Jory sat by one of the windows and tried to focus his attention on both his Arithmancy text and notebook. Arithmancy was the most difficult subject for him so he decided he needed to spend additional time on he subject.

He looked at the cryptogram he had just come up with. It was a mathematical one and he needed someone to solve it so he could complete the homework. He hoped Minerva would be there soon.

Minerva made her way to the stained glass windows. One of her favorite places and she was meeting someone so she was trying to hurry. I'm so sorry Jory, I feel like I can never get anywhere fast enough. She glanced around a new habit since all the plant problems she had been around lately. She pulled her book out and tried to smile.

So Arithmancy.. Not one of her favorite subjects, but they had to get this homework done. "This stuff can be so confusing, can't it? Did you have one done you wanted me to look at?" She thought that was why they were meeting, but maybe she had been wrong so it wouldn't hurt to ask.

As a child, Vickers developed a kind of a habit of crawling into solitary spaces and just watch the world go by, feeling safe in his little cocoon. Usually he can do this for hours before his Uncle or an army of house elves starts popping up looking for him. Now with his legs and elbows jutting out at odd angles under the table, trying to stay incognito wasnt quite as easy as it was back then, specially when there was someone standing right in front of his secret Hogwarts hiding place...

And as those legs folded down to reveal the pale blonde hair and teary eyes he can only stare back in silence, at least for several seconds....What did he just do and say to Vivi back there? It was almost like an out of body experience-- that part of him that lay dormant since that summer, caged all that time before the French girl reappeared and became the resident Ravenclaw blonde of their graduating class.... it was out in full force now, battling it out with an equally powerful force that was born of the affections he had for that beloved Ravenclaw red-head...

It was like hearing things from a tunnel when Vivi spoke, muffled and far away before it becomes clearer as the sound drew nearer... and now he notices-- she's been crying. "Uhm.... I-I just need some time to think..." he whimpered back, feeling even worse now that he may have been responsible for those tears "Dont cry for m-- just dont cry Viv. Friends aren't supposed to make each other cry...." he added as his own eyes betrayed his words, feeling it moisten up as it began to blur his vision. He presses his back firmly against the wall, decidedly staying under there, hoping that the shadow cast by the table covered his face well enough and that Vivi will buy his fibs and leave him well alone.

"No, you've got it backwards," Vivi inched forward, every so cautious of startling him or scaring him into running away again, and when she was close enough, she put her fingers over his. It was entirely a comforting gesture and not a romantic one, even if her stupid stomach tended to betray her and react to his touch. It wasn't what she meant, though, so she was going to give herself a pass.

"Friends are the only ones worth crying for. And you're not making me cry. I'm making me cry. And I wasn't even crying anyway, so just shut up about that, okay?" She quirked that wry little crooked smile at him to show that she was trying to make it lighthearted and better. Was it working yet?

"I'll leave you alone, but I want you to just... I wasn't asking anything of you. And if it will help to make things better again for you, I could Oblivate you after NEWTs are done. You won't even remember today happened, and then you can be... happy again." Ignorant again. All this emotion would still be buried somewhere, but if she could remove the catalyst, he might never realize it again. And she'd get to keep the precious fact buried deep in her heart that some part of him felt something back for her.

She squeezed his hand again before letting go and standing again. It was more than fair that he get time to himself to sort out his feelings, and her presence was distressing him. The kindest thing was to leave him be. Maybe she'd go to the Dueling Arena and beat the stuffing out of a dummy. That sounded absolutely fabulous to her at the moment.

Jory was frowning over some definitions as he tried to get a better understanding of them when he heard Minerva speak.

"Hello, Minerva,'' he said, returning her somewhat forced smile. "Very confusing.'' The Puff nodded and pulled out the parchment on which he had written his cryptogram. "This one is a mathematical one and it isn't a too difficult.'' Maybe he should have come up with a harder one? Anyway...

"Okay, so each answer you work out corresponds to a letter in the alphabet. Let's say an answer is three, then the letter would be C and so on.'' He handed over the parchment.

"A little hint about this is the puzzle refers to a particular House,'' Jory added with a wink. "And also where ever there is a M you swap it with an E.''

Minerva sighed, "Yeah this is very confusing." Taking out her book she wanted to make sure she was prepared to help Jory with his cryptogram. She listened as he talked about his puzzle he had and laughed a bit with his hint. So it probably had puffs in it at some point. Well that was a nice thing to know.

"Okay, let's see if I can figure this out." She took the puzzle and looked at the numbers:




Going to the book she started trying to figure it out. She wanted to make sure she got nothing wrong so she took her time to figure out which letter went where:



Minerva looked up from her parchment and smiled at Jory, "I dont' want to be doing this wrong, does it look right so far?" She looked back down at it to make sure she coudn't catch any of her mistakes.

While Minerva worked, Jory continued studying the definitions which he repeated in his own words after he understood what they were saying. Occasionally, he glanced up to check on Minerva's progress and was pleased to see she was getting along just fine.

The Puff grinned when Minerva spoke. "I'm sure you won't mess it up.'' She was a great student after all, Hufflepuff's top points earner. He examined the parchment. "So far so good." He was pleased she was getting this worked out.

Minerva smiled as Jory said she wouldn't mess up, it was nice that someone had confidence in her for this subject, because she wasn't sure she had it for herself. Numbers were confusing, but adding letters that was an entire different world. She was glad she never had to do muggle high school math, because she didn't think she would ever get through it. She looked at the problem again, now that she had most of it worked out, she had to figure out the order.. right... that shouldn't be to hard...



Minerva started to write down the letters that she had seen on the paper not remembering that she needed to switch a letter and her eyes jumped once or twice so she didn't realize she missed a few either. She started to look at her paper really fun. What was wrong with this. She couldn't tell Jory she screwed up, what would he think of her. This wasn't good.



She looked at her parchment, back to her book and then to her parchment again. She couldn't figure out what she did wrong. She had no clue she skipped over letters. She finally looked up and frowned at Jory.. "I.. I think I did something wrong. I'm so sorry, maybe I was not the right person to have do this for you." She looked at her paper, she had to figure this out for him. She couldn't let her fellow puff down.

Jory took the parchment once again. "Don't be silly,'' he chided Minerva with a grin. "You started off with no problems.'' He looked at the half complete puzzle and spotted what was wrong almost instantly. "Look, you left out a few letters,'' he said pointing at the first, second and last words. Yup, that was all there is to it. "Just put them in and then swap the M with the E.'' Poor Minerva. She was probably distracted with all the troubling stuff happening around the Castle.

Minerva watched as he looked over her work. She was feeling kind of frustrated that she didn't figure it out that quickly. Then she felt herself blushing when he pointed out what she did. "Your kidding? I checked over it a few times, how did I miss that..." She took the parchment back and looked at it. She started to point to each item instead of just looking with her eyes. Shaking her head she laughed a bit, "I don't know where my eyes and brain are, but apparently they are not working together." She started to write the words down again.. Then looked at it, that sounded silly..

Hmm what was that final step. She thought for a moment, oh yes, the M's were not right. Even though Hufflmpuff sounded silly it wasn't right. So she needed to switch the M's and make them E's.


Her smile grew bigger and she looked up at Jory. "I like this puzzle if I got it right. I feel the same way! Hufflepuff are the best students now aren't they.." She handed him the parchment so that he could have it for his assignment. She leaned back in the seat. "I think I'm getting them and then I do some dumb error like that. How are you doing in all the other classes? There is so much work going on right now."

"Don't worry about it,'' Jory told Minerva as he watched her getting back to work. "You seem kind of distracted.'' Again, he wondered what was bothering her.

"Yes!'' the boy said, quite pleased. "You got it. And we are,'' he agreed. Hufflepuffs were hard working students. It showed from their disastrous start at the term with House points but now they were in second place and that was excellent. "You left out an S at the end of Hufflepuff,'' he said and he added it in. "But thanks so much for doing this. Did you come up with your cryptogram as yet?''

Jory nodded in agreement. "With classes, homework and studying there's hardly anytime in the day left after completing them all." He could do with a few more hours everyday. "But I'm managing. How about you? You're always busy too.'' He saw her in every class, so Minerva must be loaded with work too

Minerva smiled at Jory, he was such a nice friend. Distracted.. hmm where to start with the distractions this term. "Yeah I feel like I can't keep my mind on things lately, but with all the weird things going on around here it's just been hard." That was the understatement of the season, but it was the best way to explain.

Looking at her paper she frowned, "I did... Seriously, I can't believe how messed up I was on this..I get it and still didn't get it." She was frustrated with her own distractions. How she was keeping above water in her classes was a mystery to her. She gave him a guilty grin, "I haven't actually started it yet. I've been trying to get all this other work done, but it's on my list." She pulled out her parchment to do list and showed him.. "It'st the only way to keep everything in order. With classes, homework, and the final qudditch match coming up. I just had to start writing thing done." She placed her to do list back in her bag, it gave her anxiety to look at. She chuckled a bit, "Yes I have been pretty busy this term, but there is so much to learn, I have to do it all."

Jory nodded. Yes, there had been a lot of things going on art school this term. Very weird stuff. "It's been distracting for me too,'' he said. "Just like last term, with the freezing and all.''

"Don't worry about it,'' the boy reassured Minerva. "At least you got it.'' Solving the cryptogram had been very confusing for him in class. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to solve one again. He looked at Minerva's list with interest. "Wow, I didn't realise we had so much to do,'' he said wondering how on earth he was going to fit in all the homework. "Minus the Quidditch, I've got to do pretty much everything too. Maybe he should make a homework list too but listing them according to due dates. "Good luck for Quidditch.'' He really hoped Hufflepuff would win.

"I think you're doing a wonderful job,'' Jory said admiringly. "You're just up to speed with all the homework and classes.'' Not to mention Quidditch. "You must be looking forward to the summer holidays, right?''