Why were they even debating over numbers right now? Where had all the talk from musical instruments gotten to right now? Obviously..the topic had strayed quite yet. Well, maybe she had expected that to happen. When you're with Aurora, you'll end up talking about a boy named Mordred.

Sigh.

"Don't get too excited..I don't have a thing for that orange footed creature." Beezus said, flipping absent mindedly the pages of the book she was holding. "It just so happened that given the circumstances it all went down to that, I had no choice." Really, that situation was truly uneventful. She didn't even want to remember it anymore.

Aurora raised an eyebrow, "Whatever you say." she said, grinning. "I doubt you objected though." she added quietly. She tapped her finger on the table, thought for a minute and then scribbled a few notes onto the stave on her parchment. She looked at it for a moment, humming very quietly, crossed a couple of notes out and rewrote them. Then she opened the book at the marked page and began to check it against the written description.

She pushed the parchment to the side and began to read the next part of the book. "Do you know anything about the properties of Unicorn and Veela hair?" she asked, glancing up at Beezus. Because apparently that was relevant in magical music theory...

"I didn't have a choice you know.." If only Aurora knew what situation the two of them where in that time, then she might even say that she really didn't have any other choice. As the she-snake continued scribbling notes, Beezus' thoughts flew to that night, when she and Mordred went to the Observatory.. Gaah, somehow, she kinda missed the annoying git.

Unicorn and Veela hair? Hmm.. Beezus scratched her chin while her left hand drummed on the table silently.. "Well..from what I know Unicorn hair is very strong. So.." she looked up at the she-snake. "It might be used as a string for some instruments. As for the Veela hair, I'm not so sure but I hear some are used as potion ingredients.." she said with a shrug.

Despite how well the year had been going for Christopher, he was still stressing out.

Of course it was only the first week back, and they still had plenty of material to learn, but that didn't matter to the lion. He was already in full blown study mode. OWLs would be approaching soon, and he knew he couldn't risk slacking off. Not that he'd ever done it before, but he was just a paranoid mess. And getting in some good old early studying couldn't hurt!

Surrounded by a even larger stack of books than usual, he began writing some Arithmancy notes at top speed. It had always been his worst subject, so he might as well start there to get in extra study time. However, the more frustrated with the difficult material he became, the faster he began to write, to where his notes were barely legible to anyone but himself. And normally his hand writing was actually pretty nice.

Sighing, he threw his pen down, taking a break, as his hand was rather cramped up. He put his elbow down on the table, but in doing so, he somehow managed to knock over his entire pile of books, which fell in a large clatter. With an irritated sigh, he knelt to the ground, beginning to pick up some of his books. Leave it to him to knock over a huge pile of textbooks. How he hadn't managed to get himself kicked out for being too noisy, he didn't know.

Because he'd neglected to study and he felt the sudden need to catch up on all the advanced stuff he was supposed to know (he already did, but decided he knew nothing of it) then Treyen Lockhart took a few books off the bookshelves and...sat at one of the study tables.

One table that still remained empty, he needed space for the books. That was his logic.

Purposefully, he skipped the Astronomy ones, he wasn't in the mood for it. Nor History either, thanks to Scabior. So, of course, he was taking the Transfiguration approach and that was the book he was most focused on reading right now.

"Sure. Bet you still enjoyed it." Aurora teased, grinning. She knew there was probably something else behind it but she wasn't about to admit that... this was too much fun!

Aurora checked her book again, her eyebrows raised slightly. So that's what the unicorn hair thing was about... wow. She shoved her parchment inside the book and closed it. "I just had an idea for a tune, have to go practice it. Sorry." she said, putting her quill around and standing up. "Thanks for keeping me company." Though it had been a bit weird... "See you... around."

As she was about to leave she spotted the head boy sit down and, as she had to walk past him on the way out, she stopped and said, "Um, sorry about... the observatory thing..."

Wist selected a book about mer-people. She had picked this book because of the lesson by the lake. She sat down at the table and began reading...

Dallin... was hiding. That was his only reason for coming into the library. He told himself that he needed to find a quiet place to start studying for NEWTs... but some part of him knew that he was hiding. From Ellie, mostly. Not that he thought she'd come looking for him, but he didn't want to take the chance.

He made his way through the library slowly, taking his time. His path took him to the study tables, and he stopped to look at them. There was people here. Dallin stood motionless for a moment, debating whether or not to return to the common room. He figured there'd be a greater chance of meeting Ellie there, so he stayed. Plus, he had spotted Treyen. Maybe some time with a normal male friend would make him feel better. Or something.

So, he went over to the table that had only the head boy at it... and a girl that was talking to him. Dallin pursed his lips before cutting in, shooting an apologetic look at the girl for interrupting their conversation. "Do you mind if I join you?" He asked, looking back at the Hufflepuff.

Autumn had grabbed histoy of hogwarts book and sat at the table ocassionally she took notes on key facts she should remember, she's already read half the book list for this year. Unless she finds some more intresting stuff this will be a boring first year.

Oh, hey! He knew her. And...the memories were kind of bittersweet. Treyen still smiled at her, "Oh, no, don't worry about it." Neither of them were to blame, it was all Scabior's fault, "We were at wrong place at the wrong time...it was still good to meet you." He added the last bit, in hopes that it will make her feel better.

He...cared very little for those five points taken from him, really. At the time it had seemed like a huge thing, though.



But his eyes left the passing girl as someone else stopped by the table he'd taken for himself. Dallin.

Hey! It was Dallin! With a smile still on his face, he gestured to the chair next to him, "Not at all. Go ahead." Granted, the Ravenclaw didn't look as if he was having the best of days, but Treyen wouldn't question him, after all, he didn't have the greatest of the starts this term.

Come to think of it, Dallin's timing was pretty good because he needed to tell him that Louisa knew about their partnering in Potions. It was obvious the Ravenclaw boy wasn't going to react the same way Louisa had, right?

Hmmm...maybe it was best not to say anything about that...not yet, anyway.

Aurora smiled at Treyen and nodded politely at the Ravenclaw boy. "Um, yeah, you too." she said to Treyen. "See ya." she added, shifting her book into a more comfortable position before she made her way out of the library. Urgh, she hated it in there... It was a miracle she'd actually made it there to try and study actually, though it hadn't lasted long - she was off to the Room of Requirement to practice her violin... or maybe she should try outside... Her head was swimming with melodies by the time she'd reached the library door and all hopes of any studying had disappeared.

At Treyen's reply, Dallin nodded and took a seat across the table from the Hufflepuff. He busied himself for a second with pulling out his 'study' material; some book (he didn't look at the title), a muggle notebook, a quill, and ink. Then, after staring all the items on the table for a moment, he looked back up at Treyen. He really didn't feel like studying.

"How've you been?" He asked, trying to sound cheerful. He hoped that Treyen wouldn't be annoyed that he wanted to talk... kind of. Besides, they hadn't seen each other since... well, the train. It hadn't been that long... Oh well.

"See ya, Aurora." He waved, just a little, and watched as she made her way out of the library. She must have been doing something extremely important in the library, since he already knew she wasn't too fond of this place.

Of course, Dallin had already settled in as he said goodbye to the Slytherin. And Treyen pretended to eye his book for a moment before noticing the notebook. That was amusing, yet he thought of them as extremely practical. For classes, really, for essays...not too much.

His eyes were still on his book, though, as he pretended to read.

Of course, he was about to tell Dallin that if he wanted to join his study, then he'd better take out his Transfiguration notes...but...then he spoke. And...Dallin didn't want to study much, did he? He...supposed he could take a break..., "I...," eyes on the boy now, "...I'm actually doing better." No point in pretending otherwise. He was better. "How about you?" Why had Dallin come if he wasn't interested in...reading, eh?

Scabior might come up from behind a bookshelf and take points for talking...again.

Already Dallin had given up the idea of studying. It just wasn't on the top of his priorities, and he knew he was too distracted to pay attention to homework and reading. At least Treyen was talking too.

Better? Dallin raised his eyebrows at that. So something had been wrong, then. But it was better now. Dallin didn't ask about it, although he was curious. "I could be doing better," he answered with a small laugh. He could be doing a lot better. "Actually, I'm having the worst day I've had in a long time." That was an understatement, sort of. And he hadn't planned on saying that... but oh well. Treyen could just drop it if he wanted; Dallin wouldn't mind all that much.

Well, everyone could be doing better, Dallin. Thanks for pointing out the obvious.

And the obvious, in this case, would be the fact that they were INSIDE the library instead of outside not worrying about classes and such. Though, Treyen wasn't truly worried. This was all nonsense because he'll do fine, even if he didn't believe that.

However, Dallin probably meant something else, right? His expression suggested so. And so Treyen's book was closed at once.

"Hmm...what happened? Is there anything I can do to help?" Hello! Head Boy over here! If he was having some kind of trouble, then he surely could rely on Treyen to make sure it was solved...

It sort of surprised Dallin when Treyen closed his book and immediately offered his help. It was nice, even though Dallin pretty sure that he couldn't help at all. Unless they Head Boy had the power to get a girl to listen to him and accept an apology?

..Dallin didn't think it was likely.

"I don't think so," he answered, frowning and shaking his head. "Girl problems." He raised an eyebrow, resting his elbows on the table and folding his arms.

...except those kind of problems.

But...Treyen looked mighty confused. They seemed happy. Him and Ellie. No? UNLESS! UNLESS IT WASN'T ELLIE! Oh, man, see, this was ALL Treyen's fault! It was Treyen's fault that Dallin was now having girl problems...because..., "I'm really sorry, Dallin," he started to say, straightening himself up in that chair he was currently sitting on, and leaning on the table, "I only told her because she was being incredibly mean to me...and asking too many questions...and confusing me." Yes, it was totally true.

"And, truthfully, I didn't know she felt that way about me...which kind of annoyed me when she told me. But I had to tell her. I thought she'd taken it nicely...in the end." Because Louisa had freaked him out during most of their conversation...if that's how it should be called.

Then the Head Boy sighed, loudly. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble." And it was perfectly obvious that Louisa would be one girl that caused a LOT of trouble, no? What with the mood changes and whatnot.

Suddenly Treyen was talking. A lot. And Dallin had abosolutely no clue what he was talking about. Why was he sorry? And what did he tell who because she was being mean to him?

And WHO felt WHAT way about him? Dallin's head was spinning. He was sure that they weren't talking about the same problem. Because Treyen had nothing to do with him and Ellie... and Ellie had not taken it nicely 'in the end.'

"I... don't think you caused trouble," he said finally, his confusion clear in his expression. "At least not that I'm aware of." He eyed the Head Boy for a second before continuing. "And, if you did cause trouble that I don't know of, it's okay." Really.

Had Dallin's purpose of coming to the library been to confuse Treyen even further? Because he was not making any sense. Besides Ellie and Louisa...er, did Dallin have more girls that could cause him problems?

So, they were both confused. Nice. You know, Treyen won't be able to study today thanks to this, because his mind was already going around different scenarios and beginning to feel rather tired. He shouldn't talk too fast, either.

"Well, I'm glad Louisa did take the whole Polyjuice Potion thing nicely, then." He was about to mentioned how he thought he'd killed her, but...that would lead to much more explaining, and he didn't feel like explaining it all. It had been one crazy encounter. He was...still curious, because Dallin wasn't one to get too worried about something, right? And it seemed that something was bothering him. "Ellie?" It had been his first choice, but Louisa came to mind at the mention of trouble.

"Poly - what?" Louisa. Polyjuice potion. Dallin just stared at Treyen for a few seconds, waiting for his mind to catch up to Treyen's. The only thing he was thinking of was... Oh! "You told her that it was me that was you when she saw us?" ...That made no sense to him, even as he said it. "I mean... she found out... that it was me polyjuiced as you when she saw me?" That came out a liiiittle bit better, right?

Suddenly, Dallin's light mood disappeared and the mention of Ellie. Right. He had forgotten that he wasn't happy. Suddenly, his amused expression disappeared to be replaced with a frown. "Yeah, her." His tone was surprisingly upset.

He looked at his hands for a second before deciding to continue. "We had an argument today. Or... a fight, I guess." A really bad fight. Their worst.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, so Louisa never told him? Niceeee one, Treyen. The Head Boy still chuckled, though. "I thought she told you." Because it happened a few days ago, no? Probably two. It may have been yesterday. He was having trouble keeping track of time, really.

"But, yeah, I...kind of had to." A shrug came to his shoulders, and an apologetic smile made its way to his face. Yeah, sorry Dallin. Though, the Ravenclaw boy didn't seem to mind much.

HOWEVER...

...he saw the look on his face at the mention of Ellie. And Treyen blinked. Once. So...it was Ellie. Treyen should've stuck to Louisa for the remainder of the conversation, since that seem to lighten Dallin's mood somehow.

You know, he was beginning to think that Ravenclaws were rather moody.

"But...I take it...it all went well? No?" his eyes didn't leave Dallin, though, even if he felt the need to eye the books around him for a second.

Huh. "Nope, haven't talked to her in a few days." Not since she told him that she had punched Joao. And their polyjuice adventures hadn't come up, so Dallin of course didn't know anything about it. And apparently Treyen wasn't going to explain himself...

Oh well. Dallin could ask Louisa about it sometime, if he really wanted to know.

His frown deepened at Treyen's question. It went well? "Hardly." He pursed his lips, then leaned back against his chair with a sigh. Treyen was going to get the whole story, now. Hopefully he didn't care. And hopefully Dallin didn't sound like a whiney girl. Because once he started talking, he couldn't get himself to shut up until he had finished.

"Apparently, her first kiss with her ex-boyfriend was at the same place as her's and my first kiss." Not exactly a big deal... Only it sort of was. "And anyway... we kinda got in this argument or whatever and she pretty much said our first kiss meant nothing." He was surely sounding like a sad girl at this point. "And she told me that I had been her rebound after her last boyfriend dumped her. After telling me before that I was not her rebound."

That was almost the worst thing. Ellie had lied to him.

Had he seen Louisa? Because Treyen hadn't...the girl probably decided to head over to the Whomping Willow again and...didn't make it out alive? Nah, Louisa was probably fine and focusing on OWLs or something else. Like, her own relationship? Because she did say the had their own interests now...

Anyway...

...what? Hardly? So, whatever the discussion had been about...didn't end well? Treyen wasn't sure if he should what had happened between them since they weren't precisely too close...

...or perhaps they were closer than he thought.

Now Dallin was explaining what went wrong. And behaving much like any girl would. In all fairness, had it been Treyen the one going through that...and...well, YES, he'd be hurt to find out that their first kiss meant nothing to his girlfriend, it sort of meant everything to him, every single kiss, actually. Yet, would it matter? If Treyen's Ellie had lied to him...about...anything at all...well, it didn't matter, he'd done worse to her and she still forgave him. Or he thought she did, otherwise she wouldn't be with him.

But...the thing he lost was trust. That's also something you lost when you lied, so he couldn't be sure if that was something that was bothering Dallin...the fact that Dallin's Ellie lied to him.

So, okay. The Ravenclaw had finished talking. It was time for Treyen to voice his thoughts. That's why Dallin had trusted him, correct? Well, first Dallin, stop acting like a girl. "So, you guys have been together...for...two years? More or less?" he was estimating, he really didn't know, this was all based on how little he'd known about Dallin back when he met him, "I think you've lasted a long time for being just the rebound guy, Dallin." Clearly, Ellie liked him, a lot.

"I think you're being utterly ridiculous," yes, straight to the point, "I understand, though, because I wouldn't be feeling too great about it either...," that's what he should've said first, "...but...does it matter? After two or so years?" Didn't he have her now? Wait. He could see what Dallin's point was. Because he had a feeling that Eliana still thought about what didn't happen between him and Kurumi two years ago. How? The way she acted around Kurumi dictated so. And...in France, when Kurumi arrived...Eliana took his hand. He noticed. He just...didn't want to mention it. He didn't want to lose her by mentioning the one thing he wished she could forget. The one thing he wished he could undo.

And all this mattered...because?

Because Ellie probably wished she could undo saying that to Dallin. And maybe Dallin shouldn't have minded much considering Ellie had chosen him. Rebound or not, she had chosen him.

"I think that's a very small lie, and she probably lied to make you feel better," it WAS a silly lie, Dallin. It's not like she cheated on him or something. "What did you tell her?" So far, he's been talking about what Ellie said. Not what he did say.

Treyen's question actually caught Dallin off-guard. He didn't have time to answer, but he figured that Treyen knew the answer anyway. Yeah, their 'first' two year anniversary was coming up really soon. And... he had a point. A very good point. Two years is a long time for a rebound.

Dallin didn't want to be logical, though.

Ridiculous? Dallin tried to be offended, but he couldn't really do it. He knew he was being ridiculous. He wasn't going to admit that to anyone, though. Just because he knew he was being stupid didn't mean he felt any better about all of this. And did it matter? Well, Treyen, that was the problem. Dallin didn't know if it mattered. And if it did matter, he didn't know how much.

He sighed, leaning forward again on the table. He put his head on his hands, listening as Treyen finished talking. A small lie. Right. Ellie had probably just been trying to make him feel better or whatever. She didn't want to bring up any unnecessary problems. That had sort of back-fired though, hadn't it? Since she brought it up now...

What did he tell her? Dallin looked up, staring across the table at Treyen for a moment before looking down at his unopened textbook. "I...can't really remember." He sighed again, fidgeting a bit. "Okay. I was stupid. I... told her..." he trailed off, feeling his neck heat up. The fact that he didn't remember Ellie's name until a few minutes before their first kiss was embarrassing. "I told her that it meant something to me," the kiss, "And I pretty much said the whole problem was her fault."

Yeah, he was stupid. That was obvious.

Then... more stuff happened. "Then... I said I was done. And I left. And now I'm here." Yep, Treyen was now all caught up. And he was probably regretting letting Dallin sit with him.

Since Dallin didn't correct him, then he'd guessed right. Two years. Which proved his point, thankfully.

Two years was a long time for a rebound. Dallin should consider himself lucky, seriously, since those didn't last long...that's what he'd heard anyway, he really had no idea.

And now that the Ravenclaw boy was looking up...Treyen began listening to what HE had to say, quite literally too, since he was speaking as well. But the part that interested him was...what had Dallin said. And...the Head Boy looked down as well. So, he couldn't remember? Well, that helped a lot. Oh. Stupid. "Yeah, we're all stupid when we argue," it was, like, a requirement, to say and do stupid things when a discussion was happening. Normal stuff.

Okay. It meant something to him. Yes, Dallin, Treyen could easily understand that bit. And then...then his eyes were on the boy in front of him. He didn't know whether to widen them or narrow them...so he just raised an eyebrow. AND...HE LEFT?! Wait, so, this happened a few minutes ago?! Yeah, his eyes widened in surprise.

For the record, out of the many times him and Eliana had had arguments, which were a lot by the way, only ONCE he left. That was, coincidentally, two terms ago, when he told her about the kiss, and...he sort of figured she had wanted him gone back then. The rest of the times...he'd never left her side.

So, Dallin..., "YOU IDIOT!" he exclaimed, leaning towards the Ravenclaw and smacking the Transfiguration book on his head, not too hard of course, "Why are you here?!" so, when Finlay had adviced Treyen to go to Eliana...he hadn't been this harsh...but..., "Go back to your girlfriend." ASAP! What the hell was Dallin doing in the library?! Had he seriously thought he could even focus in here? After what HE just DID? Yeah, he was blaming Dallin.

"Eh, sorry about the...head," he chuckled, "But you kind of deserve it. Since that's the stupidest thing you could've done." Honestly. All Dallin needed to do now was..., "I don't see you getting up...," Tsk! Tsk! Time is running out...unless he wanted to have a large book thrown to his head this time...and Treyen was a Keeper, he could throw stuff pretty hard too, "...go to her, Dallin. And apologize for being an idiot." Seriously.