Kurumi was blushing about her ramblings, but Chistopher found them genuinely interesting. "That seems really cool. It's also awesome that you and your dad seem really close," he observed. It sounded to him that Kurumi's dad really cared about her, which Christopher had in common with her. He and his dad were pretty close too. "Oh! I- Erm, I mean..... Sorry, I probably shouldn't bring the topic of family up too much. Not that yours isn't a nice one, but it just seems like a lot of kids at school don't have exactly the best 'home situations.'" He was rather pink now, but he made air quotations around the words 'home situations.' This included his own family too, but Pity Parties got rather depressing, so he was determined not to bring it up anymore.

He cocked his head to the side again in confusion when she pulled out a piece of paper and spoke about a word that reminded of sushi. "Erm, kanji..... I'm not exactly familiar with that term," Christopher said, flushing a bit. He'd taken a little bit of French and a small portion of Spanish lessons at his Muggle school, but that wasn't exactly going to help him out here. Kurumi just continued writing away, using careful hand motions and beautiful letters in Japanese. It was rather lovely, and a skill he himself would love to be able to do, though his messy boy handwriting wasn't very legible in the first place.

"Eternal, reason, protection, earth, wealth, fortune," he murmured, reading it aloud to himself. The first four things made sense. And a lot of it. It was almost kind of freaky. "Er, eternal could mean that I'm religious," he said slowly and softly, trying decipher this little code about him. "Well, I often side with reason and logic, so that one makes sense too," he mused. "Protection....." His mind raced back to defending Violet from Nathan, and trying to make sure his little sister had a nice, good-kid, kind of date for a wedding they were to bring dates to. "Yeah, that makes sense. Earth, I'm sort of a nerd for saving trees and the environment and animals, and I know nearly every plant on sight, so yes that makes sense too." ........Now the last ones, these would be a little trickier. He stared at the slip, trying to figure out what they had to do with him, because in all honesty, he was dirt poor. "Huh. Well unless this tells me my future, wealth and fortune don't exactly describe anything I've got," he said with a shrug. Money didn't really matter to him, though at times it was a real pain in the booty.

"Well, they're very special, and I mean that in the best way possible. You shouldn't have to be afraid of who you are." He didn't know anything about her home life, but from experience, he could guess someone in her family probably didn't approve of magic. He could most definitely relate. "That is rather odd. My sister, my father, and I all share the same eye colour. But hey, being unique is fun!" When Violet's name was mentioned Christopher turned bright pink and his stomach did a flip flop- which normally happened while around the younger Hufflepuff. "Oh, Violet Le Veela? Yeah, I met her last year too..... She's kind of my girlfriend now." Christopher was still bright pink. Which was starting to embarrass him even more. He'd been dating Violet for a while, but he still thought having a girlfriend was weird.

"I- I thought....." He shook his head, deciding maybe he was crazy after all, though of course this didn't really surprise him. Though Kurumi's look of alarm told him he owed her an explanation. "I'm probably just crazy, or maybe it was a trick of the light, but.... But when we talked about your eyes, I thought that I saw just the tips of your hair turn, well, pink." She stared at him with a look that was a mix of shock, terror, and confusion, so he rushed on, "But I doubt it would happen, I'm just a freak, don't listen to me," he said truthfully, believing his own words. He probably hadn't seen anything, he was just a weird awkward third year without many friends. If he were Kurumi, he probably would of thought he was off his rocker too. But he did remember Elyon, his little sister, who was punished rather severely by their mother when her hair turned an odd shade off light blue out of nowhere one day. But then again, things weren't always so normal for young witches and wizards either.

Kurumi smiled wide. It was nice to not have someone’s eyes glaze over when she talked, erm, rambled on about things. “Father has always been there for me, even in the darkest of times when no one else was,” she nodded. Her tone hinted at a much deeper meaning, but she wasn’t ready to share all that with Christopher. At least not yet. “N-N-No need to worry!” she squeaked flailing her arms around a bit before she eased the tension in her shoulders by leaning back in her seat a bit. “I…I would be among that company though,” she finally said after a few awkward moments. “It makes me even happier to be at Hogwarts though. Make me feel like I belong to a family that accepts me for who I am.”

Kurumi blushed a bit as he looked over the parchment she had handed him. “Kanji is one of the writing systems we use. Many of the characters come from China originally.” She decided to cross her legs and prop herself up a bit more on her chair. “Mother’s writing is much more elegant than mine and she would make me practice for hours before I could get a break…which consisted of practicing the piano.” She couldn’t help but giggle as he tried to make sense of the meaning behind the kanji and how they applied to him. “I am sure the meaning behind the characters will change over time, some that don’t make sense now will come to in the future.” Hmm, was this perhaps some strange form of divination she had discovered? She should as Professor Bishop about it sometime.

Kurumi ran her fingers through her hair as Christopher spoke in a similar fashion to Treyen, and her cheeks burned a rosy pink again. It had been in the exact same place as well. Perhaps there was some hidden magic on the shelves of the library. Kurumi knew that she always loved this place. “I’ve been afraid of who I am all my life,” she mumbled without realizing that her lips were moving. Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened. Maybe…he didn’t hear that?

She then tilted her head to the left. “How can she…kind of be your girlfriend?” Kurumi asked curiously. Her heart sunk for just a moment. Relationships. Those always seemed to be just out of her reach. She noticed her fellow Gryffindor’s cheeks blush and she giggled. “It must be nice to have someone to like and who likes you back.” She had had that once, but it had been ripped away from her. Now, she was afraid of opening herself up to injury again.

Kurumi wanted to pretend that she hadn’t heard what Christopher had said next, but she couldn’t. A certain lioness and a badger’s voices filled her head and where hitting her subcranium with large wooden bats with the mantra of ‘don’t be ashamed of who you are’ playing over and over again in her head. Swallowing, Kurumi closed her eyes for a moment and focused all her energy and thoughts on her hair, well, a specific portion of it and willed it to change colors. This time, not to a pink, but to a violet color that matched her eyes. She had been practicing in the dorms recently, using a set of instructions her father had sent her. “You thought right,” she smiled sheepishly as she bit her lower lip.

Isobel laughed. "That's a good point." She yawned; she was tired. But she wanted to read because her book was good. Urgh.

The girl took a seat, and turned around when she heard someone talking nearby.‘Hi’, Gwen said when she noticed Presley coming towards her. What am I reading? ‘A book..’, the young ravvie said rolling her eyes. Obviously. Suddenly, she realized that sounded be quite mean, so she added ‘…with some potions’, and when she said that she pointed to the book.

"Let me rephrase that question," Presley laughed, realizing how stupid it had been. "What I really meant was, why are you reading that? Fun, a class, personal interest?"

Each word Kurumi spoke made Christopher nod excitedly. He wasnt trying to look like such a nerdy-weirdo-freak, but it was just that he knew this tale all too well, understand the deeper meanings as easily as anything. They all applied to his life exactly the same, one hundred percent. As she gave him a funny look, the lion figured he give her an explanation of why he looked so happy and sad all at once during her story. He wasn't going to go into all of those personal details as they'd just met one another and the pity party wasn't a welcome one, but he still thought she should know that she wasn't alone."Sorry if I'm coming off as a little strange, but it's just that I'm the exact same way. It's almost frightening to how similar my "background"or whatever it's called is. My father has always been for me during my, erm, darker times as well. But my real home, that's Hogwarts. It's the one place I feel like I truly have a home, where I'm accepted. It's..... Where I belong." He blushed as he realized how cheesy his whole schpeel sounded, but atleast he knee she could relate, right?

When he nodded about her Kanji explanations, it wasn't exactly the agreeing 'oh-my-gosh-I-can-relate' nod, but more of an 'I-have-no-clue-what-this-even-means-but-I'm-going-to-try-to-understand-anyway' nod. Those were rather confusing nod titles too. But when she said it'd probably change over time soon. That was a relief, because he was rather worried that he'd either been wrong about deciphering the meanings, or he should be named Christopher. "So what does Kanji say about your name? I mean, mine was a really long one, so yours can't just mean walnut, can it?" Kanji sure was confusing. "Your handwriting is fine, much better than mine!" He laughed. It was actually really good. He wished his own handwriting could be in the calligraphy style, but his just looked like an angry second grader's. Curse girls and their awesome penmanship! "I play the piano too!" He chirped happily. Actually, he played a lot of instruments to make up for his horrible athletics, but talking about it made it sound like bragging. Which was not totally awesome.

Kurumi's hand flew to her mouth, and Christopher wished he could say he hasn't heard her. Only because she seemed genuinely upset about it, and he didn't want her to feel upset, but Christopher felt the same way. He noted that he and Kurumi were rather similar and would have to hang out more. "Hey...." He said comfortingly in a rather sheepish tone. "You don't have to be afraid anymore. You have a family now. Things will get better." He smiled still, hoping his words would apply to himself too.

He was blushing even harder by now. "Well, it's just that we're a little rocky right now. Plus I'm just not used to saying that I have a girlfriend. It's weird." He decided. He didn't really care that he sounded like a little kid, he was only thirteen and felt rather young for that kind of thing. But he couldn't help but like Violet. It wasn't just her Veela appearance, but the quirky, sweet, and caring heart she had that made him fall so hard for her. Which was probably the only reason she'd agreed to go out with him. Because he liked her for her, and nothing else. When Kurumi said that sadly, he understood what she meant. She and Adam had practically been crowned couple of the year by the whole school, and it wasn't exactly a secret that he'd torn her heart out and threw it on the ground. He hated when girls put themselves down for stuff like that. "Hey, don't say that. We're still young, we have years for that kind of thing. Plus, I don't think there's a guy in this school dumb enough not to care for a girl like you. You'll find the right guy someday. Don't worry too much about it. Just enjoy being a kid, you know?" He wasn't sure where all this wise and grow up sounding advice was coming from, but he hoped she'd listen to it. Because he found it rather helpful himself.

And then she squeezed her eyes shut. For a moment, he thought she was going to do something drastic, like scream, which freaked him out. He didn't think Madam Donovan would like that very much. "Erm, Kurumi? What are you-" But his voice stopped abruptly when a spectacular sight appeared before him. Kurumi's hair, well the front strands of it anyway, had slowly turned from jet black to the same violet shade of her eyes. But the Gryffindor wasn't scared, or freaked out, or anything. He simply found it amazing. "Wow..." He breathed. It really was breath taking. "Kurumi, that's- that's amazing! How long have you been able to do that? Are you part Metamorphagis or something?" But he resisted the urge to pelt the fellow Gryffindor with a thunder of questions when he saw her overwhelmed expression. So he just waited for her to gather herself and answer them.

It had been a long time since someone had looked so excited while she had spoke. Adam had been one of the first, but as it got closer to the time for him to leave, he had become cold and had even snapped at Kurumi once for talking too much about her country and culture. She had only been doing so to help him understand more of where she was coming from, but Adam hadn’t seen it that way. She found it comforting and, instead of making a face smiled brightly at Christopher when he spoke again. “I-I-I don’t think you are strange at all,” she half giggled. Quite the opposite really. It was almost like talking to another part of herself and the thought made her skip a beat. “I…I feel the same way about Hogwarts…for the same reasons…” her cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink, causing her to have to look down at the ground for a moment.

Kurumi eyes lit up more when he showed an interest in her native language. Kanji were certainly a very complicated part of Japanese and with well over 2000 unique characters, not even Japanese people had mastered it – although her mother often expected her to do so. Kurumi was a long way from mastering it and now that she only spoke Japanese a few months out of the year, it was looking even less likely she would ever master it. “Well, there are three characters that make up my name,” she explained as she took her quill to her parchment again. She handed him the parchment when she was done.

“I suppose you could translate it as ‘old story fastened by beauty’ or it is a fancy way of saying fairy tale,” she said shyly. She hardly considered herself beautiful and actually would rather blend in with the tapestries than stand out. Which she was not doing a good job with since she was now the Gryffindor Seeker and famous Cookie Girl. Kurumi was beginning to see just how much of a walking contradiction she was. She really needed to grow confident in herself. “Sometimes, I think the word walnut fits me better.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as she looked down at his shoes. “You do?” she smiled looking back up at him. “Mother trained me so much that it didn’t really become something I enjoyed. It never became a hobby…I am starting to like it more now since I can practice when I feel like it.“ And she didn’t have her mother breathing down her back.

Kurumi cheeks continued to redden as Christopher spoke again about family. “Y-Y-You’re right,” she mumbled as a smile tickled the edges of her lips. “I just…I grew up in a place where being different was something that gave others reason to bully you…” Yeah, that was the gently was of putting that. No need for a pity party right now. Yet, somehow, Kurumi felt that her fellow lion was able to connect and understand what she was feeling without having to say another word. Something in his eyes just clicked with her and she felt. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like grabbing his hand, just to feel even more connected, but she refrained feeling like that would ruin the moment and she’d rather like to stay the way they were for as long as possible. Her blushing didn’t lighten any when he spoke again. They were words that she had heard before, but it still didn’t make her feel better seeing everyone else coupling off. It was almost like…she had to as well in order to feel like she was complete…which was silly. “T-Thank you, Christopher,” she smiled bowing her head slightly. “I just want to, you know, figure out who I am…I was never really given the chance to be a kid.”

Kurumi took several deep breaths as she allowed Christopher to see her most vulnerable side. “My father is a pureblood and a Metamorphagus and I inherited it from him. It’s…it’s why my eyes are this color.” She paused for a few moments as she listened to Christopher’s questions. “I’ve always known I was…different…but I didn’t know why. The fact that I was a witch was hidden from me until I got my letter. Magic isn’t allowed at home…I even have to wear brown contacts when I am home or else mother won’t look at me.”

Christopher smiled, feeling a little bit better as he saw her eyes lit up. It must've been a while since someone had understood full on what she'd been going through. It made him feel that way, anyway. Like he was less alone. He smiled as she assured him that he wasn't a freak, he just had a home. Perhaps Kurumi and him had been destined to meet on this day, or perhaps not, but the young boy felt as though he'd found a twin from across the world. It was so strange how things worked out that way sometimes.

He smiled again, as she decipered her own Kanji this time. "A fancy way of saying fairy tale....... Well in all of the fairy tales I've heard, the hero or heroine gets a happy ending despite all of their struggles. Maybe that means you'll have your happy ending too," he said thoughtfully. She seemed to be rather timid towards being extraordinary. He found this very odd, as she could turn her hair any colour of her choice, was the Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and was known for making cookies to any student of any house. And those cookies weren't just any cookies. They were the best darn cookies that kid had ever had. "Really? I think 'old story fastened by beauty' is much more fitting," he said with an encouraging smile. "Oh yes!" He said cheerfully, his face brightening. "Other than reading and caring for animals and nature, music is my whole life! I love it so much, and although my mother also forced me to play until I got it perfect, I never thought of it as a chore. I guess her methods made me really did make me better!" He'd never really thought about it before, but that was another thing she'd tried to ruin for him. Music. Too bad for her that it never worked.

This time when she spoke about home in the discrete way that she did, Christopher didn't light up, happy to be understood. He nodded gravely, hoping and praying with all of his heart that she wasn't hurt by her mother too. It seemed like she was bullied by her mum, and other children in her Muggle school. "Hey.... Even if things are hard at home, just don't forget you aren't alone. So many people here love you, and your mother must love you too, even if it's hard for her to deal with magic. My home life is the same way, though my own mum isn't so forgiving." And now they both knew for sure. They were in the exact same position.

He nodded once more as she shared her home story. Her father was a pureblooded Metamorphagus, so she had beautiful yet strange eyes and could change her hair colour at will. She didn't know she was a witch. Magic was forbidden in her home. There were minor differences in the two lions' lives, but it was all the same story. And since she shared hers, he'd share his. "I'm Muggleborn. My father, he's really sick right now and I can't help him. My mother hates magic. She thinks we're freaks, and is abusive. The Muggle children in are area are bullies too." He sighed. "Hogwarts is my only safe place now." He wasn't looking for pity, oh no. Just confinding in someone who understood him, someone who knew how things felt to be treated so cruely made him feel a little better. Selina and Violet, as wonderful as they were, wouldn't ever fully understand. At least he had Kurumi to talk to now.

Amy hadn't been to the libarary in so long, but the last time she had, she'd met Mat, and he'd made her laugh and grin and stuff, she pulled the book off the bookshelf, lagging it over despite it's heavy weight, over to one of the chairs, and flopping down onto it before opening the book, releasing a big cloud of dust which made her choke

Simon walked into the Library he had no idea why he had decided to come, he hadn't been one to read for ages and he had this feeling that he wasn't very good at being quiet and he didn't like getting into trouble, so he knew he had to be quiet.

Simon sat down next to another Hufflepuff Girl and started to read the book he had got off the bookshelf and then he realised who it was, so he whispered to her. "Hi Amy." At least she couldn't slap him here.

Amy was reading the third chapter and trying to figure out the actual point to Hellebore, when she heard the sofa sag next to her. Okay, that was fine.

And then the figure spoke.

Amy's head shot up as she reached for her wand. Damn. She couldn't hex him or she'd be sent from the libarary and she reaallly needed that research. Simon, she said primly, fidgeting and turning the page

Simon had no idea what had gone wrong between them, they had been friends in their first year but then Amy seemed to go mental and he had no idea why, maybe she just didn't like him though saying that everyone was suppost to like him he was a prince after all though he had no idea if Amy knew or not he couldn't remember if he had told her. "Amy I want to say I'm sorry if I upset you in the corridor that day, I was just having a bit of fun."

Amy pouted, but her bottom lip wibbled slightly, you should be she said, pouting again, before sighing and putting down the book. She had to do the mature thing on her end now. Bloody karma. Sorry about the whole, err, slapping you thing, she muttered, though you did deserve it she added on. But you know, only at that moment. She chewed her lip, their...friendship, had never been 100% steady like her and Sammy, but that was why she liked it so much. She didn't like arguing with him. Especially not about petty things.

Well, she liked the arguing, but not the glaring aftermath.

So, um, yeah, I'm sorry, she said, looking up at him for everything. And yes, that did include pushing him in the lake in first year

Simon looked at Amy okay so in there second year he shouldn't have pushed her into the mud and he shouldn't have forced her to drop a dungbomb in the corridor in the first year when she had beg to be let off. "I'm sorry too." Simon said, he was still keeping his eye on her wand and was ready to draw his if he needed to though he was hoping he wouldn't have to do that because he knew it would mean a detention.

Ronnie walked into the reading lounge of the library and found a seat by herself and began to draw randomly on an extra piece of parchment she had. She drew a unicorn in a forest.

Should be she said again, though instead of pouting, she was grinning. Really, they were each others worst enemies. Best of friends...when they felt like it *le sigh* she looked at him, I think I'd be here all day if I listed all of our um...conflicts she nodded, struggling to find the word. She sighed again.

You know I used to have an ickle wickle, like so so so tiny you couldn't see it, she confessed, a, well, weelll a um, a she practicly whispered the last word, a...crush on you

But I don't any more she carried on laughing slightly. Loudly. Guiltily loudly

Simon looked at Amy did she say she used to have a crush on him, well that was something new, though he had to admit that he was sure loads of girls had crushes on him and if they knew he was a prince then he was sure every girl would have a crush on him, but he wasn't going to tell everyone about him being a prince.

"I'm glad." Simon smiled. "I doubt my girlfriend would be happy if you still had a crush on me." Simon looked at Amy. "In fact if she saw us together she'd go nuts she's kind of doesn't like me talking to other girls."

Kurumi looked up at Christopher when he spoke again about fairy tales. “I suppose you do have a good point,” she blushed. What was it that her father often told her? You have to walk through fire to get to the other side? That didn’t sound right. No matter how the expression went, Kurumi did understand that there would be no joy in the world without suffering. “My pinnacles and challenges that we calculated in Arithmancy implied that I would be going through a big trail in my life right now – considering it is my first pinnacle and I will be beginning to transition into my second pinnacle in the next few years…” Kurumi blushed a bit more. She always began to ramble when she was nervous. She only became more so when he said that he thought the kanji in her had a meaning that he found to be more fitting for her. “T-T-Thank you…” Kurumi began running her fingers through her hair.

Now her eyes were growing big again. “Wait…you enjoy reading and caring for creatures to?!” Where had this lion been hiding all three years of her Hogwarts life? Only somewhat ignoring the furtherment of their conversation about music, Kurumi had found herself hung up on there. “What is your favorite?” Clearly she was talking about animals.

She had to bit on her lower lip when Christopher his home life and gave her a glimpse into his past. “Christopher…” she began as she hugged the book she had been holding to her chest. Not knowing what else to say, she removed one hand from her book and took one of his hands in her own. “I’m…I’m sorry…” She really didn’t know what else to say. Their pasts were so similar it was almost frightening. Sure, there were a few obvious differences, but those were only in the details of them growing up in difference countries and the fact that he was a Muggleborn and herself a half blood. She gave Christopher’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I…I feel the same…”

Pssh, Amy shrugged, she can suck my...uh..my..um, watermellon. Okaaaii that did sound wrong, cuz you know your my friend and if she doesn't like us hanging around she can just turn around and face a wall, she laughed slightly, his girlfriend, whatever her name was sounded a riiiggghhht control freak. Like mental. Amy wasn't wouldn't be like that. When she eventually found herself a boyfriend

Simon looked at Amy he didn't know what she was going to say and didn't really want to know. "Okay then." Simon laughed, maybe he should be defending his girlfriend but Amy came up with some funny sayings sometimes. "So what have you been doing lately?" It was so odd they could chat like this sometimes but then other times they couldn't and he wasn't sure why.

Amy shrugged, before remembering, earning points to try and defeat you in your battle of losing em she said, looking at him with squinty eyes, I know what you're like she finished, before breaking out into a big grin

But um, well...sod all really she shrugged, you?

Simon looked at Amy "For your information, I am plus 12 points." Simon didn't add there was still 5 points to come off because he had answered a question in the Potion class and Professor Lafay didn't like his answer, and was it his fault that Professor as old as a dinousar didn't like the present that he had gotten for him. "I ain't that bad."

"I'm been doing homework and been in classes." Simon smiled, he had no idea why but he liked classes and if it wasn't for all the points he had lost he would be in the top 5 students for hufflepuff if not at the top.

Hmmmm, 12. Should I just, bow down and start kissing your toes? She asked sarcasticly, raising an eye brow. You say that, Amy said, looking at him skepticly, but I think the house points says differently.

Oooh, classes? You and classes? I didn't have you down as a classes fan

Simon looked at Amy, just because he lost points didn't mean he didn't care about the house but seriously he had more chance of becoming a world cup winning Seeker then Hufflepuff had of winning the house cup, he couldn't say he had more chance of becoming a prince because he was one and that was why he did lesson because he knew to be a prince you have too learn. "No you don't have to do that." Simon didn't know why she would say something like that. "I have to go now." She had upset him and so after putting the book away he left the library.

Simon? Amy said, her grin dissapearing from her face as Simon stood up. WHAA? Simon? She said again, tilting her head in confusion, Simon?! Simon, it was just a joke, I mean alright it was a crap joke but it was still a joke, I just-Simon?! She tried again, her face losing colour.

And then she reverted back to old Amy Simon argument/mild banter. I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND BUT FINE! BE LIKE THAT! She shouted at him, her face dropping as she went and sat back on the sofa