"Oh, no reason," Lauren said with a flippant wave of her hand. It really didn't matter and she wasn't particulary wanting to confess her insecurities about her unusual life to Orchid. "And there's nothing wrong with being clean," she smiled warmly.

"I'm fine," she replied a bit awkwardly, never one to talk about her feelings simply because it wasn't something she could do with her father "I'm just a bit tired and missing Dad. Hogwarts isn't what I expected it would be. But, hey, enough of that, let's fly," instantly Lauren had mounted her broom and zipped off, testing it's acceleration for the first time.

After the memories of certain things that had happened at his old school, Matt knew he needed to go somewhere to just be alone for awhile since he wasn't sure if he could properly focus on a conversation right now. But where to go? Climbing the stairs that lead to the seventh floor, he clued in exactly where he could go. The Room of Requirement. He carried a few art supplies up from the dorm with him even though the room would have been properly supplied with what he had needed to paint, he stopped in front of the tapestry and concentrated as hard as he could on the fact that he needed a studio so the door would appear. A couple minutes later, the door finally appeared and he opened it; walking in.. Whoa.. dude, this is exactly what I wanted. The room had turned into a magnificent art studio with easels, paint, pastels and as many canvases that could have been needed to paint quite a large masterpiece. He started setting up his things and grabbed a paintbrush; dipping it into some light blue paint. So many things to paint.. not enough time..

Vashti had wandered out of the Ravenclaw common room and down the seventh floor corridor when she spotted a guy carrying what appeared to be art supplies and then standing in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. She paused, watching as a door appeared and the guy went in. That was the Room of Requirement, wasn't it? She'd been in there once last year but hadn't been since. So she couldn't help but wonder what sort of place he'd asked the room for... Would it be wrong to take a look? The door was still there. She could probably just peer inside, maybe say hi, then leave if he didn't want her there. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

The Ravenclaw quickly walked over to the door that was already slightly ajar and pushed it open just enough to look into the room...and her eyes widened.

"Whoa..." Incredible, it was.

OMG I never thought i would find it.I entered and it was stunning.

As ideas started coming to him about the painting, he heard a voice coming from the door; who was going to attempt to interrupt him while he was trying to work? Matt set the paintbrush down for a second as he turned his head to see exactly who had spoken. Ah, that must have been one of the Ravenclaws or Gryffindors seeing as their common rooms were both up on this floor. "Come to appreciate the art studio?" He asked curiously before turning his head back to the canvas with a few lines of light blue paint on it, picking up the paintbrush once again; he continued where he had left off, adding more colour in as an image of the sky started to take shape ever so slowly. So much for not having to carry a conversation huh, you do know though that you don't have to focus on this piece while she's around since honestly that's rude.

Oh, there was the guy. She noticed him at first; her attention had been arrested by all the other stuff in the room until he spoke.

"I wasn't expecting to find an art studio," Vashti answered him honestly, glancing around at the studio once more before her eyes turned back to him - and found that he had his back to her now. She might've been a little offended, except she then saw that he was painting. She was rather curious to know what exactly he was painting, and she considered sticking around to find out, but it then occurred to her that he might not want an audience.

"So..." she began slowly. "I guess I'll be going then..."

Hmm, it seemed as though that she thought he wasn't going to pay attention to the fact that she was in the room as well; Matt realized exactly how that could have been mistaken but then set the paintbrush back down and walked away from the canvas. "You can stay if you'd like. I do not mind if you want to watch what I'm working on since most people are rather curious." Apparently the painting could wait until she had decided whether or not to stay here. Really though the only problem that he had had while people were observing him work was the chance that they wanted to add their own marks to it, it was more than frustrating to him whenever that had happened.

Vashti turned to go but was stopped when she heard him speak. So he didn't mind her staying? "Really?" she asked with a small smile. "Well... Alright." She certainly would like to stay. She couldn't paint, but she did like watching others paint, especially if they knew what they were doing as he seemed to. "So what are you painting?" She glanced over at the canvas with the pretty blue paint on it.

When she decided to stay after all, Matt gestured for her to come look at the painting in progress since somehow he thought that she would feel ignored again had he not offered for her to look at the canvas as he was continuing the painting. "I'm working on a sunset, I have sketches hanging up over there that are the black and white version of what I'm about to be painting if you'd like to take a look at them." He continued painting the sky onto the canvas with the paintbrush and realizing that he needed to blend in the orange and red into the sky before he could finish it anymore. Wait.. there has to be more colours don't there? Like the slight purple in the clouds and the slight orange of the sun.

*Walking by the spot where he knew the door would be and soon a large wooden door came up waiting. Matty for once was in a suit and tie with a rose. During the day he didn't get to see Marie but he would send clues of where to meet him. Leaving the last letter he wondered if she got it and would find him. But it wasn't that hard to figure out. The first place our feelings started. That was an easy enough clue right?*
"Any minute..."

Holding the last clue in her hand Marie quickly made her way to the seventh floor. She knew exactly where to go after reading the clue only once. The room of requirement was the place she would be meeting Matty tonight.

All day he had been leaving her little clues that only lead to another clue. She was starting to think that she was never going to see him today. But this last clue made her believe different. He wouldn't lead her to the room of requirement and then not be there... would he?

No, he wouldn't.

Rounding the corner it took her less than a second to see him standing there... in a suit? Looking down at her dress she felt like she was under dressed for the occasion.

Once she was next to him she gave him a quick kiss. "Happy anniversary handsome." Looking him up and down she admired just how handsome he was in his suit. "Your clues didn't say anything about dressing up." If they had then she would have worn something a little fancier than a plain sun dress.

*Seeing her Matty had to keep himself from running over to her. She looked beautiful and he let out a sigh at seeing her.* "Happy anniversary beautiful angel... You do not need a dress to look amazing. You are amazingly beautiful no matter what..."
*Holding the final rose out to her he also held an arm out for her an opened the door.*

Orchid didn't buy it, but let it pass knowing that she obviously didn't want to talk about, and before she knew it she was on her butt from Lauren's abrupt (and rather speedy) take off. "Brilliant." She muttered to herself, smiling. She mounted her broom and easily and faster than Lauren! Ha! Take that! climbed to her height. "Wanna race?" She asked smirking, she did say she loved speed didn't she?

Lauren scowled playfully when she realised Orchid was just behind her shoulder. She'd mounted quicker than she had anticipated.

"Against a Slytherin? I didn't know snakes could play fair," she teased, hoping that her tone would portray how totally not serious she was. "But if you want a race, I'll give you a race," Lauren declared with a grin.

Taking the rose from him Marie felt herself blush a little. "Thanks." Giving him another kiss on the cheek she looped her arm with his and followed him into the room of requirement.

*Inside was a warm and beautiful room with a great view of the castle grounds. A table for two with a small box sat on her plate. Leading her over to the table he pulled her chair out for her. Inside the box was a little music box of wood that Matty had made by hand by himself. When it opened it played the song that he wrote for her. The box itself had beautiful roses intertwined with a dragon.*
"I made this for you... if you don't like it we can go shopping for something else if you want..."

Orchid smirked which she seemed to be doing a lot of lately. Darn Slytherins were getting to her! at Lauren. "Who said anything about playing fair?" She asked as she winked teasingly and took off down to the other side of the pitch in a gust of wind. "So about that race..." She screamed over her shoulder, trailing off at the end, hoping Lauren had heard her.

Lauren sighed and rolled her eyes good naturedly. Luckily, she was not even the tiniest bit competitive, so she could enjoy the race for what it was. Flying. When she reached the other size of the pitch, frowning at her broom's acceleration, she pulled up and waved Orchid over.
"Okay, you win," she stuck her tongue out playfully, swinging her legs through the air, her calves swooshing.
She was comfortable and content here, on her broom and with Orchid. But she was in an exploring mood. "Where else have you been here in Hogwarts?" Lauren asked.

Orchid smiled victoriouslyat her friend. "No where really, I attended classes and the dance lesson, but outside of that I haven't been anywhere, well, I guess I went to the quidditch pitch once to sign up for tryouts, but that's it." She said frowning at her unadventurous school year so far. "Wanna fly outside and get a view of the grounds from a different angle?" She asked almost mischieviously.

"Whhaahahahaha!!!!"

Nessie eyes had been closed and when she opened them she saw Isobel the Hufflepuff quidditch Captain standing in front of her. This was so embarressing the Hufflepuff quiditch Captain had just seen her looking like a retard trying to look like a popstar. She was really embarressed and her cheeks had gone even redder then her hair. She let go of her guitar it was a strap that was around her shoulder. "Isobel..Um..." was all she got out of her mouth. "This is so embarresing" she whispered to herself.

Trying to calm down she looked as Isobel. "Thanks" At least Isobel didn't think she was bad that would have been a much worse experience. "My dad taught me" her cheeks were still bright red and they didn't seem to be getting normal anytime soon. She walked down the stage and took a seat on a comfy sofa. She didn't feel like playing if somone was watching her. She always messed up when somone watched her. "So um..how you been?" she asked trying to avoid anymore guitar talk.

Isobel grinned at Nessie, even though she felt a little bit guilty for startling her. "It's okay, you'd make a good rockstar." Or popstar, whatever. Was there a difference? Yeah, she thought there was, but not enough of a difference for her to really care.

"Can everyone play an instrument but me," she grumbled to herself, but then she smiled and looked back at Nessie. It didn't seem like she was going to play anymore, and she went to sit down so Isobel followed her and sat down next to her.

"I've been good, how about you? Did you go to the carnival in Diagon Alley?" It had been really fun. Isobel had met the weird Lola Jones-her rival Quidditch Captain. She had pet a Niffler, and met a Slytherin girl named Aurora. And of course, she had gotten her first kiss.

A sunset? Ohhh, how pretty! And he already had some sketches of it?

Vashti turned to see what he was talking about and- "Whoa." Yeah, this was becoming her new favorite word or something. But the sketches that she spotted were quite as incredible as the room. They weren't colorful, sure, but they were still incredibly lovely. She could pretty much imagine what the colors would look like, having seen plenty of sunsets herself. She could never have sketched something like that so well though.

"You're a really good artist," she said honestly, grinning.

Finally changing paint colours from the light blue that he was using to paint the sky to a reddish orange so that he could start adding in the sun in parts, Matt noticed the girl looking over his sketches and he grinned ever so slightly; the sketches did remind him of the beach since he usually sat down in the sand every night to watch the sun go down. "Ah thanks, I don't seem to think so though." He shrugged slightly from behind the easel as he continued to paint, that was the other problem that involved him.. he didn't think in the slightest that he was a good artist as much as people tried to convince him.

Walking into the room Marie was not expecting to see it look like it did. She thought it was going to be the room they always hung out in when they came here. Instead she found a very romantic, cozy looking room.

Sitting down when he pulled out her chair she put her rose on the table next to her plate. Once Matty was seated she opened the gift on her plate. Holding the music box in her hands she she admired the designs in it. When she opened it she immediately recognized the song that was playing. It was her song, the one he wrote for her.

Getting up she moved her chair so it was right next to Matty then sat back down. Placing a hand on his cheek she gave him a soft kiss. "I love it. We don't need to go shopping for anything. This is better than any gift you could buy for me." Sure, she could be a materialistic girl but sometimes it was better to receive gifts from the heart. Besides, not only was this from his heart, it was also something he himself made. "I'm going to put it by my bed so I can listen to it play every night before I go to sleep."

After placing the music box in the middle of the table she grabbed her purse and pulled out two envelopes and handed them to him. The first was a card and the second was a certificate. "Happy anniversary." She felt a little stupid just giving him a card and certificate when he had went through the trouble of making her a beautiful music box.

It was their first anniversary though and the first was the paper anniversary so that's what she was giving him... paper. Only this paper told him how much she loved him.

Lauren smiled warmly in response to Orchid's apparent happiness. But she was forced to frown at her suggestion. Normally she'd be so up for breaking rules like that, but since making friends with Kurumi, it felt wrong.

"Naww, I'd love to. But if we got caught and lost points, I don't know if I can handle the disappointment from Kurumi," Lauren admitted with a tremendous amount of embarrassment. This school thing sucks, she thought bitterly. "But, hey, I think we both have perfectly good legs. We can walk out? Any suggestions?" she offered.