Kita was... confused. WHY was Louisa pushing her away? Did she do something wrong? Something that might have upset Louisa? She tried to think back. Apart from barely talking to the girl and only JUST remembering her birthday, Kita hadn't done anything.

... Maybe that was the-

OH! She was giggling! And she came to give her a hug! Isn't that nice? Teehee! Kita couldn't say no to a hug! So she hugged the girl back, glad that Louisa wasn't mad at her. They've known each other for so long, she'd hate to end things on an all time low.

How are...? Was she asking how Kita was? "I'm good. Glad to see you again!" she said, smiling down at the young girl, "What about you?" Last she had heard, Louisa was... going through some troubles. Boy troubles. But that was to be kept quiet. For now...

Squish? Squish what? OH! The boxes. Kita looked down at the neatly wrapped boxes that she hadn't actually wrapped herself. "I think they'll survive," she said, "And, er, they're actually for you. It's a bit early but i thought it'd be better to give this to you now before i forget." 'Cause she was VERY likely to forget!

o_O

That was... unexpected. The brunette looked around before bursting into laughter. What had actually made this funny was the fact that Louisa had yelled this in the LIBRARY! Of all places! Teehee! "I'm the official captain now," she said, hugging the excited girl back, "But Louisa, i thought you didn't like Quidditch." ... Or maybe it was just her?

For her? Louisa wanted to hug the girl once more and own the day but the presents were so appealing, she snatched them from Kita's hands and squeaked. "My Gosh! You're the first friend to remember!" And she retreated back to her arm chair, setting the boxes down on her lap. "Are they both mine? Do I open them now or wait for the actual day?" Not that she'd have enough patience but politeness was a necessity, right? Riiiight.

Chucking quietly she nodded, "I don't care about Quidditch but this is huge! A new badge! A new authority.." over balls and whatnot but that wasn't said aloud. "..it's really great. You earned it after last match against us." She said it so proudly that it looked comical. "Come. Join me." She gestured at the armchair on her right.

Before Kita knew it, the presents were gone! Yes, that's right, GONE! Snatched cruelly form her hands by the excited soon-to-be fifteen year old.

Wait... She was the first friend to remember? The FIRST?! How in the name of merlin was that even POSSIBLE?! ... These other friends were going to get a SERIOUS talking to about this. Yes yes.

... And that was the badge talking.

"They are. They're two separate gifts that are both from me..." her voice trailed off as she realised how silly her gift idea was. Two necklaces CAN be placed in the same box. Hmph! "They're yours, you open them when you like!" As for the speech she had prepared... that would be told at the end of term feast.

SHE GOT IT RIGHT! YIPEE! TIME TO CELEBRATE-

Ahem!

But the sound of the word 'authority' seemed to make her slightly scared. "So i have to lead these people...?" As long as it wasn't some sort of march, she was completely fine with it. "Thank you!" N'aww! Wasn't Louisa nice? Wait... last match? What had happened at the last match? Oh right. They had won. But that day had come and gone and now it's time to face another challenge: the Slytherins. "Thanks!" she giggled, "A little birdie told me you were cheering for me." She was, right?

Join? "Sure!" she chirped, skipping over to the spare armchair and flopping down on it. This was a great time to catch up...

They were HERS! Yay. Louisa started unwrapping the first one as Kita talked on.. and seemed a bit taken aback by the 'authority' word as if she'd just heard it. Pfft. Louisa spoke, still occupied with her presents, "Yes, you are leading them. Every match, the eyes will be on you, the captain, who earned the badge with your own sweat and hardworking." Why did Kita have to wrap it so well? Tug, tug, tuuuuggg. "And your teammates will follow your every word and wait for your enthusiasim to motivate them at the beginning of every match." Snatch her wand Louisa used Diffindo to cut the paper off. One more thing to say to the new captain, "And at the end of every match, it'll be you who'd pat on their shoulders if they fail or cheer for them if they win." Now enough silly chitchat about Quidditch, Louisa opened the box and..

...huh? A necklace with half medallion? But it was GREAT! With a grin on her face, the girl started opening the second one. Diffindo again. Another necklace. WITH THE NEXT HALF OF THE MEDALLION! WOHOO!

"They're awesome! Thanks!" Louisa wrapped her hands around Kita's neck and stayed still for a few seconds. She did not believe that this luxury of hugging her would be gone next term. NO WAY!

Lana took Raven's advice and started to speak lower. "Wait... did I hear you right?" She looked around discreetly to see if it was true. "People from our year on a.. on a date?!" Sure Lana thought she saw some cute guys, but she wouldn't go as far as getting a date. All she was looking for were friendships. Apparently not everyone else though. We're too young, we're too young. she thought shaking her head to herself.

"Really? I haven't had the chance to meet much of the professors," she said. Maybe it's about time.

"Hmm.. I don't know," Lana responded about their friends. "I haven't seen much of anyone since I never left our dorms," she laughed lightly. "We should go on an adventure and go find them," Lana said smiling.

"Yeah." said Raven. Looking around, Then she whispered to Lana "I found so many first years dating. Before you come, I saw two ravenclaw firsties kissed. EEEEKKK...." Raven felt disgusting.

"Now, one of my favorite spot, at the lake, were full of students dating. Some of them were older than us, and I saw first year students too." Raven took her deep breath.

*SIGH*

Then, Raven remembered about the transfiguration class. So fun.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you didn't join the last transfiguration class, right? Clowning ourselves. That's why my hair became red and longer now " Since Lana had pranked with mystery candy, Raven, Desiree, Zhenya and her never be together again. Hahahaha..

Kita giggled as she looked down at Louisa who was unwrapping the present. Seeing the young Ravenclaw opening the present excitedly made her smile.

... And then Louisa spoke. It wasn't the fact that she was speaking that made her stop smiling. No. It was the context of her words and the way they seemed to make Kita sound like she had such a HUGE role within the school.

o_O

EW! Earned the badge through her own SWEAT?! But... no, moving on! "What makes it worse is that i'll be playing Seeker..." she whispered. 'Cause that meant that she would be kept an eye on EVEN MORE! Everyone would be looking at her to save the day. GROAN! "They will?" People actually LISTEN to crazy people? "I guess... that doesn't sound so bad." After all, leading a team that isn't motivated is just... bad. "Hufflepuff's aren't that hard to motivate," What with their loyalty and everything. And house pride. But then again, every house had the house pride thing. Meh. "I guess it won't be too bad as long as we have our supporters," she said, grinning. Hint hint, Louisa!

Kita watched the girl's expression carefully. Would she like it? Would she hate it? Would she want to throw the gift away and declare her hatred for the seventh year? ... Kita hoped not! OH! A grin. Yipee! Now it was time to explain. "Er, this is a best friend's necklace," But Louisa, being Louisa, would have probably known that already. "You have one half and i have the other. 'Cause, you're my best friend along with Caroline and i just... wanted you to know that." Yes, okay, she was being sentimental. "And the other necklace is just to say that you're a star! I mean, i know you don't believe that sometimes" Right? "But, you are. And even after i'm gone, i don't want anyone telling you otherwise. So, er, if you ever find yourself feeling less than your usual self" Or if certain boys decide to make her feel bad... AGAIN! Hmph! "then i want you to remember that you're special and no one should make you feel bad about yourself."

And that was enough with the speech making.

OH! HUG! Teehee! Kita hugged her young friend back and squeezed her slightly. It was because of people like Louisa that she didn't want to leave. She had always known that seven years would come and go but she wanted to stay a bit longer. Only to have to see her friends again. "Happy birthday!" she whispered in Louisa's ear, "Even if it's a bit early."

Isobel was really tired from all that running and stair climbing. She had not ran in the library though, because the librarian would probably yell at her. She made her way to the reading lounge, hoping to sit down for a little bit and relax. However, when she got in there it was evident that was not going to happen. She saw two Slytherins.

"You're Slytherins," she said as she walked over to them. As if that wasn't obvious. "You see, we have this thing going on called National Hug a Slytherin Day, and I was wondering if I could hug you." Because she was tired of hugging them spontaneously and running for her life. She was too tired.

WHOAAAAAA O___________________O"

Raven was shocked, someone was hugging her. She was... Isobel? The hufflepuff student who was her partner at arithmancy.

"Isobel? What do you mean, huh?"

The Slytherin knew her name. How? Oh, wait, from Arithmancy. "Oh hi," she said. "You're Raven right?" She was pretty sure that was the girl's name. "My friends and I declared National Hug A Slytherin Day," she explained. "Whoever hugs the most Slytherin's wins. So...can I hug you?" She might no matter what she said, because she was less tired than she had been before.

"Yeah.." answered her short.

Hug a Slytherin day?? What the heck was that?? So, the Hufflepuff make their own event now. If there was a National Hug a Hufflepuff, Raven absolutely didn't want to join that.

"Eng.. Okay. But don't too tight." she answered it. unsurely. Who the hell was making those silly event, huh?

Raven thought she was insane. But that was okay, Isobel was insane. She liked being insane, it made people freak out sometimes. That amused her. "Thanks," she said, giving Isobel a hug. The other Slytherin had not spoken yet, but Isobel gave her a hug anyway. "Bye now," she said as she was leaving the library. That made twenty four.

Nerida entered the

Cass entered the library and looked around carefully. Stupid runes homework, she needed a place where no one was, well, someone could be there if they wanted to maybe, after all, compared to how many students there were currently living in the castle, Hogwarts was pretty small. No offense to the founders and all that.

She headed to her favorite part of the library - the reading lounge - sat down on one of the plush armchairs that was at the corner of the room and brought out a huge, thick book on the greatest potions made in history. Yipee. But of course, she wasn't planning on reading the book, it was just a cover.

The blonde fished her rune necklace from her pocket and kissed it soundlessly before placing it around her neck, along with the necklace that she always wore around, and not for the first time that day wondered 'How is this going to protect me from failure?'

Then she closed her book with a dull thud, stood up from her seat and walked out of the library, her mind filled with unanswered questions.

Maybelle skipped into the library, and saw Isobel skip out. She smiled at her and looked for snakes. She saw one, and figured Isobel already hugged this snake. She saw another, and so she would hug her.

Maybelle went right up to the snake and smiled. "Hello, I'm guessing my friend, Isobel already hugged you, but who doesn't love hugging? So, I shall hug you too." She said, and wrapped her arms around the girl. She went over to the other one, who didn't seem to be paying any attention. "Hello, other Snake. You are about to be hugged." Maybelle said, and again, wrapped her arms around the Snakes. That made Eleven. "Have a nice National Hug A Slytherin Day." She said, skipping away.

For quite some time, Christopher had always gone to the library during troubling times. Whether it was problems with family or friends, the library had been his refuge. So naturally, the day after his meeting with Selina and two days after his break up with Violet, he would be found on the library. Again.

Multiple piles of books that resembled skyscrapers from where he sat surrounded him, and his nose was buried in one more. It was The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, and despite its tragic ending, it was making him feel a teensy bit better, if anything. Was that a terrible thing to think? Was it awful of him to feel? Joy from a tragedy? Or was it the joy he had when he breathed in the words? When he felt them dance across his eyes? When the pages bent at his fingertips?

Sometimes he wondered why he so loved them. Why was it that he just devour all literature he could get his hands on? Why did he so prefer the worlds he read about over the one he lived in? Why was it that he was never as happy as when he read? There were many answers in his mind to all of these questions, but deep down he knew there was one that answered them all. It was, perhaps, that he could always count on those very words. They couldn't hurt him, they couldn't leave him, they could console him and take him away from the problems he faced, even if only just for a little while.

Either way, he was distracted from reality in that cozy corner of the library, string cross-legged, wearing the glasses he occasionally wore while reading, though he didn't wear them hardly ever outside of the dorms or his own home.

Selina walked into the Library with a bag full of books. She was glad to let these off of her hands. After the past two weeks of never ending homework she was glad to see her research go. Without a doubt in her mind, she knew she would be back to the library sometime soon when another rush of homework came to fruition, but for now she was free. That thought made her really excited. Like she could do anything! Maybe fly... well, that was a bad example. After all with a broom she could do that; it was beside the point.

Once she returned her book, she headed over to the reading lounge and feel back onto a chair. Her hand flew to her bag with such fervor that one might have thought she was slight... eccentric. None-the-less she grabbed a copy of 1984 and snuggled up in the couch. So far she was loving this book. All of the characters were so restrained and were fighting against Big Brother in such trival ways. It really made one think.

She turned her head to crack her back when she stopped and saw her brother mopping with a copy of what looked to be Victor Hugo. Typical. She rose her eyebrow and said, "Hugo, huh? That's how upset you are..."

A familiar voice lifted the fourth year away from his book and back to the reading lounge with a snap. Noting the sarcasm in his best friend's voice, he tossed a fake glare with a hint of a smile, and pushed his glasses up on his nose. The darn things were always slipping off of his face- it got rather irritating. It was nothing occulus reparo would fix, they were just a little too big. "It's been a rough week."

Trying to avoid a Christopher James pity party in the reading lounge, he looked up at her book, not familiar with it. Nodding to it, he asked curiously, "Whatcha reading? 1984- that must be a pretty old one." He read old books, and Selina did too, but this was a period he'd never explored. The Gryffindor was growing curious. Plus it was another distraction. His mind kept drifting to Violet, and he wondered of she'd said anything to Selina. Or Nathan. That jerk.... Who did he think he was anyway? Everyone thought he was perfect, but he WASN'T! ....Anyway. He tried to shove it out of his head, because she was the last person he wanted to think about next to his mother.

Selina nodded and pulled her legs into her chest on the chair she was sitting on. Her small frame seemed to wrap over itself as she placed her book down and wrapped her arms around her pulled in legs. She affirmed what he said and sadly replied, "It's been a rough five months."

Ever since Christopher had told him about the break up between Violet and himself Selina had been sad for them. Honestly though, she wanted to know how the two of them had managed to keep it from her so long. To be honest Violet was flat out not telling Selina. She knew that Violet was doing it for some stupid self-righteous reason, but she did not know why. Violet was hurt and needed a friend, but she would not go to Selna.

He tried to divert the subject to 1984 and Selina ignored him, "I haven't spoken to her, if that is what you are thinking. She won't even tell me what happened."

Dang it. She never let him change the subject.

"Wait.... what?" Now he was actually shocked. It'd been five months and Violet hadn't even said a single word? But she was Selina's best friend! He'd told their little red head everything, and he wasn't even her best friend! Brother, maybe, but Gideon and Kurumi seemed to be more of her best friends. However, she was still HIS best friend, and Violet's as well, so why Selina hadn't heard her side of the story at all was astounding. It must not've been hard for her at all. She didn't need to get anything off of her chest, apparently. Except for to Nathan, probably. The thought of those two made him really irritated, but it wasn't his business. He wasn't her boyfriend anymore.

"You haven't talked.... at all?"

She knew that he would be shocked by the fact that the two of them had not talked. Selina herself was shocked that Violet did not come to her with this information; she had just assumed Selina knew and never addressed it, "No," Selina started, "I mean we talk everyday, but she didn't bring up your break up once. And I won't bring it up because I want her to talk to me about it, but she won't. So we just avoid the subject.... and I shouldn't be telling you this, this probably isn't something you want to hear."

So she played with the sleeve of her robe that was close to her body because she had her legs pulled in tight to her chest. Then she looked up at Christopher and said, "I'm sorry... for fighting with you a while back. I know that we have just kind of moved on from it and pretended it never happened, our fight, but I shouldn't have walked out and then pretended I didn't. I was wrong."

Biting his lower lip, Christopher shook his head. "No, no. I'm glad I know, really. It helps with my guilt, I guess, knowing that she wasn't too upset by it." It was strange to him, that the hate potion could do that. Bring out all of these emotions that weren't there, but bring out words that were so true. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still incredibly ashamed of everything I said that day. I guess I just feel better that I didn't really hurt her that badly." Badly enough to talk about it to her best friend anyway. But it did really hurt him at the same time. That she didn't care about what had happen. She completely brushed it off. But no matter what he'd said during the hate potion argument, he'd loved her. At least he thought he had. Now he wasn't so sure.

"Thanks, Sel. I really appreciate it." It did make him feel better that she was owning up to their fight. It let him know that, even though it was just a small little apology, that they weren't going to let this break up change anything. Now it was his turn. "I'm really sorry too. It was wrong of me to expect you to take sides like that, especially when I know you're going through some stuff too, even if you aren't ready to talk about it. I was just so upset by that word, I wasn't thinking right. It was selfish of me, and I'm sorry about that."

He knew that a lot of people would disagree with him on this one, but apologizing felt so nice. It was a shame he wasn't ready to face Violet yet, whether they wanted to mend the relationship or not.

Selina sighed and tucked her chin on her knees as she looked at Christopher with very sad eyes. This was an awful situation. Christopher was hurting. Violet had become a mute basically and everyone noticed the hair. To ignore that was like looking death in the eye and going ooohhh a butterfly. The two of them were hurt and Selina was forced to watch both sides. Part of her wanted to shake them both and say look at how sad you both are, but it was not her place. If they were ever going to make-up and keep a strong relationship Selina needed to stop meddling. They needed to figure out who they were without Selina Skylar and right now they were without one another.

She smiled sadly at Chris and said, "I think she is more upset about it than you know. Have you seen her hair lately?" It sure had shocked Selina. Then again, Violet was still stunning no matter what she did.

"Good... we are both sorry. At least we are being mature about this," it only took them three years.

....The hair? What was that supposed to even mean? Girls made no sense. "No.... I haven't seen her in months. Our schedules usually don't ever have us going to the same places at the same time, but if they do, I've been going out of my way to avoid her," he admitted sheepishly. "I know it's cowardly, but I'm just not ready to face her." He figured it frizzed up or something. Because Selina was making a big deal about it, and even though it wasn't much for most girls, for Violet not to look perfect was a crime in her own book.

A smile formed on his face, and he shrugged. "We both know we'd have to grow up at least a little bit at some point. Hey, maybe this will become a regular thing!" But probably not. They loved each other, but maturity was something they often lacked. They argued, and that was their relationship. What kind of siblings would they be if didn't?

Selina's draw dropped. He had not seen her hair? How could he have missed it? It was so drastic she could not believe that anyone had missed from space. Selina rubbed the back of her head and laughed a little awkwardly, "I, erm, don't blame you. And... Christopher? Violet charmed her hair brunette. Something about blonde hair made her beautiful, beauty was all anyone saw... I don't know, she barely touched on the topic. Again, she avoided it."

When he smiled she took the opportunity and smiled back broadly, "Yeah! Probably not though..." What they were kids at heart.