Kurumi frowned slightly. Jonathan really did not like dancing, did he? She was beginning to feel bad about asking him to dance, but then reminded herself that he had just said that he was enjoying it right now. "Sounds like you feel the same way about dancing as I do about the piano," she replied with a small shrug. Her mother took all the joy out of playing the piano before Kurumi had even been given the chance to find joy in it.

His snort sort of startled her, but it managed to bring a small smile to her face and she twirled around on the spot once before bringing herself closer to him again. "You know, I think your father and my mother would get along." From what she understoof, both were ridiculously critical of their own children, set expectations very high, and seemed to damage their relationship with their children more than heal it. Kurumi hoped that she never did the same to her own children - whenever she had them.

She blushed a bit more when his hands returned to her waist and hand after the hug. It really had been unexpected, the hug that is, but she wasn't going to complain. She STILL wasn't sure if she should go for it. He had just kissed her forehead, which meant that he was more comfortable with making public appearances - well, both of them sort of were now. Closing her eyes for a moment, she leaned in and...

Jonathan was talking again. She bit down on her lower lip and looked sheepishly down at the floor for a moment as the color rose in her face. "Y-Y-Yeah," she stammered. She really should have just kissed him. Now she felt silly. "B-But, just looking at wands gives my mother a fright."

Jade rolled her eyes as Nikolas said he was about to ask a random girl to dance. Of course he wouldn't do that. "Psh, she would say no. Only because she knows you're mine." She teased, poking him in the chest. Well, hopefully, she would say no. Or else. Hah, she felt evil. She blushed as he called her beautiful and nodded. Did it feel awkward between them? Surprisingly, no. For they knew each other so well that why would it be?

The brunette walked over to the dance floor and sharply, stood there. Oh wait. No, she didn't know how to dance. "Nik, I'm not sure-uhm-how about we go eat something instead?" She said, trying to get off of the dance floor. Ahh.

"Definitely more about personality. If it was blood status, then I wouldn't be in Slytherin. I'm halfblood." Sky replied, unashamedly. She didn't care about blood status one bit. In fact, she thought the whole status thing was silly.

Piano. Jonathan was good in playing the piano. At least he has something to be really proud of himself and not something his father forced him to do. "We all have our differences" he replied to Kurumi. She doesn't like the piano, he likes playing the piano. His mother can play the violin sometimes, so they do duets from time to time especially at parties. But his mother didn't fancy the violin that much. Maybe he got that attitude from her or something.

Jonathan laughed softly. "father doesn't get along with anyone else" he smirked. Alexander getting along with someone is like a centaur finally becoming friends with wizards. yeah, Alexander would go well with his family but never quite to anyone I suppose. To him everything is like business. He knows you because you may be a client or something else. It's not that he loathe his father or anything, it's just that Jonathan and Alexander are like two pieces of broken art pieces that can never be glued together to become a perfect picture.

Wands are everything to wizards and witches, once it gets broken it's like part of them gets broken too. Jonathan has heard of this story before. He grew up in a family of purebloods so maybe he doesn't understand how a muggles' perspective when it comes to magic-- or to witches and wizards. Some people were abandoned because they couldn't accept that one of their family is 'different'. "she hates our own kind?" he didn't want to ask it at first but-- but Jonathan was always like that. When it came to magic, he does have his own certain principles about it.

Differences. It was one of those words that Kurumi really REALLY hated. She had been called hurtful variations of that all her life when everyone pointed out things about her that were different from the others. Parts that made her a freak compared to everyone. Her violet eyes. Her half blood. Her height. Her abilities. Many people had told her that those differences were not bad, but she old half believed them with what they had said. The only people she really believed had been Selina...but now Jonathan made her believe it too. Smiling, she rest her head against his chest as they continued to sway and twirl around the dance floor.

She laughed into his chest a bit with his comment about his father. Her mother didn't get a long with most people either, so they were even. Her mother was polite and gave off the appearance of being ideal and the perfect woman. No one is perfect though. She didn't comment though, and instead kept her head where it was on his chest and felt content.

And then he spoke again and she peeked up at him. His face was rather serious and she wasn't sure that she liked the tone in his voice. There really was no sense in trying to butter things up and make them seem less...serious. Less bleak. "Yes," she nodded. There she had admitted something that she hadn't ever really admitted to herself. "It...takes a lot of her to trust wizards, but she trusts my father." She stood on her tipy toes now so that she could rest a hand on his cheek. "You have nothing to worry about, Jonathan."

She was close again, and her conversation with Selina came back to her. Just let things happen, do what's natural. Well...nothing seemed to be more natural than where she was right now. "I know she will like you..." she whispered, her cheeks blushing a bit more. "B-B-Because I really like you..." Kurumi closed her eyes and leaned forward a bit more, her hand moving from his cheek back to his collar bone.

Nikolas chuckled at her answer. "Who knows? I mean, I'm very good looking I doubt she could have said no" he continue teasing. Anyways not that he planned to dance with anyone else but if Jade hadn't show up he would have go straight to the buffet.

Nikolas walked to the dancefloor but suddenly felt that Jade stopped. He raised an eyebrow. "You don't know how to dance?" he asked with a smirked. "I don't know either except for the dance lessons Mr. Stryker gave us" he said. And the time he has practiced with Emma.

Jade pushed Nikolas lightly on the shoulder. "Don't be so confident in yourself, Mr. Agger. You're not that good looking." She teased, kissing him on the cheek. "I'm only kidding." Hopefully he would know that or else, that really would not be good.

Ugh. He guessed right. Although, Nikolas said something about going to dance lessons and she raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" She said, holding back a laugh. "Well teach me how to dance." She smiled. She could feel her hands shaking a bit as the nervousness settled in. She hoped that she wouldn't step on his feet or something.

Every time he snuck a glance at Violet, her face was completely unreadable.

It wasn't even that she showed no emotion, for she certainly did, it was just that there were so many emotions there! Christopher was trying desperately to tell what was going on that mind of hers, but she was a girl. Girls were impossible. Sometimes he thought he'd swear them off forever and be one of those grouchy old men who lived alone. But where was the fun in being bitter and sad? There wasn't.

As he studied her, briefly and periodically so not to let her see him, her face showed misery, anger, confusion, and desperation. Desperation to get the heck out of there. He too was feeling terribly awkward, and wanted to sprint away as fast as he could. But he was a Gryffindor! He was brave, and way too proud, and he wasn't going to let this fall. He wasn't going through this horrible conversation for nothing. He was aiming for friendliness at the least, if not friendship.

His face turned an even brighter shade, if that was even possible, of red as she blushed about the conversation. He admitted he'd said awful things, but Violet Le Veela had insulted his family, called him out on every single one of his flaws, and even called him a Mudblood. He wasn't sure if someone could get any lower than that, other than murder or something, but he had to at least try to be nice. It'd be tough though. He called her out on one thing, she called him out on every insecurity he had intrusted with her. It seemed that there was no one he could go to anymore.

"....Is just awful," he finished with a light laugh. No one could even attempt to deny the horrible situation, so why not lighten it a bit? He could at least try not to make it so tense if they were aiming to fix what they had broken. That would get them nowhere at all.

Jonathan starred at her for a second. Hard to trust on wizards? What were they anyway... thieves? Was it Louisa that told him once about his mother also rejecting her because she was 'special' or was it 'different'... What's that suppose to mean anyway? Is their own kind really that somehow disgusting to muggles? Jonathan smiled but all these thought were running through his mind. Now he's quite intrigued to know more about how muggles view them in a way.

When Kurumi leaned closer and her hand was on his cheek, Jonathan caught it and shook his head. He smiled at her and shook his head again. He wrinkled his nose, he doesn't know how he would say this to her but was she expecting him to kiss her at that moment? If she did, Jonathan looked around and then turned to her again. Again another shook. Yeaaah, he's not going to do it in public. "sorry" he lowered his head and laughed softly and swayed to the music. After seeing those first years at the Three Broomsticks the other day, it feels like Jonathan just feels weird doing gestures like that in public.

Wait...what had just happened?

Kurumi couldn't tell if she was more embarrassed about looking at his bashful smile or if she was more embarrassed about him obviously turning down the opportunity to kiss her. She frowned a bit and looked down at the ground. So...she was rubbish at this. After all, he HAD just hugged her and kissed her gently on the forehead, so it seemed like the perfect moment to try...but that had completely backfired on her and now her cheeks were glowing like two pink fireflies and her hair was sort of turning an orangish hue.

She looked up just in time to see him take a quick scan of the room and then whisper a muffled 'sorry' to her before spinning her around. When she came back to face him, her cheeks were still flushed and she almost couldn't bring herself to look at his face. Perhaps a little too energetically - hey, she was feeling awkward! - she shook her head. "Mmmmm," she said. "I-I-It was silly of me to...to...try that..." Ug, she was only making this worse. More to shut herself up, Kurumi leaned her cheek against his chest and felt her heart beat all the way up to her ears as Jonathan continued to lead them around the dance floor as the song lead into an instrumental segment.

Jonathan was never the public type on almost anything. Even when it comes to what he owns, he doesn't brag. So yeah, this is awkward and maybe, yes more awkward for Kurumi than it is to him. But really, as much as he wants to... he couldn't. It's not that there is a problem or something, it's just that Jonathan really isn't the public type of person. He's just hoping Kurumi wouldn't take it the wrong way. With him refusing.

Jonathan wrinkled his nose again and scratched the back of his neck. He couldn't say anything else since it'll make things more awkward than it already is. So he just kept on swaying with Kurumi.

Externally, it probably looked as though Kurumi were simply blushing at being so close to Jonathan right now, swaying back and forth on the dance floor. Internally, she was turning herself into an emotional punching bag and beating herself up over what had just happened. He didn't seem uncomfortable, but Jonathan always had the cool as a cucumber appearance whereas she quite literally wore her emotions on her hair.

She felt his hand leave her waist for a moment as Jonathan moved to scratch the back of his neck, and her breath caught in her throat. MERLIN SHE HAD MADE HIM WANT TO STOP! Oh, wait, never mind. His hand was back and they were swaying to the music once more. For whatever reason, her hand gently squeezed his as it held hers.

"If I'm not that good looking then why are you with me?" Ha! Gotcha. He smiled triunfantly. He knew she was only kidding so, there was no problem with that.

But now, did she was scared to dance?

"Yes, I do" he nodded. He wasn't a pro of course. "I must warn you that I know just a bit of dancing so, bare with me" he said. He took her left hand and put it on his shoulder then he put his right hand on her waist and with the remaining hands he joined them together. Nikolas started to swing along with the music, "See, isn't it easy?" Seriously no big deal just swing here and there and that's pretty much it.

'Yeah, twins. Probably Violet, Lilly didn't want to do Arithmancy...' Rose grinned sheepishly.

'Yeah, they did, but they're alright now. They made up before, but we haven't seen Vi since she locked herself in her dorm.' Rose shrugged.

When Carter asked her if she wanted to talk about it, she did not expect it to turn out like this.

She had absolutely no idea where he was coming up with the things he was saying. It only made her think of her previous thought; there was something wrong with him. And it had nothing to do with his cooties. Destiny scoffed as he pfft'd, and she couldn't stop her eyes from growing wide. Why did he think that!? More importantly, did he have galleons on him? Wait..why was she even thinking of wanting to prove him wrong? That would mean he'd actually have to come closer to her. She took a few steps back, but not far enough where she couldn't poke him. "I don't think you would have even tried. Remember last time you did?"

Err, he probably didn't. He was on a love potion then.

Seriously. Did he NOT know who he was talking to? Destiny rolled her eyes once again. And the poking never stopped. "I can do the Chicken Dance to any kind of music." And if he wanted proof, all he would have to do is ask Mia. Or somehow get the pictures of her at her Uncle Spencer's wedding. No, he should just ask Mia.

If the look on her face could have gotten any smugger, it would have at his reaction. It only proved that she was right! And she wasn't going to stand there and explain how she came to that conclusion, he should already know. All he had to do was look at her hair. "Just. Admit. It." She emphasized each word with a poke. "Admit you like me." Although, she had no idea what she would do if he did admit it..

Jade shook her head. "I could date an unattractive guy anyday, it's mostly about the personality." She said, thinking about it some more. "But if a guy has good looks, it's just a bonus, which you definitely have." She winked.

Alright, now back to the dancing. She slightly laughed as he said to bare with her since he only knew a bit. "Nikolas, I'm sure you'll do fine, considering you know more than me." She said. She let him guide her hands to where they were supposed to be and she blushed once more as she felt the nervousness kick in. Nikolas started to move along with the music and she followed him, looking down every so often to not step on his shoes. "I guess it isn't too hard, but still." She shrugged. "So how have you been?" Time to make some small talk here and there to try to distract Nikolas from watching her look down at the floor every so often.

At least she wasn't the type of girl that dated a guy for his looks. "I'm glad to hear that" he smiled. He had looks and personality, good thing to know.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I can be a fail at teaching how to do it" he pointed out. The music was relaxing and when he looked at Jade, she was looking at her feet. He slightly laughed at this because it remained him of the dance lesson, "You are doing it fine" he said "Don't worry if you step on my feet" he said trying to make her relax. "I've been good" he nodded "Doing school stuff like everyone else and that, not much. Just went to Hogsmeade last week" he said "What about you?"

"No. As a matter of fact... I don't really remember much of those few weeks..." Carter said eyeing the snake. All he really knew was what people told him... that he snogged Destiny, was singing and rhyming, and completely screwed things up with Marie.

You know... just a day in the life of Carter Phillips...

And he'd just ignore the statement about not even trying...

"Okay. So maybe you would have." Carter could easily picture her doing the chicken dance to some romantic-sounding foreign song. "But you didn't deny you liked dancing with me better." Which meant... she liked him more than dancing like a chicken.

And Carter knew how much the girl liked chickens... she liked them so much she'd even been transfigured into one once.

More poking? Seriously?

Carter used his other hand to grab her other hand. And now that he had both her hands... she wouldn't be able to poke him. He narrowed his eyes and leaned in toward her.

That way... she wouldn't miss a word of what he was going to say.

"You should just admit that you like me and want me to give you my badge." he said with a nod. He then smirked. "That's why you brought it up. Because you wanted to wear it properly... as my girlfriend."

And the only reason why she wanted him to say it first was because it wouldn't have the same effect if she just took it back.

Jade Skidmoore watched as everyone else danced along to the music and she was quite content at the moment. It seemed like everything fell into place. Strange it seemed to her. "Your teaching skills are very good, Nik. But, you need to fix your shoulder just a bit." She smirked, letting go of his hand and lifting his shoulder, then taking his hand once again.

Maybe she forgot to mention that she was good at dancing. Heh.

"I don't understand how you didn't catch on. I've danced with hundreds of boys, of course. Just, I needed to see if you could actually dance. Dance is one of the main skills I need in a boyfriend." She laughed. It was true, she didn't want someone who never wanted to dance. That would be horrible. "I wish I could have gone to Hogsmeade, but I never had the chance. Who did you go with?" She asked. "Oh, by the way, I talked to Jasper."

Katrina laughed. Arithmancy was a bit odd. But yeah, it's school. Katrina looked at Rose's grin. Ah, awkward.

Locked up in her dormitory? "Violet's in Hufflepuff, right? Well, lucky badgers. They're near the kitchen." Katrina smiled. "Just joking. But why did Violet lock herself up in there?"

Sweet Merlin!

Was was in that potion she had given him? Apparently, if he couldn't remember things, it was more that just a love potion. She would ask her Grandmother, but the woman couldn't even remember she was her granddaughter sometimes. There was no way she'd remember what she brewed. Plus, it was four years ago. Destiny was surprised Carter even remembered. It was probably better to just drop that subject all together. It was awkward..

Wait..WHAT!?

Honestly, where did he get the things he was saying from!? How was she supposed to deny something when that something was never even brought up? She opened her mouth, but just as she was about to tell him that she did not enjoy it, she thought better of it. He was crazy, and he would just turn it around where she did enjoy it. Instead, she continued to poke him. A little harder.

Until he took hold of her other hand and leaned closer to her.

Instinctively, Destiny leaned away from him and her eyes narrowed as well. "This has nothing to do with wanting your badge." If it did, she would have never gave it back to him in the first place. If she knew it was going to lead to THIS, she would have still kept it. And if he wasn't holding her hands, she would have ran away when he said THAT word. The 'g' word; girlfriend. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened and closed a few times before she could speak.

Why would he say that? Why would he..

"Are you..asking me..?"

*pull, pull, tug, tug*

She wanted her hands back.

Carter blinked a few times. If this had nothing to do with his badge then he really had no idea what was going on. Hadn't this whole conversation started with her handing it back to him saying she couldn't wear it anymore?

And then they started talking about what Marie and Marilyn said... which only lead to one conclusion. She couldn't wear it unless she was his girl. Which was why she brought it up. She wanted that to happen.

Right?

Because girls were crazy and only hinted at things they wanted. Although... Destiny was beyond normal girl crazy normally.

Which meant... she definitely wanted that to happen...

He blinked a few times in response to Destiny's German fish face dance.

And then realized what he had done...

o_O

Sweet Merlin. And this was why people needed to think before they started talking...

...So they don't accidently ask out the one person who is actually a bit crazier and a bit more scatterbrained then themselves... and so they wouldn't accidently ask out the one person who loved the same foods they did...

And Carter was so lost in these thoughts about potatoes that he said. "That depends. If I said yes would you agree to share the potatoes?" Although... maybe outside of Hogwarts that wouldn't matter. Because everyone knew that the Slytherin table had the best potatoes.

Maybe he could just steal one of the Slytherin house elves or something...

Sweet Merlin!

Carter was thinking about the question a little too long. In fact, he was thinking about it so long, Destiny was beginning to wonder if that was what he meant by that comment in the first place. But if he didn't, it wouldn't have taken so long to answer. Right?

She continued to pull and tug on her hands, trying to free them from his grasp so that she could run away before he answered, but as he started to talk, she stopped completely. Really? He was basing his answer on whether she would share her potatoes with him or not? What did that have anything to do with anything!?

Narrowing her eyes, for about the twentieth time during this conversation, if what they were having could be considered a conversation, she began using her foot to poke at his shins. "Why can't you get your own potatoes?" And, just in case he didn't realize what she was trying to do.. "Can I have my hands back?"

Carter finally dropped her hands when she began kicking him. "Hey! What was that for?" How would she feel if he just started randomly kicking her?

Oh right... he still had her hands... Kicks forgiven.

He gaped at her. "Last time I had my own potatoes you felt the need to pour milk into them." And he didn't want to live the rest of his life worrying about his potatoes. "So, you either have to learn to share yours or learn to not sabotage mine." That was simple enough, right?

He then paused for a moment. "We'll also have to figure out how to get a recipe from whichever house elf is in charge of the potatoes at the Slytherin table." he said with a thoughtful nod.

"Also. You'll have to hide your chocolate in a cabinet. I want a dog and they're not allowed to have chocolate." he added. He might as well mention that now...

"Oh. And Marie promised to send me a cheesecake after every Puddlemere win. So... just a heads up there so you don't get jealous. You can manage that, right?"

Was that it? Well... since he was setting all the terms out there... he might as well set them all out there.

"Also... I want to teach my patronus to fetch and I want to teach a suit of armor to tap dance. So... you'll have to be alright with those things."

He rubbed his hands together. "Right. I think that's everything we'd need to discuss beforehand." Unless she had something to say of course. "So what do you say?" Did they have a deal?

If all it took for him to let go of her hands was a kick to the shins, Destiny would have done that as soon as he grabbed her. She didn't think he was ever going to let her go, which would have been awkward when it came time to go back to her Common Room. She could just imagine the look on Lafay's face if she had to tell her Carter was holding her HOSTAGE.

Rubbing her wrists, not that he was holding her tightly or anything, she couldn't help but laugh as she remembered pouring that milk into his potatoes. She couldn't remember why she had done it, but she was sure he deserved it. "I won't spare mine, and I won't sabotage yours." Only because she didn't want anything to happen to hers.

She blinked as he paused, and crossing her arms over her chest, she tapped her foot impatiently as he finally continued. Merlin! She wondered if anyone else had to go through this speech with him before. "Fine. Fine. Fine! But, I don't understand why I'll need to hide my chocolate in the cabinet if you have a tap dancing suit of armor. You know I hide my chocolate in there. A dog can't get inside one." Unless he was going to shove the dog inside, but she would never let that happen. "And I get to name this dog." Because she was afraid of the name he would pick.

A scoff let her mouth at the mention of being jealous. When has she ever been jealous!? She decided not to say that, though. He would just have something to say back. "I won't say anything until I tell you hear my rules." That's what they were making, right? Rules. "One! You must never, ever! tell me that I have too many pets. Two! If I ever show you a new pet, you must never ask me where I got it. Especially if it isn't a normal pet." Like a hippopotamus. Or a giraffe. "Three! You must never disrupt me when I am watching the telliwission. Four! You must be all right with my hatred towards house elves, and five! You must be okay with me getting a robot so it can fly me to outer space so I can meet an alien."

Holding out her hand, she waited for him to take it and shake. A shake to seal the deal!