Salander shrugged good naturedly. Talk? Sure, heck much better than throwing punches. At least for today since his tummy inexplicably doesnt like sudden shifts of anything. He had to pause though on the last part. Did he hear that right? He angles his head confused and uttered "Apologize... to me? Wha' for?"



You see, anything that Rae says that starts with Fletcher and I usually just brings the smile on Salander's face. And this moment certainly wasnt any different.

Except that he distinctly heard the M word escape her lips

*blink*

There is something wrong with his ears!

Smile gone, eyes goes big, time seems to have crawled to a standstill for the Slytherin lad. Surely he misheard it. He glanced at Ivan momentarily wondering if the Ravenclaw heard what this Slytherin thought he heard. And he did! He even congratulated her.

Dumbstruck he stared at Rae, his lips seem to sealed itself shut all of a sudden, and probbaly would've stayed that way had she not flashed a nice shiny ring in front of his face.

JEWELS!!

A strange haze over comes him for a moment as he almost lashed out to grab the precious shiny ring. But then Rae started to speak again, yanking him back to reality...

*blink* *blink*

"You want me to be the best man?.... Really?"

Griiiiinnnns.

Dont the Best Man get to hold onto the shineh preciousssss?

flinching a bit at hearing that Nik and Orabelle didnt get on Orabelle is just not use to the way we are. but he could see Her lock up stiffer than a seel beam at all these hogpeople hugging her ...As for Lefay she was on the outher side of her desk and had her wand out.I think I look ok without a pig snout and a tail so I just left it alone.

Rae smiled at the other kid who was with Sal. "Thank you. I'm Rae." She held out her hand and introduced herself. Best not to be rude right?

Sal stopped smiling... "Something wrong?" She didn't do anything bad did she? Rae started to retrace her steps for anything she might have done wrong until Sal asked if best man was really what Rae wanted..

"Are you kidding me? Of course! Your my best friend! Your Fletcher's best friend! And apparently guys can't be bridesmaids..... I read that in a book somewhere. So you'll be the best man right? I guess its SUPPOSED to be best man to the groom.... But why not to the bride too?"

Maybe.... She'll keep the ring on her finger... Best not to let it get lost from it being in the WRONG hands right?

Ivan had went to looking back at those stupid plaques with his cousins name on them and hearing Sal's question looked at him oddly. Really? He had no idea why he should apologize? "Um...for the way I acted for like an entire year?" Yeah like wanting to rearrange his face quite a few times.

Sal was an odd one though and he still wasn't sure what Lexi saw in him but it wasn't his problem now unless he hurt her.

Smiling at the girl he took her hand and shook it with a smile, "Hi, I'm Ivan. Pleasure to meet you." His eyes went over to Sal again who looked lost in his own world and he reached over and smacked him on the back. "Ye alright matey?" he said with a smirk. His eyes caught sight of her ring and he had to pull his gaze away from it. Hmm focus on something else...ah yes stupid Miles' Prefect plaques.

Lexi was wandering about the castle in a bit of a huff. Yeah, imagine that. LEXI in a HUFF? How absurd! [/sarcasm]

Feh. She made her way to the third floor and there she heard some familiar voices. You would think that would make her happy... but she frowned more than she already was.

Shuffling up to the door to the trophy room she leaned against the entrance and LOOKED at them. Oh how RICH! Salander was all smiles about his best friends getting married, but he looked like he would have a FIT if marriage was mentioned about the two of them.

Clearing her throat she smirked slightly and WAITED for someone to acknowledge her presence.

Ivan turned around from the irritating Miles plaques when he heard a voice clear behind him and saw Lexi standing there. "Hey Lex," he said throwing another glance at the plaques before walking over to her.

Those other two were talking about marriage and he didn't want any part of it really besides congratulating the Rae girl he just met. Marriage...pfft. He didn't love anybody enough to even think about that right now. As he reached her he gave her a hug and smiled slightly, "How are you?"

Lexi lifted her hand and waved at Ivan when he greeted her. Giving him a half hug she then crossed her arms across her chest and STARED at Salander for a moment.

"Oh, I am just peachy. How about you?" she said in a tone that indicated that she was not peachy. Not at all. She was irritated. A lot.

Ivan frowned slightly at how Lexi was acting and then followed her stare to Sal. Yeah...he was not getting involved in whatever was going on between them. Hearing her tone he shook his head and leaned against the wall next to her.

"Umm...yeah you sound it. I'm alright I guess," he said with a shrug. Considering. "Not much going on really." He eyed the plaques and sighed, "Think I could get away with stealing Miles' plaques and burning them?" Heh that thought brought a smirk to his lips.

"Yeah. I bet there are charms or something on the cases... maybe you could throw a chair through it though. Break everything. I would help," she said as she tore her gaze from Sal.

"I reckon it would be... therapeutic to smash a bunch glass and such." Yeah. She pushed off of the wall and walked over to peer into the case nearest her. Meh. Stupid bunch of Prefects and Quidditch Captains. Lexi was really OVER the student "leaders" of Hogwarts. They were all stupid in her opinion.

"How have you been?" she asked as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. HE KNEW WHAT SHE MEANT. Being a good friend she wouldn't push him to talk about it, but if he did... well she was there for him.

Ivan laughed at Lex's suggestion and shook his head. Of course she would help. "I don't want to break everything though. Just 'precious Miles''," he said in a mocking tone. Stupid git. Mr. Perfect. UGH.

"Maybe I'll head down to the training room and work out later." Relieve some stress in a less damage causing way. He watched as she walked over to the case and then looked at Sal.

Hearing her question he sighed and closed his eyes, "About as good as can be expected I guess. Leaning on TJ too much." He'd given her JEWELRY for merlin's sake. He was mad had to be. He never gave girls jewelry because it always gave the wrong impression. "It's easy to lean on someone when they don't make you actually deal with the issues at hand." And THERE was his problem with TJ sometimes.

"You should lighten up on Miles, Ivan. He isn't a bad guy," she said in a chiding tone as she glanced over her shoulder at Salander and Rae. Sigh. Turning back around she leaned closer to the case and peered in.

"I just want to punch something. I am going to teach Neptune how to punch in case Josh Carter messes with her again. THAT would be fabulous to witness, wouldn't it? Queen Bott punching someone in the face. I will make a fighter out of her yet," Lexi said with a sense of pride. Her bestie was getting to be a bit more reckless and Lexi approved. A lot.

As Ivan began to talk about his situation Lexi looked at him and nodded. Reaching out she patted his arm and sighed. "Well that's no use is it? You have to deal with it or you will internalize it and then self destruct. Being the Queen of self destruction I would know. So... maybe I will bother you and force you to talk about things all the time. Someone needs to call you on your stuff and make you talk even when you clearly don't want to. I could have a talk with TJ and tell her. I am sure she would appreciate that," Lexi snorted at the last. Heh. Yeah surely the girl would LOVE to get relationshipo advice from Lexi Denver on how to treat her boyfriend... Hehehehe. Might be funny though.

Not a bad guy...right. "No he isn't a bad guy. He's a spoiled little git." Yes he was a spoiled twerp who always got everything he wanted. Ugh. He needed to get off of that thought path real quick or he would break the glass.

"Anyway...you could come work out with me later. I could teach Neptune some stuff." Considering he'd learn a lot from James and from Miles' little bodyguard he could be a good teacher. "You're such a bad influence Lex," he said with a smirk and walked over to give her a hug. "One thing I like about you."

Hearing her start to give him advice he raised an eyebrow, "Maybe self destruction is the goal?" Wouldn't be the first time he'd tried it though last time Mia made him stop. "Somehow I don't think you talking to her would be a brilliant idea." He pushed off the wall and looked behind him to make sure the other two were still talking, "I gave her a necklace. I don't give girls jewelry...and I'm not in love with her." Well not yet anyway. He cared about her yes but he just wasn't completely there yet and the fact that she seemed to be scared the hell out of him.

"Oh that's rich, Ivan! Mister I can't wear this jacket ever again because it got some pet hair on it," she said with a smirk. Ivan was spoilt in a different manner, Lexi thought. Still spoilt though.

"I think I have the Neptune thing under control. I have broken a few noses in my day... and I do have Dylan for practice. Or I did anyway." She giggled at the thought of just how many times she had practically beaten Dylan up in their four years of being siblings. Heh. "I have been trying to be a better influence for the underclassmen actually. Been teaching a third year Defensive magic... well I taught her the Histedius jinx and Avifors. But... it was all in the name of Defense ya know," she said with a smirk. She was enjoying teaching Alice magic, really. She hugged Ivan back and then playfully scoffed at him. "You know... You and Jim are always saying that's one of the things I like about you, don't any of you like me for my winning charm?" Seriously they all should love that about her.

"Well there will be no self destruction while I am around. Not if I have a say in it anyway. You know I will pester you until you talk to me whether you like it or not. And if she can't take a little friendly advice from your friend then I am not sure I like her very much." Really Lexi didn't like anything about the girl. Never had. She just... rubbed Lexi the wrong way. All the time.

...

"Well what the hell did you do that fer? She is going to think you love her NOW and girls do stupid things when they think their significant other loves them." She MAY have looked at Sal when she said that. Really she knew Salander loved her. SHE KNEW THAT. She was just a bit perturbed and here lately she wasn't really sure WHY that was. Maybe she was still a bit sick... "Was it an expensive necklace. The more money you spent the more she will think it is a token of your love for her. You are an idiot sometimes, Ivan."

Ivan made a face and rolled his eyes, "I never said I couldn't wear it again. I just didn't want to have it cleaned again thank you very much." So there. Hmph. "And it's not my fault I like nice things."

He shook his head and listened to her. Broken noses. Good thing he hadn't received any that would have ruined his year. "You teaching underclassmen defense? So not like you Lex. But I like it," he said with a grin. "Well I said one of the things not the only thing. There's several things I like about you or I wouldn't have gone out with you." Duh. There's several things he still liked about her but now she was off limits. Meh.

Raising an eyebrow he looked at her, "Make me talk huh. That I'd like to see." There were only two people who could make him do anything and neither of them were in that room right then so HA. "Funny I got the impression you didn't like her anyway. Considering of when and under what circumstances we all met before last term." Yeah he still remembered Lexi's little temper tantrum about him flirting with her.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I don't know. I was at the jewelry store getting my watched fixed and I saw it and bought it." Yeah...not one of his better decisions. "She seemed to really like it." He gave her an irritated look as she called him an idiot and frowned, "I'm not an idiot and I'm tired of people saying that. Forget it. I'll deal with it on my own."

Lexi rolled her eyes right back and didn't bother replying to ANY of that. He knew he was spoilt. He was simply in denial... Yeah that was what it was. "I care about people being able to properly defend themselves. I will do what I can to help. Especially my little lion cubs." She gave a firm nod and then smiled. Heheh. "Yeah, yeah. I am not sure why any of you like me. I am awfully demanding." She was kidding of course. She knew why they all liked her. She was oodles of fun.

"Really? I do it all the time. I will annoy you and hassle you until you shout and then you will feel bad about shouting and we will have a nice talk. Isn't that what usually happens? Yes. It is." She answered for him before he tried to DENY that too. He knew she would get him to talk.

Lexi quirked an eyebrow and shook her head. "That's really not why I dislike her. I just get a weird vibe off of her is all. She is a snippy little... well you know," she trailed off not wanting to swear and all.

"Oh there you go again! Stop acting like I say things like that and really mean them. I know you aren't an idiot. You are just... lazy sometimes," she said with a giggle. "Seriously though, stop trying to pick a fight with ME of all people." He was an idiot sometimes. But everyone was guilty of that. Even Princess Lexi. Although her idiocy was seldom shown for others to see.

Salander was still fixated on the pretty pretty shineh, his head following every movement Rae's ring hand made. When Ivan smacked his back it pulled him back to reality, lurching slightly from the impact."Right! Sure thing! Totally looking forward to best man-- for groom and for bride." he nodded eagerly then slowly stopped. That kinda confused him again "Does that mean I get to keep both yer rings?" More joools for him bwhahahahaha!


It finally dawned on him what Ivan meant "Oh, for that...." he uttered quietly. For a moment his eyes slid towards one of trophy cases, fleeting memories of the tumultuous year seemingly playing against the shiny surface. "Its all water under the bridge man..." Salander shrugged casually "... I mean really I couldnt blame you for how you felt towards me given the circumstances, just glad you didnt beat the snot outta me." because situations reversed, he probably wouldnt have displayed as much self control. He stuck his hand out in a gesture of friendship "Why dont we shake on that and start on a new page eh?"

Wandering into the trophy room, Thea sat herself down inbetween two fo the large cases. Sure enough, about five seconds later her large white cat came trotting in after her. Her haughty expression made Thea laugh. 'Oh I'm sorry! How dare I leave you for five minutes, Maleficent..' She rolled her eyes as the cat came to sit with her.

Isobel walked in to the room. She looked around, yep about everyone was there. "Sorry I'm late. So, how many hugs do you guys have? I have....9." Yep, she recounted in her head. Nine.

Nika waved to Isobel and bounced up and down. She was ready to tell everyone how many hugs she had gotten. She was so proud of her number, but she was waiting to find out that others got less so she'd be able to remain proud. Nika jumped up and held her hands out excitement. "I got twenty six!" Yes, she did hug twenty six slytherins. Hehe. She was that enthusiastic about the whole thing.

26? Wow, that's a lot of hugs. "Wow Nika," she said. "That's a lot of hugs. Did anyone beat Nika?" She looked around at the other people in the room. She was pretty sure Nika had won.

Nika beamed. She was just about to explode with excitement so it's probably a good thing that she got her number out there. She nodded her head proudly as she looked around the room.

This was going to be hard, he shouldn't be thinking it will, though. Maybe if he expected it to be otherwise, then it'd be otherwise, no?

No.

Because for some inexplicable reason he had this attachment to Kurumi that will make this as awkward and uncomfortable for him as possible. He didn't even know how he felt about her or anything. He just liked her as a sister, nothing more. At least he knew that, right?

Still, he paced back and forth the Trophy Room before setting his eyes on the two Quidditch Cups that Hufflepuff had won over the time when Kaika was Captain. He couldn't help but look down for a moment. She'd actually fulfilled what was expected from her position in the school. He wasn't.

That wasn't easy.

It's probably like Gilderoy felt for having such a great Wizard as a brother, no? When he had his memory and whole life ahead of him.

Kurumi nervously made her way through the various corridors with her hands held behind her back. she didn’t want to ruin the surprise she was hiding – not that she was even sure that Treyen was in the mood for surprises. His tone when he had asked her to meet him in the Trophy Room had not been the most cheerful and the usual sparkle that she saw in his smile and eyes was a little dim. About a billion different things ran through her head as to why he looked so confused or whatever expression had been written all over his face. Perhaps his future career depended on his Arithmancy grade improving? Or perhaps he was going to tell her that he had been bitten by a werewolf? Or, there was the chance that he was FINALLY going to admit to being the first full-blood male Veela.

Turning the corner, Kurumi saw Treyen already there waiting for her and a naïve smile tickled the corners of her lips as she picked up her pace a bit and stopped when she was just a foot or two away from him.

“S-S-Sorry I kept you waiting,” she chirped peeking over her shoulder to make sure that the contents in her hands hadn’t shifted too much during her trip from the Herbology greenhouses. She had been busy making it all morning – although with a few others for friends and her father – but Treyen’s had taken the most effort in terms of thinking things through. “These are for you,” she continued as her hands moved from behind her back to out in front of her. It wasn’t a very big bouquet, consisting of only one of each of the flowers, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Kurumi offered him the bouquet with a smile on her face and a slight blush to her cheeks. She wasn’t sure how much he knew about flowers, but seeing as he shared more than a few personality traits with her brothers, she figured that he wasn’t really up to speed on his language of flowers. “The one purple flower is Polyanthus, which means confidence, the yellow one here is Goldenrod which means encouragement, this one is a Geranium which means comforting in this case because of the color,” she began to explain as she pointed to each one in turn. “This long leaf one is Flax and means…fate or feeling another’s kindness…” Her cheeks burned a bit deeper pink as her violet gaze stopped on the last flower in the bunch. “And this one…this one is Foxglove…which means a wish…”

She had to turn her gaze down to the floor and presented the flowers towards her Badger Prince with a slight bow – the same manner in which she presented gifts to people back home in Japan. It may have come off as being extremely formal, but it was the only way she knew how to show her appreciation to him.

“I-I guess this is just a small way for me to say thank you for…for making me feel confident in myself and always encouraging me…” she bit her bottom lip before she let anything else slip out. Which, unfortunately, only lasted about three seconds. "You make me feel special like no one else I've ever met has."

Treyen had smiled the second he noticed Kurumi in the room, and soon his smile got smaller after being reminded of what Lexi had said. Even his smiles could lead her on, right? He suddenly got the feeling that there was no way he could talk to Kurumi about this. No way at all.

"I didn't wait too long," he said, his tone was soft, and he instantly cleared his throat, "I practically just arrived," he said, in a tone he'd use with a Professor or someone similar, and shrugged a little. He even had to watch the way he spoke? Ugh. Why did Lady Awesome put him through this?? Mmmhmm, right, it was his own fault, right? For not even deciding how he felt about Kurumi.

Well, he kind of knew now.

AND...hey, wait a minute, Kurumi, what? Oh, man, this was terrible. Not the flowers or anything, but the fact that she chose to give him flowers TODAY. Of all days! He could easily blame Bishop for this, since she was the one to teach them about flowers. But he wasn't going to. "Really?" he couldn't help but smile his usual smile before stroking the flowers with his fingertips, and then listened to what she had to say about them.

Needless to say, Treyen didn't know what to say, what to do, or how to react to this. He didn't. And he wished that someone, even a portrait, could come inside saying what he needed to tell Kurumi. It will be easier that way, no?

No.

She needed to find out through him. Because she was his friend. He didn't want to lose her either, which is why he should think about this for a while longer. "It's very pretty, Kurumi," amazing how he didn't use the word 'beautiful', no? "I--I have no words for--," oh, for crying out loud, what did she say? 'You make me feel special like no one else I've ever met has'? Well, WHERE was the BLOODY BARON when you needed him? He might as well be killed in this room.

Something in his heart broke, though. Yet he knew it wasn't his whole heart, because Ellie had broken it a long time ago. "I only do that because I know what you're capable of," he started to say, looking down at the floor. He soon looked up, holding half a smile, "Thank you." She also made him feel special, but he couldn't tell her that. That would fall into the category of 'leading her on', right?

The boy finally took the flowers and was going to set them on the nearest table with a bunch of broken trophies--eh, no, nothing broken--he placed them on another table, this time an empty one, and took a couple of the red flowers, whatever its name was. Geraniums? He was completely amazed that she could know so much about so many things. Yet he knew she belonged in Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw. "You made it, you deserve something from it," he smiled, and sort of entwined the flowers on her ponytail. His hands may have touched her neck, but only as he worked on getting the flowers attached to her hair. "No wonder you're a Gryffindor, red looks good on you," there! He didn't mean to say it! Which is why he suddenly bit his lip and took a couple steps away.

He summoned a couple chairs as he pretended that that had been his primary reason for walking away.

"We...I think we need to talk, Kurumi," he started to say, as he motioned for her to take a seat on the chair next to the one he was going to take.

Kurumi half expected Treyen to have some witty comment about her diving into one too many details about flowers considering she had just spewed off a ridiculous amount of information without taking so much as a breath before finishing her sentence. Her smiled widened when he accepted her small bouquet and her cheeks flushed the color of ripe peaches when she rendered him speechless.

He was the one always do it to her and she felt happy knowing that she could return the favor. No, perhaps happy wasn't the right word, but it made her feel like she had drank some of that bubbly drink from that one movie with the boy who inherits a chocolate factory. She felt as though she were going to float away.

This feeling only intensified when Treyen took one of the red flowers from the bouquet and entwined it into her side pony-tail. "Thank you," she managed to squeak out before her heart beat even faster and, despite her thinking about ice, her hair began turning a dusty rose pink. She squinted her eyes shut to try and control the feelings.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that he had taken a few steps away to summon some chair. Oh? How very thoughtful of him. She was a bit tired from being in the greenhouses all morning squatting for long periods of time as she replanted and picked flowers.

"O-O-Okay..." she whispered noticing an obvious change in his tone that made her suddenly feel uneasy. She took a step forward and heard the crumpling of something that sounded like parchment under her feet. Oh dear, she must have dropped it from her pockets, she had been taking notes in the greenhouses after all, so she bent down to pick it up when she saw that it clearly wasn't one of her own and her eyes almost immediately glassed over and the pink color that had been brightening in her hair suddenly went out just like when someone blows out a flame.