"I didn't mean te make ye think I didn' like ye." Yep there he'd said it. Oops, wait then that made it sound like he did! He couldn't now very well say, that it was because of age or...Amelia because the first was stupid, age shouldn't matter and the second, it'd make it sound like if he wasn't with Amelia he'd go with SUTTON??? ACK! Ok, no more talking, yep no talking. feet didn't taste all that good unless you had salt and pepper for seasoning

Looking up as she spoke again, he shrugged "I'm sure but...havin' a sister or even a brother would have been nice instead of bein' alone practically me whole life. Me mum and dad figured I could handle stuff on me own and left me te do it." Yep, didn't care what he did, they trusted him to keep clean and behave. Some days he just wanted to do something stupid!

Sutton tilted her head back against his arm a little bit a laughed sweetly. "Isaac... You are sitting in the snow keeping me warm... I know you like me, she teased, giving him a little nudge. Then pulling a mock-serious face, she added, "as a friend, of course."

As he said he would have preferred to have siblings sutton just shrugged again. "Maybe it would have been better if I had brothers instead of sisters. My sisters are just... All so pretty and perfect, and I'm... Not..." sh explained, kickin her feet in the snow slightly.

Hearing her laugh cheered him a little, didn't make him feel like a prat now after ending that sentence and not explaining! HEY at least he wasn't being called Issy! Laughing as she added the friend part "Of course." Yep, if he'd said anything otherwise, he'd have a heck of a lot of explaining to do and not just to Sutton or Amelia. TO HIMSELF TOO!

Nodding as she said maybe it'd been different if she'd had brothers. "Mebbe, but then they'd be overprotective of ye, jus' like..." His eyes widened, him? NOPE not him, he was just a friend...brother friend. Yep. "Like brothers are." Yep, there better. Wait, did she just say pretty? "Hey yer pretty!" he said turning towards her to see her face better. "Jus' 'cause I don' like ye like thet, don' mean I don' think yer pretty." Not at all! Leaning a little he kissed her cheek. "And ye shouldn' think otherwise!"

Sutton suddenly felt very warm... particularly on the cheek where he had kissed her. Without thinking, she reached up and touched it, smiling brightly. She knew Isaac didn't mean anything by it, that he was just being sweet because he was a nice guy, but the gesture still made her blush. "Thank you," she said in a giggly voice. On a more serious note, she closed the small amount of distance that remained between them as she shifted slightly in the snow. "No one's ever said that I was pretty before... Well, not like that... not so I thought they meant it..." she explained. Edmund had told her once, but only after she had teased him for not saying it. Isaac didn't seem quite as oblivious as Ed about such things... probably why they were friends.

He nearly laughed himself when she spoke in the giggly voice. He'd embarrassed her he was sure. He hadn't even thought before he'd kissed her cheek. He'd just done it. If he had thought about it, he'd probably have turned bright red now, or even chickened out! He totally noticed her shift though too.

"No one?" he asked surprised. Well that was rude! "Thet's kind of sad thet no one would say it and sound honest about it." Yep, very rude. Every girl should be told that at least once! a day He hadn't been telling Amelia that, much lately. And that now irked him a bit. He needed to make a point of doing that!

Presley shot her brother the coldest look she had ever given him before. "I'm glad Maine is here to stay. I happen to like her." Clearly implying that she didn't like Leo very much right now. She gathered her things and shoved them angrily in her bag. "It was nice of you to visit me, Leo. I'll see you at Christmas." She smiled sweetly before storming away.

OooOhhhh!

Exciting info much??

Yea. Kinda. "Ooohh!!" Cardigan teased, clearly being a piece of work. Heeheehee. She would have to find out more about this boy, and what made him soooo amazing!

WAIT A SECOND.

Did she ever have a crush before????

"So who's the guy??" She asked, giggling lightly. Romance was soo fun to talk about!! That is, if it doesn't hurt you....

Sutton shrugged at his surprise. "I made Edmund say it once..." she explained. Because really, she had pretty much MADE him. He would have looked like a jerk if he hadn't said it at that point. As snow started falling from the sky again, she tilted her head back and tried to catch snowflakes on her tongue, but she was unsuccessful. Frowning, she figured it must be because of the shield charm she had placed on herself.

Well, that was laaaame!

Turning back to Isaac, she asked, "So what do people do here for fun during the holidays if they don't go home?" Because Sutton wasn't going home... partially because she didn't want to and partially because her parents had told her not to.

Elektra held her watch in her hand as she leaned against the front gatewith her one leg up on it as she tilted her head back and she huffed softly. No more tears fell from her eyes bcause she basically managed to cry them all out during the time period of Christmas through New Years. She had never went through anything this heartbreaking before and quite frankly she didn't like it. As she held the watch tightly in her hand, she closed her eyes and thought about how long she had that watch and who gave it to her. She remembered his smile, his deep eyes, his angelic face...and that Russian accent. There were just too many good memories from the three years with him, and now it was suddenly over.

Elektra let out a soft sigh. How could this happen between them? Why did this happen to them? Elektra knew it was all her fault to why her and Ivan broke up, but she didn't think it would be as bad as it is now. She opened her eyes and made a tight fist on the watch as she pushed away from the gate, and tossed the watch out of her hand with such anger and she takes a couple of heavy breaths trying to calm down. They said it takes time to cope with a breakup. WHY DOESN'T THIS TIME JUST HAPPEN NOW!! She argued to herself.

Selina was tired. Coming back from break had hit her like a ton of bricks. All she wanted to do was crawl up in her bed and take a nice, long nap. There were a ton of things that she had to get done once she got back to school and most of those things involved Quidditch. As much as Selina loved the sport, sleep was also something she cherished. And right now she was longing to cherish all day long. A day long nap.. OH how nice that sounded.

So as she walked back from Herbology, the redhead started to plan out the rest of her day in her, which consisted of only sleep right now. However, as she started to trek back up to the castle, she saw Elektra looked really bereft by the front gate. They were not friends anymore, so the redhead should not have cared. In fact, she should have delighted in seeing her so sad, but when she looked at the raven haired girl, so could not find it in herself to even think that cynically.

Sighing to herself, she walked over to Elektra and asked softly, "Um... hi there... you okay there?" Perhaps she should leave. This was awkward.

Elektra wanted to go back home at this point. I know...leave Hogwarts again? Why would would she want to do all over again?! She just wasn't in the right state of mind at this point. Something changed in Elektra. She was as outspoken as she was from before, her temper had gotten a little worse, and just when you thought she was going to break away from wearing all black...here she was in all black like how she first was when she first came to Hogwarts. Elektra's physical appearence had also changed. She was much skinnier than before and this is going to sound crazy, but she was paler than she already was. She had little makeup up and bags under eyes that could be used as pillows. Just the look on her face showed how tired she was. That was another ting too. She barely gets sleep. At most she will sleep for only three hours a week and spend the rest of it wide awake and roaming the ground after hours and just does a great job at not getting caught. Not like she cared anyways.

Elektra was about to walk away before she heard a voice talk to her and Elektra knew which voice that was and she didn't even want to look at her at this point. As much as Elektra and Selina didn't get along, there was a part of Elektra that actually missed having her as a friend and she didn't want Selina to see how messed up she was right now. Keep her eye sight away from Selina, Elektra looked down and replied to her, "I'm fine." Awkward wasn't the word for this conversation that was going to happen.

Elektra knew she wasn't even going to be able to keep appearence hidden for much longer so she sighed and shook her head changing her answer, "Actually..." Elektra picked her head up and looked over to Selina and just said, "I'm not 'alright' Selina. I haven't been since Christmas."

The redhead stood awkwardly a few meters away from Elektra as she waited for the girl to respond to Selina's inquiry. She did not even know what possessed to her to stand here like a pig out for the slaughter. Whenever she was around Elektra something bad happened. So the redhead usually stayed away from Elektra just for her own safety and sanity. The fact that she was here and actually talking to Elektra was a gamble. The raven was prone to snap at any moment and this conversation was just a ticking time bomb. Perhaps if she left now there would be no problems. However, she could not make herself move. Elektra was crying.

So, Selina stood in place and waited. Waited for her to say something. Say anything. And finally- she spoke. It was not particularly long or anything, but she did speak. So Selina would take it. But she did say she was fine, so perhaps it would be best if she just left.

However, as she turned away to leave, Elektra spoke again and turned to look at Selina. Her eyes looked empty and she looked so tired. Also, Elektra had lost weight. It was not that the girl was heavy before, but she was not as drawn out looking as she was now. Now her weight was just scary because it was not athletic... it was just stringy. Her blue eyes looked all over Elektra and took in all of her changes. This was bad.

"W-what happened to you?" Selina fumbled out. She was worried.

Well that was a reaction she wasn't expecting. She honestly thought that Selina was going to laugh at her, say something, and then be the hot headed Gryffindor that she is by saying how she doesn't pity Elektra and blah blah blah, but no. Selina...looked...worried. Elektra's heavy emerald eyeslooked at Selina and she scoffed and then cracked a weak smile and shrugged."Decided I needed to change." Elektra managed to say sarcastically. She then walked back towards the gate and leaned against it feling a little to stand on her own and leaned back against the gate put her cold hands in her jacket pockets. "Go on then." Elektra started, "Get what you need to say out of your system now before you head back over to Gideon or whatever you Quidditch players do. Why waste your time with me after everything I put you through?"

Selina watched Elektra curiously. The raven haired girl seemed to be at war with herself with the current situation. The sixth year wasn't sure what exactly was going on in Elektra's head, but she was worried. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she even cared, but she did. Even after all of these years of fighting and problems, she still cared. Elektra was one of her best friends when she first came to school... and if she was being honest with herself she was STILL one of her best friends. Even if Elektra did not look at her that way. But Gideon complicated things. He was the greatest complication that had ever happened to her life, but he had been the cause of the rift.

It was funny though, that when Elektra finally spoke, she brought up Gideon. He was rather central in their relationship so it made sense, "This isn't about Gideon, Elektra. It never has been. He complicated things... okay? I understand that. But this is about you and how worried I am for you. And I am worried for you." She took a step forward, "What happened?"

Elektra took her hands out of her pockets and moved to the side a bit still leaning up against the the gate. "That's close enough." She said. Sure it was nice to see that Selina actually cared right now about Elektra's health, but she wasn't too fond of her getting a little close to her. She looked down at her body and then she shrugged. "Let's see, I don't eat, I don't sleep, I spend most night crying keeping some girls up until the wee hours of the night, and the best is when I roam around grounds after hours and you know what? I still haven't gotten bloody caught. Probably a lot of people think I'm moaning Myrtle or something cause that's all I do now Selina. I cry and I cry and I cry so much, but there are no more tears! None what so ever. I am my breaking point. I mean I feel like- I just feel like if I stay here I'm only going to get worse." She scoffed.

"I don't go to anyone for help because I don't want it. I don't. If this has to happen then let it happen. I...do...not...care anymore. I'm just so...drained Selina. If it wasn't for this gate I'd be on the ground right now. That's how tired I am. I'm tired of crying, I'm tired of thinking about Ivan..." Elektra paused. She couldn't even believe what she said next. "I'm even tired of fighting with you alright? There, I said it." And she did. No truth serums, no reverse psychology, not even any name calling. Elektra finally admitted something she had hidden for over two years.

Ameliah was soooo tired right then. She went to the gingerbread house and was now on a sugar low, and she decided she should take a walk to wake up before her next class. Somehow she arrived at the gate. THE GATE. That mocked her. "I miss you, Logan," she said quietly, looking through the metal bars to the path to Hogsmeade. When was the next Hogsmeade weekend???? Am missed talking to Logan, and not to mention she owed him that hug....

Ronnie was taking a walk along the grounds and ended up at the front gate. As she walked, she spotted Ameliah looking through the bars.

She walked up, lightly tapping the girl's shoulder, hoping not to startle her. "Hiya, Ameliah!" she said with a smile. She hadn't seen her in a long while. . . she missed her friend!

Selina could not keep it in any longer. Elektra was in pain. And even if Elektra did not want Selina's help, she was going to get it anyway since they were, underneath all of the fighting and craziness, friends. Friends did NOT leave friends, especially when they were upset. So right now, since Elektra was upset, Selina was not going to leave. The redhead was going to remain firm in her stance and wait for Elektra to say or do something that would allow Selina to help her. Or even if Elektra snapped and told her to go away forever, at least Elektra would know that Selina had chosen to stay to be there for her. Because that was what friendship was for.

So she stood her ground and let Elektra tell her to stop. Selina respected that wish and stood a couple of steps away. Then, as Elektra spoke out, Selina just listened. She did not interrupt. She did not say she was being silly. She just listened. And once Elektra was done, the redhead walked over to her and gave her a huge hug. That was what she needed right now anyway. Because Elektra was broken. So Selina was going to hold her together again, "I'm so sorry Elektra."

Elektra shook her head and looked down disgusted with herself as finally tears fell out from her eyes and she inhaled softly as she picked her head up and looked at selina with such pleading eyes for forgivness, but even she knew that deep down there was no chance that they could ever patch this friendship with simple "I'm sorry" and "please forgive me" She knew their friendship wouldn't be the same ever gain, but the fact that elektra was now telling Selin how she truly felt about this whole mess...sure meant something changed in her. Who would have thought that it would take a terrible breakup to do it? "I- I just...I just don't know what to do."

Ameliah felt a light tap and spun around. RONNIEYOUGENIUS. Of all her friends, NO ONE ever realized how Am's reflexes kick in with a suprise hug or something. AND THEY WALWAYS GOT PINNED TO A WALL.

"Hey Rons!" Am said happily, going for a totaly NOT SUPRISE ATTACK hug. It was waaaay too long since she saw Ronnie!!!!!

Ronnie smiled, hugging her back. "I haven't seen you in a while!" she said as she pulled away. Ronnie hadn't really seen a lot of people lately, though. She had been staying up in the dorm every day totally miserable. *sigh*

"So, how have you been?" she asked, bouncing on her heels a bit. It felt good to finally be back outside...it had been way too long since she'd gone outside. Which was weird...'cause Ronnie ALWAYS went outside.

Selina shook her head furiously, "You don't need to do anything, Elektra. All you ever had to do was come and talk to me." Even though they had gone through their fair share of problems, Elektra was still one of her fiercest friends somewhere deep down. They fought and kicked and screamed, but it was on top of their friendship. This had just been a bad fight three years in the making and all fights eventually had to end. It seemed like today would be the start of a very long process of forgiveness if Elektra would have it. The redhead was done with the fights and the back biting. She just wanted Elektra back. And that was all.

Smiling softly, she added, "If you'll have me... I'd like to try and help you. Lek, what happened?" It was time to let the past go.

Am nodded. It had been WAY too long since she saw her hyper friend! "I've just been out and about the castle. I'm just really anxious for Hogsmeade so I can meet up with Logan in Honeydukes." Ameliah missed him too much. It was killing her that the weekend was only a few days away. "But anyways-- what have YOOOU been up to?" Because Ameliah had heard some interesting stories about Ronnie and Adam....

"You and I both know that I'm really stubborn and never make things easy." She said with a slight chuckle. She had to admit...she was glad that her and Selina are starting to slowly patch things up right t this moment. It just sucks that the circumstances are extremely bad right now and Selina had to see Elektra below rock bottom, but maybe this could be a huge eye opener to Elektra. All Elektra did at this point now was give Selina a look to show her that she wanted one of her best friends back. She exhaled out slowly and then nodded. "Y-Yeah, im gonna need all the help I can get right now Sely." did i just say sely? i did...i really did. bloody hell i can't believe how much i've missed this girl.

After that Elektra paused and then rubbed her arm and shrugged and said "Well...as you have heard, before I left with my brother I- i was just talking to Gideon and something inside of me just wanted to let him know how I really felt. So I kissed him. I know...what an idiotic move right?" Elektra ran her fingers through her hair and then let her emerald eyes stay on Selina. "Anyways...I really wished that I hadn't kissed him that day because now I realize it wasn't fair to just kiss him and then leave the next day. The reason why I didn't tell you...was because I knew how that was going to effect you and I know how much you LOVE Quidditch so I thought that if I didn't tell you it would be for the better, but I was going to surprise you...in Hogsmede. I was actually planning to come back and stay and actually try to see if I could give dating Gideon a try and see if he would date me, but I guess I was too late and after seeing you and Gideon in Hogsmede together...I don't know I guess I just panicked and just felt betrayed or something. So I left again and went to Russia with Zak because he was going to move there and become a Durmstrang boy. That was when I met Ivan and well the rest is history. You pretty much know about everything else. The first kiss between me and him, the deatheater attack, then coming back and well...yeah."

Although Selina did not say anything about it, she did hear when Elektra called her Sely. It had been so long since she had heard the girl call her that. It had been since they had been best friends. Elektra had, in fact, been the very first person that had ever called Selina that nickname and at first she detested it, but Elektra was never one for making things easy. Now the nickname was her favorite and she had a hunch it had something to do with the fact that Elektra had made it up.

But she did not say anything more as Elektra spoke. Instead, she opted to listen to her friend vent as much as she felt was necessary until she was done with her story. But as she spoke, Selina could not help but feel the parts of the story filling themselves in for her. After years of gaps in the story and not knowing, she finally did. It was clear. Once Elektra was done, Selina hugged her tightly, "Elektra... I'm so sorry." She pulled out of the hug and said, "If I had known any of that I NEVER would have tried to go for Gideon. You liked him first...but..." There was always a but, "I love him now. Its not like I can do anything to change what happened now. But maybe we can move forward from this?"