Hehe. Yep and she didn't disappoint him. "Careful now Cece, we wouldn't that pretty head of yours exploding off your shoulders." Although it would be really fun to see that. Oliver rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall, unfolding the parchment in his hand as he did so. "Yeah, yeah...they all say that." They both knew if he was the last man alive she would be knocking herself out to get to him. Along with every other woman.

Oliver thrust the parchment into her face. "Apparently it's not me who's the mental one. Seems there are people out there who think you have got a THING for ME." And really if a bunch of students wrote about it then you know it must be true.

"Don't you worry about my head. It's not going anywhere." It was his own head he should be worried about. If it got any bigger his neck would probably break from the pressure of trying to hold the thing up. Rolling her eyes at the man, Cece stepped back as he shoved a parchment in her face. What the hell! Did he think she was blind or what?

Snatching the parchment from him she quickly read it over.

O__O

This was some sort of joke... right? "Really Oliver? Now you've resorted to writing things about me to make yourself look good." Would the man stop at nothing to try and make her look bad? "You can't seriously think anyone is going to believe this... that I have a... THING for YOU."

Kurumi smiled at Lewis. "Thanks," she said, not really knowing WHY she had just said it. Something about him and his persistence to continue to look for the planet that was very clearly telling them that it did not want to be found

But thank goodness for the shooting star to sort of make them both forget about their failure to locate the planet that SHOULD be there. "Do you, really believe in that stuff?" she asked, not to tease him, but out of curiosity. "It seems that...no matter how hard I wish for some things...they just never come true." She kept to the rules too. No telling what she had wished for. Had her eyes shut while she made the wish. Hands clasped tightly together and against her chest. It was like those shooting stars and moments where you were supposed to make wishes were only there to mock her.

Still, she performed the wish making ritual before its trail of light completely faded from the darkening sky before glancing back at Lewis. "Did you?" she asked, still not entirely answering his question, although her movements suggested that she had.

It was extremely amusing watching Cece read that parchment. It had been well worth carrying that parchment around for weeks. Merlin, he wished he had a camera on him right now.

Oliver folded his arms across his chest and laughed. "Believe me Cece, the last thing I would do to make myself look good would be to write about you." He had better things to do with his time. He didn't want to think about her, let alone write about her.

Hia gaze went to the parchment and then back to Cece. "Out of the mouths of babes." And really she was still here wasn't she? Even if she didn't have the hots for him, Oliver was still going to give her crap about it.

Lewis raised his eyebrows a little in surprise and confusion. What was she thanking him for? He glanced around for a moment as if in search for something she could've been referring to until his eyes landed back on her. "Uhm. You're welcome...?" It seemed like the only appropriate response right now. And she was smiling so it didn't really matter THAT MUCH what she was talking about.

He slowly lowered the mug again and stared down into, considering her question. He wasn't all that superstitious or anything. "I don't know. I like the idea. You know, making a wish and it might just come true." Lewis glanced back up from the tea to look at her with a smile. And you didn't lose anything when they didn't come true either.

His face fell a little when he heard what she said next, though. What could it be that she so desperately wished for? "Maybe some things just take a little...longer to come true." Lewis finally offered softly, biting his lip, watching her. When she asked him if he had made a wish, he blushed a little, averting his gaze back down into his mug like the cherry blossom tea was the most interesting thing in the entire universe. "Sure." Lewis ALWAYS made a wish on shooting stars.

Kurumi said nothing and instead fluffed her bangs nervously. Yeah, she had probably just sounded a bit odd there, but few people were able to put up with her persistence and perfection when it came to academics. Selina would oftentimes roll her eyes and it had caused a small fight now and again between her and Jonathan when she had been tutoring him for his OWLs - which were all his fault because he was so lazy. She missed him...a lot....and her right hand found the heart shaped pendant hanging around her neck.

She smiled and sipped some more on her tea, letting it warm her. "I suppose you're right..." to some extent at least. His next comment sort of caught her off guard a bit. Some things might just take a longer time, if only it were that easy. One of the things Kurumi had often wished for recently really didn't have any chance of coming true, but she still wished for it nonetheless. It was just like he said, she liked the idea of it all. Her cup now empty, Kurumi set it down and looked back at the Hufflepuff. "You're a really good friend Lewis." And she patted his shoulder somewhat awkwardly.

She nearly made things MORE potentially awkward by asking if it had been a good wish, but she turned her violet eyes back towards her telescope. She had been trying to find Neptune in all this after all and she was going to call herself a failure if she didn't find the bloody thing. Tapping her telescope one more time to focus it, Kurumi continued her search.

Alec grinned as the young girl laughed. There was some pride to be taken in making someone laugh. Who knew he could be funny. Or maybe he wasn't and the girl was just laughing because she felt like it. Either way, he wasn't too fussed.

The young boy watched as the girl introduced herself as... Cardigan? Yeah, that had to be what she said. Alec smiled at her as he shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Cardigan," That was a nice name. "I'm Alec. Alec Summers."

"So..." Alec started, looking down at the stones, "Who's winning the stone kicking competition?"

Ella skipped down the corridor to the courtyard, pencils and sketch pad in hand. She hadn't done anything creative in a while and was itching to draw. She thought it might be nice to go check out the fountain, try and sketch that. Maybe she'd even see a familiar face along the way? She hadn't been seeing her friends around much lately what with classes and homework in full swing.

Crumpling the parchment up into a small ball, Cece was tempted to throw it at Oliver and bounce it off that big head of his. Instead she opted to shove it in her pocket. She would burn it later... to keep him from passing it around. "Yeah and you believe me, nothing you ever do could make you look good anyway." Well not in her eyes anyway.

Out of the mouths of babes her foot. "Yeah, right after you fed them the information." She mumbled more to herself than anyone else. Feeling a sudden urge to throw up Cece turned to leave... again. "I'm done talking to you. I have... a walk to get back to." Only thing is, she wasn't sure where her walk was going to lead her now.

He almost burst out laughing but managed to just let a small chuckle fall out of his mouth. She was just asking for it. "Well there are a few lady Professors that would disagree with you there Cece." And Oliver didn't feel the need to give her any names either.

Well she might be mumbling to herself but Oliver could hear what she was saying. "It might interest you to know Cece, that I had no idea about this gossip rag. It was William who brought it to my attention." And of course he just had to bring it to Cece's attention.

Because he was good like that.

Oh she had a walk to get back to. "You off to go hang all over William again? Apparently you're ALWAYS doing that." According to his best mate anyway.

Even though he normally really wasn't any good at reading other people's emotions, Kurumi was very clearly upset about something. Or at least somewhat nervous. Only why? Was it the conversation about the shooting star? But she had been the one to point it out in the first place. Was it him? Had he said something that had upset her?

Biting his lip he was going through the last few seconds of their conversation in his head, trying to figure out what it could have possible been that had upset her. He was so lost in thought that he was completely taken by surprise when all of sudden he felt Kurumi's hand on his shoulder. Tilting his head to the side a little, he glanced down at her hand before looking back up at her. "I-" What was he supposed to say to that? That hearing her say that made him incredibly happy?

"You're a really good friend too, Kurumi." And then because he genuinely felt the need to add that, he said, "Thank you." For what he wasn't entirely sure. For being his friend, he supposed. Watching her return her attention to the telescope, Lewis waited a moment before doing the same after having set down his now-empty mug onto the blanket. He tried very hard to keep his gaze on what he could see of the sky through the telescope, even though it somehow turned out to be quite hard.

And he still hadn't spotted Neptune.

"Did I....say something weird?" she asked innocently, cocking her head to the side like a confused kitten - minus the ears. Those didn't appear on top of her head unless she was really embarrassed about something. In fact, the last time that had happened had been in front of Jonathan when he had managed to make her blush about something or another for the umteenth time. She sure hoped that he was alright, back home under his father's scrutinizing eye. Thankfully, her sort of pondering expression was masked by the darkness, so she didn't appear as though she were zoning out.

Eyes back to looking through the telescope and finding that elusive Neptune. She found Sirius again...as well as Regulus and a whole bunch of other stars that had long and complicated names that included a series of numbers and letters of the alphabet. When her telescope landed on the moon, she knew she had gone too far. Now WHERE was the planet? It couldn't have just vanished, could it? Planets just didn't do that.

Referring to her star chart one more time, Kurumi sort of began bouncing in place. "Lewis, I think I've finally found it," she exclaimed as she looked at Lewis, leaning over a bit so that she could try and adjust his telescope as well. "Just over there. It looks really really small, but that's it." Okay, so it wasn't as exciting as her eyes made it out to be, but mission was accomplished and Neptune had been spotted!

Cece was all prepared to ignore whatever it was Oliver was saying and just walk away. That is until...

"William knows about this... trash?" She exclaimed pulling that stupid article out of her pocket. Perfect, just perfect. William knew what was written about her and who does she have to hear it from... Oliver.

And the idiot just keeps running his mouth. "Excuse me? What the hell are you talking about? I don't hang all over anyone." One stupid article about her in that gossip rag and Oliver just assumes she's always hanging on William?

Whatever.

Lewis couldn't help but smile a little when Kurumi tilted her head so cutely to the side. Weird? What made her think that? "No...no, not at all." He hastened to reply, shaking his head quite vigorously for emphasis. "W-what makes you think that?" Was she going to take back the 'good friend' remark?! He had started to chew on his lower lip again, glancing down into his lap. It would have been too good to be true anyway.

He stayed like this a moment longer, even after Kurumi had returned to her telescope again, probably still looking for Neptune. It was starting to get pretty dark already. He could barely see her unless he was either really close to her or squinted really hard. Seeing as he was neither at the moment, Lewis decided it was probably the best thing to start looking at stars again too. Because that was what they were here for after all.

Okay, he was still staring at Pollux. And there was no Neptune anywhere. Only there apparently was, according to Kurumi anyway. Leaning back a little to give Kurumi space when she leaned over to adjust his telescope too. He watched her until she was done and then after another glance at her, finally leaned forward again to look through his telescope. "Oh, yes. I see it." Though, judging by his tone he clearly wasn't AS excited about this as Kurumi was. Yes, it was pretty cool that they had in fact finally found Neptune but didn't that mean that...they would be going back into the castle now?

Well...NOW she had said something weird and made Lewis all flustered and it made her cheeks blush from embarrassment. "Um...you sounded like you were going to say something else at first?" He had started to say I and then moved onto something else. She felt bad now, making him chew on his lip like that. Not that it really mattered what he was going to say, unless it was something really important and for whatever reason he decided that he didn't feel comfortable telling her. Friends should feel comfortable telling friends everything.

Kurumi frowned slightly when he wasn't as excited as she was about finally spotting Neptune. It WAS an accomplishment. The planet was hard to see and you couldn't seen it all the time. He should be more excited about it, really.

Jotting down some notes on her parchment, noting the time and a few other things about the spotting, Kurumi set it down again and peered through her telescope some more. "Well, we found what I was looking for," she finally said after a few moments. "What about you, Lewis? Any celestial body you want to try and find?" It was only fair, after all, that she help him find something since he had helped her.

Well duh! Didn't he just say that? Oliver wasn't even going to answer that, he didn't see the point in repeating himself.

Right. She doesn't hang all over him. Oliver had been at the Leaky Cauldron as well and he wasn't blind. "It's just what I heard." He shrugged his shoulders. He just realised that he was about to get his friend into a whole lot of trouble here if he didn't shut his mouth.

"And weren't you just heading down there to hang over him see him?"

Right. It was just what he heard. And just who the hell did he hear that lie from? "Well if you want to believe a liar then go for it. But I KNOW I don't hang all over anyone and that includes your friend William." In fact, she wasn't planning on even talking to him now. She didn't need anyone else spreading lies about her. Not to mention the fact that he knew about that stupid article but didn't think it was important to warn her about it and Oliver. Some friend he wasn't.

Oh Oliver would just love it if she said she was going to see William now wouldn't he. She would never give him that satisfaction though. "It doesn't really matter where I was heading now does it. Since you wasted so much of my time here I have to head back to the infirmary now." Turning and heading back towards the castle she looked back over her shoulder. "Some of us actually work around here. You might want to try it sometime." Maybe if he spent more time working he would have less time to think of ways to irritate her.

Oh. Or you know, she wasn't. Going to take back her remark. Phew. Not yet anyway. But now she wanted to know what had been on his mind at first. "Uhm." He couldn't tell her EXACTLY what he had been thinking but he ended up saying something which was pretty close to it anyway. "I'm just happy you consider me your friend." Blushing a little Lewis didn't avert his gaze from his hands in his lap which he had started to fold and unfold a little nervously.

Moving to jot down a couple of notes about their Neptune sighting as well, Lewis then just stared down at his piece of parchment. Should he just start packing up now? It was probably a good idea. Though, then again he could just take his time and- Why was Kurumi back looking through the telescope?!

OF COURSE! That was it. They had to find another planet. Or something. Preferably one which wouldn't even be visible tonight. "Yes!" Okay, hopefully she wouldn't notice how excited he suddenly sounded about this idea. Or at least wouldn't know the reason for it. "Mars!" Apparently he had descended to mono-syllabic answers. And he didn't even know if Mars would be visible tonight. "I mean, err, hang on." Feeling his cheeks flushing scarlet, Lewis bent his head over his star charts to look for Mars' path and whether or not it was actually possible to see it tonight.

Kurumi failed to notice the blush on Lewis' cheeks due to the darkness, but that was probably for the best considering that it really would only make their current situation awkward when Kurumi was oblivious to what was really going on. Still, his comment brought a smile to her face and she couldn't help but giggle but with a curious expression on her face. "And...do you consider me one?" Since, you know, they were on the subject of friendship. He hadn't ever said it outright, right? She had done so on several occasions, but Kurumi was also the sort that wore her emotions on her sleeve...or her hair really.

Kurumi's eyes widened and she blinked at Lewis several times. He seemed really excited about Astronomy, which wasn't really a bad thing. It wasn't her favorite subject, but it was also far from being her least favorite. Maybe the discovery of Neptune had sparked his interest a bit, Kurumi was certainly pleased to have found something other than a star.

"Mars?" she asked in a questioning tone. Kurumi already knew without even looking at her chart that they wouldn't be able to see Mars until morning. Like...nine in the morning morning. Was Lewis planning on them staying out here all night? Kurumi knew she couldn't do that - it would be breaking about a dozen school rules for one. Yet, for some reason, Kurumi found herself not wanting to tell Lewis about this fact. Instead, Kurumi sort of sat in silence, idly peeking through her telescope now and again searching for a planet that she already knew wouldn't be there. "Have any luck?"

Pulling on one of his fingers absently, Lewis continued to keep his head down as if he was doing something really interesting with his hands. Which frankly, he wasn't. He just didn't want to look up at Kurumi. Somehow this was getting more awkward by the minutes. And he didn't even know why. Kurumi didn't seem to think so though. She seemed to be quite...amused? And...hadn't he just said that? Did she think he had changed his mind? "Of course." At this he finally did look up at her, giving her a slightly confused look.

Okay, now where was Mars on his star charts. Well, actually it wasn't difficult to FIND it. The problem was that it was quite obvious they wouldn't be able to see it tonight. Or any other night in the near future. Still, he continued to stare down at his charts as if he could magically make Mars move into Earth's path so that they would be able to look for it tonight. What now?!

Glancing back up Lewis moved the charts to the side and noticed how Kurumi was peeking through her telescope. Did she not know that they wouldn't be able to see it? Well, this was definitely awkward. He just sat there, not moving, watching her for a moment. Once he realized what it was he was doing, Lewis shook his head a little and cleared his throat. "Uhm. I don't think we'll get to see Mars tonight." He finally admitted a little sadly with a vague hand gesture at his star charts.

That probably meant they would actually have to go back inside. It was getting pretty late too.

Kurumi rolled her shoulders a bit and fluffed her bangs absentmindedly while Lewis did...whatever he was doing with his hands. When he spoke again, Kurumi sort of wanted to smack herself in the forehead for making him repeat himself. He had just said that a few minutes earlier, hadn't he? Try to cover it up? Was it too late? "Nice to know...you didn't change your mind," she said, obviously flustered as she nudged him playfully with her shoulder. Why did she do that? Kurumi blushed a bit and pretended to fuss with her telescope.

Nothing to see here but the stars...and a lack of Mars. Ahem.

When Lewis confirmed what she already knew, about not being able to see Mars and she smiled gently at him deciding to go with pretending like she had just made the discovery herself. "Oh, it looks like you're right," she said. "We will just have to come back at a different time and try." Because it would be really fun to be able to spot all the planets, yeah? Kurumi thought so at least.

It was then that Kurumi looked at her pocket watch and her eyes widened. "Oh my stars," she squeaked with surprise. How did it get to be this late already?! "It is getting close to curfew already. We should start heading inside. I would hate for you to get in trouble because of me." Maybe they should have asked Professor Roslund permission to stay out past curfew for the sake of the assignment?

It was getting to be about prime hunting time, but Furmy was still hoping that the human he was delivering to would give him treats. This was a far fly for the little owl, and with no stops for mice! He should get TWO treats.

The tawny owl swooped low into the corridor, the flapping of his wonky wings making his presence known, not that the girl person and her companion couldn't see him heading directly for them. "Hoooooo." He made to land on the telescope, but it started to wobble dangerously, so he lifted himself back into the air, circled them once, then landed on nearby sill. The package with an attached letter settling beside him softly.

Staaaaaaaaaaaaaare.

Kurumi was just about to pack up her telescope when, oh! Hello there! Kurumi hadn't expected an owl to be flying out here at this time of night. Well, owls WERE nocturnal creatures, so it was only natural that they would be flying around and, oh, never mind. She wasn't expecting a package that was for sure.

"Thank you," she said with a small smile at the owl, wondering who it could be from. Her left hand did reach for the silver heart pendant around her neck as she nervously opened up the letter though. Kurumi's violet eyes read over the letter and was surprised to see who it was from. Not only that, but the former Head Girl had sent her cookies! Talk about a complete 180 from where they had started things off. Kurumi reached into her pocket for one of her tuna fish cookies and offered it to the owl.

Lewis just stared at her for a moment. STARED! What was going on? Why would he have changed his mind? Why was this so confusing? "N-no. I didn't." He stammered, trying to find the right words to say. And then before he could stop himself, he added with a small frown of confusion, "Why would I?" She obviously didn't WANT him to, at least judging by how she'd said it 'was nice to know' that he hadn't changed his mind. Confusing much?

And then she nudged him with her shoulder. Which caused him to just blink a couple of times not really knowning what to do. He wasn't familiar with this kind of...well, whatever this was, with the nudging and all. It was probably best to just do nothing at all for now. Especially seeing that Kurumi had returned her full attention back to her telescope.

Through which she probably didn't see anything. Or at least not what she was apparently looking for. No, no Mars tonight. But...come a different time, definitely. "Yes, that's a great idea." Lewis smiled happily at Kurumi, reaching for his bag to start packing, just to give himself something to do. "Because I really want to see Mars." Yeah, no, he didn't. What the heck was he talking about?!

Oh, so it really WAS pretty late already. Close to curfew? She would hate for HIM to get in trouble? "I think you would get into more trouble, actually." Since she was a PREFECT and all. "And I would hate for you to get in trouble because of me." He echoed her words with a small smile, turning to pack up his telescope when-



-he heard some kind of noise. Was that wings flapping? And yes, it definitely was, seeing as all of a sudden there was an owl perched on Kurumi's telescope. And flew off again. It dropped its package next to it and Lewis watched Kurumi walk over to go get it.

Not meaning to pry or look nosy, he just continued to watch Kurumi for a moment as she read the attached letter and opened the package before busying himself with packing his bag again. He didn't even wonder that much who the letter and package might have been from.

He was staring at her...why was he staring at her? Kurumi felt her cheeks burning as a pinkish glow overtook her face. She turned an even deeper shade of pink when he asked his question. "I...um...I don't know," she said, stammering herself. She had never been tongue-tied around Lewis until now, and it was confusing her. "I...I suppose it is just some of my insecurities coming out." She tried to laugh that comment off, but it didn't really work all that well. "N-N-Never mind." And then she began to run her fingers through her long black hair, tugging on it now and again.

Rolling up her parchments and charts, Kurumi practically beamed up at Lewis. It was nice to know that he was so interested in Astronomy. Kurumi wondered what Lewis' other interests were. She was realizing that she both knew Lewis and didn't - which made her not a very good friend in her opinion. "Then it's decided." Yep. They would keep coming out to looks for Mars until they found it. She didn't want to disappoint him by never being able to spot the red planet after all.

Kurumi laughed and finally stopped playing with her hair, resisting the urge to fluff her bangs again. "I suppose you are right." Especially depending on who it was that found them out here. She was pretty sure that her own Head of House wouldn't be too upset about it, but Professor Scabior...Kurumi didn't want to think about that. Her cheeks were back to a pink hue when he echoed her words. "Well, if it happened, we would get in trouble together...and I suppose it would really be both our faults." So, there was no need to get in trouble because of the other after all.

But then her attention was drawn to the owl and her package which she opened now and filled the air with a fresh smell of peppermint. Evelyn SAID they were not poisoned...but that didn't mean she hadn't done something else to them...liked turned some of them into puking pestles. Nervously, Kurumi took a small bite out of one of them and waited. When a few moments passed, a wave of relief washed over her. They were perfectly fine and, surprisingly, delicious. "Do you like peppermint?" she asked as she adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and offered the box for him to take one should he want.