Louisa busied herself with fixing her hair and staring down at the ground. "I am not embarrassed, okay? And we didn't do either of that, I was with Joao back then and it wasn't right." So she just cut the session and left. "Can we please not talk about my boy problems?" Because it was awkward and made her flush like a sweet little girl... which she wasn't. Not even little, she was taller than her peers.

The Ravenclaw clutched her neck with both her hands and siiiiiighed. "I don't know anymore, Paulie." She let go and went to the wall, sliding down and sitting on the damp floor. "He's making it hard for everyone to deal with him. I tried to talk to him but he keeps ignoring or flinging harsh comments my way." She scowled and crossed her legs underneath her, "He already hit one of my old friends and I told him it wasn't acceptable." She looked up at the counselor boy, her eyes mirroring the sad frustration boiling inside, "He's not letting me in but he's not letting me go either. Instead he's taking every chance to hurt the people I care about the most!" She exploded in the end.

Her eyes started getting blurry and Louisa immediately started wiping them, the last thing she needed right now was to cry out of rage! Maybe her analysis was wrong, maybe Paulie was right but.. "Someone has to stop him. I think I'm the only one that could get away with it." Except for the fact that she was supposed to be a role model, and the Head Boy over here would be helping her not to be.

Dilemma?

SMIIIIIIIIRK. Not embarassed? Uh huhh. Then why was she getting so RED? He rolled his eyes and gave a noisy, dramatic sigh. "Fine. But you're bein' a total party pooper." And despite her request to not talk about her boy problems, she soon enough delved into her boy problems anyway. Which is what Paulie wanted, of course. He needed to know this stuff.

He frowned a little sympathetically though when he caught her expression as she slid down the wall. As she began speaking, he walked over and sat down next to her. When she was finished, he spoke. "Well.. I think you should quit talkin' to him like you are. If he's hurting the people you care about, then you've gotta give him the silent treatment, or do that annoying one-word answer thing to him." Instead of doting on his every trouble and mishap. He shrugged his shoulders and pulled his long legs up so that he could rest his elbows on his knees. Speaking of the Brazil Nut, though, he wondered whether he should bring up the bathroom scene. Maybe that was just a fluke? Regardless of what it was, Paulie decided to fill her in on that. "Ya know.. earlier today I ran into the Brazil Nut in the bathroom," he told her. "And it was kinda weird, 'cause he was, like.... friendly..-ish." Not that Paulie was all set on defending the dude, especially after he'd just clocked his best mate, but he was pretty surprised with the Slytherin's behavior today.

Noticing the water accumulating in her eyes, Paulie wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly. He really, really hated seeing people so sad, and it made his heart all achy and stuff. Plus, with Louisa being such a strong girl, he knew that all this must have been distressing her a lot. "Ya can't put all this on yourself, Louisa." Because that's what she was doing. "I know that you're tryin' to make things right with Joao and Adam, and it's good that you're tryin' to keep 'em civil toward one another.. Merlin knows, Joao needs to be... but, when it comes down to it, that's between them." He looked at Louisa. "In the end, it's gonna come down to them settling things. I don't think other people can really do it for 'em."

Louisa leaned on Paulie, enjoying sympathy she usually pushes away or gets upset over. Her eyebrows quickly furrowed though when he told her about the bathroom encounter. "That's... weird." She paused, pondering over his silent treatment advice. "You know, few weeks ago, we agreed to be friends. Well, I issued the order and he reluctantly followed it... basically because I locked him in a cupboard and refused to get him out until he agreed. But maybe... he's trying to let... people in?" She sniffed and leaned her head to the side a bit. "I can be really naive sometimes." Cue a bitter scoff, because Joao didn't show such sign with giving Adam such a colorful bruise.

She stayed silent, looking at her legs stretched up in front of them as Paulie laid down the real situation before her eyes. They needed to sort things out... Joao needed to be more civil but it wasn't down to her to do it. The sixteen years old looked at him and hesitated. "You said, back in the garden the other day, that you're not just friends with me because of Adam." Because he might not like what was coming from her mouth, however it'd prove him either right or wrong.

"Sometimes I want Adam to fight back. Show Joao that he'd crossed some red lines. Set some red lines that even someone with Joao's ego can't cross." She looked down and started toying with her bandage, "I think it makes me feel less... pressured. To think that Adam takes a lot of blows on my account without complaining, is making me worried most of the time." Because Adam deserved nothing like that. "It's a great trait to be so selfless and sacrificing but... I want him to be selfish for some time. He almost doesn't acknowledge his desires and needs rather than seeing what fits his friends.." And herself, "..the most." He continues to be so selfless, she was going to continue taking care of him... even drawing the said red lines for him.

Paulie really didn't know what was going on with the Brazil Nut. That boy was a conniving snake for all he knew! "I donno what he's doin', but I'm still totally suspicious about the dude." Yes, Paulie thought he was up to something..... or something. "How do ya think you're naive?" He wasn't agreeing or disagreeing, but he was curious about her answer.

He furrowed his brow and looked down at Louisa's face when she brought up their previous conversation in the topiary garden. He waited to see where this was going..

And then he understood. Paulie nodded slowly as she continued. "I know what you mean," he admitted. "Not that being selfless is a deficiency - definitely not," on the contrary, "But he is very... polite and understanding." Like his habit of tacking on 'if you don't mind' at the ends of his sentences. Though fortunately, he didn't do that with Paulie anymore. "I've had the same thoughts, though. I mean... you and Joao kissed, for Merlin's sake, and he barely raised his voice!" Maybe Paulie just thought this was strange because Paulie would have been suspicious, and possibly mad, at Louisa, and THEN he probably would have gone and hexed the Brazil Nut 'till he was sorry he even looked twice at his girl! He looked down at his hands. "I think he lets too many things pass, but then again, that's just how he is, ya know? Plus, I can't be one to judge 'cause I'm probably a little bit too quick to act." Thus, the whole balance between Adam and Paulie. But the whole sacrificing himself for Louisa thing, Paulie got why she didn't totally want that. Paulie hated owing people, and Louisa probably felt that Adam was doing too many things and making too many sacrifices just for her benefit, and not for his. He looked back to her again. "I do know, though, that he does that stuff just 'cause he loves you and wants you to be happy."

How was she naive? Louisa frowned, "I ignored all the obvious signs of him being a jerk. I was purposefully deaf to everyone who tried to say so." Way to go, smart Louisa. She tilted her head to look at him... expectantly. Will he agree?

Polite. Louisa snorted at this, "He keeps saying 'if you don't mind' to me at the end of every freaking sentence. It didn't really mean anything before but now that we're... a couple, it irritates me." Not so much but to a degree. Louisa chuckled when he mentioned he was 'too quick to act'. She actually liked this about him, it was pretty interesting to see his impulsive reactions to crucial events.

Louisa felt her face redden with Paulie looking at her like that and saying that Adam loves her. "I know, alright? He already told me this two years ago... you don't have to remind me every possible moment." She shifted a bit away from him. "I want him to be happy too." Hence the whole dating decision.

Paulie shrugged and averted his eyes down to his hands when she looked at him. "I wouldn't call that naive. As they say, 'love is blind.'" It was a hackneyed phrase for a reason.

A smile tugged at his lips. It seemed that Louisa had read his thoughts about the 'if you don't mind' line. "I guess he'll never know that ya don't like it unless ya tell him, though." Paulie mentioned the same thing to Adam back when they met up over the summer, and since then the other Gryffindor had never done it again. Maybe all Adam needed was a little straightforwardness from his friends. Paulie, naturally, was rather blunt, and he preferred people being straightforward with him, too. It made things a whole lot less complicated and confusing. He gave a guilty grin and shrugged when she chuckled at his admitting to acting too quickly.

Paulie screwed up his face a little, perplexed over what she was getting at by her next comments and behavior. "Ya know, most people smile stupidly when other people mention how their boyfriend loves them," he commented. "And usually they like hearing it."

Louisa frowned at him, at everything he'd said back to her. Now Paulie was being blunt and... annoying! She started getting up, pursing her lips together and heading for her bag that she'd thrown when she got here. "I don't have to tell him everything. If he really thinks of himself as my boyfriend, he shouldn't be asking my permission every time he wanted to talk or give me advice." Down on her knees again, she was shoving the books that poked out of the bag inside.

And his last comment was just.... she slid her bag on her shoulder and stood back up. "Don't give me that talk of what it's supposed to be," it made her feel seriously guilty. She scowled at him though, done with sharing feelings and thoughts.

"Let's get out of here, please..." with a sigh she added. The air was getting too tight for her liking.

Nate walked down the vast dark hallway with his wand in his hand. He walked down, and he kept on going farther and farther, until it was to dark for him to even see five feet in front of him. So he grabbed his wand and said "Lumos." His wand quickly lit up with a little ball of light at the tip of it. He put his wand in his left hand, and dragged his other hand against the walls. Memorys started coming back to him. He started to feel dizzy He froze in his spot, and fell to the ground. His wand rolled away from his hand. He couldn't move or speak, he had a severe headache, and he was helpless.

Sophie didn't like spending a lot of time down there in the dungeons. It was colder than anywhere else and it looked kind of... creepy. She was glad she wasn't a Slytherin! Imagine having to go down there every single day! And after what Theodore told her, the Slytherin Common Room was moldy and gross! Eek!

That were the reasons why she never spent too much time down there. But once in a while they all had Potions class and stuff... so it was inevitable to not go there at all. Unfortunately.

When she was making her way out of the dungeons after another lesson, she noticed her house mate Nate getting in some sort of... passage? What in Merlin's beard was that? She frowned and waited to see what he'd do there. She waited. And waited. And waited. Nate didn't seem to come out after a while... weird. Sophie frowned and stepped closer to the passage thing. It was... dark. Not cool.

"Nate??" She called, but got no answer. "Oh, great, I'll have to go in there???" She thought to herself before taking a deep breath. "Lumos." And she began walking down the passage thing. MERLIn, that was terrifying! Whyyyy, oh why did Nate do this?

After walking what felt like a mile, Sophie saw something lying on the floor. AAAAARGH, WHAT WAS THAT???? Oh, no, oh no, oh no, that's not good! But before she actually started panicking for real, she realised that the thing lying down was Nate himself! "Nate!" She rushed over to where he was and leaned down to look in his face. "Are you alright?? What happened?"

Oh, Merlin, please let him not be hurt! She hoped she wouldn't have to drag him all the way out of that passage thing! That would be extremely difficult to do!

Nate didn't hear what Sophie was saying. He was completely motionless. Every now and again he would twitch a bit. He blinked a few times. When he came back to his senses he peered around a bit. He sat up, and saw that Sophie was sitting next to him. "Sophie? What happened? It felt like I've been stunned. Then the next thing I knew I saw myself from last year reaching the end of this corridor."

Still looking down at Nate lying on the floor, Sophie startled when he twitched. That was SO SCARY!! What would she do now?? Go all the way back to the dungeons and ask professor Lafay for help? THAT WAS JUST AS SCARY!! Not good. Not good at all!!

Oh! But Nate seemed to be getting back to his senses! THANK MERLIN! She watched as her Hufflepuff friend said a few words and shook her head. "I have no idea, Nate! I saw you coming in here and waited, but you didn't come out, so I came after you." She was talking really fast while looking around with a scared expression. What if there were dark creatures or something there watching them?? "When I got here you were on the floor!" She got up and pulled his arm. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!" She would make sure he was perfectly alright once they were OUT OF THAT FREAKISH PASSAGE THING!

In her first year, Erin already heard a lot of things about this place. They said that there was actually a secret passage in here. She wanted to see it for herself ever since, but couldn't find the good courage to step into the dungeons alone. In Potions, they were altogether, her friends and all, her housemates and her classmates. That didn't count much.

...and FINALLY, she was here. She wasn't sure how in the name of Merlin did her feet walked her through down the dungeons. But it sounded like this may be the right time to check on that very famous secret passage and the mystery it holds.

Oscar wandered into one of his favourite places in the castle, the secret passage way. He liked to come here to avoid the large crowds of people that seemed to constantly occupy almost every square inch of Hogwarts and from time to time, a lesson or two. Just ahead of him, he noted a girl looking rather over-whelmed. "Is everything okay, up there?" he called out.

"Hey!" muttered Erin. He was a Hufflepuff glancing at his Hogwarts robes. "I am. Why'd you ask?" No one really asks a person how he or she was without any reason plus, they were new acquaintances too. Though, sometimes Erin would catch his name during classes. He was a fourth year if she was right.

What was it again? His name? Mr. Maurier? Maultier? Forget it. He wasn't actually that active in class so Erin would not always hear his name apart from if she was stalking him or if the professors had a run down of attendance during class which was a very rare time since most professors knew their students. Most.

Derrick needed space from everything and everyone around him.He wanted to be alone.Not far away so he was lost but as long as he was in the Castle.He had heard of the Secret Passage before but never actually bothered to go there.Now wasthe Perfect time.

He headed to the Secret Passage way down near the Dungeons pushing past everyone.Once he arrived he walked in.There was only two Groups of people and it reminded Derrick of Trio Eightly odd years back at Hogwarts.(Harry,Ron and Hermione)He ventured over to a spot in the Corner.He sat down and pulled his Legs up to his Chest and wandered what to do for the next few hours.

Only Merlin could help him now.

"You looked a little over-whelmed," he explain, she didn't seem too impressed with his attempt to be helpful. She probably didn't need his help and suddenly he felt as though he came across as a little arrogant, assuming he could just swoop in and help. His cheeks began to colour.

"I'm Oscar, i think i recognize you from a few classes," he mumbled to his feet, his cheeks now flaming. "Sorry, i just thought you might be lost or something, I've never noticed you down here before.."

Overwhelmed? Did Erin really looked like that. Blushing from the guy's comment, she quickly bowed her head down. She wouldn't risked being seen blushed in front of a guy. But he also did change colors as Erin took a peek of his face.

So, it was Oscar. "Nice to meet you then Oscar. I am Erin Heyman." Erin extended her hands to shook his. Though, it wasn't really a habit nowadays - Erin thinks hand shaking were only for firsties - she wanted to be accomodating for what she just asked him. It was down-right unethical.

"Do you frequent this place?" as Oscar just said that he didn't seem to notice Erin around here before. A Hufflepuff in the dungeons. Surreal.

He started at her outstretched for a moment before reaching out to shake hers. He couldn't remember the last time he was shaking hands with someone around his own age. "Hi Erin," he smiled.

"From time to time, no one expects to see Hufflepuffs around here, so no one comes looking for me." he explain. "It's a good place to come to clear your head and avoid crowds." he glanced around, "Is this your first time down here?"

It was like Oscar read her mind, he was more like explaining why he was here as a Hufflepuff. They should be in their kitchens. Was it shown in her face? The confusion? Erin blinked twice or thrice before answering his question."It was my first time," said Erin with a smile and for some weird reasons she wanted to add something. "Stories lead me here. I've been meaning to come here ever since and here you are. Coincidence, isn't it?"

Coming back to his words again, she couldn't help but catch that phrase, 'no one comes looking for me...avoid crowds'. Did that mean, he was a loner? "Don't you like companies?" she asked. Though Erin enjoyed her alone times, she enjoyed having someone more, someone who would be there when she needed help. Like when she just froze in Hogwarts out of nowhere. It was becoming a trend nowadays.

Tag was trying something new. Trying to take a stroll through the castle, without needing the assistance of anyone. He walked all throughout the castle and the grounds and found himself humming some song and let his feet direct him. It wasn't that hard to get back to the common room but then he stopped in his tracks. Tag slowly looked around himself and saw that he was in a cold, dank, dark corridor. One he could not put his finger on. It didn't take long for him to have the feeling that he was lost. If he took one step further he might get more lost and he didn't want that.

"Hello? Hello? Is anybody near here?! Hellloooo?" Tag hollered into the dark,desserted corridor.

Damon walked down into the passage finally finding it again. He needed to practice again for Taylor. Her birthday was coming up so he needed the song to be perfect. He sat down with the guitar and started the song he'd chosen.

Ronnie was wandering around the dungeons, when she saw a familiar figure walk into that one passage she discovered a few months ago. It was. . .Damon! And he had a guitar. Hmm...what was he doing?

There was only one way to find out!

Ronnie slowly began walking to the passage, and made her way into it and saw him sitting on the ground, playing his guitar. She smiled at him. "Hey, Damon." she said. "Whatcha playing?" she asked as she plopped down next to him, hoping he wouldn't mind.

Damon quickly stopped playing a he heard someone say his name. Seeing it was Ronnie he sighed, relieved, "Hey Ronnie, and it's a song for Taylor's birthday. 'Stand Up' by an old band."

"Oh, really?" she asked. "An old band? What's the band called?" she asked curiously. Ronnie was into lots of old bands. Especially old muggle ones. She really liked them, they were the main thing that inspired her to be a drummer...and it was real nice of Damon to play a song for Taylor! She wished someone could do something like that for her birthday!

"One Direction," He said plainly, one of the bands he loved, even if they were a boy band, they were pretty good.