Evelyn was staring at the sky again, feeling both annoyed and sad. Annoyed about the fact that Louisa practically ruined her reputation. Yes, the ravenclaw did apologize but still..that didn't really make things any better, did it? Upset because..well..the seventeen year old never had a boyfriend and all this talk about boys was just..upsetting. The guy she liked..well, she wasn't going to even think about it.

"I'm sorry." Evelyn felt a little bad. That statement was totally uncalled for. "But..I know you don't want to hear this..or maybe you do..but.." The girl nervously chewed on her lip. "..well, the guy doesn't deserve you." If he was going around flirting with girls and holding their hands..ugh. Anyway, no girl deserves to be treated like that. She observed the fact that Louisa didn't answer her earlier question. So, yeah. Maybe the girl was spying on them. Eeek. That's not good at all.

Riiiigghhht. "Well, I don't know exactly how old he is but I think he's old enough to know that you don't say certain things to people." And obviously, you don't say things without thinking. That's just..weird.

Louisa froze for a full minute interpreting Evelyn's words. Was she... mocking her? Was it some kind of a joke? She looked deeper into the older girl's eyes. Nope, she looked sincere enough. Sounded sincere too. A lump rose in Louisa's throat, "Thank you." It wasn't the first time someone say this about them. Blushing a bit, the girl went on, "Don't say that about him though. He's.. not all bad. I..." liked him? Used to? Still? Louisa fell silent, she didn't even know.

Sighing, for the tenth time today, she brought her knees up to her chest. "Paulie's seventeen. He's a sixth year like you are. And he's not as dorky as he sounds. I myself used to get annoyed by his words but the more you know him, the deeper he seems." Holy Merlin! "And you absolutely can't tell anyone on this earth that I've just said that about Paulie Foster," Louisa blurted out, scared.

Evelyn gave a small smile when Louisa thanked her. When the girl continued to say that Joao wasn't all that bad, she...was surprised. If she knew he wasn't a bad sort, why did she decide to spy on them? Evelyn didn't much about dating and stuff, but she definitely knew that trust was important. If you can't trust the guy, then what's the point? Evelyn didn't voice her thoughts though. "If you say so." She continued to look at the sky for a moment before she continued hesitantly, "So..are you guys together now?"

Evelyn bit her lower lip from laughing. The way she was defending him...for some reason, was just hilarious. "Okay. Well, it's not like I'm ever going to see the guy again..so yeah. Alright." And, when she continued to say that Evelyn wasn't to say that to anyone, she grinned. "Heh. You should have thought of that before you blurted it out to me." Evelyn was joking, of course.

Expectantly Eve asked the obvious. Again. "Well.. we... uh.." Louisa took a deep breath and started again, "You should know that I did a huge deal and pulled off some... silly act only to know the truth resulting in hurting both a friend and probably Joao. Not that he didn't stab an arrow to my chest, but still it was my being juvenile. We had this big fight a month ago and I haven't seen him since. I guess we're... over," she bit her lower lip and swallowed. It wasn't a surprise that he didn't want to talk to her. Or see her.

Forcing a weak chuckle, Louisa shrugged, "No one will believe you if you tell what I said though. Paulie and I aren't exactly the getting-along kinda friends." And she knew that Evelyn was just joking. Louisa learned not to jump to conclusion with this particular girl.

"So... friends?" She extended a hand to the Hufflepuff.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Louisa." Evelyn really was. Her eyes were back on the clouds again before she started to say, "I just..." Evelyn wasn't sure what to say actually but started again. "..I hope that I wasn't the reason..you know..for the break up." Evelyn finished, her face bright red. It was so embarrassing to say that aloud but she just had to know. If it was true..well, Evelyn didn't want it to be true.

"I'm sure someone would." Evelyn said, with a small laugh. Hm. Maybe the girl was taking her a little too seriously. "No. Don't worry. It was just a joke. My lips are sealed."

Huh? Evelyn gave a slight raise of eyebrows when she saw Louisa sticking her hand out. Friends, eh? Well, Louisa didn't seem to be a bad sort..and it would be nice to be friends with her. "Friends." Evelyn smiled, shaking her hand. "I'm glad we have sorted out our..problems."

Louisa's mouth twitched into a sarcastic half-smile. "It's not your fault." Telling the girl flatly that it was actually her being with Joao that triggered the whole thing wasn't a good idea. "I guess we were on the verge of... getting it over with a few times before that." Surprisingly, it still bothered and hurt Louisa. Maybe deep down she still liked Joao... the way he took care of her, stood strong against anything that bugged her...and... the way he got mad at her juvenile acts.

Hugging her knees stronger, she rested her chin on them. "Never mind that now. I'm sixteen now and more mature than before. Hopefully I'll do smarter decisions in my life." Like never ever commit to a relationship unless she was positive the other person was as committing. Louisa had the impression boys in school would never commit to anything.

Not even study.

With a firm nod, she agreed, "Yeah. I actually don't dislike you. I didn't even when I thought you went out with... him. You were too nice to me. I had to force the negative emotion to surface." She gave an awkward smile.

"Anyways! How's Hogwarts so far?" Evelyn was a new student, right?

"Well, I'm glad." Huh. That didn't sound right. "..you know, glad that I'm not the reason for your break up." Gosh, that did sound a little dramatic. Anyway, it was a relief that she wasn't at fault.

Ah. Sweet sixteen. Evelyn sighed as she rested her head back on the ground. She was seventeen now..so old. And, the worst part was..she didn't even have a good birthday. Huh. Anyway, her parents promised her a small get together when she was home during summer..so that was something to be excited about.

"Well, let's just forget about all that now. We are friends now..so, yeah." Evelyn turned and gave her a friendly smile. Louisa was still a little weird..but nice. Like Ellie. Maybe all the ravenclaws were like that.

"It's been..." She could go on and on about all the trouble she got into but decided against it. She didn't feel like narrating the whole incident. "..adventurous." How on earth could she tell someone that she lost twenty points? Anyway.. "How have you been?"

Adventurous. Louisa managed a snort!giggle. "I bet. Hogwarts can be very crazy at times. Have you managed to make some friends so far?" You know, real and single ones. Oh oh! They were friends. Ahem. Louisa pushed that outta her mind, this should take a while. "I think you wouldn't find any trouble with that. You're quite the friendly girl." And attractive one.

Okay, that was it. STOP IT. The Ravenclaw shook her head and shrugged at Eve's question. "Mine sucked so far. The pressure of the OWLs is one thing and the.. other incident is another mood killer." Was calling the break-up a mood killer incident cool? Probably not. Well whatever. "I even got detention for a totally stupid and unreal reason! My record has been clear and nice ever since my first year here." But Paulie had to come into her life. Oh joy.

"We didn't really get a chance to get to know each other before... so.. were you excited to be sorted in Hufflepuff?" What? She was covering the basics.

"Well, yes. I've met loads of people and they are all so amazing." That was one of the best things about the school. People were nice and friendly. "Just for the record, I'm not just saying that to be polite." You know, she wanted to make that clear. Although, she wouldn't call anyone her best friend. Not yet, anyway. "I'm glad you think so. I think I'm quite easy to get along with.." Evelyn said, with a hint of pride in her voice.

"That totally sucks." Evelyn knew what she was talking about though. The girl always seemed to be a little behind on her homework which was weird considering the fact that she pulled off all nighters ever so often. "Detention?" Evelyn asked, surprised. "What on earth did you get detention for?" Frankly, Evelyn shouldn't be that surprised when she was so close to getting a detention herself.

WOAH. That was so random. Evelyn sat back up and said, "Oh, yes. I was really excited. I'm a proud Badger." Heh. She was very loyal to her house. "In fact, I've also become a little quidditch crazy." A random fact.

Louisa nodded wisely, "Yeah. Detention. They thought I was brewing romance in the library." SCOFF. "It was a tough experience." She left out details though. It seemed pretty insignificant now compared to her recent breakup. "Paulie and I grew slightly closer ever since though. If you count bickering at every possible moment and calling each other by uncool nicknames getting closer." Louisa chuckled at that.

"Really? You like Quidditch?" Louisa's eyebrows shot up in her face, "I don't really like it. Or comprehend why would anyone fly on brooms and risk getting comas from the bludgers." Credits for Emrys for pointing that out. "Do you play?"

Brewing romance? In the library? Evelyn smirked. "Oh, really? With who, may I ask?" When Louisa proceeded to talk, Evelyn found the answer to her question. Frankly, she still couldn't see why Louisa would defend the guy when he said something which was quite insulting but..heh. He was her friend so..yeah. "Well, that's nice." Evelyn grinned.

"Yep." Louisa didn't like quidditch!? "Well, I think it's a great sport. Yes, it's dangerous but it's also thrilling, isn't it?" Evelyn said, her eyes bright with excitement. Did she play? "I wish." Evelyn said, her excitement slowly fading. "I can't play sports. At all." She was horrible. Simply horrible. Yes, she was talking from experience.

Fresh air. That was what he needed. Dallin was inside much too often these days, and he was pretty sure that he was going crazy. Not only were NEWTs looming over his head like a giant rock, but he also had the weight of Ellie's engagement ring following him around everywhere. Literally. He hadn't let the box out of his sight since he bought it; it was always somewhere with him, usually in his pocket like it was now.

He had gone on a walk to clear his head. But that wasn't working like he hoped it would. He found himself practicing his proposal speech in his head, going over and over the same things, trying to find something meaningful and romantic.

It wasn't working.

With a sigh, he pulled the box out of his pocket and opened it, staring at the silver ring inside. "Ellie, we've been through so much... Ellie, I love you more than anything... Ellie... UGH." He snapped the box shut, holding it tightly in his fist. He had more than two months to work on what he was going to say, but he had a feeling that all the time in the world wouldn't help. He would blow it, Ellie would laugh at him, and he'd been alone for the rest of his life.

Deeeeeep breath... Hold it in - the nice, fresh air. And.... exhaaaaale.

Ah, yes. Spring was lovely. The sweet, crisp air felt wonderful to Ellie. Especially after being stuffed up in a castle for forever. Studying for NEWTs was killing her. But her lungs appreciated this nice walk she was taking.

Her original plan was to find Dallin - wherever he was hiding about - but after searching a few places, she just gave up. She would find him in the common room eventually. After wandering around the grounds a bit, Ellie eventually found herself on the pathways.

Tucking her hands in her jacket pockets, Ellie rounded a wide corner of the path and saw a figure ahead. She could see the back of him, but she knew just who it was. Her boo. :33 Dallin!

Being sneaky, Ellie quickly tip-toed toward him until she was a few feet behind him. Snort. Was he talking to himself? How cute.

POUNCE.

Ellie sprung forward and latched onto Dallin's shoulders with a squee. "Hai baby!" She greeted cheerfully. Now, hopefully Dallin wouldn't fall over.

When a sudden weight came onto his back, Dallin stumbled, ready to freak out before realizing that it was Ellie. Then he really freaked out. "Ellie!" he exclaimed, hoping it sounded more joyful to her ears than it did to his. He tried to shove the ring in his pocket, but since Ellie had pounced on him piggy-back style, her leg was in the way. So he had to get his hand passed her leg before safely dropping the box inside his jacket.

"H-How are you doing?" He asked, coming to a stop so that he could try to look at Ellie. He was definitely flustered - she had almost seen the ring! - and he was trying to calm himself down. Act natural. All that jazz.

Welp. He didn't sound very excited about her sudden appearance. In fact, he kind of sounded... anxious. Well, it made sense. She kind of just attacked him. Duh.

Apparently Dallin wasn't going to help her get situated on his back for this spontaneous piggy-back-ride, so Ellie struggled until her legs and arms were secure. "Therewego," she mumbled, trying not to choke him. That's when she noticed him dropping something into his jacket pocket. She was about to ask what it was, but he spoke up. And stuttered...?

Ellie pulled away a little and turned her head so she could look at him from an odd angle. "I'm surprisingly good..." She said before eyeing him a little. He looked rather flustered. Nervous. Like he had been caught doing something. "What's wrong with you?" She asked. "And what's in your pocket?" Nosy!Ellie was on the hunt. Her little hand reached down for his pocket with a little, sly smile.

Dallin couldn't help but smirk as Ellie tried to get comfortable without his help. She had spontaneously attacked him, so he wasn't going to help her. But, after a few minutes, he had to help her. Her arms had been rather close to his neck and he didn't want to be choked, so he put his arms under her legs to keep her up. There. Piggy back. ^___^

"Nothing's wrong," he answered immediately, turning his head to look back at Ellie. "And - nothing!" Whoa, whoa, whoa, what was she doing!? Panicking, Dallin grabbed Ellie's hand that was heading for his pocket. Maybe that could pass for him wanting to hold her hand? She just couldn't get her hand in his pocket, or she'd find the ring. Then what kind of situation would they be in?

There, he was finally helping. It was about time, boyfriend. But he was probably just trying to prevent Ellie from choking him. Which was probably a good thing. Anyway...

Nothing's wrong? Psh. "Yeah, and I'm the queen of England." Sarcasm. Obviously. Because there was something very fishy about his behavior. "What's got you all weird and... nervous?" Ellie asked, less accusing this time. Slightly more worried. But not much.

Ellie's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Not literally, but it was pretty close. He just just yelled at her and apparently didn't want her to know what was in his pocket. And grabbing her hand like that definitely wasn't going to pass as casual hand holding. "Dallin, what's in there?" Ellie asked with more worry in her voice. She tried pulling her hand out of his to go fishing in his pocket again.

Queen of England? "Hate to break it to you, Ellie, but you're Irish." Okay, so it was a fail attempt at a joke and a change of subject, but Dallin was scrambling here! He had to get her mind off him and his pocket soon, before he had to lie or something. "I'm not weird," he countered defensively, "And I'm not nervous."

Maybe if he took a few deep breaths, that would be the truth? He sucked in air through his nose, letting it out slowly through his parted lips. Okay. He was calm now, he could come up with a good reason as to why he wasn't letting Ellie in his pocket. Lacing his fingers through hers, he tipped his head forward just enough to kiss her on the cheek. "Nothing, Ellie, nothing." Calmly. Yep.

Of course she was Irish. "Well, duh. I know that, Dallin that was sarcasm... And don't try to change the subject!" Because he was definitely acting more odd than usual. "You're sure acting like it." And it was bugging her that Dallin wasn't giving her an honest answer. At least, that's what she thought. She just assumed something was up because he never acted like this unless he was nervous about something.

Ellie frowned when Dallin held her hand. Normally she would like that, but she knew he was hiding something from her. Ellie kept frowning, even when he kissed her cheek. She was quiet for a moment, but then she rested her chin on his shoulder and tipped her face towards him. "You know you can tell me everything, right? Anything that's bothering you. School stuff, family stuff..." Ellie shrugged lightly. She didn't know what was going on, but if something was bothering him, she wanted to know.

Lilly walked along the pathway, in a world of her own. Life really stunk in times like this. What was she meant to do about it? There wasn't anything she could do about it. She had no friends. She had no real family (except Rose and Vi) either. She had her dad, but she never saw him. Lilly decided to owl him when she went back inside. She hadn't heard from him in a while and he probably wouldn't think to write to her by himself, unless she owled him first. Then there was what to put in the letter. She couldn't exactly put: HELP ME, I'M SAD because, 1. It sounded wimpy, and 2. What could dad do about it?

Lilly was so lost in her own little world, she didn't notice the roots of a big tree right next to her feet, blocking her way. To make a long story short, she tripped over. Her lip was all swollen,she had a giant bump on her head and she couldn't move her arm. It was in AGONY when her arm tried to move just slightly to the left and it remianed stiff. It seemed like there was an injury every term for her. Lilly felt so stupid. The roots of a tree. Not the most heroic injury. Using her left arm (the one that could move), she stood up, her face red and wincing in pain. Hopefully nobody saw that, even if she did make a terrific bang when she touched the floor.

Jezzabelle made her way down the winding path. She had lost track of what day it was, let alone what month. She was pretty sure it couldn't be much longer till school ended then again it could be months. Again she wasn't sure. She sighed and wanted....no want wasn't the word, she needed something to do. Someone to talk to.

Dallin should have realized that he wasn't good at changing the subject. He wasn't a good liar, and avoiding the subject Ellie wanted to talk about was sort of like lying. She could easily see right through him. "I'm not meaning to," he replied as casually as he could. Obviously. He didn't want Ellie to assume he was keeping something from her.

Then she got all serious. Dallin sighed, hardly making any noise. "I know that, Ellie." She was one of the only people he knew that he could talk to about things like that. And he would, if that was what was going on. The probably was that nothing was bothering him. Everything was great, and he was just trying to hide a very special secret from Ellie for the time being. Which was something she could not know about. "Nothing's bothering me, honest," he said, turning his head to smile softly at her. "I promise. You just caught me off-guard and surprised me. But it's okay." Please just let it go.

Ella had been wandering aimlessly for about an hour and had somehow ended up on the pathways. She looked around, surprised at how quickly she had arrived at this spot, fumbling with the parchment and quill that she held in her hands. It was a nice day, one that would usually inspire some kind of outdoor adventure but today it only made Ella's foul mood more depressing. She had an important letter to write but wasn't sure she knew what to say, making the task weigh quite heavily on her heart. Her usual bright smile was replaced by a blank expression as she searched for a bench to sit on.

Today seemed like a nice day for a walk. Now that the weather was finally warming up... and now that she didn't have quidditch anymore... she liked to take walks during her free time.

And so here Anya was walking along the pathways just looking around.

Finally sun!! Sun that he could actually feel that is. The snow was fun and everything but there was nothing like a little sunshine and vegetation. The weather was so awesome that he decided to go for a little stroll with his pet rat Meeko, who he had dangling out of his shirt pocket.

He pulled Meeko out when he noticed a girl probably in his year walking a little in front of him. He needed a little entertainment right now. If she was anything like the last girl a rat would freak her out. The first year quickly walked up beside her and dropped Meeko on her shoulder.