Rose kept quiet. Waiting for an answer from William.

" Look, I stil do not know who kissed who, but I did not want to let the conversation go on forever" Willaim told Rose." Ar least, I do not going around telling other's private business" Willaim said to Rose. " This was supose to be between me and Presley" Willaim explained to Rose. " I guess you want Presley to hate me, just like everyone basically hates me in Gryffindor" Willaim sighed. " You will not be happy until everyone in the whole school to hate me forever", right?" Wiliam asked Rose.

" Well, glad others can tell you my business" Willaim told Preslley. " Well, I am sure you hate me like everyone else hates me" Willaim said to Presley. 'Sorry you did not hear it from me first" William expalined to Presley.

Presley sighed. Really? This situation was getting out of hand. "I don't hate you," she said to William. "But if you keep up attacking my friend like that, you can be sure I will." She didn't want it to come off as a threat, but as she thought about it, she realized it had. "Rose is my friend as well, I would appreciate you not making her feel bad while I am trying to speak to her. She wasn't trying to tell me your private bussiness, the topic came up as it was tied to other topics." This was onl a half-truth, but Pres couldn't deal with this turning into a mess right now. It was already tangled enough.

'No! I've already told you that! Not everyone hates you in Gryffindor, stop being so melodramatic!' Woah, big word alert! 'I just don't want you to hurt Presley! She's one of my best friends! Why are yo ualways sighing at me? As if I'm stupid? 'Cause I'm not!' ROse asked William. No she wasn't stupid. Nor was she trying to get into peoples business, but he was right beside her telling Presley! How couldn't she hear?

'Thank you for defending me, but William will just hate me more now! Oh, well done Rose another relationship to William ruined!' she said mockingly to herself

" Ok, you do not hate me" William told Presley." I promise not to attack Rose" William said to Presley." I just wanted to tell you myself" Willaim explained to Presley.Again, I am sorry, still friends?" Willaim asked Presley.

" Ok, not everyone hates me in Gryffindor" William told Rose. " I am not trying to hurt you or Presley" William said to Rose. " How long have you known Presley?" William asked Rose. My sighing does not mean you are stupid, my sighing is just frustration" William explained to Rose. " I just beleived I should have been the one to tell her about Katelynn. that's all" Willaim smiled.

'So are you still going to tell me? I need to know, you can't not know if you kissed her! You told me you didn't, but you just said you didn't know!' Rose asked still angry William thought it was her life goal to get everyone to hate him. One more smart alec comment like that, and it probably will be Rose thought darkly to herself

Still friends." Presley agreed with a nod. She looked aver at Rose nervously. How was Rose dealing with this situation? She didn't look angry anymore, but that didn't necesarily mean anything.

" Look if you said I kissed her, then you are right and I am wrong" Willaim told Rose. " I am very sorry and I have no excuse to tell you anything elsse or why I kissed her" William said to Rose. I am really sorry, but a lot of girls that used to talk to me have jsut stopped talking to me and I am completely baffled as I thought they were my freinds" William explained to Rose.
Did not see this one
" Thanks for still being my friend" Willaim told presley. " Since Rose did not answer my wuestion, I will ask you" William said to Presley. " How long have you known Rose?" Willaim asked Presley. " You know we stopped playing football and baseball, why?" Willaim asked Presley.

Just like that. Those few words and she felt her heart break. 'Gotta go...' Rose said to Presley. 'I'll be at the Treehouse later...' Rose said and she turned and left. He lied to her and she was going to ignore him, simple as that. Or not. Rose thought as she left the room and felt a tear down her face...

"We met on the train. We've known each other for a while," Presley answered William. "look, I'm really sorry, but I have to go too. I'll see you later, okay?" Presley left the room following Rose to the treehouse. she wanted to stay and talk to William. But Rose needed her, and they had been halfway through a conversation. She didn't wait for his response, she just left. She felt a little bad about that, but not enough to turn around.

" I am sorry, I did not mean to hut you Rose" Wilaim told her, Then Rose left crying. She did not answer his question.
r
" Thanks for telling me how long you have known Rose" Willaim told Presley." Yes, it seems you need to go,too" Willaim said to Presley. " I see you could not answer my question of why you stopped wanting to know about baseball and football and I do not know why" Willaim explained to Presley."Well, I thought we were friends but you hurt me and I am really shocked at you" Willaim sighed. So were you just faking our freindship?" Wilaim asked Presley.

"Don't count on that one. I don't even do good in History of Magic." Just because she was pureblood didn't mean anything when it came to that subject. She sucked at it.

Marie rolled her eyes and laughed at him when he said that wasn't so bad. "It was excruciating. You have no idea how hard it was for me to say that about you."

"Oh silly me. What was I thinking? And yes, I'd do that. If it meant you going after your dream I'd send you a cheesecake a week." Hopefully he wasn't planning on her making it though. Cooking was NOT her thing. "I don't know if there is a cheesecake delivery service but there is an owl delivery service." Not to mention maybe sometime she might actually aparate and deliver the cheesecake herself. That is if his team won that game.

"What do you mean you have no idea what it's like outside of Hogwarts? If I recall correctly, you went to the quidditch world cup. Something I didn't even go to." Not that it was something she wanted to go to at the time. She really didn'e even start likeing quidditch until she was dating Carter and went to watch him play. "I'm sure there are other things you've done too that probably seem so natural to you that you don't even realize it has something to do with our world."

Marie looked over at Carter with a confused look. Was he not asking her to go with him this summer? She was going to feel really stupid for asking if he wanted her to go and he wasn't even considering hrt to be one of the friends that went with him. "Um, yeah... the thought did cross my mind just now. But if you would prefer one of your other friends to go... like maybe Josh, then I would understand." Maybe it would be too weird for him to have her with him and his family this summer.

"I lost my say in who you date?" Pfft, like that was going to stop her from voicing her opinion. Especially when he dated losers like the one he was dating now. "When have you ever known me not to tell you what I think? You think I'm going to keep quiet just because you're telling me I lost my say?" Yeah right, like that would ever happen. A huge smile spread across her face when he mentioned picking for him next time. "Next time? I like the sound of that." She liked the sound of anything that had to do with him getting away from 'It'.

O___O

"What do you mean she thinks I'm meant to be her big sister? What have YOU been telling her about us Carter?" Why after all these years would Anya think that? Did Carter NOT tell her that they had both moved on and were dating other people now? Sounds like HE'S the one getting his sister's hopes up here, not her. Then again, maybe it was Carter who was still hoping Marie would be Anya's big sister eventually.

Hmm... what was going through that boy's mind?

"Yeah... I don't think that's a subject I'd want to be good at..." Carter said. It was one of those subjects reserved for those who had more books than friends.

He smiled. "But you did say it." And even know that he knew that she said it in a joking way, he knew she thought it was true. It was nice to know that despite everything they put each other through they were still friends.

He chuckled. "Owl delivery service?" he asked. "Are you trying to kill me? Maybe you should just bring them to me yourself." He was sure there was some kind of special box seat system for friends of players. And he assumed that she'd come to watch him play every game at least once.

He shrugged. "I guess..." he said slowly. He then sat in silence for a minute. "Marie. What makes you so sure that I can do this?" Or even want to? Maybe he was meant for a normal job at the ministry. Or maybe he was meant to go back to the muggle world and live a muggle life.

"No. No. I'm just suprised, that's all." he said. "I just thought... with Matty..." and how much you yelled at me over Kay spending a few weeks with me...

"No, you're the only person I've told so it would make sense that you'd be the one coming with me." he said with a nod. "I was thinking..." if I go... "of going for a few days before my birthday... there's a wizard's pub in the city that is connected to the floo."

And for someone who was still talking in 'ifs' he had done his research.

"And then afterward you're invited for the whole Anya thing... Mina is coming too."

And now thinking about it... this seemed like an odd way to spend his coming-of-age birthday 'party.'

He just shook his head as Marie talked about how he should know that she wasn't about to keep her opinions quiet. "Just don't get any bright ideas about trying to break us up."

Great. He knew he shouldn't have said anything. He looked at the floor and turned bright red. "Erm... she may think that I invented Caroline..." Yeah. It was a little weird when your little sister thought that you made up a fake girlfriend. "But she's been watching too many of those girl movies... you know, the ones where the guy runs in dramatically, declares his love, and everyone lives happily ever after." He ran a hand awkwardly through his hair.

"Anyway... she's taken to being my 'life coach.' And no matter how many times I explain to her that we broke up years ago and that we are both dating new people... anyway. I was told that that was normal 10 year old girl behavior..."

"Me, try to kill you? Have a little more faith than that in me Carter. I would make sure it stayed frozen until you got it." She was getting pretty darn good at charms so she was positive she could charm a cheesecake to stay frozen. Which if she aparated she wouldn't even have to do that. "I tihnk you just want me to come to your matches so you can see my face in the stands after you win."

Letting out a little sigh Marie reached over and grabbed Carter's hand. "I'm sure you can do this Carter because it's something you love to do and you're good at it. You just need to have a little more faith in yourself that's all." If he seen in himself what she seen in him then he would know that he could do this.

"Don't worry about Matty. I'll talk to him about everything. I'm sure he won't mind me going." At least she hoped he wouldn't mind. Right now she was pretty sure he probably wouldn't want her anywhere near Carter after the last confrontation they had. She would just have to convince him that Carter wasn't going to hurt her... and that nothing was going to happen.

"Really, you would want me to be there when you guys tell Anya?" Wow! "I would be honored to be there for that. And maybe afterwards we can all celebrate you coming of age." It would be fun hanging out with him and Mina. "Wait, you sure Mina won't mind? I don't want to interfere with your time with her." She already knew that Mina sometimes felt a little jealous of her relationship with Evan and Carter, she didn't want to give her any more reason to be jealous or upset with her.

"Me, do something to break you guys up? I can't believe you would think I was capable of such a thing." And if she did, she wouldn't let anyone know that's what she was doing. She wasn't a cumming Slytherin just because she looked good in green.

Okay, Marie had to laugh... a lot, at that one. "Are you serious? She thinks you invented Caroline? That's hilarious." Marie would gladly make the girl disappear so Anya's thought could be a reality. "I take it you haven't introduced her to the family yet?" What was the hold up with that one hmm? She got to meet his family before they even officially started dating. He had been with Caroline about a year and she still hadn't met his parents. Then again, she wouldn't want her family meeting the girl either... if she wasn't a part of her family that is. "Riiight, blame it on the movies." She said grinning at him. She could just as easily think Caroline was going to be her big sister eventually... that is if Carter ever let his family meet the girl. "Well, you do need a life coach. And what can I say, your sister loves me. It's only natural that she would want me to be her sister." Even if she did know Caroline was real Marie was sure Anya wouldn't like her let alone want her to be her big sister.

When Sarah came inside the owlery, Hedwig took her by surprise. Her snowy owl had been so happy to see her that, it perched on her shoulder and twiddled her hair. "Sorry, Hedwig. I had a lot of work dear." she said as she stroked her owl. Hedwig twisted in happiness, Sarah smiled at it. "Hm, go on Hedwig, you just fly around the grounds. I've got some work to do here." she said. Hedwig let out a disappointed hoot and flew from her angrily. Sarah sighed, her only friend was angry with her, yet again. Thinking about Hedwig, she got to her work.

For the first time Sarah paid attention to the ground. She was shocked! The floor was filled with feathers of all sorts of owls. She was horrified. How am I ever going to find an eagle owl feather from this mess? She started looking for the feathers and found three of them lying mixed with tawny owl feathers. She sorted them and took the eagle feathers. Sarah started her search for more feathers.

After half and hour, she was only left with a bunch of eagle owl feathers. "This.is.not.progress!" she said, sweating a lot. She dropped the collected feathers in her bag and took out her wand. "Hm.." she raised it and said, "Accio eagle feathers!" Did I get it right? she thought.

A moment later dozens of feathers came flying towards her from different direction. She ducked immediately in fear, thinking she had got the wrong spell. All the feathers landed at her feet. She sighed and got up. Collected all the feathers and loaded them in the container. "That should be enough." she said. Smiling, she moved happily out of the owlery.

Carter chuckled. "It's the thought of owls carrying precious cheesecake that I have a problem with..." But it staying cold was a good point too. Cold cheesecake was definately better... and it had a less likely chance of killing you. He chuckled. "Or it could just be because I want fresh cheesecake." he teased.

He squeezed her hand. "Thanks Marie." he said with a smile. He still wasn't completely convinced... but he was willing to at least go check out the pitch. Who knows... maybe after arriving he could picture himself out there living on his own a bit better.

He smiled wider as Marie said Matty wouldn't mind. If he wasn't afraid of embarrassing himself more he would have let out a sigh of relief. "In that case, it would be great to have you along." Or, in other words, he was glad he didn't have to go alone.

"Yeah. It would only make sense for you two to be there. She really looks up to both of you..." And since they both knew magic like he did... it was just a nice added bonus. They could answer any questions his little sister had in case she didn't want to come to him about them.

"No. She won't mind. We actually talked about it before." In fact, they talked about it right after the fight he and Marie had before the Christmas holiday. He even asked her to mention it to Marie sometime if they were still on rocky terms. He was sure that they'd be able to not fight for a few hours for his sister's sake. "It's fine, really. It's not like that is the only time I'm planning on seeing Mina this summer." He usually made a few trips into London to visit.

He raised an eyebrow. "Really Marie?" he asked. "I think you're completely capable of it. Of course, if you were to do something I probably would never know... which is why I told you not to." He wasn't sure if he would be able to forgive her if that were to happen.

Instead of commenting on her laughing outburst, Carter's face just turned redder by the second. "No... I haven't." he said. It was a lot different than introducing his family to Mina and Marie. After all, he was a lot younger at the time. But now, especially since he'd been thinking a lot about what he was going to do after Hogwarts, everything seemed a lot more final. He just wasn't in as much of a rush to introduce her as he had been with Marie.

Sure, he was planning on inviting Caroline over toward the end of the summer, telling her about the quidditch offer and what he decided to do. He just didn't want this summer to be more complicated than it needed to be. And he had a feeling that if he invited her over right away - before checking out the team and before telling Anya - things would just get too crazy.

"Have you seen any of those movies? I hear they have quite the effect on girls." Not that he would know much about that of course. He was just judging by how crazy Anya had gotten in the past year.

He shook his head and laughed. "That's probably why she likes you so much. You seem to both" want to torture me "think alike."

"Right, fresh cheesecake." Because they both knew it had nothing to do with him wanting her there to support him when he played.

"No need to thank me Carter. It's what I really believe. I have faith in you and I know you will be a great asset to their team." And the sooner he realized she was right, the sooner he would be able to get over these feelings he was having.

"Awesome. It'll be nice to see Anya again and you know, set her straight about her brother." And maybe teach her a few tricks on how to annoy him even more than she already does. And knowing that Mina would be okay with her being there was even better. Of course she just needed to clear this with her parents, and then she needed to break the news to Matty, which hopefully he wouldn't mind so much once he heard Mina was going to be there too.

Marie had to grin when Carter said he thought she was capable of breaking him and Caroline up. Was that his way of saying their relationship wasn't as solid as he was trying to make her believe it was? "Don't worry. I'm not going to break you two up yet." She would give her dear cousin time to show what an idiot she was and let her ruin her life on her own. Then Marie would come in and deliver the final blow.

"Aww, don't worry Carter. I wouldn't want to introduce her to my family either... if she wasn't actually a part of my family." She moved away from him just a little bit waiting for him to reach out and thump her for that one. Or at least glare at her. Like she really cared. No matter what, she was never going to stop the Caroline bashing, and it had nothing to do with Carter, but it did have everything to do with her not liking her cousin... at all.

"Um no, I have to say I've never seen any of those movies. We don't own one of those television things." She didn't need to watch those movies anyway, she was living them, or so it seemed with the way her life went.

"Hey now, there's nothing wrong with the way us girls... think." Nothing at all.

Carter grinned. "Don't forget. I will hold you to it." It cheered him up a little knowing that at least Marie was willing to support him if he decided that was the road for him to take. He couldn't help but lean over and hug her as she kept talking. "Listen... will you do me a favor and not mention this to anyone?" he asked her. "I want to keep this quiet until I know for sure what I'm doing." He didn't want people making a big deal of things or trying to push him in different directions. It was something that he wanted to figure out on his own.

"She'll be excited to see you. She's been asking when the next time she got to see you was since the last time she saw you." He chuckled. That was his sister. She was quite the character. "Set her straight about me? I'm not sure I like the sound of that." That was the one dangerous thing about once again uniting his sister with the two girls who knew him the best.

"Good." he said with a nod. He just hoped she'd stick to it. It was hard enough to describe the complicatedness with Marie to Caroline, the last thing he needed was for Marie to actively try to break them up. "No, it's not that... she's great. I'm excited to introduce her. I just haven't yet." But, he hadn't brought anyone home in a few years. It wasn't that he didn't want to or that he was nervous, it just seemed like a big step now that he was older. He just wanted to make sure everything went smoothly... especially since it was around the time when he managed to mess up his other two relationships. He was too busy thinking about it to even catch that Marie was making another crack.

He chuckled. "At times I would be glad if I didn't." Those times were pretty much whenever Anya had the remote. "Anyway... she's obsessed with them." But from her point of view he could see where it was coming from... kinda. He'd been purposefully ignoring her comments about Marie for the past few summers and been visually upset and coming up with random excuses for Marie not coming. Anya was stupid, she put the pieces together. And then all of a sudden Carter had come up talking about a new girl. Anya thought he was once again doing a bad job of faking being alright. "Not usually. But sometimes..." those thoughts drove guys crazy.

"Oh I have no doubt you plan on making me keep my word." Marie was pretty sure Carter would do his best if he knew it meant getting a fresh cheesecake after the match. She was a little surprised when he hugged her though. Putting an arm around him she hugged him back. "I promise, I'll keep your secret." She could be good at keeping secrets when she wanted to. She had been keeping Matty's secret for over a year now. Then it hit her... Matty. She didn't want to keep anything from him. She would feel like she was lying to him if she didn't tell him what she was going to be doing during the time she was gone. "Um, Carter. Is it okay if I tell Matty? I kinda don't want to be lying to him about anything." And if she expected him to understand why she was going out of the country with another guy he deserved to know the truth.

"I'm wxcited to see her too." Rolling her eyes just a little she nudged him in the ribs. "You know, she probably wouldn't be asking to see me all the time if someone would have told her the truth... before telling her about his made up new girlfriend." Marie thought it was funny as hell that Anya thought Caroline was made up. Oh yeah her and Anya were gonna have a good laugh over this one. "Well someone has to set her srtaight about her big brother. It might as well be me." Oh the things she could tell his little sister.

Hearing him say he was excited to introduce Caroline to his family she just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Sure he was excited. She could see the excitement written all over his face right now. Deciding not to press her luck anymore today though she chose not to comment on that one. She would have plenty of time later to get in some good jabs about the made up girlfriend.

"I knew it, you DO watch those movies." Oh yeah, just one more thing for Marie to talk to Anya about. "Maybe us girls..." meaning Anya, Marie and Mina "...will make you sit and watch a bunch of movies with us." Now that would be fun. Torturing Carter with a bunch of girly movies. Marie just hoped she would like then since she herself had never seen any.

Pernix hoots and flaps his wings merrily as he sees Aiden coming. The pygmy owl flies around the owlery before he lands on his owner's arm. Aiden takes a dead rhino beetle from her pocket and feeds it to Pernix. "How have you been?" she mutters to the owl with a smile on her face.

Suddenly, Aiden is distracted by what she sees on the floor. She recognises the pattern very well that the feathers are from an eagle owl. She picks them up and put them into a small jar.



Well, that shall do it.

Carter flashed Marie a grateful smile when she agreed not to mention it to anyone. Not only was he still debating if quidditch was the right choice for him, but what if he told everyone he was trying out and then didn't make the team? That would be embarrassing.

He blinked twice. "You want to tell Matty?" he asked in disbelief. She wanted to tell his secret to the guy who openly decided to start yelling at Carter for having a discussion with Marie? Really? Could she even hear herself?

So was it okay? Absolutely not. There was no way that he'd ever be okay with that guy finding out before Josh, or Mina, or Simon or anyone else on the face of the planet. He ran a hand through his hair. "You know what, we don't need to go. In fact, it's probably a bad idea to..." He knew that Marie would hate him saying that, but the last thing he wanted was for people to make a big deal out of him going or making a big deal out of a hufflepuff finding out before they did.

"Hey, I did tell her we broke up. I just didn't tell her exactly why..." Not that he could anyway. There was no way to explain it without the 'magic' portion. It wasn't like he'd say 'Hi sis. I decided to give Destiny a nice quick snog in front of Marie.'

"Maybe it's not such a good idea getting the three of you together..." he said as Marie continued to tease him. That was the one problem with having the cutest little sister ever a little sister.

William waited for Presley's answer.

Marie looked at Carter a little confused. Had she stuttered or what? She was pretty sure she made it clear when she asked if it was okay to tell Matty. "Um yeah. I think it's only fair that he knows why I want to go out of the country with you. After all, it's not like you two are on the greatest of terms here. He deserves to know why his girlfriend wants to leave the country with another guy." She would have no problem at all with not telling Matty, IF she wasn't going out of the country with Carter. She just felt in her heart that by not telling him everything she would be deceiving his trust in her, and that was something she never wanted to do.

O__O

WHAT?!

He was NOT going to use this as an excuse NOT to go. No way was she letting him get away with that. Giving him a punch in the arm she turned her body so she was fully facing him. "Don't you dare use this aa an excuse to get out of going Carter Phillips. I will NOT let you use me as the reason you miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime." There was no way she was going to have him blaming her for missing out on that.

He didn't tell her why they broke up? "You mean you didn't tell her that her big brother had been an extreme fool and made the biggest mistake of his life back then?" And now he was about to make another huge mistake if he didn't go check out that pitch.

"Of course it's a good idea. Who else is gonna teach the your sister about boys her brother?" Someone needed to keep the girl up to date on things.

"Not the greatest of terms?" Carter asked with a sarcastic laugh. "He barged in on something that had nothing to do with him." Not to mention, Matty thought that conversation he and Marie were having was Carter's fault. It was clearly Marie's. He then raised his eyebrow. "Why would you tell him you were going out of the country if you were only going to be gone for two days?" he asked. Then his eyes widened. "He didn't put a trace on you did he?" Because that was creepy.

Plus, they were going to Ireland. Northern Ireland. As in still in the United Kingdom Ireland. It's not like they were going to the Ukraine or China.

"Hey!" he said as he rubbed his arm. He really should have been expecting to be hit about that one. "I'm sorry." he said with a shrug. "But I told you I wanted to keep this quiet. And telling your boyfriend does not qualify as keeping this quiet."

"Well of course I told her that much. And I'm she could tell that's how I felt. I meant I didn't tell her how." he said emphasizing the word. He just hadn't told her about the love potion and Destiny... which he wouldn't have been able to tell her anyway.

He chuckled lightly and shook his head. "You're going to make me regret that invite, aren't you?"

Now during the warmer months of the school term, the latest potions assignment would have been far easier. The plants and or creatures and such needed to be collected were bound to be more plentiful then in the frigid and snow-covered February days that the staff and students currently found themselves in. That was probably why Simon was sticking to the more conventional places to find what he had written down on the list of supplies to try and gather.

First and formost...the owlery to find some feathers. And after he had climbed up all the steps to get there, Simon manuevered through the dirty floors and various swooping owls coming and going to find the ones he was looking for. Getting a good supply he wrapped them in a cloth and placed it in his bag before leaving the owlery for his next stop.