Evelyn wasn't really sure why she was wandering around the school when she was supposed to be studying. Although, she'd been studying a lot the past few weeks. She'd hardly ventured out of her common room except for classes and visiting the library. She supposed she did deserve a break.. Hm. Maybe she should visit the grounds. Get a bit of fresh air and then head back toward the common room.

The seventh year was about to head down the stairs when she noticed someone familiar walking toward her. Huh. "Eddy." What was he even doing here? She hadn't seen him since her birthday. Wow. That was a while ago. But, yes. She did miss her friend. Kind of. "Hi."

Edric just so happened to be walking right by the statues when he heard a voice come in the direction of the moving stairs, precisely where he was headed. The Gryffindor slowed his steps to a halt and raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise at the sight of Casper Evelyn. Oh wow. He hadn't seen her in a while.

"Evs!" Edric smiled at the girl, and once both kids were more within earshot of one another, the Gryffindor added, "Fancy seeing you again. I thought you'd secretly graduated ahead of time and ran off without saying good-bye."

Oh, hey. Eddy smiled. Now, that wasn't something that happened often. And, he didn't call her Casper. Evelyn smiled back at him, feeling slightly relieved. "Yeah, no. I've been studying for NEWT's. Besides, I don't think I would just run off without saying goodbye to my friend." Goodbye.. Gosh, she really wasn't ready to say goodbye to Hogwarts, to her friends.. It was starting to freak her out a little. And, she was going to graduate very soon. Right, anyway. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I'd hope not," muttered Edric as Evelyn assured him she wouldn't run off without saying good-bye to her friend. He hoped she meant him. Wouldn't it be funny if she'd actually been talking about saying good-bye to someone else all along?

As the Hufflepuff girl then asked what he was doing there, Edric looked around for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh I don't know, last time I checked I'd been transferred to this school so I've been here for the past couple terms," explained the boy quite seriously, obviously just teasing Evs by taking her question so literally.

Evelyn burst out laughing. Yeah, the boy was really weird, annoying and teased her all the time but he was funny. At times. Her laughter subsided after a moment, although she was still smiling. Hm. She was in a surprisingly good mood, for some odd reason. But, gosh.. she hadn't laughed so much in a really long time. Stupid NEWT's.

"Okay, well. What are you doing here? As in, the fifth floor? I hope that's specific enough for you."

Ella was mad. Well not mad exactly, mad was for dogs and angry was for people, yeah? At least that is what her Gran was always saying...not that Gran was one to give advice to anyone about anything since she was a bit cray cray. In that case, Ella Bishop was REALLY angry. In fact, the only other time Ella remembered feeling this way was when they had lost their final Quidditch match and Theodore had accused her of trying to kill him... Which was UTTERLY INSANE, by the way. That had been devastating. Anywhoo…The second year was currently on a mission to confront a certain OGRE about some THINGS that had recently come to light. Ohhhh yeah! She was on to his…his…his PLAYBOY ways. Grr. Oh, and she was dragging Queen Alice with her. Mhm! Cause she knew all the details of his sorted behind the scenes life as a…a…FABIO. Ick.

O_____O

Well.Well.Well…Look what we have here. Ella stopped short and pointed towards the ogre and…Eve? Oh Merlin’s beard! Why did Evelyn have to be here? She was going to be crushed! EEP. She turned to Alice and gave her a ‘CanYouBelieveEdricWouldDoSomethingLikeThisToEve?I ’mSoDisappointed’ look. She had conveyed all that with her look, right? No matter. She had a job to do. Edric was supposed to be her friend…and like not such a…a…BOY. So she had to talk to him about it.

Marching forward and pulling Alice along with her, Ella cleared her throat. "Ahem. I hope I’m not…we’re not… interrupting anything." Like SNOGGING. Because apparently Edric went around SNOGGING prefects! And the second year crossed her arms, glaring at her big evil fairy godfather. Glare.Glare.Glare.

Edric seemed a little surprised though certainly pleased as Evelyn suddenly burst out laughing. Wow. When was the last time he'd heard her laugh so freely? Was this the first?! Evs wasn't exactly the giggly type, so Edric felt quite accomplished to have amused her somehow.

The Gryffindor curved a corner of his lips into a smirk as Evelyn repeated her question more specifically. Edric opened his mouth to reply with another troll answer then, when, SUDDENLY, Ella arrived.
And she wasn't alone. Little Demon was tagging along. What?

Immediately, Edric was already confused - since when did Ella and Alice hang around together? He wasn't sure he liked that. Nah, actually, he was sure. He didn't like the idea of his fairy godchild, his little Edrica, making friends with the wrong crowd he totally wasn't going all dad-mode for a second there.

Apparently, Alice had already taught Ella how to glare too! 'Cause, of course, Ella would NEVER just randomly storm up to him glaring if she hadn't been influenced by some evil new friend. This was what Edric thought, anyway, as he still wasn't aware of just how much of a mini-ogre Ella had become.

Anyway.
"Oh, you're not interrupting anything at all. Just a conversation between grown-ups." Yeah 'cause Evs and Eddy were like 67 and 68 and Ella and Alice were both four and a half. He was just teasing, as usual. The boy eyed Alice then, before turning his gaze back to Ella. "New friend?"

Evelyn couldn't help but jump a little when all of a sudden, Ella stood next to them.. with ALICE!? Gosh, those kids were sneaky but.. Ella and Alice were FRIENDS? Since, when!? And.. wait. Did Blue hang out with Alice as well?.. Evelyn needed to have a talk with her sister. Heh.

She looked at the young Gryffindor for a moment before her gaze shifted back toward Ella. And, the girl looked MAD. Like, really mad. Evelyn was fond of Ella but.. she was kind of scaring her now. Why on earth was she glaring at Eddy? Did he do something wrong?.. Okay. Wrong question.

Um. Okay. Evelyn nodded when Eddy said that they weren't really interrupting anything. "What's wrong, Ella?" The Prefect looked at the girl, a little concerned.

"ELLA. I demand you let go of me. NOW. You can't drag a queen around her castle like this!" Flail.

SO. Alice was being forced to do stuff against her will. And getting creepy looks from Ella. Why? 'Cause she had to see two certain people snogging and then had a slip up in front of a certain bestie and then lied to her about a certain something she had witnessed. And then she was being manhandled by a certain someone and forced to a certain gathering and was in for certain trouble. "ELLS. Calm down. It's just Edric." Well. At least she thought it was. Y'know. until they rounded the corner and saw Eve and Edric probably getting ready to stick their tongues in each others mouths again standing by the Statues.

Kay. The lioness needed to do some serious damage control here. "Ella Saurus Bishop! LET. GO. OF. ME." Wait. Ells wasn't going that easy. "PLEASE," she added, and was rewarded with.. nothing. Finally, she wrenched her wrist out of Ella's iron grip and ran over to Edric and wrapped her arms around his upper torso, 'cause that was as high as she could reach. "EDDDDYYYY. 'Tis so nice to see you again!" Ewww. EWEWEWEWWW. She was hugging Edric Barlow. Gag. She stood on her tiptoes and, taking little jumps while she did, managed to reach an area kind of close to his ear. "I didn't rat you guys out, just so y'know.. YOU'RE WELCOME," she whispered, and then turned around again.

Fortunately, Ells face looked rather blank, 'cept for her her anger. And there was probably some shock mixed in there since.. well, arch-enemies had kinda HUGGED right in front of her. BUT. Anyways. Her Jigglypuff bestie hadn't noticed the little whisper-exchange. GOOD. Time to turn back into non-hugging, sarcastic Little Demon. "YEAH. Ells is my new bestie." BEAM. "'Course, I was kinda skeptical when I heard you two were friends, but I got over it quickly after I heard about what Ella can do with pumpkin juice." Tee hee. Mhmm, Prince Charming, Little Demon had a way of finding out EVERYTHING. "Well.. you could guess why we're here, I suppose. Ella wants to.. err.. say something." She glanced at her friends uber angry face again and took a teensy step sideways.

She didn't want to be too close when an Ellasaurus exploded.

Ella didn’t listen to anything Alice was saying as she was literally BLINDED …and well deafened too…BY HER RAGE. She was SO Ellasaurus right now. RAWRRRR. And poor Alice could do nothing to stop her. She didn’t have a chance. AND WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS SHE DOING? Hugging Edric like that? The second year raised her eyebrows and just kind of shook her head…cause something fishy was going on here. Definitely
…

The look of shock on Edric’s face when the second year arrived with Alice didn’t go unnoticed. Her ogre looked…worried? N’aww. Ogres didn’t worry! Especially not ogres who SNOGGED random prefects and didn’t bother discussing it with their fairy godchildren. Hmph.

Psh. Just grownups talking? This earned Edric a nice eyeroll. Yup. You’re welcome. Ella was just not in the mood to be trolled. Clearly. And the way he was looking at Alice? The badger didn’t really like that look. "Yes, Alice is my friend. And…and she’s been a better friend than you lately." Ohhh yeah. She said it! And then Alice was answering too…and insulting her ogre…GLARE. And Ella didn’t know whether to defend him or not. She was totally torn…but she was also very upset. And her upset feelings outweighed her feelings for her big mean bestie, unfortunately.

The second year would have gone on to Edric but then Evelyn was talking and looking…also worried. WHAT? WHY were they so worried all of the sudden? It’s not like Edric had worried about her when he was off acting like a…a…ROMEO and then telling Alice all about it and not telling his very bestest second year BESTIE! Ella simply could not understand it. And It’s not like she was acting like a little monster or anything… Oh…OH! And then Evelyn was asking what was wrong. "Oh you wanna know what’s wrong, do you?" GLARE AT EDRIC. "I’ll tell you what’s wrong!"

Ella started pacing, hands locked together behind her back, frowning as she went. "You want to know what I think is funny?" And she didn't let anyone answer because honestly, she didn't care what anyone had to say at the moment. "I find it funny that Edric went on about meeting a little demon and how said demon PUSHED him into the duck pond and that he didn't like her and then...THEN..." And Ella stopped her pacing and whipped around to face Edric. "And then he goes and tells this 'demon' that he's...he's SNOGGED some random girl..a...a..SELENA person... AND that he's in LOVE with her!" And Ella just about wibbled but stopped herself in time. Nope. She wasn't going to show any weakness. "You're in LOVE with someone and you didn't tell me but you told Alice?...You must not dislike her so much after all then, huh? And how could you do this to Evelyn?" Frown. Frown. Frown. "I thought...I thought we were friends, Edric!" FROWN. "I guess I was very wrong." Hmph. And she stepped back, leaning up against the wall, considering pushing Edric into the swamp created by the Weasley twins. Heh. Ogres DID belong in swamps, didn't they? Frown. Maybe Ella belonged there now too.

Just as Edric was trying to figure out in his head HOW it was possible that sweet, innocent Ella and demonic Alice were suddenly friends, the Little Demon charged at him and--
EURGH!!!!
WHAT WAS SHE DOING!?!? WHY was she doing that to him?! What the-- OH MERLIN NO. This-- this trying to break him in half - he'd experienced this before. First with Ella, then more recently with Evs-- it was… A HUG. Oh God WHY.

Edric was just about to push Alice off, when the little blonde whispered something into his ear. The Gryffindor boy, of course, had no clue what in the world she was talking about. Honestly, he'd actually kind of forgotten that Alice had witnessed him and Evelyn kissing that one time. It had been a while ago, and the subject hadn't really been brought up again recently; besides, he'd been distracted with exams and Evelyn's birthday preparations. As for Alice's comment on the pumpkin juice incident, Edric rolled his eyes.

No wonder the girls were friends now. Ella had become quite the vicious little thing, after all.
And what was coming up would prove that.

Ella - the sweet, innocent and naive child Edric had once met, was now snapping angrily at him, accusing him of being a worse friend than Alice. The Gryffindor's eyebrows shot up to his hairline at this - what?! Was this because he'd been kind of neglecting her lately? But he'd explained to her it was the exams. He couldn't just ignore his exams to babysit her!

But then Ella was explaining what the problem REALLY was. And by the time she was done, Edric was as frozen and still as the statues he stood beside of.

… WHAT?!?!?!?!

Edric's ears were ringing.
WAIT-- WHAT had Ella just said!? Snogging Selena? Being in love? TELLING Alice?! WHAT?!

It took Edric a few moments to realize which question he wanted to blurt out first, because he had about 283748 all lined up on his tongue, just waiting to jump out.

"Who in Merlin's beard is Selena?!" The boy furrowed his brows, looking truly confused, like he'd just arrived at an alternate universe where people walked with their hands and talked with their feet. He certainly FELT like he'd fallen into a black hole, the way his day had randomly turned upside down in a matter of seconds.

Okay. Evelyn had absolutely NO idea what was going on. Why was Ella so mad AND why was Alice hugging Eddy? Were they friends? Uh, no. They couldn't be because she kind of knew he hated her. So, seriously. Would someone just tell her what was going on!? Or maybe.. she should just leave and let Eddy deal with the them. "Cause, she did have some serious studying to do and the crazy Ella was freaking her out. Just a little. As for Alice.. well, she was a definitely crazy.

And..Evelyn backed away a little when Ella suddenly turned towards her. Huh. She'll tell her what was wrong?.. Alright. Evelyn frowned and waited for Ella to explain what on earth was wrong and what was she so mad about. The Prefect couldn't help raise an eyebrow when Ella glared at Eddy again. Okay. So, it had something to do with Eddy.. but that was kind of obvious from the start.

HUH!? Evelyn listened to Ella talk.. and talk.. and talk. Duck pond. Right, okay.. The Little Demon!? Oh, right. Alice. She was the one who pushed him into the pond. Tells her WHAAAT!?!?

LOVE WITH SELENA!?

The Head Girl. No, that was impossible. Eddy didn't even know Selena.. she knew that. But, he TOLD Alice that he was in love with Selena and they snogged? That was ridiculous. Eddy was not in love and even if he was.. he would have told her, right? But, they hadn't met in a while. So, for all she knew, he was dating Selena. Not that she had a problem with that.. Obviously. But, it was kind of surprising.

Waiiiit, WHAT!? How could he do this to Evelyn? HEYY. What did that even mean? "Okay. Ella. Slow down for a minute, okay? Eddy and I aren't dat----" OHHH. Wait a minute. Did Ella know that they'd kissed!? CRAP. This was just.. CRAZY. "We are NOT dating." Although, seriously!? First her, Selena.. that was just bad. If the story was true, that is.

As for Eddy's question, "Selena's the Head Girl." See? He didn't even know her. But, still.."Do you know her?"Evelyn bit her lip. Yeah, so.. she was a little curious, that's all. Maybe, he DID know her and was pretending like he didn't.. Heh.

So Ella was yelling. Edric was shouting. Eve was nearly crying staring. And Alice was.. also staring.
Summary of tonight's events, people.

The lioness was growing impatient with Edric, surprised at Eve's quiet reaction well, it was quiet so far, and most shockingly, found herself annoyed with her bestestestest girlfriend. Besides Emma and Blue and Erin, of course. "'SCUSE ME. Are you saying I'm not a better friend than this ogre on a daily basis?!" Flail. Kay. That kind of hurt her feelings. The girl could be mean and rude and demon-ish, but she treated her friends nicely. VERY nicely. And didn't pour pumpkin juice in their lap, thanks. And.. what was this? Glaring? And accusing? Blaming the innocent Queen? INJUSTICE. Injustice was being done. "AHEM. Ells. I never said that Edric had TOLD me." 'Cause.. well, she didn't. Where did that come from? "I said Edric snogged Selena. That was it." Cue 'Shutttupp' look at Edric."And.. HEYY! He pushed me into that pond as well! He almost drowned me! AND I'M NOT A DEMON!" Ellasaurus was being.. mean.

She didn't like Ells very much right now.

Wibble. What was so wrong with telling Alice? Why would Ella be so surprised if someone cared about Alice's opinion? Why was Ella being un-nicelike for the first time in her life? HMPH. At this point, Eve was the only person who the second year didn't feel like screaming at right now. And.. and Eve looked so hurt. WHAT?! Didn't she realize that this was what the lioness had done to protect her secret? She had told her to go to any means to keep it under wraps, right? "Evs.. are you okay?" She didn't look okay. At this point, no one looked okay, actually.

This was kind of scaring Alice. Even though Edric's face was PRICELESS right then and she would have paid any amount of money to have a camera. Alice leaned against the wall opposite Ella and slid down it until she landed on her rump. THIS. WAS. NOT. FUN. At all.

So...Ella officially hated being angry. And she was officially some kind of mini ogre-monster from...well a really bad place. Mhm! She hated herself right now. Like everything about herself but she really couldn't help how she felt. In her book, friends told each other the important things and keeping something so important from a friend was the same as lying. Ugh. And Alice was SO not helping this situation at all, either. How could she not understand where Ella was coming from?

The second year frowned at Alice and shook her head. "No. Actually I love..." Oh Merlin, she'd just said love. Well...whatever. She could blame it on the rage later or something. "Love you both equally but you've been more of a friend lately than he has." There. Ta-daaa. An explanation for the angry Hulk. Ugh. And then the QUEEN was getting all technical on her. Fine. Fine. "Okay, so you never said he told you...what then? You were there or something?...and you did say he was in love. I remember that quite clearly." Cause Ella didn't think ogres could love anyone except mini-ogres and soon-to-be ogre wifeys. "Alice! I'm not saying anything about you...I'm just saying what Edric said about you. I don't think any of those things. I know you're not a demon." Frown. Frown. Frown. "I was just...angry. I'm sorry, okay?"How could her friend not know this? Ugh.

Edric looked...well he looked really shocked. Which was weird...it was weird, wasn't it? I mean WHY did he look so shocked? He had snogged this weird Selena person, hadn't he? I mean that's what Alice told her...and Ella trusted Alice. She was her friend, yeah? So she wouldn't lie...would she? O__O

Then Evelyn was all INSISTING that they weren't dating. Which was all fine and dandy. If those two wanted to keep on denying feelings that were CLEARLY creeping around somewhere in their weirdo older person hearts, that was their decision. Ella simply shrugged. She didn't much feel like talking anymore now that everyone was all acting weird and denying everything...which was still really STRANGE.

Ella felt like she was going to pass out or something. Edric was acting like he didn't know Selena and Evelyn seemed to believe him...for the most part. But if Edric didn't know Selena then? "Wait...so you didn't kiss a Selena?" Cue a very confused look at Ella's little Gryffindor friend. "But...but...." BUT WHAT IN MERLIN'S BEARD WAS GOING ON?! "So who are you in love with then?"

As Evelyn explained that Selena was the Head Girl and asked if the boy knew her, Edric turned his attention back to her. "Well, apparently I've snogged and fallen in love with her and told Alice all about it, didn't I?" he replied sarcastically. But JUST as he said that, there was a voice in his brain screaming - THIS is NOT the time to be rude to the ONLY sane person in this alternate universe, Barlow! - "I'm sorry-- I meant… No, I don't know her." He gave the Hufflepuff an apologetic look but doubted she'd accept it.

The boy was obviously a little agitated. Not as much by the chaos going on, though, but more by the fact that he'd been hugged twice in the same month. Blergh.

Edric turned his attention to Alice then, who was right at that moment confessing that she'd been the one to say that he'd apparently snogged this Selena girl. He just hoped this mystery girl was cute 'cause if not he'd double-hate Alice for making up a rumour where he'd apparently snogged a troll or something. Alice's 'shuttup' look at him didn't keep the boy from blurting, "You said WHAT?!" WHY in Merlin's beard was Alice starting rumours about him?! He knew she hated him, and the feeling was mutual, but was this necessary?!

It was at that moment that the fellow Gryffindor's earlier words began to echo in Edric's head - 'I didn't rat you guys out' - had she been talking about him and Evelyn? … But so, she solved the problem by spreading a lie instead?! Facepalm.

Edric was just trying to process everything in his head as Ella explained herself to Alice when, suddenly, the little Hufflepuff turned back to him, asking if he hadn't really kissed this Selena girl.

Oh.
Now she asked for confirmation?
The boy replied simply, "No." Did Ella know he'd kissed someone else instead, though? Probably not, or else she'd be bringing up the kiss with Evelyn as well. Edric decided that was information best not brought up just yet. "I'm not in 'love' with anyone," he added in response to Ella's following question. C'mon, did she honestly think the ogre was capable of loving anyone?

Okay, well. Evelyn was starting to get a headache from all this chaos. What on earth was going on!? And, the fact that Ella suggested something was going to between Edric and her was starting to make her uncomfortable.

Evelyn looked slightly surprised. So, Alice SAW them kissing!? That was the only logical conclusion, right? No, not really but Evelyn chose to believe that. And, all this Selena and Edric kissing was.. well.. she didn't like it. UGHH. What was wrong with her!? She didn't even know if this silly story was true or not BUT was she feeling... jealous?.. Okay. She was going to deal with that later.

And, Evelyn noticed that Alice looked really down in the dumps. Huh. Okay, she'd never liked the girl much but she did feel bad for her because Alice looked really upset.. and it was because of Ella or that's what she assumed anyway. "I'm fine." It wasn't like Edric was her boyfriend. So, she had nothing to be upset about. Evelyn looked down at Alice, mildly concerned. "You okay, Alice?"

Okay, that's it. Edric was back to his annoying self. He really was a jerk sometimes."You know what? I'm trying to be nice here, alright? You.. and this girl.. snogging? Really? Do you like to go around snogging girls, Edric?" Yeah, she was mad at him for reasons unknown.. okay, well. For reasons KNOWN but whatever. Evelyn pushed him, her face slowly turning red. "I mean, was I just one of those girls you---" OHHHHHHH. Crap. That was a major slip-up. What was wrong with her!? She hoped the kids didn't notice that.. UGH. She was such an idiot. "I mean.. do what you like. I just don't care."

... What was Edric doing? DUUUUDE. He was totally ruining everything Alice had done for him! For the sake of lemons awesometastical people, wasn't he the one who didn't want Ells to know about his snog with Eve?! Flail. And Ells' apology did nothing to make her feel better. To think that she, the Hulk, was considered as good of a friend as Edric Barlow kind of tore at her heart. BUT. Anyways. "YOU DO TOO KNOW HER." Alice wasn't giving up this easily. Evs was the only sane person in the room at the moment, and she intended to keep her secret a secret. "You snogged her and you told her that you loved her! MHM." Cue internal groan. Had Edric really not caught on yet?

The lioness scowled at the older boy. Was he not getting her mental message to be un-stupid, now? Flail. "I said that you kissed Selena. What? Was I not supposed to?" Alice managed to keep her demeanor calm and cold, but she couldn't keep her chin from wobbling a little. She didn't want to do this anymore.. how she wished that she hadn't stumbled upon Edric and Eve that night. But she had pinky-promised the Prefect.. and she didn't break pinky-promises. Ever. "Well, Ells knows now, so you might as well give up now.." Wibble. Could Edric seriously not catch on yet?! Did he not how much this was breaking the little lioness? She glanced at Eve and gave a little jerk of her head at her. EVE. Please. Don't listen to me. I'M LYING. Flail.

"I'm... No, I'm really not okay." Sigh. "I'm not fine at all." She had just discovered that she was hurting Eve's feelings with her lie, Edric probably hated her even more now, Ella thought of her as similar to Edric, and she had probably caused Selena a lot of trouble, too. And then Eve started yelling at Eddy and.. ONE OF THOSE GIRLS?! O_o She had just.. just said it. Could Alice come clean now? Or.. Evelyn looked distraught. She really didn't want it to get out. "One of those girls who you thought Eddy liked more than everyone else and wasn't ogre-ish to, right?" The second year finished for the Prefect. "I thought so, too."

Alice slumped on the ground next to Evelyn. This wasn't going well. And she was kind of bored now.

Ella raised her eyebrows when her ogre snapped at Eve, a little startled. Merlin’s beard! That wasn’t any way to treat your soon to be wife friend! It was then that Ella realized she had just done MUCH worse to Edric and she felt horrible about it. So this is what being a horrible person felt like, huh? Awesome. The second year could now add this to her list of life experiences.

Then Edric was yelling at Alice over what she had said, and Ella couldn’t tell if it was because it was the truth or because Alice had made it all up. She really wanted it to be the first one though…She knew she couldn’t stay mad at Edric for too long for being a boy. Boys were ALWAYS doing weird and stupid things. But if Alice had lied to her…Ella didn’t know how she’d react to that.
And then Edric was confirming that he hadn’t kissed Selena…and that he wasn’t in love with anyone. Huh. And then Alice was coming back at him and insisting he had done it…that she had seen him do it. And that she HEARD him say he loved her…Ella looked from Alice to Edric completely hurt and confused because clearly ONE of them was lying to her right now. And indirectly to Eve, too. "But when Alice and I were talking she said that you had 'Snog-' but stopped short and I figured out she was saying 'snogged' and if it wasn’t Selena then…" O___O And Ella was now connecting the dots. Because Alice had given her clues, remember? A Prefect…with height problems…who was a seventh year. DING.DING.DING. And she was about to reveal her discovery when she realized that Evelyn was now snapping at Edric…because why? Because she was…

MERLIN’S BEARD!

'I was just one of those girls you---' Ella had heard it. She’d heard it and it was all she needed to confirm her suspicion. Even with Alice’s rather lame cover-up…Ella knew the truth. Edric hadn't snogged this Selena person…it had been Eve all along. Blink.Blink.

You know that feeling? The one that everyone knows something except for you? And then it comes out and you feel really...weird...and hurt? The one where it feels like your stomach has dropped down and your heart starts beating SO loud that you can hear it in your ears? That was what Ella was now feeling. Mostly because it seemed her friend, her newest best friend, had LIED to her…and made her think that Edric was some womanizer dude who like…was gonna hurt Evelyn’s feelings or something! Which he clearly had done with this whole fake snogging rumor thing…just saying…homegirl was MAD jealous, son. ^________^ And now Edric probably hated her guts, and Evelyn probably thought Ella was mental, and Alice…well apparently Alice was mad at her too now. Well the feeling was mutual.

"So erm you two…snogged then?" She said quietly, gesturing between Eve and Edric. "And you…knew about this?" She said, turning to look at Alice with wide eyes. "And you…lied to me about it?" WIBBLE. "Wow." Wow indeed. Could Ella go hide somewhere now or? Cause she was so not going to cry or be a baby around any of these guys. Nope.

The lioness looked down at the floor she was sitting on as Ella spilled everything about their first conversation and how she had almost given everything away. She kept her eyes on the ground as her friend connected the dots and realized what Edric had done. What Eve had done. What Alice had done. And she had to admit, this was the first time in her life she actually felt sorry for something. But.. but even if she had made a couple of mistakes, this one was 'cause of a pinky promise. Ells couldn't ignore that fact.

"Ells, I didn't mean t—" the second year started, but before she could finish, Ella interrupted her and clarified that they snogged. And that Alice had lied about it. And that made the girl feel even worse. She felt as if her stomach down to her toes. "I didn't mean to lie to you, I really didn't! I tried to avoid the subject, but you kept asking, and it slipped out and.. and.." Wibble. The small girl's chin wobbled and her eyes started getting blurry. .. WhatinthenameofQueenAlicewasthematterr?! The Gryffindor had never cried in her life, not even as a child. She did wail a lot, though. This was NOT a time to start. "I pinky-promised Evs! You have to understand that I could break a pinky-promise, Ells. If.. If there was anything else I could have done without breaking my promise, I would have." But her brain wasn't functioning correctly at the moment, and her head hurt. There wasn't any excuse she could make; she HAD lied. "I'm.. I'm sorry, Ells." She looked down at the ground again.

"And.. and Evs, I didn't mean to make you upset with Eddy or anything. I thought you two knew.. knew that it was a lie." 'Cause, honestly, Sel was shorter than Alice was, how did they expect her to reach his lips? And if they had met, no doubt Edric would have drowned her pygmy puff and kicked her cruppy by now. "And, Prince Charming.. I'm sorry I kinda made you sound like a pig." But you have to admit that it was kinda believable, with his history. "I was just trying to keep my promise to Eve.. and I knew you guys didn't want it to get out."

So it was decided that Alice didn't take the best route with her horrid cover story, then?

As if things couldn't get any worse for the supposed ladies' man here, his Hufflepuff friend was now furious with him. He understood that, he'd kind of asked for it when he snapped unfairly at her earlier. However, it was the fact that she was now beginning to believe this whole horrible story, that really freaked him out. Did he go around snogging girls? Was she just 'one' of those girls?! MERLIN. "NO!" Edric immediately replied, unaware of just how loud he'd let his voice go. The group was attracting curious glances now, but the boy didn't care. He barely noticed that Evelyn's slip would give it away to Ells that it had been her he'd kissed, not that Selena girl.

"I'm not that kind of person and you know that, Evs," said Edric more calmly now, though there was still a hint of panic in his eyes. What in the world had Alice done?! Seriously?! Thanks to her stupid rumour, now Evs would be graduating Hogwarts angry with him and he'd never see her again! She was the only friend he had left, since apparently Little Demon had taken Ella to the dark side with her, now.

But Alice wasn't making matters any better as she continued to insist that apparently Mr. Barlow, the ladies' man (and this was honestly laughable, I mean c'mon it's Edric), had indeed kissed the Selena girl and had told her he loved her. That in itself, Edric felt, should've given it away to everyone that the whole thing was a lie. How often did Edric Barlow tell anyone he loved them? Didn't they know him? The most people-hating curmudgeon in all of Great Britain?

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" Edric was understanding, after remembering Alice's whisper to him, what the girl was up to. But it wasn't worth it to him anymore - he'd rather Ella know the truth and freak out, than have Ella AND Evelyn both believing a lie and seeing him as some unholy awful creature or something. Exasperated, the Gryffindor turned to Ella, and he was just about to confess the whole thing - that he had kissed Evelyn, not Selena - when the little Hufflepuff began to connect the dots on her own.

As Ella finally understood what had really happened, Edric let out a long sigh of relief. However, the look on Ella's face worried him a little. Unlike him, who was just feeling relieved that everything was beginning to clear up, the girl looked completely… disappointed. A bit with him and Evs, but mostly disappointed with Alice, who it seemed she'd made much closer friends than he'd even realized.

Edric remained silent as Alice tried to explain herself to he Hufflepuff girl, and even went as far as to apologize not only to her and Evelyn but to him as well. Edric - or 'Prince Charming' - wasn't very touched, though. He wasn't so concerned with the trouble Alice was causing his friendship with Evelyn anymore, but more with what her lying (though he believed it honorable) had done to Ella. And based on what little Edric had seen of Ella lately, the little girl was in no mental state to take big shocks or surprises like this. She was going through that growing-up phase, remember?

Edric cleared his throat.
He couldn't believe he was saying this.
"Ella… it's not Alice's fault." I better not regret this. "It's true. Evelyn and I kissed" - not snogged! Little girls shouldn't say 'snog'! - "and Alice knew. But she didn't choose to know. It just happened; it was a thing of… being in the wrong place at the wrong time." This bit Edric wasn't too sure of, he still wouldn't put it past Alice to have been purposely snooping around, but for the sake of Ella's sanity, he wasn't going to debate on that. "It was just a kiss, we didn't want it getting around or rumours starting, so Evelyn made Littl-- Alice promise not to say anything. The whole thing with this Selena girl… none of it is true. Your friend here" - he gave Alice a look, still not too fond of her being so close to Ella, though he seemed to lack hatred in his gaze this time - "was just trying to keep a promise. It might've turned out all wrong, but it was... a respectable thing to do."

Edric stopped there. He wanted to suggest to Ella to forgive Alice, as that would be the mature thing for her to do, but he decided to leave that decision entirely up to her, without any outside influence. It was up to Ella to decide if she wanted to see only the awful result of a lie, or Alice's good, though not well-executed, intentions.

Evelyn really wanted to throw a 'silencio' at all three of them. There was just WAY too much talking and confusion. Eddy wandering around the school kissing girls, Ella acting crazy (Although, Evelyn knew where she was coming from) and Alice being surprisingly nice.. Huh. Weiiiird. And.. Eddy's voice distracted her from her crazy thoughts. No!? So, he was denying the fact that he kissed Selena? From the horrified look on his face, it looked like he was telling the truth but still.. Alice wouldn't lie on purpose, would she?

He wasn't that kind of a person.. Huh. Yeah. Evelyn knew him well enough to know that he didn't love that girl. The boy didn't love anyone.. except for his family. Maybe. But, he might have kissed her. And, she really was over-thinking this. Frankly, she didn't even know why she was so concerned. He could go around the school kissing girls, if he wanted to. It wasn't her business. She was leaving school soon anyway..

"Okay, well.. but Alice says she saw you kissing that girl." Was it just a co-incidence that Alice saw her kissing Eddy as well!? Did the girl follow Eddy around and see him kissing girls? Heh. But, Evelyn still wasn't sure if she believed the silly rumor or not. He was her friend and she should believe him. This was so CONFUSING. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, not sure what to say anymore.

Evelyn couldn't help but look a little surprised. Basically, the boy had absolutely no idea what Alice was talking about!? Seriously? And, Alice kept insisting that they did. UGH. One of them HAD to be lying.. but then again, it wasn't her business. She was still a little embarrassed with her earlier outburst.. but she was happy that Alice kind of convered up that slip-up. Heh. The girl was being way too nice and Evelyn was starting to like her. Evelyn took a deep breath, shifted her gaze towards Eddy. "You know, even if you did kiss her.. it's fine.." She still wasn't sure if the story was true. "I don't really have a problem." She was being mature. Yepp.

And.. the girl got the biggest SHOCK of her LIFE. What the heck was happening!? Alice had been lying all along to protect the promise she made to Evelyn!?!? Okay, that was nice thing to do. An amazing thing to do, in fact.. but.. So, he hadn't kissed anyone? And, she'd been all worked up about nothing? Wow. Although, she blamed herself for the entire situation.

After Edric's little speech, Evelyn couldn't help but feel like a really horrible individual. It was her fault that Alice lied for her. And Ella.. gosh, the girl looked betrayed and hurt. She really didn't know what to say so she just ended up giving the girls a huge hug. "I'm so sorry, you guys." And, she really meant it. Oh. "And.. Ella, like Eddy said, it wasn't Alice's fault. At all. I asked her to keep a promise and she did a great job keeping it." Evelyn finished with a smile directed towards Alice. "Thank you, Alice."

Oh, yeah. She supposed Eddy deserved an apology as well.. Evelyn turned towards him, her face red with embarrassment. "And.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have thought.. I mean, I should have believed you.. I.. uh.." Okay. Well, she was just stuttering so she should probably stop talking. Gosh, he was her FRIEND. Why was she feeling so relieved all of a sudden. It wasn't like she liked him or anything.. although what she did do next might suggest otherwise. Ahem. She ended up giving him a huge hug as well (Yes, she knew that he hated hugs) and a peck.. on the lips.

Ella felt a bit numb at the moment. It was like the things going on around her were happening in slow motion or something. Edric was yelling ‘no’ like STRANGELY loud at Evelyn, which caused Ella to raise her eyebrows again but she continued to look off down the corridor as the older boy tried to reassure the older Hufflepuff that he was in fact NOT a playboy. Then he was saying…O__O Ohhh. Gasp. He had said ‘bloody hell!’ Eep. That wasn’t so nice. Didn’t he know he was around Hogwarts ickles? He couldn’t go around talking like that…Sheesh. And then there was Alice…who was apologizing to Ella. And Ella bit her lip because her friend looked like she was going to cry, causing Ella’s watery eyes to leak, tears now streaming down her face. The second year felt completely out of sorts. Plus she hated to see anyone crying, especially a best friend. And yeah, despite everything Alice was still considered a best friend.

She was pacing again as she listened to Alice, mostly because she couldn’t stand still any longer. It felt like her thoughts were all over the place and walking always seemed to help her so she decided to try that out. So far no luck, though. So Alice had been keeping a pinky promise? That’s why she had lied? Ella couldn’t exactly blame her for that, could she? After all, Ella was like the poster child for taking pinky promises seriously. But still, she felt angry that Alice hadn’t told her that in the first place, instead making up this gigantic lie and unintentionally making Ella do something ridiculously stupid by screaming at her older bestie. The second year simply didn’t know what to say.

When Edric spoke up, Ella finally stopped her pacing to look at the older boy. Her eyes were still watery but she was no longer crying, thank Merlin. So he was defending Alice. That was an interesting turn of events, definitely not something she had seen coming. Strangely, she felt kind of proud of her evil fairy god father. He was sticking up for Alice despite the fact that he thought she was a little demon, which Ella thought was really nice of him. In the back of her mind all she could think of was that this might mean her two friends could maybe be friends with each other in the future…Strange time to be thinking things like that, yeah? Anway…she sort of looked at Edric and gave him a small nod, indicating she’d heard what he had to say. She still wasn’t sure how to respond so she kept quiet, feeling extremely exhausted all of the sudden.

Suddenly she was being hugged by Evelyn, which was strange considering the girl had just been angry moments before. It seemed she had figured out this whole thing was a big misunderstanding and that apparently, she was sorry for being a part of it. Ella nodded. She accepted the apology. It made sense that she and Edric hadn’t wanted anyone to know about their kiss. Truthfully, the second year would have been one of the first to say something about it once she’d heard, though probably more to Edric than to random strangers. She still felt weird about the whole thing, though. She didn’t know how to process the whole situation and figured it would take a day or two to sort it all out in her head. For right now, she had to figure out what she wanted to say to everyone, since she hadn’t spoken in quite a while. Which was very unlike her, actually. She didn't even say anything about the peck ON THE LIPS that Eve had given her ogre...though maybe when she was thinking more clearly...

Looking up at Evelyn first, Ella bit her lip. “Sorry I…well that I keep making it seem like you and Edric like-like each other. I won’t ever talk about it again.” At least not to either of them. It was clear that it annoyed Eve and the last thing Ella wanted to be remembered as was that annoying second year. Next Ella turned to Alice, not exactly knowing what to say or how to say it. Something needed to be said, though. “I…wouldn’t ever break a pinky promise either so I…understand why you lied but it still hurt…s-so” Ella’s voice cracked a bit, revealing how emotional she was feeling all the sudden but she shook it off. “So just don’t lie to me again, okay? Friends…aren’t supposed to do that.” Now for Edric, who probably HATED her guts right now, ugh.

“I’m sorry I freaked out…again.” She’d been doing that a lot lately around him, yeah? “I think I’m losing my mind or something maybe…I dunno.” Shrug. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.” Wibble.

"There's a reason why the Ministry came up with this law, you know." It was a LAW. Elliot was too stubborn and... kind of dumb even, to be a Ravenclaw... or maybe it was a Ravenclaw trait to be stubborn? Nah, Blue wasn't. It was just Elliot's thing then. Her family must be a nasty one... to simply ignore what the Ministry says... Sophie shook her head as she stared at Elliot.

The Hufflepuff disliked that blue-eyed face so much right now. She hated the way Elliot was smirking and glaring. Actually, she didn't even know it was possible for someone to use those two expressions at the same time. Sophie would NEVER pity someone that mean. Whoever wanted to be mean deserved nothing but... but... well, Sophie didn't know; but surely not her pity.

As the eagle trailed off about her parent's reasons. Yeah, right. Sophie wouldn't buy it. Even if Elliot had a baby brother, a mother could never forget about her daughter's birthday. Only if her mother was just as mean as Elliot, something that wouldn't surprise Sophie. Oh, she did have a brother. Sophie eyed the photo as Elliot held it out for her to see. "He is adorable." Truly was. "I hope he doesn't grow up to be like you..." OHMERLIN, where was she getting those lines from?? Honestly, Sophie was not like that... Elliot and Hannah could bring out the worst in her... argh.

Sophie took another step backwards as Elliot came closer again. She didn't want to get in a fight and get in trouble later, but seriously... she wished she could do something to that girl, she only didn't know what... though when Elliot reached for her wand, Sophie instinctively pulled out her own. 'I won't do anything right now.'

Yeah, as if Sophie would trust her...

Edric Barlow was trying to help her..?!?!?!
This day couldn't get anymore unusual, could it?

Alice's jaw dropped as Prince Charming tried to help her explain her actions to Ella. .... What was he doing?! Didn't he want the two girls not to be friends anymore? Flail. The lioness watched, speechless, while he gave Ella a mini-lecture on her supposed intentions and blah-blah-blah. The girl was too surprised to listen. When Edric's mouth finally stopped flapping, Alice jumped in. ".. What're you doing?" The shock was plain on her face. ".. You don't hate me after all!" The girl let out a tiny giggle. She was going to hold Eddy's only nice act towards her against him for the rest of his short-lived life. "That's so SWEET. I dunno what to say!"She hopped over to Eddy and gave him another looooong squeeze around the waist. MHM. "I feel LOVED."

And then.. Evs finally realized what Alice had done. The lioness had to admit, she was a teensy bit afraid of how the Prefect would react... and was surprised when she found herself being pulled into a Ghost-Prefect and Ellasaurus sandwich. HUMPH. She tolerated being squished for a minute or two and then finally wriggled her way out of their arms. "Evs, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have slipped up in the first place." Sigh. But her heart swelled with a teensy bit of pride as Evs thanked her for keeping the promise. "You're welcome, Evs." BEAAAAMMMMM. "'Twas the least I could do after I walked in on you guys.. y'know.." Awkward pause. Well, that's what happens when you bring up awkward things.

The second year coughed awkwardly as Evs kinda stuck her tongue down Eddy's throat again. She managed to stop herself from gagging, but she couldn't help but cover her yes; she didn't want to witness an ogre kissing yet again. When the noises finally stopped, she peered through her fingers at Ells, who was now speaking. And crying. AWWH. She had made Ells cry?! Alice felt even worse now, but she felt a bit better after Ella kinda-sorta forgave her. "I won't, Ells. I'll.. I'll pinky-promise that I'll never lie to you again. EVAH." She held her pinky out for Ells to take, and then ambushed her friend in a Hulkasaurus hug. 'Cause she looked like she needed one.

So. Now that this was all over, Alice decided to pop out the question she had been DYING to ask since she had first seen Prince Ogre and his Prefect Princess sticking their tongues down each others' throats in the hallway.

"Do you guys think I could be the flower guuuuurl at your wedding?" BEAMBEAMBEAAAAAMMMM.

Elliot snorted. "Whatever. I don't care. I do like muggle clothes though...sometimes." Sometimes. She loved dresses...and LACE. Yes, lace had to be the best thing EVER. And pearls...and Elliot found herself daydreaming of all of her wonderful jewelry at home..safely tucked away in her room so her sisters couldn't play with it.

What.

What was that?!

WHAT HAD SHE SAID?!

Elliot growled, the smirk gone from her face. She roughly put the photo back in her pocket..."He'll be worse...because the heir of the family. SO a right rotten little prince he'll be," she spat, and for once, she hoped he WAS worse than her..."and I hope he grows up and can take care of people like you for me..." she didn't yet know how Darius would turn out. she just hoped he was like her...and not like her mother. Her mother could be a right little horror sometimes...always happy, always cheerful...blegh. it was enough to make Elliot want to puke.

She saw Soapy take out her own wand..."As if you could actually take me, Soapy..." she scoffed, narrowing her eyebrows. Elliot could be quite dangerous...for a third year.