Adam sighed,it was nothing bad,honestly he thought there was gonna be some big story as to why she wanted to be called Katie.So it's like a nickname,that's not bad.he could now breathe easly

Merlin, this was not... his fingers quietly allowed her to slip between them, even closed a bit around hers as they settled into place. The strange sensation lingered there, an annoying reminder that he was breaking rules again. He was doing something he wasn't supposed to do, and things were there that weren't supposed to be.

In the back of his head, he really did know better. He knew so, so much better than to do this. If he'd been able to focus his thoughts on that, maybe he'd have taken his hand back. Maybe he'd have stepped back, and put more space between them, and maybe he'd have focused a little harder on what they were talking about.

Something about the library, and finite knowledge. Something about learning and applying what had been learned. Something...

He tuned back in, his attention span shorted considerably my the static caused by a million thoughts and memories rushing around his head.

"Divination, you mean? It... works." Tangential to what they were actually discussing. "There's... real Seers and stuff like that, and it's possible to read the future sometimes. I'm not that good at it though."

Obviously. He was here, wasn't he. That in itself just showed how surprising the future could be.

She... was she crying? Or threatening to, at the very least. Indecision struck him in the gut, and he didn't know what to do. What had he done? He'd made Nia far more upset than he ever wanted to. How had they even gotten to this conversation?

And how could he go back?

His suddenly freed hand hung quietly between them before slowly moving to his chest, then dropping to his side. How did she think it was better, or that it was anything resembling okay, what was happening right now? This was not okay, at all. Because he knew how this went when it was ignored, and buried, and it would only hurt her more than he could stand in the end.

"You're trying to fight against the inevitable," he murmured, not quite all there at the moment. He was stuck somewhere between a memory and his own worry over what was happening.

Touching him. Her arms going around him brought him back to the ground, and she was suddenly much, much closer than he could remember her ever having been. His stomach turned over again, as one arm slipped under hers and around behind her, hand resting at the small of her back.

This was bad. This was so very, very wrong, and Raiden was a bad person for even thinking of allowing it.

His stomach gave another jerk, and his lips parted to drop two words that weren't even audible to his own ears.

"Damn it."

Bad angel indeed.

"I guess, but I still feel bad for claiming that my name is Katie and not Katelyn" Katie admitted.

His fingers were comforting between hers like that. She wasn't a big fan of holding hands in general, but it felt right. And she felt wrong for the exact same reason. It shouldn't work like that. Not in quite that way. Did he feel it too?

"You've obviously had a better experience of it than I have then," she answered, not questioning how he had immediately thought of Divination due to other stuff going on in her head. "I'm sure." She spoke absentmindedly. Had she actually listened, it might have been nice to pick up on if he could do any Seeing, being 'not that good'. To Nia, the subjecy seemed more about the idea of finding what you wanted to find, and interpreting it as such. But ho hum.

She wiped away the tear quickly, before it could get too far. She was NOT going to cry here and now. That'd be a horrible way to be remembered at Hogwarts. "Eyelash," she muttered, by way of an explanation. There were a few round there, afterall. She couldn't place why it was there. How she and Raiden had got to this point either. The beginning of the ball seemed so long ago.

She knew it was wrong. It was against everything she stood for in friendship. But she was struggling. So much so, she didn't know how to take what he was saying anymore. "What is the inevitable?" She looked at him, trying to hold a steady gaze. Was he trying to suggest something? Surely not. He had someone.

And yet, as she leant in Nia felt his arm wrap round her. His hand stopped in her lower back, well clear of her fluttering wings. This moment. Nia was lost in it. As if someone else had taken over her thought processes momentarily. Because she pushed up onto her toes, and kissed him. Slightly longer than before. And this time on the lips.

As she slowly pulled away, an dull heavy ache spread though her. Guilt. What the hell was she doing? This was wrong. It wasn't fair. It wasn't the point. Even if it felt right. Gulp. Could she even look him in the eye?

My bad, bad angel put the Devil in me.

Anything and everything they'd been talking about before that moment completely evaporated. It was gone. He didn't have the presence of mind to respond about divination, or real Seers, or the fact that he knew one, or the fact that he was desperately not good at Divination, so much so that he'd dropped the subject completely out of guilt over being so bad at practical application.

Concern evident behind the mask, especially with this proximity, his free hand reached for her face even as her own hand got in the way to wipe away the bright spot crawling from corner of her eye. With it gone, however, his hand hung awkwardly, hovering just off her cheek as if it expected another tear to escape.

The kiss somehow managed to be both expected and unexpected all at once. His body reacted willfully; the hovering hand touched her cheek, eyes slid closed, and he somehow ended up leaning down just enough that she wouldn't have to stand so awkwardly. His mind...

Well. That just completely blacked out for a good minute or so.

As she pulled away from his lips, he sucked in a short, quiet breath and pressed them together again. This time, however, it was not in annoyance or anything akin to that. Behind the mask, his eyes remained closed for another second, as his mind suddenly lurched into double time, and a flood of guilt and confusion rushed his chest.

Slowly, his eyes blinked open, and any emotion he was feeling was carefully hidden from possibly being seen in them. They simply focused on Nia, on her rather nearby face, and watched.

"That," he whispered simply, hand still hovering at her face, the other still around her back. "Inevitable."

For both of them, apparently.

He was in so. much. trouble.

His comment made Destiny laugh. The whole point in asking that question was to see if he was stupid or not, and by answering it proved that he was. She opened her mouth to point it out, but he had stuck his tongue out at her before she could. Letting out a very audible scoff, she glanced towards the table in search of tongs. She'd pull that tongue right out of his mouth. Lucky, for him, she couldn't find any. "Whatever." she mumbled; she'd tong him later.

Hmm, how did she know that? How did she know any of her animal facts? "The muggle box told me." Pffft! It wasn't like she would read about something as interesting as that! Actually..you wouldn't find her reading at all. "Nooo, I was never a fish." But now that it was brought up and mentioned, it sounded so cool! "Have you?" Destiny Shepard would be so jealous.

Carter was not helping her hide much. If he kept looking at her, she was sure Marie would spot her talking to him. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm hiding!"

Eww!

She simply stared at the roll Carter was holding out to her. He really didn't think she was going to eat it, did he? Poking it with her finger, she moved it out of her face. "I am not eating that. It was on your head."

And his head was covered in lake water.

He'd seen the tear. It was the only explanation for his hand being there, just like that. It stayed there, as if it was expecting to have more. Nia wasn't that kind of a girl. She refused to cry quite so publicly.

As it was, it didn't matter, because things then moved so quickly into the kiss. And that that hand had found its way to her cheek. Her eyelids were relaxed and closed, and she barely noticed the fact she was standing more comfortably than she had when it started. Her mind had gone blissfully blank for those seconds, and nothing else mattered. It would have been pretty perfect. And it was in its way - if one could block out the nagging guilt as it ended.

Nia couldn't.

She let her gaze raise from his chest to his eyes, trying to take in what had just happened. He was doing the same thing back to her. Her hand still held on to him, and grapsed her fingers into the fabric of his shirt subconsciously.

Inevitable? Was it? Maybe this evening had been building up to it. Fate bounced around in her head. It still didn't make what she'd done right, and a sinking feeling went through her stomach.

"I'm sorry." She said simply. "I overstepped the mark. And understand if you hate me."

She fully expected him to. She knew he had a girlfriend. Flirting, one thing. But what'd she'd just done? That was why she shouldn't follow her heart. All sorts of trouble. She hung her head, shamefully. Bad Nia. Bad, bad Nia.

Despite still clinging on, she looked to the door. "I could go, if you'd like..." Dancing was probably off the cards now.

Salander watched as Grayson poured in the potion carefully, then heard her call out from above. "That's it? But how would we know if..." He didnt have to finish his sentence as Kurumi had begun to shrink "Its working!" he pointed excitedly, his wand hand wavering a bit. Oops, gotta get Grayson down first.

As Kurumi shrunk down gradually, he lowered Grayson back onto the floor, the chair finally landing with a soft thud. "Way to go Grayson!" Yeah he still has nooo clue about her little growth cookies, all he knew is that she had potions in her pocket that can fix anything. "Well that wasnt so bad was it?" Well ok, maybe for them that didnt grow to a size of a house, but for Kurumi that may be a different matter "Are you ok Kurumi?" he asked walking over to the (now) little Gryff.

"What kind of things do you watch on that thing?" Carter asked a little surprised. It seemed to him that she didn't know how to work it right. Because if she did, she'd be watching more exciting things than weird animal shows.

"I wish..." he said. It would be fun to be a fish. All he'd have to do is swim. And swimming was fun. It was pretty much the perfect life. "Do you think we could request a lesson next term on being fishes?" he asked. Because, you know, Professors often indulged in their student's odd requests.

"I can tell you're hiding. But what are you hiding from?" he asked looking around. "Oh no, you're not avoiding someone, are you?" he asked. Maybe some poor guy had tried asking Destiny to come with him to the dance -- and this was how she repaid him. "It's a lot nicer to let someone down gently than to hide from him." he explained. Poor Destiny. So young, so naive.

"It was on my head because you put it there." he said. Was she sure she'd never been a fish? Because her memory seemed about 5 seconds long. "Remember?"

"Plus, my head is clean." If you ignored all the lake water.

"If you don't eat it you'll be selfish to all those people out there that want sourdough rolls. You wouldn't want that, would you?" Plus, how often would someone get to say that they ate a roll of someone's head?

Okay, that probably happened pretty often...

After she'd poured her potion into Kurumi's mouth, and told Salander that she was ready to come down, it had been a struggle for Grayson to not squeeze her eyes shut so she'd hopefuly not have to look around and feel quite as much like she was flying. This was totally not like tree-climbing. As it was, her eyes had shut until she'd heard Salander call out from below, then she'd opened them to glance down at him. Gripping the chair just the tiniest bit harder in the process, almost involuntarily. "We just know," she said simply. Know, and wait, but as he'd trailed off she'd turned her head to see that Kurumi was significantly shorter. Like, below her in the chair now.

Turning her attention back to Salander, her green eyes almost turned pleading as he flailed in excitement, but then it seemed he'd actually realized she was still up there and started lowering the chair. And therefore her, since she was still in the chair. "Thank you," she said as the chair thumped to the floor, and then she scrambled back out of it to stand on her own two feet. Yay. And she giggled a little at his question. "Depends who you're asking." She imagined Kurumi didn't think it was not that bad. Not to mention he hadn't been levitating like twenty-plus feet above the ground, trying to fix what she'd done in the first place. But as his attention went back to the little Gryffie, she pushed her slowly waning feelings of fear away as she turned to look at Kurumi as well. That was a good question, and she was half-tempted to apologize. Except nobody seemed to know it had been her fault in the first place. So she settled on waiting for the response to his question instead.

Why did Carter sound surprised? He knew she liked to watch the muggle box, so really, it should be no surprise that she learned all her information from it. And people say the muggle box rots your brain. Please! "I watch EVERYTHING! You know..the ones when people get hurt and everyone laughs? I like that. OH! And where they teach you to cook."

Because food = AWESOME.

She could have continued but he'd probably be bored at any moment. "Don't YOU have a muggle box? You're a muggle and all." Hmm..what did he watch?

Ehh, if Carter wanted to be a fish, Destiny did not. Imagine living in the same pond with him, drinking the same water? That would be almost as bad as sharing a common room with him. Almost. "You can request that lesson. And when you turn into a fish, I will put you in a cup and flush you down the toilet." she said, and then put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It'd be okay, though, because in five seconds you'd forget that you were flushed." Snort.

WHAT!?

No way! She was not hiding from a BOY! Gah! How did Carter come up with these things? Didn't she already tell him she didn't come with a date? Yes, yes she did. "I'm not hiding from a boy, Carter! I'm hiding from Marie. She'll be mad at me." You know, for talking to him and all..ehhh.

"I do remember, and I will do it again..and again..and again." He was lucky she didn't rip that roll out of his mouth and clonk him on the head with that one. But..it was in his mouth and that would just be gross for her to touch.

"Your head was in the lake, remember? Did you use shampoo?" No? Then his head was dirty.

Staaaaaare.

Was he trying to make her feel bad for all the people that didn't have rolls? He was, wasn't he? "Why don't you eat it then, hmm? Do you want to be selfish?"

Well, he did say he wished he was a fish. Sel-FISH.

Bahaha!

"Of course I have a muggle box television." Carter said. "And I'm not muggle, I'm muggleborn. There's a difference." And that difference was that he could do magic, hence he being at this school at the moment. "And I watch fun stuff on mine... like things blowing up. And sports. And cars." he explained. All of those things were much more exciting than cook shows anyway.

Pfft.. and it figured she liked the shows were people got hurt.

"You'd really flush me down a toilet?" Carter asked. "After we made pie together? You'd think that I'd have been boosted up on your torture list a little." To a level where she let a cat in the room or something.

Okay, so maybe being flushed was a lot better than being eaten by a cat.

... *GASP*

"From Marie? Why are you hiding from Marie?" he asked. That didn't make any sense at all.

Girls were weird.

"My head wasn't in the lake. I actually just poured a little water on. I didn't want to show up here drenched. Imagine some girl slipping on a puddle... I couldn't do anything like that." Carter explained. Although, she probably wouldn't get it. She'd enjoy it, like she enjoyed those shows on the muggle box tele.

"And no, I didn't use shampoo right at that moment." he said. "But I do use shampoo." Plus, lake water wasn't really dirty. It was freshwater. Meaning clean water.

"I already have one. I'm not going to eat two." Really, did this girl not understand the meaning of the word selfish?

To say he didn't know what to do would have been an understatement. Raiden had absolutely no idea how one was supposed to handle such a situation. He'd never been in any situation like this before, nor anything approaching it.

This was clearly over that line that he'd not really been aware of until the end of this past summer. They were standing too close together, they were saying all the things that weren't allowed, and they'd... this obviously wasn't allowed by that whole 'boyfriend - girlfriend' thing.

Somehow, however... he still couldn't step back, and his face registered some level of surprise when she finally spoke. He was ridiculously aware of her fingers and their hold on the front of his shirt, but neither of his hands moved to loosen her grip. If anything, his hand around her back twitched, fingers absently taking their own hold on her dress again, as much as they could.

"You don't know me very well if you think I could hate you," he finally managed, voice quiet. Why would he hate her for liking him? Sure it... it kinda put him in a difficult position, but... "I can't hate you."

She looked so upset. For all the confusion he was feeling, that was one of the things that jumped at him. She knew about Emmalee. She knew that he had someone, and she probably knew how much he cared about Em.

But he cared about Nia a lot, too.

Without thinking, the hand on her cheek moved and turned her face back toward him. No looking down, and no considering leaving. He leaned down and very gently pushed his lips against hers, not letting them linger there for very long before he pulled away.

"Now we're both guilty." He bit his lip, and his grip against her back loosened slightly. "I don't want you to leave. And I don't want you to feel bad."

Because he'd made her do it, in his own way, and now he'd done the same thing back. They'd both done something they felt they shouldn't have.

Nia was looking anywhere but him. She couldn't bear to look up at the eyes that had been drawing her in all night. She was scared of what she might see, and the sense of betrayal spreading through her was too great. Guilt. Confusion. It was all there, making her stomach churn. It was as if she'd swallowed a lethal potion, and it was bubbling away inside.

Her fingers were still caught in the fabric of his shirt, but she didn't have a clue what to do. This wasn't expected. She just didn't have a clue how to deal with what she'd just done. She just knew it was plain awful. Her forehead furrowed with a frown. She knew he was taken. And though she'd never met his girlfriend, she knew how she'd have felt if it was the other way round. She'd kissed him. Of all the things, and in such as public environment too.

Argh.

She felt the movement of his fingers on her back, but she didn't register what they were doing. Probably getting ready to push her away. She deserved it.

Nia's gaze dropped back to her feet. "Maybe you should..." she returned, an emotional edge to her voice. At least then, she'd know she'd ruined everything, and she wouldn't get a second chance, and she'd have to force herself to move on. "I'm sorry." It was all she could think to say. And she meant it, she truely did.

She eyed the door, swallowing slowly. She didn't want to draw the attention of the whole room by running away from him, but she shouldn't be here. She didn't deserve to be. She wanted to run up to the tower, and curl up in bed to try and figure out what happened by pouring her thoughts and emotions into her journal. She started to release the grip of her fingers, letting the fabric slide underneath them as she pulled away slightly.

She had to go. This awkwardness, she couldn't be here with all this guilt. But then his hand pulled her gaze back to him. Her eyes flickered around, but she didn't really have a choice but to look at him. Her jaw clenched, wondering what his was upto. The silence, the uncertainty...it felt like forever. She was dying slowly inside.

And then, she saw him leaning down. She thought briefly about pulling away, but she didn't have time. Her eyelids slipped closed without thinking, and she felt his lips on hers once more. It was only the briefest of moments, but as she opened her eyes she was both speechless and shaking.

What. Had. Just. Happened?

She could swear it probably wasn't meant to have been that. He was meant to be all annoyed. Or something. Not that. Not making her heart flutter for a moment more.

Her eyes widened, confused. She rubbed her lips together, almost in disbelief. "Ho-...? Wh-...?" Them both being guilty didn't really make the facts any better, did it? What if others caught on...Aparecium, for example? And how was he going to explain? She took a deep breath. "If you're sure," she said as she let out the air slowly. "I couldn't bear it if I were to make you feel any more uncomfortable." If he wanted her here though, she'd stay. And make the best of this bad situation.

It was really just... extremely dizzying. This entire thing. He didn't know how to process what was going on. He knew he was doing something that was so, so wrong by Emmalee. He felt guilty about it. The gnawing that had started in his stomach earlier, the unknown feeling that had been eating away at him, it was guilt. This entire night... he was guilty of everything and anything.

He'd kissed Nia.

That was definitely, unequivocally cheating. That was cheating on Emmalee. That was exactly what she'd been afraid he'd do before term started, wasn't it?

He hadn't meant for it to happen.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault." He swallowed, his throat suddenly and conspicuously dry. "I know from experience that you can't help who you like. And how hard it is to make it go away."

Which meant that Nia... could still get hurt in this. And he didn't know how to stop that. Someone would end up hurt in the end, and there was no way to get around it. It was just... on him, to pick which one got hurt.

Great.

She was... trembling? Raiden frowned, hand leaving her face and trailing down her arm, stopping on her elbow and holding on there. He didn't know how to fix this. He wasn't sure if he could. He leaned close and whispered into her ear again.

"Just for tonight." His cheek brushed against hers. "I'm all yours, just for now. I can't promise past that. You know I can't."

Even this much... even this much was wrong. He was going to end up as a toad, he was sure of it. But he had already done wrong. A little bit more wrong couldn't hurt. It would all end up the same.

"I don't think you could make me uncomfortable if you tried."

She had goosebumps on hers. Her face felt warm, still tinged pink from her earlier blushes...and yet she was shaking - not quite shivering. And that lurching feeling still hung heavily in her stomach. She was all mixed up inside - and the more she thought about it (and boy, it was amazing how quick the thoughts were whizzing round in her mind) the worse it seemed to get. Now she was playing out possible future scenarios. They didn't end particularly nicely.

"I should," Nia said with a nod, her fingers tugging at his shirt once more as they gripped into it. "It is my fault." She'd made the first move, if nothing else. But there was all the build up too. "I don't know how...it wasn't meant to...I-I-..." She couldn't get it out. She didn't understand it herself. Yes, she knew she liked him. As a good friend. One of the best someone could ever ask for. But she hadn't realised she was falling for him. It might have been there subconsciously, but...she'd always ever known there was someone he already had. Since she'd met him at the last ball. She knew not to go there, and wouldn't dare to even think about it. She thought she was a better friend than that. "There shouldn't have been anything to make go away..."

She crossed her arms, gently rubbing her hands up and down to try and get rid of the shakes she had. His hand moved from her face, and she watched as it went to her arm. It was comforting in a way. Almost reassuring. What about, she wasn't sure.

And then he leant in, and for a scary moment she wasn't quite sure how to react. Their cheeks brushed, and she was aware of how much heat there probably was radiating from her own. He was only doing it to whisper in her ear though. She relaxed by the teeniest of amounts.

"Please...don't do anything you'll regret..." She looked up at him with wide eyes, but there was a sincerity in the way they shined. Nia knew they'd already done too much. That the damage she'd done might already be irrepairable. And if it was, she'd never live with herself. The guilt would be unbearable.

As for past this evening? "I wouldn't expect you to...nor, and more importantly, would I want you to." He'd already risked too much. Or, she'd risked it for him. "Just the rest of tonight is more than I deserve. Or I could ever ask for. Thank you." Her voice wobbled slightly, but only because she was speaking the truth. Despite being confused and emotionally unsure of quite what had just unfolded between them, she was very grateful that he seemed to understand.

His comment put a small smile on her face. "Usually I'd be up for the challenge. But, I'll just take you word for it, this time." The corner of her lip curled up slightly, and her eyelid might have twitched as if she was trying to wink.

She was ridiculous. Purely ridiculous. He'd never know why people insisted on feeling bad after he'd clearly told them they didn't need to. She didn't have to apologise, and she shouldn't feel guilty about her own feelings. They weren't something that could be controlled, after all. She couldn't just discard them because she didn't like who they were pointed at.

"Oh, Nia," he murmured, both hands letting go of her and moving up to her face, one cupping each cheek. "I don't mean to be rude, but just... shut up, okay?"

Really, she had nothing to apologise for. At all. His stomach turned, another knot forming slowly. He wasn't allowed to do this. He had a girlfriend. He was just complicating things. But Nia wasn't supposed to feel bad for liking someone. Even if it was him.

Why did it have to be him?

"I'm a Slytherin." He said this rather flatly, as if it in itself were enough of an explanation. "I never regret anything."

It was a lie, but he was also smart enough to not let people know what he regretted and just how much. Regret wasn't something he liked. He knew he'd feel it after this, he wasn't going to deny the fact to himself. He was cheating on Emmalee, who was such a good person and didn't deserve this, and he'd regret that immensely for a long time. But Nia would never know.

"You deserve a lot more than me. You deserve the world, Nia. You'd just deny yourself the pleasure were it ever given to you."

Was he under some kind of curse, that he was constantly surrounded by all these amazing women? And yet, he was doomed to constantly hurt at least one of them. He'd hurt Kiri, and now he was going to end up hurting Nia, and probably Emmalee too.

He was an idiot.

The slightest hint of a smile on her face was enough to make the idiot feel a little better, however, and he tried his best to ignore the guilt that was sitting as a cement block in his stomach. He'd... he'd figure things out later. Right now, all that mattered was that she smiled.

"I'm an extremely patient and accommodating person. Making me uncomfortable or upset is quite a task." He dropped his hands from her face, letting one land on hers. "Are you okay? Are you cold?"

He was about ninety percent sure that wasn't why she was almost shivering, but it seemed the easiest way to ask about it.

He shouldn't be letting her off so lightly. Thinking about it, she wanted him to be annoyed with her. Even if just a teeny bit. He was taking it rather too well, and it was puzzling her. Him kissing her back, the way he was being so nice about the whole thing, the fact he seemed more concerned about her than himself and his relationship. She was about to say something of the sort, when he told her to shut up. She blinked, and her mouth opened and closed silently a few times, as if she was going to protest and then thought better of it. The movement, along with the fact he was cupping her face, made it look like she was trying to be some sort of comedic fish in it's way.

Her stomach jolted once more. Was she being a bad angel for continuing to spend the rest of her evening here? Deep down, she wanted to. She wanted him, even if it was for one night only. She would have the memories, and would make herself move on. But, was it making it worse for him? It had to be, didn't it? It was almost the end of term, and then he'd be off to see Emmalee - and... He'd have to deal with not only the consequences of them kissing, but then spending the rest of the evening knowing that they were doing something that was quite frankly wrong.

She could let herself enjoy it. Oh yes, a selfish part of her knew she would. But she could hate herself more at the end.

"So Slytherins can't have regrets?" It was a rhetorical question, in the main. Because she didn't really believe it. And not with Raiden. He was too kind, too thoughtful, too caring. Not that those things implied regretfulness on their own. But it tended to be the ruthless with no care for others' feelings that truely had no regrets. And yes, she knew plenty of Slytherins could fit under that category. But not this one. She knew him too well.

Desrve more than him? After he'd been so forgiving so quickly? "I wouldn't if I knew it was rightly mine." She said quietly. If she'd worked hard for it, and suceeded in something, then she'd quite graciously accept the world. "At the moment I don't deserve anything much at all. Accept perhaps the lead that seems to have appeared in my stomach." She let her gaze lay on him, that sinking feeling more apparent than ever. Admitting it didn't make it feel any better, either. Worse if he decided to give her any sort of empathy for it.

Oh, the irony of her outfit. Halo was long gone now.

"You shouldn't be, not now. Not with me." Nia murmured. Annoyed might cause a bit of a scene, but then maybe she wouldn't feel so torn up inside. Because she needed to know how he feel to deal with it. It was as if he was tip-toeing round it, and she wasn't sure if that meant something in return.

And as she felt his hand on hers, she gave the slightest of nods. "A little bit." It was true, but not whole reason. He probably didn't need to know that - or if he did, he'd probably guessed already anyway.

Fish!Nia was a big improvement over self-blaming!Nia.

Really, the way she was reacting... he should have expected it. He'd kinda had it the same way when he'd liked Cela. Liking her hadn't been allowed. He wasn't supposed to want to kiss her or anything like that. But he had wanted to, and he'd felt bad about it. Even though there had been nothing he could do to make it go away, and nothing he could do to get past it, he'd felt like a bad friend for it.

She was only at fault as much as he'd been in that situation, and he'd come to realise over the last two years that he wasn't.

He half-smiled at the question. "They're capable. They just don't."

Once more, his nose wrinkled under the mask, and the edges separated from the planes of his face with the expression. Nia couldn't accept a compliment. Of course she wouldn't accept that she deserved something good, something better than most others did. She was terribly frustrating.

He seemed to have a thing for frustrating people.

"You're too hard on yourself about things you can't control. It's a bit... it..." He tried to call up the right words for it. "You kinda make me want to push until you accept that you deserve more than you think you do."

It wasn't surprising, if she felt guilty about kissing him. He felt guilty about it too. They both knew why. But she shouldn't have felt guilty just about liking him. That was too far.

"Nia... I have let people do things to me and let them make me do things that I have hated. I know that... I'm not being a good person right now. I'm doing something that I never thought I would do." He looked at her, rather pointedly. "But it's something I've chosen to do, and it's not your fault. I'll deal with the consequences later."

Without her. Emmalee didn't need to know who it had been. Raiden was a big boy, and capable of dealing with what he'd brought on himself.

"You're not the only one with feelings. You were just the first one to realise it."

Oh Merlin, that hurt, to admit that. He liked Nia. He liked Emmalee, too. He'd come to a point once more where he had two girls that held a part of his heart, and he had no idea how to handle it. This time was that much harder because it was the first time that both actually liked him back.

It sucked, when one suddenly realised that one really couldn't please everyone, no matter how hard one tried. There really was no way to make everyone in the world smile, because eventually... he'd hurt someone, whether he wanted to or not.

"I'd offer you my jacket, but..." He reached past her shoulder, fingertips brushing the fluttery wings. "I don't know that it would fit over those, and I rather like it. I'd rather not put holes in the back."

Eventually she stopped the whole opening her mouth thing. Good job too, because she looked rather silly doing it. Fishy indeed. It was she meant to shut up for good...or just about that? She looked at him meekly.

In that moment, she almost receded in age. To a hapless thirteen or fourteen year old. She had never properly done the 'going out' thing. Or boys, for that matter. Sure, she'd been with Elan for a while. But that was in such different circumstances. She felt so inexperienced, so clueless as to what to do or say. All she had was heavy laden guilt, and a confuddled brain. Was this what 'young love' was all about? Was it real? Or had she just been drawn in with the moment?

She just didn't know.

They. Third person. Not we, as Slytherins. If she hadn't been quite so distraught about the situation, Nia would have picked up on that subtlety. It would probably a good thing she didn't though, as if she thought he regretted what he'd done, it would make her feel so much worse. If that was possible. She felt pretty horrendous already.

He was probably right. Even outside of this...mess. She did have a tendency to be annoyed at herself over the smallest of things, and yes - they were often things she couldn't help. Sometimes it made her better. Pushed her on. But more often it remained a weakness. She gave him an shy smile, unsure what to say. Maybe she needed someone to help coax her out of her shell, to give her some self confidence. She'd been confident as a youngster - too much so. It was easy, against her twin. But on coming to Hogwarts, it was different. And maybe now she was realising she'd gone quite so far the other way. In certain areas at least. Maybe not so much on the Quidditch pitch - but then the support of her team and the Captaincy had a huge influence on that at the beginning of her sixth year.

Returning from those thoughts, Nia looked at him, confused by his words. She wasn't sure what kinds of things others had made him do, but she hadn't meant to make him kiss her, if that's what he meant. But he gave her a pointed look, and she wondered if she'd got the gist wrong. That he was putting as much of it on himself. He shouldn't do that. And despite him telling her to shut up earlier, she opened her mouth to protest. "Only because I started it... If it's not my fault, it's certainly not yours...you shouldn't have to deal with the consequences."

Shouldn't. But of course he'd have to. She'd have to live with the knowledge of the outcome too. Maybe if she could explain...?

"Of course I'm not, we're in a room full of teen - " she replied, before she'd fully comprehended what he'd said. You were just the first one to realise it. The words played in her head, and her eyes widened as she realised what he might be implying. "First one?" she repeated, barely audible.

No. She wasn't going to believe that. The hairs on her arms stood on end. He... No, she'd interpreted it wrong. There was no way...

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms some more, before shaking her head. The wings would be a issue. And she didn't want them or his shirt damaged. "I've got my wand...I'm not bad at heating charms if I need one." She didn't believe it'd help the cause of her shivering, anyway. She wasn't exactly sure what would, other than perhaps one of his hugs. And her finding out that this was all a bad dream.

Of course Carter would have a muggle box. He was a muggle after all. No matter how many times he says he is a muggleborn, Destiny knew..deep down that he was a muggle. Why else would he speak their crazy language. “Okay. You are a muggleborn.” Jeez. If she had to agree with him to shut him up, she would. And she did. As he went on to explain what he watches on the muggle box, her nose wrinkled in DISGUST. No, not really disgust.. “Why watch things get blown up when you can be the one blowing things up?” Like..exploding wool bombs. You can't see that happening on the muggle box, can you?

Nope.

“Sports are dumb and so are carps. Why ride a carp when you can ride a broom?” Carter would like the muggle things. Being a muggle and all.

Would she really flush him down the toilet? She had to think on the question for a moment before coming up with an answer. “Well, technically it wouldn't be YOU getting flushed. It would be a fish. And like I said, you wouldn't know.” Snort! Destiny didn't have a torture list and if she did there would only be one person on it. Arya the Raccoon Girl. Were was that girl anyway? She was probably dressed as a momma coon, and had a little gang of banditos following behind her. Best to stay away from her. “I don't have a torture list, but thanks for giving me the idea.” No need to mention the pie..

Oh.

Crud. Marie!

“I am wearing her socks and she wants them back. That's why I am hiding.”

Good save, Shepard! Or..she thought so at least.

So..was he or wasn't he in the lake? Destiny simply staaaared at him. He was either confused or he was trying to mind-trick her into being confused. She went with the latter, of course. “You still used lake water on your head, right? So..yeah. Eww.” Snickering at the image of Noel's date some girl slipping on the puddle, though, Destiny was tempted to drop some water on the floor on purpose. “I could do it.” But that would be mean, and she wasn't mean.

Okay, yes she was, but no one needed to know that.

Well, that was good. At least the boy uses shampoo. She had to resist the incredible urge to go up and start sniffing his hair, you know, just to make sure. Ehhh. “And do you use soap?” How did this conversation turn into one on personal hygiene?

For the love of Merlin! Why was he so intent on getting her to eat the roll? Was there a..love potion in it!? She was not eating it now! Grabbing the wet roll out of his hands, Destiny mixed it in with the others that were on the table. “There! Now none of us are selfish!”

Boys..they are so WEIRD!

Good, good. The fish-like opening and closing of her mouth had stopped, and it seemed she'd taken his suggestion of shutting up to heart. Not that he'd meant completely... she could talk if she wanted. Just... not badly about herself. She couldn't do that, at least not in front of him. Wasn't allowed.

Ah. A little smile. Little, shy smiles were better than frowns and being on the verge of tears. His own lips curled up at the corners at the sight of it; even if he was in trouble, and desperately stupid, at least she was smiling a little bit.

But then she was talking again, and it was kinda really close to self-blaming. Tempted to roll his eyes, Raiden shook his head and looked at his feet, vaguely exasperated. Why were girls like this?

"I pushed you. If I hadn't pushed you, you wouldn't have started anything." He was not going to stand here arguing about this with her for the rest of the night. They just... were going to have to stop talking about blame and stuff. He would sort that all out later, and the lump of guilt in his stomach that he was continuing to ignore.

Merlin. Merlin, she was going to be the end of him, right here and now. His stomach gave another nasty jerk, and his eyes settled very resolutely on the nearest wall. Admitting it... admitting it made it more real, and more of a problem. It was a problem. He wasn't allowed to be like this.

There were rules, and he was just stomping them into the dirt.

"I'm not allowed... It's not allowed. I'm not supposed to like you like that." Because he had Emmalee. And he liked her like that. And one was not supposed to like more than a single person in such a manner. It just wasn't fair to either of them. He looked at her, the vaguest hint of upset evident in his eyes. "I don't like hurting people, Nia."

And that was the only way this entire thing could end. He'd likely end up hurting both girls, because he was a hapless dummy. The only thing he could do was put off hurting Nia, at least for the night, and hope that it wasn't so bad come tomorrow.

His eyes quickly went back to their calm default, the emotion gone almost immediately. He was a Slytherin. No regretting anything. At least not in front of others.

"I can only say it tonight. I can only let myself acknowledge it for now. Tomorrow..." Tomorrow, he'd have to deny feeling anything past friendship. Tomorrow, things would go back to how they'd been before this.

She wasn't sure where to look, or what to do. The guilt wasn't going to go away, and yet...standing like this she was wasting what time she could enjoy.

Maybe, for once she should ignore herself, her reservations, and just go with the flow.

"Truce?" she asked quietly. Shifting the blame to and forth wasn't getting them anywhere, was it? They both felt guilty. But she could push that away, if she could enjoy the rest of the evening with him.

"I'm not supposed to like someone I know is taken either..." she answered. She gave a small shrug. They were both in the wrong. She gave him she hope was a reassuring squeeze. "Does anyone?" she pondered aloud, with a raised eyebrow. "But, don't worry about me. I'll be okay, I'm strong." Her lips hinted at a smile once more. "But promise me we'll still be friends. Yes? I would hurt most if I lost your friendship too." When her hurt and temptation was gone, she hoped they could still do things as if it had never happened.

Maybe in the morning it'd all feel different anyway. There'd been a long build up of banter, and neither of them had seen that coming. Tomorrow it might feel like some far off dream. An exchange between their characters they'd played right through up until it happened. So much could change between then and now. Like it the evening had turned course already.

"If this is to be my Cinderella moment, then let us not think of tomorrow. Let us enjoy the rest of tonight." Her heart had finally won over her head. If he didn't appear to think it would do further damage than she'd already done, then they should enjoy the rest. "Tomorrow is a new day. We can deal with it in our own ways when it comes."

Carter smiled. Ha! Muggleborn! She just admitted he was right. That's 1 for Carter, 0 for Destiny.

"What am I going to blow up while I'm at home?" he asked. It's not like he could use magic then. But... if she did have a solid idea then maybe he'd be in on it.

"Carp?" he asked. "Why would I ride a... fish...?" he asked. He then blinked twice. "Oh... a car." he said as it dawned on him. He should have known by then that Destiny didn't speak muggle very well. "I don't really have an option on which to ride." he said. It was the broom while he was here and the carp while he was at home. "Have you ever been in one?" he asked. "It's kinda fun."

Carter than chuckled a bit. "Well Destiny, that may have been the nicest thing you've said to me." he said giving her a little pat on the shoulder. Haha. He was anxious to see how she'd react to that news. She'd probably threaten to flush him for real. Oh well, totally worth it.

Merlin! He'd given her an idea! But at least he wasn't on it. And if he ever found himself on it he'd surely be able to talk himself out of it, right?

"You're wearing socks?" he asked immediately looking down at her feet. Socks weren't really ball apparel, were they?

"Well, it looks like they're leaving the dance floor now. No need to worry about then anymore..." he said. "Plus, if she was looking for you, don't you think this would be the first place she'd come?"



"Well, next time there's a costume ball you're welcome to try it." Carter said seriously doubting that she would. "I'll even let you borrow a surfboard to use." he said with a little laugh. Surfer!Destiny -- he could almost picture it now.

"Umm... yeah." he said fighting the urge to smell himself. "Why would you even think I didn't?" he asked. Did lake water smell that bad? He'd never noticed before. Maybe he was smelly right now.

Eww... it was a good thing he didn't have a date in that case.

Carter watched as Destiny put the other roll back. He then shrugged and finished off the one in his hand.

He was going to give up soon. Just declare her frustrating, and tell her that if she didn't stop trying to blame herself or trying to take his own guilt off him, he would be the one that would be making for the door. But the teeny whisper of that single word was enough.

A truce, he could do. That was enough. It was easy enough to hide his own self-blame away, and hopefully she was honest enough to not let herself feel guilty if she said she wasn't going to.

He nodded. Truce.

But then she continued on, and he shook his head again, a smile tingeing his lips.

"But see..." he leaned forward, resisting the urge to raise one hand and touch her cheek again. "Your liking someone isn't a crime. Whether they're taken or not. Your heart doesn't care about that kind of stuff." However... being taken and doing what he was doing, that was. That was definitely an offence. He was the one committing relationship crimes here tonight, not her.

She was promising she'd be okay. But he really wasn't sure if he could believe that. Would she be? Could she just go back to how they'd been before, knowing now that she felt that way? He wasn't even sure he could. He didn't know what this was going to lead to, or how Emmalee would react when he eventually told her that something had happened.

He stood a very good chance of losing her, and Merlin, that hurt just as much as the idea of losing Nia.

Could he promise that they'd still be friends?

"I promise." His mouth tipped up at one corner, a ghost of a playful smile. "You've got my will, I wouldn't have any other choice in the matter."

Maybe... maybe if he went back to that character. Maybe if he weren't fully Raiden tonight, that would make it a little more okay.

Maybe.

"Procrastination works for everything but homework," he said lightly, nodding.

They'd deal with it when it came. He'd deal with it.