Ariadne had never seen a bag like that before. 'There's a bat on your bag.' she pointed out. 'That's cool. Is it from Magical Menagerie? Do you own a bat?' And was that a bag with bat food originally? Wait, what did bats eat, anyway (besides sucking blood)? Now's not the time, Ari shook herself mentally. But bats WERE interesting.

The girl nodded when her friend mentioned Muggle music, rock in particular. 'My friend Gwen likes Muggle music too. She's really into this band called Linkin Park, though she's a Pureblood herself, and she sort of convinced me too.' Their music sounded pretty good, actually. 'I've never seen a film before-our third year, was it?-when the Muggle Studies Professor organized that cinema thing.' But it had been a fun experience.

Ariadne finally picked a comic book. 'I'll take this one. I'll give it back to you tomorrow, thank you.' If she didn't fall asleep while reading it, that is. The girl tried hard to stifle a yawn.

Ronnie chuckled. "That's actually the logo for one of my favorite supheroes. His name is Batman." she explained. "It's an odd superhero name." she added with a laugh. It really was. It had always made her laugh. Batman was WEIRD. But she still loved him.

"Ah, Linkin Park!" Ronnie said with a grin. "I like them a lot." she said, nodding. They were good. There was lots of really old Muggle bands she really liked. There was such awesome Muggle stuff out there!

"Oh, really?" she asked when Ariadne mentioned the cinema thing. "I remember that." she said. "Do you remember what movie they showed?" she asked, cocking her head slightly. 'Cause she sure didn't.

Ronnie smiled. "Okay! Sounds good." she said with a firm nod. Jeez, she nodded a lot. Like, all the time pretty much. It had become a habit. So had cocking her head and rocking on her heels. She just couldn't keep still! ...ever!

It felt so good to finally be back up here. It felt like an eternity since she had made that familiarly long trudge up the many stairs and spoken to the fat lady. Suspension was a nightmare that she was all too happy to be rid of.

She smiled openly when she saw her bed. It looked so untouched...so lonely. It must have missed her terribly, it not having anyone to keep it warm and all that. This she could correct quite quickly. "Hello bed." GRIN. She placed Felix at her pillow before hopping on herself and inhaling the familiar scent of the sheets. She never thought she'd miss a smell so much but she had!

"Feels good to be back, right Felix" She asked, rolling onto her belly and looking over at the Kneazle that was already getting comfortable. "Yeah...that's what I thought." Reaching over, she gave him a scratch behind his ear and sighed contentedly. It really was good to be back.

Ronnie skipped up the stairs and into the dorm, and jumped onto her bed, sighing and giggling as she fell onto it. She sighed deeply, looking up. Ronnie was obviously in love. She couldn't stop thinking about Adam...today...was just completely AMAZING! She had basically spent the whole day with Adam and he told her he liked her. Oh Merlin. Adam liked her. RONNIE. She couldn't believe he liked her back.

As she laid there, she saw Alexa walk into the dorm and sit on her bed which was right next to Ronnie's. She smiled, waving at the firstie. "Hiya, Alexa!" she said. "Where have ya been? I haven't seen you in a while." she said, sitting up and cocking her head a little.

Alexa drew back immediately when Felix began hissing at the sudden noise that came from just beside them. He was horrible when he was irritated. She had to admit that she was just as frightened as the Kneazle. When she walked in here she didn't notice anyone...she wasn't going blind was she?!?!

Turning onto her side she looked over at Ronnie who seemed to be all smiles at the moment. "Hi!" Seriously though...the girl looked really happy. "Oh...I was umm...I was home for a little bit..." So was she to understand that no one knew why she really went home? Because she was fine with that! No one had to know if they didn't already...didn't want things spreading at all. "But anyway, what's got you so happy?"

Home? Huh...that was...weird. But it was obvious Alexa didn't really wanna talk about it, so Ronnie just ignored it and laughed at her question. "Weeeelll...erm...just...a uh...a guy..." she said, looking down at the floor, her face red.

O____O

You had to be kidding.

Ronnie was joking...right? "Now how in merlin's beard can a boy make you smile so much?" She felt like she was missing something and for once she didn't wanna know what it was. It was clear the Cootie Lover's Squad had won this one over too. It was such a pity when they crossed over to the dark side. "Did he buy you some chocolate frogs or something?" Yeah she had to admit that she could see a boy making her happy if he bought her candy...but the happiness would leave once the candy was done.

Ronnie laughed, shrugging. "I dunno." she said with a deep sigh. Alexa probably wouldn't really understand...she was only in her first year. Ronnie always thought it was yucky when other girls had crushes on boys from her first to her third years...but...all that changed now. And now she was just crazy...about Adam. Hehehehehehehehehe.

"Chocolate frogs? Naww, but we went and got ice cream in the kitchens and went to that HUGE gingerbread house!" she said. Heh. She had gotten quite hyper then. . . she just LOVED sweets!

Le sigh. It was just as she'd thought. This was another one of those girls who'd eaten the food in the Great Hall and now had her brain being taken over by that Squad. Such a shame really. This one could have had such a promising future.

"Riiight...so then you don't know why you're so happy but you just know for a fact that you are?" She paused to think about it, questioning if it really made much sense. "That's so weird." Yeah, it made none.

Whaaaa?

And there was no exchange of chocolate frogs?! This made what Ronnie was saying even harder to accept. This girl must have done more than eat the food to be acting the way she was acting. "You're happy even though you didn't get any chocolate frogs?" Ice-cream was good and fine in general, heck she loved ice-cream but none of this was adding up. "I admit that you've lost me." She sat up in her bed and stared over at her. "You mind cluing me in on what's so great about love if you don't get chocolate frogs?" And with that she raised a questioning eyebrow at the girl.

"Well, I guess...it was just such a great day today for me, that's why I'm happy!" she said with a smile. The whole day being with Adam and being awesome explorers around the castle, getting hyper, and going through that big gingerbread house. It had all been a blast for Ronnie.

Ronnie listened to what Alexa next said and shook her head, laughing. Alexa was only a firstie, she probably thought all this was 'yucky' and such like most firsties. She shrugged. "You'll understand when you're a little older I guess." she said chuckling. She sure was cute.

Lex nodded slowly. Now that she could accept...well she could accept more than the hogwash she was trying to pass off as logic just now. Right. She was happy because she had a great day. Fair enough. She herself was usually happy when she had a great day. "Alright then...I guess you're not that much of a loon afterall." She finally deduced. There was still some common sense rattling around somewhere in the girl's head.

Her brows crinkled in confusion when she heard Ronnie chuckling instead of trying to answer her question. What was so funny? She was being serious. Love had to be something really special for her to look pass the whole no chocolate frogs thing. She sighed, throwing herself down onto her pillow when the girl repeated something that she'd heard far too often. "I'm pretty sure that no matter how much older I get I won't understand so you might as well go ahead and explain so I won't be so clueless."

Age was just a number, a number that would never determine her understanding of love.

Ronnie laughed again as Alexa threw herself onto her pillow. "You'll just find out." she said with a shrug. She didn't feel like explaining...it was too much to explain for Ronnie.

Anyways....

"So, anyway, what have you been up to?" she asked as she got out of her bed to look under it for her Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. She got back on her bed, popping one in her mouth. Strawberry. Mmmmmmm!

"You want some?" she asked, glancing at the bag and then at Alexa with a smile.

And now she was laughing at her? Seriously?! "Fine, nevermind, forget I asked." She grumbled before pulling the pillow over her face. "I don't want to hear about that stupid emotion anyway...it's completely useless." Yuuuuup so she wouldn't push the conversation any further. There was no need to because it wasn't important.

She removed the pillow to answer her question. "I haven't been up to anything really...I just got back..." With the whole suspension thing she'd just stayed at home and moped around.

She watched on curiously as Ronnie searched under her bed. What on earth...?

Candy? Oh...not the super good kind. Meh, candy was candy especially when she needed some amount of sugar in her system to get her moving again. Nothing felt better than a sugar rush!

It happened so suddenly, and quietly, but it happened all the same: the students who had been hanging out in the Gryffindor girls' dorms suddenly found themselves pushed out of their dorms, shoved out of their beds, rolled out of their common room, and generally ejected from their House's private area.

An unseen force repelled all Gryffindor students from the Common Room and attached areas and locked all entrances and exits to the rooms. The Common Room was officially locked and sealed.

"HAHAHAHHAHA!!!"

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Lex couldn't stop laughing. There was a joke somewhere along the way...maybe...It had something to do with an adorable fwooper, she knew that much. She took a big leap and hopped onto the bed next to next to hers then laughed again. Jump with me EVERYBODY!!!" Hahahahahaha!! She hopped from bed to bed giggling as she did. "Oooo Mr. Pillow, why you no jump tooooooo?!" She giggled a bit, looking at the pillow of one of her dorm mates.

KICK!

She watched the pillow fly across the room then did a twisting dance to uproot the sheets. "Candy! Chicken! Cake! Juice!" HAHAHAHHAAHA!!!

Alexa hopped back to her own bed then collapsed in fit of giggling. Happy day! Happy day! Oooooo...pretty ceiling. GIGGLE.

It had taken her house to come up with her special writing system. A system that had oddly enough been inspired by Nessie and Puffles - but more Puffles than Nessie to be entirely honest. Not that those details reeeeeeeeally mattered to the task she was about to do or the message that she had encrypted and WHO it was meant for.

Sitting on her bed, Kurumi laid the piece of parchment in front of her and, just to make sure that her best friend was motivated to finish, set a piece of fresh red velvet cake straaaaaaaaaaaaaaaight from the oven out on a white place riiiiiiiiiiiight above it. The smell should be tempting enough...but the presentation certainly helped.

So...come ooooooooooooooon Selina.... come to Kurumi and her pygmy puff code...

Selina had been sitting in the Common Room working on her private studies for Divination when suddenly she smelt something absolutely delicious. Her nose peaked out of her book and she turned around to try and find the source of the smell. What was that enchanting aroma? Oh she knew it well, it was the delicious smell of red velvet. So she placed her book down and led with her nose all the way up the stairs and into the Gryffindor Girl's dorms.

Huh? That was weird.

She pushed the door open to see her best friend sitting there with red velvet. The redhead beamed but cautiously walked over to the cake, "What's the occasion?" Not that that stopped her from diving right in and devouring the cake. Yeah, Kurumi better have brought more than just what she had out. Because Selina was in the middle of eating this, but it would not last long.

Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere she was!

Beaming, Kurumi lifted up the parchment and thrust it towards her best friend. "I have a message for you that I want you to decode," she said with a quick nod towards the cake. "That is just incentive for you to do it. You get...a bite for each correct letter you get," she explained as she place a single square of red velvet cake onto the plate next with a little fork sticking out of it. "...and...there is a whole cake waiting for you when you solve the entire thing."

Kurumi folded her legs and waited expectantly. "You CAN ask for hints...but try to look for patterns first and remember that vowels are the most commonly used letters...so symbols that repeat themselves the most are most likely those..."

So, go to it Selina! This message was important. Short. But important and sort of vital for the time of year it was.

Selina had to do work for the cake? Ugh, why? That was so not why she had come. The redhead wanted cake- not homework. She had enough of her own to do so she did not want to do her best friends. Besides, Kurumi was smarter then Selina. If ANYONE could do their own homework it should have been Kurumi, so WHY in Merlin's name did Selina have to do it?

Ugh.

But she stiffed her upper lip because cake was on the line and that meant that things were serious. If Kurumi wanted to play this little game then she would. She just wanted her cake! NOW!

Crossing her arms with a huff, she whined, "Fine... let's do this then. I want my cake." So she grabbed the code thing or whatever it was Kurumi was going on about and got a good look at it.

....

This was NOT English. This was not even Latin. She had no idea WHAT this was. It looked like furbies or something like that or something Doctor Seuss would write in. So basically, she could not read it. Hmph. Fine, she would work for the cake. Whatever. Not like she was HUNGRY or anything!

She took one more look at the thing and asked Kurumi, "Is the first bit You are my best friend?" Not that she could read it. She was just guessing.

See, Kurumi knew that Selina could be bribed with cake. She would have hoped that friendship alone could have bound the girl to the bed to figure this out...but Kurumi figured she out to be safe with this. No amount of cruppy eyes could make Selina over think random symbols.

"You know...if you figured that much out from the first line...then you ought to write above those symbols the letters you think they are because there might be the same symbol to show up again later...then you just need to fill in the other letters," she said with a nod. Like...the word you was there a few times if Selina looked at the symbols closely enough. "Here...I'll show you what I mean," Kurumi said as she grabbed her quill and made just ONE adjustment to the parchment and handed it back to her.

"See what I mean? Now you have bits and pieces of other words formed because you figured out the 'e'."

And, just like she promised, Kurumi put a few more pieces of red velvet cake on the plate that Selina was more than welcome to munch on.

Ugh, work. Merlin, all she wanted was the cake! Was that such a hard thing to understand? The cake was the only motivation that would have gotten Selina to even do this in the first place, but the fact that she had it all hidden away except the stuff that was already out was cruel. Work was hard, that was why they called it work- so by that logic, Kurumi should just crack her own code. And Selina would sit by and eat the cake. Yeah, why couldn't they do that? That would be so much better.

The redhead groaned and threw her head back in defeat, "Ugh! I can't read it though. I was just guessing before because I AM your best friend. Now give me cake!" Yes, the cake. That was what she was after.

Oh look at that! NOW Kurumi was going to help. Wasn't that lovely? Now she could get her cake faster and that was the aim. So she let her friend write in all of the eyes. This reminded her of some game show she had seen her grandfather watch once... eh, whatever it was called. Filling in the vowels and whatnot.

Once they were all filled in though, she could read it much easier. The redhead looked up at her best friend and asked, "Is that word will? And can you give me a hint where all of the letter i's are?" Because once she got those, she was pretty sure she could crack it.

OH LOOK! CAKE!

Kurumi sort of sighed. "Selina...that IS the point you know. It's code. You are supposed to break the code to read the message. That way only the two of us know what it says," she said as she picked up the parchment again. "It's my pygmy puff code...see how the shapes sort of look like pygmy puffs?" Not that that would really impress Selina much. Some of the shapes were more obvious too... She had made it hardish, but not too difficult she thought because she knew how frustrated Selina would be with this whole puzzle thing.

Somewhat reluctantly, Kurumi filled in the i's but ONLY because Selina had guessed one of the words correctly so she knew what the I shape was. "You know...that IS the word will...and now you know what the W AND L shapes are..." Was Selina following this at all? It seemed like she was just throwing out words and more focused on the cake.

Still, Kurumi handed her back the adjusted parchment.

Hoping that Kurumi was not paying much attention, the redhead took a piece of cake and shoved in down her throat as her best friend wrote in the next round of vowels. When Kurumi looked up at her, with puffy cheeks, Selina said, "Ow weah, it woes wook wike da igmy 'uff!" That was English, right? Well, even if it wasn't she was positive that Kurumi would understand where she was coming from. They had a weird connection and the older girl always knew what her best friend meant. It was the laws of Kurina.

Swallowing her cake, the frosting covered fingers took the parchment back from her friend and inspected it. Hmm, well that was sort of interesting. It did look more like letters now then it did before. At least with all of the help that Kurumi had given her. See? The redhead KNEW that her best friend could do her own homework... so why she had to be here to think was beyond her. The sixth year just wanted the cake, which was why she was here....

...Hang on. Kurumi had known that Selina's one weakness was food and potions and school work and cake and cookies and lying and chocolate frogs... she had a lot of weaknesses, so that was why she had made the cake. She was EXPLOITING her one weakness to get her to do work. Oh, that was cruel. And if she were not eating at the moment and enjoying the cake so much, she would have chewed her friend out about it. But seriously, it was so good.

Licking her fingers and looking back at the code, it finally all clicked. Her eyes, now slightly water from the flush of emotions that hit her, looked up at Kurumi. "I could NEVER forget you." And with that, Selina pulled her best friend into a hug, dropping the parchment on the ground that read- You are my best friend and always will be. I will not forget you so please do not forget me.

Kurumi was still sort of on the fence as to whether or not it had been a good idea for her to bring cake into the equation or not. Kurumi really did know that without it Selina would have been long gone by now, so this really was the only way to keep her on the bed besides a tickle fight. Cake was keeping Selina from looking for patterns and using proper code breaking techniques!

But then she saw the light bulb go on in Selina's head and before she could react to much her best friend's arms were around her. Yep, Selina had cracked the code and Kurumi had finished her Arithmancy assignment. Only that wasn't the point right now. The point was the moment they were in now. Sure, Kurumi didn't really need to give Selina an encrypted pygmy puff inspired message to tell her, but it was rather efficient, no?

"I'm...really going to miss being your roommate..Selina."

Sadness. That was the only distinct emotion that Selina could really feel at the moment as she hugged her best friend. She was afraid to let go because she knew that the moment she did it meant that they had to face what was coming up- graduation. Kurumi had finished her final year at Hogwarts and was now ready to go out into the real world. It meant that things would never be the same as they were right in this moment. The girls would never live together again, see each other everyday again, do everything together ever again. Even if Selina did not return next year which was something she was really contemplating doing, things still would never be the same. Kurumi was joining the real world, which meant that Kurina playtime was over.

This chapter of their friendship was coming to a close and a new page was starting. It would never be the same.

Finally finding the strength to pull away, Selina looked at her best friend and said with a sad smile, "I'm going to miss being yours. It's never going to be the same again, is it?" Kurumi did not even need to answer... Selina knew.