It wasn't that she didn't WANT to eat...she just couldn't. It was an odd sensation...something she had never felt before despite the varying amounts of depression she had felt over the course of her fifteen years of life. Why had that been...perhaps, it was because her mother had always been there at the end of the day with a fresh batch of cookies and glass of milk of cup of hot tea.

But that wouldn't be there anymore...

Hands still on the cup, Kurumi didn't notice Treyen push back a few strands of her hair. Had she, she may have blushed...but now both of them would never know. Slowly, she picked the cup back up and took the smallest of sips before looking back at the bowl of fresh fruit he had pulled closed to them. "I...do like strawberries..." she said softly. "M-Mother likes them too..."

Her thoughts trailed off again, as they were doing a lot recently. At least Treyen knew now. One more person she could turn to when things got...more intense.

Kurumi turned her violet eyes towards him again when he spoke and a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Cupcakes...right..."You know...you are the only person I bake cupcakes for." True statement. "I...just don't know if..."
But her sentence was cut off when...Ellie appeared out of no where.

Kurumi noted the obvious lack of greeting for her and the aggressive stare she was receiving. WHAT had the lioness done now? Was she not even allowed to talk to Treyen anymore?

Kurumi's body posture shrunk and grew very small and her grip on her cup of pumpkin juice tightened. Was she...supposed to greet her? Or...was she just supposed to get up and leave?

Somehow...Kurumi felt like the latter was the more desired result...

Yeah, he knew the feeling. No, wait, actually...he didn't. He was the one that ate because they needed to eat, not so much because he wanted to, unless it was ice cream. Or gelato.

Granted, Arya had made sure he'd been well fed in the past.

And she liked strawberries? So did he! So did many people, but this was information he had no idea existed. It was nice to find that out. He also liked grapes, but the moment demanded strawberries, not grapes. The boy didn't make a comment about the fact that her mother liked them too, sort of made him wonder if Mr. Hollingberry didn't. He did one thing, though, he pushed the little bowl towards Kurumi even more.

OH MERLIN! LOOK! The smallest of smiles was slowly making its way to her face. His smile just widened. He was making progress.

And...oh. Treyen was the only one she baked cupcakes for? That was...

...INTERRUPTIONS. And just when he was about to say something.

However, it wasn't just any interruption. It was Ellie. And, well, THAT Miss Eliana Stone was awfully rude of you. She knew Kurumi, yet she didn't greet her. Not to mention there was plenty of room on the other side for Ellie to take a seat if she wanted to join, which Treyen was actually wishing she wouldn't.

He didn't notice one thing...there was a faint blush on his face from when Kurumi mentioned she only baked cupcakes for him...or something similar to that. But it wasn't too noticeable, was it?

Eyes on Ellie. He didn't reply to her greeting, "I'm pretty sure you also meant to say 'Hi Kurumi', right?" And Kurumi better not move a single inch away. She wasn't leaving. "There's plenty of space next to me, too." His eyes never left his girlfriend, though, yet he was sure she could understand what he meant.

She was free to join them, by all means, but not like this. He was trying to cheer Kurumi up.

And with THAT comment, Treyen became the new subject of Ellie's GLARE. "No. I didn't," she said coldly. No, she did NOT mean to address the girl you were just CARESSING, Treyen Lockhart. She didn't care that Kurumi could hear. The girl should know better than to hang on HER boyfriend like that. She'd suffered from back then, too. Ellie had felt SORRY for her. Well NOT anymore.

"I'm aware." Not that she looked at the space on the other side of Treyen. She could tell with her peripheral vision. Though she didn't even need THAT because...well..."I like this seat better," she said as coldly as her previous words, gesturing the in betweenness of him and Kurumi. THERE was where she wanted to sit, okay? Where she could feel better in control of what Treyen might do to the Gryffindor. Or, better, prevent whatever might have crossed Treyen's mind to do to Kurumi.

In any case, she placed her hand most affectionately on Treyen's shoulder.

"So, what were we talking about?" Finally, her eyes slid back to Kurumi. As far as she was concerned, all THREE of them were going to have a conversation now. Okay? Okay. Good.

This was her attempt of niceness now. But she wasn't going to try too hard if her attempt failed.

The Ravenclaw was lucky that she had caught Kurumi on an especially off day. The Gryffindor had taken to flicking her wand around rather recklessly recently, silencing three Puffs this term already, and Ellie would have received far worse for THAT response.

Kurumi didn't know her that well, besides the very few times they had spoken on the Quidditch pitch, but she did know Treyen well. Or...at least she thought that she knew him well. From where she sat now, with a territorial Ravenclaw hovering over her for completely unjustified reasons, Kurumi wasn't sure she did. She had not done ANYTHING wrong to either of them, ever. If feeling involving the Polyjuice incident were what were coming to the surface right now...well...that hadn't been Kurumi. She had taken all the beatings, gossip, blaming, everything from it...but none of it had actually been her. So, the Ravenclaw captain was stepping out of line. Treyen wasn't a THING to posses...and that it what she was treating him like - especially with that hand on his shoulder. Kurumi thought Treyen was better than that. But she was apparently wrong.

The urge to say anything completely taken from her, Kurumi simply sat there. No, she did not want to answer Ellie's questions. Nor did she want her to be there. WE were not talking about anything...This was a private conversation between Treyen and I...so go away...is what she wanted to say. However, all she did was sit there, her eyes full of hurt and looking in no specific direction but towards the floor.

Maybe she should just leave...

Her foot twitched slightly, signally the thought within the Gryffindor's head.

Taylor smiled, "Interesting answer." She shifted in her seat and crossed her ankles. "It would be fun to hear about all yopiur travels someday." Tay took down her hair and ran her fingers through it, making it a little fluffy.

"I haven't been too many places, not yet anyway. Maybe i'll have to visit you in Scotland this summer. Since it sounds like such a great place." Maxwell said with a smile.

She rested her chin on her hand and her elbow on the table. In a dreamy voice that was slightly on the quiet side and with a glazed over look she said, "It is." She had a huge smile on her face as she thought about Scotland.

No.

That wasn't the answer Treyen was expecting. AT ALL. It surprised him, truth be told, that Ellie would be so undeniably rude TO Kurumi, because she was doing this on purpose. ON PURPOSE! And he had no idea WHY. Well, he may have a faintest clue as to why she didn't like Kurumi, but there was no need for this behavior.

Much less RIGHT NOW. Her timing couldn't have been worse.

Treyen was...speechless. And confused, and very much puzzled. He didn't understand where Ellie was coming from. Not to mention how unfair she was being to the vulnerable Prefect in their presence.

EXCUSE ME? So, she was aware of the empty space next to him but decided it was BEST to sit between them?! His eyes widened, yet not for long, a frown was slooowly making a way to his face. AND THEN...and then she started to act as if the words she'd said before were completely forgotten, as if they didn't happen. How could she act like that? The hand on his shoulder was also unexpected. But then it hit him. What this was all about. Or what he thought this was all about.

SERIOUSLY? He wouldn't be allowed to talk to Kurumi, alone, from now on? That was...

...insane. It didn't make any sense. And, you know what? What actually hurt was the lack of trust Ellie had in him still. GRANTED, her behavior was uncalled for. Kurumi is one of the nicest girls at Hogwarts, incapable of hurting anyone on purpose, and at the moment, she was at her worst, emotionally, thanks to what was going on with her mother. She was also a friend, a very good friend of him. SO, Eliana Gladys Stone, THAT is enough!

He won't accept this.

Right after she'd asked her question, the Head Boy stood up all of the sudden, pushing her hand away from his shoulder, "Stop it!" Like, right now. "WHO are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?!" Eyes on Ellie, frowning, entirely disappointed AND very much upset. "How indescribably rude you're being!" Remember that one time the Hufflepuff girl, Glenn, made an appearance on her birthday? THIS was nothing compared to that. Also, he saw THAT, Kurumi, and he couldn't blame her if she wanted to leave. Especially with the way Ellie was acting around her. "You're not going anywhere." Eyes on Kurumi now, they were soft on her, though. If anything, the Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw were the ones that should leave considering this was the Gryffindor table.

So, Kurumi better not go away. He'll go after her, anyway.

Back to Ellie. No soft tone was reserved to her. "I believe an apology is in order." To Kurumi. For interrupting them so rudely. "Though, I highly doubt Kurumi will accept it." He was looking at Ellie as if he didn't know her, and truthfully, this side of her he didn't know. But this new side only appeared with Kurumi around? Because they'd been together with other girls and she hadn't seem to mind.

AND..., "To answer your inquiry, Miss Stone, we weren't talking about anything," he gestured for them three, "Kurumi and I were." Cold.EST.Tone.Ever.

Hmmm...the name sounded very Aspen-like. Smart, intelligent and probably a Claw.

He was. Good guess on Auggie's part. "Well I can't wait to meet him." he said with a nod. He assumed he would be introduced soon enough. The Gryffindor was pretty much ready to leave, having finished his dinner and was just listening to the end of Taryn's bit about Aspen and her new boyfriend when suddenly shouts where coming from just a few feet away up the table.

WOAH. Treyan was yelling at Kurumi and Ellie, the claw girl he had seen around. "What do you think that's about?" he said to Taryn as he gawked at the three older students.

"Me either." Taryn agreed. She couldn't believe she hadn't met the boy her bestie was crushing on!

Taryn glanced up too, her eyes following Auggie's. "Errr.. I don't know... maybe.. maybe someone ate the last piece of pie?"

Hufflepuffs and their food, you know?

So it was going to happen? Glad that that was established Auggie returned to staring at Treyan, Ellie, and Kurumi. He felt bad for the girls being yelled at by the Head Boy. What on earth had they done to deserve that?

Unless they did something wrong but how could Kurumi do that? He didn't know Ellie but he knew Kurumi didn't do bad things. "Maybe...he looks too mad for that to have happened though. Maybe Ellie is mad at Kurumi for being friends with Treyan because she wants to be his girlfriend?"

He didn't already know they were dating. August didn't know how these things worked, he was still in his first relationship!

"I don't know." Taryn whispered, feeling as if they were witnessing the filming for a Muggle television show.

Heh.

"Probably." Hm.. "You're probably right, girls get jealous easy." Like... she was pretty sure she'd be jealous too....

So Kurumi wasn’t talking. What was wrong? Kneazle have her tongue. Or rather…

Oh, but Treyen was, of course, the one to speak up. Ellie wasn’t even fazed by the pushing away of her hand. She was far too upset to have even noticed. “I AM your girlfriend. The girl who you asked to be your girlfriend. Who was, once again, under the impression you would be seeing her exclusively. Only with proof of a word that that would be true.” But look at this little scene here. It didn’t appear as if she was his only girl at the moment. And that HURT.

RUDE?! Who was HE to call HER rude? Like what he was doing with Kurumi when she walked in was NOTHING? It was most definitely SOMETHING. Something WORSE than RUDE.

And in any case, “Why are you so angry? I’M supposed to be angry.” SHE was the one being CHEATED on AGAIN, after all.

When Treyen spoke to Kurumi, that was when Ellie was reminded she was still present and….should they really be doing this in her presence? In the instigator’s presence?

That was when Ellie was able to…compose herself...somewhat. Her angry expression melted into something that more resembled disappointment. Because she was disappointed in herself. For taking her guard down. For believing everything Treyen had said.

Hey, wait. “Apologize? For what? Interrupting the intimate position she was in with my boyfriend?” Her voice broke. Because Ellie’d mentally altered whatever she’d actually seen, to something far worse. She didn’t mean to. But that was what she was now under the impression was true. This was when she decided to finally sit. Only not at the Gryffindor table at all. At the one to whichever the bench across from theirs belonged. Her arms wrapped around her stomach in a mixture of self-consolation and the fact that she felt extremely sick from this new image.

Her lip trembled when she looked back up at her boyfriend to comment. “Talking. Mhm. Sure.” And ‘talking’ was code for what nowadays?

Kurumi just sat there. Sat there feeling numb and lost.

What was going on? Kurumi could feel a mixture of emotions bubbling up inside her just waiting to erupt like a volcano. And they did...in the form of tears. Tears began to stream down the Gryffindor's face like liquid fire at the Ravenclaw's words. So many images brought back to her mind and she shut her eyes tight, hands on either side of her head to cover her ears, as if doing so would make it all stop.

She just wanted to be back home in Japan now. At her mother's bedside. Not here. Hogwarts had never felt so empty to her as it had these past few weeks. Jonathan had had to return home and, while he wrote her often and she wrote him, it just wasn't the same. She needed HIM. His comforting embrace and soothing voice...but she didn't have that. And now...clearly she didn't have Treyen either.

Her eyes flew open when she heard Treyen command her to stay...and she was hesitant to listen to this request. And then...Ellie spoke more and Kurumi felt her insides knotting up and breaking even more. The splotches on her hair of discoloration began to morph more, turning her entire head a sickly blue color. She didn't even care now that she was a bloody mood ring for the entire Great Hall to see. None of that mattered anymore. The only thing that matter was the very thing that was slowly slipping through her fingers.

Too much. This was all too much. The Gryffindor had already been broken and now she was more so. No. She was shattered.

Suddenly jumping to her feet, her eyes still focused on the ground, Kurumi's hands balled into tight fists. She wanted to...but she wouldn't. She couldn't. That wouldn't solve anything and her mother wouldn't want it. She now looked up at Ellie, hot tears still streaming down her face and found her voice.

"My mother is DYING you selfish brainless Claw."

And then, Kurumi lost the will power to stand.

As Logan ate, he couldn't help but over-hear Kurumi talking. He stopped eating as she said her mother was dying. He looked at her with a sad expression on his face, and was about to say something to maybe help cheer her up but decided not to. That would be rude, and she might think he was eavesdropping or something which wasn't okay. He returned to his plate and slowly began eating again.

Okay. WHAT?!

What was Ellie saying?! His eyes remained on her, yet the frown was slowly dissipating as he begun feeling more and more confused. Had she thought she'd seen something else? Had her eyes deceived her? Because...that's what it all meant, no? She wasn't upset because he was talking to Kurumi, she was upset because she thought they were doing something else?

No, no, no and no. They'd been talking, that was all. This was just a misunderstanding. The worst misunderstanding of all time. He started to shake his head before speaking. Ellie was wrong, and most importantly, she didn't trust him at all.

What did you do when your girlfriend probably thought you were a liar and a cheater? It'd be extremely difficult for her to believe his words, right? And if she didn't believe...they were done. This was over. He was sure that she wouldn't want to be his girlfriend anymore, and what was the point anyway WHEN there was no trust on her behalf? It wasn't fair to either of them if she will be doubting his every word.

THAT was what hurt the most, that she wouldn't believe everything he'd said or will say, because he was only speaking the truth. He's always told her the truth.

"No, wait." He needed her to understand. Treyen only kneeled in front of her so he could see into her eyes if she decided to look down, "I asked you to be my girlfriend because I wanted you to be my girlfriend, because I didn't want to date anyone else but you, because you're the only girl I want. So, yes, I want us to be exclusive." Even after this whole thing. Because never mind the fact that she was being unreasonable, there was a small part of reason to her outburst.

But, honestly, all she had was his word, what more did she want?

Why did he get angry? Really? "The way you're acting...it isn't fair." To Kurumi. "This isn't what it seems." They weren't doing anything, nor had he wanted for something to happen either. How to make her see he was telling the truth, eh?

No, Ellie, just no. She was getting it all WRONG. "What position are you talking about?" they were sitting next to each other. He couldn't do that?

His heart was breaking into a million pieces, his mind was pretty much coming up with the worst possible outcome for this situation.

Whatever she thought she'd seen...simply wasn't. "Yes." Just talking. And trying to make her eat something.

The Head Boy looked back at Kurumi when he noticed she'd stood. Again, they were the ones that should be leaving, not her. BUT, she wasn't leaving. His eyes landed on her hands, which were closed into fists and he stood up as well. Something was very wrong, because even her hair held that blue color he didn't like. And the tears, AGAIN, tears he'd managed to erase from her faces back at the library. Yet he knew it would be extremely dangerous to go and hold her, so he just stayed put.

>__<

So much for not telling anyone what she'd told him, right Kurumi?

AND...good thing he was standing or he wouldn't have been able to prevent her from hitting the floor, had she not landed on the bench, of course. "Healer?" if she wasn't going to eat, she needed some vitamins at least, or Merlin knows what.

Granted, when he said Healer, his mind thought of Moretti, because she was needed in THIS situation. He needed her to give him chocolate and tell him things will be alright.

"That's what we were talking about, Ellie, in case you were wondering." About Kurumi's mother.

Maxwell smiled. "I'll have to come and see this wonderful place then." He said sounding as if he'd made his mind up about something.

Lily walked into the great hall looking all around at the poeple sitting chatting. She sat down at her house table beside her friends and grabbed a glass of pumpkin juice. As she watched the people walk by her and out the grand doorway she realised that she had just tipped her glass of pumpkin juice all the way down her robe. She looked up to see if anyone had noticed but they had. Some girls from the Slytherin table where giggling and whispering at her. Then her friends said " you really should go and change before everyone else realises what happened" Lily thought this was the most embarassing thing ever.

Oh.

Treyen was on the ground. Kneeling.

Another memory flashed across her mind. Only this one wasn't quite as clear. Because at the time it happened, Ellie hadn't been paying much attention to the situation. She had only wanted to be left alone, but Treyen had been on the floor. Kneeling. Forcing her to pay attention. To believe him.

And she had, hadn't she? It had taken longer than that train ride had allowed, but she had come to believe him. That he had been sorry, at least. That he was telling the truth so...

She nodded.

But. "What are you doing, then?" Distorted image or not, Treyen had crossed some line with Kurumi. The line between where Ellie could easily tell that they were having a friendly conversation, and where she'd gotten insecure, where she remembered those hurtful things.

'This isn't what it seems'. "Explain." Now or later, it didn't matter. She hated to think poorly of Treyen, but what else was she to think? If it seemed one way, but wasn't, she'd need some sort of explanation.

Honestly, though? He was THERE! He very well knew what position he was in! Actually, he would know better than Ellie would because she'd manipulated what she'd seen so badly. Her eyes stung as if they were about to tear up and she allowed her lip to slide between her teeth. She just couldn't answer that question. Not without crying. And Merlin help her, she was NOT going to cry.

Instead of answering, her eyes drifted back to Kurumi a few moments before the Gryffindor suddenly stood, noting the awful change of hair color. And her behavior was much unlike what Ellie'd ever seen from her before. In any other circumstance, Ellie would quite enjoy this demeanor. She was secretly annoyed by Kurumi's naive and timid nature, always having others protecting her. Only, this was not how she wanted to experience guts-y Kurumi. Not when the malevolent attitude was towards her.

The insult hit her, probably with much less of a sting than Kurumi had intended. Because Ellie was able to tune out the 'selfish brainless Claw' part.

Her mother was DYING?

That was the most awful thing imaginable. No, it was SO terrible, it WASN'T imaginable.

Ellie looked back at Treyen for a moment, as he explained that that was what they were talking about. See, Treyen? She WAS a horrible person. Her mouth opened without words coming out of it. She felt MORE sick than before, and for a completely different reason now. "I'm so sorry," she said to Kurumi. But perhaps the Prefect couldn't hear her? "I'm so sorry. Truly, I am."

She stood with the mindset of excusing herself now. She should leave. She could talk more in-depth with Treyen later, but she really SHOULD leave now.

Taylor went back down to Earth and laughed, "I can show you around in Scotland over the summer if you want." She smiled at him.

"Sounds fun, although I'm supposed to see my dad and Violet." Maxwell said not really giving an explanation on who Violet was. "And i'm supposed to see Ariana... and my best friend Jordan kind of lives with me, Godric i have a busy sounding summer!" He said with a laugh. "But we'll figure it out. I do want to see Scotland."

The next thing Kurumi knew she wasn't standing and all sound had left the room. It was like being in a vacuum. A suffocating vacuum where time and space did NOT stop. Things were moving in slow motion and the voices around her were making very little sense. She somewhat heard Treyen talking with Ellie...being far too kind than the girl deserved. Had Kurumi not been a complete mess right now, she would have thought that Treyen deserved better. He didn't deserve someone who was going to instantly distrust him at the drop of hat and accuse him of things all the time. He didn't deserve someone claiming what was obviously ownership over him. Treyen was like a brother to her, the only big brother she had left in the school come to think of it, and he deserved better than this.

Not to mentioned how selfish she thought it was that the Ravenclaw had somehow turned this very VERY fragile part of the Gryffindor's life into her own persona couple's therapy session.

But, as it was, Kurumi was becoming more and more numb to the world. No. Ellie. She did not hear the whispered apology and even if she had chances were Kurumi would have drawn her wand and done something that she may or may not regret later.

Her eyes were back on Ellie now and they too had changed colors. No longer the usual violet color, they were black. Solid black. She wanted to say something to the girl, but her voice was gone. Everything was gone. She just wanted to go but her legs were not working either.

Slowly, one of her smallish hands searched for the sleeve of Treyen's robes, looking for something to hold on to. Something to tell her that she was still here and grounded and awake. That this all wasn't just some horrible nightmare...although she wished with her heart of hearts that it was. When she found it, she grabbed onto the fabric as if it were a lifeline and her empty eyes remained firmly locked on Ellie.

Tay laughed, "You do sound like you have a very busy summer." She smiled at him and fiddled with her cup a little before taking a sip out of it, finishing it.

"Yeah a little bit. My G-friend..Well, I'm not really sure what we are at the moment wants me to go see her during the summer. She lives in Canada." He said fiddling with his cup. He hadn't mentioned Violet the whole time and he wasn't sure if Tay would think him a jerk because of it.

When he said that he has a girlfriend, Tay's eyes glanced around the room. She teased him and said, "Is she going to popped out of nowhere and start yelling at us for talking or is she one of those cool girlfriends who doesnt jump to conclusions when she sees her boyfriend just talking to a girl?" Taylor raised an eyebrow and laughed.