What did Marie expect Carter to do to Destiny? Punch her? That really wasn't his thing.

"I'm sorry." he said. "I laugh at things. It's what I do..." Really, it was just like how Marie punched things to make herself feel better. Besides, he knew it wasn't really Destiny's fault. Okay, it was completely her fault, but she didn't do it intentionally. For some crazy reason she thought that he would be completely in love with Marie. Which made him wonder how she'd gone so many terms of being a top scorer...

Besides, if he was the first person to laugh then it wouldn't be so hard for the others not to freak out as much. At least... that's what he thought.

He chuckled at her next comment. He ran a hand through his hair and said, "yeah... seems like I have a definite type, doesn't it?" Which was weird. How often did people actually have 'types'? And more importantly, how did he manage to convince three blonde pureblood Slytherin girls to date him? He must have game or something.

"Hey. You were nice..." he began. Then he got a nice swift little punch to the arm. "...sometimes..." He then smiled. "But I like it. I don't have to worry about missing quidditch games or having her miss quidditch games." he said with a little smirk.

"Mia...?" he wondered out loud. "I didn't know you knew Mia." he said. "I met her on the train while I was... err... still rhyming. She thought I actually talked like that." Which was crazy. He didn't even know that many words, making them rhyme would be incredibly difficult.

He shrugged lightly at her disbelief they could still be friends. "Guess you'll just have to seeee." he said in a slightly sing-song voice.

Hehe.

The fact that he accepted it, just made his dorkiness more prevalent. Hehehe.

Of age. BEAM. "I know! In just two little years I'll be able to APPARATE." Then she could go WHEREVER she wanted at ANY time. It was going to be epic. "Imagine just apparating to Hogsmeade." No more train rides.

...Not that Ellie'd do that, actually. Those train rides could be fun.

"And magic outside of school!" This meant a clean room. And fixing things she broke. And fixing things Aiden broke. ALL BY HERSELF.

"It's just over a year away for you, yeah?" SO, was HE as excited as SHE was?

Connor came running down the stairs and through a door. He realized he was in the huge school kitchens. He looked around as he tried to catch his breath. He was sure the creepy one would not find him down here. He looked around and saw Kurumi making cookies nearby. He smiled for the first time in hours and walked up to her and her friend. "Hey." he said softly. "Can I help?"

Kurumi leaned against the counter as she thought about her and Hugo practicing the charm - most likely in the Room of Requirement since it could provide them with the most space and materials to practice with. "That may be fun," she nodded as a rather amusing image popped into her head of Walnut getting lost in a sock that they had applied the charm to. "If we try it on our own, perhaps we will have mastered it by the time we are 7th years."

"I am totally rubbish," she frowned. "I spoke briefly with Professor Vindictus at the feast though. He told me not to give up and keep at it. Said he was sure that I would master it eventually." Yeah, like when she was getting ready for retirement. Then, her head snapped back to Hugo. Had he really and honestly just asked her why?! Wasn't the reason obvious? "Hugo, are you telling me that if Fee suddenly left Hogwarts, never wrote you, and left you with the impression that you may never see each other again that you would give up every memory of her? That you wouldn't want to find something that made it seem like she was still there next to you?"

There was a deep pain in her voice with perhaps an undertone of anger, but it wasn't directed at Hugo. She told herself that it was directed at Adam for putting her through all this and throwing her a lifesaver that always seemed out of reach no matter how quickly she swam towards it.

Her pained expression softened as she heard Hugo talk about what had happened. "Yeah...I've met that first year too," she said with a slight scowl on her face. She STILL didn't understand how the kid had turned her words into some sort of verbal attack, but she was rather upset that he had harassed Hugo as well. "S-S-Sorry if I started you," she flushed looking at the ground and feeling a tinge of jealousy. "I think it's wonderful that you feel that way, really, I do..." she trailed off a bit wondering if, deep down, she had felt that strongly for Adam. She was still very much confused about exactly how she had, and still did, about him. Was she more in love with the illusion of companionship than the actual boy? After all, he HAD put her through so much...and not all of it good.

Eyes watering up a bit, she looked back at Hugo and tried to smile at him as bravely as she could muster. "I don't know what love is, besides what I have read in books. But no one can give the proper definition of love. To some Love is friendship set on fire for others Maybe love is like luck. You have to go all the way to find it. No matter how you define it or feel it, love is the eternal truth in the history of mankind." She shuffled her feet a bit and cast her gaze towards one of the windows. "I may be a little jealous," she giggled softly. "Of you and Fee that is. Feeling that way and being able to say such things to one another. A-Adam and I...we left so many things unsaid..."

Eyes watering up even more now, Kurumi nearly jumped into Hugo's arms when a voice seemed to come out of nowhere asking if they could help. She HAD jumped forward, and landed on Hugo's foot, but she had managed to keep her wits about her enough to be standing on her own two feet. Turning her head around slowly, she saw that Connor had joined them in the kitchen.

He couldn't have arrived at a more awkward moment. Kurumi and Connor hadn't talked much about Adam, but she had mentioned him when she had gone over to his home for lunch one day. The day she had told him she wasn't ready to move on. Merlin, she had signed up for Quidditch to still feel connected to Adam!

"H-H-H-Hello Connor!" she squeaked in a pitch that was probably most audible to dogs. "S-S-Sure! I was just thinking of making some Iced Apple Soufflé with Caramelised Apple cookies." Because THAT didn't sound insane or anything.

Then, looking back and forth between the two boys, Kurumi realized that she ought to do the introductions.

"Oh, Connor, this is Hugo. I mentioned Hugo when you asked me about studying together. Hugo is in a third year like me, but in Ravenclaw, and is one of my best friends," she smiled looking at Hugo who still had a bit of flour stuck in his hair. "Hugo, this is Connor. He is a transfer student from the Durmstrang Institute and is a fifth year. We met over the summer in the bookshop and has a pet kelpie."

Fee smiled at the boy next to her,he seemed to ease a little bit."Hi Jonathan",she said grinning,"its really nice to meet you too."Even though he was a Slytherin too the blonde hadnt seen him before,only proved how big Hogwarts actually was.But it was always nice to meet people even after three years of exploring the castle.Hehe.


"Ice tea and chocolate cake?",the Slytherin giggled,"extraordinary choice."Winking at Jonathan Fee sippied on her hot white choclate again.Oh glitter,there was nothing better.It was kinda funny how the boy choose two things that didnt quite match but still enjoyed it.maybe she wasnt the only weird person on earth?Now that would be cool.Hehe.

Ohhhh he wanted her to try his cake?Now that was soooo nice of him.Smiling widely the third year nodded."Awww thats soo sweet of you",the blonde said,"of course i want to try."Taking his spoon,Fee got a piece of cake in her mouth and immediately felt the joy of delicious cake in her mouth."Daaaamn i love chocolate",the third year giggled.If there was something Fee loved more than shopping it would have to be chocolate.Hehe."I am in ym third year",she told him,"but i am turning 14 in october, what about you?"

Indeed this was such a good day. Eating with a new friend who looks really adorable is just awesome. Feenella is sweet and cute, dare Jonathan say that. She's very perky as well. Always smiles. Which is a nice attitude. Wow! Jonathan should really spend more time with her, just to rub off some of that enthusiasm.

Jonathan felt amused. True, they were extraordinary choices since the two would never get along no matter how you put it but still Jonathan loves that sort of weird zesty and sweet combination when eating his desserts. It's fun though, since she doesn't think it's weird in a bad way, like his other friends.

As soon as Feenella took Jonathan's spoon, he stared at it for awhile when she ate. Jonathan is quite the OCD person and Feenella doing that just made him feel quite comfortable. Why oh why, did he has to have that awkward behavior? Couldn't he just live a little? "Yeah it is delicious" Jonathan nodded.

So she's a third year. She's a year younger than Jonathan. "I'm already 14 but that's great you're going to be fourteen." he smiled "You should definitely tell me when your birthday comes" Jonathan has a habit of giving gifts. He loves to shop rather than sports. It's not that he fancies it more, it's just that he grew up shopping with his mother all the time. So he probably got that sort of attitude of hers. "I'm fourth year" he almost forgot to state that.

"So how was your first day?" and by that he means how was Potions Class. Professor Lafay is quite scary and straight forward "How are you liking Potions?" he rolled his eyes. Although, potions is quite a favored subject of Jonathan, only, he doesn't excel much like some students.

Something was seriously going in in Jonathan's head and it made her giggle how his eyes started to sparkle a little.The curious girl she was,Fee would looove to know what was going on in his head."What are you thinking about?",the girl asked and mentally slammed her head because she couldnt stop herself from saying that out loud.Taking a sip from her hot chocotalate she looked at the other Slytherin's combination of meal and giggled a little.Maybe she should trie ice tea and chocolate cake together sometime?!

The blonde didnt think about her next movement and just took Jonathan's spoon to eat.He wouldnt mind would he?!Getting herself the first bit the blonde smiled widely at the guy and noticed him staring at her."Do i have something in my face?Maybe a piece of chocolate or a crumb?",she giggled laying her head to the side a little."You are totally right its sooo delicious",the third year nodded,"i might order a whole cake and hide it under my bed."Ohh that was a fantabulous idea.

Awww he wanted to know when her birthday was?How cute was that,they had just met and he already cared."I am turning 14 at october 31th.",Fee told her new friend,"when was your birthday?"Next year the blonde would definitely get him a present,there was enough time to figure out what he liked.Hehe.Ohh he was a year above her?Cool."Did you start with your first year here?",she asked smiling at him.There were soo many new transfers it was totally possible that he hadnt started at Hogwarts.

Soo how was her first day?There had happened so much on just on day it was crazy."Exept potions it was amazing",the girl nodded,"i glittered my bed,tanned at the lake and got all my stuff into my wardrobe.What about yours?"Ughh potions,that was the worst subject ever.,She actually used to like it but Lafay ruined it all.Siiigh.[B]"I dont like potions really much to be honest",Fee shook her head,"Lafay is soo scary and she hates me for some weird reasons.But the worst is she is our head of house...".Jonathan didnt seem to like the lady too much either and that made the third year smirk kinda.

Connor bowed his head to the other man and smiled at them both. He extended his hand. "Connor Corun, nice to meet you Hugo." He grinned happily, it was nice to see Kurumi somewhat happily doing something other than study and worry. "Is it ok if I join you, maybe help?" He asked, softly. Anything to keep himself away from the freaky girl chasing him. Maybe this was the best place for him to be right now. He looked up and saw that Kurumi had seemed about to jump into the other guys arms and something inside him broke. He sighed, she'd said she wasn't ready to be with anyone but maybe now she was...He did something that he had never done, overcome with emotion, he hung his head. He took a deep breath and raised his head. There was a chance he was misreading the situation....

Jainie poked her head into the kitchen and smiled at the elves near the door. "Hey, what're you guys making today?" she asked as went over to the counter to investigate. "You know, do you think I could get a small cup of coffee?"

As she leaned back against an empty counter, Jainie noticed a small gathering of people at the next table. They all looked very...emotional. Jainie wasn't sure what to make of it, but she reigned in her curiosity and smiled again at the elf who handed her the coffee. "Thank you," she murmured, and took a sip. Delicious. A smile played on her lips as she took another sip and pondered the group in front of her.

Elle wandered around the castle, just trying to familiarize herself with it. After an hour or so, she decided she should probably head back to the common room. She took a turn, finding herself down a corridor she'd never been down before. She just stood there, trying to determine if she was going to go down the corridor or not.

She ended up going down it, and finding herself in the Kitchen. She looked around, hoping not to get into any trouble, when she noticed other students in there. So, she walked further in and decided to make some friends.

“I’d love it if you joined us,” Kurumi smiled taking a few steps away from Hugo, but glancing over her shoulder once more to look at him. “Hugo, I am sure that Fee was very happy to hear you say what you did, even if it was in the heat of the moment. They often say that your true feelings come out when you are put in desperate situations.”

At least, her father had said that to her. She had to agree with Hugo though, she wasn’t sure she knew what love was, but she did think she understood how it could make her feel.

Turning her attention back to Connor now, Kurumi picked up her cookie notebook and flipped back to find the recipe. Unfortunately, it was covered in flour from her slight mishap from earlier. After casting Scoutgify, Kurumi dusted the remaining white powder off and scanned the ingredients list.

“Connor, if you would just have a seat over there,” she said gesturing towards a table in the middle of the room. “Twinkle knows her way around the kitchen better than me, so she is willing to fetch the ingredients. In the mean time, I thought we could all have some tea and relax before getting our hands dirty.”

She turned around just in time for the house elf to have reappeared beside her holding a bushel of apples. “Oh my!,” she squeaked taking the basket from the elf before she feel over backwards. “I didn’t mean you needed to bring the entire thing!” And the large basket was much heavier than she had thought. “C-C-Connor,” she said with obvious strain in her voice. “C-C-Could you h-h-h-help me carrying these to the t-t-t-table?”

Connor smiled. "As you wish." He went over to the table to take a seat. He pulled out her chair for her and was about to extend his hand to her when the house elf came up with a bushel of apples. He stepped away from the table and walked over. "Here Kurumi, let me take that." He balanced the heavy basket on one knee to adjust the weight right before he lifted it to his left shoulder and carried it to the table. He sat the basket down next to the table and then walked back over to her.

"Are you ok?" He asked concernedly, his piercing blue eyes searching her violet ones. He placed a hand gently on her back and helped her to the table. He had heard the strain in her voice. He held out her chair for her and made sure she was seated before he took his seat.

*LE BARGE*

Yes, Millie just barged through the door. It had taken her almost a WHOLE day to find this place. THE KITCHEN. She hadn't even known it existed before yesterday, how had she missed since it was so close to her own common room. HOW. And with Millie's super ability to sniff out any sort of food, it was completely and utterly WRONG that she had not found it earlier.

She then noticed the people already here. She was older than all of them. Did people at Hogwarts, like, drop out or something before their seventh year? She awkwardly but quickly dropped the hands she had used to basically knock down the door to her sides and said a rather loud but again awkward "don't mind me." with an awkward wave, before awkwardly walking away to find some food. Or a house elf that could make her food. Or you know, a fridge.

"Thank you," she said with a slight giggle before looking over her shoulder at Twinkle. "You know you shouldn't carry such heavy things either," she said in a soft scolding voice. "I don't care if your the person you call Master tells you to lift Hogwarts Castle, you don't do it! Alright?"

Kurumi watched in horror as the house elf bowed and began to reach for a frying pan to whack itself over the head with. "And there is no need to do such things on my part either," she sighed grabbing the frying pan and returning it to the counter. "I can handle everything from here, thank you for your help."

Now that all that was settled, Kurumi turned around to see a rather concerned look on Connor's face. "Me? I'm fine," she smiled. "You don't need to worry so much about me getting hurt. This bushel of apples is nothing compared to the practice session I had the other day with flying." Probably shouldn't have mentioned that. She still had a bruise or two on her arm and left side, but it was nothing to worry too much over. Glancing up at Connor and feeling the concern ooze from him like a thick chocolate syrup, she smiled and patted his hand. "It is going to take a lot more than a basket of apples to hurt me."

Connor nodded. "I'm sorry if I overreacted it's just I heard pain in your voice." He replied, placing his hand over hers momentarily. He then sat back in his seat, prepared to help in whatever way he could. "What would you like me to do?" He asked kindly, willing to do whatever was needed.

Blinking nervously as Connor's hand laid on top of hers, she stopped herself from pulling away and remained that way for a few moments. "Well, it was a rather heavy basket," she admitted before pulling out her cookie notebook and scanning the recipe. "Well, first we have to core and chop all these apples," she chirped handing him one.

Heather poked in the kitchen, looking for a snack; strangely enough, she was craving for some Ice Cream Sandwich and wondered, if the elves can make her one, if not, she would.

As she went in, timidly, Mr. Panda pushed her in. She got mad. "Mr. Panda! How many times have i told you no pushing?" she said and the doll bowed its head. "Now behave, this'll be just quick, i just want a sna--" the kitchen was filled with the familiar arome of cookies being baked and she knew already who was responsible for it. She smiled.

"Hey Kurumi!" she greeted, seeing her friend, whom apparently was with some other boys. 2 to be in fact-and they do seem familiar somewhere.... "Oh, w-w-was i-i bothering you?" Great, now she got back to her shy self, hoping she did not bother them at all.

Connor smiled, he noticed that she had allowed him to hold her hand for a lot longer than before and his heart began to pound a little faster. "Yeah it was kinda heavy." He agreed, after listening to her he pulled a cutting board and a sharp knife to him. For a moment he felt like he was back at home. The knife reminded him of the training times with his Da. He still wondered where he was, if he was still alive. But the cutting board reminded him of his mom, always cutting ingredients for egg rolls for him. He began coring and chopping and soon had a fairly large pile of chopped apples in front of him. "How finely do you want these chopped?"

"Heather!" Kurumi smiled setting down her knife on the chopping board and running over to her friend with her apple still in hand. "Oh, and good day to you too, Mr. Panda." She knelt down and shook the pandas hand before standing back up and leaning in to whisper to Heather. "There is someone I want you to meet," she said flicking her head to the side towards Connor. "His name is Connor...I-I met him over the summer in Diagon Alley."

Kurumi's cheeks flushed a bit and her hands went to her cheeks to tried and hide that fact.


Walking back to the table with Heather at her side, Kurumi inspected Connor'[s chopping job. "They don't need to be that finely chopped," she said shaking her head. "The rougher the better actually."

She stepped to the side so Heather could be more plainly seen. "Connor, I would like you to meet Heather. She is my best friend in Gryffindor and my roommate since first year."

Heather saw the boy and wow-he looked...how do you put it...handsome. Yeah. For someone to be handsome in Heather's eyes, he must be really so, because the girl is quite oblivious to such, maybe except to Edward.

And he's never seen him before, so perhaps, he was new around?

"H-hello, C-Connor. Nice to m-meet you." she said, putting in a smile on her face. No sense in gaping at him like he was some sort of exhibit in an art gallery of awesomeness. She was sort of distracted at how good Connor looked. She hoped, a little bit, that Connor would in fact, not say she looked like a first year. One more comment on that and she'll surely burst-well, maybe be depressed for a few seconds until chocolate frog is shoved into her mouth.

And OH...Heather noticed that blushing Kurumi made as well, but, no, she won;t expound nor ask why on that-not now, maybe next time? Definitely next time.

Connor paused his chopping job to stand and greet the young girl before him, "Hello Heather and how are you this evening?" He asked flashing his brilliant smile. "And a good evening to you too Mr. Panda, I hope you are quite well." he shook he stuffed bear's paw before sitting back down to finish the chopping. He looked up at the girls and smiled he gave Mr. Panda a wink and then began chopping another apple.

He had noticed Kurumi's blush and he had to bite back a strong desire to make her blush more. He smiled up at Heather. "Nice to meet you too. Won't you join us?"

What a brilliant smile that was, really...but it reminded her of someone...a certain older person she had come across in the Leaky Cauldron. She brushed off those thoughts and gave Connor a smile of her own. "Very fine." she answered. "Y-you've got a really good-looking smile." she added.

Then Connor shook Mr. Panda's paw and the doll shook it gallantly as well. Heather was amused, she could't help but chuckle. "He likes you..." she said as Connor gave the doll a wink.

She then turned to generally Kurumi and Connor. "What are you guys making?" she asked. Whatever it is, she was sure it would smell and taste delicious.

Kurumi smiled as she watched Connor and Mr. Panda interact. It was always funny to see the older students do so, almost like they were playing make-believe like a small child. Only, everything in the wizarding world was very real. "Mr. Panda has been with Heather ever since I first met her," Kurumi explained. "He is also rather proficient with a camera."

Kurumi nearly choked on a piece of apple she had popped into her mouth when she heard Heather speak to Connor. Hacking a little, she finally managed to swallow the entire piece and her face returned to its usual pale glow with a slight hint of blush.

"Iced Apple Soufflé with Caramelised Apple," she chirped handing Heather her cookie recipe book. "I was thinking of making cookies out of the recipe, with a few modifications, but since there are so many of us now, I thought we ought to just go for the more difficult bit."

It was a long title, but it does sound heavenly delicious; she looked at the recipe; photo was really mouthwatering.

"can i do anything to help?" she asked. Well, standing watching them work won't make much of help, so she better move. The recipe calls to be made and be eaten after all.

Hugo giggled. "I'd hope before that time. I don't think it's THAT hard," he nodded and chuckled again.

As Kurumi got a bit cranky, Hugo immediately regretted what he said. He didn't understand it. Kurumi was hurt. And Hugo wouldn't understand what it felt like untless it happened to him. "You're right..." Hugo said absentmindedly thinking about what would happen if he lost Fee. He would feel dreadful. Would he be able to get over that at all?

A bit of anger striked Hugo. "That kid drives me crazy," he said, frowning and looking around the room. William had made him SO angry when he kept on talking about how to treat a girl properly by objectifying them. Fee didn't seem to mind that William's only description of Fee could be "hot". There was so much more to her than that. Just thinking about it Hugo worked himself up getting angry again. He looked up from the ground at Kurumi's face which had turned sad and Hugo couldn't be angry anymore. He was worried about her. What she said... Was beautiful. He looked in Kurumi's eyes appreciatively. "Kurumi..."

WHAT. WAS. HAPPENING. "Ouch!" Hugo exclaimed as Kurumi stepped on his foot. WHAT WAS THIS STRANGER DOING HARR. Hugo frowned at the boy who had just interrupted their very private conversation. How annoying at this emotional moment. Kurumi didn't seem to be annoyed. She looked very awkward.

Hugo sighed a bit and decided to be nice. He smiled at Connor. "Hi Connor," Hugo said softly exidentally being stuck in the sensitive talky mode which had violently cut to a whole other situation. "Yeah, it's okay," Hugo nodded and smiled slightly at Connor. Then he saw Connor's mood change almost instantly when he looked up. Ahw come on. She was barely touching Hugo.

Hugo couldn't help but chuckle a bit on the inside at Kurumi's straight-up answer now that Connor was here. "You're probably right," he nodded. "I think... I think I meant it." Yes. He probably had.

Hugo chuckled at the sight of Kurumi speaking to the elf. Hugo wasn't very used to interaction with elves, so it would be best he would stay out of it.

Hugo lifted an eyebrow at Connor's gentlemanlyness. It almost seemed like... This fellow liked Kurumi. Hugo wasn't sure how he thought about this. Kurumi could use a distraction from hopeless longing for a boy who was in Mexico... But what if he broke her heart? Hugo wasn't going to let that happen a second time. He was going to keep an eye on this Connor. Yes. A friendly eye though, because he did like the guy.

Still standing near the opening, Hugo awkwardly watched the two interacting and Kurumi slowly forgetting about him. "Umm... Can I do one of those?" Hugo asked, approaching the table and pointing to an apple.

ANOTHER PERSON? Kurumi was popular. Well, their privacy was already invaded anyway. Might as well have another person in this thingeh.

Yes. Hugo would've liked to meet Heather too. But he didn't get introduced. Sighh. Did Kurumi even remember Hugo was still there? Third wheel, much? He smiled a little at the new girl in the kitchen as he leaned back against the counter.