Braeden, who was now filling up another giant bowl of popcorn (probably not a wise decision), chuckled softly when Ruby gave him an annoyed 'what?' "That was pretty hot," he responded, well aware that was not at all what she wanted to hear. But it was true. The whole thing had rather pleased him.

As Brae returned to the couch, Ruby was announcing that they'd missed half the movie. At her suggestion of him simply explaining everything to her, Brae furrowed his brows and shook his head. "No way. I'm just gonna have to rewind it and you'll have to watch it again," he said as he set the bowl on the table and picked up the remote, rewinding the movie to the last scene he remembered seeing. "You're going to watch the movie, Bubs, I wouldn't forget myself if you missed such a classic…"

He made a dramatic pause.

"We'll be here all night, if necessary." He raised his eyebrows at the girl. "Aaaaaaaalllllll night, Bubs. As long as it takes to get you to watch it."

Oh yeah, Ruby.
A whole night of Braeden Stonem.
Best pay attention to that film.

Hot? Hot?! Ruby's face burned again as she hissed, "Shut up!" and then threw the nearest pillow at Brae's head. Hot. Hmmph.

Once the popcorn was back and Brae was rewinding the movie, she grabbed the bowl and started nibbling so as to giver her something to do. "Classic schmassic, it doesn't even look that good. I don't wanna watch psycho bunnies," Ruby said from the couch as Brae regained his seat and the movie replayed.

But then the Gryffindork mentioned how they would be there allllll night. So she could see the whole movie. All night. With him. She might as well kill herself now. But she couldn't let Brae scare her. "Pssshh, all night? Bring it, Stonem," She said in haughty tone with a grin to match.

Gulp.

"Ow!" Braeden was knocked over as Ruby hit him with the pillow, though it didn't stop the goofball from bursting out laughing. Oh, Ruby was just so hilarious when she got angry. Cute, too.

The boy then readjusted himself on the couch, so he was laying just like he had been before, placing his feet, once again, on Ruby's lap. "What!? You've barely even given the movie a chance, Bubs!" he complained as Ruby also complained, about the movie.

And then, to Brae's surprise, Ruby didn't freak out about spending the rest of the night with him. WHAT!? That was NOT at all the way this was supposed to go.

"Fine," said the boy, hitting the play button.

Let the movie begin!
Again.

Rose walked slowly into the Room of Requirement, not having remembered what she had told it to be. Something conforting, she was sure, as she was supposed to be meeting her sister here.
She sighed as she sat on an armchair and waited, hopefully Ronnie would come too, to help her.

Violet entered the room, looking in front of her. She had never been here before, Rose had instructed her on how to get in. She saw Rose and walked up slowly, sitting opposite her.
'Hello, Rosie...' Violet said, managing to put on a smile.

Lilly was walking towards the common room when she heard her voice. Violet?! It was coming from that room that was there a while ago. It was a massive living room with a muggle TV. She entered. Violet and Rose! It wasn't that lounge anymore. 'Violet? Rose?' she said as she went in.

Sitting next to Matty, Marie put her arms around him and her head on his shoulder. "No, I love to snuggle... but only with you." Just then Frankie jumped up on them. "Looks like someone else wants to snuggle with us." Stretching out he lay across both their laps.

Looking at her ring as she rubbed Frankie's head she started to wonder what Matty's family thought about them getting engaged. He told her what her father said but never mentioned what his family thought... or if they even knew. "I know you got my father's blessing for us to get married, but what about your uncle? Is he okay with us being together?" His aunt would have been the one she would have been more worried about... if she was around. She wasn't going to bring that up though. She didn't want to ruin the night.

"My uncle?" *Matty shrugged and looked into the fire. It was like pulling teeth to get a hold of his uncle.*
"He still has himself locked away... takes care of his kids but has... pretty much checked out. He has his men out looking for my aunt but he is just dying to go looking for himself."
*It pained Matty to see his uncle like that. Trying to still do the motions of life but slipping away a little more each day. Matty knew that his uncle wouldn't leave his kids Emma and Noah to nannies. Even though it was never said or asked the second Matty was home from school Gabben would go looking for Kayla. He couldn't blame him though, if Marie went missing Matty would search past the ends of the earth to find her.*
"He knew I would ask you sooner or later. He gave me his blessing last year after your birthday. A couple months ago he sent me the ring."
*Matty smiled.*
"Just in case."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up painful thoughts or memories." Seeing the look on Matty's face when he talked about his family made her want to kick herself. "You know, we could leave school to take care of your cousins if you want. Then your uncle can go searching too."

The smile that was not on Matty's face made her feel a little better but she had a feeling it was just there to make her happy. "Your uncle is a smart..." She stopped mid-sentence when she heard just when it was his uncle gave his blessing. "Last year... after my birthday? You told your uncle then that you wanted to marry me?" What else had he told his uncle about last year?

He wasn't going to wait outside, no. But the note he wrote to Dallin was very clear and specific as to what the Ravenclaw boy should say if he wanted to enter the Room of Requirement and help him out a bit.

There were no expectations at all, but Treyen needed someone that had accomplish something with the spell, of course.

"No I didn't tell him then. He asked how things with us were going. Then he asked how I really felt about you. That's when he said Well I approve of Marie and give you my blessing in whatever you decide."
*It was true that after the close call they had had on spring holiday marriage had gone around in his mind. But for other reasons. His uncle made him see that by taking out the time, and situations he wanted to spend all of his life with Marie. To never be apart from her, no matter what. That was when it hit Matty what he wanted more than anything. As soon as they were out of school he wanted to start a life with Marie. Forever and always.*

She knew it was Violet, as she was the only person who called her 'Rosie'. 'Violet.' she breathed, dashing forward and hugging the youngest of the two twins. 'Vi, we've been so worried, you were gone, now you're here! Oh... Uh...' It was Lilly.
Rose pulled Violet back. She didn't think that Violet wanted anyone to see her right now, apart from Rose, who was going to try and help her. So, they had to hide. Lilly would be able to talk to Violet later, right now, Rose had to talk to her.

Jez opened the door on the Room of Requirement with both relief, excitement and trepidation. This room was like a drug, and she needed her fix of duelling. She spotted the dummies lying on the floor, back from Mirror-Land or wherever they had gone before. She smiled at Nate. "Ready to fight?" she asked, her eyes gleaming. She definitely was.

Nate smiled and took a deep breath. "Oh, yes! But before we start, what does Confringo do? You use it often, but I have never come across it before. Not in any books, anyways..." He glanced around: this was Jez's version, meaning there were no mirrors. Good. Something also caught Nate's attention, and he immediately remedied it. "Sorry..." he mumbled as he dropped the hand he had dragged Jez there by, though he only half-meant his apology.

Jez smiled at Nate, although she was a tiny bit disappointed that he'd let go of her hand. His was warm and comforting. "No problem. Confringo is the Blasting Hex - it creates a small explosion close to the target without actually blowing it up, which means you can blast something/one without destroying it/them completely. It's related to Bombarda. And I've been meaning to teach you ..." She waved her wand n the air in from of her. "Aqua Eructo!" A ribbon of clear water streamed from Jez's wand, coiling in the air like a beautiful snake, one end still attached to the end of Jez's wand. She grinned and moved her wand around, spelling out words in the air; You try it.

Nate beamed at the shifting words and plunged his hand through the stream, interrupting the writing. "Oh, sorry! Let me try that..." he said, pulling his wand. "Aqua Eructo!" he said as he traced his wand out through the air, writing Revenge! before tracing his wand directly at Jez's face, dousing her in wand water. Nate couldn't help laughing aloud.

Jez was just able to make out the words before they soaked her. She shrieked, shaking her head to rid her ears of water and making the water from her hair spray around her like a small waterfall. She directed her wand at Nate, the water forming War! She made the stream encircle Nate like a snake, and then it closed, soaking him. Look who's laughing now ... literally.
I need water balloons ... Jez glanced around and saw a neat pile of multicoloured water balloons sitting oh-so-conventiently nearby. She ran towards them, her face managing to look determined while giggling madly.

Thinking fast, Nate shouted, "Accio water balloons!" and about half of the pile followed him over to his post behind some downed dummies. His summoning charm backfired, though: the balloons didn't stop slowly and peacefully as he had expected, but instead smashed into Nate, soaking him further. As he finished shivering, he aimed his wand carefully at the remaining balloons. "Diffindo!"

Jez managed to salvage two or three water balloons before the Severing Charm sliced the rest of them or she got cut herself. She dived behind some dummies and placed the water balloons on the ground. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she cried, sending the balloons shooting towards Nate like little red, yellow and blue rockets. She aimed the red and yellow balloons at his chest and stomach, but the blue one she let hover above his head. Finally ... "Bombarda!" yelled Jez, and the blue balloon exploded water over Nate. "Ha!" laughed Jez. "Beat that!"

Nate took the shots dramatically, feigning a cowboy-style death before the last water balloon showered him. Shaking his head vigorously, Nate thought I need something embarrassing to do to Jez!
And it came in the form of a rubber chicken. Nate simply threw the faux animal at Jez, and yelled "Confringo!" just as it connected with her face. The explosion released the yolk of the dozen eggs that had been unceremoniously stuffed within the chicken. Then, he fell over laughing. He had never been so happy in his life. Just him and Jez, here dueling each other in a different sort of way. Suddenly, Nate longed severely for Jez to be able to live with him over the summer. Even if they couldn't use magic outside of school they would still find ways to have crazy amounts of fun. And Nate knew why: there was a connection between him and Jez, and a real one too. It felt almost as strong as his bond with Pam, only there was something different about his link with Jez, he just didn't know exactly what...

Jez squealed as the eggs hit her. "Nate, that was uncalled for!" she yelled happily, yellow yolk staining her black hair green in places. She ran forward, a big bucket of water appearing in her hands as she thought hard. She stopped right in front of Nate and upturned the bucket over them both. She was soaked to the skin, her robes sticking to her body, hair plastered to her face, shoulders and back, and a huge smile spread over her face. She hadn't had this much fun since last summer, when she, Keegan, Hadrian, Crevan, Eris and Than had had a huge water fight. It had been kind of unfair, because Hadrian and Keegan could use magic, but they hadn't really cared at the time. It just made it more fun. "We should do this again in the holidays," said Jez, grinning.

Nate focused hard on the word Aguamenti as he held his wand pointed discreetly at Jez's face. His first attempt at nonverbal magic didn't really go as planned: nothing happened. "We definitely should!" Nate looked around for a bit, looking for more water toys hidden amongst the dummies. Nothing. When his eyes came back across Jez, Nate stopped chuckling like he had been, but his smile was as wide as ever. "Come live with me over the summer? Please?"
It sort of rolled out of his mouth, but as soon as Nate said it he knew that he couldn't have regretted asking if he tried. Nate stepped a little closer to Jez, not really in control of his own body or mind at this point. He was acting on the happiness high. And maybe also on the aftershock of the caffeine...

Jez smiled. "Yes, definitely." Stuff Keegan - if he said no she'd just go anyway. Because Jez really wanted to go, and not just because she needed out of this country that held so much pain for her. Nate played a big part in that decision too.
She had noticed the wand discretely pointed at her, and she gently pushed it away. "Better luck next time," she said, grinning. This close, she could see all the colours flecking his eyes. Maybe it was too close, but for some reason, Jez didn't pull away. Maybe it was the after-effects of the Coke. That drink was dangerous in Jez's hands ...

There was that grin again. Jez's signature grin, the one that Nate always noticed on her lips when she was happy. And it acted like a magnet for Nate, keeping him held where he was next to Jez. Even he didn't register the sound as his wand clattered to the ground. "Luck?" Nate asked mesmerizingly, looking directly into the violet of Jez's eyes, noting the silkiness of her long black hair, feeling how close she was to him.
And another baby step resulted, bringing him a few inches closer to Jezabel and that grin.

Jez suppressed a shiver. The way Nate was looking at her made her both nervous and oddly thrilled. Little bubbles were popping in her stomach. She was faintly aware of Nate's wand one the floor. He'd dropped it. It didn't matter right now. The only reason her own wand wasn't joining it was because the bumps and indents of the wood seemed to fit perfectly into her hand.
Why was she thinking about her wand? Because she couldn't think about what was happening, because if she got her hopes up, they'd crash again ... She stayed very still, a little voice in her brain screaming at her that this was too close, that she should step away before something happened that she'd regret, but she couldn't move. She pushed her conscience away, her heart banging in her chest. Just concentrate on that.