Marie crumpled up the piece of parchment she was holding behind her back and quickly stuffed it in her pocket hoping Finlay didn't see it. She didn't want him to see what had been said about her. Then again, maybe she should let him know what was being said about her thanks to his best friend. "No, I'm not okay. I've definitely had much better days than the one I'm having now." Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the crumpled up article and slowly handed it to him. "Here, read this." As if it wasn't bad enough that she had already broken up with Jimmy, now she had to deal with crap like this.

Oh. So Marie wasn't okay? Maybe Finn was getting better at reading people then? It was bad though, because he really didn't like his friends being upset, or whatever was wrong with Marie. Hopefully he would be able to make her feel a bit better. That was what good friends did right? "Oh..." But he really didn't know what to say in response to that. As well as the fact that she seemed to be getting a bit snappy, and he already knew that she seemed to like hitting people, and he really didn't want to get hit by her....he'd had enough bruises. "Okay..." He took the parchment from her, uncrumpling it. Oh. It was that stupid gossip column. The one he'd appeared in a couple of times last year.

But...oh. That really wasn't nice. At all. No wonder Marie was not feeling okay at all. Finn frowned, crumpling it back up in his hand. "That's harsh..." He murmured, looking back up at her. "I'm sorry Marie.... whoever wrote that needs a good punch..." So maybe it was a good thing he didn't know who had written it.

Marie just stood there as Finn read the article wondering if he would just laugh about it. After all it was just a bunch of gossip. Gossip that someone with no life of their own apparently decided to spread. She knew she shouldn't let it bother her but she couldn't help it, it did bother her.

Looking up when he started to speak again she was relieved that he wasn't laughing. "Thanks." She now looked into his eyes. "Am I really that bad of a person? I mean is it really my fault that I can't keep a boyfriend?" He was Jimmy's best friend so maybe he knew something she didn't know. She was sure the guys talked just like she talked to Mia about... things.

Finn really didn't get why girls were really that bothered about these. Yes, it wasn't nice, but it was only gossip. And surely Marie knew it wasn't true. But it did annoy him that she was upset over it. She was here to enjoy herself, not get upset over stupid little gossip articles. Finn really did hope that she hadn't taken it too much to heart, because he had a feeling that it would be bad if she did.

Was she a bad person. Finn watched her, shaking his head. "No..." She wasn't. Finlay smiled at her, taking her hand, and giving it a comforting squeeze. "You are not a bad person at all." Apart from like whens he was hitting people. "I don't think it's your fault either..." Finn commented, moving a little, so that he was leant up against the wall next to her. "Don't let this get to you Marie...."

Hearing Finn say she wasn't a bad person made her feel a little better. Not as good as him holding her hand made her feel though... even if he was just being a good friend right now. "Thanks Finn." She said squeezing his hand back and not letting go of it. She was really glad that he didn't seem to believe what was written about her. Most people she wouldn't care what they thought but Finn... well she did care about what he thought of her.

Still holding his hand when he moved to lean against the wall next to her she put her head on his shoulder. "Right. Don't let it bother me. It's all lies anyway. I know what really happened and that's all that matters." Well that and the fact that he still wanted to be her friend.

Finn smiled at her, noting how she didn't let go of his hand. Mmm. This was nice, and she did seem to be looking a bit happier now. He was just that great, being able to make people feel much better. "Don't worry about it Marie....what are friends for." Because he liked being friends with her, even though things might have been a bit awkward if Jimmy was around, but he didn't think that was going to be happening any time soon.

But...Finn really did like how she was putting her head on his shoulder. That was nice too. "I thought as much." He agreed with a smile. Of course it would be all lies, Marie was a nice person really, apart from when she was punching people. "Still wanna go down to hogsmeade?"

Arabella-Marie entered into the entrance hall and sighed the visit back home was bad and basically her mum said to her not to worry because she would be in good hands with the doctor and to concentrate on her studies and that she would be better in no time at all

Standing there like that with Finn was definitely making Marie feel better but she was ready for them to go have some fun. She was not going to let this ruin her day, no way. "Of course I still want to go to Hogsmeade." She said as she took her head off his shoulder and pushed off the wall. "I'm ready to get our day of fun started." She grabbed the crumpled up parchment from him and stuffed it back in her pocket. She would take care of that later.

Still holding his hand she started towards the door. There was no time to waste. They had things to do.

Ahh. Finn was glad that she still did want to go down to hogsmeade, because he really wanted to go to honeydukes. He wanted some more candy, and didn't really want his mum to know about it haha. "Awesome." because it really was. Finn was looking forward to spending the day with Marie....maybe he'd by her some candy too, if she wanted some anyway. "Mmm..." Finn smiled at her. There day was going to be very fun, because they were both very epic people. And probably too very vain people too.

"Is there any shops you wanna go too?" He asked, as he walked alongside her towards the door. If there were only a few shops then maybe they could head to the three broomsticks too.

"I need to go to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. I seem to be losing all my quills lately." Well more like breaking them out of frustration when she was studying. She wouldn't tell him that part though. "And possibly Honeydukes." She was sure Destiny had found her chocolate and was eating it because she knew there was no way she had gone through all of it herself. Besides, it was almost Valentine's Day. She just might have to buy something for someone. "What about you, any shops you need to go into?"

Ahh. The quill shop. "I could probably do some new quills too." Because he really didn't have that many, because he was really a bit unprepared when he'd come to Hogwarts at the start of term. Ahh. Marie wanted to go to Honeydukes? Finn grinned. "I wanna go there too." Because he needed some fudge. Definitely needed some fudge. And maybe some chocolate frogs. He would have to try not buy the whole shop, because he did kind of need to try and still be able to fly for the game. "Shall we go have a butterbeer when we're done shopping?" Because he was sure all this walking was going to make him rather thirsty.

"Awesome. Honeydukes and the quill shop it is. And yes, a butterbeer would be great. " She opened the door and stepped outside. "Where to first?" She really didn't care where they went, just as long as they went together.

Maddie jumped and almost fell down the steps as she felt someone hug her from behind. Regaining her balance, she turned around and found herself staring into the face of.., her bestie, Sel! She grinned and hugged her back. 'Hey, Sel!' she said happily as she let go of her friend. 'Yeah, it's Maddie. Good thing too, because I think it would be weird if you were hugging some randomer...'

She smiled excitedly. It was so great to be back, finally! She'd really missed this place, Maddie realised, and all her friends too. It had been lonely with only her dad for company. Well, and the horses, but they didn't talk back when you spoke to them...


Hearing her name again, this time behind her, Maddie turned and then waved excitedly as she realised who it was who had spoken. Timothy! She grinned and waved him over. It was so great to see everyone again!

'Timothy!' she said, giving him a hug too. 'It's so nice to see you!'

Selena grinned. YES! It was her Maddie. Buahahaha. Her Maddie was back! Selena giggled and started jumping up and down with excitement. Her bestie was back! Eep. And she was completely ecstatic. Her friend was back! Yup. Sel was definitely happy about that. And Selena continued to prove it by jumping up and down, up and down aaannnnd. up and down.

"OhmygoshohmygoshOhmygoshohmygoshOhmygoshohmygosh, " Selena continued as she jumped up and down with a bright smile on her face and a bit of a crazy look in her violet eyes. "Maddie, I officially hate you for leaving and love you for coming back! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Selena said stopping and grinning wildly. AAAAHHH. Her friend was totally back. "Tell me everything! Why haven't you owled? What did you do? Are you any taller? Do I look shorter? Ohmygosh!!!" Selena continued.

Timothy had never been so excited in his whole life. She was back, the girl of his dreams. Back, from whatever strange adventures had brought her away. A flush of memories flooded through him, The kiss, the dance….everything. He was amazed. She had grown, and she looked beautiful. He could feel his knees shaking ever so slightly, and he blushed as she threw her arms around him.

He hugged her back fiercely, He wasn’t alone anymore. He hadn’t had a relationship since theirs….but now was not the time for more hopes to be dashed. He was just glad she was back.

He let go of her as another one of her friends approached. He backed off timidly and ran his hand through his hair nervously.

“Tell me, how have you been? I have missed you so much…” He let his words trail off

Actually, looking for Salander was proving to be a very difficult task. And finding him seemed impossible so far. One would think that finding Fletcher would be easier since he was also a Hufflepuff, but his chances were greater if he found the Slytherin.

Probably.

He was adjusting his scarf to head outside when he noticed her. Treyen remember the first time they met, and it seemed like forever ago, "Arabella-Marie! How have you been?" he said, walking towards her.

Arabella-Marie smiled at Treyen and said "It has been alright" Arabella-Marie didnt want to tell Treyen about how ill her mum was at the moment

Well, it was a good thing someone was having a good year, then. Though, in reality, he kind of was too. Except the beginning of it. And probably the end. No one knew, right? Not even if you were a Seer you could know. It didn't work that way.

"That's good, very good." He was nodding now, and sort of forgot about the fact that his scarf was still hanging from his right shoulder. "You're a second year now, right?"

Aww, man, she was barely starting at Hogwarts, and he was right in the middle of it, with the dreaded OWLs next year.

Arabella-Marie nodded and said "Yeah i am a second year now and i will be a third year next year" Arabella-Marie was dreading going home again or getting an owl from home with bad news

Yes! He was right!

Not that it mattered or anything, but he'd gotten her year right. "Have you considered which extra lessons you'll be taking next year?" he didn't know if Arabella-Marie was already taking Divination or not, but it was either that or Arithmancy. He didn't particularly liked Ancient Runes, even if he had a set and everything from when Shackleton taught in the school.

He'd made that set, that's the only reason why it was still in his trunk back in the dormitory.

"I'd recommend Divination, but I may be too biased to do so," so, she shouldn't listen to him. "You could always take on Quidditch, if you like it," like, really focus on Quidditch, extra practices and everything. Ha. He was missing the Pitch very much.

Maddie laughed as Sel started to jump up and down - hopefully with excitement. She was soo happy to be back - this was exactly what she had missed. Her super-hyper best friend being insane. But it was fun to be insane sometimes... grinning, Maddie started to jump too. Bounnce... bounce...

'Well, I love you too.' Maddie said breathlessly, planting her feet squarely on the ground again. No more jumping. 'Just at home. I had dragon pox,' she explained with a grimace. 'That's pretty much it - I just stayed in bed and read about a gazillion books.' she said with a laugh. 'And yes, you look shorter. But only because I'm taller now!'


'I've been okay - just sick, that's why I was gone,' she said, smiling. 'I've missed you too! It's so good to back,' she told him happily. She noticed how he backed off a little when he saw Sel and decided to make it a little less awkward. 'Sel, Timothy. Timothy, Sel,' she said, introducing them to each other.

'So Timothy, what did I miss?' she asked 'I can see we're third for the House Cup... that kinda sucks...' she said, faking a pout. She wondered when the last time Ravenclaw had won the house cup was. Certainly before she had arrived...

Selena continued to giggle, unable to help herself. Because really, how often was it when your best friend came back? Selena had absolutely nooo idea but she had a feeling it wasn't that often. Pffft. Maddie could stop jumping but Selena was going to continue. Jump... Jump... Jump... JUMP. She smiled.

"Well, you're back now!" Selena said, throwing her hands up in the air like that muggle song. WOOT. Her bestie was baaaacccck. Yeah weirdos, be jealous. Pffft. "Dragon Pox... sounds painful," Selena said with a pout. Books, dragon pox and home... for some reason that didn't exactly sound fun. "Well, you're back now!!" Sel offered brightly. Ah! They totally had to go celebrate later or something. "Pffft. I'm four feet and five and a half inches tall," Selena pointed out. and the rest of the world was a lot taller "I have so much to tell you!" Selena gushed before she saw the other person there.

Oops. Maybe she had been a bit too hyper. Whatever. She smiled at the guy there and waved her hand like there was no tomorrow. Which could happen. "Hulloooo," Selena chirped.

"Hullo to you as well ma'am" Timothy emulated the other girl and did a frantic wave. Not mocking her or anything, just an attempt at humour. He grinned.

"You haven't missed much, only a few boring lessons, and some contrived none sensed adventure that I took no part in. Though I wager there will be another one soon." He grinned. Then frowned, "Dragon pox? That's horrible! That disease swept through a village near my own a few years back. Poor muggles. I am glad you made it through with out a scar!!!!"

He smiled, "we're always near the bottom for the house cup, though I really don't care, as long as we learn our magical skills, who needs to win a popularity contest?"

The food? Aimée laughed a little, although she agreed. "Yes, ze food es definitely great! Ze 'Ouse Elves know 'ow to cook, no?" she said with a grin. Because she liked food, not like all of them silly anorexic girls you saw nowadays. Of course, she didn't eat enough to become fat but... well, she liked food. It was nice.

"I feel like I 'ave a lot more friends 'ere zan I did at Beauxbatons," she said as he agreed that the people were great. Maybe part of the reason was because she'd begun to let her guard down and stop being so obnoxious, but she wasn't going to admit to that, no. She just put it down to the people being nicer, except for Leo and Chandler. Nah, they'd always been nice, she supposed, otherwise she wouldn't be friends with them.

Dallin half-smiled when she laughed at him. What? He was a growing teenage boy, and he needed food. It wasn't his fault that he really liked it. His smile got bigger when she agreed with him. "They do," he agreed. "They're funny creatures, don't you think? I've never had one of my own, of course, but I've met a few here at Hogwarts." He had to admit that it was sort of freaky how eager they were to please everyone, though.

He almost let his mouth fall open when she started talking again, saying practically the same thing he'd been thinking. "Me too," he said, his eyebrows scrunching together slightly. "I mean for me, at Merlin's." Duh. "It's kind of weird, don'tcha think? Considering I went to that school for four years and I've only been here a few months..." He trailed off, looking away. He had totally not meant to say all of that outloud.