With a big smile on her face, Indiana wanded towards the common room. She'd be mooching in the library for a bit, doing some studying. Indy had kind of got a bored now, and so was going to go dump herbooks back at the common room, and maybe do some reading. It was a bit cold to go outside now, and Indy didn't really feel like freezing. Cold was not good. Maybe she could do some homework too. Not that she was behind, but she did want to stay ahead. Just so that she could do some extra quidditch practice. Indy wanted to get better, so that she could do well. Maybe Spike'd be in the common room, so that they could go do some practice together. That would be fun. She was sure that Indy would have plenty of beater tips for her. Although, maybe talking to Spike about quidditch would be a bit mean. She'd have to consider that as she wandered towards the common room.

The towers. He had never been here. Well, he'd been in the Astronomy tower of course but he'd never been here. Two of the Common Rooms were supposed to be around here somewhere, right? Only where? Were they hidden like the kitchen was? Did he have to pat somebody's head on a painting or something to see them? Not that he had any plans as to what to do once he'd found them.

So wandering down one of the many corridors, Lewis stopped once he realized he was not the only one. No, there was somebody else there in that corridor, a little ahead of him. Squinting a little he just regarded the other person for a moment. It was a girl. And she looked familiar. But he just wasn't sure. Well, what did he have to lose, right? If it wasn't her, then he would just fake a laugh and run away.

"Indiana?" Lewis said, barely loud enough for her to hear.

Indiana really did want to go and do some quidditch practice now. But it was going to be really cold too. Indy didn't really like the cold, which did kind of suck really because she was in Scotland after all. Maybe she'd get better at waarming spells though, because then she wouldn't be cold all the time. That would be very good. Maybe she'd get Ellie to teach her. Not Spike. Spike would probably end up teaching her a keeping cold spell. Mmm. For now she would stop indoors, because well it would be nice and warm there. And she wouldn't die for being realy cold. That sounded like a practically perfect plan. She could write a letter home to her mom too! That sounded good. She'd be warm and not bored.

Ooh. Someone was saying her name! Indiana grinned, turning around. She liked people getting to talk to her. Oooh. She remembered this cute boy. Indy was sure she'd met him at Diagon Alley. "Hiii." Indiana beamed, wandering a bit closer to the boy. "Lewis right?"

The moment Lewis had called after her, he started to wonder what exactly he would do if it WAS Indiana. Because you know, he already had a plan if it wasn't her -> run away. It wasn't like the knew each other or anything. They'd just met in Diagon Alley at some point. It wasn't like they shared any common interests. At least none that he knew of. But then again, he just didn't know anything about her. What was he going to say?!

Maybe he should just run away no matter if it was her or not. But then Indiana - yes, it WAS her - turned around and started coming his way. Now it was too late. "H-hey." Lewis stammered with a nod when she got his name right. Okay, he was probably supposed to add something, right? Only what? "You live around here, don't you?" That had been the first thing that came to his mind. It was as good a conversation starter as any, right?

Aww. Lewis looked a little scared. Was she scared? Really? Indiana hadn't thought that she was scary. So that was a bad thing really. Or maybe Lewis was just a shy person. That would be understandable really. Indy leant against the wall of the corridor, smiling at the older boy. She hadn't really talked to Lewis much, she hadn't really seen him. So maybe they could get to know each other a bit better now. Even though he was a few years older than her. It never hurt to have many friends after all. She wouldn't keep Lewis around all day though. His common room was ages away after all. It'd probably take him ages to get down all of those stairs again.

Talking about common rooms. Hers was right here. "I do!" Indiana nodded with a big smile. "I love it up here." She smiled, turning around a little, and looking out of the window. It was so pretty up here.

Lewis watched her leaning against the wall out of the corner of his eyes. He didn't want her to think he was staring at her after all. He didn't however move closer or take a step back. He just remained standing where he was, feeling just a little bit awkward. What would they talk about? Somehow he couldn't quite see the whole Common Room theme going on for too long.

"It's nice." He agreed a little half-heartedly with her assessment of this place. It was just a corridor after all. It didn't look too different from all the others. Or was she talking about the Common Room? Huh. "It's my first time up here, actually." Lewis offered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Or was she talking about the view from up here? Was he supposed to look out that window too?

"Well it's a good thing you two are both magical." That was a convenience, obviously, if they wanted to go to the same school. "How long have you two known each other?" Ellie asked curiously. If they had been childhood friends.. N'AWW. They would make the perfect couple. Y'know, once the cooties were gone.

Trick kite competitions. Ellie raised an eyebrow. She didn't even know those existed. She didn't even know people could do tricks with kites. "Are you good at that?" She asked with a small laugh.

And then she was skipping down the hall. Kind of. For the most part. Gosh, she was adorable. While Ellie waited, she leaned against the stone wall and observed the moving portraits across the corridor. A few minutes later, Anya came back with two bags of the gummy bears. Ellie grinned and took a bag. They were so colorful!

"Okay... You eat one first." Ellie laughed quietly at herself. She was kind wary of muggle drugstore candy, but whatever.

Lewis seemed to look a little awkward. Did he not want to talk to her? He had called out to her after all. Or maybe it was because they didn't really know each other that well. So really there wasn't too much for them to talk about. Tha twqas understandable. Indy smiled, turning back around from the window. She would look a little rude if she just stared out the window for the entire time they were up here. "I meant the view." She mused, not really knowing if he had really gotten what she had been on about. She hoped that Lewis wouldn't think she was thinking that he didn't know anything though. She wasn't that mean.

"You should come up here more often." Indy smiled at him. She loved it up here. But then she did spend most of her time up here. "It's a bit of a walk though..."

Right. The view. Of course. Hang on, did that mean he was supposed to check out the view now?! Would it be the same view if he looked out a different window? He really wasn't good at this. He preferred it if people just told him what they wanted him to do. "I...I'm sure it is." See? There, that was a vague enough answer right?

"But it's-" He stopped half-way through his sentence when Indiana herself said what he had been thinking. "Yeah. What you said." Lewis finally said with a nod, even giving her a small smile. "I mean, I don't mind long walks actually." Because you know, he didn't. He just had never had a good reason to come up here. And now that he had been here, he wasn't sure he would have a good reason to come up here again.

Oh. Didn't Lewis want to come see the view? Maybe it was just a girly thing to like the views. Indy could see that being true. She wasn't going to press the matter, things already seemed to be awkward enough up here. Indy hadn't really ever had an awkward conversation before. She seemed to just get along with most people. Maybe that was a good trait that she had. Indy did like getting along with everyone. Although she had a feeling it might not be so nice when she got older. But she was only 12, so she didn't really need to worry about that just yet. Maybe she would when she got to 13. She would be a even bigger girl then.

"You don't?" She thought that all boys were kind of lazy. Spike was kind of lazy. She was sure her brother would love if there were lifts at Hogwarts. "I do too." But then she was a girl. And girls like long walks right?

Okay. This was definitely a little awkward. Something told him that he had in fact been supposed to check out the view too. Well, it was too late for that now, wasn't it. Or should he still walk over to the window now? Probably not.

"No...?" Was that so surprising? Did she think he was weird because he liked taking long walks? Though, she probably already thought he was weird anyway. He seemed to have that effect on girls. Or people in general really.

Oh she did too? Maybe she didn't think he was weird then. But then again why had she been so surprised?! Ugh. Why was social interaction so hard sometimes? All this guessing meanings and reading facial expressions. "I've never seen you around before." Lewis offered with a nod. "Well, not around here." Because he had already seen her. In Diagon Alley. Obviously.

...Merlin's baggy pants.

He was trying not to pace, really he was. Anakin didn't want to appear crazy to any passerbys, but he was nervous. The boy had little, almost none, dating experience, but he knew enough to know that "I need to talk to you" usually meant bad business.

And that's what Vash had said. She needed to talk to him. Maybe...there was just stuff going on and she needed a distraction, or just wanted his support? That, that he could do! No sweat! But a small nagging part of his brain was telling him he'd done something wrong. This was it. He'd flubbed things up.

Only problem was...he didn't know what he did. Not the slightest inkling.

So all he could do was wait for her. And that's what he was doing. He'd just TRY to wait for her like a sane person--no pacing.

This was it.

Or, at least, it might be it. Vashti still wasn't one hundred percent certain on what she was going to do when she met up with Anakin for the first time in...awhile. She just knew she had to talk to him. Had to. Because if she didn't, not only would she possibly be driven insane, she'd also fail her NEWTs and lose any Quidditch-playing skills she possessed, none of which was an acceptable result.

So here she was, going to meet him.

As she left the common room, she went over and over all the things she might say in her head. There were so many things to say, but she wasn't sure if any of them were right. What if she was wrong about any of it? What if she said something wrong and made him mad? What if...

...he was right down the corridor.

Despite all the conflict, fear, and nervousness plagueing her mind, the sight of him brought a small smile to her face.

"Hey you," she said softly once she reached him.

He was lost in thought. Or more so...perhaps he was lost in a state of hyperventilation rather than thought. The feeling in the pit of his stomach...that maybe she'd wanted to break it off...he'd experienced it once before and it'd been painful. But somehow...this time...this time it felt even more so. Anakin didn't know why it was it felt more painful to maybe be losing her. Maybe because he had more time to think about it? To let it fester?

Whatever. That didn't matter. All that mattered was, all he KNEW was, he didn't want to lose her.

Hearing the faintest fall of footsteps, followed by the steady rhythmic vibrations of the ground he had not forgotten how to sense, the Puff glanced up to see her coming towards him, with a small smile on her face. That was good right? The sight brought his own trademark half smile upon his face.

"Hey Queenie." Ani wasn't sure if it would be acceptable right now to reach out to touch her hand, or hug her, or do something like he generally did, but seeing her...realizing how much he missed having the opportunity to see her more often, he couldn't stop himself from at least reaching out to tentatively brush a tendril of hair from her face. "How are you? Are you...okay?"

Vashti was sure her mind was working harder and faster than it ever had, even during the time she was taking her OWLs. This moment suddenly seemed almost more important than her OWLs or even her NEWTs. This might determine whether she'd even be able to focus on studying her NEWTs as well as her ability to do other things, like play Quidditch. So hopefully she wouldn't mess it up.

The Ravenclaw hadn't really noticed the strand of hair in her face, but she definitely didn't expect him to reach forward and brush it away, causing her to blush. Merlin, why did he have to make this harder?

"I've...been better." For once she couldn't lie and say she was fine. She just couldn't, not when it might soon be very obvious that she wasn't.

"I need to ask you something," the Head Girl continued without waiting for a response to her previous statement, deciding to, for now, just say the first thing that came to mind. It was better than standing there looking like an idiot while she internally debated with herself. "And I need you to promise me that you will be absolutely honest in your answer - even if you think it'll hurt my feelings." That was very important.

Anakin was a little surprised at her blush, but only smiled softly at it, deciding that at least that was the normal of what she usually did. The normal made him feel comfortable. Normal was a good, right? At least she wasn't cold and aloof with him or anything. That would kill him inside, absolutely.

She'd been better? The smile slipped and was quickly replaced with a small frown. He tilted his head and opened it to ask what was going on, but promptly closed it when she was already speaking again.

Ask...him something? His brow furrowed, and his head tilted a little to the side involuntarily. "Yeah, of course Vashti. Anything." He was confused. He wasn't really sure where needing to ask him would come into whatever was going on with her.

But then again. He didn't know anything about what was going on, so how could he make that judgement call anyways?

Absolutely honest? "Of course." He was definitely concerned now, not for the reasons he was previously, but just because she appeared to be so distraught. "I promise I'll answer with absolute honesty...What's going on?"

He seemed so...eager and willing to answer what she was about to ask. Would he still be once he actually heard the question? Vashti doubted it.

But suddenly, faced with the fact that she was actually about to ask it and this was actually real and not a scenario she was imagining in her head, she was a bit afraid to ask it. She wasn't even sure what she was going to say either way he answered, and she was even less sure about what answer she wanted him to give. Either one honestly kind of scared her.

Oh Merlin, why couldn't she have just dealt with this quietly and with herself? She shouldn't have actually dragged him into it. But here he was, and here she was, and he probably wasn't going to just let it drop after all this, no matter how much she insisted on it.

There was no turning back now.

"Do..." The words caught in her throat. She cleared it softly and tried again. "Do you..." She stopped herself again. Merlin's beard, just ASK it already! Vashti slowly took a deep breath and let her gaze fall to the floor, unable to look at his reaction when she finally spoke quietly. "...Doyouloveme?"

He was trying to wait as patiently as possible, but his patience limit was feeling pretty thin. He was worried. And just overall, Anakin tended to be a nosy person. He really was almost a bit of a busybody. It was just only intensified when it was Vashti. Especially in the state she was now.

This seemed like it had potential of being worse than the Dallin incident. Merlin's beard.

But she was finally trying to get the question out, but appeared to be struggling...a fair bit. Anakin opened his mouth to encourage her, but that was when she blurted out her question.

Did he....love her?

"What?" He couldn't stop the word from blurting out, and to keep himself from saying anything else DUMB he had to force it shut.

She wanted to know...if he loved her. Anakin honestly didn't know...He'd never really thought on how deep his feelings were for her before. Perhaps he should of, but he just had sort of...relished in the fact he was happy, and she seemed happy, and didn't think too much into it. Was that bad?

He'd never been in love before--not that he knew of anyways. The 7th year didn't even really know what love FELT like. Was it the way he felt about Vashti? "I...I don't know...I've never been in love before I don't think...I don't really know...what that feels like. How you would KNOW when you are really in love with someone." Biting his lip and glancing at her, he stepped forward and reached for her hand, making sure to give her ample time to move it if she didn't want any contact right now.

"I...don't know if I'm in love with you. But I know that my feelings for you are definitely deeper than anything I've had for someone else. When I'm with you, I can't help but smile like some brainless buffoon. I think about you...a lot. I miss you...all the time. And I know it would hurt like nothing I've ever experienced before if I were ever to lose you...I...uh...well...is that love? Because if it is...I guess I do."

Vashti wasn't sure how to take that "What?" Was it just surprise? Or was it more of a "What? Why on earth would you think that?" It seemed like he was merely surprised by the question - and who wouldn't be, honestly? - but as she wasn't looking at him to read his expression or anything, she didn't know whether there was more behind it than she would be able to figure out just based on his tone. She still refused to look at him though and instead simply waited for him to go on.

And finally, he did.

And it...wasn't a bad answer so far. His question as to how you would know if you were in love was certainly valid - she herself had asked it not too long ago, and she almost started to answer his question with the ones Amelia and Dallin had provided, but she was distracted by his reaching for her hand. After a moment's hesitation, she let him take it and felt herself relax ever so slightly.

Then he continued, and she finally turned her eyes back to him. She bit her lip, partly out of nervousness and partly just to keep back the smile that was threatening to appear. What he was saying sounded so much like what Dallin and Amelia had said being in love was like. Not completely the same, but very similar. It had sounded nice at the time, but suddenly "nice" didn't begin to cover it now. The fact that someone - especially someone like Anakin - could feel that way about her of all people... The Ravenclaw didn't know how to describe it.

And even more so than before, she didn't know what to say.

"Okay," was all she could manage. Which was probably the lamest response in history.

Anakin was glad when she didn't pull away and let him take her hand. He gently intertwined his fingers with hers and took a step closer. His face was definitely red, he could feel the heat in his cheeks, and he was sure it was because of what he just said. Was 6 months too soon to have said that? It wasn't an outright confession, not REALLY, but it definitely hinted strongly that maybe love WAS what he felt for her. He knew he'd probably end up thinking about that a lot more in days to come, merely because she'd piqued his curiiosity on the manner.

Focusing again on her and ceasing his trail of thoughts, Ani waited for a reply from her. Any sort of reply. For once, he couldn't tell what she was thinking, and that made him nervous.

...Okay? That was it. Ani chuckled slightly, and forced a small smile onto his face. "Can I ask what brought this question up? Is...this why you've been so down lately?" Just because she was wondering if he loved her?

Why...did he chuckle? Was he laughing at her? But he was also smiling, so she decided to take this as a good sign that meant he didn't think she was weird for asking something like that. But then...he wanted to know why she had asked and whether it was the reason she'd been so down. She should've seen this coming - because it wasn't every day someone asked someone if they loved them - but she'd been kind of hoping they could avoid this question.

"Not...exactly," she replied slowly.

Not exaclty? Anakin's brow rose, and he bit back any teasing comment about how utterly helpful she was being right now with her explanations. He figured this was a senstivie subject for her, and last thing he wanted was to make some comment and upset her.

Figuring neither of them had any plans to leave anywhere anytime soon, Ani released her hand just enough so he could sit down on the ground with his back to the wall. This always felt so familiar. Anakin wasn't sure if they'd ever had an important conversation that WASN'T in a corridor. 7th floor was probably visited more often then others. It was like...their spot.

"Care to fill me in? What's been going on? You've seemed...really down. I'd be lying to say I'm not worried about you, Queenie." He didn't want to press her though if her telling him would only make her even more uncomfortable. More unhappy.

He...wasn't going to let this drop, was he? But, honestly, Vashti couldn't really fault him for wondering. If their situations were flipped, she knew she'd be asking the same thing because she would be just as worried about him as he apparently was about her, if not even more so. And she was sure she could avoid using anything about "love" in her answer without really lying. There were many things getting her down recently.

"It's mostly just studying for the NEWTs and trying to figure out what career to choose after graduation or whether I should go to a Wizarding University before heading straight to work," she replied, glancing at the ground and shrugging slightly. She looked back up at him and added, "And not getting to see you as often as I'd like because of all that." That was definitely one of the reasons she was feeling so down lately. She finally had her first boyfriend - a guy that she, though she wouldn't admit it, quite possibly loved - and she couldn't even see him because everything else kept getting in the way.

He wanted to push about where the question about whether or not he loved her came from, it was a little out of the blue, but she seemed embarrassed about it. Hell, he was embarrassed about his answer, especially considering the only reply he'd gotten was 'okay'. Nothing of any sort of how SHE felt about HIM, but he wasn't going to press that...It'd be a bad idea...wouldn't it?

Oh. Newts and things like that. "I thought you had aspirations of being a Cursebreaker?" He wasn't getting her confused with someone, right? That WAS what she wanted to do? Wizarding University....Anakin had forgotten those existed. Glancing down at his shoes, he kept his eyes trained on them for a second while thinking. He didn't know what he was going to do either, he liked Astronomy...but that was all he could think of. Except for working in the ministry, MAYBE. He'd never really thought about the fact that after Hogwarts ended, everyone would be going different ways for future careers. That wasn't a pleasant thought...what if they all lost contact? Now he was just overthinking things. "What do you really WANT to do? Do you want to continue school?"

...Not getting to see him? Glancing back up to meet her gaze, Anakin could only nod in agreement. "To be honest, that's been getting me down as well. Merlin, I wish I hadn't wasted so much time in getting around to ask you last year...who knew this year was going to be THIS busy?" There were things that had come up for the year that couldn't have been foreseen, like her extra Head Girl duties. Which he was INSANELY proud of her for. It wasn't a BAD thing, not in the slightest. "Why aren't we studying together? It's not like...just because we have to study we can't do it together, right?"

Was it just her, or did the air seem a bit...tense, for lack of a better word? She hadn't really expected this to be a light-hearted, easy-going sort of conversation, but still, something seemed off even for this sort of conversation. Vashti couldn't pinpoint what it was though, so for now, she ignored it and hoped the conversation wouldn't stay that way for long.

At least, it seemed, she had told him about her desire to be a Cursebreaker. Before now, she couldn't remember if she had told him or not. "I did - I mean, I do, but...I don't know. I'm not sure if it's actually the right career for me." There were many things that she would like to do or thought would be cool, but that didn't mean they'd be the right career choice for her, and she definitely couldn't just pick them all. So when he asked what she really wanted to do, she wasn't sure how to answer. "I don't know. There are many things I want to do, or that I'd like to do, so...so maybe continuing school would be best?" But still, she couldn't make a definitive decision on it... Merlin, she was so indecisive.

She too wished they had realized how they felt about each other sooner, but she sort of shrugged at his statement. "I'm not sure that would've made up for this though. We'd still be upset about not seeing each other now, even if we'd had an extra year." And then...he said something absolutely brilliant. It seemed so obvious, but still brilliant. How had she not thought of this sooner?! "Anakin, that's brilliant!" she said, unable to stop the smile that suddenly appeared. "We should start doing that! Studying would be so much more enjoyable if we did it together."