* - - - Die For Me ~ Jaycen

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

Picking up her book, a towel, her pyjamas and a bowl of cherries, with another empty bowl underneath, Raychel quietly headed out of the Ravenclaw common room and down the flight of stairs and then down another set of stair until she reached the fifth floor, the one with the beloved prefect's bathroom. She judged her timing, knowing everyone would have been and gone from the bathroom, she had it all to herself, for however she wanted. Speaking the password, she ducked into the quiet bathroom and smiled as she saw not a single movement. No one was here.

Setting her things down near the bathtub, she turned to the numerous amounts of taps. Although she knew each scent and each bubble, she reached over and turned on her favourite tap. What should have taken hours, only took minutes to fill the bath. Steam and the delicious scent of cherry filled the room and her smile widened. Stripping from her clothes, she stepped in and let the hot water work its magic in her skin. Reaching for her wand as soon as she was submerged up to her chest, she cast a spell to keep the water hot and to keep the bubbles from popping before grabbing her book pride and prejudice, levitating it before she put her wand down again and begun reading.

This was the life, she thought, reaching to the bowl of cherries and popping one in her mouth, removing the stalk and nibbling around the small stone before spitting into her hand and depositing it into the empty bowl, doing this every few minutes as she flipped the pages of her book. How long had she been reading she wondered as she reached for more cherries.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Contrary to the belief, or teasings of some students, Jaycen did have the dedication and responsibility needed to be a prefect and head boy, and he truly did enjoy his position at Hogwarts. Lily Potter, a good friend of his, teased him often that he didn't have the patience and honesty to be a prefect. She liked to say that he didn't have the focus it needed to set a good example for the school, and he couldn't take his responsibilities properly. That was actually complete bull. Jayce wouldn't have been appointed to his position if the headmaster and heads of houses had had even the slightest suspicion that that was true. Sure, he might not be the most serious guy sometimes, but he knew how to lead and organize himself well when it really counted. Take now, for instance. A prefect who had been schedule to do patrols this evening had extra homework from a teacher, and rather than getting someone else to fill in for him or forget about it, Jayce just took on an extra patrol. It didn't make much of a difference to him. Either he had a bit of freedom to walk around the corridors in the castle, or he sat around in the Ravenclaw commons room and did nothing while sleep eluded him.

As far as patrols went it had been pretty predictable and, well, boring. There had been a couple of lovey dovey Ravenclaw third years late getting back to the commons room, but they hurried along after wishing him luck in the tournament and hurrying along on their way. It was weird, really, how much more recognition he now had after being named a house champion. You'd think that most people would already know him thanks to his head boy status, but apparently being a champion high outranked that.

Anyways, other than the third year couple he hadn't run into anyone who wasn't supposed to be in the corridors late at night for no reason and his time passed surprisingly quickly. After the patrol was finished the Irish wizard headed back up to the commons area and grabbed his pyjamas, basically sweat pants and an old T-shirt, and made his way back out of the Ravenclaw tower. One of the obvious advantages of his position was the fact that the prefects had their own bathroom, far more luxurious than those of the other students. Jayce was pretty sure that all of the prefects would be in their dorms by now, so he should have some peace for himself to just relax.

Muttering the password outside the door to the bathroom, Jayce made his way inside. He let his eyes sweep over the room that he'd known for a few years now. The painting, the decorations, the giant tub with Raychel in it, the towering ceilin- wait a second, what was that? Jayce froze, caught like a deer in the headlights as he stared at his female head counterpart. It was at least three seconds before he regained control of his body and jerked away, raising his free hand, the one not carrying his stuff, to cover his eyes and stammered out in a rather heavy accent at the same time, "Holy cro- Raychel- I.. What the hell are you doing in here?"

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

The head girl sighed in contentment. It was too bad she couldn’t share this bathroom with her best friend and have someone to talk to, but at least she still have her other best friend, the books she often lost herself in. This was her downtime from having to appear the perfect student, a time to let her hair down per se. She inhaled deeply, letting the scent of cherry fill her nose and lungs. Ah how could anyone not like the small red fruit was beyond her.

She picked up another cherry, the bowl was slowly going down and the other one filling up with the stones and stalks, if she could only have one thing to eat for the rest of her life, cherries would be that food. Another sigh escaped her throat as she sipped a little further into the tub, getting comfortable yet again. Would the prefects have already finished their patrols, she wondered before shrugging and going back to her book, once more getting lost in the pages.

Raychel was completely oblivious to another entering the bathroom, nor did she hear the footsteps. The only thing that alerted her was the oh so familiar voice of someone she didn’t particularly get along well with: the head boy. Grabbing her book before it could fall into the water from a lapse in her concentration; she turned her head and stared at him. There was one thing she couldn’t deny, he was attractive, even with his hand covering his gorgeous eyes. Wait did she really just think his eyes were gorgeous, maybe she had been reading for too long.
"I'm plotting your demise. What does it look like I’m doing?" she asked with sarcasm, rolling her eyes as she reached over to place the book down with her things. Well she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on it with him here anyways.
"The question is, what are you doing here?" she asked, "You do know the bubbles are covering me; you don’t have to stand there with your eyes covered unless of course you plan on being a statue for the rest of your life." She slapped her face with the hot water before turning back to him, "Anyone would think you're gay with the way you're acting." She shook her head slightly, any other guy would have been way too happy to be in a room with a naked girl, then again any other girl would have most likely screamed and shot out of the bath if a guy walked in on them but she didnt see the point of getting up when she was already covered.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Of course. The time when even the other prefects should be asleep and the bathroom would be free was the time when she would decide she had to use it, too. Being a typical girl she'd probably been here for hours already, and would likely be here for hours more. Girls. He moved his hand away from his eyes, but still tried not to stare at her because, well, why should he stare? She was annoying, and there was no reason for him to look at her. Of course Lily had made those billion jokes after her 'student highlights!' article had come out about him and Raychel, but they were the ramblings of a fifteen year old girl who just loved to annoy the hell out of Jayce for no reason.

Oh for pete's sake! This girl just could not be satisfied, could she? Out of habit and manners he covered his eyes, just in case, and she had to mock him for being polite! And oh, God, he was sooo tired of the gay jokes! He'd heard them enough. Apparently it was a hobby of people's to make gay jokes about the... uh... popular guys all of the time. Lily's subtle messages in her article in the school paper hadn't really helped the situation either. Some people actually seemed serious about their jokes and seemed to forget Jayce had been in many relationships in the past, and none of them with a guy named Michael. He was not gay! Was it really so unbelievable that there was a straight guy out there who had been raised with a bit of manners? Sure, his family might not be the kindest... especially where Hogwarts students and non-pureblood families were concerned, but they still had basic courtesy to teach him to avert his eyes when there was someone in a tub, no matter how many freakish unpoppable bubbles surrounded them.

He knew that was what Raychel, and anyone else who made a gay jab, wanted. Just to get a rise out of him. So he carefully controlled his anger at the comment, replying instead with annoyance at a different point she'd made, "Well excuse me for not living up to your expectations of being a pig," he hissed back. why did he even bother trying to be curteous to her sometimes? The two had never gotten along, not even in their younger years. Hell, they'd been at each other's throats pretty much since their first year. Since their first day, actually. He'd been pretty ecstatic when he'd gotten the letter telling him that he was going to be head boy this year, but that joy had faded a bit when he'd realized who he'd have to work alongside. Working with her was enough. He could really do without the random encounters in the bathroom.

His eyes, looking for something to focus on that was not his annoying female head counterpart, zoned in on the bowl of cherries at her side. Her favorite food, he remembered that from the article. Well, not because he just remembered stuff about her like that, because that made him sound like a stalker. It was something that they'd had in common that Lily wouldn't stop taunting him about. That was the only reason he knew they were Raychel's favorite food. The bowl was rather empty, though another was filled up with the remnants of a good amount of the fruit. "You know, if you were that hungry, I'm sure the house elves could have given you some more supper instead of you making a meal out of cherries," he couldn't resist jabbing.

(OOC: Sorry! My muse is everywhere today.)

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

Raychel sighed, how did her pleasant night turn into a disaster? If Izzy was here, she'd know exactly how to handle Jaycen. But she was up in the dorms more than likely, or up in the astronomy tower. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back against the tub. She wanted peace and she ended up getting Jaycen, yeah that was anything but peaceful. She remembered every little fight and squabble they had from the time they met on the train to this year. Lifting a soaking wet hand, she ran it down her face before flicking the excess water from her hand. Now the water was definitely peaceful and she wondering if he would disappear if she ducked under the water long enough. No, she thought a moment later, she was here first, it was his choice in what he wanted to do.

Hearing his voice, she simply wanted to stand up, walk over to him and slap him hard. It was something she imagined doing every time they were in the same room. Opening her eyes, she raised an eyebrow up at him as she turned her head back to him.
"I never said anything about you being a pig, but hey if that’s what you want to classify yourself as, be my guest," she shrugged lazily.

How on earth were they meant to set a good example to the other students if they themselves couldn’t get along, perhaps it was the headmaster's plan every year, pair two students that couldn’t stand one another to work together. Why oh why did he have to be chosen as head boy, she would have been able to deal with a Slytherin blood purist more than Jaycen.

Once more he spoke, this time about the fruit she had eaten, so what if she had a few, was it a crime to eat cherries now. They weren’t an illegal fruit. Glancing at the bowls, she licked her lips.
"You're just jealous cause I never left you any," she retorted, not like she'd share them with him anyways. Oh she knew all about his love for cherries, it was just one of the things they had in common, unfortunately.

He still hadn’t answered her question and wondered if he was ignoring it on purpose. Looking him up and down, she noticed him holding some clothes. So he wanted to use the bath as well.
"You have two choices, either leave, which I’m hoping you will, or god forbid join me."

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

One might assume that having both the female and male head students in the same house would help them work well together, but as already demonstrated by the interaction between the two, it was definitely not the case. It was all Jaycen could do to be civil to the girl sometimes, even at meetings in front of other prefects where the pair should be on their best behaviour. No one should blame him. Could any guy work with a girl who thought herself so perfect? At least, that was the vibe Jayce always got from her. Yeah, she was smart. Who in Ravenclaw wasn't? Yeah, she was popular in the way that all girls who didn't show their true colors to the majority of the population were. Yeah, she was pretty- Woah, no. He wouldn't even give her that. She was not perfect, and he hated feeling second rate around her because she, at least in the head boy's eyes, thought herself so flawless. He would have had an easier time of working with anyone else. Blood purist, mudbl- muggleborn (old habits and words picked up from his family were hard to drop, even after seven years at Hogwarts and a much different attitude than the one his parents held), anyone. He would have put up with his father's insults to his counterpart if they had been muggleborn quite happily. But of course no, he had to get stuck with Raychel. Sometimes he entertained the thought that the headmaster knew of his parent's natures, and was constantly out to test Jayce's patience. It obviously wasn't the truth, but it was an interesting theory when he got frustrated.

"Oooh, good comeback!" he remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I'm afraid you lose creativity points for using the most predictable response ever." He wasn't really sure why he was still sticking around. It wasn't even worth the amusement of having a conversation with her, because there was nothing but irritation whenever he was in the same room as Raychel. He'd come back tomorrow evening, and he'd make sure that the room was unoccupied before he walked in. For now he could go back to his dorm room and sleep, peaceful and Raychell-presence-free.

But still he inexplicably found himself standing there, arms folded across his chest as he looked down at the girl, unable to find a reason why except to carry on the meaningless conversation that was much more irritating than insightful or helpful in any way. "Yeah, you got me. I really wish that you'd realized I'd be coming along while you were in here and saved me a few." Another eye roll. He seemed to be pretty fond of doing that right now, but it just went so well with sarcasm that it was like an insult to eye rolling to not do it. He really hated things that he apparently had in common with this girl, like they meant that he should get along with her. "But it's okay, because I'm sure I can get the house elves to get me some since you didn't save any for me."

He noticed her look him up and down, and a bit of a smirk curled his lips. Oh the jokes he could make accusing her of checking him out... but restrained himself and held his tongue as the blonde haired girl spoke, giving Jayce two choices. Wait a second, she wasn't serious, was she? Join her? "Yeah, uh, sorry to disappoint, but I am definitely going to pass on the whole 'joining you' bit. I don't know what you've heard, but I'm not that eager to hook up with every girl I see." Of course he knew that she hadn't meant it like that for those reasons, but he couldn't resist the remark anyways. "I think I'll go for option three. Just stay here and annoy the hell out of you with my presence."

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Could this guy seriously get any more annoying and frustrating, well it seemed like he just did. Why couldn’t he have been shipped off to some far away school like Durmstrang instead of attending Hogwarts. His pureblooded family would have probably been so much happier if he were surrounded by other purebloods, not a single muggleborn or halfblood in sight. No, he had to go to Hogwarts just to annoy the hell out of her. It was bad enough they shared the same house and now they had shared responsibility.

Loose creativity points for using the most predictable response ever, please like she was trying to be creative...not. Ugh why couldn’t the floor simply open up and swallow him, sending him, gorgeous eyes and all, into the depths of hell where he belonged? She ignored him as her own mind considered performing a silencing charm on him. No he'd simply counter the charm, maybe she ought to do it on herself that why she would at least get peace and quiet. Again her mind told her no, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was irritating her.

Once more his voice floated into her ears, sarcastic as ever she thought. Like hell she'd leave him anything, especially her favourite fruit.
"Too bad," she spoke, looking up at the high ceiling, her eyes lazily tracing the patterns on it, "They were the last cherries in the kitchen."

He was sorry it disappoint, she could help but let a little sarcastic laugh escape her lips, like he'd be sorry for anything. The guy just didn’t seem to have an apologetic bone in his body. And then he simply created a third option, to stay here and annoy the hell out of her.
"Well looks like you'll miss out on your bath then," she shrugged, it was no skin off her back, "You do realise I will have to get out at some point?" She wondered if he was really that dumb, stay in the room with her, knowing she could get out at any moment. Would he act like he had before or not, ah who cared, as long as she was in the bath and he was out of it she was somewhat happy.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Raychel was probably the only, or maybe only the biggest, reason that might make Jayce think Durmstrang were the better school out of the three most well known Wizarding schools. His father was definitely a Durmstrang advocate, and it was only his mother's insistance and the fact that Tom Riddle himself had attended Hogwarts that sent Jayce here instead. He'd never really had an issue with the school. The teachers were all right, the Quidditch games enjoyable, the ghosts amusing, and the students (for the most part) easy to put up with. But sometimes it might have been worth putting up with all of the Dark Arts worship that supposedly went on in the darkened halls of Durmstrang if he could just escape from this girl for a little while.

He'd been to Durmstrang a few times. His father, as a school alumni and a former member of the Wizengamot, had been welcome in the school's doors at any time and he'd often brought his son along with him to introduce Jaycen to the school everyone thought he'd attend someday. The place always had a... creepy feeling that, even as a young child, Jaycen hadn't been fond of. The halls of Hogwarts were much more welcoming and friendly, somehow. Maybe it was the lighting. Maybe it was the ghosts drifting through the walls. Maybe it was just the entire atmosphere of the school in general. Jaycen was not his parents. He liked the fact that Hogwarts invited people of all blood types within its walls. He liked that there was none of the 'blood supriority' crap at school that he put up with daily at home. He was not his parent's child by any other way but blood, and with the exception of Raychel, everything at Hogwarts made him much happier than he was sure he would ever be at Durmstrang.

"Yes, Raychel," he rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the house elves would be entirely against getting me some cherries from outside of the school in a matter of seconds." Students could not apparate within the walls of Hogwarts, but house elves worked on an entire different level than human beings. They could bypass magical charms that only extremely experience wizards could hope of passing with a snap of their fingers. With that sort of power, combined with their cheerful 'yes sir!' attitudes, he was sure that if he dared to ask it would only take a few seconds for a new batch of cherries to appear in front of him. Not that he would actually request such a thing. He was trying to bug Raychel; show her how idiotic she was being. Jaycen generally wasn't one for midnight snacks.

"I can wait a few hours and have one before classes in the morning," he shrugged, moving to the wall and leaning against it with his arms folded across his chest. He wasn't quite sure why he was being so insistent on hanging around. Sleeping would be a much more productive, and enjoyable, use of his time right now, but there was something about the blonde haired control freak that made sticking around tempting. He was used to staying up much later than it actually was, so it wasn't as though he was harming himself by missing out on sleep to bug her, however long he hung around for.

"No, I expected you to hang around in there until you're prunier than my grandmother." He rolled his eyes. Of course she'd have to leave, that was freaking common sense, was it not? How stupid did she think he was? Yeah, she was perfect Raychel Entwhistle, the girl with near flawless grades that all the teachers adored, but his grades were very close behind. Just because she had that little edge on him he apparently classified as an idiot. Who was full of themselves now? "I'll leave a minute before you get out, and not a moment sooner," he said with a crooked smirk. If she had ruined his hopeful peace of the evening, why shouldn't he return the favor?

(OOC: Sorry it took so long!)

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

Merlin he was so annoying, thankfully Raychel had gotten good at ignoring people, good at shutting them out. How many months had she ignored and shut her own family out when her twin died. So she figured she'd ignore him, perhaps if he didn't getting any enjoyment from not getting a rise out of her, he'd leave her alone.

She closed her eyes as she forced herself to relax even as he carried on about the cherries and house elves. It just wasn't worth giving him even a fraction of her attention.

She heard him move around but still she didn't look, didn't bother opening her eyes. He could have been getting undressed and she wouldn't have cared. She sighed softly. Honestly didn't he get the hint, she wasn't going to entertain him tonight, in fact she'd prefer never to entertain anything he said again. At least they only had the rest of the year to deal with each other and then hopefully they would never meet again. She'd become a healer and he could rot in the gutter for all she cared.

She caught the last of his words he'd leave a minute before age got out and not a moment sooner. Well now how would he know when she was going um get out, she wasn't going to tell him, not she wouldn't utter a single word more than she had to to him. She was a nice girl but what was it about Jaycen that brought the worst out of her.

((sorry it's short, posting from my phone is difficult))

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

And for all of his words, all of his smirky little comments and proud little taunts, the entire reaction Jaycen got was... nothing. Abso-freaking-lutely nothing. The ignorance game was being played apparently, which was a game Jaycen himself had played many times. With his father, with other students, with Raychel herself. The theory of the human mind was that if you didn't give someone the satisfaction of a response, they would give up and go home. It worked with a lot of people. The flirty fifth year boys hitting on a sixth year girl would realize the battle was lost and move on after a few moments of cold silence. The parent who realized their child was not going to heed their words, even when they had been repeated twenty times, would give up and move away if the kid just turned the other way. But Jaycen... nah, he didn't intend to be so easy to chase off. He wasn't sure what it was about the blonde haired girl, but she was just too much fun to bug to give up on. Maybe it was the fact that she'd been getting under his skin for years, always being the perfect smart Raychel Entwhistle, and being able to get under her skin was a delicacy. Maybe it was that wonderful flash of irritation he saw in her eyes every now and then. Maybe it was that he enjoyed her comp- no. That definitely could not be it.

He just needed to find some way to get her to talk so that he could win... stubborn as she was, there had to be something he could say that'd get her to acknowledge his existence. "Ya know, it's a good thing you didn't put your name in to the Goblet of Fire. Ravenclaw would have been screwed if you'd been the other champion." That was for several reasons. It could be a personal jab against the head girl, though Jayce didn't particularly mean it as such... It was also much do to with the fact that if Jaycen and Raychel had been paired up as their house champions, they would have spent more time bickering over the best course of action in a challenge than actually trying to participate in the challenge. "So, why didn't you enter your name anyway? Or did you, and you just weren't chosen?"

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

Ah there was the much loved silence and for a moment she almost forgot Jaycen was still there. She had hoped he had left either via the door or the floor opening up and swallowing him but no, he was still there. So why didn’t she feel a hint of disappointment, perhaps it was because she admired his attempt to annoy the hell out of her, perhaps he wasn’t that bad...she mentally shook her head, nope she didn’t honestly think that, of course he was bad, he was the worst, yes that was the story she was sticking to, no matter what she thought otherwise. He had always been the thorn in her side since day one of Hogwarts, there was no reason for her to think any differently of him, absolutely nothing.

It seemed like hours before he spoke again, this time about her not entering her name in the goblet of fire. Ah so he hadn’t known or was he just playing dumb. Of course she had, why wouldn’t she, but unlike the others she had absolutely no reason to have, the tournament would not have benefited her that much, perhaps a little more popularity, but that was it. And then he asked her some questions. Was she finally getting a decent conversation from him at last. She sighed, would it be best to answer him or continue this little ignorance game of hers. But he sounded so civil and she couldn’t help it. Opening her eyes, she turned her head towards him.
"I did enter but I never expected to be chosen anyways," she replied, "It seems like everyone who entered had something to prove to the world but me, I entered because it would have been expected of a head to lead an example by entering, I had nothing to prove to anyone, that's probably why I was never chosen."

She was having a decent conversation with him, how the hell did that happen, she wondered. What had changed between them in the last few minutes besides her ignoring him. Either was it was...nice, peaceful. But she still denied that he was a good guy.
"I guess I should congratulate you for getting chosen," she added after a moment of silence as he mind went over the tournament. The Yule ball was coming up soon and the champions had to pick a date, why wasn’t he looking for one, or had he already asked someone, not that she cared. Maybe he would leave it to the last minute. In fact she wondered who the other champions would take, the ball, although not a task was a very exciting part of the tournament.
"So who do you have in mind to take to the Yule Ball?" she asked, trying to be polite, perhaps she could warn the poor innocent girl he was going to ask, tell her to run far away from him. Oh the joy that would be to see his face.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

The Irish boy had been expecting one of two things: Some sort of snide remark telling him not to feel so superior just because he was chosen, or the stone cold continuation of silence. Either would be the predictable Raychel Entwhistle response. What was far less expected was for her to reply calmly, politely, with no mentionable trace of harsh disdain in her voice at all. He did detect trace amounts of mocking when she said that everyone seemed like they had something to prove, but supposed she was right in a way. After all, hadn't he entered the tournament for his father's sake? To show the man that hey, maybe his non-blood-purist son was worth something even though he wasn't a perfect mini-Soren? No one knew about that, though. Lots of people just assumed that Jaycen had entered his name into the cup on some sort of egotistical rampage, trying to show that as a beater and the head boy and the house champion, he was clearly superior to everyone around him. That wasn't the case at all. Jayce didn't think he was better than others for being chosen. He was just... more of what the cup had had in mind for the champion of his house. "Ah... well, it might be best. The school'd be a mess if both heads were champions."

"Oh... yeah, thanks." Surprising even himself, he offered her a small smile at the congratulations. Hey, apparently this whole 'be civil to each other' thing wasn't quite so mind numbingly terrible after all. "It was actually really surprising, being picked." That was no lie. He'd had very little faith he'd be chosen, already having so much on his plate this year. Apparently the goblet had though he could handle another task, or three, and he could only hope it had been right.

The Yule Ball? That was a rather random topic change, wasn't it? To tell the truth... Jayce's thoughts on it were minimal. He'd toyed with the idea of asking Lily Potter to it, just for the hell of it. They were friends, and there would be none of the awkwardness that came with asking a girl based on any genuine emotional feelings. ...Not that there were any of those girls for Jaycen at the moment... right? There was plenty of time before the Yule Ball, though. Decisions didn't have to be made yet. Why was Raychel asking? "No one yet," he answered with a shrug. "I don't think many of the champions do. I mean, it's probably the last thing on any of our minds, right?" There were much more pressing concerns with the tournament, like the upcoming first challenge. Back when Harry Potter had been at Hogwarts and participated in a TriWizard Tournament, the first challenge had consisted of dragons. As cool as it might be to say 'at the age of seventeen I fought a dragon!' Jayce simply didn't want to. He hoped that the ministry and professors might go a little bit easier on himself and the other champions. After all, they had a fifth year among them. While a seventh year might know some spells useful against a creature like a dragon, sixth years were just beginning their N.E.W.T. level classes, and Yori was still in her O.W.L.S.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

She couldn't help the smile forming and the giggle the escaped her lips when he spoke of the mess the school would be in if they were both names champions. At least the goblet had a sense of what worked well, not like the headmaster. The school would definitely have to watch out if the both of them had been chosen. Not much tournament would have been undertaken by them if that was the case. Instead she could see them arguing. If the tournament had including an arguing with your partner section, they would have won that hands down.
"I suppose your right. I don't think the rest of ravenclaw would be thrilled if we lost because of our arguing about who's way is better, although I think slytherin would love us for it," she replied.

He was surprised to be pick, he was kidding right.
"Oh come on, everyone knew you had a higher chance of being picked," well she did anyways. At least he was picked out of many, not like James Potter who had been the only male to enter of gryffindor. It seemed strange her, like the gryffindor boy told everyone gryffindor male not to enter so that he'd surely be picked. Ah well, gryffindor was going down to ravenclaw one way or another.

Ah typical male, always thinking of things in the last minute. Even though the Yule ball was still far away, it would creep up on them all quickly.
"The champions might not be thinking about it, but I can assure you everyone else is. They'll all want to know who the champions are going to take," she smiled up at him. This whole being civil thing was working out better than what she had thought it would.

She wondered if he was even game enough to get into the bath now that they were actually being civil or did he simply plan to stay there like he said he would. She would have called him a baby by now had then still been at each others throats, each to their own she figured.

She glanced down and the unpoppable bubbles, her mind ticking over. What she had said to him at the ravenclaw champions party had been uncalled for and downright mean. She knew he wouldn't care what she had said back then and probably didn't care what she said now, but it was worth a try.
"I'm sorry for what I said at the champions party, I just got so caught up in the moment. I don't honestly wish for anyone to die," she paused. There she had been the better person and apologized, "If you need any help with the tournament, I'll gladly help, it's the least I can do." There not only had she apologized but she offered to help him, well as long as he remained civil enough to her.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Raychel Entwhistle could smile and laugh? A miracle! That was the usual sarcastic thought that ran through his brain, but it was born out of surprise more than anything else. He'd seen her smile before, when around her friends, and he'd heard her laughter echo down the halls in similar situations. Smiling and giggling around him, though, in any way but mocking, was pretty much unheard of. She didn't seem so bad when she smiled. Not at all. He didn't let his thoughts continue any further.

"No, I honestly didn't think so," he shrugged, shaking his head and moving away from the wall so that he was a bit closer to the bubble covered water. "There're plenty of good candidates in Ravenclaw. We are the 'smart' house, after all. Besides, many other houses weren't the obvious picks. A fifth year Hufflepuff? An unheard of Gryffindor girl?" Not that he had any grudges against those two for being chosen. The goblet had to have picked them for a reason, and he was sure they'd be more than worthy opponents in tasks. And he supposed Alaya wasn't entirely unheard of... she was a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She was just... quiet. He didn't know much, if anything, about her, which made her a bit of a daunting opposition, too. "Maybe there just wasn't a big pool of male candidates from Ravenclaw who entered."

He chuckled slightly. "Well, I guess they're just going to have to be kept in suspense 'til the Ball, on my part at least." He'd always had a bit of attention on him in the past few years, being a prefect and beater and all around outgoing guy, but nothing like this. That people actually concerned themselves with the trivial details like who he was planning to attend a ball with was both flattering and aggravating. It wasn't as though he were nosy about their lives and plans. Though he did wonder... "Who do you think you'll end up going with?"

Jaycen was clearly much more relaxed now that the tense words between them had subsided. He smiled slightly at her apology, and shook his head lightly as he spoke. "It's no big deal, really. I mean, it's not like you actually used the killing curse, or anything. Things were just... tense. I appreciate your offer, but you don't owe me anything." True, it had put a bit of a damper on a very exciting evening for him, but it was typical Jaycen Tate vs. Raychel Entwhistle stuff. Angry threads, snide remarks, bitter expressions... it had been going on for years.

"Look... Raychel, this is stupid." 'This' referring to the battle that had begun when he entered the bathroom, not their current polite conversation. He didn't know where these words were coming from, they seemed completely out of character from the disdain he'd been having for the blonde fifteen minutes earlier, but he didn't try to shut himself up. "We don't need to spend our last year at the school fighting. We've done that enough in the last six years, and I'm sure we both have better use for our time. Besides, we've kind of got to work together... we'll have a lot of eyes on us for the rest of the year, and the school doesn't need drama on top of the mystery over Hugo... Basically, what I'm saying, it let's have a truce, or at least try to have one." Whether it would work... he didn't know. Whatever had kept them at each other's throats for six years couldn't be easily shoved away, could it? But the least they could do was try. The school, and themselves, had too much going on this year without the heads being at each other's throats all the time.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

This type of bantering that was going on between them was so much different to what they were used to. There was no mockery of one another, no insults or remarks and to Raychel it seemed like the world had completely changed within the last few minutes. All she was waiting for now as the apocalypse to happen. But nothing did happen. Maybe this was all a dream, she thought. Jaycen couldn’t possibly be nice could he? She didn’t dare pinch herself though, if this was a dream, she refused to wake up. She liked this Jaycen so much better than the old one. Although it had been somewhat fun bickering and insulting him, it was all the more better having an actual conversation with him.

He went on about the other champions that were picked. Slytherin seemed like a decent team and one that she assumed would have been chosen. If Scorpius Malfoy hadn’t been she was sure Albus Potter's name would have come out of the goblet. But the other three houses, well they were more of a surprise. Yori Oshiro was the youngest and to her she had seemed scared at the goblet ceremony. She swore she could have seen the poor girl shake. Why enter if you were that scared, maybe she had been overcome with nerves and her partner, Dunstable a muggleborn and nephew of Harry Potter. They just had to make sure there was more than one person in the tournament that was related to Harry Potter. She had no problem with the Hufflepuff. And then there was Alaya, James partner. She didn’t know much of the girl, just a rumour she was a werewolf and of course she had seen the Gryffindor out on the quidditch pitch. And finally her mind turned to her own team. Jaycen and Claire. Could they pull each other through the tasks, she hoped so, even if they had to drag one another, she was sure there was no way Jaycen would allow Ravenclaw to lose. She waved his next sentence off, there had been plenty of guys that had entered, but none were as...dare she say it, as good as Jaycen was.
"You'll do fine," she assured him.

Damn she thought, he wasn’t willing to release that information, maybe he hadn’t chosen yet. Ah well she thought, she'd just have to find out like everyone else. And then he done something she hadn’t expected, turned her own question back on her. Who was she going to go with?
"Probably no one," she replied, it wasn’t like she didn’t get asked to balls, it was just they couldn’t hold a decent conversation with her.
"Or I'll probably end up going with Izzy, unless she finds herself a date," she shrugged; it was no big deal to her if she went alone. She wasn’t one of those girls that had to have a date, and besides she was sort of forced into going, being the head girl meant she had to attend things whether she wanted to or not.

Raychel caught the slight smile from him and it amazed her that he looked good smiling. She didn’t just think that did she? Well as long as that thought stayed in her mind all would be fine. It sounded like he was waving off her apology and offer but at least she had done both. He was right; she didn’t owe him anything though it was nice just to offer; besides she wanted Ravenclaw to win. It was their last year; she wanted to leave with a bang.

He began speaking again, saying this was stupid. Anyone else would have thought that the conversation they were having was what he was referring to, but Raychel knew better. He was right, looking back on the past six years, their fighting had been stupid and petty, the smallest thing would set them off. That was when Jaycen offered to try a truce. If anyone had said to her that Jaycen would say something like this, she would have scoffed at them and walked away, but now it was happening.
"A truce," she spoke, more to herself as she weighed the thought in her mind. A truce would be good; it would mean one less thing to get stressed over.
"We can try a truce," she nodded in agreement. How long this truce would last was unknown, but it was worth a shot.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

"Yeah, I hope I will." Jaycen's biggest critic was likely himself. He worried that he would get too overloaded with things this year, and lose concentration at a critical moment in a challenge that would lose the glory for his house. Or, hell, that he'd just fail altogether throughout many challenges. That would really suck. He didn't want to let down all of the other Ravenclaw students, or the Ravenclaw alumni teachers, who hoped for his house's success. Being a champion was sure to be a lot different than on a Quidditch team, competing for house glory. On a Quidditch team there were other players to depend on, and you all worked together. Here there would be himself and Claire, and any mistakes they made would stick out like sore thumbs to all of Hogwarts. He had to make sure that he was on his top game for every task.

"Unfortunately I can't do that... I don't think Professor Swanepoele or my friends would let me." It wouldn't look right, for a house champion to attend alone. In the past hadn't house champions started off the ball dancing with their partners? He certainly couldn't do that without one. If he didn't show signs of selecting a partner he had a feeling the Ravenclaw head might just randomly place him with another student to give the house a better appearance. If you're not going with anyone, and she's not going with anyone, maybe you should- AW SHUT UP! A nagging little voice suddenly appeared in the back of his head, full of harebrained ideas. Just because they were head boy and girl was no excuse to pair them up at every opportunity, and that was the only reason that little voice had appeared in his head. What was he worrying about, anyway? The Yule Ball was months down the line. There was more than enough time for partners to be sorted out. "Even if you go alone, I'm sure you'll end up dancing with a few people by the end of the night." What did he mean by that? ...What did he mean by that? That some people would pity those who attended the ball alone and dance with them because of the pity? That guys would be quick to snatch up the pretty blonde as their partner for a dance? He didn't know. Reading into his random thoughts and statements was enough to make his head hurt.

Oh yeah, Isabella Ackerley, Raychel's best friend. Jaycen knew that the two were close, which was probably the reason why he didn't really know Isabella himself. He tended to stay away from all people under 'the Raychel influence', sure that she'd spouted all sorts of garbage about him in their presence. He kept to his pals, and Raychel had kept to hers. Besides, he liked to stick with his 'besties', Molly Weasley and Layla Bailey. Those had been his two best friends since they were young, kind of like the famous trio with the genders reversed, he supposed.

Speaking of Molly and Layla, what would they say if they knew of this conversation? They definitely knew of his hatred of the head girl; he'd ranted about it multiple times a year or month for as long as they'd known each other. This truce idea would likely surprise them as much as it surprised him. The idea had came out of the blue, honestly, and he was pretty sure it would fail. You couldn't just suddenly decide to get along with someone you'd always argued with, could you? Either Layla and Molly would agree that he had no hope of making it through the year without attempting murder, or they'd support the idea. After all, they had to tire of constantly hearing him groaning about how bitchy Raychel often was, and about how much easier things would be for him if she just weren't at the school anymore, right?

"Er... good." There was nothing really more to say. Sure, he supposed that he could apologize for giving her so much heck through the years, but they'd both caused so much trouble for the other with cold words and glares that it was kind of pointless to bring it all up. "Maybe we can make this work, then." He was actually pretty happy that they would try. One less thing to focus on in an already packed year. His father, of course, would say that a truce wasn't worth it with a pathetic halfblood like Raychel who Jayce would probably forget about as soon as the school year was done with, anyway, but since when had Jaycen followed what his father said about blood purism, anyway? His Dad had gotten his way with too many things throughout the years, including getting Jayce regrettably (and hopefully only for a short while) engaged to a proper Slytherin pureblood, and the teenager was done letting himself be pushed around.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

Ah yes, she doubted very much that a champion would be allowed to go alone. In fact she couldn’t recall such a thing happening from the number of books she read. Every single champion whether from the Hogwarts tournament or the triwizard tournament all had partners. How embarrassing it must be to be a champion and not have a partner. Well she figured she was lucky not to have been chosen by the goblet then. Her being forced by her friends and professors to take someone just because they deemed it, no she would have refused, put her foot down and possibly stay in her dorm all night.

What did he mean by that; if she went alone she'd still end up dancing for a few people. Of course she would, she'd dance with her friends, laugh, joke and have a relatively good time, no having to worry about a date. But then she had heard that going to balls and dances with someone like a date was a whole different experience. Well there were plenty of balls she'd be able to attend after Hogwarts, especially if she did get her dream job at the hospital. She's have plenty of time to find a date then.
"of course I will, it’s not a ball unless you dance," she offered him another smile.

It was so peaceful, no yelling or shouting, no headaches or wanting to kill him, nothing of any sort. Who knew Jaycen was a decent guy. Even the silence that had seemed to envelop the room was peaceful, no trace of hatred anywhere. How could they change so drastically from fighting one day to being like this the next? Maybe he was up to something, or maybe he just didn’t want to put up with the fighting whilst doing the tournament. Fair enough if that was the case, but if he was setting her up to fall well then he had another thing coming. He confirmed the trying of the truce.
"Yea," was the only reply, soft toned almost as if she were talking to herself. Would the truce really work, would they be able to go out of this room and be able to carry it out or would they simply revert back to their bickering after stepping one foot out the door? Maybe this room was enchanted, making any hatred disappear. No she replied silently, there had been many occasions where they bickered in this room. Maybe Jaycen was changing, maybe they both were, but whatever it was she actually liked it.

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

Ugh... thinking about Chun reminded him. That was likely who his father would make him take to the ball. He wouldn't even get the freedom of being able to pick his own partner for one of the biggest events of the year. Just great. But wasn't that just what he'd decided? He wasn't going to let his dear father control his actions? Screw Soren Tate, Jaycen wouldn't even mention the Yule Ball to his 'fiance'. Hell, maybe he'd search out a mudblood and ask her to the ball with him, and laugh at the scathing Howler he'd likely receive the next day. Screw it. In Wizard terms, at least, he was an adult, so why should he continue to be so fixated on keeping his father happy? He'd bring whoever he pleased to the Yule Ball, be it his father's hated Lily Potter, or a mudblood, or even Raychel. His obsession with keeping his father happy was ridiculous. Little he'd ever done since his sorting in Ravenclaw had pleased Soren. He had to realize that and give up.

"It'd be nice if it could be," he chuckled a bit, "I hate dancing." Well... did he really hate it? It seemed the stereotypical thing to say. Could one really even hate something if he'd never attempted it before? It wasn't as though his father had ever given Jaycen any opportunity to try dancing. He'd likely be caught dumb when time came for the Yule Ball and embarrass himself in front of hundreds of eyes... Ugh, that'd be more than a little bit humiliating. And Raychel likely wouldn't let him hear the end of it, either. Or would she? It kind of depended on how well they were getting along at that time, and given how far off the Yule Ball was it was impossible to predict their relationship right now.

So.... that was that, then. There was little more that could be said, as far as their truce went, at least, and it was so weird not having sarcastic remarks fired between them that, when things were friendly, Jaycen's brain seemed to go dead at things to say. He glanced idly at the door. Maybe he should just leave now, before awkward silence became extremely awkward silence. But then again, hadn't he said that he wouldn't leave until she did? ...That had been to annoy her, though. Still, he found himself not too eager to leave despite the fact that he was braindead on what to say, and couldn't find a reason for it. Why did he want to hang around her? They were in a truce, not in love.

[RAYCHEL MAE ENTWHISTLE]

He hated dancing, what sort of person didn't like dancing. Everyone done it daily even if they didn't realise it, a turn here a twirl there. Dancing was the most simplest of things, it was as natural as breathing air was. Yet people still insisted that they couldn't dance, oh how she wanted to laugh at them, but she always restrained herself like she was now. She didn't want to be the first to break their brand new truce.

Maybe he thought he couldn't dance, well then that would surely have to change before the dance. The head of the houses tended to put on dance lessons and she wondered if he would even attend something like that. To her, Jaycen didn't seem like the type to take public lessons.
"Surely you can't mean that," there was no malice in her tone, merely curiosity, "Are you simply saying that because you don't know how to dance?" It was an innocent question, maybe if he didn't know how to dance she could at least teach him the basic steps. Wait what the he'll was she thinking. They weren't friends, just people that were forced to work together so why would she think something like that. It would mean she'd have to spend more time alone with him, but was that a bad thing?

She sighed in contentment as she glanced over at him. He had wanted to use the bath when he had come in, maybe he'd stop being stubborn and use it now that they had a truce.
"The bath's big enough for the both of us, well for about 20 of use, we can't have people thinking our champions don't take pride in themselves," it was not a stab at him well not personally. Ravenclaws were always seen decent and clean, she couldn't let Jaycen walk out of the room deprived of a bath, after all that was what he came for. Averting get eyes, she tilted her head to look up at the ceiling, giving him some privacy if he felt comfortable enough to get into the bath. Maybe she should have gotten out and left him, but why was it hard to move away from him?

[JAYCEN NATHANIEL TATE]

"Er... well, technically I haven't, but... I mean... I don't think it's the type of thing I'd enjoy, anyway." He was flustered. Talking about dancing made him flustered. Greeeaat. Like most guys, Jayce wanted to stay with what he was comfortabel in. Sports and control. Dance was viewed by the general population as a very girly past time, and as a guy Jaycen just couldn't see himself enjoying it. Was that sexist? Kind of? He didn't mean any harm by it, really... he just didn't think the activity was for him. It was the worst part of being picked a champion; possibly one of the only downfalls. He had to attend the Yule Ball because everyone else would notice if he skipped out. Personally Jayce would be much more comfortable spending the evening on the Quidditch pitch, perfecting his swing to bring down opponents, but he didn't really have a choice. If he were just representing himself he might not have such an issue with skipping the ball. It was his last year at the school, what did he care if he missed one night? But he was supposed to be representing his house, all of its students, and it's head... unfortunately he'd have to put up with dancing so that he would not let them all down.

He'd known that champions had the Yule Ball and everything, though... why was he complaining? The positives of the tournament far outweighed the negatives, didn't they? He was proving himself. Showing that no, he was not some goody two shoes kid who was going to someday ruin the Tate name. He was getting fame here. His name was being put out there for people of higher status to see. He was getting experience in challenges other kids wouldn't know, and who knew how that would affect him in the future... and besides that, he could have fun being a champion. Who didn't like a bit of fame and glory? The rush and thrills of having your name called... he could put up with one humiliating night of dance for that. Of course, it'd be easier to put up with that humiliating night if he knew how to dance to hopefully ease the humiliation. ...Maybe Ray- Lily could teach him?

Okay. Awkward... But she was right. The bath was huge... and he'd come in here to use it, hadn't he? He and the head girl were big kids. They could handle themselves. Noticing that Raychel had already averted her eyes, Jaycen nodded (realizing a moment later that she wouldn't even see that) and tugged his clothes off, placing them in a neat pile near the tub and dipped into the warm water. It was like instant relaxation of his muscles. He could almost forget the presence of probably his biggest enemy throughout Hogwarts across from him. Jayce closed his eyes, smiling slightly. "Much better."