The four seemingly forgot about the incident in Hogsmede over the remainder of September. Quidditch started with the first game of the season being Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. Most of the Slytherins skipped that game; they felt it wasn't really necessary to support a house they loathed, not to mention a house full of idiots. Then again, it may have just been the hype about Gryffindor being the favorite to win again this year. Ever since Harry Potter, it seems like they had been an unbeatable force, even if the famed Potter himself had graduated years before. The Slytherins were more than happy to hear that Hufflepuff had won 150-70, but Gryffindor did manage to score seven, almost consecutive goals before Hufflepuff kept possession of the Quaffle from more than fifteen seconds before a Gryffindor chaser took them out.

Classes went on; Kylee and O'Malley 'studied' a lot more than Rory and Marcus thought they ever had in their entire lives. Rory had reminded them, calmly, that the study of Anatomy was not a subject the students of Hogwarts took. Let us just leave it at, Rory was assaulted by another bar of soap and was hiccupping bubbles for the next week and half. Much to everyone's surprise neither were a couple yet. The girls in Kylee and Rory's year narrowed it down to the fact because both had had rocky past relationships; they thought they wouldn't risk it until they were ready. The girls ignored this gossip, no matter how difficult it was. They focused on the suddenly impossible assignments they were getting every night. Transfiguration was by far the worst, followed closely by Arithmancy for Rory and The Study of Ancient Runes for Kylee.

"An 'A'?" Kylee fumed after the last bell on Wednesday rang, "That paper was four and quarter feet long and that bitch game me an A?" Rory was grateful for the fresh air when they reached the common room. The windows were thrown wide open, as if waiting for her. The air around an upset telepath (especially Kylee) was very close to being claustrophobic. It was similar to her cold shoulder which was so cold, Rory could almost feel the ice under feet and having the ability to see her breath seemed inevitable.

"Least it wasn't a P or a D!" Rory tossed her Arithmancy to the fireplace. A red inked 'D' was very visible on the top of the page. Rory pointed her wand and muttered "Incendio!" Blue flames shot from the tip of her wand and her paper exploded the promptly disintegrated.

Kylee shrugged, but continued to grumble. Rory lay down on one of the couches and concentrated, trying to make the buzzing in her ears go away. Of course, the harder she concentrated, the louder the buzzing became.

"When I am finally rich and famous I'm going to with a book called The Strange World of Rory Lynn Payne. It will be a best seller and everyone will be able to relate to me," Rory muttered and turned to face Kylee who had dropped all of her stuff onto the floor and slumped onto an armchair with a loud 'WHOOSING' sound. She rubbed her temples with her eyes closed. Her face broke into a grin after Rory's thoughts.

"Oh yeah? Well, mine will be The No-So-Fabulous Life of Kylee Adrienne Connors, Who Used to be Just a Plain Bitch; but now's a Bitch with a Wand, a Sword and a Huge Attitude!"

"Jeezuz! Imagine that honker fitting on the 'Daily Prophet Top Twenty!" Rory remarked sarcastically. Both girls laughed in spite of their awful moods. Kylee remained pensive as Rory's mood brightened; it didn't take much to make her day happy. Footsteps from the front of the common room made Rory turn around to see who was coming.

Devon McFly climbed the stairs from the corridors joined by Marcus and O'Malley. McFly tossed his hair, Rory melted into a metaphorical puddle. Kylee would have as well if she hadn't been absorbed in thought. Rory watched as the Quidditch Captain glanced lazily around the room. She grinned and counted in her head

'3, 2, 1' she pointed at McFly right as he said her name. She got up and went to

"PAYNE! Quidditch conditioning is tonight at 6:30 on the pitch," he said Rory smiled and he smiled back.

"Yes Cap'in Sir!" she saluted and went back over to her couch.

"What was that about?" Kylee asked, her eyes still fixated on the floor.

"Quidditch conditioning," Rory replied

"Ahh; Tonight?"

"Yeah,"

Kylee shrugged.

"You'll be fine without us! Besides, if you really wanted to, McFly probably wouldn't mind if you watched," Rory began to gather up her strewn belongings.

"No, I've got...something I need to take ca-...do," Kylee replied, still deep in thought

Rory hesitated, she wanted to know what Kylee was up to, but couldn't find the words to ask. She nodded and went to get ready for practice. She touched Kylee's shoulder before she went up the stairs.

When you want to talk about it, I am always here. Kylee nodded slowly, but nothing more. Rory watched her pick up her bag and exit, not saying where she was going. Rory bit her lip and debated whether to follow her. After several minutes of watching the slowly-emptying common room, she decided against it. Kylee was perfectly capable; if anything happened she'd handle it. Rory rolled her eyes at her thoughts. She was being ridiculous; Hogwarts was one of the safest places in the entire Wizarding world. She shook her head and went to change.

Rory was already panting and she hadn't even finished her one lap around the pitch. She pumped her legs harder, pushing ahead of some first years, all of whom had wasted all their energy on sprinting at the beginning. They watched her with red faces and wasted even more energy trying to show-off and pull ahead of her. She lengthened her strides and caught up with O'Malley. She ran with him until they were done and she then brought up a conversation.

"Did Kylee say she was pissed at me?"

"No," O'Malley replied, surprised," Why? Was she acting like it?" O'Malley drank deeply from his bottle of water.

"Shit! That's just it; she's not doing much acting at all. She seems more 'Emo' than normal. She's like...oh I don't know!" Rory shrugged dramatically and lined up on the pitch next to Marcus and O'Malley. Marcus smiled and ruffled her hair. She giggled and ruffled his right back, sending it askew. Rory then stretched a little bit to work all of the kinks out of her calves until McFly blew his whistle.

"Okay boys! Suicides!" there was a general groan from the entire line, "From this line to the one across the pitch is one set. TEN sets, no more, no less, and then you can get on your brooms," McFly grinned at the astonished faces of some of the prospective players.

"A-HEM! There are girls here too, you know," Rory shouted sarcastically.

"You don't count Payne!" he shouted back at her. Her turned a few of the younger Slytherin girls who were trying out, "Sorry ladies," he said and tossed his impossibly perfect hair. All of the girls giggled madly. Rory wanted to strangle them.

McFly got right back to the task at hand, "Suicides! Ready? GO!" his whistle sounded, shrilly and Rory, Marcus and O'Malley were the first ones off of the line and all three of them had finished five sets before the rest of the group had were done with three. They were done three sets in front of the others, who were dragging ridiculously slowly. Rory scowled in McFly's general direction.

"I don't appreciate comments like that, McFly," she said. She was only half-angry, and unfortunately, McFly could tell. He grinned and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Chill, Rory, it was only a joke," McFly laughed. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. Rory's left eye twitched with shock. Marcus, who had been watching this entire exchange, stormed over and stood behind Rory; arms crossed across his chest. He looked remarkably like a pissed-off bodyguard.

"McFly, you and I need to have some words later tonight. Oh and be sure and wear your Quidditch armor, though I don't know now much it will help," Marcus snarled at McFly. McFly's eyes contracted to mere pin-pricks. "That's right pretty-boy, now lets get to practicing before I get more pissed off," Rory blinked. She pulled away from standing behind Marcus; her mouth was in a tight line, her eyes narrowed.

"Don't fight my battles," she said, her eyes empty and cold.

"Rory...you know I..." Bodyguard Marcus faded almost as fast as he had taken over.

"Look Marcus, you know me. You know that I can't stand having other people try and take over my problems. I was going to deal with him," she jabbed her index finger into McFly's chest. McFly recoiled, almost like he thought she was going to strike him.

"You were too busy gawking at him to do much of anything at all!" Marcus said furiously. They felt like a married couple, arguing over very much of nothing.

"I most certainly was not!" Rory lied.

"Rory you're overreacting! In the Great Hall, when Sean..." Rory held up her hand to stop him from saying another word.

"Do NOT speak his name around me," Rory turned away from Marcus, tears glistening in her eyes. McFly took this as a golden opportunity.

"You alright?" he held out his hand, she took it and he roughly pulled her to him. She went because there was nothing else she wanted to do, she would have pulled away if she wanted Marcus to see her cry again, but she didn't. McFly's cologne was so strong she coughed raggedly. McFly grinned evilly and mouthed, I WIN to Marcus. Marcus's eyes flashed a vibrant yellow in his anger, but McFly was too full of himself to really pay any attention.

Marcus was subdued the remainder of practice. O'Malley didn't even bother to cheer him up, after seeing what had transpired. Rory was still upset and practically livid throughout the rest of the practice/tryout. She scored three goals within a minute and half of each other. McFly eventually got on her nerves by telling her that she needed to be angry more often so that they could win. Next thing he knew, both of the Bludgers were not-so-accidentally hit in his direction. Marcus and O'Malley looked pleased with themselves and they both turned to Rory. She turned away. After all of the new players got to practice the position they were trying out for, they were all asked to go and sit in the locker room and wait to be called out one at a time. McFly, Marcus, O'Malley and Rory all sat in the very center tower seats on one side of the field. This way they could all get a good look at the player trying out.

The Chaser spot was filled immediately by Theo Cassius. He had done some Quidditch over the summer with a neighborhood group, realized he had a little talent, and decided it was worth a shot; obviously he was correct. Rory, O'Malley and Marcus agreed that he would be a valuable asset to the team. McFly only agreed to it because Theo already had a girlfriend, therefore there would be no competitions for the affections of adoring fan-girls. He didn't say this aloud but Rory could tell by the cheery way he greeted Theo when he joined the four already up in the stands. It was as if McFly had said "Glad to see you're not on the market; 'cause if you were I would be forced to rearrange your face," instead of "Nice to have you on the team!"

Days like today were the days that Kylee wished she was never a witch and was just a normal everyday teenage girl. They didn't have to deal with the fact that their best friend's ex-boyfriend was probably a werewolf, their own love interest kept hidden knives, and much less the fact that her own ex-boyfriend was probably a murderous, rampaging sadist, he just didn't know it yet. Kylee obviously had many issues on her mind at this point. She was flipping through books on Lycanthropy in library when a faint voice reached her ears.

"Look, C, I'm not going to send you with him, it's too dangerous,"

Kylee recognized the voice, all to well in fact. Aaron Young was somewhere close, now that she had heard his voice, her senses told her he was near. She marked her page in the book and placed it on the window sill near where she had been standing. She looked left and right trying to figure out which shelf he was behind. More of their conversation reached her.

"Aaron, there is nothing for me here. Everyone thinks I'm just a boy-crazy girl who thinks that all I want out of life is a guy who will worship the ground I walk on,"

"Well, you are,"

There was a short silence.

"Look, girl, if this is really what you want, all three of us have to make it look like an accident,"

Kylee's eyes widened; the other voice belonged to Chrysanthemum-Rose Jenson, Devon McFly's 'girlfriend'. Kylee and Rory were 150 galleons richer if they had broken up. What were they talking about? The three of them? What would two Gryffindors be plotting in the Library this early in the term? Kylee struggled to hear the conversation, she finally found where the voices where coming from. She went to the floor and parted two books in a far corner, to focus in on the voices.

"We can do that! I just have to talk to April,"

"April stays out of this! If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be in this mess. Nor would I be sporting a scar the size of a small country on my thigh!"

"Well she has to at least know..."

"NO, DAMMIT! She will not find out? Is that clear?"

Chrysanthemum-Rose gulped, Kylee struggled to see what was going on, "Like crystal"

"Good. Sean will meet you in the dungeons on the night of Masquerade. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into. If you end up dead; this was not my idea,"

Kylee shuddered. Life and Death? She couldn't process this piece of information. It was hard enough trying to figure out whether Sean was a werewolf, now she had see find out what he was planning to do? She stopped herself, this was not her problem. She thought that she ought to tell someone though. She could not tell Rory because Sean would go missing hours later and she would find out later that Rory decided to kill him, or something like that. Everything was important when it boiled down to revenge for Rory. Kylee quickly leapt up off of the floor and picked up her book. She felt Aaron walk right by her row of shelves and not even notice she was there. Thank Merlin for black robes. The Library was closing soon. She picked up two more books in addition to the one she had been reading and checked them out.

She hurried out onto the grounds to the Quidditch Stadium. She didn't announce her presence and no one noticed her climb the tower that was on the North side of the pitch. She sat at the very front of the stands and put her book in her lap and continued to mark pages as the rest of the Tryout ensued. She got particularly interested when a candidate for Seeker was brought onto the field...

Keeper tryouts were narrowed down to three.

Deidre Westside, the only first year girl trying out, was very short and very snotty. She took the 'Slytherin Superiority Complex' to a whole new level of complexity. Rory almost strangled the girl with her long, perfect blonde hair when Deidre had made a comment on how she was a better flyer that all of the veterans. That was it for all of them. She was carried off of the pitch by O'Malley. She practically cried when he picked her up and slung her over his broad, muscled shoulders. The rest of them only laughed.

Leo LeChaud was a third year and very, very French. His flawless English and thick French accent made Rory want to melt. He was decent, though by the end of practice, he had complained of two broken nails, flirted with Marcus twice (Rory found this so amusing she had to duck under the stands to laugh), and had announced to everyone he really didn't care about Quidditch, just the cute boys. Leo then proceeded to walk off the field and didn't return. All of the guys took a huge sigh of relief. Rory was still laughing her ass off under the bleachers.

A Fifth year named Jess Riley then stepped out onto the pitch. McFly narrowed his aqua colored eyes. Jess was tall, attractive with short black hair spiked to perfection. Jess's eyes were a crystal blue, not as striking as Kylee's were, but gorgeous, nonetheless. His broom was definitely a Firebolt, but which model, Rory wasn't sure.

"Payne, go!" McFly barked at Rory.

"Reverting back to primitive speech, are we?" Rory chuckled.

"Dammit, just go!" he said and turned from her.

Rory won. She hopped on her broom and kicked off from the stands and descended on the kid standing near the edge of the pitch. She dismounted and slung her broom over her shoulder. Marcus watched her, looking unsettled, from over the side

"They sent you down to help with my tryout," his face wore a look of astonishment; his tone downgraded Rory to 'Lower-that-dirt'.

"I am co-captain" she replied calmly.

"You are? A girl!"

Rory almost pounced on him. Instead she counted to twenty quickly in the all of the languages she knew and threw her broom down in front of her. It hovered when she raised her hand. She jumped on it like a skateboard and urged it forward. Her Firebolt V2 was older, but it knew her touch well. She sped head-on towards Jess. He stood still, arms crossed on his chest, looking very smug. Jerk, she thought and when she was three feet from him she leaped off the broom and over Jess's head, twisting in the air. Her broom sped under him and she landed like a cat on he handle and then spun around quickly, low to the ground, knocking Jess off his feet.

"Yes a girl. Now get off your ass and let's see what you got" she spat as he rubbed his ankles. "Pain is weakness leaving the body; unless you want more, I suggest you get up," Jess stood reluctantly and climbed on his broom. Rory did the same and was waiting for him at the goalposts with the Quaffle under her arm. She cracked her knuckles again, and fastened the snaps on her fingerless gloves.

"The tryout is simple. Block the shots I throw at you," she said and sped to the middle of the pitch. She rolled out her shoulders and grinned. This kid so clueless, she then sped towards him and threw the Quaffle through the left goal post. Jess went for it, but missed. The next one Rory threw was to the right goalpost. Again Jess almost had it, but the Quaffle seemed to be going impossibly fast. The last shot she tossed went straight through the center goal, not even touching the sides of the circle, to the other side. Jess had seen it this time but missed catching it by inches.

McFly's magically magnified voice rang out in the stadium.

"Congratulations you have made the team!" Rory smiled, she hopped on her broom and sped up to the tower. Jess followed her with a very puzzled look on his face. When they arrived Jess looked at the members of the team.

"I didn't even block one of her shots," he pointed at Rory.

"No, but," Marcus looked Rory in the eyes, "not very many people can. Quidditch or not," he said and smiled at her. Rory tried to stay mad, but she smiled back, in spite of her mood.

"Plus, you followed the Quaffle in the right direction. There are very few Chasers who can hope to escape eyes a quick as yours," O'Malley pointed out.

Jess looked happy, mostly. His eyes shifted to Rory. She only smiled and waved at him.

"Stop holding a grudge, Rory may be a girl, but she's the best one, not to mention only, we have so far," McFly said and tilted his head in her direction. Rory ignored him and took her seat next to O'Malley and Marcus.

Seeker Tryouts came last. McFly magnified his voice again and shouted down to the pitch.

"Will all of the candidates for Seeker please come out to the pitch," all eight of them stepped out from the locker room. McFly motioned the team to follow him and they all jumped on their brooms and descended to the field. McFly made his voice go back to normal and spoke to the eight.

"As you know, by the end of this evening, only one of you will be left. What we want you to do now is get on your brooms and fly around the pitch. We want to get a good look at how you move. They all did so. Four were eliminated after this exercise because they didn't handle themselves well in the air or they weren't Seeker material. They all were good sports about it and promised to support the team.

"Now, since there was a major 'downsize', we'll move onto the next exercise. I am releasing three Snitches onto the pitch. When all three are caught, those three will move onto the next round," Rory was surprised at McFly's tactics. Usually he was never this careful, he played favorites, but not this time. It seemed like a fair enough test of abilities.

The three left after the trial were all guys. The girl apologized to Rory politely. Rory told her that she was used to being the sole girl on the team. Then McFly narrowed it down to two in same fashion. The boy who had caught it first every time was looking around the pitch at the team who were all observing at different places on the field. He turned to Rory, smiled and waved at her comically. Rory laughed and waved back. She searched for his name.

Aidan O'Sullivan came to her mind; he was a fourth year, and a bit of a clown. Rory had watched the others and not him the past few times. She was too far away from him to really see what he looked like. But from a distance she could tell he was cute in a boyish sort of way. She watched him this time looking for the snitch. She was amazed. He was brilliant. Quick eyes and a smooth handling of the broom were obvious from the time he kick off from the ground and searched for the tiny golden ball. It was like he had been born on a broom; he was fast, even for an average guy. She never paid much attention to him at first. McFly was about to announce his final verdict to the team before he announced it to the two that were left.

"I want him," he pointed to the shorter, scrawnier of the two. He had messy dark hair and huge sideburns, Rory hid her disgust cleverly. He looked really shy and wasn't even watching the ground talk. Aidan on the other hand, was straining to hear. Rory turned to get a good look at him. His hair was a deep brown color, and the ends flipped up where his cheekbones started. Rory stared; he had deep emerald green eyes, a soft smile and was wearing a beanie on his head that was black. Rory turned to him the green lettering on the hat seemed like it was morphing from one phrase to another. She looked closer "Future Slytherin Seeker," it read and then flashed "Yeah I'll kick yo' ass" Rory laughed and went over to him.

"Hey Aidan lemme see that hat" she said and put out her hand.

"Nope, this thing don't come off unless it's life or death," he said and put a hand on his head.

"Please?" she asked and grinned girlishly.

"Nuh-uh" Aidan shook his head.

McFly came up behind Rory and nodded to Aidan. If you didn't know McFly very well you would be intimidated by his height, huge muscles, and just overall beauty. Plus he was a pretty menacing guy when he wanted to be. McFly pointed to Rory, then his own head, indicating Aidan's, and then snapped his fingers. Aidan took it off and gave it Rory in one fluid motion. She looked at it closely, the words were gone. She looked around and put it on her own head. Someone who sounded remarkably like Kylee read from the back.

"A real bitch sometimes; freaking obsessed with Marcus; and is very sorry she snapped at him," Rory turned around and say Kylee reading the beanie with a huge grin on her face.

"You creep me out sometimes," Rory grumbled and took it off.

"I try," she looked over at Aidan. He smiled and waved like he had for Rory she waved back with her famous side ways glance. "This kid is freaking me out," she looked at him again, he was still waving with the stupid grin plastered on his face, "he's cute though, not to mention an amazing flyer," she said and turned to look at him.

McFly spoke next, "Okay the team agrees; the new Slytherin Seeker is Bryan!" Rory stood open mouthed at him.

"WHOA! BLOODY hell no it's not! I didn't agree," there was a mutter of assent throughout the group they walked over to stand behind Rory.

"Did you see him fly?" Kylee asked him she was shocked and appalled just as much as Rory was.

"He's the next freaking Harry Potter!" Rory said and jabbed a finger in Aidan's direction. Aidan looked startled but proud of himself nonetheless. Bryan, the scrawny kid, was just wide-eyed and scared. Rory's remark got a few agreements from the rest of the team. McFly scowled. Aidan tossed his hair. Rory and Kylee's jaws hit the ground. McFly is jealous! Both of them thought this in unison. He had a right to be, despite the fact that Aidan was three years younger, he was probably nicer, funnier, and much more attractive that McFly.

"All in favor of Aidan?" Rory asked and raised her hand. The entire team did the same, except for McFly.

"Well I'm captain, I can overrule all of you," he said and turned to Aidan and opened his mouth to speak before Kylee cut him off.

"I concur with Rory and plus, I have," she counted on her fingers, "more than one source that tell me that you and Chrysanthemum-Rose have broken up? Am I right 'Devian'?" this struck something in McFly that drained the blood from his face and made his pupils contract again, leaving his aqua eyes clearly visible.

"Y-yes we, uh, have," he sputtered, "Fine Aidan you're on the team, sorry Bryan," the other boy was long gone. He had taken off running minutes ago, no one had noticed. Obviously not Seeker material. Kylee thought with amusement.

"I guess this means we owe money?" asked one of the boys behind the two girls.

"You got it, but it can wait until I've made a formal announcement," Rory laughed at Kylee.

Rory yawned widely and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I'm going to shower and I'll meet you guys at dinner." she said and went off in the direction of the locker rooms.

"Uhhhhh I'll be right back," Marcus's face broke into this evil grin and he got on his broom and followed Rory discreetly.

O'Malley covered Kylee's mouth before she could say anything about it.

"Let him go; she's got to learn to use self-control. Let's save them dinner just in case," O'Malley seemed to already know, but Kylee didn't want to think about it.

Rory had never been quite so grateful for a shower in her entire life. She let the water run over her face until she cooled down. She switched off the water just when she heard a sound outside of the girl's locker room. She put on a towel and grabbed her wand from her pile of clothes. She crept to the door; feet rustled, someone coughed. It was a male someone.

"I know you're out there, Marcus," she said and relaxed a little, she put her wand down her to side.

"Dammit, you're way too good at that," he said and she heard him try and open the door.

"Yeah, thought about you before I got into the shower, I did. Knew you'd try it. Lemme get some clothes on"

"You don't have to,"

"Stop thinking with your hormones and start using your brain," she said with a laugh and went to her clothes and put them on.

Marcus laughed, "Okay fine," he paused, "what's the point if you're only going to be not wearing them in a few minutes," he beat around the bush. Rory laughed out loud.

"Clever, clever," she said and put her hair up into a clip and opened the door. Marcus stood there and smiled at her. He had too showered and had put on a hoodie with the Slytherin crest on the front with the words "Quidditch" printed under it; Rory knew his named was printed on the back. She had one just like it. His jeans were long on him and his flip-fops were a bit out of season for Scotland. She smiled and shook her head at him.

She wore a black zip-up jacket and red cotton pants that clashed horribly with her hair. They were comfortable, that was all that mattered. Rory shrugged and went to gather up her stuff. She stuffed it all in her bag that had "Slytherin Quidditch Chaser" printed on the top and "Rory Payne" printed under it. She slung it over her shoulder and went to walk out the door. Marcus grabbed her arm. She dropped the bag and turned to him.

"I'm sorry" she said and hugged him, "I shouldn't have gone off on you like that I shouldn't have..."he cut her off with a finger pressed to her lips. He kissed her, full- on frontal. Rory forgot everything she was going to say, all of the promises she had made to herself. It was just her and Marcus until he picked her up as if she weighed nothing and pinned her against a wall.

"Stop!" Rory said and pulled away from him. Her breathing was ragged, his was heavy, excited. He put her down; she stumbled a little and then went to get her stuff. She sank down on the bench and put her head in hands. "Is this all you want?" she asked hoarsely, indicating herself, "Were you only nice to me because you knew I would do this?" she was angry, her eyes were streaming with tears of anger at herself, "Am I just some," she hesitated with disgust, "piece of shit you all throw around?" she spat it at him.

Marcus stood there as if he wasn't sure how to react. "It was more than that, Rory, I really care about you, I just," he paused debating with himself, "you're right. Let's go get dinner,"

Rory watched his eyes dart back and forth. She was suspicious now, "Look Marcus, if there's something you're not telling me, I will find out sooner or later,"

"Hopefully much later," his tone was mournful. Rory's downfall had always been her pity; she continuously dug a deep hole for herself when she saw someone she loved upset. Not only that but it was not what they said, it was how they said it. She knew this, and was very aware of the fact that she was following Marcus back up to the Great Hall. She wasn't sure if this was truly falling for someone. She and Marcus seemed to butt heads a lot, and looking at Kylee and O'Malley, whose relationship was seemingly perfect, their own relationship seemed not so good. Rory grabbed Marcus's hand, it was like ice. She squeezed; it was so cold, almost like he didn't have a pulse. Rory shook the thought from her mind, she was again being ridiculous. It seemed to be a common theme for a night such as this.

A wolf howled in the distance and Rory felt Marcus tense up. Why he was so afraid of the werewolves in the forest, Rory would not find out for a very long time. She glanced up at the full moon appearing from between the clouds. She had Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, but she supposed it might be cancelled, due to a monthly illness.