Well that was an improvement. The smiling. Jimmy was a sucker for a pretty smile. It was about the third best thing a girl could do, he reckoned.

"Well, I figure if just seeing me made you smile, then if I made a little effort to show you a good time, maybe a few good surprises in a row, maybe the year won't be a total loss."

He took a few steps and then paused, waiting for Marie to join him. "Can't figure out why the hat got it wrong. It argued with me and everything." He nodded at her explanation of the Room of Requirement. He'd read enough to know, and of course Neptune had plotted romantic escapes there... before. Not that he'd gone along with it. Pshhh. Give Neptune Bott an inch and she'd take a mile. Not that she mattered right now. Not with another pretty blonde smiling at him and keeping him well distracted.

He grinned, dimpling at Marie. "Oh and, call me James S. Wilkes. There's only one of me."

He was going to make an effort to show her a good time? Really? Now Marie really couldn't get the smile off her face. "I like the sound of that." she said. "Surprises are good, just as long as they aren't like the ones I've been getting lately." No, she did not want any more bad news surprises. She has had enough of those to last her a lifetime.

She started to walk with him when he stopped to wait for her. Yes, going to the Room of Requirement was definitely going to be more fun than standing there in the dungeon corridor. Not that she was complaining about that. She would stand out in the rain with him if he wanted her too. "Well let me see, could it be because you're smarter than what you let on? Wait, you argued with the sorting hat?" How had she missed that? Oh right, it probably happened when she was getting her heart broken by Carter... again.

Oh my Merlin, he was so cute when he grinned like that. "Well James S. Wilkes, you can call me anytime you want Marie J. Salazar. There's only one of me too." she said as she gave him a little wink.

As they walked her mind started to wander a bit wondering what the Room of Requirement was going to look like when they walked in.

"Fun for me too if you keep smiling like that." James answered, leading the way more confidently now. He knew they were heading to the seventh floor. Once they got there Marie could show him exactly where the Room of Requirement was, and he could see first hand how to... you know, activate the room.

"I'm not that smart. I just remember things from books." A partially true statement. Honestly he was likely the smartest in his year as well as the year above. And James didn't hold out much hope for the seventh years either, when it came right down to it. He was quick-minded, he understood things almost immediately. He was inquisitive, intuitive, and yet logical. He was also good with his wand and magic generally came easy to him. Non-verbals? No sweat. But if people started expecting things from him? Pshhh. No thank you. He'd been modulating his achievements for years now, though it was harder at Hogwarts not to be obvious about his knowledge. It had been what had amounted to his second year that he'd dedicated himself to being completely quotidian. Unremarkable. When his tutor at the time, who'd not lasted much longer due to Jimmy driving the fellow away, had told his parents that he was of the opinion that James would be well able to take his OWLs early if they modified his study program. Had he done it, James reflected, that would have meant he'd be done with school by now. Considering he was at Hogwarts and there were all these pretty girls everywhere? Not an appealing thought.

He looked at Marie and a sheepish grin overtook his face. "Yeah I did argue with the hat. Then... I kind of stomped on it. Its probably going to have a vendetta against future Wilkeses everywhere." He announced somewhat modestly. Heh. How awesome was it that he had an enemy in a hat? As in, the hat and not some person who happened to be wearing a hat and also happened to be an enemy. Err.

"I'm beginning to think that one is enough, and probably gonna take up most of my time. Can't imagine how my imagination would cope with two of ya, Marie." He grinned at her again and started up the stairs.

Adam stood by the corridor- looking at the hallway that led to the Slytherin Common room, oddly enough most of his friends were slytherins...He looked at it more thinking of Ever and Fee, he moved his hands over the cold wall and sat in a crouched position thinking about life.

Kurumi wasn't sure how she found her way here...must have been because she was reading and walking again. She then saw Adam...crouching? Oh no! Did he have a stomach ache? Had some mean cookie hating Slytherin punched him? Kurumi, nearly dropping her book, ran over to Adam. "You OK?!"

Adam stood up fine. "Of course, I am ok...I was just thinking I do that when I think..."He told her, walking to pick up her book. He looked at the title it seemed interesting. "What are you reading?"He asked passing it to her.

"A Song of Ice & Fire," she said as she took the book. "We got to talking about fairy tales and epic fantasy stories in History of Magic, so I thought I should become familiar with them. Might show up on our OWLs." She dusted off the cover and put it back in her leather school bag. "What were you so deep in thought about?"

Adam was caught off guard by this...He couldn't tell her the whole truth. "How most of my friends come from Slytherin and how Gryffies don't usually get along with them-I've heard...Yeah I wasn't in History of Magic..."He said somewhat ashamed of the promise he had told her many weeks before.

Kurumi frowned. "So...Edmond, Lukas, Heather, Sophia, Rex, Lex, and I are not enough?" she said counting people on her fingers. Come to think of it, Kurumi had many friends in Slytherin as well. She also had an enemy in there as well...scary cookie hater. "I am not one to put labels on people, you know that," she said in a reassuring tone. "There are good people in Slytherin too. Raiden is amazing, for example."

Adam knew he had those friends too, but he was thinking more in terms of girls, at least the dramatic girls were in Slyhterin.. "I was talking about the girls, Katie, Cass, Ever, Fee, Addy...You, you know you are more than enough for me..."He patted her head. "Ed is good enough to be my best mate and you my best friend and girlfrien- so far..."He said.

Kurumi blinked a few times still a little unsure of what Adam was saying. He wished there were more dramatic girls in Gryffindor? Kurumi was kind of glad there were not. Then she raised an eyebrow. "So far...?"

He knew she would take that the wrong way. "I just mean, by the so far, that out of you and Katie my first two girlfriends, YOU BEAT KATIE BY FAR....So umm, what are you doing here?Please, Kurumi do not take it the wrong way, it's a good thing..."He added in a pleasing tone.

Kurumi couldn't help but laugh at Adam's comment about already having two girlfriends. Somehow it just seemed...ridiculous. "I...was reading and walking," she blushed looking at the ground. "I always end up in unexpected places when I do that..."

Speaking of Katie...she hadn't seen her around for weeks.

"Maybe it's best you read while sitting down- who would want to land in a time warp...Something on your mind?"He asked leaning forward, examining her unfocused eyes.

Kurumi looked at Adam and was suddenly reminded of the conversation she had with Fee turning the 3rd Task. Maybe Adam was in need of finding a time warp. "Nothing really," she said swaying her body a little. "Fee showed me the necklace that Edmond gave her for," she paused to add for dramatic effect. "Valentine's Day."

Adam kept his face looking normal, he would not let her catch him. "Oh that romantic...What did Ed give Fee...?"he asked laughing at himself, remembering how he told Fee that Ed would turn out to be some romantic guy, not unlike Adam.

"A locket," she said twittling her thumbs a bit and getting even closer to Adam. "Fee had no idea what White Day was either..." she said batting her long eyelashes at Adam.

She's cornered me Adam Burn... Adam slightly smiled at her, she was very dangerous when she did that with her eyelashes."Maybe she needs to be more educated on certain cultures, it's good for the brain..."He said, nervously pointing at his thick set of hair into his brain.

Interesting..."Perhaps," she smiled batting her eyelashes a bit more. "And...what culture would you, oh, sorry, she need to learn more about?" She patted Adam's head, hopefully it would give his brain a kick start.

"Huh?"He said bewildered, catching her quick words. Oh no- she was like a detective , cornering him to nowhere. "I should learn more about mine,...But to be honest with you- I never thought we'd celebrate Valentines day- I thought you wouldn't even know what it is....I never got you a present..."He admitted shamefully, his head hanging down.

Kurumi put an arm around Adam's shoulder and tried her best to sound like a professor. "Well, Mr. Burn, it would seem as though you need to learn a bit more about Japanese culture then." She stuck her tongue out playfully...but she couldn't hide that she was bit sad that Adam hadn't even thought of giving her anything. "W-would it have been better for me not to have given you anything?"

"No...If you give me at least a week I can find or make something up for my mistake-Miss Hollingberry....And it's a little too late to ask for the present you gave me, back...It's probably in the sewage right now..."He laughed. Whenever she referred to him as Mr. Burn, it made him sound a worse friend than he really was, he smiled weakly. It was one of her bring people down to have them understand their mistake and wrong doing tactics...

In the sewage...ew...that was really gross and a little too much information. Kurumi tried to laugh it off. "Adam, you shouldn't feel pressured to buy me anything...although it would be very nice if you did," she smiled patting him on the back gently. "What is more upsetting is that you lied to me about knowing what White Day was..." she frowned. She then looked at him with her violet eyes.

"It was the mood- I felt like it would die if I didn't know...I know I'm sorry is not enough- especially in a situation like this."He felt her arms on his back and his stomach squirmed inside."I'm a big fat lier with my pants on fire."Adam joked around trying to make it seem less bad.

Wait...Adam's pants were on fire?! In a flash, Kurumi had her wand out and was about to cast Aquamenti. "Where is the fire?!"