"Gold. That's a unique name," Aiden remarked. Her surname was rather unusual as well, but he decided not to comment on that as well. "I'm sure guys give you the cheesiest pick-up lines," he laughed. And she guessed right about his being a transfer; then again, it was rather obvious, wasn't it? "Yep. Previously attended Durmstrang. I must admit, though, I'm very impressed with Hogwarts."

Art had woken up quite early that morning eager to walk the grounds and also he wanted to find Rhea. He had planned to make things officially official in every way and had planned to take her on a date the first weekend they were allowed to go into Hogsmeade. He wanted to tell her before she made any plans, plus he wanted to just be with her again. He was always happiest when he was around her.

He wore a pair of simple jeans , a black button up with a python on the back and Celtic designs all across it, and his silver necklace and favorite pair of black leather boots. He hardly wore any footwear besides his boots. He had wandered around outside the castle the courtyard for a bit and when it was certain that Rhea was nowhere in sight he decided to walk back to the corridor when his eyes met the beauty they sought all morning. "Hello there my lovely goddess...It appears I finally found you." he said giving her a his charming smile. He walked over until he was directly in front of her and softly placed his hand under her chin. "I missed you love." he said sweetly and gave her a gentle kiss. Her lips tasted so sweet to him.

Gold laughed. She got to hear that comment, too often! "Everyone tells me that," she had to admit. "But I think it's a pretty name. With a name like that, no wonder I got sorted into Gryffindor." Her lips curved into a smile, at her own remark, and then she had to grin, at his statement - Lord, that was truer than she would like to confess!

"They do. It's kind of silly, actually." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. She had had enough of boy trouble, to last her a lifetime - then again, she had told herself that, start of the year before, and she had had two boyfriends, since then. Ah, well. Better not think about those. AND it wasn't her fault things didn't turn out well. Really!

"I've heard a lot about Durmstrang," she told Aiden. "Most of it is dark, though. Hogwarts seems a lot more cheerful, to me. Comparing it to what I've heard of Durmstrang, I mean."

Aiden had to agree. He liked the name as well, and he certainly wouldn't forget that one. It's not everyday that you run into a girl named 'Gold'! He smiled when she affirmed his statement. Oh, he could only imagine how lame those lines must sound. 'Who needs money when I've got all the Gold I want!' Or something terribly corny like that.

"And you would be right," he told her, when she spoke of Durmstrang. "It is rather dark. I suppose that's one of the reasons I like Hogwarts so much? Much more open, and yes, cheerful." He crossed his arms over his chest. "You can't blame the Durmstrang students for being so oafish sometimes - it's all due to the gloominess! I wouldn't doubt if half the students have that seasonal affective disorder, merely because they're cooped up in there for classes all day!" Perhaps that was a bit too much bashing of his former school. After all, it certainly did have its good points.

"So, were you on your way to the courtyard when I interrupted you?"

Gold tilted her head a little to one side, as she listened to Aiden. My! Everybody said that about Durmstrang! "I met another guy from Durmstrang, a couple of days ago," she told him. "He sounded a lot more unhappy to be here. I think he liked the other place, because they allow you to fight it out in corridors, or whatever. Not sure if he was telling the truth, but..." She shrugged a little. She would always love Hogwarts, best.

"I'm glad you like it here, though -- and not really. I was just strolling around, trying to have a good day."

Annie shook her head. Though she wasn't going to fight it. Things were going perfectly enough to make her not go insane after such cute comment. Because she wasn't going to overreact and really hug Drew.

And then, he started to hum. O.O Then to, tease about going out with her?

But WHEW! He gave up. He wasn't so great at lying. Heehee. "Thanks. Just think of a place that isn't all pink...I swear that I just suggested Puddifoots because they give you nice choices of sweets...and stuff..." She said.

But she needed to know more. She was eager to know about Drew's first week. "So, how was your first week back...?" Annie questioned.

Aiden laughed as she talked of some other boy who apparently liked Durmstrang because of the 'fights.' "Well, I guess that's partly true. It wasn't really out of the ordinary for fights to break out right there in the halls." Maybe the professors didn't mind because they thought it promoted the 'tough' aspect. "Kind of stupid reason to like Durmstrang, if you ask me, but to each his own." He shrugged.

He lifted an eyebrow when she mentioned the last part. "Trying to have a good day? Hmm, and were you successful in this?"

Whoa. Hogwarts was a much safer place, then. Could you really call it safe, though? Gold remembered everything that had happened, end of last term, and resisted the sudden desire to bite on to her lower lip - it was still tough to accept that Dylan might have hurt her, if he had gotten the chance. At least she had managed to take care of herself.

Of a lot of others, too.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she looked back at Aiden. Hey, he was cute! That was nice. Gold liked looking at cute boys. Such as Mr. T and Chris and Xylon and -- wait! She did not like looking at Xylon! He was jerk extraordinaire! Still, it made her days at Hogwarts more fun. Looking at cute boys, that is. Especially when she had Brody with her, because then they could do it together, and have a good laugh at their own silliness.

"Well, my day has barely begun." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. "I can't say if I've succeeded, yet."

"Hmm, well that's a good way of looking at things." Neither starting out the day convinced that it's a good one, nor being convinced that it's a bad one. It could all change in an instant anyway, so might as well live in the present. Then again, easier said than done. Eh. And his mind was sidetracking already.

"So, I've met the head boy, Chris," he told her, gently interlocking his hands behind his back. "And he's really nice, from what I gathered." The guy seemed like the perfect fit for head boy, actually. "Is there another Gryffindor prefect, or is it just you and Chris in charge?"

"Live in the present?" Gold offered. She wasn't sure if she did. But she was a calm sort of person, even if she might look super-cheerful, at times. Though the 'super-cheerful' bouts had weaned off, lately. Gold was pretty sure they weren't going to come back too often, anymore.

She was surprised, when the conversation suddenly turned to Chris. "Oh, he's pretty nice," she had to agree. "He's a really bright and helpful sort of person." Gold was fond of, and liked working with, Chris. He was a good sport. "Just me and Chris," she said, with a little nod of her head. "Though we had three Gryffindor prefects, last year. No idea why we only have two, this one. Guess the staff will have its reasons."

She couldn't say she could guess them, though.

Having noticed that Kylie just couldn't find many of her friends, she figured she'd go outside to meet some new people. She generally flew by the corridor to the grounds, but instead, decided to take a break, sit on the floor and write a little journal entry.

She wondered if anyone would stop to talk to her..

Drew laughed as Annie said noooo pink. "I can promise you there will be noooo pink where ever we go." He said smiling. Yesss of course he knew Annie didn't like pink but she loved sweets....

"My first week back. Pretty good. Not much happening so far but hey I'm sure that will change. How about you?" He asked raising an eyebrow. Wellll besides Copito of course.....

Rhea started to make her way towards the courtyard when Art's voice caught her ears. She had been too busy looking down into the courtyard to notice him approach her. She smiled at him as he walked up. They hadn't been official or anything, in fact she wasn't sure what Art wanted and their relationship had her confused most of the time so she thought little about the status of it.

He still called her goddess a nickname he had coined for her when she started calling him niffler.
She was about to reply to him when he gave her a soft kiss. She tilted her head and looked at him, though she did have a smile on her face.
"I missed you too sweets. How have you been?"

Art smiled back at her when she smiled and said that she missed him too. When she asked him how he had been he ran a hand through her dark, silky ponytail. "I'm better now" he said and held her closely. "Rae.....I have something to ask you..." he said and pulled back just a little. He had a jewelery box hidden in his back pocket that he had meant for her. It was a pair of earrings he had acquired for her not long before term started. He wanted to give her something special when he asked her if they could be official. He had nervous butterflies right now ,but he knew she was the right girl and he had to ask. Oh here we go...please be happy about this....I...just want us to be happy like this.. he thought as he silently wait for her reply.

Rhea watched as he ran his hand through his ponytail. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked him over. He was definitely not himself, something was on his mind. That was the only time Art wasn't his causal cool relaxed self. When he said he had something to ask her, her eyebrows raised in surprise. She wondered if he just wanted to be friends now. He might have worked everything out with Nabora and they were going to get married after school or something. It would hurt her but she would want him to be happy. She nodded.

"Sure Art, go ahead and ask." There was a hint of sadness in her voice that she was trying to hide. If he wanted to be friends, she would but only if she had to. She would try to avoid him as much as she could.

Art was a bit surprised when he caught the sight of her eyes narrowing, just slightly. He knew that he was acting a little differently than normal....he didn't show this side to many people, but narrowed eyes?Aww ,why did she have to do that? Now his gut was churning and he felt like he was a jerk for some reason....What did I do now? When her eyebrows raised in a surprised manner he was slightly relieved...but still a bit confused and slightly nervous. He could dance and sing in the middle of the street he had no such thing as stage fright, he was really never nervous and erred on the side of overconfident contrarily ,but right now he was a bit nervous. Oh man...why do I feel like this? I feel so icky and antsy....what the heck is this!? Just ask her. Just ask and the icky will be gone. But what if....gah just ask! His mind raced when she told him to go ahead and ask , the sadness in her voice made him slightly confused. If only he knew what she was thinking....Normally he understood pretty well, but right now he was clueless. Oh well here it goes...Leap like a lemming! "Rae...." he said trying to hold the nervousness in while pulling out a small bright yellow jewelery box. She loved her house color so he had bought a special jewelery box just for her present. "Would you.." he started while handing her the box."...officially be my girlfriend?" he finished and had managed to say everything quite confidently despite the nerves. The box contained a beautiful pair of earrings made of 24k gold ,rubies,diamonds, and emeralds. They were specially hand crafted and far more expensive than a boy his age should have been able to afford. Then again, those are one of the perks of being from a rich pureblood family.

Rhea stood there in front of him, her hands buried in the pockets of her jeans. The wait wasn't long but it felt like forever. Why couldn't he just spit out what he had to say. They had known each other for over a year now, surely he knew she wouldn't blow her top if he wanted to be with someone. She breathed in deeply to steady her nerves. She didn't want him to see just how agitated she was becoming. He called her name and her eyes met his. He was definitely nervous. The yellow box caught her eyes and she drew her gaze away from his face to what was in his hand. Did Art Koizumi think he could buy her forgiveness? Why would he think she would need to forgive him of anything anyways. It was his life. She felt tears threaten to roll down her eyes but she batted them away and stood there calm and collected, at least that was how she looked on the outside. Be his girlfriend??? Officially?

She didn't say anything for a while. She just stood there looking at him. She slowly took the box from him and opened it. The earrings were beautiful and looked very expensive. She knew he was rich but she hated that he spent so much on her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
"I would love to be your girlfriend, but I think I would be more comfortable with taking just the box, though the earrings are very beautiful." She was shocked that she formed coherent sentences, but what surprized her even more was how calm her voice sounded, when inside she was so thrilled. The only thing that betrayed her were the tears that finally broke their hold and ran down her face.

When she stood there silent for a while ,he thought the nerves and wait might kill him. He kept a calm face though inside he was a nervous wreck. "Why isn't she saying anything!? Don't just stand there! Did I do good? Are you going to laugh at me? Are you teasing me? Do you know what you are doing to me right now!? Please just answer me Rae.....this is torture....

Art watched her carefully when she took the box and opened it. Did he do good?When she closed her eyes and inhaled he wasn't certain of what that meant. As she spoke however he felt relief wash over him, then a bit of confusion. She only wanted the box?He spent hours deciding on what would be an acceptable present for this occasion. Not a ring because that symbolized a bit more. He had another present that he almost gave to her, but wanted to be certain that she would say yes first. She meant a lot to him and he wanted to show it...he was uncertain if the other present was too much too soon though. He wasn't certain whether she would know what it meant though. He sort of laughed after he processed it though and smiled at her. " I wasn't certain whether gold would be what you would like....I thought that they were pretty and my cousin liked them so I thought they'd okay." he shrugged slightly. "If you don't like them you don't like them." He said removing them and their holder from the box and placing a different one in it. It was a simple , well made pair of yellow studs that matched the box and definitely weren't anywhere near as expensive. He put the fancy earring back in his pocket, he would just send them to his cousin at lunch she would like them. When tears broke down her face Art held her close and softly kissed them off of her face. "Hey....don't cry love." he said softly and silently happy that its was still nice and early and that they were primarily alone.

Aiden nodded when she told him that Chris and Gold were the only Gryffindor prefects. He took his hands from behind his back and placed them in his pockets instead. "So, I was actually talking to my friend, about last term, and she kind of touched on what happened with the Imperius Curse." He watched Gold's face to see if he could discern any sign of her being uncomfortable with the subject. Nancy didn't like talking about it, so he really didn't want to have to find out from her. Maybe Gold wouldn't mind giving him a little more background? Curiosity frequently got the better of him, and he was dying to know about the matter. "But.. I don't know. What exactly happened? If you don't mind my asking.." If she didn't feel like talking about it either, he'd completely understand.

Rhea looked at the other pair of earrings he took out. They were a lot more simple and didn't look as expensive. It wasn't that the other ones weren't gorgeous, she just wasn't ready to accept such expensive gifts from him. She nodded when he said he would send the earrings to his cousin. Yuma would definitely like them and she would like the fact that they were expensive as well.

When Art pulled her to him and held her close she closed her eyes and let him hold her for a while. She didn't mean for the tears to come but she couldn't stop them. Maybe she had wanted to cry about the situation for a while now but couldn't bring herself to cry over a boy, even if it was Art. Now she couldn't stop them. It was definitely a good thing that it was still pretty early. She would hate for anyone to see her crying.

Ohhhh, crap. The way he saw it, he had three options.

-Run away
-Make up a stupid excuse
-Do some weird voodoo to confuse her and THEN run away

"Uhm...socks." Why must Jimbo always embarrass himself like this? Especially since Teegan had already done most of the job. It was like he was finishing himself off. Slowly heading towards total mortification.

No. He refused to be embarrassed. He would stand up and be a man. "My way of calling a truce and agreeing to disagree and going on with our lives until we cross paths again and probably argue once more." Ooh, that was a pretty good excuse for being put on the spot and sucking up his embarrassment.

"Notice: The sock is white." He gave her a look like 'duh' and held out his hand to get his sock back from her. He'd need that. Although, the way he was holding out his hand it would probably look like he was waiting for her to shake it, just like someone would after accepting a truce.

Melissa wandered into the corridor to the grounds, she needed to get out more. She also wanted to explore the vast amazing places around Hogwarts before she graduated. Sighing happily she stopped in her tracks and decided to wait here for a bit, she wasn't in the need to hurry or anything. She could also use this time to look around for a bit.

She looked around the corridor it was quite a airy hallway and she could see openings which let out sunshine in the place and lots of fresh air, she breathed the air in. She loved this, a nice cold breeze surrounding her. She figured that she would wait here for about 10 minutes or so, maybe she could find someone who she knew or maybe someone new to meet.

Teegan watched him as he contemplated what to do next and what to say. She was definitely going to go find a place far away from here and laugh until she cried. Uhm...socks. Is all he as? Teegan smirked to herself. "Obviously I see the sock." She told MR. Jimbo. "So." Teegan started thinking deeply. "If I agree to this truce, does that mean you're going to carry the sock around until our next arguement?" She asked slowly, a little suprised that she was slowly losing her Greek accent.

Teegan raised her eyebrows at his stuck out hand, wondering if he wanted the sock back, or to shake hands on the agreement of a truce. She looked at the sock and then back at him, "The sock seems to be an off white, with a hint of yellow." She told him with a sloppy grin. She held the sock behind her back, doing a noverbal spell to make it disappear from sight and her hand, she smirked at him. I'll call the truce next time. She thought to herself. She stood there, waiting to hear his next argument.

"Thank you!" Annie was glad that Drew could understand that PINK was the colour she mostly hated, the colour that she could not stand seeing. Torin, was otherwise. And that's because Annie lost, she was go wear 3 times, pink dresses. Eww..And for that, Drew deserved a hug. But first, Annie let go of Copito for a bit of time, putting him over a large rock aside them, then the huge hug.

Change. Yesh, sure. Things were going to change. Homework, Dueling Club, OWLs study sessions. Sigh...

"Mine, well I joined the dueling club, that's something new I am trying to do." She said, letting out a sigh. She was trying to be ready for that. Eep.

"You are welcome." Drew said with a small chuckle as Annie thanked him. He watched as she put the Copito on a rock and came back over to him. Soon she was hugging him tight. He smiled wide and returned the hug and gave her a kiss on the top of the head.

"You joined dueling club? Welll that's going to be interesting. I'm sure you will do great though."