Marie stood up when Matty did. She knew none of this was easy on him even if he did try to act like it didn't bother him most of the time. "You don't have to thank me. Remember, we're in this together." Standing on her toes she kissed the tip of his nose as she grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's get out of here, Hogsmease is calling us."

Time to go have some fun.

Adam stood where he was,his eyes beginning to crawl out of it's sockets.He had addressed her an now,she expected him to just silently stand there an be ignored.Slowly he walked up closer to the punching bag an leaned over looking right over at her.

"Excuse me-but it's quite rude to not respond to someone whom has spoken back to you!" He said calmly,although his voice was rather annoyed.

The girl was acting riddikulus towards him,ignoring him an then punching the bag,which didn't ease his mind,brain or stomach even more.

"If you're so women,so strong,so snake-why won't you talk to me like a real person?" he asked his nostrils beginning to flail.In a brilliant flash his wand was steady an pointed directly at her,though he didn't try any spells on her,yet. His wand was too precious to waste it's magic on that creature.

*blink*

Wow, good show, Gryffindor. Get upset because I ignore you. OOoooh!

Honestly, what was with these people? Like Marilyn wanted to waste her time on some Gryffindor. Yes, she loved Lion boys...but this one was neither the right age...or of the right personality. Therefore, not worth her time.

Ignoring his wand pointed at her, she continued to take her anger out on the bag. The Slytherin WISHED he'd try something. If he hurt her in anyway, he'd be answering to A LOT more than her Head of House. *smirk*

Ok.He had enough of this girl.He thought that himself an Caroline were bad when it came to Gryffindor an Slytherin-Caroline's cousin took it to a whole new level.She even made Caroline seem tamed as a hufflepuff.

He walked closer towards Marilyn an with his free hand pushed her by the shoulder.HEY!" he yelped right beside her.You may not respect me-but I'm more than certain your parents have taught you some manners or are they just as decent an incapable of human contact as you are?" he asked her.

Yeah,that's right.He was bringing in her parents-maybe that would get a reaction out of her,because the silent treatment would only fuel his rage towards her.

Testing her one more time Adam pushed her roughly again.

*blink*

Did he just...TOUCH me?

*sneer*

Whirling around, Marilyn fixed him with a nasty look. Not only had he put his disgusting hands on her...but he'd also mentioned her parents...Hmm...What was it going to take for people, like this idiot, to get the point?

"For your information, you stupid, pathetic, piece of trash...both of my parents never really taught me much of anything." She was advancing on him now, getting nose to nose with him. If he thought for one moment he was intimidating, the guy was on something. "Do NOT put your hands on me again."

Now, back to working out...

Cracking her neck and shoulder blades, the Slytherin went back to hitting the bag. It was for the best. If she let loose on the Gryffindor, Marilyn might have seriously hurt him.

Well it figured she had no manners because her parents hadn't even taught,or probably knew nothing about them,so it ran with the family,he could guess.

"Well it figures.An for your information the reason you act like this is because you can't come to terms with the fact that you are the stupid,pathetic piece of trash because you don't know anything about how to talk to people." Adam did not back away when she got closer in fact he stayed put he wasn't going to allow her to win,no,not this Slytherin.

If you think I'm gonna back down now,I'm not." he told her as she went back to distracting herself with the bag because she knew she couldn't face Adam for more than a minute before losing her would be 'nerve'.You are worthless,only you-would go back to punching the bag because you don't have any guts to do it to me..You're restraining yourself.Smart choice-sometimes practicing violence isn't the answer.There are other ways to protect yourself." Adam raised one eyebrow an continued to watch her punch an punch an punch.If she weren't afraid of him,she wouldn't be constantly averting her attention to the bag.

Marilyn vaguely remembered that Adam was his name...Pfft, not that it mattered. He was saying a bunch of stuff...but she honestly couldn't be bothered to listen. His voice wasn't even the sweet, careful tone of Carter's...the rich earthy tone of Rafe's...or even the fun, playful sound of Josh's...Nope, she wasn't interesting in listening...

O.O

Scared? No, no, NO...She most definitely was NOT scared. "I'll have you know, Mr. Burn..." Yea, she remembered...She turned to face him, once more, not bothering to move from her spot. "...that Slytherin is in the LEAD for the house cup...AGAIN. I wouldn't want to behave in anyway that might embarrass my house." Gryffindors were all about bravery and loyalty...or whatever rubbish, right? Wouldn't he be more worried about taking care of business for his house?

Pfft, NO...because he was a moron with a misplaced Slytherin complex. He acted so bad because he wanted to belong to her house. Tough luck, small fry...

Offering a general smirk, she turned on the bag, kicking it swiftly. With a combination of kicks and hits, she continued her assault. "See yourself out. Thanks."

Nate gaped at Jez's display. What was that spell? he thought, transfixed. Then he felt it: something had touched him and was heating up rapidly. Nate whirled and did what was his first reflex. Ge punched the dummy in the face.
This didn't turn out very well. Nate's wand hand now hurt from hitting the metal-on-wood face of the dummy, and the dummy still fired its sparks, hitting Nate in the thigh.
Nate released a yelp of pain and collapsed over his right leg, just barely able to cast a knockback jinx on the perpetrating dummy. He could feel the welt beginning to form and the blisters filling with pus, but he didn't look. He didn't want to. He wanted to kill every last dummy.
Shooting back up, still in massive amounts of pain, Nate began flinging his wand directly at the dummies, plowing them down one by one. "Jez, Bombarda Maxima on three!" He wanted to blow up as many as possible at one time. "One! Two! Three! Bombarda Maxima!"

See himself out.Obviously the girl had never heard of Adam or his personality.

Stubborn.

"I won't let myself out." he shot back pointing at her.

The punching of the bag was beginning to annoy him.Every little thing she did,said,every little movement was grinding his head an he couldn't take it anymore.Adam tried to contain himself to let his burning anger only boil on the inside but it was too much for him to handle.

HEY! I'm TALKING TO YOU!" he yelped.Adam could feel his veins ready to pop out like buttons-his cheeks burning red,nostrils flaring madly.

All the rage from everything,all that he had bottled in-at least it was escaping out but at Marilyn not at Selina or Kurumi-that would be the blowing line.

All the shouting was unnecessary. Of course, Marilyn knew he was talking to her. He kept repeating it, after all...Moron.

The Slytherin was STILL going to ignore him, though. Upsetting this wannabe Slytherin was amusing her greatly...and this, the blond knew, was only going to get more entertaining. She even started singing a song to set the mood...

"We will....we will rock you...."

*smirk*

He was fuming now.Adam wanted to shout right in her ear maybe that might get some response,but he remembered that Selina told him to boy/man up maybe this was his chance.He had to keep calm,or at least,stay calm from here on out with Marilyn.

Shaking his head madly Adam didn't know what to do.She was still ignoring him after all he had done how was she so calm,Slytherins were the evil ones.Marilyn was purposely staying calm,unlike Slytherin,to make him look like the Slytherin rather than Gryffindor.She had turned it all around on him.

Swallowing hard Adam left the room.She may think she had won,as he walked away,perhaps thinking he had been defeated,but he only left so that things would not end up with her in the hospital wing,perhaps with a snare drum somehow glued to her head.

Jez ran over to Nate when he was hit by the sparks, but before she could say a word he had jumped back up. She had never seen him looking so furious. She nodded at his suggestion, pointing her wand at the dummies, waiting for the count. One, two, three ... "Bombarda Maxima!" she shouted at exactly the same time as Nate. Their combind curses made a huge explosion that blew up at least half a dozen dummies. "Yeah!" cheered Jez, throwing a fist in the air in jubilation. "Let's do that again!" Then she took a real look at Nate, and saw the blisters. Merlin's pants, that looked horrid. She put an arm around him for support. "Are you okay?"

Nate shook off Jez's arm. "No, not in the slightest!" he growled. "Again! One! Two! THREE!! BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
Maybe yelling louder had made the spell more powerful. Maybe Nate simply had more will for it to work, and maybe it was just a lucky shot that when he cast his spell this time, at least twenty dummies went down in a shower of sparks, fire, and wooden shrapnel. Nate ducked to the floor as the explosion engulfed more dummies, who were now not only still moving, but also on fire as they readied their sparks. To make things even better, Nate had lost his grip on his wand during the explosion, and it was sitting about ten feet away from him. "Jez, I'm disarmed!" he cried desperately, more scared than he had ever been in his life.

Jez barely had time to register the count before she was shouting the spell. "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" The explosion sent her stumbling backwards into a mirror. She shook her head, trying to rid her vision of sparks. When her eyes cleared, she saw Nate, disarmed and looking frightened. Jez pointed her wand at him. "Protego!" she screamed, just as the dummies unleased their sparks. The spell protected Nate, but as Jez bent down to retrieve his wand, the shield shuddered and was lost. "No, no, no!" she shrieked as the dummies readied themselves again. "Nate, catch!" She threw his wand, hoping his reflexes were good, and pointed her wand at the dummies. "Protego!" The shield wouldn't come. Jez panicked. Her worst fear.
She couldn't use magic.

Nate's wand hit him in the face, but he hastily grabbed it and casted Protego twice: once around Jez and once around himself. "Jez, the dummies are multiplying!" He called, hoping she could hear him through the two shields. The crowd of dummies was growing, and Nate was losing visual of Jez. He kept a tight grip on his wand to make sure the shields stayed up. "Jez, we need to get out of here. We could die here and nobody would know!" Nate was beginning to panic. He thought of Faina, of Pam, all of the rest of his friends. He thought of the life he would never make it to live. When the shields flickered, though, Nate's attention shifted to two people, Jez and himself. In that order. He closed his eyes and thought relentlessly one thing: I need the dummies to disappear! I need the dummies to disappear!.. He thought he could hear scraping coming from outside the shield, and some sort of vacuum, but didn't know what exactly was happening.
Until he opened his eyes again. The mirrors had begun to suck the dummies towards--no, into-- them. As the dummies passed over the mm tab between the Room of Requirement and the space within the mirror, Nate registered less dummies in the room, and more reflections of dummies that weren't actually there.

Jez was about to throw her wand to safety and fight the dummies with her bare hands, she was that angry, but then Nate cast a protective shield around her. She glared at him, unable to hear him properly through the shield. It was like listening to someone underwater - distorted and bubbly. Something about the dummies and multiplying ... this was no time to be thinking of maths! Then about dying ... frankly Jez didn't care. Her world had fallen apart weeks ago, there was nothing to live for anymore. Nothing to go home to in the holidays. Nothing.
Except Scott. And Nate. And Pam. And Erin. Her best friends. And what about her little brother Than? He'd already lost Keegan, he couldn't lose her as well ... suddenly Jez didn't want to die. She screamed in panic, thinking of all the people that cared about her. "I DON"T WANT TO DIE!" She closed her eyes and wished like crazy. Make the dummies go away, make the dummies go away ... Somehow she sensed Nate doing the same.
When Jez opened her eyes, there were a lot less dummies than there had been. Relief swept over her, and she smiled at Nate. Thank Merlin, they were going to live!

Jez was firing curses at any and all, when she heard a spell that stopped her in her tracks. Avada Kedavra? Nate had used Avada Kedarva? Then he collaspsed, and she knew he had. Jez knelt in front of him and shook him by the shoulders. "Where did you learn that?" she asked roughly. "Where? Who taught you? That's an Unforgivable Curse, Nate - you'd go to Azkaban for that!" And you really, really, really didn't want to go to Azkaban ...
Jez shook Nate again, making him look her in the eye. "You can never use that spell again, you hear?" she told him forceably. "Never! It's like stabbing or shooting someone in the Muggle world - you'll go to jail. And Azkaban is much worse than any Muggle jail." Did he understand she was scared, frightened, absolutely terrified? Scared that he was becoming like her brother, who she'd thought was a good person ... Jez was scared for Nate, big time.

A love sofa and two opposite armchairs? Set. A small coffee table with butterbeer and small cakes? Set. A music player of romantic songs when wanted? Set. Wooden floor with a carpet under the coffee table and suitable walls? Set. A little bit darkness? Set. A really handsome and wonderful smelling João Neves? Set.

After spending like an hour decorating the room before the meeting time, João stood in the doorway and took one last look to decide whether it was too bold. It was an ideal living room in his mind, there were two opposite armchairs and one for two people, a coffee table with snacks and light music if necessary. Although it was suggestive, he hoped it wasn't too bold for her, that could frighten her off. Plus, they were just going to talk, and this was a nice place to talk...

...sitting arm-in-arm in the sofa. He liked the idea.

Nate shook his head. "I--I kn-know J-Jez..." he stuttered. "I don't know how that came out. I've read all about the..." Nate tred to swallow the lump in his throat "...Unforgivable Curses. But how that came out..." He got up from his knees and kicked his wand across the room. "It was that thing." Blaming your wand? Yeah, real childish, Nate. he thought bitterly. He let himself collapse again into Jez's arms.
Jez! Then Nate remembered Keegan. "Oh, Jez, I'm so sorry."

India didn't expect to find such a lavishly decorated living room when she stepped into the room of requirements. She would have been happy with a far less lavish of room but this was truly exceptional.

"Well - Neves looks like you have truly outdone yourself" she smiled over to him, brushing some hair from her face as she walked further into the room. Today she was a little bit more well girly than she normally was. Wearing pink when meeting up with her friend wasn't planned it was just spring and she wanted a little color in her life.

And, as the door opened, João turned, standing a bit far from it, to greet the girl, and for a moment the world stopped.

She was such a beauty in that dress.

After a few seconds' silence on his side, checking her out from head to the toe, he was sure that not only he got ready specially for today's meeting. Someone was after impression too, for sure, and her effort made him a bit late on registering her words.

"What? Oh, thanks. I wanted something special for a special girl like you." He smiled, attractively, eyes twinking. Bowing a little, he said "I'm glad you liked it, senhorita." It was prepared for HER, after all. Indicating towards the sofas, he asked in his polistest manner "Shall we sit, lady?"

India didn't know that João's reaction was a good one at first. When he stood there watching her she just cocked her head to the side. A sly little smile finding its place on her lips.

"Oh you are too kind" she felt herself blush lightly as he called her senhorita, it always caused her to blush. "I think we shall" she smiled as she walked over and sat down on the sofa. Crossing her leg under the other so she didn't show off anything that didn't need to be seen. "So - how have you been?" She asked tipping her head up to look at him while she spoke. After all he was attractive. ...and who cared if he was dating someone...

Jez hugged Nate tightly. "Just promise me you won't use that curse again." Then she heard words that were never meant to be spoken aloud come out of her mouth; "I'm scared for you, okay? I don't want you to turn out like ..." She swallowed. Say his name ... "Him. Keegan. Or anyone else that's used the Killing Curse for the wrong reasons." She shook her head. "No, erase that last part. That's no right reason to kill anything." She realised she was going off topic here, and fell silent. Jez pointed her wand at Nate's. "Accio wand." She pressed it into his hand. "Yours. Your wand, your magic. Use it in the way I've become accustomed to seeing - to help people, to do good. Because that's the kind of guy you are, Nate - I've seen it, I know." Feel-good pep talk there.

Nate grimaced and accepted the hug. "Thanks, Jez," he said, taking his wand. He twirled it a few times and examined it closely, not sure what he was looking for. "My wand, my magic..." he repeated, "Jez... Thanks. Really, I can tell that you don't usually think you can get emotional, or help people through emotional situations, but believe me right now when I say that you can."

Jez looked down at Nate's words. She'd been taught by Keegan that she couldn't show her feelings, otherwise people would take advantage of her. Emotions got in the way of logic, clouding judgement. Suddenly Jez felt caged, boxed in, freedom-less. One one side there was Keegan and all he'd taught her, everything she knew was solid and real. On the other there was Nate's dangerous philosophy of emotions - basically opening up for disappointment, and possibly happiness. Crossroad.
Jez looked up and smiled. "Thanks. Thanks for everything. You're a great friend, Nate." Except the thing with Pam and Faina - no, Jez hadn't totally forgiven him for that. Neither had Scott, apparently. But Nate was a good friend despite that. Flaws just make people stronger, she realised with a smile.