Right. Speaking was probably higher up on the prefect’s priority list than smiling was. “I suppose eating would have been an issue as well,” she nodded getting a little serious for the moment as she tried to contemplate what would happen without a jaw bone. Her cheeks flushed just a bit – but probably not something noticeable unless you were looking for it. Someone would have had to spoon feed him, obviously. Ignore the fact that his hands would have been perfectly fine. “I don’t even remember whose potion I tested…I-I-I just remember crying in front of Professor Lafay.” Who she then thought was going to turn her into a newt for doing so. “I am glad that you, erm, I mean, we…everyone got their bones back.”

There was a look in Treyen’s eyes as he spoke to her that made her feel…like she had all the confidence in the world. She wasn’t sure how to describe it, but it was a look that reminded her of how Adam had looked at her and now minus the times when he wasn’t being obsessive Connor. She didn’t feel so…lost…

“Y-Y-You really think so?” she asked peeking out from under her hood a bit and folding it back just a smidge. She still wasn’t taking it off. Nope. “I always thought it was a more genetic based reason as to why my brothers didn’t inherit the ability.” Then again, she really didn’t want to think about the chaos Ryunosuke and Junichiro would case if they were able to change their appearance at will. Takeshi was too timid to do anything other than stick his nose in a book.

Her thoughts suddenly went to Selina and HER ability. Kuruni’s seemed like something so small and so insignificant compared to what the second year was going through. “Thank you, Treyen,” she smiled looking up and locking her violet eyes on his. “For…you know…having confidence in me.” Merlin knew that she didn’t really have much in herself.

Then, she was back in excited kitten mode when he mentioned that he could perform non-verbal spells. “YOU KNOW HOW TO DO NONVERBALS!?” she squeaked as she clapped her hands together in front of her face as if she were praying to the all mighty spell gods to bless her with the ability to do so. “That is amazing! I wish I could do that. Is it hard? How did you learn?”

In her excitement, Kurumi failed to notice that her hood was slowly falling off her head. It fell completely off when Treyen shifted his position a bit to look at her. Eyes widening like a deer in headlights for a moment, it took her a brief moment to realize that he had spoken to her.

“I-I-I’m fine…now…” she nodded. You know, now that it didn’t feel like her heart was going to come leaping out of her chest. “I-I-I was just afraid that I was making you…uncomfortable…” Please say no please say no…
Kurumi giggled softly when he suggested that she was a one. “I suppose a 1 is a very Gryffindor sort of number to be,” she nodded. “Although, I sometimes have a hard time seeing myself as a true Gryffindor. Selina begs to differ with me.” She laughed a bit and failed to notice that her ever so slightly magenta hair was out in the open for everyone to see. It was turning back to black now that she had seemed to come to terms with the whirlwind of emotions that had threatened to take over moments earlier. “I’m actually an 8,” she explained in a matter of fact tone. Because, everyone knew what that meant.

“I suppose it is,” she said shrugging her shoulders a bit in response to the number eleven. “It was my number in class – number 11 girl that is.” She paused. Treyen probably had no clue what she was talking about. “Um…in schools in Japan, we are each given a number. So, in a class of 30, there would be number 1 boy and number 1 girl…and go all the way down.” Kurumi hadn’t really liked being referred to as a number at times, but she had grown to like her particular number. Mostly because of the meaning her father had attached to it, which is what she had begun to share with Treyen.

She twisted her lips as she looked over at the parchment, still wondering where it came from and how it ended up there. Zara read on, "Soaring through the Clouds." The title said. "Hm, maybe it was an old article. Not the latest." She told Helena and kept on reading aloud the first few lines.

"Even if we do find ourselves still becoming accustomed to the routine early morning wake up calls, trying hard to keep ourselves awake and sane during lessons, and remembering that we are in school and throwing water balloons at adults is even more frowned upon, the beginning of the new term is just one of two times where prefects need to be on top of their game. As everyone knows, being a prefect is a big responsibility, not to mention a great honor for some to be representing their house as well as--" and she stopped reading. "I think this is a big joke." Zara frowned as she was about to fold the parchment again and return it back on the floor as the name, "Patroclus Hudson," dawned on her.

Eyes widening, she quickly put back the parchment on the table and read that part silently in her mind, 'The male Gryffindor Prefect, Patroclus Hudson, can also be seen flying along by their sides from time to time as well. Certainly not as much, however, it should come to no surprise if one sees his eyes glazed over with adoration and obvious interest when a certain brown haired, blue eyed, and CRAZY she-snake walks by. Destiny Shepard has taken up this Prefects attention more times than he even thinks. Surely everyone could notice both his eyes were on her instead of making sure one Legend Chosen wasn't annoying any of the Professors during the opening feast, costing Gryffindors the first point loss of the term.' And the name Destiny Shepard rang in her ears. Who was this Destiny Shepard?

Zara felt her heart crumbling to pieces. Falling on the floor, sinking deeper and deeper.

Connor smiled as he sat down his book and accepted the gift. He opened it and gasped. She'd remembered!. "Ohh Heather! Thank you little one! I love it!" He opened the journal and quickly inscribed in it, Given to Connor Campbell his 5th year in School by his baby sister. He then reached into his bookbag and lifted out a box about the size of a shoe box wrapped in red and gold paper. Inside it was a hand carved Jewelery box with his interpretation of her Doll Mr. Panda's Face on it. Inside was a little Mr. Panda necklace. "Happy Christmas little one!" He wished her, handing her the package and kissing her cheek.

Helena listened carefully as Zara was reading some article, and felt as her mouth was slowly twitching into a large smile. "Water balloons?" She suddenly asked. "Isn't this from the last year?" Because a thought ran through her mind. "There was a Charms lesson, where professor Descoteaux wanted a water balloon fight." And it turned out awesome. "There was someone who made a group. They were looking for professor Descoteaux and they wanted to get him wet."

But then... she seemed to look at something. "What did you see?"

Eating! Well, that didn't cross his mind right now, but it probably did when he was in that lesson. That dreadful lesson. Just remembering how terrified he'd been was completely awful, and the potion he took, "Oh, I drank from Lafay's," he said, with one nod, "And I actually think it would be best to stop talking about it," because he was getting this weird feeling in his jaw that he didn't like. He even touched it to make sure it was there.

And he still thought that Lafay was the greatest Professor around. Amazing.

"Yeah, I'm also glad," clearly, it had meant a great deal to him to have his jaw bone back, and he actually remember that Fletcher only had a little bone from his toes removed, no? Wasn't it the pinky toe? He had to ask Fletcher, really.

He smiled again, he couldn't help it. The way she looked at him made him smile.

"Maybe there's some genetic involved too," little did he know about that subject, though, only the basics, "But I think the reason is because you can handle it," and she wouldn't go around messing with people and such. Her brothers would've probably done that, no? He actually had no idea.

Treyen was a bit lost in thought as he contemplated the violet in her eyes, yet it was nothing as close as the blue in Ellie's. "No problem, Kurumi," he said, half-smiling. And why only half a smile? Because it didn't really matter if he believed in her, as long as she believed in herself.

His eyes widened on their own at the excitement, and he couldn't help to chuckle, "I can only do two spells, I'm nowhere near 'fairly good' when it comes to non-verbals," awww, he was being modest, "You'll manage, someday, it just takes practice...I've been sort of teaching myself, actually, while consulting some books...and focusing a lot," he knew that if Kingsley had been around, then he'd be practicing non-verbals with the man. But, he only took some time alone to practice. Plus, it was sort of funny to annoy Chandler Accio'ing things around without saying a single word.

Wait. She was fine now, that only meant she hadn't been 'fine'. Was it his fault? OH! IT WAS HIS FAULT!! Awww, Kurumi was forever cute, seriously. And he even hated thinking about that word, but it suited this moment, "I wouldn't say you were making me uncomfortable," he said, as he took her hand again, "But you caught me off guard," and what ever happened to the 'not holding her hand again' promise? Well, he may forgotten this time, but he was quickly reminded by it when she started to discuss numbers again, and let go of it, softly, as if to make sure she never knew he was holding it in the first place.

"Not all Gryffindors are alike," which means, that the definition to every number doesn't apply to every person either. And he actually shook his head at his own ignorance, "What's an 8?" Kurumi must have understood the question, right? He was asking for the full meaning of the number. Not just the boss and power stuff.

Oooooh. Treyen tilted his head to one side as he listened to her explanation, "So, wait, you were called by a number? Not your last name?" that was...confusing.

Zara barely heard what Helena had said. Her whole world was being destroyed. By something--someone--called Destiny. Why does this seem so ironic?

Destiny. Before a tear could escape she quickly held them back. Right, she wasn't letting herself break down in front of Helena. No. Simply no. Destiny. Patroclus. GAHH.

"I-it's nothing." Zara said softly. "You wanna go read it?" She offered.

Kurumi had to cover her mouth to muffle a giggle that was threatening to escape her when she saw Treyen touch his jaw. Could...she touch it too? She flushed a bit at the thought. She probably would end up burning her hand in doing so. Getting so close to the source of the glow of his smile could be dangerous. "Alright, no more discussion about losing bones in one's body," she smiled offering him a playful salute.

"Are you sure you haven't met my father?" she asked raising an eyebrow. It was uncanny how much his thoughts and her father's overlapped. "Father mentioned to me once that my older brothers had too many rocks in their heads to be able to control it. I am not sure I agree, Takashi was sorted into Ravenclaw after all, but father is always saying that things happen for a reason and that everything should be seen as a gift..." She shrugged her shoulders a bit and relaxed with her back against the arm of the chair. So many people were telling her to believe in herself, or some variation of that. She supposed it was about time she started doing so? This would probably require more conversations with Lexi.

"That's two more than I can do!" she chirped feeling the excitement bubbling in her stomach once more. "I am sure you are more than fairly good if you are teaching yourself. Lexi told me that she was getting some training from Mr. Ikenna last term." Speaking of that man, Kurumi wondered where he had gone. "Hugo and I have actually been thinking about asking Professor Descoteaux to teach us." Although, Kurumi wasn't very close with that particular professor. "I...I suppose it is a little advanced for a third year though." She had had a hard enough time with casting a Disillusionment Charm last term.

Kurumi nodded at his comment about Gryffindors - no statement being more true - when....wait....had he just held her hand again? Kurumi thought she felt something warm and gentle to the touch wrap itself around her hand, but when she took a quick glance down, she saw there was nothing there. However, she did notice Treyen's hand retracting. A shy smile appeared on her face and she felt like she were about to burst. QUICK! Time to think about ice!

After taking a few moments, Kurumi was back to her relaxed state - although her hand still felt all warm and fuzzy.

Numbers. Right. They were talking about numbers.

"If I recall correctly," she said slowly tugging on her long pony tail for a moment - which was usually the case when it came to route memorization. "8's are people who find themselves on a path that leads them to work out the difference between money and the real value of life and learn what to do with your natural power and authority." Come to think of it, she supposed that it did sound rather fitting. Those bits anyway. She wasn't too sure about the whole natural leader notion though. Only thing she was good at leading people towards was the kitchen or a box of cookies.

"Sometimes they called us by our last names," she nodded. "I wasn't usually though. I was the only student in the class with a foreign last name, so they always called out jyuu ichi ban no jyoshi, or number eleven girl when they called on me."

What was wrong with Zara this time? She didn't look dizzy anymore, but there was something bothering her. "Tell me," Helena said kindly, as she took her eyes away from the parchment. "I... can keep secrets," she added with a tiny grin. But... it was true.

Well, she couldn't feel bad that Aparecium might have written about her, because she was new at Hogwarts. So... what was it?

Still waiting for something, Helena looked quickly over the articles. Maybe she'd find whatever made Zara feel sad.

Heather was glad Connor loved the journal she gave for him. She watched as he took out a pretty gift box from his bag and gave it to her. The inside was a beautiful jewelry box-prolly hand carved, and it had Mr. Panda's face on it. She beamed at her big brother and hugged him after he kissed her cheek. "I love it big brother!! thank you!" she said.

Zara shook her head as she forced a smile out of her face. "Really, it's nothing."

Her eyes were still looking at the parchment as the words began to become nothing but a blur of writing. Was her eyesight failing her? No, they were being blocked by something. Something transparent, something watery. Using her left hand, she tried to remove the blockage from her eye. That was when it trickled down to her cheek and to her shirt.

Tears. Tears began to come out, betraying her. In her ears, she could hear the words from the parchment as if they were speaking to her. '..when a certain brown haired, blue eyed, and CRAZY she-snake walks by..' She was hearing them, stabbing a fresh pain in her heart every time.

'The male Gryffindor Prefect, Patroclus Hudson..' No, stop! STOP! But they came ringing in her eyes, attacking her. 'Destiny Shepard has taken up this Prefects attention more times than he even thinks..' And until she could hear nothing more. She was being swallowed by nothingness. It was dragging her back.

Nothing.

Helena simply refused to think that 'nothing' was the real answer. And then... Zara was crying. "Hey," Helena said, or more whispered, "what happened?"

Seriously. What could Apparecium write that bad? Helena knew almost every article and none of them had that effect on her. So... maybe it was something more... personal? But still, Zara could tell her anything.

Wiping back the tears, Zara hated herself for being so weak. Really, she was just a first year. Why have a crush so soon? Why be so affected by these things? He doesn't even remember you, maybe. Silly, first crush.

She pushed the thought off and tried to regain back her normal state. "It's okay, Helena. Nothing to worry about," she began, pushing back the tears still threatening to pour out. "It's nothing but a silly.."

"You wanna do the Herbology Homework now?" she smiled. Her best smile. Despite those reddish eyes.

"You don't cry for nothing," Helena said, smiling. "You can tell me." And then... "Nothing but a silly... what?" A silly... mistake maybe? Or maybe a silly mistake during the Potions class? Because only Lafay could be that scary to make someone feel that bad.

The Herbology... what? Oh. Helena had completely forgotten about that. But there were more important problems than that assignment. "We'll do that after you tell me what's bothering you," the girl said stubbornly, with a tiny grin.

Zara sighed, no use in avoiding it. She knew Helena would never stop until she knew. She pointed to that name in the parchment as she held back tears through pursed lips and closed eyes with her head bowed down.

Helena waited patiently for an answer, really hoping that she wasn't making Zara feel even worse. And then she suddenly noticed as she pointed at the parchment. But... what could Aparecium have written?

She leaned over the parchment once again and looked over where Zara pointed, to see... "Patroclus?" What? Did he do something to her? "The Prefect?" Helena added hesitantly. Alright, she was really confused now, but didn't ask anything else. She just waited, hoping that Zara would say something.

Zara blinked and nodded. Yes, Patroclus. It sounded like an angel's name. An angel's name forever glued to destiny, in Zara's mind.

She couldn't force words out of her mouth so she got the quill which so happens to be on the table and dipped it in ink. And she wrote on the parchment with quivering hands. Just a heart on Patroclus' name, a kind of wobbly heart. Zara can't write straight. Then made a zigzag line in the middle.

And voila. A broken heart. She then drew an arrow to Destiny's name. The line went wavy since her hand was still shaking. Zara hoped Helena understood.

Alright, so it was Patroclus.

But what was Zara doing?

Helena watched as the girl was about to write something on the parchment, but it looked like... a heart, around Patroclus' name. Ah, she liked him. But what could've happened that bad? Oh. She drew a broken heart. And then... an arrow towards another name, Destiny. Waaait. Wasn't she one of the she-snakes? Helena had never talked to any of them, but of course she's seen them around. They shared a common room, after all.

"Did you tell him... anything?" Helena whispered, now looking up at Zara. "And Destiny... I've never seen them together," she said with a shrug. Well... at least they weren't together around Helena. Who knew what secret places had the couples. But this one... naaah.

Zara blinked, finally able to breathe evenly now. She shook her head. No she hadn't told him anything. Godric knows if he even knows her still. He probably forgot her. After all, they did meet only at the feast, that first time. That moment. GAHHH.

At least Helena understood. That saved Zara for the need of words. She couldn't bear talking about it. Explaining it all would probably renew those tears that are now starting to disappear. "I don't even see him anymore." She admitted. Destiny? Zara had no idea who she was. She had not even the faintest idea of her face except for that description.

'Brown haired, blue eyed, and CRAZY she-snake. Crazy? Crazy for Patroclus, maybe. Humph.'

Helena wasn't quite good at this kind of problems (well, not yet, at least), but she gave Zara an encouraging smile. "You share a common room, don't you?" She asked, kiiiind of pointing out the obvious. "Stay there and wait for him. Then... pretend you need help with something. He's a Prefect, he'll help you. And he'll help you not only because he's a Prefect." If that made any sense at all.

And maybe it was time to shut up, because she began to ramble. But... yes, she told Zara pretty much everything she had in mind.

Connor opened the Jewelery box and took out the necklace he'd made her and put it on her neck and then held her close. "I love you Heather. I'm so glad that we met and that the family relationship is real. For all intents and purposes you are my little sister and that means so much to me." He felt the hole in his heart that was left by his parents death beginning to heal.

She was so happy, the smile on her face was just too bright. "I love you too Big Brother." she said, hugging him tight. "I'm really happy you're my big brother."

Well, they did share a common room. That was something Destiny could neeever get the privilege of. But still, if those two did share mutual feelings, mehh, this made things more impossible. Just simply impossible. Grrr, you silly Zara. Just plain silly and foolish too, might I add.

Why did she have to have a crush--well, she thinks it's love--with a 17 year old guy? If that doesn't sound crazy enough, well, I don't know what next. Plus, that guy is a Prefect. Aaaand, she's only spoken to him once. Zara sighed. It was a one-sided love. A hopeless situation.

And as usual, foolish Zara had a foolish idea. A childish one. She is a child, though. You'd give her that. "It's okay, Helena," she said with a fresh new smile on her face. "I'll love him with all my heart secretly. Knowing that I love him is enough for me. As long as I know deep within my heart that he has a place there, I'm happy." Yeah, she was all happy and bright again as she considered this, thinking that it was the best way to go. Just making him feel loved. Alright!

"YEAH! That's right. I'll do that." And hopeful she was once again.

Oooh talking about true love already? Not that it was not possible at that age or something. It's just... uh, Helena had never thought about this subject. Until now.

But anyway. Zara wanted to do... whaaaat?! "Are you sure it's the right thing to do?" She asked, slightly hesitating. "Aren't you going to suffer more?" Or let's say that the guy wanted a girlfriend, eventually. How was Zara going to get over that, if she wanted to keep loving him? But of course, Helena kept that thought for herself, because she didn't want to upset her. She liked the happy version of Zara.

Zara kept on smiling. She was satisfied with her plan. "Yip. Nyyyy-yowp," she answered to Helena's questions as she nodded her head, then shook it to say yes and no.

Lalalala~ She was now humming. Humming a happy tune. For some foolish reason, Zara found her plan excellent. GAH, it was only gonna cause her some stupidity and a bit of heartbreak. Oh well. Her choice.

"Saaay, Helena. What about that Herbology homework, eh?" She suggested as she folded the parchment over and over until it was just a small square. Placing it in her bag, she looked up at Helena, waiting for an answer.

...

Zara seemed really excited about her ideas, but Helena was kind of worried about her. She really didn't want her to get hurt. Or more than she already was. "Alright," Helena said with a tiny smile. But Zara was surprisingly excited. At least she was happy, and Helena liked seeing her like that.

The... Herbology homework? "We should do it," she said, her smile completely fading away. She didn't quite like Herbology, but she had to do the assignment.