Marie was still sitting there staring at Carter into space when she heard Evelyn talking to her. "What?" she said snapping out of it. "Oh. Um. Summer. No, I haven't really thought much more about it." *Lie* "I'll probably just be doing a lot of reading with an occasional trip to Diagon Alley. Nothing excting really." More like a weekly trip....to hang out with Carter just to have sonething to do.

Dylan nodded, he knew how she felt. "Would be interesting. Getting in trouble in the opening and the end feasts. I am sure it would be some sort of record." Oh where was Duskurk when you needed him. He held onto her, keeping her warm. If she was cold that is. He had no idea. He peered at her, he could see her eyes closing. At least one of them was finally getting some sleep.

Decisions deeeeecisions.

Now the big decision here was: Which table to sit at? hmm...

Slytherin: and show some 'house pride?'
Gryffindor? Cameron would always be there to annoy. ..heh.
Bug the weird Ravenclaws? ..Naaah.
..Or go and sit with his ol' friends at the Huffie table... and risk getting belted. Again. Guh.

...Maybe later.

Slytherin it was then - for now. He could always take a wander when boredom set in. Which it would.. within minutes knowing attention deficient Oliver.

Hands in pockets, the tall skinny curly topped boy wandered over to the table decked out in green and silver and took a seat near the middle. He sat back and looked at the kids on either side of him, wearing his usual 'amused at nothing in particular' smirk which had only returned recently after a good ol' heart to heart with his good mate Miranda. Eh.. it was shameful how few members of his own house he knew.

...Shrug.

Nancy literally head-desked as soon as she had taken a seat at her house table. SLEEEEEP! She needed it, and she needed it NOW. Though, there was this tiny anxious, scared part of her brain which refused to just doze off like that.

Without even opening her eyes to look around at her fellow Slytherins Nancy simply resumed to lie there, cheek on her cold plate, breathing slowly. Was this all going to be better when she was home again? Somehow she highly doubted that. Especially cause she really really really did not want to discuss that with her parents. And yes, she was simply going to call it that. No details, no nothing. It would go away. It would just go away. Without prep-talk from anyone, especially not her parents.

GUH!

Bored, bored, bored...

Sensing someone approaching, Oliver turned his head to see Nancy. Boy.. she looked terrible. Like she hadn't slept for days. But that's what running around the school hexing your peers could do to you, as Oliver knew very well himself.

He smiled warmly at her, but the sixth year seemed oblivious to his presence as she sat down beside him and her head hit the table. He raised an eyebrow and eyed her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Ignore him, would she? Well fine then. heh.

Quietly and subtly Oliver reached for the large plate of salad in front of him and took a handful of carrots and cucumber which he then proceeded to delicately place on Nancy's head hoping she wouldn't notice as she lay there with her eyes closed.

Snicker.

He sat back and folded his arms, keeping his expression deadpan.

...Well that filled all of five seconds. Guh.

Even though she sensed someone moving beside her Nancy was too tired and too uninterested in her surroundings to actually open her eyes. Whatever they were doing couldn't be of any importance to her. Or so she thought...poor oblivious girl...

...though where would she go if not home. Cause something told her that after what had happened this term there was going to be a huge discussion going on with her parents concerning her return to Hogwarts next term. And she did not want to endure that...her currently prettily decorated head was aching enough already. So, no thanks.

Now, there was still the question of where to go...well, she was off-age so yeah...still...no idea...and right now she could really do withOUT another thing to worry about. Shifting her slightly Nancy felt something move on top of her head. Wait...

EEEK!

With a start Nancy jerked her head off the table, sending carrots and cucumbers flying everywhere. "What the-?!" A look of sheer surprise plastered across her face she glanced around herself until her eyes landed on...Oliver. Grabbing one of the carrots she pointed it at him as if it was a sword or her wand. "What did you do?!"

This. Was. Not. Funny. much

Oh dear Merlin. The girl was so out of it she didn't have a clue.

..That was, until she moved. Heh.

And then there was carrots and cucumber everywhere! “Watch it.” Oliver said as some of the food hit him on the arm. Oh the poor girl's face was a picture – if only he had a muggle camera handy to immortalise it forever. He smiled naughtily for a moment, though soon smoothed it out into an expression of practised 'curly haired cute boy' innocence as a carrot was wielded at him like it was a sword. “What? I didn't do anything.” Then looked around before his eyes settled on the tired looking girl beside him again. “Is this, like, a new fashion in hair decoration?” He gestured at the food which was now all over the floor. “As pretty as it may look, that's going to attract things after a while.” He raised his eyebrow as he looked at her but couldn't help the sly smirk from returning to his face. Hehehe.

If Nancy hadn't seen the rather smug, naughty expression on the boy's face she might have believed him there. Maybe. For about two seconds. Approximately. But as it was unfortunately for the boy she did not trust the innocent look on his face at all.

Even though she tried to glare at him, her eyes seemed to be too exhausted to do so. Therefore she ended up simply looking at him. It was an angry looking though. Uhm...yes. Jabbing the carrot at him once again Nancy replied, after having followed his gaze around briefly. "New new fashion in hair decoration? What are you talking ab-" Then it literally made click as her hand slowly went up to her hair...and closed around something. Something which felt like...a cucumber?!

Slowly untangling the vegetable from her hair Nancy pouted slightly. She couldn't help it. It was only then Oliver chose to speak up again. So, it looked pretty? "Pretty, hm?" At that she rubbed her eyes slowly and when they became visible again a tiny rather smug glint had appeared in them...

Quickly she raised the hand which was still holding the carrot and with a swift movement of her wrist incorporated the vegetable into the boy's pretty curls. "Now, do you feel pwetty?" Even though her face felt rather dead from all those sleepless nights, her lips somehow managed to show a little smirk as she held up a small pocket-mirror for him.

"I'm alright, I've been busy though lately finals were absolutely awful this term and next term I've got to look forward to NEWTS.. Oh I am totally looking forward to the summer, I've having another party at my house in Sydney, Australia so that'll be fun and I'm going on vacation back home to Kilkenny, Ireland to see my parents." Even though she wasn't exactly looking forward to the whole seeing her parents thing, she wasn't about to let it ruin her vacation.

Alexa suddenly came to with a start and shuddered lightly. Apparently she felt safer with Dylan but it didn't stop the nightmares. She has seen herself attacking those poor Huffies during the battle. She gritted her teeth and held back the tears.

"Yeah, a record for sure," she said. She was really really hungry but her stomach was in such knots that she wasn't sure that she could eat anything.

Oliver leaned forward slightly to look Nancy in the eyes not quite sure what her expression was supposed to be. Urgh.. she looked awful: blood shot eyes and dark circles below. He resisted the temptation to make a face because that would be mean. Not that putting salad in her hair wasn't, but it didn't seem as bad, ya know?

OH! She was glaring! Figured really.

Flinching as the carrot was jabbed towards him, he smirked a little at the irritated girl as she felt around in her hair to find a piece of cucumber. He started to laugh a bit and nodded. Yeah, it looked pretty... if you were a hungry rabbit.

Urrrh.. but what was she doing!? “Ack! No.” He protested. Hands moving upwards to shield himself against the older girl's wrath which he was sure was going to be a yet another slap. He was quite relieved when all he got was the piece of vegetable shoved in his own hair. He reached up and felt the at it, his mouth curling downwards as Nancy produced a mirror so he could see what he looked like. “You know what? I think I'm pretty enough without this.” He smirked as he admired his refection before his eyes came to meet Nancy's once again. “You on the other hand...” He gestured at her and laughed like a naughty little boy. Course he was just teasing. Nancy wasn't a bad looking girl at all.. even when she was looking so rough.

He pulled at the piece of carrot in his hair, then made a face as it wouldn't come ooout! It was well and truly tangled in there. “Urm.. Could you get it out now please?” He asked the Slytherin girl very nicely and gave her a sweet smile. heh.

Dylan felt her shudder against him, "You ok?" He frowned. Was she asleep? He couldn't fully tell. He gave her a tight squeeze though. Maybe that would make her feel better.

"Yep. I am good at breaking records," he smiled. "You hungry yet?" He wasn't sure when the food would appear but he hoped it was soon. He was getting hungry.

Unsure that her voice would work Alexa simply nodded her head that she was okay and squeezed Dylan in return. It was odd that such an awful situation had brought the two of them so close together.

When he asked if she was hungry she simply shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if I can eat," she said in a tiny shakey voice.

He smiled. It seemed that she was ok. Or at least she was saying she was. "You should try. At least try for me please," he smiled. Did he have to resort to the airplane thing? That was for babies. Not 13 year old girls. Though why he had his arm around a 13 year old was a good question.

Alexa sighed and said, "Okay, I will try, Dylan. But I make no promises. Are we still on for the train ride and hanging out this summer." She felt like Dylan was like a life line to normalcy or something.

Hehe... Nancy's smirk grew a little broader until it almost reached a normal "Nancy-smug-smirk" intensity. Almost. He was scared that she was going to jab his eye out with her carrot-y weapon. At least that was what the flinching suggested.

Somehow she managed to avoid being slapped by Oliver during his attempts to ward her off, and in the end there was a nice little orange carrot happily sitting in the boy's hair. It looked really really comfortable and safe up there in his dark curly hair. Somehow right then Nancy felt the urge to also have a place like this...not in Oliver's hair of course (duh!!) but somewhere comfortable, safe. And it was not at home...strangely enough.

But again, worry was going to be postponed to later. Now she needed to handle this rather self-obsessed boy opposite of her who was obviously admiring his own reflection. Right. Flicking the mirror out of his sight Nancy gasped mockingly at his words. He thought she was prettier WITH the cucumber in her hair?! Pfft. Narrowing her eyes at him, it was obvious that this conversation or encounter rather had lifted her spirits slightly. She did not look like she had just come out of the Muggle Zombie movie anymore. Not quite.

Mock pouting Nancy turned her head away from him and began placing a few grapes onto her plate. Simply cocking an eyebrow at him questioningly she let her eyes flicker towards the mess of hair and carrot on top of the boy's head. "Hmm...let me think..." She pretended to ponder for a moment before she resumed her grape-business. "No." There was a hint of teasing in her voice as she could not resist to smirk slightly. He HAD placed carrots and cucumbers onto her head after all.

"Good. That is all I ask. Or I may have to cry. And you don't want to see a Denver boy cry," he smiled. He could cry on cue. He was that good. "Of course we are. How about I take you away? Like a theme park or something. Take your mind off everything. There is one not too far away from my house."

Alexa actually cracked a little bit of a smile and said, "Yeah, let's not cry then." Then he mentioned a theme park... what in Merlin's pants was that? I mean, she is half blood but was raised in the Wizard world. She smiled and nodded. "That sounds lovely. What kind of themes are these parks?" she asked dumbly.

"I don't know about the themes but they have rollercoasters in them," Dylan smiled, "They are fast and awesome. Gives you an adreneline rush. Kinda like quidditch, but for muggles."

Heh.. it was nice to see a smile on Nancy's face.. even though it was more of a smirk, but still. Oliver's work here was done. Hehe.

His eyes flicked to hers the moment she irritably snapped her hand mirror out of his sight. He made a face and continued to pull at the piece of carrot entwined in his hair. “Ow!” he flinched as he pulled just a little too hard. He mock pouted and gave Nancy the puppy dog eyes silently pleading with her to remove it for him.

Urrhh.. and now she wasn't looking at him anymore. Tempted to wave his hand at her and say 'hello' to get her attention because, lets face it, attention was all he was after here, he merely stared at her instead while she pretended to ponder his request. “Nancy?” He said but was met with a teasing 'no.' Guh. He yanked at the vegetable in his hair again and winced. “Do you really want me to look like a complete fool for the entire feast?” He asked her.. then added quickly because he already knew the reply would be one in the affirmative. Funny - not. “Actually, don't answer that.” he waved his hand at her dismissively. “Can I at least borrow your mirror so I can see what I'm doing?” He smirked at the girl and put his hand out to receive the mirror.

If Alexa hadn't been so ruddy worn out and morose she would have perked up right then. "Rollercoasters... like Quidditch for Muggles?! I am definitely in. I hope Uncle Silas will let me go without his supervision," she said as she thought about her poor Uncle Silas juggling two children.

"Sort of like quidditch for muggles. It gives you the same rush," Dylan said. Well he presumed it did. He just felt sick when he played quidditch. "I will owl him and ask. Best coming from me, shows I am responsible. And that I can look after you." Yep.

Rubbing her eyes Nancy did indeed notice the look the boy gave her...he looked like a cute little curly-haired puppy. With a carrot in its hair. How cute. Cough. Still, he had decorated her totally oblivious self with vegetables!!! This meant no feeling sorry for the boy...who was just seemingly tearing strands of his hair out. Which was...not good, as he was already missing part of it. Which reminded her...Gulp!

Hearing him wince once again Nancy couldn't resist to roll her slightly blood-shot eyes. Was he going to yank at the carrot until he had torn it off? Before turning around she threw a grape into his direction and said, "Stop, Oliver. You'll get hurt." Okay, hurt was probably the wrong word but Nancy drowned out all images associated with that word and went to sigh at Oliver's attempts to free himself of the vegetable.

At his question the corners of her lips curled up slightly as she started to reply, he cut her short, though. Well, her answer was to be expected after all. The comment was unavoidable. "Okay..." Nancy shrugged, mockingly disappointed of not getting the chance to answer the question.

Glancing back and forth a few times between the carrot and the boy's outstretched hand Nancy heaved another sigh before inching closer towards him to get a better look at the hairy mess on top of his head. "You'll just yank your hair out..." She teased as she reached out to try to untangle the carrot out of his hair.

“Ouch.” Oliver winced once more before he stopped tugging at the carrot in his hair and looked at Nancy. Get hurt? Well that was a great choice of words there. Not. “This is but a tickle compared to what I've been through this year.” He smirked, then added, “...and you.” Giving her a pointed look. What with that freaky leg of hers when he found her lying passed out in the Courtyard that freezing winter's morning. Shudder.

Thank god that was over.. and it wasn't something WORSE ...and both of them were still around to tell the tale today.

“I'd thought I'd even things up a bit, you know? I wouldn't look so odd with two missing patches of hair.” The first one had, thankfully, almost grown back completely now. It had made him look... unsymmetrical.

He smiled when Nancy inched closer to him. He knew full well he could get her to take pity on him and remove the carrot for him. “Thanks.” He said as she reached out and began to untangle his hair. “Cheered you up a bit though didn't it?” He said looking at her sideways and winking mischievously.

Nancy inhaled sharply at the boy's choice of words...so he had indeed voice what she had been thinking. Or tried so hard not to be thinking about. She locked her eyes briefly with his before averting her gaze back to the plate in front of her. "Mhm..." And with that she nodded slowly before putting a grape into her mouth and holding out a few for Oliver she asked, "Grape?" No, she was not trying to avoid the subject...so not.

Even though Nancy was absolutely terrified of what had happened, the way Oliver was already joking about it made her relax a little. She probably should too...if it only were that easy. To be honest she admired Oliver for almost being his usual cheery self despite all that had happened. Giving the boy a rather half-hearted yet a little teasing smile she pulled a tiny bit on the carrot in his hair and said, "Not funny, Oliver." Though, the tone in her voice suggested that she was not entirely serious. Not entirely.

Glancing at his face - away from the tangly hair/vegetable mess - Nancy smiled at him genuinely. Yes, it had. A little anyhow. Or at least it had distracted her. "Mhm...thanks I guess." Moving back to untangling the boy's hair Nancy shifted a little in her seat. This was a very stubborn piece of vegetable. Very stubborn.

Finally, after almost breaking her fingers and the carrot the 17 year old managed to carefully pull the vegetable out of Oliver's hair. And with both her fingers and the carrot intact. Go her! "Carrot?" A small smirk flashed across her face as she offered Oliver the carrot teasingly.