on. Things seemed to be getting a little wild, well to her anyway things looked wild, yet still no one had scored.

Looking over at Evan she said "Um what happens if no one scores by the end of the game? Do they just keep going until someone gets a goal?" She didn't really see that happening here, but wow the game seemed like it had been going on forever already and there were no points yet.

Chris was still looking out across the sky, smiling slightly as the clouds rolled far above their heads. He glanced down at Alex and looked away quickly. In the time that they were together, he had felt his liking for her grow- possibly into more than just the friendship he knew they already shared. But, the question was- how did she feel? With a quiet sigh, he pushed those thoughts away into a back corner of his mind.

"I really do," he said, his eyes leaving her face and scanning the skies again. As he felt her pull back, he released Alex quickly. If she didn't want to be there, he wouldn't force her. As she asked about his fear, he clenched his jaw slightly. "Well, you've been honest enough with me," he said after a second. "I can't stand heights," he told her quietly.

He looked down at the food- although it took him longer to answer because he was constantly aware of her presence next to him. "Ummm," he stared down at the food, trying to process what was going on. "Well, ice cream- because that might melt," he said with a shaky grin.

Alex was quiet for a moment as she just watched the storm roll over them. Her thoughts were just about as cloudy as the towering thunderheads above them. She liked Chris, she liked him alot. But there was still Damon to consider. Or should she even consider him? He had left with no word of his whereabouts. And of course, she didn't know how Chris felt about her. She sighed softly, as she looked down at the blanket. Merlin, what am I going to do? She asked herself silently as she looked back up at the sky.

She almost immediately regretted her question as Chris spoke, she could tell he was uncomfortable with the subject, she had opened her mouth to take the offending question back when he answered her. Heights? "Oh Chris! I am so sorry, if I had know that, I could have found a nicer place on the ground for us to watch the storm." She said softly. "You are safe here, honestly." She said as she put her hand on his arm and smiled up at him encouragingly. However her brave facade faded quickly as another thunderclap sounded. She squeaked in fight and burrowed into Chris's chest.

Ice cream first was certainly a wise choice, and had she been in a normal state of mind she would have gobbled it down, but currently... She was a bit to scared to do much of anything. "Ice cream sounds good." She hesitated for a moment before unlatching herself from the older boy and moved her hand slowly to get bowls and spoons.

Chris looked down and seeing the large amount of blankets, decided he would take a seat. "Here, why don't we settle down," he said, indicating the blankets. "It might be a little more comfortable..." he said, and without another moment he settled down onto the floor. "Oh, it definitely is," he said with a sigh. As his fear registered, he offered a small smile. "No, don't worry about it," he said, waving her apologies away. "Look- I agreed to come up here- and its safer up here than it would be on the ground," he pointed out. As she assured him that it was safe, he laughed. "Yes... well, as long as I don't look down- we're good," he said with a nod as he reclined back on the blanket.

He released her easily and reached down as well to help with the icecream. They were close, noses almost touching as he glanced over at her. "Sorry," he said, moving away slightly and looking back down at the icecream. "What flavors did you bring?" he asked her quickly.

Phoebus chuckled a little as Adrienne mentioned Professor Lupas past passive-aggressiveness. He hadn't ever taken Runes so he couldn't say he was well versed in the professors habits to know if that was really that entertaining. " I guess she takes everything Runes personally or something." he said, shrugging a bit.


He was quiet until she said they could do other stuff besides study. That...was what he had been hoping for? But it made him nervous. " That's true. We can go into Hogsmeade one weekend. " He said, smiling a bit uncertainly. Why was asking her out so much more nerve wracking then kissing her had been? Maybe it was because it was school...who knew.

" We should meet...in the library. Use those study tables," He said, nodding at her as he walked toward the exit. " I mean it would make sense. Meeting in the library to study, lots of books." He said with another of his smiles. Then she was off talking about how even if they were in the Great Hall together, Riley wouldn't know the difference between a date and them waiting for him to get there. " Well...I guess I will uh...see you tomorrow then. " He said, back to patting down his hair a bit. What did he do? Hug her? Kiss her? Hug AND kiss her?

He decided that a hug on it's own was good enough. So he leaned down, giving her one, but then...well he couldn't help himself. He planted a kiss....on her cheek before walking backwards to the doorway, grinning a bit sheepishly at her. " Yeah..tomorrow. Bye!" He said, backing out of the doorway.