Anya was bust just enjoying being outside when suddenly...

O_O

"There's a rat on my shoulder..." she commented. She looked around searching for the owner of the rat when her eyes landed on the boy she met over the summer.

"What are you, six?" she asked. Yep. He was still like the boy she met at the ice cream shop. "I'm not scared of rats you know. Sorry."

Adam had planned to meet Paulie here, and instead of sitting down and waiting patiently for him, Adam was pacing back and forth along the path looking like someone deep in thought. It had only been two days since that awful conversation with Louisa that Adam was still trying to process and comprehend. It had all gone down so quickly and not how Adam had been planning for that it was taking him a while to figure out what it all meant and where he now stood with Louisa. Finally resolving to sit down, Adam plopped down on an open bench and put his head in his hands.

Man, had it been forever since Paulie had caught up with Adam. It wasn't supposed to be like this! Best mates were supposed to almost be sick of each other because they saw one another so much. Although, considering recent events, Paulie couldn't wholly deny that he was avoiding his fellow Gryffindor just a little. Not that he wanted to! But it was awfully hard keeping that news of Louisa's from Adam, and seeing him less made it slightly easier to keep from spilling.

Paulie stopped in the middle of the pathway. Uh oh. Adam. Plopped on the bench. Head in his hands. Well, this wasn't the most assuring of signs. Seeking out his best attempt to sound totally cheerful and carefree, he greeted his best friend. "Hey there, mate. Long time, no see.." he said, approaching the fellow. "What's eatin' ya?"

Oh it was her >_> Tyler frowned and snatched his Rat off the girl's shoulder. Yeah she certainly took the fun out of things didn't she?

"There was a rat on your shoulder, but he's not staying, he doesn't like boring people." He commented at her comment.

"I'm eleven, what are you? blind?" He retorted. He could never get on with girls they were so...so..weird.

"Oh yeah, you're not? Well that makes you boring then." What fun were girls if they weren't shrieking around?

Adam took his head out of his hands when he heard the word mate, looking up to spot Paulie who he never thought he would have been so glad to see in his life. "Everything," Adam said with an attempt at a smirk but the attempt failed, and he was sure that his desperation/misery was showing across his face. "I messed up big time," Adam said, letting out a sigh before returning his head to his hands. "So I ran to into Louisa the other day and I found out that her and Joao broke up, and I was trying to comfort her because you know, she didn't look too good, and she started telling me about what happened between them and why they broke up and all that stuff," Adam said running his hands through his hair. He turned and looked at Paulie, realizing that perhaps now was the best time in the conversation to tell him he knew about their scheme and that he wasn't mad at him. "I'm not upset by the way with you going along to make Joao jealous. I'm sure it was actually pretty amusing to watch," Adam said with a little grin.

"Anyway, I'm not sure what happened or what led up to it, but Louisa said something about me not getting mad at you because it was her idea to make Joao jealous, and I said that I wasn't and if anything Paulie actually probably was happy about it because of me....and...well...I didn't finish the sentence that you would be happy making him suffer since he took her from me, but naturally Louisa had to push and wanted to know everything, so I finally got frustrated enough and told her that I still had feelings for her. She yelled at me saying that I was stubborn and didn't know why I had so much faith that things would work out between us, and then she said that it was better if we just let the whole thing go because she liked us being close friends too much."

Adam concluded with a rather loud sigh that almost came out as a groan. It had been a lot to throw on Paulie to say the least and he hoped his best mate could handle it. "I'm sorry Paulie...that was a lot to throw on you at once," Adam said, giving Paulie an apologetic pat on the back. "How are you doing by the way? It's been way to long since I've seen you. What's new in your life?"

'Everything.'

Yep.. that confirmed it. Apparently poor Adam's life was in shambles.

Figuring that this probably wouldn't be brief, Paulie took a seat beside his friend, and Adam took that opportunity to jump right in. He started off with the reasoning behind Louisa and Joao's break-up, and Paulie averted his eyes guiltily, his mind suddenly racing with ways to explain. But, that wasn't necessary, for it seemed that Louisa had already informed him about the whole fake-flirting thing, and - fortunately for Paulie - Adam didn't get mad about it. "I figured you'd understand. Sorry for not tellin' ya.. the only reason I didn't was because Louisa asked me not to."

Then came the long-winded response. Paulie really had to focus to follow what exactly went on, but in the end, it seemed that Louisa had coaxed Adam to tell her how he was feeling, and Adam finally buckled and told her the truth. In response to this, Louisa got scared and blamed Adam. And she said it'd be safer to be friends. Paulie nodded knowingly, as if he were some expert. "Well, Parker, it's no wonder that Louisa's not a Gryffindor." He slapped his hands on his knees and looked at Adam. "See, Louisa's scared," he began, predicting a long spiel from himself now."She's just gotten out of this crazy relationship with Joao, a Brazil Nut who kept her guessing and couldn't give her much assurance about their relationship. And then there's you. You guys have been friends a while, and - Merlin knows it - you'd do anything for that girl. She likes you, but by dating you, she risks losing you to an eventual break-up, like what happened with Joao; so she chooses to go the safe route - to stay friends. She only got mad at you and started callin' you 'stubborn' and what not because you brought up this big issue that she knows is goin' on but keeps neglecting anyway, and that made her feel uneasy because she didn't know the answer or how to respond to that since she's so used to sweepin' it under the rug, and that - not knowing the answer - made her scared, and prompted her to freak out. Very Ravenclawish, if you ask me."

Heh. That was quite insightful, if he said so himself. When Adam proceeded to apologize for 'throwing this on him all at once,' Paulie gave a dismissive shrug. He liked being in the know about his friends' lives, and he was glad that Adam could share these things with him. "Well, next time I'm tacking on a therapy fee," he joked, flashing a grin. He gave a small laugh as Adam then asked how he was doing, probably because he realized how much of the current conversation was about him. Paulie honestly didn't mind though. In fact, considering how much Paulie liked knowing all the gossip, he was beginning to think that he resembled those fifty-year-old mums who bantered together at hair salons. "Nothin' really new with me. The whole charade thing at the Three Broomsticks was probably the most interesting of news recently, but that's about it. I'm totally slacking more with school again.. I just want summer so, so bad." Or, in other words, he wanted Tori.

He took a quiet breath and looked down at his shoes.

When Paulie mentioned that he hadn't told Adam about the Three Broomsticks incident because Louisa asked him to, Adam gave a shrug of the shoulder. "I'm not sure why she thought it would be better to keep it from me. After all it's not like you are the one stupidly having feelings for her or something, or that it meant more than what it did. I guess she was just being paranoid," Adam said trying to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. His frustration at the situation was making Adam slightly less understanding to Louisa's rationale and logic behind her actions. He knew it was silly but he was only human, right?

Nevertheless Adam listened intently as Paulie explained his take on the situation, Adam nodding slightly to show that he was listening even though his eyes were on the ground and not on Paulie. By the time that he had finished Adam had realized that he was feeling slightly less annoyed about the situation and perhaps even a little calmer. "So you don't think it's that she doesn't like me that, or that she wouldn't ever like me like that, it's just that it's too soon and she values my friendship too much?" Adam let out a small sigh, completely understanding Paulie's logic and explanation of Louisa's actions but still feeling like he could blast that potted plant nearby into next week. "It's just frustrating you know? This wasn't how I wanted to tell her but she just kept pushing and I am sick of walking around and pretending that I don't mind just being her friend. I'm not saying I can't just be her friend, but I can't pretend that that is the only light that I see her in." Adam began fidgeting with a frayed thread on his jeans as he continued. "I just wish you could have been there to see her you know? I just feel like we keep going in this never ending circle where I tell her how I feel, we fight, and then things blow over, and bam we're right back to where we started. I don't know that I can go back to right where we started again," Adam said with a shake of the head. "I sound insane don't I?" Adam said, shooting a look at his best mate. The fact that he was still sitting here and offering rather sound advice and interpretations of the situation meant more to Adam that he could probably ever express to Paulie.

Adam chuckled when Paulie said he was taking on a therapy fee. "With the amount of issues that seem to surround my life, I think you'd make quite a comfortable fortune off of me." At Paulie's comment about wanting summer to come sooner Adam gave Paulie a little pat on the back. He figured summer meant seeing Tori, and while Adam was struggling to get onto the same grounds as he wanted to be with Louisa, here Paulie was forced to be away from a girl that loved him back. "It'll come sooner than you know it," Adam said with a smirk. "How is Tori? Have you guys been writing to each other or anything?"

And now he seemed calm. Maybe she should just give up then. Ellie didn't really buy into it, but apparently Dallin wasn't going to talk to her about this. At least he knew he could talk to her. That was as good as it was getting. So, she would let it go. Ellie sighed in defeat. Fine. When he smiled, she smiled in return. It was a small, worried smile. But a smile nonetheless. "Okay. I believe you." Kind of.

Well. Subject change, anyone?

Taking her hand out of Dallin's, Ellie hopped down from his back and landed on the pathway below them. She straightened out her skirt and shirt and slipped her hand back into his and began walking again. "So. How was your Easter? Did you get to see everyone?" Her tone didn't seem completely convinced that she was over talking about what was bothering him. Or "not" bothering him. But there was an effort. Sigh. Move on, Ellie.

Anya's jaw dropped. "I am NOT boring." she said. "I just won't stand for people badly attempting to tease me."

And... this boy hadn't changed at all.

"I'm 12 if you must know." she said glaring at him. And WHAT? She was boring because she wasn't scared of rats?

"You, are boring. If you think the only thing that's not boring is to go around scaring people with a rat."

Hmmph!

Paulie raked his hand through his hair, then looked at his friend. "No, of course not. It was just.. ya know. Charades."

This was all very complicated, and hopefully Adam wasn't finding difficulty following what Paulie was saying. How did Paulie attain all this insightful wisdom? Must've been a gift. Mmhm. Adam seemed to seek further advice from him, but Paulie had the answer. He had an answer that, he thought, would just answer all Adam's questions. "You wanna know what I think, Adam?" Of course Adam wanted to know.. he was asking him flat out! Paulie just liked the sound of his own voice, however. "Kiss her."

Bam. In fact, if Paulie had been in Adam's shoes, that would have happened a WHILE ago.

"'Kay? Like.. figure out the timing, though. Have good timing," he counseled. "It's a right shame you didn't kiss her at the end of that heated conversation you guys just had. When she was stomping off like she does, you shoulda pulled her back and kissed her. You know, like they do in the movies." But there was no sense in thinking about that, was there? Couldn't go back in time without a timeturner, and frankly, that wasn't happening.

He shrugged. "It's just.. you can't stay hung up on her like this when she's just choosing to ignore your feelings. I think it's hurting you a lot, and you can't keep taking it forever." Sigh. Such troubles. "I think you've got to get a final answer about how she feels about you, and if she really doesn't like you in that way.. then I think you need to take a break from hanging out with her until you're really over her." And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, was what Paule had to say about THAT.

After Paulie's remark about summer, Adam must have read his thoughts, for a question about Tori came next. Honestly. THAT GIRL! If it had been anyone else, Paulie wouldn't have put up with the misery of a long-distance relationship. Tori. Wahhhhh. He frowned. "I wrote her twice. She sent me a howler, ya know? When she found out that I was in Lovers' Lair." He gave a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "But yeah, I think she's been busy. Haven't gotten a letter back for a while now."

Adam gave a small nod as Paulie asked him if he wanted to know what Paulie thought, but he wasn't sure there was anything in the world that could have prepared him for what came out of Paulie's mouth. "I should what?" Adam asked, a small stutter coming out at the end at the shock of the implication. He had turned his whole body now so that he was completely facing Paulie as Paulie went into a long explanation of why he should do this, when he should do this, and what he should do if things didn't go in his favor. All Adam could do was just sit there for a moment, looking at Paulie then returning his attention to the ground, then back at Paulie. He opened his mouth a couple of times but the words got caught in his throat, causing nothing but confused sounds to come out.

"Well...that's...wow," Adam said rubbing his face slightly. "We almost did kiss once a while back when all that stuff with my parents was happening, but I've been taken for a while and she has and well the thought never really crossed my mind. But good timing you suggest? I'm not sure I know that there's ever actually a good time. I'm afraid if I'd even thought about it during our last meeting that she would have hexed me into next week," Adam said with a gentle shake of the head. "But I agree...I don't know what else to do. I told her that I need an answer you know? That I can't go on pretending and that she can't keep dogging the issue...maybe if the next meeting goes better..." Adam mumbled more to himself than Paulie. "I mean, do you and Tori ever fight? I know you don't seem to have the anger management issues that I do, but what do you when you guys have bad fights...if you have them that is..."

When Paulie mentioned that Tori sent him an owler, Adam raised his eyebrows slightly. "Rough...did you explain that your silly best mate was already pursuing her?" Adam asked, attempting a chuckle to make the situation a little more light hearted. Of course it was difficult to be light hearted when Paulie mentioned she hadn't written in a while and looked so dejected. "Maybe you should send her something a little more sprucy than a letter you know? Let a little of your creative and personality come through? There's loads of ways to enchant a letter right? Maybe we could think of something to get her laughing," Adam suggested, hoping that he wasn't stepping over bounds but wanting to at least offer to help since Paulie was doing the same thing for his girl struggles.

Once again, Kurumi just needed out. Out of the common room. Out of the castle. Out from everything that was stressing her out and reminding her of things. Really though, there was no distracting her from it all as it hung over her like a dark rain cloud. No, dark rain clouds implied that there would be a down pour and then things would clear up. Kurumi wasn't anticipating a down pour. She was expecting a hurricane.

Hair hanging loosely around her shoulders, Kurumi shoved her hands into her pockets as she walked. As she did, she heard a heavy sigh and turned her head towards the noise. "Jezz? You alright?"

Jezz looked up and saw Kurumi. The older lion she admired like and older sister and she could sense she wasn't the only one going through a hard time. She had heard about the older girls problems and she didn't want to burden her own on her but something told her that she wouldn't get another chance.

"There's something I've been holding in for a while and it's finally eating at me enough to make me just..." Just what? Let the world fly by. Lose track of every bit of time. She couldn't really say, so she just let the words fall off as she fell into a morbid like silence. She didn't feel it when a tear made its way down her cheek.

Frowning, Kurumi decided to forgo whatever she was going to do and sat down next to Jezz. While Kurumi somewhat regretted people knowing about what was happening to her, she was also relieved. It was nice to be able to have someone to talk to. If nothing else, it provided her with a temporary emotional release.

Leaning forward a bit so that her face was looking at Jezz's properly. "Do you...want to talk about it?" Kurumi could at least listen. She wasn't sure if she was in the right state of mind to give proper advice.

Jezz looked at Kurumi and finally realized the tear. She wiped it away and tried her hardest not to let anymore follow. She looked down then back up at the older girl, "My parents got a divorce over break."

She fell silent really not sure were to go from there. Then again it was all that had kept her attention and without realizing it she let the words fall out at a rapid pace. "They said they had been waiting till I started Hogwarts and that it was what was best for the family. I've been writing them and from what I can gather my father is who I'll be living with and my mother wants absolutely nothing to do with me," her word choked off and she looked back down.

Her mother. She was supposed to love and nurture and lately the letter she had received sounded more and more like business proposals and not letters full of hugs and kisses. She missed the old ways and wished she didn't feel so beat and down. "The real killer part is nothing is going to change. Dad will be working all the time and now mom lives in Scotland still working. I'll still be alone, I'll just have..." nothing to look forward to anymore, she finished in her head.

Tyler was very much tempted to put her jaws back together when she gawked at him but he instead continued to frown at her. She deserved his Tye frowns. "It has worked on more interesting girls before, so whats your point now?"

He raised his eyebrows when she said she was twelve. So she fancied herself grown up then huh? "That explains it then, you just think you are more matuuuure than me."

Tyler frowned again, she just was not getting it. "Correction, scaring girls with my rat. He gets a kick out of it too."

Kurumi simply sat there, not knowing how to respond or what to do. So she did what an Gryffindor would do, she acted on pure impulse and pulled the little Gryffindor close to her. She could relate. Sort of. At least Kurumi knew what it was like to have a mother that wanted nothing to do with her. Even when she knew that time was running out, Kurumi's mother still didn't want to be around her own daughter. That was why she had insisted on her going back to Hogwarts, right? At least that was how Kurumi had understood the gesture.

Not really knowing what else to do, Kurumi rubbed Jezz's back and chewed on her bottom lip. "You know, some parents, when they're angry, they get along much better when they don't live together," she said softly. "They don't fight all the time, and they can become better people..." Kurumi sometimes found this whole divorce thing to be selfish, especially since it was very uncommon in her hometown, but saying that wasn't going to help Jezz. "And don't you dare say you have nothing to look forward to anymore," she continued, squeezing the girl a little tighter. Someone at the age of eleven shouldn't be thinking such things.

Laura walked through the pathways. She was missing her friends so much. She wished to talk to someone.Ah! There was a familiar face - Jezz. She waved at Jezz. But, hey, she was looking worried! What was wrong?

Jezz allowed for Kurumi to pull her into the hug. The tears started to fall and she squeezed the older lion tighter. She wanted to believe the words that the girl was saying and she kind of did when it came to her father, but her mother was a different story. And it surprised her how well Kurumi knew her when she told her she shouldn't feel like she had nothing left, because Jezz hadn't spoken those words.

"I know," she said feeling the older lion trying to sooth her some more. "I think them waiting till I went to Hogwarts was weird." As she thought about though it made a little sense, send your child off to school where you don't have to worry about them as much and you can worry about your problems. She finally stopped crying and her nose was stuffy but she felt better to a small degree.

Anya continued to shoot looks at the boy. "Stop saying that other girls are more interesting than me!" she said. "Being interesting and being a whiny girl are not the same things."

Stupid boy. This is why Alec was pretty much her only friend.

"I don't think. I know. You don't see me walking around looking for someone to laugh at, do you?"

No! Which meant she was way more mature.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Whatever." she said. It was still dumb. "And that's practically animal abuse."

Tyler chuckled. Now that she was getting all worked up things were more interesting. He liked her better this way." Why should I stop? My mummy told me lying is bad." He rolled his eyes at her and dropped Meeko back into his pocket." Yes it really is the same. You have interesting girls and you have boring girls. There's nothing else to it."

Tyler smirked." You think you are infinity. And that, boring girl is why you are so boring. You don't know how to have good fun."

Boring girl say what???? He blinked at her." You're crazy, it's not animal abuse if he likes it." He pet Meeko's head."And you do don't you buddy?"

"But... I do interesting things. Like... I play football... and play quidditch... and fly kites... and climb trees. I've been to the hospital wing, you know. And I once even climbed a topiary here." She was also pretty much the BEST sundae maker ever.

And those were NOT boring things. Anya was very interesting.

"And I know perfectly well how to have fun." She was a ball of fun! She'd been described as that.

And she just rolled her eyes at the rat enjoying it.

"You need to find something better to do." Because she was busy walking. And if they were seriously going to argue about a rat's happiness level... then she was just going to finish her walk.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Vindictus's dragonhide boots crunched loudly on the gravel as he slowly limped down the path with the aid of his cane. In his left hand, he carefully cradled the orb which was glowing. "Honking daffodil bowling," he said to Kurumi and Emrys who were following him. "Maybe that's what the orb wants us to do."

Kurumi had been following Professor Vindictus in nervous silencing, glancing sideways and Emrys every now and again wondering just what the pair had gotten themselves into. She stopped when the man spoke and found that the look of confusion was plastered on her face again.

Honking daffodil bowling? Was this man serious? Professor Bentley would probably feed them all to a flesh eating plant if she heard this.

Not knowing what to do, Kurumi looked at Emrys. He was a Ravenclaw. Professor Vindictus was a Ravenclaw. They had that Ravenclaw brain connection, right?

Emrys scurried behind Vindictus and Kurumi, the bag slapping against his leg. Where were they going again? The conversation in the office was a bit of a blur and he'd simply followed Kurumi and his Head of House, not wanting to be left behind.

He stopped short and squinted at the man. "Honking Daffodil Bowling?" Why hadn't he ever heard of that before? Panic rising in his chest, Emrys started digging in Kurumi's bag for something - anything - to write on.

"Is that going to be on our final, professor?!"