Ruby simply shook her head when he asked about the friendship thing but then stopped halfway in between--he seemed really upset and...and surprised. She raised an eyebrow at him, clearly confused. Did he really think they could have some sort of friendship after what they had been through?! Wow. Braeden Stonem never ceased to amaze her. The redhead really hoped he wouldn't start crying or something because she would just run away.

But all the same, he seemed genuinely upset, except that the photograph had cheered him a little. She noticed that he didn't grin though. Well, what was she supposed to tell him, that they were friends?! Oh Merlin.

Ruby took a step towards him and tried to put on a concerned face, which was impossible. "Umm, well...do you...do you think we're friends?" She asked him in a non-Ruby voice. This was getting way to awkward for her, she just wanted to be able to yell at him again and watch him squirm.

On instinct, Braeden took a step back as Ruby approached him. He hadn't even realized he was doing so; his body was just having its natural reaction to the redhead being near: run for cover. However, the boy's expression remained the same: like someone had just slapped him across the face repeatedly and he might just burst into tears.
He was quite easy to hurt.

"Well… I thought we were," muttered Braeden with a shrug as Ruby asked if he thought they were friends. "I mean… I know we don't really… act like friends, but…" The boy shrugged again. "I know this is going to sound weird, and possibly even creepy, but for some odd, weird reason that not even I can figure out, I care about you, Ruby. And… that's what friends do. They care when the other's upset with 'em," he explained. Oh Merlin, how corny did that sound? Well, hopefully corny enough to get her to kick my shins again…
… WAIT, WHY am I wishing to be physically injured?! Oh Merlin, what is the matter with me…

The boy was definitely a masochist.
But masochist or not, he needed Ruby back to normal. This… quiet, non-violent version of her was weird. Though, if she suddenly decided to be sweet and charming like that one time at Diagon Alley, he wasn't about to complain on that either.

Ruby listened to him but didn't really understand. Okay, so maybe she understood but her brain was having a hard time processing it all. But when Brae said he cared about her, Ruby blinked at the boy and then burst out laughing. Clearly this was his idea of some joke, he was gonna yell, "Fooled you!" any second now. As she slapped her knees and laughed, though, she realized he wasn't kidding--at all. Goofball looked completely serious and now Ruby didn't know what to do. So she just stood there and stared at him, as if he had just told her that she had sprouted wings.

Braeden Stonem cared about her?! Since WHEN?! She was so lost that she forgot to be mean to him. Slowly, the redhead reached up to scratch her head to make up for not saying anything. But she had to say something. The thing was, Ruby couldn't care less for Brae, unless of course he was dying or something. Then, she felt like she would probably feel some emotion.

"WELL--So you...you care...and um...really?!" She was still staring at him because she was hoping he might be lying. If he wasn't, then she'd...feel pretty bad since she didn't quite care about him. This was so confusing, GUHH! The lioness sighed loudly and did some thinking. It wouldn't hurt if she said they were friends--it wasn't like he was going to tell the whole world. Plus, she really didn't want a crying 6th year on her hands. Annnd she had to admit, they'd been through quite a lot and she didn't know what else to call their...relationship.

"Okay Brae. We're--we're friends. You were right." And she even attempted to give him a half smile, half smirk.

Walking down the corridor, TJ sighed just fingering the necklace that Ivan had given her at Christmas. She had felt like she'd been walking in a daze the last few days...week? Who knew how long it had been. She wasn't sure what to think anymore. It was like class after class, then more homework.

At least it kept her busy, but it didn't help her try and get more sleep, it was as though her mind did what it wanted and she barely slept now. She knew she should just move on, but she felt empty. She'd not written her mum, and knew if she didn't soon she'd end up getting a letter from her asking what was going on.

Sighing again she sat down with her back against the wall of the corridor dropping her bag beside her.

After spending a few days in the dorm, Matt figured it was finally going to be good to wander around the school; he just wanted to be alone after he had come back from being in Los Angeles for Christmas since Raven had decided to embarrass him and he kinda just needed the time to figure out exactly why she had decided to try to show off in front of his friends. He wandered down the fourth floor corridor, completely oblivious to the fact that he had climbed the stairs from the dungeons to begin with; but that only seemed to be due to the fact that he was too distracted by his own thoughts to actually pay much attention to anything. As he continued walking, he noticed TJ sitting against the wall of the corridor and frowned slightly, obviously he'd not talked with her since she'd decided that the relationship between them wasn't going to work. Just walk away if you know what's best for you dude.. don't get sucked back into talking to her because it's gonna be trouble.

Since when did he listen to his conscious anymore?

"Hey there, so.. how was your Christmas?" He did care even when it didn't exactly seem like it, Matt really wasn't one to express how he felt anymore since he didn't want to end up in the same place he was before going back home to LA.

Seeing a pair of feet stop near her, she looked up as Matt spoke. Her eyes showing just a hint of surprise that he was speaking to her. But they were so filled with mixed emotions it was hard to tell. Dipping her head slightly, she gave him a hint of a smile "My Christmas was good." And it had been, everything had been perfect til...last week. "How was your own?"

Crossing her legs, she leaned her head back against the wall slightly so she could look at him better. She had been thinking on Matt a lot more as of lately, having had the time to think about the past year, her mistakes and unfortunately too much time to think about recent events.

Something seemed off with TJ but yet Matt couldn't figure out exactly what, last thing he heard about her was that she was with Ivan and things were all cool; not that he was interested in the gossip that was always bouncing around the corridors of this school anyways. "Mine was really good actually, got to chill on the beach; everything was cool till Raven showed up and tried to show off in front of my friends, saying that she surfed when I know that she's not entirely fond of water. Needless to say, she wiped out and I laughed but then I was really embarrassed." That was a memory that he wanted to permanently to erase from his mind since it was amusing but way too annoying. After shaking himself from his thoughts, he sat down across from her so he didn't have to stand around the entire time; not like he was about to leave either.

"Awesome. I know how much you like to surf." she replied with the smile on her face showing a bit more. Laughing lightly at the comment of Raven trying to show off and wiping out. "She wasn't hurt I hope." Her eyes finding his when he sat down she looked at him curiously "Why were you embarrassed?"

At least they were able to just talk like normal. She knew how he'd felt after they'd talked last. A little too well, now. But at least they were talking.

"Oh she did get hurt, got a nasty bruise from hitting the water hard; I know all about that it, I've had my fair share of injuries over the years but seriously there's no better feeling then riding the crest of wave and watching the water literally go over top of your head." It might have sounded scary but it was far from it to Matt, probably because he was used to it all by now. When she asked why he was embarrassed, he sighed slightly and looked down at the floor; to those people who actually knew him, they completely understood why he didn't enjoy explaining this but obviously TJ didn't know him that well. "It's because Raven insists on treating me like I'm 3; I'm going to be 16 next month and honestly I'm getting tired of it, she doesn't seem to comprehend that I should be treated like a teenager since she's too distracted by her own problems to actually pay attention." And he said it, good thing his cousin wasn't still at the school to hear this.

Wrinkling her nose at what he said about Raven getting hurt, she nodded "I can imagine it'd be an incredible feeling, riding with the water around you as you rode the wave in." Watching as he looked down at the floor and explained why he'd been embarrassed, she shook her head. She remembered him saying that Raven treated him like a child, "I only meant to ask if she'd done something else. I've seen how she treats you..." she murmured. "It's not right."

Sighing herself, she leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her hands hanging down between them nearly touching the floor with her fingertips. "Matt, I'm truly sorry about what all happened." She wished she didn't know all too well, how he'd felt, her voice growing really soft she added "I know all too well, how much it hurts."

He had to wonder what she meant by that last comment, even though Matt wasn't one to prod into other people's lives; he seemed to want to know what was bothering TJ. "Wait.. is something going on that I don't know about?" He lifted his eyes off the floor and looked at her, noticing that her expression clearly displaying sadness and frustration; he didn't want to speculate that something was wrong between her and Ivan but that really was the only thing that he considered.

Shrugging a little, "I don't know, Ivan wanted to meet one night about a week ago in the kitchens. After a little bit, he said he had feelings for his ex still."

Looking down at the floor she forced herself not to cry, she'd done enough of that, and seriously just had to move on, and deal with it. "After that he said he needed time. I just don't get it...he said at Christmas he loved me, and I..." Breaking off, she just shook her head.

As he listened to her speak, everything clicked in his head like a puzzle; it wasn't good news but still Matt knew he wasn't going to let himself become even more involved then he was right now. "Hmm.. it sounds like he might want the ex to not be an ex anymore; which I don't understand why because you're a really nice girl who deserves to be treated right." After he spoke, he realized exactly what he said and wanted to take it back since it sounded like he was interested in her again but that definitely wasn't the case since it was best they just stayed friends.

Nodding slowly, she sighed "That's exactly what I think as well." Looking up at his next sentence, she shrugged, "I guess not everything's as it appears. Huh?" She still believed fully it was her comeuppance for what she'd done to Matt, and til she was proved otherwise, nothing was gonna change her mind on that.

Stretching her legs out in front of her, she leaned back against the wall again. "I'm not gonna force him to come back, as he said he might. I can't make him love me."

Once he knew that things had been falling apart between TJ and Ivan, Matt thought about what exactly he could do to make her feel better without making things even more awkward when they had before. "It never is, things might seem one way but in reality they are another; kinda like how we were huh." Of course he'd have to mention the past, that obviously wasn't going to help one bit; he would just make things worse. "Well you could, but the effects of love potion are hardly worth giving it to someone who doesn't seem to want to be around anymore." Ah love potion, he knew his cousin had been very experienced with using that; though it really was completely unnecessary.

"That's exactly what I've been thinking about. It's like what happened with you and I. I was with you and my heart was elsewhere." Her eyes following a younger student as they walked past, "And now it appears to be just that, he's with me, but his heart has been elsewhere."

Choking out a laugh as he mentioned the love potion, she shook her head "Yeah that'd work at least temporarily. I just couldn't do it. He deserves to be truly happy. Not forced into a relationship that his heart isn't truly in." She loved him that much. So much that she was ready to lose him just so he'd be happy.

"Love is just way too complicated you know? It's like you should fall for one person and things work out but no, you meet people that you like and they don't return the feelings or they cheat on you and cause your heart to literally break into a million pieces." Matt hadn't realized that until now, but it was true; it was like something supposed to be amazing shouldn't be this difficult, but it was and that majorly sucked. He got up from where he was sitting and moved over to sit down beside her so that the conversation didn't have to look so strange while other students were passing through the corridor. "Well at least you realize that he has a choice in this situation and as much as it's going to hurt, one way or another someone will end up with a broken heart." He unfortunately was the unlucky subject of that stupidity last year.

Conan was bouncing on his feet. He was right by the entrance to the library. He checked his watch every few seconds. Where was she? He had owled her like 5 minutes ago. She should be here by now.

Honestly, anything involving the library didn't seem like much of an "emergency" to Ellie. More like a nightmare, really. Maybe Conan was being attacked by books or something. It was completely likely. Those things were evil and scary and there were definitely too many of them crammed into that one room.

But Conan was cute and Ellie couldn't refuse his owl. So, here she was. Fourth floor. Closer to that awful place than she'd ever been. And as close as she was gonna get. She stopped walking, not near Conan, but further away from the library and beckoned him over.

He didn't look hurt, which was good. So...exactly what was the emergency?

Conan saw Ellie approach and he bounded over to her. "ELLIEEE!!!!" He skidded to a halt in front of her. "I need your help." He was bouncing rather nervously in front of her. Better than rocking, it made him uneasy when people did that. He always thought they were gonna fall over.

He took hold of her hand in an attempt to drag her to the library.

Hehehe.

Conan's behavior made her SMILE. Like...he was just adorable. And him needing her help? Yeah, she'd figured that when he asked her to come down here.

Then he grabbed her hand and...woah, wait. Smile gone.

"What're you doing...?" She was ROOTED. Not moving. No. Never.

He stopped pulling her, as he felt himself not moving. She wasn't heavy, but she was obviously not wanting to head the same way he did. "I need you to help me find a book. On Quidditch. I NEED to learn it." He nodded. "I need to know all about Quidditch." He'd get to the flying bit later.

"Can you help me choose, please?" His bottom lip wobbled, and he made puppy dog eyes at her.

Blink.

Well, THAT wasn't happening. Ellie was in no way finding a book. Sh-

Oh, on Quidditch? She smirked. That was easily achievable without having to get one millimillimeter closer.

"Sure. Go find Quidditch Through the Ages." Enough said, no?

"Quidditch through the ages?" Conan frowned. He didn't want to know the history of it. He wanted to know how it worked. And what everyone did. "Also I need your help on another matter. Please?" He had begun to whisper. He didn't want people to know what he wanted to.

He'd talk to this girl and then he would go see a lady, like the librarian. She was old. And could help him.

"Yes," Ellie nodded, "Quidditch Through the Ages. It's excellent. It explains all about how it started, and the balls and the players and the fouls and the teams and even other broomstick games." And it was one of the few books Ellie's actually read. And ever will read, probably.

Why was he whispering? Ellie didn't know, but his whispering caused her to do the same. "And what might that be?" She wouldn't be making any promises until she was certain it didn't involve horrible stuff. Like entering the library.