Jade hugged Cody back. She was so glad that school had started as she had missed him during the summer holidays. "I know that Cody, you're always there," she replied as she looked at him. She really did appreciate what Cody did for her. He was always there to help her.

"What should we do now?", he asked Jade. "Do you want to go down to the Lake?", he added.

"Yeah sure," Jade replied. Now that Cody had managed to produce the Aguamenti Charm they could leave the library.

"Sorry," he apologized when he saw her flinch. Maybe his compliment was a bit over the top. Kennedy's eyes briefly looked up. He had curly hair, but didn't wish to have straight hair, but then that was because his mom has curly hair and...the man that is half responsible for creating him has straight hair. But, he knew what Kurumi meant by that. Merlin knows he's always wished to have things that he couldn't.

Before he came up with another question to ask, Kurumi said something that hit home. His head snapped up, locking eyes. He's said that same line for years. Ever since he found out about magic. How strange was the world? For almost six years all he wanted to be was normal and not the freak his muggle classmates used to call him. A freak that he believed himself to be.

He let out a soft chuckle that held no amusement in it. "You don't now how familiar I am with that statement," he said. "Back home I'm known as the 'freak'." He made air quotes at the word freak. He didn't know why he was telling her this. Maybe to comfort her? Or, because he'd never met anyone with the same fear as him?

Kurumi's eyes widened again and for a brief moment her usual violet eyes flashed another color, but it was so quick that it may have gone unnoticed. Her abilities sometimes manifested themselves in this way. Brief glimpses of them and then they were gone.

"Wait...YOU are known as that too?" she asked slightly gawking at him.
Well, that wasn't the only thing that she had been called, but there really was no need to go into all that right? Of course. What mattered right now was that they had this small little connection. Something that brought them both to a mutual understanding without words. It was...refreshing. Very refreshing. "In my hometown...my family is the only one of mixed blood...I mean...not pure Japanese. My brothers and I were always bullied because of it so...when I found out I was a witch...but that I was still different, well...I think you can fill the rest in for yourself." Kurumi really hadn't gone into great detail, simply brushing over the surface of the truth. Professor Magnus had suggested that it was her insecurity that probably caused her inability to control it...and the Gryffindor was starting to believe that now.

Kennedy blinked...then blinked again. He must be loosing his marbles. He could have sworn he saw Kurumi's eyes change, but it was probably him. Dang it, he might need another, stronger prescription of glasses. But, now that he looked at her eyes he noticed for the first time that her eyes were...violet?

It was fate he decided. Fate didn't want him to have cool abilities. Fate didn't even give him COOL colored eyes. Why was it that other people got these awesome traits and he...he was plain. Except for being tall, he was PLAIN.

Then a strange feeling of being reunited with an old pal struck him, but in a different way...like bonding? It was like when he heard the girls at his muggle school go: "Oh no way!"..."Really?!"..."OMG!" Except, Kurumi and him weren't comparing designer purses or who had better cell phones. Nope. It was about having the freak label in common.

He nodded as a small smile played on his lips. Was it hard to believe that he was known as one? It had been embedded in him for years that at times he still questioned if he was one. His heart seem to pound slightly harder inside his chest. It wasn't because he was excited, but because of what Kurumi was saying. It all felt TOO familiar.

"I don't think we're so different," he said because yeah, he thought Kurumi's life was perfect. He didn't know why, he just...assumed it. "I've always been bullied because of my mom's nationality and...because...she, um, she works as a maid in one of my ex-muggle classmate's home." First time he's said that to anyone and it didn't sound so bad as it did in his head, and she was sharing her experience, so why not him too. "One day...I got into a fight and I swear I don't know how, but I...shocked the kid." Like ZAP! And from then on, even if the muggles didn't know what happened, they knew he was somehow strange, different...and gave him the name Freak.

His curiosity was triggered yet again when he remembered something she said. "If you aren't pure Japanese what's your other half?" he asked.

It was...ironic really. Finding something constant in the whole concept of being different and, to put things bluntly, being the outcast. Yes, people would tell them that they were no longer such since they were at Hogwarts and had both been given badges now, but some things hung over you longer than others. Just because good things were happening didn't mean that the pain from the past dulled. Her father had told her that it would diminish in time, but time also had a way of reopening old wounds when you didn't want them to.

Kurumi looked up at Kennedy again. Because she was a maid? There was nothing to be ashamed of in that professor and, well, Kurumi thought that people who made fun of those who did that job were worse than dragon dung. Making fun of someone who was doing things that you refused to do yourself? Ridiculous. Her attention was distracted when he said that he zapped someone and she sort of giggled, but not to be making fun of him. "I...never did that...but I made this one boy's chair vanish as he was sitting down." No one had realized that it had been her at that time, not even Kurumi herself. "For me...it has...always been my eyes, that, um, gave me the name. Mother makes me wear normal colored contacts whenever I back home. It is only here that I don't use them." Because they hurt.

"British," she replied. "Father went to Hogwarts. The only lion in a family of snakes." She chewed on the inside of her lip for a few moments. "What...about you?" His nationality that is.

He knew he should've have said that aloud but it just slipped before he could stop himself. It's as if his brain an mouth had forced him to say it even though he only wished to think of it. His eyes grew bit when she too looked as uncomfortable as he did. At least they were on the same page, sort of but not in a good way.

With darting, nervous eyes Adam then tried to make his awkward comment an cover it up. "I mean...no." No, it was true though, but he didn't want her to think that. She looked heartbroken an he honestly couldn't just leave her there to cry her tears out. "Don't listen to what I just said. That was stupid-it just slipped out. No. What's really going on? Just cut to the point. Why are you crying?" If he didn't know the basics of the story then how would he be able to lend some help or suggestions.

A crooked grin spread on his lips when Kurumi giggled. The way he said it didn't make his first sign or magic seem so bad, but that wasn't even the end of it, but telling her that because of him half a high school building burned down probably wouldn't gain the same reaction as his zapping experience did.

He slightly chuckled when she said she made a boy's chair vanish. Merlin knows how many times he wished he could do that, and sometimes to the teachers that treated him differently too. Kennedy knew that was mean, but they...kind of earned it.

"You...have violet eyes," he said, leaning forward on the chair to get a better look, but as soon as he did he sat back down. He didn't want to come of as inappropriate, it's just that he wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him...and his curiousity got the best of him...again!

His eyebrows rose. Her father was the only Gryffindor in his family, that must be...hard? He's heard of the rivalry between lions and snakes, but wasn't sure if it was as strong as when the last Wizard war happened. "My mom is from Mexico," he said, pride clearly shining in his eyes. "My, um...f-father...he's, um, he's British." It took him GREAT effort to call that Man, father. "Um... he was a Slytherin," he said, frowning at his hands that were intertwined on his lap.

Woah. Kurumi leaned back as Kennedy leaned forward, not really knowing what he was trying to do but still feeling as if her personal space had been invaded slightly. "Um...yeah," she said, averting her gaze downwards. It was something that not a lot of people noticed about her. Almost as if it was something taken for granted. She was actually thankful for it. People pointing out her eye discoloration always made her feel uncomfortable and more awkward. Well, almost everyone. "Father said it is because of my abilities. They will go back to a normal color if I have control over them...that is, if I will them to."

Kurumi noticed the falter in the Slytherin's voice when he spoke about his father, obviously a sensitive subject and one that Kurumi really shouldn't pry into considering that her and he were not all that close just yet. "I see..." she said softly, not really knowing what else to say on the matter.

Kennedy nodded. If he understood well, her dad had the same ability as her. Maybe it was a hereditary thing that was passed down? "And do your brothers have this ability?" he asked. He knew all about the punnett square and how...yeah, yeah. He just wondered if it was like a whole family thing...except from her mom that is.

He was relieved to not have to talk more about the Man. The only person that knew was Aurora and even telling her had been difficult. Kennedy really hoped he'd get over that...or at least find out the Man's name so he'd stop calling him the Man or...father. "Yeah," he nodded. "But, if my mom had attended Hogwarts I'd say she'd be a Gryffindor," he said, a smirk tugging at his lips.

Great change of topic, Escalante.

Kurumi shook her head. "Only I inherited it from father," she sighed. "Father says it is because I take after him more than my brothers do." Her brothers, on the other hand, would joke that it meant that they weren't really her siblings and were some sort of cover for some elaborate story. Which, Kurumi had thought was utterly ridiculous until she learned that her father hadn't been entirely honest. "It would have been nice though, having siblings that could do what I can...would have given me someone to talk to about it." Instead, she was in it alone and somehow dealing with everything. Her private meditation sessions were actually helping though.

Kurumi giggled again. "I...can't even imagine my mother at Hogwarts." She wasn't sure what traits her mother shared with any of the houses besides the stereotype of Slytherins being purists. Perhaps she would have been a snake then. Now THAT was a frighteningly amusing thought. "I guess we are more of a mix of things than we both thought."

But...she really had been putting this all off long enough, no? "So...I suppose I should try and see if I...if I can get things to change..."

Violet was really debating at this point just simply standing and letting Adam get back to his rounds. She felt really bad for doing this to him and making him see her like this. Violet began noticing that she had at least calmed down a little bit and then she noticed his eyes become very erratic and was suddenly saying no to her. It was then that she found out apparently he told her to ignore what he said about not being sure what to do with crying girls.

Then Adam was saying it was stupid what he had told her and wanted to know what she was really crying about. Then she moved some of her hair behind her ear and thought for a moment trying to word it correctly. But she didn't want to completely just come out with what was really bothering so she tried summing it up into simple terms. She started slowly,"..It's just..." she paused closing her eyes for a moment,"Have you ever really cared about someone...even though you knew they weren't right for you...And the best thing for you is to just not be with that person...But you can't help stop caring and thinking about them all of the time..Like...Do they think about you? Do you cross their minds as much they cross yours?" she bit her bottom lip,"And you know that you shouldn't be thinking such things..Because you think...maybe they are better off without you..messing up their lives..or making it much more difficult for them..." She closed her eyes again leaning her head down. Violet breathed slowly trying to keep herself calm.

Adam had to refrain from breathing in short takes, and had to turn his palms into tight fists that showed the whites of his knuckles. His heart begin to race and his face turned as bright as a tomato. If she could just stop talking about loving someone, he'd go back to normal.

"Yes. I go through that feeling every single day." The thoughts swirling in his head all went straight for the image of Kurumi."I've always made the person's life difficult." Adam was sort of talking to himself at this point, rather than referring his speech towards violet. Shaking his head vigorously Adam remembered who he was talking to. "I know this sounds stupid, but no matter how mad you are, or how much you have to want to be with them, the best thing is to let go. Now, I'm not the right person for this example.." As of now he was still clinging onto Kurumi every second even though he wasn't as demanding as last year. "But trying to be happy for them will make their life easier an maybe yours. Because then, you're not living in a false world in which you think everything is perfectly fine." Only, he himself was still in between reality an his false lie.

Ah. He was glad he didn't take after his dad -- except for the magic trait -- but he looked most like his mom. Yep, Kennedy got the hair from her. He nodded his head in agreement to something she had said. "At least you have siblings," he said. "I have no one to share my magic with." No one besides his mom knew about his magical abilities and that wasn't fun because...well, she wasn't comfortable with it. She could still her flinching when he showed her his wand for the first time.

Kennedy mentally scolded himself. This had not been the of subject changes. Hmm, now that he thought about it, could muggles be fit in one of the houses. Most likely yes, without the magical aspect about it. He wondered why Kurumi couldn't place her mom in one, but he wasn't going to ask because he's already asked too many questions. "Yeah, I guess that makes me a Slytherdor?" he said, chuckling at his fail attempt to mash up Slytherin and Gryffindor.

He had forgotten what he was really here for, but that didn't mean that he wasn't interested. "Sure...but it's okay if you can't," he said, sitting up straight on his seat. "I don't want you to feel pressured," he said with a sheepish smiled. He was a gentleman before a...what was he? An explorer? Eh, sounded about right.

Kurumi smiled and leaned back in her seat again. Her and her brothers actually hardly ever talked about magic - due to her mother's principles of having no such talk in the house. They shared everything else though, namely the notion of being different which, in its own way, became a metaphor for being a witch as it turned out. "We weren't allowed to talk about magic, but they were there for me for everything. I...I don't think I would be here if it weren't for them." She looked at Kennedy now. It was too bad that he didn't have any siblings. Sure there were times where she wished that she didn't have brothers - especially those times when they played pranks - but she couldn't have imagined going through all that alone.

Kurumi giggled. "I suppose it does." Kurumi had been told sometimes that she had been sorted into the wrong house, by professors actually, but none of them had said she was a Slytherin.

Kurumi took a deep breath. Here was...her first test of sorts with her ability. She had never really been able to tell it what to do, minus Transfiguration last term when she had sort of used it to cheat, and Kurumi felt that she had only been able to because she had felt immense pressure. In this relax environment...she wasn't sure she could accomplish anything. Her hand tugged on her robes and happened to fall on the necklace Jonathan had given her. Her memories swirled to that day and, without her really knowing she was doing it, her hair started to change to a pink hue.

Maxwell took a seat in a large chair next to the stain glass windows, it reminded him of the spot he liked to read at in his grandparents home in London.

He smiled. "I bet it's still nice to have other people to rely on...besides your parents," said Kennedy. If he's mom ever had another kid he envisioned himself playing soccer with a brother, or racing on their bikes, or having food fights, but that was just a dream. Although, the idea of his mom having a child would mean her having a spouse and THAT didn't sit right in Kennedy's mind. Oh-uh-uh. No man was getting near her while he was here.

This was it.

He was going to witness the ability of a metamorphmagus. He paid close attention, hoping not miss anything - if anything happened. His eyes ever so slightly grew wider. Her hair...it was pink. He wanted to say how amazing that was and it was probably the coolest thing he's seen, but wasn't sure if Kurumi would appreciate it. "Pink," he said.

His observing eyes then fell on what she was clutching at, but couldn't make out what it was. "That must have motivated your ability, huh?" he said, motioning his head to what she was holding.

Kurumi nodded. It was really nice to have people that she could talk to. Granted, once her brothers started attending Hogwarts they were gone most of the year and she only had the family's shiaba dog, Hikari, to converse with, but whenever they came home for the holidays she would let all that pent up anger and pain out and just talk with them about anything and everything over a nice hot cup of green tea.

Kurumi came out of her thoughtful zoning out when Kennedy said something. Pink? Actually, she wasn't a huge fan of the color...oh, wait, that wasn't what he meant. "It...is?" she asked, pulling a few locks in front of her face. Yep, it was.

Her eyes crossed for a moment as she tried to follow his pointing finger and realized that it was directed towards the necklace. "Oh, um...yeah...pink happens when, um, feelings resembling love are involved. N-N-Not that I am IN love or anything." Merlin no...at least she didn't THINK that she was... "But, um, you know, those sort of feelings cause the pink..." Kurumi swayed awkwardly in her seat. "So...whenever...I...um...I think about Jonathan it tends to happen..." Not ALL the time, but often enough to notice the pattern.

That made sense, right?

He nodded. It was pink. "That's co-" He almost said cool. "That's...a nice color," he grinned sheepishly. Since she didn't seem to like his comment about her ability earlier, he wasn't sure how to compliment her.

This just got more interesting. So, the colors reflect emotions. He chuckled at the awkward "love" comment. Yeah, he wasn't good in that subject either...well unless it was his mom, then yeah because then she'd get all hurt if he didn't respond and think that her only son didn't love her. His mother, she was great with dramatics.

Johnathan?!

His face emptied itself from emotion and he just...stared at her. Had this Johnathan gotten at Kurumi too? And by what she said about her hair color then he really got to her. "J-Johnathan," he said. "He doesn't happen to be in Slytherin...right?" Just making sure before he said anything else.

First his girlfriend, then Kurumi...were there MORE in line?

Kurumi flicked her hair with her fingers and sort of scrunched up her features. "I...suppose," she said with a small shrug. She much more preferred her natural black hair to anything else...made her feel as normal as she could be given the circumstances. "I just...hate how my hair is one giant mood ring. No one really likes having all their feelings out there for everyone to see." On display like in a museum for everyone to poke and prod at their pleasure.

Kurumi was a bit surprised by Kennedy's reaction to her mentioning Jonathan. Were...the two of them enemies? Jonathan didn't really have too many friends in Slytherin, or any house, as he had told her. Preferring to keep more to himself and, well, sleep a lot. "He...is," she nodded. "A sixth year. We, um, started dating last year." Been almost a year now come to think of it. "Why?"

Fail. The boy should just stop trying to give compliments. Not that Kurumi was the only one to reject his compliments, but not only that, he was horrible at saying jokes. Like with Selena...yeah, bad. "I guess I hadn't thought about it that way," he said. Kennedy was one to hide his emotions well. He's mastered it over the years when he tried to hide all the bullying he went through from his mom. At times, he still fooled her that he was happy.

A frown wrinkled his forehead. Kurumi seemed like a really nice girl and he didn't want to say anything that would upset her. He was generally afraid of upset girls because that led to crying. He looked down at his hands and just blurted everything out. "A Johnathan K. from Slytherin kissed my girlfriend." There.

He was still angry at this Johnathan. All Kennedy knew about the guy was his name and house. He didn't even know what year he was in.

Kurumi smiled at Kennedy, trying to not come off too much like the ice princess that she was getting the feeling she was being. "It's...alright. You don't really think about those things until they start happening to you." So, really, no more really needed to be said on the matter. No harm no foul sort of thing.

In the next instant, Kurumi's eyes went wide and her jaw hung open. Jonathan K? As in...Jonathan Kim? Jonathan had sort of been in a non-official relationship with a fellow Slytherin before being with Kurumi, but he had told her it had never gone anywhere and was more of a fleeting feeling. "Wait...are you dating Cass?" she asked. Because, that was who had been sort of with Jonathan....but not really.

Kurumi was amazingly calm, which surprised her probably more than it surprised Kennedy. She trusted Jonathan completely. He was blunt and, well, when she asked about things he was always honest.

He nodded and returned the smile. It was true. He hand't thought of her ability like that since he was always able to hide his feeling from everyone. Maybe that's why she didn't receive compliments on her ability well? That was just a guess.

Cass?

Kennedy made a face before saying, "Cass...who's that?" The only person he's ever dated in his entire life is Aurora, and he knew she didn't go by that name. It was usually Aurora, Rora or...his Potion Princess. Hmm. "But, no. My girl is Aurora," he said, frowning.

He still felt confused as to all that had happened. He had been angry with Wayne and when Aurora yelled at him...he kind of just...lost it. Maybe he wasn't all that good at controlling his emotions after all. But, what hurt him was that she had denied it at first and then she said that Johnathan had pulled her to him. To be honest, he wasn't listening to everything she was saying. His mind had been clouded by anger that day.

Kennedy looked up at Kurumi and took in her calm. Why wasn't she freaking out like he had? Maybe she trusted the guy? That's when it hit him. He had failed to trust Aurora and in the process he hurt her. Something he had promised not to do.

He was a butt. Yes, Kennedy Escalante was the world's biggest butt.

Oh...that wasn't a very attractive face. So, nope. That was the first indication that Kennedy had no idea who Cass was. "Um, she is a Slytherin in the same year as us," Kurumi explained as she sat up a little more straight in her seat. "She really liked Jonathan back in our third year and they sort of dated, but nothing ever happened." Kurumi had even heard both ends of the story and was good with both of them. There had never even been a beginning to their relationship or anything that made them a couple besides a few isolated times they had hung out.

Kurumi thought for a moment and then looked back towards Kennedy. "I don't think we are talking about the same Jonathan."