`TANP, TTOOO

[honor elisabeth golden]

Honor supposed that Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was a sort of sanctuary to herself and Shelbee. Minus the whole, calm, reclusive part. See, the only bad part about using the abandoned bathroom as a sort of meeting place was, in fact, Moaning Myrtle. The ghost had been a ghost for about fifty-four years, give or take, and she just loved to rub it in. 'How long have you been dead? Oh, that's right, you're not!' 'Today is my fifty-fourth deathday! I'd invite you to my party, but you're not dead.' It was amazing to Honor that the ghost somehow found a way to make you almost upset about the fact that you weren't dead, and she was. Then again, she'd remind herself, it was Myrtle.

As the very alive brunette leaned against the edge of one of the sinks, she was sadly being lectured about how it's 'so much better to be dead' by Myrtle, who was apparently in the mood to brag. Honor had told Shelbee to meet her in there after she was done in the library with Gavin, and as she stood there, she was desperately wishing that the other Gryffindor girl would just hurry the hell up already and ditch her brother. Honestly, he couldn't need this much tutoring. He wasn't that dumb, after all. While Gavin wasn't a perfect student like his sister, he could still hold his own during exams and such. But no. Apparently Shelbee thought otherwise.

Honor herself had been sucked in by Shelbee's tutoring spurts. She didn't mind so much--the rare occasions when Honor got to correct one of Shelbee's mistakes made the whole charade well worth it, in the brunette's eyes. However, those days were rare. Shelbee was just as bad as Hermione Granger, who was in their year and house as well. Hermione was a perfectionist, to say the least. She was known for writing essays that were at least two scrolls of parchment more than the professors asked for, and for always having an answer for everything. Like Shelbee, it was a rare occurrence when Hermione got something wrong.

Thinking back the previous few days, Honor ran a hand through her hair and let her mind wander to Gavin. Their friendship was complicated. Only, not really. It was complicated for her, probably not so much for him. Honestly, Honor blamed herself for the whole mess. She'd let herself like him. She'd let herself love him. She should have been stubborn about it. Should have refused to fall in love. But no. Her heart just couldn't follow orders. Not that she'd really made any attempt to keep it from happening. A few 'No, you can not's, and even those were lame. Besides, it didn't matter either way. Gavin was Gavin. Though he hadn't really dated anyone over the years, she doubted he would want her.

"But don't get me wrong. Even if you did die, you would not be allowed to share my bathroom."

Honor looked up as the ghost spoke, tearing herself from her thoughts of her best friend's older brother. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, and instead let out an impatient sigh. "Trust me, Myrtle. If I died, I wouldn't come near your bathroom." The brunette told her with a glance towards the unopened door. Where was Shelbee? This was getting a bit ridiculous. Honestly. She'd even cut practice short so she could get there on time, and she'd been standing there for a good twenty minutes already. It wasn't like Shelbee to be late, either. No, she was one of the most punctual people Honor knew.

"Where's your friend? Maybe she hates you now." Myrtle gave off a high pitched cackle, before diving into the nearest toilet, covering the surrounding floor and half of Honor's robes with water.

[shelbee alyssa james]

Honor was going to kill her, plain and simple. She was running late, and that wasn't entirely her fault. Some new student, well new to her tutoring program, had come in saying he needed help with charms. And, well... he was hot, and nice, and Shelbee couldn't resist. Perhaps Honor wouldn't be all that upset. Besides, how many times had Honor been late when meeting up with Shelbee because of Gavin? Plenty, that's how many. And each time Shelbee was ready to kick Gavin's butt for that. He knew when she would be meeting up with her best friend and he knew better than to keep her.

Shelbee skidded to a halt in front of the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She was nearly half and hour late, curse that good looking boy. Sometimes Bee questioned using Myrtle's bathroom as a meeting spot. The ghost was extremely annoying, and didn't seem to get the concept of privacy. Honestly. Most of the ghosts still had some decency to leave the students alone when they needed a bit of quiet alone time. But not Myrtle, never Myrtle. She was so torn up over her own death; whining, moaning, complaining. Shelbee wasn't normally an angry person, or violent for that matter, but she sometimes wished Myrtle was alive so she could punch her in the eye. Stupid, bloody ghost.

After taking a breath, and preparing for the talking to Honor was going to give her, she pushed open the run down bathroom's door. “Honor! I'm so sorry. There was this new guy I had to tutor, and he kept me late. I'm sorry.” Bee immediately apologized, figuring now was about the only time she'd have to over her friend an apology. She put her bag on the ground and noticed Honor's robes were wet. “Myrtle throw a temper tantrum?” She asked. She honestly didn't care if Myrtle heard her, the ghost deserved it anyway.

“What's going on anyway?” Bee wondered as she leaned up against on of the rusted sinks. This place could definitely stand to be cleaned up. It was a wonder they hadn't completely remodeled the old bathroom. Then again, she supposed no one would want to deal with a pissed off, even more annoying Myrtle.

She wondered if this meeting had anything to do with Gavin. Shelbee knew all about Honor's feelings for her brother, and Gavin's feelings for her best friend. Both had sworn her to secrecy, making her swear never to tell the other how they really felt. And Shelbee was screwed. She had this thing about promises. She couldn't break them, due to her extremely annoying conscience. If Bee were to break her promise, her conscience would never let her live it down and she'd end up going to the person and admitting right away she had broken her promise. Stupid non ability to lie.

[honor elisabeth golden]

Finally. Slacker. Lame-o. Loser. Honor was about five seconds from leaving when Shelbee entered the bathroom, looking extremely apologetic. She was lucky she was cute, that was for sure. If she wasn't, well, there would have been some hell to pay. But no. Shelbee was Shelbee, and therefore impossible to stay mad at. It just was not even remotely close to being fair. It wasn't even in the same league as fair. Which was just not okay, in Honor's book.

Listening to the other girl's apology, the brunette considered it for a few moments, before something processed fully. A boy? Shelbee had a new boy? Really? For real? "A new guy? Spill it. Was he cute? Come on. Scale of one to ten. You know the drill. Six? Seven? He must have been at least an eight if you let him keep you this long. Either that or you just don't love me anymore. Which is just not cool." Honor told her friend with a small shrug, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Honor looked down at her robes, as if just realizing they were wet. The brunette pulled out her wand and muttered a small drying spell before responding to Shelbee's question with another small shrug. "More or less." She paused, before speaking again. "Apparently I don't seem to understand the 'benefits of being dead'. Oh, and then I got told that even if I was dead, I wouldn't be allowed to share her bathroom, let alone her toilet. Like I'd want to share a bathroom with such a selfish cow." She raised her voice to something short of a yell as she finished.

Honor considered Shelbee's question for a moment or two. What was going on? She didn't know. Why had she asked Shelbee to meet her there? Did she have a specific reason? She wasn't sure. She could have found her in the library if she'd needed help with her homework. But no. She'd asked her to meet her in the abandoned bathroom on the second floor. Right. That made all the sense in the world. Obviously, subconsciously, she had something important to talk to her friend about. Or at least something private.

"He's not... seeing anyone, is he?" Where had that come from? Seriously. Honor wanted to know. She was so lame. This was ridiculous. She sounded like a twelve year old girl, which was pretty much the stupidest thing ever. Was stupidest even a word? Honor didn't know. She didn't know anything. She didn't know how Gavin felt about her, she didn't know why she sounded like such a baby, she didn't know why she had asked Shelbee to meet her there. Ugh. This was so retarded. "I don't really... Care. I was just, asking, I guess." Honor shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck in an attempt to look as if she didn't give a damn what Gavin did.

[shelbee alyssa james]

Shelbee couldn't help but laugh at the one thousand and one questions Honor was asking her. Should've known better than to mention a new boy. But then again, Honor was her best friend; who else was she supposed to tell? "Yeah, a new guy. He was cute. Like..." She paused in thought. "Off the scale." She finished, grinning. "And don't start with the I don't love you crap, you're my best friend, of course I love you." Shelbee shook her head at her friend's exaggeration, silly Honor.

"Right." Sometimes Shelbee just didn't like ghosts. They creeped her out some, and she never understood how they could just walk through someone and never even apologize. She supposed they didn't realize just how cold and weird it made said person feel. "Yeah, that would be one toilet I'd never want to be in. Could you imagine having to listen to her whine and carry on all the time? I'd... well I'm not sure what I'd do. How would a ghost kill itself after it died?" Shelbee asked, cocking her head slightly as she pondered this.

Bee watched her friend become quiet and a look of thoughtfulness came over her face. Neither Honor nor Shelbee really needed a reason to meet up. Usually they just met up to catch up, even though they were in the same house. But Myrtle's bathroom was usually always empty so the pair didn't have to worry about distractions or anything like that. When Honor had asked her to meet her here earlier, her voice had sounded almost urgent. It was as if there was something of great importance the two needed to discuss.

It took Shelbee a few seconds to catch onto who Honor was speaking of, and once she realized how it was she felt kind of dumb. It was Gavin, of course it was Gavin. Shelbee shook her head, "No. He's not." But that was all Shelbee would say. Bee hoped she sounded calm and sure of herself. Though she was being completely honest, conversations regarding Gavin's feelings were always a little difficult for Bee to get through; seeing as she knew who really held Gavin's affections.

"Don't give me that you don't know why you're asking crap. You like him. You and I both know that." Shelbee said as she rested her hand comfortingly on Honor's arm. "There's hope, you know."