After the Library

Thomas was pretty angry with himself by the time he had got to the Slytherin Commons. He had started a part of it, both by verbally attacking Brianna and for casting the Charm on Anthony. He felt like either going into a hole and never coming out, or just take his anger out on everyone else. Unfortunately, he picked the second option, glaring at the younger students who had congregated in one area. "Scram." He growled angrily at them, smirking to himself when they scurried off. He sat down on one of the chairs. He felt like he should do something to help, but that option was barred from him. That meant he got angry with himself and everyone around him... Unless...

An idea came to him, he walked off into his room, and came back out a moment later with a book in hand. He sat back down and started to thumb through the pages, his anger started to dissipate as well. Sighing a breath of relief, Thomas smiled a tiny bit to himself and contined to read until Alli got here.

Alli gave Tom some time to get down to the Common Room and cool off without fear of what may happen to the other Slytherins. They were big kids, they could take it. When she finally arrived there, Tom was reading a book. She approached him, took it from him gently, and sat in the chair across from him. "From the beginning," she instructed, waiting for him to tell her the whole story.

Thomas felt the book being pried gently from his hands, sighing slightly to himself. After she sat down and asked him to explain what happened, he shrugged slightly before answering. "If you're asking how it suddenly turned into all that." He said, before relaying the story to her. He honestly had no clue how it went mad so quick, he didn't even get why he had done that. He just... Didn't know what to say at all. Had he turned into some kind of monster?

((OOC: For those creepers, here's the thread with the story behind this. It's riiigghhhttttt HERE))

Alli listened patiently while Tom relayed the story of what had happened. She wasn't sure how to approach this. She didn't like what he'd done but at the same time she wasn't his mother. She couldn't exactly just scold him. It didn't help matters that before she'd started talking to him, he never would have done anything like that.

"I'm sorry Tom," she said simply. She was sorry for a lot of things, but mostly she was sorry for making him into a mean person and sorry that he felt so bad about something he'd done because of her.

Thomas waited while Allison just said nothing. Half of him wondered what she was thinking. Anger? Disappointment? Disgust? He didn't know and he was pretty worried about that. He waited anxiously for her to say something, only for him to raise an eyebrow at her apology/ "Sorry? What have you got to apologize for? I was the one who's fault it all was, and I should have realised otherwise and not done it.

He waited for her to respond, worried. He felt like he'd stepped out of line here as well now, and was scared for what it would bring.

Alli sighed and got up out of her chair. She went over and pulled Tom up and gave him a hug. It wasn't like the last time she'd done anything like this, when she was trying to embarrass him; it was much more of a 'you're my friend and I really do feel bad' hug. Damn James making her all soft and cuddly...

"You wouldn't have done it if I hadn't tried to change you into something you're not. Something bad," she said, still hugging him tightly. She was really starting to question some things that she'd never questioned before. Again, damn James...

Thomas bit his lip when Alli got out her chair, mind instantly beige Fling towards what curse sue might cast or what else she might do in the short time it took for her to walk up to him and make him stand up, only to blink in shock when he was hugged, and he hugged cautiously back. The Alli that Thomas knew never did anything like that. It felt sincere though, more like a friend thing over the time he'd been roped into that impromptu show for the Commons. He wondered for a second why Alli might have his change of heart before his mind focused on what she said.

"You never know. If it wasn't you then it might have been someone else who's less inclined to ever feel sympathetic about it. Why are you sympathetic about it though?" he asked. It probably wasn't a good time for his curiosity to re-emerge, but it had nevertheless. He was still being hugged and continued to hug back, before asking. "Is Anthony okay?" He had hoped he hadn't done too much damage. "What do we do now?" he asked next.

Alli finally let go of Tom and went back to her seat. She ignored his first question. She didn't think she was ready to share that; the secret thing was working out too well so far. The only thing that would get her to tell would be if Tom started asking again and again non-stop for days; then she would probably tell him just to get him to shut up. She shrugged at him. "He'll be okay, I think. Now we wait for them to cool off a bit and then you can go set this right. Give it a day or two," she advised. "I'll even go with you, if you like."

Thomas sat back down after Alli stopped hugging him, and while he was still curious seeing as she didn't answer, it could wait until a time where his curiosity wouldn't become something that could make things a lot worse in a heartbeat. "Waiting... I suppose that's the only thing I can do without making it worse for now." He said, sighing. His encounter with Brianna and Anthony had mostly shattered the mask he'd gotten used to putting up, but there were still a few shards there and he didn't way to chance being snappy at them again and possibly jus making the conflict worse. He nodded at Alli's kind offer. "Please do, chances are you'll be able to talk to them better than me if things mess up again." he said. He hoped he would be able to set all this right, he had been completely in the wrong and he knew that now. He just hoped that they wouldn't hate him for this. He knew they would most likely, but he couldn't extinguish the glimmer of hope that things might be able to start over. "This is what I get for beinin damned Slytherin..." he mumbled to himself.

Alli looked at Tom with an eyebrow raised. He was definitely getting ahead of himself. "Tom, this isn't something I can fix for you. I'm only going so that nobody will have to peel you two off each other if you decide that fists are better than words again," she told him.

She thought she heard him mutter something about being in damned Slytherin and she nodded slightly in agreement. She'd been starting to feel some of that recently. She silently vowed to smack James the next time she saw him, just to punish him for turning her into some sort of sappy... Hufflepuff or something.

"I'll talk to that girl and find out when we can go. What was her name again? Brianna?" she asked.

Thomas blinked when Alli said about fixing his mess for him. "No I didn't mean that you'd be able to do it for me. I meant you'd stop us fighting again." he said. Explainin didn't seem to he his forte today. He left his thoughts to wander for a little while. While he needed to think about it, he didn't want to dwell on it in the fear that he would go back to using the mask again, something he didn't want to happen. He was brought back to reality when Alli spoke to him again. "Yeah. Brianna Carter." he said, the name not leaving his head for a while.

"You really messed up here, Tom," Alli said, unable to stop herself. In a weird way, she thought of him as being like a little brother to her and it made her want to fix it all, but she couldn't. She frowned at herself. Sisterly instinct was new... hopefully it would go away soon and she could go back to being exactly how she'd been before.

"What are you going to say to them?" she asked. She thought it would be best for him to have some sort of plan going into this apology.

"I know I did." He said in response, and right now he was vehemently wishing that he could go back in time and stop it from ever happening. Sadly, he didn't know if even Wizards could do that. He just wished he had a clue as to what to say, because he had no clue how to approach the situation... He was pretty sure people had never hated him before ironically enough, which meant of course, Alli's question was easy to answer. "I have no clue whatsoever really... I don't even know how to stay there for more than three seconds without them trying to kill me." He said, downhearted. He started to feel like he didn't have much chance of setting this right in the end. His curiosity seemed to burst out again though, and he re-phrased it. "Why do you seem less Anti other houses now?" He asked.

"They won't try to kill you," Alli said. She'd seen those two; they didn't look like they could actually hurt anything larger than a cat. That's what Ravenclaws got for always having their noses in books.

She stared blankly at Tom after he asked his question. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said with no emotion. She and Tom were friends for sure but she didn't know if she was ready to tell anyone about James.

Thomas shrugged at Alli saying they wouldn't kill him. "You never know, they might just possibly make an exception for someone who's done that." He said, grimacing. After all, the way things were, it wouldn't surprise him.

He rolled his eyes at her attempt of denying it. "Even I can tell that something's happened Alli. If this had happened only a little while ago, you'd be telling me to get a grip and grow up!" He said. "So what's changed to make you think differently? I can't really say anything against it, as it is no-one would believe me, it would mean probably losing one of the few friends I have left, and it basically just wouldn't be worth it." He stated, trying to persuade her.

Alli's eyes narrowed to glare at Tom. "Fine..." she conceded, though there was no way that she was going to talk about this in the busy common room.

She stood up and raised her voice. "Hey everyone, free firewhiskey on the Quidditch Pitch!"

Just as she'd hoped, people started filing out. Alli shook her head, thinking that anyone who actually believed that there was free firewhiskey on the Quidditch Pitch was so gullible that they might as well be a Hufflepuff. When the last person had left the room besides her and Tom, she moved to the chair next to him and sat.

"I swear to Merlin that if you ever tell anyone any of this that you will suffer a fate fifty times worse than your little fight with what's-his-face," she threated honestly. "Do you remember what I said in the kitchen? Well it's sort of true..." she hoped that he knew what she was talking about because she didn't really want to go through the whole stupid thing again.

Thomas grinned slightly at Alli's sign of defeat. He waited for her to explain why, before she started to shout to everyone in the Common Rooms that there was firewhiskey at the Quidditch pitch. He watched in amazement as everyone just walked out of the commons. Thomas' first thought was that they were absolute idiots, but he shook that off and changed it to that they were gullible. It was a small mind change, but hopefully it would help him get back to acting how he used to.

He nodded at her threat. "I already told you I wouldn't tell a soul and I told you the numerous reasons behind it." He stated, before listening to what she said. "You mean the dating a Gryffindor in secret one?" He asked sceptically... Then again, it would explain it. "Who?" He asked, wanting to know who Alli's secret boyfriend was.

"Shh!" Alli shushed him and clasped a hand over his mouth. She may have cleared out the common room but she was pretty sure the walls listened in on people's conversations and she didn't put it past someone to hide and eavesdrop on them.

When she was satisfied that no one was there but them, she took her hand back. "James Wilson," she sheepishly answered his question. She was surprised that it hadn't been Tom's first thought, considering James had shown up only moments after she'd sarcastically admitted to having a crush on a Gryffindor.

Thomas couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly at Alli's need to be extra extra secret, it was as if she was so paranoid about it that she would make up all sorts of codes and things so it never became apparent. He waited for her to calm down a little and resisted the childish urge to lick her hand before she took it away. After finding out it was James, he stood there in shock for a moment. "I never guessed as well... He was the one that appeared a moment later right? Was I spoiling your secret date?" he asked. "So how long have you two been together?" He asked, continuing to question.

"Yes and yes," Alli said. She was still a little annoyed that Tom had put them through such worry and then it took him forever to just give up and leave already. "A while..." She wasn't exactly counting how long it had been, but it wasn't long after their detention with Sami had taken place.

"Sorry about ditching you in the trophy room, by the way," she added with a slight smile. "I only told you that to get you to leave."

Thomas grinned slightly at the thought of actually getting in the way. "You pulled it off pretty well, the only reason I thought of it was because you said you liked a Gryffindor." He said honestly. "So as long as you can keep that up, then you'll be able to keep it a secret for as long as you want." He said. "A while? Sounds like you've been slowly turned into butter then." He said jokingly. "I didn't mind too much, you told me to bring a book so I was able to stick around for a while until I guessed you weren't coming." That was a bit of a lie though, he'd ended up waiting just about the whole day there. "You had to do what you had to do. I didn't ruin the date too much did I?" He asked.

Alli glared at Tom again. She didn't want him to like the idea of getting in the way of things; it made her feel like she'd taught him too well, even if he wasn't trying to be mean while doing it. With another glare, she reached out and gave his arm a little pinch. "I am not turning into butter! I'm the same person I was before, just a little bit... less... yeah," she didn't really have a good word for what she was now. She still had some of the same views, but they weren't quite as steadfast as they had been before.

"Not really. Everything was fine once you left," she said. "Just don't go thinking that you can try to ruin every date or I will hurt you. Or James will. He knows that I kissed you and he's not too happy about it," she laughed softly.

Thomas saw Alli glare at him and he decided he should 'cool his jets' and not think of getting in the way like that, only to mock-glare when he felt her pinch his arm. "Hey! That hurts you know!" He protested before grinning at what she said. "Sorry Alli, but your becoming a little puddle of goo." he said cheekily. He knew that wasn't really the case, but it was funny to goad Alli about it. He was careful though, a little joking would be fine, but he had to be sure to not take it too far.

"That's good, I'd have hated to have completely ruin it." He said honestly. "And I wouldn't even try, that would involve stalking you and James and never sleeping... As much as I hate to admit it, I really do quite like my sleep." he grinned. "Don't worry, I'm already on Anthony's bad side, I'd rather not be on James' too." He said.

Alli rolled her eyes. She knew she was a bit softer, but she definitely wasn't a puddle of goo. If he thought that was gooey, he should have seen how she and James really were. "Bloody Gryffindor... it's all his fault," she muttered.

"You needn't worry about being on his bad side, unless you suddenly decide to start flaunting the fact that you got a kiss from me before he did. Then you might want to run," Alli grinned, slightly amused at the idea of James chasing Tom around like they were in some sort of muggle cartoon. "You won't tell anyone, will you?" she asked again, still slightly worried despite the reasoning against it that he'd given her.

Thomas kept a grin plastered on his face at her curse at the Gryffindor. "Is it? Or is he just showing everyone a part of you that you hide usually?" he asked, loosening up a little more, he didn't have to stick to the mask at all now it seemed, and it meant he would be able to gradually be able to go back to... The old him? Or was this him at all? He wasn't sure, but he was content in the fact that soon he would be back to how he was. He didn't like having enemies it seemed. and he didn't do well with them either.

"I doubt I would, it's an achievement indeed, but I doubt it would be worth flaunting." he said, before realising that it was his first kiss... And he never had the chance to feel anything from it. "That sure is depressing." He muttered to himself, before getting back on track. "I promise you that I won't tell a soul, you have my honest word on that." He said seriously. He wasn't going to go around with fanfares to proclaim it, and he wasn't going to sneak behind their backs either. That was something he adamantly refused to do, which was to be a pain to more people.